Two Reports Describe Abuses at Detention Center

'Terrorized': Report Details Conditions at Child Detention Centers

A report filed in federal court details hunger, dehydration and forced sleeplessness at child detention centers in the Southwest.

By Alfonso Serrano, ColorLines

July 18, 2018

Frigid cells with foul-smelling drinking water. Children given rotten food and forced to sleep on concrete floors. No showers or clean clothes for days. Overflowing toilets in “dog houses.” These are just a few of the things detained children highlighted about the facilities where they were held.

“It was cold, very cold. I only had a t-shirt so I pulled my hands inside my t-shit to try to keep warm. There were no mattresses. We slept directly on the floor,” said Justin, a 13-yer-old immigrant from El Salvador. “I haven’t been able to call my father since I was locked up. I want to tell him where I am, and I want to talk to him.”

Justin’s description of United States detention centers, and testimony from interviews with 200 other immigrant children and adults, are part of an extensive report filed in federal court this week in Los Angeles by the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law.[…]

Read the full article:

https://www.colorlines.com/articles/terrorized-report-details-conditions-child-detention-centers

Read the report:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4609538-Flores-0716-459-4.html

Report finds more than 800 complaints of hate-related abuse in immigration detention

ImmigrationProf Blog

July 19, 2018

“Shut your black ass up. You don’t deserve nothing. You belong at the back of that cage.” - Warden to M.C. at the West Texas Detention Facility in Sierra Blanca, TX

“[Go] look in the mirror to see King Kong.” - Officer to A.B. at Bristol County House of Corrections, North Dartmouth, MA

“No one will believe baboon complaints.” - Officer to A.B. at Bristol County House of Corrections, North Dartmouth, MA

These are a few of the comments discussed in a report published by Freedom for Immigrants, a California-based nonprofit that visits people held in immigration detention.[...]

Read the full post:

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2018/07/report-finds-more-than-800-complaints-of-hate-related-abuse-in-immigration-detention.html

Read the report:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a33042eb078691c386e7bce/t/5b3174e46d2a73f2d1f56aab/1529967847644/FFI_NatReportAbuse_062518.pdf

Update: Illinois Congressman Ends Chicago Immigration Office Sit-in

“They were scared to arrest us because they know our cause is just. We ended our sit in but we will #resist,” Rep. Gutierrez tweeted.

By Odette Yousef, Associated Press via WBEZ

March 13, 2017

CHICAGO (AP) — U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez has ended a sit-in at a federal immigration office in Chicago where about a dozen activists demanded no future raids and reconsideration on a deportation case.

Gutierrez and others stayed several hours beyond Monday's scheduled meeting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.[...]

Read the full article:

https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/illinois-congressman-activists-stage-sitin-at-chicago-ice-offices/090ed00f-20fe-44f3-ae3c-d083bfaffd23

Unnecessary Measures

Public and native lands advocates say McCain’s proposed legislation gives Border Patrol unrestricted access that is unnecessary and detrimental

By María Inés Taracena, Tucson Weekly
August 27, 2015

Nellie David is concerned for the Native American youth growing up in what she sees as an increasingly militarized Tohono O'odham Nation.

These days, a walk or drive around her hometown of Ajo almost always leads to being questioned by U.S. Border Patrol agents roaming the tribal land. David remembers the time she and two friends were surrounded by a handful of Border Patrol trucks in a remote area of the reservation merely over their presence there. Another example is a recent evening when she took her dog on a walk in the desert, and "all of the sudden a helicopter comes up and gets really close to me, checking us out," she says.

"The rez (reservation) is surrounded by checkpoints," says David, who currently lives in Tucson, while finishing law school at the UA. "We are indigenous people, and for them to ask, 'Where are you from? Where are you going?' It's like, 'who are you?'"

When she heard about a border security bill that U.S. Sen. John McCain recently introduced—which would waive laws on all federal public land within 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, and essentially grant law enforcement immediate access to every corner of the borderlands—she says she thought the bill is going to make things worse. Most law enforcement, already, has no respect for things such as burial grounds and other places on the reservation that are considered sacred, she says. How much more freedom can they get, she wonders.[...]

Read the full article:
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/unnecessary-measures/Content?oid=5905178

To write to your senators to oppose the bill, go to:
http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/7315/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=21390

Huge Majority of Latinos Concerned About the Air Pollution, Environmental Issues - Poll

By Roberto Ontiveros, Latin Post
August 30, 2015

According to a new poll conducted by Latino Decisions, a majority of Latinos think that going green is a good idea.

The poll, which gathered responses from 1,200 registered Latino voters, states that 85% of those surveyed saw that reducing smog and air pollution was an “extremely” or “very important” thing to do and that 78% supported state mandated clean energy standards in order to prevent global warming and climate change.

A press release from the Environmental Defense Fund suggests that this information should come as no surprise as “Latinos have rich ties to the outdoors, but are too often the first and worst impacted by pollution.”

Gary Segura, a co-founder of Latino Decisions, describes the reasons behind the results to NPR, saying, "A lot of Latino households in the United States are in locations that are adversely affected by particulate pollution, by poor water quality."[...]

Read the full article:
http://www.latinpost.com/articles/75540/20150830/huge-majority-of-latinos-concerned-about-the-air-pollution-environmental-issues-poll.htm

Download the poll:
http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/National%20Release%20Polling%20Memo%20Formatted.pdf

The ACLU’s Border Checkpoint

By Frontera NorteSur
March 21, 2014

Driving on 1-25 north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, motorists are forced to detour through a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint set up to enforce immigration and drug laws. Often, a friendly agent will ask the vehicle occupant (s) to affirm U.S. citizenship status before sending the traveler on his or her way. Occasionally, agents will simply peer into a car and wave travelers on without first asking questions.

Officers can also ask more detailed questions, inquiring about the motorist’s background and comings and goings. Other times, drivers are asked to pull over for a vehicle search that might include a go-over by a dope-sniffing dog.
On Wednesday, March 19, travelers heading north on 1-25 encountered another checkpoint for the first time ever: the “Know your Rights Checkpoint” organized by the
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Positioned just north of the official government checkpoint about 30 minutes from Las Cruces, staff from the ACLU’s New Mexico Regional Center for Border Rights, supported by community volunteers, greeted motorists at a scenic rest stop.

Under the New Mexico sun, the group hoisted signs, urged passerby to report alleged abuses and displayed literature at a table. [...]

Read the full article:
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/the-aclus-border-checkpoint/

After Hurricane Sandy, Day Laborers Play Central Role in Cleanup, Rebuilding

By Elizabeth Llorente, Fox News Latino
November 5, 2012

Palisades Park, N.J. – It is about 8:30 a.m., just days after superstorm Sandy unleashed her force and fury in the northeast.

Men with calloused hands, world-weary lined faces that make them seem years older than they are, practically stand on their toes in the lot of a closed gas station on the exit ramp off Route 46 in New Jersey.

Each time a car slows, pulling into the lot, they swarm around it.

“How many do you need?” they ask the drivers. “What kind of work is it?”

These are day laborers, nearly all of them undocumented immigrants, who are helping to clean up and rebuild New Jersey and New York after the storm that left power lines down, homes and buildings flooded, sidings contorted ,and trees lying across roadways, or atop cars and roofs. [...]

Read the full article:
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/11/05/after-sandy-immigrant-day-laborers-play-central-role-in-cleanup-and-rebuilding/#ixzz2BUneRVmG

How US Policies Fueled Mexico's Great Migration

[NAFTA, Smithfield, swine flu, worker exploitation and unauthorized immigration from Mexico--the sort of connections never made in the official US "immigration debate."--Ed]

By David Bacon, The Nation
January 4, 2012

Roberto Ortega tried to make a living slaughtering pigs in Veracruz, Mexico. “In my town, Las Choapas, after I killed a pig, I would cut it up to sell the meat,” he recalls. But in the late 1990s, after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) opened up Mexican markets to massive pork imports from US companies like Smithfield Foods, Ortega and other small-scale butchers in Mexico were devastated by the drop in prices. “Whatever I could do to make money, I did,” Ortega explains. “But I could never make enough for us to survive.” In 1999 he came to the United States, where he again slaughtered pigs for a living. This time, though, he did it as a worker in the world’s largest pork slaughterhouse, in Tar Heel, North Carolina. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.thenation.com/article/165438/how-us-policies-fueled-mexicos-great-migration

Arizona Border Fence Causes Flood and Self-Destructs—as Predicted

By Bryan Gerhart, ColorLines
August 12, 2011

Mother Earth has spoken. Amidst recent reports that detail just how harmful the United States border barrier is to local wildlife and their habitats, rainwater knocked down 40 feet of the fence in Arizona last Sunday night.

The stretch of fence that washed away was part of a 5.2 mile mesh barrier that was built between 2007 and 2008. Though it is the first time this particular fencing has fallen, it came as no surprise to officials at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, where the fence is located. When Organ Pipe expressed their concern with the proposed design for the barricade before its completion, Border Patrol unsurprisingly issued a final environmental assessment that said they found that it would have no significant impact. They added that, despite the claims of Organ Pipe officials, it would not cause flooding. They were wrong. [...]

Read the full article:
http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/08/rain_knocks_down_40_feet_of_border_fence_in_arizona.html

Politicians Blame Immigrants for Arizona Wildfires...Not Global Warming

John McCain: Illegal Immigrants Caused Arizona Wildfires
Huffington Post
June 19, 2011

John McCain (R-AZ) says undocumented immigrants are to blame for the massive wildfires that have ravaged Arizona.

"There is substantial evidence that some of these fires are caused by people who have crossed our border illegally," McCain, said at a press conference Saturday after touring the Wallow fire, which began on May 29 and has burned over 500,000 acres to date. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/19/john-mccain-illegal-immigration-arizona-wildfires_n_880145.html

Monster wildfire in Arizona: A glimpse of what climate change could bring
By Pete Spotts, Christian Science Monitor
June 9, 2011

A wildfire in Arizona that has blackened an area half the size of Rhode Island, prompted the evacuation of some 2,000 people in its path, and is threatening long-distance power lines that serve New Mexico and Texas, is the latest poster child for what some scientists see as a long-term trend toward larger, longer-lived wildfires in the American West.

And as researchers explore the causes, climate change appears to be an important contributor.

Nor is Arizona, which is battling three major blazes, alone in watching significant acreage go up in smoke this year. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57332.html

Why Do Mexican Workers Head North?

Timothy Wise: Mexican agriculture was undermined by NAFTA and companies like Smithfield

The Real News Network
November 26, 2010

PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay, coming to you from Tufts University in Boston. In the recent US midterm elections, one of the hot-button issues in many parts of the country was the issue of undocumented workers--some people call [them] illegal immigrants. What effect does it have when people, because of their status, are willing to work for sometimes even below minimum wage? But the question that rarely gets asked in this debate is: why are so many people from south of the border here? And what happened to the economies of countries like Mexico? And did in fact US policy have something to do with it? Now joining us to talk about that question is Timothy Wise. He's director of the Research and Policy Program at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University in Boston. So why do so many people head north looking for work? [...]

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=5863

Illegal Invasion or Economic Scapegoat?

Produced by Jesse Freeston, The Real News Network
July 30, 2010

Do undocumented immigrants want citizenship? Are they more likely to be dangerous criminals? Do they hurt the economy? Do they steal jobs and lower wages? The two sides in the Arizona debate have vastly different answers to these questions. On the face of it, this stand-off appears to be more about information than opinion. [...]

Watch the video:
http://www.therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=5446&updaterx=2010-07-30+09%3A50%3A51

Should Climate Activists Support Limits on Immigration?

by Ian Angus and Simon Butler, MRZine
January 25, 2010

Immigrants to the developed world have frequently been blamed for unemployment, crime, and other social ills. Attempts to reduce or block immigration have been justified as necessary measures to protect "our way of life" from alien influences.

Today, some environmentalists go farther, arguing that sharp cuts in immigration are needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow climate change. However sincere and well-meaning such activists may be, their arguments are wrong and dangerous, and should be rejected by the climate emergency movement. [...]

Read the full article:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/ab250110.html

The Border’s “Agent Orange” Controversy

by Frontera NorteSur, Newspaper Tree (El Paso)
March 21, 2009

With the clock ticking, a growing network of activists on both sides of the border are lobbying high officials to prevent aerial spraying of chemicals meant to destroy Carrizo cane between the southern Rio Grande twin cities of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo.

In the Vietnam War, the United States sprayed vast tracts of land with the chemical defoliant Agent Orange as part of a counter-insurgency strategy aimed at removing forest cover for Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces. Although the toxic dioxin released by Agent Orange was later blamed by US veterans’ groups and Vietnamese officials for illnesses and diseases that struck thousands of former US soldiers and upwards of four million Vietnamese citizens, the US Supreme Court recently refused to consider a case by pursued by Vietnamese plaintiffs against the manufacturers of Agent Orange.

Four decades later, on the US-Mexico border, the US Border Patrol intends to employ a chemical herbicide in order to eradicate stands of the Carrizo cane, an invasive plant that grows as tall as 30 feet and provides convenient cover for undocumented border crossers and smugglers. The variety of Carrizo cane that is common in the Laredo-Del Rio borderlands is from the region of Valencia, Spain. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.newspapertree.com/news/3575-the-border-s-agent-orange-controversy