Just this week, Raul Castro, a 95-year-old former Arizona governor and once the U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, was stopped, harassed and made to sit out in the 105 degree heat for an entire hour while he was being "checked" by Border Patrol. He was just a passenger in a car, but he is brown.
By Joe Bernick, People's World
June 29 2012
TUCSON, Ariz. - Was Monday's Supreme Court decision on Arizona's racist, anti-immigrant SB 1070 a victory for working people?
The decision has engendered lots of commentary in the media and among elected officials. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.peoplesworld.org/arizona-needs-a-movement-to-repeal-sb-107/
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Border Patrol Turns Back US Citizens
Woman fights to assert citizenship
By Madeline Buckley, The Brownsville Herald
June 02, 2012
Though she was born in Weslaco in 1982, Brenda Vazquez swore to a Customs and Border Protection officer that she was born in Mexico and is not a U.S. citizen.
Desperate for the end of what she says was hours of intense questioning at a Brownsville international bridge, she signed a statement denying her citizenship.
A petition filed in federal court last week states that Vazquez made the false statement on Feb. 19 after seven hours of intimidation from a Customs and Border Protection officer. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/hours-140955-customs-vazquez.html
Complaints rise over border-crossing interrogations
Lynn Brezosky, Houston Chronicle
July 9, 2012
MATAMOROS, Mexico - Sitting in a Matamoros restaurant on a recent afternoon, Brenda Vasquez recounted the day she says she was forced to sign away her U.S. citizenship. Even though she lives and works in Mexico, Vasquez says she was born in the Rio Grande Valley and, until February, was allowed to cross the border with her birth certificate, a Social Security card and a Texas ID - all confiscated by federal agents after what she describes as an abusive interrogation that lasted for hours.
Vasquez is suing Customs and Border Protection Port Director Michael Freeman, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the CBP agent who she says bullied her into signing a false statement and who is also named in a scathing ACLU complaint of similar incidents. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Complaints-rise-over-border-crossing-3691990.php
By Madeline Buckley, The Brownsville Herald
June 02, 2012
Though she was born in Weslaco in 1982, Brenda Vazquez swore to a Customs and Border Protection officer that she was born in Mexico and is not a U.S. citizen.
Desperate for the end of what she says was hours of intense questioning at a Brownsville international bridge, she signed a statement denying her citizenship.
A petition filed in federal court last week states that Vazquez made the false statement on Feb. 19 after seven hours of intimidation from a Customs and Border Protection officer. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/hours-140955-customs-vazquez.html
Complaints rise over border-crossing interrogations
Lynn Brezosky, Houston Chronicle
July 9, 2012
MATAMOROS, Mexico - Sitting in a Matamoros restaurant on a recent afternoon, Brenda Vasquez recounted the day she says she was forced to sign away her U.S. citizenship. Even though she lives and works in Mexico, Vasquez says she was born in the Rio Grande Valley and, until February, was allowed to cross the border with her birth certificate, a Social Security card and a Texas ID - all confiscated by federal agents after what she describes as an abusive interrogation that lasted for hours.
Vasquez is suing Customs and Border Protection Port Director Michael Freeman, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the CBP agent who she says bullied her into signing a false statement and who is also named in a scathing ACLU complaint of similar incidents. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Complaints-rise-over-border-crossing-3691990.php
Friday, July 13, 2012
Arizona Immigration Law Ruling May Mean Boon For Private Prison Business
By Chris Kirkham, Huffington Post
June 25, 2012
As the Supreme Court upheld a central provision of Arizona's controversial immigration law on Monday -– a requirement for law enforcement to check the legal status of suspected undocumented immigrants -- a powerful corporate lobby may stand to benefit: the private prison industry.
For-profit prison companies including Corrections Corporation of America and the GEO Group Inc. have capitalized on the immigration crackdown over the past decade, now controlling nearly half of the nation's vast immigrant detention system. Both companies have more than doubled revenues from the business of detaining immigrants since 2005, collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/25/arizona-immigration-law-ruling-private-prisons-_n_1625998.html
June 25, 2012
As the Supreme Court upheld a central provision of Arizona's controversial immigration law on Monday -– a requirement for law enforcement to check the legal status of suspected undocumented immigrants -- a powerful corporate lobby may stand to benefit: the private prison industry.
For-profit prison companies including Corrections Corporation of America and the GEO Group Inc. have capitalized on the immigration crackdown over the past decade, now controlling nearly half of the nation's vast immigrant detention system. Both companies have more than doubled revenues from the business of detaining immigrants since 2005, collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/25/arizona-immigration-law-ruling-private-prisons-_n_1625998.html
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Guest Workers Take On Wal-Mart in Lower Manhattan
Immigrants who want to work here can come without authorization and be subjected to the harsh anti-immigrant enforcement measures exemplified by Joe Arpaio, the publicity-seeking sheriff of Arizona’s Maricopa County; or they can come “legally” as guest workers to serve at the pleasure of whatever company holds their contract.
By David L. Wilson, NYC Indymedia
July 5, 2012
Four Mexican guest workers came to New York the last weekend in June to hold a 24-hour hunger strike protesting labor practices by suppliers for the retail giant Wal-Mart.
About 20 supporters turned out for a small rally the morning of Saturday, June 30, in a semi-public park beside a luxury apartment building on Spruce Street, a few blocks from City Hall. The four Mexicans—who were employed at CJ’s Seafood, a Wal-Mart supplier in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, through the government’s H-2B temporary worker program—chose the site because Wal-Mart board member Michelle Burns lives there. [...]
Read the full article:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2012/07/119444.html
By David L. Wilson, NYC Indymedia
July 5, 2012
Four Mexican guest workers came to New York the last weekend in June to hold a 24-hour hunger strike protesting labor practices by suppliers for the retail giant Wal-Mart.
About 20 supporters turned out for a small rally the morning of Saturday, June 30, in a semi-public park beside a luxury apartment building on Spruce Street, a few blocks from City Hall. The four Mexicans—who were employed at CJ’s Seafood, a Wal-Mart supplier in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, through the government’s H-2B temporary worker program—chose the site because Wal-Mart board member Michelle Burns lives there. [...]
Read the full article:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2012/07/119444.html
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Arizona's "Barrio Defense" Rises for SCOTUS Decision on SB 1070
"For migrants in Arizona, our work has turned towards building power for and amongst ourselves.... It's time we realize we have only each other and instead of appealing to the powers-that-be, start organizing deeper in our community so that our goals are unshakable demands instead of requests." Carlos Garcia, Puente
By Jeff Biggers, Huffington Post
June 18, 2012
With defiant Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer growing more emboldened as the Supreme Court readies to unveil its ruling on the state's SB 1070 "papers, please" immigration law, Arizona human rights group Puente and their national allies are bolstering their "Barrio Defense Committees," as "neighbors link with neighbors to learn their rights and make collective plans to defend themselves."
They are also asking their fellow Arizona neighbors and politicians to take a stand. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/arizonas-barrio-defense-r_b_1605348.html
By Jeff Biggers, Huffington Post
June 18, 2012
With defiant Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer growing more emboldened as the Supreme Court readies to unveil its ruling on the state's SB 1070 "papers, please" immigration law, Arizona human rights group Puente and their national allies are bolstering their "Barrio Defense Committees," as "neighbors link with neighbors to learn their rights and make collective plans to defend themselves."
They are also asking their fellow Arizona neighbors and politicians to take a stand. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/arizonas-barrio-defense-r_b_1605348.html
Statement of Familia Latina Unida on the Supreme Court Arizona decision
Statement of Familia Latina Unida
June 26, 2012
The Supreme Court Decision strikes down most of the hated Arizona law. It stated strongly that immigration policy was in the hands of the federal government-not the states.
It left in place – and undecided – the part of the law that allows local police to ask people for papers if people are stopped for some other reason. The court said that local law enforcement would do this because they were invited to do this by the federal government, referencing the Obama administration 287g and secure communities program. The court said it would have to see how the “show your papers” worked in practice – if it showed racial profiling, if it resulted in incarceration or harassment that exceeded federal actions.
What do we think: The court puts the issue of enforcement squarely in the hands of the federal government. As we have said before, the atrocities in Arizona were brought about by the Obama administration’s 287g policy. We lost that challenge to the law because the Obama administration had provided federal cover for what they were doing - as we said all along. The court clearly said that future challenges to the show your papers part of the law could be made once the law was put into effect.
We call again for an end to the 287g program and the secure communities program which enable racial profiling, especially in states like Arizona, Alabama and South Carolina.
We call on the Obama Administation, at a minimum, to immediately establish a commission to monitor and receive complaints of racial profiling and civil rights violations which, after all, emanate from federal policies. We will continue to challenge racial profiling in immigration enforcement everywhere we find it – in the courts and in the streets.
June 26, 2012
The Supreme Court Decision strikes down most of the hated Arizona law. It stated strongly that immigration policy was in the hands of the federal government-not the states.
It left in place – and undecided – the part of the law that allows local police to ask people for papers if people are stopped for some other reason. The court said that local law enforcement would do this because they were invited to do this by the federal government, referencing the Obama administration 287g and secure communities program. The court said it would have to see how the “show your papers” worked in practice – if it showed racial profiling, if it resulted in incarceration or harassment that exceeded federal actions.
What do we think: The court puts the issue of enforcement squarely in the hands of the federal government. As we have said before, the atrocities in Arizona were brought about by the Obama administration’s 287g policy. We lost that challenge to the law because the Obama administration had provided federal cover for what they were doing - as we said all along. The court clearly said that future challenges to the show your papers part of the law could be made once the law was put into effect.
We call again for an end to the 287g program and the secure communities program which enable racial profiling, especially in states like Arizona, Alabama and South Carolina.
We call on the Obama Administation, at a minimum, to immediately establish a commission to monitor and receive complaints of racial profiling and civil rights violations which, after all, emanate from federal policies. We will continue to challenge racial profiling in immigration enforcement everywhere we find it – in the courts and in the streets.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Investigators Find Forced Labor at Louisiana Walmart Seafood Supplier
By Jorge Rivas, ColorLines
June 20 2012
An investigation by the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) has found labor law violations and inhumane treatment of workers at a Walmart seafood supplier in Louisiana.
The 37-page report published Wednesday alleges Mexican “guest workers” are forced to work shifts of up to 24 hours during peak production periods, with as few as four hours between shifts. According to the report, workers are paid 40 percent below the legal minimum wage. The WRC concluded that the totality of the abuses taking place at this employer constitute forced labor under U.S. law. [...]
Read the full article:
http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/06/investigators_find_forced_labor_at_louisiana_walmart_seafood_supplier.html
Watch a video with the workers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cVWos-FBLjQ
Sign the petition:
http://www.alignny.org/posts/uncategorized/2012/06/think-your-jobs-tough-think-again/
People in the New York metropolitan area can show support on June 30. Align NY writes:
"On Saturday June 30, guestworkers will be camping out and going without food or water for 24 hours in front of Walmart Board Member Michelle Burns' apartment in Lower Manhattan to appeal to her conscience. They will be gathering in front of Michelle Burns' residence on Spruce Street, between Williams & Nassau in Manhattan (near Pace University) at 10am to launch their fast, and they won't leave until 11am on Sunday."
June 20 2012
An investigation by the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) has found labor law violations and inhumane treatment of workers at a Walmart seafood supplier in Louisiana.
The 37-page report published Wednesday alleges Mexican “guest workers” are forced to work shifts of up to 24 hours during peak production periods, with as few as four hours between shifts. According to the report, workers are paid 40 percent below the legal minimum wage. The WRC concluded that the totality of the abuses taking place at this employer constitute forced labor under U.S. law. [...]
Read the full article:
http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/06/investigators_find_forced_labor_at_louisiana_walmart_seafood_supplier.html
Watch a video with the workers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cVWos-FBLjQ
Sign the petition:
http://www.alignny.org/posts/uncategorized/2012/06/think-your-jobs-tough-think-again/
People in the New York metropolitan area can show support on June 30. Align NY writes:
"On Saturday June 30, guestworkers will be camping out and going without food or water for 24 hours in front of Walmart Board Member Michelle Burns' apartment in Lower Manhattan to appeal to her conscience. They will be gathering in front of Michelle Burns' residence on Spruce Street, between Williams & Nassau in Manhattan (near Pace University) at 10am to launch their fast, and they won't leave until 11am on Sunday."
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