Photo by Ralph Isenberg, April 2006

By Nick Braune
Mid-Valley Town Crier
by permission

Over the last two months, it has become apparent to me that Homeland Security and the groups under its umbrella are deliberately making their immigration policy more mean-spirited. This was evident in a Postville, Iowa immigration raid, where almost three hundred undocumented workers were taken to the local fairgrounds for a makeshift court, found guilty and sent to prison for five months, to be followed by deportation.

This same meanness is also evident in the way the Border Wall construction is beginning in July in the Rio Grande Valley, despite overwhelming opposition by the residents. And it is evident in Operation Streamline, a machine-like, street-level enforcement policy criminalizing the undocumented.

And yesterday I received even more evidence of Homeland Security's intentionally mean and taunting stance.

A friend, Dr. Lee Basham, who teaches philosophy at South Texas College and is an independent filmmaker, sent me an email with some news that I knew had upset him quite a bit.

Basham and a history teacher colleague made a film, "Joined at the River," last year; it dealt with a little community, Candelaria, Texas, which is on the Mexico border about 130 miles southeast of El Paso. In this village of Candelaria, there was a sturdy footbridge to Mexico which local people had used for decades.

This walkway facilitated a wonderful spirit of community between the two sides of the river, a spirit which Basham's film attests to eloquently. But last week the Border Patrol sent in bulldozers, destroying the bridge.

Basham suggested I check a website reporting the incident: "Glenn's Texas History Blog," maintained by Glenn Justice. Justice reports that when he arrived, the bridge had just been torn down and the road was blocked by "heavily armed, but polite, Border Patrol" agents. They were loading the broken pieces of the bridge onto a flatbed truck.

"Across the river on the Mexican side, a few amazed locals waved back to us. It was a swift and efficient removal. Yesterday it was there, today it is gone." Justice bitterly headlined his commentary, "Candelaria Bridge is Gone: Another Brick in the Wall." I interviewed Basham about it.

Nick Braune: I checked the website you forwarded to me, and it was a shock to me too, because I have seen your documentary.

Lee Basham: I have two hours of footage of local people using the bridge to visit family and transport food.

The bridge was hand-built by local citizens and is the property of those who built it -- the communities it joined. It's a striking steel structure, partially welded out of car frames and steel cable, and it had been in place for 50 years. It joined the small town of Candelaria, with a population of maybe 50, to the slightly larger town of San Antonio Del Bravo, with a population of about 150. Both are farming communities, growing hay, onions, corn and similar crops, and pasturing herds of goats on the narrow valley floor that twists through the rugged canyon that the river cuts.

Braune: Could you tell us more about how the bridge was important?

Basham: Well, the Candelaria Bridge was used to procure gasoline (carried in 6 gallon gas-cans), milk, and medicine. And it allowed the daily visits of families and friends from both sides, as well as allowing the residents to travel to Presidio for work (some 60 miles away) and to get farming supplies. It was neither a reputed drug crossing nor a portal of illegal immigration. Its purpose and use was local traffic.

The bridge also allowed area residents to send their children to school, with the children spending their evenings or weekends at home in San Antonio Del Bravo. Finally, the bridge was the only way out for medical care in emergencies. Residents must now brave the muddy torrents, carrying their sick, crippled and injured through the river, risking drowning, if they are to get them to the care of a doctor or the services of a hospital.

Braune: Doesn't the Border Patrol know about this healthcare issue?

Basham: Sure they do. It was this healthcare issue that a Border Patrol agent (Agent Salinas, originally of McAllen), once told me had compelled the BP to leave the bridge unmolested. "It's a humanitarian duty", Salinas remarked. "People could die if they didn't have the bridge to use during high water." These statements were made in an interview conducted by me two years ago.

So, apparently, that sacred duty--to save lives--no longer interests the US Border Patrol in the Marfa sector of West Texas. Let them die, or drown trying to live. This is the new policy in effect there. Local residents, Anglo and Hispanic, are horrified.

I was arrested unexpected like. I was sitting in a folding chair outside the Reception Room of the General Consulate of India. I had brought the folding chair from the house I was staying in and I had my poster with Day 15 of a hunger strike posted and leaning against the wall. An armful of flyiers was in my lap and I had already passed out about forty. Very interesting reception that I was getting. Almost every Indian I talked with acted totally surprised that the situation in Bhopal still existed. Yes, it does, I said. 30 Bhopalis are dying a month from that release in l984. Over 25,000 dealths. Over 8 times the amount of Americans that were killed during 9-11. And the USA invaded two countries over that one!

That's Diane Wilson blogging there. She wrote two blog posts about her civil mischief up at the Indian Consulate offices in Houston, and then they had her arrested. Now she's back from the seventh circle of hell and blogging about that, too. Once again, the moral leader of the Laguna Madre (and co-mother of CODEPINK) is peeking into the dark spaces of jailhouse rot. Grrrl don't miss a moment!

NOTE: We posted a comment to Diane's blog about how the report from the Harris County Jail was like Beatrice grabbing Dante by the ankle and taking him straight down to seventh hell (from the lofty consulate, no less).

Diane replied: "yep, it was indeed hell. Ive been in a few Jails but Harris County has its own peticular brutality. Not just the conditions of the jails, but the damaging way they treat prisoners -- many many who have not seen a court or a lawyer yet. not charged with a crime. There's an investigation going on but i wonder if they will be steadfast enough to see through the jail's attempt at coverup."

The death toll at the Harris County Jail, and the death toll from Dow / Carbide poison at Bhopal -- global miseries linked across the bridge of Diane Wilson's back. Who will be steadfast enough to lift us from these miseries? -- gm

Keywords: Carbide Dow Bhopal Poisoning Harris County Jail Terrors Carbide Dow Bhopal Poisoning Harris County Jail Terror Carbide Dow Bhopal Poisoning Harris County Jail Terror . . .

Email from Bob Libal, Grass Roots Leadership--gm

[On Tuesday] Marc Moore of Immigration and Customs Enforcement wrote a letter to the Dallas Morning News defending the T. Don Hutto family detention center. The letter was written in response to a terrific op-ed authored by University of Texas Professor Barbara Hines in last Monday's Morning News arguing that ICE's three new proposed family detention centers are an inappropriate response to immigrant families, especially given the troubled history of T. Don Hutto. Both Professor Hines' op-ed and Mr. Moore's letter are below in their entirety.

Please take the time today, if possible, to write a letter to the Dallas Morning News stressing the inappropriate nature of family detention and Hutto. Letters can be sent using the site's online form, and should be 50-200 words in length. Letters can include the following points:

1) Detention of immigrant children and their families is inappropriate, costly, and inhumane. The experience at Hutto, a converted medium security prison operated by a private prison corporation where children as young as infants have been held with their parents, demonstrates that detention of families is a tragic response to the immigration issue. In addition, at an estimated cost of more than $200 a day per detainee at Hutto, the financial cost of such detention is unreasonably high, especially when more humane and cost-effective alternatives exist.

2) Congress has called on ICE to fund alternatives to family detention, saying that detention of immigrant children and their families should be the last alternative, not the first. ICE should be listening to the wishes of Congress and implementing alternatives to detention rather than soliciting new family detention centers. These alternative to detention programs are effective at ensuring that immigrants return to their immigration hearings and are much less costly than detention.

Thank you for your continued efforts to end family detention and close the T. Don Hutto detention center.

--

Bob Libal
Grassroots Leadership
Austin, Texas
www.grassrootsleadership.org

Check out www.texasprisonbidness.org for news and info on the private prison industry in Texas.

*****

Barbara Hines: New ICE family detention centers a step in wrong direction

June 16, 2008

The federal government's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is accepting bids today for contracts to construct three new privately run detention centers across the country for children and their families awaiting immigration proceedings.

These facilities, each to be built with up to 200 beds, will expand the system of family detention made controversial in recent years at the T. Don Hutto detention center in Taylor, Texas.

The proposal for new centers is a step in the wrong direction. Congress has repeatedly called on ICE, the agency within the Department of Homeland Security responsible for immigration matters, to implement alternatives to detention programs for families, stating that detention of families should be the last alternative and not the first.

In 2006, when I first went to Hutto, I was appalled by the living conditions. Children as young as infants, along with their families, were detained in a converted medium-security prison run by the Corrections Corporation of America, a for-profit prison management corporation. Children received one hour of education a day and wore prison uniforms. They were required to be in their cells for long periods during the day to be present for multiple cell counts.

Many of the detainees at Hutto have come to the United States fleeing persecution or social turmoil -- asylum seekers fleeing civil conflict in Eastern Africa, Iraqi Christians targeted by fundamentalists and Central Americans seeking refuge from drug, gang and domestic violence. No detainee has been accused of a crime.

The psychological toll on children in detention is significant. Often already traumatized by conditions in their home countries and the process of being uprooted during migration, children and parents at Hutto reported being threatened with separation from one another as a disciplinary measure.

After widespread public advocacy against the facility, national media attention, a lawsuit and a settlement, conditions at the facility are significantly better. Children no longer wear prison scrubs, and they now receive seven hours of education a day. Also, they remain at the detention center for a significantly shorter amount of time.

Fundamentally, however, family detention remains an inappropriate response to asylum seekers and immigrant parents and children. Advocates continue to be concerned about news reports from Hutto, such as an alleged sexual assault of a detainee by a guard and the separation of a child from her mother for four days. Both incidents occurred last year.

Alternatives to detention include community-based, homelike shelters that provide access to counseling and legal services. Intensive-supervision programs also keep families together and out of detention. In fact, alternatives to detention programs have proved effective at ensuring that immigrants appear for their court hearings through a combination of telephone reporting and home visits. These programs are also substantially more cost-effective than detention.

One study by the Vera Institute found that more than 90 percent of immigrants on a supervised release program attended their immigration hearings. The average cost of a supervision program was $12 a day, compared with $61 a day to detain an immigrant. The cost savings are likely more pronounced in the context of family detention, which is more expensive than detaining adult immigrants.

Instead of contracting the construction of more family detention centers, ICE should seriously invest in alternatives to detention programs.

Barbara Hines is a clinical professor of law and director of the Immigration Clinic at The University of Texas School of Law. She was co-counsel -- along with the national ACLU, the ACLU of Texas and the law firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene and McRae -- in the lawsuit challenging conditions at Hutto. Her e-mail address is bhines@law.utexas.edu.

*****

Hutto center picture incomplete

Re: "There's a better way – ICE should not be accepting bids to build new family detention centers, says Barbara Hines," last Monday Viewpoints.

Since its inception, the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Center has been a safe and humane alternative to separating the families who enter the country illegally.

Many positive changes have been made. Families have access to high-quality medical, mental health and dental care 24 hours a day. Children attend school seven hours a day with state-certified teachers who provide a curriculum based on state standards. There are many recreational and social activities for all residents and few restrictions on movement throughout the facility.

Many of the conditions mentioned in the column have not existed for some time. The razor-wire fence shown in the picture accompanying the column was removed more than a year ago. ICE has taken a proactive approach to enhancing the facility since it opened. Many of the improvements were in place, under way or planned before the lawsuit referred to in the column was filed.

Marc J. Moore, field office director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, San Antonio

Press Release

HOUSTON -- Police arrested activist Diane Wilson Monday at the Indian Consulate in Houston. Wilson is on an indefinite fast in solidarity with nine survivors of the Uni*n Carbide Gas Disaster in New Delhi, India.

Through her actions, Wilson, a fourth generation fisherwoman, has urged the Government of India to fulfill the survivor's demands for clean water, health care and justice. She refers to the survivors "my sisters and brothers," as she is also from a community polluted by Dow/Carbide in Seadrift, Texas.

On December 3rd, 1984, thousands of people in Bhopal, India, were gassed to death after a catastrophic chemical leak at a Uni*n Carbide pesticide plant; thousands more are now being poisoned by toxic waste from the abandoned factory site. Wilson believes firmly that the Indian government and Carbide parent company Dow Chemical must be held accountable for the ongoing disaster there.

Diane Wilson summed up her commitment to justice and connection the Bhopal survivors: "As one of the Bhopalis said, 'What else can people do when their government ignores their pain and cries of injustice? Agitate, agitate!'"

Diane's fast is part of an ongoing Global Fasting Relay, which is being supported by nearly 400 concerned individuals in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and India. (The full list of fasters available at www.bhopal.net) In North America, actions have taken place in Boston, San Francisco and Toronto, with further action planned at the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC. The brave yet perilous decision to begin an indefinite fast has been undertaken by Wilson and others only after numerous unsuccessful attempts to focus the attention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh toward the grave situation in Bhopal.

Diane Wilson, a mother of five, became aware of the Dow/Carbide crimes in Bhopal after learning her own Texas County, located near several chemical plants including a Carbide/Dow plant, was the most polluted in the US. After Ms. Wilson was arrested after a protest at her local Dow facility, she toured the country refusing to go to jail until the former CEO of Uni*n Carbide was jailed. Former Carbide CEO Warren Anderson jumped bail after the Bhopal Disaster and has refused to face manslaughter charges in India.

Survivors are demanding the establishment of a special commission to deal with the issues that still plague the people of Bhopal. They are also demanding that the Prime Minister hold Dow Chemical legally liable, following Dow's purchase of the initial disaster offender, Uni*n Carbide, in 2001. Though survivors have gained support from many influential lawmakers, as well as the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, the Prime Minister Singh has not budged from his ongoing support of this rogue chemical company.

Nearly half a million people were exposed to poisonous methyl isocyanate during a runaway chemical reaction at the Uni*n Carbide plant in Bhopal in 1984. Since then, more than 22,000 people have died and 150,000 survivors continue to be chronically ill, as the Indian government and Dow have repeatedly failed to address their liabilities in the atrocities of the world's worst industrial disaster.

The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) is a coalition of people's organizations, non-profit groups and individuals who have joined forces to campaign for justice for the survivors of the gas leak. The Campaign for Justice in Bhopal is active in more than 20 cities in the US, UK, France and India.

To view who has signed up for the fast worldwide, visit www.bhopal.net/2008hungerfast.html.

For more information about the history of the gas disaster, visit the following websites: www.bhopal.net, www.studentsforbhopal.org, and www.truthaboutdow.org

By Nick Braune
Mid-Valley Town Crier
by permission

In my recent columns a theme has emerged: how ICE, Border Patrol and other Homeland Security agencies have been criminalizing the immigrant population, from raids in Iowa's meatpacking plants to "Operation Streamline" in Brownsville.

Yesterday I received a call from a colleague of mine, Caren Smith. She wondered if I would be interested in another little story about our bureaucratic, mean-spirited, governmental operations. "Surely," I said.

Ms. Smith, who is also the new president of the Unitarian Universalist Church in San Juan, got an email request from a Unitarian in Europe: Could someone contact a young fellow who is being held unfairly? He is in a Raymondville, Texas detention center, run by ICE (Immigration/Customs Enforcement). I interviewed Ms. Smith.

Nick Braune: Yesterday you mentioned that this young fellow from Europe is an artist, travelling around the country to network with fellow artists.

Caren Smith: Yes, his name is Dutch [not his real name], and he's a 26-year-old who came here to travel and learn more about independent film-making. His visa had expired recently and he was intending to renew it when he was picked up in western Texas and shuttled to Raymondville early in May. Dutch was actually waiting for a check from home, as I understand it, to pay the fee to extend the visa. He was on his way to a youth hostel in New Mexico.

Dutch has been incarcerated now -- excuse me, they use the word "detained" -- since that time. Those of us at the church did not know him -- we only got wind of his presence in Raymondville from the Unitarian overseas who emailed me -- but our group wanted to help, so off we went from the church trying to at the least support this young man through visits.

Braune: I have protested outside that Raymondville (Willacy County) center several times, and last year there was a tornado of bad publicity about it: spoiled food, mismanagement, financial shenanigans, etc. But I've never been inside -- what's it like?

Smith: The visitation environment is utterly ridiculous: Dutch was kept behind a glass wall that holds a malfunctioning microphone -- it all looks like something out of a black-and-white film noir -- you expect Edward G. Robinson to appear any minute.

Braune: The glass wall separating visitors is more evidence that Homeland Security is off kilter. When someone is out of compliance on their visa, it has always been a civil offence not a criminal offence. These detention centers -- Raymondville's holds two or three thousand people at a time -- are not for convicted criminals or even accused criminals awaiting trial.

I remember the 1960s and '70s, when there used to be thousands of European young people traveling around the country. One would see them at tourist places and universities. Now apparently they are treated as criminals.

Smith: Yes, and it has really depressed Dutch, of course. He told us that when they took him to the airport, ICE officers had him handcuffed and foot-shackled. He had a visa, remember, and was simply late renewing it. He wasn't arrested for assault or accused of stealing something. He felt totally humiliated.

My son, a Galveston Police Detective, once transported a murderer from Pennsylvania back to Texas for arraignment, and he did not shackle him in the airport. Trying not to draw attention to the convict, they purchased a sweat-suit top with a front pocket where he could hide the fact that he was handcuffed. This protected their mission from the press, the general public, and so forth, and the arrested party was respected as a human being.

Braune: Any other signs of mean-spiritedness?

Smith: Yes. Thanks for letting me vent. First, Dutch is discouraged and was supposed to have been sent home on June 18th -- he has a ticket -- but they have postponed it until they can have a marshal available to escort him.

Second, Dutch's mother in Europe has been worried about his psychological state -- he is depressed and had a brother who committed suicide. Our fellowship includes one of the Valley's finest psychologists, who asked to visit Dutch, but the detention center has been stalling his visit. Why?

Third, despite filling out the proper forms, Dutch has not been to the library -- nothing to read for six weeks -- nor has he seen the chaplain.

Fourth, we saw a sign, as we entered the Raymondville center, warning people not to come in if they were susceptible to chickenpox. (Exposure to chickenpox can severely affect the unborn.) We saw several pregnant women visitors, and we've heard that pregnant women are detained there.

Braune: Thank you. And I applaud your activist church group.

Back in May, Jay Johnson-Castro was walking through Arizona, talking about a federal plan called "Operation Endgame" to remove every last undocumented migrant from the USA. Meanwhile, Operation Streamline had been well underway -- a federal program developed in Del Rio, Texas, that sentences undocumented migrants to one month in jail before they are shipped back home. In March, the monthly total of migrants prosecuted had reached a record 9,350 per month, "up by almost 50% from the previous month and 73% from the previous year" says the TRAC project of Syracuse Univ. Many of the new detention facilities along the border are operated for shareholder profit. Below is a series of clips about the campaign to produce a nation for profit only:--gm

The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2008 the government reported 4739 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 21.6% over the previous month, [and represents the largest monthly number of such prosecutions in the past seven years].

Virtually all federal criminal prosecutions for immigration offenses in January 2008 (99 percent) were referred by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The two lead investigative agencies in DHS are Customs and Border Protection (CBP) whose border patrol agencies guard the county's borders, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), responsible for conducting most immigration criminal investigations under the immigration laws.

In January 2008, 67 percent of immigration cases for these matters took place in U.S. Magistrate Courts which handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In the magistrate courts in January the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 involving the "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc.". This was the lead charge for 56 percent of all magistrate filings in January. Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "8 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (35.3%), "8 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" (5.8%).

The Southern District of Texas (Houston)—with 354 prosecutions—was the most active during January 2008. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.

"Immigration Prosecutions for January 2008," TRAC, Syracuse Univ. (Apr. 30, 2008).

"The private prison industry was on the verge of bankruptcy in the late 1990s, until the feds bailed them out with the immigration-detention contracts," said Michele Deitch, an expert on prison privatization with the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin.

Tougher immigration laws turn the ailing private prison sector into a revenue maker. By Leslie Berestein. San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER (May 4, 2008)

No government body is required to keep track of deaths [of immigrants in detention] and publicly report them. No independent inquiry is mandated. And often relatives who try to investigate the treatment of those who died say they are stymied by fear of immigration authorities, lack of access to lawyers, or sheer distance.

Few Details on Immigrants Who Died in Custody. By NINA BERNSTEIN. New York Times. Published: May 5, 2008

So it was no surprise that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials were upset about a four-part series that ran May 11-14, about the health care of immigrant detainees.

Veteran reporters Dana Priest and Amy Goldstein detailed mistakes that led to some of the 83 detainee deaths in the past five years, showed serious gaps in mental health treatment, suicides that could have been prevented and the medically unnecessary drugging of deportees for the trip back to their home countries. Immigrant health care is managed by ICE's Division of Immigration Health Services.

"An Investigation Raises Ire at ICE," By Deborah Howell. The Washington Post (Sunday, June 8, 2008; Page B06)

In 2007, the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) rounded up more than 30,000 immigrants in raids. While more than 186,000 immigrants were deported in 2006, an alarming 300,000 were detained in immigrant detention centers, such as the T. Don Hutto Center in Taylor, in 2007 alone. According to ICE, the purpose of immigrant detention centers is to "detain and remove criminal and other deportable aliens ... in part of the strategy to deter illegal immigration and protect public safety."

Put for-profit detention centers on ICE. By Ulylesia Thompson, Carla Bates & Sarah Robinson. The Daily Texan (4/30/08).

The federal government is accepting bids for up to three new family detention centers that would house as many as 600 men, women and children fighting deportation cases.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a call for proposals last month and set June 16 as the deadline. New facilities are being considered on both coasts and on the Southwestern border. The agency calls for minimum-security residential facilities that would provide a "least restrictive, nonsecure setting" and provide schooling for children, recreational activities and access to religious services.

Immigration agency plans new family detention centers: The federal ICE, which already runs two such facilities, is taking bids for as many as three more. Critics say detaining families is punitive and unnecessary. By Anna Gorman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer (May 18, 2008).

It would be ludicrously gullible to swallow the government propaganda that "The need to imprison families stems from the presence of so many illegal families sneaking across the border or hiding in the United States."

In truth, the "need" to imprison families stems from the "need" of congress members and the executive branch to deliver taxpayers' money to prison for profit corporations like Wackenhut and CCCA, that buy their elections, to build more prisons and fill them up, so the politicians can continue to send our money to the prison profiteers, so they can continue buying the politicians, and so goes the cycle.

Of course, the for-profit prisons are not the only pigs that our government slops at the tax trough. But in combination with other special interests like money lenders and war profiteers, they use the media to keep us taxpayers in a frenzy of hate and xenophobia, so that when we go to the grocery store or the gas pump or pay the electric bill we will not think straight about what they are doing with our money.

John Wheat Gibson
via email (May 19, 2008).

WATERLOO, Iowa — In temporary courtrooms at a fairgrounds here, 270 illegal immigrants were sentenced this week to five months in prison for working at a meatpacking plant with false documents.

The prosecutions, which ended Friday, signal a sharp escalation in the Bush administration’s crackdown on illegal workers, with prosecutors bringing tough federal criminal charges against most of the immigrants arrested in a May 12 raid. Until now, unauthorized workers have generally been detained by immigration officials for civil violations and rapidly deported.

"270 Illegal Immigrants Sent to Prison in Federal Push." By JULIA PRESTON. New York Times. Published: May 24, 2008.

The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2008 the government reported 7251 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 82.9% over the previous month.

Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 56.6 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 that involves " Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—156.4 percent—was registered for prosecutions under " Fraud and related activity - id documents " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 ).

The Southern District of Texas (Houston)—with 338 prosecutions—was the most active during February 2008. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.

The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five years ago.

"Immigration Prosecutions for February 2008," TRAC, Syracuse Univ. (May, 2008).

In recent years, about three to five people a month were charged in U.S. District Court in Austin with returning to the United States after deportation. In March . . . 17 people were charged with the crime in federal court in Austin, according to an American-Statesman review of cases.

In April, federal prosecutors in Austin charged 21 people with illegally re-entering the United States after deportation, and this month they have charged 25, according to the review. A total of eight people were charged in January and February.

"More illegal immigrants are being charged criminally in Austin: Prison time comes before deportation for some," By Steven Kreytak, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF (Wednesday, May 28, 2008)

Although Operation Streamline has raised criticism in other places like Del Rio, the Valley Morning Star says that it is now hitting our Valley. "The Border Patrol rolled out the policy Monday (June 9) along a four-mile stretch of Cameron County's border with Mexico from Brownsville to Fort Brown."

"Formerly, first time offenders were offered the option of voluntary deportation and were processed, put on a bus and sent back to Mexico within hours of their arrest." But under Operation Streamline they will be "detained, sent to court, jailed for up to 180 days if found guilty, and then deported."

In Del Rio where this policy was recently tried, one federal Public Defender, William Fry, was quoted as worrying about due process. "We get a case on Wednesday and the court expects us to be ready to go by Friday. That's not enough time to adequately represent a client."

"Operation Streamline Criminalizes the Rio Grande Valley," Nick Braune, Texas Civil Rights Review (June 16, 2008)

Federal immigration prosecutions continued their recent and highly unusual surge in March 2008, apparently reaching an all-time high, according to timely data obtained from the Justice Department by TRAC. The total of 9,350 such prosecutions was up by almost 50% from the previous month and 73% from the previous year.

The data further show that virtually every one of the individuals referred by the investigative agencies for prosecution -- 99% of them -- are then being charged by the U.S. Attorneys, and that the resulting median or typical sentence is one month.

Surge in Immigration Prosecutions Continues." TRAC Immigration. Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (trac.syr.edu: June 17, 2008)

The history -- oops, I mean the HERstory -- of Texas blogging just got a new pair of boots, with today's debut of Diane Wilson's blog, Diane4justice, at wordpress.com.

Her debut post, not counting "Hello World" on June 15, was a June 19th (yes Juneteenth) report on her mischief up at the offices of the Indian Consulate in Houston.

Her diplomatic mission was to raise up the need for more governmental attention to the surviving community of the Bhopal chemical disaster caused by Diane's hometown nemesis Uni*n Carbide.

The Consul agreed to meet with Diane, and he explained to her how there were "constraints." To which our "Unreasonable Woman" responds:

Everybody knew the constraints. The whole world knew. its like a big fat elephant in a small room and nobody wants to talk about the elephant. Goes something like this (this is my thinking, here) the corporate world and the US government does not care to have corporate killings and environmental mayhem took to task in another country. They’re thinking, Hey we brought our company down here. Now give us a free license to do what we will. That way all involved will make a profit. Oh well, not the poor and not the disfranchised. No! The important people! Besides if Uni*n Carbide and Dow are brought to task for this horrendous crime, doesn’t that mean that other foreign corporations that create a mess will be brought to task?? Well, that wouldn’t do! That would set a precedent!

Here's the link, grrrlfriend. What the heck do you suppose she'll do next? Now we get the double thrill of following her thinking, too! --gm

Excerpt from Concurring Opinion of Justice Stevens in the March 25, 2008 ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in the matter of Medellin v. Texas.

In today's breaking news, Mexico is renewing appeal to the International Court of Justice (or World Court) to halt the U.S. executions of five Mexican nationals until their cases are reviewed to determine what impact may have resulted from their not having been advised of their rights to assistance from the Mexico consulate offices.

So far, Texas is refusing to acknowledge that a review of the denied rights is appropriate, because procedural rules require issues to be raised earlier. In March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that neither the World Court nor the President of the USA can order Texas to adjust its procedures in relation to Mexican nationals on death row.

However, in a concurring opinion, excerpted below (with paragraph breaks added for readability), Justice Stevens argues that Texas still has good reasons to want to do the right thing and reopen the cases to assess the impact that Consular representation may have had.

Even though the [International Court of Justice's] ICJ's judgment in Avena is not "the supreme Law of the Land," U. S. Const., Art. VI, cl. 2, no one disputes that it constitutes an international law obligation on the part of the United States. Ante, at 8. By issuing a memorandum declaring that state courts should give effect to the judgment in Avena, the President made a commendable attempt to induce the States to discharge the Nation's obligation.

I agree with the Texas judges and the majority of this Court that the President's memorandum is not binding law. Nonetheless, the fact that the President cannot legislate unilaterally does not absolve the United States from its promise to take action necessary to comply with the ICJ's judgment.

Under the express terms of the Supremacy Clause, the United States' obligation to "undertak[e] to comply" with the ICJ's decision falls on each of the States as well as the Federal Government. One consequence of our form of government is that sometimes States must shoulder the primary responsibility for protecting the honor and integrity of the Nation.

Texas' duty in this respect is all the greater since it was Texas that—by failing to provide consular notice in accordance with the Vienna Convention -- ensnared the United States in the current controversy. Having already put the Nation in breach of one treaty, it is now up to Texas to prevent the breach of another.

The decision in Avena merely obligates the United States "to provide, by means of its own choosing, review and reconsideration of the convictions and sentences of the [affected] Mexican nationals," 2004 I. C. J., at 72, ¶153(9), "with a view to ascertaining" whether the failure to provide proper notice to consular officials "caused actual prejudice to the defendant in the process of administration of criminal justice," id., at 60, ¶121.

The cost to Texas of complying with Avena would be minimal, particularly given the remote likelihood that the violation of the Vienna Convention actually prejudiced José Ernesto Medellín. See ante, at 4–6, and n. 1. It is a cost that the State of Oklahoma unhesitatingly assumed.4

On the other hand, the costs of refusing to respect the ICJ's judgment are significant. The entire Court and the President agree that breach will jeopardize the United States' "plainly compelling" interests in "ensuring the reciprocal observance of the Vienna Convention, protecting relations with foreign governments, and demonstrating commitment to the role of international law." Ante, at 28. When the honor of the Nation is balanced against the modest cost of compliance, Texas would do well to recognize that more is at stake than whether judgments of the ICJ, and the principled admonitions of the President of the United States, trump state procedural rules in the absence of implementing legislation.

The Court's judgment, which I join, does not foreclose further appropriate action by the State of Texas.

We agree with Justice Stevens that Texas is behaving badly in its stubborn refusal to give hearing to the rights of Mexican nationals. And as Justice Stevens warned, here we go again. Texas stubbornness is the cause of another appeal to the World Court.

To all this we only have one thing more to say: Texas, of all states in the USA, should assume moral leadership when it comes to respecting the international rights of Mexico and Mexican citizens.--gm

From email, June 17, 2008--gm

Federal immigration prosecutions continued their recent and highly unusual surge in March 2008, apparently reaching an all-time high, according to timely data obtained from the Justice Department by TRAC. The total of 9,350 such prosecutions was up by almost 50% from the previous month and 73% from the previous year.

The spurt in the prosecution of individuals charged with various immigration crimes is the result of "Operation Streamline." Under this recently intensified administration policy, according to news reports and interviews with federal public defenders, the government has charged a rapidly growing number of undocumented aliens with various federal criminal charges, almost all in selected districts along the Mexican border. "Operation Streamline" began as a pilot project in December 2005 in Del Rio, Texas.

The data further show that virtually every one of the individuals referred by the investigative agencies for prosecution -- 99% of them -- are then being charged by the U.S. Attorneys, and that the resulting median or typical sentence is one month.

To read the latest TRAC immigration report, go to:

http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/188/

By Nick Braune

I noticed that an activist friend of mine was quoted in an article, and the issues being raised seemed very important. I called Martha Sanchez at her office in Mission and asked for a quick interview. She is an organizer for La Uni*n del Pueblo Entero (LUPE).

Nick Braune: I noticed in the Rio Grande Guardian that you and Juanita Valdez-Cox, the LUPE director, have been meeting with police officials recently about enforcement practices. What is the problem you are trying to resolve?

Martha Sanchez: We met with the police chiefs of La Joya, Peñitas, and Palmview because we had received phone calls from our members with complaints of incidents where the police had stopped people for traffic violations and then called the Border Patrol. We are trying to let the police chiefs know that we are active advocates for our members. We also want to provide a dialogue between the police and members so that our members will not be afraid of them.

Braune: If I understand this right, you are hoping that the local police do not see their role as enforcing immigration laws. Is that a major issue?

Sanchez: We remind them of their real role to protect and serve, which is not to do the work of immigration. And we explain to them that when they act as immigration officers, they lose the confidence of the people, and these people will be less likely to call on the police when major crimes and emergencies happen.

Braune: What is the concern about driver's licenses and the LUPE cards?

Sanchez: Many working people we advocate for don't have an ID. We are offering our membership cards as an alternative; this way the police can identify the individual instead of simply calling the Border Patrol as some of the departments were doing.

Braune: I read in the Valley Morning Star today about Operation Streamline starting up near Brownsville, and I was shocked. The paper made it clear to me that it is a major Border Patrol sweep, and it is not just sending immigrants back home for being out of compliance in their paperwork. Operation Streamline intends to hit the undocumented with criminal charges and apparently intends to send many tens of thousands more to prison, for periods of up to six months, before deportation. And I loved Juanita Valdez-Cox's comment in the Guardian that it would make the private jail companies rich. Any more comments on this Operation Streamline?

Sanchez: About Operation Streamline, we are asking this: Who is going to be making money on these jails? And we make the further point that we are all going to suffer with the shortage of workers. Who is going to pick the crops and who is going to clean the dishes in the restaurants? Who is going to take care of the children when we work outside of home? We hope that everybody knows we will have to pay more money for services if Operation Streamline takes hold. But the big issue is this: When the government slaps more and more people with criminal charges, this will make it impossible for these undocumented workers to ever have a chance of getting legitimate work papers, because they will then have a criminal record.

An article in Harlingen's Valley Morning Star on June 11 reports that the new policy intends "criminal prosecution of every migrant caught crossing the border without documentation," and the article calls it a "zero-tolerance" deterrence policy. (I personally consider both "zero tolerance" enforcement and "deterrence" generally to be ethically problematic, but I'll hold that thought.)

Although Operation Streamline has raised criticism in other places like Del Rio, the Valley Morning Star says that it is now hitting our Valley. "The Border Patrol rolled out the policy Monday along a four-mile stretch of Cameron County's border with Mexico from Brownsville to Fort Brown."

"Formerly, first time offenders were offered the option of voluntary deportation and were processed, put on a bus and sent back to Mexico within hours of their arrest." But under Operation Streamline they will be "detained, sent to court, jailed for up to 180 days if found guilty, and then deported."

In Del Rio where this policy was recently tried, one federal Public Defender, William Fry, was quoted as worrying about due process. "We get a case on Wednesday and the court expects us to be ready to go by Friday. That's not enough time to adequately represent a client."

I called Meredith Linsky, a Harlingen attorney practicing immigration defense law:

Braune: What did you think of the report in the Valley Morning Star?

Meredith Linsky: I am greatly dismayed by the expansion of Operation Streamline. Our country has clearly made a priority of criminalizing immigrants and their efforts to seek work, opportunity and a better future. What would this country look like if this had been done to our parents, our grandparents and our great-grandparents? There needs to be some recognition of the push and pull effects of immigration. If we want to stop illegal immigration, we should invest in Mexico and Central America and punish the employers who provide jobs to undocumented workers.

Braune: The Border Patrol's streamlined, "zero tolerance," deterrence policy seems like a mess-maker to me. Do you agree?

Linsky: Yes, expanding law enforcement efforts like Operation Streamline causes needless suffering, including painful separation of families, and it will cost the American taxpayers millions of dollars. Although illegal entry is a crime on the books, the people who enter illegally are usually economic migrants and asylum seekers who come to this country seeking hope, promise and protection. America needs to recognize its own roots and find a legal way to meet the needs of employers and citizens from impoverished nations.

NOTE: a breifer version of this article first appeared in the Mid-Valley Town Crier.--gm

Ramiro R. Muniz - 40288-115
FCI El Reno
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 1500
El Reno, OK 73036

(Walt Harrison / Winston Smith Media)

Hutto:
First Anniversary Vigil
Dec. 16, 2007

Faten and Maryam Ibrahim

June 23, 2007
(Photo by Walt Harrison)

Also: See Slide Show from the Prisons for Profit Blog

Neighbors Say Never
(Photo by Jay J. Johnson-Castro)

Hutto Jail for Children, Women, and Profit
(Taylor, TX)
Photo by Jay Johnson-Castro