VivirLatino

Hurricane Dolly : Those Left Behind

11:33 H | Topics: Blogs - Immigration - Mexico - Race - Texas - Weather

Yesterday la Macha brought up some unresolved issues in terms of Hurricane Dolly, currently hitting the Mexico/Texas border.

One of the questions that many people asked in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was why did people not evacuate. For many, the answer was simple: there was no place to go. Noemi over at Hermana Resist reminds us:

Who was left behind? Who couldn’t afford to evacuate? Let’s see you need money, car, transportation. And coming from a person who lives in a place where 3-4 months out of the year is hurricane season, I could not afford to leave. I could not afford to drive off (if my car made it more than 50 miles), I could not afford hotel stays, I could not afford buying gas and food for the family of 3-5 that I support. I could not afford to leave my job everytime there was a hurricane heading to the valley, that would be 3-4 days without pay and that is half a bill, 1/8 of the rent. I never have been able to cough up the money to board up the windows, tape the windows down, go on a spending spree buying canned food, bottled water, butane, batteries. I know all the precautions of a hurricane and all the things I should buy and should. Do you know how expensive that is? People blame the parents who stayed behind in NOLA, who put their kids at risk. And I’ll tell you, they don’t know what the fuck they are talking about.

According to Hermana Resist, Border Patrol is saying that they are not going to be checking the id's of those trying to evacuate but I don't know about you, I don't trust border patrol.

In the region, levees are not expected to hold up. What is being held up are plans to build a portion of the border fence, at least until the hurricane blows over.

In the meantime, an immigrant detention center (let's just call it a jail ok?) in the area is being evacuated. But before we go giving the government props for taking care of those detained:

This is the same "detention center" (read high-security prison) that the Texas Civil Rights Review reported four female detainees suffering miscarriages due to lack of adequate medical care, in addition to a rat infestation. With the possible evacuation of migrant workers being held there due to the storm, it's important to keep a close watch on the their condition and continue to call for full accountability when human rights are violated.

You heard?

Via / The Sanctuary

Related

• What is So Scary About the Undocumented Going to College? (Monday, Jul 07 2008)
• Law Against Undocumented Struck Down in Long Island County (Tuesday, Jun 03 2008)