Archive for January, 2011
Update on Arizona Young Man Facing Deportation
2:51 pm By Maegan La Mala · arizona|DREAM Act|Immigration · 1 Comment
18 Jan 2011Two days ago I wrote about Pedro, the 22 year old living in Arizona who was brought here as a young child from Mexico and was facing deportation today.
Today there is a little bit of good news. Pedro was granted a 30 day window by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ‘s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency office in Phoenix, AZ to remain in the country while his case is being further reviewed.
“I now realize that the only way for me to be able to stay in Arizona, my home, is for President Obama to allow for me to stay. It is his choice whether I am deported to a country I do not know or if I am allowed to stay in Arizona and give back to my community. I ask President Obama to please let me serve this nation,” says Pedro.
In the absence of the DREAM Act, which would have allowed Pedro an opportunity to stay in the U.S., Pedro’s attorney is seeking for Pedro to be allowed to stay in the U.S. via deferred action based on the fact that he wants to enlist in the U.S. Marines.
Parents of Mexican Teen Killed by Border Patrol File Suit
9:25 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|mexico|U.S.-Mexico Border|Violence · 5 Comments
18 Jan 2011When 15 year old Sergio Adrian Hernandez-Huereca was shot and killed by the U.S. Border Patrol last summer, there was a rush to kill the Mexican youth again, by killing his reputation, by saying he deserved what he got, that is bullets to meet rocks that in all likelihood he didn’t even throw. There was a rush to label him a smuggler, a criminal, as if that justified an extralegal shooting into Mexican territory. The name of the agent that fired the lethal bullet has never been released, just like the name of the Border Patrol agent who shot and killed Ramses Barron Torres has not been released. Well the parents of Sergio Adrian Hernandez-Huereca just filed a lawsuit against the United States and this could be a step towards justice.
Justice is not the $25 million dollars asked for in the civil suit, but rather the process that goes with the civil suit that could force information from the U.S. Government, who has gone out of it’s way to protect Border Patrol Agents who kill unarmed Mexicans, perhaps in Mexican territory.
“Part of this lawsuit seeks to require the government to turn over the border camera video and see it and get a better look at it,” said Bob Hilliard, attorney for Sergio’s family.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in El Paso, names the Department of Homeland Security, The U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and an “unnamed agent” of the U.S. Border Patrol as defendants.
“The parents are hopeful that the main thing they get is an accounting of the Border Patrol’s conduct,” Hilliard said, adding he is hoping that criminal charges will be filed against the agent.
De Niro’s Golden Globe not so Golden Moment?
7:25 am By Maegan La Mala · Celebrities|Immigration · 7 Comments
18 Jan 2011There was a party at VL headquarters on Sunday so I didn’t watch the Golden Globes but today I have been seeing alot of chatter about Robert De Niro’s acceptance speech after winning the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures. What I have been reading has been a debate about if De Niro’s comments were meant as a critique of the immigration situation or a racist joke with a little (ok not so little) bit of sexism.
Martin Luther King Jr. : Peace Appropriation
8:46 am By Maegan La Mala · history|Violence · 2 Comments
17 Jan 2011On this morning, the 25th anniversary of the King Holiday, I am watching the count of how many articles mention the name of the slain civil rights leader. Dr. King is known most well for leading non-violent acts of civil disobedience and delivering rousing speeches as a path in the struggle for justice, especially, although not just for, African American communities across the United States. The Clergyman, who would have celebrated a birthday on January 15th, is held up as an example of the “right” way to do struggle and yet over the past few days, reflecting on the moment we find ourselves in and what school children and adults are taught about the Rev. King, I wonder about the appropriation of his legacy and work to fit sanitized reform agendas.
I am thinking about the horrifying shooting in Arizona and how Dr. King’s message of non-violence will me used to justify a certain level of complacency and turning a blind eye to state violence. I am thinking of days in jail and young bodies against water hoses, batons, fists, dogs and guns. All too often, when the work of Dr. King is mentioned it is in the context of non-violence and peace as if those words equaled no violence. As if the struggles before him, the struggles contemporary to him, and the struggles after him have not cost lives, blood, freedom.
Read more…
Young Arizona Man Faces Deportation
10:05 am By Maegan La Mala · arizona|DREAM Act|Immigration · 3 Comments
16 Jan 2011
22 year old Pedro was brought to the United States from Mexico when he was 7 years old by his grandmother, who raised him. The young man, who lives in Arizona and has no living relatives on either side of the border, has been told that he has until Tuesday to report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who could deport him.
You can send an electronic fax to DHS/ICE
You can add your name to the petition and make calls.
Virtual Border Fence With Mexico Cancelled
9:19 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|U.S.-Mexico Border · 1 Comment
15 Jan 2011Yesterday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that the so-called “Virtual Fence” along the U.S. Mexico border was being squashed. Since the idea was born, the 28 mile stretch of the border armed with heat sensors, radar, cameras and 9 towers to detect immigrants crossing into the U.S. just southwest of Tuscon, Arizona has been plagued with problems, the largest being it’s huge cost with no proof of effectiveness.
When the first portion of the fence was ready to go live in 2005, the cost was estimated at $20 million.
Then in February, 2008 the fence was put on hold and another $65 million was paid to Boeing to fix software problems. The final estimated cost so far, with 53 miles of the Arizona border having been “protected” with SBInet technology, is nearly $1 billion.
DHS will continue to use other methods to insure border security, including the use of drones and of course good old fashioned man power, like that used to kill Ramses Barron Torres.
Friday Fast News Links
12:01 pm By Maegan La Mala · Linking Latinos · 1 Comment
14 Jan 2011Mami’hood is making it hard for me to write anything too in depth today so for now I am giving you this quick roundup of news stories and blog posts that I think are worthy of your attention.
*Landslides in Brazil due to flooding has claimed close to 500 lives and left thousands homeless.
*Check out Alto Arizona’s A History of Hate : Political Violence in a Rogue State (Arizona).
What Would Police Accountability in NYC Look Like? Join Peoples’ Justice for a Cop Watch Training
2:58 pm By Maegan La Mala · New York City · 1 Comment
13 Jan 2011
When:Sat. Jan. 15th, 2011, 2-5 pm
Where: Center for Constitutional Rights,666 Broadway, 7th Floor
(N/R/W to 8th Street or B/D/F/V to B-Way-Laf St.)
Who Should Attend:
- Groups of 3-5 who wanna start Cop Watch teams.
- Folks who wanna learn about their rights when approached by the cops (esp. poc, youth, immigrants, trans and
queer folks).
- Folks who are tired of watching police violence in their neighborhoods.
- Folks who wanna plug into PJ’s work.
- Lawyers who want help hold the NYPD accountable to NYC communities.
- Folks who wanna talk to their communities about issues they face.
Brought to you by:
Peoples’ Justice for Community Control and Police Accountability
212.614.5343
www.peoplesjustice.org
info@peoplesjustice.org
Violence Targeting Transgender Women in Honduras Continues
11:23 am By Maegan La Mala · GLBT|honduras|Violence|Women · 2 Comments
13 Jan 2011*****May be triggering due to discussion of extreme violence**************
In the last four weeks the bodies of five transgender women in Honduras have been found. The murder of women, especially transgender women, has been on the rise following the June 28, 2009 coup. According to the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission, prior to the most recent murders, there have been 31 deaths of LGBTI people in Honduras in the last year and a half.
In the most recent incidents, the media is reporting that these women showed signs of physical and sexual assault. According to Planet Transgender :
On December 22, 2010 in Comayagüela, 23-year-old Lorenza Alexis Alvarado Hernández was found dead, her body visibly beaten and burned. There were also signs of rape and she was beaten so badly, perhaps even stoned, that it was difficult to recognize her.
The same day, Lady Oscar Martinez Salgado, age 45, was found burned to death in her home in Barrio El Rincón of Tegucigalpa. Her body showed multiple stab wounds.
Less than two weeks later, on January 2, 2011, a young transgender woman known only as Cheo was found murdered on the main street of Colonia Alameda in Tegucigalpa. Her body was left without legal documentation. She appears to have died from a severe stab wound to her chest.
NYC : Hispanic PANIC! January 26, Roots
5:37 pm By Maegan La Mala · Culture|Events|New York City · Comments Off
11 Jan 2011HISPANIC PANIC!, New York City’s avant-garde and experimental Latino reading series, has been featured on CUNY-TV’s Spanish-language culture show “Nueva York,” as well as in the Daily News. Starting the New Year on a nostalgic note—come hear and see five writers and poets discuss their “roots” via creative memoir, poetry, and fiction.
Wednesday, January 26 · 8:00pm – 10:00pm
Nowhere
322 E 14th St – btwn 1st/2nd (L train to 1st or walk from Union Sq, 2 blocks)
New York, NY
Readers include Dominican Republic-born poet and writer Jimmy Lam, Cuban-born poet and artist Orlando Ferrand, and J Skye Cabrera of the NYC Latina Writers Group. Our featured guest readers will be PANIC! reading series veteran Tod Crouch and Jani Bomba Rose of the highly-acclaimed, Bronx-based “Acentos Review and Poetry Showcase.”
Organized and hosted by Charlie Vázquez.
P.S. This is by far one of the most fun and well curated reading series that I have had the honor of participating in. Support if you can! If you can’t, spread the word.
Hola!
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
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