2:38 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Obama|Politics|U.S.-Mexico Border · 2 Comments
12 Aug 2010
The Democratic led Senate interrupted their summer recess in order to interrupt the lives of countless undocumented immigrants, those suspected of being undocumented immigrants, and those living on either side of the U.S. Mexico frontera.
The Senate approved a $600-million border security bill Thursday morning, sending President Obama his request for 1,500 more troops and immigration officials to beef up security along the border with Mexico…The bill passed without dissent
The National Guard troops that will be deployed to the border have received their orders.And President Obama happily put more boots on the ground and boots on the backs of immigrant communities by signing the bill into law.
9:41 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Politics|Secure Communities|U.S.-Mexico Border · 2 Comments
11 Aug 2010Detain, Deport, and Disappear seems to be the official policy of the Obama administration and the Department of Homeland Security when it comes to immigration. It doesn’t need to be spoken or called that officially. All the community needs to do is look at the recent actions coming out of D.C. and reverberating throughout the country.
Just yesterday I wrote about some of the stats regarding the number of deported under Obama’s expansion of the Secure Communities program. Unfortunately, things have gone from bad to worse, with Secure Communities being expanded, specifically in southern border states, and with the U.S. House of Representatives agreeing to pump $600 million for security along the U.S Mexican border. What’s in the House Bill?
The bill includes $176 million for 1,000 new border patrol agents to form a strike force to be deployed at critical areas, $89 million for another 500 customs and immigration personnel, and $32 million to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles or drones.
It also provides $196 million for the Justice Department to bolster its forces of U.S. marshals, and FBI, DEA and ATF agents along the border.
6:33 am By Maegan La Mala · arizona|Immigration|U.S.-Mexico Border · 5 Comments
29 Jul 2010…but not in the way the media or anti-immigrant organizations and individuals would have you believe. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer claims that SB1070 will make the state safer. Today, SB1070 goes into effect, putting the freedom of Latinos and those who look “Latino” or “illegal” at risk. Despite the fact that SB1070′s precursor, Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s use of 287(g), saw an increase in crime in Maricopa County.
Additionally, in just a few days, those 1,200 National Guard troops that President Obama ordered to la Frontera will be deployed. Over 500 of those will be in Arizona.
The partial injunction still allows it to be a crime to be “harboring or transporting” an undocumented portion. So if you’re driving your browner prima down the road, ten cuidado.
The partial injunction still creates a criminal charge for “stopping a motor vehicle to pick up day laborers and for day laborers to get in a motor vehicle if it impedes the normal movement of traffic” And you know how those day laborers ALWAYS stop traffic. Remember Oyster Bay?
Stay safe gente.
6:10 am By Maegan La Mala · Fashion|U.S.-Mexico Border|Violence|Women · 19 Comments
20 Jul 2010It may be old news already for some, since MAC & Rodarte have officially apologized for their Fall 2010 fashion and makeup collection based on what the designers felt and thought they saw in the border city of Juarez.
The blushes, lip glosses, eyeshadows and nail polishes were given names like “factory,” “Juarez,” “Ghost town,” “del Norte,” and “quinceanera” and look like this:
The models bear no resemblance to the hijas mourned over, hijas like Solangie Medina.

1:03 pm By la Macha · U.S.-Mexico Border|Violence|youth · 3 Comments
15 Jun 2010
I’m still waiting for the day when all the “obey every single law at any cost” people demand that the as yet unnamed agent be handed over to the Mexican police so that he may receive his just punishment. It doesn’t matter how angry it makes him that he can’t shoot people on the other side of the border (even if they are drug smugglers!) it is the law. And he apparently broke it.
An official story soon came out. The Border Patrol claimed that reports of the incident indicated U.S. officers on bicycle patrol “were assaulted with rocks by an unknown number of people.” Border Patrol and other government officials claimed that their agent was surrounded by a rock-throwing mob and that the agent was attacked and stoned before he fired his weapon.
A video taken with a cell phone proved this account to be full of lies. CNN reported on its web-site that “a video obtained by CNN casts doubt on the Border Patrol agent’s claim that he was surrounded by rock-throwing suspected illegal immigrants when he fatally shot the boy on the border at Ciudad Juarez. … The video contradicts [FBI spokeswoman Andrea] Simmons’ account. She had said: ‘This agent, who had the second subject detained on the ground, gave verbal commands to the remaining subjects to stop and retreat. However, the subjects surrounded the agent and continued to throw rocks at him. The agent then fired his service weapon several times, striking one subject who later died.’”
The video clearly shows that no one is “surrounding” the cop. He is clearly seen pointing his weapon at a group of people who are on the Mexican side of the river, which at this time of year in Juarez/El Paso is mainly dry, and 10 feet wide. Three cracks from his gun are heard.
Several vendors on a bridge overlooking the carnage also disputed the official story. Estelle Gonzalez, who sells hats on the Paso del Norte Bridge, said, “The kid wasn’t throwing rocks. He was only watching.” Another vendor, Luis Rodriguez, said, “The kid wasn’t throwing anything. Then he [the Border Patrol agent] started shooting like crazy. He fired three shots.”
All laws enforced all the time folks. Right? This man broke the law. He should be in jail awaiting justice.
9:02 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · children|Immigration|mexico|U.S.-Mexico Border|Violence · 9 Comments
9 Jun 2010Yesterday I wrote how the homicide of Antonio Hernandez Rojas at the hands of U.S. Border Patrol agents was just the beginning based on how the Obama administration has chosen to go about immigration reform, that is by further militarizing the border with Mexico. I didn’t expect for my prediction to come true so quickly, especially not with the life of a teenager.
Yesterday U.S. Border Patrol shot and killed Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca (some reports say he was 14, some say 15) in Texas. U.S. Border Patrol is defending it’s actions, saying that the boy was part of a group that was trying to cross the border into the U.S. without papers. Border Patrol is also saying the group that the boy was with was throwing rocks at their men. Naturally, the proper response to someone throwing rocks at you is to shoot and kill them, especially if they are Mexican.
There have been reports that Sergio was just playing near the border when he was shot, another report I read said that he was visiting a relative who lived in el Norte. Regardless of why Sergio was on the border, regardless of if he had rocks in his hands or not, there is not justification for this. Where is Obama now? Now that he has ordered sending National Guard troops to the border when already this year, which is not even half way over, the number of injuries and deaths on the border at the hands of Border Patrol is higher than it has been in the previous two years. Where are his promises of reform and change? Seems like they are being buried along with the bodies of our children.
12:04 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration|mexico|U.S.-Mexico Border|Violence · 80 Comments
8 Jun 2010Immigration reform, or the lack thereof, has many faces now. One is the faces of the students starving in front of Senator Charles Schumer’s office . Another face is that of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, a Mexican who was killed by U.S. Border Patrol using a baton and a Taser, last week.
Hernandez Roja was killed while being deported. Officers claim that he had become combative and were required to use force against him (hmmmm where have we heard that claim before). The San Diego Medical Examiner’s report listed the cause of death as heart attack, with methamphetamine abuse and high blood pressure listed as contributing factors. Border Patrol abuse is not apparently a contributing factor.
10:13 am By la Macha · Immigration|U.S.-Mexico Border|Violence · Comments Off
18 May 2010Resistance against SB1070 continues, the latest from Mexico.
The following is video of a major protest against the legistlation, in which protestors chanted “Todos somos Arizona!” Or, we are all Arizona!
Sounds a little different than when Sarah Parlin says it, huh?
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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