Archive for the ‘U.S.-Mexico Border’ Category
Leaving Water Bottles for U.S. Bound Migrants Not Criminal
7:57 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Justice|U.S.-Mexico Border · 1 Comment
7 Sep 2010
Last year, activists from the organization No More Deaths were convicted of
“knowingly littering” by leaving water bottles for migrants crossing the U.S. border.
Last week, that conviction was overturned. From Colorlines:
Dan Millis, a volunteer with the humanitarian aid group No More Deaths, was convicted in a federal court of littering when he and three other volunteers left water for border crossers in 2008 along a section of the Arizona desert that was a designated wildlife refuge. He faced a $5,000 fine and six months in jail for refusing to pay the $125 ticket.
On Thursday the Ninth Circuit overturned his conviction and ruled 2-1 that the statute was vague enough such that water did not constitute garbage. The dissenting opinion was written by Judge Jay Bybee, a former Bush administration assistant attorney general who co-wrote that administration’s torture memos. Bybee wrote: “Leaving plastic bottles in a wildlife refuge is littering under any ordinary, common meaning of the word.”
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano : “All the Statistics that are Going Up Are Supposed to be Going Up”
8:45 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Labor|mexico|Politics|U.S.-Mexico Border · 2 Comments
31 Aug 2010
If nothing else, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano is a woman of her word. During a telephonic press briefing yesterday, Napolitano proudly crowed the start of unmanned predator drone flights out of Corpus Christi, Texas, beginning on Wednesday, Sept.1.
The rest of the telephonic conference was more of the same with an emphasis on more. I think the Secretary of Homeland Security said the word “more” so many times creating a dramatic crescendo effect that drove home just how militarized the U.S. border with Mexico was becoming and just how far we are from comprehensive immigration reform.
The drones, which beginning tomorrow will be able to monitor the entire U.S. Mexico border, are meant to track the “illegal movement of drugs, money and people”. While I know many will say the “illegal movement” of people refers to the disgusting crime of human trafficking, I picture families and individuals crossing the frontera and wonder how is movement declared illegal and only the movement of certain people.
Read more…
Senate Border Security Bill Passes and Obama Signs On
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.
The Triple D Immigration Reform Plan Expands
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.
Today the Border Becomes Less Safe…
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.
MAC & Rodarte Thought They Could Sell Latina Femicide as Beautiful
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.
The models look like this:
.
Breaking : Obama Cares About Immigration Reform, Again
6:28 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Obama|Politics|U.S.-Mexico Border · 3 Comments
30 Jun 2010Tomorrow, the President is expected to make a public statement declaring his support for comprehensive immigration reform, again. On Monday, Obama met with immigration advocates, again, although details of the meeting have not been released, at least not to me, beyond what has been reported in the press and that is Obama and his Democratic party blaming the Republicans. On Tuesday, Obama met with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
And all of this action is supposed to impress us, the Latino voters. This action and a memo released by I.C.E telling them to remember to deport only the “bad immigrants” not the “good ones” is suppose to impress us and make us forget other actions, like National Guard troops on the U.S. Mexico border and the death of an unarmed child at the hands of border patrol.
Sergio Adrian Hernandez-Huereca
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.
Border Patrol Plays Target Practice with Teenager
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.
Anastasio Hernandez Rojas Death on the Border a Taste of What More Militarization Brings
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.
Hola!
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