Posts Tagged ‘border patrol’
Website Makes Regular People Virtual Border Patrol Agents
10:42 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Drugs| Immigration| States| Texas| mexico| society · 1 Comment
13 Mar 2009
When you think “stay-at-home-mom”, what comes to mind? I think diaper changing, grocery shopping and picking up kids from school. But at least one mom in Rochester, New York thinks “patrolling the U.S.- Mexico border via webcam”. Uhhhh…
When her baby girl takes an afternoon nap, or on those nights when she just can’t sleep, Sarah Andrews, 32, tosses off her identity as a suburban stay-at-home mom and becomes something more exotic: a “virtual deputy” patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border. From her house in a suburb of Rochester, New York, Andrews spends at least four hours a day watching a site called BlueServo.net.
There, because of a $2 million grant from the state of Texas, anyone in the world can watch grainy live video scenes of cactuses, desert mountains and the Rio Grande along Texas’ portion of the international border.
That’s right, Texas has people on the other side of the country virtually patrolling its borders in what they call “virtual stakeouts”. According to CNN, those who are participating are doing so out of a “sense of civic responsibility”.
The Texas Border Sherriff’s Coalition, the entity that runs the site, says that crime has decreased as a result of the cameras. They claim that multiple arrest have been made, all related to marijuana trafficking.
I tried to test the site out myself but the videos don’t load for me. Perhaps the site knows my politics? The sign-up form contains questions like “Do you think the border is adequately protected from crime and terrorism?” and “Do you think BlueServo’s Virtual Community Watch program will aid and improve Texas border security?” They give you the option of skipping those questions, which I did. I wonder if that’s why I can’t see the video…
What do you think of this initiative? Are the people watching these cameras from their homes couch potato versions of the Minutemen? Or just concerned citizens? Do you think this well help quell crime on the border? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Via / CNN
Prosecuting the Death of a Good Illegal While Raiding the bad Illegals
1:00 pm By Maegan La Mala · California| Immigration| arizona · Comments Off
23 Oct 2008
Nancy Pelosi’s statements follow the “good vs. bad immigrant” discourse. Undocumented immigrants may not get that path to citizenship which according to some they never deserved anyway because they are “illegal”.
This same story played out yesterday in opening statements in a trial against a border patrol agent in Arizona accused of shooting and killing an immigrant. Meanwhile in parts of California ICE targeted the “worst” of immigrants, gang members.
Jose Can You See? Border Patrol Abusing Migrants
10:02 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration| Texas| crime · Comments Off
21 Aug 2008
Color us shocked. The idea that a law enforcement agency would abuse people, especially migrants just astounds us. Ok, so sadly it doesn’t really but it adds another layer of anger. On Tuesday, a former Border Patrol agent pleaded guilty to assaulting an immigrant.
Santiago Perez, of Edinburg, admitted Tuesday in federal court in Houston to both cases of violating the civil rights of the two immigrants while working as a South Texas Border Patrol agent in 2006 and 2007.
One immigrant,from Guatemala, was hit in the face with a pistol, and the other was interrogated with a gun pointed at his head.
And yes, the Border Patrol agent was Latino, which is an example of how it is the culture of law enforcement that is racist, not just a matter of a few individuals.
Via / Citizen Orange
Border Patrol Goes After Nascar Crowd for New Recruits
1:23 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration| Sports · 1 Comment
24 Jul 2008
Not to stereotype or anything, but what kind of recruit does the U.S. Border Patrol hope to find by sponsoring a NASCAR racer? The same kind of candidate that they would get by having a Blackwater sponsored racer?
Why not recruit from the San Diego Minutemen? Seems they have the whole speech down packed based on how they acted outside the NCLR conference.
If NASCAR wants to gain fans in Mexico they may need to rethink their approach.
Via / Machochip, The Spy Who Billed Me, Citizen Orange, NASCAR
This Just Makes No Kind of Sense : Catching the Undocumented Leaving the U.S.?
3:44 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration| Politics · Comments Off
8 May 2008
Is the anti-immigrant movement so desperate to up it’s numbers of undocumented that they have resorted to catching undocumented immigrants when they are leaving the U.S. into Mexico? Seems so. SAN DIEGO — U.S. border authorities no longer apprehend illegal immigrants only as they enter the country. Now they’re catching them on the way out.
At random times near the Tijuana-San Diego border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have been setting up checkpoints, boarding buses destined for Mexico and pulling off people who don’t have proper documentation.
Vincent Bond, an agency spokesman, said departing immigrants are fair targets.
“If our officers come upon people who are here illegally . . . regardless of whether they’re leaving the country, we detain them, make a record of the fact they were here illegally and return them to Mexico,” Bond said.
Um. OK. With people all up in arms of how much “illegal immigration” is costing the country, does this seem like a good use of resources?
Sticks and Stones at Arizona – Mexico Border
10:36 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration| Internet| arizona| mexico · 3 Comments
12 Apr 2007
Reading the headline of a recent article posted on the CBS Evening News website might lead one to envision scores of armed Mexicans shooting Border Patrol Agents. The headline alarmingly reads:Border Patrol Agents Under Attack Violence Against Agents In Yuma, Ariz. Up To 154 In First Six Months Of Fiscal Year. Reading further though, the weapons being used to “attack” are revealed as rocks.
Along the desert stretch where Arizona and Mexico meet, there’s more flying in the air than just dust. There are rocks flying back and forth toward the border agents, CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella reports.
It’s part of a nightly bombardment of Border Patrol vehicles and agents all along the southwestern border.
Of course getting hit with a rock has its potential consequences but don’t Border Patrol Agents have guns. Does this
accurately represents the locus of border violence?
National Guard on U.S. Mexico Border : Bush’s Announcement Tonight
12:22 pm By Maegan La Mala · Controversia| Immigration · 1 Comment
15 May 2006
The news is abuzz with the information that tonight at 8 p.m., U.S. President Bush will announce a plan to send thousands of U.S. National Guard troops to the U.S. Mexico border to assist border patrol agents. This announcement comes on the same day that the Senate is debating again immigration proposals on the floor. Criticism of the move is coming from both Democrats and Republicans, with some saying that National Guard troops are already spread to thin because of the ongoing “War on Terror” , while others see the move as pura politica, a way for Bush to appease hard line Republicans who feel that the President’s current immigration proposal is too soft on illegal immigration with its guest worker option.
Via / Yahoo
Meeting death while looking for a new life
4:58 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration| Justice| children · Comments Off
14 Mar 2006
Chasing after a new and better life above the Rio Bravo continues to prove deadly for so many immigrants, not the least of which are often children.
Three days into the journey, a U.S. Border Patrol agent spotted the group of illegal immigrants, and as the agent chased them, the Border Patrol truck hit Cruz-Torralva and his daughter, Lourdes, killing her.
Yuma County sheriff’s detectives determined the death was an accident, but Cruz-Torralva was arrested on charges of endangerment. Deputies argued that he had placed the child in “risk of imminent death” by bringing her into the desert.
Hola!
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by 2 Mujeres Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse and influential Latino and Latina community in the U.S.
About | Advertise with us | Contact | Twitter
- Link Cariño | Hissip: [...] Who’s your mama? [...] [...]
- la Macha: I agree totally with you bubbles. [...]
- Bubbles: Re: "Many women have mental, emotional instabilities which cause them to end up in abusive relations [...]
- la Macha: and whaaaa? women who have mental health issues are suddenly to blame for getting beaten? [...]
- la Macha: gabriel--i don't agree with you that women have a submissive nature--but that's ok, I guess. I agree [...]
- Mangos With Chili Presents Beloved: A Requiem for Our Dead in the Bay Area Tonite & Nov. 15th
- Vigil for Marcelo LuceroThis Evening in Patchogue, Long Island, NY
- VL At The Cine: The Fourth Kind
- Rihanna interview
- One of Marcelo Lucero’s Attackers Pleads Guilty
- Remembering Marcelo Lucero : One Year Later, The List of Hate Crimes Grows Longer
- Rihanna Speaks
- A Message To Maine
- Maine Voters Said Yes on 1 and Yes to Marriage Inequity
- New York City Wakes Up to Four More Years of Bloomberg
VivirLatino RSS Feed
- VL At The Cine: The Fourth Kind
- Rihanna interview
- One of Marcelo Lucero’s Attackers Pleads Guilty
- Remembering Marcelo Lucero : One Year Later, The List of Hate Crimes Grows Longer
- Rihanna Speaks
- A Message To Maine
- Maine Voters Said Yes on 1 and Yes to Marriage Inequity
- New York City Wakes Up to Four More Years of Bloomberg
- Who’s Your Mama : Event at Food for Thought in Amherst on November 13th
- A Favorite Latina on the Web Needs Our Support
