Author: XicanoPwr

As children we were told how so grateful we lived in a country America and those who were born in Texas, there was something special about being a Texan – it had meaning. But now, America is one step closer to becoming the land of the American Gulag and Texas will be bestowed a new title “Supreme Prison Capital of World.”

This week Texas’ Williamson County’s T. Don Hutto Correctional Center becomes the second facility in the country to house immigrant families. The facility will house “immigrants not from Mexico, but caught in Texas.”

T. Don Hutto Correctional Center is a maximum security correctional facility, in Taylor, Texas and is owned and operated by the nation’s largest private prison company, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). The same company that gave former House Majority Leader and soon to be former House Rep Tom DeLay a $100,000 check at a fundraiser for his children’s charity, the DeLay Foundation for Kids.

According to the Houston Chronicle:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said noncriminal immigration detainees would be held at the Taylor facility. But the agency wouldn’t confirm if those included families awaiting deportation, and a spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America declined comment.

“No decisions have been made at this time,” said ICE spokeswoman Ernestine Fobbs.

However according CCA’s website, an agreement was already reached with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) back in December.

Corrections Corporation of America Announces Agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for CCA Texas Facility
December 2, 2005
Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest provider of corrections management services to government agencies, announced today that it has reached an agreement with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to manage up to 600 detainees at CCA’s T. Don Hutto Correctional Center in Taylor, Texas.

CCA management expects to begin accepting ICE detainees on February 1, 2006. Although the contract does not provide for a guaranteed occupancy, the Company expects the facility to be substantially occupied before the end of the second quarter of 2006. The Company intends to provide guidance for 2006 in its fourth quarter earnings release and conference call expected to occur in February 2006.

The Chronicle also reports that separate sleeping quarters will be provided for men and women which will include playpens, cribs and classroom space.

CCA is not the only one make a profit, the Chronicle also noted that the County will also profit for being part of the American Gulag system.

Williamson County will work as an intermediary in billing transactions between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Corrections Corporation of America. The county would earn $1 per day for each inmate, or about $200,000 each year, if the facility is at capacity, said Rick Zinsmeyer, county director of adult probation.

CCA is just another cog of the huge private prison industry that is profiting from the destruction of human lives. Like a festering tumor it just keeps growing and growing, reaching out to victimize both the incarcerated and the incarcerators.

According to ICE, the average detention is about one month, although some are kept for several years, like Salah Dafali. In September 2003, a jury found CCA guilty of both assault and battery against Salah Dafali, a Palestinian who was housed at a 300 bed facility housing primarily asylum seekers. According to Mark Dow, author of American Gulag: Inside U.S. Immigration Prisons, the suit alleged that CCA

operated the Elizabeth [NJ] facility under a policy or practice that authorized CCA staff to use abusive practices to control and discipline the refugees detained at the Elizabeth facility. … INS detained him in Elizabeth, refusing to deport him, as he requested. CCA officers allegedly threatened to send Dafali to a county jail to be sexually assaulted by other inmates. They also sexually threatened him themselves. Dafali met INS detainees who had been held at Elizabeth for two and three years, so he believed it when officers threatened to keep him there for fifteen. He finally cut his wrists and began having “tantrums,” according to Brogna. Dafali also began a hunger strike. He was forced into four-point restraints. While he was restrained, the CCA chief of security allegedly hit him in the face. The water to Dafali’s isolation cell was cut off, according to CCA’s own records. A former employee of TransCor America–CCA’s subsidiary prisoner transportation company–testified that he saw “a bootprint” on Dafali’s face shortly after Dafali was “tagged up” or assaulted; CCA records called the wound “self-inflicted.” A CCA videotape of the assault on Dafali ends abruptly. A CCA official testified that the battery had run out. Aboyade, who had been in a nearby cell, testified that the security chief ordered the camera off of Dafali, who was begging officers to stop. A CCA shift supervisor took Polaroids of the injured Dafali; court documents note that CCA failed to produce these in the course of litigation and provided no explanation. (Polaroids of Dafali taken by an INS official were in evidence, however.) “They beat me on the 28th,” Dafali told me; “they transferred me on the 29th.” He was detained for a total of forty-one months and remains subject to detention and deportation at the agency’s discretion.

The Hutto Correctional Center is not the only facility that CCA has with ICE, CCA also several Processing and Detention Centers in TX. Those own by CCA are:

• Eden Detention Center – a male Medium-security facility with 1,287 beds located in Eden TX;
• Laredo Processing Center – a 350 bed facility located in the eastern outskirts of Laredo, TX;
• Houston Contract Detention Facility – a male Medium-security with 411 beds

Many detainees are not just housed at facilities run by Corrections Corporation of America, they are housed also at facilities run by GEO Group, formerly Wackenhut. According to a February article in the Dallas Morning News, Texas “has at least 7,000 recently built or proposed private prison beds for housing immigrant detainees for ICE or the U.S. Marshals.”

Currently three companies, Corrections Corporation of America, The Geo Group, and Cornell, are competing for the rights to run the nation’s “super jail” that is planned to be built in Laredo. The new 2,800 bed detention center would be considered the largest privately owned prison. The facility will house nonviolent immigrants. This facility will make Laredo, TX the “Huntsville” of South Texas.

As the Senate gears up to bring up the immigration issue again and the Department of Homeland Security‘s recent round-ups, it is not hard to spot the private prison profiteers because they are the ones currently with dollar signs in their eyes as the invasion thousands of undocumented immigrants being dumped into their torture chambers depriving them of all that makes a person human.

(x-posted at ¡Para Justicia y Libertad!, ePluribus Media, and Texas Kos)

One of methods used by those in wingnuttia is race-baiting when ever they start fearing there is a power struggle between minorities and non-minorities. This is not new. In the early 90s, those in wingnuttia where whining how all the engineering jobs where going to foreigners.

“AEA Action On Immigration Reform” covered AEA’S activity to seek the revision of the Immigration Reform Act of 1990 and reduce the number of visas available to foreign engineers and to reduce the number of foreign engineering students allowed to remain in the United States after they completed their education….What about the U.S. taxpayer who funds our college empire only to see their sons and daughters going without jobs. We know the college engineering degree production exceeds the demand for our young graduates. Parents of our college graduates say their tax dollars subsidized foreign students’ education while they and their children go unemployed.

But then in the mid-90s, once it started working, that gave them an opening to start spreading fear, or as it was called, the white male backlash. One part of this attack was to plant the seed called La Reconquista – the idea that Mexicans are invading America to reclaim it for Mexico.
Although it started out as conspiracy theory among the white supremacists, their fears can be traced back to 1917 when Zimmermann Telegram was decoded by the British.

Zimmermann’s message included proposals for a German alliance with Mexico, while Germany would still try to maintain a state of neutrality with the United States. If this policy were to fail, the note suggested, the Mexican government should make common cause with Germany, try to persuade the Japanese government to join the new alliance, and attack the U.S.. Germany, for its part, would provide financial assistance and the restoration of former territories of Texas (which had achieved independence in 1836), New Mexico and Arizona (which had been ceded in the US-Mexico war of 1846-1848), to Mexico.

Some say it was this telegram that brought the U.S. into World War I. But it was in that telegram, the word reconquer was used.

In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal or alliance on the following basis: make war together, make peace together, generous financial support and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

After the discovery of the telegram, race relations between Hispanics and Whites have been soured, especially in the Southwest, thus, creating a situation that has lasted for decades.

The argument being used now, is now combined with the founding documents of the Chicano movement, “El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan.”

In the spirit of a new people that is conscious not only of its proud historical heritage but also of the brutal “gringo” invasion of our territories, we, the Chicano inhabitants and civilizers of the northern land of Aztlan from whence came our forefathers, reclaiming the land of their birth and consecrating the determination of our people of the sun, declare that the call of our blood is our power, our responsibility, and our inevitable destiny….With our heart in our hands and our hands in the soil, we declare the independence of our mestizo nation.

El Plan is a manifesto that appeals to nationalism as a way to achieve a self-awareness and self-esteem. El Plan never asked for the return of lost territories back to Mexico. So what is “Aztlán”?

The concept of Aztlán was originated by the poet Alurista in the year 1969 at the conference organized by Corky Gonzales in Denver. In an interview, Alurista said:

“People call California, Arizona, Nueva Mexico and Colorado Aztlán, but really, Aztlán is wherever we are. We don’t recognize borders. It’s more a matter of cultural/political identity. When I say this is our land, I don’t mean that we own it. Who owns anything?”

AAztlán was a spiritual concept which was meant to unite all Chican@s. Hispanics through out the US are really divided because within the Southwest, Hispanics in each State has own history of discrimination and oppression. Tejanos, in Texas see themselves very differently from those in New Mexico, Arizona and California because Mexico lost Texas first and this occurred way before the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. Nuevo Mexicanos, in New Mexico also see themselves different from those in Arizona and Californianos and vise versa even though those states were established from the Treaty. Before the Chicano Movement there was no concept that united them. In other words, “Aztlán,” is spiritual concept that we are a people that have a homeland.

It was not until recently that Glenn Spencer, of the American Patrol, started spewing this conspiracy theory that the mainstream media started picking it up:

The so-called reconquista, an alleged plot to turn several American states into a Mexican state or some kind of puppet government controlled by Mexico, has been a top concern for Spencer for years. Back in 1999, he put it like this: “The consul general says Mexico is reconquering California. A Mexican intellectual suggests that anyone who doesn’t like Mexicans should leave California. What else do you need to hear? RECONQUISTA IS REAL… . EVERY ILLEGAL ALIEN IN OUR NATION MUST BE DEPORTED IMMEDIATELY. … IF WE CAN BOMB THE TV STATION IN BELGRADE [in the former Yugoslavia] WE CAN SHUT DOWN [U.S. Spanish-language stations] TELEMUNDO AND UNIVISION.”

Spencer got involved in the anti-immigration movement in 1992, when he formed Voice of Citizens Together, also known as American Patrol, in California. In 2002, saying the battle was lost in that state, he moved to the “front lines” of the Arizona border, where he formed American Border Patrol. He was one of the first to call for border citizens’ patrols and pioneered the use of surveillance technology.

Now you have people like Michelle Malkin and Lou Dobbs feeding their audience nothing but fear. Why? Because people become very irrational when they are fearful. When that happens they defer to authority because they’re eager to be safe.

This is nothing more but a racist appeal from the far right. The sad thing, they are winning because they have been able to convince mainstream Americans that the Mexican flags they see on TV from the marches are signs of the invasion. Even Alex Jones has been spew the same bullshit without any real research. And some how people see this as being legitimate. It is time to end this propaganda now!

There is something about minorities and Pro-Americana. Sometimes when trying to impress their masters, they tend to over do it. Michelle Malkin is no exception. A refresher, Malkin is the daughter of Filipino immigrants who she claims are “rock-ribbed Reagan Republicans.” I point this out, because it was not to long ago, she wrote:

We are not a “nation of immigrants.” This is both a factual error and a warm-and-fuzzy non sequitur. Eighty-five percent of the residents currently in the United States were born here.

It does make you wonder what she really thinks of her parents. By her claim, she is happy to count herself among the special 85%, but her parents they belong to the non-special people. She was born in 1970, so that would mean she is two years older than me that would have to mean her parents Dr. Apolo and Rafaela Maglalang benefited from the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the same policy which allowed her parents to come to the US.

it was not until the 1965 Hart-Cellar Immigration Act that the structure of Asian American enclaves changed radically. With the influx of new immigrants from China, the Philippines, Korea, India/South Asia, and Viet Nam, almost overnight new ethnic enclaves became established and quickly grew in size, almost exponentially.

Immigrant bashing is not her only favorite enjoyment, she does like to use her flamethrower at college students, too.
Not just any college student, anti-war college students. In fact, she doesn’t mind the occasional outing of student telephone numbers allowing her loyalist to make death threats. From Crooks and Liars:

Here’s a video from FOX & Friends with Cody James, a student at the university who wanted to see the recruiters and says the protesters were not violent.

Whatever your beliefs are regarding military recruiting at colleges, Michelle Malkin crosses the line of decency by printing the telephone numbers of the students that formed the protest. They have been receiving death threats non-stop. An emailer wrote me and said:

“The protest was reported on by Hannity and O’Reilly. Michelle Malkin put actual students’ phone numbers on her blog and they’ve been getting death threats nonstop.”

In her update to the post Michelle writes:

“SAW has removed the contact information from its press release and is now lying about the fact that it made the info publicly available on the Internet. I am leaving it up. If you are contacting them, I do not condone death threats or foul language. As for SAW, my message is this: You are responsible for your individual actions. Other individuals are responsible for theirs. Grow up and take responsibility.”

Obviously the death threats are emanating from her blog and she knows it. Malkin understands the nature of the fear and outrage she causes. Will she take responsibility when somebody gets hurt? Here’s another example of the fear-mongering she causes. Read Cathy Young’s Boston Globe column.

She sure does enjoy her American freedom of speech doesn’t she? Just never thought, advocating death threats was part of it. And with her anti-immigration stand, I wonder if she is also willing to publish the addresses and phone numbers of undocumented immigrants so her VDARE white supremacy loyalist can exercise their free speech.

I bring this up, because in her most recent post on her blog, she writes about the up-coming May 1, 2006 “Day Without An Immigrant” Boycott where she has already posted the e-mail addresses of those who are involved in this boycott. But it is this eerie message that is the most troubling.

Forewarned is forearmed.

I wonder who really is the moonbat here.

Hat tip to Rev. Mykeru

With all those school children walking out from their schools in protest of the draconing immigration laws, some California school principals decided to take action into their own hands.

Last week, Artesia High School Principal Sergio Garcia decided to grease the fence at around the campus of to keep kids from attending immigration marches.

“I just don’t think it’s appropriate,” parent Sylvia Gooden told the ABC Unified School District board during a meeting Tuesday. She said many students’ hands and clothing were coated with the wheel-bearing grease.

Their excuse for taking this measure, district deputy superintendent said it wasn’t to keep the the students from going to marches it was because they heard of a rumors of outsiders showing up.

The grease was applied earlier in March to identify people climbing fences to enter school grounds. An Artesia High School student was shot to death in Lakewood on March 11 and there were rumors outsiders might show up to cause trouble, district deputy superintendent Mary Sieu said.

That is mild compared to this atrocity, Worthington Elementary School Principal Angie Marquez imposed a lockdown that would not allow the children from going to the bathroom, and instead had to use buckets in the classroom.

The lockdown was put in place during the March 27 rallies. Tim Brown, director of operations for the Inglewood Unified School District, claims that the principal just made an “honest mistake” as she forced every student in her school to stay in their classrooms all day made to use a bucket in the classroom if they needed to go to bathroom. An “honest mistake,” huh, ya think?

In trying to keep her kids on campus, she decided to put her school into a “nuclear attack” lockdown.

“When there’s a nuclear attack, that’s when buckets are used,” Brown told the Los Angeles Times. The principal “followed procedure. She made a decision to follow the handbook. She just misread it.”

This is what Worthington parent Julia Campos told AP:

“Many of them were crying because they felt embarrassed,” she said. “One girl was afraid other kids would see her.”

Reasoning behind the madness:

Worthington Elementary School is seven blocks from Morningside High School, where less than 100 teenagers participated in the walkout. Administrators said they feared elementary school children could have been swept into the protests.

Yet, surrounding schools around Morningside High did not have any daylong lockdowns according to AP.

Is this what this country has come to, lockdowns? Keeping students from exercising their First Amendment rights by greasing fences and using buckets for toilets and this was just for a protest march. But what if it there was an Avian Flu outbreak? What then? Could you leave your child in school, if there was a mandatory lockdown? What if the principals decided to use a “nuclear attack” lockdown for this outbreak, what would you? My father is a professor at a university, he told me, that the university was ordered to put a lockdown on the dorms if their was an outbreak. This administration is turning our schools into fucking prisons. And I can’t be fucking angry about this shit! I am suppose to be calm and be logical.

Just imagine it was your kid in that school, needing to squat behind some fucking door. Just imagine sitting in that classroom, smelling it. Some may not be US citizens, but they are not animals. Have we lost our humanity? So I ask you, where is our humanity, because I am not seeing it. Where is our compassion, because I am not feeling it, either.

Immigrant communities through out the United States came together on April 9th and 10th to send a clear message throughout the nation – “We Are America.” The National Day of Action began the nation wide protest on April 9th with Dallas (TX) San Diego (CA), Miami (FL), and Boise (ID) leading the way with the rest of the nation continuing on 10th 2006.

The “April 10 Day of Action” was not organized through well known organizing communities but through local grassroots organizations and coalitions are working together. More than two million immigrants and their allies gathered in cities across the US to oppose HR4437. These protests will go down in the history books as the largest display of decentralized, coordinated protest in US history. Cities everywhere broke historical records on the number of people gathering to voice their outrage.
Communities who lived in fear found thier voices and spoke out about America’s broken immigration system. A system that tears families apart; a system that exploits and forces them to work is conditions that are considered inhumane; and a system that violates their civil liberties.

Summary:
Birmingham (AL) – 4,000
Phoenix (AZ) – 100,000
Tucson (AZ) – 25,000
Springdale (AR) – 5,000
Little Rock (AR) – 2,000
San Diego (CA) – 100,000
San Jose (CA) – 25,000
Los Angeles (CA) – 7,000
Santa Ana (CA) – 300
Sacramento (CA) – 5,000
San Francisco (CA) – 5,000
Fresno (CA) – 10,000
Oakland (CA) – 10,000
Concord (CA) –
Gilroy (CA) –
Redwood City (CA) –
Richmond (CA) – 300
Hayward (CA) –
Denver (CO) – 1,000+
Colorado Springs – 1,000
Grand Junction (CO) – 4,000
Boulder (CO) – 200
Hartford (CT) – 2,500
New Haven (CT) – 2,000
Georgetown (DE) – 1,000
Miami (FL) – 7,000
Homestead (FL) – 2,500
Tampa (FL) –
Atlanta (GA) – 60,000
Boise (ID) – 4,000
Champaign (IL) –
South Bend (IN) – 5,000
Des Moines (IA) – 5,000
Kansas City (KS) –
Arkansas City (KS) – 200
Emporia (KS) – 1,500
Garden City (KS) – 3,000
Dodge City (KS) – 2,000
Great Bend (KS) – 300
Liberal (KS) – 80
Wichita (KS) – 4,000
Portland (ME) – 200
Salisbury (MD) – 200
Boston (MA) – 10,000
Grand Rapids (MI) –
St. Paul (MN) – 30,000
Jackson (MS) – 500
St Louis (MO) – 5,000
Omaha (NE) – 10,000
Lincoln (NE) – 4,000
Schuyler (NE) –
Jersey City (NJ) – 5,000
Las Cruces (NM) – 300
Sunland Park (NM) – 350
Albuquerque (NM) – 300 middle school and high school students
New York City (NY) – 125,000
Long Island (NY) – 2,000
Ellis Island (NY) – 4,000
State of North Carloina – 100 people joined a cross-state march
Winston-Salem (NC) – 1,500
Wilmington (NC) –
Siler City (NC) – 4,000
Toledo (OH) –
Cincinnati (OH) –
Louisville (OH) –
Oklahoma City (OK) – 10,000 (week before)
Salem (OR) – 10,000
Portland (OR) – 1,000
Philadelphia (PA) – 7,000
Harrisburg (PA) – 250
Pittsburg (PA) – 150
Columbia (SC) – 5,000
Greenville (SC) – 2,500
Charleston (SC) – 1,500
Nashville (TN) – 14,000
Knoxville (TN) – 2,500
Austin (TX) – 15,000
Dallas (TX) – 500,000
Fort Worth (TX) – 30,000
Houston (TX) – 50,000
San Antonio (TX) – 50,000
El Paso (TX) – 2,000
Tyler (TX) – 2,000
Laredo (TX) – 1,000 students (parents and media were barred from forum)
Cameron Park (TX) – 500
Harlingen (TX) – 150
Brownsville (TX) – 350
Corpus Christi (TX) – 400
Salt Lake City (UT) – 40,000
Seattle (WA) – 30,000
Madison (WI) – 10,000
Laramie (WY) – 50
Washington, D.C – 500,000

I need you help, I know there were more rallies out there so if you know of another city which I left out, please let me know. These are their voices, voices that need to be heard. If it is not reported, it never happened, and together we can make sure that America knows about the small towns or areas that the news media did not report.

As for Laredo, TX here is the latest development.

Parents and members of the media were barred Wednesday from entering Alexander High School, where 800 to 1,000 students filled the cafeteria to attend an open forum on immigration reform.
School officials also confiscated posters that said “Viva la Causa!” and other slogans advocating immigration reform, students said after the event.
…
Several representatives of television and print media outlets arrived at about 10:15 a.m. for the 10:20 event; later, Santos said the event was scheduled to begin at 10:45 a.m. Journalists were asked to leave school property and were forced to stand across the street on Del Mar.

What the local media is reporting:

UISD Superintendent Bobby Santos later claimed that the media was never “officially” invited. No, we didn’t have it in writing. We often don’t. If we get a phone call from an official asking us to cover an event, we try to respond as quickly as we can. We don’t wait to get in writing.
This is the first time in a combined 30-year memory here at the paper that we have been barred from attending such a student event.
…
According to witnesses, parents were initially prohibited from entering the cafeteria by Principal Sandra Alvarez. Later, after the parents protested, Alvarez said she had received a new directive and allowed them to enter. Shortly thereafter, however, at least one other parent was barred from entering by school police. She, too, was later admitted.

We can not stop fight, our voices still need to be heard. Those in small towns, their voices need to heard.

¡¡¡Luchemos por justicia, trabajo y dignidad para todos!!!

I was torn yesterday when an interview was scheduled in the middle of yesterday’s history in the making event. Back in November, I was let go from my job. I have mentioned it on other sites before I started this blog. I talked about how being unemployed is very similar to being on emotional rollercoaster. You are filled with hope when you are called in for an interview and the sudden depressed feelings when you there is no call back or when you hear the sentence no unemployed person wants to hear, “We regret to tell you, but we have decided to go with someone else.”

Having a job brings “meaning” in the sense of one’s personal worth and identity. As a society we have been conditioned to go through life by placing labels on every facet of our lives. The first question we ask a stranger is, “What do you do?” Depending on the person’s answer this becomes the basis on how we start judging people by their worth, financial status, intelligence, education level, ambition, and social position. And when the “label” is empty – we have no status. Admitting “I don’t do anything” is the equivalent of saying “I am nothing,” and that is not acceptable to society. These are the same feelings many undocumented immigrants feel and on April 10, 2006, they finally had enough, I had enough. We are not nothing.
The rally started at 1 and would end at 3:30, my interview was near the end of the rally. So I was able to participate and still make it to the job interview. I was so upset I forgot to charge up my phone so I could take some pictures. Being on my last cent, purchasing a camera was not an option. I am not looking to garner sympathy, but to share this special moment through my eyes as if you were there yourself.

Nobody could have asked for a more perfect day, it was sunny and cool. As I was getting close to the starting point of the march, you could feel the excitement in the air and nothing that day would dampen the sense of unity everybody was feeling here in Houston and across the country. And if just you stood still for a second, you swear you could feel the excite around the country. When people define the melting pot as people of different cultures and religions – then this is what I saw today. At the rally I saw Uncle Sam (on stilts of course) and Lady Liberty with open arms welcoming the new fixtures that defines America – they dance to the distant music of the mariachi players, while enjoying the sweet frozen-fruit treat from neighborhood paleteras vendors as they stroll along the march with their push- and pedal-cart.

Today – they were not cooks, waiters, maids and housekeepers, janitors, bus boys, parking attendants, childcare workers, cafeteria workers, construction workers, or gardeners, but people you would call your neighbor, your co-worker, and the people you see in church and at a store. I saw fathers and mothers marching with their sons and daughters; I saw brothers and sisters; and uncles and aunts. I witnessed friends supporting their friends – who found their way here in this country just to have a better life – The American Dream.

The chanting the traditional “What do we want? Justice! and “¡Si, Se Puede!” echoed through the route. And con mi compadres, we chanted “U S A!” I saw a rainbow of flags along the way, they were not just Mexican flags, but flags from the United States, the Middle East, and South and Central America. The true melting pot of America.

The official count was 50,000, the largest protest rally Houston ever had. And to be part of this history, I will take these numbers any day. As I was heading to my job interview, I could not help replay the sights and sounds of that day, but the one chant I will never forget is one that all Americans are wanting to achieve and use when times are rough – “All we want is the American dream!”

It is amazing how words can move some people. Before the rally, I wrote a post expressing how I felt.  The immigration issue really does mean a lot. I previously was an ESL teacher and I pushed my students hard. I made them think, I armed them with the tools when faced with gutter snipes. That was four years ago. I know what effect I had on them and in my heart, I know they were out there on April 10th. I knew I had inspired someone, but I didn’t realize how much until I was told yesterday. In yesterday’s diary Blogger Ductape Fatwa wrote one of the most touching and must read personal account at the rally he attended. In the second paragraph, he describes who went and how many went to the march.

Thanks to the success of Saturday’s Incitement Constitutional, our group, including my own descendants, neighbors, friends, and their descendants, had swelled to over a thousand souls, representing all the world’s continents. I will not try to say how many countries, or name them, suffice it to say that we were diverse. And so numerous, that when the hour of departure came, we were obliged to call upon the good offices of the local popo, to guide our massive convoy out of the neighborhood and on to the highway for the short ride to the gathering place.

As mentioned before, the whole diary was very touchy and normally I replied to let him know much it touched me. But his reply is highest praise I can hope for.

Your eyes ought to water up, It was you who single-handedly caused over a thousand people to march today, to respond to such a deed with “Thank You” does not seem adequate, yet no amount of flowery phrases would express my gratitude, so “Thank You” will have to do. 🙂

Reading his reply after a job interview, couped with the days events, has brought back hope and has renewed my vigor to continue fight the good fight.

¡Si, Se Puede!

On Saturday, April 8th, in a joint venture with Harris County’s Democratic Party and Houston’s Democracy for Houston held a workshop on Immigration Reform in their first in a series of “Fighting Back! Workshops: ‘Talking the Talk'” workshops. The forum was hosted by Murvin Auzenne, chair of the HCDP Communications and Message Committee and the presenter was Immigration Attorney/College government professor Toni Medellin.

Stace Medellin at Dos Centavos gave a great summary of the workshop:

Medellin presented on the legal/legislative background to the immigration issue. Of importance was Medellin’s statement that neither the Senate Judiciary Committee or McCain/Kennedy bills have anything to do with “amnesty.” Medellin gave the legal definition for amnesty, which basically is defined as forgiveness for past wrongdoing without any punishment or sanction against those forgiven.
…
Murvin Auzenne proved how great an asset he is–not just by organizing the workshop, but by also providing his insight on the framing and reframing of issues. Several discussion groups were formed for the purpose of creating values statements. Whether it was about valuing the workforce, or improving the security of the country, or valuing the diversity that a every ethnicity and race (including immigrants) provide to this country, the statements were the exact opposite of the republican and white supremacist mantra (they really aren’t much different if you visit websites like those of the White Camelia Knights of Cleveland, TX, the Minutemen, and Stormfront (White Aryan Resistance).

However, Toni Medillian did remind us of one important point: “If you take anything away from this workshop, it should be that we all learn not to call these hard-working people “illegal”. No Human Being is illegal.”
To some, using the term “Illegal” vs. “Undocumented” is just a matter of semantics and to others it means a lot more. When one talks about a group of people who are referred to as “illegals” it never includes people who have committed a crime such as murder, corruption or theft. Nor does it include people who speed or play loud music at a party in the middle of the night. The use of the word “illegal” is only meant for one purpose – the “undocumented.” The word itself dehumanizes immigrants and brands them as criminals. Yet, frequent visitor and commentor to my blog, John Konop, Congressional candidate for Georgia’s 6th District, is quick to argue that in fact they have committed a crime and not acknowledging it would mean, we as a country would have to disregard other laws:

Should we stop enforcing traffic laws? Should we stop enforcing drunk driving laws? Should stop enforcing any of our criminal laws? Should we have no trespassing laws?

What Konop fails to understand, the label criminalizes the person and not the action they have committed. True the person may have committed a civil violation, but the label is used unfairly because it targets only one group of people in a way that tax cheats and car thieves are not viewed the same way. Therefore, if the argument being used by right wing extremist is that an undocumented immigrant broke the law, then we should apply the same definition universally for all criminals. A list of offenders <s>offenders</s&gt illegals, to just to name a few, this would now include:

• the illegal former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham – California Republican admits selling influence for $2.4 million;
• the illegal lobbyist Jack Abramoff – pleaded guilty to conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion charges;
• the illegal Tony C. Rudy – pleaded guilty to charges that he conspired with the “illegal” lobbyist Jack Abramoff to corrupt public officials and defraud his clients;
• the illegal Michael Scanlon – pleaded guilty for conspiracy to defraud Indian tribes;
• the illegal Elliott Abrams – pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of withholding from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence his knowledge of Oliver North’s Contra-assistance activities, Bush Sr. pardoned Abrams before trial;
• the illegal Randal David Ankeney – Republican activist from Colorado, arrested on suspicion of sexual assault on a child with force;
• the illegal Jim Bakker – indicted on 23 federal charges of fraud, tax evasion, and racketeering

This goes beyond semantics, it is a matter of demonizing and scapegoating a whole group for the country’s problems. This has been a regular practice whenever the US economy is having a problem. This issue has been mentioned before.

History has shown the Mexican labor pool is heavily utilized during times of economic boom and repatriation during economic downturns. To American capitalist the border does not exist when it comes to exploitation. When it comes to minimum wage requirements, health care benefits, workman’s compensation insurance, and social security plans, both Migrant workers and employees of American firms in Mexico have always been excluded.

The fact is, under current US immigration law, an undocumented immigrant is not a criminal nor have they committed a crime, the offense is considered a civil violation, the same way speeding is considered a civil violation. By singling out and persecuting undocumented immigrants for this country’s economic problems is often unfair, and itself is racism for no other reason but xenophobia and racial hatered. If not, the argument being false, then the names mentioned above and everybody who violates federal, state and local law should also be considered “illegal.”

Another erroneous argument by Konop:

The number used by open boarder supporter is $ 1800 dollars per immigrant. It cost around 10k to educate a kid per year, 10k per family healthcare per year, roads, parks…….. Liberal Paul Krugman admitted the math does not add up.

Just because one liberal says it doesn’t mean I and other liberal/progressive should mimic the current Repug lock-n-step policy. It is rediculous to think that stopping the flow of undocumented immigrants into this country, the health care crisis will end and we can now start singing Leo Reisman’s “Happy Days Are Here Again.”

In a recent Drum Major Institute report, Principles for an Immigration Policy to Strengthen and Expand the American Middle Class, DMI would argue that the opposite. In fact, not only is it wrong to think that the undocumented immigrants are the cause of our economic problems, but it actually helps build a strong Middle-class.

Immigration policy should bolster–not undermine–the critical contribution that immigrants make to our economy as workers, entrepreneurs, taxpayers and consumers, because:

On average, immigrants pay more in taxes each year than they use in government services, and these taxes fund programs like Social Security that strengthen and expand the middle class.

By increasing consumer demand, immigrants generate economic growth that benefits the middle class: immigration is a major contributor to the expansion of Hispanic and Asian-American consumer markets–an estimated 12 percent of the nation’s 2004 purchasing power.

Immigrants also stimulate the economy by starting small businesses and attracting investment capital from their countries of origin.

There is always more than one answer to this problem, however, wingnuts refuse to admit the drain that is occurring within the healthcare and education system was created by depletion of the financial resources when Dudya instituted his pro-business/anti-citizen tax-cut and the multiple tax break to the BushCo corporations.

On TomPaine.com, Economic Policy Institute’s Jeff Faux wrote:

Higher walls and more police will certainly make crossing the frontier more difficult, but recent history tells us they will not stop the illegal influx of immigrants any more than more enforcement has stopped the illegal flow of drugs. Neither will mass deportation, guest worker programs or amnesty get at the root causes, which are poverty and the lack of job opportunities south of the border.

Mexico is not the only source of illegal immigration, but it is by far the largest–representing over three-quarters of the total. Some 40 percent of the over 100 million people still living in Mexico say they would come to the United States if they had the opportunity, which can be bought for the roughly $2,500 or so it costs for a “coyote” to lead them across the border. Last year at least 400 died in the attempt.

It is not surprising that out of 400 who die, some end up dying at the hands of vigilantes are the same who call themselves Christians while at the same time wrap themselves around the American flag thumping their chest as they brutally beat the “savages” in the name of American security. Although blogger Rev. Mykeru‘s “American Jesus” graphic was used to depict the lunacy of the right based fundamentalist in the push for the war in Iraq, the same graphic can also used to describe the same mentality being used to justify the murder and torture whenever a vigilante organization decide to go on their migrant hunt. How Christian of them, que no? Is this what it means to a compassionate American?

In neighboring Maricopa County, the sheriff’s department is investigating the killing of eight men whose bodies were found from June to September in the desert west of Phoenix. Four of the killings took place over the past two months. The victims’ hands were bound by tape, telephone wires, or handcuffs. Seven were killed by large-caliber bullet shots to the head or body and one was beaten to death or stabbed. At least six of the victims were Mexican citizens; one was Ecuadoran.

Members of the anti-immigrant vigilante organization Ranch Rescue deny involvement in the killings, but admit they have mobilized some 50 people–dressed in military-style camouflage gear and armed with semiautomatic rifles and pistols–to-hunt for undocumented border crossers in southern Arizona. [New York Times 10/23/02; La Jornada (Mexico) 10/20/02; Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) 10/22/02; El Diario (Ciudad Juarez) 10/19/02]

Is this the type of Immigration policy America can be proud of? The photo below was taken by photographer José Palafox, the names on the Mexican side of the wall are the names of immigrants who ended up dying and this includes those who were brutally murdered trying to achieve the American Dream.

It is true what they say about a picture being worth a thousand words that would explain the lack of photos in today’s mainstream media. As long as the many faces aren’t shown then they have no story – they have no voice.

For the unabridged version – ¡Para Justicia y Libertad!

Originally I posted this during the first week of March, on here. However, this is an updated which will includes Bush’s meeting with Mexico’s President Vicente Fox.

Since coming into office in 2001, the Bush administration has consistently opposed to having the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, hold US military and political leaders to a uniform global standard of justice. The ICC is the only international court to try individuals accused of the worst violations of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity when national courts are destroyed or unable to handle the case, or are deliberately shielding the accused from justice. Although the ICC is in line with the wingnuttery’s declared “American values” of accountability, equality and justice, BushCo argues that the court, could be used for frivolous or politically motivated prosecutions of U.S. troops. Talk about the double standard, we dictate that other countries need the highest standards of fairness and judicial process, but when it comes to us – torture is the new American way.

BushCo has aggressively bullied other countries to sign a bilateral immunity agreements (BIAs), otherwise known as “Article 98,” to insure immunity of US nationals from prosecution by the Court. Sadly, BushCo is playing the role of the school yard bully to dozens of poor countries who refuse to sign the BIA. By refusing to sign a BIA, many US allies have already lost their US military aid and additional economic support funds through the foreign trade and foreign direct investment (FDI).
Last fall, Mexico became a signatory to the ICC making them the 12th country from the Latin America-Caribbean area to be punished under the U.S. American Service-Members’ Protection Act. This law prohibits US military assistance to countries that have not signed the “Article 98” agreements.

In July 2004, the House attached an anti-ICC amendment, the Nethercutt Amendment, to the FY05 Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act (HR4818) – cutting off all Economic Support Funds to every country that did not sign the “Article 98” agreement. And the Nethercutt-type language was included again for the FY06 Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill, (HR3057).

Countries that refused to sign the Article 98 agreements have already lost lost the following military aid: International Military Education and Training (IMET), Foreign Military Financing (FMF), Excess Defense Articles (EDA) and non-drug Emergency Drawdown Authority funds (506(b)). Section 574 of the 2005 Foreign Operations Appropriations law (P.L. 108-447), the provision that adds the Economic Support Funds (ESF).

According to an ICC advocacy group, Citizens for Global Solutions, US military aid is a key component to Mexican security in combating drug trafficking. The US did warn Mexico that joining the ICC would lead to the cut of an $11.5 million program to help its justice system deal with drug trafficking. According to the Seattle Times, Mexico could lose almost 40% in US economic aid if it decided to defy the US.

Ever since October of last year, Mexico’s relationship with the US has been tense. since decided to defy BushCo, the relationship between Mexico and the US have been strained. One possible explanation, the US did cut foreign aid to Mexico. On March 9, the Houston Chronicle, reported, “the sanctions have been imposed without an official announcement.” Not only will BushCo take their marbles and go home, but they don’t have to tell anybody when they are going home. Mexico is not the only country try in Latin America that Bush decided to punish.

ICC-related sanctions have cut the roster of trainees from the hemisphere by almost 800 over the past few years, eroding the traditionally deep ties between the U.S. and Latin American militaries.

Mexico has yet to down and continues to refuse to sign the “Article 98” agreement. President Vicente Fox’s spokesman, Ruben Aguilar, said

“Mexico will be irrefutable in supporting the protocols of the international court, whatever the cost. Nobody in the world should be immune from the action of justice.”

For this years FY06 Appropriations Bill, there is a twist to the Nethercutt provision, the bill now includes a waiver for all NATO Allies, non-NATO allies, and any country the President considers to be in the “national interests of the US” with Congress’ aproval. According to the Citizens for Global Solutions, Bush has yet to invoke the waiver.

This week, today and Friday, Bush is meeting with Mexico’s President Vicente Fox. One has to wonder, with the sanctions already in effect, was the passage of HR4437 a way to get Mexico to sign the “Article 98” agreement?

A couple days ago while addressing questions from Canadian and Mexican reporters, Bush outlined his agenda for immigration reform at the upcoming Security and Prosperity Partnership” meeting in Cancun, Mexico.

“I believe that any immigration bill ought to make sure that we’re … able to secure the borders,” he said. “I also recognize that part of securing the borders requires a guest-worker program … In other words, the two go hand-in-hand.”

According to the State Department the ESF funds are:

promote the Administration’s priorities in the Hemisphere -stable and prosperous democracies, thriving economies, and secure borders and cooperative neighbors -through programs that focus on democracy and anti-corruption, trade-led economic growth, and counternarcotics

However, what does the really mean? And who will actually get hurt if it is built? The only thing mentioned in the Senate Judicary Committee vote was that it was not going to arrest people for aiding, but it never mentioned the “Border Wall.”

By building the “Wall,” the US ends up screwing itself in the foot. Mexico has become the second largest trading partner to the US, since the signing of NAFTA in 1994. And President Fox knows this very well. And it looks like he is calling the US’s bluff.

In a recent speech, he predicted that by 2010, the United States would “beg” Mexico for workers in vain, suggesting that by then the Mexican economy would generate enough jobs to sustain its 100 million-plus people.

It will be interesting to find out what happens because this year is Mexico’s election.

Update [2006-3-27 13:7:24 by XicanoPwr]::minor grammatical changes.

It is time to start looking deep within ourselves and really look at the problem of this divide. Yesterday, at ePluribus Media a question was asked in regards to the lack of a true progressive representation at yesterday’s march that was held in LA, Where were the progressives from outside of the Latino community today?

The diary written by Eternal Hope, Sickening: Kossacks supporting the Minutemenm confirms the claims made by Man Eegee’s diary, Gut-Check Time on Immigration.

I felt the comment I made in Eternal Hope’s diary really needed to be addressed if we really are wanting to heal this country.

As long as this issue is sweep under the rug and labeled “my issue” to defend, then there will never be a true disscussion. There have been too many band-aides to this wound and people refuse to see the hemorrhaging that is taking place.

We had our chance to address many issues right after Katrina, during Chief Justice Roberts’ and Justice Alito’s confirmation but we failed. The country did what it does best, just place more band-aides over the problems and hope it does not come up again. It is time to say BASTA!!!

Back to the question that was asked, “Where were the progressives from outside of the Latino community today?” the fact is, this question has been asked not just by Hispanics, but also Feminist, African Americans, Native Americans, the working class, the pro-Union, disability rights advocates and many others that is suppose to emcompass the liberal/progressive movement.

Whenever a minority or a gender issue is raised, it is often dismissed as a single issue and self-serving. It is damaging because because if complaints are made, they are often dismissed as making something out of nothing as we have seen over and over again.

The immigration issue is not only about racism, but it is also sexism and classism. Whenever an issue dealing with race or gender needs to be addressed, we as individuals become so afraid talk about it because it might reveal we to are contributing to the problem, which would require admitting to ourselves we do have our prejudices when it comes to ethnic, race, gender, social economic, and disability issues.

If we do not address the source that is causing this divide, how are we to address the moral juxtaposition that continues to divide America. The source of this moral delema are the messages we receive from society, and this is the crux of the problem. It is these messages that are shaping our view on any group.

Let’s take the immigration issue. Fact is, immigration emcompasses all other immigrant communities, not just Hispanics. But, the message that was given out to the public is that Hispanics are the ones who have intensified many existing social problems and created a number of new ones. The immigrantion debate revolves around two issues; one, “the war on terrorism” and the other, on a myth – La Reconquista, Mexico’s plan to take back its lost territory. On my blog, I wrote about the America’s cruel history of deportation in the 20th century, which is now into the 21st century. HR4437 talks about building a wall, and where will this wall be built? On the US-Mexico border, yet, nobody feels threaten by Canadians, even though the hijackers came through Canada.
From the State Department:

Who from Canada and Mexico, Needs a Nonimmigrant Visa to Enter the United States Temporarily?
Canada
Citizens of Canada do not require a visa, except as described below.

Canadian citizens travelling to the US for these purposes require nonimmigrant visas:

• foreign government officials (A);
• officials and employees of international organizations (G),;
• NATO officials, representatives and employees if s if they are being assigned to the U.S. (as opposed to an official trip).

Mexico
Citizens and permanent residents of Mexico generally must have a nonimmmigrant visa or Border Crossing Card (also known as a “Laser Visa”). The Border Crossing Card, Form DSP-150 is a biometric, machine readable, visitor B1-B2 visa/Border Crossing Card that may be used to enter the U.S. from within the Western Hemisphere. Select Border Crossing Card to learn more about the requirements for this card.

To someone like me, a Xicano/Mexican-American/Hispanic/Latino, this is out right racism and a double standard.

Take a look at a study done done last year, “Network Brownout Report,” by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

• One out of every three Latino stories (34.7 percent) was about immigration in 2004. More than one hour of coverage was devoted to the topic, making up almost a third (31.6 percent) of the total time (three hours 25 minutes) devoted to Latino stories.
• Half of all Latino stories (58 out of 115 stories) did not feature an interview with a Latino.
• Latino coverage lacked depth, with one third (33 percent) of all stories lasting 30 seconds or less.
• Out of 115 Latino stories, 47 (41 percent) featured visual images of groups of unidentified Latinos. Of the 47 stories, 31 (66 percent) featured immigrants, including images of illegal border crossings.
• A significant proportion of Latino stories lacked diversity of opinion. Of 115 stories, more than one third (41 stories) did not cite a single source. Of the stories using sources, 40 percent (46 stories) presented mostly one perspective.

Immigration was a central theme in much of the networks’ coverage, regardless of story topic. Most immigration stories focused on undocumented immigration. Many showed images of unidentified groups of undocumented immigrants crossing the border illegally or being arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol.

• Overall, Latinos were viewed as problem people and burdens to society in 2004.
• Stories on Latinos and politics focused on the use of Spanish by the presidential candidates and portrayed Latinos as a monolithic group of voters. Issues important to Latinos were virtually ignored.
• Networks continued to use the theme of the American dream to frame stories about Latinos, without providing more substantive coverage.

The country is undergoing an historic demographic shift, yet network coverage has failed to explain this change and its impact on our society. We fear viewers watching the network news have learned very little about the Latino community since we issued our first Network Brownout Report in 1996.

What viewers have learned is that too often Latinos are portrayed as problem people living on the fringes of U.S. society. Rarely do we see stories about the positive contributions of Latinos.

The issue of classism can be found within the Hispanic community because more affluent Hispanics separate themselves from undocumented immigrants. Sure, Hispanics will advocate for Hispanic rights, but there is also a fine line. I wonder how many affluent Hispanics attended any of the recent pro-immigration/anti-HR4437/anti-S.2454 rallies? I would imagine a few, it is not their “problem.” And yet it is.

There are also gender issues, such as, the gender role for women change drastically when they arrive to the US because it counters many of their cultural values. From a study, Gender(ed) Migrations: Shifting Gender Subjectivities in a Transnational Mexican Community, conducted by Deborah A. Boehm at the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies:

Without question, women in the United States exercise flexible and diverse roles, and are redefining femininity and what it means to be a woman. Teresa, for example, has a life that is quite distinct from her previous life in Mexico. In Mexico, she tells me that she was constantly in her home doing domestic chores, and that her family struggled because they had so little money. Today, Teresa works full-time for a clothing manufacturer, and she is responsible for many public interactions–with her children’s teachers and doctors, the family’s immigration attorney, bank tellers, and her realtor, among others. But while Teresa finds herself in spheres that are entirely new for her, and in charge of important family business, she still is the one who must do everything in the home. Her teenage daughters help with the load, but her husband and son do not. Teresa tells me that she is exhausted. She says that she has even purchased a daily planner– something she thought was ridiculous when she first saw a co-worker using one. But now, she explains,  her life is so hectic that she is lucky to just get by.

Immigration also deals with labor issues and many other issues. The question must be asked, when gender issues are brought up, how often are immigrants included in the debate? The same thing can be asked about labor issues. May union members feel threaten they are losing blue collar jobs to undocumented workers, why not bring them in or help organize so they too can be protected under labor rights. Obviously it is possible to organize, if not, how does one explain the success of the United Farm Workers.

There are many who call themselves liberal and are quick to recite Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when it comes to civil rights, but MLK was also an anti-war activist.

From Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s November 1967 speech at the National Labor Leadership Assembly for Peace:

Now what are some of the domestic consequences of the war in Vietnam? It has made the Great Society a myth and replaced it with a troubled and confused society…It has given the extreme right, the anti-labor, anti-Negro, and anti-humanistic forces a weapon of spurious patriotism to galvanize its supporters into reaching for power, right up to the White House. It hopes to use national frustration to take control and restore the America of social insecurity and power for the privileged. When a Hollywood performer, lacking distinction even as an actor can become a leading war hawk candidate for the Presidency, only the irrationalities induced by a war psychosis can explain such a melancholy turn of events.

At this moment tens of thousands of people and anti-poverty programs are being abruptly thrown out of jobs and training programs to search in a diminishing job market for work and survival. It is disgraceful that a Congress that can vote upwards of $35 billion a year for a senseless immoral war in Vietnam cannot vote a weak $2 billion dollars to carry on our all too feeble efforts to bind up the wound of our nations 35 million poor. This is nothing short of a Congress engaging in political guerilla warfare against the defenseless poor of our nation.

When I first decided to take a firm stand against the war in Vietnam, I was subjected to the most bitter criticism, by the press, by individuals, and even by some fellow civil rights leaders. There were those who said that I should stay in my place, that these two issues did not mix and I should stick with civil rights. Well I had only one answer for that and it was simply the fact that I have struggled too long and too hard now to get rid of segregation in public accommodations to end up at this point in my life segregating my moral concerns.

Often called the Latino Martin Luther King, like King, Cesar Chavez also advocated for civil rights and economic justice for all people. Before MLK was assassinated, MLK sent a telegram commending Chavez’s public “fast” to protest the violence taking place during the Famous Delano Grape Strike. MLK wrote:

“You and your valiant fellow workers have demonstrated your commitment to righting grievous wrongs forced upon exploited people. We are together with you in spirit and determination that our dreams for a better tomorrow will be realized.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I wonder what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would say about the current state of affairs and our divide?

Instead of asking where were the rest of the progressives, I ask you this:

How could we progress as a society and talk about civil liberties, yet allow millions of immigrant families be condemned to a life without pride?

How could we progress as a people while immigrants here in the US are being denied their self-respect?

But most of all, how can you believe that your child can become lawyers and doctors and judges and business people while this shame, this injustice is permitted to continue?

On March 18, Washington Post writes: The White House said yesterday that it will discipline two government employees who masqueraded as journalists this month while scouting locations for a presidential visit to the Gulf Coast.

They identified themselves as Fox News journalists when they were checking out their neighborhood before Bush’s visit and later claimed they were with the Secret Service.

“They didn’t show any cards or anything,” [Elaine] Akins said. “They just came up and said they were with the media, and then they said they were with Fox. They just talked to us and asked us about rebuilding our house. Then, after everything was over with, they approached us and they were laughing, and they said: ‘You know, we really weren’t with Fox. We’re government, Secret Service men.”

The White House confirms it:

“This incident has been brought to our attention, and this is clearly not appropriate, nor is it part of our standard operating procedures,” [Ken Lisaius, White House spokesman] said. “The individuals involved will be verbally reprimanded.”

However, the Secret Service have never seen the two “Secret Service men” and are not part of the Secret Service either.

“I checked with our people down there in Mississippi who were involved in the advance, and it was not Secret Service people who identified themselves as members of the media,” [Tom Mazur, a spokesman for the Secret Service] said. “We wouldn’t do that.”

When the Post called the White House again, Lisaus would not tell them anything about the two men were, just that the White House is aware of the matter. So it looks like the White House likes to sidestep the Secret Service and send their own personnel who like to run around impersonating journalist and the Secret Service.

I find it interesting, the Post made no mention that impersonating a federal law enforcement officer is a violation of federal law (18 U.S.C. §912).

Whoever falsely assumes or pretends to be an officer or employee acting under the authority of the United States or any department, agency or officer thereof, and acts as such, or in such pretended character demands or obtains any money, paper, document, or thing of value, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

But this is not the first time that the White House has tried to cover-up someone impersonating an agent pf the Secret Service. Last year, in Denver, at a Social Security town hall meeting, three individuals, Alex Young, Karen Bauer, and Leslie Weise (“Denver 3“), were forcibly removed by someone impersonating a Secret Service agent. Although the Secret Service launched a criminal investigation into the matter, the White House refused to provide the name of the person who was posing as a Secret Service agent, however, justified the removal of the “Denver 3.”

Amidst White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s stonewalling, contradictory explanations, and refusal to reveal the man’s identity, McClellan announced last week that suspicion is all the White House needs to forcibly remove Americans from an official Presidential event and deny them their constitutional rights.

The Associated Press later reported on the results of the investigation:

An agent from Washington, D.C., contacted [Dan] Recht and asked if his clients Alex Young, Karen Bauer, and Leslie Weise could be interviewed this week as part of the second investigation into the incident, Recht said. The Secret Service has said the first investigation determined the man was not one of its agents but a staff member with the host committee.

More frightening, it was a Republican staffer who posed as the Secret Service and it seems they do it very often.

[Lon] Garner, [the Secret Service agent in charge in Denver,] said his investigation found that the man was a Republican Party staffer and “not a Secret Service agent.” He referred further questions to his Washington office.

The group said Garner also told them there have been numerous cases of Republican staffers holding themselves out as Secret Service agents at presidential appearances.

I guess the White House “Volunteer” program are now the “advance sweeper teams” making sure King George’s loyal subjects haven’t turned on him.

[Elaine] Akins said the men were friendly and looked around the home site for about 20 minutes. The following Wednesday, Bush flew to the small, working-class town. He appeared with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) outside the Akins home to call attention to federal efforts to aid in reconstruction.

“Our job and our purpose is to help people like the Akins rebuild,” Bush said.

It was during McCarthism when people became targets of Senator McCarthy’s aggressive “witch-hunts,” but now, it’s any dissenter of King George.