10-21-2006= Aztlannet_News Report

<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>

<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
URL Weblink=
http://aztlannet-news-blog.blogspot.com/2006/10/10-21-2006-aztlannetnews-report.html
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.blackpressusa.com/News/Article.asp?SID=3&Title=National+News&NewsID=10931

Sat, 21 Oct 2006
Life as an Illegal Immigrant: Fearing a Knock at the Door
by Hazel Trice Edney
NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Michele sits up startled in her full-size bed. Her heart is thumping. Her mind races with fear as she peers at the glow of the digital clock in the dark. It’s near midnight. Who could be knocking at her door at this hour?

She crawls from her bed and tips slowly across the carpeted floor of her efficiency apartment, horrified at the prospect of who could be awaiting her. She holds her breath as she nears the door. Peering through the peek hole, she sighs with relief. It’s only a fireman.

The 37-year-old laughs heartily as she recounts the incident. Michele (not her real name) is an illegal immigrant from Trinidad, having overstayed an Immigration and Naturalization Service Visa that expired nearly 10 years ago. She has no driver’s license, Green Card or passport.

“Sometimes you’re getting up with night sweats and you’re thinking, ‘This is them’. You know they’re coming…You feel as though you’re confined,” she nearly whispers in her rich Trinidadian accent. “I can’t go anywhere that requires an I. D. I can’t tell anybody. I pick and choose the ones who I can trust. And I know who I can trust bv having a conversation with them. It’s hard, it’s hard even to travel. So, in cases like mine, it’s in the back of your head all the time, all the time.”

And so is stress.

“If you ask me whether I ever relax 100 percent, I would say, ‘No.’ On a scale of one to 10, I would say I sometimes I get to an eight…You hear a knock on the door and you think it’s the INS, but it’s just a firefighter. When you see police officers outside your building, you think they might be escorting the INS. When you see somebody new on your job, you think it’s someone to put you in shackles.”

Because of her immigration status, Michele agreed to tell her story to the NNPA News Service only under conditions of anonymity.

She came to the U. S. with a friend on a visitation Visa, planning to stay only six months. During those six months, she found a job and an apartment on the East Coast. She has held the same job ever since, sharing her secret with only a few of her co-workers and her employer. She says her boss has chosen to risk keeping her because she is a faithful worker and they know it would be extremely difficult for her to obtain other employment.

Her life away from the job revolves around window-shopping, reading in the park, going to movies, going to church and relaxing in her home. At times, she has to guard her language, like when she’s on the bus.

She heard one passenger say, “I would have a seat if these illegal immigrants would just get off the bus.” Michele says, “It hurts. It hurts. It breaks my heart. And we can’t even say anything back.”

Shanta Ramson, a Washington lawyer who specializes in immigration, explains: “There is no law in place right now. Right now, there is no law on the books that can help her.”

Recent immigration reforms have failed to pass Congress, including a reform proposed by President Bush that would allow the 11 to 12 million undocumented workers in the U. S. to gain temporary legal status.

Michele’s biggest dream is to go to college in the U. S. and earn a business degree. But, being illegal, she couldn’t even qualify for student aid.

“We want better jobs, we want to go to college, we want opportunity, we want a piece of the pie too, ” she says.

And that’s not Michele wants. She wants freedom to visit home to visit relatives, including a 15-month old nephew. “I wish I could see him in his young tender age, where you can hug him and kiss him and bite up his cheeks,” she says, smiling. She regularly speaks to her mother by phone.

Once, she came to visit and Michele delighted in her mother’s company for weeks, but the airport departure was unbearable. “We cried so hard. I cried long,” she recalls.

Experts say that not all immigrants are treated equally. Those from Haiti, for example, encounter more difficulty obtaining legal status in the U. S. than others, such as Cuba.

Donald J. Hernandez, professor of sociology at the University of Albany and an expert on immigration and diversity, says the difference in treatment is more about the United States’ relationship with that particular nation than it is about race.

“It really is very country-specific. Cuba has been a favored country because of the cold war,” Hernandez says. “People from Trinidad and Tobago have not had that favor, per se because they have not had that geo-political importance.”

Ramson, the immigration lawyer, says marriage to an American could open the door to begin application for legal status. But Ramson emphasizes, that is only in cases of “good faith marriages; not for fraudulent purposes or to circumvent the immigration law.”

Americans view Trinidad and Tobago as a vacation or retirement destination with palm trees, coconut milk, mangos, and beaches with blue water. Though Trinidad and Tobago is one of the wealthiest countries in the Caribbean, largely because of its oil and gas reserves, its per capita income is only $10,440 a year. The prospect of a better standard of living for immigrants – legal and illegal – is one of the attractions of the U.S.

The worse case scenario, if Michele ever gets deported, must wait as many as 10 years before being eligible to apply for a Visa.

“I want hope. I want hope. If God would just open up the windows of heaven and say that there’s a new start, I want to be free so I can come out and sore like an eagle,” she says. “You try your best to kind of like blank it out. But you can’t blank it out because you never know what is going to happen when enforcement comes.”

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.socialistworker.org/2006-2/606/606_07_Crackdown.shtml

October 20, 2006
Endorsed by Senate Democrats
New stage in the crackdown on immigration

From Congress’ last-minute border wall legislation to stepped-up enforcement by the Department of Homeland Security, LEE SUSTAR reports on a new wave of attacks on immigrants.

FIVE MONTHS after some of the biggest demonstrations in U.S. history, immigrants have come under fire--not only from conservative Republicans, law enforcement agencies and right-wing vigilantes, but from their supposed friends among congressional Democrats.

In September, a majority of Senate Democrats voted to approve construction of 700 more miles of a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. The Democrats could have easily stalled the vote, which was held at the end of the session prior to adjournment ahead of the November elections.

Instead, the Democrats scrambled to keep the Republicans from outflanking them on the immigration issue, voting for an enforcement-only immigration bill that most had vowed to oppose.

Such tactics are to be expected from the likes of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who specializes in “triangulating” issues to appeal to moderate Republicans. This time, though, thanks to liberal darling Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrats had political cover to join with Republicans to back the law. Obama voted for the wall despite earlier vows never to do so without other measures to allow for the legalization of at least some immigrants.

Many immigrant rights activists were shocked at the move. Dr. Juan Andrade Jr., president of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, called on Obama to apologize for his vote, calling the wall “an insult to those of us of Mexican ancestry.”

Obama pointedly refused to apologize. “I have supported and will continue to support comprehensive immigration reform that will provide a path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants in this country,” the senator said in a statement. “But I disagree with those who think that we can do this without measures that allow us to control our borders.”

“Comprehensive immigration reform” is a code phrase for proposed Senate legislation that would divide undocumented immigrants into three categories--those who can eventually apply for a highly restricted “path to citizenship,” those eligible for guest-worker status, and the most recent arrivals, who are excluded altogether.

To try to obtain congressional backing for such a program, the main sponsors of the proposed Senate legislation on immigration--including Democrat Ted Kennedy and Republicans John McCain, Chuck Hagel and Mel Martinez--were willing to allow a vast expansion of immigration law enforcement mechanisms, including a border wall.

The senators’ strategy was to accept the harsh crackdown on immigration advocated by conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives in exchange for the guest-worker provisions coveted by Corporate America. Instead, leading House Republicans rallied around another proposal, HR 4437, written by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.)--a measure that, if passed, would turn the estimated 12 million undocumented workers in the U.S. into felons.

With the issue at a stalemate as the elections approached, House leaders decided to pass provisions of the Sensenbrenner bill piece by piece--including authorization for the additional border wall construction.

At first, this strategy was seen as a political stunt to satisfy the Republicans’ right-wing base. But rather than call the Republicans’ bluff--or at least stall the measure--Senate Democrats shamefully went along.

Seventeen Democrats voted against the Secure Fence Act of 2006, and 26 voted for it, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer of California as well as Clinton and Obama. The lopsided 80-19 vote gave the border wall bill a bipartisan seal of approval.
+++++++++++++++
THE BORDER wall wasn’t the only repressive anti-immigrant measure passed in Congress on September 29.

A $33.7 billion spending bill to fund Department of Homeland Security operations also gives the Secretary of Homeland Security the power to “take all actions...necessary” to stop “all unlawful entries into the United States”--that is, to accelerate the stepped-up program of raids and detentions in immigrant communities across the U.S.

Besides providing a $1.2 billion down payment on the border wall, the bill will fund the hiring of 1,500 border patrol agents, create 6,700 additional beds at detention centers for undocumented immigrants, and fund new vehicle barriers and high-tech sensors along the border. Also, as the Los Angeles Times points out, the bill “significantly boosts” funding for “enforcement of immigration laws at work sites and elsewhere.”

In the House, the Homeland Security spending bill passed 412-6, with just three Democrats opposed. In the Senate, which voted on the measure back in July, the tally was 100-0.

In fact, stepped-up enforcement of immigration law is already underway, part of a well-orchestrated backlash against last spring’s immigrant rights demonstrations.

The crackdown has three prongs: raids by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities; local police enforcement of both local and federal anti-immigrant laws; and moves by major employers to terminate immigrant workers on the basis of “no match” letters issued by the Social Security Administration when Social Security numbers on file don’t match those provided by workers.

Together, such measures create an apparatus through which the government can hunt undocumented workers--one that will be used to target the more than 2 million people who wouldn’t be eligible to participate in the proposed guest-worker program, should it ever become law.

These policies conform to a strategy proposed more than a year ago by Mark Kirkorian of the anti-immigrant Center for Immigration Studies. In an article entitled “Downsizing Illegal Immigration: A Strategy of Attrition Through Enforcement,” Kirkorian called for “shrink[ing] the illegal population through consistent, across-the-board enforcement of the immigration law.

“By deterring the settlement of new illegals, by increasing deportations to the extent possible, and, most importantly, by increasing the number of illegals already here who give up and deport themselves, the United States can bring about an annual decrease in the illegal-alien population, rather than allowing it to continually increase.”
++++++++++++
THE RESULT, said Martín Unzueta, an organizer with the Chicago Workers Collaborative, is that “the authorities are trying to put the Sensenbrenner bill into practice right now, even though we don’t have the law.”

For that reason, the organization teamed up with the Illinois AFL-CIO, Jobs With Justice, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and other labor and immigrant rights groups to host a two-day summit on the new attacks, held in Chicago on October 13 and 14.

The first day brought together some 50 union organizers, who strategized on how to prevent employers from summarily dismissing workers on the basis of Social Security “no-match” letters and the so-called Basic Pilot Program, a voluntary program in which employers verify workers’ immigration status via a government Web site.

On the second day of the summit, some 60 workers attended, many of them Latino activists in the UNITE HERE union seeking to organize Cintas, the giant industrial laundry and uniform company. Cintas, like many employers, is implementing proposed federal regulations on “no-match” letters even before they take effect, and has moved to terminate 400 workers, thereby undermining unionization efforts, organizers say.

Actually, “no-match” violations, which are monitored by Homeland Security, are often the fault of incorrect government databases, according to the NILC. The same is true, they say, of the information in the Basic Pilot Program.

The new pressure on immigrants in the workplace is paralleled by increasingly aggressive actions by police, another major focus of the summit. “There is in many places a devolution from the federal government to state and local authorities” in immigration law enforcement, according to Joan Friedland of NILC, who spoke at the Chicago conference.

While police in cities like New York and Chicago have a formal policy of not collaborating with federal immigration authorities, their counterparts in Arizona, Georgia and elsewhere are increasingly working with ICE.

Now thanks to congressional Democrats’ backing for expanded immigration law enforcement, the crackdown is set to intensify, with or without “comprehensive” immigration reform.

“This is a real crisis that’s on the verge of exploding with some of the actions that the Department of Homeland Security is taking in regard to no-match letters, worksite enforcement and collaboration with police departments,” said Tim Bell of the Chicago Workers Collaborative. “The question is, is the community going to organize and put a stop to it?”

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/10015/1/344

10/20/06
Illinois town resists anti-immigrant law
Author: Pepe Lozano
Email= plozano@pww.org

Patricia Garcia helps a customer at the store she owns with her husband in Carpentersville. The proposed anti-immigrant law would hurt everybody, she said. PWW photo by Pepe Lozano.

CARPENTERSVILLE, Ill. — When nearly 3,000 demonstrators showed up outside a village board meeting here on Oct. 3, mostly to oppose the “Illegal Alien Immigration Relief Act,” town leaders tabled the measure in order to facilitate the discussion in a larger location for public hearings.

Two weeks later, on Oct. 17, after heated debate, the Carpentersville Village Board voted 4-3 to table the measure indefinitely. The board will delay any further vote until litigation with similar ordinances is resolved in towns like Hazelton, Pa., Riverside Township, N.J. and Valley Park, Mo.

The meeting deliberated in front of a standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 people. Outside, hundreds more protested the proposed law using bullhorns and waving signs.

Carpentersville trustees Paul Humpfer and Judy Sigwalt proposed the divisive local ordinance last month. It made the working-class town, less than 40 miles northwest of Chicago, the first municipality in Illinois to consider making English its official language.

The ordinance would have prohibited “aiding and abetting illegal aliens” and would fine landlords who rent to or conduct business with undocumented immigrants. The town of 37,000 is 40 percent Latino and the ordinance is widely seen as anti-Latino.

Humpfer says he drafted the ordinance after learning the village spent $372,000 last year on ambulance fees for residents who he claims were “illegal.”

Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, a village trustee who grew up in Carpentersville, called the measure racist. She said Latinos are being targeted, especially by outside forces like the anti-immigrant Minutemen group. Ramirez-Sliwinski is the only Latina on the seven-member village board.

“They are not doing this for the community, they are doing this to the community,” she said in a telephone interview. “Immigrants pay taxes, they own homes, they pay their bills, own businesses and shop here.”

She said she hoped the ordinance would be defeated. “I would like to see this as a victory for the whole country,” she said.

Village President Bill Sarto called the measure a “political stunt,” telling a local paper, “This is a hot-button issue that a couple of trustees stirred up.”

He said he was concerned about Carpentersville’s ability to obtain grants, maintain a good bond rating and provide the best health insurance benefit rates for employees, all of which could be compromised by the ordinance. The bill’s sponsors are “jeopardizing the financial situation of the village,” he said.

Latino business owners, community leaders including Ramirez-Sliwinski, teachers and ministers came together and formed the Carpentersville Community Alliance in opposition to the ordinance. CCA met with Sarto to give him their support. Although the CCA is mainly composed of Latinos, members said they want to create a voice for the community at large.

In a phone interview, Sarto said the two trustees who pushed the ordinance “are making a big mistake” that will be “detrimental to the entire community.” He said the ordinance encourages racial profiling in a community where 60-70 percent of the Latino residents are legal citizens. “It’s a violation of their civil rights,” he said. “This ordinance puts everyone who is Hispanic in jeopardy.”

Sarto said a number of white business owners support his position and are ready to help defeat the ordinance. The measure does not have the majority of votes on the board, he said.

The Carpentersville bill is among a recent spate of small town anti-immigrant ordinances. In most cases English-only proposals are coupled with measures to block immigrants from access to housing, jobs and education.

Many are in areas with tight election races, where right-wing Republicans hope to benefit from an immigrant-bashing atmosphere.

Hazleton, Pa., made national news when it passed a similar ordinance, which has been put on hold pending litigation. Out of 50 such local ordinances, passed, rejected or under consideration, 28 are in Pennsylvania, a congressional battleground state, where a leading Republican incumbent, Rick Santorum, may lose his Senate seat.

Patricia Garcia, a Mexican-born U.S. citizen, mother of four, is co-owner of a store on Carpentersville’s main business strip. She has been in business for about 16 years selling clothing, food, snacks and other items.

“We are all workers here. We are here to stay and we are going to struggle,” she said in Spanish. “This ordinance affects everybody, not just immigrants, but our children especially. The children are the future of tomorrow and their education is very important.”

Garcia’s daughter Yesnia, 18, called the ordinance “ignorance.” “If they kick us out who is going to consume?” she asked.

The immigrant rights battles are helping to educate a new generation of voter activists.

Asked if she has registered and plans to vote in the November election, Yesnia replied, “Hell yeah, I’m going to vote. I told my mom, ‘My vote is my voice.’”

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1020scotus-voterID20-ON.html

Oct. 20, 2006
Supreme Court upholds Arizona's photo ID law for elections
Reporter Amanda Crawford / The Arizona Republic
Email= amanda.crawford@arizonarepublic.com

Arizona voters will have to present identification at the polls on Nov. 7 after all.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that Arizona can go ahead with requiring voters to present a photo ID, starting with next month's general election, as part of the Proposition 200 that voters passed in 2004. The ruling overturns an Oct. 5 decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which put the voter ID rules on hold this election cycle.

The Supreme Court on Friday did not decide whether the new voter ID rules are constitutional. That decision is still pending in federal district court.

Instead, the court decided that the 9th Circuit made a procedural error by granting an injunction to put the new rules on hold without waiting for the district court to explain its reasons for not granting an injunction.

"The facts in these cases are hotly contested and 'no bright line separates permissible election-related regulation from unconstitutional infringements,' " the Justices wrote. "Given the imminence of the election and the inadequate time to resolve the factual disputes, our action today shall of necessity allow the election to proceed without an injunction suspending the voter identification rules."

The new voter ID rules were passed, in part, to keep illegal immigrants and other non-citizens from voting. Opponents have argued that legal voters, especially the poor and the elderly, might also be disenfranchised because of the rules.

In order to cast a ballot at the polls, voters must show a photo ID with current street address or two forms of identification, such as a utility bill or car registration, with name and street address.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/northamerica/article_1212829.php/Immigrant_group_sues_Arizona

Oct 20, 2006
US News: Immigrant group sues Arizona
By UPI

PHOENIX, AZ, United States (UPI) -- An immigrant rights group has sued Arizona, claiming that funds belonging to the innocent are being seized in an effort to crack down on human smugglers.

Three plaintiffs who had lost money wired by Western Union filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, the Arizona Republic reported. They are sponsored by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

The plaintiffs have asked a federal judge to certify the suit against state Attorney General Terry Goddard as a class action. Goddard has frozen many wire transfers via Western Union and similar services to prevent illegal immigrants from paying the 'coyotes' who guided them over the Mexican border. The coalition charges that Goddard is engaged in broad racial profiling.

'What this situation requires is targeted rifle-shot action to take out coyotes and drug smugglers,' Josh Hoyt, the coalition`s executive director said in a statement. 'But Attorney General Goddard is practicing a legal drive-by shooting.'

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/42724.html

Friday, October 20, 2006
Law firm accused of immigration scam
Scores allegedly won asylum with fake papers, testimony
By Denny Walsh - Bee Staff Writer

The government granted asylum status to scores of immigrants based on fraudulent documents and false testimony orchestrated by a Sacramento law firm, according to a federal grand jury indictment made public Thursday.

The indictment alleges that between early 2000 and late 2004, five defendants filed countless asylum applications with the government containing fictitious stories of ethnic, religious or political persecution the clients supposedly suffered in their home countries.

The applications were often supported by doctors' letters, medical certificates, affidavits and other documents which were all counterfeit, the indictment alleges.

Among defendants named in the indictment are brothers Jagprit Sekhon, 37, and Jagdip Sekhon, 39, attorneys and erstwhile partners in the Sekhon & Sekhon law firm.

Amid the protracted investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the firm's Sacramento office shut down. The San Francisco office remains open and is headed by Jagdip Sekhon. His brother is no longer associated with the firm.

"Scores of alien clients of Sekhon & Sekhon who would not have been entitled to asylum status in the United States fraudulently obtained asylum status," the indictment states.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said there is no precise number of clients who unlawfully obtained asylum status; he estimated it is "more than 400 and less than 1,000."
Eventually, the prosecutor said, "cases in which fraud is suspected will be reopened."
Revisiting the files is an administrative matter, Wagner said, that "will probably take some time."

Asked if the comparatively high percentage of approvals by the government's regional asylum office in San Francisco, which has jurisdiction throughout Northern California, was a factor in the high volume of cases handled by Sekhon & Sekhon, Wagner said:

"I think that was part of the appeal. The law firm operated in this region and used that to its advantage."

The primary business of Sekhon & Sekhon was asylum applications on behalf of clients from India and Romania. The applicants came from throughout the United States but filed phony Northern California addresses supplied by the law firm, the indictment says.

Part of the government's investigation involved an informant who contacted Sekhon & Sekhon in September 2003 requesting assistance in legalizing his immigration status, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in connection with the case. The informant posed as a Romanian national from the state of Georgia who had overstayed his tourist visa. In his face-to-face contacts with Sekhon & Sekhon personnel, he was equipped with a recording device, according to the affidavit.

An immigrant is eligible for asylum if he or she can establish an inability or unwillingness to return to his or her native country because of a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

Also named in the indictment as defendants are Manjit Kaur Rai, 31, an attorney who worked at Sekhon & Sekhon, and Iosif Caza, 40, and Luciana Harmath, 27, who acted as interpreters for the firm's Romanian clients.

The defendants conspired to use "deceit, craft and trickery" to gain asylum status for their clients, the indictment alleges.

In addition to the omnibus conspiracy count, Jagprit Sekhon is charged in 11 counts alleging false statements in asylum applications, three counts relating to alleged false testimony given by his clients to asylum and immigration officials, and one count of conspiring to make false statements.

A criminal forfeiture count seeks to recover from the Sekhon brothers $2,542,500, "representing the amount of proceeds (they) obtained as a result of the offenses."

In addition to the omnibus conspiracy count, Rai is charged in one count alleging false statements in asylum applications, one count relating to alleged false testimony, one count of conspiring to make false statements, and one count of making false statements to Homeland Security special agents investigating the law firm's practices.

In addition to conspiracy, Caza is charged in nine counts alleging false statements in asylum applications, three counts relating to alleged false testimony, and one count of conspiring to make false statements. The criminal forfeiture count seeks $685,125 from Caza.

Harmath is also charged with conspiracy, and two counts alleging false statements in asylum applications, one count relating to alleged false testimony, and one count of conspiring to make false statements.

Jagprit Sekhon could not be located and his attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Attorney David Dratman, who represents Jagdip Sekhon, said his client "will vigorously dispute the one charge against him -- conspiracy. He is not only presumed innocent, he is innocent."

Attorney James Greiner, who represents Rai, declined to comment as he left a federal courtroom Thursday where his client had just entered a plea of not guilty.

Assistant Federal Defender Timothy Zindel, who represents Caza, said, "We think there's nothing to support the charges." Reached at his Sacramento home, Caza labeled the charges against him "a big lie. None of it happened."

Reached at her home in Arizona, Harmath declined to comment.

The indictment alleges that Jagprit Sekhon and Rai directed clients to collect documents to support a fictitious story, and that Romanian clients who wanted assistance were referred to Caza who, for a fee, would generate counterfeit records that appeared to have been created in Romania.

The indictment alleges that all five defendants participated in preparation sessions with clients prior to the clients' testimony before an asylum officer or immigration judge, at which the defendants rehearsed the clients in telling the fictitious stories.

Both Sekhons and Rai represented clients at asylum hearings where clients testified falsely and where Caza and Harmath acted as interpreters, according to the indictment.
+++++
About the writer:
The Bee's Denny Walsh can be reached at (916) 321-1189 or dwalsh@sacbee.com.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/42847.html

Friday, October 20, 2006
A morning of dread at McClatchy High
Most students weren't allowed to call on their cell phones as the school was sealed following gunfire.
By Crystal Carreon and Laurel Rosenhall - Bee Staff Writers

They saw crime scene tape around C.K. McClatchy High School on Thursday morning. They heard police were looking for a gunman, a teenager with a backpack, possibly still armed. But when some parents tried to reach their children the only way they could -- on cell phones, they got no answer.

"I was in tears," said Melissa Subia, who couldn't reach her 15-year-old sister, whom she cares for. "It's not OK that we couldn't communicate with them; we just can't sit here and think the worst."

Sacramento City Unified School District rules ban the use of cell phones in class, and -- as parents and students learned Thursday -- that includes during emergency lockdowns. But in a post-Columbine world, weeks after deadly school shootings in Wisconsin, Colorado and at an Amish school in Pennsylvania, some parents are wondering if the communication clampdown is, as school administrators say, a sound safety precaution.

Teenagers and cell phones are synonymous, online news ubiquitous, and the school's phone messaging service is designed to deliver information at lighting speed.

For a tense two hours Thursday, the sprawling Freeport Boulevard campus and neighboring California Middle School imposed lockdowns -- doors and windows shuttered, drapes closed -- after a 15-year-old boy, a McClatchy sophomore, allegedly fired a gun two blocks from the high school, according to police.

By 10:30 a.m., the boy, whose name was withheld by authorities, was arrested unarmed at the light-rail station on Broadway. A McClatchy custodian had seen him arguing with his girlfriend at 7:30 a.m. on campus. Police said the boy left the campus and obtained a weapon.

The boy apparently brought the gun to show off to friends when it discharged into the air, outside Round Table Pizza on Freeport Boulevard, Sacramento Police Sgt. Terrell Marshall said.
No one was injured, and the gun was recovered in bushes outside the restaurant.

School officials who lifted the lockdown of the 2,364-student body minutes after the arrest, said the experience went by the book -- organized, methodical. Everyone had a role -- including determining how much information was released.

"The facts in that situation changed. ... You want to assure parents, but you want to make sure you're not sending out misinformation," said school district spokeswoman Maria Lopez. "It's a two-edged sword -- having kids use the cell phone during an emergency," she said.

Schools have the right to choose how the information unfolds during emergencies, said Dr. Gloria "Jo" Floyd, a nationally recognized consultant on campus safety from Texas.

"When you're in a lockdown or a crisis situation, you need an opportunity to control the school," she said. "But you can't control the school when everybody is calling and running over to the school."

Shortly after McClatchy's first-period bell rang, 15-year-old Katherine Hernandez was startled by the school's alarm, signaling the start of a lockdown. She and about 20 other students in her freshman math class were instructed to duck under their desk, as in an earthquake drill, and turn off their cell phones.

"The teacher, he didn't want us to use our phones," said Katherine, who saw students hide their phones and call in secret, ringers on silent mode. "He just kept telling us to turn off our cell phones, but we were saying we needed to reach our parents."

Her older sister, Subia, said she frantically called Katherine's friends' phones to get a hold of her sister.

"In emergency situations, this is why we give kids cell phones," she said. "With all this stuff going on -- shootings at schools -- we just need to make sure our kids are safe."

Three years ago, a 15-year-old McClatchy student was fatally shot outside a sandwich shop across the street from where Thursday's shooting occurred. Subia and other guardians said that history, especially, still haunts them.

In another classroom, Marissa Gauna, 14, said her computer teacher let students use their cell phones. They were also allowed to scroll news Web sites on the Internet and send e-mails to those outside the campus walls.

Others sent text messages.

"I texted my parents, my sister, my brother who goes to Christian Brothers ... my friends in other classrooms, my soccer coach," said senior M.C. Abbott, 17. "For me, it was just a comfort, because I knew that if I hadn't been able to talk to my mom, my mom would be really, really worried about what was going on."

About an hour into the lockdown, McClatchy Principal Cynthia Clark crossed the police tape and explained to gathering parents what was happening. She stressed that the shot was fired off campus and that the school was the safest place for students.

Shortly after 10 a.m., Clark began alerting parents through the district's Connect-ED phone message system, a voice recording delivered en masse within minutes. The message said the school was on lockdown because of "an incident that occurred off campus at approximately 8:30 this morning"; students were safe in first period, and another message would follow. For some parents, for whom every minute mattered, the timing of the alert was unsettling.

"It's kinda weird that they took two hours to call us," said Ted Sanchez who arrived at school after the lockdown to bring his son home. "There was a shooting ... I don't want to take that chance."

Lopez said the principal sent out the voice mails as soon as she could.

"The guideline is to do it as quickly as is feasible," she said. "In a situation like this, the principal's responsibility is securing the safety of students at school. Once everything is secure, she can make the message."

Heidi McLean, whose daughter is a junior at McClatchy High, said the recorded phone messages were helpful.

"I was happy to have gotten the news," McLean said. "It shows that Connect-ED works, and I'm really glad they're using it."

After the arrest, officers pulled down the police tape outside of the school. Classes resumed for third period. During the break, several students were seen whipping out their cell phones.
+++++
About the writer:
The Bee's Crystal Carreon can be reached at (916) 321-1203 or ccarreon@sacbee.com
Bee staff writer Ramon Coronado contributed to this report.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.bayshorenews.com/1/template.php?ID=422

Posted: 2006-10-19
Mayor, councilman deflect surge of angry Latinos
by MATTHEW McGRATH

The Borough of Keyport is no stranger to controversy. The latest issue in town coming to the front burner is illegal immigration. As is the case in most towns, residents who have issue with the operation of government flood public meetings to voice their opinions.

During the past two years Keyport has dealt with the arrest and subsequent indictment of its mayor, a contested Keyport Business Alliance election and its aftermath, parking tickets issued to nearly the entire congregation of the borough's Second Baptist Church, a police department that felt it was being singled out for layoffs to solve a mounting tax crisis, and a volunteer fire department that believed the council did not appreciate its contributions to the community.

So, when Keyport's large Hispanic community felt it was being singled out by a proposed code titled "An ordinance authorizing penalties for aiding and abetting unauthorized immigrants" that described the illegal immigration as a "nuisance, Keyport knew what to do. The ordinance ascribed higher crime rates, over crowding in schools and an overall negative impact on the community to illegal immigrants.

Mayor John Merla addressed the issue at the outset of the Borough Council's Tuesday, October 17 meeting. Merla announced that the ordinance, proposed by Councilman and Police Commissioner Joseph Wedick, would be tabled indefinitely.

"The borough has enough laws locally to deal with housing issues," Merla said. "We feel that good landlords should be rewarded and bad landlords should be punished."

Merla added that issue of illegal immigration is a federal problem and "it shouldn't lie upon a 1.4 square mile town." The announcement was met by applause.

"I don't think there was any intent to specifically [insult] any ethnic group," Merla said.

Wedick said his intent "was to give a voice to those without one."

He said he felt that some borough residents' illegal status was being used against them. Wedick cited substandard living conditions in which six people are living in apartments designed for one person.

"I wanted to do something on their behalf," Wedick said. "I wanted to take on the landlords."

Wedick said he did not want to jeopardize anyone's right to work, nor to have people arrested because of their status as illegal aliens. "My intention was to try and keep people from getting hurt and conceivably getting killed," Wedick said. "And when that happens no one cares if you're legal or illegal because you're dead." Wedick said he endorsed the work ethic of the people who stand outside the 7/11 convenience store on the corner of Maple Place and Broad Street in all types of weather conditions.

"As police commissioner I could have a police car sitting there every day busting their chops and making sure nobody stops to pick them up for work," Wedick said. "We're not doing that, we understand."

Wedick said that despite his good intentions federal laws prohibit him from following through.
Wedick statement's was also met with applause.

Merla said he instructed the new borough administrator to meet with the proper officials to deal with housing situations with the ordinances the borough currently has in place.

After Wedick's speech, most of the residents who were at the meeting to show their support against the ordinance left.

A similar tactic was used in deflecting the ire of the Fire Department in September. Representatives of the fire department were allowed to speak and the council also made statements. The fire department and its supporters departed the meeting shortly after their portion was over.

The council used a very different strategy when it dealt with the police department's many issues this past spring. The council conducted its other business first and did not allow the police and its supporters to speak until the end of the meeting during the public portion. Council meetings ran for very long periods of time, and many different people reiterated others previously stated positions.

"I've been told by a lot of people that I really know how to nip hard issues in the bud," Merla said. "We wanted to hit the [illegal immigration issue] head-on to let the people who were here discuss it and know that the council thinks it is important."

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1018az-money-transfers18-ON.html

Oct. 18, 2006
Suit challenges Arizona's interception of money transfers
Associated Press

An immigrant-rights group sued Arizona Wednesday, saying the lives and property of innocent people are unfairly snared by a state program intended to combat migrant and drug smuggling by intercepting money transfers.

The suit filed by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said the warrants authorizing the interceptions are too broad and snare innocent people in violation of constitutional protections on search and seizure. Rights for legal due process also are violated because notices outlining ways to challenge the seizures aren't being posted, according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix.

Englewood, Colo.-based Western Union has already gone to court separately to fight aspects of the program run by the Arizona Attorney General. It recently was expanded to include transfers of $500 or more sent to specific places in the northern Mexican state of Sonora because, state officials said, smugglers had responded to seizures in Arizona by rerouting the transfers to south of the border.

A federal judge last month rebuffed Western Union's challenge to the expanded program, but a state judge later temporarily halted the program pending an Oct. 30 hearing. Attorney General Terry Goddard's office oversees the 5-year-old program, which is intended to deprive smugglers of the money that is "the core motive" for their operations.

Along with being a major location of drug smuggling, Arizona is the nation's busiest illegal crossing point for illegal immigrants coming into the United States from Mexico. Authorities say illegal immigrants typically won't carry large amounts of cash and frequently arrange to have relatives or friends send money to "coyotes" for payment once crossings are made.

The lawsuit challenges approximately $12 million intercepted in 11,000 transfers during the past two years.

Goddard's office said the seizure warrants have led to hundreds of arrests of smugglers and drug dealers and "played a role" in the forfeiture of more than $17 million in transit as well as numerous businesses.

Coalition Executive Director Josh Hoyt acknowledged that some of the transfers are for illicit purposes. But he said the group's investigation shows the procedures also snag "little people" who mostly are just trying to send money to relatives. "He's taking a lot of innocent people along with the guilty," Hoyt said of Goddard.

Coalition representatives met last week with Goddard in Phoenix but were unable to resolve their differences, Hoyt said.

The lawsuit, which names Goddard and a top aide as defendants, asks the court to block use of the seizure warrants and order restitution for seized transfers and payment of legal fees and costs.

Goddard spokeswoman Andrea Esquer said the office hadn't had a chance to review the lawsuit and couldn't immediately comment, but the office's briefing paper said the procedures used to screen cases are like Customs inspections or police roadblocks to catch drunken drivers and "are national models of due process."

"The law enforcement goal in each operation is to determine which are the subject cases as quickly as possible and send the others on their way with little disruption," according to the briefing paper.

However, one of three plaintiffs named in the lawsuit, Illinois truck driver Javier Torres, said he lost $1,000 that he tried to send to a friend in Arizona to pay for a car that Torres said he quickly resold for profit. Torres, a Burbank, Ill., resident who said he has been a legal resident of the United States since 1994, said Arizona authorities declined to return the money when he couldn't provide specific documents.

"I never had the car in my name," Torres said by telephone from the coalition's office in Chicago. "They told me when you have those documents you can call me back,' "

The suit's other two named plaintiffs are Alma Santiago, of Charlotte, N.C., and Lia Rivadeneyra of Daly City, Calif.

Matt Piers, a Chicago attorney representing the immigrant coalition, said the group had received information from Western Union regarding the transfers and previously had accepted unrestricted grants from the Englewood, Colo.-based company but was not acting on its behalf.

The suit said money was seized in transfers from residents of Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
+++++++++++
On the Net:
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights: http://www.icirr.org/

Arizona Attorney General's Office: http://www.azag.gov/

Western Union: http://www.westernunion.com

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR2006101801504.html

Wednesday, October 18, 2006
N. Jersey town sued over immigration law
By Jon Hurdle / Reuters

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Civil rights campaigners and business groups sued the New Jersey township of Riverside on Wednesday over a law that seeks to crack down on illegal immigration.
The law called the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, passed by Riverside's city council in July, is designed to stop businesses hiring or renting to illegal immigrants, who are accused of overburdening local services without paying taxes.

Riverside's law oversteps the city's authority, violates civil rights under state law and fails to clearly define who is an illegal immigrant, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed in Burlington County Superior Court by a coalition of Riverside business owners, landlords and residents represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.

According to the Puerto Rican group, 10 U.S. cities have now passed similar laws and a further 39 are considering them. This includes the city of Escondido, California which is set to vote on Wednesday on a similar measure. Courts have not yet ruled on the laws.

America's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants are a leading issue in the campaigns for local and national elections on November 7.

U.S. lawmakers are trying to reconcile major differences in immigration bills proposed in the Senate, which seeks a path to citizenship for eligible immigrants, and the House, which emphasizes stronger border controls.

Riverside with about 8,000 people includes an immigrant community estimated at around 2,000, many of whom are from Brazil. Some have left the town since the ordinance was passed, said Cesar Perales, president of the Puerto Rican group.

"We have heard that people are beginning to leave," Perales said. "They have decided that they are not wanted."

The complaint argues that the law has caused businesses and landlords to lose income for fear of being prosecuted. People found breaking the law can be fined between $1,000 and $2,000, imprisoned for up to 90 days and denied business permits and township contracts.

Immigrant rights groups clashed with local people in August at a town-center rally in which some supporters of the law shouted at immigrants to "go home."

Riverside Mayor Charles Hilton did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.kget.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=59B07246-62C0-4D80-8241-ECDE74C76855

Posted 10/18/06
Orange County Latinos experience "voter intimidation" in recently mailed letters
Video

BAKERSFIELD - The California Attorney General’s Office said it is aggressively investigating a letter delivered to some Latinos in southern California that falsely warned that it is a crime for immigrants to vote.

The letter, signed “Sergio Ramirez,” was written in awkward Spanish and mailed to some Orange County Latinos, officials said the letter warned its recipients could be jailed or deported “if you’re an immigrant voting in a federal election.”

The Chairman of California’s Democratic Party, Art Torres, called it “voter intimidation.”
“Everyone should know that if they’re a U.S. citizen, and registered to vote, they have every right to vote and the people know the letters they are sending to registered voters are not the people who are here illegally,” said Torres.

Illegal immigrants do not have the right that citizens have to vote.

According to the letter, the federal government installed a computer system to verify registered voter names who vote in October and November. It claimed anti-immigration groups had access to the information.

The California Attorney General’s Office and spokeswoman for the Justice Department, Cynthia Magnuson, said the database does not exist and said, “The letter contains false information.”

The letters were printed on stationary from the strident anti-illegal-immigration organization, the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, whose website has a video that attributes disease in the U.S. to immigration. Torres said the group denies it had anything to do with the mailers.

The California Coalition for Immigration Reform’s leader, Barbara Coe, said her group did not authorize the letter, nor does she know a Sergio Ramirez, according to The Los Angeles Times. Coe did not comment further on the matter.

National Executive Director Brent Wilkes of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a civil rights group, commented on the Coalition. “They’re taking as much action as they can to make the lives of Latinos as miserable as possible.”

U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales was called on by various civil rights groups to investigate the letter as a violation of voting laws.

The letter was called racist by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor urged the California attorney general, Bill Lockyer, to charge the letters’ sender with a hate crime.

The California attorney general’s office was alerted to the letter Monday after a weekend of Latino voters fielding calls from outraged constituents. Spokesman for Lockyer, Nathan Barankin, said, “They could be naturalized citizens, or they could be fourth-generation Californians. What we do know is that some of the recipients of this letter are legal and longtime registered voters in California.”

Barankin said California laws that ban the use of intimidation or coercion in efforts to prevent voting, and outlawing one from knowingly challenging a person’s right to vote on fraudulent and bogus grounds could be violated due to the letter’s content.

Barankin said, “We’re going to determine who sent it, and why they sent it, and then from that, if there’s enough evidence to prosecute.”

An 2005 estimate by the Census Bureau reported nearly one in three Orange County residents are of Latino or Hispanic origin.

Democratic representative Loretta Sanchez from Garden Grove said she was contacted by several constituents in her district who received a letter, and fears this “voter intimidation” could work in threatening first-time voters.

Sanchez said, “Santa Ana and Anaheim are the new Ellis Island of the United States. New people are becoming citizens every day, and who knows the sophistication level when they get a letter like this?”

Some southern Californian leaders believe the letter will have little effect on immigrant voters.

Interim president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in Los Angeles, John Trasvina, said, “Latino voters are astute enough not to be intimidated. They’ve seen the same tactics used against them in the recent past, as well as the farther ago past. And they won’t take it.”

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.vidaenelvalle.com/news/english/story/12908328p-13567194c.html

Binational Health Week activities have no borders


Vida en el Valle

(Published Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 09:25AM)
Researchers from the University of California and México's Secretariat of Health released findings from a binational study on health, migration and medical insurance last Friday as part of the 2006 Binational Health Week.

The findings show that migrant Mexican workers in the United States — both documented and undocumented — have three times more health risks than the average U.S. citizen, and they face different barriers to health care.

"Immigrants' medical insurance needs to transcend borders, with coverage often needed as well for their dependents in their places of origin," the study's authors point out.

"We need to forge more comprehensive disease-prevention and health-promotion strategies if we are to address the needs of all segments of this population," said Dr. Roberto Tapía, México's undersecretary of Health.

Rubén Beltrán, Mexican consul general in Los Ángeles, said the study showing the need for health insurance reiterate "the importance of developing health insurance programs specifically catering to the Mexican community like the one supported by the Consulate General of México in Los Ángeles called Mexiplan."

Among the key findings of the study:

Mexican and Central American migrant labor is responsible for cultivating nearly 90 percent of the U.S.'s fresh produce.

Expanding immigrants' access to medical insurance is an urgent need for more Mexican and Central American immigrants.

Nearly six million Mexican immigrants and almost one out of two Central American immigrants go without health insurance while living in the U.S. Another 3.9 million Mexican-American residents lack coverage.

Fresno

FRESNO — Not even the clouds or a few sprinkles could keep people from visiting the outdoor Health Fair at Sequoia Community Health Center on Elm Street last Friday.

People enjoyed a free lunch and music while learning about things like diabetes prevention and cancer screenings. Doctors and volunteers were on hand to test people for diabetes, high blood pressure, and spinal illnesses.

The event was one of many events in Fresno County in celebration of Binational Health Week.

"We're here to celebrate Binational Health Week. We want people to know all services Sequoia offers the people in 1our community," said Luis Báez from Sequoia. "It's important that they know about our services for those who don't have health insurance."

Some of the programs Sequoia offers to those who don't have health insurance or qualify for Medi-Cal are The Child Health and Disability Prevention (CHDP) Program for children under the age of 21. The Family PACT provides no-cost family planning services to low-come men and women. Women, who qualify can receive free clinical breast exams, mammograms and Pap tests.

"This is great because like many I don't have health insurance and my health is very important to me," said Laura Arreola from Fresno. "You shouldn't ignore an opportunity like this one if you don't have health insurance. I come to events like this one to make sure I get to get all the help I need."

Visitors were able to visit booths from local businesses and health organizations like Health Net, Costco, Radio Bilingüe, The American Cancer Society, and the American Lung Association, among others.

"I'm worried about diabetes because diabetes runs in my family, so I had to get check," said Graciela Serna. "Luckily I don't have diabetes, so I got information about diabetes prevention."

Madera

MADERA — Those who attended the weekly swap meet at the Madera District Fairgrounds didn't have the usual shopping experience this past Wednesday.

People were serenaded by mariachi music and given information about how to keep their families healthy and services provided by Darin M. Camarena Health Centers. This was in celebration of Binational Health Week part of the California-Mexico Initiative.

"Today we brought our services to them. They're here at the swap meet and we came out to them," said Christina Díaz, Health Education Grant Coordinator for Camarena Health Centers. "We're passing out information and adding a cultural twist with mariachi music."

Amalia Romero, 31, from Madera came to the swap meet with her sister-in-law but was pleased that volunteers from the health center were present.

"I want to find out all I can about my health," said Romero. "They gave me pamphlets on how to make sure I'm eating enough fruits and vegetables and healthy recipes."

Two bicycles were also raffled off. Clemencia Novea from Madera won one of the two. Her son Sergio, 3, is the proud owner of the bike. She has two other children José Armando, 6, and Cristofer, 18 months.

"I came to the swap meet and I saw their booth, so I had to stop by," said Novea. "My children's health is very important to me."

Riverbank

RIVERBANK — Did you know that mixing a pint of lemon juice with two whole eggs (including the shell) could help you dissolve kidney stones?

Believe it or not that was one of the many recipes Humberto Cervantes, a specialist in traditional medicine, shared during his visit to Río Altura Elementary School in Riverbank last Wednesday.

Cervantes, who traveled from Morelia, Michoacán in México, was here thanks to a collaborative effort between Health Net of California, El Concilio of Stanislaus County and the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento as part of Binational Health Week (BHW).

BHW was established six years ago and is an annual event that takes place throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, Guatemala and El Salvador. This year it ran from October 7th through the 15th.

Anything that had to do with health was promoted throughout the week, including activities and events focused on Hispanic immigrant families who were provided with medical screenings, treatment services, healthcare referrals, and information about disease prevention.

"I have been working for the program for 20 years and I've seen people who don't believe in traditional medicine," explains Cervantes. "But after they try out a remedy for the first time and see the results, they immediately want to know about other remedies." Cervantes says that traditional or alternative medicine doesn't cost very much because most of the time you use things you already have in your home or herbs and plants that are available at Latino markets.

Raúl García from El Concilio of Stanislaus County said it was important to create awareness about this type of medicine.

"The goal of these programs is to create awareness about traditional medicine because most of the people (who attend these events) are immigrants, especially Mexican (immigrants) who don't have health insurance and we are finding a lot of that to be true," said García. "People come to El Concilio and ask, 'What can we do? We don't have health insurance.' So we are looking for ways in which people can benefit from remedies or medicines they are familiar with and help them in that way."

For those who want to receive a copy of the traditional medicine recipes Cervantes presented, please call El Concilio at (209) 523-2860 for more information.

"If these remedies can offer help with something like diabetes, why not use them?" states García.

One more event is scheduled to take place in Stanislaus County to bring BHW to a close:

The Health Net of California Fun and Fitness Fair to take place on Saturday, October 21st from 8 a.m. to noon at California State University, Stanislaus, 801 West Monte Vista Ave. in Turlock. For more information please contact Sallie Ayala-Pérez at (209) 549-1297.

Send e-mail to: lpena@vidaenelvalle.com, oruiz@vidaenelvalle.com, or vadame@vidaenelvalle.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.vidaenelvalle.com/news/spanish/story/12908310p-13567196c.html

La salud cruza fronteras


Vida en el Valle

(Published Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 09:25AM)
Investigadores de la Universidad de California y de la Secretaría de Salud de México publicaron los resultados de un estudio binacional sobre salud, migración y seguros médicos el viernes pasado como parte de la Semana Binacional de la Salud 2006.

Los resultados muestran que los trabajadores migrantes mexicanos en Estados Unidos – tanto documentados como indocumentados – tienen riesgos de salud tres veces más altos que el ciudadano estadounidense promedio, y que ellos se enfrentan a diferentes barreras en el cuidado de la salud.

"El seguro médico para inmigrantes tiene que trascender fronteras, con cobertura que con frecuencia es necesaria también para sus dependientes en los lugares de origen," señaló el autor del estudio.

"Tenemos que forjar estrategias más amplias para prevención de enfermedades y promoción de salud si es que vamos a atender las necesidades de todos los segmentos de esta población," dijo el Dr. Roberto Tapia, subsecretario de salud de México.

Rubén Beltrán, cónsul general de México en Los Ángeles, dijo que el estudio que muestra la necesidad reitera "la importancia de desarrollar programas de seguro médico específicamente para atender a la comunidad mexicana como la que apoya el Consulado General de México en Los Ángeles llamada Mexiplan."

Entre los resultados clave del estudio: La mano de obra migrante de México y de Centro América es la responsable del cultivo de casi el 90 por ciento de los productos agrícolas frescos de Estados Unidos.

El extender el acceso a seguro médico para los inmigrantes es una necesidad urgente para más inmigrantes mexicanos y centroamericanos.

Cerca de seis millones de inmigrantes mexicanos y casi uno de cada dos inmigrantes centroamericanos no tienen seguro médico mientras viven en Estados Unidos. Otros 3.9 millones de residentes mexicoamericanos no tienen cobertura.

Fresno

FRESNO — Ni siquiera las nubes o unas cuantas gotas de lluvia pudieron detener a la gente de visitar la Feria de Salud que se llevó a cabo afuera del Centro de Salud Comunitario Sequoia el viernes pasado.

La gente disfrutó de una comida gratis y de música mientras aprendía sobre cosas como la prevención de la diabetes y los exámenes del cáncer. Los médicos y los voluntarios estuvieron presentes para examinar a la gente por la diabetes, la alta presión arterial, y las enfermedades de la columna.

El evento fue uno de los muchos que se llevaron a cabo en el Condado de Fresno en celebración de la Semana Binacional de la Salud.

"Estamos aquí para celebrar la Semana Binacional de la Salud. Queremos que la gente se entere de todos los servicios que se ofrecen en Sequoia para la gente de la comunidad," dijo Luis Báez del Centro Sequoia. "Es importante que ellos sepan de nuestros servicios para quienes no tienen el seguro médico."

Algunos de los programas que Sequoia ofrece a las personas que no tienen seguro médico o que califican para Medi-Cal son: el Programa para Salud Infantil y Prevención de Incapacidades (CHDP, siglas en inglés), para niños menores de 12 años de edad. El Family PACT provee servicios de planificación familiar sin costo alguno a hombres y mujeres. Las mujeres que califican pueden recibir exámenes gratis de senos, mamografías y papanicolao.

"Esto es maravilloso porque muchas personas no tienen seguro médico y mi salud es muy importante para mí," dijo Laura Arreola de Fresno. "No se debería de ignorar ninguna oportunidad como ésta si uno no se tiene seguro médico. Yo vengo a eventos como e'ste para asegurarme de que recibo toda la ayuda que necesito."

Los visitantes pudieron visitar los locales de negocios y de organizaciones de la salud como Health Net, Costco, Radio Bilingüe, la Sociedad Americana del Cáncer, y la Asociación Americana del Pulmón, entre otras.

"A mí me preocupa la diabetes porque hay diabetes en mi familia, así que me tuve que revisar," dijo Graciela Serna. "Afortunadamente no tengo la diabetes, así que conseguí información sobre la prevención de la diabetes."

Madera

Por LUZ PEÑA

Vida en el Valle

MADERA — Los asistentes al mercado al aire libre que semanalmente se hace en los Terrenos de la Feria de Distrito de Madera no tuvieron la misma experiencia de compras el miércoles pasado.

La gente escuchó música con mariachi y recibió información sobre cómo mantener a sus familias saludables así como de los servicios que ofrecen los Centros de Salud Darin M. Camarena. El evento fue en celebración a la Semana Binacional de la Salud parte de la Iniciativa California-México.

"Hoy trasladamos nuestros servicios. Ellos están aquí en el mercado y nosotros acudimos a ellos," dijo Christina Díaz, coordinadora del Subsidio de Educación sobre la Salud de los Centros de Salud Camarena. "Estamos pasando información y añadiendo un cambio cultural con música de mariachi."

Amalia Romero de 31 años, residente de Madera vino al mercado con su cuñada pero estuvo complacida de que los voluntarios del centro de salud estaban presentes.

"Yo quiero saber todo lo que pueda sobre mi salud," dijo Romero. "Me dieron recetas saludables y folletos sobre cómo asegurar que estoy comiendo suficientes verduras y frutas."

También se rifaron dos bicicletas. Clemencia Novea de Madera se ganó una de las dos bicicletas. Su hijo Sergio de 3 años, es el orgulloso dueño de la bicicleta. Ella tiene dos hijos más, José Armando de 6 años, y Crístofer de 18 meses.

"Yo vine al mercado y vi su local, así que tuve que ir a verlo," dijo Novea. "La salud de mis hijos es muy importante para mí."

Riverbank

Por OLIVIA RUIZ

Vida en el Valle

RIVERBANK — ¿Sabía usted que medio litro de jugo de limón con dos huevos enteros en su cáscara le podía ayudar a eliminar las piedras del riñón?

Aunque no lo crea, esa receta fue solo una de tantas que Humberto Cervantes, especialista en medicina tradicional, presentó durante su visita a la escuela elemental Río Altura en Riverbank el miércoles pasado.

La visita de Cervantes, quien viajó desde Morelia, Michoacán, México, fue gracias a una colaboración entre Health Net de California, el Concilio del Condado de Stanislaus y el Consulado Mexicano en Sacramento con motivo de la Semana Binacional de la Salud.

La Semana Binacional de la Salud anual, es del 7 al 15 de octubre.

Hace seis años se estableció la Semana Binacional de la Salud (BHW por sus siglas en inglés), la cual corre del 7 al 15 de octubre, y se celebra en todos los Estados Unidos, México, Canadá, Guatemala y El Salvador.

Durante esa semana se promueve todo lo que tenga que ver con la salud, incluyendo actividades y eventos que se enfocan en las familias latinas inmigrantes para brindarles exámenes médicos, tratamientos, referencias e información sobre la prevención de enfermedades.

"Tengo 20 años trabajando para el programa y he visto como hay gente que no cree en la medicina tradicional," explica Cervantes. "Pero luego que prueban algún remedio por primera vez, y ven los resultados, inmediatamente quieren saber sobre los demás remedios."

Cervantes dice que la medicina tradicional o alternativa no cuesta mucho, porque la mayoría de las veces se usan artículos que uno ya tiene en casa y las hierbas o plantas están al alcance en un mercado mexicano.

Raúl García, de El Concilio del Condado de Stanislaus, dijo que es importante crear conciencia sobre este tipo de medicina.

"La meta de estos programas es para crear consciencia de la medicina tradicional porque la mayoría de la gente inmigrante, especialmente los mexicanos no tiene aseguranza y estamos encontrando bastante esto," dice García. "La gente nos llega a El Concilio y nos pregunta '¿Qué podemos hacer? No tenemos aseguranza?' Entonces si buscamos modos que la gente pueda beneficiarse con remedios o medicinas que ellos ya están familiarizados les ayudará."

Para las personas que gusten obtener una copia de las recetas de la medicina tradicional que Cervantes presentó, usted puede llamar a El Concilio al (209) 523-2860 para todos los detalles.

"Si la diabetes es una área donde los remedios nos van a ayudar, ¿por qué no usarlos?" dice García.

En el Condado de Stanislaus hay un evento más que dará cierre a la Semana Binacional:

La Feria de Salud y Caminata del Health Net de California se llevará a cabo el sábado, 21 de octubre de las 8 a.m. al mediodía en la Universidad Estatal de California, Stanislaus, 801 West Monte Vista Ave. en Turlock. Para más información puede comunicarse con Sallie Ayala-Pérez al (209) 549-1297.

Mande correo electrónico a: lpena@vidaenelvalle.com, oruiz@vidaenelvalle.com, o vadame@vidaenelvalle.com

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20061018-9999-1mc18mentor.html

October 18, 2006
Vista Unified board weighs partnership
By Matthew Rodriguez / Union-Tribune Staff Writer
(760) 476-8239; matthew.rodriguez@uniontrib.com

VISTA – Vista Unified trustees will consider tomorrow whether to partner with a local nonprofit organization to create an elective course to encourage Latino students, and boys in particular, to stay in school.

The nonprofit, Encuentros Leadership of North San Diego County, is a group of local professionals who hope to increase graduation rates among Latino boys.

The school district and the organization have offered an after-school program at Lincoln and Washington middle schools for the past several years. The program also has been used in the San Marcos Unified School District.

Bob Pletka, associate superintendent of Vista Unified, said Friday that after-school courses in Vista currently emphasize culture, while the new course – if approved – would balance language arts and culture with an emphasis on preparing for college.

About 49 percent of the student population in Vista Unified is Latino. The district has a 59 percent graduation rate, and about 70 percent of the students who don't finish high school are Latino, school board President Carol Herrera said.

Calculating exactly how many students dropped out can be difficult, Herrera said, because the graduation rate may also include some students who moved.

If approved by the Vista Unified board – it meets at 7 p.m. tomorrow – the courses would be taught by district teachers and offered as electives for credit during the regular school day. The electives could be offered during the optional, early morning “zero period,” Herrera said.

The Encuentros group would bring in guest speakers each month, host an annual field trip and include students in the group's annual Encuentros Education Conference, according to the proposal.

Pletka said the after-school class has reduced dropouts and suspensions, increased attendance and led to higher student achievement at the middle schools.

The electives would be offered at Lincoln and Washington middle schools and possibly at Vista and Rancho Buena Vista high schools. While the class would be offered to all students, its themes relate to male role models and would more likely appeal to boys, Pletka said.

The high school course would use the textbook “Encuentros: Hombre a Hombre,” which was written for the state Department of Education. The book covers topics such as career choices and relationships.

Herrera's husband, John Herrera, who is vice president of membership for Encuentros Leadership, said the curriculum focuses on values such as respect for elders and provides boys with examples of Latinos who have had successful careers in a variety of fields.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/15784896.htm

Wed, Oct. 18, 2006
DIAGNOSES MAY BE COMING TOO LATE
Video encourages testing of Latinos for HIV/AIDS
By DÁNICA COTO
Email= dcoto@charlotteobserver.com

The number of HIV cases among Latinos in Mecklenburg County is growing, and many people are getting diagnosed when it's too late for medicine to help slow the disease, advocates say.

Part of the problem is that medical providers aren't screening Latinos for HIV/AIDS when they present early symptoms of the disease, said Gina Esquivel, a program coordinator for Metrolina AIDS Project.

In the past six years, the number of reported HIV cases among Latinos in North Carolina has almost doubled. Out of 1,049 reported HIV cases statewide this year, at least 77 involved Latinos, according to the state epidemiology department.

The number of HIV cases reported among Latinos in Mecklenburg went from zero in 2000 to 55 by mid-2005. Advocates said they've noticed a jump in advanced HIV cases in the county.

Concerned about these numbers, Esquivel made a video urging doctors and nurses to screen for the disease. She asked Gary Black, health communication specialist at the Mecklenburg Health Department, to help with the project.

The video will be distributed to hospitals and clinics throughout Mecklenburg County in upcoming months.

"We're missing opportunities to screen folks," Black said. "They're getting sicker and sicker and they're showing up in the ER with symptoms corresponding to the AIDS disease."

It's a nationwide problem.

Latinos were the only racial group with an increase in AIDS deaths from 1999 to 2003, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A CDC survey conducted from 2000 to 2003 showed that those who tested late in the course of their infection were likely to be Hispanic or black, and were likely to have been exposed through heterosexual contact.

Latinos sometimes don't seek help because they don't have health insurance or think they're not in danger, Esquivel said. They also fear they'll be asked about their legal status, even though health officials are not required to check, she said.

Many, though, go to a doctor several times before they're diagnosed, she said.

In 2004, an immigrant who asked to be identified only as Martínez, said he visited a Charlotte hospital frequently for a series of infections. First it was chicken pox, then stomach pains. Doctors kept giving him antibiotics, he said.

"How is it possible I don't have anything?" the 40-year-old recalled telling a doctor.

That day, he asked to be tested for HIV/AIDS. Martínez, who was in the advanced stages of AIDS, soon became paralyzed, lost his voice, his hair and was asked to sign a will and other paperwork. Now, almost a year later, he's healthy enough to drive, work and walk with help of two canes.

"It's not necessary to go through this," he said. "Doctors shouldn't wait so long to test you."

The jump in cases also stems from cultural differences; talking openly about homosexuality and sexually transmitted diseases is usually frowned upon in Latin America, advocates say.

A woman named Violeta urged her husband to see a doctor when he complained her about headaches and weight loss in the early 1990s. He did, and no one could explain his symptoms, which persisted for two years, the 44-year-old Charlotte resident said.

They lived in California at the time, and in 1994, he was taken to the emergency room with pneumonia. He tested positive for HIV. So did she.

"It's not fair," said Violeta, who asked that her last name be withheld. "I have a right to keep living. I always took care of myself."

Her husband, who died nine years ago and left behind two children, was gay, she said.

The number of HIV cases also is increasing because some immigrants who come to the U.S. without their wives or girlfriends have unprotected sex with prostitutes, said Mayra Rodríguez, an outreach specialist with Mecklenburg County's Health Department.

She visits construction sites, churches and parks to talk about sexually transmitted diseases with Latinos. She hands out condoms, $20 vouchers and bus passes to encourage awareness and free testing at the Health Department.

Few come, fearing deportation. "When we mention Mecklenburg County, that's automatically an impasse for them," Rodríguez said. "For some reason, they relate that to immigration."

Want to Get Tested For Free?
The Mecklenburg County Health Department has two locations in Charlotte:
• 2845 BEATTIES FORD ROAD
Mon., Tues. and Thurs: 8 a.m.- 5 p.m.
Wed.: 10 a.m. -- 6 p.m. Fri.: 8 a.m.- noon.

• 249 BILLINGSLEY ROAD
Mon., Tues. and Wed.: 8 a.m. -- 5 p.m.
Thurs.: 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. Fri.: 8 a.m. -- noon
Appointments aren't necessary, but if you need one, call 704-336-6500.

The department offers a quick test that yields results in 30 minutes, but people also have to take the regular test, which takes three weeks to process. Immigration status is not checked.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/10/101706latino.htm

October 17, 2006
Latinos Targeted In HIV Test Push
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(New York City) America's growing Latino population is being targeted in a national HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. Latinos are the country's fastest growing minority group and the number of new HIV/AIDS cases is causing alarm in medical circles. In California along Hispanics make up 35 percent of the new AIDS cases and they're the fastest growing population of AIDS patients in the state.

The awareness campaign, which has adopted the slogan, "Saber es Poder -- Knowledge is Power," encourages Latinos to get tested.

"Latinos continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV, comprising over 20 percent of HIV/AIDS cases nationwide," said Wesley Tahsir-Rodriguez, Director of Health Policy for the Latino Commission on AIDS. "Limited access to prevention and care, cultural barriers, language barriers, and immigration status have contributed to this disparity."

Recent Centers for Disease Control HIV surveillance data on Latinos shows a dire picture.
In 2002, HIV/AIDS was the third leading cause of death among Latino men aged 35 to 44 and the fourth leading cause of death among Latino women in the same age group. By the end of 2004, an estimated 93,163 Latinos with AIDS had died.

A number of cultural, socioeconomic, and health-related factors contribute to the HIV epidemic in the Latino community, said Rahsir-Rodriguez.

Because Latino Americans or their parents have emigrated from many Latin countries, there is no single Latino culture in the United States. More than 1 in 5 Latinos live in poverty. Various socioeconomic problems associated with poverty, including limited access to high-quality health care, directly or indirectly increase the risk for HIV infection health authorities say. Recent immigrants face additional challenges, such as lack of information about HIV/AIDS and social isolation, which may increase their risk of exposure to HIV.

"This campaign represents a call to action for Latinos to break down cultural taboos to protect their lives and the lives of those they love by getting tested and learning about HIV," said Rahsir-Rodriguez.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/79532.html?

Tuesday, Oct 17 2006
Film shows Latinos meth 'not worth it'
Today's free screenings designed to combat lure of illegal drug labs
BY LOUIS MEDINA, Californian staff writer
Email=lmedina@bakersfield.com

It's not worth it -- the lure of easy money to struggling Latinos who are recruited to work in meth labs throughout the Central Valley.

Links:
See a trailer for the movie
http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/79532.html?

That's the message and the title of "No Vale la Pena" ("It's Not Worth It" or "It's Not Worth the Risk"), an anti-drug Spanish-language film with English subtitles shown free today in three debut screenings at the Fox Theater downtown.

"What we're trying to do is educate the Hispanic community about the pitfalls associated with methamphetamine production and usage," said Merced County Sheriff Mark Pazin, whose office partnered with other agencies including the Kern County Sheriff's Department to present the film.

The docudrama is based on the true story of "Jose," a farmworker who tries to make some quick cash by manufacturing meth and soon gets caught in a drug lord's dangerous game.

"I can tell you from experience that it's the hardworking Latino community that falls prey to these drug lords in wanting to make a quick dollar," said Pazin, who has worked in law enforcement for more than 25 years.

The dangers are somewhat of an untold story in the Latino community, said Ben Duran, president of Merced Hispanic Network, a nonprofit agency that also worked on the film. Duran was a part of the film's all-volunteer cast.

The PG-13-rated, 35-minute film is subtitled to reach a wider audience because, according to co-producer Virginia Madueño, "Methamphetamine is everybody's problem."

She said the meth trade creates a sort of "domino effect" that harms "our environment ... our children ... us as taxpayers."

Manuel Porras Meza, director and producer, called the $32,000 low-budget film "a labor of love."

Meza, who works in Modesto as a news photographer for KCRA-TV, the NBC affiliate in Sacramento, said he has seen the impact of methamphetamine close up when covering local news.

About 11 years ago, Meza said, he was filming a meth lab bust when, all of a sudden, one of the people arrested said to him, "Manuel, don't film my face." Meza said he didn't know who the man was at first, but soon realized he was a young man with whom he had played football in high school.

"He was a fifth of the man that he was in high school," Meza said. "He was skinny and had no teeth -- it was awful.

"I've seen meth labs inside of homes and right next to them I've seen kids' toys," he said. "That stuff is so toxic it could kill them ... . I've seen a dairy farm where they had to test all the cows because the chemicals got into the water they drink."

Those going to tonight's screenings will receive a DVD copy of the film and an anti-drug fotonovela, which is a picture story in comic-booklike format using stills from the movie and other photographs.

Madueño said the aim is to put the film in the hands of as many community members as possible.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-scare17oct17,1,5513175.story?coll=la-headlines-politics

October 17, 2006
State Investigating Intimidating Letter Sent to O.C. Latinos
Anti-illegal immigrant group disavows the letter, which focuses on voting issues.
By Jennifer Delson, Times Staff Writer
Email= jennifer.delson@latimes.com

The state attorney general is investigating a Spanish-language letter warning some Orange County Latinos that they could be jailed or deported if they vote in the November election.
The letter, which purports to be from a Huntington Beach-based group, also warns that the state has developed a tracking system that will allow the names of Latino voters to be handed over to anti-immigrant groups.

"You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time …," the letter says.

The letterhead resembles that of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, a group that advocates tightening the border, among other things. But the group's founder, Barbara Coe, said she believed it was fraudulent. She said she did not know the person who signed the letter, "Sergio Ramirez," that she did not authorize it and was unaware of anyone in her group who did.

Nonetheless, it has riled Latino leaders and voters.

One person who received the letter is the wife of a Garden Grove City Council candidate. She said her husband, Benny Diaz, called friends after the letter arrived and found five others with Latino surnames who had received the note.

"It's a very malicious and degrading letter. It's to pull Latinos down and make them afraid," said Diaz, who is president of the Garden Grove chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "Of course it's going to affect me and any other Latino candidate in Orange County," he added.

John Trasviña, interim president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said he had asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the letter.

Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), who called on California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer to investigate, believes the letter is an effort to scare Latinos from voting in Orange County. "You can't help but feel disgusted with the contents of this letter…. I'm not just going to sit silent," said Romero, who is up for reelection in November.

Lockyer spokesman Nathan Barankin said the letter was "something we are investigating aggressively right now," he said.

The sender could be charged with a felony and receive up to three years in state prison, he said.

Trasviña wants an investigation of a "potential violation" of federal election law, which prohibits intimidation, threats or coercion. He said he was aware of six people who received the letter, all of whom "appear to be naturalized citizen voters from Latin American countries." Voters' birthplaces are available from voter registration records.

Coe said that in the last four days she had taken dozens of calls from irate Orange County Latinos who received the letters, which does not have the group's logo — an outline of the state of California — but has a variation of an eagle logo used on the group's website. The letter "puts a shadow on our credibility, that we would target certain people who might be citizens of our country," Coe added.

She said her group was investigated by the FBI in 1996 and 1998 because members held signs near polls stating that only citizens can vote.

The letter's assertion that immigrants can't vote is untrue, because immigrants who become naturalized citizens can register to vote. Trasviña said that an undocumented immigrant who voted could be subject to deportation and jail. The letter's assertion that the state has developed a computer system that will make it easy to track down immigrants and illegal residents, however, is false, he said.

Amin David, who leads the civic group Los Amigos of Orange County, said the Spanish used in the letter is very formal, perhaps suggesting it was written by a non-native speaker. The Spanish includes grammatical errors.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.somosprimos.com/sp2006/spoct06/spoct06.htm

Somos Primos Newsletter= October 2006
Editor: Mimi Lozano

Dedicated to Hispanic Heritage and Diversity Issues
Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research
Celebrating 20th Anniversary 1986-2006

JOIN UP! Podhi Yahoo Group=
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/podhi/

CHECK OUT Main Group located at=
http://NuestraFamiliaUnida.com
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>THE END/ EL FIN<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
Liberation Now!!!
Peter S. Lopez ~aka Peta de Aztlan
Email= sacranative@yahoo.com
Sacramento, California, USA

Join Up!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Humane-Rights-Agenda/
Related Blog= http://humane-rights-agenda.blogspot.com/

Key Web Links=
* http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/

* http://www.mylatinonews.com/

* http://www.vidaenelvalle.com/front/v-english/

<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
JOIN UP! Aztlannet_News Yahoo Group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Aztlannet_News/

COMMENT!
Aztlannet_News Blog

http://aztlannet-news-blog.blogspot.com/

CLICK!
Aztlannet Website

http://www.0101aztlan.net/index.html

<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>