Wednesday, March 18, 2009

DPS arrests 15 suspected illegal immigrants in MesaL Arizona Central

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/03/17/20090317abrk-DPSarrest.html

DPS arrests 15 suspected illegal immigrants in Mesa

by Nicole Ethier - Mar. 17, 2009 02:21 PM
The Arizona Republic

Arizona Department of Public Safety officers arrested 15 suspected illegal immigrants at a Mesa apartment Monday after the driver of an SUV being pulled over behaved suspiciously, authorities said.


DPS officers stopped a Ford Expedition for unsafe lane usage on westbound Interstate 10 near Chandler Boulevard around 6:50 a.m., according to a press release.


The vehicle did not come to an immediate stop once it was apparent the driver recognized the marked DPS patrol vehicle and instead drove for some distance before coming to a halt, the release states.


The officer approached the vehicle and noticed the driver attempting to conceal his face under a hood while several individuals were lying down on the second and third-row passenger seats.


The officer issued a written warning and released the driver.


However, because of the driver's suspicious behavior and the location of the other occupants, the Illegal Immigration Prevention and Apprehension Co-op Team investigated further, DPS said.


Additional DPS units and IIMPACT detectives monitored the Expedition following the traffic stop and followed it to an apartment complex near Broadway Road and Stapley Drive, where the driver led the passengers to an apartment.


Mesa Police assisted with a "check welfare procedure" and found 12 people inside the apartment, including the driver, all of whom were identified by IIMPACT detectives as illegal immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala.

Interviews with the subjects led detectives to check another apartment in the same complex, where three other suspected illegal immigrants were found.


All 15 people were detained, interviewed and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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Immigrants Detained in Texas Aren't Getting the Medical Care They Need, Human Rights Watch Says

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2009/03/immigrants_detained_in_texas_a.php

Immigrants Detained in Texas Aren't Getting the Medical Care They Need, Human Rights Watch Says

By Megan Feldman in News You Can Actually Use, Actually
Tuesday, Mar. 17 2009 @ 6:38PM

immigrantdetaineewomen.jpg
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch on Tuesday released a report blasting the government for delaying, withholding and botching medical care for immigrants detained in Florida, Arizona and Texas. In the Lone Star State, the researchers conducted interviews with women held at the Port Isabel detention center in Harlingen, as well as the 2,000-bed detention center in Willacy County.

Focusing specifically on women, the report describes insufficient care during pregnancy and breast cancer, as well as poor access to simple screening procedures such as mammograms and pap smears. Women are apparently often hard-pressed even for access to sanitary napkins.


Meghan Rhoad, a HRW researcher who worked on the report, told Unfair Park about an immigrant who was diabetic and began to go blind while detained at Port Isabel. "They failed to monitor it," Rhoad said. "She wrote request after request and filed grievances. It took 15 days before they attended to something as major as blindness, and she was on the verge of a diabetic coma." The same woman had requested a pap smear and never received one. "Six of eight women we talked to who had been detained for more than a year had not had a pap smear," Rhoad said.


She also mentioned an immigrant held at the Willacy County facility who reported that she was denied a breast pump and "suffered from fever, chills, and intense pain" because she couldn't expel the milk. "That's something we saw in multiple states," Rhoad said. ICE Spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez responded to the report via e-mail. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano "recognizes the importance of ensuring that all ICE detainees receive appropriate medical treatment," she wrote. "In light of her commitment to the safe and humane treatment of all ICE detainees, she has appointed Dr. Dora Schriro to serve as her special advisor on detention and removal."


Schriro served as director of the Arizona Department of Corrections in Governor Napolitano's administration and has held a number of correctional positions, including director of the Missouri Department of Corrections and assistant commissioner of the NYC Department of Corrections.


"While ICE spent $128 million in FY 2008 to provide medical and mental health care to its detainees, we recognize that there is a real opportunity for measurable, sustainable improvement," the statement continued. "All ICE detainees, regardless of location, should expect to receive a medical screening within 12 hours of admission; a physical exam within two weeks of detention; timely and appropriate responses to emergency medical requests, and timely medical care appropriate to the anticipated length of detention."


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Immigration law needs overhaul, panelists say: Seattle Times

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008874069_immigrationlawneedsoverhaulpanelistssay0317.html

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - Page updated at 08:32 AM

Immigration law needs overhaul, panelists say

MCT REGIONAL NEWS

By John Stark

The Bellingham Herald, Wash.

(MCT)

Mar. 17--BELLINGHAM -- The recent raid at Yamato Engine Specialists demonstrates the need for an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws, according to panelists who spoke Monday, March 16, at a public forum.


''We've got to have laws that make sense, and laws that we can enforce, and laws that we can follow," said Pramila Jayapal, executive director of Seattle-based OneAmerica, an immigration reform advocacy group.

Bellingham immigration attorney Scott Railton argued that workers who have established themselves in a community should be given some opportunity to legalize their status.


''The laws weren't being enforced for years and years," Railton said. "The government was looking the other way. Now they (immigrants) are in our communities, in our churches, and in our schools, and the laws of the game have changed."


About 100 people turned out for the forum at St. Luke's Community Health Education Center, sponsored by Community to Community Development of Bellingham.


Jayapal said those who immigrate illegally are responding to the U.S. economy's demand for their labor, and both the workers and the economy should have more legal avenues for meeting that demand.

Current U.S. laws severely limit the number of visas available for both skilled and unskilled workers, Jayapal said.


''Even if you wanted to be here legally, there is absolutely no possibility," Jayapal said.


One audience member, Ken Holmes of Bellingham, told panelists he sympathized with the plight of many immigrants, but he still had a problem with people who violate the law. He accused the panelists of edging around that issue.


Jayapal replied that people have a duty to challenge unjust laws. She contended that immigration raids that separate husbands and wives, or parents and children, are not appropriate in a nation that prides itself on family values.


''Sometimes we may have laws that are out of sync with the values of the country," she said. "We can make the laws match what our values are."

Although millions of immigrants have indeed broken U.S. laws, their labor benefits everyone else, Jayapal said, and they should get an opportunity to work legally.


''You pay much less for a tomato in the grocery store because there are undocumented workers picking that tomato," she said. "Nobody wants to be illegal ... What they want is to be in full compliance with the society that they live in."


Attorney Railton also argued that immigration reform should include better rights of due process for those charged with violating immigration law.

He noted that those who enter the U.S. illegally are typically charged with civil, not criminal offenses. While that sounds less onerous, it has some serious disadvantages for people rounded up in an immigration raid like the Feb. 24 case at Yamato, where 28 workers were taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.


Anyone charged with a criminal offense has a right to an attorney, Railton said, while those facing deportation must rely on the limited resources of nonprofit agencies if they cannot afford their own legal help.


''You have limited rights in a civil hearing," Railton said. "They can hold you a lot longer without the same standards of proof."

_____


General Amnesty Here Now!

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Asian-Americans urge Obama to reform immigration

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jS8HteystrIWzbdkKsA138B4i9dw

Asian-Americans urge Obama to reform immigration

1 day ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Asian-American members of the US Congress on Tuesday urged President Barack Obama to reform immigration by year end, saying the current system was tearing families in their community apart.

Mike Honda, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, wrote Obama a letter saying that immigration reform "must remain an early priority in your administration."


"Immigration raids tear families apart, dreams of undocumented students are suspended indefinitely and growing immigration backlogs keep close family members separated for years, sometimes decades," Honda wrote.

Honda, a member of Obama's Democratic Party, said some two million Asians hoping to be reunited with families were languishing in the immigration service's backlog, account for half of such cases.


He said Asian-Americans -- who account for some five percent of the US population -- were also concerned about the Department of Homeland Security's past treatment of detainees and lack of due process.


During his campaign, Obama called for a more efficient immigration system, saying families were suffering from lengthy background checks for applicants, and said illegal residents should have a conditional path to citizenship.


Obama also criticized raids on immigration communities as ineffective, while pledging to security on US borders.


But Obama's predecessor George W. Bush twice tried and failed to pass sweeping immigration reform that would have given legal status and a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country.

Some members of Bush's Republican Party argued that immigrants were taking jobs at a time that the economy is in crisis.


Hispanic leaders have also appealed to Obama to act on immigration, urging him to call a moratorium on immigration raids and deportations.


Comment: The only rational and humane policy for dealing with the whole immigration issue is a blanket amnesty for those who are already here now inside the United States and a simple process for them to obtain real citizenship. We are talking about millions who are already here now inside the United States! This is Aztlan!!!


Education for Liberation! Join Up!
Peter S. Lopez aka: Peta
Email: peter.lopez51@yahoo.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Humane-Rights-Agenda/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/THIRD-WORLD-NEWS/

http://www.NetworkAztlan.com




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