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http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/14302784p-15175038c.html
It's still the Wild West on border: Sac Bee: 08-20-2006
Mexican drug cartels fight over key routes into United States.
By Kevin G. Hall -- McClatchy Washington Bureau
Published 12:01 am PDT Sunday, August 20, 2006
RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas -- At a Circle K convenience store in this desolate border town, where drugs and illicit earnings flow back and forth almost freely, a man parks his black Ford pickup with tinted windows and begins hawking a live zebra.
The animal, bleeding and abused, usually is found on the African Serengeti. But in this poor town in one of the poorest counties in the United States, the asking price is $6,000 cash -- no questions asked.!supportEmptyParas]-->
Welcome to the U.S.-Mexico border, where just about anything can and does happen. The zebra salesman is a grim reminder of the Wild West atmosphere that prevails along much of the 2,000-mile border, where drugs, aliens and money are smuggled 24-7.
Before the arrest Monday of Javier Arellano-Felix, the alleged leader of Mexico's ruthless Tijuana drug cartel, the national debate over illegal immigrants crossing the border drove the drug war off the front pages.
But make no mistake about it, America's drug war rages on. Here in the Rio Grande Valley sector, cocaine seizures by Border Patrol agents have more than doubled so far this fiscal year and now account for more than half of all Border Patrol seizures along the southern border.
Halting the flow of illicit drugs here, much like the flow of illegal immigrants, is nearly impossible. There are about 1,400 Border Patrol agents assigned to cover an area that spans 18,584 square miles, including along the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico. That's about one agent for every 13.2 square miles.
On any given day, traffickers smuggle cocaine into and around border towns such as Roma and Rio Grande City, where 60 percent of the children live in poverty and only 6 percent of the population has attended college.
Go west of McAllen and walk along the banks of the Rio Grande -- called the Rio Bravo, or Angry River, in Mexico -- and evidence of illicit activity abounds. On the Mexican side of the river, smugglers and would-be undocumented workers loiter, waiting for night to fall.
Several have established camps in what appears to be the middle of nowhere.
On the U.S. side, discarded tires, clothes and assorted trash litter the most remote riverbanks -- the byproduct of drug and immigrant smuggling.
"We see a steady flow throughout the whole Rio Grande Valley sector," Jose Vicente Rodriguez, a Border Patrol agent and spokesman, said during a tour of an inland highway checkpoint in Falfurrias.
The vast open spaces and proximity to major U.S. highways make South Texas a point of preference for the powerful Mexican drug cartels.
"The infrastructure in both Mexico and the United States, mainly the highway system, allows traffickers quick access for getting their product through Mexico and into destination cities in the United States," said Will Glaspy, the head of operations in South Texas for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "Here we have highways, so it's easy for drug loads to be hidden in with normal traffic on the highways to get out of Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley."
Highway access is what drug cartels are fighting over a few hours to the west in Laredo. Drug violence there is spilling over from Mexico as the Gulf and Juárez cartels, and the Sinaloa cartel, run by violent fugitive Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, battle for dominance of a route that feeds into U.S. Interstate 35 and the American heartland.
In the Rio Grande Valley, such violence is rare. The Gulf cartel is thought to dominate, and its competitors are willing to pay for access to the collection of ranch state roads that feed into the interstates that spread out from Houston to the East Coast.
"The Gulf cartel doesn't care if Chapo Guzmán is moving a load of drugs through here, as long as he pays," said a senior U.S. law enforcement official, who requested anonymity because of his ongoing work in the drug war.
For years, Mexicans thought the drug trade was a U.S. problem that needed to be tackled by quelling the demand of addicts and recreational drug users.
Today, Mexico is experiencing its own drug plague. It's wrestling with an alarming increase in drug use among its youth and an explosion of violence deep in its interior. Established and up-and-coming drug gangs are gunning it out for control of entry routes in the south and domestic distribution.
U.S. officials say Mexico's outgoing president, Vicente Fox, has done more than any other leader in Mexican history to cooperate in the drug war. After Dec. 1, the task falls to the country's apparent president-elect, conservative Felipe Calderón, to reverse the mounting drug violence and distribution.
"Relations with Mexico have never been better. We're getting (intelligence) from Mexico that we've never gotten before," said the law enforcement official, referring to federal-level cooperation. "Six years ago, we would have gotten, 'You're going to do what with Mexico?' We're hopeful that we'll be able to build on the progress we've made with the Fox administration."
During Fox's six-year term, Benjamin Arellano-Felix, the alleged former leader of the Tijuana cartel, was arrested, as was Osiel Cárdenas, the leader of the Juárez cartel.
Calderón has acknowledged that Fox's success in disrupting the cartels has come with a price: escalating violence within Mexico and along both sides of the border. On the campaign trail, Calderón has discussed the idea of a new superagency to combat drug trafficking.
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About the writer:
The McClatchy Washington Bureau's Kevin G. Hall can be reached
@ (202) 383-6038 or khall@mcclatchydc.com
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http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14302764p-15175053c.html
Heartfelt journey: A young woman takes her first plane ride and her first trip beyond the Mexican border for life-preserving surgery in Sacramento
By Dorsey Griffith -- Bee Staff Writer = Sunday, August 20, 2006
San Quintin, Mexico -- Yoana Gonzalez, looking much younger than her 21 years, stood on a remote dirt airstrip with a brave face and a yellow Winnie the Pooh bear held tight to her chest.
It would be her first ride on an airplane and her first trip beyond the Mexican border. But more than that, it would be a journey that could give her a more certain future.
Within 24 hours, she would be flown 700 miles away, to an operating table at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento. A medical team would work to improve blood flow from her pulmonary artery to her heart -- and give her the energy most young people take for granted.
Yoana was offered a chance for the life-preserving procedure by the Mother Lode chapter of the Flying Samaritans, a group of doctors and other health professionals who fly into San Quintin on private planes once a month and provide free medical care to the impoverished Baja California community.
For Yoana's family, it was a leap of faith. As the volunteer pilots readied their small aircraft for takeoff last Sunday, Yoana's sister and her mother quietly sobbed. Her father, Ismael Gonzalez, joked that his daughter would be fine on the six-seat Cessna 205, since she'd already been on "La Rueda de la Fortuna," a Ferris wheel.
Still, the jocularity belied some fatherly anxiety. "Of course we want to do everything we can for her," Gonzalez said. "The only problem is that I can't be there with her."
The Gonzalez family watched Yoana climb aboard the tiny plane, then stayed behind, waving goodbye until the last of four private aircraft was out of sight.
The first signs that something was wrong with Yoana emerged when she was about 2 years old. Her mother, Laura Melgoza de Gonzalez, said her rebellious daughter couldn't chase her big brother, Ismael Jr., without breathing hard. Too hard. But in their hometown of Punta Colonet, a desolate dot of a place along Highway 1, getting medical assistance would prove elusive, time and again.
Without local expertise or health insurance to pay for surgery at an urban hospital, Yoana's dangerous heart defect would continue to plague her into early adulthood. A doctor confirmed a congenital heart problem when Yoana was 7. But when the family sought a doctor at a Tijuana hospital, they were turned away.
The problem didn't go away. "One time, when she was 13, we were on the beach," Ismael Gonzalez recalled. "She was running and she passed out. She was unconscious for about 15 minutes. It scared us to death."
Yoana, who dropped out of high school five years ago and returned last fall as a sophomore, has never been able to take part in physical education classes or play basketball with her brother and sister. She's tried to work as a farmworker, but had to quit.
When her symptoms worsened this past year, her family again sought help, this time at an Ensenada hospital. "A doctor did tests," Yoana said. "He said I had to have the surgery."
She never got it in Ensenada. "It cost 75,000 pesos," an amount equal to $7,000 in U.S. dollars. "My parents don't have the means to pay for this. We couldn't do anything."
Ismael Gonzalez is a self-employed fisherman and doesn't have health insurance and doesn't qualify for government benefits.
Yoana's condition, pulmonary stenosis, occurs in about one in 10,000 people and kills one in 100 every year. It's dangerous because when the blood flow is obstructed, pressure builds in the right ventricle, making it hard to push blood out to the lungs. The problem is typically detected and corrected early in life. But for Yoana, it seemed like a life sentence; one doctor told her to forget about ever having children.
Yoana was years past due for a balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty, a catheterization procedure to open the blocked valve so blood can flow normally.
Ismael Gonzalez heard about the Samaritans' clinic three months ago, and drove to San Quintin, an hour and a half from their home, for the scheduled clinic in May. When they arrived, Gonzalez recounted his daughter's story to Dr. Bill McDavid, one of a handful of doctors who had made the monthly trip to San Quintin. The doctor held his stethoscope to Yoana's chest.
"I listened, and she had a very loud heart murmur over the left side," said McDavid, a retired doctor from Placerville. "I had her jump up and down for 30 seconds and she almost passed out."
McDavid asked Yoana's father to send him the test results from the Ensenada hospital and to get Yoana a Mexican passport. Gonzalez sent the results, and McDavid quickly sought expert opinions -- and a doctor and hospital willing to carry out the procedure.
Sacramento cardiologists Arvin Arthur and Jeff Van Gundy agreed to operate without charge, and Mercy General Hospital would absorb the hospital costs. More calls secured a "humanitarian relief" document from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services allowing Yoana a temporary stay in the United States.
On Aug. 12, Yoana and her parents returned to the clinic, a pair of shabby buildings on land owned by a private tomato-growing operation on the outskirts of San Quintin.
By 10 a.m. long lines of hopefuls had formed outside. In one, families waited to learn whether they would receive one of 24 coveted Flying Samaritans scholarships awarded annually to high-achieving students to cover the cost of a year in Mexican public junior high and high school -- worth between $150 and $250.
"The government doesn't help us," explained Adalberta Núñez, mother of a 13-year-old boy. "I want my kids to go to school, so they don't have to work in the fields like we do."
Another line formed at the clinic door, which was covered with a gauze sheet in a futile attempt to keep clouds of flies outside. Among those waiting: a diabetic man with a foot lesion, a woman with advanced ovarian cancer and a newborn with an extra pinky and toe. In eight hours, the volunteer staff, including four doctors, saw 101 patients. While the Samaritans offer basic drugs, routine care and medical counsel, many patients leave empty-handed.
"We can't fix everything," said Dr. Bob Haining, a pediatric rehabilitation specialist at Children's Hospital Oakland. "Lots of times I see someone with something I know they will die from, but we can't do anything. You just have to walk away."
This time, no one walked away from Yoana and her parents. McDavid reported she could fly back to Sacramento with the Samaritans the following day.
Pilot Joel Prosser and his wife, Heidi, brought Yoana to Mercy General early Monday morning for blood tests, an echocardiogram and some medicine to make her sleepy for the operation.
As she was wheeled to the hospital's catheterization laboratory, a volunteer with the Flying Samaritans showed her photos of her family taken the day before. Tears pooled in her sleepy eyes.
Yoana was informed that in rare circumstances these operations -- designed to prevent early death -- go awry. She felt afraid.
"She is at substantial risk," Van Gundy emphasized before the procedure. "She needs this."
When the 90-minute catheterization was complete, Arthur and Van Gundy looked pleased. The frighteningly high pressures in her right ventricle had been reduced by half. And yes, she would be able to have children some day, after all.
On Saturday, as she prepared to climb back aboard Prosser's Cessna for the flight home, she said she knew the procedure was a success because she'd climbed stairs without struggling for a breath. In a half day she'd be back home in Punta Colonet, ready for another year of school and maybe even a rugged game of hoops with her big brother.
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About the writer:
The Bee's Dorsey Griffith can be reached at (916) 321-1089 or dgriffith@sacbee.com .
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Related Link:
http://www.flyingsamaritans.org/
Who are the Flying Sams?
The Flying Samaritans is a group of professionals from many different walks of life interested in helping bring healthcare to people in Mexico. We are physicians, nurses, dentists, pilots, translators and many other people. We are a non-sectarian organization and our bylaws clearly establish that our purpose is to offer medical assistance and education to the people in rural areas of Mexico. All Flying Samaritan Clinics are operated free of charge to patients.
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http://www.mercygeneral.org/
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http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/index.htm
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/19/us/19immigrant.html?ref=us
August 19, 2006: Chicago Woman’s Stand Stirs Immigration Debate
By GRETCHEN RUETHLING
CHICAGO, Aug. 18 — In a small storefront church in a Puerto Rican neighborhood on the city’s West Side, Elvira Arellano, a fugitive from the government, waits with her 7-year-old son and prays.
Ms. Arellano, 31, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, defied an order to report to the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday to be deported and is instead seeking sanctuary in her church.
Ms. Arellano is hoping Congress will act on a private relief bill that would allow her and her son, Saul, a United States citizen who has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, to stay in the country, where she says he can get better medical treatment.
“I’m not a terrorist,” said Ms. Arellano, who came to the United States illegally nine years ago and is facing her second deportation. “I’m only a single mother with a son who’s an American citizen.”
Ms. Arellano, president of an advocacy group called La Familia Latina Unida, said she hoped her action would help to bring about legislation to protect families that could be torn apart by deportation. Immigrants’ rights groups and critics of illegal immigration are closely watching her case. Some supporters have likened her to Rosa Parks, while detractors say Ms. Arellano broke the law and should face the consequences.
Critics say illegal immigrants have children with the hope that they will be allowed to stay in the United States. “She had an anchor baby, that’s what she did,” said Mike McGarry, acting director of the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform. “If she was so concerned about her child, she’d take him with her.”
Emma Lozano, director of Centro Sin Fronteras, an advocacy group in Chicago, sees it differently. “She became for all of us a symbol of resistance to the unjust, broken laws of this country,” Ms. Lozano said. “This cross that she bears for all the undocumented is because she’s been chosen.”
Ms. Arellano has received supportive calls and e-mail from across the country and beyond.
Dolores Huerta, 76, a laborers’ advocate who founded the United Farm Workers union with Cesar Chavez, flew to Chicago from California on Thursday to show her support. “Legislation must be proposed so these children don’t stay without their parents,” she said.
Ms. Arellano was deported in 1997 after crossing from Mexico illegally. She returned and had Saul, working in Washington State before moving to Chicago in 2000. She was arrested in 2002 at O’Hare International Airport, where she cleaned planes, for using a false Social Security number.
She was granted a stay of deportation after a private relief bill was introduced in the Senate in 2003 because of her son’s medical needs. Last year, two similar bills were introduced in the House, but no action has been taken.
At Adalberto United Methodist Church, where Ms. Arellano has been staying, the windows are plastered with copies of letters of support from Representative Luis V. Gutierrez, Democrat of Illinois, who introduced the House legislation, and Mayor Richard M. Daley.
Ms. Arellano also posted a statement, saying if she is arrested on “holy ground,” she “will know that God wants me to be an example of the hatred and hypocrisy of the current policy of this government.”
Such talk offends people like Rosanna Pulido, director of the Illinois Minuteman Project. “She’s spewing all this anti-American stuff,” Ms. Pulido said. “The thing that scares me the most is her defiance, it really does.”
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said it has the authority to arrest anyone in the country in violation of immigration law. But an immigration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because policy prohibits discussing agency plans, said Friday that the authorities had other priorities and did not plan an arrest at the church.
The church’s pastor, the Rev. Walter Coleman, said helping Ms. Arellano was part of his calling. “There’s a tradition in this country as well as around the world that governments respect the dignity and the faith of the church and don’t trample on that,” Mr. Coleman said. “I’m much more afraid of God than I am of Homeland Security.”
Ira Mehlman, media director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said the law holds parents responsible for their actions regardless of their children’s situation. “However sympathetic her child may be, you can’t allow someone to hide behind their children,” Mr. Mehlman said.
Jaime P. Martinez, national treasurer of the League of United Latin American Citizens, an advocacy group in Washington, said Ms. Arellano’s case was mobilizing the movement as the government seems to be cracking down.
“I have never seen these type of deportations in my life,” said Mr. Martinez, 50, who visited Ms. Arellano on Thursday. “I believe it’s an agenda that they have to turn away the progress that was being made.”
But Carlina Tapia-Ruano, an immigration lawyer in Chicago, said she doubted that Ms. Arellano’s actions would change anyone’s mind.
“My concern is that when we have individuals who so publicly voice their disregard of our laws,” Ms. Tapia-Ruano said, “I believe that that gives greater ammunition for those who are on the extremes.”
But Ms. Arellano is confident. “I didn’t allow them to deport me, and the community is supporting me,” she said. “I’m not afraid of anything because I’m in the house of God.”
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http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/2006/as-editorials-0819-0-6h19b3843.htm
Huntsville and illegal immigrants
In our opinion = 08-19-2006
There is no question that there are illegal immigrants in our midst. And there is no question that in some communities illegals put a strain on health care and other social services. And there is no question that some public figures and groups have seized this as a political issue and are milking it for all it is worth.
The controversy is often described as a struggle between cultural conservatives who believe the immigrants bring in habits of action that undermine traditional American standards and values, business conservatives who need immigrant labor and are seeking a way to give illegals some sort of documented worker status. Then there are the liberals who want to welcome the newly arrived and keep them from being exploited by the bosses who hire them. But it is more complex than that.
Huntsville got a taste of this complexity recently when a city councilman proposed an ordinance that would punish landlords that rent to illegals and employers who put them to work. A group called the Conservative Christians of Alabama sent out a call to its members to show up at the meeting and “intimidate” members of the council into supporting the legislation.
Well, to its credit, the council was not intimidated. Instead, the sponsor of the ordinance moved to have it tabled and a committee was set up to study the issue and see what could be done.
The committee, if it does work well, will discover that federal law is going to make it difficult for a local governing body to do much about immigration employment and housing. Instead it will discover, as other communities have discovered, that there are laws on the books to help solve such problems if problems really exist. They only have to be enforced. And therein lies the rub.
Most cities have housing codes that do not target specific groups but instead regulate the behavior of renters and the upkeep of property. This year our state passed a landlord-tenant law that defines the rights and responsibilities of both. In addition, in 1997 the Legislature passed a bill that required employers to report Social Security numbers for the people working for them. And then there are federal rules and regulations aplenty that address the issues being raised.
Unfortunately, state and federal law enforcement is stretched thin and until the people doing all the protesting are willing to pay the taxes to hire the police and agents to enforce the laws, all the intimidation in the world won't make much difference.
So what you have is a political football, and a lot of people trying to kick it.
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http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/15310577.htm
Sat, Aug. 19, 2006
Haitians fight for equal representation in Fla. government
JENNIFER KAY Associated Press
MIAMI - When the Haitian man sat for a passport photo at the shop doubling as Dufirston Neree's campaign headquarters, he was handed a black suit jacket to wear over his bright blue T-shirt.
It's a perk Neree gives customers at Ben Photo. It elevates them, he says, makes them look more professional. He does it, too: He arrives for an interview in khakis, but briefly excuses himself to don a pinstriped suit.
Haitians need, he says, to be better represented - in passport photos and in person. Hoping to be the first Haitian elected to Congress, he has challenged incumbent Kendrick Meek in the Democratic primary Sept. 5 in Florida's 17th District.
Neree worked at Ben Photo, his uncle's Little Haiti storefront, as a teenager, filling out immigration forms printed in English for customers who spoke only Creole and could read neither language.
If elected, the community development banking specialist born in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, says he would represent those in his largely Haitian district who would benefit the most from a change in U.S. immigration policy. They want to make it easier for Haitians to stay in this country and become citizens, like Cubans.
"I'm sitting here in the heart of the city of Miami and I'm looking for votes and no one around here can help me because they're all a bunch of illegals," says Neree, 32. "There's a lot of immigration help that's needed - the mayor can't do anything about immigration policy, but the U.S. House can. Because of that, I'm running."
Though a federal issue, immigration is a major talking point in the campaigns of other Haitians running for state and local office in South Florida. The candidates say they're fighting for equal representation in a government that has neglected to address the needs of Haitians among other black voters.
"I hear the fear amongst the parents for their kids. If they're Haitian, if they get in trouble, they get deported. In other communities, it's 'I'm worried about my windstorm insurance,'" says Hans Laurenceau, a prosecutor in Broward County juvenile court. Laurenceau, 27, is one of two Democrats with Haitian roots campaigning to represent the 108th district in the Florida House, a district that elected the first Haitian American lawmaker to the Florida Legislature, Phillip Brutus, in 2000.
Either immigrants themselves or the children of immigrants, these Haitian candidates say they can relate to potential voters who express having difficulty adjusting to life in the U.S. - and they can do it in Creole, the language that separates Haitians from other black voters.
Haitian leaders advocated for Creole to be included as a protected language in the Voting Rights Act, the recently renewed civil rights law that opened polls to millions of black Americans when it was first enacted in 1965.
Including Creole would have boosted voter turnout, and helped integrate Haitians into U.S. society, advocates say. Complicated ballot questions are often lost on Haitian immigrants who were illiterate when they arrived and learned to read and write in Creole before learning English, says Lucie Tondreau of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition. She is also the campaign manager for Brutus, now running for a seat on the Miami-Dade County Commission.
"It is very difficult for them to follow instructions in English. They have it in Spanish, I don't know why they can't have it in Creole. I think this is discrimination," she said.
The candidates say Haitian voters have other concerns exacerbated by their isolation - the lack of health care and affordable housing, low wages and poor education.
"That is not so different from the African-American community, but the difference is many of the Haitian-Americans aren't fully aware of everything the system has for them. There has to be somebody who can really advocate on their behalf," says Ronald Brise, a native of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, who is challenging Laurenceau and three other Democrats to represent the 108th.
More than 109,160 Haitians live in Miami-Dade County, and 90,000 live in Broward, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But most political candidates rarely reach out to Haitian voters, who generally lack the economic standing to be significant campaign contributors, says Robert Watson, a political science professor at Florida Atlantic University.
Non-Haitian candidates who do make the effort risk losing votes from other communities because so many Haitian issues are tied up in their immigration status, he said.
"If you're perceived as being pro-Haitian, it could actually drive away potential voters. You might lose the anti-immigrant, nativist vote," Watson says. Another voting group that could react badly might be Florida's Cubans, who benefit from the U.S. wet-foot/dry-foot policy that Haitians seek to change, he said.
In their quest to achieve the political clout of Florida's Cuban and Jewish communities, Haitians are competing with Jamaicans and Bahamians, who also feel they have unique community needs, and from other black voters who have lost political ground to Hispanic voters, Watson says.
Brise, a Miami telecommunications executive seeking what has become known as the "Haitian-American seat" in the Florida House since Brutus' election in 2000, says there's pressure to keep that seat for the community. Any good candidate, Haitian or not, can represent the community, but if Haitians lose their voice in politics now, future redistricting may make it hard to get it back, he says.
"Twenty years from now, my 6-month-old son may not feel he needs to run as a Haitian because certain issues might be resolved, or we might be so integrated into society that our issues would be exactly on par so we wouldn't need special representation to address our needs," says Brise, 32. "But for right now, we need to maintain a line or establish a system where we can establish seats as has been done in other communities."
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ON THE NET
Dufirston Neree: http://www.goneree.com/
Ronald Brise: http://www.rab4108.com/index.htm
Hans Laurenceau: http://www.hanslaurenceau.com/ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413501
Border wall is a source of conflict for O'odham
Posted: August 18, 2006
by: Brenda Norrell / Indian Country Today
SELLS, Ariz. - The National Guard is preparing to construct a border wall, referred to as a ''vehicle barrier'' by the United States, on Tohono O'odham tribal land at the border, which has been sanctioned by the Tohono O'odham Nation and opposed by some tribal members.
Tohono O'odham Nation Chairman Vivian Juan-Saunders said the tribal government approved the deployment of the U.S. National Guard onto tribal land and the vehicle barrier.
''This is due to the increase in violence against our people and the increase in illegal transportation of narcotics and human cargo. This is also a means of additional protection for people who actually live along the border,'' Juan-Saunders told Indian Country Today.
''The people who live along the border, through consultation with communities, requested the deployment and vehicle barrier fencing.''
Juan-Saunders said she met with O'odham in Mexico, in Sonoyta, Mexico, on Aug. 5 to provide information on the vehicle barrier fence. She said the barrier fence is a four-foot-high steel fence and will not be a solid fence.
However, Ofelia Rivas, O'odham founder of O'odham Voice against the Wall, said traditional O'odham oppose this wall. Further, she said the Ali Jegk community, an O'odham community in Gu-Vo District on the border, is under siege by the U.S. Border Patrol and the National Guardsmen are there now setting up camp.
Rivas pointed out that Ali Jegk is the staging site for the United States to build the wall.
''The wall will permanently close off the ancestral route used annually to attend and conduct the sacred ceremony in Quitovac, Mexico. The Tohono O'odham Nation politicians support this action, dismissing the opposition from the traditional people and ceremonial leaders,'' Rivas said.
However, Juan-Saunders disagreed. She said there are three areas where O'odham would still be able to cross into Mexico and the United States for ceremonial purposes, health and family ties.
Referring to the recent meeting with O'odham in Mexico, Juan-Saunders said, ''They were satisfied with our factual information as they were receiving misinformation about a solid wall. I briefed them on the [Tohono O'odham] Nation's approval of National Guard deployment,'' Juan-Saunders told Indian Country Today.
''The nation, in approving the deployment, requested that conditions be in place before deployment,'' she said.
Gustavo Soto, spokesman for the Tucson Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, told ICT that the National Guard's presence and construction of observation posts and the vehicle barrier come after lengthy negotiations with the Tohono O'odham Nation.
Soto said National Guardsmen are already on Tohono O'odham tribal land, including the Gu-Vo District. He said guardsmen would not be camped there, but are there setting up observation posts.
Soto said guardsmen would be carrying out the construction of vehicle barriers at the border, while watching for illegal activity, including drugs, illegal entry and terrorists with weapons of mass destruction.
Soto said guardsmen would not arrest illegal entrants, but would notify the Border Patrol when illegal migrants are sighted.
Meanwhile, Rivas said Congress, President Bush and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are authorizing the violation of indigenous rights at the border with the construction of this wall on a traditional ceremonial route and with the ongoing home invasions.
''In the name of 'securing the homelands,' there is the criminalization of people of color and these invasions of O'odham homes are authorized in this isolated area, less then a quarter of a mile from the border,'' Rivas said. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/bustelo170806p.html
700 Immigrant Rights Activists Form National Alliance, Set Protests for Labor Day Weekend and September 30 = August 17, 2006
by Joaquín Bustelo
CHICAGO -- Hundreds of immigrant activists and supporters met in Chicago August 11-13 in a national strategy convention of the legalization-for-all wing of the movement.
The event was the largest of at least three national gatherings of immigration activists held over the summer, and the one that was directly based on the "Calendar Coalitions," as the Latino-led grass-roots-based left wing of the immigrant rights movement is popularly known because many local groups take their name from the date they were formed or held a significant action.
The main decision of the convention was to found a National Alliance for Immigrant Rights around the central demands of a halt to all deportations and full legalization for all immigrants. A national coordinating council was created with the participation of activists from all over the country.
"The most important thing is that we gave the movement a national structure that will allow us to coordinate our actions," Jorge Mújica, one of the key organizers of the convention told reporters shortly after the meeting concluded. "We have transformed ourselves into a national movement."
The Alliance also projected a series of nationally-coordinated local actions, the first during the Labor Day holiday weekend, the second on September 30, right before the beginning of the government's new fiscal year and Congress's adjournment for the elections. These protests will be demanding not just legalization for all, but an immediate moratorium on all deportations and round-ups pending Congressional enactment of a comprehensive immigration reform.
Right now, Congress is deadlocked on the issue. The House has passed a punitive, so-called "enforcement"-only act which militarizes the border and brands all undocumented immigrants as "aggravated felons."
Attempts by the Senate to reach a "compromise" with the House have only led to a Senate Bill that incorporates many of the repressive features of the House version and has a convoluted, multi-tiered structure for a temporary semi-legalization that would not cover many millions of undocumented workers already in the country and puts off citizenship for those who do qualify for almost two decades. This attempted "compromise" has been rejected by the Republican House leadership.
The conference voted to oppose both these bills. "Better no law than a bad law," said Nativo Lopez, president of the Mexican American Political Association and a leader of the movement in Los Angeles. Instead, the convention agreed to counterpose, to bills like those, an immediate moratorium on raids and deportations pending further Congressional action.
The generalization of the moratorium demand to the national movement as a whole represents an important advance in taking into account the desperation of millions of undocumented who want full legalization for all, but consider even a partial and punitive legalization better than no legalization at all.
Attendance at the convention far exceeded the expectations of the organizers. They had expected 300 participants at the event. In reality more than 400 formally registered, and many more participated without registering. Organizers estimated that, in all, around 700 people took part.
The big majority of those attending were Latinos, with Mexicans the biggest Latino nationality, as they are in the population as a whole. Reflecting the immigrant composition of the majority, the convention was mostly conducted in Spanish with simultaneous translation into English. For many participants, an important part of the conference was the convening of a women's caucus that demanded full, equal participation by women in all aspects of the movement.
The impetus for the formation of the caucus came from Latina activists in their 20s who objected to the virtually all-male slate of presenters and chairs organized for the first plenary session of the convention. The convention as a whole unanimously approved motions from the caucus requiring equal female representation in all leading bodies and among spokespeople and national coordinators.
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Joaquín Bustelo lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
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URL: http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/bustelo170806.html
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http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/142493
Tucson Region: Immigrant-rights advocates to gather
By Lourdes Medrano + Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.17.2006
A coalition of local and national groups will gather in Tucson tonight to highlight what they say is the negative effect of the nation's immigration policies on immigrants and ethnic populations.
The Armory Park gathering will bring together advocate groups for blacks, Asians, Hispanics and American Indians to provide a voice seldom heard in this summer's Republican-led congressional hearings on immigration, organizers said.
The three-hour hearing is part of an effort to underscore what advocates believe is the potential harm of current and pending immigration legislation to the rights, well-being and safety of minorities, said Alexis Mazón of the Coalición de Derechos Humanos in Tucson.
"We want to send the message to Congress that we want an end to border militarization and to these immigration-enforcement policies that result in mass detention, incarceration and racial profiling in our communities," said Mazón, a spokeswoman for the human-rights group. "If you're an immigrant or a person of color, you will be subject to these repressive policies," she added.
Arnoldo Garcia, a senior program associate with the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights in Oakland, Calif., said the hearing will shed light on how acts of discrimination against immigrants and other minorities have intensified in recent years.
"These policies are destabilizing our communities," he said.
Gerald Lenoir, executive director of Oakland's Black Alliance for Just Immigration, added: "What most people don't realize is that law enforcement policies piloted on border and immigrant communities are being extended into our neighborhoods and cities."
Mazón said the recorded testimony and recommendations for humane immigration reform will be shared with local, state and federal officials.
If you go
? What: Public hearing on immigration policies.
? When: Today, 6 to 9 p.m.
? Where: Armory Park Community Center Ballroom, 220 S. Fifth Ave.
? More Information: 770-1373.
? Contact reporter Lourdes Medrano at 573-4347 or lmedrano@azstarnet.com.
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http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=8a0c36fa45bccc2a7f503169f43b70a6
Nuclear on the Concept -- ‘Immediate Family’ Needs Redefinition
New America Media, Commentary, Marta Donayre, Aug 17, 2006
Editor's Note: Immigrant family reunification based on the nuclear family model leaves too many people behind, argues Marta Donayre, co-founder of Love Sees No Borders, a member of the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition. She can be reached through www.martadonayre.com or www.loveseesnoborders.org. IMMIGRATION MATTERS regularly features the views of the nation's leading immigrant rights advocates.
Family reunification is a rallying cry of the immigration movement. Reducing the backlog of petitions and making it easier for families to sponsor each other is at the heart of this effort. Yet, immigration family law mostly defines Ågimmediate familyÅh as being only spouses children and parents, leaving all others behind.
Siblings, cousins, same-sex partners, grandparents, etc. arenÅft considered equally, no matter how close they may be to the sponsor. A group of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists issued a criticism of the narrow legal purview of marriage, saying it doesnÅft reflect realities faced by many families today. And this line of thought is applicable to immigrant communities.
The document ÅgBeyond Marriage, A New Strategic Vision For All Our Families & Relationships,Åh challenges the LGBT movementÅfs focus on marriage alone, by asking that we look at family more broadly than just through conjugality.
ÅgU.S. Census findings tell us that a majority of people, whatever their sexual and gender identities, do not live in traditional nuclear families,Åh write the authors. This means that households arenÅft just Mom, Dad, kids. Families are more Mom, kids. Grandma, kids. Cousins. Siblings. Close friends.
Immigrant families often are a collection of siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts. They form a family, share a last name and back home they shared a life together. But under current immigration law they donÅft qualify as family.
If one is able to secure legal status, thereÅfs little this person can do for the rest of the family. If something can be done at all, itÅfll take forever.
The nuclear family model for family reunification is failing most immigrant families as it does the LGBT community. Many families such as senior citizens, adult children caring for elderly parents, grandparents raising children, etc., also donÅft enjoy the rights, privileges and obligations that are only available through marriage. Marriage is not the only worthy form of family or relationship, and it should not be legally and economically privileged above all others. While we honor those for whom marriage is the most meaningful personal--for some, also a deeply spiritual--choice, we believe that many other kinds of kinship relationship, households and families must also be accorded recognition.
Ironically, when it comes to immigration, the LGBT community has rallied mostly behind partnership recognition. The Uniting American Families Act would grant same-sex couples the same immigration benefits, obligations and responsibilities currently afforded only to heterosexual couples.
The bill does nothing to advance the marriage movement, but it does seek to follow the model of conjugality-based immigration. In other words, it promotes the nuclear family model. Nevertheless, it seeks to expand the notion of ÅgfamilyÅh in the immigration context and is a great step in the right direction, and should receive more support.
The fight for marriage equality, therefore, should go beyond the LGBT community. The immigrant rights movement too should fight for marriage equality. But while extending marriage equality to same-sex couples is fair, just and necessary, so is extending equality to all families.
Immigrant rights advocates should step back and look at the realities facing immigrant communities. Yes, many nuclear families need immigration help immediately, but so do non-nuclear families. The fight for marriage equality should be about making all families equal in the eyes of the law.
A family composed of siblings living in the U.S. should have the same benefits, responsibilities and obligations as married couples. So should cousins, grandparents, uncles and aunts. All families should be equal.
Many years ago my father had a green card. He came to the U.S. to explore his opportunities and met a woman interested in keeping him by her side. They never married, but she was able to sponsor his green card. He eventually resettled in Latin America, married my mother and let his green card expire.
Today, his own daughter canÅft take advantage of what helped him in the past. Today, Americans like my partner are denied this privilege. Today, all we have is a broken system that provides no legal options, thus encouraging illegal immigration.
ÅgFamilyÅh means more than husband and wife. It means love, caring, supporting one another, regardless of who one is. We should work for public policy that reflects the lives of people instead of forcing people to adopt models imposed by public policy.
The immigrant rights and LGBT movements would do a lot of good for many communities if they pushed for family reunification policies that include all families.
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http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_40798.shtml
Big, Easy Money: Disaster Profiteering on the American Gulf Coast
By: CorpWatch
Published: Aug 17, 2006 at 08:53
On the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, "disaster profiteers" have made millions while local companies and laborers in New Orleans and the rest of the devastated Gulf Coast region are systematically getting the short end of the stick, according to a major new report from the nonprofit CorpWatch. A CorpWatch analysis of FEMA's records shows that "fully 90 percent of the first wave of (the post-Katrina reconstruction) contracts awarded - including some of the biggest no-bid contracts to date -- went to companies from outside the three worst-affected states…..
KEY REPORT FINDINGS
* A familiar (and disturbing) cast of characters: Many of the same "disaster profiteers" and government agencies that mishandled the reconstruction of Afghanistan and Iraq are responsible for the failure of "reconstruction" of the Gulf Coast region. The Army Corps, Bechtel and Halliburton are using the very same "contract vehicles" in the Gulf Coast as they did in Afghanistan and Iraq…..
* Laborers - particularly immigrant workers - are not getting paid. Victoria Cintra of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Association (MIRA) said that her small volunteer organization has successfully fought for over $300,000 in pay owed to workers, but the battle is unending. The subcontracting layers are a major part of the problem, each can't pay the next until it gets paid, meaning the laborers on the bottom rung get paid last -- if at all. In one case, a contract was granted to Kellogg Brown & Root in Mississippi to rehab the Seabee Naval Base. KBR subcontracted with a company called Tipton Friendly Rollins, which subbed the work to Kansas City Tree, who passed the duties on to a small construction company. The small firm finally hired the workers, many of whom were immigrants, to do the job. The owner of the firm promised food and board, in rickety trailers "not fit for rats," according to Cintra. But after paying her employees for one week's work, the owner of the construction company claimed that she couldn't pay or feed the laborers until she was paid by Kansas City Tree. In the dead of night, she reportedly entered the trailers and awakened the laborers and warned them that immigration agents were on their way. Many of the workers fled. MIRA traced the chain of contracts back to Halliburton and delivered its research to the U.S. Department of Labor (Mississippi does not have a department of labor). Eventually MIRA won the $141,000 in back pay for the construction company's laborers, but many fear deportation or have no permanent addresses, and cannot be found. Rosana Cruz, Gulf Coast field coordinator for the National Immigration Law Center, said: "The level of assault against workers feels like war. There's vulnerability in each successive layer of subcontracting. ... It's shocking that there aren't millions of people across the United States demanding accountability. This is a microcosm of what's happening around the world. If you're poor and you're brown, we can do whatever we want with you."
* No good local deed seems to go unpunished. The Vietnamese neighborhood in New Orleans once known as Versailles (for the nearby housing project) has struggled to its feet, with little help from any government agencies. Of the community's 53 businesses, an estimated 45 have opened their doors. Ninety-five percent of the homes have been gutted. The remarkable transformation of the neighborhood was so astonishing that a group affected by the tsunami came from Thailand in June 2006 to find out how it was accomplished so they could put those skills to work at home. The community was so focused on the rebuilding effort that news of a landfill between them and the largest urban wildlife refuge in the nation, Bayou Sauvage, was an unwelcome disruption-but not a complete shock. "If you look around the country," said local pastor Vien thé Nguyen said, "every landfill is near minority people."
Read the Full Report (text version) http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=140046
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http://www.aclu.org/immigrants/discrim/26465prs20060815.html
Hazleton Residents Sue to Halt Harsh Anti-Immigrant Law (8/15/2006)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
HAZLETON, PA - An ordinance that classifies certain immigrants as "illegal," punishes landlords and employers who do business with those immigrants and makes English the official language is unconstitutional and should be blocked immediately, according to a lawsuit filed today by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, American Civil Liberties Union, the Community Justice Project, the law firm of Cozen O'Connor and local attorneys George Barron, David Vaida, and Barry Dyller.
"All this ordinance does is create more tension and hatred between neighbors," said Cesar Perales, President and General Counsel of the PRLDEF. "The city will also face major litigation costs. It is patently illegal for a local municipality to usurp the role of the federal government."
Perales cited a report published by the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan agency that writes reports for lawmakers, which confirmed that federal law likely precludes Hazleton from enforcing the ordinance.
"Hazleton's anti-immigrant ordinance is bad for the community, is unconstitutional and will foster rampant discrimination," said Omar Jadwat, a staff attorney with the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project. "This mean-spirited law is wrong for many reasons, but the most obvious is that the city does not have the power to make its own immigration laws."
Enforcement of the ordinance, approved on July 13, is expected to begin on September 11. The ordinance defines certain persons as "illegal aliens" using a definition so broad that it actually includes many lawful residents and naturalized citizens. Under the ordinance, property owners are subject to fines of more than $1,000 a day for renting to individuals classified as "illegal aliens," and business owners could be fined and have their licenses suspended for hiring "illegal aliens" either knowingly or unknowingly. In addition, businesses would be barred from selling merchandise to "illegal aliens," including basic necessities such as food.
The ordinance would also turn Hazleton into an "English-only" community in which city documents and other written communications would not be available in any language but English unless specifically required by federal or state law. Also, documents from residents to city officials would have to be written in English.
The groups filed the lawsuit on behalf of 11 Hazleton residents and business owners as well as three non-profits. Plaintiffs include a lifelong Pennsylvanian and U.S. citizen who moved with her husband to Hazleton and opened a small business using her family's life savings. The business was doing well and the couple became foster parents intent on adopting. Since the passage of the ordinance her business has been cut in half and she can no longer pay the bills. The family has been verbally abused with anti-Latino epithets and is contemplating moving from the area, according to legal papers.
In addition to filing the lawsuit, counsel for the plaintiffs today sent a letter to the Mayor and the City Council informing them that litigation can be avoided if the ordinance is repealed. If the city fails to do so, the court proceedings will be aggressively pursued.
"Not only is this law a bull in the china shop of constitutional rights, but it will do real injury to lawful immigrants and even citizens," said Witold Walczak, Legal Director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. "It makes every person who looks or sounds foreign a suspect, including those who are here legally. You might as well just paint a target on every foreigners' forehead or a sign saying 'please treat me differently.'"
The groups said in legal papers that the ordinance violates the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause because it seeks to override federal law and the exclusive federal power over immigration. The ordinance also violates business and property owners' due process rights under the Constitution because it is nearly impossible for them ensure compliance. In addition, the ordinance's "English only" provision violates city residents' First Amendment rights to free speech.
In a separate action today the ACLU of Florida, PRLDEF and other local groups opposed similar ordinances in Palm Bay, FL, also on the grounds that local governments cannot usurp federal authority over immigration issues.
The complaint is available at: www.aclu.org/immigrants/discrim/26463lgl20060815.html
The letter to the Hazleton Mayor and the Hazleton City Council is online at: www.aclu.org/immigrants/discrim/26464lgl20060815.html
The documents are also available at www.prldef.org
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http://www.aclu.org/immigrants/discrim/26468prs20060815.html
ACLU of Florida, PRLDEF and Local Advocates Vow to Sue Over Palm Bay Anti-Immigrant Ordinance (8/15/2006)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
PALM BAY, FL – The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges today sent a letter to the City of Palm Bay expressing opposition to the anti-immigrant ordinances which are under consideration by the Palm Bay City Council. Should the Council vote to pass the ordinances, the organizations have vowed to challenge the laws in court on behalf of Palm Bay constituents.
“The laws, which are based on nothing more than prejudice and hostility to immigrants, do nothing to protect the community and only lead to discrimination against Latinos and other ethnic groups,” said Kevin Aplin of the ACLU of Florida’s Brevard Chapter. “Employers who fear retribution for hiring undocumented workers – even if they are unaware of their citizenship status – may begin to discriminate to avoid potential legal complications. The city is creating a situation that hurts everyone and helps no one.”
The most overreaching parts of the ordinances (No.’s 2006-80 and 2006-81) place civil penalties on employers who are in violation of federal law. Implementing this type of law on a local level intrudes on the power of the federal government to regulate immigration and enforce immigration laws, the groups said Because the local ordinances attempt to enforce laws that Congress has reserved for the federal enforcement, the ACLU of Florida believes that Palm Bay's ordinances would be struck down in court.
“It is neither the place of local government, nor in the overall interest of our country for local communities to assume responsibilities of the federal government,” said Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida. “Preventing a chaotic patchwork legal system in which penalties imposed on employers vary from community to community is precisely why only the federal government should have the power to enforce immigration laws.”
The ACLU and coalition partners said they hope the Council will recognize that these ordinances are outside of their authority and vote accordingly on August 17 when the measures are considered for a final time. The groups said they are prepared to challenge such a law in court, noting that the City of Palm Bay and its taxpayers could be responsible for monetary and legal costs associated with the litigation.
Prior to the August 17 city council meeting, opponents of the ordinances will gather for a vigil and march on City Hall at 6 p.m. at 300 Malabar Road in Palm Bay. Residents of Palm Bay are encouraged to reach out to their city council members and express their disapproval of the ordinances.
The letter of opposition is online at: www.aclufl.org/pdfs/PalmBayLetter.pdf
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2003195388_immigrant13m.html
GOP resolution on citizenship riles immigrant-rights and labor groups
By Joseph B. Frazier, Associated Press
PORTLAND — Labor and pro-immigrant groups on Friday denounced a resolution by the Oregon Republican Party to deny citizenship to American-born children of noncitizen immigrants, calling it a symptom of ignorance and racism, and representative of a broader pattern of anti-immigrant sentiment. While some speakers said they doubt it will become law, they said it could be used as a wedge to divide the state and could lead to other problems.
"This resolution exposes the Oregon Republican Party as a hateful, misinformed party that is too extreme for Oregon," said Chris Ferlazzo of Jobs for Justice, a coalition of more than 80 labor and immigrant rights groups that supports immigrant causes.
Amy Langdon, the party's executive director, called the resolution "more of a statement to let people know where we stand."
Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Saxton has proposed a tough line on immigration but has not publicly embraced the resolution. Ferlazzo said the party's stance was part of a wider trend that has seen moves to prohibit renting homes or selling merchandise to undocumented foreigners.
"It opens the door to what we would like to believe is impossible," he said at a gathering at Reed College in Portland.
Eunice Cho of the National Network of Immigrant and Refugee Rights said that while the resolution may be merely symbolic, it demonstrates "the level to which immigrants are unwelcome in this country."
If children of all noncitizen immigrants are barred from citizenship, as the resolution proposes, she said, "we would create a class of people in this country who have no state [to call home]."
The groups announced a Portland march Sept. 3, Labor Day weekend. Such events drew several thousand in Eugene and Salem before Oregon's May primary when Saxton and GOP challenger Kevin Mannix emphasized strict immigration measures.
The resolution was written by Jim Lehman, chairman of the Wasco County Republican Party, who acknowledged it wasn't likely to become law any time soon.
"I wanted to light the fire, and the resolution was the first step," he said recently. "There's enough people that want to see something done and they don't want to see the abuses."
Legal experts say making the resolution a law would require the improbable combination of two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the state legislatures agreeing to alter or erase the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which confers citizenship on everyone born in the United States.
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http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=ff2582cfc64fb872c5c22195998d18ac
Chinese Students Bike Across North America for Immigrant Rights
World Journal, News Feature, By Cao Jian, translated by Eugenia Chien,
Aug 13, 2006
NEW YORK – Two college students from Fujian province, China, bicycled across the United States for 45 days and finally arrived in New York, where the majority of Chinese immigrants come from Fujian. One of the main reasons for their trek across America is to change the way American society view Chinese Americans – “Fujianese is not a synonym for illegal immigrant,” they said.
Zheng Shao-Xiong, 33, will be a Ph.D student in social anthropology at Beijing University next month. Wu Guo-Yang, 34, will be receiving a master’s degree in sports management from a joint program between Tsinghua University and the University of Technology in Sydney this October. They both come from Putien City in Fujian province.
They had no previous experience of long-distance traveling by bicycle. They partnered with Jacob Storbakken, an American teaching English in Beijing, to form an expedition team. The group trained for a month, then boarded a plane for the United States
Because of the high number of undocumented immigrants who come from Fujian, many Fujianese have experienced difficulty getting a visa to visit the United States. But Wu and Zheng received their visas without much trouble after they told immigration officials the motivation for their trip.
After arriving in San Francisco, the three-people expedition team embarked on their bicycle journey. But Zheng and Wu lost Storbakken only ten days into the trip, so the two Chinese students relied only on their map to navigate the trip, veering away from their original route. They crossed California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and finally arrived in New York to meet with Storbakken, who had finished his trip alone.
Zheng and Wu said that they can’t forget the generosity that they received during the trip, from fixing their bikes to giving them a ride or a place to sleep. Camping throughout their entire journey under the summer heat was exhausting, but they said that their journey gave them a view of America that they could not have seen from books.
Along their journey, Zheng and Wu ate many Chinese meals at restaurants owned by Fujianese people. Some asked Zheng and Wu why they are not staying to make some money. Each time the students patiently explained the purpose of their trip. Upon arriving in New York’s Chinatown, they stayed in a small hotel that many new immigrants have stayed, giving them another perspective on the life of a Fujianese immigrant in a foreign land.
Zheng and Wu are returning to China on August 9. Zheng said that after this trip, he is interested in studying Fujianese immigrants for his doctorate degree. They said that they want to tell Americans that they have seen the hard work of Fujianese immigrants; they want all Americans to understand that Fujianese are multifaceted, talented, and can contribute to society in many different ways.
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RELEVANT LINKS:
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Aztlan Chicano 0101 Website & Groups
http://www.0101aztlan.net/
Aztlannet_Action · Aztlan 0101_Action Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aztlannet_action/
Aztlannet_News · Aztlan 0101_News Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Aztlannet_News/
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Border01 · US-Mexico Border Actions Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Border01/
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Center for Immigration Studies
http://www.cis.org/
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Immigrant-Rights-Agenda Yahoo Group!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Immigrant-Rights-Agenda/
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Immigrant Solidarity Network
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/
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Immigrationonline.org
http://www.immigrationline.org/
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Latin America Working Group
http://www.lawg.org/index.htm
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National Network for Immigrant Refugee Rights
http://www.nnirr.org/
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Pew Hispanic Center
http://pewhispanic.org/
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Solidarity Across Borders
http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org/en/node
Email: sansfrontieres@resist.ca or 514-848-7583
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Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice
http://www.sneej.org/index.html
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STOP THE FTAA! U-S-Mexico Border Action Project
http://actionla.org/border/
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The Humane Borders Blog
http://humanebordersblogged.blogspot.com/
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U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services Home Page
http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/index.htm
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U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement
http://www.ice.gov/
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U.N. Refugee Agency
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home
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Total Amnesty Is Humane Sanity! Build Bridges, Not Walls!
Venceremos Unidos! United We Will Win!
Peter S. Lopez ~aka Peta de Aztlan
Email: sacranative@yahoo.com
Sacramento, California, U.S.A.
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Comment on the Humane-Rights-Agenda Blog
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De Todos Para Todos Blog
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c/s
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