deleteTheBorder.org

from Houston Indymedia Today (4/11) at Rice University, Rice For Peace and Justice hosted a teach-in on the border wall featuring Houston Environmental Lawyer Charles Irvine and Brownsville Teacher and Activist Elizabeth Stephens.

The Teach in lasted for an hour in a full classroom for more than 50 students and faculty. Both presenters gave powerpoint presentations that exposed the environmental, cultural and economic damage a fence would cause, as well as the stealing of land from property owners and the unconstitutional process taking place, where the Department of Homeland Security is waiving more than 30 laws designed to protect the environment, wildlife and Texas history.

This is the third week of immigration sweeps by the maricopa county illegal sheriff's office. This time, they invaded the town of guadalupe, which is a really small town just south of tempe. The town mostly consists of yaqui and mexican migrant residents.

I urge you to read the sheriff's press release and then view these videos:
youtube video
channel 12 video
See what the mayor says about the press release, what the sheriff had told them, and how the mayor confronted sheriff joe. You can also read about the conflict on the feathered bastard's blog.

There's another video of what happened in guadalupe here. You will see that people were being pulled over for ridiculous things like "improper use of the horn" when they honked at the protesters in support.

Back in 2002, i believe, the sheriff's office invaded guadalupe after someone shot at either a deputy or the person the deputy was dealing with. Either way, the sheriff's office took it as an assault against the deputy, didn't catch the guy, but proceeded to bring their mobile command unit out to guadalupe and pull over nearly every single person. This past weekend was nearly a repeat, except there were many protesters, and because obviously shooting at someone is more of a crime than not having documents, the residents could get behind an opposition to the police.

Friday differed from thursday in that the police did not set up their command center in town on friday, but rather brought their arrestees to a station in mesa. They also didn't pull as many people over. There were also less protesters, partly because there was a big church service, and probably also because there were less people being arrested.

Signs at the protests and left on the streets included, "Arpaio, stop using guadalupe", "Our people deserve respect," "You're on indian land. The only illegal here is arpaio."

These are a few of the stories i have been meaning to blog about...

Governor OKs bill keeping illegal immigrants for having guns

Gov. Janet Napolitano signed legislation Friday designed to restore a state law keeping illegal immigrants from having firearms. The measure revamps a 4-year-old state law that was designed to mirror federal statutes that regulate who can and cannot possess a weapon.

But the state Court of Appeals ruled last year that federal statute - the one referred to in state law - specifically refers to weapons involved in interstate commerce.

The judges said that means people could be convicted of violating the state gun law only if prosecutors could prove the weapon in question was "shipped or transported in interstate commerce."

The new version fixes that by saying all foreigners in this state are forbidden from having guns.

House Supports Requiring Cops to Confront Immigration

PHOENIX - The Arizona House gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a proposed requirement that city and county police agencies carry out programs for their officers to confront federal immigration violations.

Arizona Legislation Prohibits Renting To Illegal Immigrants

A new house bill targets where illegal immigrants can live.

The Appropriations Committee voted to make it illegal for landlords to rent to those who cannot prove their legal status.

Landlords who knowingly or recklessly rent to illegal immigrants in Arizona will be subjected to a penalty of up to $250 for each day of the violation.

Report: Hate Groups Growing in Arizona

Hate groups are increasing in America and no where faster than right here in Arizona, according to the "Year in Hate" report from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The number of hate groups operating in America swelled by 48 percent between 2000 and 2007 according to the report.

Arizona slams door on illegal immigrants
Some citizens have been bruised, too, as the state cracks down.

The campaign has had an effect: Illegal immigrants complain it's impossible to find good work and are leaving the state.

It has also taken a toll on some U.S. citizens.

Juan Carlos Ochoa, a naturalized U.S. citizen who lives in an
upper-middle-class subdivision near Phoenix named Laguna Hills, can't find a job because a government database classifies him as a possible illegal immigrant. Pauline Muñoz, a 39-year-old mother of six who was born in Phoenix, has been afraid to leave her apartment since being held by sheriff's deputies for 15 hours for a driving infraction -- an example of what she believes is racial profiling.

And businesses that cater to immigrants both legal and illegal report a huge drop in sales, increasing the drag on the state's already troubled economy...

The feathered bastard has some coverage on what happened this past weekend near the macehualli day labor center at 25th st. and bell road in phoenix.
The Battle of Bell Road: Hundreds protest Sheriff Joe Arpaio's anti-immigrant dragnets.
and The Battle of Bell Rd., Part Deux: Mayor Phil Gordon blasts Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Also, there're some youtube videos up of thursday and/or friday nights: Racists and Sheriff Joe

SHERIFF ARPAIO CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL ALIENS

Arpaio Protesters Afraid For Their Safety

Joe Arpaio at Bell and Cave Roads

I was listening to NPR today and happened to catch a segment on Talk of the Nation on "The Untold History of Post-Civil War 'Neoslavery'". In this segment, the author of the book called "Slavery by Another Name" talked about how after the emancipation proclamation went into effect, lots of black men were arrested for all sorts of crimes including vagrancy and various made-up crimes so that they could be made to work for free- thus a slavery by another name. First, i was disappointed that no one, no callers, nor the interviewee mentioned that this is still going on today in the prison industrial complex. How many black men are imprisoned right now?

I've called it war before, and they all certainly talk and act like it's war, but until yesterday, i hadn't heard a local official call this situation war. Yesterday on a CNN show that must've been on around 4pm, they had sheriff joe on talking about his immigration crack-down. I distinctly heard him say, "This is war". I spent the last 10 minutes trying to find which show it was and if there was a transcript, but i don't have a lot of time right now. I don't think it's all that surprising anyway.

Here are some things going on lately (mainstream news stories on sheriff joe at the end):

Arizona Legislation Prohibits Renting To Illegal Immigrants

A new house bill targets where illegal immigrants can live.

The Appropriations Committee voted to make it illegal for landlords to rent to those who cannot prove their legal status.

Landlords who knowingly or recklessly rent to illegal immigrants in Arizona will be subjected to a penalty of up to $250 for each day of the violation.

Just two years after Escondido, CA gained media attention, when it passed a controversial law that punish landlords for renting to illegal immigrants, Arizona takes on the same route.

In Yuma, many property management companies are already taking their own measures.

Instead of having to figure out and verify who is legal, the legislation says they must ask prospective renters for one of 12 documents.

Governor OKs bill keeping illegal immigrants for having guns

Gov. Janet Napolitano signed legislation Friday designed to restore a state law keeping illegal immigrants from having firearms. The measure revamps a 4-year-old state law that was designed to mirror federal statutes that regulate who can and cannot possess a weapon.

But the state Court of Appeals ruled last year that federal statute - the one referred to in state law - specifically refers to weapons involved in interstate commerce.

The judges said that means people could be convicted of violating the state gun law only if prosecutors could prove the weapon in question was "shipped or transported in interstate commerce."

The new version fixes that by saying all foreigners in this state are forbidden from having guns.

House Supports Requiring Cops to Confront Immigration

The Arizona House gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a proposed requirement that city and county police agencies carry out programs for their officers to confront federal immigration violations.

Local agencies could meet the requirement by getting training for their police and jail officers, putting federal immigration agents in units within their departments or cultivating relationships with federal authorities to confront the problem.

"It's one way of dealing the immigration problem that lets the cities use the most efficient way that they have to do that," said Republican Rep. John Nelson of Litchfield Park, author of the proposal.

A small number of local police agencies in Arizona have already sought special training to enforcement federal immigration law.

Report: Hate Groups Growing in Arizona

Hate groups are increasing in America and no where faster than right here in Arizona, according to the "Year in Hate" report from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The number of hate groups operating in America swelled by 48 percent between 2000 and 2007 according to the report.

In Arizona, we saw a 70 percent jump last year compared with 2006, says Matt Potock with the Southern Poverty Law Center. "I the case of Arizona, by our account the state went from 10 groups in 2006 to 17 in 2007 the following year. That really is a remarkable growth."

It's the biggest increase of any state.

"These include several different kinds of hate groups - Klan groups, neo-Nazi groups, in some case black supremacist groups as well as white supremacist groups," says Potock.

"Virtually all of these groups or the vast majority of them have turned almost 100 percent of their attention to immigration, specifically illegal immigration."

Combine that with the latest FBI statistics showing a big rise in hate crimes against Latinos, and Potok says it appears the hate propaganda is making its way into the mainstream.

Potock says there's been an 48 percent increase in the number of hate groups nationwide.

Last night the sheriff's patrols were shorter than the night before.
Because i wrote my last post quickly, i wanted to add a couple things. One was that there were a few dozen people at the sheriff's department's staging area in a sort of protest. The primary objective was to let the people who were being brought in know that they have a right to a lawyer and they shouldn't say anything. There were people shouting these things by bullhorn. The people who were arrested were being taken to this area, and therefore could possibly see the signs or hear the shouts.
People were also shouting shame to the police officers for being part of this blatant racial profiling.

For the second evening in a row, the sheriff's office is saturating an area of phoenix in order to pull over and arrest as many undocumented immigrants as they can. Last night and tonight, the sheriff's set up a large area in the parking lot of big lots on thomas with a command unit, stadium lights, and other large vehicles. Although they will say that they are only pulling over people committing crimes such as traffic violations, it can't be more blatant that they are going after specific people. For one, just read the press release the sheriff's office put out the other day, below.

Last night, one car that was stopped was pulled over for not having adequate lighting on their license plate. The driver was arrested and taken away.

I also heard that rusty childress was deputized as a posse member by sheriff joe. This is not the first anti-immigrant organizer to be part of his posse. Please see the article, MCSO Posse Member 's Hate Speech Against Immigrants. The sheriff allegedly spoke at one of the united for sovereign americans meeting the other day. It is rumored also that rusty childress was also caught prank calling a supporter of the local day laborers.

The press release below mentions written requests for police presence, which i heard that buffalo rick (the one who peed in public and got caught) was behind gathering support for this campaign. The mayor has said that the area the sheriff's office is targetting is not higher in crime than other areas of phoenix. There has also been another published study that shows undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than citizens.

Written requests for additional police presence and protection were sent to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio this week from business owners in two separate areas of Phoenix. Owners are complaining of increases in crime and other problems largely related to illegal immigrants and day laborers there.
As a result, Sheriff Arpaio is sending hundreds of volunteer armed posse men and women along with several ICE trained deputies to saturate the two areas beginning Friday, March 21, 2008.

“Businesses owners is these two parts of Phoenix have indicated to me that they are extremely frustrated with the growing problems associated with illegal immigration,” Arpaio says. “They say they feel that only this Sheriff’s Office will provide the kind of law enforcement help they want and need to reduce the problems.”

Arpaio says nearly 200 Sheriff’s posse men and deputies will patrol the areas looking for any and all criminal activity there. It is a repeat of the Thomas Road operations that occurred late last year when owners of the Pruitt’s Furniture Store appealed to the Sheriff for help with their day laborer related problems. Over the duration of that operation, Arpaio says, over 134 of people were arrested and booked into jail, 94 of whom were determined to be illegal aliens.

“Any illegal immigrant whom we come across in the course of our crime suppression program in these two valley areas will be arrested and taken directly to jail,” Arpaio says. (Source).

Some coverage of the protest against the protesters who have been harassing day laborers and others for several weeks outside a day labor center:

Arizona Indymedia: Alienating the Minutemen

Feathered Bastard of New Times: Arty "aliens" lampoon nativists at Macehualli Work Center, ridicule Rick Galeener's alleged public pee fest.

Last week's news included, Immigration enforcement captures hundreds in state and .