As for the boycott and march in Denver, I am rather disappointed in the organizers (at the time of this posting, CFIR's website still does not contain details of this weekend's events). While I think their intentions are great, I feel they dropped the ball in communicating the event to the community (a few weeks ago there had been reports of this group producing and distributing massive amounts of flyers). I am finding that very few people have heard of the boycott and was unable to learn any details about the march until today.
The economic boycott starts on Sunday and goes until April 1st. We are encouraged to buy nothing more than the absolute essentials during those dates. I recommend purchasing a gift card to grocery stores and other businesses you will need to make purchases from during the boycott. That way your purchase will show on their reports this week and not next.
The Denver march will be held in conjunction with the César Chávez annual memorial march tomorrow -- Saturday March 23rd. The march will begin at Auraria campus at 1:15 and end at West High School. Organizers are hoping to have between 1,200 and 5,000 participants.
]]>Here is what he asks us to do:
1. Pray
2. Call our Legislators
Leave messages stating "I support Immigration Reform".
Nancy Pelosi – Tel. 202-225-4965
Mel Martínez – Tel. 202-224-3041
3. Sign the Petition
Download the Christian Immigration Statement and Letter to Congress. Complete with your information and mail to:
Dr. Juan Hernández
4750 Bryant Irvin Rd, Ste. 808 - PMB# 312
Fort Worth, TX 76132
These petitions need to be mailed prior to March 29th.
4. Spread the word
Tell your family, friends and community members about these petitions and mail their forms to Dr. Juan Hernández as well.
A few weeks ago, I'd contacted Rights for All People to ask if anything was in the works and she mentioned this boycott (although she didn't have specific dates at that time). In that conversation, she mentioned that the coalition would like to plan a rally or march during this time as well. I assume a rally would take place on one of the boycott weekends, so keep the dates open.
]]>Apparently, Colorado has spent 2 million dollars to "make a statement" against undocumented immigration. While some of our politicians seem okay with it, I think in general, voters would far prefer restoring some of our DMV offices to making a $2,000,000 statement on immigration.
Oh, and to Duke and your commenter mariachi mama, Schultheis is also the one who proposed removing the Spanish language from all of Colorado's signs. Ironicly, this would have required the state itself to change its name. Brilliant, huh?
]]>Here is the story as told in the Houston Chronicle:
TAYLOR — Painted sunflowers bloomed on the cinderblock. Teddy bears smiled from metal bunk beds in the cells. Slides and swings adorned a small playground rimmed in razor wire.]]>At the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, shown to the media Friday for the first time since it opened nine months ago, images of childhood were juxtaposed against the cavern-cold feel of a former prison. It's a place where standard-issue navy detention uniforms come in infant onesies.
The Hutto Center, built as a correctional center for adults, is now one of only two facilities in the country at which immigrant parents and children seeking asylum or facing deportation are detained, at a cost of $2.8 million a month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials who led the tour said.
"We've been historically criticized for breaking families apart," said Gary Mead, ICE assistant director for detention and removal operations in Washington, D.C. "We feel this is a humane approach for keeping families together."
After the Sept. 11 attacks, the immigration department abandoned its "catch and release" method of handling immigrant families from countries other than Mexico, largely because most immigrants failed to report to their court hearings.
Human rights groups say that Hutto, operated by the for-profit Corrections Corporation of America, is no place for children. Detainees have complained of poor food, lagging medical attention, substandard education and a sharply structured penal-like environment that Congress has specifically advised against where children are concerned.
"This is too high of a price for children to pay," said Vanita Gupta, with the American Civil Rights League's national legal office in New York. "You can change a lot of things at the outer edges but you can't make it humane."
ICE officials cited several improvements made to the facility, such as removing much of the razor wire, increasing school instruction from one hour to four, tweaking the menu and allowing more recreational time.
Attorney Barbara Hines, who oversees the immigration law clinic at the University of Texas, said the changes were forced. She stood outside the facility Friday, holding up crayon drawings she said were colored by detained children.
One screamed "HELP!! I hate this place" in red letters and the other depicted a girl outside a prison-like building with the word feo, "ugly" in Spanish.
"None of the changes that they're making are voluntary," Hines said. "They're making these in response to a public outcry of people who say that it is wrong to imprison children."
Pizza treat
ICE officials dismissed allegations of poor conditions, showing reporters a colorful classroom where children crowded around a bright-eyed teacher. In a school-like cafeteria, families enjoyed pizza, which ICE officials acknowledged was a rare treat that just happened to coincide with the media tour.
Medical care is readily available and prompt, with 90 percent of detainees seen on the same day they request attention, said Thomas Hochberg with the U.S. Public Health Service.The facility's doctor, Leroy T. Soto, who visits once a week, said the children are well-fed and "gain weight more than lose weight." Hochberg said a rash problem detainees reported is not a "particular" concern at the facility.
Sunlight streamed through narrow slits of window in stark cells, furnished with metal beds, a commode, urinal and, in some cases, makeshift bedding on the concrete floor. Cell doors are always unlocked, but if detainees open their doors at night, a laser beam senses it and alerts guards.
A high school-sized gym features basketball hoops, and Hutto officials said it offered daily recreation, including basketball tournaments and yoga.
In a computer lab, detainee children faced blank screens and appeared confused as an instructor coached "put your cursor aqui."
Mead, who also visited Hutto for the first time this week, led a group of reporters through a hurried trip of half the facility as he fielded their questions. Detained parents and children, dressed in uniform green and blue sweat suits and scrubs, gawked at the media circus while offering no words and rare smiles.
Reporters were prohibited from talking with detainees. A Chronicle request to interview several detainees was not accommodated Friday and is pending before San Antonio regional ICE director Marc Moore.
Two Hutto center guards, who spoke with the Chronicle on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs, agreed with some of the detainees' allegations, such as lax medical care, but said other claims, such as detainees being placed in restraints, were exaggerated.
"It's a jail," said one guard who has worked at the center for several months. "When you get told what time you can eat, what time you can take your shower, what time you can go to bed and lie down, I mean it's not a residential center, it's no family-like place. You can pretty it up all you want but it's a jail."
'People skills'
Both guards told the Chronicle in separate interviews this week that the Hutto center was being sanitized, or "prettied up," for the media tour, with furniture, artificial trees and other amenities appearing in the facility immediately prior to the tour. ICE officials said any changes were regular maintenance.
The guards said detainee parents and children sometimes wait up to two days to see a nurse and that food is bland and poorly prepared, but they said most of the problems at Hutto are caused by a small minority of guards, holdovers from Hutto's former days, who think they're still running a prison."I think everything would get fixed if the captains would get some people skills," a female guard said. "And that's what it comes down to, them being a little more humane to their residents. It doesn't take much."
No 'free ticket'
Education at Hutto is as good as the teachers, the guards said, explaining that quality varies widely with the teachers' motivation and language skills but that the curriculum does seem limited to English language instruction and drawing.
"The basics, arithmetic, reading, I didn't see that," the guard said. "These residents are here, they're trying to make a better life for themselves. When they leave this place, if they are allowed to stay here, if their kids go into a regular school system, they're going to be way behind. Besides teaching them the language, I think they also need to know 'what's two plus two.' "ICE officials said teachers follow Texas Education Agency guidelines for curriculum and all are certified or working toward certification; three or four of the nine teachers are bilingual, while all teacher's aides speak Spanish, officials said.
While the capacity of Hutto is 512, Mead said the population hasn't exceeded 420, a fact he thinks is telling of the success of ICE's family detention efforts.
"That's a sign to us that people have gotten the message that coming as a family is not going to be a free ticket into the country," Mead said.
A federal judge put U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on notice today that he is monitoring their handling of the detention of more than 260 immigrant workers arrested a month ago during a raid at the Swift & Company meatpacking plant in Greeley. U.S. District Judge John L. Kane denied a motion by government lawyers to dismiss a lawsuit filed by United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 7 that contends ICE abused its powers during the Dec. 12 raid at the Greeley facility.]]>During a hearing this morning in Denver, Kane ordered ICE to arrange bond hearings within 48 hours for any detained Swift workers who had not yet had such a hearing. It is unclear how many workers would be affected by that order.
The judge also ordered lawyers on both sides to meet immediately after the hearing and set up a system by which they could identify and account for all of the workers arrested at the plant.
ICE agents arrested almost 1,300 Swift workers across the country during a coordinated sweep that was publicized as a crackdown on widespread identity theft by the workers to get hired at Swift. Since the raids, federal authorities have charged a small fraction of the workers with such crimes.
Another hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Jan. 22.
It is one thing to be without proper documents. It is quite another all together to be without compassion.
What follows are summaries of the affidavits filed in Weld County as originally published in the Greeley Tribune. These were originally published as a series of five articles, with 5 summaries per article. I have condensed them into one post. All original articles and many others related to the story can be found at www.greeleytrib.com
The Greeley Tribune is reviewing the affidavits of 25 arrest warrants filed Monday afternoon at Weld District Court in connection with an United States Immigration Customs Enforcement raid on Swift & Co. plants in Greeley and other locations. We will post updates of the affidavits in groups of five at a time. These posts will contain excerpts and summaries of some of the affidavits. (snip)]]>• On July 6, 2006, a woman claiming to be Edna Flores completed a portion of her Form I-9 that identified her as a U.S. citizen with a Colorado I.D. card. Federal Trade Commission records show Edna Flores is actually a resident of Texas and filed a complaint after she got a notice from the IRS saying she owed back taxes. ICE agents compared a photo of Edna Flores with the Swift employee and determined they were different people.
• On Nov. 26, 2002, a man claiming to be Otilio Torres Rivera completed forms that identified her as a citizen with a North Carolina I.D. card. A death certificate shows Rivera died Feb. 2, 2005. His sister filed a complaint after receiving an earning report from the Social Security Administration saying he was employed. His sister also reported Virginia police told her Rivera’s vehicle was in an accident after he had died.
• On Jan. 4, 2002, a man claiming to be Alvino De Leon Correa completed forms that identified him as citizen with a Colorado I.D. card. FTC records show Correa is actually a resident of Texas. He believes his information may have been stolen when he lost his wallet. ICE agents compared a driver’s license photo of Correa with that of the Swift employee and determined they were different people.
• On July 30, 2001, a woman claiming to be Yesenia Lopez filled out forms identifying her as citizen with a Nebraska I.D. card. FTC record show Yesenia Hernandez is a California resident and filed a complaint after she learned someone using her maiden name was employed at “Swift Beef Company.” Ice agents used a copy of her driver’s license to determine she and the Swift employee were different people. When contacted by agents, she said Hernandez said she had never lived in Nebraska or Colorado.
• On Mar. 11, 2003, a woman claiming to be Jennifer Rosas filled out forms identifying her as a citizen with a Colorado I.D. card. FTC records show that Rosas is actually a resident of Texas and filed a complaint after learning someone used her I.D. to get a driver’s license in Arkansas and get a job at “Swift Beef Company.” She reported someone may have stolen her I.D. when they stole her purse. ICE agents compared her driver’s license photo with a photo of the Swift employee and determined they are different people.
(snip)
• On Feb. 9, 2003, Flavio Alvarado-Villagrana filled out forms identifying him as a citizen with Kansas I.D. FTC records show Alvarado-Villagrana is a resident of Colorado and filed a complaint that someone was using his information to for employment purposes. ICE agents compared a photo of Alvarado-Villagrana with that of the Swift employee and determined they are different people. Alvarado-Villagrana told ICE agents he wished to pursue charges.
• On May 15, 2003, a man identifying himself as Aaron Rey Juarez filled out forms identifying him as citizen with a Wyoming I.D. FTC records show Juarez is actually a California resident, and he believes his information may have been stolen when he lost his wallet. ICE agents compared his driver’s license photo with a photo of the Swift employee and determined they are not the same people. Juarez’s wife told agents her husband had never lived in Colorado or Wyoming and someone had used his I.D. to apply for at least seven places, including “Swift Beef Company.”
• On Nov. 21, 2005, a woman claiming to be Maria Benavente filled out forms identifying her as a citizen with a California I.D. FTC records show Benavente is actually a resident of Texas and filed a complaint after she got a letter from the IRS. ICE agents compared photos of Benavente and the Swift employee and determined they are different people. Benavente told agents she has never lived in California, has never been employed and is about 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 220 pounds. The warrant is filed for a woman who is about 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 153 pounds.
• On Aug. 6, 2001, a woman claiming to be Karina Jimenez filled out forms identifying her as a citizen with a Utah I.D. FTC records show Jimenez is actually a California resident and filed a complaint after the IRS contacted her and said someone had used her information for employment purposes in Colorado and Texas. ICE agents compared photos of Jimenez and the Swift employee and determined they were different people. Jimenez told agents she has never lived in Utah and is a U.S. citizen by birth. She said she wished to pursue charges.
• On Apr. 8, 2005, a woman claiming to be Theresa Sanchez filled out forms identifying her as a citizen with a Colorado I.D. FTC records show Sanchez is actually a Texas resident and filed a complaint after she got a statement from the IRS in Jan. 2003, that her tax refund of $5,400 was being held because she had failed to report $120,000 in wages since 1996. ICE agents compared photos of Sanchez and the Swift employee and determined they are different people. Sanchez told an ICE agent she has only lived in Texas and is about 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 130 pounds. The arrest warrant is for a woman who is about 5 feet tall and weighs 120 pounds. According to the FTC the suspect used Sanchez’s name and social security number for jobs, college and to get unemployment benefits. Sanchez provided several addresses for the suspect and thought she might have gotten her information from her ex-husband. She also said she has been denied credit.
(snip)
• On Oct. 30, 2003, a man claiming to be Luis J. Pena filled out forms identifying him as a citizen and a Colorado driver’s license. FTC records list Pena as an Arizona resident and filed a complaint after a credit report indicated he had worked at several companies he’d never heard of. An ICE agent compared photos of Pena and the Swift employee and determined they are different people. Pena told agents he works for the U.S. Border Patrol in Nogales, Ariz. He said he learned in 1998 or 1999 he requested his credit report and learned about the problems.
• On Sept. 3, 2002, a man claiming to be Levy Jacob Medina filled out a form identifying him as a citizen with a Kansas I.D. FTC records show Medina is actually a Texas resident and filed a complaint after the IRS sent him a letter about unclaimed income on his 2004 tax returns. An ICE agent compared photos of Medina with the Swift employee and determined they are different people. Medina’s nephew told an agent his uncle had returned to Mexico.
• On June 11, 2003, a man claiming to be Daniel Aaron Trujillo filled out forms identifying him as citizen with a Kansas I.D. FTC records list him as a Colorado resident and show he filed a complaint after the IRS let him know someone had used his information to get a job at Swift. An ICE agent compared photos of Trujillo and the Swift worker and determined they are not the same person. Trujillo told agents he filed a complaint with the FTC two weeks ago. He said he lost his social security card ad birth certificate in 2003 while he was moving. He said he was born in Colorado and has never lived in Kansas. He also said his is 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 190 pounds. The warrant is for a suspect who is 5 feet tall and weighs 125 pounds.
• On May 16, 2003, a woman claiming to be Maria Padilla filled out forms identifying her as a citizen with a Kansas I.D. FTC records show Padilla is actually a California resident and filed a complaint after she learned someone had used her information to get a job at an unknown company and open an account with Amerencips. An ICE agent compared photos of Padilla and a Swift employee and determined they are different people.
• On Aug. 18, 2003, a man claiming to be Javier Nevarez filled out forms identifying him as a citizen with a Kansas I.D. FTC records show Nevarez is actually a Texas resident and filed a complaint saying someone used his identity to open a credit card account with Citi Bank and an account with Southwestern Bell. He said he’d gotten bills for about $1,000. An agent compared photos of Nevarez and the Swift worker and determined they are different people.
(snip)
• On Dec. 24, 2002, a woman claiming to be Jessica Arlina Borquez filled out forms identifying her as a citizen with a Colorado I.D. FTC records show Borquez is actually an Arizona resident and filed a complaint after the IRS told her she had failed to claim all her earnings. An ICE agent compared photos of Borquez and the Swift worker and determined they are different people.
• On Jan. 14, 2003, a man claiming to be Gustavo Gutierrez filed out forms identifying him as a citizen with a Missouri I.D. FTC records show Gutierrez is actually a California resident. An ICE agent compared photos of Gutierrez and the Swift worker and determined they are different people. Gutierrez told an agent he had lived in Colorado between 1998-2002 but had never lived in Missouri. He said he had committed a crime while in Colorado and served two years in jail. He thinks his information may have been stolen during that time.
• On June 30, 2004, a man claiming to be Andrew Moreno filled out forms identifying him as a citizen with a Kansas I.D. FTC records show Moreno is actually a Texas resident and filed a complaint after the IRS told him he failed to claim all his earning in 2002. FTC records also show someone had used his I.D. to get jobs with Farmland National Beef Packing Company in Liberal, Kan., U-Haul in Phoenix and Excel Corporation in Minneapolis. An ICE agent compared the signature on Moreno’s I.D. card with the signature of the Swift worker and found they didn’t match. Moreno told an agent he has always lived in Texas. He said his birth certificate may have been stolen and he now owes the IRS because of someone else’s earnings.
• On June 4, 2003, a woman claiming to be Maria Soto filled out forms identifying her as a citizen with a Missouri I.D. FTC records show Soto is actually a Texas resident. An ICE agent compared photos of Soto and the Swift worker and determined they are different people. Soto told an agent she had lived her whole life in Texas.
• On Nov. 4, 2003, a man claiming to Jose Hector Miramontes filled out forms identifying him as a citizen with a Kansas I.D. FTC records show Miramontes is actually a Texas resident and filed a complaint after someone used his information to open an account with SBC. An ICE agent compared photos of Miramontes and the Swift worker and determined they are different people. Miramontes told and agent he has only lived in Texas but got a letter from the IRS that said he owed taxes on Colorado earnings. Miramontes thinks someone may have stolen is identity from a wallet he lost.
(snip)
• On May 19, 2004, a man claiming to be Leonard Michael Lopez filled out forms identifying him as a citizen with a Colorado I.D., which actually belonged to Aaron Steiger. FTC records show Lopez’s mother, Colorado resident, filed a complaint after she learned someone had used his social security number and his disability benefits were terminated on Feb. 1, 2003. An ICE agent compared a photo of Lopez from his Arizona driver’s license with a photo of the Swift worker and a photo of Steiger. None of them matched.
• On May 12, 2003, a man claiming to be Javier Frias filled out forms identifying him as a citizen with a Kansas I.D. FTC records show Frias is actual a Texas resident and filed a complaint after learning someone at Swift had been using his social security number. An ICE agent compared photos of Frias and the Swift employee and determined they are different people.
• On July 31, 2002, a woman claiming to be Vanessa Caraveo filled out forms identifying her as a citizen with a Colorado I.D. FTC records show Caraveo is actually a Texas resident and filed a complaint after she learned someone used her information to get loans from the Credit Union of Dodge City. Caraveo thinks her information may have been stolen along with her wallet. An ICE agent compared photos of Caraveo with the Swift worker and determined they are different people. Caraveo told an ICE agent she has never lived in Colorado and is about 5 feet 4 inches, weighing 180 pounds. The warrant sought a female who is about 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 110 pounds.
• On July 28, 2001, a man claiming to be Valentin Rodriguez filled out forms identifying him as a citizen with Kansas I.D. FTC records show Rodriguez is actually a Texas resident and thinks his information may have been stolen when he lost his wallet. An ICE agent compared photos of Rodriguez and the Swift worker and determined they were different people.
• On Oct. 31, 2001, a woman claiming to be Monica Salazar filled out forms identifying her as a citizen with a Colorado I.D. FTC records show Monica Mora is a Missouri resident and filed a complaint after the IRS told her she had failed to claim all her earnings. An ICE agent compared photos of Mora and the Swift worker and determined they are different people. Mora told and ICE agent Salazar is her maiden name and she has never lived in Colorado. She also said a company called about a year ago and asked her to pay for an English language course she’d never bought.
Immigration law is second only in complexity to U.S. tax code. Time to wipe the slate clean and start over.
Swift & Co has participated in the Basic Pilot Program for the last 10 years -- ready for an aha moment? IT IS A WASTE OF MONEY AND COMPLETELY INEFFECTIVE!!!! The Greeley Tribune reports:
Swift’s comprehensive work authorization diligence has included, since 1997, participation in the federal Basic Pilot program — a voluntary, online verification system that allows employers to confirm the eligibility of new hires by checking the personal information they provide against federal databases. Today, Swift remains one of the very few employers to use the system. All company domestic production facilities have agreements in place with the federal government under Basic Pilot — agreements which contain provisions that are supposed to protect employers who properly comply with the Basic Pilot program from government-initiated civil and criminal penalties.]]>Current law limits an employer’s ability to scrutinize the background and identity of new hires, and — as Swift learned first-hand — employers can, in fact, be punished for probing too deeply into applicants’ backgrounds. Specifically, in 2001 the U.S. Department of Justice’s Special Counsel for Unfair Immigration-Related Employment Practices brought a complaint against Swift for an alleged “pattern and practice” of document-based discrimination against job applicants, and sought civil damages of $2.5 million. After two years of cooperation and negotiation, Swift settled the claim, with no admission of guilt, for approximately $200,000.
Swift & Co. fully supports comprehensive immigration reform to address the significant policy tension that exists between the need for employers to accurately determine workers’ eligibility versus the need to address privacy and non-discrimination concerns. The company remains committed to preventing the employment of unauthorized workers in its workforce.
"ICE's action at multiple Swift plants today is a clarion call for the nation to complete its work on comprehensive immigration reform. We need to have laws in place to take us from today's chaos and lawlessness to law and order. That law and order system must include: increased border security, strict enforcement of immigration laws including a sound employer verification system, and a realistic method of dealing with the human and economic reality of millions of undocumented workers in America," said Sen. Ken Salazar. Source]]>
The plaintiffs are five U.S. citizens of Mexican descent and a landlord who suffered damage to his rental properties when ICE agents broke into numerous trailers that were rented by Latinos.
"It's outrageous that this could occur in America today," said Morris Dees, Center founder and chief trial counsel. "These ICE agents swooped into town, armed with everything but search warrants, and started rounding up people -- citizens and non-citizens alike -- merely because they had brown skin. Imagine the fallout if this had happened to white people."
The series of raids across several towns in at least three counties began on September 1 and lasted for several weeks. The raids, involving dozens of ICE agents, were ostensibly intended to locate undocumented immigrants who worked at a poultry plant in Stillmore, a town of about 1,000 people in Emanuel County.
But rather than conduct a raid only at the plant, the agents fanned out across residential areas -- stopping motorists, breaking into people's homes and threatening people with tear gas and guns. Hundreds of people were terrorized. Many actually fled into the woods.
"These kinds of dragnet tactics are completely inconsistent with our constitutional guarantees," said Mary Bauer, director of the Center's Immigrant Justice Project and attorney for the plaintiffs. "Just because you are poor and have brown skin doesn't mean you don't have rights under the law. We want to make sure this doesn't happen again."
Bauer said hundreds of residents were traumatized by the raids. "Many children continue to live in fear that they will be taken away by immigration officials merely because of the color of their skin," she said.
Those children include one of the plaintiffs, Marie Justeen Mancha, a 15-year-old U.S. citizen who lives in Reidsville, in Tattnall County. She was alone in her bedroom getting ready for school when she heard men in another room yelling "Police! Illegals!" Some two dozens agents surrounded her home as she was detained and interrogated by armed agents who never showed a search warrant. Her mother, Maria Christina Martinez, a U.S. citizen born in Florida, is also a plaintiff.
Another plaintiff, Ranulfo Perez, was standing outside of his home in Adrian, in Emmanuel County, when he was suddenly surrounded by approximately 15 men holding guns. One of the men grabbed Perez by the shirt, jammed his gun into his side and threw him against his truck. The agent twisted Perez's arm behind his back and held him that way for 10 minutes while other agents searched his home and property. The agent then suggested Perez and his family should leave the area for two weeks to avoid any more such incidents.
The other plaintiffs are Maria Margarita Morales of Oak Park, in Emanuel County; Gladis Alicia Espitia of Oak Park; and David Robinson of Metter, in Candler County.
The suit was filed in Atlanta in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The suit seeks not only compensatory and punitive damages but a court order enjoining ICE from using similar tactics in the future. The Center is asking the Court to approve the injunctive relief claim as a class action on behalf of all Latinos in the affected area.
]]>The process is 1) set up a user profile 2) identify where you live (so it can generate the races you'll vote in) 3) take a survey on where you stand on the issues and initiatives 4) view an individualized ballot which gives you the percentage of agreement you have with each candidate. You can click on "full profile" below the candidate's party info to see their views side-by-side with yours. In most cases, the candidate includes a few sentences clarifying their viewpoint -- I found this of particular interest. It also helps you make more subjective decisions concerning the candidates (as opposed to the objective statistical percentage generated by the tool itself).
It was so interesting to see in which races I favored the Republican, Democrat, Reform Party, Libertarian and Unaffiliated candidates.
If you're not from Colorado, then too bad for you. Unless you can find the groovy tool somewhere for your state.
]]>Tancredo -- self proclaimed champion against all things illegal -- or at least all brown-skinned "illegal" activity -- is leading the charge to protect Dog the Bounty Hunter.
Yes, you read it right.
Obviously, Tancredo thinks his role in congress is to do everything BUT represent the interests of Colorado (just google Tancredo +Pope, Tancredo +"South Carolina" for examples).
In recent weeks, Tancredo led the charge in petitioning Condoleezza Rice to block the extradition of Dog the Bounty Hunter to Mexico -- where he could face jail time.
Tancredo apparently believes he alone should decide which laws merit being upheld. And, according to Tom, the laws of the sovereign nation of Mexico just don't pass muster.
For your amusement, click here and here for details on the story.
]]>GOP candidate Bob Beauprez' campaign is under FBI investigation for material in a campaign ad that could only have been accessed through a national law enforcement database by an authorized law enforcement officer for non-law enforcement purposes. Rather than supporting the rule of law over the informant, Beauprez has touted him as a courageous whistleblower.
You see, Bob wants it both ways. Here is a quote taken directly from his website -- in regard to "illegal immigration".
In fact, the rule of law--the idea that whether you are rich or poor, powerful or famous--you are subject to respect and abide by the law, just like everyone else (emphasis added). And the rule of law--that contract that we all enter into as citizens--is what distinguishes America from the rest of the world. If we send the message that the rule of law no longer matters in America, we risk losing the very essence of who we are as a nation, what has made us a beacon of hope to those that seek freedom throughout the world. Source: Bob Beauprez' official campaign website
Yet a recent Rocky Mountain News article shows us that Bob doesn't mean really mean everyone must "respect and abide by the law":
Bob Beauprez described the federal law enforcement agent suspected of leaking confidential FBI data to his gubernatorial campaign as a courageous "whistleblower," outraged by his Democratic opponent Bill Ritter's plea-bargains for immigrant offenders as Denver district attorney.At a press conference today, Beauprez said the agent was justified in breaking the law to exposed Ritter's "obscenely lenient" practice of allowing immigrant drug traffickers to plead to felony trespass on farm land, which the congressman claims allowed them to avoid deportation.
"Our source, in my opinion, performed a great act of courage and public service in bringing this story to the public domain," Beauprez said.
The next day Mike Littwin had this absolutely brilliant commentary on the whole ugly scene:
In the shocking news development of the day: Apparently, it's OK with Bob "Black Hat" Beauprez if you break the law.Seriously.
The man who would be your governor - the state's lawman-in-chief - says law-breaking is more than OK with him. It's fine with him. It's dandy with him. In fact, you can be his personal hero if you do it.
Not always, presumably. Not, say, if you're an "alien " - even a whistle-blowing "alien."
From what I was able to learn at Beauprez's please-stop-the-bleeding news conference Friday, to qualify as a heroic law-breaker, you have to be an American citizen and have a "belly-full." You have to be "fed up." It's the Alka-Seltzer defense.
And you have to come to his people with possibly illegally procured information - don't worry, no one at the Beauprez campaign will even ask - but only when the Beauprez campaign is 15 points down in the polls and especially desperate.
Well, Beauprez didn't say anything about being desperate Friday, although he could have.
He also didn't say he hopes Cory Voorhis, the ICE agent reportedly at the center of the investigation, broke the law in Denver, so at least he could plea down to ag trespass.
And he didn't say anything about moral relativism or how many other laws you can break heroically. And whether it's legal now for federal agents to torture you for it.
What he said instead was that it was all Bill Ritter's fault. Yes, Ritter's fault for exposing the fact that the Beauprez campaign may have come upon information illegally. (Follow the logic: Beauprez bashes Ritter for blowing the whistle on someone Beauprez claims heroically blew the whistle.)
It's strange, this sudden tolerance for lawbreaking, because Beauprez's entire campaign has been built around his contention that ex-DA Bill Ritter lives to put criminals back on the street - like someone, say, who illegally hacked into a federal database.
At the news conference, I asked Beauprez if he really thought that the guy was a hero if he broke the law to provide information for a political attack ad.
Q: "Do you still find him a hero whether he broke the law (or not)?"
A: "I think he did the right thing."
Even if the broke the law?
"I think he did the right thing."
Now, I'm not saying anyone broke the law. No one has been charged with anything. But I am saying Bill Owens put the CBI on the case, and the CBI brought in the FBI. And I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere the NSA is listening in.
And I'm saying there are heroes and there are heroes. And this guy got to be Beauprez's hero having a belly-full about a case that's three years old - which is a long time to nurse an upset stomach - and got that belly feeling better only by helping with a last-minute attack ad.
There are those who will accuse me of hypocrisy for hammering Beauprez. It's the press after all that loves to print leaked material and then insist on the right to protect sources.
I would protect a source. And like reporters I know, I might even go to jail to protect a source, although it's not, I admit, my first choice. I prefer accommodations with 24-hour room service.
I had to laugh, though, to hear Beauprez actually comparing himself to Judy Miller, who spent nearly three months in jail. Beauprez, by the way, has never mentioned the possibility of him actually doing any time.
Beauprez did, however, say the source might have to face the music. He also heroically put responsibility for meeting with the source onto his 28-year-old campaign manager, John Marshall, who may not see the humor two to five years from now.
I'm not sure how exactly you get to be heroic for disingenuously attacking plea bargains. Or for charging a 12-year DA with being soft on crime when everyone knows you become a prosecutor to put bad guys away. It's like accusing a firefighter of not wanting to put out fires.
It's a feeble attack, but it's the best Beauprez has. And, at the news conference, he says this controversy is really about revealing Ritter's "dirty little secret."
Here's the real dirty little secret: It's almost impossible for any Republican to be running 15 points behind against a Democrat with no legislative experience, who is himself running an unexciting, take-no-risks campaign that basically comes to this: I'm not Bob Beauprez and he is.
And, in case you had any doubts, here's the latest boffo ad from the Beauprez campaign: Beauprez is wearing, stunningly, a black hat. Wearing the black hat, he is standing on the wrong end of a horse, saying - and, remember, the ad appears just as this scandal has broken - "There's that smell again."
Hold your noses. Because there's something, finally, we can all agree on.
And now you know just what xenophobia smells like.
]]>We recently spent a crisp fall morning at a nearby farm harvesting hundreds of pounds of produce. We were loaded onto hay wagons and towed around the fields in search of potatoes, carrots, beets, onions, etc. From the very start, I was having two separate experiences; two separate dialogues -- happy banter with my children and friends about every topic under the sun; thoughtful sidebars of conversation with my husband regarding the real story that day -- the story of the immigrant and American farming.
At the outset of our adventure, I found myself wandering through the farm's produce stand. There I saw this mother, stocking shelves and attending to visitors, with her tiny infant in tow. I'd been at this farm a few years back -- on an even colder day -- and in the same produce stand another woman was working, a toddler at her side. A shudder went through my spirit to see that these women seem to have no other option than to bring their little ones along as they work in the wind and chill. Posing as though I were delirious with the thrill of a harvest outing, I took pictures of the produce displays and then zoomed in to captured the image of the mother and child to share here.
Meandering toward the hay wagons, we passed an immigrant feeding the animals in the petting zoo while three more waited by the tractors that would pull us through the fields. Once we were loaded onto the wagons, we realized that among our group was a family of Eastern European immigrants. Elderly and middle aged ladies alike in their mismatched print skirts, sweaters, and headscarves. The men's faces rugged and timeworn. All held harvesting tools in gloved hands, it was obvious that they meant business -- they were there to harvest their maximum quota; to put up produce for the winter months. I enjoyed watching the cultural collisions as the farm workers tried to corral this group of very determined harvesters back onto the wagons when it was time to move along... "Amigos, we go now!" Sometimes slowly pulling away in order to gain their cooperation.
My husband wasted no time in befriending the farm workers and learned they had been at the farm for 6 years -- and were seemingly satisfied there -- but they had never been to the mountains, a mere 45 minute drive away. They lamented the fact that my husband had visited well known tourist attractions in their home town in Mexico -- places they had never had the opportunity to visit. Our new-found friends then started tipping us off to which area would have better harvesting -- seemingly to give us an advantage over the more serious harvesters in our group. Not that it was needed -- there was plenty for all.
In the ongoing conversation my husband and I shared, we observed that few people would think of an immigrant when asked what the American Farmer looks like. Images like this are more likely to spring to mind:
But it is an incomplete image at best. American Farming depends upon immigrant labor. Unfortunately, the media, politicians and the farming industry itself minimizes the contribution made by these immigrants. Although I exclusively saw immigrant workers on my two visits to Miller Farms, I was hard pressed to find evidence of immigrant workers on the farm's website. The only images I found were on the educational video where for a few seconds you will see a clip of workers with brown skin spreading seed with narration saying something to the effect of "Sometimes the farm workers help Farmer Joe."
Now, I'm all for Farmer Joe -- especially if he is providing fair wages and housing for his workers -- my point is that immigrants remain in the shadows largely because we keep them there -- for fear that acknowledging their contributions would diminish the American Fantasy.
Unfortunately for our farming industry, by keeping immigrants in the shadows, more than a fantasy is being shattered. From sea to shining sea agricultural profits are being shattered by the current farm worker shortage. Colorado's agricultural industry is set to lose millions this year because of a worker shortage prompted by the (most likely illegal) immigration laws passed in July.
As our harvest excursion drew to an end, the task of hauling our produce to the car loomed before us. Joking, my husband asked a teenage boy along on the outing how much he would charge to haul the bags to our car. He quipped, "$1,000 per bag." We all laughed. The truth is best spoken in jest.
And the truth is that you cannot pay an "American" worker to do these jobs.
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