The Politics of Humanity: Deporting Victims of Abuse

The Politics of Humanity: Deporting Victims of Abuse
By XicanoPwr On January 30, 2008
¡Para Justicia y Libertad! - http://xicanopwr.com

America’s sudden interest in the Black and Brown tension that has recently dominated the airwaves has only provided a perfect cover for the anti-immigration forces. Last year, I wrote a post about Emelina Ramirez Bojorquez, the Georgia immigrant who was thrown into detention as an “illegal alien” after a domestic disturbance. This time, Ana Bertha Arellano, who lives in Sacramento, is not only a victim of domestic abuse, but also a victim of an overzealous government agency that feels they are above the law.

Arellano, who was snuck into the United States by her husband, a permanent resident, was beaten and humiliated for more than nine years. Like Emelina Ramirez, Arellano never had her immigration status adjusted for permanent residency. In the beginning of her marriage, her husband would tell her he was going to get the process going so she could attain legal residence. However, this turned out to be a lie because he used her undocumented status to prevent her from complaining about his subsequent beatings and verbal taunts.

After years of being beaten and humiliated, she muster up enough courage to leave her abusive husband and sought help from the Mexican Consulate. There, officials recommended she apply for a temporary visa under Violence Against Women Act, the law that protects undocumented immigrants from abusive spouses who use their position as citizens to intimidate their spouses who did not have legal immigrant status in the United States. The law allows the abused spouse to file a self-petition for legal residency based on marriage to an abusive citizen or LPR, who will not file a petition for them.

Arellano hired a lawyer and petitioned for legal residency under that program. She was granted a visa under VAWA and a work permit so she could support herself and her children by working legally. To support herself and her children, she has opened her own restaurant in Sacramento and is receiving health insurance by working as a janitor, which she cleans offices all night. However, this might come to a crashing halt. Once again, the Department of Homeland Security has decided to abuse their prosecutorial discretion. Homeland Security has now set its sight on victims of domestic abuse as they are now considering eliminating the domestic violence program that was meant to protect people like Emelina Ramirez Bojorquez and Ana Bertha Arellano.


“I have my own health insurance. I don’t take any aid for anything. I don’t want anything else but a chance to have some stability for my family,” said Arellano, 37, one of the thousands of immigrants, many mothers of U.S.-born children, who could be affected if the policy shifts.


After applying for her green card six months ago, she is now being told by the Sacramento office of Citizenship and Immigration Services that her application for a green card has been put on hold. According to the Sacramento Bee, Homeland Security is considering whether to reject green-card petitions for immigrant abuse survivors if they entered the United States in the past illegally. The Bee also reported that more than 30,670 immigrants married to US spouses have been granted Violence Against Women Act visas, however, now they will soon be in limbo. Arellano fears that her green-card application will soon be rejected and being deported is the ultimate punishment for her.

Spousal abuse has long been one of the most critical and widespread problems endured by women who do not have legal residency in the United States but are married to someone who does. The argument anti-immigrant nativist use to justify Arellano’s deportation and people like her is simple, battered undocumented women should not be treated any differently as any other undocumented immigrant, therefore, they should be sent back to their homelands. Another argument that is often made is that the fact that they have suffered abuse is a tragedy, but by allowing battered spouses to stay in this country; other immigrant groups will also try to use the same excuse. It is interesting how simplistic they make their arguments and sadly, it unfairly blames the victim and not the truly guilty party, the perpetrator of the violence.

While it is true that there are millions of reported/unreported incidents of domestic violence occurring across the country, the fact is domestic abuse remains to be a social crisis people rather not talk about. Immigrant women, like other abused women, may depend on their abusers for financial support, and breaking free of dependency is never easy. If they do escape, many of them face barriers, which often include language difficulties and cultural communities that discourage victims from talking about the abuse.

By eliminating the Violence Against Women Act’s domestic violence program, Homeland Security will only force more battered immigrants into the shadows and some into an early grave at the hands of their abuser. Domestic violence is a social problem of epidemic proportions that must be eradicated. By not responding to Arellano’s plight now, we send out the message that there really is no justice for immigrants who are victims of domestic violence.

Avanza marcha campesina “Del Chamizal al Zócalo”

Avanza marcha campesina “Del Chamizal al Zócalo”
Monday, 21 January 2008
http://www.greenpeace.org/mexico/news/arranca-marcha-campesina-del

http://www.larazaunida.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=637&Itemid=44


df, México — Organizaciones campesinas de Chihuahua, integrantes del Movimiento de Resistencia Campesina “Francisco Villa”, siguen adelante con una marcha integrada por tractores que arrancó en El Chamizal, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, el día 18 de enero, y que concluirá en el Zócalo de la Ciudad de México el día 31 del mismo mes.

A esta marcha, que da continuidad a la campaña “Sin maíz no hay país y sin frijol tampoco”, se sumarán contingentes campesinos de las distintas entidades por donde pase la manifestación para, prácticamente, tomar la Ciudad de México el próximo día 31. El objetivo de todas estas movilizaciones es lograr la renegociación del Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte (TLCAN) en lo relacionado al campo.

La marcha, que recorrerá cerca de 2 mil kilómetros de largo, será una denuncia de las mentiras que el gobierno Federal difunde desde que estallaron las protestas campesinas este primero de enero. A diferencia de lo que señalan las secretarías de Agricultura y Economía y el mismo Felipe Calderón, las importaciones de alimentos han superado a las exportaciones en un 17 por ciento y se ha disminuido la producción de alimentos per cápita en nuestro país.

Todo lo anterior hace necesario que de inmediato se renegocie el TLCAN en materia agropecuaria, y que se ponga en marcha un programa sujeto a evaluación de reactivación del campo mexicano y construcción de la soberanía alimentaria con base en la producción de campesinos e indígenas.

El siguiente es el pronunciamiento que han emitido las organizaciones participantes en la marcha:

Marcha campesina “Del Chamizal al Zócalo”
Pronunciamiento de la nación

Porque el TLCAN y todo el conjunto de políticas agropecuarias y comerciales puestas en marcha desde 1982 han constituido una verdadera guerra contra las agriculturas campesina e indígena.

Porque luego de 14 años, el TLCAN, si bien ha favorecido las exportaciones agroalimentarias, ha disparado también las importaciones al punto que tenemos un déficit anual promedio del dos mil millones de dólares.

Porque quienes se benefician de las exportaciones son sólo el 2 por ciento de las unidades de producción y el 80 por ciento de las exportaciones está en manos de empresas extranjeras.

Porque con el TLCAN y estas políticas, ha descendido la producción de alimentos per cápita en nuestro país y se ha disparado de un 10 a un 40 por ciento nuestra dependencia de los alimentos del extranjero.

Porque durante 25 años se derrumbaron la inversión pública y el crédito al campo, y se desmantelaron las instituciones, organismos, presupuestos y programas que constituían la red de protección del campo mexicano.

Porque el TLCAN y estas políticas han causado la expulsión de cinco millones de personas del campo mexicano y el 70 por ciento de la población que resta en él vive en la pobreza.

Porque en todos estos años para poder competir con los Estados Unidos se han devastado los bosques, los suelos y se han sobreexplotado nuestros mantos acuíferos.

Porque Estados Unidos no ha cumplido con el TLCAN al aumentar sus subsidios agrícolas de cinco mil a treinta mil millones de dólares y al aplicar barreras no arancelarias a nuestra producción agrícola.

Porque los consumidores mexicanos no han sido beneficiados con menores precios: en 1994 se podían comprar 20 kilos de tortilla u 8 kilos de frijol con un salario mínimo, y ahora, sólo es posible comprar 6 kilos de tortilla y 3 de frijol.

Porque las importaciones de maíz entrañan el riesgo de introducir transgénicos al país y destruir nuestras semillas nativas, además de desmantelar la producción local causando la quiebra y la migración de millones de productores campesinos e indígenas.

Porque definitivamente no estamos en condiciones de competir con la agricultura más tecnificada y más subsidiada del planeta.

Porque es un deber ético y patriótico defender nuestra agricultura como una realidad no sólo productiva, sino también social, comunitaria y cultural.

Porque es un deber ético y patriótico defender y construir nuestra soberanía alimentaria basada en las agriculturas campesinas e indígenas.

Porque hay bases jurídicas para controlar las importaciones y exportaciones de máiz y frijol, y aun para renegociar el TLCAN en materia agropecuaria.

Porque queremos un campo justo, próspero y sustentable donde vivan dignamente pequeños, medianos y grandes productores.

Porque queremos un México fuerte, cimentado en la producción de sus propios alimentos.

Por todo esto:

Nos sumamos a la campaña nacional en Defensa de la Soberanía Alimentaria y la Reactivación del Campo Mexicano Sin maíz no hay país, sin frijol tampoco, ¡Pon a México en tu boca!

Apoyamos la marcha del Movimiento de Resistencia Campesina “Francisco Villa”.

Exigimos la renegociación del TLCAN en materia agropecuaria y el rescate del campo mexicano.


Actuar

Hay varias formas en que puedes participar con Greenpeace, colabora con nosotros.
Donar

Nuestras campañas existen gracias a personas como tú, que nos apoyan con un pequeño donativo mensual. Únete, hazte Socio Greenpeace.

LA NUMERALIA DEL MAÍZ Y EL FRIJOL

La Numeralia Del Maiz Y El Frijol
Monday, 21 January 2008


http://www.greenpeace.org/mexico/news/la-numeralia-del-ma-z-y-el-fri
http://www.larazaunida.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=636&Itemid=44

DF, México — Con la apertura vía TLCAN a la libre importación de estos dos granos, nos dimos a la tarea de presentarte las cifras que rodean al maíz y al frijol mexicanos. Se trata de una aproximación en números a dos alimentos básicos cuya producción en estas tierras se encuentra rodeada de problemas tan difíciles como añejos. Con estos datos, no quedan ganas ni de decir “provecho”.

PARA ABRIR BOCA:
179 millones de hectáreas arables son las que poseen los Estados Unidos*, contra las 27.3 millones que se encuentran en México.

1484 son los tractores que existen allá por cada mil campesinos*.
En México, por cada mil campesinos... hay 20 tractores.

EL MAÍZ
23.3 millones de toneladas de maíz de distintos tipos produce México.

52% es el total de la superficie agrícola mexicana destinada a cultivar este grano.

2 millones es el número de los productores mexicanos de maíz que poseen menos de cinco hectáreas de tierra.

2.8 toneladas de maíz por hectárea es lo que producen estos agricultores.

9 a 14 toneladas por hectárea es el rendimiento de maíz en el norte de México, es decir, más de cuatro veces el promedio nacional.

Del total de la producción mexicana de maíz:

57% es para consumo humano.

29% es para consumo animal.

20% se destina a la industria de alimentos.

67% es el número de productores de maíz que trabajan en superficie de temporal (o sea, la que sólo depende de la lluvia para producir), que no cuentan con acceso a crédito ni a apoyo gubernamental de ningún tipo, y producen únicamente para autoconsumo.

300 por ciento más caro es cultivar una hectárea de maíz en México que en los Estados Unidos. Mientras en Estados Unidos el costo es de 19.89 dólares, en México la hectárea sale a 79.68 dólares.

8.4 toneladas de maíz por hectárea es lo que producen los campesinos de Estados Unidos (casi el triple que los mexicanos).

28.9 millones de toneladas de maíz son las que México importaba antes de firmar el TLC con Estados Unidos y Canadá.

63.3 millones de toneladas de maíz son las que importa actualmente.

0% Posibilidad de que México pueda incrementar su oferta de maíz.

110 mil millones de dólares es lo que se gastó México en importar alimentos entre 1994 y 2005.

2 millones de agricultores desempleados son los que el campo mexicano ha exportado a los Estados Unidos desde la entrada en vigor del TLCAN.

6 millones. Número de mexicanos que han abandonado el campo desde 1995.

10 millones son las toneladas de maíz amarillo forrajero contaminado con transgénicos que han ingresado recientemente al país.


EL FRIJOL
300 mil son los productores de frijol del país que estarán en desigual competencia por la desgravación total de las importaciones.

1.19 millones de toneladas de frijol produce México al año.

18.9 kilogramos de frijol consumía cada mexicano en 1990.

11.9 kilogramos consumía al cerrar el 2006. México carece de centros de acopio eficientes y de esquemas prácticos para comercializar el frijol que produce.

87% de las siembras de frijol en México son de temporal.

300 mil campesinos producen frijol en México.

48% son pequeños productores, esto es, poseen menos de cinco hectáreas.

51 mil 500 toneladas anuales de frijol se importaban en 1994.

75 mil 63O toneladas se importarán en 2008. Esto representa el 7.6% del consumo total del país.

3 y 4 pesos es el precio del kilo de frijol de importación.

5.50 pesos es el precio del kilo de frijol mexicano.

1.21 millones de toneladas de frijol es la producción promedio de frijol en los EEUU entre 1994 y 2006.

1.19 millones de toneladas produjo México en el mismo lapso... sólo que el rendimiento estadounidense por hectárea es de 1.8 toneladas: tres veces mayor al mexicano.

Para la elaboración de esta numeralia se tomaron como base datos hallados en el estudio “Un México para todos” publicado por la Fundación para la Democracia y Fundación Arturo Rosenblueth en 2005; en el periódico La Jornada (13 de noviembre de 2007); en el material de consulta “El campo en cifras: Los resultados de las políticas neoliberales 1982-2006” de Víctor Suárez, e Iván Polanco; y en el Estudio de la Cámara de Diputados al respecto del campo mexicano publicado en el diario Ovaciones el 31 de diciembre de 2007.
*En números de 2005 y 2003 repectivamente. Información tomada del suplemento “La Jornada del campo”. 18 de diciembre de 2007.

Military Recruitment and the Immigration Debate

From Draft NOtices, October - December 2007
The Dilemma of "Double Deportation"
Military Recruitment and the Immigration Debate

—Jorge Mariscal



http://www.comdsd.org/article_archive/DilemmaDoubleDeprotation10-07.html


In an obscure memoir of the U.S. war in Southeast Asia, an undocumented Mexican who had enlisted in the U.S. Army with the aid of an unscrupulous recruiter, writes: “I realized that for me to live in the United States, the system was asking me to pay a high price. Now I probably would have to give my life. Was it worth it?”

During the Vietnam War period, citizens from foreign countries in the U.S. military were rare and unknown to the public. Today, although they make up only a small percentage of the overall force, they appear regularly in media stories, Pentagon publicity, and nativist rants about a Mexican invasion.

Non-citizens make up 3-5% of total military personnel. To date, they have received more than 200 medals and awards in the combat zone. More than 100 of them have received posthumous citizenship after making the ultimate sacrifice. The majority of them have roots in Mexico and Latin America.

Is the U.S. military becoming a foreign legion? Not yet, but the strain on active duty, Reserve, and National Guard personnel is becoming unbearable. General David Petraeus’s report to Congress last month — and even recent statements made by Democratic Party presidential candidates — make clear that the occupation of Iraq will last many more years. Fresh bodies will be hard to find, so there is renewed interest in a piece of legislation that could produce a bumper crop of eligible non-citizens for recruiters.

The Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act has been floating around the halls of Congress for more than six years, and Draft NOtices was one of the first publications to warn about its military component. If passed, the legislation would provide a pathway to permanent residency for undocumented young people who were raised and completed high school in the United States. Those who qualify would have to complete two years of college or enlist in the military in order to earn a permanent green card.

The Latino community was quick to support the legislation because of its educational component, but for the first five years there was a deafening silence in Latino circles about the military option. This changed only recently when the Pentagon and elected officials began to openly discuss the DREAM Act as a possible fix for the military’s manpower needs.

In 2006, Bill Carr, Acting Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy, told reporters that the DREAM legislation would help boost military recruiting. Last July, Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) said, "The DREAM Act would address a very serious recruitment crisis that faces our military. Under the DREAM Act, tens of thousands of well-qualified potential recruits would become eligible for military service for the first time."

Lt. Col. Margaret Stock of the U.S. Army Reserve and a faculty member at West Point who helped draft the legislation confirmed that the DREAM Act could help recruiters meet their goals by providing a "highly qualified cohort of young people." She added, “Passage of the bill could well solve the Armed Forces’ enlisted recruiting woes.”

Drawing on cultural stereotypes about “Hispanic culture,” she told the Orange County Register that “Hispanic immigrants who would be affected by this bill would be even more likely to join the military because it is considered the honorable thing to do in the Hispanic culture.” One wonders if Lt. Col. Stock is teaching her cadets such banal and reductive clichés about diverse Latino traditions.

The irony, of course, is that while the Pentagon chases young non-citizens to fill the ranks of the U.S. occupation forces, other non-citizen workers whose economic contributions to the nation are undeniable are being pursued and harassed by other agencies of the U.S. government.

As one worker told me, Latino communities are experiencing a “double deportation.” On the one hand, military recruiters are flooding high schools with Latino majorities and the Pentagon is pushing hard for passage of the DREAM Act. Many of those young people who are successfully recruited will end up in Iraq and Afghanistan. A metaphorical deportation, of course, but from the family’s point of view a painful removal of a loved one nonetheless.

At the same time, the undocumented parents and siblings of those soldiers, sailors, aviators, and Marines watch as armored vehicles carrying teams of armed officers invade their neighborhoods to conduct Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Just this month, for example, in the working-class neighborhood of Barrio Logan in San Diego, local police surrounded a ten-block area while helicopters circled overhead and ICE agents swept through in full combat regalia. Similar actions are taking place across the country.

Some of these parents have been arrested and scheduled for deportation hearings. Remember that these are parents whose sons and daughters are fighting “for democracy” in Iraq. One such case is that of U.S. Army Private Armando Soriano, 20, who died in Iraq in 2004. This summer ICE raids swept through Houston. Armando’s father was detained and is currently threatened with deportation.

In late September, Senator Durbin agreed to drop the in-state tuition rate clause of the DREAM Act in response to pressure from restrictionist groups and to garner more Republican votes. This change would have blocked many undocumented students from taking the college option and, inadvertently or not, would have placed them on the military pathway to legalization. Despite Durbin’s concessions, the DREAM amendment was not attached to this year’s defense appropriations bill and so disappeared once again into the congressional ether for at least several more months, if not forever.

If the DREAM Act ever does resurface and is eventually approved, thousands of Latino youth who are unable to take the college option will be tempted to enlist to attain legal status. With no end in sight to the occupation of Iraq and with other wars looming in the future, they, like the undocumented Mexican soldier in Vietnam, will have to ask themselves whether or not the price is simply too high.

Information sources: Congressional Record--Senate (July 13, 2007); Ernesto Portillo, Jr., “DREAM Act better than nothing, but flawed,” Arizona Star (September 26, 2007); Vanja Petrovic, “DREAM Act blocked from defense bill,” Orange County Register (September 27, 2007).

This article is from Draft NOtices, the newsletter of the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (http://www.comdsd.org)

ICE arrests MEChA president and her family

ICE arrests MEChA president and her family
LA VOZ DE AZTLAN
Los Angeles, Alta California
January 17, 2008

http://www.aztlan.net/mecha_president_arrested.htm


U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested the President of MEChA at Palomar College in San Marcos, California. The 22 year old student, Paola Oropeza, was accused of being in the USA illegally. Also arrested was her father Guillermo Oropeza, her mother María de Jesus Oropeza, and her older sister Claudia Oropeza.

MEChA or Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan is a student group with chapters in many high schools, colleges and universities that promotes Mexican culture and history. MEChA also promotes higher education among Chicano youths. The organization has been under constant attack by USA xenophobes, racists and bigots because the student organization also promotes ethnic pride.

Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for ICE in San Diego said that Paola, Guillermo and María de Jesus have been deported to Mexico but that Claudia is presently incarcerated at a federal facility.

The arrest of Paola Oropeza, an exemplary college student and pro-immigrant activist, signals that ICE may now be targeting MEChA and its leadership. This is a warning sign to other MEChA Chapters throughout Aztlan.

The San Diego area has seen a series of escalating and hostile actions by ICE and the US Border Patrol. Yesterday, the three major Mexican political parties strongly condemned the launching into Mexican territory of noxious chemical gas canisters by the US Border Patrol. The gas canisters have been launched across the border into Tijuana neighborhoods on several occasions and have injured Mexican civilians including school children.

Apache Defense of Homeland from Homeland Security, A CALL OUT to all Indigneous Peoples!!!!

Southern Indigenous Peoples continuously face abuse of authority and violation of human and civil rights by current and proposed U.S. Anti-immigrant legislation and border enforcement policies and practice.

"The way and the only way, to stop the evil is for all Red People to unite in claiming a common and equal right in the land, as it was at first, and should be yet; for it was never divided, but belongs to all for the use of each." Tecumsch ( Shawnee Chief, 1768)

The Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras in solidarity with other human rights, immigrant rights and community organizations of the southwest region strongly oppose the U.S. Department of Homeland Security the seizure of Lipan Apache peoples land along the U.S. - Mexico Border.

Since 1990, Indigenous peoples on both sides of the U.S. Mexico Border have been profoundly affected by the U.S. on-going domestic "wars:" The War on the Poor, The War on undocumented immigration, The War on Drugs and now the Terrorism. For the past 17 years, nationalism, xenophobia, and anti-immigrant hysteria have been on the rise. These attitudes promote and support built-in institutional racism, abuse of authority, and violation of rights. This militarization border zone, with its institutional racism and deep disrespect for Indigenous human and civil rights, has been imposed on the Southern Indigenous peoples and communities. Our Indigenous ways, quality of life, culture, sacred cultural lands and borderlands have been disrupted.

Liberman seeks more information on the border fence environmental waiver: In a letter to Secretary Michael Chertoff, the Senator asked for details on why DHS wants to waive 19 federal statues to build the fence through two miles of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservatory Area ( SPRNCA) along the Arizona-Mexico border. He also asked for information on all actions being developed to monitor and lessen the environment impact of building the fence, the letter concluded by asking DHS for copies of any Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements
before the waiver decision. DHS did respond positively to this request!!

These threats are assaults on our Indigenous our limited sovereignty, self-determination, borderlands and cultural sites.

We call upon all Indigenous people to unite and join the Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras in supporting our Lipan Apache relatives in ther struggle to protect their land and promote respect for Indigenous border justice!!

The Aalianza Indigens Sin FRonteras in partnership with O'Odham Against the Wall will be coordinating an Indigenous peoples conference call Tuesday or Wednesday of next week! We will keep you posted.
Join Us!

Jose R. Matus
Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras
P.O.Box 826
Tucson, Arizona 85701
520-979-2125
www.indigenasinfronteras.org

"Civilazation" has been thrust upon me since the days of the reservations, and it has not added one whit to my sense of justice, to my reverence for the rights of life, to my love for truth, honesty, and generosity." Luther Standing Bear

Let’s Learn Nahuatl Worksheet!

Let’s Learn Nahuatl Worksheet!

Plural Nouns:
Nouns ending in –tl that refer to people change the singular suffix to –h when plural. Those that refer to animals change it to –meh.

Examples:

Singular
Tlacatl (person)
Cihuatl (woman)
Ichcatl (lamb)
Pitzotl (pig)

Plural
Tlacah (persons)
Cihuah (women)
Ichcameh (lambs)
Pitzomeh (pigs)

Nouns ending in –tl and –li change these to –tin when plural.

Examples:


Singular
Nantli (mother)
Tahtli (father)

Plural
Nantin (mothers)
Tahtin (fathers)


Nouns ending in –in usually change to –meh when plural.

Examples:

Singular
Pipiolin (bee)
Ocuilin (worm)

Plural
Pipiolmeh (bees)
Ocuilmeh (worms)

The following nouns have a special plural form. They take the above plural suffixes and reduplication of the first syllable.


Singular
Conetl (child)
Pilli (small)
Teotl (god)
Ticitl (physician)
Teuctli/tecuhtli (lord)

Plural
Coconeh (children)
Pipiltin (small children)
Tetoh (gods)
Titicih (physicians)
Teteuctin/Tetecuhtin (lords)