Ciro: we don't want a wall

Today in coalition with Grassroots Leadership, NO WALL-Big Bend and Southwest Workers’ Union staff met with lead staff of Congressman Ciro Rodriguez to pressure the representative to take a stand and action against the border wall and family detention.

We presented our letter of recommendations and demands, which include, the representative withdrawing his co-sponsorship of the SAVE Act, that expands through legislation family detention centers and supports more border walls. Additionally, we emphasized the need for the representative to create a public written statement denouncing the wall and actively oppose legislation that is faulty and violent to our communities regardless of political pressure.

Upon leaving we stressed to office director, Cesar Blanco, that we would push our campaign forward and will be outside his office next Thursday (July 17th) to hold a press conference and rally to bring more support to these issues.

Read & sign on to our letter, here

- Maria Sofia Corona

Domestic Workers Unite

Domestic Workers Unite
by Lizzy Ratner, The Nation


Georgia Danan was both laughing and crying. It was Friday, June 6, and she was sitting in a Barnard College classroom, telling the tale of how she came to be a 76-year-old Filipina domestic worker fighting to win $22,000 in back wages from a recalcitrant employer. Speaking in hurried, distraught sentences, she unfurled the story of how she immigrated to Los Angeles in 2005, sought a job as a domestic worker through the Mt. Sinai Home Care agency, and then, like so many before her, found herself being both poorly treated--she said she was regularly yelled at and accused of stealing--and cheated out of a minimum wage. For one fifteen-day period, she said, the agency didn't pay her at all.

"I am old. If I get sick, if I have no money, what will happen to me for my medicine and doctors?" said Danan, a former third-grade schoolteacher, as she wiped two streaks of tears from beneath her bifocals. "So I am appealing for the sake of all caregivers that are exploited like me. I am appealing that we should have justice!"

And then she chuckled.

This gesture of defiance in the midst of despair, of humor amid horror, was the dominant if unofficial theme of the first National Domestic Workers Congress, which took place June 5-8. For four days, some one hundred nannies, housekeepers and caregivers came together in New York City--one of the most important domestic-work capitals--to share their stories and to strategize solutions with regard to their collective mistreatment. Many of these women (and they were almost all women) had traveled long distances to be there: from Miami, Denver and as far as San Francisco. And many, like Danan, had undertaken personal journeys that stretched back even farther: to India, Mexico and the Caribbean.

These treks had been followed by excruciating tours of misery in the homes of wealthy, and occasionally violent, employers. Several women had actually been hit or otherwise assaulted in the line of duty. By the time they reached New York, they were determined to make themselves heard.

"For too long we women have been silenced," said Joycelyn Gill-Campbell, a Barbados-born nanny-turned-organizer for Domestic Workers United, one of the leading New York-based domestic rights groups, during a speech to her sister congressgoers. "But today we are in the forefront, we are moving forward... We are going to build an enormous movement!"

The time is certainly ripe for a movement of domestic workers. In the annals of contemporary American labor injustices, the ills suffered by domestic workers remain among the most stark and stomach-churning.

Barred from even the minimum protections of basic labor laws like the National Labor Relations Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act, domestic workers float in a kind of legal zero-gravity zone where they have no right to organize and no guarantees of paid sick days, paid vacation days, severance pay or advance notice of termination. Some forms of domestic work are also excluded from portions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (a fact that helps explain the wide pendulum-swing of wages that domestic workers earn, from as little as 50 cents an hour to, say, $10). As a result, all too many women who make their living in other people's homes--cleaning their dishes, raising their kids and otherwise making their lives possible--find themselves enduring everything from humiliation to exploitation to worse.

"The lady said, 'Scrub it, scrub it, scrub it!'" recalled Araceli Herrera, a 58-year-old housekeeper in San Antonio, replaying a former employer's obsessive insistence that she clean, clean, clean even though Herrera was suffering from agonizingly painful gallstones. Later, when she tried to return to work after a monthlong recovery from gallbladder surgery, she found that the employer had hired somebody else.

Not that this was the first time she had been ill treated by an employer. An immigrant from Mexico City who arrived in the United States at the age of 40 after a harrowing weeklong trek across the border and through the desert, Herrera has experienced a post-immigration life that reads like a latter-day Steinbeck novel, from the forced separation from her then-16-year-old son--a memory that still makes her cry--to the story of her first employer, who paid her $45 a week, made her sleep on the kitchen floor, let her rest only a few hours a night and then fired her when a hip injury prevented her even from walking. Even some of her kindlier employers have often shown an all-too-callous thoughtlessness, taking vacations at whim while refusing to let her spend Christmas with her ailing mother--now deceased--in Mexico.

"They never think we are humans," Herrera said, her genial voice turning suddenly raw. "I am a lady. I am a woman. I have dreams. I want to do something. No, they never [think] that. They maybe think we are machines."

To many of the women at the congress, stories like these, enraging as they are, are hardly new. As Gill-Campbell observed, they've been playing out their brutal plots since the beginning of time--or at least since the earliest days of this country. "The roots really date back from the days of slavery," she said, tracing the evolution of modern-day domestic work from the forced household labor performed by women slaves, to the free but rarely voluntary housework performed by post-abolition-era African-American domestics, to her own degrading treatment in the house of her first employer.

"To see the way I was treated in that first job, having to wear a white uniform from head to toe and white shoes," said Gill-Campbell, describing a scene in which, while dressed in this full servant regalia, she was forced to push her employer's dog in a stroller.

Moreover, such scenes of humiliation just seem to be proliferating. The Census Bureau estimates that there are currently 1.5 million domestic workers toiling and struggling in the United States, and domestic-work advocates say that, anecdotally, this number is rising, spiking upward with the tide of increasingly wealthy Americans who feel that time, work or money makes them no longer capable of cleaning their own toilets.

"The documentation has shown that as wealth inequality grows, so does the domestic industry," said Ai-Jen Poo, 34, a tall, preternaturally calm organizer who also works for Domestic Workers United.

In an effort to begin reversing this trend--or, at the very least, the exploitation that so often accompanies it--domestic workers and the groups that represent them have been forced to conjure up canny and sometimes unexpected solutions, like, working with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice to educate and organize sympathetic employers. At the same time, the New York groups have been waging a fierce campaign for a bill of rights, which, if passed by the New York State Legislature, would finally extend basic labor rights to the state's roughly 200,000 domestic workers.

This campaign was in full swing on the third morning of the conference, when the women of the National Domestic Workers Congress gathered in front of City Hall in Lower Manhattan with banners, a sound system, and yellow T-shirts embossed with the words, "Rights, Respect, Recognition for Domestic Workers." In reality, this rally probably would not serve as the grand, suasive push that would tip certain legislators in their favor (despite the bill's uncontroversial, and incontrovertible, merits). And, it was excruciatingly hot. But none of this seemed to take any air out of the women's lungs.

"We are the strength of this city, whether they know it, yes or no," shouted Deloris Wright, a veteran nanny with a graceful Jamaican lilt, who served as master of ceremonies for the English-speaking part of the rally. "We are a powerful group of people!"

The crowd cheered, unleashing one of those wild roars usually reserved for large sporting events. The rally was just beginning. Perhaps some of those sleeping Albany legislators would hear them after all.

San Anto marches for Primero de May (May 1st)

Un reporte de SWU (en espanol)

San Antonio Express News coverage here ; video

A Louder Voice: Activists strategize to stop fence construction

April 12, 2008 - 11:37PM

By Laura Tillman/The Brownsville Herald

As the No Border Wall Strategies Conference ended Saturday, Southwest Workers Union coordinator Ruben Solis stood before 20 people who had gathered to summarize events planned for almost every day this month.

At his back, a checkerboard of strategies was taped to the wall, outlining a calendar of community dialogue about immigrant rights.

The representatives of border wall protest groups came from across the Rio Grande Valley and had convened at the San Felipe de Jesus Church in Cameron Park to channel their voices into a louder battle cry and stop construction of the federal border fence.

At the conference, protesters characterized the structure as the "Wall of Death."

For months, groups from across the Valley have strategized, demonstrated, walked, talked and facilitated legal disputes of the border fence.

However, a few people gathered Saturday doubted whether any of these efforts have caught attention from the U.S Department of Homeland Security of if the efforts would help deter plans for the fence.

"We have one group on the east side, one on the west side, and yes, we hear each of them a little," said Elizabeth Garcia, cofounder of CASA, the Coalition of Amigos in Solidarity and Action. "We need to create a stronger voice and a space to organize."

To Garcia, the fence is a hot button issue in a larger debate about immigrant rights and solidarity. Like Garcia, University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College student Mario Garza said that he will continue to make his voice heard even if the fence is built.

"It would be far from over (if the fence were built)," Garza said, who heads up the UTB-TSC Comedy Club that has organized many local protests. "It would just infuriate me more. If they do start building, I'm going to do whatever helps to stop it - sit-ins, whatever."

Regardless of the outcome, participants said the conference was a success.

"There were a lot of good ideas I didn't come here with and I have the energy to go out and work against the border wall," said Greg Rodriguez, a member of the World Peace Alliance in Edinburg. "It's our future, right?"

Anti-fence conference building unity among groups across U.S.

Hernán Rozemberg
Express-News

Some of them have been trying to gather support in the Rio Grande Valley. Others belong to nascent coalitions in small towns in Southwest Texas. Some don't live anywhere near the border but want to help out.

The federal government's plan to erect physical barriers along various stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border has mobilized a hodge-podge opposition movement ranging from border mayors to immigrant advocacy groups and environmentalists.

Yet there has been no unified front — opponents have been doing their own thing without coordinating with counterparts in other areas of the state and country.

This weekend, a small but geographically diverse group of such activists are meeting in San Antonio in a first attempt to give one voice to the "no border wall" effort.

Organized and hosted by the Southwest Workers Union, a labor and civil rights group based near Sunset Station, the strategy conference drew about 50 activists paying their own way from across Texas and as far as Chicago, Atlanta, Washington state and Puerto Rico.

"This issue has the ability to really motivate people," said Stefanie Herweck, who last year founded No Border Wall in the Rio Grande Valley town of Weslaco. "We need to get energized and raise one big fight."

Multiple nods of approval set the agenda for the rest of the day's brainstorming session. The gathering continues today, but by Saturday the ad hoc group had identified the fence's major negative impact in border communities and potential strategies that could soon be taken up to fight it.

Border fencing has existed for years in southern California and most recent construction has focused on western Arizona. But it has run into the most controversy in the Valley, where fierce opposition to 70 miles of proposed fencing has prompted the Department of Homeland Security to sue cities and landowners to gain access for surveyors working on the plans.

The cadre of activists convening in San Antonio argued that fencing further militarizes an already fortified area, that it will split families and cut off crucial communication and basic services that serve as lifelines for border communities, particularly in rural areas.

An example is the 50 or so people who live so remotely in tiny Redford that their nearest hospital is in Mexico, said April Cotte.

They and others in nearby towns like Presidio and Lajitas in the Big Bend area traditionally have relied on dozens of informal river crossings that the government shut down after the 9-11 attacks.

"The Border Patrol stops people all the time now," said Cotte. "All for fighting the war on terror, they say. We all know there's no threat here."

That the public generally accepts such a threat is a perception that must be changed, the group concluded. To draw attention and action to what they believe is the untold downside of the government's border clampdown, particularly the fence, participants considered:

Pushing for legislative changes, particularly the Real ID Act that gave the government unprecedented powers to waive environmental and other laws to build the fence;

Educating affected border residents with know-your-rights workshops, linking them to groups offering free legal help and holding public forums to counter those offered by the government at which public testimony has not been aired;

Expanding the fledgling coalition to include other human rights and religious groups, including the Catholic Church.

Coming away with newfound knowledge of the impact of the border fence in Texas, Javier Rodríguez vowed to enlist help from his base in Los Angeles.

"I didn't realize the complexity and intensity of the issue," said Rodríguez, a community organizer who helped served as spokesman for the coalition that led massive pro-immigrant demonstrations there in 2006, including one that drew around 500,000 people.

Youth Rock National Immigration Conference

Carlos Guerra: Youthful wave of Latino activists tackling both past, present issues

Web Posted: 01/21/2008 11:03 PM CST

Carlos Guerra, San Antonio Express-News

HOUSTON — Times have changed since the late 1960s, when civil rights struggles raged in America, and I was among the students demanding solutions to civil rights issues, many of which still bedevil us.

This came to mind when I attended the National Conference on Immigration and Refugee Rights and saw how many attendees were young people ready to take on the world.

In the late 1960s, my generation also was facing a worsening war, and America was learning that having both guns and butter was easier said than done. And seething were racial and economic inequities that were tolerated, if not openly accepted.

In South Texas, Mexican American baby boomers had not inherited the patience of their antecedents. So, in the barrios and hamlets amid Texas' farms and huge ranches, young activists organized to demand more and better schooling and economic opportunities.

But most of all, they demanded dignity and respect of their worth as human beings.

The Latino baby boomers' movimiento focused on civil rights, and it spread through the Southwest where Latinos were most concentrated, and later, through the small Latino settlements that dotted virtually every state.

The popular uprising transformed many things in our nation, which finally — if begrudgingly — started giving Latinos some of the respect and visibility they had been denied.

School funding eventually was made more adequate — if not much more equitably distributed — and the doors to colleges and universities and better jobs were cracked just a bit wider.

But as more of the young activists advanced — and aged and became parents — their assertiveness diminished.

Today, many of the old issues remain, at best, only partially remedied. But a growing litany of new issues has arisen to revive a youthful activism among the progeny of warriors of the 1970s — and the many others who now have become part of the fabric of a new America.

In the 1960s, María Jiménez worked for the United Farm Workers. She now works for the Central American Resource Center. Asked if activism among youth was on the rise, she answered, "Definitely!" as did others, like Monica García, youth coordinator for San Antonio's Southwest Workers Union.

"Some of the issues go back to the '60s and the Chicano Movement," García said, "but the (immigration) raids, the separation of families are very strong issues with youth because they're happening to their families."

"They are dealing with problems with schools and access to universities," Jiménez said, "but young people are responding to their communities being denied rights in different ways, from attitudes about immigrants to many other issues.

"Many of the (young activists) are U.S. citizens, but a parent or a brother or sister may not be," Jiménez added, "so they are defending themselves, their families and their communities."

Just as in the 1970s, the new activism among Latino youth is spreading nationally. But given that Latinos are no longer heavily concentrated only in the Southwest, the emerging movement has a more national face.

And how the youth are organizing has changed dramatically.

"The activism manifests itself in very different ways these days," says Felipe Vargas, a St. Mary's grad now on the Indiana University faculty who brought a dozen students to the confab.

"We were used to seeing kids on the streets," he said. "But given that so many of these kids are challenged with their document status, they have to express themselves in different forms, in other media.

"They do this by organizing online, text messaging, MySpace, Facebook, electronic media, doing videos," he added.

"Their purpose is not so much to bring down some multinational corporation but to influence their friends," Vargas said. "They're being educated by the media, not necessarily by the schools, so they're creating new media to counter what is being said about them."

NO WALL Campaign to launch

Thousands to join call for Humane Borders

Across Texas, border cities unite in protest of proposed US-Mexico Wall (espanol abajo)

Friday Oct 12th
12:00pm
El Paso/Cd Juarez
US: 9th Ave & Oregon
Mx: Don B. Juarez Monument(11am)
March to Stanton (Lerdo) bridge
Ruben Solis 210.378.5699

Saturday Oct 13th
2:00pm
Del Rio, TX/Acuña
International Bridge
march from US & Mexico
Che Lopez 210.378.5132

Saturday Oct 13th
12:00pm
Brownsville, TX
Memorial Garden Park, Int’l Gateway Bridge
Int’l Blvd & Elizabeth St.
Chavel Lopez 210.378.5548

Community leaders, residents and local organizations will join together to launch the ‘No Wall’ campaign along the Texas-Mexico border this weekend to send a message to the US government and the Department of Homeland Security that constructing wall is not a solution, but will rather worsen the situation for this already impoverished, under resourced region. Joining concerns of Mayors, Chambers of Commerce and religious leaders, Ruben Solis, native of Grulla, TX, explains, “the wall will only hamper a thriving cross-border economy, cut farmers and ranchers off from their land, further divide families and slice through wildlife refuges in one of the world's most ecologically diverse places.”

“The wall is a decision made in Washington, without the input or voices of the local communities and families it will devastate,” added youth organizer Sandra Garcia. “We demand that plans for the wall stop and local leaders participate in designing alternatives.”

Over 80 local, national and international organizations have joined the No Wall campaign representing labor, environmental, faith and women groups. With a deadline of October 15 to submit comments to the government, actions will collect testimonies about the potential impacts of the wall.

Miles se unen a la demanda por fronteras mas Humanas
En todo Texas y estados fronterizos Mexicanos se unen para protestar la propuesta del MURO en las fronteras EEUU-México

Lideres comunitarios, residentes y organizaciones locales se unen para lanzar la Campaña NO MURO a lo largo de la frontera Texas-México este fin de semana para enviarle un mensaje al gobierno de Estados Unidos, el Departamento de ‘Homeland Security’ o Seguridad Nacional, diciéndoles que construir el MURO no es solución sino que empeora la situación de pobreza y de bajos recursos en la región.

Uniéndose a la procuración de los alcaldes y presidentes municipales, cámaras de comercio, y de lideres religiosos, Ruben Solis, nativo de la comunidad fronteriza de La Grulla, TX, explico, “el MURO lo que si va hacer es estrangular una economía (bi-nacional) vibrante de la región, impedir acceso a agricultores y rancheros de sus terrenos y animales, y dividir mas aun a las familia fronteriza y también dañar el medio ambiente en la estuarios silvestres donde se pretende construir en una de las áreas mas ecológicamente diversitas en el mundo.”

“El MURO fue una decisión hecha en Washington DC, sin la consulta de las comunidades locales, familias, y autoridades de las ciudades impactadas y va ser un desastre devastador” comento Sandra Garcia, organizador de juventud de San Antonio, TX., “Nosotros demandamos que se le ponga ALTO al MURO y su construcción hasta que las comunidades y autoridades locales tengan la oportunidad de diseñar alternativas.” Mas de 80 organizaciones locales, nacionales e internacionales se han adherido a la Campaña NO MURO representando sectores laborales, medio ambientalistas, religiosos y de fe, mujeres, y de jóvenes. Con la fecha limite del 15 de Octubre, 2007 para presentar comentarios al gobierno de Estados Unidos, estas protestas van a recoger testimonios del impacto que potencialmente tendrá este MURO.

"they are running it [the wall] down the throats of the residents of Brownsville"

Valley fence mapped

Anastasia Ustinova and Hernán Rozemberg
Express-News Staff Writers

The agency published the most detailed descriptions to date of the design and preliminary maps to begin studying the environmental impact of the fence, designed to deter illegal immigration.
"In order to secure our nation's borders, CBP is developing and deploying the most effective mix of proven technology, infrastructure and increased personnel," the agency said in its environmental statement.

Agency officials declined comment and referred calls to headquarters in Washington.
Though the final design won't be approved until the close of the public comment period, which ends Oct. 15, the agency said the fence will be at least 16 feet high and 3 to 6 feet below ground, capable of withstanding vandalism, cutting and penetrating, as well as a crash of a 10,000-pound vehicle traveling 40 mph.

Border community leaders were surprised, disappointed and even angry over the government's announcement of the environmental study. "We continue to be confused and bewildered, and I don't think it's by accident," said Chad Foster, mayor of Eagle Pass and chairman of the Texas Border Coalition, a group of leaders from El Paso to Brownsville. "They've never been open. They've never been above board. There's never a good time for a bad idea, but at least they're consistent about that."

The wall will consist of 21 segments, which will range from 1 to 13 miles, along the border near Rio Grande City, McAllen, Mercedes, Harlingen, Brownsville and Fort Brown.
Similar impact studies are expected for other border regions.

"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working with public and private landowners to obtain easements or purchase the construction corridor," CBP said in the proposal.
The fence is part of the Security Defense Act, which calls for 700 miles of reinforced barriers in all four states along the Mexican border.

Congress allocated $1.2 billion for the construction of 370 miles of fence, with about 153 miles of it in Texas, by the end of 2008. CBP said if approved, the construction of the "tactical infrastructure" would begin next spring.

The agency said it would clear vegetation to build temporary access roads and construction staging areas, which will affect a swath of about 60 feet, stretching along the 70 miles.
"They're supposed to be working with us, but instead they are running it down the throats of the residents of Brownsville," said Pat Ahumada, mayor of Brownsville.

The construction also will affect portions of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, which has raised concerns among environmentalists, who fear the fence will destroy riverfront wildlife habitat that attracts thousands of eco-tourists from all over the world.
The environmentalists also say the fence could cut access to the Rio Grande for endangered species, such as ocelots and jaguarondi, destroying one of the most biologically diverse regions in the country.

"It's a huge chance to think about the total impact of the wall," said Martin Hagne, executive director of the Valley Nature Center in Weslaco, who has seen the maps. "It is obviously extensive and is going to affect federal and state parks."

Nancy Brown, an outreach manager at the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge near McAllen, said she has had several meetings with the CBP officials and that the location of the fence didn't come as a surprise.

"We understand that they have this mandate to put this fence up," Brown said. "But we have a mandate to protect the wildlife, and we are doing the best that we can."
Border residents have learned to become skeptical of what they're told by the government, said Foster of the Texas Border Coalition.

The last time he met with David Aguilar, the National Border Patrol chief, Foster was assured there were no definitive plans on the border fence. Now, he learned by surprise that the fence segments have been clearly defined and that they don't always stick to the river, but cut inland across private property.

Foster predicted that landowners would be up in arms as soon as they heard about the government's proposal. But that's not the message border agents are hearing from their superiors.

Agents were briefed last week on details of the proposed fence segments, said one agent in the Harlingen station who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Agents were told plans were progressing smoothly and that property owners were on board — that owners were not concerned with the fence as long as they still had access to their land.
The agent found that determination hard to believe, figuring there must be some landowners who want no part of the deal.

Most agents are basically indifferent to the issue. Fence or not, the agent said, their lives go on.
"Most of the guys don't really care one way or the other," the agent said. "It's no big deal to us. The fence will probably deter some. But we'll still have plenty of work."

Building the Barrier Plans call for a fence that would:
• Be 16 feet high and up to 6 feet underground.
• Withstand the crash of a 5-ton vehicle traveling 40 mph.
• Survive extreme weather changes.
• Withstand vandalism and cutting.
• Not impede the natural flow of water.
• See the plan for the Border Fence

By the Numbers
• 70: Number of miles of fencing in the Lower Rio Grande Valley
• 21: Number of segments to be installed
• 60: Width, in feet, of the fence corridor during construction
• 508: Total acres occupied by the fence corridor during construction

Residents join in social activism

San Antonio Express-News
Michelle Mondo

George Valdez often has wondered what it takes to be a social activist. The first U.S. Social Forum this month gave him a close-up look.

Valdez had bought a house near the former Kelly AFB that sits on land he now believes is contaminated.

"I didn't believe (other neighbors) when they first told me, but then they showed me tests," he said, referring to long-term environmental studies of soil and underground water samples at the former air logistics center.

Valdez, 49, said that once he became influenced by the Kelly AFB environmental testing, it changed his way of thinking. He joined the ranks of the socially active on the South Side.
That's why he also joined 50 other San Antonians who recently took part in the People's Freedom Caravan that traveled to Atlanta to participate in the inaugural U.S. Social Forum. The Southwest Workers' Union — a local grass-roots, membership-based group — helped to organize the trip.

The Caravan left San Antonio on June 24 and traveled five days, visiting several cities along the way until it joined approximately 10,000 other social activists in Atlanta for the Forum on June 28-30.

The event brought together political activists from across the nation and around the world to discuss immigration, climate change, poverty, trade agreements and social inequality, according to its Web site.

It was the first Forum of that size that Valdez and several others on the trip had attended.
"Everyone had their struggles," Valdez said. "It was eye-opening; it was mind-boggling; it was a lot of things."

The Forum was a first-time trip for Marsha Womack, 18, who never had been outside of Texas. Womack said she decided to get involved because she thinks young people need to make their voices heard. The immigration debate is one of the topics she wanted to learn about on the trip.
But Womack said she learned much more.

"The caravan was awesome — I loved it," Womack said. "Going to all those places and helping all those people, it's really cool."

But it also left her feeling that much more needs to be done.

"When we went to New Orleans to clean up the projects, I couldn't believe that place was still like that after two years. It's like the government hasn't done anything to move people back in there."

Another surprise for Womack was the support the volunteers got when they arrived in the various cities, including Jackson, Miss. While in Jackson, the group protested at a local Wal-Mart.

"In Mississippi, there were 400 of us there, and I didn't know that there were so many protesting around the world or in the United States," she said.

For Eulogio Contreras Jr., social activism has been a passion since he was young. His father fought for Chicano rights while Contreras was growing up. Contreras said he feels it's his duty to continue that fight, especially now that immigration is being debated.

"When we were having a discussion on (immigration) in Atlanta, we found out the reform bill had been turned down and there were mixed emotions," Contreras said. "There are two points of views, and it's kind of sad because now you have a division between the same race saying some wanted it but others did not. Now it's dividing people instead of uniting them."

He said, on one hand, the trip to Atlanta reinvigorated his passion for social activism. But on the other, it saddened him.

"It was exhausting," he said. "We visited the (Lower Ninth Ward) in the aftermath of Katrina and that really had an impact on me personally. What really got to me was a little girl stating she had no home, and her tears.

"It was more of a sad trip to realize what has happened to a lot of people in this nation. Poverty-wise, it was everywhere."

Rechazo total a persecuciones

Protestan por la muerte de inmigrantes

Univision Television Group

Univision Online y Agencias
12 de julio 2007

SAN ANTONIO- Manifestantes salieron hoy a las calles para hacer sentir sus voces en torno a la fatal persecución del pasado martes, cuando tres inmigrantes perdieron la vida. Consideran que la policía expuso a los indocumentados cuando elevó la velocidad a 100 millas por hora. Ahora, indignados, piden que las autoridades disminuyan la velocidad o lo hagan desde helicópteros.

Ola de agresiones

El fracaso de la reforma migratoria parece haber traído consigo una ola de persecuciones y redadas en todo el país. San Antonio no escapa a esta situación y muchos hispanos claman porque este tipo de actividades se detengan y en el peor escenario, si la medida es actuar "entonces que lo hagan a baja velocidad".

	Video
		Protestas por muerte de inmigrantes

Tres personas murieron y 12 fueron hospitalizadas, cuando la camioneta deportiva que llevaba a por lo menos 19 inmigrantes indocumentados se estrelló tras una persecución a alta velocidad.

La persecución comenzó en Natalia, a unos 48 kilómetros (30 millas) al suroeste de San Antonio, y prosiguió por San Antonio a eso de las 2.00 de la madrugada, expresó el sargento de la policía Gabe Trevino.

Video
	Fatal persecución

Como el oficial de Natalia estaba persiguiendo solo a la camioneta Ford Excursion, otros dos patrulleros de San Antonio se le unieron en la búsqueda, que superó los 160 kilómetros por hora (100 millas por hora) al ingresar en la ciudad.

Una de las cubiertas de la SUV se reventó, y la camioneta dio varios vuelcos, despidiendo a sus ocupantes. Al menos dos huyeron a pie antes de ser detenidos por agentes que llegaron al lugar en un helicóptero de la policía, dijo Trevino.

En general la policía de San Antonio no participa en persecuciones de alta velocidad porque pueden ser muy peligrosas, pero una vez que el patrullero de Natalia ingresó a San Antonio, un supervisor autorizó la ayuda de la policía local, manifestó Trevino.

"No lo íbamos a dejar solo", dijo.

	Video
		Mexicano murió en persecución policial

El conductor de la camioneta de origen cubano, fue detenido y podría ser acusado de homicidio, señaló Trevino. La mayoría de los indocumentados a bordo son de nacionalidad guatemalteca y el Consulado mexicano confirmó que dos compatriotas estuvieron involucrados en el accidente, uno falleció y otro continúa en el hospital, en condición crítica.

People's Freedom Caravan Demands Migrant Rights

A delegation of 100 from across the state of New Mexico rolled with energy and excitement into the first stop of the Caravan, San Antonio Texas. After a tour of the community fighting against the toxics and sickness caused by the former Kelly Air Force Base and hearing first hand from community leaders, the folks arrived chanting at the Alamo demanding human rights for all migrants, the reunification of families and an end to the militarization of the border.




Marching united to the office of the racist Senator John Cornyn, the youth led the way to tear down the 'wall of death', which Cornyn wants to build, chalk outlines of bodies left to represents the hundreds that die every year because of the border. People offered testimony on the human face of these anti-immigrant policies.






Afterwards SWU members prepared a bbq of chicken, sausage, corn & calabaza and all the trimmings at a local park. Tonight we await an evening of cultural sharing and celebration of people power.

Freedom Caravan Across Nation

For Immediate Release:

May 25, 2007

Contact: Genaro Rendon 210.286.6271 (SWU)

JoAnn Gutierrez Bejar 505.247.8832 (SWOP)

Brenda Hyde 601.982.6400 (S Echo)

Kimberly Richards 504.722.3213 (NOLA)

Freedom Caravan Across Nation

Bringing a new grassroots vision and innovations to overcome the democracy divide

In remembrance of the courage of the first Freedom Ride that met racist violence in Jackson on May 25, 2006, community leaders again will unite on the People's Freedom Caravan to promote a new vision of democracy. This is a vision based on human rights, a vision that bridges racial, geographic and cultural divides and moves beyond the status quo 'pay to play' politics. From Boston to California, Chicago to Florida, people are getting on buses, vans and cars to share their story as they make their way to the 1^st United States Social Forum in Atlanta, Ga. Every one person is a story and the masses of voices are bringing solutions to issues of violence, racism, pollution and poverty. As the freedom riders of the 1960s brought a new vision for the South based on desegregation, the People's Caravan will demonstrate that another US is possible, one that is based on equality, living wages, sustainability and human rights.

"We are going to Atlanta to build a unified voice of the people! We want to make connections across the country to create a domino effect of action and organizing," said Agnes Rivera, Community Voices Heard Leader from New York caravanning to the USSF. "On the caravan and at forum, we will discuss social safety net, jobs, and public housing, learn from each other, and strengthen our work for 'another' world."

The southern part of the People's Freedom Caravan will take off in Albuquerque where organizations are protecting sacred sites and bringing clean water and solar power to unincorporated communities. 100 people will journey to San Antonio to meet another 100 leaders and march for a living wage for all and call for a just, peaceful border. Continuing to Houston, the hub of the oil industry, the group will promote a clean renewable energy for marginalized neighborhoods that struggle against pollution and sickness.

"The stories of Houston will be on the bus, promoting our right and everyone's right to breathe clean air and live in healthy communities. With 250 people joining us here, the local people can share their vision with this social forum on wheels and get their voices to Atlanta," explained Bryan Parras of the Southern Human Rights Organizing Network in Houston.

With over 4 buses, the caravan will stop in Lake Charles, La. to promote education instead of incarceration and protect communities from contamination. In New Orleans, 4 buses will join to highlight the commitment to rebuild, the protection of the right to return, promotion of affordable safe housing and human rights for all workers. The caravan will split as some buses head down the Gulf Coast, tracing the path of the hurricanes, while other head to Jackson to remember the legacy of the civil rights movement and the steps needed to achieve true equality. Converging in Selma, Alabama, the caravan representing young and old, indigenous, migrants, Latinos, African-Americans and Asians will call for a renewed struggle to overcome the democracy divide and recognize the human rights of all people. As over 1000 people head the Atlanta, they will launch the USSF with a march into the city.

"The People's Freedom Ride is our opportunity to find the wisdom in a united struggle for justice. Post-Katrina life in New Orleans has shown that there is no recovery of the Gulf Coast, but only a massive a privatization scheme that takes away our homes, communities, and human rights. Any hope for displaced hurricane survivors to return to our homes with dignity and justice relies on a mass movement that begins with the People's Freedom Ride to the US Social Forum," said Monique Harden, Co-Director of Advocates for Environmental Human Rights.

Route and stops:

• June 22^nd – Albuquerque, NM 505.247.8832
• June 23^rd – San Antonio, TX 210.299.2666
• June 24^th (afternoon) – Houston, TX 318.514.9924 / (evening) Lake Charles, LA 504.606.8846
• June 25^th – New Orleans, LA 504.301.9292
• June 26^th (morning) – Jackson, MS 601.982.6400 / (evening) – Selma, AL 617.880. 9208
• June 27^th – March on Atlanta to USSF

Participating Organizations:

Action for Community Education Reform, Mississippi

Activists With a Purpose, Grenada (MS)

Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, New Orleans (LA)

Ashe' Cultural Center, New Orleans (LA)

Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, New Mexico

Circle of Love Center, Selma (AL)

Citizens for Education Awareness, Mississippi

Coalition In Defense of the Community, Houston (TX)

Committee for Environmental Justice Action, San Antonio (TX)

Community In-Power Development Association, Port Arthur (TX)

Concerned Citizens for a Better Tunica County, Tunica (MS)

Concerned Citizens of Greenville, Greenville (MS)

Enlace Comunitario, Albuquerque (NM)

Elwood Community Church, Selma (AL)

Federation of Child Care Centers of Alabama, Montgomery (AL)

Fourth World Movement, New Orleans (LA)

Friends and Families of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children, Lake Charles (LA)

Fuerza Unida, San Antonio (TX)

Georgia Stand Up, Atlanta (GA)

Houston Indy Media Collective, Houston (TX)

Indianola Parent Student Group, Indianola (MS)

Latino Health Outreach Project, New Orleans (LA)

League of United Latin American Citizens, Houston (TX)

Left Turn, New Orleans (LA)

Lower 9th Ward Health Clinic, New Orleans (LA)

Mary Queen of Vietnam Church, New Orleans (LA)

Millions More Movement, Houston (TX)

MLK Dream Team, Carlsbad (NM)

Mossville Environmental Action Now, Mossville (LA)

Moving Forward Gulf Coast, Slidell (LA)

National Alliance of Vietnamese American Service Agencies, New Orleans (LA)/national

New Mexico Acequia Association/Sembrando Semillas, New Mexico

New Orleans Workers' Center, New Orleans (LA)

Nollies Citizens for Quality Education, Mississippi

One Torch, New Orleans (LA)

Parents and Youth United for a Better Webster County, Webster (MS)

People's Hurricane Relief Fund, New Orleans (LA)

People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, Houston (TX), New Orleans (LA)

People's Organizing Committee, New Orleans (LA)

PODER, San Francisco (CA)

Project South, Atlanta (GA)

SAGE Council, Albuquerque (NM)

Saving Our Selves Coalition, Alabama

Somos Un Pueblo Unido, Santa Fe (NM)

Southern Echo Incorporated, Jackson (MS)

Southern Human Rights Organizing Network, Houston (TX)

SouthWest Organizing Project, Albuquerque (NM)

Southwest Workers Union, San Antonio (TX)

T.E.J.A.S, Houston (TX)

Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, Houston (TX)

Vietnamese-American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans, New Orleans (LA)

Youth Innovation Movement Solutions, Mississippi

Youth Leadership Organization, San Antonio (TX)

Youth Media Council, Oakland (CA)

Marchan Inmigrantes para Demandar Derechos

Por Indra Castro, la Prensa-San Antonio

Miles de inmigrantes participaron ayer en la marcha que se realizó a nivel nacional para luchar por los derechos de este sector de la sociedad. El parque Milam, ubicado frente al Hospital Santa Rosa, fue la sede del evento en la ciudad. En el lugar, desde mediodía se empezaron a congregar los participantes,quienes unas horas después recorrieron varias calles del centro de la ciudad hasta concluir en el Parque Travis, ubicado en la calle Navarro.

A pesar del llamado para realizar un paro en las actividades, en San Antonio, negocios de inmigrantes siguieron operando de manera normal. Che López, co-director de la asociación Southwest “Estamos luchando por la justicia social y el respeto a los derechos humanos, por eso hacemos esta marcha en este que es el día Internacional de los Trabajadores y Trabajadoras. “Además queremos una Reforma Migratoria más justa, así como un alto a las deportaciones y redadas”, externó López.

Los inmigrantes, como un acto de solidaridad portaron una prenda roja, mismo color que fue usado en las banderas con diversas leyendas que portaban en sus manos. Mujeres acompañadas de sus niños gritaban frases como “No somos asesinos y mucho menos terroristas, somos gente de paz, sólo queremos trabajar” y “Queremos dignidad y respeto”.

Este país fue fundado, comentó, por el trabajo de los inmigrantes del todo mundo. A pesar de que la agrupación realizó manifestaciones previas a la Marcha Nacional para invitar a las personas a que hicieran un alto en su rutina diaria, muchos hicieron caso omiso del llamado.

“Sabemos que mucha gente no participó, pero más que nada porque necesitandel ingreso diario para poder sobrevivir, así que hasta en cierto modo es comprensible”, indicó, “pero muchos negocios sí cerraron, hubo estudiantes que no fueron a sus escuelas, y trabajadores que no acudieron a sus centros laborales”.

Durante la Marcha, y en momentos previos se recaudaron firmas que serán enviadas ante la autoridad competente para demandar una Reforma Migratoria justa, ya que el mes de agosto es el plazo para que ésta pueda ser aprobada. El movimiento social que persiguió demandar de una forma pacífica el respeto de los derechos humanos, la inconformidad contra las deportaciones, las redadas, y las leyes injustas de migración, no será el último organizado por la comunidad inmigrante.

“Tenemos varias actividades, el cinco de mayo y en junio haremos foros, haremos otras movilizaciones en octubre, y en agosto una marcha por un salario sustentable, esto también para apoyar la Reforma Migratoria”,concluyó. Por su parte, Jaime Martínez, tesorero nacional de LULAC, apoyó la movilización para pedir una Reforma Migratoria digna. “Lo que está sucediendo en América es muy triste, estas leyes de inmigración que están en un cabildeo en Washington, los políticos no entienden que la gente necesita algo justo”,puntualizó.

Se piden, observó, tres puntos que son reunificación de las familias, alto a las redadas que han separado muchas familias, y protección de los derechos laborales, porque hay mucha explotación de los trabajadores inmigrantes. “Queremos un paso a la legalización, que no haya obstáculos, como el tiempo de espera, ya que las personas quieren salir ya de la oscuridad y cumplir su sueño americano”, concluyó.

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Protesters call for immigration reform in rallies across Texas

By ELIZABETH WHITE Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO — Luis Romero came to the United States from Mexico City legally in 1998. The economics student said he believes immigrants, both legal and illegal, contribute much to society and the economy.

That's why Romero, 37, said he marched through downtown San Antonio on Tuesday evening to demand that Congress pass comprehensive immigration reform, and soon.

"They (illegal immigrants) have children, property," he said. "They pay taxes and they are here doing the hard jobs that other people don't want to do."

Protesters in San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Austin, and El Paso joined demonstrators nationwide Tuesday to urge lawmakers to pass immigration policies that create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Many also condemned an increase in federal immigration raids and roundups.

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