The House Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, led by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona), and Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans, led by Del. Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-Guam), held a joint oversight field hearing on "Walls and Waivers: Expedited Construction of the Southern Border Wall and the Collateral Impacts on Communities and the Environment" at UT Brownsville on Monday April 28th.
Community Resposes to the Congressional Hearing
A couple of us from Houston IMC and anti-border wall activists from through out the Rio Grand Valley came to listen to the testimony, cheer for the anti-wall speakers and congress folks and jeer at the fear mongering tactics of Tancredo, Hunter and their flunkies. Of the 8 congressmen and women, 6 were against the wall and power grab by Chertoff. The location of UTB for the hearing was interesting as the wall would put parts of the campus on the south side of the wall, and try to funnel border crossers onto the campus to make their apprehension by the Border Patrol easier.
An interesting story this weekend was that a restaurant manager made threatening/joking comments to some uniformed maricopa county sheriff's employees. The article, Restaurant manager fired in flap with lawmen says,
someone in the kitchen made loud comments directed at the sheriff's employees that indicated "you are the guys arresting all of my kitchen staff."
The employees took that to be in reference to the well-documented arrests of illegal immigrants throughout the Valley in recent months by the Sheriff's Office.
The manager told the cops that the comments, including that he was going to "cook them something special" were sarcastic. He was fired by the company that owns Pei Wei and PF Changs.
While i don't have much simpathy for managers in general, you can guess whose side i am on. I think it's interesting that people would show such blatant disrespect for cops. The sheriff was quoted in the article.
"A lot of people don't like the sheriff because of this (immigration) crackdown," Arpaio said. "It's going to be a little problem as time goes on."
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2008/1/4/183050/2029
By Brenda Norrell,
Posted on Fri Jan 4th, 2008 at 06:30:50 PM EST
Homeland Security issued a 30-day notice to south Texas land owners, which expires Monday, January 7, 2007, to seize private lands in Texas for the US/Mexico border wall.
Lipan Apache women and elders issued a call for help to resist the seizure of their lands.
By Margo_Tamez
This is a request for immediate intervention on behalf of indigenous land title holders of the rancheria of El Calaboz, La Paloma, and El Ranchito in South Texas. I am writing to you this evening as the indigenous peoples of El Calaboz, La Paloma and El Ranchito rancherias in South Texas express grave fear for their safety, their livelihoods, and being ripped violently apart from our sacred lands held in our communities prior to contact with Spanish settlers and empresarios, and thereafter, in continuity.
I have often referenced the crimes government/law enforcement officials commit that somehow are not as important as the crime of stepping across a man-made boundary, and i have also mentioned the former who have been caught being involved in drug-running across the border. Yet again has a story come out about this, yet immigrants still bear the brunt of being stereotyped as drug-runners. Sure, there are some, but they also get punished much worse, and they're not backed by authority, arms, and money to the extent that national guardsmen, for example, are.
In addition, drug smuggling is one of the reasons for more border security, including a fence that divides indigenous land/communities and destroys the environment. Obviously immigrants are not the only ones to blame.
There were so many Arizona National Guardsmen eager to run cocaine from the border of Arizona and Mexico to Tucson and Phoenix, that the FBI had to shut down its sting, Operation Lively Green....
The Guardsmen were not the only soldiers and law enforcement officials smuggling cocaine. During sentencing, nearly 100 others emerged, ranging from a Nogales police officer and a prison guard to US Air Force squadsmen at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson patrolling the border by air and smuggling cocaine.
Which brings us to the present, and the fact that Arizona National Guardsmen are helping build the border wall on the Tohono O'odham Nation. While an Indigenous Peoples' delegation was at the border on Tohono O'odham land, near San Miguel, on Nov. 8, 2007, the National Guardsmen were part of the crew building the wall.
The grassroots organization O'odham Voice Against the Wall has denounced the ongoing genocide of the O'odham people in the United States and Mexico, where the border wall and development has resulted in the digging up of graves and the final resting places of their ancestors.
A delegation of Mohawks, Oneida, Lakota and Acoma Pueblo recently voiced their sadness and outrage over the border wall under construction on Tohono O'odham lands in Arizona and the "cage" where migrants are imprisoned.
Further, the Mohawk delegation was horrified to watch the US Border Patrol arrest Mayans in front on them, as they tried to intervene, and also to learn of the hundreds of Indigenous Peoples dying on Tohono O'odham land each year for want of a drink of water.
The delegation also learned that the graves of the O'odham ancestors were recently dug up for the border wall under construction by contractor Boeing. The Tohono O'odham Nation government has declined to release a public statement regarding the ancestors' remains being dug up and removed in 2007 for the border wall.
After the Mohawks' comments were released, a few Tohono O'odham Nation government officials objected and defended the border wall and their policies, which criminalizes aid to migrants.
On August 16th, email alerts were circulating that Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (URO) and other governors from Mexico were visiting Mexican Consulates in Chicago on August 17th, New York City on the 18th and Dallas on the 19th to discuss migratory reform. Activists quickly organized demonstrations in solidarity with the people of Oaxaca, and all of Mexico, as well as the millions of Mexican migrants living on the northern side of the US/Mexico border.
A flyer passed out in New York City labeled Ruiz Ortiz, “a co-conspirator with the US government and multinational corporations in the imposition of a political economy, which forces entire communities from his state to migrate north in search of better lives.†The flyer, composed by the Ulises Ruiz Welcoming Committee, also explains that, “Ruiz has attempted to quell social unrest through the criminalization of dissent, the militarization of communities, and the direct support of paramilitary groups in his state.â€
To those familiar with the cowardliness of Ruiz Ortiz, it was not a big surprise that he failed to show up with the delegation. Even though he was the focus of the demonstrations, his absence did not prevent activists from protesting the rest of the Mexican Governors and representatives of URO who were with the CONAGO (National Conference of Mexican Governors) delegation. Read More
“During the Planning Meeting Aug. 17, Yaqui from Vicam Pueblo Offered to Help In Any Way They Could to Ensure the Success of the North American Regional Summitâ€
August 19, 2007 RANCHO EL PENASCO, Sonora, Mexico—Yaqui Zapatistas from Vicam Pueblo met with O’odham in Sonora and reached out to the world’s Indigenous Peoples, extending a warm invitation to come and support the Zapatistas’ regional and international summits to be held in October.
Vicam Pueblo Gov. Loreto Ramírez Mapoumea and Pueblo Mayor Florentino Buitimea Yoquihua meet with O’odham in Mexico Lt. Gov. Jose Garcia in Rancho el Penasco, to plan upcoming Zapatistas regional and international summits. D.R 2007 Brenda Norrell
Gathered with O’odham at Rancho el Penasco, a dozen Yaqui Zapatistas from Vicam Pueblo, including Gov. Loreto Ramirez Mapoumea and Vicam Pueblo Mayor Florentino Buitimea Yoquihua, urged Indigenous from Alaska, Canada and the United States to join with Indigenous Peoples in northern Mexico for the North American Continental Regional Conference here, Oct. 8—9, 2007.
“What happens here will determine how effective the Intercontinental Indigenous Summit is in Pueblo Yaqui,” Gov. Ramirez said, speaking in Spanish through an interpreter.
“We are in solidarity with one another, and we want to be in solidarity with all of the Indigenous Peoples,” Gov. Ramirez said during the reunion and planning meeting held Friday, Aug. 17.
The North American Continental Summit, Oct. 8 – 9, is one of four regional conferences. There are also Indigenous summits being held in Oaxaca, Oct. 4—5, Atlapulco, Oct. 6 –7 and Michaocan, Oct. 6 – 7, 2007.
**** RESIST THE SPP! ***
(please copy and post to all lists and contacts!)
[Note: The events listed below are in the Vancouver area. Other events are being organized in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Stay tuned for further details.]
August 20th is a continental day of action to oppose the SPP, a highly secretive agreement between US, Mexico, and Canada. The SPP is essentially NAFTA-plus-Homeland Security, firmly rooted within a colonial and capitalist framework. There is no doubt that the SPP will bring greater insecurity and misery: murderous wars and occupations abroad; border militarization; increased detentions and deportations; attacks on indigenous peoples, the poor, migrants, and working people; ecological destruction; and mega-projects in the service of corporate greed.
Leading upto August 20th, a wide range of educational events, actions, and creative resistance is being planned by a growing network of groups and individuals. Below are just some of the activities being planned, with many more being planned and confirmed...
As many of you know, the construction of the border wall and other border security measures do not only negatively impact immigrants. It also divides O'odham land, creating a situation where O'odham people who cross the border regularly get stopped and harassed by border patrol, have national guard getting into their business, and now the construction of the border wall is desecrating ancient burial grounds. Currently, the community is struggling to receive the human remains that were removed from the land during the construction.
Please read below:
Ancient O'odham burial ground dug up during construction of the new wall along the border between the United States & Mexico in Arizona
Please read the petition at the linked banner ad and sign it!
On August 16th, email alerts were circulating that Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (URO) and other governors from Mexico were visiting 
