A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on state charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners at the Willacy County Detention Center in Raymondville, TX. Other people who were indicted were, Cameron County’s Justice of the Peace Judge Gustavo Garza; former US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Mervyn Mosbacker; Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra; State Senator Eddie Lucio Jr; Willacy County Clerk Gilbert Lozano, District Judges Janet Leal and Migdalia Lopez and special prosecutor Gustavo Garza. They all face a stream of criminal charges including abuse of office and profiting from office.
The indictment names Cheney and Gonzales as “co-actors” engaged in organized criminal activity. It criticizes Cheney’s “85 billion” dollar investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the “top three [private prison] companies” running the federal detention centers. The indictment also accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and “at least misdemeanor assaults” on detainees through his “tremendous amount of influence” on the agency, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), that provides contracts to these private prison companies. From the indictment: Full story »

With less than a day left till the election, many Republicans are seeing the writing on the wall. Their days are numbered or are they? If you are Karl Rove, it is not over until the last dirty trick is played.

Recently, a story broke out about Barack Obama’s Kenyan aunt, Zeituni Onyango, she was living in public housing in Boston. However, now with less than 72 hours till the election, there is a twist to this story. According to the Associated Press, reported that Onyango is an “illegal.”

But it doesn’t stop there. It was later found out that somebody within the Immigration and Customs Enforcement leaked the story to AP. The AP wrote:

Onyango was instructed to leave the country by a U.S. immigration judge who denied her asylum request, a person familiar with the matter told the AP. This person spoke on condition of anonymity because no one was authorized to discuss Onyango’s case.

For those who have lived in Texas during the 80′s and the 90′s, this story suddenly becomes very suspicious. In fact, any Texas Democrat who has been involved in Texas prior to the 2000 election this was “the Mark of Rove,” there are no fingerprints. Full story »

With all the excitement of this historic election, it is normal to overlook other news that normally would not have been missed; especially, the flagrant abuse of power by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Throughout Chertoff’s tenure as Homeland Secretary, I have said countless of times, as long as Homeland Security and ICE continues their “round them all up, ask questions later” policy, it will always be an open season on all Latinos/as, regardless of their citizenship.

It is ironic with less than a week for the election, I am proven correct again. According to the Los Angeles Times, ICE once again mistakenly detained a US citizen. Guillermo Olivares Romero, 25, was held in a detention center for two weeks.

Federal authorities have released a Los Angeles man from immigration detention after acknowledging that he is a U.S. citizen.

Guillermo Olivares Romero, 25, was held at an Otay Mesa detention center from Sept. 25 until Oct. 9, when an American Civil Liberties Union attorney presented his birth certificate, school and vaccination records to immigration authorities. He was released that day.

In an interview with HOY (h/t to el profe of Latino Like Me), Olivares said “No me creyeron. … Me decían que yo era mexicano porque me parecía a los mexicanos.” (They didn’t believe me. They told me I was a Mexican because I looked like a Mexican.) Full story »

As we approach this historic election, I have to applaud local CBS affiliate KHOU’s 11 News investigative reporter Mark Greenblatt for his excellent work in tackling the controversial issue of voter suppression here in Harris County. As Latinos/as, African Americans, and the youth vote in unprecedented numbers, their increasing engagement in the democratic process will help sustain our democracy.

In a two part investigative report, Greenblatt exposes the voter suppression tactics – which tend to be passed off as “simple mistakes” or “human error” – being used to disenfranchise thousands of voters their right to vote in Harris County. These tactics are being carried out by Republican elected Paul Bettencourt, Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar.

It seems Bettencourt, has a nasty habit of excluding certain voters out of the voter rolls and is willing to lie to the Texas Legislature to make his case. Prior to this investigative report, the state office of the League of Women Voters and elections expert Lauri Van Hoose already noted that Harris County had “serious and widespread voter registration problem.” Full story »

First, I like to thank everybody who expressed their concern for my safety and well being as Hurricane Ike passed through the Houston/Galveston area. The hurricane left Houston, the US’s fourth-largest city, and its surrounding areas battered and bruised and was reduced to near paralysis in some places.

As the power companies take their time restoring electricity, I wonder if anyone has noticed how Houston is serviced by one power company, CenterPoint Energy, that furnishes electricity to the area. Even though I signed up with a different electric provider, I am still at the mercy of CenterPoint because they are the local grid operator, which handles and services the electric grid. This is a result of the deregulation of electric services in Texas. Since CenterPoint controls the grid, they are responsible for all power failures.

As of last Friday Sept 19, of the total 2.2 million who lost power, 1.3 million are still without power. Not only that, my entire apartment complex did not have water for the entire week, despite Mayor Bill White’s assurance that water pressure is back to normal levels. During that time, I had to look for places that were open so I could avoid a build up of dirty dishes, while at the same time my laundry began piling up, my appearance began to suffer, and the water I stored in my bathtub for flushing my toilet was beginning to run critically low. Full story »

It has been nearly seven years since the tragic events of 9/11, yet, the southern border continues to be used as a scapegoat in our ongoing “war on terror.” Security has become synonymous with stopping undocumented immigration, and unfortunately, this country’s immigration policies have resulted in very real negative consequences.

In the wake of the ever-expanding enforcement operations conduced by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a “hidden system” has been created where there is no concern to the fate of those detained. They simply have become the sacrificial victims of a broken immigration system. Full story »

The deadline has come and gone for the US presidential candidates to respond to a questionnaire put together by The Sanctuary, a web base grassroots community of pro-migrant, human rights, and civil-rights bloggers and online activists dedicated to the enactment of meaningful immigration reform.

We have had our fair share of critics who questioned us and asked who did we we think we were to make such a lofty demand and who did we represent and why should we expect the presidential candidates to answer our questions.

But make no mistake on the impact online activism has on politics in general. As Marisa Treviño noted, in light of the $20 million the Democratic National Committee and the Obama campaign are spending to outreach Latino/a voters, “the questionnaire was a bargain.” Full story »

Today, the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility just released a report on the improper hiring practices by Monica Goodling, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) White House Liaison and Senior Counsel to the Attorney General. According to the report, Goodling broke federal law by discriminating against job applicants on account of their political views.

Our investigation found that Goodling improperly subjected candidates for certain career positions to the same politically based evaluation she used on candidates for political positions, in violation of federal law and Department policy. With regard to requests from interim U.S. Attorneys to hire [assisant U.S. attorneys], we determined that in two instances Goodling considered the candidate’s political or ideological affiliations when she assessed the request. For example, in one instance when the interim U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia sought approval from Goodling to hire an AUSA for a vacant position, Goodling responded that the candidate gave her pause because judging from his résumé he appeared to be a “liberal Democrat.” Full story »

In an effort to win back lost Hispanic votes, Republican presidential hopeful Senator John McCain held a closed door meeting with more than 100 Hispanic leaders in Chicago. However, things did not turn out as he hoped.

Blogger Matt Ortega reports that the event was attended by Rosanna Pulido, State Director for the Illinois Minutemen Project, who was not too thrilled with McCain’s double talk on immigration.

“I have friends in Washington, DC, on this issue,” she says. “We’ve had conversations on this issue.” After comprehensive immigration reform was killed in the Senate and McCain changed his rhetoric on the subject on the campaign trail, Pulido says, “we were hopeful after John McCain started saying, ‘I understand where the American people are coming from, there’s gotta be enforcement first,’ we thought great, he’s had a change of heart.”

So she went to the meeting, a room full of 150-200 people. “Sure enough,” Pulido says, “his mantra at the meeting was comprehensive immigration reform.’ And there were cheers and applause whenever he mentioned comprehensive immigration reform.”

“Then he said, ‘I bet some of you don’t know this — did you know Spanish was spoken in Arizona before English?’ And the crowd roared. I was appalled,” Pulido said. “He was pandering to these people — that’s what they wanted to hear.”

McCain knows he cannot win the election without the Latino vote. However, by pandering to his audience when it comes to immigration, John McCain is playing a dangerous game – one that will cost him the Latina/o vote come election day.

A couple of years ago, I addressed the Reconquista myth because this myth was making it rounds among hard-core right-wing pundits. It seems the same conspiracy theory is once again making those rounds again. One of the approaches xenophobic conservative pundits use to stir up fear so people are willing to support tough immigration policies is race baiting. Given the history of race relations in the US, history has shown repeatedly that this nation is willingly to act aggressively in punishing minorities.

The same right-wing populist fears that fueled the Cold War anti-communism, rallied against the Civil Rights Movement and brought about the armed citizens militia movement in the 1990s have reappeared with an elaborate conspiracy theory about the reconquering of America – La Reconquista – the idea that Mexicans are invading America to reclaim it for Mexico.

Recently, Media Matters reported that G. Gordon Liddy, on his nationally syndicated radio show, stated that undocumented immigrants from Mexico “want to reconquer America.” Full story »

What you know about Cinco de May is only half the story. It is also known as the great mayonnaise mess.

Most people don’t know that back in 1912, Hellmann’s mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York. This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico. But as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York. The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost.

The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss. Their anguish was so great that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day. The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, of course, as Sinko de Mayo. Full story »

Officials from Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) removed a total of 183 young women, girls and boys from the Fundamentalist LDS Church’s compound near Eldorado, TX. According to Marleigh Meisner, spokesperson for CPS, told reporters they had removed 97 girls, 40 boys and 46 young women over the age of 18 from YFZ Ranch.

Eighteen of the girls removed from the compound were put legally into state custody because they appear to be “under threat of physical, mental or sexual abuse, or of neglect.” The remaining children have been taken to a local civic center for questioning and until authorities have found them foster homes. Full story »

Happy Belated International Women’s Day!!!

We should take this moment to reflect and recognize the importance of this day for women worldwide. Yesterday, women around the world celebrated the achievements they have made in their struggle for power and recognition that’s been waged for hundreds of years. In South America, we witnessed a change and attitudinal shift in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation. In Argentina, the people spoke and elected Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, making her the first woman to be elected president in Argentina’s history. In 2006, in Chile, Michelle Bachelet became the first woman president. And Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made history by becoming Africa’s first elected female head of state and Liberia’s first elected female president. Fernández de Kirchner, Bachelet, Johnson Sirleaf and millions of women like them in many parts of the world have begun celebrating a new song of power, liberty, and justice. Full story »

With the race to win Democratic presidential nomination still too close to call, the decision most likely will not be determined by the people, but by the “superdelegates” during this summer’s Democratic National Convention. Superdelegates are Democratic Party members – those belonging to the National Committee, members of Congress, former leaders and other elected officials – and they represent 19.6% of the votes at the convention.

In the latest edition of Capital Eye, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics’ newsletter, it’s reported that Democratic superdelegates have received $904,200 in campaign contributions from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the last three years. Full story »

Since the launch of the “global war on terror,” a large majority of Americans have been encouraged to cower under the pseudo-protective umbrella of a permanent Nation Security State. Last year I wrote several posts about the current prison-industrial complex and the increasing number of privatized prisons being used to house thousands of detained immigrants. The rise of the prison-industrial complex is one the most disturbing things going on in this country. According to a recent report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics – released on June 30, 2006 and revised in July 2007 – there are over 2 million people behind bars in the United States.

At the time of the report, there were about 180,000 in federal custody, 1.2 million in state custody, and 760,000 in local jails. Full story »

When I was asked to do a writeup for Oscar Zeta Acosta as our latest Scroguero, I was happy to do it. I, like most people who hear Oscar’s name, know him for his literary works, Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (1972) and The Revolt of the Cockroach People (1973). As I was doing my research, though, I realized that Oscar—a legendary, compelling figure in Chicano history—remains in the shadows of the general American culture. He has never really gotten his due.

Acosta’s name is not one that rings many bells today, and if it does, most people remember him as being the inspiration for Dr. Gonzo, the character immortalized in Hunter S. Thompson’s book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In Fear, the character of Dr. Gonzo—a man with a gargantuan appetite for food, drugs and dangerous living—is the perfect complement to Thompson’s journalist alter ego, Raoul Duke, who uses his assignment to cover an off-road race as an excuse to overindulge in booze and drugs in Vegas.

Full story »

In recent years, at the start of each new election cycle, the political cliché describing the Latino/a population is the “sleeping giant.” If awakened, it would have a profound impact on America’s political and social landscape. The Latino voting community has recently emerged as a critical political force in American presidential elections. Except for Cuban-Americans in Florida, many Latinos/as have supported the Democratic Party. With the increasing numbers of Latinos/as, there has been a surge of interest in mobilizing Latino political participation. Both Democrats and Republicans know that no serious politician can ignore the Latina/o vote. However, courting the Latina/o vote has become a political conundrum for both parties.

In an effort to confront the “immigration problem,” both parties have been walking a very thin rope, which could bring monumental, long-term damage to both Democratic and Republican Parties. These effects have already been felt. During last year’s Congressional election, when Democrats swept control of Congress, it is widely believed that the current Republican tone toward immigrants widely cost the GOP the Latino vote. Things can get worse for the Republican Party during the 2008 elections. According to Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, 12 million new immigrant voters will now be able to participate in the 2008 elections. Full story »

We had The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Temptation Island, Joe Millionaire, Who Wants to Marry My Dad, and many more. The latest reality show being marketed to the major networks by the entertainment industry will certainly add more fuel to the heated immigration debate.

Reuters recently reported that a Los Angeles company, Morusa Media, is marketing a new reality game show called “Who Wants to Marry a US Citizen.” Like other reality dating game shows, the show is also hoping to create a love match; however, the goal is to create marriages between immigrants who already have their temporary visas (green cards) and US citizens. Unlike other reality dating shows where a contestant eliminates several potential suitors until there is only one suitor left, the show will use the same format as the 1960s The Dating Game where a bachelorette (US citizen) will ask three bachelors – who are legal immigrants – a variety of questions. The twist: at the end of the show, the bachelorette will decide which one she would like to marry. Angelo Gonzales, the show’s host, says the “show [will] NOT marry people nor do [they] guarantee a marriage will result from the show.” However, they are willing to pay for both the wedding and the honeymoon should a marriage result from the show. A statement on the show’s website, hookacitizen.com, also makes this claim. Full story »

Americans are proud that we are people with different backgrounds, faiths, viewpoints, and personal characteristics. However, there is a recent rise in hate crimes that contradicts the American identity as a caring, diverse and inclusive society. Since 9/11, an increasingly strident message of xenophobia has seeped into both fringe and mainstream political movements. A new climate of exclusion has formed as a result of this country’s heightened anxiety against racial, ethnic, and religious minorities. In this climate, violence toward those who are deemed outsiders because of their sexual orientation, gender, or disability may be less visible, but it is no less threatening.

Outside of the public view, the number of hate crimes taking place in the US is on the rise. This new climate of hate taking place in neighborhoods, educational institutions, and workplaces has made African-Americans, Latinas/os, Asian/Pacific Americans, immigrants, those with “unacceptable” gender and sexual orientations, and the disabled particular targets. Hate crimes driven by racist and other discriminatory animus are no less serious and no less pervasive, adding to everyday injustice a new constant of fear for those under threat. Full story »

The big story throughout the day yesterday was the Minneapolis bridge collapse and the possible causes for it. Authorities are reporting that five people are confirmed dead and eight were still missing and presumed dead inside submerged vehicles. Another 79 people are injured, five of them critically. As more information continues, we’ll be finding some ugly truths about our bridges and roads in America.

Officials have said that the eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was in the midst of being repaired and two lanes in each direction were closed when the bridge buckled. It was reported that the center section of the bridge dropped straight down and pancaked in the middle of the river, leaving several vehicles stranded on a broken island of wreckage. As divers plumbed the waters, other rescuers searched frantically for victims amid broken, zigzagged sections of blacktop. Some of the injured were carried up the riverbanks. Full story »