Copwatch and Anarchists help bring down Sheriff Joe; Homeland Security finally ends 287g with MCSO

My earlier post was critical that the US Department of Justice hasn't gone far enough to prosecute Joe Arpaio, but my Spacebook community reminds me that a lot of people helped move the feds to act as they did today, and that was no small piece of ground we just took. It led to the decision by Homeland Security to finally cancel the 287g agreement they have with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO), as noted below by Janet Napolitano. 

Without the work as well as the sacrifice of a lot of people - folks who don't put on body armor and guns, but have taken great personal risk nonetheless to document and fight our dear sheriff's crimes - today's DOJ ultimatum to Maricopa County never would have come. So, while I wish we were getting more from the feds (and sooner), I'm grateful to all those in this community that helped get us this far. 

Much of the evidence the DOJ and ACLU have against the MCSO - particularly in regards to their practice of racial profiling - was provided by people like Dennis Gilman and a fleet of observers with camcorders (organized by everyone from the unions to PUENTE) trained by Phoenix Copwatch (full of anarchists).  Props to the undocumented targets of racism, the UUs and black bloc(kers) alike who turned out for the protests when they were both big and small, to keep Arpaio's criminality and his incompetence in the public eye. Finally, thanks to all those journalists, (left and center) and bloggers who have helped amplify the voice of resistance out here, too, rather than just echo what comes out of the MCSO's propaganda machine.

So, relish this day and what comes of it; let's just not forget that the bigger picture without this one man - the capitalist, white supremacist patriarchy and prison industrial complex that have devastated so many lives and communities - will continue to exist long after he's history. Remember, too, that the DOJ is part of perpetuating tyranny as well...

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Statement by Secretary Napolitano on DOJ’s Findings of Discriminatory Policing in Maricopa County

Release Date: December 15, 2011
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is troubled by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) findings of discriminatory policing practices within the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO).   Discrimination undermines law enforcement and erodes the public trust.  DHS will not be a party to such practices. Accordingly, and effective immediately, DHS is terminating MCSO’s 287(g) jail model agreement and is restricting the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office access to the Secure Communities program.  DHS will utilize federal resources for the purpose of identifying and detaining those individuals who meet U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) immigration enforcement priorities.  The Department will continue to enforce federal immigration laws in Maricopa County in smart, effective ways that focus our resources on criminal aliens, recent border crossers, repeat and egregious immigration law violators and employers who knowingly hire illegal labor.”

O'odham Solidarity: Border Patrol Lockdowners Not Guilty

I can't begin to articulate how proud I am to call these people my friends and comrades...

love and power to you all.


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Border Patrol Headquarters Occupation Protesters Found Not Guilty-Reaffirms Call to End Border Militarization

by Alex Soto on Thursday, June 30, 2011 at 2:34am

NEWS RELEASE

DATE: Thursday June 29, 2011

Contact: Alex Soto

Phone: 602-881-6027

Email: stopbordermilitarization@gmail.com

Border Patrol Headquarters Occupation Protesters Found Not Guilty

Reaffirms Call to End Border Militarization

Chuckson (Tucson), AZ - The six protesters who locked-down and occupied the United

States Border Patrol (BP) – Tucson Headquarters on May 21, 2010 were found not guilty on the remaining count of a disorderly conduct "with serious disruptive behavior” charge.

The legal defense, William G. Walker and Jeffrey J. Rogers, argued that the remaining charge of disorderly conduct did not apply because it did not meet any of the statutes of the charge. After three hours of deliberation, the judge found the six not guilty.

The city prosecutor had attempted to re-introduce the previously misfiled criminal trespassing as a misdemeanor charge, but this charge was dismissed after the first trial date for the occupiers in February. After an objection by the defense, the state’s motion was denied.

“Today’s not guilty verdict shows that we, as O’odham, are not the ones who are disorderly. It is the Border Patrol, the Department of Homeland Security, and the various levels of government that perpetrate the violence in our communities,” stated Alex Soto, Tohono O’odham, one of the protesters and member of O’odham Solidarity Across Borders Collective. “When will the institutions, whose conduct continues for more than 500 years of trespassing, that terrorize indigenous and migrants communities, be held accountable?”

“No state entity can deny peoples’ inherent right to freedom of movement," said Marisa Duarte, one of the protesters standing trial. "Borders are a colonial weapon used to continue the genocide of indigenous people and their culture. Through trade they exploit natural resources and use the profits to further the progress of neo-liberal infrastructure projects such as CANAMEX and NAFTA. This results in the criminalization of those who defy borders through living their lives traditionally. You see the forced relocation of families from borders all around the world. Today we say no more to this criminalization of people.”

O’odham Elders and community members attended the court proceedings to demonstrate their support.

“Today we celebrate our victory in court, but understand this is just one step in ending border militarization. We took action last May in order to directly confront the issues in our communities by physically intervening and occupying the Border Patrol station.

Since that time, many have answered the call to end border militarization, and victories like today have inspired more action,” said Franco Habre.

As the six waited for the state’s decision, 16 angry community members targeted the prison firm G4S (formally Wackenhut) and were cited criminal trespassing charges. The 16 declared in no uncertain terms their opposition to the company’s profiteering at the expense of immigrant communities in Tucson, across the nation and throughout the world. Their action, which was organized autonomously by Tucson community members, was carried out under the banner of Direct Action for Freedom of Movement

The six still stand firmly with their commitment and demands to end border militarization and their initial demands are listed below:

- Immediately withdraw National Guard Troops from the US/Mexico border

- Immediately halt development of the border wall

- Immediately remove drones and checkpoints

- Decommission all detention camps and release all presently held undocumented migrants

- Immediately honor Indigenous Peoples rights of self-determination

- Fully comply with the recently signed UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous

Peoples

- Respect Indigenous People's inherent right of migration

- End NAFTA, FTAA and other trade agreements

- Immediately end all CANAMEX/NAFTA Highway projects (such as the South

Mountain Freeway)

- Immediately repeal SB1070 and 287g

- End all racial profiling

- No BP encroachment/sweeps on sovereign Native land

- No raids and deportations

- Immediate and unconditional regularization (“legalization”) of all people

- Uphold human freedom and rights

- Uphold the rights of ALL Indigenous People - repeal HB 2281, support the UN

Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People

- Support dignity and respect

- Support and ensure freedom of movement for all people

Soto concluded, “This action was a prayer. We’d like to thank those who stood with us during this process and to all who firmly stand with us to end border militarization. The occupation of the Border Patrol station was never about any group/organization, or us, it was about directly confronting the terror that the state unleashes upon indigenous and migrant communities, so we can critically challenge border militarization. As an O’odham, I always think back to my grandparents’ teachings: We as O’odham people have always traveled freely, regardless of the border. It’s our land, who we are, and we will defend it.”

To view the occupation video and for additional resources please visit:

www.oodhamsolidarity.blogspot.com

www.survivalsolidarity.wordpress.com

No More Deaths, detention, deportation, or violence against migrants.

No More Deaths Welcomes Department of Justice Lawsuit, Calls for Overhaul of Immigration Management and Moratorium on Raids and Removals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—July 7, 2010
Contact: Danielle Alvarado
Cell Phone: (408) 646-2175
Email: media@nomoredeaths.org

Tucson, Arizona—No More Deaths welcomes Tuesday's announcement that the Department of Justice is filing a lawsuit against SB 1070, the most extreme among recent discriminatory measures passed by the Arizona legislature. In addition to preempting the federal government's sole jurisdiction over immigration enforcement, the implementation of SB 1070 is predicated on racial profiling; it promotes distrust between local communities and law enforcement; and it fails to uphold basic principles of fairness and equality.

Between June 14 and June 22, 2010, humanitarian volunteers at the Kino Border Initiative migrant aid center in Nogales, Sonora conducted interviews with 125 men and women recently removed from the United States. Of those interviewed, 26% (32 individuals) were taken from their families and communities in the interior of the country. SB 1070 would simply exacerbate this trend, which has proliferated under the Obama administration.

While the Department of Justice lawsuit may lead to an injunction before SB 1070 is due to take effect, the unfortunate reality is that this law is merely a symptom of a larger climate of fear-mongering and ill-considered policies that extend far beyond Arizona. While Obama denounces SB 1070, nothing is said about 287(g) agreements or other federal policies that lead to the de facto implementation of many of the practices that SB 1070 enshrines. The culture of abuse and impunity that pervades federal immigration enforcement, from Seattle to Miami, is especially apparent along the Southwest border, which is overrun with border enforcement personnel and infrastructure with limited oversight, accountability, or institutional safeguards for protecting human and civil rights.

The administration's approach to immigration enforcement is fundamentally flawed and continues to criminalize workers and families while doing nothing to address the broken state of our immigration system or the root causes of migration. The recent deadly tasering of a man in California and shooting of a 15-year-old boy near Ciudad Juarez by Border Patrol agents are symptoms of the violence perpetuated by militarized border enforcement. Since 2006 No More Deaths volunteers have interviewed thousands of individuals leaving Border Patrol custody, documenting hundreds of cases involving excessive force, verbal and physical abuse, and denial of access to water, family members, and accurate legal information. The federal government must do more to hold its agents responsible for their actions, and should immediately suspend all immigration detention and removal until comprehensive immigration reform is enacted that protects the rights, life and dignity of every person.

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No More Deaths provides direct humanitarian assistance to women, men and children forced into the remote Arizona desert by US border policies. More than 6,000 have died along the border since 1998. Since 2006, No More Deaths volunteers have received over 500,000 recently repatriated migrants in aid stations in Northern Sonora, and documented a series of abuses in the custody of the US Border Patrol Agents. In 2008 No More Deaths released a detailed report, Crossing the Line: Human Rights Abuses of Migrants in Short-Term Custody on the Arizona/Sonora Border, which presents over 400 individual accounts of Border Patrol abuses, along with analysis and policy recommendations. The stories were collected over a two-year period, beginning as a natural outgrowth of our direct aid work on the border.

Download a copy of the report at: http://nomoredeaths.org/Border-Patrol-Abuse-Report/.

SB 1070: We will resist this police state.

Call to Action for Human Rights!

Join us in Arizona July 23-30, 2010!

Summer of Human Rights
Alto Arizona

National Week Against Criminalization!

Stop SB1070! Stop 287g! Stop Arpaio!

From Selma to Phoenix, From Civil Rights to Human Rights, and the Rights of Mother Earth!

Resistance has sparked across the state of Arizona and the country to defeat SB1070 and all racist policies that further criminalize our people and separate families. Knowing that if SB1070 is not stopped now similar laws will spread throughout the country:

We demand that the Obama Administration take decisive action and not comply with Arizona’s SB1070. It can only terrorize our communities if the federal government cooperates with it.

We demand that all ICE ACCESS programs such as 287(g), Secure Communities, and the CAP programs be suspended.

We demand Arizona institutions such as Cities, Towns, Police Jurisdictions, Universities, Colleges, K-12 Schools, School Districts and Businesses to publically state that they will not comply and will not cooperate with SB1070.

We call on people from around the country to come to Phoenix and stand in solidarity with the communities of Arizona to stop the implementation of SB1070!

We call that all those in that cannot come to Arizona, have solidarity actions in their home communities.

July 29th 2010

Don’t Work! Don’t buy! Don’t comply!

If individuals or groups are planning Non-violent civil disobedience or direct action against the racist laws targeting migrant communities in Arizona, below are suggestions on how to best direct your energy.

Suggested Areas include:

• ICE Headquarters

• Wells Fargo building/Joe Arpaio's office

• Detention Centers

• Jails

• Arizona State Capitol

• Areas related to Russell Pearce, Joe Arpaio and Jan Brewer

• Boycott Targets:
o Diamondbacks
o Fiesta Bowl

• School Districts who have not publically stated that they will not comply

• Police Jurisdictions who have not publically stated that they will not comply

• Cities and towns who have not publically stated that they will not comply

In recognition of the past and on going organizing and resistance happening in Arizona we ask that groups or individuals coming to please respect the following guidelines.

Guidelines:

• Participants will not inflict harm/injury to persons

• Participants will not inflict harm/damage to property

• We encourage people to think about how their actions can communicate to a broad audience and invite people to learn more about what is going on

• We encourage people to use creative and positive tactics

• Participants will not carry drugs/weapons

• Participants to not carry ID on July 29th and moving forward.

• Participants will come as self-organized action teams and affinity groups.

Please contact: actionforhumanrights@gmail.com.

PUENTE Detention Protest Thursday, Noon-1pm.

Local Activists Demand “Dignity not Detention” and Call for an End to Human Rights Abuses in Arizona

Submitted by sshah on February 24, 2010 - 17:27

PHOENIX – Local activists and community members will participate in a solidarity action in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in central Phoenix where they will deliver a letter calling on the federal government to end all immigration enforcement agreements with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office(MCSO). The action will take place from 12:00pm to 1:00pm ending with a press conference at 1:00pm. 

Despite DHS announcements made last fall regarding plans to reform the immigrant detention system, there is little evidence of change. In addition to detaining 3,000 immigrants in Arizona daily, and over 33,000 nationally, the Department of Homeland Security continues to work with MCSO through a 287(g) agreement in the county jails.

Who: Puente, American Civil Liberties Union-AZ

What: Action in front of ICE Office in Phoenix, Delivery of Letter calling on the federal government to end all immigration enforcement agreements with the Maricopa Country Sheriff's Office. 

When: 12:00pm-1:00pm Thursday February 25th, 2010

Where: 2035 N. Central Avenue Phoenix, AZ 

For more information about Puente please contact Carlos Garcia at carlos@puenteaz.org or call 602-314-5870

Tricks of the Trade for the MCSO

 Isn't that something - the state can throw you in jail for not having enough money to pay a traffic ticket - and that's if you're lucky and you're a citizen...I guess they have to bust them on traffic offenses because the truth is, they aren't really a bunch of criminals - what else can they bust them on? All their rhetoric about dangerous criminal aliens among us falls apart as soon as the facts and figures of who's getting arrested for what comes out.

Deputies should be walking out en masse when ordered to do "crime suppression sweeps". Prosecutors, too, when those people are brought before them.

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MCSO using outstanding traffic, license fines to arrest immigrants

Phoenix Business Journal - by Mike Sunnucks

Tuesday, September 8, 2009, 2:50pm MST   

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio may have a way to bypass possible changes in federal immigration law by arresting illegal immigrants on outstanding charges such as unpaid traffic tickets and fines for not having drivers’ licenses, according to immigration attorneys and Hispanic activists who monitor the agency’s activities.


The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Web site lists 30 individuals arrested over the past three days for not paying fines, another 24 had charges that included missing court dates. The information, however, did not specify whether the individuals were undocumented.



The failure to pay fine charge means the MCSO and other police agencies can arrest illegal immigrants without getting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement approval at the time of the arrest. Immigration charges can be added after defendants are booked, said sources, some of whom asked not to be identified.


“If there is an outstanding warrant for failure to pay fines, then MCSO can pick up the person on the warrant itself, regardless of their immigration status and not have to get into that with the person or call ICE — because it will be addressed when the person gets booked in jail,” said Margarita Silva, a Phoenix attorney with the law office of Navidad, Leal & Silva.


“I think this is because, simply paying a traffic ticket — even in municipal court or a justice court, as opposed to mail — does not usually expose one to immigration questioning, a requirement to produce ID or contact with law enforcement. The courts in general allow people to come in and pay or make payment arrangements without any issues at all,” Silva said.


The MCSO has a 287(g) agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE that allows local police to arrest illegal immigrants. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano has proposed amending such pacts to shift the focus from the business raids and crime sweeps popular with Arpaio to criminal syndicates and violent crimes.


Arpaio told the Phoenix Business Journal last week he is optimistic that something can be worked out on the 287(g) agreements and stressed he can still enforce immigration laws via the state’s employer sanctions law the Legal Arizona Workers Act.

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Here, by the way, is another YouTube Video of MCSO Deputies harassing the people documenting their racial profiling last weekend - this one was at Gran Mercado.

Up-coming MCSO racial profiling plans

Note that Arpaio is sending his squadron out to terrorize latino drivers and their children, again...stay tuned:

Migrant arrest program under fire

Groups urge Obama to end pacts with local law enforcers

by Daniel González - Aug. 28, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

 

President Barack Obama is facing growing pressure from some civil-rights, labor, religious and pro-immigrant groups to end a program that lets local authorities enforce the country's immigration laws.

 

Hundreds of the groups on Wednesday issued a call to terminate the program, saying it can lead to racial profiling and isn't an effective anti-immigration tool.

 

To address some of those ongoing concerns, the Obama administration narrowed the program's focus last month to target dangerous criminals and not illegal immigrants who haven't committed other crimes. But it also expanded the program to more law-enforcement agencies

"ICE takes the concerns raised about the program by the signatories to this letter very seriously," said Matt Chandler, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the program known as 287(g) through Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

 

"The new, standardized 287(g) agreements that were announced in July strengthen ICE's oversight of the program and make our communities safer by identifying and removing criminal aliens who pose a public-safety threat."

 

The most controversial participant is Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who said Thursday that he is close to signing a new contract that will let his deputies and jail officials continue arresting and identifying illegal immigrants.

 

"There are a couple of points that have to be resolved," Arpaio said, "and I am sure that can be done. . . . As soon as I get the revised (agreement), I'll just sign it."

 

Arpaio had threatened to bow out of the program after Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano revamped it amid allegations that Arpaio was using the program to go after low-level illegal immigrants instead of dangerous criminals. Congressional auditors also had recently found that the program lacked adequate supervision. Arpaio is also facing a Justice Department investigation into allegations of civil-rights violations tied to his participation in the program.

 

Civil-rights and Hispanic groups want the administration to do more. More than 500 groups mailed Obama a letter on Wednesday, demanding that the program be killed. The groups, including the National Immigration Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union, the Anti-Defamation League, Pax Christi, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Council of La Raza, say the program does nothing to solve illegal immigration and has led to civil-rights abuses by local police.

 

The groups are angry that the Obama administration has expanded the program by signing agreements with 11 law-enforcement agencies; 66 agencies signed agreements under the George W. Bush administration.

 

"Local police should not be in the business of enforcing immigration laws because it terrorizes immigrant communities and causes racial profiling," said Salvador Reza, an immigrant advocate who runs the Macehualli Work Center in Phoenix. The center is part of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, one of the groups calling for an end to the program.

 

Chris Newman, the organization's legal director, singled out the Sheriff's Office as an example of how the program has done more harm than good.

 

"We have seen the ravaging effects on communities the 287(g) program has had in Maricopa County," Newman said. "It has created tremendous distrust of law enforcement and police, unnecessarily separated families and resulted in massive civil-rights violations."

 

Arpaio said Thursday that he is planning another crime-suppression operation. He invited groups who signed the letter to come see the operation to prove deputies aren't violating civil rights.

 

Nationally, the program has resulted in the identification of more than 100,000 illegal immigrants, including nearly 30,000 by Maricopa County personnel. The program gives local police and jail officials the authority to question people they arrest, or who have been booked into jails, about their immigration status.

 

Jim Pendergraph, a former Mecklenburg County sheriff in North Carolina, said jail officials there identified more than 4,000 illegal immigrants who were booked.

 

"If it's used right, it is a very beneficial tool, and if there is a problem with it, then fix that and don't throw the baby out with the bathwater," said Pendergraph, who also ran the ICE office that coordinated the program with local and state agencies.

 

The program has been so popular that Homeland Security had to reject dozens of applications due to funding shortfalls, said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee and co-author of the law that created the program. "Local law-enforcement agencies deserve our thanks for helping to remove illegal immigrants from our communities before they threaten American lives and property," he said.

ACLU Racial Profiling Suit Against MCSO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: ACLU

(ACLU Press Release)
August 19, 2009
3:10 PM

ACLU Sues Maricopa County Sheriff's Office for Illegal Arrest and Detention of US Citizen and Legal Resident; Men Stopped 100 Yards From Worksite Raid

PHOENIX - August 19 - The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Arizona filed a lawsuit today challenging the illegal arrest and detention of a U.S. citizen and a legal resident by Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) deputies. The two men were driving down a public roadway when they were stopped and arrested without justification, and transported to the site of an immigration raid.

"Our clients suffered egregious constitutional violations and were terrified when held against their will for three hours by armed MCSO personnel," said Dan Pochoda, Legal Director of the ACLU of Arizona and lead counsel on the case. "Sheriff Joe Arpaio's deputies had absolutely no reason to stop these two men and drag them off to a worksite raid. This is yet another example of MCSO sacrificing the rights and well being of workers in the name of immigration enforcement."

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona on behalf of Julian Mora, a legal permanent resident who has lived in the U.S. for 30 years, and his son Julio Mora, a U.S. citizen, against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Maricopa County. The lawsuit charges that the MCSO deputies racially profiled the father and son as they drove their pickup truck on a busy public road and illegally arrested and detained them, violating the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law and prohibition on unreasonable seizures.

Julian Mora was driving to work when, without provocation, an MCSO vehicle cut in front of him forcing him to stop abruptly. MCSO deputies then ordered the father and son out of their vehicle, then frisked and handcuffed them. Although the deputies had no reason to believe that the Moras had broken any law or were in the country unlawfully, they transported the Moras to Handyman Maintenance, Inc. (HMI), where MCSO was conducting a raid that morning. For the next three hours, the Moras were held at HMI, where they were denied food and water and forbidden contact with the outside world. They were not released until they were interrogated.

The ordeal was particularly humiliating for 66-year-old Julian Mora who, due to his diabetic condition, has difficulty controlling his bladder and had an urgent need to use the bathroom. MCSO personnel, however, rejected his repeated requests. Eventually, deputies escorted him outside where he was made to urinate in the parking lot. MCSO personnel later mocked his son Julio when he had to use the bathroom, because he had difficulty going with his hands still cuffed.

"To this day, I don't know why the officers stopped us out of all the cars on the road," said 19-year-old Julio Mora. "We were treated like criminals and never told why. I was very scared. I never thought something like this would happen to me. Now I know it can happen to anyone, citizens too. I don't think it's fair."

Arizona's draconian employer sanctions law and the federal 287(g) program have enabled MCSO personnel to question and arrest workers for alleged violations of federal immigration law. As a result, MCSO has aggressively stepped up local immigration enforcement efforts and conducted raids at worksites across the county with predominantly Latino employees. The raids have not resulted in the conviction of any employer for an employer sanctions violation.

"Local sheriff and police forces simply should not be in the business of enforcing immigration laws. Where state or local officers try to determine who is in the U.S. without permission, we see a pattern of conduct where law-abiding people cannot go about their business without government interference," said Cecillia Wang, a managing attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project. "Instead of violating our basic American rights by seizing people without any reason and singling them out for 'looking foreign,' MCSO should focus on dangerous crimes and maintaining a safe environment for everyone in Maricopa County."

Annie Lai, an ACLU of Arizona staff attorney, said "Arpaio's worksite raids - such as the raids last year on Artistic Land Management in Mesa, Gold Canyon Candle Company in Chandler, last week's raid on Royal Paper Converting and this raid on HMI - are frequently conducted in total disregard for people's constitutional rights and have resulted in the arbitrary detention of many law-abiding citizens and legal residents."

Lawyers on the case, Mora, et al. v. Arpaio, et al., include Wang and Harini Raghupathi of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project and Pochoda and Lai of the ACLU of Arizona.

The complaint is online at: www.aclu.org/immigrants/workplace/40773lgl20090819.html

More information about the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project is online at: www.aclu.org/immigrants/index.html