Border Patrol and the Fallen Father of Three...

They say he just "fell down".

Follow the title link below for the video and original editorial, but ignore most of the comments that follow it - there are some ugly people living here. I wish being a decent human being was a stipulation for being an American citizen; it would solve most of the problems we have today...

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Did Border Patrol almost kill a father of 3 US born children in Arizona?
Tucson Citizen
by Three Sonorans on Apr. 09, 2011

Jose Gutierrez Guzman




Jose lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and has a wife with three US born children.

Jose was brought here as a little boy and has never returned to Mexico since then. Even though Jose is 42 years old, and has been here since he was a child, Jose is undocumented.

The father of three was deported to Mexico.

His daughter was really sick, so he tried to come back to be with his family in Phoenix. He crossed over at the San Luis border crossing just south of Yuma, Arizona and ran into Border Patrol.

He is now clinging to life, having almost died.

His wife is asking the Border Patrol what happened? They said “he fell down.”

The Border Patrol simply said Jose "fell down." Was that after a beating?

When they say he fell down, was that after being hit in the head?

Then it comes out that he was tazed also… and the story keeps changing.

What makes this whole story worse is that Jose is undocumented, and all the hospital has to do is stabilize him before dumping, I mean deporting, him back into Mexico, a country he does not know..

I bet Russell Pearce, Ron Gould, and the rest of the Republicans, who claim to be Christians also, are all giddy over this. First this father of US born children was deported.

Then beat up and left for dead.

And now he gets to be deported again and left for dead.

I bet Jesus is happy right now also, looking down on the man who he died for and saying “tough luck Jose. I can forgive all your mortal sins, but not having your papers… shame on you!”

As he says this He is clearing a spot for Russell Pearce and the Border Patrol agents who may have beat down Jose. Good job and eternal paradise for enforcing the law over having basic humanity.

Oh wait, Russell Pearce, high priest of the Mormon Church doesn’t go to heaven but gets to rule his own planet free of black and brown people. Well, according to his religion that is the case.

According to other religions, there’s a nice warm spot in hell waiting for Russell Pearce and his hatred of humanity in the name of stupid paperwork and man-made laws.

What part of Human is Human doesn’t he understand?

And what part of Illegal is Illegal does Russell Pearce with his Fiesta Bowl scandal not understand?

Hands across the border: Vigil remembering Carlos La Madrid

From Border Action Network:

Walk and Vigil in Memory of Carlos LaMadrid

Friday, April 1st, 2011

3 PM

Starting Point: McDonald's

Corner of 5th St and Pan American Ave.

Douglas, AZ

We will walk south on Pan American Ave, then east on International Ave to the point on the border wall where Carlos was shot (20-30 minute walk).

We will then have a vigil with our brothers and sisters on the other side in Agua Prieta, Sonora to unite both sides of a border divided by walls and by hate in the face of this tragedy.

Please bring flowers, candles, signs, or whatever you would like to leave on the “Wall of Shame” in memory of Carlos.

Pulsa aqui para ver esta información en Español

Carlos LaMadrid: another child murdered by US Border Patrol agent for throwing stones.

This sad story keeps repeating itself. Our heavily-militarized US Border Patrol is still gunning down children throwing rocks (though we are told the real threat are the drug cartels), while Joe Arpaio is gearing up his amateur posse pilots to identify "illegal activity" from the sky so the Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies can pick off fleeing "suspects" with automatic weapons.

The AZ governor, meanwhile, wants her own private army to call up for whatever she "considers to be necessary" - which I suspect would be used to put down domestic disturbances as the masses slip deeper into debt and poverty, not to protect us from the alien invasion, as she would have the people believe.

Americans are really a sorry bunch of people. We're the ones perpetrating the most border state violence, hands down. Neither Brewer nor Arpaio have suggested using any of those precious resources to rescue desert crossers with, of course - a record number of whom died in 2010, despite the drop in migration...

And so, here we are again. Last night was the first I heard of this youth. If a Border Patrol officer is murdered, it's the crime of the century. Governor Brewer exploits it as a chance to amp up the war on all brown people passing through the state - redirecting hundreds of millions of health care dollars towards criminalizing and incarcerating more immigrants - while Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano personally declares the guy a hero and swears she will stop at nothing to solve the crime. If a latino child is murdered by an officer, though, his family and community are met with either these lame justifications from the feds for why the agent felt threatened, and stone cold silence from everyone else.

------------------From Border Action Network--------------

*Pulsa aqui para leer este artículo en Español*

Carlos La Madrid was known as the teenager who always smiled, who loved to play soccer, guitar and was learning to work with solar energy. This week however, his family has been mourning his death. On March 21st, Carlos La Madrid was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents near the border wall separating Douglas, Arizona from Agua Prieta, Sonora. He was 19 years old.

This is the second incident to shock the Arizona border region so far this year in which teenagers have been shot and killed by border guards in alleged rock-versus-bullets incidents. In January, 17-year-old Ramses Barrón Torres was shot and killed in Douglas, Arizona. That case is still under investigation.

Family and friends of Carlos La Madrid gathered near the site of the shooting to demand justice as they hung two banners on the border wall, one depicting a smiling Carlos playing the accordion, the second commissioned by Carlos’ soccer team that read “You will always be in our team and in our hearts.”

Holding back tears outside the family home, Marta, Carlos’ younger sister, remembered her slain sibling: “He was a great brother, he was always smiling and loved to play soccer,” she told organizers with Border Action Network, a human rights organization in Arizona.

Although federal authorities have not released any information on the incident, Border Patrol claims its agents were confronted by rocks throwers who were standing on the Mexican side.

“Rock throwing is often the pretext to justify shooting and killing migrants crossing the US-Mexico border. In this case, Carlos was a 19-year- old U.S. citizen and hometown boy of Douglas, Arizona,” explained Jennifer Allen, Executive Director of Border Action Network and co-chair of the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC), a recently-formed border-wide coalition of over 60 entities. Allen continued, “The Border Patrol agents took the law into their own hands, and acted as judge, jury and executioner and shot a teenager.”

This incident has also had a chilling effect on communities along the international divide with Mexico.

“Border communities from San Diego to Brownsville are saying enough is enough,” explains Christian Ramirez, a San Diego-based National Coordinator with the American Friends Service Committee and SBCC co-chair. “The growing pattern of agents shooting first and asking questions later is a border-wide epidemic that is rapidly diminishing the quality of life of border communities and trampling on the dignity of the millions of people who call the US-Mexico border home.”

The SBCC and its Arizona members expect:

1. For the FBI and the Cochise County Attorney’s office to conduct thorough and swift investigations that include investigating civil rights violations;

2. For Customs and Border Protection to institute new training for agents to better assess levels of threat and determine appropriate non-lethal responses; and

3. For all agencies involved to provide copies of incident reports to the family, including one that explains the delayed paramedics’ transport to the local hospital.


To see more photos and videos of Carlos and his family, click here.

Frontier Violence: Ramses Barron Torres.

Thoughts on how violence in America is received and perceived from my friend at Chaparral Respects No Borders. Read there when you can.

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Tucson Shooting Overshadows Border Shooting

Before Congresswoman Gifford and others were shot in Tuscon, Arizona , 17 year old Ramses Barron Torres was shot and killed by a bullet originating in Nogales, Arizona. There have been no national moments of silence for the apparently unarmed teenager. No memes speculating on the sanity of the shooter(s) or if violent rhetoric played a role. That’s probably because Ramses Barron Torres is Mexican and was shot by U.S. Border Patrol.

These points, made by Maegan La Mala on VivirLatino recently are ones that didn't really occur to me, even though I try to be aware of these sorts inconsistencies on the part of the media as well as the left. The article explores some of the stories around the circumstances surrounding Torres' death. But even if Torres had been throwing rocks, even if he had been on the US side of the border, the shooting was still unjustified. Certainly violent rhetoric played a role in this shooting, as it did in the shooting in Arivaca a year and a half ago.

Border patrol agents, like cops, get away with shootings and other violence on a regular basis. Even Ramos and Compean who were sentenced to prison for shooting at a man on the border (he didn't die), got their sentence commuted by Bush. It will be interesting to see what comes of this shooting. Either way, though, the outcry (as it is reported by the media as well as how it is coming across on the part of activists) is not nearly what it is in response to this shooting in Tucson. Yes, it is different that it was so out of the ordinary and that it was several people who were shot at once, but just because immigrants already live in a state of fear for their lives does not mean it's any less painful or traumatic.

Posted by chaparral at 2:07 PM Tuesday, January 11, 2011

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/.

Sergio Hernandez, dehumanization, and state violence

------------from RaceWire--------------

Anger, But No Shock at Border Patrol Shooting of Teen
Posted at 7:35 PM, Jun 08, 2010
Julianne Hing



Last night a 14-year-old boy named Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereca on the Mexican side of the El Paso-Juarez border was shot and killed by a Border Patrol officer, who was on the U.S. side. Reports of the actual exchange vary; the FBI has called the incident an “assault” on the Border Patrol officer, while others have focused on the death of the unarmed boy.

The shooting happened at 6:30 Monday night beneath the Puente Negro, an international bridge that crosses the Rio Grande. A group of teenagers who were trying to enter the United States were caught by Border Patrol, and depending on who you talk with, were either trying to escape from Border Patrol officers or were throwing rocks at them and assaulting them.

“It is clear to us that Border Patrol agents do not use restraint,” said Fernando Garcia, the executive director of the El Paso immigrant rights group Border Network for Human Rights. “We’re talking about a kid here.”

“We see a lot of rookie agents, because we are massively enforcing the border,” Garcia added. “There are now 20,000 Border Patrol agents, and they are not being trained well to respect the lives of people.”

Garcia’s group is demanding a swift, thorough investigation to hold the agency and its officers responsible, but added that the problem stemmed from a larger, systemic policy issue. “We are holding the Obama administration accountable,” he said. “Unfortunately, Obama is playing with politics. They have been exacerbating reality at the border.”

Last week, President Obama announced that he will be sending an extra $500 million and 1,200 National Guard troops to the border. According to the El Paso Times, of that $500 million, $200 million will go toward communication technology for law enforcement at the border. Another $50 million will go toward Operation Stonegarden, an initiative meant to combat violence at the border and the trafficking of firearms. The plan would set aside $170 million for hiring Customs and Border Protection agents, $32 million toward hiring 207 more Border Patrol agents, and $40 million would be dedicated to training them.

Obama's defended the plan as a strategy to fight violent crime along the border, thwart potential terrorists' entry into the country and capture immigrants who are trying to cross the border. Except that with the indiscriminate and growing militarization of the border, undocumented immigrants are equated with drug runners, who are then all equated with terrorists. The result has been an increased crackdown on border crossers with no violent record.

According to the pro-immigration think tank, the Immigration Policy Center, the federal government spends most of its time prosecuting low-level immigration crimes for first-time offenders who enter the country without papers. The much-feared drug traffickers only account for 16 percent of the total number of federal prosecutions these days.

And yet, the hysterical calls for more troops continues unabated from political opportunists like Sen. John McCain, who is expected to demand 6,000 more troops for the border.

According to Garcia, there is a disconnect between the reality of border life and the tenor of the national debate. "The farther you are from the border, the more chaotic it can look like," he said. "They have created an artificial reality, and they are discussing it with artifical arguments, and proposing artificial solutions."

Maria Jimenez, a longtime organizer who works with the Houston-based immigrant rights group America Para Todos, said last night's incident was not surprising, given the rapid pace of the militarization of the border that afforded little time for proper training of Border Patrol officers. And even though regular increases in security spending and troop escalations at the border are now routine, "the systems to hold the Border Patrol accountable for misconduct have not [been expanded]," said Jimenez.

"The Department of Homeland Security continues to operate with disregard for human rights and the civil rights consequences of the people that are being policed," Jimenez said.

Jimenez said that Sergio Hernandez's death is just one of many that occur every year--she recalled a year in the 1990's when Border Patrol agents were responsible for 33 unwarranted shootings. "Some of them we don't even know about, they just don't reach the public," Jimenez said. "They know about it, but we don't."

"Traditionally, the historical experience of unjustified shootings by Border Patrol have never turned the tide in terms of policy makers in D.C. deciding something has to be done about officer misconduct or about systems of redress," said Jimenez. "What one learns is that the undocumented person, or the person on the other side of the border, is not seen as a human being by the general public. As a result, the lack of any popular swell of outcry for accountability of this agency is what simply allows it to persist."

"You can say it was an unfortunate incident, but it's happened twice in two weeks," said Garcia, referring to the shooting death of 32-year-old Anastacio Hernandez on May 26. A Border Patrol officer shot Anastacio Hernandez with a stun gun in San Ysidro, California, near the city's border with Tijuana. A San Diego coroner has ruled his death a homicide.

Over a hundred people gathered on both sides of the border last week to protest Anastacio Hernandez's death. Mexican President Felipe Calderon issued a statement condemning the stun gun shooting as a "truly unacceptable" human rights violation.

"A death with that degree of violence is a truly unacceptable violation," Calderon said in his statement. "We need to raise all our voices, not only for Mexico but for human rights, because the cause of migrants is a cause that affects us all."

Garcia said Anastacio Hernandez's funeral is scheduled for tomorrow.

From No More Deaths - Phoenix...

Greetings,


below are incredibly disturbing news of incidents along the border. Keep an eye out for upcoming responses by No More Deaths.


Please share these stories with others.


1. Youtube video of Border Patrol shooting of Sergio Adrian Hernandez, 15, in El Paso:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRFETM86uAk&feature=email

SHOOTING DEATH OF TEEN ON TEXAS BORDER

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-border-shooting-20100610,0,6357135.story

The Mexican government Wednesday vigorously protested the shooting this week of a 15-year-old boy at Mexico's border with Texas. The boy, Sergio Hernandez Guereca, died of a wound to the face. U.S. officials say he died after a Border Patrol agent opened fire Monday night on a group of Mexicans throwing rocks at the agent, who was attempting to arrest suspected illegal immigrants...
[to read complete article, go to the link: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-border-shooting-20100610,0,6357135.story]



2. BORDER PATROL TASER DEATH OF ANASTASIO HERNANDEZ IN SAN DIEGO
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10211188.stm

Mexico has demanded a full investigation into the death of one of its citizens after he was beaten and shot with electric stun guns by US border patrol agents.

The incident happened as Anastasio Hernandez was about to be deported from the US state of California. A spokeswoman for the US Border Patrol said its officers had acted in self defence after he became violent.

Mr Hernandez had lived and worked in California for more than 20 years. In a statement, the Mexican foreign ministry expressed its "indignation" and condemned the events that led to his death.

Mr Hernandez died in a hospital near San Diego on Monday, three days after he was beaten and shot with Taser stun guns as agents tried to deport him...
[to read complete article, go to the link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10211188.stm]

3. 18% increase in human recovered remains this year over last (108).

BORDER PATROL "RESCUES" 2 MEXICANS IN THE DESERT

Posted: Jun 07, 2010 2:56 PM EDT

WELLTON, Ariz. (KGUN9-TV) - U.S. Border Patrol agents rescued two men stranded in the desert Thursday after they activated a rescue beacon near the Gila Mountains, the Border Patrol said Monday, in a media release.

Both men were Mexican citizens in the United States illegally, according to the Border Patrol. On Thursday afternoon, agents assigned to the Wellton Station responded to a rescue beacon activation about 15 miles southeast of the Fortuna Foothills near the Gila Mountains.

Agents found two adult males in need of water near the beacon, the release said. Here is more on the incident:
"Agents offered the men water and discovered that they had illegally entered the United States on May 30 and had been wandering the desert for nearly four days. Both men refused advanced medical care and were subsequently taken into custody and transported to the Wellton Border Patrol Station for processing.
"At the station, agents ran records checks on the men and learned that one of the subjects had been previously removed on four separate occasions after illegally entering the country. Both men were Mexican citizens.
"Since Oct. 1, 2009, Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents have rescued 17 people suffering from heat-related stress in the Arizona desert."

(That's all they've "rescued?" Look at how many have died... - Peg)

--

Laura Ilardo
No More Deaths-Phoenix
(602)818-5447
www.my.calendars.net/nomoredeaths

O'odham Solidarity Across Borders: Resisting militarization

Activists Lockdown & Occupy US Border Patrol Headquarters Demanding End to Border Militarization, Protesters Cited and Released

Saturday, May 22, 2010 

High resolution pictures and B-roll available at: www.oodhamsolidarity.blogspot.com

 

 Tucson, AZ – At approximately 1:00PM Friday, May 21, 2010 more than a dozen people occupied the Tucson Headquarters of the US Border Patrol to draw attention to impacts of border militarization in Indigenous Communities. Six people, including Alex Soto a member of the Tohono O'odham Nation and a volunteer with the group O’odham Solidarity Across Borders, locked themselves together for up to 3 and 1/2 hours. “Indigenous voices have been ignored. In our action today we say NO MORE!” Said Soto.

Banners were hung, including one placed over the reception window that read, “Stop Militarization of Indigenous Lands Now”, traditional songs were sung and the group chanted, “Border militarization destroys Indigenous communities!” and “No raids, no deportations! No SB1070, no racist laws!” Approximately 30 Border Patrol agents flooded the lobby of the headquarters and scrambled to react. Roads to the headquarters and adjacent air force base were shut down. Tucson City Police were eventually called and began preparing an extraction of the peaceful resisters.

A diverse crowd of up to 70 people quickly gathered outside the Border Patrol headquarters to support those locked down inside. Ofelia Rivas of O’odham Voices Against The Wall, an elder in support of the action stated, “It was a historical and powerful moment for people of all color to unite with O’odham to stand in solidarity for human rights and to see the next generation take a stand”.

At approximately 4 o’clock the peaceful resisters negotiated the conditions of their release on their terms. Their requests to consult with Tohono O’odham elders to negotiate terms of release were denied by Tucson Police. The protesters decided to unlock and were cited for two misdemeanors each of trespassing and disorderly conduct. The resisters were released just outside the premises to join supporters where they gathered in traditional prayer and rallied against border militarization for another hour. Community members including members of the Pasqual Yaqui, Tohono O'odham, and Dine' Nations reacted emotionally when two Wackenhut Corp. buses left the Border Patrol compound filled with undocumented people. The detainees responded with returning the symbol of resistance - a raised fist.

“This is just one action of many that makes visible the invisible crimes against humanity that occur every day on the colonial border,” stated one of the peaceful resisters. “We commit to honoring the prayers and call for support of the people most impacted by border militarization, the Indigenous Peoples who’s lands we are on and migrants who seek a better life for their families. We cannot not allow government agencies, border patrol, ICE or reformist agendas to further their suffering. We will continue our actions of peaceful resistance for human dignity and respect for all peoples.”

The action also denounced SB1070 and HB2281 as racist laws that are a part of an ongoing system of genocidal policies against Indigenous Peoples and migrant communities.

For previous Press Statement, please see attachment.

Note to editors, high resolution photos attached; Photo credits: O'odham Solidarity Across Borders Collective

Media Contacts:
Alex Soto (602) 881-6027
Leilani Clark (520) 982-5687

stopbordermilitarization@gmail.com