PIML 96060302 / Forwarded to Patriot Information Mailing List: [Today they come for illegal drug users and people who look like they might be illegal aliens. Tomorrow they come for patriots and others undesirable to the New World Order -- unless we go to work to stop them now.] PIML ================================================================== Date: Sun, 2 Jun 1996 13:56:54 -0400 From: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor) Subject: Matthew Gaylor on Immigration Immigration is one of the topics that flame the passions of certain individuals. I recently had to unsubscribe a couple of people from this list after getting threats because I sent a post on open immigration. I can only guess at their motivations, but they may include hate, envy and a complete and total lack of understanding of freedom. My minds eye imagined my attackers as little men, robbed in the sheets of anonymity and ignorance. I see many comparisons in the INS crackdown on illegal immigration and the war on drugs. In the last ten years the US Federal Government has escalated the 80 year war on the sale and importation of illicit drugs. Nobody seems to care when a drug addicts constitutional rights are routinely violated by illegal searches, forfeiture of money and property without trial, and other abuses. Now the leviathan is unleashed to interdict the flow of illegal aliens. This program won't work, just as the war on drugs has been a complete failure. These police and military forces have succeeded in trashing the Bill of Rights and now I wonder if the leviathan can be held in check. I'm not religious but I find this passage from Acts, Chapter 17-v26 especially noteworthy: "God hath made of one blood all nations of men." Regards, Matt Gaylor- ================================================================== Date: Sun, 2 Jun 1996 14:15:27 -0400 From: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor) Subject: Border Patrol Abuses By Roberto C. Gonzalez Reply-To: libernet-d@listserv.rmii.com Civil Wrongs In the continuing saga of Border Patrol abuses, violent confrontation is on the rise. By Roberto C. Gonzalez It was the middle of the night in the border city of Brownsville, Texas, and Eloy Trujillo was returning home. He was just minutes from his front door when he pulled up to an intersection in his 1970 Chevy Nova. In the next lane was a green and white Border Patrol truck. Trujillo says he remembers seeing the Border Patrol agents but didn't pay much attention to them while sitting at the stop light. The Rio Grande, the dividing line between the U.S. and Mexico in South Texas, was less than a mile away and Border Patrol agents had become a much more common sight within the last few months. Trujillo, a 35-year-old U.S.-born American citizen, had lived most of his life in Brownsville and had even served in the U.S. Army. There was absolutely no reason for him to worry about the Border Patrol agent next to him. They were simply there to protect the country's border from illegal immigrants."I guess I was wrong," Trujillo said. "I'll never make that mistake again." As he continued home, the agent followed him, even turning on his flashing lights just a couple of blocks from Trujillo's street. "I remember thinking that there was no reason for him to be following me, so I just kept on going," Trujillo said. "I just wanted to get home." When he got out his car, the agent approached him. Trujillo said that he was about to say something when the agent, without provocation, struck him. "He didn't say anything, didn't ask me anything, didn't let me say anything, just, wham, and he begins pounding on me." Trujillo's 86-year-old grandmother could only watch from the front porch while he was beaten and then handcuffed to a fence. He was so badly whipped that he had to be taken to a hospital before being arrested. He required half a dozen stitches and had to be treated for bruises. To add insult to injury, it is Trujillo, not the Border Patrol agent, who is now facing felony assault charges. If convicted of assaulting a federal officer, Trujillo could receive up to ten years in prison. Border Patrol officials contend that Trujillo, an unemployed mechanic, acted "suspiciously" when he drove away from the intersection. They claim he was driving on the wrong side of the road and refused to yield to the authority of agents who tried to pull him over. He then aggravated the situation by trying to strike at an officer and even went as far as trying to pull the agent's gun out of his holster. The FBI has begun an investigation to determine what exactly happened that night in early October. Trujillo's case is not an isolated incident. Cases of Border Patrol agents assaulting civilians, even American citizens, have become much more common since the federal government authorized millions of dollars for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to hire more personnel and equipment to enforce the nation's borders. "The number of abuse cases is increasing because of the dramatic increase in enforcement personnel being deployed along the border," said Roberto Martinez with the U.S. Border Program in San Diego. The U.S. Border Program, as well as several other immigrant rights groups, have now begun documenting civil rights violations committed by Border Patrol agents against the tax-payers in whose interest they are employed. The list is a long one. Last year a 22-year-old Brownsville man was acquitted of attempting to shoot a Border Patrol agent while hunting along the Rio Grande. He had been shot in the leg by agents who claimed not only that he was smuggling immigrants but also that he would have shot at the agents if they hadn't fired first. Civil rights complaints have been filed with the Justice Department by several New Mexico residents who have been harassed by El Paso Sector Border Patrol agents at checkpoints near the New Mexico-Mexico border.The incidents have also proven to be embarrassing for the relationship between the countries. A beauty queen who was serving as a goodwill ambassador from Mexico was detained for two hours at the border by Border Patrol agents who lifted her dress and felt her belly, accusing her of coming to this country to have a baby. "This happens all the time," Martinez said. "Young Latina, or Chicana, women are the main targets for their physical abuse because they are the most vulnerable. "They [Border Patrol agents] figure that well, because they're illegal they get to do whatever they want to them because they have always gotten away with it. They've always felt that they are not accountable to anyone." Sometimes, however, agents will step forward to turn in one of their own. That is extremely rare and risky. Five agents from San Diego were fired for allegedly throwing rocks at illegal immigrants, injuring one, and trying to cover it up. A rookie agent involved in the incident later reported the coverup and apparently suffered a campaign of retribution by other agents. Martinez said that an increasing number of abuse complaints is not surprising. With more immigrants coming to the U.S. and more agents along the border the chances for violent confrontations had to increase, he said. The INS has been cited for more than external cases of abuse toward immigrants. Evidence of an unfriendly attitude toward toward the department's own Hispanic employees has also recently surfaced. More than 50 Hispanic managers and line officers at the INS have entered a complaint with the Justice Department alleging that they have not only been discriminated against on issues of hiring but have suffered racial slangs and animosity against them as Hispanics at the INS by fellow, non-Hispanic employees. Last summer the federal government authorized a $486 million increase to the INS's already hefty $2 billion annual budget. The money almost changed the face of the border. From agents patrolling the downtown streets in Brownsville, to agents stationed at sentry points along the Rio Grande in El Paso, to high concrete-and-metal walls dividing the U.S. and Mexico at San Diego, the nation's southern border has begun to look increasingly like a military camp. "We need to demilitarize the border," Martinez said. "The government is working hard to create NAFTA, while at the same time they are creating a war zone. You don't see that happening on the Canadian border." Since 1994 INS has added agents and increased patrols in an effort to catch more illegal immigrants. The number of agents increased 12 percent from a high of 4,031 in 1994 to a total of 4,495 in 1995. Apprehensions increased 15 percent from 446,360 in 1994 to 511,870 in 1995. "This administration has recognized that illegal immigration has been a challenge to us," said Lisa Ross, spokeswoman for the INS in Washington D.C. "We need the resources to enforce the law. Immigration has grown in complexity. It has become a very political issue, especially in the Southwest. Our responsibility is to ensure our national integrity along the border," Ross said. But even as more money and agents have been pouring into the border, complaints of abuse reported to the INS offices in Washington D.C. have dropped from 196 in 1994 to 65 last year [according to ?]. The INS issued posters and complaint forms printed in both English and Spanish to increase the complaint options available to detainees. The posters and forms are displayed in plain view in each INS processing, holding, and public access area. They are, however, ignored by victims of abuse, immigrant rights groups say. Groups that monitor the Border Patrol however, have tracked an ever-increasing number of cases of abuse on both immigrants and citizens. Since September 1994 Proyecto Libertad, an immigration advocacy group in South Texas, has documented 62 cases of abuse ranging from physical mistreatment and verbal abuse to violations of due process and unwarranted strip searches. Proyecto Libertad Director Jonathan Jones says that is it difficult enough getting people to speak out, much less file a complaint. "People are willing to some degree to complain, but there is a definite hesitancy to lodge a formal complaint," he said. Many people have family members who work with the Border Patrol and in an area where jobs are hard to find, a good federal job is important to keep, Jones said. "It is the best job in town, and it is on the federal payroll, so people are not going to be too vocal against an agency that is keeping their relatives employed," Jones said "At the same time, many of their grandparents have for years told them stories about the abuses they've suffered over the years. To a lot of people it is simply the way things are." In contrast, INS officials maintain that Border Patrol agents are among the most highly trained federal officers and are held to high moral standards. The Border Patrol training program is one of the longest and most difficult of any law enforcement agency. Agents receive four-and-a-half months of training in ethics and integrity, immigration law, criminal law, and narcotics violations, as well as police training and Spanish language skills at the Border Patrol Academy in Glynco,Georgia. Agents also receive six months of post-academy training at the sector to which they are assigned. The post-academy training involves both classroom and field work and agents remain on probation for a total of twelve months. The Border Patrol Academy in 1994 also began a cultural awareness training program with officials of the Government of Mexico. Academy instructors attended seminars on subjects such as Mexican history and culture, as well as the role of the Mexican Consular office. They are also briefed routinely on border issues of concern to both the U.S. and Mexico. "We try to stress that as public servants that we must uphold the highest moral standards we can," said Ross. But critics say that no matter what the official policy is in Washington, D.C., the rank and file agents in the field are operating in a different environment. It is an environment that echoes the general anti-immigrant mood of the entire country. [Last year Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich proposed a bill that would curb illegal immigration by requiring hospitals to report illegal immigrants who go to emergency rooms for treatment. It further denies federal education funds for undocumented children and calls for a fortified border and a constitutional amendment ending automatic citizenship for children born of undocumented immigrants on U.S. soil. Virtually all federally funded welfare benefits would be denied to illegal immigrants. They could still receive emergency medical treatment, but would risk being turned into the Border Patrol and possibly deported if they went to hospital emergency rooms. The bill is modeled after Proposition 187, which California voters approved in November 1994. It denies public education and nonemergency health care to illegal immigrants and requires doctors, teachers, and welfare workers to turn in those suspected of being in the country illegally. - this paragraphs to be updated] "The backlash against immigrants has just gotten out of control," Martinez said. "At checkpoints, everyone is now suspect... but strictly based on your skin color. Agents must be expected to respect everyone's rights." Martinez said that the anti-immigrant sentiment may come back to haunt those who supported it, especially those of Hispanic heritage. "Agents feel that they are more supported, more justified-almost as if they are appeasing a sense of duty-and consequently, everyone is paying for it," said Martinez. Maria Jimenez, director of the Immigration Law Enforcement Monitoring Project, said the anti-immigrant mood is like any other type of hysteria that grips a population. It is totally irrational and based on a perception that immigrants are somehow harmful to the country, she said. It has created an attitude that asks agents to stop immigrants at all costs. "That attitude means that people are more tolerant of abuses, more willing to give up their civil rights as long as that perceived threat is dealt with," she said. Jimenez said that attitude is particularly frustrating because any attempt by monitoring groups to police the Border Patrol is seen as an attempt to tie up their hands and prevent them from doing their work. "We understand that it is their job, but if someone says they are U.S. citizens that should be the end of it, unless there are compelling reasons for doubting it," she said. Jones said that as the Border Patrol is given more and more arrest authority without added training, the possibility exists that more civil rights will be violated. "It is not just immigrants who will feel the impact. With the general arrest authority they now have, we'll all be seeing more cases of abuse," Jones said. **************************************************************************** Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues Send a blank message to: freematt@coil.com with the words subscribe FA on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week) Matthew Gaylor,1933 E. Dublin-Granville Rd.,#176, Columbus, OH 43229 **************************************************************************** ================================================================== * Patriot Information Mailing List * http://constitution.org/piml/piml.htm * A service to help inform those who have an active interest in * returning our federal and state governments to limited, * constitutional government * Send messages for consideration and possible posting to * butterb@sagenet.net (Bill Utterback). * To subscribe or unsubscribe, send message with subject line * "subscribe patriot" or "unsubscribe patriot" * Forwarded messages sent on this mailing list are NOT verified. * See World's Smallest Political Quiz: www.self-gov.org/quiz.html * Libertarian is to LIBERTY as librarian is to library (DePena) * PIML grants permission to copy and repost this message * in its entirety with headers and trailers left intact.