Sunday, October 4, 2009

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Asks Barack Obama to Terminate 287(g) Program

The brave members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) are taking a stand against Racial Profiling. They have sent a letter to President Obama asking him to terminate the 287(g) program -- which has been so rife with Racial Profiling!
Members of the conservative community and the conservative MSM are already attacking the brave members of the CHC. We need the CHC to stand strong against their attackers and follow through until this program is terminated! STOP THE HATE!!!
From Phoenix New Times:
In a letter to Barack Obama dated Monday, September 28, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus called on the President to terminate the 287(g) program, and cease all of the so-called Memorandums of Understanding authorizing local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration law. The letter -- which is signed by Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez, Representative from New York, and Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Chair of the CHC's Immigration Task Force -- takes note of efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to reform the program with supposedly new and improved agreements with local cops. But the missive makes it clear that the CHC, an influential group of lawmakers in a majority Democratic Congress, sees the 287(g) program as fatally flawed. (You can read the letter in its entirety, here.)

"Although its stated purpose is to provide law enforcement a tool to pursue criminals," notes the letter, "it is our experience that state and local law enforcement officials actually use their expanded and often unchecked powers under the program to target immigrants and persons of color. It is our opinion that no amount of reforms, no matter how well-intentioned, will change this disturbing reality." The letter continues, with this verbal coup de grace: "For these reasons we ask you to reconsider your evaluation of 287(g) and instead of reforming it, end it entirely."

This communication comes less than a month after 521 organizations -- including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the ADL, and the ACLU -- signed a letter pressuring the Obama administration to end the much-hated 287(g) program. That letter and this recently-released one from the CHC, which can be viewed on the Web site of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, each cite the current U.S. Department of Justice investigation into 287(g)-poster boy Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his office's racial and ethnic profiling ways.

In July, DHS honcho Janet Napolitano announced new agreements for the scores of local law enforcement agencies that DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have partnered with. The new rules were seen as aimed at Arpaio and as a sop to the Hispanic community over concerns that Latinos are being treated as second-class citizens by 287(g)-empowered cops. The new agreements have to be re-signed by the 60-plus agencies already involved within 90 days of the announcement. Those 90 days are almost up. Arpaio stated recently that he would sign the new agreement. But my sources inform me that negotiations are ongoing, and that Arpaio's side has sent DHS a "revised" version of the new agreement that would be acceptable to the sheriff.

Though federal worksite raids have generally been brought to heel under Napolitano, Arpaio continues to violate the terms of his old agreement with constitutionally questionable raids on businesses and neighborhood sweeps seeking undocumented Mexicans. This is why Arpaio remains a lightning rod for pro-immigrant and civil rights groups nationwide. But Arpaio is a symptom of the disease, not the disease itself, which is a deadly mixture racism and xenophobia. The Obama administration has allowed -- under the counsel of DHS secretary Napolitano -- this fever to strengthen. Now they are left with a metaphorical dilemma: Either sever a pox-ridden limb (Arpaio) from the corpus; or once and for all battle the infection to its core.

Whether the Obama-ites have the courage to lance the blisters of this grotesque pandemic remains to be seen. Phoenix civil rights activist Salvador Reza of the Puente movement alerted me to this letter to the President. Thursday morning, he and others in this struggle will demand that the Department of Homeland Security release -- under the Freedom of Information Act (if that still means anything) all correspondence between the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, and ICE/DHS. The purpose of the request is to discover what back-room wheeling and dealing has been going on between the sheriff and the feds. If DHS and ICE do not cough up the docs, then you can safely assume they have something too hide.

15 comments:

I Travel for JOOLS said...

If the CHC had its way, there would be no enforcement at all. Just throw open the borders and the check book.

Anonymous said...

What utter BS! There is no racial profiling and people aren't stopped or questioned for just being brown. You Hispanics are losing respect everyday with the rest of America over your screams of racism when it is clear that it is your agenda that is racist and that agenda is to fill this country up with your ethnic kind through illegal immigraton and enforcing our laws thru 287g and every other enforcement measure against illegal aliens puts a crimp in that agenda. More and more Americans are awakening to this FACT! Your screams of racial profiling and calling law abiding Americans all kinds of vile names are falling on deaf ears. I can't wait till CIR comes up again (if Obama even dares bring it up again) and your reconquista bubble is burst once and for all. Mark my word you will go ballistic just like you always do when your racist agenda falls apart and it will! Might as well have yourself committed now so we don't have to listen to your whines and screams in here anymore when it happens you anti-American, ethnocentric, racist traitor!

Dee said...

CNSNews has posted this story. CNS being a conservative website. Their commenters are blathering. Here is an example:

""The letter from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus says state and local law enforcement “use their expanded and often unchecked powers under the 287(g) program to target immigrants and persons of color.”" Persons of color? That's just another way of saying colored persons. So, who are these colored persons? Whites have color, blacks have color, Asians have color, and Latinos have color."

Dee said...

My response to the above responder is:

Last year, figures indicate out of 669 of Arpaio's traffic stops, 665 were Latinos. 2 of the 4 were brown skinned Native Americans.

Truly a PROVEN CASE OF RACIAL PROFILING AT ITS LOWEST DEPTH in Maricopa County!!!!

Dee said...

Anon,
Your BLATHERING only proves what a racist you are.

I feel sorry for you.

Seek Help!!

(My viewers are lucky they don't have to read all of your horrible name calling and continued posts. I banned you long ago yet you continue to monitor my site every day Pat! Shame on you!!)

Dee said...

The 287(g) racial profiling clause is coming to an END!!

All you ANTI HATERS might as well get used to it!!

We TRUE Americans of ALL ethincities KNOW how it has been abused, especially by racial profiling sheriffs like arpaio and his volunteer MASKED goons!!!

IT'S OVER!!!
287(g) IS OVER!!
Get Used to IT!!!

Dee said...

Thank you CHC!!

Thank you for standing strong against RACIAL PROFILING!!

Thank you for taking a stand against STOPPING THE HATE!!!

Together, we will WIN this fight against Racial Hatred!!!

God Bless America!
Equality for All!!

Anonymous said...

Are you just plain stupid? The majority of those living under Sheriff Joe's jurisdiction are Hispanics! So what are the odds that a Hispanic would be questioned, duh? If a Hispanic is here legally they have nothing to fear so why are Hispanic citizens complaining then? I would fully cooperate with law enforcement if I just happened to fit the description of a majority of immigation violaters to aid them in apprehending them. That is what good law abiding Americans do but you wouldn't understand that because your agenda trumps everything.

Sheriff Joe doesn't stop them for no reason at all. Infractions of a traffic violation is one example of stopping someone with justification. It has never been proven that he racially profiles. No what I said is the truth. You can't stand any attempt at enforcement of our immigration laws because you are an ethnocentric traitor for your own kind.

Anonymous said...

"Arpaio is a symptom of the disease, not the disease itself, which is a deadly mixture racism and xenophobia."

Word, Dee! Finally, some hopeful news for a change :-) I can feel a new civil rights movement coming together and coalescing to say in one strong voice "Basta!" It feels so good! I will write my own letters this week to send a message to the Obama administion that racial profiling is unconscionable and unacceptable...and unbecoming of his administration. Dee, you are just the most courageous pro-migrant blogger going. Your strength and courage, and the way you hold up under all the abuse thrown at you by the antis just makes me admire you all the more. The outburst by Anon, who is probably Pat, was thoroughly despicable and racist. Fortunately these old-school dudes are a dying breed. But you are making our world a better, kinder and more human place by your efforts, Dee. Kudos!

Tom Degan said...

This might be nit picking on my part but it really bugs me. Every time I type the name, "Obama" the good folks at Spell Check inform me that I have gotten the spelling wrong. Here are their suggested corrections:

Obadiah
Obadias
Bamako
Alabama

Right. I've got a fifth suggestion for them: Ob-la-di! Ob-la-da! Life goes on - BRA!

Their suggestions for my "misspelling" of the name "Barack" are almost as amusing:

Ba rack
Ba-rack
Barrack
Bareback
Barabbas

I just got through typing up a list of all forty-three men who have served as chief executive. Spell Check tells me that I got every name right (or, in the case of Martin Van Buren, half right) with one exception. You guessed it: "Barack Obama". The guy has been in the public eye for over five years now. He's been president for nine months! You would think they might have fixed that by now, wouldn't you?

That reminds me. Can anyone please explain to me just what the hell an "Obadias" is? It's not in Webster's Dictionary.

tomdegan@frontiernet.net

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

ultima said...

There is good deal of merit in the comments supporting 287(g), Sheriff Joe,etc.

On a daily basis, it becomes more and more clear that Dee who once championed secure borders, is now implicitly an open borders advocate. As I have repeatedly pointed out, one cannot be for secure borders while at the same time opposing the most effective measures for achieving that goal. Our borders will never be secure if we do not continue to improve border infrastructure, staffing and the rules of engagement. But the really crucial tool is vigorous and continuous internal enforcement using mandatory E-verify across the board for all employer, public and private, and all employees, current and new. Those apprehended must be quickly repatriated with the admonition that if they return they will do hard time.
The family-separation argument should never be allowed as the basis for the appeal of a removal order. Minor children, regardless of citizenship, must accompany their parents.

This not to say that employers should be held harmless. They too should be fined and jailed on an excalating scale until they get the message. They also should be held responsible for any unpaid medical bills of their foreign workers.

So the bottom line is Dee is an open borders advocate in sheep's clothing.

ultima said...

Given the nature of the border and border state problems, 287(g) needs to be strengthened rather than watered down. Police action needs to be more stringent in the border regions, particularly in the Southwest because that is where the main problem exists. Every loyal American should be willing to carry and present proof of citizenship or permanent resident status as their contribution to border security and as a mark of good citizenship. There could even be a vetting system where an individual could present his documents and receive in return a special tamper proof ID to show along with a drivers license whenever they are stopped for any reason.

It is indeed unfortunate that the anti-America crowd is unwilling to make any contribution to the security of our country and the rule of law. They no not what they do. Their children should be holding them accountable for destroying thier inheritance as Americans who savor our standard of living and quality of life. Parents should be ashamed of compromising the futures of their children and their children's children. There is nothing worse than ethnocentrism disguised as pseudo-humanitarianism.

I also will be writing letters to my congressmen and Obama asking the 287(g) be expanded and stengthened, especially in the Southwest.

Dee said...

Nope Ultima.
I have Never, Ever supported Sheriff Arpaio's racial profiling methods. NEVER!!! You can go back and look at all of my posts.

I DO NOT CONDONE arpaio's RACIAL PROFILING TACTICS!!

Each time he does so HE BREAKS THE LAW!!! A Criminal Law!!

The ANTIs are extremely selective in the laws THEY want enforced. That is VERY UN-Patriotic!!

I Travel for JOOLS said...

The 287(g) program isn't going to be eliminated. They revised it. Obama wouldn't dare throw it out. He's already in political hot water with the majority of the American public over a whole host of issues and he can't afford to waste any more political capital. I think he's smart enough to know that. The CHC can scream all they want. It isn't going to happen.

Dee said...

No. At this point, it is not being eliminated. It is being changed back to its intent. It was never meant to be Racial Profiling Suppression Sweeps ala Arpaio.

Instead, they were meant to support local police groups in enforcing targetting and removing felonious criminals who happened to be illegal immigrants. This means drug cartels and those who commit murder or felonious crimes.

Arpaio and some other police groups twisted and turned this program into a Racial Profiling terror for Latino citizens.

Any Latino from Maricopa County will tell you what terror they faced during the sweeps when hooded vigilantes swooped across their neighborhoods and terrorized innocent citizens, children and peaceful people.

Arpaio and his hooded goons are despicable. They BROKE the law and should be jailed.

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