First They Came for the Jews

[helderheid]

Please forward this to [email protected] and [email protected] - Thank you!
Scathing report on new detention center

By Sylvia Moreno

The Washington Post

TAYLOR, Texas — The day Mustafa Elmi turned 3 years old he had to report to his cell three times for head count. To be able to get one hour of recreation inside a concrete compound sealed off by metal gates and razor wire, he had to pin his picture ID to his uniform

Such routines characterized Mustafa's life, as well as that of his mother, Bahjo Hosen, 26, during their first seven months in the United States after fleeing political persecution in their native Somalia.

They ended up in the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility, one of the nation's newest detention centers for illegal immigrants that the Department of Homeland Security touts as an "effective and humane alternative" to keep immigrant families together while they await the outcome of immigration court hearings or deportation.

Before the facility opened, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) separated parents from their children upon apprehension. Infants and toddlers were placed in federally funded foster homes; adolescents and teenagers were placed in facilities for minors run by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS); and parents were placed in adult centers.

Despite the policy change, two national organizations Wednesday decried the conditions and have termed the facility "a penal detention model that is fundamentally anti-family and anti-American."

MORE >>>

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003583163_immig22.html

First They Came for the Jews

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller

[helderheid]

1. The report also cited inappropriate disciplinary practices used against adults and children

including threats of separation, verbal abuse and using temperature control, particularly extremely cold conditions, as punishment.

[treestar]

2. With no hearings and no habeas corpus, any of us can be locked up as an alien

Unless the Decider decides we can have a hearing on whether or not we are citizens. In which case, you need to have your ID document on you at all times.

They clearly want a police state. Maybe that is a bit of hysteria, but we can't oppose this crap too soon.

[helderheid]

3. I hope I'm overreacting but I cannot put anything past these guys.

[kestrel91316]

11. Time for ALL of us to start carrying an official copy of our birth

certificate or naturalization certificate on our person at all times.

They could arrest and detain ME (or YOU) tomorrow and claim I wasn't a citizen, and whisk me off to Gitmo. I wouldn't be able to prove anything about my citizenship. My birth certificate is in a file cabinet at home.

[helderheid]

4. Click here to email him:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/EMailStory.pl?document_id=2003583163&zsection_id=2002107549&slug=immig22&date=20070222

[email protected],[email protected]

[helderheid]

5. kick for new title

[helderheid]

6. !

[BuelahWitch]

7. A kick for my homey helderheid!

[helderheid]

8. Thank you very much my friend!

:hi:

[Greyhound]

9. Remind me again how this is the land of the free and home of the brave?

This, and so many other examples, should have us dragging "our leaders", from both teams, out into the streets, if only we knew.

"If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves." - Howard Zinn
:kick: & R

[helderheid]

16. Hey I have a question - do you have any idea if Dennis has mentioned these centers?

I couldn't find anything on his site but figured of all the Dems running for President, he'd be the one most likely to know about it and to speak out on it.

[Greyhound]

17. Haven't heard a thing. Don't know if he's even been asked about it.

I would guess no, as that would call attention to this, which is the last thing any of them want.

[helderheid]

18. I would think Dennis would be the man to take this on!

[Greyhound]

20. Yes he is, but I thnk he has taken on enough for now. Fighting against corporate control

of the whole process is pretty daunting in itself. Once in office I'd bet this issue will get resolved quickly.

[helderheid]

21. Agreed.

:loveya: KOOCH! :loveya:

[cali]

10. Thanks for posting this. These detention centers

are beyond disgraceful. In addition to contacting Keith, I suggest contacting Senators and Reps that we believe will take action. I've contacted my reps; Leahy, Sanders and Welch.

[helderheid]

12. That's a really good idea

[The Stranger]

13. Concentration Camps.

[helderheid]

14. That is exactly right. We should be contacting those running for President about this too

[helderheid]

15. .

[Decruiter]

19. Here are a couple of more articles from Texas. Protests are being

held.

http://www.taylordailypress.net/articles/2006/12/18/news/news01.txt

Protesters target T. Don Hutto center

By Daniel K. Lai

Immigration facility site of protest Saturday

Following a 35-mile, three-day trek from the state capitol in Austin to the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, roughly 130 protesters gathered Saturday to speak out against detaining illegal immigrants in the United States.

The protest was led by the grassroots organization Texans United for Families. The group targeted the Taylor facility because it is one of only two detention centers in the nation that houses families, including children.

“We must move towards a more comprehensive immigration policy that does not include jailing children,” Luissana Santibanez, a student at the University of Texas in Austin, said. “Housing families in for-profit prisons not only calls to question our moral values and our respect for human rights but it is also a waste of taxpayer money.”
..rest of story at link above


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4573318.html

Feb. 22, 2007, 12:58PM
Groups seek to close immigrant center

By SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Advocacy groups for immigrant families and the Department of Homeland Security are at odds over detention facilities in Texas and Pennsylvania that critics argue are inhumanely housing adults and young children in jail-like conditions.

In a report released Thursday, groups speaking for immigrants demanded the immediate closure of the T. Don Hutto Residential Center north of Austin, the Texas capital, a facility that once was a jail.

The advocacy groups — the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services — said they based their complaints on visits to these sites by their members and interviews with detainees.
...rest of story at link above

[helderheid]

31. Thanks for this!

[tom_paine]

22. Without question the Busheviks are related to the Nazis mentally.

And perhaps the ONLY IMPORTANT QUESTION LEFT TO ASK IS: TO WHAT DEGREE?

We KNOW they loathe Americans (well, 99% of us) and view us with Straussian contempt. I have said it before and I will say it again, I am absolutely convinced that 99% of the American People count less with Little Boots Bushler than his dog or his endless supply of prescription drugs (FAR less than his endless supply of prescription drugs).

However, and I cannot stress this enough, Bushler feeling that way about us is a far cry from killing millions of us industrially in concentration camps.

To say it another way: Knowing that Bushler could look at a pile of our corpses a million deep (he already did it when we were 3,000 deep, so the precedent is more than there) and think of nothing but political opportunity and his cruel Imperial agenda, is a long way from him MAKING THAT HAPPEN.

The worrisome thing, of course, is all of us Americans have lived our lives without having to contemplate such a probability above something like 0.000000001%. That was nice.

Now, I would say the likelihood is 10% by 2008, and maybe as high as 70% by 2050, that some form of Totalitarianism, nakedly displayed (hopefully it will not entail the industrialized murder of millions of Americans by other Americans, but even that probability is up to a staggering 1-2%), will finish the job Bushler started. He still may finish it himself if a nuke goes off in America (God Forbid) by Jan. 2009.

But November was a small sign of hope, and more may be coming. Stay tuned. America is not dead yet and we may survive this latest plague of criminal rulers.

[cool user name]

23. Thank you for posting, Helderheid

This is just incredible.

[helderheid]

24. I hope we can get Keith to talk about it

[cool user name]

25. I hope so too. I just can't believe this stuff is going on under our noses.

This is just sad.

[helderheid]

29. Sad - pitiful - disgraceful!

[Ron Green]

26. Can they come for just Lieberman

and then stop?

[nam78_two]

27. K&R.nt

[Solly Mack]

28. and yet people like Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft - yes, Ashcroft

and Gonzales, etc. walk around free

[helderheid]

30. late night kick