For Mexicans fleeing violence, the United States offers no refuge.

by Susana Hayward

LINK

Watch El Pasoans talk about their city and the continuing violence along the border.

We extend to you and all residents of our border community an invitation to this call for justice and a request to join with Bishop Armando Ochoa of El Paso and Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces, in the celebration of this special Mass.

For years now, the hope has been that Congress would find the courage and leadership to pass a just and comprehensive immigration reform law. U.S. Catholic Bishops have been relentless in calling for immigration reform legislation and been at the forefront in advocating for the human rights of immigrants and the undocumented. But the reality is that not only has Congress failed to act, but the Federal Government has been aggressively pursuing an enforcement-only immigration policy that has created a vacuum into which cities and States have stepped in to pass their own anti-immigrant laws. This was vividly demonstrated by the recent signing of Arizona’s SB1070 law. In the name of national security, terrorism protection, and the war on drugs, the real intention of laws like SB 1070 is to persecute the immigrant.

The failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform, the implementation of an enforcement-only approach to the immigration issue, and the onslaught of hostility toward the immigrant in the media has led to growing violence against the immigrant. This violence takes the form of immigrants dying in the desert, families torn apart by immigration raids, the criminal prosecution and jailing of undocumented immigrants who only seek to feed their families, increased trafficking of immigrants, and employment exploitation. For the US/Mexico border, this has meant increased fire-power with calls for even more border agents, the deployment of the National Guard, drones, detention facilities, and the general militarization of border communities. The policy of enforcement and more enforcement in an environment in which the immigrant is vilified and demonized is turning neighbors into enemies. The fruit of enforcement-only policies was seen on June 7th with the shooting death of a teenager on the banks of the Rio Grande, and on May 25th with the death of a 35 year old man in San Ysidro, and on July of 2009 with the shooting death of a Border Patrol agent in Campo California.

There are thousands of undocumented families living in hiding in El Paso, Las Cruces and surrounding communities. Many border citizens have come across undocumented immigrants and have gone out of their way to seek ways of helping and assisting what most of us know to be primarily good and decent human beings. All of us know of families living in hiding, living in fear in our midst. The hostility against the immigrant has led many people to see the undocumented as disposable people – individuals of no account. It falls on each community to define for itself whether it will permit there to be disposable people. We invite you to join us for the Mass so that as a community we can affirm that no life is or can ever be disposable.

Set aside Wednesday, July 14 at 7:00 PM and commit yourself to joining in this expression of justice. We ask you to circulate this announcement among your contacts and encourage friends and family to participate in calling for an end to violence against immigrants and for the passage of just and comprehensive immigration reform.

The Mass will begin with a procession that starts in front of Sacred Heart Church on South Oregon Street and proceed to the Placita de Leones, which is located at the intersection of Santa Fe Street and Calleros Street.

LINK

link to article

Former residents say drug gangs have laid waste to El Porvenir, Mexico, and those who can are fleeing to the U.S.

by JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.

http://player.theplatform.com/ps/player/pds/ETSJENv_c7&pid=Y76xX0c4uq5ZPyC1cgIJDgnMOGLFigzI

Juan Patrcio – 1984- 2003

At about 8:40 AM on February 22, 2003, Juan Patricio Peraza Quijada, a 19-year-old young man staying at Annunciation House, found himself standing in the middle of San Antonio Street facing a semi circle of Border Patrol Agents with their hand guns drawn. One of those Agents shot and killed him. In El Paso, Juan Patricio has become the symbol of everything that is wrong with present immigration policy, the great need for just and humane comprehensive immigration reform, and the terrible consequences of the current enforcement-only immigration policy used by the US Government. Over the past decade, it is a policy that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of immigrants who have died in deserts, drowned in rivers or automobile accidents, or, like Juan Patricio, been killed by Border Patrol Agents. It is a policy that has resulted in the division of families when the undocumented members of a family are detected, detained and deported, forcing one part of the family to live in the US and the other part in another country. It is a policy that has expanded the construction of detention facilities to the point that today there are now more than 30,000 detention beds being used on a daily basis in the US, with many of those beds now located in El Paso, Chaparral, Sierra Blanca, Pecos, etc. It is a policy that now regularly uses criminal prosecution with its corresponding prison sentences to punish undocumented individuals caught living and working in the US.

For many years, now, the effort to get Congress to pass just and humane comprehensive immigration reform has been politically hijacked by individuals who view immigrants as threats, terrorists, criminals, tax evaders, and drains on the societal service network. In spite of an overabundance of well researched and credible documentation that debunks all of these myths, the past decade has been marked by the implementation of an enforcement-only immigration policy.

By commemorating Juan Patricio’s life and death, it is a way for a community to again state that this is not what immigrants deserve, that this is not acceptable immigration policy, and that deaths such as that of Juan Patricio contradict the core principles of justice and human rights to which the US aspires.

In remembering Juan Patricio, we reiterate our call and commitment to work for and support justice for immigrants and the passage by the US Congress of comprehensive, just, and humane immigration reform legislation.

PLEASE JOIN US!

JUAN PATRICIO MEMORIAL MASS
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21st
11:00 AM
AT ANNUNCIATION HOUSE
1003 EAST SAN ANTONIO AVENUE

Attached is a bilingual flyer that we ask you to CIRCULATE among your email contacts. For questions or additional information, CALL Annunciation House at 545-4509 or 533-4675.

Ruben L Garcia
Director

Piden a EU redefinir leyes de asilo político
Alberto Ponce de Len
El Diario de El Paso

La situacin de los mexicanos refugiados en El Paso como resultado de la incertidumbre que genera la violencia del lado de Mxico en esta frontera presenta similitudes con la vivida a mediados de los ochentas por el tema de la guerrilla en Centroamrica, dijo el director de Casa Anunciacin, Rubn Garca.
Vivimos un periodo que tiene algunas similitudes como cuando estaban llegando los centroamericanos por la guerra civil, mencion.
En aquel entonces, asegur Garca, el gobierno de Estados Unidos dio marcha atrs y revirti las resoluciones a las solicitudes de asilo poltico por parte de salvadoreos y guatemaltecos que haban sido rechazadas.

La incertidumbre social vivida en Centroamrica era tal que el gobierno estadounidense tuvo que aceptar las solicitudes apelando a las tareas humanitarias, mencion.
En la actualidad, el nmero de refugiados mexicanos en El Paso se ha incrementado desde fines del 2008 como resultado de la escalada de violencia del lado de Mxico, dijo.
Rubn Garca mide el impacto migratorio de acuerdo al alza de refugiados que atiende el organismo en esta ciudad.
Hemos tenido que poner ms camas y ms recursos, dijo.
Considera que la situacin actual es parecida a la registrada con los refugiados que huyeron de la violencia en El Salvador y Guatemala. Esta condicin, dijo, no descarta la posibilidad de que eventualmente se tengan que reevaluar las solicitudes de asilo poltico por parte de mexicanos que fueron rechazadas por jueces de migracin.
Entonces, slo a cuatro de cada 100 salvadoreos les estaban dando asilo. Y de Guatemala, apenas al .9 por ciento, explic. Entidades legales se unieron y representaron a los solicitantes contra la Procuradura General de Justicia de EU y ganaron el proceso legal en 1990.
El Departamento de Justicia de EU orden entonces revertir cada decisin judicial de solicitudes rechazadas por un periodo de 10 aos previos, afirm Garca, quien ha estado al frente Casa Anunciacin desde sus inicios hace 32 aos. Y sobre los casos actuales en esta frontera, dijo: Estados Unidos debe poner atencin en lo que est pasando. Es momento de dar un paso atrs y preguntarse cmo va a ser el compromiso. Casa Anunciacin, ubicada en la zona Centro de El Paso, ha incrementado la presencia de familias (incluidos nios) que huyen de la violencia de Ciudad Jurez y reas circunvecinas y se internan a territorio estadounidense para salvaguardar su integridad.
No es gente que viene con recursos y que puede rentar una casa o un departamento, es gente completamente desamparada. No tienen autorizacin de trabajar, pero tampoco pueden pedir asilo porque estn viendo que los van a detener, mencion.
Y sobre los menores, aadi: Los metemos a la escuela, pero no estn documentados. Es algo muy trgico y desesperante. Asegur que el caso del visitador de la Comisin de Derechos Humanos en Ciudad Jurez, Gustavo De la Rosa, quien permanece en esta ciudad por motivos de seguridad, puede ser un parteaguas en el tema para que el gobierno de EU reevale su postura ante el asilo poltico de mexicanos.
De acuerdo a los datos histricos, entre 1980 y 1992, El Salvador vivi una guerra civil al enfrentarse el Frente Nacional de Liberacin Farabundo Mart y el gobierno salvadoreo. Cerca de dos millones de salvadoreos fueron desplazados, principalmente familias campesinas, de los cuales unos 500 mil se refugiaron en Estados Unidos.
En esa guerra civil murieron al menos 75 personas. El gobierno de EU apoy al Ejrcito del gobierno de El Salvador y le envi 7 billones de dlares, as como ayuda militar.
A fines del 2006, el presidente mexicano Felipe Caldern hizo una declaratoria de guerra a los crteles de narcotrfico. A partir de entonces, el nmero de homicidios se dispar, segn las cifras oficiales.

Camera by: Seth Donald, Joanna Heatwole, Maria Salazar

Sound: Seth Donald, Chad Heatwole