By Jack Fairweather
Not content with targeting the poor, the homeless, young and old, who attempt to cross the U.S./Mexican border into Arizona the people responsible for the racist Senate Bill 1070 that requires everyone, especially people with dark skin and/or accents, to produce citizenship papers on demand, are now ready to target infants who are born to “illegal aliens” in Arizona.
As almost everyone knows, the U.S. Constitution states that an individual born in the U.S. is an American citizen. Locals in Arizona refer to these children as “anchor babies”. That’s a term used, for the most part, by people who resent the parents who are not “legal” for staying in the country, even if they attempt to become citizens.
Well, Republican State Senator Russell Pearce, who claims to be a chief architect of SB 1070, which goes into effect July 29, has come up with a proposal that would deny citizenship rights to children born to parents who are “illegal aliens”. He says he thinks sentiment in Arizona is on his side and that he can get the bill through the legislature and to the desk of Governor Jam Brewer, who signed SB 1070 in April.
He may be right. The five court challenges to his anti-immigrant bill are pending. He says he’ll win all of the court cases. And he might. He has the backing of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group with strong ties to radical right wing white supremacist organizations. FAIR, a totally inappropriate acronym given the groups racist leanings, brags on its web site that it “assisted state Senator Pearce in drawing up the language” for SB 1070.
After July 29, if the five court challenges don’t halt SB 1070, at least temporarily, here’s a brief scenario that could well be repeated many times in Arizona. It happened to a resident of Coral Springs, Florida during March, April and May of this year The case is well-documented. The man was interviewed in Nogales, Mexico May 28, 2010. Pay attention, especially if you are dark skinned, have an accent, are nervous around police officers, drive an old truck, etc. Pay attention, whether you are “legal” or “illegal”.
The man, we will call him Mr. R. was driving in Coral Springs when he was stopped by local police. He was driving with an expired license. The police discovered he was not documented…he was “illegal”.
He was taken into custody and taken to the Broward County Jail. There he was told if he paid $100 he would be released. He gave the officers $100. Then he was told he would be held for 4 to 8 hours. Then he was told he would be kept until the next day. He was then taken into immigration detention. Four days later an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official visited him. He told the official his wife, whom he had been allowed to call, had retained an attorney for him and he requested to talk to the attorney. The ICE man, instead, told him to sign some papers he had for him. They were written in English. However, Mr. R. can read English . When he saw the papers were a voluntary deportation order he refused to sign them. The paper stated he did have a right to a lawyer….whom he never did see. He was taken into ICE custody and transferred to a private prison contracted by ICE. He spent six days there. On the fifth day another ICE official tried to convince him to sign a voluntary deportation order. Mr. R. refused and asked to see his lawyer. He was moved into a room with other detainees and the following morning taken to the Miami airport from where he would be deported. This despite the fact he had not signed the deportation order, had legal representation and thus, had an open case.
At the airport he was handcuffed. Two US Marshalls and an ICE official forced his hands open and forcibly fingerprinted the deportation order. He says he repeatedly told them he had a lawyer and wanted to continue his case. He told them he would not board the airplane with the other detainees. A U.S. Marshal then held a Taser to his neck and Tased him six times, twice on each side and twice in his shoulder. On the airplane the Marshal passed some of the time by going to Mr. R. and asking him how he felt now…in a sarcastic manner. The Marshal used his IPhone to take pictures of the Taser marks on Mr. R. Mr. R. was deported through Bali, Texas.
After that, human nature being what it is and family ties being important, Mr. R. tried to cross into the U.S. again and, again, was apprehended and taken to Tucson where, he says, on April 20 he witnessed a young detainee ask for a blanket. The guards refused and the young man asked if he could speak with his Consulate. His answer was to be Tasered. Mr. R. was sentenced to 30 days in Florence prison and then deported to Nogales on May 21, 2010.
He still has not spoken with the attorney his wife retained. Of course, he never again saw the $100 he gave the Florida cops. He has filed a complaint with the Mexican Consulate.
Jack Fairweather’s views do not necessarily represent those of the Mountain Mail.
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