The Harlingen, Texas papers report 10 sole caregiver parents in one location, 20 in another, and a child on a feeding tube back in Massachusetts. But you don’t have to take my word for it!
He said they identified 10 such parents at the Port Isabel Detention Center, including parents of one child that required a feeding tube. He said workers may have identified another 20 parents in El Paso and were re-interviewing those detainees on Sunday. The agency was petitioning ICE for the parents to be returned to their children.
The parents were mostly single mothers but included fathers as well, he said. The children ranged in age from 2 to 16, and a few had medical conditions that required special care, including one child that required a feeding tube. All were believed to be born in the United States and therefore U.S. citizens.
For the rest of the article: http://www.chron.com…
The ICE state they have 55 “ready to ship”, too.
What DSS had to say about the dehydrated infant:
Massachusetts Department of Social Services spokeswoman Denise Monteiro said one 27-year-old woman was held in custody for two nights while her 7-month-old child had to be hospitalized for dehydration because the infant refused to drink baby formula.
While I have my issues with Harry Spence, he was the good guy in this story.
Good for Fighting Harry:
DSS Commissioner Harry Spence and dozens of social workers made an emergency trip to Texas this weekend, interviewing 206 workers in detention centers to identify any more with children who had been left parentless.
“As we expected, we are finding adult sole caregivers in Texas locations,” he said Sunday.
He said they identified 10 such parents at the Port Isabel Detention Center, including parents of one child that required a feeding tube. He said workers may have identified another 20 parents in El Paso and were re-interviewing those detainees on Sunday. The agency was petitioning ICE for the parents to be returned to their children.
The parents were mostly single mothers but included fathers as well, he said. The children ranged in age from 2 to 16, and a few had medical conditions that required special care, including one child that required a feeding tube. All were believed to be born in the United States and therefore U.S. citizens.
This story is way more detailed then the Glob.
Rendition flights. KBR/Halliburton “relocation” or as Deval himself says “processing center” specifically Ft Devens.
http://www.spp.gov And no, over my cold dead hands never, ever will anybody shut me up on the merger of Mexico, Canada and the US into the North American Union.
That is thing one.
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Thing two. The Nazification of America by left wing pundits and political activists such as dailykos. The bans of people who display non-compliance with certain prescribed ideology of orthodox left wing political mainstream punditry.
Ally or enemy for life, take your pick.
This whole situation is such a mess. We need to really enact some sort of immigration reform. This is one area where I agree with the president, but this raid was handled so inefficiently.
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We need a guest worker program and put current illegal immigrants on the path to citizenship.
Oh, that’s right. I have. Given modern technology–ankle bracelets with GPS technology (coupled with cell-phone-like technology–it could be ensured that the care-givers would show up for an ICE hearing. Such technology exists. Physical detention isn’t necessary.
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What you are seeing is a federal government agency trying to justify its existence. Nothing more. Nothing less.
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As an aside, regarding cell phones, there was a funny incident in Germany a few years ago. I believe it was a hostage-taking case, but I don’t recall, for sure. The perpetrator demanded a vehicle and a cell phone–why he demanded the cell phone, I don’t know. The cell phone was obviously on, because a few hours later the perp was apprehended. Apparently the perp was unaware of the fact that his movements could be tracked via the cell phone system–no GPS involved. Those of us who know how cell phones work know that, as the cell phones move, the cells have to do hand-off from one cell site to another in order to route the calls, with the cell phones and cell sites negotiating for the transition. Since the cell phone was on, the perp was apprehended in short order, without requiring triangulation of any actual signal from the cell phone (another location-detection methodology).
It’s crazy that ICE officials keep insisting that they planned this raid for months so it would go smoothly:
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“ICE welcomes the opportunity to further inform the U.S. Rep. and Senators [critical of the raid] about the extensive efforts we make to ensure the children of illegal aliens arrested in our enforcement actions are properly cared-for,” spokesman Marc Raimondi said.
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Um, try harder next time.
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Or better yet, maybe we should focus our energies on more serious threats.
and now moving from policy to politics & activism; 3 ways to take action on this situation include:
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Call your members of Congress to share your views. Tell others about the Boston rallies planned for this week and try to go if you are so inclined:
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Tuesday 3/13/07 5-7pm at Trinity Church, Copley Plaza, Boston
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Wednesday 4-6pm at Government Center, Boston
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Purpose: To support the New Bedford workers and support humane and sensible immigration reform. Additional information is included below. The Liberation Health Group will be there with their banner fyi if you’d like to seek them out.
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_________Please try to bring others with you!________
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The 3/13 event is organized by the Center to Support
Immigrant Organizing and sponsored by the Immigrant
Workers Center Collaborative (Brazilian Immigrant
Center, Chinese Progressive Association, Centro
Presente, Chelsea Collaborative and MassCOSH.
If you are looking for a way to help the young children and families affected by the immigration raids in New Bedford, please check out the following opportunities. My son & I are going this weekend to help with on-site babysitting and translation.
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1. Families are in need of diapers [cloth or pampers] and baby wipes, and non-perishable baby foods and regular food. In Boston these are being collected so far at: COMMUNITY CHURCH OF BOSTON, 565 Boylston Street. The first load of collected materials will be delivered directly to the people that need them on FRIDAY the 16th, after 12 noon. For office hours, please contact Jason Lydon at the church: 617-266-6710.
If you wish to help to gather these items, or if you know of other sites where materials are being gathered, please contact Gary Dotterman at 617-738-4279.
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2. There is a need for Spanish and Qiche translators. If you know of anyone who can assist, please contact MIRA at 617-350-5480, ext 212. Location: Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in New Bedford.
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3. To make a donation, go to Miracoalition.org. Also, if you have a car and can help with airport pickups, call MIRA.
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For more info, contact gary hicks [mailto:watermelongre… ]
Wouldn’t it be a heck of a lot cheaper and more practical to send these folks absentee ballots to their foreign domecile and a reduced SSI/AFDC check? It is a heck of a lot cheaper than clogging our courts, filling our prisons, it will reduce our murder rate, reduce the number of gang members in USA,shorten the waiting lines in emergency rooms, reduce the number of bilingual translators required in every school and public venue, free up thousands of police officers, reduce the number of fraudulent insurance claims, put hundreds of tort attorneys out of work, reduce identity theft, greatly diminish the number of operating under the infuence of alcohol arrests, reduce domestic violence and save billions of dollars.
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Just a thought
http://www.americanc…