"IN DEMOCRACY'S SHADOW: FENCES, RAIDS, AND THE PRODUCTION OF MIGRANT ILLEGALITY" by Daniel Ibsen Morales

Dr. Eloisa Garcia Tamez separated from ancestral lands by the mega-project border wall constructed by the United States against the firm protests of the Nde' of El Calaboz Rancheria and from related Nde' across the United States.



University of Wisconsin Law School, Legal Studies Research Paper Series, Paper No. 1068, January 2009, Daniel Ibsen Morales

Excerpt (pp 103-104):
"the government knows that the fence is ill-conceived. State-authored reports show, and experts agree, that the project is a classic white elephant; it is expensive, breachable, and its most dramatic effect is to shift migration pathways to dangerous areas where migrants are more likely to die en route to the United States."

Excerpt (p 129):
"The congruence, though, between Tamez‘s case in domestic court and in the international arena is not accidental; the origins of the international human rights regime are distinctly American.119 And, as in the domestic sphere, this story might be different if the Group was not conceding, as it must, the basic point that the right to property it asserts is very limited because ―the U.S. government has the right to subordinate the use of private property for reasons of public utility and social interest.‖120 As it stands, however, this international briefing (as well as the briefings in Tamez) attack and subjugate the administrative while reinscribing the primacy and unimpeachability of democratic authority, and leave out as uncognizable the deeper rights she has to the land (due to her Amerindian and Spanish heritage). Put plainly, the structure of the suits only reinforces the existing power relationships that lead to Tamez‘s problem in the first instance."

"THE UNITED STATES TAKES THE LAND, BUT THEY WILL NOT TAKE MY VOICE" --Eloisa Garcia Tamez

US seizes Tamez/Lipan Apache lands on the Texas-Mexico border for border wall
By Brenda NorrellEL CALABOZ, Texas --


With the hope of change evaporating during the Obama Administration, a federal judge ruled that Homeland Security can seize the Tamez family land. After a court battle, with an alert to the international community, the Tamez family said a federal judge condemned the Lipan Apache family land for the US/Mexico border wall.

"A federal judge in Brownsville, Texas issued an order today granting the federal government's request to condemn the ancestral land of the Tamez Family, who are Lipan Apaches," the Tamez family said April 16. "Although this land has been in the Tamez family prior to the Spanish colonization, and also designated to them through Spanish Crown law (1767, as of today, it is in the possession of the United States Department of Homeland Security.""The landowner, Eloisa Tamez, heard about Judge Hanen's order while participating in the Western Social Sciences Association Conference in Albuquerque, where she was participating in a Three part panel: 'Indigenous People's and the U.S.-Mexico Border: Militarization, Resistance, and Rights.' She is with a group of colleagues from several bi-national Indigenous Border communities and experts on militarization and the impact of the border wall," the Tamez family said in a statement.

The seizure of the Tamez family land raises new questions about the actual intent of the US government as it acquires private property from California to Texas for the border wall. The US covert scheme to acquire borderlands includes seizing private land and seizing the use of American Indian lands, such as Tohono O'odham land in Arizona, for the border wall corridor.
The land seizures were facilitated by the fear created by 9/11, then fueled by immigrant racism and xenophobia on television news and finally accelerated by the so-called drug war in northern Mexico. However, more questions are now being raised regarding the covert US government's role in the drug and weapons trafficking in the borderzone. The Zetas, the most notorious murderers, were trained as US Special Forces, while the US appetite for drugs provides the demand. The weapons also come from the US.

Meanwhile, in Texas, the Tamez family reports that this is an urgent situation which needs international attention and wide press coverage.

An interview with Eloisa Tamez, by Ansel Herz, is here.


Excerpt: "Mediahacker: I know that you met Barack Obama while he was campaigning. Have you seen any changes in terms of DHS policy since his taking office and do you hold out any hope that him and the new Homeland Security Secretary will change plans at all?
Tamez: I see no change. I’ve seen no comment on it. I don’t know what the plans are, because, well, they haven’t said much. So I’m still wondering what we’re going to see. And I still remember that he voted for the wall when he was a Senator. He voted for it ..."

NATIONAL TELEPHONIC PRESS CONFERENCE--LIPAN APACHE WOMEN DEFENSE DELIVER LETTER TO OBAMA-TRANSITION TEAM

PRESS CONFERENCE PANEL:

Dr. Eloisa Garcia Tamez
Margo Tamez
Diana Valenzuela (Jumano-Apache)
Daniel Castro Romero, Jr. (Lipan Apache)
Jose Matus (Yaqui)
Michael Paul Hill (Chiricahua Apache)
Chris Scherer, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law
Denise Gilman, University of Texas Law Working Group--Texas-Mexico Border Wall
Jeff Wilson,University of Texas Law Working Group--Texas-Mexico Border Wall
Arnoldo Garcia, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

All We Need ... A Few Sparks...

Texas landowners win small victory on border fence
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Associated Press Writer © 2008 The Associated Press
Dec. 18, 2008, 6:24PM

McALLEN, Texas — Dozens of South Texas landowners whose land is being condemned for the border fence scored a victory when a federal judge ordered that juries will decide the value of their property rather than an appointed land commission as the government had requested.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen set the stage for a series of trials to begin in March with his order signed Wednesday. While the trials will be restricted to determining how much the government pays landowners for the property, it gives Texas landowners their first opportunity to take an issue related to the border fence before a jury.
"I'm proud of him, he's doing his job," Eloisa Tamez, a landowner facing condemnation near Brownsville, said Thursday. "To have this kind of news before the holidays is like a Christmas gift for me."
The federal government has filed more than 300 condemnation lawsuits against South Texas landowners to make way for portions of the 670 miles of fencing it is building along the U.S.-Mexico border. So far about 500 miles is up, but it has been slow going in the Rio Grande Valley, where opposition is widespread.
Federal prosecutors had argued that the number of jury trials would swamp the courts, result in uneven payments and be extremely complex. A panel of land experts appointed by the court would be a more efficient option and more fair since it would be difficult to find enough unbiased jurors in an area where the fence has been a hot-button issue for months, the government said.
But Hanen, based in Brownsville, sided with landowners, 28 of whom are set for trial next year and all requested juries. The U.S. Attorney's Office did not immediately return a call for comment.
"This court is a firm believer in the jury system and the ability of everyday citizens to set aside their personal beliefs, biases and prejudcies to decide cases solely on the evidence presented within the context of a court's instructions," Hanen wrote in his order.
Hanen also cast doubt on the government's claim that about 80 cases will eventually need juries to determine land values. He suggested that even among the 28 cases scheduled for trial so far, similar parcels could be clustered in groups of three to be heard by the same jury. Most property owners settled with the government out of court.
The condemnations range from a quarter acre to more than 12 acres, but in many cases those are just slivers taken from tracts covering hundreds of acres north of the Rio Grande. Land commissions are generally believed to award lower compensation than juries, eminent domain attorneys say.
Each case will offer its own complexities, from calculating the impact on hunting leases to the value of the land left in the no-man's land between the fence and the river.
Kimberli Loessin, an attorney representing some of the landowners, wrote in an e-mail, "Landowners are pleased and believe that Judge Hanen did the right thing."

Eloisa Garcia Tamez to Receive Civil Rights Award on Friday, October 3, 2008

TEXAS CIVIL RIGHTS PROJECT HONORS ELOISA G. TAMEZ

Texas Civil Rights Project to Honor Border Wall Activist Dr. Eloisa G. Taméz at 18th Annual Bill of...
Sep 26 (2 days ago)


TCRP to Honor Border Wall Activist
Dr. Eloisa G. Taméz
at 18th Annual Bill of Rights Dinner

This year the Texas Civil Rights Project proudly honors Dr. Eloisa G. Taméz with the Henry B. González Award.




Dr. Taméz is currently a nursing director at the University of Texas at Brownsville. She lives in El Calaboz on three acres that are the remnant of a 12,000-acre land grant to her ancestors in 1747 by the King of Spain. Dr. Taméz is a co-founder of the Lipan Apache Women Defense/Strength to protect sacred sites, burial grounds, archaeological resources, ecological bio-diversity, and way of life of the indigenous people of the Lower Rio Grande, North America.
At the age of 15, Eloisa Garcia Taméz led the rancheria of El Calaboz in de-segregation of public schools in Cameron County.
In 2007 she was the first landowner to stand up against the Department of Homeland Security's plan to put an 18-foot steel and concrete wall through her backyard. The non-continuous wall, planned to be built along 700 miles of the Mexican border, bypasses the wealthy and politically connected.
Dr. Taméz's legal battle against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Michael Chertoff to stop the construction of the Mexico-U.S. border wall is documented in the constitutional rights case, U.S. Department Homeland Security, U.S. Army Corps Engineers and U.S. Customs Border Patrol v. Eloisa Garcia Taméz.
In a January 2008 profile of Dr. Taméz and her struggle with Homeland Security, CNN asked her how long she will fight. "As long as I have to," she said.
The TCRP 18th Annual Bill of Rights Dinner will be held on Friday, October 3rd, at the University of Texas Alumni Center. (reception at 6:30 pm; dinner at 7:30 pm).
Famed U.S. attorney and professor, Sarah Weddington, will serve as master of ceremonies. Actress and activist, Vinie Burrows, will receive the the Michael Tigar Center Human Rights Award. Political cartoonist, Ben Sargent will be presented with the Molly Ivins "Give em' Hell" Award.
The Pat Dobbs Civil Rights Student Leader Award will be presented to the winner of this year's high school student competition.

The Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) promotes racial, social, and economic justice through education and litigation. TCRP strives to foster equality, secure justice, ensure diversity, and strengthen communities. TCRP has offices in El Paso, San Juan (in the Rio Grande Valley), Austin, and Odessa.
The anniversary dinner honors the time, commitment, and dedication of the civil rights community, and celebrates the Bill of Rights to the United States and Texas Constitutions. This event helps TCRP to raise funds to support its work for poor and low-income Texans.
For sponsorship and further information, please contact Susan Harry at 512-542-9744 or susan@susanharry.com.


Support Civil Rights and the Arts in Texas:
Order your Tickets Today!
Your Tax-Deductible Gift Will Help to Keep
TCRP Active in the Most Needed Places

Texas Civil Rights Project

'Speak Out'--The Importance of Cultural Survival & Restoration

The grandmothers and women relations have traditionally and historically been the center of Nde' culture all along the Rio Grande River, Lower Rio Grande and Upper Rio Grande (Big Bend). Elders continue to stay strong today, and they remind us about the centrality of our ancient and enduring culture in our lands, and the violent methods used to remove us from our aboriginal places. Young people of the region are 'waking up' and this short film is a beautiful example of that important conversation between the generations. Watch this important video, and share the message. This is Loreen Marin.

HURRICANE DOLLY--HUMAN RIGHTS AND U.S. FRAUD, WASTE & ABUSE-- FEMA and DHS Cause Further Harm in Lower Rio Grande Against Indigenous Peoples

E-mail: DHSOIGHOTLINE@dhs.gov
Fax: (202) 254-4292
Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
Attn: Office of Inspector General, Hotline
Office of the Inspector General
False Damage Claims: 1 (800) 323-8603

July 30, 2008

Dear Inspector General:

At this time I am submitting a testimony from my community members, the lineal descendent Lebaiye' T'nde' (Lipan Apache) people who are the aboriginal land title holders to territories of South Texas, the Rio Grande River and into northern Mexico. Currently, my family members reside in numerous counties of South Texas which have been horribly and negatively impacted by the ongoing flooding and infrastructural calamities in Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and other affected counties.

Reports from my mother, Dr. Eloisa Garcia Tamez (Lipan Apache) and other community members, as well as reports from local news reports, compel me to file an official complaint regarding the human rights, civil rights, and indigenous rights abuses occuring at this very moment against colonias, rancherias, unincorporated and incorporated communities all along the Rio Grande.

Many of the communities are undergoing great losses and tragedy, including loss of homes, livelihoods, livestock, crops, and who are currently still without the most fundamental needs to sustain life, i.e. potable water, food, medical supplies and medical attention. Elders, children, the working class poor people of the Rio Grande river front communities are the hardest hit in this ongoing devastation.

My mother and others have reported eye witness accounts of seeing D.H.S. sitting by idly, merely offering electrical fans at the local gas station, as a remedy for folks who do not have electricity, nor food, water, and are wading in a filthy infested stew of both animal and human waste and decomposition.

There are reports that helicopters of the Border Patrol and Army National Guard merely patrol over the border--but do not render aid to those who are in the most isolated and most hard-hit areas. Local news reports that there are countless colonias and rancherias of the poorest of the working classes who have still to be dealt with at all. Their physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual needs are being neglected in this horrendous human disaster. They have yet to see a speck of government, military, NGO, faith-based, or or communitarian aid to alleviate this calamity.

My mother and others are strongly critiquing the LACK of FEMA's presence in rendering immediate and assertive aid to our poorest river front communities. Many of these communities are direct lineal descendents of the aboriginal people of this region--they are the land owners, who have legal title to live and to enjoy their freedoms on their own lands. They also have the civil rights and human rights of all other U.S. citizens in similarly declared disaster areas.

Finally, this testimony is a complaint against the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, President George W. Bush, and the infrastructure which supports their offices due to the fact that local land owners in Hidalgo County reported yesterday that INSPITE of this calamitous disaster which has brought South Texas counties, cities, and the International Water Boundary Commission and Mexico to its knees---that DHS has begun to build the unpopular border wall once again.

This is a sign of a tyrannical, cold and vampire-like government which instead of utilizing public resources towards rendering aid to the local governments and people, it is exploiting the local systems, institutions and populations at their greatest moment of vulnerability and humanitarian need.

I see DHS/Michael Chertoff and President George W. Bush as the primary perpetrators of heinous crimes against humanity, human rights abuse, indigenous rights abuses against my Lipan Apache people, my ancestors, our sacred sites, our ecological and biological resources, our mineral resources, and our water resources with their aggression against us up to the present moment, in regards to their focus on the increased militarization and imprisonment of our people and lands in the border wall project.

Currently, at this dark hour, as my people, our lands, our sacred sites, and all the plant and animal relatives are suffering due to an aggressive, institutionally racist policy of laissez-faire towards Native Americans, Mexican-descent peoples, and border communities, I see DHS/Michael Chertoff and President George W. Bush as perpetrators who are currently committing crimes against humanity and genocide against the Lipan Apache people of South Texas, other indigenous communities in South Texas, and Mexican-descent persons and communities living along the Rio Grande on the U.S. and Mexico side of this calamity. It has not gone unnoticed by the local communities how intensely the nation-states moved to protect their corporate investments--hotels, resorts, oil platforms, airforce jets and planes, and other 'vital' assets of the United States and its companies. At the same time, we have noted how deficiently and minimally the nation-states have responded to the humanitarian needs of the majority of the aboriginal land owners and original title land owners (with Spanish Land Grant and Treaty land ownership claims) in the region.

This is my testimony, from my heart and from the oral testimonies shared with me by my family members undergoing psychological terror due to the fact that they have to witness this further erosion of democracy and justice in the United States under the iron-fist of an unpopular government which clearly demonstrates they rule against citizens and take up hostile policies to further our demise.

Let it be known among you that the Lipan Apache Women's Defense/Strength stands for the indigenous people and all oppressed groups on the Mexico-U.S. international border which violently dissects our natural traditional territories, a border which was aggressed against us without our free and prior informed consent--in the past and continued into the present moment.

Margo Tamez

Michael Paul Hill (Nnee') Reads Statement UNPFII

SLIDE SHOW! Nde' Nnee' T'nde Women De-Colonization

Indigenous Chacalacas in South Texas

To view and listen to SLIDESHOW Go to this link!

Eloisa Garcia Tamez--DHS SURVEY IN EL CALABOZ!

Many thanks to Nat Stone, documentarian and key supporter of Lipan Apache Women Defense/Strength! Ahi'i'e Nat!

Emergency Travel Funds Needed for Margo Tamez

Dear community,

Due to several key events unfolding in El Calaboz with the upcoming visit of the Congressional Delegation led by Congressman Raul Grijalva (Arizona) and accompanied by the Chair of T'ohono O'odham Nation to South Texas for scheduled Congressional Hearings at the University of Texas--Brownsville campus, it is imperative that I travel to Harlingen, TX on Friday night or Saturday morning.

I am calling upon our supporters to help me purchase a roundtrip airline ticket immediately, so that I can be present for key dialogues taking shape between the U.S. Congressional representatives and the Lipan Apache Women (El Calaboz) Defense.

Please email me: sumalhepa.nde.defense@gmail.com if you can assist with this urgent need.

Many thanks,
Margo Tamez

Indigenous Peoples Organization~~Lipan Apache Women Defense/Strength Prepare Statement to the UNPFII 2008

Official Statement to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 2008, New York City, New York.

April 22, 2008



Joint Statement to United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: Seventh Session APRIL 21 – MAY 2, 2008, United Nations Headquarters, New York

Intervention under Agenda Item 5-Human Rights: Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples and other special rapporteurs

By: Lipan Apache Women Defense

Supported By: Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras, Western Shoshone Defense Project, Tonatierra, Indigenous Environmental Network,

Good morning Madame Chairperson, Permanent Forum members and delegates. My name is Michael Paul Hill, I am Chiricahua Apache and I am here on behalf of the Apache land defenders from El Calaboz ranchería, El Polvo village (Redford) and the San Carlos Apache Communities. Although we are an Indigenous border community, with our inherent aboriginal territory along the now US/MEX border corridor, we along with numerous non-indigenous border communities within the southwestern border region of United States and northern Mexico, stand against the political and physical walls, barricades, and fencing that the United States is constructing at this very moment.

In response to this year’s theme we urge the UN PFII to bring special focus and critical attention to the colonization, militarization and industrialization of the T’nde’, Nde’, Nnee’, Dine’ traditional lands and peoples. We ask the Forum to support the peaceful but firm resistance efforts of the Lipan Apache Women land and culture defense, and the Southern Athapaskan Alliance against the increasing militarized occupations and assaults by the United States and Mexico of our lands, cultures, livelihoods, ceremonies and traditional sustenance, such as the migration patterns of the deer, elk, javelina, other big game and small game including the fowl, and many others too numerous to mention. These adverse affects of the four legged migration pattern through 18 ft. high cement and steel border walls and physical barricades deter the growth of native vegetation and herbal medicinal plants used in traditional ceremonies and the spiritual welfare of the Apache and Indigenous peoples along the US/MEX border corridor and impede the safe travel on foot, car, and other modes of Apache people back and forth across the militarized zone.

Of the 2000 mile long militarized conflict zone, over 1400 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border is the traditional territory of the Apache people. The Apache people must be given the opportunity to participate in the environmental, economic, social, and political decision-making in the region.

Due to the last two centuries of attempts to officially exterminate the Apaches of all clans and bands, Apache people today experience the highest levels of poverty, racism, sexism, gender violence, hunger, malnutrition, disease, gang violence, depression, and PTSD. They suffer extreme levels of social, economic and political displacement, dispossession, removal and diasporas while the world commodifies our ancestors on t-shirts, coffee cups, and tourist trinkets.

There are currently over 18,000 U.S. soldiers occupying our border communities—with a buildup of up to 75,000 by 2010, and an estimated 8-10,000 Mexican soldiers currently deployed in the border towns and villages positioned for crackdowns on civil society indigenous protests against the construction of a Berlin-style wall which is dissecting Yaqui, O’odham, Opata, Mayo, Cocopah communities along the border. Indigenous women are particularly targeted by violence that militarization culture imposes on the U.S.-Mexico conflict region evidenced by the 4000+ disappeared and murdered women of Juarez and other border towns.

Climate, bio-cultural diversity and livelihoods are critical areas the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is forced to address in regards to the current battle waged against the Lipan Apache Women land and culture defenders. Militarization of the border has resulted in the industrialized destruction of habitats, environments, livelihoods, bio-diversity, water sources, traditional agricultural practices, traditional food security, and traditional peace practices. To allow construction of the border wall, the U.S. recently broke all democratic principles prescribed by its own Constitution and officially “waived” over 35 laws to build the wall. These violations of state, national and international laws set in place by decades of civil and human rights movements in the United States, which provided some measure of protection to indigenous people’s rights to their environment, culture, and way of life have been revoked by the Department of Homeland Security. Current debates focused on "clearing brush to catch 'illegal aliens'!" do not consider the threat of U.S. Army cranes, bull-dozers, tractors, pavers and tanks to old-growth and requisite woodlands along the river necessary for ecological health and safety, as well as a staple for the traditional indigenous life ways. Included in the groups who cannot speak for themselves are the “habitat” peoples, the "eleven unique plant and animal communities found in the four most southern counties of Texas." These critical sectors of the Lower Rio Grande region, under threat by the border wall, are concentrated in Cameron County, home to Lipan Apache people.

We urge the UNPFII to set as an urgent initiative a special session on restoring gender to the debate and decision-making on climate change and bio-cultural diversity and livelihoods, as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security attempts to intimidate and to force the Lipan Apache Women Defenders to surrender their lands. We urgently request the UNPFII to meet us in dialogue at this forum, and ask that you consider our recommendations to take an intersectional approach to climate change that involves consideration of militarization, industrialization, gender, and environmental degradation in the U.S.-Mexico militarized zone of occupation and conflict.

Ahi'i'e Ussn, ahi'i'e diyini, ahi'i'e shimaa £ebaiyé T’nde-Nnee’, ahi'i'e shitaa Sumá Ndé-Nneé.

Read by:
Official Representative Michael Paul Hill (Chiricahua Apache)
Supported by Official Representative Michelle L. Cook (Dine’)

On behalf of:
Eloisa García Tamez, Grandmother, El Calaboz,
Margo Tamez Co-founder Lipan Apache Women—Defense/Strength

Lipan Apache Women--Defense/Strength Accepted as an Indigenous People's Organization of the UNPFII

Lebaiye Nde' hi'ke Nnee Isdzan Shimaa Shinii' -- Lipan Apache Women (LAW) Defense/Strength is an official IPO of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 7th Session, April 21- May 2, 2008.

Official representatives for the IPO are Michael Paul Hill (San Carlos Apache/Chiricahua Nnee') and Michelle Cook (Dine').

This year's UNPFII will be focused on the following:
Climate Change, Bio-cultural diversity, and livelihoods, and the stewardship role of indigenous peoples.

The IPO representatives for LAW-Defense/Strength will present a statement explaining the local struggle for independence, sovereignty, self-determination of traditional Apache and indigenous communities of the Lower Rio Grande communities whose people and territories are dissected by the U.S.-Mexico border.

The statement analyzes the intersectional relationship between climate change and bio-diversity and colonization, feudal social and economic systems, chemical manufacturing and industrialization, war contracting, an East Berlin-type concrete-steel wall, militarization & international soldiering, Blackwater, Jim Crow Deep South Texas where Lipan Apache women/indigenous women are central figures in the indigenous rights debates.

Lipan Apache Women Defense/Strength Co-founder, Margo Tamez, connects the current struggles and conflicts with the United States Department of Homeland Security and the violence of the Mexican state against her people on both sides of the border to the mysogynist culture of settler nations and their ongoing wars against women-centered land-based societies.

Lipan Apache Women--Defense/Strength is a resurgent indigenous popular social, economic and political movement to restore balance among all people and systems. We emphasize the importance of First Nations of Mother Earth and the need to restore the foundational indigenous laws which uphold relationships between matrilineal indigenous land-based cultures and our stewardship role to protect the ecosystems of the Lower Rio Grande valley, the most bio-diverse region of the U.S. southern border with its neighbor, Mexico.

The Apache territories and natural resources are currently being threatened by industrial corporate-run states. Lipan Apache Women Defense/Strength seeks to partner with our community members to protect and restore the complex web of riparian, aquatic, mammalian and reptilian life-systems which support the Lipan Apache traditional medicinal and food plant livelihoods. These are intrinsically webbed with the traditional ways of life of the First Nations of Nde', Nnee', and T'nde banded peoples who've stewarded the region since time immemorial.

Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law, Eloisa Garcia Tamez and Margo Tamez Call on Indigenous & Environmental Experts To Weigh in on Survey

--FOR WIDE DISTRIBUTION--

The Government plans to have a Border Patrol agent and two environmental engineers visit Dr. Eloisa Tamez’s property in El Calaboz, Texas, for a preliminary environmental assessment on Tuesday at 1 PM.

If possible, it would be very helpful if a small team of experts could be assembled including one or more experts on (1) border environmental issues, (2) cultural / indigenous issues, and (3) land value issues (including easements). This team will be crucial not only to assist property owners during these initial stages of surveying border properties, but even more importantly when in a few months the Government starts to condemn land permanently mainly in AZ and Texas to build a border wall. Formulating an expert border team is critically important.

Please circulate this email to anyone with expertise who may be interested. Academics, please circulate to your listservs. Experts interested in helping, please email me your resume and a couple of sentences about your interest.

If any experts may be available to be at Dr. Tamez’s land in El Calaboz on Tuesday at 1 PM, please email Eloisa Tamez Eloisa.tamez1@gmail.com , Margo Tamez sumalhepa.nde.defense@gmail.com and pschey@centerforhumanrights.org. Thanks.

Best wishes,

Peter
_____________________

Peter A. Schey
President and Executive Director
Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law
256 S. Occidental Blvd.
Los Angeles, Ca. 90057
Telephone: (213) 388-8693 ext. 104
Facsimile: (213) 386-9484
Electronic mail: pschey@centerforhumanrights.org
www.centerforhumanrights.org http://www.centerforhumanrights.org
www.legalizationusa.org http://www.legalizationusa.org
www.immigrantchildren.org http://www.immigrantchildren.org
www.casa-libre.org http://www.casa-libre.org/
www.vocesunidas.org http://www.vocesunidas.org
www.unityblueprint.org http://www.unityblueprint.org

The Final Step (DHS is land on the borderline)

Brownsville Herald

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/benavidez_85955___article.html/land_reyes.html

The Final Step

By Kevin Sieff/The Brownsville Herald

April 16, 2008 - 11:36PM

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has embarked on its final step before beginning construction of a border fence along the U.S.-Mexico border-purchasing land on which the structure will soon stand.

On Wednesday, officials from the Army Corps of Engineers offered Eduardo Benavidez $4,100 for a sliver of his 3.5 acres in El Calaboz, about 10 miles west of Brownsville. Because his land lies along the path of the border fence, officials told him, he'll have no choice but to sell.

Benavidez isn't ready to sell his land along the Rio Grande, even if it is to the federal government. "I'm not signing anything," he responded when DHS made their offer.

After the officials left, Benavidez, 86, called his brother. "These guys think they can do anything," he said.

DHS plans to construct 700 miles of fencing by the end of 2008. But first, the federal government must purchase land from several hundred South Texas landowners-including Benavidez, who was born on his property in 1922 and still earns a living cutting sheet metal there.

"We do have people beginning negotiations with landowners in the Valley," said Lloyd Easterling, an assistant chief for security operations for U.S. Border Patrol. "These are very initial negotiations."

Not all landowners have adopted Benavidez's refusal to sell. On Wednesday, his neighbor and cousin, Juanita Benavidez, agreed to part with .33 acres of her land for $12,500.

"It's a fair price," she said, "but I didn't want to sell it."

Benavidez said she felt pressured to sign documents from the Army Corps of Engineers.

"They were very forceful...and I don't want them to think I'm a communist or something like that," said Benevidez, who was given two weeks to consider the offer.

Benavidez, who speaks only Spanish, said she was given a copy of the government's offer in English. No written translation was provided. The officials did explain in Spanish the amount of money that was being offered to her.

Also, a list of relevant terms, including "acquisition," "easement," and "eminent domain" was also provided by the Army Corps of Engineers, but only in English.

The Cameron County Appraisal District estimates the value of Juanita Benavidez's 4.6 acres at $25,000. But like many of her neighbors, she doesn't care much for monetary evaluations.

"I've lived here for 37 years," she said. "I raised a family here."

The 18-foot tall fence will run through Benavidez's backyard, south of where the International Boundary and Water Commission's levee currently stands.

In rural Southmost, Jose Manuel Reyes and his three brothers are also considering the government's offer. The brothers live in adjacent houses along the Rio Grande.

Reyes was offered $2,200 for a 140 by 15-foot swath of land, roughly one sixth of his property. The appraisal district values the entire property at $12,000.

"I'm not sure if this price takes devaluation into account," Reyes said. "How much will my property be worth when an 18-foot fence runs through the backyard?"

But Reyes is growing increasingly despondent. "It doesn't matter what what we do," he said. "They're going to put it up whether we like it or not."

Reyes acknowledges that he could hold out and let a federal judge mediate negotiations over the land's value, but he isn't eager to engage in a legal battle.

"After all that, I wonder if I would even gain anything," he said. "What if they take away our original offer?" he asked. "At least now we'll get something."

Lipan Apache Women (El Calaboz) Defense E-Portfolio Wins First Place

 

2007-08 WSU ePortfolio Contest Gallery The goal of the 2007 - 08 WSU ePortfolio Contest was to harness the interests and expertise of the WSU community to address real world problems encountered by communities both locally and globally. It called upon contestants to collaborate with community members - institutional, local, or global – to identify a problem, explore solutions, develop a plan, and then take steps toward implementing that plan. Contestants were asked to use electronic portfolios to capture and reflect on their collaborative problem-solving processes and the impact of their projects. As we saw with last year's contest, there were as many different issues and approaches as there were projects and ePortfolios. Judges from industry, the local community, and WSU used these criteria to evaluate the portfolios. Here are the results:   The Grand Prize ($1500) went to the Kayafungo Women's Water Project whose group members did excellent job of thoroughly documenting the development of their project, capturing how they adjusted to roadblocks, discussing cultural and economic issues from multiple perspectives, and evaluating the impact of their intervention. "In addition to a great project, the team has created a great portfolio. They have documented the development of the project and shown how their own thinking has developed along the way."   The First Place ($1000) prize was awarded to the El Calaboz ePortfolio, which chronicled the personal journey and growth of the author as she strove to mobilize more than 70 stakeholders in the border-wall conflict at the Mexican-U.S. border. Judges were struck not only the depth and richness of the material that was integrated but also the way in which the portfolio managed to bridge academic analysis and social activism. "Honest, informed and informative, thought-provoking, and controversial in ways that scholarship on issues of significant social impact should yet often fails to be."   One of the two Second Place ($700) winners was a WSU faculty member working with European colleagues whose ePortfolio, Understanding Ecodesign, captured the iterative and dynamic aspects of the engineering design process. Judges noted the effectiveness of the graphs, timelines, and multimedia to present the process. "The team used a variety of techniques to present their information in a dramatic and understandable way. I was impressed with their attempt to break down a very complex issue into understandable pieces."   The other Second Place ($700) winner was the EEG Patient Monitoring System, which impressed judges with its attempt to balance a formal business case study with an informal story of how the group members interacted with each other and how their learning evolved as the project evolved. " It appears that the team is stretching their conventional parameters and taking risks by entering into a field that is out of their comfort zone." "Participants showed real growth in a number of areas, including what they wanted to do, as well as their understanding of the complexity and risks of their proposed venture."   The three Third Place ($300) winners impressed the judges with their polished websites that tackled important issues at the institutional, local, and global levels. While these three didn't include as much of the processes behind the project, they were excellent examples of " harnessing the interests and expertise of the WSU community to address real-world problems."   The Edward R. Murrow School of Communication Alumni Site's goal was to "connect alumni and current students to emphasize lifelong learning…[by creating] a space that celebrates and cements the ongoing value of a degree from the Murrow School through a network resource that benefits the career and educational goals of all those involved." "Actively seeks out and incorporates other disciplinary, cultural, and stakeholder feedback as the project unfolds. Invites participation in different ways – blog, wiki, discussion forum."   The Grace Foundation Initiative was the background story of the development of The Grace Foundation, which seeks to "transform, act, and participate in" the potential of Nigeria by being "an interconnecting and strategic agency for communities as they pursue quality education, growth opportunities, and self-actualization, locally, nationally, and globally." "Overall this portfolio was very well put together and the finished product (the website) was very impressive."   Caring for Unwanted Horses on the Palouse tackled a serious and distressing problem that is both local and global, with implications that go beyond horses. The judges observed that the author went "from asking 'authority figures' about caring for unwanted horses' resources to being one in creating the website resource and becoming a rescue horse boarder." "I appreciate the work on this project and it is obvious there are not many resources to contribute to the success of this national issue. A very interesting and well-deserving topic."   Honorable Mentions ($100) went to two ePortfolios: Clean Biofuels for Africa and Conflict in Educational Dialogue. Commenting on Clean Biofuels for Africa, one judge said, "This is a valuable project. The portfolio documents some initial steps towards a solution."

The WSU 2007-2008 ePortfolio Contest was sponsored by the Washington State University Office of Undergraduate Education and Microsoft.

 

NEWS: Carlos Guerra "We'll Hear More and More about Gov's Power to Take Lands"

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA031808.01B.guerra.373969c.html

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In the Rio Grande Valley, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sued dozens of individuals, local governments and agencies for refusing to grant it "access" to their land so it can take it for the border wall.
After refusing access to her 3-acre plot, Eloisa Tamez was sued. She countersued and a federal judge has ordered DHS to negotiate with her in good faith.

Hundreds of miles north, in one of the Hill Country's most pristine ranches, Martha, Mary and Bebe Fenstermaker are girding for their fifth legal battle since 1989 to keep their land.

The city, Bexar County and the San Antonio River Authority want it for a dam to control flooding downstream by flooding the sisters' modest home sites, and much of the rest of their ranch, a federally registered historic district dotted with 19th-century limestone structures.

More Coverage

• Judge plans to rule quickly on border fence brouhaha



Then, there are the thousands who have found all or parts of their farms and ranches under thick lines on Texas Department of Transportation maps. TxDOT wants their land for the Trans-Texas Corridor, which will take as many as 8,000 miles of land in 1,200-foot-wide swathes for privately operated utility easements, multi-lane toll roads and railroad tracks.

These are just a few of the reasons "eminent domain" is appearing more often in Texas news reports. And as we get more Texans — but not more land — expect to hear more about governments using eminent domain to fix earlier mistakes — and for less noble purposes.

Governments' seizure powers predate our nation. Based on the notion that the sovereign owns all its territory and landholders own only an interest in the land's use, Common Law empowered monarchs to take whatever they wanted.

When America's colonies gained independence, they assumed eminent domain powers by proclaiming themselves the new sovereigns. In 1791, the U.S. Constitution was amended and eminent domain was implicitly recognized — but also limited — in the Fifth Amendment, which states, "nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."

By 1829, however, the U.S. Supreme Court redefined "public good" by allowing states to empower private railroads to seize land. By 1954, this relaxation led the high court to let the District of Columbia take properties that were not blighted along with others nearby that were and hand them all to private parties for profitable redevelopment.

And in 2005, the court allowed New London, Conn., to seize a totally unblighted neighborhood and sell it to a private developer for a project city fathers believe will bring the city greater tax revenues.

Other eminent domain issues that are emerging involve local jurisdictions that, increasingly, are using eminent domain to provide infrastructure improvements — such as new schools, wider roads and drainage projects — that have been made necessary by uncontrolled development and low impact fees.

While the courts have, on the one hand, given governments greater latitude to use eminent domain to help private developers, they have also held that at times, "just compensation" is also due when governments' actions diminish the value of land that has not been seized by, for example, making it less desirable or less accessible.

In 2007, the Texas Legislature addressed this very issue with HB 2006, which allowed landowners to sue for "diminished access" to their property, instead of having to show "material and substantial damages" before seeking compensation. It passed but Gov. Rick Perry vetoed it.

As growing populations make land-use restrictions more necessary, we are going to face more policy questions that will revolve around eminent domain.

It is clearly time for Congress and the Legislature to rewrite laws to assure that eminent domain powers truly serve the public good — and aren't just used to fatten private wallets.



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To contact Carlos Guerra, call (210) 250-3545 or e-mail cguerra@express-news.net.

NEWS: "South Texas Landowners Slow Border 'Fence' Progress in Court"

http://www.star-telegram.com/448/story/531512.html

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NEWS: U.N. CERD 2008 Recommendations to U.S.A.

NEWS! United Nations Committee on Elimination of Racism & Racial Discrimination (UN CERD) makes Comments and evaluations on the U.S.A. violations.
UN Faults US on Racism
UN Racism Experts Urge Changes to Eliminate Racial Bias
(New York, March 7, 2008) – The United States should immediately adopt UN recommendations to alleviate the widespread racial bias it found in the criminal justice system, Human Rights Watch said today.

The UN is telling the US that it needs to deal with an ugly aspect of its criminal justice system. Alison Parker, deputy director of the US Program at Human Rights Watch



Related Material
HRW Submission to CERD in its 72nd Session
Report, February 7, 2008

Follow-Up Letter to CERD
Letter, February 26, 2008

Free Email Newsletter


The UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination harshly criticized the US record on race after considering oral and written testimony submitted by the US government. In its conclusions issued today, the committee urged the US to rectify the “stark racial disparities” in criminal justice systems throughout the country.

“The UN is telling the US that it needs to deal with an ugly aspect of its criminal justice system,” said Alison Parker, deputy director of the US Program at Human Rights Watch. “The committee outright rejected the government’s claim that more black kids get life without parole sentences because they commit more crimes.”

The UN committee condemned what it found to be racial disparities in the death penalty and in the sentencing of youth to life without parole for crimes committed when they were under 18, a practice the committee wants stopped. Further, the committee called on authorities to take steps, including a moratorium on the death penalty, to root out racial bias.

The committee also dismissed claims by the US government that it did not have the power to examine the detention of non-citizens at Guantanamo. It urged the US to guarantee “enemy combatants” judicial review of the lawfulness and conditions of their detention.

“Once again, the Bush administration has been told by a major human rights body that it is not above the law when it comes to the war on terrorism,” Parker said. “The US should reverse its decision to deny judicial review to non-citizen enemy combatant detainees.”

The committee criticized US practices in numerous other areas, including:

· The Bush administration’s view that its human rights treaty obligations do not apply to laws or practices that are race-neutral on their face but discriminatory in effect;

· Racial segregation in housing and in public schools;

· Systemic inadequacies in indigent criminal defense, which have a disproportionate impact on racial minorities;

· The disenfranchisement of millions of US citizens because they have been convicted of a felony, even though they have fully served their sentences or have been released on parole.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is the UN body of experts responsible for monitoring countries’ compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, a human rights treaty ratified by the United States in 1994. The committee’s comments and responses to state party reports are authoritative interpretations of states’ obligations under the treaty.

As is its regular practice, the committee considered US compliance with the treaty following the government’s submission of a report, due in November 2003 but finally submitted by the US in April 2007. A US delegation participated in the committee’s meeting to examine the report on February 21 and 22, 2008 in Geneva, and responded to questions.

For more information on the United States and the CERD, please see the following documents:

February 2008 Human Rights Watch submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

February 2008 follow-up letter from Human Rights Watch to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

April 2007 US Report to CERD

03/08 CERD final observations on the US