Memories/Recuerdos

El ultimo morral tejido por mi abuelita. Su visión ya no es como antes.
The last “backpack” woven by my grandmother. Her eyesight is not the same anymore.

VAWA Video, Indian Law Resource Center, 1491s

Another Guatemalan female community leader, Lolita Chávez, suffers lynching attempt

Another Guatemalan female community leader, Lolita Chávez, suffers lynching attempt

giving thanks.

jamadi diosito for a great semester, i’m working my way up with you by my side. muy pronto I will be reunited con mi abuelita. que alegria siento en mi corazon.

To The Indigenous Woman Long Format, Poem by 1491s

To all my lost sisters, please remember the strength and courage you have within, to find yourselves again. I was there before, blinded. Break the silence and stop the screams…there is hope.

Pueblos Indígenas

A Comparison of State Prisoners and Immigration Detainees

The Department of Homeland Security has taken the approach of detaining immigrants as a way to enforce immigration laws. While this approach may seem logical to those who believe that immigration is an unlawful act, it is important to understand that our detention system locks up hundreds of thousands of immigrants unnecessarily every year, exposing detainees to brutal and inhumane conditions of confinement at massive emotional, physical and monetary costs. According to Detention Watch Network, the U.S. government detained approximately 380,000 people in immigration custody in 2009 costing over $1.7 billion. Most importantly, the current approach to immigration detention interferes with several important detainee rights. In order to understand the situation immigrant detainees face, it is important to compare their conditions to that state prisoners.
           Being in violation of immigration laws is not a crime, it is a civil violation requiring immigrants to go through a process to see whether they have a right to stay in the United States. While immigrants are detained, it is under a non-criminal custody, because of this immigrant detainees face no right to face trial within their jurisdiction as pretrial detainees enjoy under the protection of the Sixth Amendment. Also important to understand is that unlike transferred criminal inmates who can be located through state locator systems, there is no public accessible immigration detainee locator system. So while immigrant detainees have the right to be represented in deportation, the transfer of immigrants to remote areas away from their jurisdiction disrupts the attorney-client relationship. It is important to note how the challenges of the transfer of immigrants to remote locations further affects them, even if their attorney is willing to fly over to their new location, detainees must struggle to pay for the attorney’s flight for court dates. While this first scenario is one that provides challenges to detainees, detainees who did not have an attorney when transferred to remote locations are less likely to find someone to represent them. The transfer of immigrants further creates emotional and psychological suffering among family members and loved ones.
            While the detainment of immigrants is used as a purpose to try to enforce immigration laws, it is important to understand the separation of families and communities through this transfer serves as a strategy to further complicate the immigration system and benefit corporation who essentially are making a profit from undocumented people. Secondly, let us examine what message does it send to the public when a person convicted of a crime has more benefits when faced with the judicial system?