THE 2ND ANNIVERSARY MEMORIAL COMMUNITY CELEBRATION TO HONOR THE LIFE OF DAY LABORER LEADER FERNANDO PEDRAZA

THE 2ND ANNIVERSARY MEMORIAL COMMUNITY CELEBRATION TO HONOR THE LIFE OF DAY LABORER LEADER FERNANDO PEDRAZA

THE 2ND ANNIVERSARY MEMORIAL COMMUNITY CELEBRATION TO HONOR THE LIFE OF DAY LABORER LEADER FERNANDO PEDRAZA

STUDENTS, treat DAY LABORERS AND COMMUNITY ALLIES HOLD THE 2NDANNIVERSARY MEMORIAL COMMUNITY CELEBRATION TO HONOR THE LIFE OF DAY LABORER LEADER FERNANDO PEDRAZA

Contact

Eddie Gonzalez (PEOC): (323) 422-8107

Suzanne Foster (PEOC): (310) 486-8499

Event Info

Date:          Tuesday, May 5, there 2009

Time:         10:00 AM Press Conference Begins, Memorial Ends at 12:00 PM

What:         Press Conference and Memorial Service to celebrate the memory of

day laborer leader Fernando Pedraza

Where:       Corner of Arrow Highway and Grove Ave in Rancho Cucamonga , CA 

Who:          Pedraza Day Laborers Coalition, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, the Claremont Colleges, Pomona Economic Opportunity Center (PEOC), National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), San Bernardino Community Service Center, Inc, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) 

( Rancho Cucamonga , CA ) – On Monday May 5th, at 10 AM at the corner of Arrow Highway and Grove Avenue in Rancho Cucamonga , day laborers and their allies celebrate the second anniversary memorial of day laborer organizer Fernando Pedraza by coming together to demonstrate community support for workers’ rights and dignity to the Rancho Cucamonga City Council.

“We are here to celebrate the life of Fernando. We will not let his memory die,” said Roberto Corona, Pastoral Associate of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. “Fernando Pedraza’s body may not be here, but his ideals and dreams continue in each one of the thousands of men and women gathering on corners across our nation.”

The press conference and memorial service coincide with the day that Fernando Pedraza died two years ago. On Cinco de Mayo, 2007, an unplanned demonstration by the Minutemen against day laborers on the corner of Arrow Highway and Grove Avenue in Rancho Cucamonga ended with the death of day laborer leader Jose Fernando Pedraza. With the realization that there be dignity and respect for the day laborer community, Pedraza stood by his fellow day laborers across from the group of vigilantes who screamed racial attacks against the workers.  Fifty-seven year old Pedraza was hit and killed by a tragic car accident as he defended his fellow workers at the corner where he waited on a daily basis for work.

Pedraza, a Mexican immigrant and a father of five daughters and grandfather of seven, was killed at 1 p.m. on May 5, 2007, when an SUV, after hitting a car in the intersection, rolled onto the sidewalk where day laborers were gathered.  The day laborers were only there at that time on that day because of the Minutemen protest against their right to look for work.

“Honoring the Memory of Jose Pedraza reminds us to remember the struggle against injustices of the day laborer community in Rancho Cucamonga and to continue to empower each other to stand up for their rights,” said Eddie Gonzalez, Rancho Cucamonga organizer for the PEOC and Pedraza Day Laborer Coalition member. 

 

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Lou Dobbs Battles Al Sharpton and ACORN’s Bertha Lewis, Gets His Lunch Eaten

By Stephen Lemon
Phoenix New Times
Wednesday, Apr. 8 2009

Click here to view the embedded video.

I don’t know what CNN’s resident nativist Lou Dobbs thought he was doing when he invited the Rev. Al Sharpton and ACORN’s Bertha Lewis on his program yesterday. But suffice it to say that the bottle-blond senior citizen got owned on his own show by Lewis and Sharpton, help who were there to attack Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his racial profiling shenanigans under the federal 287(g) program.

The verbal bitch-slapping began from jump, with Lewis doing the slapping, and Dobbs being the, well, you know. Check this exerpt from the show’s transcript:

DOBBS: Let’s start. This is unusual and this investigation started with a call, Bertha, for an investigation by four Democratic senators — excuse me — Congressmen which looks on its face to be politicization of the U.S. Justice Department.

BERTHA LEWIS, CEO, ACORN: It didn’t start there. It started two years ago. Sheriff Arpaio has been doing his reign of terror for a very long time.

DOBBS: Did you just say reign of terror?

LEWIS: Absolutely, I mean that.

DOBBS: Ok.

LEWIS: It’s been arresting people simply because of the color of their skin, or their language. You can’t tell whether someone is legal or illegal, you know. And he’s using 287-G so the outcry that had come up from citizens across Maricopa County forced these Democrats to at least take some action and the Department of Justice has him under investigation.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It continued on from there with Lewis and Sharpton ceding zero ground to Dobbs on the subject. I loved the part where Dobbs spat the blarney that ACORN is under investigation in 13 states.

DOBBS: Have you met [Arpaio]?

LEWIS: I’ve met him by his work. Our members in Arizona have been arrested time and time again; African-Americans who have been here for a long time.

DOBBS: What do you suppose would be said about ACORN, you’re being investigated in 13 states, for crying out loud.

LEWIS: Oh, I’m glad you brought that up. That’s not true. Check the facts. It’s not true. You can get on the phone right now, call the Department of Justice.

DOBBS: I didn’t say anything about the Justice Department.

LEWIS: ACORN is not being investigated anywhere in any state. You don’t have your facts correct. If you’re talking about people being prosecuted individuals, we are assisting in their prosecution so ACORN is not under investigation and has not been.

We asked the Justice Department in October, they confirmed it again and again, and you know what? Give them a call.

DOBBS: We will. We’ll do it. And I certainly will and I assure you it will be early tomorrow morning. How’s that?

LEWIS: That’s good.

Sharpton was excellent as well, but a bit muted by comparison with Lewis. Still, I’d like to see either Lewis or Sharpton on the same show as Arpaio. The old man wouldn’t know what hit him.

Dennis Gilman’s posted the Televised donnybrook on YouTube, with his own running commentary on Dobbs’ various inaccuracies. (Keep your eyes on the scrolling headlines below the talking heads.) It’s must-viewing for all Arpaio-watchers, con and pro.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2009/04/lou_dobbs_takes_on_al_sharpton.php

Arpaio and Civil Rights Abuses Hearing//TUNE IN TOMORROW

April 1st, ask 2009
National Day Laborer Organizing Network

The momentum against Sheriff Arpaio and the entire 287(g) program keeps building. Only a few weeks after announcing joint hearings in the Judiciary Committee to investigate Arpaio and other civil rights abuses under the program, Conyers is following through on his word and holding the hearings tomorrow. We would like to urge you to watch as victims of racial profiling, Arizona, Mesa Police Chief Gascon, and experts on racial profiling tear the cloak off the Bush’s failed “immigration enforcement” and expose it for what it is: a civil and human rights crisis. Thanks for all your hard work in helping make this hearing happen.

Please keep an eye out for our action alert after the hearing. We’ll need your help writing to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and the Obama administration to immediately terminate Sheriff Arpaio’s 287(g) contract. Si se puede! Yes we can!

Please tune in Thursday April 2nd at 10am EST: http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/calendar.html

Abril 1, 2009
Red Nacional De Jornaler@s

La presion contra Sheriff Arpaio y todo el programa de 287(g) sigue creciendo. Hace solo unas pocas semanas el Congressista Conyers anuncio audencias en el Committee Judicial. Manana estas audencias seran una realidad. Nos gustaria invitarlos a ver la audencia a travez del internet. Alli veran victimas del perfil racial, el jefe de la policia de Mesa, Arizona, y expertos de perfil racial demascarar las policias de immigracion de Bush por lo que verdaderamente son: una crisis de derechos civiles y humanos. Gracias por todo sus esfuerzos en hacer esta audencia una realidad. Por favor esten al tanto del aviso de accion que mandaremos despues de la audencia el jueves. Necesitamos la ayuda de todos para mandarle una carta a Janet Napolitano, la directora de Homeland Security, y la administracion de Obama para inmediatamente romper el contrato de 287(g) de Sheriff Arpaio. Si se puede! Yes we can!

Pueden ver la audencia jueves abril 2 a las 10am EST: http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/calendar.html

The People’s Sheriff

PBS NOW
March 27 2009

Is a hard-line sheriff crossing the line when it comes to immigration enforcement?

One of the most controversial figures in the illegal immigration debate is Joe Arpaio, the longtime sheriff of Arizona’s Maricopa County, whose aggressive hard line on local crime has received national attention.

But has Sheriff Arpaio, who’s made the most of federally-granted authority to enforce immigration laws, crossed the line when it comes to serving and protecting his community? Some critics have accused him of racial profiling.

This week, our colleagues at “Exposé” and local reporters from the East Valley Tribune reveal what Sheriff Arpaio was—and wasn’t—doing in the name of law enforcement.

In a special bonus interview, NOW Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa sits down with Joe Arpaio for an intense discussion about the issues and criticism swirling around him. Watch that interview below with Sheriff Arpaio.

Please follow this link and comment about Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s policies against the immigrant communities in Phoenix, Arizona.
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/513/index.html

Notes From the Immigration Battlefield

Published: March 18, case 2009

Here’s a thought. What if illegal immigrants really aren’t America’s worst nightmare? A lot of energy has been spent insisting that they are, but are they really as dangerous as, say, zombie banks? Or as evil as retention bonuses?

In truth, our biggest domestic menace never was waiting outside Home Depot, hoping to clean your basement. Unauthorized immigrants are not about to destroy anything, not even when they get angry and loud and march in large groups. On the contrary, they are inspiring. Their ethic of self-reliance and hard work is one that Americans should recognize and celebrate.

Exhibit A: Riverside, Calif., where I went recently to watch immigrant advocates march against the Border Patrol.

Riverside is 100 miles from Mexico, but the Border Patrol has an office there. Its agents have accused supervisors of imposing arrest quotas — 150 illegals a month — that forced them to swoop into day-labor corners and bus stops to keep their numbers up.

The marchers wanted to make the point that arresting people in bulk because they look Hispanic is grossly unconstitutional. They wanted to denounce the raids as a cruel misuse of crime-fighting resources — fishing for minnows instead of sharky predators.

The day of the march dawned wet, cold and calm. The crowd at City Hall grew to about 300, then set off for the Border Patrol office, three miles away. They looked like any Americans, though maybe more cheerful. They chanted and sang and got soaked. The ink on their signs bled. They looked like poor people marching for a better life, the kind we root for in movies like “The Grapes of Wrath.”

Drivers gave friendly honks, but not everyone was nice. A guy on a townhouse balcony silently held up a Confederate flag as the Latinos marched by. When he saw my camera, he became a frightened little man. He whipped the flag behind his back, as if it were a dirty magazine.

At the march’s end, a band of Minutemen with American flags and bullhorns was waiting across the road. “We support the Border Patrol!” they yelled over four lanes of blacktop. “Viva la Migra!”

I had thought these outnumbered soldiers might be tense. But I saw no fear, only loathing. It was a party! I met a smiling man named Jim. “What’s your heritage?” he asked. As immigrant sons, we talked about what a great country it was.

I asked him why we couldn’t all just get along. He said because these aliens were not the good Ellis Island kind. They were soaking California for billions in social-service tax dollars while hatching evil schemes. “Reconquistas,” he called them, citing a Mexican plot to seize the U.S.A. through mass migration. It’s fictional, but Jim believed it.

He gave me his card.

Jim Gilchrist!

Mr. Gilchrist founded the Minutemen. I asked for a picture. He pointed to a tree and suggested posing there.

“With a noose hanging from it?” he said.

“Pardon me?”

“With a noose hanging from it?”

I asked him to repeat it again. He said he was joking. I tried to make the words fit together as humor, but couldn’t.

I went to the Latino side, where the singing was better. The speeches were interrupted when shoving broke out on the Minuteman side. Uh-oh.

I ran over and got Mr. Gilchrist out of a huddle. He told me one of his troops had been spit on by a reconquista. He was keeping everybody calm while the victim, a frail-looking woman, got ready to press charges.

A police officer was taking statements. A lawyer for the marchers, a skinny white guy, put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Did he really spit on you?” he asked.

“No,” she said, “but he could have.”

It was a Perry Mason moment. But it was more. It was the Minuteman worldview wrapped up in one sad little psychodrama: The alien threat, so scary, yet so imaginary. The officer took note.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/opinion/19thu4.html?_r=1&ref=opinion 

The Ballad of Joe Arpaio

Published: March 15, 2009

Saul Linares, a factory worker from Hempstead, N.Y., sat down at dinner on Feb. 7 with pen, paper and a story to tell. Then he did what similarly equipped Mexicans have done since the 1800’s. He wrote a corrido.
“In the left hand I was eating, and with my right hand I was writing it down,” he said. He was done in 20 minutes.

Mr. Linares was on a weekend retreat for immigrant-rights organizers in Rye, N.Y. After work on Saturday they took a break for a “cultural night” of poems, songs and stories.

Mr. Linares, 30, had never written a corrido before. He is from El Salvador, where they sing cumbias. But people all over Latin America like corridos. He knew what to do.

Voy a cantarles un corrido a los presentes,

que le compuse a Joe Arpaio de Arizona,

un sinvergüenza, desgraciado, anti-inmigrante,

que se ha ganado el repudio de toda la gente.

I will sing a corrido to all those present

that I wrote for Joe Arpaio from Arizona,

a shameless, disgraceful immigrant hater

who has earned the repudiation of the people.

Corridos are Mexican folk ballads, stories of love, betrayal, murder, s, often lurid and usually drawn from real life. Scholars who collect them by the tens of thousands say they are the literature of the rural poor: pulp nonfiction.

Mr. Linares’s subject, the Maricopa County sheriff, is infamous for abusing prisoners, strutting on TV and arresting Latinos on flimsy pretexts. To his victims he is a figure of fear and mockery, part Bull Connor, part Buford T. Justice from “Smokey and the Bandit.” He is prime corrido material.

Arpaio puts the immigrants in jail

because he says that they are crooks

but they are only looking for a decent job …

And without any apparent sense or reason

he paraded them in chains down the street.

That is all true. The inmate parade happened in Phoenix on Feb. 4. Last week the Justice Department told the sheriff he was being investigated over accusations of racial profiling, and Congress members denounced his “reign of terror.”

Mr. Linares, a former day laborer, had his audience cheering, but he was modest about it. He threw the song away. Someone had to persuade him to retrieve and save it. The next day, he and a guitarist, Francisco Pacheco, squeezed into a bathroom, for better acoustics, and recreated the moment for a portable recorder.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/opinion/16mon4.html?_r=1&em 

bigmaria2.jpg

Joe Arpaio’s Guards Break Woman’s Arm (Allegedly), ICE Releases Her on Own Recognizance

Stephen Lemons, view
Phoenix New Times
bigmaria2.jpg
 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a suspected illegal immigrant Thursday night after it was determined that her arm had been broken while she was in MCSO custody.

Maria del Carmen Garcia Martinez was released on her own recognizance, her left arm slung in a cast after she received at St. Joseph’s. She had been turned over to ICE earlier in the day by the MCSO. ICE took her to St. Joseph’s for medical attention, photographed her injuries and released her with a pending court date around 8 p.m. from its offices on Central Ave.

Martinez, 47, was met by her family, Respect/Respeto activist Lydia Guzman and a couple of reporters, including yours truly. Her left arm was swollen as was her leg and ankle. As her daughter Sandra translated, she explained that she was recently arrested by the Phoenix Police Department, after she was questioned about posting signs for a yard .

She said she was arrested for a having a fraudulent I.D., even though her I.D. was an out-of-date I.D. card from California, according to her. Martinez was then collared and booked into MCSO custody.

(Oddly, the Phoenix PD’s on-call spokesperson, an Officer Holmes, said he could find no record of Martinez in their system.) 

While in custody at Lower Buckeye Jail, Martinez said she was brutalized by six MCSO detention officers, who were trying to get her to put her fingerprints on a voluntrary removal order, a document wherein an undocumented foreign national gives his or her consent to be repatriated.

(Lydia Guzman asserted that sometimes MCSO will attempt to get a fingerprint instead of a signature for the VR form. An ICE spokesman had no immediate explanation for this procedure.)

Martinez refused, as was her right, but the officers tried to force her, she said. They stepped on her, twisted her arm, and beat her. She noticed that one of the officers was Hispanic.

“Why are you doing this to me, when you came from Mexico also,” she told the Hispanic guard.

She was placed in a cell by herself, and later that night she was visited by eight MCSO officers, who warned her to sign the VR, or, “We’re all going to get you,” she said they told her.

Martinez’s right hand was swollen, and stained with blue ink.

A fellow inmate advised Martinez’s daughter that her mother had been beat down. She feared for her mother’s life, and advised her lawyers, who filed an emergency stay on Martinez’s behalf.

According to her daughter Sandra, Martinez was a housemom, who stayed home and took care of the family. Martinez’s husband works as a handyman. They came here three years ago from California, looking for a less expensive way of life.

“I’m proud of her, and I’m glad that she’s out,” said Sandra, her eyes welling with tears. “I couldn’t sleep. I would think of her, and cry every night because I missed her so much.”

Ironically, because the MCSO has apparently abused her, Martinez may get to stay in this country permanently, noted Guzman, who has been following the case since Martinez was arrested.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2009/03/joe_arpaios_goons_break_womans.php 

38,000 + signatures against Arizona Sheriff brought to DC

Video of Press Conference University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

“All I want to do is except these petitions, welcome you, advise you that the Department of Justice has an investigation going on surrounding activities in Maricopa County and guess what, your not the only ones that have a sheriff that needs to be investigated in this country.” said Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) at a press conference to present a petition of more than 38,000 signatures calling on the Department of Justice and Homeland Security to investigate Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s alleged civil rights abuses.

Arpaio has 2,700 lawsuits filed against him and this month the House Judiciary Committee called for the Justice Department to conduct a federal investigation on Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s enforcement tactics.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) expressed that the sheriff’s tactics are examples of police power and are a violation of federal law. Nadler said, “In 2009, in the United States, we simply cannot tolerate such patterns of discrimination and denial of due process. Sheriff Arpaio’s malicious and vigilante practices are not immigration enforcement.” stated Nadler.

“We carry the burden of being stuck with this man but it is not an Arizona problem, this is a national disgrace…It can’t be tolerated.” said Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.). Grijalva said he never supported the 287(g) program which trains local officers to enforce immigration law. “Put it in the wrong hands, it becomes abusive, discriminatory, and breaks the law and that’s what happened here…That particular program, the worst case scenario was in front of you and that Sheriff Arpaio.” he said.

Pablo Alvarado, Executive Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said that the 287(g) program is the Bush Administration’s failed experiment to outsource federal responsibility and expressed that the change we all voted for last November will soon bring order to the broken immigration system. “We must turn the page and we must together restore the nation’s promise for life, liberty and for the pursuit of happiness for all.” concluded Alvarado.


http://talkradionews.com/2009/03/38000-signatures-against-arizona-sheriff-brought-to-dc/

Arpaio target of Justice Department probe

By East Valley Tribune
East Valley Tribune
updated 1:47 a.m. PT,  Wed., March. 11, 2009

Mesa, Arizona – The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department over allegations of discriminatory practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures.

House panel wants Arpaios policies examined

In a letter dated Tuesday to Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the department’s Civil Rights Division said investigators will focus on alleged patterns of discriminatory police practices and on allegations of discrimination based on a person’s national origin.

Arpaio has gained a national profile for several controversial practices, including ongoing efforts to arrest illegal immigrants in the Phoenix area.

Arpaio called the investigation unwarranted and a political situation. He defended the arrest methods of his deputies, contending they are well-trained and do not racially profile during crime sweeps.

The letter, signed by Loretta King, acting assistant attorney general, “We have not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigation … We also will offer to provide recommendations on ways to improve practices and procedures, as appropriate.”

“Well, I’m not surprised,” Arpaio said about the investigation. “No way do I feel this investigation is warranted. (Phoenix Mayor) Phil Gordon went to the Department of Justice about a year ago and wanted them to look into my office, and I’m sure the FBI has looked into it. The allegations are the same types that have been going on, and that we arrest dishwashers, and on and on …”

In February, four Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate possible civil rights violations based on complaints that Arpaio’s deputies are targeting people based on their skin color during neighborhood crime sweeps and raids at work sites.

Among the congressmen pushing for the investigation were: Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., and chairman of the judiciary committee; Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., immigration subcommittee chairwoman; Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.; and Bobby Scott, D-Va.

Last year, FBI agents were reportedly investigating racial profiling allegations in response to Gordon’s request for a federal inquiry.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement also conducted an audit of how its Arizona office oversees the sheriff’s immigration enforcement, but has not made its findings public.

The Government Accountability Office last week reported its investigation found that ICE has not sufficiently overseen its local immigration enforcement program, which includes the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.

Arpaio was steadfast in defending his office’s arrest practices and told the Tribune on Tuesday he is being used as the “poster child” for the enforcement of the 287G Program that has allowed his deputies to be trained in the apprehension and arrests of illegal immigrants.

Today, Mary Rose Wilcox, who serves on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, was scheduled to appear before Congress with a petition signed by more than 35,000 people from around the nation calling for a Justice Department investigation into Arpaio’s office.

“I’m not really concerned with the Department of Justice,” Arpaio said. “If they want to come down, we will cooperate with them. If there’s something to learn from them, we will.”

The Justice Department declined comment beyond the contents of the letter sent to Arpaio’s office, said spokeswoman Laura Sweeney.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29630232/