The Senate version of the Immigration bill, the supposed ‘moderate’ bill, contains some really ugly stuff. Emphasis added.

Call your Senator, get in the streets, let’s stop this noxious bill.

From the Immigrant Solidarity listserv. (I’m printing the whole thing because it’s not online yet.)

Here’s six egregious provisions in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Bill (The Chairman’s Mark/Specter Bill), prepared by New York Immigrant Defense Project.

1. Expedited Removal

The Specter bill allows the government to remove more immigrants without any court hearing. Any immigrant who is found within 14 days of arrival and within 100 miles of the Mexican or Canadian borders — for example, immigrants found in El Paso, San Diego and Detroit – would be subject to this. This would allow ICE to grab people from the streets and increases the ability of the Federal government to engage in selective enforcement.

A separate provision would allow the government to remove any immigrant without a court hearing simply by claiming that they have been convicted of an aggravated felony or a firearm offense — with limited ability to challenge the changes against them and without having the right to apply for relief that may have been available to them.

Why this is bad: This provision would give the Department of Homeland Security unfettered authority to determine who is subject to “expedited removal” and would result in people being detained the ability to have a fair hearing. People who may have a basis to fight their deportation will be deported without being able to present their case.

2. Expansion of term “Aggravated Felony”

The Specter bill expands this term to include misdemeanor drunk driving offenses, minor accessory roles in the conduct of others, additional document-related offenses, providing some types of assistance to undocumented friends, neighbors and family members.

Why this is bad: The provision would result in the mandatory detention and deportation of greencard holders and others who are in the U.S. on visas, such as students. A judge would have no discretion to consider whether a person has a long standing ties to the U.S., kids or a spouse who is a U.S. citizen, law changed that her life around, or other equities.

3. Expansion of mandatory detention and increase in detention beds

The Specter bill increases detention by 50% with the addition of 10,000 beds and allows military bases to be used to meet this increase.

Why this is bad: this expands a system that is already rife with abuse and substandard conditions and exponentially ballooning costs (currently it costs approximate $85 - $100/person per day). It creates armed camps around the country while seducing local communities with the lure of jobs and breaks in their property taxes.

In addition, a separate provision could lead to the mandatory detention of immigrants who fail to file a change of address form with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) within 10 days. This ignores the DHS’s problem with its address system, languages issues, and confusion about where to file address changes.

Why this is bad: It takes away the right to an individual hearing, separates families – children from parents, partners from each other – for long periods of time, and forces people to languish in detention centers for from their homes. The threat of this protracted period of detention also encourages people to give up on fighting their deportation cases and impinges on access control.

4. Indefinite Detention

The Specter bill would overturn Supreme Court decisions and allow the government to indefinitely detain many immigrants with final orders. This would be applied retroactively to individuals.

Why this is bad: Like mandatory detention, indefinite detention also separates families and forces people to languish in detention centers far from their homes. Allowing the Federal government to indefinitely detain such large numbers of people will also contribute to the high cost.

5. Local Law Enforcement

While it does not go as far as some proposed legislation to require cooperation between immigration authorities and local law enforcement, the Specter bill encourages local police to enter into agreements which allow them to enforce immigration law and gives local governments the inherent authority to enforce immigration law.

Why this is bad: This provision would be a public safety disaster. By turning local law enforcement into immigration police, immigrants would be afraid to turn to local police, social service agencies, and even emergency services for assistance.

It also authorizes state and local governments to issues detainers to hold any immigrant after they finish a state prison sentence until DHS takes custody and to detain any “illegal alien” who is removable or not lawfully present for 14 days after completion of a prison sentence.

Why this is bad: These provisions would allow local governments to determine whether a person is a non-citizen, is lawful present or removable, which they are not equipped to make. It also gives them free reign to detain immigrants for long periods of time with no criminal or immigration charges filed against them, and invites widespread abuse, including racial profiling, retaliation against specific persons or groups.

6. Increased Border Militarization

Why this is bad: The indiscriminate increase in border patrol agents and resources for enforcement will lead to more deaths on the border and increased militarization of border communities.

This nasty, racist bill must not be allowed to pass.

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CondiWatch UK has this to say about her visit tomorrow.

4,000 ‘NO’s in Blackburn, Lancashire.

Serious protests are planned. More

Maybe she needs Steve Earle to serenade her? He’s got a song called ‘Condi, Condi‘.

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Where are the Old Line Civil Rights Groups?

By Earl Ofari Hutchinson

The great irony in the gargantuan march of tens of thousands in Los Angeles and other cities for immigrant rights is that the old civil rights groups have been virtually mute on immigration and the marches.

The silence from mainstream civil rights groups and the Congressional Black Caucus’s modest support for immigrant rights is a radical departure from the past.

The CBC and civil rights leaders tread lightly on the immigrant rights battle for two reasons. They are loath to equate the immigrant rights movement with the civil rights battles of the 1960s.

Black leaders also cast a nervous glance over their shoulder at the shrill chorus of anger rising from many African-Americans, especially the black poor, of whom a significant number flatly oppose illegal immigrant rights. But illegal immigration is not the prime reason so many poor young blacks are on the streets, and why some turn to gangs, guns and drug dealing to get ahead.

The battle over immigrant rights will be fought as fiercely and doggedly as the civil rights battle of the 1960s. That battle forever altered the way Americans look at race. The immigrant’s rights battle will profoundly alter the way Americans look at immigrants. The silence of civil rights leaders won’t change that.

There’s been considerable silence on this from many places. Speaking as one who was at the L.A. Immigrant Rights March on Saturday, all I can say is, get on board, this train is leaving the station, and a mighty train it is.

We are seeing the birth of a new movement, one like the civil rights movement of the 50’s-60’s. It will change the country forever and will spawn other movements in its wake as it builds.

Watching the marchers pass as I was flyering was an extraordinary experience. Most were workers, maybe working 2-3 jobs to keep food on the table. Some were undocumented, others not. They were happy, smiling. Self-policing too. Sue saw one guy start to drink beer out of a paper bag and others told him no, not now, this is too important. Most of all, it was the way they walked, relaxed, with dignity, and with the knowledge their voice would now be heard, and that the whole world was watching.

Piolin, a radio DJ, was instrumental in getting other DJ’s onboard, and it was by radio that news of the march spread. He spoke at the press conference and afterwards he said to a reporter, I’m paraphrasing, things were hard for me when I first came here and I was treated badly many times. I don’t want that to happen to others. That’s why I’m here.

At heart, that’s what this is about.

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Forget the ‘terrorists’, we need protection from the government!

A grand jury charged Wednesday that a former federal prosecutor in Detroit who led one of the Justice Department’s biggest terrorism investigations concealed critical evidence in an effort to bolster the government’s theory that a group of local Muslim men were plotting an attack.

“I can’t recall a case like this in recent memory where you have not only the collapse of the prosecution’s entire case, but now the prosecutor himself indicted,” said Brian Levin, a professor at California State University, San Bernardino, who has written on terrorism prosecutions.

Not only are the Bushies vicious and nasty, it’s clear they are incompetent as well. They’ve continually botched their ‘terror’ investigations as well as their wars. Think about it. What have they succeeded at?

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In the face of growing pressure from the Bush administration for him to step down, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari of Iraq on Wednesday vigorously asserted his right to stay in office and warned the Americans against undue interference in Iraq’s political process.

Gee, didn’t Dubya say the invasion would create democracy for Iraq? To the neocons it appears “democracy” means “do what we say’, which of course is no democracy at all. Not that they ever cared about it in the first place.

The US has lost in Iraq. Bush will go down as one of the worst presidents in history. I predict Bush will not last out his term. Conditions will force him to leave early.

Let’s make it happen.

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Malo, our favorite fleshing eating turtle from Hell has just emerged from several months hiberation. Here he is sunning himself, hoping no doubt we will feed him baby carrots. He likes them because they look like fingers.

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