The hidden agenda of the border hype, deporting and imprisoning migrants for profit

By Brenda Norrell

SASABE, Ariz. -- The Wackenhut Corporation, whose buses wait along the border to be filled with migrants for deportation, is actually owned by a foreign corporation.

Wackenhut is a subsidiary of the Danish security corporation G4S (Group Securicor) in Denmark.

Privatizing the deportation of migrants, Wackenhut/G4S took over these duties from the U.S. Border Patrol.

The executive director of the watchdog group Private Corrections Institute, Ken Kopczynski, exposed the privatization of the migrant deportation at the US/Mexico border.

Meanwhile, another corporation, GEO Group, Inc., is building migrant prisons for profit. In the year 2007 alone, GEO Group won contracts for a prison in Eagle Pass, Texas; an immigration detention facility in Jena, La. and a detention facility for U.S. Marshals service in Laredo, Tex.

After the Jena, La., immigration detention facility reaches full occupancy with 1,160 inmates in 2008, GEO expects $23.5 million annually in revenues.

Texas has some of the most notorious migrant prisons.
Read more on the profiteering behind the border hysteria: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Arizona residents are sick of the self-proclaimed Minutemen vigilantes. Arizona businessmen armed with shotguns near Nogales, Arizona, have chased them off their property.

Human rights groups and Arizona residents say the Minutemen are unwelcome armed vigilantes.

One volunteer searching for people dying in the desert Tuesday sent this report of the Minutemen, who are out in full force in the areas of Green Valley and Arivaca.

"They park at Continental and the frontage road in Green Valley on a regular basis and yesterday they met in numbers in the parking lots of the Amado Mini Market, The Longhorn restaurant and the Cow Palace."

Already, some area businessmen have chased Minutemen off their property with shotguns.

On the road to Arivaca from Nogales, the buses labeled "Wackenhut" are usually parked near the Cow Palace and Longhorn restaurants, and along highways in all directions, waiting to be filled with migrants. Wackenhut, now Geo Group, is part of the new U.S.-hired security at the border taking over duties of the Border Patrol.

Human rights volunteers said the Minutemen's presence at this time is an overt attempt to dis-empower and discourage Arizona residents from mobilizing against permanent checkpoints along I-19.

"Our communities south of Tucson need to pass an ordinance against the Minutemen vigilantes like Austin, Texas did recently," one volunteer said.

Zapatistas from Vicam Pueblo and O'odham met in Sonora, Mexico on Friday to support one another's efforts and plan Zapatista summits for October.

Yaqui and O'odham reached out to the world's Indigenous Peoples, urging them to come to Mexico and let their voices be heard about the struggles in their own regions.

The meeting took place at Rancho el Penasco, south of the Arizona border, where the North American Continental Summit will be held Oct. 8 -- 9.

A delegation of a dozen Yaqui from Vicam Pueblo included Gov. Loreto Ramirez Mapoumea and Vicam Pueblo Mayor Florentino Buitimea Yoquihua.

"We are in solidarity with one another, and we want to be in solidarity with all of the Indigenous Peoples," Gov. Ramirez said during the reunion and planning meeting held Friday, Aug. 17.

The North American Continental Summit, Oct. 8 – 9, is one of four regional conferences. There are also Indigenous summits being held in Oaxaca, Oct. 4—5, Atlapulco, Oct. 6 –7 and Michaocan, Oct. 6 – 7, 2007.

Those culminate with the Intercontinental Indigenous Summit/Encuentro de Pueblos Indígenas de América, Oct. 11 -- 14 in Vicam Pueblo near Obregon.

O'odham in Mexico Lt. Gov. Jose Garcia thanked the Yaqui delegation for coming and the spirit of unity they are working in.

"I think the most important thing is working together in unity. They talked about respect, which is sometimes only a word," Lt. Gov. Garcia said, emphasizing the respect shown by the Yaqui delegation.
Read more on the Censored blog:
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

By Brenda Norrell
Narco News

MAGDALENA DE KINO, Sonora, Mexico – Subcomandante Marcos and the Zapatistas will return to the U.S and Mexico border region to host a subsidiary conference prior to the Intercontinental Indigenous Summit in Pueblo Yaqui, to support Indigenous struggles for their land and liberty.

The Magdalena gathering in the north, Oct. 8 – 9, will be one of four regional gatherings during the month of October, with three other regional conferences to be held in Oaxaca, Oct. 4 -- 5, Atlapulco, Oct. 6 –7 and Michaocan, Oct. 6 – 7, 2007. Those regional Indigenous gatherings precede the Intercontinental Indigenous Summit in Yaqui Pueblo near Obregon, to be held Oct. 11 -- 14.

O’odham in Mexico Lt. Gov. Jose Garcia welcomed all to the gathering at Rancho el Penasco, the eco-tourism site south of Magdalena, where Marcos and the Zapatistas met with Mexico’s northern Indigenous tribes during 2006 and 2007.

“This is an opportunity for Indigenous everywhere to come together and get to know one another better,” Garcia said, after the EZLN made the official announcement Aug. 15. “People can come together and learn more about the Zapatistas.”

Garcia said while the Zapatista struggle is well known in southern Mexico, tribes in the northern part of Mexico still want to learn more.

“The Zapatistas in the south are facing the same struggle as we are in the north, the same struggle that Indigenous are facing everywhere.’

more
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

A delegation of Mohawks has arrived in Venezuela to meet with President Hugo Chavez and Venezuela's Indigenous Peoples, joining forces to fight colonial oppression.

In a bold move surely to attract the outrage of the colonial governments of the United States and Canada, Mohawks are joining President Chavez and 40 Indigenous nations of Venezuela, from August 7 to 9, 2007.

This bold action by the Mohawks is being carried out by two women, Kahentinetha, an elder, and Karenhahes, Bear Clan Mother.

"This congress is setting up a broad international movement of indigenous people to reject colonial oppression," said Kahentinetha Horn, publisher of Mohawk Nation News.

The meeting in Venezuela will take place in Mapiricure, an indigenous community in the south. On August 9th President Hugo Chavez will be presented with the Indigenous Feather known as the “Penacho” and a headdress.

The delegation reqeusts comments on this movement to be presented:
congresoindigena@gmail.com --and to-- katenies20@yahoo.com

Read the story in Mohawk Nation News:
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/
or
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

There's always a price to pay for the good ones. The price for this summer along the border was a month of heat stroke, driving wrapped in wet towels and sleeping in wet sheets. What I learned about about the military running cocaine and US-sponsored torture came with equal helpings of goodwill and hope from the Zapatistas, the border movement and Indigenous everywhere. Now, the rains are here. Read more of censored and under-reported news on my blog, which I began after being terminated as a staff news reporter: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/