Endless Detention for Many Immigrants

Rep Lamar Smith (R-Texas) has this to say about the detention of immigrants across the US:

 “The Obama administration’s new detention manual is more like a hospitality guideline for illegal immigrants.  The administration goes beyond common sense to accommodate illegal immigrants and treats them better than citizens in federal custody.  The new detention manual contains extensive and customized details for each illegal immigrant’s stay, regulating everything from the salad bar to recreational activities to medical care.  Illegal immigration already costs American taxpayers billions each year and these increased regulations force them to keep an open tab for illegal immigrants. 

SOURCE:
Smith: Deportation Manual a Hospitality Guideline for Illegal Immigrants


Lamar Smith's misleading, cruel comments simply ignore the harsh reality imposed by the US on detainees.


If a government is going to detain people - including legal permanent residents - many awaiting administrative or judicial proceedings which could free them - the government must care for them.


Mr. Smith's broad, uneven, arrogant critique ignores the life-threatening medical conditions, which burden many detainees (as well as prison inmates). 


Mr. Smith takes no note whatsoever of the deaths of persons in US detention, including deaths occurring in miserably run state and local facilities, to which detainees are farmed out.


For  a fact-based look at the context which Lamar Smith ignores, see:

• Locked Up Without End: Indefinite Detention of Immigrants Will Not Make America Safer by Michael Tan, IPC Special Report, October 6, 2011.

• System of Neglect - As Tighter Immigration Policies Strain Federal Agencies, The Detainees in Their Care Often Pay a Heavy Cost

  
  
  
  
  
  

THE STINK BUGS ON THE BALTIMORE COUNTY COUNCIL

June 7, 2011 - Three months ago today, five members of the Baltimore County Council told the immigrant residents of Baltimore County that they had no representation on the Council:


http://stm-in-md-11.blogspot.com/

TODD HUFF FOSTERS RACIAL DIVISIONS IN BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD

Todd Huff, a Baltimore County Councilman, does not think the residents of Baltimore County are racially divided - enough.


This is why he is enthusiastically pushing for a statewide referendum on a bill - the DREAM Act - passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 2011. The DREAM Act would permit kids who complete high school in Maryland and are academically qualified, to attend a Maryland Community College, paying in-state tuition. This is fair, since these kids are already Maryland residents.


Mr. Todd Huff does not think so. He wants to forbid these - mostly Latino - high school students from attending college in Maryland, as Maryland residents - which they are. 


Mr. Todd Huff wants to send a message to these kids, many of them resident here for most of their lives, many of them with no memories of life in any other country. But never you mind all of that.


Mr. Huff, Councilman for District 3, wants to send them a racially explosive message: 


GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE.


The children Mr Huff and his GOP colleagues have targeted are the children of parents, who are not legally in the US.


We are talking about kids, here, like ones I know, who stayed in school, studied hard. Some of them have even applied for and were accepted at a state university and began to attend classes - only to be told that they could not continue because they are "ilegal."


If these kids should be blocked from going to college, where do we draw the next line? 


Should these kids not get medical care if they are sick? 


Should their little sisters and brothers not be allowed to go to K-12? 


Why is it good policy to tell bright Maryland residents they are not wanted here - except in low paying, menial, dead-end employment?


Why is it OK to racially divide the community like this? 


Mr Huff needs to meet these kids. 


Mr. Huff needs to tell them to their eager but now-disappointed faces, that he does not want them around - except maybe to trim his lawn. 


Shame on Mr Huff and on all other politicians and office holders, who believe in maintaining and enlarging the racial divide.   


SOURCE: 
Council Majority Supports Repeal of In-state Tuition for Illegal Immigrants - Towson, MD Patch

THE GOP's AYN RAND BUDGET

PAUL RYAN BUDGET LINKED TO AYN RAND: 

According to thinkprogress (see Source, below) Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) architect of the GOP's 2012 budget plan, is a devotee of Ayn Rand and especially of her Atlas Shrugged.


Although Conservative columnist Ross Douthat  has dismissed the connection the Ryan-Rand connection, thinkprogress points out:


- Ryan was a speaker at the Ayn Rand Centenary Conference in 2005, where he described Social Security as a "collectivist system" and cited Rand as his public service inspiration.


- He has at least two videos on his Facebook page in which he heaps praise on the author. "Ayn Rand, more than anyone else, did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism" 


- Ryan's budget plan comports with Ayn Rand's world view. 


Examples: 


- He guts Medicare, Medicaid, and a whole host of housing,food, and educational support programs. 


- Then he uses approximately half of the money freed by those cuts to reduce taxes on the most wealthy Americans. 


Ayn Rand, Ryan has written, explained the morality of Capitalism" to him (see above)


Ayn Rand thought of altruism as "evil" and wrote that highly successful individuals are morally superior to others.


No surprise that the Ryan-Rand budget plan seems a logical plan to Paul Ryan and the GOP.


SOURCE:  http://pr.thinkprogress.org/

But what about the reactors in Virginia?

Maryland press and media reports today (Mar 15, 2011) declare that Maryland's nuclear reactor at Calvert Heights (on the eastern shore, next to Delaware) is perfectly safe.

That's good to know . . . but what about Virginia?

Prevailing winds over MD indicate we receive the air that has passed over Virginia, West Virginia, etc. This means, we need to KNOW what's up with the nuclear power plants in Louisa and Surry County and the power plants under military supervision at Ft Belvoir and the active duty ships and subs which receive nuclear reactor installation at Newport News, VA.

Newport News is also the site where deactivated nuclear ships and subs are housed. These last are "deactivated" not fully "decommissioned" since the navy must wait at least fifty years before it is considered safe to disassemble these reactors.

No worries. Right?

For more info, here is a website:

Nuclear Power in Virginia

DREAM for students is a NIGHTMARE for Extremists

Public opinion was solicited in Annapolis on Feb 16, 2011, regarding a bill to permit any Maryland resident to attend college and pay in-state tuition, regardless of immigration status.


Maryland IAF brought dozens of representatives to the state capitol to support the bill.


And there was opposition. Extremist opposition.


Those giving testimony against Maryland's DREAM Act include groups, who speak the language of division and exclusion. 


One such group, HELP SAVE MARYLAND, has been declared a "nativist extremist group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.


For coverage of the Feb 16 2011 Senate Committee hearings see the post at MarylandReporter:

In-state tuition for illegal immigrants: A dream for some, a nightmare for others – MarylandReporter.com

For the Southern Poverty Law Center listing of Rockville based HELP SAVE MARYLAND as a nativist/extremist group, here is the link:

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2009/spring/sinister-intentions/nativist-extremis

For a listing of Maryland politicians who have associated themselves with the extremist HELP SAVE MARYLAND, here is the link:

http://maryland-politics.blogspot.com/2009/03/help-save-maryland-named.html


For a link to Washington Post coverage - which suggests a compromise on the bill is likely:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/16/AR2011021606279.html?sid=ST2011021606358

Connie, You are not in Kansas Anymore

From ThinkProgress . . . link below

KS GOP Rep. Connie O’Brien Says She Can Tell Who Is ‘Illegal’ Because They Have ‘The Olive Complexion’

One week ago, the Kansas House Federal and State Committee held a hearing about in-state tuition being granted to the children of undocumented immigrants, which has been the policy in the state since 2004.

Speaking in favor of repealing the law, Rep. Connie O’Brien (R-KS) began telling an anecdote at the hearing about how her son had difficulty in getting financial assistance to attend college. She explained that she took her son to a financial aid office, and as she was waiting in line, she believed there was a girl waiting in line with them who was “not originally from this country.” Fellow committee member Rep. Sean Gatewood (D-KS) asked O’Brien how she knew this student was “illegal.” O’Brien replied that she knew because the student “wasn’t black, she wasn’t Asian, and she had the olive complexion”:

[. . .] 

Kansas Democratic Party lawmakers have asked her to apologize. For her part, O’Brien counters that she’s been told she’s “got olive complexion” and that she’s not going to apologize until she’s “had time to think.”

Here is a link to the ThinkProgress item, where you can here Representative O'Brien's comment.

ThinkProgress » KS GOP Rep. Connie O’Brien Says She Can Tell Who Is ‘Illegal’ Because They Have ‘The Olive Complexion’