Minuteman Founder Jim Gilchrist Storms Off Democracy Now!

[Chana3812]

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/11/1430231

Wednesday, October 11th, 2006
Minuteman Founder Jim Gilchrist Storms Off Democracy Now! Debate With Columbia Student Organizer


The anti-immigration group the Minuteman Project announced yesterday that they are seeking to strip Columbia University of federal funding for what they say are violations of their civil rights. Last week, student demonstrators disrupted a speech by Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist who was invited to the school by the College Republicans. Gilchrist and student organizer Karina Garcia joins us for a debate that ends when Gilchrist abruptly pulls the plug.
The anti-immigration group the Minuteman Project announced yesterday that they are seeking to strip Columbia University of federal funding for what they say are violations of their civil rights. Last week, student demonstrators disrupted a speech by Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist who was invited to the school by the College Republicans.


Over 20 students stormed the stage after Gilchrist came to the microphone and two students unfurled a banner reading “No human being is illegal.” On Friday, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger issued a statement that read in part: “The disruption on Wednesday night that resulted in the termination of an event organized by the Columbia College Republicans in Lerner Hall represents, in my judgment, one of the most serious breaches of academic faith that can occur in a university such as ours.”

Bollinger has vowed to launch an investigation into the student’s actions. But at a press conference on Monday, the students claim that they were assaulted. They point to a video taken by a reporter from Univision. They say it depicts a member of the Minutemen kicking a student in the head.

Jim Gilchrist. Founder of the Minuteman Project and co-author of the book “Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America’s Borders.”


Karina Garcia. Political Chair of the Chicano Caucus at Columbia University. Karina is a senior there.


We asked a representative from Columbia to join us as well but they declined our invitation.

AMY GOODMAN: Jim Gilchrist, who was the speaker at the event, joins us now from Irvine, California. He is the founder of the Minuteman Project and the co-author of Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders. Here in studio in New York, I’m joined by Karina Garcia. She is the political chair of the Chicano Caucus at Columbia University. Her group organized the protest outside the Minuteman event. We asked a representative from Columbia University to join us as well, but they declined our invitation.

Let's start with Jim Gilchrist. Can you talk about why you came to Columbia and what your message was?

JIM GILCHRIST: Yes, thanks for having me on your program. We came to Columbia from the invitation of the Republican club, student club at Columbia University, to speak about the book that Dr. Corsi and I wrote -- Dr. Corsi also was scheduled to speak right after I was -- and also about our views on the illegal immigration crisis that the United States is facing. We were there simply to disseminate information, not engage in what we’ve been accused of, as some kind of xenophobic racism. It’s simply a lecture presented by three of us: Marvin Stewart, an African American member of my board of directors, Dr. Jerome Corsi, and myself. AMY GOODMAN: And when you got to the university

read more or watch the video

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/11/1430231

[PhilosophyGenius]

Minutemen = good for America

[thumper]

Minutemen = good for Americaeven the puppies agree

[Chana3812]

DEAR PUPPIES - HELP FIX THE PROBLEM !

Old News - Same Story


INS News
http://www.oregonlive.com/images/spacer.gif


The government's broken arm

The failures of the INS go far beyond Portland: It's a callous, confused agency wielding an overly harsh law

Friday, December 15, 2000
By Rick Attig
A nation born of immigrants surely appreciates what it means to first set foot in this country. For people all over the world, getting here is "like gold," says a spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.



Immigration is a precious, even priceless, privilege. And yet, as The Oregonian demonstrated in its series "Liberty's heavy hand," the United States deploys a crude, chaotic and inhumane system to manage it. The newspaper's investigation revealed that the INS is a broken arm of the government, flailing wildly, secretly incarcerating thousands of people, casually breaking up families, randomly ruining lives.

The six-part series, which concludes today, is a devastating critique of the INS, of the nation's punishing and politicized immigration law, and of the failure of Congress to fix these problems.

Now it's quite clear: Getting to this country may be like gold, but actually arriving here -- and confronting the immigration law and its enforcers -- is about being treated like dirt.

We've seen it in Portland. The local INS office, and former district director, David Beebe, jailed a teen-age asylum seeker for seven months, strip-searched a Chinese businesswoman at the airport and deported the German wife of a U.S. citizen, separating her from her infant daughter in the process.

But the series by reporters Kim Christensen, Richard Read, Julie Sullivan and Brent Walth demonstrated that the INS is not just a Portland embarrassment, it's a national shame.

This agency locks up so many people in jails that it loses track of some of them. It ignores legal agreements and puts vulnerable kids as young as 8, including victims of sex abuse, in jail alongside convicted criminals.

The German woman that Portlanders saw separated from her breast-feeding infant wasn't an isolated case. The INS often breaks up families by jailing or deporting relatives of U.S. citizens for minor offenses and decades-old crimes.

It regularly jails asylum seekers, even when there are common-sense options to detention, such as supervised release. And it commonly abuses sweeping powers granted by Congress, including "expedited removal," which allows INS inspector to jail and deport people without any review by a judge.

This is, by any measure, a broken agency. While its budget has skyrocketed, the morale of its employees has plunged. The INS has one of the highest rates of misconduct among federal law enforcement agencies. Its idea of "service" is a joke -- unlisted phone numbers, unlisted addresses. People get up at 2 a.m. to wait in INS lines. An Illinois congresswoman visited an INS office to see the problems first-hand, and was rudely ordered back in line. When she identified herself as a member of Congress, the clerk explained, "Well, I talk to everybody that way."

The INS can be fixed. It will take time, and more care and concern than Congress and ordinary Americans generally have given to immigration issues.

Congress should write a new immigration bill, taking expedited removal away from the INS, and repealing the retroactivity of the 1996 law, which allows the INS to deport people for minor crimes they committed many years ago. Finally, it should allow the INS to use more options to mandatory detention, including house arrest.

Some of the necessary changes are complicated and will be difficult to carry out quickly, including the restructuring of the INS into two agencies, one for law enforcement, including border control, and a second one to provide immigrant services, such as reviewing asylum claims.

But it needn't take an act of Congress to improve the INS. There's no excuse for the terrible public service. Or for the fiefdoms of the sort carried on in the Portland district, with its own inflexible interpretation of law. The agency also must improve staff training, raise pay and cleanse its ranks of those who engage in racism and sexual abuse.

None of this is a question of whether the United States is going to maintain a tough policy on immigration. This country can firmly protect its borders without being cruel and callous.

People around the world do think immigrating to the United States is like gold. When they get here, they should be met by an immigration service that suggests that Americans put the same high value on their country.

http://www.oregonlive.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.oregonlive.com/ins/index.ssf?/oped/00/12/ed_61att15.frame


Minute Men are not the solution. Just like Blackwater USA is not a solution in Iraq.
No Accountability !!

[thumper]

we could easily build a fence just like we've done in Iraq.

[Chana3812]

what about the shores - build a fence around the ocean too??

[thumper]

what about the shores - build a fence around the ocean too??how does every other country keep out illegals?

[thumper]

Obviously not this way...


Man parades elephant accompanied by a six-piece mariachi band through US Mexican Border (http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_more.php?id=73201_0_10_0_M)


Bhakta decided to see if he could get an elephant accompanied by a six-piece mariachi band across the river.

According to his Web site, he is in favor of “sensible immigration reform” and supports a border fence, local law enforcement assistance with immigration laws and the use of the National Guard troops to help the U.S. Border Patrol.

“To my surprise, the band played on, the elephants splashed away, and nobody showed up,” Bhakta said of the stunt. “I’m astounded.”