Obama Beefs up Militarization on the Border in 2011 Budget

Read the Original Post in the San Francisco Gate

The following report was written by Meredith Simons of the Washington bureau.

The Department of Homeland Security unveiled a $56.3 billion budget Monday that includes funding for the virtual border fence, E-Verify, and an increase in the number of border patrol officers and intelligence analysts along the southern border.

In a year in which President Obama has spoken about the need to “save what we can” to combat record deficits, some federal agencies are seeing programs trimmed or eliminated entirely, but DHS escaped the budgeting process unscathed. Obama’s budget, which must be approved by Congress before it takes effect, asks for $6 billion more for DHS than the department received in FY 2010.

“Our proposed budget is designed to ensure we have the resources we need to secure America,” said DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. “We are committed to strong fiscal discipline, eliminating redundancy and investing our resources in what works while enhancing security across the board.”

Immigration reform is a pressing issue of morality

Original post website

On Jan. 11, more than 300 clergy from dozens of religious denominations came from the far reaches of the Houston region in support of a critical moral issue, humane immigration reform.

The local heads of several major religious denominations, including Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Catholic archbishop of Galveston-Houston; Bishop Janice Riggle Huie of the Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church; the Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas; Bishop Michael Rinehart of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Rabbi David Rosen of Congregation Beth Yeshurun; the Rev. Mike Cole of the Presbytery of New Covenant; and the Rev. Harvey Clemons Jr. of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, along with The Metropolitan Organization, released a Houston Interfaith Statement on Humane Immigration Reform and launched a campaign for reform this year.

All our faith traditions share a fundamental belief that human beings are made in the image and likeness of God and that we must treat every person with dignity, for “the strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself” (Leviticus 19:33-34). The interfaith statement includes seven principles that are rooted in our holy Scriptures, our faith traditions and our sense of American democratic values, which include:

• • upholding family unity;

• • creating a legalization process for undocumented immigrants;

• • protecting workers;

• • facilitating immigrant integration;

• • restoring due process and just detention protections;

• • aligning enforcement with humanitarian values;

• • immigration as a matter of human rights.

Immigration reform would make us safer as a nation because it would make immigrants register with the government so that we would know who is here and give us the ability to identify those few immigrants who have committed crimes. Giving immigrants a reason to come out of the shadows would also allow them to feel comfortable cooperating with law enforcement to help identify those who are a danger or a threat.

Enero 16 – A Second Border Checkpoint

Post author: Vanessa Cardinale

Did you know that there is a whole portion of Southern Texas where U.S. Citizens need a passport to visit? Did you also know that those who live there, in the United States, south of this border need a passport to travel from their region of Texas to anywhere else north? Yesterday, as we left the valley to return to San Antonio, we had to pass through a border patrol check-point where we all had to show our passports and have our van inspected. There are people living south of the check-point who need to pass through the “second border” to travel to any other part of the United States.

During our week along the border, we heard the concerns of residents and advocates who spoke with us about the ways that this second border further isolates the valley region and jeopardizes the safety of people living there.

For example, if there were ever an hurricane to hit the area and there was a need to evacuate, DHS does not guarantee that border patrol and ICE would not be checking papers at the second checkpoint. As a result, the traffic created by the checkpoint would leave people on the highway when a hurricane would hit as well as cause those who either lost or do not have documents to stay behind and risk their lives.

Enero 15 – What’s Wrong with Seat Warmers?

Post author: Trish Scalese

As I consider all we have experienced these days, I keep going to God with a haunting question: “Why have I been given a life of such abundance and prosperity when others struggle to have the basic needs of life?” I just can’t seem to reconcile myself to this disparity, and it has presented itself to me everyday as we have journeyed along the border.

As we learned about the maquiladoras, the factories that employ Mexicans for low wages and poor working conditions, we were informed that one company manufactures seat warmers for cars. I felt a sickening feeling in my stomach as I remembered an entire family, including small children, huddled around a little fire as they tried to battle the unusually bitter cold temperatures that hit South Texas. What’s wrong with seat warmers? Well, I believe that something is terribly wrong when human beings are unable to have a warm home, and yet they barely get paid a living wage to provide heat for seats in a car. Something indeed is terribly wrong.

Enero 14 – A Picture of a Broken System

Post author: Seth Farber

It has been a full week now since we drove through the maquiladora district in Reynosa, Mexico, where 75,000 factory workers earn roughly $1.50 per hour assembling a wide range of products, many of which are exported to the United States. One company operating in Reynosa is Fresenius Medical Care, a German manufacturer of dialysis machines.

Over the past two months, the New York Times has published a series of articles detailing the experiences of undocumented immigrants who had been receiving life-preserving dialysis treatment at Grady Memorial, a public hospital in Atlanta. Late last year, Grady closed its dialysis clinic and informed those of its patients without documents that it could pay either for them to relocate to their countries of origin (where few would have access to care) or for additional treatment at outside clinics, but for a period of only three months.

13 Enero – Colonias and Hell’s Half Acre

Post author: Catherine Bordeau

12 Enero – Impressions

Post author: Katherine Dickson (Methodist Theological School in Ohio)

Impressions

Photo by: Catherine Bordeau

So much to take in.

Our stay in the Pilgrim House in San Juan, Texas only suggests our walk here as Pilgrims, perhaps not directly to the Virgin, as many who come here, but as pilgrims in our journey to this land. The border. The Valley.

This land, with its misunderstandings, stereotypes, culture, beauty, faith.

We are pilgrims here, as students and teachers and future pastors, in the midst of complicated issues: immigration, poverty, racism, mistrust, injustice, corruption.

There is nothing straightforward or easy about any of it; our heads are full of impressions and voices and spaces. Yet there is a deep longing and understanding it seems, for justice-and for people. Children. Families. Lives. Hopes.

We are pilgrims here, to see, to listen, to question, to learn, in this land of orange stands, longhorns and palm trees; this land of ranches, fajitas, salsa, beans, and rice; this land of a border, a line, a wall, figurative and quite tangible, yet fluid.

11 Enero – What’s at stake?

Post author: Jennifer Kauffman (Methodist Theological School in Ohio)

When I began this cross cultural immersion experience I had no real expectations for what I would encounter. Although not sure what to expect, I have found this trip to be informative, eye opening, exciting, and challenging.

Immigration, undocumented workers, Border Wall, Tex-Mex, US-Mexico Border, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and so on were simply terms from news reports. Ohio and Pennsylvania were a world away from where I am now in Texas. How could something so far away affect me at home? How naive I was! I knew that what happens along the border would affect me, even thousands of miles away.

What I have found on this journey is nothing I could have anticipated. The passion radiating from the leaders and speakers we have met evokes a sense of awe and hope in me. The people who live here and the situations I am seeing give a deep sense of strength, hope, and encouragement.

Enero 10 – Border Angels – Southwest Good Samaritan Ministries

Special Editing by:  Charlie Michele Becker-Hornes

The Mission of Southwest Good Samaritan Ministries is to teach the love of Jesus Christ by building a renewed sense of wholeness and dignity and by standing with those who are broken, especially among refugees and those who are disenfranchised and displaced.  The Good News of salvation is lived out by addressing spiritual and material needs, including emergency shelter and food, clothing, transportation, legal aid, advocacy and job referral through a cooperative effort with other agencies and religious organizations.

Southwest Good  Samaritan Ministries PART I

Southwest Good  Samaritan Ministries PART II

Southwest Good  Samaritan Ministries PART III

Southwest Good  Samaritan Ministries PART IV

www.swgsm.org

Seeing the face of the God of Jesus in the face and the journey of each of these brothers and sisters–the least of these–makes us feel like we are always in touch with the anguish of the cross but also with the hope of the resurrection.

- Feliberto Pereira, Founder

9 Enero – Detention Center Vigil – Dr. Daisy Machado (video)

Post author: Catherine Bordeau