“It’s not a short trip to Santa Fe from Anthony and Las Cruces, where most of our members live,” said Jose Manuel Escobedo, BNHR Policy Director. “The sacrifices our members make to fight for their licenses shows exactly how much this means to their families.”

The Day of Action will include a 9 a.m. press conference followed by rounds of visits with lawmakers.

Details: Border Network Day of Action and Press Conference at the Roundhouse

When: All day on Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Where: The Roundhouse in Santa Fe, Press conference in the Rotunda

More than 300 people marched in memory of Martin Luther King and in support of the current New Mexico driver's license law in Las Cruces on Monday, Jan 16.

(LAS CRUCES, New Mexico) — More than 300 Southern New Mexico residents marched and rallied in Las Cruces today to honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. Most of the marchers were members of the Border Network for Human Rights and where there to show support for the current driver’s license law in New Mexico.

The current driver’s license law in New Mexico, in effect since 2003, allows undocumented immigrants to legally obtain a license if they can show other ID, residency verification and security checks.

Governor Susana Martinez, who’s grandparents famously came to the U.S. without legal status, has vowed to try a third time to repeal the common-sense law.

Martinez has shamefully compared hard-working immigrant families in New Mexico to terrorists on her campaign to repeal the law.

Marchers answered this shameful, offense political rhetoric with solidarity. “Susana, escucha! Estamos en la lucha!” the crowd chanted. ” Susana, reacciona aqui no es Arizona!” (In English: “Listen, Susana, we are in the struggle!” and “Susana, be resonable, this isn’t Arizona!)

Fresh off the energy of the march and rally, Border Network members announced they would be sending a delegation of 15 people straight from the march to Santa Fe for the start of the legislative session.

Southern New Mexico residents sign large petitions that Border Network members will take to the Roundhouse on Tuesday, Jan 17.

Before sending the group off, BNHR members signed poster-sized petitions for the delegation to deliver to lawmakers in the Roundhouse on Tuesday.

Olga Pedroza, City Counciller of Las Cruces, addressed the rally in front of the Motor Vehicle Devision. “This is a beautiful event,” she said. “I thank you for marching congratulate you!”

Find more photos of the march and rally on Facebook.

The Border Network for Human Rights has analyzed the bill and is reviewing its consequences in all its Human Rights Committees throughout Dona Ana County.

Some major provisions of the bill include a guest worker program, guest worker fund, a family registry system and screening through the controversial “S-Comm” program, a driving privilege card for immigrants, and benefits screening.

If passed by state legislators and signed by Gov. Susana Martinez, the bill would not take effect unless the federal government agrees to allow New Mexico to implement the law at all.

BNHR recognizes that attempts at regulating immigration at the state level is patently unconstitutional.  The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing states that have passed immigration policy. It is unlikely that DOJ or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will grant any waivers to states allowing state-based immigration policies.

This development should be another alert to Congress and the President that a comprehensive Federal solution can no longer wait.

Aside from the legal implications, many provisions of the bill are very controversial:

Employer Sanctions: Mandatory “E-Verify” for employers and creation of a NM-Verify system.

Dragnet Enforcement Approach: Codifies and expands “S-Comm,” a program that remains under federal investigation and has been suspended in some jurisdictions, such as Arizona.

Allows for Discrimination: Differentiated Drivers Licenses for immigrants creates opportunity for profiling.

Arizona and Maricopa County are examples of how state based immigration laws allow for abuses of civil and constitutional abuses by local officials.  County Sheriffs practiced racial profiling and targeted Hispanics because they felt they could.

New Mexico Can Do Better than Arizona.

BNHR believes that one community cannot be sacrificed for another.  New Mexico should not go backwards and treat one segment of the community as second class.  All New Mexicans will prosper when immigrants are fully integrated into the social, economic and political systems.

It is given that the impetus for this bill was the fabricated crisis that the Governor created regarding drivers license for immigrants.  We believe that a license to drive has nothing to do with immigration.  Attempts by some law makers to ‘compromise’ with the Governor are a dangerous gamble.

At a Nov. 1 press conference, BNHR highlighted the stories of Ruben Adrian Beltran and Antonio Garcia Varela, two young men who were wrongfully deported to Mexico and killed shortly afterward in Juarez.

EL PASO, Texas – Immigrant families and their supporters rallied in El Paso on Tuesday to call attention to what they describe as a “deadly combination”: U.S. deportation practices and Mexican cartel-related violence.

Yanet Marquez, 24, spoke at the rally. Last month, the El Paso woman says, her husband was accidentally killed in a gang-related shooting soon after a state trooper routinely stopped him and then dropped him off at the border for being undocumented. Marquez has been in the United States for 13 years and, with two young children who are U.S. citizens, she considers her family to be American.

“I want to give my children a better life. I wanted to go to college, have a career. Now I have no – no memories. No nothing.”

Marquez says she never got to say goodbye to her husband, and that he was murdered in the process of trying to return to her. She blames a “corrupt Mexican government” for his death, and is scared that U.S. authorities might deport her at any time. She’s filing for asylum on the grounds that Mexican officials would be even less likely to ensure her safety now that she’s speaking out.

Marquez’ El Paso attorney, Carlos Spector, says he’s seen a rise in family separations despite the Obama administration’s announcement earlier this year that it would reprioritize deportations. The new Justice Department policy focuses on removing dangerous criminals rather than peaceful families and students. Spector says some local-level law-enforcement officials have been slow to get the memo.

“It takes incidents like this for the community to come out and put pressure on their local law enforcement to start implementing the policy in the executive order of the president, in the way it was meant to be.”

Critics have called the new deportation policy “administrative amnesty,” but Spector says an underfunded court system has been so overwhelmed with the backlog of immigration cases that new priorities were inevitable. Some officers who oppose the policy, he says, have been taking matters into their own hands by shortcutting the administrative process and simply taking undocumented residents directly to the border.

En una conferencia de prensa 01 de noviembre, BNHR destacó las historias de Rubén Adrián Beltrán y Antonio García Varela, dos jóvenes que fueron injustamente deportados a México y murió poco después en Juárez.

EL PASO, Texas – Familias de inmigrantes y sus simpatizantes se manifestaron este martes en El Paso para llamar la atención hacia lo que describen como una “combinación fatal”: las prácticas de deportación estadounidenses y la violencia relacionada con los cárteles Mexicanos. Yanet Márquez, de 24 años y residente de El Paso, habló durante la manifestación. Narró que el mes pasado su esposo fue muerto durante una balacera entre pandilleros. Había sido detenido en octubre por un patrullero estatal, quien después de un interrogatorio rutinario lo regresó a la frontera por no tener documentos. Pero Márquez ya llevaba 13 años en el país y deja dos hijas ciudadanas americanas, por lo que Yanet considera que su familia es americana.

“Quiero darle una vida mejor a mis hijas. Y quería ir a la universidad, tener una carrera. Ahora no – no tengo recuerdos. Nada.”

Dice que nunca pudo despedirse de su esposo y que cuando lo asesinaron estaba tratando de regresar a casa. Culpa de su muerte al “gobierno mexicano corrupto” y teme que las autoridades americanas la deporten a ella en cualquier momento. Está solicitando asilo bajo la primicia de que los oficiales mexicanos no la protegerían, y ahora menos que antes por estar haciendo estas denuncias.

El paseño Carlos Spector, abogado de Yanet Márquez, dice que se está dando un aumento en la separación de familias, a pesar del anuncio por parte de la administración del presidente Obama a principios de año, en el sentido de que se iban a reacomodar las prioridades en cuanto a deportaciones. La nueva política del Departamento de Justicia se enfoca en sacar a criminales peligrosos en lugar de familias pacíficas y a estudiantes. Spector dice que algunos oficiales de la policía local se han tardado en recibir el memorándum.

“Y se necesita que sucedan incidentes como este para que la comunidad salga y presione a las instituciones del orden para que implementen la política de la orden ejecutiva del Presidente, tal y como fue concebida.”

Los críticos califican la nueva política de deportación como “amnistía administrativa.” Pero Spector asegura que, el circuito de las cortes, de fondos limitados, está tan abrumado con los retrasos de inmigración, que las nuevas prioridades eran inevitables. Agregó que algunos de los oficiales que se oponen a esta política han tomado el asunto en sus propias manos y acortan el proceso administrativo simplemente llevando a los residentes indocumentados directamente a la frontera.

At a Nov. 1 press conference, BNHR highlighted the stories of Ruben Adrian Beltran and Antonio Garcia Varela, two young men who were wrongfully deported to Mexico and killed shortly afterward in Juarez.

(EL PASO, Texas) — On Tuesday, BNHR members shared stories of loved ones lost and demanded justice from the U.S. and Mexican governments.

Deportations under Barack Obama have continued at a record-breaking pace. And on the border, a deportation can be a death sentence. This fact ripped through the families of BNHR members Janet Marquez and Catalina Valera, who spoke at the BNHR El Paso office on Tuesday.

Marquez and Valera explained how their families were victimized twice — first by the U.S. system and then by the Mexican government. In their cases, the U.S. deported young men across the border, where they were left in the hands of a corrupt, unaccountable government. Both men were murdered in Ciudad Juarez, where their cases have never been investigated by Mexican authorities.

Marquez, a 24-year-old who is eligible for the DREAM Act, said Tuesday that she wants to stay in the U.S. with her two sons, who are 5 and 1. “I consider my family to be American,” she said. “I have dreams and plans for me and my family.” Marquez said she now lives in fear that her children will be orphaned if she is deported to Juarez. Her attorney, Carlos Spector said that they will be filing for political asylum based on the apparent complicity of the  Mexican government in the violence that killed her husband. Marquez, who has been a human rights activist for years, fears criminals in the Mexican government will target her for speaking out.

Valera described the circumstances that led to her son’s deportation. She detailed how ICE swept through her neighborhood, where they searched multiple homes without warrants. She said ICE humiliated, threatened and beat members of her family that fateful day. “My son begged ICE. He said ‘Please, I have a wife, I have children,’ but the agent said “I don’t care,’” Valera said through tears. “We don’t want others to have cases like this.”

Cristina Parker, BNHR media coordinator, said that the organization is filing a complaint with the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security on the Valera family’s behalf. “We have already made the call to the OIG,” she said. “We believe their case needs to be investigated.”

Fernando Garica, Executive Director of BNHR, told reporters that the U.S. and Mexico were to blame for the recent increase in deaths of immigrants. “In recent years, migrants and border residents have been subjected to a brutal reality of government actions in the U.S and in Mexico and by intention or omission, these have resulted in institutional abuses, mistreatments and death,” Garcia said. “The ill-conceived immigration and enforcement policies in the U.S. have not only separated families, but in a number of cases, have violated basic legal and human rights of individuals arrested or put into deportation proceedings.

“At the same time, we now see a horrifying pattern where the Mexican government has completely failed to protect those migrants deported into its territories due to corruption, criminal relations and lack of responsibility,” Garcia continued. “For BNHR, both governments are responsible for the violence and immigrants that have been killed at the border, in Juarez and in the U.S.”

After the women spoke, a group of 250 people dressed in black marched down Montana Avenue carrying crosses, coffins and photo’s of Marquez’s husband and Valera’s son. BNHR’s annual Dia De Los Muertos procession ended downtown.

After marching for nearly four miles, BNHR joined protestors occupying San Jacinto Plaza to rally, break bread and hold vigil in solidarity. Marquez and Valera spoke to the crowd and BNHR coordinators delivered messages of solidarity from their communities to the occupiers.

BNHR members then held vigil and led three teach-ins with occupiers to discuss the impact of deportation, detention and ill-conceived enforcement policies on migrants and border communities. Topics they discussed included how the deaths of thousands of people were connected to the $3 billion border wall and how powerful private prisons and their lobbyists worked to get anti-immigrant legislation passed in Arizona and other states.

EL PASO, Texas – Se espera que esta tarde en El Paso cientos de residentes de comunidades fronterizas busquen lograr el compromiso de los congresistas clave con la reforma migratoria. El representante Luis Gutiérrez, de Illinois, y el de California, Joe Baca, se reunirán con Silvestre Reyes de El Paso en un foro público auspiciado por la Border Network for Human Rights (Red Fronteriza por los Derechos Humanos).

El líder del grupo, Fernando García, dice que hace algunos años ya parecía inminente que se haría una reforma migratoria integral, pero que el tráfico de miedo y la creación de chivos expiatorios la mandaron al final político de la lista. Piensa que ya es hora de llamar “extremistas” a quienes pintan a los inmigrantes como enemigos del bienestar de la nación.

“Pintan a los inmigrantes – y pintan la frontera – de una manera muy distorsionada. Para ellos, los inmigrantes son criminales; los inmigrantes son perezosos; los inmigrantes no contribuyen, cuando es todo lo contrario. Así que estamos ante un discurso que promueve el miedo.”

Quienes se oponen a la reforma claman que los presupuestos estatales y el federal serán abrumados por los costos asociados con los inmigrantes no documentados y que la migración perjudica las posibilidades laborales de los ciudadanos norteamericanos. Sus defensores dicen que las estadísticas revelan una realidad muy diferente. García afirma que las cifras públicas han sido explotadas con una carga racial y con actitudes nativistas para obtener ganancias políticas, lo cual ahonda la crisis migratoria al retrasar lo inevitable.

“El hecho de que necesitamos una reforma migratoria y un cambio en nuestras políticas fronterizas, es innegable. Y vamos en esa dirección; así que es inevitable.”

Comenta que los legisladores deben frenar lo que él llama una creciente militarización de la frontera. Agrega que la mayoría de los norteamericanos no conoce las estadísticas que muestran que este lado de la frontera es más bien pacífico, y que se ha vuelto más seguro en los últimos años.

García quiere que los congresistas presionen al Presidente Obama para que adopte políticas y medidas para el cumplimento de la ley más sensibles y humanas, y que genere nuevas oportunidades de ciudadanía para estudiantes y voluntarios del ejército. Pero según García, en medio del camino de cualquier agenda reformista se atraviesa el “mito” de que nada sucederá hasta que la frontera esté más segura.

“Necesitamos cambiar ese discurso y decirles que entiendan que los inmigrantes de hecho sí contribuyen. Son parte de esta sociedad. Es una nación de inmigrantes y no hay nada que temer.”

El foro de El Paso inicia hoy a las 6.

Vea la transmisión en vivo del foro, en www.ustream.tv.

Tuiteo en vivo en www.twitter.com

Click here to view this story on the Public News Service RSS site and access an audio version of this and other stories

EL PASO, Texas – Hundreds of border-community residents are expected to seek immigration reform commitments from three key congressmen this evening in El Paso. Illinois Representative Luis Gutierrez and California’s Joe Baca will join Silvestre Reyes of El Paso at the public forum, sponsored by the Border Network for Human Rights.

The group’s executive director, Fernando Garcia, says that just a few years ago comprehensive immigration reform seemed imminent, until fear-mongering and scapegoating put it on the political back burner. He says it’s time to call out “extremists” who paint immigrants as enemies of the nation’s well-being.

“They are painting immigrants – and painting the border – in a very distorted way. Immigrants for them are criminals. Immigrants are lazy. Immigrants do not contribute – which is totally the opposite. So what we’re facing is a narrative that is promoting fear.”

Reform opponents claim state and federal budgets are being overwhelmed by costs associated with undocumented immigrants, and immigration is hurting job prospects for U.S. citizens. Advocates say the statistics paint a very different picture.

Garcia says public figures have been exploiting racially-charged, nativist attitudes for political gain, thus deepening the immigration crisis by delaying the inevitable.

“The fact that we need immigration reform and to change our border policies is undeniable. And we’re going to move in that direction, so it is unavoidable.”

He says lawmakers should put the brakes on what he calls an increasingly militarized border. Most Americans, he adds, aren’t aware of statistics showing the U.S. side is mostly peaceful, and has actually been getting safer in recent years.

Garcia wants the congressmen to press President Obama to adopt more sensible and humane deportation and border-enforcement policies, and to create new citizenship opportunities for students and military volunteers. But standing in the way of any reform agenda, according to Garcia, is the “myth” that nothing can happen until the border is more secure.

“We need to change that narrative. And tell them to understand that immigrants actually do contribute. They are part of this society. It’s an immigrant nation, and there’s nothing to fear.”

The El Paso forum starts at 6 p.m. today at the downtown El Paso Public Library, and will be broadcast live here on www.ustream.tv

Live tweeting will be here at www.twitter.com

Click here to view this story on the Public News Service RSS site and access an audio version of this and other stories

On Monday, October 10, these lawmakers will hear the concerns, ideas, recommendations of border residents and advocates about how to further advance comprehensive immigration reform and border enforcement reform.

After a meeting of border stakeholders, the congressmen will face a larger audience of community members from the border region of West Texas and Southern New Mexico. There, BNHR is expecting Congressmen’ commitment for a a new effort to advance immigration reform and a new direction on border policy in the U.S.

Information on the public forum on immigration and border enforcement

Who: Border Network for Human Rights and community members from West Texas and Southern New Mexico

Where: Downtown El Paso Public Library;

When: Monday, October 10, 2011 at 6 p.m.

The public forum will be broadcast live at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/border-network-for-human-rights and live-tweeted at www.twitter.com/bnhr.