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(Faten and Maryam Ibrahim, in jail. Image from Texas Civil Rights Review)
(Over at my home blog, my co-blogger Charles did a post back in January on this topic. I thought I should rescue it from the bad formatting imposed on it by Blogger Hell (aka New Blogger) and provide an update. -- PW)
XicanoPwr has been following a story in which Immigration has imprisoned a family.
Here's how Texas Civil Rights Review describes it:
The Ibrahims came to the United States legally and applied for asylum. They have been honest and forthright with immigration from the beginning. They were denied asylum and have filed to reopen their asylum case. In the meantime, the family is to be deported and is being held in jail! As an American citizen, the 2-year-old daughter was ripped from her mother’s arms and is in a foster home. ... The pregnant mother, Hanan Ahmad, is in one cell with her 5-year-old daughter, Faten. The 7- and 12-year-old sisters – Maryam and Rodaina - share another cell. The 15-year-old boy, Hamzeh, is in yet another cell at T. Don Hutto jail. The father and husband, Salaheddin Ibrahim, is being held in another jail in Haskell , Texas. Born in the US, the youngest daughter, only 2-years-old, is living with strangers in a foster home. The little 5-year-old girl, Faten, is constantly getting in trouble with the guards yelling at her to stand still during population counts, which are taken four times daily. Maryam, the 7-year-old cries for her mother at night.
Or listen on Flashpoints. This government is getting very old, very fast.
[PW notes: The little kids are still in jail, though there is a slim chance that they might be freed soon. Much depends on an upcoming hearing.]
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PW!
This is truly a horror story. They are doing the same thing to refugees in Oz.
Jeebus! Family values my aching ef’fing A**!
PW!
This is an outrage. The photo at the top is a heart breaker.
Todays the Big Day!
http://freewayblogger.blogspot.....in-la.html
What free speech looks like and how it’s done.
Phoenix Woman
forgive me, I gotta run, but wanted to make sure this didn’t get lost in last night’s 300 comments
Charley Savage (Boston Globe) has DOJ scam going back to 03 !
h/t Blank Kludge
http://www.boston.com/news/nat.....osecutors/
mad, mad IMPEACHMENT SUMMER love to all firedogs (click on my name)
appreciate it PW !
We need to get a group of people to go there and show some solidarity with these refugees, and give these kids some comforting words.
Is there any possibility this family would qualify for asylum in Canada? Can their lawyers look into that?
Our country is run by truly evil people . . .
OT ~ EPU’d:
I know his plate is full but this is a systemic issue and should be on Waxman’s plate. Perhaps we should all be writing our congress-critters about this!
Excellent post; thanks for highlighting this.
Back in the 70’s we were looking around for a place to emigrate to. Couldn’t find a better place, and remained here. But GODDAMN, this is awful. I am a grandson of four immigrants, and my wife has a few as well. This is not America. Don’t really know what it is now. Got to change it. Support the marches.
realworld @ 10
So much to do, so little time.
What country am I living in again?
Important post, Phoenix Woman. Thanks.
OT, from a comment at Marcie’s (emptywheel) blog. Check out
http://blog.washingtonpost.com.....ing_i.html
(excerpt follows)
McKay, the ousted U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, is now a visiting professor at the Seattle University School of Law. On May 9 he’s hosting a pair of his fellow fired federal prosecutors for a forum on the mass sackings last year.
Joining McKay will be David C. Iglesias, the former U.S. attorney for New Mexico, and Paul K. Charlton, the former prosecutor for Arizona. McKay, Iglesias and Charlton are three of the most controversial firings of the eight ousted prosecutors, because they were either conducting sensitive investigations of Republicans or under fire for not prosecuting Democrats around the time of their dismissals on Dec. 7. All three were also contacted by members of Congress or their staff at a sensitive time regarding ongoing criminal corruption investigations.
The four-hour symposium could spark sharp criticism of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the White House for alleged politicization of the Justice Department. One session is titled: “The 2007 Experience — Myths and Realities: explanation of the current incidents, with comparison of historical similarities and differences.”
-ck- @ 8
That may be a good option. Then again, Harper’s running Canada right now.
A-yep.
Sorry for the less-than-happy topic, but this is the sort of news that you won’t be seeing on the evening news or hearing on drive-time radio.
Coyoteville @ 15
That ought to be interesting!
-ck- @
8
We recently had a similar case involving a Canadian born nine year old boy and his Iranian parents whose flight from Guyana to re-attempt gaining Canadian residency was diverted to Puerto Rico because another passenger had a heart attack. Once on the ground on American soil (P.R. ?) the fact that they were traveling on stolen Greek passports (they couldn’t legally leave Iran) caused the Americans to take them into custody and they wound up at the Hutto Arms for a couple months or so. I think they finally were allowed to come to Canada and reapply.
Here is an article from the CBC written after they had been in the custody of the Evil Empire for over a month. It includes a touching graphic of the multi-colored letter the boy wrote to our very own Commander Codpiece wannabe, Stuffed Shirt Stephen Harper.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story.....amily.html
Being O/T in my own post, but this is a biggie:
Retired General Odom: Bush should sign the Iraq bill
I wonder if and when Cheney/Bush get put in jail if they will cry for their mothers at night.
theExile @ 18
-ck- @
8
You’d think that with all the heated rhetoric the Bushies has been using against Iran that they would have taken this family to their bosoms and paraded them around. Instead, they persecute them.
This is such a heartbreaking photo, PW — those girls are such cuties.
A group of Lutheran bishops, from Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, Missouri, Milwaukee, and DC recently met with Zoe Lofgren (chair of House subcommittee on Immigration) because of the importance of this issue to their communities and because of horror stories like this. They’ve asked for a meeting with Bush, but no answer yet.
Keep pushing, PW. It’s not a story or an issue that gets a lot of general press, but it speaks volumes about us as a nation to treat the least among us like this.
This. Must. Stop.
Now.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 22
They are.
What did it for me was the bit about how the guards were being mean to one of them for not toeing the line during the semi-daily roll calls.
Phoenix Woman @
21
Oh, but they can’t do that. Why these folks might be turrurists, sent by them axis of evil ‘ranians to infilitrate the us of a as fifth columnists. An underground cell to lead the uprising in 2050 or somethin’. /snark off/
Seineman @
20
Oooooh, that’s an image I like….!
And Bargoyle, in her pearls, talking to Georgie on one of those prison visit phones….
There are those two little girls at the top. And then there are the Bush twins.
oddmommy @ 26
Bargoyle! I love it!
Why would she worry her beautiful mind over Georgie’s crying? She never did when he was still a child physically. (If anything could make me feel pity for George W. Bush, it’s knowing who his mother is.)
Oklahoma kiddo @ 27
Uh-huh. Guess which ones I’d rather have running this country in twenty years.
P_woman at 20:
You would also think that the a*sholes would show a little compassion for the Iraqis who have sacrificed their limbs and families and put themselves under a death sentence for standing with the American enemy in Iraq….but noooooooo.
According to a 60 Minutes report a few weeks ago the US had only accepted about 7,000 applications for Iraqi refugees and had approved maybe 500. This compares to something like 150,000 - 200,000 Vietnamese in a similar situation around the fall of Saigon who were processed and admitted in 8 months. The beyatch in charge of the program today, just like the dweeb who appointed her (G*B), insisted that this was after 9/11 and you need to be oh so careful. This Iraqi translator who got blown up with the US Army and lost his leg may well have become the equivalent of an injured US Army Vet just to create a ruse to get into the USA, talk about creating a front the hard way. Of course they don’t treat the native born injured vets that well either, so I guess it isn’t surprising.
These idiots seem to forget or ignore the fact that all the “purported” 9/11 hijackers were in the US legally, with visas. Oh yeah, and anybody like Osama bin Laden’s relatives or perhaps some of Darth Cheney’s co-conspirators were the only people allowed to fly, (to fly home and avoid being interrogated by the FBI?). Of course the South Vietnamese were South Asian and Buddhist or Catholic, not Arabic/Pakistani/Persian and Muslim.
Why do so many of the world’s children have to pay so dearly for our president’s obsession with, and proclivity for, violence, debauchery, greed and mayhem?
PW — Normally, in situations where you are dealing with, say, abuse or neglect in the home, ther requirement is that, wherever possible, you keep the family together — and by that I mean if you are doing a removal of the kids from the home, then you keep the kids altogether in a foster care placement to the extent possible to minimize trauma from so much change at once. There are substantial risks inherent in separation anxiety and other separation issues — especially for a child as young at 2 years old, who isn’t old enough to understand explanations about something like this and tends to blame themselves instead for the separation. And for the older kids to be in a jail situation, which is not safe by any means for them?
This really breaks my heart. Those poor kids.
And McCain and Bush want to nuke children.
Seineman @ 19
We all know that Dubya is probably most likely to cry if his mother the gorgon is near. Shooter, on the other hand, doesn’t really have a mom, unless you mean the woman who turned over that rock oh so many years ago and found him (or it),
Off-topic but I had such a shitty week I want to feel good today, soooooooooooooo
IT’S BARBECUE DAY!
It’s shaping up to be a glorious day in SillyValley. So what better kind of day to fire up the smoker and do some REAL barbecue.
I’ve got a seven pound brisket and a slab of pork spare ribs that just went in. THe ribs will be dinner today, I’ll do the brisket until midnight. You just can’t overdo the brisket as long as you keep it low and slow. Brisket sammiches for half the week!
The hickory chips are smoking already and the wood smoke already smells glorious.
Anybody else got some low and slow cooking planned for this weekend?
theExile @ 30
Sadly, this doesn’t surprise me one bit.
Guitar_Playing_Bastard @ 35
Mmmmmm! Barbecue sounds good. With cornbread of some sort in the picture.
Guitar_Playing_Bastard @
35
Nah, but frying up some pork chops tomorrow with sandwiches due M & T.
MoDo is up with another girly-boy piece. This time it’s about George Tenet, so WTFC…….still, this man-bashing fetish of hers is just so…….weird. Wonder if there’s a DSM-IV code for it. Is there a doctor in the house?
In a society in which torture is acceptable, habeus corpus is history, unrestricted wire-tapping of US citizens is the norm, why is anyone surprised that families are being decimated and children put in prison, all in our name?
And what is the Bush philosophy for Iraq, or for that matter Muslims in general? LNCU? Leave No Child Unburied. I’m feeling rather rad today.
Phoenix Woman @
37
I need to find a low-salt cornbread mix. Most mixes are way too salty.
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services has a legislative update [pdf] on a bill being pushed by Feinstein in the Senate and Lofgren in the House, to protect at least some of the children in ICE custody. A snippet:
Someone within the legal system needs to be able to speak up for these children. They are not an “issue” to be dealt with — they are children in need of protection.
Oh, and GPB: It’s always a potential BBQ day at my place. But reading your comment . . . I can smell the brisket already!
dakine01 @
38
Now I’m getting hungry. GPB, I’d put some potato salad with that puppy. Dakine, pork chops again?! Do you leave the peel on the potatoes? I do except when we have company.
oddmommy @
39
Whom she calls Slam Dunk or Slam throughout the piece. It is kinda funny.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 41
The Bush strategy for Iraq, is crush, kill, destroy.
Republicans go negative — on one another
At a Republican dinner in Iowa this month, Gilmore took on his party’s front-runners collectively, saying, “Rudy McRomney is not a conservative.”
Loo Hoo @ 45 says:
Actually, it’s been about a month since the last chops. I just mentioned them being part of the Sunday dinner cooking rotation the other day.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 48
OOOH! Breakin’ St Ronnie’s rule already? Some serious runnin’ scared goin’ on there.
oddmommy @ 39
Just look at how she’s handled the Clintons over the last two decades. Bill she wildly whipsaws on in a bizarre love/hate thing — gushingly fangirly one moment, viciously disembowelling the next — but Hillary she has consistently and irrationally hated, even though her politics and Hil’s are damn near identical from what I can see. The only explanation I can think of is that she’s jealous of Hillary for being married to Bill, and staying married to him lo these many years when MoDo can’t seem to manage more than a few years out of any relationship (hence her recent book on why she thinks men don’t like smart women).
Fresh thread, gang.
WWJD?
Oklahoma kiddo @ 48
Rudy McRomney! PERFECT!
Loo Hoo @
45
I got the P-salad at the store when I went for more charcoal and Red Stripe beer.
I don’t usually drink in the morning but I’ll do the Kristofferson thing when I’m barbecuing. =:-D
Peterr @
44
I can only do it on the weekend, I’m just too busy with work.
But the meat is already taking on that pink “cooking in progress” look.
Crab, onion and swiss omelets for breakfast.
Why yes, I CAN cook.
Loo Hoo @ 46
Christy Hardin Smith @ 52
Try again…*wink:
http://www.firedoglake.com/200.....-evidence/
Oops — thanks, Lou!
It is fairly common for humans to demand free access to something that they want but don’t have, and to go all protectionist when they have it. People making these demands usually characterize them as ‘fair’ when they make them.
My ancestors came from Europe (Germany and Ireland, mostly). I don’t know a lot of history and google isn’t helping me, perhaps someone here knows: what were the immigration procedures like 250, 150 and 50 yrs ago, compared to today? My impression is that it has gotten progressively more complex, and in the olden days (150 yrs and more) you were ok as long as you could physically get here. Or am I just remembering movies? Can’t believe there wouldn’t be forms and fees of some sort. I know there were quotas at various times, too. To clarify, I mean official immigration procedure, not resistance to immigrants faced on arrival.
I don’t want to believe this horror. The people close to this situation allow this? How does this happen? I struggle to get to work on time, to make a potluck salad for a gathering, to remember to throw the clothes in the dryer. I sit here reading posts and a hundred comments. While these girls and their parents sit in JAIL?? It makes me crazy how much precious time I waste. Where to even start.
Something weird has happened to the compassion of Americans, of late, and I suspect being ruled by shrub has something to do with it… from this, to reports that water and medical care is being routinely withheld from Mexican border crossers at ICE detention camps in the Arizona desert, to the Katrina prisoners left to fend for themselves in rising water, to the reintroduction of chain gangs around the country, to the permanently imprisoned TB patient in AZ who was, for months, denied books, phone calls, writing materials, visitors or access to a TV because this was “procedure”, to the near-total official neglect of mass rape reports on native American reservations (cited by Amnesty International this month) to the increasingly virulent and systematic police attacks on gays and lesbians in American cities (also cited by Amnesty last year) to even our country’s increasing infant mortality rate. And so forth and so forth. It’s almost like shrub has brought out the worst in Americans, in terms of human rights….
We’ve become a country of mean people, who do cruel things to people who can’t protect themselves, just because we can. I guess it’s all consistent with the spirit of the Torture Presidency.
We are trying to create terrorists here so we don’t have to fight them over there. This administration’s DOJ and DHS are Flucked up.
nellieh! That’s worth quoting!