And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Organization: The University of Michigan - Flint
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 08:48:44 EDT
>Subject: Re: Raza vs. Migraman
>CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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>
>Please distribute this excellent column to your lists.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Catherine Davids
>Flint, Michigan
>
>************************
>
>This is a column by Demetria Martinez of the National Catholic Reporter
>regarding Roberto Rodriguez's recent complaint against the U.S. Border
>Patrol.
>
>�When a Clean Car Makes You Suspect�
>by Demetria Martinez
>Jan 15, 1999
>National Catholic Reporter
>
>A friend who lives in Tucson, Ariz., recently said to me, �Remember the good
>old days when United States citizens could drive freely from city to city?�
>
>We were commiserating about how life for residents of the Southwest has
>changed. A continuously beefed up U.S. Border Patrol working with the U.S.
>military has meant that more of us, particularly people of color, are being
>stopped and searched in the course of our travels within the United States.
>Not crossing international borders -- just driving from point to point inside
>the country.
>
>My friend, Native American author, Leslie Marmon Silko, herself has been
>subject to several random searches. No matter that she is a winner of a
>Pulitzer Prize for fiction and a MacArthur fellowship. To agents, she is just
>another brown face, another �illegal alien� and/or potential drug smuggler
>threatening the American way of life.
>
>The same thing happened to nationally syndicated columnist Roberto Rodriguez,
>who also happens to be an acclaimed champion of civil and human rights. In
>1979, police clubs rained down on his skull, causing extensive injuries, when
>he dared to snap pictures of Los Angeles County sheriff�s deputies beating up
>a young Chicano, Rodney King style. Rodriguez was charged with assaulting
>officers with a deadly weapon -- his camera. Eventually, he was cleared of
>charges, and in 1986, he won a lawsuit against the deputies.
>
>Given his history, Rodriguez was only too happy to cooperate when border
>patrol agents detained him for almost 45 minutes outside of Las Cruces, NM
>last September.
>
>Rodriguez was driving home to Albuquerque after giving speeches in Los
Angeles
>and Tucson about his new book, �Codex Tamuanchan: On Becoming Human,� which
>explores issues of Chicano identity.
>
>He arrived at the border patrol�s Las Cruces checkpoint on I-25 and stated
>that he is a U.S. citizen. In response to further questioning, Rodriguez
>explained that he�d been to Los Angeles and Tucson.
>
>At that point, with no explanation, agents initiated a canine search of the
>car. As dogs sniffed, three agents and two plain clothes officers took apart
>seats and other car parts. Rodriguez was taken to a nearby office. There, he
>underwent extensive questioning as to his comings and goings as two armed
>guards kept watch.
>
>�I felt as if I�d entered the twilight zone,� said Rodriguez, recounting the
>experience.
>
>Afterwards, Rodriguez tried to get an explanation for his detention. After a
>series of non-answers, Rodriguez said, he decided to file a complaint.
>
>In the past decade, the U.S. Border Patrol has come under fire from groups
>such as Americas Watch, the American Friends Service Committee and Amnesty
>International for abuses by agents and a failure to investigate complaints.
>
>Faced with mounting pressure, the patrol has trumpeted its supposed
>willingness to hear any and all complaints. I recently talked with Doug
Mozier
>about Rodriguez�s situation and others like it.; Mozier is public affairs
>office for the agency�s El Paso, Texas, sector. which includes New Mexico and
>parts of West Texas. Mozier spoke of special hotlines, public forums and
>various complaint processes aimed at improving relations between the border
>patrol and the community. He assured me that the agency welcomes criticism in
>its effort to improve the way it operates.
>
>The spirit of Mozier�s comments contrasts starkly, however, with the tone of
>the response Rodriguez received from Alan Gordon, the acting chief border
>patrol agent for the sector.
>
>In a letter responding to Rodriguez�s complaint, Gordon maintained, among
>other things, that the border patrol does not �consider it appropriate to
>express an opinion to persons outside the Immigration & Naturalization
Service
>on Legal issues.�
>
>Gordon goes on to cite various laws that give agents broad discretion when it
>comes to questioning anybody �about your immigration status and other
>suspicious circumstances.�
>
>The letter lists the following as factors that led to the decision to detain
>Rodriguez: He�s been traveling a �non-direct� route,� that is from Los
Angeles
>to Albuquerque via Tucson.
>
>Considering that Rodriguez needed needed to give speeches in Los Angeles and
>Tucson and that he lives in Albuquerque, what other route could he have
taken?
>
>The letter also alleges that Rodriguez had a �rental� car and that the
>articles such as clothing toiletries and foodstuffs -- items �consistent with
>persons in travel� were nowhere in sight.�
>
>In fact, Rodriguez had a leased car. And his personal items were in the trunk
>along with stacks of books. �I plead guilty to a clean car,� Rodriguez told
>me.
>After speaking with Mozier, I questioned Ramon Garcia, a senior border patrol
>agent who works out of Las Cruces. Garcia allowed that had the agents
>questioned Rodriguez first (before the dogs and detention), they might have
>learned of the book tour and saved everyone the hassle.
>
>Mistakes are made, Garcia said. Still, �Agents are very experienced in what
>they do,� he said. In the El Paso sector alone (125,000 square miles), more
>than $190 million worth of narcotics have been nabbed during fiscal year
1999,
>Garcia explained.
>
>Too bad the agency isn�t required to do an equally detailed accounting of the
>number of innocent people detained in the name of the drug war. When I asked
>why agents don�t keep such records, Mozier and Garcia said it would be too
>hard given the volume of traffic moving through the checkpoints.
>
>I find that reasoning hard to swallow. A primitive adding machine could
do the
>trick.
>
>Maritza Broce, a community organizer with the Arizona People�s Law Center in
>Tucson, has been monitoring border issues for years.
>
>�Innocent people are harassed on a daily -- hourly -- basis. Whatever
happened
>to the presumption of innocence?� she said. �Furthermore, they haven�t showed
>us that increased enforcement has reduced the use of drugs. ... In the
>meantime, how many of our rights are we going to have to give up?� said
Broce.
>
>Said Rodriguez: This isn�t even an issue of immigration. I was traveling to
>non-border cities. I�m a U.S. citizen.�
>
>Rodriguez is also a Latino: offspring of the Spanish conquest, descended from
>people indigenous to the Americas. And he can�t hide his Indian blood. He is
>as dark as chocolate. For decades, he has written about the irony that those
>of us who have been on this continent the longest are the ones most likely to
>be singled out as suspect: Between the drug war and anti-immigrant hysteria,
>we are viewed as strangers in our own land.
>
>But in his fight for dignity for all people, Rodriguez is not afraid to bear
>arms. When agents asked Rodriguez if he had any weapons on him, he said: �I
>carry pens.�
>
>Readers interested in obtaining Rodriguez�s book may contact him at:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] or at 505-242-7282
>
>* Demetria Martinez lives in Tucson. She is the author of a novel,
>MotherZTongue, published by Bilingual Press.
>
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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