Migrants' story
Cuentos Inmigrantes: April 13, 2011
By Crosscurrents Producer
Cuentos Inmigrantes is a weekly collection of immigration news and views, from there to here and back
A Salvadoran farmer is fighting to keep the longest river in El Salvador viable for the 4,000,000 people who rely on it. And on Monday, that man, Francisco Piñeda, received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, awarded each year to six environmentalists who, often at great personal risk, make significant efforts to protect the environment. Piñeda's activisim was ignited in 2002 when the Canadian company Pacific Rim began mining exploration in El Salvador after acquiring a permit from the government. When Piñeda and environmental leaders from other rural communities discovered that water from the Lempa River was drying up because it was being siphoned off for gold exploration upstream, they started educating other farmers about the health threats of mining.
By 2008 the Salvadoran government suspended Pacific Rim's exploration permits. In 2009 three prominent anti-mining activists - and close friends of Piñeda - were murdered. He now lives with 24-hour police protection. Piñeda said, "Salvadoreños are quite romantic when it comes to the question of our land and traditions. So it makes us more dedicated to our resources. You can ask any Salvadoran in any part of the country. We are in love with our country, our land and we will not allow this. Water is more important than gold."
Santa Rosa immigration attorney Richard Coshnear is on the 14th day of a hunger strike in an effort to force the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to stop local cooperation with immigration authorities. In February, the county's Commission on Human Rights approved a resolution asking the county to approve a Family Unity ordinance that would prevent local resources from being used to help federal immigration authorities - except in cases involving human trafficking or people convicted of serious or violent felonies. The ordinance is spearheaded by the Committee for Immigrant Rights of Sonoma County. First District Supervisor Valerie Brown told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, "I certainly appreciate the passion Mr. Coshnear has for this issue, but we know what we can do by law and what we can't." Coshnear says he will maintain his fast until he hears that the board will take up the issue seriously. He told KPFA that, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement statistics, half of all people arrested by federal immigration authorities in Sonoma County in the past two years were never convicted of any crime.
A U.S. federal court upheld a lower court's ruling blocking portions of SB1070, Arizona's controversial immigration law, maintaining a freeze on a provision that would have allowed police officers to check the immigration status of arrested suspects and hold indefinitely anyone they suspect of being undocumented. The law would have also allowed "warrantless arrest" if police have probable cause to believe someone has committed a public offense that makes them removable from the U.S. Arizona governor Jan Brewer signed the law last April, immediately sparking boycotts and protests across the country.
The Obama administration sued to block the law from going into effect and argued that the federal government alone was responsible for immigration law. Brewer stated on her website that she would take the case "all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary," and said that the decision "by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold Judge Bolton's suspension of key provisions of SB 1070 does harm to the safety and well-being of Arizonans who suffer the negative effects of illegal immigration."
The New York Times reported that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano chastised Republican lawmakers who have said they will not consider overhaul legislation proposed by President Obama until the border is secure. The legislators have criticized President Obama's border policy and say that illegal crossings and drug violence are spiraling out of control. "Enough is enough," said Napolitano, speaking at the think tank, NDN. "Damaging information about border communities has been repeated often enough." The Department of Homeland Security has removed about 390,000 undocumented immigrants in each of the past two years.
Source: KALWNews.org
By Crosscurrents Producer
Cuentos Inmigrantes is a weekly collection of immigration news and views, from there to here and back
A Salvadoran farmer is fighting to keep the longest river in El Salvador viable for the 4,000,000 people who rely on it. And on Monday, that man, Francisco Piñeda, received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, awarded each year to six environmentalists who, often at great personal risk, make significant efforts to protect the environment. Piñeda's activisim was ignited in 2002 when the Canadian company Pacific Rim began mining exploration in El Salvador after acquiring a permit from the government. When Piñeda and environmental leaders from other rural communities discovered that water from the Lempa River was drying up because it was being siphoned off for gold exploration upstream, they started educating other farmers about the health threats of mining.
By 2008 the Salvadoran government suspended Pacific Rim's exploration permits. In 2009 three prominent anti-mining activists - and close friends of Piñeda - were murdered. He now lives with 24-hour police protection. Piñeda said, "Salvadoreños are quite romantic when it comes to the question of our land and traditions. So it makes us more dedicated to our resources. You can ask any Salvadoran in any part of the country. We are in love with our country, our land and we will not allow this. Water is more important than gold."
Santa Rosa immigration attorney Richard Coshnear is on the 14th day of a hunger strike in an effort to force the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to stop local cooperation with immigration authorities. In February, the county's Commission on Human Rights approved a resolution asking the county to approve a Family Unity ordinance that would prevent local resources from being used to help federal immigration authorities - except in cases involving human trafficking or people convicted of serious or violent felonies. The ordinance is spearheaded by the Committee for Immigrant Rights of Sonoma County. First District Supervisor Valerie Brown told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, "I certainly appreciate the passion Mr. Coshnear has for this issue, but we know what we can do by law and what we can't." Coshnear says he will maintain his fast until he hears that the board will take up the issue seriously. He told KPFA that, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement statistics, half of all people arrested by federal immigration authorities in Sonoma County in the past two years were never convicted of any crime.
A U.S. federal court upheld a lower court's ruling blocking portions of SB1070, Arizona's controversial immigration law, maintaining a freeze on a provision that would have allowed police officers to check the immigration status of arrested suspects and hold indefinitely anyone they suspect of being undocumented. The law would have also allowed "warrantless arrest" if police have probable cause to believe someone has committed a public offense that makes them removable from the U.S. Arizona governor Jan Brewer signed the law last April, immediately sparking boycotts and protests across the country.
The Obama administration sued to block the law from going into effect and argued that the federal government alone was responsible for immigration law. Brewer stated on her website that she would take the case "all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary," and said that the decision "by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold Judge Bolton's suspension of key provisions of SB 1070 does harm to the safety and well-being of Arizonans who suffer the negative effects of illegal immigration."
The New York Times reported that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano chastised Republican lawmakers who have said they will not consider overhaul legislation proposed by President Obama until the border is secure. The legislators have criticized President Obama's border policy and say that illegal crossings and drug violence are spiraling out of control. "Enough is enough," said Napolitano, speaking at the think tank, NDN. "Damaging information about border communities has been repeated often enough." The Department of Homeland Security has removed about 390,000 undocumented immigrants in each of the past two years.
Source: KALWNews.org
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