Under Lock & Key

In our last piece on Haiti we dismissed some insinuations a comrade made about the imperialists causing the earthquake in January. This comrade responded and provided some history to back up h claims including information on Project Seal by Thomas Leech. The MIM(Prisons) comrade who responded was ignorant of this information as well as the fact that leaders including Hugo Chavez had made references to similar accusations at the time. We apologize for our ignorance on the subject.

While we don’t think we can say conclusively that the imperialists caused the earthquake, we can say that they caused the disaster. Comrades have done a more thorough job of explaining the economic and political history behind this since our last post (see below), and we still find it more useful to talk about these solid facts that demonstrate the systematic undermining of Haitian sovereignty and security.

As was widely reported last week, of the over $1 billion the u.$. is spending in Haiti, only one cent of each dollar went to the Haitian puppet government. Instead of a centralized effort by Haitians to rebuild their country, most money going to so-called “aid” work went to thousands of different Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Meanwhile 40% of the money is going to the u.$. military, which is acting as an occupation force. This validates our assertions in January about where donations are likely to go.

While there are some groups out there who are more worthy of donations, a strategy that does not attack the imperialist policies exposed in the articles below cannot prevent these disasters from recurring across the Third World.

Also See:
Beware of Amerikkkans bearing gifts: Haiti and Africa by Monkey Smashes Heaven
Earthquake Strikes Haiti; Imperialism is a Disaster by the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist Movement (Denver)

I started reading [The Straight Scoop from Charlie Daniels (see excerpt below)] with the thought, “Oh, he has some good music” and ended up with the, “never again will I listen to country music.” All country music is patriotic, racist pig rhetoric. Take old Toby Keith’s bullshit soldier songs.

Motherfucker, Charlie Daniels, those Taliban have been victims, their land was invaded, their wives and children murdered… Let’s see your pussy ass go through that and not have a heart attack!!!

It’s his conviction that he’s so right that’s frightening. And he is amerika. The epitomy of the average amerikan right there. Ignorant, proud, uppity, evil, wrong!

The Straight Scoop from Charlie Daniels… I’ve just returned from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Naval Air Station base where we did three shows for the troops and toured several locations around the post visiting with some of the finest military personnel on planet earth. The kids seemed to really enjoy the shows and especially liked “This Ain’t No Rag, It’s A Flag” and “In America.” … The truth is that these scum bags [Taliban detainees] are not only being treated humanely, but they are probably better off health wise and medically than they’ve ever been in their lives.

MIM(Prisons) responds: Charlie Daniels is taking up the Michael Moore (maker of the film Sicko) amerikan populist line on health care. MIM(Prisons) calls for the u.$. to provide universal health care to all people in countries under u.$. occupation, while white nationalists get indignant because a thousand prisoners of war get medical attention while they are tortured in long-term isolation. Daniels thinks long-term isolation is humane, and is pissed off that they are getting such good health care. This is amerikan chauvinism at its finest as our comrade points out.

Any humynist would be pissed off that the only way Third World people have been able to get decent health care under imperialism is by being captured and tortured by the imperialists. At home, with their family, such care is not available. Racists like Daniels and Moore think Afghans and other Third World people get what they deserve, while amerikans need more when they have access to Viagra, boob jobs and an endless list of medical technology that is purely recreational and not related to survival.

Jan. 20. 2010 - U.S. aid arrives at a Haitian hospital, ready to save lives.

As we embark on 2010 it seems that a tragic disaster has struck the Afrikan people. A few years ago it was hurricane Katrina and now Haiti. I was just building with the brothers on how in 1804 Haiti won its independence, defeating the French imperialists on January 1st. Twelve days later an earthquake rips trough Haiti at the magnitude of 7.0. Now, I’m not sure who is to blame, but I have my suspicions. You know, since 2006 there’s been a tsunami in South Asia, a hurricane in New Orleans, and now an earthquake in Haiti. All are dark skinned nations! Like I said, I have my suspicions, which I’ll get into later.

Sisters and Brothers, we need to come together and focus on Our people in Haiti! We, the brothers of a plantation in New York called Clinton [Correctional Facility], have got together and we were so moved by the horrible images on the news, newspapers and radio that we are willing to donate clothes, food and money from our accounts to help our Afrikan Haitian mothers, fathers and children.

As New Afrikans, we understand fully our purpose in life and it’s to help our people whether they be in the u$, Cuba, Afrika, Brazil, Jamaica, etc. We understand that the Amerikan Red Cross takes out a percentage from the money donated and we really don’t want that type of middle man pilfering from our donations. So we ask if you can have an outside agency that’s willing to come to this plantation and others throughout New York to pick up the items of clothing, food and an address that we can write to send our funds and condolences. We are talking with the Superintendent and hopefully by the time you respond we should be ready to go. We really do hope you can help us help those in need.

Bloods and Crips, I ask that we take a minute to understand that we as a people just lost close to 50,000 men, women and children in less than 24 hours! That number unfortunately will rise in this catastrophic event. Please, please, please stop the tribalism and join forces and help our people! At this rate we’ll be extinct in no time!

MIM(Prisons) responds: Many more than 50,000 have died and many more will. The situation in Haiti is horrendous and as this writer goes on to point out, this does not happen to europeans or amerikans. He draws parallels to the ethnic cleansing that took place in New Orleans and Southeast Asia following hurricanes and tsunamis. This comrade blames it on man correctly, but does so in a mystical way later in the letter (unprinted). These disasters are man-made because of economics. While climate change may increase extreme weather, earthquakes occur at a level humyns have yet to interfere with.
[see our correction for this article]

It was not long ago that the united $tates went into Haiti and kidnapped President Aristide, who has been in exile ever since. As the Haitian people call for his help in their time of need, 5 digits worth of u.$. troops march into their country, controlling everything and allowing little aid to get through. The history of u.$. “aid” to Haiti is well-documented and clearly not in the interests of the Haitian people.(1)

Real solidarity means supporting the self-determination of Haitians. If you want an organization that claims to send all its money directly to Haiti, you could donate to the Bush/Clinton fund. (It may end up being sent in the form of occupation troops though.) The real standard of where to send aid should be where the Haitian people are building their own institutions. Years ago the united $tates crushed programs that were developing Haitian medical personnel, and now amerikans want to pretend to be their saviors.(2) While we do not endorse any particular funds at this time, we have compiled some information on groups that may be able to get donations into the right hands.

Long Live International Solidarity!

notes:
(1)This article gives some more background: http://monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/haiti-beware-amerikkkans-bearing-gifts-aid-becomes-pretext-for-u-colonial-occupation/
(2)This article also gives good background and contemporary information: http://www.sfbayview.com/2010/earthquake-in-haiti-under-aristide-haitians-were-prepared-for-disaster/

[img=“https://www.prisoncensorship.info/art/quick/assistformigrantsespanol.jpg” alt=]

Como la populación de prisioneros en crecimiento más rápido, migrantes en detenciones han servido para sequir aumentando los niveles de encarcelamiento en los Estados Unidos desde 2001, iqualmente en las últimas decadas, salvando así a la industria de prisiones privadas en el proceso.(1) Apesar de la continuada retorica sobre las drogas cruzando a los Estados Unidos por México, el gobierno drásticamente quitó recursos del enforzamiento de drogas y aumentó recursos al enforzamiento de inmigración después del 9/11, y la populación de prisioneros muestra ese cambio.(2)

En el Julio 2009, había 31,000 personas no ciudadanas encerradas al nivel federal en en los Estados Unidos. Este número está más grande que en el 2006, cuando habían más o menos 20,000, y el año 1992 cuando habían 6,259.(3) Hay más de 320,000 migrantes detenidos por Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) cada año, y hasta un cuarto de ellos son jóvenes. Estos números solamente incluyen las personas encarceladas bajo la custodia federal, aunque puedan estar ubicadas por todo el país y en prisiones estatales y cárceles locales. Estos números no incluyen personas quienes están encarceladas por cargos criminales, pero no están entregados a la custodia federal por infracciónes de inmigración (tales como en las “ciudades santuarias”).

La Unión Americana de Libertades Civiles (American Civil Liberties Union) dice que las condiciones en cuales esos detenidos civiles están mantenidos son frecuentemente tan malas o aun peores que las condiciones que experimentan la gente en la prisión por convicciones criminales. Estos centros de detención han sido descritos como “lamentablamente irregulados.” Los “requisitos” que ellos tienen sobre como tratar la gente no llevan obligaciones legales, reduciendolos esencialmente a sugerencias.(3) Esto significa que a los prisioneros sin ciuidadania estadounidense se los niega acceso a teléfonos, ayuda legal o liberías legales, recreación, visitación, correo, cuidado médico, papel del baño y la lista sigue. Las personas son secuestradas de sus casas a media noche y mudado sin ninguna notificación a sus familias. Además de eso frecuentemente ellos no tienen ninguna manera de comunicación, dejando la gente completamente separada de su sistema de apoyo y consejería legal. Para los prisioneros estadounidenses, esas condiciones no son sorprendentes ni nuevas. La diferencia para los migrantes es que la línea entre la detención y el castigo está borrosa. Hace años, los migrantes eran detenidos por 4 o 5 días, y después deportados. Ahora la gente está detenida por hasta 2 años (y posiblamente más), sin haber sido acusado de un crímen, aun menos declarada culpable, ni por un jurado ilegítimo, ni en un tribunal ilegítimo de los Estados Unidos.

Los Motivaciones Economicas

Una razón que los niveles del encarcelamiento de los migrantes está aumentando es porque después de la construcción rápida de prisiones en los 1990s, algunas prisiones ahora están parcialmente vacías. Los dueños y los financieros de esas prisiones están implorando que llegué más gente que encerrar, y su solución es los migrantes. Esto es parte de la economía imperialista parasítica; llenarias prisiones se lo considera como un estímulo económico aunque sea un gasto de recursos sin resultado productivo.

Prisiones privadas contienen 17% de la gente bajo la custodia de la agencia ICE. La Corporación Correccional de América, una compañía que maneja prisiones privadas y que tiene control de la mitad de las instituciones de detención manejadas por compañías privadas, gastó $3 milliones de dólares cabildeando los políticos en el 2004. Ellos quieren leyes de inmigración más estritas para que tengan acceso a más prisioneros, lo cual las brindará a ellos más dinero. Al mismo tiempo, ICE puede pagar 26% menos por día para mantener los prisioneros en una institución privada contra una que está administrada por el estado.(4) Esto es posible porque en las instituciones privadas hace falta la observación del público igual que la del gobierno, y ellos reducen los gastos porque eliminan todo que ayudaría a los prisioneros, incluyendo cuidado médico para que es necesario vivir.. Una razón por la cual los gobiernos estatales han evitado usar las prisiones privadas para sus ciudadanos fue el escándalo a que estuvieron rapidamente vinculadas. En el año 1998-99 las prisiones privadas de Wackenhut en Nuevo Mexico tuvieron una proporción de mortalidad 55 veces más alta que la mortalidad nacional en las prisiones.(5) Cuando esas corporaciones son contratados por la agencia ICE, la falta de voz en la populación migrante permite que sigan sin castigo las condiciones abusivas para ahorrar dinero. Esto es otro buen ejemplo de como el capitalismo valora ganacias más que la vida humana.

Aún, como lo describimos en “Amerikkkanos: Opremiendo por Subsistencia,” un incremento en los niveles del encarcelamiento no sirve sólo los intereses de la industria de las prisiones privadas; las uniones de los trabajadores en la prisión y los cerdos tambien reciben beneficios grandes. Desde el 9/11/2001 los Estados Unidos ha incrementado sus oficiales de aduanda de 8,000 a 20,000 agentes, 20% quienes son veteranos militares. Los salarios que empiezan a $36,000 hasta $46,000 por año más beneficios completos. Todo el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (Department of Homeland Security - DHS) el cual incluye al ICE, se jacta aue su presupuesto es más que $40 billiones y que proveen trabajos de salarios altos a 166,234 norte amerikanos.(6) El DHS no solamente mantiene la riqueza dentro del bordo de los Estados Unidos, ayudan a distribuirla también.

Y asi mismo al complejo industrial militar y complejo industrial de prisiones que nosotros discutimos en “La Privatisación de la Guerra: Imperialismo Boquea sus Ultimos Respiras,” los contratos con el departamendo de suguridad nacional son basado en a quien tu conoces, no en lo que estas vendiendo, como los empleados del gobierno antiguos venden sus mercancías a sus patrónes antiguas.(7) Al mismo tiempo, bastantes dirijidas por sobre entuciasticos y abiertamenta racistas como el “Minuteman.”(8)

Por supuesta, existen verdaderos beneficios económicos para los norte amerikanos sobre todo al manejar la populación tratando de venir a los Estados Unidos. Si los norte amerikanos verdaderamente hacen más dinero porque ellos son más inteligentes y más trabajadores, entonces no estarían asustados a abrir las fronteras y permitir la competencia por los trabajos. En cambio, la petición por represión está forsando más y más agricultores a emplear la labor de prisioneros para las cosechas cuando usualmente ellos usaban los migrantes. Libres ciudadanos amerikanos no más no trabajan por salarios proletario, sin mencionar que esto siendo ilegal, entonces el argumento que ellos quieren recoger sus trabajos es muy debil. Aunque quisas esta es la solución perfecta para mantener la comida barata, mientras que mantienen a los extrajeros fuera y los oprimidas en prision. Migrantes detenidos trabajan en prisiones privadas haciendo el mantenimiento diario, y porque ellos no son ciudadanos estadounidenses el DHS impone un maximo salario de $1 al día.(9) Mientras que comida y provisión de viviendo suficientes son proveidas teoricamente, estos condiciones de vida y trabajo son peores de las de sus propias regiones. Opuesto al reaccionario vuelta de control de fronteras, nosotros retamos ellos quienes quieren trabajos para todos a trabajar hacia un nueva sistema económico en cambio.

Cierre las Puertas: La Unidad de los Blancos

ICE ni el unico actor de enforsamiento de ley en este robo de ganacias sobre la vida humana. Bajo el Acto del Inmigración y el Nacionalidad 287(g), autoridades locales pueden ser autorizada a oficialmente imponer leyes federales de inmigración, mientras que otros están confortables inoficialmente usando el viejo táctica de oprimir grupos especificos de gente. Esta cultura de opresión en la nación blanca corre tan profundo que más y más ciudadanos estadounidenses están uniendose en el tradicional pasatiempo amerikkkano de vijilar el bordo, de voluntarios con tales grupos como el “Hombres Minuto de Defensa Civil de Cuerpo.” En respuesta a mucho indignidad público, el presidente Obama ha hablado de las acciones del famoso humillador de los migrantes el Alguacil Arapio de Condado Maricopa al limitario a solamente determinar el estatus emigratorio de alguien cuando un sido encarcelado. Esta debil respuesta de la administración de Obama enseña sus soportes a tales opresiones de migrantes.

La nación blanca Euro-Amerikana ha estado sistematicamente oprimiendo otras gentes por centenios. Una manera es por medio de la explotación y el neo-colonialismo en países del Tercer Mundo, donde la gente está atrapada como labor barata por bordas y leyes de inmigración. Corporaciones pagan poquito o no salarios allá y venden los productos por super-ganancias en los Estados Unidos. La situación dificil económica causa a la gente que abandonen sus hogares y frecuentemente arriesguen sus vidas por tratar de proveer para ellos y sus familias. Desde el 1995 hasta el 2005 como 2,600 personas han muerto tratando de entrar dentro de los Estados Unidos por México.(10) Asi mismo, gente regularmente muere cruzando el oceano en botes hechos a mano de Haiti donde los gobierno impuesto por los Estados Unidos rehusa proveer las necesidades de la gente. Es opresivo en una país entonces la gente decide marcharse y venir aquí pensando que encontrarán mejores oportunidades. Claro que si, lo que verdaderamente pasa es la opresión y explotación de gente del Tercer Mundo continua dentro de los Estados Unidos cuando la gente no tiene una tarjeta verde. Los condiciones están peores para los oprimidos durante la reciente crisis economic. Muchas de America Latina están descubriendo que las oportunidades están ahora mejor en sus países, sin embargo, los norte amerikanos continuan viviendo su estilo de vida sobre consumidor en los Estados Unidos.

Señas de Progreso

En medio de todo esto, existen gente trabajando hacia soluciónes. En Pecos, Texas en Diciembre del 2008 y Enero del 2009, habo una serie de lavantameintos de migrantes prisioneros. Fueron finalmente prendidos por la muerte de un hombre con epilepcia, quien murio completamente sin necesidad por el hecho de un descarado descuido por su vida al denegación cuidado médico.(11) Gente de diferente nacionalidades se juntaron en la rebelion, demandando mejores condiciones. Esta no es la primera ni la última muerto de esta forma, pues las muertes inexplicadas son común en prisiones estadounidense, incluyendo centros de detenciones de migrantes.

Algunas ciudades estadounidendes están moviendase en la dirección progresiva de ser “santuarios.” Ciudades santuarias permiten a la gente quienes quisas no son ciudadanos estadounidense a hacer dinero y lo manden a sus hogares a circular en sus naciones. Esto es una forma redonda de movernos hacia un mundo sin fronteras. Sin embargo, con acusaciones que algunos alcaldes están siendo “suave con el crimen,” el estatus de santario quisas se encuentre amenasado. Adicionalmente, no hay nada parando los agentes federales de ir dentro de esas ciudades e imponer leyes federales de inmigración, como frecuentemente lo hacen.

Mientras que nosotros favorecemos esos pasos progresivos hacia protecciones para los migrantes en los Estados Unidos, reconocemos que no son suficiente para llevar al final de la opresión nacional. Esas son reformas fragíles en lo mejor, que pueden ser facilmente revocados (o simplemente no los hacer caso). Otra solución que algunos tienen es la integración de migrantes dentro la nación explotadora de los Estados Unidos por medio de salarios de ramaño explotadar. Esto es un esfuerzo para reducir sus potenciales como revolutionarios a esos de consumidores y parasitos de labor aristocracia. Lo que verdaderamente necesitamos para terminar la opresión nacional de migrantes en los Estados Unidos es exponer “el sueño amerikkkano,” y revolucionar los trabajores para soportar los movimientos revolucionarios en el Tercer Mundo.

notas:
(1) Greene, Judith. Banking on the Prison Boom. August 2006.
(2) Fernandes, Deepa. Targeted: Homeland Security and the Business of Immigration. Seven Stories Press, New York. 2007, p.119.
(3) “Detention Management,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Nov 20, 2008, http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/factsheets/detention_mgmt.htm
(4) Berestein, Leslie. Tougher immigration laws turn the ailing private prison sector into a revenue maker. San Diego Tribune, 5/4/2008.
(5) Fernandes. p. 195.
(6) http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/rewrite/budget/fy2009/homeland.html
(7) Fernandes, p.178.
(8) Ibid., p.185. Border Technologies, Inc. founder believes that “Mexican culture is based on deceit” and “Chicanos and Mexicanos lie as a means of survival.”
(9) Ibid., p.197.
(10) Ibid., p.50.
(11) Wilder, Forrest. How a private prison pushed immigrant inmates to the brink. The Texas Observer, October 2, 2009. [url=http://www.texasobserver.org/features/the-pecos-insurrection]http://www.texasobserver.org/features/the-pecos-insurrection

Shortly after MIM(Prisons) posted an article talking about the use of excess prisons to lock up migrants, CNN reported that the u.$. government is looking to take over another empty state prison, this time for Muslims from the Third World.(1) The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) already secretly opened two control units for Muslim Arabs in recent years at USP Terra Haute and USP Marion (which became the original control unit in 1983, but was later downgraded to medium security). These units hold 94% and 75% Muslims, respectively, are even more isolating than many prisons holding English-speakers and u.$. citizens.(2)

Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois is an unused, high tech, maximum security prison with a capacity of 1600 that still sits virtually empty. The government promises that if Third World Muslims are to be sent there, that it will be made even more secure than the official federal control unit, ADX in Florence, Colorado. According to the CNN article, Thomson is the top contender to take most of those now held in Guantanamo Bay after its planned closure, scheduled for January 2010.

There are only 215 prisoners at Guantanamo, and the BOP already holds 340 people that they say are “linked to international terrorism.”(1) While the imprisonment of Latino migrants dwarfs these numbers, one must also consider that there are many u.$. prisons in occupied Iraq and Afghanistan and other secret military locations that hold primarily Muslims from the Middle East.

Governor Quinn is excited at the prospect of bringing these prisoners to Illinois because of the money it will bring to the region. This is consistent with his policies of using prisons to combat recession (3), and he may be on to something. With more and more amerikans being employed to physically oppress other people, importing people who are a threat to the imperialist order to hold in amerikan-run prisons would not be an unlikely form for amerika to take as it turns more fascist in the face of imperialist crisis. As one resident pointed out to Reuters, the local population in rural Illinois would back the mission of the prison (4), unlike people in the Middle East where the u$ currently holds most of its Middle Eastern prisoners. A turn toward fascism would be necessary to prevent non-citizens from gaining access to the bourgeois democratic rights promised to those on u.$. soil. (Those currently held in Guantanamo have never been convicted of a crime.) When convenient for them, the imperialists believe humyn rights begin and end at man-made borders.

Of course bourgeois rights are denied to citizens of the united snakes as well, as the FBI demonstrated by assassinating New Afrikan Imam, Luqman Ameen Abdullah in Detroit. Abdullah was a member of Jamil al-Amin’s (formerly Black Panther H. Rap Brown) Muslim network called “Ummah.” New Afrikan Muslims are the second largest group in the Marion Communications Management Unit.(2)

notes:
(1) Yellin, Jessica. Illinois prison top contender to house Gitmo detainees, official says. cnn.com. November 14, 2009.
(2) http://www.abolishcontrolunits.org/research/US
Exposing “Little Guantanamo”: Inside the CMU by Daniel McGowen reports that 75% in Marion CMU are Muslim, though only 10 of 26 are from the Middle East. In Terra Haute, reportedly 2 of 213 prisoners are not Arab Muslims.
(3) MIM(Prisons) on U.S. Prison Economy. Under Lock & Key Issue 8, May 2009.
(4)http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN16528063

As the fastest growing prison population, migrants in detention have helped continue the decades long trend of rising imprisonment rates in the united snakes in recent years, while saving the private prison industry in the process.(1) Despite continued rhetoric about drugs coming into the u.$. through Mexico, the government drastically shifted resources away from drug enforcement to immigration enforcement following 9/11, and the prison population shows it.(2)

As of July 2009, there are 31,000 non-citizens imprisoned at the federal level on any given day in the u.$. This number is up from about 20,000 in 2006 and 6,259 in 1992.(3) There are more than 320,000 migrants detained each year by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and as many as a quarter of them are juveniles. These numbers include only those imprisoned under federal custody, although they may be located all around the country and in state prisons and local jails. These numbers do not include people who may be imprisoned on criminal charges, but are not turned in to federal custody on immigration violations (such as in “sanctuary cities”).

The American Civil Liberties Union says that the conditions in which these civil detainees are held are often as bad as or worse than those faced by people imprisoned with criminal convictions. These detention centers are described as “woefully unregulated.” The “requirements” that they do have about how to treat people have no legal obligation, reducing them essentially to suggestions.(3) This leads to prisoners without u.$. citizenship being denied access to telephones, legal aide or law libraries, recreation, visitation, mail, medical care, toiletries, and the list goes on. People are kidnapped from their homes in the middle of the night and transferred without notification to their families. On top of that they often have no means of communication, leading people to become completely detached from their support systems and legal counsel. For u.$. prisoners, these conditions are nothing surprising or new. The difference for migrants is that the line between detention and punishment is blurred. Years ago, migrants were detained for 4 or 5 days, and then deported. Now people are being detained for up to 2 years (and possibly more), without ever being charged with a crime, let alone convicted, even by an illegitimate jury in an illegitimate u.$. court.

The Economic Motivations

One reason migrant imprisonment is increasing is because after the prison boom of the 1990s, some prisons are sitting partially empty. The owners and financers of these prisons are begging for more people to lock up, and their solution is migrants. This is part of the parasitic imperialist economy, where filling prisons is seen as an economic stimulus even though it is a completely non-productive suck of resources.

Private prisons house 17% of people in ICE custody. The Correctional Corporation of America, a private prison management company who controls half of the detention facilities run by private companies, spent $3 million lobbying politicians in 2004. They want stricter immigration laws so they can have access to more prisoners, which will bring them more money. In turn, ICE is able to pay 26% less per day to house prisoners in a private versus state-run facility.(4) This is possible because of the lack of public as well as governmental oversight at private facilities, where they reduce costs by getting rid of everything that would help prisoners, including necessary-to-life medical care. One reason state governments shied away from private prisons for their own citizens was the scandals that they quickly became associated with. In the year 1998-99, Wackenhut’s private prisons in New Mexico had a death rate 55 times that of the national average for prisons.(5) The migrant population’s lack of voice allows these corporations to get away with their cost-cutting abusive conditions when contracted by ICE. This is another good example of how capitalism values profit over humyn life.

Yet, as we described in Amerikkkans: Oppressing for a Living, an increase in imprisonment doesn’t serve the interests of just the private prison industry; CO and pig unions also reap major benefits. Since 9/11/2001 the u.$. has increased its border patrol from 8,000 agents to 20,000, 20% of whom are military veterans. Salaries start at $36,000 to $46,000 per year plus full benefits. The whole Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which includes ICE, brags about its budget exceeding $40 billion and providing high paying jobs for 166,234 amerikans.(6) Not only does DHS keep wealth within u.$. borders, it helps distribute it as well.

And similar to the military-industrial complex and prison-industrial complex we discussed in The privatization of war: Imperialism gasps its last breaths, Homeland Security contracts are based on who you know, not what you’re selling, as former staff members sell their wares to their old employers.(7) Meanwhile, many of the smaller start-up companies that are cashing in are headed by overly-enthusiastic and openly racist Minuteman types.(8)

Of course, there are real economic benefits to amerikans as a whole by managing the populations trying to come into the u.$. If amerikans really made more money because they are just smarter and harder working, then they wouldn’t be afraid to open the borders and allow competition for jobs. Instead, the demand for repression is forcing more and more farmers to employ prison labor for harvests when they used to use migrants. Free amerikan citizens just won’t work for proletarian wages, not to mention it being illegal, so the argument that they want their jobs back is pretty weak. Though perhaps this is the perfect solution to keeping food cheap, while keeping foreigners out and the oppressed in prison. Migrant detainees do work in private prisons doing the day-to-day maintenance, and because they are not u.$. citizens DHS enforces a maximum wage of $1 per day.(9) While adequate food and housing are theoretically provided, this amounts to working and living conditions generally below those in their home region. Opposite the reactionary turn to border control, we challenge those who want jobs for everyone to work toward a new economic system instead.

Close the Hatches: Whitey Unites

ICE is not the only law enforcement actor in this scam profiting off humyn life. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act 287(g), local authorities can become authorized to officially enforce federal immigration law, while others are comfortable unofficially using the old vigilante trick of targeting specific people. This culture of oppression in the white nation runs so deep that an increasing number of u.$. citizens are joining in the traditional amerikan hobby of border patrol, volunteering with groups such as the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. In response to much public outrage, President Obama has addressed the actions of the famous migrant humiliator Maricopa County Sheriff Arpaio by limiting him to only determining someone’s immigration status when they’ve been jailed. This weak response of the Obama administration shows their support of such migrant oppression.

The white euro-amerikan nation has been systematically oppressing other peoples for centuries. One way is through exploitation and neocolonialism in Third World countries, where people are trapped as cheap labor by borders and immigration laws. Corporations pay little to no wages there and sell products for super-profits in this country. The dire economic situations cause people to leave their homes and often risk their lives to provide for themselves and their families. From 1995 to 2005 about 2,600 people died trying to come into the united $tates through Mexico.(10) Similarly, people regularly die crossing the ocean in makeshift boats from Haiti where the u.$.-imposed government refuses to meet the needs of the people. It’s oppressive in one country so people decide to leave and come here thinking they will find better opportunities. Of course, what really happens is the oppression and exploitation of Third World people continues within the united $tates when people don’t have a green card. Things are worse for the oppressed during the recent economic crisis. Many from Latin America are finding that opportunities are now superior back home, even though amerikans continue to live over-consumptive lifestyles in the united $tates.

Signs of Progress

In the face of all this, there are people working toward solutions. In Pecos, Texas in December 2008 and January 2009, there was a series of migrant prisoner uprisings. They were finally set off by the death of a man with epilepsy, who died completely unnecessarily due to a blatant disregard for his life by refusing to give him medical care.(11) People of many different nationalities came together in rebellion, demanding better conditions. This is not the first or last murder of its kind, as unexplained deaths are common in u.$. prisons, including migrant detention centers.

Some u.$. cities are moving in the progressive direction of being “sanctuaries.” Sanctuary cities allow people who may not be u.$. citizens to make money here to send home to circulate in their own countries. This is a roundabout way of moving toward a world without borders. However, with accusations that some mayors are “soft on crime,” the sanctuary status may be threatened. Additionally, there’s nothing stopping federal agents from going into these cities and enforcing federal immigration law, as they often do.

While we favor these progressive steps toward protections for migrants in the u.$., we acknowledge that they aren’t enough to lead to the end of national oppression. They are fragile reforms at best, that can be as easily revoked (or simply ignored). Another solution some have is integration of migrants into the u.$. exploiter nation through exploiter-size wages. This is an effort to reduce their potential as revolutionaries to that of consumers and labor-aristocratic parasites. What we truly need to end national oppression of migrants in the u.$. is to expose the “amerikkkan dream,” and revolutionize the workers to support revolutionary movements in the Third World.

notes:
(1) Greene, Judith. Banking on the Prison Boom. August 2006.
(2) Fernandes, Deepa. Targeted: Homeland Security and the Business of Immigration. Seven Stories Press, New York. 2007, p.119.
(3) “Detention Management,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Nov 20, 2008, http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/factsheets/detention_mgmt.htm
(4) Berestein, Leslie. Tougher immigration laws turn the ailing private prison sector into a revenue maker. San Diego Tribune, 5/4/2008.
(5) Fernandes. p. 195.
(6) http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/rewrite/budget/fy2009/homeland.html
(7) Fernandes, p.178.
(8) Ibid., p.185. Border Technologies, Inc. founder believes that “Mexican culture is based on deceit” and “Chicanos and Mexicanos lie as a means of survival.”
(9) Ibid., p.197.
(10) Ibid., p.50.
(11) Wilder, Forrest. How a private prison pushed immigrant inmates to the brink. The Texas Observer, October 2, 2009. http://www.texasobserver.org/features/the-pecos-insurrection

I start off by writing that I will not be using the term “illegal aliens” as a way to refer to my people. As it is only used by oppressors to debase emigrants. It is senseless to have such a label since this country was formed on migrants. Furthermore CA was one of the many states tripped from Mexico. Indeed. That clear, I move on to the issue at hand, non-citizens contributing to the growing prison population. I use my personal story as a foundation to paint a bigger picture.

I was born in Mexico, at the age of four. Regardless of what your native country may be, we all seem to paint a wonderful picture of what the U.$. has to offer us. Yet it is completely the opposite of what we dream. When we arrive to the “land of opportunities” we are welcomed with degrading and low wage jobs. Due to us being migrants we are forced to accept these conditions. Victims of oppression, we work for the rich while they gain from the poor.

Some of my fellow migrants realize this, but go about it in the wrong manner, i.e. committing crimes. Being victims of oppression does not justify participating in or conducting illegal activities, but does in fact play a role with why we end up incarcerated. The government magnifies crimes committed by migrants to form stereotypes that all illegals come to the U.$. with the intention of committing crimes, which is not true.

Until everyone is treated equally and with dignity, the prison population will continue to grow. While the bourgeois injustice system is in effect, we can expect no such change. While we live in an imperialist state we can expect no change at all.

I am a Canadian citizen incarcerated in a prison of the Illinois Department of Corrections since December 1999. I am trying to get transferred to a Canadian prison but the transfer coordinator of the IDDL denied my requests for the last six years. They don’t even tell me how long I have to stay in the U.S. The only hint I got is that I have too much time left to do to be transferred right now, and I know this only because I wrote to former Governor of Illinois Mr. Rod Blagojevich. I even wrote to President Barack Obama on his inauguration day about my transfer to a Canadian prison but he didn’t even bother to answer, much less to do something. I also wrote to some Illinois state and federal officials but they didn’t do anything either.

This is just another example of American imperialism. The U.S. likes to swing its weight with citizens of other countries incarcerated in this country by not allowing them to return to their home country, while the U.S. wants to have its citizens incarcerated abroad return home. There is a treaty of prisoner exchange and transfer between the U.S. and Canada, but the U.S. usually does not honor it.

There is nothing left for me to do but stay and suffer in U.S prisons among foreigners. Where is the day of equality among nations with mutual respect? Canada is more humane to its prisoners. The U.S. is far behind for human rights that it claims to promote around the world.

“We speak out for a free press, freedom of assembly and labor rights, not to antagonize China’s leaders, but because trusting its people with greater freedom is the only way for China to develop its full potential.” - U.$. President George W. Bush (1)

Last week MIM(Prisons) released our biannual censorship report, which cites documented incidents of censorship of our literature in more than half of the states in the united $tates of amerikkka. That’s just the documented incidents of one organization with a tiny distribution.

Comrades in our movement have been yelled at, kicked out, ticketed, physically attacked, arrested and many are currently sitting in isolation cells for the crime of trying to speak about or distribute literature expressing our ideas. For prisoners in isolation, it’s usually just a matter of possessing said literature.

If China changes its policy of not publicly criticizing the internal affairs of other countries, documentation of the extensive censorship we face is provided right here on our website for their use.

Let there be no mistake, freedom of speech in a class system is a bourgeois myth.

notes: (1) Washington Post. August 7, 2008.

Si, esa clase de país
La Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos aprueba tortura

El problema no es solo Bush. La Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos acaba de aprovar la tortura secreta de un ciudadano Alemán por la Agencia Central de Inteligencia. Los abogados de la administración Bush argumentaron que la tortura fue un “secreto de estado,” y la Corte Suprema no voltio las decisiones de las cortes mas bajas favoreciendo el gobierno sobre la victima torturada.(1) Eso comprueba que no solo es la Corte Suprema desde que las cortes mas bajas estaban envueltas. El problema es Amerikkka, punto.

En Europa, el publco ya sabe sobre el caso de Khaled el-Masri. La linea plateada en esta Corte Suprema sin-decisión es que esto incrementaria tensioón con Alemania. La pequeña burguesía Alemana esta basicamente unida con la pequeña burguesía de los Estados Unidos por una guerra de represión indeceable en contra del Tercer Mundo, pero ahí esta la más débil de las contradicciones o fuerzas que nosotros podemos tomar ventaja aquí, porque los Alemanes y Estadounidences pequeña burguesía no están unidos bajo un estado. Entonces los secretos de un estado arrivan al gasto del otro. El “conflicto de civilazaciones” es propaganda designada para sobrevenir esta clase de problemas.

Una regla basica de los civicos burguesía salió por la ventana, “inocente hasta que se compruebe culpable.” El gobierno militar llega a Afghanistan, dispara a todo lo que se mueve incluyendo el jugador de balon-pie Pat Tillman y el resto de la gente que sobrevive en la escena por cualquer razón es arrastrada hacia Gitmo. La gente quien no soporta los civicos burguesía aprendemos en esculeas por medio de años de entrenumiento asumemos que la Agencia Central de Inteligencia esta todo el tiempo bien y Bush esta todo el tiempo bien, o no hubieron ellos detenido a alguien para empezar, entonces no se necesita allí un proceso. Esto se le llama “Ganga linchadora de Justicia” estando con los Estados Unidos hace largo tiempo.

El antes presidente Jimmy Carter a ahora admitido que los Estados Unidos tortura prisioneros, pero el dice que está es la primera vez en su vida. (2)

El presidente Carter es demasiado clase alta apra saber como es la vida en las prisiones Estadounidences, y que Charles Graner estaba trabajando en la prision de Pennsylvania antes de Abu Ghraib. (3) Si el hubiese estado leyendo MIM Notes, Carter hubiese actuado con Charles Graner antes de a ver llegado a Abu Ghraib.

Si Bush y Cheney no hubiesen tomado control de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia, tortura y observasion domestica ellos mismos, Carter y clases similares podrían ignorar la stituación de vida día tras día para los rangos menores de los oficiales de gobierno tortuando gente de clase baja.

Tenemos un punto de desacuerdo con el expresidente Carter cuando dice que los candidatos Republicanos a la presidencia: “Estan compitiendo el uno con el otro por atraer la extrema derecha, elemento exitadores de guerra en nuestra país, la cual pienso es la minoría de nuestra total población. (2)

Si Carter estuviese bien en su brilloso punto de vista de la mayoría Amerikkkana, sería duro explicar como Bush obtuvo 60 millones de votos en el 2004, un record. La diferencia entre un nacionalista blanco como Carter y MIM es que Carter tiene optimismo sobre la mayoría Amerikana. No lo occurió a él que en cuanto si estuviese bien, el activo 30% tolerado por el inactivo 60% indicaría un enorme configuración opresión racial y nacional. En esta situación, el 30% tomará las decisiones la mayoría de veces. Hasta hoy dia, Bush tiene 30% de soporte sin importar lo que el publico sabe. Esto no es un Watergate trespaso más una guerra de Vietnam. El publico sabe sobre Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, tortura de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia, la matansa de Blackwater etc. aun el aprovamiento de Bush es 30%. La razón es porque ese 30% aprueba la represión monarquistica consistentemente. En algunos condados y estados, esa populación monarquistica es la mayoría.

Democratas redujeron la popularidad de los Republicanos, pero por los gustos de dinero en la guerra y las muertes. Sin los insurrectos de Iraq, los Democrates no podía hacer esto. Los cuestiones quedaría homosexuales, la bandera y Mexicanos.

Los Estados Unidos no es un país libre. Este tortura gente y da razones para mantener secretos de estado tan igual a todos los dictadores de la burguesía del mundo.