Of By and For The People

Letters Out
Letters In

OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA AND JANET NAPOLITANO (ignored)

Do you remember the Statue of Liberty and the poem at her base?

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore

Send these, the homeless, tempset-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Ahhh, those were the days! I remember when those things actually meant something. . . yup . . . I'm that old!

SUPPORT THE
TRAIL OF DREAMS
AND
FAST FOR OUR FAMILIES

On January 1st, 2010 a group of dedicated students began a four month walk from Miami to Washington DC in support of immigrant families.

Also on January 1st, 2010 a half dozen people whose lives have been directly affected by our destructive immigration policies will began a fast in a desperate attempt to get President Obama to hear their pleas and use his executive authority to bring relief to families being cruelly separated by our admittedly broken immigration system. At the end of 17 days there was no response from Washington and Janet Napolitano, who was within one block of them ignored their requests for a meeting. The fast was broken.

"ALMOST ALL OUR FAULTS ARE MORE PARDONABLE THAN THE METHODS WE RESORT TO TO HIDE THEM."
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD

Our courts sometimes make mistakes. Because of this, frustrated law enforcement agents sometimes loose faith and decide that bending, twisting or manipulating the facts and the law to get someone behind bars is warranted. That one action is a crime against all of society. Our courts aren't perfect, but they are far better protection for the common man than individual agents of the court deciding outcomes for themselves through the use of force or deceit.

Courts depend on those entrusted with upholding the law to honor that trust. When that trust is betrayed our system of justice becomes dangerous to the people. That is not the fault of the system, it is the fault of those who betrayed our trust.

For details and documents about the man who started all this: Audrius Kazenas
Click Here

EXCERPT FROM:

"A NEW HAMPSHIRE YANKEE ON ICE"
By Deborah Sherman de Santos

Coming soon

Dedicated to Audrius Kazenas, presently on his fourth year of being held in immigration detention,
doing hard time for no crime.

November 24, 2008 I was a normal wife and mother. Thanksgiving was three days away. I’d started my day feeding the chickens and goats on our small farm, did some shopping, spent time on the phone coordinating schedules for the multi-family dinner planned for turkey day and took my teenage son to his jujitsu class. November 26 found me sitting in a police station looking into an abyss of international politics stemming from the end of the Cold War and coordinating the dissolution of the various pets and belongings that had been a man’s life. My mind raced to keep up with everything I was being told, everything that had happened and that I had just learned. I stood lost in a jungle of government agencies and national egos. The task facing me was to find navigable pathways back to safety for a close friend, Audrius Kazenas, and if I was to help him, for myself. Thanksgiving was a day away and totally forgotten. I’d been ICED.

Well over a million people are ICED by our government every year in the United States. They aren’t killed. That would be the old meaning of the term. This is the updated, twenty-first century version where average people are left functioning in our society while existing under crushing mental torture, frequently wishing they’d been killed instead. ICE stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It is part of DHS, the Department of Homeland Security. They are responsible for handling the detention and deportation of immigrants within this country. Please note: I did not say “illegal” immigrants. By the summer of 2009, it was reported that nearly 19,000 – more than half of the immigrants held in detention (prison) by ICE were guilty of no crime. These detained immigrants who are not criminals have none of the protections that are legally granted to murderers, rapists, drug dealers and the like and so they can and are held indefinitely, even years, and under conditions that are illegal to maintain criminals under. While in custody the treatment of some of these immigrants is so damaging, if the same were done to a dog, it would land the perpetrator in jail.

DID YOU KNOW?

That this country has 5% of the world's population and 25% of the world's prison population?

That we are holding immigrants in prison for indefinite periods in this country on a "civil detention" - meaning they have not been found guilty of committing any crime and that they sit in prison for months and years while thieves, pedophiles and drug dealers walk free?.

That some of those held on a civil detention have been in a US prison for years - longer than they would be if they had stabbed someone - and they have committed absolutely no crime?

That ICE is supposed to focus their attention on dangerous criminals, but recent actions have only raised the percentage of felons held in federal immigration detention units from just over 10% to just around 20% - and that includes people whose only felony is having returned after a prior deporation?

That the Obama administration detained and deported more innocent and non-dangerous immigrants last year than any other president in United States history?

That some detainees have been forcefully injected with massive, potentially deadly doses of psychiatric drugs when being deported and that the threat of this is still being used to this day?

That the vast majority of ICE detainees are still those seeking relief from deportation under protections such as The Convention Against Torture, non-dangerous small offenders, immigrants who served their sentence years, even decades ago who have gone on to build productive lives and loving families, and immigrants innocent of any crimes in this country?

That we have detained and/or deported thousands of U.S. veterans of foreign war who served our country honorably and were here legally?

That DHS/ICE prosecutors use the Board of Immigration Appeals to relentlessly pursue the deportation of some immigrants who have been granted the ability to stay by ICE's own immigration judges while at the same time keeping other immigrants who have been ordered deported, want to be deported and have all the proper paperwork to be deported in detention within the U.S. for months and even years?

That according to ICE, detention is not punishment?

That adopted children of American citizens have been detained and deported, in fact, there are a disturbing number of cases of citizens being illegally detained and deported?

That the majority of the immigrants held in detention were here legally and many who have been detained and/or deported for being undocumented were undocumented due to administrative errors?

That detained immigrants who are victims of many crimes, including spousal abuse, are usually not allowed to testify against the perpetrator, thereby allowing predators to walk free among us while their victim sits in prison?

That there are legal standards in this country as to the conditions under which criminals are housed and cared for, but there are no such standards for immigrants? Most are held in conditions that would be illegal to subject them to were they a murderer or drug dealer while some are held in conditions that would be illegal to subject a dog to?

That according to ICE, detention is not punishment?

That we have detained and/or deported our allied veterans of battles to end the Cold War as well as allied veterans of the war against terrorism, inluding many with skills and knowledge that we desperately need to fight terrorism and that we will relentlessly pursue such veteran's deportation even when it risks delivering them to torture and death at the hands of allies of Al Qaeda?

That immigrants charged with any crime in this country, no matter how minor, are automatically detained and have deportation proceedings started against them, whether they have been found guilty or not, and that once detained on a minor charge that immigrant will be treated as if he/she had been found guilty of that charge?

That immigrants charged with minor crimes, once detained, are not allowed to defend themselves against the charges leaving them unable to prove their innocence or obtain any justice?

That even when the police find they have the wrong person, or that an immigrant is actually the victim of a crime themselves, that ICE has been known to still hold them and attempt to deport them, even when they are here legally?

That immigration hearings are not open to public scrutiny - and you, as a citizen, are not allowed to know what our government is doing in those courtrooms?

That after an immigrant is ordered released by a judge it had taken ICE as long as 5 months to release that immigrant and that frequently a lawyer is needed to force them to?

That ICE deporation officers and prosecutors can claim anything about detained immigrants with no substantiating proof and the detainee is guilty till proven innocent?

That ICE agents who knowingly misrepresent the facts to an immigration judge are not held accountable?

That at least one ICE official has bragged to a government representative of her intentions to hold an innocent immigrant indefinitely.

That immigrants have been detained and imprisoned by ICE for being the victim of a crime?

That keeping these people in prison is costing the US taxpayer $100 or more a day per detainee - more than it costs to house a criminal?

That badly needed skilled and professional immigrant workers are leaving this country because of our draconian immigration practices - and Canada is gladly welcoming them?

That this is the land of the Free - the sweet land of Liberty?

LETTER TO THOSE WHO CARE

In the United States of America a kennel owner who cannot adequately care for the number of dogs in his or her care is not allowed to continue to keep that many dogs. A kennel owner who abuses those dogs looses his or her right to keep dogs at all. DHS and ICE have, by their actions and admission shown that they are not able to adequately care for the number of immigrants they presently hold in custody. They have shown through their actions that they can not protect or are unwilling to protect from abuse immigrants they are currently holding. Are not these immigrants, these human beings, worthy of at least as much consideration as we would grant a dog?

America's Secret ICE Castles
Article from The Nation
"If you don't have enough evidence to charge someone criminally but you think he's illegal, we can make him disappear." Those chilling words were spoken by James Pendergraph, then executive director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of State and Local Coordination,

Quote o f the Week To Help Us All Hang In There:

“Recently, my wife of eleven years told me that I see everything in black and white. The thing is, I don’t. I see everything in color, and some of the things that I see happen to be black and some white. I pity people who see the world in the shades of gray, not judge them, but I don’t want to be judged for my ability to see in color."

Audrius Kazenas

GAMAN: A Japanese word defined as the ability to endure the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.
GAMAN ART: The art that was created in American Internment Camps by the Japanese detainees during WWII

My teenage son studies Japanese, that along with his violin and circus arts have been his main interests for a number of years. One night when I was particularly discouraged and felt totally defeated by my own government, he introduced me to the Japanese concept of "gaman" and to the gaman art created in this country during WWII. It reminded me that all of this and far worse has been endured before. There is still much injustice in this world, but looking back through history, we have made gains.

I can not control all that is done to me, Audrius has lost everything and has no control over what is being done to him, but we all can control how we respond. I decided to create some art of my own, something to put a little of the joy and magic that had been lost through this experience back into the world. This web site - my writing - is my bid to transcend what I have been living since ICE came. It is my declaration that that future will be better despite all attemts to make that not so.

I am not equal to the might and power of our federal government. But I believe that it is my duty as a citizen of this country to do everything within my ability to stand up for the system of justice that my ancestors, the Shermans, Dunhams, Pooles, etc sacrificed their comforts and risked their lives to put in place. In the end it is not the federal government I must answer to. In the end, all that I or any one of us have left is self respect and knowing that we did the best we could with what we had. Whether we win or are utterly defeated - no one can take that from us but us.

“There is no failure except in no longer trying.” – Elbert Hubbard.

Do you remember your childhood? – the bullies in school that always seemed filled with hatred and self-righteously tormented those who were most vulnerable? Well bullies grow up and many of them have not changed, only now they are called Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists and Nativists. They are loud. They are obnoxious. They are filled with hate for any and all who are different and they intend to push us aside and get their way. They make certain they are heard by our politicians. Most of our representatives are decent, hard-working people, but they need the input of those of us who do not agree with the hard line anti-immigrant activists who are working to degrade the character of our country. They need your voice. Make yourself heard!

Do you think you can't make a difference? Do you think your voice isn’t needed - can’t help? Reread “Horton Hears a Who” by Dr Seuss. Let me refresh your memory:

“And, just as he felt he was getting nowhere,
And almost about to give up in despair,
He suddenly burst through a door and that Mayor
Discovered on shirker! Quite hidden away
In the Fairfax Apartments (Apartment 12-J)
A very small, very small shirker named Jo-Jo
Was standing, just standing, and bouncing a Yo-Yo!
Not making a sound! Not a yipp! Not a chirp!
And the Mayor rushed inside and he grabbed the young twerp!

And he climbed with the lad up the Eiffelberg Tower.
‘This,’ cried the Mayor, ‘is your town’s darkest hour!
The time for all Whos who have blood that is red
To come to the aid of their country!’ he said.
‘We’ve GOT to make noises in greater amounts!
So, open your mouth, lad! For every voice counts!’

Thus he spoke as he climbed. When they got to the top,
The lad cleared his throat and he shouted out, ‘YOPP!’

And that Yopp . . .
That one small, extra Yopp put it over!
Finally, at last! From the speck on that clover
Their voices were heard! They rang out clear and clean.
And the elephant smiled. ‘Do you see what I mean? . . .
They’ve proved they ARE persons, no matter how small.
And their whole world was saved by the Smallest of All!’”

Your “Yopp” is desperately needed! Write President Obama, Janet Napolitano, John Morton and your Senator and Congressman TODAY!

One thing that has always struck me about Audrius Kazenas is his extreme and unwavering sense of duty to support veterans who have fought, as he has, in the wars against Communism and terrorism. What country they served in does not matter; the fact that they did serve is all he needs to know. Audrius did his part to oust the Soviets from Eastern Europe and went on to work undercover in military intelligence to uncover corruption, secure a stable system of liberty and justice and fight terror wherever it might rear its ugly head. He treats all who have done the same as brothers and sisters and treats them accordingly. When his Northern New Hampshire friend and neighbor, Jose Pequeno, was horribly wounded in Iraq Audrius was right there to help Jose's family. Seeing this in Audrius restores my faith in humanity. Seeing how easily some other veterans have raided Audrius' family for their own gain and openly worked to deny him justice without even giving pause to hear his side of the story . . . Well, I'm a writer, but I don't have words for that . . .

Letters Out Letters In

"ALMOST ALL OUR FAULTS ARE MORE PARDONABLE THAN THE METHODS WE RESORT TO TO HIDE THEM." FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD

Letters Out
Letters In

"ALMOST ALL OUR FAULTS ARE MORE PARDONABLE THAN THE METHODS WE RESORT TO TO HIDE THEM."
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD