Chandler, AZ: update

Home sweet home.

To say that Arizona is wrought with political and social tension is an understatement. Arizonans feel the stress of immigration and border issues in their classrooms, their restaurants and their places of work. For many, the stress is pervasive, difusing from their local environment into their daily actions. For some, the Spanish-speaker down the street, monolingual or otherwise, is a stranger, an alien--nothing short of an incarnation of what shouldn't be in the United States. For others, that same person is part of a freshly charged and united community, regardless of his or her ethnicity or status within this nation's borders.

Ethnicity, status. Race, documentation. There's more to the border and immigration debate than just issues of economy and national security. Communities are split. Tensions are high. Comprehensive immigration reform might patch together broken policy, but it's not going to heal my state.

I'm not sure where you start.  The last two weeks have been busy.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio organized his posse to arrest undocumented migrants, President Bush declared a controversial plan to place up to 6,000 National Guard troops on the border, and the rhetoric continued from the Minuteman camp and their splinter groups. Chris Simcox and the Minutemen claimed that they still have plans to construct border fences, while Roy Warden and his Border Guardians have threatened to "blow the heads off" any "Mexican" or pro-immigrant activist that interferes with their operations.

At Tucson-area high school, Dolores Huerta, a longtime Latino civil rights activist, proclaimed that "Republicans hate Latinos." The school countered by bringing in a Republican Latina to speak about the merits of the Republican party--how proud she was to be a Republican, etc. MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan) students wore shirts emblazoned with messages of support for Huerta, duct-taped their mouths, and walked out.

Tonight (Wednesday), the Sheriff's posse is meeting to wrangle up some new volunteers. Tomorrow, G Dub is venturing down to Yuma, Arizona, much to the delight of the local community. 

Where to start?  I'll be at both events.

Tucson, AZ: "accident" or foul play?

This is scary. Check out the A.P. article below on a immigrant who, contrary to the evidence given by his family, shot and killed himself.

Someone needs to do some serious investigation of what happened. If he was a migrant and if he was shot, my guess is that a ranchowner or vigilante could have pulled the trigger.

This just doesn't sound right. Not at all. I'd be interested to hear what the official word is from the Border Patrol as well.

Illegal Immigrant Found Dead in Desert Apparently Shot Himself
May 9th, 2006 @ 6:18am
by Associated Press
An illegal immigrant found dead in the desert south of Tucson apparently died from an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Pima County Sheriff's Office says Reymundo Beltran-Aispuro died in a remote area after he entered the country Friday with his cousin and a group of other illegal entrants.

The cousin, Israel Beltran-Aispuro, told deputies they were crossing a fence when someone shouted ``stop,'' and then there was a gunshot.

The cousin says Reymundo Beltran-Aispuro then yelled that he'd been hit.

One member of the group used a cell phone to call relatives in California, who informed the Border Patrol.

Homicide detectives were still awaiting final autopsy results yesterday from the Office of the Medical Examiner