SB 1348 Immigration Reform: construct "at least 20 detention facilities in the United States..."

[L. Coyote]

Is the new Immigration bill, as drafted by the Bush White House, just an extention of powers of the Patriot Act?

Just one issue is the increase in detention facilities. Here is some of the proposed language:
====================
S. 1348 - To provide for comprehensive immigration reform and for other purposes.

"Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007"

(a) CONSTRUCTION OR ACQUISITION OF DETENTION FACILITIES.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall construct or acquire, in addition to existing facilities for the detention of aliens, at least 20 detention facilities in the United States that have the capacity to detain a combined total of not less than 20,000 individuals at any time for aliens detained pending removal or a decision on removal of such aliens from the United States subject to available appropriations.
(b) CONSTRUCTION OF OR ACQUISITION OF DETENTION FACILITIES.—
(1) REQUIREMENT TO CONSTRUCT OR ACQUIRE.—The Secretary shall construct or acquire additional detention facilities in the United States to accommodate the detention beds required by section 5204(a) of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Protection Act of 2004, as amended by subsection (a), subject to available appropriations.
(2) USE OF ALTERNATE DETENTION FACILITIES.—Subject to the availability of appropriations,the Secretary shall fully utilize all possible options to cost effectively increase available detention capacities, and shall utilize detention facilities that are owned and operated by the Federal Government if the use of such facilities is cost effective.
(3) USE OF INSTALLATIONS UNDER BASE CLOSURE LAWS.—In acquiring additional detention facilities under this subsection, the Secretary shall consider the transfer of appropriate portions of military installations approved for closure or realignment under the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 (part A of title XXIX of Public Law 101–510; 10 U.S.C. 2687 note) for use in accordance with subsection (a).
(4) DETERMINATION OF LOCATION.—The location of any detention facility constructed or acquired in accordance with this subsection shall be determined, with the concurrence of the Secretary, by the senior officer responsible for Detention and Removal Operations in the Department. The detention facilities shall be located so as to enable the officers and employees of the Department to increase to the maximum extent practicable the annual rate and level of removals of illegal aliens from the United States.

Page 210 of 790, PDF version that permits copying:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.1348 :

[aquart]

1. Ah, the Halliburton Welfare Act.

[L. Coyote]

27. Indeed. One reason Doan i under invesigation is no-bid contracting, and you know

where the Bucks STOP! Careful investigations of where all the bucks stopped during the Bush years is needed.

Thi$ i$ the bigge$t $candal of all, the mi$$ing billion$.

[bullimiami]

2. anything to increase cronyism and boost the corporate welfare state.

[L. Coyote]

9. Other provisions, like unmanned drones, are also possible cronyism and corruption

especially if one looks closely at the companies involved, the lobyists involved, and who gets the campaign contributions from whom. Assuming that more Randy Cunninghams and outright bribery for defense contacts, are not involved!!!

[Tyler Durden]

3. Concentration Camps.

No other name for them.

[rodeodance]

4. 20,000 individuals ----whow whow

[L. Coyote]

6. That's "not less than" and "in addition to existing facilities"

[demigoddess]

5. I thought the immigration bill is just a way to identify immigrants, heaven

knows we cannot allow these people in our country or it will go to pot. :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[L. Coyote]

15. You have to read the table of contents at the very least. n/t

[dkofos]

7. Not to worry. These detention facilities won't be used for illegal immigrants.

They are for the political prisoners (you & me) when bush declares himself dictator for life.

And I'm sure the construction will benefit his many rich fiends.

[VP505]

10. Exactly what I

was thinking, illegal immigration bill, a very convenient way to cover building more concentration camps. Very consistent with this admins habit of claiming one thing while doing another.

[L. Coyote]

11. What did the Nazis say they were doing before they started construction of detention facilities?

What governments say they are going to do, and what they actually do later can be very different.
History teaches us something about how unjust the actions of governments can be.

Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado. Photo by Joe McClelland , 6/20/1943





. . . May it serve as a constant reminder of our past so that Americans in the future
will never again be denied their constitutional rights and may the rememberance of
that experience serve to advance the evolution of the human spirit. . .
-Plaque at the Poston Relocation Center

[cherokeeprogressive]

12. I'm always curious about this kind of thinking. I have a few questions...

What would be the mechanism for rounding up "the political prisoners" (I'm assuming you mean ALL dissenters) and getting them to the detention centers?

How many people would it take to hold 20,000 others inside of a chain link fence? (in 20 new facilities PLUS the existing ones)

Who will be asked to hold fellow countrymen and women at gunpoint in those detention centers? Who would agree to do it?

Do you believe, in your heart of hearts, that * will actually declare himself dictator for life? Honestly?

Something must be wrong with my hand-me-down tin foil hat (got it from my Dad) because I don't believe for a second that any of it is possible. I hope to God that I don't get proven wrong though.

About benefiting rich friends; I think the "six degrees of separation" theory says that no matter who gets the contracts, they can be tied somehow to this administration. So for me, that point is moot.

[L. Coyote]

13. Allow me to don a tin-foil hat for just a moment, the legislation makes it a crime

to disobey a command by any officer enforcing any aspect of the law, with a five year sentence. So, if a law officer gives any "lawful command" and you do not obey, you can get five years. I'm just reading the language, not saying that it is constitutional.

Okay, this hat is very uncomfortable. I'm going to remove it now, and pretend that this scenario could not happen in a world where ethnic minorities are thrown into ovens.

[treestar]

14. In Latin America they call it "disappearing" I believe

Your friend or relative just goes missing.

Keeping all those prisoners is no problem for the prison industrial complex.

Sure there are people who would hold their fellow countrymen at gunpoint in detention centers. They are more than enough little nazis in this country. We call them the 28% who still supports Dubya.

[dkofos]

16. Blackwater

[L. Coyote]

17. The actual term used was "permanent Republican majority"

I'll have to agree that "when bush declares himself dictator for life" is tin-foil hat paranoia. That said, the Bush gang made very clear their intent to become the permanent controllers of American political life. To what extent does this legislation further their political agenda seems a valid question, as does the question, "To what lenghts are they willing to go to create their conceptualized 'permanent Republican majority'"?

[AzDar]

8. Surely y'all don't think GWB is actually interested in ending illegal immigration, nor

the plight of those who are here illegally....he cares for NOTHING except enriching his Cronies and CorpAmerica.
Anyone with half a brain (are you listening, Harry Reid?) should run away screaming from this disastrous legislation.

[L. Coyote]

18. Bushco/Chamber of Commerce wants to formalize cheap labor and

they want to end the "homeland insecurity" situation with one of every 25 people being unidentified. Think about how that can be accomplished.

[EFerrari]

19. It's surprising to me that our Congress can consider such

a plan and never consider that American citizens are always caught up in rounds ups and detentions.

I guess they believe it won't happen to their kids.

[L. Coyote]

20. U: "I guess they believe it won't happen to their kids."

That's what one of our puppet generals in El Salvador thought, until his son was shot
for being a leftist at one of those roadblocks where they shoot leftists.

Seems his son wasn't actually a leftist. He was a "mistaken leftist"!

Your tax dollars at work. Report # 18,463,254,950.

[EFerrari]

21. D'Abuisson's son? Karma.

It can't come home until it does.

[L. Coyote]

22. How many of the "leftists" who escaped the "roadblocks" made it across our border?

and now will need to escape back over the border to avoid the detention facilities here? I believe an estimated 1 million illegal migrants in the US were El Salvador war refugees. How many more are US-sponsored conflict refugees?

In my old jungle region village in Peru, uniformed US Army Rangers loaded leftists on planes. When the flights landed, no leftists were on board. It's a big jungle out there!

------------------------------
From FINDING AMERICA, Part Six -- TRUE HISTORY ON THE ROCKS - http://www.jqjacobs.net/writing/fa_part6.html

Feb. 24. 8:15. Having breakfast. In the morning press the world keeps changing. Trouble in the colonies again. Rebellion is in full swing in the Philippines. Is the U.S. Air Force readying a treasure fleet, the modern equivalent of the old Spanish Galleon? In El Salvador the son of the Air Force chief and friends celebrating a birthday were all shot. They were mistaken for leftists at a roadblock. On the spot firing squads have the inherent risk of killing more than just politically incorrect people. Was I stopped at the same road block? Could such a fate have been ordered for me? How far left is leftist?

"Past is prologue."

"A Nation that forgets its past has no future, Winston Churchill."

[EFerrari]

23. Every time people say, "Stay home and fix your own country!"

I want to say, "You first." lol

[L. Coyote]

24. If only it was the "fixing" they were interested in. Culture check:

FROM: The Cannibalism Paradigm: Assessing Contact Period Ethnohistorical Discourse.
http://www.jqjacobs.net/anthro/cannibalism.html

... the Díaz version of the conquest appeared in Spain in 1576, Díaz continued to revise his book until his death in 1584. Although Diaz wrote retrospectively, there apparently is no obfuscation of his prejudice towards Indians, or of the degree to which acquisition of gold and riches motivated the Spanish conquest.

I selected the following parts of Diaz's discourse (Diaz 1956) to illustrate the paradigms of the conquerors, their motivations, and their views of the natives. On arriving in Cuba:

"On landing we went at once to pay our respects to the Governor, who was pleased at our coming, and promised to give us Indians as soon as there were any to spare."

This passage evidences enslavement of the Caribbean population and the scarcity of slaves. About leaving Cuba in 1517, Diaz writes:

"In order that our voyage should proceed on right principles we wished to take with us a priest…. We also chose for the office of overseer (in His Majesty's name) a soldier ... so that if God willed that we should come on rich lands, or people who possessed gold or silver or pearls or any other kind of treasure, there should be a responsible person to guard the Royal Fifth."

The motivation and rationale of the voyage is revealed. Riches and treasure are sought, finding rich lands is associated with God's will (a justification for seizure) and the entire enterprise of taking the riches obviously involves the institutions of church and state. Diaz reveals the belief that the Spaniards could simply take possession of any riches encountered (conditioned on giving the monarchy twenty percent) and that the enterprise had religious sanction. Implicit in this view is the precept of Others. Undertaking such actions against Christian nations was not sanctioned.

Regarding the discovery of Yucatan, Diaz continues:

"When we had seen the gold and houses of masonry, we felt well content at having discovered such a country."

Regarding the second expedition from Cuba to Yucatan:

"As the report had spread that the lands were very rich, the soldiers and settlers who possessed no Indians in Cuba were greedily eager to go to the new land..."

On returning to Cuba:

"When the governor saw the gold we had brought ... amounted in all to twenty thousand dollars, he was well contented. Then the officers of the King took the Royal Fifth...." "When Governor Diego Velasquez understood how rich were these newly discovered lands, he ordered another fleet, much larger than the former one be sent off..."

These passages clearly relate the role of searching for riches. One form of wealth is certainly the possession of slaves, and this wealth is based on the ability to find slaves. Fundamental to enslavement is the concept of Other.

Of the expedition to Mexico:

"As soon as Hernando Cortes had been appointed General he began to search for all sorts of arms, guns, powder, and crossbows, and every kind of warlike stores which he could get together..."

"Then he ordered two standards and banners to be made, worked in gold with the royal arms and the cross on each side with a legend which said, 'Comrades, let us follow the sign of the Holy Cross with true faith, and through it we shall conquer.' …"

"Juan Sedeno passed for the richest soldier in the fleet, for he came in his own ship with the mare, and a negro and a store of cassava bread and salt pork, and at that time horses and negroes were worth their weight in gold…."

In this discourse, the intent to find riches is coupled with creating a military unit. The role of religion in rationalizing conquest is revealed. The symbolic interweaving of religion and monarchy are seen in the standards and banners, symbolic supports for the enterprise. Diaz cites horses and Negroes as two classes of objects in the same domain, that of wealth. An implicit factor in othering is also revealed, skin color and the perception of race. This discourse reveals that Negroes were Others and that Spanish enslavement was not limited to Native Americans.

[EFerrari]

25. Bernal Diaz was a trip. I read around in him for a paper

on "Malinche" years ago. Yep. He put it all right out there.

[L. Coyote]

26. His "True History ..." is a must read for any aficionado of American History.