|
Arizona Recovered Remains Reach 110; Nearly 75% Unidentified |
|
|
|
|
Thursday, 20 May 2010 |
For Immediate Release
May 20, 2010
Contact: Derechos Humanos: 520.770.1373 | | |
Arizona Recovered Remains Reach 110; Nearly 75% Unidentified
Arizona- The number of human remains recovered on the Arizona-Sonora border since October 1, 2009 has reached 110, reports the Tucson-based Coalición de Derechos Humanos. The data is comprised of medical examiner reports from Pima, Yuma, and Cochise counties, and is an attempt to reflect more accurately the human cost of failed U.S. border and immigration policies.
The count to date includes seventy (70) males, twelve (12) females, and twenty-eight (28) individuals of unknown gender. The identities of approximately eighty-two (82) of the recovered individuals remain unknown, which is approximately 74.5% of the total recovered thus far this fiscal year. This number is a 39.2.3% increase from last year, when the total of recovered remains as of April 30, 2009 was seventy-nine (79). Approximately twenty-nine (29), or 26.3% of the remains were skeletal, and eighty-two (82), or 74.5%, remain unidentified.
'Unknown gender' indicates that not enough of a body was recovered to determine gender, and without DNA, which is costly, it is impossible to know even this basic information about the individual, making identification and return to their families even more difficult. The dramatic increase in these unknown gender cases are a troubling indicator of what might be to come as people are pushed out into more and more isolated areas, making rescue and detection less likely and the likelihood of death more certain. It is unknown how many remains are currently near the border but have not yet been discovered.
"Today, as we celebrate the 520th weekly community vigil, ten years of bearing witness to the human casualties of the deadly border policies of militarization and enforcement imposed on border communities, we cannot help but continue to ask when this madness will stop," says Kat Rodriguez, Coordinator of Derechos Humanos. "Since 2000, we have documented the deaths of at least 1,961 men, women and children on the Arizona border alone. When will this stop? How much death must be witnessed until this human rights crisis is halted?"
The continued increase in the recovery of skeletal remains indicates that more and more individuals are being funneled into more isolated and desolate terrain of the Arizona-Sonora border. This "Funnel Effect," which has been documented by the Binational Migration Institute, has shown that the practice of sealing traditional crossing points ultimately pushes migration into the deadliest areas. The extent of this crisis is not known as the numbers of human remains recovered in neighboring states are not available.
"For a decade now, border communities have demanded an end to the deaths on the border. Now, as the immigration discussion has resulted in an enforcement-only proposal, we must unite to reject a proposal that promises decades more of human rights violations and death." continues Rodriguez. "It is time that we have a meaningful dialogue on immigration reform that addresses the root causes of migration, acknowledges the United States' role in migration, and ensures the dignity and respect for all migrant and immigrant communities."
The complete list of recovered bodies is available on the Coalición de Derechos Humanos website: http://www.derechoshumanosaz.net. This information is available to anyone who requests it from us and is used by our organization to further raise awareness of the human rights crisis we are facing on our borders.
* The complete BMI study, The "Funnel Effect" & Recovered Bodies of Unauthorized Migrants Processed by the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, 1990-2005, is available on the Derechos Humanos website: http://www.derechoshumanosaz.net/images/pdfs/bmi%20report.pdf ### |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Thursday, 20 May 2010 |
|
520 Weeks of Witness
7:00pm
El Tiradito Shrine
(Cushing and Main Streets)
Tucson, AZ
May 20th marks 520 weeks of a Thursday night community vigil at El Tiradito. Ten years ago, Derechos Humanos began a vigil to honor and recognize all victims of border policies.
In addition, May 20th marks the 13th year anniversary of the killing of 18-year old Esequiel Hernandez, Jr. by U.S. Marines in Redford, Texas as the young man tended the family's goats.
Join us as we celebrate the 520th weekly vigil, a pledge to bear witness to the deadly border and its victims.
Esequiel Hernandez, Jr.
May 14, 1979 - May 20, 1997 |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Support Arrested DREAM Students tomorrow morning at 8:30am! |
|
|
|
|
Monday, 17 May 2010 |
|
UPDATE ON DREAM STUDENTS!!!
INITIAL COURT APPEARANCE
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
8:30am
29th Street Jail Annex
(29th Street and Mission Road)
Tucson, AZ
Four DREAM students were arrested today at 6pm at Senator John McCain's office in Tucson, AZ.
They will be have their initial court appearance tomorrow morning at the 29th Street Jail Annex in Tucson, AZ.
Please come out and show your support! |
|
Last Updated ( Monday, 17 May 2010 )
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
DREAM STudents candlelight Vigil |
|
|
|
|
Monday, 17 May 2010 |
UPDATE ON DREAM STUDENTS!!!
CANDLELIGHT VIGIL
8PM
29th Street Jail
(29th Street near Mission Road)
Tucson, AZ
Four DREAM students were arrested today at 6pm at Senator John McCain's office in Tucson, AZ. They will be taken to the 29th Street Jail in Tucson, AZ.
Please come out and show your support for them at a candlelight vigil!
Bring candles! |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Saturday, 15 May 2010 |
Please help spread the word!
|
|
Last Updated ( Friday, 21 May 2010 )
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Friday, 30 April 2010 |
For Immediate Release
Contact: Derechos Humanos: 520.770.1373
30 April 2010
TODOS SOMOS ARIZONA:
La Gran Marcha Por Los Derechos Humanos
The Tucson May 1st Coalition and la Coalicion de Derechos Humanos invite the communities of Arizona and of this country to join forces on this historic day as we bear witness to the most serious attacks to our civil and human rights - to our own humanity. We make a call for resistance in our collective fight for liberty and justice for all.
On May Day 2010, in Tucson, Arizona, our community that has consistently fought against the federal government's use of Arizona as the laboratory for initiatives, policies, and laws, that are anti-immigrant, anti-human, will embrace the mantra that has come from hundreds of calls from across the country, TODOS SOMOS ARIZONA.
This dramatic show of unity and support opens the opportunity to understand that SB1070 was not born overnight, but rather the direct and intended result of mid-90's border enforcement strategies, known as Operation Gatekeeper, Operation Hold the Line, Operation Rio Grande, and here in Arizona, Operation Safeguard. Building an unprecedented military-type enforcement infrastructure, these strategies have intentionally funneled most migrants through Arizona's southern border. By diverting more than half of all migrants that had traditionally crossed through California and Texas into a very conservative state where the federal and local governments own most of the border land (thereby avoiding the community fight-back that occurred along the border in Texas), the stage was set for the eventual passing of SB1070.
This "surge" in crossings caused division and chaos in the border towns, allowed for the influx of hate and other anti-immigrant groups, opened the political space to racist and intolerant voices, with mainstream media feeding the climate of fear, eventually resulting in the election of openly anti-immigrant politicians like Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio, County Attorney Andrew Thomas, and State legislator Russell Pearce. The Minutemen and other anti-immigrant groups proceeded to poison attitudes across the country, resulting in the spread of fear, racism, hate, ignorance and anti-human policies that other states have or are in process of replicating.
SB1070 is the most racist law in recent history, allowing for the legalization and institutionalization of racism, their version of "ethnic cleansing." We know that migration is not a law enforcement or national security issue, that we have encouraged migrants to come to our country to build it, that we have helped to destroy jobs in Mexico and elsewhere only to blame the very victims/survivors who migrate to work and provide for their families, that we have created and enriched smuggling organizations who we then use as the reason for the unprecedented buildup of policing and military-type enforcement along the border and in the interior of our country. With this law, the stage is set again for even more dramatic calls for more "security." Our laws and policies have brought only INSECURITY - deaths, division, intolerance and ignorance, environmental destruction, and abuse of Indigenous communities.
We call on for an end to SB 1070, an end to the enforcement strategies on the border and in our communities, and an end to criminalization of the immigrant. We call for a real dialogue based on truth, addressing the root causes of migration, and promoting justice for all. We call for a commitment of noncompliance of SB 1070, and ask for the commitment from all allies and people of conscience to boycott Arizona in all fashions. ¡Todos Somos Arizona!
### |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
|
| Results 19 - 24 of 124 |
