[WCUSP] Fw: URGENT: Help Stop Deportation of Palestinian Family Jailed in Texas
Tura Campanella Cook
turacc at earthlink.net
Sun Jan 7 12:46:50 CST 2007
Dear Joyce and WCUSP list members,
Apparently there are three Palestinian families jailed in Hutto, TX -
that we know of. Here is a report from Riad Hamad, who supplied the
little embroidered purses that are on the WILPF website (resources).
Dare I say that each of us should check our local jails and see who is
there for "violation" of immigration rules?
In peace,
Tura
Dear Friends,
As mentioned in several of my previous emails, there are three
Palestinian families in the T. Hutto detention center near Austin,
Texas with children as young as four years old. The story came out
after I received a message from our friend Greta Berlin seeking some
more information about them. I went to visit the families three weeks
ago and was allowed to see only one of them as the rules of the
facility state that each family can get only ONE visitor per day for
one hour and only on weekends. The families can receive guests on
Saturdays and Sundays for ONE hour ONLY and two hours if the visitor is
from a town that is more 300 miles away. I went to visit the families
last weekend and with a friend and we were allowed to see two families,
the Ibrahim and Qadoura family and got to know them better.
Mr. Adel Suleiman, the husband of one of the women in the
detention center was moved from Haskell, Texas to a county jail in
Oklahoma where the conditions are much worst because he complained to
his attorney that the officials at the jail did not give him his
diabetes medicine. Mr. Suleiman was admitted to intensive care this
past week due to the deterioration of his medical condition according
to his sister in law who lives in Dallas. Three attorneys went to
visit the families this week in the detention facility and met with
them for several hours to seek more information about them and about
the living conditions there. I was supposed to go to the detention
facility today with a local attorney in her personal capacity and
another friend from the local mosque but both could not show up for
personal reasons. Finally, I managed to convince a friend to come
along with me to see the families and to meet the children who are
absolutely adorable..
As soon as I walked in the facility, the attendant at the
door recognized me and while I was signing the guest book she told me
that the she read what I had written about the facility and the
conditions inside the facility. I replied to her that I was only
interested in the condition of the there families and that I do not
really care about the facility. The attendant called up her supervisor
who was very brutal in her approach towards me, and the friend that
came along with me to see the children. She informed me that the
officials at the facility suspect that I am coming to the facility to
write about the facility and they might have to “ ban” me from entering
the facility. I did not respond and kept my cool and informed that the
families are friends now and that I am only interested in helping them
and ensuring that that they get money and food to survive their stay.
My friend was not allowed in since she is “ not a relative” according
to the “ captain” who reprimanded me although I am not a family member
either. Also, I was allowed to see one family ONLY and for 20 minutes
only although the rules state clearly that I can see them for 1 hour.
The rules posted outside clearly state that visitors can be
“3 – Family, friends and associates.”
The families had put my name on the visitors list and asked to allow
me to visit them and the Ibrahim family, the only family I was allowed
to see today was VERY appreciative of our work and efforts. I even
managed to get smiles from the children, the four years old girl and
the 14 years old girl inside when I waved at them and smiled at them
from behind the glass windows.
My friend Tammie waited outside and right before the
facility, she asked the guard at the gate about the rules for visiting
the facility and the guard asked her to wait for the captain who is
going to come and answer her questions. I told my friend that I will
wait for her in the car since I was not interested in finding out the
rules and had decided that I will not go back to the facility without
an attorney. The captain followed me outside with an extra large body
guard and a female immigration officer who was at the facility when I
was there. She warned me that they are suspicious of me and that the
officials at the detention facility are suspicious of us and that the
are going to run a background check about my friend Tammie to see if
were really friends of the families and to determine whether they will
even allow us back in the facility. The IMPORTANT thing about the
visit is that the woman Hannan Ibrahim told me that the families were
denied phone cards this week as I left money in their account last week
and they were promised phone cards by no later than Tuesday of this
week due to the Christmas holidays. Also, she told me that the guards
were yelling and screaming at them and at the children specifically
this week and that the children are disturbed by the yelling and the
screaming as they are not doing anything to deserve the yelling. The
children were near here and one of them was eating crackers as it is
the only thing that they can eat there from the menu offered by the
detention facility.
I am in the process of calling and emailing some friends to come with
me tomorrow as I suspect that the officials at the facility are going
to fabrication something against me to ban from entering the facility.
The captain told me on the way out that I will not be allowed to talk
to the 14 year old boy alone, although I did not ask to speak with him
alone and Tammie could testify to these facts. My concern is that they
are trying to fabricate events to ban me and others from visiting the
families and to isolate them in order to deprive them of their rights
and endanger their lives and safety.
One more thing, the Arab and Muslim community in Austin, one more time
proved to me that they are a bunch of pathetic bunch that I am ashamed
of knowing since ONLY two people so far had the urge to come out and
visit these families and ONLY two donated less than 100 dollars to help
these families in their plight and raise money for their legal defense.
This is despite the fact that hundreds of them are well to do but would
rather spend their money on belly dancing events that will not save
their behinds if we Arabs do not stand up to this aggression on our
civil and human rights.
THANK YOU for you patience, work and support for the children in
Palestine
Salamat
Riad Hamad
http://www.pcwf.org , http://www.paypalestine.com, Palestine Children's
Welfare Fund. 201 W. Stassney # 201, Austin, Texas 78745 Click to buy
Palestinian arts and crafts online, sponsor a Palestinian child ,buy a
flag or a kufiya, donate a book to teach one or plant an olive/
orange tree in Palestine to honor a loved one
On Jan 6, 2007, at 5:04 PM, Joyce McLean wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: dorindamoreno
> To: palsolidarity-owner at googlegroups.com ;
> women4immigrantrights at lists.riseup.net ; Worldwide ; WILPF news ; U S
> Quagmire ; TruthSeekersElection2004 ; todos libre ; The Other Israel ;
> South Bay ; Palestine ; One World
> Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2007 1:51 PM
> Subject: Re: URGENT: Help Stop Deportation of Palestinian Family
> Jailed in Texas
>
>
>
> from: Arnoldo Garcia
>> Start the New Year off Right, Please Help Save a Family
>>
>> The Arab American Community Coalition (theaacc.org) has just learned
>> of an entire Palestinian family - the Ibrahims - being held in jail
>> in Texas while waiting an unjustified deportation. The Immigration
>> and Customs Enforcemen (ICE) grabbed the family of five in a
>> Gestapo-like raid on November 3, 2006.
>>
>> The Ibrahims came to the United States legally and applied for
>> asylum. They have been honest and forthright with immigration from
>> the beginning. They were denied asylum and have filed to reopen their
>> asylum case. In the meantime, the family is to be deported and is
>> being held in jail! As an American citizen, the 2-year-old daughter
>> was ripped from her mother's arms and is in a foster home.
>>
>> The plot thickens:
>>
>> To make matters worse, as Palestinian refugees from the Occupied
>> Palestinian Territories they have no travel documents. The US
>> government has attempted to obtain Jordanian passports for the family
>> but the applications were denied. The family will have to languish
>> another month in jail while ICE contacts the Israeli embassy. Even
>> though Israel has no jurisdiction to issue travel documents to
>> Palestinians to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, ICE insists on
>> contacting Israel . In the past, Israel has issued illegal documents
>> with ICE flying deportees into Tel Aviv and the deportees marched
>> across the border to the West Bank in Palestine . It is extremely
>> dangerous for Palestinians to enter Palestine with Israeli travel
>> documents. The family would be marked with suspicion.
>>
>> The family in jail:
>>
>> The pregnant mother, Hanan Ahmad, is in one cell with her 5-year-old
>> daughter, Fatem. The 7- and 12-year-old sisters - Maryam and Rodaina
>> - share another cell. The 15-year-old boy, Hamzeh, is in yet another
>> cell at T. Don Hutto jail. The father and husband, Salaheddin
>> Ibrahim, is being held in another jail in Haskell , Texas . Born in
>> the US, the youngest daughter, only 2-years-old, is living with
>> strangers in a foster home.
>>
>> The little 5-year-old girl, Faten, is constantly getting in trouble
>> with the guards for not standing still during population counts,
>> which are taken four times daily. Maryam, the 7-year-old cries for
>> her mother at night. Maryam, Rodaina and Hamzeh have missed nearly
>> two months of school. The children miss their father, their baby
>> sister, other family members and friends. The pregnant mother feels
>> sick, tired and overwhelmed. The family is separated and scared not
>> knowing what the future holds.
>>
>> Not only is this a waste of our tax dollars ($95 per person per day),
>> it is inhumane and unjust!
>>
>> What can you do?
>>
>> Please contact ICE Field Office Director, Marc Jeffery Moore, @
>> 210-967-7175 and ask him to release the family on house arrest. You
>> can also contact U.S. Department of Homeland Security @ Operator
>> Number: 202-282-8000 or Comment Line: 202-282-8495
>>
>> If you live in Texas, please contact your Senators and State
>> Representative and ask him or her to intercede in this tragic story.
>> Click on the link below to find out who represents you in the
>> Congress.
>>
>> http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/index.htm
>>
>> You can either right your own letter or use sample letters attched to
>> this email.
>>
>> Donate money.
>>
>> Legal fees to save the Ibrahim family will be costly. Please send
>> checks payable to:
>>
>> "Arab American Community Coalition" Legal Defense - Ibrahim Family to:
>>
>> P.O. Box 31642 , Seattle , WA 98103 .
>>
>> All donations are tax-deductible with 100% of your donation going to
>> the Ibrahim Family. Please don't forget to check if your organization
>> has a matching program.
>>
>> For more information please contact info at theaacc.org .
>>
>> Also you can check the links below;
>>
>> http://www.counterpunch.org/moses12282006.html
>>
>> Video showing the family on local news:
>> http://www.nbc5i.com/video/10471070/index.html
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>> The Arab American Community Coalition
>>
>> Amin Odeh
>> http://www.VoicesofPalestine.Org
>>
>> http://www.Theaacc.Org
>>
>> "Stand up for what is right, even if you are standing alone"
>>
>>
>> ___________________________________________________________________
>> Arnoldo Garcia
>> National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
>> Red Nacional Pro Derechos Inmigrantes y Refugiados
>> 310 8th Street Suite 303
>> Oakland, CA 94607
>> Tel (510) 465-1984 ext 305
>> Fax (510) 465-1885
>> www.nnirr.org
>> www.migrantdiaries.blogspot.com
>> _______________________________________________
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