August 20, 2001
Yale study exposes Yale’s historical links to slavery
As Yale marks its 300th anniversary it celebrates its tradition of activism.
However, three Yale scholars say that the university has a darker history than
it is revealing. They make the case that much of Yale’s early money was
generated by slave trading and that colleges were named after slave owners
and traders as recently as the 1960’s. Amy is joined by Rev. Eric Smith,
Anthony Dugdale, John McWhorter and Henry Wiencek.
Andrea Guerrero, Chair of San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium. She is
also the Field and Policy Director of the ACLU in San Diego.
San Diego Education
Report
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Andrea Guerrero, Chair of San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium. She is
also the Field and Policy Director of the ACLU in San Diego.
Seventeen people in El Centro sector among migrant deaths along border,
report says
By SILVIO J. PANTA, Staff Writer
Imperial Valley Press
November 2, 2009
The implementation of border agents and resources along populated areas
has contributed to the deaths of more than 5,000 migrants, even as illegal
crossings have steadily declined in the last three years, according to a joint
report involving the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial
counties.
Included among those who died as a result of the growing militarization of the
border are 17 people in the El Centro sector whose deaths were registered by
the Mexican Consulate in Calexico. The joint ACLU report cites that 15 of
those people drowned in the All-American Canal.
Recently, officials with the Mexican Consulate were trying to locate the
relatives of a 37-year-old undocumented immigrant whose body was spotted
last week by U.S. Border Patrol agents in an unlined section of the canal. The
death is not included in the statistics cited in the report that was done with
Mexico’s National Commission of Human Rights.
Despite a significant drop in U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions, the decline in
migrant crossings during the first nine months of the 2009 federal fiscal year
showed an increase in deaths over the same period last year in all four
sectors along the border, which signals “an escalating humanitarian crisis that
is not going away and requires a reassessment of the underlying deterrence
strategies,” the report reads.
The border enforcement policy known as “Operation Gatekeeper” has since
1994 used a “prevention and deterrence” strategy that, the report claims,
intentionally forced undocumented immigrants “to extreme environments and
natural barriers that the government anticipated would increase the likelihood
of injury and death.”
The policy runs contrary to international law which stipulates that the right to
life is not only violated by the “arbitrary actions of a state, but also when
actions are not taken to protect life,” the report reads.
Estimates of the deaths the report cites range from 3,861 to 5,607 in the last
15 years...
Also, the number of border arrests fell from more than 1 million in 2006 to
more than 723,000 in 2008, and continues to decline in 2009, which suggests
that migrants are not coming because of the lackluster economy in the U.S.
Despite the claims made in the report, the CBP remains committed to ensuring
the safety of migrants who illegally cross into the U.S., said Rafael Lemaitre, a
U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman...
Lemaitre explained that the tactical team known as BORSTAR is instrumental
in land searches and rescues.
But Andrea Guerrero, field and policy director for the ACLU, said
migrant deaths are “going up” and stressed that border rescues have
dropped dramatically.
If the Border Patrol has the resources to save lives along the border then “why
are they rescuing fewer people,” asked Guerrero.
Even though many migrant lives have been saved since the implementation of
“harm-reduction” programs, the results of the effort is mixed because the total
number of rescues has diminished over the years despite a steady increase in
deaths, according to the report.
“(The) U.S. Border Patrol rescued 2,537 people between October 2005 and
the end of July 2006,” the report reads. “Since then, in those same months,
(the) Border Patrol has rescued far fewer: 1,680 in 2006-07; 1,100 in 2007-
08; and only 964 in 2008-09.”