2,000-bed immigrant facility going up near Harlingen

[deminks]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/3990865.html

RAYMONDVILLE — Ground has been broken for a 2,000-bed detention center to help end the "catch and release" policy for non-Mexican illegal immigrants, federal officials said.

News of the facility comes just weeks after President Bush's May 15 vow to continue to add detention space for immigrants awaiting hearings or deportation proceedings.

The planned $50 million facility would so far be the largest of five such facilities in Texas, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Nina Pruneda said in today's edition of the weekly Raymondville Chronicle.

It was not clear today who would be building or operating the facility, though county construction crews have already been grading the site.

emphasis mine. We know who, don't we boys and girls.

[babylonsister]

1. Does it begin w/an "H"? nt

[deminks]

2. You get a gold star!!

:applause:

[babylonsister]

4. Yeah me!

:hide: ;)

[saigon68]

20. to help end the "catch and release" policy

Yet they still come

[Vidar]

22. We pause to remind Cheney what became of the commander

of Andersonville prison.

[donsu]

23. kick

nt

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. I bet they name it

something that starts with an 'A'.

[TomInTib]

5. And that ain't all, folks..

from article:

News of the new facility comes a week after Florida-based GEO Group Inc. announced a $10.6 million, 575-bed expansion, to its 875-bed facility for federal detainees in Del Rio.

Other immigration detention centers are in Port Isabel, Laredo, Pearsall, and Taylor.



Who will they find to represent thousands of these poor souls in out-of-the-way places like Raymondville, Pearsall, and even Taylor?

[babylonsister]

6. I wonder if Gitmo rules will reign in these haunts, too? Gawd forbid. nt

[TomInTib]

8. I really wonder if the respective Embassies will be notified.

Really.

Or will we just run roughshod over recognized International policy?

[Lasher]

21. Only of a foreign national has a passport

I found this out on my last trip to Canada some years back. A US border Gerard told me that if I get arrested in Canada, the government there is required to notify the US embassy only if I have a passport. I'm guessing this rule has universal application.

Nothing would stop a government from voluntarily notifying an embassy, though.

[TomInTib]

25. Thanks for the clarification.

In retrospect, I do believe you are correct.

[Gman]

13. Raymondville is 20 minutes north of Harlingen

and Port Isabel is about 30 minutes from Harlingen. Pearsall's about half way between San Antonio and Laredo or about 1 hour from either. Taylor's close to Austin. None of these are that far out of the way. Now if they put one in Fort Stockton, that's a problem.

Can't imagine wanting to put this type facility at Port Isabel which is synonymous with South Padre Island, big time beach/hotel/tourist attraction. Seems a bit odd. Why not put it in Weslaco or Donna or somewhere a bit more on the beaten path.

[kurth]

17. The "Port Isabel" facility is actually in Los Fresnos

off the main highway, behind a Wal-Mart:

Directions from the Harlingen Airport ... (Approximately 45 minutes driving time):

Upon exiting the airport, take a right onto Loop 499. Take a left on farm road 106. Take farm road 106, past Rio Hondo, Texas and past several small communities. Once you reach the end of FM 106, at the Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge sign, take a right. The Port Isabel Processing Center will be on the left side of the road where you must check in at the booth.

Directions Heading South on Expressway 77/83 ... (to Harlingen):

Take Downtown Exit to Harlingen and make a left onto Tyler Street. Tyler Street becomes FM 106. Take farm road 106, past Rio Hondo, Texas and past several small communities. Once you reach the end of FM 106, at the Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge sign, take a right. The Port Isabel Processing Center will be on the left side of the road where you must check in at the booth.

[robinlynne]

7. I bet it will cost 150.00 per brick, and be run by a private corporation..

[951-Riverside]

9. Why are they detaining Non-Mexican illegal immigrants?????

:mad:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

14. Maybe because Mexico is right next door?

[Redstone]

10. Why only "non-Mexicans?" Just curious.

Redstone

[deminks]

11. From the article

While Mexican illegal immigrants are quickly brought to the border and deported back to Mexico, immigrants from countries other than Mexico have routinely been processed by Customs and Border Protection officials and released with a notice to appear before an immigration judge at a later date.

The "catch and release" system has been blamed on a lack of detention space.

[pitohui]

18. i think they mean guatemalans

there are no doubt illegal immigrants from many countries besides mexico but i think guatemalans have been pretty durn visible lately -- and i DON'T live in harlingen, although it's quite a nice place to visit

maybe they need time to sort out which are economic refugees and which are fleeing from some of the other crap going on down there


edit--


on second thought, i don't know why i ever gave "them" benefit of the doubt, it is not like they give a care abt poor guatemalans and are going to give amnesty to those who can't go home

i suspect the posters are correct who see this as revenue enhancement for halliburton

[Ian David]

12. After the immigrants... Alternative Work Camps for Conscientious Objectors

My personal opinion is that some of these camps will eventually be used as "Alternative Work Camps" for Conscientious Objectors after we institute a draft.

Conscientious Objectors

The personal convictions of some healthy men kept them from bearing arms. Some men objected on religious and moral grounds to participating in violence. Some belonged to churches that have historically objected to war. In World War I, these conscientious objectors were jailed. But as World War II developed, Congress, for the first time in history, recognized "CO Status" as a legitimate moral stand. Under the law, objectors had two choices -- they could go into the military but serve in the medical corps or other non-combat duties, or they were required to do "alternative service" here at home that was "work of national importance."

To see a video history of conscious objection, click here.
http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/stories/0801_0107_01.html

Nationwide during World War II, there were 34.5-million men who registered for the draft. Of those 72,354 applied for conscientious objector status. Of those COs, 25,000 served in non-combatant roles and 27,000 failed to pass the physical exam and were exempted. There were over 6,000 men who rejected the draft outright and chose to go to jail instead of serving the war effort. And then there were 12,000 men who chose to perform alternative service. Their work was supervised by the Civilian Public Service (CPS) program.


(Bill Anderson, a conscientious objector who volunteered for the hunger experiment.)

At the University of Minnesota, Dr. Ansel Keyes -- the inventor of K-ration meals for GIs -- was commissioned to find out how millions of starving refugees in Europe and Asia could be brought back to health after the war. He asked for volunteers from CPS conscientious objector units. The volunteers would be starved, studied and then fed back to health. Two-hundred COs volunteered, and 36 were chosen for the project. To see a video segment about the starvation project, click here. The results of the research have been used by relief workers in hunger crises ever since.

In Nebraska, the former Civilian Conservation Corps camp (one of FDR's programs during the Great Depression) at Weeping Water served as a conscientious objector camp for 150 men during the war, mostly Mennonites. The men were put to work on various conservation projects, which helped local farmers raise more crops to feed fighting men. The Weeping Water camp was open for about a year in the middle of the war. There were also camps at North Platte and Waterloo, Nebraska, later in the war. Other COs served as fire fighters or as orderlies at public institutions, like mental hospitals. All told, there over 150 units set up where conscientious objectors could complete their alternative service.

More:
http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/stories/0801_0107.html

All your objectors are belong to Halliburton.

See also:

Conscientious objector
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Conscientious objectors)

A conscientious objector is an individual following the religious, moral or ethical dictates of their conscience that are incompatible: (1) with being a combatant in military service, or (2) being part of the armed forces as a combatant organization. In the first case, conscientious objectors may be willing to accept non-combatant roles during conscription or military service. In the second case, the objection is to any role within armed forces and results in complete rejection of conscription or military service and, in some countries, assignment to an alternative civilian service as a substitute for conscription or military service. Some conscientious objectors may consider themselves either pacifist or antimilitarist.

<snip>

In the United States during World War I conscientious objectors were permitted to serve in noncombatant military roles. About 2000 absolute conscientious objectors refused to cooperate in any way with the military.<7> These men were imprisoned in military facilities such as Fort Lewis (Washington), Alcatraz Island (California) and Fort Leavenworth (Kansas). The government failed to take into account that some conscientious objectors viewed any cooperation with the military as contributing to the war effort. Their refusal to put on a uniform or cooperate in any way caused difficulties for both the government and the COs. The mistreatment<8> received by these absolute COs included short rations, solitary confinement and physical abuse so severe as to cause the deaths of two Hutterite draftees.<9>

Eventually, because of the shortage of farm labor, the conscientious objectors were granted furloughs either for farm service or relief work in France under the American Friends Service Committee. A limited number performed alternative service as fire fighters in the Cascade Range in the vicinity of Camp Lewis, Washington<10> and in a Virginia psychiatric hospital.<11>

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscientious_objectors#United_States

[High Plains]

15. That's my America. No problem a prison or two can't solve.

[MadMaddie]

16. Always the Repug answer.....instead of getting at the root cause

of issues.....


The problem is once they start grabbing illegal immigrants....they will move to another group they deem a threat.....liberals, democrats, gays, other miniorities....this is a recipe for disaster....

[EFerrari]

19. I want you all to watch how slippery the categories "legal"

and "citizen" become when these bozos start picking up citizens in their sweeps and get their asses sued.

That's the step between this and rounding up war protesters.

[donsu]

24. 2000 non Mexicans? 2000 plus non Mexicans entering the US?

and all the talk is about Mexicans crossing the border?

just who, really is crossing the borders?

lots of europeans, east and west, seem to cross those borders too.