Police Brutality at the border
my neice zoe posted this on myspace:
my friend getting beaten by the police
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2007/11/12/completenobcbrutality.mp4
the guy with the drum is my friend juan. he may be deported although he has a green card.
and i have this to add:
juan was arrested at a peaceful protest -- more info at
http://sandiego.indymedia.org/ and
http://noborderscamp.org/
about the whole situation.
juan and other people were chanting, singing, dancing and juan bumped into a federal officer and was arrested. two other people were also arrested. the police overreacted to a peaceful, constitutionally legal protest, and beat people and shot people with rubber bullets.
juan is my best friend and i am worried sick and distraught over this.
juan has done a lot of volunteer relief work on the gulf coast with emergency communities and common ground, and has worked with food not bombs, the student labor action coalition and other peace and social justice groups here in madison, wi. he is a sweet good kind person and very talented drummer and artist.
he is in jail in imperial county california now.
so far about 20 or 30 people have called the jail, so it is clear people know about juan and he has connections elsewhere in the country, so that is good.
i still haven't gotten word as to whether he has received his medications for his serious chronic condition, for which he needs medications every day. we tried to have the dr. here in madison, wi fax info to the jail in imperial county, ca, but don't know the result.
the hearing in federal court is today and we still don't know exactly what the charges are (it could be anything in a range from disorderly conduct to assaulting a federal officer, and could be something to be thrown out or something to get him a prison sentence and deportation). we have a lawyer who will be with him today in court and who sounds quite competent and knows the system and the people in the area very well.
once the federal charges have been dealt with in one way or another, we have to worry about the immigration aspect. juan has lived here in madison, wi since he was 4 years old, graduated from high school here, has a lot of family and many friends here, has worked here, and is a legal permanent resident and has a green card. because of homeland security keeping us safe from terrorists, our freedoms, and other horrors, people like juan who are good contributing persons can get rounded up and booted out of the country because of bogus profiling type things that happened many years ago (in juan's case, as a teenager, and things that are basically minor and done and over with according to the public defender's office here in madison) and have nothing to do with now, and never were a threat to anyone anyway. we have the names of a couple of immigration lawyers and i think we will be able to have a good lawyer when the time comes.
i am so worried, because deportation is basically a death sentence. if juan were deported, he wouldn't be getting his medications, he doesn't speak spanish well, he doesn't know people in colombia, plus his mother has told me hair raising stories of colombia, of her neighbors being shot or disappeared, by soldiers/police, drug dealers, rebels, -- things aren't exactly nice and peaceful there.
i haven't talked to juan today, so i don't know how he is doing, but he said he would try to call me later today.
there is a general legal defense fund that is going to help out juan and has helped out many other activists in the past.
to donate,
make out checks to:
GDC Legal Defense Fund
P.O. Box 2442
Madison, WI 53701
Folks can also drop off donations or checks for the "GDC Legal Defense Fund" care of the Madison Infoshop,
1019 Williamson St. #B,
Madison, WI 53703
If people have questions, call the infoshop at 608 262-9036.
Whatever funds the GDC raises that are not exhausted in defense of Juan will be part of the revolving fund for the
next person who gets targetted for their political activities.
you can email me at ekelana (at) gmail.com for updates or if you have anything to help.
thanks,
xxx
wendy
my friend getting beaten by the police
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2007/11/12/completenobcbrutality.mp4
the guy with the drum is my friend juan. he may be deported although he has a green card.
and i have this to add:
juan was arrested at a peaceful protest -- more info at
http://sandiego.indymedia.org/ and
http://noborderscamp.org/
about the whole situation.
juan and other people were chanting, singing, dancing and juan bumped into a federal officer and was arrested. two other people were also arrested. the police overreacted to a peaceful, constitutionally legal protest, and beat people and shot people with rubber bullets.
juan is my best friend and i am worried sick and distraught over this.
juan has done a lot of volunteer relief work on the gulf coast with emergency communities and common ground, and has worked with food not bombs, the student labor action coalition and other peace and social justice groups here in madison, wi. he is a sweet good kind person and very talented drummer and artist.
he is in jail in imperial county california now.
so far about 20 or 30 people have called the jail, so it is clear people know about juan and he has connections elsewhere in the country, so that is good.
i still haven't gotten word as to whether he has received his medications for his serious chronic condition, for which he needs medications every day. we tried to have the dr. here in madison, wi fax info to the jail in imperial county, ca, but don't know the result.
the hearing in federal court is today and we still don't know exactly what the charges are (it could be anything in a range from disorderly conduct to assaulting a federal officer, and could be something to be thrown out or something to get him a prison sentence and deportation). we have a lawyer who will be with him today in court and who sounds quite competent and knows the system and the people in the area very well.
once the federal charges have been dealt with in one way or another, we have to worry about the immigration aspect. juan has lived here in madison, wi since he was 4 years old, graduated from high school here, has a lot of family and many friends here, has worked here, and is a legal permanent resident and has a green card. because of homeland security keeping us safe from terrorists, our freedoms, and other horrors, people like juan who are good contributing persons can get rounded up and booted out of the country because of bogus profiling type things that happened many years ago (in juan's case, as a teenager, and things that are basically minor and done and over with according to the public defender's office here in madison) and have nothing to do with now, and never were a threat to anyone anyway. we have the names of a couple of immigration lawyers and i think we will be able to have a good lawyer when the time comes.
i am so worried, because deportation is basically a death sentence. if juan were deported, he wouldn't be getting his medications, he doesn't speak spanish well, he doesn't know people in colombia, plus his mother has told me hair raising stories of colombia, of her neighbors being shot or disappeared, by soldiers/police, drug dealers, rebels, -- things aren't exactly nice and peaceful there.
i haven't talked to juan today, so i don't know how he is doing, but he said he would try to call me later today.
there is a general legal defense fund that is going to help out juan and has helped out many other activists in the past.
to donate,
make out checks to:
GDC Legal Defense Fund
P.O. Box 2442
Madison, WI 53701
Folks can also drop off donations or checks for the "GDC Legal Defense Fund" care of the Madison Infoshop,
1019 Williamson St. #B,
Madison, WI 53703
If people have questions, call the infoshop at 608 262-9036.
Whatever funds the GDC raises that are not exhausted in defense of Juan will be part of the revolving fund for the
next person who gets targetted for their political activities.
you can email me at ekelana (at) gmail.com for updates or if you have anything to help.
thanks,
xxx
wendy