Summit County Hosts Civil Rights Organization, CIRC

The first ever Colorado Immigrant's Rights Coalition annual assembly in Summit County will be held this weekend.

Roughly 25 residents from Summit County, including residents from the mountain towns of Breckenridge and Dillon, will be included in the state-wide meeting.  Over 200 people from organizations across the state of Colorado are expected to attend.

In addition to CIRC members, representatives from law enforcement will also attend the event.

The Summit County organization Unidos por la Igualdad (United for Equality) will discuss the efforts it has made in Summit County.  They will have a clinic on wage theft and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and other topics.

Summit County has come a long ways towards fostering better relations between authorities and immigrants.  In 2004, Summit County was the site of one of the worst immigrant roundups in area history.  Officials knocked on doors late at night in subdivisions occupied by immigrants.  Those who answered their doors were questioned about their immigration status, while those who refused to answer their doors were not molested.  Authorities had no warrants and simply were doing "knock and talks".  Local authorities were backed up by FBI and federal immigration authorities.

Multiple parties who answered their doors were hauled to the local jail pending identification.  Most of those who were rounded up were black.  When many of the parties detained proved to be documented, Law enforcement claimed the massive roundup and time spent detained was merely an inconvenience.  Today, law enforcement is working more closely with the immigrant community that has proven to be vital to the tourist economies.

The town of Breckenridge has historically been an activist for minority rights.  Breckenridge was created in November 1859 by General George E. Spencer. Spencer chose the name "Breckinridge" after John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, the 14th Vice President of the United States.  Spencer hoped to win support of the U.S. government and gain a post office, turning the community into an official town.  It was to be the first post office on the Western slope of Colorado between the continental divide and Salt Lake City.

However, when the civil war broke out, Spencer changed the name of the community from Breckinridge, to Breckenridge.  Vice President John C. Breckenrige was siding with the South and pro-slavery states and Spencer wanted to put distance between that divisive issue and the new town.

Today, a large percentage of the population in the ski towns are immigrants.  The early immigrants in Summit County were looking for gold.  Today, most immigrants and others depend upon the white gold of the ski industry.

Sophia Clark, CIRC Rocky Mountain region organizer, said registration is closed, and the event is at capacity, but anyone interested in getting involved in the future is encouraged to reach out to the organization.

Breaking - Obama Requests Emergency Stay For DAPA, DACA

pulsoslp.com

The Department of Justice will ask for an emergency stay to halt the injunction issued by a Texas judge against the Obama immigration order called Deferred Action For Parental Accountability, or DAPA, and an expanded form of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, called "expanded DACA".

White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, says the stay will be applied for no later than Monday.  The stay is likely in addition to the appeal of the injunction issued by Texas judge, Andrew Hanen.

Applying for a stay of an injunction, which is a request to halt the temporary halting, of the Obama order, is risky.  If the stay is not granted, then the failure to get a stay of the Texas injunction could set the tone for the appeal to the Hanen decision as well as to opposition to the lawsuit which gave rise to the decision.

Obstacles to getting the stay are the Conservative nature of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as the fact a stay is usually only applicable to maintaining the status quo pending litigation.  The Hanen decision maintains the status quo, and a stay of the injunction would actually allow for substantial changes to the status quo.  Finally, the movement for immigration reform will gain nothing if the 5th Circuit agrees with the Hanen decision that undocumented immigrants, which conservative media incorrectly categorize as "illegal immigrants", don't deserve protection.

The Hanen decision painted the Obama executive order as a states rights versus federal rights issue.  Hanen said the federal government was abdicating it's responsibilities to enforce immigration laws set by Congress and granting immigrants a certain entitlement or right to be in the U.S. for at least a 3 year period.  Hanen found the state of Texas had standing to sue because Texas citizens would be forced to pay for the cost of granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants who took advantage of the law.  Texas citizens would be irreparably harmed because of the cost of granting driver's licenses and because it would be very difficult to recall those licenses once they were granted, or "unscramble the egg".  Further, harm to undocumented people was not a concern in an administrative law decision because they were "illegal", said Hanen.

Other states willingly grant licenses to undocumented people, including Washington State, New Mexico and Colorado.  The state of Colorado is sitting on over $100,000 in excess immigrant license fees which state Republicans refuse to release for the license program.  In short, some states have made significant profits by issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants.

Not applying for the stay is just as risky.  If a stay is not issued, few immigrants will be able to apply for the program even if the Hanen decision is eventually overturned before President Obama leaves office.  If the DAPA and expanded DACA process continues, those who are approved would have at least a three year respite before having to face immigration consequences.  The longer it takes for the process to begin, the less time authorities will have to approve applications.

Neither conservatives nor liberals are talking about what could happen to people who apply for DACA, expanded DACA and DAPA applicants if a conservative candidate wins the White House in the next election cycle.  President Obama immediately cancelled multiple executive orders made by the Bush Administration shortly after Obama took office.  It is not unrealistic to expect the next president to take the same action, though a conservative candidate would encounter significant wrath from pro-immigration groups.  If the immigration orders are rescinded, then immigrants who apply for the order would likely be able to continue to live in the U.S. until their stay of deportation ran out, at which point they would find themselves well identified and in the deportation system unless they could find another basis to make a claim to remain in the U.S.

The best solution for immigrants is comprehensive immigration reform.  Senator Michael Bennet, (D-Colo) called for the House to pass the reform bill the senate sent to it and for the nation to look for long term solutions to the immigration problem in the U.S.

Because no other form of relief is available to the majority of the nation's undocumented immigrants, the majority of Latino advocacy groups support the executive order for DAPA and DACA.

Border Communities Urge Obama Use Restraint With Border Patrol

From Resist the tyranny.com

In using the President's executive power to help immigrants, border communities ask the President to use restraint, in not linking immigrants with increased militarization of the border, says the Southern Border Communities Coalition, with member organizations in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

In a letter addressed to the President, the communities said, "CBP urgently needs a surge in accountability and oversight, not increased Border Patrol personnel or war equipment".

The border communities say it is unwise to add resources to the Border Patrol without adding accountability in the use of force.  The organization says the Border Patrol has experienced unprecedented growth, now being the largest law enforcement agency in America.  The growth was too fast, and some agents lack accountability and oversight.

"Irrational, unsupervised growth made CBP the nation’s largest police force without
building up its integrity and professionalism to match"

Sources say President will announce the administrative deferral of some immigrants who meet stringent conditions, including a minimum of 5 continuous years in the U.S., no criminal record and other high standards.  The process will come at a price, the money added to the U.S. treasury.

The President is also expected to announce tougher measures on the border.  It is this announcement, tied to the decision to grant administrative relief, that border communities object to.  

Cotter Puts Kabosh On Medical Marijuana In Montana

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Feds Bust Legal Operations, Operators Cry Foul

June 22, 2013  At the very moment the Montana legislature was in session working on tweaking the states medical marijuana law, the feds dressed in hazmat suits raided legal medial marijuana greenhouses and dispensaries.  The Obama administration appointed U.S. Attorney General is taking aim at legal medical marijuana saying, in so many words "It is illegal under federal law, we don't care what the voters and the states say."

When the guys in the blue suits and shiny badges raided California pot growers they gave all of the business fair warning.  Not the case in Montana.  In fact, the Montana growers, who were performing their duties under color of state law, had no idea the feds were going to pull the plug on the state program.

Mike Cotter, acting for the federal government, charged the growers with federal crimes which could amount to life sentences.  He was not content to stop with growers.  He also charged their accountants, landlords and even some of their spouses. Despite a memorandum handed down by Deputy Attorney General, David Ogden, Cotter knows best.

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The heavy hand of the federal government dictating what is best within each state has been a contentious issue since the civil war.  Unlike slavery, an evil institution, the attack on legal medical marijuana operations is hardly cut and dry.  The federal government says weed is bad stuff.  The state bureaucrats, having been fully apprised and likely even sampled the product over their tenure, don't agree.  Citizens in various states don't agree, either.  Many think throwing the book at marijuana operations is no way to win the war on drugs.  Instead, they have elected to license the distribution for medical purposes and tax the reefer out of marijuana sales.  The tax dollars do more good than having legal pot sellers in prison on the government's dime.

While the federal government continues to spend tax money on spraying chemicals in Colombian jungles instead of building schools, some states have chosen to capitalize on the industry.  The revenues from sales help law enforcement concentrate on serious crime.  The revenues have been applied to everything from better schools to better law enforcement.  Substantial evidence exists marijuana is a viable alternative to stronger narcotics for patients resistant to less addictive medications.

Yet, Uncle Sam knows best.  They have to fill the private prisons owned by GEO Group, Inc. and other purveyors of prison for hire companies.  Cotter breaks the Obama memorandum issued through Eric Holder's office indicating no charges would be filed against medial marijuana companies operating within state law.

Marijuana Doctors.com

Undocumented immigrants understand the federal government's violation of Obama directives all too well.  After promising to attack the anti-immigrant institution which is turning the border into a battle zone and destabilizing Mexico, ICE refused to honor directives by it's own superiors.  Those directives required ICE to defer prosecution for many undocumented workers who qualify under a strict set of standards.  ICE frequently ignores the memorandum, insisting on sticking to self set quotas by deporting record numbers of  immigrants, the majority of whom don't even have a traffic ticket.

The federal government's refusal to respect orders and guidance from the President have forced Congress to take the matter up as a legislative issue.  Likely, the solution to the medical marijuana proposition lies in new federal laws which restrict over-reaching federal officials from intrusion into legal state enterprises.

Having set the precedent of ignoring orders handed down by Home Land Security, it is now easy for federal officials to ignore the guidance of their own departments.  While medical marijuana operators face life in prison, federal officials who ignore the orders of their superiors, including the orders of the President of the United States, run free.  Who, then, is in charge of our country?

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