From Cuéntame:

Last week, Cuéntame launched a powerful animated video exposing private prison corporations. The first of a sustained documentary campaign to expose the greed and the abuse by CCA (Corrections Corporation of America), The Geo Group and Management and Training corporations – which combined currently profit more than $5 billion a year at the expense of the detention and abuse of our immigrant community.

Already media outlets have taken notice and our video has been played in full on MSNBC, The Nation, Hola TV, The Huffington Post among many others. It won’t be long before private prison corporations begin retaliating and will put their unlimited resources in efforts to derail our powerful exposé.

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This is why we need your support today! Here are two ways you can help us prepare for the battle ahead and continue producing our documentary:

1.   Donate $20 that will go directly to our efforts and make sure we continue making a powerful impact.

2.   We need you to recruit at least 5 of your friends by sharing our animated video on your Facebook wall or by forwarding this email and letting us know what your friends thought by posting a comment on our Facebook page wall.

The battle ahead won’t be easy but with your support and building strength in numbers we will be ready to take it on. We hope you enjoy our latest work by checking out some of our videos below.

- Axel Caballero and the rest of the Cuéntame team

Immigrants For Sale [ immigrantsforsale.org ]

•   Private prison using chemicals on detained migrants: — Cuéntame locked an exclusive interview with an ex CCA employee – here is a preview. The revelations are horrifying – including the use of chemicals and agents to quell detained migrants. Stay tuned for the full story. [ MORE VIDEOS ] [ IMMIGRANTSFORSALE.ORG ]

•   Journey through Georgia: Victims of private prisons: — Pedro Guzman was locked-up in a private detention facility for 19 months because of a procedural mistake. His wife Emily has gone through great lengths to get him out here is a preview of their powerful journey. Stay tuned for the full story. [ VIDEO ]

•   MSNBC’s ‘The Last Word’ covers Cuéntame: — Thanks to all of your help in sharing the ‘Immigrants for Sale‘ video. We now need to double our effort! Please continue to make a difference by sharing the video with your friends and letting them know about our work! [ VIDEO ]

•   Boycott Georgia corporations funding discrimination!: Georgia has followed in Arizona’s footsteps with discriminatory bill HB87. Like in AZ, the discriminatory bill has been taken to court and will cost taxpayers millions. Did you know GA also houses the largest private detention facility in the nation? Boycott the corporations which have funded those responsible for this discriminatory bill. Pledge to boycott GA @ Mycuentame.org/BoycottGeorgia [ VIDEO ]

•   Gov. Brewer asks people to pay SB 1070 legal fees: — AZ Gov. Brewer is asking the public to pay the legal bill as she tries to defend her discriminatory SB1070 law in the U.S. Supreme Court. This should be a note to GA as it follows in AZ’s footsteps. We created a pop-up video message highlighting how these laws are unconstitutional and expensive! [ VIDEO ]

The L.A. Film Festival: Important Latino films to be featured — The Los Angeles Film Festival is focusing their International Spotlight this year on Cuba. When people think about this country, some only remember stories heard on the news about their political unrest and poverty. I bet what they didn’t know is that Cuba is filled with amazing culture and art among so many other of its colorful qualities… [ READ THE ARTICLE ]

Playlist: The Apartheid States in The U.S.

Playlist: American Anti-Immigrant Xenophobia — Exposing American Anti-Immigrant Bigots, Racists and Xenophobic Extortionists.

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Fox on Immigrants: Just Hang ‘Em All!; Immigrants Are Serial Killers!
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Fox Obfuscates The Fact That A Majority Detained By ICE Program Are Nonviolent Immigrants: During Fox News’ coverage of Secure Communities, a deportation program begun under the Bush administration, Fox pushed the idea that opting out of the program would create “sanctuary states” for dangerous undocumented immigrants. In fact, a large proportion of individuals who are detained and deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement carry only misdemeanors and minor infractions or have no criminal conviction or background. [ READ MORE ]

Fox Suggests If States Opt Out Of Program, Serial Killers May Be On The Loose: On Fox, Lars Larson Seizes Opportunity To Rehash Immigration Myths — On Fox News, radio host Lars Larson repeated the myths that immigrants commit a disproportionate amount of crime and that the Obama administration “has not been great on deportations.” In fact, data don’t support the claim that undocumented immigrants have high crime rates; moreover, under Obama, deportations are at an all-time high. [ READ MORE ] [ READ MORE ]

On Fox, Lars Larson Seizes Opportunity To Rehash Immigration Myths:

MMFA: On Fox News, radio host Lars Larson repeated the myths that immigrants commit a disproportionate amount of crime and that the Obama administration “has not been great on deportations.” In fact, data don’t support the claim that undocumented immigrants have high crime rates; moreover, under Obama, deportations are at an all-time high. [ READ MORE ]

Reference: Resistance Grows — A failure of Decency and Good Sense. – Massachusetts, New York and Illinois reject the Obama administration’s enforcement-only way on immigration. — A New York Times Editorial

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RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC HOST: An exclusive report about politics and retaliation, and a politician who was supposed to be a rising star in the Republican Party, apparently running on fear — fear of exposure.

It starts with the issue of illegal immigration. As you can tell by the sheer volume of anti-immigrant politicking in the country right now, the illegal immigration problem must really be exploding. That is true if by exploding you mean that it is down 67 percent.

The Pew Hispanic Center, which is widely considered to be the most authoritative source of numbers on this subject, they have release a new report saying that in the past decade, the number of illegal immigrants crossing into the United States has dropped by two-thirds.

So, the sudden uptick in yelling about illegal immigration, blaming immigrants for everything from Obama being elected to swine flu to kidnapping the Lindbergh baby, that is not happening because illegal immigration is getting worse. It is actually getting better.

The uptick in anti-immigration stuff is not really about immigration at all. It is about what makes good politics for anti-immigration politicians. And bits what make big profits, apparently, for some very well connected people. [ READ MORE ]

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

July 22, 2010: KPHO investigates ties between the Brewer administration and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) – and how the governor’s rhetoric on border security may be damaging Arizona’s tourism industry for the benefit of CCA.

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If the state of Arizona started producing a whole lot more federal detainees — people detained on federal issues — like immigration violations, the private for-profit prison company(s) linked to Republicans would line their pockets more heavily.

A law like SB-1070 favors the for-profit private prison industry in Arizona. There is money to be made here, and it turns out that industry, particularly Corrections Corporation of America, which stands to benefit the most, is located in Arizona

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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   By: Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez
I’ll refer to her as Leticia X.

In gripping testimony, she tells my students at the University of Arizona that it is wrong that she will not be able to attend college next year: “I consider myself a U.S. citizen. It’s the only country I’ve ever known.“

Her symbolic mother is Leticia A. — a student who set the legal precedent in 1982 in Plyler v. Doe in Texas, permitting undocumented students to be able to attend public K-12 schools, without having to pay exorbitant out-of-state tuition.

Today, Leticia X. struggles to change this policy to include K-16 students. If out-of-state fees are exorbitant for out of state K-12 students, the rates are stratospheric for out-of-state college students… generally costing tens of thousands of dollars yearly.

Leticia X is part of a nationwide movement – nearly a decade old – to pass legislation that would permit students such as her, to be able to attend college at in-state rates. It’s called the Dream Act. Most members of Congress support it, but since 2001, they’ve never been able to garner the 60 votes necessary in the Senate to bring it to a full vote (cloture). It even has a controversial provision that was injected into it that would permit students to also qualify for U.S. residency by first going into the military for 2 years. A terrible compromise, but even that has not worked.

It pains me that I cannot publicly identify Leticia X. The irony is that she, like many other Dream students do identify themselves in public. Apparently, they are more trusting of government than I am.

You have to understand, she was making her plea before my students in Arizona – the New South. It’s also the Old South.

Last week, I took my students to witness Operation Streamline. Nothing I told them could prepare them for what they saw. Several left early, crying, unable to continue to witness what passes for a judicial proceeding. Here, at Tucson’s Federal Court, there are daily tax-payer-funded show trials in which 70-80 undocumented migrants are convicted in one hour. It’s the racial element and the shackles around the ankles, waist and hands that shock the conscience. Most defendants are from Mexico or Central America and have been converted into the world’s most dangerous criminals. In one hour, they are tried, convicted and deported or sent to a private prison (Corrections Corporation of America) to the tune of approximately $15 million per month. It is the breakneck speed that profoundly damages the human spirit and the integrity of the courtroom. As one of my students commented: “They’re like cattle being led to the slaughter.”

This is also Joe Arpaio’s state – the Maricopa County Sheriff that is defying the federal government in his insistence on continuing to conduct mass dragnet raids/stops…

But back to Leticia X. Her story is gut-wrenching. She is bright and articulate, and hard-working to a fault. She studies even when she’s sick because she believes she has earned the right to go to college.

She is figuratively, a dream student. She embodies the very idea of: “A Mind is a terrible thing to waste.”

If the law does not change by December, she will not be attending a U.S. college next year.

It is difficult to imagine why anyone would be opposed to seeing her go off to college She knows no other home and barely speaks Spanish.

The larger tragedy is that her story is repeated 65,000 times every year nationwide. There would be many more, but many drop out, not seeing the point of continuing to attend high school.

However, she is undaunted and courageous. She tells me she has no problem with me using her true name. I dare not expose her to the Arpaios and Lou Dobbs of the world.

What I really want to do is call the National Hispanic Scholarship Foundation and ask them why they are opposed to creating a special fund to help the Leticia Xs of this nation? Nothing in the law prevents them from doing so. Perhaps if President Obama himself were to meet her, he would undoubtedly be moved to tears and action. It is hoped that the president remembers that he ran on the promise of change… and that he also won, promising a humane solution to the immigration crisis. Humane? Yes. Leticia X is a full human being.

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•    Rodriguez can be reached at: XCol...@gmail.com or PO BOX 85476 – Tucson, AZ 85754

•    NEW AMERICA MEDIA COLUMNS — http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/

•    ARCHIVED COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS — http://web.mac.com/columnoftheamericas/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html
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