Search results matching tag 'illegal immigration'

The author speaks

Sarah Samson — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 21:17:00 GMT

I got a response from Mr. Urrea this week answering the questions some of us had about his book, The Devil's Highway. I'll post his response here. The questions I asked him in my email were: Why did you write the book? And, are you in touch with any of the survivors?

Here is his response:

" ...As far as why the book was written: it was a request from New York. After Across the Wire, By the Lake of Sleeping Children, and Nobody's Son (about to be re-released with a beautiful new cover, by the way), I thought I was through with the border. I certainly had no plans to write another book about it.

However, Little, Brown contacted me and basically told me they thought I was the only writer who could tackle this tragedy and do it justice. They wanted a "Trojan horse." In other words, a men-in-peril adventure that snuck secrets and revelations about immigration and immigrants into Mainstream America. What a challenge!

I never knew I'd be doing that duty for the Border Patrol too. But, I think, that's what helped make the book valuable.

The survivors. This is an interesting situation. Only recently have they been released from their vows of silence by lawyers and Immigration officials. The various lawsuits and criminal trials are over.

Through my movie team (how tacky does that sound) we have all been in touch with the widows and the people who went back home to Veracruz. We actually have some footage of them at their homes talking about it. The small cadre of men that survived, led by Nahum, still resides in Phoenix, with immunity provided by the US Government. But they are afraid of exposure and leery of "fame." Nahum, in fact, was going to come to my last series of readings in Arizona, but declined at the last minute. Mendez, on the other hand, remains in prison under death threats to himself and his loved ones. He will not talk. His lawyer has taken him correspondence from me, and the movie guys have tried to get him to open up, but he won't even answer their letters.

Now, the law enforcement side and the consular side have been very much in touch with me over these years.

Honestly, I thought I'd report on it and then move on and it would all be forgotten. I had no idea there would be a strange little Devil's Highway industry. I'm glad I didn't know, or I would have been more timid in my writing. I wrote with the kind of rage and fatalism of someone who was sure nobody gave a damn and wouldn't pay attention anyway. Oops. When the Pulitzer thing happened, you could have knocked me over with a feather.

Luis

Immigration Panel Discussion Monday night moved to Council Chambers

Sarah Samson — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 19:55:00 GMT

We've moved the Immigration Panel Discussion from the library to the Council Chambers in City Hall. The acoustics are better at this location, plus the disucssion will be videotaped and podcasted. If you can't make the discussion (Monday night, 7-9 PM), it will be broadcast live on Channel 10. Council Chambers are located at 221 E. Main Avenue, 1st floor.

I'm really looking forward to the panel! Rev. Dr. William Sappenfield will be moderating, and we will have 5 panelists present with members on both sides of the issue. The five panelists are: Curtis Collier--President of U.S. Border Watch, Terri English--Director of Immigration Counseling and Outreach Services, Leslie Helmcamp--Director of Catholic Charities of Central Texas Office of Immigrant Concerns, Edna Yang--General Counsel for Political Asylum Project of Austin, and Larry Youngblood--Texas Border Volunteers.

One side of the story

Sarah Samson — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 02:46:00 GMT

The Dustin Inman Society was featured on NPR this week. This grassroots group advocates securing America's borders and enforcing deportation "in such a way that creates an inhospitable climate so that illegal immigrants will leave, and employers won't hire them," said president of the group, D.A. King. You can hear more or the interview here.

If you go to the Inman Society's website, you can read more about their views and their mission. They are "dedicated to educating the public and our elected officials on the consequences of illegal immigration, our un-secured borders and the breakdown of the rule of law in our Republic."

The most interesting thing to me about the society is the reason that they got started. Mr. King explains their beginnings in an interview with Business Week in 2006: "It's named after my friend's son. Dustin Inman was in the back seat of the family car in the year 2000 on Father's Day weekend, on his way to go fishing in the mountains with his dad and his mom. An illegal alien, who happened to be from Mexico, who held a valid North Carolina driver's license...ran into the back of his car stopped at a light at more than 70 miles per hour. [He] killed Dustin, put both of his parents in a coma -- neither of whom were able to go to his funeral, their only son -- and then put his mom, Kathy, in a wheelchair for the rest of her life."