It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Advocates: Honduran mother, children deported to Guatemala
HOUSTON (AP) — A Honduran mother and her two children who had been hospitalized have been deported to Guatemala under a Trump administration policy of sending some people seeking asylum in the U.S. to third countries, advocates for the mother said Tuesday.
Lawyers had asked a federal judge last week to stop the U.S. government from deporting the family. U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez did not rule on their request prior to Tuesday, the day the government had said it intended to remove the mother and her two children, ages 1 and 6, under a plan to send families to different countries so they can seek asylum elsewhere.
The 1-year-old was diagnosed with the flu, while the 6-year-old had diarrhea and a fever, according to Dr. Amy Cohen, executive director of the immigrant advocacy group Every Last One. Cohen says the children fell sick while in U.S. Customs and Border Protection Custody after the family crossed the border without authorization in December.
Both children were hospitalized over the weekend. In a court filing, government lawyers said the infant was being monitored to ensure she could be deported.
Cohen said Tuesday that the children were released from the hospital Monday and a nurse had certified they could travel. According to Cohen, the family was flown to Guatemala and is now staying at a shelter in Guatemala City. They will have to request asylum in Guatemala or leave the country immediately.
“The cruelty was beyond the pale — not only in the removal itself but also in the details of the treatment of this mother and her small children," she said.
CBP did not respond to several requests for comment on the case.
President Donald Trump's administration reached a deal last year with Guatemala to take in asylum-seekers from Honduras and El Salvador. It has since said it will send Mexican asylum seekers to Guatemala as well. The U.S. has also announced similar agreements with Honduras and El Salvador.
The Trump administration says the deals, known as asylum cooperative agreements, allow migrants from Central America to “seek protection within the region," even though thousands of people flee El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras annually due to endemic poverty, crime, and political or religious persecution. The American Civil Liberties Union and other legal groups have sued to try to prevent the agreements from being enforced.
As of last week, at least 115 people originally from Honduras and El Salvador had been sent by the U.S. to Guatemala.
Mothers who occupied vacant Oakland house will be allowed to buy it
Vivian Ho in Oakland,The Guardian•January 20, 2020
Photograph: Marisa Kendall/AP
The homeless mothers who took over a vacant house in Oakland, California, and occupied it for almost two months will be allowed to purchase the property – a major victory in a movement working to keep such homes out of the possession of speculators.
The group Moms 4 Housing entered the house on Magnolia Street on 18 November with the intent to stay. The house had sat vacant for more than two years before it was purchased in July at a foreclosure auction for $501,078 by Wedgewood Properties, a real estate investment company with a history of buying up foreclosed-upon houses cheaply, evicting the tenants, renovating the homes and then putting them back on the market at much higher prices.
Housing advocates say companies such as Wedgewood fueled the housing crisis that now grips the state, which needs anywhere between 1.8m and 3.5m new housing units by 2025. More than 15,500 units remain vacant in Oakland alone, according to the latest US Census Bureau data, while 4,071 people are homeless. House-flipping has led to rapid gentrification, which then in turn led to the widespread displacement of black residents.
In Oakland, 78% of the homeless population reported that their last place of residence before becoming homeless was within county limits. Seventy per cent were black.
Moms 4 Housing chose the Magnolia Street house in part to try to force Wedgewood to negotiate the sale of the home back to the community.
“This is what happens when we organize, when people come together to build the beloved community,” Dominique Walker, one of the mothers who lived in the house with her two children, said in a statement, on the day that America marked Martin Luther King Day. “Today we honor Dr King’s radical legacy by taking Oakland back from banks and corporations.”
With the housing and homelessness crisis worsening each day, the mothers received widespread support for their cause, from local lawmakers to California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, who praised the activists.
Moms 4 Housing had brought the issue to court, but a judge ruled in favor of Wedgewood. Sheriff deputies arrived in the early hours of 15 January to evict them, arresting two of the mothers and two of their supporters.
Wedgewood has maintained that the mothers had committed a criminal act in breaking into the house, and the house legally belonged to the company.
“Wedgewood has always been and continues to be open to thoughtful and purposeful discussions,” spokesman Sam Singer said in a statement.
“After regaining possession of Magnolia Street, we engaged in discussions with governor Gavin Newsom, mayor Libby Schaaf and councilman Larry Reid. These led to progress that everyone should agree is a step in the right direction in helping to address Oakland’s homelessness and housing crisis.”
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Outcry grows over 28 missing or murdered Native American women in a Montana county as 16-year-old Selena Not Afraid is found dead
The body of 16-year-old Selena Shelley Faye Not Afraid was found Monday
The Montana teenager vanished New Year's Day and was last seen at the eastbound Interstate 90 rest area
Her discovery Monday morning makes her the 28th missing or murdered indigenous woman (MMIW) from Big Horn County since 1990
A Department of Interior search team found Selena's body around 10.30am during a 'systematic grid search' but cops said foul play wasn't suspected
Police have been labelled negligent in the cases of MMIW or girls, and in some cases the perpetrators of violence
Studies have found that law enforcement in rural communities where many Native Americans live have not been able to properly document MMIW
A demographer who grew up in Big Horn County said: 'Native women have been dehumanized from the very beginning'
Native Americans across the country have appealed for immediate and thorough investigations into missing or murdered women of the community, as the body of 16-year-old Selena Shelley Faye Not Afraid was found.
The Montana teenager vanished New Year's Day and was last seen at the eastbound Interstate 90 rest area between Billings and Hardin, Montana that afternoon.
Her discovery Monday morning makes her the 28th missing or murdered indigenous woman (MMIW) from Big Horn County since 1990, but she was one of 42 in the state of Montana where 152 people were missing.
'Native women have been dehumanized from the very beginning,' Desi Rodriguez-Lonebear, a demographer who grew up in Big Horn County told the New York Times. 'The law has failed us time and time again. We're tired of it. We're tired of our people dying, of our kids going to jail.'
The body of 16-year-old Selena Shelley Faye Not Afraid was found Monday. Her discovery Monday morning makes her the 28th missing or murdered indigenous woman (MMIW) from Big Horn County since 1990
The Montana teenager vanished New Year's Day and was last seen at the eastbound Interstate 90 rest area
The Sovereign Bodies Institute (SBI) board member spoke shortly before Selena was found dead.
Police said Selena was last seen leaving a vehicle near a rest stop after returning home from a party in Billings. They reported she was last seen leaving a disabled vehicle and walking into a field.
Information from the FBI shared on January 8 described her as not dressed for the weather conditions.
The girl's mother Jackie Big Hair and father Leroy Not Afraid were desperate for her safe return and search teams scanned the area in hopes of locating her.
Amid snow blizzards, her family and community held candlelit vigils and took part in rallies outside the courthouse as the urged law enforcement to do more.
'We're here demanding it,' Selena's aunt Cheryl Horn told the Times. 'We're not being quiet. We're not leaving.'
A Department of Interior search team found Selena's body around 10.30am during a 'systematic grid search' of an area southwest of the rest stop she had vanished from.
Big Horn County Sheriff Lawerence Big Hair confirmed Monday afternoon that teen from Hardin was found about three quarters of a mile from where she went missing.
'Please keep Jackie, Leroy and their extended family members in your thoughts and give them the time and space to grieve and come to grips with this terrible loss,' he said.
The sheriff said the cause of death is being investigated but foul play was not suspected.
It's the latest in a spate of tragic MMIW cases.
It's the latest in a spate of tragic MMIW cases. According to SBI, which has created its own database of cases, in November 2019, 37 percent of missing girls were Indigenous. However Indigenous girls only make up 6 percent of the population
Mother-of-six Bonnie Three Irons was found dead in the mountains in April 2017.
Henny Scott, 14, was repeatedly reported missing by her family in December 2018 but it took weeks for a public bulletin to go out. She was found dead two weeks after she vanished.
Her great-grandmother Rose Old Bear was murdered in Hardin in the 1950s, her great-aunt Harriet Wilson was murdered outside Hardin in the 1970s.
Montana girl Kaysera StopsPrettyPlaces, 18, was found dead in a backyard near her home, four days after she went missing in Hardin in August. She had gone missing a total of nine times.
Selena's aunt posted a tribute on Facebook.
'We brought our baby girl home,' Horn said. 'Now she can Rest In Peace. Jackie and I want to thank everyone for helping us bring our girl home.'
She added that she will continue to seek justice for MMIW.
'I'm not done my girl!! I will continue the fight!!' Horn posted as followers commented supporting her fight for justice.
Police have been labelled negligent in the cases of MMIW or girls, and in some cases the perpetrators of violence.
In 2019, Fort Peck tribal police officer Mychal Damon, was charged with abusive sexual contact without permission, allegedly knowing the girl was under the age of 12.
Police said Selena was last seen leaving a vehicle near a rest stop after returning home from a party in Billings. They reported she was last seen leaving a disabled vehicle and walking into a field
Cops had been pushed to investigate the people Selena was seen riding with in a van
'We brought our baby girl home,' Selena's aunt Horn said. 'Now she can Rest In Peace. Jackie and I want to thank everyone for helping us bring our girl home'
Former Bureau of Indian Affairs police officer Dana was found guilty of raping a woman in her home on the Northern Cheyenne reservation in Montana in 2015.
The federal government dismissed two counts of lying to federal officers and chose not to prosecute him for sexual abuse, as part of a plea deal. The victim's attempt to sue was thrown out.
Selena's brother Preston was shot dead by Billings police officers; her sister Tristen was hit and killed by a car; and her twin sister died by suicide when she was 11 years old.
Cops had been pushed to investigate the people Selena was seen riding with in a van.
Crow tribe member and county prosecutor Jay Harris had said they were looking to create their own police force on the 2.3 million acre reservation amid a state of emergency regarding the investigations of missing women.
'Why does nobody care about this?' one of Kaysera's aunts said to the Times about the girl found dead this summer. The aunt, Grace Bulltail, an assistant professor of engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison added: 'We're not being given any information.'
Selena's aunt had compared the latest missing girl to Kaysera.
'This is the justice that Kaysera didn't get,' Horn said before her niece was found dead. Mother-of-six Bonnie Three Irons (above) was found dead in the mountains in April 2017. Henny Scott (below), 14, was repeatedly reported missing by her family in December 2018
Montana girl Kaysera StopsPrettyPlaces, 18, was found dead in a backyard near her home, four days after she went missing in Hardin in August. Kaysera is pictured on a poster as the community asked for justice Kaysera's aunt, Grace Bulltail (pictured), had said they were 'not being given any information' about the missing teen. Selena's aunt, Horn, compared the new case to Kaysera's before Selena was found dead
According to SBI, which has created its own database of cases, in November 2019, 37 percent of missing girls were Indigenous. However Indigenous girls only make up 6 percent of the population.
A 2017 Harvard Journal of Law and Gender report cites data showing that 'rural communities' such as those in Montana or North Dakota 'do not have the infrastructure, leadership capacity, or expertise to respond to the rapid social changes and population growth' creating the conditions for violent crime to flourish.
The SBI cites another study that found economic development has brought economic opportunity but it has meant an increase in violent crime, drug abuse, and sex trafficking of Native women and children. It adds that the rapid pace of oil and gas development 'overwhelms the existing law enforcement and social services infrastructure on many reservations'.
SBI takes into account cases from 1900 to the present day, but notes 69 percent of the cases have occurred since 2000.
In the Northern Plains, including the Dakotas, Montana, and Nebraska, 411 MMIWG went missing or were killed in those states, or who come from tribal nations in these four states. Four out of five cases remain unsolved with no arrests.
Between 2017 and 2019, there were approximately 30-40 cases per year, not including cases where the missing person was safely located.
SBI estimates the number to be more like 3,500 to 4,700 since 1900.
Selena's brother Preston was shot dead by Billings police officers; her sister Tristen was hit and killed by a car; and her twin sister died by suicide when she was 11 years old
The search for Selena Not Afraid ends with 'great sadness.' Missing girl's body found near Montana rest area
MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN AND GIRLS OF NORTH AMERICA Jordan Culver, USA TODAY, USA TODAY•January 21, 2020
The body of a Montana girl missing since New Year's Day has been found, ending a weekslong search that stretched across three states and included FBI agents.
Selena Shelley Faye Not Afraid, 16, was found in an area southwest of the rest area where she was last seen, Big Horn County Sheriff Lawrence C. Big Hair said in an emailed statement on Monday. She was found at about 10:30 a.m. during a "systematic grid search" near the rest stop on Interstate 90 between Billings and Hardin.
"It is with great sadness I announce that we have to report the body of Selena Faye Not Afraid has been found by searchers," Big Hair said.
“We brought our baby girl home. Now she can Rest In Peace,” Not Afraid’s aunt, Cheryl Horn, wrote in a Facebook post.
Foul play is not suspected, Big Hair said, but an autopsy would be performed to determine the girl’s cause of death.
"We want to thank all the agencies and civilians that helped in searching for Selena, we also are thankful for the many people that donated food and water for the searchers and the family," Big Hair said.
Big Hair asked for prayers for Not Afraid's family and for "time and space to grieve and come to grips with this terrible loss."
An FBI Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team joined the search for Not Afraid earlier in the month, the Billings Gazette reported. Agencies from Wyoming and South Dakota were also involved with the search.
According to the FBI, Not Afraid was last seen outside the interstate rest area on New Year's Day. She had left a disabled car and walked into a field next to the rest area and was not dressed for the weather conditions, the FBI reported in its be-on-the-lookout (BOLO) notice.
Weather-beaten posters seeking Selena Not Afraid remain at the I-90 rest stop where the Hardin teen was last seen alive.LARRY MAYER, Billings Gazette
The Big Horn County Sheriff's Office is still investigating the death of Selena Not Afraid a day after saying they didn't suspect foul play.
Selena, 16, was found Monday morning by a federal search team about a mile southwest of the rest stop she had reportedly walked away from on New Year's Day between Billings and Hardin.
"There's no evidence that anybody dropped her off. No foot or boot prints around her," he said. " ... We don't rule anything out until the autopsy has been released."
An autopsy is scheduled on Wednesday at the state crime lab in Billings. The location where searchers found the body was processed as a criminal investigation, Winburn noted.
Selena's cellphone was found on her, Winburn said. The battery was dead. She didn't have a wallet or purse on her when she was found, he said.
Selena was found by a federal search team with the Department of the Interior during a systematic grid search, according to the press release. The search team had been conducting the grid search for more than a week and were methodically working through the area of the rest stop, Winburn said.
Search efforts from the DOI team began toward the east before making its way southwest, he said. Other areas toward Hardin, Billings and near Fly Creek were searched.
"We had no clue where she was," Winburn said.
Where she was found had been searched by volunteers and law enforcement. Areas near the rest stop had been searched with a helicopter, thermal drone, foot search and K-9s, but had not been searched by the DOI team until Monday, he said.
"We had people on horses and 4-wheelers, but if you don't do every section by section, they could've gone by her," he said. Sheriff Lawrence Big Hair told KTVQ News that he had looked in an area about 200 yards from where Selena was found and had not seen her.
The five people who were in the van with Selena when she was last seen have all cooperated with authorities, officials said. All of the people in the vehicle were believed to be intoxicated at the rest stop, Winburn said. County Attorney Jay Harris declined to comment on whether he would pursue charges against the adults.
In a Tuesday press release, Harris said his office would pursue any provable criminal activities surrounding the circumstances of Selena's disappearance. The office issued a subpoena to review the investigation process for the sheriff's office and for federal agencies that assisted.
Selena purportedly walked away from the rest stop on New Year's Day around 2 p.m. She was in a group of six driving to Hardin from Billings.
The van they were in broke down at the rest stop. The driver restarted it, but was worried it would stall again and drove off without Selena and another woman. A relative of the driver was about 10 to 15 minutes behind and was expected to pick up the girls, according to the sheriff's office.
When the relative arrived, Selena was gone. Selena supposedly scaled a fence, asked the woman she was with to cross the fence with her, and then walked off alone toward some trees, Winburn said.
She wasn't dressed for the winter weather, according to a Missing Endangered Person Advisory issued that day. New Year's Day saw a high of 50 degrees during the day in the area, but had cooled to a low of 25 degrees by the next morning, according to the National Weather Service in Billings.
A MEPA alert was issued for Selena around 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 1. A MEPA alert is sent to local media and pushes out a text notification to smartphone users who have the CodeRED app. An Amber Alert, which is typically reserved for young, abducted children, was not issued for Selena.
The body of missing teen Selena Not Afraid was found Monday morning within a mile of the I-90 rest area where she was reported last seen
By PHOEBE TOLLEFSON ptollefson@billingsgazette.com and JULIANA SUKUT jsukut@billingsgazette.com
Searchers, from left, Chauncey Little Light, Alphonso Yarlott, Tymer
Big Lake, Drayland Little Light and Joseph Buffalo return to the
Fly Creek rest area on I-90 on Jan. 2 after searching the area
on horseback for 16-year-old Selena Shelley Faye Not Afraid.
Big Horn County officials announced Monday a body had
been found near the rest stop.
CASEY PAGE, Billings Gazette The body of missing teen Selena Not Afraid was found Monday morning within a mile of the I-90 rest area where she was reported last seen, according to Big Horn County Sheriff Lawrence Big Hair. Foul play is not suspected, the sheriff said in a press release. Federal law enforcement agents found Selena’s body around 10:30 a.m., approximately three-quarters of a mile to a mile southwest of the mile marker 474 rest stop, where she was last seen, the sheriff said. "Please keep Jackie, Leroy and their extended family members in your thoughts and give them the time and space to grieve and come to grips with this terrible loss," Big Hair wrote. Selena’s mother is Jackie Big Hair, and her father is Leroy Not Afraid. Selena's auntie Cheryl Horn said she woke up with a gut feeling that today they'd bring Selena home. "All this time I didn't feel heaviness. I didn't feel frustration," she said. "Today I felt it." But more than anything it's relieving to have her home, she said. On social media, Horn expressed gratitude to those who helped search for Selena. "We're thankful," she said. "Without everybody we wouldn't be able to still stand strong. Our heart is broken, but our prayers are answered." Selena, 16, had been missing since New Year's Day. Two days later, Big Hair said her disappearance “was beginning to look suspicious.” According to Big Hair, Selena was last seen driving from Billings to Hardin in a van with five adults — two men and three women. Selena was the only youth in the van, Big Hair said. She had been in Billings for a New Year's Eve party and had gotten a ride the next day. Big Hair said the van broke down at the truck stop. Selena and a woman got out while the driver worked to start the van, according to the missing person's report. When the van restarted, the driver was worried it would break down again and drove off without Selena and the woman, Big Hair said. According to Big Hair, the woman with Selena had asked the driver to wait. A relative arrived to pick them up 10-15 minutes later, but only the woman was at the rest stop, according to Big Hair. She told officers Selena had walked off into a nearby field. She was last seen around 2 p.m. Early in the investigation Big Hair said that information from the people in the van wasn't lining up. “Some of their stories have been conflicting,” he said, of the people who were reportedly driving Selena to Hardin. Since then, searchers have been combing the area in search of the missing teen. Searches were conducted by helicopter, thermal drones, K-9s, on foot, by ATV and on horseback. A specialized Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team from the FBI joined the search for the missing girl Jan. 8., to assist the Big Horn County Sheriff's Office which led the investigation. Selena’s family and friends had gathered at the I-90 rest stop for nearly two weeks, providing water and supplies to search groups and working to keep the public's attention on the case. Volunteer searchers packed up their temporary search command at the rest stop a week ago, on Jan. 13, as temperatures dipped below freezing and the FBI continued to assist the investigation. Big Hair said it was a Department of Interior search team that found Selena’s body during a "systematic grid search" of an area southwest of the rest area. Big Hair thanked all the agencies and volunteers involved in the search, as well as those who donated food and water for the searchers and their family.
An autopsy had not yet been scheduled Monday, but Big Hair said it would likely take place Tuesday or Wednesday.
Understand it better: Our stories on the missing and murdered indigenous people crisis
The Billings Gazette has continued to examine one of the most urgent issues in Montana and our region — missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.
In Montana, Native Americans are just 6.7% of the total population, but make up 26% of missing persons cases.
The problem has persisted for generations, and many of the cases remain unsolved. The causes are numerous and complex, and any lasting solutions have been elusive.
The Gazette is exploring the reasons the crisis has persisted and what can be done about it.
Native American women and children go missing at an alarming rate in Montana, and their families and investigators can spend years searching for them, sometimes to no avail.
Local firefighters, game wardens, and families of other victims often are the leaders in making inroads on missing, murdered Native people cases, panelists in Red Lodge said Tuesday.
Searchers, from left, Chauncey Little Light, Alphonso Yarlott, Tymer
Big Lake, Drayland Little Light and Joseph Buffalo return to the
Fly Creek rest area on I-90 on Jan. 2 after searching the area
on horseback for 16-year-old Selena Shelley Faye Not Afraid.
Big Horn County officials announced Monday a body had
been found near the rest stop.
