Judge orders immediate deportation of dance group member

Latino Fox News
November 04, 2011

Chicago – An Ohio judge ordered the immediate deportation of a young Hispanic detained 14 days ago along with members of his Aztec dance group as they were driving across several states to put on a show.

Judge D. Williams Evans Jr. ordered the immediate deportation of Joel Almeida Gonzalez, who had a previous deportation order and will be sent back to Mexico next Tuesday.

Gonzalez is one of five undocumented dancers who were driving from New York to Joliet, Illinois, to take part in an Aztec dance ceremony on Oct. 21.

Joel was traveling with his brother Erick Almeida Gonzalez and Alberto Vera Ramirez, Carlos Tirado Carmona and Byron Tzoc Guarchaj when they were stopped in Tiffin, Ohio.

All of the immigrants are from Mexico with the exception of Guarchaj, who is a Guatemalan citizen.

When their vehicle was pulled over, police found that the travelers had no documents and consequently handed them over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The men were held in Seneca County Jail until Thursday.

Debra J. Pelto, spokeswoman for the detainees, told Efe that Tirado Carmona, freed on $5,000 bail, and Erick Almeida Gonzalez on $2,500 bail, were ordered to leave the country voluntarily by Dec. 18.

Vera Ramirez, who was let out on $1,500 bail, and Guarchaj, on $5,000 bail, face another appearance in court.

"The intention was to release them all, including the two who have been given a date for voluntarily leaving the country, so they at least have a chance to put their affairs in order in New York and say goodbye to their families," Pelto said.

The arrest of the Hispanics caused surprise in New York and Chicago where the Aztec dancers are known in artistic circles.

In New York last week volunteers collected donations at several points around the city and managed to come up with $3,000 toward paying the bail bonds. In Chicago groups formed to help the detainees' families.

Roberto Ferreyra of the Nahui Ollin dance group in Chicago told Efe that a change in immigration laws is vital in order to prevent incidents like this.

"There should be a way that people who contribute to this country can work," Ferreyra said. "It's a binational problem - there's free transit for trade and there ought to be free transit as well for those who work."

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/11/04/judge-orders-immediate-deportation-dance-group-member/#ixzz1cxF5p2nH

Mariano Cardoso to Speak on Deportation Panel; Mariano Cardoso can renew his stay every year

By LeAnne Gendreau
NBC Connecticut
Wednesday, Apr 27, 2011

Just hours after learning that he will be able to stay in the United States, at least for another year, a Mexican-born American man will participate in a panel on deportation.

Central Connecticut State University is screening "Tony and Janina's American Wedding: A Deportation Love Story" on Wednesday night and Mariano Cardoso will be one of the speakers during a panel discussion.

Cardoso, a 22-year-old student at Capitol Community College, was brought to the United States when he was 22 months old and has been living in New Britain.

In 2008, Cardoso was unable to show federal authorities who had turned up at a family picnic that he was a citizen. To become a citizen, before he was busted, he would have had to go to Mexico and apply for a U.S. visa.

He was in danger of being deported, but learned on Tuesday that he will be able to stay in the United States. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a temporary stay of removal, which is renewable each year.

Cardoso has been taking classes for the last five years, paying his tuition without student loans. This is his last semester and then he wants to become a civil engineer or a math teacher.

Another panelist is Ruth Leitman, who created the documentary being screened.

The panel will discuss the patchwork of state and federal laws and policies that have led to 400,000 detentions annually, 360,000 deportations, polarizing legislative prescriptions at the state level and a simmering debate in Congress over what to do about immigration when the whole world appears to be on the move.

The screening of a short version of the film will begin at 4:30 p.m.

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/the-scene/events/Mariano-Cardoso-to-Speak-on-Deportation-Panel-120800909.html

Drama About Immigration Raids and their Human Consequences in Arizona Is No Fiction for Many

By Valeria Fernández
FI2W contributor
Feet in 2 Worlds

PHOENIX, Arizona – When the school counselor gave her the news, it broke Olivia’s heart. Her father had been detained by deputies from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. In the worst case scenario, he might have already been deported.

Olivia is a fictional character in The Tears of Lives, a play produced by Phoenix’s New Carpa Theater Company and written by James Garcia. But stories like hers are common in Arizona.

The play — a fundraising effort to keep Phoenix’s sole day laborer center from shutting down — is holding up a mirror to audiences, challenging them to acknowledge the situation faced by immigrant families torn apart in raids by local sheriff’s deputies who are authorized to act as immigration agents.

“We wanted to expose audiences to stories they might never see — said Garcia — put a third dimension to the immigrant story. Because most Americans’ image of immigrants is of people coming over a (border) wall, or being handcuffed on a sidewalk.”

The Tears of Lives is the story of Regino Ortega, an undocumented immigrant who has been living in the United States for 21 years when he gets arrested by a Maricopa County sheriff’s deputy. Because he is a single parent, his three young children are left to fend for themselves.

The playwright, who is also a long-time local journalist, said he was inspired by everyday headlines. One of them concerned a father whose three U.S. born children were left home alone for more than a week after he was arrested by the police and faced deportation. The children were almost separated by Child Protective Services (CPS) until a relative was able to care for them.

Another story was the recent case of Katherine Figueroa, a 9-year-old U.S. citizen whose parents where detained in a raid at a car wash. In a video produced by local activists, Figueroa sent a message to President Barack Obama, appealing to him as a father to push for immigration reform.

The girl’s message is reproduced verbatim in the play by one of the main characters.

The Tears of Lives is peppered with allegations of racial profiling and physical abuse by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MSCO). The agency led by America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff” Joe Arpaio is currently under federal investigation by the Department of Justice in connection with alleged civil rights violations.

Arpaio, who hasn’t seen the play –nor knows about the controversial ending, which we won’t give away here– told this reporter in a story for The Arizona Republic that the accusations were false.

“But with First Amendment rights, they have a right to say whatever they have to say,” he added.

Salvador Reza, coordinator of the Macehualli Work Center, begs to differ.

“This is happening here today. We’re the actors in real life,” said Reza. “But everybody wants to shy away from this situation.”

A day before the show’s opening night, the Sheriff’s Office arrested 44 workers in a worksite raid at a paper factory. Community activists had to organize to provide food and aid to some of the families impacted by the sweep.

All of this hit very close to home for some of the actors in the play.

“I heard of these stories, and I live them, and I met the families,” said Dulce Juarez, one of the leading actresses in The Tears of Lives. Juarez plays the role of Ms. Hamlin, a school counselor who has to decide whether to help the children despite the pressures of being persecuted by the authorities.

“I almost feel I have the responsibility to do something,” said Masavi Perea, the actor who plays Mr. Ortega, the undocumented immigrant.

The play was put together in three weeks with a cast of 12 volunteer actors. Garcia said he started working on it three months ago, after Reza approached him asking if he had a piece that could help raise funds.

“It is important to have plays that are produced with the aim to bring social change about,” said Luis Avila, the play’s director.

Avila feels this is a way to create awareness about the impact of immigration raids, beyond what’s reported in the news. The actor and local activist also likes the fact that the play is connected to a cause: helping the Macehualli center.

“I think it is important to preserve the model of day labor centers,” said Avila. “This center promotes the organizing of the workers, the representation and labor protection of the workers, as well as the humane treatment of people that have suffered for years the persecution of immigration authorities.”

Reza is hoping the play will raise as much as $10,000 of the $60,000 needed to keep the center open.

The center was the subject of a number of protests by anti-immigrant groups, such as the Minutemen, through 2008. The Tears of Lives presents the perspective of these groups, but Garcia doesn’t feel he’s getting into politics.

“The core of the issue is how do we address this broken (immigration) system and deal with the fact that families are being destroyed?” he said.

Katherine Figueroa –whose parents are still jailed after the car wash raid– recently attended the play with her grandmother. After the performance she was invited on stage to address the audience.

“Thank you so much for coming,” she said as she broke into tears. “I need you guys to help me, I need your help to get my parents back.”

http://feetin2worlds.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/play-about-immigration-raids-and-their-human-consequences-in-arizona-is-no-fiction-for-many/

James Garcia's New Play Tears of Lives a Hit: Four More Shows Added This Weekend

By Malia Politzer
Phoenix News Times
Friday, August 21 2009

Good news for those who missed watching local playwright James Garcia's newest play:

Due to overwhelming popularity, Tears of Lives will have four more shows this weekend. Ripped from the headlines of stories about recent raids and deportations, the play adds a third dimension to the much-reported immigration story: Humanity.

Tears of Lives introduces us to families whose lives have been ripped apart when a loved one is deported.

According to Macehualli Work Center director and local activist Salvador Reza, the play's reception has been overwhelming. All five of last weekend's shows were packed. Sunday's matinee was sold out.

"I think people in the audience were touched on a gut level," says Garcia. "They are seeing onstage something they've only heard about."

The production is a fundraiser to help keep the Macehualli Work Center open. Reza estimates that the first weekend raised as much as $8,000.

Tears of Lives will be showing on at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Playhouse on the Park. Tickets can be purchased at the box office, or online at www.centromacehualli.org.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2009/08/james_garcias_new_play_tears_o.php#

Morbidly aware

Morbidly aware

Painter Ricardo Islas uses memories and experience to present his gritty version of border life and Brent Beltrán puts together a cultural series on deporations
By Katherine Sweetman
San Diego City Beat
January 29, 2009

“Dick Islands is my name in English,” Ricardo Islas says, sipping his iced tea and laughing.

Growing up, Islas’ teachers told him “Richard” was his “English name.” And so Ricardo became Richard for several years; it wasn’t until he started painting that he finally reclaimed his name. “I think I went back to Ricardo just out of pride,” he says. “If painting can give you a voice, I didn’t want to pretend to be someone else.”

Islas found that voice in 1999, after enrolling “for fun” in a painting class with associate professor Robert J. Sanchez at Mesa College. “I think Robert’s been my biggest influence,” Islas says. “He saw what I was trying to create in class and helped me develop and refine my ideas. He always made it a point to show me articles and books on Chicano artists so I could see what was possible, and I was able to see that Chicano art didn’t have to be just for Chicano or Mexican people. It could also be for everyone else, too.”

Islas’ art is rife with Chicano and Mexican themes, and it often pokes at powerful, historical and even sacred topics with dark humor. It was this sort of content—images that were often flat-out gruesome and disturbing—that drew attention to his work.

“Tecato”—slang for junkie—is one of Islas’ early works that helped solidify his status in the San Diego art scene as a serious painter and muralist. The painting depicts a naked man in a bathtub. Around his arm is a tourniquet, and lying on the floor next to him are a needle and a lighter. He has a tear drop tattooed just below one of his eyes and the image of the Virgin on his chest. Across his belly is the word “CALECIA,” a slang term for Calexico, Calif., the border town where Islas grew up.

Growing up in Calexico, Islas became keenly aware of the politics of the border at an early age. He experienced the border city—the two countries and cultures—in all its positive and negative attributes. As a U.S. citizen, Islas was allowed the luxury of easily crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, but he was also aware of those without the privilege. He witnessed people jumping the fence, and the Border Patrol swooping in and picking them up for deportation.

Another early painting, “Alarma,” depicts a young man on the ground in a pool of blood. “Alarma” was inspired by the cover of a magazine by the same name, which he saw as a young kid on one of his many trips to Mexico. “It’s a memory that’s always stayed with me,” Islas says. “I couldn’t picture an 8-year-old kid looking at that stuff here in the U.S. I think it left a lasting impression on me about the terrible things that happen in this world.”

The themes of Islas’ work aren’t always so morbid. He says sometimes he does lighter work to keep his sanity and that he frequently mixes elements like children’s games and toys into his work. For a series called Toys Rn’t Us, he painted popular U.S. children’s games and gave them a Chicano-style edge. “Chicano Operation” is one of these paintings modeled after the game Operation. In Islas’ version, rather than remove bones and things from an Anglo-looking guy, you can remove popular prison tattoos from a Cholo-looking guy with a big Mexican-looking mustache.

Islas is showing some of his Chicano and border-themed work in Visual Migrations, an art show that kicks off Deportation Nation, a series of cultural events focused on the topic of deportation, including film, spoken word, music and art, happening at different San Diego venues through Feb. 7. The art show opens at Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31.

In the meantime, Islas will be busy painting new and slightly different works for a solo show opening at Voz Alta’s space in Barrio Logan on April 4. He’ll go back to his “English name” and alias, Dick Islands, for this one and move into the lowbrow sector—painting more comic and cartoon-style work that has less serious subject matter than his other paintings.

“One of the paintings for the show is of Adam and Eve and the snake,” Islas explains, “but the guy is Mexican, and so he’s killed the snake and is wearing it as a belt.”

As for the name change, “I decided to make a joke of the whole name situation,” he says, smiling. “I figured, if I was Richard, my friends would call me Dick; so I became Dick Islands—sounded like a porn star name to me.” And so, for the sake of humor, he went with it.

Depicting deportees

Brent Beltrán, an event organizer and one-half of Calaca Press, an independent publishing house specializing in Chicano literature and poetry, is featuring Ricardo Islas and other artists like him for Visual Migrations, an art exhibition kicking off Deportation Nation, a series of cultural events focusing on the issue of deportation.

Beltrán, who sometimes goes by the pseudonym Cal A Vera, says he chose Islas to be in Visual Migrations because of the Chicano artist’s dramatic depictions of border culture.

“Through his eyes,” Beltrán says, “we get to see the gritty, traumatic and sometime humorous nature of life en la frontera.”

And if the work in the visual-art component of Deportation Nation isn’t vivid or telling enough, Beltrán hopes his stance on the cruelty of deportations will come through loud and clear in the film screening of Break of Dawn on Thursday, Feb. 5, at Rosalie Hill Hall at the University of San Diego. The film’s director, Isaac Artenstein, will be on hand to discuss his film and the significance of the life of Pedro J. Gonzalez, the first Spanish-language radio broadcaster in Southern California and a singer-songwriter who spoke out against the forced deportation of thousands of Latinos in the 1930s and ’40s.

“With the recent immigration raids taking place throughout the U.S.,” Beltrán says, “we thought it’d be timely to talk about deportations now…. I think what’s happening—the separation of families—is very disturbing; it basically tears apart entire communities, and we wanted to use art as a means to say that these things are not correct.”

http://www.sdcitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/morbidly_aware/7710/