On Sept. 28 Robert Bonner announced he would retire as commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). He served for four years, first as head of US Customs, then as head of CBP after Customs was merged into the Department… Read moreBorder Czar out; ICE nominee probed
From the Sept. 30 edition of the New York Bangladeshi community paper Bangla Patrika. Translated from the Bangla by the NY Independent Press Association: Federal and local law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, raided the Darul Ulum Shady Brook, a… Read moreFeds raid Connecticut madrassa for vegetables
Some 1,600 immigrants who say they were abused at the Elizabeth detention center in New Jersey between August 1994 and June 1995 have won a $2.5 million settlement from the private prison company which operated the facility. The suit was… Read moreFederal contractor to pay in detainee abuse case
From New York City’s Pakistan Post, Sept. 15. Translated from the Urdu by Mohammad Jehangir Khan for the International Press Association. A Pakistani man died of heart attack on September 9 while waiting for his deportation in a New Jersey… Read morePakistani man dies awaiting deportation in NJ prison
A recent story in New Jersey’s Asbury Park Press sheds light on a highly esoteric group which can make a claim to being an indigenous American form of Islam, the Moorish Science movement. The story concerns Lee S. Crudup, who… Read moreMoorish Science in the news
From AP, Sept. 9, via TruthOut: The deployment of thousands of National Guard troops from Mississippi and Louisiana in Iraq when Hurricane Katrina struck hindered those states’ initial storm response, military and civilian officials said Friday. Lt. Gen. Steven Blum,… Read moreIraq deployment cost lives on Gulf Coast: National Guard chief
Survivors of Hurricane Katrina who refuse to follow the mandatory evacuation order have been handcuffed as soldiers and police force them to abandon their homes. Up to 10,000 “hold-outs” are still thought to be in New Orleans, and many are… Read moreForcible evacuation of “Occupied New Orleans”
The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina may not be entirely the result of an act of nature. After a flood killed six people in 1995, Congress created the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project. The Corps of Engineers strengthened and… Read moreEnvironmental policy roots of Katrina disaster
As looting and gunfire erupt in New Orleans, the authorities are shifting their attention from a humanitarian mission to what is starting to look like counter-insurgency. “They have M-16s and they’re locked and loaded,” Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said of… Read moreNew Orleans: laboratory of counter-insurgency
Cindy Sheehan and her entourage have left Crawford, TX, as Bush ended his vacation a few days early in response to the disaster in New Orleans. She is taking her act on the road with a “Bring Them Home Now… Read moreBush: the anti-FDR
Oil prices hit new record highs, crossing $70 a barrel in Asian trading, as Hurricane Katrina threatened the Gulf of Mexico region and Bush urged residents of New Orleans to comply with a general evacuation order. A state of emergency… Read moreKatrina hikes oil over $70 mark; National Guard police New Orleans
On Aug. 13, New Mexico governor Bill Richardson declared a state of emergency for counties along the Mexico border. Governor Janet Napolitano did the same for Arizona on Aug. 15. The states of emergency allow the two governors to spend… Read more“State of emergency” in Southwest border states
