All Media Tele-Conference with Lipan Apache Community on Stopping Land Grab and Border Wall
NNIRR
by Arnoldo Garcia
For Immediate Release
February 7, 2008
Contact:
Peter Schey, (323) 251-3223 pschey@centerforhumanrights.org
Margo Tamez (509) 595-4445 sumalhepa.nde.defense@gmail.com
Arnoldo García (510) 465-1984 ext. 305 agarcia@nnirr.org
Indigenous People Sue Department of Homeland Security to Stop Irreparable Harm to Community and the Land, Call for Restoring Rights
What: National Telephonic All Media Conference on the Homeland Security's Land Grab and Border Wall.
When: Thursday, February 7, 2008, 11:00 a.m. Pacific; 1:00 p.m. Central; 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; (approximately 45 minutes long)
Members of the media call telephone number: (888) 296-6500
Access code: 811426#
Who:
Dr. Eloisa Tamez, El Calaboz, Texas, property owner whose land is being threatened with confiscation by DHS
Margo Tamez, (Jumano and Lipan Apache), Lipan Apache Women's Community Defense
Peter Schey, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law
Arnoldo Garcia, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Why: Dr. Eloisa Tamez is suing the Department of Homeland Security to stop irreparable harm to her community and the land on the Texas-Mexico border. Dr. Tamez is a descendent of the Lipan Apache and Basque people who were brought into the region by the Spanish colonizers to work. DHS is threatening to confiscate her land that has been held by her family and community since the 1700s. DHS has not consulted with communities in the region, as proscribed by law, and has failed to provide venues to assess the environmental, cultural and economic damages that are being caused by the militarization of the border. DHS plans would forcibly displace Dr. Tamez and other community members, fatally damaging the heritage of the region. The border wall will cause irreparable harm to the eco-systems, wildlife and the economy, including cutting off farmers from the irrigation water for their crops. The Department of Homeland Security has failed to comply with the law and has not consulted key stakeholders on the impacts of its border wall-building and militarization plans. DHS continues to harass community members as it attempts to take over private land to build the controversial border wall along stretches of the Texas-Mexico border.
CHRCL documents filed in complaint (lawsuit document will be posted soon):
http://www.nnirr.org/resources/docs/2-6-08TamezComplaint.pdf
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National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Red Nacional Pro Derechos Inmigrantes y Refugiados
310 8th Street Suite 303
Oakland, CA 94607
Tel (510) 465-1984 ext 305
Fax (510) 465-1885
www.nnirr.org
Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law
256 S. Occidental Blvd.
Los Angeles, Ca. 90057
Tel (213) 388-8693 ext. 104
Fax (213) 386-9484
www.centerforhumanrights.org
[MediaReleaseLipanApacheFeb72008PressConference2.doc]
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