Thread: "Indigenous" illegals cause havoc w/legal system

Legal system lost in translation
Indigenous languages rising in U.S. courts

By MANUEL VALDES
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MOUNT VERNON -- When immigration agents arrested 16 farm workers in a mass arrest of illegal immigrants early this year, legal advocates raced to find interpreters for the men, who spoke only a language called Mixtec.

But by the time an interpreter was found, most of the men were on their way out of the country after signing away their rights to contest deportation -- a procedure they might not have understood.

The deportations alarmed immigrant advocates in this agricultural city 60 miles north of Seattle. It also raised questions about the deportation proceedings for people who speak little Spanish or English.

"There is no way they knew what they were signing. No way," said the Rev. Jo Beecher of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Mount Vernon, one of the advocates who tried to help the men.

Although federal courts have ruled that immigration proceedings must be translated into the language of the detainee, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has no interpreters in the area who speak Mixtec -- a tonal language with several dialects -- Beecher said.

The case of the Mount Vernon men also highlights some of the clashes that are becoming more common as the growing community of indigenous peoples from Latin America meets the American legal system.

Indigenous peoples are the direct descendants of the inhabitants who lived in the region before colonial times. They have a distinct culture, languages and history than those of their Latino counterparts.

Some observers believe the migration of indigenous Latin Americans to the U.S. is increasing even as the flow of Spanish-speaking immigrates eases.

There are about 500,000 indigenous people in the U.S., according to the Bi-national Center for the Development of the Oaxacan Indigenous Communities, based in Fresno, Calif. That's only counting people from Mexico, not other countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras.

Between 10 percent and 30 percent of the farm workers in California are now estimated to be indigenous, a recent study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found. Similar growth has occurred in Washington, Oregon and Florida.

"It's been until recently that the immigration has grown to a point that the government has become aware of the language diversity," said Gaspar Rivera-Salgado, a project director at the Center for Labor Research and Education of the University of California-Los Angeles. "As more and more immigrants arrive ... authorities are not very well prepared."

Hundreds of indigenous languages and dialects are spoken in Mexico and Central America, and some of those dialects are drastically different from each other, said Rufino Dominguez-Santos of the Bi-national Center for the Development of the Oaxacan Indigenous Communities.

In Oaxaca alone -- the Mexican state where the bulk of indigenous workers in Mount Vernon have come from -- 12 different languages are spoken, Dominguez-Santos said. Fourteen percent of Oaxacans who speak an indigenous language don't speak Spanish, according to Mexican census figures. Mexico's government recognizes 162 living languages, plus about 300 dialects.

"There's a lack of knowledge by immigration agents, police and social workers that there are a lot of languages spoken in Mexico," Dominguez-Santos said.

In the Mount Vernon case, agents quickly recognized that the group didn't speak Spanish, said Lorie Dankers, ICE's spokeswoman in Seattle.

But the son of one of the arrested men volunteered to translate, and did so when 14 of the men chose "voluntary return," an option that lets illegal immigrants leave the U.S. quickly, avoiding detention and other sanctions, such as a 10-year entrance ban to the U.S.

"The supervisor observed the interview, based on the body language, he believes they fully understood," Dankers said.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/403760_i ... source=rss

These "indigenous people" are from the Yucatan region and points South. They are Central Americans, not North Americans. Northern Mexico and particularly the border region had few inhabitants, historically, until American ingenuity and technology made it habitable for large numbers of people. Eventually multinational corporations created industries and jobs on the Mexican side of the border and triggered internal migration within Mexico to staff those new jobs.

....it's been my experience that many of these so-called "indigenous" lie about not knowing or understanding Spanish when it's convenient...they've been well-coached by the pro-open borders groups about that.....most speak their native tongue and Spanish....

I have encountered some of these people. Our complexes former "maintenance man" (I highlight this as he did not maintain anything but his behind on his couch to watch cable TV), and his family spoke a little known language called Trique. The first time I heard him talk with his teen son, it startled me as truthfully, it sounded somewhat Middle Eastern. However, HE does speak Spanish as well.

Mixtec is similar to Chinese, which is just more proof these "Indigenous" migrated here from East Asia. They are migrants no different than the first American Colonists, and evidence suggests they displaced the Solutreans who had migrated here first from France.

The are called "indigenous" only to heap even more hate upon white Americans.

Solutreans

I am intrigued, this is one I will have to look up now, had not ever heard of this (it intrigues me more as my own have been here from France, since 1634 on my mothers side).

Originally Posted by AE

Solutreans

I am intrigued, this is one I will have to look up now, had not ever heard of this (it intrigues me more as my own have been here from France, since 1634 on my mothers side).

You can start here:
http://www.pbs.org/saf/1406/segments/1406-4.htm.

The MSM and politicians suppress this info.

I essay nos Englasee y mees do gooder in US. Can I have my green card now?

Thanks Bowman. Started to look in Google, and there is a lot. I found 4 of 5 videos of a documentary posted on Youtube, they do not have the last one posted yet.

Amazing how this has been suppressed from our contemporary knowledge, or even spoken of as fact, when apparently it is. The DNA codes are the clincher, and that right there, shoots down the idea of all the Mayday marchers and their claims of "we are the indigenous to this land".

Why do we not use this to show them, they have no more claims here now, nor have ever (claiming rights to U.S. sovereign land, as well as claiming "they" were first here in this continent)?

Our claims are based on facts out of scientific research, where have they gotten theirs from?

I believe that in Mexico they are referred to as Indios and are on the lowest rung of the socioeconomic ladder. The caste system in Mexico is brutal and racist. The more European blood, the higher the caste.

It is more productive and profitable for Mexico for these people to come to the States and send remittances back to Mexico. They contribute more from here than thye would in their own country for lack of opportunity. Where are the Mexican computer programmers and professional people? Do we only get the uneducated poor that need to be supported?