Rep. Jared Golden's Staff To Constituent: ICE Roundups Not An Issue In Maine's 2nd District (Despite Arrest Of 6 In Rangeley)

The above post is from fierce and relentless child welfare crusader Mary Dunn, who's now on her way to stand outside the Homestead child detention center in Florida and shout:

¡No Estan Solos! (You all are not alone!)

Mary called her alleged representative in Congress, Rep. Jared Golden. Of course she didn't get to speak with him, just a staffer in his DC office. She wanted to know Golden's position on the recent ICE roundups terrorizing citizens and immigrants alike.

In case her words are hard to read above, I'll transcribe them here. (Link added by me).

She said that he believes that since this is an issue that doesn't really affect Maine's district 2 that it's not really on his radar! Holy shit! I informed her that 5 people were just rounded up in Rangely and last I knew that was in District 2 so that does affect him and his district.  

And reminded her that even if there was no ICE presence in Maine, which there is, this is affecting the entire country on his watch. And as a member of the United States Congress he will be remembered for how  he responded to this defining moment in our history. She was like whatever. It was clear she could care less. 

PLEASE call Golden's DC office and demand he respond appropriately to this crisis. Demand he work with congress to undo this mess that Trump and his administration is carrying out. Tell him to stop the ICE roundups. 1-202-225-6306.

Jason D. Owens and Senator Susan Collins of Maine (photo credit: Maine Beacon)

In searching for an article about the Rangeley ICE raid to link to, I came across this chilling quote from a Border Patrol officer in Maine who has been identified as a member of the now
archived racist and violently misogynistic "I'm 10-15" closed Facebook group:

"These arrests further illustrate the value of information provided by the public," 

Jason D. Owens, chief patrol agent of the Border Patrol in Maine, said in a statement obtained by The DCNF. "With our limited resources, 

we rely on the public to assist us by reporting suspicious activity."

So, there are informants eager to snitch on hard-working brown people in Maine. Once again, this history major is horrified, but not surprised.

What suspicious activity? you may be wondering. Here's what the Houston Chronicle reported about that: "Jason Owens, Border Patrol chief in Maine, said illegal contract labor deprives employment opportunities for those who are lawfully authorized to work in the U.S."

So I'm guessing Rep. Golden's staff would say he is also unaware of a major economic factor in staffing for the summer tourism surge in Maine each summer. Here's the Portland Press Herald on July 7 this year: "Summer labor crunch hits Maine businesses hard." 

Or maybe it's just about the gratuitous cruelty to fan the flames of his base for Golden, too.

Jared Golden's staffer will probably be reprimanded for being too honest about her boss's indifference to ICE raids in Maine.

When the DC office opens today, I'll be calling to echo Mary's demand for accountability from our elected representative. But I'll go easy on whoever answers the phone.  Likely that person will be young, idealistic, and imagines herself motivated to serve the public good. 

One thing is for certain. She or he is in the belly of the beast. Possibly she is starting to figure that out. Part of our job is to help her.

Close The Camps! National Disgrace! We Do Not Consent! Heard By ICE Agents At South Portland Sit-Down As 14 Protesters Issued Citations

Michael Cutting with a warning for us all (photos mine unless otherwise noted)

Yesterday at the ICE facility in South Portland, Maine, I joined about 50 people horrified by the torture of children in concentration camps, children who are caged and denied basic hygiene after being separated from their parents and other family members.

It was so hot that my phone quit working after the first 40 minutes so I did not get all the photos I had hoped to get. The Bangor Daily News and Portland Press Herald both covered the action and showed the 14 people who sat down and refused to move until the camps are closed. They were issued citations after a long time sitting on hot pavement. My sheroes and heroes, all.

Ably led by Catholic Worker Jessica Stewart from her wheelchair, the action repeated one a year ago for the audience of Homeland Security employees. Message for this target group: "just following orders" will not excuse you morally. It will not even protect you under international law when the torture of children is finally adjudicated.

Heed our warning now: exert your moral agency, and step away from doing evil.

I was so hot that I got a migraine, and on the drive home reflected that I had failed to ask the officers if any of them were members of the notorious "I'm 10-15" closed group for Border Patrol agents now archived (with a name change) on Facebook.

Border Patrol agent Jason D. Owens with Senator Susan Collins, who has shown a great fondness for fascism since the demagogue with bad hair was elected in 2016.

The head Border Patrol agent in Houlton, Maine,  Jason D. Owens, was a member of the group before it caught the attention of ProPublica and vanished.

The group's posts regularly featured sadistic memes and jokes aimed at "tonks" which is apparently what these cops call migrants based on the sound it makes when their heads are struck with a flashlight.

In case you're wondering why we protest.

In case you're wondering why I didn't sit down, too, it's because I'm still out on bail for my arrest blocking the road at a war ship launch by Bath Iron Works on June 22.

Another member of the Inouye 22, Ashley Bahlkow, was in SoPo yesterday with her husband and their 2 year old. We were both avoiding arrest for the same reason. When I remarked on the numerous reporters present, she observed that news outlets in Maine are a lot more reticent about covering protests of General Dynamic$, which owns Bath Iron Works.

Another friend I saw that did risk arrest was organizer Mary Dunn. It was a first time for her and I was super proud of her endurance and commitment. She has been holding weekly "close the camps" vigils on Fridays in Waterville, Maine and has just recently connected with Jessica Stewart. These women are formidable and I can't imagine having better advocates for justice for children.

Elizabeth Leonard was also on hand playing guitar and leading songs to keep morale up. Based on Mary's post about the experience, it sounds like it worked.

Photo credit: Brianna Soukup, Portland Press Herald

I had worried that the group that sat down could not hear us chanting and singing because they were directly behind the exhaust pipe of a Homeland Security truck that sat idling for two hours (all of them appeared to be content to waste fuel and spew CO2 while their trucks were parked).

While the sit-down was underway, we were informed that ICE had arrested six people in Rangely, Maine. A very small town high in the Western Mountains, and the type of tourist destination that is scrambling to staff its hospitality business as the federal government continues to prosecute those willing to travel far from home to work at those jobs. Cruelty is not very rational when it comes to economics.

How many people refuse to vacation in the U.S. as they boycott the cruelty? We'll never know for sure, but I know some individuals personally who are boycotting. And I can't say that I blame them.

Maine was once Vacationland but today will break a record for hottest ever recorded in Portland. The evil empire seems determined to go full throttle off the moral and environmental cliff.

I'll keep protesting until I literally cannot continue. See you in the streets.

With my friend Jacqui Deveneau yesterday. (Photo credit: Robin Farrin)

Protest wherever you go! To order a t-shirt with my sign design on it you can click here. Proceeds go to RAICES, a legal advocacy organization working directly to support migrants and asylum seekers. Thanks to my childhood friend Rebecca Northcutt for setting that up and spreading the image around Santa Cruz, California. We are allies from coast to coast demanding: CLOSE THE CAMPS!

National Disgrace #NoBabyJails #CloseTheCamps

Federal Building, Bangor, July 3, 2019. Both Maine's senators have offices there and received visits from angry constituents who want concentration camps for kids closed NOW.

About 20 people gathered in Bangor today in solidarity with hundreds of other places where people are heading into the Independence Day holiday thinking about a national disgrace: concentration camps for children. Camps where the children are mistreated, starved, deprived of medical care, clothing, soap and beds. 

Most in the U.S. are waking up to the fact that their government is cruel, deliberately evil, and not responsive to humanitarian appeals.

Native Americans and Black people understandably are not expressing the same levels of shock at forced family separations, forced relocation, and being kept in horrible detention facilities without access to due process.

Neither Facebook nor Instagram could post photos from the protests today.

TV news reporters were on hand in Bangor, but a station whose reporter tried to film office visitors to Senator Susan Collins was denied.

Constituents were giving statements to office staff there in a completely nonviolent way, while some of us continued holding signs outside.

A 2 year old in a tutu wandered onto the lawn and an alarm went off. An armed security guard hurried over to kick the child off the federal building lawn. It was about 87 degrees, and the pavement was hot.

That didn't stop another family from making chalk drawings on the sidewalk.

The youngest child looked about 3 and said spontaneously at one point, "I wuv you, dad."

"I love you, too," his dad said. I'm sure we were both thinking about all the little boys and girls separated deliberately from the people who love and hug them.

We used the bullhorn for some chants:

NATIONAL DISGRACE! NATIONAL DISGRACE!

and

WHAT DO WE WANT? CLOSE THE CAMPS! WHEN DO WE WANT IT? NOW!

Lots of people honked and waved, except one lady in a big pickup truck from Arizona parked across the street and shook her head in apparent dismay at our messages. At one point she even flipped my husband the bird. As we departed, she was blasting a patriotic country western song about how glad she was to live in the USA and be free.

"Too bad the children in the concentration camps aren't free," I commented as I passed her open window. She made no reply. 

Pollsters are reporting that on the eve of this 4th of July, pride in the U.S. government is at an all time low.

No shit.

Testimony gathered by attorneys allowed in to child concentration camps in El Paso, Texas

Will these camps be the issue that finally brings the empire down?

We can only hope.