ACLU's Hypocritical Arizona Travel Alert

July 1, 2010 - The ACLU has issued a "travel warning" to people considering a visit to Arizona. According to FoxNews today: American Civil Liberties Union affiliates in Arizona, New Mexico and 26 other states put out the warnings in advance of the Fourth of July weekend. The Arizona chapter has received reports that law enforcement officers are already targeting some people even though the law doesn't take effect until July 29, its executive director said. The ACLU "warning" is incredibly - and typically - hypocritical. I'm not going to rehash the virtues of the Arizona law (SB1070) here. Instead, let's wonder here why the ACLU and others are so concerned about Arizona's alleged human rights violations, while they give the Toilet Republic of Mexico a free pass for its own gross and well-documented brutal treatment of foreigners on its own soil. Some examples: Migrants assaulted by federal agents return to their country (English tranlation from Migrantes asaltados por federales regresan a su país, June 14, 2010) As has happened in other occasions earlier this year, Mexican federal police in Chahuites, state of Oaxaca, assaulted some 300 Central American migrants riding a freight train. A priest from a shelter for transients in that area said that, “As in the previous two assaults, the agents acted brutally……..and kicked them while (the victims) were face down on the ground.” After the assault, a group of migrants complained to the National Human Rights Commission with the help of the local Salvadoran Consul. But afterward, federal police agents threatened them with firearms and demanded that they retract the allegations in front of video cameras. (Source: Tuscon Citizen) Mexico: Hold Military to Account on Rights Abuses (Mexico City) - April 29, 2009 - Mexico is failing to hold members of the military who commit human rights violations accountable, undercutting its efforts to curb drug-related violence and improve public security, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. (Source: Human Rights Watch) Mexico Human Rights - Human Rights Concerns Human rights concerns persist, particularly at the state level where violence surrounds local elections and misuse of the judicial system is common. Federal efforts to combat violence against women in the border town of Ciudad Juárez have continued with limited success. A number of human rights defenders have been threatened and at least three journalists have been killed despite proposed legislation to strengthen human rights protection in the Constitution. (Source: AmnestyUSA.org) Mexico migrants face human rights crisis, says Amnesty "Migrants in Mexico are facing a major human rights crisis leaving them with virtually no access to justice, fearing reprisals and deportation if they complain of abuses," said Rupert Knox, who contributed to the report, Invisible Victims: Migrants on the Move. "Persistent failure by the authorities to tackle abuses carried out against irregular migrants has made their journey through Mexico one of the most dangerous in the world," he added. (Source: BBC News) Time to Speak up on Military Abuse in Mexico The Mexican army's human rights record is very troubling. Soldiers deployed in counternarcotics operations have engaged in grave abuses, such as killings, torture, rape, and beatings. And if the abuses themselves aren't worrisome enough for the Obama administration, their impact on the efficacy of the drug war should be. Each time that civilians are abused, Mexican soldiers contribute to the climate of violence and lawlessness in which the cartels thrive. Worse, the force's abuses have cost it public trust and cooperation, both of which are vital to effective counternarcotics operations. (Source: Foreign Policy) Paramilitaries Kill Two Human Rights Activists in Oaxaca In Mexico, two human rights activists have been shot dead in the state of Oaxaca. The victims have been identified as Beatriz Cariño, director of the Mexican human rights group CACTUS, and Jyri Antero Jaakkola, a human rights observer from Finland. They were traveling as part of a convoy attempting to deliver aid to a town that’s been targeted by paramilitary blockades since the 2006 uprising against Governor Ulises Ruiz. (Source: DemocracyNow.org) Mexico rights agency decries slaying of reporter Mexico's National Human Rights Commission urged authorities Tuesday to investigate the killing of a reporter in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, the fourth slaying of a Mexican journalist this year.... The rights commission said in a statement that "the impunity of attacks against journalists is unacceptable." The panel says at least 61 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000 -- 12 last year and four so far in 2010. Press freedom groups say Mexico is one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists. (Source: Bloomberg BusinessWeek) With years and years of profound human rights violations on the part of Mexico's military, police and others against it's own indigenous peoples and migrants from neighboring nations, why has the ACLU not issued a "travel warning" for people going there?