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This remains a five-alarm fire. We have just days left in our Fall Campaign and the numbers we’re seeing are not good. This is terrifying for us, especially when everything we cherish is on the ballot just one week from now.
Adam Sarvana (202) 225-2435
Rep. Raul M. Grijalva today was joined today by 32 Members of Congress in sending a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking her to highlight human rights concerns with the Mexico federal government. The letter urges Clinton to make strengthening Mexico's human rights efforts a key element of U.S. assistance to Mexico.
Rep. Raul M. Grijalva today was joined today by 32 Members of Congress in sending a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking her to highlight human rights concerns with the Mexico federal government. The letter urges Clinton to make strengthening Mexico's human rights efforts a key element of U.S. assistance to Mexico.
"While the United States immigration debate focuses on the status of migrants already in this country, little has been said about what happens to migrants before they arrive," said Grijalva, who co-chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "Traveling from Mexico or Central America to the United States is one of the most dangerous journeys in the world, and letting the violence and abuse continue isn't in anyone's interest."
Every day along Mexico's northern transit routes, Central American and other migrants are beaten, extorted, sexually abused, and sometimes kidnapped by criminal groups. In some instances this abuse happens with the direct participation or acquiescence of Mexican authorities. A February 2011 report by Mexico's National Human Rights Commission documented 11,333 migrants who were victims of kidnapping from April to September 2010. In August 2010, the bodies of the 72 migrants - including 14 women - were found in Tamaulipas, Mexico.
"What is happening in Mexico is a humanitarian tragedy," Grijalva said. "This massacre was far from an isolated event. The daily abuses suffered by migrants en route to the United States directly impact American lives, and American policymakers need to make stopping them a priority. The State Department has a responsibility to look beyond our own borders and halt these ongoing tragedies. Only a coordinated effort between the U.S. and Mexican governments can hope to end this institutionalized abuse of human rights, and that's what this letter hopes to accomplish."
The full text of the letter is below.
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Dear Secretary Clinton,
We write to express our concern for the safety of migrants in Mexico. Given the United States support for the Mexican government's efforts to combat organized crime and reduce violence under the framework of the Merida Initiative, and the transnational nature of migration, we urge you to regularly incorporate the situation of migrants in Mexico as part of the U.S. Department of State's dialogue with the Mexican government.
The horrific massacre of 72 migrants in Tamaulipas, Mexico in August 2010 raised international attention of the dangers that migrants face while traveling through this country, however since then little has been done to effectively address this humanitarian crisis. Migrants in transit through Mexico are increasingly victims of kidnapping by organized criminal groups, at times with the complicity or direct collaboration of local, state, and federal authorities. Those who denounce these abuses are frequently intimidated and threatened.
In a February 2011 report, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) documented 11,333 migrants who were victims of kidnapping from April to September 2010. Beyond kidnapping, migrants are also frequently subjected to other abuses during their journey such as torture, extortion, and robbery; approximately six in 10 migrant women are raped.
We recognize the important efforts being undertaken in Mexico to protect migrants, including reforms so that immigration violations are no longer criminal offenses and the approval of a new Migration Law in May 2011, which provides the basic framework for addressing migration issues in the country. We further applaud the intent of the Comprehensive Strategy to Prevent and Combat the Kidnappings of Migrants in Mexico which was announced by the Mexican government in August 2010. Nonetheless, we are troubled that these efforts have failed to reduce the number of abuses against migrants in Mexico and we are alarmed that massive kidnappings of migrants continue unabated.
Through the Merida Initiative, the United States has provided significant support to Mexico's Federal Police and the National Migration Institute (INM). Regretfully, agents from these same agencies have also been implicated in multiple cases of abuse of migrants. In investigations conducted by the CNDH, they found that nearly 9 percent of migrants who were victims signaled the collusion or direct participation of agents from the INM or federal, state, or local police. These abuses include documented cases of robbery, extortion, harassment and collusion with kidnapping rings. The impunity that has prevailed for crimes against migrants in transit and the failure to address corruption effectively within Mexican government agencies has greatly increased the risks faced by migrants as they travel through the country.
We believe that strengthening Mexico's efforts to evaluate performance and increase the accountability of its security forces, including the Federal Police and the INM, should be key elements of U.S. assistance to Mexico as a way to ensure that crimes and human rights violations committed by members of these federal agencies do not go unpunished. We also encourage the U.S. Department of State to discuss with our Mexican counterparts ways U.S. assistance could be directed to provide additional humanitarian assistance to attend to migrants in need.
We further ask you, Madame Secretary, to urge the Mexican government to take action to ensure the safety of migrants in transit in Mexico and the safety of those who seek to protect them from abuse. There should be clear mechanisms in place so that migrants who are abused are able to lodge complaints and receive the necessary protection, without fear of reprisals from federal agencies that might be signaled in the complaint. Migrant shelters that are under attack because of their important work to assist migrants and defend the human rights of this vulnerable group should also receive sustained support from the government for their efforts in the form of protection measures concurrent with their needs.
The current levels of abuse against migrants in transit in Mexico represent a humanitarian crisis that has been recognized by international human rights organizations across the globe. The United States, due to geographic proximity to Mexico and high levels of political and economic cooperation, has a clear interest and responsibility in engaging with Mexico to promote policies that will address the abuse of migrants as they travel in search of better opportunities for themselves and their families abroad and we hope you will address this issue as part of your bilateral agenda with Mexico.
Sincerely,
Raul M. Grijalva
Member of Congress
Howard Berman
Yvette Clarke
Steve Cohen
John Conyers
Keith Ellison
Sam Farr
Bob Filner
Charles A. Gonzalez
Luis Gutierrez
Ruben Hinojosa
Mike Honda
Jesse L. Jackson, Jr.
Hank Johnson
Zoe Lofgren
Edward Markey
James McGovern
George Miller
James Moran
John Olver
Ed Pastor
Jared Polis
Silvestre Reyes
Lucille Roybal-Allard
Loretta Sanchez
Janice Schakowsky
Louise Slaughter
Pete Stark
Edolphus Towns
Maxine Waters
Lynn Woolsey
Serving the People of Arizona's 7th District
"The industry's operations and the use of its products disrupt fragile ecosystems, destroy habitats, and pollute air, water, and soil, pushing countless species to human-induced extinction."
With just a few more days of the United Nations biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia, 140 organizations collectively called on government representatives to pursue "an immediate halt" to new planet-heating oil and gas projects and "a managed decline of existing activity."
The letter—signed by civil society groups, Indigenous peoples, and social movements—advocates "prioritizing areas of high biodiversity importance" and stresses the need for "a full, fair, fast, funded, and feminist phaseout of all fossil fuels and to halt and reverse biodiversity loss."
"Oil and gas activity threatens biodiversity at every stage—from exploration and production to transportation and end use," the letter states. "The industry's operations and the use of its products disrupt fragile ecosystems, destroy habitats, and pollute air, water, and soil, pushing countless species to human-induced extinction. The risk oil and gas activity poses to biodiversity grows as these operations expand into vulnerable ecosystems."
"Effective biodiversity protection is not possible without halting the expansion of oil and gas activity."
"Places like the Amazon, including the mouth of the Amazon River, are experiencing significant environmental and social impacts from oil and gas activity," the letter notes. "Deforestation, habitat destruction, and pollution of water sources are threatening biodiversity in one of the world's most critical ecosystems, and severely disrupting the fundamental human rights and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples."
The coalition—which includes Amazon Watch, Center for International Environmental Law, Earthjustice, Greenpeace, Oil Change International, Waterkeepers Alliance, and World Wide Fund for Nature—has a list of recommendations for attendees of the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16).
The groups want summit attendees to "recognize the threat that oil and gas activity poses to all biodiversity, particularly in areas of high biodiversity importance." Regarding such vital areas, they want attendees to "identify concrete actions currently being taken and that will be taken in the future to immediately reduce oil and gas activities" as well as "adopt a decision to immediately halt" new fossil fuel activities in such spaces.
The organizations are also calling for a "fossil fuel-free zone" in the Amazon and prioritizing "the protection of environmental and human rights defenders." According to Global Witness, at least 196 such activists were killed in 2023 alone, bringing the total since 2012 to 2,106.
Additionally, the coalition wants COP16 attendees to "enhance equitable international cooperation to ensure that countries with the greatest historical responsibility for driving biodiversity loss and the production and use of fossil fuels move first and fastest to halt the expansion of oil and gas activity, and pursue new enforceable international mechanisms, such as a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty."
"Faced with an unprecedented planetary crisis, the time is now for parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to fulfill their legal obligations and reaffirm their mandate to protect global biodiversity," the letter argues. "Effective biodiversity protection is not possible without halting the expansion of oil and gas activity, and eliminating the threat from ongoing oil and gas activity, particularly in areas of high biodiversity importance."
COP16 kicked off in Cali on October 21 and is set to wrap up on November 1. Reutersreported Tuesday that "countries were at an impasse over how to fund conservation and other key decisions... with nations pledging millions of dollars rather than the billions needed."
At COP15 in late 2022, countries finalized the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which aims to protect 30% of all land and water vital to species and ecosystems by 2030. To reach that goal, "protected and conserved areas must almost double in area on land and more than triple in the ocean, the U.N. Environment Program World Conservation Monitoring Center and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said Monday.
The IUCN also
warned Monday as part of its "Red List" that more than 16,000 of 47,000 analyzed tree species worldwide are at risk of extinction. The report followed similar warnings of wildlife population decline released ahead of COP16.
"The road to your arrest and The Hague won't be long either, you genocidal war criminal," one observer retorted.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Tuesday on social media that Hezbollah's pick of Naim Qassem to lead the Lebanon-based political and paramilitary group would be "temporary"—a remark seen by many as an assassination threat.
Hezbollah tapped Qassem, its longtime deputy chief, to lead the group following Israel's assassination of former Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last month.
"Temporary appointment. Not for long," Gallant said on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, in response to Hezbollah's move.
The state of Israel's official Arabic X account said Qassem's "tenure in this position may be the shortest in the history of this terrorist organization if he follows in the footsteps of his predecessors."
"There is no solution in Lebanon except to dismantle this organization as a military force," the account added.
Since earlier this month, when Israeli forces launched a ground invasion accompanied by a massive ongoing bombing campaign against Lebanon, nearly 2,800 Lebanese have been killed and more than 12,700 others injured, the country's Ministry of Health said Tuesday. The ministry added that 82 Lebanese have been killed and another 180 injured over the past 24 hours alone.
Since shortly after October 7, 2023—when Hamas led the deadliest single attack on Israel in its history—Hezbollah has been launching rockets and other projectiles at Lebanon's southern neighbor, killing and wounding scores of Israelis.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands is currently
weighing whether to approve Prosecutor Karim Khan's application for warrants to arrest Gallant—who responded to the Hamas-led attack by ordering a "complete siege" of Gaza that has been blamed for the starvation and sickening of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians—and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Khan also sought ICC arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders, at least two of whom have been assassinated by Israel.
Over 388 days, Israeli forces have killed at least 43,020 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children. At least 101,100 others have been wounded. More than 10,000 Palestinians are also missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the ruins of Gaza. Almost everyone in the embattled Gaza Strip has been forcibly displaced, often multiple times.
Responding to Gallant's threat, Somali-Australian journalist Najat Abdi said on X that "the road to your arrest and The Hague won't be long either, you genocidal war criminal."
Gallant's remarks came amid reports that Israeli and Hezbollah negotiators are "in the advanced stages" of hammering out cease-fire agreement that would lead to Israeli troops withdrawing from Lebanon, where they have been suffering high casualties at the hands of Hezbollah fighters.
One important unanswered question is whether Hezbollah will accept a deal to end hostilities with Israel without a cease-fire in Gaza.
"It's no secret that political spending is a huge way for billionaires to rig the system to their liking," said Americans for Tax Fairness. "Enough is enough."
A new analysis out Tuesday shows that 150 of the nation's wealthiest families have poured nearly $2 billion into this year's U.S. election—the latest evidence bolstering calls for new taxes on the super rich and an end to unlimited campaign spending.
The new report from Americans for Tax Fairness, published Tuesday, shows how spending by 150 of the richest families in the U.S. has smashed campaign spending records, with $700 million more spent than the $1.2 billion that wealthy donors poured into the 2020 campaign.
Republicans, including GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, have been the biggest beneficiary of spending by these billionaire families, including those of Miriam Adelson, widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson; SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk; and far-right activists Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein.
Trump "benefited from over $450 million of billionaire donations—more than three times as much as Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, who was the beneficiary of $143 million of billionaire contributions," reported ATF. "That's a 75%-25% split in Trump's favor."
Of the $1.9 billion that was spent on all federal campaigns by the richest families in the country, 72% or $1.36 billion went to Republican candidates, and 22% or $413 million went to Democrats.
The analysis was released weeks after The Associated Press and OpenSecretsreported Trump's small-dollar donations—those smaller than $200—made up fewer than a third of his contributions this election cycle, down from nearly half of his donations in 2020.
"Billionaire campaign spending on this scale drowns out the voices and concerns of ordinary Americans. It is one of the most obvious and disturbing consequences of the growth of billionaire fortunes, as well as being a prime indicator that the system regulating campaign finance has collapsed," said David Kass, executive director of ATF. "We need to rein in the political power of billionaire families by better taxing them and by effectively limiting their campaign donations. Until we do both, we can only expect the influence of the super-rich over our politics and government to escalate."
Trump has made clear that he would push for policies that enrich corporations and the ultra-wealthy if he wins on November 5, promising to extend the tax cuts he signed into law in 2017, which disproportionately benefited the rich. An alleged quid pro quo offer from Trump to oil executives, promising deregulation and expanded drilling if they donated $1 billion to his campaign, is being investigated by the U.S. Senate.
Harris has endorsed President Joe Biden's proposal to tax unrealized stock gains for people whose net worth is at least $100 million, and has proposed a minimum income tax for billionaires and a rollback of Trump's tax cuts.
ATF pointed out that the billionaire families in the report have managed to spend billions of dollars on the election while spending just 0.07% of their wealth.
"The median American household is worth about $200,000, making an equivalent political donation for them just $140," said ATF. "This means that a handful of billionaires have the financial political influence of more than 13.5 million ordinary families."
The group emphasized that the $1.9 billion included in the analysis "is almost certainly an undercount," both because it doesn't account for "typical flurries of last-minute fundraising" and "because there are ways of financially supporting campaigns that are anonymous or at least hard to trace back to the original donor."
"These methods include donations to so-called 'dark money' groups that spend the money on outside efforts or in turn donate it to campaign committees; and contributions to super PACs that contribute to each other in long chains," said ATF.
"It's time we end Citizens United and start taxing billionaires on their enormous, untaxed wealth gains," said ATF, referring to the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that reversed decades of campaign finance restrictions and allowed unlimited spending through super PACs.
"Our democracy and the voices of working families depend on it," said the group.