Keep Austin Criminal
Austin Autonomedia: Keeping Austin Criminal
Revolt, of the sort that exceeds the form of permitted street marches and sign-waving rallies, has rarely manifested in Austin’s streets. As such, its occurrences–such as the wave of activity that came with the George Floyd rebellion–deserves attention and uplifting in our historical memory. Four years ago, at the beginning of the Trump’s term, one such revolt manifested in the Rundberg area in North Austin.
Edit 02/2024: This location appears to be permanently closed
In recent struggles against I.C.E., deportations, and all the state apparatuses that reproduce the violence of borders, there has been a shift from making demands of politicians to directly targeting the contractors, detention centers, and infrastructure that make these operations possible. The wisdom of this strategic maneuver is its recognition of the organization of power in our world–wherein power flows not primarily through the halls of politicians, but in the mundane infrastructure that reproduces this society and its violence. An important portion of this infrastructure, particularly in the context of the deportation machine, is the transportation and logistics infrastructure–that is, the vans, buses, and other means by which the State transports incarcerated migrants. This circulatory system keeps assorted offices, processing centers, and detention facilities connected. Sometimes, this infrastructure is managed directly by the State–whether I.C.E, Border Patrol, or DHS. However, in many places this infrastructure is contracted out to other private companies.
Continue reading “Tracing ICE Infrastructure: Trailboss, Hutto Location”
Autonomous Student Media: Gestures Towards the Ungovernable
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year on contracted services, which include everything from IT and technical support to chartered flights and ground transportation. Dozens of companies grow rich from giving ICE the tools they need to surveil, incarcerate, and deport an ever-increasing number of migrants.
ICE also pays individuals for services, and among them is Todd A. Radford. A career cop, Radford is currently the police chief of Lakeway, Texas, an 82% white suburb of Austin with a 3.3% poverty rate. Radford has a combination of criminal justice and business degrees, and makes money on top of his police chief salary from giving lectures. The average salary of a police chief for a town the size of Lakeway is about $90,000/year.
ICE has paid Radford an average of more than $11,000 a year for these lectures. One lecture is billed as “a unique training geared to law enforcement management”, and the other is simply described as “law enforcement training”. One can imagine the pearls of wisdom Radford has gained after 30 years of doing capitalism and nationalism’s dirty work. As the police are given more and more money, discretion, and military equipment, ICE is eager to cozy up behind the thin blue line with them.
People who live near the US/Mexico border and people suffering from poverty alike know how militarized cops of all stripes have become. Collaborations like the one between ICE and this police chief can only further harm migrants, racialized people, and poor people as cops of different stripes become more and more comfortable with sharing knowledge and information. This collaboration between Radford and ICE is above and beyond what the infamous SB4 requires of law enforcement. Radford denounced the law in 2015 while he was running for Travis County Sheriff. Unsurprisingly, he does not actually give a shit about the people he criminalizes.
Close the lines of communication between the pigs and open the borders!
Got a story you need to tell? Publish it with us! Send us your opinion pieces, art, zines, reviews, news, statements, report-backs, or anything else you wanna see put out in the world. We take all kinds of content, with an eye towards marginalized perspectives and news about movements & revolutionary organizations. Submit content to austinautonomedia [@] autistici [dot] org.
A submission from Mapache. September 28th marked two weeks since they were deported.
windows just big enough to see the flags they used to lock me up
but we all saw this coming
it was just a matter of time
tossed in the back of a van and taunted with threats of being sent back to a home i dont remember
kidnapped
taken by cowboys who would die for those 3 colors which persecute me
the same 3 colors which destroy the countries my cellmates seek refuge from
they guard the entrance to this prison
and haunt my only view of the outside world
red, white, and blue
judge, jury, and executioner
Write a letter to Mapache at the upcoming letter writing night for Mapache & Red Fawn, being hosted by the Austin Anarchist Black Cross and the Autonomous Student Network.
Got a story you need to tell? Publish it with us! Send us your opinion pieces, art, zines, reviews, news, statements, report-backs, or anything else you wanna see put out in the world. We take all kinds of content, with an eye towards marginalized perspectives and news about movements & revolutionary organizations. Submit content to austinautonomedia [@] autistici [dot] org.
Autonomous Student Media: Gestures Towards the Ungovernable
This is the first edition of what we hope will be a regular column. Here’s a roundup of the shit that went down recently that we think is relevant (plus some radical reflections on those events). This week features news about Central Texas political prisoner & anti-borders activist Mapache, a climate of Islamophobia and recent attacks in Austin, & a pathetic “Free Alex Jones Rally,” that occurred over the weekend.
Continue reading “What Starts Here: Islamophobia, Fascist Crybabies, & Mapache Deported”
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Mapache has lived through a nightmare many people can’t even imagine. In late July, Mapache spoke with It’s Going Down on This Is America, reporting on an ongoing encampment protesting ICE deportations, forced child separations, an mass roundups. About a week after our interview, Mapache was picked up by ICE officials, as they knew his DACA was up. Upon being arrested, he was visited by the FBI, who gave him a choice of either informing on his comrades who were simply involved in protesting ICE, or staying locked inside a detention facility – he chose the later.
made it to monterrey! pic.twitter.com/skuC1g8vsy
— mapache (in mexico) (@mapachelibre1) September 16, 2018
As The Intercept wrote:
After Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a longtime U.S. resident protesting against ICE in San Antonio, Texas, the FBI stepped in for an interrogation, telling the resident, 18-year-old Sergio Salazar, that his immigration status had been revoked because he was a “bad person.” The FBI agents asked him to inform on fellow protesters and said if he did so it could help his immigration case.
“It seems evident that he was targeted here because of his involvement in the anti-ICE protests,” said Jonathan Ryan, Salazar’s lawyer from RAICES Texas, an immigrant advocacy group. “We’re very concerned about how directed and targeted and aggressive and quick this was.”
Despite having no record, authorities used Mapache’s involvement in the protest as a pretext for his repression. After refusing to talk to the FBI, Mapache was then moved to another detention center run by a private corporation several hours away. Here, with hundreds of others, he remained for about a month. During our conversation, we talk about the conditions within the facility, the people within it and their stories, and the impact of the Abolish ICE movement.
Finally, after about 40 days, Mapache decided to opt to be deported to Mexico. While this means that he left the prison behind him, it also meant that for 10 years he is banned from returning to the United States, where he has lived almost his entire life.
It’s been one month too long without our dear friend. We want him out NOW.
Please support the fundraiser to help him while he’s inside & when he gets out. https://t.co/EKKFdrBO8J pic.twitter.com/lrLGIrrxug
— Abolish ICE SATX (@abolishICEsatx) September 4, 2018
In this emotional and heartfelt discussion, we talk about the arbitrary and violent nature of the deportation machine, the irony of a system that represses migrants yet depends on their labor, the struggles and humanity of those locked inside detention centers, and the brutality and psychosis of those that don badges to uphold the racial order.
More Info: Get at Mapache on Twitter and donate here.
Got a story you need to tell? Publish it with us! Send us your opinion pieces, art, zines, reviews, news, statements, report-backs, or anything else you wanna see put out in the world. We take all kinds of content, with an eye towards marginalized perspectives and news about movements & revolutionary organizations. Submit content to austinautonomedia [@] autistici [dot] org.
Submission from Mapache, a community activist incarcerated by ICE.
It has been over one month since ICE kidnapped community activist Sergio Salazar aka Mapache. On September 14th, he was deported–a decision chosen by Mapache in order to get out of the cage faster, and a result of the corner he had been backed into by the feds. Through his friends in the (now de-camped) Abolish ICE SATX camp, we have received and are republishing this poem he wrote while being held in the Webb Detention Center. We look forward to publishing more works from Mapache soon. We also encourage you to attend the upcoming letter writing night for Mapache & Red Fawn, being hosted by the Austin Anarchist Black Cross and the Autonomous Student Network.
Submission from participants in Abolish ICE SATX. If you read this story, we ask that you please donate to help Andres and Margaret get back on their feet!
About two weeks ago, Andres Mancilla was deported without warning. Andres, a permanent resident, was detained by ICE about a year ago and subject to horrific mistreatment and neglect. His fiance, Margarita (aka Margaret), dropped everything to follow Andres as he was moved throughout the immigration prison system. This brought both of them to San Antonio, where Margaret came into contact with local activists. Together, they followed Andres to the processing facility at 3523 Crosspoint Drive, from where he was then sent by bus to be held at the Pearsall Detention Facility. It is because of Andres and Margaret that we even know of the Crosspoint facility’s existence. Andres’ story and Margaret’s energy helped lay the foundation for Camp Cicada.
Continue reading “Justice For Andres: Abuse, Mistreatment, and Retaliation by ICE”
Republished from a document produced by Revolutionary Horizon
Click through the images to see the agents that have been identified with photos & social media profiles. Below are agents who have not yet been matched with a social media profile or photo.
If this interests you, check out this article regarding an anti-ICE & anti-fascist alert system set up by organizers in San Antonio.
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Editor’s note: On Saturday, March 24th, The Autonomous Brown Berets de TejAztlan, SATX chapter, attempted to disrupt the local Cesar Chavez march, which had become nothing more than a liberal parade that failed to uphold Cesar’s politics. In particular, they were protesting the parade’s collaboration with the police (i.e. the strikebreakers of the ruling classes) and their refusal to endorse a boycott of an exploitative agricultural corporation, a direct affront to everything Cesar Chavez fought for.
We are republishing this report back in order to break the media silence around what happened yesterday. Despite numerous journalists with cameras taking photos of the disruption and the police repression it encountered, not a single news outlet even mentioned the protest or its content in their articles. We in Austin know too well how the police will silence stories and keep their media contacts in line, so that nothing that serves as bad press for the cops will make it onto a story. We encourage all who read this to share this article, spread the word, to recognize who the cop collaborators & enemies of the people are, and to discredit those who would seek to use Cesar Chavez’s image in service of exploitation and oppression.
Continue reading “¡Viva La Huelga! Report-back from San Antonio’s Cesar Chavez March”