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Sep 10, 2020 69 tweets 10 min read Read on X
Truly amazing municipal govt story intersecting with business and immigration and federal law happening right now in the City of Adelanto.
Sequence so far: Councilman who brought up the vote to expand GEO facility claims this is all his idea.

Council now cuts comment 3m to 2M Image
Reasoning: They’ve received emails from across the nation. Thinking this could happen for 5 hrs, given the numbers of comments council has received.
You can hear the Mayor acknowledging the gravity of the moment. “This is a VERY big item for the future of the City of Adelanto.”

CM Jeanette wants to hear from residents.
Literally every hand up so far has been to speak on GEO. They’re currently putting down all the hands down and inviting them to re-raise for non-GEO comments.

City Clerks work hard. Even harder now that COVID puts them in the position of tech-gurus.
Follow the Owner of This Beat 👇🏽
Caller refers to CM Jeanette as “KKK Lady” (She runs the Senior Kafe Kicks Klub).

Refers to “Baseball Guy” - CM Carmago
CM Carmago, with the help of Caller of the Night, Adelanto Resident Lee, figures out the city used $120k of CARES grant money to buy itself a Mercedes van.
Context: Rent relief was also a citizen priority, and the non-agenda callers were near-unanimous in their frustration with piled up trash, dumping and the sanitary consequences.

City Manager Flores is explaining why a city that’s $6M in the hole needed 1 $120k Van w CARES funds
CM Carmago corrects the record. 2 yrs ago city got a new truck.
Flores: “This vehicle has already been purchased.”

Carmago rescinds his vote to approve a $120k van with this covid grant $$.
City Manager Flores: “But it’s a GOOD Van.”

They’re talking as though there’s just a ton of travel going on right now.
City Mayor steps in and tries to imply that CARES grants REQUIRED Adelanto to spend $120k on a Mercedes sprinter van.
Mayor asks City Econ Devel/Planning Dude Dave Martinez for details.

He says this isn’t on the agenda.

Then discussed CARES limits while not explaining why $120k Mercedes was required.
Martinez discusses some of the other things nobody’s really objecting to: $95k for computer stuff for covid $50k for a server $24k for PPE/sanitizer etc.

Burns lots and lots and lots of time on CARES talk, “including equipment”. Reader board signs, etc.

3min in, no Van.
Says van was discussed at length and approved.

Usually “with a hitch” isnt a literal thing. Here, the van has an actual hitch.

Van is a “multi-purpose Vehicle”

So. $120k Mercedes Sprinter for city personnel is legit under CARES Act, says Martinez.

Then more words.
Keep in mind, as the hour grows late across the continent, that staff intentionally moved the agenda around to do this stuff out of order. So that this would happen.
“This is gonna be a long, crazy one” - hot mic moments.
Mayor: “Drum roll please”

And public hearing on CUP-96-11 Modification to expand Adelanto has begun.

CM Carmago recuses.

Dave Martinez to present item

Mayor: “Let’s get this show on the road, brother.”
Martinez omits the part where the Council fires the guy who voted against.
Recommends approval of Modification, denial of appeal.
Javier Hernandez asks for continuance given the late hour. Wants special meeting.

Dave Martinez says (BEFORE the hearing) “there has been plenty of opportunity on this specific item for public comment”.

If that we’re true as a legal matter, they could suspend hearing & vote.
Lloyd Pilchin City Attorney asks Dave Martinez about precious actions. Dave admits its never been actually voted on by a quorum.
Given that it’s the City Council’s first action, interesting to hear what Martinez has to say now.
Shorter City Attorney:

It’s different when GEO asked for it.
CM Evans refers to Gov. Newsom guidelines of #COVID19 related meetings of great public importance.

She received 1621 emails on the GEO matter.

Wants to ensure software and tech issues smoothed out.
City Mayor questions whether appellant has any rights.
CM Evans now moves to continue hearing.

No second yet.

140 callers currently waiting.
That is 2 min per person or 280 minutes. That’s nearly 5 hours of debate.
Council is going to run to toward 3am
And the motion dies without a second.

That’s probably all she wrote.

A majority of the council chose to make 140 people whose time was cut from 3 minutes to 2 wait as long as five hours to make their voice heard.
The city chose to do its business in the dead of night.

And that’s all you really need to know.
The City Council knows exactly what it’s doing tonight.
These statements from @IC4IJ, @the_ILRC @ACLUSoCal and @MigrantFreedom are the part City officials didn’t want you to hear.
CM Evans: Question - Did we violate the 180 day rule? Martinez: Probably.

City Attorney now PUNTS to GEO’s counsel to explain the 180-day rule.
Evans is now about to LITERALLY read the Council the law they’re about to violate.
Joe Negron, GEO’s GC, says the 180 days runs from application for CUP and ends when CUP is approved if Council wishes to approve it.

Says the time’s already passed.
Basically coulda just backdated the check, says Negron.
Negron: Law says you can give a few weeks notice and post date the check.

@ChristinaFialho, who helped write #SB29, shows all the ways they’re breaking the law @MigrantFreedom and @the_ILRC helped pass.
What happened just now was huge. Negron says because the law’s new. It’s subject to different interpretations.
What GEO doesn’t know, but that CM Evans does, is that applications don’t get mailed in. You have to go in person.
Flores: other apps were submitted by mail/electronically pre-covid.
Evans gets Martinez to admit he accepted GEO’s Permit app while Office was closed.
Public Comment time 11:24 pacific

“What side of history will the City of Adelanto be on in 20 years.”
First pro-expansion commenter comes just before midnight. Virtually all of her representations of law and fact are manifestly incorrect.
Second caller in support of expansion describes ACLU lawyers as “the enemy within” and says everyone there is there for committing a crime against. That’s who he thinks is in Adelanto.
Regardless of the outcome tonight, the People have made their voices heard. And the folks who are going to vote to expand no matter what (and those who orchestrated it) have at least had to monitor this hearing and maybe even listen to these comments.
The first voice of a person previously imprisoned inside the Adelanto facility has been heard now at 12:09am PST.
Impassioned plea from a family member of a person who was locked inside: “The world is watching you.”
“Dear straight men of color on this Council. Get it together.”
Third caller in favor of expansion also falsely / mistakenly says Adelanto detains people for committing federal crimes.
Second GEO employee says if Adelanto doesn’t expand, 100s if existing EEs will lose their jobs.
If that’s true, the only reason is that GEO would shut down Adelanto in search of a more lucrative contract in greener pastures. Has GEO told EEs and the City something it hasn’t told the public?
Daughter of #FreeJoseTapete shares about her father’s experience with two years inside Adelanto.

“How do you sleep at night?”
Adelanto resident Lee, who scooped the $120k Mercedes van is back!!

Caller.
Of.
The.
Night.
@L_Toczylowski and @ImmDef up next.

Describes 9 years of work at Adelanto.
Wooooooowwww. GEO just admitted expansion will create 0 new jobs.

It’s trying to save ones it lost from CDCR shutting down.
CM Evans Q: How much more $ will the city get?

GEO: additional 50 beds from what was already being used. $273k/yr is what’s on the line for the City.

Q from Evans to Negron (GEO GC): Will GEO indemnify for this vote. Negron: Yes. GEO is responsible for the Costs.
CM Joyce Jeanette, says “poor choices” out people in Adelanto.

That’s, once again, NOT the nature of civil detention.

Says she’s been over to GEO facility and saw prisoners finding their way, one gentleman does exceptional artwork.

CM Jeanette doesn’t get it at all.
Her argument:

1. They made bad decisions that got them there.
2. Jobs
3. They’re not as bad as Mexican prisons
4. Detained immigrants have “unlimited access to everything they want”.
But her heart goes out.
Mayor Pro Tem:
Thanks everyone for staying up late.

Wants to clarify why he brought this vote back. (He already did this earlier).

He’s now going to pretend he didn’t just hear The People. It was 60-8.
He’s mad they’re not doing GEO’s business.

City can’t say $$ impact.
Mayor apologizes for his Instagram post during the meeting. Blames it on his marketing team. Marketing team? Image
Mayor’s mother is from Michoacán and father was “Mixed minority Mexican from Chihuahua”. “i am a first generation Latino from East LA”.

Offers his parents’ migrant stories from the mid-90s. They live with Someone from Honduras who’s an asylum seeker was at GEO.
2020 Tour of GEO by Mayor he learned the MAJORITY of people at Adelanto are asylum-seekers.

This explodes the myth of the criminality and security rationales advance does expansion.
“The Good Book says Obey the Laws of the Land” - SB 29 is the Law of the Land.

It’s literally 2:45a and the Mayor is proclaiming disappointment at the fact that only 10 callers participated.
Again, it’s 2:45am

Mayor is saying NOT expanding could have a negative impact.
“The organized groups who fight for a cause”.

What, exactly, does the Mayor believe GEO is? And what’s the cause they’re fighting for?
Mayor gives a shoutout to Caller of the Night - Lee!

(They still keepin they $120k Mercedes Van tho)
Law and order folks. Mayor moves. “KKK Lady” seconds. Evans no. Jeanette. Yes. Hernández. No. Reyes yes.

Hoooooly shit.
This is insane.
Wow. Okay. City lawyer says Planning Commission Act stands.

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More from @ImmCivilRights

Oct 4, 2023
Still sort of reeling from the grotesque contortion of transparency on display inside Atlanta’s City Council chamber on Monday. Once you grasp what lawyers, bureaucrats, and elected officials are doing, you’ll probably think it’s pretty gross, too. So here’s a quick explainer 🧵
To see the contradictions on display we need to understand two pieces of factual context, and view that context w/ an understanding of the purpose and text of Georgia’s Open Records law. The facts will likely be familiar if you’re seeing this tweet, so I’ll quickly rehash them.
Context 1: 23 yo Atl Police Department’s Kiran Kimbrough killed 62 year-old Deacon Johnny Hollman using a taser and physical force after Hollman called 911 for a minor traffic accident — another car collided with his. GBI opened a homicide investigation. atlpresscollective.com/2023/09/21/hol…
Read 23 tweets
Mar 16, 2022
#SunshineWeek 🧵on e-carceration, profiteering, and how long ICE has known about allegations and criminal convictions of its largest (and often, only) gps ankle shackle contractor, courtesy of DHS-OIG #FOIA
1/
Since Congress started funding “Alternatives to Detention” for migrants in the US, in the mid-2000s, ICE has received allegations of serious criminal misconduct by this contractor’s personnel. documentcloud.org/documents/2141… / 2
Allegations like this one in Miami dating back to 2007. 3/ Screenshot of April 13, 2010 Memo from DHS-OIG to ICE-OPR reScreenshot Cover page of DHS-OIG Report of Investigation on
Read 15 tweets
Mar 16, 2022
In honor of #SunshineWeek, the #DetentionKills Transparency Initiative
is releasing these recently obtained DHS-OIG offered these records of alleged misconduct and abuse by DHS contractors. You probably don’t have time to read all 547 pages. So we did. 🧵 documentcloud.org/documents/2141…
On page 3, OIG documents receiving a complaint in 2006 regarding the allegations in the litigation LeTisha Tapia’s family brought against $GEO.

Those allegations are shocking, but unsurprising.
@POGOwatchdog’s contractor database has more: contractormisconduct.org/misconduct/256…
2/x
OIG appears to have referred the allegations to ICE in early February 2007 and closed the file. Wonder how ICE responded 🤔
In the years that followed, at least three senior ICE officials who would have received this complaint from OIG went on to join $GEO’s board or C-Suite.
3/x
Read 15 tweets
Jan 26, 2021
On January 25, 2020, Ben Owen died in the Baker County Jail while being imprisoned by ICE. In its mandatory report to Congress, ICE said that agents arrested Ben because he was in the U.S. without authorization. 1/4
This was a lie. Tammy filed a marriage-based green card petition on Ben's behalf before his visa expired. ICE never shared that detail with Congress. Yesterday, Ben's widow Tammy filed notice that she intends to bring suit against the United States for wrongful death. 2/4
We, the #DetentionKills Network calls on @POTUS and @AliMayorkas to bring @ICE into compliance with the law requiring the agency to provide death reports within 30 days of a tragedy. Four people have died whose deaths ICE did not provide reports on since September 2020. 3/4
Read 4 tweets
Nov 7, 2020
Someday someone’s going to write a well-received book that compiles the public statements top lawyers in this regime made and weighs them against the statements made when subject to Rule 11 in court pleadings and tell the story of the constant delta between those statements.
Im talking about political appointees who are also lawyers, defending the policies and saying things out of court, on the one hand, versus DOJ lawyers signing pleadings and lawyer who sign declarations, on the other.
You could spend an entire chapter on the lies federal courts have caught DHS in and documented and threatened to sanction them for. Judge Hatter. Hamama. The Massachusetts covid litigation. The Mesa Verde covid litigation. Fraihat. DACA. Ms. L.

So. Many. Habeas. Cases.
Read 4 tweets
Nov 7, 2020
“Wanted by ICE*”

(Just not badly enough to go to a neutral magistrate and get a warrant because that’s how much we care about the public safety mission we say we serve: We are literally not willing to just go get a warrant for a guy we put on a billboard.)
ICE pretends the Fourth Amendment has nothing to do with public safety. They want the people reading this billboard to be okay in a world where their agents can arrest anyone, anytime, anywhere. Don’t worry, though, just “bad” guys. (And some kids)
A #FOIA I’ve been meaning to do but have to admit to myself I won’t is to seek the Fugitive Operations Worksheet or Field Operation Worksheet for the FugOps teams who are supposed to be looking for guys like this man and then measure them against ICE’s effort to pick a scary face
Read 5 tweets

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