44 definitions by primus intra pares
(US GOVERNMENT) Agency created in 2003 by merging the enforcement arm of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) with that of the US Customs Service (see Customs and Border Protection {CPB}). It is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The ICE employs 19,000 people worldwide and has a budget of about $5.7 billion (comparable to the military budget of Algeria or Norway). It is responsible for Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) of removable aliens.
The ICE also violates international laws on human rights by deporting immigrants (legal or not) accused of a crime (this is known as exile and violates international norms of criminal justice). This program is called "Secure Communities" and of course only makes communities a lot LESS secure; it has exiled over 14,000 immigrants for petty offices such as traffic violations.
The dog-and-pony show of the ICE is its Office of Investigations (OI). This "investigates, deters and interdicts ...arms and strategic technology exports, ...money laundering, ...media piracy, smuggling (contraband, narcotics and aliens), immigration fraud, transnational gangs, ...child exploitation and pornography..." The OI basically issues press releases for publication as "news" by lazy newsmedia. The fact remains that human trafficking is a tiny affair with few reliably documented cases, and the US is not dependent on imported porn.
The ICE employs 19,000 people worldwide and has a budget of about $5.7 billion (comparable to the military budget of Algeria or Norway). It is responsible for Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) of removable aliens.
The ICE also violates international laws on human rights by deporting immigrants (legal or not) accused of a crime (this is known as exile and violates international norms of criminal justice). This program is called "Secure Communities" and of course only makes communities a lot LESS secure; it has exiled over 14,000 immigrants for petty offices such as traffic violations.
The dog-and-pony show of the ICE is its Office of Investigations (OI). This "investigates, deters and interdicts ...arms and strategic technology exports, ...money laundering, ...media piracy, smuggling (contraband, narcotics and aliens), immigration fraud, transnational gangs, ...child exploitation and pornography..." The OI basically issues press releases for publication as "news" by lazy newsmedia. The fact remains that human trafficking is a tiny affair with few reliably documented cases, and the US is not dependent on imported porn.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a surplus agency of the US government that mostly duplicates the efforts of Customs and Border Protection and Citizenship and Immigration Services. It operates a gigantic, corporate-run incarceration system that surpasses anything Kafka, Orwell, or Solzhenitsyn ever wrote about.
by primus intra pares June 17, 2010
Civil rights organization that collects information about hate groups. SPLC-affiliated lawyers also file lawsuits to enforce the constitutional rights of Americans who are denied them by the authorities.
As the name implies, beneficiaries of the SPLC include people who are poor, and require legal protection from either racist violence or abusive, indifferent agents of the state.
As the name implies, beneficiaries of the SPLC include people who are poor, and require legal protection from either racist violence or abusive, indifferent agents of the state.
Bernard Monroe Sr., an elderly black man, was shot to death on his front porch by a white police officer who had entered his house in Homer, La., without apparent justification or a warrant. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a wrongful death lawsuit that alleged two white officers created a volatile situation when they entered Monroe's property during a gathering of his family and friends on Feb. 20, 2009.
by primus intra pares June 17, 2010
(US GOVERNMENT) Agency of the Department of Homeland Security tasked with the enforcement of US border protection and with the investigation of violations.
Created in 2003 from the former US Customs Service (Homeland Security Act); accounts for approximately one-fifth of the DHS's total budget. Budget is greater than the entire defense budget of Colombia, Taiwan, or Iran. It employs 52,000 people, including 17,000 border patrol agents, 1000 air and marine agents, and 22,000 port inspectors.
Created in 2003 from the former US Customs Service (Homeland Security Act); accounts for approximately one-fifth of the DHS's total budget. Budget is greater than the entire defense budget of Colombia, Taiwan, or Iran. It employs 52,000 people, including 17,000 border patrol agents, 1000 air and marine agents, and 22,000 port inspectors.
The Villarreal investigation is among scores of corruption cases in recent years...
...Department of Homeland Security officials have reconstituted an internal affairs unit at Customs and Border Protection, one of the largest federal law enforcement agencies, overseeing both border agents and customs officers.
When the Homeland Security Department was created in 2003, the internal affairs unit was dissolved and its functions spread among other agencies...
(NY Times, "Border Agents, Lured by the Other Side"--27 May 2008)
...Department of Homeland Security officials have reconstituted an internal affairs unit at Customs and Border Protection, one of the largest federal law enforcement agencies, overseeing both border agents and customs officers.
When the Homeland Security Department was created in 2003, the internal affairs unit was dissolved and its functions spread among other agencies...
(NY Times, "Border Agents, Lured by the Other Side"--27 May 2008)
by primus intra pares June 17, 2010
(US GOVERNMENT) Immigration and Naturalization Service: former agency of the US government responsible for the enforcement of immigration law, and the processing of visa/permit requests. The INS and its successor (see below) are justly famous for treating millions of hardworking, intelligent, and creative people with the most demeaning, barbaric sort of bureaucratic cruelty imaginable.
After the attacks of 11 September 2001, Congress passed a bill creating the Department of Homeland Security (DHS); the INS was split up into its enforcement functions (which became part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its processing functions (Citizenship and Immigration Services, or CIS).
Prior to its dissolution in 2003, the INS was part of the Department of Justice. The CIS and ICE are both part of the DHS.
After the attacks of 11 September 2001, Congress passed a bill creating the Department of Homeland Security (DHS); the INS was split up into its enforcement functions (which became part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its processing functions (Citizenship and Immigration Services, or CIS).
Prior to its dissolution in 2003, the INS was part of the Department of Justice. The CIS and ICE are both part of the DHS.
Because of its extraordinary power over the lives of millions of US nationals and residents, the Immigration and Naturalization Service gained lasting notoriety. Seven years after it was superseded by the CIS, most people associated visa regulations with the INS.
"Brother from Another Planet" was a brilliant parody of INS agent behavior.
"Brother from Another Planet" was a brilliant parody of INS agent behavior.
by primus intra pares June 16, 2010
(ECONOMICS) an official definition of poverty, in which one third of one's income is spent on food. "Food," here, is defined as the most cost-effective way of meeting basic nutritional needs.
The definition has one advantage, which is that researchers can get comparable information about poverty for any country in the world. The disadvantage is that it's arbitrary (why one third? why food? why not shelter, health care, and heating?); the other is that the cost of living varies dramatically in different neighborhoods in different cities of different US states, yet the poverty level is the same (expressed in dollar amounts) everywhere in a given country.
A better measure is the self-sufficiency standard.
The definition has one advantage, which is that researchers can get comparable information about poverty for any country in the world. The disadvantage is that it's arbitrary (why one third? why food? why not shelter, health care, and heating?); the other is that the cost of living varies dramatically in different neighborhoods in different cities of different US states, yet the poverty level is the same (expressed in dollar amounts) everywhere in a given country.
A better measure is the self-sufficiency standard.
Living under the official poverty level can be a lot worse in affluent communities like San Francisco, where the cost of basic necessities is very high. On the other hand, it's also a lot worse in areas such as rural Mississippi, where public amenities (such as libraries equipped with computers for public use) are rare.
by primus intra pares July 12, 2010
(HISTORY-VIETNAM, LAOS, CAMBODIA, USA) War between Communist forces native to the region and anti-Communists from several countries. Waged 1955 to 1975; ended in complete Communist victory. Probably 2.5 to 3.5 million people were killed, mostly in Vietnam, but also in Cambodia (1968-1975) and Laos (1953-1965).
US forces sent to prop up totally artificial "republic" in the south of Vietnam; helped Ngo Dinh Diem fake elections and suppress the population until he tried to cram Catholicism down throats of the Buddhist majority. Killed during coup d'etat 3 weeks before Kennedy assassinated. Military junta ran South Vietnam until it was defeated by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). The US military referred to the PAVN as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), and resistence in South Vietnam itself as "Viet Cong."
In Cambodia, war crept across the border as a result of Ho Chi Minh Trail; ruler, Norodim Sihanouk, tried to contain it through negotiation but in 1970 overthrown by a CIA coup; military junta totally useless and Khmer Communist Party formed an alliance with supporters of the monarchy (GRUNK). Named "Khmer Rouge" by Sihanouk before 1970.
In Laos, pitted Pathet Lao (Communist) against Royal Lao Army. RLA extremely poor, and Western assistance was much less than that of Communist Vietnam. Heavy US bombing there & in Cambodia.
The collapse of South Vietnam in early '75 allowed a total rout of the anti-Communist forces in Indochina.
US forces sent to prop up totally artificial "republic" in the south of Vietnam; helped Ngo Dinh Diem fake elections and suppress the population until he tried to cram Catholicism down throats of the Buddhist majority. Killed during coup d'etat 3 weeks before Kennedy assassinated. Military junta ran South Vietnam until it was defeated by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). The US military referred to the PAVN as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), and resistence in South Vietnam itself as "Viet Cong."
In Cambodia, war crept across the border as a result of Ho Chi Minh Trail; ruler, Norodim Sihanouk, tried to contain it through negotiation but in 1970 overthrown by a CIA coup; military junta totally useless and Khmer Communist Party formed an alliance with supporters of the monarchy (GRUNK). Named "Khmer Rouge" by Sihanouk before 1970.
In Laos, pitted Pathet Lao (Communist) against Royal Lao Army. RLA extremely poor, and Western assistance was much less than that of Communist Vietnam. Heavy US bombing there & in Cambodia.
The collapse of South Vietnam in early '75 allowed a total rout of the anti-Communist forces in Indochina.
At the time, journalists tended to speak of the Second Indochina War as three different civil wars, but in reality it was three local movements fighting a foreign occupation (and local collaborators). After the war, a third conflict erupted between Cambodia and Vietnam; the rulers of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge, murdered an unknown but enormous number of their own people, then were crushed when they went to war with Vietnam.
Laos, tragically, remains horribly affected by huge numbers of unexploded mines.
Laos, tragically, remains horribly affected by huge numbers of unexploded mines.
by primus intra pares July 21, 2010
(IRANIAN HISTORY) alternative spelling of Muhammad Mossadegh, democratically elected prime minister of Iran (1951-1953).
Because Iranian names are spelled with a modified version of the Arabic alphabet, there is some controversy over how to spell names like "Muhammad Mussadegh." Sometimes, for example, his name is spelled "Mohammed Mossadegh."
Muhammed Mussadegh struggled all his life to free Iran from colonial rule.
Muhammed Mussadegh struggled all his life to free Iran from colonial rule.
by primus intra pares July 17, 2010