The United States Supreme Court is hearing arguments in Arizona v. United States, the Obama administration’s challenge to Arizona’s anti-immigration law, SB1070. What they won’t be hearing is what and who has fueled this discriminatory legislation. They won’t be hearing about the money being funneled by hate groups with white supremacist and nativist ideology.

They won’t be hearing about the influence of legislators and public officials with fake reports and statistics from a web of hate which sole purpose is to inject racism into the immigration debate.

They won’t hear how the law was enacted and to what purpose.
No what they will hear is arguments over another state vs. federal fight. More political posturing and even more political agendas in display. Will justice triumph over racial profiling and discrimination fueled by supremacist and nativist fringe groups? We need to stand together in this most pressing time.

The video above by Cuéntame exposes the culprits behind the discrimination and injustice proposed by SB1070.

It is time to show that we reject this hate agenda once and for all.

Sign the pledge stating that YOU side with justice over racism!

Correction Corporation of America’s Stewart facility in Lumpkin, Georgia is the largest private detention center in the nation. It holds 2000 detainees, charging taxpayers up to $200 a night and producing yearly profits that hover between $35 and $50 million. The facility secures more income through cost cutting measures that range from denying basic necessary services to detained immigrants to limiting access to their family members.

Stewart detention center is located in a remote Georgia location at least an hour away from any sort of communication or service providers. This is primarily because CCA often buys cheap land in order to cut construction costs and increase profit margins. Relatives and representatives of those detained at Stewart find it nearly impossible to visit or communicate with the inmate, that is if they even know that he or she is being held there.

As if that weren’t enough, CCA charges inmates more than $5 a minute to make a phone call. To pay for this, inmates work in the facility and earn a whopping $1 a day. Five days of hard work gives them just enough time for a one minute phone call.

This is an intrinsic and essential problem with our current immigration system, it is putting profit over sensible policy. CCA and GEO the two larges private prison operators currently profit close to $5 billion and their share prices are at an all-time high. What is worse, local, state and federal government agencies continue to yield their power to corporations. From Florida (Southwest Ranch) to California (Adelanto) more and more Wal-Mart sized private detention centers are being co-opted with opportunistic officials and legislators. The money machine is just too perfect.

Recent anti-immigration laws in Alabama (HB56) and Georgia (HB87) guarantee that neighbor facilities will have an influx of “product.” In the past few years, CCA has spent $14.8 million lobbying for anti-immigration laws to ensure they have continuous access to fresh inmates and keep their money racket going. In 2010 CCA CEO Damon T. Hininger received $3,266,387 in total compensation.

Yet, numerous cases of abuse, neglect and flat-out exploitation have exposed the reality of the system: As long as private prisons are increasing their profits, it doesn’t matter who gets hurt or locked-up.

On November 18th, a coalition of immigrant and civil rights organizations will conduct a powerful vigil and occupation outside the Stewart facility in Georgia. The demand: Shut down Stewart Detention Center now and cancel private prison contracts. Our immigration system is broken and yet corporations seam to be reaping billions in benefits. Who cares? After all YOU are paying for it.

In the last few days there has been a barrage of media reports – spearheaded by none other than FOX News – trying to pigeonhole “Occupy Wall Street” to one community and promote a de-facto division by racial lines. This misrepresentation couldn’t be farther from the truth. Across the country from – Los Angeles to New York – the movement has shown its diversity, its unity, and its solidarity.

Corruption, greed and the hijack of our democracy cut across all sectors of our society. For this reason, the movement aptly adopts the banner of the 99%. Mainstream and corporate media have tried to diffuse our collective strength – first through an incomprehensible blackout and now into its only other possible outcome: A circus – where each image will be their attempt to caricature the thousands of occupiers.

The frontlines of the movement are truly diverse. There is no question that individuals show up because it matters, because it’s personal, and because it hits home. What we’re seeing are communities – carrying different banners, flags and messages – unified through one national movement. As the media struggles to comprehend what they’re witnessing, the images from the ground, from the movement itself cannot be ignored.

Why? The obvious answer: Wall Street’s abusive greed knows no boundaries and continues to affect us all. Let’s take the case of one section of the immigration rights movement and the abuse by private prison corporations. As anti-immigrant laws spring up, state-by state, across the country, we see the hand of Wall Street behind it. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group, the two largest private prison corporations in the country, have seen their profits skyrocket to more than $5 billion in the last year – with each individual share close to $40. Wells Fargo manages 4 million of those shares and retains a solid chunk for their services.

Meanwhile, these corporations have donated more than $20 million to the political process - hijacking state legislators and elected officials to push for more anti-immigrant laws – thereby ensuring more inmates are housed in their prisons and more profits reported in their quarterly statements. This is only one major example of greed run amuck, and one major reason why our communities have a vested interest in taking to the street in Alabama, in Georgia, in Texas, in Florida, in Indiana, in Arizona and in every state that made a buck off of human suffering.

No wonder the DREAMER movement is joining in (and a much needed mobilization) – fighting for far too long. This is the beauty of this diverse movement – it shares a common goal through the lens of many unique individuals and their many powerful stories. We can’t let corporate media dictate for whom this movement was created.

Guillermo Gomez-Sanchez is a 50-year-old legal resident with a mental disability. In 2004, Gomez was detained because of a dispute at a grocery store over a bag of tomatoes. His detention led him into a labyrinth of abuse and neglect – in an immigration system that increasingly puts profit over justice by handing the reigns to private prison corporations.

Cuéntame’s Immigrants For Sale campaign has documented the case of Guillermo, who got lost in this system, while his mother Dolores Gomez-Sanchez spent years desperately searching for answers. The problem: Guillermo was sent to a private detention facility operated by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).  Dolores approached immigration authorities, but time and again was told that because Guillermo was in a CCA facility his case was no longer their problem. At one point the only information immigration officials could offer her was that Guillermo was beaten by guards and hospitalized after requesting to use a bathroom.

Private prison corporations like CCA do not care who and how they lock immigrants up. At a rate of up to $200 per inmate per night, this is the “perfect” money scheme. As such, CCA failed to report Guillermo’s condition – why should they? The longer Guillermo was locked up the more money in their coffers. Guillermo spent two years in CCA’s detention center. At average contract rates, the operator pocketed an estimated $90,000 off of his incarceration.

According to Bardis Vakili, the lawyer handling the Gomez-Sanchez case – this is a typical case where families have a hard time locating their detained relatives.  “Getting to these big corporations represents a nightmare for people that don’t have a law degree,” he said.  Detained immigrants also don’t have the right to an attorney, which further exacerbates their struggle.

CCA along with the GEO GROUP and Management and Training Corporation currently profit close to $5 billion a year – with immigrant detention revenue representing a strong portion of their income. They view the anti-immigrant movement as a positive step to increase the value of their stock. In fact, this year CCA’s share price is at record levels, oscillating around $26. In 2010, CCA CEO Damon T. Hininger received $3,266,387 in total compensation. The more immigrants detained, the more bed spaces they can fill and the more their stock shoots up. It’s the perfect money machine and they have no intention of letting that go.

Just last year the “major three” spent close to $20 million in lobbying and campaign contribution efforts. These corporations have been tied to the passage of anti-immigrant laws such as Arizona’s SB1070 and Georgia’s HB87 in an effort standardize the criminalization of immigrants across the country. As Guillermo’s story demonstrates, the consequence of this is a system that eats immigrants up in a for-profit scheme. As Guillermo himself puts it, once you are in “it is very hard to get out.”

Why do we leave our immigration system in the hands of corporations? How many more people are suffering and lost in a system that values profit over justice? Join the ongoing discussion led by Cuéntame and its Immigrant For Sale documentary campaign.

The professional carwash industry is a $23 billion enterprise, one which more and more Americans make use of every year. If you visited a carwash lately – which judging by the latest industry report you probably have or will in the near future – you may have noticed the fast and arduous labor of carwash workers. You have seen that even in the most extreme heat or cold weather, carwash workers are hard at it – focusing on every nook and cranny of your vehicle. What you probably missed – as is the case in many carwashes across the country – is that this work is accompanied by obscene labor abuses, health hazardous conditions, employer exploitation and intimidation. Carwash workers are the face of the new American sweatshop.
Carwash operators routinely violate basic employment laws like those requiring workers be permitted to take rest breaks or have access to shade and clean drinking water. Workers frequently work more than 10 hours a day, more than 6 days a week, without even the slightest thought of overtime. In fact, car wash workers are often paid much less than the legal minimum wage, sometimes earning less than $3 an hour or working for cash tips alone. Employees who complain about the exploitative conditions at the workplace are often intimidated and threatened by car wash operators.

A majority of carwash workers are Latino and immigrants – many do not have a clear understanding of their rights, which opens the door for abusive car wash operators to take advantage. Cuéntame has launched a documentary video and a national campaign exposing the sweatshop practices and is calling for individuals who have witnessed these or other abusive conditions at their local car washes to submit there stories on their website.

Cuéntame has documented how carwash workers are subject to health and safety hazards such as constant exposure to water and to dangerous chemicals without protective gear. Workers in the industry have reported severe kidney damage, respiratory problems and nerve deterioration. Most lack health insurance, services or protection and end up using up all their earnings to pay their medical bills. It is a shameful and vicious cycle with no apparent end.

According to the Community Labor Environmental Action Network (CLEAN), an advocacy organization working to protect car wash workers’ rights, in Los Angeles, CA alone there are approximately 10,000 carwash workers that are potentially exposed to this abuse on a daily basis. This past June, the Clean Carwash Campaign helped a former Los Angeles carwash worker win an $80,000 lawsuit against his ex-employers who forced him for years to work early in the morning but prevented him from clocking in officially until later in the day. The campaign has been working to improve conditions and to ensure that carwash employers meet labor standards and abide by fair workplace practices, but there is still much more that needs to be done.

The exploitation of car wash workers is the face of a new American sweatshop, one that operates in plain daylight in our communities, in our neighborhoods and at our corner carwash. It’s time to stop turning a blind eye to it.

In March 2009, Roberto Martinez-Medina was detained and arrested for not having a driver’s license or proof of legal status. Immediately after his arrest, Medina was sent to CCA’s (Corrections Corporation of America) Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. Less than a month later Roberto Martinez-Medina was dead.

During his detainment at Stewart Detention Center–the largest private prison in the country–Medina complained of a pre-existing heart ailment, but was denied medical care over several shifts. There is no medical service available at the detention center, and the nearest hospital is at least an hour away. The main reason for this lack of basic care: CCA had cut medical care costs and other basic needs to increase their quarterly and yearly profit.

Bryan Holcomb, an ex-CCA quality assurance manager, spoke exclusively to Cuéntame’s “Immigrant For Sale” producers to expose the negligent operations at Stewart Detention Center. Holcomb assures that this malpractice is common at the facility due to ongoing cuts to basic services. From contaminated drinking water, to chemical agents being used to quell detainee complaints, Holcomb says CCA has gone to great lengths to cover up its insufficient care and mistreatment of detainees.

Cuéntame’s latest exposé highlights precisely what is wrong with America’s penitentiary system and immigrant detention centers. The continued persecution of undocumented immigrants has created a multi-billion dollar operation–private prisons with a single profit motive: the incarceration of immigrants.

States send your tax dollars to these corporations–approximately $200 a night per detained immigrant. Yet, the funding is not ensuring basic necessities for migrants waiting for their legal status to be resolved. Instead, your money is lining the pockets of CEOs and fat cats who view our immigration system as one big ATM machine. It is no surprise that these same individuals and companies have successfully lobbied for the passage of harsh anti-immigration laws across the country.

In fact, Georgia–the home of the nation’s largest private prison–just passed HB87, a de facto criminalization of immigration. Gov. Nathan Deal, who advocated and signed the bill, received thousands in campaign contributions from CCA during the last election cycle. Undocumented or not, if migrants can’t prove their legal status they’ll be shipped off and face harsh, life-threatening conditions, all while private prison CEOs rake in the cash.

CCA profited off of Medina’s incarceration, and ensured an even greater profit by denying him critical health care. The inhumane conditions at CCA facilities are directly related to their obsession in cutting costs for profit.

Cuéntame is demanding an investigation into Medina’s case. So far, all parties involved have ignored and even covered-up elements of the case. You can demand an investigation at immigrantsforsale.org.

Private prisons across the country are making a killing, and you are paying for it.

Georgia is the latest state to pass an anti-immigrant bill like SB1070, with Governor Deal expected to sign it tomorrow. Georgia is also home to the largest private prison in the country.

Coincidence? Not even close.

It’s hardly a secret that private prison corporations like Corrections Corporation of America and The GEO group, along with right-wing lobbying group ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) and a few pocketed state legislators like Russell Pearce in Arizona, have been at it–deliberately promoting and designing laws aimed at incarcerating immigrants and turning the prison system into an incredibly lucrative business.

Just last year the private prison industry secured close to $5 billion through state and government elicited contracts of which an increasing percentage is attributed to migrant detention facilities and bed spaces. An NPR report outlined how CCA aims to translate the anti-immigrant rhetoric and political void into a long-lasting cash drive–believing that immigrants will provide a fresh influx of ‘guests’ in their less then onerous ‘hotel’ cells. Even worse, CCA founder Tomas Beasly once called his scheme ‘more profitable’ than selling burgers or cars–a clear indication that any sense of justice in the prison industry will be forever trumped by cash flows and profit margins.

It is clear that for CCA, along with the GEO Group and Management and Training, immigrants are a product–one that is for sale to the highest vendor. They view locked-up immigrants as the next big share jump, stock option, bonus incentive, or any other motive that tickles their multi-billion dollar fancy. They have no shame admitting so–every year the private prison industry gets together for a major convention to essentially design strategies that will fill the more then 150,000 bed spaces they currently own.

There is always one question that lingers: What happens once these spaces are filled? Their answer: -Get the IMMIGRANTS. There will forever be an immigration issue–so what better way to stay in business? Round-em up like cattle, shackle them up by feet and hands and throw them in a cell where they’ll most likely get lost in a system ill-designed to provide justice to anyone except their self-serving patrons.

What is even more disappointing is that government officials–from the state and local levels to the federal administration–have decided to abandon any possibility for real comprehensive immigration approach. Instead they continue to allow profit-seeking corporations to fill the gaps left by inadequate policy, offering up YOUR tax dollars and creating yet another industry bubble that uses immigrant persecution as their main throttle.

The immigration debate needs a serious, integrated national and foreign policy plan–one the deals with the root of the issue. What it doesn’t need are the hands of businessmen looking to make another buck. What we get are ill-advised, constitutionally useless discriminatory laws like SB1070–laws that have caused more harm to the debate, the economy and the nation’s political discourse.

This model prioritizes profit ahead of brains. Money ahead of humanity. Greed in place of decency. It’s ‘immigration’ being put up for sale. We can no longer afford our apathy. The longer we wait to build coherent, legal solutions to the issue, the more abusive practices continue to prosper. It’s time to take a very close look at what private prisons are doing to our security, our social fabric and our Latino communities.

They are using us as scapegoats to fill the coffers–as pawns in the next Ponzi scheme. CCA, ALEC and their cronies are not in it to “fix” the immigration issue. Who are we kidding? They love it–the less immigrants to put behind bars, the less Latinos to incarcerate while waiting for proof of papers, the less individuals to get lost in the system–the less dollars deposited into their bank accounts. They don’t care about who is affected, who dies in their care, who faces persecution by the hateful laws they are peddling.

It’s all about the profit.

They are making a killing, and you are paying for it.

ChocQuibTown is set to take the 53rd Grammy awards by storm this Sunday, as they set the stage for a pre telecast performance and are the odds favorite to take Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album of the year. Their journey has not always been an easy one and their rise represents the hope of a particular community in Colombia that often battles against racism and indifference.

In their first-ever interview in Los Angeles, ChocQuibTown sat down with Cuéntame to explore everything from the success of their Grammy nominated album Oro, the roots of their culture and music to a passion for speaking out on Afro Latino issues in Colombia and around the world:

“Part of what ChocQuibTown wants to do is to include the Afro communities of Latin America and to share it all with other people who may also have a strong background and culture with African roots as we do,” says Goyo front vocalist for the band. This is precisely the roots of ChocQuibTown’s success and unlikely journey from the depths of Colombian Afro Latino community to prominence and center stage in the music capital of the world – the power and poignancy of their words and music has something to say and somewhere to go. They don’t hold back – and neither does their art – as such the rewards come fast and seemingly though deceptively easy.

It’s no wonder that if you navigate through their Facebbook page you will find ardent support from their fans and followers – with comments expressing pride and joy as they follow one of their own and shine light to an Afro identity often shunned in many Latino nations – like Colombia.

While one third of Colombians are of African descent, these roots are not always reflected in the country’s national cultural identity. Through Choc Quib Town’s positive energy and socially-conscious message, the group looks to spread awareness about a culture that is often ignored. “Music from the Pacific coast is sort of lost among the things people generally associate with Colombia – cocaine, coffee, salsa, cumbia – they don’t know much about what we call ‘the Africa inside Colombia,’” Tostao explains. “You turn on the TV in Colombia and you don’t see many Afro-Colombians. We are narrating a Colombia that does not appear in the mass media.”

Their Cuéntame interview is sure to be the first of many to come and on Sunday they will be carrying many hearts and minds with them. If music as an art is to be an expression of passion, identity and social experience then ChocQuibTown are the perfect example of how to do it.

In response to Arizona SB 1070, Outernational with Tom Morello released a cover version of Woody Guthrie’s “Deportees.” The song has spread online as an anthem to immigrants’ struggles and the effect that draconian laws such as SB 1070 are having on Latino communities.

Cuéntame -the largest Latino organization on Facebook-has now joined this collaboration with a moving music video that accentuates the need to fight for social justice and against the continuous prejudice prevalent today:

Cuéntame is an interactive online platform for social media, news, original video content, and activism, created to engage the rapidly growing online Latino community. Using new media and internet video campaigns, Cuéntame has created a quick-strike capability that informs the public, challenges legislation, and motivates people to take action on social issues throughout the country. Launched on Facebook in January of 2010, Cuéntame has grown to a community over 34,000 in just half a year.

Cuéntame has become the leading voice against SB 1070 and for a prolonged boycott against Arizona with its “Do I Look Illegal?” campaign. With a catalogue of over a dozen Arizona videos and enlisting a wide array of celebrities and personalities, Cuéntame has targeted the social networks to make sure the issue is not quickly forgotten.

Outernational has been touring non-stop for many months, revitalizing the impact of Woody Guthrie´s migrant ode. The band, known for its revolutionary message and electrified genre bending rock sound, has been at the forefront of the opposition and protest of AZ SB 1070.

Together with Tom Morello and Cuéntame, as well as the music, video, and the engaged and active fans, they are ready to continue the fight until the law is stricken down once and for all.

Arizona’s draconian immigration law is creating a wave of Latino social network activism. Following the signing of S.B. 1070, one of the most anti-immigrant laws in the country, Latinos have chosen to mobilize online in numbers rarely seen before. Within 24 hours of launching the “Do I Look ‘Illegal’?” campaign, the Latino page Cuéntame has seen an immediate response — with thousands adopting the mantra and ready to take action.

The Arizona bill has hit a nerve within the Latino community, with emotions ranging from disappointment to right out anger. The idea behind the “Do I Look Illegal” campaign is precisely to channel those emotions into a new form of social network activism. It is aimed at highlighting how the Arizona law essentially institutionalizes the discrimination and persecution of the Latino community through racial profiling.

Along with the visual campaign, there is a nationwide boycott-taking place and a video series being produced to highlight the movement. For a very long time Latinos have represented a strong economic engine for Arizona. It is often one of the most under-rated and misrepresented aspects of the Arizona economy. The spotlight almost always focuses on the effect of undocumented individuals in the state, and as the signing of S.B 1070 shows, the response is almost always backwards, misguided and a direct attack to the community as a whole.

Latinos taking part in this new wave of social network activism have not only spread the message by wearing “Do I Look ‘Illegal’?” T-shirts, signs and posts but are spreading the message of the campaign online via status updates, pictures, blogs, video and making full use of all the social media tools available. It is reminiscent of the Twitter green movement that took place last year. As such Cuéntame along with other Latino groups continue to plan actions in Arizona and Los Angeles with on-the-ground organizations to protest S.B. 1070.

The “Do I Look ‘Illegal’?” movement shows that not only have Latinos arrived in full force to the world of social media activism but that these actions are prompting massive on the ground efforts which represent the first major Latino mobilization in light of the 2010 mid-term elections. Help the mobilization, sign the petition and post the “Do I Look ‘Illegal’? message on your Facebook profiles, Twitter, blogs and continue spreading the message that a law based on racial profiling is a step backwards for all.