Missing from Mexico (http://missingfrommexico.com/category/what/blog-updates/)
what’s happening at Missing from Mexico
Starting this month, I’m forwarding missing persons reports submitted to Missing from Mexico (through the blog and / or social media) directly to Colibri Center for Human Rights. They also take reports directly here. Also this fall is bringing several new projects. I’m excited about them and hope to share more about them here in the future. In the meantime, Missing from Mexico will be going on indefinite hiatus.
Julie Rosen, Acting Director of CPLC’s domestic violence shelter in Phoenix, Ariz. – from Rebekah Zemansky on Vimeo.)
dc/vawa: Julie Rosen (rough cut) from Rebekah Zemansky on Vimeo. In the fall of 2010, I did a story that grew out of the same reporting behind this blog (Unidentified Dead Common on the Border) for Cronkite News called Trapped in violence: Undocumented abuse victims face hurdles. The story explored how provisions in The Violence Against Women Act are designed to help undocumented women who are experiencing domestic violence, women who may be less likely to report or leave situations that are dangerous for themselves and their families because they are afraid of deportation and family seperation (especially if their abuser has legal status in the U.S.). Extra material from the story became a supplementary page, Undocumented Abuse.
It may be noticeable that things have slowed down a bit here this summer… The good news: I’ve been hired for a project with JCCF. The bad news: I have to put this blog on an indefinite hiatus while I work on it, as I just can’t keep both going at the same time. When I get back, one thing I’ll be doing here is exploring ways in which the material for the two projects, immigration and domestic violence, overlap. In the meantime this recent article, Top Immigration Court Hands Huge Win to Battered Women Seeking Asylum, on a recent Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision regarding asylum is one example.
Manuel Cortez Rodriguez was born in Moroleon Guanajuato, Mexico and he was 31-years-old when he contacted his family on November 3, 2011. Rodriguez was planning on crossing the U.S.-Mexico border very soon somewhere between the states of Arizona and Sonora. November came and went without either his arrival or any further communication. So did the months that followed. Today Rodriguez’s family is still trying to find out what happened.
When Eddie contacted me in August 2011 neither of us knew how long the search for his brother-in-law Andy might last. After working with law enforcement, humanitarian volunteers, activists and the medical examiner, Andy’s family is still waiting for answers. Some have consulted psychics known as brujas. Some have driven the highways of Arizona stopping at local hospitals, police stations and prisons. Others have retraced Cota’s route from Tijuana to Cananea, posting flyers with his name and photographs along the way.
If news links weren’t enough in 2012, get ready for news summaries: Missing from Mexico’s News article highlights & updates page will now be listing a series of weekly border news roundups that I’m writing for the Tucson Sentinel. They’ll also be available under the drop-down menu for news in the navigation bar above ^ . In addition Missing from Mexico’s News article highlights & updates page will still have extra articles (including topics like forensics or immigration in other countries). Plus all these links and more are regularly going into Missing from Mexico’s database of articles, radio pieces, video and official reports about border issues, forensics and reporting.
One year ago today, this blog started with its very first post. Since then the goal has been to follow Eddie’s search for his missing brother-in-law, Andy, while also expanding coverage of related border issues including missing persons and forensics cases. A lot has happened already. There’s been ups: MfM has gone social with a Twitter account and a Facebook page. The growing database of articles, radio pieces, video and official reports about border issues, forensics and reporting is constantly growing with with room for many, many more submissions.
Need a place to start research or just want to learn more about border issues? Missing from Mexico’s database of articles, radio pieces, video and official reports about border issues, forensics and reporting is now over 1000 entries – and growing! Plus don’t forget – if you see something that should be in here, article submissions welcome here.
(more to come from Wednesday’s trip across the border to Nogales, Sonora)
A year ago, Andy’s family was coming to the realization that something had gone wrong. Instead of making an illegal and dangerous border crossing from Mexico to the U.S. somewhere in southern Arizona, Andy had disappeared. Now, just over a year later, they still do not know what happened to him. But they have worked with me on developing a timeline of Andy’s travel between Mexico and the U.S. which is posted today.
Think I’m missing something? Tell me. I wants news from YOU – and now it’s a lot easier for you to submit articles, photos & video you find online with the fresh news submission form. Currently, not all articles end up on the news page where every entry has to be hand coded. But the next phase of the news project is a database display (which I’m working on now).
