Jose Cardenas: October is domestic violence awareness month. Chicanos por la causa de colores is a safe home for women and children forced to leave their homes due to domestic violence. Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez spoke to one domestic violence survivor and how De Colores helped her put her life back together. [speaking spanish]

Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez: Suami Aguilar calls herself a two-year survivor of domestic abuse. She explains that she was scared when she made the decision to leave her abusive husband. She says after eight years of abuse, she decided she and the children needed to get out. She turned to the shelter. A nonprofit home for abused women and children.

Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez: She says at times she felt desperate and she believed she wasn't going to make it. But she says that during her 1½ years at the De Colores, the center gave her hope that she and the children could survive on their own. The shelter provides women and children with emergency safety service, counseling, legal assistance, support groups, and guidance to numerous resources. Even more, the center helps women set personal goals to help them believe they can achieve success. De Colores shelter is the only valley home that offers their services in Spanish, and the only place she says helped her gain her confidence. She says she knew her life had changed when she reached one of the goals she set for herself while in the shelter. To raise enough money to take the children to Disneyland. Aguilar says the children took part in accomplishing the goal. She assist says among the things they did was collect aluminum cans to make extra money. She said at times she felt embarrassed as passersby would watch the kids get excited when they would find and pick up a tossed aluminum can on the side of the road.

Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez: Aguilar says the Disneyland visit represents more than just a vacation. She calls it a moment of independence and hope.

Jose Cardenas: For more information on CPLC De Color, call 602-257-0700.

Jose Cardenas: El Dia de los Muertos is a custom families observe in Mexico and parts of the United States on November 1st. It's a ritual in honor of the dead. Joining know talk about the history behind the custom is April Bojorquez research assistant for ASU Museum of Anthropology at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change. Welcome. We made reference to Mexico and it dates back to Pre-Columbian times, but this is a tradition throughout much of the Latin world. Give us a summary of the history behind this festival.

April Bojorquez: Well, the relevance throughout Latin America has a lot to do with the -- with Spanish colonialism and the presence of Catholicism, and many of these parts. Specifically in Mexico, what we're looking at is a mix of indigenous Pre-colonial practices that have been traced to several different indigenous who -- groups who all have represented some sort of celebration and recognition of the death. The popular -- the festival that is popular -- the popular festival that we know as Dia de los Muertos today is known as -- is reference to a celebration that is noted in the Aztec calendar and takes place during their ninth month, which is our August. And what's said is that after the arrival of the Spanish, the -- a Spanish had to change the dates to correspondent to their catholic celebration of all saints.

Jose Cardenas: And in Mexico the traditional celebration would be in the cemetery, families visiting, cleaning the graves, and communing with their departed loved ones. The celebrations in the United States, with some exceptions, I understand some still have traditional ceremonies, but most of them are different, and there is some tension there between honoring the traditional ceremonies and turning it into more of a festive sing may -- Cinco de Mayo celebration with drinking. Tell us about that tension.

April Bojorquez: So I think it's one of those things people often see, there's a specific tradition that's tied to Dia de los Muertos, and I think that recently during a discussion with several experts and scholars, people tend to agree that it's a personal process, a personal celebration. And that even in Mexico you see this kind of popularization of Dia de los Muertos, and this populization has been part of the celebration. It's not a recent phenomenon, the popularization of it, it's always been a pretty popular celebration. And so you see it change and adapt throughout time. It's not so much -- it's not just a celebration of the past, but it's very much a relationship of -- between the past and the present. So you really see symbolisms of both throughout the celebration.

Jose Cardenas: While you were talking we showed on the screen some pictures of the altars which are a very traditional part of the celebration. Explain that to us. You've done some workshops on this as well.

April Bojorquez: Right. So the altars, the way I see the altars, they're part of an individual process that people can choose to partake in. And that process helps those remember the decease and those who have gone. We also see artist who's choose to tackle social issues. And so there isn't necessarily a right or wrong way. I know there's a lot of common elements within altars, such as candles and water, and Marigold flowers that you see throughout Mexico and even in the united states. So you do see some of those a lot of that imagery. But again, the idea that people are dealing with social issues in the altar, it's not just an American popular phenomenon, it's something that's happening in Mexico as well. And --

Jose Cardenas: April, I want to make sure we cover this, because there's some stuff happening at ASU that's going to be very interesting. One of the events on Thursday night after our show, and then something again on Monday. We've got about 45 seconds. Tell us about this.

April Bojorquez: So tonight if you hurry down to the ASU Museum of Anthropology, we're having our opening recession for the -- reception for the Dia de los Muertos community exhibit. It's our 10th annual community exhibit. We'll have a performance at 8:00, one of the altars will come to life, and we'll have --

Jose Cardenas: And then on Monday?

April Bojorquez: Monday we have the Marigold Festival. And it's from 10:00 to 2:00 a.m. in front of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at ASU. And it's -- we'll have vendor and activities for students and the larger public to participate in.

Jose Cardenas: I'm sorry we don't have more time to discuss both events. I hope you get good crowds. Thank you so much for joining us.

April Bojorquez: Thank you.

Jose Cardenas: This month the U.S. Department of Homeland Security stripped Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio of his authority to arrest suspected undocumented immigrants based solely on their immigration status. Sheriff Arpaio says this will not change the way he enforces immigration laws and will continue his crime suppression sweeps in the valley. Joining me to talk about the 287g agreement ending between Sheriff Arpaio and the Federal Government is Alessandra Soler Meetze, Executive Director of the ACLU of Arizona. Alessandra you've been on this show before, we've discussed this topic. I want to start with some Cronkite 8 Poll numbers. One of the top things that was discussed was the sheriff's popularity, and also the populouses, the people polled, their reaction to this specific issue. So you had in terms of his job performance, strongly approve, 39%, and approve, 22%. Versus a disapproval of 35%, roughly, between disapprove and strongly disapprove. And then with respect to the point we made in the introduction about the federal government's action, most people strongly disagree with what the federal government did. They side with Sheriff Arpaio on this, only 36% agree. And 60% disagree. Obviously the ACLU takes a different position to this. How do you explain the sheriff's continued popularity generally, and public support for his position on what the federal government just did, and how do you reconcile that with the ACLU's position?

Alessandra Soler Meetze: He's very media savvy. Here we have a politician who has recognized that immigration is a polarizing issue, and it conjures up all kinds of very strong opinions on both sides of the political spectrum. And we of course disagree with his position on immigration enforcement. He is a sheriff that's launched and -- launched a very aggressive media campaign, essentially vilifying Latinos in this community. And I think it demonstrates his discriminatory intent, it demonstrates how he has really capitalized on the immigration issue. We believe he's really going outside of the scope of his authority, that he's enforcing civil immigration laws, that he doesn't have the authority to do that, and we think that he's also using these powers to profile people during traffic stops and to really target people based on race, which is Tim reply impermissible.

Jose Cardenas: I want to talk about the profiling, but what was the ACLU's reaction to the federal government's decision to strip Sheriff Arpaio of his 287g authority, at least as it relates to non-jail activities?

Alessandra Soler Meetze: It was extremely significant decision. This is a decision that demonstrates that the federal government was not comfortable with the way that he was exercising his authority under this prior agreement. They stripped him of his authority to conduct these random street operations. He had from the very beginning been really operating outside the scope of this agreement. The agreements never permitted random street operations. They never permitted the arrest of people for civil immigration violations for not having proper documentation. And more importantly, they never permitted the use of race during traffic stop, or by law enforcement. And that's exactly what he's been doing, how he's been operating. So I think it was important decision by the federal government. I think that for practical purposes it has been symbolic locally because he's chosen to basically ignore the federal government and continue to conduct these operations, which we think are not just problematic, we think they're unconstitutional, we think he's really operating outside the scope of the constitution.

Jose Cardenas: We did ask the sheriff's department to -- the sheriff himself to come on the show, or send a representative, and they declined. But they did give some statements to our producer, and specifically with respect to this particular topic. They said that they still have the authority, or they believe, to enforce state law, and that's the basis for continuing to do what they do. And then made the point that they can still refer individuals to ICE, and I assume that's a reference to the authority they still do have to refer people who have been arrested and are being booked to ICE. What's your response to those points? And this was from Jack McIntyre from the sheriff's office.

Alessandra Soler Meetze: Of course we would expect MCSO to cooperate with the federal government and to enforce state laws. Especially state criminal violations. But what the NCSO deputies are doing, they're enforcing federal immigration laws. Civil immigration laws, which they now have no authority to proceed w he has argued that he has tools, the employer sanctions law, and the human smuggling law, but these are laws that he doesn't have the authority to utilize those state laws in downtown phoenix during random street operations.

Jose Cardenas: Why is it? Why doesn't he have the authority --

Alessandra Soler Meetze: They're very specific. They are looking for people who have been smuggled, who are engaging in human smuggling. What he's doing now -- and in the workplace, the employer sanction law gives him the authority to investigate allegations of identity theft. And so those -- we argue he does not have the ability to use these state laws to stop people and then arrest them for civil immigration violations.

Jose Cardenas: As I understand it, it's the ACLU's position that racial profiling has taken place. You have a lawsuit against him for that. Give us the current status of the litigation.

Alessandra Soler Meetze: We're in what's called the discovery phase where both sides are being deposed, I think what's really important from our perspective, we would urge people who feel like they've been victims of profiling to contact our office and to share their stories. It's a very significant problem. Here we have a law enforcement agency that is targeting people in this community, Latinos in this community simply based on race. And it violates the fundamental American values that we have.

Jose Cardenas: The sheriff would say he's not making decisions based on race, he has said, though, recently on the Glenn Beck Show on the Fox Network, and then to our own channel 12, that you can tell by the way people look that they've recently come from another country. What's your response to that?

Alessandra Soler Meetze: That's profiling. What we have here is a sheriff using the media, making statements in the press that he is targeting people based on race, which is plain and simple impermissible by our constitution. And he has made numerous public -- this isn't the first time he's said he targets people based on what they look like. He said it numerous times. He's said he's vilified Latinos, Mexican-Americans in the press, and this is information that we -- that demonstrates the discriminatory intent of his policies, that demonstrate that he is using race and using skin color to stop people during routine traffic stops. What he does is he sort of uses these stops, these minor traffic violations like broken windshield, failure to use a turn signal as a legal cover to investigate people for their immigration status. It means that a large group of people, a large group of Latinos will be stopped, detained, and questioned, simply because of their skin color.

Jose Cardenas: You describe the federal government's action with regard to 287g as being largely symbolic. That seems to be the case, because the sheriff says he's going to keep doing this. Do you expect it will have any impact whatsoever on his ability to continue doing the things he's doing, and also on the public perception of it?

Alessandra Soler Meetze: I think that the problem here is that the federal government really has an obligation to ensure that agencies like NCSO operate, do not continue to abuse their authority under these agreements. And I think they have an obligation to make sure that he is following the existing agreement. As I said, it's a significant decision, because now he no longer has that authority. But he has chosen to ignore the revised agreement, and continue with thighs random street operations. We believe that he doesn't have the authority to do so, and are raising these issues in the courts.

Jose Cardenas: We have only a little time. I want to talk about another battle went to ACLU and the sheriff, and that has to do with transporting female inmates to obtain abortions. What's going on there?

Alessandra Soler Meetze: Well, we have been litigating this case for many years. Arpaio had an unwritten policy of refusing to transport inmates seeking abortions. The case was resolved, we had a court that said women have a constitutional right to obtain abortions in the prison, in the jail system.

Jose Cardenas: As I understand it, he's not denying that, he's saying that you can't use public moneys to provide for an abortion.

Alessandra Soler Meetze: What he is saying now, he's basically requiring prepayment in order to obtain an abortion. Women have a constitutional right to obtain abortions. It's a legitimate medical need. So women who are incarcerated, he has an obligation to provide them with medical services. So what he's doing is basically carving out exceptions for abortions because he doesn't agree with that. So he's opposing his own religious views on women who are incarcerated in his jails. We have said from the beginning we haven't argued with the fact that women -- they have to pay.

Jose Cardenas: I'm afraid we're out of time. But as I understand it, the court ruled your favor --

Alessandra Soler Meetze: The court ruled in our favor last week, and basically said that he has an obligation to transport women. He can ultimately if he wants to charge them and collect the fees, but he cannot use it as conditions.

Jose Cardenas: We're going to have to leave out that note. Alessandra Soler Meetze, thank you for joining us.

Alessandra Soler Meetze: Thank you.

Jose Cardenas: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is a desert wilderness and environment that has been home to many different people throughout history. Luis Carrion reports on how today's border dynamics are influencing this piece of landscape of the Sonoran Desert.

Luis Carrion: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, located southwest of Tucson along the border with Mexico, was created as a way to preserve a unique area of the Sonoran Desert. Established through a proclamation by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937, organ pipe gets its name from the comeback pus that populates the rocky soil of the area.

Tim Tibbitts: Organ Pipe is a very valuable plant. If you come out here in the summertime, anything that lives and breathes -- as an individual plant gets older --

Luis Carrion: Tim Tibbitts is a wildlife biologist at the national monument and he points out the Organ Pipe is an important component of this ecosystem.

Tim Tibbitts: The Organ Pipe comeback pus is very important to the ecology of this part of the desert. It produces a large nectar-rich flower which turns into a succulent, sweet fruit. Almost every animal out here in some way feeds on the flower or the fruit. Bird and bats, and even insects feed on the flowers to get the nectar, and that helps pollinate the cactus. And in the early part of the summer in June, when the fruits mature, it's a food bonanza because of that availability of is something that is so wet and sweet, and everything that's here feeds on that fruit.

Luis Carrion: It's clear that the fruit of the organ pipe comeback status an important food for the residents of this environment. And for human inhabitants, such as these people, this fruit provided life-sustaining calories during the who summer months.

Jesus: Next to the park we find the area where the preservation -- the reservation is found. There's a few plants, a few small populations that enter the reservation.

Luis Carrion: Jesus is a biologist and he points out to the local Native Americans, Organ Pipe National Monument was an important component of their domain. Trade routes bisect what is now the monument.

Jesus Garcia: If you go back in time many of the ancestors of the native people living in the central part of Sonora have always taken advantage of the organ pipe cactus. But then in the Mexico side, anybody can do it. Because it's public land, and people actually do it for cash. When the season comes, anybody can actually go and collect the fruit just for your own consumption and sell it to the public in the streets, and it becomes kind of a nice resource for people during the season.

Luis Carrion: The fruit can be a nice resource for the inhabitants of this area. And the monument is the site of cultural resources that reflect long, widespread and diverse occupations by American Indian, and Mexican groups. Today this northern most domain is largely defined by a human presence.

Jesus Garcia: It's the divided between the two countries, and also because being there, a port of entry is right there. Those conditions create a little bit of friction to many different levels, ecological level, political level, and social and cultural levels, because here we have all these cultures, a native American culture, we have the Mexican culture, and the Angelo European culture, all converging in that place as well. And then you have the differences between Mexico and the United States in the economic and political worlds, and it becomes a Mecca or a center of action.

Luis Carrion: The park is a Mecca of action. And access is often restricted because of illegal activity.

Jesus Garcia: If you think about the concept in the past, being this place where you would gather fruits and collect your food and eat it and enjoy it and sustain your family, per se, but now you cannot do it, because it's restricted for many reasons, but there's all this political and modern versions that are restricting the access to these areas, where before it used to be simple. It used to be the place you live, the place you basically hang out.

Luis Carrion: The mission of this federally protected land is still to preserve the signal and cultural resources of the organ pipe cactus monument. Bits clear our modern border issues have also found a place in the cultural legacy of this park.

Jesus Garcia: And unfortunately it's happening in many places around the world, really. Natural areas that sustain and provide the living for many cultures, that is becoming more restricted. In some cases because of political reasons, some cases because of lack of water, in some cases because of too much development. So we have to balance all those things and still understand the ecological concept between how the plants and animals live, understand them, so we can appreciate them and learn to live with them.

Jose Cardenas: That's our show. I am Jose Cardenas. For everyone here at "Horizonte," have a good evening. Captioning performed by LNS captioning www.lnscaptioning.com