Homeland Security Harasses Relief Workers in Waveland, MS
By Thenmozhi Soundararajan and Jen Soriano

Community relief workers Kevin Cupit and Au Huynh reported this
incident from the gulf coast:

An independent party of relief workers faced unexpected resistance from Homeland Security yesterday. Seven relief workers from Philadelphia, Houston, Colorado and Quebec were redistributing resources from Hancock County Mississippi -- two hours East of New Orleans -- to remote areas on the Gulf Coast. Three people in the party were stopped by Homeland Security agents and were asked to show passports, ids and proof of citizenship.

Homeland Security Agents temporarily seized the passports of two Canadian relief workers and ordered everyone in their party to leave the premises. In the exchange the Homeland security office told relief volunteers that they were, “Part of the problem.”

Red Cross and FEMA have failed to distribute supplies from drop-off centers to communities in the surrounding region. With no plans to caravan these materials to smaller communities, stocks of food, water and bedding are piling up in centers far away from those in need.

That’s where independently organized caravans of volunteers come in. Ad-hoc groups like Kevin and Au’s are crucial for distributing resources to small towns and communities from Port Arthur, LA to Mobile, AL. They successfully brought supplies to groups throughout the coast, including a Buddhist Temple in Broussard and Vietnamese communities in and around Waveland that had not received supplies or language support from mainstream agencies.


If Homeland Security gets away with preventing these relief efforts, many lives will be lost. We must hold Homeland Security and Mississippi Emergency Management officials accountable for both their failure to distribute supplies and their aggressive interventions against people trying to do the right thing.

Take action now!

Call or fax officials at the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and tell them Homeland Security should have no role in the relief efforts -- demand that they ensure the safety of all volunteer relief workers and that they create a transparent effective plan to distribute supplies to all coast communities in need.

Mississippi Emergency Management Agency
Phone: 601-352-9100 (24 Hr) Fax: 601-352-8314


Call Todd Gee, chief of staff of Bennie Thompson Mississippi Representative and member of the Committee on Homeland Security, and ask Rep. Thompson to hold Homeland Security agents accountable for harassing relief workers and for allowing the safe and unhampered activity of all relief workers.

Phone: 202-225-5876