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Posted on 30 July 2010
One day before Arizona's new tough immigration law was supposed to go into effect, a federal judge temporarily blocked some of its controversial provisions. Some aspects of the law will be carried out on schedule. But Judge Susan Bolton of Federal District Court in Phoenix issued a preliminary injunction against sections that required immigrants to carry papers with them at all times and that called for the police to check a person’s immigration status while enforcing other laws. She also delayed the part of the law that made it illegal for undocumented workers to solicit employment in public places. Continue Reading...
Featured article
Posted on 29 July 2010
U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday that halts major components of the Arizona SB1070 from taking effect Thursday — 90 days after Gov. Jan Brewer signed it into law. Her ruling came less than 24 hours before full-enforcement came into effect, just as police officials were making last-minute preparations. Bolton ruled on the grounds that if Arizona were to implement SB1070, it would infringe and interfere with federal policy. Continue Reading...
Featured article
Posted on 28 July 2010
The northern Twin Cities suburb of Lino Lakes has become the first Minnesota city to adopt English as its official language. The city council Monday night approved a controversial measure barring the local government from translating official city actions and documents into other languages. Council members called the resolution a common-sense budget matter, but it may have come at a cost. Before the public comment period began, speakers who lined up for the podium were advised to keep their comments civil and brief, but emotions soon spilled over. "You all scare me. It's like Nazi Germany. I'm scared, really," said Dora Salazar-Rolfzen addressing the council. Continue Reading...
Featured article
Posted on 27 July 2010
Since the immigration debate began in earnest back in 2006 when marchers filled the streets from Los Angeles to Washington DC, students have had a pivotal role. In some cities, it was the students who organized marches using their social media tools. During the 2008 presidential election when it was imperative that young Latinos register to vote, as well as, their family members, the students more than rose to the occasion. In fact, it was because of the student voter turnout that Latinos registered an increase in voters for the first time. Continue Reading...
Featured article
Posted on 26 July 2010
I come from Tierra Blanca, a very poor town in Veracruz. After my children's father abandoned us, I decided to come to the U.S. There's just no money to survive. We couldn't continue to live that way. We all felt horrible when I decided to leave. My three kids, my mom, and two sisters are still living at home in Veracruz. The only one supporting them now is me. My kids' suffering isn't so much about money. I've been able to send enough to pay the bills. What they lack is love. They don't have a father; they just have me. My mother cares for them, but it's not the same. Continue Reading...
Featured article
Posted on 23 July 2010
Three decades after the Supreme Court ruled that immigration violations cannot be used as a basis to deny children equal access to a public school education, one in five school districts in New York State is routinely requiring a child’s immigration papers as a prerequisite to enrollment, or asking parents for information that only lawful immigrants can provide. The New York Civil Liberties Union, which culled a list of 139 such districts from hundreds of registration forms and instructions posted online, has not found any children turned away for lack of immigration paperwork. But it warned in a letter to the state’s education commissioner on Wednesday that the requirements listed by many registrars, however free of discriminatory intent, “will inevitably discourage families from enrolling in school for fear that they would be reported to federal immigration authorities.” Continue Reading...
Featured article
Posted on 22 July 2010
After all the shouting, all the posturing, and all the debate over who should enforce the nation's immigration laws, the United States v. the state of Arizona and Gov. Janice K. Brewer is finally coming to court Thursday. Justice Department lawyers from Washington are expected to march into the federal courthouse in Phoenix and argue that Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigration should be stopped. Lawyers for the state will insist, just as forcefully, that it must continue. Continue Reading...
Featured article
Posted on 21 July 2010
While Anglo Americans have not suffered the nooses of the KKK, not felt the humiliation of Jim Crow laws , not feared a state in which they must carry their passports at all times, or have seen restaurant signs comparing them to dogs, the media- government- political complex of the 21 century is now thoroughly devoted to their protection from racism.
Continue Reading...
Featured article
Posted on 20 July 2010
It had been a long time coming and she needed a little help, but Ingacia Moya raised her right hand Monday morning and made a long-awaited dream come true.
She's frail, blind and has trouble with her hearing, but at 106 years old, Moya proved that you're never too old to become an American citizen. Continue Reading...
Featured article
Posted on 19 July 2010
These lawless badlands in the hills east of Tijuana have long teemed with bandits and rapists, but these criminals demanded only phone numbers. They started calling the immigrants' loved ones in Pomona, San Diego and Bakersfield: Send us money or we'll shoot, they said. Continue Reading...
Arizona has just passed the toughest anti-illegal immigrant law in the country — but you have to wonder: Why now? Illegal immigration is down nationally from its high in 2000, with border apprehensions lower than they've been in 35 years. There are fewer illegal aliens in the U.S. today than there were just two years ago, from 2008 to 2009, 1.2 million illegal immigrants left. In Arizona alone, more than 100,000 illegal aliens have left the state over the last two years, and the number of illegal aliens caught trying to cross into Arizona has been down by almost 40 percent over the last three years. So why did politicians rush to enact a poorly drafted, arguably unconstitutional law at this moment?
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