10/31/11 Alabama's "papers, please" immigration law is the epitome of a self-inflicted wound, bringing severe pain to the state's agriculture industry and driving away potential tourism dollars. Yet perhaps the most incalculable damage of the Alabama law has been to the state's reputation.
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10/31/11 Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Congress that her department will not be helping Alabama enforce its new immigration law. Which makes a lot of sense considering 1) the Department of Justice is in court trying to overturn the law and 2) the federal government has been a little busy deporting record numbers of undocumented immigrants over the past three years.
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10/28/11 Another prominent Republican is speaking out against the vicious anti-immigrant rhetoric occurring in the GOP presidential contest. In his column at the Washington Post, Michael Gerson, who served as chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush, challenges the tactics of Mitt Romney and Rick Perry.
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10/28/11 How many undocumented immigrants in Alabama would meet the criteria set by new federal regulations to be "low priorities" for deportation if they were to be detained?
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10/27/11 Freshman Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) remains a Tea Party favorite and, despite his protests to the contrary, the leading vice presidential candidate for the Republican Party in 2012. Central to Rubio's appeal is his Cuban-American heritage.
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10/27/11 The Alabama immigration law took a beating last night from no less an authority than Stephen Colbert, the fake news show host who famously spent a day laboring on a farm in upstate New York last year, then testified before Congress about his experience.
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10/27/11 The Wall Street Journal makes an excellent point about immigration today. Yesterday, before Janet Napolitano was to face a number of bullying Republicans at an Oversight Hearing held by the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) wrote an op-ed in Politico calling Obama's record deportation numbers "a trick."
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10/27/11 Writing at CNN, former NY Times Editor Howell Raines, a native Alabaman, has harsh words for the state's current Governor, Robert Bentley, and HB 56, the anti-immigrant legislation that the Governor signed into law earlier this year.
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10/26/11 This October 26th marks the fifth anniversary of President George W. Bush's signing the law to build a 700-mile fence on the U.S.-Mexico border. Five years later the "border security first" approach has gotten us nowhere. Yet, it's still the number one response from GOP Presidential candidates when asked about immigration.
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10/26/11 Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona heads to Alabama today to be the keynote speaker at the Alabama Federation of Republican Women dinner in Huntsville and, presumably, to reiterate her recent support for Alabama and Arizona's anti-immigration laws.
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10/26/11 Memo to the Alabama state legislature: if they're going to be so zealously anti-immigrant that they pass a law which spawns a civil rights and humanitarian crisis, the least they might do is make sure it's constitutional.
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10/25/11 Illinois congressman Luis Gutiérrez has always said that the fight for immigration reform is a civil-rights issue for the immigrant community in the United States. That community finds itself in dire straits in Alabama under its new law HB 56, which, even after a court ruling temporarily blocking some provisions from being enforced, continues to wreak havoc among families made up of immigrants.
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10/25/11 With all that's been happening with the new immigration law in Alabama, it's been hard to remember that there are, in fact, other balls still in the air re: immigration. Take, for example, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX)'s mandatory E-Verify bill, passed through the House Judiciary Committee last month and lingering in the House ever since.
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10/25/11 Writing at the Daily Beast, Michael Medved, the talk show host and self-described "Conservative Champion," has a message for the GOP presidential candidates: stop obsessing about immigration.
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10/25/11 Despite the temporary stay of some provisions of Alabama law HB 56, fear persists in the state's immigrant community. The law's consequences continue to have palpable effects on thousands of families, including those of mixed immigration status—such as that of a young undocumented man we'll call Ramón.
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10/24/11 As the devastating consequences of Alabama's "papers, please" immigration law continue to unfold across the state, the governor who signed the bill into law appears to be blissfully unaware of the damage it is having on his state's reputation.
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10/24/11 Congressman Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) called on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to halt deportations of immigrants without criminal records who have been detained under Alabama law HB 56 while the courts consider the Department of Justice's suit to declare the law unconstitutional.
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10/24/11 You know what's a pretty good sign that you're a racist? When a federal judge goes out of his way to explicitly call you out for being racist. Such was the experience of Alabama State Senator Scott Beason last week when U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson decided to allow Beason's testimony to be heard in a gambling corruption case.
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10/24/11 As the Republican presidential candidates continue to bash immigrants at every opportunity, crops are rotting in the fields across the country. That's especially true in state's that have passed harsh anti-immigrant laws, like Alabama and Georgia. Timothy Egan at The New York Times provides some perspective in a column, titled: "Migrants from Sanity."
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10/21/11 Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) is visiting Alabama for a series of events on Saturday, which will end with a rally in Fair Park Arena at 4 PM. Rep. Gutierrez has long championed the issue of immigration reform, and was even arrested in 2010 and 2011 while protesting deportations under the Obama administration.
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10/21/11 The Obama Administration released the latest deportation numbers this week. A closer look at the Obama Administration's new deportation numbers shows that a vast majority of deportees are not serious offenders.
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10/21/11 BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Our African-American cab driver summed up Alabama law HB 56 better than any activist or public official: it's not an effective law from a humanitarian or economic standpoint, and with Alabama's ugly history in matters of race relations and civil rights, it's a shame that this is the image the state's chosen to project to the rest of the country and the world.
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10/20/11 As Alabama continues to enforce the harshest immigration law in the land, faith, civil rights, and Hispanic group leaders came to Capitol Hill today to ask lawmakers to put an end to the "man-made humanitarian crisis" unfolding in the state.
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10/20/11 Powerful editorial in today's NY Times about the impact of HB 56 on people across Alabama. The new harsh law is impacting everyone, not just its intended target of immigrants. It's exactly what the proponents wanted.
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10/19/11 The sprint to the right by the Republican Presidential candidates, which was on display again at last night's debate in Las Vegas, should be helpful to President Obama's reelection. It should be. But, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues to undercut his Latino outreach efforts.
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10/19/11 Jose Antonio Vargas is in Alabama reporting on the state's viciiously anti-immigrant law. Over the weekend, he spoke to former Federal District Court Judge U.W. Clemon at the 16th Street Church in Birmingham. Clemon, who is a legal legend in the state, spoke out strongly against HB 56.
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10/18/11 Judging by past debates and recent rhetoric on the campaign trail, tonight's Republican presidential debate in Nevada is likely to feature continued discussion of immigration. As you cover tonight's debate – perhaps even as you make your way into the debate venue – you will likely hear a lot about immigration and Latino voters. Below are key points and pieces of information to help prepare you on the topic.
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