America's Voice Blog

Posted 02/09/12 at 01:51pm By Van Le

Backlash against Kris Kobach Grows as Support for Alabama’s HB 56 Anti-Immigrant Law Wanes

kris kobachAs HB 56, the notorious Alabama anti-immigrant law, faces more scrutiny, the backlash against its architect, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, continues to grow.

The state legislature which passed HB 56 has returned to session in Alabama, only to find a new study which posits that the law could end up costing the state $10.6 billion, activist groups  bent on recruiting the state’s powerful auto manufacturing industry to their anti-HB 56 cause, and a new bill from one of their own—State Sen. Gerald Dial, who originally supported HB 56—which would repeal many of the law’s provisions.

People are fed up with HB 56, and they know Kris Kobach is the one to blame.

From Mary Sanchez at the Kansas City Star:

The rebukes aren’t coming from his usual critics, those who display sanity about the federal reforms needed to effectively deal with illegal immigration.

No, Kobach’s supporters are barking back now. The legislators and taxpayers who bought into his schemes to make the lives of illegal immigrants so hellish that they “self-deport.”

The editorial board of the Press-Register in Mobile, Ala., accused Kobach of banking on exactly what happened there — costly court challenges and a wide-range of unintended consequences for legal residents.

“Alabama allowed itself to be used as a guinea pig on illegal immigration so that a Kansas lawyer could build his political career,” the editorial said.

So Alabama’s legislature has gone to work, figuring out how to rewrite or repeal the damage done by Kobach’s handiwork, measures passed in 2011.

On Monday, the Immigration Policy Center released “Discrediting ‘Self Deportation’ As Immigration Policy.” Yes, you can make life harsh for immigrants, but everyone else suffers, too. Economists predict Alabama’s gross domestic product will lose up to $10.8 billion as a result, and $57 million to $264 million more in state income and sales tax collections could evaporate.

Ouch. 

Furthermore, since GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney was so quick to embrace Kobach’s endorsement earlier this year, we predict that it’s only a matter of time before this blowback starts falling on him and his “self deportation” shenanigans, as well.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Posted 02/08/12 at 02:19pm By Frank Sharry

The Incredible Shrinking Rep. Lamar Smith

Lamar SmithDoes anyone (besides Mitt Romney) listen to the chair of the House Judiciary Committee anymore?

This week, Rep. Lamar Smith is looking especially desperate. He's taken to the pages of Roll Call and National Review Online to try to garner some attention on one of his favorite subjects: immigrant bashing. In Roll Call, Smith launched what amounts to another fact-free attack on President Obama.  Smith claims the President is ignoring immigration laws.  In reality, as immigrant communities and advocates are painfully aware, the Obama Administration has deported more undocumented immigrants than any other in history.

Smith is upset because last year Obama ordered the Department of Homeland Security to do what every local, state and federal law enforcement agency in the nation does: establish priorities and focus resources on dangerous criminals.  Coming from Smith, the criticism is sheer hypocrisy.  Back in 1999 Smith asked then-Attorney General Janet Reno to use the same kind of prosecutorial discretion he's now railing about. But Lamar isn't deterred by consistency or reality. 

Nor is his political judgment so sharp.  Last summer, Smith's leading witness at a hearing to denounce the prosecutorial discretion policy was Senator David Vitter.  Yes, the same Senator who has his, um, own unique history with prosecutorial discretion. It didn't work out so well.  

You know time are tough for Lamar when he has to resort to that right-wing bastion, National Review’s "The Corner,"  to whine about -- can you guess? Yep, the liberal media.  The first line of his screed is so outlandish, it's laughable:

"It’s hard to imagine a worse example of media bias than the national coverage of illegal immigration."

Really?  Just because reporters require you to have actual facts behind your arguments, and just because most have come to realize that the nativist case has been propped up for years by junk science peddled by faux think tanks such as the Center for Immigration Studies and Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) doesn’t mean they are biased.  It means that most have figured out that your rants aren’t anchored in reality.  

Of course, somebody has to take the blame for Chairman Smith’s less than stellar legislative record this Congress. Besides the Vitter debacle on discretion, Smith's signature piece of anti-immigrant legislation is a bill called mandatory E-Verify.  According to Smith and his running buddies Steve King (R-IA) and Elton Gallegly (R-CA), the bill would free up good-paying jobs for Americans.  It tanked after small businesses complained the bill would create an unworkable and expensive bureaucracy; tea party types and libertarians complained the bill would grant the federal government the authority to approve or disapprove every new hire in America; agricultural growers predicted crops would rot on the vine; and the labor movement pointed out that it would actually cost Americans jobs. It would also force vulnerable workers further into the hands of unscrupulous employers. 

So, why the sudden uptick on immigration by Smith?  Perhaps he is looking to change the subject after he suffered a huge loss on another of his signature pieces of legislation, SOPA. That stinging defeat further damaged his already diminished status. 

Bottom line: the notoriously thin-skinned Lamar Smith is flailing. But he shouldn’t get so down.  There is one person who is listening to Smith these days: Mitt Romney.  Just like Lamar, Mitt wants to stop comprehensive immigration reform proposals at every turn, ramp up deportations even further, put in place a federally-run E-Verify system, fight off the DREAM Act (a popular bill that enables undocumented youth who came to the U.S. as children to attend college or serve in the military) and have states pass laws like Arizona’s SB 1070 and Alabama’s HB 56 that purge Latinos from their states.  They call it “attrition through enforcement”  or “self-deportation,”  presumably in hopes of making it sound humane. 

But attempting to make life in the U.S. so unbearable that 11 million undocumented immigrants – a population the size of the state of Ohio – are harassed into leaving the country is not only inhumane, it’s insane. First, it wouldn’t work. But if it did somehow, it would undermine our recovering economy, our global reputation, and our moral compass. 

Lamar and Mitt don’t seem to care.  Both are catering to the far-right nativist wing of the Republican Party, Lamar for ideological reasons and Mitt for political reasons.  And that slice of the GOP electorate doesn’t much like immigrants and doesn’t much care for facts.  Well, here’s a fact that might give them all pause: the GOP presidential candidate needs 40% of the Latino vote to win in key swing states like Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida and even Arizona. But with Romney talking up self-deportation, promising to veto the popular DREAM Act and embracing anti-immigrant zealots like Pete Wilson, Lamar Smith, and Arizona and Alabama law author Kris Kobach, no wonder in head-to-head match ups with Obama he draws no more than the 25% of Latinos who reliably vote Republican. 

Well, if he loses, Mitt can always take another page from his friend Lamar.  He can blame the media.

Cross-Posted at Huffington Post and Daily Kos.    

Posted 02/08/12 at 01:38pm By Pili Tobar

Amid Miramonte Elementary School Sex Abuse Tragedy, Immigrant Families Afraid to Turn to Police

miramonte schoolAs the story of sexual abuse at Miramonte elementary school in Los Angeles continues to shock the nation, Spanish-language media is reporting another tragic development.  Parents of some Miramonte Elementary School children are afraid to go to informational meetings or talk to the police because they worry that contact with the authorities could lead to deportation.

According to the Associated Press, “Parents of Miramonte school students . . . told The Associated Press that they aren’t talking to authorities because they are afraid that the Sheriff’s Department, which is in charge of the investigation, will refer them to immigration through the Secure Communities program” (translated from the Spanish by America’s Voice Education Fund).  Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca is a vocal supporter of Secure Communities, a controversial federal program that facilitates the deportation of some immigrants who come into contact with state and local police.  According to the AP, the school is 98% Latino, and many of the children come from immigrant families.    

The parents and children of Miramonte are going through an unspeakable nightmare.  The fact that many of them are afraid to work with law enforcement only adds to their tragedy.  This is exactly why programs that blur the line between police and immigration enforcement are dangerous.  They put enforcement of paperwork violations ahead of protecting the community from real crime.

Although it was supposed to focus on deporting dangerous criminals, the Department of Homeland Security’s Secure Communities program has actually resulted in the deportation of tens of thousands of people who have committed no crime.  As of December 31, 2011, 26% of the people deported via Secure Communities (43,028 individuals) were non-criminals, and 57% (92,544) had either committed no crime or were guilty of only a minor offense, including traffic violations.  In Los Angeles County, 22% of these deportations consisted of non-criminals and fully 44% were either non-criminals or had minor violations.  In addition, a recent Warren Institute/Cardozo report revealed that Latinos are disproportionately targeted by the program.  It’s no wonder that immigrants fear law enforcement in their community and see Secure Communities as a deportation dragnet sweeping up innocent people—because it is.      

Community and business leaders across the country, as well as law enforcement experts, say that the program is hurting public safety by destroying the relationship between police and the community that is no vital to reporting, investigating, and prosecuting real criminals.  Last year, the governors of New York, Illinois and Massachusetts attempted to pull their states’ participation in the program because of these concerns.  But not only has the Department of Homeland Security not allowed these states to opt out (despite earlier promises), it has continued its effort to bring Secure Communities to every corner of America by the end of this year.

For more on Secure Communities and its impact on public safety, see:

Posted 02/08/12 at 12:40pm By Van Le

Valentine’s Day in Montgomery: One Heart, One Alabama Rally to Repeal HB 56

repeal hb 56In Alabama this Valentine’s Day?  Help us take a stand against HB 56, Alabama’s immigration law.  The state legislature returns to session this week and we need to show them that there is NO love for HB 56 in Alabama.

Here’s the post from the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice:

One Heart One Alabama: Rally and Lobby Day to Repeal H56

February 14 is the kick-off of a series of lobby days to show legislators that Alabamians want HB56 to be repealed immediately. We cannot continue to let our state suffer under this economic, moral and civil rights crisis. WE LOVE ALABAMA!

Tuesday, February 14

11:30 am -3:30 pm

Alabama State House, 11 South Union Street, Montgomery, Alabama

For more information, email acijteam@gmail.com or call 312-593-6411

Spread the word on Facebook.

The Valentine’s Day event is just the first in a series of rallies pushing for the end of HB 56, and pushing for the promotion of immigrant and minority rights.  On March 4, activists will begin a five-day march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where civil rights marchers were famously gassed and beaten by state troopers in 1965.  That rally will bring civil rights, labor, and immigration activists together to protest state laws they say will dampen black and brown voter participation.

Posted 02/07/12 at 05:07pm By Pili Tobar

Major Changes Needed as Alabama Legislature Considers “Tweaks” to HB 56 Anti-Immigrant Law

hb 56As the Alabama state legislature begins its new legislative session today, the costs and consequences of the state’s “papers, please” anti-immigration law is the hottest political topic in the state.  In light of the many controversies and unintended consequences related to the law’s provisions, including the sticker shock of up to $11 billion the law would cost the state’s GDP, changes to the immigration law are likely during the legislative session.  While some of the law’s original backers are calling for minor tweaks to the law, a chorus of voices is highlighting the costs and consequences of the law and making a strong case for its wholesale repeal:

Editorial in Mobile’s Press-Register Highlights Role of Kris Kobach in Law Debacle:  The editorial in the Press-Register, entitled “Alabama Paying for Failed Experiment,” highlights the role of the law’s architect, Kansas Secretary of State and Mitt Romney immigration advisor Kris Kobach (R), in shaping the costly and unworkable law: “Alabama allowed itself to be used as a guinea pig on illegal immigration so that a Kansas lawyer could build his political career. The unintended consequences of the new law, proclaimed as the nation’s toughest, are legion: It has embarrassed the governor, discouraged industry, scared legal immigrants and, according to a recent report, been a drag on the state economy it was supposed to help… Meanwhile, the immigration law has been a serious distraction for a state that has too many problems to solve — a budget shortfall, low test scores and high poverty — to shoulder a national issue like immigration. And why Alabama, anyway, where immigrants make up a very small percent of the population?  Maybe because we said yes.  In return, what have we gotten for playing the guinea pig? Crops rotting in the field, a net loss to the economy, higher racial tensions and a PR black eye, to boot.  Does any of this matter to an up-and-coming politician in Kansas?  Sure doesn’t sound like it. Anyway, it’s just part of Mr. Kobach’s Alabama experiment.”

Call for Foreign Auto Makers to Join the Effort for a Full Repeal of the Law:  Foreign automakers have already felt firsthand the consequences of the anti-immigrant law, as a legal German executive from Mercedes-Benz and a legal Japanese plant worker for Honda were each taken into custody under provisions of the law.  Many business voices have expressed frustration with how the law has damaged the state’s reputation as a “new” Alabama, and has dragged the state back to its older, intolerant roots – and scared away business in the process.  Now, a number of leading national civil rights, human rights and worker rights organizations including the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Council of La Raza, NAACP, Service Employees International Union, United Auto Workers and Southern Poverty Law Center are calling on the three major foreign car companies with manufacturing plants in Alabama to join the full repeal effort.  Said Wade Henderson, the President of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, "The truth is, there is no fix for (the law)…The only option that makes any sense — and the only option that will help Alabama restore its reputation in the U.S. and with the international business community — is for the Legislature to approve a complete repeal of this obnoxious law."

Protestor Against Law Tells NPR, “You Can’t Tweak Hate”: A story in National Public Radio (NPR) highlights organizing that is happening locally to push back on the law, and the effort by some lawmakers to tweak the bill.  Our good friend, William Anderson, a University of Alabama at Birmingham student, had the best response: “Everybody that voted for HB 56 should be ashamed of themselves…They should all be pushing for full repeal, not tweaking anything – you can't tweak hate."

In addition to these voices, the cost-benefit analysis of Alabama’s “papers, please” anti-immigration law from University of Alabama economist Dr. Samuel Addy is still making waves.  Dr. Addy, the director of the University’s Center for Business and Economic Research, estimated that implementation of Alabama’s anti-immigrant law would shrink the state’s GDP by “possibly as much as $10.8 billion.”  Dr. Addy concluded that “Instead of boosting state economic growth, the law is certain to be a drag on economic development even without considering costs associated with its implementation and enforcement...While the law’s costs are certain and some are large, it is not clear that the benefits will be realized.” 

Posted 02/06/12 at 04:46pm By Van Le

Immigration Advocates Ask Auto Manufacturers to Stand Against HB 56, Alabama’s Anti-Immigrant Law

repeal hb 56 nowActivists fighting for a repeal of Alabama’s immigration law, HB 56, announced today that they have called on the state’s auto manufacturers to stand with them against Alabama’s “backward immigration policy.”  (We live-tweeted the press conference here.)

“There is no fix for H.B. 56,” Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said during the call.  “The only option that makes any sense – and the only option that will help Alabama restore its reputation in the U.S. and with the international business community – is for the legislature to approve a complete repeal of this obnoxious law.”

Activists want to make clear that HB 56 is causing a civil rights and humanitarian crisis across the state, and that the silence of foreign investors who do business there is effectively an endorsement of Alabama’s extremist law.

As Janet Murguia, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza said:

The companies we have approached through this campaign are some of the most innovative in the world.  So we ask, why would these 21st century companies want to do business in a state that is trying to replicate some of its most egregious sins of the past century?

Auto manufacturers and their foreign employees in Alabama have already crossed paths with the noxious immigration law.  In a well-publicized embarrassment for the state last year, two business executives with Mercedes-Benz and Honda were detained for driving without an Alabama driver’s license.  A St. Louis paper in neighboring Missouri promptly put out an editorial enticing foreign companies to invest in their state instead, emphasizing that “we are the Show-Me State, not the ‘show me your papers’ state.”

Other speakers on the call emphasized that a moral stance against the law was in investors’ economic interests.  As Eliseo Medina, International Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union said:

H.B. 56 is a PR disaster in the Latino community. Latinos are not going to be drawn to brands that are manufactured in a state steeped, once again, in racism and discrimination that targets them. Foreign investors will think twice about being associated with that brand.

This push echoes a similar effort nearly twenty years ago, back in 1993, when Alabama had to be persuaded to remove the confederate flag from atop its state capitol.  Daimler-Benz then announced plans to open a manufacturing plant in the state, beginning a foreign investment revival that jumpstarted Alabama’s economy.  Foreign investors—many related to the auto industry—flocked to Alabama, expecting a good business environment and a healthy labor market. 

HB 56, however, has tarred much of that promise, with extremist provisions that have split families apart.  The ugliness has already prompted an exodus of immigrants and Hispanics, and an economic analysis published by the University of Alabama has found that this migratory outflow could cost the state as much as $11 billion.

Watch the campaign’s video here:

Posted 02/03/12 at 01:15pm By Van Le

Utah Attorney General Says ‘Thanks, But No Thanks’ to Help From the Likes of Kris Kobach & FAIR

mark shurtleffMitt Romney may be eager to have Kris Kobach around as an adviser and endorser, but not everyone is as enthusiastic about the prospect of such ties.

As a reminder, Kris Kobach is the mastermind behind “papers, please” anti-immigrant laws in states like Alabama and Arizona. He has a long track record of opposing positive immigration reforms—including those that would benefit U.S. citizens.

Some may remember that when the Utah state immigration bill became law last year, it was almost immediately stoppered up by a district court, preventing the legislation from going into effect.  Provisions requiring local police to check the legal status of detained persons went un-enacted, but so did provisions that would have given immigrants already in the state a path toward legalization.

Many opponent groups—and several foreign countries—filed briefs standing against Utah’s law.  But when Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff (R) received a brief taking his side, supporting the law, Shurtleff effectively said “thanks.  But no thanks.”

Why?  The brief was filed by the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), the legal arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).  FAIR is designated as a “nativist hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center and is closely affiliated with Kobach.

Shurtleff said that support from IRLI could actually be “harmful” to his case and reportedly called the Institute to leave a “terse” message once he heard of the brief.

"We do not need the amicus support of IRLI — but we cannot prevent parties from filing them,” Shurtleff said.  “It should be clear that they do not represent the state nor any public official."  He also added that having FAIR’s involvement "plays into the false notion that our law is as bad as every other state’s law" -- that is enforcement-only.

Posted 02/02/12 at 10:09am By Mahwish Khan

In Kobach’s Home State, Business Leaders Want to Allow Undocumented Immigrants to Have Jobs

welcome to kansasKris Kobach authored Arizona's SB 1070 and Alabama's HB 56. He also confirmed to the AP earlier that he's "serving as an unpaid adviser on immigration issues" to Republican Mitt "I believe in self-deportation" Romney. Kobach's mission is to inflict so much hardship on immigrants that they leave the U.S, a process called "attrition through enforcement." While Kobach his wreaking havoc on the immigrant families and the economies of other states, the Agriculture Secretary wants to create a program to allow undocumented immigrants to work:

Facing pressure from large dairies and feedlots desperate for workers, Kansas Agriculture Secretary Dale Rodman is seeking a federal waiver that would allow companies to hire illegal immigrants.

Rodman has met several times with officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about launching a pilot program that would place employers and illegal immigrants in a special state-organized network. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that the goal is to create a legal, straightforward manner of organizing existing immigrant labor.

So far, Homeland Security has neither approved nor rejected the idea. “I need a waiver,” Rodman said. “It would be good for Kansas agriculture.”

Rodman's proposal is supported by the GOP-leaning business community:

The coalition pushing the new program includes agriculture groups with memberships that traditionally lean toward the GOP, as well as the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, another stalwart supporter of conservative Republicans.

So the people who work in agriculture and run businesses need undocumented immigrants to fill jobs. We'll see if Kobach will do to the Kansas economy what he's done to Alabama's -- $11 billion and counting. (Despite what Kobach thinks.)

Posted 02/01/12 at 01:59pm By Van Le

HB 56 Anti-Immigrant Law Could Cost Alabama $11 Billion, Says Report

sam addyHow much time is HB 56 sponsor Scott Beason going to waste insisting that Alabama’s anti-immigrant law is good for the state?

Despite his claim that HB 56 “is a jobs bill” that would free up hundreds of thousands of jobs for Americans once immigrants self-deport, there’s been no evidence that the immigration law has contributed to the state’s lowered unemployment rate, and no job growth in immigrant-heavy sectors like agriculture and construction.

Now, a new analysis by an economist from the University of Alabama states that HB 56 could ultimately cost Alabama as much as $11 billion in economic output, as much as $264.5 million in tax revenue, and as many as 70,000 to 140,000 jobs.

According to the report’s author, economist Dr. Sam Addy, HB 56 has caused a mass departure of immigrants from the state (“40,000 to 80,000 workers earning $15,000 to $35,000 a year”), which in turn has caused a major dip in consumer demand.

"As a result of this exodus, aggregate demand has been reduced, a negative shock that puts the state's economy on a lower growth path than would have been the case without the law," the study reads.

Among the study’s findings:

  • This decrease in demand for goods and services will shrink Alabama’s economy by 1-6% of the state’s GDP, or somewhere between $2.3 billion and $10.8 billion.

  • The immigrant exodus will also cost the state between $57 million and $265 million in state taxes, with an addition $20 million to $90 million loss in local taxes.  This is a staggering cost to the state budget even without considering the costs of enforcing the law and defending it in court all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will cause the cost to balloon even more.

  • Finally, the linchpin of the law—the idea that self-deported immigrant will leave jobs behind for Americans, does not appear to be bearing out.  As the report says, “It is also argued that illegal immigrants take jobs that should have gone to citizens and other legal residents. If that were true, farmers and businesses that employed these workers and other business interests as well should not have complained about the law especially given the state's high unemployment rate.  There was very little worker substitution and most of the few that considered the jobs previously performed by unauthorized immigrant workers did not have the requisite skills and productivity." 

In other words, immigrants provide a service to the economy to the economy that can’t easily be replaced.  And no, “self-deportation” does not lead to more American jobs.

Posted 01/31/12 at 02:47pm By Van Le

NPR’s “This American Life” Broadcasts Comprehensive Look at HB 56, Alabama’s Anti-Immigrant Law

this american lifeMore on Alabama and the HB 56 anti-immigrant law today: This American Life at NPR radio has a great broadcast entitled “Reap What You Sow” – a comprehensive story about life in Alabama under HB 56.

“Attrition through enforcement is when you make life so difficult, so unpleasant for immigrants that they choose to go home, they choose to self-deport,” the reporter intones.  He himself travels to Alabama, where he finds a state that forces every police officer to be in the business of busting the undocumented, where every encounter between a person and the state government is turned into a checkpoint, where every single day to day transaction involves checking a birth certificate.

He speaks with State Senator Gerald Dial (R-13), who supported HB 56’s passage but now supports its repeal, saying that the law is chilling foreign business investment.  He talks with Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steve Anderson, who calls HB 56 a “waste of resources” – “because there’s actually crime in Tuscaloosa, and immigrants are not a criminal priority.”

“They’re not in my top 10, maybe not even in my top 20,” Anderson says. 

The reporter notes how “there is something hateful in the air now,” how documented and undocumented immigrants alike are stared at everywhere they go now, “as in, what are you still doing here?”

He speaks with undocumented immigrants, including one woman who was forced to “self-deport” herself and her U.S.-born children to Mexico in between the time he spoke with her and the time the story was ready.

He also has a chat with HB 56 sponsor, Alabama State Senator Scott Beason, as well as author of the bill Kris Kobach—who, despite everything, continue to champion the bill and defend its results.

Toward the end of the report, the reporter notes that Beason’s and Kobach’s goal of self-deportation “sounds so rational, so clean, like it’ll happen automatically.  You don’t have to do much, they’ll just go.  But of course it’s much messier, you’re talking about separating parents from their children.  It’s completely primal, the things that scare us most.  And that is the actual plan. To scare them.”

That’s HB 56, and the concept of self-deportation at work for you: ripping apart families and terrorizing immigrants in order to address a non-issue.

Listen to the full broadcast here.

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