04/29/13 Cross-posted at Left in Alabama A lower court’s ruling striking down most of Alabama’s HB 56 law will stand, we learned when the Supreme Court announced it would not not hear the state’s appeal to revive its worst-in-the-nation anti-immigrant law. It was two years ago that Alabama passed HB 56, a horribly strict “self-deportation” law that chased immigrants out [...]
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12/13/12 This is a headline we like to see: Arizona Sheriff Arpaio Loses Bid to Dismiss U.S. Bias Lawsuit The loss against Sheriff Joe means the lawsuit against him will proceed: Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of Arizona’s Maricopa County, lost a bid to dismiss a lawsuit by the U.S. Justice Department that accuses him and his officers [...]
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10/10/12 Two months ago, Kansas Secretary of State and SB 1070 architect Kris Kobach, who also serves as Mitt Romney’s immigration advisor, joined forces with Roy Beck of NumbersUSA and Chris Crane of the ICE Union to file a lawsuit against DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and ICE Director John Morton.  Their intent: to block the implementation of [...]
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10/10/12 Earlier this week we wrote about Maryland’s Question 4, a voter initiative that must pass in order to secure a special college tuition rate for Maryland’s undocumented immigrant youth. Some Florida students, however, have been fighting against state laws that force them to pay out-of-state tuition—not because they are undocumented, but because their parents are.  [...]
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09/06/12 Yesterday featured some stark reminders of why politics and elections matter. On stage at last night’s Democratic National Convention, DREAM Act advocate Benita Veliz spoke to the assembled delegates and television audience and shared her compelling personal story: “I graduated as a valedictorian of my high school class at the age of 16, and I [...]
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08/02/12 Yesterday was Day 6 of the Melendres vs. Arpaio civil lawsuit under way in Phoenix probing into whether Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office are guilty of routinely engaging in racial profiling. A post at Fronteras sums up how the trial has been going so far:  So far the federal judge hearing the case has [...]
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08/01/12 As the trial against “America’s Toughest Sheriff”, Maricopa County’s Joe Arpaio, continues,  the bar has been set high to prove that he is guilty of racial profiling, despite “offensive letters, tearful stories and reams of statistics”. From the Associated Press via the Washington Post: Arpaio has repeatedly denied the racial profiling allegations. And experts say [...]
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08/01/12 The Supreme Court’s ruling that finds most of Arizona’s SB 1070 as unconstitutional is impacting other states that have passed similarly egregious legislation. Indiana, for example: Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller [a Republican!] conceded Tuesday that a key portion of the state’s anti-illegal-immigration law is unconstitutional, and it appears unlikely lawmakers will revise the statute [...]
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07/27/12 Most days, Maricopa County’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio acts like a caricature of a Western law man: the cowboy, “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” the man who brought back chain gangs, parades prisoners around in pink underwear, and clearly believes he’s above the rule of law. “After they went after me,” Arpaio gloated in a 2009 speech to [...]
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07/20/12 This week, notoriously anti-immigrant Sheriff Joe Arpaio heads to court, facing charges of civil rights violations, namely racial profiling.  (For a rundown of the worst things Sheriff Joe Arpaio has done, view this list.) Here’s what the media covered the trial: From Edvard Pettersson and William Hermann of Business Week: Stanley Young, a lawyer for [...]
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07/18/12 Several opponents of Arizona’s SB 1070, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Law Center and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, went to Court today to stop implementation of the “show me your papers” provision of that law. The groups are “seeking a court order that would prevent authorities from enforcing a rule that requires [...]
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06/27/12 In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on SB 1070, many have been left wondering what does this mean, what happens now and where do voters stand on this decision?  A fact sheet and polling round-up from America’s Voice Education Fund helps sift through the legal implications and next steps after the decision as [...]
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06/26/12 Many have been surprised these past few weeks.  Not only has immigration dominated the headlines, but President Obama has dominated his opponent Mitt Romney on the issue.  Why?  Because Obama understands the new politics of immigration, while Romney is stuck in the past. As America’s Voice has highlighted, the old conventional wisdom on the politics [...]
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06/26/12 The Department of Justice has set up an email address and hotline in response to the Supreme Court ruling on Arizona SB 1070′s “show me your papers” provision, a law which would allow law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of detained individuals based on “reasonable suspicion.” This provision, Section 2(B), will lead to [...]
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06/25/12 Similar to the way he ducked the key immigration questions at his speech at last week’s NALEO conference, Mitt Romney today avoided a substantive response to today’s Supreme Court ruling on Arizona’s immigration law – despite being in Arizona.  Additionally, while Romney’s statement attempted to call out President Obama for a lack of leadership on [...]
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05/14/12 Perhaps one of the most notable things about the lawsuit the Department of Justice filed against Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio last week is its breadth.  Arpaio is being charged with quite a range of offenses, from mistreating Latino prisoners to mass racial profiling to intimidation of political opponents to violent misconduct.  The Associated Press today highlights [...]
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05/10/12 Yesterday, President Obama announced his support of marriage equality. This was the culmination of the President’s evolution on the issue and has been hailed as a major step forward for equality. LGBT immigrants have to deal not only with our nation’s broken immigration system, binational same-sex couples are subject to the Defense of Marriage Act [...]
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05/10/12 The Department of Justice announced yesterday that it is filing a lawsuit against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, following a months-long delay during which “America’s Most Corrupt Sheriff” refused to reform his enforcement practices or agree to the independent oversight of a monitor. The development is the latest in a series of events that began [...]
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05/03/12 One of our main takeaways from last week’s Supreme Court hearing on Arizona v. United States was the troubling disconnect between the discussion in the court room and how the law would actually play out on the ground.  By insisting that discussion of the law’s effects were off the table, Chief Justice John Roberts ensured [...]
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05/01/12 Traditionally known as International Workers’ Rights Day, and more recently known as the “Day Without an Immigrant,” this May Day labor, immigrant, and Occupy activists are joining across the country to call for a slate of progressive changes.  Marches, rallies, and protests are planned in over 40 cities, including Milwaukee, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, [...]
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04/27/12 This has been a historic week on immigration policy in an election year.  Below is the America’s Voice take on some of the major political storylines surrounding immigration. If upheld, the Supreme Court ruling on the Arizona “show me your papers” provision would have a huge mobilizing effect on Latino voters.  At the Supreme Court’s [...]
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04/27/12 One of our takeaways from yesterday’s Supreme Court hearing on Arizona v. United States is the serious disconnect between the discussion in the court room and how the law would actually play out on the ground. Incredibly, at the start of the federal government’s case, Chief Justice Roberts told Solicitor General Donald Verrilli that he [...]
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04/25/12 Today the Supreme Court heard the case Arizona v. United States, the federal government’s challenge to Arizona’s anti-immigration law, SB 1070.  The specific legal question at issue is whether four provisions of SB 1070 are pre-empted by the U.S. Constitution, which would mean that states such as Arizona cannot intrude on an area of federal [...]
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04/24/12 On Wednesday (tomorrow), the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in United States v. Arizona, a debate that is focused on SB 1070’s constitutionality. In case you need a reminder, SB 1070 was an anti-immigrant law that set the precedent for others, such as Alabama’s notorious HB 56 and Georgia’s HB 87. Jeanne Butterfield, Eliseo [...]
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04/24/12 With the Supreme Court set to hear arguments for and against Arizona’s anti-immigration law on Wednesday, April 25th, we turn to another court for its ruling—the court of public opinion.  In advance of tomorrow’s proceedings, America’s Voice Education Fund analyzed how immigration and SB 1070-type laws are play out  among the American people. The results might be [...]
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04/23/12 This week, all eyes will once again be on SB 1070. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the Arizona law and will soon decide whether to strike it down forever, or open the door to Arizona laws across the country. Exactly two years ago today, Governor Jan Brewer signed Arizona’s now-infamous “show [...]
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04/20/12 Today, Mitt Romney heads to Arizona for multiple campaign events.  Against the backdrop of next week’s U.S. Supreme Court argument in U.S. v Arizona, the Romney campaign yesterday attempted to distance the candidate from his past support of Arizona’s “show me your papers” immigration law. The stakes are high.  Last weekend, at a closed door [...]
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