05/26/10 The Spanish-language press gives substantial coverage to President Obama's announcement that he plans to send more National Guard troops to the border. Rumors that the Department of Justice will take action against Arizona's SB 1070 also receive press, as does a new poll by America's Voice shows that support for comprehensive immigration reform is stronger than support for the Arizona law.
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05/24/10 Over the weekend, Spanish-language media outlets kept last week's exchange about immigration between the First Lady and a young girl in the headlines. Elsewhere in the Spanish-language press, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano leaves the possibility open that ICE will not cooperate in enforcing Arizona law SB 1070, and a rise in civil disobedience around the country leaves many courageous young people facing deportation.
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05/20/10 While Mexican President Felipe Calderón's visit to Washington continues to receive coverage, the Spanish-language press' attention was captured by the young girl who stole the show at a photo op for First Lady Michelle Obama by expressing fear for her undocumented mother. Various developments as Arizona counts down to the implementation of SB 1070 also grab a few headlines.
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05/18/10 Lakers star Kobe Bryant's wife, Vanessa, took a jab at Coach Phil Jackson, who has refused to denounce Arizona's paper's-please law, even after "Los Suns" made a strong statement earlier this month. Vanessa, pictured to the right here, is sporting a "Do I look illegal?" tee. Arizona's Governor, Jan Brewer, has admitted that she has clue what an "illegal immigrant looks like."
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05/17/10 Violent crime has been steadily decreasing in Arizona, but you wouldn't know it by listening to AZ's Governor, Jan Brewer—or GOP superstar, Sarah Palin, speechify about the need for the state's new papers-please immigration law. Indeed, top Arizona officials, including Governor Jan Brewer, convened an emergency "huddle" late last week, to try to figure out how to cope with the state's $10 million in lost business resulting from the controversial law, SB 1070.
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05/17/10 In the wake of Univision's televised town-hall debate on Friday and the release of new polling data on U.S. Hispanics' take on immigration issues, the Spanish-language press looks toward a visit to the Capitol from Mexican President Felipe Calderón to discuss Arizona SB 1070 and the fate of undocumented immigrants.
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05/14/10 As events have unfolded in Arizona, transforming its image from boring border state to ground zero in the increasingly volatile debate over illegal immigration, I was reminded of a simple question posed by a journalist who watched another state transform under a wave of conservative populism: "What's the Matter with Kansas?" Thomas Frank turned that question into a bestselling 2004 book about average Kansans who repeatedly voted against their own financial and political interests after ostensibly being co-opted by big moneyed political elites -- in other words, Republicans.
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05/14/10 The Spanish-language media cover a visit paid to Senator John McCain (R-AZ) by religious leaders from his state. Meanwhile, as a candidate for governor of Florida says he'd like to pass a law like Arizona's SB 1070, the boycott of that state for passing the law rolls on.
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05/13/10 After passing what is arguably the harshest immigration law in the country—SB 1070 forces local police to adhere to detain someone if there is "responsible suspicion" that they are undocumented—Arizona has now passed a law banning ethnic studies courses, as Feministing reports. At The Nation, Jon Wiener writes that the new law "bans classes that 'promote resentment toward a race or class of people,' 'are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group,' or 'advocate ethnic solidarity instead of treating pupils as individuals.'" Hypocrisy much?
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05/13/10 As city councils join the Arizona boycott over SB 1070 and public officials continue to denounce the law, the Spanish-language media reports that the state has doubled down on offensive legislation. Also, Univision promotes the national town hall it is hosting on Friday.
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05/12/10 Joining the chorus of celebrities, athletes, and politicians railing against the newly instated SB 1070 law in Arizona, six UN human rights experts have stated that the law is in violation of "international standards that are binding in the United States." Read what they're saying: States are required to respect and ensure the human rights of all persons subject to their jurisdiction, without discrimination…Relevant international standards require that detention be used only as an exceptional measure, justified, narrowly tailored and proportional in each individual case, and that it be subject to judicial review.
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05/12/10 Today, the Spanish language press reports on various developments within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), after director Alejandro Mayorkas testified before the Senate. The backlash against Arizona over criminalization bill SB 1070 continues to dominate the news cycle, and columnists look at the Republican Party's attitude toward immigration reform.
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05/11/10 Not only is Arizona's absurd new profiling law, SB 1070, getting ready to cost the state about $90 million dollars in lost tourism and convention revenue in the next five years, it might just cost Arizona the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
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05/07/10 The press covers a telephonic press conference on the "state of play" for immigration reform, mothers ask Michelle Obama to help stop separating families, and Chuck Schumer wants Arizona to put off implementation of SB 1070 for a year.
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05/06/10 "The latest example comes from the state of Arizona, whose Governor, Jan Brewer of Arizona signed a bill into law, giving local police the power to inquire about a person's immigration status if they suspect them to be an illegal immigrant, just based on "reasonable suspicion," and to make arrests if they are not carrying a valid driver's license or identity papers. This law not only preempts the federal role in immigration regulation but encourages -- in no uncertain terms -- racial profiling."
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05/06/10 The Spanish-language press covers yesterday's Cinco de Mayo celebration at the White House. Meanwhile, the outcry against Arizona law SB 1070 continues, with city and state governments condemning the law.
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05/05/10 The Phoenix Suns, who have made it to Game 2 against the San Antonio Spurs, are making a fantastic, political statement by sporting basketball jerseys that will read "Los Sons" to "honor the Latino community and the diversity of our league, the state of Arizona, and our nation."
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05/05/10 The Spanish-language press covers yesterday's presentation of the OTHLI Awards, given by the Mexican government to individuals who work on behalf of Mexicans abroad, in addition to backlash in the United States and abroad against Arizona SB 1070.
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05/04/10 From local Arizona cops to top police chiefs, with expertise in community policing, law enforcement is taking a firm stand against Arizona's controversial new immigration law, SB 1070. Over the weekend, Chief Art Acevedo of Austin, TX wrote an op-ed in the Austin American-Statesman warning that Governor Jan Brewer and the Arizona legislators who signed the law "declared open season for criminals to target immigrants" and "killed community policing in the state." Chief Acevedo says Arizona's own history with crime shows why the new law is dangerous.
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05/04/10 Arizona's law criminalizing undocumented immigrants is still the biggest story in Spanish-language news, with media outlets covering statements from Obama Administration officials, a few silver linings among the effects of the law, and the anti-immigrant organizations that helped put it together.
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05/03/10 Arizona has taken center stage in the debate about how to fix our badly broken immigration system. What people may not realize is that police associations and top cops around the country and across the state oppose the new law SB1070. In fact, the first lawsuit against SB1070 was filed last week by a 15-year veteran of the Tucson police force.
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05/03/10 The Spanish-language press devotes extensive coverage to Saturday's immigration rallies, which drew hundreds of thousands of people across the country, and to continued reactions to the Arizona law criminalizing undocumented immigrants.
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04/29/10 During a television interview Tuesday, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell said he was "concerned" about people being forced to carry documentation at all times under the law. As quoted in the Washington Post, McDonnell said: "I'm concerned about the whole idea of carrying papers and always having to be able to prove your citizenship. That brings up some shades of some other regimes that weren't necessarily helpful to democracy."
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04/29/10 Anti-immigrant fervor could be more costly than Arizona lawmakers expected. Thanks to SB 1070, a new law that requires immigrants to carry papers at all times to prove their legal status, the state has become the focal point of the national immigration debate. The bill and the buzz surrounding it illustrates a desperate need for a federal fix to the broken immigration system.
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04/27/10 Last night, Rachel Maddow exposed the network operating behind the Arizona's new SB 1070 bill – notoriously known as legislation that promotes racial profiling. From the neo-nazi-hugging Arizona senator, Russel Pearce, who introduced the bill, to the Federation of American Immigration Reform -- designated as a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center -- who wrote it (and could profit off of it!), Maddow takes a close look at the operatives behind this anti-immigrant legislation
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04/27/10 The Spanish-language press continues to write editorials and op-ed columns attacking the newly-passed Arizona state law SB 1070, which criminalizes undocumented immigrants, joining the outcry of the international community. Other outlets explore the economic impact of the law on the state.
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04/26/10 Phoenix Mayor, Phil Gordon, and Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, are condemning Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's move on Friday to sign the controversial SB 1070 into law. Gordon's primary focus is on the adverse implications this bill will have on community safety. By diverting police attention from capturing dangerous criminals to rounding up immigrants (and Latinos who leave their wallets at home), this bill has the alarming ability to alienate a population that would otherwise be helpful in reporting and reducing real crime.
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