¡Alto Arizona!

John McCain's Wife's Budweiser Distributorship Boycotted by Latino Group Over SB 1070

Budweiser, which in 2008 was bought out by a Belgian beer giant to form Anheuser-Busch InBev, has spent millions on advertising to the Latino market. According to a 2009 article in Hispanic Market Weekly, the company spent more than $21 million in the first half of 2008 alone on Spanish language media.

All that advertising has clearly paid off. Just check the advertisements on the wall the next time you go to a Mexican seafood place. If I had a dime for every Bud or Bud Light poster I've seen in some mariscos joint in town, I wouldn't have to write for a living.

So the announcement of a press conference this Monday morning by Somos America, a coalition of pro-immigrant advocacy groups in Arizona, is intriguing to say the least. At the Monday presser, Somos plans to call on all Latinos in the state to boycott Sand Land Anheuser-Busch distributor Hensley & Co.

That's Hensley & Co. as in owned by Cindy Hensley McCain, wife of U.S. Senator John McCain.

Worse Than Joe Arpaio? Tucson Police Department Turns Over Mom and Dad To Border Patrol as Kids Cry

By Stephen Lemons, Tue., Aug. 24 2010 @ 4:45PM

Standard practice by the Tucson PD, as captured by Three Sonorans

Although activists are normally up in arms about Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio separating mothers from their children and otherwise breaking up families during his anti-immigration sweeps, this video by Tucson's Three Sonorans blog reveals that things may be even worse in the Old Pueblo.

In the blog post, the author states that it was just a dad who was taken away by Border Patrol after a routine traffic stop by the Tucson Police Department. But there's a woman being taken away by BP agents as well.

Arizona Business Loses $3M Bid Over Immigration Law

Updated: Wednesday, 18 Aug 2010, 8:06 PM MDT
Published : Wednesday, 18 Aug 2010, 8:06 PM MDT

For the city of Santa Monica, California, it doesn't matter that Arizona's new immigration law was partly blocked. They are sticking to their boycott, and it's costing an Arizona business a contract worth millions of dollars.

The truth about SB 1070

Republic poll shows that Arizonans favor guest-worker program more than get-tough law

Jul. 28, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

One true thing rises above all the controversy over Senate Bill 1070: People know it is not the answer.

Yes, polls show the state's ill-conceived immigration law is popular.

But polls also show that the people understand complexities their political leaders ignore.

An Arizona Republic poll found 62 percent support allowing illegal immigrants who are living here now to remain in the country if they have a job and no criminal record.

#Arizona #Immigrants Create New Model of Organizing

New America Media, News Report, Valeria Fernández, Posted: Aug 19, 2010

PHOENIX, Ariz.—The sun sets over a small trailer park in central Phoenix as families walk into a neighborhood community center. They started meeting a year ago in this neighborhood, which has been hit with traffic stops and worksite raids by Maricopa County sheriff's deputies looking for undocumented immigrants.

The Repeal Coalition began last year as a group of mostly Anglo student volunteers who wanted to help immigrants. Now those immigrants are leading the charge to help others.

“Repeal switched from being university-connected people to neighborhood-connected people,” explains Luis Fernández, one of the founding volunteers.

The change took place just before the passage of SB 1070, a law that made it a state crime to be an undocumented immigrant. And, he says, it meant that many of the people involved with the group decided to hold their ground rather than leave the state out of fear.

This new neighborhood-based model of organizing is sprouting up across Arizona out of a necessity to help unite communities impacted by a series of harsh immigration policies.

Attacks against Mexicans inflame tensions in NYC

By CRISTIAN SALAZAR,
Associated Press Writer Cristian Salazar,
Mon Aug 16, 6:57 am ET

NEW YORK – When Rodolfo Olmedo was dragged down by a group of men shouting anti-Mexican epithets and bashed over the head with a wooden stick on the street outside his home, he instinctively covered his face to keep from getting disfigured. Blood filled his mouth.

"I wanted to scream, but I couldn't because of the beating they were giving me," said the 25-year-old baker. Nearly five months later, he is still taking pain medications for his head injuries.

Recorded by a store's surveillance camera, the assault was the first of 11 suspected anti-Hispanic bias attacks in a Staten Island neighborhood, re-igniting years-old tensions between blacks and Hispanics in New York City's most remote borough.

Protesters interrupt baseball game over #Arizona #immigration law #SB1070

By Rick Martin, CNN

August 16, 2010 10:47 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- The fierce debate over a new Arizona immigration law spread to America's pastime Sunday as a group of protesters rushed on to the field during the 5th inning of the Washington Nationals-Arizona Diamondbacks game in Washington, D.C.

Support the National Woman's Caucus Against #ICE and Local Police Collaboration

Recently, a delegation of children from Arizona and throughout the country testified before Congress about the suffering they’ve experienced under this inhumane immigration system. Mothers, aunts and other women’s advocates visited members of Congress on the matter.

The National Women's Caucus Against ICE and Police Collaboration has written a letter asking President Obama to stop ICE and local police collaboration programs, such as 287(g) and "Secure Communities," which opened the door to the passage of Arizona's SB1070.

See and sign the petition here: http://bit.ly/womens-petition

#Arizona Fight Fuels Virginia #Immigration Debate

by Jamie Tarabay

August 12, 2010

As Arizona contends with a federal challenge to its new immigration law, Virginia is back in the spotlight over its policies.

Virginia lawmakers have said they will introduce legislation similar to Arizona's law next year, following five other states that have already done so. Meanwhile, Virginia's attorney general has issued a legal opinion that allows law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of anyone they stop for any reason.

Could this be a way for other states to crack down on undocumented immigrants without getting mired in the courts like Arizona?

'The Devil's In The Details'

The letter requesting clarification from Virginia's attorney general, which set off debate last week, came from Bob Marshall, a Republican state legislator who represents Prince William County. His county's policy — which requires police to check the immigration status of anyone they arrest — is considered among the most aggressive in the state.

Marshall says he was prompted to write the letter by the events in Arizona. "Some of the people who do come across the border for being like day labor or construction workers — some, not all — are part of a distribution network for drugs. And parks are routinely used to grow drugs and harvest them," Marshall says.

WORD STRIKE: writers against #sb1070

Jul 13: Writers’ Letter Boycotting SB1070

We call on our fellow writers to join the growing movement to boycott the State of Arizona until it revokes anti-immigrant law SB 1070. Scheduled to take effect July 29, the statute requires law enforcement officers to detain anyone they think is an illegal immigrant. The law will lead to the profiling and detention of anyone who does not look like they belong—not just undocumented immigrants, but U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The law also criminalizes anyone who shelters or transports an undocumented immigrant and allows anyone to sue any Arizona county, city, or town, if they think the law is not being enforced zealously enough. What Arizona has legislated, in other words, is nothing less than a police state.

As writers, we are conscious of the power of the written word. The statutory language of SB 1070 wields the power of the state to decree that the narratives of certain people simply do not count. The law serves as one plank of a larger regulatory framework that not only defines who we are, but dictates whose voices are allowed to speak. Another Arizona law (HB 2281) prohibits schools at any grade level from offering courses that explore the literature and history of any particular race. The Arizona Department of Education has ordered the firing of any teacher who speaks English with a foreign accent. As writers, scholars and educators who are committed to deepening rather than censoring intellectual inquiry, we believe that no one’s voice should be silenced.

Dispelling "Anchor Baby" Myths

Posted by Kate Pickert Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 4:00 pm

The Pew Hispanic Center, which conducts stellar research on everything from health care to religion, released a report today quantifying just how many children are born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants. The report comes in the midst of a campaign by some Republicans to hold congressional hearings on whether children born to illegal immigrants should automatically become citizens. According to the Pew report, 340,000 babies were born in the U.S. in 2008 to at least one undocumented parent. And of all the children of undocumented immigrants in the U.S., about 80% were born here - the rest were born abroad.

These are significant numbers and they seem to add an arrow to the quiver of those in Congress and elsewhere now suggesting the 14th Amendment of the Constitution should be changed so that anyone born in the U.S. does not automatically become a citizen. Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham has been a leading voice on this idea, recently saying on Fox News:

"People come here to have babies. They come here to drop a child. It's called 'drop and leave.' To have a child in America, they cross the border, they go to the emergency room, have a child, and that child's automatically an American citizen. That shouldn't be the case. That attracts people here for all the wrong reasons."

What Prop 8 And #SB1070 Have In Common

by Naima Ramos-Chapman
Monday, August 9 2010, 5:04 PM EST

Sandip Roy, an editor and a gay immigrant, expressed why the fight in Arizona against SB 1070 and the fight in California against Proposition 8 may be one in the same. He writes at New America Media:

Both issues are resulting in a patchwork of laws, happening state by state. In one case, it is because of the lack of comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level. In the other it’s because of the Defense of Marriage Act at the federal level. Democrats are nervous about both issues, trying to walk a fine political line. Both have become electoral tripwires even when they are not on the ballot. And as Out4Immigration’s Amos Lim points out, binational gay and lesbian couples are caught in the gap between the two. Gay marriage in California will not help them until there is immigration reform in Washington.

The fight over Prop 8 in California rested on the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. What Judge Walker found was Prop 8 violated the due process and equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

ABC's Diane Sawyer Puts a Face to Victims of #SB1070

by Jorge Rivas
Thursday, July 29 2010, 11:20 AM EST

Yesterday, in a segment titled "The Conversation: My Undocumented Life" ABC's Diane Sawyer interviewed a young woman named Erika, an undocumented Arizona resident who has been in the U.S. since age 11. Sawyer produced a beautiful short interview where she put a face to those being affected by the harsh policies going in to affect today in Arizona.

The Right Wing Unleashed: Deport U.S. Citizen Children?

By Ali Jost
2:06 PM Eastern - June 18, 2010

In Rep. Pearce's world "order" there would be no place for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), famous astronauts and Olympians

Mass round ups of undocumented immigrants in Arizona isn't enough for state Rep. Russell Pearce. This Republican legislator--who frequently warns of "the invasion" from our southern border--is now calling for mass expulsion of U.S. citizen children. Never mind the Fourteenth Amendment that has long upheld the principle of birthright citizenship--in Pearce's world "order," the U.S.-born children of immigrants who are here on temporary visas and the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants are not welcome.

Sadly, Pearce is not alone in his apocalyptic vision of the world. Gov. Jan Brewer, Rep. Steve King (R-IA), and a growing number of Republican bullies are dead set on squashing the U.S. Constitution and creating a veritable caste system. One of their strongest supporters, the anti-immigrant group FAIR, goes as far as to advocate for denying citizenship to all U.S. born babies "of illegal immigrants or other non-citizens."

Ummm... do they realize that there are more than 38 million non citizens (12.6 percent of the U.S. population) living and working in the U.S. today?

Chicana/o studies department targeted by hate crime

August 04, 2010
By Juana Esquivel and Krista Daly

A racial slur was written on a Chicano studies professor’s door in Jerome Richfield Hall.

Chicana/o studies Professor Xocoyotzin Herrera reported the incident to David Rodriguez, Chicano studies department chair, who immediately notified CSUN Police.

“The police used the term ‘hate crime’ and we agree,” Rodriguez said.

A swastika and “U.S.= white power” were found on Chicano studies professor Jorge Garcia’s office door. Garcia was notified by a general e-mail sent by Rodriguez to the entire department.

Rodriguez said he thinks the act may have been in response to a photo of undocumented immigrants and a card reading “Alto Arizona” which were on Garcia’s door.

Eva Longoria, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson Challenge #Arizona #Immigration Law #SB1070

Saturday – August 07, 2010 – 3:16pm

Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria-Parker is teaming up with Rosario Dawson, Wilmder Valderrama and a handful of other celebs to take a stand against the Arizona immigration law.

"I haven't made it a secret that I'm strongly opposed to the Arizona law and I've been pretty vocal about it," Longoria-Parker, 35, says in the PSA for Voto Latinos & Mun2's 'United We Win' campaign. "It's unfortunate that this immigration issue has been on the national agenda for the past three administrations."

Dawson -- who co-founded Voto Latino in 2004 -- tells UsMagazine.com that she brought the stars together to encourage young people to get involved in fighting for Arizona citizens' civil rights by visiting the polls on November 2.

"We recognize that this isn't just a Mexican issue or a Latino issue... There are people blogging and Tweeting for everything, from the BP spill to education and healthcare," Dawson, 31, tells Us. "We're all buzzing about these things, but unless we're actually marching to the polls, nothing is going to actually change."

EL CIRCULO CREATIVO HISPANO Y LA LEY DE ARIZONA #SB1070

El Círculo es una asociación de creativos publicitarios que trabajan en el mercado Latino de Estados Unidos. Con más de 50 agencias y 400 creativos repartidos por todo el país, el Circulo se conforma como una voz única dentro de los creativos hispanos de USA.

Nuestra misión es unir, acercar y defender los intereses de a nuestros asociados.

• Nos sirve para intercambiar impresiones y mostrar nuestro trabajo entre nosotros y hacia afuera.
• Nos permite conocernos, borrar fronteras, abrir mentes.
• Nos ayuda a levantar el nivel creativo de nuestro mercado y crear un archivo histórico.
• Nos organiza para fomentar la Educación y apoyar a las nuevas generaciones.

Como Hispanos que somos queremos demostrar nuestra repulsa a esta ley y lo queremos hacer con la única arma que sabemos utilizar, nuestras ideas. Por eso hace unos meses planteamos a nuestros creativos la posibilidad de enfrentarnos pacíficamente a la sin razón que representa la aprobación de esta ley y así crear una colección de posters que demostrara nuestra repulsa a tan injusta ley. El resultado fueron estas 32 piezas. 32 gritos pacíficos a sumar a los millones que día a día continúan y continuaran luchando en contra de la discriminación por razones de sexo raza o religión.

Curro Chozas.

Presidente del Circulo Creativo Hispano de Estados Unidos y Director Creativo de Grupo Gallegos, California.

The Hunt for American Decency in the #Arizona Quicksand

By LAWRENCE DOWNES (New York Times)
Published: August 3, 2010

The federal judge who struck down most of Arizona’s new immigration law last week wasn’t trying to strike a blow for immigrants’ rights, about which her ruling said little. She wasn’t dictating what immigration laws should look like or how strict they should be. She was making a much more fundamental argument, one that has regularly emerged in America’s long and often ugly history in dealing with noncitizens and other vulnerable minorities.

The message was that Arizona cannot have its own immigration or foreign policy. It cannot tell the federal government how to enforce its laws. It is not up to any state to seize the power to upend federal priorities, particularly to wield a blunt enforcement tool that will do harm to Hispanics, citizens or not, who live in certain neighborhoods, wear certain clothes, drive certain vehicles and speak Spanish or accented English.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Supporters And The Agenda Of Hate

This video clearly shows the unstable and dangerous following Sheriff Arpaio attracts and encourages. They express extreme hatred for Mexicans or anyone that disagrees with them. They harass and intimidate those that get in their way. They literally terrorize Day Labor centers on a daily basis. In a State known for its hate crimes, who will be the next to commit one?

(via Humanleague002 Youtube.com Channel)

Nightmare of a Dream Student

TUCSON, Ariz. -- I’ll refer to her as Leticia X.

She is undocumented, but has been in this country since the age of three and is a top student at her high school. Yet, unless the law changes soon, she will be unable to continue with her studies. She tells my students at the University of Arizona that it is wrong that she will not be able to attend college next year: “I consider myself a U.S. citizen. It’s the only country I’ve ever known.”

Her symbolic mother is Leticia A -- a student who set the legal precedent in 1982 in Plyler v. Doe in Texas, permitting undocumented students to be able to attend public K-12 schools, without having to pay exorbitant out-of-state tuition.

Today, Leticia X struggles to change this policy to include K-16 students. If out-of-state fees are exorbitant for out of state K-12 students, the rates are stratospheric for out-of-state college students, generally costing tens of thousands of dollars yearly.

Video: Hate Crimes in Arizona post-#SB1070 (early May, 2010)

Days after Governor Jan Brewer signed SB 1070 into law, ASU students impersonate police officers to ask students for immigration paperwork & another incident where a white man kills his Mexican neighbor over racist beliefs...Gary Kelley is suspected of murdering his Latino neighbor, shouting "Hurry up and go back to Mexico, or you're going to die!"

Russell Pearce is a liar… and a bigot

Immigration law author claims 60 percent of Arizona Hispanics support the measure

How do you defend a state law that the President of the United States calls "misguided"? Simple, you start naming all of the people and groups that allegedly support it. That's what the conservative TV host Glenn Beck did when he claimed that 64 percent of Americans support the controversial Arizona immigration bill that Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law in April of this year. It's also what Brewer did when she cited the support for the legislation among Arizona's law enforcement.

It was only a matter of time before the author of the bill, Arizona state senator Russell Pearce, joined the chorus. Talking about the bill on CNN, Russell said that "This is the most popular bill in America. America supports it, overwhelmingly they support it, yet every time folks get on the air, they talk about the Arizona controversial law. Controversy with whom, lawbreakers versus law keepers?"

To prove his point, he threw in an eye-catching statistic. "Sixty percent of the Hispanics support it in Arizona."

The number seemed high based on the media reports that we've seen, so we decided to investigate.

We found several polls that measured support for the law among Hispanics, both at the state and national level. Here is a quick summary:

Do I Look Illegal? - 30 second version Video (NCLR)

This PSA was produced in response the Arizona's SB 1070, which makes Latinos suspect in their own communities and potential victims of racial profiling. Produced by EKG Films in association with Afro Taino Productions.

(via NCLR Youtube.com)

Diamondbacks-Nats game delayed after immigration law protest sign draped over wall

By The Associated Press (CP) – 3 hours ago

PHOENIX — The Nationals and Diamondbacks were delayed briefly Monday night when a fan draped a sign over the left-field wall protesting Arizona's immigration law.

Plate umpire Angel Hernandez halted the game in the first inning when he saw the large sign addressed to Diamondbacks owner Ken Hendrick.

The sign read: "Mr. Kendrick ... Don't feed hate. Say no to SB1070."

Nationals left-fielder Josh Willingham said something to the fans behind the sign, which was pulled down by a security guard after a delay of about a minute.

The immigration law was partially blocked by a judge last week, but it hasn't stopped protests around Phoenix. Numerous groups have asked baseball to move next year's all-star game from Arizona because of the law.

Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Sound Strike Press Conference (Zack de la Rocha, Tom Morello, Conor Oberst) Anti-#SB1070

Sound Strike Press Conference (Zack de la Rocha, Tom Morello, Conor Oberst) from Shaun Kadlec on Vimeo.