¡Alto Arizona!

Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s racial profiling trial comes to an end

By Griselda Nevárez / VOXXI News Friday, August 3, 2012.

PHOENIX — Testimony wrapped up Thursday in the civil trial against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his office, who stand accused of systematically discriminating against Latinos through racial profiling.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio attorney, Tom Liddy, speaks with the media outside the Sandra Day O’Connor Federal Courthouse Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012 in Phoenix. Testimony ended Thursday at a trial aimed at settling allegations over whether Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office racially profiles Latinos in its immigration patrols. (AP Photo/Matt York)

It is now up to U.S. District Judge Murray Snow to determine whether or not the Sheriff’s office violated the civil rights of five Arizona Hispanics who sued “America’s toughest sheriff.” Snow indicated Thursday that he intends to make the ruling on whether or not intentional discrimination against Latinos exists within the agency and if the policies and practices result in unreasonable search and seizure.

Snow’s final ruling will come after Aug. 16, the day attorneys from both sides are scheduled to turn in their last round of written closing arguments.

The plaintiffs – five Arizona residents who claim they were racially profiled by MCSO deputies and the organization Somos America – are not seeking monetary rewards. Instead, they want the judge to issue an injunction ordering Arpaio’s office to adopt a policy that prohibits racial profiling and defines its meaning.

Judge Snow said Thursday that if he decides to issue an injunction, he will hear from the plaintiffs and the defendants before making a decision.

Why the term 'Illegal Immigrant' is a Slur

Posted: 07/06/2012 9:31 am | By Charles Garcia, CEO, Garcia Trujillo | Source: HuffingtonPost.com

Last month's Supreme Court decision in the landmark Arizona immigration case was groundbreaking for what it omitted: the words "illegal immigrants" and "illegal aliens," except when quoting other sources. The court's nonjudgmental language established a humanistic approach to our current restructuring of immigration policy.

When you label someone an "illegal alien" or "illegal immigrant" or just plain "illegal," you are effectively saying the individual, as opposed to the actions the person has taken, is unlawful. The terms imply the very existence of an unauthorized migrant in America is criminal.

In this country, there is still a presumption of innocence that requires a jury to convict someone of a crime. If you don't pay your taxes, are you an illegal? What if you get a speeding ticket? A murder conviction? No. You're still not an illegal. Even alleged terrorists and child molesters aren't labeled illegals.

By becoming judge, jury and executioner, you dehumanize the individual and generate animosity toward them. New York Times editorial writer Lawrence Downes says "illegal" is often "a code word for racial and ethnic hatred."

After Arizona, a Struggle Continues

Source: TheNewYorkTimes.com | Published: July 1, 2012

Editorial

The Supreme Court ruling on Arizona’s immigration law shredded the law’s radical premise — that a state can write its own foreign policy, impose its own criminal punishments on the undocumented, set its own enforcement priorities and oblige the federal government to go along. That should be the final warning to Arizona and copycat states like Alabama: stop concocting criminal dragnets for civil violators. It’s not your job and you can’t do it.

But the ruling has not ended the struggle for civil rights in immigrant communities, or the fear on the ground, especially among Latinos. Far from it. It poses serious challenges to the Obama administration, responsible law-enforcement officials and immigrant advocates to keep up efforts to limit the damage when legislatures and police officers — not just in Arizona — run amok.

Replacing History With Fiction in Arizona

By Gary Younge | February 8, 2012  |  This article appeared in the February 27, 2012 edition of The Nation.

In 1997 black America gained a new hero when Tiger Woods putted himself into history at the US Masters. Within a few weeks, it had lost him in an unlikely fashion—to a bespoke racial identity articulated on Oprah’s couch.

Does it bother you being termed “African-American”? Oprah asked him.

“It does,” said Woods, whose father was of African-American, Chinese and Native American descent and whose mother was of Thai, Chinese and Dutch descent. At school he would tick “African-American” and “Asian.” “Growing up, I came up with this name: I’m Cablinasian [CAucasian, BLack, INdian and ASIAN]. I’m just who I am…whoever you see in front of you.” According to an editorial in the Chicago Sun-Times, Woods could not have been more praiseworthy if he’d scored a hole in one wearing a blindfold. “He justly rejects attempts to pigeonhole him in the past,” claimed the editorial. “Tiger Woods is the embodiment of our melting pot and our cultural diversity ideals and deserves to be called what he in fact is—an American.”

It is a peculiar fact of modern Western rhetoric, as prevalent among liberals as conservatives, that nationality is understood as a liberating identity, whereas ethnicity, race and other markers are regarded as confining. There are far more black and Asian people in the world than there are Americans. Racial identity is no less diverse than national identity. But somehow to describe Woods as black or Asian traps him in a pigeonhole, while to define him by his nationality sets him free.

America's immigration history is race-based and complex (Insight)

By Robert A. Ratliff Special to the Press-Register | Published: Sunday, June 10, 2012 | Source: Blog.Al.com

Elvin Pabalo waves an American flag with opponents of Alabama's new immigration law as they get ready to march down Jefferson Street on their way to the Limestone County Courthouse to protest the law in Athens, Ala. Sunday Oct. 16, 2011. (The Huntsville Times/RobinConn)

Whenever I meet people and they learn that I am an immigration attorney, they always ask me this question: “Why don’t they just come legally like our ancestors did?”

The “they” in that question is often undefined. Do the questioners mean the babies and young children brought here by their parents and who know no other way of life?

Do they mean the hundreds of thousands of Eastern Europeans who arrived here on temporary work visas and just stayed?

Or do they mean the men and women fleeing Haiti who for political reasons do not receive the same benefits as Cubans who come to this country?

Regardless of who “they” are, the question reflects two basic misunderstandings about our immigration law and the history of our country.

• First, what is the legal process today?

Our immigration law is a complex set of rules and regulations. We invite for immigration primarily two groups of people: those who are sponsored by an employer, and those with immediate family already legally present in the country.

Work-related visas are generally reserved to those with a high level of education or other skill. For unskilled workers, the wait can be years.

Family categories can be worse. The current wait for the brother or sister of a United States citizen from the Philippines is 23 years. The unmarried son or daughter of a legal permanent resident from Mexico must wait 20 years.

Bennett Backs Off Birther Threat, Apologizes To Arizona

By: Nick R. Martin | May 22, 2012 | Source: TalkingPointsMemo.com

After days of ridicule for launching a conspiracy theory-fueled investigation into Barack Obama’s birth certificate, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett on Tuesday backed off his threat to keep the president off the ballot in November and apologized to his state.

“If I embarrassed the state, I apologize, but that certainly wasn’t my intent,” Bennett said in an interview with Phoenix radio station KTAR. “He’ll be on the ballot as long as he fills out the same paperwork and does the same things that everybody else has.”

SB1070 Author Shares Fears About America Becoming a “Minority, Majority” Nation

The law's proponents say race has nothing to do with it, but in a moment of candor one of the architects of the law admitted it does.

By Wendy Sefsaf | April 27, 2012 |  

Source: Alternet.org

Editor's note: that America is becoming a "minority-majority nation" is an erroneous, if commonly held, belief, as AlterNet's Joshua Holland explained here.

On the same day the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Arizona v. United States the Washington Postpublished an article featuring Michael Hethmon, general counsel for the Immigration Reform Law Institute. Hethmon is the lesser-known legal mind behind SB1070, and a variety of other anti-immigrant measures. His legal counterpart, Kris Kobach tends to get the spotlight; however Hethmon didn’t shy away from theWashington Post this week and was frank about his views on the real issues underlying SB1070.

First, Hethmon shared his concerns about demographic shifts taking place in America:

“Immigration is “on track to change the demographic makeup of the entire country. You know, what they call ‘minority-majority,” said Hethmon. ”How many countries have gone through a transition like that — peacefully, carefully? It’s theoretically possible, but we don’t have any examples.”

He then explains how a Supreme Court victory in SB1070 will pave the way for similar laws to be passed in additional states, particularly in the ones where “nativist sentiment” runs high:

“copycat legislation will explode,” Hethmon said. “This is the classic environment for, if you will, sort of nativist-type sentiment. . . . It should explode at the states or — even better — [Congress] will be provoked to take action.”

The 'Arizonification' of the US immigration debate

By Sarahi Uribe | Source: Guardian.co.uk | Friday 27 April 2012

However the supreme court rules on Arizona's SB1070, the real racial-profiling problem is President Obama's deportation policy

Maria Leyba, of Phoenix, protests against Arizona's SB1070 illegal immigration law, during the US supreme court hearing on 25 April 2012. Photograph: Matt York/AP

While many focused on the US supreme court's consideration of Arizona's SB1070 on Wednesday, events on the streets of Phoenix and not in the court, foreshadow the future of the country's immigration debate. Within the supreme court, a very narrow legal principle was discussed – as to whether Arizona was infringing on the federal government's right to set immigration policy. In Phoenix, hundreds of demonstrators were clear about what was really at stake in the high court: a negative decision would clearly worsen Arizona's human rights crisis, but even a positive ruling would not solve it.

The simple fact is that SB1070 is merely a symptom of a far greater problem in Arizona where anti-immigrant sentiment has been used as an excuse to codify racism. Despite its repugnant stated intent to wage a war of attrition against immigrants, SB1070 at its core suggests that people who aren't white have a lesser right to be an American. It's a view that is spreading throughout the country, and it's a view that is threatening our proudest tradition as a nation of immigrants.

SB1070 Supreme Court Hearing Actions

The outcry was loud and widespread when Arizona lawmakers enacted SB1070 into law.  Its passage rang an alarm, signaling a renewed threat to the human rights and civil liberties of all.  At its core, SB1070 treats people as suspects for the color of their skin, and mandates harassment and discrimination.  As this malicious model of public policy makes its way to the floors of legislative chambers across the country, it seeks to accomplish two major tenants of the attrition strategy:  to embolden and encourage vigilante immigration enforcement and to drive fear into the hearts of targeted communities.

The next point of debate lands squarely in the chambers of the Supreme Court on April 25th.  As the judges listen to the arguments of each side, communities in resistance to SB1070 pledge to state their own case.  They invite us all to take part, to tell the story of what policies like SB1070 and ICE Access programs that create the same human rights crisis.  It is up to us to raise this legal debate to a moral one.  Do we want to be governed by laws with the malicious intent of SB1070?  Is that how we want to treat each other?

Join the voices of Arizona families on April 25th.  Arizona style immigration policies are the wrong direction for our country.  Programs like Secure Communities don’t make us safer, we must Restore Trust.

Go to http://bit.ly/1070marches for a list of actions across the country, flyers and PSAs to download.

After Attorney’s Disbarment, Latino Groups Want Arpaio Brought Down Next

Reported by Nick Martin | Source: TalkingPointsMemo.com

Latino groups on Tuesday called for authorities to zero in on Sheriff Joe Arpaio after his former right-hand man and longtime political ally was stripped of his license to practice law as part of a wide-ranging investigation that raised questions about whether the two of them had abused their law enforcement powers.

Ex-Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas was disbarred after a lengthy investigation by the State Bar of Arizona. A three-member panel ruled that Thomas misused his power as a prosecutor to target people who were seen as political enemies of him and Arpaio. The investigation showed that Arpaio was heavily involved in the conduct.

“Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Arpaio worked together to intimidate anyone who may have been able to stop the sheriff’s heinous crimes,” said Sandra Castro of Puente Arizona, an immigrant rights group that has long been critical of Arpaio. “Restoring justice in Maricopa County won’t be complete until the sheriff himself is brought to justice.”

Thomas, Aubuchon stripped of their legal licenses - Disciplinary panel disbars former Maricopa County attorney

by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Michael Kiefer - Apr. 10, 2012 10:14 AM | Source: The Republic

Former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and his onetime deputy, Lisa Aubuchon, were stripped of their law licenses today as a disciplinary panel handed down the toughest sanctions possible for ethical violations in a case that attracted national interest.

The panel also suspended Rachel Alexander, another Thomas deputy, from practicing law for six months and one day for her role in filing a federal civil racketeering lawsuit against judges and county officials.

After the verdict, Thomas spoke only briefly.

Kris Kobach, SB 1070 co-author, is advisor for Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney

Source: ABC15.com

PHOENIX - One of the authors behind Arizona's controversial immigration law says he's now an advisor to presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Kris Kobach, told ABC15 he's an unpaid advisor guiding Romney on immigration issues.

"Well I'm providing advice on the best approach to immigration enforcement and immigration law generally," said Kobach in a phone interview Tuesday night.

'Culture of bias' puts public's safety at risk

Opinions | Dec. 16, 2011 12:00 AM | Source: The Arizona Republic

This is not just about a clownish sheriff riding roughshod on undocumented immigrants.

The Justice Department's investigation into civil- rights violations at the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office contains a stunning series of allegations against Sheriff Joe Arpaio's leadership and raises serious concerns about public safety.

The investigation began during the Bush administration. Despite what supporters of Arpaio say, it does not look like a witch hunt or a politically motivated attack.

The Justice Department found evidence of discrimination, retaliation and human- rights abuses that would violate the First, Fourth and Fourteenth amendments to the Constitution, as well as several federal laws.

"Since roughly 2007, in the course of establishing its immigration enforcement program, MCSO has implemented practices that treat Latinos as if they are all undocumented," a Justice Department report released Thursday says.

Rick Perry and Joe Arpaio: the Bromance Explained (By the Sheriff Himself)

By James King Wed., Nov. 30 2011 at 6:06 PM| Source: Blogs.PhoenixNewtimes.com

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has officially picked his horse in the GOP presidential primary, Texas Governor Rick Perry, which came as a bit of shock to those familiar with America's self-proclaimed "toughest sheriff."

Arpaio, as you probably know, is the poster-boy for bootin' brown folks back across the border. Perry, on the other hand, recently told his GOP opponents that people who don't want to offer in-state tuition to the children of undocumented immigrants don't "have a heart."

Those opposite trains of thought tend not to jibe.

We met Arpaio at Sky Harbor International Airport this afternoon as he returned from New Hampshire -- where yesterday he campaigned with Perry -- to discuss his endorsement.

The sheriff seems quite taken by his new pal Perry.

Russell Pearce Recall Election: Arizona Immigration Law Architect Defeated By Jerry Lewis

By Elise Foley, First Posted: 11/8/11 11:09 PM ET Updated: 11/8/11 11:29 PM ET | Source: Huffington Post

State Sen. Russell Pearce, the controversial architect of Arizona's immigration law, was voted out of office on Tuesday evening in a special recall election. He was defeated by Jerry Lewis, a fellow Republican who does not support the immigration crackdown and has vowed to reject gifts from special interest groups and work to ban gifts for legislators.

Lewis won with roughly 54 percent of the vote, state officials announced on Tuesday evening.

Pearce is the top Republican in the state senate, and a 10-year state legislator. He pioneered S.B. 1070, an immigration law passed in Arizona in 2010 that quickly prompted a lawsuit from the federal government. The law, which would have allowed police to ask for immigration papers at stops if they had "reasonable suspicion" someone was undocumented, was predominantly blocked before it went into effect.

From Ground Zero Arizona: El Coraje Newspaper

DONATE TO SUPPORT TUCSON'S EL CORAJE NEWSPAPER

I am writing to inform you that as part of my Introduction to Mexican American Studies 265 class at the University of Arizona, my students will be putting out the third issue of El Coraje, a Tucson newspaper from the 1960s, revived two years ago by my students in another MAS course. As a result of budget cutbacks to universities nationwide, we have to rely on donations to do this kind of work. The objective of El Coraje is for students to inform the university and community regarding the vibrant culture of Mexican Americans/Latinas/Latinos in Arizona. Past issues of El Coraje have included the issues that the people of Arizona have been confronting these past few years.

If you can donate, please take the following steps:

ELECTRONIC DONATIONS:

We are accepting gifts from $50 to $100 or more, or whatever amount you wish. The estimated budget that needs to be raised for the special projects for this class, which includes a special issue of El Coraje, is $2,000. We hope to reach that through generous contributions like yours. The donation is tax-deductible. Send electronically or by check via mail.

A Shortage of Mexican Laborers Threatens Arizona Farming

By Monica Alonzo | Thursday, Aug 25 2011 | Source: PhoenixNewTimes.com

Santiago Gonzalez walks through his watermelon fields on an overcast morning in May, surveying the crops. Some of the melons are bright green; others still have a yellowish tinge. The lifelong West Valley farmer reaches down for one, splits it open with a pocket knife, and cuts a chunk from the center. The red, juicy melon melts in his mouth. It's sweet, but he knows it could be sweeter. And his trained eye knows the rind will get even brighter. He's still a few weeks from harvest.

It seems unlikely that the tough desert land near Phoenix could yield such nutrient-rich and delicate produce as watermelons, strawberries, tomatoes, and peaches. And yet it does.

Immigration in Arizona, One Year Later

Rev. Peter Morales | President, Unitarian Universalist Association | July, 28, 2011 | Source: HuffingtonPost.com

I am about to go on trial in Phoenix. One year ago, I was arrested during an act of nonviolent civil disobedience to speak out against anti-immigrant legislation in Arizona. Side by side with local activists and fellow Unitarian Universalists from across the nation, I was protesting Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's sweeps through Latino neighborhoods. It was July 29, 2010, the day Arizona's infamous SB 1070 went into effect.

Exactly one year later, on July 29, I return to stand trial. Let me be clear: the worst I will face pales in comparison to the hardships borne by so many others. Those who find themselves caught in the wrath of Sheriff Arpaio struggle as their families and their lives are torn apart.

As president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, I am a religious leader, not a political one. For me, joining the protest and being arrested along with fellow ministers, lay people, and local community activists was an act of religious witness. It was an affirmation of our common humanity and a spotlight on acts by law enforcement officials that marginalize and dehumanize our neighbors. These actions -- terrifying raids into private homes and racial profiling among them -- do not speak to humane immigration reform. They do nothing more than break our communities apart, person by person.

Four More Abuse Claims Against Arpaio

By JAMIE ROSS, Courthouse News Service| Monday, August 01, 2011 | Source: CourtHouseNews.com

PHOENIX (CN) - Sheriff Joe Arpaio faces four more lawsuits from people - two of them attorneys - who say Arpaio's officers abused them after illegally arresting them last year for protesting Arizona's immigration law.

Sunita Patel, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, claims she was "falsely arrested and imprisoned for approximately 15 hours, during which time she was repeatedly subjected to illegal and abusive custodial interrogations, and then maliciously prosecuted for almost a year thereafter, all in retaliation for exercising her constitutional rights to engage in the First Amendment protected activity of observing and documenting Maricopa County Sheriff's Office officers' behavior during a peaceful political protest."

Patel says she was standing on a sidewalk outside the Fourth Avenue Jail on July 29, 2010 "to observe and document the actions of the MSCO in policing First Amendment activity undertaken by hundreds of protestors peacefully protesting" the state's immigration law, Arizona Senate Bill 1070.

Patel, who had been asked to provide legal support by Puente, an immigrant-rights organization, and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, was wearing a neon green hat on the day of the protest to identify herself as "legal support," according to her complaint.

Why I'm Boycotting Major League Baseball's All-Star Game in Arizona

by Dave Zirin | July 11, 2011| Posted in theNation.com

Over the last year, civil rights organizations, politicians, sportswriters and baseball players have asked Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to move Tuesday’s 2011 All-Star Game out of Arizona. He chose not to listen and now I choose not to watch. If I lived within a day’s travel of Arizona, I’d be choosing to protest at the stadium gates. Ever since Arizona passed its darkly punitive racial profiling law SB 1070, thousands of people have pleaded with Selig to do the right thing and move the game. Baseball is 27.7 percent Latino. It’s a sport dependent on Latin American talent from the baseball academies of the Dominican Republic to today’s biggest stars, Albert Pujols and Adrian Gonzalez. Even more, Major League Baseball has prided itself—and marketed itself—on historically being more than just a game. Bud Selig, in particular, is a man who publicly venerates the game’s civil rights tradition. Jackie Robinson’s number is retired and visible in every park and the great Roberto Clemente in death has become a true baseball saint. But Selig’s inaction makes his tributes to the past look as hollow as Sammy Sosa’s old bat.

Selig clearly loves the symbolism of civil rights more than the sacrifice. The presence of the game will mean a financial windfall for the state as well as for Arizona Diamondback owner Ken Kendrick. Kendrick is a first-tier right-wing money bundler who has let the state politicians behind SB 1070 use his owner’s box for fundraisers. The game will also mean a national spotlight for the vile Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona’s Maricopa County, our twenty-first-century Bull Conner. Arpaio has been threatening to bring down his pink-clad chain gang to clean up outside the stadium.

Hackers expose racism's underbelly: Driving while black, brown or red in Arizona

Driving, and living, while Black, Brown or Red in Arizona
Article and photo by Brenda Norrell | Copyright Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Photos: Arizona border victims by Brenda Norrell

TUCSON -- When the ACLU released the report, "Driving while Black or Brown," exposing racial profiling by Arizona police, it came as no surprise to Native Americans who live in the state. When hackers exposed the racist e-mails of Arizona police officers last week, it came as no surprise to the Native Americans who are victims of excessive force by Arizona police in bordertowns.

When hackers exposed the fact that off-duty US Marine contract killers are patrolling the Arizona border with assault weapons, stalking migrants, it came as no surprise to human rights organizations in southern Arizona. When hackers exposed the fact that a school cop was reporting the diversity class at a Tucson high school to the Arizona Attorney General, that probably came as a surprise to many students and staff at Santa Rita High School. The district is engaged in an ongoing battle with the State of Arizona to save its ethnic studies programs.

What was a surprise when hackers spilled data from Arizona police files? The surprise was that they got caught. Arizona police, private security officers and white supremacists have carried out their abuse and crimes with impunity in the State of Arizona. The Governor, Arizona State Legislature and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio have fueled the xenophobic attitude towards migrants and all people of color. This trio has attempted to create rule by white supremacists in a state populated by 21 American Indian Nations and diverse peoples and cultures.

"The good old boy" system crashed with the servers of the Fraternal Order of Police websites last week.

While the mainstream media fuels the racism, aiding private prison profiteers to fill their prisons with people of color, the media also paints Sheriff Arpaio as a colorful character, rather than examining the poisonous climate of hate he has injected into the region.

Doctors rally against immigration legislation in Phoenix

Associated Press | Posted: 8:41 AM

PHOENIX - Doctors and health care providers plan to rally Thursday at the State Capitol against immigration legislation.

More than 200 doctors from around the United States are in Phoenix attending a medical conference.

They're joining Arizona-based doctors, nurses and midwives, and local immigrant's rights advocacy organizations for a public demonstration.

Health care professionals say they intend to bring attention to worsening health and mental well-being that anti-immigrant legislation in Arizona has caused.

The Midwives Alliance of North America, the Phoenix Urban Health Collective and others say they will urge lawmakers to carefully consider all of the detrimental effects that have resulted from Arizona's Senate Bill 1070.

In addition to a repeal of that legislation, health professionals say they will also call for a national moratorium on future anti-immigrant laws across the U.S.

Feds raid Tucson Chuy's locations in illegal hiring probe

Brady McCombs, Posted in Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 11:56 am

 
Federal agents arrested the father-son owners of Chuy's Mesquite Broiler restaurant chain on Wednesday for hiring undocumented immigrants and paying them under the table.

The owners of Chuy's - Mark Evenson, 58, of Paradise Valley, Ariz., and his son, Christopher Evenson, 39, of Oro Valley - were arrested along with the company's accountant, Diane Strehlow, 47, of Tempe, according to a news release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The trio is being charged with a variety of criminal violations, including unlawful hiring and harboring of undocumented immigrants, conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service, and tax evasion.

If convicted, Mark Evenson could face up to 86 years in prison and a $5.3 million fine. His son, Christopher Evenson, could face up to 81 years in prison and a $5 million fine. The accountant, Strehlow, could face up to 40 years and a $2 million fine. The three will be arraigned in federal court in Tucson on Thursday, the release says.

Agents also arrested 40 undocumented immigrants they encountered at Chuy's locations in Arizona and California, including 18 in Tucson, said Vincent Picard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman.

The Chuy's on East 22nd Street at South Kolb Road has a separate franchise owner. Owner J. Brian Latta said he wants everyone to know his Chuy’s is not involved in the investigation. He came to Arizona from California with Mark Evenson to start the chain but the business associates went in separate directions in 2003.

Arizona's cultural genocide law

Legislators in Arizona are pursuing a white supremacist campaign to erase Mexican American presence from teaching

Dr. Droberto Cintli Rodriguez | Monday, January 31, 2011 23.00 GMT Source: guardian.co.uk

The onslaught in Arizona of reactionary and immoral racially-based laws has managed to attract worldwide attention. The brown peoples of this state are being relentlessly persecuted by a majority population that wants to forcefully remove us and suppress our rights and deny our humanity. Here, the state has even gone so far as to, via HB 2281, to prohibit the teaching of ethnic studies in Arizona schools.

Unquestionably, the brown peoples of this state are treated as less than human. Not everyone treats us this way – just the majority: mostly conservative Republicans, many of them with a supremacist ideology. Their general attitude is: if you're brown (read Mexican), get the hell out of our God-given country. And for those of you who remain, either assimilate and abide by our [contrived and unconstitutional] laws or face the full wrath of the state.

There is embedded hate against brown peoples in Arizona – the kind associated with the 1800s, a time when the United States forcefully annexed half of Mexico. All of it is thinly veiled under the guise of opposition to "illegal immigration" and "border enforcement". However, the battle here is actually civilisational: brown peoples, many of whom have been here for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, represent the unfinished business of Manifest Destiny. For conservatives, we represent a return to a past in which we are viewed as a conquered, subhuman species. This brazen attitude informs all the recent anti-Mexican and anti-immigrant bills, proposed laws that long for a return to an idyllic past, which, in fact, never existed.

Georgia 3rd Graders Asked What U.S. Does to ‘Illegal Aliens’

By Monica Novoa | Friday, March 25 2011, 2:18 PM EST | Source: Colorlines.com

 

Here’s a frightening report from Atlanta’s local NBC affiliate WXIA. Kelly Avalos, interviewed in the video that’s above, was alarmed that her brother and his entire 3rd grade class at Chesney was sent home with a homework assignment about “illegal aliens,” that includes the following awful question:

  What does the U.S. do with illegal aliens?

A. The U.S. puts them to work in the army.

B. The U.S. shoots them into outer space.

C. The U.S. puts them to death.

D. The U.S. sends them back where they came from.