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.
Continue reading "Rick Perry and Joe Arpaio: the Bromance Explained (By the Sheriff Himself)" »
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.
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.
Continue reading "Immigration in Arizona, One Year Later " »
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.
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.
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.
Continue reading "Feds raid Tucson Chuy's locations in illegal hiring probe" »
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.
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.
Continue reading "Georgia 3rd Graders Asked What U.S. Does to ‘Illegal Aliens’" »
An Army veteran who spent more than seven months in an immigration lockup, despite his protestations that he was a naturalized American citizen, has received a $400,000 settlement and a written apology from the U.S. government.
Rennison Vern Castillo, 33, of Lakewood, Wash., sued officials at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's Northwest Detention Center, where he was held as a suspected illegal immigrant.
In a letter that was part of the settlement, the U.S. attorney's office in Seattle acknowledged the immigration agency's mistake.
"I believe that none of my clients … would ever have wanted to, or knowingly would have, detained a veteran and United States citizen," wrote Philip H. Lynch, chief of the civil division in the U.S. attorney's office. "We very much regret that you were detained."
The settlement was to be formally announced Thursday.
Castillo was born in Belize and was a child when his mother brought him to this country. He grew up in Los Angeles and become a naturalized citizen in 1998 while in the Army, where he served for seven years.
Continue reading "Immigration agency pays Army veteran $400,000 for wrongfully detaining him" »
(Reposted from Column of the Americas)
By Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez
In March of 2010, I announced the end of Column of the Americas; that would have marked the end of 16 years of writing a deadline-based nationally syndicated column, first with Chronicle Features in 1994, then Universal Press Syndicate, and finally, independently with several national publications and syndications, including New America Media.
And then came Arizona’s notorious racial profiling SB 1070… then the anti-ethnic studies HB 2281. (In Arizona, we don’t refer to them as laws. At best, they are anti-laws). Of course, more are on their way – nullification of birthright citizenship – and they are being exported and as welcomed as a cold arctic blast from hell.
(Reposted from Column of the Americas)
By Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez
Special-length column
An Open Letter to Arizona’s Tom Horne, John Huppenthal, Russell Pearce, Joe Arpaio and Jan Brewer:
An Appeal to Your Conscience and Your Humanity
Some people say that as Arizona’s top leaders, you are actively engaged in an unprecedented ethnic cleansing campaign against the red-brown peoples of this state.
No doubt you not only disagree, but you take umbrage because you perhaps consider yourself part of a movement that is concerned primarily with national security, with sealing the porous U.S./Mexico border, with mounting campaigns against illegal immigration, and lastly, with promoting the virtues of U.S. culture, a culture that you fear is being eroded daily by invading and uncontrolled hordes from south of the border. On top of this, you most likely believe that this invasion is bankrupting the nation, financially, culturally and spiritually.
By Terry Greene Sterling Wednesday, Dec 1 2010
On June 5, hundreds rallied at the Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza in Phoenix in support of SB 1070, the harshest state immigration law in the nation, which had been signed by Governor Jan Brewer six weeks earlier.
The crowd of mostly middle-aged, working-class Anglos waved handmade signs blaring such things as:
"14 Million Jobless Americans; 13 Million Illegals, DO THE MATH, MR. PRESIDENT."
And:
"SB 1070 is not racist!"
It was a hot day. People were sunburned. Some wore American-flag shirts, American-flag baseball caps, or American-flag necklaces. Some carried American flags. They stood in the sun to hear a lineup of speakers deliver the same victory-themed message: Americans are under siege by hordes of illegal invaders who steal their jobs and suck up public benefits and, in this economy, how much more can Americans be expected to endure?
The call-to-arms message: Enough is enough, rise up, get active, donate, vote, stop illegal immigration now — before it's too late.
The orators included black activist Ted Hayes ("Amnesty is racist. This country doesn't belong to anyone else but us"), Colonel Al Rodriguez ("Mexicans, you don't speak for me"), Terry Anderson, the now-deceased California radio talk-show host ("Jackpot babies"), NumbersUSA lobbyist Rosemary Jenks ("Amnesty destroys America"), immigration hardliner and soon-to-lose Colorado gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo ("Barack Obama . . . will open our borders"), and the self-professed author and sponsor of Arizona Senate Bill 1070, state Senator Russell Pearce.
Dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and blue jeans, Pearce beamed as the crowd chanted gratitude for SB 1070: "Thank you, Russell. Thank you, Russell."
Pearce joked about how maybe Barack Obama himself didn't have papers.
Then he justified SB 1070 by reciting the "hard costs" of illegal immigration to Arizona taxpayers — $2.7 billion in a time of "high unemployment and record foreclosures."
Later, J.D. Hayworth, an immigration hardliner, former talk-show host, and U.S. Senate candidate who would soon be clobbered in the Republican primary by John McCain, began his $25-a-plate fundraising barbecue in the plaza.
Pearce and Tancredo, who are friends and political allies, were among the featured speakers at the Hayworth fundraiser. They enthused about what was to be Pearce's next legislative effort, in 2011, to challenge the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by denying American citizenship to Arizona babies born to undocumented parents.
Like many successful illegal-immigration populists, Russell Pearce gets his "hard costs of illegal immigration," and his talking points, from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington, D.C.-based, self-described public interest nonprofit founded in 1979.
December 6, 2010 | Mike Burrows came to America when he was two years old, and has lived here for 50 years. Due to a technicality in harsh anti-immigration laws, he will likely be deported to his birthplace of Canada within weeks, a country that he has no current connection to and no memory of.
I was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. My dad worked for a division of Capitol Records. He received a transfer to Los Angeles, got permanent resident visas for the whole family and when I was two years eleven months old, we moved to the States. I grew up in Glendale, California, where I said the pledge of allegiance, played baseball, and lived like any American. Except for a first grade teacher who told me I could never be President, I thought I was just like everybody else. In high school, I played guitar in a band, played first base for the jv then varsity baseball team. All in all, I was living an American life.
-Mike Burrows
Continue reading "52 Year Old Who Came to US as a Toddler to be Deported" »
By Jerry Seper - The Washington Times
2:50 p.m., Wednesday, November 17, 2010
"America's toughest sheriff," Phoenix’s Joe Arpaio, is creating a new armed "Immigration Posse” to combat illegal immigration, and Hollywood actors Steven Seagal and Lou Ferrigno, along with Dick Tracy and Wyatt Earp, have signed up.
Fighting Justice Department allegations that his office discriminated against illegals during arrests, Sheriff Arpaio says the new civilian posse of more than 50 members gives citizens a chance to fight the illegal immigration problem that inundates their border state.
Continue reading "Arizona sheriff Arpaio forms armed 'immigration posse' with Hollywood actors" »
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