Much has been written and said about the new Arizona Law pertaining to immigrants (it pertains to everyone actually, and certainly is not limited to undocumented immigrants). From Eugene Robinson and Richard Cohen at the Washington Post, to John Stewart on The Daily Show, and even Tom Tancredo, everyone is up in arms about this law. We have heard from Megan McCain (John McCain’s daughter), President Obama, and even from Governor Jan “Show Me Your Papers” Brewer, all opine about the law and WHY the Arizona Legislature had to act on “illegal” immigration.
The conventional wisdom now is that Congress will be “forced” to act on immigration reform. The caution to understand here, from pundits and politicians alike is that the prospect of immigration reform based upon a knee jerk reaction to an unconstitutional law does not change the inherent political dynamics in Congress. Immigration reform needs 60 votes to pass the Senate. The lone Republican who was supporting reform, Senator Lindsey Graham, has threatened to withdraw his support for moving the bill at this time if the Democrats do not move the climate legislation first; other Republican Senators likely to support the bill are not exactly popping out of the woodwork.
The caution sign is up. There will be no reform until President Obama exercises real leadership here and relentlessly calls for legislation, and actually proposes workable solutions. There will be no reform until some Republicans decide that doing what is right for America is more important cowtowing to nativists (some already have called for reform). And, there will be no reform until Democrats stop using the prospect of reform as sort of a carrot to get Hispanics to come to the polls in November. All three of these stumbling blocks to reform need to be removed at the same time. Let’s pray that our elected politicians in Washington will finally exercise leadership on immigration and do what is good and right for America.

Congratulations Governor Brewer, your signature on SB 1070, an anti-immigrant bill which effectively makes all Latinos the target of arrest or interrogation, has now enshrined your legacy with the likes of Governor Evan Mechem, who will be forever remembered for his cancellation of the state’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, attributing high divorce rates to working women, and disparaging references to African American children. And just like Mecham’s bad acts, your endorsement of Arizona’s hate legislation will lead to a mass boycott of your state—AILA has already decided to pull its upcoming fall conference out of Arizona—costing Arizona taxpayers billions in lost revenue.

Your signature on this dreadful bill, which President Obama described today as “misguided”, does nothing to create a functional immigration system, secure the border, nor rid the state of dangerous criminals. Nor does it protect the wages and working conditions of US workers. Instead, it targets day laborers and ordinary citizens whose appearance might raise “reasonable suspicion” of unlawful immigration status in the mind of a police officer. Now that you have signed the bill people in Arizona with foreign sounding accents or who don’t “look American” had better not run into the wrong cop (or even the right cop) because the law mandates they prove they are here legally.

Further, the new law will take money out of the pockets of Arizona taxpayers. The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) reported this week that “if significant numbers of immigrants and Latinos are actually persuaded to leave the state because of this new law, they will take their tax dollars, businesses, and purchasing power with them. The University of Arizona’s Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy estimates that the total economic output attributable to Arizona’s immigrant workers was $44 billion in 2004, which sustained roughly 400,000 full-time jobs. Furthermore, over 35,000 businesses in Arizona are Latino-owned and had sales and receipts of $4.3 billion and employed 39,363 people in 2002, the last year for which data is available. The Perryman Group estimates that if all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Arizona, the state would lose $26.4 billion in economic activity, $11.7 billion in gross state product, and approximately 140,324 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time. Putting economic contributions of this magnitude at risk during a time of recession would not serve Arizona well.” And this loss of revenue to the hard working taxpayers of Arizona does not take into account the cost of defending the inevitable lawsuits that will be brought against the state for civil rights and other violations. According to the IPC, “Arizona would probably face a costly slew of lawsuits on behalf of legal immigrants and native-born Latinos who feel they have been unjustly targeted” leading to millions of dollars in expenditures. http://bit.ly/dbguDK.

Today you had the opportunity to show uncommon political courage and veto SB 1070 in a valiant stand against racism, intolerance, and injustice. Unfortunately you chose to wallow in cowardice. 

It is a sad day for Arizona and the nation.

All eyes are on Governor Jan Brewer today.

On her desk is SB 1070, an anti-immigrant bill which would effectively make all Latinos the target of arrest or interrogation, whether or not they are U.S. citizens, lawful immigrants, or undocumented foreign nationals. Indeed, such a hate-motivated bill may well compel all Latinos to pack up and leave the state. Brewer’s choice is clear to anyone who cherishes freedom and democracy—veto SB 1070, and toss it into the dust bin of history where it belongs, together with Jim Crow, the Nazi Nuremberg laws, and South African Apartheid.

But, believe it or not, the Governor is actually considering signing this venomous bill into law. Last night, in yet another surreal Arizona moment Governor Brewer addressed the 41st annual Chicanos Por La Causa anniversary dinner amid calls in the audience for her to veto SB 1070 and surrounded by protesters that chanted and marched outside the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel where the dinner was held. At the dinner, organization board chairwoman Erica Gonzalez-Melendez urged Brewer to veto “the most hateful piece of legislation directed at Latinos” aptly pointing out that SB 1070 will do nothing to fix our broken immigration system and only “panders to the racist fear mongers of our state.” But, Governor Brewer refused to say what she would do, invoking political-speak instead, “I am not prepared to announce a decision on Senate Bill 1070,” she said. “What I decide will be based on what’s right for Arizona.” http://bit.ly/96KJlT. (Note to reader: there have been several surreal moments in Arizona this week. On Monday Senator John McCain, who once described himself as a “maverick” and champion of comprehensive immigration reform, told Fox News host Bill O’Reilly that “the drivers of cars with illegals in it … are intentionally causing accidents on the freeway.” Then on Tuesday an Arizona state House committee approved a measure which would force President Obama to show his birth certificate if he runs for re-election. http://huff.to/9bfpzg)

What is right for Arizona is for Governor Brewer to jealously protect the rights of all its citizens and follow the U.S. Constitution, not turn Arizona into the Fourth Reich. Let’s be frank, by passing SB 1070 lawmakers have sold out Arizona taxpayers in a cynical effort to garner votes and look tough. The bill does nothing to build a functional immigration system, secure the border nor rid the state of dangerous criminals. Nor does it protect the wages and working conditions of US workers. Instead, it targets day laborers and ordinary citizens whose appearance might raise “reasonable suspicion” of unlawful immigration status in the mind of a police officer. If Governor Brewer signs SB 1070, people in Arizona with foreign sounding accents or who don’t “look American” had better not run into the wrong cop (or even the right cop) because the law mandates they prove they are here legally.

SB 1070 is not the product thoughtful policy making; it is hate speech masquerading as legislation. This sounds extreme until you read SB 1070 which is a hodgepodge of mean spirited provisions that will effectively transform Arizona into a police state for anyone whose skin is a shade other than white. The bill’s effect may very well be to make Arizona “Latino Free” and force those who stay behind—U.S. citizens included—to feel like hunted criminals. Frankly, there is no other way to describe SB 1070 which would make not having immigration documents a state crime, allow law enforcement officers to arrest anyone who could not immediately prove they were in the U.S. legally, and subject a brown-skinned person who leaves home without a wallet to arrest. Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles was hardly exaggerating when he compared SB 1070 to “German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques whereby people are required to turn one another in to the authorities on any suspicion of documentation.” http://bit.ly/9ZIQ9K.

SB 1070′s outright decimation of civil liberties and American values aside, Governor Brewer’s signature on the bill will likely reek economic devastation on Arizona, costing its taxpayers billions in lost revenue. The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) reported this week that “if significant numbers of immigrants and Latinos are actually persuaded to leave the state because of this new law, they will take their tax dollars, businesses, and purchasing power with them. The University of Arizona’s Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy estimates that the total economic output attributable to Arizona’s immigrant workers was $44 billion in 2004, which sustained roughly 400,000 full-time jobs. Furthermore, over 35,000 businesses in Arizona are Latino-owned and had sales and receipts of $4.3 billion and employed 39,363 people in 2002, the last year for which data is available. The Perryman Group estimates that if all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Arizona, the state would lose $26.4 billion in economic activity, $11.7 billion in gross state product, and approximately 140,324 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time. Putting economic contributions of this magnitude at risk during a time of recession would not serve Arizona well.” And this loss of revenue to the hard working taxpayers of Arizona does not take into account the cost of defending the inevitable lawsuits that will be brought against the state for civil rights and other violations. According to the IPC, “Arizona would probably face a costly slew of lawsuits on behalf of legal immigrants and native-born Latinos who feel they have been unjustly targeted” leading to millions of dollars in expenditures. http://bit.ly/dbguDK.

As I wrote previously on this blog, SB 1070 is not the problem. It is an awful symptom of the failure of the Administration and Congress to enact immigration reform. In the void, local and state authorities have run roughshod over the civil liberties we cherish as a  nation. What we see today is a perfect storm of crises—ICE’s neglect and abuse of immigrant detainees which has culminated in 107 deaths in immigration detention since 2003, the serious civil rights abuses in the notorious 287(g) program which is administered by ICE and “deputizes” state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce immigration law, and an immigration bureaucracy that thumbs its nose at the needs of American business and families. As a nation we must demand that Congress and the Administration put politics aside and get to the hard work of building a safe, orderly, fair, and functional immigration policy designed to protect civil liberties and serve the needs of all Americans.

As for today, Governor Brewer has a choice. She can succumb to hatred and fear by signing SB 1070 or allowing it to become law without her signature (it is hard to say which would be more cowardly). Or she can show uncommon political courage and veto the bill, thereby drawing a line in the Arizona desert over which racism, intolerance, and injustice dare not cross.

One of my favorite movie lines is from “The Princess Bride.” Vizzini, the mastermind behind the kidnapping of Princess Buttercup, upon seeing the Man in Black pursuing them keeps repeating the word “inconceivable.” Finally, Inigo Montoya, one of of Vizzini’s then assistants says: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

You’ve heard of hate speech. Now the Arizona legislature has given the nation “hate legislation” which reads more like a law passed in Nuremberg, Germany in 1935 than in Phoenix in 2010.

If implemented S.B. 1070 would transform Arizona into an oppressive police state for foreign nationals and U.S. citizens alike. The bill includes a smorgasbord of draconian provisions aimed at criminalizing noncitizens and dehumanizing anyone who doesn’t look, act, or speak like an American—whatever that is. For example, the law requires that state officials determine the immigration status of a person they encounter in the course of their work if “reasonable suspicion” exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the U.S. In effect, the act compels law enforcement to conduct racial profiling of all people in the state, including U.S. citizens. What, after all, is “reasonable suspicion” of alienage? Is it the inability to speak English? Is it a shade of skin color other than white? Is it facial features that suggest Asian or Latino ethnicity? And how would “reasonable suspicion” be enforced? If a traffic crossing guard encounters a child walking to school who doesn’t speak English, say a Puerto Rican child who just moved with her family to Phoenix from San Juan, is the officer now obligated to check the child’s papers or call her parents’ and ask about immigration status?

Another provision permits a law enforcement officer, without a warrant, to arrest a person if the officer has probable cause to believe that the person has committed any public offense that makes the individual removable from the U.S. So, now an Arizona street cop has the right to unilaterally decide whether a particular offense is one for which a person could be deported. Apparently, no one in the Arizona legislature has read the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Padilla v. Kentucky which points out that immigration law is so complex that even trained experts have difficulty determining which offenses lead to deportation. Nor, apparently, did the Arizona lawmakers bother to read the 4^th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which protects us all from unreasonable searches and seizures.

And it gets worse. Another provision criminalizes any long-term lawful permanent resident if he or she is on any public or private land in the state and but not carrying his or her alien registration card. Thus, a green card holder who goes out to his front yard in his bathrobe on a Sunday morning to fetch the newspaper is a criminal if he doesn’t carry his green card with him to the end of the driveway and back.

And the list goes on.

The passage of S.B. 1070 is especially disturbing in light of the recent OIG report which highlights serious civil rights abuses in the notorious 287(g) program which is administered by ICE and “deputizes” state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce immigration law. As AILA pointed out in its statement of April 1, 2010 calling on DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to immediately terminate the 287(g) program, the OIG report documents ICE’s failure to properly administer 287(g). It describes abuses of power by local officials under the watchful eye of ICE, including tales of local officers arresting individuals who have committed no offense – including even victims – for the sole purpose of identifying whether they have lawful immigration status. Clearly, enforcement of the immigration laws by local officials in concert with ICE has been an abject failure. Worse, it has served as a tool for hate mongers such as Maricopa County Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio to conduct systematic racial profiling and civil rights violations in Latino communities. The frightening thing is that the 287(g) program, which purports to contain procedural safeguards, is child’s play compared to S.B. 1070.

Nor can the passage of S.B. 1070 be separated from the overall crisis in immigration enforcement nationwide as demonstrated by ICE’s record of neglect, abuse, and deaths of detainees in ICE detention. As I have written in earlier blogs, some of the horrific tales of ICE malfeasance fit neatly into the annals of the world’s most oppressive regimes, including the plight of Boubacar Bah, who, after mysteriously suffering a skull fracture, was handcuffed by ICE officials while writhing in agony in his own vomit on the floor of a New Jersey detention center, then locked-up in an isolation cell for 13 hours without medical treatment and, finally, transported to a hospital in a coma where he later died, (See Secret Horror Stories: ICE Officials Hid The Truth About Immigrant Deaths In Detention http://bit.ly/4tdHDt).

I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of the hatred and of the failure of the Administration and Congress to fix our dysfunctional immigration system. We must demand that all our elected officials, state and federal alike, stop the political grandstanding and dangerous demagoguery and come up with real solutions to fix the broken immigration system that plagues this country. As hate filled and mean spirited as S.B. 1070 is, it is not the problem. It is just one more ugly symptom of Congress’ failure to do its job and create a functional immigration system. Congress must put politics aside, roll up its sleeves, and get to the hard work of building a safe, orderly, and fair immigration policy that will meet the needs of American business and families and give our nation the tools it needs to break out of this recession and ensure its competitive edge into the 21^st Century.

Yesterday the USCIS released its FY 2009 immigrant visa numbers. More than a million people legally immigrated to the United States in FY 2009. Almost 60% of those folks did so through the adjustment of status process, meaning they were already in the U.S. when their place in line was reached. While not disclosed by USCIS, the supposition is that a number of those folks were actually out of status or, even undocumented, and were able to adjust status using INA 245(i), thePublish Post penalty law still available to anyone who was a direct or derivative beneficiary of an immigrant visa petition or labor certification filed before April 30, 2001.

By The AILA Media Advocacy Committee

Several weeks ago on Sunday, March 21, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in Washington D.C. to advocate for a change in our immigration laws. And then, on Saturday, March 27, thousands more demonstrated in Los Angeles in solidarity with the Washington D.C. demonstration. Other marches are planned in cities across the country for April 10, 2010, including Seattle, Washington and Las Vegas, Nevada and as well as another broadly sponsored demonstration in Los Angeles scheduled for May 1. The purpose of the demonstrations are to continue to highlight the need for immigration reform, especially a pathway to legalization for the millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. who contribute to our economy, but are forced to live in the shadows of our society.

In addition to broad contingents from various immigrant communities, the demonstrators have included substantial numbers from faith based coalitions across the country, as well as from civil rights organizations. The demonstrations have been organized to remind President Obama that he promised to fix our broken immigration system within the first year of his administration and that this promise must be kept. The demonstrations also voiced concerns over President Obama’s record breaking deportation removals in the fiscal year 2009, and the ICE leadership’s quota goals of 400,000 removals this year. Despite ICE’s quasi-retraction, enforcement is clearly at the forefront of this administration, placing millions of immigrant families in danger.

Right now Congress appears deadlocked on this issue. The House of Representatives has stated it will not entertain reform until the Senate passes a bill. The Senate is looking for a second Republican to sponsor the Schumer/Graham proposed bill.

But the immigrant rights movement will not be dissuaded. They will continue to put pressure on the Obama Administration to move forward. As we have seen through health care, the power of the Chief Executive can move mountains when the will is there and the President cannot simply pass the buck back to Congress. The immigrant rights groups are determined and will keep up the pressure on this administration. There is a small group of Republican Senators willing to support reform. Notably, Senator Judd Greg (R-NH) recently went on the record regarding CIR as saying, “now is a good time to do it.” http://bit.ly/dbC8WB. Whether or not a Senate bill has to have a second Republican sponsor remains to be seen, but just as with health care reform, the lack of Republican sponsors should not alone stop movement on an immigration bill. The continued advocacy for reform by all the stakeholders in this fight, from the immigrant communities, faith-based organizations and the employer community, is what, at the end of the day, will be instrumental in achieving just and reasonable reform.

The stakes are very high. American businesses are unable to grow and invest in our economy, due to rigid and flawed interpretations of our laws by DHS and economists have shown that a broad immigration reform bill is one of the strongest stimulus measures available to jumpstart our troubled economy. The plight of millions of immigrants without legal status continues to be more unbearable every day. Some are class valedictorians, but are unable to go to college, get a job or simply drive. Mixed status families, which include US citizens as well as undocumented immigrants, have been brutally separated by worksite raids and harsh immigration court decisions; or live in fear of separation at the hands of ICE’s actions. As well the lack of relief or benefits for same sex partners has added to the misery created by our broken immigration system. The list of heartbreaking stories continues to grow. The faith based groups have hammered home the teachings of the Scriptures. All speak of welcoming the stranger among us. It is in this spirit that we must continue on; fighting for what is morally right and fiscally beneficial to our great country.

The Supreme Court yesterday issued what can only be considered a seminal decision as it applies to the constitutional rights of all immigrants. In Padilla v. Kentucky, 555 U. S. ___ (2010), the court expressed, at least in summary, its dismay at the increasing difficulties caused by today’s immigration laws: