When I was a child, some of the most violent film footage of the Civil Rights battles came out of Alabama. I remember looking on in horror as demonstrating blacks were knocked down with fire houses and dogs were sicced on them. These actions were ordered by the Birmingham Commissioner of Public Safety, Bull Connor. Men, women and children were the object of the hoses and the dogs. These were horrifying scenes, especially for children. I will never hear the word Alabama that I don’t think of the images branded in my mind.
These kinds of enforcement behaviors do not exist in a vacuum. Alabama will always wear the shame of those firehoses and police dogs. They will always have the tragedy of Birmingham Sunday in someone’s memory, as long as any of us alive during that time are still on this earth. Alabama needs to move away from its history of divisiveness.
Unfortunately, that is not happening. Recently enacted laws targeting illegal immigrants have some baggage attached to them that I am not sure Alabama is ready to handle. The new Alabama law seeks to collect data on all school children as to their status in the United States. Read More
The rulings are in but the dust is far from settled. Many of us are still trying to sort out what has been allowed and what has not. One thing that remains is particularly troubling– schools will be directed to track the immigration status of school children.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn sided with the state of Alabama on Wednesday on two key sections of the state’s wide-ranging crackdown on illegal immigrants. Blackburn refused to enjoin a law that will compel elementary and secondary school administrators to demand students provide birth certificates to prove they were born in the United States, and then compile lists of illegal immigrant children in their schools. In theory, schools could begin to ask parents about their children’s immigration status today, though it’s unclear if they will do so, since school has already started.
In the first place, schools require birth certificates having nothing to do with this ruling. Students entering school for the first time present a birth certificate. A birth certificate does not necessarily determine status if not issued in the United States. Students without US birth certificates will be on the ones in the line of fire and who will have to provide status information.
Last week the immigration issue kept creeping back into the conversations on here. Well let’s have at it.
Church leaders in Alabama are suing the state over their new bundle of anti-immigration laws. Why? The churches say that the laws prevent them from doing what churches do–minister to the poor. Some religions leaders say, as the law stands, that they could be arrested for feeding an immigrant or helping in times of sickness. In other words, they feel that the Alabama government in interfering with the separation of church and state.
Alabama has legislated new laws based on the F.A.I.R. model, similar to those first passed in the July 2007 Resolution here in PWC. These might even be more draconian.
Meanwhile, in Hoover Alabama, tea party forces support the new law:
According to insidenova.com, the county has filed suit against the federal government.
Prince William County filed a lawsuit today against the Department of Homeland Security, according to a county press release.
In 2007 the Prince William Board of County Supervisors passed an ordinance that requires county police officers to check the immigration status of anyone they arrest.
If police find that they have arrested someone who is in the country illegally, they turn that person over to the department for deportation.
To date the county has turned over more that [sic] 4,000 people over to DHS, the release stated.
At issue is the fact that an illegal immigrant who was an habitual offender hit a car carrying 3 elderly nuns. One nun was killed and the other 2 were seriously injured. The sisters belong to the Benedictine order and requested at the time of the tragedy that people not use the death of the sister to advance their political viewpoint. The politicians and anti-immigration crowd of Prince William County have ignored the sisters’ request and have done quite the opposite.
Entire post copied with permission from Michael Stafford.
The following is the opinion of the poster and does not necessarily represent the views of moonhowlings.net administration.
M-H
Myths and facts about crime on America’s southern frontier
The rationale for Arizona’s SB 1070, the state immigration enforcement statute passed in 2010 that is now being copied by other states such as Alabama and Georgia and championed as a cause célèbre by many on the Right, was based on a simple premise, namely, that Arizona was experiencing a surge in violent crime fueled by unauthorized immigrants.
Daryl Cagle / msnbc.com (click to view more cartoons by Daryl Cagle)
The link between unauthorized immigrants and crime is one of the most persistent myths in the immigration debate. But the facts tell a very different story, even in Arizona and along the Mexican frontier.
Despite all the hype, in reality, crime rates in Arizona, including its border counties, have been falling for years. More broadly, two of our nation’s safest metropolitan areas- San Diego and El Paso, are border cities. Indeed, by any objective measure, the southern border is safer now than it has been in decades. There was no, and there is no, immigrant-fueled crime wave.
The Wild West?
Listening to some politicians and members of the conservative entertainment complex last year, one got the impression that our southern border was descending into a state of near anarchy and chaos. That we were being subjected to a waive of violent crime fueled by unauthorized immigrants. That we were under siege. That we were facing an “invasion.”
For example, conservative radio host Michael Savage informed his listeners that, “[w]e need to get our troops out of Iraq and put them on the streets of America to protect us from the scourge of illegal immigrants who are running rampant across America, killing our police for sport, raping, murdering like a scythe across America while the liberal psychos are telling us they come here to work.”
In January, 2010, the United States Council of Catholic Bishops (“USCCB”) launched a campaign in support of comprehensive immigration reform urging “Congress to take up as its next priority comprehensive immigration reform that would reunite families, regularize the status of an estimated 12 million people in this country illegally and restore due process protections for immigrants.” The effort, although ultimately unsuccessful, was joined by leaders of other faith communities.
The USCCB’s call to action on this issue ought to be renewed. Simply put, comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to legality (“earned legalization”) for some of our nation’s millions of illegal immigrants is long overdue. It is also my hope that the effort to reform our nation’s immigration laws will enjoy bipartisan support that transcends the bitter divisions so prevalent in politics today.
America’s immigration laws should serve our national interest while, at the same time, respecting the inherent human dignity of immigrants. These two principles complement one another. Our current, antiquated system does neither well. A pathway to legal status for some of our unauthorized immigrants must be a piece of any comprehensive immigration reform. At the same time, our federal government has a duty to secure our borders and enforce our immigration laws. An “earned legalization” program would not subvert these critical goals; on the contrary, it would further them.
At present, America has between 10 and 12 million (or more) unauthorized immigrants. This is roughly the equivalent of the population of Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Illinois. The question of what to do with this enormous population is one of the most complicated, and emotionally charged, public policy issues facing us today. In particular, immigration policy is inextricably linked with demographic change and the diversification of America. It demands a sensitive and sophisticated approach.
On Thursday, June 2, 2011, Alabama’s state legislature passed an Arizona-style immigration enforcement bill. This comes after two unsuccessful efforts at comprehensive reform at the national level under President Bush — and last year with the Graham-Schumer proposal — against the backdrop of an increasingly poisonous debate.
The immigration debate, both in its substantive content and in terms of its tone and tenor, has profound implications for the future of our nation. Richard Land, the head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, has articulated this nexus with particular clarity. Land perceives the danger posed to all of us by the poisoned debate over immigration reform. He has warned that the failure to pass comprehensive reform could “rend the fabric of our society.” In his eyes, “[t]his is a moral issue. It’s an issue that … must be dealt with or it’s going to lead to deep fissures in our society.”1
With the embrace of Arizona’s S.B. 1070 as a cause célèbre by many on the Right, the passage of similar statutes in other states, and the rise of a virulent form of political nativism, the cracks that could, potentially, turn into those deep, society-rending fissures, are already visible. Avoiding this outcome, and securing a better future for our nation is one of the most critical tasks facing us today.
Governor Robert Bentley signed the strictest illegal immigrant law package in the United States this week. According to Huffington Post:
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama’s governor on Thursday signed a tough new illegal immigration crackdown that contains provisions requiring public schools to determine students’ immigration status and making it a crime to knowingly give an illegal immigrant a ride.
The bill also allows police to arrest anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant if they’re stopped for any other reason. Alabama employers also are now required to use a federal system called E-Verify to determine if new workers are in the country legally.
Gov. Robert Bentley said the law is the nation’s toughest, and groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center agree. The groups say they plan to challenge it.
Bentley believes that the Alabama law can withstand Constitutional scrutiny. He campaigned on cracking down on illegal immigration. Other sources have stated that Alabama leaders feel this law will open up jobs to Americans. Studies have shown that many Americans simply won’t do the type of work that many immigrants are happy to do.
Recently news of Chipotle being investigated by ICE hit many local, state, and national news sources. Chipotle is an upscale Mexican grill who has been under the ICE microscope for about a year. The inspections are not random and have come about as a result of investigation and intelligence gathering.
Chipotle, unlike many other fast food chains like Burger King, Subway and McDonalds, is all corporate . Burger King, Subway, McDonalds and many other chains are often franchise so the hiring onous falls on the local owner of the franchise. What Chipotle has been undergoing is what is known as an I-9 Audit. What exactly is an I-9 audit?
-An I-9 is an employment eligibility verification form. All U.S. employers must complete and retain an I-9 for each individual they hire in the United States, citizens and noncitizens alike. On the form, the employer must examine the employment eligibility and identity documents an employee presents to determine if the person can work legally in the country.
The other day, I got an email from Delegate Jackson Miller, trumpeting all the work he is doing to stop illegal immigration. I expected to read that he had taken up personal vigil down on the border considering all the fanfare. Such was not the case. In part, his email stated:
During the 2011 Virginia General Assembly Session, we will be debating many issues that are important to the Commonwealth, but one issue of particular significance to me is illegal immigration. As a former police officer with almost two decades of experience, I have seen firsthand the effect that illegal immigration can have on a community. As your Delegate, I am working hard to find solutions to the many issues and challenges that illegal immigration has presented in our communities and in our Commonwealth.
Recently, I appeared on Fox News Channel’s morning program, Fox & Friends, to defend a bill on which I am a co-patron. This bill, HB1465, (click for full text) stipulates that illegal aliens will not be eligible for admission to Virginia’s colleges and universities. Higher education is a privilege, not a right, and placement in Virginia’s colleges and universities has become increasingly difficult for legal residents of our state to obtain. This bill will require that all prospective students submit appropriate documentation showing proof of citizenship or a student visa for eligibility for enrollment.
The Virginia legislature which started up its short session today, will deal with more issues involving illegal immigration. This time, several legislators are targetting the children of illegal immigrants. While these kids were often brought to the United States as infants or young kids, and many went through American schools k-12.
Had the Dream Act passed, the legislature would not be wasting its time on this question.
Del. Christopher Peace’s bill would amend state law to explicitly prohibit people who are in the United States illegally from being admitted to Virginia’s public two-year or four-year institutions.
Several previous attempts to pass similar legislation in Virginia haven’t succeeded.
Federal law prohibits such people from paying in-state tuition at colleges and universities, but they can still pursue a public college education. Virginia’s public universities currently have the discretion to decide whether to admit illegal aliens as long as they charge out-of-state tuition.
South Carolina bars undocumented students from enrolling in public colleges, as have some Georgia institutions, and Alabama’s two-year colleges.
I seriously doubt that this bill makes it through to the finish line. Too many people understand that these are extremely good students who will one day add to our work force. Why not reward kids who do the right thing?
“This is the defining civil rights initiative of this decade,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. “Congress has taken an extraordinary step on behalf of men and women who’ve been denied their rightful integrity for too long.”
Being gay has for decades been grounds for discharge, and tens of thousands of service members have been expelled after their sexual identities were exposed – sometimes under questioning. An estimated 13,000 troops have been discharged under the “don’t ask” policy that President Bill Clinton, after failing to reverse the policy, authorized as a compromise in 1993.
What people don’t remember is that Clinton put in DADT as a last resort. He would have preferred to make being gay a non-issue. however, Congress had threatened to make the rules stricter if Clinton issued an executive order. Much has changed in 15 years.
The years-long legislative debate over the policy came to an end Saturday as senators voted 65 to 31 to send the repeal legislation to President Obama, who campaigned on a pledge to eliminate the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly. Eight Republicans joined 57 members of the Democratic caucus in the vote; four senators did not vote.
Good for those 8 Republicans and shame on those who voted no.
As for the Dream Act, to me, it is a waste of human resource. A country that continually complains about social security not being sustained should try to get all the high paid workers it can. If students work hard, keep out of trouble and have superior grades, they should be entitled to complete for college, regardless of the status of their parents. I am tired of this sins of the father business when dealing with children.
On Saturday, that strategy was in ruins after Senate Democrats could muster only 55 votes in support of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, a measure that would have created a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. Under Senate rules, Democrats needed 60 votes to overcome Republican opposition to the bill. The House of Representatives had passed the measure this month, 216 to 198.
The irony of the DREAM Act’s failure is that it had strong bipartisan support at the start of the administration, and advocates thought it could generate momentum for more policy changes.
But as the country’s mood shifted on illegal immigration, support among Republicans and some Democratic senators evaporated, with many decrying it as backdoor amnesty for lawbreakers. Even a former co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), voted against it.
I wonder how McCain ended up voting? Shame on those senators who voted nay. Kids are once again victims. Its a sad day when we crap on kids who have grown up American because of their parents. No one is asking anyone else to pay the bill. Just let the kids into college.
It’s R on R. The Stewart/Cuccinelli saga plays on.
Corey Stewart, head bloody but unbowed, takes another poke or two at the Attorney General of Virginia, Ken Cuccinelli. Actually, it was a bit more than a poke. He compared the AG to a first year law student. This comparison is before he paints the AG as a ‘pro-Amnesty liberal.’
The opinion showed that that provision had the potential to “run afoul” of federal law.
The memo also stated that Stewart’s proposal also contained provisions similar to those found in Arizona’s illegal immigration law that were enjoined by federal court.
“He said that the federal district court’s decision in Arizona was binding on Virginia. That’s simply untrue. Any first-year law student would tell you that that’s incorrect,” Stewart said.
Ouch. Moving right along, one has to figure out how Corey Stewart, a mere county supervisor, is going to get legislation passed on an omnibus illegal immigration package after another state, Arizona, has brought on national attention, lawsuits, and injunctions from the federal courts. Perhaps, after all this, Stewart, who is not a state legislator, wasn’t planning anything really happening with the Virginia Rule of Law Campaign anyway.
That’s what we’re trying to do is take Prince William County’s policy and adopt it on a statewide basis,”Stewart said.
Stewart’s latest proposal contains considerably more provisions than the Prince William County resolution and Cuccinelli objected to many of those provisions, including one that allows a person’s immigration status to be allowed in any court.
So what is the Virginia Law of Rule Campaign then if all Corey is trying to do is find someone to pass the Prince William County resolution?
… the additional provisions were a list of various pieces of legislation introduced by various states across the nation.
“It was never meant to be introduced as legislation,” he said.
Stewart said he was surprised at the opposition from Cuccinelli’s office.
“I’m very disappointed. I run into a lot of opposition in fighting illegal immigration and almost all of that opposition comes from either pro-amnesty and the Washington Post and other liberals. I certainly didn’t expect this attack from the back by Cuccinelli,” Stewart said
So what is the Virginia Rule of Law Campaign really? What is Corey objecting to? Why is he sporting it around? If it wasn’t supposed to be legislation, what was it supposed to be? Perhaps it was just a fund-raising tool for Corey. If he put a bunch of BS and bluster out there, got people hooked and donating money, then he didn’t have to do anything with it at all. He could just take people’s money and keep feeding them bull.
So why the mock fighting with Cuccinelli? It’s just a plain ole pissin’ contest.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio swore in his new “illegal immigration posse” this past week. Latino activists are crying foul for fear of minuteman mentality being exercised against immigrants. They fear the mentality of ‘Lets go hunt Mexicans.’
The group of mostly middle-aged or older white men dressed in brown uniforms with gold badges will assist Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies in such duties as “transporting illegal immigrants arrested for potential immigration violations,” “crowd control during demonstrations against the sheriff’s immigration policies” and “searching for load vehicles and drop houses.”
Sheriff Joe also positioned his new posse near props that hinted of war — a helicopter, an off-road vehicle, and an armored personnel carrier with a long gun. Over half the 56 posse members were cleared to carry weapons, and all had received training in illegal immigration enforcement, Arpaio announced during the ceremony.
Latino activists accuse Sheriff Joe of trying to take the attention off some of his legal problems which have arisen from some of his extreme measures in dealing with illegal immigrants. He is currently under several on-going investigations.
In early November, Maricopa County deputized 6 federal agents to look into other abuses of power such as funneling money from one account into cash strapped operations like immigration enforcement. Sheriff Joe is being investigated now for keeping 2 sets of books. Arpaio is already under investigation for abuse of power and civil rights violations.
Danny Ortega, a Phoenix attorney and chairman of the board of the National Council of La Raza fears that the possee will attract those who are ’emotionally attracted’ to immigration enforcement and the volatility that such an attachment could give rise to.
And if there weren’t enough of a show with the Sheriff and his newly formed posse, The Beast further reports:
Two new posse members are actually minor movie stars—action figure Steven Seagal and Lou Ferrigno, the former Incredible Hulk, who doesn’t even live in Arizona.Arpaio had named Ferrigno an “honorary deputy” in May so the Hulk could “bodyguard” the sheriff when he spoke at a friendly Tea Party rally. The bodyguard gig boosted publicity for both the sheriff and Ferrigno, who sells t-shirts and exercise equipment on line. Ferrigno says he’s signed on to the illegal immigration posse because he wants to support Arpaio’s efforts to curb illegal immigration.
So now the Incredible Hulk is part of the posse. All we need is a green beef up suit to make things completely bizarro-world.
Sometimes it isn’t a real good idea to draw negative attention to one’s self. Now that the UVA Report on Illegal Immigration has been finalized, it will somehow be interpreted and reinterpreted as the Chairman feels necessary.
First off, YOUR UVA report that YOU, the taxpayers of PWC paid almost $400,000 for is now residing on the Chairman’s Virginia Rule of Law Act website. You can even download it from there. I suggest that the Corey Stewart read the report cover to cover because he is getting some of the information wrong–dead wrong.
Here is what the report actually say about serous crime:
Crime and arrest statistics reported by PWCPD do not, on the whole, show reductions that might be associated with the immigration policy, but they do show that serious violence, particularly aggravated assault, has dropped sharply in recent years. Considering that illegal immigrants account for only 3% of offenders currently arrested for aggravated assault, it seems unlikely that the policy was a major cause behind this trend, but it could have been a contributor. Finally, the views of officers, as measured in interviews and surveys, are somewhat mixed. Most feel that the policy has been effective in controlling crime and disorder related to illegal immigrants, but they are split as to whether the policy has reduced crime overall, and their general view is that immigrants do not contribute heavily to serious crime in PWC.
Additionally upon inspection of the crime statistics from the Prince William County Police website:
in 2007, there were 310 aggravated assaults committed by both adults and juveniles. In 2008 there were 197 aggravated assaults committed by both adults and juveniles. That is a reduction of 113 aggravated assaults or a 36.5% decrease. Yet the chair tells us there was a 47% decrease.
Mr. Stewart needs to tell the truth and stop reworking the numbers to suit his own personal goals and agenda.
Finally, in the BOCS meeting yesterday, Mr. Stewart and the other supervisors who voted in the affirmative seem to want the state to adopt PWC”s illegal immigration policy of status check post arrest. The model legislation bill (click to download) tells another story. It is an IRLI form with Virginia Rule of Law Act written on it also. It goes much further than the Prince William current model and has the thumb print of F.A.I.R. and Mike Hethmon all over it. It permits probable cause stops to check for immigration status as well as other things that just might get the state sued.
I think most of us don’t want to end up like Arizona. If Corey Stewart, Ken Cuccinelli and F.A.I.R. have their way, that is exactly where the state of Virginia will end up.
We commend the Prince William County police for the job they do, under the leadership of Chief Deane. The PWC model that questions status of all people post arrest is a workable solution to the problem. What works for our community might not work for another. Let’s not dictate what others should do. Millions of dollars were spent to get to where we are now. Its time to move on without going through all of this again. And Virginians certainly don’t need to be F.A.I.R. lab rats again.
