The two faces of Obama on immigration

He stays some deportations even as he extends the draconian ‘se communities’. Will the real president please stand up?

Immigrant rights campaigners in Los Angeles, California

How can President Obama continue to portray himself as the champion of immigration reform to Latino voters, while at the same time deporting more people than any other president in United States history?

Two significant announcements this month offer a glimpse into an administration that appears to be playing both sides of a bitter debate over immigration reform.

The first occurred on 5 August, when the Obama Administration announced that it would unilaterally impose its controversial deportation programme known as “se communities” (also known as S-Comm) upon every city in the United States by 2013. The announcement stunned the immigrant justice community, which had spent the last year rallying against policies in Arizona that demonstrated to the world the dangers of using the local criminal justice system to engage in federal immigration law enforcement.

Burglars hit Hayward nonprofit agency over holiday weekend

By Chris De Benedetti | Source: Hayward Daily Review/MercuryNews.com | January 4, 2012

HAYWARD — The Hayward Day Labor Center, a nonprofit agency hit by burglars over the New Year’s holiday weekend, is asking for help replace some stolen items.

The job-training organization — which provides a variety of social services to those in need in the greater Hayward area — lost computers printers, and gardening tools in the burglary, said Gabriel Herndandez, the center’s executive director.

The burglars also damaged a book-dispensing vending machine and stole soccer uniforms from Tennyson High School that Hernandez, the squad’s head coach, was storing at the center.

The estimated cost of the stolen and damaged goods was between $8,000 and $10,000, Hernandez said. The crime took place sometime between Friday and Sunday morning, when a delivery person discovered that the center had been robbed, police Lt. Roger Keener said.

Anyone wishing to donate to the center can write a check made payable to Community Initiatives, c/o Hayward Day Labor Center, and mail it to the center at 680 W. Tennyson Road, Hayward, CA 94544.

Immigration Is Not a Back Stop for the Courts

Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px;”>The family of William “Denny” McCann is justifiably horrified that the suspected drunken driver who killed McCann has disappeared.

“They f—– up,” the victim’s brother told the Sun-Times. “He [allegedly killed] my brother, and they let him out of jail.”

But blaming this, as some are, on a recent County Board rule change is foolish. There’s nothing wrong with county commissioners reviewing their rules now to see if tweaks can be made, but they shouldn’t be stampeded into overturning a sensible policy.