Author Archives: Administrator

Defending Arizona in a SB 1070 Nation: What Side Are You On? – Jeff Biggers

With defiant Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer growing moreemboldened as the Supreme Court readies to unveil its ruling on the state’s SB 1070 “papers, please” immigration law, Arizona human rights group Puenteand their national allies are bolstering their “Barrio Defense Committees,” as “neighbors link with neighbors to learn their rights and make collective plans to defend themselves.”

They are also asking their fellow Arizona neighbors and politicians to take a stand.

Securing DC’s Community – Washington Post

Ever since the Department of Homeland Security decided to conscript local police as “force multipliers” in harsh immigration enforcement efforts, sick cities and states have found themselves unwittingly or unwillingly part of the controversial federal deportation program misnamed Se Communities. But a bold move last week by the D.C. Council [“In D.C., no warm welcome for immigration crackdown,” Metro, June 5] to protect residents from the effects of Se Communities should serve as a model for the country.

Two Workers Deaths attributed to Heat in California

Cal/OSHA is actively investigating these two recent cases as suspected heat related deaths. One was a farmworker in Coalinga, and the other, s an 18 year old construction worker for a small company in Friant. While the deaths have been attributed to heat, the question is whether they should really be attributed to the failure…

e-verify 2.0: The New “IMAGE” Program

A new federal program called IMAGE (ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers) was just adopted by the city of Escondido in California. Through IMAGE, the employer agrees to use e-verify and also submit to regular audits of its employee information. Of course, case this will only have the same impact as e-verify – facilitating worker exploitation by pushing workers underground. See more here: Escondido: City becomes first in county to volunteer for immigration audit

From a Brooklyn Street Corner, a Women’s Cleaning Cooperative Grows

From a Brooklyn Street Corner, s a Women’s Cleaning Cooperative Grows

New York Times Article By NADIA SUSSMAN

After years of waiting on a Brooklyn street corner trying to land jobs cleaning houses, cheap Teresa Bucio decided there had to be a better way to earn a living.

Like dozens of Latina immigrants, Ms. Bucio, 33, used to stand at the corner of Division and Marcy Avenues in Williamsburg every morning, hoping to be hired.

The intersection — a bare cement triangle overlooking a sunken stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway — is an unusual all-women day labor site where residents of the heavily Hasidic neighborhood find people to clean their homes. Ligia Guallpa, an advocate for day laborers who has assisted women at the site for years, estimated that some 200 women congregated there over any given week, and many of them are illegal immigrants.

The Higher Stakes of SB1070 Debate – AZ Republic

When the Supreme Court hears the Department of Justice lawsuit challenging portions of Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 today, what will be debated has much higher stakes than the limited constitutional questions of federal and state powers that will be before the court.

Perhaps those are the narrow arguments that will pass between lawyers, but SB 1070 isn’t about a battle between federal and state power. It isn’t even about immigration policy, nor is it about Arizona.

SB 1070 is about all of us. How we respond to crisis, how we treat each other and whether we will let the bill’s defenders stand in the doorway of history or whether we will refuse to have the hard-fought advances in our rights be turned back.