What the Government Should Be Verifying: Jobs, Training, and Safety

Excluded Workers BlogLeave a comment

In America, we desperately need to address the hardships everyday people increasingly face. As Rep. Lamar Smith points out, unemployment rates in the U.S. have reached nearly 10%. Those who do have jobs increasingly face lower wages, longer hours, and less protections at the work site.

To address the challenges U.S. workers and the unemployed are facing, Washington has an unprecedented opportunity to invest in job creation, workplace safety, and training opportunities that would usher those excluded from the workforce into meaningful employment.

To raise the floor for struggling and working families, we need policies that grow our economy, ensure job security, and offer new opportunities. We don’t need more scapegoating.

The Battle of Arizona… In California

Secure Communities BlogLeave a comment

Californians took a turn against the Arizonification of immigration policy and took a step toward standards we expect and the oversight we deserve when the state passed the TRUST Act out of its assembly’s public safety committee this week.

The modest bill meant to improve public safety, foster transparency, and protect civil rights following the botched expansion of the Se Communities program, now makes California a national focal point for the next phase of the battles over Arizona-style immigration policies that would convert police into enforcers of our nation’s broken, and unjust, immigration laws.

Arizona to Nativist Lobby, “Stop Cheating on Me”

SatireLeave a comment

State Feels Spurned by Anti-immigrants’ Expanded Focus

“I used to be Tanton’s one and only,” Arizona sobbed in a confessional interview last week, speaking of John Tanton the head of the FAIR network responsible for today’s anti-immigrant climate.

Arizona called for the interview last week after attention began to drift as other states such as Kentucky and Mississippi introduced and passed SB 1070-like legislation in their own legislatures.

French Ask for Return of Statue of Liberty

SatireLeave a comment

End of United States’ ‘World-Wide Welcome’ Prompts Request

12.09.2010 – New York, NY

2010 may mark the year of international embarrassment for the United States. For the first time, this year marked the President submitting findings to the United Nations Human Rights review. After Arizona’s state law proved an international embarrassment for the United States, the country finds itself in a new diplomatic quandary.

Re-birth of a Nation

Migrant Rights BlogLeave a comment
find Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;”>

Re-Birth of a Nation

Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;”>

When I first saw the campaign ad in Louisiana, it reminded me of the 1915 klan film “Birth of a Nation.” As I watch election results and copycat bills of Arizona’s SB 1070 spreading across the country and now 14 states considering attempts to rewrite the 14th amendment, I wonder what nation we are birthing today.

America’s ‘Toughest Sheriff’ and the Human Right Crisis He’s Created

Alto Arizona BlogLeave a comment

Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left; padding: 0px;”>“They call me KKK, I consider it an honor. It means we’re doing something,” are the startling words of Sheriff Arpaio, the top law enforcer of Maricopa County, Arizona.

Unlike radio hosts or other public officials who lose their posts instantly when uttering similar remarks, Arpaio’s position has won five elections and received continuous support from the federal government.(1)

Arizona Policies Leave Children without Parents

Alto Arizona BlogLeave a comment

click Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left; padding: 0px;”>In Arizona, law enforcement has two new tools in their supposed fight against immigration; ski masks and teddy bears.

Anyone in Maricopa County can sign-up to be part of volunteer posses that sweep through Brown neighborhoods on a self-described hunt. Upon taking up the task, they’re handed those two items, a ski mask to hide their identity and a teddy bear to hand to any children whose mother or father they rip away.