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Opponents to immigration policy share testimonies in Knoxville » Knoxville News Sentinel

Juana Villegas said she was three days’ from giving birth when law enforcement in Middle Tennessee took her into custody to be deported. She was shackled until minutes before she gave birth in a . Villegas was one of about eight women who took the stage Thursday night during a rally at a North Knoxville union hall to protest Immigration and Nationality Act Section 287(g), a federal policy that community groups fear will be adopted by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. The policy authorizes local law enforcement to enforce federal illegal immigration law. While proponents say the measure enables local law enforcement to get violent illegal immigrants off the street, those gathered Thursday said the measure creates an atmosphere where racial profiling is rampant, individuals arrested on misdemeanors are deported and civil-rights abuses occur.

Nationwide Protests Against SB 1070 End with Nine Arrests in Phoenix

Not content to let the fight against the SB 1070 be handled by the federal government alone, immigrant rights activists turned out across the country yesterday on the day the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case to demand an end to Arizona’s SB 1070. Outside the Supreme Court yesterday, hundreds gathered to protest Arizona’s law. A few h

Arizona Latinos Take to the Street Protest Deportations and Racism

Members of the Hispanic community of southern Arizona marched through the streets Tuesday to demand an end to the deportations and racism provoked by state laws like SB 1070. Hispanics “are the base and strength of the pyramid we live on, ” Raul Alcaraz, representative of the South Side Workers Center, told some 200 demonstrators carrying banners th

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.

The ‘Arizonification’ of the US immigration debate – Guardian UK

While many focused on the US supreme court’s consideration of Arizona’s SB1070 on Wednesday, events on the streets of Phoenix and not in the court, foreshadow the future of the country’s immigration debate. Within the supreme court, a very narrow legal principle was discussed – as to whether Arizona was infringing on the federal government’s right to set immigration policy. In Phoenix, hundreds of demonstrators were clear about what was really at stake in the high court: a negative decision would clearly worsen Arizona’s human rights crisis, but even a positive ruling would not solve it.

Phoenix SB1070 Protesters Block ICE Entrance

SB 1070 Protesters Block Central Ave, 9 Arrested: MyFoxPHOENIX.com

Obama Sues Arizona While Replicating Its Policies – Democracy Now

Returning to the Scene of the Crime: Phoenix, Two Years Later

Two years ago, on July 29, 2010, I was arrested in Phoenix for nonviolent civil disobedience during large protests against SB1070, Arizona’s anti-immigrant law. As the president of the Unitarian Universalist Association and a man of faith, I knew it was my obligation to stand in opposition to this draconian legislation that harms immigrants and

SB 1070 Arguments Loom As Mexican Immigration to U.S. Slows To Standstill – Phoenix News – Valley Fever

Don’t know if the Pew Hispanic Center intentionally released its fascinating, statistics-based report on the in-flux state of illegal immigration just prior to tomorrow’s U.S. Supreme Court arguments on controversial Arizona SB 1070, but the timing has provided the respected non-profit with maximum exposure in terms of national publicity. The

Ariz. to defend its tough immigration law at Supreme Court – USATODAY.com

National legal experts predict the high court’s ruling will be a landmark decision that determines whether states have the right to enforce federal immigration laws as they see fit. It is unusual for the Supreme Court to accept a case that hasn’t yet been fully adjudicated by the lower courts, but the court appears to want to resolve the issue