Now Say Thanks!!!! Republicans who voted NO on Anti-Immigrant Bills

This is the List of Good Republicans who Voted in Favor of Aizona's Economy, Against Anti-Immigration Bills, according with the AZ Republic (see link below)

SB 1308: Birthright citizenship

• Frank Antenori, R-Tucson.

• Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix.

• Rich Crandall, R-Mesa.

• Adam Driggs, R-Phoenix.

• John McComish, R-Phoenix.

• John Nelson, R-Litchfield Park.

• Steve Pierce, R-Prescott.

• Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale.

• Steve Yarbrogh, R-Chandler.

SB 1309: Birthright citizenship

• Frank Antenori, R-Tucson.

• Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix.

• Scott Bundgaard, R-Peoria.

• Rich Crandall, R-Mesa.

• Adam Driggs, R-Phoenix.

• John McComish, R-Phoenix.

• John Nelson, R-Litchfield Park.

• Steve Pierce, R-Prescott.

• Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale.

• Steve Yarbrogh, R-Chandler.

SB 1405: Hospitals checking legal status

• Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix.

• Rich Crandall, R-Mesa.

• Adam Driggs, R-Phoenix.

• Linda Gray, R-Glendale.

• John McComish, R-Phoenix.

• John Nelson, R-Litchfield Park.

• Steve Pierce, R-Prescott.

• Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale.

• Steve Yarbrogh, R-Chandler.

SB 1407: Schools checking legal status

• Rich Crandall, R-Mesa.

• Adam Driggs, R-Phoenix.

• Linda Gray, R-Glendale.

• John McComish, R-Phoenix.

• John Nelson, R-Litchfield Park.

• Steve Pierce, R-Prescott.

• Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale.

SB 1611: Immigration omnibus

• Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake.

• Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix.

• Rich Crandall, R-Mesa.

• Adam Driggs, R-Phoenix.

• Linda Gray, R-Glendale.

• John McComish, R-Phoenix.

• John Nelson, R-Litchfield Park.

• Steve Pierce, R-Prescott.

• Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale.

• Steve Yarbrogh, R-Chandler.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2011/03/17/20110317arizona-birthright-citizenship-bills-rejected.html#ixzz1GxrZTYWG

Contrary to My Own Predictions...AZ Legislators Block Anti- Immigrant Bills!

Good news for now! Arizona State Legislature blocked anti-immigrant bills among them the so called Omnibus bill and the Birthright citizenship.

Other bills rejected were SB 1405 that would have required hospitals to check an individual's legal status and notify law enforcement if they suspected an individual was in the country illegally. Senate Bill 1407 would have required school districts to collect data on the number of students who were undocumented immigrants.

Also defeated was SB 1611, the so called Omnibus Bill, that included a wide variety of issues. It would have banned undocumented immigrants from attending state universities and Community Colleges or getting any federal public benefits. It would have made it a crime for undocumented immigrants to drive in Arizona and required proof of legal status to enroll a child in a public K-12 school. The Omnibus Bill was a compilation of 16 measures that had failed at various times over the past several years.

There is a small chance that this bill may be revived in what is left of the session. Also there is a possibility that the bill may be sent to the ballot.

Definitely the effective pressure came from the business leaders and the Chamber of Commerce, who months before were lobbying quietly against the passage of these laws.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2011/03/17/20110317arizona-birthright-citizenship-bills-rejected.html#ixzz1GuUEMCxo

More Bad News After the 2010 Election

I must confess I'm still in shock about the results of the 2010 elections across the USA but specially in Arizona.

Besides loosing congressional seats and a big GOP win on all possible fronts, re-elected State Senator Russell Pearce has been named Senate President. The introduction of more anti-immigrant laws is inevitable.

Voters have approved prop 107 which bans the so called affirmative action programs (another "gift" from Russell Pearce and sell out State Legislator Steve Montenegro).

On the chopping block will be valuable initiatives like WISE (Women In Science and Engineering) and Hispanic Mother and Daughter Program, among others that encourage the participation of underrepresented groups in higher education. These programs also made important contributions towards the integration of immigrants.

This is what an alumni of the program said about the Hispanic Mother and Daughter Program:

"We all know that the United States is a country of immigrants. Every single person that has come here has had to learn to adapt to a totally different way of life.

Se dice que nosotros los Hispanos nos negamos a adaptarnos... (It is said that we Hispanic are not seeking integration.)

This is precisely what programs like HMPD helps us do. It opens up new doors to Hispanic Mothers and Daughters, by informing us and making us aware of all the opportunities and choices available when it comes to our education. I can honestly say that if it was not for this program, my path toward college would've been a way bigger challenge. And I would hate to see other girls miss the opportunities that I had if this program disappears."

Sad times for AZ when proven programs that support educations for all are not valued.

522 Steps

Near my home in Chandler, Arizona there is a neighborhood called Arrowhead Meadows that include a working class block with small town homes. This community has been very much affected by the economic downturn and the immigration laws the State has been implemented, among them the Employer's Sanctions Law and SB1070.

Those laws are seeking "attrition to enforcement" or in other words to get rid of the immigrant working class population that hold the jobs citizens and legal residents do not want to do. This immigrants live in neighborhood like this.

Laws have an effect on the economy and in Arizona this is painfully true. It may be causing a considerable effect in the falling home prices and the low occupancy rate of rental properties all over the State. Read the article by the Arizona Republic here with data on the real state market and the projections for the near future.

I see this neighborhood as a little barometer of the economic situation of the state.

Recently I have been noticing more and more for sale and for rent signs, so I took a walk this afternoon and counted how many steps it took me to find a - For Rent- sign in this particular block.

It is impossible to determined which homes and how many where emptied by the implementation of SB1070 last July the 29th. We can only guess.

This is the finding of my little qualitative research:

Streets: Walking on Arrowhead from W. Galveston St to W. Ivanhoe St.

First sign - 94 steps

Second sign -130 steps

Third sign -170 steps

Fourth sign -230 steps

Fifth sign -360 steps

Sixth sign -420 steps

Seventh sign -455 steps

Total of steps walked: 522

To see the pictures of the signs and the street please click here

Charitable Work May be Punishable under SB1070

Today, my dear friend H could be detained, arrested and accused of harboring undocumented immigrants while transporting kids and young adults to their dental appointments. H has arranged pro-bono visits with a prominent dentist for children that lack dental coverage due to poverty and their immigration status. Most of them have never seem a dentist in their lives and some have complicated cases that require immediate care. I guess the dentist can also been accused of "harboring".

This is the Arid Zone where charitable work to the "least of these" is stigmatized and punishable.

SB1070 will not be implemented as a whole today Thursday, July the 29th 2010. Thanks to a ruling by judge Bolton, sections of the law signed by Governor Jan Brewer have been stopped from implementation through an injunction.

I continue to be really upset and troubled.

I do not understand why is people happy in the immigrants' rights community and the Mexican-American community.

This are the portions that has been stopped:

• The requirement that police officers investigate the immigration status of all individuals they stop if the officers suspect that they are in the country unlawfully;
• The mandatory detention of individuals who are arrested, even for minor offenses that would normally result in a ticket, if they cannot verify that they are authorized to be in the U.S.;
• The new statute imposing state criminal penalties for non-citizens failing to register with the Department of Homeland Security or failing to carry registration documents;
• The provision for warrantless arrest of individuals who are deemed by state or local police officers to be "removable" from the U.S.; and
• The new state statute making it a crime for alleged undocumented immigrants to work.

Left are provisions that criminalizes the solicitation of employment on public streets or the one that forbids local police agencies from adopting policies that limit or restrict enforcement of federal immigration laws, the so called Sanctuary cities. The section about harboring undocumented immigrant is still there.

There are poison pills on the sections that are still standing so forgive me if I'm not in the mood for a high five.

Anti- immigrant Hate Monger of the Week: Barry Wong

The Arid Zone is apparently in this mad contest of who is the politician who says the most inhumane, outrageous, anti-immigrant statements in order to gain points in a cheap and crass quest for votes.

Since each week we are shocked with a new low, and to record for internet history the dirty tactics of the opportunistic, I have created a section on this blog reserved for the Anti- Immigrant Hate Monger of the Month. This month that precedes the Four of July Holiday the "honor" is granted to Barry Wong, the Republican Candidate for the post of Corporation Commissioner.

Mr Barry Wong stated on the Arizona Republic : "Is power or natural gas or any type of utility we regulate, is that a right that people have? It is not a right. It is a service."

"Cutting electricity, water, natural gas, even telephone lines at the homes of illegal immigrants", he said, "would lower costs for the rest of the state's customers".He believes the population spike caused by illegal immgrants forces the state to build new power plants and then raise rates for customers.

So Mr. Wong vowed to cut electric power to undocumented immigrants in the Arid Zone where temperatures soar close to the 115 F in July if he is elected.

His statements created an uproar at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce were Glenn Hammer, President and CEO, blasted Mr. Wong for "his not only inhumane and opportunistic comments, but his lack of sense of business". "To deny someone access to electricity based on his or her immigration status is not only a wrongheaded policy proposal, it’s just cruel" he stated."Your claim that your proposal is somehow consumer-friendly is absurd. The costs of implementing your plan would be borne by ratepayers, never mind the hit taxpayers would take as police and fire departments would increasingly be responding to heat-related emergencies", continued Mr. Hammer.

Mr. Wong stance is another example of political zealots wanting to impose disastrous laws, and in this case completely inhumane,to create unfunded mandates that does not consider the role of the immigrant as a consumer, payer, tax payer and supporter of services.

Mr. Wong does not even make business sense.

Summer Reading at the Arid Zone

My name is indexed between the words "cocaine and "coyote", and if you read the book where this comes from you will find the words immigration, borders, kidnappings, hope, fear and DREAM… My name is there because I live in the Arid Zone and because of "Illegal".

Terry Greene Sterling is an award winning journalist and now book author thanks to "Illegal, Life and Death in Arizona's Immigration War Zone" published by Globe-Pequot Press. I will start this comment fully disclosing my relationship with Terry: We became friends when she looked for me as a source of information for her book. However do not read Illegal to find me there. Read the book because it has vivid narrative and stories of immigration and the people affected by the broken system in Maricopa County, Arizona, ground zero of the immigration debate with interesting dispatches from the border towns. You would want to read the book to find the story of "Viri" the dreamer who I have the honor to befriend. Or you really want to know what Joe Arpaio is like when he talks to a group of core supporters and lowers his guard, or the people that crosses mental and political borders. The cheap politics of immigration who victimize us all. The good, bad and the people that are doing their best to survive.

Terry describes the effects of the anti-immigrants laws in the micro economy of the "tienditas -dollar stores- that cater to immigrants so you formulate your own conclusion on the effects on the macro- economy of the State. Reading the stories you will find Terry, intrepid journalist with insatiable curiosity and a special ability to build a comfortable environment for the people she interviews to reveal their most intimate secrets and thoughts. You will find that she loves and respects her profession.

Terry invites you to join her to a journey into the immigration underground and meet the people who are hunkering down expecting a better tomorrow. You will no be disappointed of the ride.

Order the book at my favorite bookstore Changing Hands.

Open Lettter To Mohammad Abdollahi

Dear Mohammad,

It’s difficult for me to see the pictures and images of what happened on Monday, May the 17^th , 2010.

I guess you all reached a point of no return. Hearing so many DREAM Act stories makes me understand the depth of your desperation.

Your life and of all the dreamers has been put on hold for so many years that I think you only saw this option available to you. You sat down in a peaceful protest with your friends in front of powerful Senator John McCain's office and you are willing to risk to be deported, all world to witness, because the government of the place you grew up does not let you live freely, when freedom seems to be all around you.

I suppose you all knew I will not approve of this action. We are afraid for your safety (the safety of all dreamers) and afraid that you actually are going to be deported to a place that can mean a death sentence for you. This after being arrested, handcuffed and possibly mistreated. If I do not approve of your action it is not because I’m not proud of you but because I really care about you.

Of all places you chose Arizona to shout your pain to the world. Maybe you did this because Arizona is a dry and often inhospitable place, where people call children, teenagers, and young adults in your situation “illegals” more often than not. Maybe you came to his place because you feel that more immigrants are being criminalized even when are role model human beings, just like you.

Maybe you chose to come here because many people in this place are incapable of imagining what is like to be brought to a country swaddled in desperation and grow up in the shadows of society and, in spite of all, grow up to be a remarkable human being and a leader, like so many of the dreamers. Maybe you chose Arizona because many hearts are hardened by hate and cannot see past their prejudices. Perhaps you came here because you think Arizona is the epicenter of hate, specially after the governor signed sb1070 and you are fighting for all of us.

I really do not know where this is going to take you and all the dreamers. I really hope that your actions will soften some hearts when confronted with the ugly realties of what we have all done to children and young lives like yours in this country.

I pray today for your safety and for the safety of all DREAMers.

Love and hugs,

Carmen Cornejo

What grade do I give the Arizona State Legislature on the 2010 session?

When the editors of the Southeast Republic asked me to answer how do I grade Arizona's Legislature after the end of the 2010 session, this is what I answered. (They only gave me 80 words but more, many more would be necessary to express my outrage).

Failure. Republican Legislators passed a disastrous bill SB1070 (with rushed modifications at the last minute that makes it worse). Massive cuts to education and social services for the disabled and vulnerable.

Instead of concentrating in solving Arizona’s economic woes they wasted their time on legislation that divides us instead of appreciating the contributions of all to the economy. Expect boycotts, continue fall on revenues from sales tax and a cascade of foreclosures.

(printed on the Saturday, May the 8th edition)

What Part of Legal You Do Not Understand???

Even before Gov. Jan Brewer signed Bill SB1070, way before, sheriff officers and rogue police from different departments have been stopping brown people under the suspicion of being in the country undocumented and abusing their powers. They have been proving into the immigration's status of Hispanics in hopes to discover undocumented persons and play their power trips and their ethnic grievances. This is what it has been going on in Arizona.

For what I hear their targets are primarily 1.-working class fellows whose English proficiency is not absolute or speak Spanish and 2.-young people even when they are all American. Rogue police officers know they are not fully educated on what their rights are and it is easy to get away with the situation . Rogue police officers are looking to snatch them and sending them to immigration holding tanks.

Some months ago I found a 3^rd generation Hispanic college student who was asked to produce his social security card besides his driver’s license. He left the scene with a sense that the request for a SS# was not right but he was not sure and “consulted” with some friends.

I come across this stories without seeking them. It just comes naturally when I’m going around giving away CADENA’s “Know Your Rights Brochures”.

This week when the community got together to rally with Al Sharpton against prop SB1070, I saw the opportunity to give away 200-updated-version of the Know Your Rights Brochures, half of them in English, half of them in Spanish, printed thanks to a generous donor.

This events are always a great opportunity to speak to people that, under other circumstances, I would not be able to communicate with and opens my vision of what is really going on the streets.

I had the chance to talk to a lady who was stopped by police, questioned extensively, searched in all her possessions, handcuffed and put on the back of a patrol car EVEN WHEN SHE HAS A DRIVER’S LICENSE AND A SOCIAL SECURITY CARD !!!! The reason, the officer did not believe that she was legal in the country, and apparently, she has the name of a person police is looking for or that is what they told her. Police officers look over and over her documents, asked repeatedly if they were false and scratched them on with their fingernails.
What part of Legal do you do not understand???? The searched continued and went into her possessions, the car contents and her purse while she waited handcuffed on the back of the police car. Finally the police gave up and she was dismissed without an apology. The lady speaks broken English and was Hispanic which matches my own description.
She was fighting tears as she recounted her story.

Fortunately this lady talked to an immigrant rights organization and they took pictures of her bruised wrists.
I told her not to remain silent and tell others what it’s going on Arizona even before the implementation of SB1070. Know Your Rights and share the information with others.

Know Your Rights and speak up. This is all we can do.