Civil & Human Rights

The ‘irrelevancy’ of Jon Kyl

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Arizona Republic(an) columnist E.J. Montini nailed it in this post about Senator Obstruction, Jon Kyl, and his bogus ACHIEVE Act. Kyl's irrelevant final act:

What good is introducing a piece of legislation that you KNOW isn’t going to pass while you’re in office?

Because it’s for show.

It makes you look conciliatory. It makes you look statesmanlike.

All the things you should have been doing all those years when you were in office and NOT about to retire.

But that’s how politics works. Not exactly a profile in courage.

Arizona’s
retiring Sen. Jon Kyl and Texas’s retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison
introduced a meaningless piece of legislation that is an alternative to
the Dream Act. Their proposal would offer kids brought illegally into
the country by their parents a chance to remain here, but without a path
to citizenship.

"We
need to have a discussion that is sensible, that is calm," Sen. Kyl is
quoted as saying. "This particular piece of immigration reform seemed a
logical place to begin."

That’s true. We should have a calm, sensible conversation about the Dream Act kids.

We should have had it years ago.

Gov. Brewer sued over order denying driver’s licenses to DREAMERS

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tenther "states' rights" George Wallace in a dress, Governor Jan Brewer, was sued today by a group of
civil-liberties and immigrant-rights organizations in a class-action
lawsuit challenging the Guv's executive order denying
driver’s licenses to young undocumented immigrants approved for federal
work permits under President Barack Obama’s deferred-action program (DREAM Act-Lite). Brewer sued over migrant license policy:

The lawsuit seeks to
block Arizona Executive Order 2012-06, issued by Jan Brewer after the
federal government implemented the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals program, or DACA. The program allows certain undocumented
immigrant youth who came here as children to live and work in the United
States for a renewable period of two years. The lawsuit was filed on
behalf of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition, an immigrant youth-led
organization, and five young individuals.

The lawsuit marks
the first legal challenge against a state for denying driver’s licenses
to young undocumented immigrants authorized to live and work temporarily
in the U.S. under the program.

The lawsuit could
affect other states that have also denied driver’s licenses to
non-citizens protected from deportation under the program.

The suit was filed
by the Arizona and national chapters of the American Civil Liberties
Union, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the
National Immigration Law Center. The same groups are involved in an
ongoing civil-rights lawsuit challenging Arizona’s
immigration-enforcement law, Senate Bill 1070.

Analysis & commentary: TUSD deseg plan, MAS, & beyond

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Mas-logoby Pamela Powers Hannley

The first of three public forums on the Tucson Unified School District's (TUSD) proposed desegregation plan took place on Monday night. 

Fellow BfAZ blogger Dave Safier posted a very detailed first-person account of the forum here this morning, and today's Arizona Daily Star's also offered a thorough account that overlaps somewhat with Safier's but also includes other facts. (KGUN 9 video here.)

Safier writes from the viewpoint– as he admits– of commentator who has "expended thousands of words trying to explain the value of the MAS program". The Star reporter gives a newsier account of the meeting and offers some more basic background.

Why a third article? Here, I offer here some history, a broader analysis of the issues, and a call for action. Read more after the jump.

TUSD Unitary Status Plan: Multiple ways to comment (without leaving your house)

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Post-unitary-sm72by Pamela Powers Hannley

Parents, students, teachers, and activists have been abuzz in recent weeks about the new Proposed Desegregation/Unitary Status Plan for Tucson Unified School District (TUSD).

Mexican American Studies (MAS) advocates see the new plan as a potential way to bring back the program that was killed a year ago by the TUSD Governing Board, after it was found by the State of Arizona to be in violation of HB2281 and, therefore, in the opinion of the government… illegal. 

This week, three pulbic forums will be held, and after those meetings, the plan's public review and comment period will end on Nov. 28, 2012. Information about the forums and other ways to comment on the proposed plan (without leaving your house) after the jump.

When the media carries water for the Arizona GOP – Voting Rights Act edition

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I have already been over how we have a GOPropaganda echo chamber in the Arizona media in the previous post. So let's get to the other election news this week, from the Arizona Republic(an), Ariz. seeks Supreme Court relief on Voting Rights Act:

Three days after the Nov. 6 election, when many Americans happily made voting a memory, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that some legal experts say could lead to the biggest shake-up in voting law in nearly a half-century.

The court will weigh a key portion of the Voting Rights Act, a law that has changed little over 40 years and for decades has placed Arizona and eight other states under federal scrutiny for suspected discrimination.

Supporters of the lawsuit, which involves an Alabama county, say their efforts could once again put every state and locality on equal legal footing and evaluate anew whether minorities are treated unfairly anywhere.

* * *

The case has special relevance to Arizona, which is one of nine states that must get federal approval for any changes that could affect voting rights of minorities, such as Hispanics and Native Americans.

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne has filed legal papers supporting the Alabama challenge of the requirement. Because of the provision, every conceivable change affecting voting in Arizona must run through Horne's office, which he said is a constant drain.

"I don't have any numbers at my fingertips, but I would describe the burden as huge," Horne said.