Immigration

UPDATE: Guatemalan Children Get Six-Month Reprieve on Deportation

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Yesterday, I juxtaposed three immigration stories in my post— the sad news about the murder of 5-10 Honduran refugee children that the US deported recently, the plight of a young Guatemalan mother and her three children who crossed the border alone and are facing deportation, and the callous reaction to the child refugee crisis by … Read more

Disgraceful: Some Deported Refugee Children Already Dead

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Young Guatamalan children who were reunited with their mother in Cincinnati could face deportation. (Photo: The Enquirer)
Young Guatemalan children, who were reunited with their mother in Cincinnati, could face deportation. How can we sentence them to death? (Photo: The Enquirer)

Thousands of refugee children have been fleeing violence and poverty in Central America for almost a year now. Until all Hell broke loose in Ferguson, Missouri last week, the refugee children had the national limelight. (We are on to the next shiny thing.)

Two heart-wrenching stories about the refugee children were released today. First, Think Progress released a story stating that 5-10 of the recently deported children have already been murdered.

Second, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that group of four young cousins would be facing an immigration judge in Cleveland today and could likely deported– despite having been reunited with family members in the US (pictured above).

Look at the faces of these children. How can we send them back to gang violence and death? Have we become a country of greedy, self-centered bigots? Probably, yes.

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New report debunks the “Clean Elections done it” bunk

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Clean Elections poster

Andrew Prokop of Vox interviewed Michael G. Miller of Barnard college about his research on public campaign financing in the states that have enacted it. Conventional wisdom in Arizona’s elite circles holds that Arizona’s Clean Election system is largely to blame for the election of radical right wing legislators and laws such as SB1070. Miller tried to find the connection and couldn’t:

Andrew Prokop: Arizona’s legislature last made national news for adopting a tough anti-illegal immigration law in 2010. Would you say that the public financing system made that more likely to pass? Support for loosening immigration laws is more widespread among business interests, and under public financing, the support of business may be less important to candidates.

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Anti-Obama hatred is hurting . . . the GOP

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The Arizona Republic has a report today about how Tea-Publicans have convinced themselves that running against “that Black man in the White House” is their best ticket to success in 2014. GOP rivals use Obama as weapon in primary:

tea-party-crazyInvoking Obama’s name and likeness has become a favorite tool to attack opponents in Republican primaries. Even when they are races for offices that have no contact with the highest office in the land.

Campaigns competing in races for the Legislature, the Corporation Commission and governor — and the independent expenditures supporting them — are all employing the tactic in mailers, campaign signs, TV commercials and endless debate rhetoric.

The rationale behind the strategy is clear: With Obama’s approval ratings hovering in the low 40 percent range, linking your opponent — no matter how tenuously — to an unpopular president might make you look better by contrast.

“It’s classic negative campaigning with often not even a shred of truth, and the anti-Obama fever is so strong in some circles that it’s poison,” state Sen. Bob Worsley said.

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‘Arizona Freedom Summer’ 2014

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latino_vote_110210-thumb-640xauto-1468One Arizona, a non-partisan partnership dedicated to voter registration and bringing about full electoral participation by the Latino Community, today  launched “Arizona Freedom Summer” (2014 is the 50th Anniversary of Mississippi Freedom Summer). The Phoenix New Times reports, Groups Launch “Arizona Freedom Summer,” Campaign to Get Out the Latino Vote:

A coalition of immigrant rights groups held a press conference this morning to announce the launch of “Arizona Freedom Summer,” a campaign to get out the Latino vote in this fall’s elections.

The campaign’s name references the push to register African-American voters in the segregated Deep South about 50 years ago. But this time, volunteers came from the south to register voters here in Arizona. This morning, a bus with 43 volunteers from Arkansas arrived at St. Matthew’s Catholic Church in Phoenix. The visitors, members of an immigrant-rights non-profit called the Arkansas United Community Coalition, are here to share their knowledge with members of One Arizona, a non-partisan coalition of church groups, student organizations, and individuals working to get out the Latino vote and push for immigration reform.

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