NEWSIMMIGRATION LAW

William Anderson has been quoted by national media before, but seeing his name splashed on the pages of BET.com and All Hip Hop was, in his own words, "intense." His petition on Change.org urging superstar Kanye West to meet with local organizers while he's in Alabama, as well as to speak out against the state's extreme immigration law, is gaining momentum -- and tons of media attention. Everything from radio stations to newspapers, TV Networks and blogs have been covering William's fast-growing campaign.

Kanye (aka Yeezy) is no stranger to speaking out against hateful immigration policy. Last year, he joined a group of artists boycotting Arizona after the state passed SB 1070 - an immigration law that set a new bar for extremism in the country. Now William hopes that the attention his campaign is garnering will help push Kanye to do the same thing in Alabama, educating fans about the dangers of extreme immigration measures like HB56, which civil rights organizers in Alabama see as a throwback to the Jim Crow era.

The best part about the media coverage so far is that immigration policy is being discussed in places that don't typically cover the issue - BET, All Hip Hop, and Hip Hop blog, to name a few. This expanded audience gets to the heart of why William started the petition in the first place: to spread the word about Alabama's injustice to new audiences that may not be paying attention.

In William's own words, "Kanye West started out producing for acts like Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, and other people in hip hop who are very conscious. Hip Hop is a genre of music whose foundation rests on a base of addressing class and oppression. Hip Hop fans grew up on real conscientious messages from Public Enemy, Mos Def, The X Klan, Brand Nubian, De La Soul, etc.  Kanye has the power to say a few words and let it echo throughout the world."

Alabama's communities are already suffering the ill-effects of the state's new immigration law - the harshest in the nation. Crops are rotting in the fields without workers to pick them. Schools are reporting record absences as children are kept home, their parents fearful of family separation at the hands of law enforcement. Some residents won't even leave their homes, going days without trips to buy necessities like food rather than risk a possible encounter with law enforcement.

William Anderson, a student at the University of Alabama Birmingham, has been working with local organizers to fight the extreme law. A life-long hip hop fan, William knew that Jay-Z and Kanye West would be in Alabama through the end of October while they prep to kick off of their much anticipated "Watch the Throne" tour. Kanye is known for his outspoken approach to social commentary - remember the moment he said "George Bush doesn't care about black people" during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina? With that in mind, William started a Change.org petition asking Kanye West to meet with local advocates while he's in town - and make a public statement denouncing the racist law.

William is hoping that Kanye's willingness to speak out about injustice and history of political involvement (he recently stopped by the Occupy Wall Street protests) will encourage the rap superstar to speak out on behalf of all of Alabama's communities. William says that the law has "taken Alabama backward, to an era that civil rights leaders have fought hard to overcome. It is a dire situation that affects people of all colors, classes, and statuses, as our state is already being crippled economically by the exodus of the migrant population." And asks that "in the spirit of social justice and hip hop, please help us get the message to a world-renowned artist that we need help in this fight."

Last week we covered the ruling upholding the majority of Alabama's extreme new immigration law, HB56. After news of the judge's decision spread, there were reports of widespread fear in Alabama's Latino and immigrant communities. The most egregious parts of the law require schools to check students for proof of citizenship and make it a criminal offense for undocumented people to acquire basic necessities like housing and utilities. In Montgomery County alone, over 200 students were absent the morning after the judge's ruling.

To make matters worse, local farmers began saying that "Alabama just shut off their local food supply." The Associated Press is reporting that only handfuls of farmworkers showed up for work in the days following the ruling. For more on that, see the video below the jump.

In the face of such awful news, Ted Hesson of Long Island Wins started a petition calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to appeal the judge's ruling in Alabama. After Hesson's petition attracted more than 500 supporters in no time, we got word that the DOJ filed an appeal to the ruling late on Friday. Victory! While the petition was likely only one factor that played into the Justice Department decision, this is clearly a step in the right direction. Thanks to everyone who signed and shared the campaign; the appeal is the best hope that Alabama has to defeat the worst parts of this law.

With three weeks left of the legislative session, the pressure to thwart New Mexico’s HB 18, a bill that would repeal a law that allows undocumented immigrants in the state to register for drivers licenses -- which protects community safety by ensuring that drivers register and buy insurance--is fully under way. Republican Governor Susana Martinez, who enjoys strong Tea Party support, has thrown her support behind the repeal, promising to work to make it happen.

But along the way, she has faced some unexpected obstacles: hundreds of New Mexicans who joined Border Network for Human Rights in a petition delivery that included hundreds of signatures from Change.org members, an undocumented hero who was able to save a kidnapped 6-year-old girl specifically because he possessed a drivers license, multiple religious groups and churches standing up against the repeal, and, perhaps most shocking, her own history.

The story, which has all the ingredients necessary for a media storm, is that at least one of Governor Martinez’s grandparents was an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. Martinez has lamented the media spotlight placed on that revelation rather than on the policies she is trying to enact. But the fact is, attention comes from the fact that the policy she is backing punishes immigrants just like the ones who ensured her success in New Mexico.

This week, members of New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, who started a petition on Change.org that calls for an end to police-ICE collaborations that break up families and make communities afraid to report crimes, attempted to deliver more than 525 letters to the Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams and Mayor Michael Nutter.

The signatures included hundreds of Change.org members who have signed the petition, as well as members of grassroots organizations that are standing up against “Secure Communities” and PARS data-sharing (this type of sharing targets all arrested persons, including those not convicted of a crime, for deportation by ICE). Supporters of the petition include City Council members Maria Quiñones-Sánchez and Jim Kenney and include faith, labor, civil rights, legal, service, and immigrant advocate groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union- Pennsylvania, Congreso, Esperanza, Inc., Taller Puertorriqueño, Hispanic Clergy of Philadelphia, Jobs with Justice, JUNTOS, the Mayor's Commission on Asian American Affairs, the New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, Police Advisory Commission, and The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia.

Community advocates report that Director of Multicultural Affairs Izzy Colon received the letters on behalf of the mayor’s office, and he was receptive to speaking with advocates about why involving local law enforcement in federal immigration enforcement is breaking down relations between police and immigrant communities -- how it has led to the deportations of people who have committed no crimes or only minor misdemeanors while allowing real criminals to prey on communities afraid to report crime.

The DA’s office, however, refused to receive the letters from members of its own constituency.

A haunting but ultimately uplifting story out of New Mexico has been making the rounds in newspapers and TV reports across the country. A 6-year-old girl in Albuquerque was abducted as she walked home on a suburban street. The kidnapper pulled her into his van, parked near a rock hiding packing tape and a tie-down strap. But as he fled, a young father of two who witnessed what happened, risked his life to chase the perpetrator down in his own car, eventually forcing the van to crash into a pole and rescuing the little girl (video below the jump).

That man, Antonio Diaz Chacon, has been called a hero in media reports, by the police, and in a Facebook fan page that quickly emerged.

But what much of the English-language media has failed to report is that Diaz Chacon is also an undocumented immigrant. And, if New Mexico’s governor Susana Martinez had her way, he would’ve been unable to rescue the girl -- or risked criminal charges for doing so. The governor has promised to repeal the state law that allows undocumented immigrants in New Mexico to obtain a driver's license.

Much has been said about how “Secure Communities,” a program that allows law enforcement to run the fingerprints of anyone arrested (whether or not they are actually charged with a crime) through a federal immigration database, has proven to be an ineffective system that erodes trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities.

But in Philadelphia, where the program is implemented, the local government goes above and beyond S-Comm, running yet another flawed program that leads to mass deportations, and immigrants who fear the police and are less likely to report crimes. Under a program known as PARS, Philadelphia allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to troll a database of all arrested persons and target individuals for deportation [Note (Correction): last summer there was an attempt to streamline what information is shared with ICE].

Imagine saving up money for years, selling your house, packing your belongings, and leaving everything you know to embark to a foreign land where the promise of a new job awaits you. Then imagine you settle into that job, begin to feel at home in your new surroundings, and excel at the position, expecting to stay for several years, possibly permanently. Now, through no fault of your own, all of that is taken away from you immediately, and you’re told to go back to the country you left -- where you sold your home and nearly everything you own and where you have no promise of a job.

That is exactly what is happening to Filipino teachers in Prince George's County, Maryland. Under the H1-B visa program, companies are able to sponsor skilled foreign workers to fill hard-to-staff positions. H1-B visa holders are allowed to seek permanent residency, but that process is undercut if a worker is forced to leave the country. Because the visa is revoked as soon as an employee loses a job (they must find a new employer to sponsor the visa immediately, often with no grace period at all), employers have in many cases used their upper-hand to abuse and mistreat employees who hold this visa.

This was the case in PGC, Maryland, where the school district that recruited 1,044 educators from the Philippines illegally deducted H1-B fees from the teacher’s wages. Those fees are supposed to be paid by the employer. But when a Department of Labor investigation determined the teachers were owed back-pay of about $4,000 each, it wasn’t the at-fault school district or recruiting agency that were punished. It was the teachers, who had excelled in their positions and done nothing wrong.

Today marks a great victory on the side of civil rights. Since Arizona passed its infamous anti-immigrant law SB 1070, states such as Georgia, South Carolina, Indiana, and Utah have passed their own copycat versions.

By far, the worst law to be passed was Alabama’s HB 56. It turned everyone from teachers to landlords into immigration agents, made it a crime to give a ride or provide shelter to an undocumented immigrant, required elementary school teachers to inquire about the immigration status of students, and barred undocumented immigrants from public colleges. As with SB1070, it demanded police ask the immigration status of people stopped for traffic violations who might be “suspected” of being undocumented immigrants, a mandate that would affect Latinos, Asians, and others perceived as “foreign,” more than any other group. The law has been seen as a clear smorgasbord of civil rights violations.

Finally, just hours ago, the Department of Justice indicated that it will not let the law go unchallenged. The federal government will instead sue Alabama over its anti-immigrant law, just as it did when Arizona passed SB1070, many parts of which were blocked due to unconstitutionality. As of today, Reform Immigration for America and national and local groups had mobilized more than 13,000 people to sign a petition on Change.org asking the DOJ to step in. They listened. Victory!

It is critical that we remember to stop to celebrate our victories as a community of individuals pushing for change. Celebrating success helps us to reflect on what worked and reminds us that together we have a powerful voice. Earlier this month, Massachusetts immigrant advocates scored a major win when they successfully removed eight of nine anti-immigrant amendments from the Massachusetts state budget. This, after weeks of intense advocacy that included a petition on Change.org started by the Student Immigrant Movement, major call campaigns, and even mulit-week, round-the-clock vigils on the steps of the Massachusetts state house.

According to the MIRA blog, "On Friday, July 1, the Massachusetts state legislature voted to pass the state budget for FY 2012 and submitted the budget to Governor Patrick for his signature. This Conference Committee version of the budget did not include 8 of the 9 anti-immigrant amendments that were included in the Senate version of the budget and granted funding for many budget priority programs."