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President Obama to Chart Course for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Tomorrow, President Obama and a bipartisan group of Congressional leaders are expected to convene at the White House to draft a roadmap for moving forward with Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2009. Despite Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’ dismal legislative voter forecast for moving forward this year, President Obama has continually reaffirmed his commitment to a “fair, practical and promising way forward” for immigration reform. Last week, President Obama spoke at the Esperanza National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast: For those who wish to become citizens, we should require them to pay a penalty and pay taxes, learn English, go to the back of the line behind those who played by the rules. That is the fair, practical, and promising way forward, and that’s what I’m committed to passing as President of the United States. Read More
Salt Lake City Police Chief Takes a Bite Out of Local Immigration Enforcement
Yesterday, a small group of Utah Minutemen gathered to protest Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker’s and Police Chief Chris Burbank’s decision not to enforce some provisions of SB81—Utah’s immigration legislation that allows the cross-deputization of city officers to enforce federal immigration laws. The legislation is slated to take effect on July 1st. Utah Minuteman President, Eli Cawley, however, claims that the city’s refusal to enforce SB81 is actually protecting lawbreakers at the American people's expense. In their arrogance and wrong-headed insistence on pandering to illegal aliens at the expense of the rule of law and the safety of our people, Becker and Burbank have chosen, by their refusal to enforce SB81, to protect lawbreakers instead of citizens. Right. This coming from the man who when asked about his “biggest concern” with the “Obama presidency” responded, “Amnesty for illegal aliens because he is one.” Although Cawley claims the group is not racially motivated, several protesters were heard shouting at nearby Latino construction workers with such gems as “Go home!” and “Give us back our jobs!” without knowing anything about their immigration status. Clearly, "race" is not a part of this debate. Wait, how does an immigrant look undocumented again? Read More
Jury Member, Witness, Legal Experts Condemn Pennsylvania Hate Crime Verdict
Embedded video from CNN Video Last week, in the small town of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, an all-white jury acquitted defendants Derrick Donchak, 19, and Brandon Piekarsky, 17, of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and ethnic intimidation in the death of Mexican immigrant Luis Ramirez last July. "Ethnic intimidation" is Pennsylvania's legal term for "hate crime." Both teens, however, were convicted of simple assault. The verdict has left many feeling that the two teens got away with murder. Last summer, Ramirez, the 25 year-old father of two, was walking down the street with his girlfriend when he encountered the group of teens who had been drinking earlier in the night. Prosecutors said the teens "baited Ramirez into a fight with racial epithets and provoked an exchange of punches and kicks that ended with Ramirez convulsing in the street, foaming at the mouth." According to one affidavit, one teen in the group yelled to Ramirez's girlfriend, "Get your Mexican boyfriend out of here!" Another witness, a retired police officer, overheard the teens screaming at Ramirez's girlfriend as they ran, "Tell your effin Mexican friends [to] get the eff out of Shenandoah or you're gonna be laying effin next to him." Ramirez died two days later in the hospital. Read More
America's story is an immigrant story.
