Another witness was Sylvia Herrera, whose parents brought her to America when she was two. Herrara, who represents the group Puente ("bridge"), earned her degree from Arizona State University and has been accepted at Harvard for graduate school. She said Puente is receiving five complaints per day about racial profiling since SB 1070 was signed, even though Governor Brewer and other proponents continue to maintain that race will have nothing to do with "reasonable suspicion." When Herrera stepped down from her testimony yesterday:
Colorado Rep. Jared Polis wiped his eyes when one of the witnesses, Silvia Rodriguez, 23, thanked him for calling her an American earlier in the hearing. She said it was the first time she had been called one.
If Rand Paul or Arizona Senator Russell Pearce had their way, of course, they'd toss aside the 14th Amendment and this Harvard-bound student would not be an American. Congressman Grijalva called the meeting to put pressure on President Obama to address immigration reform. "The only time that I felt to be the slightest happy, or accepted or proud by this country was when President Obama won his presidency," Herrera said. "For him to not step up and fulfill his promises, really, really breaks a lot of hearts."
2. Two Arpaio Attorneys Get the Boot
Yesterday I mentioned the welcome news that every single candidate Joe Arpaio stumped for in California went down in flames. Today we learn that two attorneys assisting Arpaio have been shown the door.
First up is Robert Driscoll of Allison & Bird, who was brought on last summer when the Department of Justice announced its investigation of the Sheriff's Office. Based on reports from county officials, the Arizona Republic estimates taxpayers have paid $155,000 to Driscoll's firm to represent the Sheriff. (This, of course, is a drop in the bucket compared to the approximately $10 million county taxpayers have shelled out for Arpaio lawsuits.) Evidently, the county assumed an outside RICO fund was handling the Sheriff's defense, but when county supervisors discovered last month that the fees were on their books, they froze the assets. And we continue to wait for the grand jury's report. Tick. Tock.
Even more interesting is lawyer Kris Kobach, who crafted most of the SB 1070 legislation. According to Stephen Lemons at New Times:
Nativist attorney Kris Kobach, the man who essentially wrote Arizona's new "papers, please" law and who had been retained by Sheriff Joe Arpaio to train his deputies on immigration matters to the tune of $300 per hour, has been cut loose by Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley.
Yes, things have certainly changed for Mr. Arpaio, now that his flunky County Attorney Andrew Thomas is gone, and there's someone occupying his chair who knows the law. While no one can say how much the county has paid Kobach, who is a professor of law at the University of Missouri, the money is not as significant as his role. Kobach worked with the hate group Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) to craft SB 1070, and he was then hired by the county to develop training programs for law officers (to look for strange shoes and stuff, I guess).
The New Times article also includes an email Kobach sent to State Senator Russell Pearce, the loudest anti-immigrant voice in the legislature, during the time they were contemplating changes to SB 1070. The email gives you a sense of just how low these blowhards will stoop:
When we drop out "lawful contact" and replace it with "a stop, detention, or rest, in the enforcement a violation of any title or section of the Arizona code" we need to add "or any county or municipal ordinance." This will allow police to use violations of property codes (ie, cars on blocks in the yard) or rental codes (too many occupants of a rental accommodation) to initiate queries as well.
I guess that is what they mean by "reasonable suspicion": cars on blocks, or a lot of people living in the same house. Bottom line: Arpaio's fortress continues to crack, piece by piece. Combine this news with Arpaio's California boondoggle; the countless lawsuits filed against him by elected officials and judges; and the looming federal grand jury report and maybe, just maybe, we'll see something resembling social justice in the desert someday.
Related stories: Who knows how SB 1070 will be implemented? Forget about its constitutionality for a minute, what about the training and costs associated with identifying, arresting, and jailing thousands of immigrants? As this Arizona Republic story points out, no one really knows how it will work out, or who will pay for it.
Boycotts continue, acts cancel, businesses close: Hall & Oates this week joined a long list of entertainers who won't be bringing their music to Arizona. Even more significant are the business closings. One thing not often mentioned is that immigrants, whether documented or not, use services, and it's no secret that many businesses, which pay taxes, depend on immigrant clientele. We've already seen family restaurants, car dealers, and other stores and services close because Hispanics are leaving; yesterday we learned that Campeones, a $4.5 million restaurant and entertainment venue in Mesa has closed. According to the owner:
"Unfortunately, with this new Senate bill 1070 it really has impacted the entire Hispanic community, and anybody that has a business that catered to the Hispanic community has been impacted."
To sum up: we have a bill that no one really knows how to enforce or pay for, a bill that will cost Arizona hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tourism and related business, a bill that's supposed to address crime on the border by rounding up car washers in Mesa, and a bill whose chief cheerleader, Joe Arpaio, is being investigated for abuse of powers related to his immigration policies.
And so it goes. Poo-tee-weet?
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