Wednesday, January 5, at the Arizona Inn, 2200 E. Elm Street (between Tucson Blvd. and Campbell):

The Off the Record Debate series, with breakfast from 7 to 7:30 a.m. will feature a political debate from 7:30 to 8 a.m. Republican National committeeman Bruce Ash will moderate a debate about SB 1070′s “effectiveness at curbing illegal immigration”. Arguing for SB 1070 is LD 30 State Senator Frank Antenori, and arguing against it is LD 28 House Rep. Steve Farley. Ash is also in contention to be Chair of the Arizona Republican Party.

The cost is $40 per debate or $110 for the remainder of the season. For reservations, e-mail David Foster at david@votesmart.org. The nonpartisan Project Vote Smart, which is housed at the University of Arizona, hosted a series of these debates which kicked off on November 11, 2009, promoting a public political discourse. Read more at UA News.

I heard these same gentleman debate last May for “Wake Up Tucson” 1030 AM KVOI Radio, (click here), just after SB 1070 was signed into law on April 23, 2010 by Governor Jan Brewer. They also debated about many legislative issues facing Arizona.

Should be another exciting debate between Antenori and Farley, especially as it concerns immigration, a hot issue in Tucson and Southern Arizona.

UPDATE: Senator Antenori unable to debate after all, will be replaced by LD 30 House Rep. Ted Vogt, per David at Project Vote Smart.

Senator Frank Antenori

Rep. Steve Farley

Bruce Ash, moderator

Rep. Ted Vogt

All this talk about SB 1070 and its potential impact on Mexican and/or Hispanic/Latino Americans has made me research the history of Arizona. Here’s some information from wikipedia about the Mexican period of Arizona:

In 1821, Mexico won its independence from Spain after a decade of war. The revolution had destroyed the colonial silver mining industry and had bankrupted the national treasury. Along the northern frontier, funds that had supported missions, presidios and trading routes were reduced. As missions began to wither without military protection, Mexico began auctioning off more land (land grants). The revolution also impacted the relationship between the Europeans, Pueblos and non-pueblo natives such as the Apache and Navajo.

The Mexican period came to a close with the influx of Americans. In 1846, the annexation of Texas led to the Mexican-American War, ultimately resulting in the Mexican Cession, in which the United States acquired the region of Arizona north of the Gila River in 1848. The California gold rush brought more Americans through Arizona. The Mexican period closed with the Gadsden Purchase in 1854 and the last of the Mexican army leaving Tucson in 1856.

Arizona officially became the U.S. Territory of Arizona from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state.
That was almost 100 years ago.

Arizona state flag

Currently about 30.8% (2009 estimate) of the State of Arizona has individuals claiming to be of Hispanic origin, but we are awaiting the official 2010 Census results. Many local Mexican-American families here in Tucson are 5th generation Americans, like District 5 Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias‘ familia.

Blogger Hugh Holub has a recent report on Arizona’s 6.4 million population. “Hispanics are the fastest-growing demographic group in the state, as well as in the country.”

Other Hispanic politicians in Southern Arizona: Congressman Raul Grijalva (CD 7), Pima County Supervisor Chair Ramon Valadez (District 2), Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez, Tucson Councilmembers Regina Romero (Ward 1) and Richard Fimbres (Ward 5), LD 27 Senator-elect Olivia Cajero Bedford, LD 27 House Rep.-elect Dr. Macario Saldate, TUSD Governing Board members Adelita Grijalva (Raul’s daughter), & Miguel Cuevas.

So therefore, based on Arizona’s history as having been once Spanish-speaking Mexico and the current increasing ethnic population figures, my Christmas message this year is “Feliz Navidad”. I always sing along when I hear Jose Feliciano‘s popular song with that title (written by him in 1970) on the radio.

Happy holidays everyone.

Feliz Navidad, prospero año y felicidad.

ACLU And Civil Rights Groups Ask Court To Block Implementation Of Arizona’s Racial Profiling Law

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 22, 2010

CONTACT:

Maria Archuleta, ACLU, (212) 519-7808 or 549-2666; media@aclu.org

Jon O’Neill, ACLU of Arizona, (602) 773-6007; joneill@acluaz.org

Laura Rodriguez, MALDEF, (310) 956-2425; lrodriguez@maldef.org

Adela de la Torre, NILC, (213) 400-7822; delatorre@nilc.org

Karin Wang, APALC, (213) 241-0234 or 999-5640; kwang@apalc.org

Marco Loera, NDLON, (602) 373-3859; mloera@ndlon.org

Leila McDowell, NAACP, (202) 463-2940 ext. 1021; lmcdowell@naacpnet.org

“PHOENIX – At a hearing today in a federal court in Phoenix, the American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of civil rights groups argued that Arizona’s discriminatory new law, known as SB 1070, should be blocked pending a final court ruling on its constitutionality. The law, scheduled to go into effect on July 29, requires police to demand “papers” from people they stop who they suspect are “unlawfully present” in the U.S. According to the coalition, the law would subject massive numbers of people – both citizens and non-citizens – to racial profiling, improper investigations and detention.

The U.S. Department of Justice, in a separate lawsuit, will also ask the court to block SB 1070 in a hearing later today.

The court, in the civil rights coalition’s case, will also hear arguments on the state of Arizona’s motion to dismiss the case.

The civil rights coalition includes the ACLU, MALDEF, National Immigration Law Center (NILC), Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) – a member of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice – ACLU of Arizona, National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP is acting as co-counsel in the case.

Omar Jadwat, staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project and Nina Perales, Southwest Regional Counsel for MALDEF, argued the case on behalf of the civil rights groups.

In May, the coalition filed a lawsuit challenging the extreme law charging that it invites the racial profiling of people of color, violates the First Amendment and interferes with federal law. Friday’s filing seeks to halt implementation of the law while the case is litigated.

The following quotes can be attributed to members of the coalition, as listed below.

Omar Jadwat, staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project:

“We are asking the court to block SB 1070 right now because if this discriminatory law went into effect for even one day, it would be one day too many. Any law that requires law enforcement to ask people they stop and suspect of being undocumented for their ‘papers’ violates the U.S. Constitution and the American values of fairness and equality. This law is a clear invitation for racial profiling, and we’re confident that the court will understand the importance of preventing it from ever taking effect.”

Linton Joaquin, General Counsel of NILC:

“Judge Bolton heard from lawyers representing organizations ranging from small non-profit service providers to the federal government, asking her to block the implementation of this pernicious law. Inaction on SB 1070 will lead to widespread fear and threatens the constitutional rights and societal values of all Arizonans. Unified voices of civil rights leaders, law enforcement officers and interested citizens are fighting to keep this unconstitutional law from hurting countless Arizonans and undermining our nation’s values of fair treatment under the law.”

Julie Su, Litigation Director of APALC:

“We are here today in Arizona to ensure that SB 1070 does not take effect next week, as this fundamentally unconstitutional law opens the door for law enforcement to discriminate against Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and other people of color who look or sound ‘foreign.’ We have faith the court understands that immigration enforcement is solely the responsibility of the federal government and that it will block this modern-day version of the Chinese Exclusion Act.”

Alessandra Soler Meetze, Executive Director of the ACLU of Arizona:

“While proponents of SB 1070 would have us believe that they have a monopoly on the rule of law, the federal court remains the arbiter of justice in this case. The courageous plaintiffs who have come forward to challenge this unconstitutional racial profiling law are optimistic that the judge will strike down this discriminatory law, which has already resulted in the harassment of innocent people.”

Organizations and attorneys on the case, Friendly House et al. v. Halliday et al., include:

• ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project: Jadwat, Lucas Guttentag, Cecillia Wang, Tanaz Moghadam and Harini P. Raghupathi;

• MALDEF: Perales, Thomas A. Saenz, Cynthia Valenzuela Dixon, Victor Viramontes, Gladys Limón, Nicholás Espiritu and Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal;

• NILC: Joaquin, Karen Tumlin, Nora A. Preciado, Melissa S. Keaney, Vivek Mittal and Ghazal Tajmiri;

• ACLU Foundation of Arizona: Dan Pochoda and Annie Lai;

• APALC: Su, Ronald Lee, Yungsuhn Park, Connie Choi and Carmina Ocampo;

• NDLON: Chris Newman;

• NAACP: Laura Blackburne;

• Munger Tolles & Olson LLP: Bradley S. Phillips, Paul J. Watford, Joseph J. Ybarra, Susan T. Boyd, Yuval Miller, Elisabeth J. Neubauer and Benjamin Maro;

• Roush, McCracken, Guerrero, Miller & Ortega: Daniel R. Ortega, Jr.

The motion for a preliminary injunction can be found at:
www.aclu.org/immigrants-rights-racial-justice/friendly-house-et-al-v-whiting-et-al-plaintiffs-motion-preliminary-

A new ACLU video about how the SB 1070 invites racial profiling can be found at:
www.aclu.org/immigrants-rights-racial-justice/would-you-ask-man-his-papers

More information about the Arizona law can be found at:

www.aclu.org/what-happens-arizona-stops-arizona ”

Alessandra Soler Meetze

Executive Director

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona

P.O. Box 17148

Phoenix, AZ 85011-0148

Phone: 602-773-6006 (direct) or 602-650-1854 (general)

Fax: 602-650-1376

Visit us on-line at: www.acluaz.org

En Español: http://www.acluaz.org/en_espanol_main.html