I have been doing a lot of research and reading lately on new Mexican-American (a/k/a Chicano) politicians … new blood if you will.  And a gem that comes to mind is Michelle Lujan Grisham –  a newly elected Democratic Congresswoman in our neighboring state of New Mexico.  Lujan Grisham, the daughter of a Mexican-American dentist and white mother has taken very good positions on legal immigration reform and she ought to be highlighted for her leadership to that regard.

Below is a recent memorable quote from her, and it is important to know what she says considering she is representing New Mexico — a bordering state to Mexico.   Too often folks have been making the mistake of seeking leadership of the politicians who live in states that do not border Mexico, and everyone knows the bleeding needs to stop in the southwestern part of our Nation — particularly when Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer tried to trump the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution via SB 1070.   It’s common sense to listen to the community that has been impacted the most — particularly when most of the deportations have been Mexican nationals.

“I am troubled that the Supreme Court left the door open to racial profiling with its ruling on the Arizona immigration law. Regardless, it’s up to Congress to lead the way on immigration reform, not renegade states like Arizona, Alabama and Georgia. When I get to Washington, I will be a leader and make it a priority to pass the DREAM Act and a comprehensive immigration plan that reflects our nation’s values, protects our borders and deals realistically with the immigrant families who are already living here, working here and paying taxes here.”

Kudos to Lujan Grisham.

We will be following her career because her leadership is important to people like me who live in the armpit of hell via Arizona where  SB 1070 originated.  We do know that this is a federal issue and we are counting on our “local” issue being taken care of at the federal level.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide the case, Arizona v. United States, by late June.

I believe this case will now FORCE businesses and business owners to vote their pocket book this year.  It would behoove business owners via the hotel

Arizona restrictionist laws hurt hotel, construction, restaurant, and agricultural industries.

industry, the construction industry, the restaurant industry and the agricultural industry to reject restrictionist ideas that will affect their bottom line and dollar.  We witnessed business owners who suffered in Arizona, Georgia and Alabama, as a result of protectionist ideas which created mass exodus eventually killing pro growth development projects.

Simply put –  ultimately, it is a matter of economics and getting business owners to vote their pocket books during 2012.  Either they will support pro growth and pro business ideas, or they will support protectionist and restrictionist ideas that will hurt their profits.  And it is important for everyone to know Mitt Romney has received advise and the endorsement of Kris Kobach who is the King of protectionist and restrictionist policies because Kobach was legal architect behind SB1070 type of laws.

In an unsure time like this, it is important for us to learn from history.

Arizona business history points me to believe American voters and business owners will vote their pocket books in an effort to reject restrictionist and protectionist views that killed their business as witnessed in Arizona, Georgia and Alabama.

For instance, a 2011 historic vote occurred on Saint Patrick’s Day, a religious holiday that is remembered and symbolic for Saint Patrick driving the snakes from Ireland.  Several Arizona lawmakers voted against harsh anti-immigrant laws (via SB 1308: Birthright citizenship, SB 1309: Birthright citizenship, SB 1405: Hospitals checking legal status, SB 1407: Schools checking legal status, and SB 1611: Immigration omnibus bills) that were supported by Pearce & Kobach Co.  on St. Patrick’s Day.  Arizona lawmakers chose to listen to their Arizona business community.  The mass exodus and reversal of pro growth and pro business ideas brought Arizona lawmakers to their knees when they saw who  the driving force of America’s economic engine really is.  Small business is the economic engine, and without small businesses and entrepreneurialism, our economy would die.   The snakes in Arizona represented the old Dixiecrat thinking people who embrace isolationism, restrictionism and protectionism.  Isolationists work contrary to pro growth ideas.

In 2011, Arizona lawmakers chose not to continue to create criminal law, because they were more interested in solutions.  They represent the politicians of our future, not of our past. In 2010, a harsh anti-immigration bill via SB 1070 was introduced, and the message some of these lawmakers have sent to Washington is this:  the federal government must fix the broken immigration system.

In either case, the federal government will soon be forced to fix the broken immigration system because we need new tax payers that will sustain our American economy, and we must never support taxation without representation. Our government needs the additional tax revenues that new immigrants generate in order to sustain the burgeoning entitlement programs baby boomers require as they continue to retire.  By developing a reasonable legal immigration plan, we create a system where immigrants share American tax burdens as they continue to contribute millions of dollars into our tax coffers.  New immigrants sharing our tax burdens will help discourage our government from increasing taxes, because under the current system these entitlement programs will drain all federal revenues within 15 years.

From the Huffington Post:

The heated controversy over Arizona’s law has been driven largely by critics’ view that the law was borne of anti-Hispanic prejudice and invites racial profiling — despite language in the law prohibiting such practices. But Wednesday’s case concerned the more technical doctrine of federal preemption of state laws, which is based on the Constitution’s supremacy clause. Indeed, at the start of Verrilli’s argument, Roberts announced that “no part of your argument has to do with racial or ethnic profiling.”

Verrilli nevertheless slipped into this territory after Sotomayor urged him to list the reasons why the law should be preempted. He named first the “problem of harassment,” citing Arizona’s “2 million Latinos, of whom only 400,000 at most are there unlawfully.”

“Sounds like racial profiling to me,” Scalia retorted in an attempt to shut down that line of argument.

The Supreme Court seemed to take more kindly to Verrilli’s argument that imprisoning undocumented immigrants under S.B. 1070′s criminal sanctions for being present in Arizona or seeking work in the state would adversely affect the U.S. government’s control of foreign relations. And during Clement’s presentation, Roberts raised an eyebrow at Arizona’s “imposing some significantly greater sanctions” on undocumented employees than those provided in the federal law, which focuses on punishing employers.

…..A 4-4 vote did not seem at all likely on Wednesday, however, as majorities of the justices leaned toward blocking the criminal sanctions while allowing the “papers please” and warrantless arrest provisions to go into effect, provided detainees are not held longer than they would be in the absence of S.B. 1070.

While that outcome would be a partial victory for Arizona and the states that have followed its lead, such a ruling would also leave those laws vulnerable to potential and currently pending challenges by civil rights groups on behalf of individuals who allege violations of equal protection and due process protections, among other constitutional injuries.

Protectionism on Immigration Will Hurt Our Economy More than We Realize

(From the Economist.com): "FOR all its current economic woes, America remains a beacon of entrepreneurialism. Between 1996 and 2004 an average of 550,000 small businesses were created every month. One factor is a fairly open immigration policy. Vivek Wadhwa of Duke University notes that 52% of Silicon Valley start-ups were founded by immigrants, up from around a quarter ten years ago. But since 2001 the threat of terrorism and rising xenophobia has made immigration harder. Today more than 1m people are waiting to be granted legal status as permanent residents. Yet only 85,000 visas a year are allocated to the sort of skilled workers that might go on to found successful businesses of their own."

Russell Pearce on record for welcoming "Operation Wetback" policies, and we believe Mitt Romney is no different with his "self-deportation" ideas.

We are witnessing the ‘multiple-choice’ Mitt Romney make moves to disassociate himself from Kris Kobach, but many in the Latino community believe it is too little and too late.

We live in the Information Age where Americans receive their news via youtube, internet and social networking.  The Karl Rovian way is now an antiquated strategy and unfortunately for Romney — he has made too many damning statements when he decided to align himself with the likes of Pete Wilson and Kris Kobach.  In fact, Pete Wilson helped in fundraising for Mitt Romney recently in San Diego, California.

According to the UNIVISION NOTICIAS:

But at the same time, Romney has essentially endorsed the philosophical underpinning of the Arizona law as his immigration strategy: attrition by enforcement or “self-deportation” as it’s better known. It’s the theory advocated by Romney’s on-again, off-again unpaid immigration adviser, Kris Kobach, who helped author the framework of the Arizona law.

“The answer is self-deportation, which is people decide they can do better by going home because they can’t find work here because they don’t have legal documentation to allow them to work here,” Romney said when asked at a January debate about what he would do with the nearly 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. “And so we’re not going to round people up.”

………  Former Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce (R), the ousted chief author of the SB 1070 law, will be in Washington one day before oral arguments begin to testify at a hearing on the law sponsored by Senate Democrats. Earlier this month, he provided fodder for Democrats when he commented on Romney’s position on his law.

“His immigration policy is identical to mine,” Pearce told the Washington Post. “Attrition by enforcement. It’s identical to mine – enforce the laws. We have good laws, just enforce them.”

Dee Dee Garcia Blase, an independent Latina activist who head the National Tequila Party movement, said that people like Pearce will act as a “millstone around Romney’s neck.”

“It’s a vote mover,” she said. “SB 1070 is going to wake up the Southwest.”

CREDIT: ARIZONA GOP DEBATE CLIPS

CAPTION: Multiple Choice Mitt Romney is Latino Kryptonite

Earlier today we heard New York Senator Chuck Schumer ask the former Arizona ousted State Senator Russell Pearce some piercing questions.

According to POLITICO:

“What does an illegal immigrant dress like?” Schumer asked Pearce.

In response, Pearce said that manual was developed in conjunction with federal immigration officials.

…….Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) also traded jabs with Pearce over the DREAM Act, which would offer minors who meet certain requirements a pathway to citizenship.

“All of us have a heart and all of us have compassion,” Pearce said, calling the bill “blanket amnesty.” “But laws without consequences are no laws at all.”

Durbin responded: “Mr. Pearce, the DREAM Act is not a blanket amnesty.”

We are also hearing  of news stories  from our own Arizona Senator Jon Kyl who believes the immigration hearing is a ‘theater.’

We have one thing to say to the despicable sounding Senator Kyl …

Perhaps Sen. Kyl can call it “theater”  to the many families who are being FORCED apart and jailed for working at a fast food restaurant while Sheriff Joe Arpaio mispends millions and millions of Arizona taxpayer dollars.  Tell that to the many AMERICAN-BORN children who have been left behind in foster homes because their mommies and daddies have been deported.

Sen. Kyl is not helping the Republican Party win Latino votes with his heartless and uncaring comments.

Senator Kyl was not only a ‘no-show’ to the SB 1070 hearing …  the Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and Senator John McCain were also ‘no-shows’.   Pearce ended up looking like a lonely jackass even though several Republican lawmakers  (including Senator Marco Rubio) were in support of Arizona’s SB 1070 draconian law.  Senator Marco Rubio toed the Party line and had many things to say when we were being kicked down and out … but now he is nowhere to be found to testify in support of the Arizona law he said he was for during 2010.

Ah yes … it must be an election year.  Of course, yet these sick and twisted politicians continue to play political football with immigration and the Latino community.