July is birthday month, and what better way to celebrate than going to a massive protest in DC. Last week Jamie and I DROVE the 9 hours with a group from 1Michigan to march on capitol hill to “encourage” the legislature to finally pass the DREAM ACT.
21 dreamers (including one dreamer from the Michigan group) got arrested after sitting in some of the legislator’s offices, including Arizona Senator John McCain.
While it felt empowering to march around Capitol Hill and the White House, the fight is far from over. It felt encouraging to see legislators waving from heir offices but they need to act. Politicians on both sides of the aisle (even McCain who promised the National Council of La Raza to push the DREAM ACT through if he became president two years ago) have pledged to support this legislation. But of course, there are also opponents on both sides: the Republicans, well no need to explain there, and the Democrats because they are afraid it would overshadow larger immigration reform that is necessary.
Thankfully there is some movement with the Arizona Law (from AZCentral):
U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton has issued a preliminary injunction preventing several sections of Arizona’s new immigration law from becoming law, at least until the courts have a chance to hear the full case.
Key parts of Senate Bill 1070 that will not go into effect Thursday:
• The portion of the law that requires an officer make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, detained or arrested if there’s reasonable suspicion they’re in the country illegally.
• The portion that creates a crime of failure to apply for or carry “alien-registration papers.”
• The portion that makes it a crime for illegal immigrants to solicit, apply for or perform work. (This does not include the section on day laborers.)
• The portion that allows for a warrantless arrest of a person where there is probable cause to believe they have committed a public offense that makes them removable from the United States.
Bolton’s ruling followed hearings on three of seven federal lawsuits challenging SB 1070. Plaintiffs include the U.S. Department of Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union, Phoenix and Tucson police officers, municipalities, illegal immigrants and non-profit groups.
She denied legal requests by Gov. Jan Brewer, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and several other defendants seeking to have the lawsuits dismissed because, they argued, the plaintiffs did not prove that they would be harmed by the law if it went into effect.
Hopefully this legislation will continue to move into the right direction (as in disappear). One more picture for good measure: Happy double birthday!
Paz is Peace 