This week’s Immigration Blog Roundup covers the nation-wide response to the Arizona immigration bill, policy news, and more…
While the Arizona Governor defends her state’s new immigration bill the Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association says the state has lost 23 conventions scheduled from this summer to 2013 and between $6-million and $10-million from those meetings since Brewer signed the bill about three weeks ago.
Another controversial bill signed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer bans an ethnic studies program in the Tucson school system. HB 2281 bans schools from teaching classes that are designed for students of a particular ethnic group, promote resentment or advocate ethnic solidarity over treating pupils as individuals and bans classes that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government. The ban targets a Mexican American studies which is supported by a court-ordered desegregation budget, and is part of the district’s initiative to create equal access for Latinos.
A growing number of conservative evangelical leaders are openly criticizing Arizona’s new immigration bill and lobbying republican leaders to support comprehensive immigration reform. Influential evangelical activists such as Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy wing, Mathew Staver, dean of the Liberty University School of Law, and Samuel Rodriguez, an influential Hispanic evangelical figure are currently trying to draft a consensus evangelical position on immigration reform.
City Councils around the country are demonstrating their disapproval of the new Az. bill. San Francisco, Los Angeles, and DC are considering boycotts while other cities and states are reporting that they may also consider taking action if the bill goes into effect in July.
Lastly, USCIS has created a new green card that is actually green. The new card incorporates holographic images, laser engraved fingerprints and radio frequency identification chips that will allow Customs and Border Protection officers at ports of entry to read the card from a distance.
