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Arizona Poised to Be the Most Anti-Immigrant State Ever

8:08 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia| Immigration| Justice| arizona| children · Comments Off

6 Dec 2007

Anti-immigrant advocates call them anchor babies, children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants. By law these children are citizens of the U.S. but a group of Arizona citizens wants to change that.

The text of the proposal would ask hospital maternity wards to verify the immigration status of parents of newborns before issuing a birth certificate, which according to my reading of the Constitution, isn’t legal.

Those supporting the proposition have until next July 3 to get the 153,365 signatures they need to get the measure on the ballot.

Via / Univision.com

Community up in arms over undocumented “hotline”

1:48 pm By Maegan La Mala · Controversia| Immigration| arizona · 1 Comment

8 Aug 2007

Community members and clergy in Maricopa County, Arizona are calling for a stop to an initiative by the Sheriff to offer hotlines for reporting undocumented immigrants to authorities:

The hotline, they say, perpetuates a climate of fear within the immigrant community, raises the chance of racial profiling and opens the possibility for people to take revenge on former friends and family.

“What right does he have to investigate people based on the color of their skin, or their accent or the way they look,” said Phoenix attorney Antonio Bustamante. “I want him to stop this nonsense and enforce criminal law instead of going after landscapers and nannies. He needs to stop this hotline.”

Latino leaders are calling the hotlines unconstitutional but the Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, isn’t backing down — not by a long shot. According to the Arizona Republic, he’s even trapping undocumented immigrants as they visit their family members in the county jail: “Once they come in, we’re going to have to arrest them and turn them over to ICE.”

So much for love thy neighbor.

Via / Arizona Republic

Hispanic Alumni Club Gives Back

9:10 pm By Maegan La Mala · Education · Comments Off

9 Dec 2005

With its annual scholarship dinner tonight, the University of Arizona Hispanic Alumni club celebrates 20 years of contributing to students, now giving nearly $300,000 a year. The club has an endowment of $1.2 million and from that, spends about $80,000 a year on cash awards for 50 students, ranging from $500 up to $2,500. From money raised each year, the group gives full-tuition awards to another 50 students, spending about $200,000.

It’s great to see that this Alumni club is providing opportunities to future Latino college students. Aside from providing scholarships, the club also provides networking opportunities for students as well as a support system to assist students. I can just imagine how this club impacts the students that they help. It must be very comforting to Latino students, when they know that there is someone there to help them in their time of need. It also goes to show that as college graduates we have the responsibility to help facilitate higher education for others.

Via / Arizona Daily Star

Phoenix, El Paso Best Cities for Entrepreneurs

9:41 am By Maegan La Mala · Entrepreneurs · Comments Off

20 Oct 2005

This month’s Entrepreneur magazine reports on the best cities to start your company in, across large, mid-size, and small cities.

#1 Large City: Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix earns the top spot due to its high percentage of start-ups in the past year, real estate prices in the area, and community services to help entrepreneurs get started.

But that doesn’t mean that Phoenix doesn’t have its challenges. Maricopa County had the largest population increase in 2003-2004, as compared to all other counties across the US. The city is also implementing a light-rail project which is a multi-year project that will disrupt multiple parts of the city during its construction.

#1 Mid-Sized City: El Paso, TX
Ranking near the top in start-ups and growth, El Paso beat out other cities by its high scores across the board. Because of its location, El Paso is more closely tied in business and in life to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, that to other cities in Texas. This location gives El Paso good business with the maquiladoras in Juarez and over $3.4 billion a year in spending from Mexican tourists. Additionally Fort Bliss nearby provides work in government contracts, currently about 16% of El Paso’s economy.

City of Phoenix, Arizona
City of El Paso, Texas

Via / Entrepreneur.com: Best Cities for Entrepreneurs
Arizona State Guide to Doing Business
Texas State Guide to Doing Business

Immigrant childen alienated from “Naco” school?

12:53 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration · 3 Comments

27 Sep 2005

Interesting story out of Arizona via HispanicTips. Intriguing first because of the weird word play: the school is called “Naco” (which for non-Mexicans is a classist, racially charged insult flung from Mexican to Mexican) and it’s located in an Arizona town called “Ajo”. Is this one of those Latin American magical realism movies?

No. Apparently, there’s some tension going on in the town of Ajo, between Naco students and parents and authorities, with charges of discrimination against Mexican families:

The U.S. Department of Education received complaints of discrimination and sent a team to investigate. The complaint says Hispanic students who live within the school district were being asked to pay tuition while non-Hispanic students were not.

The allegation is that the children cross back into Mexico across the Arizona border after school, so they should be paying non-resident (probably international student) tuition.

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