Over the past week, Spanish-language media giant Univision has covered the court proceedings of the lawsuits filed against S.B. 1070 in Phoenix, as well as the protests in different cities against the Arizona law and acts of civil disobedience supporting the DREAM Act.
Hispanic leaders told Univision.com they don’t believe the federal court that has been hearing at least seven lawsuits will stop it from taking effect. We believe that Tuesday or Wednesday a decision nullifying the most conflictive parts will be announced but it is almost sure that on the 29th this legislation to fight undocumented immigration, the harshest legislation of its kind in the U.S., will take effect.
An activist from Reforma Migratoria PRO America told Univision, “We hope the law is stopped before it takes effect. But we also realize that it is time to organize political power to stop these kinds of laws.”
Univision also reported, “As of Saturday[, July 24,] from coast to coast activists will hold protests, vigils, concerts and awareness raising events about S.B. 1070, a law that criminalizes the presence of illegal immigrants in Arizona and that according to the activists is a “license to discriminate.’”
U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton, who heard plaintiffs and defendants arguments, will decide whether to stop the law from going into effect on July 29.
The protests also come in the midst of the growing numbers of deportations by the Obama Administration.
The Washington Post reported on Monday:
[The] Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency expects to deport about 400,000 people this fiscal year, nearly 10 percent above the Bush administration’s 2008 total and 25 percent more than were deported in 2007. The pace of company audits has roughly quadrupled since President George W. Bush’s final year in office.
According to the Post the Obama administration has
been moving away from using work-site raids to target employers. Just 765 undocumented workers have been arrested at their jobs this fiscal year, compared with 5,100 in 2008, according to Department of Homeland Security figures. Instead, officers have increased employer audits, studying the employee documentation of 2,875 companies suspected of hiring illegal workers and assessing $6.4 million in fines.
