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by Erin Rosa, Media Consortium blogger  The countdown is on. Half a million supporters of comprehensive immigration reform rallied across the country on May 1 to protest SB 1070, Arizona's prohibitive new anti-immigration law and ratchet up pressure for a federal reform bill this year. In Washington, DC, police arrested a dozen demonstrators, including Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), after they engaged in non-violent civil disobedience, as Esther Gentile reports for New America Media.
So far, legislators in the Senate have not introduced a proposal, and the longer they wait, the less likely it is that a bill will be debated in 2010, especially with an election on the horizon. The stakes are incredibly high because a lack of federal action leaves a wide opening for states to draft their own, increasingly restrictive versions of immigration reform. Rally round the country Feministing also reports on the Washington May Day rally, which was led by "the Trail of Dreams trekkers, Felipe Matos, Gaby Pacheco, Carlos Roa, and Juan Rodriguez, who walked 1500 miles from Florida to DC in support of the DREAM Act, which would make a college education possible and create a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants." Los Angeles had the largest rally attendance of about 60,000 according to Hatty Lee at RaceWire, but there were also significant numbers in other states. "The nationwide May Day rallies drew tens of thousands of protesters-the largest turnouts since 2006," Lee writes, remembering the millions who marched in cities for immigration reform just four years ago. Workers Independent News sheds some light on to the labor history involved with May Day, writing that May 1, also known as International Workers' Day, has created a strong alliance between union members and immigration reform boosters. Arizona on my mind SB 1070, Arizona's new immigration law which forces local police to check the immigration status of a person if there is a "reasonable suspicion" that they are undocumented, has only energized the reform movement. "It has mobilized the entire pro-immigration community and triggered a large, visible, highly vocal and well-publicized backlash that some polling suggests is beginning to turn fence-sitters into advocates," William Fisher reports at the Inter Press Service. Jesse Freeston with the Real News found that "While the demands of immigration reform, fair education, and an end to deportations have been around for years, the recent developments in Arizona were on everybody's mind." In the wake of Arizona, Democratic lawmakers released a rough draft of an immigration proposal for the Senate last week. Jessica Pieklo at Care2 reports that "the proposals suggested by the Democrats include enhanced border security, the creation of a new fraud-resistant Social Security card, and for those already in the country illegally, a series of penalties, taxes, and fees, in addition to passing a criminal background check would have to be satisfied before they would qualify for legal residency, " Despite the draft-one of two, the other co-authored by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and released weeks ago-a bill has yet to be officially introduced in the Senate, and it's unknown when it will be given a chance. SB 1070 disproportionately affects children and victims of Domestic Violence
SB 1070 will likely have a great affect on undocumented victims of domestic violence, according to Laura Tillman at the Women's Media Center. Tillman notes that domestic abuse could become worse in the state, now that the police are full-time immigration agents. Tillman writes that the "new immigration law is set to give [domestic abuse] victims a heightened fear of deportation if they come forward to report crimes, and criminals the confidence to perpetrate crimes without fear of retribution." AlterNet also reports on a new study from the advocacy group First Focus, which finds that "Children are the hidden casualties of America's war on immigrants, and the passage of Arizona's new racial profiling legislation could open up countless opportunities for local law enforcement to break up families by putting undocumented parents on the fast-track to deportation." Today, with strong grassroots organizing, and after the countless injustices endured by immigrants on both the state and national level, the immigration battle of 2010 is nearing its most critical hour. And now, all eyes are on Congress to produce a bill. This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about immigration by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Diaspora for a complete list of articles on immigration issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, and health care issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Pulse . This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.
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