Submitted by Tricia Perry on Mon, 10/15/2007 - 9:39am
in
  • There has recently been commentary that the state of California's immigration policies are all over the place - just last week the governor signed an anti-discrimination law to protect landlords and tenants.  It's fresh news, however, that Schwarzenegger has vetoed the California DREAM Act for the second time, a measure which would have increased access for undocumented students to get a college education.  In the same swoop, the governor also vetoed gay marriage in California for the second time, while signing the California Student Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in schools.
  • There has been much talk on the recent trial of a nurse and several guards from a Florida boot camp for adolescents who beat a 14-year-old black boy who claimed he was too tired to exercise and then died the following day; their acquittal on murder charges has fed recent discussions on the nature of these youth boot camps where at-risk children are regularly neglected and abused.  Forcing troubled youth to undergo starvation can only add to their sense of social abandonment and will not work to increase opportunities available to them to succeed.
  • The Facing South blog has published commentary on last Friday's New York Times piece on the impact of immigration raids on the Smithfield Foods' North Carolina slaughterhouse.  Asking the question "Who Benefits?," author Chris Kromm concludes that businesses suffer from a lack of a stable workforce, and that, "Immigration raids do nothing to improve this situation for workers. In
    reality, the costly raids end up separating families and tearing up
    communities -- all for a short-term solution to the long-term problem
    of immigration reform."  Especially because raids are failing to solve our broken immigration system, we need to start approaching the issue of immigration policy reform with consideration for what is best for the community at large.
  • Ending on a lighter note, the Immigrants in USA blog has posted on a Boston Globe article highlighting various Massachusetts employers that are offering English classes for their workers, catering to a high demand for the service.  This is a great example of the way businesses can effectively invest in their workforce and the community as a whole, as increasing communications skills will have ramifications across the board for marginalized populations.