Thursday Immigration Blog RoundUp

After emerging from a mountain of other projects we've been working on here at The Opportunity Agenda, the Thursday Immigration Blog Round-Up is back.  And there's definitely no shortage of news to pass around regarding immigration this week.

On a positive note (Wow, it's nice to say that), President Obama signed into law Wednesday afternoon the SCHIP legislation, which extends healthcare to millions of children in our country and lifts a previous rule requiring a five year waiting period  for covering children of immigrants.    

In Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio is back in the news for his sensationalized Fox Television program.  To be quite honest, his actions this time around are too crazy for me to even write about, much less think about. The Immigration IMpact blog can give you the low down on how he treats immigrants.

On a lighter note, the new director of homeland security, Janet Napolitono--who incidentally is the former Governor of Arizona--has been reported by the Phoenix News-Times as moving toward a repeal of I.C.E. law 287g, which gives Arpaio's rag-tag militia federal power for immigration enforcement, power given to local officials, and Arpaio has burned up more watts on it than Hoover Dam.  Unfortunately, according to the PNT blog, Arizona law makers have returned 1.6 million dollars to Arpaio, during a time when they're slashing the rest of the budget.

On the other side of the Sunbelt, the Southern Poverty Law Center just released an updated report on the major players in the anti-immigration movement, revealing a complex network that sounds like something from the Wizard of Oz, "Nevermind the man behind the curtain..."

It's important to remember that this country is, and always has been, woven by the experiences of immigrants.  There's no question that we need real solutions in this country to keep this rich quilted patchwork from unraveling.  When we see people like Sheriff Arpaio trying to reach Paris Hilton fame by exploiting immigrants, it sends a tremor through the values that built this country, like an earthquake through the vallies that tries to break us apart, rather than move us all closer together toward true opportunity and equality.  

More the reason, I imagine, why we should all contact our congressional leaders and thank them for passing the SCHIP bill, and keeping alive the momentum that Obama has built on promising real immigration reform.