The brief was filed Monday (PDF) in the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which is considering the constitutionality of the law after a federal judge upheld key provisions of the law in September. “HB 56 is nothing less than a modern-day incarnation of some the most abhorrent types of institutionalized discrimination to have emerged in the history of the United States,” read the brief.

The brief argues that HB 56 encourages or even forces Alabama law enforcement, schools, public offices, and ordinary citizens to discriminate based on race, ethnicity and national origin. In the context of Alabama’s “long and disturbing history of civil rights violations,” the brief compares HB 56 to Alabama’s Jim Crow laws that “required law enforcement officials to enforce discriminatory laws, and criminalizing the exercise of fundamental human liberties.”

The law excludes children of color, particularly Latino children and children of other immigrant communities, from public schools, mandates racial profiling, and permits the detention of U.S. citizens and lawfully present immigrants if they fail to establish their immigration status to the satisfaction of local law enforcement.

HB 56 threatens public safety by eroding relationships between law enforcement and immigrant communities, resulting in underreporting of crime, especially hate crimes. It also threatens the personal liberty and property for anyone that may appear or sound foreign.

The legislation represents a form of legalized racism that threatens the Latino community in Alabama most directly, but also impacts all people of color, including Middle Eastern and Asian Americans.

The lawsuit, a class action filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, challenges the constitutionality of this recently passed law on the grounds that it invites the racial profiling of people of color, violates the First Amendment and interferes with federal law.

The amicus brief argues that an injunction is justified on three principal grounds.

First, SB 1070 will result in discrimination against communities of color. Although the statute was written seemingly to exclude the possibility of racial profiling, in practice, there is no question but that this law will lead to heightened and disproportionate police scrutiny of minorities. Because Mexico is the nearest border, Latinos especially will be targeted under SB 1070.

Second, this bill threatens public safety in Arizona. If enforced, it will breed resentment and distrust of the police in communities of color. Fearing immigration inquiries, communities of color are very likely to report crime less, making their neighborhoods increasingly unsafe. Moreover, the under-reporting of crime in minority communities will render them even more vulnerable to hate crimes.

Finally, the bill, ostensibly designed to reduce crime, simply does not justify the means. American history is sadly littered with numerous statutes aimed at excluding certain minority groups from the benefits, rights, and liberties granted to the majority. The courts have struck down those laws for over 150 years. SB 1070 is in keeping with this sordid past and must also be struck down.

EJS is coordinating a session on “The Myth of Post-Racial America” on Thursday, August 13, from 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. Panelists include Rinku Sen, President and Executive Director of the Applied Research Center (ARC); Rich Benjamin, Senior Fellow at DEMOS; Annabel Park, director/producer of the upcoming documentary film “9500 Liberty” and moderated by Keith Kamisugi, EJS Director of Communications. Save the session date and info on Facebook.

Netroots Nation 2009 will include panels led by national and international experts; a progressive film screening series; practical training sessions and workshops; and the most concentrated gathering of progressive bloggers to date.

Past gatherings have included a Presidential Leadership Forum that drew seven Democratic candidates, a surprise visit from Al Gore; an interactive Ask the Speaker session with Nancy Pelosi; and hundreds of panels, roundtables, training sessions, workshops and keynotes.

Contact Keith Kamisugi (kkamisugi@equaljusticesociety.org) for more information on this session or the conference.

Scholarships Available for Bloggers Covering Immigration Issues

As progressives across the country begin strategizing and organizing around comprehensive immigration reform, there’s no better place to connect than this summer’s Netroots Nation convention. With nearly 100 training sessions and panels to choose from, it’s vital that those who write about immigration are well-represented in Pittsburgh.

Do you know someone working at the intersection of new media and immigration, who blogs on the issue, and who needs some help getting to Netroots Nation? If so, tell them to apply for a scholarship!

This year, America’s Voice, an organization committed to supporting a vibrant and independent pro-migrant blogosphere, will send eight immigration bloggers to Pittsburgh to attend the convention. The scholarship includes registration, a travel stipend and shared hotel accommodations.

The America’s Voice and Netroots Nation scholarship selection committee will rely on several unique factors to select contest winners. Above all, we are interested in hearing your personal story and your personal connection to the issue, what drives your work, and why you would like to attend Netroots Nation.

It’s also important that we select people who are not only passionate about blogging and/or online activism, but who bring a unique and underrepresented perspective to the Netroots Nation convention.

The answers that you submit in your application are private, but if selected as a winner, we may ask to publish some of your answers on our website.

Apply now to be a America’s Voice/Netroots Nation 2009 Scholar.

Since time is short and we want to let winners make their travel arrangements, all applications are due by Monday, July 20. Selections will be posted online by August 1, but winners will be contacted via email as soon as they are selected.

“These testimonials will be critical as President Obama builds his case for comprehensive immigration reform in May, which happens to be Asian Pacific American Heritage Month,” said Rep. Michael Honda (CA-15), chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC). “At a national level, the voices of the Asian Pacific Islander communities are often left out of the immigration debate. I am looking forward to amplifying these voices on Saturday.”

As part of an unprecedented nationwide outreach tour, Rep. Honda will be joined by Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (IL-04), chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Immigration Task Force and California’s religious community to spearhead the “Family Unity” outreach event in San Jose.

This national effort involves prayer vigils and town-hall meetings. At each event, U.S. citizens share testimony as to how their families have been or risk being torn apart by a broken immigration system.

Rep. Michael Honda (CA-15), Rep. Luis Gutierrez (IL-04), faith leaders and community members will join together at this event on Saturday, April 18, 2009, from 6:30 p.m., at St. Victor’s Church, 3108 Sierra Rd, in San Jose.

“Immigrant contributions have always driven America’s growth, and today’s economy presents no different a picture,” said Rep. Honda.

“Reuniting immigrant families will strengthen the American economy by increasing our tax base, decreasing the costs of social safety nets, and keeping money in the U.S. that would otherwise be sent abroad to loved ones. Hate and xenophobia are keeping us from doing what’s right for our nation. It’s time to enact immigration reform that makes sense for families and for our country.”

“Through this listening tour, I have been honored and humbled to join people of all faiths from coast to coast who are bearing witness to stories of human crisis caused by our broken immigration system,” said Rep. Gutierrez. “They are parents and children, husbands and wives who have been torn apart by a system that values fear over family values.
Through the Family Unity effort, US citizens are raising their voices for a better vision of America, and they are showing Washington just how serious the situation has become and how serious we are about changing it. I am proud to join the people of Salinas and San Jose as they stand up to show our leaders in Washington that immigration is not an abstract policy debate — but a pressing moral crisis.”

The Family Unity outreach tour has already visited Providence, RI, Atlanta, GA, Albuquerque, NM, Ontario, CA, San Francisco, CA, Los Angeles, CA, Phoenix AZ, El Paso, TX, Dallas, TX, Mission, TX, Chicago, IL, Joliet IL, Milwaukee, WI, Detroit, MI, Orlando FL, Miami, FL and Philadelphia, PA, where thousands of individuals have filled their community churches to capacity. They came forward to demonstrate the vast numbers of American families—from all political backgrounds and faiths—who demand change from a legal system that undermines family values.