Immigration

Controversial campus organization collaborates with anti-immigrant leaders

Written by Cloee Cooper

Two weeks ago, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Youth for Western Civilization hosted a panel titled, “Will Immigration Kill the GOP?”

Youth for Western Civilization (YWC) is a group that debuted at CPAC in 2009 and aims to defend western culture on college campuses.

According to Devin Saucier, the vice president of the national YWC chapter and president of the Vanderbilt chapter, “We also held a wildly successful panel discussion featuring Congressmen Tancredo, Goode, and Barletta, as well as Bay Buchanan and our president Kevin DeAnna on the subject of whether immigration will kill the GOP.”

New PFIR Blog Crossposts Other Anti-immigrant Group

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR) published a new blog on its website last week. The blog was a crosspost from the anti-immigrant group, Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS). The post was asking members to call their representatives to tell them to vote in favor or E-verify legislation. It remains to be seen if CAPS and PFIR continue to work together publicly.

Immigration

Negative Population Growth Plants Anti-immigrant Advertisement in E Magazine

Written by Rebecca Poswolsky

Next month, another advertisement will run in E Magazine by anti-immigrant group Negative Population Growth (NPG).  This one is unique in its toned down message, but the tactic is not new.  It is a part of an attempt to reach out to environmental audiences and make bigotry palatable for them.  NPG is using a toned down message to advertise a “national population policy.”

E Magazine is serving as a platform for the promotion of U.S. population stabilization by white nationalists and anti-immigration groups.  NPG’s advertisement in E Magazine reads, “Simply put, overpopulation is the biggest threat to a safe environmental future.”

Politics

Cross-Post: Tennessee Jumps on the Anti-Sharia Bandwagon

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Gratefully borrowed from the pages of Talking Points Memo. By Melissa Jeltsen | February 24, 2011:

Refraining from eating pork? Giving alms to the poor? These could become criminal activities in Tennessee, where a proposed law would make adherence to Sharia — or Islamic law — illegal and punishable with jail time.

While a number of other states have filed legislation seeking to keep Sharia out of the courts, Tennessee is going one giant step further by attempting to outlaw it entirely.

Senate Bill 1028, introduced by State Sen. Bill Ketron, gives the state Attorney General authority to designate “Sharia organizations,” defined as “two (2) or more persons conspiring to support,

… Read more

Politics

Cross-Post: Salvador Reza, Anayanse Garza Allege Abuse During Arrest at State Capitol

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

A sobering reminder of the violent and unjust climate that persists in Arizona. Originally published on the Phoenix New Times blog Feathered Bastard by Stephen Lemons:

The Arizona police state rolls on. Today, outside the Arizona state Capitol, human rights activists Salvador Reza and Anayanse Garza of the group Puente held a press conference with their lawyers. This, following their arrests the day before in the state Senate building by plainclothes officers with the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Both alleged abuse at the hands of DPS Officer J. Gentry Burton and DPS Sergeant Jeff Trap, who collared them after warning Reza to leave, supposedly because he had been “banned” on the

… Read more

New CIS Memo

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

The anti-immigrant Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a new memo “Estimating the Size of the H-1B Population in the U.S.” by David North. In the memo, North pushes a reduction on legal immigration by arguing to argue that the number of temporary workers in America is actually much higher that what is estimated.

Immigration

LGBTQ community speaks out on immigration despite risks of deportation and persecution

Written by Amy Spicer

Same-gender sex is illegal in more than 80 countries. Even more shocking, gays and lesbians face the death penalty in several of those countries, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The recent murder of Ugandan gay activist David Kato after a newspaper published photos of him and other activists next to the words “Hang Them” not only dealt a devastating blow to the cause but also illustrated the real danger these individuals face.

Despite the threat of violence internationally against the LGBTQ community, there continues to be brave individuals who are taking a stand for gay and immigrant rights, even at the risk of deportation to homelands where their lives may be in danger.

Politics

Labor Rights are Human Rights

Written by Ana Turck

I woke up at dawn this past Saturday, my one day off from work and looked around my house. There was laundry to be done, dishes to be washed, writing to catch up on and a relaxation session to be squeezed in this hectic period lasting 16 hours. A night prior, my husband and I were watching the coverage of the week–long protests in Madison, Wisconsin and the emotional fight of its Public Workers to preserve their human right to bargain for conditions and terms of their labor.

I watched this story unfold and my anxiety steadily rose. My short stint as a high-school teacher made me keenly aware of the challenges and the value… Read more

Culture

WOKE UP BLACK: Telling Stories About Young Black Lives

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

“Woke Up Black” a film by Mary F. Morten is having its world premier at the Siskel Center this Friday, February 25. To buy tickets, click here.

The film follows five young African Americans from different parts of Illinois over two years. Their stories are as fascinating as they are different, and yet their struggles and dreams have remarkably similar themes.

The film digs deep into the diverse lives and lifestyles of its young subjects – exploring what it’s like to be an African American excelling in a suburban, white community in one case; to be an honor roll student who was adopted by a gay couple, or a genderqueer activist who must… Read more

CIS Questions E-verify’s Readiness

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

In today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Janice Kephart of the anti-immigrant group Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) responded to the accuracy of E-verify by stating “I would say that if it’s not ready now, it’s on the cusp of being ready.” Making E-verify mandatory nationwide is one of the main goals for the Tanton Network this year.