The effects have been both immediate and devastating: schools across the state are already reporting many Hispanic children absent, for fear of their families’ undocumented statuses being discovered. Crops are rotting in the fields because of the sudden shortage of migrant workers. One local framer warned, “There won’t be no next growing season.”
The Center for American Progress compiled comments from business leaders, academics, legal experts and Alabamians on HB56. One of the most powerful responses came from Professor Silvia Giagnoni of Auburn University at Montgomery, who said:
“It is sadly ironic that the same day a federal judge upholds major sections of the Alabama immigration law — the most restrictive in the nation — the state also receives an ‘A’ on its educational work in teaching civil rights history. It’s ironic because this comes at a time when the most retrogressive forces in Alabama claim a victory, although it is unclear to me against whom.”
Congress’ decision not to act on the federal level and pass comprehensive immigration reform means that states like Arizona, Georgia, Indiana and Alabama can now legislate discrimination — and other states could soon follow their precedent. This moment must be used as a wake-up call for the entire country to rededicate ourselves to passing national reform. Keep checking the blog as we write more on how our movement is taking action.
UPDATE: A federal judge refused to block the law Wednesday afternoon. We will continue to update as more news comes in.
Schoolchildren in Alabama are hiding. Immigrant families are fleeing the state. Alabama passed an anti-immigrant law so extreme that it is scaring students from attending school, and would allow indefinite detention for those stopped by the police to ask for immigration status without proper paperwork. And a federal judge just approved it.
This is an all-out assault on immigrant families, and it’s not isolated to Alabama. Congress’ inaction on federal immigration reform has left the door wide open for this racist and inhumane legislation, in Arizona, Georgia, Indiana and now Alabama. These states aren’t waiting for Washington to do something. They’re writing their own policy, with anti-immigrant leaders holding the pen.
Alabama launched an assault on its immigrant communities — and we must not let these disgraceful actions stand. Take the pledge now to stand with Alabama families against these unjust practices.
A massive outcry of individuals supporting Alabama communities now will send a wake-up call to Washington: we need comprehensive immigration reform now, before other states follow this devastating example. We need your voice to deliver our message to families in the state that the entire country is watching.
This week already is shaping up to be huge, with actions everywhere
demanding good jobs for working families, paid for with fair taxes for
millionaires and Wall Street.Occupy Wall Street protests, which really took off over the weekend, will continue in cities from coast to coast. And the AFL-CIOAmerica Wants to Work national week of action starts today.This is a not-to-be-missed moment to get out and attend an event in your community.We’re sponsoring a wide variety of activities, from vigils to teach-ins
on college campuses, demonstrations outside job-outsourcing corporations
and press events. In many places, we’ll join the Occupy Wall Street
protests that have sprung up and are growing, from Hawaii to Washington, D.C.Working people will come together in hundreds of events through Oct. 16 to demand action from Congress to promote a real jobs creation agenda and real shared sacrifice from Wall Street and the rich. Find an event near you.And college students across the country will gather on Wednesday, Oct. 12, for a live national teach-in with events on campuses from 7–8:30 p.m. EDT. Find a teach-in location near you here. Or, watch it live Wednesday night at: http://go.aflcio.org/teachin.Whatever you do this week, don’t miss the opportunity to be a part of something big. Here are some ways to get involved:
Find an America Wants to Work event near you here. To share our week of action on Facebook, click here.
Find an Oct. 12 America Wants to Work teach-in location near you here. Or watch it live from 7–8:30 p.m. here.
Find an Occupy Wall Street event near you here. You can share Occupy Wall Street events on Facebook here.
Please also forward this message to your friends and ask them to get involved. Thanks for all you do for the 99 percent.
The Occupy Wall Street protests — which have now become the Occupy Everywhere protests — and the announcement by Bank of America and other banks of new banking fees, such as monthly debit card usage fees,underscore the urgent need for a working Consumer Financial Protection Bureau … and for the confirmation of the nominee to head that bureau, Richard Cordray.
After using tens of billions in taxpayer bailouts to pay executive bonuses instead of reinstituting the lending our economy needed, big banks are again choosing to pad their profits by exploiting consumers with new monthly debit card fees which would make customers shell out additional payments just to use their own money. It’s no wonder that it’s being seen a final straw by many in “The 99%” — the bulk of Americans victim to an inadequate job market, stagnating wages, disappearing benefits and consumer abuse at the hands of companies like the big banks.
Defenders of the new bank fees say that as private companies, banks have the right to make a profit, and if they are losing revenue elsewhere, they should be able to make it up by charging fees, and if consumers don’t like it they can take their business to another bank. The problem with that argument is that new fees like this are becoming the industry standard — so consumers won’t have other options. That’s what happens when you have an industry that is not only shielded from government regulation, but is shielded from the market forces which would make banks compete against each other for customers … in short, it’s what happens when the companies that make up an industry are allowed to be “too big to fail.”
In discussing the bank debit-purchase fees, President Obama noted, this is “exactly why we need somebody whose sole job it is to prevent this kind of stuff from happening.” He was referencing Richard Cordray, the president’s nominee to direct the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) — an agency, created by the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, which Americans desperately need but which remains hamstrung and ineffective as long as it does not have an official director.
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs approved Richard Cordray’s nomination just yesterday, but the committee’s Republican members voted unanimously against him and are intent on keeping the nomination from coming to the Senate floor for confirmation. Despite the party-line vote, Republican senators are quite clear that they know Cordray is qualified for the position — it’s the position itself, the CFPB and consumer protections in general to which they are opposed.
Even though the legislation creating the CFPB was passed by Congress, Republicans are refusing to let the bureau function unless they can force structural changes which would render it wholly ineffective. Rep. Barney Frank — the House’s chief sponsor of the bill that created the CFPB — explained:
“Forty-four Republicans have announced that in disregard of their constitutional duty to consider nominations on the merits. They will not confirm anyone until the Senate majority reverses itself to once again put bank regulators in a position to overrule virtually all of the policies that would be set by the consumer agency.”
This unconscionable obstruction shows exactly whose interests Republicans care about and are fighting for … and it’s not the 99%.
If you haven’t already, sign our petition now telling senators to CONFIRM Richard Cordray.
And check out more coverage of The 99% movement on our blog.
Thank you for your ongoing support, your activism and your commitment to fighting Government By the People (NOT the Corporations) — the American Way.
In America, 68,842 bridges are deficient—and 282,672,680 vehicles cross
those bridges every day. Meanwhile, 9.1 percent of Americans are
jobless.
With so many people out of work and so many bridges and other pieces of
critical infrastructure in need of work, there’s a simple solution:
Congress must pass legislation putting jobless Americans to work fixing
critical infrastructure—bridges, schools, roads, ports and more.
These projects don’t just create good jobs for the people who do the original work—though that’s a big part of why they are important right
now. They also make our economy perform better in the long term by
increasing productivity. And they make America a better, safer place to
live.
Immediate work on America’s
crumbling infrastructure is a start. But we also need to pass a fully
funded surface transportation reauthorization and start now on even
bigger projects—world-class communications and energy systems, high-speed rail and other infrastructure we need to be competitive in
the 21st century.
I haven’t been to China, though I hope to go soon. But I am told that when you fly to Shanghai,
you land in a brand-new airport, you have high-speed broadband access
from the moment you arrive and you can get on a high-speed train in the
arrival terminal that will take you directly to downtown Shanghai at
speeds faster than 100 miles per hour.
This just isn’t available in any U.S. city. But we can change that. We
can meet these standards—and beat them. But only if our leaders rise to
the challenge.
P.S. In tough times, America has come together and put America back to work by building and rebuilding our infrastructure. But so far, the Republicans won’t do it.
That’s why we’re taking the pressure to every individual member of
Congress today—highlighting just how much work there is to be done and
how many jobless Americans are ready to get to work.
Last week, a US district judge in Alabama ruled on HB56, the anti-immigrant measure that allows police to detain anyone without documentation, and forces public schools to confirm every student’s immigration status.
Be a Seed for Change 
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