Roberto Lovato: NPR Crosses Dangerous Racial Border, Asks Candidates if Citizens Should “Report” Immigrants

Contrary to what the Times tells us, such a line of questioning is not just “provocative”, but is, in fact, more like DANGEROUS. In a political environment that already lends itself to countless forms of racial profiling (and to smashing the distinction between federal and local law enforcement under the guise of immigration policy), such a line of questioning only serves to further legitimate another formerly wacky idea, an idea one could, until recently, only find in the netherworld of white supremacist websites. Even those who constantly ask me, “What don’t you understand about the word ‘illegal’?” should recognize the inherent danger in NPR’s approach.

Yesterday’s questioning of the Democratic presidential candidates around immigration seems to indicate that NPR is willing to use public airwaves to provide broader forum for formerly fringe ideas. Public airing of such questions will only exacerbate racial tensions against Latino and other migrants that even the FBI tells us are the object of a disturbing increase in hate crimes (and that’s just the tiny minority of anti-immigrant hate crimes that are even reported).”*

• Police in Peru say gang members killed people to drain their fat for cosmetics
• US indicts 19 members of Hispanic street gang – Maryland branch of the “Latin Kings”
• Puerto Rican, Latino Clergy, Theology Professors, Community Members To Condemn Brutal Hate Killing of Gay Puerto Rican Man
• Mexico’s Drug Violence Gives Rise To Vigilantism
• The wave of crime besetting Puerto Rico seems to be out of control with 800 murders being committed here so far this year, but the island’s top police official says the problem does not fall exclusively within his department.
• Murder charges were filed Wednesday in the slaying of a gay teenager, Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, whose decapitated, partially burned body was found last week, while U.S. authorities said they were still considering whether to make it a hate crime case. – Puerto Rico
• CIS Report Attempts to Erase 100 Years of Data on Immigrants and Crime
• The Utah Forensics Team is hosting a debate Thursday centered around the issue of immigration reform in Utah. – The event, titled “Broken Borders: Debating the State of Immigration,” will feature Tony Yapias, the former director of the Utah State Office of Hispanic Affairs; Utah Reps. Mike Noel and Chris Herrod; and Dee Rowland, a government liaison for the Utah Catholic Diocese
• Organizations alarmed by the increased violence against women and others in Mexico are traveling by caravan to demand justice for the victims. – The national caravan, which began in Mexico City, is part of the international Mujeres de Negro (Women in Black) campaign to protest violence against women, children and other vulnerable groups.
• Hundreds of defendants awaiting trial for violent crimes in Dallas County have been deported by federal immigration officials and then set free in their home countries. – The practice goes back to at least 1991 and includes the release of murder, kidnapping and child rape suspects.
• Murder rates: Cuidad Juárez deadlier than Miami in ’80s
• From a group calling themselves Electronic Civil Disobedience comes the Transborder Immigrant Tool, a simple mobile application intended to aid and abet border-crossers from Mexico to the United States by mapping the safest routes to take. – This GPS app is built to work on the cheapest cell phones available.
• Authorities say a 7-year-old boy, three women and a university professor are among 15 people who were killed in a single day (this past Friday) in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez.
• Fernando Bermudez Wrongfully Jailed For 18 Years, Finally Gets Justice – New York
• The Center for American Progress applauds Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s push to move forward with the congressional debate.
• Statement on Sec. Napolitano’s First Speech on Immigration Reform
• The ‘flea’ CNN’s Lou Dobbs couldn’t shake off – Interview with Roberto Lovato
• Postville Raid: Eighteen months have passed since immigration agents raided Agriprocessors Inc. meat plant, arrested nearly 400 workers, and sent the plant spiraling into bankruptcy. – On Thursday, the plant’s former vice president – Sholom Rubashkin – was found guilty of 86 of 91 counts of financial crimes. – Verdict brings closure to many in Postville
• Federal authorities have identified more than 111,000 immigrants with criminal records being held in local jails, during the first year of a program that seeks to deport immigrants who have committed serious crimes.
• Business groups in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez said Wednesday they are calling for United Nations peacekeepers to quell the drug-related violence that has given their city one of the highest homicide rates in the world.