Arizona

Immigration officials in Phoenix are churning out record numbers of new U.S. citizens, with as many as 2,000 to be sworn in this month alone. The push is part of a national effort to chip away at a mountain of backlogged applications, including many thousands from immigrants who had hoped to vote in November. Despite the increase in naturalizations, however, critics say the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is not working fast enough, so many immigrants won’t become citizens in time to vote. “Instead of people being able to participate in democracy, they are being caught up in the red tape of bureaucracy,” said Monica Sandschafer, head organizer of Arizona ACORN, a grass-roots organization that holds citizenship classes. “*

So did you know this? If you didn’t, perhaps you could send it to someone you know to help spread the knowledge and please tell them about HispanicTips. View more “Did You Know?” facts in our “Did You Know?” section

Quepasa Corp., once one of the Valley’s highest-flying dot-coms that sought to be the Internet portal for a booming Hispanic market, has moved its headquarters to Florida.

Quepasa, now a former dot-com, terminated its lease on its Scottsdale Airpark headquarters effective May 1 and moved its offices to West Palm Beach, executives said in an update conference call with investors last week.

The company has sublet the Scottsdale offices, Chief Financial Officer Mike Matte said. He did not respond to phone calls for more details on the move. “*

An executive order signed by Gov. Janet Napolitano has prompted state police to cancel a $1.6 million agreement with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and, instead, use the money to create a fugitive task force.

The move effectively stripped two squads of Sheriff’s Office deputies from a statewide multiagency team designed to go after crimes dealing with human smuggling. It also took away Arpaio’s ability to tap some of the squad members to supplement immigration sweeps at the state’s expense.

In response, Sheriff Joe Arpaio accused the governor of orchestrating with others to pull the money from his department as political payback. House Speaker Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix, meanwhile, called for an audit of the Department of Public Safety.”*

For many conservatives, John McCain is not their favorite Republican. They think he’s built a career at their expense, painting them as fools and bigots. They resent his holier-than-thou attitude. And they’re not inclined to trust anyone who has been so fawned over by the national media.

Curiously, a lot of liberal Democrats feel the same way about McCain. He isn’t their favorite Republican either - but it’s because they know he’ll be tough to beat in November. They would have preferred to run against someone more extreme and easier to demonize. That’s not John McCain.”*

A human smuggler who caused the death of 10 illegal immigrants when he crashed a sport utility vehicle while fleeing from U.S. Border Patrol agents has been sentenced to life in federal prison.

Adan Pineda Doval, 22, a Mexican citizen, was convicted by a Phoenix jury in October of 10 counts of transporting illegal immigrants causing death and two lesser charges.

A federal judge handed down the sentence Thursday, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Phoenix.”*

Glendale native Ray Gonzales Sr. remembers working long, hard days as a concrete laborer in 1977.

Now, the 51-year-old still works long, hard days - as the president of his own general-contracting and concrete business.

He grew RBG Construction Co. from a startup operation in 1996 to a multimillion-dollar enterprise, which has had contracts with projects such as University of Phoenix Stadium, Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, the Translational Genomics Research Institute and the U.S. Border Patrol’s Douglas station. “*

Fifty-three illegal immigrants found Sunday had been held against their will in a fortified home by suspected smugglers demanding more money, authorities said.

The group of rescued immigrants included two 13-year-old girls, three women and a mentally disabled man. The rest were men, Department of Public Safety spokesman Harold Sanders said.”*

John McCain spent a considerable portion of his news conference in Phoenix last week outlining his presidential campaign’s new efforts to reach Hispanic voters.

When a reporter asked him if he was worried about a potential backlash from the most conservative segment of his own party, the presumptive Republican nominee shrugged off any concern.

“My party is the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. My party is an inclusive party. My party reaches out to every citizen, every American who shares our views and our optimism and our belief in the principles of this great nation,” McCain said.”*

Northern Arizona University continues to be ranked as one of the nation’s top institutions for Latinos, according to the Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education magazine.

In its May 5 edition, Hispanic Outlook ranks NAU 19th in the nation for graduating Latinos with master’s degrees and 65th for undergraduates—similar to last year’s rankings.

For granting doctoral degrees to Latinos, NAU ranks 55 in the nation, up 17 spots over 2007.”*

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to give the sheriff’s office nearly $1 million to capture illegal immigrants, despite strong objections from small-business owners.

Members of the Arizona Small Business Association asked the board to hold onto the money until it was sure Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s saturation patrols were not using racial profiling.”*

The deportations have sent a shock wave through the large and fast-growing network of Latino evangelical churches in Arizona and across the nation, many of which are filled with undocumented immigrants.

Local pastors fearful of stepped-up immigration enforcement are canceling retreats north of the Phoenix area. Some national church leaders are concerned the deportations could open the door for immigration raids at churches.

The Prescott deportations echoed incidents in the Valley that have raised tensions between church leaders and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. A crime sweep by sheriff’s deputies in September resulted in arrests of undocumented day laborers near a church sanctuary in Cave Creek, and another on Good Friday led to arrests of illegal immigrants in east Phoenix.”*

A new book published by the nonprofit University of Arizona Press puts the spotlight on poor, mostly Hispanic neighborhoods in the Tucson area and near the Mexican border.

“Colonias in Arizona and New Mexico: Border Poverty and Community Development Solutions” by Adrian X. Esparza and Angela J. Donelson will be published May 24 and available at booksellers. The 208-page book will sell for $19.95.”*

The League of United Latin American Citizens denounces the Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio at the Arizona capitol today on a day when immigration marches are being held nationwide calling for a national day of action.

“Sheriff Arpaio has embarked on a policy of random racial profiling and violation of civil rights. We must all do our part to stop these violations,” said Rep. Ben Miranda.

“Joe Arpaio’s sweeps have drawn complaints from local politicians, police and clergy members, who say the operations are at best equivalent to racial profiling,” said LULAC National President Rosa Rosales. “The sheriff denies the accusations, saying his deputies are trained to avoid such practices but is spreading fear throughout the communities.”

Two years ago, massive protests were held in Phoenix and other cities across the nation, drawing more than 1 million demonstrators who wanted humane reforms to U.S. immigration laws. This year the immigrant groups are not as vocal afraid of the repercussions of the sheriff’s use of fear tactics.

LULAC will continue to influence Congress which still needs to solve the immigration problem and implement a comprehensive immigration bill that is fair and workable.

“These are people that are working hard for our nation. They are picking our food. They are building our homes. They are taking care of our children. They are cleaning our offices. And all they want is the same opportunity that your ancestors and my ancestors had,” LULAC National President Rosa Rosales said.

The League of United Latin American Citizen advances the economic conditions, educational attainment, political influence, health and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide. “*

The Census Bureau recently released population estimates of the states’ Hispanic populations through 2007.

In Arizona, Hispanics make up 30 percent of the population, double the national average of about 15 percent.

With an estimated 1.8 million Hispanics, Arizona has the fourth-highest percentage of Hispanic people in the nation. “*

Eighteen people are waiting and watching TV in the lobby of Immigrants Without Borders, an advocacy group that helps with residency and citizenship applications, when Elias Bermudez walks in.

Speaking Spanish, Bermudez, a former mayor of San Luis, Ariz., who is the group’s founder and director, says he’s looking for registered voters to sign a petition for an opponent of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. But he also wants those in the lobby to know this: Together with Hispanics around Arizona, they have political power.

“The most positive thing we can do is make sure everybody who is a U.S. citizen is registered to vote and everybody who is registered to vote comes out to vote,” Bermudez says.”*

Arizona is adding more Hispanics to its population each year than all other groups, according to new figures today from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The federal agency reports there were 1,878,097 Arizonans who identified themselves as Hispanic as of July 1, 2007. That is an increase of 89,140, or 5 percent.

That left 4,460,658 who said they are not of Hispanic origin. That 1.9 percent boost from the prior year translates into just 83,926 new residents.”*

Activists supporting the rights of illegal immigrants have lost big in the past two elections when Arizona voters decided measures to take away in-state tuition, some social services benefits and the right to sue for punitive damages.

During the past two years, Immigrants Without Borders and other groups have urged supporters to march for immigrants’ rights. As November approaches, however, Bermudez and others are moving to a strategy that speaks to a slogan chanted during those demonstrations: Today we march; tomorrow we vote.

“There isn’t going to be any demonstrations. The voter registration drives are going on as we speak,” said Daniel Ortega, a lawyer and activist for the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund.”*

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon continue to enjoy favorable ratings with voters despite their recent dust-up over the sheriff’s criminal sweeps in largely Hispanic neighborhoods that have netted dozens of illegal immigrants.

Sixty-three percent of Maricopa County voters said Arpaio is doing an excellent (28 percent) or good (35 percent) job, while 37 percent rated him poor or very poor, according to the latest Cronkite/Eight poll.”*

Call it “love in the time of stereotypes.” In Speak Spanish to Me, the world-premiere comedy at Actors Theatre, a perky blonde’s naive notions about Mexican-Americans are the basis of a romance that might be built to last.

It’s not just the Latin-lover thing that draws Liz to Frank on the first day of their freshman year at Arizona State University. Raised as a neo-hippie White liberal, the thought that her baggy-pants-wearing suitor might be a migrant worker, valiantly battling his way out of poverty, appeals to her class-conscious idealism.”*

Many parts of the nation have tilted severely toward harsh, unyielding policies to catch and punish illegal immigrants, but not everyone has gone over the edge. Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona on Monday pushed back, vetoing a bill that would have required all police and sheriff’s departments in the state to join the federal immigration posse.”*

Maricopa County’s top prosecutor said Tuesday that the sheriff recent high-profile sweeps in metropolitan Phoenix were legal if his officers followed rules prohibiting racial profiling and unwarranted traffic stops.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio has drawn criticism that the sweeps in three heavily Hispanic areas during late March and early April were thinly veiled immigration patrols fraught with racial profiling.”*

The Arizona Legislature approved a proposal Monday aimed at correcting perceived flaws in a state law that prohibits employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

The proposed changes sprang from complaints by business groups that the law was unfair to employers whose operating licenses could be suspended or revoked for violations.”*

Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed a measure Monday that would have required local law enforcement to work with federal authorities on immigration enforcement.

Napolitano, a Democrat, had been urged to reject House Bill 2807 by Latino activists who feared the measure would lead to racial profiling and further alienate the Latino community. But Napolitano cited neither of those issues in vetoing the measure. Instead, she relied on fiscal concerns, noting a provision that would have required the state to pay for the training of local officers in immigration enforcement if federal funds were unavailable.”*

A van packed with illegal immigrants struck a guardrail in southeastern Arizona and then rolled several times, injuring 24 people.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety says seven victims, one with life-threatening injuries, were airlifted to hospitals in Tucson, 100 miles away.”*