RSS Feed
July 10th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda The Supreme Court has struck multiple provisions but upheld the “papers please” provision from the state’s immigration law.
President Barack Obama expressed concern over the immigration status checks, saying they could lead to racial profiling.
Civil rights organizations have vowed to continue to fight the provision in courts, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which has a long-standing lawsuit pending against Arizona.
Lawmakers in other US states including Utah, Indiana, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina are evaluating how the Supreme Court’s decision will affect their own immigrations status.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Bill Chandler, Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, to further discuss the issue. The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Your Supreme Court has ruled out key parts of an Arizona law on immigrants which critics like you argued could lead to racial profiling. So do you see it as a big victory?
Chandler: I think it’s a partial victory in view of the fact that making felons out of unauthorized workers was struck down, forcing people to carry papers, regardless, was struck down, and also making it a fake crime to violate the provisions of the federal immigration law was struck down.
However, the racial profiling part of it was left standing basically pending further legal action and that would be dependent on somebody challenging that because they were racially profiled.
For the rest of the south outside of Arizona, this also is a significant but partial victory as well because we had three Deep South states — that is South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama – that had passed similar provisions like Arizona. In fact, Alabama was worse.
But a coalition that we have here in Mississippi has been able to defeat attempts to pass that bill for many years. In fact, over 250 bills have been introduced in the Mississippi legislature to attempt to make life miserable for immigrants in this state.
We have defeated it primarily because of the leadership of African-American organizations that have joined with immigrants and other groups to defeat these measures.
Press TV: As you ran through the names of those states, Bill, it struck me that you won’t have to wait long before you have an actual case of racial profiling, is that how you see it?
Chandler: Yes, there have actually been law enforcement that on their own not only here in Mississippi but all over the country have actually used their own power as law enforcement officers to stop people based on how they look, and we expect that there will be a challenge very shortly in Arizona and from other places.
Press TV: How has it gone down, this partial victory with the right-wing racist, anti-immigrant forces in these states? Are they taking it lying down or are you expecting a bit of a backlash?
Chandler: Well, we’re expecting a bit of a backlash here in Mississippi. The governor here is a Tea Party person and very much like the governor in Arizona who we refer to as the “Wicked Witch of the West.” He is going to attempt to introduce legislation again when the legislature convenes here in Mississippi in January.
Press TV: Now, you said African-American organizations were key. That’s a pleasant surprise in a way because one of the things we have here and I’m sure you do there is that sometimes it’s possible to co-opt minority ethnic groups into an anti-immigrant stand on the principle that more immigrants puts more pressure on the lives of minority ethnic communities that are already under pressure.
Chandler: That has been a concern however because of the history here for the struggle of equal rights, African-American organizations throughout the south have been supporting immigrant rights in their state.
But particularly here in Mississippi, we have been organized for over twelve years. Our leadership is African-American, half of our board is African-American, the other half, of course, are Latinos and others. It is very important to have these kinds of coalitions.
GMA/PKH
Related posts:
Views: 0
Posted in 
Tags: 
