DOJ Responds Forcefully to Civil Rights Disaster in Alabama, What Will DHS Do?

This release come from the American Immigration Council. AIC's mission is to strengthen America by honoring our immigrant history and shaping how Americans think about and act towards immigration now and in the future.

DOJ Responds Forcefully to Civil Rights Disaster in Alabama, What Will DHS Do?

November 4, 2011

Washington D.C. – This week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it was filing suit in South Carolina to block Act No. 69 (formerly SB 20), South Carolina’s new anti-immigrant law—modeled on Arizona’s SB1070. DOJ argues—like it did in Utah and Alabama—that the law is unconstitutional and interferes with the federal government’s ability to set and enforce immigration policy and is likely to result in civil rights violations. Following the legal challenge, the DOJ Civil Rights Division also sent a letter to Alabama’s public schools reminding them of their duty to provide public education to all children in the state regardless of immigration status.

The DOJ is challenging state legislatures that pass immigration enforcement laws that interfere with the federal government’s role in enforcing immigration laws and setting priorities. The DOJ’s effort on this case reflects their commitment to protecting constitutional principles and individual rights, a commitment that should extend to pursing vigorous challenges in other states that have passed similar laws, including Utah, Georgia, and Indiana.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also has a strong role to play and should respond to the civil rights crisis taking place in the states and make good on Secretary Napolitano’s assurance that her agency will not be complicit in enforcing Alabama’s new law through federal immigration enforcement actions. 

If one agency of the government is arguing that Alabama’s law is unconstitutional, another agency, DHS, should act consistently and closely review the cases of all immigrants brought to their attention as a result of Alabama’s new law and exercise appropriate discretion. Good government requires consistency across agencies. DHS, like DOJ, should treat implementation of Alabama's new anti-immigrant law as the civil rights crisis that it is and respond swiftly.

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U.S. Justice Department Files Lawsuit against Arizona over Racial Profiling Law

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 6, 2010

Contact:
Francisco Lopez, Executive Director: (503) 269-5694
Erik Sorensen, Communications Director: (503) 488-0263

U.S. Justice Department Files Lawsuit against Arizona over Racial Profiling Law

Salem, Ore.--Today the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in federal court against the state of Arizona over their racial profiling law, S.B. 1070. The lawsuit argues that Federal authority to enforce immigration law trumps state statute. The Department of Justice has asked for a preliminary injunction to delay the law from going into affect-- citing that it will cause "irreparable harm".

The following is a statement from Francisco Lopez, Executive Director of CAUSA, Oregon's Statewide Immigrant Rights Coalition:

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Petition Launched Urging DOJ to Investigate Luis Ramirez Hate Crime

This petition is being sponsored by MALDEF, a non-profit dedicated to promoting equality and justice through litigation, advocacy, public policy, and community education in the areas of employment, immigrants’ rights, voting rights, education, and language rights.

Luis Ramirez Hate Crime Petition
It is time for the United States Department of Justice to intervene and conduct an independent and comprehensive investigation of the brutal murder of Luis Ramirez in Shenandoah,Pennsylvania. The Justice Department must send a strong message that violence targeting Latinos will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We need you, and so does Luis Ramirez’s family. Will you join me in making sure the DOJ does its job and brings justice to Shenandoah, Pennsylvania?

Click here now and urge the DOJ to investigate this hate crime today.

If you’re still not convinced let me give you the facts point by point:

On July 12, 2008, Luis Ramirez, a 25-year-old Mexican immigrant residing in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, was tragically beaten and stomped to death by a group of teens as he walked through the town. Witnesses overheard anti-Mexican and ethnic epithets shouted by his assailants during the violent attack. A retired Philadelphia police officer testified during the preliminary hearing that she heard one of the defendants yell, "Tell your [expletive] Mexican friends to get the [expletive] out of Shenandoah or you’ll be [expletive] laying next to him."

On Friday, May 1, 2009, a jury in Schuylkill County found two of the defendants accused of beating the 25-year-old father of two, not guilty of third degree murder and ethnic intimidation. Despite the mounting evidence of a hate-driven attack, the jury convicted them on charges of simple assault. The jury's conclusion is an outrage. Most shocking is the recent news article describing the Jury Foreman’s view that trial of the defendants was biased because of racism and prejudice he noted among his fellow jurors. Luis Ramirez was brutally murdered and even in death, Ramirez remains a victim of extreme racism, which denies his family the justice they deserve.

Now, MALDEF needs your help in calling upon the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice to conduct a thorough and comprehensive federal investigation surrounding the fatal beating of Luis Ramirez and to bring appropriate criminal charges against his assailants.

Click here now and urge the DOJ to investigate this hate crime today.

www.maldef.org/luis_ramirez_petition

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