Roseville, MN – This may be seen as the week that Republican candidate for governor Tom Emmer’s campaign imploded. After making a statement on the campaign trail calling for restaurant workers who earn tips to get a wage cut so that restaurant owners can earn more money and then bizarrely stating that many tip-earning servers make over $100,000 a year, a firestorm erupted. Emmer spent the next week trying to backpedal and avoid the visceral anger from working-class Minnesotans at his out of touch, anti-worker views.
Minneapolis, MN – The immigrant rights movement scored a victory in Minnesota. Under pressure from a growing boycott and weekly protests, on July 14 the owner of nine local Jimmy John’s sandwich shops in Minneapolis and the western suburbs signed a public statement condemning Arizona’s anti-immigrant SB1070 law and calling for immigration reform.
Salt Lake City, UT – Taylorsville Park became the site of heated exchange between the right-wing Patrick Henry Caucus picnic and a wide coalition of progressive organizations protesting them, June 4. Gregory Lucero from the Revolutionary Students Union coordinated the protest along with the Autonomous Brown Berets of Salt Lake City. They targeted the Patrick Henry Caucus because it supports bringing the Arizona apartheid immigration bill SB1070 to Utah.
Minneapolis, MN – One June 14, about 30 immigrants and immigrant rights supporters picketed outside of Jimmy Johns sandwich shop at Block E in downtown Minneapolis. Jimmy Johns is one of the companies targeted in the national boycott against Arizona in response to SB1070, the racist anti-immigrant law Arizona passed in April. The protest demanded that Jimmy Johns founder James ‘Jimmy John’ Liautaud stop supporting anti-immigrant politicians in Arizona such as Joe Arpaio and John McCain.
Claremont, CA – On May 16, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano faced protests here, challenging the ongoing Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) raids, detentions and deportations of undocumented workers. The protesters also condemned the racist Arizona law, SB1070, that criminalizes the undocumented and increases harassment and discrimination against Chicanos.
_Undocumented students arrested in McCain’s office, held for deportation _
Tucson, AZ – Arizona has seen an explosion of Chicano and Mexicano led student resistance to racist laws and in defense of the right to a quality education. Nowhere is this more evident than in the city of Tucson, which is singled out for attack by racist elements of state government. The struggle has attracted attention across the nation. Since the state House and Senate adopted the anti-immigrant and anti-Latino law, SB1070, thousands of students have walked out of school in protest and there has been a wave of youth-led direct actions.
On Thursday, the Los Angeles City council passed a motion to officially boycott the State of Arizona. Arizona’s new racist law SB1070 targets Mexican, Chicano, and Native American people for harassment. From California, right across the country, many people are outraged. Under the new Arizona law, local police will have the power to harass and arrest people based on immigration status. This will increase the already existing racist harassment and arrest of Mexican, Chicano, and Native American people. Many police, including the police chief of Tucson, AZ, publicly oppose the law because of the burden it places on them and because it promotes racial profiling.
Emmer dijo que ley anti-inmigrante SB1070 en Arizona es “maravillosa”
San Pablo, MN – En el desfile del Cinco de Mayo en San Pablo, el candidato Republicano para el gobernador Tom Emmer recibió una reacción no esperada — rechazo. El rechazo fue debido a su apoyo por la nueva ley anti-inmigrante en Arizona, SB1070. En un programa de radio en MPR, Señor Emmer calificó la nueva ley como una cosa “maravillosa”. Muchas personas han comparado la ley SB1070 de Arizona con las leyes racistas que existían en el sur de los Estados Unidos en contra de los Afro-Americanos hasta las victorias del movimiento para los derechos civiles en los años 1960.
Dallas, TX – More than 20,000 people marched and rallied here on May 1. Protesters marched for legalization and against the racist Arizona law that targets Mexicans, Chicanos and other Latinos. The new Arizona law criminalizes the undocumented, requiring police to demand papers concerning a person’s status. A Chicano truck driver was already jailed in Arizona until his wife produced his California birth certificate hours later. The new law targets Chicanos born in their own homeland and Mexican immigrants because of their nationality.
St. Paul, MN – On May 6, Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R-Wabasha) introduced a bill in the Minnesota House of Representatives that would bring Arizona's new racist anti-immigrant law SB 1070 to Minnesota. This comes on the heels of Minnesota Republican Gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer saying he thinks Arizona's racist law is “wonderful”.
