Statement of Purpose and Intent



On March 12th, 2011 I began a 400 mile trek along the Arizona-Mexico border from Agua Prieta to San Luis Rio Colorado, an adventure with a purpose I am calling BorderVenture.

Through BorderVenture I hope to raise awareness of border issues, expose exaggeration of border violence, combat the racial profiling, discrimination, and often outright racism that seems prevalent of late, and to record and recount personal stories of people living near or trying to cross the border. I will record my experiences and stories in this blog, and hope to have them further covered by supportive media, organizations, and other websites and blogs. I plan to aggressively publish my experiences through media outlets, interested groups, the Internet, and through whatever other avenues I am able. I will write tirelessly and advocate my findings to all who will listen, publish, and share them.


Sunday, February 27, 2011

Adding Insult to Injury

With the wounds inflicted by HB 2281 still feeling quite fresh, Arizona Senator Senator Russel Pearce recently proposed SB 1611, the self-titled "Immigration Omnibus" bill.  Clever name- perhaps a bit more creativity than I expected from an Arizona Senator.  Omnibus being a term for a vehicle that carries many passengers (a bus), and also for a comprehensive law that provides many stipulations at once.  So the bill essentially hopes to "bus away" all of the immigration concerns that keep Senator Pearce awake at night.  The bill consists largely of revisions and additions to already-standing legislation, and is essentially a violation of what most people would consider "basic human rights", and not to mention, the Constitution of the United States of America.  Rather than reiterate what the proposed bill states, here is a statement by the American Civil Liberties Union: ACLU Denounces Passage of Irresponsible Bill...
and if you don't feel like reading the whole statement, here are some bullet points taken directly from their article concerning some of the new provisions:

  • Prohibits universities or community colleges from admitting any student who cannot present one of the listed documents to prove legal status;
  • Mandates that all businesses register with E-verify or face the revocation of their business licenses; 
  • Establishes new eligibility requirements for public benefits that violate federal law and enhances penalties (from a class 2 to a class 1 misdemeanor) for agency employees who fail to report “discovered” violations of federal immigration law; 
  • Limits the types of documents a person can show to prove their identity;
  • Requires the state police training agency, AZ POST, to summarily revoke a peace officer’s ability to serve the public if the officer does not uphold state or constitutional laws, even if the officer is just trying to exercise his or her professional discretion; 
  • Prohibits judges from considering bail for any undocumented immigrant who is charged with any felony offense;
  • Establishes mandatory 6-month jail term for anyone convicted of using another person’s identity to obtain employment; and 
  • Prohibits individuals from obtaining a vehicle title and registration, fingerprint clearance card or license of any kind until they are able to demonstrate satisfactory immigration status.

And if you want to see exactly what the proposed legislation is for yourself, here is a link to the official document:  SB 1611
So if you feel the way I might about this new proposed legislation, please feel free to tell your Arizona "representatives" to vote "NO!" on SB 1611.  And maybe next time, lets try to get some better representation in there.  Somehow, I don't think that this guy comes anywhere near representing Arizona's population:
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