Jose Cruz is a lawyer and immigration activist in Chicago, IL. He served as the assistant to the Director of Hispanic Affairs in the Clinton White House and was the founder of ImmigrationPAC, federal non-partisan political action committee designed to fund pro-comprehensive immigration reform candidates. Raised in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), he is also the assistant to the pastor at First Spanish Christian Church in Chicago.
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The Politics of Immigration
Outside the Supreme Court as SB 1070 decision handed down, Ivone Guillen / Sojourners
Both sides have been spinning and claiming victory in Monday’s Supreme Court ruling on Arizona’s now infamous immigration legislation SB 1070. Not surprisingly the Court ruled on the side of federal supremacy, striking down three out of four measures in the Arizona legislation, but upholding the right of local law enforcement to demand “papers” if they believe someone is undocumented.
Since the 2008 failure to move comprehensive immigration reform and last year’s disappointment on the Dream Act, the immigration reform movement has had trouble getting any “air-time” in a country that is rightfully concerned about financial recession. However, the 2012 election and a strategically placed Hispanic electorate in key swing states has candidates talking about immigration anew since the GOP primaries.
There has for some time been a larger strategy at play here that I will bluntly call “evil.”