Please visit our YouTube, Twitter and Facebook pages.

1. AZ bills receive support
2. MD tuition break moves forward
3. KS House panel drops bill
4. MN firm hit by audit
5. Ruling due in CA shooting

1.
Arizona lawmakers give early support for immigration-related bills
By Ginger Rough
The Arizona Republic, March 15, 2011

Several immigration-related measures won preliminary approval in the Senate Monday afternoon, including a bill that would require proof of legal status to receive any public benefits - including public housing - from the state or local governments.

- Senate Bill 1222 would require public-housing operators to evict anyone who allows an illegal immigrant to live with them, as well as require proof of legal status to receive any public benefits.

- SB 1012 would allow the Arizona Department of Public Safety to conduct fingerprint-background checks on only individuals who can prove that they are U.S. citizens or legally eligible to work in the state. The state-issued fingerprint-clearance cards are required for a variety of jobs and work permits.

- Senate Concurrent Resolution 1035 would ask voters to change the state Constitution to prohibit any state official or agency from using a language other than English for official communications. Individuals could ask that communications be conducted in a second language, but the state doesn't have to adhere to the request.

All the bills still require a formal roll-call vote in the Senate before they can move to the House for consideration.
. . .
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2011/03/15/20110...

********
********

2.
Maryland Senate approves in-state tuition bill
By Ann E. Marimow
The Washington Post, March 15, 2011

Maryland state senators on Monday signed off on legislation that would make undocumented immigrants eligible for in-state tuition benefits at the state’s public colleges.

After a lengthy and emotional debate, the Senate voted 27 to 20 to approve the measure, shifting one of the legislative session’s most high-profile and controversial immigration bills to the House of Delegates.

Sen. Victor R. Ramirez (D-Prince George’s), the lead sponsor, spoke to dozens of students seated in the gallery who would benefit from the measure, and told his story of arriving legally in the United States from El Salvador at age 5.

“This is about education; it’s not about immigration,” he said. “What do we do with the talent and the intellect of the children of undocumented immigrants who are already living here? These children didn’t make the decision to come to Maryland. Their parents did.”

Republican opponents and some Democrats said the state should not be subsidizing the cost of higher education for illegal immigrants, and that their objections were a matter of fairness.

The bill “sends a terrible message,” Sen. Allan H. Kittleman (R-Howard) said. “We’re telling our students, ‘It’s okay to break the law, and you’ll get a benefit.’?”

The measure passed by the Senate is a scaled-back version of what proponents initially envisioned. It calls for Maryland high school graduates, regardless of immigration status, to initially qualify for tuition breaks only at the state’s community colleges. Those who receive an associate’s degree could transfer to one of Maryland’s four-year institutions and pay the in-state rate.
. . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/politics/maryland-senate-approves-in...

********
********

3.
Kansas House committee bottles up anti-immigration bill
By Brad Cooper
The Kansas City Star, March 14, 2011

Kansas lawmakers dealt a setback Monday to a plan that would clamp down on illegal immigration in a way that’s similar to a controversial Arizona law.

The House Judiciary Committee voted against advancing the hotly debated proposal pushed by Olathe Republican Rep. Lance Kinzer and Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

Described by critics as “grossly broad,” the measure would require police to check the legal status of those they suspect might be in the United States illegally.

It also would require state and local governments and their contractors to run citizenship checks on new hires and require proof of citizenship for anyone seeking public aid.

The fate of the bill was not clear late Monday. Kinzer was unavailable for comment after the committee tabled it. But one critic of the legislation said it could come up again.

The debate Monday centered on police running citizenship checks based on “reasonable suspicion” and how the law might affect charities that receive state grants.

State Rep. Pat Colloton, a Leawood Republican, was the most outspoken critic of the bill, partly because of the fallout it might have on charities that don’t comply with the law. She also faulted the low legal standard that would trigger citizenship checks.

“I think there’s serious constitutional problems with it,” Colloton said. “I absolutely think that the police stopping people on reasonable suspicion is an invitation to racial profiling.”
. . .
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/03/14/2726156/kansas-committee-bottles-up...

********
********

4.
Immigration Audit Takes Toll
By Miriam Jordan
The Wall Street Journal, MArch 15, 2011

Harvard Maintenance Inc., a national janitorial company, will lose over half its Minnesota work force after an immigration audit, making it the second major business in that state to be hit by an Obama administration crackdown on employers of illegal immigrants.

The audit by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will result in about 240 workers losing their jobs, the Service Employees International Union said on Monday.

J. Daniel Duffy, an executive vice president of the closely held New York-based janitorial company, declined to comment.

Harvard Maintenance began issuing dismissal letters to employees in early March and is in the process of terminating workers, according to the SEIU, which represents the workers. Harvard Maintenance gave workers 90 days to rectify irregularities in their employment-eligibility documents before informing them they could no longer work there, the union said.

"You are not legally authorized to hold employment in the United States," said a company dismissal letter to an employee that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The Obama administration has made employers the cornerstone of its immigration crackdown that began in 2009.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., which owns and operates nearly 1,100 outlets across the U.S., was recently forced to dismiss 450 workers in Minnesota amid an immigration investigation that began last year and has spread to other states.

"Our community is traumatized," said Javier Morillo, president of SEIU Local 26 in the Twin Cities. He estimated Harvard Maintenance has 350 workers in the state. Mr. Morillo said following the audit the union worked with Harvard Maintenance to keep the workers employed as long as possible.

A Mexican immigrant who gave her name only as Lucero said she believed all 25 of her co-workers at the office building where she was employed by Harvard Maintenance were undocumented. She and several of her co-workers were dismissed March 4, while others received termination letters March 11, she said.

The single mother of two said she had worked the overnight shift for four years, earning $13.22 an hour. "The salary was very good for me to support my family," she said.

It was unclear why Harvard Maintenance operations in Minnesota were targeted for an audit. The company boasts more than 3,500 employees nationwide. Stan Doobin, president of Harvard Maintenance, said in 2006 that the company entered the Minnesota market in 2003 and saw "remarkable growth in a very competitive market."

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman said the agency "can not confirm or deny the existence of ongoing investigations."
. . .
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870336390457620119298897255...

********
********

5.
Ruling due Tuesday in LAPD shooting that sparked protests, clashes
Los Angeles Times, March 15, 2011

The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners on Tuesday is scheduled to announce its ruling on whether a fatal shooting of an immigrant day laborer by an LAPD officer was justified.

On a Sunday afternoon last September, Officer Frank Hernandez, who was assigned to a bicycle unit in the department's Rampart Division, responded to a call for help at the corner of 6th Street and Union Avenue, in the heart of a densely populated Latino-immigrant neighborhood. On the sidewalk at the bustling intersection, Hernandez and two other officers found Manuel Jamines, a 37-year-old Guatemalan man.

Jamines, according to the Los Angeles Police Department's account of the encounter, was armed with a knife, drunk and threatening passers-by. Hernandez, police said, ordered Jamines in Spanish and English to drop the weapon and fired at him when the man made a sudden movement toward the officers. A knife was recovered at the scene, police said.

Several eyewitnesses interviewed by investigators supported the officers' account of the incident, according to police. Some other witnesses, however, came forward to say they had not seen Jamines wielding a knife.

The shooting triggered a few days of protests and some rioting in the neighborhood, some of it instigated by anti-police groups that worked to stoke anger among the area's residents. Many protesters questioned why the officers hadn't used a stun gun or some other non-lethal weapon to subdue Jamines. Their suspicion grew when it was learned that Hernandez had been involved in a controversial shooting once before. He was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing in that case.
. . .
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/03/ruling-due-tuesday-in-lapd...