Milwaukee, WI – Around 100 people, mostly Chicanos and Mexicanos, marched through downtown here, July 29, to protest racist Arizona’s SB1070 and HB2281 laws. They held banners reading, “We will not comply,” and, “We are ALL immigrants.”

Phoenix, AZ – Over 500 activists and community members gathered here on the morning of July 29 to protest SB1070 on the day the law was going into effect. The law has lost some of its teeth due to pressure from the immigrant rights movement, which resulted in the long overdue federal injunction. On July 28, a judge struck down the part of the law that required all Arizonans to carry their proof of legal status constantly, as well as the part that legalized and mandated racial profiling, declaring these parts unconstitutional. However, most of the law remains intact, including the parts that criminalize day laborers and target families with mixed immigration status.

Nearly all the recent immigration proposals from within the U.S. political establishment have called for an increase in the use of soldiers to guard the U.S. Mexico border. People concerned with immigration reform should understand clearly the reasons that a further militarization of the U.S. border is unacceptable.

Phoenix, AZ – Tensions build as July 29 nears – the date set for the racist law SB1070 to go into effect. Under this law police officers will have the power to demand immigration papers from any person who they stop. Garage sales have already begun lining the streets of Arizona as families flee trying to escape the impending oppression.

Milwaukee, WI – The student and youth leaders of the Chicano student group Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) are at the forefront in building for July 29, the National Day of Action Against SB1070. They have set forth the plan for a massive march and demonstration in downtown Milwaukee.

Chicago, IL – 50 immigrant rights activists and community members gathered outside of the Illinois Republican Party offices here, July 21, show solidarity with undocumented youth who were arrested in Washington D.C. the day before. On July 20, many youth, including nine from Chicago, were arrested as they staged a sit-in inside the capitol’s lobby and at several representatives’ offices. The youth were demanding the passage of the Dream Act, which would legalize undocumented students.

_Emmer’s campaign veers off the rails _

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.

Raleigh, NC – Three young immigrant women are on day six of a hunger strike to demand that North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan (Democrat) support the DREAM Act. The women, Viridiana, Loida and Rosario, of central North Carolina, have vowed to continue their hunger strike until Senator Hagan publicly endorses the DREAM Act.

Raleigh, NC – On June 18, two Raleigh students ended a hunger strike that was aimed at raising pressure on NC Senator Kay Hagan to support the DREAM Act. The hunger strike lasted 1.5 million seconds (17 days), symbolic of the 1.5 million undocumented immigrant students who would benefit from passage of the DREAM Act.