Law enforcement officials from around the country say that the current immigration system creates obstacles to their work because undocumented immigrants who are victims of hate crimes are often afraid to report them. The comments came in the same week that a civil rights organization reported that a hate crime occurs in the nation every hour on average and Attorney General Eric Holder called for updating the laws against those attacks.

The chiefs of police of communities in various states said Tuesday in a conference call that changes are needed to immigration laws to end the climate of insecurity and impunity, the Spanish news service Agencia Efe reported. The call included officials from Austin, Texas, North Charleston, N.C., and Topeka, Kansas.

“We need to reestablish trust in law enforcement,” said Art Acevedo, Austin police chief and the president of the National Latino Peace Officers Association.

“Our community is full of immigrants living in fear who therefore have doubts when the time comes to cooperate with the law,” he added.

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By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor

Photo: Leo Kan/Flickr

In the relentlessly grim landscape of today’s news industry, ethnic media — while affected by lower revenues and cutbacks– seems to be the brightest spot. According to a new poll released by New America Media, in the last four years ethnic media “have picked up 8 million new readers, viewers and listeners, and now regularly reach 57 million people in the U.S.”

82 percent of African-American, Hispanic and Asian-American adults are regularly reached by ethnic media, said NAM executive director Sandy Close in a press release.

The survey, conducted by Bendixen & Associates, a Miami-based polling firm specializing in Hispanic audiences, polled 1,329 African-American, Hispanic and Asian-American respondents. NAM released the results during its National Ethnic Media Expo in Atlanta last week.

“The poll results demonstrate significant penetration for the ethnic media,” Close said.

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By Valeria Fernández, FI2W contributor

José Lopez, 22, a migrant from Chiapas, Mexico, got lost in the Sonoran desert in Arizona for three days and survived on the water he found at water stations set in place by humanitarian groups. (Photo: Valeria Fernández)

AJO, Arizona — José López, 22, injured his left leg while jumping the border fence in the middle of the night as Border Patrol agents chased him. At daylight, he found himself lost and alone in the middle of the Sonoran desert. Three days later he ran out of water and food. He survived by refilling his jug at water tank stations he happened to find across the desert, until he found a road and, in desperation, turned himself in to the Border Patrol.

As three-digit summer temperatures loom, human rights activists are stepping up their efforts to provide humanitarian aid in the form of water and food to immigrants who cross the Mexican border into Arizona. The state is a principal gateway for unauthorized migration to the U.S.

Humanitarian groups argue their goal is to save lives. Border crossers are often abandoned by human smugglers and get lost in the arid terrain without water. But sometimes those involved in efforts to aid the migrants encounter roadblocks and even prosecution. A volunteer was convicted Wednesday of littering for leaving water jugs in a national refuge.

“We have a humanitarian crisis on our borders, it is a disaster and very little if anything is being done to address it in a humanitarian way,” said Laura Ilardo, coordinator of the Phoenix chapter of No More Deaths.

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By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor

Photo: Welmoe/Flickr

Wisconsin would become the second state in the union to issue undocumented immigrants special cards allowing them to drive but not grant them other rights, according to a provision in the state budget that still has to be approved by the full legislature and Gov. Jim Doyle.

A similar bill sponsored by State Sen. Gilbert Cedillo (D.-Los Angeles) was approved in the California Senate Monday. It now heads to the Assembly and possibly the governor’s desk. Cedillo’s initiative, however, has been defeated several times in previous years.

So far, Utah is the only state that issues special cards allowing immigrants to drive, but stops short of granting them other rights — creating a two-tiered system where about 40,000 drivers have the cards, The Associated Press reported.

Three other states –Washington, Illinois and New Mexico– allow the undocumented to receive regular driver’s licenses, The A.P. said. Maryland stopped issuing them this week.

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Some 200 activist groups from across the country have announced a nationwide campaign to push for immigration reform.

The Reform Immigration For America campaign was launched Monday at events in over 40 cities, according to organizers. A national launch in Washington D.C. is scheduled for Wednesday at the National Press Club, according to a press release. The coalition is also bringing 700 activists from at least 35 states to the national capital for a national summit between Wednesday and Friday that will include a “National Town Hall” on Thursday.

According to the announcement,

This groundbreaking, momentum-building effort organizes supporters of immigration reform into a stronger, more effective, and politically savvy national campaign that will help support President Obama and ensure that his promises of comprehensive immigration reform become legislative reality.

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By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor

Photo: Brainless Angel/Flickr

If some parts of the Democratic constituency –civil rights groups, for example– are starting to doubt President Barack Obama’s commitment to real change, Latin America is continuing to see signs that its relationship with the U.S. may be altered in the next months and years.

Cuba has agreed to restart talks with the United States on migration and other issues, an openness from both sides that seemed unthinkable less than five months ago, when there was another tenant in the White House. The talks, in fact, were suspended under President George W. Bush in 2003.

The Washington Post reports this morning that

Cuba has agreed to restart talks with the United States on immigration and has signaled its willingness to cooperate on issues including terrorism, drug trafficking and even mail service, a sign that the island’s communist government is warming to President Obama’s call for a new relationship after decades of tension, U.S. officials said Sunday.

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By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor

In a development that some activists are calling historic, a bill that would allow U.S. citizens to sponsor their same-sex partners to immigrate legally into the country is getting its day in Congress, for the first time.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing on the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) for Wednesday, June 3. The news came Thursday in a press release by Immigration Equality, one of the organizations pushing for the bill to become law.

As Feet in 2 Worlds reported this week, UAFA would allow gay and lesbian Americans to sponsor their partners for U.S. residency in the same way heterosexuals are allowed to petition on behalf of their spouses.

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