Top Immigration Headlines: December 2011

Continuing our series on the top immigration stories of each month, today we look at how the news media covered two interesting immigration items that swept the headlines in December: one involving a federal backlash against Phoenix’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and the other involving a floating incubator for entrepreneurs who cannot obtain immigrant visas.

1. Arizona sheriff’s office gets hit with scathing civil rights report from Justice Department

The Associated Press reported that the US Justice Department issued a report giving Maricopa County Sheriff Arpaio until January 4 to work out an agreement in his office to stop systematic discrimination against immigrants. If Arpaio does not comply with the deadline, the Justice Department will sue him.

The report found that Arpaio’s office violated the constitutional rights of Arizona Latinos when it jailed immigrant inmates in tents and dressed them in pink underwear. A federal grand jury has also instituted an investigation into Arpaio’s office on criminal abuse-of-power allegations.

2. Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Office Targeted Hispanics, U.S. Report Says

The Justice Department’s civil rights investigation of Arpaio’s office revealed that Hispanic drivers in Maricopa County are four to nine times more likely to be stopped, said Bloomberg’s Amanda J. Crawford and Seth Stern. Arpaio’s deputies and detention officers also “routinely” denied “critical services” to Latino inmates who spoke little English. The sheriff’s office arrested many individuals “for no reason” and found “troubling incidents” in which Latino inmates alleged they were subject to excessive use of force and sexual assault by police officers.

3. DOJ Probe Finds Ariz. Sheriff Violated Civil Rights

Ted Robbins of NPR reported that Arpaio “is not backing down” from his policies on illegal immigration. In a press conference, Arpaio defiantly called the report from the Justice Department a “political move by the Obama administration and a witch hunt.”  Arpaio called the termination of his access to the federal Secure Communities database “a sad day for America,” and claimed that the action would lead to waves of new criminal immigrants entering the community.

4. Officials React to Justice Department’s Report on Sheriff Arpaio

Phoenix’s Fox 10 News gathered comments from several prominent Arizona officials in light of the Justice Department’s report.

Governor Jan Brewer said she didn’t want anyone’s civil rights violated. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu and Texas Governor Rick Perry both commented that the Justice Department lacks credibility after the Fast and Furious gun running scandal. Rick Perry called Sheriff Arpaio “a dedicated law enforcement professional fighting to keep his neighbors safe,” and claiming that the Justice Department’s report “smacks of politics.”

Arizona Democratic Party chairman Andrei Cherny called the report “a monumental step toward justice.” The National Day Laborer Organizing Network issued a statement that DHS should have taken these steps years ago and has been Arpaio’s “accomplice in the rights violations.”

5. Silicon dreams: Plans revealed for floating city off coast of California to house entrepreneurs who don’t have visas

A California startup, Blueseed, hopes to raise money to dock a ship in the Pacific Ocean that would house foreign entrepreneurs, the Associated Press reported. The idea arose out of frustration with US immigration policy, which has been slow to adopt reforms to enable foreign entrepreneurs to stay in the US after their studies are finished. The ship would give these entrepreneurs a place to build their companies, while communicating via Skype and video conferencing. Residents would obtain temporary business or tourists visas when they come ashore, which are easier to get.