The delegation is asking to see the secretary’s timesheets, schedules, calendar and phone records since last January, when he first took office.

Just last week, hundreds of protestors rallied outside of his Topeka office to voice their frustration, chanting “Si se puede” and “Justice now.”   The majority of the protestors were Latinos who came to voice their outrage and disgust over the state’s draconian anti-immigration legislation. Protesters advocated for support of all “…person regardless of their race, (sexual) orientation or documented status.”  The Secretary wasn’t at the rally, however.

Of late, Mr. Kobach,  the architect of numerous harsh anti-immigration bills, including those of Alabama and Arizona,  has been traveling the country, pushing his anti-immigrant platform.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have trained local officers around the country to act as their agencies’ immigration officers. Working either in jails or in the field, the officers can check the immigration status of suspects and place immigration holds on them.

The program, known as 287(g), reached its peak under President George W. Bush, when 60 local agencies signed contracts with ICE to implement it. But that trend slowed significantly under President Obama— only eight agencies have signed up since he took office, and none has done so since August 2010.

Now, in their proposed budget for the upcoming year, Department of Homeland Security officials say they will not sign new contracts for 287(g) officers working in the field and will terminate the “least productive” of those agreements — saving an estimated $17 million. All the contracts between ICE and local police agencies run for three years, so that portion of the program could be finished by November when the last contract for field officers expires.

In its budget request, DHS said officials instead will focus on expanding Secure Communities, a program that checks the fingerprints of all people booked into local jails against federal immigration databases. The followup work in those cases is done by ICE agents, not local police.

“The Secure Communities screening process is more consistent, efficient and cost-effective in identifying and removing criminal and other priority aliens,” the department explained in its budget request.

The program had been criticized by Homeland Security inspector general reports, which found that local officers were not being properly trained and there was not enough oversight to ensure that local agencies weren’t using the program to engage in racial profiling.

A study last year by the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, found that immigrants developed “fear and mistrust of authorities” when they realized that local police could act as immigration agents.

The main complaint Friday from groups that oppose 287(g) was that the program isn’t being terminated immediately, and that its replacement — Secure Communities — is not much better.

“The 287(g) program has been repeatedly called into question by advocates as well as the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, and should be terminated rather than sustained with taxpayer money,” said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum. “The Secure Communities program is surrounded by grave concerns about the impact to public safety, community policing and civil rights abuses.”

Defenders of the program, such as Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies, say Homeland Security is “putting politics ahead of public safety” by cutting back the 287(g) program. She said Secure Communities is helpful but that local officers working in the field are better able to identify illegal immigrants who may not have their fingerprints in federal databases, making it harder to identify them.

She said some agencies such as the Colorado Department of Public Safety have used their 287(g) officers to suppress drug and human smuggling, gang activity and identity theft and said many sheriffs and police chiefs prefer the program to Secure Communities.

“The problem for ICE is that while they may feel that they get political brownie points for this kind of gesture, in reality what the anti-enforcement groups want is for them to end 287(g) and Secure Communities, not curtail (them),” said Vaughan, director of policy studies for the center. “So it’s futile — they end up making everyone on both sides angry.”

Is this still the land of the free and the home of the brave, or do we now live in a country that tears families apart and drives children from public schools?

These are the questions – though on a more local scale – explored in the short film series “Is This Alabama” by Hollywood director Chris Weitz. Over the course of four videos, men and women in Alabama talk about how HB 56, the state’s controversial immigration law, has impacted them.

I’m not from Alabama, I don’t have family in Alabama, and no one I know personally has been affected by this law. But I was raised to believe that this is a country of freedom and opportunity. For me, Alabama’s immigration law goes against everything I was raised to believe about this great nation. Not only does it threaten the state’s economic outlook – $10.8 billion and up to 140,000 jobs – but it also signals a regression to a time when fear and hate divided the state.

Children should not be afraid of going to school, parents should not be afraid of letting their children play outside, and foreigners shouldn’t be afraid to walk the streets in Alabama, or any other state.

Check out the videos mentioned at http://isthisalabama.org/

It’s interesting to wonder if any of this would be possible in an America that codifies discrimination and hate. Would Jeremy Lin’s immigrant parents have found this country so appealing if they had lived in an Arizona where people who look different can be harassed by local law enforcement? Would they have wanted their children to grow up in an Alabama where teachers can interrogate students about their immigration status?

There are countless Jeremy Lins in America today. Men and women, boys and girls with the potential for greatness in them, who have been pre-judged, overlooked, or are just waiting for an opportunity to shine. The world is lucky to have heard Lin’s story.

What I see when I look at Lin is inspiration. I see a person who stared rejection in the eye and didn’t quit.  A man that has had to defy stereotypes ever since he first played organized basketball.

But above all, I see someone that people of all races can look to and believe that with hard work and determination, anything is possible.

Unfortunately, when many people see someone that looks like Jeremy Lin, they think of his immigration status. Instead of seeing a person that wants to succeed and contribute to his or her community, they let fear and a misinformed sense of nationalism cloud their vision.

The question now is how many more Jeremy Lins will we miss if they have their way?

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) today released a comprehensive set of H-2B guest worker regulations to protect all workers from discrimination, retaliation, and abusive practices. These regulations come in light of numerous news reports of egregious behavior on behalf of major employers that imported workers and subjected them to abusive labor practices.

You can click here for a fact sheet on the H-2B Guestworker Program.

Check out this short report and video on Tuesday’s vigil outside the State House.

Click image to download PDF.

February 9, 2012

Dear Republican Presidential Candidates:

We are faith leaders in Tennessee who share the goal to advance the common good. We teach the Golden Rule and seek to treat others as we would want to be treated. We believe all people of faith and goodwill must welcome the stranger, protect the vulnerable and seek justice for the poor.

As such, we have taken a number of initiatives to address the issue of immigration, challenging the negative and untruthful narratives that generate bigotry and falsehoods. We have spoken about our responsibility to minister to the undocumented without prejudice.

We respect the rule of law. We also know that at times the rule of law results in unjust law. For example, segregation was perfectly legal, but reflective of unjust law. The internment of Japanese Americans was perfectly legal, but reflective of unjust law. Denying women the right to vote was perfectly legal, but reflective of unjust law. We are concerned that campaign rhetoric may result in unjust laws for the undocumented.

We are dismayed by the destructive discourse of American politics in general and toward the undocumented in particular. We think that the heated nature of campaigns that deny the undocumented their human rights, demonize an entire class of human beings as criminals and deliver unworkable and unjust solutions robs the public square of much needed civility and harms society’s efforts to find common ground to advance the common good.

As Tennessee faith leaders, we are writing to you in advance of the Tennessee Republican presidential primary on March 6, 2012, with a simple but urgent plea:

Please keep the highly charged and negative campaign rhetoric, advertisements and promises on immigration out of Tennessee.

Please do not inject our state with the language of “illegals,” the unworkable ideas of deporting millions of individuals and thereby destroying families, and the heated claims that characterize the undocumented and their children as a class of criminals.

While our letter is addressed to you at this time given the nature of the primary campaign, our deep concern applies to all candidates and campaigns this year.

With the words of President Abraham Lincoln, we hope and pray that your campaign in Tennessee will touch “the better angels of our nature.”

Signatories

Daoud Abudiab, president, Islamic Center Of Columbia

Richard C. Britton, Jr., rector, St. Ann’s Episcopal Church, Nashville

Kathy Chambers, co-organizer, Clergy for Tolerance

Ben R. Chamness, resident bishop, Tennessee Conference of United Methodist Church

A.R. Chao, resident scholar and director of education, Islamic Center of Tennessee

John G. Crawford, pastor, Southminster Presbyterian Church, Nashville

LeNoir Culbertson, district superintendent, Murfreesboro District, Tennessee                                Conference of the United Methodist Church

Kamel Daouk, president, Islamic Center of Tennessee

William Dennler, rector, Church of the Holy Trinity, Nashville

Donovan Drake, senior pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Nashville

H. Julian Gordy, bishop, ELCA Southeastern Synod

Morgan Gordy, pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Nashville

Eric S. Greenwood, Jr., rector, St. David’s Episcopal Church, Nashville

Darrell Gwaltney, interim pastor, Crievewood Baptist Church, Nashville, TN

Jackie L. Halstead, associate professor of Spiritual Formation, Lipscomb University

Randy Hoover-Dempsey, vicar, All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Smyrna

Steven Hoskins, associate professor of religion, Trevecca Nazarene University

Heidi Hudnut-Beumler, pastor, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Nashville

J. Todd Jenkins, pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Fayetteville

Todd L. Lake, vice president for Spiritual Development, Belmont University

Frank Lewis, senior pastor, First Baptist Church, Nashville

Kenneth M. Locke, pastor, The Downtown Presbyterian Church, Nashville

Shana Goldstein Mackler, rabbi, The Temple, Nashville

Viki Matson, assistant professor of the practice of ministry, Vanderbilt Divinity School

Robert Parham, executive director, Baptist Center for Ethics

Yasir Qadhi, resident scholar, Memphis Islamic Center

Laurie Rice, rabbi, Congregation Micah, Brentwood

Philip “Flip” Rice, senior rabbi, Congregation Micah, Brentwood

Christophe D. Ringer, pastor Howard Congregational (UCC), Nashville

Y. Kliel Rose, rabbi, West End Synagogue, Nashville

Mark Schiftan, rabbi, The Temple, Nashville

Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Wisdom House Interfaith Center at Scarritt Bennett, Nashville

William Shiell, pastor, First Baptist Church, Knoxville

Danish Siddiqui, president, American Center for Outreach, Memphis

Michael Smith, pastor, Central Baptist Church Fountain City, Knoxville

Jan Snider, co-organizer, Clergy for Tolerance

Lisa Steele, outreach and Hispanic minister, Antioch Church of Christ

Saul Strosberg, rabbi, Sherith Israel, Nashville

Melvin G. Talbert, retired Bishop, United Methodist Church

Robert P. Travis, associate rector, Episcopal Church of the Ascension, Knoxville

Vin Walkup, president, Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation

Ann Walling, retired minister, St. David’s Episcopal Church, Nashville