HERE

MALDEF PRESS RELEASE ON PHOTO VOTER ID IN INDIANA

MALDEF CONDEMNS U.S. SUPREME COURT DECISION THAT JEOPARDIZES VOTERS

APRIL 30, 2008 – On Monday, the United States Supreme Court failed American voters by upholding a state law in Indiana requiring voters to present photo identification at the polls on Election Day. The Court concluded that Indiana’s photo ID requirement, which provided for free identification cards and made exceptions for indigent voters and nursing home residents, did not burden voters. MALDEF had filed a “friend of the court” brief in the case, arguing that the Indiana law should be struck down as unconstitutional.

The 6-to-3 Supreme Court ruling was one of the most anticipated election-law cases since the Bush v. Gore 2000 decision. This decision will potentially disenfranchise thousands of voters in the upcoming Indiana Primary Election as well as on Election Day in November.

“Elderly and minority citizens will be hardest hit by the Court’s decision. MALDEF will continue the fight to protect the right to vote without unnecessary obstacles placed before citizens. Our challenge to Arizona’s Proposition 200 moves forward in the courts and we will there if Congress or state legislatures use this opinion to justify similar voter restriction laws around the nation,” stated MALDEF President and General Counsel John Trasviña.

“Indiana’s voter ID requirement excludes many eligible voters while sending the wrong message to lawmakers in other states; it is never fair to deny the ballot to a voter who is qualified, particularly when the state has no evidence of voter fraud to justify its onerous policy,” said Nina Perales, MALDEF Southwest Regional Counsel.

Chicago Tribune

Central American immigrants seek rights in Mexico

While Mexican immigrants led the charge in Chicago and other cities Thursday to push the U.S. government to treat illegal immigrants more humanely, the same demands for immigrant rights are festering in Mexico, which is facing mounting international criticism for how it treats Latin American migrants.

HERE

Associated Press

Border Patrol lets some illegals go — over and over again

Josefa Gonzalez Loya has sneaked across the Mexican border at least 128 times in the past eight years. And each time, the Border Patrol has been nice enough to give her a lift home. — Gonzalez and a group of other women and children — all Indians from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca — have no interest in staying in the United States.

HERE

San Francisco Chronicle

On May Day, many marchers for many causes

…”The U.S. should use Mexico’s legal immigration policy as a model, which would bar burdensome immigrants and would not allow the chain migration of extended families, so that we can first improve life for those who are already here legally, U.S. and foreign-born,” said Yeh Ling Ling, director of the Oakland-based Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America. HERE

KIRO-TV — Seattle

Illegal alien tantrum erupts in violence in Washington state capitol

A May Day march in Olympia on Thursday erupted in violence and vandalism, reported KIRO 7 Eyewitness News. — The march started out peacefully with about 150 walking through the downtown area. — According to police, as protesters headed to the state’s Capitol building, a pair of windows were shattered at a bank

HERE

HERE for video.

HERE

Feel safer?