Good News — the California State Assembly, by a vote of 46 -24, just passed the Inequitable Impounds Bill (AB 1993).

AB 1993 (Ma) Inequitable Impounds, will allow local governments to impound a car for less than 30 days for certain traffic infractions where the offense involves a person who has never been driven a driver’s license.

AB 1993 would end the unfair and unnecessary car impoundment policies which are resulting in severe financial hardship for low-income individuals and families in California.

This bill will prevent car impoundments by allowing unlicensed drivers “reasonable time” to call a licensed driver to show up at the scene and drive the vehicle away.

AB 1993, the Inequitable Impounds bill, is moving forward. The Assembly will vote on the bill this week (as early as tomorrow).

Please call your Assembly member today to express your support for the bill. (If you aren’t sure who your representative is, this Find Your State Representatives link may be helpful.)

AB 1993 (Ma) Inequitable Impounds, will allow local governments to impound a car for less than 30 days for certain traffic infractions where the offense involves a person who has never been given a driver’s license.

AB 1993 would end the unfair and unnecessary car impoundment policies which are resulting in severe financial hardship for low-income individuals and families in California.

This bill will prevent car impoundments by allowing unlicensed drivers “reasonable time” to call a licensed driver to show up at the scene and drive the vehicle away.

Thank you for your continued support!

Gabriela Villareal
Policy Analyst
California Immigrant Policy Center

Jose Zapata Calderon
Created: 05/29/2012 01:21:26 PM PDT

In reference to the May 22 article “Torres’ bill creates ruckus in Assembly,” I am in full support of Assemblywoman Norma Torres’ bill AB 1282 that would create a new state law treating the act of carrying a loaded firearm into an airport as a serious offense.

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly should have been charged with a felony rather than with two misdemeanors for carrying a loaded 45-caliber Colt Mark IV handgun with four rounds of ammunition in the magazine and a separate magazine with five additional rounds in his carry-on luggage.

The offense can be considered a felony if the armed person is a gang member and if the armed person is legally prohibited from carrying a firearm. The Minuteman group that Donnelly has professed to belong to certainly falls in the category of a violent gang. Minuteman members have been known to harbor and carry loaded weapons. Former President George Bush identified them as “armed, self-appointed vigilantes.”

In 2011, the leader of a Minuteman group in Arizona, Shawna Forde, was given the death sentence for the killings of Raul Flores and his 9-year-old daughter Brisenia. According to police reports on the incident, Forde and members of her “posse” mistakenly raided the Flores home dressed as law enforcement officers “looking for money and drugs to finance her border-watch group.”

If this is not enough to categorize a Minuteman group as a “gang,” I don’t know what is. Hence, it is no coincidence that the Southern Poverty Law Center, in addition to listing the Minuteman group as a “hard-line nativist and racial extremist hate group” in the past, has now also included Donnelly as a former founder of the largest anti-immigrant Minuteman chapter in California and named Donnelly as a “right-wing radical” in its Spring 2011 Intelligence Report.

In addition to the grounds of being able to charge Donnelly for being part of a gang, there was the second possibility of his being charged with a felony for carrying a loaded gun. Donnelly, we now know, did not have a permit for carrying a loaded gun. That is why the circumstances in this case warrant the calling of our state representatives in support of AB 1282.

Torres’s bill will ensure that, in cases such as this one, the perpetrator will be arrested and simultaneously be banned from the designated airport. Although Donnelly got off with a slap on the hand, Assemblywoman Torres’s bill will hopefully be passed so that there are no “double standards” in how the law is interpreted and implemented in the future.

Story in the DailyBulletin.com 

Pomona Pitzer student Beatriz Stambuk (center), 20, speaks to those gathered on Tuesday during a May Day rally. (Will Lester/Staff Photographer)

CLAREMONT – Pitzer College students braved the chilly weather Tuesday to join in the May Day events that popped up across the country.From noon to midnight students, professors and faculty members filtered in and out of the grassy hills that made up the designated rally area to talk about the struggles of labor and hear what passionate protestors had to say.

“We wanted a local event regarding May Day,” said Marc Lichterman, a 19-year-old freshman who helped organize the event. “My first instinct was to go to LA, but I wanted to focus on where I live.”

Speakers included Jose Calderon, emeritus professor of sociology and chicano and latino studies, and Dana Ward, a political studies professor, who talked about the struggles connected to the working class, gave the history of May Day and related it to present issues.May Day in the United States is a celebration of the labor movement, officials said. This year, a number of demonstrations, rallies and strikes were formed nationally to spotlight fair wages, the need for jobs and equality.

Those involved in the college rally called for students to skip classes as part of the May Day general strike. To allow students to participate, some professors canceled Tuesday classes.
“We want to raise awareness,” said Camille Matonis, another 19-year-old freshman organizer. “We want (students) to recognize there’s a problem with the system.”

While the rally at Pitzer paled in comparison to the national events, Lichterman said he was happy with their efforts.
“During the day we had a lot of really good conversations and discussions about the issue,” he said. “And that’s what I wanted.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Reach Lori via email or call her at 909-483-9378.

May Day Action in Riverside. Join us this year, 2012!

http://www.facebook.com/events/333003980092866/

May Day 2012 – Immigrant Rights Are Workers Rights

Immigrant Rights Are Worker Rights

International Worker Holiday Celebrating the Immigrant Struggle in the Inland Empire. We will rally at Riverside City Hall and march to Bordwell Park.

Since 2006, May Day has taken center stage to uphold and defend the rights of millions of undocumented immigrants in this country. Join us as we celebrate this International Workers Holiday.

In the past year, we have seen the continuous attacks and persecution of the immigrant community and immigrant workers in the Inland Empire.

• – We have seen the opening of a for-profit immigrant detention center in Adelanto, Ca.
• – We have seen the arrests of workers, day laborers students and community members who have been caught up in detention via the innumerable enforcement-only programs and legislation; Secure Communities, 287(g), E-Verify, among others.
• – We have seen the direct persecution and tearing apart of families with a case of family awaiting deportation after a run-in with US Forest Service during an outing to Lytle Creek near the San Bernardino Mountains.
• – We have seen the termination of the dining hall workers at Pomona College, whom during their efforts to obtain neutralization to form a union were fired after the school administration demanded them to show proof of proper documentation.
• – In both Riverside and San Bernardino County, we have seen day laborers, while looking for work approached, detained and arrested by immigration agencies.

These and many other situations continue to trouble the immigrant community in the IE.

There have also many triumphs in the past so join us as we celebrate those and make a call to uphold the civic and human rights of all immigrants in this country.

More info – f.romero@justiceforimmigrantscoalition.org

Los derechos de los inmigrantes son derechos laborales

Día Internacional del Trabajador y Trabajadora en Celebración de la Lucha Migrante en el Inland. Manifestaremos en el Palacio Municipal de Riverside y marcharemos al Parque Bordwell.

Desde el año 2006, el Primero de Mayo ha sobresalido como un día para defender los derechos de millones de inmigrantes indocumentadxs en este país. Únete a la celebración este Día de Trabajo.

En este último año, la comunidad inmigrante y trabajadores inmigrantes del Inland han vivido una persecución continua.

• -Se ha abierto un centro de detenciones para inmigrantes con fines de lucro en la ciudad de Adelanto, California.
• -Hemos visto el arresto de trabajadores, jornaleros, estudiantes, y miembros de la comunidad que han sido detenidos mediante los innumerables programas y leyes de deportación, entre ellos Comunidades Seguras, 287(g), verificación electrónica, entre otros.
• -Hemos visto persecución directa y la separación de familias en el caso de una familia en proceso de deportación después de encontrarse con el Servicio Forestal en al bosque de Lytle Creek durante una excursión a las montañas de San Bernardino.
• -Hemos visto el despedido de trabajadores del comedor del Colegio Pomona, quienes luchaban para un proceso imparcial para sindicalizarse. Fueron despedidos después de que el colegio les pidió documentación.
• -Tanto en el condado de Riverside como en el condado de Riverside, agentes de la migra han arrestado y detenido a jornaleros que solo buscaban empleo en las esquinas.

También ha habido muchos triunfos en este año y por lo tanto, les hacemos una invitación para festejarlos y hacer un llamado para defender los derechos humanos y cívicos de todxs lxs inmigrantes de este país.

Para mayor información comuníquese al correo electrónico f.romero@justiceforimmigrantscoalition.org

To see Latino/a Roundtable of the San Gabriel Valley and Pomona Valley’s Wall, follow the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/n/?permalink.php&story_fbid=265497343543763&id=127893751357&mid=5f27131G1e5635a4G8bb6ef8G3a&bcode=11du2ka4&n_m=jose_calderon%40pitzer.edu