I spent several days in the Phoenix area back in March, reporting for my fairly-soon-to-be published book "The Backlash." One place where I spent some time was on East Thomas Road, which is in the heart of the most-immigrant-laden area of East Phoenix, a nexus of the day laborers -- most of them undocumented -- who work construction and other types of physical labor for cash. The number of these day laborers in front of the Wal-Mart on East Thomas Road had dwindled considerably, in part because of harassment by nativist protestors but also because the housing market in Phoenix had collapsed. East Thomas Road was a hardscrabble place, to be sure, with lots of pawn shops and 79 cents taco drive-thru places, but I didn't feel like I was in some kind of nuclear fallout zone or anything. The local papers had a story about a controversial bill that appeared (at the time) to be stalled in the state legislature -- known officially as SB 1070.
That was only four months ago. This is East Thomas Road today:
(Photo by Nicholas Riccardi/Los Angeles Times)
Every time a customer buys some of the large fabric tote bags from the Dollar Store at 43rd Avenue and Thomas Road, Najmuddin Katchi sees another piece of his business vanish.
The purchase of the briefcase-sized shoulder bags means that another one of Katchi's customers, mostly Latino immigrants, is packing to leave the state before what is touted as the nation's toughest law against illegal immigrants takes effect July 29.
Katchi's store isn't the only business suffering. The vast shopping center that holds his small shop is almost empty. The Food City supermarket closed this spring. Then the furniture shop. Then the pizzeria.
All the news today has been about the last-minute legal jockeying over the racial-profiling immigration law that is slated to take effect tomorrow. A federal judge struck down the meat of the bill today -- liberals cheered, conservatives went after the judge as some kind of lefty loon, even though her job was by recommendation of conservative GOP Sen. Jon Kyl, and the case will probably go all the way to the Roberts Court (which might strike it down, because remember that big business doesn't like immigration crackdowns, and the Roberts Court simply adores big business.)
It's all a big sideshow. The goal of SB 1070 has already been mostly accomplished -- creating a climate of fear and loathing to drive away Mexicans, and not just those that are here without documents. This law hurts everybody -- it also harms non-Mexican residents of Arizona by blowing a huge whole in their already reeling economy. And it has greatly harmed all of America, and our reputation as the kind of nation that would never codify such ugliness in our laws. And it's too late for the damage to be undone.
(h/t Atrios)
I predict that the Roberts court will throw even their corporate buddies under the bus to consolidate right wing power. This has been the most extremist rightwing SCOTUS in a very, very long time - and they have been more than willing act hypocritically in the past in service of their right wing agenda. They will pander to the Tea Party and anti-immigration political exploitation.— Talking point sleuth
///They will pander to the Tea Party and anti-immigration political exploitation./// But for the record, TPS doesn't think that ALL Tea Party members are racist, even though he hints at it. Nope. Bwack. Snip. Popcorn. Sardines. Lolz.
" a nexus of the day laborers -- most of them undocumented -- who work construction and other types of physical labor for cash."...is construction work now a job Americans won't do??? Somebody better tell the Philadelphia Building Trades unions.— bird11- Correction, the good guys already won! The false economics of low wage cash work with benefits borne by others supported a small local economy that's NOT worth supporting unless the immigrants can return legally and comply with all our laws. If our laws (taxes, FICA, minimum wage, etc.) kill this local economy, maybe WE should change those laws for our collective benefit. The solution is not the current double standard even if some border economies appear to be thriving. Mexico is not the 51st state. Open borders are not good policy post 9/11. Emigration to ANY country should require a passport from your native country and an entry visa. To work, you should need a work visa. When these documents expire, you are now illegal and should be extradited back to your country of origin. It's not rocket science.— oldcheme
- I had to do some research for a class a while ago about the economic issues affecting and affected by illegal immigration. Conservative estimates pointed out that they add $10 billion to the national economy through labor, purchasing, and money saved. Combined, they drained $1 billion from the economy in services. I understand the rhetoric against immigration from the right. It has been easy to exploit fear against those who can't represent themselves in government for political gain throughout history. Peasants, Native Americans, Gypsies (I guess that's not the past), Jews, Italians, Irish, and Eastern Europeans. I honestly didn't think they'd ever push legitimate laws because I thought the Republicans had actual economists working for them. I'm not so sure these days, because the economics just seem to be based on politics instead of vice versa. How many tax dollars is Arizona losing? How many homes won't get repaired? How many legitimate jobs are being lost because they can't serve the illegal immigrants. I agree with the conservatives that illegals should be deported, but before they are, there needs to be a reform to fill the positions needed in this country.— HandNik
Comment removed.- Bird, Arizona is a right-to-work state -- not the union issues you'd get here in PHL. Maybe that's your solution to the immigration problem...stronger unions! :-)— will
-- most of them undocumented -- . Well there is the first inaccuracy.They are ILLEGAL ALIENS. Period. They don't respect our borders or our laws. Why should they be given a pass. They have already shown contempt for the rule of law. It artificially depresses the wage curve. Those hiring illegals should be punished for doing so..loss of professional license, fines or even jail time. Stupid and indefensible ruling by the judge. The 9th Circus Court will probably uphold it. Impeach the judge.— georgel- They will pander to enforcing the law. As they should.— tr88
- Comment removed.
- Bucky, I don't think that all, or even most Tea Partiers are racists. However, I think that there is a significant number of racists in the group (as evidenced by signs carried at their rallies), and that the majority who aren't racist refuse to denounce the racists that are in their midst (although it was good that the Tea Party did expel that racist Tea Party leader, Williams). There, I know that you're positively obsessed with what I think (it comes with the territory of constantly making fools out of "conservatives" who are looking for daddy figures), but you don't have to spend so much time Googling any more. There it is. Some Tea Partiers are racists, most are not.— Talking point sleuth
- Ah yes, another tps-obsessed "conservative" weighs in after his extensive Google search, where, apparently, he managed to miss this (just one of many such comments I've made in the past). --snip-- --}}} 2) You consistently state that this reflects the opinions of those who are a member of the group as a whole, whether they were in attendance or not. {{{--- Heh! Nope. In fact, I have stated the exact opposite, many times. But I have no problem doing it again. In no way should the statements of lunatics be used to characterize all Tea Partiers - just a significant chunk of them who are in agreement with the lunatics. --snip-- Look up the word "significant" and get back to me, bp.philly, and then maybe you'll realize that bucky lied when he said: --snip-- Just last week you wrote that "a majority" of tea party members hold racist views. --snip--— Talking point sleuth
- By TPS' definition, every organization is racist.
- ok, and while you're at it, bp.philly, look up the term "atomic scale," the term "confidence interval" and what quotation marks are used for.— Talking point sleuth
- Will, Philadelphia native by birth, Phoenix resident by corporate insistence......not to nitpick but for the sake of accuracy any address listed as Avenue is WEST Phoenix, not east...although there is no real difference between East Thomas Road and the West version... Thanks!— jazzcat
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
PLEASE COMMENT WITH PASSION...
...but not with racial slurs, potentially libelous allegations, obscenities or other juvenile noise. Such comments will, at our discretion, be deleted in their entirety, and repeat offenders will be blocked from commenting. ALSO: Any commenter advocating killing any government official will be immediately banned.
Thanks.
- Atrios
- Kiko's House
- Suburban Guerilla
- Booman Tribune
- All-Spin Zone
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Afro-Netizen
- Rowhouse Logic
- MyDD
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- iFlipFlop
- CorrenteWire
- upyernoz
- Tattered Coat
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- Slacktivist
- Citizen Mom
- The Next Mayor
- Philly Future
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Young Philly Politics
- Phillyblog
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Phawker
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Keystone Blog
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- BlankBaby
- Above Average Jane
- Phillyist
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- The Clog
- Josh Marshall
- Daily Kos
- Juan Cole
- Oliver Willis
- Andy Borowitz
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- BuzzFlash
- Raw Story
- Cursor
- Crooks and Liars
- Swing State Project
- Kevin Drum
- Talk Left
- AmericaBlog
- Hullabaloo
- Mad Kane
- Think Progress
- Jesus' General
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Majikthise
- Echidne of the Snakes
- David Sirota
- Glenn Greenwald
- TBogg
- Fire Dog Lake
- Taylor Marsh
- Matthew Yglesias
- Jon Swift
- Drudge Report
- Beer Leaguer
- The 700 Level
- Dick Polman
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Shallow Center
- Philling Station
- Phillies Nation
- A Citizen's Blog
- The Good Phight
- Romenesko
- Editor and Publisher
- Pressthink
- Buzzmachine
- The Inksniffer
- Media Bloodhound
- Eat the Press
- Mickey Kaus
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Blinq
- The Corner
- Instapundit
- Andrew Sullivan
- Free Republic
- James Taranto
- Blonde Sagacity
- ScrappleFace
- Blogorrhea
- February
- January
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- January 2008
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
