By Edward B. Arroyo, S.J. and Sue Weishar, Ph.D.

On November 17, 2011, the Department of Homeland Security issued long-awaited guidelines for ICE enforcement agents and prosecuting lawyers on implementation of prosecutorial discretion priorities outlined in a June 17 memorandum from John Morton, the Director of ICE.  The guidance consists of a memo  from Peter Vincent, the ICE Principal Legal Advisor, another

Fr. Ted Arroyo, S.J., the Alabama Associate and founding executive director for JSRI, describes the work of JSRI, how Alabama’s HB 56 impacts the lives of undocumented immigrants in Alabama, and his work opposing the law in a National Jesuit News podcast posted November 15, 2011.

By Sue Weishar, Ph.D.

By Omar Hassan

Ten years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, a major national survey by the Public Religion Research Institute finds America continuing to struggle with what it means to be American and wrestling with how to resolve political, religious and ethnic differences including issues of security, tolerance, and pluralism. Specific topics include relations with Muslims, ambivalence on the subject of immigration, support for deportation of illegal immigrants, but even more solid support for the basic tenets of the DREAM Act: allowing illegal immigrants brought to the U.S.

A study by two law schools of government immigration data indicates that a deportation program that is central to the Obama administration’s immigration enforcement strategy has led disproportionately to the removal of Latino immigrants, arrests by immigration authorities of hundreds of United States citizens, and that about a third of around 226,000 immigrants who have been deported under the program, known as Secure Communities, had spouses or children who were U.S. citizens.  See report here.

Maria Hinojosa’s documentary “Lost in Detention” airs October 18, 2011, on PBS’ Frontline program. “Lost in Detention” explores the secretive world of immigrant detention and investigates the Obama Administration’s enforcement strategies. A documentary trailer is online here.

By Alex Mikulich, Ph.D.

If we are to understand the intersection between race, so-called “illegality,” and the immigration industrial complex (as some immigration scholars are now naming it), I suggest that we need to understand the historical dynamics of whiteness in relation to who is welcomed to become American.

By Sue Weishar, Ph.D.

In the July JustSouth E-news we reported on Alabama’s new harsh anti-immigrant law, HB 56, and the Church’s response to that law. Today we provide an update on HB 56.