Civil Rights & Immigration
Potential E-Verify deal would give legal status to farmworkers
Congressional Democrats hope to broker a deal with Republicans that would grant legal status to farmworkers currently in the country illegally but would require employers to verify the immigration status of all future hires. Democrats hope the compromise could draw GOP support by forcing employers to use E-Verify, a federal online system, to ensure farmworkers […]
Midwest racial gaps grow
Industrial expansion and unionization helped improve the lives of many black families even in the face of segregation. When industry declined and unions shrank, their fortunes reversed.
ICE raids and a battle over Arcadia’s school bus route
Arcadia, a small town in western Wisconsin, near the Minnesota border, has seen a huge influx of immigrants from Latin America in recent years. Some 40% of the town’s 3,000 residents are Latino, according to the Census. In surrounding Trempealeau County, where immigrants make up the bulk of the workforce on local dairy farms, the […]
Rev. Barber brings his campaign for justice to Milwaukee
“Wisconsin is one of those states that’s critical for talking about poverty,” Rev. William Barber told Wisconsin Examiner, shortly before taking the stage at the 2019 Summit On Poverty and SWIM (Scaling Wellness In Milwaukee) Conference last Tuesday. “Normally we racialize poverty,” Barber explained. In Wisconsin, where there are more poor whites than poor African […]
Immigration activists push Milwaukee to clarify policy
Momentum continued to build in Milwaukee as immigration activists flooded City Hall on Thursday for a third time in two consecutive weeks. Dozens of community members marched and chanted through the halls before entering a Fire and Police Commission meeting, calling on officials to protect immigrant families. The Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission’s scheduled vote […]
Black and Latino Roundtable focuses on immigration, incarceration reform
The negative fallout from decades of mass incarceration was a major topic of discussion during the second annual State of Wisconsin Black and Latino Caucus Roundtable held at the Capitol on Thursday, Oct. 3. Eleven state representatives hosted the event, alongside two dozen participants from various criminal-justice and community-advocacy backgrounds. Gov. Tony Evers and Lt. […]
Why are private prisons controversial?
Editor’s note: Private prisons have long stirred controversy, most recently over their role in housing undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. Several states have banned them, several banks have vowed to stop financing them and more than one presidential candidate has pledged to end them at the federal level. John M. Eason, associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has done […]
Family left “haunted” after father was taken by ICE
Milwaukee’s City Hall was charged with raw emotion last week as community members packed in, shoulder-to-shoulder, to support a family whose loved one had been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Holding signs reading, “following orders is not an excuse,” “never again is now” and “close the camps, shut down ICE,” they demanded action […]
Arrest video fuels outrage over Milwaukee Police helping ICE
The Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) has become embroiled in controversy after its officers were filmed assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the arrest of a local man. While getting ready to go to school outside their home, Jose Alejandro (Alex) de la Cruz-Espinosa was removed from his car and arrested as his wife […]
Baldwin, Johnson split as Senate rebukes Trump on border wall
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate voted again on Wednesday to block President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency along the southern U.S. border. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), who said of Trump’s declaration in February, “We will rue the day when we let a president start taking money for one purpose, declaring an emergency and […]
Is the Wauwatosa Police Department working with ICE?
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin recently discovered a partnership between the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). But is Waukesha truly the only department cooperating with the federal immigration agency? The Wauwatosa Police Department (WPD) may also have formed an alliance with the deportation force. Authorized for just […]
U.S. Rep. Moore sponsors measure on intersection of misogyny, domestic violence and gun violence for VAWA anniversary
It’s been 25 years since Congress passed the landmark Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) but the GOP-controlled U.S. Senate still hasn’t reauthorized it. Marking the 25th anniversary of the landmark VAWA on Sept. 13, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) introduced a resolution recognizing the intersection between misogyny, violence against women and gun violence. She and […]