NDLON

Tema: EL CORRIDO DE LA HB56 / Cantante: El Compa “Tino
Grupo: Agave Norteño / Autor: Antonio Compean Gonzalez Editor: Eric C. Resendiz / Productor Ejecutivo: Cesar Marfil

"El corrido de la HB56"

Vivíamos días muy felices
sin preocuparnos de nada…

Sí, todo era tan bonito,
una vida cotidiana.
Pero llegó el doctor Bentley,
a gobernar Alabama.

Y que pondría leyes duras,
en su campaña anunció.
Mientras aquellos le aplaudían,
a otros nos preocupó.
¡Ahora peor que en Arizona,
puso nuestra situación!

El día se puso nublado,
tal vez fue muestra divina
que a los indocumentados
tormenta se le avecina…

¡La nueva ley que ha llegado,
que maltrata y discrimina!

Van los niños a la escuela
con los deseos de aprender.
Muchos tristes y llorando
pues no logran entender
que les deparen la vida,
la HB56.

Hay veces que yo no entiendo
el corazón de los gringos…

¡Van y le ofrecen la paz
a judíos y palestinos,
y a nosotros nos la quitan
tan solo por ser latinos!

El día se puso nublado,
tal vez fue muestra divina
que a los indocumentados
tormenta se le avecina…

¡La nueva ley que ha llegado,
que maltrata y discrimina!

"The Ballad of HB56"

We lived our days with much joy
without worry at all…

Yes, it was quite beautiful
it was an ordinary life.
But then arrived doctor Bentley,
to govern Alabama.

And he had promised tough laws,
back when he had been on campaign.
While some applauded him,
many of us began to worry.
Now worse than in Arizona,
he has done to us!

That day it got so cloudy,
perhaps it was a divine omen
that for the undocumented
a storm was on the horizon…

The new law that has arrived,
it abuses and discriminates!

The children go to school
yearning to learn.
Many are sad and crying
for they cannot comprehend
why they are being deprived a life,
by HB56.

Sometimes I cannot comprehend
the heart of the gringos…

They go and offer peace
to Jews and Palestinians,
while they steal our peace from us
just for being Latinos!

That day it got so cloudy,
perhaps it was a divine omen
that for the undocumented
a storm is on the horizon…

The new law that has arrived,
it abuses and discriminates!

BIRMINGHAM, AL – The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) today filed a federal challenge to Alabama’s draconian anti-immigrant law. Modeled on Arizona’s infamous SB 1070 but taking it to even greater extremes, the Alabama law is considered the most pernicious anti-immigrant state law to date.
The DOJ lawsuit follows on the heels of HICA v. Bentley, a class-action challenge asserting that the law is unconstitutional on multiple grounds, filed on July 8 by the National Immigration Law Center and a coalition of civil rights organizations. On July 21, the coalition filed a request that the court block the law from taking effect, pending a final ruling on the law’s constitutionality. The hearing to determine whether the court should enjoin the law has been set for August 24, 2011 in the civil rights coalition case.
The following statements can be attributed to various members of the coalition:
Pablo Alvarado, director, National Day Laborer Organizing Network:
"The suit filed by the DOJ is an acknowledgement of the civil rights crisis caused by the Arizonification of our country and deepened in states like Alabama and Georgia where they have built upon Arizona's laws. We welcome the administration's action but see it as treating the symptom rather than the illness. More easily than court proceedings, President Obama could bring relief to our communities with the stroke of a pen."
Linton Joaquin, general counsel, National Immigration Law Center:

“Today, the federal government rightly asserted that states cannot lawfully ignore the U.S. Constitution and enact their own sweeping immigration laws. Alabama’s law – like its ideological predecessors in Arizona, Utah, Indiana, and Georgia – is an affront to our American and constitutional values. We welcome the federal government’s challenge, and we look forward to continuing our own legal battle to permanently remove this law from Alabama’s lawbooks.”
Sam Brooke, attorney, Southern Poverty Law Center:
“It has been clear from the start that this law is blatantly overreaching and seriously flawed. We welcome the federal government’s involvement in preventing this dangerous and costly law from going into effect.”
Cecilia Wang, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project:
“We applaud the government for taking action to stop Alabama’s anti-immigrant law. Today’s lawsuit will help protect the civil rights of Alabamians against legislation that mandates unlawful police searches and seizures in the name of immigration enforcement.”
Olivia Turner, executive director, ACLU of Alabama:
“We welcome the federal government’s effort to block Alabama’s unconstitutional HB 56. We hope this law will be enjoined, just like the law in Arizona that inspired it.”
Erin Oshiro, senior staff attorney, Asian American Justice Center, a member of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice:
“It is encouraging that the Department of Justice decided to challenge Alabama’s anti-immigrant bill. This move sends a strong signal to Alabama and other states that the federal government takes its immigration authority seriously and serves as a warning to states considering these types of unconstitutional laws.”
Victor Viramontes, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund National Senior Counsel
"It is appropriate that the Department of Justice has sued to block Alabama's illegal and discriminatory law that unfairly targets Latinos."
Attorneys on the case include Brooke , Mary Bauer , Andrew Turner, Michelle Lapointe, Dan Werner, and Naomi Tsu of the Southern Poverty Law Center; Cecillia D. Wang, Katherine Desormeau, Kenneth J. Sugarman, Andre Segura, Elora Mukherjee, Omar C. Jadwat, Lee Gelernt, Michael K. T. Tan of the American Civil Liberties Union and Freddy Rubio of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama; Joaquin, Karen C. Tumlin, Tanya Broder, Shiu-Ming Cheer, Melissa S. Keaney, and Vivek Mittal of the National Immigration Law Center; Sin Yen Ling of the Asian Law Caucus; Oshiro of the Asian American Justice Center; Foster Maer, Ghita Schwarz and Diana Sen of Latino Justice; Thomas Saenz, Nina Perales, Viramontes, Amy Pederson, and Martha Gomez of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; Jessica Karp of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network; G. Brian Spears, Ben Bruner, Herman Watson, Jr., Eric J. Artrip and Rebekah Keith McKinney. ...