Latin America: Week in Review, United States
Immigration: ACLU & Obama Admin Ask To Overturn Alabama Law
November 16, 2011 By Staff
Today in Latin America
Top Story — The American Civil Liberties Union and U.S. authorities have asked a federal appeals court to overturn Alabama’s tough new immigration law. The federal government and the ACLU filed separate amicus briefs on Monday calling for a reversal of the Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, which would require Alabama schools, businesses and police to investigate the immigration status of students, employees, and those stopped by law enforcement. The law, signed by Alabama Governor Robert J. Bentley on June 9, was upheld on September 28 by a federal judge. On October 14, an appellate panel blocked enforcement of parts of the law pending further review. The federal government argues that the law is unconstitutional because states cannot regulate immigration, and wants the September 28 ruling reversed. According to the ACLU, the law is so harsh that it “effectively expels immigrants from Alabama by depriving them of the necessities of life.”
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Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the man who lost to President Felipe Calderón in 2006, declared his candidacy for Mexico’s presidency on Tuesday.
- Mexican authorities arrested one of the leader’s of the Knights Templar drug cartel, who is wanted for murder and the smuggling of methamphetamine.
- The number of undocumented immigrants coming into the U.S. is on the decline, according to Mexican census figures and U.S. Border Patrol arrest statistics.
Caribbean
- A plane carrying 19 Haitian government officials on their way to Cuba made an emergency landing Tuesday in the city of Camagüey. Haitian President Michel Martelly arrived in Cuba Tuesday.
- The Catholic magazine Espacio Laical said in an editorial this week that reform in Cuba should start with the Communist Party.
- A Canadian diplomat criticized Haitian President Michel Martelly’s aspiration to restore his country’s disbanded army.
Central America
- Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom announced Tuesday that he has decided to extradite former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo to the U.S. to face money laundering charges.
- Three people were killed by gunmen in a botched robbery attempt on a Honduran bus in eastern Tegucigalpa.
- Nicaragua’s national police chief, Aminta Granera, was trained as a nun and is often ranked as the country’s most popular public figure in opinion polls.
Andes
- Venezuelan police announced that they arrested two more suspects in the kidnapping of Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos on Sunday.
- An ethics panel in the Peruvian Congress voted to suspend Peruvian Vice President Omar Chehade from the legislature on Tuesday.
- Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional reported that FARC rebels considered delivering uranium to friends from “distant lands”.
- Gilberto Londoño Garcia, an alleged drug trafficker for the “Los Rastrojos” gang, was arrested in Bogotá on Tuesday for trafficking in Ecuador.
Southern Cone
- Chevron claimed that the oil flow from a leaking oil well off the coast of Brazil “showed a significant decrease”.
- Argentina’s Labor Ministry told oil and gas workers to call off a 24-hour strike planned for Tuesday in the provinces of Neuquen, Rio Negro and La Pampa to ask for better working conditions.
- The International Monetary Fund lowered its growth forecast for Paraguay to 4.5 percent for this year and next year.
Image: Honda News @ Flickr.
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