President Obama presses for immigration reform in a speech at AU Thursday.  In a meeting with key figures in the immigration debate on Monday, Obama renewed his commitment to immigration reform and promised a major speech pushing Congress to act on comprehensive immigration reform.  The speech came just three days later at American University where Obama urged Congress to work on bi-partisan comprehensive immigration reform that would include a path to legalized citizenship that required undocumented immigrants to register, pay taxes, and take English classes.

State legislators fed up with anti-immigration legislation fight back.  Legislators in Arizona, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Utah are sharing ideas on how to push back on anti-immigration legislation popping up in their states.  These lawmakers are stepping up by doing everything from educating local police on the economic and legal realities of laws like Arizona SB 1070, trying to enact wage enforcement legislation, and prioritizing “accessible and affordable health care for all children.”  Many of these lawmakers have joined together to form “State Legislators for Progressive Immigration Policy.”

Tennessee passes Arizona-like immigration law.  On Monday, Tennessee Governor Bredesen signed SB1141/HB 670 into law.  The law mandates that jailers determine the legal status of every person detained and to turn that information over to federal officials if the jailer believes the person is in violation of the Immigration and Naturalization Act, or if the status of the person cannot be determined.   This places the decision of whether to turn a detainee over to federal officials in the hands of jailers, untrained in determining citizenship status.  Critiques argue jailer discretion opens the door for racial profiling.

ACLU issued travel alerts in Arizona for the holiday weekend.  Thirty ACLU regional councils put out alerts for those traveling through Arizona over July 4^th.  The alerts come as a reaction to Arizona’s new immigration law that according to the ACLU, allows for racial profiling.  The alerts are designed to let travelers know their rights before going into Arizona in case they are stopped by law enforcement.