Recently, I wrote a story for The Daily Beast about Arizona’s white supremacy problem. In a nutshell, a white supremacist political party claims it donated to the SB 1070 legal defense fund (Brewer doesn’t \want the money but she still hasn’t found the contribution), an alleged Nazi is patrolling the desert for narcos, and a Pinal County sheriff named Paul Babeu who endorsed John McCain in the Republican primary mano-a-mano with JD Hayworth appeared on a conspiracy theorist talk show and then followed that up with a stint on a white supremacist talk show. Next, J.D. Hayworth called for McCain to distance himself from the Pinal County Sheriff. Here’s the story.

And here are two other stories that preceded mine.

First, Arizona Daily Star covered the initial mess.

Second, Incredible video of Babeu and Channel 12 Newsman Brahm Resnik:

Now a website purported to belong to David Duke claims that David Duke endorses Hayworth

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Here is a video I took of Joaquín.
Joaquín Decides

The assailant remains on the loose, but Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever says he’s close to finding the killer. In the meantime, there’s a dearth of information about the killing because records have been blacked out. The sheriff explains he doesn’t want the killer to know he’s on to him.

Read more here.

“The fact that the deaths continue at such high numbers despite widespread indications that fewer people are crossing the border has led many experts to conclude that illegal border crossers face a deadlier trek than ever across Arizona’s desert,” McCombs writes.

It is hot in the desert.

Migrants who can’t keep up with groups are left to die.

If you haven’t seen the newspaper’s database on migrant crossing deaths, it is a worthwhile resource.

In Phoenix, with upcoming hearings on whether SB1070 should be enjoined, and heated primaries focused on illegal immigration, the “deadlier trek” is sometimes forgotten. Or the global forces that drive illegal immigration, which I write about in one chapter in my book.

Terry Greene Sterling appears on NPR's Here and Now to talk about her book and immigration issues in Arizona.

Courtesy KJZZ.org

This includes kids.

The war on cartels, according to journalist Charles Bowden,  has devolved into a bloody free-for-all for drug money. The players are difficult to identify. There seem to be no clear sides.

Which explains why some schools in Mexico now feel compelled to teach kids how to dodge bullets.

Join in.

Also, I wrote about an effort to recall a small town’s most controversial pol and a talk radio show host. The reason has to do with calling Mexicans “taco flippers,” railing against an elementary school mural that prominently displays a Latino child, and campaigning against a Spanish-language sign intended to encourage Census participation. You can read the story here.

Some readers were upset that I profiled a gay immigrant.

One reader wrote:

Are you seriously trying to create some sort of sympathy and tears for an illegal crossdressing freak? What kind of desperate “writer” are YOU? You’re more pitiful than him.
Sorry – DO NOT CARE. He needs to disappear. He’s using resources for Americans; he has no right being here. My interest in him is zero. My concern with fixing the oil leak and cleaning up the Gulf is paramount. Shame on you, TDB, you really are reaching. Pathetic.

And another reader wrote:

Of the many things one could say about cross dressing in the Mexican culture – and about this very interesting excerpt – “come on get a life, nobody really cares”?! Um, seriously? Terry: great excerpt, I look forward to reading the book.

So there you have it

You can read a really good analysis of  just why, exactly, Obama chose this time and place to speak about immigration in a big way. Just link here. Obama delivered his talk at American University, in Washington. He  said this, in a nutshell: It’s time to reform federal immigration policy using a four-pronged approach of border enforcement, workplace enforcement, visa policy modernization and a stand-in-line-and-pay-your-fees pathway to a green card. (Citizenship, and voting privileges, would come years later.) (Oh, and the comprehensive immigration reform Obama touted is not new;   Senators Ted Kennedy and John McCain, with President Bush’s blessing, tried to get it passed  back in 2006. )

Obama also took a couple of jabs at Arizona and SB 1070, saying the law pummels law enforcement authorities with burdendome expenses and responsibilities, and, of course, opens the door to racial profiling.

Almost immediately after Obama stepped down from the podium,  John Kavanagh, a Fountain Hills legislator who has become a key spokesman for SB 1070 after sponsoring a similar law in the Arizona House, appeared on TV in Phoenix. He told  FOX News he was offended that Obama lumped immigrants who came here illegally with immigrants who came legally, like his grandparents. He said the Obama plan meant “amnesty” and SB 1070 protected against racial profiling.

Kavanagh had recently done a little offending of his own, when  he “joked” to a roomful of Latino journalists that Canadian “illegals” could stay in Arizona because they had money. You can read about that here.

Sen. Russell Pearce, the main sponsor of SB 1070, told Phoenix FOX news that Obama was fear mongering and just wanted “amnesty.” Pearce has been accused of fearmongering, too. The Arizona Republic noted that Pearce erred when he attributed 9,000 deaths to “illegal immigration.” In a fascinating and informative profile, reporter Gary Nelson notes:

Pearce has frequently cited a soaring crime rate caused by illegal immigration as one of the reasons for his stance.

However, statistics from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports show that violent and property crimes in Phoenix have decreased in the last three years at a rate that is even faster than the nation’s as a whole.

As recently as two months ago, Pearce wrote a constituent that illegal immigrants are responsible for “over 9,000 American deaths every year.” The number has been attributed to U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who said he “extrapolated” from a Government Accountability Office study. The study, however, was on illegal-immigrant prison populations and does not mention that figure.

Read more: azcentral.com

Just days before Pearce accused the President of fear mongering, Gov. Jan Brewer talked about “beheadings” that couldn’t be substantiated, and said all those “illegals” crossing the border were drug mules.

Here’s Brewer’s beheadings video: Brewer talks about beheadings.

The beheadings couldn’t be substantiated, according to Politico.

SB 1070 has long been promoted by proponents as kicking in only after a  cop  lawfully stops detains or arrests someone they suspect of committing a  ”crime”  ( the ” crime” category includes   city ordinances and  traffic violations) and then only after “reasonable suspicion” exists that the  person is in the country illegally.

Today, thanks to  Evan Wyloge, a rising star  journalist who has been covering this angle relentlessly we learn:

Lyle Mann, director of the Arizona Peace Officers Standards and Training board, said what constitutes a “stop, detainment or arrest” is really much broader than the law’s supporter’s have been conveying since the law was signed April 23.

“The truth of the matter is an officer can stop anyone for any reason and ask them anything,” Mann said. “Is that kind? Is that brutish? That’s another question.”

Does this broad interpretation also apply to US citizens who are lawfully stopped detained or arrested while driving their undocumented relatives?

We’ll know for sure on July 29, when the law kicks in, barring court injunctions.