DREAM Act

Fact-Checking The Sherman-Berman Brawl: Howard Berman Deserves Credit For Early Sponsorship Of Dream Act

It seems almost beside the point to fact-check the altercation between Brad Sherman and Howard Berman yesterday. They could have been arguing about their favorite Valley hotdog stand -- the point is that Berman got in Sherman's face and Sherman lost his cool, grabbing the elder statesman around the ... More >>

Brad Sherman Grabs Howard Berman At Debate, Challenges Him To A Fight

Think Biden-Ryan was a hard-fought debate? Then you missed the Berman-Sherman brawl up in the Valley today.Congressman Brad Sherman put his arm around rival Congressman Howard Berman and challenged him to a fight, saying "Do you want to get into this?"A sheriff's deputy had to separate the two. The ... More >>

Dream Act, Drivers Licenses for Illegals Opposed by Majority of Californians

The California Dream Act, which gives undocumented people who came to the United States as children in-state tuition at state colleges, isn't favored by a majority of California voters. Neither is the renewed drive to let illegal immigrants obtain California drivers licenses. That doesn't mean you ... More >>

UCLA-Affiliated 'Dream University' For Undocumented Students Canceled

UCLA today announced it has pulled the plug on its end of a controversial college that would have catered to undocumented students. The National Dream University was planned under a deal between the UCLA Center for Labor Research and the National Labor College. Attendees would not have been UCLA st ... More >>

College Just For Illegals? National Dream University Launches With Help of UCLA

Oh boy. Illegal-immigrant haters are going to love this one. The UCLA Center for Labor Research along with the National Labor College have established a virtual school just for undocumented migrants -- the National Dream University. It's for those who live under the radar of official legitimacy: I ... More >>

TRUST Act Passes California Senate: Bill Would Override 'Secure Communities,' Protect Illegal Immigrants From Deportation

The most liberal immigration legislation since California's DREAM Act just passed the state Senate 21-13 -- and it has a good chance of making its way through the Assembly and the governor's office, as well. The TRUST Act, otherwise known as the Anti-Arizona Act, would more or less override the fed ... More >>

The 5 Biggest Losers From Carmen Trutanich's D.A. Debacle (Other Than Trutanich)

The county updated its vote tally this afternoon, and it confirmed what we already knew: Carmen Trutanich crashed and burned on Tuesday night. With 59,000 extra ballots counted, Trutanich's margin of defeat is unchanged. He's still in third by 8,000 votes, and only 117,000 votes remain to be counted ... More >>

Disruption, Rebellion and Resistance: Activists Call for Action

Drivers Licenses For Illegal Immigrants in California Gaining Momentum?

The LAPD's move to drop 30-day impounds of cars belonging to unlicensed drivers stopped by cops has been controversial to say the least. The L.A. police union thinks the new policy could put dangerous drivers back on the road: It's suing the department, arguing that the rule contradicts state law. ... More >>

DREAM Act Application Goes Live: Undocumented California Students Can Now Apply for Financial Aid

It's here! The day Republicans have been dreading and undocumented California students have been fighting for since 2001. College kids without U.S. citizenship can now apply for "conditional permanent residency" via the official DREAM Act application, which will allow them access to state financial ... More >>

Mitt Romney Faces Class Warfare Protest in Los Angeles Today

Mitt Romeny's fund-raising trip to L.A. today will not be without opposition from the so-called 99 percent. Yeah, class warfare is coming to Century City as the man who will probably be the Republican nominee for president of the United States returns to Los Angeles to tap some of that big money we ... More >>

Cindy Reyna, Model and UC Santa Barbara Student, Faces Deportation

Updated at the bottom: She was arrested on suspicion of DUI. First posted at 1:58 p.m. Immigrants' rights activists are coming to the aid of Cindy Reyna, a UC Santa Barbara student and sometime model who they say was arrested and now faces deportation despite being a potential DREAM Act student. T ... More >>

Angela Davis Says Black People Have a Responsibility to Support the DREAM Act

Angela Davis, former Black Panther, is the go-to commentator on any protest or political uprising these days. (And, apparently, the go-to stencil for "street artists" designing nostalgic protest fliers.) So why hasn't anyone asked her how she feels about the DREAM Act -- the national push to grant ... More >>

KFI Radio Suspends John & Ken for Calling Whitney Houston a 'Crack Ho'

Update: The KFI boys apologize. See below. John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, inflammatory KFI radio hosts with a reported audience of over 1 million, have finally gotten themselves suspended, reports Talkers. (If only for a week-and-a-half.) After years of pissing off every shade of leftist and minori ... More >>

VIDEO: L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa Debates Romney Republican on 'Which Party Better Suits Latino Voters,' Loses

Despite the increasing, oft-hilarious attempts of Republican candidates to convince the crucial Latino voter base that its interests are best served by the red party (including a fugly new outreach website), Latinos still swing Democrat more often than not. Because name-dropping Sen. Mario Rubio (R ... More >>

Mitt Romney: America's First Mexican President?

We always knew that, with Barack Obama blazing the trail for African Americans, someday Latinos would get their first president too. What we didn't know is that it could actually be ... Mitt Romney!? Ay, dios mio. Turns out that sometime Southern Californian Mitt has deeper Mexican roots than a ca ... More >>

Tim Donnelly's 'Stop the DREAM Act' Measure Won't Go on California Ballot

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly has been on somewhat of a lucky streak, what with his laughable non-charges for carrying a loaded gun through airport security. That's probably because, as noted by LA Weekly's Gene Maddaus, wiggle room in law enforcement "seems to work in favor of state lawmakers, and aga ... More >>

Mulholland Drive's 'No Litter Zone,' Where a Homeless Man is the Solo Clean-Up Crew

Nanette GonzalesTrying to keep Mulholland Drive clean​Green signs announce that the stretch of Mulholland Drive between Laurel Canyon and Coldwater Canyon has been declared a "No Litter Zone," and for the most part, they're right. Considering the volume of traffic that passes through here, th ... More >>

'Stop AB 131': Long Beach Council Candidate Robert Wideman Runs on Anti-DREAM Act Platform

Robert Wideman via FacebookRepublican on a last-minute mission.​Even in the weird, weird world of final-hour indie City Council candidates, Robert Wideman is a real gem. Not to be confused with that SEO-friendly Robert Wideman currently serving a life sentence in Pennsylvania, of "FREE AN INN ... More >>

John & Ken, Radio-Talk Conservatives, See Another Major Advertiser (GM) Pull Out Over Immigration Stance

KFIJohn and Ken.​A recent apology by conservative radio talk-show hosts John & Ken (KFI AM 640) expressed some "regret" for broadcasting the phone number of an immigrants' rights advocate who subsequently fielded hate-filled calls. But that wasn't enough to keep major advertisers from leaving ... More >>

Margarita Cabrera at Walter Maciel Gallery: Trying to Bridge the U.S.-Mexican Border

Courtesy of Walter Maciel GalleryCabrera's butterflies are each stamped with an impression of the U.S. penny​Farm implements and tools made of clay and decorated with ceramic birds, flowers and butterflies greet viewers entering the Walter Maciel Gallery, works from the Arbol de la Vida (Tree ... More >>

John & Ken Show to See Major Advertisers Pull Out as a Result of Anti-Immigrant 'Hate,' Says Latino Media Group

johnandkenshow.comJohn y Ken.​Update: NHMC spokeswoman Rosalia Tenorio says the advertisers walking away from John & Ken are Verizon and AT&T Wireless as well as Vons and Ralphs, the last two of which are not currently running spots on the show but have in the past. First posted at 3:38 p.m. o ... More >>

Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, Walks Out on 1,000-Plus Parents Who Traveled to His L.A. County Town Hall

Arne Duncan has places to be.​Lydia Grant, a big education activist in SoCal, asked us to attend U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's two-hour-long town hall in Pico Rivera earlier this week. Duncan had promised big things for the Tuesday event: The town hall is hosted by the U.S. Depart ... More >>

The 10 Most Controversial Laws That California Governor Jerry Brown Just Signed or Vetoed

Like a good procrastinating California politician, Governor Jerry Brown waited until the last possible second to sign over 100 bills still waiting on his desk this weekend. So, as of Columbus Day morning, we have a whole controversy-load of new laws to make sense of. And being the stragglers of the ... More >>

Facebook Friends, Change.org Rally to Prevent Deportation of Man They Don't Even Know

An L.A. college student organized an online campaign to prevent a man she never meant from being deported ... and it worked, at least according to the group change.org. Jackie Mahendra, director of the org's immigrants rights campaign, told the Weekly today that L.A.'s own Jamie Alegre saw via Face ... More >>

John & Ken Broadcast Cellphone Number of L.A. Immigrants Rights Director, Invite Onslaught of Racist Voicemails

Did John & Ken take the skewerfest too far this time?​KFI radio personalities John & Ken, who spoon-feed SoCal's uber-conservatives (and, unfortunately, 1 million more Americans) exactly what they want to hear for a living, are usually pretty harmless. Perpetuating a culture of hate and fear f ... More >>

DREAM Act (Part II) Passes State Legislature, Ready to Be Signed by California Governor

Associated PressAssemblyman Gil Cedillo celebrated the passage of Part I of the DREAM Act just last month.​Taxpayer dollars to fund the college careers of illegal immigrants? Yes, please!, said both the California State Senate and Assembly this week, giving their blessing to the DREAM Act's c ... More >>

Deportations Halted for DREAM Act Students, Moms With Babies, Crime Victims, Longtime Residents (and Pretty Much Everyone Else)

OK, fine. You can stay.​Coming out of the closet party, anyone? After three years of insisting he had no power to do so, Obama (or, more specifically, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano) has ordered the courts to sift through over 300,000 pending deportation cases and ... More >>

Juan P. Garcia-Machado, Illegal Immigrant and SDSU Student, Is Reportedly Employed by State Capitol, Has Advised Politicians

LinkedInJuan P. Garcia Machado​Looks like the California government can now be added to the list of employers who have hired illegal immigrants. The employee's name is Juan P. Garcia-Machado, a San Diego State University student set to graduate in 2012. And from the looks of his NBC LA profil ... More >>

DREAM Act Signed by California Governor Jerry Brown; Illegal Immigrants to Receive Financial Aid

CHIRLAJerry Brown, after the signing.​Yet another reason for SoCal Republicans to secede, arriving just a couple weeks after gay history was mandated in K-12 textbooks: The first part of the DREAM Act was signed into law today by Governor Jerry Brown, following years of blockage by former Gove ... More >>

How Not to Get Deported: A Guide for 'Illegal' College Students

Tip: Melt their ICEy hearts​The anti-deportation movement, which has been inching toward the mainstream as of late (against all Arizona odds), just made its boldest move yet: A group of DREAM Act diehards released a manual called "Education Not Deportation: A Guide for Undocumented Youth in R ... More >>

DREAM Act Approved by California State Assembly: If Bill Can Make It Through Senate, Governor Jerry Brown Has Promised to Pass It

​At long last, a small victory for the softest of the pro-immigration bills. The California State Assembly approved the DREAM Act today by a landslide 46-25 vote -- legislation that would allow illegal immigrants who have, against all odds, earned their way into state universities, a chance to ... More >>

Jane Junn: Poll Dancer

President Obama to Be Met in L.A. by Angry Latinos, Armenian Protesters (Including 'System of a Down' Frontman Serj Tankian)

Asbarez.comL.A. Armenians to Obama: Just say it.​Updated after the jump: Obama arrives -- and the riot gear comes out. Update: Obama is prepared for the worst after being sung to by a group of San Franciscans this morning. Apparently they paid $5,000 each to air their outrage that a WikiLeake ... More >>

Poll: Latinos Like Obama Less After His Latin America Tour, Univision Town Hall (Ouch)

Michelle's cheeseball Latina look didn't fool the voters​President Obama made his first major outreach effort to the giant Latino voter block last month, spouting on immigration reform in Latin America and chatting with minority students on Univision about how much standardized tests, like, s ... More >>

Obama en Español: U.S. President Tours Latin America, Talks Chilean Miners, His Own Stellar Immigration Policy (Really?)

The Daily BeastBarack and Michelle, lookin' the part​Updated after the jump: The president makes his last stop in El Salvador. If there's one thing our POTUS can do, it's talk. Barack Obama could talk himself out of Guantanamo Bay through a thick swatch of duct tape. In perfect form, he tur ... More >>

California DREAM Act Proposed (Again) By L.A. State Assemblyman Gil Cedillo: Taxypayer-Funded Student Aid For ... Illegals?

​The national DREAM Act, which would have created a path to permanent residency in the United State for some illegal immigrant college students, might have died in Congress last month. But L.A. state Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, an L.A. Democrat, is reviving his own version of the California DREA ... More >>

FAIRY-y Tales

Halloween Contestants Poke Fun at Meg Whitman's Anti-Dream Act Stance

Jose EsquivelJuana Noriega, of Los Angeles, won't let Meg Whitman "kill" her dreams​ Meg Whitman haters gathered at downtown 's Placita Olvera for some early Halloween fun by hosting a "Meg the Dream Killer" costume contest that takes a swipe at the gubernatorial hopeful's immigrant-bashing po ... More >>

Make a Run for the Altar

With immigration reform stalled, some young, assimilated illegal immigrants are entering sham marriages with a little help from their friends