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Of all the GOP candidates, Mitt Romney staked out the most extreme immigration positions during the Republican primary. He said his immigration plan would be to make undocumented immigrants “ self-deport ,” and he vowed to veto the DREAM Act. Since he effectively locked up the nomination, however, Romney tried to distance himself from his earlier hardline stances, and a Republican Party official even tried to claim that Romney is “ still deciding what his position on immigration is.” But Romney is still losing among Latino voters by an enormous (and widening) margin

Tags: arizona, congress, economy, governor, immigration, jan brewer, lgbt, media, russell pearce, security, tweets

The Department of Homeland Security’s Secure Communities program is supposed to help prioritize the deportation of undocumented immigrants who commit serious crimes. It formed agreements with state and local police departments to check the fingerprints of every person booked at jails against an immigration database to identify who is undocumented.

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Arizona governor Jan Brewer lashed out at the Obama administration for pulling back “on a program known as 287(g) , which allows the feds to deputize local officials to make immigration-based arrests” following the Supreme Court’s decision invalidating substantial sections of SB 1070. “Guess what he’s telling us is Arizona, ‘you’re on your own. Take it or leave it.

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Thursday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) announced that her state would become the latest to devote its portion of funds from the $25 billion mortgage fraud settlement to balancing the state budget . The funds were intended to go toward relief for struggling homeowners, but Brewer and the state legislature will use $50 million of its funds elsewhere. Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva (D) isn’t pleased with Brewer or the legislature and said as much Friday, saying Brewer took away “the once chance” homeowners had “to get some help,” The Nation reports : “Working families were given the short end of the stick, and now Gov. Brewer and the Legislature won’t even let them have that,” Grijalva said. “ This decision takes away the one chance Arizonans had to get some help navigating the banking bureaucracy that greased the skids on millions of foreclosures. It’s a clear statement of principles, that’s for sure .” Arizona has been torched by the housing crisis — it lead the nation in foreclosures in March, and nearly half of its homeowners are underwater, the second most in the country. According to the Arizona Housing Alliance, the $50 million could help as many as 85,000 homeowners. Instead, it will go toward balancing a state budget that hands out more than a half-billion dollars in corporate tax cuts.

Tags: archives, arizona, author, conservatives, housing, industry, jan brewer, jobs, mitt-romney, raul grijalva

In a stunning reversal, the Arizona Supreme Court tonight reversed an attempted power grab by Gov. Jan Brewer (R) and her Republican colleagues in the state legislature. Last month, the state Senate took up Brewer’s push to impeach Colleen Mathis, the chairwoman of Arizona’s independent bipartisan redistricting commission. Even Brewer herself couldn’t explain how Mathis had exhibited “neglect of duty and gross misconduct,” the only grounds for impeachment in Arizona. Indeed, Mathis’ only real “crime” appears to be that she led a commission which drew a new congressional map with more competitive districts than had existed previously. However, justice prevailed tonight as the Arizona Supreme Court rebuffed Brewer and decided to reinstate Mathis to lead the commission: The Arizona Supreme Court Thursday evening reinstated the chairwoman of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, rebuffing Gov. Jan Brewer’s unprecedented action earlier this month. The ruling came less than three hours after the court heard arguments on the case, which revolved around the extent to which the commission is free of outside political interference. The court decided the governor’s Nov. 1 removal letter to Colleen Coyle Mathis did not demonstrate “substantial neglect of duty, gross misconduct in office or inability to discharge the duties of office.” Now Mathis and the commission will resume their duty to finalize Arizona’s new congressional district maps. As Daily Kos notes , the group “published draft congressional and legislative maps last month, and since then, the commissioners have been hearing public feedback and have indicated that they plan to make changes to the maps in response.” Barring any more unconstitutional power grabs from Brewer, the commission will then be able to finalize the map in advance of next year’s election.

Tags: arizona, daily kos, economy, jan brewer, lgbt, november-2011, scott-keyes, tweets

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) has been under fire recently for her dramatic political move to interfere with the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission. Annoyed that the commission did not redraw congressional districts to benefit Republicans, Brewer convinced the GOP-controlled state Senate to impeach the commission’s independent chairwoman , Colleen Mathis. State officials are only supposed to be impeached for “neglect of duty and gross misconduct.” But during an interview this week on Alan Colmes’ radio show, Brewer became completely incoherent when trying to defend her actions. She could not explain what offenses Mathis had committed that could possibly justify her impeachment: COLMES: What did Colleen do that was inappropriate, Colleen Mathis ? BREWER: Well she acted, uh, inappropriately . Well it was very, pretty much obvious that she in communications, and doing things, uh, not in the public, and the people of Arizona deserve that – COLMES: You mean she was doing things secretly? Like what? BREWER: They just simply need to operate in a lawful and open fashion… COLMES: I’m trying to understand what she did. What are you accusing her of having done? BREWER: Well she wasn’t operating in the proper manner. Listen here: The Huffington Post reported that Brewer moved to impeach Mathis after being lobbied by incumbent GOP congressmen who wanted to protect their seats. Democrats have been calling for Brewer herself to be ousted for such an egregious attempt to compromise the integrity of the democratic process to rig elections for the GOP.

Tags: alabama, arizona, feeds, green, health, huffington-post, jan brewer, marie-diamond, redistricting, security, yglesias