On Feb. 4, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona's Maricopa County marched shackled immigrants in black-striped jail uniforms through the streets of Phoenix from the Durango Jail to a new Tent City he has erected to hold them, surrounded by an electric fence. The degrading spectacle was a blatant publicity stunt to promote Arpaio's new Fox Reality Channel TV program. Meanwhile, Arizona's ex-Gov. Janet Napolitano, the new Homeland Security secretary, has called for a review of immigration enforcement measures—including 287g, which allows local police to enforce federal civil immigration law. Maricopa County has entered into a 287g agreement with the federal government that gives Sheriff Arpaio broad powers to detain immigrants—whether or not they are accused of committing criminal offenses.

Details are still sketchy of an inmate uprising at a privately-operated federal detention facility in West Texas Jan. 31. Reports in the US and Mexican press suggest the revolt, involving hundreds prisoners at the Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos erupted after complaints of poor medical treatment went unheeded. Initial accounts report the uprising spanned two days, with inmates setting fires and possibly even seizing guards' radio communication equipment. An unidentified Reeves County official earlier told El Diario de El Paso the situation was “dangerous” inside the facility managed by the Geo Group.

In the inevitable analogy to Abraham Lincoln that Barack Obama has deftly exploited, it is largely forgotten that Lincoln was only pushed to an emancipationist position by two years of civil war. Similarly, whether Obama will embrace a more sweeping agenda—re-negotiate NAFTA, nationalize the banks, instate a "Green New Deal"—may depend on how deeply the American system goes into crisis over the next years. Our January Exit Poll was: "Will Barack Obama be radicalized in office by historical circumstance as Lincoln was?" We received the following responses:

A deported Mexican woman who took sanctuary in a Chicago church to highlight immigrants' rights is asking President Barack Obama to call a halt to immigration raids. Elvira Arellano says she is hopeful that Obama will help pass an immigration reform that stops dividing families. She spoke to reporters outside the US Embassy in Mexico City, where she gave officials a letter asking Obama to sign an executive order stopping the raids and deportations. (AP, Jan. 22)

In an opinion released late on Jan. 7, Attorney General Michael Mukasey wrote that "neither the Constitution nor any statutory or regulatory provision entitles an alien to a do-over if his initial removal proceeding is prejudiced by the mistakes of a privately retained lawyer." The ruling came in the case of three people ordered deported who said their cases had been hurt by attorney errors. Mukasey's ruling is binding over the immigration courts, which are part of the Department of Justice rather than the judiciary. Immigrant advocates said they expected the ruling to be challenged in federal appeals courts. Until recently the Board of Immigration Appeals, the highest review panel within the immigration system, had generally found that immigrants whose lawyers had made critical errors could seek to reopen their cases on constitutional grounds. (New York Times, Jan. 8)

From Dec. 14 to Dec. 18, ICE agents from three local fugitive operations teams arrested 84 immigrants from Costa Rica, Mexico, Nepal and Nicaragua in the Dallas metropolitan area. The arrests were made in Argyle, Arlington, Balch Springs, The Colony, Carrollton, Dallas, Denton, Duncanville, Farmers Branch, Fort Worth, Garland, Haltom City, Irving, Kennedale, Mesquite, Plano, Richardson and Rowlett. Of the total 84 people arrested, 64 reportedly had final removal orders; the other 20 were out-of-status immigrants encountered during the course of the raids. Forty of the 84 reportedly had criminal histories. ICE was assisted in the operation by the US Marshals Service, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the police departments of Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth, Frisco and Grand Prairie. (ICE news release, Dec. 19)

On Dec. 31, immigration detainees jailed in the South Special Housing Unit at Eloy Detention Center in Eloy, Ariz., began throwing furniture at prison staff and causing property damage in the unit, according to a Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) press release cited in a local news report. At the time of the incident, there were approximately 34 detainees assigned to the Special Housing Unit. According to the news report, staff used chemical agents against the detainees to force them back into their cells. Jail officials placed the entire facility on lockdown status, meaning that detainees were restricted to their cells until further notice.

Oakland, Calif., exploded into violent protests Jan. 7 over the police slaying of 22-year-old African American father of one Oscar Grant. Following a memorial service for Grant at Palma Ceia Baptist Church, it was announced that officer Johannes Mehserle had resigned from the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police force so he would not be forced to testify at an internal hearing. Later in the day, a rally was held at the Fruitvale BART station, where Grant was killed, then marched up International Blvd. towards downtown Oakland. Following skirmishes with police, protesters took over and blocked the intersection of 14th and Broadway for over an hour, with chants of "We are Oscar Grant." When riot police tried to clear the intersection, protesters ran down 14th, smashing the windows of cars and a McDonalds, and torching an SUV.