While last week's presidential election stirred hope among so many Americans, including immigrants, other events in the past few days remind us that the harsh anti-immigrant environment that has evolved in the United States in recent years continues to devastate communities and families.

On Saturday night, an immigrant man named Marcello Lucero who came to the United States 16 years was stabbed to death in a hate crime in Suffolk County, New York. Police say the teenage suspects in the murder were "looking to kill a Hispanic - any Hispanic." Long Island Wins has been covering the story and how the community has responded. Migra Matters, in a post titled "Hate doesn't happen in a vacuum," says: "Over the last few years Suffolk has not only become a center for growing anti-Latino violence, but, along with Hazleton PA, Prince William County VA, and Farmers Branch TX, it has become a principal force in the growing movement for local governments to enact their own immigration law."

Meanwhile, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues to raid immigrant neighborhoods.

Over the weekend, 111 people were arrested and detained during ICE sweeps in Florida. Yesterday, advocates in southern Illinois reported that ICE was conducting door-to-door sweeps in Breese, Illinois, a small town about 60 miles east of St. Louis. Similar raids took place last week in southwest Indiana. There likely are more of these operations happening throughout the country with little media coverage.

Immigrants and advocates are already calling on President-Elect Barack Obama to impose a moratorium on raids. While humane comprehensive immigration reform is the ultimate solution to preserving due process, human rights, and security for all Americans, ending the harsh and fear-inducing policies that endanger men like Marcello Lucero and communities like Breese, Illinois, must happen immediately.