Kaine names resident to Latino board
By Drew Houff The Winchester Star
WINCHESTER — Charlotte Fritts has been named to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s Latino Advisory Board.
She already works on behalf of the area’s growing Hispanic population, serving as the parent liaison for the city school system’s English for Speakers of Other Languages program at the Douglas Community Learning Center.
Her work brought the 28-year-old to the Kaine’s attention.
“The governor is confident in Ms. Fritts and notes that she is eminently qualified for appointment to the Latino Advisory Board,” Kaine’s press secretary Gordon Hickey said in an e-mail Wednesday. “She has a degree in international studies, has taught English as a Second Language, has been a migrant student advocate in Winchester, and has led a life of service to her community.”
Fritts, whose appointment was announced last month, will serve a four-year term through 2012, even though Kaine’s four-year term concludes in January 2010.
She said in a recent interview that her appointment comes as a result of the rapid growth of the Winchester area’s Hispanic population.
In addition to helping Hispanics in the city school system, Fritts has served as an interpreter for after-school programs, the city police department, and the local health department.
“In talking about how the ESL population is reflected in the city schools, we’re certainly in a unique place because of having the community change our approach in some ways to best meet the needs of all students,” Fritts said of her appointment.
“We’re not maybe like places like Fairfax County and other areas of the state that have had an immigrant community for a long time and are better adjusted to things like this,” she said. “We try to do our best with what we have.”
The Latino Advisory Board held its first meeting Feb. 6.
Still to come are a series of group meetings and town hall-style meetings.
Fritts said the town hall meetings will help the board to receive suggestions from Hispanics across the state so that it can offer better guidance to the governor.
“That’s the opportunity for members of the community to use us as a vehicle for communication,” she said.
Change is an issue of concern to her constituents, Fritts said — changes in immigration laws, health programs, and public education.
She said many issues affecting the Hispanic population can be improved through actions at the state level.
State law spells out the role of the advisory board — assisting the governor on issues such as health and education as it relates to the Hispanic population, Fritts said.
As an interpreter, she said, she has become conscious of a variety of issues related just to communication. The tone of someone’s voice, for example, can lead to misunderstandings and confusion.
“We kind of take it for granted that someone can effectively communicate for themselves,” Fritts said. “We forget how powerful it is to speak on your own, and those of us who are interpreters and have command of those languages take that for granted as well.”
She said the ability to communicate effectively is something most English speakers never worry about in this country, but it is a concern among Hispanic citizens, either because they don’t speak the language or have heavy accents.
Fritts said she also hopes to provide insight to the governor’s office about some of the potential effects from cuts in the fiscal year 2010 state budget.
Those adverse effects, while not exclusively harming Hispanics, may prove troublesome because the Latino population may not understand the issues due to language barriers, she said.
Born in Alexandria in 1980, Fritts grew up in Spotsylvania County and returned to Northern Virginia when her parents split up in the late 1980s.
A graduate of Shenandoah University, she has found a home and a career in Winchester.
Fritts’s previous employment included time as a community outreach coordinator for the city government, a migrant-student advocate, a community relations specialist for the Free Medical Clinic of the Northern Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, and an administrative assistant for Valley Health’s Partners in Perinatal Care program.
Katy Pitcock, a facilitator with the Latino Connection, a Winchester-area Hispanic networking group, said Fritts embodies a hard-working attitude, as shown by her service with a number of organizations.
“She has got this natural sense of community,” Pitcock said, noting that Fritts understands things at a deeper level than most.
She praised Fritts for beginning her work as a volunteer while a student at SU, serving as a translator in several circumstances.
“She is a big-picture, local-focus type of person,” Pitcock said.
...www.vlab.virginia.gov
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Education of Latinos hinges on learning English
Is Language the Problem for Most Latino Students?
Education Week
Learning English may be a challenge for some Latinos, but it's not the main educational problem for most of them, argue Patricia Gandara and Frances Contreras in a new book, The Latino Education Crisis: The Consequences of Failed Social Policies. They point out that millions of Latino students speak only English but have really low academic achievement.
Gandara is a professor of education at the University of California, Los Angeles. Contreras is an assistant professor of education at the University of Washington. Gandara is being hosted tomorrow by the American Youth Policy Forum on Capitol Hill for a presentation on her book and discussion about how to address underachievement among Latino students.
Gandara and Contreras argue that a lack of quality of education overall is the main cause for underachievement among Latinos. But at the same time, the authors spend a great deal of time in a chapter, "Is Language the Problem?," discussing how many schools have failed to effectively help English-language learners acquire English. (Keep in mind that 45 percent of Latino students are ELLs, though Gandara and Contreras don't mention this statistic in that chapter.) They imply that many schools have not been as effective as possible by teaching them only in English, and not using native-language instruction.
In addition, they argue that it may not be helpful for educators to consider a student to be either an English-learner or a fluent English speaker. "In reality..." they write, "most Latino students' English skills fall somewhere on a continuum between these two extremes: from speaking English as their first or primary language and being exposed to Spanish in the home or community, to speaking no English and living in a linguistically segregated, Spanish-only setting." They say that most Latino children probably need some kind of extra intervention to achieve the same language proficiency as their native-English peers.
It reminds me how, when I tell Americans that I speak Spanish, they often ask me, "Are you fluent?" I answer, "It depends on what topic I'm talking about. And I speak social Spanish more than academic Spanish."
Gandara and Contreras contend that more mainstream teachers need to be trained in how to address students' language needs. For both English-learners and Latinos who aren't officially in that category, a lack of high-quality instruction is a big factor in their lack of academic achievement, the authors argue.
Education Week
Learning English may be a challenge for some Latinos, but it's not the main educational problem for most of them, argue Patricia Gandara and Frances Contreras in a new book, The Latino Education Crisis: The Consequences of Failed Social Policies. They point out that millions of Latino students speak only English but have really low academic achievement.
Gandara is a professor of education at the University of California, Los Angeles. Contreras is an assistant professor of education at the University of Washington. Gandara is being hosted tomorrow by the American Youth Policy Forum on Capitol Hill for a presentation on her book and discussion about how to address underachievement among Latino students.
Gandara and Contreras argue that a lack of quality of education overall is the main cause for underachievement among Latinos. But at the same time, the authors spend a great deal of time in a chapter, "Is Language the Problem?," discussing how many schools have failed to effectively help English-language learners acquire English. (Keep in mind that 45 percent of Latino students are ELLs, though Gandara and Contreras don't mention this statistic in that chapter.) They imply that many schools have not been as effective as possible by teaching them only in English, and not using native-language instruction.
In addition, they argue that it may not be helpful for educators to consider a student to be either an English-learner or a fluent English speaker. "In reality..." they write, "most Latino students' English skills fall somewhere on a continuum between these two extremes: from speaking English as their first or primary language and being exposed to Spanish in the home or community, to speaking no English and living in a linguistically segregated, Spanish-only setting." They say that most Latino children probably need some kind of extra intervention to achieve the same language proficiency as their native-English peers.
It reminds me how, when I tell Americans that I speak Spanish, they often ask me, "Are you fluent?" I answer, "It depends on what topic I'm talking about. And I speak social Spanish more than academic Spanish."
Gandara and Contreras contend that more mainstream teachers need to be trained in how to address students' language needs. For both English-learners and Latinos who aren't officially in that category, a lack of high-quality instruction is a big factor in their lack of academic achievement, the authors argue.
Discrimination against Latinos fueled by English-only laws
The detrimental effects of English-only laws
Demoting importance of Spanish language undermines diversity
by Eva Rodriguez February 26, 2009
Immigrant integration is the order of the day. It is a topic that makes some uncomfortable, others angry and many baffled by the seriousness it inspires in some. Strong waves of immigration in recent decades in the U.S. have raised the concern of the decay of the apparent core American values.
The Bush Administration formed a sub-division within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security called the Task Force on New Americans, whose goal is to help legal immigrants, in order to become fully Americanized, embrace American values that include the embracement of English as the common language. Congress lawmakers also introduced bill H.R. 6617 called Strengthening Communities through Education and Integration Act,” which would ork under the Department of Homeland Security.
Immigration is a contested topic on any given day in Washington D.C., but it is rarely spoken of candidly. The border wall, health care policies to prohibit access and a myriad of other campaigns obscure the real issue which is that of a broken immigration system and policy. A favorite campaign is the English only provision that has become rhetoric heavy and used by many who erroneously believe it will make immigrants assimilate because they refuse to do so voluntarily.
There are three major arguments that are constantly mentioned in favor of this policy. First, it will increase economic mobility for immigrants; second, it will unify immigrants to mainstream America by embracing our core values; and lastly, it will force those immigrants to assimilate who tend to be reluctant in learning the language.
We live in a global economic society where English and Spanish are constantly ranked second and fourth in the most spoken as well as the most desirable languages, with 508 million people speaking English and 392 million speaking Spanish.
Despite fervent claims to the contrary, census data asserts that most Latino/a immigrants learn and speak English albeit the wellness varies while only 2.5 percent speak Spanish but not English.
Contrary to the claims of bridging gaps, this policy cannot fix the wage gap existent in our economic system. Many studies show that wage gaps are attributed to a multitude of different factors. Economist James P. Smith of Rand Corp. has stated that children and grandchildren of Latino/a immigrants come close to earning only 78 percent of the salaries of mainstream Americans.
Learning English is not a desired goal for those who don’t speak the language, as it will not bridge the wage gap just like it hasn’t for millions who do. Numbers prove that a majority of immigrants are not reluctant to learn the language or integrate themselves into the work force. The problem lies in how this policy attempts to implement a social mandate unnecessary for the economic well being of immigrants. This is not to imply that monolingual citizens have a better opportunity in the economic arena; however it should be noted that immigrants’ economic hardships do not begin nor end with language barriers.
The nationalization of English as the official language will not create immediate social awareness of inequality in order to create equality. If this was the case then any of the 29 states that have declared English the government’s official language would have experienced this assumed social equality.
The concern is primarily focused on the prevalence of core American values such as the integrity of family and citizenship. Census data shows that 62 percent of Latino/a immigrants over the age of 15 are married compared to 52 percent of American-born citizens. Only 6 percent of Latino/a adults are divorced, compared with 10 percent of white and 12 percent of African-Americans. The real issue, it appears, is the lack of correlation between enforcing English and abolishing bilingualism from the public sphere.
Assimilation is another buzzword that keeps floating about as though it should be the most desired maxim for all entering the U.S. Why is linguistic assimilation desired? The continuing influx of Spanish speaking immigrants into the U.S. keeps Latino/a culture alive for a longer period of time than most other cultures of large immigrant groups in the past. This is not a social evil that requires a fix. The debate is not about the pros and cons of undocumented immigration or immigration has ruined the country; instead it is about the lack of merits of having such divisive legislation implemented.
If inclusion is the desired goal then the debate should focus on how many languages should be official since we are a nation of immigrants, and not about English being the only official language. We only need to go as far as Canada as an example, where French and English share the title, or to Guatemala where Spanish and Mayan dialects share the spotlight. If Latinos are the largest minority group and Spanish is the second most spoken language then why is it so absurd to have a dialogue about the inclusion of both?
Educational systems across the world embrace bilingualism as one of the core values, yet we are embracing shadowing other languages that are not only of economic, but also cultural importance in our country. It is necessary to do away with this vague and inaccurate notion that English Only will solve systematic problems in our immigration policies or that it will work as a saving grace for inequality. The more we continue to gloss over the real issues the more we stand to distance ourselves from solving the real social problems of our time rooted on misconceptions as well as systematic and historical inequality.
Demoting importance of Spanish language undermines diversity
by Eva Rodriguez February 26, 2009
Immigrant integration is the order of the day. It is a topic that makes some uncomfortable, others angry and many baffled by the seriousness it inspires in some. Strong waves of immigration in recent decades in the U.S. have raised the concern of the decay of the apparent core American values.
The Bush Administration formed a sub-division within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security called the Task Force on New Americans, whose goal is to help legal immigrants, in order to become fully Americanized, embrace American values that include the embracement of English as the common language. Congress lawmakers also introduced bill H.R. 6617 called Strengthening Communities through Education and Integration Act,” which would ork under the Department of Homeland Security.
Immigration is a contested topic on any given day in Washington D.C., but it is rarely spoken of candidly. The border wall, health care policies to prohibit access and a myriad of other campaigns obscure the real issue which is that of a broken immigration system and policy. A favorite campaign is the English only provision that has become rhetoric heavy and used by many who erroneously believe it will make immigrants assimilate because they refuse to do so voluntarily.
There are three major arguments that are constantly mentioned in favor of this policy. First, it will increase economic mobility for immigrants; second, it will unify immigrants to mainstream America by embracing our core values; and lastly, it will force those immigrants to assimilate who tend to be reluctant in learning the language.
We live in a global economic society where English and Spanish are constantly ranked second and fourth in the most spoken as well as the most desirable languages, with 508 million people speaking English and 392 million speaking Spanish.
Despite fervent claims to the contrary, census data asserts that most Latino/a immigrants learn and speak English albeit the wellness varies while only 2.5 percent speak Spanish but not English.
Contrary to the claims of bridging gaps, this policy cannot fix the wage gap existent in our economic system. Many studies show that wage gaps are attributed to a multitude of different factors. Economist James P. Smith of Rand Corp. has stated that children and grandchildren of Latino/a immigrants come close to earning only 78 percent of the salaries of mainstream Americans.
Learning English is not a desired goal for those who don’t speak the language, as it will not bridge the wage gap just like it hasn’t for millions who do. Numbers prove that a majority of immigrants are not reluctant to learn the language or integrate themselves into the work force. The problem lies in how this policy attempts to implement a social mandate unnecessary for the economic well being of immigrants. This is not to imply that monolingual citizens have a better opportunity in the economic arena; however it should be noted that immigrants’ economic hardships do not begin nor end with language barriers.
The nationalization of English as the official language will not create immediate social awareness of inequality in order to create equality. If this was the case then any of the 29 states that have declared English the government’s official language would have experienced this assumed social equality.
The concern is primarily focused on the prevalence of core American values such as the integrity of family and citizenship. Census data shows that 62 percent of Latino/a immigrants over the age of 15 are married compared to 52 percent of American-born citizens. Only 6 percent of Latino/a adults are divorced, compared with 10 percent of white and 12 percent of African-Americans. The real issue, it appears, is the lack of correlation between enforcing English and abolishing bilingualism from the public sphere.
Assimilation is another buzzword that keeps floating about as though it should be the most desired maxim for all entering the U.S. Why is linguistic assimilation desired? The continuing influx of Spanish speaking immigrants into the U.S. keeps Latino/a culture alive for a longer period of time than most other cultures of large immigrant groups in the past. This is not a social evil that requires a fix. The debate is not about the pros and cons of undocumented immigration or immigration has ruined the country; instead it is about the lack of merits of having such divisive legislation implemented.
If inclusion is the desired goal then the debate should focus on how many languages should be official since we are a nation of immigrants, and not about English being the only official language. We only need to go as far as Canada as an example, where French and English share the title, or to Guatemala where Spanish and Mayan dialects share the spotlight. If Latinos are the largest minority group and Spanish is the second most spoken language then why is it so absurd to have a dialogue about the inclusion of both?
Educational systems across the world embrace bilingualism as one of the core values, yet we are embracing shadowing other languages that are not only of economic, but also cultural importance in our country. It is necessary to do away with this vague and inaccurate notion that English Only will solve systematic problems in our immigration policies or that it will work as a saving grace for inequality. The more we continue to gloss over the real issues the more we stand to distance ourselves from solving the real social problems of our time rooted on misconceptions as well as systematic and historical inequality.
Hispanic immigrant stories helps advocates legislate
Latino advocates taking testimony from families
JOURNAL WIRE REPORT February 28, 2009
Latino legislators and advocates are traveling to churches in 17 cities to collect stories from families who have been hurt by current immigration policies.
"We can no longer wait to take action that will help keep families in our communities together and ensure a safe and secure nation," said Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The National Family Unity Campaign began yesterday in Providence, R.I., and will stretch coast-to-coast before concluding April 4 in Philadelphia.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., created the model for this campaign, which will also include the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders (CONLAMIC).
"We are going to focus on families and put this in a biblical, moral perspective," Gutierrez told the Associated Press.
JOURNAL WIRE REPORT February 28, 2009
Latino legislators and advocates are traveling to churches in 17 cities to collect stories from families who have been hurt by current immigration policies.
"We can no longer wait to take action that will help keep families in our communities together and ensure a safe and secure nation," said Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The National Family Unity Campaign began yesterday in Providence, R.I., and will stretch coast-to-coast before concluding April 4 in Philadelphia.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., created the model for this campaign, which will also include the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders (CONLAMIC).
"We are going to focus on families and put this in a biblical, moral perspective," Gutierrez told the Associated Press.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Latina legislator, Icon, loses failing health battle
Nell Soto dies at 82; California state senator championed environmental protection
By Sam Quinones
Los Angeles Times February 27, 2009
Nell Soto, who worked in citrus groves as a Depression-era child and rose to become a California state senator and among the first Latino officials to fight for environmental protection, died Thursday. She was 82.
Soto, one of the first Latino women elected to statewide office from the Inland Empire, died at Woods Health Services in La Verne of complications from a stroke suffered in December.
She retired from public office last year after months of failing health.
In a statement Thursday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called Soto "a devoted public servant who committed her life to improving the lives of others in her community."
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called her "a passionate leader and a principled voice."
She followed her late husband, Phil, a pioneer in California Latino politics who served as an assemblyman in the mid-1960s.
Nell Soto served on the Pomona City Council from 1987 to 1998. But in 1993, she took the step that would characterize her career when she was appointed to the Air Quality Management District board.
Few Latino politicians had made a career of championing environmental protection. But Soto had watched Pomona Valley air pollution grow increasingly severe.
"She always reminded me, the first real environmentalists were Latinos because they were exposed . . . to all the chemicals" while working in the fields, said her son Tom.
In 2004, as a Democratic state senator, she formed a task force to help water districts in Fontana, Rialto and Colton address perchlorate contamination of groundwater.
"She was able to get Sen. [Dianne] Feinstein to deliver $20 million to [the] Inland Empire to buy replacement water" and clean up the pollution, her son said. "That was probably one of her last great efforts."
For many years, her political career was spent in the shadow of her husband.
He died in 1997. The next year, at 72, she won a seat in the state Assembly. Before the middle of her first term, Rep. George Brown died. State Sen. Joe Baca ran to replace him. She, in turn, won a special election to replace Baca.
Although her son Tom is a gay Democratic activist, she earned the gay community's ire in 1999 when, under attack from conservative and pro-family groups, she switched her vote on a proposal that would have protected gay students from harassment. The measure failed in the state Assembly by one vote.
Soto was born in Pomona on June 16, 1926, to a family that had lived in the area for six generations.
During World War II, she worked in a factory that made crates for bombs and another that made parachutes.
Also during the war, she met Phil Soto, a soldier on leave from Okinawa, Japan. They were married in 1946.
The couple ran television repair businesses in the city of Commerce and in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County. They organized a campaign to incorporate the area, which is now the city of La Puente. Phil Soto became the town's first mayor.
In 1977, the family moved to Nell Soto's hometown of Pomona.
sam.quinones@latimes.com
By Sam Quinones
Los Angeles Times February 27, 2009
Nell Soto, who worked in citrus groves as a Depression-era child and rose to become a California state senator and among the first Latino officials to fight for environmental protection, died Thursday. She was 82.
Soto, one of the first Latino women elected to statewide office from the Inland Empire, died at Woods Health Services in La Verne of complications from a stroke suffered in December.
She retired from public office last year after months of failing health.
In a statement Thursday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called Soto "a devoted public servant who committed her life to improving the lives of others in her community."
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called her "a passionate leader and a principled voice."
She followed her late husband, Phil, a pioneer in California Latino politics who served as an assemblyman in the mid-1960s.
Nell Soto served on the Pomona City Council from 1987 to 1998. But in 1993, she took the step that would characterize her career when she was appointed to the Air Quality Management District board.
Few Latino politicians had made a career of championing environmental protection. But Soto had watched Pomona Valley air pollution grow increasingly severe.
"She always reminded me, the first real environmentalists were Latinos because they were exposed . . . to all the chemicals" while working in the fields, said her son Tom.
In 2004, as a Democratic state senator, she formed a task force to help water districts in Fontana, Rialto and Colton address perchlorate contamination of groundwater.
"She was able to get Sen. [Dianne] Feinstein to deliver $20 million to [the] Inland Empire to buy replacement water" and clean up the pollution, her son said. "That was probably one of her last great efforts."
For many years, her political career was spent in the shadow of her husband.
He died in 1997. The next year, at 72, she won a seat in the state Assembly. Before the middle of her first term, Rep. George Brown died. State Sen. Joe Baca ran to replace him. She, in turn, won a special election to replace Baca.
Although her son Tom is a gay Democratic activist, she earned the gay community's ire in 1999 when, under attack from conservative and pro-family groups, she switched her vote on a proposal that would have protected gay students from harassment. The measure failed in the state Assembly by one vote.
Soto was born in Pomona on June 16, 1926, to a family that had lived in the area for six generations.
During World War II, she worked in a factory that made crates for bombs and another that made parachutes.
Also during the war, she met Phil Soto, a soldier on leave from Okinawa, Japan. They were married in 1946.
The couple ran television repair businesses in the city of Commerce and in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County. They organized a campaign to incorporate the area, which is now the city of La Puente. Phil Soto became the town's first mayor.
In 1977, the family moved to Nell Soto's hometown of Pomona.
sam.quinones@latimes.com
Hispanic Group to honor Senators
NCLR TO HONOR SEN. EDWARD M. KENNEDY, SEN. MEL MARTINEZ, AND MIAMI WORKERS CENTER AT THE 2009 NCLR CAPITAL AWARDS GALA
PRESS RELEASE
Washington, DC—The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, will honor Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D–MA) and Senator Mel Martinez (R–FL) at the 2009 NCLR Capital Awards gala. NCLR’s 22nd annual Capital Awards will be held at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Washington, DC, on Tuesday, March 3, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
The Capital Award recognizes members of Congress from both sides of the aisle for their outstanding support of public policies that are vital to Hispanic Americans. In addition, the Capital Award for Public Service honors others outside of Washington who courageously and tirelessly advocate on behalf of the Latino community.
Senator Kennedy and Senator Martinez will be honored for their leadership on issues of concern to the Hispanic community. NCLR will also present the Capital Award for Public Service to Miami Workers Center for its civic engagement efforts during the 2008 presidential election. A special guest speaker of the evening will be Congresswoman and Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Nydia Velázquez (D–NY). Congresswoman Velázquez will provide remarks on the historic role Hispanics played in the 2008 presidential election.
“Senator Edward Kennedy has been at the forefront of every major debate affecting the Latino community, including comprehensive immigration reform, increasing educational opportunities for English language learners, and improving the country’s health care system,” said Janet Murguía, NCLR President and CEO. “No senator in history has supported more legislation that will improve the lives of our community than Senator Kennedy.”
Murguía continued, “Senator Martinez overcame difficult challenges and is a trailblazer for the Latino community.” He came to the U.S. as a child without his parents through Operation Peter Pan and went on to become Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a U.S. senator, and the first Latino to lead the Republican National Committee. He has also played an integral role in the comprehensive immigration reform debate.
“The Miami Workers Center played an important role in the 2008 presidential election, mobilizing thousands of Latinos to engage in the democratic process. We applaud this organization for its continued efforts to inspire members of our community and participate in the civic process.”
To reserve a ticket or table sponsorship for the 2009 NCLR Capital Awards gala, please call (800) 311-NCLR or send an email to sponsorships@nclr.org.
PRESS RELEASE
Washington, DC—The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, will honor Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D–MA) and Senator Mel Martinez (R–FL) at the 2009 NCLR Capital Awards gala. NCLR’s 22nd annual Capital Awards will be held at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Washington, DC, on Tuesday, March 3, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
The Capital Award recognizes members of Congress from both sides of the aisle for their outstanding support of public policies that are vital to Hispanic Americans. In addition, the Capital Award for Public Service honors others outside of Washington who courageously and tirelessly advocate on behalf of the Latino community.
Senator Kennedy and Senator Martinez will be honored for their leadership on issues of concern to the Hispanic community. NCLR will also present the Capital Award for Public Service to Miami Workers Center for its civic engagement efforts during the 2008 presidential election. A special guest speaker of the evening will be Congresswoman and Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Nydia Velázquez (D–NY). Congresswoman Velázquez will provide remarks on the historic role Hispanics played in the 2008 presidential election.
“Senator Edward Kennedy has been at the forefront of every major debate affecting the Latino community, including comprehensive immigration reform, increasing educational opportunities for English language learners, and improving the country’s health care system,” said Janet Murguía, NCLR President and CEO. “No senator in history has supported more legislation that will improve the lives of our community than Senator Kennedy.”
Murguía continued, “Senator Martinez overcame difficult challenges and is a trailblazer for the Latino community.” He came to the U.S. as a child without his parents through Operation Peter Pan and went on to become Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a U.S. senator, and the first Latino to lead the Republican National Committee. He has also played an integral role in the comprehensive immigration reform debate.
“The Miami Workers Center played an important role in the 2008 presidential election, mobilizing thousands of Latinos to engage in the democratic process. We applaud this organization for its continued efforts to inspire members of our community and participate in the civic process.”
To reserve a ticket or table sponsorship for the 2009 NCLR Capital Awards gala, please call (800) 311-NCLR or send an email to sponsorships@nclr.org.
Hispanic Caucus to meet with new Homeland Security Chief
Napolitano to meet with Hispanic Caucus
MARKET WATCH
WASHINGTON, Feb 25, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is to meet with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Thursday to discuss immigration reform, sources say.
The Hill reported Wednesday that at the closed-door Capitol Hill meeting Napolitano, the former Arizona governor, is expected to be peppered with questions about changes to strict immigration policies that existed under former President George W. Bush's administration.
Critics say they were opposed to the Bush administration's "criminalization" of illegal immigration, The Hill reported.
The newspaper also said caucus members also want to talk to Napolitano about Obama's choice of her deputy secretary to lead the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, John Morton.
A Homeland Security news release said Morton has "lengthy experience in immigration enforcement and criminal prosecution," having been responsible for the prosecution of criminal cases and the development of Justice Department immigration crime policy.
MARKET WATCH
WASHINGTON, Feb 25, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is to meet with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Thursday to discuss immigration reform, sources say.
The Hill reported Wednesday that at the closed-door Capitol Hill meeting Napolitano, the former Arizona governor, is expected to be peppered with questions about changes to strict immigration policies that existed under former President George W. Bush's administration.
Critics say they were opposed to the Bush administration's "criminalization" of illegal immigration, The Hill reported.
The newspaper also said caucus members also want to talk to Napolitano about Obama's choice of her deputy secretary to lead the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, John Morton.
A Homeland Security news release said Morton has "lengthy experience in immigration enforcement and criminal prosecution," having been responsible for the prosecution of criminal cases and the development of Justice Department immigration crime policy.
Hispanic student education key discussion topic
Speaker: Focus should be on Hispanic students' success
By MARK LAWTON mlawton@pioneerlocal.com February 26, 2009
Hispanic students in Illinois, particularly in high school, tend to score lower on state tests, like the ISAT and PSAE. Lourdes Ferrer would like to change that.
Ferrer, a nationally known expert in Hispanic educational achievement, spoke Feb. 18 at Hester Junior High School in Franklin Park about ways Hispanic students can succeed.
"We are the largest minority in the United States," Ferrer said. "In terms of academics, we're staying behind."
In 2008, Hispanic students lagged three points behind white and Asian students in math and 34 points in reading on state tests, according to statistics supplied by Ferrer.
There are several reasons for this, Ferrer said.
Students may lack proficiency in English, sometimes parents are not available to supervise children, and sometimes students are not documented.
"They can't hold a driver's license," Ferrer said. "They can't get financial aid. Without those it's difficult to pursue a career."
Students with undocumented parents also might be under emotional pressure, in constant fear they might lose their parents.
Negative attitudes toward Hispanics is another hindrance, Ferrer said.
"It hurts emotionally," Ferrer said. "They feel inadequate."
Sometimes students have an inadequate academic background, and parents may not be sufficiently involved in their children's education due to not having language skills or not knowing how the education system works.
The poor economy also has a disproportionate effect on Hispanics and blacks, Ferrer said.
To overcome these obstacles, Ferrer suggests helping Hispanic children become competent in English.
Family members should plant in children's minds that they have to pursue college, and make sure the children's focus is not just to finish high school and find work.
Parents also need to learn how to navigate the American education system, she said.
"If we don't understand it, we can't monitor kids' education," Ferrer said.
Parents shouldn't allow the challenges they face to distance them from their kids.
"Sometimes we're consumed by emotional, social, economic and psychological needs and we don't give attention to the need to our children," Ferrer said.
And don't allow negative perceptions toward Hispanics to affect them negatively.
"Some people think all Hispanics are undocumented," Ferrer said. "It's important children feel proud of who they are, their heritage and culture.
The American education system is like a tricycle, Ferrer said.
"The front wheel is the child, the back two are the teacher and parents," she said. "The American education system cannot function properly unless parents are involved.
"I truly believe a quality education leads to a quality life," Ferrer concluded. "We come to this country because we want to give our children a better future."
By MARK LAWTON mlawton@pioneerlocal.com February 26, 2009
Hispanic students in Illinois, particularly in high school, tend to score lower on state tests, like the ISAT and PSAE. Lourdes Ferrer would like to change that.
Ferrer, a nationally known expert in Hispanic educational achievement, spoke Feb. 18 at Hester Junior High School in Franklin Park about ways Hispanic students can succeed.
"We are the largest minority in the United States," Ferrer said. "In terms of academics, we're staying behind."
In 2008, Hispanic students lagged three points behind white and Asian students in math and 34 points in reading on state tests, according to statistics supplied by Ferrer.
There are several reasons for this, Ferrer said.
Students may lack proficiency in English, sometimes parents are not available to supervise children, and sometimes students are not documented.
"They can't hold a driver's license," Ferrer said. "They can't get financial aid. Without those it's difficult to pursue a career."
Students with undocumented parents also might be under emotional pressure, in constant fear they might lose their parents.
Negative attitudes toward Hispanics is another hindrance, Ferrer said.
"It hurts emotionally," Ferrer said. "They feel inadequate."
Sometimes students have an inadequate academic background, and parents may not be sufficiently involved in their children's education due to not having language skills or not knowing how the education system works.
The poor economy also has a disproportionate effect on Hispanics and blacks, Ferrer said.
To overcome these obstacles, Ferrer suggests helping Hispanic children become competent in English.
Family members should plant in children's minds that they have to pursue college, and make sure the children's focus is not just to finish high school and find work.
Parents also need to learn how to navigate the American education system, she said.
"If we don't understand it, we can't monitor kids' education," Ferrer said.
Parents shouldn't allow the challenges they face to distance them from their kids.
"Sometimes we're consumed by emotional, social, economic and psychological needs and we don't give attention to the need to our children," Ferrer said.
And don't allow negative perceptions toward Hispanics to affect them negatively.
"Some people think all Hispanics are undocumented," Ferrer said. "It's important children feel proud of who they are, their heritage and culture.
The American education system is like a tricycle, Ferrer said.
"The front wheel is the child, the back two are the teacher and parents," she said. "The American education system cannot function properly unless parents are involved.
"I truly believe a quality education leads to a quality life," Ferrer concluded. "We come to this country because we want to give our children a better future."
Latino population growth fuels city's growth
Latinos Fuel Chattanooga Population Growth
NEWS CHANNEL 9 February 26, 2009
A new report by the Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies has found that Chattanooga's growing population has been fueled by a rising number of Latinos, young children and adults between the ages of 45 and 64 years old.
The report, Demographic Change in the Chattanooga Region, is based on information from the Census Bureau, the U.S. Postal Service, building permits, school enrollment data and other information collected and analyzed by the Ochs Center as part of the 2008 State of Chattanooga Region Report.
"For years, the question in Chattanooga was whether declines in population would ever end. Now that the city is a growing center of a growing region, the question is what factors are fueling the increases in population," said David Eichenthal, President and CEO of the Ochs Center.
In 2007, the Ochs Center (then the Community Research Council) called on Chattanooga officials to challenge Census estimates that suggested the City's population was unchanged or declining since 2000. The City's successful challenge led the Census Bureau to revise its estimates to show a significant increase in the City's population.
Demographic Change highlights the unique and historic turnaround in the city's population. Chattanooga is one of twenty U.S. cities with a population of 100,000 or more to have lost - or to be on track to lose -- ten percent or more of its population in a decade since 1980. Of these declining cities, Chattanooga is the only one to have successfully turned around its population losses to the point of exceeding its prior peak population year. More people live in Chattanooga today than ever before.
Other key findings of Demographic Change include:
- Between 2000 and 2007, population growth in Chattanooga (9.2%) has outpaced the six county metropolitan statistical area (8.0%) and Hamilton County (7.2%). Population growth in Chattanooga accounted for more than 37% of the population increase in the region.
- Latinos are the fastest growing population subgroup in the region, Hamilton County and Chattanooga. Among younger Latinos, public school enrollment across the region more than tripled between 2001 and 2008 while the number of white children (-2.1%) and African American children (-1.9%) in public schools declined.
- In Hamilton County, the growing number of births and declining number of deaths accounted for one-quarter of the overall population growth. For example, in 2006, there were more births in Hamilton County than in any year since 1990 and fewer deaths than in any year since 1999.
- Population increase in Chattanooga crossed racial and ethnic lines, with the number of Latinos (45%), whites (9.9%) and African Americans (9.3%) in the city all increasing since 2000. The increase in the city's white population - if sustained until 2010 - would be the first decade since 1980 when the number of whites residing in the city has increased: between 1980 and 2000, the white population in Chattanooga declined by 19.1%.
- The number of Chattanooga residents between the ages of 45 and 64 years old has increased by 29.9% since 2000. Population growth in this subpopulation accounts for three-quarters of the city's overall population growth. By comparison, nationally, the number of 45 to 64 year olds increased 23.6%.
- While the number of residents under the age of 18 grew by 4.3%, the number of young children - those under five - increased by 13.3% in Chattanooga. By comparison, nationally, the number of children under five increased 8.1%.
Coinciding with the release of its new study, the Ochs Center also announced that key data from the 2008 State of Chattanooga Region Report.
"While understanding the big population trends for the region and for the city is essential for policymakers and the public, we know that place matters within Hamilton County. Our website will now provide a one stop shop for people interested in how their part of the county is doing when it comes to crime, education and housing and how it compares to the rest of the county," said Eichenthal.
NEWS CHANNEL 9 February 26, 2009
A new report by the Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies has found that Chattanooga's growing population has been fueled by a rising number of Latinos, young children and adults between the ages of 45 and 64 years old.
The report, Demographic Change in the Chattanooga Region, is based on information from the Census Bureau, the U.S. Postal Service, building permits, school enrollment data and other information collected and analyzed by the Ochs Center as part of the 2008 State of Chattanooga Region Report.
"For years, the question in Chattanooga was whether declines in population would ever end. Now that the city is a growing center of a growing region, the question is what factors are fueling the increases in population," said David Eichenthal, President and CEO of the Ochs Center.
In 2007, the Ochs Center (then the Community Research Council) called on Chattanooga officials to challenge Census estimates that suggested the City's population was unchanged or declining since 2000. The City's successful challenge led the Census Bureau to revise its estimates to show a significant increase in the City's population.
Demographic Change highlights the unique and historic turnaround in the city's population. Chattanooga is one of twenty U.S. cities with a population of 100,000 or more to have lost - or to be on track to lose -- ten percent or more of its population in a decade since 1980. Of these declining cities, Chattanooga is the only one to have successfully turned around its population losses to the point of exceeding its prior peak population year. More people live in Chattanooga today than ever before.
Other key findings of Demographic Change include:
- Between 2000 and 2007, population growth in Chattanooga (9.2%) has outpaced the six county metropolitan statistical area (8.0%) and Hamilton County (7.2%). Population growth in Chattanooga accounted for more than 37% of the population increase in the region.
- Latinos are the fastest growing population subgroup in the region, Hamilton County and Chattanooga. Among younger Latinos, public school enrollment across the region more than tripled between 2001 and 2008 while the number of white children (-2.1%) and African American children (-1.9%) in public schools declined.
- In Hamilton County, the growing number of births and declining number of deaths accounted for one-quarter of the overall population growth. For example, in 2006, there were more births in Hamilton County than in any year since 1990 and fewer deaths than in any year since 1999.
- Population increase in Chattanooga crossed racial and ethnic lines, with the number of Latinos (45%), whites (9.9%) and African Americans (9.3%) in the city all increasing since 2000. The increase in the city's white population - if sustained until 2010 - would be the first decade since 1980 when the number of whites residing in the city has increased: between 1980 and 2000, the white population in Chattanooga declined by 19.1%.
- The number of Chattanooga residents between the ages of 45 and 64 years old has increased by 29.9% since 2000. Population growth in this subpopulation accounts for three-quarters of the city's overall population growth. By comparison, nationally, the number of 45 to 64 year olds increased 23.6%.
- While the number of residents under the age of 18 grew by 4.3%, the number of young children - those under five - increased by 13.3% in Chattanooga. By comparison, nationally, the number of children under five increased 8.1%.
Coinciding with the release of its new study, the Ochs Center also announced that key data from the 2008 State of Chattanooga Region Report.
"While understanding the big population trends for the region and for the city is essential for policymakers and the public, we know that place matters within Hamilton County. Our website will now provide a one stop shop for people interested in how their part of the county is doing when it comes to crime, education and housing and how it compares to the rest of the county," said Eichenthal.
Latina legislator seeks for humane treatment of immigrants
House Bill Adopts Humane And Enforceable Standards For Immigration Detention Facilities
Roybal-Allard’s Legislation Guarantees Protection From Forcible Drugging And Inhumane Detention, Says ACLU
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON – In the wake of three immigration detainee deaths over the last six months, Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) introduced legislation today to adopt humane and legally enforceable standards for immigration detention facilities. The need for Congress to pass such legislation is underscored by recent deaths of immigration detainees in Monroe, Louisiana, Farmville, Virginia and Central Falls, Rhode Island. This bill, H.R. 1215, Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act of 2009, provides basic protections for immigration detainees including access to medical care, phones, legal materials, and law libraries. It also ensures protections for unaccompanied children, sexual abuse victims, survivors of torture, families with children and other vulnerable populations.
"Unfortunately, the federal government has failed to exercise meaningful oversight of immigration detention facilities nationwide,” said Joanne Lin, ACLU Legislative Counsel. “The ACLU regularly receives complaints from immigration detainees whose cries for medical care go unanswered. All too often, the ACLU learns of detainees who have died from both serious diseases such as cancer and mundane conditions such as bacterial infections when earlier intervention could have made a difference. Congress Roybal-Allard’s bill is necessary to introduce oversight and transparency into the immigration detention system.”
In recent years, the immigration detainee population has skyrocketed, now exceeding over 300,000 annually and approximately 30,000 daily. The explosion in immigration detention has been accompanied by growing numbers of immigration detainee deaths, numbering nearly 90 since the establishment of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2002. Many of these deaths involved young detainees in their 20s and 30s, with U.S. citizen spouses and children.
The cases of ACLU clients Raymond Soeoth and Amadou Diouf. both of whom were immigration detainees, highlight the importance of this legislation as a safeguard against forcible drugging. Both detainees were forcibly injected with a combination of antipsychotic drugs even though neither had a history of mental illness. Soeoth, a Christian minister from Indonesia, sought political asylum in America based on religious persecution. Diouf, a native of Senegal married to a U.S. citizen, had a stay of deportation at the time he was drugged. After the ACLU of Southern California filed a lawsuit, the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) ended its policy of forcibly drugging deportees, but stopped short of issuing regulations that would have given the new policy the force of a strictly enforced law.
“This bill will help protect the heath and welfare of anyone imprisoned by Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, Director of Immigrants’ Rights and National Security for the ACLU of Southern California. “If passed, this legislation should help ICE change its institutional culture and become more accountable, paving the way for the humane treatment of those in immigration detention.”
Roybal-Allard’s Legislation Guarantees Protection From Forcible Drugging And Inhumane Detention, Says ACLU
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON – In the wake of three immigration detainee deaths over the last six months, Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) introduced legislation today to adopt humane and legally enforceable standards for immigration detention facilities. The need for Congress to pass such legislation is underscored by recent deaths of immigration detainees in Monroe, Louisiana, Farmville, Virginia and Central Falls, Rhode Island. This bill, H.R. 1215, Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act of 2009, provides basic protections for immigration detainees including access to medical care, phones, legal materials, and law libraries. It also ensures protections for unaccompanied children, sexual abuse victims, survivors of torture, families with children and other vulnerable populations.
"Unfortunately, the federal government has failed to exercise meaningful oversight of immigration detention facilities nationwide,” said Joanne Lin, ACLU Legislative Counsel. “The ACLU regularly receives complaints from immigration detainees whose cries for medical care go unanswered. All too often, the ACLU learns of detainees who have died from both serious diseases such as cancer and mundane conditions such as bacterial infections when earlier intervention could have made a difference. Congress Roybal-Allard’s bill is necessary to introduce oversight and transparency into the immigration detention system.”
In recent years, the immigration detainee population has skyrocketed, now exceeding over 300,000 annually and approximately 30,000 daily. The explosion in immigration detention has been accompanied by growing numbers of immigration detainee deaths, numbering nearly 90 since the establishment of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2002. Many of these deaths involved young detainees in their 20s and 30s, with U.S. citizen spouses and children.
The cases of ACLU clients Raymond Soeoth and Amadou Diouf. both of whom were immigration detainees, highlight the importance of this legislation as a safeguard against forcible drugging. Both detainees were forcibly injected with a combination of antipsychotic drugs even though neither had a history of mental illness. Soeoth, a Christian minister from Indonesia, sought political asylum in America based on religious persecution. Diouf, a native of Senegal married to a U.S. citizen, had a stay of deportation at the time he was drugged. After the ACLU of Southern California filed a lawsuit, the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) ended its policy of forcibly drugging deportees, but stopped short of issuing regulations that would have given the new policy the force of a strictly enforced law.
“This bill will help protect the heath and welfare of anyone imprisoned by Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, Director of Immigrants’ Rights and National Security for the ACLU of Southern California. “If passed, this legislation should help ICE change its institutional culture and become more accountable, paving the way for the humane treatment of those in immigration detention.”
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Latino churches push for immigration reform
Latino churches push for immigration reform
Rally to be held Saturday in Norcross
By ANDRIA SIMMONS The Atlanta Journal-Constitution February 25, 2009
Eric Tabora burst into tears as he remembered his wife being hauled away by federal immigration officials.
The 33-year-old independent contractor said his wife was arrested when they returned to their home in Powder Springs Wednesday morning after driving their 11- and 7-year-old sons, both U.S. citizens, to school.
Now it could be months or years before the boys see their mother again. She is being deported to Honduras for overstaying her visa.
“If she leaves, what are we going to do?” Tabora said, hunching over as he cried.
Pastors in the Latino community say stories of families torn apart by deportation are all too familiar among members of their church congregations. The Rev. Miguel Rivera of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders estimates 38 percent of those church members are undocumented.
People pushing for federal immigration reform will rally Saturday at a Gwinnett County church, Tabernaculo de Atlanta. Rivera estimated up to 3,000 people will attend.
Advocates for the Latino community who promoted the event Wednesday at Central Pentecostal Ministry in Norcross say comprehensive immigration reform – always a political hot potato – has lately been dwarfed by the spiraling economy and wars abroad.
They look to U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and his 14-city “Family Unity Tour” as a chance to renew their calls for action. He will be at Tabernaculo de Atlanta at 6394 Buford Highway in Norcross at 1 p.m. Saturday.
A lack of federal immigration reform has led to a backlash against illegal immigrants on the local level, Rivera said.
Cobb, Hall and Whitfield counties already particpate in a federal program which allows local jailers to begin deportation proceedings for illegal immigrants.
Many in the Latino community oppose such programs. Others like D.A. King, founder of the Dustin Inman Society, praise those counties.
“We need to secure the border, enforce the law and watch illegal immigration slowly go down instead of slowly go up,” King said.
Rally to be held Saturday in Norcross
By ANDRIA SIMMONS The Atlanta Journal-Constitution February 25, 2009
Eric Tabora burst into tears as he remembered his wife being hauled away by federal immigration officials.
The 33-year-old independent contractor said his wife was arrested when they returned to their home in Powder Springs Wednesday morning after driving their 11- and 7-year-old sons, both U.S. citizens, to school.
Now it could be months or years before the boys see their mother again. She is being deported to Honduras for overstaying her visa.
“If she leaves, what are we going to do?” Tabora said, hunching over as he cried.
Pastors in the Latino community say stories of families torn apart by deportation are all too familiar among members of their church congregations. The Rev. Miguel Rivera of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders estimates 38 percent of those church members are undocumented.
People pushing for federal immigration reform will rally Saturday at a Gwinnett County church, Tabernaculo de Atlanta. Rivera estimated up to 3,000 people will attend.
Advocates for the Latino community who promoted the event Wednesday at Central Pentecostal Ministry in Norcross say comprehensive immigration reform – always a political hot potato – has lately been dwarfed by the spiraling economy and wars abroad.
They look to U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and his 14-city “Family Unity Tour” as a chance to renew their calls for action. He will be at Tabernaculo de Atlanta at 6394 Buford Highway in Norcross at 1 p.m. Saturday.
A lack of federal immigration reform has led to a backlash against illegal immigrants on the local level, Rivera said.
Cobb, Hall and Whitfield counties already particpate in a federal program which allows local jailers to begin deportation proceedings for illegal immigrants.
Many in the Latino community oppose such programs. Others like D.A. King, founder of the Dustin Inman Society, praise those counties.
“We need to secure the border, enforce the law and watch illegal immigration slowly go down instead of slowly go up,” King said.
Latinos may benefit from stimulus
De la Isla: Latinos find many benefits in stimulus
By JOSE de la ISLA, Hispanic Link News Service 02/25/2009
The landmark $789 billion legislation to jump-start economic activity throughout the nation, if fairly distributed, will have a significant impact on Hispanic households and small businesses. The measure passed its final hurdle in the U.S. Senate Feb. 13 by a vote of 60-38.
With nearly one in ten of the nation's 22 million Latino workers (9.7 percent) unemployed, the legislation represents hope at a moment of great national economic uncertainty. The national unemployment rate is 7.6 percent.
The Economic Policy Institute projects that without a recovery package, Latino unemployment could reach 13.1 percent by 2010.
How effectively the legislation is implemented may well be the crucible for Latino workers and their families. This concern is emphasized by National Council of La Raza President Janet Murguia, who singles out for praise expanded tax credits for families with children.
The legislation lowers the income threshold needed to qualify for the Child Tax Credit from $8,500 to $3,000. It allows more needy families to receive a larger credit, which could reach 13 million children. About 2.9 million children live in families eligible for the first time.
The stimulus plan also expands the Earned Income Tax Credit for larger families. EITC provides better access to unemployment insurance and boosts Medicaid and nutritional assistance as "essential to helping families weather the economic storm," she says.
The legislation provides $2 billion for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program that helps governments and nonprofit groups buy and rehabilitate foreclosed and vacant properties. It also encourages states to expand unemployment insurance eligibility for part-time and low-wage workers. A significant number of Latinos is in this portion of the labor force.
The final package, however, did not include the proposals championed by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Sen. Robert Mennndez (D-N.J.) for adult education and training targeting limited-English-proficient workers.
Other portions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act -- popularly referred to as the "economic recovery plan" and the "stimulus bill" -- will rebuild deteriorating roads, bridges and schools (as infrastructure) and invest in the economy. In turn, people go back on payrolls and build savings, as businesses create some new jobs and restore others.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), who chairs the House Small Business Committee, hails the legislation as a "victory for struggling entrepreneurs." She points to the $21 billion for small business, intending to keep or create 634,000 jobs.
For business owners using the Small Business Administration, it means increases in affordable credit and reduction to zero fees for some SBA-backed loans, while the portion on the amount guaranteed by the government is increased. There is relief for loans already in secondary markets.
New funds are being made available for investment corporations in growth areas. An infusion of $30 million has also been made to the SBA's micro-loan program.
Hispanic wage earners may also benefit from the $720 million for the border trade infrastructure upgrading it should produce as a result of the economic stimulus. Funds go to respond to trade and security demands for the nation's ports. This infusion is slated to create or save 4 million jobs next year.
Updating border ports' infrastructure will help sustain jobs and mitigate massive output losses resulting from nationwide border congestion, which in 2007 cost 55,675 jobs at California land ports alone. Cross-border trade at U.S. land ports in 2007 supported three-quarters of a trillion dollars in North American economic activity and contributed more than $363 billion, over 2.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, directly to the national economy.
Some 34 non-border states list Canada, Mexico or both as their top two export markets.
"Sound implementation will determine whether this package will deliver good jobs for Latino workers," Murguía concludes.
(Text and details of the legislation are found at www.rules.house.gov.)
(Jose de la Isla writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. Email him at joseisla3@yahoo.com.)
By JOSE de la ISLA, Hispanic Link News Service 02/25/2009
The landmark $789 billion legislation to jump-start economic activity throughout the nation, if fairly distributed, will have a significant impact on Hispanic households and small businesses. The measure passed its final hurdle in the U.S. Senate Feb. 13 by a vote of 60-38.
With nearly one in ten of the nation's 22 million Latino workers (9.7 percent) unemployed, the legislation represents hope at a moment of great national economic uncertainty. The national unemployment rate is 7.6 percent.
The Economic Policy Institute projects that without a recovery package, Latino unemployment could reach 13.1 percent by 2010.
How effectively the legislation is implemented may well be the crucible for Latino workers and their families. This concern is emphasized by National Council of La Raza President Janet Murguia, who singles out for praise expanded tax credits for families with children.
The legislation lowers the income threshold needed to qualify for the Child Tax Credit from $8,500 to $3,000. It allows more needy families to receive a larger credit, which could reach 13 million children. About 2.9 million children live in families eligible for the first time.
The stimulus plan also expands the Earned Income Tax Credit for larger families. EITC provides better access to unemployment insurance and boosts Medicaid and nutritional assistance as "essential to helping families weather the economic storm," she says.
The legislation provides $2 billion for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program that helps governments and nonprofit groups buy and rehabilitate foreclosed and vacant properties. It also encourages states to expand unemployment insurance eligibility for part-time and low-wage workers. A significant number of Latinos is in this portion of the labor force.
The final package, however, did not include the proposals championed by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Sen. Robert Mennndez (D-N.J.) for adult education and training targeting limited-English-proficient workers.
Other portions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act -- popularly referred to as the "economic recovery plan" and the "stimulus bill" -- will rebuild deteriorating roads, bridges and schools (as infrastructure) and invest in the economy. In turn, people go back on payrolls and build savings, as businesses create some new jobs and restore others.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), who chairs the House Small Business Committee, hails the legislation as a "victory for struggling entrepreneurs." She points to the $21 billion for small business, intending to keep or create 634,000 jobs.
For business owners using the Small Business Administration, it means increases in affordable credit and reduction to zero fees for some SBA-backed loans, while the portion on the amount guaranteed by the government is increased. There is relief for loans already in secondary markets.
New funds are being made available for investment corporations in growth areas. An infusion of $30 million has also been made to the SBA's micro-loan program.
Hispanic wage earners may also benefit from the $720 million for the border trade infrastructure upgrading it should produce as a result of the economic stimulus. Funds go to respond to trade and security demands for the nation's ports. This infusion is slated to create or save 4 million jobs next year.
Updating border ports' infrastructure will help sustain jobs and mitigate massive output losses resulting from nationwide border congestion, which in 2007 cost 55,675 jobs at California land ports alone. Cross-border trade at U.S. land ports in 2007 supported three-quarters of a trillion dollars in North American economic activity and contributed more than $363 billion, over 2.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, directly to the national economy.
Some 34 non-border states list Canada, Mexico or both as their top two export markets.
"Sound implementation will determine whether this package will deliver good jobs for Latino workers," Murguía concludes.
(Text and details of the legislation are found at www.rules.house.gov.)
(Jose de la Isla writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. Email him at joseisla3@yahoo.com.)
Hispanic lawmakers launch tour on immigration
Hispanic Lawmakers Launch Immigration Policy Tour
Rob Kuznia--HispanicBusiness.com Feb. 25, 2009
Hispanic lawmakers and advocates this week will launch a townhouse tour in 17 cities to try drum up support for changes to the U.S. immigration policy, the The Associated Press reports.
The tour signals the beginning of a wider effort to change the approach in the push for more lenient immigration policies, in part by appealing more to peoples' sense of common decency through storytelling.
Before the Obama administration took office, the debate centered more on issues such as enforcement, raids and the proposal to build a wall on the border separating Mexico from the United States. The lawmakers and advocates are hoping to shift the debate to the idea of creating a path to citizenship for the approximately 12 million illegal immigrants in the country. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
Rob Kuznia--HispanicBusiness.com Feb. 25, 2009
Hispanic lawmakers and advocates this week will launch a townhouse tour in 17 cities to try drum up support for changes to the U.S. immigration policy, the The Associated Press reports.
The tour signals the beginning of a wider effort to change the approach in the push for more lenient immigration policies, in part by appealing more to peoples' sense of common decency through storytelling.
Before the Obama administration took office, the debate centered more on issues such as enforcement, raids and the proposal to build a wall on the border separating Mexico from the United States. The lawmakers and advocates are hoping to shift the debate to the idea of creating a path to citizenship for the approximately 12 million illegal immigrants in the country. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
Hispanic student majority tied to failing schools
Sànchez: Most failing schools were Hispanic majority
By Juan Castillo | Statesman.com February 25, 2009
Southwest Key Programs President Juan Sànchez called me today to elaborate on his comments critical of city leaders, which he made last night at a community forum on education, part of the new, city-led Hispanic Quality of Life Initiative.
Sànchez said then that the city should hold the school district accountable for chronically low-performing schools. He noted today that of 11 Austin district schools rated academically unacceptable in 2008, 10 had majority Hispanic student populations.
“I just think that’s such a tragedy, how many kids have been cheated out of a quality education and continue to be deprived of an opportunity to fulfill their full potential and to move themselves out of poverty,” Sànchez said.
City officials have said that, much like the 2005 African American Quality of Life Initiative in 2005, the Hispanic initiative will explore how the quality of life of Hispanic residents in the city differs from others as a whole, and what if anything the city can do to enhance it.
Assistant City Manager Rudy Garza told me recently that the school district’s needs fall primarily under the responsibility of state education agencies and the school board.
“But we also recognize where there are some opportunities where the city could partner up with the school district, and those could be from tutoring to programs we fund now and English as a Second Language-type programs,” Garza said.
Sànchez said that what happens in education ultimately affects the city’s future. “I think that the city, to the point of embarrassing the school district, has to ask some very tough questions. Why is that when these schools are Hispanic majority, you cannot get it right?”
Southwest Key, the nonprofit which Sanchez founded, is one of the country’s largest care providers for unaccompanied immigrant children and at-risk juveniles. Its headquarters are in Austin.
By Juan Castillo | Statesman.com February 25, 2009
Southwest Key Programs President Juan Sànchez called me today to elaborate on his comments critical of city leaders, which he made last night at a community forum on education, part of the new, city-led Hispanic Quality of Life Initiative.
Sànchez said then that the city should hold the school district accountable for chronically low-performing schools. He noted today that of 11 Austin district schools rated academically unacceptable in 2008, 10 had majority Hispanic student populations.
“I just think that’s such a tragedy, how many kids have been cheated out of a quality education and continue to be deprived of an opportunity to fulfill their full potential and to move themselves out of poverty,” Sànchez said.
City officials have said that, much like the 2005 African American Quality of Life Initiative in 2005, the Hispanic initiative will explore how the quality of life of Hispanic residents in the city differs from others as a whole, and what if anything the city can do to enhance it.
Assistant City Manager Rudy Garza told me recently that the school district’s needs fall primarily under the responsibility of state education agencies and the school board.
“But we also recognize where there are some opportunities where the city could partner up with the school district, and those could be from tutoring to programs we fund now and English as a Second Language-type programs,” Garza said.
Sànchez said that what happens in education ultimately affects the city’s future. “I think that the city, to the point of embarrassing the school district, has to ask some very tough questions. Why is that when these schools are Hispanic majority, you cannot get it right?”
Southwest Key, the nonprofit which Sanchez founded, is one of the country’s largest care providers for unaccompanied immigrant children and at-risk juveniles. Its headquarters are in Austin.
Latino students given chance by Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Donates $1 Million to Create Year-Round
Opportunities for Latino Undergraduates
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), the nation’s premier Latino youth leadership development and educational organization, today announced the addition of fall and spring semesters to its Congressional Internship Program. The new semesters are made possible by a $1 million donation by Wal-Mart over a period of three years.(l-r) Aida Alvarez, Wal-Mart board member; Esther Aguilera, CHCI President & CEO; E. Ivan Zapien, Senior Director, Federal Government Relations, Wal-Mart; Rep. Nydia Velázquez (NY-12), CHCI Chair; Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34), CHCI board member.
CHCI’s Congressional Internship Program currently operates in the summer, providing hands-on work experience in Congress for 30 Latino college undergraduates. Wal-Mart’s support allows CHCI to double the number of Latino youth who have the opportunity to work on Capitol Hill throughout the year during twelve week sessions in the fall and spring semesters. The first new class of congressional interns will be in Fall 2010.
“CHCI is very excited to work with Wal-Mart to increase the number of young Latinos who can experience working in Congress and learn first-hand how laws are made and how they as individuals can impact their communities and the nation,” said Esther Aguilera, CHCI President & CEO. “Many internships are unpaid, limiting the number of Hispanics that complete internships in Congress. This partnership will increase the pipeline and address Hispanic under-representation by doubling our capacity to offer these once-in-a-lifetime paid internships. These individuals will be the Latino leaders of tomorrow and we are excited to partner with Wal-Mart in this important endeavor.”
“At Wal-Mart, diversity is not just something we talk about, it's who we are,” said Raymond Bracy, senior vice president for U.S. government affairs for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. “As a global company, we expect diverse backgrounds, experiences and opinions in our board room, our stores and clubs and among our business partners. After all, the communities we serve are a reflection of the diversity that exists throughout the United States- representing many races,cultures and languages. We are pleased to partner with the CHCI to expand leadership development opportunities for young Latino and Latina college student’s work on Capitol Hill as that will prepare them for future leadership.”
CHCI’s Congressional Internship Program places college undergraduates in Congressional offices where they are responsible for conducting extensive legislative research, monitoring day-to-day hearings, managing constituent communications and assisting with general office matters. Additionally, interns participate in weekly CHCI leadership and professional development sessions and meet with corporate representatives, national elected officials and foreign dignitaries. Interns are provided with housing, roundtrip transportation to and from Washington, D.C., and a stipend.
“Internships on Capitol Hill are an important part to getting your career started in Washington, D.C.,” said Miguel Ayala, 1998 CHCI Congressional Intern and current communications director for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. “CHCI’s summer program has proven to be successful in getting more Latinos on the Hill, and expanding those opportunities year-round will only help that success grow exponentially.”
Opportunities for Latino Undergraduates
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), the nation’s premier Latino youth leadership development and educational organization, today announced the addition of fall and spring semesters to its Congressional Internship Program. The new semesters are made possible by a $1 million donation by Wal-Mart over a period of three years.(l-r) Aida Alvarez, Wal-Mart board member; Esther Aguilera, CHCI President & CEO; E. Ivan Zapien, Senior Director, Federal Government Relations, Wal-Mart; Rep. Nydia Velázquez (NY-12), CHCI Chair; Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34), CHCI board member.
CHCI’s Congressional Internship Program currently operates in the summer, providing hands-on work experience in Congress for 30 Latino college undergraduates. Wal-Mart’s support allows CHCI to double the number of Latino youth who have the opportunity to work on Capitol Hill throughout the year during twelve week sessions in the fall and spring semesters. The first new class of congressional interns will be in Fall 2010.
“CHCI is very excited to work with Wal-Mart to increase the number of young Latinos who can experience working in Congress and learn first-hand how laws are made and how they as individuals can impact their communities and the nation,” said Esther Aguilera, CHCI President & CEO. “Many internships are unpaid, limiting the number of Hispanics that complete internships in Congress. This partnership will increase the pipeline and address Hispanic under-representation by doubling our capacity to offer these once-in-a-lifetime paid internships. These individuals will be the Latino leaders of tomorrow and we are excited to partner with Wal-Mart in this important endeavor.”
“At Wal-Mart, diversity is not just something we talk about, it's who we are,” said Raymond Bracy, senior vice president for U.S. government affairs for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. “As a global company, we expect diverse backgrounds, experiences and opinions in our board room, our stores and clubs and among our business partners. After all, the communities we serve are a reflection of the diversity that exists throughout the United States- representing many races,cultures and languages. We are pleased to partner with the CHCI to expand leadership development opportunities for young Latino and Latina college student’s work on Capitol Hill as that will prepare them for future leadership.”
CHCI’s Congressional Internship Program places college undergraduates in Congressional offices where they are responsible for conducting extensive legislative research, monitoring day-to-day hearings, managing constituent communications and assisting with general office matters. Additionally, interns participate in weekly CHCI leadership and professional development sessions and meet with corporate representatives, national elected officials and foreign dignitaries. Interns are provided with housing, roundtrip transportation to and from Washington, D.C., and a stipend.
“Internships on Capitol Hill are an important part to getting your career started in Washington, D.C.,” said Miguel Ayala, 1998 CHCI Congressional Intern and current communications director for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. “CHCI’s summer program has proven to be successful in getting more Latinos on the Hill, and expanding those opportunities year-round will only help that success grow exponentially.”
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Latina leader to share U.S. Hispanic issues in Spain
CHCI President to Address International Conference in Spain
Esther Aguilera to Address U.S. Hispanic Issues
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), the nation’s premier Latino youth leadership development and educational organization, today announced its President & CEO Esther Aguilera will address the V Conferencia Internacional de ABC: Europa Y America, Ante Los Cambios, on Tuesday, February 24, 2009, in Madrid, Spain. She will lead a presentation on the U.S. Hispanic community in the United States and the challenges and opportunities it faces in working with Spain and other European countries.
“There are profound cultural and historical bonds between the Hispanic community in the United States and Spain,” said Aguilera. “I am proud to be an active participant to help leverage our positions of strength for the greater good and to benefit our respective communities and countries.”
Aguilera has been active in promoting collaborations between Spain and U.S. Hispanics. She collaborated with the U.S. Spanish Embassy to organize the first delegation of Hispanic Members of Congress to Spain in 1997 and the first group of Young Hispanic Leaders to Spain in 1998 through a program launched by the U.S.-Spain Council and other partners.
Aguilera’s presentation will focus on four main topics:
- History of Hispanic Americans in Congress
- Demographics of U.S. Hispanics
- Impact of Hispanics in the 2008 Elections
- U.S. Hispanics, Spain & Latin America
“The events of the last twelve years represent important exchanges in fortifying the relationships between U.S. Hispanics and Spain,” said Aguilera. “We can build lasting and meaningful relationships that are mutually beneficial and with the growing presence and impact of the U.S. Hispanic community, this relationship is now more important than ever. The potential of Hispanics in the United States has no limits. Hispanics helped build a powerful nation and CHCI has helped to contribute to the advancement of Hispanics in the U.S., a journey that is far from over.”
About Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), a nonprofit and nonpartisan 501(c) (3) organization, provides leadership development programs and educational services to students and young emerging leaders. The CHCI Board of Directors is comprised of Hispanic Members of Congress, nonprofit, union and corporate leaders. For more information call CHCI at (202) 543-1771 or visit www.chci.org.
Esther Aguilera to Address U.S. Hispanic Issues
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), the nation’s premier Latino youth leadership development and educational organization, today announced its President & CEO Esther Aguilera will address the V Conferencia Internacional de ABC: Europa Y America, Ante Los Cambios, on Tuesday, February 24, 2009, in Madrid, Spain. She will lead a presentation on the U.S. Hispanic community in the United States and the challenges and opportunities it faces in working with Spain and other European countries.
“There are profound cultural and historical bonds between the Hispanic community in the United States and Spain,” said Aguilera. “I am proud to be an active participant to help leverage our positions of strength for the greater good and to benefit our respective communities and countries.”
Aguilera has been active in promoting collaborations between Spain and U.S. Hispanics. She collaborated with the U.S. Spanish Embassy to organize the first delegation of Hispanic Members of Congress to Spain in 1997 and the first group of Young Hispanic Leaders to Spain in 1998 through a program launched by the U.S.-Spain Council and other partners.
Aguilera’s presentation will focus on four main topics:
- History of Hispanic Americans in Congress
- Demographics of U.S. Hispanics
- Impact of Hispanics in the 2008 Elections
- U.S. Hispanics, Spain & Latin America
“The events of the last twelve years represent important exchanges in fortifying the relationships between U.S. Hispanics and Spain,” said Aguilera. “We can build lasting and meaningful relationships that are mutually beneficial and with the growing presence and impact of the U.S. Hispanic community, this relationship is now more important than ever. The potential of Hispanics in the United States has no limits. Hispanics helped build a powerful nation and CHCI has helped to contribute to the advancement of Hispanics in the U.S., a journey that is far from over.”
About Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), a nonprofit and nonpartisan 501(c) (3) organization, provides leadership development programs and educational services to students and young emerging leaders. The CHCI Board of Directors is comprised of Hispanic Members of Congress, nonprofit, union and corporate leaders. For more information call CHCI at (202) 543-1771 or visit www.chci.org.
Latino information fair planned
Latino Information Fair coming up
CITIZEN TIMES staff reports • February 23, 2009
The Latino Information Fair will take place from 2-5 p.m. Saturday at the West Asheville Community Center at 970 Haywood Road, next to the West Asheville Library.
The fair will be a place for agencies, nonprofit organizations, and local businesses to present information about their services to the Latino community. The event is free to the public and will have children's activities.
If you are interested in participating or if you want more information about this event, please contact Victor Palomino at victor@mountainbizworks.org or 828-606-6390.
CITIZEN TIMES staff reports • February 23, 2009
The Latino Information Fair will take place from 2-5 p.m. Saturday at the West Asheville Community Center at 970 Haywood Road, next to the West Asheville Library.
The fair will be a place for agencies, nonprofit organizations, and local businesses to present information about their services to the Latino community. The event is free to the public and will have children's activities.
If you are interested in participating or if you want more information about this event, please contact Victor Palomino at victor@mountainbizworks.org or 828-606-6390.
Study: Hispanics looking for a better life
Hispanics Strive for a Better Future
CONTACTO MAGAZINE
Hispanics in the United States have a multitude of opinions on all aspects of their lives from finances, education, immigration, social relationships and their culture. However, do not let the size and complexities of this group overwhelm you – if you want to understand what U.S. Hispanics want, you just have to listen to what is important to them.
In a recent Ipsos U.S. Hispanic Omnibus study, U.S. Hispanics provided insight into ways they feel they can reach future success, touched upon how they feel about immigration and revealed who the most important people are in their lives.
“Some of the ideas that are very basic to the fabric of American society – pursuing a college education, being a loyal employee, and saving for the future – are also highly valued by Hispanics in the U.S. However, beyond these values they also want and need to maintain strong social and cultural relationships,” according to Cynthia Pelayo, Senior Research Manager.
Education Is Seen as Key to Financial Success
Historically, U.S. Hispanics have not completed high school or college education at rates similar to that of the general population, yet they overwhelmingly agree that a college education is essential for financial success (75%). This opinion is even more prevalent among those with no college education whatsoever (84%) than among those who have any (68%).
Valuing Jobs and Saving Money
U.S. Hispanics treasure their jobs and place great value in saving money.
- Three quarters of those who work either full-time or part-time (77%) agree that they are loyal to their employer.
- Nearly nine in ten (86%) agree that saving money for the future is important.
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted September 11, 2008 to October 6, 2008, For the survey, a nationally representative sample of 513 Hispanics was interviewed by telephone via Ipsos’ U.S. Telephone Express omnibus. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within ± 4.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population Hispanic adults in the U.S. been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Immigration: How Do Hispanics Really Feel?
Immigration has long been a divisive and difficult subject in the United States. Even among U.S. Hispanics, immigration policy has been known to cause controversy, as not all Hispanic groups hold the same views on immigration. Slightly over a quarter of Hispanics (26%) say that people who enter the U.S. illegally have no right to work here. Yet nearly eighty percent (79%) of Hispanics say that immigrant children have a right to pursue an education in the U.S, showing that U.S. Hispanics are often as conflicted about immigration as the general population.
- Nearly a third of Hispanics aged 35-54 (29%) and over forty percent of Hispanics aged 55+ (42%) agree that people who enter the U.S. illegally have no right to work here.
- However, views are dramatically different when it comes to the education of immigrant children, as nearly four in five Hispanics aged 35-54 (79%) and three quarters of Hispanics aged 55+ (75%) say that immigrant children have a right to pursue an education in the U.S.
- U.S. Hispanics show mixed opinions about trusting the government: Nearly half (48%) neither agree nor disagree that they trust the government and the other is split almost evenly among 22% who agree they do and 25% who disagree.
When It Comes to Family or Friends There’s No Question; Family Will Always Come First
Over four in five (84%) of U.S. Hispanics said that family comes before friends. While some differences are seen across demographic groups, there is still strong agreement around this principle.
- U.S. Hispanics aged 35-54 (87%) are slightly more likely than Hispanics 18-34 (82%), or Hispanics aged 55+ (80%) to say family comes before friends.
- Nearly nine in ten U.S. Hispanics with a high school education or less (89%) say that family should come before friends.
- Regardless of whether there are children in the household, family is still more important than friends (82% of those without children say so, compared with 85% of those with children).
Feeling the Need to Hold onto Their Cultural Identity
Knowing their culture and history is a driving force in the lives of U.S. Hispanics. In addition to being interested about their background, U.S. Hispanics also have strong social relationships with people who share their culture.
- Over seven in ten U.S. Hispanics (72%) agree that it is important for them to know the history of their culture. Attitudes vary little depending on the language of preference or the length of residency in the United States.
- On average, U.S. Hispanics say that out of ten of their closest friends, six are Hispanics.
- Additionally, more than four in ten U.S. Hispanics (41%) say that they feel more comfortable being around people of a similar ethnicity. Attitudes vary depending on acculturation (only 17% of those who are defined as acculturated agree vs. 69% of those who are not) and education (60% of those with no college education agree vs. 24% of those with any.
- Over a third of U.S. Hispanics (38%) say that most of their friends are from their country of origin. Here again, attitudes vary depending on acculturation and education. Among with those with a college degree, only 15% agree.
CONTACTO MAGAZINE
Hispanics in the United States have a multitude of opinions on all aspects of their lives from finances, education, immigration, social relationships and their culture. However, do not let the size and complexities of this group overwhelm you – if you want to understand what U.S. Hispanics want, you just have to listen to what is important to them.
In a recent Ipsos U.S. Hispanic Omnibus study, U.S. Hispanics provided insight into ways they feel they can reach future success, touched upon how they feel about immigration and revealed who the most important people are in their lives.
“Some of the ideas that are very basic to the fabric of American society – pursuing a college education, being a loyal employee, and saving for the future – are also highly valued by Hispanics in the U.S. However, beyond these values they also want and need to maintain strong social and cultural relationships,” according to Cynthia Pelayo, Senior Research Manager.
Education Is Seen as Key to Financial Success
Historically, U.S. Hispanics have not completed high school or college education at rates similar to that of the general population, yet they overwhelmingly agree that a college education is essential for financial success (75%). This opinion is even more prevalent among those with no college education whatsoever (84%) than among those who have any (68%).
Valuing Jobs and Saving Money
U.S. Hispanics treasure their jobs and place great value in saving money.
- Three quarters of those who work either full-time or part-time (77%) agree that they are loyal to their employer.
- Nearly nine in ten (86%) agree that saving money for the future is important.
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted September 11, 2008 to October 6, 2008, For the survey, a nationally representative sample of 513 Hispanics was interviewed by telephone via Ipsos’ U.S. Telephone Express omnibus. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within ± 4.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population Hispanic adults in the U.S. been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Immigration: How Do Hispanics Really Feel?
Immigration has long been a divisive and difficult subject in the United States. Even among U.S. Hispanics, immigration policy has been known to cause controversy, as not all Hispanic groups hold the same views on immigration. Slightly over a quarter of Hispanics (26%) say that people who enter the U.S. illegally have no right to work here. Yet nearly eighty percent (79%) of Hispanics say that immigrant children have a right to pursue an education in the U.S, showing that U.S. Hispanics are often as conflicted about immigration as the general population.
- Nearly a third of Hispanics aged 35-54 (29%) and over forty percent of Hispanics aged 55+ (42%) agree that people who enter the U.S. illegally have no right to work here.
- However, views are dramatically different when it comes to the education of immigrant children, as nearly four in five Hispanics aged 35-54 (79%) and three quarters of Hispanics aged 55+ (75%) say that immigrant children have a right to pursue an education in the U.S.
- U.S. Hispanics show mixed opinions about trusting the government: Nearly half (48%) neither agree nor disagree that they trust the government and the other is split almost evenly among 22% who agree they do and 25% who disagree.
When It Comes to Family or Friends There’s No Question; Family Will Always Come First
Over four in five (84%) of U.S. Hispanics said that family comes before friends. While some differences are seen across demographic groups, there is still strong agreement around this principle.
- U.S. Hispanics aged 35-54 (87%) are slightly more likely than Hispanics 18-34 (82%), or Hispanics aged 55+ (80%) to say family comes before friends.
- Nearly nine in ten U.S. Hispanics with a high school education or less (89%) say that family should come before friends.
- Regardless of whether there are children in the household, family is still more important than friends (82% of those without children say so, compared with 85% of those with children).
Feeling the Need to Hold onto Their Cultural Identity
Knowing their culture and history is a driving force in the lives of U.S. Hispanics. In addition to being interested about their background, U.S. Hispanics also have strong social relationships with people who share their culture.
- Over seven in ten U.S. Hispanics (72%) agree that it is important for them to know the history of their culture. Attitudes vary little depending on the language of preference or the length of residency in the United States.
- On average, U.S. Hispanics say that out of ten of their closest friends, six are Hispanics.
- Additionally, more than four in ten U.S. Hispanics (41%) say that they feel more comfortable being around people of a similar ethnicity. Attitudes vary depending on acculturation (only 17% of those who are defined as acculturated agree vs. 69% of those who are not) and education (60% of those with no college education agree vs. 24% of those with any.
- Over a third of U.S. Hispanics (38%) say that most of their friends are from their country of origin. Here again, attitudes vary depending on acculturation and education. Among with those with a college degree, only 15% agree.
Latinas welcomed at University of New Mexico
Hispanic Outlook Ranks UNM among Top Institutions for Hispanic Women Faculty
UNM.EDU
Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education ranks the University of New Mexico 6th among four year institutions for having the most Hispanic women as full-time faculty members, as reported in the Feb. 23 issue. The publication also ranks UNM 10th among Hispanic Serving Institutions with graduate programs for enrolling Hispanic women.
Of the 6,258 faculty on main campus, 576 are Hispanic men, and 1,141 are Hispanic women, cumulatively representing 27 percent of the faculty.
With regard to the enrollment of Hispanic women, of the 25,672 students on campus, 3,258 are Hispanic males, and 4,764 are Hispanic women, cumulatively representing 31 percent of the student body.
The magazine reports that between 2000 and 2004, the number of college-bound Hispanic women increased by 22 percent – 6 percent or more over the increase for Hispanic males and non-White males and females.
The publication also indicates that Hispanic women pursuing MBAs will set their sights on Fortune 500 boardrooms where Hispanic males have held 70 of the 100 board seats held by Hispanics.
The good news and opportunity for Hispanic women is countered with economic and social barriers to success, including poverty, early motherhood and a machismo culture, as reported by the Pew Hispanic Center and others, they said.
Statistical information was provided by Integrated Post-Secondary Data System – National Center for Education Statistics, 2007.
UNM.EDU
Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education ranks the University of New Mexico 6th among four year institutions for having the most Hispanic women as full-time faculty members, as reported in the Feb. 23 issue. The publication also ranks UNM 10th among Hispanic Serving Institutions with graduate programs for enrolling Hispanic women.
Of the 6,258 faculty on main campus, 576 are Hispanic men, and 1,141 are Hispanic women, cumulatively representing 27 percent of the faculty.
With regard to the enrollment of Hispanic women, of the 25,672 students on campus, 3,258 are Hispanic males, and 4,764 are Hispanic women, cumulatively representing 31 percent of the student body.
The magazine reports that between 2000 and 2004, the number of college-bound Hispanic women increased by 22 percent – 6 percent or more over the increase for Hispanic males and non-White males and females.
The publication also indicates that Hispanic women pursuing MBAs will set their sights on Fortune 500 boardrooms where Hispanic males have held 70 of the 100 board seats held by Hispanics.
The good news and opportunity for Hispanic women is countered with economic and social barriers to success, including poverty, early motherhood and a machismo culture, as reported by the Pew Hispanic Center and others, they said.
Statistical information was provided by Integrated Post-Secondary Data System – National Center for Education Statistics, 2007.
L.A.s Sheriff Baca deals with budget cuts creatively
Sheriff Lee Baca studying possible bail reduction to deal with budget cuts
L.A. Times | February 24, 2009
Sheriff Lee Baca is in talks with court officials to determine whether reducing bail for nonviolent offenders would cut jail overcrowding at a time when he's considering closing down the Men's Central Jail.
Sheriff's Spokesman Steve Whitmore said Baca is examining the current bail schedule for nonviolent offenders and wants to discuss with judges the prospects for reducing some of types of bail. Baca does not have the power to change the bail schedule, which would require the support of judges as well as prosecutors and public defenders.
Whitmore said that if more offenders could afford bail, fewer of them would be incarcerated at the jails, allowing the sheriff to house violent offenders longer.
Baca said Monday that he is considering closing one or perhaps two jails to cope with expected budget cuts. Such closures would reduce the overall jail capacity, resulting in more early releases of offenders, Baca said.
Baca said closing the downtown Los Angeles jail, which would greatly reduce the capacity of the county jail system and lead to more early releases of inmates, might be necessary to bridge what he estimates will be a $72-million gap in his budget.
But he was criticized today by some county officials.
County officials said they have requested that he draft preliminary plans to reduce his $2.5 billion budget by $62 million, and they appeared caught off guard by Baca's proposal to release inmates and could not immediately offer alternative plans to find the needed savings.
Some supervisors suggested areas ripe for trimming. "If the sheriff can't find the savings, we're willing to help him," said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, noting that the department's administration budget has increased by 151% over the last 10 years and the patrol budget has increased by 115% over the same period.
"The amount of overtime the sheriff spends is a scandal," Yaroslavsky added. "We'll be releasing numbers on that in the coming days."
Even the sheriff's staunchest political allies on the board said he did not have to close Men's Central Jail.
"Supervisor [Michael] Antonovich believes the savings can be achieved through administrative cuts," spokesman Tony Bell said.
-- Richard Winton and Garrett Therolf
L.A. Times | February 24, 2009
Sheriff Lee Baca is in talks with court officials to determine whether reducing bail for nonviolent offenders would cut jail overcrowding at a time when he's considering closing down the Men's Central Jail.
Sheriff's Spokesman Steve Whitmore said Baca is examining the current bail schedule for nonviolent offenders and wants to discuss with judges the prospects for reducing some of types of bail. Baca does not have the power to change the bail schedule, which would require the support of judges as well as prosecutors and public defenders.
Whitmore said that if more offenders could afford bail, fewer of them would be incarcerated at the jails, allowing the sheriff to house violent offenders longer.
Baca said Monday that he is considering closing one or perhaps two jails to cope with expected budget cuts. Such closures would reduce the overall jail capacity, resulting in more early releases of offenders, Baca said.
Baca said closing the downtown Los Angeles jail, which would greatly reduce the capacity of the county jail system and lead to more early releases of inmates, might be necessary to bridge what he estimates will be a $72-million gap in his budget.
But he was criticized today by some county officials.
County officials said they have requested that he draft preliminary plans to reduce his $2.5 billion budget by $62 million, and they appeared caught off guard by Baca's proposal to release inmates and could not immediately offer alternative plans to find the needed savings.
Some supervisors suggested areas ripe for trimming. "If the sheriff can't find the savings, we're willing to help him," said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, noting that the department's administration budget has increased by 151% over the last 10 years and the patrol budget has increased by 115% over the same period.
"The amount of overtime the sheriff spends is a scandal," Yaroslavsky added. "We'll be releasing numbers on that in the coming days."
Even the sheriff's staunchest political allies on the board said he did not have to close Men's Central Jail.
"Supervisor [Michael] Antonovich believes the savings can be achieved through administrative cuts," spokesman Tony Bell said.
-- Richard Winton and Garrett Therolf
Latino elected VP of Motor Vehicle Board
FLESH ELECTED PRESIDENT OF NEW MOTOR VEHICLE BOARD
PRESS RELEASE
Sacramento -- The New Motor Vehicle Board unanimously elected Robert T. (Tom) Flesh, as the Board’s President during the February 2009 meeting of the NMVB Board. Flesh was reappointed by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2005, and previously served as Board President in 2000 and 2001, and Board Vice President in 1999, 2007, and 2008.
Ramon Alvarez C., a Dealer Member, was unanimously elected to serve as the Board’s Vice President. Mr. Alvarez C. has been on the Board since March 2007 and served as a member of the Administration Committee, and chair and member of the Fiscal Committee. He founded the Alvarez Lincoln Mercury dealership at the Riverside Auto Center in October 1995 and added Jaguar in October 2001. He is also the first Hispanic to own a Jaguar dealership in California. Mr. Alvarez C. is widely recognized as one of the leading Hispanic entrepreneurs in the Inland Empire.
Other members of the Board include:
∑ Robert Branzuela, Managing partner and a founder of Veracom Automotive Group, a dealer of luxury automobiles since 1984.
∑ Ryan L. Brooks, Vice President of Government Affairs for CBS Outdoors' Western Region.
∑ David Lizarraga, Director of The East Los Angeles Community Union (TELACU) and Chairman of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
∑ Haig Papaian, Jr., currently the Chairman of the Board at Commerce Casino and had been the Director of the California Commerce Club since 1997.
∑ Glenn E. Stevens, currently operates the Law Offices of Glenn E. Stevens.
∑ David Wilson, owner and President of numerous automobile dealerships.
The New Motor Vehicle Board (“Board”) is seated within the California Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”) with oversight provided by Business, Transportation & Housing Agency. The Board is a quasi-judicial administrative agency with independent authority to resolve disputes between franchised dealers and manufacturers of new vehicles (includes motorcycles, recreational vehicles, and all-terrain vehicles). The Board also has a Consumer Mediation Services Program that attempts, through informal mediation, to resolve disputes between consumers and new motor vehicle dealers, and/or manufacturers.
PRESS RELEASE
Sacramento -- The New Motor Vehicle Board unanimously elected Robert T. (Tom) Flesh, as the Board’s President during the February 2009 meeting of the NMVB Board. Flesh was reappointed by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2005, and previously served as Board President in 2000 and 2001, and Board Vice President in 1999, 2007, and 2008.
Ramon Alvarez C., a Dealer Member, was unanimously elected to serve as the Board’s Vice President. Mr. Alvarez C. has been on the Board since March 2007 and served as a member of the Administration Committee, and chair and member of the Fiscal Committee. He founded the Alvarez Lincoln Mercury dealership at the Riverside Auto Center in October 1995 and added Jaguar in October 2001. He is also the first Hispanic to own a Jaguar dealership in California. Mr. Alvarez C. is widely recognized as one of the leading Hispanic entrepreneurs in the Inland Empire.
Other members of the Board include:
∑ Robert Branzuela, Managing partner and a founder of Veracom Automotive Group, a dealer of luxury automobiles since 1984.
∑ Ryan L. Brooks, Vice President of Government Affairs for CBS Outdoors' Western Region.
∑ David Lizarraga, Director of The East Los Angeles Community Union (TELACU) and Chairman of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
∑ Haig Papaian, Jr., currently the Chairman of the Board at Commerce Casino and had been the Director of the California Commerce Club since 1997.
∑ Glenn E. Stevens, currently operates the Law Offices of Glenn E. Stevens.
∑ David Wilson, owner and President of numerous automobile dealerships.
The New Motor Vehicle Board (“Board”) is seated within the California Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”) with oversight provided by Business, Transportation & Housing Agency. The Board is a quasi-judicial administrative agency with independent authority to resolve disputes between franchised dealers and manufacturers of new vehicles (includes motorcycles, recreational vehicles, and all-terrain vehicles). The Board also has a Consumer Mediation Services Program that attempts, through informal mediation, to resolve disputes between consumers and new motor vehicle dealers, and/or manufacturers.
Hispanic issues minimized by AGs comment
Courage, Mr. Holder
Patrick J. Buchanan, Creators Syndicate Inc.
SFGATE.COM February 24, 2009
Lecturing a conscript conclave of Justice Department bureaucrats, Attorney General Eric Holder called America a "nation of cowards" last week for not spending more time talking about race.
Reading his speech, however, one recalls the sage counsel of Pat Moynihan to President Richard Nixon in 1970: This whole subject might benefit from a long period of "benign neglect."
One point Holder did allude to, without specifics, was this: "It is not safe for this nation to assume that the unaddressed social problems in the poorest parts of the country can be isolated and will not ultimately affect the larger society."
Fair point. And what are some of those social problems?
A 70 percent illegitimacy rate in black America, an incarceration and crime rate seven times that of white America, a 50 percent dropout rate in many urban high schools, African American graduates reading and computing on average at eighth-grade levels.
And about these problems what is the black leadership doing?
Unlike Bill Cosby, the heroic Holder was virtually mute. Rather, he is upset that "on Saturdays and Sundays" we don't go to church or hang out together. But why are the free associations of Americans, of whatever creed or color, any of Eric Holder or Big Brother's business?
Having insulted us, perhaps Holder will start doing his own sworn duty. For one area where he has a lead role is enforcing the nation's laws - in particular, the U.S. immigration laws. For the federal failure to enforce these laws is a contributory cause of one of those "unaddressed social problems in the poorest parts of the country."
Case in point - rampant unemployment among minority youth.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, among African Americans 18 to 29 with only a high-school degree, unemployment is now 20 percent. Among black adults who do not have a high-school diploma, it is 24 percent. Among teenagers under 18, black unemployment is 30 percent.
Among native-born Latinos with only a high-school diploma, the unemployment rate is 13.6 percent. Among high-school dropouts, 16 percent. Among Latino 16- and 17-year-olds, the jobless figure is 40 percent.
As these figures were compiled in December, before the last two months of sweeping layoffs, they surely understate the situation. And with both black and Latino dropout rates now reaching 50 percent in major cities, the social dynamite is piling up.
Last month, USA Today reported that the FBI estimates there are now 1 million gang members in the United States - up 200,000 from 2005 - and these gangs are responsible for 80 percent of all U.S. crimes.
From other studies, young Latinos are 19 times as likely as white youth to join gangs, while African Americans are 15 times.
These millions of teenagers, and unskilled and less-educated young adults with no jobs and little prospect of finding them, are recruiting pools for criminal gangs.
Who is getting the jobs for which these native-born black and Latino young could quality? Illegal immigrants hold literally millions of them.
Last week, the center reported, "An estimated 6 (million) to 7 million illegal immigrants are currently holding jobs. Prior research indicates they are overwhelmingly employed in lower-skilled and lower-paid jobs."
Exactly what sort of jobs?
"Illegals are primarily employed in construction, building cleaning and maintenance, food preparation, service and processing, transportation and moving occupations and agriculture."
With the exception of agriculture, a majority of the workers in these occupations are native-born Americans. Thus, illegal immigrants are taking jobs Americans are not only willing to do, but are doing, and taking 7 million of these jobs from young Americans now out of work.
By failing to enforce U.S. immigration laws, the government of the United States is selling America's working class down the river.
In addition to the 7 million illegal immigrants holding jobs, legal immigrants have another 15 million. In 2008, when Americans lost 3.5 million jobs, 144,000 immigrants were admitted every month.
Why do we have an open-borders immigration policy that annually allows in millions, legal and illegal, to compete for jobs, when 10 million Americans are out of work and half a million are losing their jobs every month? The political correctness and moral cowardice of our Lords Temporal, who refuse to call a time-out on immigration until our own people go back to work, is killing the American dream for millions.
According to the census, as reported in the New York Times on Saturday, 97 percent of immigrants from Mexico do not speak English at home. They are less skilled and less educated than the average American.
Says demographer William Frey, "The new immigration magnets especially in the Southwest are disproportionately attracting young Mexican men who are willing to accept low wages."
What further proof is needed that mass immigration from the Third World is taking jobs from Americans and driving down their wages when they do find work?
Here is a problem more serious than whether black and white elites are getting together on weekends to gabble about race.
But, dealing with it, Mr. Holder, will take courage.
Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of "Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War."
Patrick J. Buchanan, Creators Syndicate Inc.
SFGATE.COM February 24, 2009
Lecturing a conscript conclave of Justice Department bureaucrats, Attorney General Eric Holder called America a "nation of cowards" last week for not spending more time talking about race.
Reading his speech, however, one recalls the sage counsel of Pat Moynihan to President Richard Nixon in 1970: This whole subject might benefit from a long period of "benign neglect."
One point Holder did allude to, without specifics, was this: "It is not safe for this nation to assume that the unaddressed social problems in the poorest parts of the country can be isolated and will not ultimately affect the larger society."
Fair point. And what are some of those social problems?
A 70 percent illegitimacy rate in black America, an incarceration and crime rate seven times that of white America, a 50 percent dropout rate in many urban high schools, African American graduates reading and computing on average at eighth-grade levels.
And about these problems what is the black leadership doing?
Unlike Bill Cosby, the heroic Holder was virtually mute. Rather, he is upset that "on Saturdays and Sundays" we don't go to church or hang out together. But why are the free associations of Americans, of whatever creed or color, any of Eric Holder or Big Brother's business?
Having insulted us, perhaps Holder will start doing his own sworn duty. For one area where he has a lead role is enforcing the nation's laws - in particular, the U.S. immigration laws. For the federal failure to enforce these laws is a contributory cause of one of those "unaddressed social problems in the poorest parts of the country."
Case in point - rampant unemployment among minority youth.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, among African Americans 18 to 29 with only a high-school degree, unemployment is now 20 percent. Among black adults who do not have a high-school diploma, it is 24 percent. Among teenagers under 18, black unemployment is 30 percent.
Among native-born Latinos with only a high-school diploma, the unemployment rate is 13.6 percent. Among high-school dropouts, 16 percent. Among Latino 16- and 17-year-olds, the jobless figure is 40 percent.
As these figures were compiled in December, before the last two months of sweeping layoffs, they surely understate the situation. And with both black and Latino dropout rates now reaching 50 percent in major cities, the social dynamite is piling up.
Last month, USA Today reported that the FBI estimates there are now 1 million gang members in the United States - up 200,000 from 2005 - and these gangs are responsible for 80 percent of all U.S. crimes.
From other studies, young Latinos are 19 times as likely as white youth to join gangs, while African Americans are 15 times.
These millions of teenagers, and unskilled and less-educated young adults with no jobs and little prospect of finding them, are recruiting pools for criminal gangs.
Who is getting the jobs for which these native-born black and Latino young could quality? Illegal immigrants hold literally millions of them.
Last week, the center reported, "An estimated 6 (million) to 7 million illegal immigrants are currently holding jobs. Prior research indicates they are overwhelmingly employed in lower-skilled and lower-paid jobs."
Exactly what sort of jobs?
"Illegals are primarily employed in construction, building cleaning and maintenance, food preparation, service and processing, transportation and moving occupations and agriculture."
With the exception of agriculture, a majority of the workers in these occupations are native-born Americans. Thus, illegal immigrants are taking jobs Americans are not only willing to do, but are doing, and taking 7 million of these jobs from young Americans now out of work.
By failing to enforce U.S. immigration laws, the government of the United States is selling America's working class down the river.
In addition to the 7 million illegal immigrants holding jobs, legal immigrants have another 15 million. In 2008, when Americans lost 3.5 million jobs, 144,000 immigrants were admitted every month.
Why do we have an open-borders immigration policy that annually allows in millions, legal and illegal, to compete for jobs, when 10 million Americans are out of work and half a million are losing their jobs every month? The political correctness and moral cowardice of our Lords Temporal, who refuse to call a time-out on immigration until our own people go back to work, is killing the American dream for millions.
According to the census, as reported in the New York Times on Saturday, 97 percent of immigrants from Mexico do not speak English at home. They are less skilled and less educated than the average American.
Says demographer William Frey, "The new immigration magnets especially in the Southwest are disproportionately attracting young Mexican men who are willing to accept low wages."
What further proof is needed that mass immigration from the Third World is taking jobs from Americans and driving down their wages when they do find work?
Here is a problem more serious than whether black and white elites are getting together on weekends to gabble about race.
But, dealing with it, Mr. Holder, will take courage.
Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of "Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War."
Hispanic group seeks changes in police policies
More talk, more action: Latino group heads up initiative to exercise rights, stop police abuses
by Kalyn Belsha Feb 19, 2009
At a Feb. 14 public workshop held by Latinos Organized for Justice, Martha Garcia tells others about a police incident in March. She says her then 12-year-old son was held on false accusations of spraying graffeti in the neighborhood.
Martha Garcia says her son Miguel was detained by Chicago police last March on suspicions that Miguel, then 12, sprayed graffiti on a wall in Back of the Yards.
Garcia said when she got the call her son was being held at the police station, she was surprised. When she and her husband, neither of whom speak English, picked up Miguel they found him handcuffed with bruises on his face, she said.
An officer who could not speak Spanish told Garcia’s husband to sign a document for his son’s release. Upon later translation, the couple realized the document also faulted Miguel – who said he was innocent – and resulted in a $300 fine.
Garcia said she filed a report about the incident with the Independent Police Review Authority, a department unaffiliated with Chicago police that reviews allegations against officers. But nothing has resulted from the family’s report. A representative from the authority could not be reached for comment on the report's status.
Garcia’s case is a horror story of police misconduct, advocates for citizens’ rights say. But they warn she is not alone. Every year, other Chicago Latinos also experience problems due to language, cultural barriers and lack of knowledge when dealing with police, experts say.
‘We have to come together’
Hearing Garcia’s story, Manuel Barragán Arenas, an organizer for Latinos Organized for Justice – a division of the Illinois Hunger Coalition – got an idea. He thought that if others could hear her tale, they might come forward with their own.
Arenas hosted a know-your-rights workshop in a Back of the Yards church on Feb. 14. Attended by about 30 area residents, the workshop aimed at increasing awareness about what to do if stopped by an officer and how victims of police misconduct can take action.
“Courts are not always the solution,” Arenas said. “So that’s why we have to come together as a community to come up with alternatives.”
While those alternatives are limited right now, Arenas has high hopes for the future because people are finally getting “comfortable enough to share” their experiences, he said.
Garcia, for example, told her story publicly for the first time at the workshop. If more stories surface, Arenas said, police accountability will be as common a topic of discussion among Latinos as gang-related violence and drugs.
Another community meeting took place Monday, where police-related rights were slated as a topic of conversation.
Bridging the divide
The fact that Latinos seldom talk about or report instances of police abuse is nothing new, says Craig Futterman, who founded the civil rights police accountability project at the University of Chicago’s Mandel Legal Aid Clinic.
Nationwide, fewer than one out of 10 people who believe they have been abused by police report it, said Futterman, who is also a clinical professor of law at the university.
He estimates the rate is even lower in Chicago.
In Chicago’s Latino community, he said, language barriers and fears about immigration issues often prevent them from exercising their rights when stopped by police.
“If officers want to search someone and they don’t have probable cause, it is incumbent upon the officer to obtain voluntary consent,” Futterman said, noting some emergencies as exceptions.
But if officers don’t speak the language of the person they have stopped, should they wait until an interpreter arrives to obtain consent?
An officer from the District 9 police department – which patrols Back of the Yards – who asked to not be named, said there was an adequate number of Spanish-speaking officers in her district. She also said officers are advised to wait for an interpreter if there is language barrier.
Representatives from the Chicago Police Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the adequacy of Spanish-speaking officers citywide.
Futterman says for law enforcement to be effective, it should be reflective of the city it polices.
According to latest department records, about 15.5 percent of CPD’s 15,493 personnel could speak Spanish in 2007, up only .1 percentage points since 2004.
Chicago population estimates by Metro Chicago Information Center and CPD personnel data from 2005 show 28.9 percent of Chicagoans identify themselves as Hispanic, compared with the 15.8 percent of police personnel classified as Hispanic that same year.
Comparatively, about 40 percent of Chicago’s population identified themselves as white in 2005 while more than half -- 51.5 percent -- of CPD personnel were white.
Opening up and moving forward
Futterman says another reason many Latinos don’t come forward in instances of police misconduct stems from doubt about what a complaint can do. He said nationwide studies show for every 1,000 reports, less than two will result in charges against an implicated officer.
In Chicago, the Independent Police Review Authority logged 9,773 allegations and notifications against the CPD in 2008. These can range from use of excessive force, to verbal abuse to misuses of Tasers, pepper spray or a fire arm. Of these, 2,210 – about 27 percent – resulted in further investigation.
Last year, the agency closed 2,583 cases, some of which could date back prior to 2008. But only 2 percent of them – 55 cases – had sufficient evidence to prove or disprove an allegation against CPD personnel, according to agency documents.
“There is a real fear that any exercising [of their rights] could jeopardize them in real ways,” said Futterman, who lists threats of police retaliation and raids by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency as potential consequences for Latinos who file reports.
So why risk it if filing a report is a shot in the dark at best?
Arenas said he hopes his group’s initiative will change the belief that speaking out won’t do any good. His effort to increase testimony-sharing could increase the number of valid complaints against the CPD, he said.
But Jaime Pérez, also of Latinos Organized for Justice, said getting members of the older Latino generation on board will be difficult.
“We’re brought up that authority trumps everything,” said Pérez. “If [the police] knock on your door and ask to search your house, even if you know in your heart you have [not done anything wrong], you’re going to let them in.”
But Arenas insists a continued effort to increase rights awareness in the Latino community will slowly – but surely – start to turn the tables on the issue.
“Let them know that you know your rights,” said Arenas, who recommends staying quiet and asking for a lawyer before saying anything incriminating, even if that means going down to the station and waiting for an interpreter.
“Your rights are universal,” he said. “In the legal system here, you’re presumed innocent until proven guilty. You have to take those rights as they’re written.”
*Editor’s note: Martha Garcia shared her testimony in Spanish and the author translated it for this article.
by Kalyn Belsha Feb 19, 2009
At a Feb. 14 public workshop held by Latinos Organized for Justice, Martha Garcia tells others about a police incident in March. She says her then 12-year-old son was held on false accusations of spraying graffeti in the neighborhood.
Martha Garcia says her son Miguel was detained by Chicago police last March on suspicions that Miguel, then 12, sprayed graffiti on a wall in Back of the Yards.
Garcia said when she got the call her son was being held at the police station, she was surprised. When she and her husband, neither of whom speak English, picked up Miguel they found him handcuffed with bruises on his face, she said.
An officer who could not speak Spanish told Garcia’s husband to sign a document for his son’s release. Upon later translation, the couple realized the document also faulted Miguel – who said he was innocent – and resulted in a $300 fine.
Garcia said she filed a report about the incident with the Independent Police Review Authority, a department unaffiliated with Chicago police that reviews allegations against officers. But nothing has resulted from the family’s report. A representative from the authority could not be reached for comment on the report's status.
Garcia’s case is a horror story of police misconduct, advocates for citizens’ rights say. But they warn she is not alone. Every year, other Chicago Latinos also experience problems due to language, cultural barriers and lack of knowledge when dealing with police, experts say.
‘We have to come together’
Hearing Garcia’s story, Manuel Barragán Arenas, an organizer for Latinos Organized for Justice – a division of the Illinois Hunger Coalition – got an idea. He thought that if others could hear her tale, they might come forward with their own.
Arenas hosted a know-your-rights workshop in a Back of the Yards church on Feb. 14. Attended by about 30 area residents, the workshop aimed at increasing awareness about what to do if stopped by an officer and how victims of police misconduct can take action.
“Courts are not always the solution,” Arenas said. “So that’s why we have to come together as a community to come up with alternatives.”
While those alternatives are limited right now, Arenas has high hopes for the future because people are finally getting “comfortable enough to share” their experiences, he said.
Garcia, for example, told her story publicly for the first time at the workshop. If more stories surface, Arenas said, police accountability will be as common a topic of discussion among Latinos as gang-related violence and drugs.
Another community meeting took place Monday, where police-related rights were slated as a topic of conversation.
Bridging the divide
The fact that Latinos seldom talk about or report instances of police abuse is nothing new, says Craig Futterman, who founded the civil rights police accountability project at the University of Chicago’s Mandel Legal Aid Clinic.
Nationwide, fewer than one out of 10 people who believe they have been abused by police report it, said Futterman, who is also a clinical professor of law at the university.
He estimates the rate is even lower in Chicago.
In Chicago’s Latino community, he said, language barriers and fears about immigration issues often prevent them from exercising their rights when stopped by police.
“If officers want to search someone and they don’t have probable cause, it is incumbent upon the officer to obtain voluntary consent,” Futterman said, noting some emergencies as exceptions.
But if officers don’t speak the language of the person they have stopped, should they wait until an interpreter arrives to obtain consent?
An officer from the District 9 police department – which patrols Back of the Yards – who asked to not be named, said there was an adequate number of Spanish-speaking officers in her district. She also said officers are advised to wait for an interpreter if there is language barrier.
Representatives from the Chicago Police Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the adequacy of Spanish-speaking officers citywide.
Futterman says for law enforcement to be effective, it should be reflective of the city it polices.
According to latest department records, about 15.5 percent of CPD’s 15,493 personnel could speak Spanish in 2007, up only .1 percentage points since 2004.
Chicago population estimates by Metro Chicago Information Center and CPD personnel data from 2005 show 28.9 percent of Chicagoans identify themselves as Hispanic, compared with the 15.8 percent of police personnel classified as Hispanic that same year.
Comparatively, about 40 percent of Chicago’s population identified themselves as white in 2005 while more than half -- 51.5 percent -- of CPD personnel were white.
Opening up and moving forward
Futterman says another reason many Latinos don’t come forward in instances of police misconduct stems from doubt about what a complaint can do. He said nationwide studies show for every 1,000 reports, less than two will result in charges against an implicated officer.
In Chicago, the Independent Police Review Authority logged 9,773 allegations and notifications against the CPD in 2008. These can range from use of excessive force, to verbal abuse to misuses of Tasers, pepper spray or a fire arm. Of these, 2,210 – about 27 percent – resulted in further investigation.
Last year, the agency closed 2,583 cases, some of which could date back prior to 2008. But only 2 percent of them – 55 cases – had sufficient evidence to prove or disprove an allegation against CPD personnel, according to agency documents.
“There is a real fear that any exercising [of their rights] could jeopardize them in real ways,” said Futterman, who lists threats of police retaliation and raids by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency as potential consequences for Latinos who file reports.
So why risk it if filing a report is a shot in the dark at best?
Arenas said he hopes his group’s initiative will change the belief that speaking out won’t do any good. His effort to increase testimony-sharing could increase the number of valid complaints against the CPD, he said.
But Jaime Pérez, also of Latinos Organized for Justice, said getting members of the older Latino generation on board will be difficult.
“We’re brought up that authority trumps everything,” said Pérez. “If [the police] knock on your door and ask to search your house, even if you know in your heart you have [not done anything wrong], you’re going to let them in.”
But Arenas insists a continued effort to increase rights awareness in the Latino community will slowly – but surely – start to turn the tables on the issue.
“Let them know that you know your rights,” said Arenas, who recommends staying quiet and asking for a lawyer before saying anything incriminating, even if that means going down to the station and waiting for an interpreter.
“Your rights are universal,” he said. “In the legal system here, you’re presumed innocent until proven guilty. You have to take those rights as they’re written.”
*Editor’s note: Martha Garcia shared her testimony in Spanish and the author translated it for this article.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Personal approach is key to seeking Hispanic Volunteers
Achieving Diversity: Personal approach is key to seeking Hispanic Volunteers
by Eman Quotah
Publisher's Note: This article first aappeared in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, September 18, 2008.
In their efforts to recruit more Hispanic volunteers, charities that serve young people have experimented with many approaches. Several of the groups have received money to expand the number of Hispanics and other minorities who volunteer.
For example, Junior Achievement, whose affiliates provide business education to high-school and middle-school students, has been testing ways to recruit Hispanic volunteers and examining the effect such volunteers have on teenagers' attitudes toward school, according to David Arrambide, director of the group's Hispanic Initiative.
The three-year study, conducted in seven cities, is about to wrap up. It has been supported by nearly $2.4-million in grants from the Goizueta Foundation, in Atlanta, which also awards grants to other youth charities' efforts to reach out to Hispanic families and potential volunteers.
Stop Child Abuse Now of Northern Virginia, in Alexandria, received $25,000 from the Vicky Collins Charitable Foundation, in Arlington, to recruit more black and Hispanic volunteers for its Court Appointed Special Advocate program, which goes by the name CASA, says Carrie Cannon, the program's director. CASA volunteers represent children in court cases alleging abuse and neglect.
Since the Collins foundation made the grant in March 2007, Ms. Cannon says, the number of Hispanic volunteers in her program went from zero to six. "It's a start for us," she says. "We only train about 30 volunteers a year."
Here are some of the approaches that Junior Achievement, CASA, and other charities that work with children and teenagers have used to increase the number of Hispanic-Americans among their volunteers:
Tailor the message. "The worst thing we could do is just take all our English-language materials and translate them into Spanish and think that they'll work," says Jim Clune, chief communications officer at the National CASA Association, in Seattle.
Many Hispanics respond to a direct and personal approach, he says. As a result, a video that National CASA recently produced to recruit Hispanics, he says, features Hispanic volunteers talking about their work for the organization, and why it is important for people of Hispanic descent to help children in need. By contrast, its videos intended for the general public might show a homeless child and a typical day faced by such a youngster.
Enlist ambassadors." What that means is you have to have other Latinos, other Hispanics in the community to talk about why this is important," says Valarie De La Garza, a Los Angeles marketing consultant who has designed campaigns for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and the National CASA Association. Ambassadors, she says, could be staff members, board members, or members of a committee formed specifically to advise a charity about how to tailor its efforts to recruit Hispanic volunteers and serve Hispanic youngsters.
Both Junior Achievement and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America have created national and local committees of this sort. The advisory groups, representatives of those charities say, are made up mostly of influential Hispanic business managers, who often can reach potential volunteers through their jobs and professional networks.
Sandra Delgado Searl, director of the Hispanic mentor program at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, in Philadelphia, says her organization's national Hispanic Advisory Council proposed research the charity recently conducted on Hispanic-Americans' perceptions of the nonprofit group and of volunteering.
It helps if staff members assigned to recruit Hispanic volunteers are either Hispanic or have lived in Latin America and know the language and culture, says Beverly Hobbs, a professor of education at Oregon State University and director of a project to involve more Hispanic children and families in 4-H youth-development programs in her state. "When you're working with Latinos, relationships underscore everything."
"If you don't have relationships with people and they don't trust you, you're going to get a lot of yeses but no action," she says.
The National CASA Association has also enlisted celebrities to tout its programs. In May, the actor Danny Pino, of the television show Cold Case, took part in a five-day publicity campaign for CASA. His interviews discussing the need for more Hispanic volunteers ran on more than 100 television stations, including Spanish-language stations, and increased traffic to the charity's Web site by 60 percent, Mr. Clune says.
Tap large employers, colleges, and professional associations. Katiuska Delgado, vice president of education operations at Junior Achievement of Georgia, in Atlanta, says that in that city she has simply refined Junior Achievement's model of working with large employers to recruit volunteers, by forging relationships with Hispanic employee networks at Atlanta companies like BellSouth and GE Energy.
When Junior Achievement of Georgia, which received a three-year grant from the Goizueta Foundation from 2002 to 2005 for its Hispanic Initiative, expanded its focus in the second year of the grant from Atlanta to the more rural cities of Gainesville and Dalton, it found a shortage of large corporations from which to cull volunteers.
So Ms. Delgado looked to the cities' community colleges, both of which had received Goizueta grants for scholarships to increase their number of Hispanic students. A component of the scholarships was community service, so the students were invited to volunteer for Junior Achievement.
Other recruiters of volunteers have worked with large government agencies, whose employee demographics, they say, tend to reflect their cities. Margarita Rodriguez-Corriere directs the Hispanic Initiative at Junior Achievement Rocky Mountain, in Denver, an effort by the youth charity to recruit Hispanic volunteers. She has collaborated with the Denver mayor's office, which allows employees eight hours a year of paid time off to volunteer, to look for people willing to give their time.
Be a Mentor, a Hayward, Calif., organization that runs mentor programs for youths from needy families, primarily in the San Francisco Bay area, enlisted the Alameda County, Calif., government to tout volunteering for the charity by sending staffwide e-mail messages and inserting promotional slips in employees' pay envelopes, says Bob Goetsch, Be a Mentor's executive director.
Mr. Goetsch, Ms. Delgado, and others say they have found Hispanic chambers of commerce and business roundtables to be good sources of potential volunteers and avenues for spreading the word about their causes, especially to smaller Hispanic-owned businesses.
Collaborate with local volunteer centers. When Ms. Cannon's CASA program began investigating ways to recruit black and Hispanic volunteers, the charity asked other Northern Virginia organizations for tips. "We found that everyone had the same problem," she says.
Together with volunteer bureaus and government agencies from a number of Northern Virginia cities and counties, Ms. Cannon's group hosted a series of what amounted to volunteer "career fairs," including events at a Mexican restaurant in Alexandria and a Latin American club in Arlington. Aimed specifically at Hispanic adults in the region, the two mixers drew a total of 100 people and garnered three applications for volunteers to CASA.
That number might seem small, she says, but it doesn't take into account the number of volunteers recruited by the other organizations that co-hosted the events.
Give volunteers roles that use their skills and passions. Ms. Hobbs says she has no difficulty finding Hispanic parents who are willing to coach soccer or teach Latin American dance for 4-H. In particular, she says, "Using soccer has been a great way for us to connect with the community and a great way to get dads involved as volunteers."
Although she would like to recruit Hispanic parents to teach nature and science to children, they often tell her they don't think they know enough to do so, she says.
Milagros Mateu, a retired NASA program administrator and CASA volunteer in Alexandria, Va., cautions organizations not to underestimate the contributions Hispanic volunteers can make. Charities should channel volunteers' passions, rather than just their ability to speak Spanish, she says.
She recalls volunteering for a homeless shelter many years ago. She wanted to work directly with residents of the shelter, but staff members assigned her to teach Spanish to other volunteers.
She says, "That for me was not as satisfying as working with the people who went to the shelter."
Southwest's Mexican Roots: Untold Stories of Mexicans and other Latinos
Southwest’s Mexican Roots: Untold Stories Of Mexicans and other Latinos
By David E. Hayes-Bautista
Publisher’s Note: This is first part in a series provided by Dr. David E. Hayes-Bautista on the untold history of Hispanics in America.
Thanks to overwhelming Latino support in last November’s election, on Jan. 20, Barack Hussein Obama placed his hand upon the bible used by Abraham Lincoln for his inauguration, and took the oath of o ce as this nation’s 44th president. What few people know is that, nearly150 years ago, Latinos were also vigorously involved in assuring Lincoln’s re-election to the presidency in 1864 so that he could see the Civil War to its end, spread freedom to all, and bequeath a bible for President Obama to use.
The first year of the American Civil War was disastrous and disheartening for the supporters of freedom and democracy. Confederate troops bent on continuing slavery and tyranny had beaten the Union forces in nearly every major battle. French emperor Napoleon III took advantage of the Confederacy’s victories to send his troops into Mexico to depose a democratic president, Benito Juarez, and impose his puppet emperor, Maximilian of Austria. For a while, it looked as if slavery and tyranny would characterize the North American land mass. But suddenly, like a ray of lightning in a night storm, on May 5, 1862, hope lit up the sky at the gates of Puebla. The out-gunned and outmanned Mexican army, fighting to preserve freedom and democracy, decisively beat back the army of slavery and tyranny, throwing the mighty French army back to its base on the coast.
Bursting with joy, Mexicans in California immediately celebrated the first major victory of freedom and democracy by commemorating the battle of the Cinco de Mayo. And Mexican enthusiasm was needed. After its sluggish start, the Civil War had devolved into a stalemated series of see-saw battles, the Union forces winning some, and the Confederate forces winning others, over the following three years.
In the middle of this bloody stalemated battle against slavery and tyranny, Lincoln’s first term as president was coming to an end, and he had to convince the American electorate to let him continue the war to its conclusion. Th is was not going to be easy. Across the land, Lincoln’s authority was weak. Certainly, the Confederacy did not recognize him, calling Jefferson Davis its legitimate president. In the North and in the West—including California—supporters of the Confederacy, called Copperheads, did not lose any opportunity to stir up dissent. Even worse, a “Peace Party” had formed. Weary of four years of war, unwilling to extend the hand of liberty to the enslaved, this new party headed by former U.S. General McClelland, challenged Lincoln’s prosecution of the seemingly endless, bloody war. Make peace now! th ey exclaimed. Let the south go, let them keep their slaves, it’s none of our business. Th eir simplistic slogans appealed to a war-weary American public.
Lincoln was in trouble, under pressure to cease his e fforts.
But he enjoyed the support of Mexicans in California, who opposed slavery with all their fiber, who had insisted California join the union as a free state. Concerned about the future of the Union without Lincoln as president, early in October in 1864, a large group of Mexicans and other Latinos met in San Francisco, at the Terpsichore Hall on Pacific and Stockton Streets, to discuss how they could support their embattled candidate, Abraham Lincoln. A young firebrand who had just moved to San Francisco from Los Angeles, Francisco P. Ramirez, exhorted the crowd to organize its e fforts, as did the Mexican Consul, Jose Maria Vigil and a number of other orators. Speaking in the Spanish language common to California for nearly a century at that point, the speakers urged those Latinos present, the “Children of the Americas,” hailing from California, Mexico, Central America and South America, to become involved in this very important election that could decide the future of the United States.
Acting on the old Spanish dicho, “La union hace la fuerza” the Latinos present decided to form a new organization to support Lincoln and his fight for freedom: the “Club Unionista Hispano-Americano de Lincoln y Johnson” (Andrew Johnson was his vice-presidential candidate). Th e editor of La Voz de Mejico, one of the many Spanish-language newspapers of 19th century in California, exhorted those Latinos who were naturalized citizens of the US to vote for Lincoln, and urged those immigrant Latinos who were not yet naturalized become so in order to defend freedom and democracy in the upcoming election. To drive the point home that America’s battles were also Latino battles, the editor of La Voz de Mejico pointed out that: “nuestro destino se halla identificado con nuestro pais adoptivo—la causa de la union es la misma que Mejico sostiene” (our destiny is the same as that of our adopted country—the cause of the Union is the same that Mexico supports). TO BE CONTINUED.
David E. Hayes-Bautista is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at the David Ge en School of Medicine at UCLA. His most recent book is La Nueva California: Latinos in the Golden State (University of California Press, 2004)
HIspanic voter outreach by GOP takes a back seat
California GOP strains for ways to broaden appeal
Desire to attract more female, Latino, African American and young voters doesn't result in a clear plan. A consensus does emerge on one issue: hating Schwarzenegger.
By Michael Finnegan February 22, 2009
Reporting from Sacramento -- California Republicans cast about for ideas to revive their ailing party on Saturday, but struggled to define a clear vision for expanding their appeal beyond the dwindling ranks of older white conservatives.
At a glum gathering of Republican faithful, GOP leaders hewed to the party's traditional call to scale back government, even as many voters demand just the opposite to stop the economy's downward slide.
At the same time, the GOP leaders lamented their party's failure to win over more women, Latinos, African Americans and younger voters, a shortcoming that points toward more defeats ahead for a party long relegated to firm minority status in California.
"Right now the party is pretty aimless," said state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, a candidate for governor in the party's June 2010 primary. "It's got no strong leadership, and that's got to be fixed."
Poizner and his top rival in the primary, former EBay chief executive Meg Whitman, were supposed to be the main attractions at the state party's weekend convention near the domed Capitol.
Instead, fury among Republicans over the $12.5 billion in tax hikes approved by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature led to fratricidal maneuvers to punish the six GOP lawmakers who voted Friday for the state budget.
While Poizner and Whitman each sharply denounced the tax increases, delegates went further, crafting a plan to censure the legislators for damaging both the California economy and, not incidentally, the party's "brand name."
In the end, a party committee scratched the censure but voted to deny party money to any of the six lawmakers who might seek reelection.
The panel also rejected a proposal by a few delegates to extend "a heartfelt and sincere apology" to former Gov. Gray Davis for promoting his 2003 recall. Schwarzenegger, the delegates said, has "proven to govern as a tax-and-spend politician precisely similar to the one he campaigned to replace in the recall election."
Disapproval of the party's own governor was a major theme at an event with little of the festive atmospherics usually on display at party confabs, apart from a life-size cutout of Sarah Palin that proved to be a popular photo stop.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger is like passing a kidney stone, and we've got another year to go," said blogger Jon Fleischman, a vice chairman of the state party.
Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista, who bankrolled the recall of Davis, put it less colorfully. "Quite frankly, he's failed to change the fundamental spending in California," Issa said.
Schwarzenegger's would-be successors joined in condemning the governor, without mentioning his name or specifying how they would have balanced the budget.
"The accountability for the budget lies at the leader's feet," Whitman said.
Schwarzenegger was a few thousand miles away at a governors' conference in Washington. Braving the crowd's snickers, however, was Sen. Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria, the Republican who gave the governor and his Democratic allies the last vote they needed to raise taxes.
GOP old-timers "can beat me up all they want," Maldonado told reporters at a ballroom luncheon where he was surrounded by erstwhile allies who now see him as a traitor. Calling himself "the future of this party," Maldonado said the party needs more Latinos to be its public face.
"If we don't change, we're going to go back to the old ways, and we're going to continue to lose," said Maldonado, who faulted the party's hard line against illegal immigration. "They don't get it on illegal immigration," he said.
But a tough stance toward illegal immigrants was a given for the 1,250 delegates and guests at the convention. Carly Fiorina, a possible contender in the party's U.S. Senate primary next year to challenge Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer, made them the butt of a joke in a hotel penthouse breakfast speech. When her family first moved to California, Fiorina recalled, her little brother asked, "Mommy, do they speak English there?"
"Wasn't that prescient," she joked, sparking a burst of guffaws.
A former Hewlett-Packard chief executive who left the troubled company with a severance package worth an estimated $21 million to $42 million, Fiorina also bucked the populist tide against lavish corporate salaries by denouncing President Obama's effort to cap annual pay at $500,000 for leaders of banks taking federal bailout money.
"When somebody makes $40 million a year for failure, we cannot defend that," she said. "On the other hand, I believe the solution should be, every CEO's pay should be put up for shareholder vote each and every year. Let the shareholders decide."
Including her severance, Fiorina was paid nearly $180 million during her five-year tenure at Hewlett-Packard. After she was forced out, shareholders sued, claiming that the board of directors should have let shareholders decide her severance.
A potential rival in the primary, state Sen. Chuck DeVore of Irvine, took his own turn at defying public opinion. In an interview, he denounced a landmark climate-change law that Schwarzenegger signed, a major plank of the governor's reelection campaign. Supporters of the law, he said, were "trying to pursue this chimera of reducing greenhouse gas emissions" at the expense of jobs at a time of high unemployment.
Other Republicans offered ideas on how the party might reach beyond the conservative voters who share such views. Wayne Johnson, a party strategist, pointed to the party's support for charter schools in urban areas and its alliance with black and Latino voters backing Proposition 8, the ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage.
"I really, truly believe that's where we need to go," he said.
But few Republicans suggested any fundamental refocusing of the party's priorities. To Sen. Tony Strickland of Thousand Oaks, the party's future lies in drawing younger voters through Facebook, Twitter and text messages.
"Instead of issues," he said, "it's more about the way we communicate."
michael.finnegan@latimes.com
Desire to attract more female, Latino, African American and young voters doesn't result in a clear plan. A consensus does emerge on one issue: hating Schwarzenegger.
By Michael Finnegan February 22, 2009
Reporting from Sacramento -- California Republicans cast about for ideas to revive their ailing party on Saturday, but struggled to define a clear vision for expanding their appeal beyond the dwindling ranks of older white conservatives.
At a glum gathering of Republican faithful, GOP leaders hewed to the party's traditional call to scale back government, even as many voters demand just the opposite to stop the economy's downward slide.
At the same time, the GOP leaders lamented their party's failure to win over more women, Latinos, African Americans and younger voters, a shortcoming that points toward more defeats ahead for a party long relegated to firm minority status in California.
"Right now the party is pretty aimless," said state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, a candidate for governor in the party's June 2010 primary. "It's got no strong leadership, and that's got to be fixed."
Poizner and his top rival in the primary, former EBay chief executive Meg Whitman, were supposed to be the main attractions at the state party's weekend convention near the domed Capitol.
Instead, fury among Republicans over the $12.5 billion in tax hikes approved by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature led to fratricidal maneuvers to punish the six GOP lawmakers who voted Friday for the state budget.
While Poizner and Whitman each sharply denounced the tax increases, delegates went further, crafting a plan to censure the legislators for damaging both the California economy and, not incidentally, the party's "brand name."
In the end, a party committee scratched the censure but voted to deny party money to any of the six lawmakers who might seek reelection.
The panel also rejected a proposal by a few delegates to extend "a heartfelt and sincere apology" to former Gov. Gray Davis for promoting his 2003 recall. Schwarzenegger, the delegates said, has "proven to govern as a tax-and-spend politician precisely similar to the one he campaigned to replace in the recall election."
Disapproval of the party's own governor was a major theme at an event with little of the festive atmospherics usually on display at party confabs, apart from a life-size cutout of Sarah Palin that proved to be a popular photo stop.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger is like passing a kidney stone, and we've got another year to go," said blogger Jon Fleischman, a vice chairman of the state party.
Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista, who bankrolled the recall of Davis, put it less colorfully. "Quite frankly, he's failed to change the fundamental spending in California," Issa said.
Schwarzenegger's would-be successors joined in condemning the governor, without mentioning his name or specifying how they would have balanced the budget.
"The accountability for the budget lies at the leader's feet," Whitman said.
Schwarzenegger was a few thousand miles away at a governors' conference in Washington. Braving the crowd's snickers, however, was Sen. Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria, the Republican who gave the governor and his Democratic allies the last vote they needed to raise taxes.
GOP old-timers "can beat me up all they want," Maldonado told reporters at a ballroom luncheon where he was surrounded by erstwhile allies who now see him as a traitor. Calling himself "the future of this party," Maldonado said the party needs more Latinos to be its public face.
"If we don't change, we're going to go back to the old ways, and we're going to continue to lose," said Maldonado, who faulted the party's hard line against illegal immigration. "They don't get it on illegal immigration," he said.
But a tough stance toward illegal immigrants was a given for the 1,250 delegates and guests at the convention. Carly Fiorina, a possible contender in the party's U.S. Senate primary next year to challenge Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer, made them the butt of a joke in a hotel penthouse breakfast speech. When her family first moved to California, Fiorina recalled, her little brother asked, "Mommy, do they speak English there?"
"Wasn't that prescient," she joked, sparking a burst of guffaws.
A former Hewlett-Packard chief executive who left the troubled company with a severance package worth an estimated $21 million to $42 million, Fiorina also bucked the populist tide against lavish corporate salaries by denouncing President Obama's effort to cap annual pay at $500,000 for leaders of banks taking federal bailout money.
"When somebody makes $40 million a year for failure, we cannot defend that," she said. "On the other hand, I believe the solution should be, every CEO's pay should be put up for shareholder vote each and every year. Let the shareholders decide."
Including her severance, Fiorina was paid nearly $180 million during her five-year tenure at Hewlett-Packard. After she was forced out, shareholders sued, claiming that the board of directors should have let shareholders decide her severance.
A potential rival in the primary, state Sen. Chuck DeVore of Irvine, took his own turn at defying public opinion. In an interview, he denounced a landmark climate-change law that Schwarzenegger signed, a major plank of the governor's reelection campaign. Supporters of the law, he said, were "trying to pursue this chimera of reducing greenhouse gas emissions" at the expense of jobs at a time of high unemployment.
Other Republicans offered ideas on how the party might reach beyond the conservative voters who share such views. Wayne Johnson, a party strategist, pointed to the party's support for charter schools in urban areas and its alliance with black and Latino voters backing Proposition 8, the ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage.
"I really, truly believe that's where we need to go," he said.
But few Republicans suggested any fundamental refocusing of the party's priorities. To Sen. Tony Strickland of Thousand Oaks, the party's future lies in drawing younger voters through Facebook, Twitter and text messages.
"Instead of issues," he said, "it's more about the way we communicate."
michael.finnegan@latimes.com
Latino group backs a California state constitutional convention
Latino group backs state constitutional convention summit
John Wildermuth February 22, 2009
Tuesday's Sacramento summit on a possible new state constitutional convention is picking up some interesting support, including the William C. Velasquez Institute, a think tank on Latino affairs.
"The disastrous state of California's government is of concern to us all," according to a news release from the institute, which is based in Texas and has offices in California and Florida.
"Within a generation, Latinos will soon be the majority in California and, as such, we have a vested interest in California's future."
The think tank will join groups such as the Center for Governmental Studies, Common Cause, the Greenlining Institute, the Courage Campaign, the League of Women Voters, the Planning and Conservation League and Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network as partners in the summit.
Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council, a regional business group, first brought up the idea for a state constitutional convention last year as a way to make widespread reforms in the way state government operates.
Since then, the state's growing financial crisis and the nasty partisan squabbles over the state budget have persuaded more people to look at what some call the nuclear option - political reform.
Tuesday's summit, which is open to the public, will begin at 9 a.m. at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in downtown Sacramento. It will feature discussion on what a convention involves and the type of problems it should deal with.
John Wildermuth February 22, 2009
Tuesday's Sacramento summit on a possible new state constitutional convention is picking up some interesting support, including the William C. Velasquez Institute, a think tank on Latino affairs.
"The disastrous state of California's government is of concern to us all," according to a news release from the institute, which is based in Texas and has offices in California and Florida.
"Within a generation, Latinos will soon be the majority in California and, as such, we have a vested interest in California's future."
The think tank will join groups such as the Center for Governmental Studies, Common Cause, the Greenlining Institute, the Courage Campaign, the League of Women Voters, the Planning and Conservation League and Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network as partners in the summit.
Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council, a regional business group, first brought up the idea for a state constitutional convention last year as a way to make widespread reforms in the way state government operates.
Since then, the state's growing financial crisis and the nasty partisan squabbles over the state budget have persuaded more people to look at what some call the nuclear option - political reform.
Tuesday's summit, which is open to the public, will begin at 9 a.m. at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in downtown Sacramento. It will feature discussion on what a convention involves and the type of problems it should deal with.
Hispanic students wanted at West Texas A&M
WT eyes Hispanics
School hopes to boost freshman enrollment of Latinos to 25 percent, which would net federal grant dollars
By David Pittman david.pittman@amarillo.com Amarillo Globe-News
Pedro Ramos is the first from his Hispanic family to go to college.
And if administrators at West Texas A&M University have their way, more students like Ramos will roam the Canyon campus.
The school hopes to increase its freshman Hispanic enrollment to 25 percent by 2011, better reflecting the region's demographics. The school's Hispanic enrollment now stands at about 17 percent.
"I want to go to college. I want to do something different with my life," said Ramos, a junior criminal justice major from Friona. "I'm trying to break the chains of my generation."
A 25 percent Hispanic enrollment would mark WT as a "Hispanic-Serving Institution," a federal designation that would net the university hundreds of thousands of federal grant dollars.
"The students would have greater opportunities to have grants and scholarships than what they have currently," WT President J. Patrick O'Brien said.
There are 177 Hispanic-Serving Institutions in 14 states, according to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, an advocacy group for more than 400 schools. Texas has 38 Hispanic-Serving Institutions.
Roughly 28 percent of the population in the Panhandle's 26 counties is Hispanic, according to data from the state demographer's Web site. The state's Hispanic population encompassed more than 36 percent of the state's total population in 2007.
"We want to have a diverse student population so that students of different backgrounds, philosophies, socioeconomics interact," O'Brien said. "If we do that, perhaps we can have a more tolerant society."
Dan Garcia, WT vice president for enrollment management, said the school can target Hispanic-concentrated high schools through college fairs and campus tours. The university also can send Spanish-language materials to help household decision-makers who may not speak English.
"There's a number of different things we can do to reach out to the general population and we end up reaching Hispanic students, black students, really all students," Garcia said.
He said the school's goal is to have 35 percent of its freshman application pool be Hispanic by 2011, 30 percent of admitted freshmen be Hispanics and 25 percent of enrolled freshmen be Hispanics. Last year, 25 percent of freshman applicants were Hispanic.
Through campus outreach and organizations, Garcia wants to target WT's freshman retention rate, which is just 64 percent.
"If we could have more activities on campus, particularly in the spring, students can stay better connected to the campus," Garcia said.
John Moder, chief operating officer for the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, said many Hispanics want to pursue a college degree but economic and cultural barriers sometimes prevent them from attaining that goal.
Many Hispanics are first-generation college students, he said, and don't know how to tackle the bureaucracy of applying and paying for college.
"I think the desire is there, but the barriers seem to be there," Moder said.
Ramos, president of the WT Hispanic Association, said too many feel a college education is out of reach or too expensive for them.
He said WT should focus more on would-be students' families to educate them on the importance of college or how to pursue a higher education.
"There needs to be a bigger movement to get information to the parent," Ramos said.
In the meantime, Ramos helps WT recruit other Hispanics by visiting high school campuses.
"I tell people anything is possible because look at what I've done," he said.
School hopes to boost freshman enrollment of Latinos to 25 percent, which would net federal grant dollars
By David Pittman david.pittman@amarillo.com Amarillo Globe-News
Pedro Ramos is the first from his Hispanic family to go to college.
And if administrators at West Texas A&M University have their way, more students like Ramos will roam the Canyon campus.
The school hopes to increase its freshman Hispanic enrollment to 25 percent by 2011, better reflecting the region's demographics. The school's Hispanic enrollment now stands at about 17 percent.
"I want to go to college. I want to do something different with my life," said Ramos, a junior criminal justice major from Friona. "I'm trying to break the chains of my generation."
A 25 percent Hispanic enrollment would mark WT as a "Hispanic-Serving Institution," a federal designation that would net the university hundreds of thousands of federal grant dollars.
"The students would have greater opportunities to have grants and scholarships than what they have currently," WT President J. Patrick O'Brien said.
There are 177 Hispanic-Serving Institutions in 14 states, according to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, an advocacy group for more than 400 schools. Texas has 38 Hispanic-Serving Institutions.
Roughly 28 percent of the population in the Panhandle's 26 counties is Hispanic, according to data from the state demographer's Web site. The state's Hispanic population encompassed more than 36 percent of the state's total population in 2007.
"We want to have a diverse student population so that students of different backgrounds, philosophies, socioeconomics interact," O'Brien said. "If we do that, perhaps we can have a more tolerant society."
Dan Garcia, WT vice president for enrollment management, said the school can target Hispanic-concentrated high schools through college fairs and campus tours. The university also can send Spanish-language materials to help household decision-makers who may not speak English.
"There's a number of different things we can do to reach out to the general population and we end up reaching Hispanic students, black students, really all students," Garcia said.
He said the school's goal is to have 35 percent of its freshman application pool be Hispanic by 2011, 30 percent of admitted freshmen be Hispanics and 25 percent of enrolled freshmen be Hispanics. Last year, 25 percent of freshman applicants were Hispanic.
Through campus outreach and organizations, Garcia wants to target WT's freshman retention rate, which is just 64 percent.
"If we could have more activities on campus, particularly in the spring, students can stay better connected to the campus," Garcia said.
John Moder, chief operating officer for the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, said many Hispanics want to pursue a college degree but economic and cultural barriers sometimes prevent them from attaining that goal.
Many Hispanics are first-generation college students, he said, and don't know how to tackle the bureaucracy of applying and paying for college.
"I think the desire is there, but the barriers seem to be there," Moder said.
Ramos, president of the WT Hispanic Association, said too many feel a college education is out of reach or too expensive for them.
He said WT should focus more on would-be students' families to educate them on the importance of college or how to pursue a higher education.
"There needs to be a bigger movement to get information to the parent," Ramos said.
In the meantime, Ramos helps WT recruit other Hispanics by visiting high school campuses.
"I tell people anything is possible because look at what I've done," he said.
Hispanic family learns about reading, writing, racism
Hispanic family learns about reading, writing, racism
By Kelli Young CantonRep.com staff writer Feb 22, 2009
The argument between the girls started over foil, the shiny stuff that the third-graders at Hope Academy Canton Campus used to make bendy people in art class.
Tatiana Iraheta told her classmate to share the stack of foil sheets she took to her own desk.
In a huff, the girl shot back, “You stupid Mexican.”
Tatiana stood stunned. She thought this girl was her friend. But her friends never call her mean names, even when they’re mad.
She ran to alert the teacher.
FINDING HER PLACE
Tatiana is the lone Latino in her third-grade class at Hope Academy, a private charter school with an enrollment of 315 students that is predominately black. For the first time, she’s learning what it means to be Hispanic and American in a society that routinely overlooks her Canton-born mother and identifies her by her birth father’s Honduran heritage or the Mexican ancestry of the man she now calls dad.
Tatiana’s mother, Traci Cantwell, tries to help her
8-year-old navigate the bicultural minefield, one further muddled by an anti-immigration backlash that blames Hispanics for increasing unemployment in the United States.
“I tell them to be proud of who they are,” Cantwell said. “I tell them that people are going to say things, it’s going to happen, but you shouldn’t be ashamed.”
But Cantwell herself is learning. The 26-year-old Canton native comes from a family which, until she married her first husband in 2000, didn’t know any Hispanics.
EMBRACING BOTH CULTURES
Cantwell taught herself how to speak Spanish by reading dictionaries and books she bought. Her soon-to-be husband, Jose Magueyal, a man she met in 2002 who left Mexico a decade ago, has tutored on everything from geography (Mexico is in North America, not in South America as Cantwell originally believed) and how to cook authentic Mexican cuisine, such as tamales and mole.
As a mother of five, Cantwell wants her children to feel connected to both their Hispanic and American roots.
She and Magueyal, the father of three of her children, teach the children Spanish as well as help them with their English reading assignments.
The family celebrates Christmas and Easter, as well as Three Kings’ Day, which honors the Biblical story of the three kings who bestowed gifts on baby Jesus, and The Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico and the Americas.
All five children — Armando Iraheta, 9; Tatiana; Reina Iraheta, 6; Antonio Magueyal, 4; Romeo Magueyal, 3 — were baptized in November at St. Anthony Catholic Church. Each child wore a white satin cape, sewn by their grandmother in Mexico, to symbolize their new life. Cantwell, who is Christian, also wants to convert to Catholicism.
Dinnertime often is a plateful of cultures: Tacos, rice and macaroni cheese.
“They seem to be fitting in to both cultures,” Cantwell said.
STAY IN SCHOOL
Hope Academy teacher Tiffany Smith believes the taunting aimed at Tatiana will stop as she gets better acquainted with her classmates. The school handbook gives the teacher the authority to decide whether a warning or stronger discipline is warranted.
“With children, they might be fearful of something they haven’t been exposed to,” said Smith, a third-grade teacher for seven years. “She’s such a sweet and hardworking girl that she’s definitely shown anybody that would have any type of stereotype or be unfamiliar with her background, to really see she’s a great representation of that background, of herself and of a third-grader.”
Cantwell, who, pregnant at age 16, dropped out of McKinley High School her sophomore year, stresses the important of a good education.
“I want them to be something,” said Cantwell, who may pursue a diploma once her youngest children start school. “I’ve told them that it’s hard to get a good job, have good things and have a family without a diploma.”
NO APOLOGY
Earlier this month, Tatiana earned the second-highest score in the class for her book report about Betsy Ross. She sat before the class in her white Baptism dress and white bonnet pretending to sew as she talked about how Ross created the American flag — the nation’s symbol for hope, pride and glory.
That was one day before the foil argument and name calling.The teacher lectured the girl about how everyone is different in some way. How some people like pizza and pepperoni; others don’t, and so on.
Tatiana still hasn’t forgiven her former friend.
“She never said she was sorry.”
By Kelli Young CantonRep.com staff writer Feb 22, 2009
The argument between the girls started over foil, the shiny stuff that the third-graders at Hope Academy Canton Campus used to make bendy people in art class.
Tatiana Iraheta told her classmate to share the stack of foil sheets she took to her own desk.
In a huff, the girl shot back, “You stupid Mexican.”
Tatiana stood stunned. She thought this girl was her friend. But her friends never call her mean names, even when they’re mad.
She ran to alert the teacher.
FINDING HER PLACE
Tatiana is the lone Latino in her third-grade class at Hope Academy, a private charter school with an enrollment of 315 students that is predominately black. For the first time, she’s learning what it means to be Hispanic and American in a society that routinely overlooks her Canton-born mother and identifies her by her birth father’s Honduran heritage or the Mexican ancestry of the man she now calls dad.
Tatiana’s mother, Traci Cantwell, tries to help her
8-year-old navigate the bicultural minefield, one further muddled by an anti-immigration backlash that blames Hispanics for increasing unemployment in the United States.
“I tell them to be proud of who they are,” Cantwell said. “I tell them that people are going to say things, it’s going to happen, but you shouldn’t be ashamed.”
But Cantwell herself is learning. The 26-year-old Canton native comes from a family which, until she married her first husband in 2000, didn’t know any Hispanics.
EMBRACING BOTH CULTURES
Cantwell taught herself how to speak Spanish by reading dictionaries and books she bought. Her soon-to-be husband, Jose Magueyal, a man she met in 2002 who left Mexico a decade ago, has tutored on everything from geography (Mexico is in North America, not in South America as Cantwell originally believed) and how to cook authentic Mexican cuisine, such as tamales and mole.
As a mother of five, Cantwell wants her children to feel connected to both their Hispanic and American roots.
She and Magueyal, the father of three of her children, teach the children Spanish as well as help them with their English reading assignments.
The family celebrates Christmas and Easter, as well as Three Kings’ Day, which honors the Biblical story of the three kings who bestowed gifts on baby Jesus, and The Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico and the Americas.
All five children — Armando Iraheta, 9; Tatiana; Reina Iraheta, 6; Antonio Magueyal, 4; Romeo Magueyal, 3 — were baptized in November at St. Anthony Catholic Church. Each child wore a white satin cape, sewn by their grandmother in Mexico, to symbolize their new life. Cantwell, who is Christian, also wants to convert to Catholicism.
Dinnertime often is a plateful of cultures: Tacos, rice and macaroni cheese.
“They seem to be fitting in to both cultures,” Cantwell said.
STAY IN SCHOOL
Hope Academy teacher Tiffany Smith believes the taunting aimed at Tatiana will stop as she gets better acquainted with her classmates. The school handbook gives the teacher the authority to decide whether a warning or stronger discipline is warranted.
“With children, they might be fearful of something they haven’t been exposed to,” said Smith, a third-grade teacher for seven years. “She’s such a sweet and hardworking girl that she’s definitely shown anybody that would have any type of stereotype or be unfamiliar with her background, to really see she’s a great representation of that background, of herself and of a third-grader.”
Cantwell, who, pregnant at age 16, dropped out of McKinley High School her sophomore year, stresses the important of a good education.
“I want them to be something,” said Cantwell, who may pursue a diploma once her youngest children start school. “I’ve told them that it’s hard to get a good job, have good things and have a family without a diploma.”
NO APOLOGY
Earlier this month, Tatiana earned the second-highest score in the class for her book report about Betsy Ross. She sat before the class in her white Baptism dress and white bonnet pretending to sew as she talked about how Ross created the American flag — the nation’s symbol for hope, pride and glory.
That was one day before the foil argument and name calling.The teacher lectured the girl about how everyone is different in some way. How some people like pizza and pepperoni; others don’t, and so on.
Tatiana still hasn’t forgiven her former friend.
“She never said she was sorry.”
Hispanics should be GOPs target consultant says
Consultant Urges GOP to Reach Out to Hispanics: Party Has to Rethink Its Message, Strategies, He Says.
Istockanalyst.com February 22, 2009
The Republican Party's message has been all wrong, according to GOP member Nelson Balido.
"We haven't been doing a good job telling our story," Balido said in an interview before his speech Saturday night at the annual Lincoln Day Dinner at the Pueblo Convention Center.
Balido told the local GOP that the party needs to rebuild itself, strategy and that it needs a more consistent dialogue with voters -- especially Hispanics.
"Ronald Reagan said something in the '80s: 'Hispanics are more Republican, and they just don't know it.' And you know what, they still don't know it," the 38-year-old San Antonio resident said.
Hispanic values largely align with those of Republicans, Balido said, which is why his party needs to target more Latino voters. "Despite what some Republicans think about the border and immigration, Hispanics' No. 1 concern is education for their kids. They want their kids to get ahead. What do Hispanic voters care about immigration for? They're already here!"
Balido, the son of Cuban immigrants, was born and raised in Los Angeles. He speaks fluent Spanish. Today, he's a key member of the Republican Party's Hispanic Road Table Advisory Board and is president of Balido and Associates, Inc. "a multicultural marketing, public strategies, real estate consulting firm."
In January he was appointed commissioner of the Texas Commission of the Arts. Much of his professional background has been spent in outreach programs to Hispanics, Asians and African- Americans.
"It's about targeting the Hispanic community and voters, and understanding the climate that is out there," Balido said. "What the Republican Party has failed at, terribly, is our message. (President Barack) Obama had a great message; hats off to him. But we didn't. It's about consistently reaching out, and not every two or four years."
Dave Dill, head of the Pueblo County Republican Party, and former Pueblo County Sheriff Dan Corsentino agreed with Balido and that the GOP's message and direction needs to change. They also anticipate resistance.
"It's very relevant to Pueblo because of the (Hispanic) population," Dill said. "It's about reaching over and convincing (opposing Republicans) that you can't spend all your time in your comfort zone."
Said Corsentino: "The Republican Party has done a bad job, a terrible job, and it's time to do better."
Istockanalyst.com February 22, 2009
The Republican Party's message has been all wrong, according to GOP member Nelson Balido.
"We haven't been doing a good job telling our story," Balido said in an interview before his speech Saturday night at the annual Lincoln Day Dinner at the Pueblo Convention Center.
Balido told the local GOP that the party needs to rebuild itself, strategy and that it needs a more consistent dialogue with voters -- especially Hispanics.
"Ronald Reagan said something in the '80s: 'Hispanics are more Republican, and they just don't know it.' And you know what, they still don't know it," the 38-year-old San Antonio resident said.
Hispanic values largely align with those of Republicans, Balido said, which is why his party needs to target more Latino voters. "Despite what some Republicans think about the border and immigration, Hispanics' No. 1 concern is education for their kids. They want their kids to get ahead. What do Hispanic voters care about immigration for? They're already here!"
Balido, the son of Cuban immigrants, was born and raised in Los Angeles. He speaks fluent Spanish. Today, he's a key member of the Republican Party's Hispanic Road Table Advisory Board and is president of Balido and Associates, Inc. "a multicultural marketing, public strategies, real estate consulting firm."
In January he was appointed commissioner of the Texas Commission of the Arts. Much of his professional background has been spent in outreach programs to Hispanics, Asians and African- Americans.
"It's about targeting the Hispanic community and voters, and understanding the climate that is out there," Balido said. "What the Republican Party has failed at, terribly, is our message. (President Barack) Obama had a great message; hats off to him. But we didn't. It's about consistently reaching out, and not every two or four years."
Dave Dill, head of the Pueblo County Republican Party, and former Pueblo County Sheriff Dan Corsentino agreed with Balido and that the GOP's message and direction needs to change. They also anticipate resistance.
"It's very relevant to Pueblo because of the (Hispanic) population," Dill said. "It's about reaching over and convincing (opposing Republicans) that you can't spend all your time in your comfort zone."
Said Corsentino: "The Republican Party has done a bad job, a terrible job, and it's time to do better."
Sunday, February 22, 2009
New Mexico moving to establish Hispanic Affairs Department
Senate approves Hispanic Affairs Department
KVIA - Associated Press - February 21, 2009
SANTA FE (AP) - New Mexico would create a cabinet-level Hispanic Affairs Department in state government under legislation approved by the Senate today.
Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez -- a Belen Democrat who sponsored the bill -- says the freestanding governmental agency would focus on issues of concern to the Hispanic community.
He says they include reducing poverty and improving education.
Hispanics account for more than two-fifths of New Mexico's population.
Supporters say Hispanics face a number of economic and educational challenges, such as a larger share of Hispanic families live in poverty than non-Hispanics.
The Senate passed the bill on a 31-7 vote and sent it to the House for consideration.
KVIA - Associated Press - February 21, 2009
SANTA FE (AP) - New Mexico would create a cabinet-level Hispanic Affairs Department in state government under legislation approved by the Senate today.
Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez -- a Belen Democrat who sponsored the bill -- says the freestanding governmental agency would focus on issues of concern to the Hispanic community.
He says they include reducing poverty and improving education.
Hispanics account for more than two-fifths of New Mexico's population.
Supporters say Hispanics face a number of economic and educational challenges, such as a larger share of Hispanic families live in poverty than non-Hispanics.
The Senate passed the bill on a 31-7 vote and sent it to the House for consideration.
Hispanic immigration enforcement a losing proposition
Enforcement Gone Bad
Editorial NY Times February 21, 2009
The failures of the immigration system are many and severe, but the main problem is not that the country is catching too few undocumented immigrants. It is catching too many. Since the early 1990s, you could write the federal government’s immigration strategy on a cardboard sign: Deport Them All.
A report last week from the Pew Hispanic Center laid bare some striking results of that campaign. It found that Latinos now make up 40 percent of those sentenced in federal courts, even though they are only about 13 percent of the adult population. They accounted for one-third of federal prison inmates in 2007.
The numbers might suggest we are besieged by immigrant criminals. But of all the noncitizen Latinos sentenced last year, the vast majority — 81 percent — were convicted for unlawfully entering or remaining in the country, neither of which is a criminal offense.
The country is filling the federal courts and prisons with nonviolent offenders. It is diverting immense law-enforcement resources from pursuing serious criminals — violent thugs, financial scammers — to an immense, self-defeating campaign to hunt down ... workers.
The Pew report follows news this month that even as a federal program to hunt immigrant fugitives saw its budget soar — to $218 million last year from $9 million in 2003 — its mission went astray. According to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, of the 72,000 people arrested through last February, 73 percent had no criminal record. Border Patrol agents in California and Maryland, meanwhile, tell of pressure to arrest workers at day-labor corners and convenience stores to meet quotas.
The country needs to control its borders. It needs to rebuild an effective immigration system and thwart employers who cheat it. It needs to bring the undocumented forward and make citizen taxpayers of them.
For all the billions spent on fences, raids, patrols and prisons, the number of illegal immigrants has steadily grown to about 12 million last year from four million in 1992. So has the need to overhaul the many parts of a festering, broken system: to clear out backlogs in legal immigration, to rescue families from limbo, to throw sunlight on the shadow economy, to deter unlawful hiring, to replace chaos with lawfulness and order. All those priorities have languished in the deportation era.
Editorial NY Times February 21, 2009
The failures of the immigration system are many and severe, but the main problem is not that the country is catching too few undocumented immigrants. It is catching too many. Since the early 1990s, you could write the federal government’s immigration strategy on a cardboard sign: Deport Them All.
A report last week from the Pew Hispanic Center laid bare some striking results of that campaign. It found that Latinos now make up 40 percent of those sentenced in federal courts, even though they are only about 13 percent of the adult population. They accounted for one-third of federal prison inmates in 2007.
The numbers might suggest we are besieged by immigrant criminals. But of all the noncitizen Latinos sentenced last year, the vast majority — 81 percent — were convicted for unlawfully entering or remaining in the country, neither of which is a criminal offense.
The country is filling the federal courts and prisons with nonviolent offenders. It is diverting immense law-enforcement resources from pursuing serious criminals — violent thugs, financial scammers — to an immense, self-defeating campaign to hunt down ... workers.
The Pew report follows news this month that even as a federal program to hunt immigrant fugitives saw its budget soar — to $218 million last year from $9 million in 2003 — its mission went astray. According to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, of the 72,000 people arrested through last February, 73 percent had no criminal record. Border Patrol agents in California and Maryland, meanwhile, tell of pressure to arrest workers at day-labor corners and convenience stores to meet quotas.
The country needs to control its borders. It needs to rebuild an effective immigration system and thwart employers who cheat it. It needs to bring the undocumented forward and make citizen taxpayers of them.
For all the billions spent on fences, raids, patrols and prisons, the number of illegal immigrants has steadily grown to about 12 million last year from four million in 1992. So has the need to overhaul the many parts of a festering, broken system: to clear out backlogs in legal immigration, to rescue families from limbo, to throw sunlight on the shadow economy, to deter unlawful hiring, to replace chaos with lawfulness and order. All those priorities have languished in the deportation era.
Annual Georgia Latino Forum another success
Latino community comes together at GSC
By Matt Lampert Staff Access North Georgia
OAKWOOD – Gainesville State College hosted the 3rd Annual Georgia Latino Forum Meeting and Conference on Saturday. Leaders and members of the Latino community met to discuss issues facing Latinos in Georgia.
Gainesville resident Robert Murillo was on hand to learn how to get plugged into the community and help others. “We have to try to unite people. That’s what we need to do to try to get out of this economic downfall,” he said.
Gerson Vasquez was there to build a relationship between the Latino community and the U.S. Census Bureau. “We’re very focused on getting an accurate and appropriate count, especially in the Hispanic and Latino community because they are traditionally underrepresented,” he said, pointing to the impact the census has on Congressional representation.
“It is very important that our residents come out and be counted to support their community so they get funding for schools, health facilities, and transportation issues,” added Diana Schwartz.
Georgia Latino Forum Executive Chair Sharon Maloney says that networking is also one of the event’s key aspects. “Our main focus is networking and collaboration throughout the state of Georgia of all Latino and Latino-serving organizations, as well as bringing some of the issues of the Latino community to the forefront,” she said.
Attendees heard presentations and discussed a host of topics, including small business development, voter registration, health, education, and immigration.
By Matt Lampert Staff Access North Georgia
OAKWOOD – Gainesville State College hosted the 3rd Annual Georgia Latino Forum Meeting and Conference on Saturday. Leaders and members of the Latino community met to discuss issues facing Latinos in Georgia.
Gainesville resident Robert Murillo was on hand to learn how to get plugged into the community and help others. “We have to try to unite people. That’s what we need to do to try to get out of this economic downfall,” he said.
Gerson Vasquez was there to build a relationship between the Latino community and the U.S. Census Bureau. “We’re very focused on getting an accurate and appropriate count, especially in the Hispanic and Latino community because they are traditionally underrepresented,” he said, pointing to the impact the census has on Congressional representation.
“It is very important that our residents come out and be counted to support their community so they get funding for schools, health facilities, and transportation issues,” added Diana Schwartz.
Georgia Latino Forum Executive Chair Sharon Maloney says that networking is also one of the event’s key aspects. “Our main focus is networking and collaboration throughout the state of Georgia of all Latino and Latino-serving organizations, as well as bringing some of the issues of the Latino community to the forefront,” she said.
Attendees heard presentations and discussed a host of topics, including small business development, voter registration, health, education, and immigration.
Latina to provide keynote remarks at ASTD
Caballero to speak at ASTD gathering
The Caller
The Corpus Christi Chapter of the American Society of Training and Development meets from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Del Mar College, Center for Economic Development, Room 119, 3209 S. Staples St. Irma Caballero, director of economic development for the city of Corpus Christi, will speak about the importance of updating your vision and mission, fostering pro-activity and people development, the visioning process, and the next steps to communicating the vision in Corpus Christi city government. Cost: $15/includes lunch; $10/members.
For reservations call Lisa Sikes at 694-4221 or e-mail admin@astd-cc.org
The Caller
The Corpus Christi Chapter of the American Society of Training and Development meets from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Del Mar College, Center for Economic Development, Room 119, 3209 S. Staples St. Irma Caballero, director of economic development for the city of Corpus Christi, will speak about the importance of updating your vision and mission, fostering pro-activity and people development, the visioning process, and the next steps to communicating the vision in Corpus Christi city government. Cost: $15/includes lunch; $10/members.
For reservations call Lisa Sikes at 694-4221 or e-mail admin@astd-cc.org
Latina House Rep back in Caucus
It's Politics: Linda Sanchez rejoins Congressional Hispanic Caucus
By Mike Sprague, Staff Writer Whittier Daily News 02/20/2009
Rep. Linda Sanchez has rejoined the Congressional Hispanic Caucus nearly two years after suspending her membership.
Sanchez, D-Lakewood, said she has come back because the group has made the structural reforms she wanted.
The caucus has a new chairman and there will be rotating chairmanships of the different task forces, Sanchez said.
This will allow for more power sharing, she said.
"With the Latino community making its voice heard louder than ever in the last election, I look forward to resuming my full membership of the CHC and being part of a team that will advocate for issues important to Latinos and all American families," she said.
The new chair is Rep. Nydia Vel zquez, D-New York.
Sanchez suspended her membership in 2007, soon after her sister, Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Garden Grove, had resigned.
Loretta Sanchez accused then-chairman, Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, of calling her "whore." Baca denied saying that.
However, Linda Sanchez said her sister's problems had nothing to do with her decision two years ago.
Loretta Sanchez still hasn't rejoined the caucus.
BABY CLOTHES: When Rep. Linda Sanchez meets with the La Mirada City Council annually, she's usually bringing help, i.e. - federal money for local projects.
And while that was certainly true at Thursday's meeting, Mayor Hal Malkin had his own gifts for Sanchez.
It was two pieces of clothing for Sanchez's soon-to-be-born child. He also provided a Hanukkah.
"That should be worth two roads and a museum," Malkin joked.
"You mean you don't want a library?" Sanchez responded.
Sanchez's baby is due May 20.
And yes, the council and Sanchez did talk about the city's wish list for federal help. It included projects that would cost about $38 million.
By Mike Sprague, Staff Writer Whittier Daily News 02/20/2009
Rep. Linda Sanchez has rejoined the Congressional Hispanic Caucus nearly two years after suspending her membership.
Sanchez, D-Lakewood, said she has come back because the group has made the structural reforms she wanted.
The caucus has a new chairman and there will be rotating chairmanships of the different task forces, Sanchez said.
This will allow for more power sharing, she said.
"With the Latino community making its voice heard louder than ever in the last election, I look forward to resuming my full membership of the CHC and being part of a team that will advocate for issues important to Latinos and all American families," she said.
The new chair is Rep. Nydia Vel zquez, D-New York.
Sanchez suspended her membership in 2007, soon after her sister, Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Garden Grove, had resigned.
Loretta Sanchez accused then-chairman, Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, of calling her "whore." Baca denied saying that.
However, Linda Sanchez said her sister's problems had nothing to do with her decision two years ago.
Loretta Sanchez still hasn't rejoined the caucus.
BABY CLOTHES: When Rep. Linda Sanchez meets with the La Mirada City Council annually, she's usually bringing help, i.e. - federal money for local projects.
And while that was certainly true at Thursday's meeting, Mayor Hal Malkin had his own gifts for Sanchez.
It was two pieces of clothing for Sanchez's soon-to-be-born child. He also provided a Hanukkah.
"That should be worth two roads and a museum," Malkin joked.
"You mean you don't want a library?" Sanchez responded.
Sanchez's baby is due May 20.
And yes, the council and Sanchez did talk about the city's wish list for federal help. It included projects that would cost about $38 million.
Hispanics, Blacks need to work together
Blacks and Hispanics working together is the message we heard
La Prensa San Diego
February is Black History Month. This year is significant and historical as Barack Obama became the first Black President of the United States. We watched as Black History was being made.
Black History Month, like Hispanic Heritage Month, is a dedicated time when the Black community is celebrated, recognized, and honored for their contributions and historical significance to the United States. So it came as a bit of a surprise when, while listening to our favorite jazz station, a Black History moment was aired that highlighted Ignacio de la Torre. We were caught off guard. It seemed odd that a prominent Hispanic in San Diego was recognized during Black History Month.
The radio segment stated that de la Torre reflected the diversity of our community and the importance of this diverse community working together to bring about change. The kicker of the segment was the tie-in with AT&T. De la Torre is an employee of AT&T, a self-identified “diverse” company. It seemed a bit strange that AT&T didn’t have a prominent Black person who could deliver this message, but I transgress.
After hearing this segment a few times, after we stopped brushing the piece off as AT&T propaganda, the message began to make more sense. More to the point, we were able to apply a meaning to something so that it no longer seemed out of place.
This was the message that we finally heard in this Black History capsule with Ignacio de la Torre:
The Barack Obama election came about because, in part, of the Black and Hispanic communities working together and voting for Obama. Even so, as this country endures this economic crises, the Black and Hispanic communities seem to have been hit the hardest. Black and Hispanic unemployed and home foreclosures numbers are the highest in the nation. Historically Blacks and Hispanics have been at the bottom rung of the education ladder, with the greatest number of uninsured and underemployed. These communities suffer from drug issues and gang violence. They have higher rates of incarceration, unwed mothers and teen pregnancies. They are constant victims of racial profiling and discrimination.
These problems are very real in our communities. We have unique issues that we have to deal with on a daily basis. No economic stimulus, or the state budget just passed will resolve or deal with any of these problems. In fact with the California State budget that passed, some of the programs that deal with a few of these problems will be cut.
The message derived from the de la Torre Black History segment is that if we Hispanics and Blacks, as two minority/ethnic communities, are ever going to resolve these problems it is going to have to come from within our own communities. We will need to work together to move forward on these problems, building a political coalition that can work together to bring about change.
Now I don’t know if this was the message that AT&T was going for, but for this Hispanic newspaper listening to a Hispanic being highlighted as a part of Black History Month this is the message that came through loud and clear.
Change is coming to our Nation and our communities but change begins in our homes and our neighborhoods. And change happens a lot quicker when we work together.
La Prensa San Diego
February is Black History Month. This year is significant and historical as Barack Obama became the first Black President of the United States. We watched as Black History was being made.
Black History Month, like Hispanic Heritage Month, is a dedicated time when the Black community is celebrated, recognized, and honored for their contributions and historical significance to the United States. So it came as a bit of a surprise when, while listening to our favorite jazz station, a Black History moment was aired that highlighted Ignacio de la Torre. We were caught off guard. It seemed odd that a prominent Hispanic in San Diego was recognized during Black History Month.
The radio segment stated that de la Torre reflected the diversity of our community and the importance of this diverse community working together to bring about change. The kicker of the segment was the tie-in with AT&T. De la Torre is an employee of AT&T, a self-identified “diverse” company. It seemed a bit strange that AT&T didn’t have a prominent Black person who could deliver this message, but I transgress.
After hearing this segment a few times, after we stopped brushing the piece off as AT&T propaganda, the message began to make more sense. More to the point, we were able to apply a meaning to something so that it no longer seemed out of place.
This was the message that we finally heard in this Black History capsule with Ignacio de la Torre:
The Barack Obama election came about because, in part, of the Black and Hispanic communities working together and voting for Obama. Even so, as this country endures this economic crises, the Black and Hispanic communities seem to have been hit the hardest. Black and Hispanic unemployed and home foreclosures numbers are the highest in the nation. Historically Blacks and Hispanics have been at the bottom rung of the education ladder, with the greatest number of uninsured and underemployed. These communities suffer from drug issues and gang violence. They have higher rates of incarceration, unwed mothers and teen pregnancies. They are constant victims of racial profiling and discrimination.
These problems are very real in our communities. We have unique issues that we have to deal with on a daily basis. No economic stimulus, or the state budget just passed will resolve or deal with any of these problems. In fact with the California State budget that passed, some of the programs that deal with a few of these problems will be cut.
The message derived from the de la Torre Black History segment is that if we Hispanics and Blacks, as two minority/ethnic communities, are ever going to resolve these problems it is going to have to come from within our own communities. We will need to work together to move forward on these problems, building a political coalition that can work together to bring about change.
Now I don’t know if this was the message that AT&T was going for, but for this Hispanic newspaper listening to a Hispanic being highlighted as a part of Black History Month this is the message that came through loud and clear.
Change is coming to our Nation and our communities but change begins in our homes and our neighborhoods. And change happens a lot quicker when we work together.
Hispanic liaison hired by Annapolis PD
City police hire new Hispanic liaison
By LISA BEISEL, Staff Writer February 20, 2009
Joe Hudson knows his job is important.
Hudson, 46, of Baltimore, recently started working as the Hispanic liaison for the Annapolis Police Department.
The job requires him to wear a lot of different hats, but so far he likes them all, he said.
"It's an opportunity to help people and to make a difference within the community," he said.
The job has several pieces to it, he said. The primary one is to work with the Hispanic community in Annapolis, to help its members assimilate and understand American culture, and to help guide them through the criminal justice system.
But Hudson also will help officers to understand cultural differences. He will teach some Spanish as well.
Hudson is also called out on police cases in which a translator is needed.
In the 2000 census, there were 2,100 Hispanics living in Annapolis, and that number is projected to reach 2,469 this year. That's about 6 percent of the city's population, according to census estimates.
Many times, if a Hispanic person gets a parking ticket or other citation, he can't read it because he doesn't speak the language. And often he doesn't understand what it means.
"They don't understand what their rights might be or what they should do," Hudson said. "A lot of them don't speak the language. ... Somebody needs to be there to bridge that gap."
What's more, many Hispanic people come from cultures in which people don't respect the government or police, Hudson said. Sometimes there's a lack of trust for any government official, he said.
Jane Schlegel, city Police Department spokesman, said the role of Hispanic liaison is vital.
"Our job is to protect and serve, and they need to know that it can be a good thing to see a police officer in their area," she said.
Schlegel said she thinks the officers also will benefit from the cultural exchange.
Hudson spends his time split between the police department and a satellite office in the Allen Apartments. He also spends a lot of time out trying to get to know the community.
Sometimes, he'll be asked to intervene in neighborhood disputes, explaining to Hispanic residents, for example, why it's not acceptable to throw a loud party at 1 a.m.
"A lot of documentation they get, they can't read," he said.
Every case is different. Sometimes family members are incarcerated and they don't know how to find them. Sometimes they're ordered to go to driving school and don't know how to go about doing that. Other times, they're victims of domestic violence and don't know where to turn for help.
"Most everyone I see has some level of frustration with not understanding what the document in front of them is, or how to handle that document," he said.
When they leave, you can see a sense of relief on their faces, he said.
"You really feel you've made a difference."
So far, he loves the job, he said. He hopes the effect of his help will snowball, as people get help and refer others to him.
"This is a job that you're never going to say 'I'm done,' " he said.
Hudson grew up speaking Spanish. His mother is from Mexico City, and for years, as he was growing up, his family would spend half the year in Mexico and the other half in the United States.
He most recently worked for Patterson Park Community Development Corp., a nonprofit organization. While there, he acted as a liaison between Hispanic people and the police in southeast Baltimore, he said.
By LISA BEISEL, Staff Writer February 20, 2009
Joe Hudson knows his job is important.
Hudson, 46, of Baltimore, recently started working as the Hispanic liaison for the Annapolis Police Department.
The job requires him to wear a lot of different hats, but so far he likes them all, he said.
"It's an opportunity to help people and to make a difference within the community," he said.
The job has several pieces to it, he said. The primary one is to work with the Hispanic community in Annapolis, to help its members assimilate and understand American culture, and to help guide them through the criminal justice system.
But Hudson also will help officers to understand cultural differences. He will teach some Spanish as well.
Hudson is also called out on police cases in which a translator is needed.
In the 2000 census, there were 2,100 Hispanics living in Annapolis, and that number is projected to reach 2,469 this year. That's about 6 percent of the city's population, according to census estimates.
Many times, if a Hispanic person gets a parking ticket or other citation, he can't read it because he doesn't speak the language. And often he doesn't understand what it means.
"They don't understand what their rights might be or what they should do," Hudson said. "A lot of them don't speak the language. ... Somebody needs to be there to bridge that gap."
What's more, many Hispanic people come from cultures in which people don't respect the government or police, Hudson said. Sometimes there's a lack of trust for any government official, he said.
Jane Schlegel, city Police Department spokesman, said the role of Hispanic liaison is vital.
"Our job is to protect and serve, and they need to know that it can be a good thing to see a police officer in their area," she said.
Schlegel said she thinks the officers also will benefit from the cultural exchange.
Hudson spends his time split between the police department and a satellite office in the Allen Apartments. He also spends a lot of time out trying to get to know the community.
Sometimes, he'll be asked to intervene in neighborhood disputes, explaining to Hispanic residents, for example, why it's not acceptable to throw a loud party at 1 a.m.
"A lot of documentation they get, they can't read," he said.
Every case is different. Sometimes family members are incarcerated and they don't know how to find them. Sometimes they're ordered to go to driving school and don't know how to go about doing that. Other times, they're victims of domestic violence and don't know where to turn for help.
"Most everyone I see has some level of frustration with not understanding what the document in front of them is, or how to handle that document," he said.
When they leave, you can see a sense of relief on their faces, he said.
"You really feel you've made a difference."
So far, he loves the job, he said. He hopes the effect of his help will snowball, as people get help and refer others to him.
"This is a job that you're never going to say 'I'm done,' " he said.
Hudson grew up speaking Spanish. His mother is from Mexico City, and for years, as he was growing up, his family would spend half the year in Mexico and the other half in the United States.
He most recently worked for Patterson Park Community Development Corp., a nonprofit organization. While there, he acted as a liaison between Hispanic people and the police in southeast Baltimore, he said.
Haven of Hispanic political consultants found in San Antonio
S.A. a center for Hispanic political marketing
By Adolfo Pesquera - Express-News
César Martínez, a public affairs consultant who thrives on political campaigns, treats his company like a rubber band.
When a political campaign starts, he expands staff. Once voting is done, he downsizes and takes on jobs related to issues such as illiteracy, trade or whatever else is of importance to the next client.
Martínez's firm, MAS Consulting Group, is one of several in the San Antonio area that have made the city the destination for politicians in need of Hispanic marketing experts.
“San Antonio has the opportunity of being the national public affairs headquarters for Hispanic communications,” Martínez said.Some firms, such as Guerra-DeBerry-Coody, prefer a diversified approach and harvest most of their earnings from commercial clients. Martínez and others like him consult on politics and public issues year-round.
Next week, Martínez travels to Houston with Fidel Herrera Beltrán, governor of the state of Veracruz, Mexico. Maintaining good relations with Texas oil companies is important to Herrera's oil-producing state, and Martínez assists in managing the governor's appearances.
Martínez has produced television spots in the last three presidential campaigns — two with former President George W. Bush and most recently for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Over the years, Martínez's reputation has attracted clients from the United States, Mexico and Spain.
The firm's strengths are media production and media training. MAS Consulting coaches politicians and their staff on debating and in handling media interviews.
In noncampaign periods, MAS Consulting is comprised of 12 people spread across the three nations where it does business.
“In 2008, we had annual billings of $500,000 between the U.S. and Mexico,” Martínez said. The modest revenues are commensurate with the firm's size. Martínez said his Spain-based group does not disclose revenues.
What works for Martínez, however, would not work for Frank Guerra, a principal in the San Antonio marketing firm GDC. In the McCain campaign, Martínez worked alongside GDC and Lionel Sosa, an independent consultant considered the father of political Hispanic marketing.
“Political work represents a very small part of our overall billings,” Guerra said. “Our orientation is we want to keep people and not downsize from one campaign to the next.”
A multimillion-dollar, full-service communications agency, GDC's political-related accounts might be less than 3 percent of total billings, Guerra estimated.
GDC diversified into telecommunications, health care, finance and other fields. However, Guerra recognizes that San Antonio has been and remains the nexus of public issues and image consulting when politicians address Hispanics.
“There is a very small radius of guys doing Hispanic national marketing, and they're all here in the San Antonio-Austin corridor,” Guerra said.
Laura Barberena, a San Antonio-based self-employed political consultant, worked with Austin-based Message, Audience & Presentation during then-Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
“They acquired the ‘Obama for America' Spanish-language media contract,” Barberena said, adding that while San Antonio-Austin has the center for Spanish-language and political Hispanic marketing, not all consultants stay in Texas.
“You have a group of people that, during noncampaign seasons, tend to be on the federal payroll,” Barberena said.
Hispanic talent originating in the San Antonio-Austin region benefits by using Washington as a second base.
Aside from employment on some politician's staff, consultants in the national's capital are in the headquarters for political marketing in English, Barberena said. This provides some overlap of services because the Washington firms are more diversified.
“We specialize in the creative side,” Barberena said of the Texas firms. “We're not as diverse. The Washington companies do things like polling, voter lists, phone banks, research and focus groups.”
By Adolfo Pesquera - Express-News
César Martínez, a public affairs consultant who thrives on political campaigns, treats his company like a rubber band.
When a political campaign starts, he expands staff. Once voting is done, he downsizes and takes on jobs related to issues such as illiteracy, trade or whatever else is of importance to the next client.
Martínez's firm, MAS Consulting Group, is one of several in the San Antonio area that have made the city the destination for politicians in need of Hispanic marketing experts.
“San Antonio has the opportunity of being the national public affairs headquarters for Hispanic communications,” Martínez said.Some firms, such as Guerra-DeBerry-Coody, prefer a diversified approach and harvest most of their earnings from commercial clients. Martínez and others like him consult on politics and public issues year-round.
Next week, Martínez travels to Houston with Fidel Herrera Beltrán, governor of the state of Veracruz, Mexico. Maintaining good relations with Texas oil companies is important to Herrera's oil-producing state, and Martínez assists in managing the governor's appearances.
Martínez has produced television spots in the last three presidential campaigns — two with former President George W. Bush and most recently for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Over the years, Martínez's reputation has attracted clients from the United States, Mexico and Spain.
The firm's strengths are media production and media training. MAS Consulting coaches politicians and their staff on debating and in handling media interviews.
In noncampaign periods, MAS Consulting is comprised of 12 people spread across the three nations where it does business.
“In 2008, we had annual billings of $500,000 between the U.S. and Mexico,” Martínez said. The modest revenues are commensurate with the firm's size. Martínez said his Spain-based group does not disclose revenues.
What works for Martínez, however, would not work for Frank Guerra, a principal in the San Antonio marketing firm GDC. In the McCain campaign, Martínez worked alongside GDC and Lionel Sosa, an independent consultant considered the father of political Hispanic marketing.
“Political work represents a very small part of our overall billings,” Guerra said. “Our orientation is we want to keep people and not downsize from one campaign to the next.”
A multimillion-dollar, full-service communications agency, GDC's political-related accounts might be less than 3 percent of total billings, Guerra estimated.
GDC diversified into telecommunications, health care, finance and other fields. However, Guerra recognizes that San Antonio has been and remains the nexus of public issues and image consulting when politicians address Hispanics.
“There is a very small radius of guys doing Hispanic national marketing, and they're all here in the San Antonio-Austin corridor,” Guerra said.
Laura Barberena, a San Antonio-based self-employed political consultant, worked with Austin-based Message, Audience & Presentation during then-Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
“They acquired the ‘Obama for America' Spanish-language media contract,” Barberena said, adding that while San Antonio-Austin has the center for Spanish-language and political Hispanic marketing, not all consultants stay in Texas.
“You have a group of people that, during noncampaign seasons, tend to be on the federal payroll,” Barberena said.
Hispanic talent originating in the San Antonio-Austin region benefits by using Washington as a second base.
Aside from employment on some politician's staff, consultants in the national's capital are in the headquarters for political marketing in English, Barberena said. This provides some overlap of services because the Washington firms are more diversified.
“We specialize in the creative side,” Barberena said of the Texas firms. “We're not as diverse. The Washington companies do things like polling, voter lists, phone banks, research and focus groups.”
Friday, February 20, 2009
Latinos march for unity in Oregon
Latinos march in St. Helens to unite with community
by Gosnia Wozniacka, The Oregonian February 19, 2009
ST. HELENS -- Several hundred Latinos and supporters marched through St. Helens on Wednesday afternoon to protest Columbia County's anti-immigrant ordinance and the racial tensions they contend it has caused in the community.
The Procession for Respect and Dignity put a face on Latinos who march organizers said have been under attack since voters approved a ballot measure for the ordinance in November. It would punish employers who hire illegal immigrants.
Two weeks ago, Columbia County Circuit Judge Ted Grove delayed implementation of the ordinance after a challenge by a coalition of social justice groups and business owners represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. It's under legal review.
Yesenia Sanchez, president of a new group, Latinos United for a Better Future, helped organize Wednesday's march. The group's goals are to promote a positive image of Latinos, offer support and build bridges to the community.
"We want to break the stereotypes people have of Latinos," said Sanchez, 20, a University of Oregon junior. "We're decent and hardworking. We're people you know, students and neighbors. We want to be able to work together with the rest of the community so we can make it better and united."
Sanchez said racial tensions in the county have soared since a St. Helens contractor, Wayne Mayo, started gathering signatures for two ballot measures.
One measure to penalize employers of illegal immigrants passed, 57 percent to 42 percent. One failed that would have required billboard-sized signs on county job sites claiming "Legal Workers Only."
The employment measure has led to insults, intimidation and open discrimination, said Latinos who participated in the march. Some marchers wiped away tears.
"People look at me strange now, like if I was a bad person," said Esmeralda Tapia Garcia. She has lived in the St. Helens area for four years with her husband and 2-year-old daughter and works at a local fast-food chain. "I hope that when my child goes to school, this racism will end."
Other Latinos said when they speak Spanish in public, some have been told to "speak English," Sanchez said.
Local blogs teem with negative comments about Latinos, including threats to call federal immigration agents and take down license plate numbers. Classroom discussions about the measure have led to ethnic slurs.
A handful of counter-protesters mostly remained quiet during the march, which went from the First Christian Church to the county courthouse.
"Illegals, go home! This is America!" Dennis Gump of St. Helens shouted to the crowd.
A few homes along the route posted signs reading, "We welcome legal immigrants" and "My country, my jobs."
Rick Demings, a bus driver from Yankton, carried a sign reading, "Which laws can actual Americans break?"
Mayo, who spearheaded the employment measure, did not attend the march. He said earlier Wednesday that his measure did not target Latinos.
"The measure is about employers that employ illegal aliens, and they are feeling the pressure," he said. "I have no ax to grind with the Hispanics at all."
Linda Madden, a registered nurse from Scappoose, said she came as "a member of the human race." Other participants included members of Columbia County Citizens for Human Dignity and the Rural Organizing Project.
"What's happening in this country is blatant racism," Madden said. "My fear is that people who are targeted by this measure will be scapegoated for social problems."
March organizers offered a symbolic basket of flowers to city officials.
"We're all children of immigrants," said Martha Olmstead, vice president of the new Latino group, "and we have to figure out how to get along and how to live together."
Gosia Wozniacka; gosiawozniacka@news.oregonian
by Gosnia Wozniacka, The Oregonian February 19, 2009
ST. HELENS -- Several hundred Latinos and supporters marched through St. Helens on Wednesday afternoon to protest Columbia County's anti-immigrant ordinance and the racial tensions they contend it has caused in the community.
The Procession for Respect and Dignity put a face on Latinos who march organizers said have been under attack since voters approved a ballot measure for the ordinance in November. It would punish employers who hire illegal immigrants.
Two weeks ago, Columbia County Circuit Judge Ted Grove delayed implementation of the ordinance after a challenge by a coalition of social justice groups and business owners represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. It's under legal review.
Yesenia Sanchez, president of a new group, Latinos United for a Better Future, helped organize Wednesday's march. The group's goals are to promote a positive image of Latinos, offer support and build bridges to the community.
"We want to break the stereotypes people have of Latinos," said Sanchez, 20, a University of Oregon junior. "We're decent and hardworking. We're people you know, students and neighbors. We want to be able to work together with the rest of the community so we can make it better and united."
Sanchez said racial tensions in the county have soared since a St. Helens contractor, Wayne Mayo, started gathering signatures for two ballot measures.
One measure to penalize employers of illegal immigrants passed, 57 percent to 42 percent. One failed that would have required billboard-sized signs on county job sites claiming "Legal Workers Only."
The employment measure has led to insults, intimidation and open discrimination, said Latinos who participated in the march. Some marchers wiped away tears.
"People look at me strange now, like if I was a bad person," said Esmeralda Tapia Garcia. She has lived in the St. Helens area for four years with her husband and 2-year-old daughter and works at a local fast-food chain. "I hope that when my child goes to school, this racism will end."
Other Latinos said when they speak Spanish in public, some have been told to "speak English," Sanchez said.
Local blogs teem with negative comments about Latinos, including threats to call federal immigration agents and take down license plate numbers. Classroom discussions about the measure have led to ethnic slurs.
A handful of counter-protesters mostly remained quiet during the march, which went from the First Christian Church to the county courthouse.
"Illegals, go home! This is America!" Dennis Gump of St. Helens shouted to the crowd.
A few homes along the route posted signs reading, "We welcome legal immigrants" and "My country, my jobs."
Rick Demings, a bus driver from Yankton, carried a sign reading, "Which laws can actual Americans break?"
Mayo, who spearheaded the employment measure, did not attend the march. He said earlier Wednesday that his measure did not target Latinos.
"The measure is about employers that employ illegal aliens, and they are feeling the pressure," he said. "I have no ax to grind with the Hispanics at all."
Linda Madden, a registered nurse from Scappoose, said she came as "a member of the human race." Other participants included members of Columbia County Citizens for Human Dignity and the Rural Organizing Project.
"What's happening in this country is blatant racism," Madden said. "My fear is that people who are targeted by this measure will be scapegoated for social problems."
March organizers offered a symbolic basket of flowers to city officials.
"We're all children of immigrants," said Martha Olmstead, vice president of the new Latino group, "and we have to figure out how to get along and how to live together."
Gosia Wozniacka; gosiawozniacka@news.oregonian
Appointment of Latino leaves another vacancy behind
Carrión’s White House Appointment Creates a Job Opportunity
By FERNANDA SANTOS NY TIMES February 19, 2009
With Thursday’s nomination of Adolfo Carrión Jr., the Bronx borough president, for a position in the Obama administration, another New York City political seat joins the limited roster coming open this fall.
Many incumbents who would have otherwise been forced out of office, leaving seats up for grabs, will be running for a third term because of the term-limits extension signed into law in November by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
Mr. Carrión will lead the White House Office of Urban Affairs, which President Obama created to focus federal investment in urban areas, primarily job creation, infrastructure and housing.
Mr. Carrión said in an interview on Thursday that the key would be to “work with local leaders who are on the front lines” and “know what’s needed,” such as Mayor Bloomberg, Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles.
Two candidates have already lined up to replace him, each representing a Bronx political dynasty and bearing a recognizable name in New York City’s Latino politics.
One is City Councilman Joel L. Rivera, whose father, Assemblyman José Rivera, was until recently chairman of the Bronx Democratic County Committee and is still entangled in a court fight to retain that post. The other is Assemblyman Rubén Díaz Jr., whose father, Rubén Díaz Sr., represents the South Bronx in the State Senate.
The Democratic machine in the Bronx historically has been so powerful that it is rare for a candidate to win local office without its support.
But this time, the party’s power could be tested. The borough’s Democratic County Committee is bruised from an ugly battle for control that has dragged on since September, when rival factions held separate elections for party leaders on the same day and place. One side chose Assemblyman Rivera, who was party chairman at the time. The other backed Assemblyman Carl E. Heastie, whom, in November, the courts ruled the winner of the leadership dispute, though the decision is still being contested.
“The organization is wounded, Heastie hasn’t been tested yet, so it’s going to be all about turnout,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a consultant who had his start working for the former Bronx borough president Herman Badillo.
In addition, the political reality on the ground has changed. The Latino electorate is more fractured than in the past, when it was dominated by Puerto Ricans and Dominicans.
“All over the city, but in the Bronx in particular, Latino voters have taken to picking candidates based on competency, not ethnicity,” said Luis A. Miranda Jr., managing partner of the MirRam Group, a consulting firm that has worked for Mr. Carrión.
Mr. Carrión’s successor will be chosen in a nonpartisan special election, which will take place this spring.
The winner will still have to run again in the Democratic primary in September and then in November’s general election. But in the Bronx, as in most of the city, whoever wins the Democratic primary is likely to win it all.
Mr. Carrión said that it is too early to talk about endorsements, but he had some advice for those vying to succeed him. “Whoever is interested in being borough president will have to focus their energies on a very clear growth agenda,” he said.
His appointment brings another ally of Mr. Bloomberg’s to the White House and could help the mayor push some of the most ambitious items in his agenda, like the public-private partnerships he has proposed to retain laid-off Wall Street workers. (The city’s former housing and preservation commissioner, Shaun Donovan, is now secretary of housing and urban development.)
Mr. Carrión’s plan, though, is to eventually return to the city.
“I’m glad to have the opportunity to join the Obama administration, but I’m a kid from the Bronx, I will always be a kid from the Bronx, and New York City is clearly my home,” he said.
By FERNANDA SANTOS NY TIMES February 19, 2009
With Thursday’s nomination of Adolfo Carrión Jr., the Bronx borough president, for a position in the Obama administration, another New York City political seat joins the limited roster coming open this fall.
Many incumbents who would have otherwise been forced out of office, leaving seats up for grabs, will be running for a third term because of the term-limits extension signed into law in November by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
Mr. Carrión will lead the White House Office of Urban Affairs, which President Obama created to focus federal investment in urban areas, primarily job creation, infrastructure and housing.
Mr. Carrión said in an interview on Thursday that the key would be to “work with local leaders who are on the front lines” and “know what’s needed,” such as Mayor Bloomberg, Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles.
Two candidates have already lined up to replace him, each representing a Bronx political dynasty and bearing a recognizable name in New York City’s Latino politics.
One is City Councilman Joel L. Rivera, whose father, Assemblyman José Rivera, was until recently chairman of the Bronx Democratic County Committee and is still entangled in a court fight to retain that post. The other is Assemblyman Rubén Díaz Jr., whose father, Rubén Díaz Sr., represents the South Bronx in the State Senate.
The Democratic machine in the Bronx historically has been so powerful that it is rare for a candidate to win local office without its support.
But this time, the party’s power could be tested. The borough’s Democratic County Committee is bruised from an ugly battle for control that has dragged on since September, when rival factions held separate elections for party leaders on the same day and place. One side chose Assemblyman Rivera, who was party chairman at the time. The other backed Assemblyman Carl E. Heastie, whom, in November, the courts ruled the winner of the leadership dispute, though the decision is still being contested.
“The organization is wounded, Heastie hasn’t been tested yet, so it’s going to be all about turnout,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a consultant who had his start working for the former Bronx borough president Herman Badillo.
In addition, the political reality on the ground has changed. The Latino electorate is more fractured than in the past, when it was dominated by Puerto Ricans and Dominicans.
“All over the city, but in the Bronx in particular, Latino voters have taken to picking candidates based on competency, not ethnicity,” said Luis A. Miranda Jr., managing partner of the MirRam Group, a consulting firm that has worked for Mr. Carrión.
Mr. Carrión’s successor will be chosen in a nonpartisan special election, which will take place this spring.
The winner will still have to run again in the Democratic primary in September and then in November’s general election. But in the Bronx, as in most of the city, whoever wins the Democratic primary is likely to win it all.
Mr. Carrión said that it is too early to talk about endorsements, but he had some advice for those vying to succeed him. “Whoever is interested in being borough president will have to focus their energies on a very clear growth agenda,” he said.
His appointment brings another ally of Mr. Bloomberg’s to the White House and could help the mayor push some of the most ambitious items in his agenda, like the public-private partnerships he has proposed to retain laid-off Wall Street workers. (The city’s former housing and preservation commissioner, Shaun Donovan, is now secretary of housing and urban development.)
Mr. Carrión’s plan, though, is to eventually return to the city.
“I’m glad to have the opportunity to join the Obama administration, but I’m a kid from the Bronx, I will always be a kid from the Bronx, and New York City is clearly my home,” he said.
GOP reaching out to Hispanic Hip Hoppers
RNC Chair Says He Will Bring GOP Message To “Hip Hop Settings”
by Brian Montopoli| CBS NEWS
In an interview with the Washington Times, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said he was planning a public relations effort to bring a message of conservative principles “to urban-surburban hip-hop settings.”
Steele said his new public relations team will “come to table with things that will surprise everyone - off the hook.”
Steele, who is the RNC’s first black chair, told the newspaper that his party will use the Internet and advertising to reach out to young voters, blacks and Hispanics.
“We need messengers to really capture that region - young, Hispanic, black, a cross section,” he said. “... We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-surburban hip-hop settings.”
Steele said the party also needed to do a better job reaching “moms of all shapes.”
The RNC chair said critics who question his experience level should “stuff it.” He blamed the past national Republican leadership for hobbling the party by not casting a wider net while the party was in power.
by Brian Montopoli| CBS NEWS
In an interview with the Washington Times, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said he was planning a public relations effort to bring a message of conservative principles “to urban-surburban hip-hop settings.”
Steele said his new public relations team will “come to table with things that will surprise everyone - off the hook.”
Steele, who is the RNC’s first black chair, told the newspaper that his party will use the Internet and advertising to reach out to young voters, blacks and Hispanics.
“We need messengers to really capture that region - young, Hispanic, black, a cross section,” he said. “... We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-surburban hip-hop settings.”
Steele said the party also needed to do a better job reaching “moms of all shapes.”
The RNC chair said critics who question his experience level should “stuff it.” He blamed the past national Republican leadership for hobbling the party by not casting a wider net while the party was in power.
Hispanic issues earns University director recognition
APSU director honored for increasing awareness of Hispanic issues
Melony Shemberger • THE LEAF CHRONICLE • February 19, 2009
An Austin Peay State University director has been recognized for her efforts to bring greater awareness to Hispanic issues.
Heidi Scheusner Leming, director of Student Life and Leadership and administrative director of the Hispanic Cultural Center (HCC) at APSU, was presented the Outstanding Diversity Achievement Award for an Individual at the annual National Association of Campus Activities conference, held Feb. 16 in Nashville.
Greg Singleton, dean of students at APSU, and Dr. Miguel Ruiz-Aviles, associate professor of Spanish and HCC director, nominated Leming for her work with the Hispanic Cultural Center and other global and diversity initiatives.
Leming was instrumental in applying for a diversity access grant through the Tennessee Board of Regents and secured $13,000 to start a peer mentor program for Hispanic students on campus as well as several other programs to bring greater awareness to Hispanic issues.
Also, she has created several other internationally themed programs to bring awareness of different cultures and global issues to APSU's student body. During the Spring 2007 semester, Leming started a peer mentor program for Hispanic students. At that time, she had three mentors and six mentees. In Fall 2008, she doubled participation in the program, and students continue to express interest in becoming a mentor for future semesters.
Another signature program developed from the grant was a program, titled “Caf Hispanico.” Every month, students gather to hear a speaker give a short presentation on an issue facing the Hispanic community. Students then gather in small groups to discuss their perceptions and experiences surrounding the topic.
Every 20 minutes, some of the students rotate to a different table and share with that new group what was discussed in their previous pairing. At the end, all the groups share their comments with the speaker for additional conversation.
This program originally started with a handful of participants attending, but after a full year of implementation, it now averages between 20-30 people each time.
For more information about the Hispanic Cultural Center or other efforts to increase diversity awareness at APSU, contact Leming by telephone at (931) 221-7431 or by e-mail at scheusnerh@apsu.edu.
Melony Shemberger • THE LEAF CHRONICLE • February 19, 2009
An Austin Peay State University director has been recognized for her efforts to bring greater awareness to Hispanic issues.
Heidi Scheusner Leming, director of Student Life and Leadership and administrative director of the Hispanic Cultural Center (HCC) at APSU, was presented the Outstanding Diversity Achievement Award for an Individual at the annual National Association of Campus Activities conference, held Feb. 16 in Nashville.
Greg Singleton, dean of students at APSU, and Dr. Miguel Ruiz-Aviles, associate professor of Spanish and HCC director, nominated Leming for her work with the Hispanic Cultural Center and other global and diversity initiatives.
Leming was instrumental in applying for a diversity access grant through the Tennessee Board of Regents and secured $13,000 to start a peer mentor program for Hispanic students on campus as well as several other programs to bring greater awareness to Hispanic issues.
Also, she has created several other internationally themed programs to bring awareness of different cultures and global issues to APSU's student body. During the Spring 2007 semester, Leming started a peer mentor program for Hispanic students. At that time, she had three mentors and six mentees. In Fall 2008, she doubled participation in the program, and students continue to express interest in becoming a mentor for future semesters.
Another signature program developed from the grant was a program, titled “Caf Hispanico.” Every month, students gather to hear a speaker give a short presentation on an issue facing the Hispanic community. Students then gather in small groups to discuss their perceptions and experiences surrounding the topic.
Every 20 minutes, some of the students rotate to a different table and share with that new group what was discussed in their previous pairing. At the end, all the groups share their comments with the speaker for additional conversation.
This program originally started with a handful of participants attending, but after a full year of implementation, it now averages between 20-30 people each time.
For more information about the Hispanic Cultural Center or other efforts to increase diversity awareness at APSU, contact Leming by telephone at (931) 221-7431 or by e-mail at scheusnerh@apsu.edu.
Hispanic immigrants targeted with fake IDs
Authorities say fake immigration documents sold at Hispanic grocery store in far north Dallas
Steve Thompson Feb 19, 2009
During the past year, undercover officers have purchased several counterfeit immigration documents from illegal immigrants at La Michoacana Meat Market on 8282 Spring Valley Road in far north Dallas, authorities say.
Wednesday, local and federal authorities took Reymundo Lara Montalvo into custody and accused the 32-year-old of possessing more than a dozen fake immigration cards with other people's photos, as well as false Social Security cards.
Montalvo drove a Volkswagen Jetta that had been seen delivering fake cards purchased by undercover officers, according to Dallas County district attorney's office documents.
He was taken to an immigration processing center, where a database showed he has twice been deported. Montalvo faces a charge of tampering with government records.
Steve Thompson Feb 19, 2009
During the past year, undercover officers have purchased several counterfeit immigration documents from illegal immigrants at La Michoacana Meat Market on 8282 Spring Valley Road in far north Dallas, authorities say.
Wednesday, local and federal authorities took Reymundo Lara Montalvo into custody and accused the 32-year-old of possessing more than a dozen fake immigration cards with other people's photos, as well as false Social Security cards.
Montalvo drove a Volkswagen Jetta that had been seen delivering fake cards purchased by undercover officers, according to Dallas County district attorney's office documents.
He was taken to an immigration processing center, where a database showed he has twice been deported. Montalvo faces a charge of tampering with government records.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Latino judge takes law into his own hands
Border drug war is too close for comfort
By Scott Kraft February 19, 2009
Reporting from Columbus, N.M. -- The day began gently here on the U.S.-Mexico border. The cold, starry sky gave way to the orange smile of a sunrise.
Over at the Pancho Villa Cafe, short-order cook Maria Gutierrez whipped up her egg and chopped tortilla special. Down the street, Martha Skinner, still in her housecoat, brewed a pot of coffee for guests at her bed and breakfast. Her husband, the local judge, walked two blocks to his courtroom to hear the week's entire caseload: one pet owner cited for keeping her dog chained up, another for allowing her dog off-leash.
Columbus, a settlement of 1,800 people clinging to a wind-swept patch of high desert in southern New Mexico, was a picture of tranquillity.
But less than three miles south, in the once-quaint Mexican town of Palomas, a war is being waged. Over the last year, a drug feud that has killed more than 1,350 people in sprawling Ciudad Juarez has spread to tiny Palomas, 70 miles west, where more than 40 people have been gunned down, a dozen within a baseball toss of the border. More -- no one knows how many -- have been kidnapped, and the Palomas police chief fled across the border last year and has asked for political asylum.
Now Columbus is on edge. A haven for baby boomer retirees seeking cheap living, small-town values and blissful, if unpolished, solitude, Columbus can't quite believe that a bloody brawl has broken out on its doorstep. The anxiety increased recently when Columbus disbanded its five-member police force after a local political squabble, putting its safety in the hands of the county sheriff based half an hour away. Many are ruing the decision. Angry and fretful residents packed a recent village trustees meeting to argue the case.
"What is going on across the border is going to go on for a while, folks," said Joseph Rivera, a regal figure with a bushy, silver mustache who works for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "People are leaving Palomas like jack rabbits and coming here."
Robert Odom, a former town trustee, warned that the town was pushing its luck. "So far, knock on wood, it's been narco-traffickers attacking their own people," he said. "But it's only a matter of time before it spills over here."
The last time an internal war in Mexico spilled over into Columbus, as every schoolchild here knows, was in 1916, when the Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa led a predawn raid that killed 18 Americans and touched off an international incident. A yearlong U.S. military expedition in Mexico failed to capture Villa.
Time healed those wounds, though. A state park and a handful of businesses in Columbus bear Villa's name. And the town celebrates his assault each March by inviting Mexicans on horseback over to reenact the raid.
Like so many towns hugging the 2,000-mile frontier between the United States and Mexico, Columbus and Palomas are inextricably linked.
Several hundred children, most of them U.S. citizens born to Mexican parents, cross from Mexico daily to attend public school, while some Columbus residents commute daily to work in Palomas, or to see the less expensive dentists, pharmacists and auto mechanics there.
But another, newer brand of cross-border activity has fed the town's paranoia. Several residents of Palomas have bought property in Columbus recently, paying cash.
Skinner, the B&B owner who's also the town's lone real estate agent, had her best sales year in 2008, even with the market nationwide in a nose-dive. New Cadillac Escalades, and cars with thousand-dollar chrome rims, have appeared suddenly, in a town without a single traffic light.
Columbus residents think they know what those trends mean: The men who traffic drugs in Mexico are moving their families to Columbus for sanctuary. And where the drug lords go, residents assume, violence is sure to follow.
"Everybody knows this is happening. It's a small town and everyone knows everybody else," said Eugene Sierra, 57, a former Columbus police chief. "Our concern is that they'll be followed by people who want to do away with them, and innocent people in the line of fire will be hurt. Without any law enforcement here, it's wide open."
Columbus would appear to be about as well protected as any border city in America.
The crossing here is flanked by six miles of 15- to 18-foot-tall fencing and another 35 miles of waist-high vehicle barriers. Motion sensors and cameras sprout among fields of onions and jalapenos, and a beefed-up Border Patrol force of 350 has helped drive arrests of illegal crossers to a tenth of what they were two years ago.
Luna County Sheriff Raymond Cobos said drug seizures are down sharply, and violence linked to Mexican drug cartels remains rare -- though the shooting death of a 15-year-old high school student in Deming late last year appears to have been drug-related.
"There are definitely drug connections here, but it's hard for them to carry on their trade openly," Cobos said. "So they have to go way, way underground."
The assurances of the sheriff and from the Border Patrol haven't calmed fears. Some of those kidnapped in Mexico have relatives in Columbus. Photos of men beheaded by the cartels pop up on cellphone messages here, a not-so-subtle warning of what can happen to those who betray the drug families.
Columbus residents who cross into Palomas say they are unnerved by the eerie calm of what once was a bustling, growing community of 7,000. The population has fallen by a third and tourist crossings have slowed to a trickle.
On a recent weekday the streets were empty, save for a lone mariachi band serenading a local man on his birthday.
There's no hospital in Palomas. The Columbus ambulance service averages a call a day at the border, mostly for heart attacks and pregnancies. Ken Riley, an EMT for the service who lives in Palomas, considers the nature of the call before deciding whether to meet his colleagues at the border.
"I have my own little rule," Riley said. "Any time there's a call for an ambulance at the port of entry, and it's for someone with a gunshot wound, I pull my covers up and stay in bed."
Columbus has had long-standing trouble keeping a police force. The latest crisis began three months ago when the town closed its dilapidated police station because of a faulty lock on the evidence room. Not long afterward, an officer was injured while trying to break up a bar fight and two off-duty officers were suspended. Then, the police chief resigned.
With no police station, and just one police officer, the town dissolved the department and asked Sheriff Cobos to take over.
But the sheriff's 30 deputies, based in Deming, cover an arealarger than the state of Rhode Island, and the county was asking for $26,000 a month to provide policing here. Residents felt exposed and they directed their fury at the mayor, Eddie Espinoza.
Like his constituents, Espinoza, a burly, combative 49-year-old retired Navy man, was concerned about the disintegration across the border. On a Sunday morning last year, he was undergoing a root canal in Palomas when bandits broke in and robbed his dentist. "It took all of three minutes," Espinoza recalled.
But the mayor hadn't had much luck with his police chiefs. Since his landslide election in 2006, six chiefs have left. A few quit; he fired the others.
"I don't know why it's so hard to be a police officer in Columbus," Espinoza said. "It's not that difficult to be a police officer." Some blame the mayor for hiring poorly.
"They have this history of hiring people we've fired, and then expecting great results," Cobos said.
One of the mayor's main critics is Robert Odom, a 58-year-old writer who moved here from Santa Fe, N.M., three years ago. Odom, the author of "Autobiography of a Redneck Hindu," about his spiritual journey, was elected a village trustee last year but resigned a few months ago in a dispute with Espinoza.
"We need our own police department, no matter what," Odom said, preparing a pot of French press coffee at the home he shares with his partner. "It's impossible to live next door to someone -- and we live literally next door to Palomas -- without being affected by what's happening in their yard."
Odom and 70 other residents signed a petition last month urging the mayor to "save our Columbus police." Espinoza seemed to get the message: within days, he appointed a committee to search for a new chief.
As for Odom and the petition co-signers, Espinoza said, "Columbus has its share of characters, and you've got to be able to be tolerant." He paused. "Sometimes it's difficult having to deal with the public."
Espinoza agreed with his opponents, though, that the city can't count on the county or federal authorities for protection. "The problem is that we're like a stepchild to everybody," he said. "We're just a small municipality."
It was, in fact, the drowsy remoteness of this community that attracted people like Skinner. Now 71, she came here 20 years ago from Glendale, Calif., and built Martha's Place Inn. She preceded Espinoza as mayor, and during her tenure the population tripled, driven mostly by retirees who fell in love with the mild weather, rustic beauty and low cost of living. (The top sale price for a home last year? $82,000.)
Farming has been the economic backbone, supplemented by tourists who came to see Pancho Villa State Park, Villa's death mask at the depot museum or the restored buildings on Broadway that figured in Villa's raid. A few came to see City of the Sun, a commune where residents live in homes built from rusted car parts, jalapeno barrels, tires, bottles and other recycled material. ("They're different up there, but they're nice people," said Linda Werner, the town librarian.)
But most tourists came to take advantage of inexpensive medical care and pharmaceuticals across the border. That trade has mostly evaporated with the drug violence.
Martha's Place has been kept afloat for the last year by temporary workers building the border fence. "The tourism business has been awful," Skinner said. "But that fence has kept us in business."
The inn's guests one recent week included a customs officer, a fence welder, a contractor working on lighting at the border fence and a Los Angeles writer researching his next novel. The welder was forced to check out early, though. Four state police officers showed up on a cold night and arrested him at gunpoint, leading him away in handcuffs to face an auto theft charge.
"There's nothing like a small town," Skinner said the next morning, pausing from a game of computer solitaire and smiling serenely. "It's like living in a comic book most days."
But that small-town charm is showing signs of fatigue.
"I wake up every morning and thank God my wife and I found this little place," local developer Gene McCall told the village trustees recently. Then, pointing his walking cane at the mayor, he added, "Let's keep it that way."
scott.kraft@latimes.com
By Scott Kraft February 19, 2009
Reporting from Columbus, N.M. -- The day began gently here on the U.S.-Mexico border. The cold, starry sky gave way to the orange smile of a sunrise.
Over at the Pancho Villa Cafe, short-order cook Maria Gutierrez whipped up her egg and chopped tortilla special. Down the street, Martha Skinner, still in her housecoat, brewed a pot of coffee for guests at her bed and breakfast. Her husband, the local judge, walked two blocks to his courtroom to hear the week's entire caseload: one pet owner cited for keeping her dog chained up, another for allowing her dog off-leash.
Columbus, a settlement of 1,800 people clinging to a wind-swept patch of high desert in southern New Mexico, was a picture of tranquillity.
But less than three miles south, in the once-quaint Mexican town of Palomas, a war is being waged. Over the last year, a drug feud that has killed more than 1,350 people in sprawling Ciudad Juarez has spread to tiny Palomas, 70 miles west, where more than 40 people have been gunned down, a dozen within a baseball toss of the border. More -- no one knows how many -- have been kidnapped, and the Palomas police chief fled across the border last year and has asked for political asylum.
Now Columbus is on edge. A haven for baby boomer retirees seeking cheap living, small-town values and blissful, if unpolished, solitude, Columbus can't quite believe that a bloody brawl has broken out on its doorstep. The anxiety increased recently when Columbus disbanded its five-member police force after a local political squabble, putting its safety in the hands of the county sheriff based half an hour away. Many are ruing the decision. Angry and fretful residents packed a recent village trustees meeting to argue the case.
"What is going on across the border is going to go on for a while, folks," said Joseph Rivera, a regal figure with a bushy, silver mustache who works for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "People are leaving Palomas like jack rabbits and coming here."
Robert Odom, a former town trustee, warned that the town was pushing its luck. "So far, knock on wood, it's been narco-traffickers attacking their own people," he said. "But it's only a matter of time before it spills over here."
The last time an internal war in Mexico spilled over into Columbus, as every schoolchild here knows, was in 1916, when the Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa led a predawn raid that killed 18 Americans and touched off an international incident. A yearlong U.S. military expedition in Mexico failed to capture Villa.
Time healed those wounds, though. A state park and a handful of businesses in Columbus bear Villa's name. And the town celebrates his assault each March by inviting Mexicans on horseback over to reenact the raid.
Like so many towns hugging the 2,000-mile frontier between the United States and Mexico, Columbus and Palomas are inextricably linked.
Several hundred children, most of them U.S. citizens born to Mexican parents, cross from Mexico daily to attend public school, while some Columbus residents commute daily to work in Palomas, or to see the less expensive dentists, pharmacists and auto mechanics there.
But another, newer brand of cross-border activity has fed the town's paranoia. Several residents of Palomas have bought property in Columbus recently, paying cash.
Skinner, the B&B owner who's also the town's lone real estate agent, had her best sales year in 2008, even with the market nationwide in a nose-dive. New Cadillac Escalades, and cars with thousand-dollar chrome rims, have appeared suddenly, in a town without a single traffic light.
Columbus residents think they know what those trends mean: The men who traffic drugs in Mexico are moving their families to Columbus for sanctuary. And where the drug lords go, residents assume, violence is sure to follow.
"Everybody knows this is happening. It's a small town and everyone knows everybody else," said Eugene Sierra, 57, a former Columbus police chief. "Our concern is that they'll be followed by people who want to do away with them, and innocent people in the line of fire will be hurt. Without any law enforcement here, it's wide open."
Columbus would appear to be about as well protected as any border city in America.
The crossing here is flanked by six miles of 15- to 18-foot-tall fencing and another 35 miles of waist-high vehicle barriers. Motion sensors and cameras sprout among fields of onions and jalapenos, and a beefed-up Border Patrol force of 350 has helped drive arrests of illegal crossers to a tenth of what they were two years ago.
Luna County Sheriff Raymond Cobos said drug seizures are down sharply, and violence linked to Mexican drug cartels remains rare -- though the shooting death of a 15-year-old high school student in Deming late last year appears to have been drug-related.
"There are definitely drug connections here, but it's hard for them to carry on their trade openly," Cobos said. "So they have to go way, way underground."
The assurances of the sheriff and from the Border Patrol haven't calmed fears. Some of those kidnapped in Mexico have relatives in Columbus. Photos of men beheaded by the cartels pop up on cellphone messages here, a not-so-subtle warning of what can happen to those who betray the drug families.
Columbus residents who cross into Palomas say they are unnerved by the eerie calm of what once was a bustling, growing community of 7,000. The population has fallen by a third and tourist crossings have slowed to a trickle.
On a recent weekday the streets were empty, save for a lone mariachi band serenading a local man on his birthday.
There's no hospital in Palomas. The Columbus ambulance service averages a call a day at the border, mostly for heart attacks and pregnancies. Ken Riley, an EMT for the service who lives in Palomas, considers the nature of the call before deciding whether to meet his colleagues at the border.
"I have my own little rule," Riley said. "Any time there's a call for an ambulance at the port of entry, and it's for someone with a gunshot wound, I pull my covers up and stay in bed."
Columbus has had long-standing trouble keeping a police force. The latest crisis began three months ago when the town closed its dilapidated police station because of a faulty lock on the evidence room. Not long afterward, an officer was injured while trying to break up a bar fight and two off-duty officers were suspended. Then, the police chief resigned.
With no police station, and just one police officer, the town dissolved the department and asked Sheriff Cobos to take over.
But the sheriff's 30 deputies, based in Deming, cover an arealarger than the state of Rhode Island, and the county was asking for $26,000 a month to provide policing here. Residents felt exposed and they directed their fury at the mayor, Eddie Espinoza.
Like his constituents, Espinoza, a burly, combative 49-year-old retired Navy man, was concerned about the disintegration across the border. On a Sunday morning last year, he was undergoing a root canal in Palomas when bandits broke in and robbed his dentist. "It took all of three minutes," Espinoza recalled.
But the mayor hadn't had much luck with his police chiefs. Since his landslide election in 2006, six chiefs have left. A few quit; he fired the others.
"I don't know why it's so hard to be a police officer in Columbus," Espinoza said. "It's not that difficult to be a police officer." Some blame the mayor for hiring poorly.
"They have this history of hiring people we've fired, and then expecting great results," Cobos said.
One of the mayor's main critics is Robert Odom, a 58-year-old writer who moved here from Santa Fe, N.M., three years ago. Odom, the author of "Autobiography of a Redneck Hindu," about his spiritual journey, was elected a village trustee last year but resigned a few months ago in a dispute with Espinoza.
"We need our own police department, no matter what," Odom said, preparing a pot of French press coffee at the home he shares with his partner. "It's impossible to live next door to someone -- and we live literally next door to Palomas -- without being affected by what's happening in their yard."
Odom and 70 other residents signed a petition last month urging the mayor to "save our Columbus police." Espinoza seemed to get the message: within days, he appointed a committee to search for a new chief.
As for Odom and the petition co-signers, Espinoza said, "Columbus has its share of characters, and you've got to be able to be tolerant." He paused. "Sometimes it's difficult having to deal with the public."
Espinoza agreed with his opponents, though, that the city can't count on the county or federal authorities for protection. "The problem is that we're like a stepchild to everybody," he said. "We're just a small municipality."
It was, in fact, the drowsy remoteness of this community that attracted people like Skinner. Now 71, she came here 20 years ago from Glendale, Calif., and built Martha's Place Inn. She preceded Espinoza as mayor, and during her tenure the population tripled, driven mostly by retirees who fell in love with the mild weather, rustic beauty and low cost of living. (The top sale price for a home last year? $82,000.)
Farming has been the economic backbone, supplemented by tourists who came to see Pancho Villa State Park, Villa's death mask at the depot museum or the restored buildings on Broadway that figured in Villa's raid. A few came to see City of the Sun, a commune where residents live in homes built from rusted car parts, jalapeno barrels, tires, bottles and other recycled material. ("They're different up there, but they're nice people," said Linda Werner, the town librarian.)
But most tourists came to take advantage of inexpensive medical care and pharmaceuticals across the border. That trade has mostly evaporated with the drug violence.
Martha's Place has been kept afloat for the last year by temporary workers building the border fence. "The tourism business has been awful," Skinner said. "But that fence has kept us in business."
The inn's guests one recent week included a customs officer, a fence welder, a contractor working on lighting at the border fence and a Los Angeles writer researching his next novel. The welder was forced to check out early, though. Four state police officers showed up on a cold night and arrested him at gunpoint, leading him away in handcuffs to face an auto theft charge.
"There's nothing like a small town," Skinner said the next morning, pausing from a game of computer solitaire and smiling serenely. "It's like living in a comic book most days."
But that small-town charm is showing signs of fatigue.
"I wake up every morning and thank God my wife and I found this little place," local developer Gene McCall told the village trustees recently. Then, pointing his walking cane at the mayor, he added, "Let's keep it that way."
scott.kraft@latimes.com
HIspanic Immigrants sharply increase federal crimines
Sharp increase in Latino offenders sentenced for immigration crimes
LA Times| February 18, 2009
Driven by a sharp growth in illegal immigration and tougher enforcement, Latinos accounted for 40% of all sentenced federal offenders in 2007, according to a new study.
Among those sentenced for immigration offenses in 2007, 80% were Latino, according to the study by the Pew Hispanic Center.
Immigration offenses represented nearly one-quarter of all federal convictions during the same period, up from just 7% in 1991, the study found.
Fully 75% of Latino offenders sentenced for immigration crimes in 2007 were convicted of entering the U.S. unlawfully or residing in the country without authorization.
“There was a very sharp rise of immigration offenses as a share of all offenses,” said Paul Taylor Lopez, director of the Pew Hispanic Center.
Between 1991 and 2007, enforcement of federal immigration laws became a growing priority in response to the rise in illegal immigration.
In 1991, three times as many Latinos were sentenced in federal courts for drug crimes, 60%, as for immigration crimes, 20%, according to the report.
By 2007, that pattern had reversed. Among Latino offenders sentenced in federal courts, 48% were sentenced for immigration offenses and 37% for a drug offense.
LA Times| February 18, 2009
Driven by a sharp growth in illegal immigration and tougher enforcement, Latinos accounted for 40% of all sentenced federal offenders in 2007, according to a new study.
Among those sentenced for immigration offenses in 2007, 80% were Latino, according to the study by the Pew Hispanic Center.
Immigration offenses represented nearly one-quarter of all federal convictions during the same period, up from just 7% in 1991, the study found.
Fully 75% of Latino offenders sentenced for immigration crimes in 2007 were convicted of entering the U.S. unlawfully or residing in the country without authorization.
“There was a very sharp rise of immigration offenses as a share of all offenses,” said Paul Taylor Lopez, director of the Pew Hispanic Center.
Between 1991 and 2007, enforcement of federal immigration laws became a growing priority in response to the rise in illegal immigration.
In 1991, three times as many Latinos were sentenced in federal courts for drug crimes, 60%, as for immigration crimes, 20%, according to the report.
By 2007, that pattern had reversed. Among Latino offenders sentenced in federal courts, 48% were sentenced for immigration offenses and 37% for a drug offense.
Hispanic Immigrants targeted to meet quotas
Report: ICE agents pressured to meet arrest quotas
By GILLIAN GAYNAIR Associated Press
LANGLEY PARK, Md. (AP) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 24 Hispanics at a convenience store in Baltimore two years ago after their supervisor told them to "bring more bodies" because they were behind their annual quota of 1,000 arrests per team, according to an ICE report released Wednesday.
The immigration rights group CASA de Maryland, which has accused ICE of racial profiling in the 2007 raid, released the agency's internal investigation report and said it shows that the agents acted improperly.
The report contradicts some sworn declarations made by ICE agents involved in the sweep, prompting the agency's Acting Assistant Secretary John Torres to ask for an investigation into inconsistencies, ICE spokeswoman Ernestine Fobbs said Wednesday. Meanwhile, CASA officials have called on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to review the agency's enforcement policies.
"Government agents should not be in the business of judging people based on the color of their skin, clothing and employment, which is what seems to have occurred here," the Rev. Simon Bautista Betances, vice president of CASA's board of directors said Wednesday.
CASA officials have charged that ICE agents ignored blacks and whites at the 7-Eleven store as they rounded up all of the Hispanics, even crossing the street to detain Hispanics waiting at a bus stop.
Soon after the raid, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) asked for an investigation into whether the ICE officers racially profiled the people they arrested. ICE's internal probe found the allegations to be unsubstantiated, Fobbs said.
"I have confidence that the new Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will fairly address this and other immigration issues," Mikulski said in an e-mailed statement in response to Wednesday's report.
Of the 24 men arrested in the raid, one proved that he was in the country legally, 19 were deported or voluntarily returned to their native countries and four remain in immigration proceedings, said Justin Cox, an attorney with CASA representing some of the men.
The ICE agents involved in the raid are part of the agency's fugitive operations program, which tracks down violent criminals living in the country illegally. Agency records from the program show that beginning in 2004, the teams were assigned to arrest at least 125 fugitive immigrants. In 2006, each team's quota was increased to 1,000 fugitive arrests.
"Our current enforcement of the immigration policy based on quotas lead to the separation of families and civil rights violations," said Gustavo Torres, CASA's executive director. "The evidence speaks for itself."
The debate over the raid centers on whether the agents had probably cause to detain the men or whether agents targeted them simply because they were Hispanic.
In sworn declarations, some officers said they stopped at the 7-Eleven to take a break after several hours of arresting fugitive immigrants in neighboring counties. When the agents arrived, they said Hispanic day laborers surrounded their vehicles asking for work and, when questioned, admitted they were in the country unlawfully.
However, in the report, some officers later told ICE investigators that the men mumbled or said nothing when asked about their status. Some also said that their supervisor had instructed them to beef up their arrests, the report said.
Cox said some of the day laborers testified that agents did not ask them about their status and ignored non-Hispanics passing through the store.
"I think that this validates all the concerns that the immigrant rights community has been expressing for the past couple of years," Cox said.
By GILLIAN GAYNAIR Associated Press
LANGLEY PARK, Md. (AP) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 24 Hispanics at a convenience store in Baltimore two years ago after their supervisor told them to "bring more bodies" because they were behind their annual quota of 1,000 arrests per team, according to an ICE report released Wednesday.
The immigration rights group CASA de Maryland, which has accused ICE of racial profiling in the 2007 raid, released the agency's internal investigation report and said it shows that the agents acted improperly.
The report contradicts some sworn declarations made by ICE agents involved in the sweep, prompting the agency's Acting Assistant Secretary John Torres to ask for an investigation into inconsistencies, ICE spokeswoman Ernestine Fobbs said Wednesday. Meanwhile, CASA officials have called on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to review the agency's enforcement policies.
"Government agents should not be in the business of judging people based on the color of their skin, clothing and employment, which is what seems to have occurred here," the Rev. Simon Bautista Betances, vice president of CASA's board of directors said Wednesday.
CASA officials have charged that ICE agents ignored blacks and whites at the 7-Eleven store as they rounded up all of the Hispanics, even crossing the street to detain Hispanics waiting at a bus stop.
Soon after the raid, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) asked for an investigation into whether the ICE officers racially profiled the people they arrested. ICE's internal probe found the allegations to be unsubstantiated, Fobbs said.
"I have confidence that the new Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will fairly address this and other immigration issues," Mikulski said in an e-mailed statement in response to Wednesday's report.
Of the 24 men arrested in the raid, one proved that he was in the country legally, 19 were deported or voluntarily returned to their native countries and four remain in immigration proceedings, said Justin Cox, an attorney with CASA representing some of the men.
The ICE agents involved in the raid are part of the agency's fugitive operations program, which tracks down violent criminals living in the country illegally. Agency records from the program show that beginning in 2004, the teams were assigned to arrest at least 125 fugitive immigrants. In 2006, each team's quota was increased to 1,000 fugitive arrests.
"Our current enforcement of the immigration policy based on quotas lead to the separation of families and civil rights violations," said Gustavo Torres, CASA's executive director. "The evidence speaks for itself."
The debate over the raid centers on whether the agents had probably cause to detain the men or whether agents targeted them simply because they were Hispanic.
In sworn declarations, some officers said they stopped at the 7-Eleven to take a break after several hours of arresting fugitive immigrants in neighboring counties. When the agents arrived, they said Hispanic day laborers surrounded their vehicles asking for work and, when questioned, admitted they were in the country unlawfully.
However, in the report, some officers later told ICE investigators that the men mumbled or said nothing when asked about their status. Some also said that their supervisor had instructed them to beef up their arrests, the report said.
Cox said some of the day laborers testified that agents did not ask them about their status and ignored non-Hispanics passing through the store.
"I think that this validates all the concerns that the immigrant rights community has been expressing for the past couple of years," Cox said.
Latina Scholar to address University
UCLA Scholar to Speak on the Latino Education Crisis
Columbia News 2/18/2009
Patricia Gandara, co-director of the Civil Rights Project at the University of California at Los Angeles, will discuss the looming educational crisis for Latinos, the nation's largest and most rapidly growing minority group, at a presentation at Teachers College on Monday, February 23.
Gandara, who co-authored the recently published The Latino Education Crisis: The Consequences of Failed Social Policies (Harvard University Press, 2009) with University of Washington colleague Frances Contreras, will speak from 5 to 7 p.m. in Grace Dodge Hall Room 179. The book chronicles the cumulative disadvantages faced by many Latino children in the American school system, where one in five students is now of Hispanic descent. It also outlines policies that could ameliorate the crisis, including early intervention, integrated social services and the preparation and recruitment of teachers with specific skills to help Latino children and their families.
A former bilingual school psychologist and director of education research for the California Assembly, Gandara has focused on examining educational equity and access for low-income and ethnic-minority students, as well as the education of Mexican-origin youth. She is the author of numerous articles and books, including Over the Ivy Walls: The Educational Mobility of Low Income Chicanos (State University of New York Press, 1995).
The lecture is sponsored by the Faculty Working Group on Latin American Migration at TC and the Institute of Latin American Studies at Columbia University.
Columbia News 2/18/2009
Patricia Gandara, co-director of the Civil Rights Project at the University of California at Los Angeles, will discuss the looming educational crisis for Latinos, the nation's largest and most rapidly growing minority group, at a presentation at Teachers College on Monday, February 23.
Gandara, who co-authored the recently published The Latino Education Crisis: The Consequences of Failed Social Policies (Harvard University Press, 2009) with University of Washington colleague Frances Contreras, will speak from 5 to 7 p.m. in Grace Dodge Hall Room 179. The book chronicles the cumulative disadvantages faced by many Latino children in the American school system, where one in five students is now of Hispanic descent. It also outlines policies that could ameliorate the crisis, including early intervention, integrated social services and the preparation and recruitment of teachers with specific skills to help Latino children and their families.
A former bilingual school psychologist and director of education research for the California Assembly, Gandara has focused on examining educational equity and access for low-income and ethnic-minority students, as well as the education of Mexican-origin youth. She is the author of numerous articles and books, including Over the Ivy Walls: The Educational Mobility of Low Income Chicanos (State University of New York Press, 1995).
The lecture is sponsored by the Faculty Working Group on Latin American Migration at TC and the Institute of Latin American Studies at Columbia University.
Denver excludes Hispanics again
Latino leaders claim exclusion again
by Lisa Jones, Denver City Hall Examiner February 18
Denver City Council President Jeanne Robb bit her tongue and walked away from what she called a "food fight" today during a meeting to discuss naming the Denver Justice Center buildings and plaza.
The newspapers have portrayed Robb's behavior as somehow petulant, commenting that she "stormed out" of the meeting and was "visibly angry and teary-eyed" when she refused to talk to reporters.
But Robb responded appropriately to outrageous, disingenuous remarks by Councilwoman Judy Montero.
Montero claimed bias and exclusion. "The Latino community was not part of the conversation," she said of the months-long naming process. "I'm not saying it was the intention of anyone to marginalize anyone, but we're a large community with diverse ideas."
If Robb was stung by Montero's hurtfully wrong claim, it's understandable.
For more than a year, names have been floated for the new center. The city solicited suggestions from citizens -- the deadline for submitting a proposal was in December -- and a task force mulled the nominations.
Earlier this month, the task force recommended naming the Justice Center buildings in honor of Ben Lindsey and James Flanigan, naming the plaza for Dale Tooley and naming the detention facility for John Simonet.
Today, a council committee mostly agreed, and added Philip Van Cise to the detention center name.
Robb proposed a proclamation urging Mayor John Hickenlooper to accept the task force's recommendation of naming the plaza for Tooley.
Montero, along with Councilmembers Rick Garcia and Paul Lopez forcefully opposed Robb's move, saying Latinos had not had a chance to comment on the matter.
Really? Four of the twelve task force members are Latino community leaders. In addition, two Latino leaders facilitated the task force. And of course, Montero, Garcia and Lopez have had months to discuss Justice Center names with their constituents.
Montero told the Rocky: "Truthfully, I think there could have been more prominent outreach to our community for folks to weigh in."
If outreach has been insufficient, Montero, Garcia and Lopez have only themselves to blame.
This is the fifth time in two years that Latino leaders have claimed bias or exclusion on the part of non-Latino public officials.
In 2007, an atmosphere of prejudice surrounded the cases of Christine Johnson and Larry Manzanares, prompting U.S. Election Assistance Commission Chair Rosemary Rodriguez to comment: "It's a bad time to be a Hispanic in trouble in this city."
More recently, Latino leaders were upset that Rodriguez was snubbed by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter in his selection of a new Secretary of State. Ritter's failure to even consider a Latino candidate to fill now-Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar's vacant Senate seat further insulted the Latino community. Then, Tom Boasberg was named to become superintendent of Denver Public Schools without consideration of Latino candidates for the job.
In each of these cases, Latino leaders had an honest complaint. The suicide of Manzanares led to soul searching and discussion of how to respond to perceived bias on the part of public officials. The Latino community has since put elected Democrats on notice that they can't take the Hispanic vote for granted.
That's great. Bias against Latinos is a reality, and elected officials need to have a clue.
What's not fine is falsely accusing one's allies of excluding Latinos from an open public process -- a process that embraced participation of influential members of the Latino community.
If Montero is looking for bias and exclusion, there's plenty to be found. But it's not coming from Jeanne Robb. It's not coming from the task force. And it's absurd to infer it from the name "Dale Tooley Plaza."
Some may sneer at Robb for being -- heaven forbid! -- "visibly angry and teary-eyed" over the issue.
It hurts deeply to hear a respected colleague imply that your motives are racist when nothing could be farther from the truth.
by Lisa Jones, Denver City Hall Examiner February 18
Denver City Council President Jeanne Robb bit her tongue and walked away from what she called a "food fight" today during a meeting to discuss naming the Denver Justice Center buildings and plaza.
The newspapers have portrayed Robb's behavior as somehow petulant, commenting that she "stormed out" of the meeting and was "visibly angry and teary-eyed" when she refused to talk to reporters.
But Robb responded appropriately to outrageous, disingenuous remarks by Councilwoman Judy Montero.
Montero claimed bias and exclusion. "The Latino community was not part of the conversation," she said of the months-long naming process. "I'm not saying it was the intention of anyone to marginalize anyone, but we're a large community with diverse ideas."
If Robb was stung by Montero's hurtfully wrong claim, it's understandable.
For more than a year, names have been floated for the new center. The city solicited suggestions from citizens -- the deadline for submitting a proposal was in December -- and a task force mulled the nominations.
Earlier this month, the task force recommended naming the Justice Center buildings in honor of Ben Lindsey and James Flanigan, naming the plaza for Dale Tooley and naming the detention facility for John Simonet.
Today, a council committee mostly agreed, and added Philip Van Cise to the detention center name.
Robb proposed a proclamation urging Mayor John Hickenlooper to accept the task force's recommendation of naming the plaza for Tooley.
Montero, along with Councilmembers Rick Garcia and Paul Lopez forcefully opposed Robb's move, saying Latinos had not had a chance to comment on the matter.
Really? Four of the twelve task force members are Latino community leaders. In addition, two Latino leaders facilitated the task force. And of course, Montero, Garcia and Lopez have had months to discuss Justice Center names with their constituents.
Montero told the Rocky: "Truthfully, I think there could have been more prominent outreach to our community for folks to weigh in."
If outreach has been insufficient, Montero, Garcia and Lopez have only themselves to blame.
This is the fifth time in two years that Latino leaders have claimed bias or exclusion on the part of non-Latino public officials.
In 2007, an atmosphere of prejudice surrounded the cases of Christine Johnson and Larry Manzanares, prompting U.S. Election Assistance Commission Chair Rosemary Rodriguez to comment: "It's a bad time to be a Hispanic in trouble in this city."
More recently, Latino leaders were upset that Rodriguez was snubbed by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter in his selection of a new Secretary of State. Ritter's failure to even consider a Latino candidate to fill now-Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar's vacant Senate seat further insulted the Latino community. Then, Tom Boasberg was named to become superintendent of Denver Public Schools without consideration of Latino candidates for the job.
In each of these cases, Latino leaders had an honest complaint. The suicide of Manzanares led to soul searching and discussion of how to respond to perceived bias on the part of public officials. The Latino community has since put elected Democrats on notice that they can't take the Hispanic vote for granted.
That's great. Bias against Latinos is a reality, and elected officials need to have a clue.
What's not fine is falsely accusing one's allies of excluding Latinos from an open public process -- a process that embraced participation of influential members of the Latino community.
If Montero is looking for bias and exclusion, there's plenty to be found. But it's not coming from Jeanne Robb. It's not coming from the task force. And it's absurd to infer it from the name "Dale Tooley Plaza."
Some may sneer at Robb for being -- heaven forbid! -- "visibly angry and teary-eyed" over the issue.
It hurts deeply to hear a respected colleague imply that your motives are racist when nothing could be farther from the truth.
Latino students could lose with tuition hikes
Students protest tuition bill as guv declares Latino day
Proposal seen as harmful to undocumented students
By Sheena Mcfarland The Salt Lake Tribune 02/18/2009
Asaeli Matelau made friends with some of his neighbors when they were in kindergarten together.
They went through elementary, junior high and high school, and had planned to earn a college degree together.
But when Matelau applied to the University of Utah, he realized his friends faced more challenges because they were undocumented.
"I don't understand why people want to create barriers for them to go to the same places I go to," he said.
Matelau was one of about three dozen people, many of them students, who showed up Wednesday in opposition to a bill that would require undocumented students who receive in-state tuition to sign an affidavit each semester swearing they have not worked in Utah.
"They are targeting those that want to get a higher education and make a contribution. They need to be targeting a different population."
HB208, sponsored by Rep. Richard Greenwood, R-Roy, passed a House committee and would affect the 200 undocumented students currently paying in-state tuition after graduating from a Utah high school.
Greenwood said he didn't want the bill to be viewed as an attack on anyone, and instead said the bill helped students stop from committing felonies by using falsified documents or working under the table.
"Let's say these students are working 40 to 50 hours a week. I don't know if you were working while going to college like I was, but I would have had an extra 40 to 50 hours a week and I would have gotten better grades and been a better student," he said.
Ron Mortensen, of Citizens Coalition on Illegal Immigration, said Utah's law granting in-state tuition to undocumented students has had unintended consequences that need to be fixed.
"What started out as a well-intentioned act resulted as an enticement to commit crimes to achieve the benefits offered," Mortensen said. "And students did work, illegally, to pay for their education."
But many worry the bill will prevent them from earning a degree and discourage others from going to college. Despite objections, the bill easily passed the committee and moves on to the full House.
"This vote shows that your contributions aren't valued. Your parents did this to you and they should be voting to make things better," said Lola Reyes, a 21-year-old student at the University of Utah. "These students are already living in fear and this makes it so discouraging to go to school."
The hearing came on the morning of Utah Hispanic/Latino Day. The day was declared by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to recognize Father Francisco Dominguez and Father Silvestre Escalante for their pioneering efforts through Utah, and to recognize the contributions of today's Latinos.
Isaac Giron, a 24-year-old student at Salt Lake Community College, said he wishes lawmakers would focus on making it easier to earn a higher education.
"This bill is surprising because there are already so many steps you have to go through to get a higher education, and if students feel like they have to do even more, I don't want them to feel that they don't want to go," he said.
Dhiraj Chand, a 22-year-old University of Utah student, said he wished lawmakers would focus on helping undocumented students instead of discouraging them.
"The last thing the state should be doing," he said, "is limiting access to higher education."
smcfarland@sltrib.com
Proposal seen as harmful to undocumented students
By Sheena Mcfarland The Salt Lake Tribune 02/18/2009
Asaeli Matelau made friends with some of his neighbors when they were in kindergarten together.
They went through elementary, junior high and high school, and had planned to earn a college degree together.
But when Matelau applied to the University of Utah, he realized his friends faced more challenges because they were undocumented.
"I don't understand why people want to create barriers for them to go to the same places I go to," he said.
Matelau was one of about three dozen people, many of them students, who showed up Wednesday in opposition to a bill that would require undocumented students who receive in-state tuition to sign an affidavit each semester swearing they have not worked in Utah.
"They are targeting those that want to get a higher education and make a contribution. They need to be targeting a different population."
HB208, sponsored by Rep. Richard Greenwood, R-Roy, passed a House committee and would affect the 200 undocumented students currently paying in-state tuition after graduating from a Utah high school.
Greenwood said he didn't want the bill to be viewed as an attack on anyone, and instead said the bill helped students stop from committing felonies by using falsified documents or working under the table.
"Let's say these students are working 40 to 50 hours a week. I don't know if you were working while going to college like I was, but I would have had an extra 40 to 50 hours a week and I would have gotten better grades and been a better student," he said.
Ron Mortensen, of Citizens Coalition on Illegal Immigration, said Utah's law granting in-state tuition to undocumented students has had unintended consequences that need to be fixed.
"What started out as a well-intentioned act resulted as an enticement to commit crimes to achieve the benefits offered," Mortensen said. "And students did work, illegally, to pay for their education."
But many worry the bill will prevent them from earning a degree and discourage others from going to college. Despite objections, the bill easily passed the committee and moves on to the full House.
"This vote shows that your contributions aren't valued. Your parents did this to you and they should be voting to make things better," said Lola Reyes, a 21-year-old student at the University of Utah. "These students are already living in fear and this makes it so discouraging to go to school."
The hearing came on the morning of Utah Hispanic/Latino Day. The day was declared by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to recognize Father Francisco Dominguez and Father Silvestre Escalante for their pioneering efforts through Utah, and to recognize the contributions of today's Latinos.
Isaac Giron, a 24-year-old student at Salt Lake Community College, said he wishes lawmakers would focus on making it easier to earn a higher education.
"This bill is surprising because there are already so many steps you have to go through to get a higher education, and if students feel like they have to do even more, I don't want them to feel that they don't want to go," he said.
Dhiraj Chand, a 22-year-old University of Utah student, said he wished lawmakers would focus on helping undocumented students instead of discouraging them.
"The last thing the state should be doing," he said, "is limiting access to higher education."
smcfarland@sltrib.com
Hispanic legislator makes difference in California's budget
Budget plan goes to Schwarzenegger after Legislature's OK
By Kevin Yamamura and Aurelio Rojas kyamamura@sacbee.com Feb. 19, 2009
The state Legislature voted early today to approve a massive budget package of tax increases, spending cuts and borrowing to close a $40 billion deficit after granting major concessions to one holdout Republican senator.
Lawmakers had been at a five-day impasse until Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders today agreed to give Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, major changes he demanded in exchange for providing a crucial 27th vote for the state budget.
The votes came after what Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said was, at 45 1/2 hours, the single longest Senate session in California history.
As part of Maldonado's agreement, lawmakers approved constitutional amendments establishing an open primary system and banning legislative pay increases during deficit years. But legislative leaders refused to grant him his proposal to eliminate legislative pay altogether when the budget is late.
Leaders also agreed to Maldonado's demand to eliminate the 12-cent additional gas tax, which was estimated to bring in $2.1 billion through June 2010. The money will be replaced with a 0.25 percent increase in the state income tax, federal stimulus dollars and more than $600 million in line-item vetoes.
Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders spent most of the night trying to corral enough votes for the Maldonado plan, pushing back floor session multiple times until they believed they had sufficient support.
The Senate resumed session around 3:40 a.m. and initially hit a snag as four Democrats refused to vote for Maldonado's proposal to have an open primary system in California elections. Intended to reduce party influence in elections, the open primary system would have the top two candidates in a primary face off in the subsequent general election.
But the Senate ultimately passed out that plan. Several members strongly objected to the open primary bill but voted for it anyway because they said it was even more important to avoid a cash crisis and avert the planned shutdown today of 374 construction projects valued at $5.58 billion in the absence of a budget.
"This is not good government, this is not political reform, this is old-fashioned special interest," said Sen. Gloria Romero, as she reversed her initial 'no' vote to 'aye,' helping the open primary bill pass.
Maldonado had opposed the budget until he leveraged a deal over lunch Wednesday with Schwarzenegger. Legislative leaders then spent the afternoon and night trying to convince their members to support his demands as a means to ending the budget deadlock.
"The choices were hard," Maldonado said. "Do I want to make my home state solvent? Do I want to protect education? Do I want to keep it from going off the cliff? Or do I want to continue to vote 'no' and run this state in the wrong direction? I'll tell you something, I'd like to have seen somebody else vote for this budget. And it would have been easy for me to cast a 'no' vote. But during difficult times, you need to step up to the plate."
He won one more request: eliminate $1 million in funding for state Controller John Chiang to pay for new workstations. Maldonado said the expenditures were wasteful, but Chiang's office said the money, previously approved by lawmakers, is being spent to consolidate staff in one location and save future costs.
By Kevin Yamamura and Aurelio Rojas kyamamura@sacbee.com Feb. 19, 2009
The state Legislature voted early today to approve a massive budget package of tax increases, spending cuts and borrowing to close a $40 billion deficit after granting major concessions to one holdout Republican senator.
Lawmakers had been at a five-day impasse until Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders today agreed to give Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, major changes he demanded in exchange for providing a crucial 27th vote for the state budget.
The votes came after what Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said was, at 45 1/2 hours, the single longest Senate session in California history.
As part of Maldonado's agreement, lawmakers approved constitutional amendments establishing an open primary system and banning legislative pay increases during deficit years. But legislative leaders refused to grant him his proposal to eliminate legislative pay altogether when the budget is late.
Leaders also agreed to Maldonado's demand to eliminate the 12-cent additional gas tax, which was estimated to bring in $2.1 billion through June 2010. The money will be replaced with a 0.25 percent increase in the state income tax, federal stimulus dollars and more than $600 million in line-item vetoes.
Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders spent most of the night trying to corral enough votes for the Maldonado plan, pushing back floor session multiple times until they believed they had sufficient support.
The Senate resumed session around 3:40 a.m. and initially hit a snag as four Democrats refused to vote for Maldonado's proposal to have an open primary system in California elections. Intended to reduce party influence in elections, the open primary system would have the top two candidates in a primary face off in the subsequent general election.
But the Senate ultimately passed out that plan. Several members strongly objected to the open primary bill but voted for it anyway because they said it was even more important to avoid a cash crisis and avert the planned shutdown today of 374 construction projects valued at $5.58 billion in the absence of a budget.
"This is not good government, this is not political reform, this is old-fashioned special interest," said Sen. Gloria Romero, as she reversed her initial 'no' vote to 'aye,' helping the open primary bill pass.
Maldonado had opposed the budget until he leveraged a deal over lunch Wednesday with Schwarzenegger. Legislative leaders then spent the afternoon and night trying to convince their members to support his demands as a means to ending the budget deadlock.
"The choices were hard," Maldonado said. "Do I want to make my home state solvent? Do I want to protect education? Do I want to keep it from going off the cliff? Or do I want to continue to vote 'no' and run this state in the wrong direction? I'll tell you something, I'd like to have seen somebody else vote for this budget. And it would have been easy for me to cast a 'no' vote. But during difficult times, you need to step up to the plate."
He won one more request: eliminate $1 million in funding for state Controller John Chiang to pay for new workstations. Maldonado said the expenditures were wasteful, but Chiang's office said the money, previously approved by lawmakers, is being spent to consolidate staff in one location and save future costs.
Policy will help Hispanics breath easier
EPA Action Could Clean Up the Smoke Stack
Administration acts on public health community call to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired plants
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC - "Action announced this week by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson continues the Administration's path towards safer and cleaner air for all of us," said Dr. Jane L. Delgado, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, the nation's leading Hispanic health advocacy group. Tuesday, the EPA announced it would consider whether to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired plants, a move advocated for by numerous environmental and public health groups including the Alliance.
The decision announced by Administrator Jackson could potentially reverse a December 2008 action by the former EPA administrator that exempts consideration of carbon-dioxide output in federal applications to build new coal-fired power plants. Regulating carbon dioxide emissions could effect approximately 100 current permit applications to build new coal-fired power plants as well as future applications.
Today, approximately 15 percent of all Hispanics live within 10 miles of a coal-fired plant. According to Dr. Delgado, "these families face an elevated risk of developing asthma and other respiratory conditions from living under a smoke plume. The Administration's action on coal-fired plants is the right thing to do for the health of all communities and the planet's well-being."
Administration acts on public health community call to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired plants
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC - "Action announced this week by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson continues the Administration's path towards safer and cleaner air for all of us," said Dr. Jane L. Delgado, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, the nation's leading Hispanic health advocacy group. Tuesday, the EPA announced it would consider whether to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired plants, a move advocated for by numerous environmental and public health groups including the Alliance.
The decision announced by Administrator Jackson could potentially reverse a December 2008 action by the former EPA administrator that exempts consideration of carbon-dioxide output in federal applications to build new coal-fired power plants. Regulating carbon dioxide emissions could effect approximately 100 current permit applications to build new coal-fired power plants as well as future applications.
Today, approximately 15 percent of all Hispanics live within 10 miles of a coal-fired plant. According to Dr. Delgado, "these families face an elevated risk of developing asthma and other respiratory conditions from living under a smoke plume. The Administration's action on coal-fired plants is the right thing to do for the health of all communities and the planet's well-being."
Study shows Hispanic immigration policies have failed
Pew Report Shines Light on Failed Immigration Policy
PRESS RELEASE February 18, 2009
Washington, D.C - Today the Pew Hispanic Center issued a report on the ethnic composition of people caught up in the federal prison system. The Immigration Policy Center's Director, Angela Kelley, issued the following statement:
"A new report from the Pew Hispanic Center entitled A Rising Share: Hispanics and Federal Crime analyzes the ethnic composition of those sentenced in federal courts. Beneath the startling headline, however, is a familiar story. Immigrants do represent a disproportionate share of the federal prison population because immigration law is under the purview of the federal courts. Furthermore, what the report illustrates is the degree to which the U.S. government is wasting money and manpower on the pursuit and punishment of undocumented immigrants who are non-violent and pose no threat to public safety or national security. According to the data in the Pew report, the federal government's ever-intensifying (and unsuccessful) effort since the early 1990s to stop undocumented immigration through deportation-only policies has flooded the federal courts with immigrants from south of the border who are charged only with unlawfully entering or remaining in the United States. Filling federal courts and prisons with non-violent undocumented immigrants is the primary reason that 'immigration offenders' accounted for 24% of all people sentenced in federal courts in 2007- up from 7% in 1991. From the standpoint of immigration policy, it is telling that 61% of the non-U.S. citizen Latino immigrants sentenced in federal courts in 2007 were sentenced for immigration offenses.
The Pew report also reinforces the conclusion of a study released earlier this month by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), which found that the federal fugitive operations budget ballooned from $9 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2003 to $218 million in FY 2008, yet 73% of the 96,000 persons arrested so far have no criminal convictions. Rather, they are simply undocumented immigrants who were "unlawfully present" in the United States.
Our broken immigration system is largely to blame for the rise in our federal prison population. Deportation-only policies are clogging our courts and jamming our jails by rounding up immigrant workers and pulling resources away from prosecuting serious criminals. This report is further evidence of our failed deportation-only approach which has become too expensive and ineffective to sustain."
PRESS RELEASE February 18, 2009
Washington, D.C - Today the Pew Hispanic Center issued a report on the ethnic composition of people caught up in the federal prison system. The Immigration Policy Center's Director, Angela Kelley, issued the following statement:
"A new report from the Pew Hispanic Center entitled A Rising Share: Hispanics and Federal Crime analyzes the ethnic composition of those sentenced in federal courts. Beneath the startling headline, however, is a familiar story. Immigrants do represent a disproportionate share of the federal prison population because immigration law is under the purview of the federal courts. Furthermore, what the report illustrates is the degree to which the U.S. government is wasting money and manpower on the pursuit and punishment of undocumented immigrants who are non-violent and pose no threat to public safety or national security. According to the data in the Pew report, the federal government's ever-intensifying (and unsuccessful) effort since the early 1990s to stop undocumented immigration through deportation-only policies has flooded the federal courts with immigrants from south of the border who are charged only with unlawfully entering or remaining in the United States. Filling federal courts and prisons with non-violent undocumented immigrants is the primary reason that 'immigration offenders' accounted for 24% of all people sentenced in federal courts in 2007- up from 7% in 1991. From the standpoint of immigration policy, it is telling that 61% of the non-U.S. citizen Latino immigrants sentenced in federal courts in 2007 were sentenced for immigration offenses.
The Pew report also reinforces the conclusion of a study released earlier this month by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), which found that the federal fugitive operations budget ballooned from $9 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2003 to $218 million in FY 2008, yet 73% of the 96,000 persons arrested so far have no criminal convictions. Rather, they are simply undocumented immigrants who were "unlawfully present" in the United States.
Our broken immigration system is largely to blame for the rise in our federal prison population. Deportation-only policies are clogging our courts and jamming our jails by rounding up immigrant workers and pulling resources away from prosecuting serious criminals. This report is further evidence of our failed deportation-only approach which has become too expensive and ineffective to sustain."
Texas city may have excluded Hispanic voters
Irving voting rights trial gets under way in federal court
By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News bformby@dallasnews.com February 17, 2009
A demographics expert testified in a Dallas federal court today that he found six ways to draw a new Irving City Council district with a Hispanic voting majority.
David Ely said he used multiple calculations and estimates based off of Census Bureau statistics to draw the districts.
He also said socio-economic and educational disparities between Irving whites and Hispanics made successful council campaigns more difficult for Hispanics under the city's at-large voting system.
"It's more difficult for candidates from this community to obtain the vote," he said.
His testimony is part of a federal voting rights trial that began today. Irving resident Manuel Benavides is suing the city of Irving, alleging that its at-large voting method for City Council members effectively denies representation to the city's Hispanics.
Attorneys for the city are expected to cross-examine Ely this afternoon. In court filings they debated his findings and questioned his methods.
They also argue in court filings that it's impossible to draw a district that has a majority of Hispanics eligible to vote because of the high number of Hispanic noncitizens.
By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News bformby@dallasnews.com February 17, 2009
A demographics expert testified in a Dallas federal court today that he found six ways to draw a new Irving City Council district with a Hispanic voting majority.
David Ely said he used multiple calculations and estimates based off of Census Bureau statistics to draw the districts.
He also said socio-economic and educational disparities between Irving whites and Hispanics made successful council campaigns more difficult for Hispanics under the city's at-large voting system.
"It's more difficult for candidates from this community to obtain the vote," he said.
His testimony is part of a federal voting rights trial that began today. Irving resident Manuel Benavides is suing the city of Irving, alleging that its at-large voting method for City Council members effectively denies representation to the city's Hispanics.
Attorneys for the city are expected to cross-examine Ely this afternoon. In court filings they debated his findings and questioned his methods.
They also argue in court filings that it's impossible to draw a district that has a majority of Hispanics eligible to vote because of the high number of Hispanic noncitizens.
Texas Hispanics sue Democratic Party
Texas Latinos' primary lawsuit to be reconsidered
By KELLEY SHANNON Associated Press Feb. 18, 2009
AUSTIN — Latino voters who sued the Texas Democratic Party claiming its presidential delegate system discriminates against Hispanics are getting another chance to make their case.
A judge threw out the lawsuit last year, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled Tuesday that a three-judge panel — not one judge — should decide the merits of the case and sent it back to lower courts for reconsideration.
The League of United Latin American Citizens, the Mexican American Bar Association of Houston and other plaintiffs sued the state and the Democratic Party after the intense primary between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. The plaintiffs weren’t contesting to whom the delegates were awarded, but rather how the allotment was made.
They argue that the complicated delegate system unfairly dilutes Latino votes by awarding fewer presidential delegates to heavily Hispanic areas.
Though a federal Voting Rights Act claim is at the heart of the lawsuit, the Latino voter advocates also are taking aim at the entire Texas delegate system known as the Texas two-step, which included a March 2008 primary and caucus plus senate district caucuses a few weeks later. They say the system dilutes the votes of those who cast only a primary ballot but can’t make it to an evening caucus on primary day.
“From the very beginning our goal was to get rid of the Texas two-step,” Luis Vera, national general counsel for LULAC, said Wednesday.
Last year Judge Fred Biery of San Antonio dismissed the suit. He had said the spirit and intent of the Voting Rights Act, which protects minorities, was not violated. Biery said the act does not dictate to political parties how to determine their presidential nominees as long as everyone is allowed to participate.
Nearly all the delegates in the Texas system are apportioned based on Democratic voter turnout numbers in state senate districts in previous elections. So, low turnout in a Hispanic area for Democrat Chris Bell in the 2006 gubernatorial election resulted in fewer presidential delegates for that district in 2008.
LULAC contends that Latino districts by nature have fewer Democratic participants because the voting age population is younger.
“They reward white Republican districts and dilute the vote of the Latino districts,” Vera said. “The Democratic Party is supposed to be the party of inclusion.”
The Texas Democratic Party said it strongly supports the Voting Rights Act, and party officials said they are confident they will win again before Biery and two other judges to be named to hear the case in the coming months.
Party attorney Chad Dunn said the Democrats’ rules are decided by delegates to the state convention and that there is no discriminatory intent or effect.
“We think it’s a fundamental First Amendment issue,” he said. “The Texas Democratic Party runs a fair primary system. ... You just turn out and vote and you’re awarded more delegates next time around.”
The Texas Democratic Party system has been in place for 20 years. It sends presidential delegates to the national party convention based on primary and caucus results. The caucus delegates are distributed through a series of meetings, starting on primary day and culminating with a state convention three months later.
The appeals court upheld the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claim against the state, saying that the delegate allocation procedure was enacted and operated by the party, not the state of Texas.
By KELLEY SHANNON Associated Press Feb. 18, 2009
AUSTIN — Latino voters who sued the Texas Democratic Party claiming its presidential delegate system discriminates against Hispanics are getting another chance to make their case.
A judge threw out the lawsuit last year, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled Tuesday that a three-judge panel — not one judge — should decide the merits of the case and sent it back to lower courts for reconsideration.
The League of United Latin American Citizens, the Mexican American Bar Association of Houston and other plaintiffs sued the state and the Democratic Party after the intense primary between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. The plaintiffs weren’t contesting to whom the delegates were awarded, but rather how the allotment was made.
They argue that the complicated delegate system unfairly dilutes Latino votes by awarding fewer presidential delegates to heavily Hispanic areas.
Though a federal Voting Rights Act claim is at the heart of the lawsuit, the Latino voter advocates also are taking aim at the entire Texas delegate system known as the Texas two-step, which included a March 2008 primary and caucus plus senate district caucuses a few weeks later. They say the system dilutes the votes of those who cast only a primary ballot but can’t make it to an evening caucus on primary day.
“From the very beginning our goal was to get rid of the Texas two-step,” Luis Vera, national general counsel for LULAC, said Wednesday.
Last year Judge Fred Biery of San Antonio dismissed the suit. He had said the spirit and intent of the Voting Rights Act, which protects minorities, was not violated. Biery said the act does not dictate to political parties how to determine their presidential nominees as long as everyone is allowed to participate.
Nearly all the delegates in the Texas system are apportioned based on Democratic voter turnout numbers in state senate districts in previous elections. So, low turnout in a Hispanic area for Democrat Chris Bell in the 2006 gubernatorial election resulted in fewer presidential delegates for that district in 2008.
LULAC contends that Latino districts by nature have fewer Democratic participants because the voting age population is younger.
“They reward white Republican districts and dilute the vote of the Latino districts,” Vera said. “The Democratic Party is supposed to be the party of inclusion.”
The Texas Democratic Party said it strongly supports the Voting Rights Act, and party officials said they are confident they will win again before Biery and two other judges to be named to hear the case in the coming months.
Party attorney Chad Dunn said the Democrats’ rules are decided by delegates to the state convention and that there is no discriminatory intent or effect.
“We think it’s a fundamental First Amendment issue,” he said. “The Texas Democratic Party runs a fair primary system. ... You just turn out and vote and you’re awarded more delegates next time around.”
The Texas Democratic Party system has been in place for 20 years. It sends presidential delegates to the national party convention based on primary and caucus results. The caucus delegates are distributed through a series of meetings, starting on primary day and culminating with a state convention three months later.
The appeals court upheld the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claim against the state, saying that the delegate allocation procedure was enacted and operated by the party, not the state of Texas.
Hispanics demand more from their city
East Orlando Hispanics want City of Orlando's attention
by Victor Manuel Ramos, Orlando Sentinel Feb 18, 2009
The east Orlando group known as “Frente Unido 436” sent a letter last week to Orlando City Mayor Buddy Dyer and Commissioner Tony Ortiz repeating demands from a protest they had staged in front of Orlando City Hall.
The group, which basically wants city officials to pay more attention to the largely Hispanic neighborhoods in east Orlando, is advocating for more Hispanics appointments to city government.
Here’s the letter they addressed to Dyer, as they provided it to HispanoSphere:
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer
400 S. Orange Ave
Orlando, FL 32801
Dear Mayor Dyer:
On behalf of "Frente Unidos 436", I write to express our organization’s frustration with the apathy you have demonstrate in engaging Puerto Ricans/Hispanics in the City of Orlando’s government.
As you are aware, our Hispanic community’s population has grown and continues to grown within Central Florida. In the City of Orlando proper, our Hispanic community has increased its size exponentially, yet under your administration, the number of Hispanics in leadership roles at the city has not even remotely kept up with the changing diversity of it’s community.
The most recent election cycle, demonstrated by population turn out, that our Orlando Hispanic community is i interested and ready to engage in matters that affect our local community. As our Puerto Rican community has grown so has the amount of taxes provided to the City’s tax base. In fact, census data estimates that our Hispanic community will be the majority minority in the next few years, however our City employee base does not reflect an increase in Hispanic employees - or an increase of bilingual employees. In fact, many departments are hard pressed to communicate with a non-fluent English speaking resident; which often results in our tax paying Hispanic resident being transferred a number of times before they can be assisted. Then often times the bilingual employee works in another department and does not have the answers to help the Puerto Rican resident seeking help!
Furthermore, in previous statements, the City has indicated that it has had a number of Hispanic employees hired in high profile positions -- such as Mr. Jose Fernandez (who has not worked for the city in several years), or Lt. Orlando Rolon (who was recently demoted ). Our organization feels insulted, that of the hundreds of jobs within the City of Orlando, only 2 positions are repeatedly referenced.
Mayor Dyer, the members of Frentes Unidos 436 would like to meet with you to secure answers to our many questions. Our Puerto Rican community expects more from our local governments and we would appreciate the opportunity to have our questions answered as well as provide suggestions on how our City can be more inclusive with our community. We are note looking for favoritism, we merely seek real equal opportunity in jobs, housing , health, and with many other issues affecting our community.
Thank you for your time. We look forward to hearing from your office to coordinate a time to meet with you.
Sincerely,
Rico Piccard
Frente Unidos 436 (United Front 436)
RICOINFORMA@AOL.COM
407 384 –9957
by Victor Manuel Ramos, Orlando Sentinel Feb 18, 2009
The east Orlando group known as “Frente Unido 436” sent a letter last week to Orlando City Mayor Buddy Dyer and Commissioner Tony Ortiz repeating demands from a protest they had staged in front of Orlando City Hall.
The group, which basically wants city officials to pay more attention to the largely Hispanic neighborhoods in east Orlando, is advocating for more Hispanics appointments to city government.
Here’s the letter they addressed to Dyer, as they provided it to HispanoSphere:
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer
400 S. Orange Ave
Orlando, FL 32801
Dear Mayor Dyer:
On behalf of "Frente Unidos 436", I write to express our organization’s frustration with the apathy you have demonstrate in engaging Puerto Ricans/Hispanics in the City of Orlando’s government.
As you are aware, our Hispanic community’s population has grown and continues to grown within Central Florida. In the City of Orlando proper, our Hispanic community has increased its size exponentially, yet under your administration, the number of Hispanics in leadership roles at the city has not even remotely kept up with the changing diversity of it’s community.
The most recent election cycle, demonstrated by population turn out, that our Orlando Hispanic community is i interested and ready to engage in matters that affect our local community. As our Puerto Rican community has grown so has the amount of taxes provided to the City’s tax base. In fact, census data estimates that our Hispanic community will be the majority minority in the next few years, however our City employee base does not reflect an increase in Hispanic employees - or an increase of bilingual employees. In fact, many departments are hard pressed to communicate with a non-fluent English speaking resident; which often results in our tax paying Hispanic resident being transferred a number of times before they can be assisted. Then often times the bilingual employee works in another department and does not have the answers to help the Puerto Rican resident seeking help!
Furthermore, in previous statements, the City has indicated that it has had a number of Hispanic employees hired in high profile positions -- such as Mr. Jose Fernandez (who has not worked for the city in several years), or Lt. Orlando Rolon (who was recently demoted ). Our organization feels insulted, that of the hundreds of jobs within the City of Orlando, only 2 positions are repeatedly referenced.
Mayor Dyer, the members of Frentes Unidos 436 would like to meet with you to secure answers to our many questions. Our Puerto Rican community expects more from our local governments and we would appreciate the opportunity to have our questions answered as well as provide suggestions on how our City can be more inclusive with our community. We are note looking for favoritism, we merely seek real equal opportunity in jobs, housing , health, and with many other issues affecting our community.
Thank you for your time. We look forward to hearing from your office to coordinate a time to meet with you.
Sincerely,
Rico Piccard
Frente Unidos 436 (United Front 436)
RICOINFORMA@AOL.COM
407 384 –9957
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Hispanic enrollment up at UT, but not enough
UT minority enrollment rises slightly, still falls short
By: News 8 Austin Staff 2/16/2009
Total enrollment for spring 2009 at the University of Texas increased slightly for Latino and African American students, according to preliminary reports, but still does not reflect the ethnic makeup of the state.
The number of Latino students for spring 2009 is 7,484, a 1.5 percent increase over spring 2008. African American student enrollment for is 2,093, up 4.2 percent. The foreign student total is 348, up 1.5 percent.
Enrollment decreased for white students to 25,757, a 1.9 percent decrease, for American Indian students to 197, a 4.8 percent decrease, and for Asian American students to 7,199 remained about the same.
Whites currently make up 54.4 percent of the student population, compared to 48.3 percent of the state's population. Latinos constitute 15.8 percent of UT students, and 35.7 percent of Texas' population, Asian Americans make up 15.2 percent at UT and 3.4 percent across the state, African Americans make up 4.4 percent of UT students, and 11.9 percent of states population, and American Indian students are 0.4 percent, and make up 0.7 percent in Texas, according to UT's 2009 statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 numbers.
UT President William Powers has been an outspoken critic of the top 10 percent rule, which grants automatic enrollment for students graduating in the top 10 percent of their class. Among other facets of the rule, the debate over whether it promotes ethnic diversity will likely play out in the Texas Legislature this session.
The rule was adopted in 1999, when a federal appeals court ruled that affirmative action was illegal. In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court would allow universities to use race as one of many factors in the admissions process.
UT also reported total enrollment for the spring 2009 semester is down 234 students from spring of last year.
Kristi Fisher, associate vice provost and director of the university's Office of Information Management and Analysis, said the decrease is primarily due to fewer continuing students at the undergraduate level.
By: News 8 Austin Staff 2/16/2009
Total enrollment for spring 2009 at the University of Texas increased slightly for Latino and African American students, according to preliminary reports, but still does not reflect the ethnic makeup of the state.
The number of Latino students for spring 2009 is 7,484, a 1.5 percent increase over spring 2008. African American student enrollment for is 2,093, up 4.2 percent. The foreign student total is 348, up 1.5 percent.
Enrollment decreased for white students to 25,757, a 1.9 percent decrease, for American Indian students to 197, a 4.8 percent decrease, and for Asian American students to 7,199 remained about the same.
Whites currently make up 54.4 percent of the student population, compared to 48.3 percent of the state's population. Latinos constitute 15.8 percent of UT students, and 35.7 percent of Texas' population, Asian Americans make up 15.2 percent at UT and 3.4 percent across the state, African Americans make up 4.4 percent of UT students, and 11.9 percent of states population, and American Indian students are 0.4 percent, and make up 0.7 percent in Texas, according to UT's 2009 statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 numbers.
UT President William Powers has been an outspoken critic of the top 10 percent rule, which grants automatic enrollment for students graduating in the top 10 percent of their class. Among other facets of the rule, the debate over whether it promotes ethnic diversity will likely play out in the Texas Legislature this session.
The rule was adopted in 1999, when a federal appeals court ruled that affirmative action was illegal. In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court would allow universities to use race as one of many factors in the admissions process.
UT also reported total enrollment for the spring 2009 semester is down 234 students from spring of last year.
Kristi Fisher, associate vice provost and director of the university's Office of Information Management and Analysis, said the decrease is primarily due to fewer continuing students at the undergraduate level.
Hispanic Immigrants protest Virginia's policies
Immigrants march to protest Va. county's policies
By GILLIAN GAYNAIR | Associated Press Writer February 16, 2009
MANASSAS PARK, Va. - More than 100 immigrants and their supporters marched through Prince William County on Monday to protest policies they say have torn apart families, caused racial tension and made them fearful of reporting crimes.
With chants in Spanish of "Justice!" and "Stop police brutality," the immigrant advocacy group Mexicans Without Borders demanded that county officials rescind a 2007 resolution that allows county police to enforce federal immigration law and denies some public services to illegal immigrants. They say the policy, which drew national attention, has created strife between Hispanic immigrants and police.
"We're fighting against all the injustices being committed against us," said 34-year-old Adrian Games of Woodbridge as he walked along a sidewalk holding his 6-year-old son's hand.
Games said the march is a way to pressure lawmakers to reconsider policies that he said have caused families to flee and have hurt the local economy.
"This is the start of something we're going to continue until we reach our goal," Games said.
Protesters on Monday also demanded justice for Manassas Park resident Agueda Dominguez, who claimed that earlier this month a police officer beat her during a traffic stop because she's Hispanic and doesn't speak English. Authorities have said that both Dominguez and the officer were injured in the incident, which is under investigation.
"We feel that the Dominguez case is the straw that broke the camel's back," said Nancy Lyall, legal coordinator with Mexicans Without Borders before the march from Manassas Park to the Prince William County courthouse.
Lyall said what happened to Dominguez is directly related to the passage of the resolution in Prince William County.
"That resolution sets the tone ... to look at our immigrant population differently than the rest of the people that reside here," Lyall said.
Prince William is one of a handful of Washington-area counties that has cracked down on illegal immigration in recent years. In Virginia's Loudoun County and Maryland's Frederick County, law enforcement authorities also are trained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce federal immigration law.
And though not as strict, Maryland's Montgomery County--long recognized as welcoming to immiwrants--announced this month that it plans to send to ICE the names of every person arrested for violent crimes and for illegally carrying or transporting handguns so their immigration status can be checked.
Monday's demonstration comes a week after small-business owners in Prince William demanded that lawmakers rescind a part of the anti-illegal immigration policy that requires business people to prove they are legal residents of the country.
The county had asked about 4,000 business owners to provide proof of legal residency by March 1 to get their business licenses renewed. Area doctors, architects and others have resisted the effort
By GILLIAN GAYNAIR | Associated Press Writer February 16, 2009
MANASSAS PARK, Va. - More than 100 immigrants and their supporters marched through Prince William County on Monday to protest policies they say have torn apart families, caused racial tension and made them fearful of reporting crimes.
With chants in Spanish of "Justice!" and "Stop police brutality," the immigrant advocacy group Mexicans Without Borders demanded that county officials rescind a 2007 resolution that allows county police to enforce federal immigration law and denies some public services to illegal immigrants. They say the policy, which drew national attention, has created strife between Hispanic immigrants and police.
"We're fighting against all the injustices being committed against us," said 34-year-old Adrian Games of Woodbridge as he walked along a sidewalk holding his 6-year-old son's hand.
Games said the march is a way to pressure lawmakers to reconsider policies that he said have caused families to flee and have hurt the local economy.
"This is the start of something we're going to continue until we reach our goal," Games said.
Protesters on Monday also demanded justice for Manassas Park resident Agueda Dominguez, who claimed that earlier this month a police officer beat her during a traffic stop because she's Hispanic and doesn't speak English. Authorities have said that both Dominguez and the officer were injured in the incident, which is under investigation.
"We feel that the Dominguez case is the straw that broke the camel's back," said Nancy Lyall, legal coordinator with Mexicans Without Borders before the march from Manassas Park to the Prince William County courthouse.
Lyall said what happened to Dominguez is directly related to the passage of the resolution in Prince William County.
"That resolution sets the tone ... to look at our immigrant population differently than the rest of the people that reside here," Lyall said.
Prince William is one of a handful of Washington-area counties that has cracked down on illegal immigration in recent years. In Virginia's Loudoun County and Maryland's Frederick County, law enforcement authorities also are trained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce federal immigration law.
And though not as strict, Maryland's Montgomery County--long recognized as welcoming to immiwrants--announced this month that it plans to send to ICE the names of every person arrested for violent crimes and for illegally carrying or transporting handguns so their immigration status can be checked.
Monday's demonstration comes a week after small-business owners in Prince William demanded that lawmakers rescind a part of the anti-illegal immigration policy that requires business people to prove they are legal residents of the country.
The county had asked about 4,000 business owners to provide proof of legal residency by March 1 to get their business licenses renewed. Area doctors, architects and others have resisted the effort
Monday, February 16, 2009
Latino students in Michigan get exposure to higher ed
GRCC in Holland attracting Latino students
By ROEL GARCIA The Holland Sentinel Feb 15, 2009
Area Latinos wanting to pursue higher education don’t have far to drive these days.
With the Grand Rapids Community College Lakeshore Campus opening in January at the Midtown Center, many Latinos can walk, ride a bike or take a bus to get to classes.
It was a focus of the college and lakeshore campus dean Dan Clark.
“We wanted to do things to continue to bring Latinos to college,” Clark said.
The idea appealed to Laura Jimenez, who came to the lakeshore campus Thursday with her husband Mario, to fill out an admissions application.
With four facilities in the Holland area offering classes, the college had no location near downtown.
Jimenez was excited when she found out there was a possibility of taking classes in Holland instead of traveling to Grand Rapids.
“I’ve dreamed of being a nurse since I was young,” said Jimenez, 33, who’s taking English as a second language classes.
Currently there are no nursing classes being offered at the lakeshore campus, but it could change in the near future as the college continues to build a foundation in Holland.
One of the areas that Clark saw as a necessity was having bilingual office staff to help potential students.
“We need to reduce or break down communication barriers because of language,” Clark said.
Educational support professional Miguel Espinoza and personal technologist support technician Antonio Aguillon speak Spanish and help facilitate information.
Espinoza helped Jimenez fill out an admissions application, conducting the interview in Spanish.
“If I didn’t speak Spanish, it would have been very difficult,” Espinoza said.
In addition, Clark is building on relationships with area organizations and institutions such as Latin Americans United for Progress and Holland Public Schools.
Both offer GED or English as a second language classes. Holland schools use classrooms at the lakeshore campus.
Clark hopes that by having students already taking classes in the building, they can be familiar with the location and the college.
“Students are used to the building. We want to develop the relationships with these students,” he said.
By ROEL GARCIA The Holland Sentinel Feb 15, 2009
Area Latinos wanting to pursue higher education don’t have far to drive these days.
With the Grand Rapids Community College Lakeshore Campus opening in January at the Midtown Center, many Latinos can walk, ride a bike or take a bus to get to classes.
It was a focus of the college and lakeshore campus dean Dan Clark.
“We wanted to do things to continue to bring Latinos to college,” Clark said.
The idea appealed to Laura Jimenez, who came to the lakeshore campus Thursday with her husband Mario, to fill out an admissions application.
With four facilities in the Holland area offering classes, the college had no location near downtown.
Jimenez was excited when she found out there was a possibility of taking classes in Holland instead of traveling to Grand Rapids.
“I’ve dreamed of being a nurse since I was young,” said Jimenez, 33, who’s taking English as a second language classes.
Currently there are no nursing classes being offered at the lakeshore campus, but it could change in the near future as the college continues to build a foundation in Holland.
One of the areas that Clark saw as a necessity was having bilingual office staff to help potential students.
“We need to reduce or break down communication barriers because of language,” Clark said.
Educational support professional Miguel Espinoza and personal technologist support technician Antonio Aguillon speak Spanish and help facilitate information.
Espinoza helped Jimenez fill out an admissions application, conducting the interview in Spanish.
“If I didn’t speak Spanish, it would have been very difficult,” Espinoza said.
In addition, Clark is building on relationships with area organizations and institutions such as Latin Americans United for Progress and Holland Public Schools.
Both offer GED or English as a second language classes. Holland schools use classrooms at the lakeshore campus.
Clark hopes that by having students already taking classes in the building, they can be familiar with the location and the college.
“Students are used to the building. We want to develop the relationships with these students,” he said.
California Hispanic Legislator teaches governor about loyalty
Maldonado gets chance to remind governor about loyalty
SFGATE.COM
When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his allies came to state Sen. Abel Maldonado early this morning begging for the last vote needed to pass the state budget, no one could blame the Santa Maria Republican for grinning.
"What goes around, comes around" is a proverb that fits really well in politics.
It wasn't that long ago that Maldonado was a go-to guy for the governor. In 2006, when Schwarzenegger wanted to raise the minimum wage, it was Maldonado who carried his bill, despite plenty of heat from his Republican colleagues and conservatives across the state.
But later in the year, when Maldonado was running for state controller in the GOP primary, Schwarzenegger declined to endorse him in a race ultimately run by former Assemblyman -- and now state senator -- Tony Strickland, a loud opponent of the governor's minimum wage plan.
Maldonado admitted he was more than a bit miffed that he didn't get the governor's backing, especially after taking one on the chin for Schwarzenegger in the minimum wage fight. "When (Schwarzenegger) needs Latinos, Latinos are always there for him," he fumed after the election. "When Latinos need him, the answer's been 'no.'"
While the state senator quickly apologized for the remarks, all politicians have the memory of an elephant. And with the end of his time in the Senate coming in 2012, the generally moderate Maldonado needs to make nice to the conservatives who make up the power in the state GOP if he wants another shot at higher office.
That might be one reason Maldonado took off after state Controller John Chiang earlier this month over what he was a gold-plated furnishing plan for one of the department's new facilities. And when he found that money for that furniture was in the new budget plan, "it"s an easy 'no' vote for Maldonado," he said.
Now that doesn't mean the state senator won't end up breaking ranks with most of his GOP colleagues and backing the budget, as he did last year. But he hasn't yet. And the chance to pointedly remind the governor, still relatively new to politics, that loyalty works both ways might be too much for Maldonado to resist.
SFGATE.COM
When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his allies came to state Sen. Abel Maldonado early this morning begging for the last vote needed to pass the state budget, no one could blame the Santa Maria Republican for grinning.
"What goes around, comes around" is a proverb that fits really well in politics.
It wasn't that long ago that Maldonado was a go-to guy for the governor. In 2006, when Schwarzenegger wanted to raise the minimum wage, it was Maldonado who carried his bill, despite plenty of heat from his Republican colleagues and conservatives across the state.
But later in the year, when Maldonado was running for state controller in the GOP primary, Schwarzenegger declined to endorse him in a race ultimately run by former Assemblyman -- and now state senator -- Tony Strickland, a loud opponent of the governor's minimum wage plan.
Maldonado admitted he was more than a bit miffed that he didn't get the governor's backing, especially after taking one on the chin for Schwarzenegger in the minimum wage fight. "When (Schwarzenegger) needs Latinos, Latinos are always there for him," he fumed after the election. "When Latinos need him, the answer's been 'no.'"
While the state senator quickly apologized for the remarks, all politicians have the memory of an elephant. And with the end of his time in the Senate coming in 2012, the generally moderate Maldonado needs to make nice to the conservatives who make up the power in the state GOP if he wants another shot at higher office.
That might be one reason Maldonado took off after state Controller John Chiang earlier this month over what he was a gold-plated furnishing plan for one of the department's new facilities. And when he found that money for that furniture was in the new budget plan, "it"s an easy 'no' vote for Maldonado," he said.
Now that doesn't mean the state senator won't end up breaking ranks with most of his GOP colleagues and backing the budget, as he did last year. But he hasn't yet. And the chance to pointedly remind the governor, still relatively new to politics, that loyalty works both ways might be too much for Maldonado to resist.
Latino students hear from professionals
DC students hear from Latino professionals
By ERIC SAXTON For The Courier-News February 15, 2009
CARPENTERSVILLE -- The Organization of Latin American Students at Dundee-Crown High School in Carpentersville organized its first Professional Latino Panel Tuesday afternoon with a presentation to about 50 Latino Dundee-Crown students.
Dundee-Crown's Black History Club hosted a similar leadership and career panel at the school on Thursday.
Dundee-Crown teacher Beatriz Alday sponsored the OLAS event and gathered eight panel members to explain their paths to successful careers and participate in a question-and-answer session with the students.
The overwhelming message the panel conveyed to the students is if they want to succeed -- if they indeed want to pursue a career path that requires a college degree -- they can overcome obstacles and break societal trends by working hard. Other items discussed included overcoming discrimination, dealing with cultural differences and the opportunities that now exist for qualified minorities.
The panel was directed by three student moderators: senior Cynthia Garcia, junior Yahir Bunuelos and freshman Jahn Galarza. The threesome asked the panel members questions about their lives and careers while generating discussion with the students in attendance.
Garcia said she thought the panel was successful in conveying the message that Latinos can succeed in society just as well as any group.
"The struggle is there for a lot of Latinos, but the panel showed us (students) that there are many Latinos out there who are doing well," she said.
One panel member was 2002 Dundee-Crown graduate and current teacher's assistant Norma De La Rosa.
She moved to Carpentersville with her family from Mexico when she was 10 years old. She said she wanted to give hope to students who may not think it is possible for them to go to college.
"I want them to realize that there is a future after high school, and they can go out and pursue an education, whether or not they're the first in their family to get a post-high school education. There are Latinos just like them who are very successful," she said.
"I believe in the fact that knowledge is power, and with knowledge, you can get anywhere you want to go," she said. "Without it, you can't get very far."
The panel also encouraged students in attendance to get involved in school activities. They stressed that at Dundee-Crown and other schools with high Latino populations, diversity generally does not show within athletics, clubs or other school organizations.
By ERIC SAXTON For The Courier-News February 15, 2009
CARPENTERSVILLE -- The Organization of Latin American Students at Dundee-Crown High School in Carpentersville organized its first Professional Latino Panel Tuesday afternoon with a presentation to about 50 Latino Dundee-Crown students.
Dundee-Crown's Black History Club hosted a similar leadership and career panel at the school on Thursday.
Dundee-Crown teacher Beatriz Alday sponsored the OLAS event and gathered eight panel members to explain their paths to successful careers and participate in a question-and-answer session with the students.
The overwhelming message the panel conveyed to the students is if they want to succeed -- if they indeed want to pursue a career path that requires a college degree -- they can overcome obstacles and break societal trends by working hard. Other items discussed included overcoming discrimination, dealing with cultural differences and the opportunities that now exist for qualified minorities.
The panel was directed by three student moderators: senior Cynthia Garcia, junior Yahir Bunuelos and freshman Jahn Galarza. The threesome asked the panel members questions about their lives and careers while generating discussion with the students in attendance.
Garcia said she thought the panel was successful in conveying the message that Latinos can succeed in society just as well as any group.
"The struggle is there for a lot of Latinos, but the panel showed us (students) that there are many Latinos out there who are doing well," she said.
One panel member was 2002 Dundee-Crown graduate and current teacher's assistant Norma De La Rosa.
She moved to Carpentersville with her family from Mexico when she was 10 years old. She said she wanted to give hope to students who may not think it is possible for them to go to college.
"I want them to realize that there is a future after high school, and they can go out and pursue an education, whether or not they're the first in their family to get a post-high school education. There are Latinos just like them who are very successful," she said.
"I believe in the fact that knowledge is power, and with knowledge, you can get anywhere you want to go," she said. "Without it, you can't get very far."
The panel also encouraged students in attendance to get involved in school activities. They stressed that at Dundee-Crown and other schools with high Latino populations, diversity generally does not show within athletics, clubs or other school organizations.
Hispanic student comment teaches educator a lesson
Fisher: Palo Alto schools superintendent learns his lesson
By Patty Fisher Mercury News 02/14/2009
Palo Alto schools Superintendent Kevin Skelly learned a valuable lesson last week:
Don't think out loud. When talking about emotionally charged issues and nearly intractable problems such as the achievement gap, it's better to mouth platitudes than to say what you really think — if what you think is not what people want to hear.
Skelly is in hot water over a Feb. 2 Mercury News article in which he contended that we'll never completely erase the difference in performance between higher-scoring Asian and white students and lower-scoring Latino and African-American students. While we certainly can narrow the gap and improve performance of all students, he said, schools alone can't negate the influences of culture and poverty.
Erasing the achievement gap, Skelly said, would be "the triumph of hope over experience."
My sense from the article was that Skelly was trying to cut through the simplistic rhetoric we hear from California's political leaders. In a state where tens of thousands of people arrive every year who don't speak English and have limited education, where poor neighborhoods are plagued by drugs and violence, I don't see how we will ever get to the point where every single child is proficient in reading and math unless we address the underlying social issues. Of course, we must set high expectations for all children and work harder to achieve them, but if our goals are unrealistic, then we're setting ourselves up for failure.
Feelings of betrayal
The reaction to the article was swift and intense. While some people praised Skelly's comments as long-overdue straight talk, others lambasted him for sending the message to students, parents and teachers that it's no use trying to improve college readiness among Latino and African-American students because they will never catch up.
Palo Alto parents who have been working to raise minority performance felt betrayed. They felt Skelly was giving up on their children after less than two years in the district.
He got the message — loud and clear. In a public apology, he did an about-face.
"During the past week I have thought about my comments and had a chance to discuss them with staff and parents," he said in a statement. "Their comments have caused me to change my thinking on this."
He went on to say that he is committed to excellence for all students, "no matter their background," and will "work every day to help them all achieve their limitless potential."
When I asked him what exactly he had changed his thinking about, he clammed up.
"I want to move beyond my comments in the newspaper," he told me. "There was a sense that I was giving up on kids and saying kids couldn't achieve, and I could see why they took it that way."
Not a level playing field
OK, so his message didn't get through clearly. And he tapped into the frustration and anger of black and Latino parents whose children lose ground every year in a district so geared to the top performers that average kids routinely need outside help just to keep up in class. Unless parents have the time and educational background to help them — or the money to pay for tutors — many become frustrated and give up.
The last thing parents need to hear is that the superintendent has given up on their kids.
Skelly wants to prove that he hasn't given up, and we'll all be watching his progress closely.
I fear, however, that in his effort to mend fences and keep his job, he has abandoned the straight talk and joined the feel-good chorus.
For instance, does he really believe that any child — let alone every child — has "limitless" potential?
"The less I say at this point, the better," he said.
By Patty Fisher Mercury News 02/14/2009
Palo Alto schools Superintendent Kevin Skelly learned a valuable lesson last week:
Don't think out loud. When talking about emotionally charged issues and nearly intractable problems such as the achievement gap, it's better to mouth platitudes than to say what you really think — if what you think is not what people want to hear.
Skelly is in hot water over a Feb. 2 Mercury News article in which he contended that we'll never completely erase the difference in performance between higher-scoring Asian and white students and lower-scoring Latino and African-American students. While we certainly can narrow the gap and improve performance of all students, he said, schools alone can't negate the influences of culture and poverty.
Erasing the achievement gap, Skelly said, would be "the triumph of hope over experience."
My sense from the article was that Skelly was trying to cut through the simplistic rhetoric we hear from California's political leaders. In a state where tens of thousands of people arrive every year who don't speak English and have limited education, where poor neighborhoods are plagued by drugs and violence, I don't see how we will ever get to the point where every single child is proficient in reading and math unless we address the underlying social issues. Of course, we must set high expectations for all children and work harder to achieve them, but if our goals are unrealistic, then we're setting ourselves up for failure.
Feelings of betrayal
The reaction to the article was swift and intense. While some people praised Skelly's comments as long-overdue straight talk, others lambasted him for sending the message to students, parents and teachers that it's no use trying to improve college readiness among Latino and African-American students because they will never catch up.
Palo Alto parents who have been working to raise minority performance felt betrayed. They felt Skelly was giving up on their children after less than two years in the district.
He got the message — loud and clear. In a public apology, he did an about-face.
"During the past week I have thought about my comments and had a chance to discuss them with staff and parents," he said in a statement. "Their comments have caused me to change my thinking on this."
He went on to say that he is committed to excellence for all students, "no matter their background," and will "work every day to help them all achieve their limitless potential."
When I asked him what exactly he had changed his thinking about, he clammed up.
"I want to move beyond my comments in the newspaper," he told me. "There was a sense that I was giving up on kids and saying kids couldn't achieve, and I could see why they took it that way."
Not a level playing field
OK, so his message didn't get through clearly. And he tapped into the frustration and anger of black and Latino parents whose children lose ground every year in a district so geared to the top performers that average kids routinely need outside help just to keep up in class. Unless parents have the time and educational background to help them — or the money to pay for tutors — many become frustrated and give up.
The last thing parents need to hear is that the superintendent has given up on their kids.
Skelly wants to prove that he hasn't given up, and we'll all be watching his progress closely.
I fear, however, that in his effort to mend fences and keep his job, he has abandoned the straight talk and joined the feel-good chorus.
For instance, does he really believe that any child — let alone every child — has "limitless" potential?
"The less I say at this point, the better," he said.
Hispanic immigration still a challenge to Texas law makers
Immigration is hot-ticket item for Texas Legislature
By MARCUS FUNK / The Dallas Morning News mfunk@dallasnews.com February 16, 2009
AUSTIN – Rep. Jim Jackson of Dallas wants to declare English the official language of Texas and require all government employees – from high-ranking officers to park rangers – to prove citizenship or legal residency.
To Jackson, a Republican, it makes perfect sense: "If you're going to have a law, then the first people that ought to obey the law is government."
And he's not alone.
So far, 35 bills aimed at illegal immigrants have been filed in the Legislature. Lawmakers say that for most, the future is uncertain at best. But because they are poised to stir passions, the bills serve as a distraction from traditional fiscal priorities – just as they did two years ago.
"We need to be focused on what is absolutely appropriate for our state and on real problems, rather than divisive issues," said Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio. "I want to be worried about the guy that's trying to sell my daughter drugs, not the lady that wants to clean my daughter's house. There's a big difference."
Most opponents also point out that immigration is a federal issue, and most legislators say Congress should handle it – Texas has a budget to pass, jobs to create and public schools to monitor, all in less than five months.
Many of this year's bills are unsuccessful repeats from the last session, when only three immigration bills – out of 72 – ultimately passed. Supporters acknowledge that most were kept at arm's length even by devout conservatives such as former House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, who felt they belonged in Congress. And the measures face even longer odds under a moderate speaker and a House that is almost evenly divided now among Republicans and Democrats.
"These bills are largely filed by a handful of legislators appealing to an extreme constituency that is a small but vocal minority," said Luis Figueroa, legislative staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal and Educational Defense Fund. "They file a lot of bills, but not many of them move very far."
But bipartisan proponents say they hope state action will spark greater federal efforts.
"We can't just sit back and say, 'Well, it's the federal government's business,' and hope that someday they will step up and help us out," said Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell. "We have to do the best we can to try to get our border under control, or at least protect our citizens."
But even the GOP is divided. While some Republicans embrace strong immigration enforcement, others worry about opposition from the pro-business groups that have traditionally been their backers. Others still are influenced by demographic shifts. Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic group in Texas, and lawmakers such as Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, say many feel the rhetoric has become anti-Hispanic.
That could push the issue further to the sidelines in Austin and generate difficulties for Republicans juggling a passionate base and an increasingly diverse electorate. Such fears have caused one Republican, Rep. Leo Berman of Tyler, to consider running for governor to "force" a public immigration debate.
Like-minded conservatives also dispute the allegations of racism. They argue that many Hispanics vote for Republicans promising fair wages and safe borders, and that national security is a universal concern. "I think if we handle it properly, I'm not sure we should have that much to argue over," Jackson said. "I think most Hispanics want to follow the law, and I think we're OK when we don't make it about race and heritage. It shouldn't be, on either side."
By MARCUS FUNK / The Dallas Morning News mfunk@dallasnews.com February 16, 2009
AUSTIN – Rep. Jim Jackson of Dallas wants to declare English the official language of Texas and require all government employees – from high-ranking officers to park rangers – to prove citizenship or legal residency.
To Jackson, a Republican, it makes perfect sense: "If you're going to have a law, then the first people that ought to obey the law is government."
And he's not alone.
So far, 35 bills aimed at illegal immigrants have been filed in the Legislature. Lawmakers say that for most, the future is uncertain at best. But because they are poised to stir passions, the bills serve as a distraction from traditional fiscal priorities – just as they did two years ago.
"We need to be focused on what is absolutely appropriate for our state and on real problems, rather than divisive issues," said Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio. "I want to be worried about the guy that's trying to sell my daughter drugs, not the lady that wants to clean my daughter's house. There's a big difference."
Most opponents also point out that immigration is a federal issue, and most legislators say Congress should handle it – Texas has a budget to pass, jobs to create and public schools to monitor, all in less than five months.
Many of this year's bills are unsuccessful repeats from the last session, when only three immigration bills – out of 72 – ultimately passed. Supporters acknowledge that most were kept at arm's length even by devout conservatives such as former House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, who felt they belonged in Congress. And the measures face even longer odds under a moderate speaker and a House that is almost evenly divided now among Republicans and Democrats.
"These bills are largely filed by a handful of legislators appealing to an extreme constituency that is a small but vocal minority," said Luis Figueroa, legislative staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal and Educational Defense Fund. "They file a lot of bills, but not many of them move very far."
But bipartisan proponents say they hope state action will spark greater federal efforts.
"We can't just sit back and say, 'Well, it's the federal government's business,' and hope that someday they will step up and help us out," said Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell. "We have to do the best we can to try to get our border under control, or at least protect our citizens."
But even the GOP is divided. While some Republicans embrace strong immigration enforcement, others worry about opposition from the pro-business groups that have traditionally been their backers. Others still are influenced by demographic shifts. Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic group in Texas, and lawmakers such as Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, say many feel the rhetoric has become anti-Hispanic.
That could push the issue further to the sidelines in Austin and generate difficulties for Republicans juggling a passionate base and an increasingly diverse electorate. Such fears have caused one Republican, Rep. Leo Berman of Tyler, to consider running for governor to "force" a public immigration debate.
Like-minded conservatives also dispute the allegations of racism. They argue that many Hispanics vote for Republicans promising fair wages and safe borders, and that national security is a universal concern. "I think if we handle it properly, I'm not sure we should have that much to argue over," Jackson said. "I think most Hispanics want to follow the law, and I think we're OK when we don't make it about race and heritage. It shouldn't be, on either side."
Texas Hispanic 1st graders now majority
KENNEDY: For the first time, Hispanic children are the majority in Texas’ first-grade classrooms
By BUD KENNEDY bud@star-telegram.com
We have known for years that Texas will soon again be predominantly Hispanic.
What we have not known so clearly — until a couple of recent reports — is that the white population is dwindling.
In a new report on population trends in public schools, the Texas Education Agency reports that Texas now enrolls 130,000 fewer white children than 10 years ago.
For the first time, Hispanic children dominate first-grade classes, adding about 4,000 children last year to become the outright majority with 50.2 percent of students.
But Hispanic children would have become dominant without even one new student, because white first-grade enrollment dropped by about 2,000.
White children are now fewer than one-third of the first-graders in Texas.
If this is a surprise to us, it’s not one to Karl Eschbach of the University of Texas-San Antonio, appointed by Gov. Rick Perry as the official state demographer.
"What people don’t realize is the sheer inevitability of this change," Eschbach said Friday.
It isn’t about immigration, he said. It’s about native-born Texan and American children growing up.
Some white conservatives — not all of them but certainly all the ones with radio shows — fear the "Latinization" of Texas. No reason to fear.
"It’s already happened," Eschbach said.
In a separate new report on population projections, Eschbach and the Texas State Data Center now predict that Texas will become predominantly Hispanic within 10 years, and that the current white population of about 11.5 million is near its peak and will begin shrinking as baby boomers die out between 2020 and 2040. (The African-American population will grow, but more slowly.)
If you’re wondering why all this is important, it’s because aging white Texans will face decisions about taxes and education for a generation of mostly minority children.
"If the state is going to be healthy, we have to invest in children," Eschbach said, repeating part of the presentation he gives across the state. "We have to invest in education. We have to invest in preparing children for a global economy."
In other words, Texas’ future depends on how well we prepare today’s minority children.
Eschbach was blunt.
"The children who don’t 'look like us’ will have the greatest say in the state’s future success," he said.
If Texas were surrounded by a wall tomorrow and all illegal immigrants were removed, the result would be the same.
(According to federal estimates, only 1 in 4 Hispanic schoolchildren in Texas is the child of an illegal immigrant, and only a small percentage are illegal immigrants themselves.)
"If you live your life in the Anglo-majority-dominated world" — like suburban North Texas, one of the whitest parts of the state — "then you might not see the change," Eschbach said.
"But it would be tough to find a schoolchild who thinks of Texas as Anglo. With every passing year, Texas is going to be more Hispanic."
This isn’t about how we teach the Texas Revolution, or whether our 4.7 million schoolchildren learn more than one language.
It’s about our shared future as Texans.
Bud Kennedy’s column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 817-390-7538
By BUD KENNEDY bud@star-telegram.com
We have known for years that Texas will soon again be predominantly Hispanic.
What we have not known so clearly — until a couple of recent reports — is that the white population is dwindling.
In a new report on population trends in public schools, the Texas Education Agency reports that Texas now enrolls 130,000 fewer white children than 10 years ago.
For the first time, Hispanic children dominate first-grade classes, adding about 4,000 children last year to become the outright majority with 50.2 percent of students.
But Hispanic children would have become dominant without even one new student, because white first-grade enrollment dropped by about 2,000.
White children are now fewer than one-third of the first-graders in Texas.
If this is a surprise to us, it’s not one to Karl Eschbach of the University of Texas-San Antonio, appointed by Gov. Rick Perry as the official state demographer.
"What people don’t realize is the sheer inevitability of this change," Eschbach said Friday.
It isn’t about immigration, he said. It’s about native-born Texan and American children growing up.
Some white conservatives — not all of them but certainly all the ones with radio shows — fear the "Latinization" of Texas. No reason to fear.
"It’s already happened," Eschbach said.
In a separate new report on population projections, Eschbach and the Texas State Data Center now predict that Texas will become predominantly Hispanic within 10 years, and that the current white population of about 11.5 million is near its peak and will begin shrinking as baby boomers die out between 2020 and 2040. (The African-American population will grow, but more slowly.)
If you’re wondering why all this is important, it’s because aging white Texans will face decisions about taxes and education for a generation of mostly minority children.
"If the state is going to be healthy, we have to invest in children," Eschbach said, repeating part of the presentation he gives across the state. "We have to invest in education. We have to invest in preparing children for a global economy."
In other words, Texas’ future depends on how well we prepare today’s minority children.
Eschbach was blunt.
"The children who don’t 'look like us’ will have the greatest say in the state’s future success," he said.
If Texas were surrounded by a wall tomorrow and all illegal immigrants were removed, the result would be the same.
(According to federal estimates, only 1 in 4 Hispanic schoolchildren in Texas is the child of an illegal immigrant, and only a small percentage are illegal immigrants themselves.)
"If you live your life in the Anglo-majority-dominated world" — like suburban North Texas, one of the whitest parts of the state — "then you might not see the change," Eschbach said.
"But it would be tough to find a schoolchild who thinks of Texas as Anglo. With every passing year, Texas is going to be more Hispanic."
This isn’t about how we teach the Texas Revolution, or whether our 4.7 million schoolchildren learn more than one language.
It’s about our shared future as Texans.
Bud Kennedy’s column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 817-390-7538
Hispanic students offer schools a new base
Hispanics offer schools a new base
Community colleges have price advantage over for-profits
By Colby Sledge • THE TENNESSEAN • February 15, 2009
GALLATIN — Jose Luis Magana, a California transplant, needs additional certification to grow his computer repair business. Colombian immigrant Cesar Constain, an avid soccer player, wants to study physical education.
Both were at Volunteer State Community College on Tuesday night for its third annual Hispanic Family Education Night, an informational session designed to target one of the state's fastest-growing student populations.
As community colleges enroll an increasingly diverse population, services targeted to Latino students and their families have grown in size and significance. More than half of the 2 million Latinos in higher education attend schools that require two years or less, and the number of Hispanic high school graduates in Tennessee is expected to grow to 11,000 by 2020-21, surpassing African-Americans as the largest minority group of graduates.
That growth rate is even more pronounced in Sumner County, where the Hispanic population has doubled since 2000, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Hispanics make up less than 3 percent of the 7,200 students at Vol State, but the college's approach could pay dividends as it vies with for-profit colleges for what could become a major student base in the future.
"The college is very Hispanic-friendly," said Cristina Frasier, president of the Sumner Hispanic Alliance, which Vol State created in 2006. The group consists of about 25 business owners and community leaders and has partnered with the school on an annual cultural celebration and other events.
It hopes to begin a scholarship program this year, Frasier said.
Lizbeth Vacar is a product of Vol State's increased efforts to appeal to local and international Hispanic students. Hoping to fulfill a dream of attending college in the United States, Vacar came to Middle Tennessee at the behest of a friend and fellow Mexican national who married a Mt. Juliet resident.
After examining for-profits, four-year universities and other community colleges, Vacar chose Vol State, based on its preparation for international students like herself. Now in her second semester studying business and commerce, Vacar has tried to allay worries among local Hispanics about the school.
"There are some fears among the community that if you don't have the proper documents, the institution is going to report you to immigration services," said Vacar, who translated for prospective students Tuesday night. "It's not true, but people don't know it."
Grass-roots efforts needed
Marketing to Hispanics requires grass-roots efforts like those at Vol State, which rely on community members to help spread the word about the school.
Cesar Constain found out about the education night through a flier printed in Spanish.
Although the school was hoping for about 150 attendees, more would come if the school advertised on local soccer fields, Constain said.
"If people knew, the turnout would be incredible," Constain said.
For-profit schools typically are better at such strategies because they emphasize quick class-to-job turnarounds, says Deborah Santiago, executive director of the Latino education policy group Excelencia in Education.
Although more Hispanics attend community colleges, the percentage of Hispanic students in for-profit institutions increased from 4 percent in 2001-02 to10 percent in 06-07.
Santiago recalled a one-page information letter she saw from one for-profit school, intended for students and parents: in English on one side, Spanish on the other.
"That document said four things that mattered to me: 'We want you, we'll work around your schedule, we'll get you aid and we'll get you a job,' " Santiago said. "Public institutions could do this, too; they're just not choosing to."
For-profits are at a disadvantage when it comes to price competition, a factor that matters more among Hispanics than other ethnic groups. Hispanics rank behind Asians with the second-lowest rate of higher education borrowing among ethnic groups.
Borrowing rates among younger Hispanic students, however, are catching up with the national average as college becomes more of an expectation.
"It's worth it," said Maria Santos, a nursing student who came to Vol State for lower tuition, but would take out loans if necessary. "You're going to invest in the most important thing, something that's going to stick with you forever, your education."
Contact Colby Sledge at 615-259-8229 or ccsledge@tennessean.com.
Community colleges have price advantage over for-profits
By Colby Sledge • THE TENNESSEAN • February 15, 2009
GALLATIN — Jose Luis Magana, a California transplant, needs additional certification to grow his computer repair business. Colombian immigrant Cesar Constain, an avid soccer player, wants to study physical education.
Both were at Volunteer State Community College on Tuesday night for its third annual Hispanic Family Education Night, an informational session designed to target one of the state's fastest-growing student populations.
As community colleges enroll an increasingly diverse population, services targeted to Latino students and their families have grown in size and significance. More than half of the 2 million Latinos in higher education attend schools that require two years or less, and the number of Hispanic high school graduates in Tennessee is expected to grow to 11,000 by 2020-21, surpassing African-Americans as the largest minority group of graduates.
That growth rate is even more pronounced in Sumner County, where the Hispanic population has doubled since 2000, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Hispanics make up less than 3 percent of the 7,200 students at Vol State, but the college's approach could pay dividends as it vies with for-profit colleges for what could become a major student base in the future.
"The college is very Hispanic-friendly," said Cristina Frasier, president of the Sumner Hispanic Alliance, which Vol State created in 2006. The group consists of about 25 business owners and community leaders and has partnered with the school on an annual cultural celebration and other events.
It hopes to begin a scholarship program this year, Frasier said.
Lizbeth Vacar is a product of Vol State's increased efforts to appeal to local and international Hispanic students. Hoping to fulfill a dream of attending college in the United States, Vacar came to Middle Tennessee at the behest of a friend and fellow Mexican national who married a Mt. Juliet resident.
After examining for-profits, four-year universities and other community colleges, Vacar chose Vol State, based on its preparation for international students like herself. Now in her second semester studying business and commerce, Vacar has tried to allay worries among local Hispanics about the school.
"There are some fears among the community that if you don't have the proper documents, the institution is going to report you to immigration services," said Vacar, who translated for prospective students Tuesday night. "It's not true, but people don't know it."
Grass-roots efforts needed
Marketing to Hispanics requires grass-roots efforts like those at Vol State, which rely on community members to help spread the word about the school.
Cesar Constain found out about the education night through a flier printed in Spanish.
Although the school was hoping for about 150 attendees, more would come if the school advertised on local soccer fields, Constain said.
"If people knew, the turnout would be incredible," Constain said.
For-profit schools typically are better at such strategies because they emphasize quick class-to-job turnarounds, says Deborah Santiago, executive director of the Latino education policy group Excelencia in Education.
Although more Hispanics attend community colleges, the percentage of Hispanic students in for-profit institutions increased from 4 percent in 2001-02 to10 percent in 06-07.
Santiago recalled a one-page information letter she saw from one for-profit school, intended for students and parents: in English on one side, Spanish on the other.
"That document said four things that mattered to me: 'We want you, we'll work around your schedule, we'll get you aid and we'll get you a job,' " Santiago said. "Public institutions could do this, too; they're just not choosing to."
For-profits are at a disadvantage when it comes to price competition, a factor that matters more among Hispanics than other ethnic groups. Hispanics rank behind Asians with the second-lowest rate of higher education borrowing among ethnic groups.
Borrowing rates among younger Hispanic students, however, are catching up with the national average as college becomes more of an expectation.
"It's worth it," said Maria Santos, a nursing student who came to Vol State for lower tuition, but would take out loans if necessary. "You're going to invest in the most important thing, something that's going to stick with you forever, your education."
Contact Colby Sledge at 615-259-8229 or ccsledge@tennessean.com.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Hispanic immigrant tragedy: families ripped apart by deportation
Report: Over 100,000 deportees had children in US
By SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Writer Feb. 13, 2009
WASHINGTON -- Immigration officials are reviewing whether to gather more information about parents they deport whose children may be U.S. citizens and are left behind.
An investigation by the Homeland Security Department inspector general found immigration officials deported 108,434 parents with children who are U.S. citizens during 1998 to 2007. A report on the investigation was made public Friday.
The number may not be complete because Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Homeland Security Department, does not keep detailed data on deported parents of children who are U.S. citizens. It is also unknown how many children the parents had, whether they left them behind and how many of the children were minors.
ICE says it will study whether it can gather more information on parents it deports. The agency expects to issue its findings in about two months.
"I am saddened, but not surprised to learn that our government, in its harsh anti-immigrant stance, has split hundreds of thousands of families apart over the past decade," said Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y.
Serrano serves on the House Appropriations Committee's panel that helps decide how much money is provided to the Homeland Security Department each year. He has filed a bill, the Child Citizen Protection Act, that would allow immigration judges to consider whether the immigrants are parents of children who are U.S. citizens.
ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said the agency would review whether to establish procedures to ascertain whether deported immigrants have children under the age of 18 who are U.S. citizens. But she also noted the potential negative impact of giving reprieve to immigrants who have violated U.S. laws.
"Parenthood does not exempt any person from complying with the nation's laws, including immigration laws," Gonzalez said.
Children of immigrant families who are U.S. citizens have long created a dilemma for Congress as it has tried to control immigration. People born in the U.S. automatically become U.S. citizens. But American children cannot petition for their parents to become legal U.S. residents until they are at least 21.
"If, in fact, some (children) were left behind here, then you have the sad tragedy of breaking up families," Serrano said. "If they were taken back, I would argue the direct result of our actions is the deportation of our citizens. How do you deport a U.S. citizen?"
Some critics say people not authorized to be in the country should not be allowed to remain because they have children born here.
Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner said the number of parents removed generally increased over time. Immigration officials reported 319,382 deportations in 2007, compared to 174,813 in 1998. During 1998, 13,081 individual parents were removed.
Some of the parents were removed from the country more than once, so in the 10 years there were actually 180,466 removals of the 108,434 parents.
By SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Writer Feb. 13, 2009
WASHINGTON -- Immigration officials are reviewing whether to gather more information about parents they deport whose children may be U.S. citizens and are left behind.
An investigation by the Homeland Security Department inspector general found immigration officials deported 108,434 parents with children who are U.S. citizens during 1998 to 2007. A report on the investigation was made public Friday.
The number may not be complete because Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Homeland Security Department, does not keep detailed data on deported parents of children who are U.S. citizens. It is also unknown how many children the parents had, whether they left them behind and how many of the children were minors.
ICE says it will study whether it can gather more information on parents it deports. The agency expects to issue its findings in about two months.
"I am saddened, but not surprised to learn that our government, in its harsh anti-immigrant stance, has split hundreds of thousands of families apart over the past decade," said Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y.
Serrano serves on the House Appropriations Committee's panel that helps decide how much money is provided to the Homeland Security Department each year. He has filed a bill, the Child Citizen Protection Act, that would allow immigration judges to consider whether the immigrants are parents of children who are U.S. citizens.
ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said the agency would review whether to establish procedures to ascertain whether deported immigrants have children under the age of 18 who are U.S. citizens. But she also noted the potential negative impact of giving reprieve to immigrants who have violated U.S. laws.
"Parenthood does not exempt any person from complying with the nation's laws, including immigration laws," Gonzalez said.
Children of immigrant families who are U.S. citizens have long created a dilemma for Congress as it has tried to control immigration. People born in the U.S. automatically become U.S. citizens. But American children cannot petition for their parents to become legal U.S. residents until they are at least 21.
"If, in fact, some (children) were left behind here, then you have the sad tragedy of breaking up families," Serrano said. "If they were taken back, I would argue the direct result of our actions is the deportation of our citizens. How do you deport a U.S. citizen?"
Some critics say people not authorized to be in the country should not be allowed to remain because they have children born here.
Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner said the number of parents removed generally increased over time. Immigration officials reported 319,382 deportations in 2007, compared to 174,813 in 1998. During 1998, 13,081 individual parents were removed.
Some of the parents were removed from the country more than once, so in the 10 years there were actually 180,466 removals of the 108,434 parents.
Springfield Hispanics get help in down economy
Local Latinos Get Help in Down Economy
Carlos Correa Ozarks First Feb 14, 2009
(SPRINGFIELD) -- Today's economy is putting a strain in many people's pocket books.
Several Latino families are finding themselves cutting back on many expenses including their regular check ups at the doctor's office.
Maria Gonzalez watches her spending very closely.
"It's a drastic change," said Gonzalez.
But the change is one that's helping her family save money every month.
"I have never lived like this before. These are terrible times. The only extra money we have goes directly to our bills," she said.
In order to save on money, Gonzalez is not dining out as much. She's buying fewer clothes and fewer toys for the kids. Gonzalez is also cutting out visits to the doctor's office.
"It's hard to have everything in life, but we do well with what we have," said Gonzalez.
Gonzalez is not alone. More and more Latinos are making the same decisions just to make ends meet.
"People are always looking for different ways to get by. Our church has many families in need. They take advantage of community programs to help save on cost," said pastor Isreal Hernandez.
Hand in hand ministries is among the many organizations offering free programs to help people with their medical needs. In the last few months, group leaders have seen an increase in demand for those services.
"The reasons that they do come are relationship problems, alcoholism and alcohol problems, a lot of stress/family stress and more issues with families and individuals and many of times the base of that gets back to the fact that they lost jobs or they're not working right now," said Julie Humphrey, executive director of Hand In Hand Ministries.
Latino faith leaders say they have seen an increase in area families seeking help. Many of them refer people to hand in hand ministries.
Now, just last month the organization offered free eye exams to Latino families and organizers say the response was remarkable.
Carlos Correa Ozarks First Feb 14, 2009
(SPRINGFIELD) -- Today's economy is putting a strain in many people's pocket books.
Several Latino families are finding themselves cutting back on many expenses including their regular check ups at the doctor's office.
Maria Gonzalez watches her spending very closely.
"It's a drastic change," said Gonzalez.
But the change is one that's helping her family save money every month.
"I have never lived like this before. These are terrible times. The only extra money we have goes directly to our bills," she said.
In order to save on money, Gonzalez is not dining out as much. She's buying fewer clothes and fewer toys for the kids. Gonzalez is also cutting out visits to the doctor's office.
"It's hard to have everything in life, but we do well with what we have," said Gonzalez.
Gonzalez is not alone. More and more Latinos are making the same decisions just to make ends meet.
"People are always looking for different ways to get by. Our church has many families in need. They take advantage of community programs to help save on cost," said pastor Isreal Hernandez.
Hand in hand ministries is among the many organizations offering free programs to help people with their medical needs. In the last few months, group leaders have seen an increase in demand for those services.
"The reasons that they do come are relationship problems, alcoholism and alcohol problems, a lot of stress/family stress and more issues with families and individuals and many of times the base of that gets back to the fact that they lost jobs or they're not working right now," said Julie Humphrey, executive director of Hand In Hand Ministries.
Latino faith leaders say they have seen an increase in area families seeking help. Many of them refer people to hand in hand ministries.
Now, just last month the organization offered free eye exams to Latino families and organizers say the response was remarkable.
Utah Hispanics called upon to address state laws
Utah Latino leaders urge community to raise voice
They ask immigrants to overcome fear and speak out about immigration bills.
By Sheena Mcfarland The Salt Lake Tribune 02/14/2009
Enrique Castaneda fled from his home in Chiapas, Mexico, to escape the violence that filled the streets there.
He knew his family wouldn't be safe, and that his children had little chance of a successful future if he stayed.
He recently settled in Midvale, and finds himself yet again fearing for his children's fates.
"All these plans that I have for my family are going to be canceled because I can't be stable in my work," Castaneda said through an interpreter. "It's hard to be focused because I don't know if I'm going to get caught today or tomorrow or the next day. I just try not to think about these new laws because it terrifies me."
That fear is prevalent throughout much of the Latino community. Both documented and undocumented immigrants fear racial profiling will increase and so will their chances of being targets of racial discrimination. Some are frustrated at failed attempts in the past to have their voices heard, but even they are still encouraging fellow Latinos to speak out against bills they believe will harm their community.
One of those, community leaders feel, is SB81, a bill that would overhaul Utah's immigration policy and allow local police officers to serve as immigration agents. It would also require all businesses that contract with the state to run their employees through a system to verify their citizenship status. The bill passed last year, but won't take effect until July.
Two legislators, Sen. Pat Jones, D-Holladay, and Rep. Stephen Clark, R-Provo, are sponsoring bills to delay implementation of SB81, and Clark's would fund a study of the fiscal impact of undocumented workers in Utah.
A bill proposed this year by Rep. Brad Dee, R-Ogden, would create an illegal immigration strikeforce to bring together various law-enforcement agencies, including local police and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to go after high-level criminals. But many in the Latino community worry about what the definition of a criminal will be.
Such bills have many wondering if they'll stay in Utah after they pass.
"It's so violent where I came from," Castaneda said. "If I have to move back, I won't be able to give my family all the dreams we have together."
Tony Yapias, director of Proyecto Latino de Utah, is urging people like Castaneda to contact their legislators and ask them to vote for or against a bevy of current bills that will affect both documented and undocumented immigrants.
"We have one month to make a change," he told the 150 people gathered at a Latino community meeting Thursday night. "The most important thing to do is call legislators and tell them how we feel. They are our representatives if we have papers or not."
Some expressed their frustration at their failed efforts to stop SB81 from passing last year, and strongly urged their peers not to give up this year.
"Put pressure directly on your legislator because we as human beings have rights, we need to make them look at us and ask to be respected," said Mauricio Rosales through an interpreter. "We need to convince them we are more than workers who are paid dollars. We are people. We are important to the future of this country."
House Minority Leader David Litvack attended the meeting and applauded Rosales' comments.
"Let's put a human face to this issue," the Salt Lake City Democrat said. "It's too easy to pass legislation like SB81 when we don't understand or wish to see the human being that is behind it all."
Other bills, such as HB208 sponsored by Rep. Richard Greenwood, R-Roy, would repeal in-state tuition for children of undocumented immigrants who graduate from a Utah high school.
"People bring their little kids to the United States to study, and if this passes, they won't be able to study and will face bad consequences," said Yolanda Rocha through an interpreter. "We didn't come up here to sit around. We came to work for a better future."
The only way to stop what residents see as anti-immigration legislation from being passed in the future is for more people to become citizens, said Yolanda Saucedo, who earned her U.S. citizenship and moved from Texas four months ago.
"I became a citizen because I want to put my voice out there for others," Saucedo said. "We need to be together and raise our voices and say no to the laws that affect us. It's time for us to be united."
smcfarland@sltrib.com
They ask immigrants to overcome fear and speak out about immigration bills.
By Sheena Mcfarland The Salt Lake Tribune 02/14/2009
Enrique Castaneda fled from his home in Chiapas, Mexico, to escape the violence that filled the streets there.
He knew his family wouldn't be safe, and that his children had little chance of a successful future if he stayed.
He recently settled in Midvale, and finds himself yet again fearing for his children's fates.
"All these plans that I have for my family are going to be canceled because I can't be stable in my work," Castaneda said through an interpreter. "It's hard to be focused because I don't know if I'm going to get caught today or tomorrow or the next day. I just try not to think about these new laws because it terrifies me."
That fear is prevalent throughout much of the Latino community. Both documented and undocumented immigrants fear racial profiling will increase and so will their chances of being targets of racial discrimination. Some are frustrated at failed attempts in the past to have their voices heard, but even they are still encouraging fellow Latinos to speak out against bills they believe will harm their community.
One of those, community leaders feel, is SB81, a bill that would overhaul Utah's immigration policy and allow local police officers to serve as immigration agents. It would also require all businesses that contract with the state to run their employees through a system to verify their citizenship status. The bill passed last year, but won't take effect until July.
Two legislators, Sen. Pat Jones, D-Holladay, and Rep. Stephen Clark, R-Provo, are sponsoring bills to delay implementation of SB81, and Clark's would fund a study of the fiscal impact of undocumented workers in Utah.
A bill proposed this year by Rep. Brad Dee, R-Ogden, would create an illegal immigration strikeforce to bring together various law-enforcement agencies, including local police and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to go after high-level criminals. But many in the Latino community worry about what the definition of a criminal will be.
Such bills have many wondering if they'll stay in Utah after they pass.
"It's so violent where I came from," Castaneda said. "If I have to move back, I won't be able to give my family all the dreams we have together."
Tony Yapias, director of Proyecto Latino de Utah, is urging people like Castaneda to contact their legislators and ask them to vote for or against a bevy of current bills that will affect both documented and undocumented immigrants.
"We have one month to make a change," he told the 150 people gathered at a Latino community meeting Thursday night. "The most important thing to do is call legislators and tell them how we feel. They are our representatives if we have papers or not."
Some expressed their frustration at their failed efforts to stop SB81 from passing last year, and strongly urged their peers not to give up this year.
"Put pressure directly on your legislator because we as human beings have rights, we need to make them look at us and ask to be respected," said Mauricio Rosales through an interpreter. "We need to convince them we are more than workers who are paid dollars. We are people. We are important to the future of this country."
House Minority Leader David Litvack attended the meeting and applauded Rosales' comments.
"Let's put a human face to this issue," the Salt Lake City Democrat said. "It's too easy to pass legislation like SB81 when we don't understand or wish to see the human being that is behind it all."
Other bills, such as HB208 sponsored by Rep. Richard Greenwood, R-Roy, would repeal in-state tuition for children of undocumented immigrants who graduate from a Utah high school.
"People bring their little kids to the United States to study, and if this passes, they won't be able to study and will face bad consequences," said Yolanda Rocha through an interpreter. "We didn't come up here to sit around. We came to work for a better future."
The only way to stop what residents see as anti-immigration legislation from being passed in the future is for more people to become citizens, said Yolanda Saucedo, who earned her U.S. citizenship and moved from Texas four months ago.
"I became a citizen because I want to put my voice out there for others," Saucedo said. "We need to be together and raise our voices and say no to the laws that affect us. It's time for us to be united."
smcfarland@sltrib.com
Houston's Hispanic leaders meet to discuss issues, growth
Latino leaders hold summit
By Elissa Rivas | abclocal.go.com February 14, 2009
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- There was a first of its kind meeting in downtown Saturday, the Houston Area Latino Summit. The purpose was to discuss the big problems facing Houston Latinos and to build a network of leaders ready to tackle those issues.
"This is the first summit of its kind here in Houston," said Houston City Council Member James Rodriguez.
For Council Member Rodriguez, the crowd of more than 300 Latino leaders meeting downtown on a Saturday morning says that they care just as much as he does about the future of Houston Hispanics.
That's what they're all here to talk about, starting with the addition of two city council seats sometime in the near future and the 2010 census.
"That the Latino population is accurately counted and that it's an opportunity for redistricting to pick up more Latino council seats, state senate seats, and congressional seats," said Council Member Rodriguez.
The 2010 census and educating the Latino population of its importance are paramount.
Council Member Rodriguez added, "Federal funding is based on the accurate numbers and even transportation dollars, mobility, also healthcare."
In the room, longtime leaders and new faces were all looking to connect and figure out just how to turn this energy into action.
Berta Mejia, Presiding Judge of Municipal Courts said, "It's nice to hear what everyone is doing and what we can all do together as a group to meet the needs of the community."
Houston resident Christina Cabral, "I'm excited about all the Latino leadership from all different backgrounds coming together today to find out how we can mentor and help our role in community to make Houston a better place."
We even found students in the group who were attending to hear about the big issues of education, immigration, and jobs.
University of Houston student Pedro Diaz commented, "There's plenty of Hispanics here. We need to go out and vote and make our voice heard. We need to flex our political muscle."
One of Diaz's colleagues, Hillary Sotello, said, "As a Latina, I want to hear what they all have to say, what their issues are, and where they stand on different things."
The organizers are hoping to keep the group in touch and to meet again.
By Elissa Rivas | abclocal.go.com February 14, 2009
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- There was a first of its kind meeting in downtown Saturday, the Houston Area Latino Summit. The purpose was to discuss the big problems facing Houston Latinos and to build a network of leaders ready to tackle those issues.
"This is the first summit of its kind here in Houston," said Houston City Council Member James Rodriguez.
For Council Member Rodriguez, the crowd of more than 300 Latino leaders meeting downtown on a Saturday morning says that they care just as much as he does about the future of Houston Hispanics.
That's what they're all here to talk about, starting with the addition of two city council seats sometime in the near future and the 2010 census.
"That the Latino population is accurately counted and that it's an opportunity for redistricting to pick up more Latino council seats, state senate seats, and congressional seats," said Council Member Rodriguez.
The 2010 census and educating the Latino population of its importance are paramount.
Council Member Rodriguez added, "Federal funding is based on the accurate numbers and even transportation dollars, mobility, also healthcare."
In the room, longtime leaders and new faces were all looking to connect and figure out just how to turn this energy into action.
Berta Mejia, Presiding Judge of Municipal Courts said, "It's nice to hear what everyone is doing and what we can all do together as a group to meet the needs of the community."
Houston resident Christina Cabral, "I'm excited about all the Latino leadership from all different backgrounds coming together today to find out how we can mentor and help our role in community to make Houston a better place."
We even found students in the group who were attending to hear about the big issues of education, immigration, and jobs.
University of Houston student Pedro Diaz commented, "There's plenty of Hispanics here. We need to go out and vote and make our voice heard. We need to flex our political muscle."
One of Diaz's colleagues, Hillary Sotello, said, "As a Latina, I want to hear what they all have to say, what their issues are, and where they stand on different things."
The organizers are hoping to keep the group in touch and to meet again.
Modest Latino student growth seen in revamped UC system
New UC eligibility standards will open college doors, but may change demographics
By Lisa M. Krieger Mercury News 02/14/2009
A controversial new policy at the University of California will open the country's premier public university system to a wider array of applicants, creating campuses that could be less Asian and more white, with a few more African-Americans and a modest climb in the number of Latinos.
In overhauling its eligibility requirements, UC has eliminated SAT subject tests and agreed to consider lower-ranking students. The plan would broaden the socioeconomic and racial diversity of the applicant pool and offer admissions offices more flexibility in creating a freshman class.
UC leaders have been distressed over the widening achievement gap on their campuses. The impact of the new policy, according to UC's preliminary analysis, would be to simplify the application process and cast a wider net among promising low-income students.
While not guaranteeing admission, it would at least give more students the benefit of a closer look of both academic and nonacademic criteria such as leadership, life experiences and ability to handle adversity. Each UC campus will continue to make its own acceptance decisions.
It's a consequential shift for the UC system, reflecting its effort to balance competing pressures: Should it keep picking the best students statewide? Or as a public education system, should it better represent the state population?
"In my mind, it is a clear departure from the Master Plan, adopted 50 years ago,'' said Steve Boilard of the California Legislative Analyst's Office, which assessed the new policy. "It will really change access to the state's public research universities."
Incoming class in 2012
The new policy applies to students entering college in fall 2012; they are now high school freshmen. It:
- Eliminates "subject tests,'' called SAT IIs, in which students are tested on classroom material such as chemistry, biology or English literature. UC is the only public university in the country to require students to take two such tests, although top private schools, such as Harvard and Stanford Universities and the California Institute of Technology, either require or recommend them. The SAT I, which measures general aptitude in math, reading and writing, is still required by UC.
- Significantly increases the number of students eligible to apply from each high school — from the top 4 percent to the top 9 percent, as long as their GPA is at least a "weighted'' 3.0, up from a current "unweighed'' minimum of 2.8. All candidates are promised a review of their resumes and essays.
- Reduces the number of students who are guaranteed UC admission — from 12.5 percent to 9 percent of the state's high school graduates.
"We are a public university,'' UC President Mark Yudof said. "We have to be a place that provides opportunity and socioeconomic mobility.''
But by moving UC away from its original goals — by promising to review applications of the top 9 percent of graduates from every high school, rather than guaranteeing admission to the top 12.5 percent of students in the entire state — critics fear the institution could weaken its academic rigor.
"It falsely suggests that the top 9 percent of students at the worst school in the state are academically equivalent to the top 9 percent of students at the best school,'' said Jay Schalin of the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education in Raleigh, N.C.
Signed into law by Gov. Pat Brown in 1960s, California's educational Master Plan designated UC as the state's research institution — and the training ground for the state's future doctors, lawyers, economists and other professionals. Students who weren't as academically strong were steered to the California State University or community colleges.
Lopsided population
But that approach has given UC a lopsided population because strong students at poor high schools, who are overwhelmingly Latino and African-American, failed to qualify. And although Asians account for only 12 percent of the state's population, they represent 37 percent of UC admissions.
A preliminary analysis of the new changes predicts that the number of Asians admitted to UC could decrease because Asians tend to do well on the "subject tests,'' which are no longer part of the application.
The number of admitted whites could increase. In past years, whites have been more likely to apply to middle-tier private schools that don't require "subject tests,'' so often skip them — cutting off their access to UC if they change their minds, said UC-Davis professor Mark Rashid, who headed the faculty committee that created the new admissions policy. But he added that the increase in admitted whites may not translate into boosted enrollment, because they may decide to go elsewhere.
Admission of African-Americans and Latinos may climb. African-Americans and Latinos have been less likely to take "subject tests," because the tests are expensive and students didn't recognize their importance until too late.
African-Americans and Latinos also could benefit from the expanded class-ranking criteria, because top students from troubled schools such as San Jose's Lick High School could be UC-eligible.
The intent is not to "racially engineer'' the student body, Rashid said. "It is a legitimate hope to increase access of those who have been disenfranchised,'' he said. "But did we engineer it to achieve that? No.''
Rising applications
The changes are predicted to cause a 12 percent to 17 percent rise in applications. Because most UC campuses can't grow, admission could become more selective at some campuses. The pressure is likely to be most pronounced at "middle tier'' schools — such as UC-Davis, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Irvine — where students who were once ineligible might now apply.
It's unlikely to affect the top-tier UC-Berkeley and UC-Los Angeles campuses, because the newly eligible students are expected to be less academically qualified than their typical applicants.
Move draws fire
The changes to the traditional system have triggered howls of opposition from a variety of groups.
"The university has essentially lowered its standards,'' said Ward Connerly, the former regent who designed Proposition 209, the 1996 initiative that banned the use of race as a factor in admissions. He accused UC of evading the meaning and spirit of the initiative.
Also angry are Asian-American organizations. They contend that subject tests are a better indicator of college readiness than the SAT I, which favors American-born students over immigrants because scores are influenced by expensive "test prep'' and family upbringing.
Asian-American leaders have long been suspicious that UC holds their youth to higher standards than other ethnic groups. The state should take pride in the large number of Asian-American students who have succeeded at UC, said Vincent Pan, director of Chinese for Affirmative Action.
In a January memo to the state Legislature, the state's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said it may be time to rethink the Master Plan, but criticized the new strategy.
"It is fair to ask whether the Master Plan is still the best approach,'' said the Legislative Analyst's Office's Boilard. "My only concern is rather than UC making the decision on its own, there should be a larger conversation with the Legislature and the public.''
Contact Lisa M. Krieger at lkrieger@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5565.
By Lisa M. Krieger Mercury News 02/14/2009
A controversial new policy at the University of California will open the country's premier public university system to a wider array of applicants, creating campuses that could be less Asian and more white, with a few more African-Americans and a modest climb in the number of Latinos.
In overhauling its eligibility requirements, UC has eliminated SAT subject tests and agreed to consider lower-ranking students. The plan would broaden the socioeconomic and racial diversity of the applicant pool and offer admissions offices more flexibility in creating a freshman class.
UC leaders have been distressed over the widening achievement gap on their campuses. The impact of the new policy, according to UC's preliminary analysis, would be to simplify the application process and cast a wider net among promising low-income students.
While not guaranteeing admission, it would at least give more students the benefit of a closer look of both academic and nonacademic criteria such as leadership, life experiences and ability to handle adversity. Each UC campus will continue to make its own acceptance decisions.
It's a consequential shift for the UC system, reflecting its effort to balance competing pressures: Should it keep picking the best students statewide? Or as a public education system, should it better represent the state population?
"In my mind, it is a clear departure from the Master Plan, adopted 50 years ago,'' said Steve Boilard of the California Legislative Analyst's Office, which assessed the new policy. "It will really change access to the state's public research universities."
Incoming class in 2012
The new policy applies to students entering college in fall 2012; they are now high school freshmen. It:
- Eliminates "subject tests,'' called SAT IIs, in which students are tested on classroom material such as chemistry, biology or English literature. UC is the only public university in the country to require students to take two such tests, although top private schools, such as Harvard and Stanford Universities and the California Institute of Technology, either require or recommend them. The SAT I, which measures general aptitude in math, reading and writing, is still required by UC.
- Significantly increases the number of students eligible to apply from each high school — from the top 4 percent to the top 9 percent, as long as their GPA is at least a "weighted'' 3.0, up from a current "unweighed'' minimum of 2.8. All candidates are promised a review of their resumes and essays.
- Reduces the number of students who are guaranteed UC admission — from 12.5 percent to 9 percent of the state's high school graduates.
"We are a public university,'' UC President Mark Yudof said. "We have to be a place that provides opportunity and socioeconomic mobility.''
But by moving UC away from its original goals — by promising to review applications of the top 9 percent of graduates from every high school, rather than guaranteeing admission to the top 12.5 percent of students in the entire state — critics fear the institution could weaken its academic rigor.
"It falsely suggests that the top 9 percent of students at the worst school in the state are academically equivalent to the top 9 percent of students at the best school,'' said Jay Schalin of the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education in Raleigh, N.C.
Signed into law by Gov. Pat Brown in 1960s, California's educational Master Plan designated UC as the state's research institution — and the training ground for the state's future doctors, lawyers, economists and other professionals. Students who weren't as academically strong were steered to the California State University or community colleges.
Lopsided population
But that approach has given UC a lopsided population because strong students at poor high schools, who are overwhelmingly Latino and African-American, failed to qualify. And although Asians account for only 12 percent of the state's population, they represent 37 percent of UC admissions.
A preliminary analysis of the new changes predicts that the number of Asians admitted to UC could decrease because Asians tend to do well on the "subject tests,'' which are no longer part of the application.
The number of admitted whites could increase. In past years, whites have been more likely to apply to middle-tier private schools that don't require "subject tests,'' so often skip them — cutting off their access to UC if they change their minds, said UC-Davis professor Mark Rashid, who headed the faculty committee that created the new admissions policy. But he added that the increase in admitted whites may not translate into boosted enrollment, because they may decide to go elsewhere.
Admission of African-Americans and Latinos may climb. African-Americans and Latinos have been less likely to take "subject tests," because the tests are expensive and students didn't recognize their importance until too late.
African-Americans and Latinos also could benefit from the expanded class-ranking criteria, because top students from troubled schools such as San Jose's Lick High School could be UC-eligible.
The intent is not to "racially engineer'' the student body, Rashid said. "It is a legitimate hope to increase access of those who have been disenfranchised,'' he said. "But did we engineer it to achieve that? No.''
Rising applications
The changes are predicted to cause a 12 percent to 17 percent rise in applications. Because most UC campuses can't grow, admission could become more selective at some campuses. The pressure is likely to be most pronounced at "middle tier'' schools — such as UC-Davis, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Irvine — where students who were once ineligible might now apply.
It's unlikely to affect the top-tier UC-Berkeley and UC-Los Angeles campuses, because the newly eligible students are expected to be less academically qualified than their typical applicants.
Move draws fire
The changes to the traditional system have triggered howls of opposition from a variety of groups.
"The university has essentially lowered its standards,'' said Ward Connerly, the former regent who designed Proposition 209, the 1996 initiative that banned the use of race as a factor in admissions. He accused UC of evading the meaning and spirit of the initiative.
Also angry are Asian-American organizations. They contend that subject tests are a better indicator of college readiness than the SAT I, which favors American-born students over immigrants because scores are influenced by expensive "test prep'' and family upbringing.
Asian-American leaders have long been suspicious that UC holds their youth to higher standards than other ethnic groups. The state should take pride in the large number of Asian-American students who have succeeded at UC, said Vincent Pan, director of Chinese for Affirmative Action.
In a January memo to the state Legislature, the state's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said it may be time to rethink the Master Plan, but criticized the new strategy.
"It is fair to ask whether the Master Plan is still the best approach,'' said the Legislative Analyst's Office's Boilard. "My only concern is rather than UC making the decision on its own, there should be a larger conversation with the Legislature and the public.''
Contact Lisa M. Krieger at lkrieger@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5565.
Latino support helped candidate get on school board
Moncier credits election victory to Latino ties
By Bo Poertner/Managing Editor
Tim Moncier had taught citizenship preparation and English as a Second Language classes in Lompoc for years. So when he decided to run for a school board seat, he knew the Spanish-speaking community would be the key to a successful campaign.
Elected November along with Kay Eatmon and veteran board president Sue Schuyler, Moncier attributes his work in the Latino community with helping him win that seat on the Lompoc Unified School District Board of Trustees.
“When you start to speak the language, you start to understand the culture. I have taken my time over the years to do that,” Moncier said. “When someone sits in your classroom day after day, you get to know them pretty well. I know them by name. That’s why I got elected, because I know these kids.”
“I started my campaign early. I published my campaign literature in both English and Spanish,” Moncier continued. “I personally contacted every student I taught over the years. I challenged my students; they need to participate. I didn’t put up one sign. I didn’t have to.”
Some educators and others in the community said privately they were surprised by Moncier’s election, saying he could be difficult to work with at times.
Moncier said he was going through a difficult time in 1997 when he resigned as a social studies teacher at Lompoc High School. He took a job at Allan Hancock College before finally moving to the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, he said. He returned about five years ago.
“Any educator will advocate on behalf of their students. There were times in the past when I had to press the issues of language equality and advocate on behalf of my Hispanic students and Hmong students,” he said. “I do work with lots and lots of people and ... you’re going to get some people who don’t agree with you.”
Moncier said he is confident he can be an effective member of a school board that is struggling with severe budget shortfalls.
“I’m trying to do a good job and I intend to provide leadership in the education community in Lompoc.”
He said his election shows strong community support, not just in the Latino community.
“I received 8,300 votes. That’s a lot of votes. There are a lot of people in the community who support me.”
There are about 2,500 Mexican voters registered in the school district and 800 voters from other Latin American countries, he said.
Board Clerk Anne Bossert said she, too, was surprised at Moncier’s election, but added that she hasn’t seen any indication that he will be difficult to work with. She said she has been impressed with his preparedness at board meetings and understanding of the issues facing the board.
“I was surprised, frankly, at the vote, that it was so high, because I didn’t know he was known by so many people,” she said. “He hadn’t been on the horizon. I hadn’t seen him at board meetings and he wasn’t participating in anything, then he came like out of the past.”
Although the Spanish-speaking community was critical to his campaign, Moncier said he reached out to the entire community, including former teachers, colleagues and senior citizens.
He said precinct results show that his campaign enjoyed strong support across the board, but the Latino community, especially those who are new citizens, are committed voters and their support was critical.
“You go to the naturalized list and you’ve got five times better voter participation,” he said. “What happened in this last election? Well, everybody turned out.”
Moncier said he focused his campaign on speaking one-on-one to voters.
“You do it by family. You go out and talk to the Arellanos, you talk to the Martinez family, the Areas family, the Maya family,” he said. “You pressure those who can’t vote to go after the people who can vote. For every single Latino voter, there are 10 others out there that can’t vote. I know four times as many people who could have voted for me than actually did. But they can’t vote.
“I made it my career to encourage these people to participate.”
Moncier said he decided to run for public office about a year ago, while attending a “celebration of life” for the late Gus Peterson, a longtime social studies teacher at Lompoc High School. One of the speakers challenged those present to get involved the way Peterson was involved, to take education beyond the classroom, Moncier said.
He took it to heart. Three months later, Moncier said, he announced during a Democratic event at Ken Adam Park that he intended to seek political office. At the time, he said, he was unsure which office to run for, though he was learning toward City Council.
“I know more about education than I do about running city government,” he said, explaining why he changed his mind.
Moncier said he believes his campaign and election will eventually have a broader impact on the community, by encouraging Latinos to become more involved.
“The next stop is that they will run for office for themselves,” he said. “We have really not had this happening too much in Lompoc. I would like to see this generation be a vocal part of our community.
“In Lompoc, you have a certain included group that’s run things forever, and has really, quite frankly, become quite stagnant over the years. Instead of being excluded, I want these (Latinos) included, because they are our community.”
Moncier said his election also will encourage other politicians to pay closer attention to the Latino voters. “I’m breaking the ice for those guys that come behind me,” he said.
Although he promised to represent the needs of the Latino community, Moncier said, he will also represent the entire community, because often their needs are the same.
“I’m here to represent everybody,” he said.
By Bo Poertner/Managing Editor
Tim Moncier had taught citizenship preparation and English as a Second Language classes in Lompoc for years. So when he decided to run for a school board seat, he knew the Spanish-speaking community would be the key to a successful campaign.
Elected November along with Kay Eatmon and veteran board president Sue Schuyler, Moncier attributes his work in the Latino community with helping him win that seat on the Lompoc Unified School District Board of Trustees.
“When you start to speak the language, you start to understand the culture. I have taken my time over the years to do that,” Moncier said. “When someone sits in your classroom day after day, you get to know them pretty well. I know them by name. That’s why I got elected, because I know these kids.”
“I started my campaign early. I published my campaign literature in both English and Spanish,” Moncier continued. “I personally contacted every student I taught over the years. I challenged my students; they need to participate. I didn’t put up one sign. I didn’t have to.”
Some educators and others in the community said privately they were surprised by Moncier’s election, saying he could be difficult to work with at times.
Moncier said he was going through a difficult time in 1997 when he resigned as a social studies teacher at Lompoc High School. He took a job at Allan Hancock College before finally moving to the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, he said. He returned about five years ago.
“Any educator will advocate on behalf of their students. There were times in the past when I had to press the issues of language equality and advocate on behalf of my Hispanic students and Hmong students,” he said. “I do work with lots and lots of people and ... you’re going to get some people who don’t agree with you.”
Moncier said he is confident he can be an effective member of a school board that is struggling with severe budget shortfalls.
“I’m trying to do a good job and I intend to provide leadership in the education community in Lompoc.”
He said his election shows strong community support, not just in the Latino community.
“I received 8,300 votes. That’s a lot of votes. There are a lot of people in the community who support me.”
There are about 2,500 Mexican voters registered in the school district and 800 voters from other Latin American countries, he said.
Board Clerk Anne Bossert said she, too, was surprised at Moncier’s election, but added that she hasn’t seen any indication that he will be difficult to work with. She said she has been impressed with his preparedness at board meetings and understanding of the issues facing the board.
“I was surprised, frankly, at the vote, that it was so high, because I didn’t know he was known by so many people,” she said. “He hadn’t been on the horizon. I hadn’t seen him at board meetings and he wasn’t participating in anything, then he came like out of the past.”
Although the Spanish-speaking community was critical to his campaign, Moncier said he reached out to the entire community, including former teachers, colleagues and senior citizens.
He said precinct results show that his campaign enjoyed strong support across the board, but the Latino community, especially those who are new citizens, are committed voters and their support was critical.
“You go to the naturalized list and you’ve got five times better voter participation,” he said. “What happened in this last election? Well, everybody turned out.”
Moncier said he focused his campaign on speaking one-on-one to voters.
“You do it by family. You go out and talk to the Arellanos, you talk to the Martinez family, the Areas family, the Maya family,” he said. “You pressure those who can’t vote to go after the people who can vote. For every single Latino voter, there are 10 others out there that can’t vote. I know four times as many people who could have voted for me than actually did. But they can’t vote.
“I made it my career to encourage these people to participate.”
Moncier said he decided to run for public office about a year ago, while attending a “celebration of life” for the late Gus Peterson, a longtime social studies teacher at Lompoc High School. One of the speakers challenged those present to get involved the way Peterson was involved, to take education beyond the classroom, Moncier said.
He took it to heart. Three months later, Moncier said, he announced during a Democratic event at Ken Adam Park that he intended to seek political office. At the time, he said, he was unsure which office to run for, though he was learning toward City Council.
“I know more about education than I do about running city government,” he said, explaining why he changed his mind.
Moncier said he believes his campaign and election will eventually have a broader impact on the community, by encouraging Latinos to become more involved.
“The next stop is that they will run for office for themselves,” he said. “We have really not had this happening too much in Lompoc. I would like to see this generation be a vocal part of our community.
“In Lompoc, you have a certain included group that’s run things forever, and has really, quite frankly, become quite stagnant over the years. Instead of being excluded, I want these (Latinos) included, because they are our community.”
Moncier said his election also will encourage other politicians to pay closer attention to the Latino voters. “I’m breaking the ice for those guys that come behind me,” he said.
Although he promised to represent the needs of the Latino community, Moncier said, he will also represent the entire community, because often their needs are the same.
“I’m here to represent everybody,” he said.
Hispanic, Republicans growing further apart
Republicans and Hispanics continue growing apart
Dallasnews.com February 14, 2009
Hispanic Republicans are an endangered species.
That's not wishful thinking on the part of Democrats. It's a growing concern by Hispanic Republicans themselves, and they say the GOP leadership seems oblivious to it.
"The underlying current in Hispanic communities is that Democrats are capturing the hearts and minds of Hispanics wholesale," said Jason Villalba, president of the Dallas chapter of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly. "Republicans will not be able to win any national elections if they don't do something soon. But the problem I'm having is breaking through to them with this message."
Texas seems to be following the same trajectory as California, with its burgeoning Hispanic population. After Republicans began policies that Latinos believed targeted them unfairly, Hispanic leaders organized massive voter registration and citizenship campaigns. The result: California is now a solidly blue state, with no indications of turning red anytime soon.
Texas has seen significant demographic shifts in three major urban centers – the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Harris County and Travis County – where Hispanics have become a third or more of the populations. At the same time, these areas have seen a sharp rise in the number of Democrats elected to city and countywide offices.
That trend is spreading nationwide, Villalba said.
Even a cursory look at the November election results appears to confirm his concerns: Most of the Southwest and battleground states such as Colorado and Nevada, with sizeable Latino voting blocs, leaned Democrat. Even Florida, which has been reliably Republican in the past, went Democratic.
"It's no longer a theory, it's a reality," agreed Ana Navarro, a senior adviser to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign who continues to advise him on Latino issues. "If Republicans don't start doing something with Latinos, they will be a minority party for a long time."
Every year, more – not fewer – Latinos head to the polls, Navarro said. It's one reason McCain is now working to recruit more Latino candidates to run for office.
"He firmly believes that's the key," she said.
But how do Republicans recruit more Latinos when a vocal minority is doing everything to antagonize Latinos?
Both Villalba and Navarro said the GOP must tone down anti-immigration rhetoric.
Navarro said the GOP doesn't understand that more people watch Spanish-language Univision News than ABC, CBS and NBC combined.And every time some of the more strident anti-immigration advocates were quoted on Univision or in a Spanish-language newspaper, she said, it helped Barack Obama.
Dallasnews.com February 14, 2009
Hispanic Republicans are an endangered species.
That's not wishful thinking on the part of Democrats. It's a growing concern by Hispanic Republicans themselves, and they say the GOP leadership seems oblivious to it.
"The underlying current in Hispanic communities is that Democrats are capturing the hearts and minds of Hispanics wholesale," said Jason Villalba, president of the Dallas chapter of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly. "Republicans will not be able to win any national elections if they don't do something soon. But the problem I'm having is breaking through to them with this message."
Texas seems to be following the same trajectory as California, with its burgeoning Hispanic population. After Republicans began policies that Latinos believed targeted them unfairly, Hispanic leaders organized massive voter registration and citizenship campaigns. The result: California is now a solidly blue state, with no indications of turning red anytime soon.
Texas has seen significant demographic shifts in three major urban centers – the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Harris County and Travis County – where Hispanics have become a third or more of the populations. At the same time, these areas have seen a sharp rise in the number of Democrats elected to city and countywide offices.
That trend is spreading nationwide, Villalba said.
Even a cursory look at the November election results appears to confirm his concerns: Most of the Southwest and battleground states such as Colorado and Nevada, with sizeable Latino voting blocs, leaned Democrat. Even Florida, which has been reliably Republican in the past, went Democratic.
"It's no longer a theory, it's a reality," agreed Ana Navarro, a senior adviser to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign who continues to advise him on Latino issues. "If Republicans don't start doing something with Latinos, they will be a minority party for a long time."
Every year, more – not fewer – Latinos head to the polls, Navarro said. It's one reason McCain is now working to recruit more Latino candidates to run for office.
"He firmly believes that's the key," she said.
But how do Republicans recruit more Latinos when a vocal minority is doing everything to antagonize Latinos?
Both Villalba and Navarro said the GOP must tone down anti-immigration rhetoric.
Navarro said the GOP doesn't understand that more people watch Spanish-language Univision News than ABC, CBS and NBC combined.And every time some of the more strident anti-immigration advocates were quoted on Univision or in a Spanish-language newspaper, she said, it helped Barack Obama.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Navarrette: Arizona's Hispanic Immigration Circus
Arizona's immigration circus
By Ruben Navarrette SignOn San Diego February 11, 2009
One of the most dangerous places to be in Arizona is caught between Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and one of his publicity stunts. That's just where Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano finds herself.
Months ago, Arpaio and his deputies began scouring Hispanic neighborhoods in the Phoenix area looking for illegal immigrants. So far, hundreds have been hauled away. Often in these types of operations, “probable cause” gets defined as brown skin and Spanish accents. So, there is no telling how many U.S.-born Hispanics were detained and harassed in the process.
All of which sets the stage for the stunt. The man who put inmates in pink underwear and fed them green bologna has some people in Arizona seeing red after he recently paraded about 200 illegal immigrants in shackles and prison stripes to his notorious “Tent City.”
Of course, Arpaio did this after alerting the media.
The inmates are to stay in the tents until sentenced and deported. That's right. They haven't been convicted or sentenced yet. But in Maricopa County, the little things need not interfere with punishment. Arpaio touted the gesture as a “financially responsible alternative to taxpayers already overburdened by the economic drain imposed by a growing number of illegal aliens on social services like education and health care.”
Malarkey. If Arpaio cared about taxpayers, he would have shown remorse after millions of tax dollars went to settle lawsuits alleging prisoner abuse in the county jail.
Arpaio normally counts the equally ambitious Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas as a cohort in his shenanigans. But not this time. After Arpaio announced he would be segregating the illegal immigrants – most of whom are Hispanic – into a separate section of Tent City, Thomas got skittish and jumped off the Arpaio bandwagon. “Racial and ethnic segregation is unconstitutional,” Thomas said.
Immigrant rights organizations see the mess in Arizona as a result of a lack of leadership in Washington.
“Without a comprehensive solution at the federal level, we have a lot of chaos,” said Douglas Rivlin, director of communications at the National Immigration Forum. “And nobody is better at exploiting chaos for his own reality show than Sheriff Joe Arpaio.”
The organization is asking the federal government to bar Arpaio from participating in the federal 287(g) program that allows local police agencies to enforce U.S. immigration law as long as their officers are trained to investigate if people are here illegally. The power to make that call lies with someone who is well acquainted with Arpaio: Napolitano.
As the former governor of Arizona, Napolitano is in a unique position to spell out what role, if any, local and state agencies should play in enforcing federal immigration laws. My own view is that blurring the line between jurisdictions is a terrible idea. But I want to hear what Napolitano thinks. And thanks to Arpaio, we might soon find out. The sheriff is thrusting her right into the middle of one of the most controversial and divisive issues in the immigration debate.
It serves her right. Climbing her way up the ladder to the Governor's Office, Napolitano was much too eager to cuddle with America's Most Ridiculous Sheriff.
In 1997, Attorney General Janet Reno filed a lawsuit against Arpaio for allegedly violating the constitutional rights of prisoners in his jail. The lawsuit was eventually settled after the sheriff agreed to improve conditions.
At the time, Napolitano was U.S. attorney for Arizona with ambitions of running for Arizona attorney general. She joined Arpaio, who at the time enjoyed approval ratings near 80 percent, at a news conference and undermined Reno by declaring the lawsuit a “technicality” and dismissing it as little more than “a lawyer's paper.” Arpaio threw his support behind Napolitano, which helped her get elected.
Almost a decade later, as governor, Napolitano lent her voice to Arpaio's complaints that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was refusing to pick up and deport illegal immigrants apprehended by Arpaio's deputies.
The duo quarreled a bit when Napolitano took away $1.6 million in state funds slated to help Arpaio fight illegal immigration. But now that Republicans once again control the Governor's Office, the funding has been restored.
This means that the people of Arizona will continue to pay for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's circus act – in more ways than one. That is, unless Napolitano finally does the right thing and shuts down the performance.
Navarrette can be reached via ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com.
By Ruben Navarrette SignOn San Diego February 11, 2009
One of the most dangerous places to be in Arizona is caught between Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and one of his publicity stunts. That's just where Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano finds herself.
Months ago, Arpaio and his deputies began scouring Hispanic neighborhoods in the Phoenix area looking for illegal immigrants. So far, hundreds have been hauled away. Often in these types of operations, “probable cause” gets defined as brown skin and Spanish accents. So, there is no telling how many U.S.-born Hispanics were detained and harassed in the process.
All of which sets the stage for the stunt. The man who put inmates in pink underwear and fed them green bologna has some people in Arizona seeing red after he recently paraded about 200 illegal immigrants in shackles and prison stripes to his notorious “Tent City.”
Of course, Arpaio did this after alerting the media.
The inmates are to stay in the tents until sentenced and deported. That's right. They haven't been convicted or sentenced yet. But in Maricopa County, the little things need not interfere with punishment. Arpaio touted the gesture as a “financially responsible alternative to taxpayers already overburdened by the economic drain imposed by a growing number of illegal aliens on social services like education and health care.”
Malarkey. If Arpaio cared about taxpayers, he would have shown remorse after millions of tax dollars went to settle lawsuits alleging prisoner abuse in the county jail.
Arpaio normally counts the equally ambitious Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas as a cohort in his shenanigans. But not this time. After Arpaio announced he would be segregating the illegal immigrants – most of whom are Hispanic – into a separate section of Tent City, Thomas got skittish and jumped off the Arpaio bandwagon. “Racial and ethnic segregation is unconstitutional,” Thomas said.
Immigrant rights organizations see the mess in Arizona as a result of a lack of leadership in Washington.
“Without a comprehensive solution at the federal level, we have a lot of chaos,” said Douglas Rivlin, director of communications at the National Immigration Forum. “And nobody is better at exploiting chaos for his own reality show than Sheriff Joe Arpaio.”
The organization is asking the federal government to bar Arpaio from participating in the federal 287(g) program that allows local police agencies to enforce U.S. immigration law as long as their officers are trained to investigate if people are here illegally. The power to make that call lies with someone who is well acquainted with Arpaio: Napolitano.
As the former governor of Arizona, Napolitano is in a unique position to spell out what role, if any, local and state agencies should play in enforcing federal immigration laws. My own view is that blurring the line between jurisdictions is a terrible idea. But I want to hear what Napolitano thinks. And thanks to Arpaio, we might soon find out. The sheriff is thrusting her right into the middle of one of the most controversial and divisive issues in the immigration debate.
It serves her right. Climbing her way up the ladder to the Governor's Office, Napolitano was much too eager to cuddle with America's Most Ridiculous Sheriff.
In 1997, Attorney General Janet Reno filed a lawsuit against Arpaio for allegedly violating the constitutional rights of prisoners in his jail. The lawsuit was eventually settled after the sheriff agreed to improve conditions.
At the time, Napolitano was U.S. attorney for Arizona with ambitions of running for Arizona attorney general. She joined Arpaio, who at the time enjoyed approval ratings near 80 percent, at a news conference and undermined Reno by declaring the lawsuit a “technicality” and dismissing it as little more than “a lawyer's paper.” Arpaio threw his support behind Napolitano, which helped her get elected.
Almost a decade later, as governor, Napolitano lent her voice to Arpaio's complaints that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was refusing to pick up and deport illegal immigrants apprehended by Arpaio's deputies.
The duo quarreled a bit when Napolitano took away $1.6 million in state funds slated to help Arpaio fight illegal immigration. But now that Republicans once again control the Governor's Office, the funding has been restored.
This means that the people of Arizona will continue to pay for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's circus act – in more ways than one. That is, unless Napolitano finally does the right thing and shuts down the performance.
Navarrette can be reached via ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com.
Hispanic student growth forces schools to change
Growth of Hispanic students forcing schools to change ways
By Jamaal E. O'Neal February 11, 2009
HENDERSON — Hispanic students are quickly becoming the largest minority in some school districts, according to area administrators.
The shift has forced some districts to take action on how to teach reading and writing to students who speak English as a second language.
Luis Temprana watches over his bilingual class Tuesday as the students do writing exercises at Central Elementary School in Henderson. School officials said it's the first time in history that Hispanic students have surpassed black students in enrollment.
Henderson Literacy Coordinator Cathy Hooper said it's the first time in the school district's history that Hispanics have surpassed black students in enrollment.
"The number of Hispanics has increased over time throughout the district," Hooper said. "But it's something that we've been preparing for as the numbers have increased."
In Henderson, Hispanics make up 23 percent of the school district's population, up from 20 percent in 2005-06. The number of Hispanic students in Kilgore schools grew from 18 percent in the 2005-2006 school year, to 22 percent of the district's 3,806 population during this year — surpassing the black student population for the first time.
"It been slow coming to us, but we've been preparing for the changes," said Bobby Wheeley, assistant superintendent of administrative services. "Nationally, I think we're not the only school district to see these changes."
In a recent study conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Hispanic Research Center, the number of Hispanic students nearly doubled to 9.8 million in 2006 from 5 million in 1990.
Language barriers
Nearly 20 percent — or 2 million Hispanic students — live in Texas, according to the report. More than half of the state's school districts report that a large number of Hispanic students have difficulty comprehending and writing in English.
"The (Texas Education Agency) classifies these students as Limited English Proficiency," Hooper said. "These are students that have limited or no English skills, and those are the students we're trying to reach at an early age now."
Hooper said that out of the district's 3,367 students, about 10 percent are limited proficiency students. In Kilgore, Wheeley said 11 percent of its district's Hispanic students fall into that category, which has prompted officials to make changes before the first round of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills is administered.
"We've sent teachers to be trained on how teach English as a second language or become ESL teachers," Hooper said. "We also benchmark (test) these students to see how they are progressing and offer ESL classes from fourth grade through 12th grade to help these students."
Wheeley said Kilgore officials place students in ESL and regular English classes to help improve their reading and writing skills.
"It really makes a difference," Wheeley said. "We've seen their scores increase by immersing them into the classroom with native English speakers."
Pine Tree's approach
Pine Tree schools have made learning English a family affair.
The district completed its Latino Family Literacy Project, a 10-week program showing parents of Hispanic students how to read to their children and comprehend the story they choose to read.
Donna Gwin, director of special programs, said 20 families began the program in the fall at the elementary school level.
Gwin said six families completed the program Monday and celebrated with a fiesta and awards ceremony.
"Overall, 9 percent of the students in this district are LEP," Gwin said. "This program targeted those students and allowed them to receive additional help with reading and writing. And mom and dad were able to help and even learn something too. It proved to be a real success."
Hooper said it's important that districts implement programs for students with limited English speaking and writing skills.
"Hispanic students work just as hard, even harder, than many people realize," Hooper said. "When they fail, we all fail because it's our responsibility to teach them and make them productive in society."
By Jamaal E. O'Neal February 11, 2009
HENDERSON — Hispanic students are quickly becoming the largest minority in some school districts, according to area administrators.
The shift has forced some districts to take action on how to teach reading and writing to students who speak English as a second language.
Luis Temprana watches over his bilingual class Tuesday as the students do writing exercises at Central Elementary School in Henderson. School officials said it's the first time in history that Hispanic students have surpassed black students in enrollment.
Henderson Literacy Coordinator Cathy Hooper said it's the first time in the school district's history that Hispanics have surpassed black students in enrollment.
"The number of Hispanics has increased over time throughout the district," Hooper said. "But it's something that we've been preparing for as the numbers have increased."
In Henderson, Hispanics make up 23 percent of the school district's population, up from 20 percent in 2005-06. The number of Hispanic students in Kilgore schools grew from 18 percent in the 2005-2006 school year, to 22 percent of the district's 3,806 population during this year — surpassing the black student population for the first time.
"It been slow coming to us, but we've been preparing for the changes," said Bobby Wheeley, assistant superintendent of administrative services. "Nationally, I think we're not the only school district to see these changes."
In a recent study conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Hispanic Research Center, the number of Hispanic students nearly doubled to 9.8 million in 2006 from 5 million in 1990.
Language barriers
Nearly 20 percent — or 2 million Hispanic students — live in Texas, according to the report. More than half of the state's school districts report that a large number of Hispanic students have difficulty comprehending and writing in English.
"The (Texas Education Agency) classifies these students as Limited English Proficiency," Hooper said. "These are students that have limited or no English skills, and those are the students we're trying to reach at an early age now."
Hooper said that out of the district's 3,367 students, about 10 percent are limited proficiency students. In Kilgore, Wheeley said 11 percent of its district's Hispanic students fall into that category, which has prompted officials to make changes before the first round of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills is administered.
"We've sent teachers to be trained on how teach English as a second language or become ESL teachers," Hooper said. "We also benchmark (test) these students to see how they are progressing and offer ESL classes from fourth grade through 12th grade to help these students."
Wheeley said Kilgore officials place students in ESL and regular English classes to help improve their reading and writing skills.
"It really makes a difference," Wheeley said. "We've seen their scores increase by immersing them into the classroom with native English speakers."
Pine Tree's approach
Pine Tree schools have made learning English a family affair.
The district completed its Latino Family Literacy Project, a 10-week program showing parents of Hispanic students how to read to their children and comprehend the story they choose to read.
Donna Gwin, director of special programs, said 20 families began the program in the fall at the elementary school level.
Gwin said six families completed the program Monday and celebrated with a fiesta and awards ceremony.
"Overall, 9 percent of the students in this district are LEP," Gwin said. "This program targeted those students and allowed them to receive additional help with reading and writing. And mom and dad were able to help and even learn something too. It proved to be a real success."
Hooper said it's important that districts implement programs for students with limited English speaking and writing skills.
"Hispanic students work just as hard, even harder, than many people realize," Hooper said. "When they fail, we all fail because it's our responsibility to teach them and make them productive in society."
Latino nonprofits feeling the economic downturn
Latino nonprofits feel the squeeze of economic crunch
By Ana María Toro February 11th 2009
El Museo Del Barrio, now closed for renovations, foresees cutting programs when it reopens.
The bad economy has dealt a big blow to the city’s Latino nonprofits, many of which have been forced to cut hours, reduce services and even consider closing.
From theaters and language centers to housing and employment programs, organizations that have served the Latino community for decades are now struggling to stay afloat.
"The nonprofit sector is taking a triple whammy with the loss of funding from foundations, government and corporations," said Lillian Rodríguez López, president of the Hispanic Federation, an umbrella group representing more than 90 Latino organizations in the city.
"Latino nonprofits in particular [are struggling] because they are always operating on very slim margins," she added. "There were unmet needs before — now the services are diminishing."
Latin Tech, a Queens nonprofit that teaches computer skills to Hispanics, is likely to go under after losing 80% of its nearly $700,000 budget last year.
Since October, it has laid off more than half its staff of 16, and the remaining employees have had to take on additional duties like helping with accounting and even cleaning.
"We have two months left to live," said executive director Rodolfo Herrera, who founded Latin Tech in 2002. "If nothing happens soon we have to close."
Arts and culture nonprofits that depend on enrollment fees and ticket sales are also feeling the pinch as people become more cautious about their spending.
"Our money comes from classes. When the economy started to decline, 70% of classes were cut immediately, people got very scared and they started withdrawing," said Mary Lewis, executive director of Taller Latino Americano, a 30-year-old cultural center that offers Spanish and music classes.
"We were shocked we lost the money so quickly. In one month, we lost basically everything."
Taller Latino Americano considered filing for bankruptcy late last year, but some creative maneuvering and lots of work have kept it going.
"We called our closest friends and asked them for donations," Lewis said. "We are doing fund-raisers, people are donating wine and food [for events]."
Most groups are now looking at the next step, cutting services.
"We are contemplating closing for one or two months in the summer," said José Antonio Cruz, associate producer for Repertorio Español, a Spanish-language theater founded in 1968. "We have decided not to bring works from other countries."
El Museo del Barrio, a 40-year-old East Harlem institution currently closed for renovations, has already frozen six positions and foresees cutting programs when it reopens in the fall.
"We have suffered significant losses," said Julián Zugazagoitia, director of the museum. "The city has reduced our funding, [and] the philanthropy environment is more difficult now."
The closing of big banks has made it more difficult for nonprofits to borrow money when funding falls through. It also has crossed a group of major contributors off the donor list.
"Washington Mutual and Wachovia are no longer around. These banks provided assistance to community organizations," said David Pagán, executive director of Los Sures, a Brooklyn-based housing organization founded in the ’70s.
Los Sures is scrambling to maintain services in the face of lost revenue due to people losing their jobs, he said.
"We have to collect rent to upkeep buildings and do repairs," explained Pagán. "And the money is not going to be there."
anamariatoro78@gmail.com
By Ana María Toro February 11th 2009
El Museo Del Barrio, now closed for renovations, foresees cutting programs when it reopens.
The bad economy has dealt a big blow to the city’s Latino nonprofits, many of which have been forced to cut hours, reduce services and even consider closing.
From theaters and language centers to housing and employment programs, organizations that have served the Latino community for decades are now struggling to stay afloat.
"The nonprofit sector is taking a triple whammy with the loss of funding from foundations, government and corporations," said Lillian Rodríguez López, president of the Hispanic Federation, an umbrella group representing more than 90 Latino organizations in the city.
"Latino nonprofits in particular [are struggling] because they are always operating on very slim margins," she added. "There were unmet needs before — now the services are diminishing."
Latin Tech, a Queens nonprofit that teaches computer skills to Hispanics, is likely to go under after losing 80% of its nearly $700,000 budget last year.
Since October, it has laid off more than half its staff of 16, and the remaining employees have had to take on additional duties like helping with accounting and even cleaning.
"We have two months left to live," said executive director Rodolfo Herrera, who founded Latin Tech in 2002. "If nothing happens soon we have to close."
Arts and culture nonprofits that depend on enrollment fees and ticket sales are also feeling the pinch as people become more cautious about their spending.
"Our money comes from classes. When the economy started to decline, 70% of classes were cut immediately, people got very scared and they started withdrawing," said Mary Lewis, executive director of Taller Latino Americano, a 30-year-old cultural center that offers Spanish and music classes.
"We were shocked we lost the money so quickly. In one month, we lost basically everything."
Taller Latino Americano considered filing for bankruptcy late last year, but some creative maneuvering and lots of work have kept it going.
"We called our closest friends and asked them for donations," Lewis said. "We are doing fund-raisers, people are donating wine and food [for events]."
Most groups are now looking at the next step, cutting services.
"We are contemplating closing for one or two months in the summer," said José Antonio Cruz, associate producer for Repertorio Español, a Spanish-language theater founded in 1968. "We have decided not to bring works from other countries."
El Museo del Barrio, a 40-year-old East Harlem institution currently closed for renovations, has already frozen six positions and foresees cutting programs when it reopens in the fall.
"We have suffered significant losses," said Julián Zugazagoitia, director of the museum. "The city has reduced our funding, [and] the philanthropy environment is more difficult now."
The closing of big banks has made it more difficult for nonprofits to borrow money when funding falls through. It also has crossed a group of major contributors off the donor list.
"Washington Mutual and Wachovia are no longer around. These banks provided assistance to community organizations," said David Pagán, executive director of Los Sures, a Brooklyn-based housing organization founded in the ’70s.
Los Sures is scrambling to maintain services in the face of lost revenue due to people losing their jobs, he said.
"We have to collect rent to upkeep buildings and do repairs," explained Pagán. "And the money is not going to be there."
anamariatoro78@gmail.com
Hispanic abuses by racist Sheriff being looked at by Lawmakers
Lawmakers Want Look at Sheriff in Arizona
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD NY Times February 13, 2009
Members of Congress asked the Justice and Homeland Security Departments on Friday to investigate accusations that the sheriff who presides over the Phoenix metropolitan area has engaged in a pattern of racial profiling and other abuses against Latino residents.
Four members of the House Judiciary Committee, including the chairman, John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, raised of concerns about the sheriff, Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County.
Sheriff Arpaio, a publicity magnet who is a hero to those who campaign against illegal immigration and a pariah to immigration advocates, brushed off the requests as political high jinks.
“If they have concerns, they can call the F.B.I.,” Sheriff Arpaio said in an interview, promising to continue enforcing immigration laws.
The lawmakers asked the Justice Department to conduct a civil rights investigation of the sheriff’s practices, which in the past year have drawn complaints from civil libertarians and Mayor Phil Gordon of Phoenix.
They accused sheriff’s deputies of unlawfully singling out Latinos for immigration checks during several crime sweeps.
A Justice Department spokeswoman said the letter would be reviewed and had no further comment.
But there were indications that the department, at least at some point in the past year, might have been interested in the case.
A spokesman for Mr. Gordon, Scott Phelps, said the mayor had been advised by the department “some months ago” to not comment on the subject “because of potential federal investigations.”
“He is a potential witness in some of the matters,” Mr. Phelps said, declining to elaborate.
The members of Congress also asked the Homeland Security Department, now headed by Janet Napolitano, the former Arizona governor, to reassess its agreement with the sheriff that allows deputies trained by the department to check the immigration status of detainees.
Sean Smith, a spokesman for Ms. Napolitano, who has been friendly with the sheriff but as governor had also expressed concerns about some of his tactics, said she had already ordered a review of the program, known as 287(g), which allows immigration officials to train and work with dozens of local law enforcement agencies.
“Because of the questions about how 287(g) agreements are administered, and if uniform standards are being applied, Secretary Napolitano has asked for a review of the entire program,” Mr. Smith said in a statement. He would not to respond to the lawmakers’ other concerns.
The review, ordered Jan. 30, is due Feb. 20. In addition, the Government Accountability Office is investigating the program and plans to release a report in early March, a spokesman said.
The letters came more than a week after Sheriff Arpaio, who has attracted widespread publicity for requiring inmates to wear pink underwear and by starring in a new reality television show, provoked an outcry when he marched 200 illegal immigrant inmates in the streets from one jail to another “tent city” facility.
There, they are held separately, the sheriff said, to facilitate communication with consular officials. Civil libertarians denounced the march and holding area as unlawful segregation.
“Racial profiling and segregation are simply not acceptable,” Mr. Conyers said in a statement. “Media stunts and braggadocio are no substitute for fair and effective law enforcement.”
Sheriff Arpaio said the members of Congress were misinformed or misunderstood his actions.
He said that his deputies had not improperly singled out Latinos and that even if the agreement with federal immigration authorities was revoked, he would continue to enforce state laws aimed at human smugglers.
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD NY Times February 13, 2009
Members of Congress asked the Justice and Homeland Security Departments on Friday to investigate accusations that the sheriff who presides over the Phoenix metropolitan area has engaged in a pattern of racial profiling and other abuses against Latino residents.
Four members of the House Judiciary Committee, including the chairman, John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, raised of concerns about the sheriff, Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County.
Sheriff Arpaio, a publicity magnet who is a hero to those who campaign against illegal immigration and a pariah to immigration advocates, brushed off the requests as political high jinks.
“If they have concerns, they can call the F.B.I.,” Sheriff Arpaio said in an interview, promising to continue enforcing immigration laws.
The lawmakers asked the Justice Department to conduct a civil rights investigation of the sheriff’s practices, which in the past year have drawn complaints from civil libertarians and Mayor Phil Gordon of Phoenix.
They accused sheriff’s deputies of unlawfully singling out Latinos for immigration checks during several crime sweeps.
A Justice Department spokeswoman said the letter would be reviewed and had no further comment.
But there were indications that the department, at least at some point in the past year, might have been interested in the case.
A spokesman for Mr. Gordon, Scott Phelps, said the mayor had been advised by the department “some months ago” to not comment on the subject “because of potential federal investigations.”
“He is a potential witness in some of the matters,” Mr. Phelps said, declining to elaborate.
The members of Congress also asked the Homeland Security Department, now headed by Janet Napolitano, the former Arizona governor, to reassess its agreement with the sheriff that allows deputies trained by the department to check the immigration status of detainees.
Sean Smith, a spokesman for Ms. Napolitano, who has been friendly with the sheriff but as governor had also expressed concerns about some of his tactics, said she had already ordered a review of the program, known as 287(g), which allows immigration officials to train and work with dozens of local law enforcement agencies.
“Because of the questions about how 287(g) agreements are administered, and if uniform standards are being applied, Secretary Napolitano has asked for a review of the entire program,” Mr. Smith said in a statement. He would not to respond to the lawmakers’ other concerns.
The review, ordered Jan. 30, is due Feb. 20. In addition, the Government Accountability Office is investigating the program and plans to release a report in early March, a spokesman said.
The letters came more than a week after Sheriff Arpaio, who has attracted widespread publicity for requiring inmates to wear pink underwear and by starring in a new reality television show, provoked an outcry when he marched 200 illegal immigrant inmates in the streets from one jail to another “tent city” facility.
There, they are held separately, the sheriff said, to facilitate communication with consular officials. Civil libertarians denounced the march and holding area as unlawful segregation.
“Racial profiling and segregation are simply not acceptable,” Mr. Conyers said in a statement. “Media stunts and braggadocio are no substitute for fair and effective law enforcement.”
Sheriff Arpaio said the members of Congress were misinformed or misunderstood his actions.
He said that his deputies had not improperly singled out Latinos and that even if the agreement with federal immigration authorities was revoked, he would continue to enforce state laws aimed at human smugglers.
Hispanic Mayor's reelection leading to governorship?
Antonio Villaraigosa's campaign within a campaign
The L.A. mayor's reelection bid has some mysterious aspects -- until you consider he's a likely candidate for governor.
Tim Rutten LA Times February 14, 2009
Barring a truly unforeseen event -- something on the order of alien abduction, perhaps -- Antonio Villaraigosa will be reelected mayor of Los Angeles.
That doesn't mean, however, that the coming election is wholly uninteresting. Whatever the requisite campaign pieties, it seems increasingly clear that the mayor (who, you'll remember, is also a former Assembly speaker) has his eyes fixed somewhere north of the Civic Center -- say, the center of Sacramento, where the Capitol building stands.
"I'm not going to make a promise I can't keep," Villaraigosa said this week when Associated Press political reporter Michael Blood asked whether he would complete a full term if he were reelected. Discussing a possible run for governor next year, Villaraigosa kept the door distinctly open: "I can tell you that I will look at the issue further down the road."
Well, maybe not that much further.
There are some things about the incumbent mayor's current reelection campaign that have seemed mysterious. But they become somewhat clearer in the context of a statewide race. Take, for example, his fervent support for Proposition B, the Green Energy and Good Jobs for Los Angeles Act, which will put the Department of Water and Power into the solar power generation business in a big way. The one thing Proposition B -- which was conceived and written by two powerful locals of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers -- will unambiguously accomplish is the creation of more union jobs that offer reasonable wages and good benefits.
That's nothing to be dismissed, particularly in the current economy. But at least as important, for Villaraigosa, is the fact that the measure's passage will help remind organized labor that the mayor, a onetime organizer, remains at heart a union man -- even if he has to lay off city workers to balance next year's budget.
More important, support for Proposition B helps further align Villaraigosa's gubernatorial ambitions with two realities of statewide Democratic politics: the growing importance of Latino voters and the concomitant growth of organized labor's influence.
According to people close to the mayor's political operation, his hopes of capturing the nomination in the Democratic gubernatorial primary turn on the fact that Democratic races are decided in two places -- the Bay Area and Southern California, mainly Los Angeles. Their calculation is that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown will split the vote of the Anglo-liberals who predominate in the Bay Area, while Lt. Gov. John Garamendi will shave off non-Latino voters in his Central Valley base.
That opens the way for the 56-year-old Villaraigosa to capture the nomination by overwhelmingly carrying two groups: Latinos and union members. According to Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, Latinos will make up 25% of Democratic primary voters in 2010. In Southern California, where the L.A. mayor already enjoys stellar name recognition, more than a third of the voters will be Latino; in Los Angeles County, that percentage may be as high as 40%. Obviously, the mayor will gain a substantial bump with these voters if he is the only Latino in the race.
But labor support matters too. Guerra predicts that one in five voters who cast ballots in the primary will be non-Latino union members. And what's more, labor's influence among Latinos is strong and growing. Not only do Latinos belong to unions in greater numbers than other ethnic groups, but studies show that even Latino households in which nobody holds a union card tend to be strongly influenced by labor's political agenda. That's because California unions generally enjoy the support of the Catholic Church and, particularly in Southern California, have become inextricably linked to questions of Latino progress and to a progressive position on immigration.
A study released this week by Guerra and his associates identified the 100 most important elective offices in the region and then looked back half a century -- to 1959 -- to determine their ethnic and racial distribution. The study found that, of those 100 offices, only one was held by an African American, one by a Latino and two by Jews. Today, Latinos occupy 33 of those 100 offices and African Americans hold 15, while 19 of the officials are Jewish and four are Asian American.
That's change by anybody's measure. And now Villaraigosa has a real shot at the governor's office.
So this mayoral election is uninteresting only if you don't recall that electoral politics, like chess, is about the next move.
timothy.rutten@latimes.com
The L.A. mayor's reelection bid has some mysterious aspects -- until you consider he's a likely candidate for governor.
Tim Rutten LA Times February 14, 2009
Barring a truly unforeseen event -- something on the order of alien abduction, perhaps -- Antonio Villaraigosa will be reelected mayor of Los Angeles.
That doesn't mean, however, that the coming election is wholly uninteresting. Whatever the requisite campaign pieties, it seems increasingly clear that the mayor (who, you'll remember, is also a former Assembly speaker) has his eyes fixed somewhere north of the Civic Center -- say, the center of Sacramento, where the Capitol building stands.
"I'm not going to make a promise I can't keep," Villaraigosa said this week when Associated Press political reporter Michael Blood asked whether he would complete a full term if he were reelected. Discussing a possible run for governor next year, Villaraigosa kept the door distinctly open: "I can tell you that I will look at the issue further down the road."
Well, maybe not that much further.
There are some things about the incumbent mayor's current reelection campaign that have seemed mysterious. But they become somewhat clearer in the context of a statewide race. Take, for example, his fervent support for Proposition B, the Green Energy and Good Jobs for Los Angeles Act, which will put the Department of Water and Power into the solar power generation business in a big way. The one thing Proposition B -- which was conceived and written by two powerful locals of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers -- will unambiguously accomplish is the creation of more union jobs that offer reasonable wages and good benefits.
That's nothing to be dismissed, particularly in the current economy. But at least as important, for Villaraigosa, is the fact that the measure's passage will help remind organized labor that the mayor, a onetime organizer, remains at heart a union man -- even if he has to lay off city workers to balance next year's budget.
More important, support for Proposition B helps further align Villaraigosa's gubernatorial ambitions with two realities of statewide Democratic politics: the growing importance of Latino voters and the concomitant growth of organized labor's influence.
According to people close to the mayor's political operation, his hopes of capturing the nomination in the Democratic gubernatorial primary turn on the fact that Democratic races are decided in two places -- the Bay Area and Southern California, mainly Los Angeles. Their calculation is that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown will split the vote of the Anglo-liberals who predominate in the Bay Area, while Lt. Gov. John Garamendi will shave off non-Latino voters in his Central Valley base.
That opens the way for the 56-year-old Villaraigosa to capture the nomination by overwhelmingly carrying two groups: Latinos and union members. According to Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, Latinos will make up 25% of Democratic primary voters in 2010. In Southern California, where the L.A. mayor already enjoys stellar name recognition, more than a third of the voters will be Latino; in Los Angeles County, that percentage may be as high as 40%. Obviously, the mayor will gain a substantial bump with these voters if he is the only Latino in the race.
But labor support matters too. Guerra predicts that one in five voters who cast ballots in the primary will be non-Latino union members. And what's more, labor's influence among Latinos is strong and growing. Not only do Latinos belong to unions in greater numbers than other ethnic groups, but studies show that even Latino households in which nobody holds a union card tend to be strongly influenced by labor's political agenda. That's because California unions generally enjoy the support of the Catholic Church and, particularly in Southern California, have become inextricably linked to questions of Latino progress and to a progressive position on immigration.
A study released this week by Guerra and his associates identified the 100 most important elective offices in the region and then looked back half a century -- to 1959 -- to determine their ethnic and racial distribution. The study found that, of those 100 offices, only one was held by an African American, one by a Latino and two by Jews. Today, Latinos occupy 33 of those 100 offices and African Americans hold 15, while 19 of the officials are Jewish and four are Asian American.
That's change by anybody's measure. And now Villaraigosa has a real shot at the governor's office.
So this mayoral election is uninteresting only if you don't recall that electoral politics, like chess, is about the next move.
timothy.rutten@latimes.com
GOP will lose Latino voters over census fight
Fight over census could lose GOP the Latino vote
By Wendy Norris Colorado Independent 2/13/09
Adding to the political intrigue surrounding commerce secretary-nominee Judd Gregg’s sudden resignation is a new partisan fight over the 2010 census. With a fast-growing Latino voter base, how that battle shapes up could affect Republican electoral prospects for many years to come.
Gregg blames his cold feet, in part, on not being simpatico with President Barack Obama on the 2010 census process managed by the Commerce Department. Obama has expressed interest in being more involved in the national head-counting process that determines congressional voting district maps and billions of dollars in federal funding allocations to the states for health, education and more.
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) hailed Obama’s decision:
Census data is also important for engaging the population in the democratic process, panelists said. About 50,000 Latinos reach the age of 18 every year and are eligible to vote. “This information is very important for the census because they become voters and can fully participate in the electoral process,” said William Ramos of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO).
Getting an accurate count of minority residents, who LULAC officials note have been historically distrustful of the census process, also ensures that Latino communities will have greater access to federal grants and safety-net programs frequently associated with Democrats. Something the Dems will no doubt remind voters of during the election season.
Predictably, conservative groups are having a kitten over the prospect of White House involvement in the census with Human Events.com calling it a power grab. That’s not at all true but the facts don’t fit their hysterical narrative so they’re going with it anyway. But pushing an argument that it’s okay to under-count minorities won’t bode well for the GOP.
Even President George H.W. Bush’s census director, Barbara Everitt Bryant, told The Washington Post that Obama’s attention would be a welcome change:
By Wendy Norris Colorado Independent 2/13/09
Adding to the political intrigue surrounding commerce secretary-nominee Judd Gregg’s sudden resignation is a new partisan fight over the 2010 census. With a fast-growing Latino voter base, how that battle shapes up could affect Republican electoral prospects for many years to come.
Gregg blames his cold feet, in part, on not being simpatico with President Barack Obama on the 2010 census process managed by the Commerce Department. Obama has expressed interest in being more involved in the national head-counting process that determines congressional voting district maps and billions of dollars in federal funding allocations to the states for health, education and more.
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) hailed Obama’s decision:
Census data is also important for engaging the population in the democratic process, panelists said. About 50,000 Latinos reach the age of 18 every year and are eligible to vote. “This information is very important for the census because they become voters and can fully participate in the electoral process,” said William Ramos of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO).
Getting an accurate count of minority residents, who LULAC officials note have been historically distrustful of the census process, also ensures that Latino communities will have greater access to federal grants and safety-net programs frequently associated with Democrats. Something the Dems will no doubt remind voters of during the election season.
Predictably, conservative groups are having a kitten over the prospect of White House involvement in the census with Human Events.com calling it a power grab. That’s not at all true but the facts don’t fit their hysterical narrative so they’re going with it anyway. But pushing an argument that it’s okay to under-count minorities won’t bode well for the GOP.
Even President George H.W. Bush’s census director, Barbara Everitt Bryant, told The Washington Post that Obama’s attention would be a welcome change:
Friday, February 13, 2009
Latino Policy Institute and Roger Williams University will work together
Rhode Island Latino Policy Institute Enters Cooperative Agreement With Roger Williams University
PRESS RELEASE
BRISTOL, R.I., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Roger Williams University (RWU) today announced details of a partnership with the Rhode Island Latino Policy Institute (LPI), whereby the two organizations would work cooperatively to further the Institute's goal of becoming the primary source of research on Latinos in Rhode Island. The newly designated Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University is a successful cornerstone in efforts to involve a number of important academic and non-academic institutions in and around Rhode Island in data and policy gathering on Rhode Island's Latino community.
As part of the three-year agreement, Roger Williams University is providing office headquarters and additional physical and intellectual resources needed to support the Rhode Island Latino Policy Institute's mission. In an effort to better document and understand the social, economic and civic contributions of Latinos in Rhode Island, the Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University will provide empirically-grounded public policy research that will contribute to fundamental advances in the quality of life for Latinos and the state as a whole.
"RWU's solid record of developing cultural collaborations and community partnerships across partisan lines is a major asset to our growth," said Domingo Morel, co-founder of the Rhode Island Latino Policy Institute. "This new collaboration will foster our ability to affect positive changes in Rhode Island by providing critical information on our growing Latino population."
Latinos are presently the largest minority population in Rhode Island and those numbers are expected to double by the year 2020. Because of the projected growth of this community, the Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University will make the case that what is good for Latinos is also good for the state. By stimulating public policy discourse based on timely and factual data, the Institute will serve as a valuable resource to state and local policymakers in Rhode Island.
"Like many states, Rhode Island is at a critical policy juncture on a number of issues, including education, economic security, immigration and healthcare," said RWU President, Roy J. Nirschel. "The Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University will ultimately shape future public policy by creating a better understanding of the significant contributions of the Rhode Island Latino population. RWU's long history of connecting academic research to the broader global society will help to attract further resources and cultivate strategic partnerships for this important initiative in our state."
PRESS RELEASE
BRISTOL, R.I., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Roger Williams University (RWU) today announced details of a partnership with the Rhode Island Latino Policy Institute (LPI), whereby the two organizations would work cooperatively to further the Institute's goal of becoming the primary source of research on Latinos in Rhode Island. The newly designated Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University is a successful cornerstone in efforts to involve a number of important academic and non-academic institutions in and around Rhode Island in data and policy gathering on Rhode Island's Latino community.
As part of the three-year agreement, Roger Williams University is providing office headquarters and additional physical and intellectual resources needed to support the Rhode Island Latino Policy Institute's mission. In an effort to better document and understand the social, economic and civic contributions of Latinos in Rhode Island, the Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University will provide empirically-grounded public policy research that will contribute to fundamental advances in the quality of life for Latinos and the state as a whole.
"RWU's solid record of developing cultural collaborations and community partnerships across partisan lines is a major asset to our growth," said Domingo Morel, co-founder of the Rhode Island Latino Policy Institute. "This new collaboration will foster our ability to affect positive changes in Rhode Island by providing critical information on our growing Latino population."
Latinos are presently the largest minority population in Rhode Island and those numbers are expected to double by the year 2020. Because of the projected growth of this community, the Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University will make the case that what is good for Latinos is also good for the state. By stimulating public policy discourse based on timely and factual data, the Institute will serve as a valuable resource to state and local policymakers in Rhode Island.
"Like many states, Rhode Island is at a critical policy juncture on a number of issues, including education, economic security, immigration and healthcare," said RWU President, Roy J. Nirschel. "The Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University will ultimately shape future public policy by creating a better understanding of the significant contributions of the Rhode Island Latino population. RWU's long history of connecting academic research to the broader global society will help to attract further resources and cultivate strategic partnerships for this important initiative in our state."
Latino literacy project expands
Latino Literacy Project to expand into Carpentersville
By CHARITY BONNER cbonner@scn1.com February 13, 2009
ELGIN — Imagine being in first grade. Now imagine being 41 and in 1st grade. On Friday nights and Saturday mornings at The Salvation Army in Elgin, Spanish-speaking adults engage in elementary, midddle school and high school classes taught in Spanish, in hopes of eventually getting into English as a second language classes at Elgin Community College, and maybe someday getting a GED and enrolling in college classes — or just getting a good job.
In an economy where former real estate agents are taking Starbucks barista jobs, competition is driving workers to strive for skills, further their education and improve their job outlook.
Workers at the most basic educational level find assistance at the Latino Literacy Project at the Salvation Army. Each weekend, 129 students study in the program which was modeled after a program at Instituto del Progreso in Pilsen, Chicago's largest Latino community. Since October, the Kane County Department of Employment and Education has referred more than 40 students. The site operates on a budget of $50,000 and uses educational curriculum provided by the Mexican government.
The need for the programs has grown so much in recent months that the Salvation Army will open an additional site for the program on Feb. 18 in Meadowdale Mall at 150 S. Kennedy Drive in Carpentersville.
By CHARITY BONNER cbonner@scn1.com February 13, 2009
ELGIN — Imagine being in first grade. Now imagine being 41 and in 1st grade. On Friday nights and Saturday mornings at The Salvation Army in Elgin, Spanish-speaking adults engage in elementary, midddle school and high school classes taught in Spanish, in hopes of eventually getting into English as a second language classes at Elgin Community College, and maybe someday getting a GED and enrolling in college classes — or just getting a good job.
In an economy where former real estate agents are taking Starbucks barista jobs, competition is driving workers to strive for skills, further their education and improve their job outlook.
Workers at the most basic educational level find assistance at the Latino Literacy Project at the Salvation Army. Each weekend, 129 students study in the program which was modeled after a program at Instituto del Progreso in Pilsen, Chicago's largest Latino community. Since October, the Kane County Department of Employment and Education has referred more than 40 students. The site operates on a budget of $50,000 and uses educational curriculum provided by the Mexican government.
The need for the programs has grown so much in recent months that the Salvation Army will open an additional site for the program on Feb. 18 in Meadowdale Mall at 150 S. Kennedy Drive in Carpentersville.
Hispanic leaders in Florida support ballot change
Hispanic leaders supporting Seminole’s ballot change
by Victor Manuel Ramos ORLANDO SENTINEL Feb 12, 2009
I wrote earlier this week about Seminole County’s preparations for the switch to Spanish-language ballots by 2012 -- a change expected because the county’s Hispanic population has grown at a fast pace, reaching a federal threshold requiring language assistance.
Supervisor of Elections Michael Ertel invited several Hispanics to form part of a committee helping the county to transition to those ballots. I attended their first meeting on February 3.
Bilingual or Spanish-language ballots are controversial because some believe that Hispanic and immigrant voters need to speak English to vote, even as many of our area Latino voters are Puerto Ricans who were born citizens in a Spanish-speaking island.
But Ertel said there will be no arguing with federal law, which demands translation and assistance when a language minority group becomes 5 percent of the voting-age population or surpasses 10,000 residents. Already, 15 percent of Seminole's residents are Hispanics. "The simple answer," Ertel told the committee, "is we are going to comply with the law."
Among those who joined the county's planning session were: Nancy Acevedo, a chair and founder of a new organization known as the Republican Hispanic Alliance of the United States; Franklin Pérez, a Libertarian candidate for State House District 33; María Padilla, a former editor of El Sentinel; Ray Valdés, Seminole’s tax collector; Darrell López, who’s running for mayor in Oviedo; and Emilio Pérez, president of the Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida.
Among the issues committee members will help Ertel address are: 1) Whether the county should have bilingual ballots or separate Spanish-language ballots for those who request them; 2) How those ballots are translated to make sure that Hispanics of all backgrounds understand them; 3) How to let the community know when the new ballots will be available.
Committee members were supportive of Ertel’s effort to prepare before the ballots are required following the 2010 census. “Personally, I think it’s great,” Franklin Pérez said at the meeting. “You are starting early and you are doing your homework.”
by Victor Manuel Ramos ORLANDO SENTINEL Feb 12, 2009
I wrote earlier this week about Seminole County’s preparations for the switch to Spanish-language ballots by 2012 -- a change expected because the county’s Hispanic population has grown at a fast pace, reaching a federal threshold requiring language assistance.
Supervisor of Elections Michael Ertel invited several Hispanics to form part of a committee helping the county to transition to those ballots. I attended their first meeting on February 3.
Bilingual or Spanish-language ballots are controversial because some believe that Hispanic and immigrant voters need to speak English to vote, even as many of our area Latino voters are Puerto Ricans who were born citizens in a Spanish-speaking island.
But Ertel said there will be no arguing with federal law, which demands translation and assistance when a language minority group becomes 5 percent of the voting-age population or surpasses 10,000 residents. Already, 15 percent of Seminole's residents are Hispanics. "The simple answer," Ertel told the committee, "is we are going to comply with the law."
Among those who joined the county's planning session were: Nancy Acevedo, a chair and founder of a new organization known as the Republican Hispanic Alliance of the United States; Franklin Pérez, a Libertarian candidate for State House District 33; María Padilla, a former editor of El Sentinel; Ray Valdés, Seminole’s tax collector; Darrell López, who’s running for mayor in Oviedo; and Emilio Pérez, president of the Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida.
Among the issues committee members will help Ertel address are: 1) Whether the county should have bilingual ballots or separate Spanish-language ballots for those who request them; 2) How those ballots are translated to make sure that Hispanics of all backgrounds understand them; 3) How to let the community know when the new ballots will be available.
Committee members were supportive of Ertel’s effort to prepare before the ballots are required following the 2010 census. “Personally, I think it’s great,” Franklin Pérez said at the meeting. “You are starting early and you are doing your homework.”
Hispanics continue to push School leaders, City Hall
Group: Hispanics underrepresented in key groups
ABC LOCAL.GO.COM February 12, 2009
February 12, 2009 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Hispanic clergy members-- who are threatening to boycott city business and social functions-- met with the new Chicago Public Schools C-E-O Ron Huberman today.
Members of the group say they are frustrated because Hispanics are underrepresented in key positions in the school system and in city departments.
Those on hand for the two-hour meeting said afterwards it was productive and Huberman promised to meet with them again.
ABC LOCAL.GO.COM February 12, 2009
February 12, 2009 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Hispanic clergy members-- who are threatening to boycott city business and social functions-- met with the new Chicago Public Schools C-E-O Ron Huberman today.
Members of the group say they are frustrated because Hispanics are underrepresented in key positions in the school system and in city departments.
Those on hand for the two-hour meeting said afterwards it was productive and Huberman promised to meet with them again.
Hispanic immigrants impacted severely by recession
Immigrant Latinos and the Recession
PRESS RELEASE
The current recession is having an especially severe impact on employment prospects for immigrant Hispanics, according to an analysis of the latest Census Bureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.
The unemployment rate has increased more and the share of the working-age population that is employed has fallen more for immigrant Hispanics than for other racial and ethnic groups in the first year of the recession. Trends in other indicators during the one-year old recession, such as the change in labor force participation or the growth in the number of unemployed persons, also reveal a more severe impact on foreign-born Latinos.
Native-born Hispanics and blacks in the labor market have also felt strong negative effects from the recession. However, changes in the employment rate and other indicators of labor market activity during the recession have been less severe for them than for foreign-born Hispanics.
The report is based on an analysis of the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau. Estimates are presented for the fourth quarters of 2007 and 2008 encompassing the first year of the ongoing recession.
The report, Unemployment Rises Sharply Among Latino Immigrants in 2008, authored by Rakesh Kochhar, Associate Director for Research, is available at the Pew Hispanic Center's website, www.pewhispanic.org.
PRESS RELEASE
The current recession is having an especially severe impact on employment prospects for immigrant Hispanics, according to an analysis of the latest Census Bureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.
The unemployment rate has increased more and the share of the working-age population that is employed has fallen more for immigrant Hispanics than for other racial and ethnic groups in the first year of the recession. Trends in other indicators during the one-year old recession, such as the change in labor force participation or the growth in the number of unemployed persons, also reveal a more severe impact on foreign-born Latinos.
Native-born Hispanics and blacks in the labor market have also felt strong negative effects from the recession. However, changes in the employment rate and other indicators of labor market activity during the recession have been less severe for them than for foreign-born Hispanics.
The report is based on an analysis of the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau. Estimates are presented for the fourth quarters of 2007 and 2008 encompassing the first year of the ongoing recession.
The report, Unemployment Rises Sharply Among Latino Immigrants in 2008, authored by Rakesh Kochhar, Associate Director for Research, is available at the Pew Hispanic Center's website, www.pewhispanic.org.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Hispanic immigration reform should be revisited by conservatives
At What Cost?
Conservatives should rethink their opposition to ‘comprehensive’ immigration reform
RICHARD NADLER – National Review
Conservatives should stop trying to remove 12 million illegal aliens from American soil, either by rounding them up or by inducing them to “self-deport.” In the Southwest, the West, the Northeast, and Florida, attempts to remove illegals have diminished the conservative movement, transforming a governing majority into a structural minority. To continue the effort will damage the conservative cause even more among Hispanics and entrepreneurs.
To understand why, consider the three permanent interests involved in immigration.
The first interest is border security. Today, a border jumper entering the U.S. from Mexico has a two-in-three chance of remaining here. An uncontrolled border is a potential target for terrorists, and a sure target for criminals. Many interpret our porous border as a degradation of national sovereignty. Others regard a free market in cross-border labor as an economic liability, driving down American wages.
The second interest centers on employment demands. Business groups representing seasonal and low-cost labor regard access to foreign workers as an economic necessity and an overall economic boon. Today, roughly 5 percent of American employees — 7 million — are “undocumented.” In particular sectors, notably agriculture, construction, cleaning, and food services, the undocumented share of the labor force exceeds 10 percent.
Finally, a variety of groups lobby for immigrant rights. They demand legal status for most of America’s 12 million illegal residents. The public faces of this interest are the left-leaning Hispanic and civil-rights organizations. But advocates for illegals include millions more: their friends, families, co-workers, and clergy, plus a substantial majority of legal Hispanic residents. Roughly 80 percent of the undocumented are Hispanic.
These interests are permanent, and formidable. “Comprehensive” immigration reform was premised on the assumption that any major legislative attempt to satisfy one of these interests must address all three. In 2006, and again in 2007, the Bush administration championed a version of comprehensive reform; Senate Republicans blocked it. Opponents, primarily conservatives, insisted that immigration reform address border security first or exclusively.
Partisans of cross-border labor and immigrant rights reciprocated in kind, rejecting full-spectrum conservative candidates who opposed comprehensive immigration reform in favor of full-spectrum liberals who supported it. In 2008, advocates of comprehensive immigration reform gained, on net, at least 14 partisans in the House and four in the Senate. All are Democrats.
It wasn’t always this way. In 2004, roughly 40 percent of Hispanic voters cast their ballots for George W. Bush. Hispanic opinion patterns mirrored those of low-income working-class voters nationwide: liberal on economics, but with powerful conservative cross-trends on social issues and entrepreneurship.
For instance, the CNN exit poll concerning Proposition 8 — the California Marriage Protection Act — found that Hispanics (along with blacks) provided the slender majority by which the measure passed. A Pew Hispanic Center poll of over 4,000 Hispanics reported that 57 percent “say abortion should be illegal,” compared with 42 percent of non-Hispanic whites. An Americas Majority poll found 81 percent of Hispanics supportive of school choice.
With or without comprehensive immigration reform, Hispanics are the fastest-growing component of the evangelical movement, due to both immigration and higher-than-average fertility. Hispanics will, within a single generation, compose a majority of American Catholics.
According to the massive 2004 and 2008 Edison-Mitofsky exit polls, between the two elections, Republicans lost and Democrats gained 13 percent of the Hispanic vote in the presidential race and 15 percent in House races. Some analysts contend that immigration cannot explain this radical shift in the GOP’s Hispanic vote share. Others maintain that no radical shift has occurred. And some, like Prof. James Gimpel of the Center for Immigration Studies, claim both. In his paper “Latino Voting in the 2008 Election,” he says that “Latino voters just aren’t that different from other voters in the national electorate” and that “no evidence . . . indicts immigration policy as the reason for Republicans’ poor showing.”
The evidence Professor Gimpel presents contradicts his conclusion. The Edison-Mitofsky national House polls show Hispanic support for GOP congressional candidates declining at triple the rate of the GOP’s general decline (5 percent). Regarding immigration policy: In Border Wars: The Impact of Immigration on the Latino Vote, I measured precinct-level variations in the Hispanic vote when a Republican who favored comprehensive immigration reform in one cycle was succeeded by an “enforcement only” candidate in the next. I cannot claim that immigration policy alone caused the steep attrition of GOP vote share recorded in that study. But I can state that the votes trended steeply away from restrictionists in hundreds of heavily Hispanic precincts.
The disconnect between religious faith and partisan loyalty that exists among blacks is well documented. In California, the same black electorate that voted for the Marriage Protection Amendment by better than two-thirds supported the candidacies of amendment opponents by better than nine-tenths. If Hispanics stop voting as other working-class Americans do and think of themselves instead as a persecuted, government-dependent minority, the social influence of the Right will wither on the vine.
Conservatives have been obtuse to the depth of Hispanic resistance to the removal of illegals. Roughly 30 million resident Hispanics are American citizens — triple the number of Hispanic illegals. Eleven million Hispanics voted in 2008, a 38 percent increase from 2004. Among adult Hispanic citizens, the Pew Hispanic Center records that 41 percent fear a deportation action against a friend or family member. Roughly one Hispanic in four participated in a demonstration or rally in behalf of immigrants over the past year.
In America today, 6.6 million households contain at least one illegal immigrant. Residing within those households are 4.9 million children and 3.5 million U.S. citizens. Conservatives who present themselves to Hispanics as pro-family had better reflect on this. Two centuries of unguarded borders will not be resolved by instituting “real ID” as a basis for mass removals.
The fear and the fury engendered in the broader Hispanic community by conservative efforts to remove illegals has destroyed conservative prospects in the Southwest, weakened them in the West, and wiped them out in New England.
The dimensions of the disaster in the Southwest are easy to outline. Arizona is 30 percent Hispanic; California, 36 percent; Texas, 36 percent; New Mexico, 44 percent. In 2004, Republicans controlled four of the nine House districts on the U.S.–Mexican border, and George W. Bush defeated John Kerry in five of them. That year, all four Republican incumbents supported comprehensive immigration reform. In 2006, two Republicans ran on “enforcement only,” and both lost. In 2008, two veteran border Republicans vacated their seats. The GOP ran two “enforcement” candidates. Pro-reform Democrats defeated them both.
In one sense, nothing changed. In both 2004 and 2008, all nine congressmen on the border supported comprehensive immigration reform. What has changed is that all nine now are liberal Democrats.
Since 2004, Republicans lost two Senate seats and two House districts in Colorado (20 percent Hispanic), and a single House seat each in Idaho and Nevada (10 percent and 25 percent Hispanic respectively).
In the New England, Democrats not only maintained their 2006 gains in Connecticut and New Hampshire, they unseated the one GOP congressman left standing, immigration hardliner Chris Shays. Jim Himes, a Peruvian-born banker and an open advocate of comprehensive immigration reform, won the seat. The district is 12.3 percent Hispanic.
Larry Sabato, who heads the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, flagged 90 House districts as competitive in 2008. A post-election demographic analysis of those races reveals a stark pattern as to who won where. The median Hispanic population of districts in which “enforcement only” advocates won was 2.3 percent. The median Hispanic population of districts in which immigration-reform advocates won was 12.1 percent.
The implications are clear. Opponents of comprehensive immigration reform are sitting on a demographic time bomb — or rather, on a series of explosions, triggered by the ordinary migrations of Hispanic citizens, who already are 15.1 percent of the population. If immigration reform is the evil that “enforcement only” partisans claim it to be, they will need not one fence bordering Mexico, but multiple barriers to partition California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Colorado, Florida, New York, and New Jersey from the rest of the nation.
The ballyhooed success of conservatives in blocking comprehensive immigration reform in 2007 was in fact a holding action. With superhuman effort, conservatives stopped the bill. But they lacked the votes to pass robust enforcement-only legislation, such as Heath Shuler’s “SAVE” Act or Jim Sensenbrenner’s Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act.
Conservative focus shifted gradually to the states, where enforcement advocates could, at some times and in some places, enact legislation requiring stringent employee verification and harsh sanctions against non-compliant employers. Conservatives assumed the law would compel illegals’ bosses to become deportation cops. This proved false.
Underlying business outrage at conservative immigration policy was a simple fact: The overwhelming majority of illegal hires had been, procedurally speaking, legally hired. Employers resisted mandates to revisit the immigration status of employees in whom they had invested time and training.
The I-9 system, operative for the past generation, requires an employer to accept certain combinations of several dozen forms of identification. The list includes foreign passports, school report cards, student ID cards, and hospital records. Employers who refuse to accept such shabby documentation as evidence of employment eligibility are warned, on the form itself, “It is illegal to discriminate against work eligible individuals. Employers CANNOT specify which document(s) they will accept from an employee. The refusal to hire an individual because the documents presented have a future expiration date may also constitute illegal discrimination.”
Few conservatives foresaw how employers would react to the replacement of this weak federal standard with a patchwork regime of conflicting state and local immigration-enforcement statutes. The new enforcement laws in Illinois, Tennessee, Louisiana, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Arizona, and elsewhere presented employers — particularly those based in multiple states — with a whole new set of headaches. Compliance with the rickety I-9 system had provided employers a “safe harbor”; so long as they followed procedure, they were immune to legal action when hires turned out to be unlawful. But now, business owners faced conflicting lists of acceptable ID documents, electronic-verification mandates, appeals procedures, penalties, and causes of action. The safety of the I-9 had disappeared, not into a new harbor, but into a whirlpool of liability.
Business rebelled. All across the nation, associations of restaurateurs, landscapers, farmers, ranchers, heavy constructors, hoteliers, food-service operators, home builders, and high-tech entrepreneurs locked horns in lawsuits against employer-sanction laws and their conservative sponsors. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and dozens of state chambers joined the litigation, asserting that employer-sanction laws violated the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause.
The face-off between conservatives and business did not end at the courthouse steps. In 2008, the average Democratic candidate burnished his business credentials by supporting guest-worker programs, the average GOP candidate ran on “enforcement only,” and business contributions shifted away from conservatives and Republicans. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the GOP share of political contributions from each of the following declined by 5 to 14 percent between 2006 and 2008: tourism groups, farm groups, poultry producers, food-and-beverage associations, general contractors, home builders, and computer and Internet companies. A comparable increase in contributions to Democrats matched each of these sector declines.
Conservatives traditionally self-identify as guarantors of free enterprise. We hardly noticed that entrepreneurs believed us less, or not at all. But if we weren’t willing to listen to them, we might at least have listened to ourselves. The theory that low-wage work is a net drain on social well-being originated with Marxists, not conservatives. Market economists taught that the freer the market for labor, the more efficient its use. Farmers realized that their export markets abroad required seasonal workers at home. Municipal leaders understood that contemporary urban renewal was built on immigrant hospitality services and entrepreneurship. Practical men of business knew that the availability of low-wage labor in the United States prevented the export of higher value-added tasks in an international workplace.
The notion of judging a sector of labor, native or immigrant, primarily on its net generation of taxes — rather than on its contributions to the economy more broadly — would never have entered a free marketer’s mind.
But by the middle of 2007, such thinking had infested the mainstream of the conservative discourse. Talk radio, conservative bloggers, and even hoary think tanks Rushed (so to speak) to unearth crises associated with low-wage labor in general and illegal-immigrant labor in particular. Illegals were responsible for lowering median income and for raising unemployment among the poor. Illegals were responsible for a crime wave, a health-care crisis, and an education-funding deficit. Immigrants were swelling poverty rates and welfare rolls.
These accusations are inconsistent with much of the evidence. In my paper “Immigration and the Wealth of States,” I compared high- and low-immigration states in terms of income growth, unemployment rates, welfare eligibility, and crime during the great immigration rush of the Bush years. Trends in all these categories were better in high-immigration states — but they were best where immigration growth had been most rapid. This does not mean that an immigrant influx caused prosperity in and of itself. But the data from high-immigration states reinforces the contention of laissez-faire advocates that a free market in labor increases both the range and the availability of goods and services.
In the last several cycles, Republican enemies of immigration reform took a shellacking. The defeated champions of the restrictionist cause in 2008 included incumbents Virgil Goode, Thelma Drake, Steve Chabot, Bill Sali, Ric Keller, Tom Feeney, Marilyn Musgrave, and Jeb Bradley, attempted successor to a Republican Jim Oberweis, and challenger Lou Barletta. Save for Barletta’s, all of these defeats occurred in historically Republican districts. Lost are their votes not just on immigration, but on right-to-life, school reform, tax cuts, budget restraint, military readiness, and, yes, border security.
Considered as conservative policy, any immigration reform that would effect the removal of 12 million illegals is incongruous. How does it improve national security to hold up legislation that includes needed border reforms, in the hopes that an “enforcement only” package may one day come around? How does it help the economy to break 7 million labor agreements, depriving businesses of seasonal and low-wage workers? How does it advance a right-to-life agenda to antagonize the nation’s foremost pro-life ethnicity (Hispanics) and largest pro-life institution (the Catholic church)?
At some point, conservatives must reflect on how many allies, and how many issues, we are willing to sacrifice in a fey and futile attempt to get field workers, busboys, and nannies out of the country. The steady drumbeat of restrictionist defeat invites — no, requires — conservatives to revisit a concept we have glibly reviled: comprehensive immigration reform. The relevant question is no longer whether we want it, but what we want from it: what forms of border security, crime control, and employment verification. Every hour we postpone a border reform that respects the interests of employers and Hispanics, our entire agenda suffers.
Mr. Nadler is president of the Americas Majority Foundation, a public-policy think tank in Overland Park, Kan.
Conservatives should rethink their opposition to ‘comprehensive’ immigration reform
RICHARD NADLER – National Review
Conservatives should stop trying to remove 12 million illegal aliens from American soil, either by rounding them up or by inducing them to “self-deport.” In the Southwest, the West, the Northeast, and Florida, attempts to remove illegals have diminished the conservative movement, transforming a governing majority into a structural minority. To continue the effort will damage the conservative cause even more among Hispanics and entrepreneurs.
To understand why, consider the three permanent interests involved in immigration.
The first interest is border security. Today, a border jumper entering the U.S. from Mexico has a two-in-three chance of remaining here. An uncontrolled border is a potential target for terrorists, and a sure target for criminals. Many interpret our porous border as a degradation of national sovereignty. Others regard a free market in cross-border labor as an economic liability, driving down American wages.
The second interest centers on employment demands. Business groups representing seasonal and low-cost labor regard access to foreign workers as an economic necessity and an overall economic boon. Today, roughly 5 percent of American employees — 7 million — are “undocumented.” In particular sectors, notably agriculture, construction, cleaning, and food services, the undocumented share of the labor force exceeds 10 percent.
Finally, a variety of groups lobby for immigrant rights. They demand legal status for most of America’s 12 million illegal residents. The public faces of this interest are the left-leaning Hispanic and civil-rights organizations. But advocates for illegals include millions more: their friends, families, co-workers, and clergy, plus a substantial majority of legal Hispanic residents. Roughly 80 percent of the undocumented are Hispanic.
These interests are permanent, and formidable. “Comprehensive” immigration reform was premised on the assumption that any major legislative attempt to satisfy one of these interests must address all three. In 2006, and again in 2007, the Bush administration championed a version of comprehensive reform; Senate Republicans blocked it. Opponents, primarily conservatives, insisted that immigration reform address border security first or exclusively.
Partisans of cross-border labor and immigrant rights reciprocated in kind, rejecting full-spectrum conservative candidates who opposed comprehensive immigration reform in favor of full-spectrum liberals who supported it. In 2008, advocates of comprehensive immigration reform gained, on net, at least 14 partisans in the House and four in the Senate. All are Democrats.
It wasn’t always this way. In 2004, roughly 40 percent of Hispanic voters cast their ballots for George W. Bush. Hispanic opinion patterns mirrored those of low-income working-class voters nationwide: liberal on economics, but with powerful conservative cross-trends on social issues and entrepreneurship.
For instance, the CNN exit poll concerning Proposition 8 — the California Marriage Protection Act — found that Hispanics (along with blacks) provided the slender majority by which the measure passed. A Pew Hispanic Center poll of over 4,000 Hispanics reported that 57 percent “say abortion should be illegal,” compared with 42 percent of non-Hispanic whites. An Americas Majority poll found 81 percent of Hispanics supportive of school choice.
With or without comprehensive immigration reform, Hispanics are the fastest-growing component of the evangelical movement, due to both immigration and higher-than-average fertility. Hispanics will, within a single generation, compose a majority of American Catholics.
According to the massive 2004 and 2008 Edison-Mitofsky exit polls, between the two elections, Republicans lost and Democrats gained 13 percent of the Hispanic vote in the presidential race and 15 percent in House races. Some analysts contend that immigration cannot explain this radical shift in the GOP’s Hispanic vote share. Others maintain that no radical shift has occurred. And some, like Prof. James Gimpel of the Center for Immigration Studies, claim both. In his paper “Latino Voting in the 2008 Election,” he says that “Latino voters just aren’t that different from other voters in the national electorate” and that “no evidence . . . indicts immigration policy as the reason for Republicans’ poor showing.”
The evidence Professor Gimpel presents contradicts his conclusion. The Edison-Mitofsky national House polls show Hispanic support for GOP congressional candidates declining at triple the rate of the GOP’s general decline (5 percent). Regarding immigration policy: In Border Wars: The Impact of Immigration on the Latino Vote, I measured precinct-level variations in the Hispanic vote when a Republican who favored comprehensive immigration reform in one cycle was succeeded by an “enforcement only” candidate in the next. I cannot claim that immigration policy alone caused the steep attrition of GOP vote share recorded in that study. But I can state that the votes trended steeply away from restrictionists in hundreds of heavily Hispanic precincts.
The disconnect between religious faith and partisan loyalty that exists among blacks is well documented. In California, the same black electorate that voted for the Marriage Protection Amendment by better than two-thirds supported the candidacies of amendment opponents by better than nine-tenths. If Hispanics stop voting as other working-class Americans do and think of themselves instead as a persecuted, government-dependent minority, the social influence of the Right will wither on the vine.
Conservatives have been obtuse to the depth of Hispanic resistance to the removal of illegals. Roughly 30 million resident Hispanics are American citizens — triple the number of Hispanic illegals. Eleven million Hispanics voted in 2008, a 38 percent increase from 2004. Among adult Hispanic citizens, the Pew Hispanic Center records that 41 percent fear a deportation action against a friend or family member. Roughly one Hispanic in four participated in a demonstration or rally in behalf of immigrants over the past year.
In America today, 6.6 million households contain at least one illegal immigrant. Residing within those households are 4.9 million children and 3.5 million U.S. citizens. Conservatives who present themselves to Hispanics as pro-family had better reflect on this. Two centuries of unguarded borders will not be resolved by instituting “real ID” as a basis for mass removals.
The fear and the fury engendered in the broader Hispanic community by conservative efforts to remove illegals has destroyed conservative prospects in the Southwest, weakened them in the West, and wiped them out in New England.
The dimensions of the disaster in the Southwest are easy to outline. Arizona is 30 percent Hispanic; California, 36 percent; Texas, 36 percent; New Mexico, 44 percent. In 2004, Republicans controlled four of the nine House districts on the U.S.–Mexican border, and George W. Bush defeated John Kerry in five of them. That year, all four Republican incumbents supported comprehensive immigration reform. In 2006, two Republicans ran on “enforcement only,” and both lost. In 2008, two veteran border Republicans vacated their seats. The GOP ran two “enforcement” candidates. Pro-reform Democrats defeated them both.
In one sense, nothing changed. In both 2004 and 2008, all nine congressmen on the border supported comprehensive immigration reform. What has changed is that all nine now are liberal Democrats.
Since 2004, Republicans lost two Senate seats and two House districts in Colorado (20 percent Hispanic), and a single House seat each in Idaho and Nevada (10 percent and 25 percent Hispanic respectively).
In the New England, Democrats not only maintained their 2006 gains in Connecticut and New Hampshire, they unseated the one GOP congressman left standing, immigration hardliner Chris Shays. Jim Himes, a Peruvian-born banker and an open advocate of comprehensive immigration reform, won the seat. The district is 12.3 percent Hispanic.
Larry Sabato, who heads the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, flagged 90 House districts as competitive in 2008. A post-election demographic analysis of those races reveals a stark pattern as to who won where. The median Hispanic population of districts in which “enforcement only” advocates won was 2.3 percent. The median Hispanic population of districts in which immigration-reform advocates won was 12.1 percent.
The implications are clear. Opponents of comprehensive immigration reform are sitting on a demographic time bomb — or rather, on a series of explosions, triggered by the ordinary migrations of Hispanic citizens, who already are 15.1 percent of the population. If immigration reform is the evil that “enforcement only” partisans claim it to be, they will need not one fence bordering Mexico, but multiple barriers to partition California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Colorado, Florida, New York, and New Jersey from the rest of the nation.
The ballyhooed success of conservatives in blocking comprehensive immigration reform in 2007 was in fact a holding action. With superhuman effort, conservatives stopped the bill. But they lacked the votes to pass robust enforcement-only legislation, such as Heath Shuler’s “SAVE” Act or Jim Sensenbrenner’s Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act.
Conservative focus shifted gradually to the states, where enforcement advocates could, at some times and in some places, enact legislation requiring stringent employee verification and harsh sanctions against non-compliant employers. Conservatives assumed the law would compel illegals’ bosses to become deportation cops. This proved false.
Underlying business outrage at conservative immigration policy was a simple fact: The overwhelming majority of illegal hires had been, procedurally speaking, legally hired. Employers resisted mandates to revisit the immigration status of employees in whom they had invested time and training.
The I-9 system, operative for the past generation, requires an employer to accept certain combinations of several dozen forms of identification. The list includes foreign passports, school report cards, student ID cards, and hospital records. Employers who refuse to accept such shabby documentation as evidence of employment eligibility are warned, on the form itself, “It is illegal to discriminate against work eligible individuals. Employers CANNOT specify which document(s) they will accept from an employee. The refusal to hire an individual because the documents presented have a future expiration date may also constitute illegal discrimination.”
Few conservatives foresaw how employers would react to the replacement of this weak federal standard with a patchwork regime of conflicting state and local immigration-enforcement statutes. The new enforcement laws in Illinois, Tennessee, Louisiana, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Arizona, and elsewhere presented employers — particularly those based in multiple states — with a whole new set of headaches. Compliance with the rickety I-9 system had provided employers a “safe harbor”; so long as they followed procedure, they were immune to legal action when hires turned out to be unlawful. But now, business owners faced conflicting lists of acceptable ID documents, electronic-verification mandates, appeals procedures, penalties, and causes of action. The safety of the I-9 had disappeared, not into a new harbor, but into a whirlpool of liability.
Business rebelled. All across the nation, associations of restaurateurs, landscapers, farmers, ranchers, heavy constructors, hoteliers, food-service operators, home builders, and high-tech entrepreneurs locked horns in lawsuits against employer-sanction laws and their conservative sponsors. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and dozens of state chambers joined the litigation, asserting that employer-sanction laws violated the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause.
The face-off between conservatives and business did not end at the courthouse steps. In 2008, the average Democratic candidate burnished his business credentials by supporting guest-worker programs, the average GOP candidate ran on “enforcement only,” and business contributions shifted away from conservatives and Republicans. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the GOP share of political contributions from each of the following declined by 5 to 14 percent between 2006 and 2008: tourism groups, farm groups, poultry producers, food-and-beverage associations, general contractors, home builders, and computer and Internet companies. A comparable increase in contributions to Democrats matched each of these sector declines.
Conservatives traditionally self-identify as guarantors of free enterprise. We hardly noticed that entrepreneurs believed us less, or not at all. But if we weren’t willing to listen to them, we might at least have listened to ourselves. The theory that low-wage work is a net drain on social well-being originated with Marxists, not conservatives. Market economists taught that the freer the market for labor, the more efficient its use. Farmers realized that their export markets abroad required seasonal workers at home. Municipal leaders understood that contemporary urban renewal was built on immigrant hospitality services and entrepreneurship. Practical men of business knew that the availability of low-wage labor in the United States prevented the export of higher value-added tasks in an international workplace.
The notion of judging a sector of labor, native or immigrant, primarily on its net generation of taxes — rather than on its contributions to the economy more broadly — would never have entered a free marketer’s mind.
But by the middle of 2007, such thinking had infested the mainstream of the conservative discourse. Talk radio, conservative bloggers, and even hoary think tanks Rushed (so to speak) to unearth crises associated with low-wage labor in general and illegal-immigrant labor in particular. Illegals were responsible for lowering median income and for raising unemployment among the poor. Illegals were responsible for a crime wave, a health-care crisis, and an education-funding deficit. Immigrants were swelling poverty rates and welfare rolls.
These accusations are inconsistent with much of the evidence. In my paper “Immigration and the Wealth of States,” I compared high- and low-immigration states in terms of income growth, unemployment rates, welfare eligibility, and crime during the great immigration rush of the Bush years. Trends in all these categories were better in high-immigration states — but they were best where immigration growth had been most rapid. This does not mean that an immigrant influx caused prosperity in and of itself. But the data from high-immigration states reinforces the contention of laissez-faire advocates that a free market in labor increases both the range and the availability of goods and services.
In the last several cycles, Republican enemies of immigration reform took a shellacking. The defeated champions of the restrictionist cause in 2008 included incumbents Virgil Goode, Thelma Drake, Steve Chabot, Bill Sali, Ric Keller, Tom Feeney, Marilyn Musgrave, and Jeb Bradley, attempted successor to a Republican Jim Oberweis, and challenger Lou Barletta. Save for Barletta’s, all of these defeats occurred in historically Republican districts. Lost are their votes not just on immigration, but on right-to-life, school reform, tax cuts, budget restraint, military readiness, and, yes, border security.
Considered as conservative policy, any immigration reform that would effect the removal of 12 million illegals is incongruous. How does it improve national security to hold up legislation that includes needed border reforms, in the hopes that an “enforcement only” package may one day come around? How does it help the economy to break 7 million labor agreements, depriving businesses of seasonal and low-wage workers? How does it advance a right-to-life agenda to antagonize the nation’s foremost pro-life ethnicity (Hispanics) and largest pro-life institution (the Catholic church)?
At some point, conservatives must reflect on how many allies, and how many issues, we are willing to sacrifice in a fey and futile attempt to get field workers, busboys, and nannies out of the country. The steady drumbeat of restrictionist defeat invites — no, requires — conservatives to revisit a concept we have glibly reviled: comprehensive immigration reform. The relevant question is no longer whether we want it, but what we want from it: what forms of border security, crime control, and employment verification. Every hour we postpone a border reform that respects the interests of employers and Hispanics, our entire agenda suffers.
Mr. Nadler is president of the Americas Majority Foundation, a public-policy think tank in Overland Park, Kan.
Latino teens offered look into college future
230 Latino teens look to college future
LAUP hosts conference to combat 22 precent Latino dropout rate
The Holland Sentinel Feb 10, 2009
Holland High School student Max Castillo wants to go to college.
“I’m only a freshman, but I want to go some place like Grand Valley or Hope, some place that has a good reputation,” he said.
Castillo was one of 230 Latino teens gathered at a youth conference Tuesday, Feb. 10, hosted by Latin Americans United for Progress at Hope College.
STATUS DROPOUT RATE, 2006
Total White Black Hispanic
9.3% 5.8% 10.7% 22.1%
The status dropout rate is the percentage of 16- through 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in high school and who lack a high school diploma or equivalent credential such as a General Educational Development (GED) certificate.
Statistics show Latino teens are at a greater risk for dropping out of high school than their classmates of other races — something LAUP is working on changing with the youth conference.
Twenty-two percent of Latino youths ages 16 through 24 were not in high school and didn’t have a high school degree in 2006 — more than double the percentage of their black peers, and more than three times the percentage of whites, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics.
“Many of these students come from an environment where they don’t have role models who have gone on to higher education,” said Tony Castillo — no relation to Max — a Holland businessman who owns three McDonald’s franchises in the Holland area.
Castillo emceed the conference and served on a panel of successful professionals who spoke to students at the conference, including Noel Cuellar, president of the Zeeland-based Primera Plastics, Inc.; Jose Mireles, Jr., a local insurance agent; and WOOD TV 8’s Eva Aguirre Cooper.
“It’s surprising what they had to go through, how they ended up achieving,” said Drew Lopez, a freshman at Zeeland West High School.
“It helps us to know they can do it, and they came from the same background as us,” said Antonio Loya, an eighth-grader at Holland’s East K-8 School.
Cooper encouraged attendees to not just take pride in their culture, but also their appearance and responsibility — to be walking “billboards” for the Latino community.
“When you’re on mainstream, there’s a tendency to want to just stay low and to not let all that spiciness out,” she said. “It’s OK to show people who you are.
“Are they going to see somebody who is confident, stands up straight, looks you in the eye or are they going to see somebody who’s like this, kind of doing a side-shuffle?” Cooper said, demonstrating by slouching her shoulders and slightly bending her knees.
Students also attended workshops and received information about getting tutoring help and applying for college.
Mireles, a Holland High School graduate, coached students through filling out a form to identify goals for themselves.
“It’s what I should have done when I was in high school,” Mireles said, after telling students he barely made it to graduation.
LAUP hosts conference to combat 22 precent Latino dropout rate
The Holland Sentinel Feb 10, 2009
Holland High School student Max Castillo wants to go to college.
“I’m only a freshman, but I want to go some place like Grand Valley or Hope, some place that has a good reputation,” he said.
Castillo was one of 230 Latino teens gathered at a youth conference Tuesday, Feb. 10, hosted by Latin Americans United for Progress at Hope College.
STATUS DROPOUT RATE, 2006
Total White Black Hispanic
9.3% 5.8% 10.7% 22.1%
The status dropout rate is the percentage of 16- through 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in high school and who lack a high school diploma or equivalent credential such as a General Educational Development (GED) certificate.
Statistics show Latino teens are at a greater risk for dropping out of high school than their classmates of other races — something LAUP is working on changing with the youth conference.
Twenty-two percent of Latino youths ages 16 through 24 were not in high school and didn’t have a high school degree in 2006 — more than double the percentage of their black peers, and more than three times the percentage of whites, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics.
“Many of these students come from an environment where they don’t have role models who have gone on to higher education,” said Tony Castillo — no relation to Max — a Holland businessman who owns three McDonald’s franchises in the Holland area.
Castillo emceed the conference and served on a panel of successful professionals who spoke to students at the conference, including Noel Cuellar, president of the Zeeland-based Primera Plastics, Inc.; Jose Mireles, Jr., a local insurance agent; and WOOD TV 8’s Eva Aguirre Cooper.
“It’s surprising what they had to go through, how they ended up achieving,” said Drew Lopez, a freshman at Zeeland West High School.
“It helps us to know they can do it, and they came from the same background as us,” said Antonio Loya, an eighth-grader at Holland’s East K-8 School.
Cooper encouraged attendees to not just take pride in their culture, but also their appearance and responsibility — to be walking “billboards” for the Latino community.
“When you’re on mainstream, there’s a tendency to want to just stay low and to not let all that spiciness out,” she said. “It’s OK to show people who you are.
“Are they going to see somebody who is confident, stands up straight, looks you in the eye or are they going to see somebody who’s like this, kind of doing a side-shuffle?” Cooper said, demonstrating by slouching her shoulders and slightly bending her knees.
Students also attended workshops and received information about getting tutoring help and applying for college.
Mireles, a Holland High School graduate, coached students through filling out a form to identify goals for themselves.
“It’s what I should have done when I was in high school,” Mireles said, after telling students he barely made it to graduation.
Latino Democratic Caucus of Michigan to meet
Latino Caucus meets Feb. 21 at Cobo
La Prensa Toledo
The Michigan Democratic Party’s Hispanic/Latino Caucus (MDPHLC) membership-meeting at the 2009 MDP State Convention will take place on Saturday, February 21, 2009, from 10-12 noon, in Room W2-62 of Cobo Hall (1 Washington, Detroit).
National, state, and local elected officials will be heard, and those candidates that are seeking office within the State Democratic Party. There will be a presentation on the Latino Vote in 2008 and what that means in Michigan.
Caucus Chair Larry C. Arreguin invites the public to attend, informing La Prensa, “this will be a great time for one to renew or become a member of the MDPHLC and show your support for our Caucus. If you would like more information, please feel free to contact me by email, at: teamarreguin@gmail.com”
La Prensa Toledo
The Michigan Democratic Party’s Hispanic/Latino Caucus (MDPHLC) membership-meeting at the 2009 MDP State Convention will take place on Saturday, February 21, 2009, from 10-12 noon, in Room W2-62 of Cobo Hall (1 Washington, Detroit).
National, state, and local elected officials will be heard, and those candidates that are seeking office within the State Democratic Party. There will be a presentation on the Latino Vote in 2008 and what that means in Michigan.
Caucus Chair Larry C. Arreguin invites the public to attend, informing La Prensa, “this will be a great time for one to renew or become a member of the MDPHLC and show your support for our Caucus. If you would like more information, please feel free to contact me by email, at: teamarreguin@gmail.com”
Latina legislator honored by NALEO
NALEO Honors Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte at Annual Latino Gala in Nation's Capital
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), the nation's preeminent Latino leadership organization, today announced that Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte will receive the prestigious Edward R. Roybal Award for Outstanding Public Service at the group's Annual Edward R. Roybal Legacy Gala in Washington, D.C.
The prestigious award pays tribute to the organization's founder and former President Emeritus, the late-Congressman Edward R. Roybal, and recognizes exemplary public service by a Latino elected or appointed official whose work has given meaningful voice to the people they serve and to the Latino community. Past recipients include New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, and California Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, among others. The award will be formally presented at the Edward R. Roybal Legacy Gala, NALEO's annual Washington, D.C. fundraising event also named in honor of the late-Congressman.
This year, NALEO honors one of our nation's most effective and influential state legislators, Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte. Over the course of her years of public service, Senator Van de Putte has become known for her advocacy on behalf of children and veterans, as well as for improved access to health care, quality education, and economic development. During her five terms in the Texas State Senate, she has consistently introduced and sponsored legislation supporting working families by ensuring that legislation provides them with greater opportunities in life.
"Senator Leticia Van de Putte epitomizes the type of leadership this award seeks to honor," said NALEO President and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion. "Her unwavering commitment to public service and her remarkable record of legislative accomplishments on behalf of her constituents is an inspiration to every NALEO member and to all elected leaders across the country."
"Like my father, Senator Van de Putte is a trailblazer," said Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard, daughter of the late-Congressman and NALEO Educational Fund Board Member. "As one of the first Latinas to ever serve in the Texas State Senate, she has had to overcome numerous challenges and obstacles to get to where she is today. I think my father would be pleased to see this award presented to Senator Van de Putte. She not only represents his legacy of public service, but also has used her leadership to open the doors for others -- especially young Latinas -- to lead our nation into the 21st century."
This year's Gala takes place with the generous support of numerous sponsors, including the Chair of the 2009 Edward R. Roybal Legacy Gala, Comcast.
About the NALEO Educational Fund:
The NALEO Educational Fund is the leading organization that facilitates full Latino participation in the American political process, from citizenship to public service. The NALEO Educational Fund is a non-profit, non-partisan organiz
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), the nation's preeminent Latino leadership organization, today announced that Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte will receive the prestigious Edward R. Roybal Award for Outstanding Public Service at the group's Annual Edward R. Roybal Legacy Gala in Washington, D.C.
The prestigious award pays tribute to the organization's founder and former President Emeritus, the late-Congressman Edward R. Roybal, and recognizes exemplary public service by a Latino elected or appointed official whose work has given meaningful voice to the people they serve and to the Latino community. Past recipients include New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, and California Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, among others. The award will be formally presented at the Edward R. Roybal Legacy Gala, NALEO's annual Washington, D.C. fundraising event also named in honor of the late-Congressman.
This year, NALEO honors one of our nation's most effective and influential state legislators, Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte. Over the course of her years of public service, Senator Van de Putte has become known for her advocacy on behalf of children and veterans, as well as for improved access to health care, quality education, and economic development. During her five terms in the Texas State Senate, she has consistently introduced and sponsored legislation supporting working families by ensuring that legislation provides them with greater opportunities in life.
"Senator Leticia Van de Putte epitomizes the type of leadership this award seeks to honor," said NALEO President and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion. "Her unwavering commitment to public service and her remarkable record of legislative accomplishments on behalf of her constituents is an inspiration to every NALEO member and to all elected leaders across the country."
"Like my father, Senator Van de Putte is a trailblazer," said Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard, daughter of the late-Congressman and NALEO Educational Fund Board Member. "As one of the first Latinas to ever serve in the Texas State Senate, she has had to overcome numerous challenges and obstacles to get to where she is today. I think my father would be pleased to see this award presented to Senator Van de Putte. She not only represents his legacy of public service, but also has used her leadership to open the doors for others -- especially young Latinas -- to lead our nation into the 21st century."
This year's Gala takes place with the generous support of numerous sponsors, including the Chair of the 2009 Edward R. Roybal Legacy Gala, Comcast.
About the NALEO Educational Fund:
The NALEO Educational Fund is the leading organization that facilitates full Latino participation in the American political process, from citizenship to public service. The NALEO Educational Fund is a non-profit, non-partisan organiz