Hispanic Voting and the Difficulties of Unifying

Like Jones-Correa talks about in Between Two Nations, getting the hispanic bloc to unify can be a difficult task. A lot depends on how a hispanic person chooses to define their identity, both culturally and politically. Jones-Correa writes about the "state-sponsored" identity, a label given to all so called "hispanics" by the census bureau. This is a great way to count population but a horrible tool for defining an actual set of people. "Hispanics" can choose whether or not to identify with this label and they can choose when they want to.

State-Sponsored identity gives way to possible advantages for minorities at times and allows them to use thes advatages whenever they see it necessary. Along voting lines, state-sponsored identities is not a time when unity occurrs. "Hispanics" generally vote along a different ethnic identity known as "situational identity."

Situational identity refers to a choice made by a member of the hispanic population as to which ethnic group to belong to. When it comes to voting many hispanics vote along the lines of their country of orgin. As the article below states, Cubans vote with Cubans, Mexicans with Mexicans, and so on.

Mobilization in the hispanic bloc seems to be difficult with voting because this isn't an issue that all hispanics agree on. However, one thing is cetain, if Mexicans wish to gain more power and better rights in the United States they must mobilize their vote better. Even though the Mexican population is young it can still be a powerful group. And along the lines of boarder control, Mexican-Americans need to unify and make some decisions together. If they wish to keep illegal immigrants out that they feel are bringing their ethnic identity down, then they need to vote for better boarder control options. But if Mexican-Americans decide to vote along their state-sponsored identity then they need to unify with Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and the rest of the hispanic population. A task much easier said than done.


http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/garcia.htm

Shady Officials

Remedios Gomez Arnau was hired to help the community. Now, she is making a bad name for Mexicans trying to enter the country. Gomez was helping illegal immigrants gain entrance into this country in some pretty shady ways. Her office was assisting in some applications for identity cards and now protestors are saying those cards weren't supposed to be issued so freely. Gomez is a consul who is posted in our government from Mexico. Now that she has drawn negative attention protestors are calling for her removal.

This is a bad move on Gomez's part especially when the immigration issue is so hot right now. She needs to be aware of the social setting and act in proper ways. Now this shines a bad light on Mexicans. Mexicans don't need to take any steps backwards in the immigration question.

Gomez says the protestors should stop and just talk things out. Gomez shouldn't do illegal things and should repect her position and not abuse the power.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/04/07/news/sandiego/cac55a1043b8a4888825741f00776e66.txt

Made in LA

This past week I attended the viewing of "Made in LA", the movie about the Los Angeles garment industry. The type of behavior and the terrible wages that the Mexican immigrants had to endure was ridiculous. These workers were treated like animals and told how worthless and replaceable they are. Their bosses would tell them to work 12 hours for 7 days a week or they're fired. Could this be right in any situation? I was thinking aren't the workers illegal and working in a country they technically don't belong in anyway? And why didn't their friends and family tell them that the U.S. isn't all that it is cracked up to be?

While it is true that the Mexican illegal aliens don't really belong in the U.S., as far as the government is concerned, there is still a moral responsibility to treat all workers with some level of workers rights. These immigrants have children and families back in Mexico which they are expected to support. 3 dollars an hour isn't enough for one person let alone a family.

The U.S. needs to decide on two things: First, what do we care about more, keeping the low skilled labor market strong or should we fight to end illegal immigration. As much as we love capitalism we should really consider what we are trying to stop when we stop immigration. People enjoy their cheap clothing prices but now they want to put an end to the source (immigrant labor). We have to step back and look at what it really is we are trying to stop, and we must do so in a humane manner.

Wow!!!

This video is ridiculous. It is Jerry Lawler, a former pro wrestler, tearing apart Puerto Ricans. I can't believe his opinions, however exaggerated, are so blatantly anti-Puerto Rico. He illustrates the opinion white Americans had of Puerto Ricans in the 1970's. And just like Sanchez writes about in Boricua Power the Puerto Ricans are thought of as less than American and worthless. 

After losing their economic worth as the industrial seen moved to a more mechanized form, Puerto Ricans began to be viewed as an uneducated burden on American Society. For a tv station to feel like it is okay to show the video of Lawler the Puerto Rican situation must have been pretty poor. And keep in mind that video was directed to Puerto Ricans. It shows the amount of negative reinforcement towards keeping Puerto Ricans less than equal. 

Terrible...youtube.com/watch?=RyHc7y-7YhU

Immigrants and Welfare

This article is pointing out the extremely high levels of poverty which immigrants are experiencing in the U.S. The percent of immigrants living below the poverty line is much higher than the poverty of native residents. The American government is spending billions of dollars on Welfare programs and support for immigrants who have come here with nothing and remain here with nothing.

Much like the Puerto Ricans in New York and other big cities, immigrants may come here feeling they will find work and live out "the American dream." But like the Puerto Ricans have discovered, jobs aren't on every street corner and there is a good chance the jobs many immigrants thought they will get just don't exist.

So now we are stuck with our own poverty problem and dealing with other countries problems of poverty. Immigration, legal and illegal, needs to be better monitored and slowed down. I understand many immigrants perform in jobs that many native residents would not even consider working at but we don't need to bring in more immigrants than there are jobs. I feel bad for these immigrants who have been mislead to think they will live prosperously only to find they are poorer than in their old country. The article below highlights the issue of immigrant welfare and shows the level to which it has spun out of control. We need a solution to this issue and it isn't more immigrants.
http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=iic_immigrationissuecenters7fd8

Education is Key

Bedolla brings up a great point in her conclusion about political awareness leading to political involvement. She points out how bringing more political curricula into the classroom can help to mobilize the community as a whole. Kids talk to other kids about politics and they talk to their parents. She explains the positive effects as a circular motion.

In my experience I find that I was political at a very young age. Things like school government and parental conversations helped me to get involved. Instilling this kind of mentality is what made East LA such a politically mobile community. The disconnect of the Montebello group really hampered their ability to get politically active.

You can't force kids to love politics or even care enough to learn about them. But, giving students the opportunity to be exposed to politics is crucial to advancing the feeling of citizenship. Enhancing this involvement with Bedolla's six mobilization steps would definitely get the latino bloc moving a step forward.

Right to Vote?

Voting is a right that all citizens over the age of 18 get to enjoy. We can vote for local and federal government officials, vote on bonds, or vote to build a new school. We get at the very least put our two cents in and impact our communities. But what if you were living in these communities where you governed by men you didn't elect, passing bonds you can't vote on, or building a school you would never have encouraged. There are millions of legal non-citizens who live and work and pay taxes. Their kids go to the schools legally and they benefit from some other public services. These non-citizens can't vote but are allowed to go to war for the U.S. 

These people should at least get to vote on a local level. They have needs and they want change for the better but if they can only sit back and watch the world pass them by they are helpless. Like Bedolla writes about the East LA immigrant and 2nd generation Mexicans. They came together and made positive changes with their voting turnout. Give the non-citizens the right to vote and they can make similar positive changes. 

However, I do feel they should have some sort of screening test. The immigrants should have to know something about the U.S. before they can start voting. And I think this article shows that the time to change the law is long since past. Too many people are going unaccounted for. We have got to work on this. 

www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=265

Canada Calling

According to this article (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0503canada03.html
Canada needs immigrants. They need labor, they need growth, they need Mexicans.

Well, as everyone knows America is in what is being called a immigration crisis. As mentioned in the above article, there's a growing number of programs, both federal AND civilian, attempting to deter Mexicans from crossing the boarder. The minute men of Arizona is being openly criticized in Mexico. Mexicans are also taking the minute men message as "we don't want you here."

If this is the case (which it is most certainly is in some cases) than the U.S. government needs to accept this change in Mexican migration patterns. The U.S. could work together with Canada, a country in need, with us, a country in surplus. The U.S. doesn't need to encourage immigration any more than it is going to happen anyway. To cut down on illegal immigrantion we should just move Mexico's focus to Canada RIGHT?

WRONG! Canada is calling for "skilled" labor. Educated professionals from Mexico. Educated professionals aren't coming into the U.S. at problem numbers like the uneducated crowd. Canada and the U.S. are dealing with two different kinds of immigrants. So even though the article sounds like the answer to everyones prayers is sitting right in front of us, it's not. I hope this kind of idea doesn't get into the minds of the American public because this is not a solution. I encourage Canada to continue its mission to up its immigration but I don't want this mission to seem like a possible answer to the U.S. problem.

The search continues.

Taxes for Illegals

Earlier in class this week we were talking about the tax issues illegal immigrants face. They work hard and pay taxes but never receive government help or tax returns. Millions, possibly billions, of dollars are being pumped into the U.S. government by people who technically don't exist. These phantom tax payers never collect social security, Medicare, or even apply for their income tax returns. Well there is good new for supporters of illegal immigrants receiving benefits.

Under new House rules, which can be read about in the link below, illegal immigrants will be able to benefit from an economic stimulus plan which may grant illegals up to $1200 just for being here. With the new plan anyone with a Tax Identification Number will be eligible. The reason being that once a TIN is obtained then a person is in the IRS's system. No other identification is required and illegal immigrants get on the fast track to collecting returns.

So, what does this mean for immigration and border control? Mentioned in the article, this will probably increase immigration. It will also most likely encourage illegal immigrants to stay here all year instead of going back to Mexico in off-seasons. Obviously if you are an opponent of the current immigration issues and solutions this will just fuel your fire. It seems this is a massive loop-hole that somehow our government dug itself into. How can we try to stop illegal immigration if we are essentially sending a message of welcomeness and support?

Is this really a back-door way of covering up the U.S. support of cheap migrant labor? Maybe the government realized that we need agriculture workers and we need to start treating them like humans. Who knows? Whatever the case this new House proposal may actually be an immigration stimulus along with an economic stimulus. It will be interesting to see if illegal immigrants start literally cashing in on this new opportunity.

Just more mixed messages from our friends in Washington.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,326346,00.html

Border Patrol

Today, just like in the past, border issues are hot debate items in all walks of life. Most people feel strongly, one way or the other, about what should be done to manage a nearly 2000 mile border. Some suggest building a wall, similar to what the Chinese did centuries ago. Some people want to dig a trench and have 24 hour surveillance along the entire line. And some individuals feel we need to deport millions of immigrants and slow the growing population problems.

I don't know the right answer, however, I do know that if the border patrol remains corrupt we don't stand a chance of solving anything. I'm not saying every border patrol officer is corrupt but read the case about Jose Olivas Jr. He accepted payments for assisting illegal border crossings. We must get control of these kinds of actions before we can begin to close the borders. If the people monitoring the borders can't be trusted then we're in big trouble.

The problem is that money kind make people do uncharacteristic things. Many people would have acted the same way as Olivas had they been given the chance. Like David Gutierrez illustrated in Walls and Mirrors, the countries opinion on the immigration question is often split and ever changing. So, if Olivas has no personal reason not to let illegal aliens in and he personally wants money, then the money will always win.

In the Olivas article it mentions that he would inform his crossing customers when a check point was closed. To me this reveals an even greater issue. We don't even employ enough border patrol officers to keep our check points continuously open; and people want a 24 hour sentry system? Overall I need to keep looking into the border crossing issue to learn a bit more about possible solutions. However, I do know that if the border patrol officers can't be properly monitored than there is no reason to expect a properly managed border.

check out the article by clicking on the yahoo link

A corrupt border

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/border_patrol_corruption;_ylt=Ar8ovBQ36WNG3pb.WIZiKKZQuk0A