One must
admit, it sounds so right and it’s so simple – National Security begins by
sealing the border. If the border is sealed, no illegal immigrants ergo no
terrorists can come in to the country. What’s so tough about understanding
that? Those who on an almost daily basis hammer home that message seem so
frustrated that the simple message seems to be lost on Federal authorities.
Watch CNN’s Lou Dobbs, or Fox’s O’Reilly, or Buchanan or in almost any home
town conservative radio talk show hosts – they all pound the message and
they are all frustrated and angry.
Patrick Osio, Jr. has written a short but
intensive manual on the Mexican perspective on numerous issues between our
two countries. The manual is an in depth primer on the culture and protocol
for better understanding Mexicans that in turn allows establishing personal
and business relationships, and how to avoid the most common faux pas that
can ruin relationships and business deals.
The manual is available through Electronic delivery for $9.95
making it possible to download the manual to save on your hard
drive, printing its entirety or particular sections while
reaping considerable savings over printed copies.
During the week
of 6 Dec, the world was treated to a bit of rebellion in the US congress
concerning the passing of the "9/11" security bill. Two lawmakers had
stopped the whole process. One wanting more power left for the pentagon
in intelligence matters, and the other wanting federal control of
driver's license issuance by the states. The latter was taken by many as
a purely racist request as it was directed at "illegal" immigrants (read
Mexican). These two members were persuaded to come on board and the bill
was sent to President Bush for signing into law, finally.
The Chairman of
the Judiciary Committee of the House imperiled the United States of
America more than can be imagined by 9/11 veterans for the most specious
of reasons. His demands for national driver license standards were
emotional, not very responsible and should not have been discussed while
intelligence reforms recommended by the 9/11… The greater good and a
long-range view to handling immigration problems swept him aside.
In times of
crisis, many ethnic groups will stand up to defend their land and their
people from aggression and occupation. This sense of duty and
patriotism is a quality that has been exhibited most impressively by the
inhabitants of a small Caribbean island, Puerto Rico (also know by its
Native American name, Borínquen). Drawing from three primary cultural and
genetic backgrounds – Spanish, Native American and African – the Puerto
Rican people have shown great fortitude and courage in battlefield combat.
From NCLR
NCLR worked hard over
the past months to keep an eye on the harmful provisions of the
intelligence bill. Although the main intent of the bill was the reform of
our nation’s intelligence infrastructure, provisions related to border
security and immigration were included in each package. The Bill Does
Include Some Immigration Provisions Important to Our Community
By Robert Miranda
Clear Channel Communications helps promote nationalist fervor by employing
jingoistic talk show hosts whose mindset is rooted in racist ideals and
bankrupt notions of nationalism. All the same, the public, now more than
ever before, depends on an energized communications industry determined to
use its resources to build a culture of democracy, justice and equality. But
such a charge will not be the case for Clear Channel Communications, the
nation's largest radio chain.
Policy: Christina DeConcini/National Immigration Forum
In the December 13th
edition of Roll Call, Executive Editor Mort Kondracke outlines the
political and policy imperatives that make comprehensive immigration
reform a front-burner issue for the 109th Congress… Kondracke,
the columnist and pundit who is also co-host of Fox News Channel’s
Beltway Boys, recommends presidential leadership and praises the
examples set by members of Congress like Senators John McCain and Ted
Kennedy and Representatives Jim Kolbe and Jeff Flake.
December 13th was
my birthday. I know you missed it. It is tough being born in
December. There is simply too much going on to pay attention to
details - the celebration of the birth of the messiah de jour, the
miracles of the lights that would not go out, the winter solstice,
saturnalia, Mithras, Fiesta de Guadalupe, Las Posadas, Christmas, and
Kwanza. I mean the reason for the party goes on and on. Not to
mention it is Yule time, which is the celebration of the god Odin.
He is one of my favorites. Odin was the god of intoxicating drink
and ecstasy, as well as the god of death. Who cannot love a god of
death, drink, and ecstasy, especially in this season?
By Edward P. Lazear
Hoover Institution Immigrants from Mexico do far worse when they migrate to the United
States than do immigrants from other countries. Those difficulties are more
a reflection of U.S.
immigration policy than they are of underlying cultural differences. The
following facts from the 2000 U.S. Census reveal that Mexican immigrants do
not move into mainstream American society as rapidly as do other immigrants.
In January of
2004, George W. Bush proposed an immigration overhaul which would match
American companies with foreign workers needing jobs. The program would
provide temporary legal status through a guest worker program to millions
of undocumented workers in the U.S. and possibly others who would come
into the country legally if jobs are available for them… Because the
right wing of the GOP was very much opposed to the idea, Bush soft-pedaled
it and the plan went nowhere.
By US Sen. John Coryn
“We’re making
strides in bolstering our security. Some have suggested, wrongly, that our
security needs dictate the need to build a wall between our countries, or
deploy military troops along our border. Security must be achieved without
causing irreparable damage to mutually beneficial trade and economic
relationships, which create jobs and a better quality of life for those on
both sides of the border. We also need to have common sense policies that
reward those who obey our laws.
The
following report was written, revised and submitted by:
Manuel Hernández, Erika Robles and Burt Posner to the National Hispanic/
Latino American and Migrant Agenda
This report is the culmination of numerous hours of hard work by the members
of the committee. After a series of regional meetings and a national
conference, which was held in Chicago
last June, the report was voted on and approved by the Summit
participants. Recommendations are made at the end of the report. The report
will be included in its entirety.
By Lynn Brezosky
Sitting in a hotel
lobby in the Mexican border town of McAllen, Raul Yzaguirre marveled at
the urbanization of what was once a somnolent center of cattle ranches and
citrus groves… Now, symbols of affluence -- golf courses, luxury cars and
gated developments -- mix with the shantytowns of the newest immigrants.
And businesses no longer ignore the spending power of the more than 80
percent Hispanic population.
As a Latina
mother, I want my children to speak Spanish and to acquire a sense of what
it means to be a Hispanic. They should be familiar with songs, games
and stories that we knew when we were growing up. The holiday season
now upon us, I began looking at gifts for pre-teens that can help instill
that extra “something” in children… In a large store I discovered
such an extensive array of so-called “educational toys” that I could have
used a guidebook to find my way through the aisles and the displays.
By Gabriel Espinosa Gonzalez, COHA Research Associate.
With court
confidante Condoleezza Rice soon to be at the helm of the State
Department, the possible ascension of ultraconservative political
appointee John Bolton will stress the Bush administration’s conversion of
the agency from a relatively passive and ineffective dissenter under Colin
Powell, to an aggressive crusader for the administration’s
ideologically-driven foreign policy agenda in the second term.
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage
every day of the year.
By Alex
Sanchez, COHA Research Fellow
Washington
continues to have inordinate influence over the organization. Its
ill-advised decision to back Flores is an example of the detrimental
hemispheric policy that results from hiring the ill-prepared Roger Noriega
and the ideologue Otto Reich to the Latin American bureau of the State
Department.
Americas
Program, Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC)
Reyno Bartolo
Hernández died of heatstroke in the Arizona desert near Yuma on May 22,
2001. He wasn’t the only Mexican farmer who lost his life that day trying
to cross the border. Thirteen of his countrymen and -women perished along
with him in one more of the migratory tragedies of modern history…. Reyno
and his companions were small coffee growers from the township of Atzalan,
Veracruz. Atzalan is a formerly rich region but in recent years it has
been impoverished by senseless policies.
By Chris Hawley
TAPACHULA, Mexico - Hector Hernán Aguilar is a burly butcher from
Honduras, skilled with a knife and tough enough to look out for himself.
But if there's one thing he fears, it's the gangs known as the Mara
Salvatrucha. … Aguilar had crossed Honduras and Guatemala, hiked
through the jungle and swum across the Suchiate River to Mexico on his way
to cross illegally into the United States. The next step was to hop a
freight train near Tapachula.
Arizona
Paper is Keeping Count of Deaths in the Borderland
– Started Web site to help search for missing. By Erin Olson Michael
Marizco, a border reporter for the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, tells the
story of an illegal immigrant from Michoacan, Mexico,
who was separated from his wife on their way to the United States.
The man visited Arizona's port of entry, where immigrants cross into
America,
every night for a week, hoping his wife would be there. He didn't know if
she was alive or if she had perished in the journey across the Arizona
desert — and Marizco doesn't know if the man ever found out. He eventually
left the United States and returned to Michoacan alone.
Younger Latinos react to
Prop. 200 -- New generation of activists born By Yvonne
Wingett The passage
of Proposition 200 has set off a wave of activism among Arizona's
young Latinos, a level not seen since the Chicano movement of the 1960s. …
Back then, young Latinos engaged for the first time in boycotts, marches
and fasts in support of social justice. The Chicano movement shaped the
personalities and politics of a generation of Arizona's Hispanic leaders.
As he becomes one of
the Senate's two Hispanic members, Ken Salazar is going to be pushed into
a role he is clearly uncomfortable with: a high-profile voice for
Hispanics nationwide… He may push back, at first. Salazar resists being
labeled Hispanic in much the same way golfer Tiger Woods dislikes others'
attempts to identify him with any single racial category… Salazar's might
be a smart position to take in a state that's 75 percent white and only 17
percent Hispanic.
By Steve Rosenthal
When it came to getting out the Democratic vote in Ohio during the
presidential election, we hit our target numbers. My organization, America
Coming Together, along with our 32 America Votes partner organizations,
the Democratic National Committee and the Kerry-Edwards campaign not only
exceeded our turnout goals for the Buckeye State, but far exceeded
anything the Democrats have done in the past… And we still lost.
After consultations
across the hemisphere regarding the submission of a Mexican candidate for
the position of the secretary general of the Organization of American
States, the government of Mexico has decided upon Luis Ernesto Derbez
Bautista as the ideal person to strengthen the institution.
For many Latin
American victims of torture, the infamous pictures of abuse at Iraq's Abu
Ghraib prison brought back not only chilling recollections of their own
experiences, but also confirmed what they have long maintained: that their
torturers were following interrogation guidelines set by the US Army
School of the Americas (SOA).
By
Richard N. Baldwin T. 
By
Raoul Lowery Contreras
By
Steven J. Ybarra, JD
