HispanicVista Columnists - June 27, 2005

By Patrick Osio, Jr./HispanicVista.com

June 27, 2005

 

  All along the US-Mexico border businesses and residents on both sides are the ones who feel the negative economic impacts due to northbound border crossing delays. However, discussions on economic disruptions due to delays have been difficult to understand due to a lack of actual figures supporting the amount of losses that are usually thrown around.

The most active vehicular and pedestrian border crossing ports-of-entry are the San Diego County in the US and the municipalities of Tijuana and Tecate in Baja California. In order to better understand the extent of the economic impacts, SANDAG (San Diego Association of Governments) commissioned a study on cross border personal trips for work, vacation, shopping or recreation purposes. The core of the study was...

By Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez

June 24, 2005

Let’s get this straight: curbing illegal immigration is a worthy cause; fanning the flames of resentment is not.
Gov. Schwarzenegger should understand the difference. So it’s hard to explain why the governor would praise a posse of armed vigilantes who have declared it their duty to stop Mexicans from crossing the border.
The last time a California governor whipped up anti-immigrant sentiment it was to bolster his own sagging political fortunes. I cannot imagine that Gov. Schwarzenegger, an immigrant like me, would do something so cynical.
Especially when there are viable options for reducing unlawful migration, while protecting vital California industries that depend on immigrant workers.

By Raoul Lowery Contreras/HispanicVista.com

June 27, 2005

 

State Assemblyman Mark Wyland has challenged this writer to a debate on a subject he feels deeply about, Immigration, including illegal immigration.  Unfortunately, after issuing his challenge on these pages, I accepted the challenge and was informed that the North County Times would offer to make the arrangements.

(SIC)…In the Times (June 19), he writes: 

“My information comes from timely research done by nonpartisan organizations and individuals, including the Pew Hispanic Center, the Center for Immigration Studies and nationally acclaimed Harvard economist George Borjas. The evidence is in…Health care, education and incarceration costs California taxpayers nearly $9 billion per year.”

National Immigration Forum

These days, any proposal to fix our broken immigration system by providing some kind of status to the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country is met with a derisive cry of “amnesty.”  Thus, the opportunity to engage in realistic, thoughtful, and useful policy debate is often stalled. 

 As Tamar Jacoby, Senior Fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute writes in a recent Wall Street Journal essay, “…the restrictionists have been so successful in leveling this accusation, that the A-word -- amnesty -- is all but universally accepted as one of the graver moral affronts of our day.” 

 An example of this is the reaction of some lawmakers and advocates to the immigration reform legislation introduced by Senators John McCain and Edward Kennedy and…

In Service to a Grateful Nation

By Robert Miranda

Special to HispanicVista.com

 

A study released by the Washington-based Pew Hispanic Center in 2003 showed that Latinos in general were not in full support of the war with Iraq.  The study, released in April of that year, was conducted in English and Spanish and showed that 61 percent of Latinos supported the war, while 27 percent indicated that they opposed it.

Today, Latinos make up 11 percent of the armed forces and the Defense Department spends approximately $27 million of its $180 million recruitment budget on bilingual personnel and Spanish-language publications, according to department statistics.

Clearly Latinos are doing their part to help build a “free Iraq.”

Indeed, once these Latinos complete their tour of duty in Iraq, what do they come home to?

By Tom Barry

International Relations Center

June 2005

Whose side are you on? That’s the question that President George W. Bush asked in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. And he gave the world his answer and warning: “Either you are with us or against us.”1

The president has not retreated from his “them-versus-us” framing of international affairs. At home, restrictionist groups demanding a clampdown on legal and illegal immigration are framing the immigration debate in the same dualistic terms. They insist that U.S. political leaders tell the public whose side they are on--the side of pro-immigrant groups, or the side of the opponents of “mass immigration,” “open borders,” and “immigrant terrorists.”

The 12 Steps of Immigration Anonymous

June 27, 2005

Steps 7-9

Thank you for returning to visit me here again for the third time this month. The immigration reform debate in the U.S. has become so discombobulating I had to check into this treatment center. I’ve been learning a lot since I was first admitted into this facility several weeks ago. I hope you might find the following useful, should you decide that you too may be a problem thinker, suffering from the disease of immigrationism.

Immigration Anonymous ( IA ) is a fellowship of U.S. residents who share their experience, strength and hope with one another that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from immigrationism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop stinking thinking. There are no dues or fees for IA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. IA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to think soberly about immigration policy reform and help other problem thinkers to achieve sobriety.

COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ & PATRISIA GONZALES
 June 27, 2005
First person column by Roberto Rodriguez
 

Even though the whole world now knows that the Iraq war was illegally conjured up, president Bush continues to assert that he will press on with his war “for the sake of world peace.”
How funny is that?
That's like Rush Limbaugh going to an all-you-can-eat restaurant for the sake of world hunger.
For the record, the administration claims that despite no Iraq link to 911 or WMDs, the president - despite the bad intelligence -- acted in good faith. Iraq's infrastructure has been destroyed and tens of thousands of Iraqis are now dead, but he acted in good faith. Truth seems to be that the bad intelligence he received was the one he asked for (see his then counter-terrorism chief, Richard Clarke and the Downing Street memos).
Actually, it's not certain that the president's statements and behavior qualify as humor, tragicomedy, silliness, arrogance or sheer incompetence.

Securing Our Borders

By Richard N. Baldwin T. /HispanicVista.com

June 27, 2005

 I'll bet you thought that I was talking about the US Southern border. I am, but I am also including the Mexican Northern border. The two go hand in hand.

Starting with México, we see that in the middle of June, the federal government finally sent the federal forces and army into the Northern Border area cities in an attempt to take control of that lawless region after a newly sworn in police chief in Nuevo Laredo was assassinated just hours after starting his new job. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. In the beginning of the week of 13 June, federal officers and the army moved in. Police stations were closed; cops underwent "vetting" with some taken to México to be investigated. Then, by Tuesday, federal officials said that the federals would begin evacuation on Thursday. Now, what was this? The federals arrive to do a massive clean up and then start withdrawing three days later? Was the Fox administration afraid of offending the drug lords? That did not make sense. But too bad the federal government didn't move into the Juárez murdered-women found in the desert situation 10 years ago.

By  Amarilis Zozaya

Designs inspired in prehispanic themes aim to promote Mexican and Latin American cultures across the USA

Ever since they founded their design studio in 1996, Cristina Pineda and Ricardo Covalin aimed to spread out the richness of Mexican and Latin American culture and traditions all over the world by portraying them on silk and fashion. Their fashionable designs are exposed on silk ties, scarves, hand bags, dresses, sandals, silver and silk jewelry, bathing suits, and other fine products.

The two designers fell in love with the pre-Hispanic culture when they had to spend some time within the indigenous community of Yucatán, Mexico, submerging themselves into their culture and developing a taste for their arts and crafts while teaching them about mixing colors and creating original designs as a way of life. The task was part of a College project, where Cristina was studying textile designs and Ricardo industrial designs. 

By Marcela Miguel Berland

Special to HispanicVista.com

 

Although Hispanics are acknowledged as an important cultural force in this country, many misconceptions about them prevail.  I often hear people say that Latinos are lazy, not interested in education, late to work, and that they drink over weekends. Such ignorance, misunderstanding and negative stereotyping are infuriating.

Like many immigrant groups, Hispanics believe in “The American Dream.”  Many come with no material belongings, only dreams and aspirations in a land of opportunity that will allow them to improve their lives, or at least, to give their children more opportunities than they had. 

While in many Latin American countries it is difficult to rise to a higher social class, in the U.S. education and hard work are tickets to success. 

By Dr. Yaron Brook

In order to do business in China, several well-known U.S. companies have agreed to block certain "offensive" words, e.g., freedom, for China's communist censors. Important as it is to condemn these companies, it is even more important to applaud the well-known U.S. companies that refuse to help China kill freedom.

"Congratulations to Time, USA Today, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal for their courageous support of freedom of speech; and shame on Microsoft, Yahoo and Google for their betrayal of this crucial value--the very value that makes their own existences possible," said Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute.

By Domingo Ivan  Casañas/HispanicVista.com

June 27, 2005

 

Last year I wrote an article about ESL (English as a second language) for high school students.  As I do more research and remembering my own experience when arriving in this country without any English proficiency, I must try to understand in what way has bilingual education help our Spanish-speaking children.  It was back in 1974 when the Supreme Court in Lau v. Nichols ignored two hundred years of English-only instruction in America’s schools and said that students who did not speak English must receive special treatment from local schools.  This ruling allowed an enormous expansion of bilingual education.  Within a short time bilingual education had turned into a massive political pork barrel. 

By Dr. Michael A. Weinstein, Yevgeny Bendersky
Power and Interest News Report (PINR)

20 June 2005
Since the U.S. intervention in Iraq revealed the limits of Washington's ability to implement its security strategy of becoming the unquestioned political and military arbiter of the globalizing world economy, the underlying tendencies towards a multipolar configuration of world politics have crystallized into hard and obvious fact.
The scenario of U.S. power dominating in every region of the world for generations to come was always an ideological construction that was bound to be contradicted by the rise of regional power centers with interests at variance with Washington's aims; the difficulties encountered in the occupation of Iraq simply hastened the awareness of competing power centers that Washington could be opposed effectively without incurring unacceptable costs.

By John P. Schmal/HispanicVista.com

The state of Veracruz, located along the eastern Gulf Coast of the Mexican Republic, has a population of 6,856,415 people, representing 7.39% of Mexico's national population in 1990. Politically divided into 203 municipios, the state has an area of 27,759 square miles (71,896 square kilometers). Veracruz shares common borders with the states of Tamaulipas (to the north), Oaxaca and Chiapas (to the south), Tabasco (to the southeast), and Puebla, Hidalgo, and San Luis Potosí (on the west). Veracruz also shares 430 miles (690 kilometers) of its eastern boundary with the Gulf of Mexico.

By Sarah E. Schaffer.

Council on Hemispheric Affairs

Yesterday, President Bush again urged Congress to approve the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), signaling that the controversial measure, which would remove nearly all tariffs on U.S. exports to the region, may finally be coming to a vote in the House. Casting the issue in terms of national security, Bush argued that “strengthening our economic ties with our democratic neighbors is a vital issue of national importance,” and that CAFTA would promote stability and prosperity in the hemisphere, as well as reduce immigration from Central America...

Immigration… Here We Come

By Erika Robles/HispanicVista.com

June 20, 2005

     I couldn't believe my eyes when I came across the "Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act" bill, introduced in both the House and Senate on May 12, 2005. To my surprise, John McCain (R-AZ) is sponsoring this bill, along with Ted Kennedy –which did not surprise me at all.
There are so many positive sections in this bill –and therefore controversial- that makes me wonder if it's ever going to pass. In the Senate, the bill might move more efficiently, as there is more interest in discussing the topic. On the other hand, in the House, the process might take longer as they are not as willing to hold a debate on the issue there.

By Hampden Macbeth.
Council for Hemispheric Affairs
 

On April 29, 2005 Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Cuban President Fidel Castro met in Havana to renew their call for a hemispheric trade pact, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), as an alternative to the U.S.-led Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The leaders’ initiative is merely the latest in a series of joint actions aimed at strengthening economic and political ties between the two leftist, anti-U.S. regimes.  
Chávez and Castro’s mutual affection for each other began 11 years ago when Chávez visited Havana upon his release from a Venezuelan prison in 1994, after staging a failed coup. Since then, the two men have remained friendly and after Chávez won the Venezuelan presidency in..

Patrick Osio, Jr. has written a short but intensive E-book on the Mexican perspective on numerous issues between our two countries. The E-book is also an in depth primer on Mexican culture and protocol for better understanding that allows establishing personal and business relationships, and how to avoid the most common faux pas that can ruin relationships and business deals. Literally this book has been on immense help to thousands, you too can gain from Mr. Osio's lifetime experience.

COMMENTARY & NEWS

Week of  June 27, 2005

Death penalty debate finally produces useful result

USA Today

June 21, 2005

 

For the past half century, the nation has been locked - deadlocked might be a better word - in a bitter debate over the death penalty. But what if there is a middle ground?

With little fanfare, a compromise has been gaining favor more than a decade, drawing support as DNA evidence has exonerated inmates on death row. Last week, it reached a milestone. Texas, site of one in three executions, gave juries the option to sentence defendants in capital cases to life without parole rather than death.

Closing a chapter of Southern history
By Linda Chavez

TownHall.com

June 21, 2005

I spent much of the summer of 1964 at the public swimming pool near my home in Denver. I turned 17 that year, but my parents thought I was too young to work, so every day, I would walk the dozen or so blocks to Cheesman Park, with my suit and towel and a book to read. In August that summer I met a Southern boy who struck up a conversation poolside. I don't remember his name or where exactly he was from, but I do remember his Southern drawl, warm and liquid, and what he taught me about racial attitudes in his part of the country.

To Keep Kids Out of Gangs, Give Them Identity

By David Madrid

Pacific News Service
Jun 21, 2005
This year, there have already been six gang-related deaths here in San Jose, and our juvenile hall is reporting more violence than it has seen in decades. In response, the city is rushing to support existing anti-gang programs and start new ones. They need to re-think their strategy.

With $4 million in new resources, the city is educating youths on the negative aspects of gang life, reducing the availability of gang clothing and investing in mobile street outreach units.

The Mounting Protests

By William F. Buckley Jr.

It's correct that there is political commotion mounting in opposition to the Iraq war. It is important to distinguish between two kinds. One, which is gaining attention, centers on misrepresentations. The so-called Downing Street Memo is cited. This records an exchange at 10 Downing St. on July 23, 2002, at which, it is said, the representatives of Mr. Bush made it clear that the president had resolved to proceed against Iraq irrespective of what the United Nations might do.

Rejecting that account, the Bush people have said that the invasion was not finally planned until after the appeal to the United Nations by Secretary of State Colin Powell on Feb. 5, 2003.

Critics cite lax efforts to enforce federal worksite immigration laws

By Chris Strohm

U.S. employers continue to hire illegal immigrants because of lax enforcement efforts and the proliferation of fake documents, lawmakers and government auditors said Tuesday.

The Homeland Security Department's bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is responsible for enforcing worksite immigration laws, shot back by issuing a fact sheet outlining numerous investigations conducted within the last year. ICE took responsibility for worksite enforcement when the Immigration and Naturalization Service was abolished in 2003.

Groups voice fears about Minuteman intentions

By Lakendra Lewis Corpus Christi Caller-Times
June 24, 2005

Statewide civil rights organizers met Thursday in Corpus Christi to announce the formation of the Contra Minuteman Coalition, which is opposed to the Minuteman Project, a civilian-led border watch group.

During a news conference at the Modern Cafe, about 25 officials from six organizations that included the American GI Forum and LULAC voiced their concern that the Minuteman Project, which is in the process of forming a Texas chapter, poses a threat to the state.

A Monumental War of Words

A Ventura County group's vow to force Baldwin Park to remove an inscription at a Metrolink station is based on an error, artist says.

By David Pierson and Wendy Lee, Times Staff Writers

Set at the junction of two freeways and along a major railroad route, the working-class town of Baldwin Park likes to call itself "the Hub of the San Gabriel Valley."
But the city, about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles and nearly 80% Latino, today finds itself the hub of an increasingly bitter fight...

Activists Worry as Bush Stumps for Patriot Act

By Viji Sundaram,

Jun 20, 2005

As President George Bush made a case before Congress last week for making permanent certain expiring provisions in the controversial Patriot Act, as well as to broaden it, civil rights activists worry that it could come to pass.
The Act, passed in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S., among other things allows expanded surveillance of terror suspects, increases the use of material witness warrants to hold suspects incommunicado, and permits secret proceedings in immigration cases.

Diary of a Mad County
By Steve lowery
Orange County Weekly
 June 24 - 30, 2005
I feel the earth move under my seat while eating lunch in the office. “Oh man, that’s an earthquake,” says Theo Douglas, but I don’t pay much mind to Theo, and I mean ever. But when I see the blood drain from fearless reporter Scott Moxley’s face, I get nervous.

Scott, who’s not originally from California, says, “What are we supposed to do?”

To which I, a native Californian, begin to pace in ever-tightening...

Farmingville flophouse landlord arrested
Allegedly crammed up to 64 immigrants into house for about $200 per month
By Sandra Peddie

June 21, 2005

Suffolk police yesterday arrested the owner of a rundown 900-square-foot house in Farmingville that has been home to as many as 64 Hispanic immigrants at a time, each paying $200 to $250 a month in rent.
Rosalina Dias, 31, of Selden, was charged with criminal contempt and criminal nuisance for allegedly violating an October court order barring her from renting the single-family house. Although officials said it was highly unusual to arrest a landlord, they took the action because of her "outrageous and total disregard for court orders," said Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy.

Recruiters Reach New Lows

By Katrina vanden Heuvel,

The Nation
 June 23, 2005

During the Vietnam War, protesters burned draft cards, rallied on campuses and marched on Robert McNamara's Pentagon. Today, with the war in Iraq raging on and on, parents, teachers and other community leaders are spearheading a new antiwar effort, telling the military to keep their hands off the children. The Times' Bob Herbert put it well: "The parents of the kids being sought by recruiters to fight this unpopular war are creating a highly vocal and potentially very effective antiwar movement."

The debacle in Iraq has made recruiting an impossibly difficult job, and recruiters are sinking to new lows in the face of growing pressure...

Pentagon Says It Wants Accurate Student Data

By Jonathan Krim

Washington Post Staff Writer
June 24, 2005

 

The Pentagon yesterday released additional details about a program to compile a database of personal information on U.S. students to help bolster recruitment, saying that 12 million names currently are on file and that collection efforts have been going on for some time.

David S. C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said the Pentagon's contract with a private marketing firm was simply an attempt to obtain the most accurate list possible of contact information for high school students ages 16 to 18 as well as all college students.

House Votes $602 Billion for Health, Education

Many Programs Cut; Drugs for Impotence Barred From Coverage Under Medicare and Medicaid

By Shailagh Murray

June 25, 2005

The House yesterday approved a health and education spending bill for 2006 that cuts deeply into scores of programs and bars Medicare and Medicaid from covering impotence drugs.

The $602 billion bill, approved 250 to 151, is slightly more than President Bush proposed but less than many lawmakers had wanted. Republicans and Democrats took up two days of floor time trying to win extra money for popular programs that fall under the $142.5 billion portion of the bill that Congress controls, the balance going to mandatory programs such as Medicaid.

States fudging high school dropout rates
By Kavan Peterson, Stateline.org Staff Writer

June 24, 2005

A new report on high school graduation rates sharply criticizes states for fudging statistics on dropouts and for setting "appallingly low" goals for boosting the number of students who get diplomas.

While boosting student achievement has become a national priority for politicians and education officials, the report laid bare states' inability to accurately track high school dropouts.

 The report, "Getting Honest About Grad Rates: How States Play the Numbers and Students Lose," also rebukes the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) for allowing states to report inaccurate graduation rates without consequence.

Secretary Spellings: “We Must Care About Every Single Child”
In Speech to National PTA, Spellings Urges Members to Take Interest In Children Aside from their Own
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Our nation's future depends on a first-class education for everyone, which will happen when people "care about every single child" in the system, not just their own, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said today in an address at the National Parent Teacher Association's Annual Convention. 
Spellings urged members to be interested in, not indifferent to, the experiences of children who have slipped through the cracks in the school system. "I am standing here today to tell you that it is imperative for our country's long-term health and well-being to care about every single child," Spellings said.  "The future of our democracy, our economy and our quality of life depends on it."

12,000 more pass AIMS, but thousands may drop out

By Pat Kossan
The Arizona Republic
June 24, 2005

An additional 12,000 members of Arizona's Class of 2006 passed the high school AIMS test on their third try this spring and after state officials lowered the passing score.
The number of Arizona's seniors who have passed the exit exam jumped to 39,700, state officials reported Thursday, or 63 percent of Arizona's first class that must pass the reading, writing and math test to get a diploma on graduation day.
There are still about 23,300 kids who haven't passed the exit exam, and they have two more tries before Graduation Day

Tennessee Minutemen claim not hate group, member words tell different story

By SHASTA CLARK
6 News Reporter

HAMBLEN COUNTY (WATE) -- You may have heard of the Minutemen, groups that
take it on themselves to guard the nation's borders against illegal aliens. Now, the Minutemen are in East Tennessee and they're stirring up controversy.

This group calls themselves the Tennessee Volunteer Minutemen. But they say others call them a hate group.

Before a meeting in Hamblen County Tuesday night, 6 News asked meeting leader Carl Whitaker if he's operating a hate group, like some people say.

Religion and Security: The New Nexus in International Relations
Scholars Pay More Attention to Role of Belief

WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 25, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Spurred by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, new books continue to come out examining the links between religion and international security. One such work, "Religion and Security: The New Nexus in International Relations," is a selection of contributions edited by Robert Seiple and Dennis Hoover (published by Rowman & Littlefield).

The essays are based on a 2003 conference, which, according to Hoover's introduction, had as its premise: "Nations that do not foster respect for religion will be vulnerable to a number of significant threats to stability and security." He added, though, that "religion is not only part of the problem; it is part of the solution."

Pew Hispanic Center Offers Fuller Portrait of Unauthorized Migrants

Most Live in Families And An Increasing Number Have High School Educations

Washington, DC - Contrary to the stereotype of undocumented migrants as single males with very little education who perform manual labor in agriculture or construction, a new Pew Hispanic Center report shows that most of the unauthorized population lives in families, a quarter has at least some college education and that illegal workers can be found in many sectors of the US economy.

Building on previous work that estimated the size and geographic dispersal of the undocumented population, the new report offers a portrait of that population in unprecedented detail by examining family composition, educational attainment, income and employment.

For Mexico's Fox, a 'Revolution' Unfulfilled

By Kevin Sullivan and Mary Jordan

Washington Post Foreign Service
June 27, 2005

MEXICO CITY -- Five years after his historic election on July 2, 2000, as President Vicente Fox enters the twilight of his term and the nation moves toward elections next year in which he is not eligible to run, even his critics say he has made government more honest and transparent, fortified the economy and championed democracy.

But the idea of Fox as a revolutionary, a powerful figure who would energize and modernize a nation long strangled by corrupt and authoritarian government, has died. And many of his closest advisers say that despite his image, Fox succumbed far earlier than anyone realized, and sooner than they wanted to admit at the time.

Physicians Believe Drugs Targeted For Ethic and Racial Groups May Provide Therapeutic Advantages

FLEMINGTON, NJ – A new national study of physicians indicates that an overwhelming majority of doctors (85%) believe that drugs targeted toward specific ethnic and racial groups may have therapeutic advantages.

The national web survey was conducted by HCD Research and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion (MCIPO), as part of their continuing investigation of the social, political and economic issues confronting the U.S. health care system.

Patients' Diversity Is Often Discounted

By Shankar Vedantam

 

When UCLA researchers reviewed the best available studies of psychiatric drugs for depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and attention deficit disorder, they found that the trials had involved 9,327 patients over the years. When the team looked to see how many patients were Native Americans, the answer was . . .

Zero.

"I don't know of a single trial in the last 10 to 15 years that has been published regarding the efficacy of a pharmacological agent in treating a serious mental disorder in American Indians," ...

New state laws debut on July 1
By Nick Timiraos,

Special to Stateline.org

June 21, 2005

A statewide smoking ban in Georgia, a set of tough laws against sex offenses in Iowa and legal procedures for disposing of unclaimed cremated remains in Connecticut; hundreds of new laws like these take effect in the states every July 1 to coincide with the start of the fiscal year.

The laws reflect the issues that matter most to legislators. This year’s priorities included more restrictions on abortion, incentives for environmentally friendly energy and rules to make driving safer.

Immigration reform church goal, cardinal says

By Louie Gilot

El Paso Times

June 24, 2005 

The time for immigration reform has come, U.S. and Mexican Catholic workers assembled in El Paso said as the groundbreaking Binational Migration Conference opened Thursday.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., said the church owes it to its Hispanic faithful to push for change, as high-profile delegates gathered at the Camino Real Hotel.

"The church in the United States is very, very Hispanic and what a blessing that is. They (Hispanic immigrants) come with the values that are so needed in the United States today. When there is a moral issue that concerns so many of our people, we have to speak," McCarrick said, alternating between English and Spanish.

Illegal immigrants fear staying in Delaware

Recent raid in Georgetown has many leaving state, some say

By Rhina Guidos/ The News journal

GEORGETOWN – June 18, 2005 - Gil Escalante says blood rushes to his head and his heart pounds when the doorbell rings at his family's Georgetown apartment.

"I look slowly through the curtain," says the father of four, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala. "And I feel this fear. I feel they are going to come."

Two months ago, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials conducted a raid in this southern Delaware town. Immigrants here say they woke up in the early morning hours of April 12 to agents pulling blankets off their children and family members who were still in bed.

The agents demanded paperwork proving the residents were in the country legally. Those who couldn't provide proper documentation were taken away, and most were later deported.

Illegal aliens not the only issue surrounding immigration woes
By Jonathan Athens

Yuma Sun
Jun 19, 2005

A binational organization is calling for Congress to enact legislation that would allow the federal government to send medical supplies to Mexico in the event of public health emergencies, including bioterrorist incidents.

Smallpox, anthrax, pertussis (commonly known as whooping cough), the West Nile virus and dengue fever are among any number of diseases that can cross the Arizona-Mexico border, triggering a public health crisis here or in Mexico.

“Germs don’t know borders,” said ADHS Director Susan Gerard. “We have to be able to protect all the people along the border to stop the spread of disease and illness,” Gerard said.