Though the 2008 presidential election is four months gone, it's surprising that all the talk of Latinos as the proverbial "sleeping giant" has vanished as well.

While the Latino community did rise to expectations during the election, the community is still continuing to make strides that either are not registering with people or some are failing to see what it actually means to the bigger picture of this nation.

The most impressive news is that nearly half of the one million new citizens sworn in last year were Latinos.

Nationally, Latino naturalizations jumped 95 percent from about 237,000 in 2007 to 461,000 in 2008, according to the analysis released Tuesday by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.

This increase in the Latino electorate means that the political potential for the Latino community is enormous. So, it's a little strange that Sen. John McCain would fail to see this potential and instead risk insulting the Latino electorate by referring to Latinos who chose Obama over him as "you people."

Continue reading "Changes in Latino electorate mean politicians shouldn't roll their eyes at Latino voters" »

This is a very revealing and provocative article about fashion and race from Huffington Post.  Much of the talk - unfortunately as often happens with women - is about fashion:  what is she wearing?  what designers made her dress or outfit?  etc., etc.

As President Obama has not necessarily called on the standard, traditional big name newspapers for his press conferences, nor is Mrs. O necessarily wearing the traditional, big name fashion designers..... and come to find out, it's by design!  Read on, this is a very interesting article!!

---Donna Michelle Anderson via Huffington Post

Legalizing Young Immigrants Would Boost the U.S. Economy

Washington, DC - Yesterday, Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) introduced the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act; while Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), and Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) introduced a House version of the bill called the "American Dream Act."  Both pieces of bipartisan legislation would permit a limited number of  undocumented students to become permanent residents if they came here as children, are long-term U.S. residents, have good moral character, and attend college or enlist in the military for at least two years.  The following is a statement by Angela Kelley, Director of the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) in Washington, DC.

"With yesterday's bipartisan introduction of the DREAM Act, the House and Senate delivered yet another signal that the political tide for immigration reform is getting stronger.  The bill seeks to remedy the predicament of a specific group of undocumented children who are blocked from realizing their full potential.  By providing a path to U.S. citizenship, the DREAM Act would allow these children to pursue a higher education and contribute fully to our economy.

IPC Lauds House of Representatives' Inquiry into 287(g) Program

Washington, DC -On April 2nd , two House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittees held a joint hearing on the 287(g) program at 10 a.m. in the Rayburn House Building, Room 2141. The following is a statement by Angela Kelley, Director of the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) in Washington, DC.

"The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) applauds Chairman Conyers, Chairwoman Lofgren, and Chairman Nadler for bringing desperately needed attention to the problematic and controversial 287(g) program.

The 287(g) program - in which local law enforcement establishes a partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that allows them to enforce immigration laws locally - has grown over the last several years. Yet, as recent reports by Justice Strategies and the University of North Carolina and the ACLU point out, a growing array of alleged civil rights infractions and incidences of racial profiling have come with the program's expansion.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) took a look at the program and found that ICE provides little guidance and oversight of the program, and inconsistently articulates the objectives of the 287(g) program and the authority it grants to local law enforcement. While the 287(g) program is intended to target violent criminals and threats to the community, police have allegedly engaged in racial profiling and used their authority to arrest immigrants with no criminal records - clogging local jails and taking resources away from finding dangerous criminals.  Meanwhile, trust between the police and communities is eroding, and in several cases, U.S. citizens have been detained - and even deported.

I'm a little late getting this out but before it got too much further down in time, there are some good articles here to review: 

www.ImmigrationImpact.com

The Times They Are A-Changin'
Who would have predicted that the GOP would be handing out training manuals to their very own members advising them on how to reach out and engage with the Latino community? And even more amazing, who would have thought that we would have an African-American president promising to tackle our broken immigration system in his first year in office?

House Hearing Shows 287(g) "Sets Police Profession Back to 1950's"
In response to evidence suggesting that the 287(g) program is experiencing an array of problems, the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law and the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties held a hearing to learn more about the program's alarming effects.

There's more . . .

Washington, DC-Citing March 2009 figures released today by the U.S. Department of Labor, four national organizations called attention to the dire situation facing African American and Latino workers, who are suffering the most dramatic rise in unemployment compared to all other groups. The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the Center for American Progress (CAP), the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP), and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) have joined together to highlight the growing labor market disparities between minorities and their peers. NCLR, CAP, and EPI have current analyses of minority workers available at www.nclr.org, www.americanprogress.org and www.epi.org.

In March, 13.2 million workers were unemployed. The overall unemployment rate rose to 8.5%, up from 8.1% in February. For White workers, the March unemployment rate was 7.9%, while it reached 11.4% for Latinos and 13.3% for Blacks.

"With unemployment rates for Blacks and Hispanics above 10%-nearly double the rate for Whites-the current recession is clearly demonstrating just how precarious the economic situation is for many minorities. It will take many months before the economy gets back on track, but President Obama is starting to put in place the policies necessary to create good jobs and higher wages, laying the foundation for long-term, broadly shared economic growth," said David Madland, Director of the American Worker Project at CAP.

"Even in the best of times, minority workers struggle to access high-quality jobs due to low education, skills, and English language levels," said Janet Murguía, NCLR President and CEO. "As we look forward to economic recovery, the stakes are especially high for Latinos because they are the fastest-growing segment of the workforce. NCLR is calling upon state and local governments to make sure that resources aimed at jump-starting the economy are used to improve job opportunities for African Americans and Hispanics."

"America continues to shed jobs at an alarming rate. Overall unemployment has not been this high since 1983, and we are in the midst of what will be a long and deep recession. Yet, African American, Latino and foreign-born workers all have unemployment rates well over 10%--leaving those minority workers experiencing what is more accurately described as a depression," said Christian Dorsey, Interim Communications Director at EPI. "Congress passed a stimulus package that looks to create around 3.5 million jobs, half of what is needed to keep pace with lost jobs and additions to the labor force. Clearly, there is more work left to do." Funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)-which the White House has said will create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years-are just beginning to be distributed to states and local communities, so the jobs numbers may not reflect the impact of the legislation for some months.

"The new job-loss figures are especially bad news for our nation's migrant and seasonal farmworkers. They rely on us to help them get trained and placed into jobs that, unlike farm work, allow them to earn a living wage. Today's data make it clear that it will be increasingly more difficult to help farmworkers get out of poverty and realize the American Dream," said David Strauss, Executive Director of AFOP.

"Our goal is 'full steam ahead' for our economy. That cannot be achieved unless African American and Latino workers are an integral part of states' plans for implementing the economic recovery legislation," said Murguía. "We are counting on states to use the resources provided by ARRA in ways that reach minority workers and the community organizations that serve them."

---John Byrne

At least 90 immigrants have died while in US custody since October 2003, a document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed Friday. At least 32 deaths occurred at facilities run by private contractors.

The document -- which has received little to no attention -- also displays an apparent carelessness on the part of prison officials, whose records of the deaths change and omit inmate deaths over time.

Moreover, it shows that prison officials are now recording even fewer details about immigrants' deaths, possibly in response to periodic scrutiny of the list. A previous list that covered the period up until 2007 included the locations of deaths; the current list records either the location or the facility where the inmate was held, without any evident pattern.

There's more . . .