If you think it's embarrassing for an African-American to have to identify himself to the police while in his own house, imagine how humiliating it is for U.S.-born Latinos to have to prove their citizenship in their own country.
With racial profiling in the news lately, it's worth noting that America's largest minority has to endure the practice, too — but with a twist. Not only, according to several studies, do Latinos get pulled over by police and have their cars searched at a higher rate than whites. They also sometimes suffer the indignity of having to prove that they have the legal right to even be in the United States. READ FULL STORYRead more…
The health care needs of an estimated 6.8 million undocumented and uninsured immigrants "has become the third rail in the debate over health-care reform," The Chicago Tribune reports. Some health care advocates have proposed broadening the proposals before Congress to include this population, but "fierce opposition has kept the idea off the table."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has "emphasized that illegal immigrants would not be covered under the current proposals." And the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has called for coverage "only for 'legal, law-abiding' immigrants who pay their 'fair share' for health care." READ FULL STORYRead more…
During his recent HBO special, "Tall, Dark and Chicano," comedian George Lopez tore a hole in the Big Tent. Incensed that 31 Senate Republicans had voted against Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, Lopez informed the GOP that it would never again get the votes of Latinos. In fact, he said, given changing demographics, Republicans might as well get used to losing in the years to come because "you won't win a ... pie-eating contest."
That's harsh, but fair. Republicans know not what they did. They're only fooling themselves if they think they won't pay a price for their petty opposition to the nation's first Latina justice.
Remember when Republicans used to say that people should take responsibility for their actions? Never mind. They didn't mean it. Not when it comes to Senate Republicans trying to dodge responsibility for voting against Sotomayor. They might be able to stand behind their votes if they weren't afraid that they were standing on quicksand. They're terrified that Latinos will be sore winners and take retribution at the ballot box - starting in 2010 and possibly lasting for decades. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Locked in a healthcare debate that is claiming much of his energy, President Obama acknowledged that a push to overhaul the nation's immigration system will have to wait until 2010 and even then will prove a major political test.
Obama suggested it would be too ambitious to aim for passage of new immigration laws before the end of the year, at a time when he will be confronting "a pretty big stack of bills." READ FULL STORYRead more…
A new study shows immigrants, Latinos and Asians are a political and economic powerhouse in Florida.
Research done by the Immigration Policy Center shows that Latinos in Florida bring in over $100 million in consumer purchasing and own 1-in-6 businesses.
The study also shows Florida's Immigrant workers pay an estimated annual average of 20 billion dollars in taxes and Asian owned businesses generate roughly $11.2 billion in sales annually. READ FULL STORYRead more…
With the election of former Democratic Sen. Barack Obama as president of the United States with overwhelming support from communities of color – 95 percent among Black voters and over 65 percent among Latinos – many Black Republicans, in contemplating their future, also are reflecting on their place in a party that critics say has always marginalized them.
Leading the way is former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele who has decided to run for chairman of the Republican National Committee which provides national leadership for the Republican Party. The committee is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is also responsible for organizing and running the Republican National Convention.
Steele was the only African American given a prominent speaking role – “drill, baby, drill” was his most memorable line -- at this year’s Republican National Convention held in St. Paul, Minn. Only 36 of the delegates were Black, representing less than 1.5 percent of the total delegates and a 78.4 percent decline from four years earlier. READ FULL ARTICLERead more…
Rising unemployment leaves both citizens, aliens battling for jobs
News reports around the country tell of illegal aliens struggling to find work in a slumping economy and some workers thinking about returning home; but at least one analyst is warning that "hostility" between unemployed citizens and out-of-work immigrants is more likely to strike first.
Jim Gilchrist is founder of the Minuteman Project, an organization that advocates for enforcement of U.S. immigration law. Gilchrist told WND that illegal immigrants may be out of work, but that doesn't mean they're re-crossing the border.
"It's not the reverse exodus, the repatriation back to their homelands, that the media or government bureaucrats might want you to think it is," Gilchrist warned. "There are still 3 to 4 million illegal aliens entering this country every year and not going home."
The Wall Street Journal reported last week on the story of a Hollywood job center that is seeing an increase of all sorts of people seeking jobs.
"Everybody is coming to look for work," Rene Jemio, outreach coordinator for the hiring hall, told the Journal. "It's not just your average immigrant anymore; it's African-Americans and whites, too."
"For the first time in a decade," reports the Journal, "unskilled immigrants are competing with Americans for work."
READ FULL STORYRead more…
Bill Richardson's withdrawal from his commerce secretary nomination Sunday didn't just leave a major gap in the new administration, but it also sorely disappointed Latinos who view the New Mexico governor as their most prominent representative.
"We are hugely disappointed. It's a stunned community out there," said Janet Murguía, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. READ FULL STORYRead more…
They use lipstick as a beauty accessory and a political weapon. At home, they're the boss. They keep in touch via Facebook. When they call to ask for your vote, in English or Spanish, you hear their children in the background. They say what matters this election are education, taxes, health care, immigration reform and "values." READ FULL STORYRead more…
More than three-fourths of young women, those ages 18-29 and known as Generation Y, want incoming President Barack Obama to make civil rights and racial justice top priorities of his administration, a survey says.
While Obama's election as the nation's first black president was interpreted by many as a sign of racial progress, findings in the survey done for YWCA USA suggest that much work remains to be done.
The survey, which was to be formally released Monday, also found a generational divide among women. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Henry Solano, former U.S. attorney for Colorado, has let Gov. Bill Ritter know he's interested in being appointed to the U.S. Senate.
Solano is at least the third prominent Hispanic the governor is considering to succeed U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., who will step down early next year, when he becomes Interior secretary.
The other Hispanics are Salazar's brother, U.S. Rep. John Salazar, of the San Luis Valley, and former Denver Mayor Federico Pena. READ FULL STORYRead more…
After the withdrawal of Bill Richardson's name as an Obama administration Cabinet nominee, Hispanic leaders say they expect the president-elect to name another Latino to head the Commerce Department.
An Obama transition team source said a veteran California congressman, Xavier Becerra, has emerged as the leading congressional candidate to replace Richardson, the Hispanic governor of New Mexico, as President-elect Barack Obama's choice for a job that will include overseeing the 2010 U.S. Census. READ FULL STORYRead more…
A great majority of Hispanic voters in US swing states favor Democratic Barack Obama over Republican John McCain in the race for the White House, a Newslink poll said Friday.
Of the 684 adults surveyed by telephone in seven swing states from September 11-18, 63 percent said they would vote for the Illinois senator on November 4, against only 26 percent for the Arizona senator.
Swing voters are called as such for their unpredictable votes in an election. READ FULL ARTICLERead more…
Barack Obama's victory in the US presidential election has left many euphoric Democrats with a feeling that the landscape of American politics has shifted - but is it true or is it an illusion?
Democratic strategist, Simon Rosenberg, director of the New Democrat Network, is one of those who argues that the pattern of the last four decades has been broken. READ FULL STORYRead more…
A day after President Obama announced that legislation to overhaul immigration laws would have to wait until next year, the secretary of homeland security played down the need for change in a speech here and took a tough stance on enforcing current immigration laws.
The secretary, Janet Napolitano, defended the administration’s assertive strategy against illegal immigrants and companies that employ them, relying largely on programs started under President George W. Bush.
That strategy has drawn fire from immigrant groups and many of Mr. Obama’s Hispanic supporters, who say the president has not lived up to campaign promises to ease the pressure on illegal workers and to seek changes in immigration laws that would give more workers visas. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Perched at the edge of an exam table, Delmira Maravilla is anxious for a check-up — and for a timeline on the president's promise of health care for all Americans.
She's paying out of pocket for the exam, and like one-third of Hispanics, the mother of nine doesn't have health insurance.
Latinos like this immigrant from El Salvador have much to gain if the legislation taking shape in Washington passes. Among the major ethnic groups, they are the least likely to have health coverage through work. And Hispanics often face language and cultural hurdles to getting good-quality health services. They're far less likely to have a regular health-care provider, and to get the kind of routine screening that prevents serious health problems. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Senate Republicans have lined up in staunch opposition to the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, rejecting concerns about alienating the growing Hispanic vote.
Even before debate began Tuesday night, almost three-fourths of the Senate Republican Conference had already announced opposition to the first Latina ever nominated to the nation's highest court. The party's 2008 standard bearer, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), joined the chorus of opposition this week, and no likely contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination has spoken in support of confirmation. READ FULL STORYRead more…
A legal advocacy group launched an education and awareness campaign Wednesday encouraging Latinos in 11 Midwest states to participate in the 2010 Census.
The campaign by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in Chicago — including fliers in Spanish and English and door-to-door visits — is one among several advocacy groups nationwide working to ensure minorities are accurately counted.
"This is one of the most important civil rights issues," said Elisa Alfonso, a director of the group's Midwest office in Chicago. "This is what gives you access to voting and funding." READ FULL STORYRead more…
An immigration policy group says Latinos and Asians in Colorado have a buying power of nearly $26 billion and their businesses employ more than 53,000 people.
The Washington-based Immigration Policy Center said in a report Wednesday that the Latinos and Asians, who make about 22.6 percent of Colorado's population, will be an important part of the state's economic recovery.
The report was based on U.S. Census figures and data from other research groups. READ FULL STORYRead more…
More than half of the nation’s 16 million Hispanic children are the U.S.-born sons or daughters of at least one foreign-born parent, the Pew Hispanic Center says in advance of a report due out Thursday on the rise of this second generation of Latino children.
Their foreign-born parents typically came to the United States in the immigration wave from Mexico, Central America and South America that began around 1980.
The newest figures represent a striking demographic change. In 1980, a significant majority of Hispanic children were the U.S.-born sons or daughters of U.S.-born parents. READ FULL STORYRead more…
