Highlights:
- Why Latino Leaders are Wrong to Stand With Obama on Immigration /
- Dolores Huerta: Obama was right in delaying action on immigration
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Sometimes, it is impossible to stay silent regarding one’s own friends. This is one such time. As someone who is involved in the Immigrant Rights Movement (IRM) in Bakersfield, California, where Ms. Dolores Huerta lives, too, I am highly disappointed and profoundly disagree with her decision to lend her public support for the decision by President Obama to delay taking executive action to bring urgently-needed administrative relief to the millions of immigrants who live in fear and continue to be deported at a rate of a thousand a day by his administration – breaking his promise that he would act by now, as he has several times before.
It has been appalling to watch the president pursue, over the past six years, the immoral, relentless, and cruel strategy of deporting over two million migrants caught in a dysfunctional system, in the vain hope of currying favor with the ever-more recalcitrant, xenophobic Republicans.
And when it became obvious he had failed and had to act on his own, and promised to do so, it is unconscionable for the president to have succumbed to the panicky, unprincipled politicians from his own party, delayed action again but has kept deporting people, and in so doing betrayed the trust of our immigrant & Latino/Asian communities. These are the same communities who have patiently stood by him through thick and thin, despite his string of broken promises and lack of political courage, going back to when he took office in 2009.
It is sheer political opportunism for him – or any other Democrat, including Ms. Huerta – to place their party’s immediate electoral interests ahead of our community’s urgent needs, and then try to spin it by counseling for more “patience” (!), “having faith in the president (!!),” or conjuring up false dangers, such as what would happen if the Republicans end up in control of the Senate.
Apart from the fact that this might happen anyway – in no small part due to disillusionment of the Democratic Party’s base for its failure to stand up to the Republicans on so many issues -, if the GOP ends up in control of the Senate by a small margin, the president can veto any bill it and the House pass that attacks immigrant rights, women rights, etc.
Yes, Obama will have a harder time getting congressional cooperation, but he hasn’t gotten any in the House on immigration reform, equal pay, etc, over the past 6 years anyway: bi-cameral non-cooperation adds up to the same result that just one-chamber non-cooperation has yielded so far: no bill ever becomes law. (When the Democrats controlled both chambers in 2009-10, by the way, they did nothing on immigration, either; and in Bush II years, stubborn opposition to a just and lasting immigration reform was robustly bipartisan).
So it’s a specious argument that Ms. Huerta uses to, in effect, excuse and give political cover to the president, sadly more out of her well-known partisan loyalty than any honest concern for the ever-deemer prospects of immigration reform and other needed reforms. Truth is, this president should have acted years ago, and those that have consistently made excuses for his executive inaction and lack of political courage while “waiting for Godot” – and even pleaded for him to delay taking action, as some did last June, to their everlasting shame -, or only criticize and denounce the Republicans while studiously remain silent on the Democrats, have not been helpful to our immigrant cause nor to our community.
The price to pay by our Latino elected and community leaders for putting party politics ahead of social justice and defending the community is the loss of credibility and legitimacy, which is too bad for someone of the stature of Ms. Huerta and other prominent Latino leaders who have, for far too long, been abjectly apologizing for Mr. Obama’s, and his party’s, failing record on a long list of issues. It’s time they realized this, and began fighting not just the Republicans, for their anti-immigrant and anti-Latino phobias and hateful attacks – which we all must -, but the Democrats as well, for their proven opportunism, their constant neglect of our community’s demands, and their repeated broken promises and betrayals.
Not for nothing when I became a citizen last year I registered as an Independent; and today, I advise everyone else to do the same. In the upcoming elections, I certainly intend to vote and encourage everyone else to register and vote, too. There are important propositions and candidates that have earned our support. But I do not intend to vote for any Democrat that has not directly and publicly challenged Obama on his appalling record of massive deportations and broken promises. Neither should you! Until we see deeds – not hear promises – we should not support, let alone have faith and trust, in this president, or any other elected leader or candidate.
I say, enough being taken for granted, people!
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Dolores Huerta: Obama was right in delaying action on immigration
By Griselda Nevarez, VOXXI ~ SOUTH KERN SOL ~ SEPTEMBER 22, 2014
“We have to look at the big picture and don’t get caught up in saying we want it now,” she said, referring to action on immigration. “We’ve been waiting—we are a community that can wait. And we have to have faith in our president, because the Republicans have shown their hand. We know what they want to do.”
Labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta is standing by President Barack Obama on his decision to delay executive action on immigration and is asking the immigrant community to have patience.
Many Latinos have been critical of Obama’s move to delay executive action to reform portions of the nation’s immigration system until after the November elections, but not Huerta. She said in an interview with VOXXI on Tuesday that an immigration announcement by the president before the midterm elections could possibly cripple Democratic efforts to maintain control of the Senate.
Currently, Democrats hold 53 seats in the Senate and Republicans hold 45. There are also two independents who caucus with the Democrats. According to The New York Times, Republicans have a 54 percent chance of gaining a majority in the Senate.
Huerta noted that Republicans in the House of Representatives have approved a number of bills that would hurt Latinos and immigrants. One of the bills she pointed to seeks to defund and ultimately get rid of Obama’s deferred action program that protects undocumented youth from deportation and allows them to work.
She added that House Republicans have also approved bills that would deny millions of women reproductive health care coverage—an issue she cares about as a champion of women’s rights.
“Right now, none of those laws have been able to pass in the Senate because the Democrats have control of the Senate,” Huerta said. “If in this next election we lose the Senate, all of those bad bills that they passed against immigrants will become law.”
The longtime immigration reform advocate also expressed concern about Latinos who threaten to not vote in the upcoming elections as a way to protest Obama’s delay on immigration. She said that sitting out the elections could not only affect the outcomes of congressional races that include Latino candidates, but also other local races like city council, board of supervisors and school board.
“We have to be careful. We have to look at the big picture,” Huerta insisted.
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Are Democrats abusing Latinos and their votes?
By Angeles J. Maldonado, The Hill ~ September 21, 2014
When a person is in a situation of domestic violence, the immediate reaction of many is that they should leave. But when the president announced he would deport another 70,000 people for the sake of elections, Latino and migrant communities are told to not even question our relationship with the party.
Are the two situations really that different?
Intuitively, most ask why one doesn’t just simply reject a relationship that continues to inflict pain upon them and their children. The truth is, that many domestic violence victims find themselves in a situation of dependence. They are often afraid of the repercussions of leaving, of not having any money, of not being able to support their children, or of encountering further abuse if they leave. Despite all of the consequences, it’s still a common held belief that the right thing for them to do is to break the cycle of violence and leave, despite the fact that they might face “a worse situation.”
We don’t ask domestic violence victims to stay and fight, nor do we say that they surrender if they leave; we say that they should affirm their own value and end the abuse in the relationship however possible. Period.
Yet when it comes to politics and our community, it’s a different story.
The subject of boycotting the 2014 vote is so taboo it elicits such an extreme reaction that some refuse to even entertain the concept. But when Democrats avoided reform when they had the majority of both chambers of Congress, proceeded to oversee the deportation of more than two million of our loved ones, and most recently delayed common sense administrative relief for the sake of elections, what is keeping us from saying that it’s time for Latinos and migrants to refuse to mobilize for the Democratic party?
In March, the president re-raised expectations when he called for a deportation review and pledged to reform his own policies that he himself named as “inhumane” (synonymous with the word “abusive”). And this month, he said that he would continue that abuse at least through November.
What are those of us whose families will become deportation statistics supposed to take from that decision? What does accountability look like in a situation of inhumane policies and abusive politicians?
Differing on strategy is a norm for anyone working to advance a cause. Change has never came about one single strategy, but it has been the result of a mix of braided strategies that at times even conflicted and created tension which evolved into social change.
If we are to learn from our history, we should learn to be open to ideas that may seem crazy. Just as civil disobedience by undocumented people was once viewed as crazy, unproductive, and too radical, now it is a regular occurrence.
Voting is one outlet for social change, but it is not and has never been the only one. And when the Democratic Party sees migrants and Latinos as a given, many are saying it might not be our best option this year. Politicians choose their rhetoric and their position based on the key audiences they perceive they have. Yet, despite our continued mobilization to support them, as if they were deserving of our allegiance, we have yet to become an audience they see as worth listening to.
To say that we should strategically boycott the vote, is not to say participants are against voting. It is to say that in the context of two million deportations at the federal level, continued collusion with ICE at the local level, and few local officials leading with proactive policies of inclusion, what sense does it make to vote for a party that says it loves us with symbolic gestures but does not include us in their agenda with concrete acts.
Our families remain the source of continuous racist attacks, not only by Republicans but by Democrats who are committed to winning the race on who’s harsher on immigration.
And so here we are. They continue to abuse the rights of our community and yet we still find reasons to stay. “If we leave we are giving in to the Republicans. If we leave, ‘our situation will be much worse.’” Perhaps. But perhaps with time we could gain dignity and respect and a sense of our own power. And perhaps when Democrats see that our historic voting power can’t be taken for granted, they might actually begin to give us a reason to get out the vote for them.
Angeles J. Maldonado, Ph.D, researches immigration, critical race theory, and community organizing with a focus on the immigrant rights movement in her home state of Arizona.
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Return To Mexico Now Possible For ‘Dreamer’ Students
By Richard Manly, Inside CSULB ~ September 15, 2014
Two CSULB students were recognized recently with scholarships during the first U.S. visit by Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto at an historic event headlined by Gov. Jerry Brown, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Mexico’s Ambassador Eduardo Medina Mora and 11 Mexican governors. The honor coincided with National Hispanic Heritage Month which runs Sept. 15-Oct. 15, 2014.
CSULB seniors Ana Barbara Roman and Jaime Jorge were among the 15 students who traveled with Chicano and Latino Studies’ lecturer Armando Vazquez-Ramos on a visit to Mexico during spring break. The trip was sponsored by Chicano and Latino Studies’ California-Mexico Policy and Higher Education class funded by College of Liberal Arts’ Dean David Wallace and the IRA Fund.
“Roman and Jorge are the first two AB-540 students who have been able to return to Mexico for an educational purpose, as provided by the DACA regulations that grants ‘dreamers’ temporary legal status and eligibility to a driver’s license and social security number, allowing them to drive and work legally until congress acts upon comprehensive immigration reform,” said Vazquez-Ramos, who joined the university in 1988.
Assembly Bill 540, signed into law in 2001, created a new exemption from the payment of non-resident tuition for certain non-resident students who graduated from high school in California and received a diploma. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a memorandum authored by the Obama administration in 2012 that directs U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to practice prosecutorial discretion towards some individuals who immigrated to the U.S. as children and are in the country illegally.
“This is a landmark precedent that I am certain will open the doors to other AB-540 students,” said Vazquez-Ramos. “It creates opportunities for students like Ana and Jaime. For them to return to Mexico for humanitarian reasons or educational purposes gives them the chance to maintain relations with family. Imagine the frustration at not being able to bid farewell to a dying relative. When you are in the U.S. without documents, going back to Mexico is impossible because you know you may have to go through hell to come back in. Young people like Ana and Jaime were brought (here) through no choice of their own but now are as American as anyone.”
Jorge came to CSULB from his home in Victorville and is scheduled to graduate this December with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish. “But I’m not stopping there,” he said. “I will go for my master’s or Ph.D. in intercultural studies.”
Jorge said he felt grateful and honored to have the opportunity to be recognized for his scholarship especially by the President of Mexico and Gov. Brown.
“I am very grateful and humbled to be one of the first AB-540 students to go to Mexico especially for educational purposes,” he said. “Having the opportunity to study in Mexico has opened my eyes to a whole different perspective in the importance of intercultural studies. I’m really thankful that President Obama gave us DACA because it sure has opened many doors for me and for a lot of other undocumented students.”
Jorge believes he was destined to attend CSULB. “Now that I’m here, CSULB has allowed me to expand my horizon, with the help of its amazing professors, advisers and newfound friends,” he said. “My career goals are to become a medical interpreter/translator and also to be involved in a social justice movement or a non-profit organization that deals with racism, education, immigration, sexual abuse and gender equality.”
Roman was shocked at first to be included in the scholarship program. “I had only heard about it a week before,” she recalled. “When Prof. Vazquez-Ramos called to tell me the good news, especially that I would receive the award from the President of Mexico, my emotions shot through the roof. All the hard work had paid off. It was such an honor to meet the President of Mexico and California Gov. Jerry Brown. Not a lot of students ever get that opportunity.”
Roman expects to graduate in December with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology, a second Bachelor of Arts in in Chicano and Latino Studies and a minor in Africana Studies. When she graduated from Long Beach’s Wilson High School in 2007, she began a long journey toward her career goals in education and the law. “I don’t want to give up either,” she said.
Roman is glad she chose CSULB. “It was the only school I applied to after years of driving past the campus with my parents while they predicted I would go there someday. I had my doubts,” she recalled. “But I am so lucky to have met people like Prof. Vazquez-Ramos. There is a lot of support on this campus for undocumented students. I love Cal State Long Beach. Even though I’m moving on, I’ll always look back on an amazing experience.”
Vazquez-Ramos is pleased with the students’ achievements, not only because they have established a precedent, but also the recognition received from the Mexican authorities, including the President of Mexico.
“What I envision for CSULB is that this campus could become a leader for a CSU California-Mexico program, similar to the UC’s Mexico Initiative, under the agreement signed by Governor Brown during his recent trip to Mexico,” he said. “I’m proposing on both sides of the border, to fund for us to take 100 ‘dreamers’ to Mexico for two months next summer. The word is getting out. Si se puede!”
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