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They are forming a new country, the North American Union, behind the back of the people

by Marvin J. Ramirez

Marvin J. RamirezMarvin J. Ramirez

When El Reportero started reporting late last year that there were plans to replace the United States dollar for a new currency called, amero, people reacted with disbelief, and probably considered me loco de la cabeza, while most mainstream media fanatics called it “conspiracy theory.”

However, this “conspiracy theory” was true, and it is now – finally – being mentioned in many mainstream news organizations that you know, those that are actually the government’s mouth pieces: FoxNews, CNN, etc. All this is being done behind closed doors from the people in the United States.

See ­http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hiPrsc9g98, where CNBC discusses it as imminent, while it criticizes the same media for giving so little coverage to it.

The amero comes as another deal, also hidden from American reappears in the shadow. And this is the super highway connecting the United States with Mexico and Canada.

The Bush administration open-border policy and its decision to ignore this country’s immigration law, is part of a broader agenda.

President Bush signed a formal agreement that will end the United States as we know it, and he took the steps without approval from neither the U.S. Congress or the people of the United States, as it was reported by CNN.

It is called, the North American Union, a deal that will create one currency and one government, comprised of Mexico, the United States, and Canada.

In 2005, Representative Marcy Kaptur of Ohio gave a presentation about NAFTA Super Highway to the U.S. House of Representatives.

At that time, some people seemed unsure if it was going to happen, but it definitely seems so now, according to several media reports.

Everyone knows that America has been losing its independence as goods that used to be made here are displaced by foreign imports,” said Kaptur. She mentioned the trillion dollar a year trade deficit the United States is facing.

This is something that will hurt our economy even more as large suppliers will be shipping their payloads to Mexico to then be transported on the highway to America. The highway will also be owned privately by Sentra (a subsidiary of a Spanish transportation company owned by a multi billionaire), which could then lease the highway to foreign interests where tolls could be used for independent money collection, according to the news report.

Holding a map of continental America, Kaptur went on to show and explained that what the Bush administration was planning then, was what it would be the continuation or the step after NAFTA.

The plan, she said, was to lack NAFTA even tighter in this country and across the continent. It is called the Agreement on Security and Prosperity what was being negotiated then by the Bush administration very quietly.

Most Americans have not even heard of the term but it really is the successor to NAFTA. “No hearings have been held in this Congress on the subject.”

Kaptur explained with detail about the more than $9 billion that will be invested in Mexico on a super highway, while losing more that 30,000 jobs in the U.S. and employing more than 150,000 workers in Mexico.

“It will employ about 15 percent of all unemployed people in Mexico, so many of them having been uprooted from their farms because NAFTA provided no transition provisions to allow people to have a life and to survive in rural areas in Mexico, and over 2 million families have been uprooted from Mexico’s farm communities, and are doing what?, they are moving north, to eat,” said Kaptur at a Congressional hearing, and broadcast by C-SPAM.

“And this is happening at the heart of the illegal immigration problem, and is NAFTA disruption of the Mexican country side.”

Even worse, as she reported, is that the same Spanish company, Sentra, that has a 99-year concession highway in Ohio, is involved in the concession for the super highway Mexico-United States.

In the NAFTA website, it shows that the super highway is to connect Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. And while Mexico is building the super highway infrastructure with materials from China, and not from the U.S., the people at Mexico’s Lázaro Cárdenas port, are employed by workers making almost nothing. The whole unloading containers now happening in U.S. ports like Oakland and Oregon could be ignored and transported via the super highway.

You can bring massive containers from Asia through Mexico through this corridor, which is leased to a foreign nation, said Kaptur.

With force, she said, “The people of the United States better wake up! We better ask ourselves, why America have to work so hard for less, why is more expensive to send the chil­dren to college and graduate with huge debts? Why isn’t your pension plan secured? Why are we having to pay so much for health care? Why is not your retirement benefi t forever? Because these kind of interests don’t want you to have it, because they are so fi lthy rich off the investment they are making globally, that they don’t care about you, they don’t care about this country, they don’t care about democracy.”

In sum, the change of the currency and the formation of one North American union as one country, it will have a great negative impact on every person, but a great benefi cial one for the banking elite and billionaire international corporations. Americans! Wake up, wake up, or you will not have a country for you and your anymore, soon.

More intense bladder cancer treatment does not improve survival

by the University of Michigan

ANN ARBOR, (Michigan). – Despite enduring more invasive tests and medical procedures, patients who were treated aggressively for early stage bladder cancer had no better survival than patients who were treated less aggressively. Further, the aggressively treated patients were more likely to undergo major surgery to have their bladder removed, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Because bladder cancer is often treated as a chronic disease requiring lifelong surveillance, it is among the most expensive cancers to treat in the United States.

Urologists vary widely in how they approach early stage, or non-muscle-invasive, bladder cancer.

In this study, researchers gathered data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Medicare database. They looked at 940 doctors who provided care to 20,713 early stage bladder cancer patients. Each doctor included in the study had treated at least 10 patients for bladder cancer. Results of the study appear in the April 15 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The study found that average per-patient treatment expenditures ranged from $2,830 for doctors in the low-intensity treatment category to $7,131 for doctors in the high-intensity category. At the same time survival rates across all intensity categories were similar.

“What this indicates is that some doctors are providing potentially unnecessary care, or care without measurable benefit to the patient. It makes sense to many doctors and patients that more would be better, but unfortunately there can be unintended consequences of unneeded care,” says study author Brent Hollenbeck, M.D., M.S., assistant professor of urology at the U-M Medical School.

The study found that patients treated more aggressively had more imaging procedures and more invasive surgical procedures.

The aggressively treated patients were also nearly twice as likely to require major medical interventions, and were 2.5 times more likely to undergo radical cystectomy, a procedure to remove the bladder.

The study authors suggest that certain patients might still benefit from greater intensity of care, but further research is needed to determine which patients would benefit.

­Hollenbeck also urges randomized clinical trials to look at the value of some of the more expensive and common health services to determine their optimal use for patients with early stage bladder cancer.

“Urologists should not assume that more aggressive management of early stage bladder cancer will translate into better outcomes for their patients. By reducing unnecessary health care, we can reduce wasteful spending, which will lessen the cost burden of bladder cancer, one of the most expensive cancers to treat from diagnosis to death,” Hollenbeck says.

Bladder cancer statistics: 68,810 Americans will be diagnosed with bladder cancer this year and 14,100 will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.

Local leaders rally to support Efren Paredes Jr.

­by Juliana Birnbaum Fox

Efren Paredes at age 15 in court, and now at age 35.Efren Paredes at age 15 in court, and below, now at age 35.

The Bay Area has become an active center of support for Michigan inmate Efren Paredes, Jr., convicted in 1989 and sentenced to life at the age of 15 for a murder he still maintains he did not commit. There was no physical evidence linking Efren to the crime, nor any eyewitnesses, and his family maintains that he was home with them when the murder occurred.

Over the past decades, Paredes, now 35, has become a symbol for prison system reform in cases involving juveniles. His parole appeal is currently being considered by a state commission.

“Paredes’ sentence as a juvenile to life in prison without parole (JLWOP) violates human rights legal standards,” reads a letter from the Berkeley City Council to Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. The letter mentions the questionable circumstances that led to Paredes’ conviction, and his leadership and positive contribution to society despite his 20 years of incarceration. “For this country to be the lone holdout on the issue of JLWOP weakens our moral and legal standing in the international community,” the letter continues, urging a ban on the practice. The city council adopted a resolution condemning Paredes’ sentence as a human rights violation in February of this year.

Despite being an honor student and having no prior convictions, the judge in Paredes’ case exercised his option to sentence him as an adult because of his apparent lack of remorse for the crime, which involved an armed robbery and murder at a store where Paredes worked. All of the other defendants in the case pleaded guilty in exchange for plea bargains, and have since been released from prison.

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Local activist Elizabeth “Betita” Martínez, director of the Institute for Multi-Racial Justice, wrote in her support letter for Paredes, points out the larger systemic issue of injustice imposed upon the Latino community in the court system.

“Mr. Paredes’ trial attorney had advised him to show no emotion during his trial, which had a very negative effect on the sentencing phase,” Martinez writes. “Until recently the attorney always denied giving this advice. However, he has now admitted it, a fact that is included in Mr. Paredes’ current appeal.”

sentenced more juveniles to life in prison without parole than any other state except Pennsylvania, according to a 2007 UCSF study. CurrentlyLocal Paredes supporters are also calling attention to the fact that California has ­277 such individuals are serving these sentences in the state. The United States and Israel are the only nations that imprison juveniles for life.

Elizabeth “Betita” MartínezElizabeth “Betita” Martínez

“For many children, [life without parole] is an effective death sentence carried out by the state slowly over a long period of time,” said Michelle Leighton, chief author of the study. Life terms also fall disproportionately on youths of color, with blacks 20 times more likely to receive such a sentence in California.

The UCSF report asserts that trying children and teenagers in adult courts does not take into account several important factors: the bigger potential for rehabilitation and reintegration into society; their ineptness at navigating the criminal justice system, and their lessened culpability as compared with adult offenders.

“It’s a local issue to us,” said Wendy Kenin of the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission. “This gives us an opportunity to weigh in­to take a stand on the issue of juvenile sentences of life without parole.”

The board will be making a recommendation to the Governor’s Office about Paredes’s release in the coming weeks. The Governor will render the final decision. Generally these decisions are made within a few months, but there is no official timetable.

Correa forges further ahead in Ecuador

by the El Reportero’s news services

Rafael CorreaRafael Correa

In the final opinion polls, published on April 6, for the general elections on April 26, President Rafael Correa appears to be stretching his lead.

The polls show Correa with about 57 percent support, easily enough to win the presidency in the first round. The big question, which the polls do not really answer, is what will happen in the simultaneous congressional elections.

Correa’s personal vote will boost his Alianza País (AP), but whether this will be enough to give the AP a majority in the 124-seat congress is far from clear.

Fidel Castro open to Cuba-US dialogue

Development: On 5 April Cuba’s former president, Fidel Castro (1959-2008), said that Cuba was not afraid of dialogue with the U.S., and slammed as “fools” those external analysts that suggested the Communist-led regime needed confrontation to exist.

Signifi cance: Castro’s comments capped some interesting developments over the weekend that indicated the growing outreach on both sides of the Florida Straits.

A visiting delegation of seven U.S. congressionals (all Democrats) met the head of the Cuban parliament, Ricardo Alarcón, and the foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez, and declared that the US and Cuba should restore diplomatic relations first and then begin talks.

A senior oil advisor at the Ministry of Basic Industries, Manuel Marrero Faz, said Cuba would welcome US investment in its fledgling offshore oil sector.

Finally, White House officials hinted that President Barack Obama would shortly fulfill his 2008 campaign pledge to allow unlimited family travel and remittances to Cuba.

Castro praised the US senator, Richard Lugar (Indiana), the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who on March 30 wrote to President Obama asking him to sanction Cuba’s re-admission to the 32-member Organization of American States and appoint a special envoy to establish direct talks on issues like drugs and migration with the government of President Raúl Castro. Lugar, Castro said, has his “feet on the ground”.

Castro pointed out that Cuba and the US have been co-operating on anti-drug traffi cking efforts for several years. Senior officials meet once a month.

Vázquez Mota quits cabinet in Mexico

Development: On 4 April Josefina Vázquez Mota resigned as education minister to run for congress on July 5.

Signifi­cance: Vázquez Mota is a heavy hitter. She is now a possible presidential candidate for the ruling Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) in 2012. It seems that she will take over the leadership of the PAN in the lower chamber after the elections.

Vázquez Mota was brought in to shake-up Felipe Calderón Hinojosa’s election campaign at the beginning of 2006 when he was lagging badly in the polls. She had previously been running the Fox government’s welfare programmes, which were delivered by a web of NGOs, so she knew which strings to pull to get the votes out for Calderón. Vázquez Mota made a major contribution to Calderón’s narrow win in the 2006 presidential election. Vázquez Mota won a seat in congress in 2006, but joined the government as education minister.

(Latin News contributed to this report.)

Hispanic join in planning of health reform

by Soraya Schwartz

Following a March 5 White House meeting of some 150 major stakeholders in President Obama’s promised national health reform package, a series of regional summits has been launched, starting in Dearborn, Mich. Through April, additional forums are set for California, Iowa, North Carolina and Vermont.

President Obama detailed the process and led the discussion at the White House session, where some half dozen Hispanic health reform advocates participated.

The president said he expects to see Congress complete health legislation before the end of 2009.

Governors Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and Jim Doyle of Wisconsin were invited to moderate the March 12 Dearborn session, which brought together a diverse group to present their concerns and ideas. The day started with a video message from the president and summary reports on the White House interaction the week prior and community meetings that took place in December.

Melody Barnes, director of the White House domestic policy council, represented the Obama administration.

Also joining in the first regional meeting were doctors, patients, insurers, policy experts and health care providers, as well as representatives from both major political parties.

Among those contributing ideas atthe daylong White House event were National Alliance for Hispanic Health president Jane Delgado, National Hispanic Medical Association founding leader Elena Ríos, National Council of La Raza president Janet Murguía, League of United Latin American Citizens executive director Brent Wilkes and U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.).

President Obama set the agenda: “We can no longer talk about whether we will have health care reform, but how we will have effective reform and how are we going to do it.”

Those attending, among them numerous Democratic and Republican members of Congress as well as advocates representing both business and labor constituencies, were divided into work groups to discuss essential elements a bill should contain.

Ríos and Delgado shared their assessments with Weekly Report.

Delgado commented on a major shift on how the nation will look at health care in the future. “The President is already clear. He’s saying this is all a down payment. We’ll get as much down as we can, but we’re moving in the right direction. And we’ve never had this much momentum.”

‘93 REFORM WAS ILL-FATED Ríos emphasized, “Everybody wanted to work together and had great ideas. I am optimistic.” She added the reminder: “The demographics of our country are changing. We need a bill that is responsive to all Americans.”

Becerra had contributed to his session that it is essential to ensure protections for the nation’s undocumented immigrants in any plans.

Ríos noted a key difference between 2009 and 1993, when the Clinton administration launched its ill-fated health care reform effort.

While today the nation has a much larger and still growing non-white population, in 1993 Hispanics and other persons of color were marginalized.

Now they are seen as part of the fabric of America and the backbone of the economy.

NHMA is ready to work with the White House and congressional leaders “to make the new legislation more responsive to our community’s needs,” Ríos said.

Affordable inner city, rural and border health care will be vital to provide accessibility for Hispanics and other people of color, she cited, stressing the need for more ­interpreters, language services, cultural outreach programs and health information technology.

The White House issued an invitation to the general public to join the discussion by communicating their interests to: www.HealthReform.gov. Hispanic Link.

(Micah Muscolino contributed to reporting and writing this article.)

Boxing

Friday, April 3 — at Primm, NV (Showtime)

  • Yuriorkis Gamboa vs. TBA.
  • Breidis Prescott vs. TBA.

Saturday, April 4 — at TBA, USA (Showtime)

  • ­WBC/WBO light welterweight title: Timothy Bradley vs. Kendall Holt.

Saturday, April 4 — at San Antonio, TX (HBO-PPV)

  • Interim WBC lightweight title: Edwin Valero vs. Antonio Pitalua
  • Joel Casamayor vs. Julio Díaz.
  • Jorge Barrios vs. Carlos Hernandez.
  • Jesus Chávez vs. Michael Katsidis

Saturday, April 4 — at Montreal, Canada (Showtime)

  • WBC/WBO light welterweight title: Timothy Bradley vs. Kendall Holt.
  • Librado Andrade vs. Vitali Tsypko.

Saturday, April 4 — at Düsseldorf, Germany

  • Alexander Povetkin vs. Jason Estrada.
  • Francesco Pianeta vs. Michael Sprott.

Saturday, April 11 — at Las Vegas, NV (HBO)

  • Paul Williams vs. Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright.
  • Chris Arreola vs. Jameel McCline.

Sunday, April 19 — at Quezon City, Philippines

  • IBF flyweight title: Nonito Donaire vs. Raul Martinez.
  • IBF light flyweight title: Ulises Solis vs. Brian Viloria.

San Francisco kicks off national donate life month

by the El Reportero’s staff

In recognition of National Donate Life Month, the month of April 2009 is being proclaimed “DMV/Donate Life California Month” in the City of San Francisco.

A proclamation encouraging all Californians to check “YES!” when applying for or renewing their driver’s license or I.D. card, or by signing up at www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org or www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org will be presented to Donate Life California.

To kick off April’s National Donate Life Month, Asian American Donor Program, Blood Centers of the Pacific and California Transplant Donor Network will host a blood drive, bone marrow and organ/tissue donation registration event scheduled from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. at City Hall in San Francisco.

Tues., March 31, 11:00 a.m. at San Francisco City Hall, Goodlet/Polk Street Steps, San Francisco, California. Contact: Cathy Olmo (925) 324-7043, colmo@ctdn.org.

Walk through the story of time and life open house

Come to celebrate the launch of the new “Walk Through The Story of Time and Life” four floor walking tour of exhibit items on long term loan from the California Academy of Sciences.

Open house and ribbon cutting ceremony for the new walk through the story of time and life exhibit.

Friday, April 3, 2009 at 3 p.m. at the Science Hall basement, Earth Sciences room 43-45, Ocean Campus, City College of San Francisco, 50 Phelan Avenue, San Francisco, California.

César Chávez Holiday Parade & Festival 2009

Join the celebration commemorating the life and work of labor and civil rights leader César Chávez. We will be having the 9th Annual César Chávez Parade and Festival.

This year’s parade will start at Dolores Park/19th Street and end on 24th Street with a Street Fair between Harrison and Bryant Street, in San Francisco. Sat., April 4 2009.

At 11 a.m. – Assemble for Parade, and 12 noon start Parade at Dolores Park -19th St./Dolores, at 1 p.m. – 24th Street Fair 24th Street/Harrison-Bryant.

Accessible to people with disabilities. Take BART – 24th Street station

For more information, call (415) 621-2665; fax (415) 621-5518 or email: CECparade@yahoo.com; w ebsite: www.cesarchavezday.org.

VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED! We need help phonebanking/ office and outreach. Please call (415) 621-2665.

SAVE THE DATE! Join us at the our Annual Cesar Chavez Breakfast on Tuesday, March 31st, 8am-10am at Mission Language Vocational School (MLVS).

Breaking the silence of my hands

An original creation by the Teatro de la Colectiva de Mujeres. A theater company of Latin American immigrant women day laborers, based on real life stories.

In Spanish, with simultaneous English translation, Quebrando el Silencio de mis manos reveals the abuses and dangers immigrant sisters confront doing domestic work, and how these could be solved, by demanding the rights that protect them.

Presented by El Teatro Jornalero, La Colectiva de Mujeres, and the San Francisco Day Labor Program.

Directed by Violeta Luna, dramaturgy by Roberto Varea, visual art by Víctor Cartagena, music by Ricardo Torres. With special musical guests Coro Jornalero and Amnesia.

On Friday April 3rd & Saturday April 4th, 8 p.m. $5 -$10 sliding scale At the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Theater, 2868 Mission St., San Francisco. For more info call (415) 821 1155.

Noches Bohemias presents: INVOCATION: A Collective Art Opening

Join us for an evening of friends and art show featuring the works of eight Latino artists of the San Francisco Bay Area.

­ARTISTS: Alexandra Blum, Calixto Robles, Julien Lallemand, Miguel Angel Martín del Campo, Miguel Pérez, Nino Magaña, Luis Pinedo, Víctor Martín del Campo.

Reception for the artists is Saturday, April 4, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. At Hot Mango Pickle Gallery, 539 Bryant Street, Palo Alto, California, or call at 650-324-2577 for more info.

Salsa music in mourning: Ralph Mercado leave us

by Antonio Mejías-Rentas

Ralph MercadoRalph Mercado

SALSA VISIONARY: Ralph Mercado, a top promoter and manager who represented some of Latin music’s best ~known acts and helped solidify a New York-born genre, died following a two-year battle with cancer. He was 67.

Mercado died March 9 at a New Jersey Hospital. He had been ailing since undergoing brain surgery last year.

As the top salsa manager, he represented such genre superstars as Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barreto, Celia Cruz and Tito Puente. With his own label, RMM Records, he helped launch the careers of the likes of Marc Anthony, Domingo Quiñones and Tito Nieves.

Born in Brooklyn to Puerto Rican and Dominican parents, he began organizing dances as a teenager. Soon after, he was booking top Latin acts at a local club. He formed his first management, booking and promotions company, Showstoppers, representing such R&B acts as Gladys Knight and the Pips and Aretha Franklin.

He moved to Manhattan at the time of a salsa explosion led by a group of artists signed to the Fania label He booked the Fania A11 Stars at the legendary Cheetah club, the venue of the collective’s landmark live album of the70s.

In 1972 he formed Ralph Mercado Management and continued holding a weekly dance at New York’s Palladium through 1992. That year he formed the record company, signing many of the artists of the then-defunct Fania label.

He was able to book his artists in Europe, Asia and Africa, helping to make dejasalsa a truly international phenomenon. At the height of his career, he also owned two publishing companies and created Yo soy.. . del son a la salsa, a documentary that chronicled the creation of the genre.

Emilio NavairaEmilio Navaira

Mercado is survived by his wife and five children. A public viewing was held March 12 in New York prior to a private funeral

TEJANO STAR SENTENCED: Emilio Navaira will spend three days in jail and serve two years on probation after pleading guilty last week to driving while intoxicated. In 2008 he wrecked his tour bus in a freeway accident outside Houston.

The Grammy-winning singer wore a protective helmet for his head injuries at the March 13 court hearing in Houston. “In (pleading guilty) I hope to begin the process of restoring my life. I accept full responsibility for my actions and the consequences of those actions from the accident,” he said in a statement.

Known to fans as Emilio, the musician will have to serve a compulsory 30 days under custody, including the three behind bars and the remainder under house arrest. He will have surgery to insert a plate to replace missing portions of his skull in the coming weeks. Hispanic Link.­

Assemblyman calles for feds to respect states with medical marihuana laws

Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff

Tom AmmianoTom Ammiano

In a written statement this week, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) rejected the federal raid of a medical marijuana dispensary in San Francisco this week.

“I am extremely disappointed with the Drug Enforcement Agency’s decision to raid the medical marijuana dispensary in San Francisco earlier this week,” Ammiano said. “The clinic is in compliance with all local laws and currently holds a permit from the Department of Public Health.

Ammiano responded a statement Attorney General Eric Holder a week ago, announcing that the Obama administration would not prosecute medicinal pot clubs. Unfortunately, the Assemblymember said, “Wednesday’s DEA raid was a clear step backward. With the increasing violence along the Mexican border, the DEA should be focusing their efforts on fi ghting these dangerous cartels rather than sick people seeking compassionate care.”

He mentioned that to date, 13 states across the country have passed medical marijuana laws and several more have laws under consideration. The medicinal value of marijuana has been proven without a doubt and public opinion polls show broad support. It is now time for the federal government to respect those states which support the use of medical marijuana.

He said he will be writing to President Obama outlining his concerns and will respectfully urge Attorney General Eric Holder to clarify his new policy with the DEA.

Hotel workers fight healthcare cuts

Workers and supporters at the Holiday Inn in Concord, CA, demonstrate and march outside the hotel. Their union, UNITE HERE Local 2850, has been trying to negotiate a new contract for a year with new owner Kevin Akash, who is demanding that workers increase their payments for health insurance from $40 to $700 per month.

The average wage for a roomcleaner at the hotel is $9.35 per hour, or about $1590 per month, before taxes. A month ago workers voted to reject the company demand. They are now calling for a boycott of the hotel.

Religious leaders hand roses to workers to encourage them while they demonstrate and march. Concord Mayor Laura Hoffmeister is one of many public officials and union leaders who sign a pledge to boycott the Holiday Inn to support hotel workers.

DREAM Act introduction shows political muscle for immigration reform

Legalizing young immigrants would boost the U.S. economy – This week, 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 specifi c 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.

Hispanic feeling the brunt of U.S. recesión

by Jacqueline Baylón

The economic crisis in the United States is making life hard on everybody, but Hispanics seem to be struggling the most.

Hispanics make up 15 percent of the nation’s population, and more than three quarters of Hispanics (78 percent) say it is difficult to find a job where they live, according to a recent Pew Hispanic Center study.

Unemployment rates are flying off the charts: 10.9 percent for Hispanics vs. 8.1 percent for the whole population.

Half of adult Hispanicsare homeowners, and of that group nearly 9 percent have missed a mortgage payment in the past year and 3 percent have received a foreclosure notice, the study reveals.

Hispanic Link News Service spoke to several organization leaders and economic experts in key “Latino” states about the how Hispanics in their regions are being affected.

There was near-consensus on three points: Hispanics are disproportionately losing their jobs, they are facing foreclosures, and their educational opportunities are being shut off.

California and Florida have been particularly hard-hit by foreclosures and the lack of construction jobs.

“The housing market has just disappeared — fallen off the map,” says Filiberto González, chief development officer for the Southern California-based Mexican American Opportunity Foundation. “There are no homes being built right now. The workforce of the home builders has been almost exclusively Latino males, so that entire job stream has been wiped out.”

Cuban American National Council president Guarioné Díaz says the same thing about the situation in Miami: “We have been severely impacted by the foreclosures and construction, a major industry here that hires lots of Hispanics.”

Díaz and González express cautious optimism that the $787 billion stimulus package approved Feb. 13 by Congress will mean additional dollars for Hispanic communities throughout the country.

In Chicago, communications consultant and columnist Esther Cepeda, a member of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, notes that for English-as-a-second-language classes, “The funding is evaporating because the state is not funding things and the federal government is pulling back, along with private donors.”

Many after- and before-school programs that serve the Latino community specifically do not know where their funding is going to be coming from, she says.

Andy Hernández, executive director of Wesley Center for Family and Neighborhood Development in Austin, Texas, observes that young adults, many of them with college educations, are struggling the most to find jobs.

Eduardo Giraldo, of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Queens, recounts that most businesses in New York City started closing down in the fall, noting that the immigration issue has brought a lot of uncertainty to the community and the marketplace. “If you look at the major metropolitan areas, a lot of business is done by immigrants, especially in big cities like New York and Los Angeles.”

He adds that Hispanic enterprises are at the bottom of the “green” eco-business ladder and lack essential funding. Immigration reform will be an “intricate” part of recovery from recession, he predicts.

Global reports show that the pain felt by Latino immigrants to the United States is considerably less than is being experienced in their home countries.

Those most vulnerable here are the undocumented, who presently contribute to fathe U.S. economy but have no safety nets to fall back on, states Brent Wilkes, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based League of United Latin American Citizens.

“They are getting the brunt of this. If we had immigration reform, they could stay in the employment force and support their families, whether here or back home.”

(Jacqueline Baylón is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service in Washington, D.C. Email: Jacqueline.Baylon@gmail.com). ©2009