by Jacqueline Baylon

The Border Angels, a human rights group founded in 1986 by Enrique Morones to stop the unnecessary deaths of people traveling across the U.S./Mexico border areas of San Diego County and the Imperial Valley.

With the arrival of their 2009 Marcha Migrante IV in Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, followers of the San Diego-based immigration advocacy organization Border Angels have declared, “Our time has come.”

More than three dozen supporters spent three days lobbying Congress and the Fresident Barack Obama administration to pass and sign a bill thatwill provide relief to some 12 million undocumented ­immigrants residing in the United States.

Since February 2006, the Angels have led caravans coast-to~coast four times to further their cause.

This time they met with U.S. Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and with David Martin of the Department of Homeland Security, among numerous other advocates and listeners.

Founder Enrique Morones described the Border Angels’mission as reminding the new administration of President Obama’s campaign promise to address immigration reform during his first year in office. “They have to come through with their promise,” Morones told Weekly Report.

Angels representatives were among some 500 pro-immigrant supporters who marched in sub-freezing weather to the White House the day after Obama’s inauguration.

Achieving a comprehensive and compassionate bill this year “is not going to be easy, but we are full of hope like the rest of the country,” Morones said.

This year’s journey began in San Diego with representatives from about 30 supportive Latino organizations taking part. It featured rallies in California, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. The trek ends Feb. 20 back in Washington.

“We are going to keep the pressure up,” promised Morones, who plans to return to the capital in April to lobby some more.

In other related news:

Obama postpones use of e-verify program

by JacqUeline Baylón

President Obama has postponed until May 21 the implementation of an executive order issued by his predecessor, George Bush, requiring all federal contractors to Utllize the E-verify program to ensUre their employees can legally work in the U.S.

After that date, it would require new hires of employers with more than $100,000 in federal contracts to use the program.

Established in 1997 as the Basic Pilot/ Employment Verification Program, it was created to prevent undocumented immigrants from gaining employment.

The American Civil Liberties Union said, “It’s only used by a fraction of our nation’s employers, but its ongoing technological snafus, database errors and bureaucratic bungling have caused enormous financial losses for both businesses and employees.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a national lobby group that proposes to cut back on immigration, stated, “E-Verify has proven to be the single most effective tool to protect American workers from losing jobs in their own country to illegal aliens.”

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the press Jan. 30 that she believes “it has to be an integral part of our immigration enforcement system. The review is in­tended to see what needs to be done to increase the capacity for the E-Verify system, how quickly that can be done.”

A Wall Street Journal article by Miriam Jordan stated that E-Verify “could be postponed further or even cancelled.” Hispanic Link.

por el personal de El Reportero

GRANADA, Nicaragua – Nicaragua has a rich history of poetry, and a common passion for the spoken word which unites class and cultural divides.

This past week has seen the Fifth International Poetry Festival take place in the beautiful, old city of Granada, bringing together more than 130 poets from 54 different countries.

Poets from Uganda and Iraq have made the journey to this Central American nation – testament to the festival’s credibility and commitment to the poetic cause.

Award-winning Nicaraguan poet Gioconda Belli was on hand to give the opening reading.

As vice-chair of the festival and author of 15 literary works, including seven poetry collections, she is one of Nicaragua’s big literary stars.

She thinks the festival is important because it opens up Nicaraguan poetry to an international audience.

“It also provides a big showcase for the different poetic tendencies in the world today,” she says.

Poetry in Nicaragua has often been, and still is, an outlet for political and social commentary.

In the years prior to the Sandinista revolution of 1979, it expressed many of the hopes and fears of the people.

And then, we’ll go wake our dead with the life they bequeathed us and we’ll all sing together while concerts of birds repeat our message through the length and breadth of America.

This extract, from Belli’s poem Until We’re Free, contains both a political message and a paean to the joy of poetry.

Modern poetry could be said to get a bad press – or not much press at all – so it is interesting to see a small country in Latin America putting so much emphasis on this literary form.

“Poetry is still as relevant today as it has been in the past,” insists Ms Belli.

“It can be used as both a celebration and a weapon in our society.”

DAS scandal could jeopardise U.S. assistance to Colombia

Colombia’s defence minister, Juan Manuel Santos, explicitly stated that the intelligence service, the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS), should be wound up. His comments were heavily infl uenced by time and place.

Santos was speaking to an audience in Washington; fresh revelations about the DAS carrying out illegal wiretapping of government offi cials, the opposition, the judiciary, and the media, had just emerged. It is this sort of scandal which has deterred Democrats from approving an FTA with Colombia.

The US House of Representatives did approve a bill this week preserving 2009 financial assistance for the counter-narcotics initiative Plan Colombia at last year’s levels, but President Barack Obama is starting to send out signals that he might change direction on drug policy.

Where’s the crisis heading?

The insouciance about the world economic crisis in Latin America’s bigger economies has proved shortlived. In Brazil and Mexico companies are slashing costs and downgrading forecasts.

Among the middle sized economies, only Peru seems to believe that it will escape the crisis unscathed. Venezuela and Colombia have expressed worries about the crisis but barely touched the policy tiller. Chile, typically, has taken action. It has decided to raid its sovereign wealth fund to pay for a welter of new infrastructure projects. Ecuador has gone back and opted for blunt protectionism.

(Latin Briefs and BBC contributed to this report).

by Jacqueline Baylon

As Washington’s political partisans and pundits attempt to decipher or frame the messages built into President Barack Obama’s Feb. 24 stimulus presentation to the joint session of Congress, immigration reform continues to attract major attention across the rest of the county.

Both advocates and opponents of the comprehensive immigration reform package that has been promised by the Obama administration are already noting that the word “immigration” never once passed his lips during his 52-minute speech.

Commented National Immigration Forum spokesperson Katherine Vargas to Weekly Report: “Although President Obama did not mention immigration we remain confident about his commitment to immigration reform. Fixing the economy and fixing our immigration system should not be seen as priorities that are mutually exclusive.

She explained,”Immigration reform can be part of the solution to our economic woes.

By legalizing an essential part of our work force, we can level the playing field for all workers, reduce worker exploitation,lift wages for all low-wage workers and generate revenuefrom increased tax contributions from workers who have been operating off the books.”

Nationally, the issue sounds a constant beat on nightly newscasts and front pages. Here’s a sample of what they’re reporting:

Napolitano Questions ICE

Compiled from several outlets, Feb. 23-25

BELLINGHAM, Wash.— Federal officials have been asked by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to provide her with a detailed report on the agency’s Feb 24 raid of an engine remanufacturing plant that resulted in the arrest of 28 undocumented persons, including three women.

It was the first worksite raid conducted since Obama took off ce. Napolitano told the House Homeland Security Committee that she had not been advised in advance that it was taking place.

Dozens of armed ICE agents entered the Yamato Engine Specialists plant and apprehended the 28 individuals, most of them from Mexico and Central America.

White House spokesperson Nick Shapiro said Napolitano was not happy and this incident sent the wrong message about the administration’s approach to reforming U.S. immigration policy.

Immigrants Block Jobless

Newsmax, Feb. 18

WASHINGTON, D.C.— A report released by the Center for Immigration Studies showed 6 to 7 million undocumented immigrants are holding jobs that could provide paid work 1for unemployed U.S.-born residents.

The study listed the unemployment rate of native-born high school dropouts as 17.0 percent and that of undocumented workers with no high school diploma at 10.6 percent.

CIS noted it is “diff cultto find any evidence of a shortage of less-educated workers.” More immigration law enforcement would improve job prospects for U.S. citizens.

Protesters Support Haitians

France Presse, Feb. 18

MIAMI, Fla.— Immigration activists are calling for a protest Feb. 28 at the Broward Transitional Center in Broward County.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has processed deportation orders for more than 30,000 Haitians in the community. Hundreds have been put in detention centers or on electronic monitoring at home in preparation for deportation.

Haiti claims it is not prepared for the return of so many refugees.

Stimulus’ Helps Undocumented’

The Chartotte Observer, Feb. 19

­CHARLOTTE, N.C.— State residents fear the stimulus package that has promised to create jobs and millions in wages will end up helping many undocumented workers.

North Carolina is expected to receive at least $1.3 billion for school and highway construction. This could translate to jobs for more than 5,000 undocumented immigrants. Studies show at least 14% who are employed in the construction industry are illegally employed.

The bill originally required recipients of stimulus money to use the E-Verify system, a federal program that checks Social Security numbers. That requirement was dropped. While acknowledging the program has flaws, supporters say it helps catch frauds. Opponents call it a waste of money. Hispanic Link.

by the El Reportero’s news services

When President Hugo Chávez narrowly lost a referendum on constitutional reform – including continuous re-election – in December 2007, banners proclaiming “Por ahora” (“For now”) appeared around Caracas, a defiant reference to his surrender speech after a failed coup in 1992.

On Feb. 19, unlike then, the objective that he set himself was achieved: the Venezuelan electorate voted to grant Chávez the option of continuous re-election.

The opposition, however, managed to win more than 5m votes for the first time, which, if replicated in legislative elections next year, would make it a serious force in the national assembly.

Unearthing a leader sufficiently charismatic to challenge Chávez in 2012 will be harder.

Hernani goes in Peru

The interior minister, Remigio Hernani Meloni, was replaced on Feb. 19, as interior minister by a congresswoman from President Alan García’s ruling Partido Aprista Peruano (PAP). Hernani’s ­departure weakens the nominally independent prime minister, Yehude Simon.

Simon and Hernani only took up their posts in October 2008, following a corruption scandal that forced the resignation of the previous prime minister, Jorge del Castillo. Hernani’s ejection points to another period of PAP supremacy in the government, despite the fact that only four of the 17 cabinet ministers are Apristas.

At least one political commentator in Lima claims that the new interior minister, Mercedes Cabanillas Bustamente, will in fact be the de facto prime minister, so weak is Simon’s position.

by Angelo Falcón

The controversy over White House plans to play a more direct role in overseeing the operations of the U.S. Bureau of the Census as some sort of “political grab” reflects, more than anything else, an astounding ignorance of how the Census operates. The charge is that having the Census Bureau director report directly to Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s chief of staff, would allow him to manipulate the 2010 population count for partisan advantage in reapportionment and redistricting.

That contrasts with the myth under President George W. Bush, where he kept the Census Bureau “independent.”

This became an issue when President Obama surprised most of us this month with his nomination of Senator Judd Gregg, since then declined, to be Commerce Secretary.

Gregg had in the past voted to eliminate this Commerce Department and been a strong opponent of providing needed resources for the 2000 Census. The move raised serious concerns by black and Latino leaders working for an accurate count of their communities in the 2010 Census. Nomination of the New Hampshire Republican, given his track record, was grounds for reasonable questions about the appropriateness of his candidacy for the post.

The reactions, largely by Republicans, to the White House’s announced plan to play a more direct role with the Census have been either purely political or based on ignorance of the way the federal government works. The Census Bureau or any other agency under a full department is overseen directly or indirectly by the White House.

When the Census Bureau ran into problems last year with management of its failed handheld computers program that would have automated the population count, the Bush White House set up a special group inside of Commerce to oversee the matter. The Commerce Secretary under Bush was in no way an independent

player “protecting” the Census Bureau from partisan influences.

Accepting these assertions would be tantamount to making up history from scratch. It is not possible for the White House or anyone else to manipulate the 2010 population count to rig reapportionment or redistricting in favor of one party or the other. The Census Bureau has a well-developed set of protocols and procedures to assure as objective a population count as possible. No one, neither a powerful figure like Emanuel nor even the President, can manipulate this process.

Finally, influencing broader policy issues on the use of Census data, such as using sampling to adjust population counts, is most definitely a political process ­beyond the purview of the bureau. It would not be affected by who the Census Bureau reports to. Whether it is the White House or the Commerce Secretary, this is an issue that would be framed by whoever is President.

The use of sampling for adjusting Census numbers is ultimately under the jurisdiction of the federal courts. In addition, the political redistricting process is something that is overseen by the Department of Justice in its administration of the Voting Rights Act.

And as we have seen with the Bush Administration, the Justice Department has certainly not been kept “independent” of politics.

By taking a direct interest in the 2010 Census, President Obama will be assuring that this population count, only 15 months away, would get the attention and resources needed to make it accurate and assure that hard-to-count populations are included.

Currently, there are thousands of Census staff working hard to make sure that the 2010 Census is the most accurate and fairest possible.

President Obama is telling them he supports them fully and understands the importance of the 2010 Census to the country.

It is the critics who seem to want to politicize this situation, at the cost of turning the 2010 count into a disaster and tremendous waste of money. Hispanic Link.

(Angelo Falcon is president of the National Institute for Latino Policy, based in New York City. He chairs Le Latino Census Network and serves as a member of the Census Advisory Committee on the Hispanic Population, as well as the national steering committee of the Census Information Centers Program of the Census Bureau. Email: info@/atinopo/icy.org).