by Jonathan Farrell

Ironically, as the Americans with Disabilities Act commemorates its 20th Anniversary, California legal advocates gave a press conference on July 27 as witness to the fact that Social Security owes about $700 million to people who had been wrongly cut off from their benefits.

“That number is what the Social Security Administration calculated. But we estimate that is closer to $1 billion,” said Gerald McIntyre of the National Senior Citizens Law Center of Los Angeles office.

McIntyre spoke to the press at New American Media headquarters in San Francisco. He was part of a panel of attorneys and advocates familiar with the 1996 U.S. law saying that benefits must be cut off from SSA recipients fleeing from court prosecution.

McIntyre was the lead attorney in the civil class action law case against SSA. The lead plaintiff was Rosa Martinez of Redwood City,CA. Her disability benefits were declined because of mistaken identity with someone with same name who had a 1980 felony warrant in Miami. Martinez then enlisted legal help because SSA reps would not listen even when she presented documented proof.

“Papers were filed in the summer of 2008, and an Oakland District Court Judge made the decision in favor in Dec. 2009,” said McIntyre, making Martinez v. Astrue a landmark case. (Michael J. Astrue is the U.S. Social Security Commissioner.) Now SSA under court order is restituting over 200,000 people nationwide who were erroneously denied benefits.

This 1996 SSA law was designed to eliminate fleeing felons from the SSA re- cipient rosters. “It was one of those regulations that did not really get enforced until about eight years later,” said attorney Steve Weiss of the Bay Area Legal Aid office of Alameda County.

“This regulation was narrowly and distortedly interpreted by SSA officials, said Andy Chu, director and counselor of the Positive Resource Center of SF. It resulted in thousands of disabled and elderly people cut off from benefits.

“The potential of felons receiving SSA benefits is less than one percent of the population,” noted McIntyre.

A “felony” could be as “something as stupid as a bounced check,” said Jose Munevar, who also spoke at the press conference. In his case benefits had been cut off for just that reason. Attorney Christopher Douglas of Legal Aid of San Mateo, noted that Munevar’s situation is not that uncommon. “Many people can have a warrant issued against them for whatever reason and not even know it.”

“Something as simple as an unpaid bill going to into collections caused some SSA recipients lose benefits,” said Weiss.

“This is why we want to get the word out to the public about this. So, that if people were wrongfully cut off from their benefits they need to contact Social Security. The first step is to seek advocate help,” said McIntyre. This can also apply to some Special Veterans Benefits. As a result of the Martinez v. Astrue case many people may be entitled to as much $10,000 to $40,000 retroactively in  lost benefits or assistance through Social Security Administration.

For more information visit www.ssa.gov/ martinezsettlement. In the SF Bay Area, people can get free legal assistance by contacting Bay Area Legal  Aid at (800) 551-5554 The telephone number of El Reportero is 415-648- 3711

­ Opposers protest against Arizona law.

by local services

In San Francisco and Oakland, immigrants and community activists protested Arizona’s SB 1070, which would require police and local law enforcement to check the immigration status of people they suspect might be undocumented, on the day the law took effect. A day earlier Federal Judge Susan Bolton invalidated much of the law, but demonstrations involving thousands of people took place against the law around the country nevertheless.

In San Francisco demonstrators also protested cooperation between police and immigration agents in arresting people for deportation, in front of the office of California Attorney General Jerry Brown. Brown, a candidate for governor, ruled that San Francisco could not opt out of the Secure Communities program, which mandates such cooperation and would invalidate San Francisco’s sanctuary city ordinance. Protestors then went into Brown’s office and told one of his assistants about their objections to his action.

Renee Saucedo, an attorney with La Raza Centro Legal and a leader of the protestors, said: “It’s no coincidence that Arizona has this outrageous law, because all the proposals from Washington on immigration reform encourage the same criminalization, racial profiling and discrimination. Immigrant communities are demanding an end to these policies and laws, including “Secure Communities” and “E-Verify.” We deserve a new direction from Washington, with real change, including legalization and workers’ rights.”

In many other parts of the country, demonstrations connected the Arizona law to local anti-immigrant measures, and to an increase in enforcement actions by the Federal government. In Mississippi, the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance held a protest inside the state capitol in Jackson, in front of a statue of former Senator Theodore Bilbo. In the era in which African-Americans were beaten and even lynched for demanding voting and civil rights, Bilbo was a leader of the Dixiecrats in Congress. He was notorious for attacking African Americans, Jews, immigrants, Catholics and all progressive people.

A church choir sang “Listen Mr. Bilbo,” written by Bob and Adrienne Claiborne in 1946 and popularized by Pete Seeger and the Almanac Singers. The song begins with the verse: Listen, Mr. Bilbo, listen to me I’ll give you a lesson in history. Listen and I’ll show you that the foreigners you hate Are the very same people made America great.

Bill Chandler, director of the Alliance, asked: “Is not trying to bring this xenophobic and racist Arizona law into Mississippi playing the Bilbo Card? Is it not their stated intent to intimidate and drive immigrants out of our state, just as their ancestors’ intent was to intimidate, terrorize, and drive out African Americans in the last century? And to enforce inequality on thoseleft behind?”

by the El Reportero’s news services

In response to Colombian accusations of “continued and permanent tolerance” of Colombian guerrillas on Venezuelan soil, on July 22 Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, accompanied by none other than Diego Maradona, followed through on his earlier threat and broke off all relations with Colombia, ordered the Colombian embassy in Caracas closed and gave the embassy staff 72 hours to leave the country.

This is the first time since coming to power in 1999 that Chávez has completely broken off his long tempestuous relations with neighbouring Colombia. The timing is exceedingly bad for the incoming president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, prompting much speculation in recent days about the motives, political or otherwise, of the outgoing president, Alvaro Uribe. At the end of the day that’s rather immaterial. Uribe was already isolated within the region and will leave office in rather ungainly fashion.

Uribe accused of sabotaging Santos’ rapprochement with Venezuela

Colombia’s defense minister, Gabriel Silva, showed the media behind closed doors on 15 July what he claimed was incontrovertible evidence that senior leaders of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) and the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) were hiding in Venezuela. As we go to press a week later, his government is poised to present this evidence to the Organization of American States (OAS). In the meantime, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez has threatened to sever ties with Colombia completely and ruled out attending the investiture of Presidentelect Juan Manuel Santos on 7 August. It is far from the first time the administration of President Alvaro Uribe has claimed the Farc and ELN seek sanctuary in Venezuela, so the timing of these latest revelations is more interesting than their contents.

Indigenous frustration with Morales laid bare

This month saw one of the biggest challenges to Bolivia’s President Evo Morales, Latin America’s first indigenous leader, from the country’s indigenous sector (which accounts for roughly two thirds of the population). While triggered by the approval of the five ‘leyes orgánicas’ framework laws necessary for the implementation of the new 2009 “plurinational” constitution to take effect, the show of frustration from what is one of the core planks of Morales’s support base, exposed more generally how, despite the considerable progress achieved by his administration vis-à-vis indigenous rights, certain expectations have yet to be fulfilled.

Russian-Argentinean relations have reached new level

The topic was developed further in Buenos Aires where the President of Russia arrived next day. Answering the question whether the US will be con cerned with Russia moving to Latin America that was always considered “American back yard,” Medvedev said: ”I have an impression that people in the White House are sensible. Thus I hope that it is no one’s concern. And if it is a concern, we do not care.”

Agreements were reached with Argentina regarding construction of railway road, use of Glonass satellite system, supply of military equipment and construction of a nuclear power station. The nuclear power station project is  worth several billion dollars. To promote such projects, especially to not very wealthy countries, these countries have to be provided with billions worth of loans. The orders for a part of equipment have to be placed locally. “Half of the components will be from local manufacturers,” Kirchner, Argentina’s President, confirmed. Medvedev completed his visit to the American continent in Brazil where the second summit of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) took place.

by Tiana Pugh and  Luis Carlos López

Republican and Democratic architects are latticing strategies and spending millions in their political warfare over which party will take control of the 112th Congress next January.

Their successes on Nov. 2 election day will be rooted on how well their congressional candidates appeal to Latinos, reveals a new National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Of- ficial study.

The Hispanic voting role will be most palpable in California, Colorado, Texas and Florida, says NALEO executive director Arturo Vargas. In those four competitive states, twothirds of the nation’s Hispanic registered voters reside.

Overall, NALEO’s Educational Fund projects at least 6.5 million Latinos will cast their ballots in November, a 17 percent increase over the last midterm congressional election.

Among issues of greatest concern, immigration — often considered part of a Hispanic political litmus test — has quickly el evated to become No. 1 among Latino registered voters. The NALEO survey, first shared with Hispanic Link News Service and other media July 20, showed 27 percent of the 1600 Hispanics polled — 400 in each of the four states — ranked immigration above unemployment, cost of living, health care and education.

By contrast, a January 2009 study by the Pew Hispanic Research Center showed Latinos were out of touch with immigration as a political issue despite the 2007 attempt by President Bush and the late Senator Edward Kennedy to pass a comprehensive reform bill.

Their efforts at that time were stalled by heightened racial rhetoric and what current White House director of intergovernmental affairs Cecilia Muñoz, then vice president of the National Council of La Raza, referred to as a “poisonous atmosphere.”

Muñoz commented with foresight in 2007 that the impact of the failed Senate bill would pressure state and local governments to write their own immigration legislation.

As President Obama took office, Latinos ranked immigration sixth behind the economy, education, health care, national security and the environment, the Pew Hispanic Research survey showed.

ThIs month’s NALEO presentation, mediated by Vargas at the National Press Club pitted Democratic strategist María Cardona and GOP strategist Leslie Sánchez. Each described how their party would be affected by Hispanic infl uence in November.

Cardona, a native of Bogotá, Colombia, now principal at the Dewey Square Group, said, “Latinos should definitely be looked at as a swing vote. We have seen some trends. Republicans should be very frightened.”

On immigration, Cardona echoed the message delivered by Obama, in his July 1 speech when he addressed immigration for the first time since taking offi ce. Cardona hammered home that advocacy groups and Hispanic organizations should vent their frustration on Republicans.

Afterwards, Sánchez told Hispanic Link that Obama’s call to castigate the Republican Party for its inaction was just “political spin to mobilize a Democratic Latino base for November. It is a serious issue that needs serious attention, but not just a couple of months prior to an election.”

Sánchez maintained that the immigration debate was “missing a lion” to push for a bill as late Sen. Ted Kennedy did in seeking support across the aisle. “Republicans want to see sincere efforts,” she said.

Sánchez agreed the GOP should seek Hispanic support by being more inclusive, but she made it clear that the term “com-prehensive” when attached to “immigration reform” is code for “amnesty.”

Among Republicans, “that dog won’t hunt,” she said .

Cardona countered by saying the word “comprehensive” is “the only thing that is going to get the ear of Latino voters.”

The strategists acknowledged that Arizona and its immigration law SB1070, now being challenged in federal court, was the catalyst for the elevated interest in fi nding a national solution.

Sánchez and Cardona agreed that if the issue of immigration is not addressed in Washington soon, the year 2011 isn’t likely to be a pleasant one. Hispanic Link.

A manicurist does the nails to a customer­

Compiled by the El Reportero’s st

Los Angeles, Calif.— More than 550 union members from 32 different unions in the Los Angeles along with several leaders from L.A.’s community and faith organizations will travel to Phoenix on July 29. They will travel “without papers” or identifi cation the day SB 1070, Arizona’s anti-immigrant law, is scheduled to go into effect. Eleven chartered buses will depart from Dodger Stadium at 5 a.m. The Los Angeles media is invited to attend the bus send-off at Dodger Stadium between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m.

The buses will be filled with L.A. letter carriers, teachers, city and county employees, truck drivers, stagehands, carwash workers, construction employees, nurses, homecare workers, hotel workers, grocery workers and steelworkers, among others. Among the 550 participants who oppose SB 1070 are immigrants and non-immigrants, U.S. born  and foreign born, African Americans, Asians, Latinos and Anglos. all of the buses bound for Phoenix will be driven by local shop stew-ards of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1700.

“No one will be able to tell from looking at us who is illegal and who is not,” says Matt Kozlo, a letter carrier from San Dimas and U.S. veteran who will ride the bus on July 29.

USCIS Reaches Milestone: 10,000 U Visas Approved in Fiscal Year 2010

U Visa protects victims  of crime and strengthens law enforcement efforts

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced it has approved 10,000 petitions for U nonimmigrant status (also referred to as the “U visa”) in fi scal year 2010, an important milestone for a program that offers immigration protection to victims of crime while also strengthening law enforcement efforts to combat those crimes. This marks the first time that USCIS, through extensive outreach and collaboration, has reached the statutory maximum of 10,000 U visas per fi scal year since it began issuing U visas in 2008.

USCIS will resume issuing U visas on October 1, 2010, the fi rst day of fi scal year 2011. Until then, USCIS will continue to accept new petitions for U visas and will place conditionally approved petitioners on a waiting list. Conditionally approved petitioners and qualifying family members will be able to legally remain in the United States and request work authorization. This protection also applies to conditionally approved petitioners or any qualifying family members who are in removal proceedings or have a final order of removal.

Safer nail salons for San Francisco

Free manicures for the public will kick off a day of activities on Tuesday July 20 devoted to raising awareness of the toxic chemicals in nail polish.

Nail technicians at the nternational School of Cosmetology, 1224 Polk Street, San Francisco, will offer the free manicures beginning at 12 p.m. The event will be hosted by advocacy groups California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, Environment California and Asian Law Caucus.

At 12:30 p.m., San Francisco Board of Supervisor President David Chiu will be among those speaking at a press conference at the beauty school. Nail salon workers and other advocates then will walk to City Hall where Sup. Chiu will introduce an ordinance to the Board of Supervisors creating a Nail Salon Recognition Program that will encourage local salons to replace nail polish containing toxic chemicals with safer alternatives.

From the author: Undocumented immigrants crossings from Mexico are down this year relative to last year and the year before. Why?

by Raoul Lowery Contreras

THEY KEEP COMING to the United States — the men and women from rural Mexico — to work in the flower fields, nurseries, avocado groves and sundry jobs throughout the country. Some would say that they are coming as criminal invaders.

So say rabid anti-immigrant groups such as the Center for Immigration studies (CIS), a John Tanton uber-radical organization in Washington.

There are an estimated 12 million (or fewer) undocumented mostly Mexicans living and working in the country.

“Soon, however, fewer of them will be coming here to work.” I wrote these words a decade ago.

Watching the Sunday news shows validated that statement, validated it by the White House that declares that the number of undocumented border crossers in Arizona alone is down 20 percent from a year ago. In the past three years, many experts declare the drop is closer to 30 percent. Regardless, fewer undocumented immigrants are coming to the USA from Mexico.

Is it because of stronger border enforcement or more Border Patrol Agents? Or is it official hysteria in Arizona’s legislature with its controversial and likely unconstitutional heavyhanded anti-undocumented law, SB 1070?

No. In that column I wrote in 2000, I stated, “The supply of willing Mexican emigres to the United States will shrink in coming years. Within a decade, the number of undocumented Mexicans entering the United States will diminish to the point of endangering the production of our food supply.” A decade later, illegal border crossings have fallen dramatically.

Reasons: Birth and fertility rates. According to the New York Times and the CIA World Fact Book,  Mexican women gave birth rate was 7 children in 1965. That rate dropped to 2.5 in 1999 and an estimated 2.31 in 2010. (Aside: The CIS “estimates” that Mexican immigrant women – legal and illegal- in the USA  have a 3.5 birth rate, a third higher than the general American population. The CIS camoufl ages it’s antiimmigrant basis for existence thus their “estimates” are questionable).

Results, many American farmers in the West and Southwest complain now that there aren’t enough workers to pick crops and crops are rotting in thefi elds.

The steady decline can be attributed to plunging birth rates, little else counts.

Mexico City with its urban millions led the way in lower births. The declining Mexico City birth rate spread to the rural areas that have long supplied the young men who immigrated to The North, El Norte. This is the result of a 30-year-long birth-control program hustled in every rural village by the Mexican government.

Despite mild opposition from the Catholic Church, the PAN governments of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon persisted in promoting this program, and the country will soon reap the double-edged rewards of a declining birth rate. Mexican women, who traditionally have not worked outside the home have entered the workforce, which also contributes to the drop in national fertility rates.

As Mexico’s economy grows and modernizes, more and more real jobs are created. This growth theoretically absorbs those rural farmers who have been displaced by cheaper American corn, a cheap corn that replaces ineffi cient and money losing small-plot corn agriculture that has dominated Mexico for decades. Mexican consumers benefi t by cheaper American corn despite cries from anti-Nafta people that the agreement is “destroying” traditional agriculture.

As the number of young people, especially rural young men, shrinks, an unprecedented situation may come to pass: Mexico will have more jobs than people to work them. Consequently, wages will rise.

Thus, as the promise of NAFTA is becoming reality in Mexico, Mexicans will have all the jobs they can fill in Mexico soon. They won’t need to come here looking for subsistence work. At least, that’s the theory.

When? The phenomenon actually began five years ago and proceeds into the future.

Mexican demographer Agustin Escobar said in 2000 that for 15 years, the number of working-age Mexicans entering the labor force remained steady. “We needed emigration to help our people fi nd work,” he said. “But now we can see that the future is going  to be quite different from what we saw in the 1980s and 1990s.”

I wrote in 2000, “Escobar thinks that by 2010 the number of Mexican emigrants to the United States will decrease to such an extent that it will, pose problems for the U.S. economy — specifi cally for California’s agricultural economy.” How prescient — for that is exactly what has happened.

Farm owner groups think that the percentage of undocumented in the farm work force might be as high as 80 percent. California depends on illegal- immigrant labor to pick almost all crops in the most productive farmland in the country. If undocumented immigrants from Mexico aren’t there to pick the crops, who will?

We now know two things: (1) smaller numbers of Mexican men will come North as their population cohort decreases; (2) as the Mexican labor market constricts because of lower birth rates, Mexican wage rates will rise obviating the need of entry level working Mexican men to come to the USA.

That is happening today

Proof: Fewer Mexicans coming illegally to the USA, a trend that started long before Arizona even  thought of its infamous SB 1070 law.

Contreras’ books are available at amazon.com

by Jesse M. Bernal Hispanic Link News Service

The University of California is responding to recent fiscal challenges by looking at creative and strategic approaches while keeping its three-pronged principle of sustaining access, maintaining affordability and enhancing quality.

Chairman of the Board of Regents Russell Gould and President Mark Yudof  created the UC Commission on the Future to consult with the entire university community to help craft the vision that would serve California best in the years ahead in the face of diminishing resources.

The University of California and the state’s two other California public higher education segments have been forced to respond to state budget cuts by raising fees, cutting classes and limiting enrollment.

In 2009-2010, California community colleges turned away more than 250,000 students.

Where can they go?The University of California?

At UC, freshman enrollment was reduced by 2,300 students last year.

California State University?

CSU faced a 40,000 reduction in student enrollment in addition to an increase in barriers to students – earlier application deadlines, the requirements of enrollment deposits and the termination of spring 2010 admission.

The workforce? Although declining, the California unemployment rate in April remained above 12 percent in April.

These barriers pose increased challenges to economically disadvantaged Californians seeking access to higher education.

The community college path has never looked more appealing. Across the county, students are rethinking plans about attending more expensive universities to find less costly alternatives.

UC plans to aid students who seek this path. The Commission on the Future is engaged in conversations about streamlining and enhancing the community college transfer path to UC.

While UC already gives priority admission to California Community College transfer students, last month its members took extra time to discuss recommendations that would improve the transfer function. Recommendations included developing more complete lower-division transfer pathways in high-demand majors, enhancing the ASSIST Web site designed to advise students interested in transferring courses and exploring online instruction.

In 2008, only 45 percent of students enrolled in California community colleges were white non- Hispanic, Chicanos/ Latinos are the second largest group, comprising 28 percent.

Applications to UC among Latinos are increasing dramatically. More than 28,000 transfer students applied to UC in 2010, preliminary data show. Of that amount, 18% are Chicano/Latino. This represents a 26.7% increase over 2009-2010.

Because large numbers of low-income and underrepresented students begin their postsecondary education in community colleges, effective transfer provides a viable route to a four-year degree. Additionally, streamlined transfer has the potential to improve time to degree, freeing up more spaces for additional students.  Clarifying and easing the transfer path is particularly vital to underrepresented communities who make up the largest proportion of students who  are the fi rst in their family to attend college. Navigating this complex process could prevent highly capable but less privileged students from going on to more advanced degrees.

While fiscal predicaments are generally unwelcome, the attention to effi ciency may benefi t Latinos and Californians from all backgrounds.

As the population of Latinos in community colleges steadily increases, the University of California is trying to ensure their continued progress to a four-year transfer degree.

Additional information about the University of California, admissions requirements, financial aid and the UC Commission on the Future is available at http://www.u niversityofcalifornia.edu/ Hispanic Link.

(Jesse M. Bernal is Student Regent for the University of California and a Commissioner on the UC Commission on the Future.)