08/31/10 Selvin came to the United States from Guatemala when he was just 14 years old. His dream was to work hard to support his mother, who needed open-heart surgery, his two brothers and his sister. Selvin paints houses during the day and takes classes at night to pass his GED. Though he's incredibly active in his church and local community in Maine, the 24-year-old could be deported any day now.
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08/31/10 Several outlets in the Spanish-language press report today on the dispatch of the first wave of National Guard troops to the Arizona-Mexico border. The press also continues to explain what last week's Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo does and doesn't mean for deportations (hint: it's still not amnesty),and looks at the aftereffects of the massacre of migrants in Tamaulipas, Mexico, and of SB 1070 in Arizona.
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08/30/10 The Spanish-language press continues to follow up on two big stories from last week: the release of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) memo asking agents to cancel deportations for a narrow class of immigrants, and the massacre of 72 Central and South American migrants in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Meanwhile, as Congress prepares to go back in session, DREAM Act advocates are tallying up their support in the Senate.
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08/30/10 On May 17th, on the 56th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, I, along with Mohammad Abdollahi, Yahaira Carrillo and two others, became the first undocumented students to risk deportation by staging a sit-in inside Senator McCain's office in Tucson, Arizona, to demand the immediate passage of the DREAM Act. As a result of that sit-in we were arrested, turned over to ICE, and we now face deportation.
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08/30/10 While most analysis of immigration politics has focused on Arizona lately, both parties should take note of the results of last Tuesday's gubernatorial primary in Florida. In states with a significant Latino presence, there is a steep price to pay for ugly immigration politics.
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08/27/10 Surely everyone in America would think it's smarter to spend ICE resources going after dangerous criminals than immigrants who have applied for residency under the current system and are about to be granted a green card, right?
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08/27/10 After decades of misguided policies and patchwork practices, the high human costs of our disordered immigration system are only starting to emerge. Stricter immigration policies and overcrowded detention centers aren't making our streets safer or our social services more accessible.
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08/26/10 On July 20th, 2010 I was arrested in the office of Senator John McCain fighting for the DREAM Act. I am one of the thousands of students who would qualify for this legislation.
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08/26/10 The Spanish-language press looks backward to the fading legacy of Senator Edward Kennedy, and forward to the impact Latino voters will have on the midterm elections in November.
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08/25/10 After primaries yesterday in Florida and Arizona, the 2010 general election cycle is in full swing -- and one of the most important questions facing political observers is what the nation's fastest-growing voter bloc will do. We won't know the answer to that question until November, of course, but in America's Voice's updated report on "The Power of the Latino Vote" -- and on a telephonic press conference featuring a panel of experts held today in conjunction with the report's release -- it's clear that the immigration debatecontinues to be a driving factor behind Latino political engagement. . In all, the report examines the role of immigration and the potential influence of Latino voters in 41 key races in 12 states across the country – including potential battleground locations such as Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, and Nevada. The report – and the analysis featured on today's call – make clear that Latino voters could make a difference in dozens of 2010 races.
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08/25/10 Yesterday, Ivan with members of OneMichigan (shown in the picture on the right with Ivan holding a sign that reads: Pass the DREAM Act Now!) held a press event in support of the bi-partisan legislation called the DREAM Act that would give undocumented young people like Ivan who were brought to the United States at a young age a path to citizenship.
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08/24/10 My name is Carlos and I'm a 23 year old undocumented immigrant from Caracas, Venezuela. I want to legalize my immigration status in this country through the passage of DREAM Act this year. For too long have I lived in the U.S. without papers.
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08/20/10 Yesterday, as part of our two week campaign to stop the deportation of Ivan Nikolov, America's Voice joined Matias Ramos, Tania Unzueta, Dulce Matuz and other DREAM activists to deliver over 6,000 signed petitions, along with a letter of support from Senator Carl Levin, letters from family and friends, and another letter of support signed by 32 national and local organizations, all of which are urging ICE to reconsider Ivan's deportation.
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08/19/10 Remember candidate Barack Obama? The one who recognized that mass deportation was a failed strategy that tore communities apart, and knew that comprehensive reform was the only lasting solution?
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08/19/10 Yesterday afternoon, local and national advocates held a media call to highlight Ivan NIkolov's struggle to remain in the country he knows as home, and call on DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief John Morton to prevent his deportation.
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08/18/10 According to the Washington Post: Justice Department officials in Washington have issued a rare threat to sue Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio if he does not cooperate with their investigation of whether he discriminates against Hispanics. The civil rights inquiry is one of two that target the man who calls himself “America’s toughest sheriff.” A [...]
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08/18/10 Secure Communities won't make the country more secure, not the way it is working. Police departments that don't want to participate should be able to opt out. The Obama administration needs to fix it or jettison it.
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08/18/10 From the bottom of my heart, I plead to my God that you and your entire family receive blessings from the highest God while you are reading this letter. I admire and thank you for the great labor that you are fulfilling as a president in this big nation.
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08/18/10 The Spanish-language press covers a pair of stories of stubbornness in Arizona today, as Sheriff Joe Arpaio refuses to cooperate with a Department of Justice civil-rights investigation and the state legislature decides not to change SB 1070 in light of last month's federal ruling keeping parts of the lawfrom going into effect. Meanwhile, maritime smuggling is up, and prominent conservative leader Sam Rodríguez is down (on calls to change the 14th Amendment, that is).
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08/17/10 Nope. That was not a typo. A new poll from Fox News finds that 68 percent of voters, including majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, say efforts to secure the border should be combined with reform of federal immigration laws by Congress. What do voters mean by reform of federal immigration laws? Sixty-eight percent "favor allowing illegal immigrants who pay taxes and obey the law to stay in the United States."
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08/16/10 Dear President Obama: My name is Yves Gomes. I am 17 years old and I just graduated from Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, MD this June.
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08/16/10 Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was out in front over the weekend as the Administration defended a newly-passed $600 million bill for border security, while Tea Party activists promised not to "stop yelling" about the need for even more money. Elsewhere in the Spanish-language press, Arizona's harsh new anti-immigration law is causing immigrants to leave the state for other Western states including Utah--where a state legislator has just introduced a similar bill. Another draconian anti-immigrant bill proposed in Florida is splitting that state's Republican party.
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08/13/10 This isn't inaction, it's bad action. President Obama has continued many of the worst enforcement policies of President Bush. Both the Obama Administration and congressional Democrats have fallen prey to the border-first mantra of the GOP. In an election year where swing voters are looking for solutions and Latino voters are looking for respect, all parties have some 'splainin to do on immigration.
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08/12/10 Anti-immigrant forces have adeptly shaped the ongoing immigration debate into an issue of crime and punishment. Now, the pending passage of a $600 million border security bill could breathe new life into the narrative of the criminal immigrant – despite the increasing safety of our border communities. The sentiment is familiar, if false.
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08/11/10 In May, my mother and I were picked up in an immigration raid in our home. I was told that in 2002, when I was just 12, I missed a court date at which I was ordered removed from this country. I've been in detention for three months, now, awaiting my deportation.
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08/11/10 The Spanish-language press recognizes the success of the DREAM movement in getting officials to suspend certain deportations, but activists point out that students will still be deported until the federal government takes action to help them -- which President Obama told a fundraising dinner he would do "something" about after the November elections. Meanwhile, on the border, arrests are down, deaths are up, and residents feel safe, but Secure Communities continues to expand anyway.
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08/10/10 La Opinión, the largest Spanish-language daily paper in the US, joins the chorus of those calling on Congress to pass the DREAM Act, as the Obama Administration affirms its commitment to the bill. Pro-immigrant groups continue to criticize Congress for passing another border bill instead of a real solution, and documents show that 47,000 people have been deported under the Secure Communities program in its 20 months of existence.
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