Fronteras.org

The above title is a growing question in reaction to Barack Obama’s nominee of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court on Tuesday.  Sotomayor’s nomination to replace retiring judge Justice David Souter carries a historical importance.  If she is confirmed, Sotomayor will be the first member of the Hispanic community to occupy a seat on the Supreme Court.  She is also Barack Obama’s first nominee, perhaps setting a test for Obama’s approval in both houses and the trust he has earned thus far as a leader.  Some say that Sotomayor’s nomination also aides President Obama in his campaign promise of passing immigration reform.

Barack Obama garnered large support from the Hispanic community during his presidental campaign, and still sees strong ratings from the base.  Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination is reported to again boost Barack’s standing in the Hispanic community. California Rep. Xavier Becerra told Newsmax.com,

“The Latino community — and not just Latinos, but anyone who’s had a set of life experiences like Sotomayor — will always remember Barack Obama for this.  This will inspire people who were hungry to see a reform of our broken immigration system to stand behind the president on this issue and behind the decisions he makes.”

Sotomayor’s story is inspirational in that it is the classic American tale, a ‘pick yourself up by the bootstraps’ success story in which we all hope to believe.  Sotomayor’s parents moved to the the United States from Puerto Rico.  Sotomayor was born and raised in the South Bronx by her mother, after her father passed away when Sotomayor was in the third grade.  She lived in housing projects in NYC, and according to her wikipedia page, turned her aspirations towards law after watching Perry Mason episodes.  Sotomayor excelled at school and attended Princeton as an undergrad before going on to Yale for her J.D.  Accompanying her accomplishments is a world view shaped by her upbringing, and strong ties to the immigrant and Hispanic communities.

Ruben Diaz, the Bronx Borough President expressed his feelings to Univision.  He said, “We’re happy and honored.  This is a person who comes from our neighborhood, a daughter of the borough, who serves as an example for our children, especially for our girls. Her mother sacrificed a lot, gave a lot of her time to educate her daughter.”

Because Puerto Rico is part of the United States of America, those coming to the USA from PR are not considered to be immigrants.  However, Sotomayor self-identified as such, and it played a role in her determination and achievements.  The New York Times showed such feelings after Sotomayor’s nomination when they printed her 2001 speech at Cal-Berkeley’s School of Law.  She said,

“Like many other immigrants to this great land, my parents came because of poverty and to attempt to find and secure a better life for themselves and the family that they hoped to have. They largely succeeded..;The story of that success is what made me and what makes me the Latina that I am. The Latina side of my identity was forged and closely nurtured by my family through our shared experiences and traditions.”

Sotomayor was a top choice throughout the nomination process, and she has been considered a supreme court candidate for several years.  One fact about her that I find personally interesting is that she effectively ended the 1994 baseball strike by shutting down the league’s usage of replacement players.

Our higher education system and amateur athletics community are losing another top college wrestling prospect to the horde that is WWF, er, I mean the WWE.  Well, that’s not entirely true, top high school wrestler Ofelia Valdez has not announced a deal with Vince McMahon or that’s she’ll be fighting under the name “Cyclone”.  Sadly though, she did announce that she is unable to pursue a college education because she entered the United States as a 2 year old when her family immigrated here illegally.  Because of her status and lack of a social security number, Valdez is forced to turn down the wrestling scholarship offered to her by Oklahoma City College.  She is also unable to apply for FASA student loans, and thus cannot afford to go to a college.

Her situation highlights the problems that children of immigrants face, when their parents come here illegally.  Her brother told Dallas’ News 8 “I was an American…that’s all I considered myself ever since I was younger. There’s nothing that changed until I hit a lot of walls when I graduated. Tried to go to school, tried to go to military, like I said, a lot of closed doors.”

The Athletic Director at her high school is speaking with a United States senator about options for Valdez, but until the DREAM ACT passes, there doesn’t seem to be much anyone can do.  However, the school’s wrestling coach is considering adopting Valdez and her brother in order to get the brother and sister into college in the fall.

Motorhomediaries sits down with Texas Congressman and former presidential candidate, Ron Paul.  Immigration is discussed, as MHD asks Paul why our immigration laws should allow the government to get involved in dealings between businesses and customers, or property owners and tenants.  Paul’s answer makes almost zero sense, as he talks in circles not saying much of anything.  If you can piece something together, please let me know.

The Immigrant spotlight is back, where I end the week by spotlighting the American achievements of somebody not born in America.  Today we turn our attention towards singer/songwriter K’Naan.  After growing up in war torn Somalia, K’Naan immigrated to NYC as a teen and later settled in Toronto.  In 2005 he released his first LP, The Dusty Foot Philosopher, which was carried by the song, “Until The Lion Learns To Speak.” The song, and much of K’Naan’s music transmits an underdog message, as K’Naan feels it is part of his responsiblity to relay the stories and struggles of his people.  I spoke to K’Naan about the song, and its message.  He said,

“That comes from the idea that the victor is the writer of the battle, and he writes his own version of the battle. We don’t know that the lion roughed him up in a corner. We don’t know that he ran, and left his shoes and pants, and was frightened. When he comes home, just because he might have been able to subdue to lion or escape, he tells us everything that he did and what a great man he is. We don’t hear the side of the story from the lion. I think that my music kind of gives a voice to the lion. I think my music is for the unspoken for, the strugglers who for so long who have been quiet, who have stood aside without posture and with humility who have waited. That’s why when we go on the road, the music speaks to a lot of different kinds of people, but you get this crazy feelings when you see communities who are from where I’m from come out in large numbers and are at war about how much they love the things. It has long been unsaid what is being said. That’s the role of my music.”

You can read more of my interview with K’Naan here, and also check out some videos below.

K’NAAN “T.I.A” music video directed by: NABIL from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

Since the economy started to seriously slide in late 2008, immigration savants have pointed to a deflating economy as a self-starting defense against illegal immigration.  The reasoning went that fewer U.S. jobs and opportunities would make immigrating to the United States less appealing, and also force some currently in the United States to relocate back to their home countries in the face of beefed up security and crackdowns, and slim pickings when it came to actual work.  However, the business for those who smuggle immigrants into the United States, and then internally from coast to coast have revealed that their business has not been too affected by the economy.  In fact, according to El Diario/La Prensa, a Spanish language newspaper from New York, the price of transporting an illegal immigrant has increased, and coyotes are still enjoying a lucrative and very dangerous existence.

One Coyote interviewed for the story admitted to a decrease in “sales” during the fall months, but said that the business has righted itself in the months since.  “Last September, I got scared because the business went down 50 percent,” said the coyote originally from El Salvador and living in New Jersey. “But the truth is that it has been picking up slowly, although the price for bringing someone went up almost $1,000.”

Regardless of the monetary price, hiring a coyote can often cost much more, as they’re known as being heartless and ruthless, doing anything to extort family members for more money and caring little for the safety or well-being of those they are smuggling.  But it is one business that is likely to remain profitable, as another smuggler, the Mexican born Raul said, “As long as there is hunger in other countries, the U.S. will always be the paradise to satiate it.”

It was exactly one year ago that immigration agents raided the Agriprocessors Meat Packing Plant in the very small town of Postvielle, Iowa.  This raid was a huge deal for multiple reasons.  It was the largest raid in U.S. history at the time, it set new precedent in punishing workers as well as plant owners, and completely shook up the town by arresting a prominent part of their community and closing one of the top employers.  So many stores, rental agencies, and restaurants were tied to Agriprocessors that one year later, Postville finds itself in terrible shape.

The town’s circumstance, even more intricate given the unique cultural dynamics of the midwestern town with large communities consisiting of ultra-orthodox Jews and immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala, were the topic of an interesting article in Truthout.org.  The article illustrate just how bad things have gotten by focusing on Gabay Menahem, a landlord who has seen his monthly take go from $192,000/month to $16,000/month in just a year’s time.  In fact, according to the article, Menahem has only filled 19 of his 129 rentable units.

Properties are in shambles, Main Street business have been shutterred, and come June 1st, the city will be unable to pay it bi-yearly fee of $167,000 owed to the USDA for a wastewater treatment plant with the sole purpose of processing the plant’s waste.

The town has also lost a fortune in property and sales taxes normally paid by its residents, and in addition, morale is down.  Former plant employees were fully committed to being a part of the community, and took better care of their houses and larger community.  Part time and temporary workers have come in and out of Postville, leaving the town worse off than before.  The plant is currently up for sale, and the hope is that a responsible owner will take over and rebuild.

Keeping immigration news international today, French officials are considering a change in immigration law, and are doing so after the release of the film “Welcome” starring Vincent Lindon.  The movie follows a swimming coach and his star swimmer, who is an illegal immigrant of Kurdish descent attempting to relocate to the U.K.  According to France law, those who provide any aide to an illegal immigrant are operating outside the law, and are able to be arrested as well.  The focus of the film is the swimmer’s ability to weave through France while dodging immigration officials, as well as those who also risk their freedom by helping him.

The French Parliament is now considering changing that law, or putting an end to it altogether.  You can see a clip of the film below.

…Over this dude’s dead body.  Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi politically b**ch slapped any notion of Italy welcoming in immigrants seeking a better life, and also recommended having immigrants “screened” by way of Libya before entering the country.

Berlusconi’s remarks came during a news conference that has gained him praise from some, and outrage from others.  Berlusconi is willing to welcome some immigrants, but only those seeking political asylum.

Piero Fassino, a member of Italy’s left, supported Berlusconi’s screening measure, but could not ride with him on his most recent rejections of a multicultural country.  Fassino, and others believe Berlusconi is missing the boat on this one, as a multiculturalism is inevitable.  He told the Corriere della Sera newspaper,

“He’s wrong, and seriously so…Let’s just accept with honesty that Italy — like France and Germany already are — will become a multi-ethnic, multicultural and multi-religious country.”

Here’s some lighter immigration news to start the week…

What do you do after your own spin-off from a successful movie franchise has a very strong debut weekend?  Well, if you’re Hugh Jackman, who saw his Wolverine bio flick hit theaters over the weekend, you sign up to play an immigration officer handed the task of sending paperless ghosts back to the “realms” of origin.

The film will be a Disney picture and will also be co-produced by Jackman.  The film is actually an adaptation of a yet to be released novel penned, or typed, hey, maybe even feathered old school, by Doug TeNaples.  “Ghostopolis” does not have a writer or director yet according to the Hollywood Reporter, but slinging Hugh Jackman around with the project could change that quick.

You knew this post was coming.  Once the Swine Flu was said to come from Mexico, it presented a great opportunity to pin a scapegoat cape on illegal immigrants.  Now illegal immigrants from Mexico have single handedly caused our economic recession, cripple our education system, strained our healthcare system, and now caused a real life version of “Outbreak”…Somebody call Dustin Hoffman.

Anyway, Brian Alexander wrote a great article today summarizing the hate-filled reactions to Swine Flu, starting off with the words of radio host Michael Savage who warned diners about the dangers of eating out (and no, not those dangers haha…).

Savage said, “No contact anywhere with an illegal alien…And that starts in the restaurants..[you] don’t know if they wipe their behinds with their hands!”  I’m going to go out on a limb and say that doesn’t happen much.  I mean, sure, there is the very rare bad aim, but for the most part, nobody wipes their a** with their bare hands.  That pretty much defeats the whole purpose of wiping.  It’s not effective, and really just makes things worse back there and on your hand…But I digress…Savage also went so far as to say that Swine Flu is germ warfare by the Mexican drug cartels and terrorists who are using illegal immigrants as walking weapons.

Alexander next brings up radio host Jay Severin, who was actually suspended for going on a rant and saying that emergency rooms were “essentially condos for Mexicans.”

You can read the rest of Alexander’s article here, as it’s a really great read.