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Back in May, we covered a story involving the San Diego Minutemen and a stretch of San Diego highway, which they adopted. As we reported here, the Minutemen’s parental road rights were stripped after safety concerns and other objections were voiced. Turns out this Minutemen title is not a reference to rice cooking, the UMass basketball team, or something else that I won’t mention on Fronteras…The Minutemen are a group that blur the line between patriotism and racism, between pro-American and xenophobic.

Anyway, since the sponsorship was removed in January, the Minutmen have been fighting (legally) to get it back. The Minutemen’s highway property rights were restored on Friday in a new ruling issued about the case. The video above has more details.

I expect this stretch of highway to be cleaner than other stretches, and contain union-only cleaner-uppers…

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama both agree that immigration is an important issue for American voters.  The two candidates differ on policies concerning the Iraq War and the economy, yet neither has clearly distinguished himself when it comes to immigration.  In this clip, a collection of statements regarding immigration reform, McCain and Obama sound more similar than different…

Rudolph J. Vecoli, an Italian-American researcher, was among the country’s top immigration scholars.  Vecoli dedicated his life to preserving the history of immigrants to the United States, as well as researching the ways in which they maintained their immigrant identity while living and working in American culture.  After serving in the Navy and earning his Ph.D., he joined the University of Minnesota’s Immigration Research Center, and  served as the director for many years. Vecoli also authored multiple books including “The People of New Jersey” and “A Century of Immigration, 1884-1984.”

In both books, and in his other works, Vecoli denounced the notion of mass assimilation of immigrants.  Rather than hastily abandoning their old traditions and customs for those of America, Vecoli argued that immigrants went to great efforts to hold onto their heritage.

Vecoli was born to Italian immigrants in Wallingford, Connecticut. He died June 17th due to complications of Leukemia.  For more information please click here.

Click here to read Vecoli’s recent article: “Mass Amnesia Makes Americans Forget The Story Behind May Day”

Michael Delavar is running for congress in Washington, (guess which party).  In the video above, Delavar lays out his views concerning immigration reform, and compares the United States in the eyes of an immigrant to DIsneyland in the eyes of, well, someone that’s been to Disneyland…Anyway, Delavar has a good point, when Disneyland, or any amusement park for that matter, wants its customers to leave, they turn off the rides.  Delavar suggests that we “turn off the rides” when it comes to illegal immigration.  I agree with him.  But I also feel that we need better ways for immigrants to come here legally, and obtain legal residency.  Strict law enforcement without reformed laws that best fit the situation are meaningless.  And laws that are not enforced are just as meaningles.

Thoughts?

Earlier in the week we reported that U.N. Rapporteur for Human Rights of migrants, Jorge Bustamante, canceled his scheduled visit to Prince William County, Virginia.  Bustamante intended to visit the town to talk with officials concerning their recently enacted laws designed to stop illegal immigration.  Bustamante was invited by the immigrant rights group, Mexicans Without Borders, and also planned to speak with immigrants and other residents about the ways that immigrants are treated in Prince William County.

Bustamante said that he planned to reschedule his visit, but Prince William County Rep. Frank Wolf feels that is unnecessary.  Really unnecessary…Mr. Wolf has written a letter to the UN, asking them to stop Mr. Bustamante from rescheduling his visit.  The Examiner quoted Wolf’s letter as saying,

“I respectfully request that you ensure that U.N. Special Rapporteur Bustamante does not reschedule his visit.”

Wolf also questioned why Mr. Bustamante would spend his time in Prince William County when there are plenty of problems elsewhere.  He later stated,

“The U.N. is failing daily to protect these innocent civilians, most of whom have fled their homes from the dreaded Janjaweed militia and are living in squalid camps.”

Fronteras’ crack reporting staff did some more investigating and found another letter written by Mr. Wolf, this one address personally to Jorge Bustamante.  In the spirit of journalism, we present it below

What’s going on Mr. Bustamante,

I hope that you are doing well, and whatever caused you to postpone your visit to Prince William County is not too serious.  In fact, I’d like to tell you that the people of Prince William have you in our prayers, and, you know,  we totally understand if you don’t want to reschedule your visit…Hey, these things happen, it’s cool…

See, it’s not that we don’t like immigrants, in fact, we love them.  We love them so much that we’ve asked our law enforcement to make extra efforts to ensure they are safe.  We also don’t want to miss the chance to  meet new immigrants either, so we ask every person that we arrest, or pull over, if they are an immigrant.  There’s no need to thank us, this is just our way.

In our efforts to help America reconcile its illegal immigration problem, we may step on citizen’s rights, but it’s just a little step.  You can best relate it to a little nudge at the toes, maybe a shoe scuff…maybe.  And we’ve really got it all under control.  I do believe that there is suffering going on in Maryland though that you should check out.  And I am certain that Human Rights are being violated daily in Darfur.  I’m not telling you what to do, or how to do it, but I would go over to Darfur if you’re really hankering for some Human Rights abuse.

Mr. Bustamante, I want to close by thanking you for your interest in Prince William County.  Your interest is flattering.  I really looked forward to meeting you, but it wasn’t in the cards.  I think we should view your cancellation as an act of God, and any rescheduling would be directly in violation of that act.  As a God fearing man myself, I really don’t like to f**k with the big guy.  That’s just me…As far as immigrants go, don’t worry about the PWC, we’ve got’em covered.

Best,

Rep. Peter Wolf

Allen Wernick from The New York Daily News made two predictions this morning regarding immigration reform.  Wenick believes that immigration reform will start to take shape under a new president, and result in the passing of two bills that could possibly give legal status to 2 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States.  However, as Wernick also points out, there are approximately 12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.,  leaving more changes necessary, but unlikely.

Wernick’s predicted reform will come via the passing of two acts that have previously seen support, the DREAM Act and the AgJobs agricultural worker bill.  If passed, The DREAM Act will grant temporary legal status to individuals under 30 who have lived in the United States for at least 5 years, and first took up residency in the U.S. before turning 16.  In addition, those wishing to gain legal residency under the DREAM act must have a high school diploma or GED equivalence , or have attended college.  Their status will become permanent if they attend college for at least two years and graduate, or serve in the military for two years. This bill is seen as a bipartisan one, and receives much of its support from universities and the military.  The AgJobs worker bill is a bill backed by farmers and trade unions alike.  That bill will issue legal residency to undocumented farm workers.

Wernick believes that a bill including the DREAM Act, and the AgJobs bill is passable, and may also include some reform regarding border patrol.  Wernick provides different motives for Obama and McCain, but feels that each would pass the same package, even if they are doing it for different reasons.  For McCain, the AgJobs worker bill is more important, as he will need to reward his supporters in the Southwest, many of whom are involved somehow in the agricultural field.  Meanwhile, Obama’s presidency will require the support of the Latino community, and he will need to reward them through support of the DREAM Act.

I am in favor of passing such as package, as it is an improvement over doing nothing.  However, isn’t this the same kind of piece-meal package of reform that many analysts, and politicians have spoken out against?  And, is this really the best we can do?  America prides itself on being a leader to the rest of world.  We tout our moral compass, and speak of our great success in democracy.  Can’t we expect more of ourselves, and our government?

The immigration problem is becoming number 7 on the math exam, the question that we continually save for the end because it appears too hard. We don’t really know how to start it so we just leave it as an afterthought.  We try to get to it at the end, leave it blank, or just scribble something in at the last minute, hoping to get some partial credit for showing work.  It’s time to confront the problem head on.  We need a large scale immigration reform that sets a firm policy, and is built through bipartisanship and communication from other countries, worker unions, education officials, and business experts.  It needs to be a number one priority, and not solely for business purposes.

The success of the U.S. also rests on the spirit of its inhabitants.  We need to develop a stronger sense of national identity, especially in context with what is currently happening in the United States and abroad in terms of identity, and affiliation.  Creating a working system to bring immigrants into the United States, as well as help them become acclimated would have great benefits.  It would also unite us in knowing who should not be in America, and lend more support to immigration officials and officers who have to make tough decisions and are rarely thanked.

But, hey, at least these would be a start.  But, please keep in mind, there’s still along way to go before we see either the DREAM Act or AgJobs bill become a reality.

The other day I came across the movie Happiness. That movie, as anyone who has seen it knows, is meant for an entirely different blog. I rented it initially because the cast included Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and I had just finished another round of watching The Big Lebowski a couple times in a row over the course of two days.

Anyway…While I did expect to be shocked by the content, I was not expecting to see an immigration issue play a prominent role in the film. Without giving too much away, one of the key characters in the film goes to work teaching immigrant naturalization classes. Each morning she walks through a circle of strikers, which is composed of teachers demanding benefits. She busts through the picket line every morning, and answers calls of ’scab’ with “I’m not a scab, I’m a strike breaker!”

Inside, the character faces a tough class who wants its old (and currently striking) teacher, Marcia, back in the front of the room. She ends up quitting the center after a taxicab-driving Russian immigrant named Vald steals her guitar and stereo after cheating on his wife. When she tells Vlad that she will not be teaching him, or seeing him anymore, he asks her why. Her response: “I’m starting to feel more sympathy for the strikers.”

Happiness in itself is a ridiculous movie, full of content that is beyond controversial. But that scene raised my interest in another way. It made me wonder if adult education teachers, as well as those that teach immigrants receive any health benefits. In my subconscious I always assumed the answer to be no, but it was not a subject I ever really thought about.

After college I taught elementary school for two years, and recieved excellent benefits. Why then would I just assume that teachers at schools meant for recent immigrants would not have any? Even though I don’t like to admit it, and I’m not sure that many people do, I didn’t look at adult education, or naturalization/English Language classes as equivalent to elementary, high school, or college, and erroneously did not view those teachers in the same light as I viewed the ‘traditional teacher.’ And I believe that is part of the problem, and part of the reason why there is not much attention given to such classes, and in consequence not much money or resources.

One reason for this is that immigrants and those in adult education courses are a very small portion of the population in relation to all the people in America who go to elementary or high school. Since fewer people are using the service, it doesn’t get as many resources. But just as K-12 teachers constantly fight for more resources, more benefits, and more respect, politicians and non-profits insist that they need better educated and more qualified people in the classroom. The way to attract higher qualified people to be teachers rather than financial analysts, ad executives, lawyers, and musicians is to change the way that “teacher” is defined. Sociologists call it “social rewards”, and right now teaching does not offer very many, and unfairly, “adult education teacher/naturalization teacher” seem to carry even less.

I am not familiar enough with naturalization classes, procedures and regulations to make specific judgments, or say that what was presented in Happiness is the norm, but I can speak on the importance of focusing on improving and standardizing classes that teach English and American society to recent immigrants. So regardless of the validity of the scene depicted in Happiness, in an ideal society, such protests would not be necessary.

“Day labor isn’t fair to the laborers…They’re often ripped off, no taxes are paid. Just about everybody is harmed by day labor.”

The above quote comes from Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, Arizona. Kavanagh introduced a new bill that would make it illegal for day laborers looking for work to gather on public street corners. Kavanagh reasons that day laborers are a traffic hazard, and also hurt the economy by not paying taxes. And, oh yeah, a large number of immigrants find a way to survive through day labor.

He said, “There’s a lot of disruption of traffic and communities…The fact that a large proportion of day laborers are illegal immigrants does give it a secondary benefit of cutting down on illegal immigration.”

I don’t really buy that argument, the immigration part at least. It’s true that day laborers, or anyone else that works ‘under the table’ effects the economy by not paying taxes and not being documented as employed. Also, day laborers have been accused of taking away union jobs and jobs for private contractors because they are often times less expensive, and demand less. But, on the other hand, cracking down on those looking for work does not necessarily solve any immigration issues, it only complicates them more.

While some politicians and groups have moved to crack down on those looking for work, one Mayor did the opposite.

Last year, the Mayor of Portland, Oregon Tom Potter proposed that his city build a centralized place where day laborers can gather and find work. Potter reasoned that having a specific known spot for day laborers would keep them from loitering elsewhere, protect them from the weather, and also give them some resources against employers who refuse to pay after the job is completed.

Tom Potter said about his idea, “Maybe in Portland we can have a way where they can have recourse and get the pay that is due them.”

I like Potter’s idea, but I would add something to it. I think that if cities were to create a centralized day laborer spot, they should couple it with an adult education center that teaches reading, writing, English, and job skills. That centralized place should also be equipped with Naturalization classes or resources so that immigrants looking for work can get help and work towards living in the U.S. legally. Those who seek employment there should be protected from anti-day laborer laws, as well as deportation for the time that they are taking classes and working. They can also set something up where the agency works with registered employers looking for day labor and serves as a staffing center. The center could create guidelines for usage by both those looking for work, and those looking to be hired, and ensure that nobody is abusing the system.

Now, I don’t know Exactly how to label this one…is it a victory that court orders are now required, or is it an inherent loss that this is even an issue?  I don’t know, and I guess you’ll have to tell me, but the bottom line, the aforementioned is true:  A new memo was just passed around informing all officers must now receive a judge’s order before they can sedate deportees that are unwilling to abide by their deportation.

Sedating people so they can remove them from the country.  Wow.  Don’t know really where to go from there, but nevertheless, according to the memo:

“The memo, written by ICE Director of the Office of Detention and Removal Operations John Torres [official profile] and released Wednesday, said that in order to receive permission to sedate, officials must show a judge that a deportee has a history of physically resisting removal or that they pose a danger to themselves.” 

I guess the simple fact that some 56 deportees were given psychotropic drugs over only a 7-month period during 2006-2007.  33 of those 56 had NO sign of any previous mental illness, so it really makes you wonder, who are the crazy ones?

No big surprise here, the clashing continues in the great race to potential Presidency. That’s right my firends, Mitt Romney and John McCain once again clashed over the weekend when it comes to the extremely sticky, and extremely relevant issue of Immigration.

What’s come to be the norm this go-round, clashes over what to do, how to handle and potential compromises for illegal immigration is very much stirring a very heated and agitated pot. At the debate at St. Anslem College, things got vocal as McCain voiced this: “These are God’s children…We have to address this issue as humanely and compassionately as possible but we have to protect our national security interests.” Quick to fire back, Romney countered with this gem: “If you have 12 million people here illegally,” and they are allowed to remain, “in fact, you have amnesty.” In Romney’s ideal world, he wants all illegal immigrants “evicted” from the country as soon as possible. Wow. Classy.

At any rate, head over and read all about the debate, where each person stands, and just how heated it really got. Man, if it is like this now, how is it going to be in the months to come?! My goodness.