Immigrant rights group slam Obama, Democrats for slow action with legalization bill
Leaders of nearly a dozen grass-roots immigrant rights groups excoriated President Obama and congressional Democrats on Monday, accusing them of moving too slowly to legalize the status of undocumented immigrants and citing a record number of deportations in 2009.
“Our community is angry. Our members feel betrayed,” said Brent Wilkes, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “We never believed in our wildest dreams that President Obama would have a record like this.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/08/AR2010030804898.html
Latino Leaders Impatient With Obama After Promises on Immigration
In July 2008, Sen. Barack Obama took time out of his packed presidential campaign schedule to address a crucial block of voters whom he would need in his fight against Sen. John McCain in the November elections.
During his speech to the League of Latin American Citizens, a leading Latino organization, Obama lamented the lack of presidential leadership on immigration reform in 2006, and promised to do better.
“We need a president who isn’t going to walk away from something as important as comprehensive immigration reform when it becomes politically unpopular. That’s the commitment I’m making to you,” he told the group. “I fought with you in the Senate for comprehensive immigration reform. And I will make it a top priority in my first year as president.”
But after Obama’s victorious presidential campaign, in which he won with 67 percent of the Latino vote, immigration advocates say they are still waiting for the results that Obama promised them 18 months ago. And their patience is wearing thin.
Census Workers Needed In Berks County
READING, Pa. — With only days to go before the Census is set to get underway the government is still scrambling to find workers. So if you need a job this could be your chance.The current pay rate is about $14 an hour, and you get to pick your own schedule. If you can meet a few basic requirements, the job could be yours.For the past few weeks, Gabrielina Polanco has taken to the phones, desperate to find people willing to become numerators – they go door to door helping residents complete the census form. One of the major requirements is that you must live in Berks County.
http://www.wfmz.com/news/22759750/detail.html
‘Dream Act’ y reforma migratoria temas en la mira
TAMPA BAY.- “Este es el momento”. “Hay que actuar”, son algunos de los lemas bajo los cuales planean con fervor las organizaciones que apoyan el proyecto de ‘Dream Act’ y la reforma integral migratoria, enfatizando que llegó el tiempo clave. Sin precedentes. Es perentorio impulsar ambas decisiones de manera que se materialicen unidas y simultáneamente”.
Democracia USA, una organización nacional hispana, y Reform Immigration For America, están invitando a toda la comunidad hispana y anglosajona, que simpatiza con ambas propuestas legislativas, para que asistan al foro informativo sobre las iniciativas de ley de reforma del sistema migratorio.
http://7dias.us/news.php?nid=61277
Census count of Latinos is vital to Tennessee
Tennessee has a bigger financial stake than most of the nation in getting every resident counted, but a growing Latino population could make that tougher in this year’s Census.
The state’s Latino community leaders say they hope Spanish-language radio ads and other outreach efforts will impress upon their audience how much Tennessee depends on Census-related federal funding.A report out today shows the state ranked seventh among states in 2008 in per capita federal funding that is tied to Census figures — $1,976 per person. Tennessee also ranked sixth in the portion of its overall federal funding that is guided by the Census.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100309/NEWS01/3090362/2066/NEWS03
Five things to know about the U.S. Census
1. The Questions
The 2010 Census form is one of the shortest in census history, consisting of 10 main questions.
* How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010?
* Were there any additional people staying here April 1, 2010, that you did not include in Question 1? (Possibilities include children, such as newborn babies or foster children, relatives, non-relatives, such as roommates or live-in babysitters, people staying temporarily).
http://www.sj-r.com/news/x2102347413/Five-things-to-know-about-the-U-S-Census
CENTRAL JERSEY: Census stresses importance of being counted
If you are not counted in the 2010 Census next month, you won’t count — and that could lead to less federal money flowing into New Jersey as well as the loss of political representation at the federal or state level.
That’s the message delivered to about two dozen people who turned recently to listen speakers from the U.S. Census Bureau and the state Labor Department and the Latino Merchants Association of Mercer County.
”Our quest is to get people to fully participate and to count everyone one time where they live,” said Jennifer Jones of the U.S. Census Bureau.
She was one of the speakers at the session, which was sponsored by the Lawrence chapter of the League of Women Voters.
Everyone will be counted where they spend the majority of their time, Ms. Jones said. College students who live on campus will be counted in that community, for example. Prisoners are counted in the community where the prison is located, and the homeless are counted in the transitional housing facility where they live.
Ms. Jones emphasized that whether someone is here legally or illegally, that person will be counted. The information that is gathered is confidential and may not be turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, the police or any other governmental entity, she said. The Census Bureau “is not interested” in deporting people, she added.
http://centraljersey.com/articles/2010/03/08/topstory/doc4b958221ca017688481647.txt
2010 Census: Think Twice, Check Once
The federal government is taking a road trip, dubbed the 2010 Census Portrait of America Road Tour, to try to convince “hard-to-count audiences” to participate in this year’s dicennial Census. One of those particularly hard-to-count groups are those who identify as racially mixed. Many will choose to take advantage of the “mark one or more races” (MOOM) option made first available on the 2000 Census. Race scholars have been hotly debating the significance of this paradigm shift, asking: just what are the Civil Rights consequences of the Census option of “mark one or more races”?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-elam/2010-census-think-twice-c_b_490164.html
War story: Ireland’s Chieftains unite Latino, U.S. musicians to retell tale of Irish fighting for Mexico
LOS ANGELES – HISTORY, it’s often been observed, is written by victors, which might explain why an especially compelling chapter of the Mexican-American War remains so infrequently told, at least in the United States.
The chapter in question is about the San Patricios, a company of Irish immigrants pressed into service by the U.S. Army. Ideologically opposed to the fight, they switched sides, choosing to stand alongside the Mexican military rather than the forces of their newly adopted homeland.
When the conflict ended, the members of the battalion were executed for their desertion. Their deeds were largely forgotten, except among the people of the Churubusco region outside Mexico City who maintain a memorial to the San Patricios.
Kidnapped, smuggled and worse
A Mexican mother wanted only a better life for her daughter, 4, but the trip north took a terrible turn.
The smuggler threatened to kill 4-year-old Nayli if he didn’t receive $11,500 from her parents — immediately.
He had sneaked the girl across the Mexican border nearly a month earlier and now was holding her for ransom somewhere near Los Angeles.
“Mommy, I don’t want to be here anymore,” Nayli said through tears when the smuggler put her on the phone.
Her mother, Yaneth, could hear terror in her daughter’s voice. “OK, mija, I am coming,” she answered in Spanish before the smuggler hung up. Yaneth was desperate. She had hired the coyote but now he was demanding more than she’d agreed to pay. She didn’t have enough money. And she was still in Mexico, after border agents caught her as she was trying to cross into the U.S.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/08/local/la-me-smuggle9-2010mar09
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