Freedom University - F.U.[,] Georgia.

Lorgia Garcia Pena, Pamela Voekel, Bethany Moreton, and Betina Kaplan are four professors at the University of Georgia in Athens that have decided to take on the the not-so-peachy state and the UGA Board of Regents' decision to ban undocumented students from the state's top three campuses. Freedom University is a clandestine (at least the classroom is Bat-Cave secret to protect the alumnos) school for undocumented students where the four profesoras teach on Sundays at no cost to the students and for no benefit to themselves. And I will give my (FWIW) plug for the group: Voekel was my undergraduate advisor and Moreton was a teaching assistant (both at the University of Montana) that I had the benefit of learning from. Voekel is a top flight writer and a PhD out of UT Austin. Moreton is a Yale PhD and the author of a fantastic book on Wal-Mart. Both of them are incredible thinkers and great teachers, and the students at Freedom U. are getting one heck of an education - for free.

Huffington Post did a bit on Freedom University a few months back, and now CNN has run a piece in English and Spanish on the group. CNN does a great job of crunching the numbers and showing that even though the undocumented might be tax payers AND still paying 3X the price to attend a Georgia school, the regents have banned the "flood" (27 students in all) of undocumented students to make sure that every seat in the class room goes to a Georgia citizen. Seriuosly? Watch the CNN interview and see what kind of students Georgia is excluding.

If you feel like donating to the cause (either books or money), visit the group's web site see here. Freedom University.

To see the CNN bits, visit here for Spanish. Visit here for English. To read the HuffPost piece, see here.

And, hey, go F.U. [,] Georgia.

(Un)employed In Mexico

It looks like the unemployment rate in Mexico has fallen to just under 5%. Back in July when the numbers started to show the number of Mexicans returning to Mexico was hitting agriculture and construction, the U.S. news media began to take notice. Now the numbers look like they've dipped below 5% - something that could have consequences for both the U.S. and Mexico. Not only might the U.S. begin to see an even sharper rise in food prices due to weather patterns, but that problem might be made worse by labor costs as the cheap labor of undocumented pickers is hard to replace.

For Mexico, it might mean a slow-down in productivity if there aren't enough workers to contribute. It might also mean a hike in prices: Businesses like to see unemployment at around 5% to help keep labor costs down. Mexico has already wrestled with higher food prices over the last few years, can it handle another hike? On the up side (well, maybe), this from the Mexican consul in sacramento:

"It's now easier to buy homes on credit, find a job and access higher education in Mexico," Sacramento's Mexican consul general, Carlos González Gutiérrez, said Wednesday. "We have become a middle-class country." (see more here)

On a down note, sales of port-a-border will fall:

Agricultural Crisis for US?

How did I miss this? The House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement met in mid April and decided that unless reforms happen quickly to increase the flow of agricultural labor from Latin America that agriculture in the US is facing a crisis. From Washington State to Florida, from NY State to Central Valley in Cali, a shortage in pickers, diggers, pluckers, and plowers could lead to a sever crises for US food security.

Reports CNN:

According to the U.S. Department of Labor's National Agricultural Workers Survey, which canvasses hired farm workers, over the period of 2007 to 2009, 48% of farm workers in the country admitted they were in the United States illegally.

The agricultural industry has repeatedly asked the federal government to streamline and expedite the H-2A visa program as its labor needs have grown over the years.

Lee Wicker, deputy director of the North Carolina Growers Association -- an organization with 600 grower members and the largest H-2A program user in the country -- said the current program is ineffective. Wicker called it "costly, time-consuming, and flawed. Farmers have to complete a lengthy labor certification process that's slow, bureaucratic, and frustrating."

Tazed by ICE - And Now In A Coma

The LA Weekly carries the story of long-time LA resident, sound engineer, father, and band singer Jose Gutierrez who was recently deported to Mexico (where he has no family). Upon trying to return to the US through a checkpoint he was tazed and "hit his head," placing him in a coma in a Phoenix hospital. And, ICE says his family in LA - the one that they claim was not enough reason for him to stay in the US - gets to cover his medical bills.

Read the whole story here.

White Supremacists Kill Immigration (Emergency Drill)

This from the Des Moines Register:

An anti-terrorism drill based on a fictional scenario involving white supremacists angry over an influx of minorities and illegal immigrants was canceled Friday after officials of the school that was hosting the training exercise said they received threatening phone calls and emails.

Kevin Elwood, superintendent of Treynor school district, said the schools received about 100 emails from across the United States, as well as some angry phone calls.He said one caller left a particularly disturbing voice-mail message.

"They basically indicated that if we went through with this type of a drill that potentially that type of an incident could become a reality in our school district," Elwood said.

It is unclear if future drills on chemical spills will be can canceled due to pressure by DuPont or if Al'Qaeda was able to get the TSA to back off.

Utah? Really. Utah?

At some point you have to decide if you are a blood and race nationalist or a free market advocate - and I think the folks in Utah have reached that point. Earlier this week a set of immigration reform bills passed the Utah legislature - generally in the top three red states in the country (with Idaho and Oklahoma) - and it seems to be getting a mixed reception. As State Rep. Bill Wright commented, Utah has come to the point where they realize that the economic welfare of their state - and its population growth - is dependent on migrant labor:

"I'm of the opinion that we really don't have the ability as a society to remove that large a portion of a segment from our society — either the cost, or just the damage it would do," Wright says.

"A lot of these people are intertwined in our society. They have financial obligations: They have bank notes; they've bought houses; they contribute; they have jobs," he says.

Operating from that premise, Wright's guest-worker permit law says that if you pay a fine, have no criminal record and are working, you can stay in Utah.

The solution seems to be the product of Utah's business community, the state Republican Party, and the LDS (Mormon) Church. Read more about the Utah Compact, here. See what the Mormons said about the compact, here.

Utahns - generally very Tea Party in nature - seem to be the angriest about this, and seem to be showing how little concern they have for the position of their own church - after all, aren't Mormons supposed to abstain from tea (insert rim shot). At any rate, I enjoyed this bit of irony from a comment posted in the Deseret News ... though I am sure the author is unaware of it. I wonder what country will take him in - and if he will wait for a visa, etc. before he goes.

My senator an representative don't give a darn what the majority wants: tough crackdown and deportation of illegals. The "utah solution" is a total travesty and an insult to the citizens. After trying so hard to have the legislature do the right and honnorable thing it is now clear to me that the only recourse left is to move to another country. BTW, I don't expect it to be better there, but that's the point. I don't expect to be betrayed by the government. [sic on all the errors in this one]

The New Argentina

It turns out that Manitoba is angry about immigrants - mostly that they aren't getting enough. Taking a page (probably not consciously) from their hemispheric steppe-neighbor, Argentina, they have gone out of their way to craft policy that allows migrants to find a home on the pampas, er, prairie. It's not as sexy as Vancouver or Toronto... and certainly it is no Montreal, but for those willing to endure the prairie snow, Winnipeg is a new migrant labor destination. And then, of course, there is the nature of Canadian politics:

Another force is in play: immigrant voting strength. About 20 percent of Canadians are foreign born (compared with 12.5 percent in the United States), and they are quicker to acquire citizenship and voting rights. “It’s political suicide to be against immigration,” said Leslie Seidle of the Institute for Research on Public Policy, a Montreal group. READ THE FULL STORY HERE

But there are some down sides I would mention.
1) Consider the visa restrictions that were placed on Mexicans and their entry into Canada. I think we might go too far if we see this story and start applying the stereotype of Canada as the "nice" country compared to the US. As one former Canadian official told the Times:

“The big difference between Canada and the U.S is that we don’t border Mexico,” said Naomi Alboim, a former immigration official who teaches at Queens University in Ontario.

It is an interesting concept. It sounds like British Canada is using the US as a buffer state with Spanish Mexico - essentially the purpose that the American mid-west, and Texas served as for centuries. Ahhh... borderlands history (or at least playing fast and loose with it).

2) Canada's points system often makes it harder for the poorest of immigrants to seek employment and refuge - exactly the population that might most need it.

Final note: Kudos to Jason DeParle and John Woods for this conversation starting piece of writing and photography. Good job.

Wouldn't it Be Cheaper...

This from the Associated Press:

A jury has awarded $1.73 million to the family of an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who died of penile cancer that went undiagnosed for more than a year while he was in state and federal custody.

After he was convicted of methamphetamine possession in 2005, Castaneda spent more than a year in state and federal facilities, where he was repeatedly denied adequate care for painful lesions on his penis, his lawyer Conal Doyle said Thursday.

Doctors who examined Castaneda twice ordered a biopsy, but he never got one. The first time the procedure was ordered, it was denied by a prison's chief physician. The procedure was apparently forgotten the second time because a doctor failed to follow up. A third time, a federal physician ordered a biopsy but Castaneda was released before it could be done.

Castaneda was given only pain pills and clean boxer shorts every day, and his condition worsened until he had to have his penis amputated in 2007. He died shortly afterward at age 36.

Two things I might say about this:
1) Why was he in prison? Why wasn't he in a medical rehab facility? Medical rehab has proven - time and again by the Rand Corporation - to be far more effective in terms of cost and changing behavior.

2) Was he denied care because he was illegal? Would it not have been far more effective to provide care at the start rather than pay for incarceration and then the cost of legal bills. This decision doesn't even cover the federal law suit pending against the penal system in LA.

Mormons Take a Stand on Immigration ...

... and it is sort of a non-stand. Sort of. Here it is:

The complex issues surrounding immigration are a matter of increasing concern and debate for all in this country.

Elected individuals have the primary responsibility to find solutions in the best interests of all whose lives will be impacted by their actions.

We repeat our appeal for careful reflection and civil discourse when addressing immigration issues. Finding a successful resolution will require the best thinking and goodwill of all across the political spectrum, the highest levels of statesmanship, and the strongest desire to do what is best for all of God’s children.

According to KSL, the Mormon owned media group in Salt Lake, the statement was greeted with thumbs up from both Proyecto Latino de Utah and the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration. In the context of the illegal and just mean spirited release of so-called illegals in Utah earlier this summer, perhaps a weak statement just to stay classy becomes a more powerful statement. At any rate, according to my cousins in Idaho the statement was greeted with incredible anger by conservative Mormons in SE Idaho (Holly, you really should have stayed in Montana).

Utah's Latino population - like the US South - has seen an explosion of mostly Latino immigration from outside the US. As Utah's families have become more affluent, teens and adults have abandoned service and agricultural work which are two of the driving forces in the state. And, yes, most of those immigrants remain Catholic or at least non-Mormon (sorry, Lou Dobbs). At any rate, Utah's governor has convened a round table that has generated little results (that I could find) at this point, but two big thumbs up to Luz Robles and Mark Shurtleff for these two comments:

"Reactive legislation, enforcing outside our state purview is not good public policy," said Sen. Luz Robles, D-Salt Lake City.

"In 1869, this country was joined together in this state, and the two groups that came together to drive that spike were the Chinese and Irish workers," said Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. "Immigrants who were not legal at the time."

Why should we care? Considering the wealth and power that the LDS community wields in Arizona, California, Nevada, and the rest of the Mountain West, proponents of a a civil discourse need support from US Mormons in the West.

Brewer Sampling Sinaloa's Best?

Arizona governor Jan Brewer claims most migrants crossing the border are drug mules. Hmmm. Kudos to U of A prof. Oscar Martinez, famed author of Border People, for stepping up and calling Brewer's bluff in public.

"If she has no data and is just mouthing off for political reasons, as I believe she is doing, then she must apologize to the people of Arizona for lying to them so blatantly."

Similar thumbs up to Mexico for stepping up immediately to reject Brewer.

Sen. Jesus Ramon Valdes, a member of the Mexican Senate's northern border affairs commission, called Brewer's comments racist and irresponsible.

I Am Better Than You (Said the Lady to the Tramp)

Lady selling meatballs and tortillas at the puesto in Teplacingo, Morelos (Lady).

Friend and Chofer de Cuernavaca (Amigo)

Me (Me)

Lady: Where are you two from?

Amigo: I'm from Cuernavaca. This guy is a historian from Texas.

Lady: Wow... so far away. Well, you are welcome here, even if you don't want us there. You are always welcom here.

Me: ***slightly choking on a really good chorizo meatball and turning red out of shame for a lack of hospitality on the part of my patria.***

Sub-text: Yeah, we're not all that wealthy, but we have hospitality. It must suck to have so much and still have so little. Caray.

Transforming Arizona

While I am pretty happy to be enjoying my World Cup by day and NBA playoffs by night (go team USA, go Celtics), a friend sent me a link to the latest Latino Comedy Project video to add some laughs to my day (well, almost as many laughs as Green from England and his handling of the Dempsey goal and the look on Beckham's face).

Another Boycott of Arizona

This just in from the Rocky Mountain Council of Latin American Studies:

FYI: In Boulder, the RMCLAS Executive Committee decided that the 2012 meeting (remember the the 2011 meeting will be in Santa Fe) would be held in Tucson, Arizona, but last week the Executive Committee voted unanimously to revoke that decision according to the following motion:

That the Rocky Mountain Council of Latin American Studies (RMCLAS) Executive Committee revoke its previous decision to hold the RMCLAS 2012 meeting in Tucscon, AZ. RMCLAS strongly opposes Arizona legislation SB 1070. We support our Arizona univeristy colleagues who protest this as an unjust law and we agree to boycott Arizona venues until the law is repealed.

The Executive Committee is investigating alternative sites and we look forward to successful meetings in 2011 and 2012.

Mexican Drug Commandos in Florida and Illinois

Narco-terrorist-illegal-immigrants penetrated US Territory over the last three weeks, killing two spring break students in drunken balcony falls and running over another out for a jog. Reports are still coming in about a Chicago teen on break struck and killed by 86 yr-old John Hillyard in Southern Illinois this week. Hillyard illegally arrived in this country from Oaxaca two years ago carrying forty pounds of marijuana and three kilos of powdered pseudoephedrine pills - all of which would have been consumed by OTHER illegal immigrants in the nation. If only all those spring breakers were armed.

I'm not sure that Iturbide or Morelos had in mind creating Mexico for the purpose of helping US Americans feel better about their own national problems, but that seems to be Mexico's most enduring hemispheric role in the minds of some US Americans. At any rate, the killing of an Arizona rancher seems to be the latest cause celebre of the anti-Mexican crowd, and the rhetoric surrounding it seems to be going nowhere pretty. Somehow I don't think the chant we'll hear at Arizona anti-immigration rallies will be something like "We'll kill our own, Mex go home."

Latino Churches to Parishoners: Take the Census

The string of bilingual newspapers running through LA county (Eastern Group Papers) reports today that East LA churches are encouraging Latinos to take the census. In what may be the first instance EVER of the Catholic Clergy and the Luz Del Mundo agreeing on something, both churches are working to educate their parishioners about the importance of participating in the census. In fact, over 1,200 Latino churchers are pulling together on this one with a program called "We all count in God's eyes: Make yourself be counted." Catchy.

The paper quotes Los Angeles politicians on the consequences of not participating in the census:

On Tuesday, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa estimated that the city of Los Angeles has lost about $206 million in federal and state funding over the last decade because 76,800 Angelenos were not counted in 2000. Similarly, Los Angeles Councilmember Paul Krekorian (CD-2) said that for every 100 people that are not counted in this Census, over one million dollars could be lost that could be used to fund healthcare, child services, for community development block grants and for education.

The churches, however, are standing in opposition to Latino activist organizations (including one massive coalition of Latino churches) who are advocating a boycott of the census. The National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders (CONLAMIC) is urging immigrants to boycott the census until immigration law is reformed. Clearly, pastors on the ground in US America's most Latin American city disagree with that assessment.

Satire or Parable? ET and the Other.

Every now and again The Onion accidentally spits out some offensive satire that goes beyond the silliness to get at the heart of U.S. culture. I'm not sure The Onion was shooting for a reflection on the U.S. perception of Latin Americans as less than human, but it certainly hit the mark. Satire or Parable?

The King is Dead. Long Live the King.

While the Hispanic Blogosphere rejoices at the resignation of Lou Dobbs, I'm fairly unhappy about the action. Why? A Dobbs quote as reported by the NY Times is why:

Sitting before an image of an American flag on his studio set, he said “some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond the role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem solving as well as to contribute positively to the great understanding of the issues of our day.”

Great. So, while on the leash of third-place ratings on a fairly moderate CNN Dobbs was predictable and controllable. Now the dog is off the leash, so to speak, and free to run the neighborhood of talk radio or, heaven help us, politics. Hispanics in America should probably put down the champagne until we see how far this old dog will run.

Looking for Human Rights in ... Iowa?

St. Pius X Catholic Church in Urbandale, Iowa, seems like a fairly typical prairie church in the middle of Iowa. And as part of the reality of the twenty-first century, the church held an information fair on Catholic Social Justice and immigration in the United States. While Urbandale may be 1.6% Latino (not sure how far you would need to adjust that for undercount), it is snuggled up against Des Moines, Iowa, which has a Latino population of over 10% - almost twice what it had at the census of 2000. Better yet, in a world of double-digit unemployment, Iowa has only 6.8% unemployment. And to add to the complexity, Catholic Charities in Des Moines also takes in refugees from Latin America - the coordinator of the event is an Argentine.

Well, and Iowa has corn - elotes, anyone? Chile and lime on corn has to be better than using it for ethanol, no?

Seriously, though, St. Pius is attempting to accomplish something important: Help Catholics make decisions based on sound facts and faith and not talking heads:

Confusion over the need for immigration reform has polarized the voting public in such a way as to make it impossible for legislators to satisfy their constituents. There are many sound bites out there that attempt to tell us what to think based on a 90 second TV infomercial. St. Pius X is hosting a symposium designed to explain the issues and answer questions about immigration reform. More on the parish.

Sounds like a good goal. By the way, the United States Catholic Conference on Bishops supports immigration reform to promote human rights. These steps include: At least minimum wage for immigrants, family reunification, restoration of the legal process suspended by the 1996 immigration law, and general access to humane treatment and conditions.

Recently the Methodist Women's Group in Ft. Worth started sponsoring events that center on the humane treatment of immigrants to the United States - illegal or no. That this is not just a Catholic Social justice question should be highlighted by the detention of a Mormon missionary in the United States illegaly and scooped up by DHS and detained as he was returning to Utah from a mission for the LDS church in Ohio.

Latin America long ago addressed the question of rights and religion in the way that the United States used to. Perhaps these anectodtal incidents point to a new trend of a return to thoughtful religious practice in the United States regarding human rights.

Marshall Fox

I am a bad man. At least in the circles that I run in, I am a bad man: I tend to think that Vicente Fox (despite his shortcomings) is a fairly astute fellow. Some times I even agree with him.

"This is brand U.S.A.: the goodness of America. And the day America no longer stands for this goodness - the day the United States turns out the torch on the Statue of Liberty and replaces it with the searchlight of the guard tower, the day that the visionary America of the Marshall Plan becomes the Fortress America of the Minutement- on that day America will cease to be the good and witll no longer be the great." Revolution of Hope, 352.

What do I mean by a Marshall Plan for Mexico (and I'm sure I depart from VF on some points):

1) Regulated (for the safety of the workers) but free flow of labor between Mexico and the United States. What more could the U.S. do for Mexico than to make sure that immigrants could make AT LEAST minimum wage and have the opportunity to keep their families together in Mexico because they would have the freedom to come and go at will. Happy families. More money remitted. Good times all around.

2) Microfinance banks. Mexicans are some of the best capitalists in the world. Microfinance has worked well in Mexico (consider Pro Mujer or even the controversial Compartamos). A pool of money made available to NGOs for microfinance in Mexico kicks to the curb the notion that a Marshall Plan has to be about foreign control.

3) Infrastructure. Highways for the transportation of goods. The revitalization of rail. Water distribution and water quality projects in general. In terms of environmentally sound infrastructure projects, the possibility of jobs in Mexico is infinite. A little funding from the U.S. without the "hands on" approach of the IMF/World Bank crew would be an incredible boost to commerce in Mexico. I think some of these projects can be carried out in areas not sensitive to the indigenous and not in general promotion of Mexico's already massive D.F.

4) PEMEX restructuring. I still think you can have a prosperous, state-owned PEMEX. That's not possible right now with the company losing over a billion $US a year in inefficiency and corruption. Is there something Europe or the U.S. could offer in terms of helping to restructure PEMEX? Is there a French of Scandinavian model that Mexico could work with? What about a successful Mexican model? Venezuela?

Blood in the Face: Joe Wilson, Dominion Theology, and White Supremacists

Lost in the kerfuffle about Joe Wilson's tantrum in congress is that the thing that moved him to break with two centuries of mostly civil treatment of Presidents by the Congress was the idea of immigration - Mexican immigration. Let's not fool ourselves and think that Joe Wilson is upset about Irish immigrants to NYC.

Take a moment and listen to the Fresh Air interview of Max Blumenthal about his book Republican Gomorrah. Considering the sort of Christian Identity and Dominion Theology folks involved (essentially Christian defenses of white supremacy - read Blood in the Face by James Ridgeway or see the documentary) I think we have a more dangerous sort of racism to deal with than the "no dogs or spanish" brand. Some racism can be dealt with by facts, numbers, time, and a little exposure / education. This brand, however, is dangerous. As Mal Reynolds would say, there's nothing more dangerous than "... a monster that thinks he's right with god." Sounds a lot like Joe Wilson and Glenn Beck to me. Is Wilson part of "The Family"?