Happy Holidays everyone! This post is a wrap up, minus the gift wrap with some immigration and congress related content.
I want to highlight this Inside Higher Ed Q&A with two professors who specialize in studying under-represented and minority students, specifically Latinos. This short Q&A reveals the extent of the education problem within the Latino community, especially in terms of obtaining baccalaureate degrees, but they also offer this regarding undocumented students:
“The problem of undocumented students in higher education is a serious, and terribly large, one. Many of these students have been here almost all of their lives and as expressed in the Plyler v. Doe decision of 1982, it is not their fault that they find themselves here without documentation. Hence it is especially unfortunate — for both them and the broader community — that they are impeded from educating themselves well. They are our children — the Supreme Court has ruled on this — it makes no sense at all to refuse to educate them.”
Speaking of immigration, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known for his own brand of immigration enforcement, is getting a reality show to highlight his antics. If you don’t like Sheriff Joe, I would encourage you to sign the on-line petition addressed to the US Attorney General encouraging him to investigate America’s Toughest Sheriff’s tactics.
Last week, as we mentioned Congressman Becerra turned down the US Trade Representative Position in the Obama administration and then told the media the following:
“My worry [was] how much weight this position would hold, and I came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be priority number one, and it might not be number to or three.”
While countries often restrict trade in tough economic times, I don’t know how Becerra can say that trade will not be a priority, especially in a world driven by international commerce. It seems that Becerra could have said something more appropriate than the statement given, or at least, publicly showed some appreciation for even being considered for the job.
And it looks like CQ Politics is picking up on our noting the costs of Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez’s holiday card. Meanwhile, Loretta’s little sister, Rep. Linda Sanchez, has been named a co-chair of President-Elect Obama’s inauguration.
26 responses so far ↓
1 Johnny Dilznik // Dec 22, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Once again this highlights the continuation of latinos failing to offer any solutions to this problem other than give, give, give. Is the United States of America suppossed to continue to take-in all the people of Mexico/South America and never enforce the rules. Why do illegal alien children deserve more than my children? If we continue to absorb illegal and legal immigrants at this rate conditions for all including south of the border immigrants are going to become untenable. All I see on this site is give us more. How about some real world solutions to problems other than give us citizenship or else.
2 DfD // Dec 22, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I’m not sure “little sister” describes Linda Sanchez accurately. Although Lorretta sends out smokin’ Christmas cards, somebody should look into how much money “little sister” spends on all that bling she’s sportin’…
3 DfD // Dec 22, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I hear ICE is planning a big roundup at the L.A. Archdiocese this week. Hope the law detains and deports about 300 Illegal Aliens. Just enforce the law fellas…
4 Tony Herrera // Dec 22, 2008 at 5:45 pm
@Johnny Dilznik
Surely you have more to contribute than a rant against undocumented immigrants. With all due respect please add to the conversation. You accuse this site of having a “give us more” theme, but you fail to offer any “real world solutions” yourself.
Come on, surely you can do better. No? I’ll check back later to see if your can conjure up something. : )
@DfD
What is your source on the ICE round up at the L.A. Archdiocese? Or is your comment an indication that you oppose church officials providing sanctuary for undocumented workers?
Sorry, but your comment has little related to the post and without you adding more to your comment it sounds so much like Minuteman banter and oh so tired!
5 Michaelr // Dec 22, 2008 at 8:32 pm
@Johnny Dilznik
I suppose it would too much to ask you to think through your commentary here. Or are you incapable of doing that because you don’t have enough brain cells to distinguish lies from propaganda, and propaganda from viable news commentary? How Christian of you. Illegal immigration exists because there are numerous jobs you absolutely refuse to do. Would you work for below minimum wage picking grapes in the Central Valley in 115 degree weather? Would you clean toilets and pick up after children for five dollars an hour and no benefits? All the work being done by illegal immigrants is done for below minimum wage and no benefits. There are major Fortune 500 companies like Tyson Foods, Wal-Mart, and Monsanto who contract with labor contractors in Latin America to recruit workers, and illegally bring them into this country. Illegal labor means big profits and Fortune 500 companies do this to increase shareholder equity. And they’ve had Republican administrations from Reagan to Bush 2 fully supporting this by dismantling the unions, and giving tax break to companies to relocate their manufacturing planets in foreign countries. So you should think about your commentary before you rehash all this AM radio Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage propaganda. And utilize that small brain of yours to study the cause and effects of American industrial social engineering.
6 Michaelr // Dec 22, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Regarding Xavier Becerra…more proof that going to the best schools doesn’t guarantee mass cerebral inspiration. What an incredibly stupid thing to say about this U.S. Trade Representative offer. More evidence of what an arrogant ass Xavier Becerra is. I guess selling your public office and writing letters to the Justice Department and the U.S. President to commute the sentences of felons has made you so stupid you can’t distinguish between an honorable political position and one of a fixer. Maybe you should spend more time on Capitol Hill voting on legislation instead of writing any.
7 DfD // Dec 22, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Michaelr,
So you think Illegal Aliens should be deported as well? Glad we agree on that. BTW, America only needs 3 million AG-workers annually, why do we need the other 27 million? Your hate speech against Americans wanting immigration laws enforced is coming through loud and clear. Why do ethnocentric racists hate this Joe Arpaio guy? If he’s hired to enforce the laws to keep americans safe, then what’s the problem? Is he elected or appointed in Arizona?
8 Johnny Dilznik // Dec 22, 2008 at 9:49 pm
So Tony Herrera and Michaelr again I ask the same questions as above. I guess this means you have no answers to my questions. Are we suppossed to continue to allow total lawlessness when it comes to immigration because latinos want it that way? All I see here is running totals on latino political appointments and slamming of law enforcement practices. Tony Herrera, my, “real world solutions” is to stop having MALDEF, LULAC and La Raza try to keep immigration law from being enforced. My solution is that if we used the H1B visa program correctly that agriculture could have as many workers as they want they would just have to go home eventually and stop the chain migration. My solution would be to stop importing the poorest from other nations who can’t look after their own citizens. My solution would be to enforce existing immigration law as it stands right now with no further “comprehensiveness” added to it and the problem would take care of itself. All I hear from you people is the rhetoric of latino politicians, democratic BS artists and many others who would have us believe we need all this to survive. This country was built on the backs of many other immigrants who came and contributed before a massive wave of latinos showed up who had the good fortune of a land bridge and a government whose only salvation is to hit the dump valve marked USA. So once again, do you have a point? Or is it just that you think this is great because you are latino and identify with all this BS. Do you think illegal immigrant interest trump US citizen interests? Once again stop with the Fortune 500, Ronald Reagan, AM radio blather and give me some answers. I know all the rhetoric from your beloved latino advocates and most of it is not based in any fact. If you would like to get into a fact based debate I am in because the facts are on my side. Now please answer my questions.
9 DfD // Dec 22, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Tony and Anna,
Si se puede!
10 DfD // Dec 23, 2008 at 8:58 am
“The problem of undocumented students in higher education is a serious, and terribly large, one.”
If Illegal Aliens can’t make the grades or don’t want to be be there, then it’s not a problem. If you want Illegal Aliens and their Anchor Babies in higher education, simply because they’re brown, then you are nothing but an ethnocentric racist.
“Many of these students have been here almost all of their lives and as expressed in the Plyler v. Doe decision of 1982, it is not their fault that they find themselves here without documentation.”
Having Illegal Alien parents who refuse to assimilate into American society should not be the taxpayers burden to bear as far as educating Anchor Babies from k-12 and beyond. If minor children of Illegal Aliens have their parents deported, let me remind you, those children are under the guardianship of their parents and should go with the parents, wherever that is. Such children are NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY!
“Hence it is especially unfortunate — for both them and the broader community — that they are impeded from educating themselves well. They are our children — the Supreme Court has ruled on this — it makes no sense at all to refuse to educate them.”
Again, if the parents are deported, the kids go with them until the kids reach the age of 18. At that time, the 18-year-old can apply for citizenship lawfully and legally, according to our fair, compassionate, reasonable, righteous, and accessible immigration laws. And for the record, that includes, but is not limited to, absconder parents from Europe, Asia, Africa, Mexico, Canada, and anywhere else in the world. Makes perfectly good sense NOT TO ASK American taxpayers to bear the burden of educating non-Americans…..
Stop threading your Race Card through this blog. I thought we were trying to have a REAL conversation here. Let me remind all of you people. Barack Obama was elected president. He is black. America only has small pockets of racism remaining and it appears to be prevalent amongst people who’s skin tone appears to be of the darker persuasion…correct me if I’m wrong.
11 DfD // Dec 23, 2008 at 9:51 am
Webmaster,
Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.
12 Anna // Dec 23, 2008 at 10:26 am
Re: What an incredibly stupid thing to say about this U.S. Trade Representative offer.”
No, it wasn’t. That jobs has little power and it would not have been worth giving up so much seniority in Congress.
And look who ended up taking the job–Ron Kirk. So yeah, Becerra made the right decision.
13 Anna // Dec 23, 2008 at 10:29 am
Webmaster: You could have a good website, but you allow to much Lou Dobbs trash to be posted here. Why don’t you delete this garbage? I can’t think of any other website that allows people to come in and make racist comments and wreck every topic.
I think I’m going to start my own Latino politics blog.
14 AndiMedi // Dec 23, 2008 at 10:53 am
Many opposed to immigration and/or legal status for those here without papers offer a false choice. They see the choice as enforcement and control vs. welcoming, legal status, and integration.
Clearly our efforts to control immigration by severely rationing legal status have backfired. Making immigration harder for low-skilled workers, especially those from Latin America, has created the underground, the false document industry, the smuggling empire, and the other unintended consequences. If we had seen legal immigration as the alternative to illegal immigration and made it available in numbers that matched market demand, people would have come with visas, vetting, and equal accountability. However, our instinct has been to make legal immigration difficult for everyone and impossible for most people. This plays into the hands of those opposed to immigration in general because it is easy to rail against “illegals” espousing a law and order position while appearing to be for legality rather than against immigration.
But the so-called law and order approach to this issue has led to less law and less order. If we had a legal immigration system that rational people and rational employers would choose to use and not circumvent, we would all be better off. We don’t have that now.
Furthermore, it is unacceptable to have millions of immigrants living outside the system — both for the sake of the immigrants, but more so for the rest of us.
Be realistic. We are not going to get rid of 12 million people. They are here and staying (most of them) and so getting them in the system, on-the-books, and sharing accountability is the best way to handle the reality that 20 years of trying to restrict immigration ineffectively below the demands of our economy and society (rather than regulating immigration intelligently) has generated.
Those who shout no amnesty, no quarter for anyone here illegally, and perpetuate the fantasy that they will leave and no more will come are in effect arguing for a continuation of the status quo with millions underground, millions with limited opportunity or room for advancement, and workers and employers who want to play by the rules vulnerable to being undercut by those who don’t.
I’d rather we get folks in the system, on a level playing field, and create a functioning legal immigration system for a 21st century economy than to hope against all evidence for another decade or two that reality will change.
15 DfD // Dec 23, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Anna // Dec 23, 2008 at 10:26 am
Re: What an incredibly stupid thing to say about this U.S. Trade Representative offer.”
No, it wasn’t. That jobs has little power and it would not have been worth giving up so much seniority in Congress.
And look who ended up taking the job–Ron Kirk. So yeah, Becerra made the right decision.
This says so much about Anna. Becerra would rather be part of a governmental body which has an approval rating of 10-15% instead of being a trade representative for The Dali Bama? WOW! Maybe Becerrra is just not up for either job? I still can’t believe she said that…amazing…
16 DfD // Dec 23, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Maybe Anna does need to leave and start her own blog. I think she’s in a little over her head here. Can you say….Icarus?
17 soledadenmasa // Dec 23, 2008 at 1:18 pm
AndiMedi,
*golf clap* You said exactly what I wanted to say.
In regards to Becerra, I’m glad he stayed in the House. I didn’t see him taking the position of U.S. Trade Rep. and enjoying the work. I think he’s trying to position himself in Obama’s Cabinet or in the Executive Office in the future.
Also, I don’t foresee Villaraigosa staying as mayor past 2013 (though this can change in the coming years) and since Núñez’s political capital has/is going down the drain, I think we should expect a Becerra run for Mayor of Los Angeles in the next years. He’d have to fend off José Huizar and others, though.
18 Anna // Dec 23, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Becerra won’t run for Mayor. He has seniority in Congress and is moving into the Democratic leadership.
Furthermore, the LA Mayor is limited to two terms.
19 Johnny Dilznik // Dec 23, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Keep putting your stock in people like Villar, Huizar and Becerra and you will continue to be disapointed.
20 Johnny Dilznik // Dec 23, 2008 at 10:17 pm
AndiMed,
We did that in 1986. Read up on it and find out what happened.
21 Anna // Dec 24, 2008 at 10:44 am
Johnny: I’m not disappointed.
22 soledadenmasa // Dec 24, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Anna,
You are right, I forgot about the term limits imposed after Bradley.
23 DfD // Dec 27, 2008 at 11:00 am
Here’s for all you Joe Arpaio haters in the Phoenix area…
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28391946
24 Johnny Dilznik // Dec 27, 2008 at 11:42 am
Anna,
“I’m not disappointed”.
No Anna I am sure you are not. As an obvious advocate for latino illegal immigration I am sure you think it is wonderful that the state cannot continue to absorb people at the rate it is. I am sure you think it is utopia to have the mass amount of over-crowding we enjoy here. I just wonder if the problem was due to a massive wave of illegal chinese if you would feel the same?
25 DfD // Dec 27, 2008 at 12:31 pm
More Phoenix news. Notice how the MSM and the criminals like the word RESCUE…
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/phoenixmetro/story/DPS-34-immigrants-rescued-from-Phoenix-drop-house/FBe1EMcT2E26_25CAizaMA.cspx
26 DfD // Dec 27, 2008 at 12:46 pm
More Arpaio…appears to be doing a great job.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/12/27/20081227civilrights1227.html
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