Given the reality that we probably aren’t going to have comprehensive immigration reform, the DREAM activists have ramped up their efforts. I have blogged about the DREAM Act and the student advocates who are working tirelessly to have this opportunity to regularize their status. These youth did not have any say in how they arrived within our borders, as they were brought here as young children, attended schools and have become socialized as Americans. The DREAM activists can see the writing on the wall with comprehensive immigration reform, as they have been down this path before with the last effort big immigration reform push in 2007 that died. So instead of proceeding down the same path to nowhere, now we are beginning to see bold action by immigrant youth, including a sit-in at Senator John McCain’s office, a protest on Wilshire Boulevard by UCLA students, and protests in San Francisco outside of Senator Feinstein’s office.

I also sense that the urgency is being amplified because of the recent deaths of two DREAM activists, Tam Tran and Cinthya Felix, who were killed in an auto crash. UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement, “By all accounts, Tam Tran and Cinthya Felix Perez were outstanding students and beloved leaders who touched many lives with their courage, passion and intellect. As undocumented immigrant students, they surmounted exceptional hurdles to earn their UCLA degrees, and together with others in a tight-knit community dedicated themselves to helping others in similar circumstances. In many ways, they embody the values that UCLA stands for. The campus community joins with their families and friends in mourning their deaths.” These young women have inspired their peers to go all out in their advocacy and to take their passions to the next level because of the reality that they may not live to realize those dreams of becoming legalized.

It’s time for Senators and Congressional representatives who keep delaying on taking any action with the DREAM Act to stand firm. Get behind it, co-sponsor it, or get out of the way because telling the public that you are waiting for comprehensive immigration reform is not sufficient anymore. Waiting for comprehensive immigration reform is disingenuous in the current environment, and the reality is that the undocumented youth have so much to offer.

On the Senate side, Senators Durbin and Lugar are both firmly committed to the DREAM Act. DREAM Activists are targeting senators who could be co-sponsors including Stabenow of Michigan and Brown of Massachusetts. And in the Congress, DREAM activists are putting pressure on Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, in addition to other members, to buck up and co-sponsor. Gustavo Arellano has a pretty good post describing what happened at a recent event where Sanchez had to breathe the same air as the undocumented youth who have continually asked her to co-sponsor and spearhead the effort on the house side.

I will be updating the blog with more DREAM activist actions as they unfold. The appearance of three DREAM Activists on Democracy Now! is also worth watching:

UPDATE 5/26/10: Rep. Loretta Sanchez has signed on as a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act.

• On Thursday, Shakira will be in Phoenix on Thursday supporting protesters who are against SB 1070. She is going to be meeting with the Mayor of Phoenix, Phil Gordon (who is against the measure), and the Chief of Police.

• Hispanic leaders in the nation’s capitol are going to ask the D.C. Council to consider a resolution that calls for a city boycott of Arizona because of SB 1070. Such a resolution would prevent the D.C. city government from conducting business with Arizona companies.

• San Francisco’s Supervisors are calling for a boycott of Arizona as well. This resolution goes before the Board of Supervisors on Thursday and “will call for San Francisco to end any and all contracts with Arizona-based companies and to stop doing business with the state.”

• The City of Los Angeles is also looking at a similar resolution to cease conducting business with Arizona based companies.

• Meghan McCain, daughter of Senator John McCain, lends her voice against SB 1070, taking the opposite side that her father has chosen.

• And Secretary of Homeland Security Napolitano offered an update on SB 1070 from the DHS point of view. Worth repeating is that the law does not take effect yet. It will take effect 90 days after the close of the Arizona legislative session.

• Finally, you can take some action if you aren’t in Arizona or able to join a protest in the Phoenix area. You can take the pledge to avoid doing business or visiting Arizona with Presente.org, and you can take some additional actions with AltoArizona.com. It only takes a few minutes to stand in solidarity with those in the fight against discrimination and fear mongering in our great country.

Today McCain said on The O’Reilly Factor that “the drivers of cars with illegals in it that are intentionally causing accidents on the freeway.”

There are a few things wrong with this statement. First, by definition ‘accidents‘ are unplanned and occur because of a lack of intention. So you really can’t intentionally cause an accident. Once intention factors into the scenario, it becomes an ‘on purpose’ and ceases to be an ‘accident’. Second, if one is ‘illegal’, especially in a state like Arizona where McCain is from and where they are quick to throw ‘illegals’ in jail, why would a driver intentionally cause an accident on the freeway? Does this make sense to anyone? I’m thinking that maybe McCain didn’t take his Geritol today or that his stint with Sarah Palin back in ’08 diminished his on-camera speaking abilities. But check it out for yourself, and tell us what you think:

And in other immigration related news, William Gheen, the head of anti-illegal immigration group Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, decided to ‘out’ Republican Senator Lindsey Graham in a rant about the Senator’s role in crafting the Senate immigration bill. The group is calling for Senator Graham to reveal his sexual orientation so that he isn’t ‘manipulated’ in making policy. I don’t care one way or the other if Senator Graham is gay, but this certainly makes for some interesting political theater (scroll to 6:16 to begin the video where he starts in with the gay comments, but if you have to stomach the whole thing, listen to Gheen’s own gaffe about ‘speaking American’):

I also find it odd that Gheen says that he doesn’t care about Graham’s private life but then pushes for the Senator to admit that he’s gay as if it is some trump card being used in the immigration debate. To me, this is gay baiting taken to a whole new level.

There are many things wrong with this decision on so many levels, and people on the right, left, and center are voicing their concern. Even Senator John McCain, who has been an advocate of campaign finance reform, said this, “I am disappointed by the decision of the Supreme Court and the lifting of the limits on corporate and union contributions. However, it appears that key aspects of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), including the ban on soft money contributions, remain intact.”

Another issue with the “corporate personhood” is that it seems that foreign companies will get in on our political act. How is it that American citizens who participate in our elections will now have to compete with oodles of foreign money? We are already deeply indebted to China. A blogger at Unbossed writes, “Congress should prohibit any corporation from engaging in this new political spending if it has any non-American shareholders or owners.” And I completely agree with this one.

Anyway, there will be massive efforts to minimize the impact of this decision that cuts to the core of our democracy, but VivirLatino had a pretty good video explaining why this latest ruling is so damaging. I encourage you to watch it, and please share your thoughts.

I think that Senator Salazar brings a mixed bag to the table, but he has practiced environmental law before and has a lifetime rating of 81% from the League of Conservation voters. As this DailyKos article points out, his environmental record is not as good as Rep. Raul Grijalva, the other Latino who was being considered. Some think that taking Salazar out of the Senate would be a good move since the Governor of Colorado is a Dem and could appoint a more progressive candidate. However, if you are more conservative in your views, what do you think about Senator Salazar? Does he seem like someone who will do a good job? Also worth noting, Senator Salazar did run Colorado’s Natural Resources Department from 1990 to 1994.

One thing that I want to explore is McCain’s position on immigration. A few months ago, I blogged about how The Sanctuary bloggers, a nonpartisan group, sent out an immigration related questionnaire to both the Obama and McCain campaigns. It wasn’t the McCain campaign who responded to the questionnaire. However, Barack Obama’s campaign did. If McCain has long supported Latinos as Navarette suggests, why couldn’t he go on the record and answer The Sanctuary bloggers? To me, the obvious reason is that McCain has danced around the immigration issue, as have other politicians.

John McCain once supported the bipartisan immigration reform bill that had his name on it (McCain-Kennedy), but he has now told the public that he would no longer support that bill to instead focus on securing the borders first. Border walls don’t address the root cause of immigration, but they can create havoc with residents on both sides of the wall and don’t seem to be a good long term solution. Eventually, people will find a way around the wall. We have miles of unsecured shore and unsecured border with Canada. Would we eventually resort to building walls and barriers around the rest of the country too?

In the past McCain has said that amnesty would be an important part to immigration reform, but now he won’t affirm that statement. Coming from a border state, McCain has a unique opportunity to build bridges, but he doesn’t seem to be a trailblazer on immigration reform. Another thing that he has mentioned is creating a new guest worker program. I don’t have to go to great lengths to describe the problems with the Bracero program, but you can check out this site at UC Berkeley for a short lesson.

Sure, John McCain has served in the Navy with other Latinos, and yes, he has been honored by NCLR for not wanting to make English the official language of the land, and in the past has said that he would welcome immigrants to America to perform jobs that Americans won’t do, but lately he’s been all over the map. When Ruben Navarette says that McCain has long supported Latinos, I think that he’s referring to a John McCain from a few years ago, a man who hadn’t sold his soul to the extremists in his party, or there’s always the possibility that Navarette knows something that we don’t.

I will be updating the blog today with new posts, so please come back later!

I was able to catch most of the debate, and what struck me was John McCain’s discussion about how Sarah Palin knows about the struggles of children with autism. Even though reports are coming out that there are children in Palin’s extended family who suffer from autism, it sounded as if McCain was confusing Down syndrome with autism. Palin’s infant son suffers from Down syndrome, as many of you know. It just seemed awkward the way he presented his case about autism. Hat tip to the Momocrats for pointing this out:

I also liked how Obama addressed the whole Ayers and ACORN issues. I think that he effectively put these issues to bed, especially when you consider that Dr. Ayers has long ago left his radical lifestyle for a life in the academy and that ACORN has taken steps to remedy any fraudulent voter registrations. One real obvious issue with the fake ACORN registrations is that if someone registered a name like Mickey Mouse or Goofy or even Paris Hilton, the fraud would likely be tagged by the election workers who are trained to catch such issues at the polls.

This November Latinos are projected to exert their influence at the polls in record numbers. You can do your part by first verifying that you are registered to vote and then voting early if it is available in your county. Barack Obama’s campaign has set up a site for voters to find out where their polling place is, whether they are registered, and how they can vote early at VoteForChange. John McCain’s website also has a voter registration link. VotoLatino has voter registration deadlines up on its site as well. Check out VotoLatino’s creative voting PSAs that spoof the telenovela:

At the very least, get out and vote! If you have more time, please consider volunteering a few hours for the candidates and causes that you are most passionate about. It will be fun, rewarding, and educational. And remember what Dr. Howard Dean says about just voting earning you a D in democracy! We Latinos can earn a higher mark than a “D.”