Heckle Obama to Include Everyone in Health Care Reform

by: MaverickLal101

Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 00:31:56 AM EDT

Congressperson Joe ‘You Lie’ Wilson was hard hit this week while the POTUS effectively got away with snubbing women and undocumented immigrants in his health care speech.

But even after his re-election opponent, Rob Miller, raised a million due to the outcry and an apology to President Obama, Wilson seems to have won. Today, Democrats Max Baucus and Kent Conrad delivered a more anti-immigrant bill health care bill on a silver platter with costly eligibility verification that threatens to exclude more than just undocumented immigrants.

Which U.S. citizens cannot provide proper government documentation? The first people to be affected by verification procedures is the Trans community. Oppressing against a particular group is often the slippery slope for oppression against other groups.

John Aravosis at America Blog cannot fathom why Democrats are on the defensive. He writes:

Why would anyone think that Wilson, or any of the extremists he represents, will support Baucus and Conrad’s plan, regardless of the changes? […]Wilson is holding firm. Perhaps Conrad and Baucus can delete women from the bill too, or gays, or blacks. That might finally get Wilson on board.

And Aravosis is right. Why is the Democrat party pandering to right-wing paranoia in the name of facts? Is ceding so much ground to nativists in the health care debate really the way forward? Will they also write the bill for immigration reform?

If you are still betting on Democrats like Senator Schumer (D-NY) to be a champion of the cause, expect a lot of anti-immigrant rhetoric and measures. After all, he has adopted the ugly discourse of the extreme right and is busy drawing a framework of eligibility verification using biometric tools complete with iris-scanning and finger-printing. I don't know about promigrant, anti-immigrant groups or even the American people but the winner here is certainly the company who gets the contract for this multi-billion dollar opportunity.

Weekly Immigration Wire: Reform Stagnates, Polarization Grows

by: The Media Consortium

Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 11:59:12 AM EDT

by Nezua, TMC Mediawire Blogger

President Obama has often stated that immigration reform cannot be approached in a piecemeal fashion, and that his administration would tackle the issue in 2009. This week, Obama will be meeting with members of Congress to kick off a bi-partisan approach to reform. These meetings don't guarantee any legislative action will take place this year, but are at least an encouraging sign. In the meantime, the deportation industry shows no sign of slowing, hate crimes are rising and hate groups are being main streamed. As a result, the polarization between reform advocates and foes is getting worse.

Weekly Immigration Wire: Child of Immigrants Nominated to Supreme Court

by: The Media Consortium

Thu May 28, 2009 at 11:58:02 AM EDT

by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger

On Tuesday, President Obama announced Sonia Sotomayor as his pick to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Sotomayor could be the first Latina appointed to the Supreme Court. Predictably, attacks and slurs from the Right are already flying. Regardless, Sotomayor would be an excellent choice for the Supreme Court, signaling to Latino/as that the White House is aware of our need for more representation in government.

Weekly Immigration Wire: Enforcement Creates Aura of Criminality

by: The Media Consortium

Thu May 14, 2009 at 12:29:40 PM EDT

by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger

The Latino/a community has had ample reason to hope that President Obama would take on immigration reform in a humane manner. While Obama is undeniably centrist in his political approach, and has long been fond of language stressing punitive solutions to the immigration issue, he certainly seems to understand that "America is changing and we can't be threatened by it." Enforcement policies are becoming a threat, not only to immigrants, but the country at large.

Weekly Immigration Wire: Resurrecting a Failed War on Drugs

by: The Media Consortium

Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 12:07:39 PM EDT

by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger

In 2008, a disturbing trend developed in mainstream media regarding Mexico. While Mexico's President Felipe Calderón began his aggression against the Cartels roughly two years ago, the resulting uptick in violence was of no real interest to mainstream media. But when the U.S. Joint Forces Command report Joint Operating Environment (JOE 2008) was issued in November, 2008, and declared Mexico and Pakistan nations in danger of a "rapid and sudden collapse," mainstream news outlets and certain politicians began broadcasting fears of violence spilling over into the US.

Weekly Immigration Wire: Obama's Hard Line on Immigration

by: The Media Consortium

Thu Mar 26, 2009 at 14:43:13 PM EDT

by Nezua TMC MediaWire Blogger

Last week, President Obama announced his intention to address immigration reform in the next few months in a meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The statement came as a relief to many, especially with recent reports of human rights abuses within the U.S. detention system. But, as most of the President's statements seem crafted to appeal to warring political constituencies, his actual intentions are still elusive.

Pass The DREAM Act For Future Economic Prosperity: A Comprehensive Argument

by: kyledeb

Tue Mar 24, 2009 at 13:39:32 PM EDT

Weekly Immigration Wire: 'Systematic Failures' in U.S. Detention Healthcare

by: The Media Consortium

Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 13:19:11 PM EDT

by Nezua TMC MediaWire Blogger

This week, two comprehensive reports on the health of immigrant detainees were released by Human Rights Watch and the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. As Public News Service reports, "Immigrants are, literally, dying for decent care."

Weekly Immigration Wire: Obama Administration Absent on Immigration

by: The Media Consortium

Thu Mar 05, 2009 at 12:36:16 PM EST

President Obama is shaking up the established political and corporate order with a bold economic agenda. Sadly, immigration reform remains untouched by Obama’s energizing blueprint for Change. Immigration policy and programs are still tied to President George W. Bush and former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff: Paramilitary-style raids, detention centers, and the deputizing of otherwise-engaged local police forces continue to stand strong.

Weekly Immigration Wire: Obama Can't Play Centrist on Immigration Crisis

by: The Media Consortium

Thu Feb 26, 2009 at 12:49:16 PM EST

The Obama Administration seems quite capable centrist positioning on many issues, including immigration reform. While some argue centrist position allows Obama to effectively reach consensus, immigration reform is an issue that he cannot play sides with.

Weekly Immigration Wire: Policy Must Inspire Allegiance, Not Anger

by: The Media Consortium

Thu Feb 12, 2009 at 13:46:36 PM EST

by Nezua Media Consortium Blogger

George W. Bush told the world that the US was targeted for 9/11 because "we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world." And as President Obama said in his inaugural address:

The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

Weekly Immigration Wire: Abuses Rampant in US Detention Centers

by: The Media Consortium

Fri Feb 06, 2009 at 13:28:44 PM EST

by Nezua Media Consortium Blogger

In political circles, we sometimes use the phrase "police state," to describe losses of civil liberties or the encroachment of penal processes into our lives. But how does such a thing manifest in our every day experience? Some would point to the all-too-casual use of electric shock devices by legal authorities. Others would quickly mention the United States' swiftly growing enterprise of detention centers, barbed wire and concrete compounds or camps managed by Immigrations Customs and Enforcement (ICE).  

A New Day for Immigration in America

by: rachelfirm

Wed Jan 28, 2009 at 11:39:31 AM EST

The crowd marched to ICE headquarters in DC, singing songs, beating drums, and carrying a giant American flag - symbolizing the idea of immigrant America. From the Washington Post:

Although the demonstration featured many speeches in Spanish and cries of "Sí se puede!" -- Yes we can! -- the crowd was also notable for its diversity. Suely Neves, 26, of the Boston group Deported Diaspora had come on behalf of her fellow Cape Verde immigrants. Standing next to her, Indian American immigrant Dimple Rana, 28, said she was concerned about the fate of the Cambodian refugees she works with in Lowell, Mass.

With the giant American flag waving overhead, and hundreds of immigrants marching for freedom and equal rights, I cannot help but be reminded of a portion of Obama's inaugural speech. In talking about "reaffirming the greatness of our nation", the new President noted that the path towards freedom and equality has never been for the "faint-hearted".

Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things – some    celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have    carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.  For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across    oceans in search of a new life.

Weekly Immigration Wire: Trapped Behind a Mesh of Broken Law

by: The Media Consortium

Thu Jan 15, 2009 at 14:57:50 PM EST

As we are days away from ushering in a new president, hopes are high that relief can be had in federal immigration law. Yet, the Bush administration has made last minute changes to immigration law, reminding us once more of the incompetence in which we have been living for eight years.

Conservative Pundit Kondracke Predicts Comprehensive Immigration Reform May Pass in 2009!

by: dee321

Mon Jan 12, 2009 at 22:00:11 PM EST

Kondracke said the ANTI Immigration Reformers will continue to push their so called "ANTI Amnesty" (Mass Deportation) platform, but to no avail.

Now that Obama's Been Elected, Let our Voices be Heard

by: rachelfirm

Tue Nov 25, 2008 at 14:13:31 PM EST

We turned out the immigrant and Latino vote. We demanded that our voices be heard on November 4th, and the son of IMMIGRANTS will be entering the White House in January.

So - what now? How do we ensure that the change we voted for is seen in a tangible way? How do we make sure that our concerns and our vision for immigrants' rights is heard at the top levels of goverment?

In a recent piece at the Huffington Post, Sally Kohn eloquently wrote:

The single greatest thing we can do to honor the spirit of Obama’s campaign and life work is bring as much enthusiasm to holding Obama accountable as we did to electing him.

Personally, I could not agree more. I’m sure some people will be hesitant to begin pushing Obama, so many of us are still reveling in the glory of this historic election and want nothing more than to keep believing the ballots cast on November 4th will equal the change we need. But our civic engagement cannot end with Election Day.

Obama’s campaign proved that America can truly harness its people power for positive and progressive change. NOW is the time to keep that momentum rolling.

Ok, so, how can you help? For a start, you can tune into the December 4th event “Realizing the Promise: A Forum on Community Faith and Democracy, organized by the Campaign for Community Values and the Gamaliel Foundation (for which Obama once worked) at which thousands of grassroots leaders will demand new jobs for a greener economy, an inclusive health care that includes everyone, re-regulation of industries that have taken advantage of our communities, and a comprehensive reform of our immigration system to make it work for everyone in our communiity!

Check out this great video about the event:

Forget Janet Napolitano; Dismantle the DHS

by: DreamActivist

Sun Nov 23, 2008 at 17:11:45 PM EST

The appointment of Janet Napolitano to the top Homeland Security post has elicited a diverse number of reactions. In a New York Times article, some immigration hardliners are calling it a travesty, NumbersUSA thinks that President-elect Barack Obama could have done worse, while ‘liberals’ think that Napolitano represents a balanced and constructive view, given that she is in favor of a comprehensive immigration reform that legalizes 12 million undocumented migrants. Conservatives in Arizona are happy that finally power might shift towards them with the election of Jan Brewer to Governorship.

Few are questioning the rise of ‘immigration’ as a matter of national security to the point where debates over the chief post of Homeland Security now include major immigration groups. Is this a failure of the imagination, ignorance or just plain historical amnesia? Discourses surrounding the appointment of Napolitano simply serve as polemical devices to achieve political ends while doing nothing to actually address the epistemological and ontological flaws in the actual nature of the Department of Homeland Security.

Writing for the Washington Post, Edward Alden is one of the few mainstream and liberal commentators who comes close to hitting the nail on the head with this statement in ‘Close Minded on the Border:

Instead of continuing to embrace the massive flow of talent, energy and initiative that the rest of the world has long offered the United States, we launched an expensive, futile experiment to see whether we could seal our borders against the ills of the world, from terrorists to drugs to illegal migrants. This effort has betrayed both our ideals and our interests.

Yet, he notes that Janet Napolitano has a rare opportunity to set the nation back on track—to improve security without sacrificing American values and ideals.

On November 25, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Homeland Security Act of 2002 which created the Department of Homeland Security that effectively took over the INS (now CIS). This reorganization blurred the line between immigration policy and terrorism policy to the detriment of many immigrants in the United States – immigration policy became an issue of national security, widening the nexus of security concerns, and hence, granting more policing power to the State.

This incorporation of immigration as national security has far-reaching implications—apart from the fact that immigration is now treated as a security concern rather than an economic and cultural benefit, the dehumanization and scapegoating of undocumented immigrants has proliferated out of control. From local enforcement and state laws to election battles, the unnamed and othered ‘illegal immigrant’ is the big bad bogeyman against whom we need protection.

The Sleeping Giant is Awake and Bleeding

by: nezua

Wed Nov 12, 2008 at 14:30:25 PM EST

The Clotty Red Stopper should not be yanked from its bottle so casually, as both Sarah Palin and John McCain ought to know by now. Demons claw at the cork all night. They gain legs in the silences left by the Left and are called forth from many foaming mouths on the Right.

Marcello Lucero was killed late Saturday night near the commuter railroad station in Patchogue, N.Y., a middle-class village in central Long Island. He was beaten and stabbed. The friend who crouched beside him in a parking lot as he lay dying, soaked in blood, said Mr. Lucero, who was 37, had come to the United States 16 years ago from Ecuador.

The police arrested seven teenage boys, who they said had driven into the village from out of town looking for Latinos to beat up. The police said the mob cornered Mr. Lucero and another man, who escaped and later identified the suspects to the police. A prosecutor at the arraignment on Monday quoted the young men as having said: "Let's go find some Mexicans."

-A Death in Patchogue

Obama's Aunt Is "Illegal"

by: kyledeb

Sat Nov 01, 2008 at 12:10:37 PM EDT

Obama's message to be broadcast in Spanish

by: Duke Reed

Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 22:24:20 PM EDT

The Barack Obama campaign will air a Spanish-language version of its 30-minute infomercial on Wednesday night on Univision, the highest-rated Spanish language television network.

"Barack Obama: Historias Americanas," or "Barack Obama: American Stories," will air at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time (7 p.m. Central and Mountain time), the same time the English-language version airs on CBS, Fox and NBC. Democratic Miami Mayor Manny Diaz announced the arrangement during a conference call with reporters.

... The campaign also announced that it will continue to air three Spanish-language ads through Election Day: An ad about the senator's education proposals called "Oportunidad" that is already on the air, another ad called "Por Encima," which delivers Obama's "closing arguments" and desire to "rise above" attacks made by Republicans and the McCain campaign, and a two-minute direct-to-camera message delivered by Obama in Spanish only, a first for any presidential candidate.

That ad, "Sueno Americano" or "American Dream," will air in Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico and Virginia, the first time the campaign will air Spanish-language television advertising aimed at Old Dominion Latinos. The ads will air in the Washington, D.C. market, which includes Northern Virginia.

Washington Post

This past weekend, a shorter, early version of the two-minute ad was leaked to the press, giving us a preview of Obama's linguistic skills and message:

"We have a dream that if you work hard, your family can prosper. That if you get sick, you'll have health insurance. That our children can get a good education. If you're rich or poor, this is the American dream. I'm asking for your vote, not just for me and the Democrats, but also in order to continue that American dream, for you and your children."