1:03 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration · Comments Off
25 Mar 2008
The National Immigrant Justice Center is posting interviews with soe of their detained clients who have fought for their freedom for years be released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It is always important to hear the experiences of these women and men, in their own voices, not filtered through media or statics. Rawness has it’s value.
Imagine being told to go and die in your own country, which means, yes be killed in your country or the fear of having your baby taken away.
6:36 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Labor · Comments Off
22 Aug 2007
The Pew Hispanic Center announced today the results of a new analysis of Census Bureau data which shows that foreign-born Latinos moved up from the lower end of the spectrum and closer to the middle with regard to wages in the period from 1995-2005:
Foreign-born Latino workers made notable progress between 1995 and 2005 when ranked by hourly wage. The proportion of foreign-born Latino workers in the lowest quintile of the wage distribution decreased to 36% from 42% while many workers moved into the middle quintiles, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center.Newly arrived Hispanic workers also were much less likely to be low-wage earners in 2005 than in 1995, in part because they were older, better educated and more likely to be employed in construction than in agriculture. Yet despite the clear movement into the middle range of the wage distribution, many foreign-born Latinos remain low-wage earners. Even though the share of Latino workers at the low end decreased, in absolute numbers this population grew by 1.2 million between 1995 and 2005.
The Pew analysis also found that as Latinos moved out of the low end into the middles, many foreign-born Asians moved into the high end of the wage earning scale.
Via / Pew Hispanic Center
7:50 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia|Immigration · 2 Comments
18 Jan 2007
Ah, detention centers. Many will have you believe that immigrants who are caught coming into the country without papers are housed, fed, clothed, given great medical attention and sent safely back to their homelands. In fact, that does happen in some countries, or, better still, they are invited to stay. Here, however, we do things a little differently:
Migrants confined to detention centers run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are subject to abuses that range from denying speedy medical attention to being served raw meat as a meal.
12:30 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Events|Immigration|New York City · 5 Comments
18 Oct 2006
Born of Mexican immigrant parents at 7:46 yesterday morning in Elmhurst, Queens, NYC, Emanuel Plata was declared by El Diario/La Prensa as the 300,000,000th U.S. resident.
“Me siento muy orgulloso”, dijo el padre Armando Jiménez, de 25 años, originario de Puebla. “Para nosotros los inmigrantes es muy importante que un niño latino sea el número 300 millones, por el debate de inmigración en que estamos”.Emanuel, que pesó 3 kilos y 140 gramos, midió 47 centímetros y nació por cesárea, es el tercer hijo de la pareja formada por Armando y Gricelda Plata, de 22 años de edad y también originaria de Puebla.
Little Emanuel bwas born at the time resident number three hundred million would be born according to the the U.S. Census Bureau.
Via / El Diario/La Prensa
9:00 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · chicago|Controversia|Immigration|Justice · 71 Comments
17 Aug 2006
By now you should know that 31 year old single Mexican mami Elvira Arellano has been inside Aldalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago with her 7 year old son for three days now. She is not keeping her promise to a santo. she is keeping her promise to her child that she will stay with him and be a mami and confronting the U.S. government that seeks to deport her. Her son Saul was born in the United States and because of that is a U.S. citizen. Earlier this week Elvira was ordered to appear at an immigration office but instead she invoked an old school idea, taken by many activists before her, that churches are sanctuaries and went inside with her child. Elvira knows what’s up. She’s the President of United Latino Family, which lobbies for families that could be split by deportation. She is now one of those families.
6:52 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia|Immigration|Labor · Comments Off
31 Jul 2006
Among the immigrants here in the NYC area, labor raids have never been taken for granted as an article in today’s New York Times suggests. What may be more true, is that those in search of low cost workers, employers and business owners have been taking intervention by Homeland Security for granted, after all they are not the ones being sent back to their home countries, they are not the ones having their families destroyed and there always seems to be an unending flow of more workers to chose from. But now thanks to a new campaign, the focus is on those who hire undocumented workers, slapping them with felony charges that could lead to huge financial penalties and the seizing of assets.The focus of this article of course is not on the workers, but the employers and doesn’t even attempt to touch on the reasons why people want to work here at any cost and why employers hire at low cost.
Via / The New York Times (Registration required)
9:06 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Women · Comments Off
15 Jun 2006
A report released by the Immigration Policy Center provides a clearer portrait of what the feminine face of immigration looks like in the United States. The report reveals not just where immigrant women come from and what they do when they arrive in the U.S., but also the disparities that exist between immigrant women and women born in the United States. According to the report:
As of 2004, the proportion of the adult foreign-born population comprised of women was largest among Germans (65 percent), Filipinos (59 percent), and South Koreans (56 percent) and lowest among Mexicans (44 percent), Salvadorans (46 percent), and Indians (47 percent).
In FY 2004, 31.6 percent of all employed, adult women who legally immigrated to the United States worked in “professional and technical fields,” followed by “service” (19.9 percent) and “operators,fabricators, and laborers” (13 percent).
Foreign-born women earn lower wages than native-born women. Among the recipients of employment-based visas, women are far more likely than men to be
“dependent” visa holders (the spouses or children of workers receiving visas) as opposed to “principal” visa holders (the workers themselves).
You can access the entire report here (PDF file).
2:17 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration · 1 Comment
14 Apr 2006
What do young Republicans at Penn State do for fun? They play a friendly game of “Catch an Illegal Immigrant”. Nice.
The College Republicans at Penn State University wanted to enter the debate about the nation’s borders by playing a “Catch an Illegal Immigrant Game.”People would be invited to “catch” group members wearing orange shirts symbolizing illegal aliens.
Amid the student outcry that ensued, they softened their plan to an illegal immigration awareness day in which leafleting and speech-making would let both sides air their views on immigration policies.
School officials supposedly nipped that in the bud, though the undertones remain:
Some who registered complaints with the administration said they saw uncomfortable likenesses to the original game, down to participants designated to discuss illegal immigration wearing orange shirts.
This “game” is apparently not new. Similar acts were staged last year in North Texas while students at UT Austin held a counter event against it.
Read the opinions from Penn State’s newspaper.
Via / KnoxNews.com
Photo via Slapnose.com
5:41 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism|Celebrities|Immigration|Labor · 1 Comment
12 Apr 2006
Eva Longoria, everyone’s favorite ama de casa is getting political. She plans to broach the controversial topics of immigration and slavery in a new documentary to be produced by Eva herself:
Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria is tackling America’s controversial immigration issues head on in a new film after learning that fellow Latinos are being roped into slavery.The actress accepts she has become a role model for the Latin community and she wants to affect change in the lives of immigrants living well below the poverty line in the US.
She says: “I work a lot with the National Council of La Raza, which is the largest Latino civil rights organisation in the country and I work a lot with the United Farm Workers.
“I’ve been in the fields with these people and I’ve tried to experience a day in the life of these people. I’m producing a documentary on the labour workers.”
Say what you will about a rich Hollywood star “spending the day” with laborers, the fact is Eva seems to be standing up (like other celebs) for the oppressed, voiceless immigrant population whose labor keeps this country’s economy chugging along. Bravo, Eva!
Via / Ireland Online
4:33 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · California|Immigration · Comments Off
3 Apr 2006
From the San Jose Mercury News, a new San Jose State University poll has found that 6 out of 10 California residents favor legalization for undocumented immigrants currently residing in the country:
Nearly six out of 10 Californians support allowing illegal immigrants to become legal residents and continue living and working in the state, according to a new poll released Sunday by a San Jose State University research center.With the issue of illegal immigration roiling the nation and Congress, a broad spectrum of California residents backs legal status for undocumented workers — 59 percent of all adults polled support the controversial idea, the Survey and Policy Research Institute found. Registered voters also support allowing illegal immigrants to become legal, 54 percent to 36 percent.
According to the Mercury News, the strong opposition to legalization was found on the part of Republican voters, which is no surprise. Meanwhile, in the “real world” (as George Clooney puts it) or the rest of the country, nationwide polls showed:
…support across the country for the narrower — but equally explosive — proposal to give undocumented workers temporary legal status to remain in the United States. But that Associated Press poll also found Americans divided over whether illegal immigrants help or hurt the country.
Via / MercuryNews.com
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
About | Advertise with us | Contact | Twitter