Tag Archives: Texas

Hearing Tonight in Dallas on Secure Communities

  By Maegan La Mala | August 9, 2011 - 10:17 am |
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Tonight Dallas County Sheriff Valdez will hold a public hearing on the “Secure Communities” program as part of her role on a controversial national taskforce critics claim was convened by the administration to dampen recent opposition to the deportation program.

The hearing, scheduled from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, and to be held at Dallas County Community College is happening in a county where 30% of those deported under the program are people with no criminal conviction while 63% either have not been convicted of any crime or have committed only a minor offense. This pattern, which flies in the face of Obama administration claims of targeted deportations of “dangerous” immigrants, is one that is repeated across the country as the deportation expands.

The hearing also comes almost immediately following last Friday’s announcement by the Department of Homeland Security, nullifying the 40 contracts it had negotiated with states and affirming the questioned mandatory status of the program.

(more…)

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Texas DREAMers on Hunger Strike

  By Maegan La Mala | November 17, 2010 - 1:30 pm |
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About a dozen DREAMers, student activists and allies at the University of Texas at San Antonio have been on a hunger strike since last Wednesday in an effort to push Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to support the DREAM Act.

Hutchison has backed the DREAM Act in the past but voted against a more recent version attached to a defense bill. She does not support the current version, according to a statement that urged UTSA students to “find safer ways to voice their opinions.”

“The Senator appreciates the passion of these young people for their cause, but she has been clear that she does not support the current DREAM Act legislation,” the statement said. “The Senator had previously proposed a way for students, who have gotten their primary and secondary education in the United States and want to go to college here, to get a temporary visa. She believes the current legislation goes far beyond the intended group of children who have grown up in America.”

Senator Hutchison so far has refused to meet with the hunger strikers, saying through a spokesperson in a meeting with some of the activists that as far as the Senator is concerned the DREAM Act does not exist.

It will be interesting to see if Hutchison changes her tune given the outcome of yesterday’s White House meeting.

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Breaking News: Plane Intentionally Crashed into IRS Building in Texas

  By la Macha | February 18, 2010 - 3:00 pm |
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Ay, dios mio. I just turned on the news for a quick minute before I headed out the door, and I found out that a plane was crashed into an IRS building in Texas.

The following is a bit of an excerpt from a letter left behind by the man who flew the plane, Joesph Stack:

In one passage, Stack writes: “That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their ‘freedom’ … and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.”

He also wrote: “Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours?

Toward the end, he wrote, “I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.”

I’m not going to comment on this until I’ve had a chance to sit down and really go through the news more carefully. But until then–I do have to say, I am terribly sorry for any families who have lost a loved one today, and that includes Stacks family.

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Texas Mayor Steps Down, Reveals His Love for Undocumented Immigrant

  By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo | May 27, 2009 - 5:45 pm |
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Central Texas doesn’t get a lot of public officials coming out of the closet, either about their sexual orientation or about their emotional relationships with undocumented immigrants, but the city of San Angelo got a double whammy when Mayor J.W. Lown sent in a resignation letter “from an undisclosed location in Mexico“, revealing the nature of his personal life (see a video of the reading of the letter above). The Houston Chronicle reports:

What made it stunning wasn’t the status of Lown’s office, which pays $600 a year, but the status of his lover.

Lown fell for an illegal Mexican immigrant.

A man.

Lown told the San Angelo Standard-Times he had fallen for the man in March, after he had already filed for re-election. The man came to the U.S. five years ago to study at Angelo State University.

It was unclear whether he had a student visa, but if he did it apparently had expired.

Lown told the Standard-Times he chose not to take the oath of office while “aiding and assisting” a person who was illegally in the country.

Lown had been an extraordinarily popular mayor. Only 32 years old, he was elected in 2003 as the city’s youngest mayor. Serving in an office that inevitably requires decisions that accumulate enemies, he managed to get re-elected three times with increasing margins of victory each time. Two weeks ago he defeated two challengers by garnering 89 percent of the vote.

Lown did not give the name of his lover, but said he planned to stay in Mexico to try to obtain a visa so that his partner can return with him if “the people of San Angelo will welcome me back.”

Hats off to Mayor Lown on his courage and honesty. Here’s hoping his partner gets a visa and San Angelo will indeed let him come home.

Check out a tape of the official press conference after the jump. It’s quite poignant.

(more…)

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Texas National Border

  By la Macha | May 20, 2009 - 9:31 am |
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texas-wall-map-redo Found via facebook, this link to the Onion provides insight on the plans by Texas to secede from the Union.

The final section of the barricade, a reinforced concrete enclosure containing the city of Austin, will be finished by August 2009.

“These Americans are destroying the moral and social fabric of our state,” said Rep. Chris Turner, who added that he worries when he looks around Texas and sees people from places like Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Vermont. “The man who used to repair my truck was replaced by some mechanic who moved in here from Kansas. Lately I can’t go to the store or the bank without running into all kinds of these foreigners. This wall is the only hope we have of keeping Texas safe.”

“The truth is, Americans are just different from us,” Turner added. “We don’t even speak the same language.”

According to Texas Army National Guard Brig. Gen. Tom Alford, Americans will only be permitted to cross the border if they have immediate family living in Texas, in which case they can apply for a 90-minute monitored visitation to be held inside a checkpoint detention facility.

Yes, this is a joke, it’s from the Onion, folks. But it is interesting to think about, no? The idea that it could be U.S. citizens that were repellent and worth keeping out?

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Texas Lawmaker Wants Asian Americans to Change their Names

  By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo | April 9, 2009 - 1:39 pm |
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This sounds like something out of The Onion, but sadly, it’s true. This disgusting piece of news comes to us from The Houston Chronicle, and it makes me fear a trip back home to Texas: a Texas legislator, one Rep. Betty Brown (R-Terrell) suggests that voters of Asian heritage change their names to make them “easier for Americans to deal with.” Take a deep breath before reading the following:

Brown suggested that Asian-Americans should find a way to make their names more accessible.
“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown said.

Brown later told Ko: “Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?”

You can watch a video above of the House Elections Committee where this went down. Ramey Ko, a representative of the Organization of Chinese Americans, testified to the difficulties that Asian Americans often face when attempting to vote.

The Texas Democratic Party has demanded an apology from Brown, while the Republican party says Democrats “want this to be about race”.

If it isn’t about race, then what is it about?

Via / Chron.com

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MALDEF Sues Texas DPS Over License Rules

  By Maegan La Mala | January 31, 2009 - 1:40 pm |
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2948428691_26e29f221d.jpgIt seems like the battle over whether or not undocumented immigrants should be allowed to have drivers licenses has been going on for decades now, with both sides celebrating gains and protesting losses in the fight. The newest chapter in this story is that The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) is suing the Texas Department of Public Safety on behalf of some immigrant workers and their employer:

The men are landscaping workers in North Texas who need to drive as part of their job but could not obtain a Texas driver’s license under the new DPS policies because their visas are valid for only 10 months.

DPS rules exclude people from receiving driver’s licenses if they have a visa for less than one year or have less than six months remaining on it, MALDEF said.

Officials also changed the appearance of driver’s licenses for persons with legal permission to be in the U.S. so that they differ from licenses given to citizens and green card holders. MALDEF contends the Public Safety Commission, which oversees DPS, exceeded its authority and did not have Legislative approval to adopt the rules.

Very sneaky, DPS! I guess you thought as undocumented immigrants these people were defenseless, but luckily there are orgs like MALDEF around to (at least try) to fight the good fight.

Oh, and by the way, President Obama supported licenses for the undocumented during his campaign. Let’s see if he continues along these lines.

Via / Chron.com

Image via Erik on Flickr

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When “Special” Means Different and Unequal : Driver’s Licenses in Texas

  By Maegan La Mala | November 19, 2008 - 11:30 am |
1 Comment

image_7889398.jpgTexas already has strict guidelines in place to make sure that undocumented immigrants can’t access driver’s licenses (apparently it’s safer for people to drive unlicensed). Since Oct. 1, Texas made the guidelines even more strict by requiring foreign nationals to prove they are lawfully here before they can get an original, renewal or duplicate driver’s license or ID card. Additionally:

noncitizens with legal permission to live in the country will now get special, vertical-shaped driver’s licenses bearing temporary visitor designations. The licenses will be valid only until the person’s legal status expires. Immigrants whose legal status is scheduled to expire less than six months from the time they apply cannot get a license or ID card at all.

(more…)

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Texas and Florida Face Physican Shortages

  By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo | November 18, 2008 - 2:12 pm |
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doctors.jpgPointing to at least one reason why Latin@s are inclined to head in the direction of non-Western medicine, the Kaiser Foundation released a study detailing an extreme shortage of physicians in the Texas and Florida areas:

Access to care is a particularly “dire” issue for Hispanics, who have limited access to physicians because they are mostly employed by small businesses and are uninsured, the Express-News reports. Hispanics make up the largest group of uninsured people in Texas border cities. About 66% of Hispanic workers are employed by companies that provide employer-sponsored health insurance, Roland Angel, professor of sociology at the University of Texas-Austin, said. In comparison, more than 80% of blacks and whites have employer-sponsored health insurance (Poling, San Antonio Express-News, 11/14).

I wondered two things while reading this report. First, why are there scare quotes around “dire”? Is the situation not really “dire”? Is “dire” really just code word for “rolling eyes at stupid panicky brown people” (ala John McCain’s scare quotes around “health” when referencing women’s health exceptions for abortion)?

The second thing I wondered is why does the solution that many hospitals have found to this shortage problem seem to be a sort of scary “oh nos!” sort of scenario?

As Central Florida faces a physician shortage, some hospitals are recruiting physicians directly from Puerto Rico “because Puerto Rican doctors know Spanish” and “they are a good cultural fit for Metro Orlando,” which has a large Hispanic population, the Orlando Sentinel reports. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, an estimated 455,592 Hispanics live in the area.

Jorge Lopez — president of Florida Emergency Physicians, who recruits physicians for the Florida Hospital System — has traveled many times to Puerto Rico to recruit physicians. He said, “What we try to do is identify those who have already decided to leave. And when we go, we’re lucky if we can recruit one or two because there are so many other hospitals competing for them.” He added, “They are very competent doctors with fantastic hands-on experience. They are American citizens and bilingual. It’s one of our favorite places to recruit”

After I finished reading this, I felt like screaming “oh nos, the ricans are stealing all our jobs!” Not sure why–there’s nothing implicitly anti-Latin@ in this passage. Maybe it’s just the way “dire” in quotes framed how I read the rest of the article.

What do you think? Are we all supposed to be scared to death of Latin@s stealing all the good jobs? Or does this article really care?

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