Undocumented Immigrants | VivirLatino

Posts Tagged ‘undocumented immigrants’

Utah to Revoke Driving Privileges of Undocumented

12:27 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia|utah · Comments Off

12 Feb 2008

The State House of Representatives in Utah voted yesterday to revoke the driving privileges of undocumented people.

Rep. Glenn Donnelson, R-North Ogden, said the cards are a threat to national security because anyone, including terrorists, can get a federal individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), which is needed to get a driving privilege cards.
“Utah driver privilege cards are making it possible for illegal aliens to operate in our society,” he said.

Last year alone, about 41,000 driver privilege cards were granted. The bill now goes to the state senate.

Via / Salt Lake Tribune

Image Via / News for Mormons

Community up in arms over undocumented “hotline”

1:48 pm By Maegan La Mala · arizona|Controversia|Immigration · 1 Comment

8 Aug 2007

Community members and clergy in Maricopa County, Arizona are calling for a stop to an initiative by the Sheriff to offer hotlines for reporting undocumented immigrants to authorities:

The hotline, they say, perpetuates a climate of fear within the immigrant community, raises the chance of racial profiling and opens the possibility for people to take revenge on former friends and family.

“What right does he have to investigate people based on the color of their skin, or their accent or the way they look,” said Phoenix attorney Antonio Bustamante. “I want him to stop this nonsense and enforce criminal law instead of going after landscapers and nannies. He needs to stop this hotline.”

Latino leaders are calling the hotlines unconstitutional but the Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, isn’t backing down — not by a long shot. According to the Arizona Republic, he’s even trapping undocumented immigrants as they visit their family members in the county jail: “Once they come in, we’re going to have to arrest them and turn them over to ICE.”

So much for love thy neighbor.

Via / Arizona Republic

Charlotte Observer Looks at one Immigrant Family

25 Sep 2006

Understanding that Hispanic/Latino Heritage month is more than about food and dance and jumping off the interest in the Elvira Arellano case, today the Charlotte Observer is kicking off a 6-part immigration series with a look at how one family is torn apart by the mother’s legal status, and the agonizing decisions they must make once she’s deported to Guatemala.

It was March 26, a Sunday evening. Ten-year old Kayla was at her aunt’s house in Monroe, playing video games with her cousins. Her father, Ray, had just stepped in the front door. Her mother, Deysi, wasn’t with him.

Less than an hour before, Ray and Deysi — his partner of 10 years — were driving back from a soccer match in Monroe. A state trooper stopped them for an expired tag, and Deysi was jailed for being in the U.S. illegally. Eight years before, a warrant had been issued for her arrest after she failed to follow through on paperwork requesting asylum.

Once again it’s important that these stories be told to put a human dimension to the issue of immigration because if it were left to the right wing pundits and the politicians it’s easy to ignore that these are family values and issues we are dealing with.

Catch the whole series at The Charlotte Observer

The Language of the Immigration Issue

8:40 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Media · 3 Comments

31 Mar 2006

When you hear the word “Alien”, do you think little green men from mars or do you think of Mexicans and other Latinos? According to the National Association of Hispanic Journalist (NAHJ), the language being used in the mainstream media to detail the current immigration debate dehumanizes and stereotypes. NAHJ, a 2,300-member organization of reporters, editors and other journalists, is calling the mainstream media out on their use of language and the impact it has in framing the immigration. The NAHJ is giving a historical context for the words being used in the media and offering alternative word choices. Their Resource Guide for Journalists states for example :

While Webster’s first definition of the term “alien” is in accordance with the government’s interpretation, the dictionary also includes other, darker, meanings for the word, such as “a non-terrestrial being,” “strange,” “not belonging to one,” “adverse,” “hostile.” And the Encyclopedia Britannica points out that “in early times, the tendency was to look upon the alien as an enemy and to treat him as a criminal or an outlaw.” It is not surprising then that in 1798, in anticipation of a possible war with France, the U.S. Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which restricted “aliens” and curtailed press freedoms. By 1800 the laws had been repealed or had expired but they still cast a negative shadow over the word. In modern times, with science-fiction growing in popularity, “alien” has come to mean a creature from outer space, and is considered pejorative by most immigrants.

Via / NAHJ

Undocumented futbolistas and sports “racism”

2:17 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration|race|Spain|Sports · 1 Comment

24 Feb 2006

I was talking to a journalist this morning who was bringing me up to speed on a story that’s been buzzing about New York media in the last few weeks: that Mets coach Omar Minaya is being called a racist for saying that he feels more at home with Latino players. And apparently Minaya is a racist just for the mere fact that he has brought so many Latin American players to the club. I know nothing about baseball, but if they are playing well, who cares? And what’s wrong with “helping a brutha out”? People do it all the time. It’s called cultural affinity and it’s sometimes the only thing that keeps immigrant populations united in places where they should feel isolated.

Sports and immigration aren’t really topics that tend to cross much, but my eyebrows raised at a headline in today’s 20 Minutos newspaper from Spain: Futbolistas “sin papeles” debutan en la División Regional Preferente de Melilla

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