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IS PRESIDENT OBAMA DESIGNATING LATINO ICON’S CESAR CHAVEZ’ HOME A NATIONAL MONUMENT?

October 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

President Barack Obama is designating the California home of labor leader Cesar Chavez as a national monument, a move likely to shore up support from Hispanic and progressive voters just five weeks before the election.

Labor and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez is buried at La Paz in Keene, Calif., where President Obama will announce a national monument next week. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times / October 1, 2012)

The White House said Monday that Obama will establish the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in Keene, Calif., during a campaign swing through California next week. The property is known as La Paz, short for Nuestra Senora Reina de la Paz, or Our Lady Queen of Peace. The site served as national headquarters of the United Farm Workers union, as well as Chavez’s home, from the early 1970s until his death in 1993. Chavez is buried there and his gravesite will be part of the monument.

uestra Seňora Reina de La Paz (commonly known as La Paz) is a property encompassing 187 acres in the Tehachapi Mountains of eastern Kern County, California, and is associated with Cesar Chavez (1927-1993), one of the most important historic Latino leaders in the United States.

Obama said in a statement that Chavez “gave a voice to poor and disenfranchised workers everywhere,” adding that La Paz was at the center of significant civil rights events. By designating his home as a national monument, “Chavez’ legacy will be preserved and shared to inspire generations to come,” Obama said.

Obama said in a statement that Chavez “gave a voice to poor and disenfranchised workers everywhere.” (Photo: AP)

As head of the UFW, Chavez staged a massive grape boycott that raised awareness of the plight of predominantly Latino farm workers. His efforts were credited with inspiring millions of other Latinos in their fight for more educational opportunities, better housing and more political power.

Cesar Chavez Phoenix Rallies 05/1972 Photographer: El Malcriado

Creation of a national monument at La Paz follows designation of the site in the San Joaquin Valley near Bakersfield as a national historic site. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the site’s designation on the National Register of Historic Places last year. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Chavez’s founding of the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the UFW. The Chavez monument will be the fourth national monument designated by Obama using the Antiquities Act.

Read More: Seattle Times

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Filed Under: FEATURED POLITICS, LATINO POLITICS Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

SUPREME COURT SHARED ITS DECISION ON SB1070: “THEY ARE ASKING FOR OUR PAPERS, SO LET’S SHOW THEM OUR VOTER REGISTRATION CARDS!”

June 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

Photo: Creative Commons/Talk Radio News Service

The Supreme Court struck down much of Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration S.B. 1070 law saying states have little authority to set immigration rules against the wishes of the president or Congress. But the states’ remaining authority is enough to deter prospective illegal immigrants, say reform advocates.

SOURCE: AP Photo / Matt York

The judges did allow state law enforcement officials some ability to quiz people about their legal status during traffic stops or arrests. The court had earlier OK’d state rules requiring employers to check the residency of prospective hires.
“States now have broad latitude to carry out a policy of attrition through enforcement,” said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform. “It is now up to [state governments] to choose whether to protect the interests of illegal aliens or the interests of citizens,” he said.

“Today’s ruling from the United States Supreme Court in the Arizona immigration case contains a major victory for law enforcement in South Carolina,” said that state’s attorney general, Alan Wilson. “The most important element of South Carolina’s [immigration] law, the ability of law enforcement to verify a suspected illegal alien’s status upon an ‘authorized lawful detention,’ was found to be Constitutional on its face,” he said in a June 25 statement.

The court’s decision said the Constitution gives Congress the power to set immigration laws. Existing federal immigration laws supersede Arizona’s laws, said the court, whose decision bars laws requiring non-citizen residents to carry documents showing they are legal residents and curbs laws that allow the arrest of illegal immigrants.

Kagan recused herself because she had been Obama’s Solicitor General when the federal government led the lawsuit against the state of Arizona.

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan recused herself from the decision, leaving 8 judges to settle the case. The decision was made by a five-to-three vote, with Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting. “Because Congress has occupied the field, even complementary state regulation is impermissible,” said Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the June 25 decision. Kennedy was nominated by President Ronald Reagan. But Scalia slammed his colleagues’ failure to guard states’ ability to govern themselves.

“I believe that each state has the duty — and the right — to secure our borders and preserve the rule of law,” Romney said. Republican presidential candidate seemed to ally himself with Scalia and state legislators. “Arizona is entitled to have ‘its own immigration policy’ — including a more rigorous enforcement policy — so long as that does not conflict with federal law… [and] it is beyond question that a State may make violation of federal law a violation of state law as well,” Scalia wrote in a biting dissent.
“Today’s opinion… deprives States of what most would consider the defining characteristic of sovereignty: the power to exclude from the sovereign’s territory people who have no right to be there,” he wrote. “Neither the Constitution itself nor even any law passed by Congress supports this result.”

                                                                             photo source: Jonathan Gibby/Getty Images

Progressives-allied groups, such as La Raza, had argued that Arizona’s law is unconstitutional because the federal government should have the sole authority to enforce immigration rules. They also argued that police enforcement would tend to focus on subgroups, such as Latinos or Asians. The court approved the residency checks of suspected illegal immigrants who are arrested or stopped for suspected non-immigration violations, but said the checks would be subject to continued review and approval by federal judges.

2009 Getty Images

“If the law only requires state officers to conduct a status check during the course of an authorized, lawful detention or after a detainee has been released, the provision would likely survive,” said the court. “This opinion does not foreclose other preemption and constitutional challenges to the law as interpreted and applied after it goes into effect,” said the court.

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Filed Under: FEATURED POLITICS, LATINO POLITICS

PRESIDENT OBAMA RENEWS PLEDGE ON BATTLE FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

June 23, 2012 by 1 Comment

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

In an address to a friendly audience of Latino leaders, President Obama pledged to renew the battle for comprehensive immigration reform, blaming Congress for the lack of progress on the issue since he took office. It was an election-year pitch aimed at one of the president’s core constituencies – Latino voters, who supported Mr. Obama by a 2-to-1 margin in 2008. While the economy is the dominant issue of the election, immigration touches many Latino voters personally, through their own experience and through that of family and friends. The heated rhetoric by some Republicans on illegal immigration offers Obama an opportunity to score big again.
Obama spoke of how close the country came to bipartisan reform six years ago under President Bush, only to fail. This stalemate, he says, has given rise to a “patchwork of state laws that cause more problems than they solve and are often doing more harm than good.” “As long as I am president of the United States, I will not give up the fight to change it,” he told the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), meeting near Orlando. Florida is the largest electoral battleground state in the country, and turnout among the state’s large Latino population could spell the difference between victory and defeat for Obama in November.

photo source: (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

A Supreme Court decision is due next week on Arizona’s tough new immigration law, and if any of it is upheld, in defiance of the Obama administration’s wishes, that will strike a blow to the president’s hopes of keeping tight federal control on immigration rules.

photo source AP

Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, addressed NALEO and laid out his own plan for immigration, mainly focused on ways to make the system of legal immigration work better. Mr. Romney struck a softer tone on illegal immigration than he had during the primaries, when he suggested that “self-deportation” could be a way to reduce the ranks of undocumented workers. During a GOP debate, Romney had also pledged to veto the DREAM Act, legislation aimed at offering young illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, if he became president. But he eased slightly on that position, agreeing with Newt Gingrich that military service could be a path to legal status (though not citizenship) for young undocumented immigrants. For Obama, there was no denying that his new policy announced a week ago to help young illegal immigrants avoid deportation was a big hit with the NALEO leaders. Obama’s immigration announcement – a stopgap that doesn’t lead to citizenship – has put Romney in a political box: If he pledged to undo the move, it would please his base but alienate Latino voters. In his remarks Thursday, Romney acknowledged Obama’s move, but was vague about whether he would keep the policy. On Friday, Obama doubled down on his DREAM-like gambit.

“We should have passed the DREAM Act a long time ago,” the president said. “It was written by members of both parties. When it came up for a vote a year and a half ago, Republicans in Congress blocked it.” “So,” he continued, “lifting the shadow of deportation and giving them a reason to hope, that was the right thing to do.”

Obama has not had a stress-free relationship with the Latino community. Deportations have reached an all-time high during his presidency. And he has not spoken before the annual NALEO conference since 2008, when candidate Obama promised “millions of new jobs” and a push to make immigration reform “a priority I will pursue from my very first day.” Latino unemployment is at 11 percent, higher than the national average. Obama also promised an end to the foreclosure crisis, which has hit Latino homeowners especially hard, as well as an increase in minority enrollment in health insurance. If health-care reform survives Supreme Court scrutiny, it will boost the ranks of the insured across all ethnic groups, but home foreclosures remain a big problem. Still, despite the frustrations, Obama continues to poll well among Latino voters. A May survey by NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Telemundo shows 61 percent supporting Obama, and 27 percent backing Romney. Four years ago, Obama won 67 percent of the vote against Republican nominee John McCain. But while winning in polls is nice, Team Obama is more concerned about getting Latino voters to turn out. The campaign and the Democratic Party have been organizing for more than a year, identifying voters, making sure they’re registered, and running Spanish-language ads.

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Filed Under: FEATURED POLITICS

MARGARET WARNER ON THE SCENE FOR MEXICO’S ELECTIONS FOR PBS NEWSHOUR

June 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

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photo by AP

Senior Correspondent Margaret Warner and the PBS NEWSHOUR Foreign Affairs team will be reporting throughout next week from Mexico on the country’s July 1 presidential election.
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photo source: AP

On-the air and online, the NewsHour will feature comprehensive coverage of the issues dominating the election, the political players influencing the vote, and the election results themselves.
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photo source AP

 

“Why, with Greece churning and civil war unfolding in Syria, have we come to Mexico to cover this election?” wrote Warner in a Rundown blog post kicking off the NewsHour’s coverage of the presidential vote. “Because if Mexico fails, the blowback to the United States would be enormous.”

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The PBS NewsHour’s series on Mexican elections officially begins tonight, (Friday, June 22) and will stretch through the elections on Sunday (July 1) and end with wrap-up and analysis on Monday (July 2). Viewers can already read Margaret Warner’s thoughts on the presidential race here, the country’s drug war here, and U.S. ties to Mexico here.

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· Friday June 22: Warner will preview her upcoming reports on the NewsHour broadcast (check local listings).

photo source IFE/AP

· Monday, June 25: On the NewsHour broadcast, Warner will provide an in-depth breakdown of the presidential candidates, opposing parties PRI and PAN, and the issues at the heart of the race. The segment will feature an interview with the head of one of Mexico’s “dualopoly” of television networks. Online, the NewsHour will take a look at the rising use of social media in the campaign, especially by Mexico’s student movement.

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· Tuesday, June 26: Warner profiles photographer Julian Cardona, who has extensively documented drug and gang war atrocities in Juarez. The NewsHour website will feature a slideshow of Cardona’s work.

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· Thursday, June 28: The Newshour broadcast takes a look at Mexico’s ongoing violent drug war, a looming issue in the election. Warner spotlights the industrial hub of Monterrey, and examines how the violence is causing Mexicans of means to flee the country and impacting Mexican business. Earlier in the day, Warner will also moderate a live Twitter debate on @Newshour on whether the drug war is or isn’t working.

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· Friday, June 29: Warner will provide a final broadcast preview on Sunday’s election from Mexico, and discuss the stakes for the U.S. in the election. Online, the Newshour will have street interviews with Mexican voters.

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· Sunday, July 1: Online, Warner and the NewsHour will provide special web-only election day updates from polling places in Mexico.

photo source: Reuters/Daniel Aguilar

· Monday, July 2: Warner will report from Mexico on the election results.

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Throughout the week, the NewsHour’s coverage of the Mexican elections will be collected on a special webpage here.

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Filed Under: FEATURED POLITICS, LATINO POLITICS Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

FORMER COMMERCE SECRETARY CARLOS GUTIERREZ LEADS THE REPUBLICAN HISPANIC DREAM TEAM: “JUNTOS CON ROMNEY”

June 11, 2012 by 2 Comments

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

Former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez leads the Hispanic Dream Team “Juntos con Romney” along with former Attorney  General of Puerto Rico José Fuentes and former Administrator of the  Small Business Administration Hector Barreto, Fox News Latino reported.

Despite the current 2-1 hold President Obama has on the Hispanic vote, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney hopes to persuade some of those voters to rally behind him by emphasizing his position on the economy.

Jae C. Hong/AP

While Romney’s earlier position immigration distanced him from many Hispanic voters, the May jobs report, which placed unemployment among Hispanic Americans at 11 percent last month, up from 10.3 percent in April and highest level yet in 2012 the National Journal reported, could make Hispanic voters give Romney another look.

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gestures during a campaign stop at Southwest Office Systems, Tuesday, June 5, 2012, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Recently, at a Hispanic-owned business in Texas, Romney attacked the “Obama economy,” saying that under the current president, the economy has been “particularly hard on Hispanic businesses and Hispanic Americans.” Romney went on to call the president “anti-small business” and “hostile” to the small businesses environment which has made it harder for businesses to hire more people, the Washington Post reported.

The Romney campaign asserted a similar message on its YouTube Channel and released, “Fine.” The video, which presented President Obama as out-of-touch with the job market, criticized him for his recent assertion that “the economy is doing fine.”
Keeping to that message, the channel also released a video in Spanish entitled “Deprimente” or “Dismal” which shows a supporter of President Obama asserting that the country is on the right path and then contrasts that with the current economic statistics for Hispanic Americans.
Still, despite these efforts, a new Latino Decisions national poll reveals President Obama has a 43-point margin over Romney among Latino voters.
One reason for the vast gap could be that President Obama is currently outspending Romney significantly in Spanish-language media. While the president has already invested $1 million over the last five weeks, to emphasize the president’s health care and education reforms, Romney has spent about $13,000 on Spanish-language media since he became the unofficial official republican nominee, the National Journal reported.

Former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez File photo by Leslie Smith Jr., USA TODAY

However, those numbers could change. Romney recently created a committee entitled  “Juntos con Romney,” or “Together with Romney,” led by former  Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, former Attorney  General of Puerto Rico José Fuentes and former Administrator of the  Small Business Administration Hector Barreto, Fox News Latino reported.

 “The Hispanic community has been especially hard-hit by President Obama’s  policies,” said Gutierrez in a press release. “Instead of spurring economic  growth and creating jobs, President Obama has only expanded government and hurt  job creation. We need a leader who will bring back jobs, help small businesses,  and ensure that the American Dream remains for future generations.”

Mitt Romney addressed the Latino Coalition summit at the US Chamber of Commerce… (Mario Tama/Getty Images )

 Romney’s advisors are also trying to get him to soften his earlier rhetoric on immigration, Boston.com reported.  Currently Romney is “studying” a modified version of the Dream Act, proposed by Romney’s potential pick for Vice President Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fl) which would grant non-immigrant visas to young people here illegally if they go to college or serve in the military, ABC News reported.

The Dream Act was killed by a narrow margin (55-41) in the Senate when Democrats failed to break a filibuster in the Senate. The Dream Act with a broad bipartison support was to provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who came to the United States as a child upon completing specific requirements. The failure to pass the Dream Act was heart breaking for millions of immigrants who had thought 2010 would have been the year where American would embrace the hard working immigrant communities across the country.

Whether or not Romney’s outreach will make an impact will soon be put to the test. Romney wil speak June 21 before the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, the day before President Obama addresses the group. The speech could provide a clear contrast between the two candidates on a variety of issues, Boston.com reported, which might sway more voters to say sí se puede or juntos con Romney.

Read More:  FOX News Latino

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God Bless and make it a fabulous day!

powered by Influential Access – “Transforming the Ordinary to EXTRAordinary!” – CEO – Jessica Marie Gutierrez – Creator of The Hispanic Blog #thehispanicblog

Filed Under: FEATURED POLITICS, LATINO POLITICS Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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