By Herman Baca
The immigration proposal exposing the hypocrisy & manipulation of the so-called immigration issue (or Mexican undocumented worker) is the foreign “guest worker” program. To date, every immigration plan proposed has included a proviso for a foreign worker importation program. Why, the historical reason is; “The U.S.’s economic addiction to cheap and exploitable labor.” [Read more…]
By Lauren Wolfe / Common Dreams
Two years ago I was on vacation in Maine when I started getting really, really mad. I’d been working to track sexualized violence in the Syrian war for a long time and had gotten very little response from policy makers despite many meetings with those in our government and the UK’s and at the UN.
Cases piled up, and response remained nil. And now suddenly President Obama was responding—but not to cases of rape, or torture, but to the possible use of chemical weapons. It was his so-called “red line”—the thing that would make him do something. [Read more…]
By Barbara Zaragoza / South Bay Compass
Friendship Park, located at the most southwesterly point of the U.S.-Mexico border, exists thanks to a small group of men and women who have come together over time to call themselves Friends of Friendship Park. From about 2006 to 2011 their civil disobedience forced Border Patrol to negotiate access to this binational space, which the federal government would have preferred to keep closed. [Read more…]
By Herman Baca
Of all the immigration proposals, the one supported by a majority of white Americans is, “securing the border.” According to proponents it is because, “illegal immigration threatens America’s quality of life, is linked to terrorism, drug smuggling, human sex trade, murder, and other crimes that threaten the safety of (white) Americans.” The real reason (in my opinion) is because the issue has been historically misidentified to white Americans by U.S. political/corporate interests and the news media. Defined as an immigration/criminal rather than a labor issue? Other reasons are historical…white supremacy, nativism, and the inherent racism of white Americans. [Read more…]
On Wednesday, February 17th a groundbreaking ceremony marked the construction of the South Bay Rapid project, a $113 million, 21-mile bus route from the Otay Mesa Port of Entry to downtown San Diego. Mayor Mary Salas said it would connect eastern Chula Vista with downtown San Diego.
The biggest question yet unanswered: Will residents switch from their car to public transportation? [Read more…]
Escondido City Councilwoman Olga Diaz, voting as the alternate for County Supervisor Greg Cox, cast the deciding vote as the California Coastal Commission sacked executive director Dr. Charles Lester late yesterday.
The 7-5 decision ended a meeting in Morro Bay that ran late into the evening. The commissioners heard impassioned pleas from dozens of witnesses saying the director’s removal amounted to a green light for unchecked development on 1,100 miles of scenic mountains, cliffs and beaches along the Pacific Ocean.
Over 20,000 letters were received by the commission, with a vast majority supportive of Dr. Lester. Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer delivered a petition with nearly 10,000 signatures asking the commission to “put coastal protection before the demands of special interests.” The outpouring of support apparently didn’t outweigh a letter from the Los Angeles County Business Federation, an alliance of 155 business groups, blaming the commission’s staff for a lack of accountability and regulatory overreach. [Read more…]
Is there an onslaught of American immigrants coming to Mexico? The story isn’t new. For decades Americans have been moving to Tijuana where the rent is cheaper. For local Tijuanese, this means Americans drive up their housing prices and create housing shortages.
How many Americans live in Tijuana, and in Mexico at large? The number is unknown. Guesstimates run the gamut from 5,000 to 500,000 Americans (in Tijuana alone). That’s a pretty big spread. Why don’t we know? [Read more…]
Reprinted from the Herman Baca UCSD Archives / Part 2
All past and current immigration plans submitted by U.S. presidential administrations, and Congress’ both Democratic and Republican have since the 1970’s included amnesty proposals. The proposals basically stipulate that undocumented persons must; “establish a responsible pathway to earned citizenship–that includes passing a background check, paying taxes and a meaningful penalty, learning English and going to the back of the line (up to 24 years) behind the folks trying to come here legally.” [Read more…]
By Jimmy Santiago Baca
How stunning the morning desert was to Vito. His heart burst with pleasure and a desire for his childhood days when the sun radiated one tiny ray of faith on his life, a ray that had weight, one he could toss from hand to hand and hold up and carry in his pocket and embrace before sleep and kiss at daybreak.
Fields steamed dew as the pickers arrived. Men, women, and children humped in the furrows, picking. Carmen slept the whole way. He was thinking bad thoughts as her chest rose and fell. He looked away, told himself to stop thinking of touching her. He told himself to shake it out of his head, he could control his mind, he was a trained boxer, he could discipline his body and mind, he could fuck any chick he wanted, but something else was pulling him.
In the miles that stretched out before them he wished Carmen wasn’t engaged to his brother, that she was like so many he’d had—a free-loving chick who just wanted to fuck all night. But no, he was on a mission, and he would never betray his brother.
Still, he reached out and his fingers grazed her cheek and the sweetness of her sleeping face and her breath made something in his chest tighten. [Read more…]
Black Lives Matter came to the border last weekend when three African-American men crossing back into the United States were subjected to a frightening experience of being suspected as terrorists. Watch their video. It appears that the major networks didn’t pick up the story, so these citizen activists took to Facebook. Why were they flagged by Border Patrol as terrorists? Apparently, one man was actively involved in the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement and Border Patrol computers flagged him for it.
Inside are links:
– Female immigrant detainees allege they were unlawfully strip searched in a California detention center.
– Turns out, even O’Malley knows that net migration from Mexico was zero last year. Here are some numbers.
– And here’s an interesting video about an American citizen who lived in Mexico and crossed the San Ysidro Port of Entry everyday to attend school. [Read more…]
Part Two of Seven. Part One can be found here. Source: History of San Diego by William E. Smythe. All quotes are from this book.
By John Lawrence / From the original San Diego Free Press, circa 1969
A land and sea expedition set out from Mexico in 1769. After major navigational difficulties, two ships, the San Antonio and the San Carlos, landed at San Diego on April 11 and April 29, 1769, respectively.
It seems that the incompetent Cabrillo had reported that San Diego was at 34 degrees latitude whereas actually it is at 32 degrees. The result of this bungling was that most of the sailors were sick or dying when they reached San Diego. In fact all the seamen on the “San Carlos” died except for one and the cook. We can see that the plight of sailors in San Diego hasn’t changed much in 200 years. [Read more…]
