Obama Reneges on Using Executive Action to Implement Immigration Reform Until After Midterm Election
San Diegans Speak Out Against the President’s Unwillingness to Help the Latino Community
By Brent E. Beltrán
Latinos throughout the United States woke up yesterday morning to the news that President Obama had decided not to use his executive powers to push immigration reform forward until after the November election.
For months the President has said he would do whatever he could to implement reforms for millions of undocumented immigrants in the US. He kept the Latino community’s hopes up only to have those hopes crushed in an act of political cowardice.
Once again the President, whose administration has deported more people than any other President in American history (over 2.2 million!), has chosen to play politics while undocumented immigrants continue to live in fear of being kicked out of the country. [Read more…]
Immigration, Deportation, and Family Separation
Safety Planning is a must for the undocumented
By Vanessa Ceceña
It is no secret that there has been a surge in the number of deportations since the Obama administration took power. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removals during FY 2013 totaled 368,644. 133,551 were apprehended within U.S. boundaries and 235,093 were detained at the border.
While the numbers are astonishing, I am more shocked at the number of people deported that have not committed a crime. Out of the 151,834 people removed without a criminal history, 23,436 of them were already in the U.S. when deported. ICE does not track how many of these individuals have family in the U.S., but I imagine that it is a significant number.
The increase in deportations over the years has had an adverse effect on immigrant families, on communities and countries of origin, as well as on communities. Deportations cause economic hardship, emotional distress, and family separation.
In addition to economic hardship (and in many times intensified economic hardship), deportations can destroy the family structure. Families are separated; children are left without a parent or without both parents, in some cases. [Read more…]
DeMaio Dissed by US Chamber of Commerce
By Doug Porter
San Diego’s “New Republican” candidate for the 52nd Congressional District actively sought and failed to get the endorsement of the United States Chamber of Commerce.
Instead, the pro-business group endorsed Democratic incumbent Scott Peters, saying “We will encourage the business community to vigorously support your candidacy.”
This makes Peters unique in that he’s supported by (some) organized labor groups and the largest pro-business lobbying group in the U.S. The Chamber’s lobbying expenditures in 2013 totalled $74,470, 000. In the 2012 Congressional elections they spent $33 million in support of mostly Republican candidates.
I’ll suspend judgement for a moment about just how scummy the U.S. Chamber is as an organization to crack wise about the DeMaio campaign’s reaction. [Read more…]
Baja Lovers: Ex-Pats in Mexico
SDFP videographer interviews American ex-patriots living in Baja California
Video by Horacio Jones
Last week I had to travel to Rosarito for a video gig, so I took the opportunity to pay a visit to a couple of friends who had moved to Baja a few of years ago. I decided it would also be a good idea to do some kind of story about ex-pats living in Baja while I was there. So I paid Shari and Fernando a visit to see what it was like for them now that they live along the Baja coast.
During the trip we also met another Shari and an artist named Gretchen who has opened up a place called Art House Rosarito, where she lives, creates art and plans for sustainable communities. She also opens up her home to other artists to stay and work at.
In this report they discuss what it’s like to live in baja, as well as the differences between the U.S. and Mexico. This is an expansive subject and you could certainly make a feature documentary about it, and I hope in the future to be able to make a more comprehensive report on the subject. Who knows, maybe I’ll even make the move… [Read more…]
A Trail for Humanity Comes to San Diego
Marchers take a stand against violence targeting migrant women and children
By Brent E. Beltrán
On July 22 a group of mothers and their children began a journey from Merced, California to the U.S./Mexico border. This Saturday at 7am they will be at Chicano Park in Barrio Logan for the final leg of their pilgrimage.
After a ceremony at Chicano Park participants in A Trail for Humanity will leave around 8am and walk to Kimball Park in National City. From there they will be transported by vehicle to the MAAC Charter School in Chula Vista where they will have lunch.
After lunch and a brief rest they will continue their journey on foot to Larsen Field in San Ysidro. They will arrive at the park sometime between 3pm and 4pm where a rally will take place with speakers on immigration rights, danza Azteca and entertainment. [Read more…]
Logan Heights Restaurateur Faces Hate for Supporting Refugee Children
“They’re not gonna make me not live. There not gonna make me stop what I’m doing. If anything they’re making my resolve harder and firmer.”
By Brent E. Beltrán
Last week I found out there’s this restaurant owner in Logan Heights that has been facing death threats from the people that have been hating on the refugee children from Central America. Mark Lane, owner of Poppa’s Fresh Fish, has received numerous phone calls and social media messages calling for his death and that of his family after calling for a boycott of Murrieta, Hate City USA, and for taking in a refugee family from Guatemala.
After hearing about the death threats and the attempted boycott of his business by hateful bigots I thought I’d contact him and see if he was willing to talk about his situation. He was and he had a lot to say. [Read more…]
El Machete Illustrated: Sucking Up Will Get You Nowhere Mr. Obama
Unaccompanied Minors: Their Arduous Journey and Their Unknown Fate
These children are choosing to have an opportunity at life. They all have dreams that they want to accomplish.
Words and photos by Vanessa Ceceña
While the current wave of unaccompanied minors is primarily made up of Central Americans, the U.S. has welcomed minors from many more countries in the past. In early 2009 I began working at Southwest Key Programs, an unaccompanied minors shelter here in San Diego.
I met children from Somalia, China, Brazil, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Venezuela. Some eager to tell their story, others were hesitant to share the details of their journey or past due to fear.
Based on some of their stories I was able to understand that most of the Central Americans traveled on la bestia and by bus until they were able to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. Regardless of where these children were coming from, they were all faced with countless dangers and situations where they were at risk of losing their lives. [Read more…]
Who You Calling Illegal?
Gone with the Wind Escondido Style
Many expressed their sense of shame of living in a city that is fearful of Brown people and children.
By Fredi Avalos, Ph.D.
The City of Escondido, California represents a civilization gone with the wind. Well, almost. The shifting political winds were easy to observe at the City’s planning commission meeting July 22. In front of more than 200 people and an estimated 250 who rallied outside City Hall, the commission reaffirmed their previous vote not to allow a foster care facility to operate for refugee children fleeing their countries’ violence and repression in Central America.
The children would have been housed in a vacant elder care facility in a quiet semi-rural neighborhood. The facility has its own parking and would be funded entirely by federal money. It is estimated the facility would bring in at least 100 jobs paying well over minimum wage and would increase revenue for the city a total of $8.5 million a year. Escondido tax payers would pay nothing but would gain a great deal fiscally. So what is the problem? [Read more…]
Looking Back at the Week at SDFP and OB Rag: July 20-26
Compiled by Brent E. Beltrán
This week’s edition of Looking Back at the Week features articles by San Diego Free Press and OB Rag regulars and at-large contributors on Comic-Con, a proud day for activism, stinky SDPD, the Mayor’s climate indifference, GOP wanting to impeach, minimum wage, Obama and Cap America, Neighborhood House, for-profit colleges, who runs San Diego, bare facts, native solidarity, El Machete, OB planning and lots more. [Read more…]
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