DREAMers crossing the line
Three leaders of the undocumented youth movement were arrested by Border Patrol on Monday, along with six other undocumented youths, while attempting to cross back over into the United States from Mexico.
Lizbeth Mateo, Marco Saavedra and Lulu Martinez — all undocumented — had traveled to Mexico days earlier to join six DREAM-eligible deported youths looking to test Pres. Obama’s commitment to fairer immigration enforcement by attempting to reenter the United States after being deported.
Now the #BringThemHome Campaign is asking supporters of the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform to pressure the Obama administration into releasing the “DREAM 9.”
The DREAM 9 would have no problem entering the United States if only they were worth their weight in untaxed offshore dollars — or cocaine.
Latinos: So like us
First the Pew Research Center shocked the non-Latino world last year by revealing the results of a study that showed Latinos can actually speak and read in English. Who knew!
Now they’ve done it again by reporting that an increasing number of Latinos get their news in English. (Note the redundancy of my mentioning this.)
I’m of course English-dominant myself, like most second-generation Latino Americans are — though I do have a friend who’s a second-generation, patriotic American of Mexican descent who can’t speak a lick of English (go figure).
Anyway, the only thing I do watch in Spanish that I could watch in English is soccer matches. راهن على كرة القدم Somehow, the folks over at ESPN just don’t have the same flair for the dramatic, and a Brit’s “Well done!” isn’t as exciting as a Mexican’s “GOLAZO, -AZO, -AAAAZO!”
Nonetheless, if Pew reports next that Latinos increasingly enjoy American food, music and movies, non-Latinos just might have a stroke.
Nosy neighbor
The people of Latin America were only kinda upset when they learned in early July that the U.S. government was spying on them. Washington spies on Brazilians nearly as much as it spies on its own citizens, who have billions of their phone calls and messages overheard or peeked at by Uncle Sam.
It seems as though the United States has moved from the Good Neighbor policy to a neighborhood watch policy.
Let’s hope Peru’s not wearing a hoodie.
King me!
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) knows the difference between a good immigrant and bad one.
He revealed his secret method in an interview with Newsmax last week:
“For every one who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”
King currently serves on the House subcommittee on immigration and the subcommittee on the Constitution. Worst. Pick. Ever.
You know, I really don’t want to be anti-Republican like so many liberals are, and I realize there are a few in the party who are decent people who want to see immigrants treated fairer.
But for every one who’s a sensible moderate, there’s another 100 out there who believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible and they’ve got mansions the size of the Tony Montana’s because they’re taking millions of dollars from big business.
I hope you don’t think I’m Kinging the Republican Party.
The miseducation of Latino kids
The Education Trust published a press release on the increasing rates of college enrollment and graduation among Latinos. College enrollment among Latinos increased 22 percent between 2009 and 2001, while graduation rose 4.7 percent during the same period.
The rates for non-Latino whites were 2.7 percent and 2 percent, respectively.
Despite the increases, however, The Education Trust notes that rates of college enrollment and graduation among Latinos still lags far behind those of whites. العاب تجيب فلوس
Joseph Yeado, higher education research and policy analyst at The Education Trust, and author of the mini-brief, writes:
“Resources are certainly valuable in establishing and promoting student support services like academic advising, tutoring and mentoring programs, and new student orientation. But these programs succeed or fail based upon the commitment and buy-in from the administration, faculty, and staff. The soft bigotry of low expectations has no place in either K-12 or higher education.”
Increasing the number of Latinos enrolling in college and graduating requires focusing on the younger Latinos in K-12, in the home and in the neighborhood, each one of whom is potentially a future college graduate.
Latino kids are the future of the Latino community, but that doesn’t mean we can worry about them tomorrow. لعبة الكازينو
[Photo: CBP Photography via Flickr]