As I predicted some time ago, State Senator Russell Pearce introduced the challenge to the 14th amendment to the US constitution to deny citizenship to the children of the (at least one of the parents) undocumented. Read here an article by Time magazine.

Today the legislation seemed to be weakening, although there are reports that Pearce will look for ways to vote it in other committees.

Make no mistake. The reason the challenge to the 14th amendment in the AZ legislation is loosing steam is not because cute kids marched in protest, or organized Latinas raised their voices but because the Chambers of Commerce came discreetly but forceful against it.

Money talks and there is not secret that the economy of Arizona cannot endure another

(or the continuation) economic boycott.

Dismantling The Myth of the "Anchor Baby"

(My comments are in bold)

I have been avoiding the topic just to skip using the jargon the Republicans are abusing.

However now the issue has materialized in 2011 in Arizona and other states with the filling of legislation by nativist politicians as State Senate Presidents (Arizona) Russell Pearce, Congressman Graham and others

The Republican efforts challenging the 14th Amendment, against birthright citizenship is centered by the idea that undocumented immigrants cross the border to have children who will be U.S. citizens. As Senator Lindsey Graham wrote about this, according to a posting from Think Progress -The Wonk Room's Andrea Nill:

“People come here to have babies,” he said. “They come here to drop a child. It's called "drop and leave." To have a child in America, they cross the border, they go to the emergency room, have a child, and that child's automatically an American citizen. That shouldn't be the case. That attracts people here for all the wrong reasons.”

There is a complete intent of dehumanizing immigrants and their families with this theories that also feed conspiracy fantasies.

This is what I found on line following the new report by the Pew Hispanic Center.

"Andrea Nill points that "an overwhelming majority of undocumented immigrants — 91 percent — who became the parents of U.S. citizens between March 2009 and March 2010 came to the U.S. before 2007."

"Contrary to Graham's "drop and leave" theory, only nine percent of undocumented immigrants had children shortly after arriving, and there's a distinct lack of evidence that any of them had children for that reason. Nill writes that these "findings pretty much invalidate the argument that is at the center of the birthright citizenship debate." That's actually not the only information in the Pew Survey that contradicts the views of restrictionists. There's also the news that the undocumented population increased slightly to 11.2 million by March 2010, after falling from 12 million to 11.1 million between 2007-2009"

"Now the Obama administration has tried to take some credit for the decline by pointing to its high numbers ofdeportations and increased resources at the border. But because in the long term border enforcement really does little to stem migration, the decline was more likely attributable to a struggling economy. The waning months of 2009 and early months of 2010 however, saw some economic growth. Maybe that's just a coincidence, but it also might explain the slight uptick in the undocumented population.

The data suggests a really shocking conclusion: People come to the U.S. to get jobs, not to have babies. That means that repealing birthright citizenship isn't likely to stem illegal immigration, because it doesn't alter the incentives that cause people to come here. It will, without a doubt, lead to higher numbers of undocumented immigrants, and the creation of a new, nationless class of children within U.S. borders. If, on the other hand, you're trying to reduce the population of Latino citizens rather than the number of undocumented immigrants, repealing birthright citizenship is one route to take"

I may add that Republicans always seek to dehumanize the undocumented immigrants in diverse ways:

1.-Utilizing humiliating vocabulary.

2.-Describing behavior that is contrary to the socio economic reality.

3.- Ignoring studies and research.

4.-Expecting that future immigration reform will legislate immigrant labor as a commodity, ignoring human realities.

Immigrant laborers, workers that arrive the USA are young and will find love, companionship and their unions will be blessed by the arrival of American citizens).

Mcpocrisy

Senator John McCain stood up today Saturday, December the 18th, 2010 on the US Senate floor to speak against a legislation that he had co-sponsored in the past, back on the days when he called himself a "maverick" and pretended to be a conciliatory moderate.

Today he lead the parade of anti DREAM Senators who denied a path to legalization to undocumented students who had grown in the USA and succeeded integrating themselves into our communities, many of them professionals with Bachelors and Master's degrees.

During the few weeks that preceded the failed DREAM vote, Mr. McCain's office organized a toy drive for the Holidays.

Awww, how sweet!

I wonder if McCain will check the immigration status of the children receiving the "largess"of the Republican supporters. Thanks to Senator McCain, some immigrant children will be getting a cheap toy made in China and will be denied of a path to legalization as Christmas gift in 2010

Extreme Rhetoric- Who Provides Their Talking Points

Have you ever wondered how seemingly educated people, like a Senator or a Congressperson, could parrot some heavy non-sense on the immigration debate?

Well, their talking points on the immigration debate come from organizations with respectable sounding names such as Center for Immigration Studies, Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and Numbers USA. All of them not only lack academic rigor in their "researches" but have strong ties to white supremacist group and are been monitored by Southern Poverty Law Center.

Journalist and author Terry Greene-Sterling published a great article on the Phoenix New Times were it explores the influence of these organization in the formation, training of politicians and the dissemination of extreme ideas.

Read FAIR-Y tales here.

Hungry for Justice.

Lucy was in Washington DC on Tuesday, December the 7th, 2010. At the time of this picture she has been 28 days in a hunger strike requesting a meeting with Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson with no success. Lucy wants the Senator to vote YES on the DREAM Act, the narrow tailored legislation that will give a path to legalization to undocumented students brought as children and that fulfill tough requirements. Even tough the Senator supported the DREAM Act in the past, Hutchinson has toughened her stance swayed by the extremist rhetoric that has taken many members of her party hostage: DREAM Act is equivalent to "Amnesty" and rewards "criminals".

Never mind that the DREAM act possible beneficiaries are some of the best and professionally capable citizens this country can wish for.

When Lucy came to Washington, she was debilitated to the point of not being able to walk and was pushed around by fellow dreamers in a wheelchair. She was received in Capitol Hill not by Hutchinson but by her staffers, who ask her to start eating again.

Lucy is not hungry for food but for justice. Her education is worth nothing and she can be jailed in a horrific detention center just because she does not have a social security number.

Her sacrifices for achieving higher education and paying her way to college amounts to zero without the DREAM.

Lucy does not want food but the DREAM,

Where is the Line???

Everybody seems to have strong opinions on Immigration. Some have opinions of the DREAM Act and the undocumented youth. Few know the facts on Immigration and the DREAM.

One of the recurrent myths of the misinformed is that undocumented immigrants are jumping in front of the line for legalization.

Reality is that the proverbial line never existed for them.

Their parents never had a real chance in a 20 years span to get on any line because Immigration limits the process to a certain individuals with existing family ties (children-parent relationships), income or selected professional access to the "line". This is spite of the demand of labor for certain areas of the labor market.

Immigrant youth (the persons brought as children by working parents) asked ICE last week :"Where is the line so I can get at the end of it?"

The real answer is the DREAM Act.

Here is a video on the DREAMers action on Friday, Nov 19th, 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z54mB6DEncc&feature=player_embedded

Photo and video credit: Leah Jo Carnine.

DREAMers Vs Pearce

During the GOP Election Day Victory Celebration (Nov 2, 2010 at the Hyatt Hotel), DREAM Activists from the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition confronted State Senator Russell Pearce. He is the creator of anti-immigration laws that had propelled flawed politicians to power in Arizona, including Governor Jane Brewer.

I met Stephen Lemons-aka the Feathered Bastard- (from the Phoenix New Times) at the Anti Defamation League Torch of Freedom Award Ceremony few days later. He knew about the DREAMers confronting Pearce and wanted more information. I happened to know somebody had video taped it. This is the Feathered Bastard Blog which is rated one of the top blogs with more than 322 facebook postings so far. Thanks Stephen for e-publishing the evidence of the courage of the DREAMers trying to unsuccessfully debate rude Russell Pearce, but being able at least to freak him out and throw him out of his comfort zone!