New McDonald's franchisees, with lots of help, continue tradition of treating Mexican, U.S. kids
By Gabriela Rico Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.02.2008
Standing in a winding line of jittery children, Xochil Rodriguez Serrano was trembling. It wasn't because of the morning chill. The 10-year-old girl from Nogales, Sonora, was trying to be patient while waiting for the bus that would take her and her brothers "” Jaime, 12, and Ruben, 5 "” on their first trip into the United States.
"I've only seen it through the fence," Xochil said of her neighboring country, where immigration officials, community leaders and business owners were awaiting the arrival of 4,000 children "” 2,000 from each side of the international border "” for a New Year's Day celebration.
The family's kids had been awake since 5 a.m., Jaime said. The siblings persuaded their mother to take them to the port of entry by 9:30 a.m. to await the buses. By then, the line already was blocks long.
"I told her we could make it happen," said Bonnie Arellano, an immigration supervisor with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. For five years, Arellano has helped to coordinate the immigration paperwork necessary to bring the Sonora children across the border. She said numerous officers from her agency volunteered their time this year.
"I've been ready since November," she said. "The children are awesome."
Throughout the morning, four buses rolled back and forth across the border, transporting the junior guests of honor.
Upon arriving at the McDonald's on Mariposa Road in Nogales, Ariz., dozens of volunteers filled their new backpacks with hats, gloves, scarves, Happy Meals and candy. Donated produce and dry goods also were sent home with the children.
Once they were ushered through the eatery, the children proceeded outdoors, where more gifts were presented. Choosing just one from a sea of more than 4,000 toys collected by the Nogales Firefighters union appeared to be daunting for 8-year-old Lucinda Padilla Garcia. She finally settled on a Barbie doll.
"Because I don't have one," she replied to the seemingly ridiculous question of how she arrived at her decision.
Roger Brambila, vice president of the firefighters union, said the toys were collected by his peers through donations in a week's time.
"We really look forward to doing this," he said. Before boarding the bus for their return trip, volunteer Philip Aries pulled aside those without jackets to outfit them with new ones. Aries, who attended the Christmas Day event for 25 years, continues to make the trek to the border town even after moving to the San Diego area two years ago.
This year, his daughter Savannah, 8, organized a coat drive at her school through Kids Corps and collected 350 jackets.
"The holidays should be about giving rather than receiving," her father said.
Betty Reid The Arizona Republic Jan. 18, 2008 04:11 PM
Friday's Martin Luther King's "Living the Dream" awards breakfast in downtown Phoenix was seasoned with references to tolerance of immigration in Arizona.
More than 1,200 people attended the 22-year-old event that started with a 5K run and inspirational speeches at the Phoenix Convention Center.
Yvonne Watterson, GateWay Early College High School principal and an advocate for undocumented children, said immigrant children are faced with adversity. They come to the U.S. with hope but now Proposition 300 limits their access to a college education, and the death of the DREAM Act, legislation limits their chances to get legal status.
"They are here," she said. "We need to listen to their dreams and we need to act to make those dreams a reality."
Speakers also included Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon.
Although the late civil-rights activist launched change for good, Gordon said, tolerance and compassion still has enemies. He shared a story about a Hispanic Marine who was told by "pretend patriots" that he brought shame to the uniform because of his skin color.
The mayor also urged the crowd to remain true to King's legacy by doing their part to make their voices heard on immigration.
"Let Congress know that reforming immigration in this country is their responsibility," Gordon said. "Tell them to enact a practical and effective immigration policy that provides new, trackable 'work visas' for millions of honest, hard-working people who help strengthen our country . . . and grow our economy."'
Others spoke about the importance of education, religious tolerance and hope.
Watterson was one of seven people given the "Living the Dream Award." The others were Fatimah Halim, Imran and Yasmine Hafiz, Rufus Glasper, Isabel McMahel and Deedra Abboud.
The event also honored Calvin C. Goode, who received the lifetime achievement award. The late George Benjamin Brooks, Sr., was posthumously honored with the Calvin C. Goode Lifetime Achievement Award.
Homeland Security inspector general to review immigration raid
By Associated Press Friday, January 18, 2008
NEW BEDFORD - Homeland Security has agreed to review an immigration raid at a New Bedford leather goods maker that immigrant advocates said caused a humanitarian crisis.
The Standard Times of New Bedford reports that the inspector general of Homeland Security will look into the March 2007 raid at Michael Bianco Inc.
Senator John Kerry requested the probe a few days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detained 361 illegal workers at Bianco.
Most of the detained workers were women with young children, and immigrant advocates criticized the agency for tearing families apart.
A spokeswoman for the agency says she's confident the review "” which is expected to take about eight months "” will find that the raid was handled appropriately.
'We do all their work and they don't like us' - how migrants became an election issue
Opposition to 'illegals' could prove crucial in Republican primary in South Carolina
Ewen MacAskill in Columbia, South Carolina and Dan Glaister in Las Vegas Friday January 18, 2008 The Guardian
Ignacio, a Mexican teenager standing outside a rundown trailer home not far from the South Carolina state capital of Columbia, is lonely and a little scared. He misses his family in Jalisco, and twice in recent months people have come through his trailer park waving guns and shooting.
The 19-year-old, who preferred not to provide his surname, walked over the border in 2005 in search of a livelihood. He was caught and deported but a day later he tried again and was successful.
He now works in the construction industry, earning $400 (about £200) for a six-day week, and shares the small trailer with four other single Mexicans - one of hundreds of such homes lining the bleak Old Peculiar Road, about 15 miles from Columbia. "It is sad because we have no family. We work from 7am until the sun goes down. We only see each other when we are getting ready for bed," he said.
Ignacio and his illegal immigrants, numbering between 12 million and 20 million, have become the hot issue of the 2008 presidential campaign. The influx of the Latino population into the US in the past decade, the biggest wave of immigration since the 19th century, has aroused emotions that range from outright racism to the righteous anger of liberal activists who see in their plight a cause similar to the 1960s civil rights movement.
The controversy could determine the outcome of the Republican primary in South Carolina tomorrow. It will also have an impact on the contests that follow and eventually in November's presidential election.
Ignacio is aware of the calls by Republican candidates that illegal immigrants should be arrested and sent home, but sees a contradiction in attitudes. "Yes, I am here illegally," he said. "But we work the hardest. We are doing the jobs Americans will not do. We are building their homes, washing their dishes. We do all their work and they do not like us."
While much of the resentment comes from a white community in a state with a reputation for racism, it comes too from the black community, amid accusations that the Latino workers are taking their jobs. Ignacio said the trailer park has twice been shot up in recent months by African-Americans.
While states near the Mexican border have long been accustomed to "illegals" - or undocumented workers, as sympathisers prefer to call them - what is new is their arrival in large numbers in states that had previously seen little immigration. South Carolina has one of the fastest-growing Latino populations in the country. The number of illegal immigrants is estimated at between 150,000 and 400,000 in a state with a population of 4.3 million.
The impact is felt strongest in small rural communities whose families have often lived in the same place since the 18th century. They now suddenly find shops and restaurants with names such as Guadalajara and where the staff speak only Spanish, and see large numbers of illegal immigrants in local schools or queues for the clinic.
The state legislature has about 40 bills pending proposing punitive actions to force such immigrants to move to another state or out of the US. A committee this week discussed a bill that would make it a criminal act to help illegal immigrants, with a penalty of five or more years in jail. Among those speaking in favour were Roan Garcia-Quintana, a US citizen originally from Cuba who is director of the Americans Have Had Enough Coalition. "We are being overrun," he said. "You see them everywhere."
He criticised the Republican candidate John McCain for backing bipartisan reform that would have offered immigrants such as Ignacio a route to legality.
McCain is the most liberal of the Republicans on immigration - and that will cost him votes. Other candidates have adopted increasingly anti-illegal immigrant rhetoric, particularly Mike Huckabee, in spite of being relatively benign on the issue while governor of Arkansas.
The issue is also important in Nevada, which holds its caucuses tomorrow, but for a different reason.
Unlike the migrant Latino populations in the east and middle of the country who have no votes, Latinos in the western states are more established, with citizenship and votes. Whereas Republican candidates have alienated some of their Latino supporters with their tough talk on immigration, the Democrats have been working hard to woo what could be a crucial voting bloc. Latinos represent around a quarter of the eligible voters in Nevada, and some 13% of registered voters.
"The Latino vote is a trump card," said Los Angeles-based commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson. "So much emphasis is being placed on the black vote but the Latino vote is the crucial vote for the party, the nomination and the election." The Democratic candidates, unlike the Republicans, oppose deporting illegal immigrants, arguing that this is neither economically feasible nor humane.
Gregory Rodriguez will provide long-term historical perspective on the Mexican immigration debate at his talk on Monday at the Vail Marriott.
Mexican immigration: a hot topic with Eagle County ties
The Vail Symposium hosts Gregory Rodriguez for a discussion at the Vail Marriott on Monday
Daily Staff Report Vail CO, Colorado January 18, 2008
Do fences make good neighbors? Most Americans sit firmly on either side of this question when it comes to Mexican immigration. The roots of the present debate over Mexican immigration into the United States are extremely deep-rooted, spanning back several centuries.
If you go ... What: Journalist Gregory Rodriguez discusses "Mexican Immigration: The History & Future of Race In America" When: 5:30 p.m. on Monday Where: Vail Marriott Mountain Resort and Spa Cost: $35 or $25 for Vail Symposium contributors. There is also a special price of $15 available to students, teachers, and young professionals.
More information: All Hot Topics begin with appetizers and the chance to meet the speaker. The talks begin at 6 p.m. and are followed by a question and answer period. Call the Vail Symposium at 476-0954 for more information.
On Monday Gregory Rodriguez will go beyond the current dispute, to provide a long-term historical perspective and context on the continuosly changing racial makeup of this country and discuss the cultural and political influences Mexican immigrants will have on the collective U.S. character. Mexican people form the largest immigrant group in American history, and in the last decade, the census counted Latinos as the largest ethnic group in America. According to Gregory Rodriguez Mexican immigration will transform the way Americans view race "” from a focused distinction of black or white "” to one with many various shades. It's the premise of his new book, "Mongrels, *******s, Orphans and Vagabonds."
The event begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Vail Marriott Mountain Resort and Spa, with a meet and greet with the author, followed by a talk and question-and-answer session beginning at 6 p.m.
"Mexican immigration is one of the hottest topics buzzing across the nation," said Fraidy Aber, executive director of the Vail Symposium. "I am so glad we have scheduled Gregory Rodriguez, one of the nation's leading thinkers, to discuss both the history and future of this topic that has tremendous local impact. Hosting his talk on Martin Luther King Day is especially appropriate timing." The Gallegos Corporation and the Vail Daily are both underwritting the program, in support of opening a forum for informed dialogue about Mexcian Immigration in our community.
"There is a lot of hot air about immigration," Gregory Rodriguez said. But the heated emotions that surround the current climate on Mexican Immigration are not new. Mexican immigrants have been present since the beginnings of this country. Changing borders, conquests, and integration shaped the earliest stories centuries ago. According to Rodriguez, "We have to look into the Mexican past in order to see the changes that will impact the American future."
Rodriguez attests that with the current debate and the climate that has developed on Mexican Immigration, it is a unique time to focus on Mexican immigration and its ramifications on this country's future.
Considering the rich history and cultural synthesis of the Mexican people since the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century, Rodriguez will identify and trace the development of the race through the ages.
"The Mexican American experience cannot be understood through the dichotomy of cultural resistance versus assimilation ... Mexican Americans continue to blur the lines between ˜us' and ˜them,'" Rodriguez said. Rodriguez describes several emergences of a new Mexican American identity, distinctly highlighting one in the 1930s, as well as the Chicano movement in the Civil Rights era of the 1960s, and the present era of Mexican American integration into mainstream American culture.
Gregory Rodriguez is director of the California Fellows Program at New America Foundation and is an Irvine Senior Fellow. He has written widely on issues of national identity, race relations, religion, immigration, demographics, and social and political trends in such leading publications as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, where he is an op-ed columnist. The Economist has praised him for "decisively changing the understanding of the Latino experience in the United States," and Esquire Magazine listed him among the "Best and Brightest" Americans who will revolutionize the way we think.
Mr. Rodriguez's recent book, "Mongrels, *******s, Orphans and Vagabonds: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America" was published simultaneously in English and in Spanish in October 2007 and will be available at the talk from Verbatim Booksellers.
For reservations or more information, please visit www.vailsymposium.org, or call 476-0954.
Report: Climate Of Hate, Intolerance, Bigotry Pervade Against Immigrants
January 18, 2008 Vittorio Hernandez - AHN News Writer
Vittorio Hernandez - AHN News Writer Houston, TX (AHN) - A 108-page report released by the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said a climate of hate, intolerance and bigotry are operating against immigrants in the U.S. The report, titled "Over-raided, Under Siege" was released Thursday at the opening of the NNIRR national conference in Houston. The gab runs until Sunday.
The NNIRR said U.S. immigration officials' raid on work places and other immigration reforms aim to instill fear among migrant communities.
The conference, which has a 500 register, seeks to develop a system to track and document human rights abuses among immigrant groups.
Notwithstanding the anti-immigrant sentiment rising across America, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services continue to be deluged by migrant applications. Despite the sharp increase in visa fees, the USCIS received more than 3 million applications for adjustment of status, citizenship and other immigration related concerns for the period June to August 2007. For the same three-month period in 2006, only 1.8 million applications were received by the immigration agency.
Historically, whenever there is an upward adjustment in visa fees, the number of applications plummet. But the opposite happened in 2007, said USCIS director Emilio Gonza***.
In a written testimony submitted to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Gonza*** said, 'Such volume in just a short couple of months is unprecedented in the history of immigration services of our nation."
Some illegal workers caught in area raids temporarily can stay in U.S.
FRANK X. MULLEN RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL Posted: 1/18/2008
The federal government will allow at least two dozen of the 56 immigrants swept up in a September raid of area McDonald's restaurants to temporarily stay in Nevada as it continues its investigation of businesses that hire illegal workers.
The 56 suspected undocumented workers were arrested Sept. 27 in raids of 11 Reno-area McDonald's restaurants. So far, federal authorities have agreed to allow 24 of those workers to remain in the U.S. under a temporary status agreement, according to the lawyer representing 28 of the workers.
"Some of the individuals will be allowed to stay temporarily under a policy called deferred enforced departure," said Woody Wright. "It's a discretionary thing while (the government) is in the process of an investigation. They will hold off on any immigration court proceedings for a period of time."
Those who received temporary status are allowed to work and those who find jobs can be issued special Social Security cards, he said. The process could extend their stay from one to two years, said Wright, who represented the workers for free with the help of Nevada Hispanic Services.
"To my knowledge, none of my clients have any criminal charges pending," Wright said, but he noted the workers will eventually have to go through civil deportation proceedings in immigration court.
"Basically these clients got lucky, but it's only short-term luck," he said. "They still have to go before a judge."
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the McDonald's restaurants after receiving a tip that a manager in the Fernley McDonald's was working under someone else's Social Security number.
The agency arrested 54 people at 11 area McDonald's and two elsewhere. At the time ICE agents said the raids were part of an effort "to focus on employers who build in hiring illegal workers as part of their business practice."
Agency spokeswoman Virginia Kice said Thursday the investigation is ongoing and the agency "is not going to speculate about the possible outcome."
No charges have been filed against Luther Mack, owner of the McDonald's restaurants. Mack said Thursday he had no comment on the case.
Kice said she could not confirm the number of workers who were given deferred enforcement status in the McDonald's cases.
"(But) I want to underscore that ICE conducts enforcement actions lawfully, professionally and humanely and takes extraordinary steps to identify, document and act on humanitarian concerns of the illegal aliens arrested for immigration and other violations," she said. "The enforcement action in Reno and the ongoing investigation are no exception."
Of the 56 workers identified during the raids, ICE released two on-site. They were mailed notices to appear at future immigration proceedings.
The other 54 workers were sent to a processing center where 29 were released on their own recognizance based upon "humanitarian concerns," Kice said.
At least seven workers have been deported to Mexico because they had been arrested in the past and already had been through administrative proceedings in front of an immigration judge, ICE officials said.
Please tell me what is wrong with this picture? I have worked for companies such as Tecumseh motors, Sargento cheese, Johnsonville sausage , wausau homes and currently work for the biggest motorcycle conglomerate in the usa Ridenow powersports, but have applied for other jobs here in Phoenix in management but have been told that i need to speak spanish.
Did someone forget to inform me that we were annexed into mexico or is this what the future of our country is destined for.So in other words , i need to go back to school to learn somebody elses language even though they are even legal citizens,bull!
... now you are saying i need to learn spanish. I dont think so, wake up people of the usa.
*****
I think you are directing your frustration in the wrong direction. In the world of business the bottom line is profit. The business owner(s)/stockholders do not care what it takes to maximize profits: i.e. hiring non-English speaking workers because that means lower labor costs. They are paying you to get the job done and they do not care how many hoops you have to jump through to get results. If you won't do it, they'll find somebody who will. I went to school, got my degree, etc. I still have to take classes EVERY year if I want to stay current and want more money. It's like being proficient with computers. It's just another marketable skill.
Also, not all hispanic looking people are illegal and poor, some actually have money to spend and the shrew businessperson will do whatever it takes to help them part with money. A lot of Hispanics are still old school in the sense they like to establish "business relationships".
If they see a merchant/business going out of their way to accomodate them, they will think of you more favorably. They'll come back and refer friends and family. Why do you think so many businesses put up signs saying "Se Habla Espanol"? They want to make money, that's why. Sadly, that's one of the reasons many of them don't learn to speak English fast enough. The marketplace makes it easy to survive "in Spanish".
Back in the day, I saw many NYC vendors speak different languages so they'd get more customers. They weren't really fluent, but they knew enough to get by and do business. Nowadays, it's a global economy. Chinese, Japanese, Germans, Indians, Italians, etc. learn English as well as other languages because they want to expand their trade/businesses. My daughter's in Europe with a church group and she tells me that in Amsterdam, ninth graders are fluent in English as well as other languages!
Reality is, the world has become smaller and faster. To remain highly marketable, you must learn new things (not just Spanish) all the time. It's all about money. Why do you think Bush wants a "guest worker program" instead of putting all English speaking welfare recipients (of all races/ethnic groups) to work? To keep business' labor costs down, and maximize profits.
The Monarch butterfly, a beautiful insect known for its orange and black markings, is famous for its annual migration to the highland forests of Michoacan, deep in the heartland of Mexico.
Each year, hundreds of millions of butterflies travel from the United States and Canada, to winter in forests of Fir and Oyamel trees. Those butterflies that survive the journey, which in some cases amounts to a 2,000 mile trip, cluster profusely in trees, creating a marvelous sight.
Near Morelia, the capital of the state, is the Santuario Mariposa Monarca (Mariposa Monarch Sanctuary), a reserve dedicated to protecting their environment. Allocate a day's travel to reach the sanctuary from the city of Morelia.
Each year, starting in late October to early November, the butterflies start to arrive. Incidentally, this time period coincides with the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) holiday. The indigenous peoples of the area believe the butterflies represent their departed loved ones souls, returning in the form of the butterfly. During the evening hours, the insects gather on tree trunks and branches. After morning arrives and the heat begins to rise, the butterflies begin flocking to the forest floor, creating a tapestry of orange and black as far as the eye can see.
Starting in March, the butterflies begin to mate and the pregnant females start their journey north and the cycle begins again. What is amazing to note is it takes from 4 to 5 generations of butterflies to make the journey from the northern regions to Mexico. Those butterflies that do successfully arrive, actually are the great grand-children so to speak of the journey's first butterflies.
Weather conditions can adversely affect the butterflies' journey. In 2002, a devastating storm struck central Mexico, with inundating rain and freezing temperatures proving fatal to large numbers of Monarchs (an estimated 250 million insects perished). Thankfully and perhaps miraculously, the following year, between 200 to 500 million butterflies returned.
However, illegal logging continues in the forests that these butterflies travel to. Without the trees, no miracle can save these wonderful creatures. The local farmers, with their focus on day-to-day survival, cut down the trees unconsciously, to clear the land in order to plant corn and raise livestock. Organizations are in place that work with the farmers, providing education and incentives to dissuade them from cutting down the trees that the Monarch butterflies call home. The hope is that a self-sustaining eco or rural tourism can be developed that allows for the local population to benefit indirectly from this natural wonder.
Note: The greatest present danger comes from outside loggers who illegally harvest timber which is later hauled out using a network of clandestine roads. Since the people involved in the illegal logging are often armed, the local people have found it necessary to ask for federal intervention.
Silvia Bazua: The activist works closely with Mexico City's indigenous population to get their children birth certificates. Kimberly N. Chase
Hard at Work: A student at the Bonampak school in Mexico City ponders a problem. The Bonampak school allows children to study who don't yet have official identification. They are not allowed to enter mainstream public schools without such I.D. Kimberly N. Chase
Silvia Bazua helps indigenous families get the papers they need for children to access school and services.
In Mexico City, a drive for proper ID
By Kimberly N. Chase | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor from the January 17, 2008 edition
Mexico City - High in the hills outside Mexico City, Silvia Bazua has put in a long day at the Bonampak school in Iztapalapa, one of the city's roughest districts, helping mothers overcome a key obstacle confronting their children – the lack of an official identity.
One in 6 Latin American children have no identification, according to UNICEF. In Mexico, children without birth certificates may not register in public schools, forcing many of them to work as soon as they can hawk a box of chocolates, wash the windshield of a car, or ask for a few pesos from passersby.
Ms. Bazua, a former government employee turned activist, hopes to change this. "It's a personal decision," she says. "You can either leave and forget about the problem, or you can start to fight to solve it."
Since 2001, when a census she conducted revealed large numbers of unregistered children in some of Mexico City's most marginalized areas, Bazua has been helping residents obtain birth certificates so that they can get a driver's license, register for health insurance, or attend public school.
Many of the mothers she works with are unable to read and write. Bazua puts together the complex paperwork and accompanies women to the city registrar. She obtained birth certificates for 357 people in 2007.
During the process, kids in Iztapalapa can enroll at Bonampak, located in a small building with peeling paint and broken windows. It allows children without papers to start their education. Once the process gets under way, Bazua actively supports the families. "You can't leave them alone," she says, explaining that many families get asked for bribes of up to $100. Others get frustrated and quit.
A social anthropologist by training, Bazua started working at Bonampak after helping to form the school in 2001 in a joint effort between the National Council for the Promotion of Education and the private Asociacion Xulaltequetl, which she also helped found and which supports the city's indigenous population. Its roster has gone from about 70 to 150 students.
Children without papers are often born at home to poorly educated parents. Some are unaware of the need for official papers or can't pay fees. As time goes by, students become too old to enter the grade level appropriate to their skills and may work instead.
Hortensia Urrutia spent five years trying to register her five children and three grandchildren before finding the Bonampak School. "Now that they come to this school, they have stopped work and started studying," Ms. Urrutia says.
Bazua, raised in a relatively wealthy family, smiles when she talks about her political work. "I don't agree that a few people should have all society's wealth," she says. "You see that changes in society aren't going to come from the top."
In 2001, her census found that 25 percent of children in the Bonampak settlement did not have birth certificates, 25 percent did not have vaccination certificates, and 30 percent did not attend school. That year, she helped found the Asociacion Xulaltequetl.
The process isn't free, though, and the government hasn't always been forthcoming. This year, Bazua says she's not sure they will receive any funding for registration. In the interim, Bazua's family members have chipped in.
While they wait for the government's 2008 budget, the activist says she'll receive no salary.
"Whose responsibility is this? The government's or mine?" Bazua asks. Still, she feels she must continue. "I told them I wasn't coming for three months, but I have to go."
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DAVID MAUNG A man carried two girls away from a school near the site of the gunbattle, which broke out at about 10:30 a.m.
------------------ Update
11:41 p.m. Jan. 18, 2008
One of three Mexican federal police officers wounded in the shootout later died, bringing to four the number of law enforcement officers killed in the Tijuana area this week.
From today's U-T: Cops rush Tijuana house to end 3-hour gunbattle
Authorities say they've found six executed kidnapping victims inside a Tijuana house where gunmen took refuge during a shootout with police. Mexico has recently seen a spike in gang-related killings. Media Player ------------------- The FREE Windows Media Player is necessary to play Windows Media.
PEGGY PEATTIE / Union-Tribune Heavily armed Baja California police left the scene of yesterday's battle with gunmen in a middle-class neighborhood of Tijuana.
After Tijuana violence, Mexicans call for enforcement
By Mark Stevenson ASSOCIATED PRESS 12:07 p.m. January 18, 2008
TIJUANA, Mexico – Rosalba Padilla thought the first shots were nothing but construction in her quiet, upper-class Tijuana neighborhood. It wasn't until she looked out her window and saw a sea of police that she realized the noise was gunfire. Down the street, at the Preschool of Happiness, director Gloria Rico activated the school's alarm, prompting police to rush into the building, their guns drawn. Rico said the children were terrified by the chaos.
"Some were crying, one vomited and another wet his pants," she said, adding that the police quickly put away their weapons and started evacuating the children.
The gunbattle Thursday shocked even crime-weary Mexico. Many argued President Felipe Calderón should step up a yearlong crackdown on drug traffickers and other organized criminals that has sent soldiers into cities across the nation.
"What they need here is a heavy hand," Padilla said Friday while surveying blood-soaked streets and a bullet-ridden police truck. "The authorities need to be strong, very tough. If they have to kill the criminals, then they should die."
Padilla spent the three-hour shootout hiding in the closet with her 19-year-old daughter. As they crouched in the dark, they started to think they wouldn't escape alive. Gunmen across the street shouted that they would drop bombs unless police backed off.
"The gunfire was terrible," she said. "It made the walls shake. I really didn't think we were going to get out."
Less than two blocks down the street, police were rushing children from a school vulnerable to gunfire from men holed up on the roof and top floors of the besieged safehouse.
Some of the children were carried by officers who crouched and pressed themselves up against the building to avoid the bullets. Other children ran out onto the sidewalk in groups under armed guard, their eyes wide with terror.
"I could hear the hail of gunfire, and it was really strong," Rico said. "I didn't feel fear until we had evacuated all 65 kids that were under my care, and then my legs started to shake."
Rico and the children were all safely removed from the school, but Rico's husband, Jorge Espinosa, stayed in a back room to take calls from worried parents.
"It was like being in Beirut," he said.
Residents said soldiers, sent in to help overwhelmed police, swarmed rooftops. The gunmen refused to back down, shouting obsenities at the police and taunting them.
Four men were eventually arrested, including a state police investigator and another Tijuana police officer. They were taken to Mexico City, where they were being questioned by federal prosecutors. Another gunman was killed.
Once authorities entered the home, they found the bodies of six kidnapping victims. All had been shot in the head and wrapped in blankets, although it was unclear if they were killed before or during the clash.
On Friday, masked police stood guard at the safehouse, its brick and concrete facade pockmarked and splintered by the battle. The house, its four stories towering above the rest of the tree-shaded neighborhood, stood out with its large, wooden gate topped by two ornate lion heads.
Federal prosecutors said the gunmen belonged to Tijuana's Arellano Felix drug cartel, a gang that has been weakened in recent years by the loss of leaders who have been arrested or killed. Mexico's crackdown on its powerful drug cartels have created a power vacuum within the illegal industry, resulting in turf battles across the country and hundreds of killings in the past two years. Thursday's violence was only the latest in a rash of recent killings.
On Jan. 10, gunmen shot and killed two federal agents and a civilian in the central state of Michoacan.
Two days earlier, two other federal agents were killed and three were injured during a shootout in Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas.
A day before the Reynosa shootout, three suspected criminals were killed and 10 federal agents and soldiers wounded in a shootout in the town of Rio Bravo, across the border from Donna, Texas. Ten people, including three U.S. residents, suspected of having ties to the powerful Gulf cartel were arrested the next day.
A STATEMENT TO THE VENDIDOS AND THE VENDIDAS, AND A REMINDER TO THE REST OF MY PEOPLE, THAT I WAS AND AM A PROUD MEXICAN!
For the vendidas and vendidos, and to those who don't know, I am Frida Kahlo. I am not that fake Frida that vendidos manipulate to fit their colonialist-racist agendas.
Since my death I have been transformed into this false empty personality that had nothing significant to say, nothing Indigenous to represent, and nothing to contribute to "Mexicanismo", "Indigenismo", and to the concept of an Anahuac nation. I am simply portrayed as a "victim", merely "a cripple", a wife who lived "in her husband's shadow", a "Latina" role model, and the simplistic label of "a Marxist". I was more than just a Marxist. I was never a Latina! I was always only a Mexican!
The really meaningful things in my life are obscured by selective racist and feminist sexist research. I have a big problem with your selections. What aspect of my Mexican-ness do you not understand? What on earth is wrong with you?!!! Are you blind! Lost! Confused! The time has come to stop all of this nonsense!
First off, before I was a Marxist, I was Mexican. Mexican was my life. My political ideology was Marxism. It was the political ideology that I practiced as a Mexican. Back in my day, many Mexicans turned to Marxism because it gave us a plan of action with which to fight colonialism and capitalism. At that time Marxism was perfect, or as near to perfect as we could find, to ending the oppression of Mexican people. Marxism gave us hope and inspiration! It was the only available option to us at that time. The studies of our Anahuac heritage were still in their early stages. The option of an Anahuac heritage approach to our problems was just beginning to blossom. If that option would have been fully developed, it would have been the full focus of my life.
As a Marxist I was able to organize and confront the economic racism that was attacking us. Marxism was the only viable tool available to us that we could use to fight injustice and oppression against the Vendidos and Europeans.
I was given birth by a very beautiful Oaxacan woman, and by my Mexican land. I was not given birth or identity by Karl Marx! I respect Karl Marx, but he does not define who I am. My nation and my land define who I am. The actions of my life define who I am.
Our people that are Marxists today don't care about their people. They say that they are just human-beings, that they don't have a nation! Pinches Cabrones! We have a Nation! A beautiful nation! Can't you see that we have been denied our nation, and our identity and our heritage.
Our nation has been stolen from us for almost 500 years! Diego and I understood that we were Mexican! I hate it when you vendido-fools focus purely on my involvement with Communism, without any mention of my Mexican pride, my love of my Mexican heritage. Your treason instantly shoves me into the category of a "Generic Human Being". That is insulting! It is racist!
I am also used as a female icon, a Feminist icon. There was far more to me than just being a woman.
What I did was for all of my people not just women. Mexicans are women and men, both are components and heirs of our great civilization: Anahuac. Both are colonized and enslaved to Europeans! Together we must fight for our liberation.
Many people say that I "lived in Diego's shadow" and that I was "his victim". Please! Give me a break! You really did not understand the relationship that he and I had. Stop making a pinche love story and novela out of my life! I was a victim of European colonialism and a victim of Gringo exploitation, along with millions of my people. I was not the victim of a beautiful Mexican nationalist!
If I were alive today, I would definitely not be posing for a LATINA magazine, let alone a HISPANIC biography. Those terms did not even exist in my time. They do not define me. I defined myself as Mexican. I am not Roman! I am not a pinche Española! Not a Spaniard! Don't insult me or inflict me with your own self-hate and ignorance! If you want to hate yourself, do it alone and don't incorporate proud Mexicans like myself into your masochistic racist habit.
I did not leave my identity as a mystery! I made it very d.a.m.n. clear who I was and what I wanted to be remembered as!
"Mexico" is today approached as a dead thing by many people. Some take pride in the Nican Tlaca (Indigenous) past but they are not willing to build for a Nican Tlaca future.
Mexico is alive because we are alive! This is what I lived for. This Mexico was the essence of my existence. It was in my art. It was in my house. It was in my heart.
I have been stolen from my people. I am manipulated to fit stupid, racist, treasonous agendas. I hate to see my image under bold letters LATINA, beneath a RED STAR, as a FEMINIST, MUJER stamped on my forehead! What the hell is wrong with you!
I want to be under bold letters that read MEXICAN, bold letters that read LIBERATION!
"Mexican people" I screamed at the top of my lungs! "Scream with me...The Mexican Revolution continues!"
It continues because you, my people, are enslaved! Rebel against this colonialism! Against this Genocide! You were enslaved when I was alive and now that I am dead, you are still enslaved! You have been taught to hate who you are, to hate anything that is Nican Tlaca! You've been sadistically taught to hate yourself and your people! Don't! You are cheating yourself out of true pride and dignity. Embrace your Mexican-ness! Learn your true Anahuac heritage!
This is our land MEXICANS! Throw away your dress shoes, put on some huaraches, throw on a huipil, be who you are!
On July 13, 1954, the doors of life were closing and a pulmonary embolism walked me through the final exit. In my coffin I was rested, as a Mexican. My hair was done up in the rainbow-ribbons style of our ancestors, flowers braided in. I was wearing my favorite huipil from Yalalag, with a lavendar silk tassel, the one I wore when I painted my self-portrait with Dr. Farrill. I was wearing my beautiful black Tehuana skirt. Around my neck rested jade, coral, and silver. At my feet laid an array of red flowers. This exit was colorful, full of beautiful life and beautiful death, full of Nican Tlaca beauty.
Although I no longer walk amongst you, I am with you. I continue to remind you of our beautiful Anahuac heritage with my art. My paintings now pierce your mind, awakening your imagination and challenging you to stop your self-hate. My Tehuana dresses now dress my home. My paint and paintbrushes still speak for me, scream for me: Que Viva Mexico!
I leave you my Mexican paintings as a sign of my endless Mexican pride. I leave you my life as a proud Mexican, so that you may follow in my footsteps, so that you will keep walking with me as proud Mexicans. Be Mexican! Be Proud!
Let me live in our history. Let me live in the full courage and the full knowledge of our beautiful Anahuac heritage. Let me live in Tenochtitlan as Diego painted me, amidst the scent of our Mexican chocolate, and the backdrop of our beautiful Anahuac civilization.
Let me live in you, Mexican! Que viva Mexico! Que viva Zapata! Que viva la vida! La vida Mexicana!
These are the words from my actions, my paintings, and my life.
(Short version of the book STOLEN HERO transcribed by Citlalli Citlalmina Anahuac) For long version go to:www.mexica-movement.org/timexihcah/fridabook.htm
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MICHELLE ROBERTS Associated Press Writer Thu Jan 17, 6:19 PM ET
SAN ANTONIO - A methamphetamine dealer who gunned down a deputy during a traffic stop in Southern California. A man in Arizona who killed his ex-girlfriend's parents and brother and snatched his children. A man who suffocated his baby daughter and left her body in a toolbag on an expressway overpass near Chicago.
Ordinarily, these would be death penalty cases. But these men fled to Mexico, thereby escaping the possibility of execution.
The reason: Mexico refuses to send anyone back to the United States unless the U.S. gives assurances it won't seek the death penalty "” a 30-year-old policy that rankles some American prosecutors and enrages victims' families.
"We find it extremely disturbing that the Mexican government would dictate to us, in Arizona, how we would enforce our laws at the same time they are complaining about our immigration laws," said Barnett Lotstein, special assistant to the prosecutor in Maricopa County, Ariz., which includes Phoenix.
"Even in the most egregious cases, the Mexican authorities say, `No way,' and that's not justice. That's an interference of Mexican authorities in our judicial process in Arizona."
It may be about to happen again: A Marine accused of murdering a pregnant comrade in North Carolina and burning her remains in his backyard is believed to have fled to Mexico. Prosecutors said they have not decided whether to seek the death penalty. But if the Marine is captured in Mexico, capital punishment will be off the table.
Fugitives trying to escape the long arm of the law have been making a run for the border ever since frontier days, a practice romanticized in countless Hollywood Westerns.
Mexico routinely returns fugitives to the U.S. to face justice. But under a 1978 treaty with the U.S., Mexico, which has no death penalty, will not extradite anyone facing possible execution. To get their hands on a fugitive, U.S. prosecutors must agree to seek no more than life in prison.
Other countries, including France and Canada, also demand such "death assurances." But the problem is more common with Mexico, since it is often a quick drive from the crime scene for a large portion of the United States.
"If you can get to Mexico "” if you have the means "” it's a way of escaping the death penalty," said Issac Unah, a University of North Carolina political science professor.
The Justice Department said death assurances from foreign countries are fairly common, but it had no immediate numbers. State Department officials said Mexico extradited 73 suspects to the U.S. in 2007. Most were wanted on drug or murder charges.
Lolita Parkinson, a spokeswoman for the Mexican Consulate in Houston, said Mexico opposes capital punishment on human rights grounds and has a particular obligation to protect the rights of people of Mexican descent who face prosecution in the U.S.
The U.S. government typically pays more attention to those entering the country from Mexico than it does to those trying to leave the U.S. But Texas authorities have begun making checks of vehicles and drivers heading south on the 25 international bridges that connect the state to Mexico.
The initiative, announced in October, was originally intended to catch drug smugglers taking cash or stolen cars into Mexico, but "we would hope it would be a deterrent for fugitives" as well, said Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry.
In the North Carolina case, local authorities and the FBI are working with Mexican law enforcement to hunt down Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean, a 21-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen born in Mexico. He is accused of killing 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach in mid-December, months after she accused him of rape.
Wanted posters and information on Laurean have been distributed to the Mexican media.
Also recently, prosecutors in Dallas pledged not to seek the death penalty if Mexico extradites Ernesto Reyes, a man accused of killing and burning the body of a University of North Texas student last year. That extradition request is still pending.
Last March, Teri March, the widow of a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who was killed during a traffic stop in 2002, lashed out at Mexico's justice system as Jorge Arroyo Garcia was sentenced to life in prison in California after hiding out in Mexico.
"Garcia hid and hid behind a system that was very broken," she said.
John Walsh, host of TV's long-running "America's Most Wanted," which plans to devote Saturday's episode to the Marine case, said the delays and death-penalty compromises needed to get fugitives returned can be heartbreaking for victims' families
"It's not about revenge. It's not so much about closure. It's about justice," he said.
Lotstein, the prosecutor's assistant in Phoenix, said the county has agreed to drop the death penalty in a number of cases: "The option we have is absolutely no justice, or partial justice."
___
Associated Press writers Mike Baker in Jacksonville, N.C., Mitch Weiss in Charlotte, N.C., Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington and Traci Carl in Mexico City contributed to this report.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's oldest cantina, a classic drinking dive patronized by dozens of past presidents and Cuban leader Fidel Castro when he was in exile here, has closed its doors after more than 150 years.
Nestled in a side street between the National Palace and Mexico City's cathedral, the door of El Nivel (The Level) is now padlocked.
El Nivel's owner, Ruben Aguirre, is looking for new premises after losing a long legal battle against the owners of the building, the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
"We are seeing where we can move to," Aguirre, who inherited the cantina from his father, told Mexican radio after losing the 17-year lawsuit.
A paper sign above the cantina's metal shutters says: "Closed for renovation until further notice."
El Nivel, a dim watering hole, opened in 1855 after being handed the first cantina license a few years after the U.S.-Mexican war. It was named The Level because authorities used to measure the height of the city's flood waters in the building.
Aguirre told Reuters several years ago the original No. 1 license was kept in a safe at the central bank because it is a valuable historical document.
A framed copy of the license hung on one wall of the cantina when it was open, alongside eclectic art, old maps, drawings and faded photos of the cathedral, Mexico City's main Zocalo square and the bar itself.
El Nivel was the haunt of writers, artists, activists, journalists and other bohemian Mexicans. It also became a favourite for tourists, too. One special house drink was a mixture of vodka, anis and orange flavoured liquor.
Aguirre said around 30 presidents from Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada in the 19th century to Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000) had all called in for a drink while in office. Mexican presidents used to work out of the nearby National Palace.
When Cuba's Castro lived in Mexico in the 1950s he too frequented the bar with guerrilla icon Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, according to Aguirre. Castro set out on his Cuban revolution from Mexico.
Aguirre said the legal case to stop the university taking over the premises became impossible to sustain because all the documents were in the name of his dead father, Jesus Aguirre, who bought the cantina more than 40 years ago.
"It just got too complicated because everything was in his name," Aguirre said.
A dog is sprinkled with holy water during an animal blessing to commemorate the Feast of San Antonio Abad at the San Fernando Catholic church in Mexico City January 17, 2008. (Daniel Aguilar/Reuters)
Poodles, canaries, turtles blessed in Mexico
Catherine Bremer Thu Jan 17, 10:37 PM ET
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A chihuahua in sunglasses, a tiny albino mouse and a turtle were among the animals lined up at Catholic churches across Mexico City on Thursday for an annual blessing to mark Saint Anthony the Abbott's feast day.
In a tradition carried out each year in a handful of Catholic countries, Mexicans dressed up pets in vibrant frocks and tied ribbons on their ears so they could be sprinkled with holy water by a priest reading a special animal prayer.
"Maybe with the blessing she will be better behaved, because she's very naughty," said 19-year-old Beatriz Zuniga, clutching a yowling, wriggling kitten dressed in a tight pink T-shirt and a paper bow and wrapped in a blanket.
On the steps of the San Fernando church in central Mexico City, schnauzers, labradors, poodles and a pug jostled around the local priest and barked at canaries carried in cages.
"I've brought her every year to be blessed, so she stays in good health, and she has reached 17 years old," said Luz Maria Sevilla, 50, of her miniature white chihuahua "Dolly," whose fluffy pink coat clashed with the yellow plastic sunglasses and trendy tartan cap of her offspring "Pituka."
Franciscan monks brought the animal blessing to Mexico during Spanish colonial rule.
The tradition marks the anniversary of the death of Saint Anthony the Abbott, a 4th century Egyptian Christian who gave his inheritance to the poor and lived a spiritual monastic life in the desert with only animals for company.
He was later made a patron saint of animals, like the better known Saint Francis of Assisi.
"Living together with animals is the most beautiful thing," said Father Miguel Monroy, who said he avoids letting the animals inside San Fernando, a pretty 18th century Baroque church, because they tend to fight and leave puddles.
"The blessing is to protect them and keep them in good health," he said, adding that he once blessed a couple of iguanas and a three foot (1 meter) crocodile.
At an outdoor mass in the southern canal-crossed Mexico City district of Xochimilco, a parrot, two calves, a goldfish and a tortoise gathered alongside yelping dogs in shoulder bags. Horses and chickens commonly arrive after sundown.
League of Women Voters Questionnaire on Immigration
journal-advocate.com January 19, 2008
The research questionnaire put before the League of Women Voters addressed six questions; each that the participating chapters were to evaluate in importance.
The questions are:
1. Federal immigration laws should take into consideration criteria such as the following:
a. ethnic and cultural diversity
b. economic, business and service employment needs
c. environmental impact/sustainability
d. family reunifications of authorized immigrants and citizens with spouses and minor children
e. history of criminal activity
f. humanitarian crises/political persecution in home countries
g. immigrant characteristics (health and age)
h. rights of all workers to safe working conditions and livable wage
i. rights of families to remain together
j. rights of all individuals in U.S. to fair treatment under the law
k. education and training.
2. Unauthorized immigrants currently in the U.S. should be treated as follows:
a. deport unauthorized immigrants
b. some deported/some allowed to earn legal adjustment of status based on length of residence in U.S.
c. some deported/some allowed to earn legal adjustment of status based on needs of U.S. employers
d. all allowed to earn legal adjustment of status by doing things such as paying taxes, learning English, studying civics
e. if deported, assess fines before possible re-entry
f. assess fines before allowed to earn legal adjustment of status.
3. Federal immigrant law should provide an efficient, expeditious system for legal entry into the U.S. for immigrants who are:
a. immediate family members joining family member already admitted for legal permanent residence in the U.S.
b. entering the U.S. to meet labor needs
c. entering the U.S. as students
d. entering the U.S. because of persecution in home country.
4a. In order to deal more effectively with unauthorized immigrants, federal immigration law should include a social security card or other national identification card with secure identifiers for all persons residing in the U.S. (rated as yes or no, priority)
4b. Federal immigration law dealing with unauthorized immigrants should be enforced by including:
physical barriers such as fences, and surveillance at borders
increased personnel at land, air and sea entry points
more effective tracking of persons with non-immigrant visas until they leave the country
verification documents, such as green cards and work permits with secure identifiers
improved technology to facilitate employer verification of employee visa status
improved technology for sharing information among federal agencies
a program to allow immigrant workers to go in an out of the U.S. to meet seasonal and sporadic labor needs
Significant fines proportionate to revenue for employers who fail to take adequate steps to verify work authorization of employees
5. Federal immigrant law should address and balance the long-term federal financial benefit from immigrants with the financial costs borne by states and local governments with large immigrant populations. (yes or no answer)
6. Federal immigration law should be coordinated with U.S. foreign policy to pro-actively help improve economies, education and job opportunities, and living conditions of nations with large emigrating populations.
A federal judge in San Francisco recently extended for 10 days a temporary ban on a central measure in the Bush administration's campaign to crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants. After a two-hour hearing, the judge, Charles R. Breyer of Federal District Court, strongly suggested that he was leaning against the government in the case.
The ban further delayed the start of a rule, which establishes steps an employer must follow after receiving a notice from the Social Security Administration, known as a no-match letter, reporting that an employee's identity information does not match the agency's records. According to the rule, originally scheduled to take effect Sept. 14, if the employee cannot clarify the mismatch within 90 days, the employer would be required to fire the worker or risk prosecution for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. Those immigrants often provide false Social Security numbers when applying for jobs.
In an Aug. 31 decision, Judge Maxine M. Chesney, also of the San Francisco court, delayed the rule from taking effect before yesterday's hearing and barred the Social Security Administration from sending out about 141,000 no-match letters, covering 8.7 million employees, which include notices from the Department of Homeland Security about the rule.
"It is clear to me at this point there would be irreparable harm to the plaintiffs," Judge Breyer commented at the end of the hearing, rejecting the government's main argument. "It just seems to me looking at it that this is a potentially enormous burden on the employer," the judge said, adding that he would issue a ruling within 10 days.
The suit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the AFLCIO. and several San Francisco labor organizations. They were joined by the United States Chamber of Commerce and several national small business associations. In court documents, the business groups argued that the impact of the rule in terms of hiring and training office workers to comply with the new procedures and deadlines, and firing employees whose discrepancies were not resolved in time, would be "substantial, immediate and irreparable."
The labor organizations said that Social Security's records contained many errors that could lead to legal workers, including American citizens, being unjustly fired under the new rule. The government countered that the rule did not represent any departure from current immigration laws or impose any new burdens on employers, but was designed to help employers by clarifying past confusion about what they had to do to comply with the law.
Giuliani: English Required For Immigrants, But Spanish OK For Candidates
www.tboblogs.com by William March Updated Jan 15, 2008 at 07:36 PM
At a Fort Myers retirement community Monday, Rudy Giuliani emphasized, to enthusiastic applause from the virtually all-white crowd of retirees, that immigrants must learn to "read, write and speak English before becoming citizens."
But while the candidate was saying that, his campaign was producing and buying time for an ad to run on South Florida Spanish radio stations"”in Spanish.
The ad, titled "Comisionada Sosa y Alcalde Robaina," touts endorsements of Giuliani by Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa.
And, of course, it ends with Giuliani saying, in Spanish, "Soy Rudy Giuliani y apruebo este mensaje""”"I'm Rudy Giuliani and I approved this message."
To hear the ad, click here.
Update: The Giuliani campaign has responded that it's unfair to suggest any contradiction in Giuliani's approach, noting that English is already required for citizenship tests, and that in his talk in Fort Myers, Giuliani emphasized the benefits of bilingualism and specifically said English shouldn't be required for immigration, only citizenship.
PLANT CITY - Plant City is the nation's winter strawberry capital, and local farmers depend on immigrant workers to bring in the crop, a growers group official said.
Shawn Crocker, executive director of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association, shared details about the industry Jan. 3 with business, government and community leaders.
"Ninety percent of the Florida strawberry crop is grown within 30 miles of Plant City," Crocker told the Downtown Luncheon Club.
Barring problems with weather or market forces, growers expect a $300 million crop in 2007-08, he said.
Much of his talk was on the need for migrant farmworkers.
"Regardless of the ups and downs in the agricultural market, the fact remains the Florida farmers depend on immigrant labor to get the product out of the field," Crocker said. "In spite of some media prejudice that might influence popular opinion, local crops, and many of the crops harvested across the nation, could not be brought to the market without migrant farmworkers."
Crocker compared the labor needs in the Florida citrus industry, a $2 billion market, to the smaller local strawberry industry.
Citrus farmers need one field hand per 18 acres to care for and harvest a crop, Crocker said. Strawberry farmers need closer to two employees per acre, he said. About 16,000 workers are needed to plant and harvest the area's 8,320 acres of strawberry fields, he said.
In Florida, immigration is a vital component to the agricultural network, Crocker said.
"It is part of the American dream that brought most of our families to North America in the first place," Crocker said. "My own family, an immigrant family, came to Florida four generations ago and settled in the cattle and citrus industry."
State Rep. Rich Glorioso, who was at the luncheon club meeting, said the federal government years ago had a better handle on immigration than it has today.
"We continue to work toward a solution of these problems at the state and national level," he said.
Crocker said agriculture needs every employee available.
"The overriding problem is that if the agriculture industry breaks, then our entire economy falls apart. We have to have workers in the field. Until someone steps up and finds another solution we are stuck with what we have," he said.
Reporter George H. Newman can be reached at (813) 865-4451 gnewman@tampatrib.com.
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