Latinos: The Sleeping Giant?

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

The U.S is not responding to the needs of its Hispanic citizens even though the population of Hispanics college students in the US rises and many industries are gearing their marketing toward this changing demographic, according to former director of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Henry Cisneros.

Cisneros, now Executive Director at CityView and author of “Latinos and the Nation’s Future”, gave a speech on” Latinos and the Nation’s Future” today at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

“A very interesting phenomenon will be the growth of the second generation of Hispanic immigrants. The Pew Foundation says that this number, which is 11 million second generation Hispanics today, will be 30 million in 2030, so it will triple in 20 years or so,” said Cisneros.

Recently, the nomination of Hispanic judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court has brought many criticisms from Republicans, who argue that she is not being sufficiently patriotic because she pronounces her name with a Spanish accent.The criticism of Sotomayor has renewed the debate on immigration integration.

Tamar Jacoby, President and CEO of ImmigrationWorks USA and co-author of “Latinos and the Nation’s Future”, said “For a long time, people have said that Latinos in American politics were the sleeping giant of American politics... The reason they thought that is because they said ‘look at these people, look at these demographics’... The political participation was below the potential.”

But Jacoby rejoiced of this complete turn for the best which began with the most recent presidential election of Barack Obama, saying that “In November 2004, 7.5 million Latinos voted; In 2008, 11 million Latinos voted.”

As a consequence of this Hispanic political awakening, Cisneros says that “We will see that the make up of community schools and colleges will be decidedly different in the time period we are describing... We will see that in markets as consumer products relate to the reality of these markets.”

Cisneros added that “Many industries view the growth of Latinos and immigration as the principal basis by which they will grow.”

“The sleeping giant woke up,” said Jacoby.

Supreme Court: Either Way New Haven Will Be Sued

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

In 2003, the New Haven, Connecticut, Fire Department administered written and oral exams to determine which employees would be eligible for promotions to lieutenant and captain; there were seven captain and eight lieutenant vacancies, but despite those who passed, no one moved up.

Of the 41 applicants who took the captain exam, the top nine scorers included seven whites and two Hispanics, and of the 77 applicants who took the lieutenant exam, the top 10 scorers where white.

After the Civil Service Board discovered from the scores that no black employees and only two Hispanics passed the test, they determined that the results had produced a significant disparate impact and chose to not certify the results.

The only information provided to the firefighters and public were the scores, given by race and gender. Test-takers did not receive their individual scores.

Seventeen white candidates and one Hispanic candidate who had taken the exams filed a lawsuit in federal court against the City of New Haven, the mayor, and other city executives.

Frank Ricci, a firefighter who took the exam stated that the questions on the test were drawn from “nationally recognized” books and believes the test was fair, and therefore the city should honor the results.

Part of Ricci’s case is that before throwing out the results the city should at least have to consider whether the exam was fair.

In the Supreme Court today the justices expressed concern over the bind that New Haven is facing: because the city didn’t use the results, they were sued for reverse discrimination, but if the city had used the results, they could have faced a lawsuit for discrimination.

Justice Souter expressed this dilemma by saying “You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

The decision in the case of Ricci vs. DeStefano is expected in May.

ICE gets slammed at Congressional Border Issues Conference

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

“What happens on one side of the border affects the other side. Mexico and the United States are separated by a border, but both communities share a goal of helping all of our peoples,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the 13th Annual U.S. - Mexico Congressional Border Issues Conference, where panelists gathered to talk about topics such as Comprehensive Immigration Reform, drug and weapon trafficking, and the Merida Initiative. 

Among the panelists was Geraldo Rivera, host of “Geraldo at Large” on the FOX News Channel who said that instead of sending troops to the U.S./Mexican border, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) needs to start focusing on catching criminals and stop raiding processing plants where people are just there to work. “The immigration debate in this country has been so poisoned, and it’s become so racist in many ways.... We have distorted policy so that it hurts our national security. We have a totally competent law enforcement agency to deal with these criminals,” Rivera said. Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed with Rivera saying that unnecessary ICE raids are not the American way and that they must stop.

Pelosi talked about the need for comprehensive immigration reform saying that we need it soon. “It would secure our borders, it would protect our workers, it would prohibit the exploitation of workers coming into our country, it would unite our families,” she stated. Pelosi said that she is sending Congressmen to Mexico to see how our nations can work together. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will also be traveling to Mexico to show support. 

Rivera also expressed his support for the Dream Act, which states that undocumented young people could be eligible for a conditional path to citizenship in exchange for a mandatory two years in higher education or military service. In order for the undocumented young person to have the chance to become an American citizen, they must demonstrate good moral character to be eligible for and stay in conditional residency. Rivera said, “You want to stimulate the gross domestic product? Let’s get these Latino youngsters graduating high school.... But to take kids who are getting A’s and say they can’t get in-state tuition in college because they’re not documented, It’s preposterous, it’s un-American, it’s Anti-American.... Get Dream passed.”

Pelosi also discussed the Merida Initiative, saying that $300 million would be given to Mexico as part of the omnibus bill that was passed last week. “Every person who comes here with that determination, with that optimism, with that hope, with those family values and sense of community and spirit of faith, every person who comes here, certainly from the Hispanic community, when they come here they make America more American,” she concluded. 

Hispanics supporting Obama

The Pew Hispanic Center released the results of a survey on Hispanic voting trends in the presidential election during a conference call. Susan Minushkin said Hispanics surveyed lean towards Sen. Obama by a 3 to 1 margin. According to Minushkin, Hispanic Catholics, 56 percent of Latino voters, favor Obama while Sen. McCain enjoys higher support among non-Catholic Hispanics. Minushkin said 32 percent of voters said Obama’s race would help him, contrasted with 11 percent who said it would hurt him. At the same time, 24 percent of respondents said McCain’s race would hurt him while 7 percent said it would not. Minushkin also said 76 percent of respondents who voted for Sen. Hillary Clinton in the primary elections, a candidate who enjoyed large support in the Latino community, have shifted their allegiance to Obama. She contrasted this with white Clinton supporters, saying only 70 percent have expressed support of the Obama campaign.

Mark Lopez said 55 percent of the registered voters surveyed leaned Democrat and 26 percent leaned towards the GOP. Lopez stated that the Hispanic vote is crucial on a national stage due to large Hispanic populations in key battleground states like Florida, Colorado, and New Mexico. According to Lopez, the most important issues found among Hispanics in the study were education, the cost of living, employment, and health care.

McCain’s “week of pandering”

Robert Gibbs, the Communications Director of the Obama Campaign, held a conference call to discuss and highlight Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) supposed “week of pandering.” Gibbs said that McCain continually says one thing to one audience and a complete different thing to another audience.

Gibbs explained that when talking to fellow republicans McCain said that he would not vote for his own immigration legislation. However, when he held a secret meeting with a group of Hispanic leaders in Chicago, McCain assured them that he would push through Congress to vote for comprehensive immigration reform. Gibbs said that he cannot understand how McCain can be comfortable saying one thing to a group of conservatives and the complete opposite to a group of Latinos.

Gibbs said that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has a good strategy for reaching out to Latino communities. He said that Obama’s campaign team has a number of prominent Latino surrogates who will help fulfill Obama’s promise to run a vigorous campaign in Latino communities. Gibbs said that Obama’s strategy is far stronger than McCain’s and is positive that it will be successful.

Gibbs also explained that McCain not only changed his view on the issue of immigration, but also on off shore drilling. McCain supported the ban on off shore drilling in California time and time again, but recently, he has “flip-flopped” this view and created a new policy to support lifting the ban on off shore drilling. Gibbs said that there is a big difference in who McCain wants people to believe he is and who McCain actually is.