What a long strange primary season it has been. We started our BOR GOP Debate Watch events five months ago, with Rick Perry's first appearance in a debate. Since then, Rick dropped out, Romney muddled along, Gingrich briefly grabbed the lead, and now Santorum has surged from the rear once more.
Through it all we've watched Republicans use anti-immigration and anti-Latino rhetoric that has grown increasingly offensive. From opposition to the DREAM Act to varying forms of ineffective border fences to outright racism, Republicans seem determined to do everything they can to alienate Latino and progressive voters.
Now, the Republicans are heading to Arizona, and we're going to hold our final GOP Debate Watch to highlight the anti-immigration and anti-Latino views that will surely be on display.
From SB1070, the draconian "Papers, please!" immigration law, to elected Republican officials like Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former State Senator Russell Pearce, Arizona has become infamous for terrible anti-immigration and anti-Latino policies. Now, those same policies are being echoed by the Republican candidates for President.
Join us for the GOP debate in Arizona. We'll have games, prizes, and surprises to emphasize the anti-immigration stance of the Republican Party.
"Do I Look Illegal?" Arizona GOP Debate Watch Wednesday, February 22, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
Angie's, 1307 East 7th Street,
Austin, Texas 78702
RSVP on Facebook
Join BOR as we shine a light on the anti-immigration and anti-Latino rhetoric of the Republicans, and watch what is hopefully one of the last GOP debates this cycle.
(Great guest post from a long-time BOR reader, featuring content from Cuentame. We hope you will be hearing more from both Nick and Cuentame in the future. - promoted by Katherine Haenschen)
What happens if you privatize prisons is that you have a large industry with a vested interest in building ever-more prisons." -- Molly Ivins, 2003
For the past three years, the small West Texas town of Littlefield has had to come up with $65,000 a month to service a loan on an empty prison it never needed. To avoid defaulting on its prison loan, Littlefield has laid off workers, cut every department's budget, raised property taxes, increased fees, raided its municipal sewer and water fund, and even delayed its purchase of a new police car.
With just 6,507 residents during the 2000 census, Littlefield did not need a new prison. The city's elected officials decided to build one anyways. Littlefield issued $10 million in revenue bonds for construction of a 310-bed for-profit detention center as part of the city's economic development strategy in 1999. Revenue bonds are a special type of municipal bond that do not require voter approval, because they are backed by the expected revenue a project will generate. Littlefield's politicians built the prison believing it would pay for itself, pump money into the local economy, and expand job opportunity.
The nonprofit organization Cuéntame produced the excellent video below about the experience of Littlefield, Texas with speculative for-profit prison construction. Take a look:
As a result of this experience, Littlefield's bond rating was downgraded to junk status, and Littlefield taxpayers were saddled with millions in debt after discovery of mismanagement by for-profit prison operator Geo Group led the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) to terminate its contract and remove its prisoners in 2009. When IDOC cancelled its contract, Geo Group bailed on Littlefield by terminating its contract and laying off 74 workers.
The Idaho Department of Corrections discovered Geo Group's mismanagement when it conducted an audit of the Littlefield lock-up. The audit was prompted by the suicide of Randall McCullough, one of Idaho's inmates, at the prison. McCullough had been placed in solitary confinement for more than a year as administrative punishment for a fight that was never criminally prosecuted. The IDOC audit revealed that Geo Group chronically understaffed its facility. On the night that McCullough died, the facility was so short on staff that the warden worked the midnight shift.
Of course, extreme right-wing organizations like the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council defend privatization of prisons, schools and social services by peddling sanctimonious twaddle about the "innovation," "competition" and "efficiency" associated with private entrepreneurship. The most common way for corporations like Geo Group and Corrections Corporation of America to save money in running a prison is to cut guards' salaries, though (innovative!).
It turns out that when prison guards are paid wages as low as grocery store cashiers and fast food workers, they don't stick around very long. And when prisons are understaffed or have high turnover, they end up with inexperienced staff, higher rates of prisoner-on-guard assaults, more escapes, and more contraband violations as evidenced by higher rates of positive urine tests for drug use. Or, they might just be plain understaffed, à la Geo Group.
I would continue from here, but Molly does it better:
"The right says that, in the private sector, pay and performance are related. I look at the CEOs of American corporations, and if there's a connection between pay and performance there, I missed it.
What you get when you privatize and outsource is something like the Department of Defense and the military-industrial complex. We spend $399 billion a year on defense, and if you think that money is well spent because much of it gets run through defense contractors, you have not been paying attention.
DOD is the happy home of the $700 hammer, the endless cost overrun, and the revolving door, with accompanying conflicts of interest and dubious contracts. It's a fiscal nightmare. The Pentagon once had to announce that it couldn't account for $17 billion.
You get nightmare public policy consequences, as well. What happens if you privatize prisons is that you have a large industry with a vested interest in building ever-more prisons. The result is even more idiocy, like the three-strikes law and long terms for small-time drug possession."
--Molly Ivins, 2003 Syndicated Column
Amen.
The video in this post was produced by Cuéntame. Cuéntame is an online platform where the Latino community and the public at large can address social, political and cultural topics through social media, videos, interviews, and docu-series. Cuéntame translates "count me" or "tell me your story," and Cuéntame facilitates conversations about everything from soccer and music to immigrant detention and the anti-immmigrant legislation crafted by extreme right-wing, corporate-funded organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Council. Find out more about Cuéntame or tell your own story by following Cuéntame on Facebook or Twitter.
If you watched the GOP Debate Last night, you heard the Republican audience boo Juan Williams' mention of Mitt Romney's Mexican-born father.
Here's the clip:
While we wait for Gingrich, Santorum, and Perry to trip over each other calling for Mitt's birth certificate, here's the TDP's response to the incident. Good to see the TDP coming out so forcefully against such blatant bigotry by Republican voters. There's no need to boo Mitt's cultural heritage, or that of any other human being, especially not on MLK Day.
From the Texas Democratic Party:
La sola mención de México causa abucheos de los republicanos
Austin-En el debate republicano de Carolina del Sur, el público abucheó al moderador Juan Williams cuando mencionó la palabra 'México'.
"Es desafortunado que solo la mención de México causa abucheos de los republicanos," dijo el portavoz del TDP Anthony Gutiérrez. "Los demócratas de Texas están haciendo serios esfuerzos para involucrar a la comunidad latina mientras que los republicanos son hostiles, tanto en sus palabras y acciones."
Mientras que los republicanos siguen faltando el respeto y siguen siendo abiertamente hostiles hacia los latinos, el Partido Demócrata de Texas está haciendo un esfuerzo para llegar a esta importante comunidad a través del Proyecto Promesa. El Proyecto de Promesa fue creado para aumentar la participación política de los latinos. El Proyecto Promesa utilizará técnicas en línea y de base para conectarse con los jóvenes latinos. También les pediremos que nos den su promesa que serán nuestros mensajeros Demócratas a sus familias y redes sociales.
En las próximas semanas, el TDP desarrollará la segunda fase del Proyecto de Promesa. El objetivo de la segunda fase es aumentar el número de votantes latinos para la Primaria Demócrata 2012. El TDP pondrá organizadores en ciertas universidades donde llevarán a cabo:
Eventos para registrar votantes
Eventos en las universidades para generar publicidad gratuita
Producción de Vídeo
Identidades sociales en los medios de comunicación como Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google + y Vimeo.
Bancos de teléfono
Para aprender más sobre el Proyecto de Promesa visité a www.promesaproject.com.
Los esfuerzos de acercarse hacia los latinos de los aspirantes republicanos a la presidencia:
Mitt Romney promete vetar el DREAM Act, que es apoyada por el 85% de los latinos. Romney también recibió el apoyo de Kris Kobach, el arquitecto de leyes anti-inmigrantes de los estados.
Rick Santorum se opone a cualquiera reforma migratoria.
Newt Gingrich dijo que el español es el idioma del "ghetto."
Rick Perry recortó billones de la educación pública el primer año que los latinos representaron más del 50% de los estudiantes en las escuelas públicas de Texas. Perry también recibió el apoyo del Alguacil Joe Arpaio y lo nombró presidente de sus esfuerzos presidenciales en Arizona.
Is Immigration About Jobs, Humans Or Business? - We asked a panel of professionals from different walks of life about the varied colors of the immigration issue, from a business, political and humanitarian standpoint.
Juggling Optimism & Pessimism In U.S.-Mexico Relations - A discussion of pessimism and optimism revolving around the U.S.-Mexico relations in Texas, as well as interviews with Laredo Mayor Raúl G. Salinas and El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar.
Latina Volunteerism Often Manifests Off The Beaten Path - A recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that Latinos volunteer at lower rates than other ethnic groups but Laura Donnelly Gonzalez, co-founder Latinitas, tells us that Latinas not only "get" volunteerism, but have taken ownership of their volunteerism in ways that will immensely benefit the U.S.
Report: Widespread Abuse By Patrol Agents Along Border - The group No More Deaths released a report detailing widespread abuses by Border Patrol agents of people in their custody. The report, "A Culture of Cruelty," includes information gathered over two-and-a-half years from over 12,000 individuals in more than 4,100 interviews conducted on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, and concludes that there exists "an institutional culture of abuse within Border Patrol."
One Immigrant Son Tries To Be A Border Patrolman, Is Rejected - A story from Brownsville about a young man, the son of an undocumented mother, who graduated from college and then entered the Border Patrol to provide for the rest of his family. Ultimately, though, he found out the Border Patrol was not for him.
This week, it's the 104th anniversary of Ellis Island's one-day peak - the day when more immigrants were welcomed than any other in American history. On April 17, 1907, 11,747 immigrants became Americans - and that was just at Ellis Island.
Today, 104 years later, America is stuck in the mud with a broken immigration system. Americans want reform that unites families, promotes fair employment practices, and restores America's place as a nation that welcomes those seeking freedom from persecution and a better way of life.
This week, Immigrants' List -- a bipartisan political action committee dedicated to electing pro-immigration lawmakers - unveiled the 2011 inductees into the Immigration Hall of Shame. Texas Congressman Lamar Smith, now chair of the House Judiciary Committee, is #2 on the list.
There are three ways to become a citizen of the United States. You can be a naturalized American citizen; where a foreign born individual meets several requirements and then is granted citizenship. If you are born outside of the United States but at least one of your parents is a United States citizen then you can become a citizen through Jus Sanguinis (Right of Blood). The most common way to become a United States citizen is through Jus Soli (Right of Birthplace), which was codified by the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. However, there is now a movement to repeal the 14th Amendment, and remove the right of individuals born within the United States borders to automatically become citizens.
During times of economic recession, it is often "the other" that is blamed for the hardships of the many. During the Great Recession "the other" has taken many different forms, but one of the most common is undocumented immigrants. A common refrain is that undocumented immigrants "take American jobs," even though economic studies have shown that undocumented immigrants actually have a positive impact on the native workforce. Not to mention that American corporations have done far more damage to the American worker through outsourcing than undocumented workers ever could have done. The economic situation has lead to an atmosphere of hate, as the Southern Poverty Law Center has documented the rising tide of hate towards Latinos and the increasing activity of nativists lobbies and organizations.
Despite their reverence of the United States Constitution, which often times border on worship, prominent Republican leaders have called for the repeal of the 14th Amendment. Politico reported that Republican Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and David Vitter of Louisiana proposed an amendment to the Constitution that would put new limits on citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. The proposal would remove Jus Soli from anyone who is born in the United States whose parents are not citizens, legal permanent resident or active duty military members. In a statement Vitter said that the number of undocumented immigrants entering the country is escalating because of "children of illegal aliens born in the U.S. are granted automatic citizenship," and that "closing this loophole will not prevent them from becoming citizens, but will ensure that they have to go through the same process as anyone else who wants to become an American citizen."
While the most important issue facing the 82nd Texas Legislature is the budget, which is projected to have a shortfall of about $25 billion, but the one issue that may create the largest debate is immigration. During the campaign immigration was an issue that many Republican candidates campaigned on in Texas, and a new wave of conservative Republican legislators will be bringing those campaign issues to the Capitol. Many veteran Republican lawmakers in the Texas Legislature will also have the opportunity to address pieces of legislation that Democrats were able to block during the 81st Texas Legislature.
According to a recent Gallup poll, only 7% of the country believe that immigration or illegal aliens is the "most important problem facing the country," although 11% self-identified Republicans felt that it was the most important problem. The economy and unemployment were the top two most important problems facing the country among those surveyed, and that represented 58% of the responses. However, in Texas voters seem more focused on the border than their paychecks. According to a Texas Tribune poll, the economy was named by only 14% of those surveyed as the most important problem facing Texas. Among those surveyed 21% said that border security was the most important issue, and 19% said that immigration was the most important issue.
To date there has been 487 pieces of legislation pre-filed in the Texas Legislature, and over twenty different bills and resolutions have been pre-filed that are either directly or indirectly associated with immigration policy. Due to the number of pieces of legislation I will be looking at them in two parts, one part a look at the legislation pre-filed in the Texas House of Representatives and another part a look at the legislation pre-filed in the Texas Senate. I will also be looking at the pieces of legislation based on different categories, and high lightening bills within those different categories.
The "DREAM Now Series: Letters to Barack Obama" is a social media campaign that launched Monday, July 19, to underscore the urgent need to pass the DREAM Act. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, S. 729, would help tens of thousands of young people, American in all but paperwork, to earn legal status, provided they graduate from U.S. high schools, have good moral character, and complete either two years of college or military service. With broader comprehensive immigration reform stuck in partisan gridlock, the time is now for the White House and Congress to step up and pass the DREAM Act!
Dear Mr. President,
My name is Saad Nabeel and I am writing to you from Bangladesh. Prior to my arrival in this nation, I lived in the United States for 15 years. My parents brought me to America at age three. It is the only home I know. I used to attend the University of Texas at Arlington with a full scholarship in Electrical Engineering. Through no fault of my own I was forced to leave my home, friends, possessions, and most importantly, my education behind.
November 3rd 2009 is a day I will never forget. My mother called me and told me that my father had been detained by ICE and that we needed to leave immediately to Canada to seek refugee status. Being an only child, I had to take care of my mother and go with her.
"The courts won’t end the controversy over Arizona’s anti-immigration law, only leadership will."
Every seat at the Rose Marine Theatre was taken last night. Sitting next to me was a stylishly dressed, middle-aged Anglo woman who has clearly seen success in her life. She said what I’ve been waiting years to hear — “it’s time people who look like me start speaking out.”
That was the impact of 9500 Liberty, a documentary by filmmakers Eric Byler and Annabel Park, that chronicles the experiences of Prince William County, Virginia, when they passed an ordinance identical to SB 1070 — even written by the same right-wing, anti-immigration think tank.
At the invitation of my friend State Representative Lon Burnam, I hosted 9500 Liberty’s Fort Worth premiere on the very day SB 1070 was supposed to take effect before a federal court thankfully said otherwise. The movie drew a crowd that was equal parts Anglo, African American, and Hispanic. This was so much more than a movie premier; this was a community dialogue.
The documentary takes an interesting turn — not just when the city of Manassas suffers economic hardship and foreclosures as people move out of town, but when an unlikely pair of middle class moms start showing up at council meetings and doing their own research, become bloggers, and yes, become political activists. Their actions gave courage to others.
So I started thinking to myself, who in Texas is inspiring others to speak out?
The debate over immigration has been pushed into the national conversation since the Arizona state legislature passed Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, otherwise known as SB1070. Since Arizona Governor, Republican Jan Brewer, signed SB1070 into law there have been seven separate lawsuits filed against the law, including a lawsuit filed by the United States Department of Justice. In federal court last week Judge Susan Bolton heard arguments from both sides of Salgado v. Brewer, and this week Judge Bolton will hear arguments in the case brought by the Justice Department. These lawsuits argue that the law is unconstitutional on different grounds including that it violates civil liberty, that it causes racial profiling and that it is an unlawful regulation of federal immigration law.
This law has come at a significant price to Arizona. While the state is facing a budget deficit of more than $4.5 billion dollars, the law is going to cost the state millions of dollars. In addition to the $10 million in initial cost of implementing the law, county and municipal law enforcement agencies will be forced to spend millions of dollars enforcing the law. According to the Immigration Policy Center law-enforcement agencies in Yuma County alone will have to spend between $775,880 and $1,163,820 in processing expenses; jail costs would be between $21,195,600 and $96,086,720; attorney and staff fees would be $810,067-$1,620,134; and additional detention facilities would have to be built at unknown costs. Arizona will also be affected by Latino and immigrant populations that may migrate to states with less hostile environments towards these populations. According to a 2008 study by the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona, the Latino and immigrant generated $10.2 billion in state economic output, and generated tax revenues of roughly $776 million.
