A Generation Gap Over Immigration - NYTimes.com

A Generation Gap Over Immigration - NYTimes.com

RAD~ Here are some excerpts from a really interesting article in the NYT....I often find it fascinating to try to understand what influences me to think the way I do about things and why others see things differently.

Demographically, younger and older Americans grew up in vastly different worlds. Those born after the civil rights era lived in a country of high rates of legal and illegal immigration. In their neighborhoods and schools, the presence of immigrants was as hard to miss as a Starbucks today.

In contrast, baby boomers and older Americans — even those who fought for integration — came of age in one of the most homogenous moments in the country’s history.

Immigration, which census figures show declined sharply from the Depression through the 1960s, reached a historic low point the year after Woodstock. From 1860 through 1920, 13 percent to 15 percent of the country was foreign born — a rate similar to today’s, when immigrants make up about 12.5 percent of the country.

But in 1970, only 4.7 percent of the country was foreign born, and most of those immigrants were older Europeans, often unnoticed by the boomer generation born from 1946 to 1964.

Boomers and their parents also spent their formative years away from the cities, where newer immigrants tended to gather — unlike today’s young people who have become more involved with immigrants, through college, or by moving to urban areas.
-----------------------------------
Nicole Vespia, 18, of Selden, N.Y., said older people who were worried about immigrants stealing jobs were giving up on an American ideal: capitalist meritocracy.

“If someone works better than I do, they deserve to get the job,” Ms. Vespia said. “I work in a stockroom, and my best workers are people who don’t really speak English. It’s cool to get to know them.”

Her parents’ generation, she added, just needs to adapt.

“My stepdad says, ‘Why do I have to press 1 for English?’ I think that’s ridiculous,” Ms. Vespia said, referring to the common instruction on customer-service lines. “It’s not that big of a deal. Quit crying about it. Press the button.”

Paterson Move May Help Immigrants Facing Deportation - NYTimes.com

Paterson Move May Help Immigrants Facing Deportation - NYTimes.com


ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson announced on Monday that the state would accelerate consideration and granting of pardons to legal immigrants for old or minor criminal convictions, in an effort to prevent them from being deported.


RAD~ Read the article before you decide whether this makes sense. There shouldn't be a need for this policy - but because of intransigence at the federal government level there is.

New "Green Card" is here and it is high tech and green

USCIS To Issue Redesigned Green Card
Fact Sheet

Introduction

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has redesigned the Permanent Resident Card¿commonly known as the "Green Card" to incorporate several major new security features. State-of-the-art technology prevents counterfeiting, obstructs tampering, and facilitates quick and accurate authentication of the card. Beginning today, USCIS will issue all Green Cards in the new, more secure format.

Card Features

RAD~ Wow, such fancy technology...now the police in AZ can find a reasonable suspicion just by scanning someone for an RFID chip signal...you don't even have to know you are being searched. Identity thieves should have fun with these as well. At least now they are actually GREEN

Senator Robert Menedez (D.NJ) Asks MLB to Move the All Star Game out of AZ

http://menendez.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/20100510ltr_BaseballAZ.pdf

Given the large numbers of Latino players in baseball (including the minor leagues) it is not surprising that MLB is being called on to use its influence to convince AZ to repeal the new racial profiling law. MLB has a lot of money at stake, however, as half of the Spring training facilities and much of the minor league play involve the state of Arizona.

ICE Online Detainee Locator System (Coming Soon)

From ILW.com...
ICE/DRO is announcing their new Online Detainee Locator System will be available in June 2010. (See below)

ODLS is scheduled to deploy in June 2010, and will be accessible by visiting ICE's public Web site (http://www.ice.gov/locator). Persons using ODLS do not need to set up an account or get special permission to use the system. ODLS provides two ways to search for a detainee: (1) Perform a query using an Alien Registration Number (A-Number) and country of birth; or (2) perform a query using a full name and country of birth. After receiving the query entered by the user, ODLS searches for a match among current ICE detainees and detainees who have been booked out of ICE custody (regardless of the reason) within the last 60 days. All records that match the user's query are returned to the user in a list of one or
more search results.
ODLS only performs exact-match searches. This means that the search
query entered by the user (specifically, the name or A-Number) must
exactly match the information in a detention record in order for the
record to be identified as a match and included in the ODLS search
results. For example, a search for ``Robert Smith'' will not return a
detention record for ``Robert Smyth'' or ``Bob Smith.'' When conducting
an A-Number search, ODLS users will see a maximum of one record in the
results because A-Numbers are assigned to individuals uniquely. When
conducting a name-based search, however, ODLS users may see multiple
records in the results if several detainees share the same name and
country of birth. Users may use the year of birth provided in the
results to distinguish among detainees with the same name.
ODLS only contains information about individuals who are currently
in ICE custody or were previously detained by ICE within the past 60
days.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!?!?

Want to learn a little about the history of Cinco de Mayo? Above is a link to a very informative article by a very grouchy Gustavo Arellano in the OC Weekly.

I however am still going to enjoy my Gringo Corona and Nachos!

Colbert's take on Arizona's new racial profiling law

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - No Problemo
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News