FARM WORKERS: Trump threats American Farm Workers

By UFW of America

The United Farm Workers Union (UFW) is holding farm worker know your rights meetings in farm worker regions throughout CA, WA and OR as well as implementing plans to send folks out to the fields to talk to farm workers directly. Why? Because farm workers are scared. We’re hearing stories of people being afraid to leave their houses except to go to and from work.

This is not hypothetical. Even before the most recent orders came out, simply driving to work could be a problem for farm workers in Trump’s America. This is the story Juan Torres (alias) tells us about his drive to work in the Fresno area on February 8th. “At an intersection that many farm workers pass while going to work ICE pulled over our van. One of the farm workers in my van was handcuffed and it looked like they were going to take him and some other farm workers in, but then the agents got an emergency call of some type and they were let go. I had read the Know Your Rights card that the UFW gave myself and other workers but in the heat of the moment we were just paralyzed to even remember anything. This is why I appreciate the upcoming know your rights meetings the UFW is holding that will give us the opportunity to role play how to respond and prepare us.”  

And Ventura county strawberry worker and mother of 5, Sandra Garcia (alias) feels people are being targeted just because of the color of their skin. She tells us, “I have heard about the immigration raids in my community. Everyone is afraid they will be next. I am very thankful that the United Farm Workers organizes “Know Your Rights” information sessions. The information is very helpful, but we are very nervous.

“Recently I began to receive mail at my house addressed to a strange name. I write “return to sender” and “does not live here”, but the letters have continued. Soon after I began to hear loud knocks on my front door from police officers asking for the same name on the letters. Since Donald Trump announced his expanded deportation orders, I have been afraid to answer the door when the police have come. They have come often enough that my neighbors have noticed and they are also worried. We are working hard trying to earn a living, feed our families, feed this great nation. It’s not right. We can’t let hate divide us. That’s not our America. I hope you can help us.”

According to researchers at University of California, Davis, approximately 70% of all the farm workers here who put food on America’s table are undocumented. The most recent set of orders the department of Homeland Security released on Tuesday to increase immigration enforcement puts almost all of the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants at risk of being deported. Understandably, workers are frightened and need to know what their rights are.

Can you imagine what mass deportations would do to California alone? California's economy depends on agriculture, a $54 billion industry. Plus, these people are our neighbors. They have lived here for years. They have families. They own homes and cars. They go to church with us. They pay taxes. Their kids are on our kids’ baseball teams. They are hardworking people and a vital part of our economy.

In this time of hate, it is more urgent than ever that we do outreach to farm workers. Can you help us do all the things that are necessary to reach farm workers and protect them?

https://secure.ufw.org/raids

MEXICO NEWS: Why is Mexico screwed up?

By QUORA: Curt Bryant, works at Retirement

I’m an American who lives in Mexico. I love Mexico and I have a deep affection and respect for Mexicans and their culture. As individuals and families, they are amazing people. Unfortunately, as a society they (just like all societies) have some serious issues to resolve. Most of the problems really boil down to money. Here are some very real, first-person examples:

Government Corruption: Although lobbying, corporate tax credits, and special interest groups may lead to some corruption in the US government; it is nothing compared to Mexico. The level of corruption is worse by 10 orders of magnitude. Examples:

When the PAN took over my town after the June elections, the electricity to City Hall was shut off. It turns out that the previous administration had pocketed the $4,000,000 MX that was intended to pay the CFE (Comisión Federal de Electricidad) bill.

When the old government left office, they took all of the furniture and computers with them.

The mayor (presidente municipal) lived in a very modest house and lived a very ordinary life prior to his one term. He is now building a $16,000,000 MX villa. Again, he served ONE term.

Election Fraud/Corruption: Trump and his supporters are all acting like there is massive voter fraud in the US. There is no empirical data to prove that claim. I don’t know what empirical data there is for Mexico, but let me tell you what I’ve seen first hand:

My house and the one next to mine are on very large lots. My lot was raised about two feet before my house was built. Consequently, I can see down into my neighbors lot even with their two meter wall. The house next door is vacant. Last spring, prior to the June election, I noticed a LOT of activity over there. I started watching and noticed truck after truck arriving over the course of a week. The yard filled up with boxes, building materials, and all sorts of “parts.” I was worried that some sort of business was moving in so I kept watching. I was wrong. It was the PRI. Over the next several weeks, all of the “parts” turned into triciclos (full-sized tricycles used to transport all sorts of things), the boxes turned into children’s bicycles, pots and pans, microwaves, and rice and beans, and the building materials were for other people’s homes. A few of my local friends explained that the PRI would give you a triciclo if you signed a promise that you would bring them 10 votes. The rest of the items were single vote bribes. They took them to the poorest neighborhoods and bought votes. When I seemed shocked by this, they said that this is how it has been done for a very long time and this is how the PRI has kept a stranglehold on so much of the country. The poor people need these things and they are willing to give a vote to get them. It should be noted, however, that the PRI lost this election after being in power for 40 years. A lot of people returned their triciclos and a lot of others just laughed, kept the gift, and voted their conscious instead!

Latinos and the New Trump Administration

Growing share say situation of U.S. Hispanics is worsening

 

By Pew Research Center

Hispanics are divided about what a Donald Trump presidency means for their place in America, according to a Pew Research Center survey of Hispanic adults taken before his inauguration. The survey also finds that a rising share believes the situation of U.S. Hispanics is worsening and that about half of Hispanics are worried about the deportation of someone they know.

About half (54%) of Hispanics say they are confident about their place in America after Trump’s election while four-in-ten Hispanics (41%) say they have serious concerns about their place in America.

Hispanics who do not hold U.S. citizenship and do not hold a green card – a group likely to be in the country without authorization – are more likely than the U.S. born and other immigrants to express concern.1 Among likely unauthorized immigrants, 55% say they have serious concerns about their place in the country after Trump’s election. Meanwhile, 38% of U.S.-born Hispanics and 34% of Hispanic immigrants who are U.S. citizens say they have serious concerns about their place in America. And among Hispanic immigrants who are lawful permanent residents, 49% say the same.

When it comes to progress for Hispanics as a group in the U.S., Hispanics are divided. Half (49%) say the situation of U.S. Hispanics today is about the same as it was a year ago, while 32% say it has worsened and 16% say their group’s situation has improved.

But the share of Hispanics that see the state of U.S. Hispanics worsening has grown in recent years. For example, the share today that says the group’s situation has worsened is about double the share that said the same in 2013 (15%). At the same time, the share that says the situation of U.S. Hispanics is about the same compared with a year ago is down from 58% in 2013. And the share that says the group’s situation is better than a year ago is down from 25% in 2013.

Among Hispanics, a growing share of many key subgroups say that the state of U.S. Hispanics has deteriorated. For example, 42% of Hispanic immigrants who do not hold U.S. citizenship and do not hold a green card today say that the situation of U.S. Hispanics has worsened in the past year, up from 24% who said the same in 2014. Some 38% of Hispanic immigrants who hold U.S. citizenship say this today, up from 21% who said the same in 2014. And 29% of U.S.-born Hispanics say that Hispanics are worse off today than one year ago, up from 17% in 2014. By comparison, Hispanic immigrants who are lawful permanent residents are as likely today (26%) as in 2014 (24%) to say the group’s situation in the U.S. has worsened.

These findings emerge from a new, nationally representative bilingual telephone survey of 1,001 Hispanic adults conducted from Dec. 7, 2016, through Jan. 15, 2017, on landline and cellular telephones by SSRS for Pew Research Center. The survey’s margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

The U.S. Hispanic population stood at 57 million in 2015 and is among the nation’s fastest growing groups. It is also a largely U.S.-born population – 66% were born here. Among Hispanics who were born in another country, roughly three-in-ten are lawful permanent residents and about four-in-ten are unauthorized immigrants. (Unauthorized immigrants from Latin America make up 78% of all unauthorized immigrants as well.) At the same time, the group’s population growth has slowed in recent years and is now driven more by births in the U.S. than the arrival of new immigrants, driving down the group’s foreign-born share in recent years.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security this week issued new immigration enforcement policies that widen the pool of unauthorized immigrants prioritized for deportation to include those who have committed an act that will result in criminal charges, those charged with a crime but not convicted, and those convicted of a criminal offense regardless of severity, among other things.2 In recent weeks, immigrants around the nation have grown concerned about stepped-up deporations under the new administration.

According to the new survey, which was taken before Trump’s inauguration and the reported rise in deportration concerns, Hispanics are split in their concern about deportation. About half (47%) of Hispanic adults, regardless of their immigration status, say they worry “a lot” or “some” that they themselves, a family member or a close friend, could be deported, while 52% say they are worried “not at all” or “not much.”

Worries about deportation among immigrants are greatest for those who do not hold U.S. citizenship and do not hold a green card: 67% say they worry a lot (45%) or some (22%) about the deportation of themselves or someone close to them. And among immigrants who are lawful permanent residents, 66% say they are worried about deportation of themselves or someone close to them. Both of these groups are potentially subject to deportation. By comparison, one-third (33%) of U.S.-born Hispanics say they are worried about deportation of someone they know, while 55% say they worry not much or not at all about deportation.

Deportation concerns among Hispanics are little changed from 2013, when 46% of Hispanics said they worried, and is down from 52% in 2010. Overall, all major subgroups of Hispanics have seen a decline in their worry about deportation or no change in recent years. For example, in 2010, 84% of Hispanic immigrants who were not U.S. citizens and not lawful permanent residents said they worried a lot or some that they or someone close to them could be deported, about 17 percentage points higher than today. Meantime, the share of U.S.-born Hispanics who said the same in 2010 was 32%, similar to today’s 33%.

Despite the prominence of immigration issues in last year’s presidential campaign, U.S. Hispanics do not rate them a top issue for the new administration or Congress, a pattern similar to that found in previous years of polling by Pew Research Center. According to the new survey, 46% say dealing with the issue of immigration should be a top priority for the new administration and Congress in 2017, ranking last among the five priorities tested in the new survey.

Instead, Hispanics identify education as a top priority issue for the new Trump administration and for the new Congress among those tested. Fully 73% say improving the educational system should be a top priority in 2017. Other top priorities include defending the country from future terrorist attacks (69%) and strengthening the nation’s economy (66%). Following these three issues is reducing health care costs (54%).

This rating of issue priorities among Latinos is similar to that of the U.S. general public, though there are some differences. According to a recent Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults, defending the country from terrorism (76%), strengthening the nation’s economy (73%) and improving the educational system (69%) are rated as the top three prirorities of more than 20 tested. On terrorism and the economy, the share of U.S. adults who rate these as top issues is higher than the share of Latinos who say the same. On reducing health care costs, 66% rate the issue as a top priority for Trump and Congress, again a higher share than among Latinos. Meanwhile, on immigration, 43% of U.S. adults say immigration is a top priority, a share similar to that of Latinos.

More broadly, this pattern for top issues among U.S. Latinos has been fairly consistent for a number of years in Pew Research Center surveys. In fall 2016, the top issues for Latinos were education, the economy and health care. And in December 2008, as President-elect Barack Obama prepared to take office for the first time, Latinos cited the economy, education, health care and national security as top issues for the new administration.

Latino views about the kind of president Trump will be and how former President Obama’s administration will be viewed splits along party lines.

Overall, 40% of Hispanic adults think Trump will be a poor or terrible president while 28% say he will be an average president and 22% say he will be a good or great president. But there are sharp divides by political party. About half (53%) of Hispanic Republicans say Trump will be a good or great president. By comparison, Hispanic Democrats hold the opposite view: 58% say Trump will be a poor or terrible president.4

Divisions along party lines also exist in Latinos’ views about the Obama administration. Two-thirds (66%) of Latino Democrats say his administration’s accomplishments will be better remembered than its failures. By contrast, 59% of Latino Republicans say the failures will outweigh accomplishments. Overall, half of Latinos (48%) say the Obama administration’s accomplishments will outweigh its failures, while 36% say the opposite.

LA MIGRA Y USTED: Peligran los inmigrantes en Estados Unidos al acelerarse las deportaciones

Por agencias noticiosas

El Gobierno de Donald Trump estableció las nuevas directrices de control migratorio en EEUU, entre ellas acelerar el proceso de deportación de inmigrantes indocumentados y contratar a 15.000 nuevos agentes migratorios.

En esta expansión masiva de la capacidad de deportaciones quedan exentos los jóvenes indocumentados ("dreamers" o "soñadores") que llegaron a EEUU como menores de edad.

Entre las directrices, firmadas por el secretario de Seguridad Nacional, John Kelly, figura la contratación de 10.000 nuevos agentes para el Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE) y 5.000 más de la Oficina de Aduanas y Fronteras (CBP).

"El auge de la inmigración ilegal en la frontera sur ha sobrepasado a las agencias y los recursos federales y ha creado una significativa vulnerabilidad en la seguridad nacional de EE.UU.", subrayan las directrices.

Asimismo, se especifica un cambio en las políticas que precisa que no solo perseguirá a los inmigrantes indocumentados con cargos criminales violentos, si no también aquellos que hayan "abusado" de los beneficios públicos o que, "a juicio de un agente de inmigración, puedan suponer un riesgo para la seguridad pública y seguridad nacional".

El Departamento de Seguridad Nacional, agrega, "ya no eximirá a clases o categorías" de extranjeros indocumentados de "una potencial aplicación de la ley", es decir, de una deportación.

En el documento se especifica que estos jóvenes indocumentados "no" se verán afectados por las nueves órdenes de la agencia federal.

Esto supone un notable cambio respecto a las directrices marcadas durante el anterior Gobierno de Barack Obama, que ordenaba no llevar a cabo estas deportaciones en base a violaciones menores de la ley como conducir sin licencia o tener una luz rota del vehículo.

Por otro lado, el Ejecutivo de Trump otorga mayor capacidad legal a los agentes migratorios federales, así como permitirá que agentes estatales o locales puedan sumarse a estas labores de control migratorio.