Will Spanish Survive in America?

Among many second and third generation Latinos the answer is, "No," making some wonder if Spanish will survive in America as more and more of us are born here.

Like many children of Latino immigrants, Alberto Padron learned Spanish straight out of the crib. “It was the only language spoken at home,” says the 37-year-old New Jersey native, whose mom and dad arrived from Cuba in the early ’60s. “No one ever sat down and taught me,” he adds. “My being bilingual is the natural consequence of being born bicultural and balancing two languages since day one.”

His teenage sons, on the other hand, had another experience growing up. Even though Padron and his wife, Angela, can easily hopscotch between both languages, the two boys only know English. “When you’re not thinking about it, that’s what you speak at home,” says Padron, who meets resistance when he tries to get them to switch to  español. “Why are you forcing me to do this?” is the usual retort.

“I’m mostly disappointed in myself when my children’s ability to bond with our family is effectively crippled because Abuelita doesn’t speak English and the grandchildren don’t speak Spanish,” admits Padron, whose story points to a larger generational shift among American-born Latinos that raises concerns about the decline of our mother tongue and, as a consequence, the connection to our culture.

According to the Pew Hispanic Center, only 38 percent of third–generation Latinos—United States-born kids with foreign-born grandparents—are proficient in Spanish, compared to 79 percent of the second generation. “Some parents think they’ll be able to buck that trend, but they don’t understand how hard it is to raise a bilingual child in the United States,” says Ana Celia Zentella, Ph.D., a Mexican-Puerto Rican anthro-political linguist who studies the intersection between language and politics. “As soon as children see that there’s no need to talk to their parents in Spanish, they don’t.”

But Dr. Zentella, a professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego, isn’t pointing fingers. “Parents shouldn’t be expected to do it on their own. They have so many other priorities when it comes to child rearing,” she says. “And many times the second generation feels like their own Spanish skills are weak and they’re reluctant to structure their child’s rearing around it.” The real problem, says Ana Roca, Ph.D., professor of Spanish at Florida International University, is the lack of bilingual education in public schools. “The United States does not give Spanish the importance it deserves,” says the cubana about the historical lack of funding for programs that help students maintain their heritage language. “The message is to learn English and forget about your mother tongue.”

But this loss of language across the generations cuts deeper than simply being unable to communicate with older relatives. It impacts Latino identity as well. “You can’t be  a mexicano if you don’t know Spanish,” says Eugene García, Ph.D., a professor at Arizona State University whose family has lived in New Mexico since before it became part of the United States. “You don’t need to be proficient, but you need to know you can get by,” he adds. “Language is a key indicator that you’re part of a certain culture. Others will look at you and say, ‘You don’t speak Spanish? Then you’re not Mexican.’ ”

García’s controversial statement is something Richard Oceguera, a 42-year-old Californian of Mexican descent, has experienced firsthand. “Native speakers are resentful,” he says. “They’ll treat me like I think I’m better because I’ve become Americanized. Like I’m trying to be white. The way it comes across is as if I’m purposefully looking to slight my entire culture by not speaking Spanish. As if it was a choice for me. It wasn’t. My parents didn’t teach it to me,” says Oceguera, who has been studying the language for years in an effort to reconnect with his heritage, but still feels disconnected. “There’s a sense of separation,” he says.

Still, like Oceguera, many Latinos are embracing Spanish later in life as a way of reclaiming their roots. Among those is Destiny Lopez, a 36-year-old Chicana from Detroit, whose grandparents suffered discrimination when they first arrived from Mexico in the ’50s and didn’t raise Spanish-speaking children for fear that they would be marginalized. Growing up, Lopez had the traditions—mariachi music at family events, tamales during the holidays—but felt more American than Mexican. “There was a divide between those that spoke it and those that didn’t,” she says. “It’s frustrating that there’s something wrong with you, and that you’re perceived as less of a Latina because of that.”

Lopez, who has taken classes on and off for years, renewed her commitment with the birth of her daughter, Carmen. “I want to raise her bilingual, so that she’ll have more access to the culture. I now see the benefit of it in hindsight,” Lopez says. “I also want her to be aware of what the world around her is going to look like,” she adds, alluding to the latest Census reporting that Latinos make up 16.3 percent of the nation’s population at 50.5 million, a number that is projected to double by the year 2050.

Those figures don’t sit well with everyone, however, and fuel the kind of anti-Spanish rhetoric that makes its way into the legal system and exacerbates the loss of the language. Over 30 states have passed laws making English their official language, with Oklahoma persuading voters last year with the iconic military recruiting image of Uncle Sam emblazoned with the words, “This finger wasn’t made to press ‘one’ for English!” Dr. Zentella says, “There’s a big push communicating to all newcomers and people in general that the real American only needs one language.”

But that sentiment is not universally accepted across the United States. There are 440-plus public bilingual immersion schools that teach children English and their mother tongue, as well as how to appreciate both cultures. For example, Coral Way Bilingual K-8 Center in Miami teaches more than 1,500 students to speak, read and write in both English and Spanish, with subjects like math, science and social studies en español. “We’re performing at the same average and, in some cases, above schools that are not bilingual,” says the elementary school’s principal, Josephine Otero. “We have proven that our methods here at Coral Way do work, and that our students are successful and prepared to face the challenges ahead of them,” she recently told NPR.

Unfortunately, not everyone has access to schools like Coral Way—bilingual immersion is outlawed in California, Arizona, Colorado and Massachusetts—making it harder for the third generation and beyond to retain the language. But despite the trends, there is  a steady influx of immigrants who may just keep the language alive. Every day, approximately 3,700 of us arrive in this country. “Their kids will be spoken to in Spanish and will learn Spanish,” asserts Dr. García. The key, he says, is “to override the power of English, which comes in everywhere else.”

Then you have Latinos like Oceguera and Lopez, who, no matter how many generations removed, prove that it’s never too late to learn the language. Perhaps Padron’s sons will follow that same path some day, for as Dr. Zentella says, choosing to become bilingual is  a political act. “We as a community can make a major contribution to the United States by opening its linguistic, cultural and racial frontier,” she says. “[By speaking Spanish] you’re saying that the American dream isn’t dreamt only in English.”

--Grace Bastidas

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Posted in Alberto Padron , latin , Latin America , latin immigrants , latina , spanish , spanish immigrants , spanish language , USA

Preserving Latin American Christmas Traditions in New Homeland

She remembers as a little girl her mother singing the songs of the novena and the procession from one relative’s home to another back in her native Bogota, Colombia. Now living in Miami, 35-year-old Liliana Vanderbiest will relive one her of childhood traditions when she and friends bring the practice of the novena, daily prayers nine days before Christmas, to the United States.

“It seems like my generation is like the first generation who has grown up without these traditions and needs to really work to revisit them before they’re lost with time,” said Vanderbiest, a financial analyst in Miami. “Like a lot of people who have come from Latin American countries and have been here a long time, we either forget the traditions from back home or are just too busy to go back to them.”

Indeed, many Latin American countries have their own traditional observances around the Christmas holidays, most of them deeply rooted in Catholic traditions. And many newly immigrated Latinos have let observances like the novena or la posada, a Central American tradition where neighbors act as pilgrims and travel from home to home to sing and pray, fall by the wayside as they acculturate to North American Christmas traditions.

    Like a lot of people who have come from Latin American countries and have been here a long time, we either forget the traditions from back home or are just too busy to go back to them.

- Liliana Vanderbiest from Miami

Some, like Vanderbiest, who is making it a point this year to do the novena with a newly immigrated friend from South America, are making concerted efforts to bring those traditions to the U.S.

Of all the different Latin American Christmas-time traditions, la posada is probably the most widely recognized, especially in areas of the U.S. where there are large concentrations of Mexicanos.

In Sacramento, Calif., La Raza Galeria is holding the first large organized posada events in the city’s history this year. Executive Director Marie Acosta said the organization was focusing on Mexican traditions because of the predominant concentration of immigrants from there in that city.

She expected a few dozen to attend the first posada, which reenacts the pilgrimage of Mary and Joseph from Bethlehem, but around 150 people took part.

“We discovered that there is a need and a desire and a huge gap in the community for anything that redeems cultural heritage, particularly around the religious observances this time of year,” Acosta said. “It’s definitely a sign that our culture and heritage has not received its due diligence for whatever reasons. It’s good to see such an outpouring of support and participation from the younger faces in the crowd.”

Maite Velez-Couto, 32, fondly recalls the parrandas during her childhood in Puerto Rico. Since moving to Miami though, her Christmas traditions have been limited to making cultural dishes and serving them at work.

“Back home, for the parrandas, every household had to be prepared to receive people at any time of the evening and be fully stocked with rum and music,” Velez-Couto said. “It’s a great tradition, but something that would be kind of tough to pull off here.
“I think in some form or another we do try to keep some traditions alive whether it’s in singing the songs or other religious experiences, but food and music are the easiest ways to keep the traditions going,” she said.

In Fort Collins, Colo., north of Denver, El Museo de las Tres Colonias is observing the posada for the sixth year and has seen participation growing steadily over the years. While the celebration caters to the many Mexican immigrants in the area, the museo is making special efforts to incorporate traditions from other Latin American countries because of new demands for them.

“The community is really hungry for something cultural and sadly the opportunities to celebrate the traditions they were used to back in their home countries just aren’t as easy to find here,” said Betty Aragon, director of the museo. “We do see a lot of kids from Nicaragua and Guatemala who want to incorporate what they had in their native countries, which we think is wonderful to embrace. This gives us the chance to go back to our roots, something that many forget to do when they get here because they’re so busy trying to fit into a new country.”

Manny Gonzales is a Denver-based writer and communications professional. 

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Posted in 2011 Latin Christmas , Latin America , Latin American Christmas , Latin christmas , latin culture , latin tradition , latino christmas , salsacircuit

Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony’s New Show to Air on Univision, Televisa

Their marriage maybe long over, but Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony’s ¡Q’VIVA The Chosen talent competition is moving forward after Univision and Televisa confirm they are among the multiple networks on board to broadcast the reality show.

XIX Entertainment announced on Wednesday that “Univision in the U.S., Televisa in Mexico, and Caracol TV in Colombia,” are the first three confirmed network homes, out of 21, where ¡Q’VIVA! The Chosen will be shown. The other networks will be announced at a later date.

Lopez and Marc Anthony called it quits July of this year after seven years of marriage. The superstar celebs share 3-year-old twins Max and Emme.

Nevertheless, the show must go on.

Simon Fuller, who along with Lopez and Marc Anthony is producing the show, said in a statement that ¡Q’VIVA! The Chosen is a “growing importance of Latin culture.”

“¡Q’VIVA! The Chosen will be a spectacular showcase of Latin music and performance arts,” Fuller said.

The show is slated to air in 21 countries through Latin America in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Lopez, Marc Anthony and veteran choreographer Jaime King are scheduled to begin production for the series this month up until January of 2012.

“Very soon the world’s heart will beat to the tune of Latin rhythms and we’re looking forward to experiencing history in the making,” Lopez said in a statement. “It is with great pride that we embark on this amazing and very personal mission to discover and celebrate the most captivating talent the world has ever seen.”

Marc Anthony, who earlier this week twitted multiple photos of himself in Mexico auditioning ¡Q’VIVA! The Chosen prospects, said he is “thrilled” to “open doors for the next generation of Latin superstars” and to have “the beauty of Latin music, artistry, and dance” seen by a mass audience.

Source Alexandra Gratereaux

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Posted in ¡Q’VIVA , 2011 jlo marriage , 2011 top latin couple , Jennifer Lopez , jlo marc romance , Latin America , Marc Anthony

President Obama on the Latino Education Crisis, the Dream Act & What He Loves About Hispanic Culture

In an unprecedented conversation, the American president talks to Latina about everything from whether there is a Latino education crisis to what it will take to get the Dream Act passed—and even shares what he loves about our culture (mole, anyone?).

On the state of education for Latinos: “I think there is no doubt that there is a long-running education crisis in the Latino community.  We only have about 50 percent of Latino kids who are graduating from high school on time, and about 13 percent who are attending college.  One of the things that we will continue to push is education reform that targets specifically those schools with children that aren’t performing as well as they need to – and a sizable percentage of those schools are Latino schools.”

On why his administration continues to deport Dream Act-eligible students: “Well, the truth of the matter is that we have exercised as much administrative discretion as we can...With respect to Dream Act kids, I’m a huge supporter of getting that law changed because these kids are extraordinarily talented and want to contribute to helping to build America.  We are going to keep pushing to get the Dream Act passed.  We want to send the message that we have to enforce the law, and there are limits to what I can do with respect to circumventing the laws that Congress has passed.”

On his favorite Latino foods: “I have to say, I’m probably biased towards a really good mole. [And] we have some folks in the White House kitchen that can whip up some pretty good tamales for Michelle. That may be her favorite food, generally!  You put a tamale in front of her and she shows no restraint.”

On his favorite Latino music: “Whether it’s Gloria Estefan, Juanes, Shakira or Los Lobos, I have all kinds of stuff on my iPod.”

On his secrets for making marriage work: “Our marriage has been wonderful because Michelle is a strong partner.  We respect each other, we listen to each other, we co-parent and we compromise.  She has always been firm about family first.  So that’s provided me a base and a ground that is hugely important.”

Source Galina Espinoza |

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Posted in 2011 Dream Act , 2011 immigration , dream act campaign 2011 , hispanic culture , Latin America , latino , President Obama

Kids Under 15 Won't Be Allowed To Attend Ricky Martin's Concerts In Honduras

Ricky Martin isn't exactly a favorite pop star among church goers in Honduras. Religious leaders attempted to get Ricky's upcoming concert on October 16th canceled due to its "erotic content," but the performance at the Choci Sosa stadium in Tegucigalpa will proceed as scheduled.

The group also tried to get Ricky's visa into the country denied due to his creative content and sexual orientation. Honduras is just one of his many stops during his "MAS: Música + Alma + Sexo" tour in Latin America. The Puerto Rican singer is currently in Costa Rica preparing to perform for thousands of fans in the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa tomorrow.

Although the concert in Honduras was allowed to continue, it turns out that kids under 15 will not be allowed to attend the show. According to the Minister of the Interior, Ricky's show:

    "Is not the type of family that the laws of Honduras and the Honduran society wants to build and encourage to young people and the rest of the population."

The last time we checked, Ricky Martin's performances never suffered any wardrobe malfunctions. His performances are as racy as the next pop star.

Source: Sugey Palomares

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Posted in 2011 best concert ricky martin , 2011 Ricky Martin , 2011 ricky martin concert honduras , Latin America , latin music , latino

Deportation Loophole Lets Thousands Live and Work in US Indefinitely

John has been slated for deportation -- for the last 20 years. The U.S. government renews his work permit annually. He has a driver’s license, and has started a family and set down roots here, a place he calls home.

But he does not have a green card, or permanent U.S. residency, because the U.S. government says John, who has lived here for about 30 years, is ineligible to call this country his home. 

John lives in an indefinite legal limbo, with the threat of arrest by immigration agents ever-present. But he hasn’t been expelled because his removal is on hold.

And his attorney, Jerard González of New Jersey, says his client sees it as preferable to the alternative – permanent expulsion.

“It’s better than being in Russia or Lebanon,” said González, a former federal immigration prosecutor. “He’s here with his wife.”

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of deportations are delayed every year.

Delayed deportations – known by various names, including “deferred action” – have been part and parcel of U.S. immigration policy for decades, routinely granted under both Democrat and Republican administrations. A work permit and the ability to obtain a driver’s license – two essential things that otherwise are off-limits to undocumented immigrants -- often are part of the deal.

This loophole in immigration law has allowed tens of thousands of foreign nationals --whom the United States has rejected for permanent legal residency, commonly referred to as a “green card”-- stay in the country for years.  Sometimes, like in John's case, the delay is so long that immigrants marry, have children here, buy homes, and even start businesses.

The loophole has benefited immigrants such as José Humberto and Hilda Jauregui of Peru, whose deportation immigration authorities agreed to suspend for a year on humanitarian grounds -- they are the guardians and caretakers of their granddaughter, a 17-year-old U.S. citizen who has leukemia.

And it has helped others with far more controversial cases, such as people whom the U.S. government slated for deportation on grounds that they were involved in terrorism.

Most immigrants trapped in the deportation web never get a delay. Rather, the delay often is granted to those who can afford top attorneys, or those who get the support of, say, members of Congress or the Senate, or who become the subject of a media campaign.

Although González supports the system of delaying deportations in certain cases, he says he has been troubled by some of the people he has seen dodge deportation.

An example, he said, is a Northern Ireland man who served jail time because of activities linked to his membership in the outlawed paramilitary group Irish Republican Army, or IRA.

“I thought about the disparity,” González said. “He gets to stay, but the others are gone – deported -- because they didn’t have the pull, didn’t have the political connections.”

How many have benefited is hard to discern. The power to put a deportation on hold is a tool available to, and used by, a variety of agencies and courts with a say on immigration matters, and the practice is marred by inconsistency, gaping holes in data, and cases that languish in suspension for years.

"Deferred action" is part of a parallel immigration universe that has not been part of the national debate, and about which everyday Americans know little, if anything.

From The Shadows to Official Policy

Now, the issue of deferred deportation is moving to the front burner, on the heels of the recent announcement by the Obama Administration that it is suspending removals while it makes a top priority removing immigrants who are criminals or who pose a threat to national security.

Some 300,000 deportation cases that are pending will be reviewed case by case, administration officials say. Low priority deportation cases – those involving undocumented immigrants brought here by their parents, relatives of U.S. citizens, and those with relatives who served in the U.S. military – will be put on hold and perhaps closed.

How it will work, exactly, is still unclear.

The announcement drew the ire of activists and groups who favor strict immigration enforcement. They said the Obama Administration is sidestepping immigration laws and unilaterally granting amnesty.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said the shift is the administration's "plan to grant backdoor amnesty to illegal immigrants."

House Republicans plan to hold hearings within a month challenging the new Obama Administration deportation policy.

Smith introduced a bill called the Hinder the Administration’s Legalization Temptation (HALT) Act, which prevents deferring deportations until January, 2013, the end of Obama’s first term.

"The Obama administration should enforce immigration laws, not look for ways to ignore them,” Smith said in a statement. “The Obama administration should not pick and choose which laws to enforce."

But Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the ranking Democrat on the House immigration subcommittee, said the outrage over deferred deportations ignores the fact that “Deferred action has been a tool used by every president.”

Those who defend delaying deportations view the practice as a necessary antidote to a broken immigration system.

“By and large the [new deportation] priorities are accurate,” Lofgren said. “The resources should be targeted at people who endanger society, and not people who have longstanding ties to the United States and relatives of Americans.”

“How guilty is the six-month-old kid who came here [illegally]?” Lofgren asked. “They did what they were supposed to, they obeyed their parents.”

The Deportation System Has Lacked Transparency

The system of deferred deportations long has been a largely opaque one, with the delays granted by different agencies using different criteria and employing different terms for the action (or lack thereof). Comprehensive data is hard to come by, making it difficult to assess the whole practice of suspending deportations.

DHS data for one category, “deferred action,” shows that an average of slightly over 600 people a year have received this reprieve under the Obama Administration.  An average of more than 750 people a year got it in former President George Bush’s last term.

Another category, “cancellation of removal,” shows that nearly 10 years ago, the U.S. cancelled deportation proceedings for roughly 24,000 immigrants, according to the DHS Office of Immigration Statistics.

That number increased for several years after that – to 29,000 in 2003, and peaked at 32,700 in 2004. But deportation cancellations dropped sharply in 2007, from nearly 30,000 in 2006 to just shy of 15,000.

The drop continued steadily under the Obama Administration –which has presided over more deportations than any other-- with 8,100 cancellations of deportation cases in 2010.

The longer a person stays in the United States illegally, ironically, the better the chance of getting deportation rescinded.

To qualify for cancellation of deportation, for example, immigration laws require an undocumented immigrant to have lived in the United States no less than 10 years.

Laws also require that the immigrant have no record of problems with police, and that deportation would pose “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” to a spouse, parent or child who is a U.S. citizen or legal immigrant.

Those who defend delaying deportations say they’re important in a system that is rife with flaws, and in which many immigrants do not get a fair shot to make their case because of a lack of legal counsel.

Proving extreme hardship, for example, said González, the attorney, is difficult.

“It’s the highest standard,” he said.

Groups on different sides of the immigration debate say the way the U.S. has managed deferred deportations has been problematic.

The gaps in the data that is available to the public doesn’t sit well with Lofgren.

The congresswoman said she ran into roadblocks when she tried to find out why deferred action approvals had declined under the Obama Administration.

“I couldn’t get an answer,” Lofgren said of her attempts to get more information. “It’s down, and I have a problem with that.”

There long has been no formal national procedure for handling deferred action requests, said a July memorandum by the Office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman, repeating concerns it had raised in 2007 about the USCIS’s system of delaying deportation.

“Stakeholders lack information regarding the number and nature of deferred action requests submitted each year,” the memorandum said, “and they are not provided with any information on the number of cases approved and denied, or the reasons underlying USCIS’ decisions.”

“Currently, there are no official, national standard operating procedures for how to process a deferred action request,” it said. “Tracking submissions and releasing the data to the public would improve management of the deferred action process and provide transparency to the public.”

A Valid Reprieve, or Back-Door Amnesty?

Proponents of strict immigration enforcement said deferred deportations undermine respect for immigration laws.

“There’s clearly a need for flexibility in any area of law that people are enforcing,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors strict immigration policies. “The law is a blunt instrument, providing for a little wiggle room is just prudent."

“The problem is when that wiggle room, the loophole, becomes the policy,” Krikorian said. “These various means of avoiding deportation is the policy itself.”

The USCIS ombudsman memo described deferred action as a reprieve that is meant to be granted for one or two years.

Deportations have been delayed for caretakers on whom an ill U.S. citizen or permanent resident depends, for people who have been the victims of spousal battery or human trafficking, and people like Haitians, whose homeland was devastated by an earthquake, leaving the already struggling country unable – it was argued – to absorb deportees.

The reprieve given to groups such as the Haitians is called Temporary Protected Status, or TPS.

“It’s not amnesty,” said former immigration commissioner Doris Meissner, who served during the Clinton Administration, and who authored guidelines on delaying deportations. “It’s a case by case review.”

“People are not getting any kind of legal status other than to have enforcement action be suspended temporarily,” said Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute. “All this does is stop the clock for the moment, but you’re nonetheless in a limbo situation.”

But deferred deportations, critics argue, stretch out too long – allowing many people the United States says are ineligible to live here to build lives here. Critics say it’s a way to game the immigration system.

For many groups, for example, they say, TPS hardly has turned out to be temporary.

“The Liberians had TPS year after year,” Krikorian said, “their kids were born here, graduated college, and got married in this supposed ‘temporary status.”

Hurricane Mitch, he said, occurred in 1998, “but Hondurans still have TPS.”

In September, 2009, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced a two-year suspension of deportation for widows of U.S. citizens who had died before green card petitions for their spouses were approved.

Advocates for the widows had argued that the U.S. was cruel and unfair in trying to deport people who had tried to do the right thing, but had not been able to complete the legalization process because of tragic circumstances.

It become known as the “widow’s penalty.”

In her announcement, Napolitano said: “Smart immigration policy balances strong enforcement practices with common-sense, practical solutions to complicated issues.”

She added that she hoped the two-year reprieve would give the widows – many of whom had lost court appeals -- a chance to try to find a means to obtain legal status. She also urged Congress to consider changing the law that called for deporting the widows.

It worked. A month later, Congress passed legislation ending the widow's penalty.

Suspending Deportations Was Called Critical for Northern Ireland Peace Process

Delayed deportation became a bargaining chip for about a dozen Northern Ireland men who were undocumented in the United States and who had been denied permanent residency after the disclosure that they had served time in British prisons for such things as killings of Northern Ireland police and weapons smuggling for the outlawed paramilitary group the Irish Republican Army, or IRA.

The Clinton Administration said it was suspending their deportation to help the peace process between those who supported British rule in Northern Ireland, and those, like the IRA, and its political arm, Sinn Fein, who opposed it.

Many of the men overstayed visas or entered illegally, and had not disclosed their convictions on immigration applications. They argued that their convictions were not for crimes, as they saw it, but for political issues.

Many of them have married U.S. citizen women and – with work permits that are renewed while they’re in legal limbo – have obtained jobs, driver’s licenses, and even started businesses.

“They’ve been in limbo for 20 years,” said Bruce Morrison, a former congressman who chaired the House immigration subcommittee. “They prefer limbo to leaving."

“They’re married, they’re working, they’re paying taxes, but they’re deportable,” said Morrison, who has a long record of helping Irish immigrants. “These people are in what is essentially in a parole status.”

Their status was met with discomfort by the Bush Administration, Morrison said. But the delayed deportation status continued.

“They got work authorization and travel authorization under the Bush Administration,” Morrison said. “The Bush Administration considered it to be Clinton’s issue, they never sent them [the men] a note” documenting the extension of the status.

“They didn’t want to have it scrutinized. It’s clear they didn’t want any piece of paper showing up on their watch saying they gave deferred action to terrorists.”

Morrison says such discretion in enforcing law is crucial. And the benefits that accompany permission to work while deportation is held at bay, he said, is practical.

“You have no rights,” Morrison said. “You have the right to work, because it doesn’t make sense to have people starve, and we don’t give them welfare.”

“There’s nothing pernicious about this,” he said. “These people were not a threat to anyone in the United States.”

Jerard González, the former immigration prosecutor, disagrees that former IRA members should get a reprieve from deportation.

González handled cases involving former IRA members when he was a federal prosecutor working on immigration cases.

He recalls pursuing the deportation of a man who served time in a Northern Ireland prison in the 1980s for acting as an armed lookout for an Irish Republican Army splinter group in the shooting of a police officer.

The man also was convicted on charges of conspiring to shoot another officer.

The man remains in the United States, where he owns homes and a business while he fights deportation.

Irish-American lobby groups rallied around him, launching email and telephone campaigns targeting political leaders, and got the support of several members of Congress.

“If the goal of our enforcement policies are to remove criminals, here’s a convicted terrorist,” González said.

“I thought about the disparity,” González said. “He gets to stay, but the others are gone – deported -- because they didn’t have the pull, didn’t have the political connections.”

With the Loophole Front and Center, a Battle Looms

Meissner sees the new deportation policy as a pragmatic first step toward some sort of immigration reform.

"They're taking something that's been done piecemeal, and making it more focused, more strategic, by putting their resources where they are best used," she said."High priority cases will move the courts more quickly, there won't be as large a backlog."

Meissner says that the heated differences over how to handle enforcement and deportations underscore "why Congress needs to act on immigration."

Stacked next to the estimated 11 million undocumented people in the United States, Meissner said, the 300,000 people whose deportations will be reviewed "is a small proportion," and hardly address the larger issue of illegal immigration.

"No one can rectify [the system's flaws] but Congress," she said.

That said, she noted that immigration is a much complex matter than when she was immigration commissioner.

"We're dealing with a much more sizable number of unauthorized immigrants," she said, "who have been here a long time, they are in mixed-status households, they're invested in various ways in their communities. They have roots now."

Source Elizabeth Llorente

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Posted in deportation , illegal immigrants , immigration agents , Latin America , latino , latino deportation , U.S. government

Arrests of Immigrants on U.S. Southern Border at 40-Year Low

The number of immigrant arrests on the border with Mexico stands at its lowest level in 40 years, undermining conservative claims that the zone is "out of control" and leading activists to insist the time is right for comprehensive immigration reform.

So far in fiscal year 2011, which ends on Sept. 30, 447,731 immigrants have been arrested along the southern border, a figure that represents a significant decline in the average of about a million arrests annually in the 1980s and '90s.

Figures compiled by the Border Patrol show that after peaking at 1.5 million in 1999, arrests of undocumented immigrants have declined every year beginning in 2006.

Although in the 1990s it was estimated that for every arrested undocumented immigrant two others managed to avoid the Border Patrol, now thanks to aerial monitoring, the greater number of Border Patrol personnel in the region and technological advances, calculations are that in the sectors of El Paso, Texas; Yuma, Arizona; and San Diego about 90 percent of all those who cross the border illegally are captured.

The point of view that the southern border was "out of control" intensified in the 1990s, creating the conditions for building the triple border wall along the frontier between Tijuana and San Diego which is currently pushing immigration flows eastward into Arizona.

Academic Joseph Nevins, author of the book "Operation Guardian," says that anti-immigrant sentiment crystallized in public political terms in 1994, when the Clinton administration implemented Operation Guardian in California, erecting new physical and legal barriers to undocumented immigrants.

As a consequence of Guardian, the number of Border Patrol agents in San Diego grew from 4,200 in 1994 to 9,212 in 2000, a situation that forced undocumented immigrants to shift their border crossing attempts to the often-deadly Arizona desert.

In 1986, U.S. authorities arrested 629,656 immigrants in San Diego, compared with 71,675 in Tucson, while so far during the current fiscal year 212,202 arrests have been made in the Tucson Sector compared with 68,565 here.

Activist Pedro Rios, with the American Friends Service Committee in San Diego, told Efe that although it is clear that the economic crisis has put the brakes on immigration, what has not declined is the number of people who have died trying to cross the border.

"The presence of (Border Patrol) agents makes the flow move to more dangerous zones and take more time. Bodies have been found up to 75 miles north of the border. We have about 6,000 dead people since 1994," said Rios.

"The border, as the low numbers of immigrant arrests show, does not need to be militarized any more. It's regrettable that there continues to exist a discourse that says that before getting started with immigration reform, the border must be secured, when now it is," said Rios.

Source EFE

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Posted in 2011 mexico illegal immigrants , barack obama , border patrol Arizona , illegal immigrants , illegalimmigrants deportation , Latin America , Mexico illegal immigrants

Medical Inventions to Help the Poor

A motorcycle ambulance and a solar-powered hearing aid to heal the poor?

Instead of the usual donated medicines and health equipment, some experts are inventing new products for the poor, including those two inventions that were showcased recently at an engineering conference in London.

In a new report published online Monday in the journal Lancet, the United Nations highlights innovations like using text messages in South Africa to remind women with HIV to get their babies tested and tucking medicines into Coca-Cola crates to reach remote villages.

Hundreds of thousands of replacement joints, surgical tools and other medical devices have been sent to poor countries over the years. But according to the World Health Organization, about 75 percent of the donated goods sit unused, either because they're broken or no one knows how to use them.

"In the past, there's been a lot of good will and bad judgment in the West," said Chris Lavy, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Oxford who previously worked in Africa.

Lavy said many African hospitals get dozens of different types of hip or knee replacements that are often unusable. "It's like you need a spare tire for your Volkswagen but they send you a Mercedes radiator instead," he said.

He said inventions like the solar-powered hearing aid could make a big difference in Africa. Experts estimate two-thirds of the 250 million people worldwide who have a hearing disability live in poor countries.

The solar-powered device was designed by Andrew Carr, a mechanical engineer in Cambridge, who noticed most hearing aids donated to Africa don't help because they treat a different type of hearing loss more prevalent in the West. The hearing aid Carr developed must be held close to the ear to work, but doesn't have to be worn inside.

Carr's device has an internal solar-powered battery and can be looped into a necklace or attached to a hat so it's next to the person's ear. "It blends in with local tribal cultures better than the light pink hearing aids for Caucasians that get donated," Carr said. Carr is in talks with some charities about testing the hearing aid in Africa and hopes to secure more funding to mass produce the device.

The U.N. report calls for more unorthodox health solutions, and details how health officials are now using Coca-Cola's supply chain to deliver anti-diarrhea treatments in Zambia. The medicine is sent in a special pod that sits in the unused space inside Coca-Cola crates.

"To piggyback onto (Coca-Cola's) distribution system is a great opportunity for medicines," said Tore Godal, a health adviser to the prime minister of Norway, who led the U.N. report. He said officials are also interested in using the soft drink crates to deliver ivermectin, a pill given to many Africans once a year to prevent river blindness.

Other experts agreed new innovations can help and even create a sustainable market for health products, as long as researchers do their homework first.

That was the idea behind the eRanger, a motorcycle ambulance with a sidecar stretcher capable of driving through the African bush terrain. "The donated ambulances (from the West) won't do 100 yards in Africa," said Mike Norman, a British engineer who designed the motorcycle ambulance.

So far, Guinea, Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa have bought the ambulances, which sell for about $6,200. Last year, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and others donated $250,000 to UNICEF in Southern Sudan specifically to buy the vehicles.

Norman says health officials have focused on using them to get pregnant women to health clinics to deliver their babies. Since the motorcycle ambulances were introduced in one district of Malawi several years ago, death rates among mothers have dropped 60 percent.

"What really matters is if it's acceptable to people and if they will pay for it and use it," said Ted Bianco of the Wellcome Trust, who was not linked to any of the inventions or the U.N. report. "Because you could have a really fantastic invention, but if it's sitting on a shelf somewhere, it won't do any good."

Based on reporting by The Associated Press.

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Posted in 2011 top medical invention , Chris Lavy , Guinea , Latin America , latin community , latino , Malawi , South Africa , Tanzania

Are Latinos lucky…or cursed?

You’ve heard of the luck of the Irish. So what is the luck of the Hispanic?

Personally, I think the Latino propensity for serendipity is symbolized by Hugo Reyes, also known as Hurley, from the show Lost.

Despite being a fun-loving, friendly Latino, Hurley kept seeing everybody around him get killed in some random or grisly manner. He constantly bemoaned the fact that he was cursed.

Certainly, many Americans relate to Hurley. For the last decade or so, we’ve all felt jinxed. It’s been a nonstop joyride of economic turmoil, endless war, terrorist threats, and political chaos.

But the extra burden for Hispanics is that our roots are in places that aren’t especially suited to good karma. Much of Latin America is chockablock with war, poverty, revolution, and drugs. Our families escaped — rather than simply emigrated, like so many Europeans did. Many of our ancestors weren’t searching for a better existence or more opportunities. A lot of them flat out fled for their lives.

Perhaps these origins — combined with the socioeconomic malaise that continues to grip Hispanics — are why Latinos are more pessimistic about the future than other Americans. We tend not to believe that good things will just happen, or that we’ll get a lucky break.

Instead, we frequently embrace a crazed work ethic to actually make positive events occur. But working nonstop hasn’t seemed to help Latinos much. In fact, we appear to have slid backward recently.

In contrast, many Hispanics adopt the comforting viewpoint that God is testing us so that we can kick back in the afterlife. This is theologically dubious, however, and can be viewed as another way in which Latinos’ hyper-religiosity often holds us back.

Now, despite my heavy cloak of cynicism (on display in this post), I consider myself an optimist. Still, over the last few years, I’ve often felt like Hurley — always one step removed from calamity. For example, I recently wrote about how my wife and I boarded the Amtrak for a brief, relaxing vacation.

So how did it go?

Well, at the train station, the feds provoked chaos with a sloppy raid on illegal immigrants that freaked everybody out, whether they were citizens or not. Once we got on the train, the air conditioning broke, and we sweated (quite literally) through a three-hour delay.

When we at last got going, my wife received a call that one of her relatives had been in a serious car accident (amazingly, nobody died). Then, shortly before we reached our destination, our train slammed into a drunken driver who almost killed himself while trying to cross the tracks.

But my wife and I finally got to our station and left the doomed train. A few days later, when we boarded the Amtrak for the return trip, we said that this leg of our “relaxing vacation” had to go more smoothly.

And it did — right until a guy in our section unexpectedly dropped dead of a heart attack…

Maybe I’m just bad mojo.

Source  Daniel Cubias

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Posted in hispanic , Hugo Reyes , Hurley , Latin America , Latin hispanic market , latino , Lost show

Recession's Biggest Losers Are Latinos

Blame the housing market. The real estate collapse in 2005 lead to a dramatic decline in Latino wealth to according a Pew Research Center study on wealth in America released Tuesday.

In fact, Pew found that Latinos accounted for the largest single decline in wealth of any racial or ethnic group during the U.S. recession.

According to the study:

Two-thirds of Hispanics' median net worth in 2005 came from home equity. When the housing market collapsed, so did Latino wealth. Median home equity for Hispanics fell by 51 percent in the period of the survey.

Second, Hispanics were more likely to live and buy homes in states such as California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, which were on the forefront of the real estate bubble, enjoying early gains in home values.

The pursuit of the American dream through the purchase of a new home has now proven to be a major factor into the largest wealth gap between white and minority Americans in over 25 years.

"What's pushing the wealth of whites is the rebound in the stock market and corporate savings, while younger Hispanics and African-Americans who bought homes in the last decade — because that was the American dream — are seeing big declines," said Timothy Smeeding, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who specializes in income inequality.

According to the Pew study, the housing boom of the early to mid-2000s boosted the wealth of Hispanics in particular, who were disproportionately employed in the thriving construction industry.

But those gains quickly shriveled in the housing bust. After reaching a median wealth of $18,359 in 2005, the wealth of Hispanics — who derived nearly two-thirds of their net worth from home equity — declined by 66 percent by 2009.

Among blacks, who now have the highest unemployment rate at 16.2 percent, their household wealth fell 53 percent from $12,124 to $5,677.

In contrast, the median household wealth of whites dipped a modest 16 percent from $134,992 to $113,149, cushioned in part by a stock market recovery that began in mid-2009.

"The findings are a reminder — if one was needed — of what a large share of blacks and Hispanics live on the economic margins," said Paul Taylor, director of Pew Social & Demographic Trends.

"When the economy tanked, they're the groups that took the heaviest blows."

The latest data come as President Barack Obama and congressional leaders try to reach a deal to avoid a U.S. default on its financial obligations after Aug. 2.

Democrats and Republicans have been wrangling over proposals that could cut trillions of dollars from programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

They are divided over whether to bring in new tax revenue, such as by closing corporate tax loopholes or increasing taxes for the wealthy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Posted in hispanic market , latin , Latin America , latino , latino recessions , Pew Research Center , President Barack Obama

Our obsession with Latino celebrities

It’s true. Latinos have an obsession with celebrities. And not just any celebrity, but our own. For some odd reason, whenever we see Dra. Ana Maria Polo, Jennifer Lopez or Sofia Vergara in person, we just find a cultural connection and immediately go into “OMG” mode. Why is it so? Just like anything else in our cultural lives, because they are Latino in the U.S. with successful careers, we seem to look at them with a more passionate view as appose to anything else.

Okay sure Justin Bieber is a good performer, but Jennifer Lopez seems to draw a bigger crowd. Not only did she make it “bigger” with the addition to American Idol, but it seems as though Puerto Ricans and other Latinos look at her as inspiration to make it big. With her debut in the movie Selena, it was there where we as Latinos looked at ourselves and said, “She did it. So can we.”

One of my favorite examples of obsession is with Dra. Ana Maria Polo. Out of all the people we look up to it seems as though women find her work the most inspirational. Is it because she helps solve casos de la vida real or because she is a breast cancer survivor? The more real life situations the celebrity has, the more connection we seem to get. I mean it’s not every day when she can talk about how her “people” inspires her right? Like she says, “Por que trabajamos más que nadie.”

It’s true that celebrities are looked at as icons in their own way, but you have to admit nothing is more exciting than meeting someone who has struggled just as you have. Remember that there’s a reason why our parents came to live in the U.S.; to give us an opportunity and it’s that orgullo that keeps us going. When we see an immigrant similar to ourselves make it in the U.S., we immediately draw a bigger connection than to someone who just raps about money.

Even sports cause a huge obsession. The U.S. is one of the few countries where soccer, or futbol, is underappreciated. It’s funny seeing Colombian, Brazilian or other Latin American country players play for MLS teams. We love to yell, hate and love our main players. If they don’t make it to the world cup, all hell breaks loose.

I must admit the only time I would go gaga for anyone would be Shakira. Yes she has good music, but she also cares about the children via her philanthropy Pies Descalzos. I mean really any endorsement involving children gets you extra browning points. So what’s the real difference between our obsession and other cultural obsessions? It will always be our commitment to community and family. We understand struggle, pain and sorrow and at the same time happiness. Our cultural roots to our homeland always brings a smile to our own faces.

Source Eric Cortes

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Posted in Dra. Ana Maria Polo , Jennifer Lopez , Latin America , Latin Celebrities , Latinos , shakira

Why Personal Empowerment and Your Career Go Hand in Hand

Although Latinos haven’t necessarily been at the forefront of the human potential movement, maybe it’s time for that to change.

Personal development and empowerment can seem to some to be ‘fluffy’ topics.  After all, a career is built on solid, daily activities.

Why would you spend time ‘navel gazing’ when there’s work to be done?

Throughout our working life, we carefully construct our career out of the very practical building blocks of an education, gather our skills and move up the ranks.

Not everyone strives to be CEO one day, but we all want to find ourselves in a job that provides for our family and gives us some personal satisfaction. 

But while steadily putting one foot in front of the other, we may forget that taking time to reflect is crucial.

Self-reflection and self-analysis is good not only for our own well-being, but for that of our career as well.

When we take stock, we learn what we’re good at, and what we are not so good at.  This inventory of skills is one of the first things many leadership programs or coaches will recommend.

I know for myself, personal empowerment and development was necessary for my sanity.  As a former teenage single mother and domestic violence survivor, I knew I had a lot of healing to do.  And interestingly, all this internal work became useful for my career.

But what is most important is what you do with this information – how do you use it to catapult your career (as well as internal balance)?

As workers, Latinos don’t shy away from hard work, but it’s equally important to take time to do the work of personal growth.

As business schools continue their research, the two sides of personal empowerment and career development are starting to become more integrated.

Personal empowerment not only helps you to identify and leverage your strengths, but also compensate for your weaknesses.  It helps you come to terms with who you are, and thereby find a better place that works for you.

This kind of introspection helps you learn how you can really fit into an organization, and how to better get where you need to go.

Personal empowerment allows for better communication skills, and teaches you not to take things so personally.  This can be helpful if you get negative messages, for example, from your boss.

Programs such as those offered by the Center for Creative Leadership are at the forefront of not only manager developing and training new managers, but also of offering best practices for Fortune 500 CEOs.

And programs specifically geared for Latinos and Latinas, such as the National Hispana Leadership Institute’s Executive Leadership Training Program, or Mestiza Leadership International’s Latino Leadership Program take some of these themes and practices and customize them for a Latino audience.

After all, isn’t ‘knowing oneself’ the first step in figuring out where you’re going and why?  And more important – where you want to end up! 

Elite companies and organizations are recognizing the importance of personal empowerment and sending their high level executives to these programs.

But don’t wait.  Reading books, taking courses and seminars, and enrolling in larger programs such as those mentioned above could be what will catapult us, as Latinos, into a new kind of leadership.

As we take on responsibility for our own personal empowerment – whatever that means for each of us individually – this will necessarily spill over into career success.

And as Latinos, since our numbers are the only ones contributing GROWTH to the new U.S. workforce, it behooves us to be prepared.

How better than to empower ourselves first?

Next, we’ll talk about what ‘empowerment’ means…


Source Aurelia Flores

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Posted in career growth , Latin America , latino , Latinos career , Latinos work empowerment , persal empowerment

Jennifer Lopez and William Levy Rumors Are Swirling After Divorce

Was she into him all along?

We may soon find out just how much Jennifer Lopez swooned for William Levy during their steamy video for her hit single "I'm into You" now that the Puerto Rican dynamo announced her divorce from Marc Anthony.

Lopez and Anthony released a statement Friday evening (perfectly timed to minimize how much attention the news received) where they dropped the bombshell that they were calling it quits after seven years.


With the news that JLo and Marc Anthony are divorcing, take a look at them throughout the years.


    Jennifer Lopez Talks About New Show 'Q'Viva: “Biggest Thing I’ve Been Involved With Yet”

“This was a very difficult decision,” the statement said.

“It is a painful time for all involved. And we appreciate the respect of our privacy at this time.”

The news may have come as a surprise for fans who saw Anthony and Lopez put on an electric performance towards the end of American Idol but the sultry songtress has also shared a volcanic video shoot with telenovela heartthrob, Levy.



Lopez and Levy share intimate beach-side embraces as she strokes his shoulders and his chest in the video which was shot in Mexico and while there has been no official word linking the two stars, both have left their long-time spouses since the video aired.

Levy also separated from his wife, Mexican actress Elizabeth Gutiérrez, who took on the rumors of his alleged infidelities in the press release she sent out about the separation.

"I was always firmly by William's side, despite the persistent rumors...I had no reason to doubt the strength of our union," her statement read in Spanish.


"I confess that this decision hasn't been easy but I owe respect to myself as a person, woman and mother," she wrote.

Lopez and Anthony were married seven years and have 3-year-old twins.

They were to start work on a singing competition reality show billed as American Idol in Latin America. No word on the status of the upcoming show.

And only time will tell if Lopez is into anything more than a video shoot with the Cuban bachelor now that she's on the market as well.


Source Adrian Carrasquillo

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Posted in american idol , I'm into You , Jennifer Lopez , Jennnifer Lopez video 2011 , Latin America , top best latin divorce 2011 , William Levy

Report: Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony to Divorce

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony have ended their marriage, according to People Magazine.

The A-list celebrity couple, who have 3-year-old twins, told the magazine in a joint statement that their seven-year marriage was over.

“This was a very difficult decision,” the statement said. “It is a painful time for all involved. And we appreciate the respect of our privacy at this time.”

The couple, both of Puerto Rican descent, married in 2004. They tied the knot less than a week after his divorce with Dayanara Torres was finalized.

It’s Lopez’s third marriage, his second.

The two were reportedly supposed to double date with the Royal couple in Los Angeles last week, but she ended up showing up with her mother, Guadalupe, instead. 

She tweeted afterward: "Good Morning Lovers! Had fun with my Mom! The Duke & (Dutchess) were simply charming!"

One of the last images the public has of Anthony and Lopez is from their scintillating performance on American Idol. Marc Anthony sang while she danced salsa seductively in front of him.

Marc Anthony reportedly was against her returning to American Idol, the show which reinvigorated her career after a several year slump. Anthony and Lopez were also supposed to start a reality show called Q'Viva which is billed as American Idol in Latin America.




Source: Fox News Latino

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Posted in hot couple divorce 2011 , Jennifer Lopez Marc Anthony Divorce 2011 , jlo divorce 2011 , Latin America , latin couple divorce 2011 , marc anthony divorce 2011 , Q'Viva

REPORT: Illegal Immigration from Mexico Drops Dramatically

When Mexican census figures came in recently, officials discovered something unexpected: There were 4 million more people in the country than they thought. The reason? Something you rarely hear in heated immigration discussions in the United States: emigration to the U.S. has plummeted.

Call to Action: The Immigration Crisis

Better economic and educational opportunities and better political climate in Mexico, a rise in drug-related violence along migration corridors leading to the border and declining birth rates have contributed to the decline, according to a New York Times report quoting several studies, U.S. and Mexican figures and immigration experts. The report also says the easing of requirements for legal immigration, as well as the American economic slowdown and increased crackdowns have contributed to making illegal border crossings more unpalatable.

U.S. census figures scrutinized by the Pew Hispanic Center show that that fewer than 100,000 undocumented Mexicans made the U.S. their home in 2010, down dramatically from 525,000 a year from 2000 to 2004.

The Steep Price of Immigration for Latin American Women

Why the drop in immigrants from Mexico, which have accounted for more than half of the illegal immigrant population in the U.S.? Here are some figures that may explain, according to the Times report:

•Better conditions in Mexico: Incomes have risen, narrowing the gap between wages in the U.S. and Mexico and easing poverty; democracy has a more secure foothold; basic services, such as electricity, running water and trash collection are more widely available. Mexico has built more high and prep schools in states like Jalisco, where many U.S.-bound immigrants come from; In states like Chiapas and Oaxaca, the number of degree holders has risen significantly since 2000.

•Lower fertility rate: The fertility rate among Mexican women is down to 2 children per woman from 6.8 in 1970, creating a smaller pool of potential job seekers

•More legal immigration: Mexicans who have become U.S. citizens have brought in 64 percent more immediate family members legally

•More legal temporary workers: U.S. farmers have legally hired 75 percent more since 2006

•Increased border enforcement: Additional border fences and federal agents to key crossing corridors helped drive up smuggling prices to upwards of $2000, shifting traffic to dangerous desert areas.

•Tougher U.S. laws and non-border enforcement: More than a dozen states have passed laws green-lighting police checks of suspected illegals and making it harder for employers to hire undocumented workers and landlords to rent to them; immigrant rights have been restricted

•Easing of visa rules: Temporary visa program for agricultural workers has been expanded, tourist visa requirement of proof of an income large enough to support a stay in the U.S. has been eased.

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Posted in Illegal Immigrant , immigrants from Mexico , Immigration Crisis , Latin America , mexicans , USA illegal immigrants

Exclusive: Revealing details on Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony's new reality show

As you may have heard, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony have created their own musical reality show, called 'Q' Viva: The Chosen'. The power couple will embark in the next couple of months through an extensive 21-country search for the next new talents in music, either it's singing, playing or dancing all over Latin America. For this special mission they are joined by 'American Idol's creator, Simon Fuller, and world-renowned director and choreographer, Jamie King.

King has an impressive resumé working with the brightest, most important names in the business. He's been behind unforgettable world tours for such artists as Madonna, Britney Spears, Pink, Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Avril Lavigne, Ricky Martin and Rihanna, just to name a few. And now he's here to share with AOL Latino further details on what we can expect from 'Q' Viva':

How far are you into developing or filming 'Q' Viva'?
Right now we're really at the beginning stages, getting ready to embark in this journey, which is really in a way a discovery of Latin America and the 21 countries we're about to scout physically, ourselves, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez. Our mission is to discover new, young talent. Actually, young is the not right word, it's about all ages. But if you are in one of the countries and you have someone that you think represents best your country, we want to know about it. We will follow the people in each country to find undiscovered talent. Also, since we're in the beginning stages, you can go to Youtube.com/QViva and upload videos. We're using the Internet as well, because Latin America, as you can imagine, is such a vast region to cover and we want to make sure we don't miss anything. So if you have a friend or someone you want to nominate in terms of creativity, either a best singer, poet, street performer, we will want to see it. We will be watching all those videos ourselves as well.

Have you been watching these videos from YouTube?
Yes! Right now, Jennifer, Marc and myself have been meticulously going through them because we want to make sure that nothing is overlooked. And for us, there's no age limit. We're looking for anything that represents a particular region. But I can't wait to go to each country and search for the talent. I'm so excited and I can't wait to see more.

What interested you the most about taking this job?
I would say it would start with my love of music, dance and culture, live shows. But also, I'm friends with Jennifer and Marc and our other partner, Simon Fuller. They are all great, amazing talents themselves and have created the most successful brands in the world, and that is completely inspiring. For us, it's all about finding the talent.

What makes it different from other shows like 'American Idol'?
Unlike any other show that you have out there, unlike 'Idol' or 'America's Got Talent', we are the talent scouts. We are physically going into these countries not only to find talent but to simultaneously learn about each country and its culture, its similarities and differences with other countries. What makes them unique, what is their voice and the essence of each of the countries. There has never been a show that has really celebrated Latin America this way: the beauty, the splendor, the complexity and all the color that make up Latin America. Our intention is to show that to the rest of the world.

What is it about Latino culture that you find most appealing?
I don't know about you, but I have a background in dance and I LOVE when a good drum song comes on, with the rhythm in the music and also, the fire of the people, their sexiness. The communal kind of love that unites them is so inspiring and I want to learn more about that. I'm not Latin, I'm American, so I'm very much learning as I go in this process. I'm looking to find undiscovered talent but I'm also learning so much about the cultures myself. So the audience watching us will be learning through me, the American who doesn't speak Spanish. I'm looking forward to learning more as I go apart from the things I know and that I have learned from directing shows for Ricky Martin, Shakira, Thalía and Paulina Rubio.


How was it working with them?
For me there's no greater experience every time I have had the privilege to work with a Latin artist. And I've gotta say, I've worked with many, many artists, but each one of them, Ricky, Shakira, Paulina, Thalía, they have a particular fire, soul and energy that comes with the job that I find so inspiring. I must admit all of them have been one of the greatest experiences in my career.

Do you have any specific dates when you're coming down to each country?
Not right now, but we will embark on this journey very soon. You will definitely know when huge stars like Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez land in your city (laughs). So I'm definitely looking forward to that happening very soon.

Watch the official teaser and behind-the-scenes footage of '¡Q' Viva! The Chosen.'

Source Gustavo Heredia

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Posted in Jennifer Lopez , latin , Latin America , Marc AnthonyiQ Viva The Chosen Ricky , Paulina , shakira , Thalia

Latino Military Heroes

Latinos have fought in every American war since the Revolution. Make this Memorial Day mean more than chomping on hot dogs, shopping at mall sales and enjoying a three-day weekend by honoring Latinos who have given their service and their lives to help keep you free. Here are some outstanding Hispanics with exemplary military careers to get you.

2nd Lt. Emily Perez

A West Point graduate (she was the military academy’s first female minority Cadet Command Sergeant Major), she also made history as the first female black officer to die in combat after a bomb went off near her vehicle in Iraq. Perez, who was African American and Latina, received the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge, among other awards. A talented track star in school, she posthumously received the NCAA Award of Valor. PHOTO: Veterans salute Emily at her funeral

Aviation Material Readiness Officer Marisol Chalas

Chalas is one of a handful of Latina Black Hawk helicopter pilots and first for the National Guard. But the tough-minded dominicana, who graduated at the top of her class in aviation school, is also the commander of a fleet of Army Reserve Black Hawk helicopters. She served in the first Gulf War but counts an Army-sponsored mission to build rural schools and clinics in the Dominican Republic in 2006 as one of her biggest career highlights.

Spc. Shoshana Johnson

The Panamanian American became the first black female prisoner of war in U.S. history when she and five other members of her unit (including Jessica Lynch) were captured in 2003 after losing a gunfight in Iraq. Marines rescued them after 22 days and she received the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and the Prisoner of War Medal for her service in Iraq.

Rear Admiral Patrick H. Brady

A rear admiral of the Navy, Brady, who is Irish and Hispanic, is in charge of no less than all the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, the center for research, development, test, evaluation, engineering and fleet support for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, and offensive and defensive weapons systems associated with undersea warfare. He is also a motivational speaker who addresses Latino kids and organizations.

Spc. Juan Sebastian Restrepo

The 20-year-old Colombian American Army airborne combat medic, beloved by his fellow soldiers, was on patrol in Afghanistan’s deadly Korengal Valley when he was shot twice in the neck in July 2007 and died. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. An Army outpost built in the spot were he died, named after him by his buddies, was the subject of a 2010 documentary, Restrepo.

Sgt. First Class Augustin Ramos Calero

Nicknamed a “one-man Army” by his comrades, Ramos singlehandedly killed 11 Germans and captured another 21 in a World War II battle in France. The Boricua, one of 500,000 Hispanics to serve in WWII, was wounded five times during the war and received 22 medals, including a Siler Star and a Purple Heart. That made him the most decorated Latino in WWII.

Maj. Otto Padron

He may be Univision’s Senior Vice President for Programming, but Padron is also a 21-year Army reservist. In 2006, he was called up to Iraq, where he was promoted to Major. There, the Cuban American exec survived improvised explosive device attacks and received the Army Commendation Medal with a valor device and Bronze Star for safely leading his team out an ambush at an Iraqi Police Station during heavy fire.

Cpl. Marco Martinez

The first Latino to receive a Navy Cross (the Armed Forces’ second-highest honor) since the Vietnam War, Martinez led a devastating attack against Saddam Hussein’s elite Fedayeen and Republican Guards in 2003. The Mexican American New Mexico native eventually ending the firefight by singlehandedly entering a building alone and lobbing a grenade. He wrote a memoir, Hard Corps: From Gangster to Marine Hero, about his life and military career.

Source Damarys Ocana

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Posted in Latin America , latin heroes , latino military heroes , memorial day , memorial days , military heroes , top best military heroes

Patient Navigators Help Guide Latinos through the Health Care Maze

Lack of transportation, language barriers and fear of medical procedures keep low-income Latinos out of the doctor’s office. Now a relatively new position in the health-care industry, known as a patient navigator, promises to help this population get the medical care they need.

“Poor people meet barriers when they try to go through the health-care system that cause them be treated later for certain diseases like cancer, so they end up dying at a higher rate,” said Harold Freeman M.D., a New York surgeon who came up with the idea for patient navigators in 1990 to help indigent cancer patients in the Bronx.

Freeman’s idea — creating a social worker-type position to overcome those barriers — didn’t start to catch on until 2005, when former President George W. Bush signed into law the Patient Navigator and Chronic Disease Prevention Act. Now the American College of Surgeons are requiring that hospitals that want to receive its accreditation have patient navigator programs.

Navigators guide patients through every step of their medical care. They may go to doctor’s visits to help a patient understand a diagnosis, remind her about an upcoming appointment or look for grant money to help pay for a costly operation.

A Trend That Keeps on Growing

Freeman opened an educational institute in New York last year that has trained 500 people from 41 different states to be patient navigators.

Today there are more than 2,000 health-care sites around the country that have patient navigators.

One of those is Denver Health, a conglomeration of health-care programs for low-income residents in the city and county of Denver.

Denver Health, which employs 15 navigators, works with 160,000 patients a year. More than half are Latino and nearly as many do not have health insurance. The navigators work with patients at risk for or suffering from a variety of illness such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and breast cancer.

A director of two of the programs in the clinic, Elizabeth Whitley, says she likes to hire navigators who understand the community.

One of those hires is Raquel Vázquez de López, who works for Community Voices in the area of colorectal screening.

Vázquez de López’s job is to get middle-aged patients screened for colon cancer. She hears numerous reasons why a patient might be hesitant to get a colonoscopy: From fear of missing work (in which case she’ll call the employer) to a belief that they won’t be able to find someone to drive them home (in which case she’ll find them a taxi voucher or a neighbor willing to help out).

“I address all the barriers,” she says. “And they’re very grateful. I think they feel appreciated that someone cares about their health.”

Helping Those Who Fear the Worst

One of the most common barriers is fear. So Vázquez de López will spend extra time with that patient explaining the procedure.

“A lot of patients hear from friends and family members that it’s a very painful procedure,” she says, “so they’re surprised when I tell them it’s actually very simple, it doesn’t hurt and usually only takes about 15 minutes.”

Four years ago, when Vázquez de López first began working for Community Voices, the no-show rate for colonoscopies was 57 percent. Today it’s 17 percent.

She says even when she’s unsuccessful in convincing a patient to have the procedure right away, she often finds out that she’s had an influence.

“I try my best but sometimes they still say, ‘No,’ so I say, ‘Okay here’s my phone number, you can call anytime.’ Often a month or so later, I’ll hear from them.”

Nancy Averett is a freelance writer based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Mexican University President Say He'll Go Where He's Needed: To Educate Latinos in U.S.

Madrid –  The president of Mexico's prestigious Tecnologico de Monterrey university, Rafael Rangel Sostmann, said here Monday that he plans to found a center at Georgetown University to promote higher education among U.S. Hispanics.

The new venture in Washington is one of the projects Rangel Sostmann will tackle after concluding his tenure at Monterrey Tec, he told reporters in Madrid after signing an agreement with several Spanish universities to create a joint master's degree program in Ibero-American journalism.

"I hope my successor (in Monterrey) is designated within the next few months so I can dedicate myself to these other matters," he said.

"The Hispanic in the U.S. is not reaching university, the first generations of immigrants are not completing their studies. We want to make an effort for them to achieve that," said Rangel Sostmann, who became president of Monterrey Tec in 1985.

More broadly, he said he plans to use the new institution at Washington's Georgetown University as the hub of a "virtual space" linking all of Monterrey Tec's community education centers in Mexico, the United States and Latin America.

"And we will also conduct a reflection about the mission of the university at the present moment. I feel it has to go outside its walls and integrate more with the community to carry out truly transformative projects," Rangel Sostmann said.

fox news latino

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Too many Latinos?

redneckliberals

I’m sure you’ve heard the news that Hispanics now make up a record percentage of the American population. The U.S. Census says that one out of every six residents is Latino. Furthermore, in a “surprising show of growth, Hispanics accounted for more than half of the US population increase over the last decade.”

Yes, Latinos are the chief reason that America has avoided a population decline. However, not everyone is grateful, or particularly thrilled, about this fact. In fact, quite a few Americans are angry, anxious, or just plain freaked out over the ascendancy of Hispanics in the United States.

For example, a Texas demographer recently made headlines when he analyzed his state’s ethnic makeup and announced, “It’s basically over for Anglos.” Steve Murdock went on to imply that whites would be practically extinct in Texas within a few decades, adding, “It’s a terrible situation that you [Texas] are in. I am worried.”

Murdock later insisted that he was not pushing for ethnic cleansing. He explained that he was concerned about Latinos’ lower income levels, and in fact, he was advocating for improving the state of Hispanic education.

Even if we give Murdock the benefit of the doubt, his words certainly struck a chord with many Americans who don’t know the identity of their original immigrant ancestor. For such individuals, more Latinos is bad news indeed.

Now, some right-wing groups have been very clever about hiding their racial animosity. Being Latino recently ran an article about a network of organizations that have tried to connect rates of immigration (legal or otherwise) with environmental deterioration. And we know which ethnicity is most closely associated with immigration in America.

The message is clear: Americans who care about Mother Earth — and their own quality of life — have to keep the U.S. population as unchanged as possible. In addition to being xenophobic, however, this approach sidesteps reality. According to the Rand Corporation, it is countries that have the strictest immigration and naturalization policies (such as Japan) that may be in the most economic trouble in the future. Even if America magically stopped all immigration today, Hispanics would still drive population growth, by virtue of the fact that Hispanics tend to be younger and have more children than other groups.

Still, that has not stopped many Americans for advocating for taller fences, as if that will keep the Latino population low. These strategies often backfire. Witness the problems in Brownsville, Texas, where a Department of Homeland Security barrier is so twisty and arbitrary that it has left the homes of many US citizens “stranded on the other side of the fence.” Some Americans have seen their property cut off, and several complain that they “have to find a gap” in the fence to access their land.

We see now why it’s going to be over white people in Texas. Their state keeps fencing them out of the country and forcing them to hop a wall to get in.

Source Daniel Cubias

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