Back to the old house

If there was ever an example for the need for immigration reform look no further than that of Maria Martinez.

The nineteen-year-old will soon graduate from her local high school in the town of Harrisonburg, Virginia where she took advanced classes and volunteered as a translator at a local elementary school. Her aspirations included going to college much like her classmates and doing something positive with her life.

Maria Martinez will be deported in August to El Salvador.

At the age of twelve, Martinez was smuggled illegally into the U.S. by her mother. The journey to Virginia was harrowing yet once she settled down she was able to assimilate into a new culture. She was never comfortable with her status as an undocumented migrant and tried to rectify the situation. It would turn out to be a noble yet ultimately hurtful choice:

Maria's mother was legal and so were her half brothers and sisters who were born here. So, in 2006, as a 16-year-old, Maria applied for citizenship.

Her mother admits some regret now for that decision. Maria was denied and, by applying, the U.S. government knew, officially, she was here illegally.

On her 18th birthday, she would need to return to her grandmother's home in El Salvador, or immigration officials would force her to leave the country. If she was forced to leave, Maria could not apply to return to the United States.
[Maria’s mother] Olivia paid $1,300 for a lawyer who was able to defer Maria's voluntary deployment until after she graduated from high school.

Perhaps you may be thinking “if Maria were to emigrate legally she would’ve avoided this mess in the first place” and ideally that would’ve been a viable option. Yet as Reason Magazine noted last October, Martinez would’ve had to wait at least six years for citizenship under the best case scenario. (More likely at least ten years). Maybe she would’ve had a fruitful life in El Salvador had she waited but the odds of her living well in the midst of abject poverty in a country fractured by civil war is pretty slim.

In the end she decided to sacrifice herself via voluntary deportation so that her family could continue moving forward in the U.S. There’s the chance that she can be reunited with her loved ones after departing for El Salvador only if politicos can get their act in gear and tackle immigration reform. Until then, Martinez will be on the outside looking in with the hope that her new life in El Salvador is not as difficult as it was during her childhood.

Image- The Daily News Record (“Maria Martinez poses a few days before graduating from Harrisonburg High School. When she was 12, her parents had her smuggled into the United States to join them. A failed attempt to gain citizenship led immigration officials to have her deported.”)
Online Sources- Reason Magazine, The Daily News Record

Daily Headlines: February 6, 2009

* Peru: According to one report, thirty-three countries- including Peru- are “highly vulnerable” of having their fishing industry suffer due to climate change.

* Mexico: While Mexico has its first bilingual state, parents in Virginia are calling for continued funding of bilingual education classes.

* Brazil: A federal judge has refused to toss out a tax evasion case against race driver Helio Castroneves.

* Haiti: Eleven U.S. legislators have signed a letter calling for an investigation of the Bush administration's role in the 2004 coup d’état in Haiti.

Image- daylife.com (“Hundred of "Guanay" birds fly around a fishing boat next to Asia Island in Peru, Friday, July 4, 2008.”)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, BBC News, UPI, washingtonpost.com, haitiaction.net

Shifting immigration tactics in Virginia

In recent years, Virginia has been the epicenter for several strong anti-immigration efforts. Harsh measures taken in Prince William County have had wide-ranging effects on the population; even in something is benign as amateur soccer.

According to the Washington Post, the Virginia Commission on Immigration will soon send the governor a list of two dozen recommendations. The board worked for over a year on the proposed reforms which mostly consist of helping immigrants instead of penalizing them:

The panel's recommendations include increasing the number of English classes, shortening Medicaid residency requirements and extending in-state tuition to immigrants who meet certain criteria, The Washington Post…reported Monday.

Naturally, politicos on both sides of the aisle are critical of the reported suggestions; one Prince William County legislator claimed that “it was pretty clear the fix was in from the beginning.” Yet the commission’s ideas represent a necessary compromise designed to push the immigration debate forward rather than be stuck in petty bickering. The status quo on immigration has been an unmitigated failure. Hopefully, states like Virginia will comprehend that a more proactive approach on immigration is the best way to go.

Image- Christian Science Monitor
Sources- The Latin Americanist, Washington Post, New York Times, UPI

News briefs – immigration

* The government of Irving, Texas is standing by its strong anti-immigrant measures despite criticism from the Mexican consul and the desertion of nearly 100 children of immigrant parents from area schools. “If they're not being booked into our jail, there's nothing they should be worried about,” declared Irving Mayor Herbert Gears regarding anxiety over the city’s police department cooperating with federal authorities to identify arrested illegal immigrants for subsequent deportation.

* The increase in Cubans entering the U.S. via Mexico has forced the Castro administration to seek a migratory agreement with Mexico. U.S. immigration authorities claimed that in the fiscal year 2007 twice as many Cubans (11,000) trekked across the U.S.-Mexico border rather than the Florida Straits.

* Last July we mentioned how legislators in Prince William County, Virginia passed an anti-immigrant ordinance that included barring emergency services from illegal immigrants. Local politicians voted on Tuesday to delay action on the entire ordinance until they could verify if the state government allotted sufficient funds for the plan to be carried out. (Hat tip: Hispanic Tips).

* Speaking of Prince William County, a Washington Post article published on Friday that concludes that the combination of anti-immigrant measures and excessive housing has crippled the area’s housing market. According to an except of the WaPo article:

Many real estate agents shudder at the prospects of a drop in population and more foreclosures. With little equity in their properties and adjustable-rate mortgages adjusting sharply upward, some immigrant families are gathering up their belongings and walking away from their homes in the middle of the night, several real estate agents have said.

"These people are slammed," said Mary Donaldson, a former mortgage settlement consultant..."They've lost their jobs because the construction industry has slowed or shut down, and when they get into trouble, they don't read their mail. A lot of them just don't understand the process, and they're so afraid that they can't talk to the bank."

Sources- Dallas Morning News, ImediNews, Houston Chronicle, Hispanic Tips, The Latin Americanist, dailypress.com, Washington Post, BusinessWeek, Reuters, MSNBC

Image- MSNBC (“Juan Alfaro, who immigrated from Honduras, recites the Pledge of Allegiance after taking the oath of citizenship at the Betsy Ross House during a Flag Day and naturalization ceremony in Philadelphia.”)

Hispanics claim to be target of Virginia anti-immigrant resolution

Legislators in Prince William County, Virginia passed a strict anti-immigrant resolution which has been viewed by critics as targeting people of Hispanic background. “The ordinance has shown a complete failure of understanding an immigrant community as diverse as the open in Prince William County” said a political analyst for the National Council of la Raza. One resident expressed a more personal worry:

"How are we supposed to survive here?" asked Gregorio Calderón, a legal U.S. resident from El Salvador who said he worries that police will harass him because of his ethnicity. "They're going to pull me over just for being Hispanic."

The resolution will attempt to deny government services to illegal immigrants including emergency medical care and access to public libraries though it is a slightly weaker version of the original proposal. (That would’ve forced officers verify the immigration status of every person they stopped and requested Homeland Security to deputize cops so they can enforce federal immigration laws). Yet criticism of the stripped-down version of the ordinance came from the county’s police chief who deemed the measure as stigmatizing the area “as a racist community intent on driving out a single population.”

Prince William County joins several other communities in states like Pennsylvania and New Jersey that have passed anti-immigrant resolutions.

Source (Spanish)- El Diario/La Prensa

Sources (English)- Washington Post, USA TODAY – On Deadline, Forbes, Newark Star-Ledger

Image- USA TODAY – On Deadline (Large crowds were drawn to yesterday’s hearing in PrinceWilliam County, Virginia)