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Petition Drive On Illegal Immigrants Succeeds In Fremont - Court Test Pending
Contributed by Administrator   
Thursday, 26 March 2009

from Nebraska Statepaper.com:

Depending on the outcome of a court battle, Fremont voters might get to vote on a proposed ordinance that would make it illegal to hire or rent housing to people who are in the country illegally.

The city attorney previously filed a motion in district court, arguing that the ordinance cannot be submitted to voters because it runs afoul of federal law and would violate the constitutional rights of those affected.

 

On Wednesday, the Dodge County Clerk certified that a petition drive had succeeded in gathering more than enough qualified signatures to put the ordinance on a special election ballot.

Regardless of the decision by the district court, the losing side could appeal the ruling to the state’s appellate courts. 

The Fremont City Council considered and narrowly rejected a similar ordinance last year. The initiative petition to put the issue before voters soon followed.

In seeking a declaratory judgment from the district court, the city said: The ordinance would violate the Supreme Clause of the U.S. Constitution and is pre-empted by federal law; The ordinance doesn’t provide sufficient substantive and procedural due process safeguards; It would violate the federal Fahir Housing Act and lead to federal and state claims of violations of the act.

The city also argues that the ordinance improperly addresses more than one topic.


 

 
Indentured Servants, Circa 2009
Contributed by Administrator   
Sunday, 22 March 2009

from Consortium News:

The immigration imbroglio is the gorilla in the room that won’t go away.

Feeding on this and last years’ gigantic job losses and fear of more to come, anti-immigrant anger is exploding across the U.S. Thus, Nativists like Arizona’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio are nudged to over-the-top nastiness: Just a month ago, he proudly paraded his villains (aka illegals) through the streets of Phoenix before deporting them.

In fact, since 1872, when the U.S. passed its first anti-immigrant laws — at that time, against Chinese worker s— Nativists have played the same xenophobia card: With fundamentalist fervor, they fire up those with fragile incomes to fear immigrants, legal or otherwise. Lately, local governments have passed punishing laws against undocumented workers, while enforcement agencies ratchet up raids on factories and farms. 

At the same time, Chambers of Commerce insist foreign guest workers are vital to U.S. businesses. Heeding the call, politicians promise the guests will figure in any new immigration plan. Details, however, are absent.

What they don’t say is the U.S. guest worker saga is riddled with abuse. Nor do they mention it squeezes low-skilled domestic workers, who are also bullied in the race to the bottom and are routinely denied jobs, since the guests will work for anything under any conditions, given their desperation.

Thus, before the new administration answers the Chambers’ prayers, it must examine our guest worker schemes, which the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in a 2007 report calls “close to slavery.”

The schemes began during World War II with the Bracero program, when a half million Mexicans labored at American farms. Congress ended the program in 1964 because, among other reasons, exploitation was endemic.

Last Updated ( Sunday, 22 March 2009 )
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Fremont Wants Court To Block Vote On Ordinance Aimed At Illegal Immigrants
Contributed by Administrator   
Wednesday, 18 March 2009

from Nebraska StatePaper.Com:

March 16, 2009

ImageThe City of Fremont wants a district judge to rule that voters cannot enact an ordinance aimed at barring illegal immigrants from living and working in the city.

City Attorney Dean Skokan has asked the Dodge County District Court to rule that allowing a  special election for the proposed ordinance, the product of a petition drive, would violate the U.S. Constitution.

Fremont has been the center of a controversy since the city council last year rejected an ordinance aimed at banning the hiring, harboring or renting of housing to any illegal immigrants within the city.

The rest of the article may be found here.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 March 2009 )
 
The Death of Mr. U
Contributed by Senor Guapo   
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
ESL: The Journey into EnglishDelia was one of the students in the first ESL class I had ever been involved in.  I knew of her before because she was a friend of a friend of Mrs. Guapo’s.  Over the years she became a close friend, and together we’ve celebrated Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays and other holidays together.  One time we loaned her a lot of money.  I never loaned that much money to anyone before, but it was literally a life or death situation.  Delia worked two jobs for over a year to pay it back.

She’s a gifted cook.  One time I saw people lining up in the rain to get into a restaurant where she was working.  Almost every week a student will bring a gift to Mrs. Guapo.  You’ve heard of the traditional “apple for the teacher”.  Delia brought a rack of ribs and grilled shrimp.

She’s no angel.  She’s struggled with alcoholism.  She’s lost a few jobs because of it.  Sometimes she would get a handle on it, but later when you’d call you could tell that she was drunk.  But despite her challenges, she’s never stolen anything as far as I know, and she’s always worked hard never complaining.  She’s one of the most loyal, dependable friends we’ve ever had.

Around the time I was introduced to Delia, I remember hearing about a “Mr. U”.  His name is Ulysses Carter, but I’ve always heard him referred to as “Mr. U”.  I didn’t know much about him except that he was an African American man who liked Delia.  I never met him.  I didn’t know what their relationship was, but I imagined that Mr. U gave her expensive gifts in exchange for an occasional booty call or something like that.  I was so wrong.
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Hispanic Elders Face Double Economic Crisis
Contributed by Administrator   
Sunday, 08 February 2009

Originally from El Tiempo Latino ; from New American Media , translated by Elena Shore.

The elderlyWASHINGTON, D.C. -- Hispanic elders are suffering a double economic crisis: not only have they lost their savings; many are unaware of the benefits they could be accessing, experts working with the elderly told El Tiempo Latino.
 
"Our grandparents have been greatly impacted to the point that some of them are living on the edge of poverty, and some don’t have a place to live," said Ángel Luis Irene, director of the Educational Organization for United Latin Americans (EOFULA), the only center for elderly Hispanics in Washington, D.C.

In 2008, EOFULA provided $20,000 worth of food, rent and medicine to about 650 seniors who go to the center.

Last year the organization doubled its food program, which is provided through the Department of Agriculture, from 80 seniors who received food each month to 160, said Irene.

But for elders who don’t have legal immigration status, the situation is more severe. "They can’t access government assistance," explained Irene.

Last Updated ( Sunday, 08 February 2009 )
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Menthol Cigarettes Are More Addictive
Contributed by Administrator   
Sunday, 11 January 2009

from Science Daily:

Health issuesScienceDaily (Jan. 10, 2009) — Menthol cigarettes are harder to quit, particularly among African American and Latino smokers, according to researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ).

That is the finding of a study which examined the effects of menthol on quit rates among a diverse group of nearly 1,700 smokers attending a Tobacco Dependence Clinic at the UMDNJ-School of Public Health. “Lower quit rates among African American and Latino menthol cigarette smokers at a tobacco treatment clinic” appears in next month’s print edition of The International Journal of Clinical Practice.

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