By Claudia Flores

The Dream Team of ACLU lawyers, who fight for the rights of women as part of the Women’s Rights Project, were responsible for winning a recent settlement on behalf of several immigrant women who were sexually harassed by their employer. (L-R) Lenora Lapidus, director of the Women’s Rights Project, Sara Lesch, Guest Voz writer Claudia Flores and Namita Luthra.

Three years ago, three immigrant Latina women came to the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

They asked for help in sending a message to their employer, and all employers, that sexual harassment would not be tolerated — even among those who are perceived as having no voice in this country.

A Kansas Court of Appeals has inadvertently highlighted the crux of the illegal immigration problem in this country that has pitted "rule of law" supporters against humanitarian defenders.

Kansas court insignia

What's ironic is all that the judges in the case intended to do was — follow the rule of law.

It never ceases to amaze us the level of incompetence that exists in the higher echelons of the U.S. government when it comes to long-range planning.

We only have to look at two examples: the Iraq war strategy (or lack thereof) and the passport fiasco to know that some very short-sighted people are in charge of calling the shots.

Those same people must have been in charge when they ordered the deportation of Elvira Arellano, the undocumented Mexican mother who put up a year-long fight and preferred life confined to a Chicago church rather than be separated from her U.S.-born son.

The people-in-charge must have thought that once Elvira was safely on the other side of the border she would be quiet and there would be no more in-your-face tactics on behalf of the undocumented immigrant community.

Elvira speaks with Mexican President Calderon during a 40-minute meeting.

Boy, were they wrong. They played right into Elvira's hands, and if she gets her wish, she may very well have the last laugh.

Yesterday's deal between the Department of Homeland Security and ACLU and University of Texas Immigration Clinic attorneys representing the children detained at the T. Don Hutto immigrant detention facility in Taylor, Texas signals not just a clear message to our government that "they" cannot disregard basic human rights during this immigration enforcement phase in our country's history, especially when it comes to children, but that U.S. citizens have learned that the only one who will hold our own government accountable — is US.

A lot of things can be said about the now former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales — and a lot of people are saying them.

But if there was one point that no one can dispute, it was his loyalty to the President.

In fact, it's fair to say that Alberto was loyal — to a disgraceful fault.

By Citizen in Heart

Citizen in Heart is a 21-year-old undocumented immigrant whose family came to this country when she was four years old. Though she was born in Mexico, she feels no different than her classmates, friends and neighbors who were born in the United States. In the following piece, Citizen in Heart describes how she feels and asks why there exists so much hatred towards people like her.

I am 21 years old and I was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, but Tucson, Arizona is my home.

My family and I came to the United States seventeen years ago. They brought me here when I was a child. I have always considered it a privilege to live in a nation that is greatly blessed by God.

Every day, I am so thankful to live here — even though many people say I don’t belong here because this land is theirs.

There's advance word that things along the Texas-Mexico border will be heating up this weekend.

No, it has nothing to do with the temperatures hovering near 100 degrees, nor are there any Minuteman protests planned that Latina Lista has been made aware of.

Rather what will be heated up are contingents from Texas and Mexico who plan to join hands in the start of a series of protests regarding the building of a border fence.

It used to be that the United States of America represented both a haven from persecution for different religious and political beliefs, economic and ethnic oppression - the list goes on, and a place that was not just sovereign but could be both a sovereign nation and a super power country.

After all, the inscription on the Statue of Liberty reads:

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

But unfortunately, there's a growing number of political pundits who would have us believe that we have to choose between the two elements that have always stood side-by-side in representing to the world what made this country great.

We're being told that we have to choose between being a sanctuary nation or a sovereign nation, but the real choice has nothing to do with that.

It's between deciding whether to surrender to manufactured fear and hate — or not.

Have you heard?

There's another Latino migration happening across the country.

The Pew Hispanic Center released their latest report today — 1995 – 2005: Foreign-Born Latinos Make Progress on Wages.

It seems Latino immigrants are moving from low-wage jobs to being middle-wage earners.

Unfortunately, the study also underscores the sad wage earning status of native born Latinos and reflects the impact of what the high dropout rate is having and will have on the future of this nation's economy.

The carefully orchestrated apprehension of Elvira Arellano yesterday in Los Angeles, California showed that the federal government, above all else, did not want a repeat performance of what happened in Miami in 2000 when agents stormed the house where 6-year-old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez was living.

Elvira with her son Saul

It couldn't have worked out better for them, and on some level, we are left to wonder if Elvira and her supporters didn't plan for this to happen.

The rumors started Friday afternoon. Elvira Arellano, the undocumented immigrant who had just completed her one-year anniversary in sanctuary in a Chicago-area church was on the move.

A quick call to one of her supporters confirmed only that there was "movement."

LL: "I hear she is going to Los Angeles."

Supporter: "I'm in Los Angeles."

LL: "Is Elvira in Los Angeles?"

Supporter: "Elvira is not in Los Angeles."

LL: "Is Elvira on her way to Los Angeles?"

Supporter: "All I can is that there is movement."

It doesn't take a big leap of imagination to draw the conclusion from that cryptic conversation that Elvira was heading to Los Angeles.

And it wasn't any real surprise to hear that this afternoon while leaving Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in downtown Los Angeles, Elvira was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a very planned apprehension.

Chances are you have not noticed that little by little Latina Lista is expanding its content.

In that expansion, we are including a section called "Linking Latinas." It's been a quiet launch of the section because we are slowly building towards our goal of having every South American and Latin American country represented by a knowledgeable Latina.

Last week, we got confirmation that we had found a Latina from Peru to join our team. Her name is Janett Chavarry.

After the 8.0 magnitude earthquake hit in Peru, we did not hear from Janett. Seeing the pictures and hearing the stories of the devastation, we worried about Janett's safety and said a few prayers that she and her family were safe.

By Janet Murguia

Janet Murguía is President and Chief Executive Officer of NCLR. She sits on the Board of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda.

In addition, she is an executive committee member of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and a member of the Merrill Lynch Diversity & Inclusion Council. In 2007, Murguía was named to Poder magazine’s “The Poderosos 100,” Latino Leaders magazine’s “101 Top Leaders of the Hispanic Community,” and Hispanic magazine’s “Powerful Latinos 2007.”

My organization, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), just held its 2007 Annual Conference in Miami. Being there and talking with Latinos from all across the nation reinforced my belief that — despite the recent defeat of the Senate immigration bill and the hateful anti-immigrant rhetoric that we hear daily — our destiny is in our own hands.

Today's guilty verdict for Jose Padilla was hailed by the White House as a "just verdict."

Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House said that Jose had received a fair trial — but there's something bothersome about convicting a guy that for the past three years has basically been tortured into delivering the kind of answers people want to hear.

A press release from Univision and the University of Miami announce a full roster of Democratic presidential hopefuls have accepted the Spanish-language television's network invitation to appear at the Democratic Presidential Candidate Forum.

When a couple of people who belong to a particular group do something bad, do we demonize the whole group?

When Bill Clinton had his affair with Lewinsky, did people condemn the entire Democrat Party?

When Tom DeLay, Scooter Libby (and the list goes on) ran afoul with their ethics, was the whole Republican Party scorned?

When a police department has a few "bad" cops, is law enforcement everywhere seen as overridingly corrupt?

When a medical doctor's license is revoked is that a reflection on the whole profession?

A sensible person would say no to all of these examples, but when it comes to undocumented immigrants sense goes out the window.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers outlined in his 6-page opinion that U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants have the right to receive in-state tuition.

Earlier this month, with universities and colleges gearing up for fall enrollment, Republican and Democrat politicians wanted to hold the children of undocumented immigrants accountable for their parents non-citizen status as it regarded to a new House Bill that had passed.

The only problem was that the punitive measure was a bad idea to begin with and under thoughtul scrutiny couldn't hold up as being legal either.

So what if we build a 30-foot, double-steel, reinforced fence at the border with Mexico and do random worksite raids gathering hundreds of undocumented immigrants and filling planes and buses to deport them en masse back across the border?

Will that stop the desperate attempts to reach "El Norte?"

Well, according to an article in Canada's Globe and Mail, not likely until one major thing happens — the rich in Mexico decide to share.

A report over the weekend provided the statistical documentation to show that the increase in border security is working.

The only problem is those same statistics provide an even stronger case as to why a border fence is not the answer.

There can never be too many reminders as to why immigrants, legal or otherwise, are needed for this country to succeed.

The following video makes it easy to understand:

Mention homeland security and the immediate argument has been to "secure our borders." The implication is always the U.S/Mexico border. Somehow we've allowed the mindset that scary people, aka terrorists, don't come from Canada.

That perception is further enforced by the Minute Man vigilantes and politicians like CA-Republican presidential candidate, Duncan Hunter, who has taken credit for the building of the fence in San Diego and is pressing for it to be finished across the rest of the U.S./Mexico border.

The only trouble with this part of the homeland security strategy is that unlike other parts along the U.S./Mexico border, the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas don't just like their Mexican neighbors, they're bound to them through "sickness and in health."

There is a very simple reason as to why the United States is in the mess it is in when it comes to having lost control over illegal immigration.

Nobody ever wanted to talk about our dependence on illegal labor.

Well, finally there's a Texas economist who is not only talking about it but supporting it.

The U.S. Census released a report today stating the obvious:

Nearly one in every 10 of the nation’s 3,141 counties has a population that is more than 50 percent minority.

Most of the time politicians are saavy in hiding their true agendas when passing a particular bill. They usually can sneak an amendment in that caters to their own special interests or ideology without anyone being the wiser.

But the turn in the immigration debate with the recent wins by Republicans/Conservatives have given this group a cocky assuredness that empowers them to feel they no longer have to hide their true intentions among numerous amendments.

And what are those true intentions?

Is it maintaining the law of the land as they claim?

In Colorado, it's as far from the spirit of the law as it gets, and it's a sad day for anyone who believes in what America stands for.

Pedro Guzman is a 29-year-old native Californian — but that didn't matter.

Like a pathetic scene from an old Cheech and Chong movie, he was deported to Mexico back in May. Today, he is finally being reunited with his family.

There are no laughs here but a serious argument as to why local police should not be trying to get into the business of trying to ID undocumented immigrants.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation has released The 2007 KIDS COUNT data book online.

The book is a compilation of kid-centric data and how states rank against one another in meeting the needs of the children living in their states.

What's always interesting is that the information is broken down by race and ethnicity so we can get a clearer picture of just how color-blind the system is. (That was supposed to be sarcastic.)

A quick look at the data tells us that children of color still suffer the most disconnect from mainstream society.

Yet, it was the specific information on "Children in Immigrant Families that had me sit up and take notice.

RAYMONDVILLE, TEXAS: Reports are filtering out from the Willacy County detention center in Raymondville that the 2,000 detained immigrants waiting for deportation are suffering in such bad conditions that one detainee has tried to commit suicide.

Willacy County detention center

In just a few weeks, school starts.

But for some of the 65,000 undocumented high school graduates, they would need to win the lottery to be able to afford to attend their hometown colleges.

(Source: uga.edu)

Though some doubt the power of a Latino electorate, there is no doubting the buying power of Latinos.

In the latest annual report on minority buying power by the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business, Latino buying power is due to surpass $860 billion in 2007 and exceed $1.2 trillion in five years.

At this rate, Latino buying power will be the largest multicultural market by 2012.