These days, it doesn't matter if we're talking about immigration or the candidates or the bills being discussed in Congress — it's all politics.

In fact, the topic of politics has broadened so much in the last several years that it is finally being acknowledged that not all of it just happens in DC when Congress is in session or the President is in resident at the White House.

We have blogs to thank for that and now XM Satellite Radio which has created a new 24/7 channel called P.O.T.U.S. '08.

For 11 years, Pedro Zapeta lived the typical life of an undocumented immigrant.

He came to this country with two intentions: to work and save his money. He had no delusions about staying and building a life here — even though he stayed for 11 years.

Pedro Zapeta
(Source: CNN)

For all practical purposes, he was the "ideal" undocumented immigrant. Yet, when he was ready to go home with his carefully saved money he got stopped and the government took his money.

Now, he's refusing to return to his native Guatemala without the money he had so carefully saved all these years washing dishes.

What's unbelievable is that our government which has been so intent on expelling the undocumented as quickly as possible is prolonging Zapeta's stay because they insist on keeping his money.

In the process, it's reinforcing an image that has taken root among our southern neighbors — the U.S. is a bully that cannot be trusted and would even steal from a lowly dishwasher.

Which sums up the crux of this issue: Is the international reputation of the United States worth $59,000?

One consequence of the immigration debate is that it has tagged all Latinos with the same labels: immigrant, Spanish-speaking and illegal.

Nothing matters to those who are intent on seeing every brown face or hearing every Spanish accent as illegal and a worthy candidate for abuse.

But in a second example, we're seeing Latinos are fighting back.

The 2006 Community Survey reports that the total population of Irving, Texas stands at 205,920.

It's a figure that is steadily dropping.

Not because of deaths or people relocating, but rather because of deportations.

Between June 1, 2006 and September 18, 2007, at least 1,600 people have been deported. That's about 1% of the city's total population.

The Mayor of Irving says that the police are just doing an excellent job of law enforcement, but there are enough doubts to those claims to make the Mexican Consulate issue a rare travel warning to Mexican nationals — Avoid Irving, Texas. Looking Mexican can get you harassed and deported.

We know the immigration debate has divided the country, and we know it has clearly defined the differences between the Republicans and the Democrats.

But it's always an eye-opener to see the issue used as the scapegoat reason for not passing good, sensible legislation — especially when it's used by the one party that claims to have the best interests of the Latino community on their agenda.

Pres. George Bush addresses the United Nations General Assembly.
(Source: whitehouse.gov)

Today, while President Bush was delivering his address to the United Nations General Assembly, he called on all country members to uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that in Article 25 states:

"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food and clothing and housing and medical care."

Yet, Senate Democrats purposely chose to deprive legal immigrant children and pregnant women from getting that necessary medical care that ensures having, not a good, but an "adequate" standard of living.

Why?

Because of one word: IMMIGRANT.

Well, it's official.

The next big business along the Texas-Mexico border is (drumroll) — the 17-foot ladder business!

(Source: claybennett.com)

Department of Homeland Security today released where they plan to build the Texas-Mexico portion of the border fence and — it doesn't look good.

Do "illegal" immigrants scare you?

Demonstrator Inocencio de Jesus, M, walks through the Barrio Logan area during an immigration march on May 1, 2007 at Chican Park in San Diego, California. Demonstators from around the United States held protest rallies in an effort to send a message to congress to act on immigration reform. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

Well, if they don't, you're one of the lucky ones who hasn't bought into the extremists' hype that they're all dangerous lawbreakers.

It's been a successful strategy, but truth be told there is a giant sting operation being perpetuated against undocumented immigrants that forces the criminal label on them without any chance to be free of it.

A popular description of the Latino community during election season is to refer to the community as the "sleeping giant."

The implication always understood to be that Latinos wield an untapped strength that can change the course of electoral outcomes. Unfortunately, it never fully materialized — but this time may be different and ahead of schedule.

(Source: xispas.com)

This isn't said out of wishful thinking to intimidate or threaten, but rather because there are finally signs that the community, at its most basic level, is getting mad and starting to (re)act.

Friends in Washington are telling Latina Lista that a group of students from California are hitting the halls of Congress in presenting their cases to Senators as to why they should vote for the Dream Act as an amendment to the Defense bill under current debate.

(Source: nysyouthleadershipcouncil)

It's an understatement to say that there are a lot of hopes tied up with the passage or defeat of this amendment.

Yet, this amendment should be an easy sell to Congress — if only they realized what they were really fighting against.

The Hour of Reckoning is fast approaching for the fate of the Dream Act.

In the balance hangs the hopes of roughly 60,000 young people who want nothing more to be able to afford college and put that degree to use once they're done.

(Source: saywhatesl)

Yet, if you were just listening to Republican Senator Jeff Sessions from Alabama on the floor of the Senate arguing against the passage of the Dream Act this afternoon, you would be thoroughly confused as to whom this bill benefits and what exactly it entails.

But that is what the GOP, with one notable exception, is counting on.

One characterization of Latinos that everyone likes to parrot is that as a group we don't vote for the political party, as much as, we vote for the issues.

But when the issues are so intertwined with a party's identity, that steadfast characterization runs the risk of being shattered.

It seems to be the case with the Latino community's relationship with the Republican Party. After all, that's how pundits explain how Bush was able to get so much of the Hispanic vote when he ran for office.

Yet, the Republicans are treating all Latinos these days like an abusive parent.

And the Latino Republican community is acting like abused children in that they refuse to speak out and defend themselves — or others.

Mañana kicks off national Hispanic Heritage Month.

In the past, there hasn't been a whole lot of coordination among the different groups of a city in celebrating the once-a-year, 30-day observance.

And that has usually resulted in so many fiestas and parades happening on the same weekend that before we know it, the rest of the month is pretty void of anything.

Foklorico dancers perform for annual Hispanic Heritage Month celebration.
(Source: Creighton University)

But this year is different.

Not because it's a new year, but because it's a new climate where the Latino community needs to take advantage of the full 30 days — and not just party, but strategize a public relations campaign that tells its side of the story.

It's pretty much acknowledged that the undocumented don't have a whole lot of recourse when trying to fight the current immigration enforcement system, a.k.a. ICE or Immigration Customs Enforcement.

But as we've seen, and will continue to see, they are not the only ones impacted by a policy gone hysterical. Citizens and legal residents are being caught up in this fiasco and where the undocumented don't have a voice, those who are citizens do and owe it to themselves and the undocumented to do what needs to be done — sue the government.

Hispanic Heritage Month kicks off this week and people will celebrate how far Latinos have come, the strides that have been made, the progress, etc.

But when it comes to the issue of equality, it is an area where we keep running around the same track and just can't seem to get ahead.

(Source: oatmealtraining.uk)

Finally, there's documentation at just how unequal the game is for Latinos, and it's not because we don't want to play. Rather, it's because we're not getting picked.

If there will be a running joke in this presidential election, it has to be the line that Gov. Bill Richardson shared during the Univision debate, and one that has been repeated often by critics of the border wall:

If you build a (insert your own number here) foot wall, the (add 1 to your inserted number) foot ladder business will get real good.

No where is that joke not a joke than in Texas' Rio Grande Valley where last weekend critics of the proposed wall wrapped up the current slate of protests.

In another part of the world: Palestinians used makeshift ladders to cross Israel's West Bank barrier.
(Source: lawrenceofcyberia)

Though reports initially said that turnout for the protests, which started at the end of August, were small, they steadily increased to the point that several hundred people turned out last weekend to wave signs, yell "Hell No" and party down to raise awareness.

If anything controversial erupted from last night's debate, it had to do with the issue of language.

(Source: switchpod.com)

From the language the debate was conducted in to one of the questions regarding making Spanish the second national language of the country, it is definitely an issue that hits a nerve with people.

But should it?

Tonight's Univision debate was refreshing on so many levels that when it was finally over it proved to be an event that was not just historic but one all Latinos could be proud of.

Democratic presidential candidates stand together after Univision debate.
(Source: Univision)

With so much happening this weekend, we thought we would combine three days of posts into one.

We begin with the headliner, if you will, of the mainstream press:

Countdown for Spanish Democratic Presidential Forum

Sunday's Univision "forum" among the Democratic presidential hopefuls is being termed a historic event since this is the first time Univision has been able to play alongside the "big guys" a.k.a. traditional mainstream networks when it comes to hosting a political event of this magnitude.

At their web site dedicated to the event called Destino 2008, Univision is taking their cue from the CNN-YouTube forum held earlier, and asking people to send in their questions for the candidates.

The head honchos at Univision should be extremely excited that they were able to achieve this coup - especially in light of the fact that they announced today that they are postponing their scheduled forum for Republican candidates since only Sen. John McCain agreed to come.

Maybe McCain should join Sunday's debate as one of the questioners since he's the only Republican presidential candidate who thinks Latinos are worth giving up a few hours of his time for — just a thought.

At any rate, the whole Latino community, English-speakers along with Spanish-speakers, should be excited about Sunday's 7 p.m. debate.

I would be but it seems that Univision hadn't thought to include bloggers as part of the media pool covering the event. A few of my fellow Latino bloggers and friends of the Latino blogosphere who tried to get Univision to include bloggers, especially us Latino bloggers, at the event were rebuffed today by the network.

According to the network, they really hadn't thought about bloggers and it's too late anyway — they have reached their audience capacity as laid down by the Fire Marshall.

Ouch.

It's one thing to be excluded by the "other guys" but by your own gente!

Today in Washington, in Room 2141 of the Rayburn Building, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law held a hearing on the STRIVE Act — a bipartisan immigration reform legislation introduced earlier this year by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL).

To many who have been involved from the onset to push Congress to adopt just and fair immigration reform measures, these hearings and what they result in is the Final Curtain call for the issue before it's mothballed until after the Presidential election.

But while it's easy to slate a postponement on issues, it's not easy for millions of families to continue to endure conditions indefinitely brought about by not having a definitive judgment in place.

These people are suffering and it's decent human nature to want to ease that suffering — even if the government says it's obstructing the law.

Picking on undocumented immigrants has become chic in this country.

From politicians to cable talk show hosts, all have figured out they score brownie points if they blame undocumented immigrants with such vices as propelling poverty stats or contributing to growing crime rates.

The sad aspect of this trend is that now newspapers want to follow suit.

But for a business that relies on accuracy as a benchmark for a job well done, it's a violation of pubic trust that some newspapers would rather be chic than totally truthful.

The deaths of the six miners in Utah's Crandall Canyon Mine was a heartbreaking tragedy.

But what may be worse for the families is that the search has been called off without ever recovering their bodies.

For the families of Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Manuel Sanchez and Brandon Phillips, the mountain tomb will be as close as they will ever get to their loved ones.

Families of trapped Utah miners hold press conference early in search operations.
(Source: chinapost.com)

But for the families of Luis Hernandez and Carlos Payan, their families will be separated by more than just rocks and dirt — they will be separated by a zero tolerance immigration policy that doesn't recognize occupational deaths as a worthy reason to breach the border.

Republican presidential hopeful, Arizona Senator John McCain, offered some telling remarks at a Sunday stop on an Iowa farm where he decided to talk about immigration.

According to McCain:

"We believe the comprehensive approach to immigration failed because the American people do not have trust and confidence in the government and Washington to do what we say. When we failed in Katrina, when we failed in Iraq when we have corruption in Washington, like you see all the time, my friends, they don't trust us to do what we say we'd do," he said. "We said we would secure the borders, Americans didn't believe us."

But is it really about government failing to secure the borders or failing to keep this immigration reform issue from being hijacked and manipulated by extremists who care little about border security but creating a terror state persecuting the most vulnerable of peoples?