It's a telling coincidence that today of all days the National Council of La Raza would release a new report that is downright — scary!

Paying the Price: The Impact of Immigration Raids on America's Children is documentation for the first time on how severely impacted children are by seeing their parents either taken into federal custody or waiting for them, only to never arrive due to being caught in immigration raids.

This report spells out not only the initial impact of the event on these children but underscores the long-term effect that will haunt these children into their adulthood.

The sad thing is it doesn't have to be this way.

It must have been a slow news day in Arkansas.

That's the only explanation as to why precious white space in the local newspaper would have been devoted to an article with the headline: Analysis: State lags in checks of illegals.

Anti-Latino rhetoric has become so rampant in the last few days that it rivals the speed and ferocity of the San Diego fires.

Speaking of which, for some inexplicable reason, San Diego has become Ground Zero in the rhetoric.

From accusing a Latino family of stealing supplies from Qualcomm Stadium to laying the blame for the start of the fire on Latinos, the unfounded stories making their way across the media illustrate how the argument has shifted from undocumented Latino immigrants to the general population of Latinos.

URGENT HELP NEEDED-

I just received word that requests for supplies for fire victims (especially food, water, & clothing) are growing throughout the county as the amount of donations has dropped off significantly. Hundreds of people who were too afraid or unable to evacuate earlier in the week have now begun to ask for help, as the situation in our rural areas is dire.

At this point, the Chicano Park collection site has almost nothing, and they are receiving calls from Pala, Valley Center, Potrero, and other communities where the "mainstream" relief efforts have been slow or nonexistent.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS FAR & WIDE, and drop off a donation if you can (see
details below). Thank you so very much for ALL your help and kindness!

Contact re: Donations-Joni K. Craig, (619) 549-8082 (English)

Contact re: Displaced Farm Workers-Enrique Morones, (619) 269-7865 (English & Spanish)

P.S. Many people have not been able to change clothes since Tuesday, so there is a specific need right now for clean socks & new underwear-for men, women, and children in all sizes. Thanks again.

By Hillary Clinton

Latina Lista has invited all the major candidates running for President of the United States to blog on Latina Lista to address our readers. So far, several candidates have accepted our invitation. In the coming weeks, each of the candidates, who have accepted, will take their turn as a Guest Voz to present her/his ideas and hopes for the country if she/he is elected.

It should also be noted that today, October 26, is a special day for Ms. Clinton — it is her 60th birthday.

I want to thank Marisa Treviño for the opportunity to address the readers of Latina Lista. It is great to find spaces like this blog, where women from all backgrounds, and even from different countries, can gather to discuss the issues they care about and exchange ideas about how to change their lives and change our country.

Latinas will have an important role in helping bring about the change America needs. It is estimated that between 2002 and 2012, the number of Latinas in the labor force will grow by 2.8 million, accounting for almost 30 percent of the increase in female workers. As more Latinas enter the workforce, the greater the need becomes for an advocate at the highest level to address their challenges and needs.

The fires in San Diego are dramatic enough without the horrendous side stories of arson and death.

Yet, all afternoon on CNN, in between live and taped footage of raging fires and neighborhoods burned to a crisp, anchor after anchor stops coverage long enough to "report" on a story about 6 illegal immigrants caught stealing supplies at the Qualcomm Stadium.

The only trouble with this story is determining the truth of it.

The Senate just completed voting on whether or not to go to the next stage in the debate to move the DREAM Act to the next level — it failed.

Sixty votes were needed to move the bill. If there is a silver lining in this day, it was that it failed by only 8 votes. Fifty-two Senators voted in favor of the bill.

The profound disappointment that must be felt by these young people is indescribable.

In his turn on the floor, Sen. Durbin described these children as "without a country." Though the U.S. is the only home these children know, it is an uncertain future that the government has condemned these students to live.

What are the repercussions? Time will tell but it is always a sad day when compassion and common sense are overruled by intolerance and narrow sightedness.

We must ask ourselves in what direction is this country going and is it a direction we can be proud of?

There's no doubt, the answer is no.

I couldn't help but be drawn to the subject line of one of the first emails of the morning: PLEASE HELP US!

I would have probably deleted it without opening it, assuming it was another one of those overseas money scams, but then I noticed it was from a listserve that has been very active with fighting the building of the border wall along Texas and Mexico.

When I read the email, it was a plea to help two sisters who were enrolled in college - one had graduated from a nursing program and the other was in the middle of her own nursing studies.

The plea wasn't for money. It was to give them the opportunity to put their U.S. college degrees to work.

You see, legally neither sister can work here in this country, even with U.S. college degrees.

Why? Because they're both undocumented immigrants.

The emailed plea was to make these sisters' dream of helping the sick a reality by supporting the imminent Senate vote on a bill known as the Dream Act.

A news item that didn't make the front/home pages of news sites today was a piece about the new labor agreement between Mexico and Spain.

While those who are against undocumented Mexican immigrants in the United States might say, "good riddance," the important thing to note is that Spain has a need for more workers, recognizes that fact and is taking advantage of the hostile attitude prevalent in the U.S. today towards Mexican immigrants to seize on the opportunity.

Right behind Spain is Canada.

The question that begs to be asked is: Will the short-sightedness of US immigration policy be the downfall of our economy?

By Mariana Zamboni

I am free at last!

But, even though I received my green card just six months ago, it still doesn't wash away the 16 years of mental incarceration and humiliation one lives with when they are labeled undocumented and illegal in a place that is known globally as the “Land of the Free.”

Deep inside, I still can feel the pain, the tears, the nudo en la garganta (knot in the throat). Even today, as I stand on the highest privileged ground of higher education in this country — Harvard.

If we are to believe those who preach that this nation is under a "brown invasion" and that every undocumented immigrant is a bone-chilling criminal, then we can agree that states like Arizona, that routinely register the highest number of illegal crossings, must literally be the Gates of Hell in being an access point where undocumented immigrants are streaming in and wreaking havoc on towns and communities.

If that was the case, then the crime rate for Arizona should resemble the days of the old West when gun-toting, stagecoach robbers ruled the tumbleweeded landscape.

After all, the Minute Men say it's true, some Arizona lawmakers obviously believe it and, of course, the police. They're the ones who have to keep the communities safe from these invaders and they know firsthand the dangers that they pose.

Mesa Police Chief George Gascon
(Source: cityofmesa.org)

So, it must be blasphemy to the ears of everyone mentioned when Mesa, Arizona's police chief, George Gascón, recently wrote a piece for the local newspaper saying that all these critics fanning the flames of anti-immigrant feelings are as full of hot air as the desert.

It's a question that some on one side answer: "it doesn't exist" while the other side can't believe those who deny it can't see it.

Maybe it's because racism has become such an acceptable way of talking and seeing people of other ethnicities that it's considered normal, at the least, it's become acceptable.

But finally, there are people who are lifting their blinders off and are taking a good look at what is happening in this country and they're speaking out.

There have been many consequences as a result of the crackdown on undocumented workers, none of it positive.

So it stands to reason, that since the main reason all undocumented workers from Mexico and Latin America are here is to work to send money home, that those remittances faithfully sent home to their loved ones would be jeopardized.

And they are. Owners of remittance businesses, like MoneyGram, have seen their businesses plummet. MoneyGram manager John Warner has reason to wonder if his business can survive: In the first quarter of 2006, growth was at 27.5%; today it stands at 3.4%.

While that kind of news is like the proverbial ax waiting to fall for U.S. remittance businesses, the country's enforcement climate has created an unforeseen positive impact for the undocumented's families back home.

Throughout the debate over the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, critics have long enjoyed defending their stance by saying that it's within the "legal rights" of the country to defend its borders.

Well, there are some other legal rights that go way back before there ever was a border between Texas and Mexico — in the form of Spanish land grants.

In the tiny Texas town of Granjeno, roughly 450 residents will be the latest group along the Texas-Mexico border to challenge Homeland Security's insistence on building a border wall through their town. Yet, these Valley residents aren't going to rely on environmental impact studies or even popular opinion to drive their point home.

They're going to go by the letter of the law — 1767 Spanish civil law.

On his way to join about 500 people in Irving, Texas to protest against the city's extreme enforcement of the Criminal Alien Program, one Latino already knows how he will vote in upcoming elections.

By A Concerned Irving, Texas Citizen

Today's Guest Voz is a longtime Latino community leader in Irving, Texas, and herself an immigrant. In Irving, the local police have opted to be a part of ICE's nationwide Criminal Alien Program or CAP. In this program, the local police help ICE by identifying those people suspected of being in the country illegally after they've been arrested and brought to jail for an offense.

(Editor's note: The reason why she is not identified is that she could not be reached in time before posting to get her permission.)

Tempers flare as supporters and critics clash at rally protesting how Irving, TX police enforce CAP program.
(Source: cbs11tv)

Irving, Texas has problems.

We thought we won a lot by having the 247G law in place. The Criminal Alien Program or CAP is an alternative local program implemented by the police department headed by Chief Boyd.

Ever since, apparently, police officers have taken their job very seriously. There have been rumors that the Irving police officers are abusing this authority. There is no doubt that there has been arrests made of illegal immigrants that are violating the traffic laws and after being asked for an ID, they end up at a detention center, then at a deportation center.

All of us (in Irving) are very concerned, and a group of Dallas activists are making their concerns known to the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. They are arguing that the recent actions occurring lately represent 2,347 immigrants of Hispanic descent deported for traffic related offenses.

It's approaching the one-year anniversary of when news exploded nationwide about conditions at the T. Don Hutto family immigrant detention facility outside Austin, Texas.

After reports surfaced of children being intimidated by guards to behave by using threats of not seeing their parents again, the inedible food that made the detained families sick, the prison-like regulations that forbade children from seeing their parents at night, sexual abuse and the neglect for the detainees' healthcare, advocates who wanted to see a more humane treatment of these families by our government laid all their hopes at the feet of the local county officials.

And it looked like the Williamson County officials were on their way to shut down the ICE facility, run by the Corrections Corp. of America (CCA), until lawyers for the CCA made an offer to the local officials that they couldn't resist.

Why has immigration reform failed so miserably in Congress?

Why has the term "immigrant" evolved into such a piranha that Congressional representatives will distance themselves from it?

Why does there exist a fanaticism against the immigration issue, not outside the halls of Congress but within its very corridors?

Though the extreme right-wing bloggers would love to take all the credit, come to find out it's not them who are purposely setting up the roadblocks and getting the 11th hour changes of heart from Congressional members who previously were supportive of immigration reform measures.

And as much credit is given to the "American People" as some Congressional representatives repeatedly like to cite, it's common knowledge that the American People don't have and never had anywhere near the kind of influence that is responsible for derailing action on immigration reform.

So who is it that has this kind of influence and unprecedented access to our Congress and system of government?

It's our Congress, or to be more exact, 110 members of the House of Representatives who make up the largest ideological caucus in our government known as the Immigration Reform Caucus.

Today's Michigan Republican debate underscored two points that were already known:

1. The Republican candidates don't want to talk about immigration reform.

2. Representative Tom Tancredo doesnt' want to talk about anything else.

Four of the Republican contenders in today's GOP debate.
(Source: LA Times)

For those of us who have followed this divisive debate in Congress over immigration reform, we have always felt something was missing.

Common sense? The voice of the undocumented? Employers? Industry representatives? The average American voter?

(Source: Istockphoto.com)

Yes, to all of those, but there is one more missing element that no one seriously entertained until a report released today by Rice University's James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy flushed this element out for serious consideration.

The missing piece for solving our immigration debacle lies with — Mexico.

By Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author, syndicated columnist, political analyst and commentator. He has been a guest on the Today Show, Dateline, The Lehrer Hour, and BET News, America’s Black Forum. He is a frequent commentator for the American Urban Broadcast Network and Ed Gordon’s News and Notes on NPR. He is a featured columnist for BlackNews.com, BlackAmericaWeb.com, and Alternet.org. He is associate editor of New America Media.

The book examines the hot button issues and problems that conflict and unite blacks and Latinos. It looks at how both groups interpret and see those issues and problems through the prism of their experiences. The book will be published jointly in Spanish and English.

Even before the shocking killings in Newark, New Jersey of three black students allegedly by Latino illegal immigrants Latino-on-black and black-on-Latino violence took two other appalling forms.

In 2005, Latino men were robbed, beaten and even murdered in Plainfield, New Jersey, in Jacksonville, Florida, and in Annapolis, Maryland, and seven members of a Latino family were murdered in Indianapolis. The attackers in all cases were young black males.

The men attacked were mostly undocumented workers, and police speculated that the attackers regarded them as easy prey for robbery since they would be reluctant to report the attacks to the police.

Was the motive for the attacks simply robbery? Or were they racially motivated as well?

Children are sacred.

Industrialized countries understand that universal edict and defend children — no matter their circumstances.

The countries that enslave children and prostitute, exploit and press them into soldier-duty are routinely considered less than civilized and unfit to join the power ranks of the developed world.

So, it's rather ironic that the leadership in this country can still hold their heads up high while they blatantly follow the paths of those countries we purposely shun for not being smart enough to safeguard their most precious asset — the children.

(Source: University of Michigan)

It doesn't matter that the children are undocumented or immigrants. They are children with potential to grow into accomplished adults, able to achieve great things.

But the actions of the federal government and local leaders, who are on a path to cleanse cities of undocumented immigrants, are also in the process of washing away a reservoir of great potential for future leaders, scientists, writers, entertainers, etc. — but most of all, contributing citizens.

The CNN story about U.S. Navy petty officer second class Eduardo Gonzalez was/is heartbreaking.

How this young sailor can't just worry about his third tour of duty in Iraq, but must also worry about whether or not his wife will be deported to Guatemala while he's gone, is not just sad but familiar.

The Gonzalez family

Yet, Gonzalez' story wasn't the shocker of the CNN article — it was the so-called "expert" that the reporters used to quote in the story.

It would be easy to accuse this blogger of being overly sensitive about the person quoted but when random readers commented on it then it's a good indication there's another story tangled within the media coverage of the immigration debate.

A poll of 1,200 likely voters conducted last month by Rasmussen Reports, revealed that 59% of them believed that American society was "fair and decent."

What this poll underscores, and one we always seem to forget to understand, is that the people being surveyed are only speaking for themselves. If one doesn't experience discrimination, it doesn't exist as far as they are concerned.

The flaw of polls is when media and others interpret the results to make it sound like a blanket statement of truth for all Americans.

Well, there's no way that city officials in Texas' Rio Grande Valley would agree that American society is being particularly fair or decent with them.

They are showing the federal government what happens when the government refuses to play fair.

Several news stories over the weekend highlighted the heart of what has gone terribly wrong with this whole immigration debate.

The focus has been on the undocumented workers themselves.

Guest Mexican workers prepare sandwiches at a Texas retreat.
(Source: The Dallas Morning News)

Yet, the real problem does not lie with people coming here illegally; it's the businesses that need them.

Not in the sense that they take advantage of the undocumented or want to hire cheaper labor, because pretty soon those excuses/reasons won't be valid anymore.

Rather, the real problem is that this economy, a.k.a. businesses, needs the manpower to operate or it will go bust and that's not good news for any country.

Throughout this presidential election, Latina Lista will monitor when candidates specifically address Latinos and issues that impact our community.

The first one we note is Senator Hillary Clinton. She has been busy reaching out to Latinos.

Early last month, after the Univision debate, she sat with a one-on-one interview with Scripps Howard News Service writer Jose de la Isla.

Today, she can be found answering the hard questions from Juan Guillermo Tornoe at Hispanic Trending.

Who will be next?