Courtesy of Bloggingheads.tv, the debate on immigration enforcement lives on:

With the Puerto Rican primary just two days away, several prominent Latin music artists are singing their endorsements.

As expected, it's a split between Clinton and Obama.

Clinton is expected to sweep the islands with a win. In fact, it's being reported on a blog at her site that she would accept a debate with Obama on Puerto Rican soil about Puerto Rican issues.

To add steam to her momentum, Puerto Rico's favorite son, Ricky Martin, officially endorsed Clinton yesterday. In a press release by the Clinton campaign, he stated:

These elections will have historic repercussions both in the United States and the world. Senator Clinton has always been consistent in her commitment with the needs of the Latino community. Whether fighting for better education, universal health care and social well-being, as First Lady and Senator from New York -- representing millions of Latinos --she has always fought for what is most important for our families.

Obama Latin music supporters have come out in full song. A new video, Podemos con Obama (We can with Obama) to add to the long list already populating YouTube, features some well known faces in the Latin music biz: Alejandro Sanz, Paulina Rubio, Don Omar, Lila Downs. A few actors also participate like George Lopez and Jessica Alba.

Two curious notes though: the video is in Spanish and Jessica Alba speaks only in English (not even Spanish subtitles) and Paulina Rubio opens up the video by saying in Spanish "Obama is our future." Since I don't think Rubio is an American citizen, it goes to show how much the rest of the world feels a part of these elections.

The day before yesterday in Culiacán, Sinaloa seven federal agents were killed, presumably at the hands of the Sinaloa drug cartel.

In spite of this loss of life, the Attorney General of Mexico, Eduardo Medina Mora, assured a reporter during an interview that "although it doesn't seem like it, all Mexicans are winning and are going to win" in combatting drug trafficking."

Mexican federal agent reinforcements arrive in Culiacán.
(Source: La Jornada)

Medina Mora is correct when he says "it doesn't seem like it." The public murder of federal agents whose jobs are to root out and arrest these powerful drug traffickers almost seems too much for Mexican authorities to handle by themselves.

It's no wonder they asked for monetary help from the US government. The money would surely help a cash-strapped government combat groups that appear better equipped with both weapons and manpower bought with the profits of illegal drug running.

Yet, it seems that no amount of money is worth being held accountable to another country.

The brakes have been applied to the mean-spirited city ordinance that would have banned the rental of apartments to undocumented immigrants.

The federal judge, U.S. District Court Judge Sam Lindsay, found the ordinance to be unconstitutional and has issued a permanent injunction blocking the city from implementing the measure.

Farmers Branch Mayor Tim O'Hare

This will not be good news for the new Mayor, Tim O'Hare, who as a Councilman, spearheaded the creation of the ordinance.

With this defeat, the Mayor may feel like he is now under siege. This morning in a Dallas courtroom began testimony by some Hispanic residents of Farmers Branch who are trying to force the city to elect City Council members by district rather that the current process of citywide.

The residents' contention is that the current system makes it impossible for a Latino candidate to win a city election. If it were done on the basis of districts, the rationale is that a district created by a Latino voting majority would be able to elect a representative.

As it stands now, Farmers Branch has a population of 27,025 — 78.4% are white, 2.4% are black and 37.2% are Hispanic. Yet, a quick look at the Mayor and City Council page reveals a very white leadership.

It's true that it's time for change in Farmers Branch and the most basic place to start is to add some color to City Hall.

Lately, there has been an inordinate amount of articles written about the Republican presidential nominee John McCain and his chances with the Hispanic electorate.

It seems McCain must be reading these articles because yesterday, for Memorial Day, his campaign released a new web ad supposedly honoring Hispanic soldiers and hitting at the heart of what Latinos hold dear — patriotism.

The online book Hispanic Recipients of the Medal of Honor features recipients from the Civil War to Vietnam.

The ad should be a slam dunk for McCain. It has all the right elements: mention of our sons and daughters, our sacrifices in the current war but then it kind of goes south (pun intended).

And it leaves us Latinos scratching our heads and wondering, does John McCain REALLY know Hispanics?

In honor of Memorial Day, Latina Lista shares a special article that appeared last week in an issue of the magazine Diversity, Inc.

As the highest-ranking active-duty Latino officer prior to his retirement in 2004, Maj. Gen. Alfred Valenzuela has spent 33 years serving his country. He has been decorated countless times for heroism and valor, including receiving the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, and the Bronze Star for Valor. He served across the globe, working his way up through the ranks, eventually serving as deputy commander in chief of the U.S. Southern Command, based in Miami, and commander of the U.S. Army South at Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico.

Major General Alfred Valenzuela

Yet his career has also been touched by tragedy. In March 2003, Valenzuela presided over the funeral of the first casualty of the Iraq War. The death of the soldier, who was not yet a U.S. citizen, spurred Valenzuela to ponder what motivated that soldier and countless other immigrants to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country. To that end, Valenzuela recently wrote "No Greater Love: The Life and Times of Hispanic Soldiers," commemorating the 21 soldiers he buried over the years.

The book, which Valenzuela self-published, tells of the often-ignored contributions immigrants have made to the U.S. forces. Valenzuela says he wrote it for the soldiers, their families and the U.S government. In his book, Valenzuela also talks about his own life as a young Latino from a troubled background who rose through the ranks to the highest levels in the U.S. military.

Named one of the most influential Latinos in the United States by a national business publication, Valenzuela is also a staunch advocate for increasing educational opportunities for Latinos. He's been elected to the Hall of Fame for The Boys Club and serves on the board of trustees for Saint Mary's University, his alma mater.

On the eve of this Memorial Day weekend, Valenzuela spoke directly with DiversityInc on a number of subjects he's passionate about, including Latino education in the United States and his hope that the contributions immigrants have made to the U.S. military will one day be fully recognized and appreciated.

Why are the contributions of immigrant soldiers largely ignored?

Earlier this week, a congressional hearing was held in Washington, DC to discuss the impacts of immigration raids, conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, on children and families.

ICE representatives, community leaders from across the nation and national organization leaders presented testimony.

One of those who testified about the academic impacts of those raids on the children was San Rafael, California Principal Kathryn Gibney.

Gibney testified that as a result of raids conducted within her community over a year ago, "she is still seeing rising absenteeism and falling test scores."

And it's not going to end anytime soon.

Yesterday, coincidentally, ICE went back to the same area and conducted another raid. Obviously, concerns and recommendations made in Washington on how to minimize the trauma of the event on the children fell on deaf ears.

Reports are coming in that children were not only traumatized by the events but were put right in the middle of them.

In a new study by the Media Matters Action Network, "Fear and Loathing in Prime Time: Immigration Myths and Cable News," the authors examine the cable "news" shows of Lou Dobbs, CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck, and Fox News' Bill O'Reilly. The authors are able to document the number of times these men not only discuss illegal immigration on their shows but slant it in such a way that it fuels mistaken perceptions among viewers about undocumented immigrants and elevates those misperceptions into facts in the minds of people.

Of course, none of these men enjoy being the subject of such a report. After all, in their minds they are looking out for the future of this nation. Dobbs especially takes issue when he's accused of not being fair or that he's a lousy journalist, and denies wholeheartedly that he's a racist or anyone who purposely misleads his viewers.

CNN's Lou Dobbs
(Source: CNN)

His denials sound very much like another man who packs a posse and a philosophy that when it comes to undocumented immigrants, it's open season — Arizona's Sheriff Arpaio. But Dobbs, unlike Arpaio, has a ready-made national platform to exude his brand of justice.

Latina Lista would like to agree with Dobbs. After all, we remember a time when Dobbs did a lot of good when he started the multimedia site Space.com and helped spotlight an industry that had fallen on the backburner of the public's imagination and Congressional funding.

So, what better way to see if Dobbs is the objective journalist and conscientious objector he says he is than with a simple analysis of the one thing the report could not analyze — his response to being included in the report.

Continuing revelations from last week's Postville immigration raid at the Agriprocessors kosher meat plant paints the employer as a far worst criminal than any of the 389 detained for using false social security card numbers and/or being undocumented.

In fact, in the eyes of the business community, the management at Agriprocessors has delivered a sucker punch to those businesses who are trying to both work with the government in adhering to employment accountability in hiring immigrant labor and prove to the public that they don't go out of their way to employ undocumented labor or exploit and abuse their workers as are the allegations with Agriprocessor.

But their job just got a lot harder and if the findings of a new study are any indication, businesses will have to join together to lobby Congress to do something constructive about immigration reform just so they can stay afloat.

Not much has been heard from Patti Solis Doyle since her less than graceful exit as Hillary Clinton's campaign manager back in February.

Former Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle

Ousted after illustrating that she just didn't quite have what it takes to run a presidential campaign, Solis Doyle's official capacity in the campaign had been reduced to "consultant."

Not sure how effective her consulting is since Hillary has already sunk $11 million of her own money into the campaign. Yet, given Solis Doyle's prior prominence within Hillary's inner circle, it can't be much fun to be looking in from the outside.

So, news that Solis Doyle would like to work on Obama's campaign isn't too surprising since even Clinton said she would do what is necessary to support him if he was the Democratic candidate.

But he's not yet and that doesn't seem to be a factor in Solis Doyle's ambitions to join Obama's campaign because she seems to think he will be.

The question begs to be asked if this Latina, a staunch supporter of Clinton is ready to throw in the towel, will other Latinas follow her lead?

It's an easy answer: Probably, but not until Clinton officially quits. Because one thing about Latinas(os), we're loyal to the bitter end.

In Washington, D.C. tomorrow, there will be a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor, Subcommittee on Workforce Protections to discuss the impact of Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on children and what can possibly be done to prevent the ensuing trauma experienced by these children.

One of the raids that will be used as an example is the recent raid in Postville, Iowa. Deemed the largest raid in the country, by ICE officials, the aftershocks of the raid have been rattling the community ever since, and with good reason.

Postville detainees being led to detention.
(Source: wcfcourier.com)

As one Lutheran minister explained, Postville is a town of less than 3,000 people — Mexicans, Anglos, Jewish, Guatemalans, etc. Unlike big cities, each ethnic group doesn't have an area of town designated their part of town — they all live together. It's the kind of assimilation that would make the harshest critic of Spanish-speaking immigrants proud.

But for exactly that reason, the community as a whole is reeling from the raid. As the minister said, the raid basically took one-third of the community's population. That kind of loss is devastating for the families, the children and the local economy.

Yet, a story that is slowly surfacing, and which is on par in its appalling nature as the raid's impact on the children, is the fact that ICE disrupted a state investigation into an important child labor violations investigation at the Agriprocessors plant.

An investigation that is now dead.

On Monday, May 12, the biggest single-site immigration raid in the history of the country took place in Postville, Iowa where 389 suspected undocumented immigrants who were worked for Agriprocessors Inc., a kosher meat-processing plant, were detained.

Family members react to news of the immigration raid in Postville, Iowa.
(Source: NYTimes)

The captured immigrants were quickly processed by the government at the makeshift headquarters set up at the local National Cattle Congress facility, and yet, while U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have told the local public that they are finished with rounding up undocumented residents in the area, local community leaders don't believe it.

Carole Gustafson, president and founder of El Centro Latinoamericano in Waterloo, told Latina Lista that the Latino community is so on edge that local businesses are turning to her organization to reach out to them.

By Maria Vazquez

College Dean Maria Vazquez

Maria Vazquez is Dean of the South Omaha Campus of the Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska. This daughter of Mexican immigrants has a distinguished career in the state ranging from being the first Latina to serve on the cabinet of Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey as director of the Greater Omaha Workforce Development to being named Latina of the Year in 1995 by the Nebraska Commission on the Status of Women.

Ms. Vazquez, who is finishing her term on the advisory council this year, shares with Latina Lista readers the goals of the group, her experience in being part of this special board and the benefits she gained from listening and working with the Mexican government to improve the lives of Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans on this side of the border.

As a community member of Omaha, Nebraska and as an “alternate” in the official capacity of the Consejo Consultivo del Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (CCIME), I have had the great pleasure to serve as the Nebraskan “suplente” or alternate for 2006 – 2008.

The purpose of the CCIME, to put quite simply, is to promote strategies, deliver programs, heighten awareness, and implement recommendations that elevate the quality of life for Mexican and Mexican-Americans living in the U.S. and in Canada.

While serving as an alternate, I have attended two meetings in Mexico City and the most recent one in April in Dallas, Texas during the XI reunion (meeting) of CCIME.

In addition to gaining a better understanding of the goals of IME during my attendance at the first two meetings, I also felt a sense of pride as a Latina, and as a Mexicana living in the United States with a connection to such rich cultural history and incredibly intelligent and passionate individuals that comprise CCIME.

If there is a thin, very thin, silver lining to states and local communities taking it upon themselves to enforce immigration law, it is the fact that the legal/economic/humanitarian impact of the passage of such enforcement measures can be seen in a controlled setting.

From that is a pretty good idea as to how it will fly if it were implemented nationally.

One of these measures is the electronic verification system known as E-Verify.

Right now, there is debate as to if this system of electronically verifying an employee's eligibility to work, a.k.a. determining if he/she is a citizen, is something good for the country.

In Arizona, where the E-Verify system went into effect on January 1, 2008, initial observations are surfacing that say Congress may want to rethink this program.

The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1. This Friday, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will hold a press conference releasing a new computer model simulation that shows there will be fewer hurricanes later in the century, but the ones that do form will be more intense.

Hurricane Katrina near peak strength on August 28, 2005
(Source: Wikipedia)

It is something that we are seeing already with the weather — starting with Katrina and ending with last week's tornado rampage through several states that claimed over 20 lives.

It's a safe bet that we won't have to wait till the latter part of the 21st century to see these monster hurricanes scientists are predicting.

Of all the coastlines in the country, there are two that have always been the most vulnerable and have a greater risk of being hit than the rest of the country: Florida's Atlantic coastline and the Gulf Coast coastline from Florida to Texas.

When these areas know they are in the path of destructive hurricanes, people are evacuated. Åfter Katrina, it was seen that everyone had the right to be moved out of the city and out of potential life-threatening harm.

Yet, in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, officials say that when the time comes to evacuate people only legal citizens will be allowed on the buses.

"We only want to know one thing — what good comes from displacing so many families?
Mario Basurto, project coordinator of the Centro Latinoamericano, asking about the ICE raid in Postville, Iowa.

Yesterday's Postville raid at the Agriprocessors' plant is being boasted as the state's largest raid netting 390 undocumented immigrants: 290 Guatemalans; 93 Mexicans and a handful of Ukranians and Israelis.

All of the detainees are being held at the National Cattle congress grounds. Among those detained, twelve were minors believed to be 16 and 17-years-old.

Since yesterday, 56 of those detained, mostly women and six of the juveniles, have been released on humanitarian grounds according to ICE. Yet, that only means that these women must start making arrangements for themselves and their children to be deported.

While ICE justified their raid as one of identity theft and using false Social Security numbers, it is being reported that there were some apprehended that were not criminally charged but will be remanded to the U.S. Marshall's office for deportation proceedings.

However, accurate information is hard to come by for local officials who are trying to calm a town hit by a Department of Homeland Security immigration raid that seems to have had more than its fair share of "sources."

Eli Rodriguez hugs his nephew, Kevin Rodriguez-Jimenez, 6, on Monday as they wait across the street from Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville, Iowa. They were hoping for word of the boy's mother, a plant employee. An agent later told them that the woman's name was not on the detainee list.
(Source: Des Moines Register)

Mario Basurto, project coordinator, of Centro Latinoamericano in Waterloo, Iowa has been working around the clock since the raids took place. Usually averaging about 20-30 clients a day, where they help people regardless of citizenship status with any issues they may have, Basurto tells Latina Lista that it's now more like 50-100 clients a day.

"People are scared," Basurto says.

Undocumented residents who live in Farmers Branch and Carrollton, Texas have been put on notice. Weekend elections held in these two suburbs north of Dallas have resulted in the elections of two mayors who share the same agenda: to drive out undocumented immigrants living within their boundaries.

Farmers Branch new Mayor Tim O'Hare will continue his agenda of driving out undocumented immigrants in his town.
(Source: CBS11)

Carrollton's new mayor, Rob Branson, said he plans to meet regularly with Farmers Branch's new mayor, Tim O'Hare. O'Hare gained notoriety when, while serving on the city council, he was instrumental in getting a ban to rent to undocumented immigrants passed.

But Branson wants to take it a step further — he intends to form citizen committees to "come up with ideas for driving out illegal immigrants."

How would these committees be any different than the old-fashioned lynch mobs who, by virtue of collective hysteria, went after and strung up African Americans back in the day?

From my perspective, there wouldn't be any difference, especially since those residents most eager to sign up for such committees are the ones already out there who stage counter protests to the immigration marches and feel their towns are overrun by people of color as it is.

There's nothing American about opening up a Democratic process to decide how best to drive men, women and children from communities they attend church, school, shop and live in.

In fact, such an action puts the reputation of America to shame.

If this is the new breed of American politics in Small Town USA then the nation is in a lot more danger than from hardworking immigrants for whom the majority's only crime is to work.

By José Baig

José Baig is one-half of the BBC Mundo team “¿Hablas español?” which recently finished a unique experiment exploring the presence of Hispanics and the use of Spanish in the United States.

While on the road, José Baig checks email and updates the blog site for the project “¿Hablas español?”.

On two separate cross-country trips José and his colleague, Carlos Ceresole, interacted with people from all walks of life using only Spanish to communicate. Their findings about the prevalence of the Spanish language, the attitudes of non-Latinos towards Hispanics and the Spanish language and who exactly are U.S. Hispanics created an unforgettable trip for the two correspondents.

In the following post, José shares with Latina Lista his impressions of the project and what insights he learned about the issues that really matter to people across the country.

It was a year ago, in the Miami bureau of BBC Mundo — the Spanish language service of the BBC World Service — that this idea came about. We were trying to find new and creative ways to reflect the presence of the Hispanic/Latino community in this country.

I had just been appointed as the US Hispanic Affairs Correspondent, when I asked my colleagues, “Would it be possible to cross the US from coast to coast speaking only Spanish?” Some thought so. Others didn’t. “There’s only one way to find out”, I said. And that’s how the “¿Hablas español?” initiative was born.

An appalling story out of St. Anthony, Idaho speeded across the Internet this morning. According to Idaho Falls CBS affiliate, KIDK, a 10-year-old girl gave birth to a 6 lb. baby girl as a result of being raped.

The news story on the KIDK site read in part:

…That person is this man, 37-year old Guadalupe Gutierrez-Juarez. Juarez is actually an illegal immigrant, and is now behind bars in the Fremont County Jail on other rape charges.

Since we broke this story exclusively yesterday, we've been checking with sources throughout the North Valley for more information.

The criminal complaint against Gutierrez-Juarez says the rape of the 10-year old happened between November and January. As we told you last night the girl gave birth at Madison Memorial this weekend and both mother and child are doing well.

If convicted the illegal immigrant could face life in prison, a $50,000 fine ,or both. Whether he ever serves anytime behind bars will be up to the judge who if he places him on probation, could deport him.

From the way this story reads, "If convicted the illegal immigrant could face life in prison," dehumanizes not just the intended target, the rapist, but ALL undocumented immigrants. Also, it makes it sound that this was a stranger-on-stranger crime.

It wasn't.

The rapist was married to the girl's mother. Latina Lista has yet to verify if the rapist was the child's father.

At any rate, it should go without saying that not all undocumented immigrants are rapists but this article definitely plants the connection between the two terms.

A rapist is a rapist regardless if he's an undocumented immigrant, a church pastor, a police officer, a teacher, etc. In fact, in most articles, the rapist is identified by his/her name and not by an identifier of their legal or immigration status.

By repeatedly referring to this rapist as the "illegal immigrant," this media story does a disservice to the local community and popular perception of all undocumented immigrant men who are Latino.

To their credit, in subsequent reports, KIDK refrained from identifying Gutierrez-Juarez only as an "illegal immigrant" and used his last name when referring to him. Unfortunately, not all news outlets are doing this.

Yet, the story here is not just that this sick individual committed this horrendous crime but that nobody found out about it nor did anything until this child gave birth.

However, we're discovering that there is much more to the story.

Today is the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.

It's a day that should be solemnly observed by every Latino family with teenage children. Why?

Because while the overall national rate of teen pregnancy has declined, it has actually increased among Latina girls.

Sarah Brown, CEO of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, said, "The teen pregnancy rate for Hispanic teens increased slightly between 2003 and 2004 and, for the first time, Hispanic teens now have the highest rates of both teen pregnancy and births. Also, data released in December 2007 show a 3% increase in the teen birth rate between 2005 and 2006, the first increase in the teen birth rate in 15 years."

These statistics force the Latino community to ask ourselves a very important question:

Why do young Latinas want to get pregnant?

On a day that has everyone on edge to see who will come out ahead in tonight's elections, there are pockets of the country where people are nervous for quite another reason.

In parts of the country people are afraid to step outside their homes to even pick up their children from school or go to work.

This afternoon, ICE agents parked across the street from the Oakland, California Public School, Stonehurst Elementary. Troy Flint, press contact for the Oakland Unified School District, told Latina Lista that ICE agents parked across the street from the campus but did not try to enter.

"They knew they couldn't (enter) because Oakland is a sanctuary city," said Flint. When asked if the agents appeared to be waiting for parents to come and pick up their children, Flint said he didn't have information regarding that but that he knew that ICE had arrested someone in Berkley earlier in the day.

Oakland is not the only area where Latinos are on edge.

Latina Lista's Tulsa news partner Hispano de Tulsa, reports that 10 suspected undocumented immigrants who worked for a construction company were apprehended.

How did ICE find them?

No year-long investigation with this case. Rather, it was an anonymous tip from a competitor who was mad that the company employing Latino immigrants got the job. The ironic thing is that of the ten, some were in the country legally. Yet, they had to endure the accusations, the intimidation and having to prove they were legally here.

The news coming out of Oklahoma doesn't get any better for legal Latino citizens. Check out the Oklahoma City and Tulsa links under "Regional Editions" to see what the latest measures the state is taking to make sure Latinos, both documented and undocumented, don't feel OK.

And if there's one aspect of this immigration fight that should be enforced — it's to keep the children out of it. For ICE to park themselves across the street of an elementary school is clearly a sign of intimidation and an act of terrorizing these children and their families.

It's time to set strict boundaries for where ICE should not go.

Sixty-four percent of the Hispanic population is comprised of people of Mexican ancestry. That's 9 percent of the total population or 28.3 million people.

It's not a big mystery as to why Mexicans comprise the largest part of the U.S. Latino population — proximity to Mexico and the long history of cross-cultural dependence. As most Mexican-Americans like to say: "I didn't cross the border. The border crossed me."

With today being Cinco de Mayo, a celebration that has taken a life of its own in the United States (because it's not highly celebrated in Mexico like in the U.S.), it's natural that the day is acknowledged by our leading politicians.

After all, no one wants to appear insensitive or out of touch with 64% of the Latino population. Yet, it's one thing to issue a statement that is puras palabras (all words) and another that says something that actually touches on the realities of today's Latino population.

During these times when U.S.-born Latinos are caught up in the vile frenzy targeting Latino undocumented immigrants and suffering from a variety of social ailments ourselves that threaten the real future advancement of Latinos, it's time to go beyond just polite words and start outlining plans that address the needs of U.S. Latinos.

Latinos are on track to be the largest demographic in the nation but if today's numbers are any indication, it won't be a good future for the nation or especially for Latinos.

Today, keeping in mind that Mexican-Americans are largest segment of the Latino population, —

• 25.7 is the media age of Mexican-Americans
• 1.2 million (out of a total of 28.3 million) have a bachelor's degree or higher.
• 23% live in poverty.

There does have to be change for the Latino community. It's easy to wag a finger and say it's the fault of those Latinos who don't want to improve themselves, and it wouldn't be wrong. Yet, not everyone can fix their own problems.

Intervention is needed and soon.

Below are the press releases issued by the President and the leading political contenders. Without any analysis or interpretation on my part, I submit the following for review.

From such routine, basic press releases can we get a feel just how in tune a person and/or his/her campaign is to the needs of the Latino community?

Maybe yes, maybe no. Yet one thing is certain — there has to be an acknowledgement that the Latino community is complex and not everyone has just arrived, nor do they all speak Spanish.

Once that's understood by the political parties and politicians then real change can start happening. I invite you to read the following press releases and see who really has a plan for the Latino community and who is no mas hablando (only talking).

President George Bush:

I send greetings to those celebrating Cinco de Mayo.

Cinco de Mayo is a joyful day in Mexican history and an important milestone in the history of freedom. On May 5, 1862, an outnumbered band of Mexican soldiers defeated a large European power against overwhelming odds at the Battle of Puebla. Emboldened by victory and yearning for independence, Mexican patriots ultimately won independence in 1867. Today, we remember these heroic accomplishments and all those working to advance peace and liberty around the globe.

This holiday is also an opportunity to recognize the strong ties of family, economy, and culture that bind the United States and Mexico. Through a shared commitment to economic liberty and the universal right of freedom, the United States and Mexico continue to build a future of prosperity and opportunity for all people.

Laura and I send our best wishes. Que Dios los bendiga.

GEORGE W. BUSH

In light of yesterday's marches and the usual criticisms that they elicit, it's interesting to note that Arizona is having second thoughts about "uninviting" undocumented immigrants to work in their state.

As the price of food goes up and other basic services that benefited from the labor of undocumented immigrants, the correlation between an affordable economy and immigrant labor will become more and more apparent — and more unaffordable for those of us caught in the middle.

Today was supposed to be a day where people, who want immigration reform, an end to work site raids, deportations and a more humane consideration of the undocumented, were to take to the streets en masse and recreate the massive protests of two years ago.

Susana Gutierrez holds a Mexican and American flag during an immigration march and protest in Detroit Thursday, May 1, 2008. Immigration activists and civil rights leaders geared up for rallies and marches in cities nationwide, hoping to revive an immigration reform debate grown surprisingly stagnant in this presidential election year.
(Source: AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Yet, city after city has reported low turnouts. It wasn't unexpected. The day of the week and the stepped-up enforcement by Department of Homeland Security and local police and sheriffs came together in a perfect storm to keep the turnout from mirroring those of years past.

But this isn't an indication that the Latino community has become complacent about an issue that is accelerating discrimination and racism directed towards all Latinos. On the contrary, the reduced turnout should send another signal that the fight is far from over.