Last week, I wrote a commentary about being left unimpressed, unmotivated and uninterested in setting up any neighborhood watch parties to watch the President's State of the Union address.

It's not that I'm on the GOP bandwagon to derail Obama at any cost, it's just that I'm not sure what the point is anymore in rallying my friends, neighbors or readers to heighten the pitch for someone who has so much on his plate that he thinks leaking the fact that he would be "talking" about immigration reform in his State of the Union address would suffice for actually addressing the issue with any real substance.

I'm not alone. Other parts of the country have also registered Latino voters as feeling less than enthusiastic in helping his popularity poll numbers.

Some Latina Lista readers, who aren't in favor of immigration reform, have accused this site and others pressing Obama to really address immigration reform, as being self-centered to the detriment of everyone else in the country.

Yet, what they fail to understand is that the Latino vote was mobilized and materialized and helped this administration gain office under the promise that this president and his party would do something other than raid, arrest and deport immigrants, whose only crimes are working and living in the U.S. without the proper authorization.

Everyone understands that immigration reform is as complex, volatile and controversial as healthcare reform. Yet there were little things the President could have authorized in the interim that would not only have shown Latino voters that he meant to keep his promise but would have re-energized Latino voters in ways that an unsolicited email to form watch parties just can't accomplish.

A lot has been written this week on this site and others about how Latinos have become disillusioned with the Democratic Party. It's gotten to the point that the old strategies of engagement just aren't working.

In yesterday's post, I laid out the guidelines, if you will, of how Democrats, and most importantly, this President can reconnect with Latino voters.

Today, I got an e-mail reminder (felt more like a ruler on the knuckles) from the Democratic Policy Committee of just how much Democrats have done for the Latino constituency.

Latino Presidential Debate Watch Party (Photo: BarackObamadotcom on Flickr)

Titled Democratic Accomplishments in the 111th Congress: Honoring the Latino Community's Call for Change , the fact sheet entailed all that Democrats have done in going to bat for Latino concerns:

Jumpstart job creation for Latinos struggling with high unemployment rates (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act);    

Secure the continuation of critical safety-net programs for Latino families (Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act);

Stabilize the housing market by preventing foreclosures and improving access to home loans for Latinos (Helping Families Save Their Homes Act and Worker, Homeowership and Business Assistance Act);

Secure health care for millions of additional children (Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act);

Provide authority to the FDA to regulate the manufacture, marketing and sale of tobacco (Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act);

Help make college more affordable (Consolidated Appropriations Act); and

Protect Latinos from unfair and abusive credit card industry practices (Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act).

And while the passage of each of these actions is notable and should be applauded, the mere insertion of the word "Latino" in several of the headings, not to mention the entire listing under "Honoring the Latino Community's Call...", creates the impression that Latinos should feel obligated to feel grateful for what the Democrats have done on their behalf.

Yet, in all honesty, none of these actions is Latino-specific.

Chances are you haven't heard about Samuel Bonilla. Hopefully, that will change on February 25. That's the day Bonilla gets his day in court in Dodge City, Kansas to prove his innocence in a town, known historically as the gateway to the Wild West, and currently as a town with a lousy track record for how they treat Latino defendants.

For the past 20 years, Bonilla, a successful business owner of a martial arts studio and legal resident immigrant has called Dodge City, Kansas home. Dodge City, with a population of 26,101, according to 2006 US Census estimates, is home to a substantial Latino population. In fact, Latinos are the largest minority in the city, constituting 43% of the population.

The reason why so many Latinos have traveled to the area is to work in the beef packing industry. Yet, according to local Latino community leaders, there is strong anti-Hispanic sentiment by some of the city's population.

It's a town, according to one Latina Lista source, "where there are no Latinos on the county board or city commission, and only one (the first) on the school board - in a district with a Latino enrollment of nearly 80%."

It's a place if an undocumented Latino is caught walking home from a bar, he is arrested for "pedestrian under the influence," since he can't be picked up for driving without a license. And it's a place where some of the "white" locals like to play a game they call "Border Patrol" where they use their truck to intimidate Latino pedestrians.

Unluckily for Bonilla, two men decided to play this game as they saw Bonilla and his son and nephew jogging along the Arkansas river bottom last Labor Day. Being a former bounty hunter, Bonilla carries with him a 22 pistol, which is legal under Kansas' open carry law.

It was this gun that Bonilla contends saved the lives of his son, nephew and himself as these men, Steven Holt and Tanner Brunson, revved up the engine of their four-wheeler and chased down Bonilla and his son and nephew. Bonilla and the boys jumped out of the way. The truck backed up and the men jumped out and quickly walked over to Bonilla.

Bonilla drew his weapon, told the boys to stand behind him and warned Holt and Brunson to stop or he would shoot. The men didn't stop and just as they were within reach to grab Bonilla's gun, Bonilla fired shots hitting both men.

Bonilla told the boys to run and he did too as soon as one man fell to the ground and the other staggered back and fell against the truck. One of the men, Steven Holt, died. The other lived. Both of these men had extensive criminal records, along with one of the men, Tanner Brunson, believed to be affiliated with the Aryan Brotherhood.

Bonilla turned himself into authorities after the incident and was questioned and released only to be arrested a few days later on second-degree murder charges. By all accounts, he could have posted on his $100,000 bond and been released -- it's reported he has the support and belief of the local Latino business community -- but a local bail bondsman, Rebecca Escalante, told Daily Globe reporter Claire O'Brien that she would have posted Bonilla's bond if it weren't for the fact that she had been warned by several people that if Bonilla was released his life would be in danger.

So, Bonilla sits in the Ford County jail hoping above hope that he will be found innocent of the charges.

Yet, that's not the end of the story.

LatinaLista.net

After ten years, tomorrow should have been the day of reckoning at the Supreme Court for a group of Hispanic farmers who filed a lawsuit against the USDA for systematically denying them needed loans and credits to sustain their farms, while granting those same loans to white farmers.

Though the Supreme Court ruled last month that they would not hear their case, they did schedule tomorrow to be the day to decide if the farmers could still argue their case as a group or have to go one-by-one against the courts. Now, a source tells Latina Lista that the review has been pushed back to February 12 due to bad weather arriving tomorrow on the East Coast.

Yet, for a group of people who have waited ten years, another week isn't going to make a difference, especially since their meeting with the Supreme Court doesn't bring closure to their case, but only prolongs it further.

Over the last ten years, some of the farmers have died, had strokes or been so heartbroken over losing their family farms due to this admitted discrimination by the USDA that family members are quickly losing faith in this administration and Latino leadership.

The few reporters who have picked up this story and interviewed the farmers seem to be asked the same questions by these farmers and their families: Why is it OK to treat us like this?

It's being reported that the Tea Party Movement has created a new political organization, Ensuring Liberty Corporation, whose mission will be to endorse, support and elect conservative candidates.

The announcement came with an official platform that could help define what the multi-faceted tea party movement stands for and expects from the candidates it supports. The group's leaders plan to support candidates who stand for a set of "First Principles."

Those principles are: fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, less government, states' rights and national security.

Well, the Tea Party people aren't the only ones to have created a list of "principles."

The National Latino Congreso (NLC), which held their fourth international gathering last week in El Paso, came up with a list of endorsements and plans of actions they feel are necessary to help progress issues important to the Latino community.

Thanks to Domingo Garcia, the following is a compilation of some of the more noteworthy resolutions adopted at this year's NLC. All 54 resolutions amendments approved by the delegates, they can all be viewed at the organization's web site.

Approximately 1,000 leaders and activists attended the 4th National Latino Congreso (NLC) in El Paso at the Camino Real during Jan 29-31. The NLC hosted delegations from over 100 organizations and elected officials for the three day convention on politics and policy.

The delegates, observers, speakers, and guests came from eleven states (Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, Mississippi, Virginia, Illinois, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Washington, DC), as well as Mexico and Venezuela. Over 250 organizations, elected officials and prominent individuals endorsed the Latino Congreso, representing millions of Latino leaders and activists.

Immigrant Justice

NLC endorses CIR ASAP, Dream Act, AgJobs, and Proud Act, four paramount immigrant justice bills and urges immediate enactment by Congress and the President.

NLC announces plans for first ever Immigrant Justice Report Card to grade Congress and the White House on immigration policy.

NLC announces plans for Immigrant Justice Accountability Project in the event that no immigrant justice bills are passed in 2010 including formation of a 527 and a PAC. IJAP will hold legislative incumbents accountability for their inaction during 2010 elections.

LatinaLista.net -- If one thing is clear from a new report released today by America's Voice entitled The Power of the Latino Vote in America: They Tipped Elections in 2008; Where Will They Be in 2010? it's that no political party should underestimate the power of the Latino vote.

According to the study, from 2000 to 2008, Latino voter registration grew 54% and turnout grew by 64%. There is documentation that it was with the help of Latino voters that Obama won the election.

In battleground states such as Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, and Nevada, 2008's increased Latino turnout and the Latino electorate's break towards Democrats were major factors in Barack Obama's victories and in Democratic House and Senate pick-ups:

In Florida, for example, Latino voters grew by 403,000, or 49%, compared to 2004, and backed Obama by a 57-42% margin after having backed Bush by a 56-44% margin in 2004.

The study points to the fact that in precincts across the country Latino voters are poised to be the swing voters many candidates will need to land in office.

Though the study shows that Latino voters trend Democratic, there's no guarantee that it will remain so, especially if the Democratic party fails to honor campaign promises made to the Latino community.

The amount of Latino support boils down to three things:

1. The level of engagement the candidate has with their local Latino community.
2. The level of engagement the state party has with local Latino communities.
3. The language of that engagement.

The 63-yearold man's real name is Vincent P. Johnson. Yet, this New Jersey resident is more comfortable going by the pseudonym Devilfish579, especially when he's emailing a number of his favorite Hispanic advocacy targets with threats and cyberstalking them.

Johnson, or Devilfish579, was arrested and indicted on charges he threatened employees of five Hispanic civil rights groups between November 2006 and February 2009.

His favorite targets were the: LatinoJustice Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Council of La Raza, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders.

Johnson thought it a hoot or clever, to write such things as:

"do you have a last will and testament? If not, better get one real soon."

or

"our guns are loaded and we will take you out as well whether by the courts or by true fire power" and "if the idiots in the organizations which this e-mail is being copied to can't fathom the serious nature of their actions, then they will be on the hit list just like any illegal alien . . . actually, they are already on the list."

and

"I am giving you fair warning that your presence and position is being tracked . . . you are dead meat . . . along with anyone else in your organization."

In fact, at one time Latina Lista was one of Devilfish579's targets but I was able to block him. Never really thought about him again until I saw that this time he bit off more than he could chew.

I wish I could say Johnson was an anomaly when it comes to cyber-critics of Hispanic advocacy groups and activists but he's not. Unfortunately, he's the norm.

One aspect of illegal immigration that doesn't get the coverage it deserves, but for many immigrant advocates is the heart and soul of the push for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, is what happens to the children of undocumented immigrants.

On February 4, the Urban Institute released the study Facing Our Future: Children in the Aftermath of Immigration Enforcement.

The study deals with the emotional, physical and economic impact that the removal, arrest and detention of an undocumented parent has on the children in the family.

Today, there are an estimated 5.5 million children with unauthorized immigrant parents, about three-quarters of whom are U.S.-born citizens.

By one estimate, in the last 10 years, over 100,000 immigrant parents of U.S. citizen children have been deported from the United States.

The findings of the study are not new nor surprising. In fact, it makes sense that children would have behavioral problems, experience food insecurity, fears of homelessness, fear of never seeing a parent again and even depression if they had a parent, especially who was the main breadwinner, picked up by Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) and carted off never to be seen for months.

What the study does accomplish by profiling 190 children in 85 families in six different towns and cities, that experienced hardship after well-publicized immigration raids, is shed further light on a disturbing injustice. 

The fact is these children have the potential to contribute much to this country, as their parents already do by working, living and spending their money in their local communities. It is shameful, as well as frightening, that those children who are U.S. citizens are so easily dismissed by our government without any effort to explore ways to allow them to stay united with their families.

The study tells of how towns were decimated after immigration raids because the target employer happened to be the main source of jobs in that town and the workers arrested and deported were that community's best residents.

The study's authors offer viable solutions to prevent families from being separated and subjecting these children to such emotional and economic traumas. They are measures that can, for the most part, be implemented without the passage of an immigration bill in Congress -- because they address the human side of this complex issue which encompasses a common sense approach to safeguarding the welfare and well-being of children.

It is an objective that every industrialized country claims to honor.

It's time the United States honored it as well.

One of the horror stories often told by Latino civil rights pioneers has always been the tale of how they were punished for speaking Spanish at school. Rightly or wrongly, it has become the standard for which to measure against how grossly violated a Latino's civil rights are.

Thankfully, since those days, schools have made it their mission to be able to have someone on staff who can effectively communicate with the Spanish-speaking parents whose children form the majority in many public school districts across the nation.

It's a no-brainer to have someone who can speak to these parents and act as the liaison between the school and home. At least, it used to be a no-brainer.

(WSOCTV.com)

We're told that was the original intent of hiring Ana Mateo as a bilingual secretary at Devonshire Elementary School in North Carolina -- until a new principal arrived. It seems the new principal didn't like Spanish spoken on campus by anyone, especially a school employee.

It didn't matter if parents came to the office trying to do the correct thing by getting informed or alerting the school to changes in their children's routines, the new principal and the assistant principal didn't just forbid Mateo from speaking Spanish to the parents but told Mateo that her resignation was accepted, though Mateo never offered it.

To Mateo's credit, she continued speaking to the parents in Spanish, relaying much needed information to them. Mateo's defiance didn't go over very well with the new principal and the assistant principal who subsequently fired her for insubordination.

By Ada M. Alvarez
LatinaLista.net

Ada M. Alvarez is a Board Member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and has a Masters in Science in Investigative Mass Communications from Florida International University. She is 23-years-old and was born in Puerto Rico where she got a BA in Journalism and a minor in Gender Studies.

Her journalism work and multimedia experience has targeted health, environment and politics. She currently works for a domestic violence shelter for teen dating violence prevention in Miami, as well as, working as a freelance journalist.

Ada Alvarez

Alvarez has written two books, Lo que no dije (2006) and Mudanza Constante (2008). The first book made her Puerto Rico's youngest novelist and was adopted as an international teen dating violence prevention campaign accompanied with its own bilingual website Lo que no dije.

The month of February has a certain reputation. Because of it, wherever we look this month are the colors of red and white accompanied by images of Cupid poised to shoot his arrow of love -- and everywhere it seems like hearts are in the air.

There's no disputing the fact that February is the month of the heart, but depending on whom you ask it can mean something different. For example, the stores use the heart shape to remind shoppers to buy their special loved ones Valentine cards. The American Heart Association uses the heart shape to emphasize and renew awareness of cardiovascular health. One campaign of the American Heart Association, Go Red, raises this awareness to a new level by making sure everyone understands that the #1 killer of women in the United States has everything to do with the heart.

In the National Go Red for Women campaign, officially celebrated this month on February 5, 2010, people are asked to dress in red to create awareness of women's cardiovascular health. Based on statistics, 1 out of 3 women have some type of heart disease. Fifty-two percent of women die due to heart failure.

One of the biggest fears and complaints from those who advocate for undocumented workers is employer exploitation.

There are countless stories of unscrupulous employers who knowingly exploit their undocumented workers by not paying them wages owed to them. The most common scenario is that when an undocumented worker starts to complain about the deceit, the employer threatens to call Immigration agents on the worker.

It seems one employer made good on that threat.

Not sure how this story found its way on my desktop but early today I found myself scanning the Niagara County police reports for February 15, 2010 assembled by the staff from the Niagara Gazette.

The second report caught my eye. It happened in the Town of Lockport and it involved three undocumented workers, a housing sub-contractor and U.S. Customs/Border Patrol.

Casual readers of the report would have thought nothing of three undocumented workers getting caught on a worksite by Immigration agents and carted off to be deported. Yet to someone who understands that in cases between undocumented immigrants and an employer, there are always two sides to every story, this particular incident had so many red flags waving that it's a wonder the story got out.

For sometime now, popular opinion has automatically blamed the downfall of the housing industry, a.k.a. home foreclosures, on subprime mortgages. It was thought that people, who were high-credit risks, were awarded these mortgages so they could fulfill their American Dream of owning a home, only to later default on their loans. Little was ever talked about how these same people were preyed upon by unscrupulous lenders who cared less if these people could afford their mortgages or not.

Unfortunately, that same public opinion equated high-risk mortgagers as Latinos and other minorities. Yet, a study from the State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group found that more home loans are falling into foreclosure, not from bad credit loans, but from conventional loans.

These are people who had good credit histories, paid their bills and either lost their jobs or experienced a pay cut or suffered a catastrophic illness that put their finances and home at risk.

To make matters worse, when trying to get help from banks and other lenders, the help was never significant enough to really help the family.

According to the working group's study, only four in 10 delinquent borrowers are working with loss-mitigation programs. Not enough mortgage lenders are reducing the principal balance of mortgage loans, whether prime loans or bad credit loans, either.

According to the study, only 9 percent of mortgage loan modifications in October of 2009 involved a reduction in principal balance by more than 10 percent. This is unfortunate, as other studies have shown that reducing this balance more often results in homeowners not falling into foreclosure.

As a result of this unwillingness by the mortgage industry, a new report released today by the National Council of La Raza reveals that approximately 1.3 million Latino homeowners are expected to lose their home to foreclosure between 2009 and 2012.

The repercussions of these home foreclosures are devastating to these families' long-term financial, emotional and physical well-being -- with the need to act before it gets even worse.

LatinaLista.net

The two words that strike fear in most people's hearts are "criminal aliens."

To the Rush Limbaugh set, any undocumented immigrant is a criminal alien, regardless if the extent of their criminality is only overstaying their visa.

To the police and the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement, otherwise known as ICE, a criminal alien is supposed to be an immigrant who is a true danger to society, whether he/she be a murderer, rapist, pedophile, drug runner, etc.

In fact, a federal program called the Criminal Alien Program (CAP) was set up just for that reason -- to screen inmates in prisons and jails, identify dangerous criminal aliens, and place them into deportation proceedings so they wouldn't find their way back into the community.

Nobody argues against a program like this. Regardless of where one stands on the issue of illegal immigration, nobody wants criminals, who are truly criminals in the sense of physically hurting other people, out on the streets.

From ICE's own admission, the CAP program works wonderfully. Those apprehended through the CAP program account for "48% of all deportable immigrants identified by ICE in FY 2009 -- more than the 287(g) program, Fugitive Operations, and the Office of Field Operations combined."

Yet, there has been a growing suspicion among immigrant advocacy groups that some law enforcement and ICE officials were abusing the CAP program and labeling every undocumented immigrant that crossed their path as "criminal."

Come to find out those suspicions were warranted.

LatinaLista.net

In areas across the country, a lot of people are looking forward to the month of March. Not because it heralds the arrival of Spring (March 20, 2010) but because they've been told that is when Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) will be introduced in Congress.

The issue is mobilizing not just Latinos but like-minded sympathizers from the business arena, different religious ministries, labor unions, the American Jewish Committee, farmers, student groups, neighborhood organizations...and the list keeps growing.

Marches, rallies and conferences have been held or being planned in preparation for what will come or is hoped will come. Every day, my inbox is filled with an announcement of another event meant to push Congress to address immigration reform:

Past call-to-action marches mobilized people to take a stand on immigration reform. 

Texas Convention on Immigration Reform: The Texas Convention will be a historic moment when hundreds of Texas immigrant families, civil rights advocates, students, business representatives, unions, and local and federal elected officials will come together in the Capital of the State (Austin) to recognized the contributions of immigrants to the well-being and greatness of the state of Texas and the nation.

All participants and represented sectors at the convention will make an unequivocal call to reform our obsolete immigration system and to establish a comprehensive policy that: 1) will bring out of the shadows millions of immigrant workers; 2) integrates efficiently immigrant families to the economic, social, cultural and political fabric of our society; 3) develops and implements accountable, humane and responsible border and interior enforcement policies; 4) provides long-term solutions for immigration flows based on the needs of our economy, the dignity and rights of immigrant workers and the realities of the global migration process.

NY Road Trip for Our Future: Immigration Reform Now: We are a group of students, volunteers, faith leaders, organizers, mothers, brothers and immigrants united to push for immigration reform in 2010.

We know that if we want reform this year we must take our demands directly to our Members of Congress- so we are going on the road during Feb 15-19 Congressional Recess to tell them we want comprehensive immigration reform NOW!

"Scores march in cold from Jersey City to Elizabeth to underline interfaith call for immigration reforms": A group of about 60 people gathered at Liberty State Park yesterday morning (February 17, 2010) in front of the footbridge to Ellis Island to rally for immigration reform.

Part of a daylong event billed as "Ellis Island is Closed," a press conference and interfaith prayer service were held before most participants - immigrant rights activists and people affected by immigration policy and detention practices - began a 10-mile trek from Jersey City to the Elizabeth Detention Center.

1,500-Mile March to Washington: The trio has embarked on a four-month, 1,500-mile campaign, walking from Miami to Washington, D.C., to advocate for immigration reform legislation that would give them a path to citizenship.

There is no denying there exists unrest, impatience and expectations for CIR to be addressed in Congress next month. As it becomes clearer to other sectors of our economy just how much U.S. society is dependent on immigrant labor, undocumented or otherwise, there will be an even bigger push that something be done -- and it just may come from the average voter who doesn't really know anything about the need for CIR now but will feel the impact of the current immigration policies soon enough when it comes to food prices at the grocery store, dairy products, home services, etc.

If anyone thinks that these latest spurts of action across the country are merely isolated events with no real teeth, then they haven't heard what's coming March 21.

The likelihood that a child who goes through the foster care system ends up in jail is high. According to the National Association of Social Workers, 80% of all inmates are former foster children.

Couple that sad news with the disturbing revelation that the number of Latino children in foster care more than doubled from 6.7% of the foster care population in 1982 to 19% in 2006.

A timeline of how the foster care system evolved into what exists today.

What's equally appalling is that the figure 19% is about the same figure for the number of Latino children in the general US population of children, which stands at 21%. On the other hand, white children comprise 57% of the total US population of children but only 41% in the foster care system.

According to a factsheet produced by the Casey Latino Leadership Group, there are other disturbing facts regarding Latino children and the foster care system:

Some studies have shown that Latino children are usually younger (between the ages of 0-5) than non-Latino children at the time of referral and substantiation, placing them at higher risk for placement. This is concerning given that infants and young children are less likely to be reunified with their families.   

Reports of abuse and neglect are relatively proportionate between Latino and White non-Latino children. Yet, substantiated cases are more likely to occur with Latino children.

Latino children are more likely to be placed in out-of home care more quickly and for longer periods of time than their White non-Latino counterparts.

LatinaLista.net

Something good is happening in California.

For a state more accustomed to bad news -- a broke state economy, a slashing of public services, an increase in health premiums by the state's largest health insurer, rising college tuition rates, escalating home foreclosures, crime, etc. -- today's news that the state's Latina teens are having less babies than their counterparts across the country is excellent news.

According to the California Department of Public Health, California's teen birth rate is at a record low. For Latina teens, though they still have the undesirable distinction of having the largest teen pregnancy rate in the state, their numbers have gone down from 62 percent in 2007 to 57 percent in 2008.

Pregnant middle-school students (Source: globalgrind.com)

This decline bucks the national trend of an increase in Latina teen pregnancies in states throughout the Southwest, Southeast and Midwest.

With more Latina teens having multiple births while still unprepared for motherhood, lacking a basic high school education, or a decent paying job and depending on help from cash-strapped family members and straining public services, California's success begs the question, "How?"

It's not so much what they did but what they refused to do.

Ever since I posted the news that there is a massive march planned for March 21 in Washington by supporters of comprehensive immigration reform, response has been mixed.

Some have supported it and others not -- not too surprising. But what was surprising was that people, who normally support such actions wholeheartedly on behalf of pushing Congress to reform immigration, weren't in total agreement with the idea.

Their thinking is that with healthcare still unresolved that Congress can't even begin to properly address the immigration issue. Some have even gone as far as saying that maybe it should wait till next year.

CQ Politics 2010 Congressional Race Ratings Map: Red-GOP; Blue-Democrats; Yellow-toss-up; pink-leaning towards GOP; light blue-leaning towards Democrats.

Yet, some congressional members are showing us that there is little choice but to collectively push for action now -- before it's too late.

LatinaLista.net

The issue of Comprehensive Immigration Reform is complex. Basically, because it involves so many different components that must be examined and reformed.

One component is immigrant detention. While small strides have been made by the federal government to improve the quality of the conditions, the basic objection remains as to why even physically detain those immigrants who are non-criminals and can just as easily be electronically monitored?

In this way, families are kept together and the emotional trauma inflicted on the children of the family, that has been documented to happen, can be avoided. As well as, immigrants with specialized medical conditions can have their medical needs met better by their families and physicians rather than relying on a system that has a dismal record of honoring the medical needs of their detainees.

Also, by letting non-violent immigrants remain with their families, it removes the possibility of physical, emotional and sexual abuse from occurring and which have been perpetuated against some detained immigrants by those authorized to maintain their facilities.

When Obama ran on the promise that he would reform immigration, immigrant detention was also part of that package and like the advocates impatient for Congress to get started on reforming the nation's immigration policy, there is also impatience about the continuation of immigrant detention.

The impatience has morphed into a national plan of action scheduled for launch this Friday, Feb. 26.

"Dignity, Not Detention: Preserving Human Rights and Restoring Justice" calls for an end to detention expansion nationally. Over 30 different organizations have pledged to join activists on "calling on President Obama to take immediate action to prevent human rights abuses in U.S. detention facilities and the arbitrary detention of more than 300,000 immigrants each year."

If it weren't for the fact that the federal government has created a very cloak-and-dagger policy in detaining immigrants at unmarked facilities, the rage could have been tempered with the rationale that the federal government, in this instance, would live up to its promise of transparency.

But transparency is the last thing Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants when it comes to detaining undocumented immigrants.

For some reason, the United Kingdom newspaper, the Guardian, is running a two-day poll on their online site asking their readers to vote on who gave the "best performance" in President Obama's healthcare summit today.

So far, Democrats are outpacing Republicans. Last I checked, and the poll counts the results every 60 seconds, it was Democrats 60.6% vs. Republicans 39.4%.

President Obama convenes bipartisan healthcare summit.

It's not surprising that the newspaper used the terminology "best performance" because, as most anyone knows, politicians are at heart nothing more than hams for the camera.

Yet, there was a distinction between the two sides' presentations that permeated the event and made the Republicans emerge with egg all over their faces -- to go along with that ham, I guess.

Contrary to using this opportunity to present to the American people -- the very ones that most of them claimed didn't want the current healthcare bill -- a serious debate on the components of the bill and actually work with their Democratic colleagues, they chose to act in a way that illustrates why there is gridlock in Congress.

it's no wonder so many congressmen are leaving The Hill. With call after call from Republicans for Obama to just totally scrap his bill and start over, it doesn't take a genius to understand that "starting over" is double-speak for "I only vote for the Republican-authored bill."

Unfortunately, the big impression I am left with after this bipartisan show of divide is that most Republicans have no sincere wish to help Main Street USA. I say this because as each Republican criticized and was negative about the bill, with the exception of only a couple, there was a distinct lack of empathy for those constituents who lack healthcare or who are paying exorbitant premiums due to a pre-existing condition, if they can get health insurance.

Do Republicans really only represent the wealthy and Big Business - the same businesses that award their employees with big bonuses?

Obama told the men and women in attendance at the summit, and I'm paraphrasing, that each of them were part of the wealthy class with the benefits of having health insurance because of the federal pool they belong to.

What if they didn't have it?

Though it was rhetorical, it seemed to be a question no one was willing to answer.

How lucky they are that they live in a financial bubble shielded from the hard decisions too many Americans have to answer every day -- because they have no choice.

By Theresa Braine

Esther Chavez Cano died in Juarez, Mexico in December 2009 after losing a battle with cancer, but Esther fought another battle that to many seemed like she was losing but had achieved a victory to the dismay of her critics -- international attention to the murders of women in Juarez.

Just because Esther is gone is no reason to forget her or all the work she did on behalf of these innocent women and their anguished families.

Knowing how much Latina Lista supported and continues to support the work of Esther Chavez Cano, a representative from On the Issues Magazine offered us the opportunity to repost the following story done by freelance writer Theresa Braine which is published in the magazine's Winter Edition: Passion, Freedom and Women.

In mid-December 2009, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned Mexico's handling of the cases of three women who had been murdered in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez.

The decision of the judicial arm of the Organization of American States (OAS) was the latest to validate work started by Esther Chavez Cano, a bold voice decrying the horrific numbers of murdered girls and women in the city of 1.5 million. As it turns out, it was also the final validation of her work. Chavez, 76, died two weeks later after a long battle with cancer.

The Inter-American court ruled that the families of the three women should receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages from the Mexican government and that a monument should be erected to all Juarez's "feminicide" victims. The three victims were among eight women dumped in a disused cotton field near the town's business center in 2001.

Chavez began to raise her voice about the murders of women and girls in 1993 before anyone else was paying attention. A former accountant, Chavez noticed a sinister pattern. Girls and young women disappeared on their way to work or school, only to turn up murdered, sexually mutilated and dumped in the desert.

Chavez spoke out about the lack of investigation into the crimes, and in 1994, she, along with representatives of 11 women's organizations, formed "8 de Marzo," the first anti-violence activist group.