NewsTaco

By Dr. Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto, NBCLatino

Senator Marco Rubio got cold feet this Saturday. This weekend the Senator protested that the immigration negotiations were proceeding too hastily and that things were just moving too fast. Much like a jittery bride he showed hesitancy in his commitment to taking the plunge — in this case, the immigration plunge.

Now the buzz is whether the whole effort at reforming immigration is in peril. If Marco Rubio walks away, will the immigration reform fall apart? Is Rubio the pivotal character is this drama?

No, he is not. There is a whole cast of characters in this drama. To begin there is the support of the president, and this time around it’s not only rhetorical but about establishing immigration as one of his legacy issues. Second, there is a majority in the Senate—from progressive Democrats to Chamber of Commerce Republicans—that want to see immigration reformed. And finally, the House of Representatives has also been rumbling along on its immigration reform plan. It may be more disjointed than the Senate one, but there is momentum on both sides of the isle to find a solution.

Immigration reform does not depend on Rubio. Immigration reform needs Marco Rubio to the extent that the Cuban-American Republican can help streamline the process.

It’s Marco Rubio who needs immigration reform.

The Senator has his sights set running for president in 2016. But in order to have a realistic shot at the White House, Rubio has to point to a big accomplishment – immigration reform.

The strategy to reach the White House has two stages. First, secure enough support from the base and Independents (in states with open primaries) to win the Republican nomination. In order to do this, Rubio needs to show that he’s tough on immigration yet at the same time committed to a policy change that a majority of Americans (Republicans included) support.

The second part of the strategy, assuming he’s got the nomination, is to court the general electorate. And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce that Rubio is going to make an aggressive push toward Independent and Democratic Latinos. Just a couple of weeks ago, a poll from Latino Decisions asked Latino registered voters:

Would you be more or less likely to vote for a Republican candidate in the future if Republicans take a leadership role in passing comprehensive immigration reform including a pathway to citizenship, or would it have no impact on your vote?

The question didn’t name names, but they might as well have – we’re talking about Rubio. And close to half of all of those Latinos surveyed said they would be more likely to support a Republican candidate. Keep in mind less than a quarter of the Latino population identifies as Republican.

General Latino support (not just Republican Cuban-Americans in South Florida)+ Moderate Republican support+ Independents could just be Rubio’s winning coalition.

His two-stage strategy of showing the GOP he’s conservative while signaling to the general population that he is also compassionate is the reason for his recent coyness on the issue of immigration.

The minute Rubio decided to reverse his campaign position on immigration (which was focused on enforcement only), he knew he would have to see immigration reform through to the end. In the meantime, his reluctance to make a commitment is simply a coy trick to attract attention. In the end, he’s in it for the long haul.

This article was first published in NBCLatino.

Dr. Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto is an NBC Latino and MSNBC contributor, Senior Analyst for Latino Decisions and Fellow at the Center for Politics and Governance at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, at Austin.

[Photo by Gage Skidmore]

By Emilio C. Sanchez, Voxxi

The first figures about the Latino vote show that a vast majority of Hispanics supported President Obama in his re-election.

“Viva Obama” was the headline in “The Huffington Post” a few minutes after CNN made the projection of the Obama victory.

For the first time in history, the Latino vote represents more than 10 percent of the nation, a milestone for the Hispanic political power. Obama got 71 percent of the Latino vote, more than four years ago.

Despite that the race in Florida is too close to call, the victory in Virginia with 13 electoral votes and Ohio (18) were enough for the re-election of President Obama with at least 303 electoral votes.

Obama also won the battleground states of Colorado, Nevada, Iowa and New Hampshire and got the popular vote by nearly one million, although the results were close in many states.

With a country deeply divided, the largest deficit ever and the House of Representatives under the Republican control, President Obama asked immediately to reach a deal in the most precarious needs for the country.

Obama said he wants to talk with Romney to discuss how to work together. “This election is over, but our principles endure,” said Romney earlier in Boston.

In a memorable speech in Chicago in front a huge crowd, Obama said that the “best is yet to come.”

A debate about the Latino Vote

Latino voters made a decisive impact on the Presidential race in key states across the country, according to initial Election Day analysis conducted by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund.

The NALEO Educational Fund projected that at least 12.2 million Latinos would cast ballots in this election—a historic record.

It is clear that Governor Mitt Romney lost the opportunity to reach the Hispanic crucial community as President George W. Bush did in 2000 and 2004.

In a close election, every vote counts and the Latinos voters made the differences in Colorado, Virginia, New Mexico and Florida.

Latino voters turned out in record number and that benefited the Democrats. Obama holds support from Latinos by large margins—71 per cent and some polls put him as many as 50 points ahead—over Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

For the Republicans, a big question mark remains ahead. How to recover the same high percentages of Latino voters that got President Bush (2001-2009) and President Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) elected.

After a really tough primaries campaign, Mitt Romney went too far to the right and lost the opportunity to convince the Latino voters. Most of the Latinos were very upset about the broken promises from President Obama but were terrified by the tone and the language used by Romney and the Republicans regarding immigration.

Now the Republican Party has the challenge to change the mistakes over immigration and the lack of respect for the Hispanic community.

A new generation of Republican leaders headed by Sen. Marco Rubio (Florida); Governor of New Mexico, Susana Martinez; and the new Senator from Texas, the Cuban-American Ted Cruz will have a unique opportunity to chance the anti-Latino mentality of so many Republicans.

Plus the well-known representatives from Florida Ileana Rosh-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart must play a key role in the future of the Republican Party, as the former governor of Florida Jeb Bush.

On November 6, the Latino turnout marked the difference in this election and sent the message to America that the Hispanic community is a real force.

Across all the media, the electoral night was dedicated to all kinds of analysis about what the Latino vote means for the new political landscape.

CBS News highlighted that “When it comes to Latino voters, Mitt Romney is having the worst performance of any Republican candidate in years tonight.”

Mayor Julian Castro of San Antonio interviewed on NBC about GOP said: “They took on the most extreme position and alienated Latinos.”

Where is the GOP Party headed?

In 2010, the GOP gained a landslide of Latino representatives and that pushed many to question where the future of the Republican Party is headed. With prominent rising stars such as Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who has advocated for a version of the DREAM Act, more speculation is placed on whether Latinos in the Republican Party could break the extreme right-wing ideology that alienated some Latino voters. Once more that’s put to question in this election.

“I think the future of the GOP will rest in the hands of a Hispanic party,” said Raul Vargas, former chairman of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly. “A Hispanic party that in 2004 voted 44 percent for president Bush. I think we’re getting back to those days where the party is recognizing the importance of the Hispanic vote.”

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Emilio C. Sanchez is a renowned editor with over 25 years of experience in Washington and Miami, President and Editor-in-Chief of VOXXI.

[Photo By Facebook]

By John Rudolph, Feet In 2 Wworlds

No matter who wins the presidential election, U.S. immigration laws will significantly change in the next four years.

I’m not saying that it doesn’t matter who gets elected, and the change may not be the sort of “immigration reform” many immigrant advocates are hoping for. But after months of watching how the issue of immigration has played out during the campaignit’s clear that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans can afford the current system to go on much longer.

It’s easier to picture comprehensive immigration reform happening in a second Obama administration. In arecent interview with the Des Moines Register President Obama said he was confident of getting reform done in the first year of his new term. I know, this sounds a lot like what he promised in 2008. Instead Obama achieved the dubious distinction of having presided over more deportations than any president in U.S. history.

Obama surely understands that millions of immigrant voters, especially Latinos, won’t forgive him if he fails to deliver on this promise a second time. A lack of reform early in Obama’s second term could seriously jeopardize the Democratic party’s historic lock on Latino voters. This would rob future Democratic presidential candidates of a reliable voting bloc that played a key role in Obama’s 2008 victory, and is an important part of his 2012 strategy in battleground states such as Virginia, Florida, Colorado and Nevada.

Democrats could feel the impact as early as the 2014 midterm congressional elections. Disenchanted Latino voters might turn to the GOP, if not in the hope of reform, at least to show their disgust over a do-nothing Democratic administration. Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz—widely expected to become the first Latino U.S. Senator from Texas—would then be seen as the vanguard of a new, larger Republican Latino presence in Congress.

The pressure to find a quick and effective fix to the immigration crisis is equally urgent for Republicans. GOP Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina looks at the dramatic growth of communities of color and concludes “the demographics race we’re losing badly.” Graham was quoted in The Washington Post during the Republican convention as saying “we’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.”

But angry white guys and gals are not likely to drop their vehement opposition to legislation that would allow millions of undocumented immigrant workers to get on the road to becoming U.S. citizens. So what would or could Romney do as president to reconcile demographic reality with the demands of conservative members of his own party? The candidate who famously suggested that undocumented immigrants “self deport” might propose a guest worker program to allow immigrants to work in the U.S. legally, but not become citizens. That’s an economic fix that some immigrant workers and their employers might accept, and avoids alienating the Republican base and Tea Party conservatives in Congress. Romney would probably also push for a modified version of the DREAM Act to address the needs of young people who were brought to the U.S. by their parents and are now living here without papers.

Romney could defend these measures as important for the economic recovery. That might resonate with Latino voters who have consistently told pollsters throughout this long campaign that the economy is their number one issue. Even so, immigration is the issue that affects them on a gut level. Daily News columnist Albor Ruiz put it this way: “A politician’s attitude towards immigration is decisive in earning the trust of Latino voters.” Comprehensive reform proposals from the Obama administration are more likely to hit the emotional mark with Latinos.

Whatever the election’s outcome, immigrants, whether they are Hispanic or Asian, are vitally important to the future of both political parties. More and more candidates from immigrant communities are running for office and the ranks of immigrant voters are growing dramatically in states across the country. These are trends that the next president can’t afford to ignore. My guess is he won’t.

This article was first published in Feet In 2 Worlds.

Fi2W is supported by the New York Community Trust and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with additional support from the Ralph E. Odgen Foundation and the Sirus Fund.

John Rudolph is a radio journalist with more than 30 years of experience producing award-winning documentaries and reports. He is Feet in 2 Worlds’ executive producer.

[Photo by Stijn Vogels]

By Hispanically Speaking News

Friday, April 27, 2012

Robert Reich: The GOP’s Death Wish (Market Playground): What are the three demographic groups whose electoral impact is growing fastest? Hispanics, women, and young people. Who are Republicans pissing off the most? Latinos, women, and young people.

Debunking what media call ‘crucial’ Hispanic vote bloc (Daily World): After reading dozens of mainstream media newspaper and national magazine stories about the so-called “crucial” Latino November vote, I have sadly concluded that my journalism colleagues either can’t do simple math or have decided to forego fundamental research.

Arizona’s immigration law: Where’s the Christian compassion? (The Washington Post): …this week, the community of Clarksdale, Arizona will “celebrate the state’s Centennial and Hispanic culture” with an event they are calling the “Grande Fiesta.” Celebrating Hispanics the same week that the U.S. Supreme Court reviews Arizona laws that clearly target this same group is but one of the many ironies that shape this state.

An Immigrant-Friendly Republican Dares To Dream (Wall Street Pit): Rubio’s newly proposed version of the bill, which he plans to unveil in the next few weeks, would eliminate the specific path to citizenship for these young people outlined in former versions. But it would still grant them non-immigrant visas, allowing them to live, study and work in the United States while following existing routes toward naturalization.

Is Marco Rubio’s DREAM Act Dead on Arrival? (Fox News Latino):  Democrat leaders from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who met with Rubio, a Florida Republican, over the plan on Wednesday said they were concerned about the lack of details about the senator’s plan, and the odds against it being passed in Congress.

New map of Arizona legislative districts clears US review for Voting Rights Act compliance (The Republic):  A map of new legislative districts for Arizona to use in elections in the coming decade has cleared a federal review for compliance with the Voting Rights Act. A Justice Department official’s letter sent Thursday to lawyers for the state’s redistricting commission says the department does not have any objections to the map.

Poll: Ariz. immigration law hurts Romney in key states (Politico):  Public Policy Polling and Project New America are out with a new poll of Hispanic voters in Nevada, Florida and New Mexico, finding that Mitt Romney’s immigration stance isn’t doing him any favors in those states.

Is the Supreme Court About to Mobilize Latino Voters? (Mother Jones):  Almost two years ago to the day, activists in Arizona assembled in front of the state capitol in Phoenix to protest SB 1070, the harsh immigration law that the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about on Wednesday. The activists’ 100-day vigil signaled a growing political awakening of Arizona’s Latino residents—a shift that could affect the outcome of this year’s election and many more to come. If the Supreme Court allows the Arizona law to stand, activists say, it could trigger an even greater shift in Latinos’ attitudes.

Study: Latinos More Likely To Favor Strict Gun Control (Huffington Post):  Latinos are more likely than both whites and African Americans to favor strict gun control laws, according to a report released by the Pew Research Center on Wednesday.

NFL Draft Lacks Latinos (Fox News Latino):  Expect Andrew Luck to go No. 1. Expect Robert Griffin III to go No. 2. Expect to be inundated with analysis as experts go for days, breaking down every pick. And expect to see few – if any – Latino players called during the three-day player selection.

President Barack Obama has learned a few things in his three years in office. He’s learned to edit his comments and he’s learned that campaigning for president as a Senator is very different than doing it from the White House.

Case in point: on his way to Cartagena, Colombia last week to attend the Summit of the Americas, the President stopped in Miami for a little campaigning and fundraising. While there he gave an interview to Univision’s Enrique Acevedo. Four years ago, as a candidate for president, he promised, in another Univision interview, that he’d pass immigration reform in his first year in office. That unfulfilled promise has been fodder for his opposition and food for dismay for Latino activists.

This time around he went there again, although he tread much more lightly – this is, after all, an election year. He told Acevedo:

“I can promise that I will try to do it in the first year of my second term,” he said?

“Try” being the operative word.  But then again, given the history and the political circumstances, what else could he have said?

Here’s the thing: Immigration, whether the President or Acevedo like it or not, has become a top-tier, hot button, wedge issue all rolled into one. Latinos didn’t make it so, in fact, Latinos were preoccupied with jobs and education and health before immigration was shoved into the national consciousnesses from the extreme right. But there it is; important to Latinos now because of the way Latinos have become identified with the issue.

Also, Latinos are important on a national scale because of the value, or perceived value, of the Latino vote. Whether true or mythical, there is a vast and growing consensus that Latino voters will play a very important role in the coming presidential election.

So, you have a sitting President campaigning for re-election, interviewed by a Latino network where he has a history of making an unfulfilled promise about immigration reform. You know the question is going to come up. The reporter knows he has to ask the question. The President knows it’s coming. It’s inevitable. As was the tap-dance.

What did we expect, given all of the circumstances? Obama said he’d like to pass immigration reform this year – I’m sure he would. But he can’t, there’s jus too much negativitiy.

“The challenge we’ve got on immigration reform is very simple; I’ve got a majority of Democrats who are prepared to vote for it and I’ve got no Republicans who are prepared to vote for it.”

The next best thing is to promise he’ll try – first thing after he’s re-elected.  Which, he added, is better than what the other guy will do:

“We now have a Republican nominee who said that the Arizona laws are a model for the country; that — and these are laws that potentially would allow someone to be stopped and picked up and asked where their citizenship papers are based on an assumption,” he said.

Not that I’m cynical, or anything. It’s just that this is April of a presidential election year, and we’ve heard this before from Candidate Obama in a less cautious tone.  I think the President is better off sticking to saving GM and passing healthcare reform. But then again, he doesn’t ask the questions.

[Photo By realjameso16]

Barack Obama predicted that he’ll be alive to see a Latino candidate for president. He said a little bit more than that, but that’s the gist of his remark. If it was intended to raise eyebrows, turn heads and rouse a cheer, he succeeded. If what he wanted was to give Latino voters something to chew on, he did that as well. But if he did it to be prophetic…

His remark came at an “Open for Questions” roundtable put together by Yahoo!, MSN Latino, and AOL Latino/Huffington Post Latino Voices. What he said, and this is a direct quote from a USA Today reporter who was in the room when he said it, was:

I am absolutely confident that within my lifetime, we will have a Latino candidate for president who will be very competitive and may win.

I’m not the type to pick nits, but let’s spread the President’s statement apart a tweak, to see what’s inside.

I’m absolutely confident: Is that stronger than a certainty? You can be confident about something but not certain about it. It’s the type of statement that hedges a bet, but doesn’t go all in.

that within my lifetime: The President is my age, so that means within my lifetime as well. He’s got more pressures than I do, so I’ll probably outlive him. But then he seems to be in better shape than me, so it’s a toss-up. The life expectancy of an American male is about 79 years; that gives us both another 29 years to see a Latino candidate for president. It’s a sobering thought, if you’re average, that you’ve only got another 29 years to clear the bucket list. First item on my list: create a bucket list.

we will have a Latino candidate for president: An honest declarative fragment of a sentence that includes himself, unless he was talking in the royal “we,” in which case three years in office have gone to his head. It’s also a future-looking statement, that doesn’t take Bill Richardson into account. We’ve had a Latino candidate for President already.

who will be very competitive and may win: Competitive; may win. That explains the Richardson omission in the last fragment. I’m guessing that he’s talking about a candidate that makes it through the primary process and is nominated by his or her party. He said very competitive, as opposed to just plain competitive. He, more than anyone else, should know the difference. He also said “may” win, and that brings me back to the first part of the statement. “May” is to “confident” what “pleading” is to the “fifth.”

So he’s confident that a Latino candidate may win, in the next 29 years. That’s seven presidential elections into the future. That’ means that the Latino candidate he’s talking about has to be at least in grammar school today, given the minimum age requirement to be President of the United States, and assuming that he or she would be elected at the far end of Obama’s life expectancy – the  2040 election. So that future Latino candidate, or President, could be 7 years old today.

That throws a wrench into the speculation about who, today, could be a viable Latino candidate for president. There was talk about Florida’s Marco Rubio being the possible competitive Latino Presidential candidate. Someone of Rubio’s age and stature within his party is a possibility and falls within Obama’s time frame. So the possibilities run from Senator Rubio to a random second grader – and everyone in between.

Suddenly it’s not so prophetic a statement. Given the growth of the Latino community and the increased participation of Latinos in the political process it’s not a stretch, it’s more like something that’s bound to happen.

So we thank the president for saying it, this being Hispanic Heritage Month and all. He’s drawn attention to the possibility and maybe there’s a fourth grader somewhere who heard him say it and felt inspired.

The truth is that it’s only a matter a time – but then again, isn’t everything?

[Photo by IowaPolitics.com]

The Daily Show’s Senior Latino Correspondent Al Madrigal took on the Republican presidential contenders last night at the Tea Party debate. The big joke is that no one is conservative enough for the Tea Party, given that they booed Rick Perry.

Madrigal and Jon Stewart go down a list of possible candidates who might satisfy the Tea Party — including Superman and Thomas Jefferson — and Madrigal shoots them down with hilarious results. Superman is an illegal alien and Thomas Jefferson burned his Bible. Not even Optimus Prime is safe from the Tea Party wrath.

Check it out.

[Video And Screenshot By The Daily Show]

[Editor's note: The following is an op-ed from Somos Republicans.]

By Bob Quasius

Ankeny, Iowa – Recently, presidential candidate Herman Cain called for solving illegal immigration by securing our border with a moat filled with alligators and an electrified “great wall of China.” Throughout his campaign, Cain has emphasized his “problem solving” abilities and business experience with Godfather’s Pizza.

As a civilized society we need to seek civilized solutions that meet the needs of our free market economy. We fail to see how anyone can seriously consider alligator filled moats and a new “wall of China” a practical solution to our broken immigration system. The ancient Romans fed Christians to wild beasts to deter the rise of Christianity, but eventually Roman society became Christian, and China eventually fell to invaders from the North despite its great wall.

As someone who constantly talks about his “problem solving” skills, we would expect Cain would know that problems are solved not by treating symptoms but by addressing root causes. The U.S. has seven million undocumented immigrant workers at present. The quotas of guest worker visas are a ‘drop in the ocean’ for unskilled or low skilled workers, and quotas for highly-skilled workers are also low, and lead many high tech employers to relocate research facilities overseas. Some family members of U.S. Citizens have been waiting since September 1992 for immigrant visas. For those who are not relatives of citizens or highly skilled professionals, there is essentially ‘no line to stand in.’

One need only look at the worker shortages in Georgia and Arizona agriculture sectors to see the dire consequences of enforcement-only strategies that don’t address the needs of America’s economy. 40% of Yuma Arizona’s lettuce crop went un-harvested after 100,000 Hispanics fled Arizona following passage of SB1070, even though Yuma has unemployment rates rivaling those of the great depression. Georgia passed a similar law, and now farmers are struggling to find migrant farm workers and now must decide which crops to leave rot. According to a recent study by the Cato institute, for every farm worker in the field, another 3.1 workers depending upon their work. Ironically the fast food industry is one of the sectors of our economy that is heavily dependent on undocumented immigrant workers, so we can’t help but wonder if Cain’s wealth from this industry was built on undocumented immigrant labor!

Throughout U.S. history, whenever legal immigration has been unreasonably restricted, the result has been illegal immigration, first with Chinese immigrants in the late 19th century, then with Southern and Eastern Europeans during the 1920s, and today with unskilled undocumented workers, over 70% are from Latin America. Our last major immigration overhaul was in 1965, at a time that 50% of native adult Americans were high school dropouts, as compared to 6% today. Clearly, our demographics and needs have changed but our immigration system hasn’t.

We call on Herman Cain to drop his candidacy for President. His recent comments and lack of practical solutions to solving illegal immigration show he’s not a serious candidate. Many Hispanics find his recent comments comparing immigrants to “invading Huns” offensive, and also insensitive when thousands of immigrants died crossing the desert. We’re looking for practical and humane solutions, and find Cain’s pandering to xenophobes disgusting. Apparently nativist tea has been served up at many tea parties! Hispanics are a key swing vote, and whichever GOP candidate succeeds in winning the nomination cannot win the general election without the Hispanic vote. Cain needs to leave the field open to more serious candidates.

[Photo By JohnTrainor]