Merry Christmas from the Pochodores: Lalo Alcaraz, Jefe-in-Chief; Dennis Wilen AKA Comic Saenz, Jefe de Editorial; Sara Inés Calderón, Subcommandanta del Ñews; Victor Payan, Subcommandante de la Cultura; Beto Mesta AKA Eres Nerd, Texas Burro Jefe; Santino J. Rivera, Florida Burro Jefe; Elise Roedenbeck, New Jack City Burro Jefe (Emeritus); Melanie Ruiz, Director of Marketing; Al Madrigal, Migrant Editor.
border
Niños Incómodos/Uncomfortable Kids: ‘Mexico must change’ (videos)
“If this is the future that awaits me, I don’t want it,” said the girl in this commercial that ran before last year’s Mexican presidential elections. “Enough of working for your political parties instead of working for us. Enough of cosmetic changes.” Almost everyone said they agreed.
How’s that working out for you, Mexico?
Mas…Niños Incómodos/Uncomfortable Kids: ‘Mexico must change’ (videos)
Otra DREAMer in London – I’m a stranger in a strange land
Six weeks have passed since my move to London; the start of new journey, a new dream. It is the first time in my life that I made the conscious decision to migrate. I did not have that choice at the age of nine when I was brought into the U.S. as an irregular migrant child, nor did I choose to return to Mexico when I was deported four years ago.
The excitement still lingers alongside a sense of exploration as I am afforded certain level of freedom to be able to reside in a foreign country legally to pursue a graduate degree. It took overcoming very difficulty challenges, but I did not do it alone. An entire community supported me along the way to be here. It is a privilege that I do not take lightly as well as a responsibility to represent the collective challenges of migrants who have gone through similar experiences wherever I am.
Mas…Otra DREAMer in London – I’m a stranger in a strange land
Rebel Diaz: ‘I’m An Alien’ [music video]
From Chicago to the Bronx, Rebel Diaz makes music that fights racism and celebrates indigenous people. Is there something familiar about this song’s chorus? I’m An Alien includes a sample from Sting’s Englishman in New York.
- PREVIOUSLY ON NEW JACK CITY:
Quetzal wants to make sure you watch out for the ‘MIGRA’ (video)
Latinopia writes:
Quetzal is an East Los Angeles Chican@ band whose music reflects the social, political and cultural struggles of Latinos in the United States and Latin America. Founded in 1994 by Quetzal Flores, the group won a Grammy for their album Imaginaries in 2013. They performed their original song, “Migra,” about the plight of Mexican immigrants crossing into the United States to seek a better life, at the Levitt Pavilion in Pasadena’s Memorial Park on August 14, 2013. The lead singer of the group is Martha Gonzalez. This video was produced, is owned an copyrighted by Barrio Dog Productions, Inc. and is posted on vimeo and Latinopia.com by permission.
Illegal American and European boat people heading for Peru (video)
They’re coming on boats and rafts from the United Estates and the Eurozone to this country on the Pacific Coast of South America — a representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions — to live The Peruvian Dream.
POCHO Jefe Lalo Alcaraz Yelps about the border on NPR (audio)
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A few weeks ago we featured some astounding videos of actors’ (dramatic) readings of Yelp customer reviews — customer reviews of US-Mexico border crossings.
NPR’s Latino USA with Maria Hinjosa snagged Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz last week to find out if he had anything to add to the discussion.
Listen here to learn if he did! 😉
Mas…POCHO Jefe Lalo Alcaraz Yelps about the border on NPR (audio)
Breaking: Napolitano brings harsh border enforcement to UC
(PNS reporting from BERKELEY) Department of Homeland Security Secretary (and former Arizona Governor) Janet Napolitano has accepted an offer to head up the University of California system.
Napolitano promised to do the same for the UC system that she did for the border during her time at DHS:
“I kept out and quashed as many Mexicans as any DHS Secretary could during my tenure, and now that Latinos are overtaking whites in California, I promise to do the same at the UC system,” she said in a statement.
Mas…Breaking: Napolitano brings harsh border enforcement to UC
Eric Holland’s back with another borderland music video: ‘Amnestia’
Eric Holland is just an ordinary guy — a former Arizona ESL teacher — who writes amazing songs about the border. This is his latest, Amnestia. [Video by Danny Worms.]
Previously, POCHO published Holland’s stark and moving Juan Do — Dame agua/Give me water:
Mas…Eric Holland’s back with another borderland music video: ‘Amnestia’
Defense contractors on immigration bill: ‘Time to get a new Beemer’
(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON, DC) The Senate’s approval of a bipartisan “immigration reform” bill Thursday — a bill which Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says will create “the most militarized border since the Berlin Wall” — has defense contractors talking, and drooling.
The hot topic? The untold millions of dollars that may become available if Uncle Sam gets serious about “security.”
It’s the inevitable transition, cynics say, from Eisenhower’s old-school military-industrial complex to the new Post-Millennial MIGRA-Industrial Complex. But government contractors and suppliers have a more nuanced view.
Mas…Defense contractors on immigration bill: ‘Time to get a new Beemer’
Actors read Yelp reviews of US-Mexico border checkpoints (videos)
Yes, people really write Yelp reviews of border crossings. In this video, one of a series, Marsha Stephanie Blake reads Mona M.’s review of the Chula Vista Border Patrol station in San Diego.
In another border checkpoint Yelp video, Harris Doran reads Eric T.’s Yelp review of the San Ysidro border crossing in San Diego.:
Mas…Actors read Yelp reviews of US-Mexico border checkpoints (videos)
Flash: ‘Foxy Farmworkers’ set for Fall premiere on Fox
(PNS reporting from HOLLYWOOD) Hoping to capitalize on the Devious Maids buzz, Fox will jump on the stereotypical Latino programming bandwagon with a new entry this fall called Foxy Farmworkers.
The show will follow a quirky group of “young, single and ready-to-mingle” Mexican farmworkers as they make their way from the impoverished US-Mexico border to fields in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Michigan.
Between backbreaking 14-16 hour days in the sun and working in the fields, the young men manage to get themselves into a world of trouble chasing after petite, white women in the towns they pass through, breaking hearts along the way.
Flash: Worker slips into Canada, becomes first NAFTA mojado
(PNS reporting from CANADIA) David Pérez became the first NAFTA mojado when he crossed illegally into Canadia Saturday.
The undocumented worker from Jalpa, Zacatecas first crossed the Rio Grande into the United States near San Elizario, TX, 10 years ago seeking employment in El Norte.
After working in El Paso for a year doing construction, he continued north, staying with relatives in Denver, Chicago, and Minnesota.
“I kept searching for El Norte and there was always more Norte to explore,” Pérez told PNS.
Mas…Flash: Worker slips into Canada, becomes first NAFTA mojado
Xochitl Julisa Bermejo: ‘Our Lady of the Water Gallons’ (video)
Xochitl Julisa Bermejo is a poet and teacher from Asuza, CA who volunteered with No More Deaths, a humanitarian organization providing water bottles in the Arizona desert where immigrants crossing from Mexico often die of exposure. She read her poem Our Lady of the Water Gallons at a Mental Cocido (Mental Stew) gathering of Latino authors.
Talk radio guy blows the lid off ‘Mexican swimming lessons’ (video)
If you’ve been wondering why the internationally-lauded public school system in Mexico makes sure all the kids get swimming lessons, talk show guy AND education expert Rick Rantz of 1270AM WQTT in Union County, OH, has the answer. Advertising Sales Manager Mike Schnell is at 614.935.1038 if you have more questions.The radio station’s Programming Department is at 614.425.9633, or you can email grivers@icsohio.com.
How Gov. Schwarzenegger terminated Mexican alien problems (video)
Following a successful career battling aliens on screen, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected and reelected as Governator of Califas This video looks back at how he handled aliens on the Golden Estate’s border with Mexico in 2007.
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX): Beware of the Mexi-Muslim threat
(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON, D.C.) Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) warned Wednesday that “radical Islamists” are being “trained to act like Hispanic[s]” and cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We know Al Qaeda, which has changed its name to Al Pastor, has camps with the drug cartels over there on the other side of the Mexican border,” he warned on C-SPAN.
“Arabs are now being trained to come in and act like Hispanics instead of radical Islamists. They teach them to say ‘homeboy’ instead of ‘habibi,’ they show them how to watch ‘telenovelas’ instead of Bin Laden videos. It’s pure evil!”
Mas…Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX): Beware of the Mexi-Muslim threat
Breaking: Immigration plan includes MIGRA clone army
(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON, D.C.) The “Gang of Eight” immigration reform plan revealed yesterday mandates a Border Patrol Agent Clone Army, according to details released by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL.)
“Two hundred thousand clones are immediately available for deployment on the border” when the bill passes, a jubilant Rubio said at a Capitol Hill press conference this morning. “The minute Obama signs the bill, we’ll send in the clones!”
Eligio El Nene wants you to know: ‘En America Se Habla Ingles’ (video)
Eligio The Kid and his super hero squad of Extranjeros realize that in America, one needs to speak English. I’m so sorry you don’t know what I say!
Immigration Reform 2013: Where exactly is the ‘reform’ part? (video)
The long-anticipated “comprehensive immigration reform bill” is set to be introduced to the public by a bi-partisan group of legislators today.
What exactly is the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013?”
The compromise proposal won’t cover all the people here without legal status, for one thing, nor will it create a lasting change — reform — of the immigration system.
What it will do, though, is line the pockets of security contractors via $3 billion dollars for “border security.”
Mas…Immigration Reform 2013: Where exactly is the ‘reform’ part? (video)
Mexico builds border wall to keep out assholes from the U.S.A. (video)
In a much-criticized move, Mexico has finished construction of the border wall to keep out assholes from the United Estates.
American officials were mum after their own calls for more enforcement on this side of the border, but some politicians are mad enough to consider canceling their own Mexican spring break vacations.
Mas…Mexico builds border wall to keep out assholes from the U.S.A. (video)
Chilanga DREAMer Aury Martinez is all ‘Si Se Puede!’ (NSFW video)
President Obama’s “deferred action” program is working out really well for DREAMer Aury Martinez. (NSFW audio.)
Documentary: ‘Mundo Al Revés – World Upside Down’ (NSFW video)
Johnny Mp, who comes from Peru, made this documentary to show the hard life of an immigrant — living, working and loving. Can you relate? (NSFW language.)
‘Jolito’ crossed over, but can a beaner make it in America? (video)
Frijolito is now on the American side of the border, and it looks like he’s on his way to achieving the American Dream….or is he? [Video by LaGranRoyal.]
Mas…‘Jolito’ crossed over, but can a beaner make it in America? (video)
Native American faces down anti-immigrant protest (NSFW video)
In a video uploaded Tuesday, and since widely-republished, a Native American pushing a baby in a stroller educates a crowd of Tucson, AZ anti-immigration demonstrators about who is really American and who is an alien invader. (NSFW language.)
Gringo uses the old Christianity trick to get past the MIGRA (video)
The best defense is good offense, pochos. Watch and learn!
If only these undocumented immigrants had seen the video before they got stopped in the middle of Oklahoma!
Mas…Gringo uses the old Christianity trick to get past the MIGRA (video)
Marry a citizen, become a citizen at PendejoMatch.com (video)
Sen. John Kyl, a Republican (surprise surprise!) from the Hate State of Arizona, is pleased to announce his online dating site for the young, undocumented and desperate.
Marry a citizen, become a citizen!
It’s just that easy with the “quick path to citizenship” from PendejoMatch.com.
Try Pendejo Match for free for 30 days or your money back! Just looking for love? Our sister site MojadoMingle.com is the place for you. Or maybe GueyDate.net.
Al Madrigal goes to Arizona to understand legislative gridlock (video)
The Daily Show’s Senior Latino Correspondent Al Madrigal goes to Arizona to understand how a streamlined legislative process can benefit the country.
DISCLOSURE: Madrigal is also POCHO’s Migrant Editor.
Is it a crime to cross the line? ‘Dame Agua, Give Me Water’ (video)
A nameless man — let’s call him Juan Doe — dies in the desert near the border. This is his song: Dame Agua from Eric Holland‘s CD American Inmigrante.
Dead and more dead in the drug war and only ‘The Silence’ (video)
When the kids ask why all these people are dying in Mexico’s Drug War, what do you say? The unmistakable David Hidalgo of Los Lobos (with harmonies by Jackson Browne) sings of The Silence on this Los Cenzontles tune recorded by the veteran East Bay collective in L.A.’s Echo Park in February. Closing guitar solo by Eugene Rodriguez.