Immigration

We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us.

Dear Mom: Don’t worry, everything is great here in New York (video)

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In The Letter, based on a 1947 short story La Carta by Dominican-Boricua-Mexican Marxist author José Luis González, a migrant writes home to Mom.

“Everything is super here in New York,” he tells her.

Seventy-two years later and an ocean apart, the story is as true now for the African protagonist of this video as it was for the original Puerto Rican migrant.

Did you read this short story in school? Here is the complete text:

San Juan, Puerto Rico 8 de marso de 1947

Qerida bieja:

Mas…Dear Mom: Don’t worry, everything is great here in New York (video)

Texas Senator Ted Cruz’ Pocho Ocho top legislative proposals

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tedcruzdonkeyhoteySenator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has reintroduced legislation to take away federal benefits from same-sex married couples. But this troglodyte’s penedjitis is too advanced to stop at one stupid and hateful idea.

That’s right, there’s more — Ted Cruz’s Pocho Ocho Top Legislative Priorities for 2015:

8. Federal guidelines on subsidized school lunches for poor children shall encourage incorporation of nutritious roadkill meat, especially racoon. Now yer ‘coon is a touch on the greasy side, not sweet like ‘possum, but if you cook ’em up right, mmmmmmm, racoon!

7. Women banned from buying condoms because it curtails a Man’s Right to Reproduce.

6. Solar energy outlawed because it sucks the light right out of the Sun.

Mas…Texas Senator Ted Cruz’ Pocho Ocho top legislative proposals

What does the farmworker see at the supermarket? (audio)

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produceaisleYou say tomato, I say tomahto, and when a migrant farmworker visits the produce aisle at a local supermarket he sees an entirely different picture.

PRI’s Monica Campbell reports:

In the produce aisle of a supermarket in Madera, in California’s rural Central Valley, Francisco surveys the fruits and vegetables on display in the produce aisle. He’s 40 years old and stocky. He’s also undocumented, and he asks to use his first name only.

 

 

Produce photo by Jaskam Dhatt

My True Story: ‘At first I said F*CK YOUR DACA!’

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dacacardThis process was a long one. At first it was about me saying fuck your DACA. Then finding out ways to help my sister pay for hers. Then having my dad call me out on my bullshit because he could have benefited from one. Then me trying to get a green card instead. Then that not following thru cos shit happens. Then trying to get my shit together. Then finding out that my parents could potentially benefit. Then finding out that they didn’t. This thing right here. This thing that wasn’t given to us. This piece of document that many fought thru sleepless nights and courageous actions. This thing right here. Love you mom. Love you dad. Love you sister. Peace.

PREVIOUSLY ON JULIO SALGADO:

Mas…My True Story: ‘At first I said F*CK YOUR DACA!’

The sad true story behind ‘Spare Parts’ (videos, audio)

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In 2004, an Arizona high school team beat the odds by topping M.I.T in an underwater robotics competition. The undocumented team members’ stories inspired a book, a documentary, and now a feature film produced by and starring George Lopez. Spare Parts (trailer, above) is in theaters now.

This interview with two original team members by Antonia Cereijido for LatinoUSA explains what REALLY happened before and after the events dramatized in the film. Is it our imagination, or does one of the guys almost break into tears at the end?

Mas…The sad true story behind ‘Spare Parts’ (videos, audio)

‘Testimonios’ of the undocumented (Lalo Cura music video)

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Testimonios tells the stories of undocumented immigrants and the “American Dream” — soulful rock en español from Lalo Cura. No one is illegal.

Lalo Cura is Sonny Carreño on drums, Adam Carter on guitar and backup vocals, Rafael Chávez y Moreno on guitar and vocals, Adam Hartung on bass and Sam Que on sax and backup vocals. Video by Sophia Vergara. Music and lyrics by Rafael Chávez y Moreno.

Official Report: La Migra’s border drone results not on fleek (videos)

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droneThe Department of Homeland Security Inspector General may not have the sad, exactly, but his end-of-2014 report on border-patrolling drones was not very happy.

Tio Sam, the Inspector General recommended, should spend his Migra-Industrial Complex money somewhere else. More drones are not on fleek, the report concluded.

The LexisNexis newsroom pulled this quote from the report:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Unmanned Aircraft System Program Does Not Achieve Intended Results or Recognize All Costs of Operations

Although CBP’s Unmanned Aircraft System program contributes to border security, after 8 years, CBP cannot prove that the program is effective because it has not developed performance measures.

Mas…Official Report: La Migra’s border drone results not on fleek (videos)

DJ for Juárez Catholic radio massages migrants’ feet (audio)

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juarezdjMigrants seeking a better life in El Norte often pause on the border across from El Paso — in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua — before they cross to El Otro Lado.

Jorge Gutierrez, a host on Radio Guadalupana, a religious station run by the Catholic Diocese of Juárez, is there for them. More than just a radio talker, he has put his faith (and hands) to work easing migrants’ pain. Public Radio International reports:

Feet are a symbolic part of practically every migrant’s story: They literally carry their owner’s weight along the length of an exhausting journey. And in the Mexican border city of Juárez, one man has made it his mission to care for this particular body part.

Here’s the radio report from Monica Oritz Uribe:

Mas…DJ for Juárez Catholic radio massages migrants’ feet (audio)

POCHO wishes all you pochos a Merry Christmas (toon)

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lalomerryMerry Christmas from Los Pochodores: Lalo Alcaraz, Jefe-in-Chief; Dennis Wilen AKA Comic Saenz, Jefe de Content; Sara Inés Calderón, Subcommandanta del Ñews; Beto Mesta AKA Eres Nerd, Texas Burro Jefe; Elise Roedenbeck, New Jack City Burro Jefe (Emeritus); Celina Martinez, Food and Gwine Editor; Al Madrigal, Migrant Editor.

Video Hall of Montezuma: Esteban Colberto’s Greatest Latino Hits

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colberthispanicHe’s gone from the Report, but Esteban Colberto will always be in our hearts, and online, as long as these video links stay alive.

Check ’em out:

On Thanksgiving, Texans thank Obama for immigration action

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obamaspeech(PNS reporting from HOUSTON) Families here are thanking President Barack Obama as they sit down to their Thanksgiving meals today.

Undocumented immigrant Mario Garza, who plans to pay his fines and “get in the back of the line,” is overjoyed with the White House plans to help fix “our broken immigration system.”

“No pues está a toda madre lo que hizo el presidente Obama, y que poca madre tienen los pinches republicanos que no tienen ni corazon ni huevos para cumplir con la raza trabajadora,” he told PNS. (Translation: Garza backs presidential action but has doubts about the Republican Party’s appeal to future Latino voters.)

Mas…On Thanksgiving, Texans thank Obama for immigration action

Pocho Ocho top immigration actions Obama will reveal tonight

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thistallPresident Barack Obama will defy Republican haters tonight and reveal “executive actions” to “fix the broken immigration system.”

Our sources at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have shared a copy of the 5 PM EST speech and we can now reveal the Pocho Ocho top immigration reforms you’ll hear in the President’s address to the Nation:

8. If Central American child refugees can pat their heads and rub their tummies at the same time, they can cut in line.

7. Families of DREAMers are OK to stay if they mow the lawn.

6. Badges, stinking or otherwise, no longer needed.

Mas…Pocho Ocho top immigration actions Obama will reveal tonight

Ask A Mexican: Why do Salvadorans and Mexicans hate so much? (video)

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gussalvadorGustavo ¡Ask A Mexican! Arellano steps back into the video limelight to ponder the question: Why do Mexicans (and Mexican-Americans) and Salvadorans (and Salvadoran-Americans) hate each other so much? Is it because Salvadoran horchata is better than Mexican horchata? And the fact that pupusas kick gorditas’ culinary nalgas? Or are they just following an age-old American tradition of hatin’ on the newbies that goes back at least to Benjamin Franklin?

Mas…Ask A Mexican: Why do Salvadorans and Mexicans hate so much? (video)

Jon Stewart: How Obama’s amnesty shreds the Constitution (video)

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With the midterm election over, President Obama’s plan to use his executive powers to ease immigration issues for DREAMers, Central American refugees and others has Republicans up in arms about so-called “amnesty.”

Obama is “shredding the Constitution,” they claim, and even Mitt Romney, for Pete’s sake, has to remind Obama that he, Obama, is a loser. Jon Stewart and The Daily Show — with the help of Fox News — explain the big picture.

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