"Hispanos, juntos venceremos"
Por Mario Jiménez Castillo
El Observador
Los inmigrantes hispanos provenimos de diversos países y estamos aquí por muchas causas, escapando de las guerras civiles, subdesarrollo, gobiernos totalitarios, falta de oportunidades y de la "pobreza", delincuencia y corrupción que lastimosamente aflige a nuestra América
Latina.
La riqueza está muy mal repartida en nuestra región y los malos gobernantes abundan. Abrirse camino en este país no es fácil para nadie, sin embargo; existen muchos casos del éxito que han alcanzado los inmigrantes. A diario observamos lo difícil que está siendo para nuestra comunidad la supervivencia, especialmente con respecto a la "inmigración". Como inmigrantes tenemos derechos y también deberes.
El derecho a que se respete nuestra integridad, a tener condiciones laborales dignas, a que se nos trate con decencia y como ciudadanos de primera. Ahora bien, existen deberes que debemos cumplir.
Deberes que pueden engrandecer y poner en alto a nuestra comunidad, por ejemplo: aprender el idioma, progresar culturalmente, involucrarnos en la comunidad y en labores sociales y humanitarias, darle prioridad a la educación de nuestros niños y jóvenes; mantener limpios nuestros vecindarios, tener "solamente el número de hijos" a los que se les pueda dar una vida digna; respetar el derecho de los demás. Debemos comportarnos de la mejor manera posible y evitar lo obvio, que es no actuar en contra de la ley. "No cometer delitos de ninguna índole", respetar la privacidad de nuestros vecinos, respetar las señales y las leyes de tránsito, etc.
Para recibir debemos "primero dar". Claro, somos buenos trabajadores y pagamos impuestos, pero ahora debemos ir al "extra mile"  y demostrar todo lo bueno y lo
mejor que tenemos.
¡Luchemos por nuestros derechos pero ejerzamos nuestros deberes! de ese modo nos haremos dignos de respeto y sobre todo dignos de obtener la tan
ansiada legalización".
Los hispanos queremos y "mercecemos una Reforma Migratoria justa e integral".
Hispanos, apoyemos las marchas y los esfuerzos que hacen nuestros líderes comunitarios.
En la unión está la fuerza, y juntos venceremos. Escríbale a Mario a Novoeu28@gmail.com
o visite su página www.lalafia.com

California Immigration Advocates Applaud Supreme Court Decision to Uphold Integrity of Criminal Justice System for Immigrants
Washington, D.C.– The Immigrant Legal Resource Center and the University of California at Davis, Immigration Law Clinic applauds the Supreme Court’s decision issued today in a landmark decision in Padilla v. Kentucky, holding that defense lawyers must affirmatively advise their clients about the immigration consequences of pleading guilty.
The Supreme Court’s decision is of particular importance to California, which by some statistics represents 26.3% of the total foreign-born population and 22.6% of the total undocumented population in the United States. 
 “The Padilla decision sends a clear message that in a state like California, immigration issues cannot be ignored in the representation of noncitizen defendants,” said Angie Junck, staff attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco. “Even though the law in California already dictates that lawyers accurately advise their clients on the immigration consequences of criminal pleas, this decision further ensures that defense counsel consider the potentially dire consequences of a criminal case on a noncitizen.”

“Today’s decision in Padilla directs counsel to ensure that decisions to plead guilty will be intelligent and voluntary,” added Cynthia Hujar Orr, President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

This case centered on Mr. Jose Padilla, a lawful permanent resident (green card holder) who has lived in the U.S. for four decades and who served in the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. His criminal defense attorney had told him that pleading guilty to a drug charge would not lead to deportation. This advice was patently wrong. In his appeal, Mr. Padilla argued that his defense attorney's misadvice about deportation consequences amounted to ineffective assistance of counsel.

ILRC, along with other defender organizations across the country, had filed a “friend of the court” brief that the Court relied upon in its ruling. According to this brief, prevailing professional responsibilities and some state laws dictate that criminal defense lawyers must advise clients about deportation. Many defender offices already train staff on immigration consequences with the help of networks of experts. ILRC alongside UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic itself has responded to thousands of inquiries from criminal defenders in California and throughout the Ninth Circuit about immigration consequences of criminal dispositions.

The Supreme Court's decision in Padilla acknowledges that as a result of the 1996 immigration laws, even low-level offenses – such as one-time shoplifting or marijuana possession – can lead to deportation for all types of immigrants, including green card holders. In many of these cases, immigration judges are not even allowed to consider immigrants’ length of time in the country, U.S. citizen spouses and children, or other equities.

As the Court recognized, the immigration consequences of a plea may be far more serious than the criminal consequences. This is especially true when no-jail misdemeanors qualify as "aggravated felonies," causing the automatic deportation of long-time permanent residents and separation of family members.

“For many of our clients, deportation operates as one of the harshest consequences.  With deportation may come detention, family separation, and as the Supreme Court said in 1922, a loss of ‘all that makes life worth living,” said Raha Jorjani, clinical professor at the Immigration Law Clinic at UC Davis.  “The Padilla decision affirms the critical necessity for defense counsel to communicate immigration consequences of pleas to non-citizen defendants.  In light of often unforgiving immigration consequences - often for non-violent, first-time, misdemeanors - the Supreme Court’s decision in Padilla does not arrive a moment too soon.”

Hispanos nativos tiene más prejuicios sobre censo en EUA
Washington, (Notimex).- Los prejuicios de los hispanos nacidos en Estados Unidos hacia el censo de población 2010 son mayores que los que existen entre aquellos nacidos en el extranjero, señaló hoy el Centro Pew.
Los hispanos venidos de fuera no solo tienen una mejor actitud, sino que también tienen un mejor entendimiento de este ejercicio, de acuerdo con un sondeo realizado por el centro hispano.
Aunque en general 70 por ciento de los hispanos dijo que el censo es bueno para su comunidad, este sentimiento es mayor entre los nacidos fuera con 80 por ciento, contra 57 por ciento de los nativos.
Estos últimos confían en mayor medida -80 por ciento- en la promesa del censo de mantener confidencial su información, a diferencia de 66 entre los nativos.
La confianza y el conocimiento sobre el censo también es mayor entre aquellos hispanos bilingües o quienes hablan español, en contraste con los que hablan sólo ingles.
Con un universo de 46.9 millones que comprende el 15 por ciento de la población total de Estados Unidos, de acuerdo a la actualización del censo de 2008, los hispanos han afirmado su posición como la mayor minoría del país.
Pese al alto grado de confianza, la participación de los hispanos en el censo de 2000 fue baja, ubicándose en 69 por ciento, en contraste con 79 por ciento que reportó el resto de la población.
El reporte sugirió que la participación podría aumentar este año no sólo como resultado del aumento de la población, sino de la campaña de difusión a fin de alentarla.
Casi la mitad de todos los hispanos dijo haber escuchado en fechas recientes información sobre la necesidad de responder al conteo.
“La campaña de difusión parece haber mejorado las actitudes hacia el censo entre los hispanos”, precisó el reporte.
La encuesta nacional se llevó a cabo del 16 al 15 de marzo pasado entre 1,003 hispanos adultos y presenta un margen de error de 4.5 por ciento.
La difusión del sondeo coincidió con el inicio de cuenta regresiva para que los estadunidenses que recibieron por correo las formas del censo las llenen, teniendo hasta el último día de este mes para hacerlo.

Immigrant and Refugee Advocates Call on Obama Administration to Rein In ICE
Washington, DC - Immigrant advocates in Washington and Miami today strongly urged the Obama Administration to improve practices and performance by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency charged with apprehending, detaining, and deporting unauthorized immigrants.  According to reports today and Tuesday in the New York Times and this week in the Washington Post, the federal government has continued misguided immigration enforcement policies first implemented during the Bush years, and allowed ICE to continue to operate with little oversight and accountability.  Today’s revelation that dozens of Haitians rescued after the earthquake by U.S. forces and brought to Florida were greeted with handcuffs and put in detention, was just the latest in a litany of abuses and scandals.
Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice; Cheryl Little, Executive Director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center; and Dr. Derrick Harkins, Senior Pastor of the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, DC, participated in a teleconference this afternoon to denounce the detention of the rescued Haitians and demand stronger oversight over ICE.  This followed a week of embarrassing news reports that revealed cruel and callous treatment of mentally ill detainees and an unauthorized deportation “quota” policy that instructed ICE agents to beef up their numbers by going after “easy targets”—undocumented workers—instead of focusing on serious criminal offenders and security threats.
According to Frank Sharry, these revelations “strongly suggest that ICE is a rouge agency that acts in direct contradiction to the stated priorities of President Obama.  Candidate Obama clearly understood this when he said:  ‘When communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids, when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children come home from school to find their parents missing, when people are detained without access to legal counsel, when all that is happening, the system just isn’t working, and we need to change it.’  More recently, the head of ICE, John Morton, stated that his agency’s priority was go after the ‘worst of the worst.’  But given today’s New York Times story and the developments earlier this week, it is clear ICE agents haven’t gotten the memo.”
The media coverage has prompted action from the Administration, which began releasing dozens of Haitians who were being held in a detention center in Broward County, Florida while Cheryl Little was there and taking part in the advocates’ press conference.
“Rather than being welcomed in the U. S. of A and getting the refuge that they expected, they were detained for two months here at the Broward facility,” Little said, adding that most of the Haitian detainees have family in the U.S. who are able to support them. “We were just scratching our heads, honestly.  We knew they couldn’t be deported under the new government policy, they didn’t have criminal backgrounds, and yet they were being detained with our tax dollars, American tax dollars.”
Reverend Hawkins said the developments point to a need for reform of the immigration laws and a policy that treats immigrants humanely.  “We call on our leaders to address the immigration issue with equity, fairness, and compassion,” he said.
U.S. Rep Yvette Clarke (D-NY), who was not at the press conference but supports the call for change, issued the following statement: “I am very concerned with reports that Haitian survivors from the January 12th earthquake are being detained by ICE.  I commend Reform Immigration for America, America’s Voice and other immigration advocates for highlighting the importance of this issue.  I applaud the Obama Administration for reviewing its detention policies, but it is important that we maintain a high standard of humanity when we deal with detainees. Unfortunately this situation only highlights one of the many issues that need to be addressed in our detention/deportation system. ”