Cecilia Muñoz, Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council. (www.whitehouse.gov)

Hispanics are tired of Obama’s lip service on immigration reform

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By Kay Bárbaro

For Borderzine from Hispanic Link

WASHINGTON – WE’RE STILL WAITING:  Cecilia Muñoz, longtime vice president of the National Council of La Raza whose appointment in Jan. 20, 2009, to President Obama’s initial cabinet was seen as a payoff to the Hispanic community for its huge role in Obama’s winning a front-door key to the White House. This, we and many others innocently believed, would ensure that el presidente nuevo would move quickly to make good on his repeated promises to end our undocumented immigrant agony by delivering genuine immigration reform legislation. Did he? Of course not.

President Barack Obama greets filmmaker George Lucas. Lucas was awarded the National Medal of Arts for his cinematic work. A military aide prepares to hand the medal to the president. (Caleigh Bourgeois/SHFWire)

President awards medals to writers, artists

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WASHINGTON – Rarely does one see the creator of “Star Wars,” an opera star and a sportswriter in the same room. What makes it even rarer is when that room is in the White House. Filmmaker George Lucas, opera diva Renée Flemingand sportswriter Frank Deford were three of 24 recipients of the 2012 National Medals of Arts and National Humanities Medals. The medals were awarded Wednesday at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House by President Barack Obama. First lady Michelle Obama attended.

Ken Salazar resigns; President’s cabinet is devoid of Hispanics

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Kenneth Salazar is resigning from President Obama’s Cabinet and will return home to Colorado by the end of March. His impending departure, announced Jan. 16, follows that of Secretary of Labor Hilda Solís, who returned to her native California Jan. 23. Their decisions leave President Obama’s Cabinet bare of Hispanics.

(©Raymundo Aguirre)

Anchor babies and Dream Acts

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Teaching and Learning and Caring Blog

EL PASO – On June 15, 2012, more than a year after President Obama’s visit to El Paso, he announced that his administration would no longer take administrative action against young people who were brought here as children and who have no criminal record.  These are the same people (an estimated 800,000) that would qualify for the Dream Act, if it ever passed.  Moreover, these kids would be allowed to apply for work permits. Finally, it is a step in the right direction.  But, and it is a rather large one, there has to be enough trust that the administrative action would not be overturned, and people would not be deported once they had come forward and self-identified. The following blog by Cheryl Howard originally appeared in Bean Juice Dispatches, an on-line publication created by former UTEP students, Raymundo Aguirre and John Del Rosario. EL PASO, May 13, 2011 – Anchors keep us centered in bad weather, keep us from drifting away with the current or the wind. Dreams are not anchors; they are the wisps of wind or the current itself.  Dreams are unfettered by reality.

President Obama condecorates Dolores Huerta. (©HIspanic Link)

Dolores Huerta receives nation’s highest civilian honor

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WASHINGTON – Dolores Huerta, pioneer civil rights advocate of the farm worker movement, received the nation’s highest civilian honor May 29. As 300 persons, including two of her 11 children and countless beneficiaries of her courageous work packed the White House East room to acknowledge of her legacy. President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Supporters from as far away as Los Angeles applauded as President Barack Obama draped the medal on the 82-year-old Huerta. The award recognizes individuals who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”

She led grape boycott

President Obama spoke personally about the inspiration each recipient has made in his life during the ceremony.

President Barack Obama speaks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s Award Gala on Wednesday. He focused on issues important to the Hispanic community, such as job creation and immigration. (Danya P Hernandez/SHFWire)

Obama tells Hispanic audience he will fight for their issues

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WASHINGTON – Hundreds of spectators cheered and applauded as President Barack Obama promised to work to pass the Dream Act, which would allow some young immigrants to become U.S. citizens. “I will do everything in my power to make the Dream Act a reality,” he said. Obama and first lady Michelle Obama attended the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 34th Annual Awards Gala on Wednesday to kick off his administration’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration. “I don’t have to tell you these are tough times. You know how hard this recession has hit families, especially Latino families,” Obama said.

Latino youth hailed as hero in Tucson shooting

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TUCSON – In a state now famous for discriminating against Hispanics, a young man has shown the nation the strength and courage a Mexican American can have in the line of fire. Daniel Hernández, 20, is being hailed throughout the nation for his role Jan. 8 in saving the life of Congresswoman Gabriella Gifford when he provided first aid to the 40-year-old congresswoman who had been shot in the head. A memorial for the massacre that claimed six lives and left 13 others wounded was held on Jan.12 at the University of Arizona. More than 14,000 persons attended the commemoration, including President Obama, who personally acknowledged Hernández’s heroism and thanked him.

Protesters demand the changes Obama promised

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EL PASO, Texas — As President Barack Obama addressed the troops in Ft. Bliss Tuesday morning, protest groups gathered here to voice disappointment with the lack of change they say was promised by candidate Obama. “I’m out here because we were promised immigration reform,” said Delia Barra, a member of Red Fronteriza, the organization that headed the protest. Some 100 protesters lined up on Airway Boulevard between Montana and Boeing, just across from the airport Marriott at 11 a.m. just as heat waves began to rise from the sidewalk.  As the Sun City blazed down on their heads, bottled water was distributed down the long line of protest posters and US flags. “I joined for the reason that I don’t want families to be separated [due to deportation].

Obama en deuda por promesa de reforma migratoria

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WASHINGTON D.C. — Más de 22 millones de personas de diferentes partes del mundo residen ilegalmente en los Estados Unidos, de acuerdo a www.immigrationcounters.com. Estas personas no tienen derecho a obtener ayudar financiera para adquirir  propiedades, votar u obtener seguro médico. Pero el 21 de marzo pasado esta sociedad invisible caminó hacia Capitol Hill en Washington, DC, con una voz y un mensaje: O se lleva a cabo un proyecto de ley para una reforma migratoria u Obama pierde la aprobación política de los hispanos. Entre las 200,000 personas que se reunieron en el Washington Mall el penúltimo domingo de marzo se encontraba Héctor Echeverría, un trabajador indocumentado quien  lleva 10 años viviendo en Chicago y quien describió su experiencia en la marcha. “Estamos cansados de escuchar a nuestros oficiales del congreso hablar de una reforma migratoria… queremos acción”, dijo Echeverría.