Hispanic Issues Section News Summary, Issue 45

Dear Hispanic Issues Section Members:
Focus groups of Latino youth in four different communities were interviewed by researchers in 2009 to examine their perceptions of school, law enforcement, work and the juvenile justice system. The resulting “study presents an in-depth, nuanced view of the youth’s perceptions and experiences.”

The report found:

• Latino youth tend to have an optimistic outlook on the role of education and a strong desire to achieve successful careers. These attitudes are often associated with the hopes and expectations of their immigrant parents and with their own desire to contribute to their community and nation.

• Despite these optimistic attitudes, the teenagers expressed a pervasive sense of being negatively stereotyped by institutional actors as varied as teachers, employers, and police officers. They described how assumptions about Hispanic youth and Latinos in general are manifested within the different social settings discussed:

• SCHOOL: The youth reported significant ethnic stereotyping by teachers, administrators, and peers. Such stereotyping, they feel, often leads Hispanic students to be overlooked, excluded, or negatively tracked and results in unequal educational opportunities . . .

  WORKPLACE: The youth often perceive the workplace as a site of unfair practices based on racial and ethnic assumptions on the part of employers. Many of these youth’s perceptions of discrimination in the workforce were directly related to the experiences of their parents and other community members . . .

  LAW ENFORCEMENT: Across all focus groups, the youth emphatically described feeling unfairly and habitually profiled by law enforcement as a result of negative assumptions regarding Hispanic youth, gangs, and immigrants. Such regular contact with the police, which takes place in a variety of spaces, compounds feelings of vulnerability and distrust in their communities . . .
  

One of the most consistent findings across the focus groups was the teenagers’ pervasive sense of being racialized—or constructed as different, as “other”—on a regular basis, and in practically all realms of experience. The report focuses on how, according to the youth, such stereotyping and differential treatment plays out in specific ways, and is manifested or reinforced through institutional practices and systemic discrimination. Listening to these adolescents’ own voices in order to better understand how some of the more toxic images circulating in today’s discourse impact their lives in concrete ways, and how responses to these processes shape young Hispanics’ broader outlooks, is pivotal to envisioning better policies and programs that will allow these youth to thrive and become successful adults.

From the Executive Summary, Speaking Out: Latino Youth on Discrimination in the United States, Pages iii to v (2010).

To download a free copy of the report (you will be required to register), go to:
http://www.nclr.org/index.php/publications/speaking_out_latino_youth_on_discrimination_in_the_united_states/

An estimated 21% of Latino children dropout of school compared to 7% of White, non-Hispanic youth. Our challenge as a society is to reduce the dropout rate so that the optimism of Latino youth is matched by their success in school and as adults.

As always, I hope you find the referenced news articles informative.

Best Wishes.

Prepared by
John Vasquez
Chair
Hispanic Issues Section, State Bar of Texas
johnvasq@gmail.com

Other News and Events

Diversity Weekend
The Law School will hold its Excellence in Diversity Celebration January 14-15 with Dean Larry Sager, Senator Rodney Ellis, '79, and students of the Asian Law Students Association, Chicano/Hispanic Law Students Association, and The Thurgood Marshall Legal Society. This event will be held at the AT&T Executive Conference Center.
http://www.utexas.edu/law/calendar/2011/01/14/9090/

The Longoria Affair
Last week PBS stations across the nation broadcast “The Longoria Affair” - a retelling of the sometimes forgotten story of a Latino’s family effort to have a wake in a Three Rivers, Texas, funeral home for a Latino soldier who died in the battle for the Philippine Islands in World War II.

The dispute brought notoriety to Dr. Hector P. Garcia of Corpus Christi and the then fledging American GI Forum.

If you missed the program, it is available for a few more weeks at the PBS website. To see the program, go to:
http://video.pbs.org/video/1632697848

THE ABA COMMISSION ON HISPANIC LEGAL RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES IS HOSTING A REGIONAL HEARING ON LEGAL ISSUES AFFECTING LATINAS AND LATINOS
Thursday, January 13, 2011, 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
San Francisco City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA
From the hearing announcement:

The challenges to full equality facing the Latino population today are many and complex. The ABA Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities is holding a series of public hearings and dialogues throughout the U.S. to gather information and hear from communities across the country. The purpose of these hearings is to help the Commission identify the most significant problems and develop recommendations for how the ABA can better address pressing legal issues impacting individual Latinas and Latinos and the Latino population.

The Commission is interested in testimony on all legal issues individuals and organizations believe are of primary concern to the Latino Community at the local and national levels. Below is a non-exhaustive list of some of the topics of interest to the Commission.

A. Access to the Courts
B. Abuse of Undocumented Individuals
C. Citizenship Process
D. Criminal Justice Reform
E. Discrimination in Housing and Employment
F. Equal Educational Opportunities & Responsibilities
G. Gender Equality
H. Hate Crimes
I. Immigration
J. Language Rights and Responsibilities
K. Understanding of the U.S. Legal System
L. Voting Rights and Responsibilities
M. Other

Submissions for consideration to present in-person testimony at the West Coast regional hearing are due Monday, December 13, 2010.

Written submissions for the West Coast region will be accepted through Monday, January 31, 2011.

For more information about the hearing or to make an application to testify at the hearing, go to:
http://www.abanet.org/chlrr/submissionwc.shtml

NOTE: This News Summary is a service of the Hispanic Issues Section of the State Bar of Texas. If you would like to support HIS, visit
http://www.texasbar.com/sections and click “MyBarPage” (near the top of the page, middle column) to join online. For further information, contact the Sections Department at 1-800-204-2222 or (512) 427-1463 ext. 1420.

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Top News

Latino Youth Speak Out on Discrimination in the U.S.
Latino youth are coming of age at a time when anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic sentiment is high and rising. The environment in which we raise our children matters. Blatant discrimination, racial profiling, and ethnic stereotyping have consequences for young people.

A new study released yesterday by NCLR shows how Hispanic youth are experiencing these issues. Speaking Out: Latino Youth on Discrimination in the United States documents the perspectives of Latino teenagers who participated in focus groups in Los Angeles, Nashville, Langley Park, MD, and Providence, RI. American children of immigrants have historically played an important role, and their future and potential are the dreams that drive their parents' sacrifice and hard work. While not all Latino youth are children of immigrants, those who are embody the spirit and drive for success. They value education and feel a strong pressure from their parents and society to go to college and get a good job.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-rodriguez/latino-youth-speak-out-on_b_772451.html
See also “Hispanic teens in Nashville say they face discrimination”
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20101021/NEWS01/101021026/Hispanic+teens+in+Nashville+say+they+face+discrimination
To read a brief description of the report “Speaking Out: Latino Youth on Discrimination in the United States” and find a link to the entire report, go to:
http://www.nclr.org/index.php/publications/speaking_out_latino_youth_on_discrimination_in_the_united_states/

Illegal Immigration Backlash Worries, Divides Latinos
The national political backlash against illegal immigration has created new divisions among Latinos and heightened their concerns about discrimination against members of their ethnic group-including those who were born in the United States or who immigrated legally.

About four-in-five of the nation's estimated 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants are of Hispanic origin. A new national survey by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, finds that Latinos are divided over what to do with these immigrants. A small majority (53%) says they should pay a fine but not be deported. A small minority (13%) says they should be deported, and a larger minority (28%) says they should not be punished.

Hispanics are also divided about the impact of illegal immigration on Hispanics already living in the U.S. Roughly equal shares say the impact has been positive (29%), negative (31%) or made no difference (30%). This mixed judgment stands in sharp contrast to views that Latinos expressed on this subject in 2007. Back then, fully half (50%) of Latinos said the impact was positive, while just 20% said it was negative.[1]

Today, more than six-in-ten (61%) Latinos say that discrimination against Hispanics is a "major problem," up from 54% who said that in 2007. Asked to state the most important factor leading to discrimination, a plurality of 36% now cites immigration status, up from a minority of 23% who said the same in 2007. Back then, a plurality of respondents-46%-identified language skills as the biggest cause of discrimination against Hispanics.
http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=128

Latinos Make Their Mark: Their Midterm Votes Reward or Rebuke Candidates
Latino voters had a lot to be steamed about in this midterm election. Immigrant bashing reached a new low this campaign season and Latino voters reacted, causing significant reverberations. Their turnout protected incumbent senators in Nevada, Colorado, and California and decided the balance of power in the upper chamber. Their vote also affected governors’ races in several states where they turned out in strong numbers for Democrats who defended them. Also noteworthy, they were decidedly cooler toward Republican Latino candidates who didn’t stand strongly in support of immigration reform.

Latinos demonstrated through their votes and in pre-election polling that they were offended by the negative anti-immigrant, anti-Latino political discourse. Immigration rose to the top of their concerns along with jobs and the economy.

Latino Decisions, a national polling and research firm, conducted a comprehensive election-eve poll of the Latino electorate in eight states to get a more accurate picture of Latino voter enthusiasm and preferences than current exit polling models permit. The poll addressed a number of known deficiencies in the exit polling of Latinos (such as language barriers and geographic sampling problems) and forecasted even higher turnout and stronger support for Reid than was reflected in the exit polls. The exit polls indicated 68 percent of Latinos voted for Reid, for example, while Latino Decisions projected that Latino support was closer to 90 percent. What’s undisputed is that Reid would have lost without the Latino vote.

Colorado voters solidly rejected the gubernatorial bid of former Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo, an early, ardent opponent of legal and undocumented immigration. They elected Democrat John Hickenlooper instead. Colorado Democrats in general won the backing of Hispanics by a 2-to-1 margin according to Election Day exit polling, and Latino voter turnout was 12 percent, up from 9 percent in the last midterm election in 2006.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/11/latino_vote.html
To find a link to the poll results and other studies, go to:
http://latinodecisions.wordpress.com/

Arizona Citizenship Proof Law for Voters Overturned by Court
Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Arizona’s election law requiring residents to show proof of citizenship conflicts with the National Voter Registration Act, a federal appeals court ruled in overturning portions of the measure.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco yesterday invalidated parts of Arizona’s Proposition 200, a 2004 voter- approved initiative on registration for state and federal elections. The court didn’t disturb a requirement that voters show identification at the polls.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-10-27/arizona-citizenship-proof-law-for-voters-overturned-by-court.html

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Texas

Hispanic civil rights group seeks to force provisional ballot count
An organization that convinced federal judges last month to toss out Arizona's proof-of-citizenship requirement to register to vote now is seeking a court order that could further delay a final count on Tuesday's election.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund late Friday asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to order officials in the state's 15 counties to count the votes of those who cast "provisional ballots'' because they did not show up on the voter registration rolls. And the reason they didn't show up on the rolls is that they didn't get registered because they didn't provide proof of U.S. citizenship as required by a 2004 voter-approved Arizona law.

On Oct. 26, though, the appellate court declared that requirement invalid. Based on that, MALDEF attorney Nina Perales said those who were wrongfully denied registration should have their votes counted.

An estimated 84,000 provisional ballots were cast statewide but set aside for one reason or another.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/arizona/politics/article_e712b39a-e960-11df-afa8-001cc4c03286.html

S.A. lawyer credited for voter rights victory
San Antonio voting rights and legal experts are hailing a decision this week by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which struck down an Arizona law, known as Proposition 200, requiring residents to prove citizenship when they register to vote.

In a 2-1 ruling, the law was deemed unconstitutional, superseding the National Voter Registration Act, passed to encourage voter registration and erase discrimination at the polls.

The decision was celebrated by several groups as a critical win against what they see as Arizona's anti-Latino, anti-immigrant climate and a message to other states contemplating similar laws.

“It's sending a message that every vote is counted and honored in America,” said Lydia Camarillo of the San Antonio-based Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, who is a plaintiff in the case.

She also credited San Antonio attorney Nina Perales of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund for Tuesday's victory.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/9th_circuit_ruling_sides_with_latino_voters_maldef_106175828.html

Judge Carlos Cortez Files Defamation, Extortion Suit Against Dallas Lawyer
Judge Carlos Cortez has filed a defamation and extortion suit against Dallas attorney Coyt Randal "Randy" Johnston alleging that Johnston and three of Cortez's fellow state district judges created rumors about Cortez to attract a political opponent against him.

In his original petition in Judge Carlos Cortez v. Coyt Randal "Randy" Johnston, which was file-stamped on Nov. 1 in Dallas' 298th District Court, Cortez alleges that Johnston filed a complaint against Cortez with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct (SCJC) last year based on rumors that "came from three Dallas County District Judges. . . . To be perfectly clear, Defendant Johnston decided to file a complaint to the SCJC about rumors that he, Judge Craig Smith, Judge Lorraine Raggio and Judge Martin Lowy created themselves about Judge Carlos Cortez and moreover, did so admittedly with not one of them having any personal knowledge of the truth of these self-created rumors.”
http://www.law.com/jsp/tx/PubArticleTX.jsp?hubtype=TxCaseAlert&id=1202474305409&src=EMC-Email&et=editorial&bu=Texas%20Lawyer&pt=Texas%20Daily%20Case%20Alert&cn=Daily%20News%20and%20Case%20Alert%2C%20Nov.%202%2C%202010&kw=Judge%20Carlos%20Cortez%20Files%20Defamation%2C%20Extortion%20Suit%20Against%20Dallas%20Lawyer

Arizona draws difficult panel for immigration appeal
It looks like the state of Arizona and Gov. Jan Brewer could be facing an uphill battle in their effort to overturn a judge's ruling that the state's law cracking down on illegal immigration, SB 1070, is unconstitutional.

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit announced the three judges assigned to the state's appeal, which is to be argued on Monday. They are John Noonan, Richard Paez and Carlos Bea.

Court watchers say the panel, which will convene at the court's headquarters in San Francisco, could be a tough one for Arizona. The state's law has been blasted as anti-Latino and likely to lead to racial profiling. Two of the three judges are of Hispanic descent: Paez was born in Utah of Mexican immigrant parents; Bea was born in Spain but grew up in Cuba before coming to the U.S. with his family
http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/1010/Arizona_draws_tough_panel_for_immigration_appeal.html

GOP's surge in Austin to resurrect divisive bills
AUSTIN – Republicans on Wednesday celebrated their huge wins in the state Capitol, particularly in the House, where the party may revive efforts on issues that have failed in the past, including illegal immigration, voter ID and school vouchers.

Democrats' losses were so staggering that they may only be able to block some of the bills in the Senate because of procedural rules.

A whopping 99 Republicans will be sworn in as House members on Jan. 11, very close to the two-thirds majority needed to place sweeping constitutional amendments on the ballot.

The big swing adds new momentum to hot-button issues that couldn't clear both chambers in the past – such as requiring Texans to present a photo ID to vote and greatly expanding local law enforcement's role in immigration enforcement.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/state/stories/DN-txxgr_04tex.ART.State.Edition2.2c98719.html

After Losing 12 Members, MALC Mulls New Makeup
The phrases “states’ rights” and “porous border” may be uttered in an unlikely place next session: the offices of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus.

Last week’s GOP rout included the election of five Hispanic Republicans to the Texas House, including several who prevailed over members of MALC. As Latinos, the winners are automatically eligible for membership in the group, which is focused on "matters of interest to the Mexican-American community," according to its bylaws. MALC chairman Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, says he has reached out to four of the five thus far: Larry Gonzales, who beat Round Rock's Diana Maldonado; Raul Torres, who defeated MALC member Solomon Ortiz, Jr. of Corpus Christi; Jose Aliseda, who knocked off Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles of Alice; and John Garza, who beat San Antonio's David Leibowitz. Dee Margo, who beat another MALC member, El Paso's Joe Moody, also claims Hispanic heritage.
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-politics/2010-legislative-races/after-losing-12-members-malc-mulls-new-makeup/
See also “Hispanic voters were boon to GOP”
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/hispanic_voterswere_boon_to_gop_106867263.html?showFullArticle=y
And see “Hispanics gave GOP a boost in Texas”
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7284168.html

U.T. law school honors pioneering Hispanic lawyer
The University of Texas School of Law today is unveiling a statue honoring former U.S. District Judge James DeAnda, a pioneer in the Hispanic civil rights movement.

DeAnda, a Houston native, was the son of Mexican immigrants. He graduated from the U.T. law school in 1950 when very few Hispanic students attended.

As a young lawyer, DeAnda had trouble finding work with Anglo law firms, but eventually joined a team of four lawyers who successfully argued the U.S. Supreme Court case Hernandez v. State of Texas in 1954, overturning an all-white jury’s conviction of a Mexican-American. The case established that Mexican-Americans deserved the same legal rights as all citizens.
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/texas-politics/2010/11/u-t-law-school-honors-pioneering-hispanic-lawyer/

Dallas to settle lawsuit with water utility workers claiming discrimination
The city is set to settle a lawsuit brought by thirteen employees of Dallas' Water Utilities Department, alleging they were denied promotions and treated unfairly in a department rife with bigotry and segregated along racial lines.

City Council will be asked to approve a $400,000 settlement at tomorrow's council meeting. The city has also agreed to "equitable adjustment of salaries," tomorrow's agenda item says.

The employees, who are black and Hispanic, charged in December that they were threatened and harassed verbally and with racist graffiti written on bathroom walls.
http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/10/dallas-to-settle-lawsuit-with.html

Lawsuit claims SPI ordinance discriminates against Hispanics
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — A lawsuit filed in federal court in Brownsville claims that a town ordinance discriminates against handicapped persons and seeks to discourage the local Hispanic population from using the beach.

In addition, the town’s ban on barbecue grilling along side streets and late-night fishing are directed toward the local Hispanic population, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also mentions the town’s ban on using barbecue grills on rights-of-way inside the town, which was intended to discourage grilling “especially grilling fajitas,” which is part of the Valley culture, the lawsuit states.

“The parking ordinance is but one example of local officials’ disdain for local Hispanics,” the lawsuit states.
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/articles/spi-118537-island-lawsuit.html

Democrats give Dallas County Commissioners Court a new, civil look and feel
The Dallas County Commissioners Court will have a new look and feel in January with a Democratic majority for the first time in nearly three decades that many expect will bring more civility and cooperation to the discourse.

But how it will affect budget decisions and other top issues remains to be seen.

Thanks to another Democratic sweep in Tuesday's election, the court will get two new members. Lawyer Clay Jenkins will replace County Judge Jim Foster. And former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Elba Garcia will replace District 4 Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield.

Garcia and Jenkins say they don't favor raising taxes. But the county's changing demographics are creating increased needs for a population that has a high percentage of high-school dropouts – about 25 percent, according to an April county report.

Blacks and Hispanics make up almost 60 percent of the county's population. Because the population has less education and income, there is a greater need for county services ranging from health and social services to court services, the report said.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/DN-dalcounty_04met.ART0.State.Edition2.2c604d5.html

Garcia concedes to surprise defeat
Houston - By early Wednesday morning locally, Republicans had swept seven county offices and Jack Morman, an attorney who lives in Deer Park, had upset an incumbent Harris County Commissioner, the first opponent to do so in 36 years.

“This isn’t about Sylvia Garcia, it’s about a strong anti-Obama sentiment in this country,” said Garcia supporter Toni Darnell, as she watched the early voter returns.

Morman defeated Garcia, a two-term commissioner, with 50.9 percent of the final vote.
http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2010/11/04/pasadena_citizen/news/110710_garcia.txt

Big wins for GOP Hispanics in Texas
AUSTIN (KXAN) - Election Day marked a historic moment for Hispanic Republicans in Texas. For the first time, five Texas House Districts will be represented by GOP Latino leaders.

The recently formed organization Hispanic Republicans of Texas (HRT) backed 18 Latino candidates this campaign season, finding success with 12 of those offices. The group helped raise money and provide political expertise over the past year among those candidates.

On Thursday, HRT showed off its winners in Austin at the Republican Party of Texas headquarters. The list included: Larry Gonzales (House District 52), John Garza (House District 117), Jose Aliseda (House District 35), Raul Torres (House District 33), and Eva Guzman (Supreme Court Justice).

Other Hispanic Republican winners included: Carlos Cascos (Cameron County Judge), Mary Louis Garcia (Tarrant County Clerk), Carlos “Charlie” Garza (State Board of Education, District 1), Angelica Hernandez (105th District Judge), Dee Margo (House District 78), Amanda Torres (Nueces County Justice of the Peace), and Lori Valenzuela (437the District Judge – Bexar County).
http://www.wdtn.com/dpps/elections/us_politics/big-wins-for-gop-hispanics-in-texas_3639070

Immigration is lawmakers' hot potato
Some sort of crackdown on illegal immigration seems certain to emerge from next year's legislative session, though what the law will entail remains to be seen.
Conservative grass-roots activists have clamored for reform, and Republicans dramatically widened their majority in the Texas House and maintained their dominance in the Senate in last week's elections.

Lawmakers filed a handful of bills Monday targeting illegal immigration. They range from legislation requiring government agencies to verify employees' work status to bills that are similar to a controversial provision of Arizona's immigration law — which a federal judge has temporarily blocked — allowing police to arrest someone they suspect of being here illegally.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/high_probability_immigration_bill_will_pass_107641503.html

Immigration, voter ID bills filed
AUSTIN – State Rep. Debbie Riddle camped out and endured “creepy” noises inside the cold, empty Capitol to be first in line Monday morning to file legislation targeting illegal immigration and ballot security.
The Tomball Republican said she remained outside the House chamber for two days because of the importance of getting priority bill numbers assigned to the two hot-button issues.

HB 16 would require voters to present photo identification or two forms of non-photo identification.

HB 17 is similar to the Arizona immigration law. It would allow law enforcement officers to charge an immigrant, already detained on another charge, who lacks proper documentation with criminal trespass — a Class B misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $2,000 and maximum jail time of six months.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/texas_legislature/republicans_file_immigration_voter_id_bills_106924058.html
To find links to the HB 16 and 17, go to the news article (the links are on the column on the left side of the article) or go to the Texas Legislature Online at:
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/

Gonzalez is seeking Latino caucus helm
WASHINGTON — As Republicans prepare to take control of the House of Representatives, Rep. Charlie Gonzalez is running for chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to address concerns of the minority community in the next Congress.

The San Antonio Democrat said he's contacting members of the CHC seeking support. No other candidates have publicly announced plans to run for the top post.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/gonzalez_running_for_congressional_hispanic_caucus_chair_107583223.html

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USA

Incoming congressman Allen West taps outspoken Fla. radio host as chief of staff
In the wake of last week's GOP victories in the midterm elections, some conservative firebrands who have leveled harsh criticism at Washington officialdom will soon themselves become Capitol insiders.

Congressman-elect Allen West (R-Fla.), who rode the tea party wave to unseat Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.), has hired Joyce Kaufman, a local conservative talk radio commentator known for her provocative and sometimes incendiary statements, as his chief of staff.

Kaufman, whose hiring was first reported by the Palm Beach Post on Tuesday, has a history of making controversial comments on her show.

Kaufman has been a prominent and controversial voice on the Florida political scene for decades. For example, according to the Miami New Times, she said about illegal immigrants on a 2007 show, "If you commit a crime while you're here, we should hang you and send your body back to where you came from, and your family should pay for it."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/09/AR2010110904767.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
See also “Radio host Joyce Kaufman won't work for Congressman-elect Allen West following threat to Broward schools” at
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/11/1920774/police-track-caller-of-threat.html

Company operating in Yosemite to settle discrimination suit
Wawona Property Management, a company that manages vacation home rentals in Yosemite, will pay $165,000 to settle a suit on behalf of seven Hispanic workers who alleged racial discrimination.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the company, which operates as The Redwoods in Yosemite, for allegedly harassing and discriminating against Mexican and Salvadoran housekeeping and maintenance employees.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/10/21/2127522/company-operating-in-yosemite.html

Latino residents sue East Haven, police; 10 plaintiffs, including priest, allege civil rights violated
NEW HAVEN, CONN — It was an effort to drive one ethnic group — Latinos — out of town through discrimination, intimidation, violence and mistreatment, plaintiffs and their lawyers alleged Tuesday.

Only the antagonists weren’t a group of thugs or hoods on some corner.

It was the East Haven police, the plaintiffs claim.

Now it’s a federal court case, with 10 plaintiffs — including the Rev. James Manship, pastor of St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Fair Haven — and 22 defendants, all of them East Haven police officers, plus the town and Police Department.
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/10/27/news/metro/doc4cc7a39fc9df8642541888.txt

Candidates take sides on Ariz.-style immigration law
INDIANA - Immigration reform is one of the top issues for Harold Williams as he bases his decisions this election season.

The issue has come to the forefront in one Lafayette-area Statehouse race.

Donn Brown, a Tea Party activist and GOP challenger to District 27 incumbent Rep. Sheila Klinker, has promised, if elected, to help co-sponsor a bill for Indiana that would mirror Arizona's law. And he said he believes such a measure would pass in the state legislature next session.

Klinker, a Democrat, has said immigration measures need to be addressed. But she does not favor an Arizona-style law.
http://www.jconline.com/article/20101028/ELECTION01/10280327/Candidates-take-sides-on-Ariz-style-immigration-law
See also “Klinker turns back tea party hopeful”
http://www.jconline.com/article/20101103/ELECTION01/11030343

Gov. Agencies hosting New York City Summit for Latino and Immigrant Worker Safety
The U.S Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced today that the agency is co-sponsoring a summit in New York City with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Institute for Occupational Safety (NIOSH) to address Latino and Immigrant worker safety hazards and rights.

The agencies will hold The New York City Action Summit for Latino/Immigrant Worker Safety and Health on Tuesday, November 16 from 9am to 4pm at Lehman College’s Lovinger Theater, 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West in Bronx, NY.
http://newyorkcity.injuryboard.com/miscellaneous/gov-agencies-hosting-new-york-city-summit-for-latino-and-immigrant-worker-safety.aspx?googleid=286012

Tyson Refrigerated Processed Meats settles hiring discrimination case
The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs announced that Tyson Refrigerated Processed Meats Inc. has agreed to settle findings of hiring discrimination against 157 African-American and 375 Caucasian applicants for laborer positions at the company's bacon processing plant in Vernon, Texas.

"The Labor Department is committed to leveling the playing field for all workers," said OFCCP director Patricia A. Shiu. "A company that profits from taxpayer dollars must not discriminate, period."

OFCCP investigators found that African-American and Caucasian applicants were less likely to be hired than similarly situated Hispanic applicants over a two-year period.
http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/27095/Tyson-hiring-discrimination-case

TMC investigated for civil rights complaints
JACKSON SQ., MASSACUSETTS —A civil rights investigation of the Bromley-Heath Tenant Management Corporation (TMC) in response to complaints by Hispanic tenants at the public housing development “did not reveal quantifiable or verifiable evidence of unlawful discrimination,” according to an investigation report released Sept. 30.

But the report—compiled by investigator CVR Associates—did point to a number of alleged shortcomings in the tenant-directed management company’s running of the close-to-800 unit housing development. The Hispanic complainants “displayed a significant, palpable sense of fear and intimidation” when discussing the TMC with investigators, the report says, and TMC management members’ attitudes were “troubling.”
http://jamaicaplaingazette.com/node/4423

ADA Apologizes For Tolerating Discrimination In '60s
In a historic move, the American Dental Association has apologized for not taking a stand against discriminatory membership practices.

In an open letter, Dr. Raymond Gist, who became the ADA's first African-American president in October, said the dentist group should have done a better job in making sure minorities could join affiliated state and local organizations before the mid-1960s.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/11/03/131039590/dentist-group-says-it-should-have-stood-against-racial-discrimination

Judicial Council: Reject "Unqualified" Judge
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTVA-CBS 11 News) The 43 year old Anchorage District Court judge, the Alaska Judicial Council calls too mentally unstable and angry to serve, says the agency's recommendation to voters not to retain him comes as retaliation for trying to deal with racial discrimination.
Judge Richard Postma, who was appointed in 2007, is one of 20 judges on the ballot up for retention Tuesday.

Postma says he had a dispute with a couple of court employees last year when he complained they were acting with bias and prejudice toward minorities, including him, some members of the public and other court employees.

Postma, who is Hispanic, says for example a court employee would blame their poor work performance on a minority clerk. This escalated to a point where he says he told the employee to stop.
http://www.ktva.com/ci_16477443
See also “Voters retain Fabe, dismiss Postma”
http://articles.ktuu.com/2010-11-03/retention_24811502

U.S. lawsuit targets Philly's "stop-and-frisk" policy
Civil rights attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Thursday arguing that Philadelphia police illegally stop pedestrians based on race and question them with little or no justification.

The lawsuit accuses the department of crossing a line with its aggressive "stop-and-frisk" policy, instituted in 2008 after Mayor Nutter declared a "crime emergency." It asks the court for remedies to prevent race-based pedestrian stops and other constitutional violations.

In 2009, police stopped 253,333 pedestrians, 72 percent of whom were African American, the suit said. Only 8 percent of the stops led to an arrest, often for "criminal conduct that was entirely independent from the supposed reason for the stop," according to the suit.

The suit cites what it calls "a history of racially biased policing in Philadelphia," and details the experience of the eight African American and Hispanic plaintiffs named in the suit.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20101105_U_S__lawsuit_targets_Philly_s__quot_stop-and-frisk_quot__policy.html
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General Interest

In Arizona, a candidate faces a boycott backlash
Reporting from Rio Rico, Ariz. — The contrast between the two candidates couldn't have been starker. On one side of the stage slouched Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, 62, a four-term congressman and local Democratic icon, sporting a bushy moustache and wearing an open-collared shirt that he had changed into an hour earlier but already looked rumpled.

On the other end sat Republican nominee Ruth McClung, 28, her yellow jacket matching her sensibly styled blond hair, carefully smiling at the crowd gathered here this week at a candidate forum about 15 miles from the Mexico border.

Grijalva has represented southern Arizona for decades and his daughter sits on the Tucson School Board, as he did in the 1970s. McClung's only other experience running for office was her campaign to become captain of her high school swim team.

Yet, in a district in which Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 2-1 margin, the novice candidate is neck-and-neck with Grijalva in the polls.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-grijalva-campaign-20101023,0,5198069.story

10 House races still unresolved
Rep. Raul Grijalva’s fears were almost realized in Arizona’s 7th District last night — and he awaits the same nail-biting Pima County ballot counting as Giffords does. With 99.7 percent of the votes tallied, he led 28-year-old rocket scientist Ruth McClung by just 3,500 votes. This was Grijalva’s closest race ever: He first won the seat in 2002 with 59 percent of the votes and won more than 60 percent in 2004 and 2006. McClung drew last-minute money and help from Arizona Sen. John McCain and a slew of outside groups, and while her campaign is waiting for a canvass, Grijalva is likely to hold on.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44656.html

New Political Muscle, in Whatever Language
As part of the Democratic get-out-the-vote campaign, President Obama gave an interview to a Spanish-language radio show that was broadcast last Monday — and just for good measure, his wife, Michelle, followed up a few days later.

The Obamas’ twin appearances on “Piolín por la Mañana,” heard across the country on Univision Radio, are a testament to the ballooning political power of the Spanish language news media, and in particular to the power of Univision, which owns the biggest Spanish-language television and radio outlets in the United States.

Univision says it does not favor any political party. Regardless, analysts say that the company is exerting significant influence both on local elections and on the national debate about immigration — in part by encouraging Hispanics to cast a ballot.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/us/politics/02univision.html?_r=1&nl=&emc=a24

California went its own way: Strength of the Latino vote is a key factor in the GOP's tepid showing in the state.
In one declarative night, California on Tuesday confirmed its status as a political world unto itself, zigging determinedly Democratic while most of the rest of the country zagged Republican. Voters not only restored the governor's office to Democratic hands, they may have given Democrats a sweep of statewide offices, though uncounted ballots could still shift one race.

Driving much of the success — and distancing the state from the national GOP tide, according to exit polls — was a surge in Latino voters. They made up 22% of the California voter pool, a record tally that mortally wounded many Republicans.

Tellingly, Latinos in California had a far more negative view of the GOP than other voters — almost 3 in 4 had an unfavorable impression, to 22% favorable. Among all California voters the view of Republicans was negative, but at a closer 61% negative and 32% positive. Latinos had a strongly positive view of Democrats, 58% to 37%, whereas all voters were closely split, 49% to 45%.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-california-20101104,0,1915403.story

Report: Hispanics Fear Backlash Over Immigration Debate
Hispanics are increasingly concerned about a backlash against them, even as they are split over the effects of illegal immigration on the country. Their anxiety comes as illegal immigration and border security are playing major roles in election campaigns nationwide.

More than 60 percent of Latinos say discrimination against Hispanics is a "major problem," up from 54 percent who said the same in 2007, according to a report released Thursday by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center.

Three years ago, Hispanics were most likely to cite language skills as the biggest reason for discrimination. Now, more than a third believe immigration is the biggest factor.

That said, the number of Latinos who reported they, their family or close friends have experienced discrimination remained unchanged from last year and actually dropped from 2007.
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/2010/10/28/report_hispanics_fear_backlash_over_immigration.htm

Recession blamed for 'historic' decline in law firm diversity
There's no getting around it: Law firm diversity took a hit during the past year after a long period of steady, if small, gains.

The National Association for Law Placement (NALP) released its latest diversity statistics on Thursday, concluding that the percentage of both minority attorneys and women attorneys declined slightly at firms during 2010.

NALP's findings mirror similar conclusions released in recent months by both the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) and Vault and National Law Journal affiliate The American Lawyer. All three surveys found small pockets of improvement, either at individual firms or among subsets of the attorney population, but the larger conclusions were that diversity suffered. It was the first time in the 17 years that NALP has collected demographic data that diversity actually declined.
http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202474435391&Recession_blamed_for_historic_decline_in_law_firm_diversity

State hosts Dialogos event in Fairmont City for Latinos
FAIRMONT CITY, ILLINOIS -- Transportation, bilingual services and identification are some of the major issues metro-east Latino residents face, according to community leaders and activists who met with state leaders Friday.

Dialogos, Spanish for "dialogue," is a series of community meetings putting social services and local activists together with agencies and government leaders to talk about issues affecting the Latino population. The Fairmont City Dialogos event held Friday was the state's third this year and the only one to take place downstate, cosponsored by the Illinois Latino Family Commission and the Latino Roundtable of Southwestern Illinois.
http://www.bnd.com/2010/10/23/1448408/state-hosts-dialogos-event-in.html

Hispanics' glass ceiling - theories about the 'why' differ
ARIZONA - Mesa used to be a segregated town, and Manny Cortez, who grew up during that era, believes that has played a part. Cortez has run for City Council six times since 1980.

"The very first time I ran, a good friend of mine that was on the school board said, 'Manny, I'm not sure that Mesa's ready to have a Hispanic on the City Council,' " Cortez said.

Mesa's attitude toward Hispanics, he said, is now "a lot better than it was. But yes, there is a kind of a hidden undertone. We can be seen but not heard."

Phil Austin, founder of the Mesa Association of Hispanic Citizens and a past candidate for the council and the school board, doesn't believe overt racism is as strong a factor these days.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2010/10/24/20101024mesa-hispanic-candidates-why1023.html

Report Shows Plight of Puerto Rican Youth
Theirs was the first Latino group to settle in New York City in large numbers. Most speak English, and they are United States citizens, entitled to the benefits and security that new immigrants can only dream of.

But by many measures, young Puerto Ricans are faring far worse than the young Dominicans, Mexicans and other Latinos in New York, according to a report to be released on Monday by the Community Service Society of New York, a leading antipoverty group.

Puerto Ricans ages 16 to 24 have the lowest rates of school enrollment and employment, and the highest rates of poverty among Latino New Yorkers. Puerto Rican men are more than twice as likely as their Mexican peers to be out of school and out of the labor force. Puerto Rican women are more likely to be out of school and unemployed than Dominican or Mexican women.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/nyregion/29puerto.html?_r=1

Minorities and women seek bigger share of L.A. city contracts
Local minority businesses are pushing for reforms they say will get more of the Los Angeles city government's $1.1 billion in annual contracts into the hands of such firms and those owned by women and service-disabled military veterans.

A report advocating the reforms "The Case for Minority Business Contracting Reform in the City of Los Angeles," was released Oct. 19 by the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce. It argued that the proposals would contribute to the city's overall economic recovery.

The report called for the city to steer 35% of the contractual funds to small, local businesses owned by racial minorities and women. An additional 8% would go to businesses owned by service-disabled veterans. Minority-owned firms now get 7% of those funds.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-smallbiz-contracts-20101101,0,3480426.story

Opinion: The GOP's immigration problem
(CNN) -- Senate Republicans have said no to any piece of legislation related to immigration that extends beyond border enforcement.

Most recently, they killed the DREAM Act (it stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) with a filibuster and balked at the late-hour introduction of a comprehensive immigration bill by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey.

The conventional wisdom has been the GOP's position was a good short-term strategy that would mobilize the Tea Party movement in a climate of left-of-center malaise and reinforce Republicans' seemingly inexorable November landslide. There is good reason to believe, however, that obstructing Congress on immigration will hurt the party in this election and in the long-term.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/11/01/altschuler.gop.dream.act/

Memphis Latinos Speaking Up For Their Rights
MEMPHIS, TN – The Memphis Latino community continues to grow and so do the problems. Families live in fear of what will happen if police officers stop them, but a small group known as the “Communities United with One Voice” is trying to educate families on how to speak up when confronted by authorities.

“If a police officer pulls you over or stops don't tell them your country of origin, you have the right to remain silent,” said community member Mario Marcado.

The group said Latino families face a lot of discrimination and racism in Memphis. That's why they're teaching them they have the right to an attorney and to not incriminate themselves.
http://www.abc24.com/news/local/story/Memphis-Latinos-Speaking-Up-For-Their-Rights/FSWhEyxg70KUf6iXsSG4Wg.cspx

Law schools taking steps to help
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Earlier this year, Madison County Sheriff Toby Trowbridge told a state Senate panel that his officers were picking up illegal immigrants nearly on the hour. Trowbridge told lawmakers these extra bookings were creating an extraordinary burden on his department.

Now the question is can the legal system handle the new caseload? And will these detainees and other Hispanics, both documented and undocumented, receive fair treatment under the law?

Language is an obvious issue. Several attorneys report little problems with the language barrier when representing Hispanics. Still, it is an issue considering the U.S. Census Bureau's estimate of Mississippi's Hispanic population in 2009 was 2.5 percent, up more than a half-percent from its 2006-2008 estimate of 1.9 percent.

The Mississippi College School of Law has augmented its curriculum and its recruiting efforts to ensure its graduates are "Hispanic-friendly."

"An obvious factor in representing Hispanics is the language issue," said Jim Rosenblatt, dean of the MC Law School. "When speaking with undergraduate students I stress the importance of cultural awareness and the benefit of acquiring proficiency in other languages. In my view, knowledge of Spanish or another language is helpful to a candidate competing for admission to our school."

Language is just one of the issues. There are cultural differences that can breed client suspicion and fear.
http://www.necn.com/10/29/10/Law-schools-taking-steps-to-help/landing_politics.html?&blockID=3&apID=1a3de5944e324f3c98996e12a76415f1

Hispanic Issues Section News Summary, Issue 44

Dear Hispanic Issues Section Members:
On November 2, Americans will cast their votes. In Texas voters will decide on races ranging from the Governorship to Membership on the State Board of Education. The stakes in this election are very high. For example, in some states legislatures may be called on to determine whether some children born in the United States should be denied citizenship. See “[G]roup challenges outright citizenship birthright” http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-10-20-citizenship20_ST_N.htm

One would expect the Latino community to be as engaged as other Americans. Instead, a recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center found that Latinos are poised to stay at home on November 2.

Hispanic registered voters appear to be less motivated than other voters to go to the polls. Just one-third (32%) of all Latino registered voters say they have given this year's election "quite a lot" of thought. In contrast, half (50%) of all registered voters say the same. And when it comes to their intent to vote, half (51%) of Latino registered voters say they are absolutely certain they will vote in this year's midterm election, while seven-in-ten (70%) of all registered voters say the same.

To read “Latinos and the 2010 Elections”, go to: http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=127

In related news, at least one group is encouraging Latinos not to vote to express their anger. See “Nevada Senate race turns uglier with Hispanic ad” at: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gmTtEk9l6ocbQ73_6cZwY801zMTQ?docId=49a82f3328304b9fa284c713aa2c7d0c

What can you do?

First, you should vote. Early voting has already begun and it is usually simpler and faster to vote before Election Day.

Second, encourage your children, family members and friends to vote. If they have not yet voted, maybe it is time to remind them that many Americans, Latinos included, made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve their right to live in a democracy and their voting rights.

Third, encourage your local bar association to work with schools to teach high school youth about the importance of voting. The Annenberg Foundation has developed a free civics curriculum titled “Democracy in America”. Chapter 13 of the curriculum “explores the crucial role of strategy in the two-stage electoral campaign system; the opportunities for citizens to choose, organize, and elect candidates who will pursue policies they favor; and the need for campaigns to increase voter turnout by educating citizens about the importance and influence of their vote.” To see the course description, topic overview and related video, go to: http://www.learner.org/courses/democracyinamerica/dia_13/

As always, I hope you find the referenced news articles informative.

Best Wishes.

Prepared by
John Vasquez
Chair
Hispanic Issues Section, State Bar of Texas
johnvasq@gmail.com


PS: A few weeks ago the Hispanic Bar Association of Austin held its annual Hispanic Heritage Luncheon. As part of the luncheon, the HBAA sponsors an essay contest for middle school students. These essays provide tremendous insight into the concerns of our youth. The essays are now available on the Hispanic Issues Section website: http://www.texashispanicissuessection.com/ . The student essays can be viewed by clicking the “Student Essays” tab on the left side of the Home page. The essays are very moving.

PS2: The Dallas Hispanic Bar Association would like to extend an invitation to Section members to attend their inaugural Labor and Employment CLE presentation. The CLE presentation is scheduled for one hour and will cover a series of topics from I-9s to English-only rules to litigation issues involving undocumented workers. The CLE presentation will be a lunchtime presentation and will be held at the Belo Pavilion. Panelists will include Marcos Ronquillo of Godwin Ronquillo P.C., Maricela Siewczynski of the Siewczynski Law Firm, and Gail Salcido of Fluor Enterprises, Inc. Fred Gaona of Spencer Crain Cubbage Healy & McNamara, pllc will serve as the moderator. Please see below for more details:

· Description: Dallas Hispanic Bar Association CLE
· Date: Wednesday, November 3, 2010
· Time: 12:00 PM
· State: TX
· Title: "The Emerging Hispanic Workforce – From I-9s to English Only Rules and Beyond"
· Speakers: Marcos Ronquillo, Maricela Siewczynski, Gail Salcido and Fred Gaona
· CLE Credits: MCLE 1.00*

PSS: The Hispanic Issues Section will be sponsoring a CLE program at the State Bar Building in Austin on February 22. If you attend you will be able to participate in afternoon and evening events sponsored by MABA and the HBAA. Please save this date on your calendars.

NOTE: This News Summary is a service of the Hispanic Issues Section of the State Bar of Texas. If you would like to support HIS, visit
http://www.texasbar.com/sections and click “MyBarPage” (near the top of the page, middle column) to join online. For further information, contact the Sections Department at 1-800-204-2222 or (512) 427-1463 ext. 1420.

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Top News

Demographic Profiles of Latino Eligible Voters in 27 States
Washington, DC – The Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, today released statistical profiles of the Latino eligible voter populations in 27 states. Derived from the 2008 American Community Survey, these profiles provide key demographic and socioeconomic information about Latino eligible voters and all eligible voters (U.S. citizens ages 18 and older). They also contain Latino population estimates for congressional districts in the 27 states.

The Center also launched a new feature on its website called Mapping the Latino Electorate. This interactive feature provides key eligible voter statistics in the nation's 50 states and the District of Columbia along with Hispanic population estimates in 435 congressional districts.
http://www.capitalwirepr.com/pr_description.php?id=212c87d3-ee2b-5ecd-72fa-4cb8b3fc586c

GOP group challenges outright citizenship birthright
PHOENIX — Republican lawmakers in 15 states Tuesday announced a nationwide effort to change the way the 14th Amendment is interpreted and stop granting citizenship to babies born in the USA to illegal immigrants.
A national coalition called State Legislators for Legal Immigration is coordinating the effort.

Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce said Kansas lawyer Kris Kobach, who helped draft Arizona's tough immigration law now on appeal in the federal courts, is working with him and Republican state Rep. John Kavanagh to draft a bill that all the states could use as a model on the citizenship issue.

Pearce said a bill draft is written and will be ready for consideration when the Arizona legislative session starts in January.

He would not say exactly how they will propose denying citizenship but said the legislation would not be retroactive.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-10-20-citizenship20_ST_N.htm

Latinos for Reform Head Robert de Posada Defends Controversial 'Don't Vote' Ad
ABC News' Huma Khan reports: The brains behind the controversial ad that urges Hispanics not to vote isn't backing down, despite backlash from the Latino community and a repudiation from Republican candidates.

Robert de Posada, head of Latinos for Reform, a conservative independent expenditure that sponsored the ad, said he’s not planning to buy any more airtime. But he'll continue to push the ad on the Internet. The "Don’t Vote" ad was pulled by Univision after it aired five times on radio in Nevada.

Hispanic leaders both nationally and in Nevada denounced the ad as the “height of cynicism” and as an "ugly" example of "overt voter suppression,” a charge that de Posada denies.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2010/10/latinos-for-reform-head-robert-de-posada-defends-controversial-dont-vote-ad.html

Medical college staffer gets American Bar Association policymaking post
Starting next month, a member of the Commonwealth Medical College staff will begin playing a big role in making policy that will help Hispanics with civil rights, voting rights and access to the court system.

American Bar Association President Stephen Zack selected Ida Castro, vice president for social justice and diversity at TCMC, as one of 15 members of a newly formed Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities. The commission will hold a number of public hearings across the country that will feature testimony from lawyers, judges, legal and social science scholars and elected officials in the Latino community.

"I think it's a big step for the ABA," Ms. Castro said. "The concern is ... how do we as Americans address the needs of the Hispanic community?"
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/medical-college-staffer-gets-american-bar-association-policymaking-post-1.1049127

Grupo de abogados estudiará problemas legales de hispanos
El Colegio de Abogados de Estados Unidos investigará los temas legales más relevantes para la comunidad hispana en Estados Unidos, tales como derechos civiles y electorales.

Stephen Zack, presidente de la agrupación conocida por sus siglas en inglés ABA, anunció el jueves la creación de una comisión que estudiará el tema.

El grupo celebrará el 12 de noviembre en Chicago la primera de cuatro audiencias públicas para recoger testimonios de las comunidades sobre las disparidades en el sistema de justicia, como la inexistencia o poca calidad de traducciones al español en procesos judiciales, por ejemplo. Las siguientes audiencias serán en California en enero, Nueva York en marzo y Texas en mayo.
http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2010/10/15/820071/grupo-de-abogados-estudiara-problemas.html

Minority Report: Hispanics must be integrated into our profession, our law schools and our courts
To advance the ABA’s mission to defend liberty and pursue justice, the association has appointed a Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities. The commission will work to fulfill America’s promise to Hispanics, and in so doing will enrich our legal system and its service to all of society. Hispanic-Americans are the largest and fastest-growing minority category in this country, and make up more than 20 percent of our population, while only 3 percent of lawyers are Hispanic.

In a recent study, the Pew Hispanic Research Center noted that of the country’s 16 million Hispanic children, 89 percent are second and third generation with at least one U.S.-born parent. We must equip our next generation of Hispanic-American citizens with what they need to succeed as lawyers, judges, corporate executives, educators and politicians. We must ensure these future leaders are prepared to preserve and strengthen our justice system and rule of law for all Americans.

Cesar Alvarez, who will chair the commission, is a leader in the national legal and Hispanic communities. Emilio Estefan, an award-winning producer, musician and civil rights advocate, will serve as honorary chair.

The new ABA commission—as well as its advisory committee of respected attorneys, judges, educators and organizational and community leaders—will identify and advance solutions to important legal issues affecting Hispanics throughout the United States. The commission itself includes leaders from an array of racial and ethnic communities. It will address key issues such as voting rights, immigration, civil rights and access to the courts by holding regional hearings to engage leaders and the broader community, and to inform development of ABA policy and a comprehensive report to propose action by congressional and administration policymakers.
http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/minority_report/

For Rancho High students, a real-life lesson in politics in Angle exchange
Whatever happened in Room 513, a small lecture hall in cavernous Rancho High School, it was, by any standard, one heckuva civics lesson.

The exchange Friday between Sharron Angle, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, and about 130 largely Hispanic students in the standing-room-only room was, by turns, surprising, evasive and enraging, according to students who were there.

It was the buzz of Rancho High by Monday morning and, because of news coverage and a YouTube video over the weekend, a national bone of contention in the poisonous race between Angle and Democratic incumbent Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader.

In a meandering question-and-answer session, Angle, who has made a stance against illegal immigration a mainstay of her campaign, had been asked why her television commercials seemed to stereotype Latinos as thugs.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/oct/20/rancho-high-students-real-life-lesson-politics/

Nevada's Angle says immigrant ads not about race
LAS VEGAS -- U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle defended a series of campaign advertisements that use images of sullen, dark-skinned men and a map of Mexico to blast rival Sen. Harry Reid's immigration record.

Angle, a tea party favorite who has rallied for stricter border enforcement, played down her usual conservative rhetoric in a brief discussion with a Hispanic high school group Friday in Las Vegas. The students asked her to explain her repeated use of TV spots denounced by national pro-immigrant and Hispanic organizations as race-baiting attacks.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/10/16/politics-us-nevada-senate-angle_8018797.html

11 Tucson teachers sue Arizona over new 'anti-Hispanic' schools law
Tucson, Arizona (CNN) -- Eleven Tucson, Arizona, educators sued the state board of education and superintendent this week for what the teachers consider an "anti-Hispanic" ban looming on Mexican-American studies.

The suit comes in a state already roiled by a controversial immigration law that is being challenged in court.

On Tuesday, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne defended the new law, which will go into effect December 31. The law authorizes the superintendent to stop any ethnic studies classes that "promote the overthrow of the United States government ... promote resentment toward a race or class of people ... (or) advocate ethnic solidarity instead of treatment of pupils as individuals."
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/10/19/arizona.ethnic.studies.lawsuit/?hpt=T2

_______________________________________
Texas

Mexican American Legislative Caucus member raising eyebrows with ad
AUSTIN — “We have to crack down on illegal immigrants who break our laws, escape unpunished and take jobs away from Texans.”
Is it a campaign ad by a Republican lawmaker who favors bringing an Arizona-style immigration crackdown to Texas? By GOP Gov. Rick Perry?

Nope. It's by state Rep. Patrick Rose, a Dripping Springs Democrat who belongs to the Mexican American Legislative Caucus — and that's why it's raising some eyebrows.

When I asked the caucus chairman, Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, about it, he said the group wants to take a “measured look” at the matter. (He describes caucus membership criteria as “you either have to be brown or have a brown heart.”)
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/mexican_american_legislative_caucus_member_raising_eyebrows_with_ad_104673514.html

Houston native wrongly deported for 85 days
Nearly three months after U.S. immigration officials dumped Luis Alberto Delgado in Mexico despite his insistence that he is a U.S. citizen, the 19-year-old was permitted to re-enter the country last weekend with the U.S. government's blessing.

Delgado said U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents cleared him to return to the United States on Friday, roughly 85 days after he was detained by immigration officials and pressured to sign papers that cleared the way for his removal to Mexico.

Delgado said he gave immigration agents a copy of his birth certificate showing he was born at Houston's Ben Taub Hospital, a state of Texas identification card and a Social Security card.

Isaias Torres, a Houston immigration attorney who took Delgado's case pro bono, said he believes the U.S. government was "at best, very negligent" in its handling of the case.

U.S. immigration officials have faced scrutiny in recent years over allegations that they have deported U.S. citizens, including a high-profile case of a mentally disabled Los Angeles man who was lost for months in Mexico in 2007.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/immigration/7199653.html

Celebrating Hispanic heritage
Laughlin Air Force Base hosted a Luncheon Friday in honor of National Hispanic Heritage month.

Friday marked the end of the celebration, which began September 15.

Guest speaker Judge Alia Moses Ludlum gave her personal experience of being both a woman and Hispanic working in the Federal Judicial system.

“It was a long and at times arduous journey to become the first female district judge in the western district of Texas, since it’s inception in 1857,” she said.
http://www.delrionewsherald.com/story.lasso?ewcd=c939e23646fa5e3b

_______________________________________
Pennsylvania

Witness: Pa. teen threatened 'war' in beating case
SCRANTON, Pa. — One of the defendants charged with a federal hate crime in the beating death of a Mexican immigrant threatened to start a "civil war" if Hispanics in the small Pennsylvania coal town retaliated, a witness testified Tuesday.

Jesse Gomez told jurors at the trial of Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky that Donchak made the statement to him two days after the assault on Luis Ramirez, a 25-year-old illegal immigrant.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gtcSK8qaGGVDikaEFhYD_pgjOLrwD9IQAQQG0?docId=D9IQAQQG0

Shenandoah hate crime trial: Oct. 13 updates
In her closing argument, Assistant Attorney General Myesha K. Braden said Ramirez fell victim to a racist attack by young men full of hate.

"Four people attacked one person because of his race and because they didn't want people like him living in their town," she said.

The evidence showed racist language was used, that Ramirez was retreating at first and that four people joined in the beating, according to Braden.
http://republicanherald.com/news/shenandoah-hate-crime-trial-oct-13-updates-1.1048168

Jury deliberations begin in Pa. hate crime case
SCRANTON, Pa. — Two men charged with a hate crime in the fatal beating of a Mexican immigrant waited Thursday to learn their fate, more than two years after the assault angered Hispanic groups and exposed simmering ethnic tensions in a small former mining town.

Prosecutors alleged that Donchak and Piekarsky beat and kicked Ramirez because they didn't like Hispanics and wanted them out of their town. Donchak is also charged in a plot to cover up the attack and obstruct an FBI investigation.

"They showed no remorse that night ... no sense of responsibility for having beaten a man to the point of death," Justice Department prosecutor Myesha Braden told jurors Wednesday in her closing argument.

Both defendants are charged with a hate crime under the Fair Housing Act. Donchak faces two additional counts that he conspired with Shenandoah police to cover up the crime. The accused officers are scheduled to go on trial early next year.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gtcSK8qaGGVDikaEFhYD_pgjOLrwD9IRJ4QG0?docId=D9IRJ4QG0

2 Pennsylvania Men Guilty in 2008 Killing of Mexican
WASHINGTON — A federal jury found two young Pennsylvania men guilty of a hate crime on Thursday in the 2008 beating death of a Mexican immigrant. The verdict was welcomed by Hispanic organizations, which saw the trial as a national test case for the treatment of Latinos.

The men, Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky, were found guilty of violating the civil rights of Luis Ramírez, an illegal immigrant, when they and a group of football players beat him in Shenandoah, Pa., in July 2008. He died shortly after from head injuries.

The men face sentences of up to life in prison. Mr. Donchak faces up to 20 years more on an obstruction of justice charge and 5 years on a conspiracy charge. They are to be sentenced on Jan. 24.

“The verdict sends an important message that hate crimes are not to be tolerated,” said Clarissa Martinez, director of immigration at the National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights organization. “In this case, justice has been made.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/us/15scranton.html?_r=1

_______________________________________
USA

Amendments 5 & 6 would reshape Fla. redistricting
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Every 10 years, after the release of the U.S. Census count, lawmakers in Tallahassee battle over how Florida's legislative and congressional districts should be redrawn.

This time, the fight is happening beforehand.

Two proposed amendments to the Florida Constitution on the Nov. 2 ballot would set new standards for how the districts are sketched. Amendment 5 deals with legislative districts, while Amendment 6 addresses U.S. congressional districts. Like all state constitutional amendments, each requires a 60 percent majority to pass.

The battle has pitted several of Florida's best-known black and Hispanic lawmakers against advocates who argue the current methods create gerrymandered districts that protect political power and incumbency while producing noncompetitive races.

The black and Hispanic lawmakers argue that the new standards could threaten Florida's six congressional districts where blacks and Hispanics are either in the majority or close to being in the majority. The black or almost-black-majority seats currently are held by Reps. Corrine Brown, Alcee Hastings and Kendrick Meek, all Democrats, while the Hispanic-majority seats are held by Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, all Republicans.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/11/1867806/amendments-5-6-would-reshape-fla.html

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General Interest

The Movie That Made a Supreme Court Justice
Around the time that Justice Sonia M. Sotomayor was entering college, the man who would eventually become her husband took her to see a film by Sidney Lumet. It was “12 Angry Men,” from 1957, about a jury deliberating on the case of a young man accused of murder.

That film turned out to be a pivotal moment in the life of Justice Sotomayor, who at the time had been considering a career in law. In particular, she was inspired by a moment in the film in which one of the jurors, a naturalized American citizen, expresses reverence for the American jury system.

“It sold me that I was on the right path,” she told an audience Sunday evening at the Fordham University School of Law after a screening of the film. “This movie continued to ring the chords within me.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/nyregion/18sonia.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

US Latinos want ads pulled
The largest Hispanic rights group in the United States has called for candidates in the upcoming elections to stop running ads that "stereotype and denigrate" Latinos and other minorities.

"The ads coming from certain states are offensive and there must not be any room for discrimination or stereotypes in elections," said Margaret Moran, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in a statement.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/us-latinos-want-ads-pulled-20101020-16t4c.html

Hispanic Issues Section News Summary, Issue 43

Dear Hispanic Issues Section Members:
The Section is now on the internet. With the help of the State Bar (especially SBOT Web Designer Lily Hewgley), the Hispanic Issues Section now has a web address. You can find our website at:
http://texashispanicissuessection.com/

Currently, the site is limited to very basic information such as the bylaws and Section Council members. Our hope is to expand the website to include more links and more materials. If you would like to suggest content for the website, please send me your suggestions.

The Section is also planning to host a CLE event at the State Bar Building in Austin on February 22, 2011. We plan to have presenters and panels that will warrant your attendance and the investment of your time. The legislature will be in session and we hope that you take advantage of the opportunity to visit with your Representatives and Senators after the CLE program is over. The evening will tentatively end with a reception for State Legislators. Steve Aleman, Chair of the CLE Committee, is hard at work on this project and we appreciate his efforts.

As always, I hope you find the referenced news articles informative.

Best Wishes.

Prepared by
John Vasquez
Chair
Hispanic Issues Section, State Bar of Texas
johnvasq@gmail.com


PS: If you are helping a small non-profit as a Board Member or contributor, you may want to take special note of yearly registration requirements for non-profits which are due by October 15. Failure to timely register may adversely affect the charitable status of the organization and the tax deductibility of donations. To learn more, read the following excerpt from a the San Antonio Express-News:

If you are associated with a nonprofit organization or contribute to one, especially small ones, a large deadline is looming Oct. 15.
An obscure portion of a pension-protection law approved by Congress in 2006 requires nonprofits, also called 501(c)3s, to register yearly with the Internal Revenue Service, initially by May 15, 2010.

Large nonprofits, those with yearly revenues of $25,000 or higher, already did this with forms known as 990s, but Congress wanted the smaller ones to do so also, just to know who was out there and where they were.

The problem is that hardly anyone was informed about the requirement. Nonprofits that fail to comply could lose their tax-exempt status. Contributors who deducted donations could be ordered to pay income taxes on the amounts years later, if they were audited, if the nonprofit had lost its tax-exempt status.

. . . accountant Alan Sandersen of Sugar Land believes many nonprofits still have no idea of the requirement or the penalties involved.

Sandersen is with Sandersen Knox & Co., an accounting firm that works with many nonprofits.

Sandersen is sounding the alarm at an Internet site it has created:www.501exempt.com. Nonprofits can check their status through the database maintained at the website.

For many organizations, the task can be as simple as answering only eight questions on a form.

The Urban Institute has made this easy with links and instructions athttp://epostcard.form
http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/local/tax_surprise_awaits_some_non-profits_102636589.html?showFullArticle=y


NOTE: This News Summary is a service of the Hispanic Issues Section of the State Bar of Texas. If you would like to support HIS, visit
http://www.texasbar.com/sections and click “MyBarPage” (near the top of the page, middle column) to join online. For further information, contact the Sections Department at 1-800-204-2222 or (512) 427-1463 ext. 1420.

_______________________________________
Top News

EDITORIAL: Border News
A nonpartisan study on illegal immigrants in the United States came out Wednesday. Here is the gist: Unauthorized immigration peaked three years ago, and is sharply receding. It is declining all over, but especially in housing-bust states like Florida, Nevada and Virginia.

Harsher enforcement probably has something to do with it. But so does the Great Recession, and while the total population of illegal immigrants has fallen somewhat, to about 11 million, there is no exodus. They are not flooding in as much, but they are not flooding out.

These striking findings, from the Pew Hispanic Center, suggest that it is probably time to focus on assimilating the people who are here and show no signs of leaving. It also argues for fixing immigration, so that when the economy roars to life again, we will be ready to handle a new influx that is lawful, orderly and above-ground.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/opinion/05sun2.html
To find a link to the complete report “U.S. Unauthorized Immigration Flows Are Down Sharply Since Mid-Decade”, go to:
http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=126

Appeals court blocks Pa. town's immigration law
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Hazleton, Pa., may not enforce its crackdown on illegal immigrants, dealing another blow to 4-year-old regulations that inspired similar measures around the country.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said that Hazleton's Illegal Immigration Relief Act usurped the federal government's exclusive power to regulate immigration.

"It is ... not our job to sit in judgment of whether state and local frustration about federal immigration policy is warranted. We are, however, required to intervene when states and localities directly undermine the federal objectives embodied in statutes enacted by Congress," wrote Chief Judge Theodore McKee.
See also:
Pa. mayor to take immigration law to Supreme Court
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkWhluTKRQkgDRIl8zJOqQQSeo-gD9I4LCCG2

LULAC President: Discrimination persists
An anti-Hispanic movement is sweeping across the United States, the national president of LULAC said Thursday.

Arizona's immigration law, talk of repealing the 14th Amendment and other measures aimed at undocumented immigrants are part of a movement spreading state to state, said Margaret Moran, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

"It's a domino affect. It's all about targeting Latinos," said Moran, who is from San Antonio and was elected president in July.

Moran was in El Paso to formally announce the group's national convention coming to the civic center in 2013. LULAC, which just had is 80th anniversary, is the nation's oldest and largest Hispanic civil-rights organization.
http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_15982459

Border activist's littering conviction is overturned
A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned the littering conviction of an Arizona activist who left gallon-size bottles of water for illegal immigrants crossing into the United States through a desert wildlife preserve.

Daniel Millis of NoMoreDeaths.org had been convicted of violating a statute prohibiting the dumping of garbage in an area designated as a refuge for endangered species.

In a 2-1 ruling, judges of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said water didn't meet the definition of waste. They also took note of Millis' practice of removing empty water bottles he found while on his missions to avert dehydration deaths in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.

Two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officers stopped Millis and three other activists Feb. 22, 2008. Officer Allen Kirkpatrick spotted the plastic water bottles in the back of Millis' SUV and, upon learning that the occupants had placed other bottles along the trails, cited him for "dumping of waste."

Millis admitted that he had placed the water bottles in the refuge but defended his actions, saying "humanitarian aide is never a crime."
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-border-water-20100903%2C0%2C2187946.story

Family Fight, Border Patrol Raid, Baby Deported
A few days before her daughter Rosa’s first birthday, Monica Castro and the girl’s father had a violent argument in the trailer they all shared near Lubbock, Tex. Ms. Castro fled, leaving her daughter behind.

Ms. Castro, a fourth-generation American citizen, went to the local Border Patrol station. She said she would give the agents there information about the girl’s father, a Mexican in the country illegally, in exchange for help recovering her daughter.

Ms. Castro lived up to her side of the deal. But the federal government ended up deporting little Rosa, an American citizen, along with her father, Omar Gallardo. Ms. Castro would not see her daughter again for three years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/us/21bar.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Home Mortgage Lender To Pay $1.5 Million In Discrimination Settlement: Company charged Hispanic borrowers higher fees for home loans, FTC charges
A California-based mortgage lender and its owner will settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that they illegally charged Hispanic consumers higher prices for mortgage loans than non-Hispanic white consumers. The price disparities could not be explained by the applicants' credit characteristics or underwriting risk, the FTC said.
"We will continue to be vigilant in enforcing fair lending laws and we're not going to tolerate discriminatory practices by mortgage lenders," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said. "Lenders who allow discretion in pricing loans can't escape liability simply by burying their heads in the sand. Those lenders must monitor discretionary pricing to ensure that American borrowers are treated equally based on their credit -- not their race, national origin, or gender."

The FTC filed a complaint in federal court on May 7, 2009, alleging that Golden Empire Mortgage, Inc. and Howard D. Kootstra violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) in pricing mortgage loans. They allegedly gave loan officers and branch managers wide discretion to charge some borrowers, in addition to the risk-based price, "overages" through higher interest rates and higher up-front charges.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/09/home_mortgage_lender_to_pay_in_discrimination_suit.html

Court finds criminal’s sentence can be increased if they are illegal immigrants
When U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett sentenced two Hispanic men on drug-related charges, he took into account that both men had entered the U.S. illegally. Although the men cited discrimination in their sentencing appeal, judges on the 8th Circuit Court have ruled that Bennett acted appropriately.

The court relied on a 2001 case, U.S. v. Lopez-Salas, in making its determination that Bennett sentenced the two men appropriately. According to the referenced case, “a person’s legal status as a deportable alien is not synonymous with national origin.”
http://iowaindependent.com/44032/court-finds-criminals-sentence-can-be-increased-if-they-are-illegal-immigrants
(Note: The Eighth Circuit opinion (7 pages) upholding the District Court decision is referenced at the bottom of the news article.)

Latino voters support Democrats but may not vote for them, poll reports
There is good news and bad news for Democrats in a new poll ahead of the 2010 elections - Latinos support the party, but about half of those questioned say they might not show up at the polls on Nov. 2.

The gap between support and motivation provides an opening for Republicans, who have had an up-and-down relationship with Latinos over the last few years: George W. Bush made inroads, but John McCain then lost ground to Barack Obama. Recently, the GOP has done little to court these voters on issues such as education, immigration and health-care legislation.

But Republicans hold one big advantage over Democrats in key races this cycle that could matter more than any one issue - they have more high-profile Latino candidates running for statewide offices.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/05/AR2010100505553.html
To find a link to the Pew Center Report “Latinos and the 2010 Elections: Strong Support for Democrats; Weak Voter Motivation”, go to:
http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=127

Will Arizona's immigration law motivate Latino voters?
Groups that have been working to increase turnout among Hispanic voters are pondering this question: Are they mad enough?

Polls predict low turnout among Latinos in November, but Hispanic civil rights and civic participation organizations are hoping outrage over "anti-immigrant" rhetoric and the uptick in laws targeting illegal immigrants will counter apathy in the electorate.

The groups are pushing voter turnout with an ad campaign they are calling "Vote for Respect."

The campaign, which was released Wednesday and will air on Spanish-language media, is a stark black-and-white video with the faces of many Latinos saying they "believe in the promise of America."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/06/AR2010100605120.html

_______________________________________
Texas

Mexican-American community 'beacon' dies: Former judge Alfred Hernandez was the first Hispanic to take the bench in Houston
Former Judge Alfred J. Hernandez, a native of Mexico whose political voice and influence spanned some 50 years and stretched from Houston's near northside to the White House, died Saturday. He was 93.

Hernandez — the first Hispanic to take the bench in Houston - was a driven activist determined to improve life for others, namely those of Mexican and Latino heritage, said longtime friend Dorothy Caram.

"He was a quiet man with a forceful voice, who represented Mexican-Americans well," Caram said. "He was a great model who understood that change required work, determination, planning and education."

Hernandez was born in Monterrey, Mexico, in 1917. When he was 4, his family moved to a tiny house just north of downtown Houston.
He spoke only Spanish - perhaps an impetus behind his literacy program endorsed by President Lyndon B. Johnson that years later evolved into Head Start.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7188151.html

Class of First-Time Freshmen Not a White Majority This Fall Semester at The University of Texas at Austin
AUSTIN, Texas — For the first time in the history of The University of Texas at Austin, fewer than half of the fall semester's first-time freshmen are white students, according to a preliminary analysis.

The report, provided by Kristi Fisher, associate vice provost and director of the Office of Information Management and Analysis, shows the number of first-time freshmen who identified their ethnicity/race as "white" on admissions information total 47.6 percent. The university's overall total white student population, including graduate, Pharmacy Doctorate and law students, is 52.1 percent.

The figures reflect changes in the demographics of Texas. The Office of the State Demographer, Texas State Data Center, estimates the state's ethnicity in 2010 to be 45.1 percent Anglo (white), 38.8 percent Hispanic, 11.5 percent black and 4.6 percent other. The state's ethnic/race distribution by 2020 is projected to change to 37.6 percent Anglo (white), 45.2 percent Hispanic, 11.2 percent black and 6 percent other.
http://www.utexas.edu/news/2010/09/14/student_enrollment2010/?AddInterest=2221

Report: 1 out of 3 Texas children under the age of 8 has an immigrant parent
A new report says that one out of every three Texas children under the age of eight has an immigrant parent, significantly higher than the national average. The Urban Institute found that nationally one of four children has an immigrant parent. The study looked at data from 2008. About 43% of these children have a parent from Mexico. About 13% of children with an immigrant parent live in Texas. That's about 1.1 million children, ranking the state as having the second highest rate in the nation, behind only California.
http://irvingblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/09/report-1-out-of-3-texas-childr.html
To read the Urban Institute report “Young Children of Immigrants: Leading America’s Future”, go to:
http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412203-young-children.pdf

Dallas-area nonprofits want to boost lagging Hispanic representation on boards
Hispanic volunteers on nonprofit boards are highly sought after these days.

More social service agencies are serving a greater number of Latinos in this struggling economy. But conversely, the number of Latinos serving on nonprofit boards is stagnating.

And this has caused a level of concern at many agencies that believe they need to reflect the community they serve.

The level of poverty has increased among Hispanics during this recession. But it had already begun an upward trend and is now the highest of all ethnic groups in the area.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/molivera/stories/DN-olivera_28met.ART.State.Edition1.35f5030.html

An Interview With Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman
The day she joined the Texas Supreme Court, Eva Guzman learned she would have a challenger in the Republican primary.

The former Houston appellate justice, appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to take Justice Scott Brister’s suddenly vacant seat last October, won her primary against Rose Vela by a comfortable margin — but not before several minor dustups between the two candidates. When news of a Guzman endorsement from Cathie Adams, then serving as chair of Republican Party of Texas, came to light, Vela's camp complained it was being punished for her husband's endorsement of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the governor's race. Vela’s husband, a Corpus Christi-area attorney, told The Associated Press that an ally of the governor's urged him to renounce his support of Hutchison if he wanted his wife to nab the judicial appointment that ended up going to Guzman.
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-courts/texas-supreme-court/an-interview-with-supreme-court-justice-eva-guzman/

_______________________________________
USA

Arizona cop's challenge of immigration law fails
A federal district court has dismissed a challenge filed by a Tucson police officer against Arizona's tough new immigration law.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton said Tuesday that Tucson officer Martin Escobar lacks the legal standing to sue, according to court documents.
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-09-01/justice/arizona.immigration.law_1_immigration-law-immigration-status-martin-escobar?_s=PM:CRIME

Legal nonprofit sues Tulare over voting rights
TULARE, Calif.—A legal nonprofit organization is suing the City of Tulare, claiming that Hispanic residents are not getting equal representation under the current voting system.

Attorneys for the San Francisco-based Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights said that electing City Council members to at-large seats instead of from districts diminished Hispanic voters' strength in elections.

Only one Hispanic has been elected to Tulare's five-member City Council in the past 20 years even though the city is nearly 55 percent Hispanic.
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_15944835?nclick_check=1

Justice Department lawyers sue Arizona sheriff in civil rights probe
Washington (CNN) -- Justice Department civil rights lawyers filed suit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona on Thursday after talks collapsed on a deal to provide federal investigators with documents they requested.

The suit, filed in federal court in Phoenix, Arizona, claims the Maricopa County sheriff has failed to cooperate with the investigation into alleged discrimination against Hispanics by Arpaio's law enforcement officials.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/09/02/arizona.sheriff.justice.dept/
To read the federal court pleading, go to:
http://www.azcentral.com/ic/pdf/0902justice-department-lawsuit-on-arpaio.pdf
See also:
U.S. government sues Ariz. sheriff in civil rights probe (includes video of Sheriff’s news conference)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-09-02-arizona-sheriff-arpaio_N.htm?csp=34news
Uncooperative Arpaio Could Cost County $113 Million in U.S. Funds
http://newamericamedia.org/2010/09/county-to-loose-fed-funding-thanks-to-sheriff-arpaio.php

Internal memo accuses Sheriff Arpaio's department of wrongdoing
Reporting from Denver — Top officials in the office of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio used its anti-corruption unit to conduct politically motivated investigations, misled the public about a campaign fund that helped Arpaio win reelection and surveilled the Arizona lawman's campaign rivals, according to an internal memo from a high-ranking officer.

The 63-page memo, first reported Thursday by the Arizona Republic, blames Arpaio's longtime No. 2 man, Chief Deputy Dave Hendershott, for the alleged criminal wrongdoing.

It comes as a federal grand jury is examining whether Arpaio and allies in the local prosecutor's office abused their power by investigating and prosecuting political foes. Arpaio's department is also the subject of a separate federal civil rights investigation into whether it uses racial profiling while enforcing immigration laws.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-joe-arpaio-20100918,0,1430379.story

Yellowstone County won't appeal discrimination case
BILLINGS (AP) — Yellowstone County commissioners will not to appeal a recent discrimination case in which a jury awarded nearly $1 million to three sheriff’s officers.

Last month, deputies Chris Romero and Roger Bodine, as well as civil transport officer Dave Valdez, were awarded a total of $945,000 in damages. The officers said commanders treated them differently because they are Hispanic and retaliated against them when they complained.

Jurors determined the men were retaliated against and experienced discrimination, but not because of their race — a conclusion that elicited different responses from attorneys on both sides.
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20100901/NEWS01/100901002

Ohio restricting Puerto Rican birth certificates
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Elizabeth Torres was stung when her 19-year-old son said he'd been turned down for a state-issued Ohio identification card because his birth certificate from Puerto Rico was considered invalid.

"We're not illegal aliens, we are citizens of this country," Torres said. "We have everything, all the documents and all that, but we are not treated as such."

People born in Puerto Rico are finding that older birth certificates from the U.S. territory are not being accepted when applying for a state ID or driver's license at the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, a reaction to concerns about possible fraud that a national Hispanic group said smacks of racial discrimination.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ikSPrkhGgoVcpaxL6NN4zBwco9YwD9HVBCPG3

U.S. files new suit on Ariz. immigration issue
The Justice Department filed another lawsuit against immigration practices by Arizona authorities, saying Monday that a network of community colleges acted illegally in requiring noncitizens to provide their green cards before they could be hired for jobs.

The suit against the Phoenix area Maricopa Community Colleges was filed less than two months after the Justice Department sued Arizona and Gov. Jan Brewer (R) over the state's new immigration law. It also comes as the department is investigating Joe Arpaio, the sheriff in Maricopa County, who is known for tough immigration enforcement.

In Monday's lawsuit, Justice officials said the colleges discriminated against nearly 250 noncitizen job applicants by mandating that they fill out more documents than required by law to prove their eligibility to work. That violated the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, the department said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/30/AR2010083004923.html
See also:
Feds file new Arizona immigration lawsuit, this time to protect workers
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2010/0831/Feds-file-new-Arizona-immigration-lawsuit-this-time-to-protect-workers

Border Sweeps in North Reach Miles Into U.S.
ROCHESTER — The Lake Shore Limited runs between Chicago and New York City without crossing the Canadian border. But when it stops at Amtrak stations in western New York State, armed Border Patrol agents routinely board the train, question passengers about their citizenship and take away noncitizens who cannot produce satisfactory immigration papers.

“Are you a U.S. citizen?” agents asked one recent morning, moving through a Rochester-bound train full of dozing passengers at a station outside Buffalo. “What country were you born in?”

When the answer came back, “the U.S.,” they moved on. But Ruth Fernandez, 60, a naturalized citizen born in Ecuador, was asked for identification. And though she was only traveling home to New York City from her sister’s in Ohio, she had made sure to carry her American passport. On earlier trips, she said, agents had photographed her, and taken away a nervous Hispanic man.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/nyregion/30border.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=immigrants&st=cse

Taveras would be first Hispanic mayor of Providence
Providence, Rhode Island - Angel Taveras on Tuesday won the Democratic nomination in the Providence mayor's race, pushing the Harvard-educated lawyer closer to becoming the first Hispanic leader in the capital city's history.

Taveras, a 40-year-old former city housing court judge, won easily with 49 percent of the vote, compared with 29 percent for City Councilman John Lombardi, who briefly served as mayor in 2002 after Vincent "Buddy" Cianci was sent to prison for corruption, and 20 percent for influential state Rep. Steven Costantino.
http://www2.turnto10.com/news/2010/sep/15/9/taveras-wins-ri-dem-primary-providence-mayor-ar-232066/

More than half of trooper's citations were to Hispanics
RALEIGH, N.C. — About 54 percent of a Highway Patrol trooper's pending traffic cases involved Hispanic drivers, far more than other troopers in his district.

WRAL News found Wednesday that 104 of trooper Michael L. Potts' 191 pending citations were written to Hispanic drivers.

Five other master troopers in the same district have a combined 939 pending tickets, with 62 , or 6 percent, issued to Hispanics.

In 2002, a Superior Court judge dismissed a DWI charge against a driver on grounds that trooper Clinton Carroll was targeting Hispanics.
http://www.wral.com/news/local/wral_investigates/story/8297334/

4th Circuit Becomes New Front in Battle Over Judges
With this week's confirmation of Nashville, Tenn., lawyer Jane Stranch to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, there's a new focus in the sparring over judicial nominees.

Albert Diaz, a nominee for the 4th Circuit, has been waiting longer for Senate confirmation than any other pending appellate nominee. President Barack Obama nominated Diaz, a former military judge now on the North Carolina trial bench, in November 2009. Diaz (pictured above) has awaited a vote since getting the unanimous support of the Senate Judiciary Committee in January.

Obama, in a speech Wednesday night, took what for him is an unusual step — singling out Diaz by name as a stalled judicial nominee.
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2010/09/4th-circuit-becomes-new-front-in-battle-over-judges.html

Racial profiling case faces delay
Redding, California - A hearing this week in federal court that could determine whether drug agents on Interstate 5 near Redding are pulling over suspected drug runners because of their race or ethnicity was put off until later this month.

Assistant federal defender Lauren Cusick said Thursday that U.S. Eastern District Judge Morrison C. England on Wednesday continued the hearing until Sept. 29. England had heard three days of testimony this week but had a scheduling conflict, she said.

The hearing concerns a motion filed by the federal defender’s office in a trial of two suspected drug runners. The defender’s office contends that their clients were targeted because they are Hispanic. Drug agents deny the allegations.
http://www.redding.com/news/2010/sep/16/racial-case-faces-delay/

Dept. of Human Rights dismisses charge against Gaylord policeman
Minnesota - A charge of discrimination against Gaylord Police Officer Eric Boon has been dismissed by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

In October of 2008, Centro Campesino filed a Charge of Discrimination against Boon. Centro Campesino filed the charge on behalf of itself and approximately 20 aggrieved Latino immigrant residents of Gaylord and the surrounding area. The charge stated that since 2004, Latino immigrant residents reportedly had been discriminated against, harassed, and retaliated against on the basis of their race and national origin.

The Department of Human Rights completed its investigation approximately two months ago. That investigation determined that there was No Probable Cause to believe that Boon engaged in an unfair discriminatory practice. The Department of Human Rights issued an order dismissing the charge.
http://gaylordhub.com/2010/09/16/dept-of-human-rights-dismisses-charge-against-gaylord-policeman/

NYC stops hiring firefighters amid bias suit
NEW YORK — City officials on Friday said the Fire Department of New York won't hire any firefighters until a new entry exam is created to replace one a federal judge said discriminated against minorities, which is expected to take at least a year.

A federal judge had ordered the city to choose one of five temporary methods for selecting applicants who had already passed the rejected exam as a way of adding to the department in the meantime. But the city's law department said in a letter to the court that they wouldn't select one because they all involved some sort of race-based quota.
"The hiring quotas ... are bad public policy, and we believe not justified by the law," said Corporation Counsel head Michael Cardozo.

Of the 11,214 uniformed members of the FDNY, 355 are black, 722 Hispanic, 82 Asian and 6 Native American. Most city residents are minorities.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h0Yum4q2zo5cWjU8yWGlx63tV-gwD9I9SB708

Abuse lawsuit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office settled for $600,000
A man who accused a Maricopa County Sheriff's deputy of abuse and racial discrimination over a 2009 traffic stop has won a $600,000 settlement.

In February 2009, Armando L. Nido was arrested after Deputy James Carey tried to pull him over in Tempe for a broken taillight, according to a notice of claim filed with the county and other public records.

Nido stopped and started his car several times during the course of Carey's traffic stop, which is common for drunken-driving suspects, MacIntyre said. Nido claimed he was afraid to stop because of the "pattern and practice" of sheriff's deputies to treat Hispanic residents differently because of their ethinicity. When Nido finally came to a complete stop in front of his home, Carey tried to block Nido's car and hit the suspect with his squad car, pinning Nido underneath it.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/10/06/20101006joe-arpaio-office-discrimination-suit-settlement06-ON.html

Charlotte soft drink bottler settles racial bias claim: Coca-Cola Consolidated ordered to compensate black, Latino job seekers
Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated of Charlotte has agreed to pay $495,000 in back wages and interest to 95 African-American and Hispanic job seekers for racial discrimination.

The applicants applied in 2002 for sales support positions at the company’s Black Satchel Road distribution facility in Charlotte. The settlement follows an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

In addition to back pay, the Coca-Cola bottler agreed to make offers of employment to the applicants until at least 23 are hired. Those hired will receive retroactive seniority benefits they would have accrued from July 1, 2002, if not for the discriminatory actions of the company.
http://www.thecharlottepost.com/index.php?src=news&srctype=detail&category=Business&refno=3027
See also “Charlotte Coke Bottler Settles Discrimination Case”
http://www.wfae.org/wfae/1_87_316.cfm?action=display&id=6543

Hospice Provider To Pay $50,000 To Settle EEOC Suit For National Origin Discrimination, Retaliation
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - A Delaware Corporation which provides hospice services nationwide will pay a former employee's estate $50,000 to settle a discrimination suit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

The EEOC's lawsuit, Civil Action No. SA09CA0796PM, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division, alleges that VistaCare, Inc. subjected a Latino registered nurse at Kerrville, Texas facility to discriminatory treatment because of his national origin. The nurse lodged a verbal complaint about the company's vice president / general manager making ethnically derogatory comments about him and that she was attempting to get him fired. Subsequently, the nurse filed a charge with the EEOC, alleging that the vice president had referred to him by ethnic slurs, attempted to block his pay raises and promotion, had made negative comments on his work evaluation and was attempting to get him fired, all because of his national origin. Shortly after filing the charge, VistaCare fired him as retaliation, the EEOC reported.
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/vsta_hospice-provider-to-pay-50-000-to-settle-eeoc-suit-for-national-origin-discrimination-retaliation-1187734.html

Catholic Charities of Chicago has settled a defamation lawsuit filed by the agency’s former Latino Affairs chief.
The Chicago archdiocese had a check delivered last week to Heriberto López Alberola as part of a settlement with him.

The archdiocese’s social-service arm, Catholic Charities, hired López in 2007 to direct its Latino office. López eventually raised questions about Catholic Charities accessibility to Latinos and about the agency’s compliance with a U.S. law banning discrimination by groups that receive federal funding.
http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=44803

EEOC's bias suit targets hotel on Eastside: Black staff at Hampton claim they were fired for complaints of unfair pay
A federal lawsuit filed Thursday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the owners of an Eastside hotel claims black housekeeping employees were fired after they complained that Hispanic workers were paid more for doing the same work.

The suit, which alleges a pattern of racial discrimination against the hotel's housekeeping staff and job applicants, also said the black workers were openly told they'd be fired and replaced because Hispanics cleaned better and complained less.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20101001/LOCAL1803/10010388/1003/BUSINESS/EEOC-s-bias-suit-targets-hotel-on-Eastside

N.C. Judge Diaz may be closer to Senate confirmation for federal court
Of all the judicial nominees awaiting confirmation by the U.S. Senate, none has waited longer than Charlotte, N.C.'s Albert Diaz. Now supporters hope the wait is about to end.

Diaz, who would be the first Hispanic judge on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is among the nominees the U.S. Senate could consider before its expected recess this week.

It was in January that the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously endorsed him for the post. None of the 22 other judicial nominees endorsed by the committee has waited as long.

Both Republican Sen. Richard Burr and Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan say they support his confirmation. At least three Democratic attempts to get him confirmed fell through when a single Republican objected.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/28/1846070/nc-judge-diaz-may-be-closer-to.html

NM poll: Majority support Ariz. immigration-check law
ALBUQUERQUE - New Mexico voters strongly disapprove of the state's policy of giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, and a majority of them give a thumbs-up to Arizona's new immigration law, according to a poll released Sunday by the Albuquerque Journal.

According to the poll, 53 percent favor Arizona's law, 35 percent disapprove, 7 percent have mixed feelings and 5 percent don't know or wouldn't say.

Hispanic voters agreed with the majority on the state's driver's license policy and supported the city of Albuquerque's new policy of checking immigrant status of anyone who is arrested. However, only 39 percent of the Hispanics polled said they supported the Arizona law and 48 percent opposed it.
http://azstarnet.com/news/national/article_2812b431-2b67-5388-8cb3-f014fb073686.html?print=1

Pa. men face 2nd trial in immigrant beating death
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — One night two summers ago, an illegal immigrant from Mexico brawled with a gang of white teens from Shenandoah, an old mining town in the coal fields of northeastern Pennsylvania.

The fight's outcome is not in dispute: 25-year-old Luis Ramirez wound up dead. The question for a jury is did two former high school football stars commit a federal hate crime.
Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak are charged in connection with the attack — a case brought by the U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division after an all-white jury acquitted the defendants of state charges last year.

A separate indictment charges Shenandoah's former police chief and two officers with sabotaging the investigation into Ramirez's death by altering evidence and lying to the FBI. They are scheduled to go on trial early next year.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gtcSK8qaGGVDikaEFhYD_pgjOLrwD9IKCIH80?docId=D9IKCIH80

Shenandoah hate-crime beating case heads to trial in federal court in Scranton
For the second time in less than a month, the rolling hills of an old Pennsylvania coal town will be the setting for a high-profile federal court case involving immigration.

Jury selection, which will include each juror being individually questioned, begins this morning at the federal courthouse in Scranton for the trial of Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak, two Shenandoah-area men charged with a hate crime in the fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant on a street in Shenandoah. Prosecutors claim the fatal beating was inflicted on the man for only one reason: He was Hispanic.

Last month, the spotlight fell on Hazleton, another small city about 17 miles away, when a federal appeals court issued a long-awaited ruling on the city's anti-illegal immigration ordinances. The appeals court said Hazleton's ordinances were unconstitutional.
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/shenandoah-hate-crime-beating-case-heads-to-trial-in-federal-court-in-scranton-1.1043152

Pa. teen testifies on fatal assault of immigrant
SCRANTON, Pa. — Two former high school football players who witnessed the fatal beating of a Mexican immigrant in Pennsylvania testified Thursday that a third member of their group kicked the victim in the head as he lay unconscious in the street.

Brandon Piekarsky, now 18, and Derrick Donchak, now 20, are charged with a federal hate crime in the July 2008 attack on 25-year-old Luis Ramirez, who died after brawling with a tight-knit bunch of white athletes in Shenandoah, an old mining town riven by ethnic tensions between whites and a burgeoning Hispanic population. Donchak is also charged in a plot with Shenandoah police to cover up the crime.

Prosecutors allege that Piekarsky kicked Ramirez in the head, a theory bolstered Thursday by testimony from two of the defendant's childhood friends.

Both Scully and Lawson said it was commonplace for white students at Shenandoah Valley High School to use ethnic slurs against Hispanics, admitting they did so themselves.
"Is it fair to say there were a lot of white people using racial slurs because of the Hispanics moving into Shenandoah?" asked Gerard Hogan, a Justice Department prosecutor. "Yes," Lawson said.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gtcSK8qaGGVDikaEFhYD_pgjOLrwD9IN0O0G3?docId=D9IN0O0G3

'Interest' in Md. suspect in duck's death
The Montgomery County man suspected of slashing the tires of his Hispanic neighbors’ cars also is under suspicion for stealing a duck from one of their backyards and cutting its head off, according to police arrest records filed in court Thursday.

Detectives call Steven Ray Armstrong a "person of interest" in the duck incident, according to a police spokeswoman. A witness told police that Armstrong, 52, was seen near the duck owner’s house at the time the pet went missing from its cage, according to the arrest documents.

The duck was found decapitated three days later on a nearby street in the victim's, and suspect’s, Wheaton-area neighborhood.

Armstrong was charged this week in one tire slashing case. Detectives say he is motivated by a dislike toward Latinos and could be responsible for slashing the tires of at least 20 vehicles owned by Hispanics.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/dan-morse/police-investigate-tire-slashe.html?hpid=newswell

Sims gets 80 years, minimum, in Hispanic slayings
TIFTON, LOUSIANA — Stacey Bernard Sims was sentenced Thursday to serve a minimum of 80 years in prison after he entered guilty pleas on 17 counts related to the Sept. 30, 2005 murder of six Hispanic men during several home invasion robberies.

According to a press release from District Attorney Paul Bowden, Sims entered the guilty pleas Aug. 12 and Tift County Superior Court Judge Bill Reinhardt imposed the sentence Thursday.

Sims, of Moultrie, entered guilty pleas to six counts of murder, four counts of armed robbery, four counts of aggravated assault and three counts of burglary in connection with three separate home invasions early in the morning of Sept. 30, 2005. Sims received six life sentences for the six murders, plus 80 years without the possibility of parole on the four armed robbery counts and 140 years on the remaining aggravated assault and burglary counts.
http://moultrieobserver.com/local/x500717589/Sims-gets-80-years-minimum-in-Hispanic-slayings

2 Spartanburg teens charged in crime spree against Hispanics: Sheriff says more arrests are possible
North Carolina - Two Spartanburg teenagers face armed robbery and weapon charges after deputies say they robbed Hispanic individuals at gunpoint during a crime spree.

Wright said the men terrorized the Hispanic community — mostly in the Una area — and police are looking into whether the crimes meet the criteria of hate crimes. It is unclear why the men targeted Hispanic individuals, but the investigation is in the early stages.

The men could be involved in two home invasions in the area, the sheriff said.
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20101001/ARTICLES/10011021/1051/NEWS01?Title=2-Spartanburg-teens-charged-in-crime-spree-against-Hispanics&tc=ar

Torrington strives to close rift with Hispanics
TORRINGTON, CONN — Six months have passed since a Dominican-American teen was chased down on a city street and beaten, a crime that exposed a long-simmering ethnic rift in the city. Official efforts to bridge that gap drew praise, with some reservations, from Hispanic leaders in recent interviews.

There is much work still to be done, they agreed, and progress requires effort from all residents.

Three defendants in the beating case have learned their fate, including Bryon Cronin, 18, a passenger in the minivan driven by Kerry Langdeau, 35, mother of fellow defendant Dilyen Langdeau, 18, who has pleaded guilty to a felony assault charge. Cronin was sentenced to a year in prison Thursday in Bantam Superior Court on various charges unrelated to the March 6 incident. Kerry Langdeau, who drove onto a sidewalk in pursuit of the fleeing Hispanic teen, was granted a special form of probation for first-time offenders in June, and ordered to take hate crime diversionary classes.
http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2010/09/26/news/local/509909.txt

_______________________________________
General Interest

Latino Republican walking a tightrope in Nevada race
Reporting from Las Vegas — For years, Brian Sandoval has been a rising Republican star, a trailblazer touted as a symbol of the party's increasing diversity.

Square-jawed and handsome, he was elected Nevada's first Latino attorney general, showcased at the 2004 Republican National Convention and appointed the state's first Latino federal judge.

Battling for the GOP nomination, Sandoval endorsed the measure and came out against driver's licenses for illegal immigrants as part of a rightward shift that left Merida and other Latinos angry and confused. Reid opposes the law, which requires police to determine the status of people they stop and suspect are illegal immigrants.

He compounded the upset with an off-air comment during an Univision interview, reportedly stating his children wouldn't be stopped by Arizona police because they "don't look Hispanic."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-latinos-gop-20100831,0,5348847,full.story

Student’s Work Leads to Insights on Immigrants — and a Documentary Film
It is an unlikely story: A young man works in the kitchen of a restaurant, where his experiences inspire him to pursue a PhD — the highest degree academia offers — in pursuit of deeper insights into one of society’s most challenging problems. His dissertation research leads to a documentary film and eventually the creation of a nonprofit organization.

For Roy Germano, a political science doctoral candidate in the Department of Government, the many undocumented Mexican workers he met at age 23, working at that restaurant, were the catalyst for what has since become his life’s work: understanding and aiding Mexican immigrants to the United States and the families they leave behind.
http://giving.utexas.edu/2010/09/01/germano-immigration-research/?AddInterest=2221
To visit the Movie website and view a trailer, go to:
http://www.theothersideofimmigration.com/HOME.html

Opinion: A heavy price to ending birthright citizenship
We can already see the future of our nation if it renounces birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants, and it isn't pretty. Dragging economies, new forms of fraud, a disenfranchised underclass, children deported to places they have never even visited — countries that do not have birthright citizenship have experienced these problems and more, and have been forced to reconsider their practices. Germany, Israel and Japan are just three of those countries, and their experiences have much to teach us.

The current debate about the future of the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship for all born on U.S. soil, centers on the question of individual fairness: Should these children have the right to U.S. citizenship although their birth on U.S. soil was the result of their parents' unauthorized presence here? The debate is really about what citizenship and belonging mean in the United States — profound and important issues but not ones that draw easy consensus. But if we ask what will happen to our society as a whole if we eliminate birthright citizenship, the facts become easy to see.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-weise-birthright-20100902,0,120869.story

Police disperse crowd near Westlake site where officer shot a day laborer to death. At least 22 people are arrested.
As Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck defended the fatal shooting of a day laborer and officials called for calm, protesters and officers clashed Tuesday night in Westlake near the site of the incident.

About 300 demonstrators gathered at the LAPD's Rampart Station. Some in the crowd hurled eggs at police cars and others threw objects at the station windows, prompting officers in riot gear to push the throng along 6th Street.

Officers fired non-lethal projectiles at protesters near Union Avenue and 6th, where Manuel Jamines was fatally shot Sunday afternoon by an officer who said Jamines refused commands to drop a switchblade.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lapd-shooting-20100908,0,3007915,full.story

After Police Shooting, Frustrations Grow
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Corn roasting on sidewalk grills. Latin music blasting from shops. Colorful signs touting tongue-twisting names like Atitlán and Quetzaltenango. The central Los Angeles neighborhood could almost be plucked right out of Guatemala City. Long ago a well-heeled area of Los Angeles, the Westlake district surrounding MacArthur Park has in more recent decades become a densely packed enclave of Central American immigrants fleeing brutal civil wars and grinding poverty in their home countries.

Last week, the bustling community turned into a hotbed of unrest after a police officer shot and killed Manuel Jaminez, a 37-year-old Guatemalan day laborer, who allegedly lunged at him with a knife. The shooting last Sunday set off three days of protests by people who felt that the shooting was an unfair and unnecessary use of police force.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/us/12westlake.html?_r=1

Opinion: I was an 'anchor baby'
I was an "anchor baby." According to family lore, the day I was born at Hibbing Memorial Hospital in Minnesota in the early 1960s was also the day my parents received their deportation papers. They had come to America from war-torn Korea on student visas that had run out. Laws at the time prohibited most Asians from immigrating, so they were told to leave, even with three American children.

The 14th Amendment, with its guarantee that anyone born here is an American, protected my siblings and me from being countryless. Today, in the growing clamor over illegal immigration, there have been calls to repeal this amendment, with the pejorative "anchor baby" invoked as a call to arms. The words suggest that having a child in America confers some kind of legal protection on illegal parents, that it gives them a foothold here.

But in reality, merely having a baby on American soil doesn't change the parents' status. As a so-called anchor baby, my existence did nothing to resolve my parents' situation; if anything, it only added to their stress.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-lee-anchor-baby-20100908,0,7268797.story

Commentary: Arizona Pols in the Hot Seat
The past 24 hours have not been kind to Arizona leaders Gov. Jan Brewer and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

It started with Brewer, whose opening statement in last night’s debate with gubernatorial contenders, including Attorney General Terry Goddard, was painful to watch. Whether it was stage fright or just the result of a really bad day is hard to know, but Brewer, known for her brash statements, found herself struggling for words and appeared ill prepared.

Normally, Brewer comes off as a strong person, although she is not that accessible. On a recent reporting trip to Arizona, I was told that Brewer declined to be interviewed for a story about how the state’s controversial immigration law was affecting business. And she has a reputation, among many I spoke with in Phoenix, for being media-shy—unless the message is very brief or she’s talking to Fox News.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/02/arizona-pols-in-the-hot-seat.html

Kindergartens see more Hispanic, Asian students
The kindergarten class of 2010-11 is less white, less black, more Asian and much more Hispanic than in 2000, reflecting the nation's rapid racial and ethnic transformation.
The profile of the 4 million children starting kindergarten reveals the startling changes the USA has undergone the past decade and offers a glimpse of its future. In this year's class, for example, about one out of four 5-year-olds will be Hispanic. Most of today's kindergartners will graduate from high school in 2023.

More Hispanic children are likely in the next generation because the number of Hispanic girls entering childbearing years is up more than 30% this decade, says Kenneth Johnson, demographer at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute. "It's only the beginning."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/census/2010-08-27-1Akindergarten27_ST_N.htm?csp=hf

Judge in immigration case receiving threats
PHOENIX - The federal judge who halted parts of Arizona's immigration law is getting "thousands" of e-mails and phone calls, many in opposition to her ruling - and a few threatening her life.

"It's not unusual in a case like this where there's a lot of issues involved and a lot of emotions involved when a decision is made that the judge gets some inappropriate communications," said David Gonzales, the U.S. marshal for Arizona.

So Gonzales said the messages sent to U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton were anticipated. He said most of those were in opposition to her decision to grant the injunction against SB 1070 sought by the U.S. Justice Department. A smaller number were in favor.
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/article_7129a221-0dbe-50d3-828b-55543e8f7718.html

Latina, Latino and Hispanic stand for many voices
If our readers are any indication, there is no definitive consensus on whether people who can trace their roots to Spanish-speaking nations prefer to be known as Latinos, Hispanics or a mix of other terms that they suggested in their responses to our unscientific online survey.

We asked Hispanosphere readers —and those who follow us on social media sites Facebook and Twitter— to answer a few questions over the last three days about ethnicity and to tell us how they want to be known.

The numbers were pretty close with a majority of 48 percent saying they prefer the terms “Latino” or “Latina” and 44 percent saying they prefer to be known as “Hispanic.” Perhaps not surprisingly, the third highest rating went to “Other,” an answer where readers offered a multitude of disparate suggestions.
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_hispanicaffairs/?p=3324

Lely students question reason for redoing homecoming court nominations: Some claim school officials don't like racial makeup of group
Naples, Florida - Ten students who thought they would be part of the homecoming court at Lely High School might not be standing in front of their peers on game day.

Lely High School confirmed it is holding a revote for the homecoming court, a move some students said was racist.

Eight of the students named to the senior court are black and two are Hispanic, according to the students.

“It’s definitely wrong. Everyone who got on the court are on there for a reason,” said senior Marie Tetithonne, 18. “If the majority of students had not been black, no one would have said anything and this would not have been an issue.”

Principal Ken Fairbanks said the school is voting on the homecoming court again today, but it is not because school officials or students didn’t like the racial makeup of the court.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/sep/15/lely-students-question-reason-redoing-homecoming-c/

The Deadline for EEO-1 Reports Is Fast Approaching
Time is running out for filing EEO-1 reports. The EEO-1 report is a government form that requires employers to describe their workforce in terms of job categories, ethnicities, races, and genders. Private employers with 100 or more employees, as well as private employers that have federal government contracts of $50,000 or more and 50 or more employees, must file an EEO-1 report every year with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s EEO-1 Joint Reporting Committee.

The EEO-1 report must be filed by no later than Sept. 30.

In 2007, the EEOC revised its EEO-1 report for the first time in 40 years. The major changes in the new EEO-1 form include revised race, ethnic, and job categories. One particularly noteworthy change was made to the former category of ‘officials and managers.’ This category was divided into two levels: executive/senior-level officials and managers, and first/mid-level officials and managers. Another revision added a ‘two or more races’ category in the race/ethnicity section of the form. Other revisions included: dividing the ‘Asian and Pacific Islander’ category into ‘Asian’ and ‘Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander’; ‘Black’ became ‘Black or African American’; and ‘Hispanic’ became ‘Hispanic or Latino.’
http://www.businesswest.com/details.asp?id=2662

Opinion: GOP chairman changes immigration tune on Spanish TV
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele went on Spanish television recently, saying that Arizona's SB 1070 didn't “reflect the beliefs of all Republicans.”
I don't recall him saying anything remotely close to that in English media. I don't blame him for saying that. The political reality is that the future of all political parties in the United States must include room for Latinos; the increasing numbers of Latino voters speaks for itself.

So when the GOP chairman found himself before a niche Latino audience, he softened the immigration rhetoric.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/columnists/victor_landa/gop_chairman_changes_immigration_tune_on_spanish_tv_102099683.html

Disciplinary Actions for Substance-Abusing Attorneys Vary Widely
An Indiana lawyer shows up at the courthouse drunk and gets into a car accident. His license is suspended, but stayed, for 180 days. A New Hampshire attorney and admitted alcoholic takes on what turns out to be a meritless case and conceals the defeat from clients. He is disbarred.

An Iowa attorney and self-described alcohol abuser involved in a series of disciplinary actions, including taking a client's money and abandoning a divorce case, gets a license suspension. He can apply to renew it in six months. Meanwhile, a Florida attorney who's been sober and in a 12-step program since his arrest on drug charges in 2004 is disbarred for the six-year-old offense.

Each of the four cases involved substance abuse -- and each had a very different outcome. The decisions, all from the past two years, show how broad the inconsistencies are in the way courts dole out punishment for substance-abusing attorneys. Whether because of uneven precedent, murky ethics rules or a hard-line stance against recognizing addiction as a mitigating factor in misconduct, courts can give attorneys little more than a slap on the wrist in some cases. In others, careers are finished.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202472239042&src=EMC-Email&et=editorial&bu=Law.com&pt=Law.com%20Newswire%20Update&cn=LAWCOM_NewswireUpdate_20100920&kw=Disciplinary%20Actions%20for%20Substance-Abusing%20Attorneys%20Vary%20Widely

Effort under way to name East Chicago court building after Arredondo
Sept. 21--EAST CHICAGO -- Lake Superior Court Judge Calvin Hawkins has started an effort to name the court building at 3711 E. Main St. in honor of Circuit Court Judge Lorenzo Arredondo.

Arredondo is retiring at the end of the year.

In a letter to Lake County Commissioners he mailed Monday, Hawkins said Arredondo deserves the recognition because he was the first Latino judge to serve in Indiana and the longest-serving Latino trial judge in the nation. Elected six times, he is in his 34th year in office.

Earlier this year, Arredondo received the Hispanic National Bar Association's highest award -- the Lincoln-Juarez Award -- "for lifetime achievement of dedication, passion and commitment to the rule of law."
http://www.leagle.com/unsecure/news.do?feed=yellowbrix&storyid=150096242

GOP Taps Hispanics in Fall Test
A deep lineup of Hispanic Republicans is running for high office this year, giving the party new avenues to court the growing bloc of Latino voters who have largely deserted the GOP in recent years but will be crucial in the 2012 presidential election.

In a twist, many of these candidates are defending the strict, new Arizona law and other measures cracking down on illegal immigration—appealing to white conservatives and to the portion of Hispanic voters who share concerns about border security.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703793804575512210776190450.html

Rubio's views don't match many Hispanics'
Is Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio anti-Hispanic?

It's an obnoxious question, considering that Rubio is Cuban-American. An impertinent reporter (I swear it wasn't me) asked it after a recent debate in which Rubio said he favors making English the official language of the United States. Backed by key supporter U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, the proposed measure would not require the government to provide ballots and other documents in Spanish.

During the debate aired by the Spanish-language network Univision, Rubio also defended Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants, opposed allowing undocumented workers to earn legal status and rejected a bill that would grant citizenship to their children who attend college or serve in the military.

These positions put Rubio -- riding a conservative backlash against President Barack Obama to the head of the Senate race -- at odds with a majority of Hispanics, prominent Hispanic Republicans, and his political mentor, former Gov. Jeb Bush.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/24/1841454/rubios-views-dont-match-many-hispanics.html

Tennessee civil courts lack interpreter funds
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The legal needs of non-English speakers and other vulnerable populations in Tennessee are vastly underserved, in violation of federal law.

The Tennessee Supreme Court's Access to Justice Commission, which is working to fix inequities in the civil courts, has created a committee tasked with improving the system for people with language barriers and those with disabilities.

According to The Tennessean newspaper, a shortage of interpreters in the state and money to pay them is one of the most pronounced problems and one of the hardest to fix.

While no hard data exist, judges, lawyers and advocates know anecdotally there are not nearly enough interpreters to go around for Tennessee's burgeoning immigrant population. For example, there is only one state-certified Arabic interpreter in Tennessee. The shortage can lead to months long delays for people or force them to participate in legal proceedings they can't fully understand.
http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13257168
See also “Needs of non-English speakers straining court system”
http://www.tullahomanews.com/news/view_article.asp?idcategory=9&idarticle=9409