Thread: N.J.: Leaders push for education, immigration reform

Leaders push for education, immigration reform
By: John S. Clyde / Correspondent
Posted: 4/28/08

When Latinos talk about the promise of their community, they are talking about the present, said Martin Perez, the president of the Latino Leadership Alliance for New Jersey, Friday at a fundraiser.

The LLANJ hosted the event, titled "Embracing the Latino Horizon," at the Hyatt Regency in New Brunswick to bring together Latino leaders from around the country to celebrate Latino successes and to expand its mission for the state.

Embracing the Hispanic horizon is about having all Americans understand the Latino community, which is a tremendous asset for the country, said Robert Menendez, a Latino U.S. senator who represents New Jersey.

"We are not outside an American agenda we are within it," Menendez said.

The nation's competitive future at home and abroad will depend on how well educated the Latino community is, he said.

"We are younger by a decade than the rest of the America's population which means that as the nation grows older and grays it will increasingly look to our community for the quality of their lives," Menendez said.

Speakers at the event addressed issues such as the quality of education, access to health care and immigration reform.

"As long as our children are forced to go to schools that are not good ... we are going to have to organize to fight," Perez said. "As long as we don't have access to healthcare, we are going to have to fight … As long as we don't have comprehensive immigration reform, we are going to have to fight."

The increasing Latino demographic is going to have a huge impact on the labor markets in New Jersey, said Assistant Director for Perth Amboy Center for Middlesex County Community College and University alumnus, Jose Laureano.

Laureano said people are projecting the majority of the work force in the next 20 to 30 years is going to be of Latino origins.

"It bodes well to have a well-educated population in New Jersey," he said. "Rutgers, as the flagship University in New Jersey, it would be ideal for them to be more supportive of the Latino community."

In 2006, 3,132 Latino students attended the University, according to statistics.

But Iris Martinez-Campbell, a member of the Universities Board of Trustees, said retention rate among Latino students are poor.

"A lot of the Latino students who come to Rutgers still tend to be first generation and as a result of that there is a lot of pressure on them," she said.

Because more students of Latino origins are applying to the University, Martinez-Campbell said Rutgers needs to have faculty that understands these issues.

"[University President Richard L. McCormick] is very committed to making sure that the face of the faculty is mirroring what the population is," Martinez-Campbell said. "He's laid out a plan for cluster hiring, where you take a lot of faculty of different origins all in one shot to interview and pick from there your best prospect."

The U.S. government wants to be able tell people that if they stay here and work hard their children will be protected with quality education and healthcare, said Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

Out of the 47 million Americans without healthcare, the greatest number of individuals who go without, are Latino, Menendez said.

"[In Patterson there are] a lot of poor people, people who are struggling to make a living and struggling to earn dignity as well as a weeks pay," Lautenberg said. "They want the same things for their families as my parents wanted for me and my little sister and that is to be able to get an education."

The healthcare community needs to educate and recruit more Latinos, said George A. Zeppenfeldt-Cestero, national president and CEO of National Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Health.

Speakers also addressed immigration reform.

Comprehensive immigration reform has stalled in Congress, Menendez said.

"America would be hurt deeply if suddenly we decided to take all of these people who have been working diligently trying to do the same thing that my grandparents tried to do," Lautenberg said.

The heads of companies are concerned they will have to close their businesses should the state begin to push people out if they are believed to be undocumented, he said.

Menendez said there are more than 50,000 Latino businesses in the state of New Jersey.

"We are one of the main drivers of creating jobs for all New Jerseyans," Menendez said. "We are adding to the economic wealth of the state,"

Menendez said he hopes a compromise can be reached, but said it would likely have to wait for a new administration in the White House.

"The economic sectors of the immigration issue are clamoring for relief," Menendez said. "A variety of pressures are growing where we can both secure our country, but also do the right thing and keep our history of being a nation of immigrants."

The agriculture and high-tech industries as well as others want to have their piece of the immigration solution, Menendez said.

"Some of us, including myself, have said if you want that, that's fine but than you have to give a path to earned legalization for people who are undocumented in this country," Menendez said.

Perez said the issue of undocumented workers didn't start with the Mexicans, Guatemalans or Bolivians.

"It started with the Mayflower," Perez said.

The fundraiser also highlighted the recent successes of Latinos namely, Mike Sullivan, the wide receiver coach for the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants and Miss New Jersey, Tiffany Andrade.

"Be confident in your dreams and do what you want to do," Andrade said. "Don't let being Hispanic be a barrier from letting you do something positive that sets you apart from other people."

Andrade, a registered pediatric nurse said she has only had positive experiences as a nurse and in the health care profession.

"[Hispanics have] come a long way and I think that Hispanics today can do whatever they want," Andrade said.

Menendez said the number of Latino public officials across the spectrum has grown dramatically in the legislature, even at the state and county levels.

He also spoke about the influence on mainstream culture.

"You could not field a [baseball] team on the American or National League if it did not have Latino players on it," Menendez said. "We could not turn on television or radio and not listen to the songs of Latino's stars."

But Menendez said corporate boards lack the participation of members of the Latino community, which would be in their interests.

"We have to get together," Perez said. "When I sit down with the Asian community, the African American community, the Jewish community … aside from the food we eat and the music we like to listen to, at the end of the day we start talking about the same issues."

Perez said he looks forward to the day when Latino, black, gay, lesbian and women's rights groups are no longer necessary. But, he said, as long as there are injustices, the Latino people are going to need to organize.

"This is a young country, its only 200 years old," Perez said. "It is still forming and they intend to be a part of that formation."

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"Some of us, including myself, have said if you want that, that's fine but than you have to give a path to earned legalization for people who are undocumented in this country," Menendez said.

That means amnesty, and the answer remains NO. They had their mass amnesty in 1986 & that's a major reason of why we're in this current mess. Now we must focus on enforcement & restore the rule of law.

First and foremost, we need to separate any illegal aliens from the equation and then we can move forward.

Illegal aliens have ruined entire towns in NJ. One of them being the small boro of Bound Brook. Over half the homes are overcrowded, the downtown business area is half empty, the rest are bodegas that sell everything. The school district is one of the worst in the state AND the taxes are among the highest in the state. Nightclub patrons terrorize neighborhoods and the PD is spread too thin to do anything about it. The mayor wants to be a senator and could care less about the town. Gang tagging and vandalism runs rampant. People are desperate to move out, but no one wants to move in.

Menendez & Lautenberg pander to the illegals.