Thread: Hispanics, Political Power & Keeping Their Culture

This talks about legals getting citizenship but is alarming when it comes to the paragraph regarding political power and keeping their culture. That has a big impact on illegals, immigration policy, bilingualism and would make what is left a third world country.

http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/55134.html

IMMIGRATION
Campaign hopes to add 8 million citizens
A nationwide push to naturalize millions of legal residents came to South Florida as community organizations launched a citizenship campaign.
By CASEY WOODS
cwoods@MiamiHerald.com
Univisión and other South Florida community organizations kicked off a yearlong citizenship campaign on Tuesday in an effort to transform an estimated 600,000 legal U.S. residents in Florida into U.S. citizens over the next year.

Their efforts, and those of other community groups and Spanish-language media such as Telemundo, are part of a nationwide push to help almost eight million eligible immigrants beat a dramatic increase in the government's naturalization fees and upcoming changes that would toughen the citizenship exam.

The campaign ''is about becoming an integral part of this country,'' said Jorge Mursuli, national executive director of People for the American Way's Democracia U.S.A. program.

``It's about gaining political power, and it's about our ability as Hispanics and as immigrants to protect our culture within the context of living in this country.''

The initiative comes at a time when citizenship applications are already surging nationwide, after last year's often caustic debate on immigration policy drove hundreds of thousands of immigrants into the streets from New York to Los Angeles to protest proposed legislation that would have classified undocumented immigrants as felons.

Citizenship applications jumped 79 percent nationwide, from 53,390 in January 2006 to 95,622 for the same time period this year.

For many immigrants, the upcoming hike in naturalization fees -- expected to jump from $400 to about $600 -- added urgency to their desire to become citizens.

''The marches did bring up more consciousness about people wanting to become citizens, but ultimately it was the proposed fee increase that galvanized interest in naturalization,'' said Javier Angulo, director of civic education for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, one of the organizations leading the campaign. ``The proposed fee increase will place a nearly insurmountable barrier in the path of legal permanent residents who want to become full participants in our American democratic process.''

The thousands of newly minted citizens could have a profound impact on the 2008 presidential elections by creating a vast block of mostly Hispanic voters who outside South Florida tend to vote for Democrats.

''I think it will radically alter the electoral map if it's done right,'' said Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chairman Joe Garcia. ``The places where the Hispanic vote is growing, like Nevada, Florida, and Colorado -- are tremendously important.''

State Rep. David Rivera, a Miami-Dade state committeeman to Florida's Republican Party, said that the GOP will benefit and attract new Hispanic voters from President Bush's long-standing support for immigration reform to help legalize the status of some of the nation's 13 million undocumented immigrants.

''I think our spokesman on immigration policy is President Bush, and Bush has always been an ardent advocate of immigrant rights and a path to earned citizenship,'' he said.

Since over half of the illegal aliens are Mexicans and I have family contacts there I am phrasing the observation below in terms of Mexico and resident Mexicans. It could however just as easily be about other Latin Americans like Dominicans or from other countries like the Philippines or India.

There is a very predictable division I can see coming up on the pro amnesty side. Using Mexico as an example there are two tendencies in play.

One is Mexicans who favor the growth and strength of Mexico's economy, there are also Mexican American political activists who want to increase their own strength relative to the other interests that are active here within the United States. Both of them see support for the unauthourized migrants as a means to an end.

The surest way of obtaining the first goal is actually in conflict with the goal of the second. The success of either tendency could help impede the chance of success of the other. The general community might see them as being the same group and an enemy of the general interest of the citizens of the U. S. The supporters of their unauthorized both want those living here in the U. S. to be respected during their daily lives.

An optimstic nationalist is likely to favor the ability of Mexicans to live and work for a period of time in the U.S. They see migration even unauthorized as a way that their unemployed or under employed Mexicans can make themselves money that they can invest back into expanding productivity of their home communities. The Mexican American politicos who are more focused on building and controlling the ethnic power block wish to have the migrants stay here where they will have the greatest impact on their desire for personal political power.

If the migrants are never going to go home for primary residence they will lack the committment to help improve the conditions there. On the other hand If they will have to move back there for their primary residence they will have to put more into creating a sounder household economic footing.

The proposed fee increase will place a nearly insurmountable barrier in the path of legal permanent residents who want to become full participants in our American democratic process.''

I wonder if he said this with a straight face. A couple hundred bucks is "insurmountable." People have been here for years and have no interest in citizenship, but now they are going for it just because the fee is going up????

When they say preserving their culture do they mean not learning to speak English? He also have a straight face saying that?
I think the push is on in South Florida is due to the situation in Cuba. When Castro dies the wetfoot/dryfoot policy may die as well and if these people become citizens then they can bring family members here legally as opposed to paying smugglers between $5,000 and $10,000 per head as they are doing now. Since they had a few cases where they used old vehicles that were made to float most migrants have been dropped off by go fast boats. The old homemade rafts they used to use are long gone.