From: The South Chicagoan

Torii Hunter, an all-star outfielder with the Los Angeles Angels, is getting some grief these days for comments he made to USA Today about the lack of African-American athletes playing professional baseball.

He told the newspaper that too many fans see all the dark-skinned ballplayers from the Dominican Republic or other parts of Latin America and just assume that the racial ratios are at an all-time high.

HUNTER IS BEING criticized by some for his comment that the dark-skinned Latin Americans are, “not us. They’re imposters.” Some say he’s slurring Latin American athletes. Others say he is trying to stir up an “issue” that does not exist.

Personally, I think he is merely speaking the truth. I wonder if many of the people who these days are posting nasty comments about Hunter all over the Internet are really just upset because he’s pointing out how flawed some people in our society are when it comes to perceiving race.

They want to think we have white people and other people. Hunter is saying that those “other” people have enough differences that it is wrong for the “white” people to lump them all together just because they’re not “like us” – as in the Anglos.

Hunter is coming at the issue from the African-American perspective – where some people wonder why a sport that once had about 25 percent black ballplayers back in the early 1970s is likely to have only 8 percent black ballplayers on major league rosters this season.

OF COURSE, THE force that fills that “void” is the growth of non-U.S.-born ballplayers – some 28 percent of people to be on major league rosters this year were born in other countries. While some of them are from Japan or South Korea, most are from Latin America.

And yes, those ballplayers tend to be proud of their own ethnic heritage, even though they come to work/play ball in the United States. They don’t want to be lumped in with “other.” Which is why I doubt that any Latin American athlete currently playing professional baseball is taking the least bit of offense to anything Hunter said.

They’d even acknowledge the reality of some of Hunter’s other comments, which is that the reason Major League Baseball teams have bolstered their scouting in places like the Dominican Republic or Venezuela is because they can get multiple ballplayers for the cost of one U.S.-born “bonus baby” who has attended college.

It is about economics, not any desire to do social good by expanding the talent pool or fan pool – after all, having all those non-U.S.-born ballplayers increases the interest level in the U.S. major leagues in Caracas or Tokyo, which means fans deciding they’d rather root for the New York Yankees instead of the La Guaira Tiburones or the Diablos Rojos de Mexico.

IT WASN’T ALWAYS like this. It used to be that the Latin American ballplayer was the rarity – there might be one, maybe two, per ballclub back when I was a kid in the 1970s (the time period when the black ballplayer reached its peak).

Although I wonder at times how much of that peak was because baseball people back then just lumped in Latin Americans or Latinos (who account for about 14 percent of major league ballplayers) with the black ballplayers as “other.”

I base that judgment in part on the “historic” significance given to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who on certain occasions in 1971 started an entire lineup of “black” ballplayers – even though three of them, catcher Manny Sanguillen, infielder Jackie Hernandez and Hall of Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente would now be thought of as Latin American.

Which makes me wonder how much that mid-1970s “black” ballplayer percentage is inflated, and how much better off we are now for taking reality into account when looking at the composition of the modern major league ballplayer.

I’M ANTICIPATING SOME dispute on this point by the fact that Clemente himself used to take pride in being a black Latin ballplayer. That is completely accurate, and Clemente was justified back in his day when he used to get upset with people who merely wanted to put him into a simplistic category – such as insisting on calling him “Bob” Clemente rather than by his proper name.

But it also goes a long way toward saying that it is overly simple-minded to try to think of people as being “white” and “other,” which means that in my book, Hunter is getting trashed by people who are upset that he’s calling out the flaws in their way of wanting to perceive the world.

Which means I’ll give him a few moments of respect. At least until the moment this season when he manages to make one of those over-the-fence catches that robs a ballplayer I’m rooting for of a home run.

Popularity: 2% [?]

From: Latina Lista

President Obama should be especially tired today. Between the GOP’s constant attacks on his healthcare bill and two meetings with immigration reform advocates pressing him to do something, he should be feeling like one of those rubber Gumby dolls — pulled in all different directions.

Yet, after a day capped off with an update from the bi-partisan Congressional duo, Senators Schumer and Graham, who are responsible for crafting a new Senate immigration reform bill, it would seem the President has regained his form — at least, according to the statement released by the White House this afternoon:

Three of the fourteen immigration reform advocates who met with President Obama today are: (L-R) Eliseo Medina, Executive Vice President, SEIU; Reverend John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, Catholic Church;Reverend Luis Cortes, President, Esperanza USA

Statement by the President on Today’s Meetings on Immigration Reform

Today I met with Senators Schumer and Graham and was pleased to learn of their progress in forging a proposal to fix our broken immigration system. I look forward to reviewing their promising framework, and every American should applaud their efforts to reach across party lines and find commonsense answers to one of our most vexing problems.

I also heard from a diverse group of grassroots leaders from around the country about the growing coalition that is working to build momentum for this critical issue. I am optimistic that their efforts will contribute to a favorable climate for moving forward.

I told both the Senators and the community leaders that my commitment to comprehensive immigration reform is unwavering, and that I will continue to be their partner in this important effort.

Several of the grassroots leaders who met with the President released statements of their own — and they were a little more forthcoming than the President about what went down at the White House.

Today Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum and Chair of the Reform Immigration for America Campaign met with President Obama and was joined by other immigrant rights leaders from grassroots, labor, and faith organizations for a meeting at the White House on next steps for comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
We had a lively and straightforward meeting with the President and his staff. We made clear that we expect him to keep his promise to overhaul our broken immigration system. We need a system that is fair, just, humane, and that serves our nation’s interests.

The President indicated that his administration is committed to driving a bill forward in the spring of 2010. Based on our conversation, we are optimistic and expecting aggressive and urgent action from the White House on comprehensive immigration reform before March 21st. That day, tens of thousands of Americans are prepared to take an unprecedented action carrying forward the President’s commitment to comprehensive immigration reform in Congress and finally fixing our broken immigration system.

Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change.

“The President today heard two messages loud and clear. He heard about the pain caused by the administration’s enforcement only approach to immigration and how it is tearing families apart. He also heard about the possible consequences of breaking his promises to deliver comprehensive reform: a growing backlash in the immigrant and Latino communities.

“We walk away from this very productive meeting optimistic that if the White House follows through on its commitments, comprehensive reform can be achieved this year. Organizers are doing their part. This meeting is the direct result of the tens of thousands of people preparing to march on Washington on the 21st of this month. Now, the President and Congress need to do their part.”

“We believe that his commitment to comprehensive immigration reform is real, but we also know we want results and so that’s what we’ll be expecting within the next couple of weeks,” said Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA).

Popularity: 2% [?]

Hispanic and black businesses are receiving a disproportionately small number of federal stimulus contracts, creating a rising chorus of demands for the Obama administration to be more inclusive and more closely track who receives government-financed work.
Latinos and blacks have faced obstacles to winning government contracts long before the stimulus. They own 6.8 and 5.2 percent of all businesses, respectively, according to census figures. Yet Latino-owned business have received only 1.7 percent of $46 billion in federal stimulus contracts recorded in U.S. government data, and black-owned businesses have received just 1.1 percent.
That pot of money is just a small fraction of the $862 billion economic stimulus law. Billions more have been given to states, which have used the money to award contracts of their own.
Although states record minority status when they award contracts to businesses, there is no central, consistent or public compilation of that data, according to Laura Barrett, director of the Transportation Equity Network. She and other minority advocates are calling for complete and publicly accessible demographic information on all contracts and jobs financed by the stimulus.
Minority businesses are often too small to compete for projects; do not have access to the necessary capital, equipment or bonding requirements; or lose bids to companies with well-established relationships. There also has been an emphasis on spending stimulus money quickly, which favors businesses that have won past contracts.
But minority advocates say that blacks and Latinos have been harder hit by the recession, and getting a fair share of stimulus contracts is key to the recovery of these communities. Unemployment among blacks and Hispanics is much higher than among whites. And although unemployment among whites increased at a faster rate during the worst of the recession than among minorities, rates of those considered underemployed — including people who have given up looking for full-time work or people working part-time because there is no full-time work available — increased faster among minorities than whites.
Figures from the Transportation Department on highway stimulus spending — at the heart of the government’s effort to lift the economy — have further concerned advocacy groups.
Six percent of the $16.9 billion in Federal Highway Administration contract money spent by states has gone to disadvantaged business enterprises, which includes companies owned by minorities as well as women, veterans and the disabled, according to department press secretary Olivia Alair.
Out of $1.1 billion in state-spent Federal Aviation Administration contract money, 7.8 percent has gone to disadvantaged businesses, Alair said, and 8.6 percent of direct Transportation Department contract dollars have gone to those companies.
Alair said some minority companies might not be included in those figures because they are not small businesses or choose not to classify themselves as disadvantaged. Minority businesses also are eligible for stimulus grants, but those are not tracked by race.
Still, “these numbers are far too low,” especially when compared with state and federal goals,” Barrett said. “The businesses and communities that need federal dollars most are seeing the least.”
The Obama administration has taken steps to address minority concerns. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wrote governors in December urging them to work with disadvantaged businesses. LaHood suggested unbundling large contracts to make them more accessible to small businesses, and emulating a Missouri contracting project that made community groups and openness part of the process.
LaHood’s department has pledged $20 million in subsidies to help disadvantaged businesses pay bonding premiums and fees, and has established a short-term loan program that lent $4.9 million in 2009. Last month, LaHood announced $9.9 million in grants to help businesses owned by minorities and women compete for federal contracts.
Federal agencies held more than 300 events nationwide to educate minority businesses about stimulus opportunities, said White House spokesman Corey Ealons. He also said there is a backlog of awarded contracts that have not yet been entered into the tracking database.
The White House also pointed out that about $21 billion of the $46 billion is guaranteed, and the rest are options. Latino-owned businesses have received 3.7 percent of the guaranteed total, and black-owned businesses 2.4 percent.
The founder and chief executive of one of the nation’s largest black-owned construction companies, Richard Copeland of THOR Construction Inc., said minority-owned companies usually employ 60 percent minorities.
“If we can’t get on these jobs,” he said, “we can’t hire our people from our community, so poverty and drugs and crime and unemployment and welfare become habitual.” His company has done a small amount of weatherization work through Minnesota stimulus contracts.
He said many minority businesses can’t develop the capability to do government work because a “good old boy” network shuts them out of contracts.
Copeland’s company has its headquarters in Minneapolis, and has 200 full-time employees and offices in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Atlanta. He said he abandoned highway work years ago to focus on erecting buildings.
“These big highway contractors try to keep you off the project, and when you get on, they try to make sure you don’t come back,” he said. “We hear about this all across the country.”
That’s what Samuel Foley Jr., a lawyer for the black-owned construction company Holley Enterprises, says happened to his client.
Holley was subcontracted by James J. Anderson Construction to perform demolition and salvage operations on a subway station repair project in Philadelphia. This enabled Anderson to meet contract guidelines for minority participation, but about two months later Holley’s contract was unfairly terminated, Foley said.
Anderson Construction said in a statement that Holley violated the terms of the contract. Anderson said it did not perform any of the work itself and gave the contract to another disadvantaged business.
Foley, chairman of the National Black Chamber of Commerce Construction Committee, said many companies “play games to get rid of the minority contractor.”
“This is not a unique situation,” he said. “For the past 30 years in Philadelphia it’s been this way.”

Popularity: 2% [?]

From: Ponte Al Dia

It is quite ironic that the Department of Justice has to work hard at having to “restore respect for the law within the culture of the DHS (Department of Homeland Security)” that is, the federal government itself.

Immigration policy during the first year of the Obama administration changed very little and rather perpetuated some of the worst Civil Rights violations by the Bush administration, reported the Immigration Policy Center IPC in its study “The Challenge of Reform.

The criminalizing of immigrants continues under the Obama administration, “in fact federal immigration prosecutions rose to record levels in FY 2009” asserts the IPC, revealing that “under this administration, the federal government is continuing to spend billions of dollars prosecuting non-violent immigration violators while more serious criminals involved in drugs, weapons, and organized crime face a lower probability of prosecution.”

Immigration prosecutions now account for 54% of all federal criminal filings, and will increase 14% for FY 2009, per Syracuse University’s TRAC (Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse).

Much of this prosecution fever is based on the scheme of calling any undocumented immigrant a “criminal alien”. This scheme while in parallel with the vitriol of white supremacist groups is perpetrated by unconstitutionally forcing personal data such as fingerprints into a federal database named with the euphemism “Secure Communities”.

This is how it works according to the IPC : “A closer examination of ICE’s statistics reveals that the use of the term “criminal alien” is misleading and that those identified by “Secure Communities” include large numbers of individuals with no criminal history, individuals charged with (but not convicted of) crimes, and persons “identified” but not found to be deportable. Fingerprint submission and identification is conducted at time of arrest, rather than conviction, thereby presenting the risk of racial profiling and pretextual arrests of those suspected of being unauthorized in order to determine an arrestee’s immigration status.”

Despite these flagrant abuses DHS boasts the fact that now “Secure Communities” expanded from 14 locations to 107 in 2009 and that in its first year 111,000 supposed “criminal aliens” in local custody were purportedly identified.

In reality the “Secure Communities” program is literally contributing to allow extremely violent and organized crime remain unpunished.

Taking away two thirds of our federal resources from combating violent, powerful and well-organized drug, weapon, and human traffickers to solely persecute immigrants is a testament to where our values truly rest.

Popularity: 3% [?]

From: LA Times

Community leaders and celebrities announced a new multimedia campaign in Los Angeles on Wednesday aimed at getting young Latinos to participate in the U.S. Census.

During the news conference at Miguel Contreras Learning Complex, speakers invited students to download an interactive mobile application, to participate in a texting campaign (text “LA” to 738674) and to spread the word to family and friends about the importance of the census.

“Your voice literally does matter,” actress Rosario Dawson told students in the campus library. “You have the right to live with dignity in your communities. This is the opportunity to fight for that.”

Dawson and actor Wilmer Valderrama joined leaders of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Voto Latino and the California Community Foundation to show public service announcements and hand out census-themed I-tunes cards to students.

Throughout the month, the community groups will visit schools in hard-to-count neighborhoods of the county to talk about the census and the multimedia campaign.

Los Angeles County stands to lose more than $11,000 per uncounted person, California Community Foundation President Antonia Hernandez said. She urged the students to use Facebook, Twitter and other social media to start a conversation about the census and how the federal funds will affect their neighborhoods.

“Your task as youth is to use your fingers and start texting your friends,” she said.

One student, Kevin Menendez, 17, who immigrated to the U.S. in 2007, said he learned about the census in his government class. Then he got the letter from the U.S. Census Bureau this week.

“I told my aunt that we had to do it,” Menendez said. “I really want my family to be counted.”

Popularity: 2% [?]

From: The Buffalo Puerto Rican Press

Well, it doesn’t improve my life any to know the richest man on the planet earth is a Latino from Mexico–Carlos Slim Helu. But if I married him, I would be the richest woman in the world. I thought it’s perhaps time for me to start looking for a suitable mate but the idea of an extremely wealthy one didn’t cross my mind of course every girl thinks about it. Here is your chance ladies. But wait, he has a BA in Arts and Science and is a self-made man. Oh, I have just a little bit more college credentials than he does maybe I’ll be attractive to him because rich men sometimes like well-rounded women of the “mind” as they are so wealthy money buys everything for them and there is no challenge in that.

He is son of Lebanese immigrants to Mexico. According to Forbes Magazine, he is a “Telecom tycoon who pounced on privatization of Mexico’s national telephone company in the 1990s becomes world’s richest person for first time after coming in third place last year. Net worth up $18.5 billion in a year. Recently received regulatory approval to merge his fixed-line assets into American Movil, Latin America’s biggest mobile phone company. His construction conglomerate, Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo, builds roads and energy infrastructure. Son of a Lebanese immigrant also owns stakes in financial group Inbursa, Bronco Drilling, Independent News & Media, Saks and New York Times Co. Newspaper outfit’s stock popped in early March on talk he might buy a controlling stake; he denies the rumor. Donating $65 million to fund a research project in genomic medicine with American billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad.”

Popularity: 2% [?]

From: Vivir Latino

The whole “undocumented living in the shadows” metaphor always gnawed at me a little for it’s sinister feel. The shadows are dark places, where bad things happen and bad people live. It kind of feeds into the “good vs. bad immigrant” narrative that we are so fond of talking about here. Maybe that’s why I like the idea of National Coming Out of the Shadows Day being celebrated today in Chicago by hundreds of young people as part of the larger National Coming Out of the Shadows Week , March 15th to the 21st.
The idea of National Coming Our of the Shadows Day and Week is for the undocumented, especially youth, to stand up, unafraid, unashamed and unwilling to accept the idea that there are good immigrants vs. bad immigrants. That is a a dichotomy created by the racist broken immigration system to divide and conquer communities that intersect.
The focus of the event in Chicago today is Senator Durbin and the demand that he support comprehensive immigration reform and the DREAM Act, which would give countless undocumented youth the freedom to continue to grow educationally and professionally.
“We cannot wait any more. Not while our parents are getting deported and our youth’s dreams fall apart due to an obsolete immigration system that has failed us and the country. I have supported Senator Durbin and President Obama, and now we need them to act. This country cannot wait anymore, we will not wait any longer,” said Ireri, IYJL member.

Popularity: 3% [?]

From: CampusProgress.org

In a evening conference call held last night, Mar. 8, anti-immigration group Numbers USA—best known for its brute force attacks on Congress to defeat comprehensive immigration reform in 2007—discussed a variety of tactics to thwart an upcoming march on Washington DC by immigrant rights supporters, including one proposal to call immigrant women from Mexico “the new welfare queens in America.”

The call, which was held at 9 p.m EST, was organized by Numbers USA, and included approximately 45 participants from across the country, many of them representing archconservative“Tea Party” affiliates. In a 30 minute time span, Chad MacDonald, the moderator of the discussion and a worker with Numbers USA, walked callers though ways they could create the perception that there was a grassroots opposition to immigration reform, according to notes taken during the phone call. The actions, organized to pressure Congress to stall on immigration reform, are meant to coincide with the “March For America,” a pro-immigration reform march organized for Mar. 21.

During the discussion, listened to by Campus Progress, activists not only talked about how they should paint Mexican women in the United States as “the new welfare queens,” but they also recommended tactics like referring to immigrant children as “dependents,” rather than “babies,” because “babies” is an “emotional” word. All of this was discussed in the presence of MacDonald and Roy Beck, executive director for Numbers USA, who has his own turbulent past with reported connections to white nationalist groups.

According to notes taken on the phone call:
CALLER 1: I would like to speak out on something. I feel the new welfare queen in America today is women coming from Mexico with a bunch of babies. So I feel they’re all coming over here and having all these babies, they are the new welfare queen in America….

New people in America today with a lot of babies, ’cause they coming from Mexico having a bunch of babies. And our tax dollars is taking care of them babies, ’cause the mothers are illegal. So to me, we need to speak out about letting them know they’re the new welfare queens in America.

CALLER 2: That was well said brother!

MACDONALD: We will make a note of that. Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

CALLER 3: One piece of information would be, they aren’t babies, they’re dependents. Don’t use babies. It’s emotional to them. They have dependents. We have babies.
Along with circulating distortions that immigrants somehow use and drain welfare programs—an allegation that has no actual factual basis—Numbers USA and its affiliates are also planning to flood Congressional offices with phone calls and faxes during the pro-immigration march—all with talking points that have been meticulously prepared by Numbers USA—much like the group did in 2007. “I think jobs is the number one way to do it,” said Beck, who noted that growing unemployment during the recession can be fastened to the immigration debate.

“It’s not about reality, it’s all about perception,” Beck said on the call. “What happened in 2007 is that we as a movement created the perception of on Capitol Hill that most American’s did not want amnesty, they did not want comprehensive immigration reform, and that there was an intensity to the people who didn’t want it that could really cause political damage for the careers for the members of Congress. That’s what moves Congress.”

MacDonald added during the discussion, “We are a single issue organization about reducing both legal and illegal immigration. We have an immense amount of resources. We have an incredible coalition and we can answer and frame a question for any ostensible person to reduce overall immigration.”

Popularity: 5% [?]

From: NPR.org

The great thing about racists is they’ll always take the bait. You won’t get far into an immigration-reform debate, for instance, before the GOP’s more zealous legislators start doing things like criminalizing priests and calling Miami a “third world country.” Which is why Democrats ought to be more eager to spend 2010 debating immigration.

Back in summer 2009, that looked like the plan. President Obama made a big show of brainstorming reforms, by holding a White House summit and meeting with legislators in both parties. New York Sen. Charles Schumer teamed up with South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham to work on a bipartisan bill and immigration seemed destined to get space at the top of the 2010 agenda.

Now, of course, Graham remains the lone Republican on board and the congressional calendar remains clogged with the bipartisan blockades of 2009. It’s hard to imagine where Democrats will wedge meaningful immigration reform in between health insurance, jobs and banking.

Nonetheless, reform advocates have run out of patience — and the White House is once again very publicly brainstorming the issue. The president met with Schumer and Graham Monday for what Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton described as “getting an update from them on efforts to create bipartisan immigration legislation.” One gets the feeling Obama’s trying merely to get in front of a conversation that’s destined to heat up, with a reform rally on the National Mall set for March 21 and tea partiers prepping an April response.

But Democrats would be wise to do a good bit more than parade Schumer around. Lay to the side the clear economic and moral arguments for fixing our corrupt, exploitative system. Immigration reform is an issue where Democrats are served better politically by picking a fight with the GOP than running from one. The long-term politics are plain: Latino communities nationwide are young, growing and increasingly ready to show up at the polls. And the certain-to-be xenophobic reaction of the GOP’s loudest voices today will not only motive Latinos this November, it will alienate independent voters as well.

Obama’s hearty embrace of immigration reform served Democrats well in 2008 (a fact the National Council of La Raza is reminding him of in a new ad; see below). Polling wonks split hairs over whether the Latino vote turned any states, but the fact that we’re down to hairs is enough. Latino voters arguably made victory possible in places as disparate as Indiana and Florida, and their political networks have only matured since. Throughout both the South and the Midwest, motivated Latino voters can strengthen Democrats’ hand. And after the party’s tin-eared 2009, in which it squandered its reform capital while courting enemies, Obama and the Dems could surely use at least one motivated voting bloc this fall.

Popularity: 5% [?]

From: Politics Daily

In July 2008, Sen. Barack Obama took time out of his packed presidential campaign schedule to address a crucial block of voters whom he would need in his fight against Sen. John McCain in the November elections.

During his speech to the League of Latin American Citizens, a leading Latino organization, Obama lamented the lack of presidential leadership on immigration reform in 2006, and promised to do better.

“We need a president who isn’t going to walk away from something as important as comprehensive immigration reform when it becomes politically unpopular,” he told the group. “That’s the commitment I’m making to you. I fought with you in the Senate for comprehensive immigration reform. And I will make it a top priority in my first year as president.”

But after Obama’s victorious presidential campaign, in which he won with 67 percent of the Latino vote, immigration advocates say they are still waiting for the results that Obama promised them 18 months ago. And their patience is wearing thin.

“There is a palpable, grassroots anger that is going to go national if there is not a breakthrough soon,” said Frank Sherry, the founder of America’s Voices, a group that advocates immigration reform. “If there’s not, I think the effort to pass legislation will become akin to a social movement to raise the moral stakes of 11 million people living in the country with no meaningful rights.”

Other Latino leaders and immigration advocates say they understood that the president had to deal first with the economic crisis that confronted him when he came into office, and even that he chose to address health care reform as his next domestic priority. But in interviews with Politics Daily, several said they believe that some Democrats are slow-walking reform to avoid dealing with the politically hot-button issue.

“I think there’s a bit of this Rahm Emanuel kind of mentality, where they think that immigration reform is a liability for Democrats who would rather not take a tough vote,” said Brent Wilkes, executive director of the LULAC group that Obama addressed in 2008. “They think that as long as they think they can keep the immigrant community mollified, they can just put it off without delivering on that promise.”

Wilkes joined more than half a dozen fellow immigration advocates at a Washington, D.C., press conference Monday with a message for a White House they feel has been long on promises and short on results.

“The message to Democrats is that they need to deliver in order to have a shot at maintaining support from the Latino community,” said Clarissa Martinez, director of immigration and national campaigns National Council of La Raza. “Addressing reform is essential for Republicans as well if they have any interest in repairing their relationship with the fastest growing portion of the American electorate.”

Activists are planning a march for immigration reform on March 21 on the National Mall to call for comprehensive immigration reform. Leaders of the reform community recently informed the White House that they had a choice: The march could be a civil rights protest to decry Obama’s lack of follow-through on the issue, or it could be a community rally to urge Americans to support the president’s efforts to pass a bill. The catch, they told the White House, was that he needed to move on something.

So Obama called Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) to the White House for a meeting Monday, which deputy press secretary Bill Burton said would be for the senators to update the president on where things stand on the issue.

According to several people with knowledge of progress on the matter, Schumer is working on a measure that would have the broad contours of the immigration reform bills from 2006 and 2007, including what has been termed a “path to citizenship” for undocumented workers. Although Graham has signaled his support for the concept, Schumer is working to get a second Republican on board before moving forward. The House will not act at all until the Senate passes its bill.

Among the details being discussed for the Schumer-Graham effort are a Schumer plan to create a forgery-proof national identification card, a non-partisan commission to recommend a process for issuing visas, and eliminating the “touch back” provision from previous bills that required illegal immigrants to leave the country before they could begin the legalization process.

LULAC’s Wilkes warned that that any efforts to pass legislation this year need to be a bona fide commitment to build a coalition, not just an election-year attempt to check a box for an interest group. “We don’t want them to make a half-hearted effort just to say they did it,” he said. “We need to see a real effort at reform and only that can quiet the voices that will show up March 21.”

NCLR’s Martinez said: “For the Latino community, the word in 2010 is accountability. Our perspective is that this issue has been debated many times over the years. The country has been waiting for the system to be overhauled for 20 years. For Latinos in particular, we will regard as complicit those who stand on the sidelines, as well as those who are actively trying to obstruct progress.”

The danger for both parties in ignoring the issue and depressing Latino voter turnout in 2010 is considerable, but for Democrats trying to hold onto control of the House and Senate, the peril is acute. Activists say Latinos were key to Democratic victories in 2006 and 2008, and have the power to swing crucial states in 2010.

“There are likely to be close races in California, Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, New York and Florida, in which the Latino vote — and whether it turns out or not — could determine whether Democrats keep control of the Senate or not,” Frank Sherry said. “And when smart politicos say we better not do what the Latinos want because it might hurt our 2010 prospects, they seem to have failed to notice that dramatic demographic changes have changed that electorate.”

Popularity: 5% [?]