Pobreza

Pobreza, originally uploaded by Memo Vasquez.

"Poverty" reads the title.

The text reads:

Poor amongst the poor.....

A child, at his age, alone at his home, waiting for a mother to return with something in her hands to eat. many signs of poverty.....the inflated stomach, the scraggy dog and the look of anguish.

Poor amongst the poor....

Stare at the image.

Imagine the daily life of this child. Imagine what his future holds. Try to imagine that you are the parent of this child. Imagine that as fate would have it, sometime, most of the time, your child will go hungry.

Now imagine that a "Promise Land" lays just North of you. This land lays at most a few days journey. It beckons you, tempts you, forces you to cast your gaze towards it's horizon.

Imagine how long it would be before you began your journey North?

REAL Immigration Proposals

One of my favorite blogs is Working Immigrants written by Peter Rousmaniere (Roo-man-ear). Peter writes about the "business of immigrant work: employment,
compensation, legal protections, education, mobility, and public policy".

I long ago subscribed to his feed and highly recommend reading his posts if you are interested in thoughtful and well balanced analysis on immigration and the sometimes unforeseen effects it causes to both Americans and illegal immigrants.

Peter's latest post "White House PowerPoint outlinge of its proposal", provides us a glimpse into the details of the immigration proposals which call for a Border Patrol manpower of 18,300. 370 miles of fencing; funding obtained and contracts in place to put at least 300 miles of southern border under electronic monitoring. A "no release of deportable aliens caught at the border" policy.

The first page of the proposal includes:

• Securing U.S. Borders
• Give employers the tools necessary to verify immigration status of who they hire, and hold them accountable to do so
• Provide a lawful channel for needed temporary workers (referred to a "Y-visa" holders)
• Bring illegal workers out of the shadows (offering hem what we call a "Z visa") without amnesty
• Require English proficiency, civics training, oath of allegiance
• All policies must be workable (comparatively simple, efficient, not subject to undue litigation) -- do not repeat the 1986 failure
  
  

Here is a copy of the White House Immigration Proposal PDF. It ends with a "DELIBERATIVE - FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY" disclaimer, so, it led me to wonder how this copy surfaced. Peters post links to the document at The Immigration Portal (ILW.COM).

The proposal includes implementation of a Real ID. One of the criticisms of illegal immigration is that it leads to an increase in identity theft. The Real ID is proposed as a means to stem the wideflow use of fraudulent Identification Cards, Drivers Licenses and Social Security by illegal immigrants. Critics of the Real ID claim that it's implementation will result in racial profiling. Whatever the future holds, hopefully they do not lead to many instances such as the one experienced by this Alaskan woman.


Technorati Tags: immigration, illegal immigration, read id

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Super Bowl Full of Avocados

Mexican Avocados

Super Bowl Sunday is a second day in which Americans consume the most avocados, some 49.5 million pounds during the 2006 Super Bowl, this according to California Avocado Commission. Just in in case you are wondering which is the day that Americans consume the most avocados? Well it's none other than Cinco de Mayo.

This coming Thursday will mark the day in which Californian consumers will begin to benefit from Mexican avocado imports. Although the importation of Mexican avocados marks the elimination of a decades-old ban on imports of the fruit. The prohibition of Mexican avocados was ostensibly to prevent plant disease, but mostly it resulted in a protectionist market for growers in the United States. The consumer of avocados will hardly notice any difference in the avocados, except that they will be less expensive than before, because Mexico's avocado growers cultivate the Hass variety.

Leading up to Thursday avocados from Mexico were allowed in 47 states. The three remaining states that had been excluded where Florida, California, and Hawaii. Mexican farmers had long argued against the ban. Mexican farmers had pointed to the fact that since 1997 the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspections had not revealed a single shipment containing pests. The California Avocado Commission contended that legitimate pest invasions exist as pests originating in Mexico have made their way to California and the control of these pests have increased their costs. That argument has helped keep avocado prices relatively high in California, where avocados are primarily a seasonal fruit and commands a premium price at upwards to $1.00 per fruit.

Mexico and Chile two countries that will increase their fruit exports to are likely to contribute to the reduction of prices of the fleshy creamy green fruit and possibly ride the tide of it's increasing popularity.

Mexican farmers remain hopeful as trucks laden with their avocados headed north to the border this past Friday. In Uruapan, Mexico where 80% of the fruit is grown, locals waved at trucks carrying Hass avocados bound for California and Florida, which along with Hawaii were the last remaining states to lift the ban.