Why was Emily Ruiz not allowed to come back to the United States?  Do you see how broken our immigration system is? Emily is an American born citizen, folks. We have to fix the broken system before more families are forced apart.

Just as the Department of Homeland Security under President Bill Clinton botched it up with Elian Gonzales of Florida, now we have the Department of Homeland security under President Obama botching it up with Emily Ruiz.  How many more immigration stories do we have to hear in order for the FEDERAL GOVERMENT TO FIX THIS ISSUE?!

Not long ago, the entire Hispanic community was with the Cuban community in spirit when the battle of Elian Gonzalez drove Cuban Americans back to the Republican Party in Florida.  Within one decade we have watched some in the GOP transform on the issue of children, families, immigration and deportation.   In 1996, Bill Clinton and Al Gore won Florida, however, during the 2000 Presidential Election, the Cuban American National Foundation said they would actively work against Gore because of his badly chosen handling of Elian’s deportation that eventually cost him the elections.

In light of the upcoming 2012 Presidential Elections, Democrats ought to ask themselves how much they want to play and risk the Latino vote.  This is the time for them to step it up because State legislators (GOP) are crying out for Obama to fix the broken system.  Question is….will Democratic leaders be smart enough to put a solution that will garner Republican support on the table?

If you don’t know who Emily Ruiz is, you are about to find out from Ruben.

Why was 4-year-old American girl deported?

By Ruben Navarrette Jr., CNN Contributor

San Diego (CNN) — Under our system, two things are crystal clear: Law enforcement agencies are required to treat children with more care than adults, and U.S. citizens have certain rights that are not to be abridged — including the right to due process.

Just don’t try telling any of that to the parents of Emily Ruiz. They know better. Those principles didn’t apply in the case of the 4-year-old from Brentwood, New York, who — after traveling to Guatemala to visit relatives with her grandfather — was denied entry into the United States on March 11 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and instead sent back to Guatemala.

That is no way to treat a U.S. citizen.

Read more:  http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/03/23/navarrette.child.deported/index.html

 

From Pilar Marrero:

US may have violated own rules in “deporting” US citizen girl.

In sending back to Guatemala a US citizen girl whose parents are still in the United States, authorities with the Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) may have violated a settlement that was entered into during the nineties to determine the treatment of minors in their custody, said a constitutional lawyer who conducted the lawsuit in the late eighties.  According to attorney Peter Schey, a lawyer for the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles, CBP and all agencies that deal with migration issues must do more than just a good faith effort to reunite a citizen child with his family, under the Flores settlement that was put in place in 1997.

It looks like more and more people within the GOP are starting to recognize the abuses of Arizona Republican leaders like Robert (Bob) Haney who is the Maricopa County Chair.  In my opinion, the AZ GOP and the Maricopa County GOP do not consider you a Republican when you don’t follow them blindly.  Below is an excerpt of a letter from one of the Tea Party Groups in Arizona.

I’m familiar with Bob Haney.  If you don’t toe the party line on his anti-immigrant views, he calls you a RINO or a Fraud.  He’s called me a Republican Fraud because I am pro immigrant, and I think he is a fraud because he is nothing but an isolationist, protectionist Dixiecrat who should go join David Duke’s Klan or Pat Buchanan’s club to defend Adolph Hitler.  The Arizona GOP is a disgrace to the entire Republican Party.  They have damaged our image, and I hope other GOP chairs are taking notice.  By the way the anti-immigrant bills are dying down in other parts of the country, it appears moderate Republicans do not want the stench that is rising from the Arizona GOP leaders…..and I don’t blame them.

From The Original North Phoenix Tea Party Group:

“……Last summer we experienced a phenomena in Republican politics in Maricopa County…our Chairman started picking favorites during the Republican Primary.  His first pick was J.D. Hayworth whom he campaigned openly for, distributed literature for, wore J.D. Hayworth Tee Shirts down at the Capital while passing out J.D. yard signs etc. etc.  While I understand his motivation to oppose Senator McCain and Jim Deakin in this primary…the fact is that I did too…the difference is that I am not the Chairman so I can freely voice my opinion about this candidate (as a P.C.) without it being interpreted at an ‘official’ endorsement by the party leadership.”

“The second transgression was Mr. Haney’s endorsement of former Rep. Sam Crump over a field of 9 other legitimate Republican candidates for the office of U.S. Congressman for CD 3…when I asked him why he would do such a thing as Chairman his response was that it was justified since Mr. Crump was the only one that had endorsed J.D. Hayworth for the Senate. ”

“Now there was yet another little known endorsement…actually it was a negative endorsement…of Col. Wendy Rodgers running for the State Senate seat in a normally Democrat district in the East Valley…Mr. Haney, when asked to help her, stated that she was a McCainite and deserved no support.  You see, this is the litmus test for Mr. Haney…if you say anything at all positive or even suggest co-operating with Senator McCain or any of his associates…you are…and I quote: “…we live in different political worlds and I believe no benefit will result in either of us from our further communication.”  So, in essence, Mr. Haney will erase you out of the world.I question Mr. Haney’s right as the Chairman to cut off communications with a duly elected P.C. in the Republican Party of Maricopa County. I do not know this for a fact but it seems plausible that communications between official parties in the Republican Party must remain open to maintain continuity therein.”

“Finally, contrary to Mr. Haney’s contention that “…we live in different political worlds…” this is clearly not the case.  He favors conservative candidates for public office and for the offices in the Republican party and I do too.  We are on the same page here…we differ only in the way he executes his duties as the Chairman of the Maricopa County Republican Party and that is the long and short of it.  Before his last election I made a point of writing and calling him to tell him that I supported his candidacy.  I truly thought that he had understood my concerns during the last primary.  Apparently I was wrong.”

–Wesley W. Harris

Read Wesley’s letter in it’s entirety here.

Speaking of Bob Haney, Dixiecrats and Pat Buchanan, this reminds me of when our former RNC Chair, Michael Steele admitted that the GOP embraced a “southern strategy”.

Dear Gente:

We have a year and a half to increase our political clout.  We do this by getting ready and registering our cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters and friends who are eligible.  Be sure to put them all on the early ballot system.  We should all ask for early ballots, that way you don’t have to fuss with getting away from work, and you receive your ballot in your mail box (in several states).

The reason why we are in this political mess that is filled with anti-Latino sentiment is because we are “asleep”.  I hear so many of you complain about the tea party whackos, however, we don’t motivate ourselves to vote in the PRIMARY ELECTION seasons.  We cannot afford to let these extremists get anymore control. Latinos bring “moderation” to the table and these stinkin’ politicians know it.

Those of you who are Hispanic Republicans, grab a buddy or family members and register them to vote if they are not registered. If they don’t want to register as a Republican, register them as Independent, Libertarian, or Democrat — it doesn’t matter, as long as they vote. Get them on the early ballot voting system and tell them to vote during the primary elections.  If we can increase and register more Latino Republicans, have them contact SOMOS REPUBLICANS so that we can tell our new voters how to become a GOP leader within their states.  We change the face of the Party from within and restore our sole back to the Party of Abe Lincoln. As a Hispanic Republican….naturally I would prefer to see more Latino Republicans, but understand why they don’t.  Russell Pearce, Joe Arpaio, JD Hayworth, Tom Tancredo have done a superb job at destroying the image of my Party.

Those of you who are Democratic, same with you, grab a buddy or family members and register them to vote if they are not registered.  Several Latinos are registered as Democratic, so there should be more of you who should be Precinct Committeemen or Delegates.  Contact the DNC and tell them you want to hold a leadership within the Democratic Party and demand to find out why there aren’t more Latinos in this role.  The way I figure it, Democratic leaders WANT you to be asleep during the primary elections so that the far left liberals can leave you with a choice of voting for the most liberal person during the general election.  In fact, we are now witnessing a Democratic Senator in Arizona wanting to appear “tough on…immigration” now — her name is Kyrsten Sinema.

We cannot complain if we do not vote during the Primary Elections.  We will have a 2012 Hispanic Friendly voting guide that will make it easy for Latinos to vote based on our list.  The Hispanic voting guide will be based on Politicians who have supported our community.  Politicians who are up for re-election and who have supported anti-immigrant legislation will end up on our UN-friendly list.

Start preparing now.  Every free Latino open concert in Dallas, Ft Worth, San Antonio, Brownsville, Los Angeles, Miami-Dade, Tallahassee, Denver, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, New York, Des Moines, Phoenix, Tucson, Chicago, Salt Lake, and more should have a registration table at these events.  Get with your pastors and find out when their events are and coordinate a table set up to register more gente.

Are you angry and fed up enough?  Will you convert your anger into something productive and more influential?  Then get out the Hispanic vote.  Go to the Post Office, and register every single one of your family members in preparation of the upcoming 2012 elections, except THIS TIME VOTE IN THE PRIMARY ELECTIONS. Vote for politicians who are Hispanic-friendly, and then feel good about registering every eligible person in your family (we have large families) because you did something to counter the extremism we are all witnessing.

Yours,

DeeDee Garcia Blase

Founder/President of SOMOS REPUBLICANS