Apparently Reuters/Ipsos just released a poll in which the majority of Americans want undocumented Immigrants deported. It’s obvious that the Republican party has a lot of work to do in order to get the conservative crowd on board with Comprehensive Immigration Reform. I say the Republican party because another poll by Reuters/Ipsos reports that 75% of Republicans indicated that all or most undocumented Immigrants should be deported.

After years of misinformation Republicans and conservatives pundits have absolutely soured their constituents on Immigrants. In devaluing the undocumented worker with statements from border governor’s like Jan Brewer, Immigration Reform is going to be a hard sell. We watched John McCain’s town hall meeting last night at a 98% white community (CDP) in Arizona called Sun Lakes in which he was absolutely berated by attendees. Hey, when for years you’re hearing things like, “it’s an invasion, it’s absolutely invasion”, “It’s out of control, it’s simply out of control”, “there are decapitated bodies in our Arizona desert.” How do you think the uninformed white person is going to react? By the way those comments all came from Jan Brewer.

McCain, Flake, Rubio and the rest of the Republicans who either participated in the extremist rhetoric or stood by idly allowing the misinformation to be spread, have a gargantuan task at hand.

Unfortunately for those Republicans trying to sell the concept of CIR to your average Republican or Anglo, there are still many extremist Republican politicians like Tea Party favorite Rafael “Ted” Cruz (R) Texas making themselves prevalent in the conversation and calling any reform amnesty. Apparently Cruz never got the memo.

You reap what you sow. If the Republicans can’t pull this off, they will continue to become less and less relevant in the upcoming elections. It’s the demographics stupid! .

(Reuters) – More than half of U.S. citizens believe that most or all of the country’s 11 million illegal immigrants should be deported, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday that highlights the difficulties facing lawmakers trying to reform the U.S. immigration system.

The online survey shows resistance to easing immigration laws despite the biggest push for reform in Congress since 2007.

Thirty percent of those polled think that most illegal immigrants, with some exceptions, should be deported, while 23 percent believe all illegal immigrants should be deported.

Only 5 percent believe all illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the United States legally, and 31 percent want most illegal immigrants to stay.

ISSUE POLARIZES POLICYMAKERS

Attitudes toward immigration are polarized by party, according to another the Reuters/Ipsos poll. Seventy-five percent of Republicans think all or most immigrants should be deported, compared to 40 percent of Democrats who think the same.

Tea Party Protesters at Arizona State Capitol (picture by Carlos Galindo)

Carlos E. Galindo is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host & political analyst conducting radio shows in both English and Spanish on radio stations in Arizona. Mr. Galindo is a weekly contributor to KPFK 98.7 FM Los Angeles and W60 AM Radio, Los Angeles, San Diego and has appeared on CNN, Univision and Telemundo as a political analyst. Mr. Galindo is also an Op-Ed columnist on Prensa Hispana and the Tucson Citizen in Arizona. Carlos Galindo is President and founder of the Immigrant Advocacy Foundation, Inc.

http://www.carlosgalindo.com

Sometimes I wish I could take each and everyone of those who denigrates the undocumented Immigrant through an informative journey.

I would start off by having them spend some time in the native country of the undocumented worker. Not for purposes of subjecting them to the harsh conditions found in most of these countries that produce our low skilled labor force, but because I want them to truly understand the complexity of the issue, and it starts at the source, the birth country of the undocumented worker. It’s important to understand that in each of these countries, those who have left for a better life in America act like a calling card to those back home. Some of these Immigrant workers send money, others send larger items through transport firms that specialize in bringing packages to local towns. Some of the Immigrants, previously undocumented, have now through an adjustment of status become Permanent Residents, perhaps even U.S. Citizens. Each one of these scenarios creates a virtual invitation for those that stayed behind by somehow confirming the achievement of the American Dream. This, coupled with comments from the employers who hire the undocumented worker such as: “Jose, I wish I had two of you,” “do you have a friend or a relative that’s looking for work?” “Maria, you’re a sweetheart, my sister, my neighbor, my co-worker would like to have someone like you help them clean their house” serves as an enticement to take that leap across the border.

Equally, each one of those scenarios triggers an action from the undocumented worker and ultimately a reaction from the relative at home. It’s an invitation that’s tendered daily to those in foreign countries as they chat long distance using calling cards or international plans on their cell phones. The good news from the United States of pending employment solidifies a decision for that desperate foreigner who seeks to feed his family in his native country or just simply seeks to live a life like their hermano, primo or tio.

The journey that commences once that decision is made is a dangerous one that traverses the desert region between our neighbor to the South and the land of opportunity.

I have personally interviewed hundreds of Immigrants that have crossed that unforgiving desert. Many share horror stories of abuse at the hands of the human trafficker. In one interview the now U.S. Citizen Immigrant, entrepreneur, and job creator, shared with me that out of a group of thirteen, only six of them survived the treacherous desert. It’s simply heartbreaking to listen to the stories as they sob and break down, at times sharing a story they have never shared with anyone in such vivid detail.

I’ve also personally traversed the desert floor with the Desert Angels, a desert rescue and body recovery organization. As you follow the hidden paths the undocumented Immigrants take, you find shoes that have disintegrated, jeans that have been abandoned after making a desperate effort to strip away the clothes that serves to bake their bodies at extreme temperatures with a terrain that reaches temperatures as high as 160 degrees in the summer. Water bottles abandoned because the water gets so hot that it is undrinkable and simply causes the desert crosser to vomit the near boiling water. Any food consumed is canned or non-perishable, but even that food that would traditionally help give them strength, becomes a cumbersome burden as their strength diminishes hour by hour. Children’s strollers, baby clothes and toys are left behind, telling the story of a tender life at risk as Mom attempts to carry, not just her own weight, but that of that child that may be near death.

I don’t share this with you to invoke some hidden or suppressed compassion. I’m well aware that most of those who oppose illegal Immigration, or oppose the presence of millions of undocumented workers currently serving as our labor force don’t possess an ounce of compassion. I know many of you have been desensitized by political rhetoric and a constant barrage of misinformation and denigrating words like invaders, criminals, wetbacks, and leeches to name a few. I share the Immigrants journey because it’s an important component in the dialog we engage in daily when we converse about what to do with those millions of Immigrants that have been here 10, 15 or 20 years hiding in the shadows.

Every employer that hires an undocumented worker is responsible for the wave of Immigrants who arrive in the U.S. seeking employment. Most pro-Immigrant activists don’t want to touch the employer sanction issue. It’s a double edged sword. They feel as if they would lose credibility if they somehow address the workplace of the undocumented Immigrants. That somehow they’ll be responsible for collateral damage that may result from advocating for enforcement of an aggressive employer sanction law that will penalize the employer and not just the employee utilizing a false identity.

I differ from these activists. As a pro-Immigrant activist and radio talk show host that not only advocates for Immigrants on a daily basis, but converses with them daily, I insist that the problem has always been with the employer. An employer who is willing to hire undocumented workers at an extremely low wage, work them long hours, brag about the productivity or efficiency of his company, yet donates faithfully to the reelection campaign of those same politicians that are creating omnibus anti-Immigrant legislation that of course omits any meaningful employer sanctions. It’s a hypocritical system that utilizes a double standard.

If we pursued the employer aggressively with an employer sanction law that would not just criminalize the employee as it currently does here in Arizona, but focus the criminality on the employer, we would resolve the “illegal immigration” issue. With a criminal focus on the employer, that company or individual that seeks to profit from cheap labor would immediately scream bloody murder, and at the same time they would scream for Immigration Reform, and they would most certainly insist on having at their disposal a system in which they could hire the workers they needed from a foreign country, while having the ability to adjust the employees status to permanent residency based on the longevity of the employment and the value factor to the employer. The practice of talking out of both sides of their mouth in hiring undocumented workers yet funding anti-Immigrant legislators would drastically change to yelling out of both sides of their mouth, screaming out of pain from the stiff criminal penalties imposed from an aggressive employer sanction law while screaming out of the other side of their mouth for immediate relief in the form of Comprehensive Immigration Reform that would meet their needs and the needs of a modern day United States extremely dependent on Immigrant labor.

The private prison industry long ago understood that they could utilize the hypocrisy and the double standard utilized by the anti-Immigrant lobby and the employers. They saw this as as a perfect business model. Utilizing the hatred for undocumented Immigrants, politicians that represent the anti-Immigrant constituency and powerful and eager investors like ex Vice President Dick Cheney, wall street moguls, and financial institutions, the private prison industry successfully cashed in on the anti-Immigrant hype. The private prison industry successfully met behind closed doors with anti-immigrant legislators and were instrumental in creating and nurturing anti-Immigrant laws that serve as a net to capture those undocumented Immigrants so badly needed to occupy the vacant beds at the private prison facilities that ultimately generate billions of dollar.

Make no mistake, there’s a virtual sign on the border that states, “wanted, for employment, undocumented Immigrants.” Further inland, there’s another virtual sign that states, “wanted, for deportation, undocumented Immigrants, no experience preferred.”

I’m in no way advocating for an open border. That’s a common mistake made by most pro-Immigrant advocates. I understand that we’re a sovereign nation, and as such, we must have borders. I also understand that the border issue has been utilized as a tool by both sides of this issue.

Americans need a better understanding of this complex issue that contains some very basic and glaring necessities. We need an expansion of our visa program to meet our work force needs. We need to issue a much greater amount of visas to the country that we most draw upon for our low skilled labor force. That, would clearly be our neighbor to the south, Mexico. We need to address our options when it comes to those that are currently here already serving as our undocumented work force, we need to provide relief for those children that were brought here at a very young age and that have now been woven into the fabric of our country, and, we need to quit moving the fence post when it comes to border security. That decision should not be made based on the whims of a politician that either represents racist, xenophobe or white supremacist constituents, nor should it be a politician who is influenced by private prison lobbyists. We need a bipartisan commission that will submit a reasonable plan based on all the above. We can’t bank on opportunist Latino politicians like Senator Marco Rubio (R) Florida who doesn’t truly understand the complexity of the Immigration issue, nor can we heed advice from “pro-Immigrant” opportunist politicians like Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D) Illinois who seeks an omnibus reform bill that would incorporate the undocumented Immigrant that arrived yesterday.

Archaic laws that remain on the books simply serve to destroy any advances that this country has achieved or serve to maliciously prosecute those “violators” who break these laws while actually serving the basic needs of this country, e.g. current Immigration laws and those who serve as our labor force.

The time has come, we cannot put Comprehensive Immigration Reform on the back burner. We have to be realistic about this country’s needs and we have to somehow deal with those millions currently living in the shadows. After all we invited them in.

Undocumented Immigrant Holding The American Flag

Carlos E. Galindo is a radio talk show host & political analyst conducting radio shows in both English and Spanish on four radio stations in Arizona. Mr. Galindo is a weekly contributor to KPFK 98.7 FM Los Angeles and has appeared on CNN, Univision and Telemundo as a political analyst. Mr. Galindo is also an Op-Ed columnist on Prensa Hispana Arizona. Carlos Galindo is a founding member and President of the Immigrant Advocacy Foundation, Inc.

http://www.carlosgalindo.com

Why do media outlets label Republican Latinos as key players in the Immigration reform dialogue? I am sick of seeing the likes of Marco Rubio (R) Florida and Raul Labrador (R) Idaho advanced as somehow representative of Latinos throughout the United States.

Not only are Rubio and Labrador not representative of the Latinos in the U.S., they certainly are not representative of the Immigrants in America. Rubio with Cuban roots and Labrador born in Puerto Rico have no idea what it’s like to suffer in the United States. I would best be represented by a white man with a good grasp on the complexity of Latino issues than two politicians that have been placed at the forefront of this Immigration debate because of their affiliation to communities that have been labeled by some as being Hispanic or Latino, such as the Cuban and Puerto Rican communities have been. Rubio and Labrador represent and understand the necessities of today’s Immigrants about as much as Black politicians understand the needs and the plight of the current Haitian or African Immigrant. Just because the pigment of their skin is identical, that doesn’t mean the modern day black politician can remember or relate to what their ancestors felt when they were brought here as Immigrant slaves in the seventeenth century.

Rubio and Labrador are so far removed from the day to day struggle of the modern Immigrant and Latino, that they couldn’t possibly understand the needs or the intricacies involved with today’s Immigrant community. That detachment and their insistence on utilizing code words floated by Republican politicians and pundits creates a credibility problem for Rubio and Labrador. Your average Latino, and most definitely today’s Immigrant doesn’t recognize Rubio or Labrador as politicians looking to serve the best interest of the Latino community.

As an Immigrant from Mexico and as an active member of the Immigrant community in Arizona, I find it truly offensive every time I see a news story referencing either of these two politicians as key players. Why does the Republican party feel a need to pick someone who at best shares the same pigmentation I do to take the lead on an issue that affects my community?

Here’s where we can separate Rubio and Labrador and define them by lack of knowledge and extreme hypocrisy. Rubio is riding the political wave, and after years of trying to blend in to Anglo communities and political mixers with a name like “Marco Rubio”, he’s willing to be labeled the key Latino of the Republican party. It’s all about political opportunism and advancement for Rubio, who I’m sure aspires to be the first Latino POTUS. Rubio’s willing to take one for the team as long as he is accepted as “one of them” in the Republican party.

As for Labrador, we can go one further. Labrador is a blatant hypocrite. After working for years as an Immigration attorney representing clients who yearn to adjust their legal status in the United States, Labrador pleads ignorance when it comes to understanding the Immigration process. What else can I deduce when Labrador utilizes rhetoric like “get at the back of the line” and his comments during the 2012 campaign in which Labrador indicated that the Republican party needed to be an inclusive party, a “party of legal immigration.”

On his congressional page he states his position in this manner:

In order for us to have real immigration reform, our top priority needs to be to first secure our nation’s borders and start enforcing the immigration laws already enacted. To do so we must give our law enforcement officials the resources they need to enforce the laws on the books and secure our borders. I also believe that undocumented immigrants must return to their country of origin and then reapply to legally come to the United States. Finally, I believe that we need a guest worker program that actually works because guest workers play an important role in the American economy and more specifically in the state of Idaho. This guest worker program will not include a pathway to citizenship or amnesty.

Why is Labrador’s hard stance on Immigration hypocritical you might ask? Well, primarily because as an Immigration attorney for 15 years, Labrador claims to have had undocumented workers as clients. One has to assume that if in fact these workers were undocumented, they either stole someone’s identity, invented a social security number or borrowed a friend or relatives identity. In any event that would mean that Labrador was assisting people he knew to be in the country unlawfully in requesting a pardon (amnesty in Republican rhetoric) from a Federal Immigration Judge. I can’t think of a more hypocritical situation, one in which you claim to want legal Immigration, yet you are part and parcel to filing paperwork for undocumented workers to request a pardon for what many call criminal behavior. Can we assume then that Labrador feels that undocumented workers that can afford to pay an attorney like him are exempt from prosecution and do not in fact have to get at the “back of the line”, wherever that may be?

Fact: The Republican party is replete with hypocrites, and Rubio and Labrador are simply part of that same system. The difference is, the rest of the party is comprised primarily of old white men that don’t hide their disdain for Immigrants, legal or otherwise, Rubio and Labrador on the other hand lend themselves to being the brown skinned snake oil salesmen for the GOP.

If I haven’t made it clear enough yet, as an Immigrant, a Latino, a U.S. Citizen, and current President of the Immigrant Advocacy Foundation, Inc., I will repeat it, Marco Rubio and Raul Labrador do not represent us.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on Rafael “Ted” Cruz (R) Texas. That’s a blog in itself.

Carlos E. Galindo is a radio talk show host & political analyst conducting radio shows in both English and Spanish on four radio stations in Arizona. Mr. Galindo is a weekly contributor to KPFK 98.7 FM Los Angeles and has appeared on CNN, Univision and Telemundo as a political analyst. Mr. Galindo is also an Op-Ed columnist on Prensa Hispana Arizona. Carlos Galindo is a founding member and President of the Immigrant Advocacy Foundation, Inc.

http://www.carlosgalindo.com

I came across this link in my daily web travels. Your average Rethuglican or Tea Bagger will deny to the death that these comments are racist. Their racism is overt and unchecked, and the eventual casualties are those murdered in cold blood because their lives have been devalued based on their skin color, nationality or ethnic origin.

Here are some examples of the aforementioned. Juan Varela a Phoenix man of Mexican descent and fifth generation American, killed in cold blood by a racist that said “go back to Mexico wetback” before extinguishing his life in front of his brother and mother.

Brisenia Flores a nine year child from Arivaca Arizona shot twice in the face by racist minutemen as she plead for her life and said “please don’t kill me” after she had witnessed the cold blooded murder of her U.S. Citizen father of Mexican descent and the shooting of her U.S. Citizen Mother Gina, also of Mexican descent.

Luis Ramirez in Shenandoah Pennsylvania that was beat to death in a park by white Racist youth for being with his longtime white girlfriend and their child. A crime that invoked the following description of the perpetrators by Justice Department prosecutor Myesha Braden “They may not have intended to kill Ramirez, but thought him somehow worthy of being beaten like a dog in the streets.”

Let me be clear if I haven’t already been in my description of just a handful of incidents, these types of comments carry consequences and create casualties.

Are you still denying it’s racist?

Carlos E. Galindo is a radio talk show host & political analyst conducting radio shows in both English and Spanish on four radio stations in Arizona. Mr. Galindo is a weekly contributor to KPFK 98.7 FM Los Angeles and W60 AM Radio, Los Angeles, San Diego and has appeared on CNN, Univision and Telemundo as a political analyst. Mr. Galindo is also an Op-Ed columnist on Prensa Hispana and the Tucson Citizen in Arizona. Carlos Galindo is President and founder of the Immigrant Advocacy Foundation, Inc.

http://www.carlosgalindo.com

When I saw a tweet come through indicating that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio would be speaking at the Republican convention I just shook my head. This comes on the heels of Missouri’s Republican Representative Todd Akins’ offensive comments about “legitimate rape.”

What would possess you to invite Sheriff Joe to speak at the Republican convention? Especially knowing he’s currently a lightning rod for civil rights lawsuits and fed intervention. Keep in mind that there are serious allegations of racial profiling against Arpaio and MCSO. Is this how the GOP attracts minorities to the party?

So what kind of message is the Republican party trying to send? Are they banking on voters having so much pent up anger and hatred for President Obama that they can openly attack minorities, women, children, the elderly, the poor, even the middle class. They’ve bet it all on a platform of fear and racism. They have actually convinced many blue collar workers to go against what’s best for them. They use code words and phrases like “the welfare president”, “socialist”, “European style governing”, “the Kenyan”, and the most common phrase, “I want my America back.”

As the rhetoric ramps up and only a week away from the Republican convention and 78 days from the 2012 elections, one can only wonder what it is that Republicans expect they will accomplish by ramping up the attack on the middle class and women.

The list of speakers for the Republican convention to be held in Tampa Florida is replete with Republicans who have led the attack against the American public. Chris Christie the New Jersey Governor insults voters and Republicans cheer, he calls reporters idiots and describes them as stupid and it instantly becomes fodder for the conservatives, Pam Bondi the Florida Attorney General is hell bent on voter suppression and has been working diligently with another speaker Florida Governor Rick Scott to maintain a secret voter purge list, ex Florida Governor Jeb Bush famous for having supervised the theft of an election in 2000, Rafael Cruz the Cuban-American Tea Party backed extremist who thinks George Soros has a secret agenda to rid us of golf courses, you might know him by “Ted” Cruz, Arthur Genestre Davis, the African American ex “Democratic” congressman from Alabama and former Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Governor in the 2010 elections who has sold out to the republican party and changed party affiliation, yet another token for the party of white old men, Mary Fallin Governor of Oklahoma who led the attack against the poor and while running for Governor said “I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been offered a job by a poor person”, Puerto Rico’s governor Luis Fortuño who in 2008 stumped for John McCain and did a bang up job of trashing candidate Obama to the Latino community, stating, “Obama needs to go away for 10-15 years and then come back and try for the presidency”, Nimrata Randhawa Haley, many of you know her as Nikki Haley the Governor of South Carolina, daughter of Sikh immigrants and well known for her offensive SB20 immigration bill that has an actual police force that can easily be compared to the gestapo, designed to hunt down undocumented immigrants while wearing special uniforms and special emblems on their cars, Mike Huckabee the former governor of Arkansas and radio talk show host who today allowed Todd Akin on his show to grovel and beg forgiveness for his offensive comments about women and rape, Huckabee is well known for his offensive comments as well, John Kasich the Governor of Ohio who has most recently been a surrogate for Romney and who during a speech before some Republicans in 2009 talked about the need to “break the back of organized labor in the schools”, Susana Martinez the sitting Governor of New Mexico who is as anti-Immigrant as they come and who ran on a platform of taking away the drivers licenses of undocumented Immigrants in her state. Martinez also complained about the U.S. born children of undocumented Immigrants and later admitted that her Grandfather entered the U.S. illegally, Rand Paul the Senator from Kentucky who unequivocally stated that he was not in agreement with certain provisions within the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The list continues to grow! One thing you can be assured of, whomever is added to the list will excite the Republican base. The Republicans have hand selected these speakers to represent the equivalence to a bowl of granola, “fruits, nuts & flakes.”

This is your modern day Republican party folks. A hybrid between, a racist, xenophobe, nativist, nationalist and gun toting, woman hating, immigrant detesting, wealthy loving, hypocritically fiscal conservative U.S. born Anglo, sprinkled in with a few colored folk to deter any notion of what they stand for.

Every time I see a Republican I’m reminded of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote. As soon as they start with their rhetoric, I say, “please, no need to open your mouth,” “who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying.”

The Republican Convention Platform

Carlos E. Galindo is a radio talk show host & political analyst conducting radio shows in both English and Spanish on four radio stations in Arizona. Mr. Galindo is a weekly contributor to KPFK 98.7 FM Los Angeles and W60 AM Radio, Los Angeles, San Diego and has appeared on CNN, Univision and Telemundo as a political analyst. Mr. Galindo is also an Op-Ed columnist on Prensa Hispana and the Tucson Citizen in Arizona. Carlos Galindo is President and founder of the Immigrant Advocacy Foundation, Inc.

http://www.carlosgalindo.com

.

It was in a bus like this that I was driven in to an all-white school after being plucked out of my normal school. I don’t know if my Mother received a letter from the district or not. She spoke little English and worked long hours cleaning houses for the wealthy ranchers. I remember being scared. There were only a handful of us being driven to another city approximately 10 miles away. All we were told was, “you kids are going to another school.” I had no idea what desegregation was or what its implications would be on my life. As we arrived I saw a sea of white faces. They were young like me, I didn’t immediately fear them, but the parents who were dropping them off looked at me as if I was different. They were angry, they mumbled under their breath and other parents spoke to each other in hushed tones as they pointed at us.

As we were led into the principal’s office we were met by a short statured man with a balding head and glasses. He frowned as he looked us over, I don’t remember his exact words to be honest with you. I do remember his look of disapproval. We didn’t know it at the time, but we were everything they detested. They had tried so hard to maintain an all-white school, an environment that was what they considered healthy and would permit the white children in the school to go through life without being tainted by these children of color. Their contact with people like me was traditionally limited to seeing me at the store or the public library where we sat in a different section. Nobody told me I had to sit there. It was just the way things were done. I also remember having contact with these white children when my Mother cleaned their houses. Sometimes she would bring me along to throw the trash out and help pick up the kids toys. They spoke very little to me other than to show me their latest toys, and then they would then run off to play while I returned to helping mom with her duties as a housekeeper.

The classroom environment was horrendous. We could never quite reach the same grades as my classmates. No matter how much my sister, who by then had entered Stanford University on a scholarship told me that my letter formation was perfect and that my school work was excellent, the teacher just didn’t seem to see me on the same level as the other students. I remember it as if it was yesterday. I was nine years old and wore glasses. I requested the most coveted position in the school. I wanted to do a week stint as a crossing guard. When my turn came around, I was passed over. I didn’t understand it. It was beyond reason. I had done everything I was supposed to do. The teacher couldn’t explain it to me either.

One day as I was sitting in class, a young white boy turned to talk to me; he wanted answers for the test we were taking. I refused to talk to him, I ignored him, and he made such a raucous that the teacher singled me out and said that I had been talking and asked me to turn my desk facing the back of the room. We minorities already occupied the back row of the classroom. I was kept that way for months.

On a spring break from Stanford my sister visited our home and she asked me how things were going at school. I shared my dilemma with her. I had to twist my body half way around during the entire day to look at the chalk board as the teacher taught. She asked me how long I had been that way. I told her it had been since the beginning of the school year. She was furious. She turned to my mother and said “tomorrow we are going to the school to set this thing straight.” I could hardly sleep that night. I didn’t know what would happen, what type of retribution I would receive for having been a whistle blower.

If you recall back then, they didn’t have the intercom system in elementary schools and the principal would walk the parents to the classroom. When my sister and my mother arrived and told the principal what had been going on, he tried to deny them access to the classroom to see me. My sister by now had been exposed to a different environment at Stanford and was keenly aware of civil rights and was as you could probably imagine quite an intelligent young woman. She demanded they be taken to my classroom. Upon entering the classroom they observed my desk as it had been for months, facing away from the front of the classroom. The principal promptly announced to the teacher that the folks with him were Carlos’ mother and sister. The teacher, I remember her name to this day, Mrs. Cecil, said, “Carlos, honey, for Gods’ sake turn your desk around, you can’t see what’s going on that way.” Those words are like indelible ink tattooed in my memory. I was allowed to go home early that day, or perhaps it was my sister and my mother that insisted I go with them after observing the abuse.

Recess wasn’t any better. I don’t blame the kids for calling me filthy names like “dirty Mexican”, “wetback”, “beaner”, or for making fun of the way I was dressed with clothes from the second hand store or hand me down worn out tennis shoes that the ranchers would give my mother after their kids were done with them or had outgrown them. The name calling and the hatred was simply learned behavior. This is what they heard over dinner from mom and dad or when friends came over. The system itself facilitated the demeaning and degrading of minorities. It had been that way for hundreds of years.

This nightmare scenario was repeated when I was bussed to another all white school in another part of the city when I was eleven years old. I suppose they figured I was a seasoned “desegregator”, if you’ll permit me to take the liberty to invent a new word. As part of the front line of desegregation I suppose it’s apropos to create a word that long ago should have been created to describe these brown and black children that were tossed into a sea of white children and forced to weather the racial elements.

I wonder how many of my “bussed” classmates have ever taken the time to write down just a few of their thoughts regarding their experiences as part of the tip of desegregation. I wonder what has become of these brown children who were subjected to such harsh treatment by their peers and educators. Have they withheld it as something too painful to bring up, have they ever shared it with their children, or were they too ashamed to talk about it?

For those of you who have ever wondered what it is that drives me to defend the rights of the underprivileged, I hope this gives you an insight as to just a small portion of the pain and suffering I endured as a Mexican Immigrant living in the United States, and somewhat explains my motivation in seeking justice for the oppressed.

I love this country. I certainly don’t blame all whites for what some have done to me, and for what some continue to do to me, even 43 years after my desegregation experiences.

The Desegregation Bus

Carlos E. Galindo is a radio talk show host & political analyst conducting radio shows in both English and Spanish on four radio stations in Arizona. Mr. Galindo is a weekly contributor to KPFK 98.7 FM Los Angeles and W60 AM Radio, Los Angeles, San Diego and has appeared on CNN, Univision and Telemundo as a political analyst. Mr. Galindo is also an Op-Ed columnist on Prensa Hispana and the Tucson Citizen in Arizona. Carlos Galindo is President and founder of the Immigrant Advocacy Foundation, Inc.

http://www.carlosgalindo.com

It is our people (I say that as an Immigrant that has worked the agricultural fields of this country), that work these jobs that require great risk for low pay. It’s the work displayed in this video that allows golf course members to enjoy the beauty of the grounds that surround them as they seek to place that little ball in that hole in the ground while they down their beers and sip their wine oblivious to the work that was done by an army of immigrants at the break of dawn.

Yet, many in the U.S. continue hell bent on removing us, or eradicating us, as you would a cockroach that has infested your cupboards. Yet, it’s us, the immigrant labor, that fills those cupboards with our backbreaking work as white employers hire us conscious of our lack of legal status.

Frankly, we are the bottom card in a house of cards, as you attempt to remove us, the house of cards will fall. We are the infrastructure of these, the United States. It’s amazing to watch the racist, xenophobe, white supremacist, or the so called conservative, attempt to remove us, completely oblivious to the fact that they are harming themselves in the process. All based on their ignorance, hatred and hypocrisy.

This country was built on immigrants, no one has defined it as “legal” immigrants. The reason that it’s never quite been defined as legal immigrants, is because we’ve never worried about checking the legal status of the immigrant, as long as they are willing to work in our fields, clean our toilets, empty our septic tanks, mow our lawns, cook our food and wipe our kids butts.

Carlos E. Galindo is a radio talk show host & political analyst conducting radio shows in both English and Spanish on four radio stations in Arizona. Mr. Galindo is a weekly contributor to KPFK 98.7 FM Los Angeles and W60 AM Radio, Los Angeles, San Diego and has appeared on CNN, Univision and Telemundo as a political analyst. Mr. Galindo is also an Op-Ed columnist on Prensa Hispana and the Tucson Citizen in Arizona. Carlos Galindo is President and founder of the Immigrant Advocacy Foundation, Inc.

http://www.carlosgalindo.com

I suppose I have to be really careful right about now. This is a very delicate subject. I don’t want to appear to be using the race card, but, that’s exactly what happened with Priebus’ replacement of Steele in 2011 as RNC chair.

I considered addressing this matter back in 2011 when Michael Steele the former Republican Committee Chair was kicked to the curb by the white, elite, Republican puppet masters during a reelection process for RNC chair. However, given Priebus’ recent rants, and Steele’s continued high profile, I figured it’s still very relevant to the conversation, especially during a hotly contested presidential race.

The Republican strategy was obvious, when in January of 2009, Steele, the first African American chair of the RNC was selected as the token, I mean, the first black to head the mostly white party of obstructionists.

Barack Hussein Obama, the first African American president elected to the presidency of this country swore oath in in the same month that Steele took his position as RNC chair. The Republicans were livid after seeing their old warhorse and the Wasilla Hillbilly defeated in the 2008 election. They figured, if the Democrats can get a black man elected to run this country, by golly we’ll elect a black man to run our party. Well, kinda sorta. They were well aware that Steele was comfortable with playing second fiddle as demonstrated by his position as the first African American Lt. Governor of Maryland. He knew well how to get along with the majority white, he was polished, the talking points were spot on, hell, the only thing that hindered him was his color, but that was an asset for the Republicans in 2009, especially given the fact that they had to somehow counter Obama with someone of his own race that wouldn’t appear to be racist as he pushed the Republican talking points that often border on bigotry, racism and white privilege.

Steele actually did an amazing job for the RNC. This tidbit spells out his accomplishments while RNC chair.

Under Michael Steele’s leadership the RNC broke fundraising records in the 2009-2010 cycle by raising over $192 million; and, for the first time in U.S. history, a party that suffered losses in consecutive elections as catastrophic as Republicans did in 2006 and 2008 rebounded to win a majority in the U.S. House or Senate in the next election. Republicans won 63 House seats, the biggest pickup since 1938, and the largest gain en route to winning a majority since the 1800s. For good measure, Republicans won the greatest share of state legislative seats since 1928.

Not only did Steele do a great job as chair, he far exceeded their expectations. The RNC also failed to recognize that Steel was an effective Pitt bull raging against the Democratic Party and the newly elected president. Not only was Steele a great puppet, a great financial producer, he was great at ad lib. You would have thought that after having accomplished as much as he did, not just the unbelievable fundraising which is extremely important, after all, money is what makes politicians dance, right? But perhaps more important, was the seizing of the house in 2010 and the removal of the Republican’s arch-nemesis Nancy Pelosi.

You would have though that this guy was a shoe in for reelection as RNC party chair. However, by 2011, the Tea Party had all but hijacked the GOP. We’ve all known that the Tea Party is a primarily white movement meant to “return America to what it once was.” We all heard the shouts of “I want my America back.” It was clear that the puppet masters within the Republican party heard that call loud and clear, and besides, they were done trying to be politically correct or counter the black President with a black Chairman.

By now the conversation in America had gotten to the point where you could openly make racist statements and comments on cable news shows, and it was considered just being brazen, bold, and outspoken. If anyone dared call them racists or bigots, they would flip the conversation and point out, that if you brought up race, you must be the racist.

So the selection was obvious, a hand picked and polished white puppet from Wisconsin, With a cheesy name to boot, Reince Priebus. Priebus campaigned on change and a return to what was before Steele.

He said:

“I’m not running for Chairman because I think I’m better than anyone or because I think I have all the answers. I’m running for chairman for only one reason: I believe our country is in a time of great peril and we have to do something about it.”To turn around the RNC, Priebus said, “I will keep expenses low. I will put in strong and serious controls. We will raise the necessary funds to make sure we are successful. We will work to regain the confidence of our donor base and I will personally call our major donors to ask them to rejoin our efforts at the RNC.”

I think the “I will personally call our major donors to ask them to rejoin our efforts at the RNC”, meant, I will work closely with the Koch brothers to ensure we keep the bucks rolling in.

Priebus went on to say:

He believed the RNC is “part of” the Tea Party movement; he believed it is the Republican Party’s mission to “save our country, to save our party and to take back the White House”

That’s all she wrote! Priebus was in as RNC party chair. It was easy as that. You kick the black man to the curb, throw him under the political bus and you move on with the mission of returning America to the days of yesteryear.

Priebus has turned out to be a perfect fit for the Republican party. He’s aggressive, makes inappropriate statements, doesn’t give a damn about being racially insensitive or politically correct. He’s certainly on the warpath. His latest rant according to the National Journal is as follows:

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus attacked President Obama on Sunday, citing issues from negative campaigning to last week’s lukewarm jobs report.

“This president can’t fulfill a promise,” he said, rebutting Democrats who defended Obama’s performance on Fox News Sunday. “They live in Fantasy Land. We are going to put this dream of theirs to an end.”

Priebus called Obama “the most divisive, nasty, negative campaigner this country has ever seen,” but added that voters will likely be focused on Obama’s handling of the economy and jobs growth.

“I don’t think people are begging for another four years of this misery … with a president who acts like he’s not living on Earth,” he said.

I believe Reince Priebus is exactly what the RNC was looking for, he carries all the right qualities needed to run the Republican agenda, more importantly, he is white, and that, to the RNC contributors and the Republicans in general is one of the most important factors. Now they can get to work on electing a white president.

The great white hope!

Carlos E. Galindo is a radio talk show host & political analyst conducting radio shows in both English and Spanish on four radio stations in Arizona. Mr. Galindo is a weekly contributor to KPFK 98.7 FM Los Angeles and W60 AM Radio, Los Angeles, San Diego and has appeared on CNN, Univision and Telemundo as a political analyst. Mr. Galindo is also an Op-Ed columnist on Prensa Hispana and the Tucson Citizen in Arizona. Carlos Galindo is President and founder of the Immigrant Advocacy Foundation, Inc.

http://www.carlosgalindo.com

Martin Bashir got the ball rolling on Romney’s offshore bank accounts the other day. I thought to myself, why aren’t more people talking about these accounts? Liberals should be outraged, and conservatives should be equally disgusted. It’s absolutely not acceptable for an American politician to keep money banked elsewhere. It’s down right insulting!

The conservatives and the anti-Immigrant crowd, well, for the sake of argument, let’s call them the pro “legal immigration” crowd, should be equally outraged. They complain about the “illegals” coming here to work and then shipping their money out of the country to Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador etc. Yet, they are completely silent when it comes to Romney’s offshore bank accounts. If that isn’t the height of hypocrisy, I don’t know what is.

Can you imagine knowing that your president has his money in a foreign country because he doesn’t have faith in his own country. Well, some would argue that it’s because he wants to pay less taxes on his money, less penalties, and not have to divulge his true worth to the American public.

But let’s use the conservative argument, why don’t we? It’s simply un-American! Continuing with the conservative talking points: He must hate this country. He would rather put his money in a country that will provide him anonymity and a tax shelter, than keep it here in our good old American banks. Can this guy be trusted? After all, he must have learned quite a bit about gaming the system from those socialist Europeans in France when he did his two and a half year mission for the Mormon church as he avoided his duty to this country by dodging the draft using his religion as an excuse to avoid serving in our armed forces. Keep in mind that Romney was 21 years old! These are the years in which you are the most influenced, and those years in which your life is shaped forever, and he spent them in Europe.

Looking at a small excerpt from Time Magazine written by Vivienne Walt, we get a perspective of what Romney was to become.

Romney was left in charge of the mission, relocating from the small Bordeaux town where he was stationed to the Mormon residence in Paris’ wealthy 16th district, a large house with chandeliers, servants and an art collection.

Continuing with the conservative argument: So we have here a politician who was at first a chicken Hawk, then became trained as a socialist in a European country in the lap of luxury, who later returned to the U.S. to educate himself at the best schools, to use that education to get his foot in the wall street door, to train and ultimately become one of the best corporate raiders this country has seen, in order to profit hugely, and send those profits to offshore accounts to game our tax system, and, because he doesn’t have faith in our American banks.

So, once again, I ask, where is the conservative outrage? This guy represents everything a conservative despises, right down to a socialist style health care, the “Bay State Health Care Act”, aka Romneycare that he created as governor of Massachusetts.

The problem with conservatives is glaringly obvious. They are not about what’s best for this country, they are about whatever opposes the other party. That’s evident by their desire to elect as President, the son of a Mexican, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, who avoided fighting for this country, and who is now gaming our tax system with offshore accounts.

I have just one more question for these hypocrites that call themselves conservatives and members of the Grand Old Party, at what point did you abandon your ideals, principles, and values to support a European molded, Chicken Hawk elite who was in fact the harbinger for Obamacare?

Monsieur Romney

Carlos E. Galindo is a radio talk show host & political analyst conducting radio shows in both English and Spanish on four radio stations in Arizona. Mr. Galindo is a weekly contributor to KPFK 98.7 FM Los Angeles and W60 AM Radio, Los Angeles, San Diego and has appeared on CNN, Univision and Telemundo as a political analyst. Mr. Galindo is also an Op-Ed columnist on Prensa Hispana and the Tucson Citizen in Arizona. Carlos Galindo is President and founder of the Immigrant Advocacy Foundation, Inc.

http://www.carlosgalindo.com

I just want to point out that Barack Obama’s executive order regarding the Dreamers was the most politically astute move I have seen to date. President Obama not only did what many wanted, he was politically astute in doing so. I don’t think anyone would argue that it was done for political reasons, although I must also add that he had from the very beginning said he supported the Dream Act, which would also lend itself to the idea that he did it because it was the right thing to do.

However, here enters the astuteness of the move, he not only forced the Republican’s hand on the immigration issue, he has Romney talking “long term solution” for the Dreamers. This, after Romney said he would veto the Dream Act if he were the sitting President.

The Republicans have been trying to find a way to spin this as a negative, but they won’t dare say they would repeal the order recently granted by President Obama, they know that to say so, would surely be the defeat of Romney and would leave them scarred for a decade to come.

So, the Dreamers got what they and what many of us wanted, a relief for youngsters brought here at a very young age who have kept their nose clean and have managed to weave themselves into the fabric of this great country. Meanwhile the President got the dialog on the table in a bold move to give relief to Immigrant children and with a very promising future for their parents.

This President and his advisors are consummate professionals and astute politicians. It doesn’t hurt that President Obama is a Harvard graduate and that he grew up poor and as a commoner. This allows him to feel what we feel and relate to things as we relate to them.

Carlos E. Galindo is a radio talk show host & political analyst conducting radio shows in both English and Spanish on four radio stations in Arizona. Mr. Galindo is a weekly contributor to KPFK 98.7 FM Los Angeles and has appeared on CNN, Univision and Telemundo as a political analyst. Mr. Galindo is also an Op-Ed columnist on Prensa Hispana Arizona. Carlos Galindo is a founding member and President of the Immigrant Advocacy Foundation, Inc.

http://www.carlosgalindo.com