Globalization

I want to share an interesting Gallup poll released today that helps shine some light on political tensions in Peru. Throughout the country, the people polled identified themselves as more socialist than capitalist in their personal beliefs (49%), while only 16% identified themselves as more capitalist in their beliefs. However, 45% of Peruvians believe their country is more capitalist than socialist. It's telling that only in the South of Peru did a majority of those polled identify themselves as socialist (57%) - this raises the question of whether there is a disconnect between the more rural South and the rest of the country's market economy. Click here for Gallup's analysis.

As mentioned in NDN's report, Hispanics Rising 2, the growth of Spanish-speaking media is on the rise. In an article this week, the Associated Press reports: Spanish-speaking news casts are eclipsing their English-language competitors in major media markets all over the country: in New York, within the past few months, WXTV's 6 p.m. newscast has eclipsed its English-speaking competitors on ABC, CBS, and NBC stations in popularity among viewers younger than 49. This reflects a trend mentioned in NDN's report: among 25-54 year-olds, the September 9, 2007 Presidential debate on Univision had the largest viewership of any debate - with 1,166,000 viewers. Case and point of the growing influence of the Hispanic viewership: the Nevada State Democratic Party just named Emilia Pablo , reporter and producer for two years at Univision and one of the most recognized faces in the Las Vegas Valley, as its new spokeswoman.

In Los Angeles, KMEX had more viewers in June for its newscast than any of its English competitors, regardless of age, according to Nielsen Media Research.

"It talks about how the United States is changing," said Ray Rodriguez, president and chief operating officer of Univision Communications, Inc. "It's a bigger story than just television." One startling change has been the TV-watching habits of Hispanic viewers. In 1995, most Hispanic viewers in New York primarily watched English-language television (62 percent) over Spanish-language stations (38 percent), according to Nielsen Media Research. Last year, viewers favored the Spanish stations 71 to 29 percent.

This trend might alarm those who believe that it's because these new residents and citizens are not assimilating into the United States, but Univision executives have analyzed the viewership and explain: the majority of their viewers are bilingual. As Maelia Macin, Station Manager for KMEX in California explains, "The choice is made more for content than language."

Spanish-language news more aggressively cultivates the relationship with the largest growing demographic in the country by trying to be a resource for them in all areas of life: everything from participating in local community events, to running voter mobilization campaigns, health symposiums, etc. General news is not excluded, it's just packaged differently - in addition to covering the National Football or Baseball League, Spanish-language media also covers major soccer games in Latin America - when rivals were preoccupied with Christy Brinkley's divorce and the capture of a Brooklyn murder suspect, New York's WXTV led its local news with a story about graffiti saying "Get out of the USA " painted near a Peruvian restaurant on Long Island. The Spanish-speaking Univision affiliate figured it was a more meaningful story for its audience, and those kinds of choices are paying off.

As Simon has commented, U.S. Sen. John McCain's ads exceedingly reflect a new Rovian approach to this election, and he's not limiting himself to attacking in one language...this latest ad in Spanish, called "The World According to Barack Obama" intends to promote the notion among Hispanic voters that according to Barack Obama, Latin American countries somehow "don't count" in the world because he didn't discuss Latin America during his trip to EUROPE ("but entire nations were forgotten.."), by asking voters: "and where is Latin America?", "and what about Latinos?", "Did he forget about us?" The ad is flawed in that Barack Obama's trip through Europe, and his speech in Berlin, was intended to discuss issues related to joint U.S. and EU policy.  As Jake and I were discussing, there's this thing called the Monroe Doctrine that would make it unseemingly to say the least for the U.S. to invite European nations to strategize over Latin American policy. But since when have Rovian tactics had any regard for honesty and accuracy?  

This past Sunday, Assistant Secretary for Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE), Julie Myers, announced a new pilot program called "Operation Scheduled Departure" on Univision's political show, Al Punto. The idea is to "invite" all the undocumented immigrants who have already undergone immigration proceedings and have been issued a removal order (called non-criminal fugitives by ICE) to approach their local ICE office to begin their deportation. Why didn't we think of that before?! ICE reports that there are 400,000 people who currently fit that description. People who are not eligible for the program are all the undocumented immigrants who have not yet undergone removal proceedings (i.e., have not been caught), and any with a criminal conviction. However, when Ms. Myers "invited" all the viewers of the channel with the largest Hispanic audience in the country to participate, she omitted this detail, making it sound like anyone who is currently undocumented can participate. Not to mention, the policy is contradictory - during this same interview, Ms. Myers herself stated, "When I speak to people in the [ICE] detention centers and I ask if they plan on coming back [to the U.S.], they say ‘of course I'm coming back - that person always gives me a job.'"

During a conference call today with Congressional staffers, ICE officials had a hard time selling the program. Before promoting this program among people in their districts, staffers understandably pressed for answers: "What would be the benefit of participating?" DHS says: Well, they'd avoid risking being caught in a raid (another one, I guess, because they've already been caught, right?) and this way they'd have time to make "all necessary arrangements". Brilliant! It sounds like a concierge service. "Would turning oneself in count towards a legal status?" No. "Would participating in the program grant reprieve from the statutory bars that prohibit re-entry into the U.S.?" No. "Could people just leave of their own accord, without reporting to ICE, and then report their departure to a consulate abroad?" Sure, that's still their choice. Hmmmm...I could almost hear everyone on the phone scratching their head. "What about countries that refuse to issue travel documents, or won't accept their nationals back?" Yeah, then those folks would remain in the U.S. under ICE supervision indefinitely. Sounds like they've really thought this through. ICE could not provide me with the cost of the pilot program, and they couldn't tell us what results they expect to have. So I still don't understand the point of this program - a program that will only be in five cities (Santa Ana, CA, San Diego, CA, Chicago, IL, Pheonix, AZ, and Charlotte, NC), to - ideally - schedule the deportation of 400,000 people during a three-week window (August 5-27). I agree with Doug Rivlin, from National Immigration Forum, "It's pure fantasy." Even Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, the largest anti-immigrant lobby group, agreed, "The government would have to offer some kind of incentive to entice immigrants to sign up."

Yet another example of the short-sighted, uninformed, and inadequate policies of this Administration. To us at NDN, this is not a solution to the problem. Instead of laughable policies like this, DHS should channel its resources towards dealing with its own backlog, which is keeping many from obtaining legal status, and it should help Congress pass comprehensive immigration reform to address the flaws in immigration law, provide a pathway to citizenship for those who fulfill certain requirements, and deal with the issue of future flow of immigrants.

On the CIS "report" that I mentioned yesterday - the premise of this paper, does demonstrate that CIS intends to argue that all undocumented immigrants are uneducated Hispanics and that all foreign-born, less-educated Hispanics in the United States are necessarily undocumented immigrants:

CIS ignores that undocumented immigration responds more to economic conditions than to immigration-enforcement measures. Data actually shows the economic downturn in many of the industries where undocumented immigrants tend to be employed (construction, service, and retail sectors) began well before August 2007 (as cited by CIS) - during the 1^st quarter of 2007.

Undocumented immigrants themselves report that immigration-enforcement measures are not a deterrent. The Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UC-San Diego performed an actual field study and found that 91 percent of individuals who intend to cross the border without documents see attempting to cross the border as "very dangerous," and nearly one-quarter know someone who has died while doing so. Additionally, over 90% of the people who intend to cross the border and believe crossing is "very dangerous" cross anyway. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Julie Myers, herself admitted during an interview with Univision, that when she asks ICE detainees if they're going to try to cross again, by far most of them say yes.

CIS repeatedly contradicts and undermines its own conclusions. Although no "evidence" is given, CIS posits:"there is good evidence that the illegal population grew last summer while Congress was considering legalizing illegal immigrants. When that legislation failed to pass, the illegal population began to fall almost immediately." Hmm - so these less-educated Spanish-speaking Hispanics (per CIS) were just glued to CPSAN and taking cues from the Senate floor to decide what to do. But CIS then observes (in a footnote), that "illegal immigrant employment is partly seasonal, with more in the country during the summer months [when the immigration debate took place] when employment increases in agriculture, construction, and the hospitality industry."

CIS suggests that the solution to undocumented immigration is more deportation-only measures, a continued economic downturn, and a vow of silence by presidential candidates. CIS also warns that, "Presumably, since even talking about comprehensive immigration reform in the United States could spark a sudden rush of Mexicans across the border, presidential candidates should simply ignore the issue." Great, because ignoring issues always makes them disappear. That is SOUND policy right there.

Border enforcement alone doesn't remedy, it exacerbates the broken immigration system. Since 1993 there has been a 322% increase in the budget of the border patrol. The result has been that during this period of tighter enforcement, the undocumented population has more than doubled in size. It's like a balloon - when enforcement clamps down in Yuma,AZ, crossings through Yuma might decrease, but they increase in San Diego - people find an alternative route. Border enforcement by itself has only helped get "coyotes" (smugglers) more business - the cost of crossing illegally has gone from $975 in 1995 to $2,124 in 2007.

We need a real solution: The answer is not found in blatant anti-Hispanic propaganda, nor in "ignoring" proposals to reform the immigration system, as CIS suggests. A real solution to the problem is to begin by engaging the countries from which immigrants originate (not just Mexico) and share the responsibility of ensuring that economic conditions in the world are such that people can make a living at home. It's necessary to reform the entire visa and legal immigration system, internal and external enforcement, eliminate the backlog that keeps many in uncertain status, and provide a pathway to earned citizenship. Deportation-only strategies do nothing to actually address the problem.

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has received a lot of press for a report it released today called Homewardbound: Recent Immigration Enforcement and the Decline in the Illegal Alien Population, so it's important to set the record straight on the report's "indications." Before pointing out the discrepancies in the report, it is essential to understand the background of who wrote it. CIS has been recognized as the "think tank" of the network of at least 13 anti-immigrant and white supremacist hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. This group was begun by a man named John Tanton, under the guise of his interest in the environment and "population control." He has helped fund all these groups through one entity, U.S. Inc. U.S. Inc.'s lobbying arm is called "Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)." The Executive Director of FAIR, Roy Beck, frequently acting as the "moderate" voice on cable news and radio talk shows, is actually editor of the Social Contract Press - a publishing house that promotes works such as "The Camp of the Saints," considered to encourage fear of anyone with colored skin. FAIR in turn created a "think tank" under its tax umbrella - CIS.

They are now separate legal entities, but FAIR still provides funding to CIS. It's evident throughout the history of CIS that its work product is aimed at portraying immigrants as criminals and spreading the notion that the immigrant population is exploding and deteriorating our communities - not once have they published a "research" paper that attempts to inform and remain unbiased, you won't find anything about the positive contributions of immigrants on their website. Take a minute and look through the websites of the groups in this network - the rhetoric against Jews, Blacks, and Hispanics demonstrates how papers like these and groups like these don't just affect immigrants (which are of all colors), or Hispanics, they affect everyone who lives in this country and anyone who cares about the values on which this country was founded. True Patriots would never have such fear of others and never promote such hateful rhetoric and "indications".

The groups in this network care little about facts - I almost felt like I should get the Population Environment Balance a map, or a newpaper, when I saw their website praising the anti-immigrant laws in Prince William County, MARYLAND (this county in VIRGINIA has only been the prime example nationally of immigration enforcement taken to the local level for the past year). But we cannot underestimate the fact that even inaccurate reports like these - words - have consequences: the Southern Poverty Law Center reports that in 2000, 602 hate crimes took place in our country. That number rose to 888 in 2007, and in 2006 819 Hispanics reported being targets of those crimes.  According to the FBI, anti-Latino hate crimes rose 35% between 2003 and 2006. 

By a vote of 51-43, S. 3335 the Jobs, Energy, Families and Disaster Relief Act, which included a crucial package of renewable energy tax credits, namely the Solar Investment Tax Credit and the Production Tax Credit, failed (again) today in the Senate. Instead of passing the bill, its opponents decided that killing every energy bill that moves, other than ones expanding offshore drilling, was a better strategy for America's energy policy than extending already existing energy provisions.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus will continue the fight for this important legislation that is crucial for helping build a low-carbon economy. Yesterday, NDN President Simon Rosenberg and Green Project Director Michael Moynihan called on Congress to extend this package of renewable energy tax credit.

NDN President Simon Rosenberg and NDN Green Project Director Michael Moynihan today called on leaders in both parties to extend the package of renewable energy tax credits that will come up for a vote as early as tomorrow in the U.S. Senate. The package, currently part of the Jobs, Energy, Families and Disaster Relief Act of 2008 (S. 3335), has enormous potential to quickly stimulate the economy, create jobs, reduce American dependence on foreign sources of energy and move toward a low-carbon future.

"We call upon the leaders of both parties -- including Senators Obama and McCain -- to work together to pass the package of renewable energy tax credits this year, starting with the vote this week in the Senate," Rosenberg said. "Accelerating the development of renewable energy is in the national interest of the United States; it will help us tackle the threat of climate change; lessen our dependence on expensive and dirty energy sources; and begin to create the new clean energy jobs so vital to the economy of 21st century America."

Moynihan specifically called for the eight-year extension of the Solar Investment Tax Credit, currently included in S. 3335, which he called “crucial for ensuring a stable, predictable, and favorable investment climate so that the United States can become a major leader in solar energy.” He added that this lack of stability for all renewable energy sources currently is costing American jobs, and a failure to extend the tax credits would cause thousands more jobs to be lost, as well as boost demand for fossil fuel-based energy sources, further increasing energy prices and impacting everyday Americans.

The Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa, subject of the largest raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is back in the news.  Following this week's Congressional hearings to review the situation of undocumented immigrants detained during the raid, Congressman Luis Gutierrez and several members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus spent this weekend in Postville to look into the arrests and convictions of 400 plant employees and the impact of the raid on the community as a whole.  What's shocking in this case is that documents show how DHS prompted detainees to plead guilty to a criminal offense that they had not committed - ID theft - in order to "expedite" their processing, without providing legal counsel (Administrative entities, like DHS, don't have to provide counsel).  What's also shocking and demonstrates the broken immigration system is the fact that "enforcement" seems to stop at the worker - Agriprocessors has yet to be sanctioned, punished, or fined for having violated a series of laws.  Congressman Gutierrez noted the "proportional imbalance" of the raid, because Agriprocessors, which was under investigation by the State Department of Labor even before the immigration raid for wage and hour violations, child labor and physical and sexual abuse, so far, has faced no charges, while its undocumented employees have unwittingly pleaded guilty to harsher offenses, with harsher consequences.  This is yet another example of the extent to which "enforcement" is merely a talking point for this administration - until the entire immigration system is reformed, and as long as unscrupulous employers are allowed to continue violating the law without so much as a slap on the wrist, the system will continue to be broken. 

Thought this was interesting:

China said the number of Internet users in the country reached about 253 million last month, putting it ahead of the United States as the world's biggest Internet market.

The estimate, based on a national phone survey and released on Thursday by the China Internet Network Information Center in Beijing, showed a powerful surge in Internet adoption in this country over the last few years, particularly among teenagers.

The number of Internet users jumped more than 50 percent, or by about 90 million people, during the last year, said the center, which operates under the government-controlled Chinese Academy of Sciences. The new estimate represents only about 19 percent of China's population, underscoring the potential for growth.

By contrast, about 220 million Americans are online, or 70 percent of the population, according to the Nielsen Company. Japan and South Korea have similarly high percentages.