There has been a lot of hoopla from Republican and Conservative leaders when it comes to the Mexican-American and/or Hispanic voters regarding the pro life issue, and it is too bad the GOP doesn't pay attention to  Texas Catholic leaders who understand the pain Mexican American / Latino families go through with regard to their legal comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) inaction in 2013.  Bottom line:  The Republican Party panders to Hispanic voters because they know many of them are Catholic, yet, they won't listen to Catholic leaders with regard to policy that will win them Latino hearts.   Healthy relationships advance with fair give and take measures.

Hispanic and women voters are noting the letter getting ignored by Speaker John Boehner when Cardinal Dolan sent a letter with regard to the urgency of immigration reform.  It might be a good idea for the Catholic Church to publicly distance themselves from Speaker Boehner the same way they shun Rep. Nancy Pelosi.  The Catholic Church has also warned the GOP House of Representatives to get their act together on immigration reform but it appears to be falling on deaf ears. Yet informed political voters know that  come 2014, we will see the Republican Party and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus try to sway Hispanic and Women voters with regard to caring about immigration, pro life, Hispanics and women.  Fixing the broken immigration system is a pro life issue when thousands of Mexicans die crossing the harsh desert to achieve the American dream and when Republicans do not express urgency on a matter high on our list, we will not express urgency to support them.

But the real insult to our intelligence are with those Republican leaders who want the Hispanic pro life voters to support their pro life agenda while pro life organizations support organizations who promote  profit for private prisons while throwing Latino immigrants in jail. It does not help when we see some of the oldest pro life organizations affiliating themselves with  American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).   Pro life leaders and organizations lose credibility when their fingerprints are found on organizations like ALEC who appear to embrace a culture of death, and their pro life efforts targeting Hispanic and women voters in key races will have little merit until they do away with those fingerprints.

If one is going to call themselves pro life, perhaps they ought to essentially support it from a womb to the tomb standpoint.  Billions of our American tax payer dollars are being spent on detaining immigrants who get caught for working in agricultural fields, car washes, fast food restaurants and etc. We are well aware the private prison industry would take a huge hit if immigration reform passes – private prison systems who receive government subsidies where millions of our tax payer money is wasted. Millions of our taxpayer dollars are wasted because of lawsuits, and I believe we ought to reconsider private prison systems because the incentive to make more profit dollars seem to outweigh basic and humane treatment of human beings.

But these disturbing stories do not only affect immigrants – they affect American women voters, too. I am especially disturbed in hearing stories about women in private prisons owned by Corrections Corporation of American refusing Autumn Miller’s cries for medical attention. She says the guards gave her a menstrual pad and locked her in a cell. As a result, Miller says in a lawsuit filed in Dallas federal court, on June 14, 2012, “She looked down and watched, in horror, as she delivered baby Gracie into the toilet.” The infant lived for four days and died in her mother’s arms.

According the the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Speaker Boehner is an  alumnus. The Nation’s Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor reveal their role in expanding prison systems. According to their report,prison labor for the private sector was legally barred for years, to avoid unfair competition with private companies. But this has changed thanks to the ALEC, its Prison Industries Act, and a little-known federal program known as PIE (thePrison Industries Enhancement Certification Program). An In These Times investigation revealed that ALEC arranged secret meetings between Arizona’s state legislators and CCA to draft what became SB 1070, Arizona’s notorious immigration law, to keep CCA prisons flush with immigrant detainees. ALEC has proven expertly capable of devising endless ways to help private corporations benefit from the country’s massive prison population.

Lack of leadership within pro life organizations may have fueled the culture of death, and I know this because few stepped up to the plate when our 14th amendment rights were being attacked by the Republicans they endorsed via Birthright Citizenship. Informed Hispanic voters remember how Tom Tancredo (memorable anti-immigrant politician) received a a 100% rating from National Right to Life. 

According to Americans United for Life, the legal arm of the pro-life movement and the oldest national pro-life organization, received a prestigious Weyrich Award for “Grassroots Organization of the Year” for 2011. Paul Weyrich was the founder and past director of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Why is the National Right To Life working in concert with ALEC, when it was ALEC who helped design laws that began anti-Hispanic laws? Laws that put mothers and fathers in jail virtually leaving little babies and children behind? How do pro-life / pro-baby organizations claim to be what they are when they make secret pacts with the devil? The pro-life movement often uses the 14th amendment to further their agenda and many would say it is their crowning jewel, yet these established pro life organizations did nothing when attacks were being made against immigrant birthright citizenship and our 14th amendment.

To conclude, Mexican American Chicano Latino voters are exactly where we need to be for 2014 an 2016. We are the key swing voters, and many of us are registered independent voters.  Republicans like Nevada Senate Candidate via  Sharron Angle wanted the public to believe we were all Democratic voters,  thereby trying to get Anglos to believe we were a ‘lost cause’. We are not a lost cause. We’re more powerful placing ourselves in a position of leverage because we know we are the fastest rising demographic in the Nation, and we want both sides of the aisle to work harder for our vote.  I know that several #prolife leaders are members of the Catholic Church, and they should take their fingerprints off of ALEC and flush them for expanding private prisons who profit from Catholic hardworking immigrants when they commit civil offenses in light of broken a clearly broken immigration system.