It's a well known fact there are a few DREAMers who were hijacked by the Republican Party.  We call them "TeaDREAMers" for pushing the Republican Party agenda ... never mind the 2012 anti-immigrant platform adopted by the Republican National Committee in 2012 on the eve of their GOP convention that was essentially blessed by Kris Kobach [sarcasm included]. 

These TeaDREAMers include DREAMACTIVIST.org and cohorts of Mohammad Abdollahi,  [and whom Rep. Luis Gutierrez had to distance himself from for their racist views], DRM Action (a for profit company) with the likes of Erika Andiola downplaying importance of the Latino vote even though she can't vote herself, and their surrogates.  Our organization asked Jose Antonio Vargas and Gaby Pacheco to take leadership and speak against folks who supported the likes of Mohammad Abdollahi for stating he wanted to hijack comprehensive immigration reform in 2013 but we saw no leadership from the likes of them. 

Now we are seeing more backlash from folks we consider allies. 

Lack of "DREAM Act" leadership and turning a blind eye leads to heckling and showing utter disrespect for the Office of the Presidency. 

Ungrateful TeaDREAMers who find it cute to disrespect the President of the United States and interrupt his immigration speech are getting more backlash from those who are considered immigration allies.  (See below.)

Chicanos and American Latino Voters will VOTE despite the “Tea” DREAMers who are advocating for a boycott of the vote.  These TeaDREAMers have not been transparent when they did not reveal they were working for and with Tea Party Republicans.

It's time for Cuban American Republican politicians to share the refugee love afforded to them during their time of need, as they consider sharing or offset tax payer monies over to the children who fled a violent Central America to be with their parents.  More importantly, we need to see them put constant fierce pressure on Speak Boehner to put immigration reform for vote because stalling reform is forcing more families apart as hard working parents are deported to other countries. 

Cuban Refugee Immigrants (CRI) have received generous acts from American tax payers for 40 years with regard to Cuban privileged amnesty via the Cuban Adjustment Act and/or the wet foot dry foot policy.  Cuban immigrants have received government benefits, housing allowances and more.  For the first time in its history the United States became a country of first asylum for large numbers of displaced persons as thousands of Cuban refugees have found political refuge here beginning in the 1960's.  According to the Office of Social Security, a substantial number of children, mostly between the ages of 5 and 16, have come to this country from Cuba, unaccompanied by their parents or others acting in the place of parents.  Many parents prefer this separation to the risks involved in having their children indoctrinated with an ideology hateful to them. 

But why are American tax payers still funding Cuban Refugee Immigrants with welfare and other government perks after 40 years?  Particularly when Cuba travel restrictions were lifted?  Why areCuban immigrants going back to the Nation they claim they are fleeing because it is supposed to be so corrupt?

Americans in the southwestern part of the United States of Mexican and Latin descent believe there is a solution in handling the Central American humanitarian crisis affecting minor children, and it has to do with a type of trading out the Cuban Adjustment Act for a type of modified and more reasonable Refugee Act to include more stringent time restrictions -- not the 40 years Cubans have enjoyed.  Indeed more than ever legal immigration reform ought to be addressed that will enable family members to visit their relatives in various Latin countries without fear of reprisal under the current broken immigration system. Fixing the broken immigration system will reduce the desperate family members from wanting to sneak back and forth (in order to prevent a bloated detention center costing tax payers) in order to visit family members in the United States.   

Cuban American Republican politicians have a unique opportunity to make up for their loss of street credibility with the other Latino ethnic groups (who do not benefit from Cuban amnesty).  Speaker Boehner recently appointed Rep. Diaz-Balart to the border humanitarian crisis task force, and we believe it would be a good idea for Rep. Diaz-Balart to admit to the antiquated policies under the Cuban Adjustment Act, and submit a policy that will end the 40 years of Cuban welfare in order to share refugee generous acts with regard to the humanitarian crisis Central American minor children are experiencing today.  Ending 40 years of Cuban welfare should not be very hard to do for Republicans since they believe in "limited government" anyway.  More importantly, this would be the time for both Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart to put more pressure on the Republican Speaker to move the legal immigration reform bill forward that was approved by the Senate over one year ago.  

Both Republican Reps. Ros-Lehtinen and Diaz-Balart have failed to put constant pressure on Speaker John Boehner thus far, and in fact both have meddled in foreign affairs beyond our borders instead of focusing and taking care of Homeland business first affecting millions living in the shadows of society.  Notably, the GOP Speaker is directly responsible for obstructing the forward movement of legal immigration reform and he compounded a gridlock atmosphere when he threatened to sue Obama.  To date we have not seen any Cuban American Republican leadership denounce Speaker Boehner's lawsuit against the President of the United States for his immigration policies like DACA helping DREAM Act students.  

The President will soon be speaking and requesting money from Congress to help with the humanitarian crisis. I'm certain, they need the money for more immigration judges, trained asylum officers, attorneys and humanitarian locations. 

The Cuban privileged amnesty buzz is being brought back to the forefront with regard to the Central American children who are detained in detention centers in both Nogales, Arizona and in Texas. 

Arizona Chicano Activist, formerly with Voto Latino in the State of Arizona says:

If Cuban Adults qualify as refugees, then most certainly these Central American Children can qualify. Interesting how Politicians have been happy to receive Cuban 'refugees' accept them into their communities, groom them for political careers, and even present them to the country as their minority poster boys...yet when a group of children without homes, many without parents, arrive in desperation from our neighboring country the predominant conversation on the topic is about how to slam the door or how to fast to drop them off in the jungle!

I can't help but to be reminded of the 'wet foot dry foot' policy enjoyed by Cubans for over four decades now. Could the dire circumstances of these Central American countries be compared to the circumstances precipitating the Cuban Adjustment Act 1966? May we suggest that the Cuban situation no longer presents the exigency that merits such an accommodation as automatic citizenship? May we further suggest that perhaps now there may be another country in the world where the current political economic and social conditions present a more clear and present danger to the people who live there, lets say...Honduras (commonly known as the MOST VIOLENT COUNTRY IN THE WORLD), whose children are arriving at our doorstep carrying nothing with them but the hope of life? Cuban parents use the US as a sort of boarding school where they send their children to be groomed as politicians (or hip hop moguls). Hondurans send their kids to the US to escape torture and death. Perhaps its time to raise the bridge to freedom we've extended to Cuba for the last 48 years and give another country some love. 

This same message has been in question for some time in the southwestern part of the United States -- home of a high Chicano / Mexican-American population. 

Texas State Rep. Rene Oliveira told Valley Central News: 

State Representative Rene Oliveira said Thursday that 90,000 unaccompanied, undocumented children mainly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, will cross the U.S. - Mexico border illegally, by September.

The vast majority, he added, are expected to be between the ages of 5 and 14.

"Anybody who doesn't blame it on a failed - on the failure of our federal government to deal with immigration reform, is foolish," Oliveira said.

The democratic state representative compares this wave of mass illegal immigration to the exodus of Cubans in the 1980’s.

 

Here is another reason why obstructionist Tea Party Republicans ought to put legal immigration reform up for a vote.  Now that Rep. Eric Cantor is out of the way, the Nation will be able to indicate whether or not newly appointed House Leader Kevin McCarthy will help solve tough issues in a bipartisan way. 

From Daily Ticker: 

In her quarterly news conference following the Federal Open Market Committee's policy announcement, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the economy is rebounding from the slump in the first-quarter and projected further, quicker declines in the unemployment rate.

But Yellen's long-term projections for the economy were not quite as upbeat. The Fed lowered its long-term growth outlook for the U.S. economy to 2.1%, another downward revision. Fed officials also lowered the outlook for long-term interest rate targets to 3.75%, below the typical rate of 4%.

....

 

Aging demographics in the U.S., low productivity growth and weak investments could all slow long-term growth, according to Garcia. He acknowledges that it’s difficult to get out of a long-term slump, but the International Monetary Fund has some suggestions that the U.S. would be wise to take. “I think infrastructure spending would be great," he says. "The nation’s infrastructure has been crumbling for quite a bit and if you do something about it now you get a lot of benefits. One is that you put some people to work, so it’s a demand-side idea, but it also raises the longer-term potential growth rate of the economy itself.”

Another way to stave of stagnation would be liberalizing immigration policy, according to Garcia. “Look, it’s not time to panic yet,” concludes Garcia. “In the short-term, people will pretty soon be able to participate in a more vigorous economy and in the long-term you never know about these things.”    Watch video here >>>

We are approaching the 2 year anniversary in remembrance of Joaquin Luna Jr.   Joaquin was a Mexican DREAM Act undocumented student who took his life because he felt he had no hope.  Joaquin was waiting for his DREAM to be fulfilled and this talented young man was not able to see it come into fruition.  This bright young man was on a healthy course had these United States Senators voted in support of the DREAM Act in 2010 because Joaquin was accepted into ITT and Texas A&M and University of Texas – Pan American in Edinburg, TX, and had high hopes.

2 years ago, we immediately asked Senators to pass the DREAM Act before they take their 2011 Christmas vacations in light of Joaquin taking his life the day after Thanksgiving Day 2011, and to prevent more of these tragic situations with kids.   Sen. Dick Durbin heard our cry but we knew Republicans would not think this important enough.   They went on their Christmas or Holiday break ignoring us.

Indeed the Mexican American community was angry when we attributed the blood of Joaquin to the mostly Republican politicians who did not support the DREAM Act vote in 2010 .   55 Democratic Senators voted in support of it with only 3 Republican Senators and 2 Independents helping.  However, a whopping 36 Republican Senators voted against the DREAM Act with 5 Democrats helping them. The House vote consisted of 208 Democratic and only 8 Republican Representatives supporting the DREAM Act of 2010, while a whopping 160 Republicans voted against it with 38 Democrats helping them.   It was now our turn to ignore supporting the Republican Party when the consequence of their "no vote" was delivered to the Republican Party on November 6, 2012.  The Obama win was fueled by Mexican American / Latino muscle.  In fact, shortly after November 2012 elections, McCain tweeted the need for comprehensive immigration reform. 

A special event will take place in Texas in remembrance of Joaquin Luna Jr. which will begin with a memorial walk using Luna's Dream T-Shirts, and we will end the walk at his final resting place.  Pastor Bustos will lead us in prayer a few words from Luna Lerma family, and DeeDee Garcia Blase of Somos Independents  and Tania Chávez of LUPE will be speakers.

DATE: Monday,  November 25, 2013

TIME:  10:00 am

LOCATION:  1 1/2 S Abram Rd Mission TX 78574

We were attacked almost twelve years ago on September 11, 2001. Joaquin Luna Jr. — an aspiring American DREAMer was upset in light of the attacks and wanted to do something, so he spoke of enlisting into the United States Armed Forces according to accounts made by his sister Nina Hinojosa.   But he could not enlist into the U.S. military because he was undocumented.   As a Mexican-American veteran of the United States Air Force, this story was moving to me and caused me to reflect on the green card soldiers I used to serve with.

Joaquin Luna Jr. lived in Texas and wanted to be an American citizen.  The United States was a country he would fight for.  He wanted to succeed and build here.  He put his hopes on the passage of the DREAM Act in December 2010, but the DREAM Act did not advance in 2010 because 39 Republican and 6 Democratic Senators did not support it.  Unfortunately he later took his life because he felt he had no hope in 2011.   As a consequence of not supporting the DREAM Act children, the Republican Party suffered in the Latin vote department during the 2012 Presidential cycle.

Living in Arizona, I often see Mexicans and Latinos being demonized and portrayed in a negative light by restrictionists and isolationists who make claims that we are a drain to society or unpatriotic.  Some right wing media outlets do not do an adequate job in portraying our patriotic contributions and it is discouraging for me to see an immigrant from Fiji and Iran being tied to Mexican immigrants and our southern border in light of their anti-American or anti-white sentiment.  This is yet another instance of Mexican immigrants and the entire border community taking the hit for the reckless actions of other immigrants. Luna represents what was pure and attractive about the DREAM movement in the beginning. He was someone who already believed himself to be American in every way. He wanted to give his all to our country and he only wanted one thing more from the US after pledging his allegiance to our flag — citizenship.

We do not take the immigration issue lightly or as joke, and the Mexican-American community is repudiating anti-American sentiment.  Carlos Galindo is an Arizona radio show host and an immigration rights activist within the Mexican American community who said it is wrong to lead others away from patriotism or loving this country.  He asks:  “Why do these self proclaimed undocumented ‘leaders’ such as Mohammad Abdollahi (immigrant from Iran) enjoy a safe haven in the U.S. while spewing violent anti American rhetoric?”

One of my favorite heroes is Dr. Hector P. Garcia. After World War II, Hispanic veterans suffered discrimination due to their skin color, and Dr. Garcia was courageous and showed leadership throughout that difficult period.  Dr. Garcia remains a central figure of the Mexican / Latino civil rights movement today, due to his refusal to stand idle while Mexican Americans were being dehumanized in post-World War II society.

Many of us remember our grandfathers, uncles, and ancestors who were drafted, and how a great number of them spilled their blood to defend our country in a time of war. We honor them for that and we refuse to allow others to make light of the contributions made by our indigenous forefathers and paying that ultimate sacrifice.

The fight for the Mexican patriotic image continues because the sentiment on all immigrants changed for the worse post 9-11, and hate crimes against Latinos rose.

The time is more crucial than ever in light of the Gang of Eight Legal Comprehensive Immigration (CIR) Bill recently passing the Democratic-controlled Senate but is still in need of climbing the hurdle in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.   We predict the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will vote this October on the immigration reform bill in a time polls are showing strong American support for immigration reform. As an American voter, I know it is the responsibility of our Congress to fix the broken immigration system under the United States Supremacy Clause, and we will soon see what the scoreboard will look like.

But with the summer recess break ending for Congress, we are now seeing images from conservative websites that are essentially tying radicals and extremists to the immigration issue during this critical time.  For instance, Prerna Lal (an immigrant from Fiji and co-founder of DreamActivist.org) sent a tweet about “killing white invaders.” The problem I have is seeing the likes of MRConservative showing an image of the southern border that ties into the “hate speech” while quoting Brietbart as a source.

Diyer Mendoza is a surviving brother of Joaquin Luna Jr. believes it is a possibility DreamActivist.org  may be  receiving donations from Republicans who do not want CIR to pass.   Mohammad has an agenda to “kill CIR” so naturally this raises a reasonable suspicion to find out where their donations are coming from.  Mendoza also believes the far right wing media ought to consider the Mexican immigrant children who love this Nation like Joaquin Luna Jr. because they are the ones really suffering and in a lot of pain because and feel they are hitting a brick wall.  The suffering will get worse because many of their parents are here undocumented.

Family members of Joaquin Luna Jr say:  “We are not here to provoke hatred against white people or the United States.  We are hear to help other who want an opportunity to live the American Dream and prosper.  To contribute taxes and help build.  We are fighting for DREAMers who love this country because we love this country.”

I will never forget September 11, 2001.

I know leaders in other countries envy us and our freedoms.  It is our beacon light [of freedom] terrorists will continue to try to chip away from us because they do not want to hear their own citizens achieving freedoms that emulate the United States.

Joaquin Luna Jr., is a good example of a DREAMer we would like to see Republican and Conservative websites focus on.