El Paso Human Rights Convention Reignites A National Movement

(EL PASO, Texas) — The next national movement for equal rights is kicking off in El Paso. As part of the national Human Rights at Home campaign aimed at building a human rights movement, the Border Network for Human Rights has organized the El Paso Regional Human Rights Convention for February 18. The convention will bring communities in West Texas and Southern New Mexico together to define what human rights means

Organizations participating and/or sending delegates to the convention include:
Annunciation House
A.Y.U.D.A.
Border Network for Human Rights
Desert A.D.A.P.T.
El Comite Justicia Laboral/The Labor Justice Committee
El Paso Federation of Teachers
La Mujer Obrera
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center
Occupy El Paso
Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project
Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid
The National Association of Social Workers

Organizations coming from outside of West Texas and Southern New Mexico:
Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition
Communities for Human Rights, a Texas-wide organization
Dallas Peace Center
DreamActivist Pennsylvania
Juntos, Philadelphia
Media Mobilizing Project, Pennsylvania
Movimiento del Valle, Rio Grande Valley
National Economic & Social Rights Initiative, based in New York
One Love Movement, Philadelphia
Poverty Initiative, New York
United Workers, Baltimore
Vermont Workers’ Center

Speakers include:
Texas State Sen. Jose Rodriguez
El Paso Coutny Judge Veronica Escobar
Las Cruces City Rep. Olga Pedroza
Fr. Roy Bourgeois, of the School of Americas Watch

Border Network Members Ready For The Roundhouse

(ANTHONY, New Mexico) — Members of the Border Network for Human Rights and other Southern New Mexico residents are preparing for a Day of Action in Santa Fe to support the current driver’s license law and tell lawmakers that they must not compromise communities.

“It’s not a short trip to Santa Fe from Anthony and Las Cruces, where most of our members live,” said Jose Manuel Escobedo, BNHR Policy Director. “The sacrifices our members make to fight for their licenses shows exactly how much this means to their families.”

The Day of Action will include a 9 a.m. press conference followed by rounds of visits with lawmakers.

Details: Border Network Day of Action and Press Conference at the Roundhouse

When: All day on Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Where: The Roundhouse in Santa Fe, Press conference in the Rotunda

The 3%: Gov. Martinez’s Claims About Driver’s License Fraud are Overblown

AP Investigation finds only a tiny minority of applicants are suspicious

A recent analysis of driver’s license application abuse rates by the Associated Press sheds light on some facts and it raises questions about political speculations on both sides of the debate.

Perhaps most striking is the relatively low number of supposed abuses of the application process. After almost a decade of issuing licenses to drive to applicants who do not use a social security number only 170 addresses are suspect, representing 3% of all applicants. And even some of these suspect address are already resulting legitimate such as those housing units in our military installations.

Despite legitimate addresses, how does this rate compare to the abuse or fraud that other states experience with their driver’s license application process? It is not clear that states who do not have a legitimate way for immigrants to apply for a license to drive have a lower rate of application abuse.

With such a limited number of suspect cases, how much sense does it make to legislate a blanket solution to an issue that cannot be zeroed in to one sector of the population? What is the state doing to target those cases where the abuse or mistakes are occurring? How much responsibility lies in utility companies who issue account statements, MVD employees who need to be better trained to process applications, or businesses who exploit immigrants and abuse New Mexican laws? Also, the AP does not report that suspect addresses are in Dona Ana County, the Governor’s home county, or other Southern New Mexican communities.

Any legislation to repeal the 2003 law, would not only not fail to target specific places where abuse may occur, but it also would also impact the pocket book of all New Mexicans who use the roads. The public remembers that the reason this law was created was to improve safety, reduce uninsured rates, and balance insurance cost. Even more impacted would be the tens of thousands of drivers currently out of immigration status who work, raise their families, educate their children, and go to church utilizing their license to drive.

Voters will remember that no law enforcement officials complained that this was a problem until Susana Martinez began her campaign to be governor. It is an unfortunate but realistic observation that using the divisive issue of immigration will activate a passionate sector of the Republican Party. This Tea Party element has already been connected with xenophobic, nativists positions. During a similar debate in our neighboring state of Texas, the Tea Party leader said that the reason anti-immigrant laws were not more prevalent in the state is because there are ‘too many Hispanic legislators.’

For the Governor and Republican and Democratic lawmakers to begin to adopt and institutionalize the vision that xenophobes value, it is a departure from the traditions and culture of New Mexico, where Spanish is Constitutionally also the official language, and where people recite their pledge “I salute the flag of the state of New Mexico and the zia symbol of perfect friendship among united cultures.”

Instead, the public should focus on persuading their federal lawmakers to deal with immigration issues, because the Federal government is the only one with the Constitutional authority to make immigration laws. State lawmakers will realize that voters believe their time be better spent improving the budget of our state to create more jobs.

Una Carta Abierta a Legisladores de Nuevo Mexico

Nota del Editor: Lo sigente es un comenatrio de nuestro invitado especial, Dr. Luis I. Quiñones. Dr. Quiñones es un educador con más de 26 años de experiencia en las escuelas públicas, autor, y publicador del calendario anual “Calendario de La Paz e Historia de las Razas.” También es musicólogo cultural. Para escuchar una canción bilingüe sobre este tema, haz click aqui.

An Open Letter to New Mexico Lawmakers

Editor’s Note: The following is a special guest post from Dr. Luis I. Quiñones. Dr. Quiñones is an educator with more than 26 years of experience in public school education and an advocate of dual language/cultural education. He is also an author and publishes Las Razas Peace & Historical Calendar. He is also a cultural musicologist. To listen to a bilingual song written by Dr. Quiñones on this issue, click here.