Children Left Alone on Highway after Mother Arrested

Fidel "Butch" Montoya

Everyday there seems to be another news story on how evil continues to push good to the gutter. Please read the news article below on how a sheriff deputy left children - alone - on the interstate after arresting their mother for being a 'criminal' for not having a driver's license.

Why do we allow such incidents to go unnoticed without an outcry from the good people? When will we stand up together and say 'ENOUGH!'

Our country is better than this gestapo attitude that we must rid our country of the 'unclean and unwanted.'

We truly live a dark and sad point in time in our country's history. How have we allowed these conditions to exist in our country is testament to the silence of the good people and the hateful and mean spirited racists that have fooled the rest of us into thinking that this will keep us safe from 'criminals and terrorists.'

Our country has sunk to the depths of the perpetrators of violence and hate. When will we confront this disease of racism and bigotry? Will we allow our freedom and liberty to be used for the evil works of ICE and other law enforcement agencies bent on destroying the American dream?

Why have our Federal legislators given the managers of ICE the freedom to enact insane rules and policies like 287 (g) and not hold ICE accountable for their actions? How can they justify leaving children on the interstate and not feel any responsibility for their actions?

America - wake up!

Fidel 'Butch' Montoya
H. S. Power & Light -Latino Faith Based Initiative

'And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.' Micah 6: 8


full story below:

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/crime_safety/story/1150866.html

Mom arrested, kids left on I-85
Abandoned by fellow immigrant
Kristin Collins, Staff Writer


An illegal immigrant arrested on a traffic violation last month was forced to leave her three children on the shoulder of Interstate 85 in the middle of the night -- where they were alone and stranded for eight hours.

An Alamance County sheriff's deputy pulled Maria Chavira Ventura over just before 2 a.m. on June 14, according to arrest records. He took her to jail for driving without a license and displaying a false license plate, and she was eventually put under a federal deportation order.

He left her children, 14, 10 and 6, with a man they barely knew, according to the N.C. Justice Center and Maryland social workers. He was a fellow church member who had been catching a ride with the family.

Lawyers with the Justice Center are investigating the incident. They say the man, fearing deportation if the officer returned, abandoned the children, leaving them to wait for their father to drive from Maryland.

The father, Antonio Perez, said he got a cell phone call from the sobbing children around 2 a.m. They had been headed from their home in Western North Carolina to visit him in Maryland. Perez, who doesn't have a license and had to get his uncle to drive him, arrived at 10:30 a.m. to find his children scared, exhausted, hungry, and distraught over the loss of their mother.

'They were left abandoned there in the middle of the street,' Perez said. 'It was a horrible experience for them, just horrible.'

Perez, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, agreed to give only his middle and last names. His story was confirmed by Justice Center lawyers who interviewed Ventura in jail. The 14-year-old also told the same story in an interview with social workers in Maryland. The Justice Center provided a copy of that interview.

Officials at the Alamance County Sheriff's Department say they handled Ventura's arrest according to their policies. They say children are frequently left with neighbors or family friends, as long as parents approve. If there is no adult available, the department calls social workers, said spokesman Randy Jones.

'We make arrangements all the time, and we have to do it on a case-by-case basis,' Jones said. 'We're not going to let something happen to a child.'

In this case, Jones said, the department has not received a complaint and was unaware until last week that the children ended up alone.

Jones said the man, who had no identification or driver's license, had a cell phone and told the officer that help was on the way. The mother spoke very little English, so the officer had the teenage daughter ask her handcuffed mother whether she approved of them staying with the man, Jones said.

'The girl said something to the mother in Spanish,' Jones said. 'And the officer said the mother looked at him and nodded.'

However, both Ventura and her daughter say the officer never asked permission to leave the children with the man. Dan Rearick, a Justice Center lawyer, interviewed Ventura at the Alamance County jail on July 9.

'She said very clearly that the officer never mentioned her children and she was never told anything about what would happen to them,' Rearick said.

Ventura got no response when she tried to ask the officer, in broken English, about her children, she told Rearick.

The daughter said in an interview with Casa de Maryland, an immigrant advocacy group, that the officer asked only if they had a phone and someone to call.

Jones said the sheriff's department doesn't know what happened to the children after their mother's arrest. He said they don't plan to look into it any further, unless they receive an official complaint. He said that, if the children were left alone, the man bears responsibility for abandoning them.

Asking the parent

Other law enforcement agencies agree that there are no set procedures for handling cases with children involved.

Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison said his officers always ask the parent whether there is a relative or close family friend who can care for the children. If they can't communicate with the parent, they have a 24-hour interpreting service available by phone, Harrison said.

'We just won't let the children go with anybody,' Harrison said. 'We've got to make sure that the parent feels comfortable.'

Lt. Everett Clendenin, spokesman for the N.C. Highway Patrol, said officers wouldn't leave children with a person whose identity or relationship to the children wasn't clear. But he said officers will leave children with non-family members if the parent agrees.

Rearick says Ventura and her family are traumatized but have little recourse.

The two younger children, both U.S. citizens, are with Perez. Perez is hesitant to bring a complaint against the department because of his immigration status.

Perez is not the father of the eldest child, and she is being cared for by relatives in North Carolina. Rearick said the girl does not have legal status and is now afraid to speak about the incident.

'The people who are caring for her say she can't sleep at night,' Rearick said.

Ventura pleaded guilty to the traffic charges, and federal officials are now holding her in a county jail in
Alabama. Barbara Gonzalez, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said she will soon be deported. Gonzalez said Ventura was using an assumed name and that her true name is Maria Mejia. Gonzalez said federal officials are looking into the circumstances of her arrest.

Alamance County participates in a federal program, called 287(g) for a section of law, that allows jailers to check immigration status and begin deportation proceedings on those they arrest. Many sheriffs, including Alamance Sheriff Terry Johnson, tout the program as a way to stop violent repeat criminals.

Advocates say the program has led to an increasing number of arrests of Hispanic immigrants for traffic violations. State law prohibits those without legal status from getting driver's licenses or registering cars, so many illegal immigrants are arrested on charges similar to Ventura's.

'This is another example of the real results of 287(g) -- arresting people for minor traffic offenses rather than taking criminals off the street,' Rearick said. 'Any program that leaves three little kids alone on the side of the highway is creating more problems than it solves.'

Jones, the Alamance sheriff's spokesman, said arresting the woman was standard procedure, since she wasn't allowed to continue driving and couldn't prove her identity.

'I can't find anything wrong with what the officer did,' Jones said.


(Staff writer Zoe Elizabeth Buck contributed to this report.)
kristin.collins@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4881
Staff writer Zoe Elizabeth Buck contributed to this report.

© Copyright 2008, The News & Observer Publishing Company
A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company

A New Declaration of Independence?

by Fidel "Butch" Montoya

Here is copy of the declaration made a couple of weeks ago by a group of conservative pastors and religious leaders that gathered in Denver. I am not sure of the group, but I thought you might find their declaration interesting

The Brody File on the CBNews.com has more information. On the web site, here is what Brody has written. 'The Brody File has been given a document put together and agreed to by conservative and Evangelical leaders. This is the meeting where the majority of leaders agreed to get behind John McCain but they also agreed on these set of 10 important core values.' (Included below).

The web site continues: 'When you read through these values, you'll get a better understanding why they believe John McCain is the candidate they've decided to rally around. The group isn't hung up as much on McCain's position on immigration or campaign finance reform. Those are a concern but the bigger issue for these folks are the pro-family values they want to see protected.'

I am including the declaration for you to consider what you think. Please don't read any thing between the lines as we all have our personal views and perspectives on some of the issues of the day. Also, this is not some kind of endorsement for McCain or Obama.

Also, The Brody File on CBNews.com is worth bookmarking for future reference. A very insightful and informing blog site.

Fidel 'Butch' Montoya
H. S. Power & Light - Latino Faith Based Initiative

'And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.' Micah 6: 8


Declaration of American Values
July 4, 2008

Declaration of American Values

Because this is a crucial time in American history, and a cacophony of voices claim that their views represent core American values, it is imperative that people of strong Biblical faith stand in unity to affirm the core consensus values that do serve as the basis of America's greatness.
Therefore, we do hereby affirm that all men and women from every race and ethnicity are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We adhere to the rule of law embodied in the Constitution of the United States and to the principles of liberty on which America was founded. In order to maintain the blessings of liberty and justice for ourselves and our posterity, and recognizing that personal responsibility is the basis of our self-governing nation, we declare our allegiance -
1. To secure the sanctity of human life by affirming the dignity of and right to life for the disabled, the ill, the aged, the poor, the disadvantaged, and for the unborn from the moment of conception. Every person is made in the image of God and it is the responsibility and duty of all individuals and congregations to extend the hand of loving compassion to care for those in poverty and distress.
2. To secure our national interest in the institution of marriage and family by embracing the union of one man and one woman as the sole form of legitimate marriage and the proper basis of family.
3. To secure the fundamental rights of parents to the care, custody, and control of their children regarding their upbringing and education.
4. To secure the free exercise of religion for all people, including the freedom to acknowledge God through our public institutions and other modes of public expression, and the freedom of religious conscience without coercion by penalty or force of law.
5. To secure the moral dignity of each person, acknowledging that obscenity, pornography, and indecency debase our communities, harm our families, and undermine morality and respect, we promote enactment and enforcement of laws to protect decency and traditional morality.
6. To secure the right to own, possess and manage private property without arbitrary interference from government while acknowledging the necessity of maintaining a proper and balanced care and stewardship of the environment and natural resources for the health and safety of our families.
7. To secure the individual right of owning, possessing, and using firearms as central to the preservation of peace and liberty.
8. To secure a system of checks and balances between the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches within both state and federal governments, so that no one branch - particularly the judiciary - usurps the authority of the other two, and to maintain the constitutional principles of federalism which divide power between the state and federal governments.
9. To secure our national sovereignty and domestic tranquility by maintaining a strong military; establishing and maintaining secure national borders; participating in international and diplomatic affairs without ceding authority to foreign powers that diminish or interfere with our unalienable rights; and being mindful of our history as a nation of immigrants, promoting immigration policies that observe the rule of law and are just, fair, swift, and foster national unity.
10. To secure a system of fair taxes that are not punitive against the institution of marriage or family and are not progressive in nature, and within a limited government framework to encourage economic opportunity, free enterprise, and free market competition.
We hereby pledge our names, our lives, and our sacred honor to this Declaration of American Values.

Does Dobson Speak for Me?

by Fidel "Butch" Montoya

One of the biggest concerns about the news media covering religious news and issues of Evangelicals revolves around the central fact of who actually represents the point of view of this large diverse group.

The on going controversy and questions as to whether the Religious Right is dead or is irrelevant to the issues of the 2008 Presidential election continues to generate more questions and interest in the mainstream news media.

This election year we have seen a resurgence of new voices raising concerns and wanting to be heard. Many members of the Evangelical sector of the Church have tired of being aligned with the voices of the Religious Right and in particular of Rev James Dobson.

In Colorado, a diverse and cross cultural interfaith group of religious leaders are tired of being misrepresented by Dobson and his cohorts at Focus in the Family and have formed “We Believe Colorado.” We Believe Colorado has committed to work together on issues of common interest and to represent faith groups not aligned with the dying breed of the Religious Right leadership.

A question continually bought up, “Is why does the cable and network news media think that Rev. James Dobson speaks for the majority of religious and value voters?” That is one question We Believe Colorado can answer. Dobson and company do not speak for the new voices of religious leaders fighting for justice and righteousness and who have no interest in taunting our faith as a wedge issue.

Faithful America, a national grassroots group committed and motivated by their faith to press for solutions to moral issues of our time, studied some interesting statistics and data after Rev. James Dobson’s crew dug up an old 2006 speech by Sen. Barack Obama on his faith.

You can just see it now, all these researchers at Focus on the Family focusing on finding old speeches by Senator Obama. They found at least one speech they could use to attack the senator.

Faithful America also reviewed the news coverage given to Rev. James Dobson’s unwarranted attack on Senator Obama’s 2006 speech. The critique centered on how the news media allowed itself to be hoodwinked by the Dobson speech machine and take as truth whatever Dobson claimed was news worthy.

We Believe Colorado immediately recognized Dobson’s remarks as mere propaganda from the oracles of Colorado Springs.

The question Faithful America asked was, “What religious story dominated the cable networks last week?”

Given two choices, what story do you think would create more news or opportunities to break it down for more interesting quotes and observations – the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life releasing a groundbreaking survey of 35,000 Americans documenting the diversity and tolerance of people of faith and the growing consensus by people of faith around issues like poverty and the environment or Rev Dobson attacking Sen. Obama’s 2006 speech?

The surprising or alarming answer to the question was the news cable talking heads and pundits chose the out dated 2006 speech.

Given the two choices, CNN, MSNBC, and FOX NEWS on Tuesday, June 24, mentioned the Rev. James Dobson’s comments 189 times criticizing the two year old Obama speech.

The new landmark Pew study and survey barely made the news with just 8 mentions.
This situation gives the impression that Obama’s 2006 speech is a priority in our religious community. Allowing the news media to pick our national spokespeople and issues is something we need to challenge.

Rev. James Dobson does not speak for me or many other interfaith religious leaders and it is time the national news media understands that fact.

To ignore ground breaking news from the Pew Institute for comments from an old speech that occurred two years ago is not only irrelevant to the issues of this election, but also irresponsible. It is merely creating a false narrative and distracts from the important issues of people of faith.

To continue to give Rev Dobson the title as national spokesperson for Evangelical religious leaders and believers is misleading the American public and distorts our values and faith priorities. It also sends a false picture of who we represent.

Clearly, Rev. James Dobson does not speak for me, so to the national media news editors/producers, “Get over it, Dobson is old news and his nasty misleading comments have no room in our efforts to use our faith to fight for justice and truth.”

Opinion: On homosexuality, Can we at least talk about it? By Professor David Gushee

Fidel "Butch" Montoya

Here is an interesting opinion piece by David Gushee, university professor from Mercer University - a tenured professorship that protects his freedom of speech and writing. Obviously, it is an issue that has created over a million sermons or as McDonald's would advertise..."billions and billons sold."

I don't suspect it will change anyone's opinions, but as Professor Gushee says, can we at least talk about it?

I guess you can say I am not "tenured" and some will find it wrong for me to even bring this subject up.

Professor Gushee was willing to write the op ed, I am just asking you to consider reading it.

It is a controversial issue, and always will be a wedge issue for some. It is an interesting article, I trust you will at least take the time to read it.

Fidel "Butch" Montoya
H. S. Power & Light - Faith Based Latino Initiative



Opinion: On homosexuality, can we at least talk about it?


By David Gushee

Published: March 27, 2008

(ABP) -- I'm one of the few leaders in Baptist life with the freedom to talk openly and honestly about the complex theological, moral, pastoral, and public policy issues raised by homosexuality without destroying myself professionally.

Because I hold a tenured professorship in Christian ethics at Mercer University, I am one of those rare souls who can talk candidly about this hot-button issue. And these days I'm finding it hard to avoid the nagging and unsought conviction that this freedom now demands responsible exercise.

Methodology is everything. Starting points are everything. Glen Stassen and I wrote a widely read book in which we argued that truly Christian ethics focuses relentlessly on Jesus Christ. It starts there, it dwells there, it ends there. All statements about Christian morality -- all statements about anything -- must fit with the Jesus we meet in the Gospels. Jesus is where God meets the world, and thus where any who bear his name must meet the world as well.

Jesus taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves. He defined neighbors to include everyone. Absolutely everyone. He sharpened that definition by calling us to attend to those regarded as the last, the least and the lost. The most rejected, the most hated, the most abandoned, the most feared, the most loathed, the most despised, the most mocked -- these are the people to whom Jesus most directs us to offer our love.

I go to press conferences sometimes and talk about what Christians ought to stand for in society. Two times in recent months I have finished one of these press conferences and been approached quietly afterwards. Both times a young man has handed me a business card and gently said something like this to me:  Please do not forget about me and people like me. They were homosexuals. They were seeking Christian love. They were asking for some help.

In my doctoral dissertation I studied Christians who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. I discovered that in that horrible drama there were essentially four categories of behavior: victim, perpetrator, rescuer and bystander. Most instances of mass evil involve a small number of direct perpetrators killing a large number of hated victims in the presence of a much larger group of acquiescent bystanders, and resisted by a tiny number of rescuers. Scalded by that research, I have vowed with God's help to be a rescuer kind of Christian.

In light of the hatred, mockery, loathing, fear and rejection directed at homosexuals in our society -- and in our churches -- I hope to God that I am not and never have been a perpetrator. But I fear I have indeed been a bystander. I am trying to figure out what it might mean to be a rescuer.

There are always very, very compelling reasons to be a bystander. Mainly these revolve around self-interest. You live longer when you are a bystander. People like you more. And even if you entertain nagging questions of conscience about your inaction, in the end it is easier to stay out of it. And so the hated group keeps getting thrown under the bus.

There are dozens of such particular flashpoints related to the issue of homosexuality. Christians, their churches, their denominations and their institutions are arguing about everything from homosexuality's causes to whether active gays can be church members or leaders to even whether gay couples can appear alongside other families in church pictorial directories.

I want to begin a dialogue in this column by simply calling for the rudiments of Christian love of neighbor to extend to the homosexual. And the place to begin is in the church -- that community of faith in which we have (reportedly) affirmed that Jesus Christ is Lord. I call for the following Christian commitments:

-- The complete rejection of still-common forms of speech in which anti-homosexual slurs (queer, fag ) are employed either in jest or in all seriousness

-- The complete rejection of a heart attitude of hatred, loathing, and fear toward homosexuals

-- The complete rejection of any form of bullying directed against homosexuals or those thought to be homosexuals

-- The complete rejection of political demagoguery in which homosexuals are scape goated for our nation's social ills and used as tools for partisan politics

-- The complete rejection of casual, imprecise and erroneous factual claims about homosexuality in preaching, teaching or private speech, such as,  All homosexuals choose to be that way.

-- The complete recognition of the full dignity and humanity of the homosexual as a person made in God's image and sacred in God's sight

-- The complete recognition that in any faith community of any size one will find persons wrestling with homosexuality, either in their own lives or the lives of people that they love

-- The complete recognition that when Jesus calls us to love our neighbors, that includes especially our homosexual neighbors, because the more a group is hated, the more they need Christ's love through us

There is more to be said. But this is at least a place to start.

-30-

-- David Gushee is distinguished university professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University. www.davidpgushee.com

Copyright �� 2005 Associated Baptist Press. All rights reserved.
All materials on this site may not be reproduced, except for personal, non-commercial use, and may not be distributed,transmitted, cached, or otherwise used, except with the prior written consent of Associated Baptist Press.

Lead or Move Aside

Fidel "Butch" Montoya

The struggle for justice and righteousness for undocumented immigrants is becoming a more difficult proposition. The Bush Administration is pushing for more and more enforcement of the antiquated immigration laws on the books.

Undocumented immigrants are now being held in new detention centers while they are being sentenced for up to five months in jail before deportation. This creates a basis to arrest the undocumented immigrant if they return to the USA as “criminals.”

The Homeland Security Department, specifically ICE is beginning to squeeze more and more communities with high “Latino” populations. There are more and more reports of ICE arresting and deporting USA citizens.

ICE has no inclination to trying to verify citizenship, only deportation. The government does not care if you are a citizen or not, if you don’t carry the necessary paper work, you are bound to be deported.

The New York Times reported that, “At the same time, in the last year, local police departments from coast to coast have rounded up hundreds of immigrants for nonviolent, often minor, crimes, like fishing without a license in Georgia, with the end result being deportation.”

In Oklahoma, the reports continue to come out that the police continue to target Latino drivers at roadside stops where documents are demanded by the police. Some of the Latino USA citizens are now carrying passports or birth certificates to avoid being jailed.

All across the country, Latino Evangelical churches are suffering in attendance as more and more of our brothers and sisters are afraid to go to church.

Afraid to go to church because we have seen the tentacles of corrupt ICE officials stalking Latino Christians in camp grounds, churches, homes, jobs, grocery stores, and schools.

It is a very sad time in our country where gasoline prices are at record high prices and continuing to climb with no end in sight.

The war in Iraq almost forgotten in the news media and the American memory of men and women who continue to die in a war with no end.

The American economy whirling out of control with higher prices for food, unemployment getting higher, and a recession causing more havoc with the economy and no one seems to really care.

Yet with all of these problems, many Americans continue to refuse to take the blinders off and continue to blame “Mexicans” for all of our problems.

Meanwhile, because the American economy is sliding downward, it is beginning to seriously affect the worldwide economies of other countries as well. Imagine a serious world wide recession on the horizon which I suppose we can blame on “the Mexicans” as well?

For many of the pastors and ministers who have not stopped to realize the consequences of a broken immigration policy and being run amuck by the Bush Administration’s policies, it is time to pray and seek God's wisdom.

Yet, I continue to be amazed at the apathy and uncaring attitude by many Latino Evangelical ministers who refuse to acknowledge that God demands that we “act justly, seek mercy, and walk humbly with our God.” (Micah 6)

To “act justly” is seek justice for the lost and unrepresented and not to use our Bible as blinders.

To “seek mercy” is to ensure that we do not allow injustice to create lack of respect for humanity as we pray in our stained glass churches.

To “walk humbly with our God,” means to understand we are not to be arrogant with our titles and knowledge…but to be servants to serve the needs of the people.

But as we continue to ask and beg pastors and ministers to pray for undocumented immigrants in our country who are being abused by unscrupulous businesspeople, a mean-spirited government, racism and bigotry of our neighbors and fellow Christians, we must continue to find more avenues of service beyond prayer.

We can encourage those members of our congregations who meet the requirements to become citizens to do so. We must encourage ALL who have not registered to vote, but who are qualified to do so, to register to vote. And most importantly, vote in greater numbers than Latinos did during the primaries.

Es Tiempo de Votar, It is Time to Vote! It is time for our community to vote and express our indignation at the failed policies of the past, and to vote for change that will bring solutions to the broken immigration policy of our country.

WE must not become the political pawns of any party. We must stay true to our community’s values and principles of family, life, and justice.

We do not seek the attention of any candidate that does not carry in his heart the values we hold true.

The Latino community must also demand that the politicos in the church and in the political parties to listen carefully to the demands we have for justice, liberty, and righteousness for all.

To our fellow Church “religious leaders” who have forgotten we must speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, lead or move aside.

Fidel “Butch” Montoya
H. S. Power & Light – Latino Faith Based Initiative

Who Answers the Phone at 3:00 a.m.?

Fidel "Butch" Montoya

The hour of defeat that Hillary Clinton fought so hard against to acknowledge is finally here. Hillary will hold an event in Washington D.C. to thank her supporters and pledge her support to Obama.

In a letter to supporters, Hillary says, “I made you, and everyone who supported me, a promise: to stand up for our shared values and to never look back. I’m going to keep that promise today, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life.”

As difficult as is to finally concede the race, there is no getting around the fact that Senator Obama reached the magic number of delegates he needed to make him the prospective nominee for the Democratic Party.

For Obama, who has risen to power in meteoric fashion, faces his first major challenge. He must try to convince Hillary supporters he is the best candidate.

Odd when you compare resumes, there simply was no contest. Hillary has worked her whole life for this moment, and in short fashion, it has been taken away by someone whose resume is still questionable.

In terms of experience, the questions will remain during the election season, but finally we will have the answer to the question, who best can respond to that 3:00 a.m. telephone call? McCain or Obama?

Yet in the middle of all of the new challenges now facing the Obama campaign is the fact that many Latino Hillary supporters have vowed not to support Obama.

Among 18 million Americans who voted for Hillary during the primaries, was the fact that the Latino vote gave Hillary the margin of victory in states like New Mexico, Texas, California and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

While obviously some Latinos will support Obama, there is still no indication where the majority of the Latino vote will go. The Latino vote was there for Hillary when her campaign needed their votes.

In her letter to supporters, Hillary also wrote that “together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise.” So will Latinos follow Hillary's advise and vote Obama or will McCain benefit from the Latino vote?

Yet, the Obama candidacy so far hasn’t been able to create much excitement in the Latino community. The crowds have come out to hear the candidate, but thus far the Latino vote was squarely in Hillary's corner.

I am not sure that Obama has made any noteworthy effort to reach out for this group of voters. If he has any plans to do so, now would be the right time to show that he intends to fight for the Latino vote.

At this point while Hillary makes her pledge to support Obama, it will interesting to see if her political decision affects the Latino voter one way or the other.

Will the Latino community listen how Obama intends to reach out on policy issues and other campaign issues important to this voting group or will they turn to help McCain, the champion of comprehensive immigration reform?

No question, the Latino vote remains a significant factor in the upcoming election season as McCain and Obama begin to fight for the right to be President.

Hillary will try to make the case for her supporters to work for Obama, “My differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.”

Yet 16 months is a long time to bash Obama and in one day try to convince her supporters that he is better than McCain. There will need to be efforts by Obama to ensure his Cabinet for one thing is reflective of our county.

Hillary’s prominence as a national political friend to the Latino community, with her defeat, it will be viewed as a great loss to the Latino community.

If the Democrat leadership expects the Latino community who supported Hillary to just drop their Hillary for President signs, shows they have not learned the lessons of this year’s primary.

Can McCain convince the Latino voter to support his Republican ticket? While other GOP candidates have squandered their chances of getting the Latino vote back, McCain is about the only one who could repeat as Bush did in bringing back 35% or more Latino voters. That could be the winning margin…again.

Let’s hope the Obama top advisors don’t believe the Latino vote will be there for the taking. For one thing, the Latino community will not just give its vote away again now or in the future.

It is time for Obama to show us that he intends to fight for the Latino vote, understanding that the margin of victory still may be in the hands of the Latino community.

Fidel "Butch" Montoya
H. S. Power & Light - Latino Faith Based Initiative

IMMIGRATION

Fidel "Butch" Montoya
Special to Caminos - Latino Quarterly - Chieftain - Pueblo, Colorado

New focus sought on immigration debate
Four Corners conference proposed to bring a rational voice to divisive issue.

While many pundits and political consultants predicted that immigration reform issues would be the hot wedge issue of the 2008 presidential campaign, the issue has all but disappeared from the national narrative on human justice.

Many felt the presidential campaign consultants would use the issue to create a climate of hate, division and fear.

For one thing, presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain, along with fellow U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, were co-authors of the comprehensive immigrant reform bill that Congress refused to act upon earlier this year. McCain backed away from the issue in fear of losing the conservative vote and no one has carried on the fight, and so it has become a back burner issue.

State legislatures across the country have tried to pass new “reform bills” but many of these bills are merely temporary fixes that will only reap more racism. These quick fixes will not create the solutions needed, except perhaps to create more chaos, confusion and fear about raids, deportations and fractured families.

Knowing that interest has waned nationally on undocumented immigration, Dr. Tom Acker, professor of Spanish at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, has come up with a novel plan along with other academic colleagues.

What they are proposing is a Four Corners conference that would be to revisit the issue of immigration and devise a new, strategic plan to present to the new president.

The conference would be the first of its kind in the Four Corners area of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. Acker hopes we would learn from one another experiences and draw from those perspectives to come up with a new approach.

I spoke with Acker and asked him why yet another conference on immigration.

“This perennial issue is emotionally charged and fraught with misunderstandings, half truths and fear mongering,” Acker said. “It is the role of an institution of higher learning to provide a space where this issue can be examined from multiple facets in a dispassionate, professional and academic manner.”

It would almost be like doing an autopsy, examining the issue from the experiences of the many individuals involved in the volatile issue. Participants would prepare a comprehensive report with a national agenda to restart the debate again, but only this time with a strategic plan of action.

Acker even has come up with a name for the conference that is devoid of the emotionalism and hate the issue entails.

He calls it the “Conference on Immigration: Its Social, Political, Economic, Pedagogical and Cultural Repercussions.”

He says they hope to have this conference sometime in April or May at Mesa State.

What Acker proposes and what has created the great interest, particularly along the Front Range, is what Acker says is a way to bring the doers and thinkers together.

It brings all of us to the table, to think together. What a novel idea!

“This conference will provide an opportunity for interaction between theory and praxis, the thinkers and the doers,” Acker said. “We hope that this event will create a synergy that, by inviting important keynote speakers whose expertise will generate interest, will attract serious regional participants in the conference as well.”

Imagine the undocumented immigration issue under the direction of theory and praxis, and with a goal to present the recommendations to the new president, and pledge to work with the new president to get it done right this time.

Fidel "Butch" Montoya is director of H.S. Power & Light, a Latino faith-based initiative, and former manager of safety for the city and county of Denver.