We Are Who We Want To Be: Dreamers

Here’s a sample of what Nevada Representatives Joe Heck (R-3) and Mark Amodei (R-4) voted against on June 6, 2013 in the Congress of the United States of America –

“For most of her life Anna Ledesma has been afraid. She was a model student at Centennial High School in Las Vegas – an artist and a member of Key Club. As one of the top academics at her large high school, she received the Millennium Scholarship to study nursing at the College of Southern Nevada. Now she’s studying hard for her nursing exams. But 23-year-old Anna has lived for a long time with the constant fear that she will be deported.

Anna is an undocumented immigrant. She was born in the Philippines and brought here by her parents when she was 7 years old. She was in the second grade.”  [Reid Senate]

Individuals like Anna Ledesma are the reason for the Morton Memo directives.   And, as noted yesterday, on June 6th Representatives Heck and Amodei voted in favor of the King Amendment to H.R. 2217 which would prohibit implementation of those directives.

Yeah but: She’s still an “illegal immigrant.”  Coming here illegally is a crime.  Not so fast.  Note that Anna came here at age 7.  Nevada law is specific on the subject of who can be punished for a criminal act — and who can’t.

“NRS 194.010  Persons capable of committing crimes.  All persons are liable to punishment except those belonging to the following classes: 1.  Children under the age of 8 years. 2.  Children between the ages of 8 years and 14 years, in the absence of clear proof that at the time of committing the act charged against them they knew its wrongfulness.  3.  Persons who committed the act charged or made the omission charged in a state of insanity.”

You don’t have to get any further than item one to determine that she was not old enough to be legally capable of committing a criminal act in the state of Nevada.

The Infancy Defense is slightly different in the federal courts.  In terms of Common Law,  persons under the age of seven are presumed incapable of forming the requisite intent to commit a criminal act; a person between the ages of 7 and 13  “a child is rebuttably presumed incapable of forming a culpable mental state. ” [C&D]   U.S. law presumes the applicability of the infancy defense for children under the age of 11.

Yeah but:  “Dreamers” will crowd into our institutions of higher education and place an unconscionable burden on our already cash strapped institutions. [CIS] We could fix that by adequately financing our public colleges and universities — but that would require someone to pay some … taxes.  Most radical right arguments assume a high number of enrollees, and further  presume that no one — under any circumstances — should ever pay more … taxes.   Conveniently omitted from the conservative assertions is the fact that immigrant families DO pay taxes, and they also tend not to take into consideration the fact that individuals, like the Dreamers,  who complete college degrees add to the U.S. economy.

As of May 2013 the unemployment rate for persons with less than a high school diploma was 11. 1%.  The unemployment rate for high school graduates was 7.4%.  Those with some college experience or an associates degree are looking at an unemployment rate of 6.5%, while those with a college degree (or more) are experiencing an unemployment rate of 3.8%.  [BLS Table A4]

The logic is relatively simple — since those with more education are less likely to be unemployed they must be in the work force.  If they are in the work force they are earning money, with which they will make consumer purchases and pay taxes.   Why wouldn’t a government at any level want more individuals enrolled in post secondary education?  It pays off in the long run.

Meanwhile back at Senator Reid’s exemplar — I thought we needed nurses?  The median age of a nurse in this country is 46 and some 50% of our nurses are nearing retirement. [ANA]  Those who argue that there is no current nursing shortage (WSJ) seem to be assuming the recession is going to last forever.  Those nurses who put off retirement during the downturn are going to be looking at the prospect again as the overall economy improves.  And it does look to be improving for those in the “education and health care” sector, which saw a 5.3% unemployment rate in May 2012 and a 4.8% rate as of May 2013.  [BLS Table A 14]  The Occupational Outlook for registered nurses is a “faster than average” rate of +26% during the 2010-2012 decade.

Median pay for a registered nurse is about $65,000 annually.  [OOH]  So, if we perhaps had a few more individuals who would like to complete the training necessary to enter a field with optimistic prospects for employment, and to earn $65,000 per year which in turn flows into the economy with some of that amount paid in taxes — What’s the problem?

Yeah but: This is sending a “horrible message.”  [Atl] All those “illegal” people will clamor to send their children to American schools…. Kids the world over will leave their friends, their families, and their homes to come …. Whoa.  Some few might leave their families, but anyone who’s ever been accompanied by an adolescent offspring on vacation knows full well that removing the said adolescent from the peer group — even temporarily –  is the social equivalent of multiple root canal surgeries. So, if the extrapolation of Immigration Nightmares is patently irrational, what explains the opposition?

If the message that we want ambitious, education oriented, civic minded, enterprising, and industrious  individuals to come to this country is “horrible,” what would be the reverse position?  Not to put too fine a point to it, but for some opponents of immigration reform the answer is “Nobody.”  No one would be welcome, and they’d be even less welcome should the persons in question be non-WASPs.

This has been an all too common refrain, a chorus repeated as The Nation Was Being Changed From What We Were by — Germans, Irish, Italians, Poles, Slovaks, Russians  — OK we’d have missed out on John Jacob Astor (born Heidelberg), the ancestors of Bill O’Reilly and Danica Patrick, Domingo Ghirardelli (Who doesn’t love chocolate? Born in Rapallo, Italy),  Max Factor, Sr. (born in Lodz), the fourth son of Slovakian immigrant Andrej Varhola, known to us as Andy Warhol,  and Yuliy Borisovich Briner (born Vladivostok, AKA Yul Brynner).     With no apologies to any of the Nativists — if they can indeed figure out who besides the Native Americans actually ARE natives — the Astors, the Patricks, the Ghirardellis, the Factors, the Warhols, the Brynners, the Longorias, the Musials, the Goldwyns, the Warners, the Sikorskys, the Sanchezes, the Trevinos, the Hinojosas — ARE who we ARE.

Maybe we were sending the right message all along?

GOP: Hey Little Lady, Go Home, Sit Down, and Shut Up

What might be so controversial about reauthorizing the 1994 Violence Against Women Act that not a single Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee was willing to support the bill? [NYT] The problem areas? Patently obvious:

“The main sticking points seemed to be language in the bill to ensure that victims are not denied services because they are gay or transgender and a provision that would modestly expand the availability of special visas for undocumented immigrants who are victims of domestic violence — a necessary step to encourage those victims to come forward.”  [NYT]

It’s all about the usual anti-gay, anti-immigrant rhetoric from the Republican Party.   The GOP did have a substitute, but it cut out the improvements in the bill, called for a huge reduction in spending, and sought the elimination of the Department of Justice office which administers the enforcement of the law.

Last week we were treated to the spectacle of rules published by the Department of Health and Human Services for basic health insurance coverage, to include contraception, and the Conference of Bishops tossing a hissy about insurance corporations being made to pay for employee health benefits — which some Catholic institutions like DePaul University already provide.  The latest incarnation of the GOP attack on women comes on the heels of this Poutrage in the form of an amendment from Senator Blunt (R-MO). Unfortunately, he isn’t alone. The National Women’s Law Center explains:

What would happen if some of these bills became law?

• Any employer could offer a plan that does not cover maternity care for unmarried women in its plan, claiming that such coverage violates its belief that sex and procreation are permissible only within the marital relationship. (Amendment No. 1520 sponsored by Senator Blunt, R-MO, also known as the “Blunt Amendment”/H.R. 1179)

• Any corporation whose CEO opposes contraception based on his “moral convictions” could deny all coverage of contraception or any other service to the company’s employees. Even more disturbing, a CEO’s view of “morality” could potentially include concern for the cost of a particular benefit. (S. 2092, also known as “The Manchin-Rubio Bill” and the “Blunt Amendment”/H.R. 1179)

• Any employer who objects to coverage of vaccines for children could deny this coverage to all employees. (The “Blunt Amendment”/H.R. 1179)

In the winners column we have “The Health Insurance Corporations” which would no longer be required to cover maternity expenses, contraception medication, and children’s vaccinations. In the losers column insert women and their families from one coast to the other.

The Republican controlled House of Representatives has had time to consider 27 bills dealing directly or indirectly with abortions (but no time to take up any jobs bills), even though the subject is of intense interest to only 3% of the U.S. population. [PRpt]   In 2011, H.R. 3 pulled some slick drafting tricks to narrow the definition of rape such that victims of rape had to prove they were impregnated by force. [ReidRpt]

Why make Planned Parenthood a special target? Because 3% of its services are abortion related. [PP]  Republicans seem to have no trouble advocating birth control for wild horses, but stop cold when it comes to women who aren’t resident feral equines on public lands. [BFC]

There have always been voices from the extreme right advocating against the access women have to the courts in cases of domestic abuse, the vestiges of the Rule of Thumb Crowd (don’t hit your wife with any stick greater in diameter than your thumb), and there have been some marginal calls for removing access to contraceptive prescriptions.  The problem for women (and their husbands) in 2012 is that these formerly extreme positions have now become part of the Republican mainstream.

All the more reason for women NOT to sit down, shut up and stay home in 2012.

>Dear Sharron Angle: How Do You Have An Immigrant Crime Wave When The Numbers Are Dropping?

>** There seems to be no depth too great for the Sharron Angle campaign — the latest immigrant bashing advertising is, as can be noted elsewhere, a dismal effort at xenophobic racism. Here’s the link to the commercial, which you can see if you must. The most obvious point is that the fearmongering continues from the Angle camp, despite all evidence pointing toward the contrary.

There is no flood. The latest available information from the American Community Survey (Census Bureau) shows Nevada has 484,537 foreign born residents. That’s approximately 19% of our total population.  Of the foreign born population 180,151 are naturalized citizens. [ACS] 344,006 came to Nevada before 2000. [ACS] Is there a sudden influx of foreign born residents in Nevada? Not if you consider that 334,006 arrived before 2000 while approximately 140,531 have arrived after 2000. [ACS]

There is no crime wave. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports violent crimes have declined nationwide since 2008 by approximately 11.2%. (*pdf file) Incidents of rape and sexual assault declined 38.7%. Robberies are down 4.%. Assaults are down 12.9%. Household burglaries have been reduced by 2.6%. Motor vehicle theft is down 8.4%, and other forms of theft off 6.0%.  We can get closer to home by looking at the statistics from the Clark County Sheriff’s office in its Annual Report. (* pdf file) In 2009, the law enforcement officials were serving and protecting 1,432,590 persons in their jurisdiction. The annual report provides crime rate comparisons in this jurisdiction for the previous five years (2004-2009) The murder and non-negligent homicide crime rate is down 29%. Forcible rape reports are down 4%. Aggravated assaults are down 21%. Burglaries are down 21%. Thefts are down 28%. Auto theft is down 54%. Total crimes against property are down 34%.

If there is no “flood,” and there is no “crime wave,” then the only logical conclusion one could reach about the Angle campaign ad is that it is a blatant racist ploy to pander to the illogical and irrational fears of people who are ill-informed or ill-willed.

** If you haven’t already, click on over to Maven & Meddler’s summary of the conservative and Republican groups pouring money into Nevada and other states during this election season.  Here’s a list of the Senators who voted against the DISCLOSE Act: No Votes. The list includes Nevada Senator John Ensign (R). 

>Tancredo’s Babel-ing

>
“We have a cult of multiculturalism. This is what permeates our society,” he said. Immigrants who come to the United States but refuse to assimilate by learning the language and following the laws water down what it means to be an American, he said. “It’s a cultural, political, linguistic tower of Babel,’ he said.” Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) Des Moines Register Feb. 4, 2007 via (Huffington Post)

Unfortunately, the Know Nothing Party Platform of 1856 doesn’t seem to be quite dead yet. [Ans.com] Those 60 or so diehard nativists who showed up for Tancredo’s speech may well be the anti-intellectual descendents of the Philadelphia Bible Rioters of 1844. [Wiki] Or, the modern day version of those who supported the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Whomever they may be, they are a group whose time perhaps never was, and if it ever was — then it certainly should be over and gone by now.

What encouragement these cultural xenophobes receive of late comes from the right wing rantings of Islamophobic and Hispanophobic radio commentators, and their equally irresponsible print colleagues. This “Babel” gave us Italian opera and pasta, Irish bars and St. Patrick’s Day, German sausage and beer — why else would the All American Pastime include the Milwaukee Brewers? One of the joys of visiting San Francisco is being in a Taco Bell listening to Chinese American teens ordering burritos. That’s America.

It’s just as well that Tancredo’s spiel only captured the attention of 60 people in Des Moines — his version of vanilla-drab tribal unAmericanism sounds perfectly, and absolutely, boring. Now, is there someone who knows where to get a good plate of Dejaj Meshwi in Nevada?