What If Someone Broke into Your House of Rhetoric?

Hey peeps.

So a page out of the anti-immigration reform movement’s playbook is some form of the following:

“What is someone broke into your house and stayed there. And ate your food, and had kids in your house, etc…”

I can not and will not speak for all of Latin America.

But I will take the liberty today to speak for some of el pueblo de México.

Here are three topics that you can start to research so as to better understand why Mexicans aren’t arbitrarily, “Breaking into your house.”

I’m not going to chew them up and spit them out into small bites for you. There’s already an incredible amount of solid information out there.

I’m a big believer that if this topic means something to you, (regardless of if you’re pro-immigration reform or anti-immigration reform,) then you need to go and educate yourself. Take ownership of your personal education on this issue.

1. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) - Who signed it? When was it signed? Why was it signed? Who came down from the mountains when NAFTA was signed, and why? What has happened to small farmers in Mexico since the signing of NAFTA? Has Mexico entered the “first world” as was promised upon the signing of NAFTA?

2. Neoliberalism - What is it? Is it good for the US? Is it good for Mexico?

3.  US Citizenship and Immigration Services - Spend some time on their website here. Pretend that you are  applying for permanent residency to the US, or that someone you love is applying for US permanent residency.

My recommendation would be to spend no less than 30 minutes in the site.Then look up the definition for institutionalized racism. See if you can make a connection between the two.

Once you’ve done all that, then I’d love to know if you think that undocumented Mexicans are still, “breaking into houses.”

Why Can’t Those “Illegals” Just Use the System?

Happy Friday peeps.

So a little story hour for your Friday. Pull up a seat, because this one’s a doozy.

OK, so a good friend of mine (US citizen) is married to a Mexican man.

Her husband had a US permanent residency appointment for Monday, December 28 of last year.

For those of you who don’t know, you just don’t stroll up to the US Consulate the day of your appointment. You have to arrive at least two days before, to complete a medical exam.

So if your US permanent residency appointment in Ciudad Juárez is for a Monday, you have to arrive the Thursday of the week before, to have a medical exam on Friday.

Then you get to spend the weekend in Ciudad Juárez , waiting for your Monday appointment.

The most dangerous city in all of Mexico.

And, of course, the US Consulate is closed the 24th and 25th of December. So if my friend and her husband didn’t postpone the appointment, he’d have to arrive in  Juárez on Wednesday, December 23rd.

That much more time to spend by himself in Juárez. Merry Christmas, indeed.

So they went through the correct and legal channels to reschedule his appointment. My friend was told that the appointment would be rescheduled in 2-3 months.

It took 5 months.

The appointment finally happened this month, in May.

Now, my friend’s husband doesn’t have any deportations on his record.

Never was undocumented in the US.

No criminal record in Mexico or the US.

He has a valid US tourist visa.

My friend is a US citizen with a clean record. Her father proudly served in the US military.

This past Tuesday, my friend and her husband received notice that he was denied permanent residency to the US.

Why?

Oooh, kids-this is my favorite part of today’s story.

We have to do this high-context style, and go back in time a little.

My friend was her husband’s financial sponsor for the permanent residency to the US.

At his permanent residency appointment, the US government wasn’t happy with my friend as her husband’s financial sponsor, so due to the US government’s error in mathematics, my friend’s father quickly stepped in to be the financial sponsor.

The father signed the correct documents, and sent over his tax records. Everything was scanned, and emailed to my friend’s husband in Ciudad Juárez.

The next morning, my friend’s husband handed in the documents at the US Consulate. A consulate worker reviewed the documents, and told my friend’s husband that everything was fine, and to wait 2-3 days for a DHL package.

Cool. My friend’s husband flew back home.

Very kind people – you know who are:) – agreed to pick up his DHL package, and send it to the city where my friend and her husband live.

Because this is another lovely trick by the US Consulate in Ciudad Juárez; their response time is supposedly 2-3 days after your appointment. But the US Consulate’s response is sent to the DHL store in, yep, you guessed it-Ciudad Juárez.

So if you don’t have someone kind enough to pick up your package for you, you need to wait out those 2-3 days.

More time to kill in Ciudad Juárez.

OK-so my friend and her husband finally got their DHL package in their home this past Tuesday.

The package had the husband’s Mexican passport, and the denial letter.

The letter said that his application was denied because…

The US Consulate in Ciudad Juárez needed original signatures on the financial support documents from the father, i.e., they couldn’t be scanned.

So, when the US Consulate worker reviewed the documents in front of my friend’s husband, they couldn’t have told him that right then?

My friend’s father express mailed the same documents with the original signatures to them. My friend and her husband went to the local DHL offices, and sent the originals with them, along with the husband’s Mexican passport, back to the US Consulate in Ciudad Juárez.

In the denial letter, they were told that they had an opportunity to re-send the materials.

Now to send the documents and the passport from the city where they live to Juárez is approximately $300 Mexican pesos, around $23 US right now.

How much does it cost for the US Consulate to send back the husband’s Mexican passport with an answer?

$100 US dollars. I’m so not kidding.

The $100 is of course on top of the application fees, lawyer fees that they paid up to this point, plus paying for the trip to Juárez. (flight, hotel, food)

Did it say in the denial letter from the US Consulate how long it will take for a response? No.

Are my friend and her husband absolutely 100% sure that they will get a yes on the US permanent residency? No.

Was her husband’s valid tourist visa shredded at the US consulate? Yes.

They had travel plans coming up next week for an important family event in the States. He is almost 100% not going.

My friend openly talks about her high level of privilege in the many different areas of her life.

And yet, even her husband’s case, his US permanent residency case isn’t a slam-dunk.

Big sigh.

BP should talk with the US Consulate in Ciudad Juárez:

I’m sure that the US Consulate in Ciudad Juárez has a ton of extra papers that they could get rid of to plug the gushing oil leak.

At least in that case, a person’s legal permanent residency application to the US would be put to some good use, no?

Carlos and Amy

Hey Peeps,

So I often get asked by U.S. citizens, “What can I do to make a difference in U.S. immigration reform?”

Today’s here is something tangible that you can do to help Carlos, Amy, and their young son Lucas.

At the moment, Carlos has a lifetime ban from entering the U.S. You can read why here.

A paragraph from their blog:

“All this because of one unfortunate day when he was 16, when he was forced by a parent to seek entry to the US using a relative’s US birth certificate instead of the visitor’s visa he already possessed. Under immigration law — INA 212 A 6 C ii to be specific — a false claim of US citizenship carries a lifetime ban with no waiver. Still, the fact that Carlos was ineligible for the waiver was a surprise to most who knew our case, including the wildly successful immigration lawyer who we consulted with prior to attending the interview. Evidently the immigration world had been misinformed, because everyone was under the impression the consulate would not be applying this law to people who were minors at the time the incident occurred.”

And for those of you who don’t know, Carlos isn’t the only one in this situation, i.e., the lifetime ban because of a false claim of citizenship as a minor.

Carlos and Amy are now pushing for a private bill to allow Carlos into the U.S.

If this were to happen, it would pave the way for others in his situation with the lifetime ban.

So please visit their website. Read their story. And I hope that you decide to help.

They need letters. Check out their instructions here.

Join them on Facebook and Twitter. Spread the word.

Use your U.S. privilege to make a difference in one family’s life.

A victory for one is a victory for all. 

Governor Jan Brewer and I are Both Women

So in case there’s any doubt, I’m 100% against SB1070.

But today I want to talk about Gov. Jan Brewer.

Once she signed SB1070 into law, a trend popped up and raised its ugly head.

I’ve seen Brewer called everything online from a “white-ass bitch” to a “fucking cunt.” Obviously not my words, but the words of others who claim to be pro-immigration activists.

And if I had a dollar for every comment ridiculing her looks, about Brewer’s physical self? Well, then I’d be a happy millionaire living in Mexico by now.

As a feminist and an immigration activist, I find this trend disturbing. Here’s my question for the day:

How is making fun of Gov. Jan Brewer’s physical self, or tearing into her womaness any different from her saying that SB1070 doesn’t involve racial profiling?

Why are some of us in the pro-immigration reform movement resorting to this?

Do some of you feel that it’s OK to deride a woman’s looks/womaness/etc, simply because you don’t agree?

How is this helping our cause?

When I see the misogynistic garbage flying about Gov. Jan Brewer, I get heated.

You simply don’t have the right to blow an anti-woman gasket because you’re pro-immigration reform.

I expect better from you. I demand better from you.

I’m not only an ardent pro-immigration activist. I’m also a woman.

And one part of me never gets ridiculed for the benefit of the other.

African Voices, Mis Raices, and My Husband

Hey Peeps.

I added a lovely new donation button to my blog. Feel free to give it a whirl!:)

So this morning I watched the CNN show African Voices. They interviewed Chef Marcus Samuelsson. He was born in Ethiopia, and raised in Sweden. His wife, the model Maya Haile, was born in Ethiopia, and raised in Holland. They met in Harlem, New York.

Great interview. I was most touched by how Samuelsson talked about Haile. You can get a sample-size taste of his feelings  here.

It really resonated with me, this idea that Haile brings  Samuelsson so much closer to Ethiopia.

I feel that way with R and Mexico. While I wasn’t born here, R helps me to understand my Mexican roots. (My mother is Mexican.)

I came to Mexico under extremely painful circumstances. But I appreciate my Mexican roots on a much deeper level now. R is my main cultural translator, even after nine years of living here.

There’s a quiet pride that I feel in getting my head around Mexico and mis raices. That pride is directly connected to a lot of R’s assistance and patience.

Listen, may you all have a cultural translator like R.

How else to understand Mexico, this country where the surreal, the spiritual and the corrupt sit together up by the bar and do shots that have been blessed by a priest?

Enjoy your weekend:)

The Silver Springs Second Grader Who Made Me Cry

Hey Kids. Happy Thursday.

So President Calderon gave a speech to the US Congress today. I was honestly amazed at how President Calderon painted a bright picture of Mexico rising from the ashes. The Mexico that he proudly described is not one that myself or my husband presently live in.

I’d love to be a princess in President Calderon’s fanciful fairy tale. I’ll take a number and wait. If you know anything about lines and waiting in Mexico, you know that I’ll be sitting here a good long while. Perhaps a lifetime.

President Calderon’s speech to the US congress will eventually fade from my mind.

What memory will never fade for me?

The second grade girl in Silver Spring, Maryland who said yesterday to First Lady Michelle Obama, “”My mom … she says that Barack Obama is taking everybody away that doesn’t has (sic) papers.”

And when First Lady Michelle Obama tried to placate her, the little girl said, “But my Mom doesn’t have any papers.”

It’s amazing how one little 2nd grade girl can breathe down a country’s neck.

Sweet girl, your bravery moves me deeply. May you and your mother stay safe.

The Perfect Martyr and the Complete Saint

You know, my husband is a person. Sounds obvious, but I feel like stating the obvious today.

For me, R isn’t words on a page, or a photo on display during my show, The Deportee’s Wife. And he most certainly isn’t perfect.

He’s a good man who sometimes says the wrong thing. Like today.

What did he say? Listen, it really doesn’t matter. I’ll get over it. There are times when I say stupid things and he gets over it as well.

In any long-term relationship, stupid things are said.

What I’m trying to express here is that my marriage is sometimes as ordinary as a routine trip to the supermarket. Just like everybody else.

While the issue of immigration is a constant fly buzzing around us, we’re not always present to it 24/7. We don’t live in a perpetually heightened emotional state, due to what’s happening in the world of US immigration.

Sure, we get heated and engaged over the issues in our own ways. But many nights we zone out on our sofa and channel surf.

We have that “luxury.” We don’t live in Arizona. My husband’s already been deported.

Sometimes though, it just really sucks. This perception that my husband is a a perfect martyr for the cause, and that I’m a complete saint for joining him.

Regardless of what US government wants to call us, R and I are imperfect human beings.

On days like today, it would be cool to be treated as people, and not as front-page fodder for or against US immigration reform.

When Pro-Immigration Righteousness Silences Dialogue

Hey kids. So today I want to address an elephant in my room.

I want to talk about the people who don’t agree with me 100% around immigration issues.

But I’m not talking about the people who scream in the comments section on a news website.

I’m talking about people in my life. People in my real world. On my Facebook page. College buddies. Former co-workers. People who went to the same high school in Long Island.

Last fall, I toured the US with my show, The Deportee’s Wife. My friend H came to see it in New York City. H and I go way, way back both on-stage and off.

A few days later, we were had breakfast at a diner in Manhattan. I’d like to think of it as “our place” when I see H in New York.

At one point, H said softly, “You know, I have to tell you, when I saw your show, there was a part of me all the way through that thought, yeah, well, R was in the US illegally. There’s a price to pay for that.”

We had a great dialogue about it. I acknowledged where he was at, and he did the same for me.

Safe space for us to explore and discuss what we needed to on the issue.

I didn’t necessarily change his mind on his point. But that was O.K. at the time. Still is.

H offered to help me to streamline the video part of my show. That meant a lot more to me than having him “agree” with me. Still does.

In an email this morning, another friend G (who coincidentally was also at that same NYC show as H) wrote that he doesn’t agree with me 100% around immigration issues.

But he recently had my back in an online post, in response to one of the Internet “screamers.”

He’d like to explore our views on immigration in a more in-depth manner. I’m looking forward to it.

So peeps, protests and marches have their place. So do letters, phone calls and the like.

But when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, I’m putting out a call to the pro-immigration activists in the US:

Don’t forget about your real-world and online backyard.

Do you just assume that people in your life agree with your views on immigration?

Have you taken the time to ask?

Have you taken even more time to listen?

Or are you “too busy” fighting for immigration reform?

Just sayin’, kids. I’m just sayin’.

¡Viernes de Video! The Electric Company

¡Viernes de Video!

This week’s video was inspired by the pendejadas that Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Electricidad dealt R and I this week in terms of our home electric bill.

And the PBS show The Electric Company was one of my favorites during my 70′s childhood.

Tune in tomorrow for a piping hot new post!

When I Try To Be More Mexican Than A Mexican

Peeps, for the record: Today is not Mexico’s Independence Day.

Before I met R, I thought that the big and important day for Mexicans was Cinco de Mayo.

R and I were dating for a month when our first one rolled around. Trying to impress him, I said that we should go out.

“For what?”

“To celebrate Mexico’s independence.”  I spread out my arms for special emphasis.

“Today isn’t it.”

But I made a fuss. So we went to a Mexican bar/restaurant on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

R was the only Mexican customer. All the other Mexicans in the joint were employees.

And there was me, the half-Mexican.

The restaurant was full of white-looking customers chugging Coronas, and demanding that their dishes,  “Not be too spicy.”

R rolled with it, his eyes dancing with laughter.

But kids, there’s a fine line between cultural competence, and trying to be more Mexican than a Mexican.

I’ve crossed that line more times than I care to admit. That Cinco de Mayo with R back in ’99 was the first time. But it certainly wasn’t the last.

So my suggestion? Take the time to learn today when is Mexico’s Independence Day, and why it happened.

Also take the time today to learn about May 5th in Mexico’s history.

After that?

Drink as many Coronas as your little wanna-be Mexican heart desires.