Green Card Marriage

Of course the idea of me getting married just for a green card has crossed my mind once or twice and why not ? Not only would I get a green card but I would have a loving wife as well. However, like everything else in life, it's not that simple. I'm 24 and I'm no where near ready to be married yet. Not just because I like my freedom, but because I haven't found the right "one." I am not one to just get married for a green card. Marriage is something huge and to just do it all casual like that isn't in me because that is one of the biggest disrespects to my heritage, people, family and community. My barber says that he did it to help out someone back in the '80s and he was compensated for it. He didn't sleep with her or fall in love. He just said they were married for a few years until she got her green card and got divorced after it was all said and done. To him it was just like doing a favor for a friend. That being said the marriage thing has popped up every now and then between friends in a casual fashion of course. Most of the time we joke around about it and don't go beyond there. They joke about who would want to marry an ass hole like or say that I'm just not handsome enough to even get someone to marry me. It's all for shit and giggles or course. They all get a good laugh when I tell them my parents tried to buy me a wife so I could get my papers. When I asked my parents about it they said they were willing to put down some serious cash for a girl that would hook-up with me for papers. I asked them why didn't they go through with and they said that I would be too much of a punk and I wouldn't agree to it or something like. They basically said I wasn't ma enough to do it. Even if I were to find someone and have the money to do it, with the way things are now, we would have to prove our marriage pretty extensively and keep it alive for several years before even considering a divorce. Can you imagine I take a girl to my house and my wife is there. I introduce them and get dumped because the other girl gets the wrong idea. Sigh.... Besides I don't get much luck with the ladies either. Not having papers makes me not really go out and try to meet girls because I know that if anything is to happen I would eventually have  to fill them in to my situation. I know I wrote a past post similar to this one, but that was when my last girlfriend left me and I needed to vent. While marriage is a great option and a simple one, if it's not for love then it's not even an option.  

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

We all have our own personal feelings about ICE and all the raids taking place all over the United States, so when I saw their bus parked outside a federal building I just couldn't help myself. I had to stop by and say "Fuck You." Course these are just MY OWN PERSONAL FEELINGS. But I'm sure there are other people out there who might feel the say way I do. 

Ask A Mexican - My Dad the Illegal immigrant

Gustavo Arrellano of ask a Mexican fame wrote a great opinion piece Sunday in the L.A. Times. Nothing ground breaking or important, just a good read. Check it out. I'm sure a lot of people share the same sentiments and experiences that he writes about. 

I'm glad that my father entered this country illegally. If he had come "the right way," our family's success would've been chalked up as just another example of immigrant can-do. But as an illegal, his accomplishments (as well as mine and my siblings') contradict the conventional wisdom regarding undocumented Mexicans that's been prevalent for this decade. My father's repeated breaking of immigration law is further proof that this country can and does rehabilitate all of her huddled masses, whether legal or not. Personally, his stories motivate me. If my father could leave his life back in therancho and risk everything at age 18, I have no excuse to whine about anything. And his stories reward me with the pleasure of watching anti-immigrant loons stumble for words when I ask them to explain how my father and my family could've excelled considering that we come from alien stock.  Dad isn't perfect by any means -- indeed, he's suffered through most of the pathologies that many people attribute to illegal immigrants: Alcoholism. Fecundity. Lack of education. Failure to fully assimilate. It doesn't matter. The life he's crafted for himself is no different from your typical white, middle-class Valley resident who rails about the Mexican invasion. 

Sign the Dream Act Petition

I found a link to an online petition to have the Governor sign the California Dream Act SB 1301. This is the version of the Dream Act which would help AB 540 college students qualify for financial aid. The bill passed on August 31 and has been waiting for him to sign it or deny it. In what has become an annual rite, the Assembly also passed a measure by Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), SB 1301, to allow illegal immigrant students to receive financial aid at state universities. Schwarzenegger has twice vetoed similar legislation, saying it would siphon financial aid from students whose parents obeyed immigration laws. The wording for the bill has been changed because in previous times the Governor said that the bill would take away much needed money from the state. Those issues have been addresses and the Governor should have no reason to not pass it anymore. I also got an email about the bill and some numbers people can call to urge legislators to support and help pass the bill. Go and sign it. Or don't. It's up to you.  

“MESSAGE:  Please vote for the California Dream Act SB 1301 which may be heard on the Assembly Floor today.  California needs all the educated workforce it can produce.  We should be educating all of California’s high school graduates regardless of immigration status. “

 

•           (916) 319-2001 Patty Berg, Eureka

•           (916) 319-2006 Jared Huffman, San Rafael

•           (916) 319-2007 Noreen Evans, Santa Rosa

•           (916) 319-2008 Lois Wolk, Davis

•           (916) 319-2009 Dave Jones, Sacramento

•           (916) 319-2011 Mark DeSaulnier, Martinez

•           (916) 319-2012 Fiona Ma, San Francisco

•           (916) 319-2013 Mark Leno, San Francisco

•           (916) 319-2014 Loni Hancock, Berkeley

•           (916) 319-2016 Sandré Swanson, Oakland

•           (916) 319-2017 Cathleen Galgiani, Tracy

•           (916) 319-2018 Mary Hayashi, Hayward

•           (916) 319-2019 Gene Mullin, South San Francisco

•           (916) 319-2020 Alberto Torrico, Fremont

•           (916) 319-2021 Ira Ruskin, Redwood City

•           (916) 319-2022 Sally Lieber, Mountain View

•           (916) 319-2023 Joe Coto, San Jose

•           (916) 319-2024 Jim Beall, San Jose

•           (916) 319-2027 John Laird, Santa Cruz

•           (916) 319-2028 Anna Caballero, Salinas

•           (916) 319-2030 Nicole Parra, Hanford

•           (916) 319-2031 Juan Arambula, Fresno

•           (916) 319-2035 Pedro Nava, Santa Barbara

•           (916) 319-2039 Felipe Fuentes, Sylmar

•           (916) 319-2040 Lloyd Levine, Van Nuys

•           (916) 319-2041 Julia Brownley, Santa Monica

•           (916) 319-2042 Mike Feuer, Los Angeles

•           (916) 319-2043 Paul Krekorian, Burbank

•           (916) 319-2044 Anthony Portantino, Pasadena

•           (916) 319-2045 Kevin de León, Los Angeles

•           (916) 319-2046 Fabian Núñez, Los Angeles

•           (916) 319-2047 Karen Bass, Los Angeles

•           (916) 319-2048 Mike Davis, Los Angeles

•           (916) 319-2049 Mike Eng, Monterey Park

•           (916) 319-2050 Hector De La Torre, South Gate

•           (916) 319-2051 Curren Price, Jr., Inglewood

•           (916) 319-2052 Mervyn Dymally, Los Angeles

•           (916) 319-2053 Ted Lieu, Torrance

•           (916) 319-2054 Betty Karnette, Long Beach

•           (916) 319-2055 Warren Furutani, Gardena

•           (916) 319-2056 Tony Mendoza, Artesia

•           (916) 319-2057 Ed Hernandez, Baldwin Park

•           (916) 319-2058 Charles Calderon, Whittier

•           (916) 319-2061 Nell Soto, Ponoma

•           (916) 319-2062 Wilmer Carter, Rialto

•           (916) 319-2069 Jose Solorio, Anaheim

•           (916) 319-2076 Lori Saldaña, San Diego

•           (916) 319-2079 Mary Salas, Chula Vista

 

 

Denise Marie Lopez, Field Representative 
Office of State Senator Gilbert Cedillo, 22nd District 
617 S. Olive Street, Suite 710
Los Angeles, CA 90014
P 213-612-9566

F 213-612-9591   

The Detention Watch Network

School has started again and I have a list of things that need posting because I fell asleep at the wheel for a while. There is a website that tracks and locates all of the immigration detention centers in the entire United States. The Detention Watch Network has listings for courts, community organizations and useful information about the facilities. The interactive map

 helps find the aforementioned facilities closest to you. This is a tremendous resource for anyone who knows of anyone who may have been arrested, in the process of being deported or may be seeking information. 

Designed to increase awareness about the hidden and rapidly expanding detention system, the map includes in-depth information about the far-flung network of 350-plus detention centers, private prisons, and local jail facilities that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) uses to detain immigrants. “It is incredibly difficult to find someone once they have been detained.  Family members, lawyers and friends will now be able to use this map to locate their loved ones. It will also be a critical resource for advocates and provide a strong visual tool to educate the U.S. public and policy makers about this hidden system,” said Andrea Black, Network Coordinator.

With so many stories in the last month dealing with people being deported, this web site will hopefully help those in need. There's the story of a young woman who was brought here to the U.S. at an early age and grew up in the here. She got caught using a fake social at the library she was working at and is now being deported even though people in the town say it's wrong for ICE to do so. Then there was that raid that got 595 immigrants arrested in Mississippi that was a time bomb waiting to explode because many residents in that community felt that Mexicans were taking all their jobs. 

Fabiola Pena considered running away from her factory job when she realized she was being targeted in a federal immigration raid. She was deterred when she noticed the helicopters hovering overhead. But helicopters were not what shocked Pena the most on her last, fateful day at Howard Industries, the largest employer in this small Southern town. It was the black co-workers who clapped and cheered, Pena said, as she and hundreds of other Latino immigrant laborers were arrested and hauled away. "They said we took their jobs, but I was working from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.," said Pena, 21, a day after the raid last week that resulted in the arrest of nearly 600 suspected illegal immigrants. "I didn't see them working like us."

The raids are never going to stop and neither is all the hate and bigotry in America. That's why we all have to help them see the truth and stop being angry at people who only want a better life for themselves and their kids. 

What part of legal immigration don't you understand ?

It has come to my attention that writing post about raids, bills and life experiences as an immigrant, I have never explained how the U.S. immigration process works and how I'm still outside the "circle". Thus rather than spending time explaining it in words, I received an email that not only explains the process, but it also has illustrations to go along with it.

Just in case there's anything wrong with the picture or you can't see it clearly, I'll include the link to it. The chart is an accurate representation of how the legal immigration process works and how hard it is to legally immigrate and become a legal resident and U.S. citizen. Of course it doesn't include all the different type of visas and special conditions that are also out there to help victims of crimes or those seeking political asylum, but it's a great illustration non the less. Pass it on.