The wetback drove from Laredo to San Antonio to see his girl — and that’s when the trouble started.
Immigration
We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us.
Illegal American and European boat people heading for Peru (video)
They’re coming on boats and rafts from the United Estates and the Eurozone to this country on the Pacific Coast of South America — a representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions — to live The Peruvian Dream.
Moses y Jesús team up in ‘Prophetic Fight for Immigrant Rights’ (video)
When Moses attracts the attention of the MIGRA, he seeks out his amigo Jesús for some help. Can this Holy Tag Team come up with a miracle to defeat the haters? [Written and produced by: Josh Healey. Directed by: Yvan Iturriaga. Starring: Corey Fischer (Moses), Richard Montoya (Jesús), and Jeri Lynn Cohen (Zippy). Produced by: Favianna Rodriguez. Executive Produced by: Culture Strike.]
POCHO Jefe Lalo Alcaraz Yelps about the border on NPR (audio)
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A few weeks ago we featured some astounding videos of actors’ (dramatic) readings of Yelp customer reviews — customer reviews of US-Mexico border crossings.
NPR’s Latino USA with Maria Hinjosa snagged Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz last week to find out if he had anything to add to the discussion.
Listen here to learn if he did! 😉
Mas…POCHO Jefe Lalo Alcaraz Yelps about the border on NPR (audio)
Eric Holland’s back with another borderland music video: ‘Amnestia’
Eric Holland is just an ordinary guy — a former Arizona ESL teacher — who writes amazing songs about the border. This is his latest, Amnestia. [Video by Danny Worms.]
Previously, POCHO published Holland’s stark and moving Juan Do — Dame agua/Give me water:
Mas…Eric Holland’s back with another borderland music video: ‘Amnestia’
Defense contractors on immigration bill: ‘Time to get a new Beemer’
(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON, DC) The Senate’s approval of a bipartisan “immigration reform” bill Thursday — a bill which Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says will create “the most militarized border since the Berlin Wall” — has defense contractors talking, and drooling.
The hot topic? The untold millions of dollars that may become available if Uncle Sam gets serious about “security.”
It’s the inevitable transition, cynics say, from Eisenhower’s old-school military-industrial complex to the new Post-Millennial MIGRA-Industrial Complex. But government contractors and suppliers have a more nuanced view.
Mas…Defense contractors on immigration bill: ‘Time to get a new Beemer’
Flash: ‘Foxy Farmworkers’ set for Fall premiere on Fox
(PNS reporting from HOLLYWOOD) Hoping to capitalize on the Devious Maids buzz, Fox will jump on the stereotypical Latino programming bandwagon with a new entry this fall called Foxy Farmworkers.
The show will follow a quirky group of “young, single and ready-to-mingle” Mexican farmworkers as they make their way from the impoverished US-Mexico border to fields in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Michigan.
Between backbreaking 14-16 hour days in the sun and working in the fields, the young men manage to get themselves into a world of trouble chasing after petite, white women in the towns they pass through, breaking hearts along the way.
Flash: Bob Esponja reveals he’s an undocumented immigrant
(PNS reporting from HOLLYWOOD) SpongeBob SquarePants is an undocumented immigrant whose family drifted into Bikini Bottom, Hawaii, from Mexico when he was child, the Nickelodeon star revealed this morning.
SquarePants (real name: Bob Esponja) made the announcement at packed press conference called by Animal Actors for Reform and Fairness (AARF), a pro-immigration reform group.
The reality TV actor plans to apply for President Obama’s Deferred Action program so he can work and drive legally.
“Sure — I’m absorbent. And porous. And as yellow as can be,” he said, his voice cracking, “but that doesn’t mean I should live in a piña under the sea.”
Mas…Flash: Bob Esponja reveals he’s an undocumented immigrant
Flash: Worker slips into Canada, becomes first NAFTA mojado
(PNS reporting from CANADIA) David Pérez became the first NAFTA mojado when he crossed illegally into Canadia Saturday.
The undocumented worker from Jalpa, Zacatecas first crossed the Rio Grande into the United States near San Elizario, TX, 10 years ago seeking employment in El Norte.
After working in El Paso for a year doing construction, he continued north, staying with relatives in Denver, Chicago, and Minnesota.
“I kept searching for El Norte and there was always more Norte to explore,” Pérez told PNS.
Mas…Flash: Worker slips into Canada, becomes first NAFTA mojado
Xochitl Julisa Bermejo: ‘Our Lady of the Water Gallons’ (video)
Xochitl Julisa Bermejo is a poet and teacher from Asuza, CA who volunteered with No More Deaths, a humanitarian organization providing water bottles in the Arizona desert where immigrants crossing from Mexico often die of exposure. She read her poem Our Lady of the Water Gallons at a Mental Cocido (Mental Stew) gathering of Latino authors.
Immigrant-loving John McCain sings: ‘You’re Our Guest!’ (music video)
The Republican Senator from the Hate State of Arizona, John McCain, is one of the “Gang of Eight” senators behind the new immigration reform bill. Today his office released this love song to the “new voters” he wants to legalize.
Talk radio guy blows the lid off ‘Mexican swimming lessons’ (video)
If you’ve been wondering why the internationally-lauded public school system in Mexico makes sure all the kids get swimming lessons, talk show guy AND education expert Rick Rantz of 1270AM WQTT in Union County, OH, has the answer. Advertising Sales Manager Mike Schnell is at 614.935.1038 if you have more questions.The radio station’s Programming Department is at 614.425.9633, or you can email grivers@icsohio.com.
Breaking: Congress to probe ‘illegal immigrant sneaker code’
(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON, D.C.) Rep. Randolph Snopes (R-AL) plans committee hearings next week to investigate reports that “illegal immigrants” from Mexico are encoding secret messages in sneakers hanging over telephone wires — messages about how to avoid police, sell drugs and promote terrorism, PNS has learned.
Snopes, chairman of the Unamerican Activities Committee, maintains that evidence of “sneaker-encoded propaganda” has been covered up by “high echelons of the Obama Administration,” according to leaked committee documents circulating on Capitol Hill.
Mas…Breaking: Congress to probe ‘illegal immigrant sneaker code’
Colbert Report: Do Hispanics cost trillion$ and have low IQs? (video)
It takes an ace newsman like Stephen Colbert to get to the bottom of the barrel of reasons why the Heritage Foundation’s report on immigration says legalization will cost us six trillion dollars and the entire Hispanic race has lower IQs than native white Americans.
Obama says ‘F★ck it’ in tricky bid for GOP immigration reform votes
(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON, D.C.) President Barack Obama gave up his efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform this week, informing Republican leaders that he didn’t care about reform anymore.
“Fuck it!” Obama reportedly told Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in a conference call Tuesday.
“I don’t care about reform anymore, are you happy? Don’t pass it, see if I fuckin’ care!”
Washington insiders say that the president’s sudden change of heart on immigration has less to do with his actual desire to see reform pass and more to do with tactical consderations. Every time the president wants to pass legislation, Republicans balk — so if he doesn’t want to pass immigration reform, the thinking goes, conservatives will play along.
Mas…Obama says ‘F★ck it’ in tricky bid for GOP immigration reform votes
Stoner Latino student calls woman’s mom a ‘wetback’ on Facebook
(PNS reporting from SAN MARCOS, TX) Seventeen-year-old San Marcos High School senior Byron Chavez called someone’s mother a “wetback” in a comment on a Facebook photo yesterday — Mothers Day.
Chavez, the grandson of Mexican immigrants, used the W-word in response to a widely-circulated picture of a young woman at an immigration reform rally holding a sign reading “Fuck Weed. Legalize My Mom.”
Chavez posted “Fuck your wetback mom! Legalize Weed!” 30 minutes after his cousin Lauren Saucedo posted the image on her timeline .
“I was taken aback by his comment,” Saucedo emailed PNS. “Our grandparents were immigrants who came from Mexico looking for a better future.”
Mas…Stoner Latino student calls woman’s mom a ‘wetback’ on Facebook
The Daily Show unmasks ‘The Real Cinco de Mayo’ (video)
Jessica Williams goes to Dallas, Tejas, so she can report on the real Cinco de Mayo for Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show.
I was a DREAMer before it was cool — and I got deported
The immigrant rights movement has reached one of the most important milestones of the last two decades. Finally, politicians are responding to the demands of advocates asking to reform a broken immigration system that has marginalized millions of undocumented immigrants.
We see this in the form of Senate Bill 744 proposed by the Bipartisan Senate Coalition referred to as the “Gang-of-Eight” which is by far the most comprehensive piece of legislation we have seen in recent years. Such progress is due to the masses of brave DREAMers (undocumented youth) who came out of the shadows to declare their legal status for the purpose of telling their stories to the American public.
British video shows easy way to solve the ‘illegal immigrant’ problem
“According to government figures, there are over a million illegal immigrants living in the U.K.,” says the video producer. “This 30-second eye opener provides a simple solution and is guaranteed to stop illegal immigrants hiding in your cupboards. Watch it and pass it on.”
How Gov. Schwarzenegger terminated Mexican alien problems (video)
Following a successful career battling aliens on screen, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected and reelected as Governator of Califas This video looks back at how he handled aliens on the Golden Estate’s border with Mexico in 2007.
Pocho Ocho Republican things you didn’t know were in The Bible
It’s in the Jewy Old Testament, written from right to left in Leviticus, Chapter 19, Verses 33-34, where God tells Moses (photo, left):
If a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not do him wrong. The stranger that sojourneth with you shall be unto you as the home-born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
God-fearing Christian Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) sure as Hell doesn’t think that means making nice to undocumented immigrants and he was quite happy to tell evangelical so-called Christian pro-reform advocates that he knows The Bible better than they do.
“I think this idea that somehow love, statements in Leviticus 19, is not the kind of thing that would indicate that we shouldn’t have laws,” Sessions mansplained. “Some people have been citing the Scripture, I think, pretty loosely,” he added.
Mas…Pocho Ocho Republican things you didn’t know were in The Bible
Breaking: Immigration plan includes MIGRA clone army
(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON, D.C.) The “Gang of Eight” immigration reform plan revealed yesterday mandates a Border Patrol Agent Clone Army, according to details released by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL.)
“Two hundred thousand clones are immediately available for deployment on the border” when the bill passes, a jubilant Rubio said at a Capitol Hill press conference this morning. “The minute Obama signs the bill, we’ll send in the clones!”
Eligio El Nene wants you to know: ‘En America Se Habla Ingles’ (video)
Eligio The Kid and his super hero squad of Extranjeros realize that in America, one needs to speak English. I’m so sorry you don’t know what I say!
Immigration Reform 2013: Where exactly is the ‘reform’ part? (video)
The long-anticipated “comprehensive immigration reform bill” is set to be introduced to the public by a bi-partisan group of legislators today.
What exactly is the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013?”
The compromise proposal won’t cover all the people here without legal status, for one thing, nor will it create a lasting change — reform — of the immigration system.
What it will do, though, is line the pockets of security contractors via $3 billion dollars for “border security.”
Mas…Immigration Reform 2013: Where exactly is the ‘reform’ part? (video)
Elise Roedenbeck’s ‘MiJA Weekly’ Tax Day Espectacular 4.15.13 (video)
Happy Tax Day, pochos! This week on MiJA I discuss the near conclusion of back-room negotiations on immigration “reform” and delve deep into the heart of the Internets to discover Barbies of the World. You think Mexican Barbie is bad — Peruvian Barbie comes with an anchor baby (and she’s not the worst of them!)
Mas…Elise Roedenbeck’s ‘MiJA Weekly’ Tax Day Espectacular 4.15.13 (video)
La Santa Cecilia: ‘El Hielo (ICE)’ is loose on the streets (music video)
East Los band La Santa Cecilia is out with a new song and video about la MIGRA, AKA ICE AKA Immigration and Customs Enforcement AKA El Hielo. Here are the lyrics in English and Spanish courtesy NotOneMoreDeportation.com:
Mas…La Santa Cecilia: ‘El Hielo (ICE)’ is loose on the streets (music video)