Professor Predicts ‘Hispanic Homeland’
By The Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A University of New Mexico Chicano Studies professor predicts a new, sovereign Hispanic nation within the century, taking in the Southwest and several northern states of Mexico.

Charles Truxillo suggests the “Republica del Norte,” the Republic of the North, is “an inevitability.”

He envisions it encompassing all of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and southern Colorado, plus the northern tier of Mexican states: Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.

Along both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border “there is a growing fusion, a reviving of connections,” Truxillo said. “Southwest Chicanos and Norteño Mexicanos are becoming one people again.”

Truxillo, 47, has said the new country should be brought into being “by any means necessary,” but recently said it was unlikely to be formed by civil war. Instead, its creation will be accomplished by the electoral pressure of the future majority Hispanic population in the region, he said.

Other UNM professors were skeptical

Felipe Gonzáles, director of UNM’s Southwest Hispanic Research Institute, said there’s a “certain homeland undercurrent” among New Mexico Hispanics who believe land was stolen and promises broken. But, he said, a new nation would need much more widespread support.

“Educated elites are going to have to pick up on this idea and run with it and use it as a point of confrontation if it is to succeed,” Gonzáles said.

Truxillo contends states have the right to secede under the Articles of Confederation of 1777, in which states retained “sovereignty, freedom and independence.” He contends the Articles were not superseded in that regard by the U.S. Constitution and that although the Civil War settled the question militarily, it was never resolved by courts.

History Professor Daniel Feller disagreed

“The Constitution does supersede the Articles of Confederation,” Feller said. “It takes no notice of the articles and is not presented as bearing any relation to them. The Constitution does not declare, recognize or in any way acknowledge the right to secede.”

And, he noted, the full title was “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.”

The U.S. Supreme Court said in 1869 the union was indestructible, political science Professor Joseph Stewart said.

He also said he was “somewhat skeptical in the sense of minority politics” about a possible Republic of the North. He said Americans of Mexican descent have moved all over the United States and that “I don’t see that Hispanic population becoming more distinct but in fact becoming less distinct.”

Juan José Peña, Hispanic activist and vice chairman of the Hispanic Roundtable, said there’s not enough political consciousness among Mexican Americans to form a separate nation.

“Right now, there’s no movement capable of undertaking it,” he said.

Truxillo, who teaches at UNM’s Chicano Studies Program on a yearly contract, believes it’s his job to help develop a “cadre of intellectuals” to think about how it can become a reality…READ THE REST HERE
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Dr. Charles Truxillo is a native of New Mexico. He attended public schools in Albuquerque and Belen. Dr. Truxillo received his graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of New Mexico, majoring in Latin American, Borderlands, and Asian History. Dr. Truxillo also attended St. Michael’s Catholic seminary in California. Later, he worked as an instructor in the University College of UNM, serving as director of the University College’s Social Science program from 1988 to 1990. Throughout this period Dr. Truxillo traveled extensively in Mexico, Central America, Spain, and Western Europe. Between 1992 and 1997, he was an Assistant Professor of History at New Mexico Highlands University. While at NMHI, he annually organized student tours to Mexico and sponsored student and faculty forums and symposiums.

Robertson County (Tennessee) Times

Immigration woes continue

A once growing Hispanic population is Springfield is now in sharp decline after immigration raids last month spread fear throughout the city. — Some estimate that 1,000 Hispanic residents [aka illegal aliens… criminals] have fled the city in fear or went into hiding after the raids…

HERE…

“Go back to Europe” quote from Mario Obledo, a founder of MALDEF here. ( SNOPES)

How Mexico safeguards the ballot HERE.

Image of Mexican photo voter ID HERE

MALDEF URGES U.S. SUPREME COURT TO STRIKE DOWN DISCRIMINATORY VOTER IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENT

MALDEF amicus brief highlights impact of decision on
Latinos in Arizona

JANUARY 8, 2008 – As the nation focuses today on the New Hampshire presidential primary, the fight to protect the right of all eligible citizens to have equal access to the polls without any unnecessary barriers is being waged in the courts. Tomorrow, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument regarding a 2005 Indiana state law that requires voters to present a government-issued identification in order to cast a ballot. MALDEF has filed an amicus brief urging the justices to strike down the law in light of the damaging consequences to voter turnout and the burdens placed on minority and low-income communities.

“By requiring voters to present specified IDs, the State of Indiana disproportionately burdens poor and minority communities, increasing the cost of voting for those who can least afford it,” stated MALDEF Southwestern Regional Counsel Nina Perales.

MALDEF’s brief highlights the importance of the case to other states, such as Arizona, where a similar voting law was passed, aimed at restricting the franchise for Latinos, Native Americans and naturalized citizens. MALDEF currently represents the lead plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Arizona Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, a 2004 voter initiative known as “Proposition 200.” Under Proposition 200, Arizona residents, like the Indiana residents involved in this case, are required to provide specified proof of identification before voting at the polls on Election Day and provide documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration.

“Proposition 200 creates substantial burdens on the right to vote that cannot be justified by any compelling state interest and should be rejected,” stated John Trasviña, MALDEF President and General Counsel. “The Court should apply strict scrutiny to ensure that voter identification schemes ostensibly based on the need to police voting fraud are not a subterfuge for outright discrimination. Imposing identification requirements to fight voter fraud in the absence of any history or record of such fraud drives down citizen participation in our elections, violates the Constitution and weakens our democracy.”

The MALDEF amicus brief in the Indiana voter ID case is the first product of our Law Firm Partnership with O’Melveny & Myers. The Court’s decision, expected in May or June, may have a significant impact on the conduct of the November 2008 presidential elections.

MALDEF NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS
LOS ANGELES REGIONAL OFFICE
634 S. Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90014
Tel: 213.629.2512
ATLANTA REGIONAL OFFICE
41 Marietta Street
Suite 1000
Atlanta, GA
Tel: 678.559.1071
CHICAGO REGIONAL OFFICE
11 East Adams
Suite 700
Chicago, Il 60601
Tel: 312.427.0701
HOUSTON PSP PROGRAM OFFICE
Ripley House
4410 Navigation, Suite 118
Houston, TX 77011
Tel: 713.315.6494 SACRAMENTO POLICY OFFICE
1107 9th Street
Suite 240
Sacramento, CA 95814
Tel: 916.443.7531
SAN ANTONIO REGIONAL OFFICE
110 Broadway
Suite 300
San Antonio, TX 78205
Tel: 210.224.5476 WASHINGTON, DC REGIONAL OFFICE
1016 16th Street N.W.
Suite 100
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. 202.293.2828

MALDEF
634 S. Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90014
(213) 629-2512

John Perazzo — Front Page Magazine
Haters Against “Hate”

The immensely popular conservative broadcaster Michael Savage, who won the 2007 Talkers magazine Freedom of Speech Award, is under assault from a newly formed, benignly named organization: the Hate Hurts America Interfaith and Community Coalition (HHA). But as you will see shortly, HHA itself has intimate ties to some of the vilest hate, bigotry, and intolerance imaginable….

Highly recommended reading here folks…you too Jerry, you may pick up some new talking points from your heros. HERE.

WorldNetDaily.com

Huckabee denies anchor-baby challenge

Gov. Mike Huckabee issued a statement today denying a report that he wants to amend the Constitution to prevent children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens from automatically becoming American citizens. — A Washington Times story cited his top immigration adviser, Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist…

HERE.

From the ( radical and far right?) New York Times

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January 9, 2004
Mexico City Journal; Of Gringos and Old Grudges: This Land Is Their Land By TIM WEINER

In the American South, William Faulkner once wrote, the past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.

This may become truer the farther south one goes.

In the United States, almost no one remembers the war that Americans fought against Mexico more than 150 years ago. In Mexico, almost no one has forgotten.

The war cut this country in two, and ”the wound never really healed,” said Miguel Soto, a Mexico City historian. It took less than two years, and ended with the gringos seizing half of Mexico, taking the land that became America’s Wild West: California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and beyond.

In Mexico, they call this ”the Mutilation.” That may help explain why relations between the nations are sometimes so tense.

As President Bush prepares to fly down to Mexico from Texas, where the war began back in 1846, the debate here over how to relate to the United States is heating up once again.

The question of the day is the more than 20 million Mexicans who now live in the United States.

But sensitivities about sovereignty surround every thorny issue involving Americans in Mexico. Can Americans buy land? Sometimes. Drill for oil? Never. Can American officers comb airports in Mexico? Yes. Carry guns as lawmen? No. Open and close the border at will? Well, they try.

To realize that the border was fixed by war and controlled by the victors is to understand why some Mexicans may not love the 21st-century American colossus. Yet they adore the old American ideals of freedom, equality and boundless opportunity, and they keep voting, by the millions, with their feet.

In ”a relationship of love and of hatred,” as Mr. Soto says, bitter memories sometimes surface like old shrapnel under the skin.

Fragments of the old war stand in the slanting morning sunlight at an old convent here in Mexico City, a sanctuary seized by invading American troops in 1847, now the National Museum of Interventions, which chronicles the struggle.
,” said the museum’s director, Alfredo Hernández Murillo. ”For Americans, it’s one more step in the expansion that began when the United States was created. For Mexicans, the war meant we lost half the nation. It was very damaging, and not just because the land was lost.

”It’s a symbol of Mexico’s weakness throughout history in confronting the United States. For Mexicans, it’s still a shock sometimes to cross the border and see the Spanish names of the places we lost.”

Those places have names like Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Fe, El Paso, San Antonio; the list is long.

The war killed 13,780 Americans, and perhaps 50,000 or more Mexicans — no one knows the true number. It was the first American war led by commanders from West Point. These were men like Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. A little more than a decade later, Grant and Sherman battled Lee and Davis in the Civil War.

Historians are still fighting over how and why the battles of the Mexican War began. Some say it was Mexico’s fault for trying to stop the secession of what was then (and to some, still is) the Republic of Texas. Some say it was an imperial land grab by the president of the United States.

President James K. Polk did confide to his diary that the aim of the war was ”to acquire for the United States — California, New Mexico and perhaps some other of the northern provinces of Mexico.” When it was won, in February 1848, he wrote, ”There will be added to the United States an immense empire, the value of which 20 years hence it would be difficult to calculate.” Nine days later, prospectors struck gold in California.

Aftershocks still resonate from the Mexican War — or, as the Mexicans have it, ”the American invasion.” The students who walk through the National Museum of Interventions still gasp at a lithograph standing next to an American flag.

It shows Gen. Winfield Scott riding into Mexico City’s national square — ”the halls of Montezuma,” in the words of the Marine Corps Hymn — to seize power and raise the flag. He had followed the same invasion route as the 16th-century Spanish conquerors of Mexico. The American occupation lasted 11 months.

Many of the 75,000 Mexicans living in the newly conquered American West lost their rights to own land and live as they pleased. It was well into the 20th century before much of the land was settled and civilized.

Now, that civilization is taking another turn. More than half of the 20 million Mexicans north of the border live on the land that once was theirs. Some 8.5 million live in California — a quarter of the population. Nearly half the people of New Mexico have roots in old Mexico. Mexico is, in a sense, slowly reoccupying its former property.

”History extracts its costs with the passage of time,” said Jesús Velasco Márquez, a professor who has long studied the war. ”We are the biggest minority in the United States, and particularly in the territory that once was ours.”

Here

Below is the League of Women Voters flyer for a panel discussion on the crime of illegal immigration on January 22, 2008.

League of Women Voters of Dawson and Pickens Counties

Join us for a lively and informative discussion on the issues:

· Current Immigration Policy & Proposed Reforms
· Immigration and the Economy
· Enforcement and Laws on Legal Immigration
· Enforcement Issues and Possible Solutions to Illegal
Immigration

·
UNDERSTANDING IMMIGRATION:
What are the Issues and Where Do We Go From Here?

Tuesday, January 22, 2008 ● 7:00 – 9:00 P.M.

Broyles Center ● Big Canoe (easy access assured)

Panelists include:

Charles Kuck – President, American Immigration Lawyers Association
Erik Meder – Staff Attorney, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
D. A. King – Anti–illegal immigration activist ( Note from D.A. – I am president of the Dustin Inman Society)
Dr. Jennifer Smith – History Professor, North Georgia College

Moderator: Martin Rosen – Member, League of Women Voters

Free and open to the public ● Refreshments served ● RSVPs appreciated

This event is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Dawson and Pickens Counties as part
of the national League’s immigration study.

For additional event information, to RSVP or to learn more about the League of Women Voters of
Dawson and Pickens Counties, please email DawsonPickens@lwvga.org or call 7062681225.

To learn about immigration issues and the LWVUS immigration study, visit www.dawsonpickenslwv.org.

Know the issues. Join the conversation. Make a difference.

Directions to Big Canoe

Directions Via I-75 from Atlanta:
Go North on Highway 75 to 575. Hwy 575 becomes Hwy 515. At first traffic light turn right onto Hwy 108, continue to follow Hwy 108 for approx 2.2 miles to intersection of Hwy 108 and Hwy 53, four way stop. At stop sign continue straight through intersection onto Hwy 53. Follow Hwy 53 for approximately 9 miles. Turn left onto Steve Tate Hwy (Chevron Station and IGA store). Main entrance to Big Canoe is approx 1.5 miles on left.

Directions Via GA 400 from Atlanta
From I-285, take GA 400 to Hwy 369 exit. Turn left and go 12 miles to Yellow Creek Road. Turn right and follow to the end. Turn right, go 1/4 mile to Steve Tate Highway (at intersection with Chevron station and IGA store). Turn left and go 1.5 miles to the main entrance of Big Canoe.

At Big Canoe

Enter the main (first) entrance to Big Canoe. At the security station, mention that you are attending the League of Women Voters’ event at the Broyles Center. After you pass through the security station, you will be on Wilderness Parkway. Continue on Wilderness Parkway for a couple of miles. At the second stop sign you will see a sign for Wolfscratch Village (This is a 4-way stop). Turn right. Pass Wolfscratch Village, the IGA mini-store on the right and the post office on the left. Shortly thereafter you will see a sign on the right that says “Chapel Parking.” Turn into this lot and park. The Broyles Center is in a big building next to the chapel. There is an entrance from the parking lot (we’ll put a sign there).

If you have any problems locating the event, call Kat Alikhan’s cell phone: 404-314-4976.

Related AJC story here…

Cobb County Police Must Be Held Accountable to Concerns of Racial Profiling
Found in Press Statement
Written by Jerry Gonzalez
Posted on 2008-01-08

Last night, we attended and encouraged Latino participation at the Public Hearing to hear about Cobb County Police’s record for the re-accreditation process for CALEA. Based upon the stories and phone calls that GALEO and other groups have recieved directly, we believe there exists an element of racial profiling and discrimination within the ranks of Cobb County Police. The perception is shared amongst Latinos in Cobb County, regardless of their immigration or citizenship status.

Most anti-immigrant groups that attended last night (Minutemen and the Dustin Inman Society) dismissed these serious concerns as an attack on Cobb County’s law enforcement community. However, it is further from the truth.

For the record, GALEO supports the rule of law and our U.S. Constitution. GALEO also believes that public safety for ALL Cobb County residents is paramount in these discussions. However, due to the combined actions of Wild West Warren and his deportation pact with ICE and the increased vigilance of minor traffic violations by Cobb Police, this has lead to the belief that driving in Cobb County while Latino could be hazardous to your commute.

“Racial profiling does not exist” was the chorus of anti-immigrant groups that attended. They touted the rule of law and the enforcement of the laws on the books. One, a retired school teacher, even claimed that we should spend more money on police instead of spending money on schools because the schools have too many children of “illegal aliens” and don’t speak English. She must not have been a very good teacher because as an educator she should know that federal law protects all children within our K-12 schools, regardless of immigration status. Further, many within the anti-immigrant groups also were unaware of the distinction between the duties and responsibilities of the Cobb County Police and the differences of these duties with the Cobb County Sheriff, Wild West Warren.

Ironically, the anti-immigrant efforts were lead to preach the “rule of law” by a convicted felon, D.A. King of the Dustin Inman Society. How can someone who has been convicted of a felony preach about enforcing the law? If the anti-immigrant groups truly believe in the “rule of law” then they need to look for a spokesperson who has not been convicted of a felony.

As Americans, we must remember that the rule of law and our U.S. Constitution provides basic protections to all people. Regardless of what we may feel about the failed federal immigration policy, the rule of law includes protections of due process for ALL people, regardless of immigration status or citizenship. This was recently upheld by a federal court against the City of Hazelton. The rule of law should also be applied in a manner that does not discriminate against any group of people. We do not take exception with the rule of law, but we do take exception with the apparent lack of due process in some cases and the apparent discriminatory practices that some Cobb County Police are engaging in against Latino families. The testimony yesterday by Latino citizens was real. The testimony by attorneys working on some of these cases was real. The stories we have heard of people afraid to come forward to the police were also very real.

Last night, CALEA heard compelling testimony from Latino U.S. citizens who were victims of alleged police abuse and discrimination as well as victims of possible racial profiling and excessive abuse of power. These concerns are serious. For the sake of the overall public safety in Cobb County, the law enforcement officials need to work with community leaders to build back trust that has been seriously eroded. GALEO will gladly work with the Cobb County Police to ensure they address the concerns raised and resolve some of the cases that have been brought forth. We also expect that CALEA will act as an independant agency asking the same questions of Cobb County Police during the accreditation process. Cobb County Police must be accountable for some of the erosion of community trust that has occurred. However, we must work together to ensure we build back the trust in order to protect and serve the public safety of all of Cobb County residents.
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As you can see, the open borders lobby has no shame.

Arizona Daily Star — Tucson

Study: (illegal) Entrants cost AZ workers $1.4B a year

Arizona workers lose $1.4 billion in wages a year because companies here hire illegal entrants, according to a study commissioned by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. — George Borjas, a professor of economic and social policy at Harvard University, also concluded that…

HERE

Gainesville (Georgia) Times

HAPPY DANCE HERE!
Sheriff’s officials gearing up for immigration program

Hall County deputies will soon begin deportation proceedings for any person booked into the county jail who is determined to be in the country illegally. — Sheriff Steve Cronic said nine of his deputies began training today for the 287(g) program, a local-federal partnership that gives sheriff’s officials new authority…

HERE