Immigration

Stories of immigration, and more

How Does a Religious Cult Have the Clout to Delay Health Care Vote?
Posted by Adele Stan, AlterNet on November 6, 2009 at 12:30 PM.

Just when it seemed the stars were aligning for an historic vote tomorrow on health-care reform legislation in the House of Representatives, anti-choice Democrats are balking, saying that the plan would permit the indirect flow of federal dollars to fund abortion.

Led by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., a member of the Capitol Hill religious cult known as The Family, and spurred on by the Catholic bishops, anti-abortion Dems are contesting the fact that some small number of private insurance plans offered via the bill's insurance exchange scheme may offer coverage for abortion -- even therapeutic abortion. Where the federal dollars come in is via the subsidies for which lower-income people would be eligible for buying insurance through the exchange.

Politico's Patrick O'Connor reports on the church's influence at the negotiating table:

Negotiators are working closely with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to finalize language the church can accept. Vulnerable anti-abortion Democrats don’t want to support any bill that the bishops haven’t signed off on.

Last time I looked, abortion was a legal medical procedure in the United States. The changes the church wants would virtually forbid abortion coverage, even for women carrying fetuses without a chance of surviving outside the womb. The church seeks to codify its contempt for women into U.S. law, dooming a woman already facing a tragic pregnancy to compromise her life and health -- mental and physical -- apparently for the sin of having had sex.

As the legislation stands, no federal dollars would directly cover an abortion, and the public plan will offer no abortion coverage. But that's not enough for the men of the cloth.

The question remains, of course, as to whether this is an issue truly of moral conscience, or just a trick for stalling health-care reform. At Michele Bachmann's disinform-athon yesterday on the Capitol steps, the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins alleged, untruthfully, that the bill announced last week by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi covers abortion, as did several members of Congress. The Family Research Council is a Republican-allied group.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

CNBC Reporter: NYC Marathon Winner Not Really American, "He's Like a Ringer You Hire to Work a Couple Hours at Your Office"
Posted by Liliana Segura, AlterNet on November 3, 2009 at 12:30 PM.

Look out, Pat Buchanan: Here comes Darren Rovell, CNBC sports reporter, and nativist extraordinaire!

Coming off of Pat's latest, "Traditional Americans Are Losing Their Country," Rovell is here to tell you that, no matter what the news media claim about that American runner who won the New York City Marathon last weekend -- the first in over 25 years! -- first place finisher Meb Keflezighi, is not, in fact, a real American.

Writing at ColorLines, blogger Jorge Rivas notes that Rovell has published a new column: "Marathon's Headline Win is Empty."

"It's a stunning headline: American Wins Men's NYC Marathon For First Time Since '82" Rovell writes, "Unfortunately, it's not as good as it sounds."

The man who won the marathon is Mebrahtom Keflezighi, who immigrated to the U.S. when he was 12, became a citizen and later trained in youth, college and professional level distant running programs. But from the moment Keflezighi won the marathon this past Sunday, the dispute erupted online: Should Keflezighi's win count as an American victory?

According to Rovell, the answer is a definitive "No."

Meb Keflezighi, who won yesterday in New York, is technically American by virtue of him becoming a citizen in 1998, but the fact that he's not American-born takes away from the magnitude of the achievement the headline implies …

Given our disappointing results, embracing Keflezighi is understandable. But Keflezighi's country of origin is Eritrea, a small country in Africa. He is an American citizen thanks to taking a test and living in our country."

Got that, naturalized citizens? No matter how long you've been here, no matter how legal your status, never forget that this is not your country.

As Rivas points out, "Keflezighi did exactly what anti-immigrant reform activists say immigrants should do. He came to the U.S. twenty-two years ago legally as a refugee and became a 'naturalized' citizen a few years after. So even when immigrants of color enter the U.S. 'the legal way' they're still not welcome."

Or at least, not fully welcome. If the United States is a corporate workplace, in Rovell's mind, these people are sort of like the part time temps:

"Nothing against Keflezighi, but he's like a ringer who you hire to work a couple hours at your office so that you can win the executive softball league."

Emphasis mine.

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"America's Toughest Dictator"? FBI Investigating Joe Arpaio for Using Office to Bully Opponents
Posted by Joshua Holland, AlterNet on November 3, 2009 at 12:27 PM.

Fox News' show-boating Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a thuggish right-wing clown with aspirations to higher office and a police force of his own (he's reportedly weighing a run to become Arizona governor next year). His use of the latter to advance the former may just prove to be his undoing.

According to local CBS affiliate KBHO (via TPM):

The FBI is looking into accusations that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is using his position to settle political vendettas.

Over the past year, 5 Investigates examined more than two dozen complaints against the sheriff from business owners, government workers, mayors and law-enforcement officials.

They claim they spoke out against Arpaio, and shortly after, deputies paid them unwelcome visits.

Arpaio has gotten into hot water before as a result of his harsh, publicity-grabbing campaign against undocumented immigrants. There was a very public fracas with then-Governor Janet Napolitano in 2007, and his office lost a chunk of funding as a result. Earlier this year, in a high-profile spat with the DHS, he lost some of his federal immigration enforcement powers.

But this is different -- here he's charged not only with abusing the powers of his office to go after marginal groups like unauthorized immigrants, but citizens who dare criticize his actions, including political opponents and the media -- influential members of the community. As such, this might not end as well for the sheriff as his earlier controversies.

Consider a few of the people on whom he's reportedly sicced his deputies ...

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Immigration: There's a Human Rights Crisis Within Our Borders
Posted by Jill Garvey, Imagine 2050 on November 2, 2009 at 4:47 PM.

Treatment of immigrant detainees tells of the shameless brokenness of America’s immigration system. Even the valiant efforts by some to lessen the suffering of families caught in the immigration web are stymied by the lack of rational immigration reform.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Was CNN Host Lou Dobbs Really Shot at?
Posted by Isabel Macdonald, AlterNet on October 30, 2009 at 12:49 PM.

After CNN host Lou Dobbs stated this past Monday on his radio show that  “my wife has now been and I have been shot at,” right-wing pundits and nativist groups are rallying to his cause.

Dobbs' discussion of the alleged shooting incident, which had occurred three weeks prior to the October 26 broadcast of the Lou Dobbs show, included mention of both longtime critic and FOX host Geraldo Rivera and the immigrant advocacy organizations calling for his removal from CNN including the National Council of La Raza, America's Voice and other "ethnocentric interest groups."

Without specifying who he suspects of making the alleged threats, he also said on his radio show that “They've threatened my wife, they've now fired a shot at my house while my wife was standing next to the car."

The incident prompted the president of Americans for Legal Immigration (ALIPAC), a group that advocates greater restrictions on immigration, to declare that "The lies and hate coming from these radical pro-illegal alien groups is now manifesting in the form of gunfire." ALIPAC president William Gheen characterized this "Attack on the Dobbs Family" as "An Attack On All Americans That Value Our 1st Amendment Rights!"

In a post titled "Lou Dobbs discusses physical attacks, harrassment" Michelle Malkin also chimed in yesterday about the "open-borders mob... busy trying to shut down the speech of illegal immigration critics."

And concern about the incident was also echoed by CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who interviewed Dobbs yesterday, and characterized the incident as "very scary."

But were Lou Dobbs and his wife really "shot at" as he claimed?

Sergeant 1st class Stephen Jones, a NJ police spokesperson I interviewed by telephone yesterday, chuckled out loud after he heard about Dobbs’ account of the gunfire incident. Jones commented that he "wouldn't classify it [the gunfire incident] as very unusual." He also confirmed that there are hunters in the area, and stated that, "at this time of year hunter [shooting] complaints go up."

He observed that in the ongoing police investigation sparked by Dobbs' complaint, "nothing has been determined [regarding] what the intended target for this bullet was." Nor did Jones confirm whether the shots near Dobbs' house appeared to be an accident or intentional.

Another New Jersey police spokesperson, Julian Castellanos, noted that "it's a wide open area and there are hunters in the area." Castellanos explained that the bullet had hit the house in vicinity of the attic; it "hit the vinyl siding and fell to the ground" without penetrating the vinyl, he said.

While Lou Dobbs’ wife, Debi Dobbs, was standing outside the house at the time of the gunfire, the bullet did not come close to her;  it "struck at the apex of the house, near the roof," and thus considerably higher than a standing person, Jones observed.

Jones says he had not seen any mention of death threats in the reports about this incident. As Dobbs stated on his October 26 radio show, the CNN host had “decided not to report” “threatening phone calls” he says he has received.

Asked what he thought of Dobbs' version of the gunfire incident, Sgt Jones stated, “I’m really going to leave Lou Dobbs’ assessment to himself.”

Julie Hollar of FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting--a media watchdog group at which I worked for two years), was more forthcoming in her assessment of Dobbs' version of events. Hollar, who has written extensively on Dobbs for FAIR's magazine Extra!, commented that "It would hardly be surprising to find more misinformation smearing immigrants and their supporters coming from a guy who has been spreading such misinformation for years."  She added that "The tragic thing is that so many people suffer actual violence at the hands of those whose xenophobic hatred is aggravated by Dobbs and his kind."

An Early Halloween Scare: Immigration Agents Attacking Workers' Rights!
Posted by Amy Traub, DMI Blog on October 30, 2009 at 3:54 AM.

In our recent report on immigration policy and the middle class, I made the case that the exploitation of undocumented immigrant workers threatens to drive down wages, benefits and working conditions for middle-class workers and low-income Americans striving to earn a middle-class standard of living. The solution, I argue, is to provide a path to legal status for the undocumented immigrants: this would maximize the economic benefits undocumented workers, consumers, and taxpayers already bring to the nation and help ensure that exploitation doesn't harm the rest of us.

Unfortunately, that's not the direction the country is going. Instead, a new study by researchers from the AFL-CIO, American Rights at Work and the National Employment Law Project documents a decline in the enforcement of labor standards at the same time the nation has experienced an immigration crackdown in the workplace. The result only worsens workplace exploitation. As the study points out:

"The single-minded focus on immigration enforcement without regard to violations of workplace laws has enabled employers with rampant labor and employment violations to profit by employing workers who are terrified to complain about substandard wages, unsafe conditions, and lack of benefits, or to demand their right to bargain collectively... ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency] actions have created incentives for shady employers to continue hiring and abusing undocumented workers, since the deportation of their employees may excuse those employers from complying with labor laws."

It's fitting that the report was released a week before Halloween, since it's full of frightening stories of immigration agents - or local police enforcing immigration law - intervening in ways that facilitate workplace abuses. We read of ICE helicopters hovering menacingly above picket lines; immigration agents who came promptly to arrest workers who had complained about workplace safety; and one story of a worker suffering from a horrific workplace injury, swept up by immigration agents as he entered the courthouse to press a workers' compensation claim. His employer, apparently delighted that he might not have to pay for an injury caused by his business' negligent practices, called out: "I'm sending you back to Mexico... I have no use for you now." If that's not haunting, I don't know what is.

One quibble: the authors offer suggestions for more thoughtful enforcement of both immigration and labor laws, but these horror stories call for bolder solutions. An overhaul of immigration and labor laws would be a better solution still.

Homeland Security Picks Up San Francisco Baker for Overstaying His Visa
Posted by Staff, AlterNet on October 29, 2009 at 4:59 PM.

Don't they have more important things to do? 

The SF Weekly reports:

San Francisco baker and street-food vendor, proprietor of Amuse Bouche -- is apparently facing deportation to France for overstaying his visa. We don't know any of the details (we're waiting for a return call from Homeland Security to confirm the information), but SFoodie blogger Tamara Palmer received the following e-mail message from Celebi-Ariner's wife, Pelin:

Dear Friends,

 

Yesterday morning Murat was picked up from our house and carried off in handcuffs by two officers from Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). His crime? Having overstayed his Visa Waiver Program which allows European citizens 90 days to stay in the U.S. There are millions of visa waiver overstays in the US right now, and it has not so far been a policy of Homeland Security to pursue such cases, especially ones with NO criminal records or offenses, like Murat. This plus he is married to a U.S. citizen and we were about to file for a green card.

Right now Murat is being held at 630 Sansome St and they are getting ready to deport him back to France TODAY. We (myself and our attorney) are filing a Deferral of Action Request to keep him here. What those of you in the MEDIA can do to help us, is call the ICE office, tell them who you are with, and ask about what is going on in his case, making it clear that you are informed and involved. You are likely to get a voicemail box so just leave a message. Non-media friends, please help us out with your thoughts.

 Read the rest here.

Over 100 House Dems Push for Immigration fix
Posted by Cristina Jimenez, DMI Blog on October 27, 2009 at 3:29 PM.

Although the timeline for immigration reform is uncertain, some Democrats argue that reform needs to be considered before next year's midterm elections. Recognizing that there is not much time, 111 House Democrats sent a letter to the President reminding him of his commitment to reform our immigration laws.

The letter was authored by Congressman Crowley (D-NY), who argues that it would be difficult to address immigration reform during election time because candidates would want to avoid the controversy that surrounds the immigration debate. The controversy surrounding immigration, however, won't change unless the debate is reframed. The reality is that providing a path to citizenship for the undocumented would strengthen the economy and the middle-class.

As DMI argues, an earned legalization program would ensure a level playing field between native-born and immigrant workers and increase the economic contribution of immigrants.

Anti-Dobbs Movement Overshadows CNN's "Latino In America" Special
Posted by Liliana Segura, AlterNet on October 23, 2009 at 2:30 PM.

Pobre CNN.

The cable news network hoped its "Latino In America" special -- a two-night "journey into the homes and hearts of a minority group destined to change America" -- would replicate the success of its Black In America series last year, which was watched by more than 13 million viewers. Instead, the series has been eclipsed by a growing controversy over CNN's resident xenophobe, Lou Dobbs, and an expanding movement to get him booted off the air.

Last Sunday, a headline in the New York Daily News read: "CNN's Ramping it's 'Latino in America,' But it's Getting Ruined By Lou Dobbs."

The report quoted Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, a national pro-immigration reform group, who said, "the truth is that CNN already airs a nightly program on Latinos in America. It's called 'Lou Dobbs Tonight', and for 260 hours a year CNN provides air time for anti-immigrant distortions and anti-Latino propaganda."

A couple days later, the Associated Press caught wind of the fact that the much ballyhooed special -- it has its own Facebook page -- virtually ignored "its own commentator ... whose persistent advocacy against illegal immigration has angered many Hispanics."

The story quoted immigration activist Roberto Lovato, who calls Dobbs the "gigantic, anti-immigration elephant in the room at CNN."

"Rather than address him, they decided to just avoid the issue," Lovato said.

Lovato heads up Presente.org, which has spearheaded the movement now called "Basta Dobbs."

"Lou Dobbs uses his platform on CNN to spread myths and misinformation about Latinos and immigrants, even as his network is wooing Latino viewers," the Basta Dobbs website reads. "It’s time we said enough (that's "basta" in Spanish). Join us in calling on CNN to get rid of Dobbs!"

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Retailers Dump Offensive "Illegal Alien" Halloween Costume; Meanwhile Fox Calls It "Fantastic"
Posted by Amanda Terkel, Think Progress on October 19, 2009 at 11:00 AM.

Immigration activists are calling on retailers to stop selling a controversial "Illegal Alien" Halloween costume featured on the websites of Walgreens, Toys R Us, Target, Meijer, Amazon, and other retailers. It includes an orange prison jumpsuit with the words "Illegal Alien," a fake "Green Card," and an alien mask. The product description reads:

He didn't just cross a border, he crossed a galaxy! He's got his green card, but it's from another planet! Sure to get some laughs, the Illegal Alien Adult Costume includes an orange prison-style jumpsuit with "Illegal Alien" printed on the front, an alien mask and a "green card."

After receiving complaints about the costume, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles wrote a letter to retailers asking them to stop selling the item. Executive director Angelica Salas called it "distasteful, mean-spirited, and ignorant of social stigmas and current debate on immigration reform." Target has complied and apologized, saying, "This was never intended to be part of our assortment. We are moving as quickly as possible to remove it from our Web site." The costume is also no longer on the Toys R Us website.

This morning, however, the hosts of Fox and Friends couldn't get enough of the costume. Steve Doocy exclaimed, "It's a joke! Where's your sense of humor America?" Brian Kilmeade called it "fantastic," adding, "If you're here illegally, go to your local police station and tell them how outraged you arebecause you're an illegal alien and this costume offends you!" Watch it:

Yesterday on Univision, RNC Chairman Michael Steele defended the use of the term "illegal alien," saying although you can "dress it up any way you want," undocumented immigrants are still "here illegally":

RAMOS: Why do you refer to undocumented immigrants as illegal aliens? I’ve spoken with John McCain and Barack Obama, to give you two examples, and they don’t use those terms they call them undocumented immigrants. Why do you call them illegal aliens?

STEELE: Well, if they are here illegally I got a call it what it is. I mean if you can be undocumented -- look you can dress it up any way you want the reality of it is the status is the key feature here, and if the status is such that you did not come through the regular process, that you did not present yourself properly, to be documented then you are here illegally.

"Illegal alien" is a pejorative term that dehumanizes people. The National Hispanic Journalists Association has urged media organizations to stop using the phrase:

Many find the term offensive and dehumanizing because it criminalizes the person rather than the actual act of illegally entering or residing in the United States. The term does not give an accurate description of a person's conditional U.S. status, but rather demeans an individual by describing them as an alien. At the 1994 Unity convention, the four minority journalism groups -- NAHJ, Asian American Journalists Association, Native American Journalists Association and National Association of Black Journalists -- issued the following statement on this term: "Except in direct quotations, do not use the phrase illegal alien or the word alien, in copy or in headlines, to refer to citizens of a foreign country who have come to the U.S. with no documents to show that they are legally entitled to visit, work or live here. Such terms are considered pejorative not only by those to whom they are applied but by many people of the same ethnic and national backgrounds who are in the U.S. legally."

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

CNN Must Drop Dobbs
Posted by Kos , Daily Kos on October 14, 2009 at 12:12 PM.

CNN is putting some serious effort into attracting more Latino viewers, and part of this effort can be seen in Soldead O'Brien's Latino in America special.

Yet if CNN is serious about attracting a broader Latino audience, then it needs to do something about the anti-Latino bigot polluting its programming lineup. The folks at BastaDobbs.com (a project of Color of Change), have put together this fantastic primer on Lou Dobbs and his hatred for Latinos (video to the right)

It's ugly stuff, and CNN can't ignore it forever. The network has a choice. Either attract Latino viewers, or alienate them. It certainly can't do both.

What Would Truly Humane and Progressive Immigration Reform Look Like
Posted by Duke1676, Daily Kos on October 12, 2009 at 4:52 PM.

On Tuesday Oct 13th, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus led by Rep. Luis Gutierrez(Il-D), will be joined in Washington by 2,500 representatives of labor, immigrant advocacy and civil rights groups, and faith-based communities from across the country to unveil what is being touted as a list fundamental principles behind a new progressive, comprehensive immigration bill to be introduced before the end of the month.

"I am overwhelmed by the support of immigrant, faith-based and community-based organizations in urging me to introduce comprehensive immigration legislation. I look forward to joining them on Tuesday so that I can share with them more specifically the key principles that will form the basis of such a bill," said Rep. Gutierrez.

"We simply cannot wait any longer for a bill that keeps our families together, protects our workers and allows a pathway to legalization for those who have earned it," continued Rep. Gutierrez. "Saying immigration is a priority for this Administration or this Congress is not the same as seeing tangible action, and the longer we wait, the more every single piece of legislation we debate will be obstructed by our failure to pass comprehensive reform."

"We need a bill that says if you come here to hurt our communities, we will not support you; but if you are here to work hard and to make a better life for your family, you will have the opportunity to earn your citizenship.  We need a law that says it is un-American for a mother to be torn from her child, and it is unacceptable to undermine our workforce by driving the most vulnerable among us further into the shadows."

"I believe the support base for this kind of compassionate and comprehensive legislation is strong and far reaching, and I believe the votes are there to pass it. I have always said that immigration reform will not be easy; but it is time we had a workable plan working its way through Congress that recognizes the vast contributions of immigrants to this country and that honors the American Dream."

We have yet to see Rep Gutierrez's recommendations, but after years of controversy and partisan fighting, we are still no closer to any meaningful new national immigration policy than we were over eight years ago when President Bush first claimed he would make it a top priority upon taking office. Much of the blame for this situation clearly rests on the shoulders of the anti-immigrant wing of the Republican Party, who chose political expediency and a divisive brand of slash and burn political theater over the responsible execution of their duties.

But, there have also been divisions within the Democratic Party that have helped stall the effort. While generally stating support for some sort of "comprehensive reform," there has been little consensus on exactly what that reform should entail.

We’ve seen numerous compromise bills, intended to find a “sweet spot” that would appease all parties, go down in flames after concessions were made to restrictionists to accept their far-right policies as a prerequisite to even bringing the issue to the table, only later to find that no matter how many concessions were made, or how restrictive or punitive the legislation ...they were never satisfied.

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Homeland Security Pledges to Reform Nightmarish Immigration Detention System
Posted by Staff, RestoreFairness.org on October 9, 2009 at 1:34 PM.

This week, Department of Homeland Security unveiled an ambitious plan to reform its immigration detention system, a largely unregulated network that includes 312 county and city prisons, many of whom have been accused of health and security violations. That's what Breakthrough's powerful new campaign Restore Fairness wants to keep seeing - a government that is restoring due process back to a broken immigration system. At the campaign's centerpiece is a 9 minute video Restore Fairness, produced in partnership with an amazing range of 26 leading organizations spanning human rights, immigration, and community based groups, that features interviews with influential Members of Congress, immigration judges, civil society leaders, and ordinary families affected by harsh immigration laws.

Watch the video:

Looking at the immigration landscape in the aftermath of 9-11, the campaign calls for a reshaping of immigration laws that often arrest people without warrants, hold them in inhumane detention conditions, and deport them without a fair trial. Like Ana Galindo and her husband Walter Chavez, legal permanent residents with a 10-year-old U.S. citizen son, who were raided, without a warrant in their home by armed immigration officers who finally admitted they were looking for the wrong person, traumatizing their son for months afterward. Or June Everett who lost her sister, a 53 year old grandmother, to immigration detention because of alleged medical negligence. Or Jean Pierre Kamwa, a torture survivor from Cameroon who came to the U.S. seeking freedom and shelter from persecution, but instead was greeted with 5 months in mandatory detention till he was ultimately granted asylum.

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DHS Renews Deal With Show-Boat Sheriff Arpaio
Posted by Staff, America's Voice on October 6, 2009 at 12:22 PM.

From America's Voice:

Controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio, of Maricopa County, AZ, has told various local media outlets that he has signed a new agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and will continue participating in what is known as the 287(g) program.  If this claim is true – Arpaio has a history of dissembling and exaggerating, and DHS has been notably silent on what is transpiring – it is a deeply disturbing development. 

The 287(g) program was originally conceived as way for local police and federal immigration authorities to work together to apprehend those in the country without authorization who have committed serious crimes and are a danger to the community.  But under the Bush 287(g) program, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Arpaio wannabes in other localities have been given a long leash to target ordinary immigrants living and working in the U.S. without immigration papers – people who may have violated federal, civil immigration laws, but are committing no crime.  Such excesses have turned a number of local communities into areas where immigrants – both those here legally and those here without papers – are terrorized in an apparent quest to drive them out of the jurisdiction.  They have created conflict with other policing agencies who are concerned about the impact on crime reporting when a portion of the community is afraid to work with the police. 

In Arpaio’s case, his heavy-handed sweeps of Latino neighborhoods have led to widespread fear, deep divisions in the community, 3,500 lawsuits, a U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation, and a nationwide reputation as the Bull Connor of our generation. 

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Outreach Fail: RNC Spanish-Language Hispanic Heritage Month Release Riddled with Errors
Posted by Joshua Holland, AlterNet on September 30, 2009 at 1:01 PM.

Andrea Nill at Think Progress:

Today, the Republican National Committee (RNC) released a statement from Chairman Michael Steele announcing the release of a new video in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. However, though the press release emphasizes the Republican Party’s “commitment to the Hispanic community,” apparently that commitment does not include hiring a qualified Spanish translator. The Spanish translation of Steele’s statement is riddled with embarrassing typos and errors. Even Yahoo’s automatic online translator, Babel Fish, produces better results. A quick revision highlights the multitude of glaring errors:

The substance of the accompanying video isn’t much better.

Oliver Willis chimes in:

The RNC’s spanish-language work is riddled with errors. Which leads me to believe the RNC couldn’t find an actual latino to do this. That’s what years of referring to every latino as a border jumping vampire will do.