In February, Jessica Bravo, an 18-year-old college student who was brought to the U.S. illegally by her parents when she was 3, went to see Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif. He is the U.S. representative where Jessica lives. She wanted “her” congressman to support a path to legal residency for undocumented residents. He does not. Why should he be responsive to her concerns? She is in the country illegally and cannot vote.

Ironically, Rep. Rohrabacher could owe his position in Congress to Jessica and the 2.6 million undocumented residents of California. According to my calculations, California has two additional congressional representatives because the state’s undocumented residents were counted in the 2010 Census, giving California a powerful 53 votes, the largest of any state.

The undocumented residents of California are not alone in inadvertently helping their state obtain congressional seats. That’s because all residents nationwide are counted by the census whether they can vote or not. And interestingly, the Republican Party stands to gain the most in the future from not granting citizenship to the undocumented.

Our system gives the top five fastest growing states a shot at more congressional seats because of their burgeoning population of undocumented residents — who cannot vote. Four of these states are the Republican-leaning states of Texas, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. Democratic-leaning California is also in the top five. This means in 2020, Republicans could gain congressional representatives in these four red states, as well as Democrats in the blue state of California. Astonishingly, these states would gain congressional influence without having to represent the people who are giving them the added clout — the undocumented. My calculations show this is already happening in California, Texas and Florida.

Why should Latinos in Connecticut be concerned about our national congressional apportionment system? Why should anyone in Connecticut be concerned? Well, if states with higher population growth are awarded more U.S. representatives, then states with lower population growth will lose representatives. Connecticut currently has the seventh lowest population growth in the country. If this trend continues, it is likely that Connecticut will lose one seat in Congress in 2020, which may result in the state losing the political clout to protect defense industry jobs including submarines built in Groton, fighter engines built in East Hartford and helicopters built in Stratford.

There is a way to avoid this loss for Connecticut, which is if both national parties find some common ground on the guest worker issue. Democrats should agree to more guest workers but only if non-citizens are excluded from congressional apportionment. There is room for negotiating here because the 2012 Republican Platform states clearly, “… the apportionment of representatives among the states should be according to the number of citizens.”

On May 22, a Senate committee approved proposed legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented residents in the U.S. That legislation, however, must also gain support in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives where the political stakes are much greater than in the Senate. It is political suicide for Republicans to turn millions of Democratic-leaning undocumented immigrants into citizen voters. Alternatively, providing guest worker status without citizenship harms Democrats.

Granting Jessica Bravo, and others like her, guest worker status but not counting them in congressional apportionment would be a prudent compromise and in Jessica’s best interest. Undocumented residents and their advocates should give serious, and unemotional, consideration to guest worker status combined with exclusion from apportionment. The undocumented would gain legal status without inadvertently giving more political power to those who do not represent their interests. Some states would lose congressional representatives in this scenario, which is itself is a strong tangible statement of political influence by the undocumented or future guest workers. Might Rep. Rohrabacher support amnesty if he were to lose his seat in Congress because California’s undocumented population is excluded from apportionment?

Connecticut would also most certainly benefit from this scenario. The state might even gain another U.S. representative in 2020. Otherwise, Connecticut’s low population growth will likely result in one fewer representative in Congress and relegate the state to the same level of political influence as Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Nevada and Utah.

Orlando Rodriguez is a frequent contributor to CTLatinoNews.com. He has written about the link between the undocumented and congressional apportionment in his book Vote Thieves. His views do not reflect the views of his employer.

(Photo by cliff1066 via Flickr)

(Photo: Fox News Latino)

Jessica Landeros holds a special place in U.S. military history. In 2004, she became the first woman in combat in Iraq during the Second Battle of Fallujah. Thanks in part to pioneers like Landeros, women will be allowed the opportunity to fight on the front line in all wars as of 2016, Fox News Latino reported.

After the 9/11 attacks, a 19-year-old Landeros joined the U.S. Navy. She started out as a plumber and convoy machine gunner in a construction battalion whose main objective was building bases and infrastructure, and went on to three tours of duty.

However, it wasn’t until the summer of 2006 that the reality of war hit too close to home. Tasked with leading nighttime security escorts for supply vehicles and personnel, her team was stationed in the especially dangerous Al Anbar province. During a mission one day, an explosion went off just feet away from Landeros’ vehicle.

“I saw bodies writhing in the sand like fish out of water; two teammates had been hit,” she recalled. “But I quickly snapped back to reality and forced myself to look away from my fallen colleagues and remember my mission: provide security for the road workers and now for the wounded and the medics who were moving them to safety.”

Landeros took control, saying, “I did what any smart woman would do: I appealed to [her fellow servicemens'] machismo.” She reminded her teammates that it was their responsibility to keep themselves calm and in control for the sake of the terrified road workers.

Through her leadership, her team made it safely back to Fallujah, thanks to “the ability, despite societal and historical barriers, to articulate the mission and instill in others the passion to get the job done,” the report said. 

Ana Maria Rivera, with hand to mouth, and other immigration activists watch from House gallery as roll call is taken on GOP amendment to bill opening driver’s licences to illegal immigrants. Bill passed on 74-55 vote at 5:48 a.m. (Photo: CT Mirror)

The push and pull of immigration politics played out over a marathon House session that began Wednesday with bipartisan consensus on one bill and ended Thursday in partisan rancor on another.

In a vote likely to reverberate in the 2014 races for governor and General Assembly, the House voted 74-55 after sunrise Thursday for a bill allowing people in the country illegally to obtain a Connecticut driver’s license, beginning Jan. 1, 2015.

Click here for the full story. 

Written by Mark Pazniokas. The CT Mirror is a media partner with CTLatinoNews.com.

Cara Kenefick
CTLatinoNews.com

Every year, thousands of women find themselves at the mercy of human-traffickers. Trapped, they are the puppets of their pimps who sell them to anyone willing to trade sex for cash. Connecticut in particular has seen a rise in human trafficking activity in recent years, which Latino immigrants and foster children are especially susceptible to.

Several bills have been proposed in the state legislature this session to curtail human trafficking, as well as crack down on traffickers, but time may be running out as the end of the session rapidly approaches on June, 5.

Two bills proposed by Sen. Martin Looney aim to help victims of human trafficking and implement harsher punishments for criminals who take advantage of those victims. One bill proposes to prohibit liquidating the money or property of accused traffickers before their conviction to freeze their assets, and then compensating victims from the proceeds of their assets forfeited after their conviction. The bill also proposes to require truck stops and places with liquor permits, such as bars and exotic dancing establishments, to post information on and phone numbers to state and federal anti-trafficking hotlines.

Looney’s other bill proposed a general statute amendment, which would allow fines imposed on victims for engaging in human trafficking to be remitted, as well as allowing the state to be able to bring public nuisance abatements against anyone who uses, owns, leases or maintains a property to engage in human trafficking.

“There’s a higher level of public attention and awareness,” he said. “The good thing is there is more knowledge in order to deal with the problem, but at the same time it’s a bad thing because there is an alarming level of this type of thing going on.”

A “second chance act” proposed by Waterbury Rep. Jeffrey Berger would pardon victims who have been charged with prostitution as a result of being trafficked.

If the bills do not pass by the end of this session, the process will start over again and they will need to be reintroduced. “I’m hoping we can get something done by June,” Looney said.

Major human trafficking activity in Connecticut was brought to the forefront in 2008, when sex-trafficking ringleader Corey Davis was sentenced in Bridgeport, Conn., for his involvement in the exploitation of up to 20 women, some of whom were minors, according to FBI records. The victims were lured into prostitution under the false promises of modeling contracts and high-class living, the report said, but instead were forced into dancing at strip clubs around the tri-state area.

Davis allegedly isolated and controlled his victims through physical force, all while cashing in on the sex acts they were forced to perform. He plead guilty to several sex-trafficking charges and admitted to recruiting minors for prostitution.

According to Alicia Kinsman, of the Connecticut Coalition Against Trafficking (CTCAT), human traffickers exploit the most vulnerable of individuals, including immigrants who have come to the United States in fear of violence and exploitation in their home country, and foster children. Immigrants are especially unfamiliar with American law enforcement and their rights, thus putting them in a perfect situation to be exploited, she said.

She said she has seen several clients from Central and South America use CTCAT’s services as victims of human trafficking.

“It’s important for individuals to know their rights,” she said. “No matter what your immigration status, no one has the right to exploit you.”

CTACT offered services to 30 victims last year, and the number has grown every year since its inception in 2006. Kinsman said that CTACT has already screened 11 potential victims as of the end of April and positively identified five. She expects to work with at least 30 survivors by the end of this year.

Kinsman said current legislation proposed on the state level has bolstered awareness on the issue and the plight of the victims.

While Kinsman said she did not think the bills will eradicate human trafficking completely, she said any legislation that takes the incentive away from the crime and makes it less profitable is a step in the right direction.

Since 2008, the Department of Child and Families estimate 100 children have been victims of domestic minor sex trafficking. Of them, 98 percent were involved in child welfare services.

Findings from the Chronicle of Social Change revealed that Hispanic children make up more than 20 percent of foster children in the United States, a figure that has swelled in the past two decades.

Research showed that in 1990, eight percent of foster children were Latino. In 2010, that number had more than doubled, at 21 percent.

Last week, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Co-Chair of the Senate Caucus to End Human Trafficking, and U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, held a Congressional forum focused on how foster children are especially vulnerable to sex traffickers.

During the forum, Blumenthal stressed the importance of remembering that human trafficking is not just an international issue, but a national epidemic. According to release he said, “A comprehensive and dedicated effort is required to meet the needs of our nation’s most vulnerable youth and we need to ensure there is effective coordination among all of the systems designed to serve the needs of these children.”

Bass called the amount of foster youth involved in child trafficking “truly alarming”.

“. . . It’s time for a wake-up call to combat this problem,” she said in the release. “If we continue to think of child trafficking as only a problem abroad, we do so at the expense of thousands of children within our own borders who are at risk of becoming trafficking victims . . .”

(Photo by Ira Gelb via Flickr)

The American travel industry has set its sights on Hispanics. Airlines like Southwest, American, and Continental have decided it just makes sense to key into Latino travel dollars, which are often spent traveling to visit relatives around the world, Reach Hispanic reported.

According to data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, Hispanic mothers are more likely to book a trip than the general market, at 27 percent versus 24 percent. Because of the trend, the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) and the National Tourism Association (NTA)  have honed in on the Hispanic travel market in the U.S. 

The State of the Hispanic Consumer: Hispanic Market Imperative  Nielsen report from April of 2012 found that Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic segment, growing 167 percent from 2010 to 2050, compared to just 42 percent growth of the total population. The report also predicts a jump from $1.3 trillion in Hispanic purchasing power in 2012 to $1.5 trillion in 2015.

As the country’s travel industry fights its way back, executives are harnessing all of their resources to stimulate growth.

Victor Owens, VP and general manager of Hotels.com North America, said his company has made a “concentrated effort” to connect with the Hispanic market, namely by becoming the first and only hotel booking site to have a Spanish language site.

“The increasing Hispanic spending power in the United States represents a significant opportunity for the rebounding U.S. travel industry,” the report said. “ This highlights the growth of interest within the travel industry; marketers want to continue fostering the relationship they have with this important U.S. demographic.”

(Photo by swimparallel via Flickr)

A piece of legislation that could help ease the relationship between Connecticut’s immigrant communities and local law enforcement is making its way through the State Capitol.

The State House unanimously passed the aptly named Transparency and Responsibility Using State Tools (TRUST) Act on Thursday, which will now move on to the Senate. The act would make it so local governments would only have to detain an individual at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) request if that person had a “serious or violent felony conviction.” 

The act is in response to the federal Secure Communities program, which according to Ana Maria Rivera,  legal and policy analyst for JUNTA for Progressive Action, “undermines the trust that has been built between law enforcement and the immigrant community.”

JUNTA is an affiliate of the Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance (CIRA), which has advocated for the TRUST Act as a way to make up for the “flawed interpretation” of the Secure Communities program, which was originally crafted to keep neighborhoods safe from convicted detainees.

That trust between immigrants and law enforcement officials often hangs on a delicate thread. According to a research by PolicyLink, a recent study surveying 2,004 Latinos in four U.S. counties revealed that many of them avoid involving themselves with their local police departments since the Secure Communities program has been implemented.

Data showed that 44 percent and 45 percent, respectively, said they were less likely to contact police despite being the victim of a crime and would be less likely to to volunteer information about a crime for fear of themselves or someone they knew being asked about their immigration status.

Forty-three percent responded that they felt local law enforcement is more concerned with immigration enforcement, which made them feel unsafe. Lastly, 38 percent said they were afraid to leave their homes because of feeling unsafe. 

Advocates of the TRUST Act say the issue with the federal program is that there is no uniform standard in Connecticut. Because of that, local governments around the state responds to ICE detainer requests differently.

“The question of jurisdictional interpretation of the program has lacked a clear and consistent answer from ICE before Congress, the media and local officials,” a release from CIRA read. “The confusion has resulted in a contradictory implementation, many times unjust to law-abiding immigrants.”

Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey (D-Hamden), stressed the importance of “fair and equal “ policies, and the need for consistency throughout the state’s law enforcement. The bill’s passage signifies the “overwhelming belief that [immigrants] deserve better.”

Kurt Westby, Vice President and Connecticut state director of 32BJ SEIU, a CIRA affiliate and property service workers union, said in the release, “State and local law enforcement resources need not be misspent on federal immigration enforcement activities that target working people and undermine community relations. We are doing everything we can to pass commonsense immigration reform on the national level, but in the meantime, entire communities are suffering when immigrants are arbitrarily swept into detention and deportation proceedings.”

All these problems, Westby said, can be fixed with the TRUST Act. 

Lobster Risotto from Barcelona New Haven.

Barcelona New Haven 155 Temple St., New Haven (203) 848-3000

Barcelona New Haven, open since 2006, is a Spanish and tapas restaurant and wine bar.  The restaurant was the winner of “Best New Restaurant” and “Best Wine List” by the New Haven Advocate.

Executive Chef Frank Proto has crafted an extensive tapas menu, including customer favorites like Gambas al Ajillo, Albondigas and Mahi Mahi a la Plancha.

Barcelona has a 4/5 star rating out of 173 reviews.

For more information, visit their website here.

(Photo by Eric H. via Yelp)

For Latinos seeking future financial security through a 401(k) plan, it is important you know what fees are incurred during the process.

“It is important for your financial security to be aware of charges accruing over the years, especially since retirement funds accumulate for decades and so do those fees,” a report from Fox News Latino said.

However, many Latinos may not fully understand the workings of their plans. Recent data from a NerdWallet investing study found that up to 92.6 of participants in their survey had underestimated the amount of fees they paid over the course of their plan.

According to the report, the following fees can be expected during your 401(k):

Expense ratio: This is a measure of the fund’s total annual operating expenses and is the most common fee you will encounter. This may be the most prominent fee but it is certainly not the only fee. This fee should be clearly noted on your fund statement because it does not vary much year-to-year.

Other mutual fund-level fees: Other costs could include purchasing a fund and associated trading costs. These fees should be displayed prominently on your 401(k) statement as well.

Plan-level fees: These fees pay for plan providers and administrative costs.

The report also recommends controlling fees by picking funds with low expense ratios, comparing and ranking 401(k) fund offerings, and identifying and understanding hidden fees.

According to author and financial analyst Neda Jafarzadeh, heed the following tips to determine whether your mutual fund fees are excessive:

- Research index funds with low expense ratios. This will cost you less money in fees over time than investing using actively managed funds which on average have higher expense ratios.
- If your research shows that the 401(k) funds in your retirement package that are all from the same fund family are performing poorly, you may want look for another plan trustee.
- Not all no-load funds have the same terms, so research your specific terms so you understand what you have signed up for. FINRA allows a fund to charge up to 0.25 percent of its average annual net assets in 12b-1 fees and still call itself a no-load fund.

(Photo by kenteegartin via Flickr)

Most aspiring professional athletes train for years at one position just for the chance to try out for a major league team. But for Ramon Hernandez, he only had two months to make his dream come true.

Hernandez, originally from Venezuela, attended tryouts in his hometown as a shortshop and center fielder. By sheer dumb luck, the person supposed to be catching for the pitchers did not show up and Hernandez volunteered for the gig. A scout told him he had two months to train as a catcher and when he returned, he signed Hernandez and brought him to the states, according to MLB.com.

Thus began Hernandez’s twenty-year career as a catcher.

Salvador Perez, a hulking shortstop at 6 feet, three inches and 25 pounds, got th same transitional treatment. A scout told him if he had any hopes of making it in professional ball, he needed to get used to being in gear.

“So I became a catcher. I loved it right away. You’re always in the game,” Perez said in the report.

The trend is common in the major leagues. This season, 44 percent of the 72 catchers in MLB games have been Latino. Venezuela spawns the most catchers, with 15 playing this year.

Puerto Rican players have also gained a reputation for commanding the game. Tweelve players from Puerto Rico have caught in MLB games this year.

Catching is a tough job, but someone has to do it, so why not Latinos, Hernandez said.

“Not many people like to catch. You have to love the game to catch. That’s why so many of us [from Latin America] do it,” he said. “Who wants to get beat up? You take so much [abuse] back there with the collisions, foul tips, balls hitting you all over your body.”

For Venezuelans, the honor to be a leader and a captain is enough to counter the toll the position takes on the body.

“In this position, you are the leader on the field,” Wilson Ramos, a catcher from Venezuela, said. “That’s what we love.”

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130516&content_id=47753050&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

Keith allison

When the CT Salsa Festival debuted almost ten years ago, if 350 people turned out for the event, it would have be considered a lot, event organizers recalled. But now, the festival has morphed into a must-see stop for salsa lovers.

Now in its ninth year, the CT Salsa Festival organizers have spent the last nine months prepping for more than 100 teams and thousands of guests coming not from just across the country, but around the world.

“If you go to Boston, New York, New Jersey, Philly. . . they all have a Salsa Congress. We were just a bump in the road,” organizer and host Luz Otero said, recounting the genesis of the festival. “We go to all these places for these events, so we thought ‘Why don’t we have one here?’”

And the idea for the CT Salsa Festival was born.

Otero’s partner Luis Lopez, a dance instructor who owns his own studio in Hartford, called her with the idea. No one in Connecticut has ever done anything like the festival, he told her during the fateful call ten years ago. Five months later, they were in the planning stages, contacting performers and dancers and had a website set up.

This year, Otero expects 3,500 to come out to the Stamford Mariott Hotel to partake in the action this weekend.

“People hear ‘salsa’ and they think Latinos, but it’s very diverse,” Otero said. “Salsa is big right now. It’s been around for a long time, but little by little, it’s growing.”

In the beginning, the festival was limited to local teams from the New York and New Jersey area. Last year, teams came from as far as Itay, France and Spain. This weekend, attendees can expect dancers from Puerto Rico, Canada and Venezuela. About 20 adult teams will perform per night, along with youth shows at night and a free community party on Sunday.

The festival also features workshops with professional dance instructors for levels “never heard salsa, never danced salsa” to “tricks and flips and dips”, Otero said. There will be additional workshops for children incorporating basic salsa and hip-hop moves.

For Otero, the highlight of the festival is the youth performances. Watching 5, 6, and 7-year-olds doing splits and flipping each other across the floor is “unexplainable”, she said. “They have cute little costumes and you’re just in awe, thinking ‘How can they do this?’”

Children are highlighted during the festival not just as performers, but they benefit from the event as well. Organizers hope to raise $20,000 for St. Jude’s Hospital during this year’s event during the festival’s silent auction and cocktail reception benefit on Sunday.

Over the past four years, the festival has raised a total of $40,000 for the hospital.

This year, the fundraiser will also include a performance by a dance group that put together a tribute to the children of Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Otero said choosing to donate to St. Jude has been a very personal decision. “Not that I am a parent who’s had a child there, but I could’ve been,” she said. Her son was born with a tumor on his face, she explained.

“St. Jude is very important to us . . . we have many kids that come, many kids from St. Jude, that don’t have the opportunity to dance on the stage.”

For the first time, local youth approached the festival to organize a “teen night” party. Otero said the kids wanted to donate all the proceeds from the dance party, which will mix moder and salsa music, to St. Jude’s as well.

“It’s not just a party. You meet people from all walks, cultures, and ages,” Otero said. “It’s hard to put it into words, you just have to experience it!”

For more information on the CT Salsa Festival, visit their website at http://ctsalsafest.com/. The festival runs from May 24-26. 

(Photo by jackie0828 via Flickr)