Not only is Obama’s inaugural day deep with symbolism, but a passing of the torch, among one generation who fought for the rights of others to another who are benefiting from those rights. In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke about a dream of equality in a speech in Washington, D.C. and 46 years later in the same city, we are witnessing a dream become reality. Martin Luther King must be happy. However, we must also not automatically presume the election of President Obama means we have magically entered a “post-racial” society; not when there is evidence of the ongoing forms of institutional racism.

Today’s inauguration lays the foundation and the groundwork to continue Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s unfinished work. It has also created a sincere and genuine atmosphere of change, not because Obama is president, but the HOPE that he inspires.

Today, history is made, a new chapter in our history is about to begin. We cannot go back to business as usual.

Text of President Barack Obama’s inaugural address

No doubt that Latinos turned out in record numbers at the polls, claiming their spot as a political force to be reckoned with. Earlier in the year, NDN President Simon Rosenberg had projected that 14 million Hispanics would be registered to vote, and 12 million are likely to vote, which would translate to Hispanics comprising 10% of the overall vote in the next presidential election. Rosenberg was very close.

According to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) roughly 9.6 million to 11 million Latinas/os voted in the election, up from 7.8 million in the 2004 presidential contest. In Texas, especially in Harris County, Latino turnout did not turnout like many would have hoped. While we might be disappointed with the turnout, however, we also have to keep in mind that in Houston, Latinos have notoriously been weak at the ballot box. The truth is, people have a tendency to confuse voting behavior with voter turnout.

This is where analyzing precinct level data can be relevant. If analyzed correctly, it can reveal the diversity of the population and political preferences that underlie support for the two major political parties. However, we must also be mindful of the limitations and pitfalls when it comes to analyzing data. Two locations may cast their vote for the Democratic candidate, but do so for different reasons. The meaning of a vote in one part of the county may have a total different meaning in another.

The Latino Vote
If the primary elections are an indicator of voter turnout in the 2008 presidential election, it is projected that Latinos will vote in large numbers, and perhaps swing the election. In Texas, Latinos made up 32% of the primary vote, up from 24% in 2004. In Harris County, the Latino population makes up 15 percent of the county’s electorate and at roughly 38.6% of its population, compared with the national average of 14.8 percent, according to the 2007 American Community Survey.

The county has one State Senate district, Senate District 6 (Sen. Gallegos) and four State Representatives districts – House District (HD) 140 (Rep-elect Armando Walle), 143 (Rep. Ana Hernandez), 145 (Rep-elect Carol Alvarado), and 148 (Rep. Jessica Farrar) – that are considered Majority-Hispanic districts. These majority-minority districts are spread throughout Harris County, with Baytown to the East and Spring Branch to the West. These districts spread to Houston Intercontinental Airport to the north, with parts of Pasadena on the southern boundary, except for Senate District 6, which reaches as far South to Pearland. This district also included the Houston Heights, South Houston, Galena Park, Jacinto City, the Aldine area, as well as the East End portion of the Houston Ship Channel.

According to the County Clerk, Harris County saw over 1 million voters participate in the national election. Without having the actual numbers, it is safe to say that roughly over 100,000 Latinos voted; suggesting that between 8% and 9% of all voters in the general election were Latino.

In Harris County, President-elect Barack Obama won by a margin of approximately 18,000 votes and over 50,000 votes for Democrat candidate Rick Noriega, therefore it is safe to assume if there were no Latino votes cast, President-elect Obama, Rick Noriega, and down ballot Democrats in Harris County would have gone to the Republican Party.

The data indicate that Latinos supported President-elect Barack Obama over Senator John McCain by a 2 to 1 margin, ranging between 58 to 62 percent of their votes for Obama, which mirrors the exit poll data published by CNN. Essentially, there is no indication that Latinos would not support a black candidate. Note, most reports do not include undervotes nor the results from third party, independent, or write-in candidates. For this post, I choose not to make these adjustments because it would a provide clear picture.

The fact that Obama received above of the 60% of the Hispanic vote is impressive, considering local Democrats practically ignored using any Spanish-language TV.

What occurred in Harris County, mirrors 10 million Hispanic voters came out to vote, and of those who voted, 6 out of 10 cast their vote for Barack Obama and the Democratic Party. For somebody to claim, we won’t support a Black candidate is not only ludicrous but dangerous. In comparing the 2004 Presidential race, only one district (HD 143), Kerry received more support than Obama, the rest showed improved support for the Presidential candidate.

Surprisingly, only one district (HD 145) showed a noticeable increase in Republican support, while the three state representative districts loss a considerable Republican support. The “Gonzales Effect,” the appointment of Gonzales to the Attorney General post to appeal to Latino voters, could explain why the three state representative districts had a sudden drop of Republican support this year in comparison to the 2004 election. However, the “Gonzales Effect,” does not explain why HD 148 had an increase in votes during this election. There are a lot of factors that could play, such as suburban-to-urban migration, construction of new homes and apartment developments in rundown neighborhoods, whatever the reason, this one district to keep an eye in the future.

Lee Brown-Orlando Sanchez Mayoral Race
Sadly, people bring up Lee Brown’s run-off race against Orlando Sanchez as proof that Latinos will never support a black candidate. In November 2001, Orlando Sanchez came within 10,000 votes of being elected the first Latino mayor in the history of Houston. Brown had 165,865 votes (52%), to Sanchez’s 155,164 (48%).

Oftentimes, political junkies, party leaders, and academia are quick to cut corners to reach a conclusion. One of the problems in trying to investigate which strategy works best in garnering Hispanic support; external factors do play a role in the equation. When it comes to Lee Brown-Orlando Sanchez race, this is no different.

In Houston, our mayoral races are technically nonpartisan. While it is true, it is easy to tell which side of the aisle a candidate falls, we do have to keep in mind, there is a large majority of people who knows less about the US political system then we like to think.

One has to remember this was a re-election. Yet, it was the Hispanic vote that contributed to Mayor Lee Brown, Houston’s first African-American mayor, 6 percentage points win over Rob Mosbacher Jr., a businessman and son of a former commerce secretary in the Bush White House. According to an exit poll by Robert M. Stein of Rice University, Brown had won with 97 percent of the black vote, 66 percent of the Hispanic and 23 percent of the Anglo. Hispanics were an estimated 10.3 percent of the total on that Election Day, in a race that also included former Councilwoman Gracie Saenz, the first Hispanic in the City of Houston’s history to be elected to an at large position on the City Council.

So what happened in 2001? What made the infamous Lee Brown-Orlando Sanchez mayoral race different? Sanchez campaigned on a platform that a Latino should finally be elected as mayor of Houston. Sanchez was exploiting the tensions that were finally building up in Houston. Brown had two strikes against him. One, he was a Clinton insider and he was a former police chief of Houston. The Clinton administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration after 1996 was viewed negatively by many immigrant rights organizations in Texas.

At that time, the Houston police department was under scrutiny for their actions in heavily Latino neighborhoods. In part, this was the result of a collaborative effort between Houston PD and the INS in conducting “street sweeps” to find and deport undocumented immigrants. This lead to tensions increased between Latinos and the police department, in 1998 when six Houston police officers shot Pedro Oregon, a Mexican immigrant, was nine times in the back, twice in the head and once through his left hand.

Before George W. Bush was inaugurated for his second term as Governor of Texas, Karl Rove foresaw that Latino voters was crucial if Republicans were ever to win an election. What occurred in Houston, was Rove’s test case because capturing the Hispanic voters “was [their] mission and [their] goal.”

With the national Republican Party pouring money into Orlando Sanchez’s race, it is obvious that Karl Rove was involved. During the campaign Orlando Sanchez used his immigrant status to his advantage to muster up ethnic pride. Not only that, Sanchez was riding on the coattails of Bush’s wartime popularity. In the last five days before the Dec 1 runoff, the RNC was spending $200,000 a day to promote Orlando Sanchez’s endorsements by President George W. Bush, former president George H. W. Bush, then New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and other eminent Republicans.

The idea that Latinos would never support a Black candidate is a myth. It is disingenuous to assume the entire Latino community should have known the incumbent Mayor Lee Brown was a Democrat and his challenger, Orlando Sanchez, was Republican. By accepting this as fact, it absolves the local party of any responsibility and puts the blame on an entire community.

With the growth of the Latino electorate, both Democrats and Republicans are now investing time and resources in courting Latino voters in contrast to past elections when Latinos were largely ignored. While is vital to understanding the election prospects of both parties for the foreseeable future, at same time, it is vitally important not to jump to conclusions without looking at all the facts.

Prior to the election, the Texas Observer ran article which stated that “a Democrat can’t win a statewide race in Texas without carrying Harris County.” Something interesting did occur in this election, Obama did win Harris County (51/49). he won the state’s other largest cities Bexar County (San Antonio, 52/47), Dallas County (57/42), and Travis County (Austin, 64/35).

Yet, Obama still didn’t win Texas. If Harris County was considered the vanguard of the Democratic effort to turn the state blue, then we are forced to ask, what happened? The answer is simple, the devil is in the details.

The Latino Sleeping Giant
The Associated Press reported that about two-thirds of Latino voters chose Obama over John McCain and among new Latino/a voters 76% backed Obama compared to 23% for McCain. The 2008 election will go down in history as the election in which Latino voters emerged as a political force. After years of being viewed as the “sleeping giant”, it finally woke up. According to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) roughly 9.6 million to 11 million Latinas/os voted in the election, up from 7.8 million in the 2004 presidential contest. The Wall Street Journal reported the Latinos turned out in record numbers to vote for now President-elect Barack Obama. There is no doubt these are extraordinary numbers, worthy of celebration.

One would think it would catch on here in Texas, but it didn’t. The Latino vote simply didn’t come through. Sure, a large majority of Latinos that voted for Obama, but the turnout was low. In mostly Hispanic counties, election turnout ranged between 34 to 47 percent:

Texas Counties – Presidential Election 08

Presidio – 33.66%; 84.36% of the population is Latino
Starr – 35.47%; 97.54% Latino
Frio – 38.58%; 73.76% Latino
Culberson – 39.65%; 72.24% Latino
Zapata – 39.65%; 84.78% Latino
Maverick – 40.43%; 95.01% Latino
Hidalgo – 42.73%; 88.35% Latino
La Salle – 43.03%; 77.12% Latino
Cameron – 43.31%; 84.34% Latino
Willacy – 43.42%; 85.69% Latino
Jim Wells – 43.65%; 75.71% Latino
Webb – 44.37%; 94.28% Latino
Val Verde – 44.84%; 75.46% Latino
San Patricio – 45.57%; 49.42% Latino
Hale – 46.52%; 47.90% Latino
Jim Hogg – 46.57%; 89.98% Latino
Duval – 47.18%; 87.99% Latino
El Paso – 47.44%; 78.23% Latino
Reeves – 47.49%; 73.38% Latino
Zavala – 47.71%; 91.22% Latino
Dimmit – 47.90%; 84.97% Latino

Sources: Texas Secretary of State and USA Today

So what went wrong?

Support in Texas
There is an old Texas saying that the smart move is to “dance with the one who brung ya.” The growth in the Latino electorate in strategically important states places Latino voters in more advantaged positions to influence the outcome of this election than ever before. However, in Texas, Latinos not only didn’t “dance with the one who brung ‘em,” they simply were not invited.

Latino leadership coalitions have spent millions in an unprecedented grass-roots effort to mobilize the Latino vote in as many as 13 states. Spanish-language publisher ImpreMedia, inserted 990,500 voter registration forms into its publications in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas. Media giants Univision and Entravision also are running television and radio spots. The Obama campaign pledged to spend $20 million to court the Hispanic vote.

However, the focus has always been on four of those states – Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Florida. There is no doubt in my mind those efforts provided a dramatic increase in Latino voter turnout which greatly benefited Obama and the Democrats. So what occurred in Texas is really not surprising.

According to the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, the Democratic Party could have won Texas, but didn’t because they simply did not “commit more voter registration and ‘get out the vote’ resources to Texas.” I would have to agree with this assessment. In fact, prior to the election, Juan Sepulveda, Texas State Director of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, periodically sent out e-mails asking for volunteers to help Obama in other states, other than Texas. This has been blogged about before, here and here.

Despite the fact that the Houston Chronicle had already reported Barack Obama had a seven point lead in Harris County, Juan Sepulveda made a last minute push recruit volunteers to go to New Mexico and Ohio. From the email I received seven days remaining until the national election:

This weekend, Texans from all over the state will be coming together to board campaign buses and head into battleground states like New Mexico and Ohio — not just to reach out to swing voters and get folks to the polls, but to help bring change to all of America.

Its not surprising that some will disagree with this assessment. Instead of taking the responsibility, Harris County Democratic Chair, Gerald Birnberg, defended the local Democratic Party’s effort and put the blame on “former supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

Local Democratic Chairman Gerald Birnberg said his party struggled to get former supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential primary candidacy to return to the polls and vote for Obama and the rest of the party’s slate. Clinton was immensely popular among Hispanic voters in Texas.

“The head wind was the demoralization of many of the Hispanic Hillary Clinton supporters and that was a reality we faced throughout the election,” Birnberg said.

If this was true, then the Democratic Party did nothing to try to change their minds. During this campaign season the candidates practically ignored Spanish-language TV. Both local Spanish-language TV stations KXLN (Univision) and KTMD (Telemundo) received less than $75,000 in ad buys from Republican US Senator John Cornyn and Harris County Sheriff Democratic challenger Adrian Garcia.

If there was a lack of resources, then why should people be surprise the Latino vote fell short in overall turnout. Political consultant Marc Campos points out the devil is in the details. While Harris County had a 62% voter turnout, however, this was not true in mostly Hispanic state House districts.

Harris County had a 62% turnout this past Tuesday. However in HD 143 (Ana Hernandez) we had a 40% turnout, HD 145 (Carol Alvarado) a 45% turnout, HD 140 (Armando Walle) a 41% turnout as compared to HD 142 (Harold Dutton) a 58% turnout, HD 147 (Garnet Coleman) a 59% turnout, and HD 134 (Ellen Cohen) a 74% turnout.

Harris County is just one example. Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka also wrote about the lack of Latino turnout in Nueces County.

Latino leaders, nowhere to be found
Throughout Obama’s campaign, he acknowledged, he would not take the Latino vote for granted. Therefore, not all of the blame should go to the Democratic Party, some of the responsibility also goes to the inactivity of many Hispanic leaders and politicians. So, despite the proclamation that the Hispanic vote should not be taken for granted, that is exactly what occurred. Since many of our local Latina/o politicians were already enjoying a comfortable lead with Latino voters and they were already being counted in the win column for them, they took the Hispanic vote for granted, offering little if nothing in return.

Put bluntly, a large majority of them were nowhere to be found and therefore there were no outreach appeals from either of them. By doing this, this allowed the McCain/Palin campaign to define the issues with the support of the corporate media. With regard to Latinos, the right-wing strategy was not to win over the Latino vote, but to neutralize the Latino vote by inciting ignorant, racist, and nationalist stereotypes to whip up a “fear and distrust of the Negrito.”

This is not the first time Republicans have used this tactic. Investigators from the US Senate’s Watergate Committee had uncovered an elaborate scheme to influence how Hispanics voted in the 1972 presidential election. The goal was quite simple: [It] “will be our job to try to crystallize” [that segment] “toward La Raza [Unida], toward the Republican party, or staying at home.” To accomplish this, the Republican inner circle would provided incentives for Hispanic leaders to either turn Republican or to allow the Republican incumbent to win by going passive. The campaign encouraged undecided voters to not vote at all by satisfying them with information about Republican accomplishments and creating an ambivalent attitude. The thought was their divided loyalties would make them stay home. The strategy worked.

There’s an old saying, “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” If we don’t take the time to look back and learn from history and past, we will repeat them.

Recently, the Los Angles Times reported that the Democratic Party are setting it’s sights on Texas. They decided to go after the large and growing Latino population there remains untapped in Texas. There plans for turning Texas blue can be seen taking shape.

For the Democratic Party win the Latino vote in Texas, they must become more familiar to Latinos again. It is obvious that Obama understands how important it is to win the hearts and minds of the Latino community. It is evident the Obama Administration is transcending the cultural stereotypes that has created the black and brown divide.

Right after the election, Barack Obama began tearing down those stereotypes by immediately appointing two South Texas to his transition team, Juliet Garcia and Espiridion “Al” Borrego. Several prominent Latinos are mentioned for several Cabinet positions.

For labor secretary Linda Chavez-Thompson, a longtime AFL-CIO leader; Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; and CA Rep. Xavier Becerra have been mentioned. Two Latinas are being considered as education secretary: University of Texas-Pan American President Dr. Blandina Cárdenas and Susan Castillo, Oregon’s superintendent of public instruction.

Contenders to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development are Miami Mayor Manny Diaz (also considered for secretary of homeland security) and Saul Ramirez Jr., a deputy HUD secretary under Clinton. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There many more Latinos being considered for Cabinet positions.

The DNC should also consider developing appeals that focus on values and issues, also with an emotional approach. It is imperative that connections be made with Latino youth – “new voters.” Most importantly, the Party must stop going to the same old Latino political well that has remained stagnant for years and instead develop young Latinos as party leaders. This has allowed to Republican Party to advantage and flipping demoralized potential leaders to their side.

Complacency has settled within the Latino leadership on all – community, state and national – levels. It is this complacency that has maintained the status quo, rather than cultivate new leadership. In Houston, power in the Latino community is concentrated into too few hands. Like a cancer, greed and vanity has allowed them to keep a tight reign on their elected positions. Challenges to the power base has divided to community and created apathy among the Latino electorate.

My challenge to DNC, NDN, state and local party, will they repeat the past mistakes or are they willing to take chance and develop a new crop of Latinos to be the future of the Democratic Party?

How to participate

Yep, I Twitter. Now What Do I Do?
It’s simple. We voters are using Twitter and other texting tools to report on how the vote is really going during this election, and we’re urging everyone to use the common word (or “hashtag” in Twitter lingo) of #votereport as they do so. If that happens, we’ll all be able watch on maps and graphs how the election is going across the country.

Including “#votereport” in your tweet is enough to get your report tracked by Twitter Vote Report. But the more details you can stuff in, the better. So, for example, include in your Twitter post:

* #[zip code] to indicate the zip code where you’re voting; ex., “#12345?
* L:[address or city] to drill down to your exact location; ex. “L:1600 Pennsylvania Avenue DC”
* #machine for machine problems; ex., “#machine broken, using prov. ballot”
* #reg for registration troubles; ex., “#reg I wasn’t on the rolls”
* #wait:[minutes] for long lines; ex., “#wait:120 and I’m coming back later”
* #early if you’re voting before November 4th
* #good or #bad to give a quick sense of your overall experience
* #EP[your state] if you have a serious problem and need help from the Election Protection coalition; ex., #EPOH

I Don’t Twitter, But I’m Willing to Try.
Don’t worry, Twitter is really easy to use. That’s one reason so many people love it. Just jump over to Twitter.com to sign up for a free account. You might want to watch “Twitter in Plain English”, the short video to the right, to learn how it works. Then follow the steps above for sending in a report.

I Don’t Twitter and I Don’t Want To. Can I Still Participate?
Sure thing. Our team of crack developers have come up with all sorts of ways for you to make your vote report known:

* Send a text message to 66937 and start your message with “#votereport”
* Download and use the iPhone app
* Find the “votereport” app in the Google Android marketplace
* Key in a report by calling 567-258-8683 (VOTE), 208-272-9024, or 617-960-8900, 310-734-0001 (Spanish speakers)

Okay, I Sent in Reports. Now What?
#votereport reports will, in real-time, be made available to anyone who wants them. Visit TwitterVoteReport.com to see the reports flow in. Voters can read these messages and help one another solve problems, liking letting someone know when a polling place has been moved. Advocacy groups can use them to spot problems. Citizens can figure out how to lend fellow voters a hand. And the press can zero in on local voting stories worth telling. Just sending in short reports can help your fellow citizens to vote.

We drive through their neighborhoods only when necessary; we bother not looking at them and we are finally at the point that we believe they are not real human beings. We refer to them, as Those People, The Dregs of Society, or The Underclass, just we can ignore them at our own peril.

Many Americans are out of work and a large majority of Americans are working harder for less. With little pay, middle and low income families are making the sacrifices on which bill to pay each month. With our nation at war and our economy in turmoil, the American promise has been threatened and the time has come for change. It is time to end the culture of corruption the Bush Administration has brought to the White House and it is time to end the divide that plagues our country. Barack Obama is a gleaming ray of hope for the failing human condition in America.

I will not lie; I have criticized Obama. I will be the first to admit nothing can go wrong with an Obama/Biden administration. However, it is the promise of hope for a better future that separates the two. While I have voted for Obama, however, I know things will not change right away.For those who are unsure and are wondering when I saw these gleaming rays of hope, my answer is Denver. I place my hope based on a statement he made during his acceptance speech in Denver.

I’ll ask for higher standards and more accountability. And we will keep our promise to every young American — if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.

As many know, we at the Sanctuary had sent a presidential questionnaire to all the candidates on the issue of immigration.

One question we asked, “Do you support the community service requirement of previous DREAM Act legislation … to immigrant graduates who perform 910 hours of volunteer community service.” The DREAM Act would provide a pathway to obtain permanent residency to children of undocumented immigrants on the conditions they either immediately seek a college education or enlist in the military. The legislation would have also made them eligible for federal student-loan and work-study programs.

Given that there was no end in sight to an unjust war in Iraq and a potential war with Iran, the bill has created a “crisis of conscience” for anyone who actually cares about real reform and the people it’s intended to help. I have always supported the DREAM Act if they brought back the original community service provision to the bill.

His answer to our question was short and to the point, yes. But there was something about the statement he made in Denver that felt we had an influence and that’s what brought a ray of hope for me in these dark times. Did we have an influence on him, maybe … maybe not, but I like to think, in small way, it did.

Soy Jose el Polmero and I cannot in my heart vote for John McCain.

Click here to view the embedded video.

GO VOTE!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Recently, a story broke out about Barack Obama’s Kenyan aunt, Zeituni Onyango, she was living in public housing in Boston. However, now with less than 72 hours till the election, there is a twist to this story. According to the Associated Press, reported that Onyango is an “illegal.”

But it doesn’t stop there. It was later found out that somebody within the Immigration and Customs Enforcement leaked the story to AP. The AP wrote:

Onyango was instructed to leave the country by a U.S. immigration judge who denied her asylum request, a person familiar with the matter told the AP. This person spoke on condition of anonymity because no one was authorized to discuss Onyango’s case.

For those who have lived in Texas during the 80’s and the 90’s, this story suddenly becomes very suspicious. In fact, any Texas Democrat who has been involved in Texas prior to the 2000 election this was “the Mark of Rove,” there are no fingerprints. For me, I immediately had flashbacks of Lena Guerrero’s demise.

Shortly after former Governor Ann Richards appointed Lena Guerrero to a vacant seat on the Railroad Commission, someone serving on a University of Texas committee selecting distinguished alumni learned that Guerrero had never graduated, contrary to her claims during her campaigns for a House seat and later for the Commission. Rove held on to the information until the time was right, then turned it over to the Dallas Morning News; confronted with the question, Guerrero unraveled.

I had a chance to meet her and to get to know her. As people jumped ship, I supported her until the very end. At that time, I didn’t know who Karl Rove was, or what he was capable of doing. It was not until I saw the movie Bush’s Brain by that I found it was Rove who leaked this information. He did not just forced her to tearfully resign, but destroyed her political career.

There are countless of people lives he destroyed through his vile smear campaigns, and sadly, he does it without reservation. Without a doubt, his fingerprints can be found all over the Auntie Zeituni story. Whether or not this story will have an effect swaying independents or moderate Republicans to vote for John McCain, we not be known until Tuesday; what does matter is the individual who was just demonized, harassed and persecuted because it made good political fodder.

As Duke, a fellow Sanctuarian, writes, there is a bigger picture to the Auntie Zeituni story, it exemplifies the current problems found in our broken immigration policy.

Knowing there is a major focus in the current debate in the US over immigration policy concerning people; red flags should have gone up immediately considering this story surfaced in the last 72 hours of a national election, especially on an issue that has taken a back seat.

According to the AP, Onyango was instructed to leave the country four years ago by an immigration judge who rejected her request for asylum from her native Kenya. However, instead of leaving, he was living in public housing in Boston.

It is easy to see why nativist are in hysterics and are crying foul. To them, they see the world in black and white. You are either denied or accepted. If you are denied, the person should leave. In reality, however, the asylum process is much bigger and more complex.

Asylum is the legal protection against deportation. It is the status sought by non-US citizens, either legally or illegally, asking for refuge based on claims of persecution or fear of persecution in their home country. According to the Office of Immigration Statistics, there are two routes to gaining asylum, “…affirmatively through a USCIS asylum officer or defensively with an immigration judge as part of a removal hearing.”

Since Onyango had a hearing with an immigration judge, she went through the defensive route. The defensive process is triggered automatically for individuals placed in removal proceedings who have expressed a “credible fear” of persecution if they are returned to their homeland. I would not be surprised if Onyango expressed fear.

It is understandable why the progressive blogosphere would rather consider this a non-story instead of defending the issue. Why rock the boat when victory is so close? However, considering this story a non-issue is also considering Zeituni Onyango a non-person. Here is a woman whose life was ripped apart, much like the families who are broken up due to our ineffective system. By ignoring Onyanga’s plight from her country, which recently exploded into violence over a disputed election, is to play into the bureaucratic machine of oppression that works tirelessly to strip people like Onyanga of their human rights and to keep them faceless, so they can simply remain as non-persons.

The current situation is the product of our current political establishment. As an asylum seeker is refuge, there are a number of factors they must over come, particularly which immigration judge is assigned to the case. It is not surprising she was denied asylum, only a few hundred women have been given asylum.

Recently, has been found that the Bush Administration appointed immigration judges who espoused conservative priorities and Christian lifestyle choices. In extensive report by the department’s Office of the Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility found that Monica Goodling, former Department of Justice’s (DOJ) White House Liaison, had broken civil service laws, run afoul of department policy and engaged in “misconduct.”

Many Americans believe that the process of being granted asylum is easily abused by persons who seek this status in order to come to and stay in the United States, whether to work, to commit crimes or to endanger national security. There are many details that were left out in this AP. All we have been told she was denied asylum, it is possible she may appeal the denial to the Board of Immigration Appeals and thereafter to a US Court of Appeals.

It is obvious Karl Rove has corrupted John McCain in his thirst for power. Hopefully, Rove’s immigration ploy really did not have an effect like some are wishing, as they remain silent. However, it must be advised, the longer the Democrats and progressive bloggers let him get away with it, the more influence he’ll have on other Republican candidates.

The immigrant community faces a real challenge from our inability to fix our immigration system has engendered. If the Democrats and progressive bloggers feel it is better to handle Rove, hopefully, this stunt did serve as a reminder of a system that requires our immediate attention. One that can no longer be ignored.

I think Mr. Thompson would disagree with the disgruntle reader.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The recent television ads sponsored by the NRCC have been painting Nick Lampson and Michael Skelly for being “soft” on immigration (see the comments to the link post). It was expected the Republican Party was going to hit their Democratic opponents on this issue, however, when Hurricane Ike hit the Houston/Galveston area things changed because even they knew it was the immigrants who would be cleaning up. Not even Big Bad John “I Love the Border Wall” Cornyn has mentioned the wall in his ads. However, suddenly, things have changed; the immigration issue is now being mentioned on television. It was obvious, they would mention it to their base, but this was done through email, but this is different, it is not being made public. This is an obvious sign, the Republicans are now in a desperation mode and are willing to say whatever it takes to get elected; even it means losing the Latino vote.

One of the most telling signs that Republicans are running scared is when Republicans decide to use fear tactics on their own base to get out the vote. Fearing he might actually lose the election, Rep. Michael McCaul sent out an alarmist email to his supporters about his race against Democratic lawyer Larry Joe Doherty. From the Houston Chronicle:

We have only 8 more days until November 4th – Election Day. I some news that is not good for conservatives; Democrats are out voting Republicans in CD 10 and across good portions of Texas. This is not a good sign but it is not devastating. We have plenty of time to get our voters to the polls, which I know you will help me to do.

So I am asking you to please go to the polls and please get your friends to the polls. This election is bigger than just Congressional District 10; can you imagine a veto proof Senate? Can you imagine the
Judges that Obama will appoint to the Supreme Court? I need you to fight for conservative values by voting and making sure all your friends vote.

With a little push and a little luck, Texas can actually turn Blue and actually surprise every pollster who labeled Texas as a safe state for the Republicans. If not blue, it definitely will be purple.

Stevens, 84, was convicted on all seven counts of lying on Senate disclosure forms by failing to report more than $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts from an oil executive.

Stevens vowed to return to Alaska on Wednesday and resume campaigning for re-election against his Democratic challenger, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. “I will fight this unjust verdict with every ounce of energy I have,” he said in a blistering statement issued after the verdict.

Ted Stevens is the longest-serving Republican in the Senate and is also known for sporting an Incredible Hulk tie during political battles on the Senate floor. This time, this is one political battle he couldn’t win.

With seven days left till the election, Stevens is trailing behind his Democratic opponent, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. According to a blog post on TPMElection Central, Stevens’ dropped like a lead balloon, 20 points, after the announcement of his indictment. It is begin report this is a might just guarantee a Democratic pickup, bringing them one step closer to winning 60 seats in the Senate.

But don’t tell him that, he has no plans to step down from the Senate or the election, even though he is a convicted felon and now faces up to five years in prison on each of the seven charges. Sentencing is set to take place Jan. 26, way after the election.

Even though sentencing guidelines will lenient on him, odds are, he will probably receive that infamous presidential pardon, clearing him on any wrong doing, right before President Bush leaves office.

It seems, Alaska Gov and Republican vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, was quick to throw him under the bus. She called the verdict a blow against corruption in Alaska.

“The verdict shines a light on the corrupting influence of the big oil-service company that was allowed to control too much of our state. That control was part of the culture of corruption I was elected to fight. And that fight must always move forward regardless of party or seniority or even past service,” Palin said in a statement.

I am pretty sure she is grateful for all the help Stevens gave her as she was starting out in politics, just not now.

Stevens was accused of failing to report more than $250,000 of “gifts and benefits” from various friends and “favor-seekers,” The last time a Congressional member was also caught for receiving gifts from various friends and favor-seekers was Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham. He is now spending time in prison, maybe the two can be cellmates. Other potential GOP cellmates, there is Tom Noe, Bush Pioneer fundraiser and Jack Abramoff and list goes on.