Alabama's Draconian Immigration Law

Alabama's legislature passed this year perhaps the toughest, cruelest and most discriminating immigration law in the history of the United States. This law will punish employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens. It will also empower local and state policy to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. And perhaps the most controversial part of this law is that schools will be required to check the immigration status of their students prior to enrollment. Now I am not concerned about punishing employers for hiring undocumented workers; I am actually in favor of this notion and any provisions that discourage illegal aliens from coming to this country as long as it is part of a FEDERAL Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Immigration enforcement is a FEDERAL responsibility and this law should be blocked by the Supreme Court.



What I am against is the fact that Hispanic people in Alabama, legal or not, will be racially profiled and detained for not carrying their immigration papers on them. Let's say for instance; a Hispanic looking American citizen is driving with a broken tail light. He is stopped by a local police officer and he is asked if he is a US Citizen. He says "yes" and then the officer proceeds to ask him for "his papers" to prove that he is, in fact, a US citizen. Now who, on their right mind, would like to carry their birth certificate with them at all times? This is completely ridiculous. Hundreds of Latinos in Alabama are withdrawing their kids from school or not sending them at all because they are scared immigration will come knocking on their door when they come home from school. I hope this is a wake up call for the Obama administration and Congress to work on Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

Let's save the job creators!

Congressman John Fleming (R-La) came out a few weeks ago to voice his disapproval of President Barack Obama's deficit reduction plan. The president plan is aimed to add $1.5 trillion in revenue in the next 10 years by letting Bush era tax cuts expire and also by ending loopholes and subsidies for oil and gas companies. This has led to outraged reactions from both House and Senate Republicans who, of course, have sided with their rich buddies rather than the American people. With the excuse that corporations are "job creators", Republicans argue that corporations deserve the tax breaks currently in place in order to improve the economy and reduce unemployment.



This gentleman from Lousinana made about $6.3 million last year. He said and I quote "before you pay 500 employees, you pay rent, you pay equipment and food." "By the time I feed my family, I have maybe $400,000 left over," he said. Of course, he then went on and said that this is class warfare and that this is about creating jobs and not going after "successful people". When in reality, middle class families in America are hurting in this bad economy because of the same policies he and his party are in favor of. Corporations do not create more jobs, they keep all the money in off shore bank accounts. I have yet to see any statistics that show how many jobs were created ever since the Bush tax cuts were implemented. Instead, all I see is more people being laid off and losing their homes. But let's keep waiting....the jobs are on the way, right Congressman?

Soccer

One of my passions in life is soccer. I grew up watching and playing the sport back in my native Peru. I remember being a fervidly soccer player for my school when I was little, I played in every soccer tournament and even spent summers at soccer camp. One of my dearest and most remembered childhood memories was when I would spend afternoons playing soccer on a dirt field located a few blocks from my house. My mother would get so angry at me because I stayed out past my curfew sometimes and she literally had to drag me home. To this day, I think that one of my biggest regrets in life was not becoming a soccer player. I had to give up that dream when I came to the United States at age 12. Sure, I could have joined my school team and pursue my dream but the love for the game here is not as big as it is in Peru. My parents were never supportive of the idea of me being soccer player. When we came here, they wanted me to focus on school and adapt to the culture before I could play soccer again. Now as an adult with a full time job and school taking up most of my time, it is a little difficult to play soccer but I still watch it on TV whenever I get a chance.

One of my favorite soccer players is Mario Balotelli. He is an Italian soccer player who plays for Manchester City FC and he is also the first black player to play for the Italian National team. Manchester City came to the United States over the summer to play a few exhibition games against some local teams. In the clip, we observe Mario unsuccessfully trying to score a goal with a back heel against the LA Galaxy. The fans immediately booed him and even his coach subbed him out to reprimand him. My question to you is, had he scored the goal, do you think we would have seen a different reaction from the commentators, the fans and even his coach? I personally admire Mario for trying to pull off a feat like this. This is, after all, the Beautiful Game.