Senate Passes Immigration Reform Bill, House Introduces Their Own

Sitting against a looming white tower of washing machines, amongst the low rumble of dryers, Gaby tells me her story. Her left hand clings to her mop. Her soft voice seems to thread under the low steady rumble of the nearby dryers.

Every now and then she momentarily reclines her head against the wooden stick of the mop. It seems to have become a twisted paradoxical representation of her salvation and her disillusionment.

The more Gaby talks, the more she seems to become the laundry room she cleans every day. Her hands, like the grooves of the washing machine have twisted over each other. Her voice, like the rumble of the dryer has fallen. Her eyes, like the long gray tresses of the mop have become wet. 

 “They denied my husband residency and he had to stay in Juarez. It’s really hard,” she continues,  “when one is over here and the other is over there.”

Her head rises from its resting spot on the wooden handle of the mop; she looks away into the window at the passing legs of strangers then turns and looks into my eyes “Years have passed already and nothing happens, there is no immigration reform, who knows when…I’ll have wait another four, five, six years. I don’t know.”Gaby is a citizen of the US. She tried sponsoring her husband for a greencart after years of him leaving undocumented in the US. He is one of 1.5 million undocumented immigrants that have been deported under the current immigration system. He’s also one of 1.5 million that could potentially return to the US and receive lawful status through a comprehensive immigration bill that has already passed the senate in June by a vote of 68-32.

 The comprehensive bi-partisan bill S.744 known as The Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act was written by a group of eight bi-partisan senators known as the Gang of 8 and was introduced by Senator Charles Schumer.  

The senate bill would allow undocumented immigrants to gain legal status by applying to become a Registered Provisional Immigrant. Spouses or children of RPI would also be eligible to apply.

The requisites to becoming an RPI are to have been in the US since December 31 2011, pay a 1,000 penalty and other processing fees, have not been convicted of a felony or other misdemeanors and pass background checks, among other requirements. RPI’s would not be eligible for federal means tested programs such as Medicaid and Food Stamps.RPI status would last six years and can be renewed if the person shows evidence of continuous employment. After ten years of having RPI status a person could apply to become a permanent resident and receive a green card. After a minimum of three years of having a green card a person could apply for citizenship. This would mean an RPI would have to wait a minimum of 13 years before obtaining citizenship.

S.744 includes a version of the DREAM act. DREAMers would be able to receive their green card after five years rather than 10.

To qualify as a DREAMer an applicant must have to had entered the US before he or she was sixteen, earned a high school diploma or GED, completed two years of college or four years of military service, have passed a English test and background checks, among other requirements.

In terms of family based immigration, spouses and children of lawful permanent residents would be removed from current visa caps an immediately be eligible to apply for green cards. The senate bill would also indoctrinate a legal pathway for agricultural workers and a merit track based system for current and future visa holders.

In contrast to other immigration bills, the senate bill focuses on integrating immigrants into society through civic engagement, language acquisition and economic mobility.

 If the senate bill were to become law a set of “triggers” of the Border Security section of S.744 would have to go into effect before undocumented immigrants could apply to become RPI’s. Those triggers include over $30 million in mandatory border spending, deploying 34, 405 Border Patrol Agents, 700 miles of fencing, and 24-hour surveillance of the border, among others.

Only a few days after Gaby’s lamentation for the lack of passage in immigration reform the President of the United States delivered a speech to a group of immigrant activists in which he called for Republicans in the House to pass the Senate bi-partisan bill.

“It’s not going to pass, the Republicans have the solid majority in the House, there are parts of the bill they already said they wouldn’t vote for” said Richard Gutierrez, Political Science professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.

If the House were to vote on the Senate bi-partisan bill it would not be in a comprehensive form “they might want to take it apart” said a Legislative Intern from Senator Charles Schumer’s office.

However, the House has introduced and altered version of S.744, also known as the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization act or H.R 15.

H.R 15 is based on S.744 after it passed the Judiciary committee. It includes six amendments and replaces the Corker-Hoeven amendment with the bi-partisan House border security bill H.R 1417, better known as the McCaull bill.

The McCaull bill is more focused on measured approaches that require extensive reporting from the Department of Homeland security rather than mandatory spending. However, the McCaull is a stand-alone bill and does not carry the same “triggers” the Senate bill does.

Currently the House bill has been referred to the Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee.

Amidst skepticism of the House voting on S.744 National grassroots movements are not deterring in their efforts to getting the Senate bi-partisan bill passed.

“Our plan is to push elected officials to look at the bi-partisan effort and push Boehner to have a vote on the House floors… Polls show Americans support a path to citizenship on a 2:1 margin,” said Soñia Troche, Texas Regional Director of the National Council La Raza. “We want to get families on a path of citizenship, get them re-united.

If the efforts like the ones NCLA are pushing for are successful, Gaby could be and her family could potentially be re-united with her husband.

Audio: El Paso Downtown Artist and Farmers Market

City Hall Relocates After Demolition

El Paso- TX
Over 650 employees have been relocated over various locations in the Downtown area in order to pave the way for the construction of the $64 million dollar baseball stadium.

The demolition of City Hall was a result of the approval by City Council to construct a new baseball stadium after MountainStar Sports Group secured the purchase of the Tucson Padres, a Triple-A baseball team and a minor league of the Pacific Coast League.

In an interview with El Paso Inc. Paul L Foster stated that executives from the Pacific Coast League and Minor League Baseball said “that they believed we needed a new stadium and that they would prefer for it to be in the Downtown area.”

           

According to Dwight Hall, Director of Baseball Operations at Pacific Coast, “you can build a better environment in a downtown area.”

“There are a lot of technical requirements, some are recommendations. The purpose of those recommendations are to ensure the success of the team,” Hall added.

In order to look for potential buildings to relocate City Hall into, City Manager Joyce Wilson hired two consulting firms, TVO North America and RJL Real Estate Consultants.

“We brought up the deal to them, us and RJL…we visited properties downtown that met their options, and they decided where to go,” said Elizabeth Zatanita, asset manager at TVO North America.

TVO North America and RJL Real Estate recommended 15 buildings for the relocation of City Hall.

Ultimately City Hall purchased the El Paso Times building for $9.75 million and the Texas building for $2.4 million.

In addition to purchasing the two buildings the city spend $3 million in renovations for the Times building and $8.5 million in renovations for the Texas building, according to city officials.

The city spend an additional $11.5 million to renovate the Mulligan building.

The Mulligan building, then known as the Luther building, had been considered as a potential purchase by the city for $17.4 million as part of the relocation plan before it was donated to the city by Paul L. Foster. 

The trio of buildings represent an effort by the city to create a ped-shed layout.

According to city documents ped-shed is short for pedestrian-shed and it is the “the basic building block of walkable places… Ped-sheds are often defined as the area within a 5-minute walk.”

 “The idea is to create a campus approach,” said David Coronado City Plan Program Manager.

The El Paso Times buildings now known as the new City Hall, houses 13 of the 29 City Hall offices.

The Mulligan building and Texas buildings are both still undergoing renovations, and will be known as the Technology Center and the Development center once renovations are completed.

However, the completion of the renovations seems ambiguous. The city website cites Fall 2013 as the opening date for the Technology and Development Centers.

“Eventually they’ll be moving us” said a city employee.

The offices that correspond to the Technology and Development Centers are in temporary locations downtown while they await the completion of the buildings.

The remaining City Hall offices have been permanently placed in different buildings around the downtown area.

“Everybody got split up when the City Hall got torn down,” said a city employee.

The offices have been moved to the O’Rourke Center, The Tillman Center, the Development Center, the Union Plaza Transit Terminal and the Wells Fargo Building.

Video: Longboarders On Campus

Longboarding Policies Affect Skaters On Campus

EL PASO- “I feel like I’m surfing the concrete waves.” Is how Ramon Alvarez describes longboarding.

When Alvarez longboards he feels a sense of freedom. Wind gliding through his body, legs bent, and arms extended outwards, Alvarez is able to transcend through the land and ride the waves of a concrete ocean.

Alvarez has been skateboarding since the eight grade but began longboarding his first year in college after watching a video about it. He was intrigued by the sense of freedom and calmness he saw in the video.  

Like many skaters, Alvarez has tried both skateboarding and longboarding, however he prefers longboarding due to its style, “the aspect that drives me more is cruising…it’s just very chill.”

To an experienced longboarder like Alvarez, the differences between skateboarding and longboarding are obvious, but to the average person it might not be so clear.

The difference between skateboarding and longboarding is found in the name. A skateboard is approximately 28-32 inches long, while a longboard ranges in size from 32-60 inches. Another difference is longboards have harder wheels, or durometers, and more flexible axles. These differences in form are what lead to differences in style.

“If you look at a longboard it has bigger wheels, what that allows a longboarder to do is to go faster” said Omar Hernandez, who has longboarded for three years. 

Whether a skater will define him or herself as a longboarder or skateboarder, both suffer from the inability to skate on the UTEP campus. 

Section II of the UTEP Parking and Transportation handbook states “Use of skates, skateboards, skate blades (roller blades) are not allowed on campus.” 

“It’s mostly a safety concern. Bicycles have breaks, skateboards don’t have breaks, rollerblades don’t have breaks. There’s a dependence on the human factor in order to steer and to stop.” Said Michael Salazar, assistant director of Parking and Transportation services.

Skateboarding regulation in the University of Texas at El Paso is modeled after other campuses in the UT System. “We do research, we look at what other UT schools do first,” said Salazar.

However, skaters feel a misunderstanding of the sport has led to misguided policies. 

 “I think that the people that actually, currently own a longboard themselves they know how to break, they know balance or if they don’t they wouldn’t bring it to school” said Hernandez.

But perhaps, the near future looks brighter for skaters on campus. Due to the move towards a more pedestrian friendly campus, the opportunity for a change in the discourse regarding skating policy is possible.

“As we become more pedestrian based the possibility exists that maybe it could be more open to that mode of transportation because you won’t be dealing with cars” said Salazar.

The need for change in policy on campus is seen through the creation of RIDE a student led organization for skateboarders, bikers and roller-skaters, which aims to change the discourse regarding skating policy on campus.

The organization seems to reflect the general consensus among UTEP students regarding skating policy “I think it should be allowed” said Alan Garcia, junior.

Whether policy is slow or fast to come, one thing is certain. Longboarding is more than just a sport, “it’s a way of life” said Alvarez.

           

Teacher Continue Protests Against Education Reform Act In Mexico City

The Guardian To Be Questioned On Trial After NSA Leaks

Allan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, will be questioned by MP’s before the Commons House Affairs select committee next month as part of a wider counter terrorism investigation.

Keith Vaz, Labour head of the Commons Home affairs committee said House committee will investigate “elements of the Guardian’s involvement in, and publication of the Snowden leaks”  

The investigation begins a month after Cameron had threatened to pursue actions against The Guardian through DA-notices, or government advisory notes to media editors requiring them not to publish articles the government deals as a threat to natural security.

The Prime Minister has also made several comments establishing the newspaper as a threat to national security.

“I think the plain fact is, what has happened had damaged national security in many ways” said Cameron.

A sentiment that seems to be paralleled by top MP leaders such as director of Britain’s M15 domestic security service who was criticized for saying “Leaks by Edward Snowden about the UK’s surveillance activities are a gift to terrorists helping them elude the intelligence agency.

However, not everyone agrees with the British governments actions.

A group of about 70 human rights organizations wrote “An Open Letter To David Cameron” to express their opposition to the investigation of The Guardian. Some of the organizations involved in the letter were Privacy International, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Liberty.

In the letter the organizations expressed their alarm for the way the British government has condemned investigative journalism, they go on to explain “we are alarmed at the way in which the UK government has reacted, using national security legislation against those who have helped bring this public interest information… The governments action has been to condemn rather than celebrate, investigative journalism. “

Polly Harris Senior Center in El Paso

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