LatinaLista — This week, two very important members of President Obama’s Cabinet spoke out on the DREAM Act, the bill making its way through congressional committees to legalize the status of undocumented students and allow them to not only pursue affordable higher education but put their degrees to work once they have them.
Dr. Alfredo Quinoñes-Hinojosa journeyed from being an undocumented migrant worker to one of the world’s most renown brain surgeon.
In an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, Department of Homeland Security, Sec. Janet Napolitano, responded to a question by Sen. Dick Durbin who asked about how she felt about the DREAM Act (the bill was introduced by Sen. Durbin in the Senate):
I supported the Dream Act when I was governor. I support it now. One of the most moving things I’ve been privileged to do as secretary is to administer the oath of citizenship to men and women in our military who have been serving in Iraq, who were not citizens, who have elected to become citizen. In a way, it kind of mirrors what you’re talking about in the Dream Act.
But it seems to me that the Dream Act is a good piece of legislation and a good idea.
In a separate incident, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, also voiced his approval of the DREAM Act:
Duncan said it is important undocumented students have the opportunity to receive loans, and said he would do everything possible to encourage states to offer in-state tuition for these students.
“I think it’s absolutely in the state’s economic interest to make sure that these students have access and are treated just like their friends and peers from college,†he said.
If these students were allowed to pursue their educational goals, some of whom want to be doctors, then Kaiser Permanente in California wouldn’t have had to resort to what they announced this week — giving a $2 million grant to a UCLA program that recruits foreign-trained doctors to work in U.S. Latino communities.
Kaiser said the program is aimed at Latin American medical school graduates and will assist them with passing their U.S. licensing exams in return for working in family medicine residency programs in California.
The goal is to increase the number of doctors serving the large and currently underserved Spanish-speaking community in California.
According to UCLA, about 2,500 physicians who were trained in Latin America reside in California. They can’t practice because they are not licensed in the U.S.
From my perspective, the biggest flaw in granting this generous amount of money is that it seems there is an assumption that after these 2,500 are shepherded through the licensing process, recruiters will start looking outside the country for more doctors.
Though the number of undocumented students who want to be doctors would most probably not be able to fill the state’s physician shortage estimated to be 17,000 by 2015, those students whose education benefited from the Kaiser grant would guarantee several things that foreign-trained doctors would not bring to the table:
1. The students will have had the advantage of growing up in these local communities and know the people.
2. Because this is the only home they’ve ever known, there would be no getting homesick to return to their country of origin.
3. They would have already been trained in the practices, protocols and procedures of U.S. medicine.
4. By working in their local communities, these students would not just be giving back to the nation but also paying back Kaiser for their investment in them.
If Kaiser Permanente has this much money to spend on getting the qualifications up to par of foreign-trained doctors to meet U.S. standards, imagine the money they would be saving if they just invested in the education of undocumented students who already live here and want to attend medical school but don’t have the money.
If Kaiser Permanente was serious about filling the anticipated shortage of Spanish-speaking medical professionals in these California communities then why not use some of that money to either lobby on behalf of the DREAM Act and/or help create a bill that would allow undocumented U.S.-trained medical professionals to practice in underserved communities in California?
The money spent on bringing outside talent into the country when we have the talent here has never made any sense and even less now that we know that these same communities these students grew up in will be even more at-risk in the near future.
Comment(16)
Karen
I think the foreign trained doctors have already graduated from medical school and already live here. They just haven’t taken the classes to attain their US medical credentials.
Licensing these doctors– who are needed now–has no impact on the Dream Act.
Horace
Any loan money and positions in medical schools should be given to U.S. citizens before illegal aliens. Every other nation on the planet views its citizens as having priority over foreigners, as should the U.S. It is perverse thinking to advocate otherwise. If ethnic advocacy groups wish to donate there money to charities for illegal alien education I do not object. Hispanic advocacy groups are too cheap to do it themselves, so they want non-Hispanics to pay for their constituents.
I suggest that there be a box on federal income tax forms to permit Latinos to donate their refunds to so-called DREAM Act eligible persons. I certainly don’t want any of my tax money that’s used to subsidize state college students to go to people not entitled to reside in the U.S. and it’s morally wrong to make me do so.
Julian C. Williams
In growing up, I was socialize to internalize that there were a recognized group called “illegal aliens.” I have made an effort to redefine that population as “undocumented immigrants.” I support the fact that they have so redefined themselves.
The persons have who have found that as children they were brought into the U.S. were socialized as Americans and should be legalized as such. They should be “saddled” with all the rights and “RESPONSIBILITIES” of citizens. That includes voting privileges and incaceration for crimes committed. A DREAM ACT should be out of order.
Evelyn
Every other nation on the planet views its citizens as having priority over foreigners,
~
So did the Native American Indians, but the white man didn’t and he came and invaded this land anyway.
as should the U.S.
~
It is perverse thinking to advocate for others to do what you didnt!
cookie
Right, even the native indians put their people first. So why do you deny U.S. citizens that right to do likewise?
Americans today are not just made up of white people and none of them are responsible for the past or should be obligated to make amends for a past they never were a part of.
The ancestors of most who are here illegally did not live in the USA. They lived way south of here. Also, they are partly white themselves from their Spanish ancestors.
The descendants of the ancestors whose tribes did occuy the USA have all the rights of any other citizen of this country and they have their sovereign lands. You need psychological help for your blame game of all white people dead or alive and to stop living in the past and move on.
Horace
Reverting back to ancient history, once again, Evelyn? So our elected officials shouldn’t think of citizens first over the interests of foreigners? Your reference to Indians doesn’t make a lick of sense, but so much of what you’ve said doesn’t, so why should any of us be surprised. Cite a written source that states what the American Indian policy was on immigration, Evelyn. Oh, that’s right, they didn’t have a written language, so we have no idea of their views. We just have wackhos like you to listen to.
Evelyn
cookie :
Right, even the native indians put their people first. So why do you deny U.S. citizens that right to do likewise?
~
E
Because like I said “It is perverse thinking to advocate for others to do what you didnt!”
Americans today are not just made up of white people and none of them are responsible for the past or should be obligated to make amends for a past they never were a part of.
~
E
Americans that are following in the same racist footsteps of their ancestors make themselves responsible for those crimes by trying to commit them again.
The ancestors of most who are here illegally did not live in the USA. They lived way south of here.
~
E
Then how do you explain this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uto-Aztecan_languages
Also, they are partly white themselves from their Spanish ancestors.
~
E
They may have European blood like many Native American Indians and Black people here in the U.S., but they are just as Native American Indian or even more as the Native American
Indian here. More because the Spanish no longer occupy Mexico like the Euroamericans here do. Black people are no less Black either.
The descendants of the ancestors whose tribes did occupy the USA have all the rights of any other citizen of this country and they have their sovereign lands.
~
E
Really?
This is but 1 example of how wrong you are!
Poverty is so bad they are making a movie so Americans can be aware of the truth.
The U.S. government has determined that the Pine Ridge Reservation is the poorest community in the country. A recent study by the American Indian Relief Council showed that the median per capita income was $2,600 – less then one fifth the national average à and 69 percent of the population lived below the poverty line. Due to the lack of industry and the Sioux’s inability to obtain loans to start small businesses, an estimated 73 percent of Pine Ridge residents were unemployed in 1999.
Many who work must travel vast distances to their jobs, some nearly 100 miles to Rapid City. Services on the Reservation are limited, although there are a few Indian-owned businesses, such as cafes, video stores and gas stations. There is no public transportation system, so those without a car cannot venture far from their homes, which usually means they are unemployed.
You must have something of collateral to start a business and many of us dont have collateral because the lands are held in trust by the federal government and the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
Marian White Mouse
http://www.itvs.org/homeland/today2.html
Cheryl SabanAuthor and advocate for women and children
Posted April 8, 2009 |
Lift our Indian Reservations out of Poverty
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cheryl-saban/lift-our-indian-reservati_b_184753.html
You need psychological help for denial and all the lies you spew. Get help so you can move on. An education would also help.
Evelyn
Reverting back to ancient history, once again, Evelyn? So our elected officials shouldn’t think of citizens first over the interests of foreigners? Your reference to Indians doesn’t make a lick of sense, but so much of what you’ve said doesn’t, so why should any of us be surprised. Cite a written source that states what the American Indian policy was on immigration, Evelyn.
~
E
The fact that the Indians fought against the invading Europeans tells you they didnt want them here.
Oh, that’s right, they didn’t have a written language, so we have no idea of their views. We just have wackhos like you to listen to.
~
E
You just jump at every chance you get to show your Ignorance Horace.
Here is a copy of The Constitution of the Iroquois Nations
http://www.indigenouspeople.net/iroqcon.htm
After which the Constitution of the United States of America is patterned.
http://www.ipoaa.com/iroquois_constitution_united_states.htm
Gentlemen,” Franklin said, peering over the spectacles he had invented, “I propose that all the British American colonies be federated under a single legislature and a president-general to be appointed by the Crown.” He then posed the same rhetorical question he had in the letter to Parker: if the Iroquois can do it, why can’t we?
What follows is only a beginning. The Iroquois were not the only American Indians to develop notions of federalism, political liberty, and democracy long before they heard of the Greeks or the Magna Charta. Benjamin Franklin was not the only Euro-American to combine his own heritage with what he found in his new homeland. And the infant United States was not the only nation whose course has been profoundly influenced by the ideas of the Indians, the forgotten cofounders of our heritage.
http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/FFchp4.html
ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha! If you somehow manage to pull your head out………… who is the wack-ho now? ha!ha!
cookie
Actually, the first humans to walk on the American continents were the Solutreans, a Caucasian race of people who traveled from Europe tens of thousands of years before even the so-called “Indians” traveled into North America via the Bering Straits, and whose remains,including the highly-disputed Kennewick Man and Clovis Point, have been found in recent decades. Surprise, surprise!
http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf127/sf127p…
cookie
Evelyn, in one of your responses to Horace, you claim that because the Native Americans fought back against the white settlers that “proves” they didn’t want them here. Well, DUH! You mean that the Native Americans did not EMBRACE DIVERSITY!? Who did they think they were by not accepting another culture and race??? Were they RACISTS who only wanted their culture/race here?
Your whole damned premise is because the white man came here 400 years ago without immigration papers that we have NO RIGHT EVER FROM HERE ON OUT to control our borders. You just cannot get it into your head that we are no longer living in the 16th century!!!! You cannot afford to let go of that premise as the alternative would be that we ARE a sovereign nation and we DO have the right to determine for the good of this nation who comes here.
You also tried to say that the Constitution is not a creation of Western civilization taken from the ideals of the Magna Carta, but was taken from the Iroquois! You just cannot stand to admit that the white man is responsible for anything but evil. You are a hater and a racist THROUGH AND THROUGH. But what is dangerous is that you are so full of “righteous hatred” that you actually don’t see your hatred for what it is and believe it to be totally justifed.
Evelyn
cookie :
Actually, the first humans to walk on the American continents were the Solutreans, a Caucasian race of people who traveled from Europe tens of thousands of years before even the so-called “Indians” traveled into North America via the Bering Straits, and whose remains,including the highly-disputed Kennewick Man and Clovis Point, have been found in recent decades. Surprise, surprise!
http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf127/sf127p…
Ah yes, this is another lie I have had the pleasure of debunking with credable proof many times, so I would say the surprise is on you!
You have to read the whole report for it to make sense.
The Solutrean is the latest in a long line of theories about the discovery of the New World.
by Jason Colavito
excerpts from the article
Pity poor North America, a land whose history can never be her own. For centuries scholars, prophets, and cranks have tried to prove that the continent did not belong to the native peoples who populated it when the European explorers first arrived. Instead, America’s ancient monuments were assigned to a “lost race,” her people declared a lost tribe of Israel, and the continent’s first discovery credited to ancient Europeans, Atlanteans, or space aliens–anyone but the native Americans themselves.
Today several groups ranging from scholars to neo-Norse Pagans to Aryan supremacists still cite Kennewick as proof for prehistoric European colonization of America.
The Solutrean hypothesis is simply the latest in a long string of ideas that have sought the ultimate origins of American history in other lands. Since the first explorations of the New World, researchers have tried to tie the continent’s history back to Europe, as if to fulfill a need to own America’s most distant past as well as its present.
The Clovis culture was likely an indigenous creation, a product of some very clever people working with what they had thousands of years ago. Until there is physical evidence that ties the ancient Americas to Europe, there can be no justification for continuing to deny Native Americans their history, their culture, and their accomplishments.
http://jcolavito.tripod.com/lostcivilizations/id42.html
cookie
You claim that you “debunked” this “myth” started by “white supremacists”, Evelyn. Yeah, well…anything that does not support your OWN racist agenda is deemed “white supremacist” by you.
Truth is, you debunked NOTHING. Here is another credible source–this one from PBS. HARDLY a “white supremacist” source. LOL!
Here’s the thing: my entire belief system does not hinge on who the “first people” to walk this continent were. Whether it was the Solutreans migrating from Europe or those “Native Americans” migrating from Asia via the Bering Straits does not make or break my world. HOWEVER, your entire world would come crashing down around you if you were to realize that your precious “Native Americans” weren’t the first people here. It would all but destroy you and you would have NOTHING to hang your obscene hatred on. Without that hatred, you would be like a deflating balloon losing its air. There would be nothing left of you, no reason to go on. Hate keeps you going every day. I would hardly call this source a white supremist one.
http://www.pbs.org/saf/1406/segments/1406-4.htm
Evelyn
cookie :
Evelyn, in one of your responses to Horace, you claim that because the Native Americans fought back against the white settlers that “proves” they didn’t want them here. Well, DUH! You mean that the Native Americans did not EMBRACE DIVERSITY!? Who did they think they were by not accepting another culture and race??? Were they RACISTS who only wanted their culture/race here?
Your whole damned premise is because the white man came here 400 years ago without immigration papers that we have NO RIGHT EVER FROM HERE ON OUT to control our borders. You just cannot get it into your head that we are no longer living in the 16th century!!!! You cannot afford to let go of that premise as the alternative would be that we ARE a sovereign nation and we DO have the right to determine for the good of this nation who comes here.
You also tried to say that the Constitution is not a creation of Western civilization taken from the ideals of the Magna Carta, but was taken from the Iroquois! You just cannot stand to admit that the white man is responsible for anything but evil. You are a hater and a racist THROUGH AND THROUGH. But what is dangerous is that you are so full of “righteous hatred” that you actually don’t see your hatred for what it is and believe it to be totally justifed.
~
It’s not my fault that you are ignorant, blind, in denial and fear being treated the way you wish you could treat Mexicans, and Mexican immigrants.
You got a taste of it and it sure has been bitter.
AGAIN, I am not here to win a popularity contest only expose what you are and the lies you tell. I dont care what your warped thinking of me is, it is the lies you use to demonize others that concern me.
cookie
I don’t wish to treat Mexicans any different than any other national or ethtnic group. I respect those who come to our country illegally and object to those who don’t. You twist that into treating Mexicans badly? That is just a lie and being dishonest on your part.
I haven’t told any lies about Mexicans legal or illegal. I notice you say that to everyone who is opposed to illegal immigration no matter what their words actally stated. You might want to keep your posters straight instead of just blanketly claiming that we all say the same things. Your dishonesty comes into play when you do that.
Evelyn
cookie :
You claim that you “debunked” this “myth” started by “white supremacists”, Evelyn. Yeah, well…anything that does not support your OWN racist agenda is deemed “white supremacist” by you.
Truth is, you debunked NOTHING. Here is another credible source–this one from PBS. HARDLY a “white supremacist” source. LOL!
E
No cookie, I stated “Ah yes, this is another lie I have had the pleasure of debunking with credable proof many times, so I would say the surprise is on you!”
It was Jason Colavito, the author of the article that stated, “Today several groups ranging from scholars to neo-Norse Pagans to Aryan supremacists still cite Kennewick as proof for prehistoric European colonization of America.”
Get facts straight cookie, and quit putting words in my mouth!
~
Here’s the thing: my entire belief system does not hinge on who the “first people” to walk this continent were. Whether it was the Solutreans migrating from Europe or those “Native Americans” migrating from Asia via the Bering Straits does not make or break my world.
E
No, it hinges on hate brought on by racism due to ignorance.
That is why you are willing to use lies to make it seem Native Americans , which includes Mexicans and many other Hispanics are to blame for all that ails you and this country.
~
HOWEVER, your entire world would come crashing down around you if you were to realize that your precious “Native Americans” weren’t the first people here. It would all but destroy you and you would have NOTHING to hang your obscene hatred on.
E
No, it was your world that came crashing down when you were exposed as White Supremacists by the author of the article.
It destroyed any notion that you had a valid reason for repeating the treatment your ancestors dished out to people of color! Hate keeps you going every day.
Without that notion you have been deflated like a balloon losing its air.
There is nothing left of you, no reason to go on. You have been exposed!
~
I would hardly call this source a white supremist one. http://www.pbs.org/saf/1406/segments/1406-4.htm
E
PBS does shows on everything from serial killers to drug users. That doesent mean they endorse them.
The theories of the authors of the article from the Smithsonian institute posted by PBS are extensively researched and talked about by Jason Colavito the author of the article I posted. You can go back and read it. That segment begins with the following paragraph.
The controversy did not die down, and today several groups ranging from scholars to neo-Norse Pagans to Aryan supremacists still cite Kennewick as proof for prehistoric European colonization of America. Though the bones were dated to around 7200 BCE and were too young to be even Clovis, the door was open for new claims about Paleolithic European voyages to the New World. The Smithsonian’s Dennis Stanford and his colleague Bruce Bradley seized the moment to propose the long-abandoned Solutrean solution anew.
Bottom line is as Mr Colavito states, “Until there is physical evidence that ties the ancient Americas to Europe, there can be no justification for continuing to deny Native Americans their history, their culture, and their accomplishments.”
cookie
MY ancestors didn’t mistreat anyone, Eveyln. How would you even know WHO my ancestors are? You don’t know me!
This is about our right to have immigration laws. It is not about mistreating people.
I have seen more hate pumping through your veins against white people than I have ever seen from anyone. So I wouldn’t be accusing others of hate if I were you. You are being a hypocrite! I may hate certain individuals but I sure don’t hate an entire race of people like you do!
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