MEChA Member Brings Important News To Light

MEChA member, Hector Correa, spread the word about this important news:

Latino Harvard Student May Be Deported

(June 14) -- Harvard sophomore Eric Balderas, 19, does not remember Mexico, but he may be deported there anyway. Balderas was only 4 years old when he became an illegal immigrant. But his youth proved no defense when immigration officials arrested the biology major at the San Antonio airport after he tried to board a plane back to Boston without a passport. "They just kept [asking] me if I had any other documents, that they were just trying to help me so that I can get on the plane,'' he told the Boston Globe. "But at that point I realized there was nothing that I could do, that anybody could do."

Harvard student Eric Balderas, 19, a Mexican citizen who was raised in the U.S., is facing deportation to Mexico after being detained by immigration authorities at a Texas airport.

Balderas was on his way back to Harvard last week after a visit to his mother in San Antonio, where he grew up. But sometime during the visit, Balderas lost his Mexican passport and had hoped to board the plane with a consulate card and his student ID.

But that day, luck was not on his side. Balderas was fingerprinted, put in handcuffs and detained for five hours. Finally, authorities let him go, but not without a court date. On July 6, the student has a date with an immigration judge for his first hearing. Balderas, who has a full ride to Harvard, could be deported.

In 2008 alone, the United States deported 369,221 people to their home countries, many of them to Mexico. But Balderas' case is sure to be more high profile than most.

It helps that he has a success story. Balderas says he crossed the border with his mother, who wanted to escape an abusive relationship and give her children a shot at a better life. He told The Globe that his mother worked 12 hours each day packaging biscuits to support the family.

By all measures, Balderas took the opportunity and ran with it. He was valedictorian of his high school and won a full scholarship to Harvard despite his undocumented status. At Harvard, he is studying molecular biology and wants to research cures for cancer.

"I honestly never thought I'd make it into college because of my status, but I just really enjoyed school too much and I gave it a shot,'' he said. "I did strive for this.''

Already, Harvard administrators have expressed public support for Balderas to remain in the United Stated. The university is using his case to push for the adoption of the DREAM Act, federal legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for immigrants who entered the country illegally when they were younger than 16.

"Eric Balderas has already demonstrated the discipline and work ethic required for rigorous university work and has, like so many of our undergraduates, expressed an interest in making a difference in the world,'' Harvard spokeswoman Christine Heenan told The Globe.

"These dedicated young people are vital to our nation's future, and President Faust's support of the DREAM Act reflects Harvard's commitment to access and opportunity for students like Eric."

Last year, Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust urged Congress to support the act, along with the heads of other prominent universities.

So far, immigration authorities haven't spoken publicly about the Balderas case. A call for comment this morning to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement was not immediately returned. Immigration proceedings are handled on a case-by-case basis.

Balderas' story is likely to intensify the debate over how to deal with cases of illegal immigrants who entered the United States as children.

Mario Rodas, Balderas' Harvard classmate and an immigration activist, said Balderas is proof that such people deserve legal residency.

"He's like an American, but without documents,'' Rodas told The Globe. "These are the kind of people we need in this country, doing research for cancer.''

Rodas created a Facebook page, "Keep Eric Home," to help rally support for Balderas. So far, the page has more than 600 fans.

Balderas' roommate, David Pickerell, wrote a statement to Harvard's college newspaper declaring that Balderas should be allowed to stay.

"He should be allowed to continue his studies at Harvard, as his abilities will one day contribute back to the United States," he wrote in an e-mail to The Harvard Crimson. "He is one of the best minds in this country, his credentials speak for themselves, and we should nurture such talent."

Balderas said he fears the worst. "I'm very worried, to be honest," he told The Globe. "I'm willing to fight this, of course. I'm just hanging in there."

MEChA Summer Reflections

As this summer comes to a close, I would like to invite MEChA and friends to reflect on experiences we've had this summer. In particular, I encourage you to write about how these events have changed you, and how that may affect the perspective you take on issues and events pertinent to MEChA in the coming year. Run with it MEChA... this can be whatever you make it.

The first part of my summer I went on a 5 week trip to Argentina, to take the Latin Poetry and Theatre course in Buenos Aires offered by Yale. Then I came back, and took summer classes back at school. Now I'm at home: New Paltz, NY (This beautiful area with an awesome mountain range and forests on one side, and orchards and fields & a small college and hippie/liberal town on the other).

My trip to Argentina was transformative, mainly in the sense that I became comfortable with who I am, and was able to open myself up to the world so much more because of that. You see, I've been in a perpetual identity-crisis for the past 2 years. I think I finally found the answers I was looking for. The journey was a long and complicated one, so that story can be reserved for another day... but what I will share is the conclusion I came to and how that affects my views and involvement with MEChA.

Question: Who/What am I?
Answer: Mestiza
Explanation: Alright, so do you guys know how Anzaldua says that the Chicano is caught between two worlds, in a borderlands of sorts (as far as identity is concerned)? I kind of find myself doubly so, if that's possible (maybe it's possible in some weird "Inception" sort of way... like a dream inside a dream, jaja). I say this because I can identify with the Chicano struggle of trying to find yourself within the American culture all around you and the Mexican roots that seem distant but run deep. Yet I'm also in ANOTHER borderlands. You see, my dad is Mexican. Straight from Veracruz Mexican. As in, has all his family there, we all visit during the summer and for Christmas, he upholds traditions like Día de Los Muertos, and cooks delicious comida mexicana. My mom is Eastern European (and there's a rich culture there too, with traditional foods, a language, beliefs, and all that). That's why I'm so güera. Anyway, I'll spare you the huge story (as I said before) and just talk about my discovery. My discovery is that I identify more as a Mexicana. Not Chicana. Not Europea. Not Gringa. Yo soy mexicana. Aunque niegan que soy una... lo importante es lo que siento en el alma.

Y pienso que tengo alma mexicana. I say this because the person who I'm closest to in this world is my abuelita. I'm named for her too. We wear the same necklace (she got me a mini of hers when I was a little girl)... which is a buho that she says is for wisdom... but which also just makes me think of her and gives me strength. I'm connected to her by my name and by my spirit too. I love cooking bright and pallet wowing foods, and learned the basics from her. I love listening to all kinds of Latin music... but defer back to rancheras as the core comfort. I love forming and preserving amistades... and I think that's one of the most important things in this world. I love dancing bachatas and salsas, reggaeton and whatever else I can learn. I try to be warm and calm, and to keep a positive outlook. I think I have a Latina soul. Speaking spanish since I was young, my connection with my abuelita, all the visits to my family's pueblito in Mexico, preserving customs here in the US, all the times I went back to study and to volunteer.... I guess that all affected me.

Going to Argentina made me come to this conclusion. The reasons for this are also a long story that I'll save for another time. I'll just say that Argentina was absolutely amazing. The class was great, and I had an awesome home-stay where all these young international people lived. I made lots of friends from all over the world. In addition to the class experience and spending time with cool Yalies, I embarked on a full fledged adventure through the streets of Buenos Aires and beyond- learning about the culture, food, way of life.... all of this came, of course, through meeting amazing friends along the way.

All of this will affect my involvement and view on MEChA in a couple of ways. 1) I'm going to dive into cultural events that I love (like take more charge of Día de Los Muertos and try to lead more Mexican traditional celebrations). 2)I'm going to be more vocal about ideas I have for events we can do that relate to my experiences and interests- be it those related to art, literature, psychology, or traditional Mexican customs. Ok, that was a huge thought... but it was good getting it out there. Hope this blog can be a good space for sharing and growing as a group.


~Anna Flores-Amper~

May Day March!

SB 1070: MEChA brings AZ policies to Yale in mock raid

This morning, I was furious to discover that, following a powerful, inter-group demonstration against a gross violation of civil rights, the Yale Daily News had literally relegated our action to the margins of “Cross Campus,” a column wherein the Yale Daily informs us of the silly antics of everyday Yale life. I was insulted to realize that while the YDN saw fit to devote nearly an entire page to the mystery of the “missing Yale gnome” and photos of drunk costumed a capella taps, it had not even bothered to contact the instigators of the demonstration for so much as a single quote to contextualize the political act. Instead, it trivialized the nature of our action to a single sentence smaller than the photo of the gnome in question. Because the Yale Daily once again failed to inform its readership of such significant legislation, I am writing this article to compensate for the YDN’s negligence.

This week has seen a devastating blow for civil rights in this country. The passage of Arizona’s S.B. 1070 is a chilling threat to the ideals this country rests on, the indivisible human rights the Civil Rights Movement labored so long and hard to bring to reality. On April 13, the Arizona legislature passed a bill that requires any state or local official to make a “reasonable attempt …to determine the immigration status” of any individual they come into contact with, and authorizes police officers to arrest that individual without a warrant on “reasonable suspicion” that the person is undocumented. The law does not specify what exactly constitutes “reasonable suspicion,” but nonetheless implicitly allows citizens [to] bring suit against any official or political entity that enacts policy that ‘restricts the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law.” Two days after the bill was passed, 800 officers working across nine agencies descended upon four Arizona communities, ostensibly to “rip this thing out by its roots,” according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton. For all the money, time, helicopters, ski masks and weapons that went into this raid, these enforcers of offensive and demeaning laws arrested 47 people, of whom 17 were undocumented while others were mild mannerly, and I hope apologetically, dismissed to their homes.

Yesterday, members of MEChA, Jews for Justice, Fierce Advocates, and the Undergraduate Organizing Committee, along with other concerned Yale students, staged a mock raid in the Commons dining hall during peak traffic to raise awareness of the urgent seriousness of the issue. At 12:30, we released our “ICE agents,” who hounded unsuspecting students and demanded to see proof of residency. When students failed to procure the proper documents, we handed them an informative citation that explained that, if this were Arizona, they could have been detained. At 12:45, our leading Sheriff stood on top of a chair and shouted into a megaphone, “This is a raid!” Immediately, our agents rushed to the “undocumented students” we had planted throughout the dining hall, handcuffed them, and pushed them to their knees in the center of the dining hall. One by one, we stood and explained our demonstration through a megaphone held up to our lips. We informed the community of the passage of S.B. 1070 and the subsequent multi-agency raid on our communities in Arizona. Finished, we walked handcuffed and surrounded by ICE agents down Commons’ main aisle to disappear through Morse’s closing walls.

I am incredibly proud that, if only for 15 minutes, we were able to demonstrate to the Yale community the lived reality of our nation’s immigration debate. If you were shaken by the demonstration, then I hope that feeling shocked you into action. The dehumanizing nature of raids sweeps up anyone who does not fit the profile of what an “American” looks like to this or that police officer. I am glad that we were able to share that experience with students who, under the auspices of the Yale Corporation and within the sanctuary walls of our Elm City, would otherwise never experience the implications of our nation’s immigration policies. The border region exists as a distinct cultural terrain that, by its very nature defies static conceptions of citizenship. Around the world, people commute across cities to work; along the border, they must do the same. The U.S. has long recognized this special hemispheric relationship in its inter-American relations, as evidenced by the Monroe Doctrine and its subsequent interpretations, but has long done so in a way that prioritizes the movement of capital and resources at the expense of those deemed unworthy of U.S. citizenship.

I am continually dumbfounded and horrified by this country’s efforts to curtail illegal immigration by criminalizing the people who are most affected by this country’s own policies. When the C.I.A. topples democratically elected governments in Latin America and replaces them with U.S.-friendly dictators, where do they expect the people affected by those dictatorships to go[1][2]? When NAFTA and CAFTA and whatever other “special relationships” allow U.S. corporations to move their jobs to where they can pay cents for the hour and work their laborers to the bone, where do we expect those people to go? The United States’ “immigration problem” is symptomatic of forces greater than the people we are now seeking to punish — it has to do with foreign policy choices made by United States throughout history, preferential trade agreements and political situations in many foreign countries — and its resolution will not come until we realize that. Until then, if the Obama administration refuses to muster a serious examination of the policies behind this immigration problem, then we must demand it at least put an end to racist laws that, in seeking to keep immigrants out, serve only to terrorize communities of color. After all, does our President not realize that if he were 17 and in Arizona, he too would be caught up in a raid and very well arrested for his racial profile and name?

We, as Yale students, have the power to demand that Arizona Governor Brewer veto S.B. 1070, and we have the responsibility to do just that. However, the responsibility to end this crisis rests infinitely heavier on our President’s shoulders.

It was a bittersweet victory for me when President Obama was elected, simultaneously a moment to celebrate the advancement of people of color and a moment to mourn the repeal of same-sex equality measures in California and the utter silence on the subject of immigration throughout the campaigns. Nevertheless, I was proud and full of hope. Never did I expect the President I voted for to unleash and sanction the nativist forces of “Homeland Security” onto my communities. This time, anti-immigrant activists have gone too far. We can accept these domestic acts of terrorism no longer. It is time to reclaim our country and return it to the ideals of liberty and justice our Civil Rights predecessors have fought so hard to secure.

---

[1] http://www.foia.cia.gov/guatemala.asp

[2] http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-1280004.html

[MEChA] YDN Coverage

MEChA stages mock deportation in Commons

BY EMILY WANGER

Members of MEChA, Yale's Chicano student organization, staged a demonstration in Commons today at 12:45 p.m. to protest an Arizona bill that, if signed into law, would require police to take harsh measures to identify and deport illegal immigrants.

Students eating lunch in the dining hall witnessed a “deportation” of illegal immigrants: Starting at around 12:20 p.m., MEChA members wearing shirts with “ICE” (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) walked through Commons, demanding identification from diners and handing out fliers explaining the Arizona bill. Then, a MEChA student stood on a chair, blew a whistle, and shouted into a megaphone, commanding people to “get down” as illegal immigrants were suspected to be eating in the dining hall.

“America is for Americans,” he yelled, as illegal immigrants, also played by members of MEChA, were “arrested” and led out of Commons by other mock-ICE task force members.

The Arizona bill in question, if signed into law, would authorize police officers to pull over, question and detain anyone they believe may not be carrying government-issued proof of legal status.

Semana Chicana 2010: Latinos in Health

While I was unable to attend all of the events for this year's Semana Chicana: Latinos in Health (my first SC!), I can honestly tell you that I really enjoyed all of the events that I did manage to attend.

I think my excitement began when I saw the printed posters designed by our very own Francisco Tamayo. Truly excellent works. I stole some from the poster walls after the events ended for my own collection :) We are really lucky to have him as our resident artist/advertiser.

My first event was the Reproductive Health Workshop. It was really interesting for me as a Latina because I have never been to the women's center here at Yale, and also because I have never really considered reproductive rights and what the means for immigrants in the New Haven area. The speaker was a field organizer from New York, who explained how the organization had been able to improve healthcare access for Latinos living in a more isolated part of Texas by convincing the busing companies to bring regularly running bus routes into the area. This was among many of their other projects to improve access and education for immigrant families, but I found that this particular example led me to think about how basic things like transportation can really inhibit people's abilities to take advantage of public programs... just something to consider.

We were also presented with very chilling facts about the history of reproductive health and experimentation with sterilization in the US. I did not know about the sterilization programs that happened in Puerto Rico beginning in the 1930s, or the options offered to prisoners for temporary sterilization. Interesting that history books, even the ones who do mention sexuality and reproductive rights, decide not to talk about these episodes.

My second event was the Mental Health study break, and I know for a fact that everyone who learned how to dance left the event with much higher levels of endorphins. So clearly that was a successful study break! Alex Gutierrez and I left, completely prepared to appear on Dancing with the Stars... so look for us! (hahahaha)

And the final event that I was able to attend was the Nutrition Day dinner at la Casa on Saturday evening. This brought out a really diverse group of people, which was great to see, including some very nutrition and food/agribusiness oriented alumni. I was pleased to see new faces in the crowd! And besides Jazzmin, I really wanted to thank Francisco (again), Anna and Sandy for helping us make it as much fun as it was! I think that the combination of vegetarian caribbean food and the documentary about eating raw foods as a healthy lifestyle choice has opened up some horizons -- I know a friend of mine left the documentary saying that he was interesting in bringing more raw foods into his diet!

And so we'll see what next year has in store for Semana Chicana, but for now I think MEChA de Yale can rest assured that it was fun and informative on many levels.

Yalies at the March on Washington for Immigration Reform