My final entry

I can't beleive that I am in my final week of BorderBeat
and more importantly college. It has been an informative, fun and intense semester; just as the last four and a half years have been an incredible learning experience.

Maintaining my blog for this class provided me with a great opportunity to tell another side of many stories that I reported on for class, my side. After reporting on and writing articles about border issues from a legal prospective, I often used my blog to reflect upon my experience, or to use more opinionated information and quotes from my sources that didn't fit the balanced nature of a news story.

A great example of this can be seen with one of my first stories on local politician Rodney Glassman. My story was a quick biography on his career as it relates to border issues, but my blog entry on Glassman was a much deeper look at my impressions of him. While it is important to note that the blog entries are reporting flavored with opinion, they are useful in different ways as they allow me to dive deeply into an issue, something that is often impossible to do without letting opinions sneak in. I feel that there is nothing wrong with this, provided that I make clear what is my opinion and that I don't try to pass it off as an unbiased fact.

Other examples of me telling different aspects of stories or interjecting opinions into reporting from news stories can be seen in my pieces on James Gregg and Ed McCullough.

When not doubling up work I did for other journalism classes, I drew on past experiences or Web research to write on other border related legal issues.

Aside from blogging experience, BorderBeat taught me how to incorporate media into storytelling. It proved to be an extremely useful course that taught me many things that should have a very practical application in the real world.

Speaking of the real world (a place I will enter frightfully soon), I feel that the UA has prepared me rather well for that. I first visited this beautiful campus when I was in 8th grade and have been in love with the school ever since. It was a dream of mine to go to school in a very different place so far from home (Chicago) and I can't beleive that my 4-year study abroad trip as my father calls it will be coming to a close.

I plan to start classes again next fall at a yet to be determined law school in Chicago and I look forward to the experience. I have a sneaking suspicion, however, that being buried in books about law in the cold Midwest won't compare to the flip flop wearing paradise of a few hours of class a day in a place where the sun shines over 300 days a year.

Immigration with Geraldo

Covering a story for BorderBeat.net last Thursday I attended a Geraldo Rivera interview at the Fox Theater in downtown Tucson. Rivera spoke with Tucson Weekly reporter and UA journalism professor Jim Nintzel about immigration and racism.

The full details of their conversation will be in my article. What I wish to discuss here is how I felt Rivera's message was skewed by its delivery, because that is what strikes me the most as I reflect upon the interview.

With Rivera, I feel that his often brash style and unreasonable statements undermine an otherwise well-guided ideology.

To see what I mean by a brash style that can interfere with his message and obscure a point, one need look no further than his appearance on Bill O'Reilly's show in April, 2007.



While both men act in a manner that I find to be unprofessional of "experts" and journalists that are supposed to be having a substantive conversation, I find myself siding with O'Rielly (which is rare) in this instance.

Geraldo seems to get too caught up on what he thinks are O'Reilly's attempts to score a "cheap political point" that he fails to recognize O'Reilly's valid and underlying message: the drunk driver should have never been in town to commit the DUI in the first place. He should have been deported earlier from being convicted of several other crimes.

While he didn't scream at Nintzel last Thursday, Rivera did deliver his message in ways that seemed to undermine his point.

In the introduction to the interview, Rivera took what was supposed to be a few opening remarks and stretched it out to a 20 minute, politically charged narrative that ended with a plug for his new book.

Rivera spoke of his well intentioned ideas and astute observations on immigration issues. The topics ranged from the racism of Republican rhetoric to solutions for illegal entry into the U.S.

Unfortunately, his message was marred in egotistical language and somewhat outrageous demands. For example, Rivera insisted that President Bush use his pardon ability, as many outgoing presidents do on their final days in office, to free and deport every imprisoned illegal immigrant. Rivera thinks that this will be a good-will statement toward a new beginning in border and race relations.

Making such claims, while promoting his book and not allowing his interviewer to get much of a word in edgewise, I ended up leaving the interview with a vague feeling of dejavu. I felt like I had seen a watered down version of something from the latter part of Jessie Jackson's career, after he became a characature of his former self.

What To Expect on Immigration

With the arrival of a new administration and more Democrats in Congress, there are sure to be changes in the way our country approaches immigration.

Certainly the newest president has larger problems to address, such as wars and a financial crisis. Immigration, however, shouldn't be nearly as costly to change and therefore could see new policies enacted sooner than many would think.

In this video, Barack Obama briefly describes his stance on immigration.



The three things that he outlines are additional security for our borders, cracking down on employers who hire illegals and allowing an easier pathway to citizenship.

While most of those sound like good ideas, especially as they are described rather vaguely, it is hard to imagine that they will all be carried out. Given the economic downtown, the first two options don't seem as likely as the third.

Additional forces to secure our border would cost money that the U.S. doesn't really have, and cracking down on employers may also have negative short-term effects. Allowing an easier route to citizenship, however, could bolster the economy and deliver on a campaign promise of the Obama administration.

Unseen Border Patrol cooperation

Covering a story about St. Andrew's Children's Clinic, a free-care children's hospital in Nogales, Arizona, I was surprised to learn about the cooperation they share with the U.S. Border Patrol.

On the first Thursday of every month, volunteer doctors from across the country come to St. Andrew's Church to treat young Mexican children for a number of ailments. The church is turned into a multifaceted doctor's office of sorts, and for the entire day physicians see patients, taking breaks only for breakfast and lunch.

Originally, St. Andrew's Clinic was on the Mexico side of Nogales. Keeping to this tradition and intent, all of the patients that are seen today come from across the border.

With tight immigration regulations, one might think that it would be an extremely difficult process to get these children into the country, even if just for the day, but this is not the case. As it turns out, those who work for St. Andrew's Clinic have a strategic partnership with the Border Patrol and Department of Homeland Security that allows them to send some of their patients as far north as Seattle for special treatments that extend well beyond the typical day-long visa that is granted to most.

St. Andrew's Clinic Executive Director Ted Estrada explained how the process works to me.

The cooperation comes from a mutual understanding of goodwill, as well as a carefully planned humanitarian permit process.

"For every patient that comes across, they are allowed one parent to accompany them. The two are covered by the same permit (or humanitarian visa)," Estrada said.

According to Estrada, off-duty Border Patrol agents come in at 5 a.m. before work to sort out the paperwork and match them up to the patients.

In the event that one of the children should need extended care, an extension on the humanitarian visa is requested.

"We have never had a problem getting them (the Border Patrol) to work with us," Estrada said. "They have never denied a request for more time, but they do have limits on how many permits are allowed."

"It is our responsibility to make sure the children return and we have always done that, so they don't give us any problems," Estrada said.

It is both surprising and refreshing, but most of all heartwarming to see this level cooperation in the face of a controversial topic. When situational politics are overcome by emotional, ethical and moral callings, the bonds that we form are amazing.

The Latino Vote: How to capture it and its importance

For a story of mine to appear in BorderBeat.net later this week I have been looking at issues involving the Latino vote.

As Hispanics continue to make up an ever-growing percent of America's population, their political influence continues to grow as well.

Here on UA's campus, various groups have been making concerted efforts to capture this vote.

"We have a special group within our organization that primarily speaks Spanish, hands out information in Spanish and is often of Hispanic decent," says Nick Machiaroli, ASUA Senator and volunteer at UA Votes 2008.

To put some numbers on the importance of the Latino vote, a New York Times Editorial Blog explores the issue and identifies that 30 percent Californian's voting in the Democratic primary came from those of Hispanic decent.

Similarly, a PBS article points out that Florida is at least 25 percent Latino and provided Bush an edge that may have helped him win Florida in 2004.

With projections that one in every four Americans will be of Hisapnic decent by the year 2050, this demographic certainly cannot be ignored.

In the past, Republicans have been able to capture their vote by avoiding touchy issues such as immigration and focusing on bread-and-butter issues such as healthcare and religion. The same PBS article looks at the Republican method of wooing the Latino vote.



(http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/402/video.html)


While they haven't performed as well in the past, Democrats look poised to carry the Latino vote in this election. With immigration and economic policies that sympathize with the struggles of immigrant families and a general distaste for Republicans among them, Democrats are making a convincing case.

So much so, in fact, that traditional Republican strong hold states such as Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada have all become swing-states in this election.

Whichever way their vote goes, if it does end up going strongly in one direction, it is clear that they will play a significant role in the path to winning the presidency.

The Guest-Worker Program Solution

As mentioned a few weeks ago, I believe that the largest step in solving our nation's illegal immigration problem lies in creating an effective guest-worker program. Currently, our guest-worker program is on hold and has not made much progress since president Bush first proposed it in 2004. So, as promised, I will outline what I mean by "a carefully planned and properly executed guest-worker program."

Proper and thorough identification
Firstly, the U.S. must identify those who are entering this country as effectively as possible. Utilizing current technology, a guest-worker program should apply the same principles as the US-Visit program, where they do so biometrically. Biometric identification refers to using the latest techniques in fingerprinting, retina scanning and photographs, to get the most accurate and comprehensive account of who is here.

Incentive for existing workers and employers
Any new program that is created needs to provide an incentive for the already millions of undocumented workers that are in this country to join. This means that our new laws should not involve rigid time limits for participation, that we start to enforce our laws, or both. For example, if there is a limit of three years that one can be a guest-worker, then where is the incentive for them to join? Similarly, employers need to feel the pressure of following our laws, this will motivate them to regulate themselves on who they hire.

Guest-worker programs are not amnesty or citizenship
One of the most important things to maintain throughout any such program is that it is NOT amnesty or citizenship. As such, individuals in the guest-worker program will not receive the social program benefits that citizens do. As previously stated, any such new program should be modeled, in part, on the US-Visit program. In this instance, immigrant workers should be treated just like those visiting this country, subject to our laws but not entitled to our social programs.

These three conditions are what I consider to be the pillars of a successful guest-worker program. We need to encourage immigrants and their employers to have them registered with our program, we need to have them properly accounted for and we need to make sure that they aren't draining our resources or obtaining the privilege of a legitimate U.S. citizen. The path to citizenship is different and can be pursued separately.

Many opponents of similar programs and part of the reason why it is currently stalled is that they fear it will "open the gates" in a manner of speaking. The reality is, however, that the gates are already open, and its lack of effective regulation makes them open in dangerous and inhumane ways. The proper use of this program would shore up such issues.

Note: The outlined ideas, as well as many others are touched upon by the heritage foundation. I do not personally subscribe to all of their ideas or interpretations of the ideas that we share (as we share them broadly). However, here is an elaboration on the topic and at times a slightly different take.

James Gregg on Covering the Border

Last week I promised to post a follow-up to immigrant policy in which I would outline specifics to what I thought was a plausible solution. I will get to that soon, but between then and now I ran into a story that I couldn't help but post for this week.

Last Wednesday I sat down with photojournalist James Gregg. Over lunch, I learned much about his career, a story that is deeply rooted in the immigrant world. His overall take on border issues and immigrant policy wasn't anything specific, but it touched on several broad ideas that I think are important for everyone to keep in mind.

First, understand that Gregg could be considered as an "expert" on the immigrant world, as he has a degree from the University of Kansas in Spanish and Latin American studies. More importantly, his career has led him to cover many stories on the border. My favorite example of his border related work can be seen here. It is a slideshow titled "Sealing our Border" and provides a visually stunning account of a trip that he took with the the Arizona Daily Star.

In our conversation I pressed Gregg for his personal views on our country's immigration problem. Even offering for it to be off the record, I still found it difficult to get a specific answer out of him. At first I thought that he was dodging the question and that very well may have been the case. Upon further reflection, however, I realized that the answer he did give me was not just hot-air meant to divert my attention away from his unspecific answer.

What he provided me with was not a liberal or conservative point-of-view, rather it was an expression of an ideology that identifies the inadequacies of both positions.

"It's never as simple as either side would make it seem, that is one thing that I have learned from being down there firsthand," Gregg said.

"The answer is not to build a wall, even if that did have the possibility of being effective. Opening up our borders entirely is just as misplaced a solution, if not more so," Gregg said.

Sure this seems obvious, the answer lies somewhere between the two, somewhere that has proven extremely difficult to pinpoint and agree upon.

"What is most important to recognize is that we need to drop all of our preconceived notions of what is the proper solution and what isn't," Gregg added. "When you get down there you realize that many of us probably have no clue what we are talking about and that what we are saying doesn't come from personal experience, but is usually what we heard from someone else."

And so it is the simple, seemingly obvious words of Gregg that I want everyone to remember when they try to identify with immigration issues. Try to do the impossible and examine them with a totally clean slate. Forget what you think you know and concede the fact that there is little most of us can really speak to of our actual border experience that has shaped our opinion on the issue.

If someone like Gregg who has a world of experience beyond ours can do so, why can't we?