Healthcare bill raises fear of denied coverage among legal immigrants

As Congress moves closer to passing legislation that will expand health insurance coverage to 30 million Americans, many immigrant rights advocates worry that proposed reforms will leave large numbers of legal immigrants without insurance.

At issue is whether Congress will retain a 1996 welfare reform law requiring legal, non-citizen immigrants to wait five years before they become eligible for federal benefits and extend it to a waiting period for subsidies as well. If retained, (as proposed in the Senate bill) it could affect more than one million legal immigrants, according to an October 2009 report by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI).

Also worrisome are strict screening processes proposed in the House bill used to prevent undocumented immigrants from obtaining benefits. Immigrant rights advocates question the effectiveness of these processes, which they say will force legal immigrants to “jump through hoops” to prove their eligibility and could delay critical medical services to those who need them most.

Francisco I. and his family emigrated from Chile seven years ago. As legal residents who are not yet citizens, they pay the same taxes as citizens and are subject to the same laws. Last year Francisco’s father, an engineer, lost his job and with it the family healthcare benefits. He has since found work but his employer does not offer insurance.

When Francisco recently became ill with a high fever, the family could not afford a doctor. After several days, his father found a doctor who agreed to treat Francisco for less than a normal office visit.

“We still ended up paying about $150 just to get somebody to see what was wrong with me and another $150 for medicine,” he says.

Now he worries about what would happen if something more serious were to happen.

“It’s not just getting sick - it’s accidents that worry me the most. Like if I fall and break an arm or get something like a concussion or get in a car crash.”

Current U.S. Census Bureau figures show that 24 million immigrants now live in this country. About 12 million are legal residents, like Francisco. Although most legal immigrants are employed, the MPI report found that 38 percent work at small firms of 25 employees or less. Only one out of three of these workers is insured compared with seven out of 10 U.S.-born workers in similar-sized firms.

While Congress will likely mandate employers to provide insurance for their workers, small firms will probably be exempted from these mandates.

Experts say this will force millions of immigrant workers, many who live below the federal poverty line, to purchase health insurance themselves or turn to already jammed emergency rooms and clinics for medical care.

“Let them buy their own healthcare,” Evelyn Miller, a spokesperson for the California Coalition for Immigration Reform argues. “Why should they go on public benefits?”

The CCIR, established in 1992, is a group who seeks to have current immigration laws enforced, borders secured and illegal aliens deported, Miller explains. She believes that the five-year waiting period should be retained and that only citizens should be eligible for federal healthcare benefits.

“When people come to this country legally to join a family member or they are sponsored by somebody who is a citizen, the sponsor signs an affidavit claiming that the legal immigrant will not be a drain on our public benefits,” Miller says. “So they’re not supposed to get public benefits.”

She says that legal immigrants get a lot of benefits that U.S. citizens do not.

“They go in and try to get food stamps or housing subsidies and all they have to do is show that they have no funds and no income and they get it right away. It’s really a travesty,” she says.

And what about those immigrants who can’t afford to purchase health insurance?

Some will turn to free clinics like the Lestonnac Free Clinic in Orange County, Calif., which sees more than 3,500 patients with about 14,000 visits a year, according to Executive Director Ed Gerber.

Founded in 1979 by a Catholic nun, Lestonnac is funded primarily by private foundations and community donations, with about five percent of the funding coming from the state. Medical services are donated by thirty physicians and fifteen dentists, whom Gerber calls “the backbone of the clinic.”

The clinic’s primary mission is to help the uninsured, whether they are in this country legally or not, Gerber says, so they never question a patient’s documentation.

“We’re not a government agency; we don’t care what their issue is,” he says.

He stresses the importance of providing medical treatment and testing to all immigrants.

“We don’t know who is in line in front of us in the grocery store. We don’t know if this person has tuberculosis or if this person has the swine flu, which is so prominent today,” he says. “We really need to try to take care of these people, especially the new population of immigrants coming in to California, so that we’re not spreading disease to everybody else.”

Fear is a daily part of life for illegal immigrants who fear deportation and for legal immigrants who fear legal entanglements with their citizenship process, so they seek medical care less often than citizens.

A 1997 study by The Kaiser Commission found that citizen children, on average, had over three times as many visits to the emergency room as non citizen children of non citizen parents.

Recently, Gerber has seen a proliferation of minority-run clinics that exploit the fear of newly-arrived immigrants by charging enormous prices for lab work, x-rays, ultra-sounds and other often unnecessary services.

“I find it deplorable that there are doctors out there that start clinics and they rip off their own people,” he says. “These people are afraid to come to community clinics like us because they’re illegal and they’re uncomfortable and they’re afraid we’re going to turn them in. To me, this is an enormous problem that’s happening here in Orange County. They’re just raping their own people and it needs to stop.”

Chilean immigrant Francisco knows people who have avoided going to the emergency room out of fear. They think that a border patrol agent is going to show up at the emergency room. And after they’re done getting their healthcare they’ll get kicked out,” he says.

His own fear of jeopardizing his pending citizenship is so strong that he refused to be identified for this article.

Recent government figures show that more than 20,000 people immigrated legally to Orange County last year, bringing the total foreign-born population to more than 900,000. To meet the growing demand for healthcare, Lestonnac has opened two new clinics – one in Santa Ana and another in Los Alamitos. Plans are underway to open two more in January 2010.

Despite the fact that President Obama’s goal of “healthcare for all Americans” may soon become a reality, Gerber is skeptical that the programs will impact the people he treats at his clinics.

“My hope is that it will make healthcare better. That’s all of our dreams – that whatever Congress does, it actually works,” he says. “As far as impacting us, I don’t particularly see how any of this funding is going to come to our facility. It’s not designated to come to free clinics-it’s going to hospitals and medical groups and FUHC clinics.”

So Gerber’s work providing healthcare to the uninsured will continue.

“Even if this passes there’s still going to be a large gap of people that are still gonna need help.”

Minority Businesses Shut Out of Stimulus Loans

Loans handed out to struggling small businesses as part of President Barack Obama’s stimulus package have largely shut out minority businesses — especially those owned by Blacks and Latinos — according to data provided by the federal government’s Small Business Administration (SBA) to New America Media (NAM).

On June 15, the SBA, using money from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, launched the ARC program, America’s Recovery Capital, giving banks and credit unions 100 percent guarantees so they’re taking no risk when they make loans of up to $35,000 to previously successful, currently struggling small businesses to help them ride out the recession.

Under the program, the borrower pays no interest and makes no payments for 12 months, then has five years to repay the loan. SBA charges no fees and pays interest to the lender at prime - the rate of interest at which banks lend to favored customers - plus 2 percent.

The Obama Administration does not report the racial breakdown of who’s benefiting from these loans at Recovery.gov, but data obtained by NAM from the SBA found that of the 4,497 ARC loans where the race of the borrower was reported, 4,104 (over 91 percent) went to white-owned firms, 140, (3 percent) went to Hispanic-owned businesses, and 151 (3 percent) went to Asian- or Pacific Islander-owned businesses. Only 65, (1.5 percent) went to black-owned firms.

Overall, white-owned businesses received over $130 million in loans through the program, while Hispanic-owned businesses got $4 million and black-owned businesses less than $2 million.

In five states - Alabama, Arkansas, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Wyoming — every single firm that received an ARC loan was white-owned. In eight other states, including Louisiana and Nevada, all but one loan went to a white-owned firm.

Civil rights groups and representatives of the minority business communities reacted with anger when told of NAM’s findings.

“It’s just horrendous,” said Anthony Robinson, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Minority Business Legal Defense and Education Fund (MBELDEF). “During this economic recession, there is no recognition or sensitivity to the need to support and benefit people of color.”

“The data raises troubling questions” and should trigger an investigation,” says Oren Sellstrom of San Francisco’s Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. “This should be a red flag for the SBA and the banks. It gives us the indication that something may be amiss and further explanation is warranted.”

Census figures put black business ownership at 5 percent and Hispanic business ownership at about 7 percent — more than double the numbers getting these SBA-backed loans.

At the SBA in Washington, spokesman Jonathan Swain argued racial disparities in the ARC loan program don’t paint the full picture of the agency’s lending practices. Many of the SBA’s other loan products, he says, have large minority business participation. For example, he says, minority-owned businesses receive 29 percent of loans given through the SBA’s regular lending program and 37 percent of Microloans doled out by the agency.

“It’s hard to look at the ARC program by itself,” he told NAM. “It’s just one tool in the tool box, just one tool in the array to help small business in these tough economic times.”

One reason for the extremely low level of minority participation in the ARC loan program, he maintains, is that the Recovery Act specifically prohibits the agency from allowing an ARC loan to be used to refinance a regular SBA loan, which minority firms are more likely to have.

That explanation isn’t enough for minority business and civil rights groups, however.

Sellstrom of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights isn’t convinced by that argument. “You would think that minority owned firms could use $35,000 for a lot of uses other than paying down SBA loans.”

Sellstom said SBA’s response only underscores the need for further investigation. “It’s often the case that the first explanation leads to further questions,” he said.

Javier Palomarez, the president and chief executive officer of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, says the ARC loan program was poorly designed and “destined to fail.”

When Congress was drafting the stimulus package, Palomarez said, his agency and other minority business groups argued the severity of America’s recession should have led to the government handing out loans to struggling small businesses directly - rather than simply backing up loans from the very banks that caused the country’s economic recession.

But the SBA and the banks lobbied against direct government financing of small business, he said, and so Congress devised a $35,000 loan program that requires a small business to wade through nearly the same paperwork needed to obtain one of SBA’s regular $2 million loans.

Because of the paperwork and the small sums involved, “most banks don’t want to participate in the loan program, and many of those that are participating are restricting applications only to long-term clients.”

And those long-term clients often exclude small, minority businesses, which banks see as “risky.”

“There’s been a dramatic rise in the risk profile of small businesses,” Palomarez said “and that is even more pronounced among minority entrepreneurs.

“African American and Hispanic entrepreneurs often self-financed their start-ups or expansions, meaning, that they tapped into their own net worth … taking out home equity loans or second mortgages to invest in their communities and create jobs.”

“These businesses did not get a bailout and, while the Administration has been generous with tax credits for struggling businesses, the banks that caused this problem are nowhere to be seen,” he said.

James Ballentine, senior vice president of the American Bankers Association, told New America Media the banks have nothing to do with the racial disparities apparent in the stimulus’ small business loans.

“When somebody comes to us, we don’t look at their race,” he said. “The can be red, white, brown, or green. The only thing we look at is their credit worthiness.”

The main problem, Balletine, said, is “there’s been a real lack of marketing and as a result, very few lenders have participated.” He noted that in the six months since the ARC Loan program was first announced, the SBA has been able to underwrite fewer than 5,000 loans.

But Sellstrom of the Lawyers Committee says the bankers’ analysis doesn’t address the question of the racial inequities. The fact that there’s been little marketing doesn’t mean that nobody is being told about the opportunities. It just means that it’s going on in less formal ways, and those informal channels are the ones that minority businesses are not privy to.”

“The breakdown is that people of color are not present at the banks,” added Anthony Robinson of MBELDEF.” And the government that’s pushing these benefits through are not sensitive to the fact that we are not involved in this distribution network.

“So to solve this problem we need to incorporate people of color into the distribution chain of banks, business, and government. Otherwise, the flaws of the system will only magnify the inequality that’s at the center of our recession.”

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This article originally appeared on New America Media. Aaron Glantz is NAM’s Stimulus Editor.

* Note on the sources: ARC loan statistics from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Demographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau. Population percentages 2008, Business Ownership percentages are from the Census’ 2002 Economic Census: Survey of Business Owners.

Under the Radar: The Copenhagen Summit

Between health care reform news and the daily reports about the economy, it is no surprise that a climate change summit scheduled for December 7 in Denmark has passed under the radar in America.

The Copenhagen Summit is the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference and will run for two weeks. It is the 15th Conference of the Parties, officially COP15, where more than 60 leaders will negotiate and create a succeeding pact to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The Protocol committed 37 industrialized countries and the European community to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent compared to the 1990 levels of each country. The U.S. signed the Kyoto Protocol but never ratified it.

COP15 will also address the role of developing countries and what industrialized nations must do to put them on a “clean energy path,” said Yvo De Boer, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) executive secretary.

The inclusion of many developing countries in the summit shows the growing importance of a global effort to address the rapidly increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It also calls for industrialized countries, like the United States, to ramp up commitment to reduce carbon emissions.

President Obama has announced the country’s climate target to reduce emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels based on the House of Representative bill passed earlier this year.

With recent reports of alarmingly high levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the worsening impacts of warming since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, Obama’s attendance can change opinions about the country’s commitment to environmental issues.

But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as the UNFCCC, acknowledges that a legally-binding treaty with every detail finalized may not take place next month.

And public opinion in the U.S. seems to be shifting as well.

There has been a decline in the number of Americans who believe in global warming, according to a report released last month by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. The number of Americans who believe that there is sound evidence that the earth is warming declined from 71 percent in April 2008 to only 57 percent in October. Fewer people also see global warming as a serious problem, declining from 44 percent to 35 percent.

Even Congress has stalled on climate change legislation. The House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 but the Senate is yet to introduce a bill.

With an economy still struggling to recover from a recession and high unemployment rates that continue to plague states, Americans are quick to skip environmental issues when prioritizing. Not to mention a six-year war in Iraq and a possible increase in troop deployment in Afghanistan, environmental policies are slowly being eclipsed by health care reform and other pressing social issues.

There is also the matter of finances. A global treaty would need money to implement, restructure, adjust or accommodate any changes to our current environmental policies. Part of the summit’s focus would be to determine how funding would be managed to undertake such a treaty and what changes would be undertaken with the new treaty. Such changes, undoubtedly, will face fierce opposition and debate on what climate change policy would mean to consumers, energy and coal industries.

Though I have faith that COP15 will blaze the trail to a more inclusive climate change treaty, it will take a long time before any commitment will come to fruition. While I am hopeful, I will not be holding my breath.

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Get more information on the Copenhagen Summit here.

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Francesca Gacho holds a B.A. in English from Cal State Fullerton. She is an intern at Minority Dreams Magazine, where she hopes to spread her journalistic wings, explore and hone her writing ability, and gain insight into the myriad of issues in today’s soundbite-focused world. Her writing interests include human interest pieces that delve into culture, arts, current events, and community service.

College students and grads face tough challenges with health care

Amber Singam, 30, and her husband, Shankar, 34, are ready to start a family. They have waited for years, so when Singam graduated from Cal State Fullerton (CSUF) with her master’s degree in May, everything seemed ready for a new addition to their family. All she needed was insurance coverage.

Back in August, Singam applied for private health insurance. She filed the paperwork, gave her medical history and any medical procedures she had undergone, but two months later she still hadn’t received an answer. Singam called the insurance company and discovered that she had been denied coverage.

A letter from the insurance company arrived the next day, stating she was denied based on her “high risk for HPV,” or human papillomavirus. For years, Singam had abnormal PAP smear tests, a routine gynecological exam of cells scraped from the cervix to detect cancerous or pre-cancerous conditions. She underwent a procedure four years ago to remove the abnormal cervical cells.

Since the procedure, Singam has received normal results from her PAP tests and has maintained a healthy lifestyle, so when she was denied insurance, it came as a surprise.

Singam is one of the 21 percent of Americans who apply for insurance and are denied health care coverage based on what the insurance industry considers as “pre-existing conditions,” an issue that has come under fire in the recent health care reform introduced by President Obama.

As talks of improving health care focus on seniors and children, much of the debate has neglected the burgeoning population of college-aged students and recent graduates who may not be able to afford private insurance or seek jobs that offer health benefits in this recession.

The number of Americans insured through employers is 164 million, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). However, with the economic recession and the new batches of graduates joining the work force every semester, looking for employers that offer health benefits are harder to find.

Though Singam was hired as a part-time instructor at a community college in September, her health benefits will not begin until next fall. She faces eleven months without health insurance coverage, but said she is willing to pay for private insurance, especially with their plans to have a baby.

“I can afford to pay for private insurance, but I can’t afford to give birth without insurance,” Singam said. “I am also not able to afford pre-natal care prior.”

Resources and services narrow when students graduate and lose the student status many insurance companies require. But currently enrolled students traverse an equally overwhelming path. They often rely on student clinics or government and public health programs.

College students who have medical conditions that require treatment, like Patrick Cruz, a 23-year-old living in Alameda, may not have the money for private health care.

Diagnosed with psoriasis - a non-contagious autoimmune disease that appears on the skin as raised patches or lesions - Cruz has been fighting for insurance to get treatment.

He was a working student, employed at a local Starbucks, and attending Alameda Community College when he was diagnosed last October. At that time, Cruz was insured by his employer and was able to get some treatment. But he lost coverage when he wasn’t able to meet the quarterly 240-work hour requirement to continue receiving health benefits.

“I was missing a lot of hours because there would be days…when I didn’t feel well,” Cruz said. “I had to quit because [the lesions] were all over my face, too.”

In December, he applied for Medi-Cal, but would not be seen by a specialist until February. By that time, his condition worsened and his plans of applying to the Respiratory Therapy program in a nearby college were put on hold.

Unemployed and short on money, Cruz and his family decided to go to the Philippines where his medicine and treatment would be cheaper. He returned to Alameda three months later with his skin partially cleared.

But flying back and forth to the Philippines isn’t much of an option.

“I can’t keep getting a quick fix. I need something that’ll last longer,” he said. “My condition gets so dependent on medications.”
Though he has received treatment on and off in the past year, his condition hasn’t improved. Regardless, he remains positive and hopeful that Medi-Cal will help him get the treatment he needs when he finally sees a dermatologist at the end of this month.

Until he gets private insurance, he relies on Medi-Cal and other low-cost options.

Knowing what’s out there

Many alumni associations offer discounted health insurance for association members and some grads may qualify for public programs for low-income individuals and families.

Most colleges and universities also include health fees in registration and tuition fees for enrolled students. This gives students access to the on-campus health clinics which usually offer basic medical tests and procedures for free or for a small fee.

Roughly 55,000 student appointments are scheduled per year at CSUF, said Mary Becerra, the director of health education and promotion at the Student Health and Counseling Center on campus. The health clinic is a full-functioning medical clinic, able to perform many basic lab tests and examinations, provide affordable medications through its own pharmacy, offer reproductive health services, and family planning services.

CSUF has an enrollment of 37,000 students and the school’s clinic is the most highly utilized student clinic in the entire CSU system, according to Becerra. Most students come during the high-stress times in their semesters - midterms and final examinations. With the flu season, the student clinic has also seen many upper respiratory issues.

About 70 percent of the students the clinic surveyed said they have some type of insurance, while the remaining 30 percent are the ones that are seen regularly - students who have limited or no access to any type of health care, Becerra said.

Though the student clinic offers a wide range of services, it is still limited. It is not equipped to handle medical emergencies and other serious conditions.

It is the emergencies - a broken arm or a chronic condition - that put students in financial troubles. This is where insurance becomes indispensable - for the “what-ifs.”

Becerra also noted that the University of California requires all students to have insurance coverage - either from a private provider or through the university. But based on tightening budgets of the CSU system and the recent tuition fee increase, it may be tougher to require insurance coverage for all students.

“Mandatory insurance may be out of the question,” she said.

Health care reform in the works

On February 4, President Obama spoke at the joint session of Congress and emphasized the need for a comprehensive health care reform. This speech marked the beginning of the heated debate about the condition of the nation’s health care system. Touted to be the biggest health care reform in decades, the reform aims to extend coverage to more Americans and control the sky-rocketing costs of health care.

About 46 million non-elderly Americans are uninsured, the KFF reports. This could be because of many reasons including unemployment, not meeting employer’s qualifications for insurance coverage or denied health insurance. Some college-aged students fall under these categories who, either willingly or not, forgo insurance coverage.

Recently, the House of Representatives passed an expansive health care bill that would guarantee medical coverage to 96 percent of Americans. The bill would place a tax surcharge on wealthier Americans as well as new taxes on individual and family plans whose values exceed the set amount, according to CNN. The plan would cost under $1 trillion in ten years.

Last week, the Senate Finance Committee introduced a health care reform bill that will cover 30 million Americans and would cost $849 billion over the next ten years. It is aimed to cut costs to individuals, companies and the government and increase efficiency.

Both bills include a public option plan, but with varying provisions and conditions. The House bill requires individuals to buy insurance, with steep penalties for not complying, which could reach up to 2.5 percent of the individual’s income. The Senate bill is a bit more forgiving with fines that could reach up to $750 for not having coverage.

Though both houses have different bills in the works, both agree on broad changes including cutting down costs and preventing insurance companies from denying coverage based on past medical histories.

The Senate bill moves to the floor after Thanksgiving recess for a full debate by lawmakers, giving them an opportunity to introduce amendments to the bill. A long process awaits and a final version of the two bills would have to be approved before the president can sign it into law.

Working with what they have

Currently, CSUF offers insurance coverage for purchase through Anthem Blue Cross. The student insurance offers low-cost group insurance coverage to uninsured students and their dependents on either an annual or semester basis.

Nathan Fletcher, 32 and his daughter have been insured through CSUF’s student insurance for two semesters now. Previously employed by a furniture store in Lake Forest, Fletcher was let go in February because of the recession and was concurrently attending college to fill pre-requisites for the credential program.

When he lost his job, he immediately signed up for health insurance through the university. It cost him $2,000 for health coverage. The fees include $1,100 to cover his daughter and another $1,000 for himself under the Domestic Student insurance plan.

Though he receives financial aid and works part-time as an Instructional Aide, Fletcher admitted that paying the fees at the beginning of every semester is stressful.

“I have no choice. If I have to be prepared [for next semester's payment], I will be,” he said. “It’s expensive to purchase, but the alternative is unfeasible.”

Despite the price, it is still cheaper than private insurance premiums and the school’s insurance gives him sufficient coverage for the price he’s paying, Fletcher said.

Fletcher is one of the lucky ones able to navigate the options available to him and could afford coverage. Also, since the insurance on campus is a group insurance, whoever enrolls will get covered regardless of past medical history.

But depending on the students’ age, status and dependents, premiums range from $500 to over $2,000. All the fees are payable on the day the student signs up for insurance.

Students who don’t have the money risk having no coverage and sometimes utilize the student clinic. Others see the fees and say no altogether, despite the ample coverage and low deductibles of student insurance. Some students just don’t know where to begin.

Most students who have no access to insurance would have to figure it out for themselves, said Joe Vargas, whose Populations in Multicultural Health class at CSUF studies the disparities in access to health care for different groups.

Many undergraduate students are covered through their parents and guardians’ health insurance but some, who are no longer eligible because of insurance requirements, are left with a difficult decision.

“Students today would have to learn how to maneuver the system,” Vargas said.

He noted that students with families, such as expecting mothers, face an even harder challenge.

“It must be challenging to balance pre-natal care, school, jobs and many other things,” he said.

The battle of costs and available resources forces many college students to gamble with their health. Many of them would have to rely on faith. Faith that their immune systems don’t fail and faith that nothing happens to them until they get a job with health benefits, or until the promise of a comprehensive health care reform becomes a reality.

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Francesca Gacho holds a B.A. in English from Cal State Fullerton. She is an intern at Minority Dreams Magazine, where she hopes to spread her journalistic wings, explore and hone her writing ability, and gain insight into the myriad of issues in today’s soundbite-focused world. Her writing interests include human interest pieces that delve into culture, arts, current events, and community service.

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This article was republished at New America Media on Nov. 26.

Remembering Veterans’ Day

As flags fly half-mast around the nation, we celebrate Veterans’ Day, or what was initially called, Armistice Day—the day that marks the signing of the ceasefire agreement to end the First World War. Signed on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, it has come to symbolize peace between warring nations and to commemorate the fallen. But what has been traditionally, and in spirit, a day of remembrance seems to have passed unnoticed for some people. Outside of a few moments of silence by Congress or the President’s remarks from the White House lawn, for many people, Veterans’ Day has served as a day-off, a break from work or school, getting paid time-and-a-half (if you’re lucky), or perhaps even an opportune time to take advantage of several Veterans’ Day sales. What has started as a day to celebrate peace has become synonymous with flag-laden advertisements for 40% off on widescreen TV’s.

But in light of the recent Fort Hood shooting in Texas, Veterans’ Day this year takes a different tone. Though already a day for commemorating and honoring the servicemen and women of the Armed Forces, it is a somber reminder of the sacrifices given to our country. And this year, Veterans’ Day takes on a mix of tragedy, painful acceptance and reverence for the great sacrifices given.

Twelve soldiers and one Army retiree died in a shooting rampage in the Soldier Readiness Center at Fort Hood military base in Texas, where soldiers are processed for deployment. Much of the shock surrounding the horrific incident is from hearing that “one of our own” is the alleged shooter, that this could happen in a military base—the towering symbol of safety, security, and order. Speculations about the gunman’s motives continue to be debated, but there is no explanation clear enough or comprehensive enough to assuage the loss of friends, families, and colleagues. And this loss has and continues to affect many more families of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Though we have been embroiled in two wars for years, these wars seem to escape the daily minutiae of American lives. For many, life goes on as usual, punctuated by news marquees of casualty reports on television. What escapes most of us is that soldiers from combat return from deployment every day and rejoin mainstream society as students, co-workers, family, and community members, often with trepidation. Many come home from combat bearing the burdens of war and of life-changing experiences only so few can understand. These are the untold and unrecognized obstacles our veterans face. It is unfortunate that it had to take a tragedy to bring our attention once again to the realities of war time. Though the 13 casualties did not fall by the hands of a foreign enemy, such violence would not be foreign to a war zone. Just like the soldiers who died in combat, they leave families behind to piece together what has happened, to pick up and carry on with their lives, cherishing and honoring loved ones. We tend to think of war as a feat we fight and win, but not always as something we suffer. What the incident at Fort Hood has painfully given us is a chance to look at the tolls of war so close to home.

President Obama, in his speech at the Fort Hood memorial service, described November 11 as a “chance to pause and to pay tribute—for students to learn the struggles that preceded them …. for citizens to reflect upon the sacrifices that have been made in pursuit of a more perfect union.” November 11 passes as a somber day of remembrance for all the fallen, civilian and military, but today, we should also take time to remember the loss and sorrow we suffer from our ongoing wars and what has been given to fight them. Maybe this way we will carry with us those who have sacrificed much for the good of many, remember those who have returned to us, and truly see the meaning of this day beyond elegant speeches, moments of silence, and discounted widescreen TV’s.

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Francesca Gacho holds a B.A. in English from Cal State Fullerton. She is an intern at Minority Dreams Magazine, where she hopes to spread her journalistic wings, explore and hone her writing ability, and gain insight into the myriad of issues in today’s soundbite-focused world. Her writing interests include human interest pieces that delve into culture, arts, current events, and community service.

Drawing a Picture of Immigration Detention

CHICAGO, Ill. — Time seemed endless for Luis León Ortega, who spent nearly seven months in various Illinois detention centers after being caught by immigration officials and scheduled for deportation hearings.

Leon The shadowy world of immigration detention has been in the spotlight lately with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials being forced to make public a series of reports about conditions at numerous detention centers throughout the country. The reports tell the stories.

Luis León Ortega has the pictures. “I used to draw to pass the time,” says León, a native of Guanajuato, Mexico. “There was a Hispanic guard who always had pencils, so I asked her to lend me one and she did.”

León’s drawings are simple, yet provocative. One traces the very symbols often used to highlight this country’s greatest attributes: an august bald eagle, the prominent Statue of Liberty, a bold Sears Tower, the nation’s stately capitol dome.

But these images are ominously juxtaposed against a symbolic wall — the U.S.-Mexican border wall — that twists into a serpent bearing its sharp jaws, mouth wide open and ready to strike. In the drawing the serpent is poised to devour a man trapped in its mouth, presumably the artist.

Images of Stability

Immigration Detention Sketch There are 35 sketches in all. Some of them depict innocent childhood subjects like Disney characters, a dog with a Chicago White Sox baseball cap. Others are more conceptual, like the one depicting a tree whose vine-like branches covered in spines twist around a heart – a common image in Mexican culture that could either reflect a loss of faith in God, or suffering of the heart. There is also the famous crime-fighter Batman – one of his son’s favorite drawings — and an eerily simple depiction of his own isolation in jail cell number 115.

To add a bit of color to his drawings, León purchased Kool-Aid packets and mixed in a little water.

Six Months, Five Transfers

León’s journey through the murky world of U.S. immigration detention centers began on a normal Chicago winter day, back in February 2008. He was pulled over by police and charged with driving without a valid driver’s license. Authorities quickly discovered his undocumented status, and he would spend the next 30 weeks rotating between five different Illinois correctional centers. He only remembers the names of two – the McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility and the Pontiac Correctional Center.

Every day, officers would try to get him to sign a voluntary deportation order.

“The first thing they do when you go to breakfast is try to convince you to sign your deportation papers. They did this every single day,” León recalls.

“We weren’t allowed to have anything in our cells. Masked guards armed with large, rubber-bullet guns would search our cells. They swarmed in as if they were the SWAT team. If they found even a packet of sugar, we were confined to our cells for 15 consecutive days,” he says.

His cell was just large enough for two beds, a shared toilet and a sink.

During meals, detainees were forbidden from speaking, so León would look forward to the little time he could talk on the telephone with his wife and children. But even that was complicated, as phone calls were limited to 20 minutes each day and phone cards were costly. A $20 card yielded only three calls.

“Once they told me a lawyer was coming to meet with us. But there wasn’t enough time. There was only one lawyer for 300 people. He managed to speak with only 10 people, and I wasn’t one of them.”

If access to legal help was nearly impossible, so too was León’s ability to turn to religion for comfort. In order to visit the chapel, detainees had to add their names to a list two or three days in advance. They were forbidden from having religious items in their cells, except for a Bible. A prayer card sent by his wife was intercepted and confiscated. The chaplains who did visit detainees spoke only English.

“Once a week they would allow us to see our families for 30 minutes. But we didn’t get to see them in person. We had to look at each other projected on a screen and we had to speak to each other on a telephone. I would go to a room where the telephone was, and my family would be in another room below me,” León said.

After six months, he was released on bond. The six-foot-tall, 43-year-old had lost a significant amount of weight. Pictures of León before his arrest show a much heavier and healthier man. Today, his hands sweat when he recalls those months spent behind bars, where he was isolated from his wife and two children who lived at the family’s Southside Chicago home.

Authorities have begun the deportation process against León. His two U.S.-born children wonder if they’ll have to live in a country they know little about, or face living without a father at home. León’s next hearing isn’t until 2011, perhaps enough time, he hopes, for something to be done by President Barack Obama, who as a candidate promised swift immigration reform.

In the meantime, León holds down a job and provides for his family by working six days a week at a local supermarket.

Pulling Back the Veil

For years, ICE officials fought to keep the treatment of immigration detainees a secret. Last month, a three-year legal battle ended with an order for ICE officials to make public a series of reports that documented inspections at numerous detention centers throughout the country. On August 6, ICE Director John Morton announced that one center, the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas, which held up to 400 detainees, would no longer be used for detaining families.

The reports, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and lawsuits brought by rights groups, confirm many of León’s allegations of ill treatment at the hands of authorities.

In Illinois, a report by delegates from the American Bar Association, who visited the DuPage County Jail in 2003 and the McHenry County Correctional Facility in 2006 (one of the centers where León was held), found that detainees could not speak to legal assistants without an attorney present; could not see a doctor without a judge’s order; were denied dental care; and in at least one incident suffered physical abuse. The report also confirmed León’s allegation that detainees were unable to freely practice their religion.

Mary Meg McCarthy, director of the National Immigration Justice Center – one of the groups that successfully sued ICE for public access to documents describing detainee conditions — says she is happy the documents were finally made public. But she recognizes that many conditions detainees face remain unchanged.

“When the telephones don’t work properly and visiting time is strictly limited, the individual rights of detainees continue to be violated,” McCarthy says.

According to Gail Montenegro, regional spokesperson for ICE in Chicago, in 2007 ICE contracted the private companies Creative Corrections and the Nakamoto Group to inspect the centers where detainees were held.

Creative Corrections issued reports annually through June 2009 before being replaced by another company, MGT of America. According to Montenegro, Nakamoto continues functioning as an “on-site” monitor of conditions to guarantee that detainees’ rights are not violated.

ICE stopped sending detainees to DuPage County Jail in August 2004, but ICE officials say the decision was unrelated to the 2003 inspection by the American Bar Association delegation.

In a statement, Montenegro wrote that ICE officials learned of the attorneys’ delegation report on McHenry County Jail in early 2007 and quickly began addressing the report’s criticisms of detainee treatment.

“(McHenry County Jail) currently complies with ICE detention standards and was recently rated ‘Good’ by Creative Corrections in its most recent 2008 annual inspection,” Montenegro wrote.

One key issue left unresolved, however, is whether Congress and the Obama administration are willing to pass laws that protect detainees’ rights. Advocacy groups representing former detainees are lobbying for these laws, and at least two bills are under discussion in Senate committees.

But Homeland Security authorities acknowledged that a complete overhaul of the U.S. immigration detention system could take years. In the meantime, tens of thousand of undocumented immigrants remain in detention, their fates as uncertain as León’s.

–

This article originally appeared on La Raza and New America Media.

Fort Hood Soldier Refuses Deployment to Afghanistan

President Obama has ordered 21,000 more troops to deploy to Afghanistan this summer, seeking to more than double the 32,000 deployed in the next few months. The move is controversial inside the military and a handful of soldiers — like Specialist Victor Agosto of Miami, Fla. — have refused to deploy. Agosto, who has already served one tour in Iraq, told his superiors that the U.S. military occupation of Afghanistan is “immoral and unjust” and “does not make America safer.” He faces a Special Court Martial, with a maximum punishment of one year in prison and a bad conduct discharge.

Why did you decide to join the army?

I’d been in college for two years and I was tired of it. I wanted to be something. I wanted to see the world. I was in Miami Dade College and I really didn’t have a clear idea of what I was going to do. I was just focusing on my classes for my associate’s degree. I had always wanted to join the army, but I had initially wanted to graduate from college first so I could have a commission, but then I just decided to go in and be enlisted.

Is your opposition to the war in Afghanistan based at all on your previous military experience in Iraq?

I would say, not really. I was in Iraq when I turned against it, but it wasn’t because I had a traumatic experience or anything like that. I never shot anyone. I never got shot at. I never felt I was in any danger or anything like that. I was on the FOB [the base] the whole time. I was doing I.T. work: configuring computers, routers, servers, switches, providing customer service.

So you didn’t see or do anything while you were in Iraq that caused you to have any particular opinion about it one way or the other?

I guess the main thing that got my mind going was seeing how much money the contractors were making, and how little sense that made to me. And I guess that just got me thinking, exploring in that direction. Something is not right here. It’s a jump from that to concluding that the war is not right but that’s what got the ball rolling.

And once the ball got rolling, how did you get to the next step?

Well, I was reading books, like Noam Chomsky’s Hegemony or Survival. That was the one that just totally shattered any conception I had about moral superiority or good intentions.

Obviously there are many theoreticians writing various things about American policy. Why did this resonate with you?

Well it was just that the stated reasons for the war didn’t make sense.

And so the reasons that you concluded after doing your reading were what?

Ultimately, just for more control and to project American power. Obviously, there’s oil in Iraq. And American corporations stand to benefit a great deal from controlling the oil fields, but the main thing is just that there are benefits to obtaining control, and it’s the same in Afghanistan.

But the big difference of course is that there is no oil in Afghanistan.

That’s right.

So how did you go from having this particular feeling about the war in Iraq to refusing to deploy to Afghanistan, which is of course a different war. And there are a lot of people who would say ‘Iraq is a bad war but Afghanistan is a good war, because the people who attacked us on 9/11 were based out of Afghanistan.’

Well, to me there really isn’t a difference. To me the main thing is control, just to project power. If you look at what the goal of the war in Afghanistan was -– to make American people safer — an occupation can’t accomplish that. Those things can’t be accomplished through military means. The occupation in both places just increases resentment against Americans and actually endangers the soldiers that are there because the occupation fuels the insurgency. We go after an insurgent and kill several innocents in the process and it just creates more insurgents. And the process would continue like that indefinitely. And I think that those in power know this. And so the reason that we’re there can’t be to make the American people safer.

And that’s what you wrote in a statement to military counselors that you would not deploy to Afghanistan because it is “immoral and unjust” and “does not make the American people any safer.” What would make the American people safer in your opinion?

Victor Agosto’s handwritten declaration to a military counselor.

Well I think that the terrorist networks gain recruits from populations that have been oppressed. Until these grievances are addressed, there will always be a fresh supply of people who will join up with these extremist groups and decide that they want to attack America. There is really no battlefield solution to terrorism.

People say, ‘Look, I know the U.S. military operations in Afghanistan are not necessarily the most productive, but imagine there were no American soldiers there -– the Taliban would just take over again.’

I don’t really see that as worse than what we’re doing now. As I said before, until we actually address the grievances of people in that part of the world, we’re really not going to defeat terrorism. Being there does make things worse. It wouldn’t be an ideal situation to just leave and then perhaps the Taliban would re-establish control over the country, but that to me would be better than what’s going on right now.

How do the other soldiers that you interact with at Fort Hood feel about your decision to refuse to go?

They’ve been generally positive. I really don’t get a lot of negative feedback from people. I know that negative feeling exists but people don’t usually come up to me and tell me that. And when they have, they always set it up saying they really respect me and stuff, but they disagree with what I’m doing. It’s never a bitter type of response.

Why did you decide to contest this head-on instead of just passively resisting during your deployment to Afghanistan, since as you describe it, you’re more of a back office soldier?

I guess a combination of things. I concluded some time while I was in Iraq that these wars were wrong, but I wasn’t ready to make that jump because I feared the consequences. But after a while I got to meet a lot of people in the peace community who would be supportive of me if I were to take such an action. That, combined with the fact that I just wasn’t sure if I could live with myself if I were to deploy, if I actually got on a plane and went over there. It made it almost a no-brainer for me and something I needed to do.

You’re facing a Special Court Martial, where you face a bad conduct discharge and a year in prison. Suppose you were to get a bad conduct discharge and some amount of prison time. How would you compare that to deploying to Afghanistan?

I’d say it’s more than a fair deal. I mean, if those are my two options, I’d say that’s a no-brainer right there. I would much rather go to prison for a year than go to Afghanistan for a year.

–

This article originally appeared on New America Media. Victor Agosto spoke with NAM editor Aaron Glantz from the U.S. Army base at Fort Hood, Texas.

Generation You: Immigration

The Obama Administration just announced plans to tackle immigration reform by sometime this summer. We’re asking you, our readers, writers and commentators, what do you think?

Abrahim Appel of Minority Dreams said:

The debate over immigration is a debate over how human we allow people to be if they are born outside of the boarders and enter. How much should we belittle people is the question. This is balanced by the very real fact of cultural change and static based on such change that at the very least will bring in new traditions and standards for success and the very most, riots and lynchings.
This debate in this country is juvenile at best because Americans do not recognize that the only time we want immigrants is when an industry needs them. The only time America talks of immigration problems is when that culture of people begins to feel at home, demand some form equality or adjust the standards of living that takes away from some form of profit.
The immigration-debate really serves no other people other than the purpose of economic enrichment of the Americas business owning class.and the fears of class-ism.
In a country that refuses to speak new languages, learn about even Southern America and has a marine symbol that treats the whole hemisphere as if it were the United States, has 172 military bases across the world, two occupations, Puerto Rico has taxation without representation - it is the American empire that needs to have its migration revoked. [Don't blame] the hard working people who visit and make the wheels turn, who then infuriate us as if they were criminals, when they live where we do.

Jena Johnson of Chicago sent an excerpt of Theodore Roosevelt’s view of immigration in 1907 1919:

“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin.
But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American.. There can be no! divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American , but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag. We have room for but on language here, and that is the English language…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.” -Roosevelt.

What is Generation You?

‘Generation You’ is an open conversation that revolves around a monthly issue. These topics affect various minority communities and your participation is critical. We hope to hear fresh voices and build a community of progressive minds.

Join the Conversation!

Whether you’re an avid blogger, represent an organization or just want to post your reply, we want to hear from you! To participate in this month’s Generation You, contact me at Urmi@minoritydreams.com.

Yes We Can Get Tickets! Um, Lines Indicate Otherwise.

More than a thousand people attempted to score tickets Tuesday for President Obama’s town hall meeting at the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. The Secret Service started handing them out at 10 a.m.

With freezing toes and a notebook in hand, I joined this mile(s)-long line at 7 a.m. only to find that arriving 10 hours prior might have resulted in actual tickets.

But it was no longer about that. With throngs of people arriving one after the other, there was an air of confidence and hope (hence, the better half of the headline).

They came wrapped in blankets (sporting the president’s face), selling posters, with their homework, in their wheelchairs and meant to socialize.

People were ecstatic at the chance of seeing the nation’s first black president. Three older democrats sitting behind me applauded his accomplishments.

“I’m thrilled there are so many young people. I haven’t seen that since Kennedy,” one said. In fear of the government’s prowess, she refused to disclose even her first name.

Her central concern was the economy.

“It’s scary for the young, who can’t get jobs and it’s scary for the old. We’re losing our savings,” she said.

At 9:20 a.m., Malinda Hovee-Harlan, of Costa Mesa, was the last person in line with her 2-year-old daughter, Evie.

“The president is doing all that he can,” she said. “You can’t please all the people all the time.”

If given the chance, she would ask the president about the economy but also about his girls. Ten minutes later, she was ahead of at least 50 people.

At approximately 9:47 a.m., Hovee-Harlan was among hundreds leaving the fairgrounds with no chance at tickets.

Standing in what was dubbed the ‘gray zone,’ we were told by volunteers that chances to get tickets in this zone were more fiction than fact.

Only 1,000 tickets were available to the public with two per person over the age of 16, volunteers said. That meant only the first 500 would gain access to Wednesday’s town hall meeting.

Still, several people refused to leave. Asking for their party affiliation, some even accused these volunteers of playing dirty tricks to have them give up their spot.

In a call with the fairgrounds the night before, Santa Ana resident, Vickie Ferguson was told not to camp out and that gates would not open until 8 a.m. She was among the gray zoners told to leave by 10 a.m.

But rumors and frustrations snaked around the fairgrounds all morning. As the number of tickets promised sank, we hoped that the Secret Service would change their policy to one ticket per person - giving more people in line an opportunity to attend.

Even if this sudden change of heart occurred, we still wouldn’t have had a chance with the number of people cutting in line.

The last two people to gain access to the box office were let in at 11:30 a.m. - they had waited in line for 13 hours.

Now, three hours doesn’t seem so bad after all.
–

Credit: Urmi Rahman, a freelance journalist residing in California. She received her B.A. in political science with minors in English and journalism from Cal State Fullerton. Urmi, 25, is also the editor and co-founder of Minority Dreams Magazine.

Obama Engaging (and Embracing?) the Muslim World