El Magonista Newsletter | Vol. 10, No. 27 | July 15, 2022 - WATCH LIVE: Special Event Next Wednesday

The election of Mayra Flores, a Republican and an immigrant, helps explain how Latino voters are shifting to the right.

Latino voters have recently shifted toward the Republican Party. Most still vote for Democrats, but the margin has shrunk.

One sign of the shift is in Texas’ majority-Latino 34th Congressional District, which recently elected Mayra Flores, a conservative Republican, to serve out the remaining term of a Democrat who resigned in March. To put Flores’s election in context of the larger shift, today’s newsletter talks with Jennifer Medina, a Times reporter who writes about national politics and profiled Flores this week.

Ian: How did you meet Flores?

Jennifer: I met her almost a year and a half ago when I went to the Rio Grande Valley, in South Texas, to try to understand why Latino voters there swung toward Donald Trump in 2020. I came across a whole group of women who drove a lot of the change. They’d organized “Trump Trains” and done Hispanic outreach for the Republican Party. A lot of them, including Flores, were married to Border Patrol agents and used that as the source of their energy and support for Trump.

Flores won her special election last month pretty easily, despite being a first-time candidate running in a historically Democratic district. She seems to symbolize Republican hopes that Latinos will increasingly support the party. How was she received in Washington?

She was treated like a rock star. After her swearing-in, she did a press conference with Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans. The placard on the lectern said “Historic.” Republicans have been criticized for being anti-immigrant, obviously, and here’s a woman who not only is an immigrant but who worked in the fields alongside her parents as a farmworker.

Flores has described herself as Democrats’ worst nightmare, but she was also Republicans’ wildest dream. She’s the first Mexican-born woman in Congress, and the Republican Party completely embraced her... READ MORE

President Joe Biden assures that the relationship with his Mexican counterpart Andrés Manuel López Obrador is "strong and productive" despite the headlines that appear in the media.

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, received his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in the Oval room of the White House, where they agreed to work in a coordinated way between the two nations.

In a speech that lasted about half an hour, the Mexican president asked his U.S. counterpart to "regulate now" the situation of migrants living in the United States.

"It is essential, I say it sincerely and respectfully, to regularize now and give certainty to migrants who have been working honestly for several years and contribute to the development of this great nation," López Obrador said.

"I know that your adversaries, the conservatives, are going to shout in the sky, but without a daring program of development and well-being, it will not be possible to solve the problems or get the support of the people," he said.

López Obrador expressed the need to "order the migratory flow and allow the arrival in the United States of workers, technicians and professionals from the different disciplines, Mexican and Central American, with temporary work visas," as part of his proposal announced a few days ago.

"The purpose is to have the workforce that will demand the plan proposed by you and approved by Congress to allocate more than one trillion dollars for the construction of infrastructure works," he said.

The Mexican president told Biden that the way out of the problems faced by both nations is not in conservatism but in transformation... READ MORE

By City News Service | Long Beach Press-Telegram | JUL. 13, 2022
Photo by Damian Dovarganes

LOS ANGELES — Civil rights groups are suing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles for allegedly wrongfully withholding documents linked to ICE’s practice of releasing people from custody when their deaths are imminent, according to court papers obtained Wednesday.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California filed a Freedom of Information Act request in April seeking the records after media reports of ICE releasing people from custody on their deathbeds, allowing the agency to avoid reporting their deaths to the public, avoid investigation, and avoid medical costs for people in its custody, the complaint, filed Tuesday in federal court, alleges.

The FOIA request has gone unanswered for over 60 days, according to the ACLU.

ICE did not immediately provide a response.

“The public has the right to know about ICE’s shameful patient dumping practices,” said Michael Kaufman, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU SoCal. “The federal government cannot evade responsibility for the fatal health conditions people suffer in its custody.”

The lawsuit — brought by ACLU SoCal, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, and the Pasadena civil rights law firm Hoq Law — also requests the records of four people who suffered illnesses while in ICE custody, and died shortly after they were suddenly released... READ MORE

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is currently being debated in the House and Senate, and the annual military spending bill is considered a “must pass” by members of both parties.

At least eight immigrant relief amendments have been offered by House members for inclusion in the NDAA, including one by Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC) that would protect so-called “documented DREAMers” who age out of their parents’ visa protection when they turn 21.

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) expressed a willingness to protect documented DREAMers via the NDAA when asked by Latino Rebels on Monday afternoon.

“If Sen. Reed and Sen. Inhofe are open to that and think it would be helpful to the bill—or at least, not harmful in the House,” Blunt offered as a caveat, referring to Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK). “We always authorize NDA and that should be a top-of-the-line question, but I’m not sure about the discussion on solving some other problems along with that. I’m just now in that discussion right now.”

Another House amendment to the NDAA that has been discussed during the current Congress was previously submitted by Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL). The amendment would make it easier for immigrants with PhDs or Master’s degrees in certain STEM-related fields to get a green card... READ MORE

For the first time in 24 years, Miguel Santiago met his family in Oaxaca, Mexico. He crossed the border to create an ethnography report on his heritage and see his grandfather before he passed away.  If not for his DACA status, researching the origins of his family’s culture and customs would have never happened.

“Having family members there to be able to listen to their stories and just being together is something that I haven’t had,” said Santiago, who lives in San Jose.

Santiago, along with other recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA, is anxious about the future and his status as an undocumented immigrant. Those who hoped the program would turn into a path toward citizenship now find their legality in question.

“It’s been all these years of uncertainty and holding our breath to see whether tomorrow we will still have the status, and it’s really tiring to have to deal with that,” he told San José Spotlight.

A federal appeals court in New Orleans will decide whether DACA, which turned 10 in June, is legal in the next few months. Texas and six other states have filed lawsuits claiming the program’s cost puts too heavy a toll on each... READ MORE

Her analogy sparked backlash among Hispanic journalists and conservatives.

First lady Jill Biden apologized Tuesday through her spokesperson after receiving public backlash for saying in a speech Monday that Latinos are "as unique as breakfast tacos."

Spokesperson Michael LaRosa tweeted a brief apology on Tuesday morning following an onslaught of criticism from conservatives and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

"The First Lady apologizes that her words conveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community," the tweet read... READ MORE

The Biden administration on Monday announced that it would extend—but not expand—temporary protections for Venezuelan immigrants who have fled the Maduro dictatorship and are already in the U.S. While extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will ensure another 18 months of deportation protection for families at risk of being sent back to a humanitarian, political, and economic crisis, the Biden administration missed a major chance to ensure safety for an estimated 250,000 people who have arrived since last year’s announcement but have not been eligible to apply.

“As someone who left Venezuela due to political persecution and the crumbling infrastructure, I am very pleased to learn that the Biden administration is extending Temporary Protected Status for my country,” said political refugee and TPS applicant Andrés Zambrano in a statement received by Daily Kos. “However, it is with great sadness that I also receive the news that the administration is not redesignating it. It feels like they are doing the absolute least. While I may be protected, thousands of my compatriots will not... READ MORE

MEXICO CITY — Former Mexican President Luis Echeverria, blamed for some of the country’s worst political killings of the 20th century, has died at the age of 100, current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed Saturday. 

In his Twitter account, López Obrador sent condolences to Echeverria’s family and friends “in the name of the government of Mexico,” but did not express any personal sadness about the death. López Obrador did not provide a cause of death for Echeverria, who governed Mexico from 1970 to 1976.

He had been hospitalized for pulmonary problems in 2018 and also had neurological difficulties in recent years.

During his presidency, Echeverria positioned himself as a left-leaning maverick allied with Third World causes, but his role in the notorious massacres of leftist students in 1968 and 1971 made him hated by Mexican leftists, who for for decades tried unsuccessfully to have him put on trial.

In 2004, he became the first former Mexican head of state formally accused of criminal wrongdoing. Prosecutors linked Echeverria to the country’s “dirty war,” in which hundreds of leftist activists and members of fringe guerrilla groups were imprisoned, killed, or simply disappeared without a trace.

Special prosecutor Ignacio Carrillo asked a judge to issue an arrest warrant against Echeverria on genocide charges in the two student massacres, the first of which occurred when he served as interior secretary, overseeing domestic security affairs.

On Oct. 2 1968, a few weeks before the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, government sharpshooters and soldiers opened fire on student protesters in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the city’s Tlatelolco area. Estimates of the dead have ranged from 25 to more than 300.

Echeverria always denied any participation in the attacks. According to military reports, at least 360 government snipers had been assigned to buildings surrounding the protesters... READ MORE

Sheriff Alex Villanueva has "flatly refused to comply" with a new state statute that requires him to cooperate in the OIG's investigation of potential deputy gangs, according to the petition, which seeks a court order directing the sheriff to work with the OIG in its probe.

On the same day a Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors proposal to give them the power to remove an elected sheriff for cause was first reported, county lawyers filed a legal action demanding that the current sheriff cooperate with the Office of the Inspector General’s investigation into alleged internal LASD gangs.

“Although the OIG ordinance makes clear that the sheriff must cooperate with the OIG and provide documents and information in the manner requested by the OIG, the sheriff has refused to cooperate with the OIG’s requests for access to critical records and record systems,” the Los Angeles Superior Court petition states.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva has “flatly refused to comply” with a new state statute that requires him to cooperate in the OIG’s investigation of potential deputy gangs, according to the petition, which seeks a court order directing the sheriff to work with the OIG in its probe... READ MORE

Note to Jamie Lee Curtis: Never publicly admit something boneheaded you once thought, before you learned otherwise. Because people on social media won’t hesitate to call you out. 

The actor, who co-starred in “Knives Out” with “The Gray Man” star Ana de Armas, just shared with Elle that she thought De Armas was newly arrived in Hollywood when the two started working together on the hit 2019 whodunit. 

“I assumed — and I say this with real embarrassment — because she had come from Cuba, that she had just arrived,” Curtis told the magazine. “I made an assumption that she was an inexperienced, unsophisticated young woman.”

Curtis said that the first day they worked together, “I was like, ‘Oh, what are your dreams?’” The 63-year-old said she asked that because she was impressed with De Armas and wanted to introduce her to Hollywood friends, including Steven Spielberg and godchildren Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal.

But the Cuban actor had already done “War Dogs,” “Blade Runner 2049" and more before landing her breakout role in “Knives Out.” She already knew Jake Gyllenhaal, Curtis’ godson. Keanu Reeves as well, apparently. No word on whether there’s a Spielberg connection. She’d been working in Spain for years after growing up in Cuba... READ MORE

Mexico City leads for active cases per capita with nearly 700 per 100,000 people; most cases in vaccinated people will be mild if caught early, an expert said.

Mexico could record some 70,000 new coronavirus cases per day when the fifth wave peaks in late July and early August, according to the spokesman for the National Autonomous University (UNAM) coronavirus commission.

In an interview with the newspaper El País, Mauricio Rodríguez predicted that case numbers will continue increasing in the coming weeks.

“It’s possible that we’ll exceed what we saw in the fourth wave and we could … have … about 70,000 cases a day at the end of the month and in the first week of August,” said the medical academic.

Mexico’s current single-day record for new cases is 60,552, set amid the fourth wave in January.

Rodríguez predicted that hospitalizations and COVID-19 deaths will also increase as case numbers rise, but not to the same extent, largely due to high rates of vaccination. He said there is a risk that highly contagious omicron sub-variants will become widespread here and cause case numbers to rise even... READ MORE