El Magonista Newsletter | Vol. 11, No. 30 | SEP. 29, 2023

The U.S. Latino community is a vital force in our nation's economy, making significant contributions as consumers, producers, and business leaders.

The 2023 Official LDC U.S. Latino GDP Report, now in its sixth edition, has evolved to provide a comprehensive view of the economic impact of this dynamic group. This year's report, made possible through a partnership with Arizona State University, expands its analysis to delve deeper into Latino economics within states, identify emerging Latino markets, and equip businesses with insights into customer value. 

The report emphasizes that the contribution of U.S. Latinos to our GDP is determined by factors such as their population share, high labor force participation, and productivity. Progress in educational attainment plays a pivotal role in their economic development, a point highlighted in this year's report. Furthermore, the 2023 U.S. Latino GDP report provides a state-level breakdown, revealing significant Latino economies in California, Texas, and Florida.

Unlock valuable insights today! Click the link above to download your copy of the 2023 Official LDC U.S. Latino GDP Report and discover the economic impact of U.S. Latinos.

Garcia is now a staff member with the program that brings a group of between 15 and 20 recipients from all over the U.S. to Mexico three to four times a year. The idea is to not only connect recipients with their culture, but also their family... CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT

Nation's Oldest and Largest Latino Civil Rights Organization Urges Equal Treatment for Other Undocumented Immigrants Fleeing Danger, Violence and Here More than a Decade.

Washington, DC - LULAC announced it supports the Biden Administration's action as a humane and economically necessary step as more than 500,000 refugees from Venezuela await their applications for political asylum to be processed in the immigration courts system. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says the action is necessary because of "Venezuela's increased instability and lack of safety."

"LULAC is very clearly in support of helping these men, women, and children fleeing desperate and dangerous conditions in Venezuela under the Maduro regime," says Domingo Garcia, LULAC national president. "The United States has historically welcomed and helped those individuals whose lives are in danger because of government oppression and civil wars in their countries of origin. The precedent is there, and LULAC supports such policies," adds Garcia.

Now, LULAC is urging the Biden Administration to move with equal vigor to normalize the immigration status of 11 million other persons in the United States, the vast majority Mexicans, many of whom have been in the country years or decades, working, living lawfully, and paying taxes. They cannot return to Mexico, experiencing a civil war between the cartels that has claimed more than 500,000 lives, more than all present Latin American conflicts combined... READ MORE

Washington CNN — Dianne Feinstein, whose three decades in the Senate made her the longest-serving female US senator in history, has died following months of declining health. She was 90.

Feinstein, a Democrat, died Thursday night at her home in Washington, her office said in a statement.

Her death hands California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom the power to appoint a lawmaker to serve out the rest of Feinstein’s term, keeping the Democratic majority in the chamber through early January 2025. Newsom has publicly pledged to appoint a Black woman if Feinstein were to vacate her office and told NBC’s “Meet the Press” earlier this month that he would make an “interim appointment” who wouldn’t be any of the candidates who are seeking the seat in next year’s election.

Feinstein’s death also comes as federal funding is set to expire and Congress at an impasse as to how to avoid a government shutdown, though Senate Democrats still retain a majority without her.

Feinstein, a former mayor of San Francisco, was a leading figure in California politics for decades and became a national face of the Democratic Party following her first election to the US Senate in 1992. She broke a series of glass ceilings throughout her political career and her influence was felt strongly in some of Capitol Hill’s most consequential works in recent history, including the since-lapsed federal assault weapons ban in 1994 and the 2014 CIA torture report. She also was a longtime force on the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees... READ MORE

With the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Gov. Gavin Newsom now must decide who will fill her U.S. Senate seat until the next election. 

Who will it be? Here is a breakdown of what we know from the pages of The Times:

What Newsom Has Said

Newsom said in an interview several weeks ago that he would pick a short-term caretaker, not one of the candidates running for Feinstein’s seat next year. Three Democratic members of Congress are running in the March 2024 primary.

“It would be completely unfair to the Democrats that have worked their tail off,” Newsom said in the interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd.

“That primary is just a matter of months away. I don’t want to tip the balance of that.”

Newsom promised in 2021 to appoint a Black woman if the seat opened.

“We hope we never have to make this decision, but I abide by what I’ve said very publicly on a consistent basis,” Newsom said when Todd asked whether he’d stick to his promise to appoint a Black woman.

The 100-member Senate does not include a single Black woman, a void left when Kamala Harris vacated her California seat and was sworn in as vice president in 2021.

Despite pressure on Newsom to appoint a Black woman to take Harris’ seat, the Democratic governor instead tapped then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla, a longtime political ally who made history as California’s first Latino senator. To stave off criticism, Newsom pledged to appoint a Black woman if another Senate seat became vacant.

Earlier this year, the governor appeared on MSNBC and was asked by host Joy Reid if he’d “restore” Harris’ seat by appointing a Black woman. Newsom leaped at the question.

“We have multiple names in mind,” he said, “and the answer is yes... READ MORE

“Coming here, I did hear people tell me, ‘Oh, you’re pocha?’ No, I’m Mexican. I was born here,” said Damaris Garcia, who lived most of her life in LA’s Pico Union neighborhood but was born in Mexico City.

Going back home to a land many have not haven’t seen since they were children seemed like an amazing adventure, but for some Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, it opened old wounds of uncertainty and fear.

“We are sort of in a status of limbo because we are not really from here (Mexico). We can’t really think about building our lives here because it means leaving so much back home (in the U.S.),” said Eric Bautista, a schoolteacher from Riverside.

Bautista left Mexico when he was 7 years old. Twenty-one years later, he was part of an educational program this summer, designed by the California-Mexico Studies Center. The program uses the “advance parole” benefit of DACA to allow for travel back to a home country for humanitarian, educational, or employment purposes.

“Most of them had a deep, deep hole in their hearts and their minds, longing for returning home,” said Armando Vazquez-Ramos, the program’s director and professor at California State University, Long Beach. “We are now passing 700 ‘Dreamers’ that have has this opportunity. It’s a lifechanging experience.”

“Coming here, I did hear people tell me, ‘Oh, you’re pocha?’ No, I’m Mexican. I was born here,” said Damaris Garcia, who lived most of her life in LA’s Pico Union neighborhood but was born in Mexico City. Her parents migrated with her to the U.S. 27 years ago.

Garcia is now a staff member with the program that brings a group of between 15 and 20 recipients from all over the U.S. to Mexico three to four times a year. The idea is to not only connect recipients with their culture, but also their family... READ MORE

Not long ago, a federal judge once again declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program illegal. Despite this ruling, Judge Andrew Hanen of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas stopped short of immediately ending deportation protections and work permits for 580,000 current immigrant “Dreamers.” The decision was the latest development in the DACA story that involves the Biden administration's efforts to formalize DACA policy through federal regulation. At the request of Republican-led states, Judge Hanen ruled that the Biden administration's effort to codify DACA in this way was illegal. Notably, Hanen issued a similar ruling in 2021, declaring that the original Obama-era memo establishing DACA in 2012 was illegal... READ MORE

Despite more than a decade of political and legal attacks, nearly 600,000 people are still receiving the benefits of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, renewing their DACA designations in two-year increments.

The program’s future, however, remains clouded. 

The Obama administration established DACA in 2012 as a “temporary stopgap measure” to allow Dreamers — immigrants brought to this country without authorization before they turned 16 — to work, travel and get higher education legally. It was never meant to be a path to citizenship or a permanent fix. 

The program initially protected more than 800,000 immigrants brought to the U.S. prior to June 15, 2007. That number has dwindled as many have either failed to renew their applications or adjusted their status in other ways, such as by marrying a U.S. citizen. Some have voluntarily left the country in favor of places that can grant them permanent citizenship. 

Here’s a breakdown of where things stand, what the program currently offers, and what might happen in the future.

Despite more than a decade of political and legal attacks, nearly 600,000 people are still receiving the benefits of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, renewing their DACA designations in two-year increments.

The program’s future, however, remains clouded. 

The Obama administration established DACA in 2012 as a “temporary stopgap measure” to allow Dreamers — immigrants brought to this country without authorization before they turned 16 — to work, travel and get higher education legally. It was never meant to be a path to citizenship or a permanent fix... READ MORE

Azael Avila grabbed a box of crayons and set to coloring a line-drawing of Mexican-American civil rights hero César Chávez. Red for the barn behind the farmworker icon. Green and blue plaid for his shirt.

Avila, a junior at West Salem High School, was familiar with Chávez from documentaries and a book his dad bought him about the activist’s life. But he’d never heard of Colegio César Chávez, an Oregon university named for the icon, until he attended a 50th anniversary commemoration for the now shuttered Mt. Angel college in August.

For a single decade starting in 1973, Mt. Angel was home to the Chicano-serving Colegio César Chávez, which historians say was the first such independent and accredited four-year college in the country. The institution focused on serving Oregon’s Latino and minority students through an education model that championed community service and gave credit for life experiences. Chávez himself wasn’t directly involved in Colegio’s founding, but he did visit several times.

“I think it was pretty cool, pretty interesting that the Latino community had something like that,” Avila said as he colored.

Colegio César Chávez closed in 1983 after drawn-out battles over inherited debt, but the school’s legacy lives on in Oregon’s classrooms and halls of power. College leaders and graduates went on to inspire and mentor Latino education advocates shaping the state today.

That influence was on full display last month when former lawmakers, superintendents, state and federal education leaders trekked to Mt. Angel to remember Colegio and discuss next steps for achieving educational equity for Oregon’s Latino students.

In the last half century, Latinos have claimed a growing share of enrollment and education leadership in Oregon’s colleges and universities. Several Oregon universities are leaning into recruiting Latino students as both a moral and financial imperative.

But higher education in Oregon is still an uneven playing field for Latino students. Latino high school graduates are less likely to enroll in college than their white peers and less likely to graduate on time if they do, according to data collected by the state.

Some think it’s time for a revival of Colegio César Chávez – or at least of the values it preached... READ MORE

Two days after it was revealed that photos of her participating in public and political events were screened in Times Square, New York, the presidential candidate stressed that there are committees of Mexicans abroad "in many cities" that support the movement.

MEXICO CITY (apro).- Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, Morena's virtual presidential candidate, sent a message to Mexican migrants living abroad, to tell them that she is "committed to her causes" and that "very soon" she will visit some cities in the United States to meet with them.

Two days after it was revealed that photos of her participating in public and political events were screened in Times Square, New York, the former head of government of Mexico City released a video message on her X account, aimed at Mexican migrants abroad, particularly those living in the neighboring northern country.

The Morenoite informed them that she is already the national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of Transformation and that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador gave her the "command cane" to continue the movement.

He added that the "historic reduction" of poverty in this administration has been, in part, "thanks to the remittances that you send in solidarity to your families... READ MORE

Dr. Sheinbaum's presence is urgently needed in the city with the most Mexicans outside of Mexico.

Senator Xóchitl Gálvez, standard-bearer of the Frente Amplio Por México, will be in Southern California on September 28 and 29. This organization is made up of the Institutional Revolutionary Parties (PRI), National Action (PAN) and Democratic Revolution (PRD).

Senator Gálvez will have meetings with leaders of Federations, some local authorities, a small group of farm workers, some "dreamers" and with local media communicators.

I have no doubt that, when he meets with the farm workers, most of them, if not everyone, will have no idea about the identity of the Senator. I believe that the main purpose of the candidate for the presidency of Mexico is to take a couple of photographs and videos that will serve as advertising for the eventual campaign as the candidate for the Broad Front for Mexico.

That same scheme has been carried out by PRI and PAN officials or legislators in the past. They portray themselves with members of the community, in agricultural areas, or in workplaces, to "recons record" their axiological ties with the people.

Something similar will happen when on Thursday, the 28th of this month at 4:00 p.m., at the facilities of the city council of the city of Santa Monica, a group of "dreamers" will "converse" with Senator Gálvez. The ritual will be repeated, photos and videos will be taken all this to later adorn your advertising for the elections of June 2, 2024.

The highlight will be when, behind closed doors, 20 leaders of organizations and federations in Mexico meet with her to present petitions related to the areas of health, public positions for Mexicans residing abroad, more budget for the Mexican consulates in the United States and the simplification of the process to vote from abroad. Of course, the request that will be made most vehemently will be the restitution of the 3 X 1 program that was eradicated, due to the level of corruption, already some years ago by the President of the Republic, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Two relevant issues emerge from all this. First, that none of these activities were held in the city of Los Angeles, but in Santa Monica and Oxnard. These cities are located at a distance of 30 minutes and one hour from Los Angeles, respectively. The main reason to avoid venturing into angelic territory, is not to provoke demonstrations against it since in this area the organizations of Morena and López Obrador groups proliferate, committed to the 4T...
READ MORE

When José Cuéllar made his fateful trip to the crossroads it wasn’t to barter his soul. Rather, without much forethought he exchanged his life savings for a saxophone. While the post-World War II economy of San Antonio was booming he didn’t have any grand ambition in mind. But the deal he struck set him on a wending path to positions in some of the nation’s most vaunted universities, while eventually giving rise to his musical alter ego Dr. Loco, a patron saint of Chicano culture dubbed “the last pachuco” by legendary Mexican rockers.

A groundbreaking anthropologist who spent two decades as chair and director of San Francisco State’s César E. Chavéz Institute for Public Policy, Cuéllar hasn’t just studied and documented Chicano culture. He’s embodied the creative frisson generated by cultural evolution as the leader of the Rockin’ Jalapeño Band, a vehicle through which he’s explored the verdant possibilities of Mexican American life and identity.

“Reflecting back, it seems to me that I’ve wanted to do things and planned things, but what I’ve done is not stuff I planned,” says Cuéllar, 82, from his house in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood. “I never really planned or felt ‘I want to go to Stanford.’ They called me. I thought I’d go back to San Diego State after a year.”

The journey to teaching at Stanford University, where Dr. Loco first manifested in 1989, started as an impulse purchase when Cuéllar was a high school senior with a pocketful of cash. The money was intended as tuition for his first year in business college studying to be a draftsman. The plan was to follow his father, “who had bootstrapped his way into this gig by correspondence course,” Cuéllar says. “But there was a glass ceiling and he’d reached as high as a Mexican could go in that company doing aerial-topographical mapping. I was going to try it as a career... READ MORE

Soon after law school, Wendy Ramirez found herself teaching Spanish part-time to mostly white professionals while based in Washington, D.C.

As someone who felt “the shame” for not speaking “professional Spanish,” Ramirez gained more confidence in the language as she worked on immigration reform as a legislative assistant for then-Rep. Xavier Becerra and as she oversaw elections in Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala for the National Democratic Institute.

She decided it was time to help other Latinos who’ve struggled with Spanish, and issued a call-out on Facebook. From that emerged Spanish Sin Pena, an online space co-founded with Jackie Rodriguez — who previously worked at a health advocacy nonprofit supporting immigrant families — that goes beyond grammar and pronunciation as they help Latinos reclaim the language.

They delve into layers of guilt for not knowing the language, asking questions like, “Why do you feel like you should speak Spanish? “Whose fault is it that you don’t or is it really anyone’s fault?” They cope with a feeling of “letting down my community.” And they embrace the use of Spanglish because, they say, “it’s part of our identity” and “it allows us to start where we’re at.”

These issues are explored in a new Pew Research Center analysis that highlights how Latino identity is intertwined with views about Spanish. It found that about half of U.S. Latinos who don’t speak Spanish have been shamed by other Latinos because of it. But, despite this finding, most Latinos in the U.S. say speaking Spanish is not necessary to establish Latino identity.

Mark Hugo Lopez, director of race and ethnicity research at the Pew Research Center, points to this “tension that exists among Latinos about the Spanish language.”

On one hand, Pew found that 85% of all Latinos — including foreign and U.S.-born — say it’s important for future generations of Latinos in the U.S. to speak Spanish. But on the other hand, most Latino adults (78%) say it is not necessary to speak Spanish to be considered Latino.

The Pew analysis was released Wednesday and surveyed 3,029 U.S. Latino adults between Aug. 1-14, 2022... READ MORE