It's nice to have the wonderful First Lady Dr. Jill Biden honor us with a visit to Villa La Paz to pay tribute to Cesar Chavez’s legacy and attend a naturalization ceremony during her second visit to Kern County. All very inspiring and most welcome. Thank you for coming again to our immigrant-enriched county – the backbone of our local economy.

As a proud Mexican immigrant, I became a U.S. citizen in 2013. Over the past 50 years I have never shied away from speaking truth to power - in this country or in Mexico. I believe I must take this opportunity to address how infuriating and demeaning it is for me to witness (once again) immigrants being thrown under the bus in the BBB proceedings last year in the Democrat-controlled Congress and White House.

We have been promised before just and enduring immigration reforms from the Democratic Party, with no tangible results when it has had control over both chambers of Congress and the White House. And we have held fast and true in our support of the party in the face of persistent, callous, cruel, wall-to-wall Republican obstructionism and sabotage to any and all relief... READ MORE

The Biden administration is planning to end a pandemic-era emergency rule known as Title 42 that allows U.S. immigration authorities to quickly expel migrants and asylum-seekers in late May, several people familiar with the plans told CBS News, describing what would be a major shift in U.S. border policy.

The preliminary decision to gradually discontinue the restriction comes after two federal court rulings in early March dealt a major blow to the Biden administration's plan to retain the expulsions, which began in March 2020 under former President Donald Trump. 

Citing directives by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. immigration officials have carried out over 1.7 million expulsions of migrants under Title 42 in the past two years, 70% of them under President Biden, who retained the policy despite reversing other Trump border... READ MORE

The Biden administration on Tuesday is announcing three measures to reduce a growing multimillion-case backlog of immigration applications that has crippled the U.S. government's ability to process them in a timely fashion, a senior U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) official told CBS News.

The agency plans to expand the number of applicants who can pay extra fees to have their immigration petitions adjudicated more quickly, propose a rule that would provide relief to immigrants waiting for work permit renewals and set processing time goals, the official said, requesting anonymity to detail the measures before a formal announcement.

USCIS adjudicates requests for work permits, asylum, green cards, U.S. citizenship and other immigration benefits, including the temporary H-1B program for highly skilled foreign workers and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy for undocumented immigrants brought... READ MORE

The White House is planning to revoke a Trump-era deportation policy for migrants arriving at the Southern border, according to multiple people briefed on the plans.

And as part of its approach, it is considering phasing out the public health order, Title 42, starting with families and followed by all adults at a later date, according to four sources familiar with the policy change.

The decision is not yet final, though administration officials have suggested in private conversations with lawmakers and advocates that a phase out is their most likely path. Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced it would no longer apply Title 42 to unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border.

An announcement could come as early as Thursday evening, those sources said, though the implementation of the new policy would take... READ MORE

Here is a summary about how the drafting system works, who is in charge of registering individuals for the draft, and who is required by law to register. 

What Is The Draft And What Is It For?

A draft is the mandatory enrollment of individuals into the armed forces, usually reinstated by an act of Congress in case of a national emergency. 

The process is handled by the agency known as the Selective Service System, which is also in charge of registering certain individuals during peacetime to ensure an easy and smooth fulfillment of manpower during a war. 

The United States has had a similar system of conscription in place since the Revolutionary War with the latest draft legislation being passed in 1948 under president Truman’s request and expiring in 1973... READ MORE

When I walked into the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles last week for an interview with L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, the deputy manning the metal detector was a Latina. The receptionist who called Villanueva’s office to let him know I had arrived 10 minutes early was a Latina. Her desk mate was a Latino.

In the lobby were life-sized banners plugging careers at the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department that featured a smiling Villanueva. “Hometown heroes needed,” it read. “Are you in?”

The security guy who walked me down a hallway to the Hall of Justice’s media room, where I would wait for Villanueva, was a burly Chicano in suit and tie. The deputy who greeted me was Sheriff’s Information Bureau Capt. Lorena Rodriguez. She initially talked to me in Spanish until realizing we were both pochos — Americanized Mexicans.

In a world where major government and private institutions vow to hire more people of color but rarely follow through, Villanueva’s department walks the diversity walk with a swagger. Fifty-four percent of his employees are Latinos, in a county where Latinos make up 49% of the population. It’s a significant stat with far-reaching implications for today and the future of L.A. County and beyond.

That’s only part of the reason why I had requested this meeting... READ MORE

Shristi Sharma is an exceptional young woman. She grew up in Fairfield, Iowa and is currently excelling as a Robertson Scholar simultaneously studying at Duke University and the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill. She dreams of giving back to the community that raised her.

Unfortunately, Shristi may never get that chance; there's a dark cloud hanging over her otherwise bright future.

Despite coming to the United States legally at the age of five, Shristi is currently facing the prospect of deportation. Her family won't be eligible for permanent residency until approximately 2099 because of the enormous green card backlog. And while her parents can remain in the United States on their work visas, Shristi's H-4 dependent visa will expire when she turns 21, leaving her without legal status.

In two years, unless Congress or the Biden administration act, Shristi will become yet another victim of the byzantine rules of the... READ MORE

For as long as most Cubans have been alive, they have both hoarded and hated a flimsy little booklet of cheap paper that reminds them daily how much they owe their government.

Known as la libreta, or little book, its 20-or-so pages dictate how Cubans can buy limited amounts of basic foods such as rice, beans and chicken at subsidized prices. Resembling wartime rations, the system has been in place since Fidel Castro laid it out on Cuban television on March 26, 1962, little more than a month after President Kennedy announced the complete economic embargo of Cuba that remains in place today.

The booklet effectively determines what Cubans can buy, sell and, to a large extent, eat. For some, it is a lifeline. Others see it as a symbol of government control at the most intimate level, a handout intended to keep people dependent.

The libreta has become a cultural touchstone for Cubans, a totem of either survival or subservience that they have been forced to obsessively hold on to through the many trials of revolutionary Cuba’s existence. It is celebrated officially but mocked incessantly. Cubans surely chuckle subversively when popular TV comedian Luis Silva, better known as his character Panfilo, regularly beseeches an oversized libreta for help tracking down precious food.

Since rationing began, the booklet’s offerings have varied widely. At one point, even Christmas toys were rationed. Peas and potatoes come... READ MORE

Ever since she and hundreds of other asylum-seekers were forced from a camp outside the San Ysidro Port of Entry in Tijuana, Vanessa has worked two jobs — attendant at both a laundromat and a parking lot — to pay for the dilapidated apartment that her family shares with two other families.

They sleep on mattresses on the floor. There is no stove, no refrigerator. The front room floods when it rains. The neighborhood in western Tijuana does not feel safe — one of Vanessa’s children has already been threatened since they moved in last month.

And the landlord keeps raising the rent.

Vanessa, originally from Honduras, asked not to be fully identified because of the danger she is in, as did the other migrants interviewed for this article.

Conditions were far from ideal in the tent camp in El Chaparral plaza, which sprung up in early 2021 as asylum-seekers waited for U.S. border policies to change so they could request protection. Migrants were exposed to the elements with nowhere to go no matter how hot, cold or wet it became. They often had to pay to use the bathroom or bathe, so they would save what little money they had for this purpose and rely on food and clothing donations, which came nearly every day from Tijuanenses and San Diegans alike.

Many who lived there recalled witnessing terrifying situations that they still did not feel safe discussing more than a month after the end of the camp. They said the mantra they had learned to survive in their home countries — see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing — was necessary for survival...READ MORE