Immigration

Gregory Rodriguez's recently published book, Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds, is a seminal work on the history of the Mexican American experience and their long term cultural and political influence in the United States. Rodriguez examines the complexities of the Mexican American heritage and how its racial and cultural synthesis, its mestizaje, is continually changing the manner in which Americans think about race and their identity as a nation.

Gregory Rodriguez is an Irvine Senior Fellow and Director of the California… more

In the recently published, Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds, Gregory Rodriguez takes an in-depth look at the largest immigrant group in American history. Rodriguez examines the complexities of the heritage and the racial and cultural synthesis--mestizaje--that has defined the Mexican people since the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. Vis-a-vis the present era of Mexican American confidence, Rodriguez argues that the rapidly expanding Mexican American integration in to the mainstream is changing not only how Americans think about race… more

Wide-ranging and provocative, Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds offers an unprecedented account of the long-term cultural and political influences that Mexican Americans will have on the collective character of our nation.

In considering the largest immigrant group in American history, Gregory Rodriguez examines the complexities of its heritage and of the racial and cultural synthesis -- mestizaje -- that has defined the Mexican people since the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. Rodriguez deftly delineates the effects of mestizaje… more

Some immigrant rights activists are afraid that the new citizenship test unveiled by the government two weeks ago will create a new and higher barrier for people who want to become Americans.

They’re wrong. Far from being an exclusionary tool, the new test, which will be given to legal resident aliens who apply for citizenship after Oct. 1, 2008, is actually a rare mechanism for immigrant inclusion, the kind our country needs more of.

It’s true that, historically, whenever the government has… more

Maybe America just isn’t ready for a president named "Newt."

But by any name, we still need reform, and so there’ll be a valuable place for Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who announced Saturday that he’s not running for president next year, concentrating instead on his "American Solutions" program of education and activism. And though many have criticized Gingrich the politician, nobody disputes that he is smart, even visionary.

For a quarter-century, in and out of office, Gingrich has been animated… more

Last Tuesday’s release of what is known as the "Nation’s Report Card" for math and reading is likely to reignite talk of the so-called racial achievement gap. Despite some good news, the report, published by the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, shows that Latinos, like blacks, haven’t made progress in catching up to the test scores of whites.

But the dour assessment of Latino educational achievement has nothing to do with a racial gap. We can’t use the same… more

Do you ever find yourself in a scary situation where you start spontaneously reciting the 23rd Psalm? You know, "The Lord is my shepherd ... "? Well, a new movie, Trade, gave me the shuddering feeling that I needed protection from wickedness -- that we all do, that America does.

Trade, starring Kevin Kline, opening Friday, is a fictionalized look -- sometimes lurid, always harrowing, and by the end, profoundly spiritual -- at the sex-trafficking industry, demonstrating clear and present danger… more

Tomás Jiménez is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Stanford University. His research and teaching focus on immigration, assimilation, social mobility, and identity. In 2005, he was the American Sociological Association Congressional Fellow in the office of Rep. Michael Honda (D-CA), where he served as a legislative aide for immigration, veterans’… more

Thoughtful people will disagree about immigration policy -- how many foreigners to let in, for what purpose, and what to do about the 12 million illegal immigrants already in this country. That’s why sweeping immigration reform has failed again and again. This fall, Congress should think smaller, and figure out what it can agree on, before another year passes with no progress. It might start by considering young people like Lucia.

When Lucia’s parents dropped her off at a new elementary… more

In Kansas, federal officials are investigating an Indian tribe for allegedly selling tribal memberships to illegal immigrants, along with the promise that the documents will protect them from the threat of deportation. By their spokesman’s own admission, the Kaweah Indian Nation has sold more than 10,000 memberships for prices starting at $50 and, according to some reports, as much as $1,200.

On one level, this is just one of many scams targeting society’s most vulnerable consumers. Its success underscores how desperate… more