By Samantha Nguyen
Guest Columnist

What’s the solution to the GOP’s election-year problems with Latino voters over immigration policy?

Recently, I watched several interviews with Senator John McCain on Univision, CNN, and Fox News Latino. The interviews put many things in perspective, particularly those regarding the Hispanic vote. McCain, who ran as the Republican presidential candidate against Barack Obama in 2008, is a longtime GOP leader on immigration reform. Many consider him a strong leader, a fervid patriot, and a man of many experiences. However, he isn't the most popular guy among Latino voters.

McCain has represented Arizona in the U.S. Senate for 25 years. With an estimated 1.7 Million Latinos, 30 percent of the Grand Canyon State is Latino, making it the fifth largest Latino population in the country. McCain’s past success with Latino voters makes him a Republican elder statesman and guide when it comes to talking about immigration and winning Latino votes. He hasn't quite reached the Latino population's favoritism, particularly among the undocumented group.

Sen. McCain wants Republicans to stop being defensive and turn the tables on Democrats who have not been supporters of immigration reform. Four years after his failed presidential bid, the Arizona senator believes it’s time to shift the blame for years of federal failure to implement immigration reform to Democrats in Congress, and specifically President Obama.

He has a point.

McCain has credibility on the issue from years of fighting for immigration reform. He took a big risk in joining President Bush and the late Senator Ted Kennedy to make a major effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform in 2005.

The bi-partisan bill never got out of committee. Much of the blame was put on conservative talk radio opposition to “amnesty” for people who broke the law. These people, mostly those who've been coming here illegally from Mexico, El Salvador, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Bosnia, and Poland, are criminals in the eyes of many. 

In 2007 a Democratic bill in the Senate could not get the 60 votes needed to end debate and force a vote.

There has been no progress made in Congress since then.

In both 2005 and 2007 the hard-right did make it extremely difficult for the GOP to develop a cohesive, unified message on immigration reform. Even modest reform proposals got labeled by  some Republicans as “amnesty.” An amnesty is not a solution to our problems with illegal immigrants, who are multiplying since Obama became in favor of the DREAMers and their goal to take over the American education system (and society for that matter).

In Fox's interview, McCain reminded viewers that that groups on the left, notable the Farm Workers of America, and trade unions with strong ties to the Democrats also opposed to his guest worker program.

“The greatness of Ted Kennedy, as you know, was that he was willing—he and I agreed to vote against amendments that we otherwise might support.  And I saw him speak rather sternly to then-Senator Obama, when Senator Obama proposed the amendment to quote, sunset, in other words, end the guest worker program.”

In Univision's interview with McCain last February, Jorge Ramos asked the Arizona Senator, who endorsed Mitt Romney in January and has made campaign stops on behalf of the former Massachusetts governor, if he agreed with the Republican presidential candidate's immigration policy. McCain stated that he is "not the first Republican to distance himself" from Romney's immigration comments.

McCain mentioned that even though the media focus remains on right-wing opposition to guest worker programs and overall immigration reform there is little reason to think that opposition from the left is any less an obstacle than it was in 2005. I've met some liberal Democrats who detest the DREAMers and their cause but are very much in favor of women's rights and LGBT marriage. This just shows you can't always have it all.

But of all of the topics touched on, one drew a visceral response from McCain. Hispanic congressional leaders, such as Rep. Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat, describe McCain as a partner who in recent years “left the table” of negotiations over immigration reform. And Gutierrez blames Republicans for exploiting the immigration issue to create fear and fan anti-immigrant fervor. Gutierrez, who many believe to be Mexican, is actually an American of Puerto Rican heritage. Despite his background, his actions very much reflect the current Democratic party: too much talk and not enough action. Chicago, the windy city, deserves someone with so much wind in his system.

When the interviewer asked him, “Are people right to criticize you as having abandoned the immigrant [and], immigrant community?”

McCain was literally taken aback. He said “Well I hope not.  But, I do also understand that there have been increases in border security.”

To win the support of Latinos, McCain speaks about “humane treatment” of the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. And then he highlights three aspects of the immigration debate that he feels are ignored by Democrats but devastating to the Latino community: illegal drugs, drug violence, and human trafficking.

He said “There are a hundred guides sitting on mountaintops right now in Arizona, guiding the drug cartels as they bring the drugs across the Arizona/Mexico border." While the majority of these drugs end up in the hands of upper-middle class white youth in suburban America, the man has a point.

And then there is the human cost. “The young women are raped, they’re put in drop houses in Phoenix, Arizona, where they are kept in the most unspeakable condition, and held for ransom.”

“The human rights abuses,” Sen. McCain said, is the part of the illegal immigration problem that the Obama White House and the liberals do not understand. By embracing illegal immigration and the DREAMers, we are encouraging more young women to be victims of human rights violations: this is very, very wrong. This doesn't even consider the undocumented men and women without driver’s licenses traveling on roads in the state who pose a danger to all motorists.

Arizona’s controversial S.B. 1070 law is not popular with Latinos. But McCain praises the law and Governor Jan Brewer for her commitment to border security. He also eagerly awaits Marco Rubio’s Republican draft of an alternative to the DREAM Act. Rubio, one of the few Latino politicians I admire, is a household name that will save the Latino population. Not only is he articulate and knowledgeable about the issues of the times, he is also a strong figure that can take a factual side on many arguments, including immigration, which is often difficult for many current political leaders.

Sen. McCain said Republicans will not lose Latino support by talking about the need for border security as a necessary precedent to any immigration reform. Despite a sharp decline in illegal crossings from Mexico into the U.S. and increases border security under President Obama he said all Americans want to know that the borders are protected. I would add that the Mexico-U.S. border isn't our only concern: immigrant hot spots like California and New York also attract thousands of illegals from Asia and Europe, which pose a threat to America's safety.

McCain agrees that if Mitt Romney is to defeat Barack Obama in the presidential election he will have to have shift the perception that his immigration policies are harsh, including his support for “self-deportation", and his opposition to the DREAM Act (the proposed legislation offering citizenship to undocumented people brought to the U.S. as children and now in school or the military).

A Pew Research poll last month found that Hispanic voters favor President Obama over Romney by 40 points: 67 percent to 27 percent. McCain lost Latino voters to Obama in 2008 by just 13 points.

McCain’s strategy, to force Democrats and liberals to take responsibility for the failure of immigration reform and the rise of illegal immigrants, has a big hill to climb with Latinos. But it may be the best hope for Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans.

I hope to see much more from Marco Rubio in the coming months. If he ran for president one day, he would get mi voto.

By Kyle Davis
Guest Columnist

I was watching television from my home in Yokohama, Japan the other day when something caught my eye. A TV program was featuring a beautiful young white girl with adorable curly blonde hair singing in fluent Japanese.

This in itself is nothing special: Japanese people love seeing white gaijin, or foreigners, who can speak their language, and variety shows here make stories out of them all the time. What caught my eye, though, is when I looked closer and realized that this beautiful young woman was actually a dude.

His name is YOHIO, a 16-year-old boy from Sweden who is now the lead guitarist and songwriter of the visual kei band, Seremedy. For those unfamiliar with the Japanese subculture,  "visual kei" refers to a type of heavy metal rock music marked by the musician’s flamboyant and often androgynous use of make-up, hairstyles, and costumes while on stage.

According to his profile, YOHIO was born to a musical family in Sweden and from an early age he showed he shared his family’s affinity for music, taking up piano and even writing songs starting at the age of 6. He picked up his first guitar when he was 11 and became captivated with the instrument, receiving basic lessons from his father, who is a guitarist in a rock band.

In the summer of 2009, 14-year-old YOSHIO formed Seremedy and began composing songs based on the band’s concept of “Beauty & Madness,” focusing on creating a sound of traditional heavy metal infused with elements of pop. After having trouble finding members, Seremedy’s line up was complete by early 2010 and they played their first few concerts in April, including UppCon, Sacandanavia’s largest Japanese pop-culture convention.

The band continued to grow in popularity until they were signed to Universal Music Japan last March, releasing their first single, “Bulletproof Roulette".

As mentioned previously, Japanese people love white people, particularly those with pearly white skin, who can speak their language and this likely has something to do with the group’s success: YOSHIO began teaching himself Japanese from about 4 years ago and now writes most songs in a mixture of English and Japanese. He even started a Japanese blog in 2009 and now writes to his fans using a mix of emoticons and glitzy icons spot on enough to fool you into thinking he was a Japanese school girl.

Not bad for a teen Swede boy living in the Orient.

By Samantha Nguyen
Guest Columnist

I consider myself a multicultural person. I am a Vietnamese-American woman, a native of Santa Rosa, California, and a practicing Catholic. I grew up middle-class, studied political science and communications in college, and became one of the only Asian-American women in California to rally for the Republican party. Currently living in Boston, I am an advocate of women's rights, access to education, and the end of the war in the Mid East.

Additionally, I consider myself a patriot. I am a defender of truth, justice, and the American way. What concerns me at the moment is the state of our nation, America the Beautiful. During the last few months, some of my close friends have begun discussing politics quite regularly. My closest girlfriends, a Palestinian-American and a Venezuelan-American, enjoy dragging me into debates regarding the 2012 race for presidency, immigration, healthcare, and education, among others.

It's quite a challenge for me, really. Growing up Asian-American, I never felt like a person of color. The majority of my friends were white, upper-middle class, and I lived in a typical American household with a white-picket fence (don't judge me). I never felt like the token Asian that college friends would constantly refer to me as. I looked in the mirror and I saw Asian features, but never identified with Asian-American culture.

My parents emphasized leaving our Vietnamese culture behind when they immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s. They came right after immigration laws became more favorable to Asian people. My mom, while she had the heaviest Vietnamese accent when speaking English, never taught me Vietnamese. My father, an accountant, regularly encouraged me to pinch my nose a bit everyday so it could be fair and pretty like the Korean models he adored. I remember one year, my young brother, Brad, and I discussed our interest in learning Vietnamese over a lasagna dinner mom made. Dad hit his fist on the table, looked at my brother and I, and I vividly remember him screaming that "we aren't boat people". I blame my dad for instilling me with a phobia for Asian-Americans with hyphen identities.

During college, I became more familiar with the diversity that is America. I became friends with other Asian-Americans who actually understood their culture, heritage, and language. I was enamored with Mexican food, sushi, and Indian saris. I studied Spanish in high school and decided to pursuit it in college. My professors encouraged me to study abroad in Oaxaca, Mexico, where I would stay with a host family for 3 months. I decided to pursuit it. In 2005, I lived in the city of Oaxaca with Guadalupe and Pablo de la Rosa, small-business owners with children. To Guadalupe, I was a china, an Asian. To her teenage kids, I was an American who played soccer in her sports bra every evening with the neighborhood kids.

After graduating with a political science degree from a liberal arts college in California in 2007, I moved to Boston where I would work with a local non-profit organization heavily focused on helping inner-city youth. Two days after arriving in Boston, there was a protest against the Iraq war. I observed the protesters and the diversity in their faces. Their struggle, however, was the same. What I didn't understand was how so many people brought other issues to light during these anti-war movements. Signs that read "Legalize now!" and "Amnesty for all!" popped up quite regularly. Who are we legalizing? The war?

Reema and Lucia are both remarkable women. One is a believer in a free Palestine and another in human rights for all. I find myself to be a believer of the human spirit so long as it doesn't interfere with my own success and the success of those I love.

A recent topic of conversation was illegal immigration and the DREAMers, as they've infamously been dubbed. Lucia mentioned that she was "content" that undocumented students would no longer suffer deportations, for the time being, and have the opportunities to attend college. Reema felt that Obama strategically is using the issue of illegal immigration as bait to more closely secure the Latino vote.

In my opinion, I don't think Obama, or anyone for that matter, needs to reform immigration or the so-called DREAMers. While I am an advocate of education reform and more opportunities for students during financial struggles, this is simply ridiculous. How is allowing this group of people to attend college and confidently state that they're illegal a sense of pride for the nation? Where have our values, commitment to U.S. citizens, and the security of our own gone?

I offered Lucia my two cents: Obama needs to focus on pulling out of the Mid East and offer more funds for American citizens, the documented ones, who are interested in obtaining higher education. He also needs to work on healthcare reform and alleviate society of the welfare queens out there. I hate to say it, but there are plenty of people out there living off the backs of many Americans, including my own. We should not have to support the lazy and the ignorant simply because they don't want to work. My dear President, offer them jobs: cleaning staff, janitors, crossing guards, Safeway bag people, anything. However, don't use my tax dollars to support welfare princesses too lazy to look for a job.

If we didn't have the illegal immigration problem, these welfare folks could find a job that many are doing illegally. Don't give undocumented people more reason to continue coming to our fine nation illegally. Don't support the DREAMers or their cause.

Lucia thinks me to be a bit ecstatic at time and says my conservative Republican upbringing is the root of "my troubles", as she bluntly puts it. Reema thinks that my Asian face means I should have to be a liberal, a fan of everything counter-culture. The reality is that my Republican friends consider me very liberal. I support women's rights, civil unions for the LGBTQ community, and scholarships for inner-city youth.

Illegal immigration is creating a fundamental problem in our country for many reasons. 1) Illegal people take away jobs other Americans could use, replacing the need for more funds for welfare, 2) Many don't pay taxes and use plenty of our services, such as education and healthcare, 3) Their presence wastes plenty of tax dollars by supporting their children in public education, welfare, and jails.

If I could choose between Romney and Obama, I would choose neither. Let's be realistic, Romney doesn't care about women. I want the choice to do with my body as I see fit and would dislike it if someone governed my decisions. Obama, while his vision is idealistic, fails to act for the people. Take a lesson from the Republicans and start doing something for the voters who put you in office, Mr. President. Let's start by repealing rights for undocumented students and offer those opportunities to documented American citizens who have the same goals. I know plenty of folks made in the U.S.A. who are equally (if not more) talented than these kids who deserve a spot in college. Don't turn your back on American citizens, Mr. President.

Would American citizens living in a foreign country illegally be given the same opportunities we give these kids?

Reema and Lucia think it's funny that I speak my mind so bluntly. After all, no one expects the five-feet tall Asian-American chick to have an opinion.

Samantha Nguyen is a California-native currently living in Boston and working at a top accounting firm. Her interests include photography, travel writing, Cuban food, and political analysis. She considers herself a 'moderate conservative' with a sprinkle of liberal reason.

by Jorge Zavala
Managing Editor
Twitter: @ProfZavala, #Zavala4CHGO

After my interview two weeks ago with attorney Benjamin Crump, the lawyer representing Trayvon Martin-young man assassinated by George Zimmerman,  I consider what he said in our conversation: no one should be above the law. Besides the Martin-Zimmerman case, an example of such would be the antitrust case against Carlos Slim.

Super billionaire and Mexico’s wealthiest resident, Carlos Slim, is facing a $1 billion fine over practices of his telecom company, Telcel. The company is charged with unfair pricing practices. Telcel is part of the “Slim monster empire” anchored by America Movil, which dominates 70 percent of Mexico’s mobile market. Carlos Slim, who owns Telcel, has been bogged down in court appeals and dispute for a year. Mexican federal competition commission, Cofeco, slapped Telcel, the cash cow of Slim giant telecoms with the record sanction in April 2011 after ruling the company charged excessive prices to wireless and wireless competitors to connect to its network.

Telcel appealed the fine and even managed to ban Cofeco’s President Eduardo Perez Motta from taking part in  a second vote, arguing that Eduardo Motta had made biased comments to the media. Cofeco said it was notifying the affected parties of its decision. If it ratifies, drops or modifies the fine against Slim, the world’s richest man would have some serious issues to consider.

While Slim remains the richest man in the world, he is not immune to the rules and regulations that govern society.

Why is it that the United States, often the nation that brags about how it defends human rights internationally, does not do anything to regulate companies such as ComEd, Nicor, Comcast, and Ford Motors, among others? Just to mention an agency, CUB (Citizens Utilities Board) is supposed to regulate ComEd and Nicor. CUB regulates the price rates of these companies yet for some reason allows them to abuse their pricing. ComEd uses Smart Grid, an instrument used to detect the occurrence of power shortages, as a means to increase pricing, stating that they need the extra money to fix their infrastructure. Smart Grid would allow ComEd to know where problems arise in their system. However, it is not the solution: it was tested in Park Ridge, Illinois and the power was gone for 3-4 days.

What ComEd needs to do is reinvest some of the profits it made over the years. ComEd needs to have its structure underground, but if it is not possible they need to update their equipment. This is not much to ask for considering how much people pay for their services. ComEd is charging an additional 97 cents per bill as of now. It does not only abuse the people with hefty charges but also has the authority to shut your service in case one doesn’t pay a bill.

ComEd does not seem to care if there is a sick relative at home who needs equipment connected to an electrical outlet or if one’s home is getting flooded and the water pump is not working because of lost electrical power. They will disconnect you. They do not claim responsibility for these and many other things. That is why we must demand that agencies like CUB regulate these companies that constantly abuse consumers. If CUB cannot do their job, it is very simple: let’s get rid of them. They are useless to us.

How can this country not do anything for its people? In the end, we are the ones that pay taxes and go out to fight for this country. Wars are not bringing about any positive changes to the local people. Instead, they leave us in debt. In legal cases, it is important that the facts are presented so that the court systems could take whatever means they consider necessary to enforce the law. As in the cases of Martin-Zimmerman and Carlos Slim, evidence needs to be placed for others to examine in order to take the most appropriate action.

Whether one is a working-class individual or the richest man in the world, it is crucial to acknowledge that we must hold everyone accountable for their actions and that no one is above the law.