President Obama calling home some troops. “Coming out” as illegal. Should older employees make room for younger workers? Plus, the latest news.
President Obama calling home some troops
In a prime time speech last night, President Obama spoke to the nation about his plans to wind down the now 10-year war in Afghanistan. How many of the “surge” troops are coming home and when? What about the troops left behind? What impact will these withdrawals have on the ground in Afghanistan? Is the troop withdrawal significant enough to appease critics who want the U.S. military out of Afghanistan NOW? If we go, will there be trouble? Or if we stay, will it be doubled?
Guests:
John Garamendi, Representative, Democrat, California’s 10th district which includes Sacramento County, Alameda County, Contra Costa County, Solano County. Signatory of a Bipartisan Coalition letter calling for a significant troop withdrawal
Malou Innocent, Foreign Policy Analyst, CATO Institute,
Lisa Curtis, Heritage Foundation
'Coming out' undocumented: Will a Pulitzer-winning journalist's story change the debate?
A growing movement among undocumented college students that involves "coming out" with their immigration status has now inspired the same from a well-known journalist, Pulitzer-winner Jose Antonio Vargas. But how will it affect the debate raging in Washington?
Vargas' confession that he is undocumented, published yesterday in The New York Times Magazine, has drawn intense reaction while attaching a white-collar identity to the debate over illegal immigration.
Today's AirTalk, hosted by the Los Angeles Times' David Lazarus, took up the Vargas story along with the broader coming-out movement, the risks involved in going public, and the proposed legislation known as the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. The legislation would grant conditional legal status to qualifying youths brought here before age 16, as Vargas was.
Revealing immigration status as a political act is a movement that has only taken off recently, growing last year as undocumented college students -- many from UCLA -- campaigned for the Dream Act. But one of the guests, San Diego graphic designer Marco Castillo, was asked to reveal his undocumented status in 2006. As a young professional, he decided to become a “poster child” for a local church involved in a pro-immigrant religious campaign called the New Sanctuary Movement.
Castillo, 30, is now married, has a work permit and is working toward a green card. In his favor is the fact that when he entered the country at age three with his family, he entered on a temporary visa.
Undocumented immigrants who enter legally and overstay have a better chance of eventually adjusting their immigration status than those who were smuggled in without papers or with false ones. But while he was still a minor, as his family tried to adjust their status, an attorney's mistake landed him in deportation proceedings, Castillo said.
"The problem from the beginning was that we got into a legal quagmire because we were scammed by a lawyer, who claimed that he could provide us with everything, and it turned out that he provided a scam and took all out money, and turned us in to the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service)," Castillo said. "It's getting close to 17 years now that my case has been through the courts."
Nancy Meza, a recent UCLA graduate who has been active in lobbying for the Dream Act, shared her reasons for revealing her status as an undocumented immigrant.
"I had always known that I was undocumented since the fifth grade, but I really came out to my teachers as a senior in high school," she said. Meza was applying to college and found herself in a difficult situation, facing questions and with her school choices narrowed by her status. "I decided to come out to my teachers and my community so they understood what I was going through."
KPCC's Leslie Berestein Rojas, who writes for Multi-American, a blog about immigration and cultural fusion in Southern California, placed the Vargas story in the context of the larger movement, which over the past year has grown exponentially from what began as a handful of students revealing their status as a political act in support of the Dream Act.
"What's happened is it has become almost a rite as passage,” she said. “ These kids...wanted to put a face on whose these beneficiaries would be. Of course, now with Mr. Vargas coming out, that puts a whole other face on this."
Vargas' disclosure carries substantial risk, potentially threatening him with not only deportation, but loss of income and possibly criminal sanctions as well. The Obama administration has stated that college students brought here as minors are not a priority for deportation. But for working adults like Vargas, the stakes are especially high.
Still, the coming-out movement may have long-term repercussions similar to that of the gay rights movement, whose language undocumented students have borrowed, said David Leopold, an immigration attorney based in Cleveland and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers' Association.
"I think back to 15 or 20 years ago, or earlier, in the gay rights movement, when people similarly began to 'come out'," Leopold said. "When I went to high school in the seventies, we thought of gays and lesbians very differently than my kids, who have finished high school now and finished college, think of gays and lesbians. They are much more accepted as part of American culture, as they well should be, because of the contributions that everybody makes. And I think the same thing is going to happen here."
Is Vargas’ high-profile “coming out” the beginning of a new immigration reform movement? Would you have “come out” if you were in Vargas’ shoes? What do you think should happen to him and people in a similar position?
Guests:
Marco Castillo, Came out in 2006 as undocumented to be the “poster child” of an immigration advocacy organization
Nancy Meza, a recent UCLA graduate who chose to divulge her undocumented status
Leslie Berestein Rojas, Journalist, KPCC
David Leopold, Immigration Lawyer based in Cleveland & former President, American Immigration Lawyers Association
New bill would end federal pot prohibition
A federal bill to decriminalize the sale, use and cultivation of marijuana will be introduced today by Congressman Barney Frank, Democrat from Massachusetts and Congressman Ron Paul Republican from Texas, ending the federal government’s blanket prohibition of marijuana. This bill would allow the Feds to enforce cross-border or inter-state smuggling but would let states makes their own rules concerning the regulation of marijuana. It’s being introduced 40 years after the beginning of the “war of drugs” which some lawmakers and drug policy experts argue has been a staggering waste of money and resources. One co-sponsor Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Democrat from Oakland, decried the trillions of dollars spent to incarcerate millions of young people involved with drugs. She said Wednesday, “I co-sponsored this bipartisan legislation because I believe it is time to turn the page from this failed drug war.” So, is it? Do we need a new state-centered approach to drug policy? And if efforts to curb the use of illicit substances haven’t worked so far, what guarantee do we have that this approach will?
Guests:
Stephen Gutwillig, California Director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), a national organization advocating alternatives to the war on drugs
Congressman Ernest Istook, Distinguished Fellow, The Heritage Foundation, former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional district (1993–2007)
Where's Whitey Bulger? We got him!
A man whose name stood on the FBI’s most wanted list next to Osama bin Laden for years was captured right here in the southland. Former Boston mob boss “Whitey” Bulger, 81, and his long-time girlfriend were picked up near their apartment in Santa Monica on Wednesday. Bulger had been on the run since 1995. He has been indicted in connection with 19 killings and was also wanted for extortion, racketeering and drug dealing. Bulger’s life is said to have been the inspiration for Martin Scorcese’s movie The Departed. The Bulger family saga is even more interesting because “Whitey’s” brother, William, was a state senator and a former president of the University of Massachusetts. William insisted he knew nothing about is brother’s whereabouts but had to resign from his position as university president in 2003 because of “Whitey’s” reputation. The arrest came just days after the FBI started running ads on day-time TV shows including Ellen and The View focusing on Bulger’s partner, a dental hygienist.
Guest:
Bill Bratton, Chairman of Kroll, the Nation’s Largest Wholesaler of Law Enforcement, Tactical, Fire and EMS products and the former Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and former Police commissioner for the Boston Police Department
Michael Patrick McDonald, Lived in South Boston through the Whitey reign of terror, Author of All Souls: A Family Story from Southie
Should older employees make room for younger workers?
Many baby boomers imagined they’d work for about 30 years then retire in their late 50s or early 60s with enough youth and cash to enjoy retirement. But in these tough economic times, it’s become increasingly difficult for older workers to quit their jobs when originally envisioned. As a result, they’re hanging on longer, often to the chagrin of employers and young workers alike. Now, many aspiring workers, whether they’re fresh out of college or just entering the work force, are struggling to find job openings. Some feel they’re getting a raw deal, when they see 65-year-olds who are still working, despite being eligible for Social Security and Medicare. Employers too can have reservations about some older workers, whose job performance might deteriorate with age. But it’s a delicate matter to broach for any boss. While companies might benefit from new blood, there’s no substitute for the wisdom that only comes from decades of experience, right? So what, if anything, can be done? Should older workers be pushed out simply to let younger ones in? Should younger workers demand a place at the table? Is there a rift forming between the generations over workplace opportunities as the old and the young vie for limited resources? Should there be mandatory retirement so by law we all know when to step aside?