HISPANICS, POLITICS AND THE LAW
by
Jess J. Araujo, Esq.
The enormous growth of the Latino population in the United States during the last decade has caused special interest groups and politicians to frantically try to figure out how to capitalize on this reality. Every major segment of every industry has incorporated costly high level programs designed to capture that illusive and lucrative Latino market. Professional search groups are hired to identify and recruit promising Latino talent and seemingly limitless budgets are provided for advertising and promotions in Latino communities. In the political arena, the spending and public relations efforts depend primarily on whether Latinos are viewed as probable supporters or opponents.
For democrats this issue is much easier. History confirms that the vast majority of Latinos vote democratic. But, even democrats are beginning to feel the pressure to include more Latinos at policy level positions and as candidates in key races. Republicans are divided between those that think that a more Latino sensitive platform and efforts to include Latinos can eventually increase their Latino support, and those that believe that Latinos will never support republicans and therefore must be stopped at all cost by any means necessary.
Conventional analysis is flawed in two respects. First it is a mistake to consider Latinos as one large homogeneous group which can be influenced and won over by any one carefully drafted position statement. To begin with, Latinos numbering approximately 30 million strong, often disagree among themselves, as any other group does, depending on the issues in their lives. Furthermore, there are significant differences between Latinos which are born in the U.S. and those that are immigrants and whose primary, or only language, is Spanish.
Many of the highly controversial issues, like California Proposition 187 (no public education, state jobs or state contracts for undocumented aliens), Proposition 209 ending affirmative action programs, and Proposition 227 ending bilingual education, found both support and opposition in the Latino community.
One thing is certain, the Latino population in the U.S. is the fastest growing population and will continue to grow due to higher birth rates and aggressive immigration. With respect to immigration, most Latinos are convinced that the republican party has determined that new Latino immigrants will invariably become democratic voters and has therefore initiated a program of changing our immigration laws in order to intensify the legal grounds for excluding and deporting them and to expedite the procedure for accomplishing this. In fact the 1996 Immigration Act does just that and for the first time in history creates a new ground for deportation for “aggravated felons” which can be interpreted to bar the alien from entering the U.S. for life. It also creates “expedited removal” whereby aliens arriving at a port of entry can be deported, without a hearing, if they cannot establish a legal right to enter on the spot.
One republican congressman has recently introduced a bill that would change the interpretation of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to mean that children born in the U.S. to undocumented aliens would not be U.S. citizens. As an attorney, and university professor of legal subjects, I have grave concerns when a fundamental principal of U.S. Constitutional Law can be turned on its head in order to serve some short term and self-serving partisan goal.
If there is one universal truth that Latinos should recognize, it is that this country has the best system of government and the best legal system in the world. And while this system is far from perfect, as demonstrated by the countless reports of people that have wrongly and tragically spent years in prison before being released, by and large these incidents are rare compared to other countries. U.S. law is the often ignored, and too often maligned, engine that runs every other component of American life.
The U.S. Constitution, the “Supreme Law of the Land” provides a remarkable and insightful method of ensuring the continuance of a democratic society under the rule of law. People fight and die to come here and people stay here because in the U.S., a system is in place to effectively determine truth and to provide justice. Latinos, like anyone else, cherish and are willing to work, fight, and die for these principles.
The law and legal process in this country are constants which have enabled even immigrants to seek and obtain justice. The law can have a drastic and immediate effect on our lives. From one day to the next we can find ourselves deprived of our liberty if we are charged with committing a crime. We can be ordered to pay child and/or spousal support, to attend alcoholism counseling, to “not associate” with certain people, we can be evicted from our homes, have our cars repossessed and even lawfully admitted alien residents who have lived here for decades, can de deported.
On the positive side, the law enables us to obtain justice when we have been wronged. We can defend ourselves from unjust criminal charges, we can sue for compensation for damage to our property, and for injuries and pain and suffering caused by the negligence of others. We can even obtain the assistance of our courts to order government officials to perform their duties on our behalf and obtain court orders to compel someone to submit samples of their blood and/or DNA when relevant.
The Latino population will ultimately be affected more by the appropriate use of our legal system than anything else. Having a doctorate degree may be of little importance to someone who is deported and permanently barred from entering the U.S. And even wealth and fame are hollow resources to someone who is serving life in prison.
Latinos will be well advised and well served by understanding and aggressively asserting their legal rights.
Attorney Jess J. Araujo - About the author
Jess J. Araujo is an attorney and nationally recognized legal expert and commentator who has appeared regularly on the Univision and Telemundo Networks, as well as various Spanish language radio stations for two decades. For over ten years he has been a regular contributing columnist for numerous Spanish language community newspapers and magazines. He is the author of the only bilingual book on U.S. law, The Law And Your Legal Rights/La Ley Y Sus Derechos Legales, (Simon and Schuster, N.Y.) and has taught legal subjects at the university level since 1978. Mr. Araujo serves as general legal counsel to the Mexican Consulate of Orange County and specializes in personal injury, workers’ compensation and wrongful death cases. He can be reached at (714) 835-6990 or (800) 248-4100.
Web Site: http://www.jessaraujo.com -- E-Mail: jessaraujo@jessaraujo.com
Note from La Voz de Aztlan:
Attorney Jess J. Araujo is author of the first bilingual book on legal rights. La Voz de Aztlan highly recommends this outstanding book to our community. It makes an excellent legal reference for our Spanish as well as for our English speaking members. Please click on the book below for more information on this bilingual guide to everyday legal issues.
