Siesta Tees, a Hispanic themed apparel company, announces the release of their “No Green Card, I’m Legal!” t-shirt. “With the new immigration law in Arizona, we felt we had to express our views about SB1070. This law targets one group of people, it’s truly a racist law”, explains Greg Sanchez, owner and founder of Siesta Tees. The Arizona House and Senate have passed bill, SB1070, that would allow law enforcement officers to stop and interview an individual in the state regarding citizenship status and make it a crime to be an undocumented person in Arizona. If a person can not immediately present documents proving that he is legally in the US, he may be criminally prosecuted, jailed and handed to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation. The bill has no safeguards against racial profiling and increases the likelihood of subjective arrest and detention.

Along, with their anti-SB1070 slogan, Siesta Tees released a new line of designs for 2010. The new and humorous line includes Make Tacos, not war!, Powered by Brown Energy, Diego is my homie!, My Chupacabra will eat your pit bull! and iChula, to name a few. The online shop offers a variety of t-shirt styles, infant one piece, children’s t-shirts, mugs, caps, aprons and many more items stamped with their designs. Latino folklore, beliefs and “abuelas wise thoughts” were mixed together to create the unique designs and slogans. The designs were created to fill a void in the main stream Latino market, which has become a major force in the U.S. market.

Siesta Tees started with one funny design and now offers more than fifty designs and phrases such as, Stop the violence- hit a piñata, I love abuela, I think the Chupacabra is under my bed and Don’t make me use my chancla!, all in a variety of colors and sizes. Their online sales shop offers a 30-day return guarantee and a toll free customer service line. “We are in the process of taking our t-shirts from online to retail stores in the near future. We believe the demand is there, and that our slogan will stand true, Creating laughs one tee at a time.” explains Greg.

For more information, send us an email!!

Only 6% out of 384 open board positions are held by Hispanics. And of the 1,281 executive and director positions available, Hispanics held only 61 positions.

The Hispanic Association for Corporate Responsibility (HACR), one of the most influential advocacy organizations in the nation representing 13 national Hispanic organizations in the United States and Puerto Rico, will release the finding of its 2009 HACR Corporate Inclusion Index survey (CII), Wednesday, December 16th at 11:30 am at the Cannon House Office Building, Room 121, Independence Avenue and 1st Street, SE.

Source: HACR

A new study from The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Philadelphia Research Initiative finds that Philadelphia is lagging behind other major cities in mounting the kind of local outreach and awareness campaign for the 2010 Census that many experts consider important for achieving a full count.

Pew Report Examines Census Preparations in Philadelphia and Other Major Cities

The study, Preparing for the 2010 Census: How Philadelphia and Other Cities Are Struggling and Why It Matters, looked at the preparations of Philadelphia and 10 other major cities for the 2010 Census. These include the five cities with larger populations than Philadelphia–New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix–and five chosen for their similarities to Philadelphia and their experience in dealing with the Census–Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Detroit and Pittsburgh.

The report finds that almost all of the cities studied have less money and fewer staffers for this Census than they did in 2000.

“Census preparation really matters,” said Thomas Ginsberg, project manager of Pew’s Philadelphia Research Initiative. “The outreach efforts are a cross between an election campaign and a municipal self-promotion drive, with very real ramifications that will be felt for the next 10 years.”

Philadelphia officials are planning to announce their local outreach campaign soon. And officials interviewed for the study say they are confident of their ability to catch up and conduct an effective outreach effort. In addition, they have launched the city’s first-ever challenge to the official population estimates the U.S. Census Bureau issues each year. The challenge, if fully accepted by the bureau, would produce a number showing that Philadelphia’s population is now growing after six decades of decline.

Seven of the other 10 cities had appointed or hired Census coordinators by last summer and had launched their citywide coordinating committees by early October. The other three–Boston, Chicago and Detroit–already are lined up to receive considerable financial and organizing support from local and statewide donor networks established specifically for the Census.

Preparing for the 2010 Census lays out what is at stake for cities: Without strong outreach and technical preparation by cities, the Census Bureau may have trouble improving its urban counts over previous Censuses and raising the below-average rate at which residents participate in its official once-a-decade count. That could lead to greater undercounts of certain groups or an entire city, which in turn would affect the population basis on which billions of tax dollars will be distributed over the coming decade and by which legislative seats–federal, state and local–will be allocated in 2011.

The stakes are particularly high in Philadelphia and other big cities that have high concentrations of the hard-to-count groups, including renters, immigrants, African Americans and Hispanics. According to an analysis conducted for the Philadelphia Research Initiative by Temple University statistician Eugene P. Ericksen, the Census Bureau likely undercounted Philadelphia’s population by an estimated 8,326 people a decade ago, or about 0.5 percent. Many of the other cities included in the report had similar or larger estimated undercounts.

About $430 billion in federal funds were distributed to local governments and residents in fiscal 2008, the last year for which such numbers are available, based at least in part on Census data. Analysts at the Brookings Institution say that Philadelphia and its residents received about $2,796 per capita, through Medicaid, housing vouchers, transportation funding and other programs. Due to the ways that the funding formulas work, the amount of money that would be generated by counting additional Philadelphians would be less than $2,796. But how much less is hard to say. It would depend on numerous factors, including the demographic characteristics of the individuals.

Apart from outreach campaigns, the study found that all 11 cities, including Philadelphia, have been participating in the voluntary technical Census Bureau programs that many experts consider more important to achieving a full count. The programs include a massive updating of household addresses, through which the cities submitted more than 1.5 million new or corrected addresses for the bureau to target next spring.

“For Philadelphia, a significant impact of the Census results could be in terms of the city’s psyche and its ability to promote itself. The city would get a lift if the headcount in 2010–or the challenge being launched over the recent population estimates–shows a population gain,” said Ginsberg. The count in 2000 was 1,517,550, and the most recent estimate was 1,447,395. The city’s challenge contends the recent figure should have been 1,536,171, higher than either previous figure. The Census Bureau is expected to rule on the city’s figure by the end of 2009. Pew’s research found that many cities have no plans to appropriate any public funds specifically for Census preparations; this is the case in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Pittsburgh, although all of those cities, including Philadelphia, expect to make use of existing staff and resources with some staff help from the Census Bureau. A decade ago, the city put in $200,000 and received $165,000 in philanthropic donations.

The shortfalls are leading many cities to rely on unpaid volunteers and grassroots organizing even more than in the past. City officials in Philadelphia are still hoping to receive funds from private sources. The William Penn Foundation has committed $12,350 for data analysis; city and Census Bureau officials held an initial briefing with other potential local funders in late September.

About the Report

To prepare this report, Thomas Ginsberg, project manager of Pew’s Philadelphia Research Initiative, studied numerous reports about the Census and talked to officials at the Census Bureau, independent experts and officials in Philadelphia and the 10 other cities. The report includes independent work done by Eugene P. Ericksen of Temple University, a nationally-recognized expert in assessing the accuracy of the Census, and by the Brookings Institution.

About The Philadelphia Research Initiative

The Philadelphia Research Initiative was created by Pew in fall 2008 to study critical issues facing Philadelphia and provide impartial research and analysis for the benefit of decision makers, the news media and the public. The initiativeconducts public opinion polling, produces in-depth reports, and publishes briefs that illuminate front-and-center issues.

About Pew

The Pew Charitable Trusts (www.pewtrusts.org) is driven by the power of knowledge to solve today’s most challenging problems. Pew applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public and stimulate civic life. We partner with a diverse range of donors, public and private organizations and concerned citizens who share ourcommitment to fact-based solutions and goal-driven investments to improve society.

SOURCE Pew Charitable Trusts

Profile America — Monday, October 5th. As National Hispanic Heritage Month continues, today marks the first day of the current Supreme Court session. As the justices file in, their ranks will include Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, confirmed by the Senate in August. Her official investiture ceremony was held last month. She already has participated in one case left over from the previous session. Sotomayor is the 111th justice to sit on the nation’s highest court. She is the first Hispanic and the third woman on the Supreme Court. Across the U.S., there are just over 1 million lawyers, nearly one-third of them women and just over 4 percent Hispanic.

You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Sources: Chase’s Calendar of Events 2009, p. 495

Statistical Abstract of the United States 2009, t. 596

Profile America is produced by the Public Information Office of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look under the “Newsroom” button).

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

I am a Wise Latina Too!

New York, August 7th – Cristina Mella, the entrepreneur and founder of Cristina Mella-Latino Living has launched a line of products honoring Judge Sonia Sotomayor and her historic confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States. All products (from T-Shirts and coffee mugs to greeting cards and small gifts) are designed with the logo I am a Wise Latina Too!

“My goal is to recognize the amazing achievement of Judge Sonia Sotomayor and to provide Latinas with a line of stylish and colorful everyday products and accessories to show their Latin pride” explains Latino Living founder Cristina Mella. “I think that ‘Wise Latina’ is a sentence that resonates with many Latin women because in our culture Wise or Sabia implies a richness of life experiences and a way of seeing life” – continued Cristina Mella.

All I am a Wise Latina Too! products are available online at http://www.wiselatinatoo.com

About Cristina Mella-Latino Living

A native of Spain living in New York for the last twenty years, Cristina Mella is a Home and Lifestyle specialist with a Latin heart, an American mind and a European touch. Cristina appears regularly on TV, radio and print as a lifestyle personality sharing tips and practical advice and inspiring Latin families to live their best lives in the USA. Cristina is also the founder and creative director of Cristina Mella-LatinoLiving (http://www.cristinamella.com), a high-traffic blog with a contemporary look serving a daily dose of inspiring ideas and affordable solutions.

Source: Cristina Mella, Founder and Managing Director Cristina Mella-Latino Living, +1-914-630-4935 (office), info@cristinamella.com

The videos were produced by the Public Information Office at the U.S. Census Bureau as part of a collaborative effort between headquarters, regional and contracting staff. They were submitted for consideration by contractors Therese Allen and Corey Petree.

The four- to seven-minute videos, titled “A New Portrait of America,” were produced to reach different segments of the population including the general, African-American, Asian, Hispanic, Native American/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders, and Puerto Rican audiences.

In the nonbroadcast productions category, the videos received silver Tellys for use of music and editing, and a bronze Telly was awarded for government relations. In the Internet/online video category, a silver Telly was awarded for music and a bronze Telly was awarded for editing.

The videos also received the 2009 Videographer Award of Excellence in the government/federal and creativity/video/original music categories.

The “New Portrait of America“ videos include diverse images from throughout the country as well as interviews with community leaders. They are used at activities and events to promote the 2010 Census and encourage everyone‘s participation in next year‘s national count.

The “New Portrait of America” videos may be viewed at the following link:http://2010.census.gov/2010census/multimedia/videos/013879.html.

ABOUT THE 2010 CENSUS

The 2010 Census is a count of everyone living in the United States and is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. Census data are used to distribute congressional seats to states, to distribute more than $435 billion in federal funds to local, state and tribal governments each year and to make decisions about what community services to provide. The 2010 Census questionnaire will be one of the shortest in history, consisting of 10 questions and taking about 10 minutes to complete. Strict laws protect the confidentiality of respondents and the information they provide.

Editor’s note: News releases, reports and data tables are available on the Census Bureau’s home page. Go to http://www.census.gov and click on “Releases.”

CONTACT: Public Information Office, +1-301-763-3011, pio@census.gov

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Voter Turnout Increases by 5 Million in 2008 Presidential Election, U.S. Census Bureau Reports

About 131 million people reported voting in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, an increase of 5 million from 2004, according to a new table package released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The increase included about 2 million more black voters, 2 million more Hispanic voters and about 600,000 more Asian voters, while the number of non-Hispanic white voters remained statistically unchanged.

Additionally, voters 18 to 24 were the only age group to show a statistically significant increase in turnout, reaching 49 percent in 2008 compared with 47 percent in 2004. Blacks had the highest turnout rate among 18- to 24-year-old voters — 55 percent, an 8 percent increase from 2004. The increased turnout among certain demographic groups was offset by stagnant or decreased turnout among other groups, causing overall 2008 voter turnout to remain statistically unchanged — at 64 percent — from 2004.

“The 2008 presidential election saw a significant increase in voter turnout among young people, blacks and Hispanics,” said Thom File, a voting analyst with the Census Bureau’s Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division. “But as turnout among some other demographic groups either decreased or remained unchanged, the overall 2008 voter turnout rate was not statistically different from 2004.”

The table package released today, Voting and Registration in the Election of 2008, examines the levels of voting and registration in the November 2008 presidential election, the demographic characteristics of citizens who reported that they were registered for or voted in the election, and the reasons why registered voters did not vote.

Although the youngest voters were the only age group to show a statistically significant increase in turnout, voting did tend to increase with age. In 2008, younger citizens (18-24) had the lowest voting rate (49 percent), while citizens who fell into older age groups (45-64 and 65-plus) had the highest voting rates (69 percent and 70 percent, respectively).

Looking at voter turnout by race and Hispanic origin, non-Hispanic whites (66 percent) and blacks (65 percent) had the highest levels in the November 2008 election. Voting rates for Asians and Hispanics were not statistically different from one another at about 49 percent.

Relative to the presidential election of 2004, the voting rates for blacks, Asians and Hispanics each increased by about 4 percentage points. The voting rate for non-Hispanic whites decreased by 1 percentage point.

The voting rate was highest in the Midwest (66 percent), while the rates in the West, Northeast and South were about 63 percent each.

Among states, voting rates varied widely. Among states and state-equivalents with the highest voter turnout were Minnesota and the District of Columbia, each with voting rates of about 75 percent. Hawaii and Utah were among the states with the lowest turnouts, each with approximately 52 percent.

By sex, women had a higher voting rate (66 percent) than males (62 percent). Neither was statistically different from 2004.

The overall voting age (18 and older) citizen population in the United States in 2008 was

206 million compared with 197 million in 2004. Of that total, 146 million, or 71 percent, reported being registered to vote. That’s slightly lower than the 72 percent who reported being registered to vote in the 2004 presidential election, but does represent an increase of approximately 4 million registered voters. The percentage of those registered to vote that actually did so was slightly higher in the 2008 election (90 percent) than in 2004 (89 percent).

Editor’s note: The information can be accessed at http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html.

.These data come from the Current Population Survey. Statistics from sample surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. For further information on the source of the data and accuracy of the estimates, including standard errors and confidence intervals, go to Attachment 16 of

http://www.census.gov/apsd/techdoc/cps/cpsnov08.pdf.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

In January 2007, the Smithfield Plant in Tar Heel, N.C. was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This raid drastically changed the demographics of the plant, shifting from a mostly illegal Hispanic workforce to a legal African American workforce. The plant’s workers were able to unionize in the aftermath, something the previous workforce had failed to do twice prior to the raid.

Jerry Kammer, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, has examined the circumstances surrounding the raid and the plant’s unionization. In “Immigration Raids at Smithfield: How an ICE Enforcement Action Boosted Union Organizing and the Employment of American Workers,” Kammer gives an overview of events before the unionization and insights into the varied reasons workers were able to solidify backing for the union. The report is online at  http://cis.org/SmithfieldImmigrationRaid-Unionization.

The sequence of events includes:

• The Smithfield Plant, represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), failed to unionize in both 1994 and 1997. An administrative law judge found that the company committed “egregious and pervasive violations of labor law” during the 1997 effort when it used the employees’ illegal status to threaten them.
• After the initial attempts at unionizing, Smithfield and the UFCW engaged in a bitter dispute. The union launched a public relations campaign and picketed Smithfield customers. Smithfield, in return, filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against the union.
• The ICE raid, which took place in January 2007, both purged the plant of illegal workers and forced the management to set procedures to check immigration status of future hires.
• The raid opened the door for an American and legal immigrant workforce. After the raid, the Hispanic workforce dropped by approximately 1,000 workers and was replaced by mostly African American workers. Less than two years later, in December 2008, the new workforce voted for unionization.

The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent research institute that examines the impact of immigration on the United States.

Source: Center for Immigration Studies

Georgia Hispanic's electorate on the rise

During the last six years the number of Hispanic registered voters in Georgia has risen by more than 1,300 percent and Hispanics now comprise 3 percent of the state’s voters, a recent study found.

“Where we started with about 10,000 Latino registered voters back in January 2003, now we have 146,000 approximately,” said Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials and author of a report on Hispanic voter participation.

“I think voter turnout is a true indicator that there has been great success in encouraging the Latino community to vote,” he said. “In the majority of the jurisdictions across the state, Latino voter participation outpaced national rates in the general election.”

In Whitfield County, the number of registered Hispanic voters rose 331 percent between 2003 and 2009, the study showed. Whitfield now ranks sixth among Georgia’s 159 counties in the number of Hispanic registered voters in Georgia, with 3,015. The highest concentration of self-identified Hispanic registered voters is in Gwinnett County, with 15,593, according to the report.

But the growth of the Hispanic electorate will be gradual, said Dr. David Boyle, dean of the School of Social work at Dalton State College. He is a co-author of “Voices of the Nueva Frontera,” a book about Hispanic immigration to the Dalton area.

“Many of the community-based groups are working very hard with citizenship education, to encourage people to follow through and get their citizenship so they can vote, but it’s very slow,” he said. “There’s not going to be any huge leap or change, I don’t think any type of balance in terms of the electoral mix.”

America Gruner, founder of the Coalition of Latino Leaders in Dalton, said the study’s findings are a result of a long process.

“In 2006 CLILA found that, despite the hostile rhetoric (anti-immigration sentiment in some campaigns), many Latinos in the area were apathetic or felt discouraged because in their countries of origin the political decisions are not made democratically or corruption reigns,” she said.

The coalition started a voter education campaign alongside its registration efforts, she said.

Whitfield County Registrar Kay Staten said she has noticed more Hispanics registering to vote, but nothing too dramatic.

“We have a pretty large Hispanic community in Dalton, and the children who are growing up are getting closer to voting age, so it will probably rise some as they get older,” she said.

About 40 percent of the population in Dalton is Hispanic, according to Census 2000 figures.

Mr. Gonzalez said that despite their overall small numbers, Hispanic voters can make a difference in close elections. He said it’s important for candidates to start courting that vote.

“I think that particularly for the governor’s race in Georgia, it looks like it’s going to be a competitive race, both in the primary as well in the general election,” he said.

“It would make prudent sense for candidates to look at the Latino electorate as a viable force to be considered and courted, not as a campaign tactic to be used to bash immigrants,” he said.

BY THE NUMBERS

Self-identified Hispanic registered voters in Whitfield County:

* 699 — January, 2003

* 1,317 — December, 2004

* 1,907 — November, 2007

* 2,603 — October, 2008

* 3,015 — June, 2009

*331 percent — growth rate from January, 2003 to June, 2009

Source: Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials

CITIZENSHIP RECOGNITION

In a ceremony during the Fourth of July celebration in Dalton, Ga., 31 new citizens were recognized by Mayor David Pennington, Whitfield County Commission Chairman Mike Babb and other community leaders.

Source: Perla Trevizo

June 21, 2009 /Hispanic PR News/ — Georgia Law Enforcement: Constitutional Restrictions on Vehicle Searches

Georgia is a beautiful place for a road trip. From piney forests to coastal islands and from rural farms to urban Atlanta, millions of vehicles traverse the state clocking billions of trip miles every year. In this time of a depressed economy and the resulting pressure on public funding, the Georgia State Patrol (GSP), sheriffs and local police departments have their hands full keeping everyone safe. The public is rightfully grateful for strict enforcement of traffic and safety laws, but sometimes cops in Georgia go too far in searching the vehicles they stop.

Vehicle Privacy Rights

The United States Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures unless the authorities obtain valid judicial warrants based on probable cause. Federal and Georgia courts recognize that the constitutional right to privacy extends to your vehicle, although the privacy protection in your car is weaker than the right to privacy in your home.

Because cars are mobile and could drive away with important criminal evidence, and because they are highly regulated by the government, courts have held that in certain carefully defined circumstances police are not required to obtain warrants before searching motor vehicles. However, in Georgia police officers have abused these limited exceptions in order to conduct illegal searches of vehicles.

Search Incident to Arrest

The Supreme Court recognizes an exception to the warrant requirement in a search incident to a proper arrest. Basically the search-incident-to-arrest exception as articulated in Chimel v. California allows an officer to search the space within reach of the arrestee — the area within his or her immediate control — for either of two important reasons:

• To prevent the suspect from obtaining a weapon that could harm the arresting officer
• To prevent the arrestee from destroying or concealing evidence

In the 1981 case of New York v. Belton, the Supreme Court analyzed the search-incident-to-arrest exception to the warrant requirement when the person arrested is a driver or passenger of a motor vehicle. The Court looked at whether the lawful search in this circumstance extends to the passenger compartment of the car. The Court reasoned that because things –weapons or evidence — in the passenger compartment could be grabbed by an arrestee and removed from the car, an officer making such an arrest could legally search the inside of the car, including the interior of a container found in the vehicle, without a warrant.

Arizona v. Gant

In April 2009, the US Supreme Court in Arizona v. Gant looked squarely at the Belton rule again, narrowing its reach and giving specific guidance to police about warrantless passenger compartment searches incident to arrest. Gant revisited the Chimel reasoning that an arresting officer could search the area within the immediate control of the arrestee to ensure that he or she could not reach a weapon or interfere with important evidence.

In Gant, the arrested person had been detained for driving with a suspended license, and was safely handcuffed and locked in the back of the squad car while the police searched his automobile without a warrant, finding an illegal drug in a coat in the backseat. Because an arrestee cuffed and locked in another car could not possibly reach into his own passenger compartment, the original reason for the exception to the warrant requirement – the safety of the officer and the preservation of evidence – had evaporated. The court also held that the only legitimate warrantless search in these circumstances is when there is reasonable suspicion of the existence of evidence of the crime for which the person is being arrested.

New Guidance for Police

Gant sends a clear message to Georgia cops and law enforcement across the US: no more “unbridled discretion to rummage at will among a person’s private effects.” If you arrest someone for a traffic offense, you cannot search the car hoping to find drugs or other illegal contraband (unless another exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement exists). You may only reasonably look for evidence related to the traffic offense for which you are arresting the car’s occupant.

The decision also gives pointed guidance to Georgia judges. When a defendant has been arrested on a traffic stop, did the cops search the car even after the defendant was removed from physical proximity to the car and could no longer have reached inside the passenger compartment? Was it reasonable for the police to believe the inside of the car could have contained evidence of that traffic offense?

Protect Your Rights

If you were stopped by Georgia law enforcement for a traffic violation and the officer either searched your car after cuffing and removing you from reach of the passenger compartment, or searched the inside of the automobile when there was no reasonable chance of evidence relevant to the traffic violation, that search may have been an unconstitutional violation of your Fourth Amendment rights as interpreted in Gant. Any evidence seized illegally should not be used against you at trial for a drug charge or any other criminal charge.

Be sure to consult with a knowledgeable Georgia criminal defense attorney as soon as possible if you believe you were the victim of an illegal vehicle search. To protect your rights and your liberty, time may be of the essence.

Source: Ross & Pines, LLC.