A Life Without Papers
New York Times - March 2, 2015, by Ehiracenia Vasquez - The birth certificates for my children, born here eight and four years ago. The receipts that prove I paid property taxes on the trailer...
New York Times - March 2, 2015, by Ehiracenia Vasquez - The birth certificates for my children, born here eight and four years ago. The receipts that prove I paid property taxes on the trailer home where we used to live. My children’s medical records. A stack of documents that show I’ve lived in Texas for more than 12 years, and that my son and daughter are United States citizens.
I keep all these papers in a drawer next to my bed, so I will have easy access to them as soon as I need them. These are the documents that were supposed to allow me to apply for a new program, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans — the documents that would protect me, for a time, from deportation, and give me some relief from the constant fear that comes with life as an undocumented immigrant.
“Why do you need those papers?” my son asks me one day in January, as he watches me search through plastic bags and backpacks I’ve kept for years on the top shelf of my closet, looking for one more bill, one more certificate, one more piece of paper that might help with applications for my husband and me.
He knows I’ve kept the television tuned to Univision ever since President Obama announced his executive action in November. I listened closely as the news anchor Jorge Ramos explained the application requirements, and realized we qualified. I was watching when, two weeks ago, a federal judge here in Texas put a temporary stop to the program. Now I am waiting to see what happens next.
My son doesn’t understand why I am so anxious. He is 8 years old. He has a Social Security number and could travel out of the country if he wanted.
So I tell him: I want to be able to travel, too. I want to take him to the Rio Grande Valley, where his grandfather lives — the grandfather he has never met, because we need to pass an immigration checkpoint to get to that part of Texas. I want him to play with his abuelo under the tall palm trees that dot the landscape of that border town.
There is more, of course. I want to drive the short distance to the grocery store without worrying that the police car in the lane of traffic behind me is going to pull me over and demand documents I don’t have. I want to be able to look for a good job so that I can help provide for my family. I want to take my kids to school in the morning without worrying whether that day will be the last one I have with them.
Their childhood here in Houston is already so different from mine.
I was born and raised in Río Bravo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. I was 12 when my mother told me she couldn’t send me to school anymore. She needed me at home helping her with my siblings and keeping the house clean. When I was 17, one of my older sisters, who had already moved to Houston, invited me join her. She was 20 and asked me to take care of her baby so that she could work. Knowing there was little to lose, I crossed — without documents, but with my mother’s blessing.
I quickly realized that life as an undocumented person in the United States was not what I had imagined. Without documents, school did not make sense. The only job I could find was taking care of other people’s kids, earning me a few dollars in cash at the end of each day.
Eventually, I met my husband, also an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. He found work as a mechanic. We live with my in-laws and I currently stay home with our children. We have stitched together a beautiful family. But that’s 12 years of living cautiously, on the margins.
In November, it seemed we would be able to move, however slowly, out of those margins. We would have temporary relief. I gathered my documents together and kept them safe. We were prepared.
Then the judge put it all on hold. Everything we had been working toward — a break from life in the shadows — is now on pause, in limbo, maybe never to be a reality.
I allowed myself to feel a little disappointed and a little bit sad. But I am not going to let myself feel defeated. I am still trying to organize people to go to meetings so that they can be ready when the program moves forward.
I make phone calls, trying to get them to show up. I hear a lot of doubt. Why learn about a program that may never come to be?
I tell them what I have been telling myself: that we need to be prepared for when the good news comes. I have my documents ready, in that drawer near my bed. I’m not giving up hope.
Ehiracenia Vasquez is a member of the Texas Organizing Project, a partner of the Center for Popular Democracy. This article was translated by Mary Moreno from the Spanish.
Source: The New York Times
The Grind: Striving for Scheduling Fairness at Starbucks
The Grind: Striving for Scheduling Fairness at Starbucks
In 2014, a New York Times investigation into Starbucks’ scheduling practices revealed a troubling disconnect between a company whose mission is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit” and work...
In 2014, a New York Times investigation into Starbucks’ scheduling practices revealed a troubling disconnect between a company whose mission is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit” and work schedules that left its employees exhausted, stressed, and struggling to care for their families and get ahead. Starbucks responded quickly, committing to honor employee availability, deliver weekly schedules with greater notice, and ensure adequete rest between shifts.
One year later, Starbucks employees across the country report that little has changed for them. Many Starbucks scheduling policies fail to reflect the company’s human-focused values, while other policies designed to promote sustainable schedules have been implemented inconsistently.
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REPORT FINDINGS Starbucks call its employees “partners,” yet this report reveals scheduling issues that call into question the effectiveness of its partnership between corporate leaders, managers, and employees.
UNPREDICTABLE WORKWEEKS Nearly half of all surveyed partners reported receiving their schedule one week or less in advance, despite Starbucks’ stated policy to provide schedules at least ten days in advance. This practice prevents workers from being able to plan their lives, particularly when the timing of shifts and number of hours varies from week to week as surveyed employees reported.
INCONSISTENCY IN DAYS, TIMES, AND AMOUNT OF WORK Employees reported that schedules that largely tracked their previous weeks’ schedules would allow them to make tentative future plans, but drastic changes week to week left them unable to budget or plan.
INSUFFICIENT REST – CLOPENS CONTINUE One in four surveyed partners still had to work clopens (when they are scheduled to close one night and open the store early the next morning) or had coworkers in their stores who were assigned clopens. These Starbucks workers are at risk of sleep deprivation and exhaustion.
OBSTACLES TO TAKING SICK LEAVE Starbucks partners do not earn paid sick leave in their first year. Forty percent of partners reported facing barriers to taking sick days when they were ill. Several partners reported that they face pressure from managers to work while sick.
UNDERSTAFFING AND INSUFFICIENT HOURS Skeletal staffing stretches employees too thin to deliver the consistent customer-focused service on which the company prides itself. Many employees surveyed stated that they wanted to work more hours, but were denied by managers.
FAILURE TO HONOR EMPLOYEES’ AVAILABILITY Starbucks, unlike some companies, has committed to honoring employees’ limitations on their available work hours. But many employees said that their managers regularly disregard their availability.
These survey results show that while some Starbucks partners do experience schedules that work for them and their families, far too many Starbucks employees across the country still struggle with unpredictable schedules, unstable, inadequate hours, and retaliation and insufficient access to earned sick time. Starbucks should establish basic protections to ensure stability, adequacy and predictability of employees’ schedules. The company should work with their employees and incorporate their input to provide work schedules that are as reliable as Starbucks' dedicated customer base.
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How Much Do U.S. Cities Spend Every Year On Policing?
Over the past three decades, U.S. cities have allocated larger and larger shares of their budgets towards law enforcement. Today, the U.S. collectively spends $100 billion a year on policing and a...
Over the past three decades, U.S. cities have allocated larger and larger shares of their budgets towards law enforcement. Today, the U.S. collectively spends $100 billion a year on policing and a further $80 billion on incarceration. Even though crime levels have dropped substantially over the last 30 years in line with the spending uptake, a report released last month argues that this occurred in spite of higher police budgets. Compiled by The Center for Popular Democracy, Law for Black Lives and the Black Youth Project 100, the report makes the case that investment in mental health, housing, youth development and living wages would stabilize communities and prove more effective than policing.
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Queens activist Ana Maria Archila takes center stage in elevator showdown with Flake
Queens activist Ana Maria Archila takes center stage in elevator showdown with Flake
Message delivered, message received — Queens-style.
Outerborough activist Ana Maria Archila, after angrily confronting Sen. Jeff Flake in a Capitol Hill elevator over his support of Supreme...
Message delivered, message received — Queens-style.
Outerborough activist Ana Maria Archila, after angrily confronting Sen. Jeff Flake in a Capitol Hill elevator over his support of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, said the accounts of America’s abused women were no longer falling on deaf ears after the Arizona Republican delayed a vote on the judge’s candidacy for a week.
Read the full article and watch the video here.
Puerto Rico: Shelter After the Storm
"The members of Congress do not think of Puerto Rico as a part of their constituency and responsibility, and that is what is underneath this crisis," says Ana Maria Archila from the Center for...
"The members of Congress do not think of Puerto Rico as a part of their constituency and responsibility, and that is what is underneath this crisis," says Ana Maria Archila from the Center for Popular Democracy. "It is a crisis of democracy as much as it's a climate crisis, as much as it's an economic crisis."
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Crece interés de inmigrantes por irse de NYC a sus países
Hace siete años José V dejó su trabajo en Colombia como cajero en un banco y llegó a Nueva York, dispuesto a quedarse. Las deudas y los serios problemas económicos de su familia lo pusieron a...
Hace siete años José V dejó su trabajo en Colombia como cajero en un banco y llegó a Nueva York, dispuesto a quedarse. Las deudas y los serios problemas económicos de su familia lo pusieron a soñar con una mejor vida, que no podía alcanzar con su salario mensual de apenas $350. En menos de una semana de llegar a la Gran Manzana ya estaba trabajando en un restaurante como lavaplatos, ganando más dinero, y en cuestión de semanas la vida le empezó a sonreír.
Lea el artículo completo aquí.
Itching for a fight, Dems vow to hold the line
“DREAM Act or primaries,” Ady Barkan, a spokesman from the activist group CPD Action, said Tuesday. “We need Democrats to deliver on their promise to pass a DREAM Act now or we will put our full...
“DREAM Act or primaries,” Ady Barkan, a spokesman from the activist group CPD Action, said Tuesday. “We need Democrats to deliver on their promise to pass a DREAM Act now or we will put our full weight behind primary challengers who are ready to protect our communities.”
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Nan Goldin and P.A.I.N. Sackler Protest the Opioid Crisis at Harvard’s Sackler Museum
Nan Goldin and P.A.I.N. Sackler Protest the Opioid Crisis at Harvard’s Sackler Museum
The organization hosted over 70 protesters at a die-in demonstration last Friday. The protest operated with support from organizations like VOCAL NY, the Center for Popular Democracy, and the Harm...
The organization hosted over 70 protesters at a die-in demonstration last Friday. The protest operated with support from organizations like VOCAL NY, the Center for Popular Democracy, and the Harm Reduction Coalition. The group marched from Harvard Square to the atrium of the Harvard Art Museums building, which hosts the Fogg Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, and Arthur M. Sackler Museum. Participants threw Oxycontin and Narcan (a narcotics overdose prescription medication) containers across the floor of the atrium, chanting protests like “Sacklers lie! People die! Fund harm reduction now!” Hyperallergic reached out to the Harvard Art Museums and a representative of the institution declined to comment.
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Blowback for SEC from whistleblower
BLOWBACK FOR SEC FROM WHISTLEBLOWER: A whistleblower is calling foul on the SEC. Our Patrick Temple-West writes: “A whistleblower who said he is due an $8.25 million reward from the Securities and...
BLOWBACK FOR SEC FROM WHISTLEBLOWER: A whistleblower is calling foul on the SEC. Our Patrick Temple-West writes: “A whistleblower who said he is due an $8.25 million reward from the Securities and Exchange Commission said he is refusing the cash because of concerns that the agency failed to prosecute top executives at Deutsche Bank. … Ben-Artzi said he was fired after raising concerns with the way Deutsche was valuing its derivatives. In its settlement with Deutsche, the SEC alleged the company overvalued its derivatives holdings during the worst days of the 2008 financial crisis. … ‘Although I need the money now more than ever, I will not join the looting of the very people I was hired to protect,’” Ben-Artzi wrote in The Financial Times. A Deutsche Bank spokesman declined to comment.
Andrew Ceresney, the SEC's current enforcement director: “We brought all of the charges supported by the evidence and the law, which were unanimously approved by the Commission.”
TGIF! — Happy Friday. You’ve almost made it through the week without the incomparable Morning Money Ben. The Pro Financial Services team will be filling in again for him next week, so please send tips to Financial Services editor Mark McQuillan: mmcquillan@politico.com. Follow me on Twitter @vtg2.
THIS MORNING ON POLITICO PRO FINANCIAL SERVICES – Patrick Temple-West on CFTC charges of swaps-reporting violations against Deutsche Bank -- and to get Morning Money every day before 6 a.m. -- please contact Pro Services at (703) 341-4600 or info@politicopro.com.
FED UP GOING TO JACKSON — The Fed Up coalition will hold a series of events in Jackson, Wyo., next week, including an on-the-record meeting with Kansas City Fed President Esther George on Aug. 25, the coalition announced. Other Fed presidents and governors will also be attending the discussion. The docket includes a press conference and a demonstration, where members of the coalition (a marriage between unions and other community organizations) will “share their personal experiences seeking good-paying jobs in this economy and discuss the importance of diversity in Fed leadership for promoting high-quality governance and public policy.”
Don’t miss: Fed Up will also unveil a report outlining one of its central ideas: how to make the Fed a fully public institution. Its authors are Andrew Levin of Dartmouth and Valerie Wilson of the Economic Policy Institute.
Speaking of the Fed conference, three Democratic lawmakers on Thursday wrote to Fed Chair Janet Yellen, thanking her for the central bank’s focus on inequality and the impact of the economic recovery on neglected communities. “We are concerned, however, that some of your work may be undercut by the failure of all Federal Reserve entities to follow your lead,” they wrote, expressing worries that workers of color might have a harder time being heard at the Jackson Hole conference. Read the letter from Reps. John Conyers, Frederica Wilson and Marcy Kaptur here.
AIR FORCE ONE SCHEDULED FOR ASIA PIVOT — President Barack Obama is heading off to China early next month where he will participate in the G20 Leaders’ Summit, the White House announced Thursday. Obama will discuss the full gamut of international economic issues and hold “in-depth,” one-on-one meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Hangzhou.
MM prediction: Foreign exchange rate policies, the U.S.-China bilateral investment treaty, cyber issues and treatment of U.S. businesses abroad are just some of the hot financial topics that might be broached in those bilateral meetings.
The stop in China will be followed by a trip to Laos for the U.S.-ASEAN Summit and the East Asia Summit. The full trip, which comes amid efforts by the president to push the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal despite political headwinds from both sides of the aisle, will run from Sept. 2-9.
TRUMP A MERCER-NARY — From WSJ's Rebecca Ballhaus: "Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s latest staff shakeup reflects the growing behind-the-scenes influence of a wealthy backer relatively new in the nominee’s orbit: billionaire hedge-fund manager Robert Mercer. … He and his daughter, Rebekah, had recommended both Breitbart News chairman Steve Bannon and Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway, who already worked for the campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. The Mercers met privately with Mr. Trump at a fundraiser last weekend at the East Hampton, N.Y., home of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, according to a person at the event. … Top Trump donors said the staff reshuffling showed the Mercers’ widening role in the campaign." The article is here.
END OF AN ERA — Citigroup will have no more dedicated proprietary traders once Anna Raytcheva leaves at the end of this month, the WSJ reports. Raytcheva and the rest of her kind have been rendered increasingly obsolete at Citi and other large banks because of the Volcker rule, which banned most types of trades made by banks on their own behalf. She will be opening her own hedge fund next year, the veteran trader told WSJ.
WSJ’s Christina Rexrode writes: “The firm’s trading roots go back to Salomon Brothers, whose 1980s trading exploits were featured in the book ‘Liar’s Poker.’ That firm was ultimately folded into Citigroup, whose billions of dollars in trading losses during the financial crisis prompted repeated taxpayer-led bailouts. … Citigroup and other large banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley had multiple desks dedicated to the lucrative but risky practice before the financial crisis. But … to comply with the [Volcker] rule, Citigroup sold or spun off businesses, including an emerging-markets hedge fund and a private-equity unit. It also closed down Citi Principal Strategies, its dedicated proprietary trading desk, in January 2012.” Check out the story here.
FANNIE AND FREDDIE ALL DRESSED UP WITH NOWHERE TO GO — Per Bloomberg’s Joe Light: “Earth-movers are laying the foundations of a shiny new headquarters for Fannie Mae, the bailed-out giant of American mortgages. But the sleek design, replete with glass sky bridges, belies a sober reality: Fannie Mae and its cousin, Freddie Mac, are once again headed for trouble. … On Jan. 1, 2018, the two government-sponsored enterprises will officially run out of capital under the current terms of their bailout. After that, any losses would be shouldered by taxpayers. Granted, few people are predicting a disaster like the one in 2008, when the GSEs had to be thrown a $187.5 billion federal lifeline. But eight years later, people still don’t agree on what to do with these wards of the state.” Click here to read more.
ITALIAN BANKERS FACING SCRUTINY — Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena is in the news once again, this time because its CEO Fabrizio Viola and former Chairman Alessandro Profumo are being investigated for alleged false accounting and market manipulation, Reuters reports. The investigation comes just a couple of weeks after MPS announced that, with the help of JPMorgan Chase and Mediobanca, it will repackage 27-billion-Euros-worth of bad debt into securities worth a total net amount of 9.2 billion Euros.
From Reuters’ Silvia Ognibene: “The investigation, which started in 2015 following complaints filed by small shareholders and consumer associations, comes as the Tuscan bank prepares to launch a 5 billion Euro ($6 billion) stock sale after emerging as the weakest bank in Europe in industry stress tests in July. A spokesman for Monte dei Paschi said the decision to investigate Viola and Profumo followed a proposal by two shareholders to seek damages from the two executives which was rejected by other shareholders at an April meeting. … Being placed under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt and does not automatically lead to charges being laid.” More here.
A CLOSER LOOK AT LENDING CLUB — Bloomberg’s Max Chafkin on shady loans facilitated by Lending Club: “[Bryan] Sims decided to take a look at the hundreds of loans he’d invested in, arranging them in a spreadsheet … Two loans caught his eye. Both had been issued to individuals with the same employer in the same small town. So far, so coincidental. But looking deeper, Sims found that the salaries were nearly identical. Both borrowers had opened their first line of credit in the same month. This, Sims realized, is the same dude. It wasn’t a borrower who’d paid off one loan and happily returned for a second. It was one person with two active loans, and Lending Club was treating them as completely unrelated, charging wildly different interest rates. The borrower was paying about 15 percent interest on one loan of about $15,000; on the other, he was paying 9 percent on twice the principal. That meant the investors who held only the second loan were leaving money on the table. And Lending Club didn’t seem to be doing anything to help them.” Read the rest here.
‘LIKE’ IT OR NOT, FED’S ON FACEBOOK — Rounding out its social media presence, the Fed Board of Governors launched a Facebook page on Thursday. The central bank is already on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and — who knew — Flickr. Find its page here.
By VICTORIA GUIDA
Source
Spa mayor seeks to ban gun, ammo sales at City Center
The city is considering a ban on the sale of guns and ammunition at the City Center, Mayor Meg Kelly announced Saturday in a welcoming speech to Local Progress New York.
...
The city is considering a ban on the sale of guns and ammunition at the City Center, Mayor Meg Kelly announced Saturday in a welcoming speech to Local Progress New York.
Read the full article here.
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