After Kansas State Representative Virgil Peck advocated the shooting of “illegal immigrants” from a helicopter like pigs, Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives Mike O’Neil has held the Kansas Compact Resolution [House Concurrent Resolution 5026] hostage.

While the immigrant-friendly resolution is held up in committee, Speaker O’Neil is not allowing it to move forward unless anti-immigrant House Bill 2732 is heard a third time.  HB 2732 is an Arizona-style like anti-immigrant law that was recently killed on a house rule and has been tabled twice before.

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) released an analysis showing positive and negative movement for Latinos when it comes to jobs.  The report showed promising job growth in industries with a heavy Latino presence, but that growth is tinged with the reality that some Latino workers still feel insecure at their jobs, while others have given up the search for lack of opportunities.

The insecurity that Latinos are feeling may reflect the low quality of newly created jobs and their concerns about lack of preparedness. Hispanics no doubt have benefited from job growth in industries such as home health care services, administrative and waste services, and warehousing and storage.  In the employment services industry where 29,000 new jobs were added last month, Hispanics makes up 21 percent of the workforce.

However, an alarming number of Latinos have stopped looking for work altogether.  For three months in a row, Latinos have exited the workforce in large numbers – a disturbing trend for a group that historically holds the highest workforce participation rate. 

On April 8th, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to restrict the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) ability to regulate how Internet service providers manage their networks.  H.J.Res 37, “Disapproving the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission with respect to regulating the Internet and broadband industry practices,” passed the House with a vote of 240 to 179, mostly along party lines.  

The resolution specifically condemns the Federal Communications Commission’s new net neutrality rules put in place at end of 2010 and “prohibits such rule from having any force or effect.”

The joint resolution still has to pass the Senate and be signed by President Obama for it to become law.  The resolution is unlikely to pass in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and President Obama has threatened to veto the measure if it ever reaches his desk.

Just days ago, on April 9th during their 2011 Women’s Conference in Chicago, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) honored NHCSL President, Senator Iris Y. Martinez who received the LULAC Community Leadership Award.  Selected by the conference host committee and the LULAC women’s commission, the award recognizes exemplars of community leadership and dedication to the empowerment of Latinas and the broader community. Senator Martinez was honored for her leadership in the area of government.

“I am honored and humbled to be recognized by LULAC’s Latina leaders – especially a group of leaders that works so hard to realize equality for our brothers and sisters everywhere,” stated Senator Iris Y. Martinez, NHCSL President.

“Senator Martinez is an outstanding Latina legislator who fights for the Latino community – and her wealth of accomplishments in her state and at the national level, leading the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators and so many other activities, makes her well-deserving of this award,” said LULAC National Executive Director, Brent Wilkes.

This year, LULAC celebrates their 82nd year of serving the Latino community in the areas of education, civil rights, and employment. The LULAC Women’s Council has been in existence since February 22, 1934, and began in El Paso, Texas.

The morning of April 11th was an eventful one for immigrant advocates.  The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s decision to block Arizona from enforcing the most concerning provisions of Arizona’s S.B. 1070.  Specifically, the court upheld Judge Susan Bolton’s ruling which, by injunction, prohibits Arizona from: requiring police officers to ask for proof of legal status while making arrests or detaining a person for questioning; making the failure to apply for or carry alien registration papers, a state crime; making it a crime for an undocumented immigrant to solicit, apply, or perform work; and authorizing the warrantless arrest of a person when there is probable cause to believe that person had committed a public offense punishable by deportation.

The ruling is not the end of the story for the challenge to the law brought by the Obama administration, Latino organizations and immigrant supporters.  The decision does prevent the enforcement of the law while the case goes through the legal process.  Also yet to be seen will be the implications that the decision by the appeals court will have on copycat laws in other states.

The American Association of State Colleges and Universities issued a new report, “State Policies Regarding Undocumented College Students: A Narrative of Unresolved Issues, Ongoing Debate and Missed Opportunities”, examining policies regarding the admission of undocumented students to college and access (or lack thereof) to state aid or in-state tuition.
 
The report summarizes the current federal and state legal situation facing undocumented students.  While the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all children, regardless of immigration status, are guaranteed access to public education from kindergarten through 12th grade, this decision did not address postsecondary education.  In addition, there continues to be ambiguity in federal law with respect to a state’s ability to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students.

According to the briefing, “A limited but growing number of states are debating the fundamental issue of whether undocumented students can legally enroll in public colleges and universities.  More extreme than banning in-state tuition eligibility, several states and systems have implemented policies to this effect in recent years."

Latino enrollment in our nation’s public schools is growing fast. By 2019, Latino students will make up more than 1 in 4 public school students nationwide – an increase of 14 percentage points in the last 25 years.

Their achievement, however, still lags.  Consider: Only 17 percent of Latino eighth-graders were Proficient or Advanced on the math portion of the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress.  The 2008 graduation rate of 64 percent among Latino high school students also points to a need for improvement in our schools.

As NHCSL has called for in its whitepapers and public advocacy, to regain its international edge, America must provide more than a subpar education to its fastest growing student population.  Our schools must do a much better job of raising achievement and improving outcomes for Latino students.  The success of these young people – and our nation – depends on us turning around these results.