Two Villages Bridged by Immigrants

Photo: C. Lane

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The death of Ecuadoran immigrant Marcelo Lucero by White teenagers more than a year ago brought national attention to the village of Patchogue, Long Island. Stories of ethnic tensions arose between a mostly White local population, and recent arrivals of Latino immigrants. WSHU Reporter Charles Lane took a deeper look into Patchogue’s immigrant community and found a connection so strong that he traveled to Gualeceo, Ecuador to see their home village for himself.

And New York’s City Bar Justice Center director Lynn M. Kelly talks about a new report showing nearly 40 percent of those detained by federal immigration authorities have strong legal claims to have their deportations cancelled.

Border Crossing Bureaucracy

Photo: detritus (Flickr)

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Most airline travelers know to watch what they say while negotiating cumbersome airport security. Even jokes can be taken seriously. But few people remember that a similar environment occurs at the border ports of entry. Mexican civil rights attorney Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson learned this the hard way when he was taken into protective custody simply for mentioning that the drug war in Mexico sometimes made him fearful for his life. Also, Story Corps Historias features two Latino political families: The Salazar Family of Colorado and the Grijalva Family of Arizona. And writer Jesse Katz’s little league baseball infused memoir, The Opposite Field.

Puerto Ricans Speak Up

Photo: SEIU International

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Wikipedia describes a “commonwealth” as an English term referring to a political community founded for the common good or in which all participants have equal standing. Yet the people of Puerto Rico have never quite been on an “equal standing” as those in the commonwealths of Massachusetts, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Maria Hinojosa speaks with political analyst Juan Manuel García Passalacqua, and Angelo Falcón, director of the National Institute for Latino Policy, about issues that recently led to the largest mass demonstration in Puerto Rican history. Also, Story Corps Historias recalls the 1930s Depression with the Diaz family. And writer Alberto Ferreras, author of B as in Beauty, talks about the beauty within.