Mexican hometown groups wooed-Members urged to become U.S. citizens, vote for local politicians

The National Council of La Raza's annual convention in downtown Los Angeles today is turning out to be a who's who of Latino power brokers - with local politicians rearranging their schedules and attendees buzzing about who will come.

But behind all the schmoozing and banquets, one of the nation's best-known civil rights groups is courting a lower-profile player, one some say is just as powerful a player: hometown associations.

The hundreds of associations - built up over decades by tens of thousands of expatriates who send home billions of dollars a year - are increasingly flexing their political muscle on this side of the U.S.-Mexico border.

While groups like the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion struggle to attract new members, immigrant groups like Organización Queretana and Club Chihuahua - representing Mexican immigrants from their respective states - are booming.

"These groups were ignored because they weren't sufficiently organized before. But now they have become very highly organized, hierarchial and their members are loyal," said Louis DeSipio, associate professor of political science and Chicano studies at the University of California, Irvine.

"In Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston - they are the most active organizations among immigrants. And while they were once focused on Mexico, they are increasingly focusing on civic issues here."

That means if politicians have aspirations to higher office or are seeking support for education reform, they would be wise to build relationships early on with groups that are likely to become strong voting blocs, he said.

Aides for Mayor Antonio Villaragiosa have met with the Consejo de Federaciones Mexicanas en Norte América (COFEM), which represents 50,000 Mexicans, to discuss how they can work together to provide a better education for children in Los Angeles.

Over the week, the National Association of Latino Elected officials and the National Council of La Raza have also set up meetings with the group to discuss partnerships in education, health and voter registration.

"We are gaining in prominence," said Arturo Carmona, executive director of COFEM. "Our goal is to be one of the largest member-based, Latino-based organizations in the nation with the ability to educate and mobilize the community."

During the recent protest, COFEM - the largest umbrella organization for hometown associations, with more than 400 groups - estimates it brought out at least 100,000 people through its extensive network.

"Before, we wanted to return to Mexico. We thought we would invest in Mexico ... but after years and years, many of us developed roots here and we are not going to return," said Salvador Garcia, president of COFEM and an association representing 4,000 immigrants from the state of Jalisco.

"Many constructed houses in Mexico because they thought they were going to return. But we are here and living in houses that we are paying rent for. We are recommending that if you are here, develop here."

COFEM and other groups are encouraging their members to become citizens, get involved in local politics and use health services many immigrants shy away from.

And their membership continues to boom, bolstered by matching funds from the Mexican government and the creation of an agency dedicated to migrants abroad.

In 1998, the Mexican government counted 441 hometown associations; by 2003, there were 623, according to COFEM.

The associations or hometown groups representing specific regions in Mexico are usually started by immigrants who pool together money to send home. They hold fundraisers and dances and, at their strongest, can become a powerful economic force in their hometown.

"Their voice is increasingly louder," Efrain Escobedo, director of voter engagement for NALEO. "Now they are a significant part of Latino leadership, specifically in Southern California."

Background on this leftist organization:

1111 19th Street NW
Suite 1000
Washington, DC
20036

Phone :202-785-1670
URL :Website

Largest Hispanic organization in the U.S.
Lobbies for racial preferences, bilingual education, stricter hate crimes laws, mass immigration, and amnesty for illegal aliens
Named as a key member of the Open Borders Lobby in the pamphlet The Open Borders Lobby and the Nation's Security After 9/11, written by William Hawkins and Erin Anderson
Principally funded by the Ford Foundation

Currently the largest Hispanic organization in the U.S., the National Council of La Raza ("the Race") was established originally in 1968 as the Southwest Council of La Raza, for the purpose of "improv[ing] life opportunities for Hispanic Americans."The group was initiated by a research project funded by the Ford Foundation. Today La Raza has more than 270 formal affiliates serving 40 states, and a broader nationwide network of more than 30,000 groups and individuals who reach at least 3.5 million Hispanics in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Notwithstanding this large base of support, more than two-thirds of La Raza's funding comes from corporations and foundations, and much of the rest stems from government sources. Between 2001 and 2003, the Ford Foundation alone gave La Raza some $9.83 million, including a single grant of $8.05 million.

In turn, each year La Raza grants large amounts of this money to "Hispanic cornmunity-based organizations," some of which are quite obscure. Of the $1.3 million it gave out in 1996, for instance, $126,000 went to El Hogar del Nifio, $9,000 went to Chicanos por la Causa, and $30,000 was earmarked for Cabrillo Economic Development.

La Raza's politics are at the far left of the political spectrum. Its Policy Analysis Center lobbies for affirmative action, bilingual education, stricter hate crimes laws, mass immigration, and amnesty for illegal aliens. La Raza characterizes increased immigration control as a violation of civil rights, and the reduction of government handouts to immigrants as "a disgrace to American values."

La Raza was a signatory - along with more than 120 other leftwing organizations - to a 2000 campaign to increase the minimum wage. La Raza was also a signatory to a March 17, 2003 letter exhorting members of the U.S. Congress "to oppose the Domestic Security Enhancement Act (DSEA), also known as 'Patriot [Act] II,'" which was then under consideration. These signatories stated that the new legislation "fail[ed] to respect our time-honored liberties," and "contain[ed] a multitude of new and sweeping law enforcement and intelligence gathering powers . . . that would severely dilute, if not undermine, many basic constitutional rights." In addition, La Raza has given its organizational endorsement to the Community Resolution to Protect Civil Liberties campaign, a project of the California-based Coalition for Civil Liberties (CCL). The CLL tries to influence city councils to pass resolutions creating Civil Liberties Safe Zones; that is, to be non-compliant with the provisions of the Patriot Act.

La Raza has also endorsed the December 18, 2001 "Statement of Solidarity with Migrants," which was drawn up by the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. The statement called upon the U.S. government to "[r]ecognize the contribution of immigrant workers, students, and families, and [to] end discriminatory policies passed on the basis of legal status in the wake of September 11"; to "[g]uarantee and provide relief to the loved ones of the victims and those unemployed in the World Trade Center attacks, regardless of immigration status, without intimidation or threat of deportation"; and to adopt "the Plan of Action from the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance" - which was largely a forum for angry anti-American and anti-Israel tirades.

Furthermore, La Raza endorsed the Civil Liberties Restoration Act (CLRA) of 2004, which was introduced by Democratic Senators Ted Kennedy, Patrick Leahy, Russell Feingold, Richard Durbin, and Jon Corzine, and Democratic Representatives Howard Berman and William Delahunt. The CLRA was designed to roll back, in the name of protecting civil liberties, vital national-security policies that had been adopted after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

La Raza is also a sponsoring organization of the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride Coalition, which seeks to secure ever-expanding rights and civil liberties protections for undocumented workers, amnesty for illegal immigrants, and policy reforms that diminish or eliminate restrictions on immigration.

In addition to the Ford Foundation, La Raza also receives funding from: the American Express Foundation; the AT&T Foundation; the Carnegie Corporation of New York; the Annie E. Casey Foundation; the Fannie Mae Foundation; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; the Joyce Foundation; the W. K. Kellogg Foundation; the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; the Open Society Institute; the David and Lucile Packard Foundation; the Rockefeller Foundation; and the Verizon Foundation.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.