One if by Land, Two if by Sea

We’ve militarized the border at a high human (see the previous entry) and financial cost. One of the (many) unintended consequences of this has been a tremendous increase in entries undertaken by water.

I don’t know of any real exhaustive work that’s been done to document clandestine maritime entry to the United States, but I’ve seen it described as a 300% increase in apprehensions along California’s coast compared to only a few years ago. It’s becoming more and more common to have the Coast Guard and Border Patrol collaborate on maritime operations and arrests.

We know from the European case that the death toll is even higher when desperation forces people to abandon land crossings for less forgiving waters. Human rights observers will be watching closely to see how U.S. enforcement policy plays out on the high seas.

A Death in the San Diego Sector

An unauthorized entrant was found dead by the Border Patrol in the San Diego sector tonight. Deaths along the border are up in 2009 compared to 2008.

Applying to High School in LA

Seems like it might be tougher than applying to college. The LAUSD school choice program is a good one in that it offers a whole ton of options to parents and students. That’s mostly a scale thing; the district is so huge it has the capacity to create and maintain a whole lot of programs. But applying to admission seems like a real nightmare. A central website for all these programs doesn’t seem too much to ask, but don’t hold your breath. Nothing “extra” will becoming from California’s K-12 system until we figure out a way to find it.

Texas fixed it (kinda)

Two days ago I criticized Texas charities for prohibiting undocumented children from participating in the Toys for Tots program. Some (but not all) of the charities that thought this was a good idea have changed their asinine policy. Good. That was ridiculous.

The Achievement Gap…in PE?

Good news for California teenagers as a whole – the percentage of fit teens as measured by May PE testing rose slightly compared to the previous year. But as this article mentions, the gains are not coming across the board. Low-income students are less likely than their suburban peers to pass the tests; of course this replicates the shape of the achievement gap in which African-American and Hispanic-origin students lag their white and Asian-origin peers.

What are the causes? Higher awareness of nutritional needs among well-educated, high income parents may well explain the gains in the ‘burbs. Does that imply that low income parents don’t know the value of nutrition? It’s tempting to say yes, and of course there will always be anecdotal evidence toback up any claim. But I’d point out the concentration of cheap, fast food “restaurants” in low-income areas – not only do they provide easy access to fatty, unhealthy foods but they’re also an economically feasible option for low-income parents, disproportionately more of whom are struggling with un- and under-employment.

What Will Texas Dream Up Next?

Some Texas charities, including the Salvation Army and other faith-based groups, are checking immigration status when – wait for it – handing out toys to indigent children this holiday season. REALLY?

My “favorite” quote is this one from an administrator at a “Christian” charity: “We want to be good stewards, so the people that are donating to us trust we’re going to do the right thing,” The right thing? Excuse me, but the right thing here for Christians is to recall the Samaritan woman at the well. We are not supposed to discriminate – in fact we’re called to embrace those otherwise marginalized from society. Wow.

Free Speech at Southwest College

I have previous discussed the free speech issue on the campus of Southwest College here in San Diego. A rccent column in the U-T criticizes the college’s ridiculous policy and the way it was enforced on community college instructors. The writer leaves off with a quote from a student; “I thought the United States was a free speech zone.” It’s supposed to be. SWC (and for that matter the UC system) should act like it.

Border Apprehensions are Down. So What?

Apprehensions of unauthorized entrants along the U.S.-Mexico border are down in the 12 month period ending in September. Empirical fact. Bank it. But what does it mean? Why is it happening?

The two options are as follows.

1) Ramped up border enforcement has discouraged illegal entry along the border.

2) The U.S. economy sucked so badly in 2008-2009 that folks didn’t think it was worth coming to look for wage labor.

Option #1 is the preferred narrative of both the Bush and Obama administrations, and is critical for the upcoming immigration policy debate. The Obama folks are going to try to claim that the border is under control, and thus we can move onto the task of reforming other immigration related policy. Republicans will counter by arguing that half a million apprehensions indicates that there is still a tremendous level of unauthorized migration into the country.

Of course, the truth lies somewhere between the two options. An excellent chapter by Scott Borger and Leah Muse-Orlinoff tries to disentangle the effects of the recession from the impact of border enforcement. Most honest academics (read: not the morons are FAIR or CIS) think that the recession is the more dominant factor, and that as the articles state, the proof will be in the number of crossings (not apprehensions) in recovery years. As the economy recovers, will unauthorized immigration rebound as well?

The Unintended Consequences of Excluding Undocumented Immigrants from HCR

Members of Congress from heavily urban areas are anticipating the unintended consequences of excluding undocumented immigrants from health care reform but Republicans and so-called “centrist” Democrats are putting politics over policy in drafting HCR legislation. States like California will be disproportionately penalized under legislation that prohibits the undocumented from purchasing their own health insurance at the most affordable rates. Last year Californian tax payers ponied up 1.2 billion dollars to cover emergency room visits by the undocumented. How would this figure be affected if more folks were insured and able to access preventative care? I’d like to see that estimate (from a group that isn’t FAIR).

Forgotten by the media: Cal State

In this really excellent article, Carla Rivera profiles the impact the recent state budget meltdown is having on the Cal State system and then links the role of Cal State to the larger context of the state’s economy. The battles are different for students, staff, faculty, and administrators but all are facing immense obstacles as the CSU system is forced to remake itself.

Of course I’m struck by the human interest stories of the student and the lecturer, but I’m most interested in the way the provost of CalPoly Pomona articulated her priorities and challenges as a top campus administrator. That type of clear thinking and communicating seems totally absent at UC and UCSD.