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<ol><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">What are your plans for St. Patrick's day? </font></h2></li><li><h3 style="line-height: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 110, 18) !important; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3"><a href="http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=vzewYO/FHLQohVxRPUY5U/sbYtB6dk7rzEJ6ZJOTL6bv+/VC+UMwJZkS5i+FPXNLdri+bh2KtnPFmnS7BBqWe2RoNXKcnszsmXw5jdVIQ+wcGiqS8L4PyO20A1eHwHs+io9w3ZZ9i0MfyBEQtafzJCNsX8gtcj+O&campaign_id=67&instance_id=13624&segment_id=30856&user_id=cb75b2a897725ed20d4752e3e3bc8e8a" target="_blank" style="line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 110, 18) !important; cursor: pointer; ">Organized Labor Sets Course for Election</a> </font></h3></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Barack Obama </font></h2></li><li><font size="3"><b><span style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 17px; ">The Gender of Media Creators Affects What We See</span> </b></font></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Tell us what you did with the UFW</font></h2></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">*Mother Jones Exposes Inner Workings of the Self-Deportation Movement</font></h2></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Voter ID Laws Struck Down </font></h2></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Want to know the latest?(AFSCME)</font></h2></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">NiLP FYI: Puerto Rico "Brain Drain"? </font><span style="font-weight: normal; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></h2></li></ol><div><br></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><table align="center" width="700" border="0" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=plWvRDJDuKTNLVr7yExDvjjyYrfr5Ius" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img width="700" height="260" alt="" src="http://unionyes.org/files/images/a new msg from the SDLC.preview.jpg" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; "></a></td></tr><tr><td><br><h2 style="line-height: 24px; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 110, 18) !important; text-align: center; ">Reclaim the American Dream<br style="line-height: 28px; ">24th Annual Labor Council Awards Dinner</h2><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; ">Do you have plans for St. Patrick's day this Saturday night? <b style="font-weight: bold; ">Join the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council at our 24th Annual Awards Dinner </b>as we honor:<b style="font-weight: bold; "><br></b></p>Labor Leader of the Year: Ricardo Guzman, National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 70<br>Local Union of the Year: United Nurses Association of California<br>Sol Price Spirit of Solidarity Award: Neighborhood Market Association<p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; text-align: center; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">24th Annual Awards Dinner</b><br>Saturday, March 17, 2012<br><br>Reception begins at 6 p.m.<br>Dinner and program at 7 p.m.<br><br>Holiday Inn on the Bay<br><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=TCqFSAesVhDpkmiRkzjI6rVcCdgkIhot" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">1355 North Harbor Drive, San Diego 92101</a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; ">You don't want to miss this event! Plus, after the dinner, you can join us for $1 green beers and pong.<span style="font-size: small; "> </span>There are just a few seats left and this event will sell out. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; ">If you haven't purchased your tickets or table yet, call Patrick Pierce at (619) 228-8101 ext. 226 or email him at<a href="mailto:PPierce@unionyes.org?subject=Labor%20Council%20Awards%20Dinner" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">PPierce@unionyes.org</a>. Tickets are $150 or buy a table of 10 seats for $1500.</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><h3 style="line-height: 15px; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 110, 18) !important; font-family: georgia, serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a href="http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=vzewYO/FHLQohVxRPUY5U/sbYtB6dk7rzEJ6ZJOTL6bv+/VC+UMwJZkS5i+FPXNLdri+bh2KtnPFmnS7BBqWe2RoNXKcnszsmXw5jdVIQ+wcGiqS8L4PyO20A1eHwHs+io9w3ZZ9i0MfyBEQtafzJCNsX8gtcj+O&campaign_id=67&instance_id=13624&segment_id=30856&user_id=cb75b2a897725ed20d4752e3e3bc8e8a" target="_blank" style="line-height: 18px; font-weight: inherit; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 110, 18) !important; cursor: pointer; ">Organized Labor Sets Course for Election</a></h3><h6 class="ecxbyline" style="font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">By STEVEN GREENHOUSE</h6><div style="line-height: 15px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">As the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s winter meeting opened here on Tuesday, its political director mapped out organized labor's plans for the 2012 campaign and how unions will respond to what he says will be $500 million in "super PAC" ads backing Republicans.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><br></p></div></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><p align="center" style="line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><img alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/banner_obama_crowd4.jpg"></p><table width="100%" align="center" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="7" border="0" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><tbody><tr><td><table align="right" width="231" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td> </td><td><table align="right" width="215" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" bordercolor="#cc0000" border="3" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td><table align="right" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="8" border="0" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; ">We’re rolling up our sleeves and getting to work for working families. Will you join us?<br><br><b style="font-weight: bold; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=GQe/ccKI4Gav29q5JLN6%2BdBNdBX395S1" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Pledge to get to work for working people by supporting President Obama and other working family candidates</a>.</b></p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; "><br><br>This afternoon, the AFL-CIO’s General Board voted unanimously to endorse President Obama for re-election. <br><br>For many reasons, we are pledging to work with President Obama throughout the elections and in a second term. The bottom line is this: <b style="font-weight: bold; ">As president, Barack Obama has placed his faith in America’s working men and women to lead our country to economic recovery and our full potential. So we’re putting our faith in him. </b><br><br><b style="font-weight: bold; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=ednu2vHhWSSbs%2BuyYLHrfNBNdBX395S1" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Please join us in pledging to get to work for working people by supporting President Obama and other working family candidates</a>.</b><br><br>Although the labor movement has sometimes differed with the president and often pushed his administration to do more—and do it faster—we have never doubted his commitment to a strong future for working families. With our endorsement today, we affirm our faith in the president. We pledge to work with him through the election and his second term to restore fairness, security and shared prosperity. <br><br><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Brothers and sisters, the coming election is a choice about values. </b>President Obama honors the values of hard work, mutual respect and of solving problems together—not every person for himself or herself. Each of the Republican presidential candidates, on the other hand, has pledged to uphold the special privileges of Wall Street and the 1%—privileges that have produced historic economic inequality and drowned out the voices of working people in America. <br><br><b style="font-weight: bold; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=5rZljWgqnfh1Vy6moGL1j9BNdBX395S1" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Please join us in pledging to get to work for working people by supporting President Obama and all working family candidates</a>.</b><br><br><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Working people are the Davids standing up to Goliath in today’s politics.</b> Our strength is in our numbers, our values and plain, hard work. When we come together, we are formidable. And for this election, we are coming together like never before. <br><br>Thank you for all the work you do.<br><br>In Solidarity,<br><br>Richard L. Trumka<br>President, AFL-CIO<br><br>P.S. Here are some key reasons we support the president’s re-election:</p><ol><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Verdana; ">He took America from the brink of a second Great Depression by pressing Congress to pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which saved or created 3.6 million jobs.<br> </li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Verdana; ">He championed comprehensive health insurance reform, which—while far from perfect—set the nation on a path toward the health security that had eluded our country for nearly 100 years.<br> </li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Verdana; ">He insisted upon Wall Street reform—passed over the objection of almost every Republican. Now, we can finally begin to reverse decades of financial deregulation that put our entire economy at risk.</li></ol><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; ">For these reasons—and many more—President Obama has earned the support of working people for a second term. We hope you’ll <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=AtgpGxZ/Gwg/uLqKSV8tG9BNdBX395S1" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">join us today in pledging to support his re-election</b></a>. You can read more about why we’re supporting the president <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=pkqdVJ%2BZLgoAx4BgYhgeF4sujxx1lV6s" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">here</b></a>.</p></td></tr><tr><td><hr><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; ">To find out more about the AFL-CIO, please visit our website at <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=Luux4/oheh5JKn3r0bgS59BNdBX395S1" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">www.aflcio.org</b></a>.</p><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; "><br></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><font style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; ">The Gender of Media Creators Affects What We See</strong></font><br style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Anne Elizabeth Moore and Mickey Zacchilli, Truthout: "For Women's History Month, 'Ladydrawers' offers part two of our look at gender disparity in hiring practices across all media ... an issue underscored by VIDA's release of 2011 gender counts in literary publishing last month. What we start to see when we compare labor stats to content concerns is a direct relationship between who makes and edits our news, art and popular culture - and how women are portrayed in media." </span><br style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=dUVE2lpPEohuf39MIBXFHhz7sJmbq2QM" target="_blank" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font color="#cc0000" style="line-height: normal; ">Read the Illustrated Story</font></a><span style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "> </span>
</div><div><span style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></span></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><div align="center" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a href="http://action.ufw.org/page/m/3bed9c1b/14563619/46813950/2b46a563/3656457304/VEsH/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img longdesc="http://www.ufw.org/" src="http://www.ufw.org/images/unitedfarmworkerswrapper.jpg" border="0" alt="wrapper" width="633" height="85" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; "></a><br><a href="http://action.ufw.org/page/m/3bed9c1b/14563619/46813950/2b46a560/3656457304/VEsE/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img longdesc="https://secure.ufw.org/page/contribute/sparechange" src="http://www.ufw.org/images/donatebar.gif" border="0" alt="donate" width="633" height="28" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; "></a><br></div><table align="center" border="2" bordercolor="#000000" width="632" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><tbody><tr><td height="1030" valign="top" width="444"><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><a href="http://action.ufw.org/page/m/3bed9c1b/14563619/46813950/2b46a561/3656457304/VEsF/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><span style="line-height: 26px; font-size: 20px; "><strong style="font-weight: bold; "><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Tell us your story and memories</span></strong></span></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 18px; font-size: 14px; "><a href="http://action.ufw.org/page/m/3bed9c1b/14563619/46813950/2b46a561/3656457304/VEsC/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img align="left" alt="" height="213" src="http://action.ufw.org/page/-/shareyourstory copy1.jpg" width="171" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; "></a>You have the unique chance to help capture history—<strong style="font-weight: bold; "><em>yours!</em></strong><br><br>Preparing to observe its 50th anniversary,<span style="font-weight: bold; "></span>the<strong style="font-weight: bold; "> United Farm Workers is launching a unique interactive web site,<a href="http://action.ufw.org/page/m/3bed9c1b/14563619/46813950/2b46a56e/3656457304/VEsD/" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">www.ufwstories.com</a>.</strong> It will document the accounts of thousands of men, women and children who participated over five historic decades with Cesar Chavez and the UFW. It will tell the story of how millions of Americans, 17 million adults in a 1975 nationwide poll, rallied to the farm workers’ cause and continue to support it.<br><br>These stories range from strikers, full-time organizers and staff to volunteer pickets, marchers and countless consumers who boycotted grapes and other products. <strong style="font-weight: bold; ">The UFW asks you to share what you did, and are still doing, for farm workers in this official and premiere location that preserves these stories and makes them available for future generations</strong>.<br><br>Were you a supporter, farm worker or on staff?</span></p><ul style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 1em; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 1em; "><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="line-height: 18px; font-size: 14px; ">Did you stand in front of your local supermarket to promote the boycott?</span><br> </li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="line-height: 18px; font-size: 14px; ">Did you join the boycott on your campus or at home?</span><br> </li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="line-height: 18px; font-size: 14px; ">Did you march?</span><br> </li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="line-height: 18px; font-size: 14px; ">Did you work in a strike or organizing drive, on the boycott or in a political campaign?</span><br> </li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="line-height: 18px; font-size: 14px; ">Was your involvement during the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, ‘00s or 2010 and forward?</span><br> </li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="line-height: 18px; font-size: 14px; ">Did you come to Delano in car caravans bringing food and clothing to the grape strikers?</span><br> </li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="line-height: 18px; font-size: 14px; ">Did you fan out across the country to distant cities to organize the boycott?</span></li></ul><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 18px; font-size: 14px; "><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">Your story need not be about a momentous event.</strong> <strong style="font-weight: bold; ">It can be an account of the countless every-day acts of support and selflessness that allowed the UFW to succeed </strong>where others failed for 100 years to organize farm workers. This novel web site acknowledges all the people whose important contributions are too often ignored or forgotten.<br><br><em><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">Whatever it is, tell us the story of your activism, contributions and sacrifices</strong>. </em>Post a photograph or memento along with a description of any length about what you did or continue to do to support La Causa or share a special memory or story. After you post your story, read the accounts and view the photos and mementos of others like you who participated in this important part of America’s history.<br><br><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">Please add your story today at: <a href="http://action.ufw.org/page/m/3bed9c1b/14563619/46813950/2b46a561/3656457304/VEsA/" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">www.ufwstories.com</a></strong>.<br><br><em><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">The unique capabilities of this website will also let you share your accounts—and others’ stories—on Facebook, Twitter & Google+.</strong></em><br></span></p></td><td valign="top" width="170"><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 22px; font-size: 17px; "><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">Being Part of History</strong></span></p><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><img alt="" height="161" src="http://action.ufw.org/page/-/cecold.jpg" width="161"></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 15px; font-size: 12px; ">Fifty years ago, in summer 1962, Cesar Chavez ended the first leg of his long organizing journey. He covered nearly 15,000 miles in 86 days. He picked peas, staked grapes, suckered vines. And he met with more than 2,000 farm workers in the fields, along dirt roads and in hundreds of little barrio houses in one impoverished rural community after another.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 15px; font-size: 12px; ">By the mid-1960s, those baby steps became the Delano Grape Strike, the longest continuing strike in farm labor history. With help from thousands who joined the grape strikers in La Causa, the picket lines moved from the vineyards to supermarkets in cities across North America thousands of miles away where millions from all walks of life boycotted grapes and other products.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 15px; font-size: 12px; ">What began back then produced many changes for farm workers. In the process, the farm workers inspired millions of people who never worked on a farm to get involved in social and political activism.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 15px; font-size: 12px; ">Fifty years ago, farm workers had the courage to dare—and believe. The question today is what will they—and we—dare to believe and get done over the next 50 years for farm workers and all people who still suffer.</span></p><hr align="center"><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><img alt="" height="69" src="http://action.ufw.org/page/-/50web.jpg" width="113"></p><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><strong style="font-weight: bold; "><span style="line-height: 15px; font-size: 12px; ">For more information about the UFW’s 50th Anniversary Convention on May 18-20, 2012, in Bakersfield, CA, visit:<a href="http://action.ufw.org/page/m/3bed9c1b/14563619/46813950/2b46a56f/3656457304/VEsB/" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">www.ufw.org/convention</a>. </span></strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" width="637" height="148" align="center" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><tbody><tr><td height="142" style="border-top-width: 2px; border-right-width: 2px; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-width: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); border-right-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); border-bottom-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); border-left-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); border-image: initial; vertical-align: top; width: 627px; "><p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><br><span class="ecxstyle5" style="line-height: 13px; font-size: 10px; font-family: verdana, geneva; "><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">Check out our website at: </strong><a href="http://action.ufw.org/page/m/3bed9c1b/14563619/46813950/2b46a563/3656457304/VEsO/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">www.ufw.org</a> and keep up with the latest news.</span></p><p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span class="ecxstyle5" style="line-height: 13px; font-size: 10px; font-family: verdana, geneva; "><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">Check out the UFW's Social Networking pages.</strong> Click to visit our <a href="http://action.ufw.org/page/m/3bed9c1b/14563619/46813950/2b46a56c/3656457304/VEsP/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Facebook Fan Page</a>, <a href="http://action.ufw.org/page/m/3bed9c1b/14563619/46813950/2b46a56d/3656457304/VEsHBQ/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Facebook Cause</a>,<a href="http://action.ufw.org/page/m/3bed9c1b/14563619/46813950/2b46a56a/3656457304/VEsHBA/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">YouTube</a>, <a href="http://action.ufw.org/page/m/3bed9c1b/14563619/46813950/2b46a56b/3656457304/VEsHBw/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Flickr</a>, </span><span class="ecxstyle5" style="line-height: 13px; font-size: 10px; font-family: verdana, geneva; "><a href="http://action.ufw.org/page/m/3bed9c1b/14563619/46813950/2b46a568/3656457304/VEsHBg/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">MySpace</a>,</span><span class="ecxstyle5" style="line-height: 13px; font-size: 10px; font-family: verdana, geneva; ">and <a href="http://action.ufw.org/page/m/3bed9c1b/14563619/46813950/2b46a569/3656457304/VEsHAQ/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Care2</a> pages. 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</div><div><br></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><h1 style="line-height: 23px; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="1" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 13px; ">From Immigration Impact</span></font><br style="line-height: 27px; "><a href="http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/03/07/mother-jones-exposes-inner-workings-of-the-self-deportation-movement/" rel="bookmark" title="Permalink to Mother Jones Exposes Inner Workings of the Self-Deportation Movement" target="_blank" style="line-height: 27px; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; "><i></i></a></h1><h1 style="line-height: 23px; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a href="http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/03/07/mother-jones-exposes-inner-workings-of-the-self-deportation-movement/" rel="bookmark" title="Permalink to Mother Jones Exposes Inner Workings of the Self-Deportation Movement" target="_blank" style="line-height: 27px; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; "><i>Mother Jones</i> Exposes Inner Workings of the Self-Deportation Movement</a></h1><div style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Georgia; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; ">by <a href="http://immigrationimpact.com/author/walter/" title="Posts by Walter Ewing" rel="author" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; ">Walter Ewing</a></p></div><div style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Georgia; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><a href="https://motherjones.com/files/full-tanton.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; "><img title="CHART" src="http://immigrationimpact.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/CHART.jpg" height="382" width="575" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; "></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; ">In its <a href="http://motherjones.com/special-reports/2012/03/immigration-self-deportation" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; ">March/April issue</a>, <i>Mother Jones Magazine</i> goes “inside the self-deportation movement,” exploring “164 state anti-immigration bills and the forces behind them.” The concept of “self deportation,” popularized by GOP presidential contender <a href="http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/03/07/2012/01/26/romney-uses-restrictionist-code-words-to-describe-his-immigration-policies/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; ">Mitt Romney</a>, is central to the philosophy of “<a href="http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/special-reports/discrediting-%E2%80%9Cself-deportation%E2%80%9D-immigration-policy" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; ">attrition through enforcement</a>.” The basic idea is that, if you make life hard enough for unauthorized immigrants, they will pick up and leave of their own accord, which means the state will not have to hunt them down, detain them, and deport them.<br><br>This is an idea so full of holes that it carries no water. Putting it into practice inflicts massive collateral damage on the economy and the native-born population. Moreover, this flawed idea is being propagated by a relatively small group of hard-line anti-immigrant activists who are using states as laboratories for their ideologically driven experiments. <i>Mother Jones</i> fleshes out these points:</p><ul style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 1em; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 1em; "><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; ">Paul Reyes <a href="http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/03/alabama-anti-immigration-law-self-deportation-movement" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; ">details</a> the self-inflicted economic damage caused by Alabama’s now-infamous anti-immigrant law, HB 56. He describes the exodus of immigrant farm workers, not to mention consumers and taxpayers, which is still taking its toll on the state’s economy. Yet, as Reyes notes, this exodus is precisely what the architects of HB 56 intended—regardless of its economic consequences.</li></ul><ul style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 1em; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 1em; "><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; ">Suzy Khimm <a href="http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/03/kris-kobach-anti-immigration-laws-sb-1070" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; ">profiles</a> Kris Kobach, the Kansas Secretary of State and legal activist who is the prime architect of the anti-immigrant bills now making their way through state houses across the country. Khimm describes not only this latest of Kobach’s anti-immigrant crusades, but also his early years in John Ashcroft’s Justice Department, where he took aim at Arab immigrants in the wake of 9/11. It was at this time that Kobach first made his dubious assertion “that local and state officials have the ‘inherent authority’ to enforce federal immigration laws.”</li></ul><ul style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 1em; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 1em; "><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; ">Ian Gordon <a href="http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/03/john-tanton-anti-immigration-laws" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; ">builds</a> an “immigration hardliner family tree” to serve as “a guide to the funders, think tanks, lawyers, and politicians behind harsh Arizona-style legislation.” Naturally, this family tree begins with John Tanton, the Michigan eye surgeon who was instrumental in creating three of the modern anti-immigrant movement’s institutional stalwarts: the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and NumbersUSA. Not surprisingly, Kris Kobach is enmeshed in Tanton’s web.</li></ul><ul style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 1em; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 1em; "><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; ">Ian Gordon and Tasneem Raja <a href="http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/03/anti-immigration-law-database" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; ">map</a> out the 164 state anti-immigrant laws which have passed since 2010. These laws dealt with “everything from driver’s license eligibility to the mandatory use of E-Verify.” Gordon and Raja point out that “private-prison companies like Corrections Corporation of America” stand to benefit financially from these laws as more immigrants are detained.</li></ul><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><i>Mother Jones</i> exposes the concept of “self-deportation” for what it really is: a unworkable and cynical “solution” to the problem of unauthorized immigration that doesn’t actually solve anything. Driven by anti-immigrant ideology, a small cadre of activists is pushing this absurd concept upon any state lawmaker who is uninformed enough to take it seriously. But lawmakers should educate themselves: “self-deportation” is a dead-end.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; ">Photo by <i>Mother Jones:</i> <a href="https://motherjones.com/files/full-tanton.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; ">The Immigration Hardliner Family Tree</a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><br></p></div></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><table align="center" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="700" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><tbody><tr><td><table align="center" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="100%" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=VtdkYKjnc%2B8Tp33kRDMTRHbb/2fAODJU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/aflcionowblog_700x100.jpg" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; "></a></td></tr><tr><td><table align="left" cellpadding="13" border="0" width="700" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">March 13, 2012</b></span></span></p><table align="right" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="7" border="0" style="line-height: 17px; width: 22px; height: 38px; "><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=pi3B6GqqbIkXOE6/9Xmprnbb/2fAODJU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" alt="'Right to work' protest" title="'Right to work' protest" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/Ignoring-Workers-Minn.jpg" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; "></a><br><span style="line-height: 13px; font-size: 10px; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=WW92RD6m6NjR%2BrA5IaC7LXbb/2fAODJU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font color="navy" style="line-height: normal; ">More than 1,500 working Minnesotans packed the state capitol to protest a so-called right to work constitutional amendment</font></a>.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">Voter ID laws in <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=VzGLVDtTD%2BrpOUrGoVBrInbb/2fAODJU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; "><font color="navy" style="line-height: normal; ">Texas</font></b></a> and <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=pEmCMtEX5RIKi6pDOYv8K3bb/2fAODJU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; "><font color="navy" style="line-height: normal; ">Wisconsin</font></b></a> that were pushed by tea party Republicans and corporate front groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (<a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=UIxmrGudYVAEPmWvXnauRHbb/2fAODJU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; "><font color="navy" style="line-height: normal; ">ALEC</font></b></a>) were struck down yesterday. The U.S. Department of Justice said the Texas law would discriminate against Latinos, and a Wisconsin judge ruled the law backed by Gov. Scott Walker (R) is unconstitutional.<br><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=j2YyW1LGIEu/KtUESB9Nz3bb/2fAODJU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; "><font color="navy" style="line-height: normal; ">Read more and comment</font></b></a><b style="font-weight: bold; "><font color="navy" style="line-height: normal; ">.</font></b> <img src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/navy_arrow.jpg" alt=""></span></span></p><hr align="left" color="#cccccc" width="30%"><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><img src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/button_most-recent-blog-posts_225.jpg" alt=""></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><img border="0" alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/blog_arrow-blt.gif"> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=wc6nVT9MTGbyJWCglZTDCXbb/2fAODJU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 13px; "><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; ">Ignoring Workers, Minn. Senate Panel Passes ‘Right to Work’ Measure</strong></font></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><img border="0" alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/blog_arrow-blt.gif"> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=gsDKql0QsiHKGg4PYNfRtXbb/2fAODJU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 13px; "><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; ">Take a Real Look at the Trans-Pacific Partnership FTA</strong></font></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><img border="0" alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/blog_arrow-blt.gif"> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=4CmJNh/r6ebQLfMY8RxnBXbb/2fAODJU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 13px; "><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; ">Obama Calls for Manufacturing Innovation Network</strong></font></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><img border="0" alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/blog_arrow-blt.gif"> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=OGM6BywZufIaznba/45BiXbb/2fAODJU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 13px; "><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; ">Reclaim Wisconsin Movement Marches on Madison</strong></font></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><img border="0" alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/blog_arrow-blt.gif"> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=O/p6PK4xYe8GUF3hkIg3Cnbb/2fAODJU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 13px; "><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; ">Union Plus Offers Help for Recent Tornado Victims</strong></font></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><img border="0" alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/blog_arrow-blt.gif"> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=SH1bJMmrdMZZ1P8AWimAOHbb/2fAODJU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 13px; "><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; ">Wage Gap Closes, but Bad News Is Why</strong></font></a></p><hr align="left" color="#cccccc" width="30%"><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=pUqS9oBkMaZW%2Bp0BCXMp4Hbb/2fAODJU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><strong style="font-weight: bold; "><font color="navy" style="line-height: normal; ">Read more important news</font></strong></span></a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "> of the day on the issues working families care about.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "></p><table align="center" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="7" bordercolor="#cccccc" border="1" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td><table align="center" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="100%" style="line-height: 17px; 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Become a mobile activist</nobr><br><nobr>by joining the AFL-CIO Rapid Action Text Team.</nobr><br><nobr>Text <strong style="font-weight: bold; ">NEWS</strong> to <strong style="font-weight: bold; ">AFLCIO (235246)</strong> to receive action alerts and more.</nobr><br>(Message and data rates may apply.)<br></em></span></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="font-size: 13px; ">To find out more about the AFL-CIO, please visit our website at <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=Mv56JW4SWrcgwph6zikcCY9WIp6zolp2" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; "><font color="navy" style="line-height: normal; ">www.aflcio.org</font></b></a>.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; text-align: right; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=GJimPgey9YKueZLv3s%2BzP3bb/2fAODJU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><span style="line-height: 13px; font-size: 10px; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><font color="navy" style="line-height: normal; ">Click here to unsubscribe</font></span></span></a>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; text-align: right; "><br></p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><table width="628" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" border="0" bgcolor="#000000" align="center" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=546G2EyIPFzanJQ0PITBLlUD4/AFNcsa&url=http://www.afscme.org/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" alt="AFSCME e-Action Network" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4002/c/51/images/e-action_header_exo.jpg" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; "></a><table width="626" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="16" border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff" align="center" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><div style="line-height: 15px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; ">Do you want to keep up on the latest fights for public services and workers' rights in your state and around the country? <b style="font-weight: bold; ">Well, it's easy if you <a href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=SniJEnVkiwKnjnXBUF62pVUD4/AFNcsa&url=http://action.afscme.org/signup_page/bb" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">subscribe to AFSCME's Battleground Bulletin</a></b>.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; ">The Battleground Bulletin is a daily email that gives you the latest news and a variety of videos, articles and opinion pieces from around the country on AFSCME members fighting back like never before. <br><br>Check out the latest edition of the bulletin below and <a href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ZvUbyZM5O8U7xNbAn/Bnf1UD4/AFNcsa&url=http://action.afscme.org/signup_page/bb" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">sign up today</b></a>!<br><br>In solidarity,</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; ">AFSCME E-Action Network</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "></p><table align="center" width="590" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="16" border="1" bgcolor="#ffffff" rules="cols" style="line-height: 15px; "><tbody><tr><td align="left" width="60%" valign="top"><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 26px; color: rgb(0, 169, 79); font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; "><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">This is what democracy <em>still</em>looks like</strong></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; "></span></p><table align="center" width="350" cellpadding="5" style="line-height: 15px; "><tbody><tr><td><img width="340" height="208" border="0" alt="Clockwise from Top Left: 'Tier It Down' Rally in Zuccotti Park (New York City), demonstration during Philadelphia Mayor Nutter's budget address, and about 65,000 people gather at the 'Reclaim Wisconsin' rally (Madison, Wisc.)" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4002/c/952/images/2012_03_12_rallies-sm.jpg"></td></tr><tr><td><span style="text-align: center; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><em>Clockwise from Top Left:</em> "Tier It Down" Rally in Zuccotti Park (New York City), demonstration during Philadelphia Mayor Nutter's budget address, and about 65,000 people gather at the "Reclaim Wisconsin" rally (Madison, Wisc.)<br></span></td></tr></tbody></table>AFSCME members were busy this weekend making their voices heard by public officials who prefer to dictate rather than negotiate. In Madison, New York City and Philadelphia, AFSCME members and allies rallied in opposition to anti-worker tactics used by Wisc. Gov. Scott Walker, N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. <br><br><a href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=x3YLFdbcynRhEB1XnCGPSlUD4/AFNcsa&url=http://www.afscme.org/blog/rally-goers-march-to-take-back-wisconsin" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Approximately 65,000 AFSCME members, labor allies, progressive activists and concerned Wisconsinites gathered at the Wisconsin state capitol</a> in Madison on Saturday, the one-year anniversary of Gov. Walker stripping public workers of their rights. These demonstrators rallied against the backdrop of upcoming recall elections for Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, state Senate Leader Scott Fitzgerald and three other state senators. The event also marked the premiere of<a href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=xmuXwjJFbfLuxKX6derm4lUD4/AFNcsa&url=http://wearewisconsinthefilm.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">the feature-length documentary, <em>We Are Wisconsin</em></a>. <br><br>In New York City, AFSCME members and allies <a href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=BgEgq5gHQvbe7k5WdG%2B0%2BlUD4/AFNcsa&url=http://www.politicker.com/2012/03/09/occupy-pensions/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">held a "Tier It Down" rally</a> in the birthplace of the Occupy movement and the 99 percent, Zuccotti Park. They gathered in the public square to protest Gov. Cuomo's proposed "Tier VI," a plan to cut public workers' pensions by an additional 40 percent. <br><br>In Philadelphia, even though local AFSCME leaders helped Mayor Nutter find more than $400 million in savings and $100 million in new revenue during his first four years in office, Nutter has turned his back on public service employees. <a href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=iW3PHbv1ZYAUX5qWbVOZ4FUD4/AFNcsa&url=http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/nutter-booed-during-budget-address" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">City workers made their disappointment heard at Nutter's budget address to the city council</a>, booing and making noise from the visitors' gallery as Nutter unfairly blamed public workers and AFSCME for the City of Brotherly Love's fiscal woes. <br><br>Demonstrators in all three locations this past week did their best to draw attention to disparity between the top one percent of income earners and the rest of the nation, to public officials who prefer to balance their budgets on working families' backs and to the unprecedented stripping of workers' rights. <br><br>"Our society is rapidly losing its moral balance as we demand no sacrifices from those who are wealthy," said Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Executive Director of the Greater New York Labor Religion Coalition in Zuccotti Park, "but make repeated demands for sacrifices from working men and women."<p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "></p></td><td align="left" width="40%" valign="top"><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 22px; color: rgb(0, 169, 79); font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; "><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">News You Can Use<br></strong></span></p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><a href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=BxRV%2BYm4MVqQIzl00WiCN0S579BlO4zL&url=http://www.theday.com/article/20120310/NWS01/303109943/-1/NWS" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">CT: Norwich municipal workers support switch to new union</a> <br>Claire Bessette, <em>The Day (Connecticut)</em>, 03/10/12 <br><br><a href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=sXdTEzxKk0W5/GgHgkWWClUD4/AFNcsa&url=http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/03/tim_skubick_is_gov_rick_snyder.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">MI: Is Gov. Rick Snyder anti-union or not?</a> <br>Tim Skubick, <em>mlive.com</em>, 03/11/12 <br><br><a href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=OuBl6uE%2BiHHrP2CW4ZT3kFUD4/AFNcsa&url=http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID%3D%252f20120311%252fNEWS0201%252f120319981" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">NH: Right-to-work returns to House after delay</a> <br><em>Associated Press</em>, 03/11/12 <br><br><a href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=WS8DbYkqe3qhmzSpVX87UVUD4/AFNcsa&url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/09/us-florida-drugs-idUSBRE82813C20120309" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">FL: Florida to test state workers randomly for drugs, alcohol</a> <br>Michael Peltier, <em>Reuters</em>, 03/09/12 <br><br><a href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=BscXea8EEjf5zavOCOfhY1UD4/AFNcsa&url=http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-12/texas-voter-identification-law-is-blocked-by-justice-department-as-biased.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">TX: Texas Voter Identification Law Blocked by Justice Department as Biased</a> <br>Seth Stern, <em>Bloomberg</em>, 03/12/12 <br><br><a href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=qlyy0mAUk758prP6yZDzu1UD4/AFNcsa&url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-politics-wisconsinbre82b15o-20120312%2c0%2c4762307.story" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">WI: Wisconsin judge issues permanent halt to voter ID law</a> <br><em>Reuters</em>, 03/12/12 <br><br><a href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=R0rOQQszNcXyhEJmjVGIElUD4/AFNcsa&url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2012/03/12/ri_bill_would_let_state_workers_hold_public_office/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">RI: RI bill would let state workers hold public office</a> <br><em>Associated Press</em>, 03/12/12 <br></span></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><div style="text-align: center; "><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><em style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><a title="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=E0I7NcMaSENyHPoE1Lizqkjf6QbosK%2FI" href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=OGWRLBbQYtDRuhHk0IjUG1UD4/AFNcsa&url=http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v%3D2%26amp%3bc%3DE0I7NcMaSENyHPoE1Lizqkjf6QbosK%252FI" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Click here to invite a friend to join the Battleground Bulletin list.</a></em></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><br></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><div style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="line-height: 17px; 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Sánchez</div><div><em> Chair</em></div><div>Edgar DeJesus</div><div><em> Secretary</em></div><div>Israel Colon</div><div><em> Treasurer</em></div><div>Maria Rivera</div><div><em> Development Chair</em></div>Hector Figueroa<BR><div>Tanya K. Hernandez</div><div style="font-size: 10pt; "> Angelo Falcón</div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><div style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0); "><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><div><em> President <br></em></div></span></div> <BR><div><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">To make a donation</strong>,</div><div>Mail check or money order to the above address to the order of "National Institute for Latino Policy"</div><div> </div><div><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">Follow us on<a shape="rect" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1109511843729&s=20724&e=001po5hJXfT2UHmvS17nxTJDVIPk1h1MMMZOOAt_A6NtJeKSrZ7ikM9-Eu1C02vdxVV5DdTlHAklWeXk6Xzp8sm_7KzgJ5cnW_AvPycqQFv0OPNZxIlsPp9X1YjfEj10HPgVKERiMj4oxQ=" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: blue; cursor: pointer; ">Twitter</a> and</strong></div><div><strong style="font-weight: bold; "><a shape="rect" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1109511843729&s=20724&e=001po5hJXfT2UF_KGYXBDeYGvmc--ITJL8P-3j-3RwZ2EWAxa2GpG9m9Zd6U_rH6Oe-w2rdG2EXUIfL9J9sO_jTz3RmohgbNWxzQCNmA3x2-D5hm4vs0R2OPrUqM2iEJOi_4frHBg69hbc=" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: blue; cursor: pointer; ">Angelo's Facebook Page</a></strong></div></span></div></span></div><span class="ecx_mcePaste" id="ecx_mcePaste" style="display: inline; ">.</span> </span></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td><td valign="top" width="471" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" style="width: 471px; "><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="100%" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left"><table border="0" width="100%" tabindex="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="ecxcontent_LETTER.BLOCK3" style="line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 6px; "><tbody><tr><td valign="top" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" style="text-align: left; "><div align="left"><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><img height="62" border="0" width="343" alt="NiLP FYI" src="http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs057/1101040629095/img/340.jpg"> </p></div><div><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 31px; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18pt; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Puerto Rico's population</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 31px; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18pt; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">exodus is all about jobs</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">By Haya El Nasser</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><a shape="rect" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1109511843729&s=20724&e=001po5hJXfT2UHUw6SsqP6EeK3ynas3iABnsaWl5N_JCrr9q6U2U0gT55i6NrbRLeANp9FTB8vHUzp7YB9oPM6mc4xkD-jBz1xMLwbwVExw5Lw0hsYAVBNvND0tmKV6mR-bCTPI04JbbjF1Wmb9szDdGzKwEC0TLvXTIMOaPdZ6eIq-EerCCDY5mhVC-d9MJaYwRVizcIesEp5y9kWat8nSTahTp-doibb-ZHyjzlrfhAJxbg7irCp4bu8mbJBmCqj02lcyTOaZVlCcKpPfdruNkZFu7uqzQkw_8W1ciTDaZyhOCoRuEEnsgzCcMMLwfL--66iEwWZ5_qJsE7Kjdx2mVj1Bbuk8CqeVmYcTXsgCPungZTBrq5uKul-ypbOsqdA1QV3ttuRz4gLv0CM9sVJtFDcEJZoosAgul4HjF8gp2Jh7fsAYv8kRCrJokZaX3HmdZwgFlxNSx2Y=" target="_blank" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; ">USA Today</a> </span></em>(March 12, 2012)</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Mayagüez, Puerto Rico- Here, about 100 miles from the tourist-filled beaches, cobblestone streets and historic forts of Old San Juan and the imposing cruise ships docked near the walled city, the main attraction has little to do with tourism. The real draw is the University of Puerto Rico's swelling ranks of engineering, science and nursing graduates looking for work.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Recruiters for companies such as Boeing and Disney, NASA and other U.S. government agencies, school districts and hospitals from Texas to Florida flock to career fairs in this industrial city on the island's western shore.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">They're aggressively courting the most coveted slice of the U.S. workforce: college grads trained in all the hot-button STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) disciplines. Add that these students are bilingual, don't need a passport, visa or any government permission to work stateside, and it's clear why they're a hot commodity, even in a down economy.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Puerto Rico has seen a historic population decline in the past few years, and this "brain drain" is a mere symptom of a larger problem rooted in an enduring recession where unemployment is still above 14%, compared with 8.3% nationally.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">To the chagrin of many Puerto Ricans, luring the best and brightest off the island has become a breeze.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Consider this just the latest chapter in Puerto Rico's story, one shaped by its complex relationship with the United States. It's a commonwealth - not a state - yet its residents are U.S. citizens who can vote in U.S. elections when they're living in any of the 50 states or the District of Columbia.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">How bad is the exodus? So many residents are leaving the island that more Puerto Ricans now live on the mainland than in Puerto Rico. The commonwealth's population had a steeper loss than any of the 50 states since 2006, according to the Census Bureau. In the year ended July 1, 2011, the island lost about 15,000 residents, a 0.4% slide, to a current population of 3.7 million. That's a bigger drop than Rhode Island and Michigan, the only states to see a decline.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Increasingly, the exodus is led by educated professionals - young and middle-aged.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Young people and families are leaving primarily for jobs, but also to get away from a spike in crime (more than 1,000 murders last year, a record high that topped 983 the previous year) and an increasingly active drug trade coupled with widespread police corruption.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">A poll by global market research company Ipsos last October found that 1.5 million people, or 45% of islanders, have considered leaving - most for U.S. states. About a quarter of those Puerto Ricans have taken steps to do so, the poll found.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">"Professionals are being forced to leave," says Daphne Santa, a speech and language pathologist at the Orlando VA Medical Center and chairwoman of the Puerto Rican Professionals Association based in South Florida. "It's not that they want to."</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">"It's a substantial concern," acknowledges Secretary of Commerce José Pérez-Riera. "We don't want to see the population leave."</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">"It's a brain drain," Santa says. "I'm afraid the island will continue to deteriorate because all the thinkers, the intellectuals, are forced to leave."</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">At the same time, the number of births has slid from 60,000 in 2000 to 42,000 a year today.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">"It's basically the bad economy," says Harold Toro-Tulla, research director at the Center for the New Economy, a San Juan-based think tank. "When people face a tough time, they decide to postpone marriage."</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">The island suffered some of the same speculative housing fever that gripped much of the USA. Housing values have dropped about 25% since 2007. A luxury high-rise condominium towers over De Diego Avenue in San Juan, offering health club amenities and superb ocean views. But most of its units sit empty.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Educated and mobile</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">More than 20% of Hispanics in Puerto Rico have a bachelor's degree, a higher educational attainment than people of Puerto Rican origin living in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (16%), according to the Pew Hispanic Center.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">"When you go to a job fair (in Puerto Rico), there are thousands of candidates," says Nestor Ramirez, director for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's technology center group in Alexandria, Va., and a Puerto Rican who returns to the island at least once a year. He recruits about 30 people a year on average in an effort to boost the number of Hispanics in the federal workforce.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">"I met a lot of students who work for cellphone or video stores, and they've graduated," Ramirez says.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Puerto Ricans have come stateside, returned home, come back and returned again for decades. In 1950, about 250,000 Puerto Rican natives lived stateside. Today: About 1.5 million, or a third of the 4.6 million Puerto Ricans living stateside, were born on the island. They are the second-largest Hispanic group in the USA (after those of Mexican descent).</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Although New York and nearby northeastern states were the prime destinations for much of the 20th century, more Puerto Ricans are now drawn to central Florida, a destination much closer in miles and temperatures. Only a third of recent Puerto Rican migrants went to New York.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Florida is gaining a net 7,300 Puerto Ricans a year, far more than any other state. Texas, North Carolina and Georgia - all states that were not prime destinations in previous decades - have started to attract more Puerto Ricans. A temperate climate and a strong economy, especially in Texas, are the main draws.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">-------------------------------------------------------------------</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Top destinations for Puerto Ricans</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 9px; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 5pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Net flows of Puerto Ricans to the top 10 states</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">each year between 2007 and 2009. Figures</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">are rounded:</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 9px; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 5pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Florida: 7,300</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Pennsylvania: 3,500</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Texas: 2,600</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Massachusetts: 2,500</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Connecticut: 1,500</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Ohio: 1,500</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Georgia: 1,400</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">North Carolina: 1,100</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Virginia: 1,000</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Maryland: 1,000</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 3px; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 2pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 15px; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt; "><i>Source: Census Bureau's American Community Survey</i></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="line-height: 15px; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt; "><i>with analysis by Paul Overberg, USA TODAY</i></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">-------------------------------------------------------------------</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">The island's complicated relationship with the United States goes back to the Spanish-American War in 1898. Puerto Rico ("rich port" in Spanish) is a former Spanish colony that became a U.S. territory after that war. Puerto Ricans were given U.S. citizenship in 1917. In 1952, Congress granted the island the right to draft a local constitution, making it a commonwealth.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">People born in Puerto Rico who live on the island can't vote for president and have a non-voting member in Congress.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">The island's unusual status creates something of a schizophrenic relationship with its U.S. neighbors. Yes, they're all Americans and the U.S. flag flies over the island, but moving from Puerto Rico to the mainland requires a much greater cultural, linguistic (Spanish and English are official languages, but Spanish dominates) and social leap than moving from Idaho to Utah or Michigan to California.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">"They're here for a while, and they want to go back," says Victor Vazquez Hernandez, chairman of the social sciences department at Miami Dade College and former head of the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">This fluidity is why the island's political parties are defined by the relationship they want with the USA. Among the main parties, one wants Puerto Rico to remain a commonwealth, the other - currently in power - wants it to become the 51st U.S. state. A minority party advocates outright independence.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Elections this November will have a two-part referendum on the ballot. The first will ask voters if they want a change. The second will ask voters to choose between statehood, independence or the current commonwealth status. Any change, however, would have to be approved by the U.S. Congress and the president.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">"Statehood preference has increased slightly, but it's never seriously addressed," Vazquez Hernandez says.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Trying to heal the economy</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">For many Americans, Puerto Rico is a port of call along their Caribbean cruises, perhaps their only dalliance with the island. But tourism accounts for only 7% of the commonwealth's economic output. Manufacturing, in fact, is the dominant driver, though it also has taken a beating during this recession.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Less than nine months before the election, the administration of Gov. Luis Fortuño is desperately trying to lift the economy.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Puerto Rico as a film location is taking off (the <i>Pirates of the Caribbean</i>movies were filmed here) and a slew of new incentives - most designed to keep people on the island and get others to return - were recently adopted.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">The vision: become an international service center for legal, financial, insurance and real estate services by levying a low 4% tax on income generated from exported services and a 90% exemption on the payment of property taxes on call centers, warehouses and corporate headquarters.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Here in Mayagüez, the government's industrial development arm is using the 50-building Guanajibo Research and Innovation Park near the University of Puerto Rico's local campus as a life sciences incubator.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">There's Cutting Edge Superconductors Inc., which has developed new MRI technology. Another, LabChemS Corp., provides consulting services to the medical device industry, creating enough jobs to keep chemical engineers such as Laura Andujar, 28, here.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">"Most of my friends are living in the states now," Andujar says. "I know it's hard (here), but there are opportunities."</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Edisa Albino, 30, got her advanced degree at the University of Maryland but came back and worked three years as a medical technician. She was thinking of returning to the USA when one of the new companies offered her a job. She is now research and development lab director for CDI Laboratories, one of the start-ups at Guanajibo that's developing antibodies to viruses in a partnership with Johns Hopkins University.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">'I couldn't find anything'</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">But this trickle of jobs simply isn't enough to stem the exodus.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">San Juan native Gustavo Rosario, 28, graduated in electrical engineering in 2007. He was unemployed for a year and later was employed as a warehouse manager, taught at a community college and worked in the building permits department.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">"I couldn't find anything in my field," he says.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">In late 2010, the U.S. Patent office recruited him as an examiner, and he moved to Alexandria, Va. His wife, Jennifer Castro, finished her dental residency in Puerto Rico and joined him.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">"I'm leaving everything I know - my family and friends," Rosario says.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Fernando Colón, 29, sees every professional who leaves the island as an opportunity for himself. He estimates that more than half of his graduating class went to college in U.S. states, and fewer than 10% came back. Even his parents moved to Florida for a while, came back and now are thinking of returning.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">Colón wants to stay. His Per Capita Consulting firm, run with three partners, helps local municipalities take advantage of federal grants for business development. He sees a future in solar energy.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; ">"I have thought about it," Colón says about leaving. "But there are great opportunities here."</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "><i>Contributing: Paul Overberg in McLean, Va.</i></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt; "><i><br></i></span></p></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div> </div><br><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font size="2">Material appearing here is distributed without profit or monitory gain to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the material for research and educational purposes. This is in accordance with Title 17 U. S. 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