A little over one year ago a 37-year old immigrant from Ecuador, Marcelo Lucero, was stabbed to death in Patchatogue, NY, a town on Long Island. The community recently held a vigil and called for increased understanding. One can only hope that the memorial service helps to spread open-mindedness and serve as a counterweight to xenophobia.

Who carried out such a hate-crime and why did they do this? The police arrested a group of teenagers who said that they went around town beating up Hispanics as a kind of “sport”. I would argue that this behavior and the fear of others is learned, and that families can raise children who accept and even appreciate differences.

While violence against immigrants is rare, it unfortunately remains all too common.

In 2005, assailants shot six Mexican immigrants and beat them to death with a baseball bat in Tifton, Georgia. Aside from robbery, the crime included racial motivation. A jury convicted the main perpetrator for 120 years in jail, without parole.

Everyone, whatever their immigration status and legality may be, deserves physical protection and the guarantee of their basic human rights.

This past weekend the US Congress passed a bill to reform the country’s health care system. It must now be merged with legislation in the Senate and pass through an additional vote in that house.

One aspect of the bill rarely mentioned in the past week, but which attracted scrutiny, is health care coverage for legal and “illegal” immigrants. The issue rose to the forefront of public conscience during President Obama’s speech to Congress in September. Joe Wilson, a Congressman from South Carolina, shouted “You lie!” after Obama stated that Democrats did not intend for “illegal” immigrants to receive health care coverage. (Note: Please see my posting here that discusses terminology.)

Concerns over spending finite resources on health care for undocumented persons are understandable, though the numbers are not as large as one might be led to believe from the media. While the country’s undocumented population remains substantial, statistics show that less than one in 11 of the uninsured is an “illegal” immigrant.

A report by the Migration Policy Institute details those immigrants who would and would not be covered. Some Representatives want to withhold health benefits from legal immigrants who have lived in the US for less than five years, affecting more than 1 of the 4.2 million uninsured permanent residents.

Given that these green card holders reside legally in the US and may one day be citizens, it seems more than reasonable that they too should be able to pay for and receive health insurance.

Getting health care right is important. So too, is immigration reform. The uncertainties on coverage would be less complicated if the United States had successfully solved its immigration quandary. The Obama administration considers this a priority, and should health care reform pass successfully, immigration policy is on the docket for 2010.

If you were looking for a reprieve from the town hall meetings and tea parties marked by with emotion and rhetoric, don’t hold your breath. Immigration debates, here we come.

The FPA Migration Blog is proud to post a film review by Sean Patrick Murphy of the FPA Global Film Review Blog.  Sean’s review involves issues regarding migrants from Central America coming to the US, namely Honduras to Texas, and the increasing numbers coming from the region and the dangers they face in the process. Sin Nombre (2009) is a film which addresses these issues. Sean’s review is posted below:

Right from the start this film draws the audience in. It is a movie about a young Honduran woman named Sayra who rides on top of trains hoping to reach Texas through Mexico. It is also about Casper (a.k.a. Willy), a Mexican gang member in trouble who meets up with Sayra along the way. Casper’s association with the gang shows how brutal life is for him and his protégé, Smiley. Their initiation rituals are physically punishing.

This film is also about desperation, about the crushing poverty that leads people to risk everything to find a better life. It is also about gang style brotherhood and the long reach of certain gangs. There is at least one point when Casper, who protected Sayra once, tries to leave Sayra by hopping off a train while she sleeps. But she is stubborn and places her fate in his hands and joins him. The acting is superb. All of the characters are believable and the audience sees clearly, even in his quietest moments, how Casper (played by Edgar Flores) struggles with his past, a past he is trying to leave behind. The story also shows how one decision can alter a person’s life, how difficult it is to escape one’s lot in life.

The relationship between Sayra and Casper is refreshingly non romantic. They have an affinity for each other and look out for one another but remain just friends. This film also puts a human face on migration. All the while the audience asks, “Will Casper escape his past? Will Sayra make it to the United States?” It is worth watching to find out.

“Sin Nombre” is available for rent.

Murphy can be reached at:  Lojano at comcast.net

Somalia does not often benefit from positive stories in the press. At present it is probably best known for its ongoing civil war - which has lasted for nearly two decades - pirates operating along its coasts, and recently, reporting on the return of young Somalis from Minnesota to fight for the Shabaab, a group of Islamic militants with ties to Al Qaeda.

Readers, however, might overlook another outcome of this conflict – the displacement of Somalis throughout the globe, and the creation of a wide-ranging diaspora. All one needs to do is search “Somali” and “community” on the web to get an idea of the global spread of Somalis.

A 2009 UNDP report provides a summary of the Somali diaspora. It found that approximately one in every seven Somalis now live overseas, totaling more than one million persons. Top locations, outside of Kenya and Yemen, in Europe (rank order) are the UK, “Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Italy.” In North America large communities reside in the Minneapolis region, Columbus, Ohio, and Toronto, Canada.

Collectively, these overseas Somalis act as a powerful financial force by sending back remittances. This strong tradition of giving uses hawala, an informal system for transferring funds, and monies may be used to support family members, or also as business investments. The aforementioned UNDP report states that the diaspora sends $1 billion, or even as much as $1.6 billion annually back to Somalia. This appears to be an impressive amount, particularly when compared to the $214 million in aid pledge by foreign donors earlier this year.