OLYMPIC WRESTLING

Henry Cejudo captures gold and a piece of the American dream

"The son of undocumented Mexican immigrants who had to work two jobs to keep food on the table, Cejudo gave the U.S. its first Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling in 16 years Tuesday with a stunning win over Japan's Tomohiro Matsunaga in the 55-kilogram (121 pounds) final (Baxter 2008)"

"This is what I always wanted. The frustration was let out. The hard work and everything. I set my goal, I trained hard. I had a good staff around me. I just put the pieces together and I really believed in myself." And moving from the personal to the social, Cejudo added,

"This is cool. Coming out of a Mexican American background, it feels good to represent the U.S.," said Cejudo, who was born in Los Angeles. "Not too many Mexicans get the chance to do that."

"Cejudo's parents divorced when he was 4 and he saw his father, Jorge, only one more time before he died in Mexico City. But his mother, Nelly Rico, raised a family of six children on her own, bouncing from low-paying jobs in California to New Mexico and Arizona, where the family sometimes slept four to a bed."

"A large group of family and friends -- including sister Gloria, brother Alonzo and brother Angel, his training partner in Beijing -- were in the stands for the match. And they made so much noise they were nearly ejected at one point."

"Missing, however, was Cejudo's mother, the person he has repeatedly said was most responsible for his success."

"We always moved forward. We always moved forward. My mom always taught us to suck it up and whatever you want to do, you can do," Cejudo said. "And that's what I did."

"There were conflicting stories as to why his mother remained in Colorado. According to one explanation she had passport problems. Cejudo said she stayed home to take care of her grandchildren." Others say it was because of nervousness.

Repeating some negative stereotypes his coach Terry Brands said, "He has done an unbelievable job coming from the environment that he came from. Could be in prison. Could be a drug runner. Could be this, could be that. He's done an unbelievable job of not being a victim."

"He is the American dream. Gold medals are the American dream."

"And Cejudo had one around his neck Tuesday. But he was also wearing an American flag. And he wouldn't let on which he liked better."

"I don't want to let it go," he finally said, tugging on the flag. "I might sleep with this."

Talk about successful assimilation...

Baxter Kevin, "Henry Cejudo captures gold and a piece of the American dream." Los Angeles Times. August 20, 2008. Full article at:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-spw-olywrestling20-2008aug20%2C0%2C4592238.story

Obama and McCain's commitment to immigration reform tested amongst a hard crowd

Both candidates support an eventual path to citizenship for illegals

Both McCain and Obama addressed a conference of Hispanic some 700 people attending the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials in Washington, DC both were looking to cater their favors but underlined different points:

Obama, "admired Mr McCain's attempt last year to get an immigration reform bill approved by Congress...But he said that Mr McCain had since walked away from that commitment." Obama said, "We must assert our values and reconcile our principles as a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. That is a priority I will pursue from my very first day."

McCain said, "I know this country... would be the poorer were we deprived of the patriotism, industry and decency of those millions of Americans whose families came here from Mexico, Central and South America." But added, "that his primary focus regarding immigration reform was to secure the United States border with Mexico." BBC reports that, "Mr McCain's speech was disrupted several times by hecklers from an anti-war group."

Source: BBC. "U.S. rivals clash over immigration." BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7479651.stm Published: 2008/06/28

The National Immigrant Bond Fund

The National Immigrant Bond Fund
(Bridging Boundaries)

"Robert J. Hildreth, 57, is the public face of the National Immigrant Bond Fund, a fledgling organization that helps immigrants swept up in Immigration and Customs Enforcement workplace raids post bonds...Since spring 2007, the fund has paid more than $180,000 to bond out immigrants snared in ICE raids in California, Massachusetts and Maryland. Word of the fund is spreading, but not quite fast enough for some immigrants caught up in the recent crackdown on businesses that hire illegal immigrants. In the past nine months, ICE has detained about 4,500 undocumented workers and 111 employers, according to ICE statistics."

After a raid in Houston, "on June 25, bond fund organizers struggled to find "on-the-ground support" to help mobilize the families of detained immigrants... One of the principles of the fund requires detainees' families to make matching contributions, which helps ensure they appear in court, organizers said."

"It wasn't until two weeks later that the attorneys got a notice the bond fund was available, we only had one person who was still being detained and whose family couldn't raise the bail money," Jimenez said.

"Hildreth, the son of schoolteachers, said part of his motivation to help immigrants came from his father, a historian."

"One of his big themes was that the immigration story in the United States is vital to the health and growth of our country," he said. "He drilled that into me."

"After graduating from Harvard University, Hildreth worked for the International Monetary Fund from 1975 to 1980, living in Washington, D.C., and La Paz, Bolivia. He returned to the U.S. and worked for major Wall Street firms until starting his own business in 1989, Boston-based IBS Inc., which buys and sells loans in international markets."

"I've been involved in Latin America since college," he said. "I know many, many, many Latin Americans, including many, many Mexicans, so I have a personal friendship, a personal affinity."

In all, Hildreth said he paid $130,000 to help the New Bedford workers, and detainees' families chipped in $100,000, securing the release of 40 people, he said. He said none of them skipped bond.

The fund has infuriated some advocates for stricter immigration reforms, who have called it "traitorous" on Internet message boards.

"There's one more reason — besides humanitarian — that this bond fund was created and it's just as important. It's political," he said. "We hope that if we get a lot of history helping people in raids, plus a lot of contributions, even if it's only a buck, then we can really have a voice next year in the immigration debate."

From: Carroll, Susan. "Illegal workers get help from fund." Houston Chronicle. Aug. 7, 2008. Full story at: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5929129.html

More info at:
www.immigrantbondfund.org