Latino voters are expected to play a pivotal role in the presidential election, just as they did in 2008. This town hall event will explore the tensions in the complex relationship that has evolved between the Latino electorate and the presidential candidates. Will economic concerns such as unemployment and housing foreclosures guide at the voting booth? Will the candidates' immigration policies dominate?
Read MoreRecent reports draw attention to the continuing expansion and privatization of immigrant detention centers and the violation of immigrants’ rights throughout the process of detention and deportation. What are the effects of the current situation on individuals who spend months or years in detention, and on their families?
Read MoreTens of thousands of youth graduate high school each year in the US with an inherited title: “undocumented immigrant.” Passage of the DREAM Act would make many undocumented young people legal residents, start them on a path to citizenship and make them eligible for financial aid if they finish college or serve in the military. While Congress considers—and delays—passage, legislators in states nationwide are debating and passing measures of their own.
Read MoreAccording to the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services, 70 percent of the 50,383 arrests for possession of marijuana in New York City in 2010 were of young people under 30, and 86 percent of those arrested were black and Latino. The debate on the classification of marijuana possession as a crime is heating up nationwide even as the number of arrests in New York has risen.
Read MoreNew York City today has four Asian American elected officials, a far cry from only a decade ago. Although the city has numerous Latino legislators, it has yet to elect a Latino citywide or statewide official. As new generations of immigrants emerge and their children grow up, is New York's political character changing? Can new communities gain influence in government and society and help reshape our political leadership?
Read MoreMore than ever before, immigrant voters are key players in electoral politics and the presidential race. Yet their opinions and concerns are often overlooked by mainstream media. What are the top issues and priorities for today’s immigrant voters? How are the nation’s immigrant communities responding to the candidates’ efforts to woo them—and who will win their votes?
Read MoreThe federal immigration policy debate may soon reach its climactic moment, changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. Meanwhile, our city’s immigrant communities face unique—and not so unique—local challenges related to schools, poverty, housing and more. If you read or listen to the mainstream English-language press, what are you missing?
Read MoreHIV infection rates have declined in other high-risk populations, yet new HIV and AIDS cases among black women and Latinas in New York State have more than tripled in the last 15 years. Women of color now account for 85 percent of women in the state living with HIV/AIDS. Nearly half of the females newly infected with HIV are teens and most of the rest are women aged 20 to 24.
Read MoreNew Yorkers thrive amid multiple hybrid cultures bridging east and west, north and south. Meanwhile millions of city residents have their earsand eyes attuned to their home countries, to their families, politics, cultural life and the flow of money across borders.
Read MoreEvery morning, hundreds of recent immigrants converge on street corners throughout the city in search of work. The jobs can be dangerous, but the pay is not bad, and most laborers earn enough to support families back home. Who are New York's day laborers? What are their working conditions? Is New York unique?
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