Annotations for Subject-headings: Reform

The New York City school system is still looking for a replacement for ousted Chancellor Joséph Fernandez. The controversial administrator will vacate his post in June. From New York, Mandalit del Barco reports.

The New York City school system is still looking for a replacement for ousted Chancellor Joséph Fernandez. The controversial administrator will vacate his post in June. From New York, Mandalit del Barco reports.

Joséph Fernandez returned to the city where he was born three years ago, vowing to turn around the nation's largest school system. In the end, it was his controversial reforms that put him at odds with his own board of education. His support for social issues created controversy, especially his programs to distribute condoms to high school students and his curriculum to teach respect for gays and lesbians. Fernandez had these words after a meeting in which board members voted not to renew his contract.

Joséph Fernandez returned to the city where he was born three years ago, vowing to turn around the nation's largest school system. In the end, it was his controversial reforms that put him at odds with his own board of education. His support for social issues created controversy, especially his programs to distribute condoms to high school students and his curriculum to teach respect for gays and lesbians. Fernandez had these words after a meeting in which board members voted not to renew his contract.

Some of my detractors have said, “Well, you didn't have to get into these issues of HIV AIDS…You didn't have to get into these issues of tolerance and bias program.” And that's a part of a… major part of educating our kids. I wouldn't have done it differently.

Some of my detractors have said, “Well, you didn't have to get into these issues of HIV AIDS…You didn't have to get into these issues of tolerance and bias program.” And that's a part of a… major part of educating our kids. I wouldn't have done it differently.

In a recently published autobiography, Fernandez details his years as a heroin addict and a gang member who went on to become a teacher and later Miami School superintendent. He also criticized New York's governor and mayor for not spending enough on education. Unless New York City's Board of Education reverses itself or is restructured, Fernandez's contract ends in June. For Latino USA, Mandalit del Barco in New York.

In a recently published autobiography, Fernandez details his years as a heroin addict and a gang member who went on to become a teacher and later Miami School superintendent. He also criticized New York's governor and mayor for not spending enough on education. Unless New York City's Board of Education reverses itself or is restructured, Fernandez's contract ends in June. For Latino USA, Mandalit del Barco in New York.

President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton have begun presenting their proposals to Congress about how to revamp the American healthcare system. The idea is that in the future, all Americans working or not will be covered by some kind of healthcare, but what about Latinos in this country, citizens or not? Wilma Montañez is a longtime national healthcare activist. She's currently the director of the Latina Round Table on Health and Reproductive Health in New York City. Wilma, what is the biggest healthcare problem facing Latinos, and will the Clinton plan help out?

There is a situation that in many of the Latino communities, we don't have access to healthcare, period. It's just not there. It's not in our communities. The infrastructure has not been put in place. The few community-based clinics that maybe were there may have been defunded through the years or have not really kept up with the needs of the community. So that's number one…is access to healthcare. And then, we are concerned about access for everyone…undocumented. Will it take care of the needs of specific reproductive health needs for women? Will it cover contraceptive services? Will it cover prevention? Will it cover abortion services?

Well, will it cover any of those things? Let's take, for example, the question of undocumented immigrants, many of whom are Latinos. Does the Clinton healthcare plan do anything to address their needs, or are they simply forgotten?

There is a lot of emphasis on connecting this healthcare reform to jobs, which is wonderful if it means that everybody in the United States is going to be working, but we know that, one: we do have a high percentage of people who are unemployed, in particular in the Latino communities of the country. Also that if it's related to a job, will all jobs feel this obligation to really provide healthcare insurance? Many of the jobs where you do find undocumented workers, they're the type of jobs that usually fall through the cracks. They're the kind of jobs that nobody ever thinks about and nobody ever wants to recognize, and we're concerned that then, the folks working in those types of jobs still will be uncovered.

How much, in fact, were Latino healthcare activists included in the process?

I think it has been minimal. I don't think it has been a concerted effort, using many people in the community, using a variety of people on different levels. I think when you're talking about providing healthcare, you can't just talk to the policymakers. You have to talk to some direct service providers, to policymakers, even folks in the medical schools that provide the folks who are going to be working in the communities. Because I think what's…what’s happening is that there is this healthcare reform that's being established, which is very much middle-class oriented. When you're working with folks who have not had access to quality care forever or if they ever had it in this country, then you're talking about people who may not know how to maneuver themselves through that type of healthcare system that’s been…you know, that they're talking about. So I think that's more the issue. And ignorance, I think there is ignorance. I think that people really don't understand how different it is when you have no access to healthcare, that it is difficult to make your way through appointments and through large clinics and just finding an [unintelligible] provider.

Thank you very much. Wilma Montañez is the director of the Latina Roundtable on Health and Reproductive Health in New York City.

The simple fact is that we must not and we will not surrender our borders to those who wish to exploit our history of compassion and justice.

At a time when polls show many Americans favoring curbs on illegal immigration President Clinton is calling for tighter controls on who can come to this country and stay legally. The President says his plan will reduce the number of undocumented immigrants and also smugglers and terrorists who take advantage of present laws and enforcement capabilities. From Washington, Patricia Guadalupe has more on the President's new immigration plan.

President Clinton's immigration initiative seek to prevent illegal entry into the United States, remove those with criminal records immediately and increase criminal penalties particularly for those who smuggle undocumented workers.

We will treat organizing a crime syndicate to smuggle aliens as a serious crime and we will increase the number of border patrol equipping and training them to be first class law enforcement officer.

To accomplish this, President Clinton is requesting an additional 172 million dollars. 32 million dollars will be directed to the immigration and naturalization service to implement a program that seeks to crack down on fraud by promptly removing those who arrive in the country without legal documents. Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein of California supports President Clinton's initiatives. Feinstein says California spends more than 300 million dollars a year on keeping foreigners in prison. She believes Clinton's new immigration initiatives address her concerns.

You've got to remove the option inmates have of doing time when they're here illegally and they're convicted of a felony, they can opt to serve in a state prison. I think they ought to go back, serve the time in their own prison of their own country.

Democratic representative Ed Pastor’s Arizona district includes 200 miles of the US Mexico border. He believes Clinton's proposals to hire and train 600 new border patrol agents will pump needed money and personnel into the border patrol department and cut down on abuse.

President Clinton said that there would be reviews of allegations when there would be abuse of civil rights, so if the president follows through with that and we have enough officers, hopefully then we won't have as many allegations of violation of civil rights.

But aside from acknowledging the need for increasing the number of border patrol agents, support from most Hispanic members of Congress for President Clinton's immigration plan was lukewarm at best. Although President Clinton publicly thanked them for their help, none were present at the plan's announcement. Hispanic Caucus Chair Democrat, José Serrano of New York said he worried expediting asylum claims at the airport would discriminate against those who arrived with legitimate claims of persecution, but for obvious reasons have no legal papers. But Republican representative Henry Bonilla of Texas with over 600 miles of the border in his district says the United States does not pay enough attention to its own people.

Illegal aliens in this country tax our local communities in a way that's really choking them. Hospitals, schools, economy- and we need to do something about it and I'm glad that he's paying attention to this problem.

Representative Bonilla's concern, along with many in Congress is about how to pay for these immigration initiatives, and Democrats are on the same wavelength. Clinton's immigration plan will be taken up after Congress returns from the month long recess in September. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

With us on the phone to discuss the implications of these proposals are from Washington, Warren Leiden, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and from Los Angeles, Attorney Viviana Andrade, the National Director of the Immigration Rights Project of Maldive, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. First of all, let me ask both of you, your general impressions of the President's new immigration plan.

Well, I think that it's quite a mixed bag. I think that there are a number of proposals that have been supported and called for for some time. I like the rhetoric with which it was introduced, respect for legal immigration and New Americans, but I think in its details, some of the proposals and especially the expedited exclusion proposal will have a negative impact unless it's amended.

We are deeply troubled by the summary exclusion proceedings as well as with the increase in the number of border patrol agents unless there are improvements in civilian oversight in training of the agency and perhaps in restructuring the agency. I don't think that the president's plan really honestly addressed that. And obviously, our concern is that given this time of very precious federal resources that we ought not to be throwing good money after bad.

Let's talk a little bit more about the changes that this policy as announced by the president would make in the political asylum process.

Unfortunately, they have set a high legal standard that will return legitimate refugees to the country they came from. They employ a what's called a safe country standard. There'll be a list of countries, mostly western European countries that have some kind of refugee processing system. If your plane or ship touched at one of those countries, you can be sent back to that country without regard to whether in fact you would have a hearing or protection there. And so kind of washing our hands of you.

From my perspective and after having handled and participated in some litigation against the INS, I think that what I find the most troubling, and again, no one is going to disagree that the process needs to happen as quickly as possible. But the thing that I find most troubling as a civil rights attorney is the fact that the administration's proposal would make it impossible for us to sue them if they chose to adopt policies that completely violated their own laws. And it is the lack of those kinds of checks that I find particularly disturbing.

As you said, president Clinton's tone was very positive. He was careful to repeat several times during his presentation that he did not want to send an anti-immigrant message. However, could some of his proposals play into a larger scenario that could augment the backlash against immigrants in this country? Do you have any fears about that?

Well, I'm constantly in fear of that when the opportunist and people who are misguided target people instead of targeting laws, instead of targeting legal procedures, I become very fearful of that.

Particularly, here in California, the backlash against immigrants is extremely strong. It comes from cities that are banning day laborers who are clearly immigrant workers. It comes in the form of an increase in abuses against immigrants in the southern border in San Diego, and it's a real concern that we have here; that we ought to keep focusing on policy honestly and not on as Warren talks about, on people and on the individuals, and oftentimes it's a very daunting task.

Well, thank you very much for speaking with us, Warren Leiden of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and Viviana Andrade of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund here on Latino USA. Thank you.

I'm Maria Martin. Reaction to and debate about President Clinton's Health Security Act of 1993 began long before the act was unveiled officially and is still going strong. Latino USA's Patricia Guadalupe spoke with Latino legislators and policy makers in the nation's capital. She prepared this report.

In what is called by analysts the most ambitious economic and social reform since President Franklin Roosevelt proposed social security more than half a century ago, President Clinton delivered his long promised plan to reform the current healthcare system. In a joint session of Congress, he outlined what he called six guiding principles. Security, simplicity, savings, choice, quality and responsibility, with the focus on universal access. Although President Clinton offered very little detail, particularly on how to pay for the new system, it was welcomed by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Democratic representative Ed Pastor of Arizona called this a first step in the right direction.

People want change and I'm happy that he took this bold step. It'll probably be the only step we'll have to change our health system and now it's up to us. He made the challenge to us. He said, "Here's a blueprint. Congress a year from now, give me the legislation back that makes every American secure in their in that they know they have health service available to them." And now the challenge is to us, and I hope we do it in a very nonpartisan way and get it done.

When President Clinton speaks of universal access to the healthcare system, he includes Puerto Rico. Under his plan, residents of the island will receive the same amount of Medicaid payments as those who live on the mainland. Under the current system, Puerto Ricans on the island receive only 20% of what they would receive if they lived here. Resident commissioner Carlos Romero Barcelo, Puerto Rico's representative in Congress, is pleased with the proposed change.

For the first time in our history, we're now going to be covered in equal terms with all citizens in the nation. Up to now, the Medicaid has not covered Puerto Rico. We have only gotten 79 million dollars and now for the first time we are going to be treated as equals.

But when President Clinton speaks of universal access, he doesn't include undocumented workers. Under his plan, only US citizens and legal residents will be included. Ira Magaziner, our chief advisor to the president on healthcare, explains why.

We're guaranteeing something to all American citizens. And they're not American citizens, they're not here legally and there's something that we think is not quite right about saying people who are illegally here should get a legal benefit from the country.

Activists have complained that this will actually cost more in the long run. Some go a step further and say excluding undocumented workers is discriminatory. Cecilia Munoz, Senior. Immigration Policy Analyst at the National Council of La Raza is one of them.

It's pretty clear that the decision's politically motivated, that the administration doesn't want to find itself in a position of having to defend taxpayer dollars being used to cover undocumented immigrants. Unfortunately, that decision's really not in the best interest of the public health in the United States.

Unlike some of the president's earlier speeches. Republican response to this one was generally favorable. While some said the proposed changes would create a huge unmanageable bureaucracy, most said they recognized the need for change. Republican representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Florida, says he wants to see change but not at the expense of what he calls the best system in the world.

And that's one of the problems when you have these socialized systems like in England where I hear that the people in Great Britain are extraordinarily dissatisfied with their system now because of the lack of quality and also the total bureaucratic morass.

In the next few weeks, president Clinton is expected to present to Congress details on how he plans to pay for the new system. It is on that particular issue where much debate is anticipated. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.