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1 topic to highlight: The Latino pulse after a year with Biden
Some of America's most prominent civil rights organizations are urging President Joe Biden to do more for Latinos.
Why it matters:
Latino voters generally favored Biden over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, but the GOP made gains in the Latino vote.
And the Latino vote will only continue to pack on weight: One in eight voters will be Hispanic by 2024, the next presidential election, will be Latino, according to forecasts.
The Democratic Party, which has long relied on those voters, will need action to continue to win their support.
Big Picture
: Biden's overall approval ratings dipped later this month as he marks his first year in office.
But the proportion of Hispanics who approve of the president's performance (52%) has not changed since September, according to a Pew Research Center study released Tuesday.
Joe Biden Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Details
: UnidosUS and other advocacy groups that have close contact with Latino communities say that while some Biden initiatives have helped Latinos, he must do more when it comes to immigration, economic opportunities to provide COVID-19 relief. 19 and the Latino presence in the judiciary.
UnidosUS just released a report saying the American Bailout Act and the big infrastructure bill were great achievements, but more needs to be done.
The group Mi Familia Vota says that Biden has helped reduce Latino unemployment since the pandemic, but that he must keep his promises on immigration reform.
The president of the legal and educational advocacy association MALDEF, Thomas A. Saenz, said Biden needs to appoint more Latino judges.
Only 8% of federal judges identify as Latino, according to Latino Justice.
In his own words
:
"We've seen some progress and some fantastic appointments, but we need to see more appointments overall and we need to see more of those appointments in legal circuits that have historically never had Latino or Latina judges."
Thomas saenz, president of maldef
Bottom
line: Latino satisfaction with Biden will be a key factor in the November midterms, and almost everyone agrees he needs to pay more attention to their needs.
2. Mexican immigration authorities, under the magnifying glass
The Mexican government said this January that it opened corruption investigations
against more than 100 immigration officials last year.
Details
: Activists say Mexican immigration officials are asking asylum seekers and migrants for bribes at crossing points, especially along the Chiapas (southern Mexico) border with Guatemala.
Some immigration officials are also suspected of collaborating with criminal groups for money, with reports of bringing escaped kidnapping migrants into the hands of cartels, or into the hands of coyotes recently deported people whom smugglers they can be paid with promises to cross them into the United States.
The National Migration Institute of Mexico has not commented on the complaints, but has said that "it will collaborate with the authorities in the investigations against whoever is responsible" among its personnel "for the probable crime of illegal human trafficking."
Agents from Mexico's National Migration Institute next to the Rio Grande in Coahuila, near the border with Texas. Orlando Sierra/AFP via Getty Images
What's Happening
: Reports of collaboration between immigration agents and criminals come after cartels and criminal groups have ramped up their human smuggling operations in recent years.
Cartels and smugglers also make money by extorting migrants and their families, kidnapping or torturing them en route to the United States or after they are deported.
Bottom Line
: NGOs say the continuation of the Stay in Mexico program and Title 42 has made these dangers more prevalent, with more than 8,700 reports of kidnappings and violent attacks against migrants in Mexico in the last year alone.
Stay in Mexico forces asylum seekers to wait in that country, in unsafe territory, until their application is processed.
Title 42 allows expedited deportations from the United States, without the possibility of applying for asylum, as a measure to contain COVID-19.
3. A school gap: more Latino students, fewer Hispanic teachers
The Latino student population in the United States
has grown exponentially in the last two decades, but the same has not happened in terms of the diversity of teachers and professors in public schools.
Why It Matters
: Research shows that all students benefit from a diverse teaching population, with results such as higher levels of academic achievement and lower dropout rates.
Baidi Wang/Axios
What's Happening
: Census data released in January indicates that three out of four public school teachers are non-Hispanic white, while nearly half of preschool through high school students are Black, Latino, or of Asian or Native American descent. .
The disparities are especially pronounced between Latino students and Hispanic teachers.
By the numbers
: 79% of US public school teachers identified as non-Hispanic white in the 2017-2018 school year, the latest for which official data is available, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center.
Fewer than one in 10 of the 6.6 million teachers were black (7%), Hispanic (9%), or of Asian descent (2%).
In contrast, according to the latest available data, 47% of public elementary and secondary school students were White, 27% were Latino, 15% were Black, and 5% were of Asian or Pacific Islander descent.
4. COVID alerts in pregnant Latinas
Pregnant Hispanic women are 2.4 times more likely
to contract COVID-19, warns a study from health care provider Sutter Health, urging medical professionals to focus more on promoting vaccinations among Latinas.
Why it matters
: Pregnant people with COVID-19 face increased risks of maternal death, and of having premature or stillbirths, according to research.
Only 42% of all pregnant women had been vaccinated in the US as of mid-January, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The rate was lower for pregnant Latinas (38%) and pregnant black women (26%).
Women who have contracted COVID-19 during pregnancy had to undergo emergency C-sections more often, sometimes while unconscious and on ventilators, doctors told Axios Latino.
Recovery if they do manage to be extubated takes time and physical therapy, making the early stages of motherhood even more difficult.
A Honduran woman receives the coronavirus vaccine during an inoculation day for pregnant people. Orlando Sierra/AFP via Getty Images
What You Should Know
: Groups like UnidosUS and the Kaiser Family Foundation are trying to increase vaccination rates for Latinas with bilingual videos clarifying the benefits of getting vaccinated before and during pregnancy, as well as campaigns to combat misinformation.
Coronavirus vaccines are proven to be safe before and during pregnancy, with no reported negative effects on a woman's fertility or the unborn baby.
It is also safe to be vaccinated against COVID-19 while breastfeeding, which has the added benefit of sharing antibodies with the baby through breast milk.
5. Summary of key news in Latin America and the Caribbean
Five Guatemalans will
each serve 30-year prison sentences for committing sexual violence against dozens of Maya Achí women in the early 1980s.
The sentence was handed down on Monday in a trial that began this month after a decade of procedural delays, and which represents only the second time that indigenous women from Guatemala have received justice in court for the violations they suffered during the Civil War (1960- nineteen ninety six).
The five defendants were part of the civil patrols, a paramilitary force intended to monitor indigenous areas, especially Mayans, that the government believed were aiding rebel forces.
The oil spill off the coast of Peru puts maritime life and the work of fishermen at risk
Jan. 25, 202201:48
Peru is in the midst of its worst environmental disaster
in recent history.
The government issued a 90-day emergency declaration on January 20, after 6,000 barrels of oil from a refinery spilled along the country's coast due to waves caused by the explosion of the Tonga volcano. .
Peruvian waters near the contaminated areas are highly biodiverse, putting more than 700 species of fish and 800 types of molluscs and crustaceans at risk.
Political division in Honduras causes two boards of directors to be formed in Congress
Jan. 24, 202200:23
The Honduran Congress began its new legislative term in crisis
, as two rival factions of the ruling Libre party simultaneously installed separate boards of directors.
The congressional dispute is taking place days before the inauguration of the elected president, Xiomara Castro;
It is scheduled for Thursday and in theory it should be in Congress.
US Vice President Kamala Harris, charged with addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, is scheduled to attend the ceremony.
6. ✉️ This ranchera is dedicated to the postman
The US Postal Service will celebrate mariachi music this year with a special stamp collection.
United States Postal Service
Details
: The mariachi collection features five charro musicians, each with a signature instrument (guitar, guitarrón, vihuela, violin, and trumpet).
Mexican-born illustrator Rafael López, who previously created a series of stamps featuring Latin music legends that included a Selena stamp, also designed this collection.
The Postal Service (USPS) also recently released a collection of Day of the Dead stamps designed by Mexican artist Luis Fitch.
The mariachi stamps will go on sale this year.
Thanks for reading, we'll be back on Thursday.
Do you want to see some of the most recent previous editions?
The impact of economic pessimism among Latinos
Fighting the climate emergency
The risk of 'eternal chemicals'
Technology for the inclusion of Latinos with disabilities
Hispanics make their way into the tattoo world
The
Latinx Debate
Grows
