Guest Column By Peter Schey
President, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law
pschey@centerforhumanrights.org

Whether made out of an abysmal ignorance or reckless disregard of fairly well-known facts regarding immigration policy, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenneger’s recent comments on this subject are hopelessly misguided, profoundly embarrassing to California, and virtually guarantee that the State with the most at stake on migration issues in this country will have no voice at the negotiating table when it comes to immigration policy.

Gov. Schwarzenneger, who has never answered questions regarding the legality of his own employment when he arrived here as an immigrant in 1971, or authorized the release of his immigration files for public scrutiny, has now launched a xenophobic and senseless crusade against the migrant community living in California while at the same time claiming to be “the champion of immigrants.” If he is their champion, then immigrants in California feel they have been hit and seriously wounded by friendly fire. (more…)

Guest Column
By Nathan A. Waxman

It’s hard to feel nostalgic about the days when eating out in Manhattan meant choosing from pastrami, cheeseburger, or two slices of pizza. Today we, and our friends on the mainland of the US, can partake of a veritable cornucopia of world cuisines, authentic or naturalized to New World tastes, ranging from Uzbek shashlik to a multitude of Chinese regional cuisines through Colombian – or, if you prefer, Venezuelan – arepas, all the way to the newly discovered “authentic” gourmet Sicilian cuisine.

The efflorescence of exotic cuisine choices in this country was fueled by the entrepreneurship of recent immigrants from Bogotá to Bangkok, Jaipur to Jogjakarta, who brightened up the American landscape with stores and restaurants purveying the foods and goods of their homelands. These restaurants flourished by employing the labor certification/immigrant visa process to secure the employment of qualified chefs from the old country. This mechanism assured the immigration and continuing services of innumerable “specialty chefs,” thereby allowing the expansion of restaurant cuisine offerings, even in middle-American shopping center and strip malls. (more…)