North Carolina

N.C. community colleges are the first statewide system to bar illegal immigrants from seeking college degrees, according to the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

The move has shaken up the academic world by going beyond the nationwide debate over whether undocumented students should pay lower in-state tuition.

“This has really caught the attention and caused a lot of alarm,” said Dan Hurley, the association’s director of State Relations and Policy Analysis. “Charging them out-of-state tuition is one thing, but barring them entirely is another.”*

North Carolina’s community colleges will no longer admit illegal immigrants, returning to more restrictive policy on the advice of the state Attorney General’s Office.”*

Carlos Budet, executive vice president and chief operating officer of FransGlobal, said his company wants maybe 15 or more of The Taco Maker restaurants and its other concepts open in Greenville, and 60 or more throughout the state.

He said the company is looking for franchisees to operate the company’s brand here.

The company’s first South Carolina sites will open in June, thanks to a contract with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Budet said his company would open restaurants in partnership with Wal-Marts in Gaffney and Dillon.”*

Now an agent with Keller Williams Realty in Kernersville, Peregrina has found that being bilingual has paid off, but in ways he never imagined. How many Realtors can explain fideicomiso, or escrow, in Spanish? For his Spanish-speaking clients, Peregrina has become as much of an educator as he is a real-estate agent.

“It can be a very confusing process. Like adjustable-rate mortgages really confused a lot of people, and agents had to use young children to translate during the complicated process of buying house,” Peregrina said.

He noted that in the Mexican culture most people do not go into debt to buy their homes. They start to build their houses and then stop until they get the money to complete the construction process, sometimes taking two to three years to finish.”*

Two Democrats running for the U.S. Senate say incumbent Republican Elizabeth Dole walked away from the negotiating table during a critical point of a nationwide debate about illegal immigration last year.

State Sen. Kay Hagan and Chapel Hill entrepreneur Jim Neal also say Dole’s effort to enforce federal immigration law at a local level is misguided.”*

A state governor has no control over the nation’s immigration policy. But that fact isn’t keeping North Carolina’s major-party candidates for governor from pushing a get-tough platform on illegal immigration.

Both the Republican and Democratic hopefuls believe North Carolina must become more involved with efforts to curb immigration abuses in the state’s driver’s license bureaus, in the workplace and on campus. They feel the federal government has failed to pass the immigration reform measures the state and the nation need.”*

1. North Carolina has taken small steps in recent years to make it tougher for illegal immigrants to obtain a driver’s license or get a state government job. If elected, what would changes to state law or policy would you seek in your first year as governor to address the issue of illegal immigration?

2. Sheriffs in a few North Carolina counties now participate in a federal program allowing them to help enforce federal immigration laws. Should local law enforcement officials statewide enforce federal immigration law? Will you direct the state Highway Patrol and other state law enforcement agencies to do so?

3. Should the University of North Carolina system adopt a policy - similar to that of the state community college system - allowing illegal immigrants to enroll?”*

to read the responses follow the link below

A Mecklenburg County commissioner issues some strong statements about illegal immigrants.

Tonight, some in the Latino community say he has gone too far.

Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James says he’s not backing down after what he said about immigrants last week.”*

The funds are provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Physician Faculty Scholars Program.

Dr. Michael Dulin, the grant recipient, is director of research and evidence-based medicine in the CMC Department of Family Medicine. He also is the director of the Mecklenburg Area Partnership for Primary Care Research and a co-founder of a statewide primary-care research consortium.”*

ESPN Radio has expanded in the Fayetteville market, but the change has cost Hispanics the only Spanish-language station in town.

On April 17, WFAY (1230 AM) started simulcasting the sports programming heard on ESPN Radio-affiliate WCIE (1450 AM) in Spring Lake. Together, these stations have formed what’s being promoted as the Fayetteville ESPN Sports Network.

With the change, WFAY dropped the Spanish-language format introduced less than two years ago when the Norsan Group of Tucker, Ga., bought the station for $850,000 from the Colonial Radio Group. Before then, WFAY carried ESPN Radio, so this on-air programming merger marks a return to sports talk.”*

Among those whose lives are afflicted by sexual abuse, there is a victim population likely suffering in silence and largely unaccounted for because they fear that reporting the crime would lead to another tragic demise: deportation.

Karen Arias, Latina victims advocate for the 30th Judicial District Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Alliance, said 72 immigrant victims reported domestic violence and sexual assault between July 2007 and March 2008. Of those, 48 victims were women, 24 were men. “*

*From: http://www.themountaineer.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

The housing market crash and the ensuing troubles in credit markets in the past year have caused home values to plummet, forced mortgage foreclosures, slowed the economy and put many businesses in financial peril.

First-time, low-income home buyers have been particularly hard hit as lenders are increasingly reluctant to take chances on them.

Latino newcomers have been especially impacted as North Carolina has experienced an influx of immigration, said Paul Stock, executive vice president of the N.C. Bankers Association.”*

*From: http://media.www.dailytarheel.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

The mayor of Charlotte has been “quite an ambassador” to the city’s Latinos, says Nolo Martinez.

But the candidate for governor from Charlotte, said Martinez, head of UNC-Greensboro’s Center for New North Carolinians, has been “the most anti-immigrant candidate in the mix.”

The fact that both are the same man, according to Martinez, says as much about the political process in North Carolina as it does about Pat McCrory.

“That in itself proves the point that when it comes to immigration issues, our candidates have a political agenda,” said Martinez, former director of Hispanic-Latino affairs in the Hunt and Easley administrations. “The dialogue is so bad, it’s as if we’re having a schoolyard fight.””*

*From: http://www.citizen-times.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

One day after members of the morning show on Raleigh radio station WDCG made derogatory remarks about American Indians, the “Bob and the Showgram” crew took aim at Hispanics and the area’s Mexican consulate.

For a segment on the April 2 “Showgram” program, crew member John Clark wore a T-shirt with “INS” taped to it while approaching people in line at the consulate on Six Forks Road in Raleigh. Bob Dumas, the principal host of the highly rated show, insulted some Spanish-speaking citizens when he said: “It made me a little mad when I saw the giant Mexican flag” outside the consulate.”*

*From: http://www.fayobserver.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

José Cordoba, a maker of fine women’s shoes, walked hundreds of miles across Mexico in 1990 in order to find a job in the United States. Today, he is a U.S. citizen with a home in West Asheville, and his daughter, July, is about to graduate from the nursing program at Western Carolina University.

Chordeleg, Ecuador — Cordoba’s home — had been a thriving town in the 1970s, famous for its Incan archaeology and handmade crafts. But then, according to Cordoba, political corruption and rampant inflation made it impossible for him to support his family. Stores that bought his goods paid him with checks that bounced. Cordoba consigned himself to a dangerous journey.

He flew to Guatemala and joined a group of about 60 who followed a guide, in secretive and scattered fashion, across mountains and desert.”*

*From: http://citizen-times.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Information Technology, Inc. (ITI), a business unit of Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV), a leading provider of information management systems and services, has partnered with Nuestro Banco, a de novo financial institution with a business plan dedicated to serving the Hispanic consumer and small business segments. The bank opened in September 2007, and has joined forces with Fiserv ITI to deploy the powerful Premier® core system as they pursue the expanding market from their headquarters in the Raleigh, North Carolina area.

“The Hispanic population is growing at 20 percent per year in North Carolina,” explained David Flores, president and chief executive officer of Nuestro Banco, “and the group’s purchasing power is actually growing faster than the population growth rate. The Census Bureau estimates that by 2050, one fourth of the nation’s population will be of Hispanic origin, yet today, the Latino populace as a whole is severely underbanked,” said Flores. “The key to capturing their business will be to design new ways to bank – ways that accommodate the Hispanic culture, habits and way of thinking. We understand these factors, and so does Fiserv.”

The bank looked at several core providers over a three-month period before deciding on ITI’s Premier® and outsourced processing services through the Fiserv ITI data center in Atlanta. Usability and an array of features were pivotal to Nuestro Banco’s choice, but they said that even more important than the software products were the professionals behind them.

“We wanted a software partner who not only understood the dynamics of the Hispanic banking market as it stands today, but one who could see the long-term direction the financial industry will take in response to its expansion. We wanted to partner with a company who can take us to the forefront, and Fiserv ITI was the only one who stood up and said, ‘We can do that,’” said Flores.

Available for either outsourced or in-house account processing, the Premier software suite offers highly scalable products for virtually every function, including core accounting, branch and Internet banking, business intelligence, risk and compliance, remote capture and transaction management, enterprise business process and content management – all available on the industry’s most popular hardware platforms for financial institutions of all types and sizes.

Among the technology partners serving the nation’s community banks, Fiserv ITI is recognized as a thought leader in Hispanic banking, offering an array of solutions including Spanish-language Internet and telephone banking software, online branding services, and a popular Hispanic Banking Toolkit that provides insight into cultural differences and common barriers to banking for Hispanics, as well as product and service recommendations, marketing strategies, best-practice tips and more.

“We were very impressed with Fiserv’s comprehension of the Hispanic culture,” said Flores. Nuestro Banco is particularly looking forward to implementing Premier’s workflows and processes that accommodate commercial lending, because of the potential offered by the growing number of small businesses owned by Latinos in North Carolina. Flores added ITI’s flexible, integrated software will enable Nuestro Banco to capture a vital portion of the Hispanic lending market by providing entrepreneurs the services they need to grow their businesses.

Scalability was also a factor in Nuestro Banco’s decision to work with Fiserv ITI. The bank has an aggressive growth plan that includes two branch openings a year for the next several years and it hopes this plan will leave them in a position to dominate the Hispanic banking sector throughout the southeastern U.S.

“The ability of ITI’s Premier software to grow with us and respond to our needs, and our customers’ needs, will allow us to succeed and thrive as the Hispanic market evolves,” said Flores.

“It’s estimated the Hispanic population will account for 50 percent of all U.S. retail banking growth by 2015, and yet this market remains largely untapped by banks and credit unions,” according to Mike Young, president, Fiserv Bank & Thrift Division. “Fiserv has and will continue to develop the products and services required for Hispanic banking but it’s really our commitment to this market, and the dedicated team we’ve assembled to aid development and implementation, that makes Fiserv stand out from the competition.””*

*From: http://www.businesswire.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

A standing room only crowd of more than 700 Hispanic students filled a conference room Friday to learn more about higher education. It was part of the ninth annual Hispanic Educational Summit.

“I know that [the students] all want to be somebody in life, and they all want the opportunity to do something,” explained seventh-grade student Avilene Bahena.

Bahena and a dozen of her classmates made the hour and a half trip from Sampson County to Raleigh for the summit. She said she dreams of one day becoming an archeologist.”*

*From: http://news14.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Charlotte’s largest celebration of Latin American culture will move to a new home in October after years at the Mint Museum in the Eastover neighborhood.

The Latin American Festival will take place on Sunday, Oct. 12, at Symphony Park near SouthPark mall, an organizer confirmed to the Observer’s Spanish-language blog, Entérese Charlotte.

The event draws thousands of people from throughout the region for Latin music, food and arts and crafts. Last year, about 25,000 people attended the daylong event.”*

*From: http://www.charlotte.com/
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

It’s a calculated gamble for the media company, which makes La Gran D its sixth Wilmington-based radio station.

The new station marks another milestone for NextMedia because the Spanish format is new for the group, which owns 42 stations in 12 midsized markets.

The 98.7 FM signal is the company’s strongest, with 100,000 watts. The strong signal means regional Mexican music, some of which sounds like polka and is heavy on accordions, will be heard from Wilmington to New Bern and Jacksonville as well as west of Interstate 40, said David Patella, general manager of NextMedia. All told, you’ll hear the signal in eight counties - New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender, Duplin, Carteret, Onslow, Craven and Lenoir.”*

*From: http://www.starnewsonline.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Eight months after opening the headquarters of the Triangle’s - and the state’s - first Hispanic bank, executives at Nuestro Banco are planning to open their second branch by July.

CEO David Flores says the expansion into a 3,500-square-foot north Raleigh location, which he declined to identify pending completion of property negotiations, will require adding a dozen staffers to the bank’s current roster of 19.”*

*From: http://www.bizjournals.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic population in North Carolina. They are also dropping out of school at a high rate.

In Wake County, 17 percent of high school dropouts are Hispanic, but a new English language boot camp aims to reduce that ratio.

“They may not have the support at home to keep them in school. The parents may not know English and probably can’t help their child as much,” student Eduardo Rocha said.”*

*From: http://www.wral.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

BB&T Corp. is partnering with a nonpartisan group to promote Hispanic voter participation, the company has announced.

The Winston-Salem-based bank, along with Democracia U.S.A. will distribute free educational audio compact discs with information about government and voting in Spanish.”*

*From: http://www.bizjournals.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Juvencio Peralta wants political groups and civic-minded citizens in Beaufort County to reach out to the county’s Hispanic population. At a get-out-the vote seminar hosted by Democracy North Carolina on Saturday, he said engaging Hispanics in the voting process was a challenge all 100 North Carolina counties are facing.

“Duplin county has one of the largest Latino populations in the state with an immigration history that goes back to the mid-1970s,” he said. “But, there are only 234 registered Latino voters there. There is a lot of work to be done.”

Peralta, president of the Mexican Association of North Carolina, said the ratio of Hispanics to Hispanic voters in Duplin county was typical of populations throughout eastern North Carolina. Eighteen percent of Greene County’s population is Hispanic but only 65 are registered to vote. Only about 4 percent of Beaufort County’s 43,000-plus residents are Hispanic. That comes to about 2,000 Hispanics, but only 85 are registered to vote, he said.”*

*From: http://www.wdnweb.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Steven Ray Hilsinger, 33, a fomer officer of the Washington, N.C., police department, was sentenced Monday to 21 months in prison for illegal searches of Hispanic motorists.”*

*From: http://www.wral.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Hernandez, who was gay, felt unloved and isolated because his family disapproved of his sexual orientation, Sanches says.

His death left Sanches wanting to help other gay Latinos struggling with their sexuality. Earlier this year, he helped start Luz y Esperanza, a support group for gay Latinos. In Spanish, the name of the group means “light and hope.”

The group, which meets weekly at FaithAction International House, is sponsored by the Mental Health Association in Greensboro. The agency offers several other Spanish-speaking support groups through its Latino Mental Health Awareness Campaign. Stress caused by immigration, domestic violence and depression are often issues they discuss.”*

*From: http://www.news-record.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish