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“They set out with little or no money. Thousands, shelter workers say, make their way through Mexico clinging to the sides and tops of freight trains. Since the 1990s, Mexico and the United States have tried to thwart them. To evade Mexican police and immigration authorities, the children jump on and off the moving train cars. Sometimes they fall, and the wheels tear them apart.”--Sonia Nazario, “Enrique’s Journey,” September 29, 2002 It has now been 12 years since Sonia Nazario won the Pulitze

1. A new lawsuit filed in federal court challenges restrictive ballot access laws for independent candidates in New Mexico. The lawsuit, filed by a member of the Public Education Committee, says the significantly higher bar in signatures required for independent candidates to appear on the ballot places an unfair burden on independents. Tyson Parker, the committee member, filed the lawsuit after he failed to get the 2,196 signatures needed to gain ballot access. "For independents running for t

In June, the junior Republican senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul, weighed in on the always controversial issue of immigration reform. The libertarian-leaning darling of the tea party tread into precarious territory by supporting efforts to reform the country's immigration system, something that some say cost his colleague, U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), dearly. Paul reportedly took part in a conference call with the Partnership for the New American Economy, a pro-reform group, on June 11, prompt

For the first time in 15 years, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce met with Cuban dictator Raúl Castro last month to analyze investment possibilities and the reforms implemented by the regime. Thomas Donohue says he went to Cuba to "support" the opening of the island. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is one of the open lobbyists that push for the end of all trade restrictions between the United States and the Caribbean island. Cargill, the largest grain trader in the world, also supports

It’s no secret that the Keystone issue is a political powder keg. Neither is it a secret that it’s a controversial topic pitting two traditional foes: environmentalists versus big oil. Very murky, however, is what benefit Keystone XL offers the United States.As in so many situations, in order to understand the present, we need to understand the past and Keystone has a bit of a checkered and rapidly evolving past. With blinding speed, progress on the Keystone project began in 2005 when it was pr

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been described as “the biggest free trade deal you’ve never heard of.” The arrangement would liberalize trade by bringing down protective tariffs and “harmonizing” regulations and standards in order to facilitate the exchange of goods and services across 12 countries along the Pacific rim. While the agreement is being negotiated, experts and politicians are debating the potential effects of the TPP on the United States. Liberal economist Paul Krugman sco

Demonstrating a national sea change in views toward same-sex marriage, Pennsylvania is the latest state to see its ban on same-sex marriage ruled unconstitutional in federal court. This time the law was overturned by a Bush-appointed judge, a decision supported by the state's Republican governor, Tom Corbett. Corbett has even been outspoken in his views that marriage should be between one man and one woman. The ruling also took an added step in striking down the law than other previous states.

For the 46.5 million Americans living below the poverty line, 16 million of which are children, life has become a consistent struggle. This struggle does not simply begin and end with monetary concerns, but in fact surrounds both a physical and mental exertion of the individual.Using the national U.S. census and NCCP, researchers found that in 2013, the poverty line rested at $11,490, a number which equates an individual working full time while only making $5.00 – far below the national minimum

The hits just keep coming for Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki. For weeks, stories of the deplorable policies and procedures in place at VA Medical Centers across the country have continued to surface and have stirred outrage among service members, veterans, and Americans at large. As these accounts continue to emerge, an increasing number of Americans are calling for justice, but justice doesn't seem to be forthcoming. Earlier this month, more accounts of "secret wait lists" emerged in

President Barack Obama often received criticism during his first term in office for neglecting Latin America. Between his attempts to draw down American military involvement in the Middle East and the domestic fight for the Affordable Care Act, many analysts believed that Obama failed to adequately address the myriad of issues that face U.S.-Latin American relations and therefore lost an opportunity to restart strong diplomatic relations with the region. Toward the end of Obama's first term, ho