Georgina Leanse Escobar: The DLG-Proust-Actors Studio Questionnaire

Born in Ciudad Juárez, Georgina was supposed to be a veterinarian at the family’s cattle ranch, “Los Peñascos,” in Mexico. At least that’s what her grandfather wanted. She even went to the University of Texas at El Paso to study science and biology. It was acting in a production of The Hobbit as Galadriel, the wood elf queen, that “derailed” her plan. She realized: “This is a lot more fun than physics, chemistry, and biology; and a lot easier.”

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New York Times: "Why Even a Live-Tweeting Senator Couldn’t Stop a Deportation”

Last Wednesday, Senator Bob Casey from Pennsylvania tried to stop a deportation on Twitter. The senator had been informed about the plight of a Honduran woman and her son who had tried to seek refuge in the United States after hit men killed her cousin in Honduras. She crossed the US/Mexico border in Texas in December 2015, but failed to pass her credible fear interview, which is necessary to seek asylum. After being held at a detention center in Pennsylvania with her son for over a year, she was going to be returned to Honduras that day.  

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The New York Times: "What an Undocumented Immigrant Wanted to Tell Donald Trump"

Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump’s campaign has weighed in on the immigration debate more times than one can count.  Perhaps most famously, he proposes to build a wall along the US/Mexico border and have Mexico pay for it.  In an effort to realize this proposal, Trump recently headed south for a meeting with Mexico’s President, Enrique Peña Nieto, who opposes Trump’s ideas. While the meeting allegedly showed a more restrained Trump, upon his return, he delivered an immigration speech that reiterated his tough stance on undocumented immigrants.

One person who was looking forward to hearing the speech was José Enrique Camacho, an undocumented immigrant who works as a groundskeeper at an apartment building in Phoenix, where the speech was delivered. Camacho has lived in the United States for 24 years. By his own account, Camacho does not drink or steal. Rather, he goes to church on Sundays and owns a car and a home. He has a daughter who just graduated college and a son who is in high school. He has always instilled in his children that the United States is a country where you can do anything, and unfortunately, Mexico is not.

Camacho wanted to attend Trump’s speech on immigration not because he aligns himself with Trump or his politics, but because he wanted to be able to share one simple thought with him. Camacho said, “Mr. Donald Trump, he doesn’t know that when we come here from Mexico, it’s because we’re hungry, we’re needy…We come here to help ourselves and our families.” Camacho continues, “Mexico can’t help us…If it could, no one would ever leave.” Camacho is one of eleven million undocumented immigrants who fear that if Trump wins in November, he will make good on his promise to deport all undocumented immigrants starting on his first day in office. Passing the legions of “Make America Great Again” red hat supporters, Camacho poses one last question, “Imagine what would happen if all the Mexicans left this country,” he said. “Has Donald Trump ever thought of that?” 

The Guardian: "Donald Trump backlash: 'I love Mexico' but promises border wall if elected"

After Donald Trump called Mexican immigrants "rapists" and drug dealers and promised to build a wall on the US/Mexico border during his speech announcing his presidential run, the backlash continues. "The US has become a dumping ground for everybody else's problems," he said in the speech. "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best...they're sending people that have lots of problems...They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

Despite Trump later saying, "I love Mexico," in a statement issued yesterday he stood by his original comments and added that “tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border.”

In response to his remarks, numerous companies have cut business ties with Trump: Macy's decided to stop carrying his men's line of clothing and merchandise (some of which are made in Mexico); Univision, the nation's largest Spanish-language TV network, announced they were dropping plans to broadcast the Miss Universe Pageant, which Trump co-owns, while the scheduled co-hosts and performers also pulled out; NBCUniversal ended its business relationship with Trump and will not air the annual Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants; Televisa, the world’s largest Spanish-language media company, severed commercial ties with Miss Universe and all other Trump-related companies; Ora TV, a production company co-founded by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and TV personality Larry King, cancelled a program it was working on with Trump's companies; and Serta mattresses announced they are cancelling their business relationship (a line of mattresses) with Trump.

In addition, PGA of America said they will not be holding this year’s Grand Slam of Golf on Trump's Los Angeles golf course, ESPN has moved their ESPY Celebrity Golf Classic from Trump National Golf Club, NASCAR is severing business ties and will not host their season-ending awards ceremony at the Trump National Doral Miami, and the City of New York is reviewing its business relationships with Trump-operated venues including Trump's golf course in the Bronx, home to one of the nation’s largest Hispanic communities.

Trump's fellow Republicans running for president have also (mostly) condemned his remarks, and the response in the Latino community has been swift and strong. Lisa Navarrete, a spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights and advocacy group, told the Guardian that Trump’s claims were "absurd" and said: “I’m hoping that the saner, more rational people in the Republican party can put a stop to this kind of thing, and say: ‘No, we’re going to be constructive, we’re not going to needlessly and consciously alienate the fastest-growing group of voters in this country.’” What do Mexicans think of his comments? Well, Donald Trump piñatas are very popular right now.

Oh to be Australian, Canadian, Mexican, Chilean, or Singaporean

The H-1B is one of the most common visa categories that foreign nationals utilize to come to the United States to work for a US employer in a professional position.  The H-1B, however, is limited by Congress at an annual cap each year. Currently there are 65,000 H-1B visas available for those with a bachelor’s degree (or the equivalent) with an extra 20,000 set aside for those with a US master’s degree. Since it’s one of the most popular visa options, it is common for more people to apply than there are numbers available. This has resulted in an annual lottery of H-1B petitions. In previous years, the lottery pool has included petitions submitted on the first five business days the numbers become available (which is April 1st each year).  Of course, this often means that unless a foreign national is one of the lucky people to “win” one of the allotted H-1B numbers, she/he must wait and submit a new H-1B petition when the next year’s numbers become available. There are, however, special exemptions to the cap number as well as H-1B-like visa options for certain foreign nationals, namely those whose country of citizenship is Australia, Canada, Mexico, Chile, or Singapore. I examine these exemptions and options in the chart below (click on chart to open in PDF):

Through all the differences between the various visa categories, one thing is certain: it is good to be from a country that allows you options should an H-1B number not be available. In fact, depending on the situation, these may be even better options than the H-1B.