Blogs at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism

Archive for October, 2008

New Citizens

October 13th, 2008 by Sandra Roa

As the presidential elections move closer to the voting day, the nation is flourishing with new voters, many of them are new citizens. In downtown New York City on Friday October 10, 2008, 239 immigrants each received a crisp thick piece of paper titled “Certificate of Naturalization”. These new citizens who came from 57 different countries were kindly congratulated by Judge George B. Daniels who also led the ceremony.

Just outside the court room a voting advocate group named the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund hosted a voter registration table. According to their counts they collected 141 completed forms from the new citizens on the last day to register to vote in the state of New York.

see photos

WORKING THE STREETS, Female Immigrants Hit the Corner

October 2nd, 2008 by Sandra Roa

Undocumented female immigrants are standing around a corner in Williamsburg, Brooklyn as a first stop into the American dream. The stop, known in Spanish as La Parada, is an unofficial hiring-site on the corner of Marcy and Division Avenues. Most of the jobs they find here are cleaning America homes. These women represent an immigrant population that is at the very bottom of the food chain in a devastating economy.

Standing By

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Marcelino Negret, 44, is a male day laborer who waits for work very close to the female day laborer site. He explains the situation that bring the women here.

Pressures & Barriers

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Miriam Logano came from Ecuador eight years ago in order to send money home to her three children back home. She is struggling to keep afloat a declining economy.

The Female Stop/ La Parada

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Bonfilia Balbaneda, 42, an undocumented mother of two, arrived in New York one-year ago. Listen to her describe the scene at the stop/ La Parada.

My First Day

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Bonfilia shares her experience as a newcomer to La Parada.

I am Mexican

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Bonfilia speaks about who she is.