BACKLOGS, E-VERIFY, AND ICE RAIDS. Leading immigrant advocates are being invited to comment on various topics, including the pledge by immigration authorities to clear a high number of backlogged citizenship applications, the community efforts in the San Francisco Bay Area to bring relief for detained immigrant workers and parents who are fearful about ICE raids, and congressional hearings on the E-Verify system.

Guests: Angélica Salas, director, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles - CHIRLA; Renee Saucedo, Executive director, Centro Legal de la Raza, and San Francisco Day Laborer Program, San Francisco, CA.

‘BANDANA PROJECT’. Community groups across the nation come together in a project to decorate museums, community halls, and schools with bandanas in a symbolic gesture to raise awareness about the sexual harassment and abuse of farmworker women. Many farmworker women use bandanas on the job to cover their faces and bodies to discourage unwanted sexual attention. This is a conversation with rape or sexual exploitation survivors, farmworker women advocates, and mental health experts. http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=303

Guests: Mónica Ramírez, Director, Proyecto Esperanza, Immigration Women’s Legal Initiative, Southern Poverty Law Center, Atlanta, GA; Oscar Guajardo, Hot Line Counselor, Unidos contra el Abuso Sexual, Santa Rosa, CA; Lupita Miranda, Representative, Salinas Committee, Líderes Campesinas, Salinas, CA;  http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?sid=127

SOARING GAS PRICES AND GAS PURCHASES. With fuel prices rising to record highs, consumers’ driving behavior is changing. Sales of small cars are rising to record levels and many are now choosing public transportation. This program provides advice on how to save money on car and fuel purchases. It also discusses legislation in Congress to hold big oil companies and market speculators accountable and bring relief to U.S. consumers. This program is part of the environmental series “Aire Libre”.

Guests: Elena Chávez, Representative, Consumer Union, San Francisco; Javier Sierra, Sierra Club, Arlington, VA; Federico de Jesús, Spokesperson, Sen. Harry Reid, Democratic Majority Leader, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.