“Latina/oization” of the Midwest: Cambio de Colores (Changes of Colors) as Agromaquilas Expand into the Heartland

This article focuses on important developments in Latina/o experience in the United States. Latinas/os are now the majority minority group in the United States. Increasingly, Latinas/os are rural dwellers, living in areas without a historical Latina/o presence. Latinas/os are no longer concentrated into the land geography that was Mexico prior to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Rather, the most recent wave of Latina/o immigration has dispersed settlement throughout the United States. This article discusses these changes in Midwest rural communities, and describes this new pattern of Latina/o immigration to the United States. The article then focuses on the cultural, socio-economic, and racial tensions that Midwest rural communities are experiencing. Immigration shifts reconfigure familiar racial/ethnic geography, create new conflicts, and call for new concepts. On the other hand, these changes create opportunities for positive interventions that might yield new norms of co-existence. The article describes the key legal issues for Latinas/os who have settled in the rural Midwest. Post 9/11, Latina/o “foreignness” has made what should be routine, for example obtaining a driver\u27s license, a source of tension between immigrant communities and local law enforcement. Finally, The article describes how the organization of the University of Missouri\u27s Cambio de Colores conference, based on the LatCrit conferencing model, has created a venue for communities of learning and activism in the Midwest

Abuse in Plaintiff Class Action Settlements: The Need for a Guardian During Pretrial Settlement Negotiations

This Note explores the problem of abuse of the class action device during the pretrial settlement process. Part I analyzes the underlying sources of potential abuse in pretrial settlement negotiations. Part II assesses the adequacy of the standards currently used by courts to detect collusive class action settlements. Part III concludes that the appointment of a neutral third-party guardian to oversee the pretrial negotiation process furthers the judicial policy of encouraging settlements while protecting the interests of the absentee class

Immigrant Drivers: Traffic Safety, Drivers' Licenses and Homeland Security

The question of who qualifies for a state drivers' license, once a mundane issue, has become the focus of national debate - state by state - in part because of homeland security concerns. In fact, 38 states, including Missouri, considered amendments to drivers' license laws in 2002, and many of these proposals would have further restricted immigrant access to licenses. Simultaneously, immigration into states like Missouri has increased significantly, especially immigration from Latin America. Substantial numbers of these immigrants are driving and should be required to obtain a driver's license for their own safety and that of the general public. This brief outlines the problems posed by immigrant drivers, identifies homeland security concerns, and suggests a solution to the problem of unlicensed immigrant drivers that does not conflict with security needs

Only Skin Deep?: The Cost of Partisan Politics on Minority Diversity of the Federal Bench

Symposium: Latinos and Latinas at the Epicenter of Contemporary Legal Discourses. Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington, March 2007

Legal and policy challenges as Latinas/os make their homes in Missouri

Presentation made at Immigration of Latinos to Missouri (1st : 2002 : Columbia, Mo.) and published in the annual conference proceedings