iPhone app iPad app Android phone app Android tablet app

Kristian Ramos
GET UPDATES FROM Kristian Ramos
 
Kristian Ramos is NDN’s Policy Director of the 21st Century Border Initiative, he also works on Immigration, Hispanic Demographics and the Southwest Border. Before working at NDN, Kristian worked in the United States Senate for Majority Leader Harry Reid in the Senate Democratic Communications Center. While working for the Democratic Communications Center, Kristian was responsible for helping to coordinate events with the Democratic Caucus, while monitoring national news media for issues affecting Senate Democrats. Prior to working for Senate Majority Leader Reid, Kristian worked for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the largest Latino civil rights and advocacy groups in the country. He is currently pursuing to a master's degree in Government at Johns Hopkins University.

Blog Entries by Kristian Ramos

The Reality of Our Safer Border Makes Immigration Reform Possible

(18) Comments | Posted February 28, 2013 | 2:00 PM

Stop me if you've heard this one: the border between Mexico and the United States is an open highway for undocumented immigrants and before we fix our broken immigration system we must secure our porous border.

Given all of the progress made along our border, crime is...

Read Post

President Obama's Deferred Action: A Fair Compromise on Immigration Enforcement

(40) Comments | Posted August 13, 2012 | 11:39 AM

President Barack Obama's move to prioritize the deportation of criminal immigrants, while giving exemplary undocumented immigrants the ability to remain in the country through deferred action, is smart and fair enforcement policy.

In the face of increasingly clogged deportation courts, constrained...

Read Post

When Border Alarmist Talking Points Go Wrong

(38) Comments | Posted July 26, 2012 | 10:38 AM

"The sky is falling," is a familiar refrain from politicians on both sides of the aisle when it comes to, well just about everything in an election year. Such is the case when it comes to our southwest border region.

Despite numerous reports showing a marked decrease...

Read Post

A Clown Question on The DISCLOSE Act From Ruben Navarrette

(2) Comments | Posted July 19, 2012 | 11:55 AM

It is election time and things are getting pretty heated on all sides of the political spectrum. The summer heat has already forced some pundits to go overboard in their political commentary. Take one Ruben Navarrette, who is quick to throw charges of racism around. Navarrette's latest

Read Post

Mitt, Show Us Your (Tax) Papers, Please

(67) Comments | Posted July 16, 2012 | 11:12 AM

Speaking at the NCLR national conference Vice President Joe Biden mused that Mitt Romney wants Hispanics to show their (citizenship) papers even though he refuses to disclose his own (tax) "papers." While this may seem like an inconsequential throwaway election speech line, it does highlight a disturbing dichotomy...

Read Post

Where are the Next Generation of Hispanic Leaders?

(22) Comments | Posted July 11, 2012 | 11:25 AM

Not too long ago the Pew Hispanic Center released a survey which posed a simple question: does the Latino community have a national leader? In 2010 that answer was a resounding no. When asked in an open-ended question to name the person they consider "the most important Latino...

Read Post

The Beginning Of The End Of The Anti-Immigrant State Law Movement?

(175) Comments | Posted July 2, 2012 | 9:49 AM

Anyone who witnessed Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's rambling, borderline incoherent press conference on the Supreme Court's SB1070 ruling must have been struck by two things. First, she had written her speech well before actually hearing the court's verdict, and secondly she had no idea what had...

Read Post

Romney's Immigration Plan: He's Not "Overly Concerned" With Fixing Our Broken System

(67) Comments | Posted June 25, 2012 | 1:05 PM

Mitt Romney has unveiled his immigration platform and it is the definition of anti-climactic. Romney's speech at the National Association of Latino Elected Official's (NALEO) conference had been billed as an opportunity for a candidate, who is struggling to connect with Hispanic voters, to re-orient his message to...

Read Post

While Obama Gives Immigrants Relief, Republicans Attack Their Clean Air and Water

(7) Comments | Posted June 18, 2012 | 1:04 PM

It is a new day in the contentious debate over our broken immigration system, well for most of us anyway. The President has granted deferred action on the deportation of low priority immigrants, giving 800,000 of our best and brightest undocumented immigrants a future in this country. House...

Read Post

The President Has Shown Leadership On Immigration, What Will The GOP Do?

(20) Comments | Posted June 15, 2012 | 4:05 PM

Today the President has shown true courage in granting deferred deportation actions for our best and brightest undocumented youth. He has shown true leadership by allowing younger undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have since led law-abiding lives, the ability to defer their deportation for two...

Read Post

Ambassador Aponte and the Incredible Shrinking Marco Rubio

(13) Comments | Posted June 13, 2012 | 1:15 PM

This may come as a shock to some political analysts, but Senator Marco Rubio is not the solution for the GOP's Hispanic problems. To be sure he is charismatic, smart, young and to the Republican Party most importantly, Hispanic. However he is a single man, in a party badly out...

Read Post

Will The GOP Ever Invest In the Infrastructure for Legal Immigration?

(36) Comments | Posted June 8, 2012 | 2:51 PM

Here is an uncomfortable truth for the GOP: government investment in the southwest border region is paying dividends. Undocumented Mexican migration through our southwest border has gone down, legal Mexican travel and trade with the United States has increased. Legal immigration and increased trade are two...

Read Post

What Arizona's Ban on Ethnic Studies Says about America

(46) Comments | Posted June 1, 2012 | 8:59 AM

At a recent Capitol Hill forum on Arizona's ethnic studies ban, a young Latina, Diana Villatoro, all of thirteen years old spoke passionately about how ethnic studies inspire her classmates and teach a powerful sense of belonging in their community and their country, America. After her speech, her...

Read Post

The Browning of Media on the Internet: A Step Forward or Back?

(12) Comments | Posted May 23, 2012 | 9:00 AM

With the advent of new media and advances in access to technology the internet is supplementing, complimenting and slowly siphoning viewers from television. While the delivery mechanisms for viewing video are changing, mainstream content providers remain frustratingly rooted in a world which ignores the demographic changes...

Read Post

Who Still Stands With Sheriff Joe Arpaio?

(147) Comments | Posted May 14, 2012 | 1:23 AM

If someone asked if you would support a law that allowed local police officers with minimal cause, to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens for not providing legal documentation, what would you say? In Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been doing just this for the last three...

Read Post

Will Romney Ever Reach Out To Hispanic Voters?

(22) Comments | Posted May 7, 2012 | 8:07 AM

Mitt Romney's polling numbers with Hispanic voters are abysmal. The media has attributed this to his extreme statements on immigration. This is only part of the story. Romney's campaign outreach to Hispanics faces deep structural and policy deficits. His campaign does not have the necessary tools...

Read Post

Hispanics To GOP: Dont Double My Student Loans

(26) Comments | Posted April 30, 2012 | 7:31 AM

For most Hispanics, education and the search for a better life is the reason they or their ancestors immigrated to the U.S. Many young Hispanics hear the mantra; we came to the U.S. so that you could go to college and be educated. Tienes que ser una persona educada. You...

Read Post

Memo To Supreme Court: Arizona Immigration Law Is No Solution for Broken System

(56) Comments | Posted April 25, 2012 | 6:05 AM

Over the next several months the Supreme Court will hear arguments over Arizona's state-passed immigration law. Regardless of the outcome one thing should be very clear: the anti-immigrant movement has no long-term strategy to fix our broken immigration system. All these laws have done is...

Read Post

Why The Family Unity Waiver Matters

(19) Comments | Posted April 15, 2012 | 11:54 AM

Army National Guard Spc. Hector Nunez's wife was brought to the United States when she was six years old, in 2005 she married her husband and they gave birth to a child who was born with medical problems. In 2007, after seeking legal advice and trying to naturalize, Hector's wife...

Read Post

Could Immigration Reform Give Latina Workers A Voice Against Exploitation

(18) Comments | Posted April 6, 2012 | 9:30 AM

With so much of the current debate around immigration caught up in the heated rhetoric of an upcoming Presidential election year, it is easy to gloss over the fact that these barbs being thrown around are about real people. The most at risk, exploited and vulnerable populations caught...

Read Post