Flashback: Port of Entry 2002 Thanksgiving Blog

Joey, friend of mine from many years past emailed yesterday.  He wanted to see if we could find a blog I'd written Thanksgiving week 2002 in my prior "before the word 'blog'" existed online daily posting, Port of Entry.  Well, I've been meaning to get the old ...

Jose E. Latour Nov 23, 2010

As Cuba Admits Failure, Venezuela Continues Its Economic Death Spiral

The pain in the eyes of the Venezuelans I see these days is more palpable and more real than the concern across their faces as early as last fall, when I began visiting clients in Caracas and discussing the EB-5 immigrant investor "just in case" Plan B option.  While there has been a ...

Jose E. Latour Sep 14, 2010

Venezuela’s Land Redistribution is Taking a Very Human Toll

As Chavez continues to eviscerate the Venezuelan economy through corruption and mismanagement, the expropriation of private lands has remained somewhat on the back burner in terms of topics of discussion between my clients and me.  While I have had more than one client whose farms have been sto...

Jose E. Latour Sep 10, 2010

Mexico’s Drug Wars Making My Phone Ring

When I was a  young Vice Consul in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, it was hardly paradise.  Juarez was a big, booming desert town characterized by endless maquiladora factories, blistering heat, and a vast income gap between the very rich who lived behind guard entrances in plush mansions and the v...

Jose E. Latour Aug 21, 2010

Obama Socks it to U.S. H-1B and L Visa Employers

Justwhen I think I’m starting to figure out this very bright man for whom I votedas President, another dumb move from the Obama White House.  Last week, he signed into law a so-called “borderenforcement” bill which I had assumed was part and parcel of the ongoingresponse to what Arizona started...

Jose E. Latour Aug 18, 2010

The Dynamics of U.S. Birthright

Immigration is the topic du jour yet again today and I wanted to share some thoughts.  This morning's Miami Herald blasts several Republicans who are proposing the elimination of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which grants U.S. citizenship to anyone born in the U.S.  Mea...

Jose E. Latour Aug 12, 2010

Et tu, Bill? Florida’s Politicking Attorney General McCollum Switch Hits on Immigration

Apparently there is an epidemic of constitutional amnesia/shameless pandering affecting state Attorneys General throughout the country.  As I told you last week, first it was Virginia State Attorney Cuccinelli opining that local law enforcement officerscan arrest those they suspect of committin...

Jose E. Latour Aug 11, 2010

ICE Not Deporting “Dreamers”

Although the Dream Act, which will offer legal status to some 700,000 foreign-born illegal aliens who entered the U.S. Before the age of 16, remains a dream, an unofficial policy change has apparently been keeping ICE from deporting those who would qualify. Check out the New York Times article: http...

Jose E. Latour Aug 08, 2010

Senate Candidate Jeff Greene: Liar, Liar, Cuban Cigars on Fire

Showing his readiness for the Senate seat into which he is investing millions, Jeff Greene continued his history of totally lying about proven facts, this time in a televised debate with his opponent, Kendrick Meek.  When Meek asked him about Greene's yacht trip to Cuba - a violation of U....

Jose E. Latour Aug 04, 2010

And So Virginia Remains as Bass Ackwards as Ever…

[Yes, as a matter of fact, that WAS a typo in original title! (-;]As much as I love the scenery, history, and food of the great state of Virginia, in which I resided off and on during my State Department years, I have always been somewhat shocked with their legal interpretations and rulings.  T...

Jose E. Latour Aug 04, 2010