DREAM Act Possible?-- Legislation that would let thousands of illegal-immigrant high school students attend college or serve in the military has a good chance of passing in a Congress controlled by Democrats, immigration experts say. A bill known as the DREAM Act would give illegal immigrants a conditional visa that would turn into permanent residency if they complete two years of college or serve honorably for two years in the armed forces. It also would allow them to qualify for in-state college tuition. The legislation would apply to illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States before age 16, have lived in the country for at least five years before the law's enactment, have graduated from high school or obtained a GED, and have no criminal record. The conditional visa would expire in six years if the individual did not successfully finish the two years of higher education or military service.
Ex-workers sue raided company over hiring--Former employees are suing Swift & Co. for $23 million, alleging the meatpacking company conspired to keep wages down by hiring illegal immigrants. The 18 former employees are U.S. citizens who worked at a plant in Cactus, north of Amarillo. "When the Swift plant opened in Cactus, wages were approximately $20 an hour," said another plaintiffs attorney, Michael Haygood. "Now, the average wage is approximately $12 to $13 an hour. Illegal immigration has fueled this depression in wages.
Meat packing company sued for racketeering
Immigration raids mishandled, Harkin charges-Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa wrote Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff on Tuesday to say he is appalled by the process used to detain and deport workers in raids earlier this month at six Swift & Co. packing plants, including one in Marshalltown
Commentary: Putting a sinister spin on immigration crackdown--ICE shouldn't have to go to the trouble of bending the truth. If these workers were here illegally, and they got caught, then they should be deported. Period. The government has every right to do so, and those activists and union leaders who are complaining about families being separated and portraying ICE as the Grinch who stole Christmas don't have a leg to stand on.
Groups protest children being held in ICE contract detention center in Texas--The treatment of immigrants brought out protestors in Taylor when dozens gathered outside the T. Don Hutto prison on Saturday. Protestors say the prison houses immigrants who are awaiting asylum or deportation hearings. Of the 400 immigrants housed there, they say half are children. "Think about your infant, your little toddler your little child in jail. Think about the innocent child having to wake up every day in a jail cell," Frances Valdez of the University of Texas Immigration Clinic said.
2008 Diversity Visa Lottery Registrations--Over 6.4 million entries for the 2008 Diversity Visa Lottery were received during the two-month electronic registration period, from October 4, 2006, through December 3, 2006. This is an increase from the more than 5.5 million applications received in the 2007 Diversity Visa Lottery. Taking into account dependents, there are more than 10 million participants in the 2008 Diversity Visa Lottery. Most of the applications were from Africa and Asia with 41 percent of the total from Africa, 38 percent from Asia, 19 percent coming from Europe, and 2 percent coming from South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The largest number of applicants came from Bangladesh (more than 1.7 million applicants) followed by Nigeria (684,735) and Ukraine (619,584). The number of winning entries by country will be available after the random lottery process is conducted next year.
Americans, Undocumented--A recent national survey sponsored by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law reveals that millions of American citizens do not have readily available documentary proof of citizenship. Many more – primarily women – do not have proof of citizenship with their current name. The survey also showed that millions of American citizens do not have government-issued photo identification, such as a driver’s license or passport. Finally, the survey demonstrated that certain groups – primarily poor, elderly, and minority citizens – are less likely to possess these forms of documentation than the general population.
Low-Wage Workers From Mexico Dominate Latest Great Wave of Immigrants-- Since the early 1990s, the United States has seen the largest wave of immigration in its history. Of 300 million people now living here, about 37 million were born in another country. Not since the trans-Atlantic rush a century ago have immigrants made up such a large portion of the population.
The clearest sign of the system’s dysfunction is that legal permanent residents are no longer the majority of newcomers. Among recent arrivals, legal immigrants are outnumbered by illegal ones who sneaked across a border, or came legally and overstayed their visas. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, about 56 percent of illegal immigrants come from Mexico.
Rise in Americans abroad renouncing US citizenship-- Some international tax lawyers say they detect a rising demand from US citizens to renounce ties with the United States, the only developed country that taxes it citizens while they live overseas.
Couple wins lawsuit over 'secret' background check
NC license law takes licenses away from illegals: Rule change aims to deny illegal immigrants permit, but doesn't take them off roads --Almost four months after a new law went into effect, a growing number of illegal immigrants in North Carolina are choosing to drive without a license or are finding creative alternatives….Beginning last August, people had to present a Social Security number or a valid visa to receive a license. More than 176,000 drivers had valid licenses obtained with a tax ID number at the beginning of this month. A majority of them are thought to be illegal immigrants. Every month, a portion of those licenses are expiring…. 'I'm going to investigate in which states I can get a driver's license,' he said, 'even if they're on the other side of the country.'
MS county tries to keep non-residents out of schools--Law seeks penalties for illegal attendance at MS schools--DeSoto County is saving millions by rigidly enforcing rules against outsiders attending schools. Flowers has proposed a new state law letting school districts crack down on parents with fines and civil lawsuits to recover costs of educating illegal students.
Border Fence Firm Snared for Hiring Illegal Workers-A fence-building company in Southern California agrees to pay nearly $5 million in fines for hiring illegal immigrants. Two executives from the company may also serve jail time. The Golden State Fence Company's work includes some of the border fence between San Diego and Mexico.
U.S. Is Dropping Effort to Track if Visitors Leave--In a major blow to the Bush administration’s efforts to secure borders, domestic security officials have for now given up on plans to develop a facial or fingerprint recognition system to determine whether a vast majority of foreign visitors leave the country, officials say. Until this plan is finalized, neither DHS nor Congress is in a good position to prioritize and allocate program resources or plan for POE facilities modifications.
The System Is the Problem--Workers need a legal way to enter the country. Businesses need a legitimate way to get workers, plus a reliable verification system - not unlike credit card verification - to tell them which workers are legal and which aren't. And once these things are in place, there will be no excuse for breaking the rules. But until then, raids of the kind that occurred this week can only be counterproductive: Companies trying to do the right thing will be driven out of business, even as those happy to flout the law will find themselves with more of a competitive advantage. And meanwhile illegal workers will be driven further underground.
Lawyers still struggling to find whereabouts of detainees--Lawyers are getting few details from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in tracking those apprehended in the raid at Swift & Co.'s meat processing plant in Greeley on Tuesday. 'I have clients that ICE doesn't know where they are,' said Arturo Jimenez, an immigration lawyer in Denver who's been in contact with at least 11 families who are looking for someone taken in the raid. 'Some of these folks were calling home and now I found out that there are three for sure in Texas.
Governor Romney, ICE sign immigration enforcement agreement--Agreement permits specially trained State Troopers to enforce federal immigration law. Governor Mitt Romney and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and ICE, which will give specially trained Massachusetts State Troopers the authority to administer and enforce federal immigration laws in the Commonwealth.
Ed Meese: Reagan Wouldn't Repeat the Amnesty Mistake. What would President Reagan do? For one thing, he would not repeat the mistakes of the past, including those of his own administration. He knew that secure borders are vital, and would now insist on meeting that priority first. He would seek to strengthen the enforcement of existing immigration laws. He would employ new tools—like biometric technology for identification, and cameras, sensors and satellites to monitor the border—that make enforcement and verification less onerous and more effective.
CBP: U.S.-Canada Trusted Traveler Program Upgraded, Expanded--NEXUS trusted traveler-crossing privileges have been expanded to all land, marine and air points of entry where NEXUS locations are currently in place. In addition, NEXUS will provide processing locations at additional airports in Canada throughout 2007. NEXUS is a joint program with the Canada Border Services Agency that allows pre-screened and approved travelers faster processing at designated highway lanes in high-volume border crossing locations, at a NEXUS kiosk at Vancouver International Airport, and at certain marine reporting locations in the Great Lakes and Seattle regions.
Florida guest worker numbers up 500%--Unprecedented enforcement of the nation's immigration laws is pushing Florida growers to use guest workers at a pace not seen for 40 years.
Ill. Governor To Announce New Benefits For Immigrants-- Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) will announce on Wednesday a wide-ranging set of measures meant to better integrate immigrants, legal and illegal, into the state's economy, education system and workforce. Key points of the New Americans program include increasing the number of dual-language schools, English-as-a-second-language programs and bilingual staff members at state agencies, as well as providing job training for skilled and unskilled immigrants. The program is described as the first of its kind nationwide.
Susan Tully, national field director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said the program will put Blagojevich in violation of U.S. immigration law. 'He does not have the right under the Constitution, even as governor of Illinois, to grant benefits to people who haven't been cleared by immigration and customs agents,' she said."
Nebraska Police Refuse To Assist ICE In Swift Raid--In Nebraska, Grand Island police refused to be part of the raid at the plant in that city. Police Chief Steve Lamken said he met with ICE officials on Tuesday morning and told them his department would not be involved. Lamken said his department has to take care of the Latino community, and participating in the raid may hamper his efforts if they fear the police.
ICE Fact Sheet on Swift enforcement
AILA -- ICE Raids Reveal Flaws in Current U.S. Immigration Policy --AILA believes that what America needs is an immigration policy that allows companies to fill jobs with willing legal workers. "Raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials at meat-processing plants around the country yesterday clearly point out that our immigration system is broken and that America needs comprehensive immigration reform right now," said Carlina Tapia-Ruano, President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). "By not having a reasonable immigration policy in place, we have created a system that practically begs for people to break the law." In fact, current U.S. immigration law provides just 5,000 annual permanent visas for low-skilled "essential" workers, versus an estimated annual demand for 500,000 such workers.
A New Wrinkle in Border-Crossing Cases--A county attorney in Arizona is bringing criminal charges against illegal immigrants by charging them with smuggling themselves. More than 100 immigrants in Arizona have pleaded guilty.
More Local Governments Look to 287(g) Enforcement Agreements-- State and local law enforcement officials feeling the heat from constituents frustrated over illegal immigration and crime are taking a new look at a little-used option that's been around for years. Called 287(g) after the section of federal immigration law that created it, the program allows state and local officers to directly tap into Homeland Security databases to determine whether a person is legally in the country, instead of relying on backlogged Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Hundreds of Thousands of Iraqi Refugees May End Up in U.S.-- Iraqi exodus could test Bush policy: Total expected to exceed quota for refugees. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have fled their homeland are likely to seek refugee status in the United States, humanitarian groups said, putting intense pressure on the Bush administration to reexamine a policy that authorizes only 500 Iraqis to be resettled here next year. US and international officials now acknowledge that the instability in Iraq has made it too dangerous for many refugees, especially Iraqi Christians, to return any time soon.
Costs of Illegal Immigration to New YorkersAnalysis based on current estimates of the illegal alien population residing in New York indicates that population is costing the state’s taxpayers more than $5.1 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration. That annual tax burden amounts to about $874 per New York household headed by a native-born resident. Even if the estimated $730 million in sales, income and property taxes collected from illegal immigrants are subtracted from the fiscal outlays, net costs still amount to more than $4.5 billion per year.
Immigration Lawyer Forced to Resign from Bar--A San Francisco immigration lawyer who took thousands of dollars from unsuspecting clients and used a risky legal strategy that exposed them to possible deportation resigned from the State Bar. WALTER PINEDA [#97293], 55, surrendered his license Oct. 25. According to State Bar prosecutors, Pineda mishandled numerous matters in which his mostly Mexican clients were trying to gain legal status.
On Pineda's advice, the clients applied for political asylum, a status granted for religious or political persecution but rarely given to immigrants from Mexico. When the applications were denied, the INS forwarded the cases to immigration court. Calling the asylum applications "meritless," the bar said Pineda would routinely "take client money to file frivolous applications, spend no time actually trying to develop a viable position for the clients to stay legally in the United States, lose the applications for asylum and take more money to file frivolous appeals."
White Immigration Can Be A Problem Too: Britain’s Polish Predicament--"If we are not careful, we will be transformed into a global traffic station and that is not what most people mean by being part of a country. " British Labour Party MP Frank Field. When Poland and seven other former Soviet bloc countries joined the European Union in 2004, Tony Blair’s government assured the British public that the country would not be flooded by job-seeking migrants from the East. At most, ministers asserted—at most—Britain could expect around 15,000 additional immigrants per year. Not for the first time, a government’s math has proven wildly, grotesquely wrong. According to a new Home Office study of worker registration numbers, fully 447,000 people have migrated to Britain from the new EU member states since visa requirements were lifted two years ago.
U.S. Immigration Policy Hinders Entrepreneurship - NAMU.S. Immigration Policy Hinders Entrepreneurship--Immigrants in the U.S. from 1990-2005 founded 25 percent of all public venture-backed companies and about 40 percent of the high-technology start-ups operating today, according to a study issued recently by the Arlington, Va.-based National Venture Capital Association.
Mapping Local Ordinances--Want to know if your locale is anti-immigrant or immigrant-friendly? FIRM has done the mapping for you with this link to seven maps and charts.
9.4% of all persons born in Mexico lived in the U.S. in 2005Mexican-Born Persons in the US Civilian Labor Force, 14% of Mexican workers engaged in U.S. labor force--"MPI estimates that 9.4 percent of all persons born in Mexico lived in the United States in 2005. In the same year, 14 percent of Mexican workers were engaged in the US labor force compared to 2.5 percent of Canadian workers. According to Inter-American Development Bank estimates, remittances sent in 2001 by Mexicans working abroad totaled $8.9 billion. By 2005, this amount more than doubled and reached more than $20 billion, a lion’s share of which came from the United States."
U.S. Citizenship Process Is Getting a History Test—in 10 pilot test sites, dozens of new questions that may be added to the nation's naturalization test, and immigration advocates are concerned that the changes could make it more difficult for millions of legal immigrants to become U.S. citizens. The 10 pilot test sites are: Albany, NY; Boston, MA; Charleston, SC; Denver, CO; El Paso, TX; Kansas City, MO; Miami, FL; San Antonio, TX; Tucson, AZ; and Yakima, WA. See the Pilot questions.
Legal immigrants to U.S. face green card logjam--Following all the rules, Indian national Sanjay Mehta came to the United States on a temporary work visa in 1997, hoping to build a glittering career in the fast-moving information technology sector. But nine years later his application for a green card remains snarled up in a bureaucratic logjam, and he looks with frustration at the strides made by illegal immigrants who he says simply jumped the fence from Mexico.
Visa Fraud by Embassy Staff Worries Prosecutors -- More common than a lot of folks realize--filed 63 fraudulent visa applications with U.S. Embassies in Indonesia and Pakistan for scores of paying clients and relatives. Just as with any illegal immigration system, it obviously could be exploited by anybody.
Business owner must forfeit $1.5 million for conspiring to harbor illegal aliens. The owner of an Indiana company that performed stucco-related services at construction sites in at least seven Midwest states agreed to forfeit more than $1.5 million after pleading guilty to conspiring to harbor illegal aliens. The owner, an illegal alien, was also sentenced to 18 months in prison and faces deportation proceedings.
ICE and Mecklenburg, N.C. county sheriff’s office—milestone program to deport criminal aliens—1,000 criminal aliens charged with immigration violations. The partnership between ICE and MCSO began in February, when the agencies announced that they had reached an agreement for ICE to train and certify selected MCSO personnel to perform certain federal immigration enforcement functions. On April 6, upon completion of an intensive four-week program, MCSO deputies began operating within the Mecklenburg County Jail facilities to interview foreign national inmates to determine whether there is probable cause for an immigration violation; complete the processing for criminal aliens, including fingerprinting; prepare documentation to place aliens in deportation proceedings concurrent with their prison term; and prepare documentation to deport aliens following their terms.
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