Daily news updates from CIS

September 8, 2009

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ATTN Federal employees: The Center's Combined Federal Campaign number is 10298.

Daily morning news updates are available here: http://cis.org/blog/5

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[For CISNEWS subscribers --

1. Federal contractor verification begins (story, 2 links)
2. Elite BP agents train for desert rescue
3. Labor Dept to focus on foreign workers' wages
4. Health care debate sparks immigration bout
5. Political brawl brewing over issue
6. Feds implement new citizenship test
7. MPI report claims foreigners staying put (story, 5 links)
8. OK attorneys look to Fed E-Verify case for support
9. TN county may drop 287(g)
10. TX city police crackdown on day laborers
11. DOJ continues probe of AZ sheriff's office
12. Labor Day gives rise to amnesty protests (story, 3 links)
13. Activists urge illegals to boycott Census (story, link)
14. UFW leader presses amnesty package
15. CA Latinos seek allies at African-American churches
16. Muslim activists seek speedier applications
17. Asians, Pacific Islanders seek voice in issue
18. CA activists march for amnesty
19. Activists press for water stations
20. Haitian man seeks aid for homeland
21. Student organizers work against deportations
22. Ethnic press thriving in California
23. Students create symbols for hospital navigation
24. Pacific islanders ask for continued health care
25. Iraqis struggle under recession
26. Young Liberian victim of smuggling op.
27. Surplus of H-1B visas still available
28. Federal judge reverses deportation order
29. Feds expand H-1B fraud suit
30. Illegal accused of beating TX baby
31. Church vandalism in NY cleared of hate status (link)
32. Airline employees accused of smuggling (link)

-- Mark Krikorian]


1.
Feds to start immigration crackdown on contractors
By Suzanne Gamboa
The Associated Press, September 8, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hFxEm5HUVw1DsgL6uDCMqJSwdR7wD9AJB1IG0

Washington, DC (AP) -- For federal contractors, it's time to start checking whether employees are able to legally work in the United States.

Beginning Tuesday, the federal government is requiring federal contractors to use the E-Verify system to check the immigration and citizenship status of the people they hire and assign to new federal contracts.

'Don't panic about this. You do have time, but the time will pass quickly, so vigilance is important,' Bonnie Gibson, a partner with New York-based Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy law firm, told hundreds of contractors who dialed in to a conference call last week for an explanation of the Obama administration's latest immigration enforcement rule.

Contractors have 30 days from the date a contract is awarded to enroll in E-Verify, and 90 days to start submitting information on new hires and certain current workers. Contractors have the option of checking their entire work force, once they notify the government of their intent to do so. They also will be responsible for requiring subcontractors to use E-Verify.

As the rule takes effect and more workers' information goes through the system, there is likely to be a spike in the number of workers who are not confirmed as permitted to work in the U.S., said Cynthia Lange, a partner of Fragomen law firm, who is based in California.

Employers already use a paper application, known as I-9, to check workers' legal status. E-Verify is a Web-based system that cross-checks names and other information against Homeland Security Department and Social Security Administration databases.

E-Verify is intended to help find people who are in the country illegally, and those who are legally present but not authorized to work, such as students.

Generally, the new federal rule applies to hires for contracts of $100,000 or more that are awarded as of Sept. 8, last longer than 120 days and don't involve commercially available products. There will be some exceptions. Businesses with contracts that are current, significant and indefinite also may have to check the status of workers.

Bill Wright, spokesman for the Homeland Security Department's Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the agency isn't expecting to be flooded with queries on employees' immigration status. He said there are about 169,000 U.S. federal contractors with about 3.8 million workers.

As of Aug. 29, 145,653 employers were using the E-Verify system. About 1,000 employers a week enroll. The system has handled 7.6 million queries on workers since Oct. 1 of last year, Wright said.

'If all contracts were let and we had to verify them all on Sept. 8, this system could handle it. This is not going to be the scenario, so there is no reason to step up resources here,' he said.

Among the E-Verify system's flaws — limited ability to determine if someone is using a stolen identity and it makes mistakes, such as with names and marital status.

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Worker Status Checks to Start
Federal Contractors Required to Use Electronic System to Verify Employees' Eligibility
By Cam Simpson
The Wall Street Journal, September 8, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125236773673291025.html

Feds' screening for illegal workers begins Tuesday
Businesses granted federal contracts will be forced to use E-Verify right after Labor Day weekend.
BY Cindy Carcamo
The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, CA), September 4, 2009
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/use-employers-federal-2551916-verify-immigration

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2.
Elite Border Patrol unit trains at YPG
By Mark Schauer
The Yuma Sun (AZ), September 6, 2009
http://www.yumasun.com/articles/border-52634-training-patrol.html

The undeveloped desert around the Mexican-American border is a harsh and merciless place.

The same attributes that make it desirable for testing and evaluating armaments in an extreme environment make it deadly for the unlucky individual caught in its expanse without water. Yet Yuma Proving Ground now helps train the individuals charged with rescuing those in this unfortunate situation.

Boasting highly honed tracking skills, specialized instruction on rescuing individuals from waters with fast currents and emergency medical technician certification, the elite agents of the U.S. Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue Team (BORSTAR) are well equipped to rescue those stranded in the desert.

The five-week training course to become a BORSTAR agent is rigorous, with intense emphasis on discipline and physical fitness. Fewer than 200 of the Border Patrol's approximately 20,000 officers are active BORSTAR agents and less than half of each academy's cadets graduate.

To help prospective cadets succeed in this challenging training, local Border Patrol officials on Aug. 17 sent four agents to YPG to undergo a pre-training to ensure their land navigation skills are sharp prior to attending the BORSTAR academy the following week.

This was the first such training at YPG, and officials from the Training and Exercise Management Office (TEMO) hope to eventually host the academy program at the proving ground.

'YPG has been good for us,' said Border Patrol Agent Rod Taylor, who led the training. 'The training facilities are great for familiarizing the agents with the actual BORSTAR course and giving them a little advanced training in the field.'

Remarkably, the impetus for the training occurred entirely by happenstance.

'We met at a public display the Border Patrol had downtown, and I informed them of the facilities we have here,' said Luis Arroyo of YPG's TEMO.

Similar encounters led to the use of YPG's training facilities by the Yuma County Sheriff's Office and the Yuma Police Department.

During their afternoon at YPG, the prospective BORSTAR agents used the proving ground's vast range space for a land navigation exercise that simulated searching for a lost individual in the desert. The agents were given coordinates and allowed to use only a map and compass to locate their objective.

Split into two pairs, the agents set out on foot across the sweltering, scrub-dotted desert, all the while well-aware that they must conduct the operation both swiftly and tactically, for assailants could be lying in wait as their simulated victim lay dying in the desert.

Under these harsh conditions, the agents had to meticulously count off each step they took and avoid obstacles typical of what they would experience in their actual duty sector. If they made a mistake in their calculations, their only help came from their partner and map.

Both pairs reached their objective point but received no accolades. Success under harsh conditions is mandatory for a BORSTAR agent, and the prospective cadets left only with the reward of achieving an aspect of the intense training they are about to undergo.

YPG officials hope to continue contributing to the success of domestic law enforcement agencies as part of their training-support efforts.

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3.
After years of cutbacks, labor department to add hundreds of wage inspectors nationwide
By Manuel Valdes
The Associated Press, September 6, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-wage-inspectors,0,6110368.story

Seattle (AP) -- Bob Blank's frustration is evident when he talks about an inspection of his Okanogan County farm by U.S. Department of Labor wage inspectors.

'These people absolutely appeared to be bent on not helping, but fining the farms,' Blank said. 'The problem I have with that, in my case, it's the first time you show up in 35 years, and you tell me 'fines.' I'm gonna get (irritated) about that. You're not working with me. You're working against me.'

In late June, the inspectors came to his apple and pear orchard in central Washington, surveyed his paperwork and the housing for his two dozen workers.

Even though the state labor department had given his farm a clean bill of health in recent years, the federal inspectors told him he would be fined. Blank, 71, said he became angry and worred when a fellow Okanogan County farmer received a $10,000 fine. In August, he finally got the letter saying he was being penalized for failing to 'ensure housing safety and health' and had 30 days to pay the $5,225 fine.

'They don't tell me specifically what the problem is and no time frame to correct it,' Blank said. 'The question arises: Has this really anthing to do with safety for workers?'

The number of inspections by the U.S. Department of Labor are expected to increase after President Barack Obama earmarked $30 million in his budget for the department to hire an additional 288 front line wage inspectors nationwide.

The new inspectors are welcomed by labor advocates, but they're a cautionary development for employers.

'After the last 8 years, where inspectors all but disappeared at the federal level, we definitely welcome appropriating more money,' said Erik Nicholson of the United Farmworkers of America. 'We called those the dark ages — pretty much dead for eight years in terms of enforcement.'

However, prior to the ramp-up, federal labor inspectors collected about $67,000 in back wages for 400 agricultural workers in Washington state in 2008, according to the department. Violations of housing codes and failure to disclose wages were some of the violations found. With six additional federal inspectors, the state will have 19 by year's end.

The inspectors will target low-wage industries that employ vulnerable workers, such as minors, recent immigrants who may be reluctant to complain, employees misclassified as independent contractors and disabled employees, said Jeannine Lupton, spokeswoman for the labor department in Seattle.

That means farms, hotels, restaurants and other industries that typically employ those workers will be scrutinized by the department.

Earlier this year, an undercover investigation by the Government Accountability Office found the labor department's wage and hour division was doing a poor job of helping the nation's most vulnerable workers.

But for Ron Gaskill, labor specialist at American Farm Bureau, which represents farmers in the nation's capital, the addition of labor inspectors and Homeland Security's announcement of businesses being audited for immigration purposes signals stepped up enforcement of employers. Something, he said, that his organization expected from the Obama administration.

Labor advocates say thousands of low-wage workers across the country will benefit from having more inspections and enforcement of existing federal codes, including the assurances that people are paid minimum wage and overtime. They contend that cut backs at the labor department during the Bush administration led employers to take advantage of workers.

'It's a major step,' said Bruce Raynor, president of the union Workers United-SEIU. 'This will catch violators and scare some of them into compliance.'

But in Washington state, farmers like Blank are concerned about being heavily fined. According to the Washington Farm Bureau, about 30 farmers in Okanogan County have been inspected since last fall.

Dan Fazio, director of employer services for the Washington Farm Bureau, said the labor department oversteps its authority by inspecting permanent housing and too readily gives out fines.

'I understand you're trying to protect vulnerable workers, but farmers are vulnerable too,' Fazio said. 'And I understand a lot of housing went in in the 60s and 70s and I would admit is in rough condition, but does it help for a farmer that's barely hanging on to get a $10,000 fine? Is what they're doing constructive? I don't think so.'

In Okanogan, Blank's farm workers have left for the year. His farm produces revenue between $375,000 and $600,000 on average, depending on the year. For him, the state's way of inspecting farm labor is better. If a violation is found, state inspectors give a two-week period for the farmer to fix it, and a follow up visit is given.

'The feds don't work that way,' Blank said. 'They see a problem and see a fine ...'

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4.
Health Care Debate Revives Immigration Battle
By Julia Preston
The New York Times, September 6, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/health/policy/06immighealth.html

The Obama administration took an overhaul of the country’s immigration laws off its legislative agenda this year, but the prickly issue of public benefits for illegal immigrants has resurfaced in the health care debate.

During the summer recess, members of Congress faced persistent questions from constituents worried that health care changes could leave taxpayers footing medical bills for illegal immigrants. President Obama has not been able to extinguish the doubts despite giving repeated assurances that illegal immigrants would be excluded from any subsidized benefits under proposals before Congress.

Democratic lawmakers, growing exasperated, have taken to reading directly from the House and the Senate bills at town-hall-style meetings.

'I don’t know how it could be more clear,' said Representative Bruce Braley, Democrat of Iowa, who has read aloud from a section of the House bill with the title 'No Federal Payment for Undocumented Aliens.'

Republicans argue that some of the voters’ concerns are justified because, they say, the proposals before Congress do not spell out procedures to verify the citizenship of those who would receive health coverage.

After testing their ideas with voters during the recess, Republicans said they would press for verification measures when the health care debate picks up again in Washington.

'The language is there, but without the verification you can’t frankly believe it is serious,' said Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas, who added that concerns about illegal immigrants were clearly on the minds of citizens he met in his district. Mr. Smith said Democrats 'intentionally left gaping loopholes' in the proposals that illegal immigrants could step through.

Broad explanations, not intricate detail, were what voters in Georgia were looking for in recent meetings with Representative Phil Gingrey, a Republican who was a practicing physician in the state for 26 years. Mr. Gingrey said there had been an influx of illegal immigrants in his district in the last decade.

'A lot of their kids are in the school system,' Mr. Gingrey said in a telephone interview. 'They get a free public education without any question. My constituents don’t want the same thing to happen with regard to health care.'

Mr. Gingrey said the prohibitions against illegal immigrants in the bills were 'reassuring,' but he, too, suggested that eligibility verification remained weak. According to local news reports, Mr. Gingrey drew cheers in one meeting when he said he would work to make sure the health plan did not become a magnet drawing new illegal immigrants to the United States.

Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, which is currently reviewing the proposal in the Senate, said the House bill was 'so poorly cobbled together' that it would have the 'unintended consequence' of access for illegal immigrants.

Mr. Grassley said he would push to include citizenship verification for all applicants as part of a broad renegotiation of the Senate proposal when Congress reconvenes.

Democrats reacted sharply to the prospect of a fight over verification. Senator Max Baucus of Montana, chairman of the Finance Committee, said citizenship checks already included in federal programs like Medicaid would be preserved in new legislation. He said the health care debate should not be a forum for a battle over immigration.

As a result of a 2005 law, Medicaid, the federal low-income health program, now requires all applicants to verify their citizenship. Current health care proposals would expand Medicaid to more families, keeping the proof-of-citizenship requirements.

Democrats are reluctant to expand those requirements to everyone seeking insurance under a health care overhaul, because several studies on the impact on Medicaid have found that citizenship verification increased administrative costs for states and made it difficult for some American citizens to join the program.

Many of those left out were elderly patients, who did not have originals of identity documents that the 2005 law demands.

'Many states view the proof of citizenship as very onerous on American families,' said Diane Rowland, executive director of the Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, speaking of the Medicaid requirements.

In six states that were reviewed in 2007 by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, verification increased federal costs by $8.3 million, but only eight illegal immigrants were detected on the Medicaid rolls of the states.

Some of the concerns raised at public meetings about the health care bills seem to be grounded in misleading information in the news media and on the Internet from conservative opponents of the overhaul. In one example broadcast last week on Fox News, the conservative host Sean Hannity said that a Congressional Research Service report had concluded that the current plan before the House of Representatives 'does not contain any restrictions on noncitizens,' whether or not they had lawful immigration status.

In fact, the report issued Aug. 25 by the research service, a nonpartisan arm of the Library of Congress, states that 'unauthorized aliens would be barred' from receiving any federal subsidies under the measure.

The report, like the vast bill it analyzes, is too complex to be summarized in a sound bite. For example, the report finds that the House bill would not prohibit illegal immigrants from enrolling in a health insurance exchange. The exchange would allow participants to buy coverage from one of several plans, including a public option offered by the federal government.

At the same time, illegal immigrants would not be exempt from the obligations in the House bill. According to the research service, most illegal immigrants in the country would be required to buy health insurance or face tax penalties.

And since they would be barred from subsidies, they would have to pay for coverage at full rates, regardless of their income level.

Confusion has arisen among voters over the extent of public care for illegal immigrants partly because they have observed that many immigrants go to hospital emergency rooms for treatment. Under existing law, emergency rooms must treat any patients needing care, including illegal immigrants. Hospitals receive some federal money for those emergency services.

Public health researchers say that it could be counterproductive to bar illegal immigrants entirely from public care. 'They’re here, and they get sick,' said Ms. Rowland of the Kaiser Foundation.

Citing the current swine flu pandemic, she said, 'The H1N1 flu doesn’t know about immigration status when it attacks.'

EDITOR'S NOTE: New CIS analysis of the current health care legislation is available online at: http://www.cis.org/IllegalsAndHealthCareHR3200

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5.
Ugly fight forecast for immigration reform
By Tom Kisken
The Ventura County Star (Camarillo, CA), September 8, 2009
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/sep/08/ugly-fight-forecast-for-immigration-reform/

The issue is so divisive its inclusion in this article guarantees dozens, if not hundreds, of online comments and e-mails soaked with enough anger and conviction that any middle ground will likely be swamped.

And no, the topic isn’t healthcare reform.

As Congress and the White House resume efforts to reshape health insurance and access to care, a growing line of observers and experts predict that success or failure could dictate the fate of a path to citizenship for the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

If President Barack Obama wins the healthcare battle, the odds are probably 50-50 he’ll be able to convince Congress to pass immigration reform, said Kareem Crayton, associate professor of law and political science at USC.

'If he doesn’t get (healthcare) passed, it’s not all that different from zero,' Crayton said, suggesting that on both issues the president has to unify his party — Blue Dogs and liberals — on a shared vision of reform. 'The whole battle here is whether Barack Obama can get the Democratic coalition together.'

A bill on immigration is expected to be introduced in the Senate this fall, triggering hearings and public debate that, according to many political scientists, could be even more raucous than verbal brawls over healthcare. It’s not clear what the bill will include, but advocates for reform say the legislation must address a path to legalization for people who have illegally crossed borders.

Obama said during an August trip to Mexico the fight for immigration change would likely be pushed to next year — after healthcare and energy policy. But some analysts predict the fight for reform could be even more difficult in 2010 because many members of Congress will be up for re-election. They say lawmakers who advocate change may push for legislation soon, especially if a healthcare victory sparks momentum.

Obama may try to follow the path of Ronald Reagan and Franklin Roosevelt, said Robert Kaufman, public policy professor at Pepperdine University. Both men were elected because they represented sweeping change. To take advantage of their momentum, they tackled as much dramatic change as early as possible in their tenures.

'The Obama administration calculates, with some reason, that this is their moment,' he said.

But skeptics point at the president’s slumping voter approval numbers and claim his momentum is already waning. Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates restricting immigration, predicted Obama will have to settle for a compromise on healthcare, hurting his chances of getting anything passed on immigration.

'It’s not what the Messiah was supposed to deliver,' he said. 'The bloom is already off the rose. He’s not as politically powerful as he was before.'

Kaufman, a Republican, predicted the battle over immigration reform will become more complex and contested if it’s proven healthcare reform will provide government benefits for illegal immigrants.

A House reform bill specifically blocks subsidized coverage for undocumented people. Kaufman said courts could overturn the prohibition or it could fail because illegal immigrants would apply for benefits and go undetected.

The issue is a boogeyman conservatives trot out to drum up opposition, said Angie Kelley of the liberal think tank, Center for American Progress. She thinks the answer is in addressing both issues: Reforming healthcare and creating a way for undocumented people to gain legal status.

Earlier this summer, Kelley worried Obama was pedaling away from immigration. Her fears were addressed when she and other immigration advocates met with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Obama dropped in on the meeting to show his support for reform.

'The clear message is he’s leaning into it and bear-hugging it... not backing away,' said Kelley, labeling immigration as an issue the president has no choice but to address. 'He can’t avoid it from a political perspective because the Latino vote is an important one.'

U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, thinks the fight for immigration reform could be complicated even if healthcare proposals become policy. The White House would again be asking Democrats in conservative districts to embrace an issue that divides voters like a border wall.

'How many times can you go back and ask them to take a really tough vote in their congressional district?' he asked.

Crayton said the key in winning public support will be convincing Americans that immigration reform will help the economy and not take away jobs.

'I think it’s going to easily be as heated as healthcare,' he said.

In Ventura County, people who support reform addressing illegal immigrants worry the contention and conflict could create the stagnant waters of compromise.

When Norma Rojas of Ventura first considered petitioning the government so her undocumented husband, Alvaro Rojas, would win legal status, people told her to wait. They predicted Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., would win the presidency and would champion immigration reform.

'What if I would have?' she said of waiting, noting that the predicted reform and Kerry’s presidency never came to pass.

Rojas filed her petition. In January, her husband earned his green card after being required to leave the country and living in Zacatecas, Mexico, for four months. Now she worries about people who are waiting for Obama to change immigration laws. She wonders when that will happen.

'I think people are still going to be waiting,' she said.

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6.
New test required to become a citizen
By David Olson
The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA), September 6, 2009
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_citizenship07.321f13e.html

A revised citizenship exam that initially sparked fears among some immigration-rights advocates becomes mandatory Oct. 1.

The civics exam mostly tests broad concepts rather than the easy-to-memorize facts that were the staple of the old exam. Some believed the new test, first unveiled in 2006, was so difficult that it was deliberately designed to reduce the number of new citizens.

But the 91-percent pass rate for the new test is higher than the 84-percent rate for the old exam, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers the test.

To better familiarize citizenship applicants with the new exam and the rest of the naturalization process, the agency is holding meetings across the country that will feature free study materials, informational CDs, application forms and a question-and-answer session, said spokeswoman Mariana Gitomer.

The Sept. 19 meeting at the agency's San Bernardino location will also serve to spread the word about the Inland field office, which opened in 2001 but is still unknown to many would-be citizens, said office Director Irene Martin. Many people travel from the Inland area to the Los Angeles location, she said.

The exam debuted last year. Applicants initially were given a choice between the old and new exams, but those submitting an application on or after Oct. 1, 2008, are required to take the new test.

The average wait time to take the test after submitting an application is less than six months, but some people who applied before October 2008 are still on a wait-list because of background checks, documentation problems or other reasons, Gitomer said.

Most students at Riverside Adult School who have the choice between the old and new exams select the old one, said Kathy Bywater, who until recently was citizenship coordinator at the school. They thought it was easier to memorize facts than study concepts, she said.

Some of the questions are the same on both exams, such as asking for the word for changes to the Constitution, amendments.

But most of the questions do not lend themselves to one-word answers. One asks 'What does the Constitution do?' More than one answer is acceptable.

All 100 questions and sample answers for the civics test are available ahead-of-time. Applicants are asked up to 10 of the questions and must get at least six correct.

Bywater prefers the new exam because it requires test-takers to think more carefully.

'It's checking for knowledge instead of memorization skills,' she said. 'It's checking whether people know something about this country. It's far more relevant.'

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7.
Fewer migrants head home amid recession
By Diana Washington Valdez
The El Paso Times (TX), September 8, 2009
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_13288184?source=most_emailed

El Paso, TX -- Many immigrants hurt by the recession decided to ride out the downturn rather than return to their home countries, according to a Migration Policy Institute report released today.

The report found that fewer Mexican citizens tried to enter the United States, and fewer Mexican citizens who were in the United States illegally tried to return home.

'This recession has caused people to stay put at both ends, in their adopted countries and in their home countries,' said Michelle Mittelstadt, spokeswoman for the Migration Policy Institute in Washington. 'Even in countries that are paying immigrants to leave, such as Japan, the Czech Republic and Spain, the immigrants are not taking them up on these offers to (go home).'

The report said the number of Mexican citizens who came to the United States between March 2008 and March 2009 fell to 175,000, considerably down from 653,000 between March 2004 and March 2005.

The report also said 166,000 Mexican citizens made return trips to their country between January and March of this year. An estimated 199,000 returned during the same period in 2008, with 210,000 in 2007.

Total Border Patrol apprehensions of Mexican citizens who tried to enter the United States illegally also decreased. The total in 2008 was 661,773. Two years earlier, those stopped trying to enter the United States illegally numbered 981,069.

A lack of job opportunities and stepped-up border enforcement contributed to reduced migration by legal and undocumented immigrants.

'(Stepped-up) border enforcement in effect locks unauthorized migrants in the country,' the report said. 'The more risky and expensive it is to move back and forth, the more likely unauthorized migrants will settle permanently in a country,' the report said.

The report, titled 'Migration and the Global Recession,' examined how the global economic slowdown affected migrants around the world.

Ruben Garcia, executive director of the Annunciation House in El Paso, which helps immigrants, said crime also has prevented Mexican immigrants from returning to their native land.

'I've met people who said they are not going back to Mexico because they fear the violence. And I know of others who said they might consider going back when the violence ends,' Garcia said.

'In the case of Mexico, violence is definitely a factor that is affecting the immigrant flows. Juárez, for example, was rated the most violent city in the world.'

Garcia was referring to the Citizens Council for Public Safety and Justice in Mexico City, which posts its list of the world's most dangerous cities at www.seguridadjusticiaypaz.org.

Two Mexican cities, Juárez and Tijuana, are on the council's top 10 list for violence.

The BBC World Service commissioned the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that focuses on migration trends, to do the study.

The report's release was timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers, which some analysts said marked the beginning of the worldwide recession.

A year ago, the global financial services firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, at the time the largest filing of its kind in history.

The recession was blamed as well for a sharp drop in remittances to Mexico. For example, the total volume of remittances to that country fell 4 percent between 2007 and 2008, but recently, it dropped even further, by 12 percent. The average monthly amount sent to Mexico also fell, to $329 this year from $343 in 2007.

'Though remittances have dropped globally amid the downturn, they remain an important source of income for immigrant-sending countries, as other financial streams, including export revenue and other forms of foreign private investment, have proven much more volatile,' the report said.

For the part on Mexico, the institute consulted sources such as the Central Bank of Mexico, the Pew Research Center, the Mexican Colegio de la Frontera and others.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The MPI report is available online at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/08_09_09_migration.pdf

Contrary to the MPI report, CIS analysis recently found that the illegal population in the United States has, in fact, dropped. The report is available online at: http://www.cis.org/IllegalImmigration-ShiftingTide

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Report: Immigrants staying put during recession
By David Sherfinski
The Washington Examiner (DC), September 8, 2009
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Report_-Immigrants-staying-put-during-recession-8209349-57657122.html

Recession alters migration patterns [Video]
The BBC News (U.K.), September 8, 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8244191.stm

Recession moves migration patterns
By Andrew Walker
The BBC News (U.K.), September 8, 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8238527.stm

Recession impacts migrants hoping to work overseas
The Radio New Zealand News, September 8, 2009
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/09/08/1245c77190f1

Migrants hit by global downturn
The BBC News (U.K.), September 8, 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8243134.stm

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8.
Okla says case supports illegal immigrants law
The Associated Press, September 8, 2009
http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0909/657272.html

Tulsa, OK (AP) -- Oklahoma attorneys say a recent federal court decision supports a state law requiring companies who do business with the state to use a federal database to verify their workers and contractors are eligible to work in the U.S. In a letter Friday to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the state cites an August case decided in Maryland federal court to support its argument that Oklahoma's immigration law is not pre-empted by federal law. Sections of the law were blocked by a federal judge last year after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others challenged it, saying the 'E-Verify' program was unreliable and unfairly imposes penalties on employers. Oklahoma appealed the case to the 10th Circuit, where a decision is still pending.

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9.
Davidson County May Drop 287-G Deportation Program
News Channel 5 (Nashville, TN), September 4, 2009
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=11080053

Nashville, TN -- Metro disagrees with some of the new rules that allow local police to enforce federal immigration laws. Some Hispanic groups believe the program needs a review.

Nashville Hispanic Chamber of Commerce president Yuri Cunza said 287-G unfairly targets Hispanic communities.

He said many Hispanics do not trust police because their perception was the program encourages racial profiling.

'It's hard to determine if there's racial profiling or not because pretty much everybody that gets taken to jail is unlikely to be released due to the nature of the program. So, who will be our witness? Who is going to tell us?' said Cunza.

287-G began in Nashville April 2007. Sheriff Daron Hall said since then, crime committed by illegal immigrants is down 46 percent.

'Ours has been referred to as a model program by folks in ICE in Washington D.C. We only do the program behind the walls of the jail once you're arrested for other crimes,' said Hall.

Since the program's inception the sheriff's office has identified more than 6,000 illegal immigrants that have been processed for deportation.

Cunza and other Hispanic leaders are happy Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, has been reviewing 287-G.

There would be very few changes in Nashville with one exception that could end the program in the city.

'There is no disconnect between us and the Obama administration as it relates to how it should operate. The only thing is the public records issue,' said Hall.

Hall disagreed with new federal rules that keep information secret about who is being held in the Davidson County Jail. ICE wants all information about 287-G inmates to come from them.

Tennessee state law requires the Sheriffs office make that information public, and Hall hopes lawyers can work out the differences.

'I've been assured that can happen, and I believe it's going to happen,' said Hall.

Sheriff Hall is travelling to Washington later this month to meet with representatives of ICE to work out their differences.

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10.
Police crackdown on day laborers
By Gene Apodaca
The KTRK News (Houston), September 3, 2009
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6997890

League City, TX -- League City's top cop says his police department is getting tough on day laborers after years of letting them gather and find work right next to the police station.

The city is finding itself in the middle of a heated debate that's raged on for decades. Some say the day laborers are being disruptive and trespassing, while others say they do not deserve to be treated like criminals.

The effort began Wednesday, and even though the police department did not hand out any citations or make any arrests, the chief says he hopes it sends a strong message. But some in the area don't like the message that's being sent.

A native of Mexico, Juan Jimenez says he came to the US for just one reason.

'For my family, to get them food,' he said. 'If I didn't have them, I wouldn't come here.'

But as of late, that's meant he, along with dozens of other day laborers in League City, have had to deal with the police.

'Several of them got thrown into police cars,' said shop owner Juan Cortez.

Cortez captured cell phone video of the new police crackdown. Officers are targeting day laborers they say are breaking the law. It's a law enforcement response that League City Police Chief Michael Jez says was long overdue.

'When you go to a country, you're expected to respect their statues and their community standards,' Chief Jez explained.

The crackdown is focused mainly on FM 518, where police say some business owners have complained of day laborers impeding traffic, loitering and littering. While not a witness to that, business owner Bert McHenry supports the move.

'Absolutely,' he said. 'If it was my business and I had people hanging out there like that all the time and leaving trash, yes, absolutely.'

But other business owners believe police are going too far.

Cortez said, 'From this side, it looked like harassment.'

Cortez witnessed the crackdown and didn't like what he saw.

'I'm here every day and I see the activity and they're not doing anything that's unlawful,' he told Eyewitness News.

Chief Jez denies there is any harassment, standing firm behind his effort.

'Can they congregate and seek employment? Yes, certainly they can,' he said. 'But in doing so we expect that they respect our laws, they respect other citizens and they conduct their affairs appropriately.'

Chief Jez adds that as the program goes forward, citations and arrests can be expected.

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11.
Feds talking to illegal immigrants in sheriff’s office probe
By Mike Sunnucks
The Phoenix Business Journal, September 1, 2009
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/08/31/daily38.html

The U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights investigation into Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office’s immigration policies has included interviews with illegal immigrants, some of whom were deported and returned to the U.S.

USDOJ also is relying on a federal lawsuit, Melendres v. Arpaio, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a Mexican national who is legally in the U.S. and claims to have been harassed and unlawfully detained by the MCSO in 2007. The USDOJ is investigating whether the sheriff’s office unfairly targets Hispanics in its raids on businesses and crime sweeps.

USDOJ’s interviews involve Hispanics who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants as well as illegal immigrants who were arrested by the MCSO, deported and then returned to the U.S. to testify, according to sources familiar with the investigation who asked not to be identified.

USDOJ spokesman Alejandro Miyar said Aug. 28 he did not know who investigators are interviewing and Justice officials did not provide additional information as of Tuesday evening.

Arpaio said Monday he did not know who the USDOJ is talking to in the case.

The MCSO stopped cooperating with the inquiry earlier this year saying it is politically motivated. 'I don’t know what they are doing,' Arpaio said.

The federal civil rights investigation was started in late 2008, but was publicly announced with prodding from Washington after Barack Obama took over as president. Arpaio critics also had been pressing the USDOJ and FBI to look at Arpaio for alleged abuse of power and other matters.

The sheriff denies wrongdoing and says he enforces the law.

His attorney in the civil rights matter criticized the DOJ: 'If it is true that DOJ is identifying illegal immigrants who have been deported already and had illegally re-entered the country for the purpose of interviewing them and building a case against Sheriff Joe, DOJ would essentially be prioritizing their political vendetta against Sheriff Joe in a civil case over the enforcement of criminal laws written to secure the border and those legally in the U.S. If any of the illegal immigrants are released or immunized in exchange for their testimony, I don’t think future victims will think DOJ’s political battle against Sheriff Joe was worth the cost,' said Robert Driscoll, a private attorney representing the MCSO in the civil rights investigation.

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12.
Stop deportations, marchers urge at immigration rally
About 2,000 at event, seek change to 'broken system'
By David Roeder
The Chicago Sun Times, September 8, 2009
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1758092,CST-NWS-immig08.article

With most of Washington concentrating on economic policies and health care, reforming immigration isn't a priority. Marchers at an immigration rights rally Monday in Chicago hope to change that and called on President Obama and Congress to act or face political trouble at election time.

The march from the Near West Side culminated in a rally at Federal Plaza downtown, where speakers demanded that Obama end deportations that bust families. Longer term, they want Congress to legalize undocumented workers and their families currently in the United States.

The Labor Day crowd of about 2,000 people was smaller than those in past immigration rallies. But the feelings remained strong, with the deportation issue eliciting sadness and anger.

Among the marchers was Rosa Perez of Pilsen, who said her husband was deported in February as he attempted to get a green card. Through an interpreter, Perez said the government's action has caused hardship for herself and her six children.

Her 17-year-old son, Luis, said he has dropped out of school to support the family. 'My father worked at building patios. Now, my brother works and I work because we have to replace my father,' he said.

'The system is broken and it's not humane,' said Beatriz Sandoval of the Southwest Side, an immigration attorney. Especially unjust, she said, is the deportation of undocumented students who came to the U.S. as young children. Some don't learn their citizenship status until they apply for college, she said.

Speakers at the rally called on the crowd to support an Oct. 13 march in Washington, D.C. But organizers disagreed on how to apply political pressure on Democrats, the party seen as friendlier to the cause.

The Rev. Walter 'Slim' Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church, 2716 W. Division, said the immigration movement is discussing third-party candidacies in next year's elections that could tilt close races toward Republicans. Coleman, who is prominent on immigration issues, said such a candidate might be found for the U.S. Senate in Illinois.

But Jorge Mujica, an organizer of the rally, said a Senate candidacy is beyond the group's reach. Challenges might come in local races, with Mujica saying he plans to run in the Democratic primary next March against U.S. Rep. Daniel Lipinski in the 3rd Congressional District.

'Lipinski is very anti-immigrant, even though 75,000 immigrants live in his district,' said Mujica, a Berwyn resident and a leader of the March 10 Coalition, named after the date of a huge rally downtown in 2006.

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Immigrants Accuse Obama of Betrayal
By Chip Mitchell
The WBEZ News (Chicago), September 7, 2009
http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=36614

Hundreds march through Loop for immigrant rights
By Steve Miller
The WBBM News (Chicago), September 7, 2009
http://www.wbbm780.com/Hundreds-march-through-Loop-for-immigrant-rights/5164148

Labor of Love Walk, helps raise money for refugees and immigrants
By Chris Whitley
The WSLS News (Roanoke, VA), September 7, 2009
http://www2.wsls.com/sls/news/local/article/labor_of_love_walk_helps_raise_money_for_refugees_and_immigrants/45227/

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13.
Immigration activists urge census boycott
Hope effort spurs legislation
By Maria Sacchetti
The Boston Globe, September 8, 2009
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/08/proposed_boycott_of_census_divides_immigrant_community_in_massachusetts/

A small but vocal group of advocates is urging illegal immigrants and their supporters nationwide to boycott the 2010 Census to protest the government’s inaction on immigration legislation, a move that, if successful, could cost Massachusetts and other states millions of dollars.

The campaign is setting off alarms across the United States because census figures are crucial to determining how much federal funding cities and towns receive. A large-scale boycott, state officials and prominent pro-immigrant groups warn, could force Massachusetts to cut services from school lunch programs to highway construction, and heighten its chances of losing a seat in Congress.

But proponents say the boycott would pressure politicians to address problems illegal immigrants face every day - such as long separations from their families back home - and pursue a comprehensive overhaul of the country’s immigration system that would provide a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants.

'Legalize us before you count us,’’ Fausto da Rocha, a Brazilian immigrant leader in Boston said on a talk-radio show in Quincy last week, where callers from as far away as Brunswick, Maine, expressed support for the boycott. 'Politics is about power and money, and by not giving your information, you’ll be taking away money and power from the politicians.’’

The proposed boycott - organized this spring by the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, a group based in Washington that represents 20,000 churches nationwide, including 300 in Massachusetts - is stirring deep divisions among immigrant communities. It faces stiff opposition from a string of advocacy groups, including the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, the Service Employees International Union, and the Brazilian Immigrant Center. To this point, the boycott effort has revolved mainly around word-of-mouth, talk radio, and blog entries by some members of participating churches.

Eliseo Medina, the SEIU’s national executive vice president, called the boycott 'irresponsible,’’ and Chelsea’s city manager, Jay Ash, said it was 'absolutely crazy.’’

While the boycott is a national effort, states with significant percentages of immigrants such as Massachusetts stand to lose more because of formulas that base federal funding on population. Last year, Massachusetts received $11.4 billion in federal funds, and people who shun the census could cost the state about $1,755 apiece, said Brian McNiff , spokesman for the Massachusetts secretary of state.

'It’s always disappointing to hear that any individual or organization would suggest to someone not to participate in the census when there’s so much at stake,’’ said Kathleen Ludgate, regional director for the census in Boston. 'We hope that people will participate in the census so we’ll have our fair share in Boston and throughout the state.’’

Participation in the census is required by law every 10 years so the government can obtain an accurate count of every resident in the United States. But the fine for failure to register is only $100, and the Census Bureau has generally not pursued violators. Instead, the agency encourages participation by spending millions in advertising and on workers who speak different languages.

A boycott would put the state at risk politically, said Secretary of State William F. Galvin. Because of a population shift to the South and West, he said, Massachusetts is at risk of losing one of its 10 congressional districts.

'We’re on the edge of losing a seat in Congress,’’ he said. 'How does it help to have fewer voices from here?’’

But proponents of a boycott say it is a chance to grab the attention of politicians who have failed to pass legislation addressing illegal immigrants, even as their numbers have swelled to 12 million nationwide and 190,000 in Massachusetts - or about 1 in 5 immigrants. Overall, 14 percent of the state’s population is foreign born; most are here legally.

'I understand that this could affect the states’ budgets,’’ said the Rev. Victor Jarvis of Ebenezer Christian Church in Lawrence, who supports the boycott and plans to discuss it on talk radio. 'But you have to do something. Otherwise, in politics, they are always going to use the most vulnerable to benefit themselves.’’

The idea of a boycott appears to have a sympathetic ear among many immigrants and their backers who called into the Quincy radio show last week.

In the studio, crammed into a basement of the Assembly of God Brazilian church, da Rocha and co-hosts Jose Bravo and pastor Emidio da Silva said they are pained by the stories they hear every day. They visit immigrants in jails, listen to their stories of loved ones they have not seen for years, and take complaints from workers who toiled hours in backbreaking jobs, but were never paid.

President Obama has pledged to pursue an overhaul of the immigration system during his first year in office.

Da Rocha reached out to immigrants who sweep floors or paint houses.

'They count us, and you can’t vote,’’ he said in Portuguese. 'You’re losing your right to insurance. It’s money for health, education, for the city and safety. But your safety? That’s somebody else’s problem.’’

The calls came in right away.

'I support the boycott,’’ said Max from Everett. 'Immigrants have contributed so much to this country.’’

Another caller, a man from Everett, said he would refuse to answer any questions from census takers. 'The boycott is the best way to pressure the government,’’ said the man, who did not give his name but who said he was a US citizen.

At the end of the program, 38 callers were in favor and four against, in keeping with past shows.

However, the Brazilian Ministers Network and even the Brazilian Immigrant Center, where da Rocha serves as executive director, oppose the boycott.

Eduardo Siqueira, president of the center’s board, criticized da Rocha and others for tactics that he said scare immigrants into boycotting the census, in part by suggesting that the data could be used to detain them. Census officials say they do not share information with immigration officials, but da Rocha said he believes the data could be used to pinpoint where immigrants live.

Siqueira believes a boycott would do more harm than good.

'It may create more antagonism against immigrants,’’ Siqueira said. 'This is not a campaign that makes sense.’’

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Mass. Immigrants Divided Over Census Boycott
By Bianca Vazquez Toness
The WBUR News (Boston), September 8, 2009
http://www.wbur.org/2009/09/08/census-boycott

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14.
Dozens Gather To Discuss Immigration Reform
By Holly Zuluaga
The KEPR News (Pasco, WA), September 5, 2009
http://www.keprtv.com/news/local/57574407.html

Hermiston, WA -- Immigration Reform was the focus of a visit by the president of 'United Farm Workers' Saturday in Hermiston.

Agriculture is big business locally.

The United Farm Workers say they're trying to keep it stable.

'It's extremely important in the Hermiston area and Southern Washington, the Yakima Valley, because it largely depends on agriculture,' Arturo Rodriguez said.

Arturo Rodriguez has spent months working on immigration reform in Washington DC with President Obama.

He met with workers in Hermiston to send the message that good things are coming.

'Since we have such a large number of undocumented workers in agriculture, we need to ensure the viability of the agriculture industry and simultaneously ensure the workforce there has a legalized status with-in this country,' Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez is pushing the AgJOBS Act. It aims to give legal status to immigrant workers.

To get it, workers prove they've worked 150 days in agriculture in the last 2 years.

They have to keep working in agriculture for the next 3 to 5 years.

'It's very important; I have a lot of family that doesn't have legal status. They don't have the papers and need to work here,' Margarito Martinez said.

Margarito Martinez has legal status, but his family doesn't.

He says most work in fear that they'll be picked up.

'We want to make sure we have a viable workforce and that the growers can depend on the workers to be there every day and they don't have to worry about raids,' Rodriguez said.

Workers like Martinez are waiting for it to happen, but Rodriguez says President Obama has a lot on his plate, and immigration reform has taken a backseat.

Still, they're confident legislation will be introduced this year.

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15.
African-American churches in the East Bay give immigrants voice
By Matt O'Brien
The Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA), September 6, 2009
http://www.contracostatimes.com/bay-area-news/ci_13283029

Oakland, CA -- Latino immigrant workers took to the pulpits of African-American churches in the East Bay on Sunday morning and sought to gain allies in the fight to overhaul America's immigration system.

'I hope that my presence here helps you see me as a friend,' said Rolando Rodriguez, speaking with the help of an interpreter before a receptive and boisterous crowd at the Bay Area Christian Connection, a church in downtown Oakland.

The 46-year-old described how after a long career in Guatemala's sugar cane fields, he was forced to flee political persecution in his native town and now struggles to find odd jobs on the streets of East Oakland.

Cautioning against seeing Rodriguez as unwanted job competition or a source of feared cultural change in their Oakland neighborhoods, the Rev. Brian Woodson implored his congregants to get to know a neighbor.

'Sometimes when we don't talk to each other and don't hear each others' story, we alienate each other,' Woodson said.

'Amen,' one woman shouted in response. Another followed. Rodriguez returned to his seat with a round of applause.

Earlier in the morning, Maricruz Manzanarez became tearful as she shared the story of her first decade in America to members of the Easter Hill United Methodist Church in Richmond.

'I experienced racism. I experienced being illegal here,' said Manzanarez, who was able to become a legal resident three years ago. 'I think it's important for people to not live in fear anymore.'

The pastors who invited Latino guests to speak at 16 East Bay churches on Sunday morning said their Christian congregations are natural allies with immigrants looking for justice and a better life. They also said they wanted to overcome underlying barriers between two communities — immigrant and African-American — who have increasingly lived side-by-side in East Bay cities.

'In the public arena, most African-Americans do not want to criticize immigrants. They do it privately,' said the Rev. Phil Lawson, a retired pastor in Hercules.

Lawson said a number of black churches in the Bay Area have a decades-long history of dedicating time over Labor Day weekend for what's called 'a message from labor.'

Ministers take time out of weekend services to let union workers share stories of their work experiences and connect them to their Christian faith.

But a new effort to welcome Latino visitors into predominantly African-American churches has shifted the focus into thinking about the country's newcomers and the controversial topic of illegal immigration.

Lawson traces the growing interfaith support for changing immigration laws to a May 2006 meeting he held with a dozen local ministers and other African-American leaders at Downs Memorial United Methodist Church in North Oakland. At the time, lawmakers, lobbyists, media commentators and the American public were fiercely debating immigration reform bills that were eventually dropped after a cacophony of protests.

'I decided the black voice was not being heard in the immigration issue, so we decided to get members of the black community together,' Lawson said.

What came out of the meeting was the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, a group that helped coordinate Sunday's events with the East Bay Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice.

Their objectives include legalizing millions of undocumented immigrants, improving the conditions immigrants face in federal detention facilities and ending what they say is a system that allows businesses to exploit low-income immigrants.

Lawson said pastors have held private meetings with congregations, creating a safe space to talk about how immigration has changed the landscape of neighborhoods across the East Bay that for decades were home to African-Americans.

'Why are newcomers coming into our neighborhood? Why are they taking the jobs?' Lawson said, describing some of the questions discussed.

Lawson said he has looked for ways to find common ground.

'Most African-Americans, either they or their parents migrated (to the Bay Area) from other places in the state or from the South, or Texas, looking for work, looking to better their lives, which is exactly why immigrants migrate,' Lawson said. 'There's a powerful connection between immigrants coming into the United States and the African-American community.'

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16.
Delays in Muslims’ Cases Spur Interfaith Call to Action
By Samuel G. Freedman
The New York Times, September 4, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/us/05religion.html

Falls Church, VA -- Early one morning last June, fully two hours before his appointment, Mustafa Salih arrived at a federal office here in the Washington suburbs. He wore the new suit he had bought for the occasion. A friend, accompanying him, carried a camera to record the event. Mr. Salih had not slept the previous night.

High emotion was not supposed to be the province of a middle-aged accountant, which was exactly what Mr. Salih was. But on that particular morning, he was scheduled to be sworn in as an American citizen, the culmination of a process that had begun when he immigrated from Sudan in 1991.

The process had tested his patience and nerves. He had received his green card as a permanent legal resident in 1995. He held a master’s degree and worked in a white-collar profession. In the two years since filing his petition for naturalization, he had passed the required history test, sat for the required interview, and submitted the required fingerprints, only to be told in a form letter from the Department of Homeland Security that he could not become a citizen until he cleared an unspecified 'background check.'

By this morning in June 2008, however, Mr. Salih had been assured by his lawyer that everything was O.K. He had an appointment for a 10 a.m. swearing-in ceremony in an office of Citizenship and Immigration Services, a unit of the Homeland Security Department. A staff member walked him to a second-floor conference room to join about 25 other citizens-in-waiting.

Only then and there, as Mr. Salih, 44, recalled in a recent interview, did a different officer call his name and ask him to step out of line. Taking Mr. Salih to another room, the officer told him, 'Your name isn’t clear yet.' When Mr. Salih asked why, the officer said he did not know.

Now, 15 months later, Mr. Salih remains in limbo. He remains there despite efforts by his mosque, a large interfaith coalition in northern Virginia, and even one of Virginia’s senators, Jim Webb, to get an answer from homeland security officials.

'Every two weeks, I go to immigration,' Mr. Salih said. 'Every time, they tell me everything is fine, except for the background check. I’ve become so familiar, the officers recognize me. They ask me, ‘You still coming here?’ '

In his anxiety and frustration, Mr. Salih happens to have a great deal of company, and thereby hangs a broader tale. About 150 members of his mosque, the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, have come forward in recent months with similar stories of lengthy delays in federal decisions on their applications for citizenship, green cards or political asylum. In virtually every case, the applicants have received only vague explanations about continuing name or background checks.

It is hardly news when the bureaucratic wheels grind slowly and inefficiently in responding to immigrants seeking to become fully legal residents or citizens. But, at least to Mr. Salih and other members of the mosque here, the fact that these cryptic delays predominantly involve Muslims seems no mere coincidence.

'The issue is larger than the backlog,' said Shaik Shaker Elsayed, imam of Dar Al-Hijrah. 'We are told it is a result of bureaucracy. Our experience has told us that is not the case.'

Those people include Amal and Mohamed Ahmed, Egyptian immigrants who have been seeking green cards since 2001. When their eldest son died in Egypt, they dared not attend his funeral, for fear of not being readmitted to the United States.

Those people include Hazim Alasad, an Iraqi-born contractor who has lived in the United States since 1992. Most recently, his company did projects for the American forces in Baghdad, earning Mr. Alasad a handwritten thank-you letter from a Marine general, John R. Allen, to 'my good friend.' Yet while Mr. Alasad’s wife and two children received citizenship years ago, he continues to be strung along.

A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, Sara Kuban, wrote in an e-mail message that its immigration unit 'treats every applicant for immigration benefits or services with dignity, courtesy and fairness, and decides each case as quickly as possible based on the evidence provided.'

Senator Webb does not believe that the Muslim applicants were singled out because of their religion, said his press secretary, Kimberly Hunter. But because Mr. Webb views 'legal immigration applications as bread and butter for our constituents,' Ms. Hunter continued, he has written to the homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, about many specific cases, and he has sought, unsuccessfully thus far, a meeting with her.

This much is clear, and, it must be said, curious: The interfaith group that includes Dar Al-Hijrah, Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement, includes 45 congregations with a total of 125,000 members in suburban Washington. Yet except for about a half-dozen Ghanaian Christians, the only cases of immigration delay it has found involve the Muslim members of the Falls Church mosque.

Far from making their plight a parochial issue, only of interest to the local Islamic community, the specific clustering has provoked advocacy across denominational lines in Voice, as the interfaith group is commonly known. During the current Ramadan holiday, a delegation of clergy members including a Catholic priest, Unitarian and Episcopal ministers, two black Christian pastors and a Reform Jewish rabbi convened at the mosque to explain why Mustafa Salih’s case, among 150 others, has become theirs.

'The Torah portion this last week told us, ‘Justice, justice, you shall pursue,’ ' said Rabbi Brett R. Isserow of Beth El Hebrew Congregation in Alexandria. 'The pursuit of justice is the pursuit for justice for all people. And where people have put in their papers and done everything they’re required to do, it’s a matter of injustice when they are targeted or delayed.'

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17.
Immigration Reform: Asians, Islanders forgotten
Focus on health coverage has groups feeling left out
By Lynnette Curtis
The Las Vegas Review Journal, September 8, 2009
http://www.lvrj.com/news/57691857.html

Comprehensive immigration reform has long been a major issue for Hispanic rights advocates.

But leaders of another minority group, the Asian-American and Pacific-Islander community, say the issue is just as urgent for them. And they're tired of being ignored.

'We have to continually lobby to be recognized,' said Rozita Lee, vice chairwoman of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations, who lives in Las Vegas.

Lee regularly flies to Washington, D.C., at her own expense to 'walk the halls of Congress,' talking to politicians about immigration reform, among other issues.

She and fellow leaders in the Asian-American/Pacific-Islander community worry that progress has stalled on the matter since the national focus has shifted to other controversial issues such as health care reform.

That's bad news for those who have been hoping reform would help more quickly bring family members to the United States.

'It's just not fair,' Lee said. 'Some families have been separated 20 years. They need to be together.'

The Asian-American/Pacific-Islander community is pushing for immigration reform that focuses on family reunification.

But many in the community also favor a more merit-based approach to immigration, in which highly educated, skilled individuals would more quickly move to the front of the immigration line.

Asians 'emphasize educational attainment,' said S.B. Woo, executive director of the 80-20 Initiative, a national political action committee dedicated to getting Asian Americans to vote as a bloc to increase their political pull.

A more merit-based approach to immigration 'would give Asian-Americans a larger quota,' he said. 'It's a win-win situation.'

Census data from 2008 show that Asians make up 7.3 percent of Clark County's population, while Pacific Islanders make up less than 1 percent. About 136,200 Asians live in the county.

Las Vegas in 2006 was named one of five 'emerging communities' for the rapid growth of its Asian population by the Asian American Justice Center.

Hispanics comprise more than a quarter of the county's population.

Some in the Asian-American/Pacific-Islander community are angry that they haven't been able to bring family members legally to the United States, while people coming over the border illegally get in right away.

That's another reason to support a merit-based immigration approach, said Wayne Tanaka, a retired Clark County educator who until recently was the honorary consul for Japan.

'People are waiting an excruciatingly long time,' Tanaka said. 'I believe immigration should be meritorious.'

But Tanaka and others in the Asian American/Pacific Islander community also favor a sympathetic approach to immigration reform, providing a path to legal status for otherwise law abiding immigrants who are living in the United States illegally.

An estimated 1.2 million Asians live illegally in the United States.

'There are Japanese natives who have been in the country illegally for years, working as nannies, cooks and maids,' Tanaka said.

'If someone is contributing to America's growth and development, there should be a way' for them to gain legal status.

Still, as in the larger community, opinions on immigration reform run the gamut in the Asian American/Pacific Islander community, Tanaka said.

'There is no quick answer.'

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18.
Chanting 'Si se puede,' hundreds march in Sacramento for immigration reform
By Gina Kim
The Sacramento Bee, September 6, 2009
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2163719.html

Under signs stating 'Protect our families' and 'We contribute to America,' several hundred people marched Saturday through downtown Sacramento, urging President Barack Obama to make good on his campaign promise of comprehensive immigration reform.

'Immigration reform is about making America stronger,' Sacramento Catholic Bishop Jaime Soto said during a bilingual rally interspersed with chants of 'Si se puede,' translated roughly as, 'Yes, we can.'

The march began at Southside Park, stopped at the immigration offices in the John E. Moss Federal Building along the Capitol Mall and ended on the steps of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament at 11th and K streets.

Several reform bills have been introduced in Congress, but their future remains unclear. Obama has said he supports reform, but he recently said his administration is dealing with other priorities.

A wave of opposition is expected to impede the president's call for some form of legalization for millions of immigrants.

Brian Heller de Leon said current immigration policy is piecemeal and divides families. Heller de Leon helped put together Saturday's march. He's a community organizer with Sacramento Area Congregations Together, a group of 40 schools and churches.

'It's a matter of what is right, what is fair,' he said. 'Everybody is losing in the current system.'

Laura Rico is raising four children alone.

Rico, 40, a secretary at a Sacramento charter school, immigrated to the United States from Mexico when she was 8. She became a citizen 12 years ago.

She fell in love with the owner of a San Jose auto detailing shop when he stood by her side through breast cancer treatment at age 29.

But immigration authorities caught up with Daniel Rico and he was deported last year. He tried to sneak across the border again, in time to be with his family for Christmas. He is now in a federal prison in Kansas until 2011.

'It's just the pain I see the children go through – it's devastating,' Laura Rico said. 'To others, he may be a criminal. But to me, he's a hero. You have so many parents who walk away from their children,and he tried to come back.'

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19.
Activists face trial for leaving water on refuge
By Philip Franchine
The Green Valley News (AZ), September 4, 2009
http://www.gvnews.com/articles/2009/09/04/news/66water.txt

Border activists who want to put water bottles on a Southern Arizona wildlife refuge have gotten to the negotiating table with federal officials this summer, but it hasn’t been easy getting there.

Agents in the Fish and Wildlife Department have ticketed 15 activists for putting water out on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge west of Arivaca, a location where many illegal immigrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

Two members of the No More Deaths and Samaritans organizations already have been tried and convicted of federal littering charges. On Wednesday, 13 activists declined plea bargains on their littering citations and face trial Nov. 10 in U.S. District Court.

The 13 were arrested in July, the month after activist Walt Staton was convicted, and the mass arrest seems to have upped the ante. The groups won a meeting in Washington, D.C., with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar later that month and have met two more times since with local officials, and have a third meeting scheduled for Thursday.

Refuge manager Mike Hawkes said, 'we’re going to work with them to come up with a permit to (put water out) in an environmentally friendly way, without leaving plastic bottles all over the place.'

The problem is that the refuge, which covers five miles of the Mexico border and is about 25 miles north and south along migrant trails, is traversed by an estimated 30,000 illegal immigrants a year. That is down from the estimated annual traffic of 300,000 several years ago, but still averages at least 80 a day.

Hawkes said the plastic bottles left by humanitarians are picked up by migrants along the trails, which are well-known. Then they are dropped, often in remote locations, and can threaten already endangered animal species because plastic breaks into shards and animals can eat or step on the plastic. He said if the activists could lock water containers to trees, for examples, migrants would refill their own empty jugs rather then throw them away, and activists could refill the containers along the trails.

In a press conference after the court hearing, defendant Leesa Jacobson said the charge of littering was 'bogus' because the activists remove bags of litter whenever they visit the refuge and only leave jugs of water.

The other defendants are Ed McCullough, Joseph David Hill, Jeff Millsap, Paula McPheeters, Jimmy McPherson, the Rev. John Fife, the Rev. Gene Lefebvre, Corinne Bancroft, Charles Rooney, Maureen Marx, Louis Martin and the Rev. Jerome Zawada.

The activists do not dispute putting the water jugs on the land, but said they were only leaving clean water for illegal immigrants as a humanitarian action because nearly 200 immigrants have died this year in the Southern Arizona desert. They say federal immigration policy has funneled immigrants into the dangerous Arizona desert and that government agencies are allowing migrants to die for lack of water.

However, Hawkes said the refuge has allowed the church-based group Humane Borders to set up three stations containing 55-gallon drums of water and there are several Border Patrol emergency rescue stations on the refuge. He said no migrants have died on the refuge this year and there is plenty of state, federal and private land around the refuge where activists can put water.

During the press conference, activists said Fish and Wildlife officials gave them a list of locations on the refuge where migrants could obtain water, but said they investigated and found nearly all were dry or contained contaminated water. Martin held a picture of a livestock water tank with a dead squirrel floating in the water.

Hawkes said that was a tank that had been damaged, apparently by migrants, and that it was on the list for repairs. He said stock tank water 'will keep you alive, but it’ll make you sick.' He said it was 'disingenuous' of the activists to show the photo publicly when they are negotiating water protocols with Fish and Wildlife.

Eleven of the defendants were present in court, along with attorney Jeffrey Rogers, and they entered not guilty pleas before U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Ferraro after declining to undertake plea negotiations with Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence Lee.

Ferraro told the defendants that the case is a petty offense, meaning there would be no jail time.

Before the mass ticketing in July, Dan Millis was the first to be ticketed and convicted of littering for leaving water in Buenos Aires. His sentence was suspended.

The court came down more heavily on Staton, who was convicted by a federal jury in June, and in August was ordered to spend 300 hours picking up trash and to stay away from the refuge and was given one year of unsupervised probation. The tickets that Millis and Staton refused to pay were for $175.

The activists meeting with Fish and Wildlife on Thursday hope to reach an agreement that will enable them to avoid future tickets and hold out hope that if they reach agreement, the U.S. Attorney’s office will drop the charges.

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20.
Haitian immigrant helps homeland
By Sarah Rohrs
The Times-Herald (Vallejo, CA), September 8, 2009
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/news/ci_13290033

In Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, people have many needs, but none so basic as fresh, clean water, said Rosemond Louissaint of Vallejo, who is trying to raise money to establish water wells in his homeland.

Louissaint returned to Haiti in May in one of the numerous relief missions he's conducted through Brother Helping Brother, a nonprofit missionary organization. He was loaded down with toiletries, medical supplies, an electrical generator and mounds of beans and rice.

While there, he said he was struck by the profound need for clean water. A river near the village of Ennery is used for nearly all the people's water needs -- drinking water, sewage disposal, bathing and washing clothes, Louissaint said. They often get ill after drinking the water, and they also develop skin rashes and other health problems, he said.

'People are in desperate need of clean water,' Louissaint said. 'My goal has been to go there and build a high school, but the last time I was there, I saw so many kids drinking bad water,' he said.

The lack of adequate water and other facilities is difficult for people here to imagine, Louissaint said. 'Everything here is nice and easy, but it's not like that at all over there.'

Louissaint is trying to raise $15,000 to establish five wells. He is seeking help from community churches, businesses and others.

Students at Solano Middle School, where he works as head custodian, might help out, he said. In June, an eighth-grade graduate gave him half of her $500 scholarship for Haiti relief efforts, he said.

'Solano kids are excited to see what they can do to help. These kids are hearing about the other kids crying for help,' Louissaint said.

Not so long ago, Louissaint could be counted among Haiti's desperate and poor. At age 20, he climbed aboard a small boat crammed with more than

150 people headed for the United States. He finally arrived after 26 harrowing days at sea where more than two dozen people died.

In Louissaint's return trips to Haiti, he is often accompanied by a parishioner from his church, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Vallejo. He has spearheaded efforts to build a church and done other projects.

Those who would like to help with raising money for drinking water wells in Haiti can call Louissaint at (707) 208-1308 or (707) 2554-6775.

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21.
Case by case, activists fight deportations
Immigrant students benefiting from blitz
By Maria Sacchetti
The Boston Globe, September 7, 2009
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/07/case_by_case_activists_fight_deportations/?page=full

A few months ago, Herta Llusho was just another college student. Then the government ordered her deported, and Llusho became an Internet celebrity almost overnight.

An army of supporters - including more than 2,800 Facebook fans, and counting - quickly launched a campaign on her behalf, and the 20-year-old immigrant from Albania recently won a three-month reprieve to remain in the United States. Now, she has become so popular that a stranger in Michigan recently spotted her in a restaurant and said, 'Hey, you’re the girl that they’ve been talking about.’’

The bespectacled honor student is the third young person in the past few weeks to successfully delay deportation amid extraordinary public campaigns that combined grass-roots organizing with online social networking. Frustrated by the failure to pass federal legislation called the Dream Act that would allow illegal immigrants brought here before they were 15 to apply for legal residency, advocates are pushing to halt their deportations, one by one.

'It’s not just working because we’re getting lucky,’’ said Carlos Saavedra, lead organizer of the Student Immigrant Movement in Massachusetts, who has joined Facebook pages and sent faxes and e-mails to support the immigrants. 'Those faxes mean power, and we’re getting the right message out.’’

Critics, while sympathetic to immigrants who were brought here as children, say immigration officials are caving to public support and failing to enforce immigration laws. One critic said the immigrants are being used as 'political pawns’’ to push for a broader amnesty for 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. An estimated 65,000 illegal immigrants graduate from high school in this country every year.

'It’s very wrong to try to use such anecdotes to appeal to the American citizenry that has a large concern about illegal immigration,’’ said William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, or Alipac.us, an Internet-based organization with 25,000 members who favor reduced immigration. 'Americans are being told that we’re at fault. We are not at fault. We’re not the ones that brought them here.’’

In the past few weeks, immigration field office directors in three states have granted delays of deportations to two college students and one recent graduate. Immigrants can fight deportation in a variety of ways, but in these cases they are appealing directly to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency in charge of detaining and deporting immigrants.

ICE, as the agency is known, has the discretion to grant 'deferrals,’’ which are stays of deportation, based largely on humanitarian grounds. Deferrals can last days, or years, and vary in outcomes: Some immigrants end up applying for legal residency while others are deported, said ICE spokeswoman Gillian Brigham.

Deferrals remain rare, and usually follow an outpouring of community support, from US representatives, teachers, friends, classmates, and clergy. Last year only 311 people of all ages won deferrals; so far this year 356 have been granted, said Brigham. She said ICE evaluates each case individually and would not comment on specific cases because of privacy laws.

Matt Chandler, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, also declined to comment on the cases. He said the agency’s policies haven’t changed on this issue, but they are being examined.

'Along with all of our immigration and border security policies, the department is conducting a review of policies pertaining to cases such as these,’’ he said.

Some speculated that the Obama administration is acting more sympathetic toward young immigrants because Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and others support the Dream Act. 'A lot of the things that everybody was hoping would change haven’t yet,’’ said Andres Benach, a Washington lawyer who aided one of the students. 'But this is something where a pattern does appear to be developing.’’

Advocates have successfully fought for young people in the past, but typically the hubbub died down after the student was either deported or allowed to stay. Now, each case is triggering the next, creating a domino effect nationwide.

In an instant, the immigrants’ supporters are mobilizing thousands of people across the United States, who then sign petitions and flood government officials with e-mails, faxes, and telephone calls demanding that they be allowed to stay.

The push began in June, when scores of students and others converged on Washington to demonstrate for the Dream Act. Among them was Walter Lara, a 23-year-old former college student who arrived in the United States from Argentina when he was 3. He was facing deportation in July.

Lara, whose story had been recounted in a Florida newspaper, had only intended to give a speech. But that led to a video, which led to blogging by the Service Employees International Union and Change.org, and mass exposure on Facebook and Twitter.

By the end, more than 4,000 calls and e-mails had been made to federal authorities on his behalf, and he won a deferral until next July, according to SEIU.org.

Lara’s success caught the attention of Taha Mowla in New Jersey, a college student who has lived in the United States since he was 2 and who was facing deportation to Bangladesh in July. He received a similar blitz and had his deportation deferred.

In Michigan, Llusho turned to activists in desperation last month after she and her mother received a letter saying they would be deported, after their asylum case failed. She won a three-month stay, and last week filed for a deferral. She is still fighting to stop her deportation in November.

'This is a scary situation to be in,’’ Llusho said by phone from Michigan. 'I’ve always been a person who likes to keep things in, who doesn’t really like to have her whole life story out in public. But everywhere we went, everyone said, you don’t have any other options.’’

At the moment, advocates pushing to halt deportations have more cases than they can handle, and some cases fail. They set up a form at Dreamactivist.org to urge young immigrants facing deportation to contact them for help.

'There’s too many students to do one by one,’’ said Josh Bernstein, director of immigration for SEIU in Washington. 'Inevitably you can’t succeed. It has to be leading toward something that makes our system more sane.’’

Hoping to be next in line is Jorge-Alonso Chehade, a recent graduate of the University of Washington, who came to the United States when he was 14 from Peru. He is facing deportation next month.

Roberto Gonzales, an assistant professor at his alma mater, is one of those running his Facebook page.

'He invited almost everybody he knew on Facebook, and I invited anybody that I thought would be sympathetic,’’ said Gonzales, a sociologist in the school of social work.

Without the full blitz, Chehade’s Facebook page reached 1,873 members late last month. Yesterday, that number surpassed 1,988.

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22.
Where newspapers thrive: Orange County's Little Saigon
The enclave is home to five papers catering to Vietnamese Americans' interests - and one of them just started up this summer. Despite the economy, all are doing well.
By My-Thuan Tran
The Los Angeles Times, September 8, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-outthere8-2009sep08,0,6489250.story

In a dimly lighted warehouse at the end of an alleyway in Orange County's Little Saigon, five reporters sat side by side on mismatched chairs, talking on telephones and typing away on their keyboards. There was no air conditioning, and two large fans provided little relief from the muggy air.

This was the temporary home of Viet Herald Daily News, the newest paper to hit the stands in this ethnic enclave. At a time when most U.S. newspapers are struggling to survive, Vietnamese-language news media here are flourishing.

There are four other dailies and numerous weeklies and magazines to serve the county's roughly 150,000 Vietnamese Americans. There are also several Vietnamese television broadcasting substations, as well as Little Saigon Radio (KVNR-AM 1480) and Radio Bolsa and VNCR, which share time on KALI-FM (106.3).

'Of course, there is still room in the Vietnamese community for another newspaper!' said Dzung Do, managing editor and co-founder of Viet Herald. 'People want more.'

Last week, Viet Herald's 15 staffers moved to a permanent office on Moran Street, a Westminster cul-de-sac where three other dailies in Little Saigon are lined up. Their new offices are squeezed between Viet Bao Daily News and Vien Dong Daily News. It's a sort of Vietnamese version of Fleet Street.

All five Vietnamese-language papers are small -- the largest, Nguoi Viet Daily News, has a circulation of 18,000 and a staff of 50. But the reach of Little Saigon's press can be seen every morning in the local coffee shops and markets that line the streets of Westminster and Garden Grove.

On a recent morning, Jimmy Thanh Kim Vu sipped Vietnamese iced coffee at a banh mi sandwich shop in Garden Grove as he flipped through the pages of Nguoi Viet and chatted with several friends. The group traded copies of all five Vietnamese dailies. (The fifth paper is Saigon Nho.)

'I have to read Vietnamese papers to know what is going on in Vietnam,' said Vu, 71.

A day earlier, Vu said, he read a front-page exclusive in Nguoi Viet about the fight to reclaim from the government the Tam Toa Catholic Church in central Vietnam. The paper's reporters interviewed a priest in Vietnam for the story, giving local readers a closer look at what was happening overseas.

'I think of us as a connector,' said Anh Do, vice president of Nguoi Viet. 'The coverage is very intimate.'

It is precisely this kind of news coverage that is responsible for the success of Vietnamese-language papers and other media targeted at certain immigrant groups, said Jeffrey Brody, a journalism professor at Cal State Fullerton.

'Basically, the ethnic press is a niche press,' Brody said. 'It gives the community exactly what it needs, in terms of news of its homeland and news of the community itself. You can't get that from TV or magazines from the mainstream press.'

But even more than a common language and stories about the homeland, the Vietnamese American press is popular because of the unique experience of refugees who fled their country after it fell under communist rule in 1975.

'They came from a country without freedom of the press,' Brody said, 'and now they are seizing the opportunity.'

After the fall of Saigon, thousands of refugees settled in Westminster, where they found cheap rent, plentiful jobs, good weather and a growing enclave of Vietnamese refugees not far from the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base, where many were resettled. One was Yen Ngoc Do, a former Vietnamese journalist.

News from their homeland was scant. So in 1978, Do took $4,000 of his savings to start Nguoi Viet, which means 'Vietnamese people.' It began as a four-page weekly published out of his Garden Grove garage with the help of his wife and young children, including Anh Do.

In addition to news from Vietnam, the paper featured stories about life in the United States, how to get a driver's license and apply for home loans, and what to expect when attending a PTA meeting.

Nguoi Viet eventually grew to become the largest Vietnamese-language newspaper in the country. Its website also attracts readers in Vietnamese communities around the world, including Australia, France and Vietnam itself. A few years ago, the paper launched a weekly English section aimed at young readers.

But Vietnamese newspapers are not immune from the weak economy. Advertising revenue at Nguoi Viet and other publications is down. Still, they continue to turn a profit because of their loyal readership and shoestring budgets.

This is largely the reason the founders of Viet Herald decided to start it up. Its first issue debuted July 4, with about 12,000 copies.

Viet Herald's editors also felt that readers wanted coverage of some 'hot-button issues' that other newspapers are afraid to touch, said Dzung Do, who left Nguoi Viet to start Viet Herald.

'For example, some political issues in the community, some papers might like this candidate and not the other. We don't care,' he said. 'We cover both.'

'Those other newspapers have been in the community for so long, they want to play it safe,' said Ha Bich Bui, Viet Herald's editor in chief, who is also a popular personality on Little Saigon Radio.

'It may be that we are taking a risk. The community is more or less conservative. Those of us who are in jour- nalism have to struggle with that.'

In this staunchly anti-communist enclave, pushing the boundaries of journalism has gotten newspapers in hot water.

Last year, Nguoi Viet ran a photo of a foot spa painted the colors of the South Vietnamese flag, which sparked a round of protests by those who believed the photo was offensive and was sympathetic to communism.

The newspaper quickly apologized to protesters, fired two top editors and offered refunds for the offending issue, but the protests continued. Nguoi Viet then filed a lawsuit, and a jury ruled that the protesters were liable for trespassing and causing a nuisance, finally ending the 18-month demonstrations.

Since then, Nguoi Viet hired back one of the fired editors, Hao-Nhien Vu.

The other fired editor, Anh Vu, is a co-founder of Viet Herald. Anh Vu and others liked the sound of 'Herald,' a traditional name established by newspapers at the turn of the 20th century.

On a recent morning, Viet Herald Managing Editor Dzung Do and a reporter chuckled as they leafed through the pages of their competitors.

'I think other newspapers should appreciate what we are doing,' Do said. 'Our presence makes them better. Now you have more newspapers, more news and more competition, so we have to all better ourselves.'

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23.
Designers create symbols to show way in hospitals
By Lisa Cornwell
The Associated Press, September 4, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/04/state/n090014D74.DTL&type=health

Cincinnati, OH (AP) -- Hospitals can be tough to navigate, especially for immigrants who speak little or no English.

So students at four colleges have designed a series of navigation symbols — from a large white tooth to show dental services, to a head with gears inside depicting mental health services — as a way to help guide immigrants through the daunting mazes of hospital hallways and buildings.

The students' creations resemble the geometric designs representing a person in a wheelchair for handicapped services and the figures of a man and a woman for male and female restrooms, and are part of an effort to create standardized signs for all health care settings.

The design students attend the University of Cincinnati and Kent State University in Ohio, California Polytechnic State University and Iowa State University.

Professional designers also have created symbols, including a teddy bear with a cross in its center for pediatrics and a symbol showing test tubes and a microscope for laboratories.

About 75 of the students' creations will be tested this year through surveys of various language groups in Cincinnati, Kent and Ames, Iowa. As many as 15 of those along with 28 professionally designed symbols will be tested for effectiveness at four health facilities around the country.

'We believe universal health care symbols can be as effective as the universally recognized symbols developed for transportation and parks,' said Yolanda Partida,' director of Hablamos Juntos at the UCSF Fresno Center for Medical Education, the group leading the project.

As hospitals have grown more complex with added destinations, earlier navigation tools like colored lines on floors don't work as well, and meeting federal requirements for signs in patients' languages is increasingly difficult.

'Communication is becoming more of a challenge as immigrant and migrant populations grow even in rural areas, and more hospitals are having to develop formal language assistance programs,' said Fred Hobby, president and CEO of the Institute for Diversity in Health Management, an American Hospital Association affiliate.

A 2008 Pew Research Center report projected that nearly 19 percent of Americans will be immigrants in 2050, compared with 12 percent in 2005.

Doralinda Soto, 30, came to Cincinnati from San Marcos, Guatemala. She thinks the symbols would be a big help.

'I had problems in hospitals when my children were born,' Soto said through an interpreter. 'I couldn't always understand and I ended up in the wrong places.'

UC student Paige Farwick's design for a mental health symbol depicts a head with gears inside.

'That was a difficult one, but it's cool to think that your design may end up an icon in hospitals everywhere,' said Farwick, 22, of Cincinnati.

While a few hospitals have navigation systems, health and design leaders say they have seen nothing consistent that all health care environments could adopt.

'It's too expensive and time-consuming for facilities to try to do this all themselves,' said Leslie Gallery-Dilworth, CEO of the Society for Environmental Graphic Design. The group is partnering in the project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funds projects for improving health and health care.

It also costs facilities time and money when patients can't find their way and have to stop staff to ask directions or are late for appointments, slowing down services and reducing the number of patients served.

Hobby is optimistic that the symbols will test successfully but says the challenges will be in creating symbols that can be understood by everyone and getting hospitals to adopt them.

Grady Health Systems in Atlanta, where patient languages have multiplied to 170, has tested some of the symbols and adopted some, including a figure in a chair reading a magazine for waiting areas.

'We'd run out of wall space if we tried to put translations for even the top five or six languages on every sign,' said Grady architectural project manager George C. Smith. 'We have had very positive feedback, and we plan to add more of the symbols wherever possible.'

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24.
US nuclear tests in Pacific lead to migration tensions, costly health obligations for Hawaii
By Mark Niesse
The Associated Press, September 6, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-health-bomb,0,3004794.story

Honolulu (AP) -- Pius Henry fears his adopted government will kill him, that the United States won't live up to a health care obligation to people from Pacific islands where it tested nuclear bombs.

Henry, a diabetic from the Marshall Islands, has received free dialysis treatments three times a week for years, but the cash-strapped state of Hawaii has threatened to cut off him and others to save money.

Like thousands of legal migrants to Hawaii from independent Pacific nations, Henry believes the United States has a responsibility to provide health care to compensate for the radioactive fallout of 67 nuclear weapons tests from 1946 to 1958.

'I don't have any option. I'm asking the government to help us,' Henry said. 'They say we're like U.S. citizens, but then they don't treat us the same. It's really unfair.'

A federal judge's ruling Sept. 1 temporarily prevented Hawaii from halting critical dialysis and chemotherapy treatments to hundreds of migrants from three nations: Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau. His order lasts at least until October.

Those three countries are beneficiaries of the Compact of Free Association, a 1986 pact with the United States granting it the right to use defense sites in exchange for financial assistance and migration rights.

With doctors and medical facilities lacking in their own countries, many with life-threatening conditions have moved to Hawaii seeking better health care, education and quality of life.

The islanders have struggled adjusting to American culture and their new home. They fill public housing projects and a disproportionate share of homeless shelters, according to a 2007 study. Without college degrees or a command of the English language, many work in fast-food or hotel jobs, which still pay far better than they could earn in their home countries.

'We're the last immigrants,' said Innocenta Sound-Kikku, a Micronesian whose father, Manuel Sound, suffers from diabetes. 'We come here for the same thing everyone else came here for — the chance for the American dream. The U.S. has an obligation after what they've done to us.'

The nuclear testing occurred in the Marshall Islands, carrying the explosive power of 7,200 Hiroshima bombs, said Dr. Neal Palafox, chairman of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Hawaii. The blasts contaminated thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean.

The residual radioactivity led to high rates of leukemia and thyroid, lung, stomach, skin and brain cancers, Palafox said. Fallout exposure could result in about a 9 percent increase in cancer in the Marshall Islands, according to a 2004 National Cancer Institute estimate provided to a U.S. Senate committee.

'It's a monster increase in cancer rates no matter how you look at it,' Palafox said.

He said that while the high rate of diabetes isn't directly connected to the nuclear tests, fast foods and processed meats introduced by the U.S. led to worsening diets in a culture that was dependent on fishing.

The migrants also widely believe the United States owes them for their various illnesses because of the destruction to their homelands and the displacement and agony they have suffered.

While living with diabetes and high blood pressure, Manuel Sound takes about 11 pills daily and said he feels wary of death. If he missed any of his 3½-hour, thrice-weekly dialysis treatments, his health would be in danger.

'One day you miss, and the poison begins to circulate in your bloodstream. I could die if I'm not careful,' said Sound, who has lived in Hawaii for seven years after migrating from Micronesia. 'With these budget cuts, I really thought I was going to go.'

The state of Hawaii sought to save $15 million by cutting health services to more than 7,000 migrants, who are treated as legal residents lacking citizenship. Their ambiguous status, as well as their cost to taxpayers, led to the state's proposed health reductions.

Both the Hawaii government and the migrants argue that the U.S. government should take responsibility for their health treatments.

But federal Medicaid funding to the migrant islanders was slashed when welfare reform passed in 1996, resulting in Hawaii picking up the tab. U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, said he is trying to reinstate Medicaid benefits for compact migrants as part of the pending health care legislation.

'The United States cannot wash its hands clear of this responsibility because the islands will still have that nuclear testing effect for the next 2,000 years,' said William Swain of the Marshallese community organization Pa Emman Kabjere, which means 'don't let go of a good hand.'

In Swain's family, 15 siblings on his father's side died from cancer, with the men suffering from thyroid cancer and the women from urine and breast cancer, he said. His 12-year-old niece has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and his older brother died from thyroid cancer two months ago.

While the government lacks data showing how quickly people are moving from these island nations, there were about 12,215 migrants of the Compact of Free Association states living in Hawaii in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Many of the migrants said it's racially discriminatory for the U.S. government to grant lifesaving health coverage to poor Americans while denying it to them.

'It's wrong for people to be so prejudiced,' said Tita Raed of Micronesians United. 'Most of the people in Hawaii moved here. This is not their native island, but they're upset when other people move here.'

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25.
Recession dims job prospects for Iraqi refugees
Thousands have settled in San Diego County
By Anne Krueger
The San Diego Union Tribune, September 6, 2009
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/sep/06/recession-dims-job-prospects-iraqi-refugees/?metro&zIndex=161399

Najeeb Odeesh came to San Diego County a year ago with his wife and five children, hoping for a new start after fleeing the violence of Baghdad.

But Odeesh discovered there weren't any jobs for a 50-year-old junkyard dealer who doesn't speak English. He and his family reside in a three-bedroom apartment in El Cajon, living on $820 a month in welfare and help from family and friends to pay the $1,200 monthly rent.

'It was a dream for us' to come to the United States, Odeesh, speaking in Aramaic, said through a translator. 'But the dream wasn't what we expected. It's like you hit your head against a wall.'

Odeesh and his family are among the 4,975 refugees from Iraq who have come to San Diego County in the past three years, making the county the top destination for recent Iraqi refugees in the United States.

Although previous generations of Iraqi immigrants were able to establish businesses when they came to San Diego County, the recession has diminished job prospects for new arrivals. The government assistance they receive is based on the premise that they will soon be employed, but they say no work is available.

'We don't want to sit and depend on welfare,' Odeesh said. 'We want to work.'

More than 4,800 Iraqi refugees settled in Michigan in the past three years, but the 15 percent unemployment rate there means far fewer are sent to the state with the highest concentration of Iraqis.

Many refugees are coming to California, though the state struggles with an 11.9 percent unemployment rate.

About 30,000 Iraqi refugees have come to the United States since immigration opened up in 2007. Bob Carey of the International Rescue Committee said the refugees were traumatized by war and now face poverty in the United States.

'We are failing them,' he said. 'They're not supported adequately in Iraq, and they're not supported here.'

After the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, thousands of Iraqis fled their homes but found it nearly impossible to gain admittance to the United States. The displaced Iraqis fled to Syria, Jordan or other Middle Eastern countries, where they can spend a year or more in an uncertain legal status as they seek a permanent home.

After heavy criticism, the U.S. government allowed more Iraqi refugees in the country. The State Department spent an estimated $5.4 million in fiscal 2008 on resettling Iraqi refugees in the United States, spokeswoman Gina Wills said.

In February, President Barack Obama promised to provide more assistance and increase international support for Iraqi refugees. 'America has a strategic interest — and a moral responsibility — to act,' he said.

San Diego County, with an estimated 35,000 Iraqis, has the second-largest concentration of Iraqis behind the Detroit area, which has more than 100,000.

Iraqis began arriving in East County in the 1950s, lured by the climate and affordable housing. Many were Chaldean, a Christian minority that has faced persecution in Iraq.

Iraqi immigrants opened convenience stores or liquor stores — more than 800 in San Diego County. When more relatives arrived from Iraq, they got jobs in a family member's store.

Today, only Iraqis who have family in San Diego County are being resettled here. Four agencies in San Diego County — International Rescue Committee, Catholic Charities, Jewish Family Services and Alliance for African Assistance — have contracts with the State Department to assist new arrivals.

Robert Montgomery, regional resettlement director for the International Rescue Committee's San Diego office, said case workers meet with those who want to sponsor a relative fleeing Iraq.

'We don't want to further burden people who might be struggling themselves,' Montgomery said. 'But if your brother is coming, even if you're hurting, you want your brother here.'

Many refugees are settling in El Cajon, where affordable apartments are plentiful in an area with an established Iraqi community to help. For example, the St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Church in Rancho San Diego is collecting donations and providing mattresses and used furniture for more than 100 arrivals a month.

Melissa Winkler, a spokeswoman for the International Rescue Committee in New York, said the recession has highlighted problems with the U.S. refugee program, which began in the 1970s to admit Vietnamese refugees. With the current influx unable to find work, the financial assistance being provided to them is inadequate, she said.

'Its entire success is dependent on refugees being employed very quickly,' Winkler said. 'It's resettling refugees into poverty instead of helping them to get on their feet.'

Each new arrival from Iraq gets a one-time grant of $900, then is eligible for welfare and food stamps; a single person receives $359 a month, and a family of four receives $862. Families with children continue to receive welfare until they can find work, but single people are restricted to eight months of assistance.

Refugees say the money doesn't go far when the monthly rent for an apartment in El Cajon is $800 and up.

The refugees are required to take up to 140 hours a month of English-language classes as a condition of receiving welfare. They also must seek employment.

Odeesh and his family, who are Chaldean, fled Iraq and spent eight months in Turkey before they were allowed to come to El Cajon, where Odeesh's brother and other relatives live.

Odeesh, his wife, Manal Harmiz, and their children, ages 11 to 23, live in a second-floor apartment near downtown El Cajon. The furniture — and a computer and flat-screen television — were given to them by Sabah Toma, a cousin who lives in La Mesa.

Toma, who came to San Diego County from Iraq in 1982, has helped bring over 63 relatives. He owns San Diego Ice Machine, along with five convenience and liquor stores where many of his relatives work.

Toma said he's trying to find a job for Odeesh, but it's difficult in a tough economy.

'I have always told him, ‘When it's your turn,’?' Toma said. 'You've got to go one step at a time.'

Some immigrants said they are resented because they can't find work. Nada Gorgies, 39, said she hasn't been able to land a job since she came to El Cajon a year ago after her husband, who worked for a security contractor in Baghdad's Green Zone, was kidnapped and killed.

'Sometimes we hear people who say, ‘Go back to your country. You're taking our welfare,’?' she said. 'We are afraid to tell them, ‘You guys created the war in our country.’?'

Sleiwa Shangy, 44, said he receives $700 a month in welfare for him and his twin 18-year-old son and daughter. His monthly rent for an apartment in El Cajon is $1,000, and he said he needs to borrow money from friends and relatives.

His son works at a gas station three days a week, but Shangy, who worked as a mechanic in Baghdad, has been unable to find work since he came here 10 months ago.

'In my country, there were a lot of jobs, but there was no security,' he said. 'Here we are safe, but there are no jobs.'

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26.
From Liberia, a call for help
By Amanda Milkovits
The Providence Journal, September 6, 2009
http://www.projo.com/news/content/liberian_boy_09-06-09_4LFFM0E_v104.345f505.html

A teenage boy from Providence was left stranded in the war-ravaged streets of his native Liberia, without his passport or U.S. green card.

There was only one person whom Willy Welson believed could rescue him.

Welson hadn’t stood on his country’s soil since he was a little boy. He had been living with a cousin on Althea Street in Providence, a rough neighborhood in the West End, since moving from Minnesota three years ago. They had a falling out and late last year, Welson was taken in by a neighbor.

In the midst of this turmoil, while he was a junior at Dr. Jorge Alvarez High School, Welson made a friend who would become his lifeline.

Jesse Ferrell was raised in the Wiggin Village projects, where police kept vigil on the kids hanging around on the streets. When Ferrell became a Providence police officer 12 years ago, he was chosen to look out for inner-city kids.

As a school resource officer at Alvarez and Feinstein high schools, Ferrell met Welson last fall and liked the teen’s respectful manner. Welson wasn’t a typical 18-year-old, Ferrell says. 'He’s a genuine kid, old-fashioned, the kind you don’t see too much of all the time. You try to look out for them.'

The officer knew about the problems in the teen’s home life. He knew of his problems with reading and writing and his struggles with epilepsy and heart trouble.

Ferrell hired Welson as a counselor and youth coach in an after-school program and saw the teen thrive.

He says Welson began to rely on the friendship, calling on weekends to say hello and ask about Ferrell’s family.

Ferrell has seen a lot of struggle in the lives of Providence teens. That’s why he gives them his cell phone number. They may need him someday.

On June 15, his cell phone rang with a strange number. It was from Liberia.

THAT PHONE call set off a month-long odyssey involving a small group of people working secretly to get the teen home.

Ferrell says Welson was tricked into thinking he was flying to Minnesota for his brother’s wedding. Instead, Welson told the police, he was introduced to a Liberian man who escorted him on flights that took them to Monrovia, Liberia, and then the man took off with Welson’s Liberian passport and U.S. green card.

Providence police say they are investigating how the teenager ended up in Liberia; the attorney general’s office and federal immigration agents have been notified.

Worried about jeopardizing Welson’s safety, his rescuers kept their mission quiet. They did not contact leaders in Rhode Island’s Liberian community, which at 15,000 is the highest per-capita Liberian population in the country.

Ferrell says the police believe the boy was dumped in the West African country, but they don’t know why.

Ferrell had seen Welson at school on June 11, four days before the call from Liberia. The boy was excited about going to the wedding in Minnesota that weekend; the officer had helped arrange for Welson to make up class work he would miss.

Welson hadn’t seen his family since moving to Providence, but he stayed in touch with his older brother by phone. He says his brother called to say he was getting married. Welson says his cousin in Providence offered to send him to the wedding, on June 13. He was to fly out of Boston early on June 12 and return a few days later.

Welson says they left for Logan Airport before sunup and another man, who had a Liberian accent, drove with them. Welson says this man was to accompany him to Minnesota and that he held all the paperwork — including Welson’s Liberian passport, his green card and his plane tickets.

On the flight from Logan, Welson says he realized something was wrong. It was taking too long. They landed at another airport — Welson doesn’t know where, but people were speaking another language. He says they took two other flights and that the man kept telling him to shut up when he protested to ask where they were going.

Welson says he was scared, but he didn’t know what to do.

It was dark when they landed at Roberts International Airport in Monrovia. Welson says they got their luggage, went through customs and walked outside the airport, which is about 35 miles from the heart of the city. He says the man still had his documents.

The man told him to wait there; he’d be back. Welson says the man walked down a street across from the airport. He never saw him again.

Welson was standing outside, in tears, when he says two young men approached.

What are you doing here? Don’t you know anybody? they asked him.

'I told them, ‘I don’t know nobody over here. I can’t do nothing,’ ' Welson says.

He says he told them he needed to get to the U.S. Embassy.

Don’t tell anyone you’re from America, he says they responded; it’s not safe. Someone could hurt you.

One man told Welson his name was Kelvin Trinity; the other was David. He says Trinity told him he works with police in Monrovia and offered to take him to a police commissioner.

Both had cell phones and Welson says they asked whether he wanted to call anyone.

He had Officer Ferrell’s cell phone number in his wallet, but says he didn’t need to look at it. He knew the number by heart.

When Ferrel's phone rang as he was driving to work that Monday morning, he was unaware that he had missed several calls overnight from Liberia, he says. The caller said he was Commissioner Dunn in Monrovia and that he was with Willy Welson, who said he had been kidnapped.

Ferrell told him to put Welson on the phone. He heard the familiar voice, 'I’ve been kidnapped, Officer Jesse.'

Ferrell was outraged. 'He was lied to! … The kid’s all the way in Liberia, just dropped off at the airport. That’s mean. I can’t even think past that.'

Ferrell says he got a second frantic phone call — from Sandra Marrow, the neighbor who had taken in Welson last winter. The teen had called her from Liberia when he was unable to reach Ferrell.

The officer turned to Hillary Salmons, executive director of the Providence After School Alliance. Ferrell told Salmons about Welson; he wanted to get the boy home.

Ferrell was one of the first officers to join PASA, which coordinates after-school activities. He’s well-loved by the staff, says Salmons. 'There are so many lonely, desperate situations for these kids and having these police officers connect with them is important to their survival.'

Ferrell had called the right person. Before joining PASA, Salmons had worked in Southeast Asia with Refugees International. She says she understood how a young, unworldly immigrant like Welson, raised in a culture that emphasizes respect for elders, could be misled.

Salmons dropped what she was doing to help Ferrell, who says he was unable to get through to the Liberian police commissioner or Welson on the borrowed cell phones.

'Holy smokes! Street people are letting him use a cell phone — how long will that last?' Salmons remembers thinking. 'Using that is expensive, unless they get something out of it. We don’t have much time.'

Salmons called U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s office to help get Welson into the U.S. Embassy at Momba Point, Monrovia — a tough task without an advocate. She says Whitehouse’s office made arrangements for the next day. But by late morning, Consular Officer Alma Gurski at the embassy delivered bad news.

Welson had a green card, which gives him lawful permanent residency in the United States, but he was not a U.S. citizen and the embassy would not get him home.

Gurski told Salmons that Welson needed new papers, which would take time and money — $165 for a travel letter, $65 for a replacement Liberian passport, plus a plane ticket for $1,500 to $2,000.

Salmons says they were stunned; she looked over at Ferrell to see his eyes welling up.

'I said, ‘I’ve got a lot of contacts. Let me see what I can do.’ '

Salmons says she stayed up that night calling former colleagues from Refugees International, the International Institute of Rhode Island, and World Concern — to see whether she could find a safe haven for Welson. Nobody could help.

If left in Liberia, she was told, Welson will not survive.

'I said to my husband that night, ‘We’ve got to get him out and I don’t have time to raise money with a potluck dinner,’ ' Salmons says.

She called Gurski the next morning and said she would pay to get Welson home.

Salmons said she barely knew Welson; he was just one of the many youths in the after-school program.

She was motivated by Ferrell.

'That’s what inspired us — that this young man and this police officer had such a bond.' Salmons says, her voice choking up. 'I don’t know if we would have rallied so much if it wasn’t for seeing how much this officer cared for this boy.'

The rescue would not be easy.

Because the country’s infrastructure is still in ruins from the civil wars, communication was difficult.

Welson says he lived in Trinity’s small house in Monrovia. The men took him to a barber to shave off his Afro — to help him cope with the African heat, and to blend in. They wouldn’t let him go out at night, he says, because the streets were dangerous.

Welson trusted the two young men who had taken him in, but Ferrell and Salmons say they were wary. Trinity asked for money to get Welson new documents. Salmons says the embassy warned against sending money to any strangers in Liberia, a poor country where work is scarce and the average civil servant is paid about $80 a month. But she worried that they would lose their only connection to Welson.

She says she wired $40 in 'good faith' money to Trinity and worked with the embassy to find a more stable place for Welson. Gurski arranged for Joseph Geebro, Liberia’s deputy minister of social welfare, to take Welson into his guarded home until the paperwork was ready.

Salmons wired $265 to Geebro for Welson’s travel letter, replacement passport and other expenses. She says Whitehouse’s office pushed to get the paperwork completed quickly, and by July 1, the documents were ready.

It took three tries to get Welson on a plane.

The first one-way ticket for July 6 wasn’t confirmed, and Welson was turned away at the airport.

The second time, on July 8, a Brussels Airlines official pulled Welson out of line after reading a letter from the embassy stating that he may need a wheelchair. Welson had some epileptic seizures in Liberia, and Salmons had asked the embassy for a letter to identify the teen in case he needed medical attention.

The manager told Salmons that the airline required a doctor’s note. She pleaded with him, until he agreed to apply the $1,300 ticket to a flight on July 10.

'He said, ‘Boy this Willy Welson is quite an important man,’ ' Salmons says he told her. 'I said, ‘No, he’s just a kid, and we’re ordinary Americans trying to help him.’ '

The third time, Geebro drove Welson to the airport but left the travel documents at home — two hours away. Welson says Geebro made a hurried phone call, and the papers were delivered with 20 minutes to spare.

The Providence police had arranged for law enforcement officers to meet Welson at every connecting flight.

Ferrell wanted to be the one who brought him home.

On July 11, as an American Airlines attendant stepped off the plane with the slight young man, Ferrell and Officer Chris Owens were already walking toward them on the jetway.

Welson was thinner. Exhaustion was written on his face. He hadn’t slept since boarding the plane in Monrovia 24 hours earlier. He was afraid he wouldn’t make it home.

Ferrell handed the teen a Providence police baseball cap. The officers settled him in the back seat of their unmarked car and told him he was safe.

Weeks after his return, Willy Welson and the police still have few answers.

Federal immigration authorities have been notified about the missing passport and green card.

Those documents are valuable in human-trafficking rings, says Niurka Pineiro, a Washington-based spokeswoman at the International Organization for Migration. One stolen green card can be sold for thousands and used to traffic others into the United States, she says.

Pineiro, told about Welson’s story, said: 'It has all the trappings of smuggling or trafficking. He was an easy target.'

The memory of the ordeal pains Welson.

On a blistering August day, he met Ferrell for pizza at Alvarez High and tells the officer how he keeps thinking he was betrayed.

Ferrell held the boy’s gaze. Bad experiences can teach us lessons, he tells Welson. The lesson is, when something seems wrong, speak up, ask questions, even make a scene. People will help you.

I want to pay you back, Welson says. Ferrell answers: Pay us back by doing well in school. Graduate in June. Send pictures of yourself getting your diploma to Kelvin Trinity and David, in Liberia, to thank them and pass along your blessings.

Welson listens intently to the one man he trusts.

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27.
20,000 H1B visas still up for grabs in the US
The Press Trust of India, September 8, 2009
http://www.ptinews.com/news/270219_H1B-visa-quota-still-short-by-20-000-in-the-US

Washington, DC (PTI) -- About 20,000 H-1B visas, one of the most sought after for overseas professionals including Indians, are still up for grabs in the US which is struggling to fill up the allocated number of 65,000, even as less than a month remains before the start of the next financial year.

Primarily meant for computers and information technology professionals, the H-1B visas have been one of the most sought after for foreign professionals in previous years.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has been receiving several times the number of the allocated quota. However, this year, the USCIS is struggling to fill up the 65,000 H-1B visas as mandated by the US Congress.

This is mainly attributed to the strict approval policy adopted by the USCIS this year and the ongoing economic recession, which has resulted in a 26-year high unemployment rate of 9.

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28.
Ruling halts woman's deportation, orders visa
Woman from Mexico and stepfather were family long before adoption was official, judge says.
By Pamela Manson
The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City), September 6, 2009
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_13282860

Since she left her native country of Mexico as a child in 1998, Rocio Gonzalez-Martinez has never been back.

She was raised in Utah by her Mexican-born aunt and U.S. citizen uncle, Santa Clara resident Lyle Dahlberg.

But while Gonzalez-Martinez, 22, calls her uncle the 'only father I have,' the federal government claimed Dahlberg's adoption of her a few years ago came too late. It began proceedings to deport her.

The decision didn't sit well with U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins, who issued a sharply worded ruling last week that a blanket policy has no place in adoptions.

'Not all cases are identical,' he wrote. 'A black-and-white rule is unfair to those who have a meritorious argument.'

Jenkins upheld a state court judge who retroactively dated Gonzalez-Martinez's adoption to the day after Dahlberg married her aunt in 1998 and told immigration officials to issue a visa that will allow the young woman to remain in the United States.

'Ordering a child, even though now mature, legally adopted and acculturated in the United States, to be deported from the United States is far too Draconian an outcome,' the judge wrote in a decision issued Tuesday.

The visa will allow Gonzalez-Martinez to eventually become a U.S. citizen.

Attorney A. Jason Velez, who represents Gonzalez-Martinez, applauded the ruling.

'Sending her back to a country where she has no ties, rather than allowing her to stay with family that raised her and loved her, would be horrendous,' he said.

Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said the office is considering whether to appeal.

'There are undeniably sympathetic circumstances in this case, but the question before the court is what Congress has clearly set out as a qualification for naturalization and whether it can be adapted on a case-by-case basis,' she said.

Gonzalez-Martinez was born in Naco, Sonora, Mexico, to a teenage mother who gave the baby to her older sister, Maria Dolores Martinez-Sanchez. The sister filed a birth certificate listing herself and her then-husband as the child's parents. The pair later divorced.

Dahlberg was divorcing about the same time in the mid-1990s and wrote a letter to Martinez-Sanchez, who he had met 30 years before while on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The two began writing and calling each other.

In 1998, Martinez-Sanchez came to Utah on a visitor's visa with then-11-year-old Gonzalez-Martinez. Dahlberg proposed and the two married. He was granted guardianship in 2000 by Utah's 5th District Court.

His wife, who goes by Loli Dahlberg, became a permanent legal resident. The process has been more difficult for Gonzalez-Martinez.

'We've done everything legally and by the book,' Lyle Dahlberg said Friday. 'It took years to get my wife's residency. With Rocio, it's been such a nightmare.'

Dahlberg filed a petition in 2005 seeking to classify Gonzalez-Martinez as an immediate relative of a citizen, which would make her eligible for permanent legal residency. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) declined the petition and began deportation proceedings. Dahlberg went back to 5th District Court and got an adoption decree in December 2006 that was retroactively dated to April 13, 1998, the day after he married his wife.

A second petition to designate Gonzalez-Martinez as Dahlberg's immediate relative was rejected by CIS and the Board of Immigration Appeals upheld the decision. Gonzalez-Martinez and Dahlberg appealed.

CIS argued that adoptions of immigrant children must take place before their 16th birthday and that there is no room for squeezing retroactive adoptions into the definition.

Jenkins disagreed. He said the order backdating the adoption 'simply formalizes and recognizes the existence in fact of a bona fide family unit, long-observed, in the family and in the community.'

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29.
U.S. expands H-1B fraud case against IT services firm
By Patrick Thibodeau
Computer World, September 7, 2009
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/342686/U.S._Expands_H_1B_Fraud_Case_Against_N.J._Firm

The U.S. government late last month filed a new, expanded 18-count indictment that now seeks $4.9 million from a New Jersey IT services firm it has accused of fraudulently using H-1B visas.

The government alleges that South Plainfield, N.J.-based Vision Systems Group Inc. paid its H-1B workers in multiple states based on low prevailing wage rates in Iowa through the creation of shell businesses in that state.

The indictment charges that the methods used by Vision Systems 'have substantially deprived U.S. citizens of employment.'

The initial 10-count indictment against Vision Systems, filed on Feb. 12, was part of a government investigation dubbed Operation Pacific Vision that led to the arrest of 11 people in six states on H-1B fraud charges.

Court documents show that the expanded indictment cut the amount sought by $2.5 million; no explanation for the reduction was given. But it is still the largest H-1B fraud case ever brought by the government.

The figure 'represents he total amount of gross proceeds obtained as a result of offenses,' according to the indictment.

Vision Systems and its executives are fighting the charges in U.S. District Court in Iowa.

'Workers were paid at or above the prevailing wage rates of the places that they were working,' Mark Weinhardt, a Des Moines attorney and a member of the legal team representing the company, contended last week.

Visions Systems' defense has not yet been outlined but is hinted at in the indictment papers.

According to prosecutors, Vision Systems told its H-1B hires that green cards could be obtained more quickly from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices located outside of New Jersey.

Thus, Vision Systems might claim that it has been using the faster service available at the Iowa ICE offices as a recruiting tool for H-1B workers interested in getting green cards quickly.

Weinhardt did note that the defense team believes that the 'indictment is based on a number of misconceptions about immigration law and procedure.'

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30.
Illegal Immigrant Accused of Beating Baby
The KRGV News (Weslaco, TX), September 7, 2009
http://www.krgv.com/news/local/story/Illegal-Immigrant-Accused-of-Beating-Baby/y6GaFzCKAEKagnz785GH8A.cspx

Brownsville, TX -- A baby girl is listed in critical condition at a Harlingen hospital after she was allegedly beat up by an illegal immigrant who was caring for her.

Brownsville police say Luis Alberto Espinoza called 911 when the baby stopped breathing.

Police say when emergency crews arrived on scene the suspect was administering CPR on the baby.

Espinoza told police the child had fallen and hit herself, but police don't believe his story.

Brownsville Police Spokesperson Jimmy Manrrique says, 'We've had kids fall from 2 story buildings on the concrete and be perfectly fine, this is a child that went through some extensive chronic abuse at the hands of this individual.'

Bond for Espinoza was set at fifty thousand dollars.

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31.
Patchogue hate-crime suspect held on $7,500 bail
Newsday (NY), September 5, 2009

The investigation into hate-filled notes that were left on a Patchogue church altar and suspected at first of being an anti-Hispanic bias attack took a different turn Saturday with the arrest of a Hispanic man who once wanted to worship there.

Suffolk County Police say Christhian Munguia Garcia was linked to the letters after being chased down and arrested Friday night as part of a group that had hurled a wooden log and a glass bottle at churchgoers leaving the building. No one was hit in that incident at the church, located at 102 Railroad Ave.

At his arraignment Saturday, Munguia Garcia, 25, was ordered held on $7,500 bail stemming from a host of charges including attempted assault as a hate crime. No one else has been arrested in the case, police said.

Suffolk police defended charging Munguia Garcia with a hate crime.
. . .
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/patchogue-hate-crime-suspect-held-on-7-500-bail-1.1424156

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32.
Delta Airlines Employees Charged With Smuggling Immigrants
The Associated Press, September 5, 2009

San Juan, PR (AP) -- A federal grand jury in the U.S. Virgin Islands has indicted two ticket agent contractors who worked for Delta Airlines and an airport employee on charges of conspiracy to smuggle illegal immigrants into the U.S.

The ticket agents, identified as Diana Telemaque, 33, and Felicia Browne, 22, were arrested Thursday along with luggage handler Daniel Confidente.
. . .
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,546881,00.html

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Center for Immigration Studies
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Washington, DC 20005
(202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076
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