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Daily news updates from CIS
September 17, 2009
Support the Center for Immigration Studies by donating on line here: http://cis.org/donate
ATTN Federal employees: The Center's Combined Federal Campaign number is 10298.
[For CISNEWS subscribers --
1. President reiterates amnesty promise (story, link)
2. Napolitano lauds security efforts (story, link)
3. DHS: E-Verify operating smoothly
4. DHS chief places construction on hold
5. Forest Service recants drug warning
6. Border Patrol assigns new commander to ND
7. Baucus bill 'closes' loopholes
8. Healthcare debate pushes other issues into 2010 (link)
9. OH state senate leader calls for probe of BMV
10. TX enforcement program accused of profiling
11. RI city hosts new USCIS center
12. CA police chief discusses U-Visas
13. NC community college leaders to set tuition policy
14. CA county officials: ESL students hold schools back (link)
15. Activists voice doubts about Obama admin
16. National talk radio hosts demand enforcement
17. ACLU wins suit over detention conditions
18. NY activists press amnesty agenda
19. Advocates seek reprieve for illegal Haitians
20. CA Asians study health care initiatives
21. Christian leaders pray at Capitol for end to 'hate'
22. Marine widow seeks immigration exemption
23. MN court overturns immigration conviction (link)
24. New charges filed in MS hiring raid (link)
25. Boys charged in MA beating banned from school (link)
26. Six Cubans arrested in South Florida (link)
27. Illegal suspected of AZ carjacking (link)
28. Illegals accused in NC license fraud (link)
Subscribe to CIS e-mail services here: http://cis.org/immigrationnews.html
-- Mark Krikorian]
1.
Obama praises Sotomayor at Hispanic gala
By Philip Elliot
The Associated Press, September 17, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iGT8J7TNP37640wWuQd9Z-XEtIEgD9AOP4680
Washington, DC (AP) -- President Barack Obama, trying to calm critics and rally allies on his top domestic priority, told a Hispanic gathering on Wednesday that no one in the United States illegally would receive benefits under plans for a health care overhaul.
Speaking to a black-tie gala for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the president also promised action on immigration, although he left unspoken a timeline. During a star-studded night that included Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, he also reminded the caucus that he successfully nominated Justice Sonia Sotomayor as the nation's first Latina member of the Supreme Court.
'Our own royalty, somebody who we have become so extraordinarily proud of, somebody who I've just come to adore, and who is somebody who's going to make us proud for many, many years to come, because she's not term-limited, the newest justice of the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor,' Obama said, bringing the room to its feet to applaud Sotomayor, who attended the dinner.
He said the proudest moment of his presidency was when Sotomayor took the bench.
'As she lifted her right hand to take the oath, our nation took one step closer to fully realizing the founding ideals that the court itself was established to defend. And across America, millions of children's sights are now set higher; their dreams are a little bigger. That benefits all of us.'
But implicit in his message: Have patience with me.
Part rally for his agenda and part reminder to a key constituency, Obama's speech to a packed ballroom promised help for the Hispanic community and the nation more broadly. He said the problems Hispanics face cut across all communities, from crumbling schools to a devastated economy.
'Todos somos Americanos,' Obama said. 'We are all Americans.'
The president — himself the first-generation son of an immigrant father — challenged the audience to work with him to deliver on campaign promises. It will take time, though.
'The American people did not send us to Washington to ignore problems just because they're tough,' said Obama, whose campaign slogan of 'Yes, We Can' borrowed from Cesar Chavez's 'Si, Se Puede.'
Echoing that pledge, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a cheering crowd that immigration overhaul and improvements in education would come.
'All of you have made America more American,' she said.
And before the president spoke, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., told the crowd: 'I know he's going to help us with comprehensive immigration reform.'
Yet that priority — changing the nation's immigration system — is not yet the top priority of either the White House or the Democratic-led Congress.
To a quiet crowd, Obama told the audience that his health care plan would specifically exclude illegal immigrants. He ticked through the familiar talking points on health care, then added: 'Even though I do not believe we should extend health coverage to those who are here illegally, I also don't simply believe we can ignore the fact that our immigration system is broken.'
First, though, he has to win passage of a health care overhaul. In the interim, Obama highlighted early accomplishments since taking office in January.
He claimed he had hired more Hispanics in his administration than any other and pointed to senior members of his Cabinet, including Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.
+++
Obama links healthcare, immigration reform
United Press International, September 17, 2009
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/09/17/Obama-links-healthcare-immigration-reform/UPI-92301253185973/
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2.
Napolitano lauds successes in US border security
By Alicia A. Caldwell
The Associated Press, September 17, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hlzSKKNdTcnxwrr9f4ABu4fcvtSQD9AOQ1QG0
Las Cruces, NM (AP) -- The U.S. and Mexico are making headway in the ongoing struggle to curb the flow of illegal drugs, cash and weapons across the border, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday.
Napolitano, who spoke at a public policy conference at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, said 'historic' agreements with Mexican President Felipe Calderon's government and increases in enforcement are helping with security issues in the U.S., and curbing the flow of drugs into the U.S. and weapons and cash into Mexico.
'We stand at a historic moment,' she said. 'We have the opportunity to work with the government of Mexico to make significant advancements in the safety and security of the border area and the safety and security of Mexico in the very courageous battle President Calderon is fighting there.'
Calderon launched a nationwide offensive against violent and powerful drug cartels shortly after taking office in 2006. Since then, more than 13,000 people have been killed. In Ciudad Juarez, just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, federal police and Mexican troops have been deployed to curb the near-daily killings.
Napolitano said successes are coming slowly but steadily, and can't fully be measured by the number of arrests made or the amount of cash and weapons seized. 'It will be a marathon, but progress is being made, again because of the historic relationship we have,' she said.
During her 45-minute speech, Napolitano highlighted a series of border initiatives her department has announced since she was sworn in earlier this year, including increased numbers of federal agents working at the border and the creation of routine southbound checkpoints at U.S. ports of entry. She also reiterated a commitment to work with local and state authorities and overhaul immigration detention facilities and policies.
'Historically in the 1980s and '90s, issues involving the border ... drug trafficking, immigration, were viewed as strictly federal issues,' Napolitano said. But she said her department has seen the impact on local and state agencies and has 'put a premium' on partnering with them.
The secretary also briefly discussed the need for comprehensive immigration reform. She said once health care reform is passed, President Barack Obama's administration will focus on immigration as a top priority.
'I'm not going to give you a timeline,' Napolitano said of potential legislation. 'But there's a whole lot of work going on behind the scenes.'
She said any reform would include enforcement and visa reform, and deal with the millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S.
'It will mirror the fact that we are a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants,' Napolitano said.
+++
Napolitano: Groundwork being laid for immigration bill
Security and enforcement efforts are ‘zooming along,’ but immigration reform is on the back burner for now, homeland security secretary says during speech at NMSU
By Heath Haussamen
The New Mexico Independent (Center for Independent Media), September 17, 2009
http://newmexicoindependent.com/36588/napolitano-groundwork-being-laid-for-immigration-bill
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3.
E-Verify prepared for surge in worker eligibility queries
By Gautham Nagesh
NextGov.com, September 16, 2009
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090916_2327.php?oref=topstory
The new CIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas questioned this week whether the program could process a surge in queries.
A mandatory program for federal contractors that verifies the legal status of workers is processing requests in a timely fashion, according to the Homeland Security Department.
Federal contractors that were awarded contracts after Sept. 8 are required to use the E-Verify system to check if employees working on a new project if they are legally eligible to work in the United States. The system checks workers' Social Security numbers and immigration status against Social Security Administration and DHS databases. The requirement now is mandatory for federal contractors awarded contracts worth more than $100,000. Companies have 30 days following the award to sign up for E-Verify and 90 days after registering to begin checking employees.
Since the requirement took effect, 1,408 additional companies have signed on to use E-Verify, bringing the total number of users to 150,851 as of Sept. 15. More than 10,000 federal contractors signed up in anticipation of the new requirement, said Bill Wright, spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Services, which manages the system. The contractor rule was delayed several times before it went into effect this month.
Recently appointed CIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas questioned this week whether the program could process a surge in queries, but E-Verify successfully managed the increase and is capable of processing more, Wright said. CIS expects E-Verify to process about 9 million queries in fiscal 2009, an increase from the 6.6 million queries processed in fiscal 2008.
The system has been tested to handle as many as 60 million queries annually, he said. Wright added that expectations of a surge in queries due the contractor rule were overstated, mostly because employees have 120 days from the time they first sign up to verify employees.
'I've been trying to explain to people that even if all 169,000 federal contractors [had] signed up on Sept. 8 and they wanted all 3.8 million of their employees verified, the system [wouldn't] crash. It [wouldn't] even blink,' Wright said. 'This so-called surge is not going to happen. [Companies] won't all do it on one day; they will spread it out obviously.'
E-Verify is mandatory for employers in some states, including Mississippi and Arizona. Companies log on to a Web-based portal and sign up. Once enrolled, a manager or human resources official inputs employee data and waits for verification that the new hire is authorized to work in the United States. Nearly 97 percent of the queries are authorized within 24 hours. Most requests are answered within seconds.
The remaining 3.1 percent of the inquiries receive a reply of 'tentative nonconfirmation,' at which point the burden is on the company to prove its new hire is authorized to work in the United States. About 0.3 percent of employees contest their status and correct it, while 2.8 percent choose not to do so. The 2.8 percent figure likely reflects the percentage of workers who are not eligible to work in the United States, Wright said.
But it is the 0.3 percent, or approximately 24,000 queries annually, which concerns organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU has consistently opposed E-Verify and the requirement that federal contractors use it. The group's legislative counsel, Chris Calabrese, called the requirement 'another roadblock to gainful employment for U.S. workers' and said the error rate is unacceptably high.
He said it is too early to tell whether the new requirement will lead to an increase in the error rate. 'It's too early to know the negative effects yet,' Calabrese said. 'They are going to be cumulative. . . . I'm predicting an exponential increase in the number of enrollees.'
Wright said a number of mismatches are attributed to errors in SSA's database related to the status of naturalized citizens who have not updated their records. Employers are required to notify individuals who receive a tentative nonconfirmation. The employee has eight federal working days to contact SSA to correct their records.
'As the number of queries goes up, the mismatch rate is going down,' Wright said. 'The track is going the right way. We're working with Social Security Administration because we're getting high numbers of tentative nonconfirmations on naturalized citizens.'
CIS is using photo screening to address the mismatch rate. In 2007 the agency added a photo-screening tool for immigrants who use a green card or employment authorization document as identification. The E-Verify system can access to a database of 15 million photographs, so employers can match the applicant with a photo in the system.
Wright said E-Verify doesn't include photos of U.S. citizens, but the agency is working with states to access databases of drivers license photos. Biometric requirements such as fingerprinting may be included in the system. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has proposed requiring biometric authentication for every worker in the United States.
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4.
Under fire, Napolitano halts projects for review
The Associated Press, September 16, 2009
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090916/D9AOM5V80.html
Washington, DC (AP) -- Facing criticism for her handling of federal stimulus money, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that she would not start any new border construction projects while the department reviewed how projects were selected.
Napolitano has faced questions since The Associated Press reported last month that Homeland Security officials did not follow their internal priority lists when choosing which border checkpoints would get money for renovations. Under a process that is secretive and susceptible to political influence, officials planned to spend millions at tiny checkpoints, passing over busier, higher-priority projects.
The criticism peaked Wednesday when a senior Senate Democrat, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, said that, despite Napolitano's assurances, he felt Homeland Security was treating the economic stimulus plan like a 'bottomless pit' of taxpayer money. It was unusually pointed criticism from a member of the president's own party about how the administration is handling economic recovery spending.
'There's no common sense at all to a requirement that says you've got to put up a $15 million facility for a small port of entry that's host to about five vehicles an hour,' Dorgan, whose state stood to receive $128 million for checkpoint improvements, said in a telephone interview.
Within hours, Napolitano promised not to begin any new border construction projects and set up a 30-day review of how the projects were selected.
'At the end of that review, I will make all information, not involving national security concerns, public,' Napolitano wrote in a letter to Dorgan.
So far, Homeland Security has refused to release its internal priority list or its justifications for deviating from it. Instead, officials say the final project list is all they need to make public.
While Napolitano's review may disclose information about the selection process, it appears unlikely to change much. That's because Homeland Security has already signed many construction contracts, including low-priority projects such as the $15 million renovation for the sleepy border checkpoint at Whitetail, Mont.
Congress required the department to create a priority list in 2003 but the Obama administration added its own subjective decision-making to the process, making it vulnerable to the political influence that Obama pledged to keep out of the stimulus.
Two Montana Democratic senators, for instance, said they personally appealed to Napolitano to get money for lower-priority border projects. That includes the $15 million plan for Whitetail, which will build a checkpoint the size and cost of a Hollywood mansion at a crossing that serves three travelers a day.
Napolitano defended those decisions in her letter, saying northern border stations could be repaired for a fraction of the cost of busier checkpoints. But she said the department would review those decisions.
'Americans should have confidence in the objectivity and openness with which Recovery funds are spent and the Department of Homeland Security is committed to upholding this responsibility,' Napolitano wrote.
Dorgan sits on the powerful Appropriations Committee, which helps control the purse strings for the federal government.
'We're deep in debt, we really do need to be smart about how we spend money,' Dorgan said. 'In my judgment, this is not a smart investment.'
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5.
Forest rangers alter warning to hikers The agency apologizes again for a drug alert's Latino references.
By Daniel Petty
The Denver Post, September 16, 2009
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_13346263
U.S. Forest Service officials apologized again Tuesday for what they called 'regrettable references' about Latinos during a news conference last month.
'We sincerely apologize to the Hispanic community and anyone else we may have offended,' Rick Cables, a ranger with the Rocky Mountain Region of the Forest Service, said. 'That was not our intent.'
This was the second time the Forest Service apologized for an Aug. 26 incident during which Gil Quintana, special agent in charge of law enforcement in the Rocky Mountain Region, briefed reporters, the public and drug enforcement officers about pot-growing operations in the Pike National Forest.
Forest rangers have said that the growing operations could be a safety hazard for hikers who may stumble upon armed farmers in the woods.
Quintana used PowerPoint slides to discuss warning signs of drug-related activity. The slides said hikers should be aware of food wrappers on the trail, including 'tortilla packaging, beer cans, Spam, tuna, Tecate beer cans, etc.' - and campers playing Spanish music, among other signs.
The presentation also noted the warning signs 'may or may not represent criminal activities, but are indicators.'
Latino leaders quickly condemned the remarks, calling them discriminatory and saying they could put Latino campers in danger. The Forest Service apologized and retracted the warnings soon thereafter.
On Sept. 2, several Forest Service officials in Colorado met with 17 Latino community leaders to discuss their concerns, share ideas about how to work together and build understanding between the groups.
The Forest Service in Colorado has agreed to sensitivity training, said Polly Baca, co-chairwoman of the Colorado Latino Forum, who attended the meeting with the Forest Service.
'We wanted them to know that, of course, we want our forests to be safe,' Baca said, adding that she had received phone calls from outraged Latinos across the country. 'They used language that was harmful - the result of being unaware and culturally insensitive to a very important population that has been here since 1598.'
Baca said the fact that the slides were presented by a Latino officer underscores the generational divide over sensitive language, even within the Latino community.
Julien Ross, director of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, noted that the remarks weren't an indication that the entire agency stood behind them. Nevertheless, he said, they were the kinds of harmful stereotypes that often result in increased racial profiling.
The Forest Service released a revised warning to hikers, focusing on warning signals such as heavily used trails in unusual places, fertilizer, irrigation pipes and equipment, and large trash piles that might indicate long-term camping.
Authorities have seized nearly 20,000 marijuana plants this summer.
Forest Service officials say they believe expanded growing operations organized and funded by Latin American drug cartels are resulting in an influx of illegal immigrants who are sent to cultivate marijuana deep in Colorado's national forests.
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6.
New Border Patrol commander installed
The Associated Press, September 17, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-nd-bordercommander,0,3233299.story
Grand Forks, ND (AP) -- The Border Patrol sector in Grand Forks has a new commander.
Rosa Nelly Hernandez will supervise 180 people who help protect the U.S.-Canadian border.
Hernandez, who's a San Antonio native, was installed at a Wednesday airport ceremony that included members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and a bagpipe and drum corps.
She asked for help from border agents and the community, saying, 'Whether you are a farmer or in law enforcement, help us secure our homeland.'
Hernandez said the Border Patrol will become more intelligence-based. She said officials plan to put three agents in each of five communities in North Dakota, six communities in Minnesota and one in Ashland, Wis.
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7.
Senate's health bill closes illegal-immigrant loopholes
Opponents say those people will have to go to emergency rooms, which will cost taxpayers.
By Karen E. Crummy
The Denver Post, September 17, 2009
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13352997
Illegal immigrants are barred from buying health insurance through a government-regulated marketplace under the U.S. Senate's reform bill released Wednesday — a provision backed by President Barack Obama.
Additionally, the Senate bill includes citizenship-verification requirements to ensure illegal immigrants cannot buy health coverage through the exchange or receive federal subsides toward coverage.
These proposals, unveiled by Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., are aimed at closing loopholes Republicans said would inadvertently give illegal immigrants health insurance at a reduced cost.
Former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, a Republican who is a strong illegal-immigration opponent, said the bill succeeded in alleviating his concerns on that issue.
'I just read it and it looks good to me,' he said. 'It's a positive change.'
But immigrant advocates pointed out that barring illegal immigrants from obtaining health insurance through the marketplace is illogical considering they will be forced to go to emergency rooms when injured or ill, which is much more expensive.
'And not having insurance means they aren't getting preventive care, which will cost taxpayers more in the long run,' said Chandra Russo of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. 'This is also morally unacceptable because the immigration system is so broken, and there is no avenue for people to get lawful status. They shouldn't be prohibited from purchasing consumer goods.'
Illegal immigrants are not barred from using their own money to buy insurance coverage outside the exchange.
A preliminary analysis by the Congressional Budget Office released Wednesday found that by 2019, the Senate plan would reduce the number of non-elderly uninsured by 29 million, leaving 25 million without coverage. One-third of those are expected to be illegal immigrants.
At the end of last week, Obama started to take a more conservative position on health care coverage and illegal immigrants. Although the House bill prohibited illegal immigrants from obtaining subsidies, it did not bar them from taking part in the marketplace, also known as the exchange.
The White House shifted its position after Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., shouted 'You lie!' at the president when he spoke about the issue during his address to Congress. The comment re-ignited the controversial subject.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The America’s Health Future Act is available online at: http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/leg/LEG 2009/091609 Americas_Healthy_Future_Act.pdf.
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8.
Healthcare reform bumping other agenda items into election year
By Mike Soraghan
The Hill (Washington, DC), September 17, 2009
The Democrats’ effort to revamp the nation's healthcare system has pushed other inflammatory issues like immigration and climate change into next year, when election-year politics make it hard to get anything done.
. . .
'I was hopeful that when the economy stabilized, we could move on immigration,' said Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.). But, he added, 'I kind of buy it. It's all healthcare. There's no oxygen in this place.'
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) had initially planned to introduce an immigration bill this fall, but subsequently pushed back his timetable. Obama recently said immigration reform is on schedule — in 2010.
Yet, with some Democrats nervous about the 2010 elections, it is highly unlikely that Congress will pass immigration reform, controversial labor legislation known as card-check and climate change next year. While each of those measures has strong backers on the left, all have fierce critics on the right.
. . .
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/59151-healthcare-reform-bumping-other-agenda-items-into-election-year
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9.
GOP upset by report of car-registration abuses
Senate leaders to probe why loophole favoring illegal aliens wasn't plugged
By Randy Ludlow
The Columbus Dispatch, September 17, 2009
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/09/17/Senate_plates.ART_ART_09-17-09_B3_D0F3P8J.html?sid=101
The Ohio Senate will join the state inspector general in looking into a delay in cracking down on the fraudulent flow of state-issued license plates to illegal immigrants.
The Government Oversight Committee will conduct hearings into the matter beginning as early as next week, said Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, committee chairman.
Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, requested the hearings after what he described as a 'disturbing' story in The Dispatch on Sunday.
The Dispatch reported that a loophole in Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles registration procedures allowed thousands of undocumented workers to obtain license plates and often drive without insurance.
Harris and Husted said yesterday that they are concerned that state officials were on the verge of ending registration abuses but then stopped short and did not enact a policy for another year.
Outgoing Public Safety Director Henry Guzman ordered toughened regulations to cut off the supply of license plates to the immigrants but pulled the rules back on July 31, 2008, the day before they were to take effect.
Guzman declared a moratorium on enacting the changes after meeting that day with a group of Latino business owners who cater to illegal immigrants and who were worried about financial harm to their businesses.
'It begs the question, 'Why did this occur?' ' Husted said. 'Mr. Guzman knew it was a problem but somehow failed to correct the problem.'
Present at the July 31 meeting without Guzman's knowledge, officials said, were 'runners,' Latinos with legal U.S. residency who charged illegal immigrants fees of more than $100 each to register cars with falsified power-of-attorney forms.
A revised policy was enacted on Aug. 24 requiring the submission of drivers' license numbers or state ID numbers to verify the identity and residency of those seeking to register vehicles with power-of-attorney forms. The old policy required only a Social Security number, which the BMV could not verify.
Public-safety officials said Guzman asked for changes to the flawed original policy to make it more effective. Officials blamed former BMV Registrar Mike Rankin for being slow to develop new regulations. Rankin, who complained in e-mails about delays in enacting the policy, has declined to comment.
Public-safety and BMV officials are 'committed to working with members of the Senate' during the hearings, said spokesman Thomas Hunter. 'This department has effectively closed the loophole that existed for several years prior to Director Guzman's tenure,' he said.
BMV investigators reported that Franklin County was the center of a 'cottage industry' in which some runners made thousands of dollars a week registering vehicles on behalf of illegal immigrants.
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10.
California law school's study finds evidence of racial profiling in Irving
By Brandon Formby
The Dallas Morning News, September 17, 2009
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-irvingcap_17met.ART0.East.Edition1.4bcd9af.html
An academic study of the Criminal Alien Program in Irving released Wednesday by a California law school said there is 'strong evidence' that Irving police racially profiled Hispanics and probably referred lawful residents to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Irving Mayor Herbert Gears called the study's findings flawed and said that the city would challenge the report's conclusions. Hispanic leaders said the report backs up long-running claims that police began targeting Hispanic residents once ICE officials started round-the-clock immigration checks on people arrested in the city.
The study by the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity analyzed Irving police arrest records obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.
'The data analysis also reveals that with the 24-hour access to ICE, local police arrested Hispanics for Class-C misdemeanor offenses in significantly higher number than Whites and African-Americans,' said the report.
The institute is part of the University of California, Berkeley Law School. It uses university and private funding to develop research aimed at informing advocacy groups, legislators and the public.
'Tremendous leap'
Irving officials, however, said they have not had a chance to vet the data. Gears late Wednesday criticized the institute for not contacting Irving police to gain insight into variations in the data.
'It's certainly easy enough to talk to our police department and get a response,' Gears said. 'They didn't even attempt to do that and made a tremendous leap into a wildly inaccurate assessment of our police department.'
Irving Police Chief Larry Boyd, who has fielded inquires about CAP from other law enforcement agencies, declined to comment Wednesday because he had not read the report.
'We certainly will look at the assertions in this report, and I can tell you right now we'll be challenging the incredible leaps that have been made,' Gears said.
Irving began using the Criminal Alien Program in September 2006. Initially, ICE officials would visit the Irving jail to check the citizenship of inmates. In April 2007, Irving police began calling ICE officials around the clock to conduct residency reviews. This dramatically increased the number of prisoners who had their residency status checked.
In September 2007, Mexican Consul Enrique Hubbard Urrea warned Mexican immigrants to stay out of Irving. He expressed concern on the number of arrestees Irving turned over to ICE. Soon, Hispanic activists held rallies, accusing Irving police of racial profiling. Anti-illegal immigration activists held counter-rallies in support of police.
The study found that from April to September 2007, the number of Hispanics arrested by Irving police for Class-C misdemeanors more than doubled. It also found that the number of whites and blacks arrested for the same level of offenses increased but at a less dramatic rate.
The institute's study also found that from April to July 2007, the number of Hispanics arrested for traffic violations more than tripled, outpacing the increased number of arrests for blacks and whites for similar infractions.
And, the study concluded, the number of ICE detainees whose arrests stemmed from an incident in which police have the discretion whether or not to arrest someone also increased more than 280 percent from April to September 2007.
Similar complaints
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund attorney David Hinojosa said the report is consistent with complaints the group has heard from Irving residents.
'The racial profiling findings are very serious and we are continuing to investigate the matter in order to determine whether such actions are continuing in Irving,' he said.
Irving LULAC chapter president Jorge Rivera said he hopes the report will pressure police to make changes. 'We are against criminals,' he said. 'But we are not against people that have a good record, who were arrested because of a broken light or because they didn't use a turn signal.'
Gears said the institute did not take into consideration that the round-the-clock ICE checks that began in April 2007 probably produced more people turned over to federal authorities.
He also insinuated that the institute was paid to specifically conclude that police racially profiled Hispanics. Aarti Kohli, a co-author of the study and the director of immigration policy at the law school, denied those accusations.
She said that the study was performed as a part of academic research and that no one specifically funded the work that went into the analysis. She also said no pre-drawn conclusions were made.
She said that CAP is generally touted by proponents as a way to screen people for immigration status without racially profiling because ICE officials simply look at everyone in a jail. But Kohli said the institute wondered if the availability of the program led police to then arrest more Hispanics.
'We wanted just do a pure investigation of the data,' Kohli said. 'When we did it, it was kind of amazing. If you look at the chart, you see how the spike happened.'
EDITOR’S NOTE: The report is available at http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/policybrief_irving_FINAL.pdf
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11.
Controversial immigration building opens
Illegal immigrant says he helped built it
By Tim White
The WPRI News (Providence), September 16, 2009
http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_wpri_johnston_us_immigration_services_building_opens_20090916_nek
Johnston, RI -- Local and Federal officials cut the ribbon on a new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration building Wednesday that an illegal immigrant says he helped build.
The state- of-the-art facility was custom built for the federal government and replaces the old structure in Providence. The field office will primarily be used for immigrants to begin the naturalization process.
The building near Johnston town hall on Atwood Avenue is being leased by the government from Atwood Development LLC for $15 million dollars over the next 10 years.
In July, the Target 12 Investigators uncovered a lien filed by a Honduran immigrant who claimed a drywall subcontractor failed to pay him $2,300 for work he did on the building. The worker claims he is in the country illegally and was paid cash under the table.
'I know that I, as Mayor, was not happy,' said Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena, who attended Wednesday's ceremony. 'There are over 70,000 people out of work who are citizens of the state and they should have crack at the jobs first.'
Polisena said despite the controversy, the project is important to Johnston with a new source of tax revenue.
Target 12 met up with USCIS District Director Denis Riordan at the ceremony. He said the building had not been handed over to the government when the worker was on the job.
'We're concerned about anyone who's present in the U.S. without authorization,' Riordan said. 'I believe the contractor used due diligence. It was not his employee, but an employee they had contracted with a subcontractor. So technically and in fact, that employee was not working or doing work for the government at that time.'
The contractor, Calson Corporation, told the Target 12 Investigators it hired drywall subcontractor Joseph Pagliaro of Ocean State Drywall.
At the time, Pagliaro said he didn't hire the worker and said he paid all his workers in full.
The lien was filed on behalf of the illegal immigrant by the Carpenter's Union, a vocal group who has made exploited immigrant workers a top-priority in this job-starved economy.
Reached by phone, a representative of the Carpenter's Union said the worker failed to show up to the court hearing to make a claim against the contractor out of fear he would be detained due to his status.
A clerk at Johnston town hall said the lien is still on the building, but it will be lifted when they get paperwork from the court clearing the contractor.
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12.
Police chief describes U Visa for immigrants
By Milan Rothfeld
The St. Helena Star (CA), September 17, 2009
http://www.sthelenastar.com/articles/2009/09/17/news/local/doc4ab162ba41014730576373.txt
The U Visa program, which grants illegal immigrants four-year visas for participating in the arrest of criminals, was discussed Sept. 2 in St. Helena Police Chief Monty Castillo’s report to the Multicultural Committee.
Congress created the 'U' Non-Immigrant Classification in October of 2000, to allow illegal immigrants to assist the police in persecuting felons without fear of deportation. Homeland Security not only offers a waiver for illegal entry, but if a felon is caught, the illegal immigrant who contributed to their persecution is eligible for a four-year visa, an American drivers license, and a social security number.
After the victim reports a crime, they go to their local police station to obtain a copy of the police report. Next, the police fill out form I-918, and send the form to the Department of Homeland Security. Homeland Security then decides whether or not the victim is eligible for the U Visa Program.
This program is an incentive for illegal immigrants who are being abused and threatened with deportation to come forward and help in the persecution of those doing them harm.
In St. Helena, the program was implemented about one and a half years ago when Legal Aid of Napa Valley approached Castillo, and made him aware of a victim in Napa Valley who was applying for the program. Since then, two victims of domestic violence in Napa valley have utilized the program. Both victims fit the requirements for the program, and were accepted into U Visas.
A maximum of 10,000 U Visas may be issued each fiscal year to victims of serious crimes including murder, domestic violence, sexual assault, extortion, and blackmail. The U Visas may apply to not only the victims of crimes, but also to their immediate family members. U-Status non-immigrants reporting smaller crimes may not receive visas and other perks, but their alien status will be overlooked.
The next Multicultural Committee meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Oct. 7 at the Rianda House.
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13.
Educators may vote on immigrant policy
The Associated Press, September 17, 2009
http://www.newsobserver.com/1565/story/1693505.html
Raleigh (AP) -- North Carolina community college leaders have had a month to consider a new policy that would allow illegal immigrants into the two-year colleges, and a decision could come this week.
The state Board of Community Colleges' policy committee on Thursday considers rules that would admit undocumented immigrants if they graduated from a U.S. high school. A vote by the full community colleges board could come Friday.
Immigrant students would have to pay out-of-state rates of about $7,000 a year. Lawful U.S. residents would have priority to crowded classrooms.
The country's third-largest community college system has changed its illegal immigrant admission policy four times since 2000. The latest look comes as laid-off workers fill classrooms.
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14.
Schools miss marks: Fewer schools hit state, federal testing targets than '08
By Claudia Melandez Salinas
The Monterey County Herald (CA), September 16, 2009
Fewer Monterey County schools met state and federal academic performance targets than last year, according to California's 2008-09 Accountability Progress report released Tuesday.
The results are based on tests California students took in the spring and reported through the state Academic Performance Index and the federal Adequate Yearly Progress report. The AYP also tracks the performance of minority, poor and special education students under the No Child Left Behind Act.
Forty-one percent of all of Monterey County's schools met their API growth targets in 2009, a 15 percent decrease from 2008. Similarly, 35 percent of schools met the federal AYP, a 9 percent decrease from 2008.
Monterey County schools that met the state target of 800 points in the API results decreased from 23 percent to 18 percent. Statewide, the percentage of schools that achieved the target rose from 36 percent in 2008 to 42 percent this year.
County officials cite the 'demographic challenge' of having larger student populations of English learners, migrants and the economically disadvantaged as the reason for the slide in results. Almost two of every three students are categorized as poor in Monterey County, and two out of five are English learners and migrant students.
The county's percentages are significantly higher than those statewide, where 50 percent are considered economically disadvantaged, one out of four are English learners and only 4 percent are migrant.
. . .
http://www.montereyherald.com/education/ci_13347412
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15.
Will Dems, Obama Lose 'Immigrants?'
The Frontera NorteSur News (New Mexico State University), September 16, 2009
http://www.americanpatrol.com/MISCNEWS/2006-UP/FRONTERA-NORTESUR/090916-News.html
After less than eight months in office, President Barack Obama’s administration is under serious scrutiny by some leading immigrant advocates.
As the legislative drive for health care insurance reform picks up steam, pro-immigrant groups are increasingly alarmed by proposals that target both documented and undocumented resident of the US.
In a telephonic press conference September 16, Latino rights, religious and political leaders blasted policy ideas circulating around the White House and Capitol Hill as not only an attack on the immigrant community but a threat to public health as well.
'We’ve been deeply disturbed by developments in the health care debate and the treatment of immigrants in it,' said Frank Sharry, executive director of the Washington, D.C-based Americas Voice immigrant advocacy organization.
Sharry criticized Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Montana), President Obama and Democrats for bending over backwards to accommodate political opponents, especially Republicans like shouting South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson, who 'demonize immigrants.'
Sharry and other pro-immigrant leaders said they were deeply concerned by measures unveiled in the Senate Finance Committee and in other quarters on Capitol Hill that would exclude immigrants from participating in an insurance exchange even with their own money, prevent children of undocumented residents from getting coverage, probe the residency status of emergency room patients, and make verification of residency status an expanded, cumbersome process for both citizens and non-citizens alike.
According to Eric Rodriguez, vice-president of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) an estimated 7 of 28 million legal immigrants do not have health insurance.
Under the plan released by Senator Baucus today, undocumented immigrants, who will be virtually barred from obtaining any kind of health insurance at all, would face fines of $950 and upwards if they managed to obtain any sort of emergency treatment.
US Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-Illinois) voiced dismay that the White House was considering keeping many immigrants out of the insurance exchange, especially after Gutierrez and other members of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus agreed that no public monies or tax credits could be used by undocumented residents in a new health insurance reform scheme.
Gutierrez contended that prohibiting undocumented residents from being in the exchange even with their own cash could result in masses of people losing their health insurance coverage.
'What about millions of undocumented workers who have health care through their employers?' Gutierrez asked. 'Are they going to lose their benefits?'
'Health care policies should not be dictated by a heckler,' said NCLR President Janet Murguia, in a separate statement also made on September 16. Despite some improvements in the plan announced by Sen. Baucus, Murguia warned that the legislation coming out of the Senate Finance Committee had the potential to 'drive up costs, leave people uncovered and threaten public health.'
Kevin Appleby, director of migrant policy for the US Catholic Conference of Bishops, said that the Church, one of the largest health care providers in the country, often provides treatment to immigrants. The migrant advocate characterized the denial of health care to sick people as a 'fool-hardy' and 'mean-spirited' policy. Asserting that the Obama Administration had 'capitulated' to anti-immigrant forces, Appleby said that elected officials had sacrificed public health care on the altar on politics.
Rev. Luis Cortes, president of Esperanza USA, said that it wasn’t too long ago when widespread concern surfaced about the H1N1 virus, but that current proposals on the table would jeopardize people in dire need of health care.
Both political parties, Cortes contended, are 'running the fastest to see who is the harshest.' Judging looming actions by Congress and the White House, as 'morally punishable by Christian scripture,' Cortes said that the political price could be high for Democrats as well as Republicans.
Adding that the immigrant community was once hopeful of the Democrats, Cortes said that local elections would have to be examined 'one-by-one' in the future.
Numerous analysts consider New American voters, immigrants and their children, a key voting bloc that swept the Democrats into the White House and Congress last year. Many pro-immigrant groups are growing increasingly frustrated by the pace of immigration reform promised by presidential candidate Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign.
Speaking to reporters, Rep. Gutierrez recalled how the Latino community was inspired by Obama’ candidacy, and took to heart the fellow Illinois Democrat’s pledge to bring undocumented workers out of the shadows and on to the path of legalization. 'That’s the President I voted for, not the one who says you cannot have health care,' Gutierrez said.
The longtime Latino political leader and other participants of the September 16 press conference called for the end of 'wedge' politics and the passage of comprehensive immigration reform.
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16.
Talk Radio Hosts Demand Immigration Enforcement
The NPR News, September 16, 2009
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112876325
More than 40 conservative talk radio hosts from across the country are gathered in the nation's capital to pressure Congress and the Obama administration to slam the door on illegal immigrants.
The annual two-day radio-thon, titled, 'Hold Their Feet to the Fire,' includes popular conservative hosts like Lou Dobbs. The broadcast focuses on the larger issue of illegal immigration, but will specifically address the recent debate over whether this population will benefit from President Barack Obama's health care plan.
Conservative talk show host Roger Hedgecock is a sponsor of the conference.
'The illegal immigration issue has caused our schools to be in a death spiral, our prisons to be overcrowded,' Hedgecock told NPR host Michel Martin in a recent interview. 'Making nine or 10 or 12 million people eligible for subsidized health insurance at a time when we're having difficulty extending that to American citizens and legal immigrants ... just compounds the problem.'
On The Heels Of Rep. Wilson's Outburst
In an address to a joint-session of Congress on Sept. 9, Obama said his plans for health care reform would not extend coverage to illegal immigrants. This was immediately decried by Rep. Joe Wilson, a Republican from South Carolina, who shouted from the chamber 'you lie' to the president. The outburst continues to stoke a fierce debate about Wilson's conduct, but also about whether any reform plan will actually benefit those in the country illegally.
Armstrong Williams, of XM Radio's 'The Armstrong Williams Show,' says that any bill that extends coverage to illegal immigrants is unacceptable.
'[To] have a total disregard for the rule of law in this country and still be rewarded for it, especially by getting benefits, is just utterly not who we are as Americans,' Williams said.
Patriotic or Racist?
Some denounce such attitudes against illegal immigrants, including the outburst by Joe Wilson, as racist. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is one of the event's sponsors. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, FAIR has known ties to white supremacists and a long history of race-based conspiracy theories.
Hedgecock denies such claims, arguing that the true racists are civil rights organizations like The National Council of La Raza that advocate for Latino rights. Comparing the group to the Ku Klux Klan, Hedgecock says one group is not entitled to a set of rights — like health insurance — just on the merits of their race or ethnicity.
'You can cry racism,' said Williams, who is African-American. 'But it cannot take away from the legitimacy of this issue that these illegals will eventually devastate this economy.'
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat from Montana, put forward a health care bill on Wednesday. That committee could vote on the bill as early as next week.
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17.
Lawsuit brings better conditions for immigration detainees
At a short-term processing facility in L.A., immigrants were held in cramped rooms with no access to drinking water, sanitary napkins or toothbrushes for weeks. U.S. officials have agreed to reforms.
By Robert J. Lopez
The Los Angeles Times, September 17, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-immig-jail17-2009sep17,0,4825535.story
Immigrants detained in a short-term processing center in the basement of a Los Angeles federal building can no longer be held for weeks without access to drinking water, clean clothes or items such as sanitary napkins, according to a settlement announced Wednesday.
The settlement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities resulted from a lawsuit filed in April by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, the National Immigration Law Center and the Paul Hastings law firm.
The suit described how immigrants were held in crowded, unsanitary conditions in the basement area known as B-18 in the Federal Building at 300 N. Los Angeles St. downtown. Women were often denied access to sanitary napkins, detainees were not allowed to brush their teeth for up two weeks and toilets would regularly overflow, according to the lawsuit.
'Nobody should have to live like that,' said Ahilan Arulanantham, director of immigrant rights for the Southern California chapter of ACLU and the case's lead attorney.
Lawyers for the detainees said immigration officials addressed the problems after the lawsuit was filed.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said the settlement underscores the agency's commitment to detainees' well-being.
'The cornerstone of these reforms is prioritizing health, safety and uniformity among all of the agency's facilities while enhancing operational efficiency and fiscal responsibility,' the agency said.
Under the settlement, detainees cannot be held for more than 12 consecutive hours, except under limited exceptions such as waiting for court appearances.
Lawyers for the detainees will be allowed to visit the facility and be provided daily lists of people being held there, said Linton Joaquin, general counsel for the National Immigration Law Center.
The conditions in B-18 were not unique, according to Arulanantham, who said that he hopes the settlement will become a model for federal detention facilities nationwide.
'This is an important step,' he said, 'but it's one small step.'
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18.
Local Advocates Fight to Keep Immigration on the Agenda
By Marianne McCune
The WNYC News (NYC), September 16, 2009
http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/140840
New York City -- While lawmakers in Washington focus on healthcare reform, advocates in the New York area this week are fighting to keep immigration on the national agenda. WNYC's Marianne McCune reports.
Immigrants in New York and New Jersey have been holding press conferences, town hall meetings, protests and vigils - clamoring for a place on President Obama's to-do list.
They're frustrated because, so far, the Obama administration has changed little about the Bush policies that irked them most - continued arrests, detention, and deportation of immigrants whose children are citizens; the use of local police and prison officials to help enforce immigration laws; the requirement that federal contractors prove their employees have legal working papers via a system critics say sometimes gets legal workers fired.
Under Obama, the Department of Homeland Security has made some policy changes that are favorable to the more than 10 million immigrants who are in the country illegally. But comprehensive reform has not made it back onto the domestic agenda of the President or Congress.
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19.
Undocumented Haitians need relief, advocates say
By Matt O'Brien
The Oakland Tribune (CA), September 17, 2009
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_13351040
Oakland, CA -- Their numbers in the Bay Area are small, but local Haitian activists joined others across the country this week in asking the Obama administration to provide relief for thousands of undocumented Haitian immigrants.
Advocates want Obama to give Haitians who fled the country's deadly hurricanes last year a distinction called 'temporary protected status' that would allow them to remain in the United States without fear of deportation.
'A lot of people got displaced,' said Oakland resident Maria LaBossiere of the Haiti Action Network. 'The infrastructure of the country got destroyed. There are already no jobs there.'
Forcing thousands who fled to go home, she argued, would be 'adding to the burden that's already there.'
The proposal is a controversial one because opponents fear it could encourage more illegal immigration from the Caribbean nation.
Temporary protected status is already offered to thousands of Salvadorans, Nicaraguans and Hondurans who faced natural disasters in their homelands many years ago, as well as people who fled armed conflict in four troubled African nations.
The environmental conditions and political turmoil that many displaced Haitians face today is comparable, or worse, than in those countries, their advocates say.
'Haiti is in much worse shape,' said Gerald Lenoir, president of Black Alliance for Just Immigration, which organized a small rally of about 30 people in downtown Oakland on Wednesday.
The temporary immigration status would affect an estimated 30,000 undocumented Haitians, allowing them to live and work in the country for an undetermined amount of time.
Lenoir said he believes that Obama would have considered the status as part of a larger immigration reform bill, but that has been pushed back until later this year or next year.
'He wants to pull it in as part of comprehensive immigration reform, but that has been delayed and Haitians are suffering right now,' Lenoir said. 'It cannot wait.'
The most recent census estimates show just about 3,000 Haitian-born immigrants living in California, a minuscule number compared with the thousands found in East Coast cities stretching from Miami to Boston. In the Bay Area, the biggest population is centered in Sonoma County, according to those estimates.
The numbers might underestimate the true amount, said activist Pierre LaBossiere, who came to the Bay Area from Haiti in 1970 and is Maria's husband.
He said a wave of Haitian refugees were welcomed into the East Bay in the early 1980s. Another group came after a coup d'etat in 1991.
Pierre LaBossiere said, 'Sometimes when I'm walking through the store with my wife, somebody will ask, 'Ayisyen?''[0/00]'
That term means the person recognizes the Haitian Creole language the couple was speaking, he said.
'Automatically we'll turn around and hug each other,' he said.
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20.
Asian immigrants worry about health care at Oakland forum
By Matt O'Brien
The Oakland Tribune (CA), September 16, 2009
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_13352144
Oakland, CA -- There was no heckling, no rancor, just a lot of questions asked at a town hall-style meeting on health care that attracted nearly 300 Asian immigrants to a community center Wednesday.
Haiyan Wu came to the meeting worried about her future.
Laid off from her job in March and too young for Medicare, the 63-year-old Chinese immigrant said she was healthy and hoping to stay that way now that she is no longer covered by health insurance.
'I hope these two years, before I'm 65, I hope I will not get sick,' she said, speaking through an interpreter. 'I pray every day.'
Wu was among many in the crowd wanting lawmakers to offer some kind of public health plan that they could qualify for and afford. Some also wanted to drop a five-year waiting period that prevents new legal immigrants from getting government-sponsored health coverage.
Doctors and health care advocates were in attendance at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center to answer questions, and one of Obama's top health advisers took a polite grilling from attendees in a telephone conversation with the crowd.
Neera Tanden, senior adviser to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, spoke by phone about a bill unveiled by the Senate Finance Committee earlier in the morning. A row of interpreters translated her words into Mandarin, Cantonese, Khmer, Vietnamese, Korean and Filipino.
'The president continues to believe that a public plan is important,' Tanden said when someone asked if Obama was still considering a public option. 'A public plan is critically important, but it's not the entire bill.'
Attendees expressed concerns to Tanden about the high percentage of Asian-Americans who lack health coverage, especially those who own or work for small, family-owned businesses.
About one in six Asian-Americans and one in four Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are uninsured, said officials from the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, which co-hosted the event with Asian Health Services.
In California, Korean-Americans have the highest rates about one in three are uninsured.
Korean immigrant Sang-Gue Son said he thinks America can do better.
He said he suffered a stroke several years ago and now takes nine different medications for blood pressure, diabetes and a variety of other conditions. The 64-year-old Oakland resident is covered by the County Medical Services Program, which is for low-income, indigent adults, but he hopes Obama can pass something better.
Pulled to the United States in 2003 and committed to stay because his children live here, Son thinks his health would probably have been in better hands if he stayed in South Korea, which provides universal care.
'I thought everything would be better in the states,' he said. 'But the system in Korea is much better than here. Seniors don't have to worry.'
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21.
Capitol prayer service calls for end to hatred of immigrants
By Patricia Zapor
The Catholic News Service, September 16, 2009
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0904131.htm
Washington, DC -- Outside the Capitol Sept. 15 bishops of three denominations led a brief prayer service for an end to hate, particularly hatred toward immigrants.
'We must clearly say shame, shame, shame on those who depend on our immigrant brothers and sisters, use them and often abuse them, and then turn against them with their racism and hatred,' said Bishop Minerva Carcano of the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church.
'The current environment dehumanizes our fellow human beings and diminishes us as a nation,' said Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the migration committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Bishop Prince Singh of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, N.Y., said that as an immigrant himself (from India) he takes very seriously the Christian call to treat one another with love. He prayed that the nation would be proud of 'how we treat the most vulnerable among us, especially at a time of hate.'
Meanwhile, elsewhere on Capitol Hill, 47 radio talk show hosts held a two-day broadcast capping a lobbying effort aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration and derailing efforts to approve comprehensive immigration reform.
A day before the prayer service, speakers from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, and others sought to temper news coverage of the lobbying and talk-show event with a teleconference denouncing the sponsors as hate-fostering extremists.
Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center noted that her organization lists the Federation for American Immigration Reform, known as FAIR, as a hate group, based in part upon the history of FAIR's founder and current board member, John Tanton. FAIR organized the lobby days and talk-radio event.
'Over the decades, Tanton has repeatedly described contemporary immigrants as inferior. He has questioned the 'educability' of Latinos and written that 'for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that,'' said an article on FAIR on the law center's Web site. The center also cites Tanton connections to white supremacist, Ku Klux Klan and Holocaust denial leaders.
Tanton's own Web site includes a response to some of the law center's charges, noting that his activism to reduce immigration grew out of environmental concerns that population is growing too fast. It does not address most of the charges made by the law center.
Frank Sharry, director of the organization America's Voice, which hosted the teleconference, said, 'Washington has to stop being bullied by a very small but very vocal minority of people that like to scream and yell, but offer no solutions to some of our country's most pressing problems.'
'We can fix these problems, including our broken immigration system, by working hard and looking at the facts, not by preying on people's fears,' he concluded.
At the prayer service, Yvette Schock of the United Methodist Church said the event was organized partly to call attention to the background of FAIR, 'because they are often quoted in the mainstream press as if they are mainstream and middle-of-the-road.'
Dale Schwartz, chairman of the public policy committee of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, told of being struck at another interfaith prayer service by the commonality of teachings to care for one's neighbors found in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
'The theme of being kind to one's neighbors runs through the great religions of Western society,' he said.
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22.
Proxy wedding tangles immigration for Marine widow
By Kristin M. Hall
The Associated Press, September 17, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5irRlQcadwwkzF9gHFVqxqDbjIrwwD9AP02G83
Maryville, TN (AP) -- A Marine's widow wants to raise her 8-month-old son in his grandparents' Tennessee home, with photos and memories of the father he'll never meet, but faces immigration problems because of her unusual wedding.
Sgt. Michael Ferschke (FUR'-skee) and his Japanese bride, Hotaru (Ho-TAH'-roo), were married by proxy, thousands of miles apart, when the Marine from Maryville was deployed in Iraq. The couple had been together a year and she was pregnant.
They never met again because a month later, in August 2008, he was killed in combat. Even though the couple have a child together, immigration law doesn't consider the marriage to have been consummated.
The widow and baby are in Tennessee on temporary visas. Congress is considering an exemption that would allow them to stay in the U.S. permanently.
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23.
Court overturns conviction stemming from immigration raids in Willmar
By Jessica Mador
The Minnesota Public Radio News, September 17, 2009
St. Paul, MN -- The Minnesota Appeals Court has overturned the conviction of an illegal immigrant arrested after raids in Willmar two years ago.
The court ruled that because immigration agents did not have a warrant when they searched her house and interrogated her, the evidence used to convict her later in Kandiyohi County violated the Fourth Amendment.
Maldonado-Arreaga was arrested after immigration raids in Willmar two years ago. She has since been deported to Honduras.
. . .
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/09/17/immigration-conviction-willmar/
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24.
New indictment issued in illegal immigration case
By Holbrook Mohr
The Associated Press, September 16, 2009
Jackson, MS (AP) -- The personnel director of a company targeted in the nation's largest workplace raid on illegal immigrants knew he was hiring people with stolen identities, federal authorities alleged Wednesday.
. . .
http://www.modbee.com/immigration/story/857088.html
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25.
Boys charged in beating can't return to school
The Associated Press, September 16, 2009
Lynn, MA (AP) -- Four boys accused of severely beating a Guatemalan immigrant will remain indefinitely suspended from school, but they'll receive tutoring.
. . .
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j_uqBg2k-9ED0WpWQ6Cz0Dk_P4_AD9AOMTBG0
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26.
6 Cuban migrants picked up in Lee a day after suspicious go-fast boat arrests
By Valli Finney
The Naples Daily News (FL), September 15, 2009
Lee County, FL -- Federal authorities are investigating how six Cuban migrants ended up in Tice on Monday and whether a separate incident Sunday night off Collier County’s coast involving a go-fast boat — which led to four people being arrested — may be connected.
. . .
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/sep/15/cuba-connection-four-arrested-go-fast-boat-collier/
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27.
Carjacking suspect is an illegal immigrant with a long rap
By Dan Marries
The KOLD News (Tucson, AZ), September 17, 2009
Tucson, AZ -- An illegal immigrant arrested for a violent carjacking remains in the Pima County Jail facing several charges including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and armed robbery.
. . .
http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=11146430
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28.
Illegals part of scheme to obtain hundreds of driver's licenses
By Amanda Memrick
The Gaston Gazette (NC), September 15, 2009
Three Hispanics believed to be here illegally face charges of bribing a Gaston County driver license examiner with $300 to get a driver’s license, according to arrest warrants and affidavits.
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http://www.gastongazette.com/news/bribes-37934-offering-office.html
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********Center for Immigration Studies
1522 K St. NW, Suite 820
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076
center@cis.org www.cis.org
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