Daily news updates from CIS

September 21, 2009

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[For CISNEWS subscribers --

1. Obama reiterates amnesty pledge (2 stories)
2. Border Patrol enlists Univ. of AZ in oversight improvements
3. $2.4b spent on fence since 2005
4. FBI implicates Afghan men in major terror plot
5. FBI: Mexican organized crime spreading roots in MS
6. Business visa program helps wealth Mexicans flee violence
7. WV Rep. backs Russian, Chinese visa waivers in Pacific territories
8. Duke Univ. research claims skilled immigrants repatriating (story, link)
9. NJ gubernatorial candidates split on issues
10. MA forum to address concerns about new USCIS office
11. UT county refused ICE enforcement program
12. New Orleans sheriff reaches out to foreign residents
13. WI council urges more aid for immigrants
14. TX detention center switches to all-female detainees
15. RI law school opens immigration clinic
16. NC comm. colleges embrace illegal alien admissions (story, 2 links)
17. GA hospital plan to relocate illegals hits road block
18. Cardinal voices support for amnesty
19. CA county advocates press for municipal IDs
20. Haitians gain ground on TPS extension
21. L.A. religious leaders press for amnesty
22. Union to hold MN march for amnesty
23. Hispanic activists seek to muzzle Lou Dobbs
24. Visa program attracts foreign real estate investors
25. Illegals a drain on medical expenditures in Texas
26. Immigrants moving away from traditional enclaves
27. TX mobile home park highlights issue
28. 852 sworn in during Detroit ceremony
29. Illegals become face of health care debate
30. Immigrants comprise 4 percent of SC population
31. FL funeral honors Haitians who drowned
32. NY festival celebrates 19th century immigration
33. Soccer an athletic outlet for NJ foreigners
34. FL DMV staff caught in fraud ring
35. Chicago lawyer admits illegal hiring scheme (link)
36 Wrong turn steers illegal towards expulsion (link)

Subscribe to CIS e-mail services here: http://cis.org/immigrationnews.html

-- Mark Krikorian]


1.
Obama edges away from immigration bill timeline
The Politico (Washington, DC), September 20, 209
http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/0909/Obama_edges_away_from_immigration_bill_timeline.html?showall

President Barack Obama said he's not backing off of his commitment to immigration reform, but edged away from his promise to have a bill he strongly supports in Congress by the end of his first year in office.

'Now, whether that bill gets introduced on November 15th or December 15th or January 15th, that's not really the issue,' Obama said in an interview with Univision, aired Sunday. 'I mean, it would be easy for us to get a bill introduced. The challenge is getting the bill passed. And there I've been realistic. What I said is that this is going to be a tough fight and that we're going to have to make sure that we are working as hard as we can to do it. I am not backing off one minute from getting this done, but let's face it, I've had a few things to do.'

'We had an economic crisis that almost saw a financial meltdown,' Obama continued. 'Health care has taken longer than I would have liked, but it's a big, tough issue. Immigration reform is gonna be tough as well, but I think we can get it done.'

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Obama embraces promise to move on immigration
The Associated Press, September 20, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iAz1xnYABI7nnmHD_ntXdzZWudyAD9AR2KVO2

Washington, DC (AP) -- President Barack Obama says undocumented workers should not be included in the health care overhaul plan he's trying to push through Congress.

He tells Univision's 'Al Punto' show that if undocumented immigrants want to buy insurance, that's a matter to be settled with insurance companies. But he does not think they should be able to participate in insurance exchanges set up under the new health care plan.

He says children of legal residents should have access to health care.

The president also says that overhauling immigration policy will be hard, 'but I think we can get it done.' He's not giving a timetable, though.

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2.
UA will help BP evaluate checkpoints
By Brady McCombs
The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), September 19, 2009
http://www.azstarnet.com/news/309715

A UA-led research center will help the U.S. Border Patrol improve measures to evaluate the effectiveness of its highway checkpoints.

The work will be the most high-profile task yet for the year-old National Center for Border Security and Immigration Research, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and co-led by the University of Arizona and the University of Texas-El Paso.

The Border Patrol's current measures have twice been labeled insufficient by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

A GAO report released last month found that the agency's self- reported data wasn't sufficient to determine if the inspection stations were efficient or effective and that the agency overstated checkpoint results as a result of a lack of management oversight and inconsistent data-gathering and data- analyzing throughout the agency.

The GAO had similarly criticized the agency's method for gauging checkpoints in a 2005 study.

After that first report, the Border Patrol requested help from the military and other law enforcement agencies, said Robert Gilbert, Border Patrol Tucson Sector chief.

'Now we are reaching out to academia to try to help us identify and to establish measurements that bring value and say this is working,' Gilbert said.

The UA is in preliminary discussions with officials at Border Patrol headquarters about helping develop better tools for evaluating checkpoint efficiency and how the inspection stations affect surrounding communities, said Elyse Golob, executive director of the center at the UA.

There is no timeline for when the work would begin or what it would entail, she said.

The UA directs the research arm of the center, while its co- leader, the University of Texas-El Paso, directs the center's educational functions.

The Department of Homeland Security pledged to give the center, which opened in September 2008, more than $16 million over six years to research and develop new technologies and tools to balance immigration and commerce with effective border security. The UA was scheduled to get 40 percent of the funds, or $6.4 million.

The UA-led center is a good fit for the task, said Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who was in Tucson Friday hosting a discussion about drug-control efforts, a briefing that featured Tucson native Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard and head of the Drug Interdiction Committee.

More than 40 law enforcement, government and university officials attended the meeting at the UA.

'Not only are they geographically close, but they have a multidisciplinary approach to the center. . . . The research and the work they do is very good; it is technically very sound,' Giffords said.

A proposed permanent checkpoint on Interstate 19 north of Tubac has been at the center of a heated debate for more than a decade. Officials in the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector - the only one of nine on the U.S.-Mexico border without permanent inspection stations - say the checkpoint is vital to slowing the flow of people and drugs in the Southwest border's busiest stretch.

The agency has been operating a fixed checkpoint under an overpass at kilometer post 42 for 2 1/2 years.

But many residents in the corridor strongly oppose the current checkpoint and the idea of building a $25 million facility in the area. Critics say the checkpoint pushes smuggling activity around the checkpoint and into their neighborhoods and contend the checkpoint isn't effective.

Bringing in the university to evaluate the checkpoint's effectiveness is a good idea, but it shouldn't stop there, said Carol Cullen, executive director of the Tubac Chamber of Commerce and vocal critic of the proposed checkpoint.

The government should have academics evaluate all Border Patrol statistics and determine how the agency is using predictability models to estimate how many people and drugs are coming across the border, Cullen said.

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3.
Billions for a US-Mexico border fence, but is it doing any good?
The cost for adding 600 miles of new barriers is $2.4 billion so far. The new fencing has been breached more than 3,000 times, a government report finds.
By Daniel B. Wood
The Christian Science Monitor, September 19, 2009
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0919/p02s09-usgn.html

Los Angeles - Some $2.4 billion has been spent since 2005 on a still-unfinished project to erect more than 600 miles of new fence along the US-Mexico border – a finding that is being met with surprise, anger, and consternation by immigrant groups and at least some border residents.

A report, released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), also says $6.5 billion will be needed to maintain the new fencing over the next 20 years. So far, it has been breached 3,363 times, requiring $1,300 for the average repair.

The US Border Patrol, for its part, agrees with some findings but says several conclusions are unknowable because building the wall has no precedent. And the agency defends the new fencing as effective at deterring illegal immigration.

The report has stirred a range of reactions.

'When our nation is in the midst of an economic crisis, we wonder how many teacher salaries, police officers, miles of road, or school books could be financed instead of throwing large amounts of money for bricks to fix a problem that requires serious, long-term solutions,' says Angelica Salas of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, in a statement.

Dawn Garner, who lives on a ranch on the US-Mexico border in Naco, Ariz., says spending is so high because workers who are building the fence use local hotels for accommodations and food.

'They should live in tents near the wall and cook their own food, and that would save incredible amounts of money,' says Ms. Garner, who reports that 40 illegal immigrants a day cross her small ranch. Money could be saved if the National Guard built the fence and if the Border Patrol itself maintained it, she suggests in a phone interview.

Despite the price tag of maintaining the border fence, authorities have not found a way to determine whether it is helping to halt illegal immigration, the GAO report says.

'While they [the GAO findings] have highlighted some risks and their factual statements are correct, we are not as pessimistic as they are,' says Mark Borkowski, executive director of the Secure Border Initiative, part of US Customs and Border Protection. Trying to analyze a new endeavor like this fence is like trying to calculate the costs and benefits of planes in combat while they're still on the drawing board, he says.

He acknowledges that attempts to assess the efficacy of the new fence are sketchy. The Naco area where Garner lives may be more porous than other parts of Arizona, such as Yuma or Sasabe.

Still, he says, 'it is very clear to the Border Patrol that this has been very effective in cutting down illegal migrant traffic into the US.'

The 600 additional miles of fence, started under the Bush administration, have seen several delays and cost increases, which Borkowski says are to be expected in such a massive construction project.

Until the various types of border barriers are in place, states the GAO report, the Border Patrol will not know if the added security measures are working.

US Rep. Bennie Thompson (D) of Mississippi, who chairs the House Committee on Homeland Security, calls the fence a 'serious challenge.'

Wayne Cornelius, director emeritus of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California in San Diego, says he has conducted 4,000 interviews with illegal immigrants and potential migrants from Jalisco, Zacatecas, Oaxaca, and Yucatan in the past five years. His assessment:

'The existing border fortifications do not keep undocumented migrants out of the US. Not even half are being apprehended on any given trip to the border, and of those who are apprehended, the success rate on the second or third try is upwards of 95 percent.'

'There is no reason to believe that additional investments in the fence project – both physical fencing and the new 'virtual fence' – will create an effective deterrent,' he says.

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4.
Suspected al-Qaeda cell found allegedly plotting 7/7-style attack in US
Terrorism suspect Najibullah Zazi
By James Bone
The Times (London), September 21, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6841884.ece

The FBI moved at the weekend to break up a suspected al-Qaeda sleeper cell allegedly plotting a 7/7-style attack in America. Agents arrested an Afghan-born airport shuttle bus driver outside Denver, along with his father and an imam in New York.

Najibullah Zazi, 24, is due to appear in court today charged with making false statements to federal agents after investigators allegedly found bomb-making instructions on his laptop.

His father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, 53, and Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, an Afghan immigrant in New York, face similar charges.

“The arrests . . . are part of an ongoing and fast-paced investigation,” said David Kris, the Assistant Attorney-General for national security. “It is important to note that we have no specific information regarding the timing, location or target of any planned attack.”

Mr Zazi, who moved to Pakistan at the age of 7 and emigrated to the US in 1999, has been under surveillance by the FBI since returning from a visit to Pakistan last year.

US authorities conducted a series of raids last week after he hired a rental car and drove from his home in Denver, Colorado, to the New York borough of Queens, where he used to live.

In one raid they visited a U-Haul truck rental agency in New York where seven Afghan men allegedly tried to rent a 26ft (8-metre) lorry but left after producing three invalid credit cards. A senior US intelligence official said that Mr Zazi admitted during questioning that he had direct links to al-Qaeda. Court documents allege that he told FBI agents he received weapons and explosives training from al-Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

Publicly Mr Zazi has denied any connection to al-Qaeda or any terror plot. His lawyer says that he was in Pakistan to visit his wife, who lives there, and went to New York to settle some issues about a coffee vending cart that he owns in Manhattan.

Mr Zazi voluntarily answered questions on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday but failed to turn up to a session scheduled for the Saturday before his arrest.

ABC News reported that the authorities suspected that an attack could be imminent because Mr Zazi allegedly wrote a text message saying that the “wedding cake is ready”. “Weddings” have been used as a code for attacks in terror plots in Britain.

US authorities fear a repeat of the 7/7 suicide bombings on a London bus and underground trains that killed 52 people on July 7, 2005. They issued an intelligence warning about hydrogen peroxide-based explosives — the same chemical used in the London bombings and the failed 21/7 copycat attacks.

Court papers say that a laptop found when the FBI searched Mr Zazi’s rental car in New York contained an image of nine pages of handwritten notes on how to build a bomb.

Mr Zazi allegedly told the FBI that he knew nothing about the bomb-making instructions, saying that he must have downloaded the notes along with a religious book.

EDITOR’S NOTE: CIS National Security analysis is available online at: http://www.cis.org/NationalSecurity

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5.
FBI: Mexican Mafia Is Here
By Margaret Baker
The Biloxi Sun Herald (MS), September 19, 2009
http://www.sunherald.com/278/story/1614508.html?storylink=omni_popular

Thousands of Hispanics migrated to South Mississippi to help in the recovery effort after Hurricane Katrina, but others came as associates of the Mexican Mafia to set up criminal networks that would benefit organized crime, authorities said.

Since the influx of a large number of Hispanics, particularly Mexicans, relocating to Jackson County, there has been an increase in Mexican-American gang and drug trafficking organizations, FBI special agent Tye Breedlove told the Sun Herald. Most of these Mexican immigrants are good, hardworking, law-abiding people. However, some ... have a history of involvement in drug trafficking and other criminal activity.

They, therefore, bring to the Mississippi Gulf Coast a network of connections to the Mexican Mafia, Mexican drug-trafficking organizations and Colombian drug-trafficking organizations based in Houston, the Texas-Mexico border and in Mexico.

Formed as a prison gang in the 1950s in the California penal system, the Mexican Mafia is an organized-crime group whose hierarchy is patterned after that of the Italian Mafia or La Cosa Nostra, the FBI said.

The Mexican Mafia has expanded over the years to include members at almost every federal and state prison in the United States. The group was formed, Breedlove said, as a way to promote ethnic solidarity, provide protection from rival gangs and to generate money from criminal operations such as drug and gun trafficking.

Since Katrina, federal agents and local law enforcement officials have confirmed the presence of Mexican Mafia members and their associates in South Mississippi.

Some are actual members of the Mexican Mafia prison gang who’ve been released after serving time. From inside the prison, authorities said, these members are given orders to distribute to Mexican-American street gangs.

It is often the prison gang members, authorities said, who are still calling the shots.

The Mexican Mafia has tremendous influence over other Mexican-American drug-trafficking organizations, Breedlove said. Criminals in the Mexican-American community will give a portion of their proceeds from drug trafficking to the Mexican Mafia. They do this ... to pay for protection, both in the community and in prison. Mexican-American criminals often make these payments as an insurance policy so that if they ever become incarcerated, they will be in good standing with the Mexican Mafia.

Many of the Mexican Mafia members and their associates living in South Mississippi look for legitimate ways to hide their criminal enterprise, authorities said.

What used to be all money is now all guns, said Troy Peterson, commander of the narcotics unit at the Harrison County Sheriff s Department. The Mexican cartel wants any weapons they can get to fight the war they’re having in Mexico right now. Without a doubt, they are definitely here, but they work in cells. Some are mixed in with (legitimate) workers. Some come in town and set up shop like a business. It’s a front. There are several of those we’ve identified. They’re doing a legitimate business, but it s also a front for drugs, guns and prostitution.

Peterson would not identify any of businesses allegedly used as fronts for criminal activity because of ongoing investigations. But he did say, they are spread out all over the Coast.

Those setting up these businesses, Peterson said, stand to bring in substantial earnings because they make more in drug money than it costs to buy and smuggle assault weapons back into Mexico even with the payments they are expected to make to Mexican Mafia members.

Authorities also said many of the Mexican-American criminals end up in southern states such as Mississippi because it s considered a prime location to do business.

It s easy, Peterson said, because we have the Interstate that feeds right back into Mexico.

An early warning

Long before Katrina, South Mississippi law enforcements officers were warned the bad would follow the good across the Mexican border, east to the Mississippi Coast.

We received intelligence that a large group of Hispanic people would come here to work and a mix of gang members would be with them, Biloxi Police Capt. John Miller said.

We really haven t seen a gang problem like we thought we would, but we have established that we do have members of the Mexican Mafia street gangs here. We try to identify who they are. We try to stay on top of it. And we have no intention of letting a gang problem fester here.

FBI agents, along with other South Mississippi law enforcement officers, have worked many cases in recent years in which Mexican Mafia influence is suspected. Some of those cases are ongoing, and authorities say they can t reveal details at this time about them.

Historically, local drug-trafficking organizations in the Pascagoula ... area routinely traveled to Texas to obtain supplies of cocaine and marijuana for their organizations, Breedlove said.

However, a new supply market developed with the influx of a large number of Hispanics, particularly Mexicans, relocating to Jackson County.

Many of those associated with the Mexican Mafia are members of Mexican-American street gangs, such as MS-13 or Mara Salvatrucha, the Los Zetas, or Zetas and others.

Public awareness of the Mexican Mafia s connection to South Mississippi surfaced in mid-July after assault weapons used in a high-profile double murder in Pensacola, Fla., were traced back to a Moss Point home.

Florida authorities believe the killings are linked to the Mexican Mafia.

It was less than two weeks after the July 9 slayings of Florida residents Byrd and Melanie Billings that agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives came to South Mississippi to seize assault weapons used in the crime.

Eight people were arrested in the case, including the wife of Gulf Breeze, Fla., resident Hugh Wiggins, who authorities said was granted limited immunity after he led them to the Frederick Street home in Moss Point where the weapons were found.

In all, agents seized two Mossberg 12-gauge shotguns, a MAK-90 assault rifle, a Ruger Mini-14 and a .223-caliber AR variant rifle along with accessories, including ammunition, scopes, magazines and gun cases.

They also found, court records show, two-way radios Hugh Wiggins threw out the window of a van he was in while traveling through Jackson County.

Florida court records later released in the case show a man, interviewed as a witness in the case, identified Hugh Wiggins as someone who referred to himself as a professional gun-runner exactly the type of professional with whom authorities say Mexican Mafia members and their associates would be interested in doing business.

In an incident in 2008, Hancock County authorities learned that for months alleged Mexican drug smuggler Clemens Fred Tinnemeyer, 51, had been living on the Mississippi Coast, hanging with the locals as he used local banks and storage units to hide millions of dollars he d allegedly stolen from the Mexican cocaine cartel.

According to court records, Tinnemeyer and his wife, who had lived in South Mississippi prior to Katrina, used South Mississippi as a safe haven for months.

Their stay became public in October 2008 when Tinnemeyer s 6-year-old grandson was kidnapped from the boy s mother s home in Las Vegas.

Authorities said the boy, who was later found alive, was kidnapped by members of the Mexican drug cartel in retribution against Tinnemeyer.

Tinnemeyer s wife, Terri Levy, later told federal authorities, court records show, that she and her husband had made numerous trips to Mexico, brought drugs into the United States for sale and distributed them in several states. In all, she estimated, they had collected about $4 million they never returned to the cartel.

While in South Mississippi the couple deposited some of the cartel money in amounts less than $10,000 to avoid federal detection at Hancock Bank in Waveland, Whitney Bank in Waveland and Bay. St. Louis and Wachovia Bank in Biloxi. They d also stored a $130,000 recreational vehicle at John Fayard Fastway Systems in Gulfport.

Tinnemeyer and Levy fled South Mississippi after the kidnapping but were later arrested in California. The couple told authorities they left Hancock County as soon as they received word the Mexican cartel was after them.

In another case still under investigation in Jackson County, authorities in August arrested five illegal immigrants and seized more than $500,000 in marijuana from two alleged marijuana grow houses in Jackson County.

An anonymous tip led to the raids, one at a home on South 7th Street in Gulf Park Estates that resulted in the arrests on felony charges of marijuana cultivation of illegal Cuban immigrants Marcel Gonzalez, 34; Ricardo Gonzalez, 40; Enrique Brito, 42; and Serafin Gonzalez, 39.

From there agents were alerted to another home, this one on Brown Road in Gautier, where another elaborate indoor marijuana grow house was found. Damaris Gonzalez, 39, was arrested there and charged with marijuana cultivation.

At the time, narcotics agents along with Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd described the two homes as highly sophisticated indoor marijuana grow houses that produced hefty amounts of hydroponic marijuana. In both grow houses the suspects allegedly had ripped out the air conditioning units to keep moisture out of the homes so the dope would grow faster.

Sheriff Byrd described the busts as among the largest in Jackson County involving the highly potent hydroponic marijuana. When asked if the suspects had any connection to organized crime in Mexico, Byrd said: We have reason to believe that there could possibly be a link between the Cubans we arrested on South 7th Street in Gulf Park Estates to the Mexican Mafia, but we have not confirmed that yet.

He later said he’d received a briefing from the Drug Enforcement Administration that the Mexican Mafia has been recruiting Cubans to grow marijuana in the United States because of all the drug wars in Mexico and because of the seizures that have been made when people tried to bring marijuana across the border.

No simple task

Curtis Spiers, commander of the Narcotics Task Force of Jackson County, said there s always been an indirect link between organized crime in Mexico and marijuana seizures here because the majority of marijuana has been grown for decades in Mexico and smuggled into the United States.

The problem in Mexico right now is the drug wars that are going on, Spiers said.

It’s easier for the cartels to set up shop in the U.S., where it s a little calmer. As long as things aren’t out of the ordinary and they go unnoticed, they can continue to do their business.

Law enforcement officers, however, point out it s no simple task to identify street gangs or others involved in the illegal drug or weapons trade.

In the past, authorities said, the members were easily identified because of tattoos, bandannas or other markers that showed their allegiance to a certain group.

Just like every gang in history, they start off wanting to be known, Capt. Miller said.

At some point, they realize it s causing them problems and they tend to stop flying their colors. What you see more of now is a lot them going preppy because that is keeping the heat off them. These are the hard-core members who don t want to be recognized. They are more interested in making money and doing business.

To date, law enforcement officials say they have not identified a single area where these organized crime groups or street gangs gather.

They stay in these small cells, Peterson said, so they will go undetected.

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6.
Mexicans making use of business visas to reach U.S.
By Todd Bensman
The San Antonio Express-News (TX), September 20, 2009
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/mexico/59905167.html

None of his wealth could protect Mexican entrepreneur Pierre Oliver Gama Valdes from organized criminal gangs threatening his family for money; if anything, business success put a bull's-eye on his back.

But wealth did help Gama, who said he has started businesses that employ 500 people, get him and his family a ticket out of Mexico's line of fire, fast. It bought him legal residency in San Antonio and perhaps citizenship later, almost no questions asked.

Gama, 34, and a business partner who followed him here are among thousands of Mexico's affluent citizens using U.S. business visas to essentially buy an escape from their nation's drug war.

These visas, known as the 'E' and 'L' series, allow this growing class of elite drug war refugees involved in business and trade to gain residency and possible citizenship and bypass immigration entanglements that commonly block their less-affluent countrymen. They are taking full advantage as never before, according to immigration attorneys, real estate agents and business people.

Last month, Gama and partner Manuel Octavio Espejo Pantoja bought the Village Gourmet Grill and Bakery on Stone Oak Parkway on what's known as an L-1 visa and then moved themselves and their families to San Antonio legally. In Mexico, the partners own a nationwide mail service for banks and a company that sells body armor and provides security guards.

In recent interviews, Gama and Espejo Pantoja recounted an escalating series of extortion plots, kidnappings and death threats against their families.

As part of an extortion attempt six months ago, someone placed a funeral wreath at Espejo Pantoja's home doorstep bearing the name of his youngest daughter.

That persuaded them to move.

'I had money in the bank. I had a big house. I have buildings and properties in Mexico City,' Gama, a husband and father of two young children, said through an interpreter. 'But I would rather wash dishes in the U.S. than risk my family's life in Mexico.'

The partners, neither of whom has restaurant experience, said their last concern is whether the new venture turns a profit.

'I am willing to take losses as long as it keeps me in America,' Gama said. 'This is all about my kids.'

Thousands of Mexican business people are moving to the U.S. - exactly how many to San Antonio is unknown - and bringing their families and personal fortunes.

'The scale is larger than anything we have seen in 80 years,' said former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros, a businessman whose family fled to San Antonio from Mexico in the 1920s. 'I think this is the highest-water mark since the last big movement in the 1920s. What's happening now is akin to the Cuban diaspora to Miami after Castro.'

Political asylum denied

In contrast to people such as Gama, less-affluent drug war refugees such as municipal police officers, journalists and everyday people face much more difficulty obtaining residency in the U.S, if at all. Some have risked illegal entry or tried to gain political asylum in the U.S. But some immigration judges are rejecting asylum claims on legal grounds and sending petitioners back to Mexico.

The political asylum route is complex, time consuming and ultimately considered an obstacle by those who can afford to buy their way around it, Texas immigration lawyers say.

'Political asylum is not an option,' said San Antonio immigration lawyer Nancy Shivers, who reports an increasing number of people seeking business visas. 'That's what I advise my clients. Just because you got kidnapped does not mean you get asylum. I find more creative things to do.'

E-1 and E-2 visas give residency leading to citizenship for Mexicans who are involved in trade or invest in certain types of U.S. businesses, renewable upon government inspection every three to five years.

L visas enable business people, generally in an executive or specialized role, who are in Mexico and working for foreign companies to transfer themselves and family to the U.S.

American consulate officers review the applications. Consideration does not take into account issues such as fear of criminal gangs, said Edward McKeon, minister-counselor for Consular Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

'We don't care why they want to do it,' he said. 'If they're qualified, we issue them.'

Contrary to perceptions about large increases in business visas, McKeon said his offices in Mexico haven't noticed any drastic jump. He said the numbers are steady, if up slightly in recent years.

Immigration statistics published by the Homeland Security Department show the number of issued E visas more than doubled from 7,893 in 2005, just before President Felipe Calderon mounted his war against drug cartels, to 16,411 through September 2008. The number of L visas, including those for spouses and children, issued during the same time jumped from 25,429 to 33,675. Numbers for 2009 have not been released.

Luis Escobar, a kidnap survivor who made his move on an L visa six years ago, runs a San Antonio company that specializes in helping wealthy Mexicans relocate. He said he has brought 259 families to San Antonio since January. But he said his ads and outreach in Mexico have brought in more than 23,000 inquiries so far this year.

'The reason is Calderon's decision to fight against the drug dealers and the violence,' he said. 'Because of the situation, these Mexicans are looking for another option to live.'

Horror stories

Some people moving from Mexico show the marks of kidnapping, torture and extortion, Escobar and others say. They are missing fingers or an ear, cut off by kidnappers eager to up the size and speed of ransom payments.

Many of them, through intermediaries, declined to be interviewed because they fear jeopardizing family members and businesses in Mexico.

Escobar said one tycoon showed up in San Antonio recently missing a foot. He said the businessman told him kidnappers had hacked off the foot at the ankle without anesthesia and sent it to family members to urge faster ransom payment. Escobar is now helping the family arrange L visas so the man and his family can stay.

Another family now in San Antonio told Escobar that kidnappers released a son with a message cut into his chest that read: 'Next time, when we say $500,000, we mean $500,000.' Another wealthy businessman talked of captors who had forced him to spend 35 days in an underground tank before payment of a ransom freed him, Escobar said. A blindfold that never came off disfigured the man's face.

'You have no clue what these incidents do to these people,' Escobar said. 'Sometimes, all I can do is cry with them.'

Several immigration lawyers in Texas, who have seen a jump in E and L visa applicants from Mexico, report similar stories.

'I've had people come and see me who are missing fingers,' said Ramone Curiel, a San Antonio lawyer. The targeting of Mexico's wealthy by criminal gangs 'is definitely a motivation for people to come here and set up businesses.'

Anthony Matulewicz, an immigration lawyer in McAllen, said he has worked on hundreds of E visa applications over the past two years. Some clients have had their fingers chopped off; others are sick of paying huge monthly extortion fees to keep their families safe.

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7.
Rahall backs China, Russia visa waiver
By Agnes E. Donato
The Pacific Daily News (Hagatna, Guam), September 19, 2009
http://www.guampdn.com/article/20090919/NEWS01/909190307/1002

A key U.S. lawmaker has joined Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo in asking the Department of Homeland Security to include China and Russia in a visa waiver program for Guam and the Northern Marianas.

Rep. Nick Rahall, (D-W.Va.) chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, and Bordallo, chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, sent a joint letter asking for a meeting with Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to discuss the new CNMI immigration law.

A release from Bordallo's office yesterday said the meeting has been scheduled for next week.

Northern Marianas Delegate Gregorio Sablan and Gov. Benigno Fitial are expected to attend the meeting.

The previously issued Homeland Security regulation excludes Chinese and Russian tourists from the visa waiver program, which is to go into effect Nov. 28.

In their letter to Napolitano, Rahall and Bordallo said the rule 'sets forth criteria governing country participation ... that is inconsistent with legislative intent and will unnecessarily destabilize and hinder growth in the visitor markets on both Guam and in the (CNMI).'

Bordallo and Rahall also said they are willing to help pass legislation that would allow the rule's implementation to be delayed for up to an additional 180 days.

The rule was originally set to take effect on March 31, but was extended for 180 days after Homeland Security used its delay authority.

The visa waiver program is being implemented as part of the law that replaces local immigration authority in the Northern Marianas with U.S. immigration law and enforcement.

Under the program, citizens of Australia, Brunei, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and the United Kingdom can enter Guam and the Northern Marianas for 45 days visa-free, Pacific Daily News files state.

Citizens of other countries must obtain a visa from a U.S. embassy or consulate, files state.

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8.
More of world's talented workers opt to leave USA
By Emily Bazar
USA Today, September 21, 2009
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-09-20-brain-drain_N.htm

More skilled immigrants are giving up their American dreams to pursue careers back home, raising concerns that the U.S. may lose its competitive edge in science, technology and other fields.

'What was a trickle has become a flood,' says Duke University's Vivek Wadhwa, who studies reverse immigration.

Wadhwa projects that in the next five years, 100,000 immigrants will go back to India and 100,000 to China, countries that have had rapid economic growth.

'For the first time in American history, we are experiencing the brain drain that other countries experienced,' he says.

Suren Dutia, CEO of TiE Global, a worldwide network of professionals who promote entrepreneurship, says the U.S. economy will suffer without these skilled workers. 'If the country is going to maintain the kind of economic well-being that we've enjoyed for many years, that requires having these incredibly gifted individuals who have been educated and trained by us,' he says.

Wadhwa surveyed 1,203 Indian and Chinese immigrants who had worked or been educated here before returning to their homelands and found the exodus has less to do with the faltering U.S. economy than with other factors:

*Career opportunities. At NIIT, an information technology company based in New Delhi, about 10% of managers in India are returnees, mostly from the U.S., says CEO Vijay Thadani.

Most go into mid- to senior management and make 'excellent employees,' he says. 'They're Indian, so they understand India, and they have lived outside the country.'

China's government entices some skilled workers to return with incentives such as financial assistance and housing, says Wang Baodong, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington. 'China needs a lot of well-trained personnel' in fields such as finance and information technology, he says.

*Quality of life and family ties. People return to India to reconnect with their families and culture, Dutia says. 'They have a support system there, family and friends.'

Purchasing power is greater, he says, which allows returnees to afford more luxuries than they did in the U.S. Dutia describes a complex of 'magnificent homes' in Bangalore. In the club room, there were 'all these Americans and Europeans and expats on the treadmills with iPhones, watching CNN and BBC,' he says. 'Things have changed.'

*Immigration delays. Multinational companies that belong to the American Council on International Personnel tell Executive Director Lynn Shotwell that skilled immigrants are discouraged by the immigration process, she says. Some can wait up to a decade for permanent residency, she says. 'They're frustrated with having an uncertain immigration status,' she says. 'They're giving up.'

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Opportunity fuels skilled immigrants' exodus
By Emily Bazar
USA Today, September 21, 2009
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-09-20-brain-drain-home_N.htm

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9.
N.J. candidates on immigration
Corzine and Christie agree on driver's licenses but differ on in-state tuition.
By Samantha Henry
The Associated Press, September 21, 2009
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/nj/20090921_N_J__candidates_on_immigration.html

Newark, NJ (AP) -- Immigration reform may not be the main issue in the New Jersey gubernatorial race, but it remains a priority for many voters.

Democratic Gov. Corzine and his Republican challenger, Christopher J. Christie, have taken stands on key immigration issues that states control, although both say the federal government must be the main agent of change.

Both oppose granting New Jersey driver's licenses to people who cannot prove they are in the country legally.

'We need a national policy on how we identify people, not state by state,' Corzine said in March, disagreeing with an immigration panel that recommended New Jersey grant 'driving privilege cards' to the undocumented.

Christie has said he considers a driver's license a key national-security document that should not be issued to illegal immigrants.

'I don't want us to be giving out driver's licenses to any people who we can't prove definitively that we know who they are,' he said.

Both candidates said they had reservations about a program called 287g, which allows local officials to enforce federal immigration laws, including checking a person's immigration status. The program should be applied only narrowly, they said.

Christie's running mate, Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno, heads one of only three jurisdictions in New Jersey that are in the program. Her support for 287g, and her nomination as Christie's running mate, has worried immigrant advocacy groups such as the Latino Leadership Alliance, which says the police can misuse the program for racial profiling.

Guadagno assured the alliance that she would use the program only to run immigration-status checks on those already in the Monmouth County Jail.

Christie said Guadagno's proposed use of 287g was appropriate 'and one that's not fraught with risk in terms of the things that people can be concerned about, and that I have been concerned about, which is that it would be used to potentially harass people of color for a different reason.'

Corzine said the 287g program could undermine community policing and should be used only within the narrow guidelines set forth by New Jersey's attorney general, who says only those charged with violent crimes or drunken driving can have their status questioned.

'People need to be able to feel like they can talk to the cop on the beat without worrying about whether they'll get in trouble for their immigration status,' Corzine said.

The candidates differ on whether illegal immigrants should be able to pay in-state tuition at the state's public colleges.

Corzine supports in-state tuition, saying it mostly applies to those who were brought here as children and attended New Jersey schools for most of their education.

Christie opposes the idea, saying only lawful taxpayers deserve a tuition break because they help subsidize instate institutions.

Corzine convened the Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Immigrant Policy last year to study ways to integrate immigrants into all aspects of New Jersey society.

Christie said he did not have an overall proposal on addressing immigration because he believed it was largely a federal issue.

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10.
Immigration forum set for western Massachusetts
The Boston Globe, September 20, 2009
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/20/immigration_forum_set_for_western_massachusetts/

Pittsfield, MA -- Immigrants living in western Massachusetts, confused over a shift in services from Boston to Lawrence, will have a chance to ask questions about the move.

The Berkshire Immigrant Center has scheduled a forum Thursday at the First Baptist Church in Pittsfield.

Last week, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services opened a new center in Lawrence to relieve traffic from the Boston immigration office. The Lawrence office will service immigrants living in western and central Massachusetts.

Immigrant advocates say the Lawrence center is easier to access for western Massachusetts residents.

Erik Balsbaugh, director of organizing if the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, will answer questions about the new office.

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11.
ICE refuses to cross-deputize Davis County deputies
By Sheena McFarland
The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City), September 20, 2009
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13377288

The Davis County Sheriff's Office was ready to pitch in and help enforce federal immigration law at its county jail, detaining undocumented arrestees and beginning the process to deport them.

No thanks, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau recently said, a response that has incensed Utah politicians.

Last fall, Davis County Sheriff Bud Cox applied for an ICE agreement that would allow and train 10 deputies to process undocumented arrestees. In October 2008, the department was inspected for three days by five ICE inspectors.

After waiting nearly a year, the office received a letter in August denying the sheriff's request.

'We were sort of thinking we'd be approved because Washington and Weber Counties were,' Chief Deputy Bob Yeaman said. 'They didn't give us a reason for the denial, but we're thinking it's money.'

Matt Chandler, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said that was a factor.

'ICE officials determined that Davis County's needs could be met more effectively by other ICE state and local enforcement assistance programs,' Chandler said.

Earlier this year, the federal agency came under harsh criticism in a Government Accountability Office report that questioned whether local law enforcement uses such agreements with ICE as they are intended -- to deport only the worst offenders.

The report showed that four of 29 reviewed local agencies were instead deporting people for minor offenses, such as having an open container of alcohol or speeding.

That's a concern for Latino community activist Tony Yapias.

'I would hope that law enforcement agencies look at enforcing local laws, and not try to get in the business of enforcing federal laws,' Yapias said. 'ICE has enough for their work to get criminals out, as all of us hope.'

The Davis County jail had 221 inmates with immigration holds from June 2008 to May 2009, an average of about 18 per month. The office sought the ICE agreement because 'we had some concerned citizens who thought we should,' Yeaman said

Currently, deputies call ICE when someone can't prove their legal status, and the agency is 'pretty good about responding and picking up inmates,' Yeaman said.

Occasionally, however, inmates are released before ICE arrives, he said. The office will continue to work to qualify for training to hold undocumented arrestees for longer than the standard 48 hours, Yeaman added.

But Rep. Curt Oda, R-Clearfield, says the ICE rejection 'handcuffs the county's hands.' He adds the relatively low number of inmates with immigration holds at the county jail shouldn't matter.

'Look at how many criminals they're releasing because there's not room in the jail, and look at how many are jailed, but then ICE says it can't get there in time, so they get let go,' Oda said, adding that the denial makes him worry that other agencies also will be rejected.

He's not the only politician who's upset.

Attorney General Mark Shurtleff called the denial 'outrageous and absolutely unacceptable.' This summer, he drafted a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Justice as part of Utah's new immigration law, SB81. He said the federal government was 'absolutely unwilling to negotiate' and would only follow the strictest reading of the law.

'This denial is going to be very upsetting to a lot of Utahns,' he said.

Rep Mike Noel, R-Kanab, is one of them. He served on the immigration interim committee last year, and says the denial points to what he calls the Obama administration's refusal to enforce immigration laws.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he realizes the ICE program is difficult to get into because applicants across the nation compete for limited training dollars, but he's still working to get Davis County officers trained.

'This is an important program and has proven successful in both Washington and Weber counties as law enforcement officials encounter criminal behavior,' he said. 'I was pleased to bring the ... program to Utah and will do everything I can to help Davis County or others interested in this program.'

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12.
Sheriff recognizes shift in population
Office reaches out to Hispanic residents
By Allen Powell II
The Times-Picayune (New Orleans), September 20, 2009
http://nola.live.advance.net/picayunes/t-p/wbpicayunes/index.ssf?/base/news-18/1253424609169060.xml&coll=1

A shift in the ethnic demographics of three troubled West Bank neighborhoods has the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office working to build relationships with Hispanic newcomers often reluctant to report crime because of concerns about their residency status.

Since Hurricane Katrina, African-American residents have moved out of the Tallow Tree and Pebble Walk neighborhoods in Harvey and Utah Beach in Avondale, and a smaller population of Hispanic people has moved in. Statistics on the population shift were not available, but social services officials and police verified the change.

Following Katrina, Hispanic people settled on the West Bank because of a large supply of inexpensive housing after many black residents evacuated, said Col. John Fortunato, a sheriff's spokesman.

Considered transient neighborhoods, mostly occupied by low-income renters, the communities are part of the Sheriff's Office Project STAR program, which provides enhanced patrols in high-crime hot spots.

Initially, the newcomers found themselves the targets of crime, particularly armed robberies because of a perception that Hispanic residents often carry large amounts of cash, Fortunato said. While crime in those three neighborhoods has decreased, authorities are quick to note that Hispanic crime victims are hesitant to report incidents for fear of questions about their status.

'We strongly encourage anyone, whether they are a U.S. citizen or illegal immigrant, that they report (crime) to police,' Fortunato said.

Catholic Charities has served as liaison between the Sheriff's Office and the new Hispanic community.

'Some of the people who come from other countries bring with them bad experiences when dealing with law enforcement agencies,' said Martin Gutierrez, executive director of neighborhoods and community services for Catholic Charities. 'It's a matter of educating the public about what is the police role.'

He said his agency has heard very few complaints about the Sheriff's Office.

Fortunato said his department has modified some of its patrol practices and training for deputies in an effort to build a relationship with the Hispanic community. Sheriff Newell Normand requires deputies to attend sensitivity training on Hispanic issues, and the department now teaches basic Spanish in its training academy.

'We're just trying to broaden our horizons when it comes to dealing with the Latino community,' Fortunato said.

The Sheriff's Office has long utilized its interpreter's bureau to assist officers with suspects or victims who do not speak English, said Capt. Alex Norman, the commander of the community relations division. But any deputy fluent in Spanish or another language may be called to a scene to assist in an investigation, Norman said.

The influx of Hispanic residents also created an increased need for social services, Gutierrez said, adding that many local agencies were not prepared for the numbers that followed Katrina. Typically, about 40 percent of the new immigrants will remain in an area permanently, so Gutierrez said it's essential to establish strong relationships between the community and police.

'This is something that is happening all over the United States. The difference here is it happened overnight,' Gutierrez said.

He said it is not surprising that new immigrants would settle in troubled areas because those are typically the easiest places to find affordable housing.

What should be remembered though is Hispanic residents are as concerned about public safety as anyone else in Jefferson Parish.

'The Latino population, whether they were here before or after Katrina, have the same problems as the rest of the community,' Gutierrez said. 'I think it's not too much different from the rest of the community.'

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13.
Council study: Immigrants need help to assimilate
By Patti Zarling
The Green Bay Press-Gazette (WI), September 18, 2009
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20090918/GPG0101/909180521/1207/GPG01/Council-study--Immigrants-need-help-to-assimilate

People who move to Brown County from other countries play a vital role in the economy, but they often need help learning English and assimilating, advocates said Thursday.

A study by the Bay Area Community Council included interviews with more than 20 service providers working with immigrants and highlighted two key needs.

It found that help was needed to teach immigrants English as quickly as possible and that adults needed information about how to effectively navigate within the local culture.

The Bay Area Community Council is an organization that works to bring together business leaders, government, educators and nonprofit groups to act on community issues.

'The lack of English language skills is a major barrier faced by most immigrants and refugees who come to live and work in our community,' Tori Rader, executive director of Literacy Green Bay, said Thursday at a news conference at the Volunteer Center of Brown County.

'It's difficult to navigate within the greater Green Bay area without English.'

Immigrants who learn English tend to find better paying jobs, become more productive employees and adapt to changing needs in the workplace, achieve independence without relying on welfare, lead healthier lives and exercise their rights as citizens, Rader said.

'When many of our neighbors lack the ability to do these things, our society as a whole suffers through decreased productivity, increased health-care costs, higher incidences of welfare dependency and increased pressure on schools when children come to class ill-prepared for learning,' she said.

The community needs immigrants, said Phil Hauck, study facilitator and community council member. They provide a work force base, often doing work no one else wants to do, he said. Some first-generation and many second-generation immigrants create the major innovation waves and creativity waves the country experiences, he said.

'They have been critical to America's competitiveness in virtually every generation,' he said.

But to help them succeed, agencies rely on volunteers.

The Literacy Council has a waiting list for volunteer tutors. It aims to recruit 80 to 100 committed volunteers each year to work with adult learners on a one-on-one basis, Rader said.

Among other needs, the Volunteer Center is looking for 10 to 15 families willing to mentor immigrant families, Volunteer Center executive director Christine Danielson said.

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14.
Last few families depart Texas detention center
By Anabelle Garay
The Associated Press, September 18, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j7Y_ZbsuwdafH3CR88TrbVC8JLZQD9AQ3POO1

Dallas (AP) -- The last immigrant families have departed a disparaged former Texas prison that housed them while they awaited decisions in immigration cases, federal officials said Friday.

The families have been deported, paroled or released while they pursue asylum or another immigration status to remain in the U.S., Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement. The last four families left the T. Don Hutto facility in Taylor this week.

ICE has said Hutto will now house only female detainees.

Federal officials announced last month that Hutto would no longer hold immigrant and asylum-seeking families as part of a Department of Homeland Security plan to reform detention policies. Families arriving at the U.S. border and entry points from now on either will be placed under supervision or detained at the much-smaller Berks Family Residential Center in Leesport, Pa.

Hutto opened as a family detention center in 2006 to ensure the families would show up to immigration court. ICE wanted to end the 'catch and release' practice that had permitted families in the U.S. illegally to remain free while awaiting a hearing. Some borrowed other people's children and posed as families to avoid detention, ICE officials maintain.

But Hutto quickly drew criticism. Guards trained to detain violent criminal adults were in charge of sad, sick or restless children from babies to teenagers. Parents complained children were disciplined with threats of being separated from their family. ICE has said all at Hutto were treated humanely.

Children and parents lived in tiny cells furnished with bunk beds and a steel toilet and lined up for up to several head counts daily. Toys, pencils or even juice boxes were not allowed in cells. The school day was just an hour or two.

After advocates sued the government, privacy curtains were installed around cell toilets and razor wire was removed from around the complex. Cartoon murals were painted on walls. Children began attending more regular school days.

Court-appointed observers inspected the facility and talked to detainees. The government periodically reviewed cases to determine if families could be bonded out or paroled.

Hutto was set to stop holding families by year's end, but outgoing Homeland Security detention adviser Dora Schriro had said she expected them to leave sooner.

Schriro, whose last day heading the department's Office of Detention Policy and Planning was Friday, was to leave a report detailing other detention recommendations before starting Monday as New York City Jails Commissioner. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to make the report public soon.

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15.
RI's only law school starts immigration law clinic
By Eric Tucker
The Associated Press, September 19, 2009
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2009/09/19/ris_only_law_school_starts_immigration_law_clinic/?s_campaign=8315

Providence, RI (AP) -- Ashley Ham Pong's first client as an aspiring attorney is a Liberian national facing deportation for criminal convictions. The seriousness of the case, and the consequences it carries, were apparent the first time she interviewed the man behind a glass window at a Massachusetts detention facility.

'I think it really makes you do your homework,' said Ham Pong, 25, a third-year law student at the Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol.

Ham Pong is one of 10 participants in a new immigration law clinic at Roger Williams -- Rhode Island's only law school -- where students under a professor's supervision will represent detained immigrants facing deportation. The students have their own office hours, map out defense strategies for clients and, though not yet licensed attorneys, will have opportunities to make arguments at the federal immigration court in Boston.

'We run it like a small law firm where I'm the partner in charge,' said Mary Holper, a professor who runs the clinic. 'They're all associates working under me.' Holper previously supervised a similar program at Boston College Law School.

Law schools routinely offer clinics to give students practical experience in representing clients and help ease the transition from the classroom to the courtroom. Roger Williams offers two other clinics in criminal defense and mediation.

The decision to add a third clinic in immigration law reflects a growing interest in what recently has been a tempestuous, hot-button issue in Rhode Island and elsewhere in southern New England. Nationally, too, immigration remains a contentious topic: President Barack Obama has called the country's immigration system 'broken,' and his administration is pursuing a strategy of targeting employers who hire illegal workers.

Federal agents in March 2007 raided a leather goods factory in New Bedford, Mass., arresting 361 workers -- mostly women from Central America -- on federal immigration charges.

Then, last year, Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri announced a crackdown on illegal immigrants, requiring vendors that do business with the state to check new hires' legal working status and demanding that state police and prison officials do more to identify illegal immigrants for deportation. Six courthouses were raided in July 2008 for having suspected illegal immigrant cleaning workers; the following month, a Chinese immigrant held at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls died of advanced liver cancer after being neglected by staff there.

'We saw what happened at the Wyatt detention center, you know what happened in New Bedford,' said Roger Williams law dean David Logan. 'This is a very big issue of public policy, and there's frankly very few lawyers in Rhode Island that specialize in this.'

Though criminal defendants are entitled to court-appointed lawyers, the same privilege does not extend to civil deportation proceedings. Holper said that creates an urgent need for lawyers who can help clients navigate the complex federal code of immigration law, helping non-English speakers make sense of documents that order their deportation or argue for bond for immigrants in detention.

Holper said she became interested in immigration law after studying abroad in Paris during college in the 1990s and living with North African immigrants strained by xenophobic sentiments in France. She later volunteered in Costa Rica and, as she prepared for a career in immigration law, worked as an intern researching country conditions for asylum applications and conducting asylum intake applications.

She was a supervising attorney at BC's immigration law clinic for four years. She spent this past summer working with area nonprofits who deal with immigrants to help line up clients for her students.

Holper said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks brought more enforcement of 1996 changes to immigration law that essentially widened the list of crimes for which a person could be deported. That, in turn, has brought more focus on detained immigrants.

'The expansion of detention, it's made a little bit more of a human rights, a due process, a civil rights issue than I would say it was pre-9/11,' Holper said.

Students are able to make court appearances if they're not being paid by the client -- which they're not -- and if they're appearing under an attorney's supervision. Holper said she will oversee all of her students' written filings and communication with clients.

'It's not the most efficient way to practice law, but the idea is to give them space to learn it themselves, to make their decisions,' she said.

On a recent Tuesday morning, Ham Pong and classmate Jessica Grimes were working out of the clinic, helping build a timeline for their client's case and researching the conditions in Liberia to support his defense against deportation.

Grimes said the responsibility is daunting, but recalls being struck by Holper's reassuring words.

'In the alternative,' she recalled Holper saying, 'he'd have no attorney.'

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16.
Community colleges OK illegal immigrants
No rush of undocumented students expected, as there weren't many before their enrollment was banned.
By Franco Ordoñez and Kristen Collins
The Observer (Charlotte, NC), September 19, 2009
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/education/story/957379.html

Central Piedmont Community College expects few students to take advantage of a new state policy that allows illegal immigrants to attend N.C. community colleges.

The State Board of Community Colleges approved the new admissions policy Friday. It allows illegal immigrants to attend any of North Carolina's 58 community colleges, provided they graduate from a U.S. high school, pay the higher out-of-state tuition, and do not displace legal residents from classes.

All but one of the 18 board members present voted for the new policy. The lone dissenter was Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton.

Dalton, a Democrat, declined to speak with reporters after the vote, but released a written statement that said the colleges should use their stretched resources to help legal residents cope with the recession.

'Now is not the time to increase the demands on our already overburdened community college system,' he wrote.

The decision to admit undocumented students is not expected to cause an enrollment rush. Before last year, when many campuses admitted students regardless of immigration status, about 110 of more than 800,000 students were in the country illegally. CPCC had 19 undocumented students. Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory had fewer than five. Rowan-Cabarrus Community College had one.

'The policy opens it up to some students who wouldn't be eligible before, but I don't see a tremendous increase,' said Jessica Graham, a CPCC spokeswoman. 'They passed pretty stringent requirements on who would be admitted.'

Van Wilson, a state community college system associate vice president, said community colleges already have procedures to identify illegal immigrants, including checking the validity of visas and other immigration paper work.

To ensure no legal resident is displaced, undocumented immigrants will be prevented from registering until after legal residents and citizens have secured classes, Wilson said.

Graham said CPCC is awaiting further guidance from the state, but expects illegal immigrants will register in a process similar to high school students seeking college credits. Those students must wait until after other students register.

In May 2008, the system became one of the first in the country to ban illegal immigrants entirely.

At the time, N.C. Community College System President Scott Ralls announced the schools would adhere to a recommendation by the office of N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper, citing federal laws, to stop enrolling undocumented students. The attorney general's office later reversed its opinion, but the board decided to halt any additional action until it could review its policy.

The review, completed in April by the consulting firm JBL Associates, found that the colleges could profit from accepting illegal immigrants if they paid out-of-state tuition – about $7,700.

Republicans, including state House minority leader Paul Stam and U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, said they opposed the board's decision. Gov. Bev Perdue, who previously supported the ban as a member of the board, said she still opposes allowing illegal immigrants to attend community colleges.

The new policy won't take effect until next academic year, at the soonest, pending administrative review.

System president Ralls said the new policy is more restrictive than most other states'. And he said it opens the door to hard-working students with a drive to succeed.

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Colleges will admit illegal immigrants
By James Romoser
The Winston-Salem Journal (NC), September 19, 2009
http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/sep/19/colleges-will-admit-illegal-immigrants/

NC colleges opened to illegal immigrants
By Jordan Schrader
The Asheville Citizen Times (NC), September 19, 2009
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090919/NEWS01/909190325

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17.
N.J.: No care for Grady dialysis patients
By Craig Schneider
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 19, 2009
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/nj-no-care-for-141664.html

Confusion continued Friday over Grady Memorial Hospital's plan to move dialysis patients who are illegal immigrants to other states, as hospital officials remained unable to verify that all those states would provide and pay for care.

The hospital hopes to soon close its outpatient dialysis unit and has promised to find care for all 90 patients in the program. Many are illegal immigrants.

Grady officials had said earlier that they found 11 states that provide Medicaid coverage for illegal immigrants who need outpatient dialysis treatments. Georgia does not.

On Friday, Grady spokesman Matt Gove challenged some findings of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. On Thursday, the newspaper spoke to officials of three states on the Grady list --- New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia --- and officials there said they do not provide Medicaid coverage for illegal immigrants who need ongoing outpatient dialysis.

Gove said on Friday that Grady staffers have confirmed six of the 11 states on its list do provide Medicaid, including New Jersey and North Carolina. He said the original list of 11 states was provided by an outside consultant, and Grady is now working to verify the list.

But Suzanne Esterman, spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Human Services, said Friday that New Jersey does not provide Medicaid for ongoing dialysis care for illegal immigrants. New Jersey provides Medicaid for immediate emergency care for illegal immigrants, she said.

She said she is concerned about the Grady policy of moving patients to other states.

'We're disturbed to hear that this might be happening to vulnerable patients,' she said.

Gove said Grady has confirmed that government Medicaid programs for illegal immigrants also exist in New York, North Carolina and Ohio. The newspaper could not reach those states Friday to check on the measures he cited. Gove said Grady continues to try to contact other states on the list.

As many as 10 patients have already relocated to other states, but none traveled to New Jersey, he said.

Gove declined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's request to speak to Grady CEO Michael Young. The head of the Grady board of directors, Pete Correll, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Confusion also continued Friday for Grady outpatient dialysis patients, some of whom said they feared that Friday would be their last day of care there.

Several patients said they had not received the news that a Fulton County Superior Court judge on Wednesday had ordered the clinic to stay open.

Grady officials had initially said the outpatient dialysis clinic would close Sunday, and Grady offered to relocate some illegal immigrants to other states or back to their home country.

Three patients who attended a protest rally on the closing Friday said they had been told by staff some time ago that Friday was their last day.

The center is the last resort for such care for many uninsured people and illegal immigrants, who cannot get into private clinics. But its equipment is old and the unit loses between $2 million to $4 million a year, officials said.

'I'm scared,' said Gusto Rodriguez, 43, an illegal immigrant who came to the United States from Honduras in 1983.

He said he would come back to the hospital Monday to receive the care he needs three times a week. He hoped he could at least receive the care through the emergency room, even if it meant waiting hours to be served.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville issued a temporary restraining order that mandated that Grady keep the clinic open, at least until a court hearing Wednesday.

The order also told Grady to stop its controversial efforts to relocate patients to other states and back to their home countries.

At the rally outside the hospital Friday, state Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), along with a dozen advocates of the Grady Coalition, called on the safety net hospital to keep the unit open.

'The poor of Atlanta need that treatment,' he said.

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18.
Cardinal comes home to hand out honors
By David Lester
The Yakima Herald-Republic (WA), September 20, 2009
http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/09/19/cardinal-comes-home-to-hand-out-honors

Yakima, WA -- Cardinal Francis George, a former bishop of Yakima and now the top Roman Catholic bishop in the United States, returned to Yakima on Saturday, saying the nation's current immigration policies are unsustainable.

He also touched on the sexual abuse scandal facing the church and encouraged residents to be hopeful during the economic recession that has crippled the country.

George, now archbishop of Chicago and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the church does not support breaking the law or illegal immigration.

'But we should also say you have to respect the people in front of you. If you have neighbors and family members who have been subjected to society financially, socially and religiously for decades, they should be able to live here with security,' said George, who served as bishop of the Yakima Diocese for nearly six years in the 1990s.

George was in Yakima to participate in the lifetime award ceremony for Central Washington Catholics who received the award, a medallion, that is named for him.

The recipients included five Yakima Valley residents and one Ellensburg resident. The local recipients are Mary Garcia of White Swan, Serapio Herrera of Mabton, Mark Nedrow of Selah, Alan and Kathy Quantrille of Wapato, and Rosemary Rief of Yakima.

Diane Dier of Ellensburg also received a medallion. The awards are for service to the church.

George, visiting Yakima for the first time in a decade, also addressed a crowd of about 180 people during the ceremony at Holy Family Church.

The 72-year-old George left Yakima when he was appointed archbishop of Portland in 1996.

He became the eighth archbishop of Chicago in 1997 and was elevated less than a year later to the Sacred College of Cardinals.

George said the Catholic Church is being more responsible on the issue of sexual abuse by priests that has rocked the church for years.

But he quickly added the church has more work to do as long as living victims are still hurting.

'We have to keep pace on it,' he said.

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19.
Photo ID proposal draws mixed reaction in West Contra Costa
By Tom Lochner
The Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA), September 18, 2009
http://www.contracostatimes.com/top-stories/ci_13368102

Municipal identification cards, promoted by some officials in West Contra Costa County as a way to make life easier for illegal immigrants and other marginalized groups, would be less of a precedent than many people realize, advocates say.

The cards would not even be the first example in West County of a photo identity document available to residents irrespective of citizenship or immigration status.

High school and middle school students in the West Contra Costa and John Swett school districts carry photo ID cards that contain their name and grade, the name of their school, a bar code for borrowing school library books and textbooks and a district-issued ID number. The cards do not display the students' home address; that information is on file with the school district.

The districts do not check the immigration status of students or their parents.

Advocates say municipal ID cards send a positive message of inclusion by embracing illegal immigrants and other marginalized people into the community. They say that with the cards, illegal immigrants, homeless people and people released from prison could more easily open bank accounts and access municipal services, and that as crime victims or witnesses they would be less reluctant to talk to police.

Opponents say the cards send the dangerous message that breaking U.S. immigration laws is a trivial matter, and that issuing the cards to lawbreakers would erode respect for the law in general. Some say that municipal ID cards could give shelter to terrorists.

But skeptics question whether the cards would materially affect anyone's life. In San Pablo, where several officials are pushing municipal ID cards, many banks already accept alternate forms of identification to the state driver's license or identification card, such as foreign passports and consular cards. Moreover, skeptics note, municipal ID cards would not allow illegal immigrants to acquire a driver's license. And they question what good a San Pablo municipal ID would do if a bearer got stopped by police out of area.

West Contra Costa school board member Antonio Medrano, who also sits on the Contra Costa County Municipal ID Task Force, rejects the notion that the cards are a solution in search of a problem and little more than a potentially costly political gesture. The cards could make life easier for bearers in matters such as renting apartments and interacting with police, he said.

Perceptions that activists, not grass-roots people, are orchestrating the drive for municipal ID cards are erroneous, Medrano said. If few people other than activists have spoken up for the cards at recent San Pablo City Council meetings, that's because 'people are afraid to speak up and sign a petition for ID cards,' he said.

'What if someone sees the list?' Medrano said. 'They'll think anyone on the list is undocumented.'

San Francisco and New Haven, Conn., are the only cities in the nation that issue municipal ID cards; an ID card program approved by the Oakland City Council in June has yet to be implemented.

San Francisco municipal ID cards are issued through a vendor under contract for between $5 and $15 depending on age and income; they do not specify the bearer's gender but do display home address and birth date.

Startup costs for San Francisco's ID card program, which launched in January, were close to $1 million; in the first 5 1/2 months of the program, about 3,300 people got cards, city records show; that's roughly 0.4 percent of San Francisco's 809,000 population.

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20.
TPS issue gaining traction for Haitians this week
By Trenton Daniel
The Miami Herald, September 18, 2009
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/haiti/story/1240964.html

Four months after they perished at sea, three Haitian women whose bodies went unclaimed at a Palm Beach County morgue were buried Friday in North Miami Beach.

A dozen mourners gathered to give the women names -- Life, Courage and Hope -- and a dignified burial amid calls to not forget why the women died.

``We pray for you. We are with you,'' activist Marleine Bastien said in mourning the women. ``We are going to continue to fight for temporary protected status.''

The burial took place amid a week of activities in South Florida and Washington marking the one-year anniversary of four deadly storms that struck the Caribbean nation. Some Haitians used the anniversary to increase calls for the Obama administration to allow undocumented Haitians in the United States to remain temporarily and work -- a measure formally known as temporary protected status, or TPS.

The ratcheted-up requests for TPS come as Haiti enjoys a measure of stability, but concerns in South Florida mount that tens of thousands of undocumented Haitians who help support families back in Haiti could be deported.

In the past few days, activists held a candlelight vigil at the Virginia Key site of another Haitian boat accident, rallied in front of the White House and met with Department of Homeland Security officials. They argue that TPS would enable Haitians in the U.S. to work and wire money to relatives, causing fewer Haitians to risk their lives getting to South Florida.

``We are breadwinners in this country,'' Egzer Dorsainville, 54, of North Miami, said before joining two dozen others on a charter bus to Washington. ``We pay taxes. We are people, too.''

South Florida immigration advocates began calls for TPS well before last summer's storms killed hundreds of people and caused nearly $1 billion in damage. Local Haitians have written letters and staged hunger strikes. This week, local hip-hop artist Andre ``McKlezie'' Wallace and NBA player Udonis Haslem lent their support.

Internal Differences

But while high-profile pitchmen may help bring attention to the issue, observers say the fight is hampered by differences within the Haitian community over how best to proceed. Among the questions: How aggressively should they push for TPS?

``One group thinks now is not the time and we should wait for a comprehensive immigration bill that covers everybody,'' said Aude Sicard, an advocate for immigrants' healthcare. ``The other group thinks it's something that should have happened already.''

TPS supporters argue that Haitians deserve the designation because of the four violent storms -- two of them hurricanes -- that tore through the country last year. Other immigrant groups, such as Salvadorans and Hondurans, have received the special status after natural disasters. Congress approved the designation in 1990 for foreign nationals fleeing civil war and environmental disasters.

The policy has its critics, with some groups vowing to oppose any attempt to change it.

``There's no `T' in TPS,'' said Roy Beck, executive director of the Washington-based NumbersUSA Action. ``We oppose all new temporary status until the people who got TPS earlier are required to go home.''

In July, President Obama declined to indicate his stance on TPS but did say he's ``very sympathetic'' and suggested the issue would be part of a larger effort to overhaul migration laws. Though administration officials say they're studying the issue, they have taken a few small steps that have satisfied some Haitians.

Immigration authorities have temporarily halted deportations for all noncriminal deportees. In February, they deferred the deportation of a Haitian national at the last minute; federal officials didn't explain the reasons for the decision. And in August they released from detention the parents of an 8-month-old girl so they could attend her funeral. The infant was among the nine Haitians to die when the boat capsized off the coast of Palm Beach on May 13.

A DHS spokesman said the agency has not amended its position.

``DHS has not made any changes to our policy regarding temporary protected status,'' spokesman Matt Chandler said. ``No one should attempt to come to the United States in the hopes of being granted TPS.''

Still, Haiti advocates say they welcome what they see as signs of leniency, but also add that more needs to be done.

Views on Washington

One immigration attorney conceded that the new administration may indeed have its hands full but it could award temporary measures such as a release from custody and the authorization of work permits.

``While the administration is reviewing all the pluses and minuses, it should give some of these temporary interim accommodations,'' said Randolph McGrorty, head of Catholic Charities Legal Services.

Others argue that Washington needs to go much further.

``They're doing little baby steps, but they need to take a leap and grant TPS,'' said Bastien, executive director of the Haitian Women of Miami. ``These people can't wait.''

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21.
L.A. religious leaders champion healthcare for illegal immigrants
By Teresa Watanabe
The Los Angeles Times, September 20, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-immig-health20-2009sep20,0,15012.story

Calling access to healthcare a moral and spiritual imperative, Los Angeles religious leaders and their flocks are urging congressional leaders to include illegal immigrants in any healthcare reform plan.

More than 100 parishioners attended a Mass of 'hope and reconciliation' last week at Our Lady Queen of Angels church and launched a phone bank to convey to elected officials their support for an all-inclusive healthcare plan.

'If we were politicians, this would be definitely political suicide to come out for healthcare reform for those who are undocumented,' said Father Roland Lozano, pastor of the church near Olvera Street, known as La Placita. 'But we're doing it because we believe . . . it's what God wants us to do.'

The question of whether illegal immigrants should have access to a government-sponsored health insurance marketplace has provoked heated debate and criticism of President Obama's proposals from both the left and right. Obama's position that his plans do not include illegal immigrants has been attacked as dishonest by some conservatives and as a betrayal by some liberals.

Father Richard Estrada, who heads an immigrant services organization known as Jovenes Inc., said broad inclusion of all immigrants was consistent with biblical teachings that all people are children of God who must care for society's most vulnerable.

And the Rev. Will Wauters, vicar of the Church of the Epiphany, an Episcopal church in Lincoln Heights, said inclusion of all immigrants would benefit the proposed health insurance marketplace because immigrants are, according to numerous studies, younger and healthier than native-born Americans.

According to a July 2009 study in the American Journal of Public Health, even immigrants with health insurance use less medical care than U.S.-born citizens and are less likely to have arthritis, diabetes, coronary heart disease and other chronic health conditions.

The Roman Catholic Church, the nation's largest religious denomination, with 67 million members, considers healthcare a basic human right, a position articulated in a 1963 papal encyclical by Pope John XXIII. As a result, the church believes that illegal immigrants should be included in any health reform plan, according to Kathy Saile, director of domestic social development with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

'If healthcare is a basic right, you can't start cutting people out,' she said.

But some religious conservatives disagree. Richard Land, who heads the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the 16-million-member Southern Baptist Convention, said that biblical exhortations to care for the poor apply to people of faith, not to governments, and should inspire private charitable efforts but not taxpayer-funded plans for illegal immigrants.

'It's noble and commendable to be charitable with your own money, but it's something different to be charitable with other people's money,' he said.

For Josephina Dedoy, a 58-year-old Mexico native and legal U.S. resident, the debate is intensely personal. She and her husband, a naturalized U.S. citizen, have a daughter who has epilepsy and is undocumented, having been born in Mexico before her parents earned legal status.

Dedoy said the family had insurance coverage until recently, when her husband was laid off after 17 years as a painter and designer. The family looked into private health plans but found them unaffordable at nearly $1,000 a month.

Now, Dedoy said, she is anxious about paying for their daughter's medical care. But as Obama supporters, Dedoy said she believes the president will support people like them.

'We're waiting for the mercy of the government for those in need like us,' she said.

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22.
Union holding Mpls. march for immigration reform
The Associated Press, September 20, 2009
http://www.kttc.com/Global/story.asp?S=11163272

Minneapolis (AP) -- A prominent local union is organizing a march in Minneapolis in favor of immigration reform.

The Service Employees International Union Local 26 is holding the march Sunday at 3 p.m. It starts at 38th Street and Pleasant Avenue.

The group plans to collect signatures for a petition to be sent to President Obama seeking reforms to a system they fear will result in thousands of immigrant workers losing their jobs.

The Obama administration has signaled it intends to enforce immigration laws not by workplace sweeps but rather auditing I-9 employment forms in workplaces across the U.S.

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23.
Activist mounts campaign against CNN's Lou Dobbs
By Julie Brown
The Miami Herald, September 21, 2009
http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/tv/story/1243674.html

A Miami-based Hispanic group is mounting a national campaign against conservative CNN talk-show host Lou Dobbs, urging the network to restrain what they call ``his disparaging and inaccurate'' remarks about Hispanic immigrants.

Jorge Mursuli, a longtime human rights activist in South Florida who now heads Democracia U.S.A., hopes to create a grassroots movement to silence Dobbs' unrelenting crusade against illegal immigrants.

Mursuli contends that Dobbs has blamed immigrants for a rise in leprosy in the United States, of pushing for a so-called ``superhighway'' of illegal immigrants from Mexico to Canada and contributing to an illegal immigrant crime wave.

``If CNN is, in fact, the most trusted name in news, we really have to ask them to hold Mr. Dobbs to journalistic standards,'' said Mursuli, whose group plans to launch an anti-Dobbs website, www.EnoughisEnough!.com.

The campaign is the latest backlash against the TV anchor. Other immigration groups have gone further, demanding the network pull him off the air for his conservative anti-immigration politics. Dobbs, whose wife is Mexican-American, is one of the network's most popular talk show hosts.

CNN spokeswoman Barbara Levin declined to comment in an e-mail to The Miami Herald. ``We'll take a pass on this,'' she wrote.

But Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which advocates stricter U.S. immigration policies, called Lou Dobbs ``one of the most respected names in American journalism.''

He said Dobbs' critics are using rhetoric and inflammatory information in an effort to determine what ideas the public is allowed to hear.

``Organizations that try to silence public debate are enemies of freedom,'' he said. ``There has to be room for all voices in the public square.''

As part of his campaign, Mursuli said his organization asked a Miami-based polling firm to conduct interviews with 100 Hispanic people -- most of them political, business, community and congressional leaders across the nation.

He said the survey showed that 90 percent of the participants believe Dobbs is a demagogue who is using his show as a pulpit to preach hate.

``Mr. Dobbs has a right to his opinion, but he also needs to stick with the facts,'' said Mursuli, a Cuban native who has been active in gay, lesbian and other civil rights causes.

For the past four years, he has been CEO of Democracia U.S.A., one of the nation's most vocal Hispanic civic engagement, voter empowerment and leadership training groups. Since its founding in Florida in 2004, the group's efforts have expanded to Arizona, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It has a partnership with the National Council of La Raza, the largest national Hispanic civil rights group in the country.

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24.
Visa program attracts foreigners and their money
By Monica Hatcher
The McClatchy Newspapers, September 19, 2009
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/lifestyles/health_med_fit/article/I-VISA0831_20090917-211611/293674/

Miami -- As wealthy foreign nationals increasingly flock to South Florida to buy distressed real estate, some are seeking an added return on their investment: a green card.

Local immigration attorneys say a growing number of Latin American and European clients are applying for investor visas, which in some cases lay down a fast track to residency and eventually citizenship. Others offer a chance to live and work in the country indefinitely.

As the region's real estate market continues to buckle under unsold properties, widespread foreclosures and failed condo projects, new interest in investor visas is helping whet the already hearty appetite of foreign nationals being drawn to the market by steep bargains.

But the visa opportunity isn't for someone buying a single condo: A significant investment is required.

'Clients are coming to us primarily because of the economic opportunity they see in the market,' said Randall Sidlosca, an immigration lawyer with Fowler, White & Burnett's Miami office. 'It's mind-boggling to see the amount of interest. . . . It's rather good news. It could mean the market will turn around faster.'

The purpose of these visas, which have been around for more than two decades, is to offer immigrants the opportunity to come and create jobs, in contrast to those who come as a result of family relationships and may do little to stimulate the economy, said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, which promotes immigration controls.

Developers and entrepreneurs are catching on to the program. They hope the attraction of U.S. residency will help generate new sources of badly needed capital at a time when access to credit has all but dried up. In March, the Department of Homeland Security's Citizenship and Immigration Services included Miami-Dade and Monroe counties in a pilot program that gives temporary residency to foreigners who invest at least $500,000 in a new or established business that creates, directly or indirectly, at least 10 full-time jobs.

Before the pilot program, a $1 million investment was typically required to be eligible for the EB-5 investor visa, which required investors to employ 10 workers directly. The lower investment threshold could be a significant incentive for more people to apply, attorneys say.

About 10,000 EB-5 investor visas are available annually. Of them, about 3,000 are available for the pilot program. Last year, fewer than 1,000 were issued under the relatively obscure EB-5 program. A move is under way in Congress to make the pilot program permanent.

David Hart, a Miami immigration lawyer, helped win the designation for Miami-Dade and Monroe with partner Eric Gould and has established the South Florida Investment Regional Center to connect foreign investors with local companies.

'A lot of . . . projects can't get financing from banks,' Hart said. 'This is a pretty interesting way of financing a project that can't get a temporary loan or a loan based on the asset itself.'

Hart said $500,000 investment packages were being prepared for 24 potential clients. Marketing -- through foreign immigration agents in Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Taiwan, China and Russia -- is under way.

Investors remain silent or limited partners, with no day-to-day responsibilities. A temporary green card allows them to live and work anywhere in the country and covers a spouse and children younger than 21 for two years. At the end of that period, they can get permanent green cards, and after five years from the initial approval, they apply for U.S. citizenship.

The visa can be renewed indefinitely. The investors' route to residency is one of the fastest available. It can take up to four or five years for applicants who are sponsored by a U.S. company and 12 to 15 years for applicants sponsored by a family member, depending on the relative's relationship to the sponsor and the country of origin.

Because many people prefer to live where they invest, South Florida could have a competitive edge over other regional investment centers, Hart said. There are more than 65 around the country, up from 23 a year ago, according to Citizenship and Immigration Services.

While no comprehensive statistics exist, recent research suggests at least 12 percent of the new condos in the greater downtown Miami area are now owed by foreigners.

Maralyn Leaf, a Miami business immigration lawyer, said foreign investors should be welcome. 'They are bringing money from abroad for our financial institutions,' she said.

Other options exist for foreign investors interested in making the U.S. their home. An E-2 Treaty Investor Visa, for instance, is good for up to five years and requires only a 'substantial' investment in a business activity that contributes to the economy. The applicant, however, has to actively manage the investment, which usually means setting up a company.

Buying a single-family home and renting it out does not suffice.

For foreign investors interested in the region, the stars could not have aligned at a more opportune time, said Alfredo Vizcarrondo, president of AV Group, a real estate services firm that facilitates Latin American investment in South Florida.

Political and economic uncertainty in many countries is pushing the well-heeled to look for secure places to stash their money abroad. Meantime, South Florida properties -- foreclosures, short sales and other distressed situations -- are going for fire-sale prices.

Said Vizcarrondo: 'They are trying to put their money into something that means security.'

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25.
Uninsured take a toll on all North Texans
By Robert T. Garrett and Jason Robertson
The Dallas Morning News, September 20, 2009
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-uninsured_20tex.ART.State.Edition1.4c5eca6.html

Up to one-third of Dallas-area residents don't have health insurance, and the number is rising. Everybody in North Texas pays the cost, through taxes and higher insurance costs – as much as $1,800 per family.

Illegal immigrants pump up the numbers. But even if there weren't any here, Texas still would virtually lead the nation in percentage of residents without health insurance, according to both conservative and liberal researchers. And Dallas County is close on Harris County's heels as the major metro county with the lowest rate of health insurance coverage.

'The cost is borne by those of us who have insurance to perhaps a greater extent than people recognize,' said Eduardo Sanchez, vice president and chief medical officer of BlueCross BlueShield of Texas, the state's largest health insurer. 'It's borne by all of us as taxpayers at local, state and federal levels.'

Sanchez, a former state health commissioner, said people insured through their jobs pay for the uninsured again in the workplace, through higher premiums and eroding benefits – particularly if they're employed by small businesses.

A 'vicious circle' of higher hospital prices, generated by costly emergency room care of the uninsured, drives up insurance premiums for employers, he said. Every year, that causes a few more bosses to drop coverage of their workers, he added.

'Now you have a higher number and percentage of uninsured,' Sanchez said, and the downward spiral begins anew.

The state's demographer projects that nearly 36 percent of Dallas County residents under age 65 will be uninsured next year. In the six surrounding counties, 27 percent will lack coverage.

Officials at Baylor Health Care System in Dallas said they charge insured patients 150 percent of actual costs to cover charity care of the uninsured and underpayment by Medicare, the federal program for seniors and the disabled. Gary Brock, Baylor's chief operating officer, said that's standard in the hospital industry.

Higher premiums

Across Texas, private sector workers this year paid $1,800 more in premiums per family policy, and $630 more per individual plan, to help pay for care of the uninsured, according to the Center for American Progress, a liberal-leaning Washington think tank, updating an earlier study by Democratic health care economist Kenneth Thorpe.

The Texas 'cost shift' represents about 13 percent of all private premiums paid, far more than the national average of slightly more than 8 percent.

The average annual family policy premium, shared by employer and employee, is $13,500 in Texas, the center found. For individuals insured through jobs at private companies, the average is $4,800.

Rick Boss of Dallas risk management firm MHBT said insured employees aren't just paying higher premiums, but also higher deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses.

'Dallas employees certainly are picking up more than the national average,' Boss said.

For an average family of four in Dallas, medical care and health insurance this year will cost nearly $17,000. Of that, 41 percent – almost $7,000 – will be paid by the employee, MHBT found in a survey of 139 local businesses.

In Dallas, average employee benefits are 7 percent leaner than nationwide, Boss said. Even after raising costs and cutting coverage, some businesses are at the breaking point, he said.

Between 1996 and 2006, the cost of family coverage for private sector workers in Texas increased 86 percent, while incomes increased by less than 9 percent, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which finances health care research and supports universal health coverage.

Compared with the rest of the nation, the Texas economy relies heavily on small businesses and relatively low wages. So although most of the state's uninsured live in households with people who work, fewer employers offer coverage, and fewer employees can afford it.

Only 49.5 percent of the state's residents were covered by employer-sponsored insurance, in a two-year average ending in 2008, compared with 58.5 percent nationwide, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated this month.

The result is an even greater squeeze on public or taxpayer-funded hospitals. Parkland hospital and its affiliated neighborhood clinics carry most of the indigent-care load in Dallas County. Parkland levies $412 million in property taxes on county homeowners and businesses and receives about $175 million a year in special federal and state funds, which offset about $523 million a year in care for the uninsured and underpayments by Medicaid, officials said.

The Parkland system is in constant danger of coming up short, though, said president Ron Anderson and chief financial officer John Dragovits.

'It's basically a Rube Goldberg model of fragile financing,' Dragovits said. 'It's all of these bits and pieces that we've pulled together to make it all work. But any time something happens in Washington or Austin, it potentially puts us at risk.'

Studies by the Institute of Medicine, a federal advisory panel, say the uninsured typically pay for about 35 percent of their care. The Parkland officials struggled not to laugh when asked if they collect that much.

'Today, if in America we could collect 35 percent of costs for the uninsured, we'd take that to the bank,' said Anderson.

Parkland and its 11 community clinics serve many low-income residents. Half its patients are Hispanic, and 29 percent are black.

Illegal immigrant issue

Researchers agree that illegal immigrants are a significant part of the uninsured population, both in Texas and nationwide.

Hospitals are required by federal law to treat everyone who comes into the emergency room, but most say they don't track how many are in the country without permission. Neither Parkland nor the Baylor Health Care System in Dallas asks incoming patients whether they are legal citizens.

Last year, Texas had 1.3 million to 1.55 million illegal immigrants, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research agency. The Census Bureau says that among the state's 6 million uninsured residents last year were 1.56 million noncitizens. Officials said they can't pinpoint how many of those are in the U.S. illegally.

Steven Camarota, research director at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, a conservative group that supports stronger immigration enforcement, said that if immigrants and their U.S.-born children aren't counted, only New Mexico tops Texas in percentage of residents without health insurance – and by less than 1 percentage point.

'If I pull out the immigrants and their kids, Texas still ranks right near the top,' he said.

The Center for Public Policy Priorities, an Austin group that supports Democratic proposals to overhaul health care now before Congress, reached a similar conclusion.

Joel Allison, chief executive of Baylor Health Care System, and other health care providers said a restrictive state Medicaid program helps swell the ranks of Texas' uninsured.

Though the federal government puts up most of the money for Medicaid, an insurance program for the poor, states set the rules. Texas rules bar coverage for an able-bodied adult who makes more than $188 a month and is not pregnant.

'Medicaid in Texas is very limited,' Allison said.

State demographer Karl Eschbach, a professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said the state's low taxes and labor costs are attractive to business and helped make it 'the last state, really' to enter the recession.

'But the tradeoff is, Texas industries that employ a large undocumented workforce here are not offering them health insurance options,' he said. 'People who don't like paying for uncompensated care should realize that one reason their housing costs are so low is that the construction industry isn't giving insurance benefits to its illegal immigrant workforce.'

Life-threatening risks

Beyond dollars, lack of insurance exacts a human toll. Nationally, 22,000 people died in 2006 because they lacked health insurance, according to the nonpartisan Urban Institute, a center-left economic and social policy research group. Along with the Institute of Medicine, the Urban Institute has cited studies showing that if uninsured women with breast cancer have their disease diagnosed later, treatment is less effective. Also, uninsured men with high blood pressure often skip seeing a doctor and fail to get medication, putting them at risk of serious harm.

Even the insured face risks from living with so many neighbors without insurance. For one thing, they may not be able to use the nearest emergency room. As emergency rooms fill, many simply begin 'diverting' patients elsewhere for a time.

Spots in the ER are being taken by an increasing number of patients who've suffered a heart attack, stroke or car-wreck injuries and are uninsured and can't pay.

That frustrates doctors who are specialists, and many no longer are willing to be on call for emergencies, said Emory University emergency medicine professor Arthur Kellermann. They can make more, be sued less and work better schedules performing elective surgery in private practice, he said.

'Everyone's access to care, particularly the most time-critical care, suffers,' said Kellermann, who co-chaired an Institute of Medicine panel on the consequences of having so many uninsured Americans.

'Pressure on the system is going higher and higher and higher, the longer we put off dealing with this problem.'

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26.
Immigrants embrace Southern living
Appeal of affordable homes, better opportunities drawing more to cities like Charlotte.
By Franco Ordoñez
The Observer (Charlotte, NC), September 20, 2009
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/958392.html

Carola Cárdenas left her native Venezuela twice to live in the United States. Both times she moved to cities that have long attracted large numbers of immigrants, first to Los Angeles, then New York.

But after four years living in the shadow of Manhattan in nearby New Jersey, Cárdenas, 36, and her husband decided to plant some roots elsewhere. They chose Charlotte - far away from any traditional immigrant gateway.

'We had the idea of forming a family,' she says. 'We now have a daughter. And we were definitely looking for what would be the best place to raise a child.'

The family's story reflects the path that many immigrants, here legally or not, are taking - from U.S. urban enclaves filled with immigrants who share their language and culture to Southern cities like Charlotte that offer appealing and affordable suburban lifestyles.

A study published this year by the New York-based Center for an Urban Future found that a growing number of successful immigrants in New York are moving to Southern cities that boast a lower cost of living and a better chance to achieve middle-class goals like homeownership and sending their children to college.

Analysts say the trend reflects immigrants' greater assimilation and movement up the economic ladder. It also reflects new migration patterns that have been created as large numbers from ethnic communities have spread into regions that traditionally had very little diversity.

'What we're seeing is in the bigger, more established cities, - Los Angeles, New York, Chicago - those places have become more limited, so immigrants are looking for opportunities elsewhere,' says Audrey Singer, an immigration specialist at the Brookings Institution. 'If you look at the density of New York versus Charlotte, the housing prices, school issues, and the range of quality of life, some immigrants decide to take a chance.'

Cárdenas, who became a U.S. citizen last year, lives in a two-story, four-bedroom house in South Charlotte with her husband, Miguel, 38, a graphic designer, and daughter Amelia, 3. They paid less for the house than any one-bedroom condo they considered buying in New Jersey.

Cárdenas, a membership and fundraising director for a YMCA branch, said they realized quickly that 'we were not in New York anymore.' But they were encouraged to hear Spanish on the radio, see a few stores and restaurants catering to immigrants, and learn of growing numbers of Latino businesses opening that could possibly use Miguel's services as a graphic designer.

Amelia runs through the living room - the pat pat of her tiny feet can be heard on the hardwood floor. She then appears in the kitchen and dashes past the dinner table. She turns left toward the family room and dives onto the leather couch.

Watching his daughter race around the house, Miguel Cárdenas says that five years ago, they never would have imagined having as much living space for an energetic toddler.

'Our friends are still surprised by the size of this house and our lifestyle,' he says.

Perfecto Paredes, a district manager of Compare Foods and a native of the Dominican Republic, moved to Charlotte four years ago from New York City. He said friends from the city constantly ask him about Charlotte.

'They want to know about everything - the city, jobs, weather,' he said.

More than a dozen uncles, aunts and cousins have followed Oscar Reto, a mortgage loan officer and a native of Peru, to Charlotte from New York since he moved here in 2001.

Detroit resident Roberto Sanchez travels to Charlotte often on business. He's long wanted to move to the region, saying the pace reminds him of life back home.

'The weather is very similar to Mexico,' he said. 'You don't need as much money. People are calmer, more easygoing.'

North Carolina's Latino population has soared since the 1990s, growing more than 1,000 percent. But it's not just Latinos moving from the Northeast. High-tech professionals from India, teachers from Africa, and others from throughout the world are moving to Charlotte after stops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami.

More than 8 percent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg's 103,000 foreign-born residents moved to the area from another state in 2007, according to Census figures.

Such changes prompted the Levine Museum of the New South to dedicate a yearlong exhibit, 'Changing Places: From Black and White to Technicolor,' to the influx of people from around the world.

Pamela Grundy, curator of the exhibit, heard from several immigrants, including a man from India, that Charlotte reminded them more of home than the urban areas they left.

'The slower pace of life,' she said. 'The way people interact with each other. To some degree the focus on religion. It feels more like what they grew up with.'

Carola Cárdenas first moved to Los Angeles when she was 4 years old. Her mother moved there to study English and initially stayed because of economic changes in Venezuela. They returned, however, when she was 16.

Cárdenas moved back to the United States in July 2000. They picked New Jersey because Miguel's brother lived there, and she found a job at a New York law firm. They found an apartment in an immigrant neighborhood in West New York, N.J.

They loved the activities, the sense of camaraderie and the friends they made in New Jersey. But when they decided to start a family, they knew they wanted better job opportunities, more space, and better schools.

'We fell in love with Charlotte,' Cárdenas said. 'It's not so tranquil that you're out in the middle of the boonies, but you still have the city life.'

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27.
Tensions flare over policies at mobile home park
Board defends requiring proof of residency status, but some say it's discrimination
By Dianne Solis
The Dallas Morning News, September 19, 2009
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-trailerpark_19met.ART.State.Edition1.4c16100.html

Grand Prairie, TX -- Oscar Peralta thought he'd found a secure place to live with his wife - the San Grande Mobile Home Park. He purchased title to property but never moved in after the property owners association demanded Social Security numbers from him and his wife.

He could only offer his own documents, proving his legal immigration status. Now, they want him to pay utility bills for property he's not allowed to live on.

'I don't live here yet, but they are charging me,' said Peralta, 31.

On Friday, tensions rose at the mobile home park and a Grand Prairie police officer came in to bring calm.

'We want everybody to confirm that they are legal residents of the United States of America,' said Nola Wolfe, property owners board vice president and a school crossing guard.

'Everyone,' Wolfe said, is asked for identification regarding legal status. 'We don't discriminate against anyone.'

Reta McVicker, the board president, said: 'We ask for a proof of identification. Show us a green card, a Social Security number.'

Then, she added quickly, 'We don't ask about immigration.'

The troubles in this neighborhood are the latest flashpoint in the national debate over illegal immigration.

In some instances, municipalities, and now governing bodies of mobile home parks, have attempted to regulate whether a person without proper immigration documents is allowed to live in a given area.

Despite the debate, overhauling immigration laws has not been a priority in Washington as the recession drags on.

McVicker said those who haven't been allowed to move in should have checked the association's rules before buying property.

Another man in such a predicament was given the previous owner's utility and maintenance bills, McVicker said, because someone has to assume those debts and she doesn't want them passed on to the property association.

A silver replica of the Statue of Liberty greets visitors to the park of more than 100 mobile homes, located in north Grand Prairie near the Irving border. There's bilingual signage, though some of it is in poorly translated Spanish.

Children ride bicycles or play catch in streets with Spanish names such as El Corto and La Moda.

Three residents separately said they were fed up with allegedly broken rules, with fines, with additional water charges of $15 for every newborn, and with seeing new neighbors being asked for identification documents that prove legal U.S. residency.

One man called Salvadoran pastor Pedro Portillo of Irving's Iglesia de Santa Maria de Guadalupe. Another, Luz Benitez, contacted attorney Jeff Hacker, who wrote a letter to the board on behalf of the residents. And then Ramona Bledsoe said she became an 'advocate' for the 'Spanish people.'

Though she's sometimes mistaken for a Hispanic, Bledsoe is Comanche and lives in a trailer with a wooden sign that reads: 'Indian Territory. Tread Lightly.' An American flag with an American Indian superimposed hangs in her garage.

As a television crew attempted to enter the manager's office, board member Jimmy Taliaferro pushed a cameraman. 'I'm a Vietnam vet with PTSD,' he said, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Hacker, the real estate attorney representing residents, said the board can't ask residents for the list of documents it wants.

'This is a violation of their privacy,' Hacker said. 'It's a power struggle here, as a neighborhood changes from an Anglo neighborhood to a Hispanic neighborhood.'

At the mobile home park, 17-year-old Jennifer Reyes, who was born in the United States to a Salvadoran mother, tried to make sense of the day's drama. She recalled a name from her school history books and an earlier civil rights struggle.

'I thought everything had changed with Martin Luther King,' she said.

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28.
New U.S. citizens celebrate
By Santiago Esparza
The Detroit News, September 18, 2009
http://www.detnews.com/article/20090918/METRO01/909180371/1410/METRO01/Hundreds-become-U.S.-citizens-at-Cobo-ceremony

Detroit -- This weekend will be a memorable one for the Anderson family.

Jacob Anderson will celebrate his second birthday while his mother, Era, celebrates becoming a United States citizen. Era Anderson, 35, was among the 852 people who were sworn in as citizens Thursday during a ceremony at the Cobo Convention Center. She emigrated from the Philippines.

'It is a cool coincidence,' Joel Anderson of Sterling Heights said of his son's birthday and his wife's citizenship. 'Definitely next to this big guy (Jacob), it is the most memorable time of our life.'

The new citizens cheered after they were sworn in by U.S. District Court Judge Paul D. Borman, whose parents were immigrants.

'They accepted and loved this country in a way I am sure that you can,' he told the crowd about his parents.

Mick Dedvukaj, the district director of the Detroit office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said his family immigrated to the United States from Albania when he was an infant. He told the crowd that one of the great things about coming to this country is that you do not have to abandon your cultural heritage.

'We do not ask you to surrender your culture,' he said. 'In this country, anything is possible. There is no limit to what you can accomplish.'

Julius Emelogu, originally from Nigeria, spent the past few years filling out forms so he could obtain citizenship.

Although the 85-year-old Detroiter needed a wheelchair to get about Cobo and relatives to help him stand to take the oath of citizenship, he said he was happy to do so.

'God bless America,' he said after the oath.

The event coincided with National Citizenship Day, also referred to as Constitution Day.

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29.
Illegal Immigrants embroiled in health care debate
By Janine Zeitlin
The News-Press (Fort Myers, FL), September 20, 2009
http://www.news-press.com/article/20090920/HEALTH/90919035/1013/LIFESTYLES

The waiting room at Family Health Centers' Bonita Springs clinic Thursday afternoon was almost standing room only.

Mothers tried to entertain squirming children. Adults gazed in boredom at cartoons. Many were uninsured immigrants who'd crossed the border illegally from Mexico or Guatemala.

Family Health Centers of Southwest Florida is the sole provider for many uninsured immigrants.

To those waiting, expanding health reform to include undocumented people is only humane.

'We are all human beings and we all deserve an opportunity to be healthy,' said Elena Mejia, 27, on hand with her 2-year-old.

To those ensnared in the reform debate, it's a politically prickly issue.

Database: Non-citizens births covered by Medicaid in Lee declining

The topic burst to the forefront after a House member shouted 'you lie' to President Barack Obama's assurance the reform would not apply to those here illegally.

Proposals have barred federal subsidies to undocumented people but a bill last week went further in calling for a verification system to block access.

Critics have worried illegal immigrants could gain benefits without it.

No matter where one stands, people here illegally can already receive general care and emergency help through federally subsidized agencies.

They are not eligible for standard Medicaid, but can receive it in emergencies. What's more, federal law requires hospitals to treat anyone for an emergency medical condition.

Those caring for the undocumented say that population is a sliver of the reason for mounting costs.

'They may be a small reason why the health care costs have gone up,' said Dr. Jorge Quinonez, chief medical officer for Family Health Centers of Southwest Florida, which runs 12 medical offices. 'I would hate for them to be a scapegoat.'

Almost half of its more than 200,000 patients served last year were uninsured. The organization, like the health department, doesn't ask about immigration status and provides affordable services.

'Those people are here and someone is going to have to take care of them,' Quinonez said. 'It's hard to say no to someone who's in need.'

46 million strong

Legal and undocumented noncitizens represent 22 percent of the nonelderly uninsured, says a report from The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, part of a nonpartisan foundation.

Almost 7 million illegal immigrants are uninsured, experts say. The latest figure pegged the uninsured population at 46.3 million.

Almost half of unauthorized immigrant children of undocumented parents are uninsured, the Pew Hispanic Center reports.

While immigrants are more likely to be uninsured, they are less likely to visit doctors or an emergency room, the Kaiser Commission reported. About 14 percent of immigrants, legal or illegal, visited an emergency department in a year compared with up to 22 percent of U.S.-born citizens.

Many questions

A trio of men waiting for work in a Southwest Florida parking lot this week said they had never visited the emergency room since they emigrated illegally from Mexico and Guatemala.

Two, here more than seven years, had never seen a doctor.

'They ask too many questions,' said Miguel Jose, 47. 'The best thing to do is try to stay healthy.'

They lean on home remedies and over-the-counter medicines.

Family members send drugs, cheaper in their native countries, by mail.

For undocumented people and their advocates, immigration reform would resolve health care concerns because they'd be incorporated into the system and gain better access.

'The health system is very important, but the first thing that needs to be fixed is immigration,' said Javier Cantor, 41, a patient Thursday at the Bonita clinic.

'We need to be in good health, too.'

Right thing to do

The federal government agrees to the extent it funnels dollars to agencies that serve people regardless of status.

Jennifer James-Mesloh, a Lee health department spokeswoman, said the agency never asks for proof of citizenship for services.

'That's not in the scope of what we're trying to do,' she said. 'We're trying to provide public health to the public.'

More than half the department's $21 million 2008 budget came from public dollars.

Christine Nolan, a local director for Catholic Charities, said her organization urges undocumented people wary of government to visit such agencies.

'We run a lot of interference,' she said. 'They're here, they're hungry and they need medical care and it's the right thing to do to take care of them.'

They apply for Medicaid for U.S.-born children, although unauthorized parents reap no benefits.

Legal immigrants cannot qualify for Medicaid until five years after gaining permanent residency.

Family Health Centers receives about a quarter of its $24 million budget from the federal government, Quinonez said.

Insurance or self-paying patients, who pay from $15 to $150, depending on income, foot the rest.

Agencies did not have data on how many illegal immigrants are served because they don't ask if people are here lawfully.

Undocumented mothers can often receive more benefits than single men.

Area health departments reach out to women and link them to the federal WIC program, which provides healthy foods and education for pregnant and postpartum women and children. Healthy Start of Southwest Florida also connects mothers and children to needed services.

'If we have one baby born as a premature baby because the mother didn't have the care they needed then that premature baby ends up costing our hospital and our community millions of dollars,' said Deb Millsap, a Collier health spokeswoman.

Emergency Medicaid may cover deliveries by pregnant women here illegally. In Lee County, there were 1,100 such deliveries in 2008, a 19 percent drop from the year before.

Low-income women here illegally are not totally free from bills. Ines Juarez paid about $500 for pregnancy care with her now 8-month-old.

'I lived in California 10 years and, there, they take care of everything. I didn't pay a cent for my first child,' she said. 'Each state is different but, here, everyone pays something.'

Emergency Medicaid also is available to undocumented Florida residents who qualify to save them from serious injury or death, officials said.

In the last year, it served 1,230 and paid out $5.1 million in Lee County, including the deliveries, state data shows.

As required by law, Lee Memorial Health System takes in undocumented patients in need of emergency care, but does not track how many, said Karen Krieger, a spokeswoman.

'Anyone presenting to the emergency department in need of medical care will be treated.'

Piece of the pie

A House reform proposal may deliver some help to illegal immigrants with funding to community health centers.

It carves out almost $40 billion over a decade.

'With the increased availability of those providers, it should maintain current access today and it may actually improve it,' said Jennifer Tolbert, a principal policy analyst with the Kaiser Family Foundation.

It's too early to know if that could benefit Family Health Centers, said Bob Johns, a spokesman.

Even if illegal immigrants are a fraction of the uninsured, residents are split on how they should figure into the debate.

'If you can't send them back, we should work something out because we end up paying,' said Sara Feliciano, a 36-year-old east Fort Myers mother.

Ismael Hernandez, founder of Bonita-based The Freedom & Virtue Institute, supports verification requirements.

'Otherwise, everybody and his neighbor will come for the piece of the pie. ... It's a balancing of needs and resources.'

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30.
Immigrants now make up more than 4 percent of S.C. population
By Titus Ledbetter III
The Independent Mail (Anderson, SC), September 19, 2009
http://www.independentmail.com/news/2009/sep/19/immigrants-now-make-more-4-percent-sc-population/

Immigrants make up more than 4 percent of South Carolina’s population, according to census figures, and Latinos and Asians have a significant effect on the state’s economy.

The figures are cited in a recent report from the Immigration Policy Center, which is based in Washington, D.C., and reports that immigrants are a vital part of the state’s economic health.

South Carolina had 190,014 immigrants in 2007, the latest year for which figures are available. The percentage of the foreign-born population rose to 4.3 percent in 2007 from 2.9 percent in 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. There were 3,531 Hispanics in Anderson County in 2007, and they made up 2 percent of the population, according to the bureau.

In 2008, the purchasing power of South Carolina’s Latino population totaled $3.3 billion, and the buying power of the Asian population was $1.9 billion, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth. The center is part of the University of Georgia.

Michele Waslin, a senior policy analyst for the Immigration Policy Center in Washington, D.C., said the purchasing power is an example of the positive contributions from immigrants and minorities in South Carolina. Her group recently compiled research on the state’s immigrants, including statistics about their buying power.

She said her group thinks South Carolina cannot afford to alienate immigrants, because they are critical to the state’s labor force and business community.

“There is a lot of negative news about immigrants,” Waslin said. “It is important to show this side of the story.”

Immigrants make up 5.4 percent of the state’s work force, and illegal immigrants account for 2.2 percent of the state’s work force, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

“Undocumented immigrants are working and being productive and they are paying taxes,” Waslin said. “They are buying things with their earnings.”

State Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson, takes issue with that view. Bryant has been a vocal supporter of legislative efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.

He said he is happy to hear about the legal immigrants who are contributing to society. But he opposes allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the country because it sends a bad message when some laws are not being enforced, he said.

“There is a problem with immigrants that are here illegally,” he said. “Most of the time they are probably not paying the proper income taxes. They are probably not falling under the workers’ compensation coverage.”

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31.
3 drowned Haitian migrants honored at North Miami Beach funeral
By Trenton Daniel
The Miami Herald, September 18, 2009
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/1240235.html

The bodies of three Haitian migrant women who drowned when the boat they were in capsized four months ago off Palm Beach County were buried Friday in North Miami Beach.

In a morning service attended by about a dozen or so activists, office seekers and a local councilwoman, the three women -- whose bodies went unclaimed at the Palm Beach County morgue -- were each given a name: Life, Courage and Hope. They were buried at Southern Memorial Park in North Miami Beach.

``Today, with this interfaith service, we finally lay the bodies of these three women to rest here in the United States, the land that they so bravely traveled to but heartbreakingly died before reaching,'' Danna Magloire, an attorney with the Haitian Women of Miami, said at St. Fort's Funeral Home.

The three women -- believed to have been in their 20s -- were among at least nine migrants who died when their boat capsized off Boyton Beach around May 13 when a smuggling operation went sour. Sixteen survivors were pulled from the water.

Federal authorities later charged the boat's captain and another man with migrant smuggling resulting in death. The smuggling suspects were allegedly paid thousands of dollars for the journey, which was supposed to go from Nassau to Bimini and then to Miami. If convicted, the pair face life in prison, though prosecutors could choose to seek the death penalty.

An 8-month-old girl also died in the accident. Immigration authorities in August released her parents so they could bury her.

At Friday morning's service, three copper-color caskets, one blanketed with Haiti's red-and-blue flag, were on display. Still images of the U.S. Coast Guard picking up Haitian migrants at sea and of earlier boating accidents flashed across a screen.

The front row -- usually reserved for family members -- was empty of relatives.

Organizers said the bulk of the survivors hailed from the northern town of Port-de-Paix and assumed the three women hailed from there as well.

One man -- a family service counselor at the cemetery -- spoke about how the accident resonated with him.

``I told my cousin, `Any of the women could be my cousin,' '' said W. Robert Fertile, a Port-de-Paix native who said he took a boat himself by way of the Bahamas in 1982. ``To see these women, I thought: `It could've been me.' ''

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32.
Rhiner Festival celebrates immigrants' legacy
By Meredith Richard
The Ithaca Journal (NY), September 20, 2009
http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009909200349

Local history buffs and thrill-seekers alike gathered at Inlet Island to celebrate the rich legacy of the Rhiners --immigrants who settled the West End Waterfront District at the turn of the 19th century into the 20th.

Set against scenic Cayuga Lake, the event abounded with lively music, activities and authentic cuisine. Actors milled about the grounds, outfitted as street urchins, tricksters, sailors and bootleggers, to give a visual impression of the period.

From sometime in the 19th century until 1930, land in the city's southwest corner was called the Rhine, and its inhabitants, many immigrant squatters, Rhiners.

Festival-goers felt the genuine garb and tunes augmented the overall experience.

'The whole event is a great idea, we are able to relate to the period through the authentic music and costumes,' said local resident Rob Ross. 'We think that the history of Ithaca, and this area in particular, is fascinating.'

Multiple attendees were drawn in by the distinctive history of the waterfront spot.

'We went on one of those walking history tours and they talked about it there, so we decided to come check it out,' said resident Aubrey Munson.

On the other hand, there were also those who had gained accounts of the area in a less official manner.

'We were just curious. We've heard so much about the Rhiners over the years,' said festivalgoer Anne Treichler.

No matter what the inspiration for attendance, guests enjoyed the event which included activities such as a fast-paced scavenger hunt and an energetic belly dancing performance. Kids darted about with painted faces and pirate eye patches, while their parents got a chance to check out the crafts fair booths.

Ultimately, the festival provided an opportunity for guests to add to their understanding of the local narrative.

Festivalgoer Jane McLarty summed up her experience saying, 'Learning about the history of Ithaca is always fun.'

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33.
Soccer spoken here
By Michael Matza
The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 20, 2009
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20090920_Soccer_spoken_here.html

Philadelphia -- On a patchy South Jersey playground, on a summer Sunday afternoon, soccer coach Daniel Rodriquez paced in front of the bench - a clump of towels, really.

With one minute left, his team, Achuapa, was locked in a tense, 1-1 game with archrival La Mancha. Watching mostly in silence were about 100 spectators, sprawled on blankets and lawn chairs in the beating sun or under tarps tied to a chain-link fence.

At stake for the players in this immigrant soccer league was another step toward the championship game, to be played today at Campbell's Field, Camden's 6,400-seat riverside stadium.

On weekdays, the men are janitors, landscapers, farmhands, and factory workers across the region. Most Sundays from spring through fall, they seek exercise, camaraderie, competition, and bonds of ethnic identity in the sport many knew in their homelands as f˙tbol.

For decades, immigrant soccer leagues have flourished in ethnic enclaves throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Today, many are made up mainly of Latinos, but also include players from Africa, the former Soviet Union, and the Caribbean.

'Most of us are from countries where we didn't have much, and soccer is our common denominator,' said Liberian immigrant Joe Capehart, a forklift operator.

Capehart directs field operations for Imperial Azteca, the 900-player amateur league that includes Achuapa, La Mancha, and 26 other teams. It bills itself as the region's 'premier' league and is among the largest.

Azteca was founded in Camden in 2003 by Milton Valdovinos, 33, a Mexican immigrant who owns Plaza Tepis Sports on Federal Street, where players often shop for uniforms and equipment.

But the economics of immigrant soccer do not end with striped shirts and shorts.

Including insurance and referees' fees for the 20-game season, each 22-man team pays about $600 a year to enroll in the Azteca league. On some teams, each player antes up his share. For other teams, such as Achuapa, the managers foot the bill. Some might even pay for players' cleats, uniforms - and a few tortillas now and then.

Those are usually available at the games, where league-authorized vendors do a lively business in Latino comfort food: refried beans, sugary Mexican soft drinks, and homemade, wagon-wheel-shaped crisps of fried dough called chicharrines.

In the proud subculture of immigrant soccer, newcomers to America feel at home on the field and the sidelines. And men like Achuapa manager Rodriguez - a cleaning-company manager with enough spare income to subsidize a team - live the dream of a sports career.

As the ball squirted free from a jarring tackle in the Achuapa-La Mancha game, fans shouted at the referee, 'Es una mano, senor!' It's a hand ball, sir!

The ref ignored them.

Rodriguez, 35, a study in calm, said nothing and seemed confident that his stars, the wily forward Renberto 'Diablo' Polanco and hefty fullback Hector 'Pork Chop' Aguilar, would come through in the clutch. They played well, but the game ended 1-1.

'Every game is different,' explained Rodriguez, reassuring himself he would make the final again this year. 'I wasn't really scared because we're always the ones to beat.'

So it will be this afternoon.

Achuapa will face Jalapa for the championship at 1, followed by an exhibition game at 4 between Chivas and America, visiting professional teams from Mexico that have been rivals for decades.

In a league rich with players from Latin America, Achuapa and Jalapa are dominated by Guatemalans. Like many teams, they are named for villages or famous teams back home. Most Achuapa players were born in Jutiapa, the half-mile-high town in Guatemala's south-central highlands. Jalapa is a village to the northwest.

Today's final is a far cry from the fields of bad bounces and twisted ankles where previous championships were played.

Valdovinos, Azteca's founder, is the impresario behind the 2009 extravaganza. The costs - including stadium rent, airfare for the two 18-member Mexican teams, accommodations at the Philadelphia Sheraton - could exceed $100,000, he said.

While admission to regular-season games is free, tickets for today's games are $20 and $25. If Campbell's Field sells out, proceeds will be about $150,000. Valdovinos said he would like to use at least a portion of any profit to improve Camden's playing fields.

'This helps, first of all, my business - I don't want to lie,' he said. But sprucing up city parks is important, too, 'because the soccer fields in this area are not good.'

Social goals Nonetheless, from such challenging turf across the region have sprung many immigrant leagues. There is no definitive number, since some are organized and others are little more than pickup games.

But the common thread goes well beyond sport. Participants across the leagues say the weekly games, while a connection to a familiar past, are also an informal marketplace for new and established immigrants to share information about jobs, affordable housing, and social services.

Liga Amistad, a six-team 'Friendship League,' was founded in Philadelphia in 2005, with weekly games at Sacks Playground on Washington Avenue in Southwark.

Organizers say the league, made up mostly of Mexicans, was created to address a drinking problem in the community.

'The guys would spend the day kind of partying, doing not-so-productive activities,' said Varsovia Fernandez, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and one of the league's volunteer commissioners.

'In the Latino culture, Sunday is a family day. Now soccer brings them together in a healthy, recreational environment, and the wives and children come to watch.'

For women who want to do more than watch, there is International Soccer 7, a female league of about 100 members on teams of seven players each. It was founded six years ago in South Philadelphia by Ruth Bull, 42, a player on Mexico's 2000 Olympic team who was sidelined by knee surgery.

For immigrants who work all week to support families in America or send remittances abroad, 'soccer gives us something to do. It is a nice pastime,' said Antiqua-born Mitch Williams, 41, a home remodeler who lives in Somerdale with his wife and four children.

A sinewy midfielder with a powerful kick, he modestly admitted to being able to 'take a shot at a good distance with some force' - affirmed on a recent Sunday by the rocket shot he took from 50 yards out. It seemed to be still accelerating as it sailed over the goal.

As the only English speaker among Hispanics on the team called Juventud, Williams depends on body language and hand signals to communicate.

'When I first started playing, I would get so upset because there were simple little things that could improve the team's quality of play, but I couldn't communicate,' said Williams, who is deeply competitive on the field.

'After dealing with it week after week . . . I started to see it from a different perspective,' he said. 'It's an opportunity to really let go. It's a type of joy we get nowhere else. We've been doing this since we were little kids without shoes in the streets.'

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34.
10 being charged in million-dollar scheme to sell driver licenses to at least 1,500 illegal immigrants
By Eliot Kleinberg
The Palm Beach Post (FL), September 17, 2009
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/09/17/0917dmvlicenses.html?imw=Y

Delray Beach, FL -- In the end, prosecutors say, it was sloppiness and vanity as much as anything that tripped up state examiners who investigators believe took perhaps millions in bribes to issue driver licenses to at least 1,500 illegal immigrants.

Ten people - four examiners at the license office in Delray Beach and six others who conspired to recruit them - have been or soon will be arrested, including two examiners who were charged when the ring was broken in May and who now face new conspiracy counts, the Palm Beach County State Attorney's office said.

At least five were brought into court this morning for bond hearings.

Assistant State Attorney Alan Johnson, Palm Beach County's public corruption prosecutor, said the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is now working to invalidate the illicit licenses.

Examiners took fees ranging from $1,200 to $2,500 per license, witnesses told investigators.

An affidavit produced by the Florida Highway Patrol, which investigated the alleged conspiracy for the department, doesn't give the total take, but the math suggests more than $1 million and as much as several million dollars.

Investigators flagged 6,600 transactions that involved immigration forms and passports, reviewed three-fourths of those, and found 1,503 fake licenses had been issued.

Johnson said investigators hope to study the remaining transactions in coming weeks.

Meanwhile, according to the affidavit, conspirators would generate counterfeit immigration documents and supply them to applicants, often handing paperwork to them in the parking lot of the office at Military Trail and Atlantic Avenue.

Conspirators then directed applicants - and in some cases personally walked them in - to one of at least seven license examiners who were in on the scam, investigators said.

Few applicants took the mandatory written exam, much less the driving test, before walking away with valid licenses.

While it was tips that alerted investigators, the corrupt examiners all but waved red flags, the Highway Patrol's affidavit said.

Examiners deliberately ignored inconsistencies between fake documents and official ones, the kind they'd been specifically trained to look for and which were so blatant any examiner should easily have spotted them. They included missing codes, dates of birth in incorrect formats, and stamps that were smeared and illegible.

Also, while the examiners took home less than $20,000 a year, they 'openly and notoriously exhibited expensive personal items such as automobiles, home purchases, designer clothing, jewelry and accessories of an apparent cost far in excess of their means ,' the report said.

Some of the predominantly Haitian, Guatemalan and Mexican immigrants might have wanted licenses so they could stay in the country, get a job, open a bank account and not live in fear that a simple traffic stop would land them in jail with the next stop their home country, prosecutors say.

Others might have wanted them to snare lucrative jobs as drug mules. With a valid license, they would not have to worry that, if stopped with illicit cargo, their cars would be searched.

'It was insane what was going on,' Elizabeth Parker, a chief assistant state attorney who headed a multi-agency task force investigating the matter, said after the first arrests in May. 'They were bringing van loads of people from all over South Florida. It was so blatant.'

Examiners kept count of how many customers they handled and each would meet after work, away from the bureau, with one of the outside ringleaders to be paid, the report said.

When investigators stopped one conspirator, Alex Adrien, 42, of Delray Beach, in April, a search of his car uncovered 20 counterfeit immigration forms, several blank forms, and nine fake passports along with ledgers containing dozens of names, with notations ranging from $480 to $1,200. Adrien later was deported to Haiti.

Arrested in the newest round:

Maggie Nelson, who turned 47 today, and Debbie Hunter Collins, 43, both of Delray Beach; and Chenita Byrd-Mosley, 29, Osie Carter, 49, and Jonex Moise, 35, all of the Boynton Beach area.

All were given supervised release, except Carter, whom Judge Ted S. Booras ordered held in lieu of $8,000 bail with the alternative of supervised release, and Moise, who has his bond hearing Friday.

Arrested in May: Nelson, Collins and Adrien; Lashonda Kaliha Scott, 25, and Patreese Harvey, 28, both of Palm Springs; and Melita Dera Zilea, 28, of Coral Springs in Broward County.

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35.
Immigration attorney pleads guilty to conspiracy
The Associated Press, September 18, 2009

Norfolk, VA (AP) -- A Chicago immigration attorney has pleaded guilty to helping a Virginia Beach man make millions by bringing illegal immigrants to the United States to work.

Beth Ann Broyles pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy charges in Norfolk federal court.
. . .
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-va-immigrationattorn,0,3908337.story

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36.
Woman who made wrong turn to be deported
By Eve Byron
The Independent Record (Helena), September 18, 2009

A bikini dancing illegal immigrant with a bad sense of direction, who was apprehended when she made a wrong turn on her way to California from Montana - accidentally crossing the border into Canada - will be sent back to her native Argentina.
. . .
http://www.helenair.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_09f807e0-a40f-11de-baaf-001cc4c03286.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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