Daily news updates from CIS

September 24, 2009

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[For CISNEWS subscribers --

1. USCIS to bolster funding with fee hike (story, link)
2. Census boss says status inquiries 'impractical'
3. DHS chief: no more delay in CNMI federalization
4. Federal agents opened fire in fear of safety (2 stories)
5. Pew survey: a third of Mexicans would immigrate (story, 2 links)
6. OH legislature delays probe of license distribution
7. San Fran. school board blasts enforcement
8. GA city cracking down on illegals
9. Census boycott splits Latino communities
10. Salvadorans seek political voice
11. Religious leaders press for amnesty
12. NJ advocates aid domestic abuse victims
13. NC activists protest comm. college policy
14. NY Quakers to discuss issue
15. Students rally for DREAM Act (story, link)
16. Spanish-language soap opera to tackle Census
17. Documentary covers struggles of illegals
18. Immigrants find opportunities in enlistment
19. Foreign dialysis patients face desperation in Atlanta (story, link)
20. U-Visa helps foreign victims
21. Liberian convicted of murder in MD
22. NY restaurateur admits illegal hires (story, link)
23. TX grandmother caught in marriage scam (link)
24. Four Chinese illegals arrested in AZ (link)
25. CA drug convict held for expulsion (link)

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

-- Mark Krikorian]
1.
Immigration officials consider more fee increases
Immigrant rights groups fear that further fee hikes would cut many out of the citizenship application process. The immigration agency, which must be self-supporting, faces a $118-million shortfall.
By Teresa Watanabe and Anna Gorman
The Los Angeles Times, September 24, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-immig24-2009sep24,0,1871688.story

U.S. immigration officials are considering another possible round of fee increases and budget cuts next year, prompting concern among immigrant rights groups.

Alejandro Mayorkas, the new director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said during a visit to Los Angeles on Wednesday that 'financial challenges' have caused the agency to consider potential fee increases but no decision has been made.

The agency is facing a $118-million revenue shortfall this year in part because applications for citizenship and skilled worker visas are below projections, according to officials.

Citizenship applications plunged to 58,000 last year from 254,000 the previous year in the Southern California district. Most experts blame the decline on a fee increase of 69% to $675 in 2007.

But immigration officials said the agency is required by law to be self-supporting and that the fee increase was required because a special congressional appropriation to help reduce application backlogs had run out.

To help close the shortfall, Mayorkas said, the agency has requested $206 million from Congress.

'It is financially responsible to examine all of the options that are available . . . as the agency confronts financial challenges,' Mayorkas said.

Immigrant advocates said, however, that any additional fee increase would severely hamper legal immigrants from pursuing citizenship.

'Right now the high cost of citizenship is putting the dream of naturalization out of reach of low- and moderate-income legal permanent residents, and any future increase will just make the situation worse,' said Rosalind Gold of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund in Los Angeles.

Mayorkas, a Cuban immigrant and former top Los Angeles federal prosecutor, took over as head of the immigration agency last month. He said he would seek to make it 'one of the jewels' of the Obama administration through engagement with the public, efficient service and transparent procedures.

As an example, Mayorkas cited the bilingual website launched this week that includes a way for people to get e-mail updates on the status of their applications.

He said the agency had made significant progress in reducing application backlogs, dropping the wait on citizenship applications from more than one year to less than five months.

In addition, the agency is determined to improve integration of new immigrants and citizens, Mayorkas said. Just last week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that 13 organizations, including three in California, will receive a total of $1.2 million in federal funding to expand citizenship education and preparation programs.

And the agency is preparing for the possibility of legislation that could result in millions of undocumented immigrants applying for legalization, Mayorkas said. Already, he said, the agency has more than 130 support centers throughout the nation ready to accept more than 6 million applications.

'We are focused on ensuring that we are ready to address comprehensive immigration reform,' said Mayorkas.

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Government weighs boost to immigration filing fees
By Amy Taxin
The Associated Press, September 23, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jC8_JFggjWzK1fjGK2NaweOhLvUQD9ATC5400

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2.
Census chief: Bennett's immigration bill not practical
By Matt Canham
The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City), September 23, 2009
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13401740

Washington, DC -- Sen. Bob Bennett wants the Census to collect information on who is in the country illegally in its official 2010 count, but Census Director Robert Groves said that's not practical a mere six months before the questionnaires are mailed to every household.

'A lot of the forms are already printed,' Groves said Wednesday. 'That train has left for the 2010 Census clearly.'

Bennett, a Utah Republican who faces a tough re-election effort, introduced a bill last week that would add an 11th question to the Census forms asking if the person is a citizen or legal resident. He wants to exclude undocumented immigrants from the count used to apportion seats in the U.S. House.

'It does not make any sense for congressional seats and the Electoral College to be determined by a process that unfairly provides the advantage to those communities with high illegal populations,' Bennett said in announcing his legislation.

He acknowledged Wednesday that modifying the questionnaire would be a challenge, but said he is committed to working with the Bureau to find some way, such as a second page, to ask the question, if his bill passes.

Bennett's proposal has been met with criticism and charges that he is 'pandering' for votes by community activist Tony Yapias, the director of Proyecto Latino de Utah, while he has received praise from his Republican challengers and some conservative state lawmakers.

But Groves wouldn't weigh in on whether the idea -- practical or not this late in the game -- is a good one or not, saying it is 'the proper role of Congress' to discuss how the count should take place. He did note that singling out undocumented immigrants and removing them from the apportionment process would 'be a change from our history of many many, many decades.'

The Bureau does not currently ask any questions about immigration status in its 2010 count, but has collected such information in other surveys. The once-a-decade Census is used not only to determine how many House seats are given to each state, but also to split up $400 billion in federal funding and a number of other statistical purposes. Bennett's bill would not impact the distribution of money.

The Census has launched efforts to convince hard-to-reach populations, including minorities and undocumented immigrants, that the 2010 count is 'a safe' activity and that their information would be confidential.

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3.
Official: No more delay in CNMI federalization
By Dionesis Tamondong
The Pacific Daily News (Hagatna, Guam), September 23, 2009
http://www.guampdn.com/article/20090923/NEWS01/909230333/1002/Official--No-more-delay-in-CNMI-federalization

There will be no more delays in the implementation of U.S. immigration law in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the top Homeland Security official told the delegates of Guam and the CNMI.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is prepared to activate the border security components of the law that calls for the federalization of the CNMI's immigration by Nov. 28.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano met with Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo and CNMI Delegate Gregorio 'Kilili' Camacho Sablan yesterday on the immigration issue.

Opposition

CNMI officials have opposed the federal takeover of the commonwealth's immigration, and have asked for the process to be delayed until the CNMI gets a visa waiver for Russian and Chinese tourists to help sustain the tourism industry.

The visa waiver regulations that exclude Chinese and Russian tourists to Guam and the CNMI also take effect Nov. 28.

'I told (Napolitano) that losing Chinese tourists is 100 percent of Tinian's economy and will mean an end to the inter-island ferry that Tinian people depend on,' Sablan said in a news release sent after their meeting.

Napolitano said she understood the economic impact to the Northern Marianas of the visa waiver rules and hoped for some creative solution to allow Chinese and Russian tourists into the Marianas.

Bordallo said she will continue to work with Napolitano to address visitor industry issues affecting Guam and the CNMI.

The new federalization rules were supposed to be enforced June 1, but were delayed to allow more time to ensure security measures are in place.

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4.
Police: Agents felt trapped in border gun battle
By Elliot Spagat
The Associated Press, September 23, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jMdU0pvfCgKW-59h3J-kI-YqR3JgD9ATAMJ80

San Diego (AP) -- An investigator says federal agents felt trapped when they fired guns at a van packed with suspected illegal immigrants at the nation's busiest border crossing.

San Diego police Lt. Kevin Rooney said Wednesday that the agents were on foot and didn't have an area where they felt they could flee as two vans sped straight at them.

Four people were injured Tuesday after drivers of three vans attempted to storm past inspectors at the San Ysidro port of entry connecting San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. Two were struck by gunfire, and two others were hurt when one of the vans hit a truck. Rooney says none of the injuries was life-threatening.

Authorities say two drivers were arrested and expected to be charged with smuggling. Another driver fled to Mexico, where he was captured, and will be prosecuted there.

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U.S.-Mexico border run not smugglers' usual method
By Richard Marosi
The Los Angeles Times, September 24, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-border24-2009sep24,0,2763937.story

Tijuana, Mexico -- The three drivers moved through traffic toward the U.S. border crossing, their vans packed with about 70 immigrants who stayed hushed as canine units patrolled outside.

Mauricio Cantera, a 59-year-old grandfather who sells churros to crossers, said the vans probably passed inches from his tray of sweets Tuesday afternoon, but he didn't notice anything amiss.

Having worked the crossing for decades, he said smuggling runs through the San Ysidro Port of Entry are common. What happened next, however, wasn't.

When the vans reached the inspection booths, instead of stopping, the drivers tried to storm through the crossing, triggering a brief chase that ended with blasts of gunfire, a crunch of vehicles and authorities shutting down the border crossing for the first time in 46 years.

Three suspected smugglers were arrested -- one of them caught by Mexican soldiers as he tried to flee into Tijuana, another hospitalized for a gunshot wound. On the U.S. side, two Customs and Border Protection inspectors and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot at one of the vans as it sped toward them trying to escape, according to San Diego police.

The brazen incident baffled U.S. authorities, who declared the port of entry a crime scene, sent helicopters aloft and closed all 24 lanes for the first time since the assassination of President Kennedy. The closure lasted more than six hours.

Traffickers typically take a more stealthy approach at the crossing, hiding immigrants inside trunks, three or four at a time, or stuffing them in hidden compartments or the undercarriage of vehicles.

'It doesn't make any sense to us,' said Michael Unzueta, the special agent in charge of ICE in San Diego. 'When you have 30 or 40 people in a van, they're going to be blatantly obvious' to inspectors.

Federal agents Wednesday interrogated the 54 men, 15 women and five minors who were in the vehicles. The immigrants said they were going to be charged $2,500 to $4,200 to be smuggled across, Unzueta said.

On the Tijuana side of the vast gateway complex, port director Cesar David Montoya said port runners, as such illegal crossers are known, usually take a different approach, going late at night, against traffic, through the southbound lanes where his agents patrol.

'This clearly shows the desperation that these groups have in response to the bolstered enforcement in the U.S.,' Montoya said.

The incident occurred about 3:30 p.m. as the lead van approached the inspection booth. When the agent ran the license plates, the van stormed through, followed by the other two.

Port runners face an obstacle course of zigzagging concrete barriers and clogged car lanes in the secondary inspection area. The port runner alert system sounds alarms and activates gates and metal barriers at all the exits, in effect trapping smugglers.

The three vans were trapped, but two still tried to escape -- one drawing gunfire as it headed toward agents, according to authorities. It eventually crashed into another car, injuring a passenger.

Some border observers speculated that the incident could have been part of a diversion, noting that smugglers have been known to send one or more decoy vans storming through the crossing to draw attention while another immigrant-laden vehicle passes through.

Or maybe the smugglers just panicked, said Cantera, the vendor. 'Maybe they thought they could slip through,' he said, 'but when they saw they were going to be inspected, they decided to make a run for it.'

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5.
Poll: One out of three Mexicans would move to U.S. if they could
By Matt O'Brien
The Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA), September 23, 2009
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_13404141

Frustrated by crime and the economy at home, most citizens in Mexico see a better life in the United States and one out of three would move here if they could, according to a poll.

The recession and high unemployment north of the border have done little to dampen the favorable views that Mexicans have of their neighbor, although fewer Mexican immigrants now live here.

About 57 percent of Mexicans think that those who settled in the United States enjoy a better life, compared with 51 percent who thought so in 2007, according to the survey released Wednesday by the Pew Global Attitudes Project.

In addition, about 18 percent of Mexicans said they would move here even if they had no authorization to migrate, but the means and opportunity to do so anyway.

The views that many Mexicans have of life up north are informed by close family and community connections, said Pleasanton resident Jose Andres Castillo.

'Communication between family members is very tight,' said Castillo, head of a club for Bay Area immigrants from the Mezquital Valley of Mexico's Hidalgo state. 'People hear about how life is here, and hear that — even though there's crisis here — life is a little better.'

About 81 percent of Mexicans surveyed said crime is a very big problem in their country, and high numbers also were concerned about economic problems, illegal drugs and corrupt political leaders.

Despite concerns about the direction Mexico is heading in, the poll revealed support for President Felipe Calderon and wider support for the war against drug traffickers that he has waged since taking office in late 2006.

About 69 percent of Mexicans said they had a favorable view of the United States, compared with 47 percent who had a favorable view last year — a marked change that researchers attribute, at least in part, to positive impressions of President Barack Obama.

Fond visions of life in America do not mean that more Mexicans are coming here, however. In fact, newly released U.S. Census Bureau data say the opposite — an estimated 300,000 fewer Mexican-born immigrants were in the country in 2008 than the year before.

A bulk of that drop took place in California, which has shed tens of thousands of construction and manufacturing jobs in which Latino immigrant workers were heavily represented. In Alameda County, the total proportion of foreign-born residents dropped to 29.7 percent last year from 30.9 percent in 2006.

Castillo estimates about 1,500 Bay Area residents hail from his rural valley in Hidalgo, but most of them came in the 1990s. A combination of factors, from the economy to tougher border enforcement, have reduced the willingness of Mexicans to take the risk to move here, he said.

'The perspectives have changed a lot in the last few years,' he said in Spanish. 'We usually hear about it when somebody new arrives. Now, it's rare for someone to come.'

The poll showed that 87 percent of Mexicans are satisfied with their own lives, and 54 percent described their own economic situation as good, a 6-point drop from a year ago.

'Mexicans realize that the current economic downturn in the United States has a negative impact on them, too,' said Richard Wike, associate director of the global poll.

The project surveyed 1,000 citizens in face-to-face interviews in Mexico this spring, and pollsters did the same for other countries throughout the world. Mexicans this year had a more favorable view of the United States than Canadians, Brazilians and Argentines — the other three Western Hemisphere countries included in the project, which is part of the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

The full results of the Mexico survey can be viewed at: pewglobal.org/reports/pdf/266.pdf.

+++

Survey: U.S. economy curbs immigration
As migration from Mexico declines, border apprehensions rise
By Lynsi Burton
The Houston Chronicle, September 23, 2009
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/immigration/6634332.html

Survey Shows Pull of the U.S. Is Still Strong Inside Mexico
By Julia Preston
The New York Times, September 24, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/world/americas/24mexico.html

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6.
Husted delays 1 probe of illegals' license plates
By Randy Ludlow
The Columbus Dispatch, September 23, 2009
http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/09/23/hearings.ART_ART_09-23-09_B2_8HF5L5H.html?sid=101

The Ohio Senate will step aside while the state inspector general investigates the flow of fraudulently obtained license plates to illegal immigrants.

The Senate Government Oversight Committee will delay its planned hearings into the issue at the request of Inspector General Thomas P. Charles, said the committee chairman, Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering.

'The inspector general's request reflects the serious nature of his investigation into potential criminal matters involved with this scandal,' Husted said yesterday in a statement.

'During this period of postponement, the committee will seek public records it needs to conduct its own investigation in the future,' he said.

The Dispatch reported Sept. 13 that public-safety officials delayed enacting new vehicle-registration procedures to end the issuance of license plates to thousands of undocumented workers.

Former Public Safety Director Henry Guzman postponed the reforms July 31, 2008 -- the day before they were to take effect -- after meeting with Latino business owners who cater to illegal immigrants.

Present at the meeting were so-called 'runners,' Latinos with legal U.S. residency who charged fees of more than $100 to use falsified power-of-attorney forms and register vehicles on behalf of illegal immigrants. Guzman said he was unaware runners attended the gathering.

Guzman said the identity-verification procedures accompanying the new power-of-attorney policy were fraught with problems and needed improvements before they were implemented on Aug. 24 of this year.

Husted also said that he thinks Charles needs more money and manpower to handle his growing workload of investigations. He called on Gov. Ted Strickland and lawmakers to allocate more money to the inspector general's office. Charles declined to comment.

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7.
SF school board weighs in on sanctuary city policy
The San Francisco Chronicle, September 23, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?entry_id=48189

The San Francisco school board jumped into the city's illegal immigrant debate Tuesday night, officially chastising city officials for reporting 'undocumented students' to immigration and customs officials.

The approved resolution, sponsored by board President Kim-Shree Maufas and board member Jane Kim, calls on the elected officials to amend a city ordinance so that youth receive 'due process in juvenile court' before they are referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

'The Board of Education of the San Francisco Unified School District believes that reporting a student's immigration status to ICE may create a chilling effect on access to public education in the City and County of San Francisco, deterring some parents from sending their children to school for fear that their children may be prosecuted by ICE and deported.'

City officials have come under fire recently for reporting youth suspected of committing a crime to federal immigration authorities.

At the same time, the city has faced community outrage for shielding juvenile offenders from deportation, youths who later were accused of other crimes.

Last month Supervisor David Campos introduced legislation that would require police to wait until a juvenile is convicted before notifying immigration officials. While the bill appears to have a veto-proof majority, opponents of his legislation, said the changes would open the city up for legal challenges.

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8.
Law targets illegal residents
By Kelly Jackson
The Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN), September 23, 2009
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/sep/23/law-targets-illegal-residents/

Dalton, GA -- Residents applying for city business and alcohol sales licenses and a laundry list of other public benefits now must clear a federal screening process to prove they are in the country legally.

City Clerk Bernadette Chattam said applicants must have a notarized affidavit as proof of citizenship or an alien registration number.

City employees will check to make sure the numbers match the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

'SAVE has to be done for every public benefit, 'anytime somebody gets something from the government,' City Attorney Jim Bisson said.

Dalton leaders are complying with a new state law.

It's not new that governments in Georgia are required to use SAVE before distributing public benefits. The Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act of 2007, formerly Senate Bill 529, set up the requirement.

However, Rep. Edward Lindsey, R-Atlanta, said House Bill 2, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2010, 'put some teeth' into the bill.

'Basically, what we're trying to do is keep an eye on each of the local governments,' said Rep. Lindsey. 'This is primarily a reporting and information statute from the General Assembly.'

Amy Henderson, public information manager for the Georgia Municipal Association, said most local governments must have the SAVE program in place by the first of the year.

But Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, said the new law doesn't establish 'any real enforcement mechanism at the state level.'

'I think that we would be best served with a comprehensive immigration reform solution at the federal level rather than creating confusion at the local level about what to do and how to comply with these immigration laws,' he said.

He also said the new law could deter foreign business investors, which is 'not good for economic development.'

Sen. Don Thomas, R-Dalton, disagreed.

'If we're enforcing the laws and trying to make sure that people are legally here, I think that's what foreign investors would want,' he said.

Ms. Chattam said her department is starting to train on the SAVE program. The clerk's office sends out annual renewals for alcohol and occupational sales tax licenses, and this is the first year staffers are attaching the SAVE affidavit, she said.

Deputy City Clerk Luis V. Villavizar said they've mailed out renewals for alcohol sales licenses and, of the 97 that have been returned so far, about 25 percent will require verifying alien registration numbers for noncitizens through SAVE.

Ms. Chattam said her department will find out how much work is added when workers mail out about 1,900 occupational sales tax renewals in the next few weeks.

'That's when you're going to see how much trouble it is,' she said.

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9.
Census Boycott Splits Latinos
By Marcelo Ballvé
New America Media, September 23, 2009
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=902f0d8f4b79a80569beaa7a69404b38

Earlier this year, a prominent Latino religious leader proposed a boycott of the 2010 Census as a way for undocumented immigrants to bring their voices to bear on the immigration debate.

The boycott, pushed by the Rev. Miguel Ángel Rivera of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, now seems to be gaining momentum in some Latino communities, as well as a higher profile in the ethnic media.

In part that's because of mounting frustration with President Obama's failure to deliver an immigration reform plan this year, as he promised while campaigning for Latino votes last year.

In Los Angeles, well-known leftist activist Nativo Lopez of the Mexican American Political Association has thrown his support behind Rivera's boycott.

Speaking recently on the Univision TV network's widely-watched weekly show 'Al Punto,' Lopez said: 'We're calling for a boycott, asking for non-cooperation with the Census, until there's just and comprehensive immigration reform and legal status for everybody.'

The two other immigrant leaders invited to speak on that week's program, anchored by Univision's Jorge Ramos, disagreed sharply with the boycott plan.

'It's a well-intentioned strategy, but it's the wrong answer and it will have negative consequences,' said one of them, Jorge-Mario Cabrera of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

Likewise, other influential boycott critics like the Hispanic advocacy group National Council of La Raza and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, warned it will drain dollars, political representation and influence from Latino communities.

In a strange twist, Latino supporters of the boycott find themselves on the same side as right-wing immigration hard-liners, who also do not want undocumented immigrants included in the 2010 Census.

Right-wing commentators like columnist Michelle Malkin and CNN's Lou Dobbs, as well as Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., already are targeting the Census Bureau for counting undocumented immigrants.

The right-wing critics believe counting those who entered the country illegally unfairly inflates Latino political influence.

Mark Krikorian, head of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for more restrictive immigration laws, described Rev. Rivera's plan as 'a boycott I can get behind.'

Krikorian noted that the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, has sued twice, unsuccessfully, to have undocumented immigrants excluded from the Census. (The Southern Poverty Law Center has classified FAIR as a hate group.)

'I honestly don't understand the logic of it,' Krikorian wrote of the Census boycott in the National Review online, 'since the more illegal aliens who are counted, the more (illegitimate) representation hard-left elites receive ... since illegal aliens are included in the counts for apportionment. But whatever the thinking, we should hope for its great success.'

Despite the strange bedfellows, Rev. Rivera's boycott has begun to be the subject of buzz and passionate debate among Latino immigrants.

In Massachusetts, the Census boycott has caused a rift within the large and often-overlooked Brazilian immigrant community. Earlier this month, Fausto da Rocha, executive director of the Allston, Mass.-based Brazilian Immigrant Center, endorsed the boycott and had Rev. Rivera on his AM radio program.

On the call-in show, da Rocha surveyed his listeners on whether they would participate in the 2010 Census. Among undocumented immigrants, only six out of 106 callers said they would, according to reporting by Angela Schreiber in Comunidade News in Danbury, Conn. Among legal immigrants, only 20 out of 65 callers to the show said they would cooperate.

Like other newspaper editors and publishers, Breno da Mata of Comunidade News said he felt he had to report on the Census controversy once it became a topic of discussion in his community. 'We couldn't just close our eyes to it,' he said.

Many Brazilian immigrant leaders disagree with da Rocha's embrace of the boycott, just as many evangelical leaders split publicly with Rev. Rivera when he came out against the Census.

In the Boston area, five Brazilian newspapers issued a statement to counter da Rocha's position.

'We support the 2010 Census unconditionally because we believe it is the best and safest way to learn the real size of the Brazilian community,' said the statement published by the New England Ethnic News website and signed by A Noticia, A Semana, Brazilian Times, Metropolitan Brazilian News, and Jornal dos Sports USA.

Fausto da Rocha's critics believe most Brazilians will end up supporting the Census count. But they admit da Rocha's strong endorsement of the boycott will have its impact.

'People began to form their opinions on the Census once Fausto went on the radio,' acknowledged Paulo Monauer, editor and publisher of the Portuguese-language Jornal dos Sports USA paper in Massachusetts.

It's believed that as many as 300,000 Brazilians live in Massachusetts alone, and that as many as four-fifths of them may be undocumented.

Among Spanish-speaking Latinos in the Boston area, boycott support still seems limited, though press coverage has spread awareness, said Marcela García, editor of newspaper El Planeta.

However, she believed the boycott 'has a lot of potential to gain more momentum' since so many Latino immigrants feel increasingly 'fed-up and desperate' with the stalled immigration overhaul.

In Atlanta, the boycott still seems largely confined to certain Latino pastors and their loyal evangelical flocks, but the U.S. Census Bureau has been too timid in confronting Rev. Rivera, said Judith Martinez-Sadri, editor-in-chief of the Atlanta Latino newspaper.

'This gentleman has gotten ahead of them,' she said, adding that the Rev. Rivera was on an Atlanta-area religious radio program this month that received dozens of calls.

García, of El Planeta, agreed the Census Bureau should rise to the challenge. 'I would have expected them to come out with a more forceful reaction,' she said.

In fact, the task of arguing against the boycott has mostly been taken up by Latino leaders outside of government.

In New York City this summer for example, Rev. Rivera appeared on WABC-TV, in a televised debate with Angelo Falcón, a well-known Latino political analyst who argued the 'con' position against the boycott, to Rivera's 'pro.'

The boycott has surfaced again and again in recent ethnic media reporting on Census 2010.

In Philadelphia, for example, when the Al Día newspaper invited Census Bureau officials to an event, a reporter peppered Fernando Armstrong, regional director, with boycott questions.

'It's a distraction' that could be harmful, admitted Armstrong.

He warned that hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding are channeled annually based on Census figures. He added that Latinos, as the country's fastest-growing demographic group, stand to gain access to greater political clout and dollars with a proper count.

Major Spanish-language television broadcasters such as Univision, Telemundo and Azteca America are vocal Census 2010 supporters. Telemundo for example, launched a national initiative: '¡Hazte Contar!' or 'Be Counted!' to increase awareness and participation.

Similarly, Azteca America is promoting a 'Yo Cuento' or 'I Count' campaign in the Bay Area.

But aside from covering the boycott as a news story, the networks are against the boycott.

'We support that the people be counted,' said Helder Rodriguez, operations manager at Azteca America in San Francisco. As for the boycott, 'we only see it as news, we're not promoting it.'

For his part, Rev. Rivera, whose organization claims 20,000 associated churches in 34 states, believes Hispanic media has not yet given the Census boycott its due share of airtime.

'They haven't opened the door to any type of debate,' he said. 'It's not that they have to support our position, but at least give us fair coverage.'

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10.
Salvadorans Seek a Voice To Match Their Numbers;
Summit Aims to Raise Political Visibility
By N.C. Aizenman
The Washington Post, September 24, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/23/AR2009092304494.html

For nearly three decades Salvadoran immigrants have been among the nation's most organized newcomers, founding clubs to raise money for schools back home, establishing medical clinics for new arrivals and battling in Congress and courts to gain legal status for tens of thousands of political dissidents who fled persecution by the U.S.-backed government during El Salvador's civil war in the 1980s.

Yet, even as Salvadoran immigrants and Americans of Salvadoran descent have grown to number 1.6 million -- essentially tying them with Cubans as the nation's third largest Latino group -- they have mostly shied from direct participation in U.S. politics.

About 150 of the community's most prominent leaders from across the country gathered in Washington to change that Wednesday.

'This conference is about stepping it up to another level of visibility, performance and power,' said Maryland Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez (D-Montgomery), a co-organizer of the First Salvadoran American Leadership Summit.

'When we first came to the United States, it was just about survival, so that's what our organizations focused on,' Salvadoran-born Gutierrez said. 'Now we have a community that has evolved, but I think we're kind of stuck in that service model. . . . We have to either create new political institutions, or we have to expand those current organizations so they also play a political role.'

Conference participants plan to lobby more than 80 members of Congress on Thursday in support of efforts to offer illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. Wednesday's meeting included strategy sessions on how to influence the immigration debate and ensuring that Salvadoran Americans are fully counted in the 2010 Census.

But participants stressed that the larger purpose was simply to overcome their geographic dispersal, personality differences and longstanding ideological divisions stemming from El Salvador's civil war to convene as a group for the first time.

'We're not here to look for unity, because unity is a romantic dream that is hard to reach,' said Salvador Sanabria of Salvadorans in the World, one of the four largest organizations. 'We're here to come to this round table without hierarchy to find a consensus about the actions we can take to help our community.'

Among the clearest points of agreement was that Salvadoran Americans should insist that any legalization plan adopted by Congress allow about 200,000 Salvadoran illegal immigrants who were granted temporary legal status in the wake of a 2001 earthquake to be the first in line to become permanent legal residents.

Indeed, several participants pointed to the unusual interests of those Salvadorans as an example of why they need to organize as a separate, national Salvadoran American movement.

'We have a separate identity even as we're part of the larger Latino community,' said Jose Artiga of the SHARE foundation, which promotes development in El Salvador.

For all the event's optimism, there are some daunting obstacles to transforming the numerical strength of Salvadoran Americans into political clout. According to an analysis of Census data by the Pew Hispanic Center, 47 percent of U.S. residents of Salvadoran descent are not citizens. And 26 percent more are citizens but are still children, leaving only 27 percent who are currently eligible to vote. And it was perhaps telling that much of the discussion at the conference was in Spanish.

Still, many took heart in the political success of Salvadoran Americans in the Washington region. While far more Salvadorans live in California, their influence there is often overshadowed by that state's much larger Mexican American population.

By contrast, its 134,000 Salvadoran immigrants comprise the Washington region's largest foreign-born group. The figure is greater if their U.S.-born children are included.

That might explain why the nation's four highest Salvadoran American elected officials are from Washington. In addition to Gutierrez, they are Arlington County Board Chairman J. Walter Tejada (D), the summit's other co-organizer; Maryland Del. Victor R. Ramirez (D-Prince George's); and Prince George's County Council member William A. Campos (D-Hyattsville), who were also in attendance.

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Religious leaders call for humane treatment of immigrants
By Diane Smith
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX), September 24, 2009
http://www.star-telegram.com/local/story/1632768.html

A network of religious-based groups is advocating for an overhaul of the immigration system and using prayer vigils, pilgrimages and church potlucks to build empathy for the undocumented.

'These are strangers we need to embrace,' said the Rev. Dean Reed, pastor of First United Methodist Church of Stephenville, whose efforts are detailed in a new report by the Center for American Progress.

Loving Thy Neighbor: Immigration Reform and Communities of Faith was rolled out this week and describes how faith-based groups across the nation are working for the rights of immigrant workers and their families from a theological foundation.

Immigration raids, anti-immigrant laws and deportations prompted faith-based grassroots movements in communities in Texas, Iowa, Washington, New York and New Jersey. Faith leaders said they also want to counter the harsh tone that sets in whenever any public discussion centers on people who are living and working in this country illegally. 'We are advocating that immigrants be treated humanely,' said the Rev. Mike Blevins, pastor of Calmar United Methodist Church in Iowa, where raids at a meatpacking plant disrupted the community.

The pastors discussed their work Wednesday during a teleconference organized with the Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank headed by John Podesta, former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton.

Participants said comprehensive immigration reform needs to include a path to citizenship, family reunification and permission to work in jobs that are difficult to fill. They also stressed the need to reform detention policies and deportation processes. The push for change includes Methodist, Catholic and Jewish advocates.

Angela Kelley, vice president of immigration policy and advocacy at the center, said immigration reform must also include a solid employment verification system that isn’t prone to errors and can handle changes in data.

Kelley, who moderated the conference, said the groups are hoping immigration reform legislation will be introduced early next year. She said a planned congressional committee hearing on the faith-based immigration movement holds promise.

Gloria Gonzalez, a Fort Worth resident whose husband was deported last December, wants immigration reform so she can reunite her family, but she feels hopeless.

'We have no voice,' Gonzalez said. 'We have no resources. There s no help.'

Reed and Lori Stafford, a member of United Methodist Women (a group that fights for social justice), are trying to make a difference through the Welcoming Immigrants Network. The group aims to move comprehensive immigration reform from debate to a congressional vote. They worry that too many families are torn apart by deportation.

The network, also known as WIN, started a Facebook page and has held a series of events to promote education and empathy. In August, the group organized 'Breaking Bread and Barriers,' an event in which immigration supporters shared ideas and a meal. They also held a prayer vigil. Another prayer vigil is planned for Sunday at the Polytechnic United Methodist Church in Fort Worth. That event will also include testimony from immigrants.

WIN organizers said they believe they make ground by telling the immigrant story to everyone to move beyond rhetoric to toward solutions.

'We need to remove the fear and hate,' Stafford said. 'We do that through education.'

Vigil for immigration overhaul Faith leaders hold 'An Evening of Compassion' event to bring attention to immigration reform.

What: Prayer vigil, documentary screening of Made in LA, (about three immigrants who work in the garment industry) and testimonies from immigrant families.

When: Sunday, 7 to 9 p.m.

Where: Polytechnic United Methodist Church, 1310 S. Collard St., Fort Worth (The event will be held in the Polytechnic UMC Fellowship Hall. Enter through the Collard Street side.)

For more information, go to Facebook and search for Welcoming Immigrants Network, or WIN. WIN is a grassroots movement to champion immigration reform from a theological viewpoint. To view the report, Loving Thy Neighbor: Immigration Reform and Communities of Faith, visit www.americanprogress.org .

We need to remove the fear and hate. We do that through education.' Lori Stafford, United Methodist Women

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12.
Handbook aims to help Spanish-speaking abuse victims
By Tanya Drobness
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), September 23, 2009
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/nj_domestic_violence_victims_r.html

Spanish-speaking victims of domestic violence don't need a translator to tell them they've been hurt. But they often need one to tell them they have legal rights.

So when the Rachel Coalition, a Florham Park-based program working with victims of domestic abuse in Morris and Essex counties, prepared earlier this year to release its annual handbook explaining victims' rights in New Jersey, they decided to create one in Spanish.

'Victims need to get a real understanding of their rights, and in their own language it will make more sense and be more understandable,' said Lesley Frost, chair of a reception that will be held at noon today launching the publication of the 43-page Spanish handbook, 'Surviving Domestic Violence: Your Legal Rights.'

The reception will take place in the Essex County Hall of Records in Newark and is being held by the coalition, Montclair-based Partners for Women and Justice, the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. and the Morris County freeholders. Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow is expected to speak at the event, which is free and open to the public.

'Publishing the book in Spanish will help another large segment of the population navigate through our legal system, learn their rights and empower them to take back their lives,' DiVincenzo said.

The handbook was initially published about five years ago as a way to break down some of the complicated legal jargon of state statutes.

'It isn't always the most understandable to the general public. We needed to explain the law, but still be accurate,' said Frost, adding that the handbook includes various resources, including women's shelters and family courts and is typically given to victims, counselors, police, lawyers, courts, clergy members and social service agencies.

The Spanish edition, as well as the second English edition, was funded by the IOLTA Fund of the Bar of New Jersey, Frost said. About 4,000 copies of the handbook are available in Spanish, with another 4,000 copies available in English.

'There has been a need for a while. The number of Spanish-speaking domestic violence victims has always been high,' said Suzanne Groisser, the coalition's coordinator of legal services.

Some domestic violence victims seeking help at the coalition are illegal immigrants, Groisser said. However, many are 'vulnerable,' and eschew the coalition and other resources because they are threatened by deportation, Groisser said.

Illegal immigrants are protected by prevention of domestic violence laws, she said. 'They need to know that because they are often told they are not,' Groisser said. 'Nobody, no matter what their legal status, should be abused.'

Between April and July, the coalition's volunteers helped 425 people involved in domestic abuse cases prepare for family court, and of those, about half were Spanish speakers, Frost said.

The need is so great that the coalition has a bilingual court advocate services administrator, Natalia Martinez, to run its court advocates program. In April and June, Martinez alone helped 266 Latinos, she said.

'The handbook is necessary for all of those survivors (and) victims of domestic violence that may not be serviced by someone like me or may not have any other resources available,' Martinez said.

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13.
Illegal immigrants allowed in N.C. colleges, protestors object
By Laura Smith
The Pendulum (Elon University, NC), September 22, 2009
http://www.elon.edu/pendulum/Story.aspx?id=2571

Last Thursday, about 50 protestors met in downtown Raleigh, N.C. to demonstrate against the North Carolina Community College System’s newest approved policy, which will allow the entrance of illegal immigrants into North Carolina community colleges. Photo by Heather Cassano

On Sept. 17, about 50 concerned North Carolinians waved flags, held up signs and made their voices heard in a protest in downtown Raleigh against the acceptance of illegal immigrants into N.C. community colleges.

'This isn't a great solution for America,' said Frank Roche, who is running for Congress in the fourth district of North Carolina. 'It's an incentive for more illegal immigrants to come.'
The State Board of Community Colleges approved the decision that day with only one member to vote against the matter, according to a press release from the North Carolina Community College System.

'This policy reflects the admissions standards of other states and of the public universities by offering educational opportunities to those who are willing to work hard to obtain it,' said R. Scott Ralls, president of the NCCCS.

Since May 2008, there has been a no-admissions policy for illegal immigrants. Now, with the new policy, illegal immigrants can enroll in any of the 58 community colleges in North Carolina if they have graduated from a U.S. high school.

According to an outside consultant's report, community colleges had 111 illegal immigrants enrolled in the 2007-2008 school year.

Ron Woodard, a Cary resident and the president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, was at the protest to show his dissaproval of the decision. He also spoke at Elon University several years ago at an immigration debate.

'I'm confused about why, with the 11 percent unemployment rate, we're helping immigrants get education,' Woodard said. 'We're taking it away from North Carolinians.'

He said he is also concerned about how changing the current law will look on behalf of the state.

'We're sending out the message that the rule of law doesn't matter,' Woodard said.

With the new policy, illegal immigrants will have to pay the out-of-state tuition rate of $7,700 per year and cannot apply for financial aid. They also may not displace a North Carolina or U.S. resident from a class or program.

For some, the decision is one of great benefit to the state.

'This is not a policy the Board came to lightly or without contemplation and study, but with Thursday's vote, North Carolina is a step closer to having a consistent admissions policy for undocumented immigrants among its public higher education institutions,' said Hilda Pinniz-Ragland, Board chair. 'Once the administrative rules process is completed, our community colleges will be able to cease the back-and-forth of the last eight years, and these students, who are striving for a better future, will have access to a seamless educational pathway from K-12 and beyond.'

For those who protested the decision, the matter was one of great concern and, despite the rain last Thursday, the picketers stood their ground on the issue.

Pam Patterson of Raleigh came with her family to argue against the new rule.

'I feel like we're going to pay a lot more for so-called benefits of having these illegals,' she said. 'It's about preserving this county. It's part of the reason we're going bankrupt. We have to give them benefits and educate their children.'

While Patterson respects the motives of illegal immigrants, she hasn't been able to bring herself to agree with the policy, she said.

'As good-hearted as you are, you can't let in everyone,' she said. 'A system that ignores the laws it passes has a very bad future. If people don't respect the law, we're in trouble.'
William Gheen of Raleigh organized the protest because the public was not allowed to voice its opinion, he said.

'Sixty to 80 percent of North Carolinians oppose what they're trying to do,' he said. 'We either had to organize something like this or walk away.'

The policy must go through the administrative rules process, which usually takes six to 12 months.

N.C. legislature will still have the opportunity to reject the rule or override it with its own law in May when it reconvenes. Until then, the current law of not allowing undocumented immigrants into community colleges will remain.

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14.
Quakers plan meeting on immigration
By James Goodman
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (NY), September 24, 2009
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090924/NEWS01/909240332/1002/NEWS/Farmington-Quakers-plan-meeting-on-immigration

The national debate over immigration reform seems to be on hold until lawmakers decide what changes will be made in health care.

But the Farmington Friends Meeting congregation wants to be part of the debate on the issue when it is expected to move forward next year. Ruth Kinsey, pastor of this Quaker congregation, hopes to help redirect the discussion in a more humane direction.

Kinsey was one of five religious leaders from across the nation who participated Wednesday in a telephone news conference organized by the Interfaith Immigration Coalition. In the conference call, Kinsey and the other participants told how religious groups were organizing around the immigration issue.

'We are all children of God. We all have human rights and need to treat each other as brothers and sisters,' Kinsey said after the news conference.

The national effort has included rallying for reform legislation, public protests and outreach to undocumented workers.

Kinsey said her group is working more on raising awareness about better treatment. The culmination of the year's work, she said, will be a public gathering Friday called Breaking Bread & Barriers: Faith Communities for Immigration Reform.

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15.
Students push for bill to help undocumented grads
By Anabelle Garay
The Associated Press, September 23, 2009
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D9ATAFP82.html

Dallas (AP) -- Students throughout Texas joined others nationwide by holding rallies, presentations and petition drives on Wednesday to support legislation that would allow high school graduates to either join the military or go on to higher education as a way to become legal immigrants.

Students, religious leaders, educators and immigrant advocates gathered inside Dallas City Hall at noon for a press conference before heading out to make Congressional visits. More than a dozen college students held signs spelling out: PASS the DREAM ACT NOW!

The event and others like it are part of Back-to-School DREAM Act Day efforts in which students and immigrant advocates call for lawmakers to approve the Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors. A previous version of it failed to pass in 2007.

'We want to make sure that's its echoing through the halls of Congress,' said Texas Tech student Ramiro Luna. 'We have been waiting for too long.'

The bipartisan bill was introduced in the Senate and House in March and tries to help those brought to the U.S. as children and educated here.

It would apply to students who graduate high school, have a good moral character, arrived in the U.S. before turning 16 and continuously lived in the country for at least five years.

Advocates estimate more than 1 million undocumented immigrant young people can't obtain a driver's license or work despite their educational achievements.

Some have grown up in mixed status families where some siblings are U.S. citizens and others aren't. Other students have family based immigration petitions pending and are waiting for backlogged immigrant visas to become available for their country of origin.

'These young people are not strangers ... they have played with our children,' said the Rev. Gerald Britt of Central Dallas Ministries. 'They only ask for the opportunity.'

Immigrant advocates also say Texas would be the state who could most benefit from the DREAM Act because it was the first in the country to let illegal immigrant students pay in-state tuition instead of the higher-priced international student costs. Many of those students have already earned degrees but cannot enter the work force without the bill's passage.

Legalizing them also would reduce the need and cost to recruit and bring in foreign professionals when bilingual and bicultural workers are needed, advocates said.

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Undocumented students hold rally at PBCC to support Dream Act: They want law to pass that makes it easier for them to enter, pay for college
By C. Ron Allen, Sun Sentinel
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), September 24, 2009
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-dream-act-day-p092309,0,7944997.story

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16.
Telenovela to feature 2010 census storyline
By Tina Irgang
Fox News, September 22, 2009
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/22/telenovela-feature-census-storyline/

Washington, DC -- The devil knows best _ and he's about to share his knowledge on the 2010 Census.

NBC's Spanish-language affiliate Telemundo will incorporate a storyline on the upcoming decennial census into its most popular telenovela, 'Mas Sabe El Diablo.'

The storyline is set to begin in about 10 days, and will last until the series' projected end in November. This marks the first time the census has ever been written into a telenovela, although these Spanish-language soap operas often deal with pertinent social and political issues, Telemundo President Don Browne said Tuesday at a news conference to announce the script addition.

The storyline's purpose is to tackle misunderstandings and educate viewers, Browne said, 'in a way that communicates the importance and the simplicity and the safety of the census, in their own words, with characters that they know and love.'

Robert Groves, director of the U.S. Census Bureau, said fears in the Latino community that census data might be used to identify illegal immigrants are groundless.

'The president could call me right now and demand your census data, and I wouldn't be able to give it to him,' he said.

Participating in the census can have long-term benefits for the Latino community, Groves said.

'A lot of movement of taxpayer money back to local communities that need support is based on the census,' he said. 'Over $400 billion a year is indexed to census counts.'

In the upcoming storyline, actress Michelle Vargas portrays Perla Beltran, who is hired as a worker for the 2010 census.

'The federal law protects the information that's shared during the census. And it's easy. You answer those questions in less than 10 minutes,' she said at the news conference.

Earlier this year, some Latino groups had called for a boycott of the census in protest of current immigration laws.

Telemundo's efforts are designed to counter those boycott calls and convey the benefits of the census, Browne said.

'We are going through incredibly fundamental demographic changes in our country,' he said. 'That's what the census is designed to manifest, so the more accurate it is, the better it manifests the true reality of who we are.'

Maryland has traditionally been home to a large immigrant population, including an estimated 300,000 Hispanics, according to the Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The state's Hispanic community was disturbed when, in April 2008, Frederick County began to participate in a program that allows local police to enforce federal immigration laws. Maryland's immigrant community criticized the move, fearing arrests based on racial profiling would be the result.

Gigi Guzman, chairwoman of the Maryland Hispanic Career Council, said the telenovela plan has the potential to educate viewers about the census using familiar characters and situations.

'If it helps to alleviate the community's misunderstandings and fears about the census, I think it's a really beneficial thing, and I applaud their efforts.'

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17.
'Papers' gives voice to illegal teenagers
By Gosia Wozniacka
The Oregonian (Portland), September 23, 2009
http://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/index.ssf/2009/09/documentary_on_undocumented_yo_1.html

'Papers,' the Portland-made documentary about undocumented youths as they become adults without legal status, premieres Saturday at the Hollywood Theater.

The idea for 'Papers,' produced by Graham Street Productions in partnership with Film Action Oregon, came when partners Anne Galisky and Rebecca Shine tutored students at a Portland high school. Many were undocumented Latinos struggling with what to do with their lives, Shine said.

The women recruited undocumented youths in the Portland area to produce all aspects of the film, from researching and filming to editing.

Youth producers identified five individuals, including two who live in Oregon, who wanted to go public with their story. The five --two Mexican, one Guatemalan, one Korean and one Jamaican youth --all came to the United States as babies or children.

'It's a story about overcoming challenges,' Shine said. The youths struggle with the possibility of being deported, dropping out of school, not being able to get into college or to use their college degree to find work.

Children account for 1.8 million, or 15 percent, of the undocumented immigrants in the United States. About 65,000 undocumented children who have lived in the United States for five years or longer will graduate from high school each year, according to the Urban Institute. By virtue of turning 18, they become deportable.

The film also features immigration experts, politicians and immigrant-rights advocates to provide context. It tackles racism and the history of immigrant labor.

In the end, 'Papers' hopes to stir debate about immigration reform and the proposed Dream Act, a law that would legalize undocumented students who go to college or join the military.

For the producers and the youths featured in the film, 'Papers' has been an empowering experience, Shine said, a way to become active and shed the depression they feel.

'They realized they have become leaders of a national movement,' Shine said.

'Papers' has generated attention nationwide. The producers received hundreds of letters from undocumented kids across the country. They have mentored at-risk students at Portland-area middle schools and conducted school workshops and presentations about immigration and discrimination issues.

Portland-area educators are working on a curriculum/discussion guide based on the film, which addresses issues of identity, belonging, immigration and exclusion. Producers also hope to publish a companion book of 35 stories by and about undocumented youth from across the United States.

The film will be screened nationally starting next month. Producers say they have interest from Congress for screenings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

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18.
Immigrants' fast path to citizenship: Enlist
By Víctor Manuel Ramos
The Orlando Sentinel (FL), September 24, 2009
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-immigrants-military-citizens-092409,0,7868065.story

Stephane Paul had not been to the U.S. when he started dreaming of being in the U.S. military. He was a wide-eyed child in Haiti when his father gave him some book covers depicting American soldiers in action.

'They had people in choppers, giving out food to other people, flying in and doing humanitarian work,' said Paul, 23. 'I always thought it was cool.'

Paul, who came to Orlando to live with his mother in 1999, took his first chance to enlist. Fresh out of Edgewater High School, he tried the Marines but later joined the Army, completing basic training last year. Pfc. Paul felt as if he were missing something, though: He was not a U.S. citizen.

Like Paul, more than 20,000 immigrants in the U.S. military are legal residents but don't have citizenship. And more are taking advantage of a streamlined process to become Americans.

Earlier this month, Paul was sworn in as a new citizen, wearing his dark-blue service uniform at an Orlando ceremony just weeks before he was to set off to Afghanistan on his first battle mission.

'It's a great feeling,' said Paul, now a Pine Hills resident. 'It's a very good thing to finally be part of this country.'

National immigration statistics show that the number of military immigrants becoming citizens is not only the highest since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars started in 2002 and 2003, but is at a level not reached since 1970. About 9,000 have become citizens this year.

As the country relies on more immigrants to help win its wars -- more than 100,000 are currently enlisted, making up about 8 percent of armed forces -- it is making an effort to grant them citizenship.

'It's us trying to reach them,' said Sharon Scheidhauer, spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Orlando. 'We set up a separate system: Their applications go to a separate place so they are handled very quickly, and they can get that honor.'

The armed forces are targeting immigrants as early as boot camp and are offering assistance in filling out citizenship paperwork. Congress also passed a law waiving the $675 application fees, and former President George W. Bush had already invoked a wartime law waiving waiting periods before applying for those enlisted.

It's simply good policy, said Margaret Stock, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve who is also an attorney specializing in military immigration issues.

Immigrants in uniform deserve the protection of U.S. citizenship, Stock said. Citizenship helps them obtain needed security clearances and petition for close relatives, and makes it easier to obtain benefits in the event of injury or death.

'It benefits the soldier to become a citizen. It makes clear their status and confirms their allegiance for the United States,' Stock said. 'They are fighting for the United States, and for policy reasons, it doesn't seem fair for them not to have citizenship.'

Army Sgt. Richard Taylor, 35, a Jamaican immigrant who lives in Hunter's Creek, said he is ready for his scheduled deployment to Iraq early next year.

Especially now that he is able to raise his hand as a new citizen and swear allegiance to the flag and to the republic for which it stands.

He has met 'a lot of immigrants' in his military units and said they are as proud as those born in the U.S.

'A lot of us,' Taylor said, 'just want to be part of this great country of ours.'

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19.
Immigrants Cling to Fragile Lifeline at Safety-Net Hospital
By Kevin Sack
The New York Times, September 24, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/health/policy/24grady.html?hp

Atlanta -- If Grady Memorial Hospital succeeds in closing its outpatient dialysis clinic, Tadesse A. Amdago, a 69-year-old immigrant from Ethiopia, said he would begin ''counting the days until I die.'' Rosa Lira, 78, a permanent resident from Mexico, said she also assumed she ''would just die.'' Another woman, a 32-year-old illegal immigrant from Honduras, said she could only hope to make it ''back to my country to die.''

The patients, who have relied for years on Grady's free provision of dialysis to people without means, said they had no other options to obtain the care that is essential to their survival. But the safety-net hospital, after years of failed efforts to drain its red ink, is not backing away from what its chairman, A. D. Correll, calls a ''gut-wrenching decision'': closing the clinic this month.

The sides confronted each other in state court on Wednesday morning as lawyers for the patients sought to keep the clinic open until other arrangements for dialysis could be secured. Dialysis patients and their families packed the benches and 60-year-old Nelson Tabares, a seriously ill illegal immigrant from Honduras, was wheeled into court in a portable bed.

Despite a judge's urging that the two sides negotiate a solution Wednesday, there was no agreement by the end of the day on how to go forward. For the time being, a restraining order keeping the clinic open stands. The judge is considering whether to extend it.

The dialysis unit on Grady's ninth floor might as well be ground zero for the national health care debate. It is there that many of the ills afflicting American health care intersect: the struggle of the uninsured, the strain of providing uncompensated care, the inadequacy of government support, and the dilemma posed by treating illegal immigrants.

Grady is one of many public hospitals that have been battered by the recession as the number of uninsured has mounted. New York City's public hospital system is eliminating 400 positions and closing some children's mental health programs, pharmacies and clinics. University Medical Center in Las Vegas has closed its mammography center and outpatient oncology clinic.

''It comes down to which service do you need to keep open,'' said Larry S. Gage, president of the National Association of Public Hospitals. ''You try your hardest to cut back on services that are going to be available elsewhere in the community.''

Public hospital officials are concerned that the health care legislation being negotiated in Washington could worsen their plight before making it better. Under bills traveling through both houses of Congress, as the number of uninsured declines there would be commensurate reductions in Medicaid subsidies to hospitals that provide large amounts of uncompensated care.

At Grady, about four in 10 patients are uninsured, and an additional 25 percent are insured by Medicaid, which reimburses at rates so low they often do not cover actual costs. As a result, the hospital lost $33.5 million last year, with the dialysis clinic accounting for about $2 million of that total, said Denise R. Williams, the hospital's executive vice president.

Nonetheless, as a taxpayer-supported hospital with the mission of serving the indigent, Grady is expected to take all comers in need of emergency care, like dialysis. Treatment there does not depend on a patient's insurance or immigration status.

The hospital has been encouraging some of the dialysis patients to move to other states or back to their home countries, offering to defray some costs.

Hospital officials estimate that two-thirds of the outpatient clinic's roughly 90 patients are illegal immigrants. They do not qualify for Medicare, which covers dialysis regardless of a patient's age, and they are excluded in Georgia from Medicaid and other government insurance programs. Legal immigrants face a five-year waiting period before becoming eligible. That leaves Grady to absorb costs of up to $50,000 a year per dialysis patient, some of whom have availed themselves of the thrice-weekly treatments for years.

After years of fiscal desperation and management turmoil at Grady, Atlanta business leaders stepped in last year to force a restructuring, from a quasi-governmental authority to a nonprofit corporate board. In response, the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation pledged $200 million over four years to replace dilapidated beds and modernize computers. A $20 million gift from Bernie Marcus, a founder of Home Depot, is helping to update the emergency department, which provides regional trauma services.

But the hospital's operating deficits have continued. Grady's senior vice president, Matt Gove, estimated that its uncompensated care would grow by $50 million this year, up 25 percent. The new nonprofit board eliminated 150 jobs this year, closed an underused primary care clinic and began charging higher fees to patients who live outside of the two counties that support Grady with direct appropriations.

The closing of the outpatient dialysis clinic was recommended by consultants in 2007, who said that equipment was outmoded, that most hospitals did not provide outpatient dialysis and that Atlanta had scores of commercial dialysis centers. When the hospital's chief executive at the time tried to shut it down, the resulting firestorm helped prompt his dismissal.

This July, the new board voted to try again. The hospital gave patients a month's notice of the scheduled Sept. 19 closing, and vowed to assist them in finding local dialysis providers, relocating elsewhere and qualifying for public insurance. ''We committed that not a single person would be left behind,'' Mr. Correll wrote in a newspaper advertisement published on Sunday.

About a third of the patients have been successfully moved, including several illegal immigrants who returned to Mexico with the hospital's financial help, Mr. Gove said. But others have said they have no place to go, have no means to pay for dialysis or are too ill to travel.

The female illegal immigrant from Honduras, who has a 7-year-old son, said her parents live more than a four-hour drive from the nearest dialysis center, in Tegucigalpa. She is mindful that her sister died from a stroke while being driven to a hospital there. She said she had no money to pay for dialysis because she was too weary from her kidney condition to hold down a job.

''I feel like they are trying to get rid of me because I don't work,'' she said, her eyes tearing. ''But being sick is not my fault.''

Samuel Tabares, who rolled his father into court in his bed, said his father, who was paralyzed by a stroke, would probably not survive the strain of relocation or repeated trips to the emergency room in search of treatment.

''They're treating the closing of this clinic like it's the closing of a dental clinic,'' Mr. Tabares said, ''as if people's lives don't depend on it.''

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Atlanta Hospital's Plan to Shut Clinic Sparks Suit - WSJ.com
By Mike Esterl
The Wall Street Journal, September 24, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125379759000037539.html

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20.
Special visas help abused illegal immigrants
By Juliana Barbassa
The Associated Press, September 23, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ig8KDqaKKgNAVu3iLxlCxdEChEjgD9AT6UQG0

Oakland, CA (AP) -- For years, Laura Teresa Leon Sanchez says, she was beaten, raped and robbed by her boyfriend. If she tried to leave, he threatened to have her deported.

'I was a ghost. I was nothing,' said the Mexico City native who was living in the United States illegally. 'He would say, 'I'll call immigration, and just like this, you'll be gone.''

Sanchez eventually got help from authorities — along with a special visa offered by the government to encourage illegal immigrants to report violent crime.

Created in 2000, the 'U' visa program was on hold until rules for its implementation were adopted in 2007. Now the government is approving thousands of requests.

Records from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service show that 4,400 visas were issued this fiscal year — up from just 52 last year.

The effort is consistent with the new priorities of federal immigration agencies under the Obama administration.

'It's certainly a sea change,' said Mary Giovagnoli, director of the Immigration Policy Center in Washington. 'The sensitivity toward people who through no fault of their own are in dire straights is enhanced now.'

About 13,000 applications are still pending. Half of those are awaiting more information from the applicant, and half are in a backlog that immigration officials are pushing to resolve.

Some immigrants never apply because they fear police or worry that they might end up in deportation proceedings.

'There's nothing worse than knowing someone is exposed to violence, and to hear them say they don't want to live with that violence, but they're too afraid to speak out,' said Nancy O'Malley, district attorney for Alameda County, which includes much of San Francisco Bay.

'We've seen too many immigrant women who have either acquiesced or stayed silence because they're afraid to go to the government because of their status.'

In January, the immigration agency's ombudsman expressed concern about processing delays. In response, the agency added staff, reorganized the work and picked up the pace.

Immigration officials have also reached out to law enforcement, attorneys and advocates to spread the word about the program.

'This is a vulnerable population,' said Chris Rhatigan, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Services. 'And if they're eligible for this protection, and they've worked with law enforcement, we're doing everything that we can to make sure they get this protection.'

Immigrants benefiting from the program include hundreds of women alleging rape, female genital mutilation and sex trafficking. But government records show the overwhelming majority — upward of 4,000 cases — are domestic violence victims.

Before a U visa is approved, police, prosecutors or a judge must certify that the applicant has cooperated in arresting or prosecuting the alleged attacker. Immigrants may do so without fearing deportation.

'It's a good thing for the community and a good thing for the police. 'We're all on the same side,' said Oakland police Lt. Kevin Wiley, commander of special victims unit. He has certified 171 visa applications since November 2007.

But immigration advocates say law enforcement agencies across the country have wide-ranging standards for what constitutes cooperation, meaning the process is easier for some immigrants than others.

'It's very frustrating, the inequity of it,' said Kimberly Baker Medina, an immigration attorney in Fort Collins, Colo., who says she has struggled to get applications certified by law enforcement.

A woman alleging domestic abuse 35 miles outside Orlando, Fla., illustrates why some immigrants might hesitate to contact authorities.

Sonia Enriquez Perdomo called Tavares, Fla., police to report her boyfriend had tried to choke her. But it was Perdomo's undocumented sister, not her abusive boyfriend, who was detained.

According to court papers, when police checked the identification of everyone in the house, they learned the victim's sister, Rita Cote, had been brought across the border illegally by her family when she was 15.

Tavares Police Capt. Danny Feleccia said officers followed standard procedure by checking identification and used their own judgment in concluding that the domestic abuse complaint was unreliable.

'The officers did what they were supposed to do,' Feleccia said.

The American Civil Liberties Union won Cote's conditional release, and a temporary stay of deportation.

Back in Oakland, fear of deportation kept Sanchez from calling police on her abusive boyfriend until November 2007, when she stumbled out of her house, beaten and barely able to walk.

She came upon police officers and told them everything: The man she met at church four years earlier had hit her with a belt, kicked her and dragged her by the hair. She was bleeding internally.

Her boyfriend was arrested. She took out a restraining order, but he came back to harass her. She continued to work with police.

Her visa now in hand, she is rebuilding her life by cleaning houses and paying for the education of her high-school and college-aged daughters in Mexico City.

The attorney who handled Sanchez' case said getting the visa transforms her clients.

'They go from being hopeless, marginalized, isolated, defeated, to being on the road up, with all the resources that you need,' said Susan Bowyer, managing attorney at the International Institute of the East Bay, a nonprofit organization that has submitted more than 500 applications, and gotten 190 approved so far.

Still, the number of visas granted remains several thousand below the 10,000 allowed per year under the law. Immigrant advocates say the program is still plagued by delays — and thousands of victims are waiting.

Applicants can wait more than a year to hear if they will get a visa, said Julie Dinnerstein, a New York-based immigration attorney who has had 153 cases pending for more than a year.

In the meantime, many applicants find themselves isolated and unable to work.

In Raleigh, N.C., Bertille Boutamba is having a hard time supporting herself and her two American-born children since leaving her abusive husband.

Boutamba, 35, is originally from the west African nation of Gabon. She spoke repeatedly to police and prosecutors, and she's been waiting for her visa request since July 2008. The struggle to provide for her family leaves her dependent on friends from church.

'I feel ashamed each time I'm sitting at the church,' Boutamba said through tears. 'I can't even look people in the face because of my situation.'

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21.
Man gets 2 life terms, 170 years in 2 killings
Judge asks why immigrant was not deported
By Julie Bykowicz
The Baltimore Sun (MD), September 23, 2009
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-md.sentence23sep23,0,5992895.story

A Baltimore man convicted of killing two men was sentenced this week to two terms of life plus 170 years in prison by a judge who questioned why he was allowed to stay in this country after previous convictions.

Bagada Dionas, 23, and his father legally immigrated to the U.S. in the 1990s as refugees from Liberia, Baltimore prosecutor Rita Wisthoff-Ito said in court Monday. But in his teen years, the younger Dionas amassed a juvenile record that included armed robberies, drug dealing and car theft, according to court records. In May 2005, Dionas pleaded guilty to armed robbery as an adult. He served less than three years in prison, including jail time before the conviction.

As Baltimore Circuit Judge John C. Themelis sentenced Dionas in the July 2007 shooting deaths of Maurice White and Wayne White, he asked why Dionas was not 'deported then and there' after the 2005 robbery conviction.

Wisthoff-Ito said the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services 'dropped the ball' and that, had Dionas been deported, 'this murder never would have happened.'

Conviction of a crime is grounds for deportation, as judges remind defendants each time they plead guilty in court. But Maryland prison officials have never routinely checked the immigration status of inmates, saying that it would overburden an already taxed staff.

Some state lawmakers assailed that policy last year during a debate over whether to continue issuing Maryland licenses to undocumented drivers. Under a state law passed this year, new drivers must present documentation of their lawful presence in the United States.

A prison spokesman said that the department recently began cracking down on inmates eligible for deportation.

In January, the state agency signed an agreement with federal immigration officials to check the citizenship status of inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes, meaning Dionas would not have been subject to it even if it had been in place at the time of his release in early 2007.

When an eligible inmate has served one-quarter of his sentence, prison officials conduct a file review to determine whether that person might be subject to deportation. Names are forwarded to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which can begin immediate deportation.

Mark Vernarelli, a prisons spokesman, could not say whether anyone has been deported under this new agreement.

Prison officials chose not to include violent criminals, he said, 'because we did not want to create the impression that violent criminals would somehow be 'rewarded' with parole - even if it meant deportation.'

At the sentencing hearing for Dionas, a recording of which was reviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Wisthoff-Ito said she was raising the immigration history to show 'how many times this defendant has been given a big break in life.'

Dionas been out of prison for just a few weeks when Maurice White, 22, and Wayne White, 24, were gunned down in the parking lot of a Northeast Baltimore apartment complex. Prosecutors said the Whites were brothers.

Prosecutors said Dionas, firing an assault rifle, and a younger man, Charlie Stevenson, firing a semiautomatic handgun, ambushed the White brothers. Wayne White's girlfriend and 8-month-old son, who were in a car at the scene, were uninjured by the hail of bullets, prosecutors said.

Stevenson, who has not stood trial, is scheduled for a competency hearing next month.

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22.
Owner of Corning restaurant pleads guilty to immigration charges
By Jason Whong
The Star-Gazette (Elmira, NY), September 23, 2009
http://www.stargazette.com/article/20090923/NEWS01/909230362/1117/Owner+of+Corning+restaurant+pleads+guilty+to+immigration+charges

The owner of an Indian restaurant in Corning pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to a felony immigration law violation.

Makhan Singh, also known as Mandeep Singh, 47, of Rochester, pleaded guilty before District Judge Charles Siragusa to a charge of inducing illegal aliens to remain in the United States.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany H. Lee, who handled the case, said Singh owned restaurants named Thali of India throughout western New York, including one in Corning, between December 2006 and December 2007.

Lee said Singh admitted in the plea to inducing around nine illegal immigrants to work for him in restaurants and live in spaces he provided during that time.

She said Singh also admitted to knowing that the workers did not have United States residency status and knowing their continued residence was illegal.

A document filed in April 2007 at the Steuben County Clerk's office lists the owner of the restaurant at 28 E. Market St. in Corning as AJ Brothers Food Inc. of Rochester.

Its chairman or chief executive officer is listed in state records as Jagdish Kaur, of the Market Street address. Kaur is Singh's wife, according to Sarbjit Kaur, 45, a manager at the restaurant. They are not relatives, she said.

Singh and Kaur are common last names in the Punjab region of India.

Another Thali of India restaurant operates in Henrietta, outside Rochester.

Sarbjit Kaur said the two restaurants operate independently of each other, though they have similar menus.

She said her family has been running the Market Street restaurant since March 2008, which is after the period mentioned in the charge.

Sarbjit Kaur said Singh still owns the restaurant, and she plans to buy it from him. She said she is working on getting a liquor license before buying the restaurant.

She also said all the workers there are legal.

The charge, filed July 14 in district court, came after an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents.

Singh faces up to five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.

Sentencing is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. Dec. 23 in U.S. District Court in Rochester.

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Restaurateur pleads guilty to hiring, housing illegal immigrants
By Victoria E. Freile
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (NY), September 23, 2009
http://rocnow.com/article/local-news/200990923021

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23.
Grandmother gets 44 months in green-card scam
By Anabelle Garay
The Associated Press, September 24, 2009

Dallas (AP) -- A grandmother who admitted to running a scheme in which her family members married scores of foreigners seeking to stay in the United States was sentenced Wednesday to nearly four years in prison.

Maria Refugia Camarillo, 72, her graying hair pulled back in a ponytail, used a walker during her court appearance and sat calmly as she was sentenced to 44 months in federal prison.
. . .
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ix-uIVajUpnHDf6iQVt7oObE_6PwD9AT9CMG1

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24.
4 Chinese immigrants detained in AZ
The Associated Press, September 23, 2009

Phoenix (AP) -- Authorities say a traffic stop in a Phoenix suburb has led to the detention of four Chinese citizens suspected of entering the country illegally.
. . .
http://www.kswt.com/Global/story.asp?S=11186842

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25.
Willows pot defendant now in federal custody
By Greg Welter
The Chico Enterprise-Record (CA), September 23, 2009

Willows, CA -- A man sentenced to probation earlier this month on marijuana possession charges, then ordered held by immigration authorities when it was learned he was in the U.S. illegally, is now in federal custody.
. . .
http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_13399295

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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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