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Daily news updates from CIS
October 19, 2009 -- Click here for overseas news
Support the Center for Immigration Studies by donating on line here: http://cis.org/donate
ATTN Federal employees: The Center's Combined Federal Campaign number is 10298.
[For CISNEWS subscribers --
1. DHS brokers new 287(g) agreements with localities (story, 11 links)
2. Census bill divides pols, stirs controversy (story, link)
3. Farm labor bill grants amnesty to illegal laborers (story, link)
4. Sen. McCain takes interest in AZ county's enforcement program
5. Pew study claims Mexicans staying put despite economy
6. OH to cancel registrations of illegals’ vehicles
7. DE cracking down on license standards
8. TN health officials urge vaccination for illegals
9. ME Atty. Gen. clears cops of wrongfully shooting foreigner
10. CA GOP appeals to Latinos over water issues
11. IA gubernatorial hopeful advocates enforcement
12. Issue surfaces amongst NJ legislature hopefuls
13. AZ county sheriff defies feds with sweep (story, 10 links)
14. Bloomberg loses Spanish language paper's endorsement
15. Face of New Orleans changing as Hispanics flock to rebuild
16. CA city mulls tapping foreign investor program
17. AR university chancellor advocates for illegals
18. Chicago schools host flood of Arab students
19. CA schools debate use of Chinese characters
20. Activist clergy invoke God's 'will' for amnesty (2 stories)
21. TN activists protest 287(g) programs
22. UT veterans angered by verification standards
23. MA advocates to tackle domestic violence
24. MA forum to tackle 'cultural extinction'
25. Activists blast illegal ‘alien’ Halloween costume
26. Illegals facing increasing threat of kidnapping
27. Illegal leaves Chicago church sanctuary
28. MN Neo-Nazis arrested during immigration protest
29. Illegal accused of manufacturing fake IDs (link)
30. Detained father of U.S. Marine released (link)
Subscribe to CIS e-mail services here: http://cis.org/immigrationnews.html
-- Mark Krikorian]
1.
Law agencies make new pact on illegal deportation
By Audrey Hudson
The Washington Times, October 17, 2009
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/17/law-agencies-make-new-pact-on-illegals-sheriff-sti/
Department of Homeland Security officials have signed new agreements authorizing nearly 70 state and local law enforcement agencies, including a contentious Arizona sheriff, to help arrest and deport illegal immigrants charged with violent or criminal acts.
Under the new agreements, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., who has come under fire for his immigration sweeps, will continue to work with federal authorities when illegal immigrants are booked into his jail. But Sheriff Arpaio's office will not be given the power to arrest such people, as it previously had, federal officials said.
As the new agreements were announced, Sheriff Arpaio launched a crime and immigration sweep Friday in northwestern metro Phoenix, according to the Associated Press.
The sheriff told the AP that he can still arrest immigrants under a state smuggling law and a federal law that gives all local police agencies more limited power to detain suspected illegal immigrants.
'It doesn't bother me, because we are going to do the same thing,' Sheriff Arpaio said. 'I am the elected sheriff. I don't take orders from the federal government.'
As the deadline passed Friday for agencies to participate in the so-called 287(g) program, 55 agreements had been signed, and more than a dozen others were awaiting approval or were still in negotiations, including participation by 11 new departments.
At least six departments have withdrawn from the program, citing reasons including budgetary constraints, said John Morton, assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Critics complained that, under the old agreement, immigrants were arrested on misdemeanor charges that were never prosecuted. Instead, they were deported. The program was suspended by the Obama administration.
The new agreement allows for 'greater accountability and transparency,' including regular audits and closer federal inspection, said Mr. Morton.
No agencies in the District or Maryland are participating. But in Virginia, the Prince William County Sheriff's Office and Police Department, and Prince William-Manassas Adult Detention Center have renewed their agreements. So have the Manassas Police Department, Manassas Park Police Department, Rockingham County Sheriff's Office and Shenandoah County Sheriff's Office.
The program, which began in 1996, expedites the deportation of criminal aliens by identifying those already in jail to be deported after time served, and by training and enlisting local police officers to arrest those who pose a threat to local communities.
The new agreements are intended to curb reported abuses in the program: Illegal immigrants purportedly were arrested for minor offenses, and there were allegations of profiling.
Sheriff Arpaio's office will continue to conduct raids as part of a 'crime suppression operation,' said Deputy Doug Matteson.
'The sheriff has vowed to continue his enforcement of all aspects of immigration laws and says that the federal government's move to strip deputies of their ICE status will not change anything,' Deputy Matteson said.
Sheriff Arpaio still has the authority to arrest illegal immigrants under state laws, Mr. Morton said. No details were released about Friday's' crackdown.
Asked whether ICE will take custody of any illegal immigrants possibly arrested Friday by the sheriff's office, Mr. Morton said, 'We are going to respond to Maricopa County the way we would respond to any law enforcement agency in Arizona.'
He added, however, that Sheriff Arpaio's raids were 'not consistent' with the agency's priorities, which is to target violent criminals who are in the country illegally.
'If they give us a call, we will come and respond on the merits of it, case by case,' Mr. Morton said.
Frank Sharry, executive director of the immigration reform group Americas Voice, said the sheriff has used outrageous tactics to terrorize Hispanic neighborhoods, and that has resulted in 3,500 lawsuits and a Justice Department civil rights investigation.
'Arpaio should be stopped, not re-signed,' Mr. Sharry said.
Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a pro-immigrant advocacy group, criticized the program as 'misguided and ineffective.'
'Succumbing to the siren call of an enforcement-only approach will not solve the immigration problem once and for all,' Mr. Noorani said.
However, the Center for Immigration Studies is set to release a report on the 287(g) program, which it says has reduced immigration-related public safety problems and assists the federal government in removing illegal immigrants.
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County Agrees To Rules on Immigration Enforcement
By Jennifer Buske
The Washington Post, October 18, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/16/AR2009101603798.html
Md. reaction to immigration proposal foreshadows national debate
By Tina Irgang
The Capital News Service, October 18, 2009
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/gov/2009/10/18-02/Md-reaction-to-immigration-proposal-foreshadows-national-debate.html
U.S. Alters Disputed Immigration Rules for Police
By Randal C. Archibold
The New York Times, October 17, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/us/17immig.html?_r=1
Feds sign up locals to help enforce immigration
By Suzanne Gamboa
The Associated Press, October 17, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hP40tXGOw_nqDZvXSle5kYpHLTlQD9BCE5HO0
Troopers renew deal with feds on immigration
By Erin Stock
The Birmingham News (AL), October 17, 2009
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/local.ssf?/base/news/1255770958224160.xml&coll=1
HPD won't screen for immigration
City pulls out of controversial ICE program
By Susan Carroll
The Houston Chronicle, October 17, 2009
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/immigration/6671859.html
ICE-local immigration partnership to remain
By Anna Gorman
The Los Angeles Times, October 17, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immig-law17-2009oct17,0,3127477.story
Carrollton, Farmers Branch part of revised immigration program
By Dianne Solis
The Dallas Morning News, October 16, 2009
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/101709dnmet287g.3d77c1d.html
FSPD Loses ICE Training Funds
By Amy Sherrill
The Times Record (Fort Smith, AR), October 16, 2009
http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2009/10/17/news/news101709_05.txt
Sheriff's office reaches pact with feds
To identify illegal immigrants in county jail
By Bob Jordan
The Asbury Park Press (NJ), October 16, 2009
http://www.app.com/article/20091016/NEWS/910160358/1004/NEWS01/Sheriff+s+office+reaches+pact+with+feds
Law Enforcement Says No To Enforcing Immigration Laws, Again
By Amy Isackson
The KBPS News (San Diego), October 16, 2009
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2009/oct/16/san-diego-law-enforcement-says-no-enforcing-immigr/
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2.
Lawmakers Battle on Census Question
By Nomaan Merchant
The Wall Street Journal, October 19, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125590984570593243.html
Washington, DC -- A measure gaining traction in Congress would require the 2010 Census to include a question about citizenship, a change that would cost millions of dollars and possibly derail a full count.
Two Republican senators, David Vitter of Louisiana and Bob Bennett of Utah, have offered an amendment to a spending bill that funds the Department of Commerce, which oversees the Census Bureau. The amendment would bar any funds from being used for the Census if it doesn't ask about a person's citizenship status. A similar measure has been introduced in the House.
If successful, the change would force the Census Bureau to reprint more than 425 million questionnaires, as it had already started printing the forms in order to have them ready for distribution in early 2010. It would require software revisions, new training materials and revised promotional campaigns. And it could fuel a boycott of the Census supported by some Latino leaders as a way to protest U.S. immigration policy.
Census statistics are used to determine the distribution of congressional seats and federal funds.
Mr. Vitter said he wants to prevent other states' numbers from being inflated by undocumented immigrants. 'Certainly, Louisiana is directly impacted,' Mr. Vitter said in an interview. 'We lost a seat in 2000.'
In the House, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah) has co-sponsored similar legislation. Utah has argued it missed an additional House seat in 2000 because the Census Bureau doesn't count Mormon missionaries abroad, and Utah claimed 11,000 at the time.
A motion to force a Senate vote on the spending bill -- which in addition to Commerce funds the Justice Department and science programs for the year that began Oct. 1 -- failed Tuesday because of disagreements over amendments. It is expected to come up again for a vote this week.
An aide for Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D., Md.), the spending bill's floor manager, said it is unclear how much support there is for the citizenship amendment.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) criticized the Vitter amendment and a floor speech Mr. Vitter made on Wednesday. 'His delusional rant...is a perfect example of why today's Republican Party has transformed itself into a fringe party that only seeks to pander to its increasingly radical base,' Mr. Reid's spokesman, Jim Manley, said in a statement.
The Census Bureau has touted next year's survey as nonintrusive and, at just 10 questions, among the shortest in history. It collects more details -- including statistics on citizenship -- in a smaller, annual survey.
The bureau submitted its final questions to Congress in April 2008. Adding another question without proper vetting could damage the final data, the Commerce Department said in a statement. It would also make it impossible to deliver population numbers to determine House seats by next December's deadline, it said.
Some Latino leaders who have already called for a census boycott said they supported the Vitter amendment. Rev. Miguel Rivera, head of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, said the measure could pressure Democrats to overhaul immigration policy sooner. 'In some ways, Sen. Vitter's amendment is indirectly helping us achieve and accomplish our purpose,' because it could pressure Democrats to overhaul immigration policy, Mr. Rivera said.
Another Latino leader, Arturo Vargas, who heads the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, disagreed with the boycott but said the Vitter amendment, even if it isn't enacted, would achieve the same result. 'The more doubt you introduce into the debate, the more likely you are to scare people away from the census,' he said.
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Low-income, illegals must be counted, say local leaders
By Emily Devlin
The Sentinel and Enterprise (Fitchburg, MA), October 17, 2009
http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/ci_13584141
Fitchburg, MA -- Community leaders gathered at the Montachusett Regional Planning office on Friday to talk about the importance of reaching the 'hard to count' population living in the area, including low-income residents and illegal immigrants, in the upcoming 2010 census.
Fitchburg Mayor Lisa Wong, state Rep. Stephen DiNatale, D-Fitchburg, and Robert Antonucci, president of Fitchburg State College, were among the speakers at the North Central Massachusetts 2010 Complete Census Count Committee kickoff ceremony. Adrian Ford, the head of the Minority Coalition in Fitchburg, hosted the event.
'Without an accurate count, how can we properly represent ourselves to the world?' Wong said.
Wong said she, or a representative from her office, will be part of this year's Complete Census Count Committee, to provide census workers with relevant information on city demographics, in order to be sure as many people as possible are surveyed.
People will receive questionnaires in March 2010, either by mail, or hand delivery.
The year 2010 marks the next Decennial Census, which collects demographic data that is used to determine a region's eligibility for things like Community Development Block Grants, and Medicaid.
Congressional representation can also be affected by the number of people who respond too, which is why it is important that as many people as possible fill out the questionnaire, said Aurea Santiago-Vera, the U.S. Census Bureau Partnership
Just 69 percent of Massachusetts residents responded in the last Decennial Census in 2000. Santiago-Vera said census workers are hoping for a better response this year, since the questionnaire going out is the shortest ever.
Plus, Santiago-Vera said a 'cross-section' of community representatives will assist her and other census workers in finding events and venues to promote the census.
The 'hard-to-count' groups are always a concern, said Ford, who spoke specifically about illegal immigrants living in the North Central Massachusetts region. Ford said their population in the region is around 10,000, based on statistics he's heard from police.
'We need to speak directly to that population,' said Ford. 'They have an impact on our economy.'
Kathleen McDermott, executive director of the Montachusett Opportunity Council, agreed, and said illegal immigrants may not respond to the census, because they do not trust that the information they provide will not be reported to the Department of Homeland Security or the Internal Revenue Service.
The census is anonymous, and McDermott added there are 'steep' consequences for misusing data collected on questionnaires.
DiNatale said asking illegal immigrants to participate in the census in order to increase federal funding for the population creates a bit of a conflict for him.
'I think it is an issue,' DiNatale after the press conference. 'It's one more reason we need immigration reform to arrive at a process that's better than the one we have right now.'
Ford took a more relaxed approach to illegal immigrants.
'You're a human being in that town that affects everybody else's style of living,' said Ford. 'It doesn't make sense not to count them.'
The Complete Count Committee will meet again at the MRPC office in November to discuss census strategy, though a date has not been scheduled.
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3.
Farmers, critics divided over proposed migrant workers bill
By Jennifer Youssef
The Detroit News, October 17, 2009
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091017/BIZ/910170361/1001
Federal lawmakers are considering a bill that proponents say would help to stabilize the migrant work force on which Michigan agriculture depends.
The Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act of 2009 grants undocumented, foreign migrant farm hands temporary resident status, giving farmers peace of mind knowing their employees won't be subject to raids and deportation, proponents say. Supporters also argue that with legal status, migrant workers would no longer have to suffer unfair treatment for fear of being deported.
But critics say granting undocumented migrant workers legal status won't solve the problem of work force instability because if farm hands choose to pursue more lucrative work, growers will be left in the lurch. They also argue the bill grants illegal immigrants amnesty.
'For farmers, this is a burning issue, especially at harvest time,' said Vera Bitsch, who specializes in human resources in agriculture at Michigan State University.
Farmers say they live in fear of raids and worker deportations, which can create labor shortages and result in crops going unharvested. In Michigan, where agribusiness generated $71.3 billion in 2008, that instability can be costly.
If it passes, the bill will legalize about 1.5 million undocumented agricultural laborers over five years. The bill also proposes making the federal H-2A program that gets foreign workers into the country legally less burdensome. It would allow illegal workers to apply for a blue card (temporary residency) and eventually get a green card (permanent residency).
Immigration reform is a priority for the Obama administration, but with so many other issues on the table, it's unclear when lawmakers will get to it. And, if a comprehensive reform of immigration is not reached, it's unknown if Congress will vote on the piecemeal bill, experts say.
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Refugees had scheduled a hearing on the bill, supported by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, for Sept. 22, but it was delayed.
U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, while acknowledging migrant workers' contributions to agriculture, said he's 'very nervous' about giving workers who got here illegally permanent residency.
'I just think it's fundamentally wrong,' said Hoekstra, who is running for governor.
More than 200 groups and agencies support the bill, touting it as the best compromise between workers and employers to reach Congress in several years.
Impact on agribusiness
The loss of migrant workers would have a significant impact on Michigan's agribusiness industry, a 2006 report by Michigan State University found. If there were no migrant workers, the state would stand to lose about $272 million in the first year and up to $362 million over time in unharvested crops, decreased production and other problems that arise from a smaller work force, the study said.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture likes the bill because it will 'provide stability' to the agricultural work force, Director Don Koivisto said. Michigan has about 45,000 migrant workers annually to fill about 87,000 agricultural jobs.
A majority of the migrants -- up to 80 percent -- are from Mexico, said Craig Regelbrugge, co-chairman of the Agricultural Coalition for Immigration Reform. The rest are from Central America and other countries, he said.
The jobs migrant workers do are vital to fruit and vegetable growers, said Denise Donohue, executive director of the Michigan Apple Committee, which likes the bill. They're needed to handpick 1 billion apples off trees in Michigan orchards; at least 90 percent of the 950 apple-growers in the state use migrant labor, she said.
Regelbrugge, also vice president of government relations for the American Nursery and Landscape Association, praised the bill.
'If we screw this thing up, it will be a tremendous blow to Michigan's economy,' he said. 'If Michigan (farms) have a stable labor supply, it will create economic activity.'
Critics say bill problematic
But, opponents say the bill will create more problems for farmers by allowing workers to move on to better-paying jobs once they become authorized.
'It's an amnesty,' said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. 'Granting green cards to workers won't help because once they get legal status, they won't stick around to do farm jobs.'
'(The bill) allows the agriculture industry to continue the practice of hiring people at exploitive wages,' Mehlman said.
All farm hands get paid an average of $10 an hour and the current law requires foreign workers to be paid more than U.S. citizens to ensure American workers get first dibs on jobs.
The bills are a farce, said Rick Oltman, national media director for Californians for Population Stabilization, a Santa Barbara-based agency whose purpose is to get the government to enforce immigration laws. He called them a 'window dressing' on behalf of politicians who want to appear as though they want reform, but, he pointed out, the bills have never passed both houses, even after several attempts.
'I view this as nothing more than Congress pandering to agribusiness,' Oltman said. 'The authors (of the bills) do it so they can say they supported this.'
Growers depend on migrants
Michigan growers say they depend heavily on migrant workers. Without his migrant work force, Fred Leitz of Leitz Farms LLC near Benton Harbor says he probably wouldn't be in business. His staff of 225 includes 200 migrants.
All his employees have documents and, although he knows some may not be here legally, he said he will hire them if they are willing to do the job. Employers are required to review workers' documents, but discrimination law prohibits them from questioning the documents' authenticity.
When Leitz advertises job openings to U.S. workers, they only want to drive tractors; no one wants to work in the fields, he said.
'If (migrant workers) aren't here, there are no replacements,' he said. 'I have no domestic workers willing to come in and pick this stuff. I would be bankrupt.'
Two years ago, even though thousands of Michigan residents were out of work, 15 percent of the state's asparagus crop, or about $2 million worth, had to be destroyed because growers couldn't find enough workers to pick it, said John Bakker, executive director of the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board. The asparagus board is not taking a stand on the bill because it is a quasi-governmental entity, Bakker said.
'It doesn't matter what the unemployment rate is, harvesting asparagus is not the type of work Michiganders are looking for,' he said. 'We need migrant workers.'
Legalizing the migrant work force would solve a lot of problems, said Virginia Ruiz, senior attorney for Farmworker Justice, a national advocacy organization. Because 50 percent to 75 percent of the workers are unauthorized, many are reluctant to speak up when they run into issues like unfair wages and poor working conditions, she said.
'We feel (the bill) is a reasonable compromise to resolve the problems with agricultural labor,' Ruiz said.
+++
Farmers say fed immigration program is a burden
By Jennifer Youssef
The Detroit News, October 17, 2009
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091017/BIZ/910170362/1001
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4.
Does McCain back ban on Arpaio immigration sweeps?
By Glenn Thrush
The Politico (Washington, DC), October 18, 2009
http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/1009/Does_McCain_back_ban_on_Arpaio_immigration_sweeps.html
Sen. John McCain -- a fervent sponsor of immigration reform -- is once again being dragged into the messy border war of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is defying the Obama administration's ban on his highly controversial illegal immigrant sweeps in the Phoenix area.
Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano excluded Arpaio -- reviled by Hispanic advocacy groups for alleged racial profiling-- from a joint federal program that gives local law enforcement agencies the power to dragnet for illegals.
McCain's office wouldn't say whether he supported or opposed the move. But late Friday, McCain wrote Napolitano asking for an explanation, asking for her to 'please provide the rationale for terminating the Task Force Model in Maricopa County and the criteria that made the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office ineligible to continue in the Task Force Model.'
A McCain spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to questions about his motivation for sending the missive.
Maricopa is the only county to have its immigrant enforcement powers revoked. Arpaio was characteristically defiant, telling new soulmate Glenn Beck that he's not answerable to DHS, but existing statute: 'I’m still going to enforce the state laws and I’m going to enforce the federal laws.
A call to a DHS spokesman on Sunday wasn't immediately returned.
McCain is said to personally dislike the flamboyant but popular Arpaio, known for his harsh treatment of prisoners of all ethnic and racial categories. But he's also cognizant of Arpaio's populist appeal. Last May, during the presidential race, McCain punted, blaming the Arpaio phenomenon on inadequate immigration policies not the sheriff himself.
'A lot of times it saddens me to see these conflicting approaches toward the issue of illegal immigration
because we would not have this problem if the federal government had carried out its responsibilities,' McCain said at a Cinco De Mayo celebration.
During an interview with a Phoenix-area TV station earlier this year, McCain agreed to play a word association game with anchor, offering an 'ummm' when asked for a response to the words 'Joe Arpaio.'
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5.
Many Mexican migrants stay put in U.S. despite crisis
By Patrick Rucker
Reuters, October 16, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE59F3TE20091016
Mexico City (Reuters) -- Mexican workers in the United States have lost jobs and faced a crackdown on illegal immigration but are not heading home in droves despite the worst recession in decades, officials and researchers say.
There is no record of those leaving the United States by land but anecdotal reports suggest some families have packed their belongings into trucks and crossed back into Mexico as construction, food and as farm jobs have evaporated.
A record 12.7 million Mexican immigrants lived and worked in the United States in 2008, more than half of them illegally, according to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center.
The vast majority have chosen to stay and weather the crisis. Rights groups say Washington needs to pass an overhaul of immigration policies because Mexicans are not going home.
'There is no evidence of a massive return,' said Adriana Valdes at the Mexican consulate in Denver. 'People may move because of the crisis, but they are not moving to Mexico where the situation is no better.'
Mexico has also suffered its worst recession since the 1930s and illegal Mexican workers living and working in the shadows say they can still earn more in the United States.
'If things are bad here, they're worse in our country,' said Christian Dominguez, 21, who has worked in Phoenix since crossing illegally to Arizona 15 months ago from Mexico.
Dominguez earns just $80 in a bad week, shares an apartment with seven other migrants and relies on food donations from local church groups to get by. But he says it is still better than in his home state of Chiapas in southern Mexico.
'There I didn't even have money for books or anything else,' he said outside a Wal-Mart in Phoenix looking for work.
Some proponents for tougher U.S. immigration policies point to anecdotal stories of Mexicans leaving and a recent census report to argue that illegal immigrants in the United States are going home, lessening the need for immigration reform.
Critics of undocumented workers say they depress wages, drain resources and take jobs away from Americans. Latino advocacy groups say they do the jobs Americans don't want.
The foreign born population in the United States dipped by around 100,000 people to 37.9 million last year, the first decline in more than a generation, the U.S. Census Bureau said.
According to a study by Pew Hispanic Center, the number of people heading back into Mexico every year has been steady since 2006 at around 450,000. 'There is a strong seasonal pattern to the migration data but no matter how you look at it, there is no upward trend in out-migration,' said Jeffrey Passel, a demographer at Pew.
Tough Reform
U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged to seek support among Democratic and Republican lawmakers to overhaul the flawed U.S. immigration system. He is currently battling to push through healthcare reforms, though activists are hopeful he will tackle immigration next year.
Former President George W. Bush tried to push immigration reform through Congress in 2007 but the bill was killed by Republicans and the Bush administration took a get-tough approach focusing on workplace enforcement raids.
Obama supports offering illegal immigrants in good standing the chance to pay a fine and become citizens, as well as reducing immigration raids but still hardening security.
The U.S. government hired thousands more Border Patrol agents in 2007 to help deport immigrants who entered illegally or outstayed their visas, carry out workplace raids, and push police to enforce immigration laws.
Immigration experts say ramped up surveillance along the porous Mexican border has actually increased the illegal immigrant population in the United States because it is so tough to beat security that once in, people decide to stay.
For decades, immigrants crossed the border into the United States for seasonal work and returned home to Mexico when contracts ended, or at Easter and Christmas.
Now many prefer to move around the United States to look for work, moving away from border states like Arizona and Texas where immigration controls are the toughest.
'I'm thinking of going to Florida,' said Hector Gallardo, 50, from Cuernavaca, near Mexico City, who has been living illegally in Arizona for 12 years working as a builder. 'I don't think of going back to Mexico. But a lot of people are going to other states because of the crisis.'
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Pew Hispanic Center can be found online at: http://pewhispanic.org/
Recent CIS analysis has found the illegal population in the U.S. has, in fact, declined. The analysis is available online at: http://www.cis.org/IllegalImmigration-ShiftingTide
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6.
BMV to move on suspect registrations
47,457 vehicle owners need proof of residency
By Randy Ludlow
The Columbus Dispatch, October 16, 2009
http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/10/16/plates.ART_ART_10-16-09_A1_PAFCSKK.html?sid=101
The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles has quietly moved to cancel the potentially fraudulent registrations of thousands of vehicles driven by illegal immigrants.
With no public announcement, the agency mailed 47,457 letters to vehicle owners informing them that their registrations will be canceled unless they prove legal U.S. residency by Dec. 8.
The move comes after The Dispatch revealed that the BMV delayed implementing a crackdown on fraudulent registrations for more than a year after Latino business owners objected.
BMV spokeswoman Lindsay Komlanc said the mailing 'has nothing to do with targeting any one population,' but is designed to ensure 'every one of our registrations is as reliable as possible.'
Department of Public Safety Director Cathy Collins-Taylor ordered the move in a Sept. 22 memo, writing that she was unconvinced 'that everything that could be done is being done' to prevent fraud.
Joseph Mas, a Columbus lawyer and chairman of the Ohio Hispanic Coalition, said it was 'disingenuous' to suggest the move was not aimed at Latinos with 'undetermined immigration status.'
A case could be made that registrations cannot be canceled before their scheduled expiration, Mas said. 'The position that all of these are fraudulent is absolutely untrue. They all complied with rules in effect at the time.'
Mas said the move will make it more difficult for undocumented workers to support their families but could have a 'silver lining' of pulling them off the road and sparing them potential deportation. He also said the state was close to illegally intruding into immigration issues, which are a federal responsibility.
A recent check discovered more than 47,000 vehicles have been registered without listing a driver's license or identification card number or Social Security number. A loophole once allowed illegal immigrants to hide their status by hiring others, known as 'runners,' to register their vehicles.
Those people were sent letters on Oct. 9 informing them that they must appear in person at a BMV deputy registrar's office by Dec. 8 and provide a valid Ohio driver's license or identification card or proof of a Social Security number.
Those who do will be charged $3.50 and their registration updated. Those who cannot will lose their registrations, exposing them to arrest -- and deportation -- if they are caught driving by police.
The questioned registrations have been flagged in a police computer system, but officers have been told not to seize any license plates until after Dec. 8, Komlanc said.
Tougher state regulations took effect on Aug. 24, requiring runners to provide the driver's license or state ID numbers of persons for whom they are registering vehicles so their identities can be verified.
The runners are legal U.S. residents who collected fees and used falsified power-of-attorney forms, which once only required a Social Security number to register vehicles for illegal immigrants. However, federal laws prevented the state from checking the validity of the Social Security numbers.
Former Public Safety Director Henry Guzman ordered changes to shut off the flow of license plates to illegal immigrants. However, he delayed implementing the policy on July 31, 2008, after meeting with dozens of largely Latino business owners. Unknown to Guzman, officials said, some runners attended the meeting.
Guzman said the proposed changes were flawed and blamed former BMV Registrar Mike Rankin for failing to quickly fix them. Rankin suggested in e-mails that Guzman was responsible for the delays. Ohio Inspector General Thomas P. Charles is investigating the matter.
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7.
Del. soon to require new ID standards
Driver's license process will change
By J.L. Miller
The News Journal (Dover), October 17, 2009
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20091017/NEWS02/910170326
Dover -- People applying for a Delaware driver's license will soon face increased security measures.
That could make life difficult for some -- particularly immigrants who are not in this country legally and don't have the necessary documents.
The federal REAL ID Act of 2005, which came in response to the 9/11 Commission's findings that 18 of the 19 hijackers had obtained driver's licenses, requires states to revamp their licenses and licensing procedures to meet federal standards.
The law was condemned by many states as an expensive unfunded mandate -- it would cost them an estimated $4 billion to implement -- and 24 states have refused to comply or passed laws limiting participation.
Delaware, which did not dispute the federal Real ID mandate, is expected to be ready to meet the requirements of Real ID.
'We're on track to meet all the [Real ID] benchmarks by January 2010,' said Jennifer Cohan, director of the Division of Motor Vehicles. Delaware will debut a new driver's license next year, one that will resemble the current license but that will contain additional security measures.
Delaware also will issue noncompliant licenses for people lacking the documentation needed for federally compliant licenses, Cohan said.
Those licenses still confer driving privileges but will not be sufficient identification to board an airplane or enter a federal building.
Real ID also drew fire from a wide range of groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, which blasted it as a de facto national ID card and its provision for a central database of driver information as an invasion of privacy.
Now an effort is afoot on Capitol Hill to bypass the states' rebellion and retool Real ID. The new bill, Providing for Additional Security in States' Identification -- PASS ID -- is somewhat less rigorous than Real ID and also contains federal funding to help states implement it.
PASS ID, which is co-sponsored by Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., eliminates a Real ID proposal for a central database that would allow states to cross-check the validity of documents.
Cohan called PASS ID 'Real ID Lite' -- it accomplishes many of the same goals without excessive burdens on the states.
Applicants still will have to supply a birth certificate and Social Security card to obtain a federally compliant license. States also will check applicants' legal status -- including their immigration status.
That provision worries advocates for the immigrant community, who say that if people who aren't here legally can't get a driver's license, they'll just drive without one.
The Rev. Michael Roark is pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Marydel, a community that straddles the Delaware-Maryland line west of Dover and has a high population of immigrants, mainly from Guatemala.
'I've been in and out of this work a long time, and I think it's in their own best interest to license them, for our safety,' Roark said.
'They come here to work. They've got to be able to get to their work,' Roark said -- and if that means driving without a license, that's what they'll do.
Even legal immigrants can find it hard to get a license. Roark said he was chatting with a man Sunday -- 'He has good papers,' he said -- who can't get a license because he can't read.
Going without a license can make it difficult to cash a check or perform other tasks where an ID card must be presented.
'Of course, nobody seems to want a national ID card. Well, why put the burden on the driver's license?' Roark asked.
Delaware's plans to issue noncompliant licenses also worry immigrant advocates, who fear that holders of those licenses could then be labeled second class, whether citizens or not.
'We want to make these federally compliant documents optional,' Cohan said, adding that the fee for compliant and noncompliant licenses will be the same.
At least some undocumented immigrants find the noncompliant licenses acceptable.
'I'm a student and at school and there are different activities I have to participate in,' said a 19-year-old woman from Sussex County. 'I'm depriving myself because I can't drive to them and participate.'
The woman did not want to be identified because she is in the country illegally. She was brought to the United States by her parents as a child.
She said the ability to drive legally outweighs any negative associations with the cards. When she has driven without a license, she worried about being stopped or getting into an accident. Driving without a license also worries her parents, she said.
'Not having a driver's license deprives us of a lot of things,' she said.
Although changes are looming, the DMV has not yet tried to get the word out.
'The reason you haven't seen us do a major educational and outreach campaign is, all the states are in a holding pattern right now' due to the pending PASS ID bill, Cohan said.
Cohan said she expects to begin publicizing the changes in January or early February, and people whose licenses are coming up for renewal will be informed in renewal reminders mailed to their homes.
In addition to the stricter document requirements, the DMV also is ramping up security in the application process.
Currently, people stand in line in the application process, then go to another line to have their photographs taken.
Under the new system, one DMV staffer will accompany the applicant through the entire process. That will make it impossible for someone to complete the application and have a substitute step in for a photo.
The photographs are digitally stored, and facial recognition technology can be used to identify people who may have a license under a different name. The FBI has begun using the technology to comb millions of driver's license photos in its search for fugitives.
Asked whether Delaware had detected any instances of someone having a substitute's photo appear on a driver's license, Cohan replied: 'Not that we can prove.'
The agency has used facial recognition to scour its database of licensees to ensure that the information in the federally compliant system is correct, she said.
In 2005, Delaware officials had predicted that complying with Real ID would cost nearly $2.9 million and require the addition of 36 staffers. But that prediction has not held true.
Through a combination of cost efficiencies and $1.1 million in federal grants, Delaware has managed to stay apace of the Real ID requirements without spending additional dollars.
In a statement, Carper said PASS ID 'will reduce the cost and time of Real ID implementation to the state of Delaware, as well as provide more privacy protections to our citizens that the earlier Real ID act of 2005 left out.'
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano -- who as governor of Arizona signed an anti-Real ID bill into law -- said in congressional testimony that PASS ID 'provides a framework that is more workable from the state perspective.'
If PASS ID is passed this fall, she said, all states would be fully compliant by July 2016, 17 months sooner than the current REAL ID deadline.
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8.
H1N1 vaccine for undocumented immigrants urged
Everyone should guard against flu, health officials say
By Chris Echegaray
The Tennessean (Nashville), October 19, 2009
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091019/NEWS01/910190328/2066/NEWS03/H1N1+vaccine+for+undocumented+immigrants+urged
Since the H1N1 flu doesn't discriminate, local clinics and the Metro Public Health Department are focusing on a sometimes forgotten population at the behest of public health officials: undocumented immigrants.
'Everyone, no matter what country and nationality, we encourage them to get it,'' said Nancy Anness, vice president of advocacy and access at Saint Thomas Health Services.
The U.S government and public health officials have made it clear: They want the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to get the vaccine that the federal government is providing free of charge.
It's unknown how many undocumented immigrants live in Middle Tennessee. Since 1990, the state has become home to nearly 200,000 documented foreign-born residents, moving its ranking from 31st to 24th for the number of immigrants and refugees.
The health department has been working with Latino advocates in the community and the two chambers of commerce.
Dr. Bill Paul, director of the health department, speaks Spanish and did a call-in on a Spanish radio station to answer questions about the H1N1 vaccine, said Brian Todd, department spokesman.
'It is important to us that they feel secure in coming here, so we don't ask for status,'' Todd said. 'We want to focus on treatment and prevention.''
Sandra Norillo didn't realize the H1N1 vaccine was available until she went to the health department for an unrelated matter. She got the vaccine.
'We consulted with the regular clinic, and they told us it was down here,'' said Norillo, who moved from Mexico to Nashville five years ago. 'I didn't feel anything.'
Advocates say that making the vaccine available is a public safety issue and that underserved populations, including illegal immigrants, are part of the public.
'I think the government is recognizing that in order for the vaccine to be effective, all U.S. residents need access,' said Elias Feghali, spokesman for the Tennessee Immigration and Refugee Rights Coalition.
'It's not only to protect yourself but to protect the community. Undocumented immigrants need access to the same health care, and that's a smart move.'
At a Saint Thomas outreach clinic, staffers see people, both documented and undocumented, from more than 30 countries.
There will be 1,200 injections of H1N1 vaccine for all of the Saint Thomas Health Services Clinics. They plan to order more should that run out. Also, they don't plan to charge for the vaccine, said spokeswoman Kristi Gooden.
At one Saint Thomas clinic, Miller Pedroza, who is documented, was waiting for the seasonal flu shot. He had just recovered from the H1N1 flu.
'It was bad,' he said. 'I was seven days in the house. It's a good idea for people to get (the vaccine). Even people without papers.'
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9.
Maine AG: Police shooting of immigrant justified
The Associated Press, October 17, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h4AN9-8TUF3frhw_GC88GHo63_2AD9BCFQJ03
Augusta, ME (AP) -- Maine's top prosecutor has ruled that two Portland police officers were legally justified when they fatally shot a 26-year-old Sudanese immigrant.
Attorney General Janet Mills said Friday that Benjamin Roper and Joshua Wiseman acted in self-defense when David Okot (OH'-kut) pulled a handgun from the waistband of his pants on the night of April 25.
Police were responding to a report of a drunk man showing off a weapon. Mills says Okot refused to obey the officers' orders and was shot after he pointed a .22-caliber pistol at Wiseman.
The shooting spurred hard feelings and unrest within Portland's Sudanese community and led to a policy of officers being sent in pairs to certain neighborhoods.
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10.
State GOP tries to steal Dems' fire over water
By Joe Garofoli
The San Francisco Chronicle, October 19, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/10/19/MNJT1A5H5Q.DTL
California Republicans are seeing political gold in California's water problems, hoping to steal the issue from Democrats and win support from one of that party's key constituencies - Latinos.
GOP leaders have put water atop their agenda for next year's statewide campaigns. They are expanding voter-registration efforts in the drought-stricken Central Valley, where unemployment is high and food banks are busy, and encouraging candidates to reach out to Latino voters hit hard by the recession.
The strategy was distilled on a 5-foot-high banner at the Republican voter registration table in front of a Walmart store in Dinuba (Tulare County) in August: 'Stop the radical environmentalists. Save your water. Save your jobs. Vote Republican.'
'When I saw the (registration) numbers from that weekend, I fell off my chair,' said Johnny Amaral, chief of staff for Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Alpaugh (Tulare County). 'I've never seen something work like this.'
The cause drew national attention last month when highly rated Fox News commentator Sean Hannity broadcast his show from Fresno, where the unemployment rate in the area is twice the county's 14.4 percent.
To Hannity, the answer to the 3-year-old drought could be solved if Washington bureaucrats released water from reservoirs.
'Mr. President,' Hannity said, looking into the camera, 'turn the water on now.' The live audience roared its approval.
California's crisis over water, complicated by court rulings that delayed water deliveries to farms to protect threatened fish, has become a major issue, with state and federal officials seeking ways to aid struggling farmers.
'From a political perspective, it's a tremendous opportunity,' said Brent Lowder, chief operating officer of the state Republican Party. 'It has given us a chance to stand next to a constituency that has traditionally looked to the Democratic Party for help.
'We've been talking about this for a while,' Lowder said. 'And we see a chance to move the needle on this.'
Republicans in the state need a boost. Only 31 percent of California voters are registered Republicans, and no congressional or legislative district has a majority of GOP voters. The party has become an 'old white guy' party in a state that is rapidly diversifying, political analyst and former state Republican leader Allan Hoffenblum said.
Divisions on many issues
But wooing Latino voters will be a challenge. Despite their mutual opposition to abortion, at least among Catholics, Latinos and Republicans do not agree on many issues, said Louis DeSipio, a professor of political science at UC Irvine who studies the Latino electorate.
There also is a 'history of antagonism' in their relationship. In 1994, then-Gov. Pete Wilson used the anti-immigrant Proposition 187, which would have prohibited illegal immigrants from using social and health services and public schools in the state, to propel him to re-election.
Many Latino Republican elected officials left or were voted out of office after voters approved the measure, which was later declared unconstitutional by a federal court.
'If they join the party now, they'll see few low-level officeholders who look like them,' DeSipio said. Even if the GOP finds receptive Latino voters in the Central Valley, most Latino voters live in California's big cities 'and will be a harder sell.'
But a growing number of voters are concerned about water. A Field Poll this month found that 73 percent of respondents, who were split equally between Republicans and Democrats, support the special legislative session on water issues that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called.
'Turn on the pumps'
Republican candidates are talking more about water, often characterizing Democrats as more interested in protecting animals than helping farmers.
'We have federal judges protecting the salmon. Protecting the smelt,' Schwarzenegger told the party faithful at last month's state GOP convention in Riverside County. 'Where are our federal judges protecting the farmers? I say to the federal government: Turn on the pumps.'
The problem with that line, according to a report from the U.S. Interior Department last month, is that the pumps were turned on after temporary restrictions to protect fish ended June 30. The restrictions accounted for just 25 percent of the Central Valley's water shortages, most of which were related to the drought.
While Republicans blame water shortages for 40 percent unemployment in some Central Valley towns, a study by the University of the Pacific found that virtually all of the unemployment in San Joaquin Valley counties is a result of the collapse of the construction industry.
'Yes, there is unemployment approaching 40 percent in some towns, but it is not because of environmentalism,' said Jeffrey Michael, director of the Business Forecasting Center at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.
Another challenge for the GOP is that water issues don't break clearly along party lines.
'It is a north-south issue (in California); it is a cities-versus-interior issue,' said Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo. 'It's a lot more than Democrats versus Republicans.'
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11.
Fong talks about GOP, borders at Minuteman gathering
By Jeff Eckhoff
The Des Moines Register, October 18, 2009
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20091018/NEWS05/910180346/-1/BUSINESS04
Chinese communists swept to power in the last century without mentioning plans to nationalize businesses or institute forced abortions, Republican gubernatorial candidate Christian Fong told supporters of the Iowa Minuteman Civil Defense Corps on Saturday.
'They came in promising hope and change,' Fong said. 'Sound familiar?'
Fong, a Cedar Rapids businessman who described himself Saturday as the son of a Nebraska farm girl and 'a legal immigrant' from China, told a crowd of roughly 30 onlookers at a Minuteman rally that he should be 'allowed to take this a little more personally as the son of someone who had to do it the right way.'
Fong, the first in more than two hours' worth of speakers on the steps of the Iowa State Capitol, said he agreed with ralliers that existing immigration laws need to be enforced and public benefits should be restricted 'as much as possible to people who are here illegally.'
But messages about tighter borders and the need to learn English must be tempered with open arms for those who use proper channels, he said.
Fong added in a later interview that it is good politics for Republicans to sound more welcoming for the growing number of 'new Iowans.'
'It's important for the Republican Party to not sound so angry,' Fong said. 'Otherwise, we lose that whole bunch.'
The rally was the fourth such event sponsored by the Iowa Minuteman groups, affiliates of the citizens' action organization best known for its citizen watch campaigns along the southern U.S. border. Robert Ussery, an Iowa chapter leader based in Des Moines, said the goal is to educate a public that only marginally pays attention.
'I think our country is about to betray us,' Ussery said. 'They're not enforcing the laws. ... (But) until it hits their pocketbook, until it affects them personally, most people are complacent.'
Tom Shaw, Laurens police chief and an independent candidate for Iowa House District 8, said politicians have failed to solve immigration difficulties 'even though the majority of Americans want our borders secured. The two major political parties both benefit from it not being solved.'
Terry Marshall, a Pottawattamie County Minuteman member, said that group members sometimes struggle to be heard.
'Talking just don't get it done,' said Marshall, who has been involved with Arizona border patrols. 'You have to get up ... and get your feet on the ground and do something.'
Marshall watched many of the speakers from a stone bench beside fellow Minuteman Greg Casady, who clutched a U.S. flag.
Casady said he believes that he's part of a 'silent majority' and that most Americans agree with the group.
'We're kind of ahead of the curve, so to speak,' Marshall said. 'I can't tell you why I do what I do other than it just needs to be done.'
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12.
Candidates say feds have failed on immigration
By Tim Zatzariny
The Daily Journal (Vineland, NJ), October 19, 2009
http://www.thedailyjournal.com/article/20091019/NEWS01/910190328
High property taxes might be the biggest issue on the minds of voters in New Jersey, but immigration reform is not far behind.
The question about how to handle the influx of illegal immigrants into the state is one that has vexed New Jersey officials.
Gov. Jon S. Corzine appointed a blue-ribbon panel in 2007 to study immigration policy. The issue is especially apparent in Cumberland County, which has a high number of migrant workers, many of whom are illegal immigrants.
Three candidates in the 1st Legislative District Assembly race said they oppose provisional driver's licenses and college tuition discounts for people in the country illegally, adding the federal government has failed to come up with a workable immigration reform plan.
Incumbent Democrats Nelson Albano and Matthew Milam are running against Republicans John McCann and Michael Donohue in the Nov. 3 election for two General Assembly seats representing the district, which includes Vineland and Millville.
'Last term, I think it was more of an issue,' Albano said of immigration reform. 'This year things have gotten ahead of that: the economy, jobs, property taxes. But it's still an issue that faces us every day.
'My theory on immigration is that anyone who comes into this country should go through the same process that our ancestors did. And that is to apply for citizenship. I don't blame anybody for wanting to come to America; it's the greatest country in the world.'
Albano said taxpayers bear the burden when illegal immigrants use health care and educational systems.
Milam said there should be stricter penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
Most employers follow the law, he said, 'but there's that miniscule percent who don't, to avoid payroll taxes. They're the scofflaws we want to get.'
The federal government, Milam said, 'has failed miserably in giving the state direction on this very important issue.'
On the Republican side, Donohue said the federal government has 'utterly failed' to deal with illegal immigration.
He opposes giving provisional licenses to illegal immigrants because, 'I think it's a reward for people who have broken the law' by entering the country illegally, 'and the problem is that undermines the law in a broader sense. If somebody wants to become a citizen and get a driver's license, they should follow the path and become a citizen.'
In addition to opposing provisional driver's licenses, all three candidates said they would oppose allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at New Jersey's public colleges.
McCann could not be reached for comment for this article.
Donohue, Milam and Albano said they support the 287(g) Program, which allows local law enforcement officials to enforce federal immigration laws, including checking a person's immigration status.
Currently, only three law-enforcement agencies in New Jersey -- in Morristown, Monmouth County and Hudson County -- participate in the program, which pro-immigration and Latino groups oppose.
The focus is supposed to be on illegal immigrants when they're jailed, or when they're arrested for serious offenses such as violent crimes, and not on those charged with minor offenses such as traffic violations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say.
However, Albano said, 'if you stop somebody for a motor-vehicle violation and you find that person does not have any citizenship status in this state, the police should have the right to enforce the laws that go along with immigration.'
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13.
Sheriff Continues Tough Tactics Against Illegal Immigrants
By Miriam Jordan
The Wall Street Journal, October 16, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125572635599690761.html
In defiance of efforts by the U.S. government to rein in his tactics against illegal immigrants, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., on Friday launched a major crime-suppression operation in the suburbs of Phoenix.
The operation took place on the same day that the Department of Homeland Security announced that it had signed revised agreements that enable 55 state and local law-enforcement agencies to arrest illegal immigrants who commit serious crimes. The revised agreements are meant to assert greater oversight over a federal immigration program that enlists and trains local police to identify suspected illegal-immigrant criminals in jails and on the streets.
The program, known as 287g, was designed to target drug dealers, gang members and human smugglers. But it has been criticized for promoting racial profiling and serving as an excuse for local law-enforcement to hunt down illegal immigrants.
Mr. Arpaio's deputies will no longer have the authority to check the immigration status of people in the streets during their course of duty. From now on, their participation will be limited to checking the status of people booked into a jail, according to DHS.
'We ultimately determined his sweeps were not consistent with the priorities of the revised program,' said John Morton, the head of Immigration & Customs Enforcement, a unit of the DHS, when asked about the restrictions on Mr. Arpaio.
But the man who calls himself 'America's toughest sheriff,' announced later Friday that his deputies would continue to round up illegal immigrants in the streets. About 200 deputies and posses fanned out across northwestern Maricopa County, in the vicinity of Phoenix, according to a spokesman for the sheriff.
'We arrest anyone who breaks the laws in the streets, including enforcing illegal immigration,' Mr. Arpaio said. That includes 'going out and making traffic stops' to find people in the country illegally. 'It's the same thing we have always done.'
Mr. Arpaio has said he can persevere with the backing of a state law targeted at human smugglers. According to the law, illegal immigrants can be arrested for smuggling themselves into the state.
Asked about Mr. Arpaio's defiant stance, Mr. Morton said that the 287g program 'very clearly lays out the priorities for the program and the intention to focus on serious criminal offenders.'
An estimated 11.5 million immigrants, mainly from Latin America, live in the U.S. illegally. The 287g program has been hailed by politicians and groups who favor tough measures, particularly deportation, to rid the country of illegal immigrants.
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Nearly 60 arrested during Arpaio’s West Valley crime sweeps
By Jennifer Parks
The KNXV News (Phoenix), October 19, 2009
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/westvalley/surprise/story/Nearly-60-arrested-during-Arpaio-s-West-Valley/IVjY5KNxnEWn-CkwFVE15Q.cspx
Sweeps led ICE to limit Arpaio power
Tactic out of line with migrant enforcement program, feds say
By Daniel González
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), October 19, 2009
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/10/17/20091017immigration1017.html
MCSO conducts immigration sweep without federal agreement
By Mike Sunnucks
The Phoenix Business Journal, October 18, 2009
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/10/12/daily93.html
MCSO Sends 30 Illegal Immigrants To ICE
Sheriff Joe Arpaio Says Deputies Can Work Without 287-G
By Elizabeth Erwin
The KPHO News (Phoenix), October 18, 2009
http://www.kpho.com/news/21328387/detail.html
Sheriff Joe Arpaio: I don’t take orders from anybody.
Refusal by ‘America’s toughest sheriff’ to stop immigration sweeps fits into the career of a controversial populist.
By Patrik Jonsson
The Christian Science Monitor, October 17, 2009
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/10/17/sheriff-joe-arpaio-i-dont-take-orders-from-anybody/
Sheriff's deputies arrest 60 in 2-day crime sweep
By Jeffrey Javier and Ofelia Madrid
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), October 17, 2009
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/10/17/20091017raid-ON.html
Arizona sheriff conducts migrant sweeps despite curb
By David Schwartz
Reuters, October 17, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE59G1M120091017
Feds cut Ariz. sheriff's enforcement powers
By Audrey Hudson
The Washington Times, October 16, 2009
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/16/feds-limit-arizona-sheriff-enforcement-powers/
Arpaio conducts sweep despite loss of federal certification
By Kristine Harrington
AZFamily.com, October 16, 2009
http://www.azfamily.com/news/politics/Arpaio-conducts-sweep-despite-loss-of-federal-certification-64658677.html
Ariz. sheriff launches immigration sweep
By Jacques Billeaud
The Associated Press, October 16, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gqkxAbwklmMogwQte-JHN_SEp4jgD9BCHREG4
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14.
El Diario Endorses Thompson, Likening Bloomberg to Hugo Chávez
By Michael Barbaro
The New York Times, October 15, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/nyregion/16endorse.html
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has spent years trying to perfect his Spanish. He bucked Republican allies to endorse immigration reform. And he has created a package of small-business services called the Latino Business Initiative.
He has been rewarded with dozens of endorsements from ethnic news organizations.
But on Thursday, the city’s biggest and most influential Spanish-language newspaper sent a different message: 'adiós.'
In a front-page editorial, it endorsed his opponent, Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., with a withering indictment of Mr. Bloomberg’s eight years in office.
The editorial, in El Diario La Prensa, compared Mr. Bloomberg to Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan president, for his all-out campaign to upend the term limits law so he could seek a third term.
At least Mr. Chávez, it said, held a referendum to extend his time in power. 'New Yorkers were not even given that chance,' the editorial said. It called Mr. Bloomberg’s term limits maneuver 'not simply slick scheming' but 'a gross abuse of power.'
It was an unexpectedly sharp rebuke from the newspaper, and it seemed to catch the Bloomberg campaign off guard. The newspaper — which claims a paid circulation of 53,000, and 266,000 daily readers in print and online — has reliably endorsed Democratic mayoral candidates in the past.
But aides to the mayor had held out some hope of winning its support this time. Bradley Tusk, Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign manager, met with top editors at the paper in recent weeks, and three smaller Spanish-language papers, El Especialito, El Especial and EcuaTimes, have backed Mr. Bloomberg in the last few weeks.
The El Diario editorial raised a flag for the Bloomberg camp. For months, those close to the mayor have argued that the term limits issue was the obsession of a narrow group of well-heeled progressives. But the editorial suggested that anger over the issue may cut across ethnic and class lines.
Mr. Thompson, whose campaign trails the mayor in polls and in money, is hoping to draw support from working-class and middle-class voters — precisely the kind of voters El Diario reaches.
Still, he lags far behind the mayor in overall newspaper endorsements, which the Bloomberg campaign has pursued assiduously. So far, 48 have endorsed the mayor. Just two have backed Mr. Thompson since the Democratic primary.
'Every newspaper is different, but when 48 different newspapers across the city endorse one candidate, compared to just 2 for our opponent, that clearly says something,' Mr. Tusk said.
The El Diario editorial portrayed New York under Mr. Bloomberg as a city that ignored the needs of Latinos, who it said never enjoyed the economic boom and have suffered the most from the recession.
'After a decade misspent lionizing the rich and their excesses, too many New Yorkers are paying the price,' the editorial said.
The editorial said that Mr. Thompson 'has a sterling record in both the private and public sectors,' first at the Board of Education, then the comptroller’s office, and would reorient the priorities of City Hall to focus on tenants’ rights, affordable housing and small businesses.
It praised Mr. Bloomberg for making poverty reduction a priority and taking control of city schools. Curiously, however, the editorial did not mention immigration reform, language accessibility or the treatment of undocumented workers, issues Mr. Bloomberg has tackled repeatedly in office and promotes frequently on the campaign trail.
The omission suggested that the newspaper’s editorial board, and its readers, are much more anxious about the city’s economy.
On Thursday, New York Amsterdam News, the city’s largest African-American newspaper, also endorsed Mr. Thompson, as expected. Like El Diario, it seized on the term limits issue. 'We have had a mayor for eight years who, ultimately, has put his own ambitions and will above the will of the people,' its editorial said.
Mr. Thompson said he was 'proud and honored' to have the two endorsements, and he echoed their populist tone. 'The hard-working men and women of New York City deserve a mayor who will put their needs ahead of the rich and powerful.'
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15.
Latino role in post-Katrina New Orleans examined at symposium
By Lolis E Elie
The Times Picayune (New Orleans), October 16, 2009
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/latino_role_in_post-katrina_ne.html
'I stumbled upon myself in New Orleans,' deadpanned Oscar Garza, a Los Angeles journalist.
There is a tremendous backlash against immigration and immigrants,' said Paula McClain, a Duke University political science professor.
His stumble was not the result of any Bourbon Street stupor. Rather, he stumbled upon a picture of a New Orleans man who shared his name and ethnicity.
That other Oscar Garza was a Latino construction worker whose picture appeared in the July 2006 issue of 'Salud: A Health and Safety Quarterly for Farm Workers and the People who Serve Them.'
The construction worker Oscar Garza is one of the many immigrants who are changing the face of New Orleans. In the picture, he stands below a sign that says 'N'awlins style poboys sold here.'
The journalist Garza explained the influx of Latin workers by quoting the comedian George Lopez. 'FEMA stands for 'Find Every Mexican Available,' ' he said.
Garza was one of the speakers at a symposium titled 'La Nueva Orleans? Race and Immigration in Post-Katrina America.'
'It's totally predictable'
Organized by Zocalo Public Square, a Los Angeles not-for-profit, Friday's gathering examined the impact of immigrants as experienced in the United States in general and New Orleans in particular.
Much of what has happened and will happen in New Orleans as result of the Latino influx is not surprising. In fact, it has already happened in other parts of the country.
'If you are seeing a substantial influx in young Latino males coming here, you know to start planning to expand your kindergarten classes and to hire (English as a Second Language) teachers in five to seven years, ' said Roberto Sura, a professor at the University of Southern California's Annenburg School of Journalism.
'It's totally predictable, ' he said.
Zocalo, which was founded in 2003, seeks to 'build community by broadening access to civic discourse,' according to its Web site. To that end, it presents lectures and conferences, and publishes original materials on line.
'We cover anything from religion and race to foreign policy,' said Laura Villalpando, the organization's field producer.
'As long as it's interesting and controversial, and it will bring people in, we will present it,' she said.
Zocalo means 'public square,' in Spanish. This is the organization's first time presenting a program in New Orleans.
Tensions not new
The tension between Latin immigrants and native born Americans can be predicted, Suro said. In places like New York and Los Angeles, where there have traditionally been high numbers of immigrants, new arrivals tend to blend in with relatively little friction.
But in a place like New Orleans, where the number of Latin immigrants is unprecedented in recent history, tension can be expected to grow. 'It tends to be quite high in places where the Latin population is quite small and has grown rapidly,' Suro said.
In a city like New Orleans, where the population is predominantly black, tensions between African- and Latino-Americans often flare.
'There is a tremendous backlash against immigration and immigrants,' said Paula McClain, a Duke University political science professor. 'Not just among white Southerners but among black Southerners as well.'
Often the tensions result from the perception that Latino immigrants are getting special privileges at the expense of black residents.
McClain pointed to the example of North Carolina where, despite an influx of Latino workers, the Legislature refused to allocate additional resources for the education of children whose first language was Spanish.
To pay for the needs of these Spanish-speaking children, local school districts sometimes cut out other programs.
From the perspective of African-American parents, the obvious conclusion is that the influx of Latino immigrants is harmful to black interests, McClain said.
'The perception is 'I had stuff, you came; I don't have it anymore. Therefore you are bad for me,' ' McClain said.
This newly tense environment is not without its ironies. In post-Katrina New Orleans, there were outcries against 'loud Mexican music' and taco trucks.
'Imagine that,' Garza said, 'Complaints in New Orleans about music and food.'
But, while all agreed that New Orleans is undergoing something of a transformation, not all the speakers forecast a total makeover.
Ned Sublette, the gathering's keynote speaker, is a musicologist whose most recent book, 'The Year Before the Storm,' is about pre-Katrina New Orleans. His previous book, 'The Worlds that Made New Orleans,' was about the international influences that shaped New Orleans music through the centuries.
'The thing that inspires me is New Orleans culture continues,' he said. 'It is so strong.'
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16.
Marina to consider foreign cash
Money would come from offshore investors
By Larry Parsons
The Monterey County Herald (CA), October 19, 2009
http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_13588746
The city of Marina is being asked to endorse a proposed business investment fund that would tap investors from China, Japan and South Korea to raise up to $75million.
The Marina City Council on Tuesday is scheduled to consider the request from Silicon Valley venture capitalist Rock Clapper, who is proposing to create Citizen Fund LLC that would target foreign capital through a federal immigration program.
Also on a packed agenda, council members will consider what kinds of proposals they will seek from would-be developers of the 190-acre Cypress Knolls property on Fort Ord. And the council will consider giving the green light to a proposed 'Business Ambassador' program.
A city staff report says the proposed investment fund could help small and medium-sized businesses in the city. The investors would be foreign citizens seeking green cards through a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services visa program.
The program designates regional centers, in which business and economic development must occur through funds invested by foreign nationals through the program.
Clapper and his partner, Wan-Gil Choe, are preparing to apply for a regional center, which would use their investment fund to support Marina-based businesses.
They are asking the city to send a support letter to immigration officials, assemble economic and demographic data, and put up a $25,000 loan to help get the process rolling.
The city staff report says the proposed investment fund, if it goes as planned, could help create up to 1,500 jobs in Marina.
In September, the city Economic Development Commission endorsed the idea and recommended that the council support the investment fund.
'Benefits to the Marina community would include job creation, job retention and the likely relocation of companies from nearby high-tech centers,' the staff report says. 'Specific targeted companies include ... emerging green and clean technologies.'
The reports say Clapper would be managing director of the Citizen Venture Partners Fund.
He is a member of Band of Angels, a Silicon Valley investment group, and interim chief executive of NGB, a company that provides market information on perishable commodities, according to the staff report.
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17.
Educate all, says UALR chief He calls for change in tuition policy to aid illegal aliens
By Ginny Laroe
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), October 16, 2009
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2009/oct/16/educate-all-says-ualr-chief-20091016/ [Subscription]
Greater access to higher education for immigrants, including allowing certain illegal aliens to pay the cheaper in-state tuition rates, is in the best interest of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the state, the school's chancellor said during a forum Thursday.
Joel Anderson, who spoke on a panel as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, said changing laws so illegal aliens who have graduated from Arkansas high schools and who have spent a number of years in the state can become eligible for in-state tuition is 'simply the right thing to do.' 'The more graduates we have, the better off we'll be,' Anderson said.
The practice of charging illegal aliens the more expensive nonresident tuition is 'cutting off our noses to spite our face,' he said.
Anderson was joined on the panel by UALR sociology professor Terry Trevino-Richard, El Latino editor Michel Leidermann and Oscar Mora with the Mexican Consulate in Little Rock.
Mora said 11 states allow illegal aliens to pay in-state tuition rates under certain circumstances.
In Arkansas, the University of Central Arkansas and Henderson State University have had policies that did not prohibit illegal aliens from paying in-state tuition if they lived in a residence hall.
Federal law prohibits illegal aliens from obtaining postsecondary education benefits on the basis of residency unless those same benefits are offered to all U.S. citizens. Policies at UCA and Henderson did not violate that law because their waivers apply to all U.S. citizens. UCA's was based solely on residency; Henderson's was based primarily on residency.
UCA President Allen Meadors has said he would ask the board of trustees if it wants to revise a policy giving out-of-state tuition waivers to anyone living in campus housing so that illegal aliens would be excluded.
And Henderson President Charles Welch has said his school is revising the application form for its housingrelated out-of-state tuition waivers to include 'a clear statement indicating that illegal residents are not eligible.' Welch has said Henderson did not allow any illegal aliens to receive the waivers, and Meadors said UCA was unaware of any who had benefited from its policy.
During the panel discussion Thursday, Mora of the Mexican Consulate said it's hard to reconcile the seemingly conflicting policies of educating all children, regardless of immigration status, from kindergarten through 12th grade and then treating illegal aliens, in the state for years, differently at the college level.
'You block access to higher education,' he said.
Anderson said one way to help make higher education more accessible to immigrants - both legal and illegal - is to help raise private donation money for scholarships, so money isn't the hurdle. But he said that's not a practical solution since fundraising is difficult for any cause.
He said there are 351 students classified as Hispanic enrolled in UALR this fall, and said he wished there were more.
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18.
Oak Lawn: School helping Arab students make transition to America
With 134 Arab students, Richards has on staff 5 teachers and an aide who speak Arabic and are able to lessen culture shock
By Janice Neumann
The Chicago Tribune, October 16, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-arab-teachers-south-zone-16-oct16,0,7325270.story
When newly arrived students from the Middle East express shock at the spaghetti straps and short skirts worn by some classmates at an Oak Lawn high school, teacher Rahaf Othman explains just how casually American teenagers tend to dress.
Othman has a knack for communicating with immigrant Arab students because she is fluent in Arabic and well-versed in Middle Eastern culture. She teaches social studies at Richards High School, part of Oak Lawn Community High School District 218, which has seen an increase in the number of Arab students in recent years.
Richards now has 134 Arab students, said Lori Szeszycki, curriculum director of the district's English Language Learners program, and tries to meet their cultural needs as well as their academic needs. There are five teachers and one aide who speak Arabic at Richards, giving the school the distinction of having more native Arabic-speaking teachers than nearly any other in the suburbs, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Richards and schools in neighboring Palos Hills, Justice, Bridgeview, Burbank and Chicago Ridge have the highest number of Arabic-speaking students whose second language is English in the area, school officials said.
That's because the area has been a magnet for Arab families spreading out from the immigrant community in Chicago's Marquette Park neighborhood. Others moved to the area to be closer to the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, which is attended by more than 5,000, and to the Little Arabia commercial district along Harlem Avenue, between 79th and 115th Streets, with its Middle Eastern groceries, restaurants, clothing stores and insurance businesses.
Twenty-nine of Richards' Arab students are recent arrivals from, among other places, Yemen, Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank, and are in ELL, a program for students whose second language is English. The school has made several changes to try to make the students feel more welcome.
Arab girls now can wear long-sleeve shirts and pants in gym class -- a departure from policy that required girls to bring a written explanation from a religious leader explaining why they couldn't show more skin.
'The Arab culture is so different from Westernized culture, especially for newcomers from another country,' said Othman, who is Palestinian-American. 'One of the biggest cultural differences that our students experience is the way women dress in this country. They are just not used to females exposing that much skin. In the countries they came from, females usually are covered up from the neck down.'
At lunchtime, cafeteria workers know to alert Muslim students and teachers about pork-free foods, Othman said. 'We provide alternative break areas for students who are observing Ramadan and wish to fast, and we translate as many of our parent and community-related letters as possible into Arabic, Polish and Spanish,' Szeszycki said.
When a school has at least 20 students who speak the same native language, the State Board of Education requires the district to hire a teacher who speaks that language.
At Richards, student Sabrina Said, president of the Unity Club, which teaches students about different cultures and which Othman leads, said the high school's hiring of native Arabic-speakers and other accommodations have helped students feel more welcome.
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19.
Schools a battleground over dueling Chinese scripts
Decisions over teaching the simplified characters used in mainland China versus the traditional ones used in Taiwan stir passions among parents over politics and cultural pride.
By Raja Abdulrahim
The Los Angeles Times, October 18, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-chinese18-2009oct18,0,2673140.story?track=rss
For nine years, Sutoyo Lim's son studied Chinese with private tutors and at language schools. He learned to write in 'simplified script,' characters with thinly spread strokes commonly used in mainland China.
But that all changed when Lim's 15-year-old son began taking Chinese classes at Arcadia High School this year. He was given two months to make the transition from 'simplified' to the more intricate 'traditional' script used in Taiwan.
Once the grace period is over, homework and exam answers written in simplified script will be disqualified -- regardless of accuracy. 'To me, it does not seem right,' Lim said. 'I'm not happy with being forced to choose the language that's going to be obsolete.'
When Chinese classes were introduced at Arcadia in the mid-1990s, Taiwanese parents pushed administrators to adopt the use of traditional script used in Taiwan and pre-communist China. The traditional form is distinguished by a series of complex and intersecting strokes.
But with the large influx of Chinese immigrants into the San Gabriel Valley over the last decade, there is increasing demand to adopt the simplified form, which Taiwanese parents and others see as a threat to an ancient tradition. The change is occurring at private and public schools in California and across the country.
The language dispute is part of a larger and politically charged debate that stems in part from changing immigration patterns in the United States and China's increasing influence as a world economic power. Schools such as Arcadia High have become a battleground over this issue.
In a 2007 national survey by the Chinese Language Assn. of Secondary-Elementary Schools, nearly half of 263 schools included in the sample taught only the simplified form and 11% only traditional. The remaining taught a mix of the two. In 1994, by comparison, 17% of 139 schools taught simplified and 40% traditional.
'China is opening up a huge market worldwide,' said Yu-Lan Lin, executive director of the association. 'It's better to know the customer's language.'
For the last four years, Arcadia High Principal David Vannasdall has been lobbied by both sides of the debate.
Last April, the school held a meeting with parents to discuss the issue. Parents were urged to 'focus on interests, not positions.'
Because of what he deemed a 'hostile' attitude toward his support of simplified script, Lim didn't want his son's name used for this story.
'The reaction to eliminating traditional has been overwhelming,' Vannasdall said. 'It's a really controversial issue.'
Two years ago, when Christine Lee was president of the Arcadia Chinese parents club, some parents pushing for the simplified form tried to draw the group into the debate. But Lee said the club resisted taking sides.
Still, Lee, who came to the U.S. from Taiwan in the 1980s, said she resented Lim's characterization of traditional script as obsolete. 'Chinese characters are so beautiful, why would you give that up?' she said. 'How could 5,000 years of history go away that easily?'
Simplified characters were introduced in the 1950s by the Chinese communist regime to improve literacy rates among the country's mostly rural population.
At the time, anti-communist politicians and refugees fled and settled in Taiwan, where they continued the use of traditional script.
Before diplomatic relations were established between the United States and China in the 1970s, the traditional form was commonly taught here. To switch to the simplified form says something about Taiwan's place in the world and who speaks on behalf of Chinese culture, said David Lee, past president of the Arcadia Chinese Assn.
'In the heart of Taiwan, it's a crisis because the Taiwanese feel they are so small, there's nothing they can compete with China, not militarily, not with population,' Lee said. 'But if there's something they can . . . insist upon, it's culture and the language. And script is part of the culture.'
Others worry that changing school curriculum is only the beginning and that the rest of the community would soon follow with store signs, restaurant menus and newspapers. In August, the Sing Tao Daily newspaper in the Bay Area changed its free weekly publication to simplified script.
'There are more and more Chinese from mainland,' said Tim Lau, chief executive of the paper's San Francisco operation. 'We want to tap a different market, the new immigrant market.'
In June, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou caused a stir during a meeting with visiting Taiwanese community leaders from the U.S. when he said students should learn to read in traditional script and write in the simplified form. After he was publicly criticized, he clarified that his statement was directed at mainland China.
'It became a very ideological thing,' David Lee said. 'As the Chinese say, 'Save face.' Sometimes save face is more important than anything else.'
When creating its Chinese language curriculum three years ago, Palo Alto High School in the Bay Area considered the practical use of the language before deciding on the simplified form, said Norman Masuda, instructional supervisor for languages. Parents who continue to promote the traditional form are not acting in the best interest of their children, he said.
'For the future, they need to learn something that they can use right away, and most students want to go to China, not Taiwan,' Masuda said. 'You have to keep up with the wave.'
Soon after she was hired as principal of Meyerholz Elementary School in San Jose last spring, Anita Alfonso said, parents were complaining about the teaching of the simplified form. The school has an 8-year-old Chinese immersion program taught mostly in the traditional form, but it introduces simplified script in the fourth grade.
Of the 350 students in the program, Alfonso said, about half have parents from Taiwan. 'I've already had a lot of parents come talk to me that they don't like the simplified,' she said.
At Westside Chinese School in Mar Vista, the administration was forced into a compromise about five years ago after some Chinese parents took their children out of the school to protest the traditional-only curriculum.
Since its founding in 1967 by Taiwanese immigrants, the parent-run Saturday school had taught only the traditional form until enrollment dipped, and the school began teaching in both Chinese scripts, said Joan Kung, the school's past dean of academic studies.
'We ask the teachers if they can teach both to meet the demands of both parents,' Kung said. 'We want to attract these parents from China.'
In classrooms and textbooks at the school, traditional script is presented side by side with simplified, and students are allowed to choose which they prefer. In his classroom at Westside, 10-year-old Jacob Graves writes in simplified form using big, broad pencil strokes. He said he could read traditional script, but he still became flustered when he looked at the school's newsletter.
'I can't read this word and this word and this word,' he said. 'Actually, I can't read a lot of these words.'
Jacob's mother, Joanna Graves, who grew up in Shanghai, said the traditional form takes up too much study time. 'I like simplified because it's a little easier for the children to write,' she said.
Most state and national Chinese groups have avoided promoting one script over the other, said Gay Yuen, a Cal State L.A. language professor.
For academic organizations, debating traditional versus simplified is a no-win situation. It not only distracts from other issues but can also alienate some members.
In June, Yuen met with other academic leaders from across California in a two-day conference held in Burbank to establish state Chinese language standards. They avoided any talk of scripts.
'If that question had come up at the meeting, we wouldn't have been able to get through our agenda,' Yuen said. 'It's like politics. Don't talk about it.'
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20.
Clergy's role grows in migrant discussion
By Erin Kelly
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), October 19, 2009
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/10/19/20091019immig-religion1017.html
Washington, DC -- As more than 2,500 immigrants rallied at the Capitol in support of comprehensive immigration reform, Methodist Bishop Minerva Carcaño of Arizona told the crowd it could count on her and other religious leaders for support.
'We truly are with you,' she said last week as she introduced about a half-dozen Catholic and Protestant clergy members. 'And we believe that God is on your side too.'
But just which side God is on has increasingly become the subject of debate as pro-immigration and anti-immigration forces bring dueling religious leaders to the nation's capital to argue over whose cause is the most righteous.
Both sides are claiming the moral high ground in anticipation of possible congressional legislation on immigration. Although the issue has been put on hold while lawmakers tackle health care and economic recovery, congressional leaders remain hopeful that they can take up the immigration issue early next year. Reform proponents want legislation to include a path toward citizenship for the nation's 11 million-plus undocumented immigrants along with tighter security at U.S. borders.
So far, immigration supporters have done a better job of attracting Christian and Jewish clergy, immigration opponents acknowledge.
The priests, rabbis and ministers who have dominated the public debate on immigration have come out 'almost always on the side of legalization of illegal immigrants and increases in immigration,' said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates reduced immigration.
That point has been underscored in just the past few weeks. In addition to the Capitol rally, a key Senate subcommittee debating immigration reform held a hearing this month at which a cardinal, two Protestant ministers from California, one pastor from Minnesota and a religious scholar all spoke in favor of a more liberal immigration policy.
'The current immigration system, which can lead to family separation, suffering and even death, is morally unacceptable and must be reformed,' testified Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, D.C., and consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration.
Counter argument
Krikorian and other anti-immigration leaders have begun trying to counter that immigrant-friendly, pro-reform sentiment with public appearances and speeches by religious leaders and scholars who argue that religion should not be used to condone illegal immigration.
Dominique Peridans, a Roman Catholic priest who has been a pastor at churches along the Texas-Mexico border and now ministers in Maryland, said he would help an individual illegal immigrant who came to his door in need but cannot endorse the idea of helping millions flout the law.
'My ministry cannot disrespect those (immigration) laws,' Peridans said during a recent discussion of religious perspectives on immigration hosted by the Center for Immigration Studies at the National Press Club.
Supporters of immigration reform unfairly try to paint anyone who disagrees with them as ignoring the biblical admonition to 'love the stranger,' said Stephen Steinlight, author of the book 'No 'Progress by Pesach': The Jewish Establishment's Usurpation of American-Jewish Opinion on Immigration.'
'Immigration reform is not about love,' Steinlight, who is Jewish, said at the press club. He also is a senior analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies. 'It's about exploiting cheap labor, Hispanic identity politics and creating a permanent Democratic majority. (The Bible) does not command us to exploit strangers for profit or political advantage.'
Religious influence
The fact that anti-immigration advocates are jumping into the religious debate is evidence that they view their opponents' biblical arguments as especially powerful, said Philip Williams, director of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida.
'To me, it's an indication that they see the power of the moral argument as more persuasive than the legal argument,' said Williams, who has done research on the convergence of religion and politics in the Latino community.
Until now, immigration opponents have emphasized that undocumented immigrants are breaking the law and that rules need to be enforced to secure the borders.
'But those who are advocates of immigration reform have focused on the immigrants as human beings, and asked whether we should treat them as criminals or as brothers and sisters who deserve our compassion and understanding,' Williams said.
The more the public sees the issue as a moral one, the more they will turn to clergy members to see which side they come down on, the professor said.
And, ultimately, those clergy members will have clout in Congress.
'Religious leaders have influence over their congregants, and those congregants are constituents of the legislators in Congress,' Williams said. 'Members of Congress see these churches as important interest groups, and they're going to pay attention.'
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Latino churches front line of census battle
By Tony Castro
The Los Angeles Daily News, October 19, 2009
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13591803
Storefront Latino evangelical churches in the San Fernando Valley and throughout California have become the front line of the 2010 Census battle to count the country's exploding, but elusive, immigrant population.
'We are no longer just about saving souls,' said the Rev. Aaron Morales, pastor of Christian Adonai Church in Van Nuys, 'but about counting them, too.'
Pastors such as Morales have emerged as prominent boosters of the upcoming census as traditional Latino leaders face increasing pressure from large U.S. Latino organizations and other religious clerics who are spearheading a census boycott to force Washington to deal with immigration reform.
Census proponents say millions of dollars in federal aid could be lost if millions of immigrants continue to go uncounted or undercounted.
In recent sermons, Morales has begun preaching the importance of being counted in the census, which has undertaken the difficult task of tracking Latinos in America, particularly the estimated 12 million who are believed to be in the country illegally and are reluctant to fill out official forms.
In addition to federal funding, California's share of political representation can also expand if more people are counted.
'The future of medical care, access to hospitals and schools, our voice in Washington ... it is all at stake,' Morales said.
His role is repeated at hundreds of Latino Pentecostal churches in the San Fernando Valley - part of more than 5,500 such congregations in the county - that are part of an outreach to document a national Hispanic population that has ballooned since the 2000 Census, growing 33 percent to an estimated 47 million.
These church leaders are trying to offset the influence of the Rev. Miguel Rivera, chairman of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, which says it represents 20,000 churches in 34 states.
For months, Rivera has been pushing a census boycott to pressure lawmakers in Washington to finally begin seriously addressing immigration reform.
'Before being counted,' said Rivera, 'we need to be legalized.'
More recently, as Latino leaders kicked off the census campaign, Rivera threatened to expand the boycott call to all Latinos unless there is movement on immigration reform in Congress by Nov. 1.
'Our boycott threat is the only reason why we're beginning to see some movement in Congress on comprehensive immigration reform,' said Rivera, who spreads his message on a Spanish language radio show broadcast in 11 markets.
The boycott has drawn the support of the Mexican American Political Association, the oldest Latino political organization in California, whose leaders say the group has distributed 250,000 fliers throughout the state with the message:
'No to the census. Before you enumerate us you must legalize us.'
Morales has urged the Hispanic Ministerial Alliance of Los Angeles to deal with issue head-on.
'The threat this poses is very real and shouldn't be taken lightly,' he said. 'We need to impress on each of our congregations that not to participate in the census jeopardizes our future in California and in America.'
Political experts say the importance of these Latino evangelical churches, many of them renting retail storefront spaces, is that they are the grass roots for many of the transient first-generation immigrants who could be missed in the census count.
'The message to participate in the census coming from the mayor and other leaders is heard by Hispanics who are second, third and fourth generation in the U.S.,' said political consultant William Orozco, who often caters campaigns to religious groups. 'But they don't connect with first-generation immigrants.
'Their connection, their moral compass, are the pastors.'
Experts say it is difficult at this stage, less than six months before the start of the 2010 Census, to gauge the effect of the boycott, though Orozco feels there could be less support for it in California, since Rivera's group is New Jersey-based and largely unknown in the West and Southwest.
'That's why the pastors of these evangelical churches here are so important to the census,' Orozco said.
For Morales and other ministers urging census participation, recent sermons have also included a civics lesson for their congregations.
The census taken every 10 years, he tells his faithful, counts all people regardless of immigration status. The numbers are then used by the federal government to allocate federal funds for education, health care, housing, transportation and other local needs.
Although many of the congregants only hope to one day be able to vote, they are informed that the census is also used to apportion the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, which are based on each state's population.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based research group that promotes immigration restrictions, California's sizable illegal immigrant population allowed it to gain three House seats it might otherwise not have received after the 2000 Census.
Still, it is believed that Latinos were undercounted in the 2000 Census by an estimated 3 percent, with blame placed on fears that the information illegal immigrants give to the census could lead to their deportation.
Traditional Latino leaders and organizations have sought to downplay the boycott, which they predict will be offset by a Census Bureau media blitz.
A census spokesman said the agency will spend almost $28 million on advertising in Latino media for the 2010 census, an increase from $19 million spent during the 2000 Census. For the first time, the Census Bureau will send bilingual forms to largely Latino areas.
'This is the most important census ever for the Latino community,' said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, which is one of the groups leading the pro-census campaign.
'Anybody who suggests someone not be counted in the census is fundamentally irresponsible. It's an immoral suggestion.'
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21.
Immigration Debate Spills into 287-G Vote
The WZTV News (Nashville), October 18, 2009
http://www.wztv.com/newsroom/top_stories/wztv_vid_1681.shtml
Davidson County Sheriff, Daron Hall says the numbers don't lie. 'In the last two and a half years, we have seen a 58 percent reduction in crimes committed by people who are illegally in the country.'
In 2007, Hall and the sheriff's department took on a contract with the federal government, called 287-G, to perform immigration services the feds didn't have the resources for. Illegal immigrants, who've committed crimes in Davidson county, are being processed locally and some do get deported to their native country.
Sheriff Hall says, 'We removed some 53-hundred people in the first two years back in April. They represent over 20-thousand criminal arrests.' The change to the Obama administration put the program under review and now the 287-G contract must be re-approved by Metro's city council to continue beyond Wednesday.
Hall says, 'It’s just a revise and continuation of how we operate on a day to day basis.'
Critics say it’s an operation that needs to go.
Elias Feghali with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition says, 'Everybody wants dangerous criminals off our streets. The problem with 287-G is the way its implemented. It targets exactly the opposite.
Feghali says most of the offenders are not hardened criminals. 'Elias Feghali says '80 percent of the people processed through 287-G and deported are deported for things like driving without a license. Fishing without a license. This is not why 287-G was created.'
Feghali says, people can debate if even minor offenders should be in this country.. but, he says that's a conversation that deals with the larger issue of a broken immigration system.
When it comes to 'this' program, he says families are getting ripped apart. He says that creates negative social and economic ramifications.
Feghali says, 'They end up hurting our entire community.'
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22.
Disabled vets upset over citizenship proof policy
The Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City), October 17, 2009
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705337442/Disabled-vets-upset-over-citizenship-proof-policy.html
Thousands of disabled military veterans are being asked to prove their U.S. citizenship to qualify for a property-tax break in Salt Lake County, a side effect of a new stricter state immigration law that is generating criticism.
According to the county, disabled veterans aren't exempt from the law passed earlier this year by the Utah Legislature that requires governments to verify that those receiving a 'public benefit' are living in the country legally.
The treasurer's office has sent notices to more than 3,500 wounded or ill veterans requiring them to attest to their citizenship or provide paperwork proving their legal status to qualify for the tax break.
Terry Schow, executive director of the Utah Department of Veteran Affairs, said he knows of no other Utah counties taking such an approach to the new law.
'These guys have gone through enough in their lives,' Schow said. 'Don't place an extra burden on disabled veterans by requiring them to jump through these hoops.'
But County Treasurer Larry Richardson argues he simply followed the law. The district attorney's office advised him that property-tax relief — even for disabled vets — is a public benefit.
'If there is something I'm supposed to do to comply with the law, I'm going to do it,' Richardson said. 'That is what I call integrity.'
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23.
Domestic violence among immigrants focus of event
The Associated Press, October 17, 2009
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20091017domestic_violence_among_immigrants_focus_of_event/srvc=home&position=recent
Boston (AP) -- Immigrant and women’s rights advocates in Massachusetts plan to take on the issue of domestic violence among immigrants.
The 'Immigrant Survivors of Domestic Violence' conference is scheduled for Tuesday at Simmons College in Boston.
Panels and workshops will focus on new domestic violence prevention and education programs for immigrants.
Among those scheduled to speak are Eva Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Coalition, and Richard Chacon, head of the state’s Office of Refugees and Immigration.
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24.
UMA Immigrant experience focus for discussion
By Matthew Stone
The Morning Sentinel (Waterville, ME), October 18, 2009
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/6991318.html
Augusta -- Maine's population is 97.1 percent U.S.-born, according to 2000 U.S. Census data.
But an increasing number of immigrants are settling in Maine, and their struggles to adjust to a new place while retaining their home cultures are akin to those of American Indians who have been in Maine all along, says the organizer of an upcoming panel discussion at the University of Maine at Augusta.
The threat of cultural extinction will be the topic of that discussion, which will be held Thursday at UMA.
Called 'Dignity of Difference: First Mainers and New Mainers,' the event will feature panelists discussing their adjustment to the United States and their efforts to uphold home customs amid a dominant culture that's not their own.
Panelists from Ghana, Iran, the Philippines, Somalia and Turkey who have settled in Maine will take part in the midday discussion. A sixth participant will represent the Wabanaki Confederacy, which represents Wabanaki tribes' interests in Canada and the United States.
'It just shows you the breadth of representation of groups and people that are coming to Maine,' said Abraham Peck, director of Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Studies at UMA and organizer of the panel discussion.
In addition to a variety of national origins, Peck said event planners sought to have representation from a variety of religious backgrounds.
The panel discussion is one of a number events UMA is sponsoring this year as it launches a new Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Studies academic minor.
UMA is collaborating with the Maine Holocaust and Human Rights Center, located on the college's campus, to sponsor many of the events, such as an ongoing photo exhibit called 'New Mainers, Portraits of our Immigrant Neighbors' by photographer Jan Pieter van Voorst van Beest.
'We ... want to touch on the issue of communities that historically have had their own encounters with genocidal thinking, like Native Americans,' Peck said. 'They need to have that story understood.'
The new academic concentration recently enrolled its first student, Peck said, and UMA will start offering more classes on the topic this winter.
'We're very pleased, and we're hoping that it will grow like crazy once students and faculty advisers find out about it,' he said.
Thursday's Dignity of Difference panel takes place from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Holocaust and Human Rights Center building on UMA's campus.
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25.
'Illegal Alien' Halloween Costume Draws Criticism
The WSAV News (Savannah, GA), October 19, 2009
http://www2.wsav.com/sav/news/weird/article/illegal_alien_halloween_costume_draws_criticism/58749/
A Halloween costume is drawing criticism from a California immigrant rights group.
The costume is being called the illegal alien and features an alien mask, prison suit and oversized green card.
The costume is designed by a Wisconsin company called buy-seasons.
Many stores are not selling the costume, but it is available at many online retailers.
The fact the costume is even available is concerning to advocates who believe it will only fuel debates over immigration.
'This is not about whether we think it’s tasteful or not. We believe that it has a political tint to it and it should be taken off the shelves, said Jorge-Mario Cabrera of the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights.
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26.
Migrants Going North Now Risk Kidnappings
By Marc Lacey
The New York Times, October 18, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/world/americas/18tecate.html?hp
Tecate, Mexico -- For 37 days, the Salvadoran immigrant was held captive in a crowded room near the border with scores of people, all of them Central Americans who had been kidnapped while heading north, hoping to cross into the United States. He finally got out in August, he said, after the Mexican Army raided the house in the middle of the night to free them.
''The army said: 'Don't run. We're here to help you,' '' recalled the migrant, a 30-year-old father of three who insisted that his name not be printed for fear of either being kidnapped again or deported. ''I kept running.''
Getting to ''el norte'' has never been a cakewalk. Along with long treks through desert terrain, death-defying river crossings and perilous rides clinging onto trains, there have always been con men and crooked police officers preying on migrants along the way.
But Mexican human rights groups that monitor migration say the threats foreigners face as they cross Mexico for the United States have grown significantly in recent months. Organized crime groups have begun taking aim at migrants as major sources of illicit revenue, even as the financial crisis in the United States has reduced the number of people willing to risk the journey.
Kidnapping people for ransom is a pervasive problem in this country, although victims have typically been prosperous people with bank accounts that can be emptied at the nearest A.T.M., or those with relatives willing to hand over significant sums to save them.
Migrants may typically be poor, often with little in their pockets except the scrawled telephone numbers of relatives who have migrated before them, but they have usually notified friends or relatives in the United States that they are on their way. To kidnappers, those contacts are golden. ''They beat me and kept beating me until I handed over my telephone numbers,'' said the Salvadoran immigrant, interviewed at a center for migrants in Reynosa, just across the border with Texas.
In many ways, the man's account was typical. A study by Mexico's National Human Rights Commission released this year found 9,758 migrants who had been kidnapped as they tried to cross the border into the United States between September 2008 and February 2009. The commission noted that migrants were typically terrified to report such crimes out of fear of being deported by Mexican immigration authorities and that the actual number of victims was probably much higher.
The stories the commission heard in interviews with victims were alarming. There were frequent rapes of female migrants. Fierce beatings were carried out. As a lesson to other captives, the kidnappers killed some migrants who did not hand over the telephone numbers of their relatives.
''They said that if they did not receive payment, they would take away my kidney afterward and throw me into the river so the big lizards would eat me,'' a Honduran man who was kidnapped in Tabasco State told commission investigators.
He said he had been kidnapped along with 60 or so others, all Central Americans. The men who took them said they were coyotes, or human smugglers, and promised to feed them and help them cross into the United States. Instead, the men forced the captives over 30 days to call relatives in the United States and extract thousands of dollars from them in order to be released.
The amounts demanded ranged from $1,500 to $10,000, sizable sums on top of the several thousand dollars that the migrants had already paid smugglers to make the crossing.
One victim, a Honduran man kidnapped in Nuevo Laredo at the Texas border, told investigators that he was close to reaching the United States when he fell for a swindle. Two women approached and offered him a day job for about $10, money that he desperately needed.
But there was no job awaiting him at the house where he was taken. Instead, he and a half dozen other migrants were beaten over the course of two weeks and frequently photographed. The captors demanded the e-mail addresses of relatives and sent the desperate-looking photos in order to extract ransoms, he said.
The man said his relatives paid what the kidnappers had demanded, so he and others who had come up with the ransom money were blindfolded one evening and taken to the bank of a river. Dumped alongside them was the body of a Salvadoran migrant whom the captors had killed. The kidnappers fired several rounds at the ground and demanded that everyone jump into the river, the man said. The group never made it across, though, and was later picked up by the Mexican authorities.
Human rights workers say Mexican migrants are not singled out by kidnappers as often as foreigners, mostly Central Americans, but also Ecuadoreans, Brazilians, Chileans and Peruvians. The foreigners are more vulnerable, less familiar with their surroundings and less likely to report what happened to them to the authorities, advocates say.
''If people don't come forward, we don't know the extent of the problem,'' said Angelica Martinez, a state prosecutor in Tecate, a border town east of Tijuana, where the authorities were pursuing a kidnapper who goes by the nickname ''El Gato,'' who was believed to prey on migrants.
Complicating the problem, migrants complain that the police are sometimes in league with the kidnappers, rounding up victims and handing them over to kidnappers for a fee. Mexican law enforcement officials acknowledge that some individual officers may be involved in organized crime, but they say the problem is not as widespread as often portrayed and is being combated on a national level.
The Salvadoran victim who was kidnapped in Reynosa said he had first been to the United States in 1999. He had stayed three years, working in the fields and in a furniture store in North Carolina, before returning to El Salvador. After what he had endured, he said he was mulling whether to give up the opportunity of higher wages in the United States and return home.
''There was danger of robbery back then,'' he said of his first crossing 10 years ago. ''It's always been dangerous. But now it's gotten even worse. We're poor and we're trying to get ahead. We're doing this for our kids. I'd advise people to be careful and to pray to God.''
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27.
Undocumented Immigrant Leaves ‘Sanctuary’
By Chip Mitchell
The WBEZ News (Chicago), October 19, 2009
http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=37486
Crisóstomo says moving out of the church will make her more effective.
A Mexican has moved out of a church on Chicago’s West Side where she lived almost two years in defiance of a deportation order.
A statement from Flor Crisóstomo says leaving Adalberto United Methodist will make her immigrant-rights activism more effective.
Crisóstomo was among almost 1,200 immigrants detained nationwide in 2006 federal raids of a pallet maker called IFCO Systems.
Another undocumented Mexican, Elvira Arellano, lived in the same church for a year with her U.S.-born son. Arellano left in 2007 for a planned speaking tour but authorities quickly arrested and deported her.
Crisóstomo is keeping a lower profile. She’s not saying whether she plans to stay in Chicago.
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28.
Immigration Rally Ends in Arrests
The KAAL News (Austin, MN), October 19, 2009
http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S1198114.shtml?cat=10219
An illegal immigration rally held in downtown Austin over the weekend ended with at least 3 arrests. But now some are calling for more dialogue on the issue.
The event was organized by Samuel Johnson, a member of the National Socialist Movement. Johnson says his goal was to fight communism and illegal immigration.
Witnesses say a crowd of about 60 protesters interrupted his speech.
'I think maybe has opened a conversation, I think there should be a conversation about that,' says Michele Rockne, who attended the rally.
The rally was held Saturday at Austin's veterans memorial.
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29.
Illegal immigrant linked to hundreds of bogus IDs
The Associated Press, October 16, 2009
Wichita, KS (AP) -- A Mexican citizen prosecutors have linked to thousands of U.S. birth certificates produced for illegal immigrants faces a Jan. 11 sentencing in a separate identity theft case.
Donna Calabrese, director of the state's Office of Vital Statistics, says she hopes the new case against Jorge Alvarez Rivera is taken seriously.
. . .
http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/1512613.html
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30.
Marine's dad freed from Krome: The Hungarian native had been held 11 days for missing a deportation hearing
By Mike Clary
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), October 17, 2009
After being held in detention for 11 days for missing a deportation hearing, the father of a U.S. Marine serving in Afghanistan has been fitted with an electronic ankle monitor and released from custody.
Janos Lutz, 53, was freed from the Krome Detention Center in Miami on Thursday evening with orders to appear before an immigration judge in January.
Lutz, a former truck driver who has throat and lung cancer, was arrested at his Davie home Oct. 5 and held for deportation to his native Hungary, a country he has not seen since he legally entered the United States in 1983. His detention outraged his ex-wife and two sons, including Marine Pfc. Janos V. Lutz, a machine gunner with the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment in southern Helmand province.
'I feel anger, betrayal, rage. But you can't lose concentration out here,' the 21-year-old Marine said last week in a telephone interview from his base camp in Afghanistan.
Janos Lutz said Friday his son is away from the base on a mission and has not yet heard of his father's release.
. . .
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-deport-marine-dad-bn101609,0,1290144.story
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Overseas News1. Canada: Newcomers to receive language training vouchers (story, link)
2. Canada: Sri Lankan lawyers to advocate for 76 caught off west coast (story, 2 links)
3. U.K.: Immigration jumps up two million people in eight years
4. Ireland: Report finds immigrant children value relationships over ethnic identity
5. Spain: Activists rally against restrictive legislation
6. Germany: Hospital specializes in immigrant psychology
7. Switzerland: IOM lobbies for ethical consumption as stand against trafficking
8. Italy: Interior Min. will not endorse Islamic studies as tool of integration
9. Italy: Protestors rally against immigration enforcement measures
10. Nigeria: Gov't registering foreign residents, monitoring activities
11. Israel: Interior Min. says illegal immigration a basic threat to sovereignty
12. Israel: Enforcement driving illegals towards repatriation
13. Israel: Military estimates one million prepared to breach Egyptian border
14. Israel: Amnesty Int'l. lobbies top enforcement officer to leave position
15. Sri Lanka: Remittances leading source of foreign capital
16. S. Korea: Gov't to provide temp. free health care to foreigners
17. S. Korea: Opposition pol claims foreign sex offenses on the rise
18. S. Korea: Ex-pats have growing concerns over absentee voting
Subscribe to CIS e-mail services here: http://cis.org/immigrationnews.html
-- Mark Krikorian]
1.
New Canadians to receive language training vouchers in the mail
By Sarah McGinnis
The Calgary Herald (Canada), October 15, 2009
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Canadians+receive+language+training+vouchers+mail/2111528/story.html
Calgary -- In a bid to encourage more new immigrants to access free language lessons, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced a pilot project to send language training vouchers in the mail to new Canadians.
Starting this fall, 2,000 immigrants from Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia will receive the vouchers informing them they’re eligible for free official language classes.
Only 25 per cent of newcomers eligible for federally-funded English or French language training actually access the service, Kenney said when he unveiled the pilot in Calgary on Friday.
The new language certificates would permit the newcomer to choose which local agency they’d like to take training from. It also ensures if immigrant families move to another community they can continue language training in their new home.
'Fast growing provinces like Alberta get a lot of secondary immigration, people arriving in Vancouver and six month later they move to Calgary. Alberta settlement organizations don’t see those dollars for settlement flow from Ottawa. This will allow the dollars to follow the immigrant, and that is fairer for the faster-growing areas that receive more secondary immigrants,' said Kenney.
The 18-month pilot will cost around $250,000.
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Newcomers get vouchers for language classes
The CBC News (Canada), October 16, 2009
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/10/16/calgary-english-french-language-training-immigrants.html
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2.
Canada intercepts 76 migrants off west coast
Agence France Presse, October 20, 2009
http://www.theage.com.au/national/canada-intercepts-76-migrants-off-west-coast-20091019-h50j.html
Vancouver (AFP) -- The Canadian Tamil Congress says its lawyers will represent dozens of migrants arrested on a mystery ship seized off Canada's west coast.
Detention hearings will begin shortly for as many as 76 migrants from a freighter seized on Friday by the Canadian military.
The migrants were transported on Sunday to a prison in Vancouver ''where the Canadian Border Services Agency will continue to examine their admissibility to Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act'', agency official Rob Johnston said on Sunday.
Mr Johnston was tight-lipped about whether the migrants were Sri Lankan.
''The number of individuals being detained, their ages or their origin cannot be confirmed,'' he said.
Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan said the ship might have come from Sri Lanka.
A Canadian Tamil Congress spokeswoman said the organisation suspected that the migrants were Tamils fleeing strife in Sri Lanka.
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Boat Migrants to Appear in Canadian Hearings, Globe Reports
By Kevin Bell
Bloomberg News, October 19, 2009
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=auG84JB5J73U
Canada checks boat migrants' case
The BBC News (U.K.), October 19, 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8314304.stm
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3.
Jump in immigrant number since 2001
The Press Association (U.K.), October 18, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jIl9w65gOJt9IWTdqZptFuyZbrCQ
The number of immigrants in the UK has increased by more than two million since 2001, according to a Government-commissioned report.
Consultancy Oxford Economics pointed to surveys that indicated there were now about 6.6 million UK residents who had been born abroad, compared with 4.3 million in 2001.
The figures emerged in a study carried out for the Department of Communities and Local Government, published on its website last month.
Think tank Migrationwatch said it was now 'absolutely essential' that the main political parties committed themselves to a 'very sharp cut in immigration'.
The Oxford Economics report stated: 'Recent evidence indicates that the 2001 figure of 4.3 million foreign-born people in the UK could have grown further by more than two million in the last eight years.'
Just under 11% of current UK residents were born abroad compared to 7.5% in 2001, according to the report.
Migrationwatch chairman Sir Andrew Green said the report had confirmed figures the think tank had predicted seven years ago. He said: 'In 2002 we said that: 'Continued failure to get a grip of the situation will play into the hands of the far right who seek to exploit the situation for their own ends and to whom we are totally opposed'.
'It is ironic that this is the week in which the BNP will be represented on Question Time and is an appalling indictment of the way the present Government has handled this sensitive issue.
'Not only have they totally failed to be honest with the British people, but they have treated their legitimate concerns with ill concealed contempt. The success of the BNP can be laid firmly at their door.'
A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: 'The Government has introduced a migration system that is firmly rooted in fairness. New controls on migrants mean that only those whose skills the country needs and no more can come here. This maximises the benefits for Britain and ensures that despite change the playing field remains level for everyone.'
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4.
Hopes of migrant children must be listened to - report
By Kitty Holland
The Irish Times, October 19, 2009
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1019/1224256971614.html
Making friends and connections is more important to migrant children than their nationality or ethnic difference, a study on the experiences of immigrant children has found.
Dr Piaras MacÉinrí, of the Irish Centre for Migration Studies at UCC, said the study, Tell Me About Yourself : Children and Young People’s Experiences of Moving To and Living in Ireland, underlined the importance of listening to the aspirations of migrant children, and welcoming them, if future social conflict was to be avoided.
The study has just been published by UCC’s departments of geography and law. Research was carried out among 194 migrant children (84 boys and 110 girls) aged three to 18 from a variety of countries and living throughout the State. It looked separately at the experiences of children of African, Eastern European and Latin American migrants, and of returning Irish emigrants.
School was found to be a key factor in children’s wellbeing. Many reported positive experiences. It could also be, however, the place where they first experienced feelings of 'being different'.
Significant to this, the report says, is 'a lack of resources and in-service training for teachers in schools with pupils from migrant backgrounds'. The response of schools to migrant children could 'vary from school to school'.
Migrant children had strong attachments to their home country, but also a strong affinity for the part of Ireland in which they were living. In terms of their own identity, national identities were important but so too were global consumer-based identities and day-to-day interests locally, such as sport, music and fashion.
Migrant children are affected by the same issues as all children, such as poor recreational facilities, poor planning and badly resourced education. These factors could affect migrant children disproportionately, however. 'Therefore, it is not sufficient to view migrant children’s issues as a distinct problem.' They had to be viewed in a wider context as issues that affect all children.
Children of African origin were found to be made feel particularly 'different'. They found discussions about race difficult. 'In many cases the children sought to brush over their experiences of racism.' The mother of one child who had denied experiencing racism described 'a lot of name- calling. It wasn’t nice really.'
Dr MacÉinrí said it was known that first-generation immigrant adults would often put up with a lot, even of racist abuse.
'Migrants themselves will tolerate all kinds of exploitation and abuse, but often with only one end in mind: to give their children the life chances and opportunities they did not have themselves.'
Their children, however, 'are in a very different space – or rather, in a variety of very different and complex spaces', and keen to embrace a 'hybrid identity' of Irish and immigrant.
It was vital that we listened to their aspirations and expectations if Ireland was to avoid the kind of social conflict seen in France in 2005 and in Toxteth and Bristol in England in the 1980s.
The full report is available at www.migration.ucc.ie/children
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5.
March in Spain against immigration bill
The Associated Press, October 17, 2009
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/international/europe/view/20091017march_in_spain_against_immigration_bill/srvc=home&position=recent
Madrid (AP) -- Hundreds of drum-banging protesters marched through Madrid Saturday to denounce legislation that would toughen Spain’s immigration policy.
The protesters yelled through bullhorns and shouted slogans like 'No human being is illegal!' in the rally against a bill that would make it harder for immigrants living in Spain to bring relatives over from home.
Under the bill presented by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s Socialist government, foreigners caught entering the country illegally could be kept in holding centers for 60 days --up from the current 40 — while authorities process their expulsion.
Parliament is expected to pass the bill by the end of the year, although possibly with amendments because the government lacks of a majority in the legislature.
Naziha al-Idrissi, a 40-year-old Moroccan who has lived in Spain for nine years, complained that while immigrants willing to work for low wages in construction and other menial jobs helped Spain post solid growth during the economic boom years of the past decade, now they are the scapegoats of a recession featuring 18 percent unemployment.
'They cannot tell us they need us one day, then call us problems the next,' she said while marching with her two small children, both born in Spain.
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6.
German clinic helps immigrants overcome psychological problems
Deutsche Welle, October 17, 2009
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4792151,00.html
At Berlin's Charite hospital, specialized therapists cross cultural barriers to gain a better understanding of immigrants' unique problems.
Diagnosing and treating mental illnesses is a challenge in itself. In Germany, where around 20 percent of all residents have an immigrant background, many psychiatric patients also come from others cultures.
They, however, are much less likely to seek professional help than native Germans are. Due to language barriers or cultural differences, they may feel inhibited, or not even be aware of the treatment options available to them.
At the Charite hospital in Berlin, the Center for Intercultural Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Supervision (ZIPP) aims to overcome these hurdles. It employs a team of psychologists, social workers and ethnologists, many of whom have a migrant background themselves.
Putting things into perspective
This provides an alternative to therapists who may have little experience with non-German patients, explains Ernestine Wohlfart, the Intercultural Center's director. She also sees deficiencies in the foundations of psychiatry, whose diagnostic systems are based on Euro-American culture and are hard to apply to other nationalities.
'Someone can have a different cultural context for things like ghosts, for example,' said Wohlfart. 'In the western world, if someone starts talking about ghosts, it means that they probably have a psychosis. But when this person can communicate this information in their own social context, it's easier to determine if they have really crossed their own border of reality perception.'
At a consultation session for African women, 35-year-old Sonia Sidibe sits rigidly in her chair; her expression friendly but distanced. With increasing animation in her voice, she explains that she came to Germany one and a half years ago because her husband constantly beat and mistreated her.
'Every time I tried to escape from him, my family brought me back,' said Sidibe. 'So I fled, and all the stress has made me sick. I have heart problems and I feel like I'm suffocating. I take cold showers and open all the windows even in mid-winter because I'm scared that I might die.'
Adjusting to a new environment
Sonia Sidibe is being treated for posttraumatic stress disorder at the Intercultural Center. According to Wohlfart, coming to Germany has become a psychological burden for some of the patients.
'Migration always involves an aspect of progression, meaning that people want to experience something new and decide to live in a different environment,' said Wohlfart. 'But, at the same time, it's a form of regression, because arriving in a new country means starting from scratch.'
This was the case with 34-year-old Shinaz Makampe, who came to Germany three years ago. In her home village in Cameroon, she was thought to be cursed because she had had a miscarriage shortly before her wedding and became infertile. As a result, the village community evicted her. She is now safe in Germany, but feels displaced and does not know how long she can stay. She would like to work, but has not received a work permit.
Finding new friends is also not easy, and she is struggling with depression.
The Charite hospital buildingBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The Charite hospital was founded in 1710
'I got here through my social worker at my home for asylum seekers, because I have some psychological problems,' said Makampe. 'I have to talk to a specialist about them so that I can feel normal in society again and feel good again.'
Culture of understanding
Feeling accepted in society is something that many of the patients at the Intercultural Center strive for. Even second- and third-generation immigrants often come here for therapy. They struggle with the divide between German culture and the culture of their parents and grandparents.
The therapists at the Intercultural Center aim to understand their own cultural bias and that of their patients'. This method seems to bring results, as the Center has treated over 600 people from around 90 different countries since it was opened in 2002.
It has gained a positive reputation among immigrant communities as a place where talking to a doctor about mental problems is a less complicated and intimidating experience. This, of course, means a good chance of being understood.
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7.
Consumers drafted to fight migrant trafficking
Agence France Presse, October 18, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ilxHTjJrWNJJhtH-04xiKIN_oAmw
Geneva (AFP) -- European consumers must learn to 'buy responsibly' in order to help combat the trafficking of migrant labour exploited to make cheap goods, an international migration agency said Monday.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) launched an advertising campaign in support of fair trade that encourages consumers in Europe to question what lies behind the products they buy.
'A lot of people are trafficked to Europe and we feel very strongly that the root cause of trafficking is not poverty, it's not gender inequalities, it's not conflict,' said Richard Danziger, head of IOM's Global Counter Trafficking Programme.
'The bottom line is demand, that we as consumers want cheap products,' he told journalists.
The IOM believes trafficking and exploitation of illicit migrant labour is just as widespread as it was a decade ago.
About 12.3 million people are believed to be working in forced and exploited labour, according to the International Labour Organisation, but there are few estimates of the impact on migration.
Most campaigns and laws focus on the supply end of the chain, but officials argued that there was a need to tackle the demand for cheap foreign labour and services in Europe that can lead to exploitation.
'Some sectors of the economy, such as construction and agriculture, depend on irregular cheap labour for growth and profits,' said IOM Director General William Lacy Swing.
'But economic growth shouldn't depend on exploitation,' he added.
The stark TV advertisement depicting people trapped under an upside down shopping cart will be broadcast on European television, and backed by a website (www.buyresponsibly.org).
'We didn't want to do another information campaign to raise awareness, I think by now most of us in Europe know about trafficking. What we want to do is try and change people's behaviour,' said Danziger.
The migration agency argued that store managers and even businesses were probably unaware about the conditions in which their goods were produced simply because no one asked.
In July, about 1,000 irregular Moroccan migrants were found working and living in squalid conditions on farms in southern Italy, where they were paid 15 to 25 euros (21 to 28 dollars) a day after being lured there, according to the IOM.
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8.
Italy: 'No to teaching of Islam in schools', says minister
ADN Kronos International (Italy), October 19, 2009
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=3.0.3893334779
Rome (AKI -- Italy's interior minister Roberto Maroni from the anti-immigrant Northern League party said he would not back a proposal to teach Islam in Italian schools to improve integration.
'The Northern League is absolutely against the proposal of an hour of Islamic religion in Italian schools,' Maroni told the commericial TV programme Mattino 5.
The proposal was put forward by the deputy minister of economic development Adolfo Urso.
'While the hour of Catholic religion represents an entity, the Church, which has a hierarchy and contains clear, well defined values that can be conveyed, Islam on the other hand is a completely different case,' Maroni said.
'The imam can freely interpret the Koran, there is not a series of tenets, there is not a clear message to convey...If the proposal served to improve integration, we would be all in agreement, but this is clearly the wrong way to do it,' Maroni.
In September, the Vatican said that religion in Italian schools should have the status of a school subject. The Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education expressed the view in a letter sent to the Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI).
The head of the CEI, Mons. Angelo Bagnasco quickly rejected the idea of an 'Islam hour' in schools.
'The hour of Catholic religion teaching is based on the Concordat, because that is part of our history and culture. I do not think that the proposal to teach Islam for an hour has anything to do with this rational and renowned reason,' said Bagnasco.
The 1929 Concordat (also known as the Lateran treaty) established Catholicism as the religion of Italy.
The CEI also said that the teaching of different religions could generate religious relativism and discouraged it because it could cause 'confusion' or 'damage'.
Italy's public schools offer an optional 'religion hour' in which students may study the Catholic religion or other faiths.
However, under a 2007 ruling, only students studying Catholicism were able to receive academic credit.
In mid-August, an Italian court ruling said that high school students may no longer receive academic credit for studying Catholicism, sparking criticism from conservative centre-right politicians, including the education minister, Mariastella Gelmini.
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9.
Protesters rally against Italian anti-immigration law
Agence France Presse, October 18, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j2VwZAAbAFUACuGkVEzyPnggPPxw
Rome (AFP) -- Tens of thousands of anti-racism demonstrators took to the streets of Rome on Saturday to denounce a new law passed by Silvio Berlusconi's government which makes illegal immigration a criminal offence.
The protesters marched from the Piazza della Repubblica through the city's historic centre towards the Roman forum, accompanied by music and dancers.
Banners dotted around the procession read: 'No to racism and to criminalising illegal immigration', 'Berlusconi, go away!' and 'We are all in the same boat,' -- a reference to illegal immigrants who travel by sea from Africa to the southern coast of Italy.
'I'm demonstrating today because the present government is making the situation more and more difficult,' said Babacar, a 27-year-old lorry driver from Senegal, who travelled by bus from the southern town of Caserta with 300 others.
The demonstration was organised to mark the 20th anniversary of the city's first major anti-racism rally.
In October 1989 hundreds of thousands of people descended on Rome after a South African refugee, Jerry Essan Masslo, was killed in Caserta province.
'Twenty years on racism has still not been defeated. It continues to claim victims and is fed by the policies of the Berlusconi government,' the organising committee said in its call for demonstrators.
The organisers of the march included the CGIL union, the left wing Sinistra e Liberta (Left and Liberty) party and the communist workers' party.
The new law, which came into force in August, sets a fine of between 5,000 euros and 10,000 euros (7,400 to 14,900 dollars) for entering or living in Italy illegally -- and makes doing so a criminal offence.
Illegal immigrants could also be detained for up to six months in identification and expulsion centres, while persons who rent or provide housing to illegal immigrants can be jailed for up to three years.
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10.
Nigeria: Immigration Registers Foreigners in Delta
All Africa.com, October 18, 2009
http://allafrica.com/stories/200910190163.html
Asaba, Nigeria -- Foreigners living in Delta State are being registered as part of the security measures aimed at monitoring their activities in the country, Delta State Comptroller of Immigration Service, Alhaji Salihu Abubakar Sakwa has said.
Sakwa said the measure was not peculiar to the state. He was speaking with Daily Trust in an interview at the weekend. According to him, the registration exercise which is going on in all 25 local government areas of the state would provide the service a detailed security data on all foreigners living there and the type of work they do. He said such data would assist the service in monitoring their activities.
The comptroller said though the situation in the Niger Delta region had necessitated the adoption of several measures by security agencies to ensure the protection of lives and property of all law abiding citizens and foreigners in the area, the registration exercise was part of the statutory responsibilities of the service.
He said his men were also manning the security of Warri seaport and the port at Koko where they clear incoming and outgoing passengers. He added that the rate at which Nigerians from the state thronged the Immigration passport office in Asaba to obtain passport was encouraging. He said the Immigration service in the state had earlier sensitized Nigerians on the need to use the e-passport when travelling abroad. He said in 2009 alone, 19, 9992 passports were issued to Nigerians from the state from where over N182 million was generated as against 11, 296 passports issued by the service in 2008 where only about N66 million was generated. He put the cost of a Nigerian passport from the state at N8,750.
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11.
Yishai: We are not an asylum state
By Ron Friedman
The Jerusalem Post, October 15, 2009
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255547731337&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Interior Minister Eli Yishai made his position on the deportation of foreign workers and their families clear on Thursday, declaring that workers' children must be deported to prevent other immigrants from taking advantage of Israeli kindness and trying to gain permanent status through childbirth.
'I know it's not popular, but my job is to take care of the citizens of Israel and our nation,' Yishai said on Army Radio. 'It is no secret that if we continue to abandon the borders and allow the entrance of foreigners into the country and don't - call it what you will - deport, remove or return them to their homelands or if we are too 'good-natured,' as too may of us are, in a few years we will find hundreds and thousands of them here, and that is a threat to the Zionist project in Israel. We will lose our country.'
While no formal decision has been announced yet, Yishai has been leading the government's firm line against granting permanent status to 1,200 children of foreign workers who were born in Israel.
'The foreign workers are using their children as charms so they can stay in the country,' he said Thursday. 'The moment the foreign public sees that every few years Israel grants recognition to the children, and with them the families, [migrants] will learn to take advantage of our kindness and gentleness and 'whitewash' more and more residency permits. Everybody needs to know: We are not an asylum state.'
The interior minister said he was adamant that he wouldn't grant permanent status to any of the children or their families. Earlier in the week he told Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that if the children were given status, he would give up control of the immigration authority, which is part of his ministry.
Yishai said he was sensitive to the children's feelings, but that he thought the parents should prepare them for their return to their homelands.
Speaking at the Galilee conference on Tuesday, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said that the continuing effort to expel illegal workers was 'not only a Zionistic battle, but a battle against unemployment and rising income gaps.'
'We will continue these actions because the poor of your town come first,' said Steinitz. 'There will not be a reduction in unemployment and income gaps as long as there are 400,000 African workers competing with low-income Israelis for jobs.'
However, Dr. Roby Nathanson, director-general of the Macro Center for Political Economics, said the government was deliberately misleading the public about the reasons behind the deportation of foreign workers.
On Thursday, Nathanson released a statement saying that foreign workers did not actually take up Israeli jobs and that government's attempts to convince the public otherwise 'sows the seeds of racism and evil.'
'The recent statements by government officials, which justify the deportation of migrant workers and their children with the argument that migrants' presence in Israel increases unemployment and fundamentally changes the internal demographic balance, are statements that were better off left unsaid. If the government and its ministers had bothered to look into the matter and check the figures, they would realize that their claims are unfounded,' said Nathanson.
Nathanson said that research conducted at the Macro Center in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation had found that it was not Israeli jobs that migrant workers were taking over, but for the most part jobs done previously by Palestinians.
'The real story that the government doesn't want to tell the public is that these foreign workers, who started arriving in the beginning of the 1990s, replaced Palestinian, not Israeli, laborers,' said Nathanson. 'Back then, the security situation, which made the employment of Palestinians impossible, combined with the massive influx of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, drastically raised the demand for manual laborers, particularly in the construction sector, and Israel started bringing in foreign laborers to meet the demand,' explained Nathanson in an interview to The Jerusalem Post.
Nathanson said his research showed that the jobs the foreign workers filled were jobs Israelis simply didn't do.
'The jobs they fill are known as the three D's - difficult, dirty and dangerous. The government must understand that employing the foreign workers in these jobs will only contribute to the growth of the Israeli market,' he said, adding that the government was being hypocritical by deporting migrants on one hand and continuing to bring them in on the other.
Nathanson said Israel was no different from most other industrialized countries in the percentage of migrants in its midst.
'In most of the developed countries, the immigrant labor force makes up 10 percent of the general labor pool and the numbers are the same for Israel,' he said. 'In Switzerland the number even reaches 20%.'
In the meantime more and more voices are coming out in favor of the children. On Wednesday a coalition of organizations representing Holocaust survivors called on the prime minister and the government to grant the children citizenship.
'You have a moral obligation, especially in light of what happened to the Jewish people,' said Ze'ev Factor from the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel. 'We are talking about children who only know our country and only speak our language, and children must not be allowed to experience expulsion from their country of birth, just because of their ethnic origin. It is a lesson that is carved in our flesh.'
He added, 'The decision makers must leave the few hundred children with us and invest in them as part of a one-time policy that will not set a precedent.'
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12.
Oz unit deported just 700 foreign workers; 2,500 left voluntarily
By Dana Weiler-Polak
Ha'aretz (Israel), October 19, 2009
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1121983.html
The new enforcement unit set up to reduce the number of illegal foreign workers has deported only 669 workers since it began operating in July. But more than three times that number - almost 2,500 - have left voluntarily, according to an internal report prepared by the unit, Oz.
The report, of which Haaretz obtained a copy, said 2,433 workers left voluntarily and another 104 are in the process.
Even if all these departures are chalked up to Oz, the unit is still far short of its target. According to the cabinet decision that established the unit, it aims to get rid of 20,000 illegal foreign workers this year and 100,000 by the end of 2013, out of the estimated 280,000 illegals in the country as of January.
But it is far from clear that all voluntary departures can be credited to Oz. First, according to attorney Oded Feller of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, there is no guarantee that the figures are accurate. When Oz's predecessor, the Immigration Police, published its first data, 'the state comptroller found that the numbers were inflated by 30 percent,' Feller said.
Moreover, some of the voluntary departures could be people who left because their visas happened to expire, or who left for some reason unconnected to Oz, he said.
Nevertheless, Feller acknowledged that 'there is no doubt that when there is vigorous deterrent activity against hiring illegals, it has an impact. During the period of the Immigration Police, very few [employers] were fined, but there was a campaign that led to a wave of dismissals of African janitors,' who then reconsidered whether to stay.
'When it's hard to find work, that encourages departures,' he said. Thus recently enacted legislation that raised fines on those who hire illegals 'will surely have an effect.'
But 'so does the knowledge that there is an [enforcement] unit operating and making noise and creating a feeling of fear and talking about arresting children,' he said. 'That generates fear among the parents and a preference for leaving voluntarily rather than having their children experience such things.'
Nevertheless, the data raise the question of whether deportation is necessary at all. Might intensive efforts at persuasion be more effective than pursuit and imprisonment? Or maybe it would be better to focus on punishing employers of illegal foreigners?
Since Oz, which is part of the Interior Ministry, began operating, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor has fined 382 employers in a parallel operation. The minimum fine is NIS 5,000, while the legal maximum is NIS 100,000.
The Interior Ministry insisted that 'trying to disconnect the Oz unit's intensive activity from the voluntary departure of foreigners denies reality. It is impossible to ignore that ongoing enforcement activity has left its mark via the fact that many foreigners, including families, prefer to leave voluntarily and not wait for decisions and enforcement.'
Meir Gopstein, who heads Oz's voluntary departure section, agreed. 'We see parents of children who turn to us of their own initiative,' he said. 'In July, there were many applications before the [scheduled] expulsion deadline' for illegals with children, though this number dropped after the government postponed the deadline, he added.
But MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz), a member of the Knesset Committee on Foreign Workers, says the figures 'expose the big lie behind the Interior Ministry's exhibitionist deportation policy,' though he focuses on a different aspect of the problem.
'Thousands are leaving Israel or are being deported, but at the same time, we are bringing in new foreign workers via the revolving-door system so that various middlemen and labor contractors can earn fat fees off them,' he charged.
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13.
IDF: 'One million refugees headed for Israel'
By Rebecca Anna Stoil
The Jerusalem Post, October 15, 2009
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255547731303&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
IDF units responsible for guarding Israel's expansive western border with Egypt said Thursday that there are one million would-be infiltrators from Africa waiting to cross the mostly barrier-less border and enter Israel illegally.
The statements were made to a group of MKs from the Knesset's Committee on the Issue of Foreign Workers, who traveled to the South to hear an assessment of the situation from those closest to the problem.
After hearing the briefing by IDF officers, the committee's members called upon the government to immediately initiate the IDF contingency plan that was approved by the Olmert administration, known as 'Hourglass.' The plan includes a number of steps to be taken to significantly reduce the number of work immigrants who infiltrate across Israel's expansive southern borders.
Committee Chairman Ya'acov Katz called upon the defense establishment to begin immediate work on one of the salient features of the proposed project - the erection of an electronic fence along hundreds of kilometers of isolated borderlands with Egypt. MKs Shai Hermesh (Kadima), Carmel Shama (Likud) and Nitzan Horovitz (Meretz) accompanied Katz on the tour. The cost of the fence is estimated at $1 million per kilometer.
'I salute the residents of the South who are coping with their cities being flooded by immigrants who endanger the stability of their communities,' said Katz, who included the mayors of Eilat, Arad and other Negev-area cities in his committee's visit to the Egyptian border and the headquarters of the IDF's Eilat 80th Division, responsible for security along the border.
Eilat Municipality officials estimated that illegal infiltrators now constitute around seven percent of the city's population.
Katz has said that according to the data he has received, between 600 and 1000 people infiltrate across the desert border each month. But not all residents of the South are quite so enthusiastic regarding any cuts to the number of foreign workers in the work force. Even as Katz and his committee toured the Negev, farmers in the isolated Arava Valley put the finishing touches on their plans to launch a massive demonstration this coming Sunday to protest cuts to the number of foreign workers that they can employ on their farms.
The farmers complain that as they are located beyond commuting distance from any major cities, if they are not allowed to import hundreds of foreign workers - mostly from Thailand - they will simply not be able to harvest the produce that makes their farms viable.
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14.
Amnesty to new Oz head: Refuse post
By Ron Friedman
The Jerusalem Post, October 19, 2009
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255694839655&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Amnesty International Israel on Sunday urged Yehuda Ben-Ezra, to reject his new post as head of the Oz immigration authority unit.
In a letter to Ben-Ezra, Amnesty director Eitan Epstein wrote that the agency charged with expelling illegal migrants was 'born in sin,' and that Ben-Ezra should refuse the post.
Ben-Ezra, who served as deputy commander of Oz, the six-month-old Interior Ministry unit, was appointed interim commander after the surprising resignation of unit founder, Tziki Sela, last week.
Amnesty's Epstein wrote that, 'The Oz unit has no justification; it was born in sin. Refugees from war-torn Africa ask Israel for sanctuary from religious and political persecution and from torture and genocide. The State of Israel has an historical, moral and legal obligation to honor the (1951) United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees it is a signatory to, and apply policies that respect its obligations to the treaty.'
Epstein said Israel should provide refuge for asylum seekers and be allowed to receive work permits and move freely throughout the country.
He also took the opportunity to speak out against the planned deportation of 1,200 children of foreign workers born in Israel and their families.
'The children of migrant workers are entitled to education, health and housing ,regardless of the question of the parent's status and the state must guarantee equal access to those services,' wrote Epstein.
'Mr. Ben-Ezra, if you want to act in Israel's favor, you must refuse the posting outright,' concluded Epstein.
Before joining Oz, Ben-Ezra served in various positions in the IDF. His last post was deputy commander of the southern command's engineers unit.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai congratulated Ben-Ezra on the appointment. 'This is a suitable appointment for a complex position and I'm sure Ben-Ezra will do a good job with the professionalism and determination required.
Sunday saw another demonstration against the planned deportation of children and their families at the Rose Garden, opposite the Knesset.
Roughly 50 people, all carrying banners and wearing shirts that read 'I love Israel,' called on the government to let the children and their families stay.
In August, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared a three-month moratorium on the children's expulsion, pending a decision by a ministerial committee. With less than two weeks to go before the moratorium is over, no final decision has been declared, but Yishai has been quoted as saying that he would not grant permanent status to any of the children.
Earlier in the day, farmers from across the country met in the Arava farming region in the south of Israel and threw out truckloads of fruits and vegetables. The mass disposal of fresh produce was a move to protest the government's refusal to issue work permits for foreign workers in the agricultural sector.
Farmers claim they are losing money because of labor shortages, since the government won't allow additional Thai workers into Israel.
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15.
Migrant workers lead foreign capital inflow
By Sanjeevi Jayasuriya
The Daily News (Sri Lanka), October 19, 2009
http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/10/19/bus01.asp
Remittances of migrant workers are close to US $ 3 billion or seven percent of the GDP or 36 percent of exports earnings and it is the second largest foreign exchange earner to Sri Lanka.
It has become the leading source of foreign capital to Sri Lanka, overtaking the official development assistance and foreign direct investment Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, Executive Director Dr. Saman Kelegama said.
International labour migration is an important area in the Sri Lanka’s socio-economic system.
Migration from Sri Lanka has grown in importance for the past several decades and the numbers have increased over tenfold during the same period.
The total number of out migrants of Sri Lanka on employment abroad at present is estimated to be 1.8 million while annually the outflow of workers is estimated to be around 250,000 people, he said.
In 2007, 23 percent of the total employment generated and 21 percent of the labour force in Sri Lanka was represented by foreign employment, he said.
Sri Lanka has a huge mismatch between the international demand for jobs and its supply capabilities.
The most pressing issue is the skill mismatch of what is demanded by the foreign countries and what Sri Lankan workers could offer. The Government has placed special emphasis on the promotion of high skilled workers as against the low skilled categories of labour migrants, but much work needs to be done, he said. The first country report on International Migration Outlook Sri Lanka 2008 was launched on Friday.
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16.
Free Medical Treatment for Expats
The Korea Times, October 18, 2009
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/10/113_53753.html
The Ministry of Justice said Sunday foreign residents around the country will be able to receive free medical checkups and counseling on a range of issues between Oct. 26 and Nov. 8. The event will be held at 14 immigration offices around the country.
The Ministry said it will partner with the Korean Medical Association and Korean Dental Association during the period.
Participating public servants will provide foreigners with tailor-made counseling on a variety of topics including immigration, labor, domestic violence and other legal issues, it said.
Introduced in 2007, the annual event has been regarded as a major opportunity for expats to share their problems with government officials.
More than 200 officials and 120 interpreters were dispatched to the event last year, dealing with more than 10,000 complaints. For more information, call 1345, a state-run call center for foreign residents.
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17.
Foreign Sex Offenders on Rise
The Korea Times, October 19, 2009
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/10/117_53813.html
The number of sex crimes committed by foreigners is growing, according to an opposition lawmaker.
On the basis of data he received from the Ministry of Justice, Rep. Woo Yoon-keun of the main opposition Democratic Party said a total of 1,289 sex crimes were committed by foreigners from January 2001 to August 2009.
By year, 83 cases were reported in 2001, 103 in 2003, 124 in 2005 and 242 last year. This year, 170 cases have been reported as of the end of August.
More than 510 cases, or about 40 percent, of the total cases resulted in indictments. Woo pointed out that the rate is lower than the country's overall sex crime prosecution rate of 45 percent last year. 'It is a serious problem that the number of foreign sexual offenders are surging as well as foreign criminals overall,' Woo said.
'The government should come up with preventive measures to the increasing sex crimes committed by expatriates.'
Prosecutors are launching a special task force staffed by immigration officials and police detectives, which will specialize in foreign crimes. However, some civic groups are voicing their concerns that the task force may violate foreigners' human rights.
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18.
Overseas Koreans Angry Over Empty Promises on Suffrage
By Lee Tae-hoon
The Korea Times, October 18, 2009
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/10/113_53741.html
Hawaii -- Koreans living abroad are becoming increasingly anxious over lawmakers' failure to provide specific plans regarding their ability to vote.
'We have recently seen a surge of lawmakers visiting the United States since the Election Law was revised in February.' said Jeff Lee, a director of the Korean American Federation of Los Angeles, from the costal city's Koreatown.
'Yet, none of them have come up with specific plans to simplify the registration and voting process, which takes a couple of days for many to cast a vote at the nearest Korean consulate or embassy and to counter fraudulent votes when the mail voting system is introduced,' Lee said.
Both governing and opposition party lawmakers submitted bills last September and March that would introduce a postal voting system to protect the right to vote of those living abroad and to boost their voting turnout rate.
Yet, legislators have put the suffrage issue on the back burner amid political bickering over the recent Cabinet reshuffle and parliamentary inspection of the administration.
Both parties are hesitant about passing the bill because it is difficult to determine which side it would benefit more.
'It is hard to predict which party overseas Koreans will support in the 2012 elections,' Lee said. 'Koreans have a long history of immigration. But they have never been given a chance to vote to pick a politician in their homeland'
Lee said the percentage of voter turnout among 2.4 million overseas Koreans eligible to vote will most likely remain in the single digits as the majority of them will be reluctant to travel several hours to register and cast a vote.
But he predicted turnout would surpass 20 percent if mail voting is implemented.
'Many of the 350,000 Korean voters living in California and New Mexico would have to spend two whole days to cast a vote as they will have to travel to one of two temporal election offices in Los Angeles,' Jeff said. 'I bet things would be much worse in other large countries, such as Russia and China.'
Critics, however, said it will be difficult to check the validity of the votes as the mailing system lacks the ability to check the identity of voters.
Some suggested the government should seek ways to increase the number of voting locations by dispatching election officials.
They said mail voting violates the principle of direct election and that appropriate measures to counter fraudulent votes should be drawn up.
Currently, postal voting is available only to a handful of people, including the physically handicapped.
Last February, the National Assembly passed a bill permitting Korean nationals abroad to vote in the presidential election and to elect legislators picked under the proportional representation system starting in 2012.
Postal voting is available in several countries, including the United States, Britain and Switzerland.
Some worry that the amended election system could do harm to the integration of Korean communities abroad as overseas Koreans might suffer divisive political conflicts.
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