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Daily news updates from CIS
November 5, 2009 -- Click here for overseas news
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[For CISNEWS subscribers --
1. Obama under fire from pro-amnesty House Dem
2. New law relaxes restrictions on widows
3. Senate kills Census citizenship proposal
4. Lawmakers settling details over care for illegals (2 stories)
5. OH Dem proposes billing countries for illegals' care
6. World Bank report expects remittances to hit $317B
7. CO supreme court to rule on ID theft probe
8. MA immigrant care program faltering
9. Denver rejects vehicle impound ordinance
10. OR city screens inmates for status
11. CA county continues immigration screening
12. Arpaio stumps for like-minded CA candidate
13. Latino activists sue over TX city voting policy
14. UT program provides immigrants holiday cheer
15. ACLU disputes Arizona raids
16. NY activists press Census participation
17. TX amnesty activists rally in DC
18. Immigrant, NFL star supports alma mater
19. NV garden nursery uses fencing to deal with day laborers
20. MS-13 implicated in plot to assassinate agent
21. IA kosher meatpacking exec's trial continues (link)
22. Neo-Nazis march on issue in AZ (link)
23. Six illegals rescued in AZ desert (link)
24. MS Asian eatery re-opens following raid (link)
25. Agents nab more illegals off CA coast (link)
26. Thirteen illegals nabbed with smuggler in CO (link)
27. Five in FL charged in imm. benefit fraud ring (link)
Subscribe to CIS e-mail services here: http://cis.org/immigrationnews.html
-- Mark Krikorian]
1.
House Dem attacks Obama on immigrants
By Erica Werner
The Associated Press, November 4, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hzHn6esvCSk8Bj_IKVx3lQ9NxXSgD9BOVAI00
Washington, DC (AP) -- A House Democrat is accusing President Barack Obama of dehumanizing illegal immigrants with his hard-line stance against allowing them to benefit from pending health overhaul legislation.
Congressman Luis Gutierrez, from Obama's home state of Illinois, said Wednesday the approach is 'nonsense' and would ultimately cost taxpayers more money when illegal immigrants end up in emergency rooms.
Language on illegal immigrants is still being finalized as the House prepares to vote as early as Saturday.
The White House wants to bar illegal immigrants from buying health plans in a new purchasing exchange, even if they use their own money. Gutierrez and other members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus say that goes too far.
Gutierrez said that Obama 'calls them illegal and criminalizes and dehumanizes them.'
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2.
New immigration law goes into effect; 'widow's penalty' ends
A new immigration law is now in effect, and this means new changes for Americans who marry foreign nationals.
By Melissa Tune
The WRDW News (Augusta, GA), November 3, 2009
http://www.wrdw.com/politics/headlines/69023852.html
Augusta, GA -- A new immigration law is now in effect and this means new changes for Americans who marry foreign nationals.
What's known as the widow penalty has ended now that President Barack Obama put the pen to the paper. This is especially meaningful to our military community, but it can affect anyone.
Under the old law, if a United States citizen married someone from outside the country and then died within two years of the marriage, the spouse was deported. Now the spouse can stay.
'Tomorrow is tomorrow. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow,' said Rev. Masaki Chiba.
Rev. Chiba is Japanese born and can't imagine a 'tomorrow' without his wife and children. He married his wife Charisse, an American, after they met in college. He became a U.S. citizen almost 20 years ago.
'What I did was, when we went back to Japan, I applied for a green card in Japan,' he said. 'That was five years after we got married.'
Marrying a foreign national can be as beautiful as it has been for the Chibas, or it can be a nightmare experience.
Up until October 29, 2009, the 'widow's penalty' was in effect, meaning hundreds of people were forced to leave the states.
'Unfortunately, the law in this area is very unforgiving,' said immigration attorney Paul Balducci. 'There's no exception; you basically will be deported.'
Until now. Balducci, who has had clients affected by the previous law, says this new law is good news for them.
'Any time the government's willing to step back and say 'We're not just going to have a blanket policy that doesn't take into account the particular facts of each case', I mean that a big victory,' Balducci said. 'It's a big win. It's a big success.'
The new law removes the two-year marriage requirement, permitting widows and widowers of U.S. citizens to apply for a green card for themselves and on behalf of their foreign-born children. It is also retroactive. Anyone qualifying for relief can file a petition for permanent residency up to two years from October 29, 2009.
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3.
Vitter amendment on census falls in Senate vote
By Jonathan Tilove
The Times Picayune (New Orleans), November 5, 2009
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/11/senate_democrats_kill_vitter_a.html
Sen. David Vitter's bid to require the 2010 Census to ask all respondents about their citizenship was killed today when the Senate voted to invoke cloture and end debate on the Commerce spending bill without having to consider the Louisiana Republican's amendment.
The Democratic leadership, which had been trying to block the Vitter amendment since early October, eked out a victory with the bare number of votes needed to invoke cloture, prevailing 60 to 39.
Vitter's Democratic colleague, Sen. Mary Landrieu, who had been caustic in her criticism of Vitter's measure, voted with the majority.
Vitter intended the citizenship count as a predicate to seeking to require that House seats be apportioned strictly on the basis of the citizen population of the United States, and not, as has always been the practice, on the total population.
Without the change, Vitter said that Louisiana will be one of nine states to lose a congressional seat that would not lose the seat if reapportionment were based strictly on a count of citizens.
'Louisiana is going to lose a House seat, one seventh of our strength, our representation, our clout.'' Vitter said.
The vote was preceded by a limited debate, in which Vitter restated the case for his amendment and asked for an apology from Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., for suggesting that his amendment was anti-immigrant and akin to past efforts to intimidate African Americans from voting.
'I take personal offense to that,'' said Vitter. 'I think there is no reasonable comparison and I ask Sen. Reid to apologize to me for that outrageous statement.''
Responding to Vitter, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who was guiding the appropriations bill to passage, told Vitter that 'the time to stand up was in April 2007,'' when she said questions for the 2010 census were being vetted by Congress.
Mikulski echoed Census Bureau warnings that adding a question at this late date would wreck plans for a timely Census and be hugely expensive. Vitter said that he agreed that the Homeland Security Committee should have paid more attention to the Census questions when they had the chance, but scoffed at the bureau's cost estimates.
After the vote, Vitter said,'I am disappointed that my colleagues in the Senate chose to block this commonsense amendment that could prevent Louisiana and several other states from losing a congressional seat following the 2010 census. The census is important -- but so is gathering accurate data. And we can't do that unless we know whether or not we are counting actual U.S. citizens. My amendment would have helped us do just that - it's a shame that so many of my colleagues chose to ignore that.'
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4.
Dems get health ready for House vote
By Jennifer Haberkorn
The Washington Times, November 5, 2009
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/05/dems-get-health-ready-for-house-vote/
Democratic House leaders are pushing for a final vote on a health care reform bill scheduled for Saturday with last-minute negotiations continuing over taxpayer-funded abortions and other contentious issues.
Leaders and at least a handful of pro-life Democrats appear to be close to a deal on language that would assure them that taxpayers would not have to pay for abortions, which is the most significant hurdle to final passage.
The 10-year, $1.2 trillion House bill would establish a government-run insurance plan, require individuals to obtain insurance and employers to provide it, and provide tax subsidies to help the poor and middle class obtain coverage.
Final passage in the House would put President Obama's goal of reforming the health care system within sight of the White House. From there, the Senate would have to pass its bill and then the two pieces of legislation would have to be combined, though neither is expected to be easy tasks.
It's not clear yet whether Democrats have the votes required to pass the bill. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, when asked whether he has the 218 votes, simply said, 'We'll see.'
Democrats plan to make final changes to their bill - expected to include the abortion compromise - by Friday, when the Rules Committee meets. Chairman Louise M. Slaughter, New York Democrat, said there will likely be five hours of floor debate and no floor amendments accepted in a rare Saturday session in the House.
During that time, Republicans hope to be able to offer their reform plan, released Wednesday, which would allow insurance companies to sell across state lines, establish high-risk insurance pools and limit medical malpractice awards. They rebuffed the idea that Democrats would try to pass the bill with one day of formal debate.
'The idea that Congress would enact a government takeover of one-sixth of the American economy and debate it for half a working day would be deeply offensive to the millions of Americans would cherish limited government,' said Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, chairman of the House Republican Conference.
There are expected to be conservative Democrats who vote against the bill over worry that it adds to the debt, allows for taxpayer-funded abortion or provides illegal immigrants access to the insurance exchanges.
. . .
Immigration also threatens to stall health care reform. In recent days, groups that support a crackdown on illegal immigration have warned that the House bill would allow people in the country illegally to get access to the insurance exchanges or other government benefits provided by the bill.
'If powerful special interests prevail, the final version of a health care reform bill will have been used to transform immigration policies as aggressively as it was used to transform the U.S. health care system itself,' said Dan Stein, president of Federation for American Immigration Reform.
But at least one supporter of expanding health insurance access to illegal immigrants said Wednesday that preventing access would threaten his support.
'I would find it extremely difficult to vote for any measure that denies undocumented workers health care,' said Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, Illinois Democrat. He said undocumented workers should be allowed access to insurance coverage provided that they get no tax assistance.
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Hoyer Expect House to Pass Healthcare Bill
Reuters, November 5, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/11/05/us/politics/politics-us-usa-healthcare-hoyer.html
Washington, DC (Reuters) -- U.S. House of Representatives Democratic leader Steny Hoyer on Thursday said he expects the House to pass a sweeping healthcare overhaul on Saturday, but acknowledged that the vote would be close.
'I think it's going to be close,' Hoyer told a small group of reporters. He said the House would take up the bill on Saturday and that it would win majority support from Democrats.
House leaders are working through some last minute details to settle concerns by some Democrats over abortion and immigration issues.
. . .
Some lawmakers also want to be sure illegal immigrants do not benefit from the federal subsidies for insurance premiums. Some also want to exclude illegal immigrants from accessing proposed insurance exchanges that would be established to help individuals and families find affordable insurance coverage.
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5.
New Bill Targets Illegal Immigrant Health Care Costs
By Dena Richardson
The KFOX News (El Paso, TX), November 4, 2009
http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/21526442/detail.html
El Paso, TX -- Legislation introduced in Congress Wednesday attempts to pass the bill for illegal immigrants' health care to their country of origin.
Rep. Zack Space, D-Ohio, introduced the bill saying it will save the U.S. billions in health care costs for illegal immigrants. The bill calls for deducting the cost of illegal immigrants' health care from the foreign aid their home countries would normally receive from the U.S.
'We can essentially send them a bill,' said Space.
The money deducted from foreign aid would go to the border patrol, not the hospitals or health care systems treating illegal immigrants.
'Those funds then will be applied to border security to help our borders and help eliminate or help stop the bleeding when it comes to illegal immigration,' said Space.
Some El Pasoans support the proposed bill.
'All the money that is being used to take care of illegal immigrants or people coming over here to use our facilities, I think the money needs to go to our border patrol,' said Sarah Garcia, of west El Paso.
Others hope the bill does not pass.
'I don't think I agree with what he's saying,' said Yvette Sanchez, of west El Paso. 'Because regardless of whether they're illegal or not, they're human beings. They need medical attention.'
Space said a lot of the details about the bill still need to be worked out, and at this time, he has no actual figures on how much money the bill could save taxpayers.
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6.
Migrant remittance to developing nations to touch $317 bn
The Press Trust of India, November 5, 2009
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/migrant-remittance-to-developing-nations-to-touch-317-bn/77594/on
Migrant remittance flow to developing countries, including India, will be around $317 billion this year, a lower-than-expected fall from the year-ago level, but will return to the recovery path in years to come, the World Bank has said.
Remittance flow to developing countries will touch $317 billion in 2009, and going forward, the inflows to these nations are expected to remain almost flat in 2010, (with a modest rise of 1.4 per cent) and grow by 3.9 per cent in 2011, the World Bank said in its Migration and Development Brief.
The projected remittance flow this year will represent a 6.1 per cent fall from the 2008 level against the earlier expectation of a 7.3 per cent dip.
The officially recorded remittance flow to developing countries reached $338 billion in 2008, higher than the previous estimate of $328 billion, according to the newly available data with the World Bank.
The report further added the remittance flows this year is likely to witness certain risks, and expected to slow down 'in a lagged response to a weak global economy'.
In the coming days, the flows in all the regions are likely to face three downside risks: a jobless economic recovery, tighter immigration controls and unpredictable exchange rate movements.
'With this sluggish pace of recovery, remittance flows are unlikely to reach the 2008 level even by 2011,' the World Bank said.
So far, this year South Asia saw better-than-expected remittance flows. Remittance to Pakistan rose by 24 per cent in the first eight months of 2009 on a year-on-year basis, Bangladesh had 16 per cent and Nepal 13 per cent.
Regarding India, the report said among other factors, 'exchange rate depreciation and widening interest rate differentials encouraged remittances to India for investment purposes.'
Besides, developing countries with migrants in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines) have experienced smaller decline in remittance flows.
However, remittance flows to countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean region until the third quarter of 2009 show larger declines than expected earlier.
India, China and Mexico retained the top three position among developing countries and attracted funds up to $52 billion, $49 billion and $26 billion respectively, according to the latest data in the remittance report.
The other constituents in the top ten list include — Philippines ($19 billion, 4th), Poland ($11 billion, 5th), Nigeria ($10 billion, 6th), Romania ($9 billion, 7th), Bangladesh ($9 billion, 8th), Egypt ($9 billion, 9th) and Vietnam ($7 billion, 10th).
EDITOR’S NOTE: The World Bank brief is available online at: http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTDECPROSPECTS/0,,contentMDK:21125572~pagePK:64165401~piPK:64165026~theSitePK:476883,00.html
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7.
ID theft case goes to Colo. Supreme Court
The Associated Press, November 5, 2009
http://www.krdo.com/Global/story.asp?S=11447665
Denver (AP) -- The Colorado Supreme Court is hearing arguments about the legality of an identity theft investigation against hundreds of suspected illegal immigrants who were filing taxes, without having valid Social Security numbers.
A district court judge halted the investigation in April after he ruled Weld County authorities violated people's privacy and had no probable cause to inspect their tax returns.
Anyone who earns income in the U.S. must file taxes, regardless of legal status.
The public defender's office and the American Civil Liberties Union are arguing against Weld County's appeal Thursday.
County authorities said last year as many as 1,300 suspected undocumented immigrants were using other people's identities to work and file taxes.
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8.
Immigrants face hurdles with new care coverage
By Kay Lazar
The Boston Globe, November 5, 2009
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/11/05/immigrants_face_hurdles_with_new_care_coverage/
The Patrick administration has trumpeted its salvaging of health insurance for 28,000 legal immigrants, but the company hired to cover this group has been late assigning doctors and sending enrollment information to many patients, health and immigrant advocates say.
Even some patients who received the necessary information are facing significant hurdles connecting with the doctors CeltiCare Health Plan of Massachusetts assembled in its new network, which sharply limits the community health centers and hospitals available to patients.
``Often the new providers are a long way from where they live, and this is a problem for immigrants who have to use public transportation,'' said Franklin Soults, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, the state's largest immigrant group.
``The new places,'' he added, ``don't have the translator services that their former providers do.''
The new health coverage was scheduled to start Oct. 1 for about 12,000 of the immigrants in the Boston area, and on Nov. 1 for another 10,000 on the North and South shores. Coverage for the rest begins Dec. 1.
CeltiCare, which is being paid $36.5 million over nine months, defended its performance yesterday, saying that delays in mailing enrollment information and doctor assignments to patients were the state's fault, because it was tardy providing a list of immigrants' names and addresses.
``We have 15 days, once we receive the list from the state, to send patients their packets,'' said Brian Delaney, a CeltiCare spokesman.
Richard Powers, a state spokesman, said that on Oct. 27 CeltiCare was provided with a list of patients whose coverage began Nov. 1. ``We were not late,'' he said.
Packets were being mailed yesterday, Delaney said, for patients whose coverage was supposed to start Nov. 1. He said packages went out during the first week of October for those whose coverage was scheduled to start Oct. 1.
``We aren't naïve, that there is not going to be a misaddressed or an individual problem here or there, but we are dealing with that,'' Delaney said, adding that company call centers have received no complaints.
``Since Oct. 1,'' Delaney said, ``better than 90 percent of [customer calls] have been answered by a live person within 30 seconds.''
Hotline counselors at Health Care for All, a large Boston-based consumer group, are hearing complaints.
``Our HelpLine counselors are hearing about a number of glitches, from delayed welcome packets to difficulties communicating with CeltiCare's call line,'' said Lindsey Tucker, one of the group's policy managers.
In Belmont, Brazilian dancer Rosangela Santiago said she tried, in vain, for an hour earlier this week to reach CeltiCare's customer service department. Santiago has been sidelined by a foot injury that requires cortisone shots and physical therapy for rehabilitation. Her CeltiCare coverage is not scheduled to begin until Dec. 1, but she received a letter Oct. 1 from her caregivers at Cambridge Health Alliance saying they would be unable to provide care after Oct. 31, because CeltiCare did not contract with them. Now the 35-year-old does not know where to turn.
``I get a recording that says . . . `Your call is important to us,' and I wait on hold for over an hour,'' she said of CeltiCare.
When Santiago looked on the company's website to find a doctor, she said it showed none available in her ZIP code.
Legal immigrants' coverage under the Commonwealth Care plan, the centerpiece of the state's landmark 2006 health care overhaul, expired Aug. 31, after lawmakers eliminated $130 million for their care to help balance the state's budget.
Ultimately, legislators restored $40 million, and CeltiCare stepped in to offer a reduced-rate package that will keep core medical services, such as routine doctor visits and hospital treatment, but excludes more comprehensive care. Some patients will also have to pay significantly higher copayments for medications and other treatments.
CeltiCare's list of health care providers is largely composed of lower-cost community health centers and a small number of hospitals. The network excludes many medical institutions that specialize in treating immigrants, and that is leading to disruptions in their care, said executives at several Boston-area hospitals that were not offered CeltiCare contracts.
The state's contract with CeltiCare requires the company to provide at least one hospital in each county and provide each patient with a choice of at least two primary care physicians who are accepting new patients, are ``appropriate and culturally sensitive,'' and are located within a 15-mile radius or 30 minutes travel time.
Last week, a state agency blocked the company from offering health coverage to the public until April, saying CeltiCare does not have an adequate number of medical providers in its network for that product. But it did not make any determination about the adequacy of the company's network for immigrants or for other lower-income patients who also receive state-subsidized health insurance from CeltiCare.
Many of the CeltiCare patients live in Lawrence, which has a large Spanish-speaking population, but Lawrence General Hospital and its affiliated community health center did not get a contract with the company, forcing more than 1,400 patients to make new care arrangements.
Among them is Amparo Villa, a 51-year-old Dominican immigrant who through a translator said she takes 16 medications for chronic illnesses including diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and arthritis. She will now have to take a taxi to Holy Family Hospital in Methuen every time she needs to see a doctor, a $14 round trip.
``It's expensive for me to go to Methuen,'' said Villa, who takes home just $220 a week from her custodian's job.
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9.
Denver soundly rejects car impound measure
The initiative, criticized as an effort to target illegal immigrants, would have required police to seize the vehicle of any unlicensed driver instead of leaving the decision to officers.
By DeeDee Correll
The Los Angeles Times, November 5, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-denver-impound5-2009nov05,0,4726885.story
While voters elsewhere in the country were pondering questions of governorships and gay marriage, Denver residents were asked this week to consider a decidedly more obscure issue:
Should police be allowed to decide for themselves when to seize cars from unlicensed drivers?
Voters answered with a resounding yes, siding with law enforcement on what had become a controversial issue that many saw as a thinly disguised effort to target undocumented immigrants.
Initiative 300 sought to require police to impound cars when they found them driven by unlicensed motorists -- stripping authorities of the discretion to make that decision for themselves.
If approved, the law would have given Denver an approach unusual among police departments.
The measure -- rejected Tuesday by 70% of voters -- spurred strong opposition from city leaders as well as nonprofit and faith groups, who objected to a provision that would have required police to impound the cars not only of unlicensed drivers, but also of anyone suspected of being an 'illegal alien.' It also required that motorists post a $2,500 bond to retrieve their cars.
Opponents had argued that the requirement would have drained city resources, crowded impound lots and punished drivers who simply forgot their licenses.
'Voters recognized that it was a bad policy,' said Jessie Ulibarri, spokesman for Coloradans for Safe Communities, a coalition of groups that opposed the measure.
Throughout the campaign, the initiative's author, Dan Hayes, argued that unlicensed drivers usually also were uninsured, making them a menace, and maintained that illegal immigrants were a significant part of the problem.
Despite the loss, Hayes said he intended to pursue a similar measure statewide. 'I don't know if I'll get the support, but I'll try anyway. I don't give up.'
'I think he'll have a big uphill battle,' Ulibarri said. 'Voters across the state understand this is a terrible idea.'
The measure garnered 24,016 votes of support, or 30.5%, and 54,717 no votes, or 69.5%.
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10.
Oregon City: 'Where were you born?' Jail wants to know
By Rick Bella
The Oregonian (Portland), November 5, 2009
http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2009/11/oregon_city_where_were_you_bor.html
Nobody ever confused the Clackamas County Jail with a country club.
It's old. It's packed to capacity. And the inmates are observed and supervised from the moment they're booked until the moment they're released.
But for nearly two years, the jail has become even more inhospitable -- for illegal immigrants, that is.
Two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents now work full-time at the jail, weeding out those in the country illegally. The result has been a steady flow of inmates into federal custody, many to be deported.
And Clackamas County isn't alone. ICE agents have close relationships with counties across Oregon. Three agents are assigned to Washington County, while six work in Multnomah County.
Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts cracked down on illegal immigrants in 2007 after The Oregonian reported that Alejandro Rivera Gamboa, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was not deported after he was first convicted of drunken driving, then later killed 15-year-old Dani Countryman in Milwaukie.
In response, Roberts referred 700 DUII cases to the county's probation officials. The search turned up 62 people who were not U.S. citizens and whose names were sent to federal authorities. ICE agents then determined that 10 were subject to deportation.
District Attorney John Foote enacted a similar policy for all Clackamas County cases.
Federal partners
At the same time, federal authorities began establishing partnerships with local law-enforcement and corrections authorities.
'After 9/11, ICE stepped up its efforts,' said Bryan Wilcox, ICE deputy field office director for the Pacific Northwest. 'We're scouring the jails nationwide, looking for ... foreign nationals arrested or convicted of a crime.'
Roberts said the partnership is working well.
'Having ICE agents working in the jail really has improved communications between the two agencies,' Roberts said. 'They are really an asset for the sheriff's office.'
Clackamas County's process starts at booking, when criminal suspects are brought in.
'One of the first things we ask is, 'Where were you born?'' said Undersheriff David Kirby, who oversees jail operations. 'The answer they give can change everything.'
Corrections deputies also are trained to spot potential problems where they may not be so obvious to others. Inconsistencies during questioning may warrant a second look. Same goes for an inability to speak English or failing to provide a Social Security number or a permanent address.
If a suspect raises red flags for a deputy, then he or she is referred to ICE agents, who begin an independent immigration-status investigation, which often runs parallel to the state's criminal justice process.
This year through September, in the last figures available, 587 inmates were referred to ICE for evaluation. After investigation, 319 of those were detained under federal supervision.
The number of foreign-born suspects arrested in Clackamas County isn't overwhelming, either by raw totals or percentages. Corrections staff members generally book in nearly 14,000 suspects a year. Of those, fewer than 800 raise immigration-status suspicion, and about 400 are later detained at ICE's direction.
That translates to about 3 percent.
But the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, wants stricter border control for the sake of national security. And local officials don't want to miss a chance to put a criminal out of circulation.
'Jail beds are at a premium for us,' said Sheriff Roberts. 'The sooner we can get someone who doesn't belong here into immigration custody, the sooner we can put that jail bed to use and get the most out of taxpayers' dollars.'
Inmates referred to ICE are brought to downtown Portland, where they are subjected to exhaustive interviews by agents. The agents speak Spanish -- by far the most common language of Clackamas County's illegal immigrants -- and use translators to question others in languages as diverse as Ukrainian, Arabic and Vietnamese.
'At this point, we're trying to determine if they're removable,' said Wilcox. 'It will depend on their status and the seriousness of the new accusations.'
Detention in Seattle
If found 'removable,' the inmates are taken to the federal Northwest Detention Center in Seattle. They then can have a hearing on the merits of the immigration charges against them. Appeals can delay a case.
'We've seen some cases that dragged on for two years,' Wilcox said. 'But usually, these cases are decided quickly.'
One odd twist is the number of suspicious subjects they question who don't realize they actually are U.S. citizens.
'They may not understand the law or realize that their parents were U.S. citizens when they were born,' Wilcox said. 'They're often surprised when they hear they're citizens. Of course, if they've been arrested and accused of a crime by local authorities, that doesn't mean their problems are over.'
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11.
San Bernardino County renews immigration screening agreement
By Imgran Ghori
The Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA), November 3, 2009
http://blogs.pe.com/news/digest/2009/11/san-bernardino-county-renews-i.html
San Bernardino County supervisors renewed an agreement Tuesday with federal immigration officials that allows continued screening of jail inmates despite protests from immigration rights groups. Several immigration advocates suggested at a board meeting that the county modify the sheriff's department's agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to allow for more public oversight.
Under the program, in which the county has participated three years, if sheriff's officials believe an inmate is in the country illegally, the inmate is referred to ICE for further questioning. Many of those referred to ICE are deported after they serve their sentences.
Critics allege that the program has led to racial profiling and other civil rights violations. They say immigrants have been detained or questioned for minor offenses.
Justice for Immigrants Coalition of Inland Southern California, which includes the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino and about a dozen other groups, asked that the county consider modifying its agreement to include an advisory committee and an open complaint procedure.
Father Leonard De Pasquale, pastor of St. Bernardine Church in San Bernardino, said if the county does participate, 'it should do so in a way that does not discriminate against or harm somebody because of the color of their skin or the language they speak.'
Sheriff's officials, in response to the allegations that residents are hassled over minor violations, said the department does not book suspects for infractions or most misdemeanors.
'We do not interview or screen anybody until they are lawfully booked into a facility,' said sheriff's Deputy Chief John McMahon.
Supervisors approved the agreement, continuing the county's participation for three more years, unanimously without comment. All five defended the program later in interviews and news releases.
'I've really not heard of any complaints or profiling,' Chairman Gary Ovitt said.
Supervisor Josie Gonzales said in most cases, people are stopped because of the situation, not their background.
'I believe there have been occasions where it could be true,' she said. 'Overall, I believe the sheriff's department has done a very good job of rising above it.'
Emilio Amaya, executive director of San Bernardino Community Services Center Inc., a coalition member, said he was not surprised by the board's approval.
'They had already made up their minds,' he said. 'We just want them to know not everybody's happy.'
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12.
'Toughest sheriff' stumps in OC sheriff's race
The Associated Press, November 5, 2009
http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_13720735?nclick_check=1
Anaheim, CA (AP) -- The self-proclaimed 'toughest sheriff in America' has been invited to stump for a challenger's bid to be Orange County's next sheriff.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is known for cracking down on illegal immigration and making inmates wear pink underwear and assigning them to chain gangs. He will give a speech Thursday afternoon at a fundraiser for former Orange County sheriff's Lt. Bill Hunt.
Hunt says he admires Arpaio's leadership on immigration issues in Arizona but would approach the issue differently in Orange County. He says he would work closely with Border Patrol and continue checking inmates' immigration status.
Hunt will challenge Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens in June. He lost a bid for the department's top job in 2006.
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13.
Appeals court rules against voting rights lawsuit
By Anabelle Garay
The Associated Press, November 4, 2009
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D9BP0AL00.html
Three Latino voters will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to consider their challenge over how council members are elected in Farmers Branch, a Dallas suburb that's trying to oust illegal immigrants through a series of ordinances, their attorney said Wednesday.
The plaintiffs plan to seek an appeal before the nation's highest court after a federal appeals court affirmed a ruling against their voting-rights lawsuit, said one of their attorneys, Domingo Garcia.
Valentine Reyes, Irene Gonzalez and Gary F. Garcia alleged the at-large City Council system in Farmers Branch diluted minority votes. They wanted to create single-member districts, in which a council member is elected to represent a specific section of the city.
Their attorneys argued before a federal court in Dallas that Hispanic citizens of voting age would form a majority of the voters in one of the proposed districts. On appeal, they contended that citizenship wasn't a requirement in showing Latinos of voting age would make up the majority in the proposed district.
A three-judge panel at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the argument. In a ruling Tuesday, the New Orleans-based panel insisted that the number of minorities of voting age in a proposed district must be citizens and needed to account for a majority of the total population of the district's voting-age citizens.
'That's really a change of how voting rights law has been interpreted in the past and would make a very bad precedent if it was adopted,' Garcia said.
City officials were pleased with the decision.
'We thought it was a correct and very good opinion,' said C. Robert Heath, one the city's attorneys.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of after the City Council in Farmers Branch approved banning illegal immigrants from renting homes in the city, a rule that's never been enforced because of lawsuits and a ruling preventing it. The plaintiffs said if the single-member district method had been in place, at least one Latino candidate would have previously been elected to the council and could represent the ethnic group.
Since 1970, Farmers Branch has changed from a small, predominantly white community to a city of almost 28,000 people. U.S. Census Bureau estimates show about 48 percent of Farmers Branch residents are Hispanic. The city's mayor and city council are all white.
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14.
Immigrant's hardships shape her philanthropy
Holiday Essentials - Croatian refugee has been gathering donations for those in need through program she helped start last year.
By Jennifer W. Sanchez
The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City), November 4, 2009
http://www.sltrib.com/midvalley/ci_13713587
Milka Vladic's first Christmas in Utah 11 years ago was far from wondrous, but it was memorable.
She and her family were new refugees from Croatia without any money. They didn't speak English, and they were not acquainted with American holiday traditions.
But, strangers knocked on their door and flooded their apartment with nicely wrapped gifts and a decorated Christmas tree. Vladic couldn't understand them, so all she could say was 'thank you and bye.'
'When you come here, you miss everything, but people made me happy,' she said.
That's why Vladic helped start the Holiday Essentials program last year through the Lutheran Social Services of Utah in Salt Lake City. The program provided some 1,000 refugee, immigrant and low-income families with gift baskets filled with toys, blankets, coats and household items, organizers said.
Now, Vladic and others are working to solicit even more donations for this year's gift baskets because they want to help additional families.
'We need everything,' said Vladic, who started working at the nonprofit Lutheran agency about two years ago.
Last year, Holiday Essentials helped 300 families at Parkview Elementary School on Salt Lake City's west side. Maria Mendoza, a former school employee, said many of the students were from single-parent and 'very low-income' homes and really needed the holiday assistance.
Mendoza calls the program's organizers, including the agency's president Leslie Whited, 'bright angels for our families.'
'You need to see the smiles -- to see the difference these programs make for these families,' she said. 'They are grateful.'
This year, the program is partnering with Riley Elementary School in the same neighborhood and plans to help out more than 300 families. Mendoza, the school's community family involvement coordinator, said students are in dire need of school uniform clothing, and she hopes donors consider shopping for them.
'They really need it,' she said.
Vladic, now a single mom with two teenagers, said she's doing much better than when she moved here, but she understands the struggles of such families.
She remembers running home having to use the restroom because she didn't know how to ask where it was. Vladic didn't know what food products to buy because she couldn't read the labels.
'If you need something, you can't ask because no one understands you,' Vladic said. 'It was a very hard time.'
Vladic worked as a hotel housekeeper for about five years, then later at a meat-packing company, making $11 an hour, for two years. She now works full time at the agency as an AmeriCorps employee and part time as a security guard.
Vladic said she now has money to buy gifts for loved ones, but hopes she's able to collect donations for Holiday Essentials to make the holidays better for others.
'I like making people happy because I know how people are feeling,' she said.
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15.
ACLU Questions Immigration Raids
By Jamie Ross
The Courthouse News Service, November 5, 2009
http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/11/05/ACLU_Questions_Immigration_Raids.htm
Phoenix -- Most undocumented immigrants arrested during the highly publicized 'Return to Sender' raids in Northern Arizona had no criminal records, the ACLU says, citing documents it received in response to a FOIA request. More than 50 addresses agents used were more than 10 years old, which discomfited innocent families who were visited by the task force, the ACLU says.
The raids were carried out in November 2008, seeking 125 specific immigrants, and the ACLU demanded documents on the operations conducted in Flagstaff, Sedona and Prescott. The documents show that only 14 of the 80 people who were arrested had previously been deported and only 2 of the 14 had criminal convictions.
The documents also show that 23 of the 80 arrests were made at workplaces or homes and 18 arrests were the result of two smuggling loads stopped on Interstate 17. Twenty-four people were arrested on criminal arrest warrants at a trailer park in Sedona.
The ACLU says the document show that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office and Prescott Police Department relied on outdated addresses to look for fugitives.
The ACLU says that ICE agents deceived some immigrants into believing that the only option they had was to sign a voluntary removal agreement.
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16.
Hispanics want to be counted in 2010
By Charles Scirbona
The Legislative Gazette (Albany), November 3, 2009
http://www.legislativegazette.com/Articles-c-2009-11-03-55139.113122_Hispanics_want_to_be_counted_in_2010.html
The Hispanic Complete Count Committee of the Capital Region is launching a Web site — www.hispanicCCC.weebly.com — to promote the accurate count of the Hispanic population in the Capitol Region in the upcoming 2010 census.
According to Monica Arias Miranda, co-chair of the committee, part of the message they're trying to convey to the growing Hispanic community is just how significant the census is to them. '[Hispanics] as a group are under represented in the work force and the political arena. The census will show that we are a serious voting bloc.' Miranda also said the last census estimated 38,000 Hispanic residents in the Capital Region, and she believes the new census will show an even larger amount.
Guillermo Martinez, who also co- chairs the committee agreed about the significance of the 2010 census saying federal funding for communities comes from census numbers.' Martinez said the committee plans to begin reaching out to the community by contacting the superintendents of school districts in the Capital Region. The idea behind this, according to Martinez is to have schools get the message to students that their parents should take part in the 2010 census. Martinez explained that schools are the first to feel the effects of the growing number of Hispanics in the community
Martinez said the committee also plans to reach out to stores such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot in the next 30 days. Martinez explained that these stores are frequented by Hispanics, and that one option mentioned by the committee would be to put up bilingual banners in these stores announcing the upcoming 2010 census and why it is important to participate.
Another idea brought up by the committee would require working with Capital District Transit Authority to put public service announcements on buses. Martinez said this is another target area because a large section of the Hispanic community uses these buses every day. Miranda and Martinez both brought up the possibility of holding town hall meetings to get their message out to different communities, as well as working with other area groups such as the Schenectady NAACP, and the New York Immigration Coalition.
Martinez cited another reason for trying to ensure a complete count, relating back to a 2004 court case — Arbor Hill Concerned Citizens Neighborhood Association v. Albany County. The case is significant according to Martinez because at the time the Albany County Legislature tried to re-draw its districts and not count Hispanics as minorities. The court ruled against Albany County, and as a result, a new district was added, one that Martinez said had many Hispanic constituents.
Martinez said 'This was a warning sign of what can happen without a complete count.'
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17.
Valley residents support reform and pay a trip to D.C.
The McAllen Times (TX), November 5, 2009
http://mcallentimes.com/?p=264
San Juan, TX -- Hundreds of Valley residents signed a letter of support to a comprehensive immigration reform and donated $1 dollar each one to pay the visit of community organizers to Washington, D.C. to speak with Texas representatives last October and convince them about the importance and urgency to approve that reform.
The fundraising campaign, sponsored by La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), a Rio Grande Valley’s organization advocating a comprehensive immigration reform, managed to get $1,428.64 in total.
The LUPE members who went to Washington, D.C. spent $1,575 dollars in flight expenses and $100 in meals during their 3-day staying in the Nation’s capital. Javier Parra, a LUPE organizer in Alton, Texas, said that LUPE had to raise money because she didn’t plan to make any travel to Washington, D.C. and the trip was not budgeted.
Ericka Gonzalez, a Mercedes resident, said that she helped to raise money and signatures “because there is a need to become regular and to pass a reform to benefit all undocumented immigrants.”
The campaign become a contest among the four LUPE’s offices in Hidalgo County. The Alton office was able to raise $537 dollars and won the first place in the contest. Other office got $225 (San Juan), $199.64 (Mercedes), and $67 (Pharr). The Hirn Family donated $400. LUPE is still trying to raise $271 more dollars to refund all expenses.
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18.
Honoring his mother, and alma mater
By Daniel de Vise
The Washington Post, November 5, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/04/AR2009110404686.html?hpid=sec-education
At 9, Madieu Williams immigrated to Prince George's County from Sierra Leone, one of the poorest nations on Earth. The move gave his family a sense of perspective. His mother told him over and over that if he ever found himself in a position to make a difference, he should do it.
At 28, Williams finds himself in a relatively prosperous position: He plays free safety for the Minnesota Vikings. And Wednesday, he made a difference.
In a morning news conference, the University of Maryland announced the creation of the Madieu Williams Center for Global Health Initiatives. The former U-Md. star is providing a $2 million endowment. It is the largest gift to the flagship school from an African American alumnus and the largest sum donated by someone so young.
'I realized a vision of what my mom would have liked to do,' said Williams, whose mother, Abigail Burscher, died four years ago. 'She would have liked this.'
Williams doesn't remember the poverty in Sierra Leone, where, according to World Bank statistics, 27 of every 100 children die by age 5.
But he remembers the standard for compassion set by his mother, a nurse, who raised him as a single parent. And he remembers his experience working with sick, sometimes terminally ill, children as a college intern in the recreation therapy section of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda.
'I think she was raising my social consciousness,' he said.
Williams grew up in Lanham and attended DuVal High School and Towson University before transferring to Maryland. He graduated in 2003 with a degree in family science and went off to play pro football.
He proved uncommonly talented in the role of free safety, a versatile defensive position that calls for running after very fast men who are trying to catch the football and score touchdowns. Williams is in his sixth season, his second with the Vikings.
His gift comes amid a seven-year, $1 billion capital campaign at U-Md., at a time when research universities are relying more on private support to replace lost revenue from their states. The school is more than halfway to its goal.
The concept for the global health center 'really began with Madieu himself,' said Robert Gold, dean of the School of Public Health. Williams had considered setting up a scholarship fund but decided on something more ambitious.
The center, conceived over the past 18 months, will focus on public health initiatives in the disparate locales of Prince George's and Sierra Leone, two places close to his heart.
Despite its concentration of black wealth, Prince George's also has the second-highest rate of AIDS in Maryland, after Baltimore, and 151,000 residents who lack health coverage, according to a county report this year.
The center will be a partnership among the Madieu Williams Foundation, the university, the county and the Sierra Leone Embassy.
Sierra Leone Ambassador H.E Bockari Stevens attended the campus ceremony. He praised Williams for 'trying to rebrand the image of our country,' which endured a decade of civil war and is 'still on the bottom of the ladder' in public health. And he praised the young immigrant for remembering his homeland.
'Many people tend to forget where they came from,' Stevens said.
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19.
Fence up, day laborers off property
The KTNV News (Las Vegas), November 2, 2009
http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11430412
Las Vegas -- You could call it a sign of the times, the desperation to find work.
'It is difficult,' said Fissmy, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who is looking for any odd-jobs to support his 8 year old son. He says of lately, it hasn't been easy.
'One day, work, another day, no work, one week, two weeks, no working. It's difficult,' he tells Action News in Spanish.
But workers like Feesmy aren't joining the lines at the temp agencies. They take their job hunt to the streets. They're looking for someone, anyone to hire them.
'Lady, lady, lady is what they say constantly,' Heidi Prieto says. She's a regular customer at the Star Nursery near Cheyenne and 95.
She says over the past few months, the workers' search for jobs has collided unpleasantly with her search for garden plants.
'When I come in, if I'm not paying attention to my surroundings and they pop up there, my heart nearly rips out my chest.'
Action News witnessed that first hand, as we camped out at different stores and found laborers swarming cars, on and outside the property and some people even hiring the workers.
'We should be able to shop without being harassed,' Heidi says.
Now, Star Nursery is drawing the line with a fence. Workers will have to peek through the barrier and wait beyond the property line in order to find work near Star.
'We don't support day laborers. I understand people's right and need to work but there's a way of going about that,' says Pat Chapin, attorney for Star Nursery.
Chapin tells Action News the nursery has spent $200,000 a year on security to handle the laborers after thousands of complaints like Heidi's, claiming they jump on cars, yell, and approach customers in front of the store.
Chapin says the laborers also broke a water valve last summer, resulting in a $5,000 water bill at one store.
Landscaping has also been torn up, plus urination and defecation on the property.
'Day laborers can still do what they have to do on the public streets but star nursery is telling the public and the community and its customers that it's not going to tolerate this infiltration and this trespass and this aggressive behavior,' Chapin says.
Star Nursery isn't the only one putting up a barrier. At Moon Valley nursery in Henderson, they're planning to put up a wrought iron fence to surround their property.
Workers like Feesmy don't like the changes.
'It's discrimination,' he says.
Customers like Heidi don't think it's enough
'We witnessed another guy take a knife and cut the 'no' where it says 'no day laborers' out of it- and this is the people you want in your parking lot harassing you? he had a knife in his hand and cut it of the sign.'
Metro gets calls from local nurseries and home improvement stores every day, complaining about trespassing. Metro says they rarely make arrests, instead issuing warnings. Heidi wishes they'd do more.
'It's like a game. You call metro and you sit and wait to do your report because this has happened. Soon as Metro comes they jump off the property, soon as Metro leaves, they come right back on 10
So now police are taking a different approach. Sheriff Doug Gillespie has introduced a new protocol that should be approved soon. It tells officers how to handle day laborer calls.
'In a problem that we can't necessarily solve right now, this provides some guidance for our officers out there,' Captain Chris Darcy of Metro tells us.
A lot of people may not even realize that in the City of Las Vegas, it's illegal to stop a vehicle in the street to employ a pedestrian. Retailers have been working for years to find a solution to customers' issues with the laborers, but the argument that always wins?
'Day laborers have a right to be out there,' says Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the ACLU.
'Having several people on the sidewalk calling out to you saying 'hey give me a job,' that's not harassment,' Lichtenstein continues.
The ACLU of Nevada has been against proposals to regulate where day laborers can stand and ask for work, but the ACLU tells us they're okay with Star's fence.
'Fencing off your own property is something that people do all the time that's viable in keeping them off their own property. It will not keep them off the public sidewalk,' Lichtenstein says.
The ACLU supports the idea of having an area for the laborers to congregate to lessen customer complaints.
At a Home Depot in Los Angeles, the city operates and pays for the area for the workers to gather. In Las Vegas there is no area for workers to gather and the fence was Star's only solution to their customers' complaints.
They say the fence is working. They say their sales have gone up about 5% at locations with the barriers, and they've received positive customer feedback.
But the barrier doesn't deter everyone. Feesmy tells us, he's still going to be out there, trying to get work, 'I am not a bad person. I am a good person and I am like many other people waiting for an opportunity.'
Star also just found out that they've been cited by the city and the county for having a temporary fence up. They have until December to take the fence down or apply for a permit for permanent fencing.
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20.
Salvadoran gangs targeted NYC agent
United Press International, November 4, 2009
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/11/04/Salvadoran-gangs-targeted-NYC-agent/UPI-40531257372453/
NYC (UPI) -- Salvadoran MS-13 gang members hatched a brazen plot to assassinate the U.S. immigration official in charge of a New York crackdown, documents indicate.
Affidavits in an arrest warrant issued for reputed gang member Walter (Duke) Torres said he informed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials that orders had come from MS-13 leaders in El Salvador to kill the unidentified ICE agent, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday.
Torres made the statements to ICE agents while being held at the Rikers Island prison on a warrant from Virginia. He allegedly told agents he had been put in charge of the assassination plot, and that his MS-13 'clique,' which is based in Virginia, came to New York in August to slay the agent.
The Daily News said another MS-13 informant alleged that the ICE agent had been targeted because gang leaders were 'exceedingly angry' at him for arresting many of its members in recent years.
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21.
Rubashkin trial: Informant had been rejected as employee due to fake papers
By Grant Schulte
The Des Moines Register, November 4, 2009
Sioux Falls, SD -- A federal informant twice was rejected to work at an eastern Iowa meat plant because of fake work papers, a top agent from the case testified today.
The informant was hired — five months before a massive immigration raid at the plant — on the third try when he or she presented legitimate documents that were provided by federal investigators, the agent testified.
Michael D. Fischels, a Cedar Rapids-based federal special agent, was called to testify by lawyers for Sholom Rubashkin, the plant’s former vice president, who is on trial for 91 financial fraud charges, including bank, mail and wire fraud, money laundering and ignoring an order to pay livestock providers in the time required by law.
Fischels, an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was a lead investigator in the case that led to a May 2008 immigration raid at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville. He has sat near prosecutors throughout Rubashkin’s trial.
Prosecutors noted on cross-examination that Elizabeth Billmeyer, the plant’s human resources manager, had talked with investigators about illegal immigrants at the plant as early as October 2007. Investigators also relied on other workers, past and present, to document illegal hiring at the plant.
Lawyers have mentioned the alleged immigration violations at times because they relate to accusations that Rubashkin lied to the plant’s lender. Rubashkin is scheduled to stand trial on 72 immigration-related charges in December.
Fischels told jurors that the informant, 'S.A. 007,' first applied to work at Agriprocessors on Nov. 8, 2007. The informant — who, like many workers, was Hispanic — entered the plant wearing a hidden recorder and transmitter, Fischels said. Plant managers rejected the worker because his Social Security and resident alien cards were clearly fraudulent, he said.
The informant applied again on Dec. 11, 2007, and was once more rejected, Fischels testified.
Agents then furnished the informant with legitimate documents from a forensic laboratory in Washington, D.C., Fischels said. The informant was hired in January 2008, and provided authorities with information about happenings inside the plant, Fischels testified.
A federal affidavit made public the day of the raid identifies a similar informant, 'Source #7,' who sought employment at the plant on the same dates mentioned by Fischels.
. . .
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20091104/NEWS/91104016
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22.
Neo-Nazis to march against illegal immigration
The Associated Press, November 5, 2009
Phoenix (AP) -- The leader of a group of neo-Nazis has announced a planned march for this weekend at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix.
National Socialist Movement commander Jeff Schoep said his group will be protesting against illegal immigration while showing support for the American worker.
. . .
http://www.kswt.com/Global/story.asp?S=11449042
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23.
6 illegal immigrants from Mexico rescued in Ariz.
The Associated Press, November 4, 2009
Yuma, AZ (AP) -- U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Yuma sector say they have rescued six illegal immigrants in a remote desert area.
Agents assigned to the Yuma Station responded Tuesday night to the activation of a rescue beacon south of the Fortuna Mine about 25 miles east of Yuma.
. . .
http://www.kswt.com/Global/story.asp?S=11443964
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24.
Flowood eatery reopens after raid
The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson), November 4, 2009
After a lengthy shutdown stemming from an immigration raid, Stix restaurant on Lakeland Drive in Flowood has reopened.
The Asian-cuisine restaurant reopened last week, company spokeswoman Cindy Payton said.
. . .
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20091104/BIZ/91104018/Flowood+eatery+reopens+after+raid
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25.
Agents intercept smugglers' boats
By Richard Marosi
The Los Angeles Times, November 3, 2009
Mexican immigrant trafficking groups continue trying to smuggle illegal immigrants by boat, with federal authorities disrupting three attempts to land immigrants on San Diego County beaches and harbors since Saturday, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
. . .
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/11/3-attempts-to-smuggle-immigrants-by-boat-disrupted-since-saturday-officials-say.html
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26.
Man caught smuggling humans: Driver, 13 people all here illegally, state patrol says.
By Gayle Perez
The Pueblo Chieftain (CO), November 4, 2009
A man stopped for speeding on Interstate 25 Sunday morning was arrested on suspicion of human smuggling after state troopers discovered 13 passengers in a rented SUV.
Clemente Lopez-Carrillo, 37, was driving a 2009 GMC Yukon north on I-25, three miles south of Colorado City when he was stopped for going 86 miles an hour in a 75 mph zone, according to an arrest affidavit by State Trooper Cpl. C.S. Chacon.
Chacon said after he stopped the vehicle, he contacted Lopez-Carrillo, who gave an address in Phoenix, and discovered there were more occupants than seat belts available in the eight-passenger SUV.
Chacon's report stated in addition to Lopez-Carrillo, there were 13 passengers in the vehicle. He also reported he saw an adult female sitting on the front passenger floorboard and two adult males sitting in the back of the vehicle. There was no luggage in the vehicle.
. . .
http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2009/11/04/news/local/doc4af12bc55c069939329991.txt
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27.
Five South Floridians indicted on immigration fraud
By Sofia Santana
The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), November 4, 2009
Federal authorities have charged five South Floridians with being part of an immigration benefit fraud ring. The five had offered illegal immigrants assistance with government paper work, but then provided the immigrants with fraudulent documents, authorities said.
. . .
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/five_south_floridians_indicted_on-20091104,0,746341.story
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[For CISNEWS subscribers --
1. Canada: Local opposition calls for probe of province’s imm. program
2. Cayman Islands: Gov't to relax foreign work permit requirements
3. Netherlands Antilles: Gov't to implement amnesty program
4. U.K.: Genetic tests for asylum seekers draw criticism
5. U.K.: Scottish gov’t opposes detention of minors
6. Finland: Recession strikes heavy blow against foreign workers
7. Switzerland: Referendum would ban new Mosques, minarets
8. Greece: U.N. official says financial crisis restricting immigration (story, link)
9. Greece: PM says gov’t will institute birthright citizenship policy
10. Italy: PM blasts European ruling on Christian symbol
11. Israel: Gov’t considers work camps for detainees
12. Israel: Murders prompt discussion of immigration policies
13. Saudi Arabia: Gov't enters agreement on Tajik health care workers
14. Saudi Arabia: Filipino workers stranded without jobs, exit documents
15. Thailand: Burmese workers reveal extensive trafficking network
16. Malaysia: Gov't mulls inspection of foreign domestic workers' conditions
17. Singapore: Poll finds 700m would immigrate if possible (story, 3 links)
18. Australia: Indonesia increasing pressure on asylum seekers (story, 7 links)
19. Australia: Gov't denies link between asylum seeker controversy, polls
20. Australia: Unions donate funds to Sri Lankan detainees
Subscribe to CIS e-mail services here: http://cis.org/immigrationnews.html
-- Mark Krikorian]
1.
Inquiry into immigrant investor program needed: NDP
The CBC News (Canada), November 4, 2009
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2009/11/04/pei-pnp-inquiry-ndp-584.html
P.E.I.'s political parties should work together to get the ruling Liberal government to call a public inquiry into the provincial nominee program, says NDP Leader James Rodd.
The program, known as PNP, matched foreign investors who wanted to immigrate to Canada with P.E.I. companies they could invest in. In return for their investment, applicants would have their immigration application expedited. The program, which operated from 2001 to 2008, attracted controversy when it became public that 2,000 potential immigrants were pushed through the program in its final year. Companies owned by MLAs and senior civil servants received PNP money, and there were also questions about the quality of the companies approved for investment.
'The official Opposition has asked for answers, and they are not getting them,' Rodd said at a news conference Wednesday.
On several occasions last month, efforts by the Opposition Progressive Conservatives to reveal information about the program through the public accounts committee were blocked by government MLAs.
'It is incumbent, we believe, that the government finally say yes [to an inquiry],' Rodd said. 'It is now an opportunity for the citizens of Prince Edward Island to get a handle on this, and this, we believe, is the only way to do it, through a public inquiry.'
Rodd is asking the Green Party and the Progressive Conservatives to join the NDP in calling for an inquiry. The Tories are the only one of the three parties to hold seats in the legislature. Rodd said the Green and Tory party leaders were given formal invitations to join the NDP effort on Wednesday.
Rodd said the Liberals should set up a three-person commission to look into the PNP, with the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives each nominating one member and the chief justice of the P.E.I. Supreme Court choosing the third.
Rodd urged Islanders to take time next Tuesday to send messages to the government by email or phone, letting their representatives they support a PNP inquiry.
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2.
Immigration changes afoot
By Alan Markoff
The Cay Compass (Cayman Islands), November 4, 2009
http://www.caycompass.com/cgi-bin/CFPnews.cgi?ID=10386879
New policy directives concerning immigration will allow for three–to–five–year work permits for some workers and the presumption that senior professionals automatically meet key employee requirements.
Speaking at a Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday, Leader of Government Business McKeeva Bush said directions were to be issued to the Chief Immigration Officer, the Work Permit Board and the Business Staffing Plan Board on three proposals that were agreed upon by Cabinet this week.
One of the directions involves a new committee attached to the Business Staffing Plan Board.
'The chairman of the Business Staffing Plan Board will be required to create a committee comprising members with expertise in the financial services sector,' Mr. Bush said. 'This committee, which will be assisted by three work permit administrators from the Immigration Department, will process all applications for work permits from financial services sector companies.'
Mr. Bush said the committee would also make recommendations to the Business Staffing Plan Board on key employee applications.
'The dedicated focus on financial services industry applications by this committee will greatly improve the turnaround time for work permit applications and the fact that local industry experts are included in the committee will ensure that key employee applications are properly understood and dealt with.'
Another directive will deal with key employee designations made for senior professionals. There will be a presumption that the applicant meets the key employee requirements contained in the Immigration Law unless this can be rebutted, or where there is a Caymanian who has the qualifications, experience and desire to fill the position in the opinion of the Business Staffing Plan Board.
A large segment of work permit holders will also be able to get longer permits, Mr. Bush said.
'It will become the norm to issue three–year work permits for all persons in particular financial services occupations, and three–to–five year work permits for domestic helpers, teachers, nurses, ministers of religion and workers listed in a Business Staffing Plan Certificate.'
Mr. Bush said the benefits would only be available to employers who received accreditation based on a high standard of business ethics and commitment to providing opportunities to the country and Caymanians through employment, education or involvement in community service programmes.
'Only those companies, which meet a pre–set threshold, will be able be accredited and thereby receive the benefits I just outlined.'
Mr. Bush said the changes were necessary for Cayman to remain a competitive jurisdiction.
'It is no secret that financial services industry companies have left Cayman for other jurisdictions,' he said. 'We know that has happened with several major companies.
He said jobs had moved to Halifax and Ireland and other places, which had a trickle–down effect on the economy here because those people were no longer spending money in the restaurants or other stores.
Mr. Bush said part of the reason jobs were leaving was the 'burdensome nature of the work permit process and lack of certainty that exists with respect to the key employee designation.
Mr. Bush said he believed that in some circumstances it was important to give an expatriate a job even if it meant a Caymanian losing a job.
'If one Caymanian loses a job because we have to bring in one or two or three [expatriates], but because of that 10 other Caymanians get a job, I think that’s something we should do,' he said, adding that the government’s challenge would be to see that the one Caymanian who lost a job found another one.
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3.
Dutch islands offer amnesty to illegal immigrants
The Associated Press, November 4, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/04/AR2009110404168.html
Philipsburg, St. Maarten (AP) -- The Netherlands Antilles has launched an amnesty program that will provide residence and working papers for thousands of illegal immigrants.
Hundreds of people lined up outside an immigration office in St. Maarten on Wednesday, the third day of the six-week amnesty program.
As many as 70,000 immigrants - mostly Haitian, Guyanese and Jamaican - are estimated to be living on the five Dutch islands in the Caribbean without valid residency papers or work permits.
Under a program called the 'Brooks Tower Accord,' papers will be given to those who can prove they have lived in the territory since Dec. 31, 2006, or can show a valid contract from an employer.
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4.
Genetic Tests for UK Asylum Seekers Draw Criticism
The Associated Press, November 5, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/11/05/health/AP-EU-MED-Britain-Genetic-Testing.html
London (AP) -- Britain is using genetic tests on some African asylum seekers in an effort to catch those who are lying about their nationality, drawing criticism from scientists and provoking outrage from rights groups.
The United Kingdom Border Agency launched the pilot project in September amid suspicions there might be a large number of asylum applicants lying about their home countries. An agency spokesman said Britain was the only country using genetic tests in this way.
Experts, however, say the tests are based on flawed science and there's no way genetic swabs can provide meaningful evidence regarding nationality.
Concerned about potential fraud, the Bush administration launched a pilot DNA testing project in 2007 to vet applicants to a program that allows family members of African refugees already in the United States to join them.
The project, which wrapped up in March 2008, found an extremely high rate of fraud -- 87 percent -- among applicants claiming to be related to each other, the State Department said, and the resettlement program was suspended until those concerns could be addressed. The U.S. does not use genetic tests to try to prove nationality.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in London on Thursday that the U.S. has other ways of probing a person's country of origin, such as testing language skills.
''I haven't thought about it,'' she said of the British attempt to match DNA to nationality. ''We have a variety of ways we can use when we think someone is not telling the truth.''
Authorities in Britain described the testing as voluntary and said applicants would be asked to provide a mouth swab or hair or nail sample only in cases where questions arise about their nationality and they would be free to decline.
The government argues such tests can provide valuable -- although not conclusive -- evidence in assessing whether or not asylum seekers are telling the truth about their country of origin.
So far, the tests are being used only on people who claim to be from Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda and Sudan, though if successful, officials say the plan could be rolled out further.
Several experts slammed the effort as ''fundamentally flawed science,'' and a petition has been sent to Prime Minister Gordon Brown calling for the project to be dismantled.
''Genes are not aware of national borders,'' said Sir Alec Jeffreys, a geneticist at the University of Leicester who developed techniques for DNA fingerprinting.
''Nationality is a legal concept, and it's got nothing to do with genetics at all,'' said Jeffreys, adding that the kind of genetic research needed to identify ethnic origins according to DNA in Africa has never been done.
Human rights experts said the voluntary label was misleading.
''If people do not consent to this test, that could jeopardize their application or otherwise be construed negatively,'' said Jill Rutter, a spokeswoman for Refugee and Migrant Justice, a London-based legal charity for asylum seekers and migrants.
''Refugees might not be in a position to understand what's going on and they could be without legal representation when this request is made,'' Rutter said. ''It puts them in a very vulnerable position and their rights may be infringed upon.''
Refugees may be eligible for asylum in Britain if they can prove they face persecution at home because of their race, religion, political views, sexual orientation, or other factors.
Last year, nearly 26,000 people applied in Britain; of the more than 19,000 cases where decisions were made, 3,725, or 19 percent, were granted asylum. People from more repressive or chaotic countries, like Sudan or Somalia, often have a better chance of gaining asylum than those from more stable countries like Kenya.
In a document describing the project, the Border Agency acknowledges ''testing will only provide a clue to the person's ancestral lineage allowing a probable identification with a particular country.''
The agency had originally planned to use genetic test results as definitive proof of nationality, but scaled that back after scientists protested. A spokesman for the agency said results would only be used in combination with other ways of determining an asylum seeker's nationality, such as language analysis and interviews, and would not be used to deport anyone.
''We are only trying to establish the efficacy of this approach,'' said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policy. The Border Agency expects to test about three samples a week during the 10-month-long project.
The tests will also be used to determine if the children asylum seekers are trying to bring into Britain are actually related to them. In addition to the pilot program in the U.S., such testing on children has also been conducted in France.
Besides genetic tests, British officials are also performing isotope analysis of asylum seekers' hair and nail samples. Scientists can look at the composition of certain elements like oxygen or strontium in hair and nails to see where a person has been.
But these isotopes are present only so long as the hair and nails have recently been growing, meaning such tests will only give clues into an applicants recent whereabouts.
''I don't see how hair and nails can be used to tell you anything about (birth) origins,'' said Jane Evans, an isotope expert at the National Environment Research Council in Nottingham.
It is possible to get more precise information about a person's origins using isotopes, but only with a bone or tooth sample, she said.
Britain has been a lightning rod of controversy in the debate over security versus civil liberties.
It has one of the largest DNA databases in the world, with more than 5 million samples collected by authorities to help fight terrorism and crime.
In a landmark decision, the European Court of Human Rights recently ordered Britain to destroy nearly 1 million DNA samples and fingerprints on its database -- samples taken from children, people who had never been charged or people acquitted of crimes.
Since terror attacks in the U.S. and Britain, authorities have also used DNA collection as an important counterterrorism tool.
DNA samples taken on battlefields in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan from detainees and suicide bombers have provided clues about terror cell members and how they are linked to global cells, British security officials said.
Samples taken during terror raids in Britain have also allowed investigators to trace suspects to suspects abroad, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of their work.
Experts said that while it is legitimate for the government to try to confirm asylum seekers' claims, it has to do that in ways compatible with the principles of a democratic society -- and with a credible test.
''Genetic testing may be able to tell you where somebody's ancestors started out, but it doesn't tell you where they're from,'' said John Harris, a professor of bioethics at Manchester University, who also sits on the government's Human Genetics Commission.
''It won't give them anything worth knowing, and it's very likely that what it will give them is misleading.''
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5.
Government fighting child detention
The Press Association (U.K.), November 5, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gYF16sftI_4utMmhnO91OvFOKJ-Q
The Scottish Government is continuing to 'fight the battle' against children being held at a detention centre, Alex Salmond has said.
The First Minister's officials lobbied Westminster over the issue this week after it emerged over the weekend that 103 youngsters have been held at Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre in South Lanarkshire, in the past year.
Mr Salmond told MSPs during First Minister's Questions: 'We've been making repeatedly clear to the UK Government our opposition to that policy on the detention of children at Dungavel.
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6.
Recession a blow to immigrant employment
The Helsinki Times (Finland), November 5, 2009
http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/htimes/domestic-news/general/8650-recession-a-blow-to-immigrant-employment.html
The recession has seen unemployment rise across the board, but in the case of immigrants, an already challenging situation has only got worse.
Immigrants in Northern Karelia, the region blighted by the most severe unemployment rate in Finland, face an alarming situation.
'Immigrant unemployment is around the 40 per cent mark. In this economic climate, their employment prospects are only getting worse,' reports regional co-ordinator Leena Westman from the Eastern Finland – the Pilot Region of Active Work-based Immigration Policy project.
Officials are striving to tackle the situation in Northern Karelia by distributing information and motivating immigrants to seek work. Events have also been organised in a bid to facilitate encounters between newcomers and the majority population. The Labour Administration, educational bodies, organisations and immigrants have all gathered in the same place at the same time. Widespread interest has meant the events have been full to bursting.
'If we want to see immigrants employed, they first need to learn Finnish. After that, they need to be active in many directions and seek work independently,' Westman says.
She points out that certain areas do offer work to immigrants, too. In the Joensuu region, eight Ingrian Finns are currently training to supplement their medical education and qualify to work as doctors in Finland.
'There are currently two groups of nurses undergoing supplementary qualification training. They include nurses from Russia, Iran and Mozambique.'
'All immigrants want to work'
As of September, there were 35,600 immigrant job applicants in Finland, with 15,950 of them unemployed. Determining the unemployment rate for immigrants alone is difficult, since some immigrants have been granted Finnish citizenship, rendering them invisible in immigrant-only unemployment statistics which only count foreign citizens.
Leena Westman notes that business that employ immigrants can gain access to professional, multilingual employees with international contacts.
But in far too many cases, the message does not seem to be getting through. Somali Mohamed Said, who has lived in Finland for three and a half years, knows how difficult it is for immigrants to secure work in this country.
'I suppose it’s a question of Finnish skills. Finns are convinced that we are not capable of working in Finnish,' Said explains in fluent Finnish.
Said, who dreams of working as a doctor, feels that immigrants should be given more information about work and education opportunities.
'Without a doubt, all immigrants want to work,' he asserts.
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7.
Swiss Referendum Stirs a Debate About Islam
By Deborah Ball and Anita Greil
The Wall Street Journal, November 5, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125738800597529989.html
Zurich -- An emotional debate over the role of Islam in Switzerland is heating up as a referendum approaches that would ban the construction of minarets on mosques.
On Nov. 29, the Swiss will vote on a referendum to ban the construction of minarets, an initiative promoted by the right-wing Swiss People's Party, who argue that a minaret is a symbol of Islamic intolerance. Minarets are tower-like structures capped with crowns; while the structure has no special religious significance, it is often used for the call to prayer for Muslims.
The debate comes in a country that has prided itself on integrating its large immigrant population and that largely avoided the clashes over the rights of Muslim minorities seen elsewhere in Europe. Business and political interests are especially worried about a possible backlash from the Muslim world.
For example, Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group Ltd. is worried that its relations with Muslim countries -- an important destination for its goods -- will be imperiled if the initiative passes. 'The brand 'Swiss' must continue to represent values such as openness, pluralism and freedom of religion,' said Hanspeter Rentsch, member of the executive group management board at Swatch. 'Under no circumstances must it be brought in connection with hatred, animosity towards foreigners and narrow-mindedness.'
The Swiss People's Party gathered twice the required signatures needed to call a vote. Its campaign used posters depicting a woman in a burqa in front of a row of minarets shaped like missiles. Some cities, such as Basel, have banned the posters, while Zurich and others have allowed them in the name of free speech.
The party, the country's largest political group and a fierce critic of immigration, drew international criticism for a campaign poster two years ago showing a white sheep kicking a black sheep out of Switzerland.
A national poll by state-owned media group SRG shows that 53% of voters oppose the ban and 34% support it. Muslim leaders, who have taken a low-key approach to the controversy, are nonetheless worried.
'This initiative gives a message that Muslims are not welcome here,' says Elham Manea, a lecturer in political science at the University of Zurich. 'If it passes, it raises the possibility of radicalization of some young people. It would be a big disappointment.'
Some say that even defeating the referendum won't dissolve the tension. 'It won't end with this,' says Hisham Maizer, head of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Switzerland. 'The debate about Islam in Switzerland has just begun.'
The controversy is unusual in a country where 20% of the population are counted as foreigners, and which has taken a pragmatic approach to integrating its immigrants. About 400,000, or roughly 5%, of Swiss residents are Muslim. Most are of Turkish or Balkan origin, with a small minority from the Arab world.
[Clash of Cultures chart]
According to a government poll in 2000, less than 15% of Swiss Muslims actively practice their faith. Indeed, only four of the roughly 150 mosques in Switzerland have minarets. Laws against sound pollution forbid mosques from using minarets to hold speakers for the call to prayer.
Controversies have erupted in Switzerland over Muslims' place in society in recent years, but haven't been nearly as incendiary as in France or the Netherlands. In 2004, the demand of a cashier at Swiss supermarket chain Migros to be permitted to wear a headscarf at work sparked debate, but when Migros and a rival, Coop, set a policy banning headscarves for employees who deal with the public, the controversy faded.
Lately, however, conservative Muslims have pushed for greater recognition of their faith. One group has successfully appealed to Swiss courts to allow parents to dress their children in full-body swimming suits during co-ed lessons.
The Swiss government has come out strongly against the minaret referendum, fearful of a radicalization of Muslims at home and reprisals against Swiss interests abroad. A yes vote 'could make Switzerland a target for Islamic terrorism,' said Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey.
Swiss diplomats are working to reassure their counterparts in Muslim countries that Bern opposes the initiative. A working group is also monitoring the media in those countries for signs of backlash. So far, Bern hasn't detected a rise in anti-Swiss sentiment, according to one official.
Swiss businesses, many with large interests in Muslim countries, have come out against the referendum, for fear of a boycott like one that hit Denmark in 2005 following a controversy over published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. Nestlé SA, which has about 50 factories and 5.5 billion Swiss francs ($5.36 billion) of sales in Muslim countries, has declined to take a stance on the referendum.
According to Economiesuisse, Switzerland's main business association, about 7%, or 14.5 billion francs, of Switzerland's total exports go to predominantly Muslim countries. In 2008, those exports rose 14%, compared with a rise in overall exports of 4.3%. Switzerland is still bruised from a spat with Libya that led that country to cut off oil exports to Switzerland for a time.
'The possible economic impact must not be used as a way to kill this debate,' said Martin Baltisser, general secretary of the Swiss People's Party. 'A backlash against Swiss foreign economic relations has been exaggerated.'
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8.
Crisis restricted migrant workers' movement - UN
By Joseph Holandes Ubalde
The GMA TV News (Philippines), November 5, 2009
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/176361/crisis-restricted-migrant-workers-movement-un
Besides bringing discrimination and threats of job losses, the global crisis has also restricted the movement of migrant workers the world over, a United Nations official said.
This has reduced migrant workers’ opportunities, causing a slowdown in remittance flows, said Carlos Lopes, executive director of the UN Institute for Training and Research.
'Many countries which depend upon these flows will be adversely affected not only economically, but also socially,' Lopes said at the opening of the 3rd Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in Greece on Thursday.
The 2nd GFMD was held in Manila in October last year.
Lopes, who also chairs the Global Migration Group, said that while remittance was relatively resilient, the World Bank forecasts that flows to all developing regions will decline between seven and ten percent in 2009.
'Too often this will negatively affect development outcomes, for example in the area of children’s and especially girls’ education and health,' he added.
But Filipino economists project that the remittances from more than 8.7 million Filipinos living and working abroad would climb to $17 billion despite the crisis.
From January to July this year, remittances have risen 3.8 percent to nearly $10 billion, boosting consumption spending, which comprise 70 to 80 percent of the economy.
Lopes also said that many states have adopted restrictive requirements for foreigners obtaining entry, legal residence, and work permits.
'Additional restrictions can also reinforce the impression that migration is a questionable, criminal phenomenon, thereby contributing to anti-migrant, xenophobic reactions in destination countries,' he said.
From October 2008 to March 2009 the Labor department noted that some 60,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) returned home, jobless.
Earlier, Emmanuel Leyco, a professor at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), said the US recession would create a domino effect all over the globe and cause millions of OFWs to lose their jobs.
'In a global recession, immigrants are the first to go,' Leyco told GMANews.TV.
Leyco said newly-deployed OFWs would be the hardest-hit by an economic meltdown because most businesses implement a 'last in, first out' policy in their human resources management.
He said foreign workers are also often seen as low-priority in employment retention.
'When factories or offices are closing (not even) seniority (counts),' he said.
Lopes echoed this observation in his opening remarks at the GFMD, adding that the continued layoffs of migrant workers slow down the process of recovery.
'From a development perspective, such measures risk slowing down the resumption of growth,' he said.
The UN official said that States must be vigilant against xenophobic sentiments and discriminatory practices prompted by the economic crisis.
The recently released 2009 UN Human Development Report, entitled Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development, called for wide-ranging reforms to maximize the gains from migration and to protect the rights of migrants – now estimated to be one out of every seven persons in the world, Lopes added.
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3rd Global Forum on Migration, Development opens in Athens
Xinhua (Chinese National News Agency), November 4, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/04/content_12387330.htm
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9.
Equal rights for migrant children
EU pledges to fund creation of system for processing asylum claims of undocumented immigrants
Kathimerini (Greece), November 5, 2009
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100004_05/11/2009_112154
Prime Minister George Papandreou yesterday told an international forum on migration in Athens that all children born to migrants from now on will automatically acquire Greek citizenship as European Commission Vice President Jacques Barrot told the same gathering that Brussels was willing to fund the creation and operation of an efficient system for processing the asylum claims of thousands of migrants arriving in Greece.
'Growth and migration are inextricably linked,' Papandreou told the forum, stressing the importance of the contribution made to the Greek economy by immigrants.
Deputy Citizens’ Protection Minister Spyros Vougias provided further details yesterday in an interview with Reuters, saying authorities would grant citizenship to some 250,000 migrant children born in Greece. 'It’s irrational that a child born and educated here cannot receive Greek nationality,' Vougias said. 'There will be a regulation that will rectify this inequality between the children of Greeks and immigrants,' he said, adding that the measure would apply to 'about 250,000 children.' It was unclear if the parents of these children would also acquire citizenship.
Meanwhile the EC’s Jacques Barrot told authorities that Brussels was aware of the particular burden being shouldered by Greece as an external EU border state and promised to pay for the creation of 'a real system for examining asylum claims.' The European Commission recently sent Greece a 'reasoned opinion' – the last step before legal action – over its inadequate processing of asylum claims. Barrot is today due in Ankara for talks aimed at convincing Turkish authorities to sign a deal with Frontex, the EU’s border-monitoring agency, and to agree to honor a bilateral migrant repatriation pact with Athens.
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10.
Berlusconi Says Crucifix Ruling Denies Europe's Roots
Reuters, November 4, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/11/04/world/international-uk-italy-crucifix.html
Rome (Reuters) -- Italy's Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday a European Court of Human Rights ruling that called for crucifixes to be removed from Italian classrooms was a nonsensical attempt to deny Europe's Christian roots.
The Roman Catholic country has reacted with outrage to Tuesday's ruling from Strasbourg that the ubiquitous crucifixes on walls in Italian schools could disturb children who were not Christian.
The conservative prime minister, who draws much of his support from the Roman Catholic majority, told a television show the ruling was an attempt to 'deny Europe's Christian roots. This is not acceptable for us Italians.'
Berlusconi pointed out that Italy has so many churches that 'you only have to walk 200 metres forwards, backwards, to the right or to the left and you find a symbol of Christianity.'
'This is one of those decisions that often make us doubt Europe's good sense,' said the prime minister, confirming that Italy intended to appeal against the ruling once his cabinet has studied it at its weekly meeting on Friday.
The Vatican expressed 'shock and sadness' at the court ruling, which was condemned across the ideological divide in a rare moment of unity among Italian politicians. Only some on the far left and atheist groups backed the ruling.
Mayors all over the country vowed to defy the ruling and there were angry reactions from Catholic strongholds abroad such as Poland. Thousands of people protested on social networking sites on the Internet.
'Europe in the third millennium is leaving us only Halloween pumpkins while depriving us of our most beloved symbols,' said Vatican number two, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
Italy has been in the throes of debate on how to deal with a growing population of immigrants, mostly Muslims, and the ruling could become another battle cry for the government's policy drive to crack down on new arrivals.
Mara Bizzotto, a European parliamentarian for Berlusconi's anti-immigrant coalition partner, the Northern League, asked why the European court had taken action against the crucifix but did not ban Muslim symbols such as 'veils, burqas and niqabs.'
The case was brought by an Italian national, Soile Lautsi, who complained that her children had to attend a public school in northern Italy which had crucifixes in every room, thereby denying her the right to give them a secular education.
Two Italian laws dating from the 1920s, when the Fascists were in power, state that schools must display crucifixes.
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11.
Israel proposes work camps for illegal migrants
By Dana Weiler-Polak
Ha'aretz (Israel), November 5, 2009
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1126057.html
The government is considering establishing work camps in the south of the country, where illegal migrant workers will receive shelter, food and medical care, Army Radio reported Wednesday. In exchange, illegal migrants would perform manual labor outside the camps, but would not earn a salary.
They would stay at the camp until their asylum claims are decided, which could take months or years.
The proposal, part of the effort to address the problems posed by illegal migrants, would place asylum seekers at jobs in communities in the Negev and Arava. Their salaries would go to the state, in order to fund the camps.
The issue of illegal foreign migrants and refugees has made the headlines due to the efforts by human rights organizations to block the deportation of 1,200 foreign workers' children. One of the main arguments by deportation advocates, including Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas), is that allowing them to stay would bring hundreds of thousands more illegal migrants.
They would bring in 'a range of diseases such as hepatitis, measles, tuberculosis and AIDS [as well as] drugs,' said Yishai.
'I fear how far we have fallen,' said MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) in reaction to the work camp proposal, adding that he thinks the plan would encourage many more asylum seekers to try to enter Israel.
'The plan [would] induce refugees to come to Israel. A bed is an incentive compared to where they come from. Israel has the right to close its borders, but when someone comes here, you cannot fight with him. This shows that we haven't learned a thing, as people living in a country established by refugees for refugees,' Khenin added.
In addition to the opposition of human rights groups, communities in the south may also not respond favorably to the plan. In April 2008, during a court hearing on the government's policy of putting asylum seekers in the northern and southern peripheries, north of Hadera and south of Gedera, an affidavit was presented to the court on the migrants' employment prospects. In the document, Sigal Rosen of the Hotline for Migrant Workers declared that kibbutzim in the south had not shown an interest in hiring the migrants.
'We contacted many kibbutzim in an effort to have Sudanese asylum seekers released for farm work,' she said. 'Despite the argument they desperately needed workers, most of the coordinators at the kibbutzim rejected my request after they learned they would have to pay the asylum seekers at least minimum wage, as provided by law, [and] could not make deductions from their salaries beyond what the law on foreign workers requires.'
Rosen contacted hundreds of potential employers at kibbutzim and moshav cooperative farming communities, but very few were interested. In the end, only 14 moshavim and two kibbutzim agreed to hire Sudanese migrants as agricultural workers.
Amnesty International also criticized the proposal yesterday. The group's Israel director, Itay Epstein, said: 'The crazy idea of housing refugees in work camps in the south by force is contrary to international law and to every international treaty to which Israel is a party.'
He added, 'Israel is obligated to grant refugees and asylum seekers who come knocking on its door a safe haven [as well as certain rights], which include the right to live in dignity and to work and earn a living. They certainly should not be employed by force, as we profit from the distress of survivors of genocide and persecution.'
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12.
Following murders, Israelis ask if immigration laws too lax
By Ilene R. Prusher
The Christian Science Monitor, November 4, 2009
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1104/p06s16-wome.html
Jerusalem -- Intense diplomatic efforts aimed at resurrecting peace talks notwithstanding, the issue currently transfixing Israelis is how to come to grips with a series of high-profile, deeply violent crimes committed by immigrants.
In the past week, the arrests of two émigrés accused of multiple murders have pressed Israelis to rethink national priorities and relatively lax immigration laws.
In both cases, the alleged perpetrators had previous records in their countries of origin – Russia and the United States – one of them the subject of an open extradition request that Israel never fulfilled.
First came the news late last week of the arrest of Yaacov (Jack) Teitel, an immigrant from Florida who'd been investigated for murder in the past in the US. Mr. Teitel is accused of the murders of two Palestinians, two Israeli policemen, and a string of other hate crimes, including letter-bomb attacks that targeted left-wing intellectuals and Messianic Jews.
This week, police said Russian immigrant Damian Karlik had confessed to the massacre last month of six members of the same family, including two grandparents, two parents, and two children under the age of 3. But Karlik's lawyer now says he was forced into the confession after being tortured.
Is the door open too wide?
The murders have not only shocked the nation, but also prompted Israelis to ask whether the seemingly wide-open doors to Israeli citizenship – available to anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent – has made it too easy for those with a deviant past to find refuge here.
'I don't want Israel to be a shelter for criminals,' says Meir Sheetrit, a member of Knesset from Kadima, the leading opposition party in Israel's parliament. 'In principle, today the Law of Return states that every Jew has the right to come to Israel, without any checks of any sort.' Applicants are asked to sign an affidavit affirming to a clean record, but in reality, he says, no checks are made.
Mr. Sheetrit, a former minister of Justice as well as Interior minister, has for several years been working on a proposal for a citizenship law that would institute a five-year naturalization process. The need for such a law, he says, has only been underscored by the events of the past week.
'After 60 years of statehood, immigrants are not knocking on the doors every day,' Sheetrit says. 'With this citizenship law, anyone can come, but first they must live here for five years. In that time, we'll check that he's learned Hebrew and the laws of living in a democracy, and must swear his loyalty to the state of Israel like one does in every other country in the world,' he says. 'And, in that period, we'll be able to check whether the applicant has a criminal record.'
Granted citizenship despite red flags
The details of the two alleged murderers' cases have been front-page stories for days, and not just for their gruesome details. Teitel was given Israeli citizenship even though he'd already been questioned by the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security agency, for the two murders of Palestinians, and had been investigated in the US as well.
Karlik, who stabbed to death six members of the Oshrenko family in their home last month in apparent revenge for being fired by restaurateur Dmitri Oshrenko, was wanted in connection to a robbery in his native Russia. Authorities in Moscow asked for his extradition two years ago, but Israel hadn't yet acted on it, saying they were waiting for evidence.
'There were murders here that could have been prevented, if it had been dealt with differently, said David Norodsky, a lawyer connected with the case, in an Israel Radio interview.
Aside from the question of immigrant criminals, Karlik's deed was particularly appalling because it involved the murder of a toddler and an infant. The case follows a handful of other grisly murders of children in the past two years.
Some Israeli politicians have reacted by proposing a law allowing for the death penalty in the cases of murdering a child under age 13. The Jerusalem Post newspaper criticized that move in an editorial, saying that it is 'far easier for politicians to call for the death penalty than to undertake the hard slog of reforming the country's police, criminal justice, and penal systems.'
One of the authors of the death penalty proposal, parliamentarian Carmel Shama from the ruling Likud party, says he only wants to give judges the ability to impose much stiffer sentences. As of now, he says, most convicted murderers only serve up to 15 years, and then are released.
'It's not that we automatically want the death penalty for child-killers. It's just to give the judge an option in very extreme cases, when there is no doubt the man did the crime. Or, the judge should be able to give a life sentence with no chance of parole,' Mr. Shama says. 'People are very shocked at the amount of violent crime against children in our country, and its obvious now that there is a lot of support for this proposal.'
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13.
Tajik Health Care Workers To Work In Saudi Arabia
The Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty News, November 4, 2009
http://www.rferl.org/content/Tajik_Health_Care_Workers_To_Work_In_Saudi_Arabia/1869568.html
Dushanbe -- Saudi Arabia's Trade Chamber and the Tajik Interior Ministry's Migration Service have signed an agreement allowing Tajik labor migrants to work in Saudi Arabia, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.
Tajik officials said the agreement signed on November 3 will allow some 1,000 Tajik physicians and nurses to work in Saudi Arabia next year.
Tajik Migration Service chief Safialloh Devonaev told RFE/RL that future Tajik labor migrants would take English and Arabic courses before traveling to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Employment Commission chief Saad Nahar al-Baddah said Tajik labor migrants must bring their spouses and children with them to Saudi Arabia.
He said first-time migrants will receive round-trip tickets and free hostel rooms and that the average monthly salary will be about $350, far more than the average wage for health-care workers in Tajikistan.
A 23-year-old Tajik man told RFE/RL that he would not marry just to be eligible to work to Saudi Arabia, though he admitted he would like to work there.
A Tajik woman told RFE/RL that she is also concerned about the family requirement because she said the majority of female migrant workers are widows.
Meanwhile, Dushanbe-based analyst Qosim Bekmuhammad said the newly signed agreement provides better conditions for Tajik labor migrants than agreements signed with Russia, adding that the deal should also regulate conditions for labor migrants' children.
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14.
Under a Saudi road, migrant workers live in limbo
By Paul Handley
Agence France Presse, November 5, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iLcnOwHbPv8mg_w-DZ_a0do9Nd3g
Jeddah (AFP) -- Larita Delacruz sits on the concrete base of a bridge pylon, rubs her swollen belly and explains her predicament: she is five months pregnant with twins, and wants to go home to give birth.
But after four years of working as a maid in Saudi Arabia, she lacks both her passport and the crucial exit permit that would allow her to return to the Philippines.
So for three months Delacruz has lived on the pavement under a massive elevated eight-lane highway in central Jeddah, hoping to be rounded up by immigration police, then given documents and a ticket home.
Around her maybe 1,000 other Asian men and women sit in darkness under the flyover in the bustling Red Sea port. All have been trying for months to get deported.
In another area huddle hundreds of Africans, also seeking to leave.
Some fled abusive or non-paying employers, others were abandoned by sponsors, and still more came on pilgrimage to nearby Mecca but then stayed on to work illegally.
In each case, under Saudi rules for the millions of foreigners working in the kingdom, their documents were taken away on arrival. Without travel papers or an official exit permit, they cannot leave.
'If you are working here, automatically your passport is taken by the employer,' said Andrew Occiones, a Jeddah coordinator for Migrante, which helps overseas workers from the Philippines.
He said the numbers under the bridge seem to be rising, possibly because it has become more difficult recently for those without proper papers to get jobs.
Everyone under the Jeddah bridge has a similar story.
Sri Lankan Trina Chandrakarya came to work as a maid two years ago. For five months she was not paid, so she fled the sponsor for another job -- easy to do in a huge black market for workers.
Now, with two children back home, she wants to return, but does not have her papers. So she is living under the bridge waiting to be arrested.
'All the people are coming here because they want to go home,' she said.
Such cases are a growing headache for the Saudis and foreign embassies.
Officially about six million of the country's 25-million population are foreigners.
But according to government and private sector estimates, there are as many as four million more who are undocumented.
They include people who stayed after their work permits expired, pilgrims who stayed on to work, and people who entered the country illegally.
For most, leaving is much harder than getting in. The problem is most acute in Jeddah, gateway to the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
In Riyadh there is nowhere for paperless immigrants to go, and under Islamic Sharia law, a pregnant woman like Delacruz is more likely to be jailed for having illicit sex and then expelled after giving birth, diplomats say.
In the small courtyard of Nepal's Riyadh embassy, about 15 women sit listlessly, hoping to be accepted into a half-way house run by a Saudi charity where police will process their cases.
Ambassador Hamid Ansari said most had run away from Saudi families who did not pay them at all or beat them. None has documents.
Dealing with the estimated 500,000 Nepalis in the country is especially difficult, Ansari said.
Because Riyadh has no embassy in Kathmandu, Nepalis go through Indian brokers in Mumbai to secure jobs in Saudi Arabia, and the Nepal government has no records on them.
'Before they came to our embassy, we did not know that any of these girls were in Saudi Arabia,' he said.
In Jeddah, under the flyover, the migrants are separated into sections: Sri Lankans, then Indonesian men, then Indonesian women next to them; Pakistanis further down and then Filipinos.
The space is grimy, but most people look fairly healthy and clean. Some are still working, there are charity food donations, and showers are also available at a nearby mosque.
One Wednesday evening they all jump up as two huge buses arrive. But they have come for about 100 Indonesian women, who are being taken to an immigration processing centre.
Tarina, a woman in her 30s from Banjarmasin in Java, is one of more than one million Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia, mostly women working as household maids and cooks.
She said she and her three-year-old daughter had been under the flyover for 10 days. She came on a pilgrimage pass, then had several jobs over five years, and was now simply ready to go home.
The immigration police do not relish the endless job of processing over stayers which means establishing their identities -- which sometimes even embassies cannot do.
'I am trying to get arrested, but the police don't want to catch us,' said Indian Nair Rameshen, a native of Vayanadu in Kerala, who has lived under the highway for two months.
Rameshen said he has worked for four years as a driver. He left his first job because they paid him less than promised, then found other jobs without having either passport or residency permit.
'I would like to see my parents, my two kids,' he said.
Rameshen said his embassy pushes the problem back to the police. 'They tell us to stay under the bridge. They have to see us in jail' before they can help.
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15.
Burmese 'Trafficked' To Thailand
The Radio Free Europe News, November 4, 2009
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/burma/burmesetrafficked-11042009121726.html
Bangkok -- Burmese migrant workers in Thailand have described paying large fees to human traffickers who promised them jobs in the southeast Asian kingdom, only to sell them into forced labor on arrival.
One Burmese migrant from Myawaddy currently in the care of social services in Bangkok said he had been promised passage to Thailand and a job in the construction industry by a Burmese named Ko Sein Aung.
'He was the carrier who handed us over to the person taking us across to Thailand along the illegal route. We had to pay him for that. It was 2,000 baht (U.S. $60),' the worker said.
'He told us we would get a job in construction. He said we would earn 195 baht (U.S. $6) a day. We were all sold off including me for 22,000 baht (U.S. $658) each to the fishing industry.'
He said people in charge of the boats locked up the workers every night, before taking them back to the boats the next morning. They were not paid for their work.
'Every day when the boat we were working on reached the jetty and after we had unloaded the fish at night we were taken to our rooms and kept there, and the door locked from the outside,' he said.
'That was how we were detained. The next day only when the fishing boat is due to leave were we sent to the boat.'
Forced to migrate
Currently, Thailand is home to an estimated 2 million Burmese migrant workers, of whom only around half are there legally.
Burmese workers are highly visible in and around Bangkok and near the Central World Plaza, and Burmese children under 10 years old can be seen selling food on street stalls.
Many of the migrants say they were forced to move because of extreme poverty back home.
An ethnic Karen migrant from the troubled border area between Thailand and Burma said some of the trafficking was being carried out by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which recently made a ceasefire agreement with Burma's military government.
'It was Ko Than Win from the DKBA who told us that he would find us work in Thailand. We had to pay him 15,000 kyat (U.S. $2,304),' the Karen migrant said.
'He took us to Bangkok. He said he would give us a good job in the shrimp industry. We had to wait 10 days along the way,' he said.
'We were hungry. We were just given plain rice with nothing else.'
Help for refugees
Some of the migrants are being taken care of by social services in Thailand after reporting beatings and other physical abuse after being sold off as slave labor, Thai officials said.
'There are a total of 47 Burmese nationals with us here,' an official at the Patuhtani social welfare and rehabilitation department of the Thai government identified as Mr. Suwan said.
'We have arranged food and accommodations for them and are helping them with their rights and claims for damages,' he added.
The group included men, women, and three 15-year-old children, according to a Thai lawyer surnamed Sriwun who is helping the refugees.
'Our lawyer'group is helping refugees who have been treated unjustly, no matter what nationality they are,' he said.
He said the Thai authorities had arrested a Burmese woman and two Thai nationals in connection with the allegations of human trafficking.
According to Mr. Suwan, the case could take up to 18 months to bring to trial.
The Myawaddy migrant said he was discovered by an aid group while working on the fishing boat. He had already been beaten following on escape attempt, he added.
'After we were caught they put me back in my room and beat me,' he said. 'A woman beat me with a two-yard pipe that she always carried. She beat me continuously. She also threatened to kill my father.'
Trafficking hub
According to the U.S. State Department's latest Trafficking in Persons Report, Thailand is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation.
'Women and children are trafficked from Burma, Cambodia, Laos, the People'sRepublic of China, Vietnam, Russia, and Uzbekistan for commercial sexual exploitation in Thailand,' the report said, saying the trafficking victims were usually from poorer rural areas who were attracted by the kingdom's relative prosperity.
But it lauded efforts by the Thai government to address the problem, including the expansion of a network of temporary shelters for trafficking victims from 99 to 138, with at least one temporary shelter in each Thai province.
The Thai government refers victims of trafficking to one of eight longer-stay regional shelters run by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MSDHS), where they receive psychological counseling, food, board, and medical care, the report said.
In 2008, Thai government shelters provided protection and social services for at least 102 repatriated Thai victims and 520 foreigners trafficked to Thailand.
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16.
No problem, says Immigration Department
By Darshini Kandasamy
The Malay Mail (Malaysia), November 5, 2009
http://www.mmail.com.my/content/18021-no-problem-says-immigration-department
The Immigration Department sees no problem in the Labour Department’s ambitious plan to conduct house-to-house checks on 250,000 households employing foreign domestic help.
Its director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman was unfazed when contacted by Malay Mail, stating that
house checks were not something new to the department.
'We have always been doing this, not just for maids but for expatriates to check on their employment pass, visas and such that we feel are dubious,' Abdul Rahman said.
'So we have already been doing this independently but this time another department is asking for help.'
Yesterday Malay Mail reported that the Labour Department had sought the help of the Immigration Department to conduct the house checks during which government officers would interview both maids and employers in a bid to ensure that the welfare of domestic maids was taken care of.
Abdul Rahman said the collaboration between the two departments was better as it would mean more officers involved and the operations would be more transparent and thorough.
'Before this, there would always be people who complain why their home was selected and not some others.
So it is better this way.' Asked if his department had the necessary manpower, Abdul Rahman said 'yes',
and that officers from every State would be involved.
The Immigration Department has more than 11,000 officers of every rank, nationwide. Abdul Rahman, however, said they had yet to discuss how many officers would be involved in the operations.
On concerns raised by NGOs that the operations would not succeed as maids would be too afraid to tell the
officers if they were being mistreated, and employers too would say everything was fine, Abdul Rahman said Malaysians must play their part.
'Citizens, other than employers, must also play a role. They should report to us if they notice anything wrong.
For example, some neighbours have reported cases to us.'
As to whether officers would also speak to neighbours, Abdul Rahman said they would not, except when doubts arise or if specific tipoffs were received.
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17.
A top choice for migrants
Gallup index shows S'pore population would jump to 13m if it takes in all who wished to come here
By Lin Zhaowei
The Straits Times (Singapore), November 5, 2009
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_450482.html
Singapore is a top immigration hot spot, according to a global survey conducted by Gallup.
If it were to take in all adults who wish to settle in the country, its adult population of 3.6 million would jump to 13 million, said the survey released this week.
Gallup arrived at this figure by using what it called the Potential Net Migration Index (PNMI).
The index is the estimated number of adults who wish to leave a country permanently subtracted from the estimated number who wish to immigrate to the country, as a proportion of the total adult population.
The higher a positive PNMI value, the greater the potential of net population gain, proportional to the population size.
Singapore emerged tops with the highest PNMI value of 260 per cent, followed by Saudi Arabia (180 per cent), New Zealand (175 per cent), Canada (170 per cent) and Australia (145 per cent).
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Gallup results are available online at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/124028/700-Million-Worldwide-Desire-Migrate-Permanently.aspx
+++
NZ third on list of migrants' choice
By Lincoln Tan
The New Zealand Herald, November 6, 2009
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10607625
700 million want to migrate internationally: Gallup
The Korea Herald, November 6, 2009
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/11/06/200911060044.asp
Survey: Singapore top choice for migrants
Xinhua (Chinese National News Agency), November 5, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/05/content_12392353.htm
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18.
Indonesia increases pressure over Australian asylum standoff
By Geoff Thompson, Tanjung Pinang
The Radio Australia News, November 4, 2009
http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/200911/2734176.htm?desktop
Indonesia is stepping up pressure on Australia to end the impasse over an Australian customs ship.
A senior government official says security clearance for the Oceanic Viking to stay in Indonesian waters should not be extended beyond Friday.
Indonesia's director of diplomatic security, Dr Sujatmiko says patience is running out.
'My personal view is that I think there is no point to the extend the clearance,' he said.
'I believe that it is unwise to extend their stay here because they remain committed not going to Indonesia.'
He says Australia has not yet asked Jakarta for another extension of the Oceanic Viking's permission to stay in Indonesian waters.
The 78 Sri Lankans have been on board the Oceanic Viking for nearly 19 days and still refuse to leave the ship.
Processing
Earlier the United Nations said the asylum seekers on board need to go ashore if they want their refugee claims processed.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has again ruled out bringing the asylum seekers to the Australian detention centre on its territory of Christmas Island.
'Request'
Mr Rudd said: 'These individuals are being processed in the Indonesian port - that is at the request of the Indonesians and that is how it is going to continue into the future, until these matters are properly dealt with.'
Meanwhile, the UN's regional representative, Richard Towle, says some of the group have already been recognised as deserving refugee protection.
But he says they need to leave the ship.
'If they're serious about having their claims looked at, and really asking for our protection, then they need to take some steps to access us,' he said.
The Australian political opposition's immigration spokeswoman, Sharman Stone, says the situation shows the government's approach has not worked.
She says there is a link between the government's policy and the deaths of asylum seekers at sea.
+++
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd insists Oceanic Viking refugees are Indonesia's problem
By Michael Harvey
The Herald Sun (Australia), November 6, 2009
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26312196-401,00.html
Defiant asylum seekers to stay aboard ship
By Geoff Thompson
The ABC News (Australia), November 6, 2009
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/06/2734724.htm?section=world
Sri Lankans reject rapid resettlement deal
By Tom Allard
The Brisbane Times, November 6, 2009
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/sri-lankans-reject-rapid-resettlement-deal-20091105-i094.html
Rudd offers to resettle asylum seekers within year
By Tom Allard
The Age (Melbourne), November 6, 2009
http://www.theage.com.au/national/rudd-offers-to-resettle-asylum-seekers-within-year-20091105-i087.html
Australian PM: Asylum seekers to be 'properly processed'
Xinhua (Chinese National News Agency), November 5, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/05/content_12391544.htm
PM unmoved as asylum impasse continues
By Emma Rodgers
The ABC News (Australia), November 5, 2009
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/05/2734107.htm
Australia Puts Its Refugee Problem on a Remote Island, Behind Razor Wire
By Norimitsu Onishi
The New York Times, November 4, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/world/asia/05island.html
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19.
Boats not the reason for poll hit: govt
The Australian Associated Press, November 5, 2009
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-national/boats-not-the-reason-for-poll-hit-govt-20091105-i0e8.html
Labor backbencher Maxine McKew doesn't believe a hit in the polls is the result of the government's controversial handling of the asylum seeker debate.
She thinks the latest Newspoll, which recorded a seven percentage point swing against the Rudd government on Tuesday, might just be an anomaly.
'It's an odd poll,' she told ABC Television on Thursday.
'Yes, there has been a large swing in the primary vote to the Liberals ... but almost no shift in the prime minister's personal approval rating.
'That's quite odd if this is all about what the prime minister has been saying about tough and humane (border protection policy).'
She's awaiting the next Newspoll out next fortnight.
But opposition frontbencher Joe Hockey maintains the government has lost its way on border protection, particularly in the case of the Oceanic Viking.
'There's an Australian vessel floating north of Australia that is effectively a floating three-star resort,' he said.
'Compared to Indonesia and some of the camps in Indonesia, these people do not want to get off the boat.
'We need to get a solution out of that.'
Indonesian officials are expected to decide on Friday whether to allow Australia more time to persuade the 78 asylum seekers off the boat.
Security clearance for the vessel to remain in Indonesia expires on Friday night, with no word yet on an extension.
'Kevin Rudd said he had an Indonesian solution, he said two weeks ago that he had solved the matter, (but) the matter is still unsolved,' Mr Hockey said.
'Sooner or later he has to make a hard decision.'
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20.
Unions give cash to asylum-seekers
By Paul Maley and Matthew Franklin
The Australian, November 6, 2009
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/unions-give-cash-to-asylum-seekers/story-e6frg6nf-1225794867308
Two of Australia's most powerful unions - the Maritime Union of Australia and the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union - will donate $10,000 to the 78 asylum-seekers locked in a stand-off with crew aboard the Customs vessel Oceanic Viking.
As Kevin Rudd continued to blitz the airwaves yesterday to defend his handling of the issue, the MUA and CFMEU announced they would make the donation when the 13 civilian crew members aboard the Oceanic Viking were next rotated.
MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin said the money was a humanitarian gesture and would not be used for 'political' purposes. He denied the donation amounted to an implicit criticism of the Prime Minister, who has steadfastly refused calls to bring the boat to Christmas Island.
But Mr Crumlin acknowledged Labor's handling of the issue 'could be better'.
Yesterday, Mr Rudd refused to rule out returning the Oceanic Viking to Australia.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
'These individuals are being processed in the Indonesian port,' he told ABC Radio National.
'That is at the request of the Indonesians and that is how it's going to continue into the future until these matters are properly dealt with.'
Mr Rudd did receive some welcome support, with former prime minister Bob Hawke describing his handling of the vexed issue as 'sound'.
'He's being tough on the smugglers and humane on the people who are trying to find a better life,' Mr Hawke told reporters in Adelaide.
Mr Hawke ventured that the recent slump in Labor's popularity was probably associated with the Rudd government's handling of the issue.
'In the absence of more detailed polling, it's very hard to tell,' he said. 'But I would think that would have to be an element.'
The MUA's donation follows strong attacks from the union movement, which has criticised Mr Rudd over his handling of asylum-seekers.
On Monday, peak union body the ACTU placed an advertisement in The Australian calling on the government to bring the Oceanic Viking to Christmas Island.
And Australian Workers Union head Paul Howes has called on the Prime Minister to seize the 'moral high ground' in Australia's treatment of refugees.
On Tuesday, The Australian revealed that a Newspoll conducted last weekend had found Labor's primary support had tumbled from 48 per cent to 41 per cent in the past two weeks, which were dominated by the asylum-seeker issue.
Since then, Mr Rudd has offered himself up for more than a dozen radio and television interviews as he has battled to explain the complex policy issue.
His message has not deviated from his mantra that his policy is tough on people-smugglers and humane towards asylum-seekers, and that he expects to be attacked from the Left and the Right over his handling of the matter.
In one interview yesterday morning, the Prime Minister seemed to suggest his blitz was unrelated to the pressure surrounding border security.
'I'm talking to people on the airwaves because I'll be overseas next week and I won't be talking to people on the airwaves,' Mr Rudd told ABC Radio. Earlier, in another interview, he rounded on
opponents of his stance, saying the Right 'presumably want children back behind razor wire' while the Left wanted 'no orderly migration or border protection arrangements at all'.
Labor sources told The Australian they were not surprised by the polling slump and accepted that border security was a divisive issue that was difficult to explain.
'We knew we would be under a lot of pressure on this, but as Mr Rudd keeps saying, he has to act in the national interest,' one senior Labor source said.
'It's not an easy issue, but that is what being in government is about.'
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Center for Immigration Studies
1522 K St. NW, Suite 820
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