Daily news updates from CIS

November 20, 2009

Domestic News -- Click Here for Overseas News

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[For CISNEWS subscribers --

1. CIS report offers insight into immigrant criminality (story, link)
2. Feds promise nationwide audit of 1,000 companies (story, 12 links)
3. ICE: criminal expulsions up 40% in Pacific Northwest
4. DHS wants expedited screening of low-risk international travelers
5. GAO recommends timeline for foreigner-tracking program
6. Sen. Menendez demands inclusion of illegals in health care bill
7. Dems may have expended momentum necessary for amnesty (story, link)
8. Hispanic Caucus blasts White House Chief of Staff
9. Former CNN anchor mulling Senate or White House run
10. RI troopers join 287(g) program
11. MD city residents support sheriff in profiling suit
12. Long Island police under fire for policy on hate crimes
13. CA tech experts develop mobile app for entrants
14. NV forum urges dialogue on issue
15. IL students split over immigration policies
16. CA group aids naturalization process
17. MO pastors suggest illegals are avoiding Census
18. Illegals cost U.S. health care systems billions
19. HIV patients relieved by relaxed travel restrictions
20. AZ day labor center falls victim to economy
21. IA kosher exec, convicted fraudster evades imm. charges
22. Miami students protest Venezuelans' deportation
23. AZ authorities bust suspected smuggler (link)
24. Infant rescued from Arizona drop house (link)
25. Six illegals nabbed in Washington raid (link)
26. Illegal jailed two years for re-entry (link)2

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

-- Mark Krikorian]


1.
Report: Info muddled on immigrants and crime
By Cindy Carcamo
The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, CA), November 19, 2009
http://www.ocregister.com/news/-220273--.html

That man in the back of a squad car on his way to jail: What are the chances he was born in the United States?

The Center for Immigration Studies released a report today that says it is unclear whether immigrants -- both legal and illegal -- are more likely to commit crimes than people born in the United States.

The report, called 'Immigration and Crime: Assessing a Conflicted Issue' challenges decades of studies by groups on both sides of the immigration debate. It contends that conflicting information and a lack of good data provide a confusing portrait of immigrant criminality.

As the debate heats up with the possibility of an immigration overhaul, the report's authors suggest federal officials and local law enforcement work more closely to get a good sense of whether there is a real public safety concern posed by immigrants -- legal and illegal.

'The overall picture on immigration and crime is muddled,' said Steven Camarota, co-author of the study by the Washington, D.C.-based group that wants more restrictions on legal immigration.

The group's study comes on the heels of recent reports from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that say legal and illegal immigrants have higher rates of criminality. And those reports contradict older research and studies from think tanks and immigrants rights groups that have consistently said that immigrants -- both legal and illegal – are less likely to commit crimes.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement estimates that about 20 percent of inmates in prisons and jails are immigrants -- legal and illegal. At the same time, the foreign-born make up 15.4 percent of the population, according to the data.

The immigration agency's estimates come from ICE's Secure Communities initiative and data from the 287(g) program, both of which allow local law enforcement officials to screen for inmates' immigration status.

In Orange County, 1,681 of 30,303 inmates screened at the Orange County Jail during the first six months of this year were suspected of being in the country illegally and placed under an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer, according to Sheriff's Department statistics. Nearly 900 were booked on suspicion of committing felonies and the rest on suspicion of misdemeanors.

That means about 5.5 percent of the inmate population at the Orange County Jail during that time were suspected of being in the country illegally, statistics show. Sheriff's deputies screen virtually everybody who is booked into the facility. Those who are booked into the jail are arrested by every law enforcement agency in the county.

The Center for Immigration Studies report points out that the government failed to provide a detailed explanation of how they arrived at their estimates and that their estimates are possibly flawed, Camarota said.

However, the group also suggests that better long-range information on immigrant criminality could come from continuing the Secure Communities and 287(g) programs, if the data is correct.

Opinion surveys show that the public thinks immigrants overall or people who are in the country illegally, in particular, have higher rates of crime, the report said.

In addition, some anti-illegal immigration groups, such as Huntington Beach-based California Coalition for Immigration Reform, have long argued that people who are in the country illegally are criminals by simply being here.

Camarota's report disputes long-held claims by immigrant activists and other groups that legal and illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes.

The report says that studies issued by the Immigration Policy Center in 2007 and the Public Policy Institute of California in 2008 that contend low rates of immigrant incarceration are flawed. The 2000 Census data used is not reliable, Camarota contends, because it's based on educated guesses as to whether a prisoner was an immigrant.

The Immigration Policy Center, an immigrant rights group based in Washington, D.C., strongly disagreed.

'The report... attempts to overturn a century's worth of research which has demonstrated repeatedly that immigrants are less likely than the native-born to commit violent crimes or end up behind bars,' the organization stated Wednesday.

Studies and data from a hundred years back have consistently reached the same conclusion: immigration is not associated with higher rates of crime, Immigration Policy Center officials said.

'In other words, numerous researchers drawing upon numerous sources of data have reached the same conclusion that the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform reached in its 1984 report - which also happens to be the conclusion reached by the Industrial Commission of 1901, the Dillingham Immigration Commission of 1911, and the Wickersham National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement of 1931: that immigration is not associated with higher crime,' center officials said in a statement.

The immigrant rights group contends that the center's real agenda is to promote the 287(g) and Secure Communities programs. Immigrant rights groups have criticized the programs, which have come under fire lately, with allegations of mismanagement and suspected misuse and possible racial profiling in such places as Maricopa County in Arizona.

In Orange County, sheriff's deputies do not arrest people based on immigration status or suspected immigration status, said Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman John McDonald.

Other demographers, however, agree with Camarota that the jury is still out on immigration and crime.

'We don't know the answer,' said Mark Hugo Lopez, an associate director at the Pew Hispanic Center. 'Part of the problem is that at times in states and locally it's not asked or collected—the nativity of the people and whether they are foreign born or whether someone is here legally or illegally.'

EDITOR’S NOTE: The CIS report, “Immigration and Crime: Assessing a Conflicted Issue” is available online at: http://cis.org/ImmigrantCrime

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Advocacy study: Do immigrants contribute to a rise in crime?
By Victor Manuel Ramos
The Orlando Sentinel, November 19, 2009
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_hispanicaffairs/2009/11/advocacy-study-do-immigrants-contribute-to-a-rise-in-crime.html

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2.
U.S. to audit 1,000 companies to check for illegal hires
By Erin Kelly and Daniel González
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), November 20, 2009
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/11/19/20091119gan-illegal-ON.html

Federal immigration-enforcement agents on Thursday notified 1,000 companies nationwide, 52 in Arizona, that the government is auditing their hiring records to check for illegal workers.

It is the government's second round of hiring audits in five months.

The Obama administration said the audits are part of an aggressive campaign to crack down on companies and individuals who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, a break from worksite raids conducted under the Bush administration that largely resulted in the arrest of illegal workers.

Some members of Congress quickly criticized the new approach, suggesting the administration is giving illegal immigrants a free pass. But immigration-enforcement officials say cracking down on employers is more effective at combating illegal immigration because without jobs, there is little to attract immigrants to the United States.

Immigration officials already have conducted 1,069 inspections this year, issuing fines of nearly $16 million and banning 45 businesses from competing for federal contracts. In total, the Obama administration will perform more than four times as many audits in 2009 as the Bush administration's 503 audits in 2008, when fines of $2.3 million were issued and no businesses were banned from federal contracts.

'(We) are focused on finding and penalizing employers who believe they can unfairly get ahead by cultivating illegal workplaces,' said John Morton, assistant secretary of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The audits are in addition to investigations conducted by state authorities under Arizona's 22-month-old employer-sanctions law. Maricopa County officials filed the first charges under the law on Wednesday.

The 1,000 businesses served this week with federal audit notices - the largest round of audits in the nation's history - were selected based on investigative leads and intelligence, Morton said.

They also were chosen because of their connection to public safety and national security, such as power plants and companies involved in agriculture, transportation, telecommunications, chemicals and water treatment.

Morton would not identify the companies.

Three of the Arizona companies that received audit notices do not seem to have a direct link to public safety or national security, said Julie Pace, a Phoenix lawyer helping the companies comply with the audits.

The three companies, which were given three business days to turn over I-9 forms demonstrating employment eligibility of workers and other employee data, are in retail and construction industries, Pace said. Two have 150 employees, the third has more than 1,000 workers, she said.

Pace said the audits show the government is 'definitely serious about worksite enforcement.'

She said companies that are audited need not worry if they followed federal hiring laws, but they may be forced to fire workers who used counterfeit documents to fill out the I-9 forms. They also face civil penalties and criminal prosecution if the government finds evidence that they knowingly hired any illegal workers found on their payrolls.

The Obama administration has reversed a Bush administration policy that focused largely on high-profile workplace raids that rounded up and deported illegal workers.

'We are increasing criminal and civil enforcement of immigration-related employment laws and imposing smart, tough employer sanctions to even the playing field for employers who play by the rules,' Morton said.

Critics chastised the administration for reducing workplace raids and arresting 60 to 70 percent fewer illegal workers this year than the Bush administration did in 2008.

'It is hard to conceive of a worse time to cut worksite-enforcement efforts by more than half,' said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, senior Republican on the House Judiciary Committee. 'There are 16 million Americans out of work. And yet the administration has chosen to ignore the fact that there are nearly 8 million illegal immigrants in the workforce.'

But Morton said the administration is 'not simply about trying to increase a given statistic': 'We are really in this to try to address the magnet for much of the illegal immigration in this country, and that's labor in the United States.'

Smith dismissed the audits and resulting fines as something companies view as the cost of doing business.

Morton said he would like to see the penalties increased as part of a comprehensive immigration-reform measure Congress is expected to consider next year.

Of the 654 companies audited in July, 32 were in Arizona. Fourteen were found to be in compliance. The results of the other audits are pending.

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Federal immigration officials target Vermont farms
By Lisa Rathke
The Associated Press, November 20, 2009
http://www.miamiherald.com/business/nation/story/1343821.html

Obama Administration to Fine Employers as GOP Pushes to Replace Illegals with U.S. Workers
By Penny Starr
The CNS News, November 20, 2009
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/57452

Government to probe hiring
By Ben Finley
The Intelligencer (Philadelphia), November 20, 2009
http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/92/2009/november/20/government-to-probe-hiring.html

Immigration review targets 1,000 firms
By Brady McCombs
The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), November 20, 2009
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/318287

Immigrant Advocates Slam Federal Audits
By Chip Mitchell
The Chicago Public Radio, November 20, 2009
http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=38281

Immigration agency will audit 8 Utah businesses
By Arthur Raymond
The Deseret News (Salt Lake City), November 20, 2009
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705345813/ICE-to-audit-8-Utah-businesses.html

Colorado companies targeted in ICE's nationwide immigration audit
By Greg Avery
The Denver Business Journal, November 19, 2009
http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2009/11/16/daily79.html

Houston companies among firms put on notice by ICE
By Susan Carroll
The Houston Chronicle, November 19, 2009
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/immigration/6729627.html

2 RI businesses being audited by ICE
By Karen Lee Ziner
The Providence Journal, November 19, 2009
http://www.projo.com/news/content/NOTICE_OF_INSPECTIONS_11-20-09_F7GH61G_v8.3a65cb2.html

More Employers Face Immigration Audits
By Cam Simpson and Miriam Jordan
The Wall Street Journal, November 19, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125866577819456287.html

Immigration Officials to Audit 1000 More Companies
By Neil A. Lewis
The New York Times, November 19, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/us/20immig.html

Immigration law target: Those who hire
By Lynn Brezosky
The San Antonio Express (TX), November 19, 2009
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/70568062.html

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3.
Criminal deportations spike in Pacific Northwest
Deportations of illegal immigrants with criminal records from Alaska, Oregon, and Washington this past year spiked by nearly 40 percent, while overall removals dropped for the first time in five years, according to new data released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
By Manuel Valdes
The Associated Press, November 19, 2009
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010312382_apwadeportationsnw2ndldwritethru.html

Seattle (AP) -- Deportations of illegal immigrants with criminal records from Alaska, Oregon, and Washington this past year spiked by nearly 40 percent, while overall removals dropped for the first time in five years, according to new data released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The data, from October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009, shows that 10,793 people were deported from the Pacific Northwest, a drop of 117 compared to the previous year.

That marks the first time in the last five years that deportations from the Northwest have dropped. Deportations had increased from more than 4,000 in 2005 to nearly 11,000 in 2008.

But removals of people with criminal records went from more than 3,100 to nearly 4,500 between 2008 and 2009 - a jump of 39.7 percent. Since 2005, criminal removals have more than doubled.

The data 'illustrates pretty vividly the priority we're placing on the removal of criminal aliens,' ICE spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said. 'We believe it's the best way to enhance public safety.'

Dankers said moving resources resulted in a slight decrease in deportations of immigrants with no criminal records, but she said that ICE cannot ignore that section of the illegal immigrant community.

She added ICE has moved its resources to focus on immigrants with criminal records. Crimes under which a person may be deported can range between a misdemeanor and a felony.

ICE has various programs that feed its criminal removals, including the 'Criminal Alien Program,' in which agents comb jails for people who are not in the country legally. Another program - 'Secure Communities' - uses computerized analysis to help local law enforcement determine a person's background.

Dankers also said ICE is heavily involved in anti-gang initiatives around the region.

The spike in criminal deportations was welcomed news for Jim Ludwick, president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, a group that lobbies for stricter immigration rules. But he deemed the decrease in deportations of non-criminal immigrants as a letdown.

'That's disheartening, if you look at unemployment in Oregon, it's about 11 percent, and I know it's similar in Washington; when you have millions of people who are working here, who are willing to work for less than living wages, it depresses the wage market for Americans,' Ludwick said.

Deportations of immigrants with no criminal record dropped by 18 percent to 6,331 in the Northwest in that period.

At Salem-based CAUSAOregon, an immigrant advocacy group, executive director Francisco Lopez said that drops in deportations don't mean immigrants are not being affected by immigration enforcement. He points to an Obama administration policy of going after employers with audits. That, Lopez said, has caused immigrants to lose their jobs.

'It doesn't matter if they're deported. They're getting people to leave. They leave them without a livelihood, because they're losing their jobs,' Lopez said.

Nationwide, deportations jumped to more than 387,000 in the same period - an increase of 65 percent over the previous year.

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4.
Govt wants to expand expedited screening of low-risk, arriving travelers at more airports
By Eileen Sullivan
The Associated Press, November 19, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-us-airport-security,0,1264100.story

Washington, DC (AP) -- The Homeland Security Department wants to expand speedy screening of preapproved, low-risk air travelers arriving in the United States to most international airports in the country.

For more than a year, the department has been testing this program at seven airports across the country and found that participating travelers cut their average waiting time to be screened from 10 minutes to three.

The voluntary program, called Global Entry, would be open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents at least 14 years old. They would have to pay a $100 fee and undergo a background check. If accepted into the program, they can go through expedited screening when they fly into the United States. Ultimately, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a homeland security agency, plans to expand the program to include foreign travelers whose countries have an acceptable prescreening process. For instance, people from the Netherlands who are part of that country's Privium program have been accepted into the pilot program.

The program will begin at seven airports testing the pilot program and expand to most major international airports. The seven are New York's Kennedy, Houston's George Bush, Washington's Dulles, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson, Chicago's O'Hare, Los Angeles International and Miami International.

The program allows registered participants to use a self-service kiosk to report their arrival, scan their passport or permanent residency card, submit their fingerprints for biometric verification and make a declaration at the touch-screen kiosk. The kiosk then takes a digital photograph of the traveler as part of the transaction record, issues a receipt and directs the traveler to baggage claim and the exit. Global Entry participants may still be selected randomly by customs officers for additional screening at any time in the process.

The Homeland Security Department published the proposed rule in Thursday's Federal Register. The public has until Jan. 19 to comment on the proposal.

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5.
Watchdog notes scheduling issues with visitor-tracking project
By Jill R. Aitoro
NextGov.com, November 20, 2009
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20091120_9842.php?oref=topnews

The Homeland Security Department should establish a master schedule to better manage a six-part project to track foreigners leaving the United States, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

Currently, each component of the exit-tracking project has its own schedule, officials told GAO. The project is part of the broader U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program created in 2003 to gather biometric and biographic information on foreigners as they enter and leave the country. DHS has the capability to monitor visitor entries at 300 U.S. ports, but has yet to establish a comprehensive system for tracking departures.

The success of the exit-tracking portion 'depends in part on having an integrated and reliable master schedule that defines, among other things, when work activities will occur, how long they will take and how they are related to one another,' the report (GAO-10-13) stated. In addition to separate schedules for the project components, Accenture, the prime contractor for US VISIT, has its own timeline.

'DHS does not have a comprehensive project view of the work that must be, among other things, sequenced, timed, resourced and risk-adjusted to deliver the solution,' GAO said. 'Without such a view, a sound basis does not exist for knowing with any degree of confidence when and how the project will be completed.'

The six parts are at varying degrees of completion, according to the report. DHS is addressing air and sea departures in four stages: the development of a system to collect, validate and store the biometric and biographic data for foreigners as they leave; the enhancement of the system to support reporting requirements identified by users; completion of pilot studies to evaluate the impact on airport operations; and the establishment of a final rule specifying how and when an operational air and sea exit solution will be implemented.

Land exits will be addressed in two steps: the creation of a system that captures the final departure of certain temporary workers at border crossings using outdoor kiosks, and the approval of a strategy for recording biometric information of foreigners upon exit.

A GAO analysis showed that DHS has built a biometric system for land and sea exits that meets reporting requirements, and has conducted pilot studies at airports. But the department has not finished the testing required before deployment. The department has developed the temporary worker visa exist system and it is undergoing testing. Officials completed a strategy for reading biometric information in November 2008, and it is currently under review.

DHS agreed with GAO's recommendation to establish and maintain an integrated master schedule for the comprehensive exit project, noting, 'the operational date will be set once key decisions about critical details of [the exit program] are finalized.'

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6.
Menendez: Illegal immigrants should be able to buy health insurance from exchanges
By Jordan Fabian
The Hill (Washington, DC), November 19, 2009
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/68619-menendez-illegal-immigrants-should-be-able-to-buy-health-insurance-from-exchanges

Undocumented immigrants should be able to purchase insurance from health insurance exchanges with their own money, not federal dollars, Sen. Robert Menendez (D.N.J.) said Thursday.

Menendez said that allowing illegal immigrants to buy insurance from the exchanges would help reduce insurance premiums and other healthcare costs because they would no longer have to use emergency rooms to get care.

The Senate bill currently does not permit undocumented immigrants to purchase insurance from the exchange.

'If they use their own money to purchase insurance without any taxpayer subsidy, it would make a lot of sense to offer that possibility,' he said on ABC's 'Top Line' webcast.

Menendez stressed that undocumented immigrants should not have access to federal subsidies to purchase healthcare. Legal immigrants are allowed to purchase from the exchange and receive federal subsidies.

Menendez aide Afshin Mohamadi told The Hill that he does not have any plans to introduce an amendment to include undocumented immigrants in the exchange. The senator has, however, been outspoken on the issue.

The insurance exchanges under the Senate bill would be established by individual states to facilitate the purchase of qualified health insurance plans.

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7.
Busy agenda clouds hopes for immigration reform
By Tim Gaynor
Reuters, November 19, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5AI5CX20091119

Phoenix (Reuters) -- Some U.S. Democrats see momentum building for an overhaul of immigration laws that would legalize millions of undocumented workers, but analysts say a crowded agenda and struggling economy may once again sink hopes for reform next year.

Representative Luis Gutierrez says he will introduce a comprehensive reform bill in the Democrat-controlled Congress in December, offering a path to citizenship for law abiding undocumented workers.

'It's my feeling that we just can't wait any longer for a bill that keeps our families together, protects our workers and allows a clear pathway to legalization for those who have earned it,' the Illinois Democrat said.

Gutierrez was speaking in a conference call on Wednesday, which organizers said reached 60,000 participants gathered at house parties in 45 states.

Democratic officials in Washington, however, are skeptical there will be enough time or political will to tackle the issue next year although it could be on the agenda in 2011 or 2012 depending on the outcome of congressional elections next year.

Immigration is a divisive issue in the United States where some 12 million illegal immigrants live and work in the shadows and where Hispanics, the largest immigrant group, are an increasingly weighty voting bloc.

Changing Climate?

President Barack Obama, who was backed overwhelmingly by Hispanics in his election last year, says he wants to see legislation by early next year. His predecessor, President George W. Bush, tried and failed to get reforms passed.

Obama supports the idea of offering citizenship to illegal immigrants in good standing while cracking down on employers who hire undocumented workers as well as hardening the porous border with Mexico.

Representative Nydia Velazquez, who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and who also spoke in Wednesday's call, said she believed legislation would be passed before Congressional elections in November 2010.

Senior White House advisor David Axelrod told CNN on Sunday that Democrats and Republicans in Congress were working together to craft an immigration reform bill that could become law as early as next year.

That echoed a statement by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who said last week that factors like a big decline in illegal border crossings had altered the political climate, making an overhaul 'attainable.'

She said there were signs that more Americans want the broken immigration system fixed and there had been vocal support from law enforcement officials, clerics and leaders from business and labor.

Limited Bandwidth

A House Democratic leadership aide was less optimistic. 'I think it is pretty unlikely. Our members had to take a lot of tough votes this year -- on healthcare and energy -- that they are getting beat up on.'

The aide, who asked not to be identified, added: 'My sense is that there isn't going to be much enthusiasm in the rank and file to take up another issue that is going to require more tough votes.'

Analysts cautioned that the Congressional agenda was already packed with pending healthcare and climate legislation, as well as measures to tackle the sliding economy.

'Between focusing on the economy and other public policy priorities, it's hard to see Congress having the bandwidth to take on a big-ticket immigration reform as well,' said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California.

Analysts said lawmakers facing re-election next year may be reluctant to vote for a bill legalizing millions of illegal workers at a time when unemployment is above 10 percent, and businesses were struggling to emerge from a deep recession.

'There is zero appetite for this, particularly among Republicans, almost uniformly, and also among Democrats who are in marginal districts,' said Steven Camarota, research director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Ethan Siegal of the Washington Exchange, a private firm that tracks Congress and the White House for institutional investors, said: 'I think the chance of major immigration reform next year are well under 50-50.'

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Panel: Momentum is building for immigration reform
By Chris Casey
The Greeley Tribune (CO), November 20, 2009
http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20091120/NEWS/911209980/1002&parentprofile=1001

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8.
Rahm blamed for immigrant ban
By Jonathan Allen
The Politico (Washington, DC), November 19, 2009
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29748.html

Hispanic lawmakers say an old adversary, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, has his fingerprints all over a push to prohibit illegal immigrants from buying health insurance plans in a new market for people who don’t get insurance through their employers.

'A forensic study would show it all leads back to Rahm Emanuel and the White House,' said Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who worked with Emanuel when the president’s top aide was in the House.

'This analysis is inaccurate,' said a White House aide who had been shown the comments made by Hispanic lawmakers.

The health care bill passed by the House earlier this month would prevent illegal immigrants from getting subsidies to buy insurance, but they would be permitted to buy plans from the exchange with their own money. The Senate bill would cut off that option.

Whether or not the CHC members are pointing their frustration in the right direction, the perception that Emanuel is pushing policies that they see as harmful to their communities for the political advantage of the president or moderate Democrats in Congress could cause the White House problems with the CHC in future negotiations.

Members of the CHC trace what they say is a harder White House line on immigrants to the night of South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst during President Barack Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress in September.

'There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants,' Obama said. 'This, too, is false — the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.'

That prompted Wilson’s now-famous interjection. CHC members say that’s when the White House toughened its stance against illegal immigrants having any access to the system.

'They made it up at the White House,' Gutierrez said.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) had hoped to get the House, White House and Senate on the same page on the issue before the House moved forward with its legislation, to spare moderate House Democrats from having to vote on two versions of the provision. At the time, House leaders were debating whether to include a provision like the Senate’s in the House bill to help moderates avoid a tough vote on it or to side with Hispanic members by keeping the looser restriction. Van Hollen met with the CHC before the House vote — to clarify his position — and encouraged members to see if they could get the White House to agree to back their position.

CHC Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez of New York and California Democratic Reps. Xavier Becerra and Lucille Roybal-Allard were rebuffed when they met with Obama at the White House, according to Velazquez. Emanuel was not present.

But Hispanic lawmakers say there is little doubt in their mind where the president’s increasingly tough stance on undocumented workers and their families originates.

'He still thinks immigration will defeat Democrats,' said a CHC member who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Emanuel has long had a strained relationship with the CHC because, as chairman of the House Democrats’ political committee and later of their caucus, he sided with vulnerable Democrats who voted for Republican measures cracking down on immigrants — some of which were seen by Hispanic members as driven by bigotry.

He also came under fire from House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) on Thursday for an approach to the health care bill that Conyers said amounts to 'give us anything, and we will declare victory.'

Gutierrez said CHC opposition to the approach favored by the Senate and the president is 'even deeper-rooted and deeper-cemented' than it was on the night the House passed its bill.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday she will 'stand by' the provision in the House bill during House-Senate negotiations. Van Hollen has also expressed his support for the House version to the White House.

Democratic leaders were surprised that Republican House members did not offer a procedural motion to amend the House bill with language similar to the Senate’s. Several lawmakers and aides familiar with vote counts say such a motion would most likely have been adopted by the House and put the final passage of the bill in jeopardy.

Members of the CHC continue to hint that they may vote against a final health care bill if the Senate’s provision comes back to them in a health care bill.

'We’ll cross that bridge when we do,' said Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas).

Gonzalez said he didn’t know whether Emanuel is involved, but he said the policy is misdirected because it would result in taxpayers funding more expensive emergency health care for illegal immigrants who are unable to purchase health insurance.

'The only reason you ever pursue bad policy is when you think there’s some sort of political advantage,' Gonzalez said.

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9.
Dobbs weighing future in politics
By Tony Romm
The Hill (Washington, DC), November 19, 2009
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/68807-dobbs-weighing-future-in-politics

Recently departed CNN anchor Lou Dobbs on Thursday revealed he was mulling a possible run for the Senate or White House.

'Right now I feel exhilaration at the wide range of choices before me as to what I do next,' Dobbs, who left CNN last week, told Reuters in an interview today.

'I am ruling nothing out.... I have come to no conclusions and no decisions,' he added. 'Do I seek to have some influence on public policy? Absolutely. Do I seek to represent and champion the middle class in this country and those who aspire to it? Absolutely. And I will.'

Dobbs, who CNN officials said left the network 'amicably,' has long garnered national attention for vocalizing his political views.

He has been especially outspoken against immigration -- a stance that many have speculated put him at odds with CNN.

But Thursday's news nevertheless confirmed a number of his old viewers' suspicions that he might run as a third-party candidate to represent his home state of New Jersey, or that he might be jockeying for an early position in the 2012 presidential contest.

Dobbs himself hinted at both possibilities last Wednesday, when he announced during the final episode of his show that he would remain part of the 'national conversation' in some respect.

He was again mum on specifics during his Reuters interview this afternoon, but he stressed to reporters he would be 'fully and straightforwardly in the public arena no matter what' he said he did next.

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10.
4 R.I. troopers to receive ICE training
By Karen Lee Ziner
The Providence Journal, November 20, 2009
http://www.projo.com/news/content/immigration_order_11-20-09_EHGG6UO_v47.3a65b58.html

Four Rhode Island state troopers will be deputized with immigration powers by early 2010, nearly two years after Governor Carcieri sought the state-federal partnership, and during the waning months of his administration.

Carcieri’s directive that state police and corrections authorities pursue the controversial, so-called 287(g) program is a linchpin of his March 2008 executive order cracking down on illegal immigration.

By a Memorandum of Agreement signed last month with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the four troopers must pass federal background checks before their 25-day training sessions in January and February in South Carolina.

If all goes well, the program will begin after the first two troopers finish training in January and technology is installed, said Capt. David Neill, department spokesman. ICE spokesman Michael Gilhooly said a ranking ICE field manager makes the final determination.

Training will include enforcement of federal immigration laws and policies, the scope of powers pursuant to the agreement and civil-rights and civil-liberties practices. The officers must also pass an exam before they can be certified.

State police Col. Brendan P. Doherty has said the focus 'will be on those illegal aliens who are engaged in criminal activity.' The agreement lists major drug offenses and/or violent offenses such as murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery and kidnapping, as priorities.

Meanwhile, state Corrections Department Director A.T. Wall said he will raise concerns about 'staffing, training and infrastructure' with the governor’s office, before he signs a similar 287(g) agreement with immigration authorities. A meeting is scheduled for Nov. 30.

The Corrections Department agreement would help speed deportations of illegal immigrants with criminal records who are in state custody.

Though he has 'every expectation' the agreement will go forward, Wall said he only recently got a sense of how much manpower would be required. That could necessitate reconfiguration of the staff — or even new hires.

Wall declined comment on whether the state hiring freeze would preclude an agreement, should more staff be required.

But David Mellon, president of the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers, said, 'If the governor’s office says it’s a new position, and we have a hiring freeze, I would imagine we wouldn’t enter into an agreement with ICE, and that would be it. Where it goes from there — the way the economic situation is, I don’t know.'

Mellon said the union has voiced its concerns to Wall about workers’ compensation and other contractual issues.

Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe said, 'The governor is confident that DOC and ICE will move forward once the issues of staffing, training and infrastructure are finalized.'

The state police agreement is one of 55 currently signed. As of August, another 12 agreements — including the Rhode Island Corrections Department — were awaiting approval.

Controversy and criticism by civil and human rights organizations prompted Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano this fall to standardize the Memorandums of Agreement by which 287(g) operates. In July, the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil-rights and community organizations urged federal authorities to reject the state police request for a 287(g) partnership, citing a 'lengthy history of alleged racial profiling by state police.'

ICE responded by saying the new agreements strengthen civil rights protections and provide for a complaint process.

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11.
Residents turn out in support of sheriff, staff after federal lawsuit filed
By Nicholas C. Stern
The News-Post (Frederick, MD), November 20, 2009
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyID=98023

Dozens of residents turned up Thursday at a restaurant to express their support for Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins as he prepares to defend himself and two deputies in a federal lawsuit.

Red, white and blue balloons hung from the beams over booths at Barley and Hops Grill, and some people held signs demonstrating their approval for a federal program that allows the sheriff's office to enforce some federal immigration laws.

One sign expressed support for the sheriff: 'Uncontrolled illegal immigration forces legal immigrants to wait in line.'

'It's overwhelming and humbling for me,' Jenkins said.

He said the outpouring of support at the Frederick restaurant shows people are satisfied with the job he and his agency are doing. Between 50 and 75 people showed up.

Blaine Young, a talk-show host on WFMD radio, organized the event for Jenkins and the sheriff's office at large.

Jenkins and his deputies have come under fire, Young said, and 'we want to make sure they're appreciated for the job they're doing.'

Roxana Orellana Santos filed a $1 million lawsuit Nov. 10 that alleges two sheriff's deputies violated her civil rights when they stopped and detained her while she was eating her lunch near Evergreen Square on Buckeystown Pike in October 2008.

Jenkins said the allegations in the lawsuit are unfounded. The deputies merely performed their duties when Orellana Santos tried to hide from police as they passed her that day, he said.

When deputies discovered a warrant from federal immigration authorities on a routine search of a national database, they brought her in, he said.

The suit, Jenkins said, seemed to represent a line in the sand for the community, which has expressed support for the sheriff's office.

'This might be the powder keg,' he said, that could even spark a national battle over anticipated federal immigration reform, which Jenkins described as potentially being a sort of 'amnesty' legislation.

Kerry O'Brien, director of services for CASA de Maryland, which is among several groups representing Orellana Santos, said deputies should not have stopped her.

She was neither committing a crime when she was arrested nor charged with a crime by local police after she was detained, O'Brien said.

Additionally, if there was a warrant for her arrest, O'Brien said it was a civil matter, not something officers not trained under the 287(g) program should have handled.

Orellana Santos, who'd lived in Frederick for four years, is in deportation proceedings and has an immigration lawyer, O'Brien said.

O'Brien said she and the other lawyers in the case think sheriff's deputies are violating the law. Additionally, Jenkins' public statements about the goals of the 287(g) program, which involve fighting serious crime, do not ring true, she said.

She said the program has not made the community safer. About 90 percent of those processed under 287(g) were charged with misdemeanors. More than 90 percent of those had Hispanic ethnicity, and critics claim the program has led to ethnic profiling.

Jenkins said he has no plans to end the agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which he said has reduced crime in the county.

He said the county government will provide legal representation in the Orellana Santos suit.

Scott Rosenfeld of Mount Airy said he respected the sheriff's office for upholding the law.

His sister-in-law is a legal resident from Russia, he said, and spent several years obtaining permission to enter the country.

'Illegal immigrants are illegal, as such, they need to be held accountable,' he said. 'It's cut and dry.'

Bill Soper, a Frederick County resident since the mid-1950s, said he thinks Jenkins was doing the right thing regarding the 287(g) agreement.

Soper said he'd like to see the lawsuit against the sheriff 'go all the way,' and thinks Orellana Santos would ultimately be defeated.

Tim Jones drove from his house in Washington County to shake hands with Jenkins and show his support.

Jones said while he doesn't begrudge people who seek to provide for their families, there is a right and wrong way to immigrate to the country.

'Why is he (Jenkins) the lone man in the field standing up?' Jones asked.

Jones said he hopes the event would send a wind to Jenkins' sails that could propel him to higher office.

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12.
Do Long Island Police Ignore Hate Crimes?
By Ari Shapiro
The NPR News, November 19, 2009
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120569458

On a cold November night in Patchogue, Long Island, about 200 immigrants, activists and clergy cluster around a small stage. Hanging over an arrangement of candles in the shape of a peace sign, a poster shows a smiling 37-year-old man named Marcelo Lucero. He was an immigrant from Ecuador who was stabbed to death on this site one year ago.

Joselo Lucero stands at the site where his brother, Marcelo, died a year ago. Seven high school students are accused of the crime; one of the accused has said the group went out about once a week looking for immigrants to bash.

Lucero's mother, Rosario, has flown in from Ecuador to mark the anniversary of her son's killing. In a quavering voice, she says in Spanish, 'The pain that I feel, God will take care of this. I don't feel any hate, nor revenge.'

The defendants in the crime are a group of high school students who have said they were out to bash immigrants on a night of what they called 'beaner hopping.' In this community where the Latino population has grown 40 percent since the new millennium, immigrant advocates say the Lucero murder was the culmination of a growing pattern of immigrant abuse and mistreatment.

Now the Justice Department is investigating whether Suffolk County police here have a pattern of ignoring hate crimes.

Building Bridges

'This is the place where he was bleeding most,' Joselo Lucero said in an interview shortly before the vigil, pointing to the stain on the sidewalk where his brother died.

Joselo has lived in Patchogue for 14 years, as thousands of undocumented workers transformed this community. Immigrants have always been afraid that if they report violence, they'll be deported, he says.

'When I found out my brother got killed for no reason, the first thing I thought was, I'm not going to let it happen any more,' Joselo says.

A police car rolls by and, noticing people talking with microphones and headsets, the officer rolls down his window.

'Hi, there. How you doing?' asks Officer Victor Cruz.

Cruz clearly knows who Joselo is. The two men chat in Spanish about plans for the evening's vigil.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer hopes to see more interactions like this one.

Rosario Lucero poses by a small memorial for her son Marcelo, at her home in Gualaceo, Ecuador.

'It's common sense that if someone is here — if they're undocumented — they don't want to deal with government, they don't want to deal with police,' says Dormer. 'We understand that. That's why building the bridges to this community is so important.'

After the Lucero killing, Dormer promoted an officer named Lola Quesada to be his point person on immigrant issues.

'Nothing is easy when it comes to trust,' Quesada says.

Even when she convinces immigrants to trust her, they may be reluctant to trust the police department as an institution.

'Sometimes they call me on their cell phone to my cell phone' for greater anonymity, Quesada says. 'They usually ask me, 'I'm having trouble with this,' and then I tell them, 'OK, I understand your concern, but I want you to call 911.' '

While the police say they are working hard to build bridges to the immigrant community, some immigrant leaders don't see it.

A Violent Consequence?

'There is a lot of talking, but we would like to see the result,' says Matilde Parada. Ten years ago, she created the group Human Solidarity to advocate for undocumented workers.

'Politicians don't teach to tolerate the immigrants,' says Parada. 'They bring a hate message to the community. And that's why Marcelo Lucero was killed.'

She sees a direct link between anti-immigration rhetoric and anti-immigrant violence. The man she blames most is the area's top elected official, County Executive Steve Levy.

Levy has taken a strong stance against illegal immigration, but he rejects efforts to connect those policy positions with acts of violence against Hispanics.

'It's a real disservice to try to say these things only happen in those areas where there might be a debate over the issue of illegal immigration,' says Levy. 'It's dangerous, because it gives the impression that if you don't have a debate over illegal immigration, Latinos are safe. That's not necessarily true.'

Levy points out that even cities that welcome illegal immigrants struggle with crimes of racial hatred.

But Phil Ramos, who represents eastern Long Island in the New York State Assembly, says Levy does not appreciate that his words have violent consequences.

'If you say the word 'illegal' enough times as buzzwords in your speeches, these people cease to be human beings,' says Ramos. 'And that's what leads a group of six or seven young men to hunt an Ecuadorean man on the street like an animal, and just stab him and kill him.'

Ramos was a police officer here for 20 years before he retired and ran for public office.

In 2000, he investigated a major hate crime against immigrants.

'It was like something out of a horror movie,' Ramos recalls. 'Two day laborers were picked up off the street, promised a job, they were brought to an abandoned factory, and they were ordered to dig two holes. And those two holes were to be their graves.'

The men were nearly clubbed to death. They eventually escaped.

The official number of hate crimes in Suffolk County has dropped in the past decade. But Ramos says that's because the police feel pressure not to report incidents.

'I know the procedures from within,' he says. 'You have elected officials pressuring the police department to keep the numbers low, because if hate crime numbers go up, those elected officials are going to get blamed for inflaming racist sentiment.'

Levy calls that accusation 'an outright lie.'

'That's a pretty scurrilous statement,' Levy says. 'If he has proof of that, go send it to the district attorney.'

This allegation is exactly what the Justice Department is investigating.

A Government Probe

In September, lawyers from the department's Civil Rights Division sent Levy a letter announcing what's known as a 'pattern or practice' investigation. It's an inquiry into whether police here routinely mishandle hate crimes. These sorts of investigations are big — and under the Bush administration, they were rare. Generally these cases are solved through collaboration rather than court battles. The police commissioner and Levy both say they are eager to work with the Justice Department.

For immigrants, the allegation that police ignore hate crimes is just one more reason to stay in the shadows.

'I live in fear. Everyone lives in fear because of what's happened here,' says Mariano Barahona, a carpenter from Honduras.

Speaking in Spanish, Barahona explains that he moved from Miami to Long Island despite his fear, because 'in Miami I was making $70 to 80 a day. Here, I make up to $150 to $160 a day.'

This is the deal immigrants make, says Sister Margaret Smyth, a Roman Catholic nun who works in the immigrant community. You get work, but you may also face discrimination or abuse.

'They accept it as part of the package that comes with having to live here,' Smyth says.

On a recent sunny afternoon, Smyth hands out lunches to people in need. She explains that immigrants experience abuse in many forms, not just violence. Slumlords may cram people into houses, or employers may refuse to pay workers.

'In the very beginning, practically nobody would ever tell me this,' says Smyth. 'But now we've built up their strength because they see we can go after the employers.'

Chuckling, she says, 'We go after them all the time. The bosses call us up, some of them, and scream at us and call us names.'

Smyth even framed a letter on top of her desk where one employer called her 'a misguided older nun.'

'I love it!' she says with a burst of laughter.

Life for immigrants on Long Island may in fact be changing. That's Joselo Lucero's hope, too.

'We always have a second chance here,' he said at his brother's vigil. 'We always try to prove we can change.'

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13.
Is new GPS tool illegal immigrant aid?
By Cindy Carcamo
The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, CA), November 20, 2009
http://www.ocregister.com/news/border-220422-people-desert.html

Individuals trekking north may soon be able to download the program into an inexpensive web-enabled cellular phone that is supposed to help them safely navigate the treacherous desert crossing between Mexico and the United States, known as the Devil's Highway.

'The point of the project is to offer multiple spaces of sustenance,' said Ricardo Dominguez, who led the creation of the tool. Dominguez, an associate professor of visual arts at UC San Diego, leads a team at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology where he is a principal investigator.

The team -- which involved a collection of researchers from different disciplines of study -- is hoping to have the application, called a Transborder Immigrant Tool, officially up and running by mid-2010 after a series of test runs in the desert to adjust the kinks and make necessary tweaks. For now, the invention is in its beta stage.

While U.S. Border Patrol officials say they are not worried by the invention, which they see as more of a nuisance, the news has already made its way into anti-illegal immigration Web chat rooms, enraging members of that movement.

'He is aiding and abetting criminal activity,' said Barbara Coe, founder of Huntington Beach-based California Coalition for Immigration Reform. 'He should be arrested and prosecuted.'

Dominguez, who calls himself an Artivist -- a cross between an artist and activist -- said he's expecting a flurry of criticism from what he calls the 'hard-core conservative Lou Dobbs community.' He claims that he isn't bothered by it.

'We're not trying to resolve the border issues...,' Dominguez said. 'We're just trying to create a poetic safety tool. Anyone can agree on safety as a far as a core human right.'

The idea for the tool began with a Virtual Hiker Tool, developed by a university colleague with an impaired sense of direction who favored desert hikes.

'Then we began to speak about another possibility It was kind of a non-event,' Dominguez said. 'Here we are in the border. We know people are dying crossing. To us it was obvious...It was 'how can we tweak this GPS algorithm and develop it for another concern -- the question of people dying on the border.' '

The tool pairs cheap cell phone technology with a global-positioning system and consistently updated online data to guide individuals who are trying to cross international borders. The GPS system, however, doesn't contact all three satellites so authorities would not be able to triangulate where the person is, unless he or she used the phone to make a call.

Border Patrol officials said the device won't stop them from nabbing border-crossers.

'The technology is not new...,' said U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Mark Qualia. He added that he's seen these sort of tools used before. 'That's the nature of our job. We have to learn to overcome and to adapt.'

While he said the tool may provide border-crossers with a slight advantage, he said the agency has a variety of detection tools at their disposal.

'We have ground radar. We have cameras. Our enforcement and technology that we are using is not onefold,' Qualia said. 'But once there is detection if they cross and hit a sensor the GPS is not going to help them.'

As for whether the government would go after someone like Dominguez, Qualia said he could not answer and that it would be up to the U.S. Attorney's Office to prosecute, if they deem appropriate.

Dominguez said he's not worried about the government cracking down on his project.

'If we were the kind to sit around and be concerned about that, the last 20 years of my research would never have gotten done,' he said. 'We're not hiding. We're not anonymous. We're not sneaking around. We're willing to have a discussion on multiple levels.'

Dominguez said he is in contact with non-governmental organizations on the border and churches that already help individuals with safe passage north, hoping to ultimately form a partnership for free distribution and training of the devices.

Some immigrant rights activists are already praising his work.

Enrique Morones, founder of Border Angels in San Diego, said the device would help save lives in the desert.

'Ricardo just wants to save people's lives. He's not encouraging people to cross,' Morones said.

His group is known for setting water out in the middle of the desert for border-crossers.

'I get calls every week about a person lost out there,' he said. 'If he could save the life of one person with that device, all of that work would be worth it. You can't put a price on someone's life.'

Others, however, are skeptical of the device's effectiveness.

Jose-Mario Cabrera, spokesman for Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said the device won't solve what he called the real problem.

'We have pushed migrants to go into remote areas such as the Arizona desert,' Cabrera said. 'This is more of an issue of policy, not the lack of technology that is producing these deaths.'

Minuteman Britt Craig, who splits his time between the Campo border and his home in Mission Viejo, said he understands Dominguez' invention on a humanitarian level.

'I'm sure his intentions are good. He doesn't want people to die in the desert. I don't want people to die in the desert either,' said Craig, 60.

Still, he said, the device won't do the border-crosser or the American people any favors.

'As soon as they get over here the problem hasn't ended, it's just begun,' he said. 'They are in an immediate state between a slave and a legal free man laborer. They are totally at the mercy of the people who hire them and they just begin ruining the economy for the people who are legal to work here.'

Craig said he doesn't believe the device will keep people from dying in the desert. He said he fears that it may have an opposite affect of emboldening some to make the journey on their own with the device.

'It may give people the confidence to go out and not be able to physically cross it and die,' he said. 'He may actually lead someone to their doom with the device... an unintended consequence. If they think a cell phone is going to get them through 80 miles of desert, south of Yuma. They are mistaken.'

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14.
Speakers urge dialogue at peaceful UNR immigration debate
By Victor Calderon
The Reno Gazette Journal (NV), November 20, 2009
http://www.rgj.com/article/20091120/NEWS/91120002/1003/CARSON/Speakers-urge-dialogue-at-peaceful-UNR-immigration-debate

The best way to begin to address immigration reform is for those on both sides to have a positive dialogue that includes law enforcement and immigration advocates, two speakers said tonight at a forum at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The forum, sponsored by the Associated Students of the University of Nevada group, was at the same time as an event across campus sponsored by the UNR Latino Research Center, called 'a celebration of diversity' by organizers.

The events came after more than a week of debate among campus and community groups on whether to include one of the forum speakers, Jim Gilchrist, co-founder of the Laguna Hills, Calif.-based Minuteman Project which supports civilian patrols to prevent undocumented immigrants from entering the United States.

After support from university leaders and the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, Gilchrist appeared Thursday with immigration rights activist Miguel Angel Acosta before a crowd of about 400 people, event organizers estimated.

'If you’re in the U.S. illegally, you have broken our immigration laws and will be repatriated to your home country,' Gilchrist said. 'If we don’t enforce the laws, it’s a blanket invitation to tell people to come over here to better your lives and we wouldn’t be able to handle ... all the people that would do that.'

Acosta, co-director of the Santa Fe, N.M.-based Partnership for Communities and Schools, said immigration is more complicated than whether people are legal or not.

'There is a push and pull on both sides of the border,' he said. 'There are policies among the U.S. and other countries that have both encouraged and discouraged immigration.'

The forum occurred without incident. Police officers and security guards were present and bags were searched before people entered the auditorium.

Questions were selected by organizers, with only the moderator addressed the speakers. There was some applause after comments by both speakers but no vocal opposition.

People who attended the forum were split on its effectiveness.

'I’m a little disappointed,' said Edna Meza, a UNR student. 'I heard the same ideas and thoughts everyone has already discussed and it sounds like a whole bunch of propaganda.'

But Sparks resident Judy Moss said she appreciated the fact that university officials allowed Gilchrist to speak.

'Immigration is something we have to deal with,' Moss said. 'The fact that some people didn’t want him to speak says that there are people here who don’t believe in free speech, and that goes against what the university ought to be teaching.'

Casey Stiteler, ASUN director of programming, said the event was worthwhile, despite opposition to Gilchrist’s appearance.

'The majority of feedback we got from people on both sides was valid and constructive for any future forum,' Stiteler said. 'We’re not looking for the speakers to preach their beliefs but to provide students with information to make their own decision.'

At the event at the College of Education Building, about 100 people attended a discussion on immigration that included performances by an Aztec dance group.

'We feel the mission of this university is to foster a positive dialogue,' said Oscar Peralta, vice-president of the student advisory board for the Latino Research Center. 'Instead of creating antagonism between both sides on immigration, we want to take a humane perspective.'

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15.
Campus groups share thoughts on immigration reform
By Lori Bell
The Daily Illini (Univ. of Illinois), November 20, 2009
http://www.dailyillini.com/news/2009/11/20/campus-groups-share-thoughts-on-immigration-reform

A vote on immigration legislation is being postponed until early next year. However, Congress is expected to start drafting an immigration reform bill this fall. The Obama administration supports a policy that would enable illegal immigrants to obtain citizenship, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has tried to determine how much support this policy will receive.

'I’d like to see the government come up with a way that the undocumented can kind of come out of the shadows and prove that they can be hardworking citizens and want to contribute to society,' said Jesse Hoyt, junior in LAS and president of La Colectiva, a group that focuses on social justice and immigration reform.

He said his group supports the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act, currently in Congress, which would allow undocumented students the opportunity to become citizens after meeting certain requirements, such as serving in the military or completing at least a bachelor’s degree.

However, Jacob Hollars, member of College Republicans and junior in LAS, said the DREAM Act is unfair to taxpaying, legal immigrants and citizens. The DREAM Act provides student aid to illegal immigrants who are not taxpayers, which gives them an advantage over legal citizens, Hollars said.

'If you want to come here and be productive in our society and you do it the right way, we welcome you with open arms,' Hollars said. 'But if you try to subvert the system and come here by illegal means, then there are consequences for breaking the law.'

People cross the border for economic reasons or to reunite with family, but sometimes coming into the country through legal means is not an option, said Enrique Morones, founder of Border Angels, a volunteer group that gives aid to immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexican border.

'It’s not like they are trying to take a shortcut, there is no line for them to get into. And that’s the biggest misconception that’s out there,' Morones said at a lecture Wednesday on campus. 'My family was able to get in line and get a visa 50 years ago. My family would not qualify for a visa today. So either you stay in your own country and starve to death ... or you cross the desert and you look for a better life.'

Morones said the system is flawed, and to fix it the United States needs to improve border security and have comprehensive and humane immigration reform, which would include a pathway to legalization for undocumented citizens. This would involve learning to speak English, assimilating, paying a duty to the U.S. government and waiting for approval.

'We’re not looking for amnesty,' Morones said. 'Amnesty comes from the Greek word to forget, like amnesia, and we’re not trying to forget, we’re trying to pass the legalization, so we’ll gladly pay a duty to the U.S. government.'

Hollars said his party would also like to see increased security along the border and better enforcement of policies along the border.

Rather than building a fence around the border, Morones said the United States needs to focus on building bridges through communication. Fences cannot keep people out; they only make crossing more dangerous for immigrants, he said. Despite differing opinions, many people agree some action needs to be taken to fix the immigration system.

'It’s an important issue that affects all of us. And it affects all of us in a positive way; getting immigration reform will help the economy, help health care, get people out of the shadows,' Morones said. 'The country wants immigration reform.'

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16.
Citizenship help available in American Canyon
By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen
The Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA), November 20, 2009
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_13831479

Local residents seeking U.S. citizenship can get help navigating the sometimes daunting process at Sunday's 4th Annual American Canyon Family Resource Center Citizenship Fair.

Though an appointment isn't required, it's helpful, organizer Catalina Chavez Tapia said. The fair, from

10 a.m. to 3 p.m., is open to any legal, permanent resident, from any country, seeking to become a U.S. citizen, she said.

Working with Catholic Charities' Immigration Services of Santa Rosa, the California Human Development Corp. and Rep. Mike Thompson's immigration specialists, experts will help participants understand and fill out required forms and get them to the proper authorities, all for free, Chavez Tapia said.

Susan Leon of Napa said she became a citizen in May with help from last year's event. She said she came to the United States from her native El Salvador in 2002.

'They helped me fill out the application and helped me and my husband through the process, and it was pretty quick,' she said. 'Now it's like I have nothing to worry about. The immigration laws are changing and it's getting scarier for people here illegally.'

Chavez Tapia said many immigrants need help slogging through what can be a challenging and expensive process with a $675 application fee and an English proficiency requirement.

'We've helped some individuals who have lived here 40 years, and, for instance, we have to document every visit they made outside the country,' she said. 'We had this one lady from Venezuela two years ago, who was 90, who wanted to be a citizen, and we helped her through the process. She's one of our biggest success stories.'

American Canyon Family Resource Center Executive Director Sherry Tennyson said 10 volunteers who speak Spanish and Tagalog will be standing by to help citizen-seekers Sunday.

'So far we have 17 families signed up,' Chavez Tapia said, adding the process can take up to 90 minutes, and 'we welcome walk-ins.'

Chavez Tapia said the fair usually brings 30 to 50 citizenship-seekers from a variety of countries, including some from outside Napa County, especially Vallejo.

'We have helped probably more than 200 Napa County residents become citizens, and to me, that's great,' she said.

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17.
Fear of immigration officials has many Hispanics avoiding the 2010 census
By Lisa Olliges
The KOAM TV News (Pittsburg, KS), November 19, 2009
http://www.koamtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11541214

Joplin, MO -- Local Hispanic church pastors who gathered for a special Census 2010 information session today say fear of immigration officials has many Hispanics avoiding the census.

Only four people showed up for Thursday's meeting but officials say it is a start at connecting to the Hispanic community.

City officials and the pastors want the Hispanic public to know government dollars for improving neighborhoods are connected to the census.

'If we know how many people we have in our community we can find a way how to bring better school programs for the community, parenting programs, even financial programs, government programs we can have access to,' says Arturo Nunez of the 4-State Baptist Association.

The Hispanic pastors are planning another Census 2010 meeting to welcome all Hispanic community members to learn about the census and invite people to help with the count.

That meeting is scheduled for December 7 at 6 p.m. in the basement of the Joplin City Hall.

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18.
Borderline Health Care
By Brett Chase
Portfolio.com, November 20, 2009
http://www.portfolio.com/industry-news/health-care/2009/11/20/illegal-immigrants-cost-local-hospitals-while-feds-avoid-issue/

In Houston, expectant mothers receive prenatal care at Harris County Hospital facilities—regardless of whether they have documents proving they're American citizens.

The thinking is that the care prevents other health problems down the road. But it comes at a cost. Between limited preventative and emergency care, illegal immigrants account for 12 to 14 percent of Harris County Hospital District's $1.1 billion annual budget, says King Hillier, vice president of public policy and government relations.

'We're not going out there doing elective surgeries or face-lifts,' Hillier says. 'We're providing the bare level of care for these folks.'

That care is paid largely by local taxpayers. The federal government, which is in charge of policing America's borders, kicks in very little to care for covering undocumented immigrants. In 2005, the feds contributed just over $100 million for all of Texas.

Illegal immigrants cost the U.S. health system $4.3 billion a year when all levels of government are accounted for, according to a report by Steven A. Camarota, director for research at the Center for Immigration Studies. The majority of costs are ultimately paid by local residents, although emergency care for illegal aliens is funded by Medicaid. Local citizens pay when public hospitals, like Harris County Hospital District, provide free care. But locals also pay because charity care drives costs for fully insured people.

'It gets passed on like a hidden health care tax,' says Jim Haynes, chief financial officer of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association. 'Hospitals negotiate with insurance plans, and one of the elements that goes in there is the care that goes for that population. It does get passed on.'

So President Obama and other Democrats may pledge that tax dollars won't go toward caring for undocumented immigrants, but they're really just shifting the cost for someone else to pay. Hospital officials in states like Texas, Arizona, and California say it's not fair. There's been limited federal money to fix what hospitals say is a federal issue. Illegal immigrants number almost 12 million, or 4 percent of the U.S. population. That number is up more than 40 percent, from 8.4 million in 2000, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

'They say we won't cover illegals, but America's health providers are stuck with the cost,' says Kevin Burns, chief financial officer at University Medical Center in Tucson.

'While there is funding under current law to help offset uncompensated care, the best way to tackle this problem is through comprehensive immigration reform, which is another priority for this administration,' the White House says in a statement.

In Tucson, care for illegal immigrants includes a lot of emergency and trauma cases, including treating a 13-year-old boy who lost his legs after being run over by a train a few years ago. Illegal immigrants cost the University Medical Center about $5 million a year, or a quarter of the hospital's charitable care. Annual revenue is around $550 million.

No hospital executives interviewed blame their budget issues solely on immigrant care. The expense of treating undocumented workers at U.S. hospitals is growing along with the rising cost of caring for all the uninsured. (Uncompensated care rose 57 percent, to $34 billion, from 2000 to 2007, according to the American Hospital Association.) Nor did any say illegal immigrants should not be treated. On the contrary, even more care is needed.

'I will take care of them first and ask questions later,' says David Green, CEO of El Centro Regional Medical Center in California. 'My biggest concern is there is no reimbursement for taking care of all these souls from south of the border.'

Green sees a lot of emergency-room cases, including Mexicans who break their bones sneaking across the border. Women come into the country to have babies. One Mexican woman crossed multiple times to deliver four babies at El Centro, Green says. As much as half of El Centro's more than $10 million a year in charitable care is spent on illegal immigrants, Green says. The hospital's revenue is about $100 million a year.

The cost of treating illegal immigrants in California emergency rooms is more than $1 billion a year, or about 10 percent of the $11 billion in free care the state's hospitals provide a year, says Jan Emerson, a California Hospital Association spokeswoman.

In 2004, Congress approved $1 billion over four years to help reimburse hospitals for care of illegal immigrants. California was the largest recipient of that government money, getting $72 million annually over four years. That program expired last year.

'It's clearly a drop in the bucket,' Emerson says. But the symbolic gesture was an encouraging sign, she adds. 'It was the first time the federal government acknowledged that it had a financial responsibility.'

Hospital associations from California, Arizona, and Texas were joined by other groups in other states with large immigrant populations, including Florida, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and South Carolina to lobby for the aid.

States mostly draw on emergency Medicaid funds to pay for the care. In 1996, the feds shifted more burden for covering immigrant health costs onto locals. That year, Congress passed a law requiring immigrants to wait five years after becoming citizens to apply for federal health benefits.

That's bad for a state like Texas, where a quarter of the population is uninsured, including many illegal residents. There are 1.6 million undocumented immigrants in Texas, or just less than 7 percent of the total population.

And local governments aren't going to see any help this year or next if health reform passes. Washington is steering clear of any immigration debate.

'The politics are real simple: It will not be addressed in context of health reform,' says Ernie Schmid, senior director of policy analysis for the Texas Hospital Association.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The CIS health care cost estimates are available online at: http://www.cis.org/IllegalsAndHealthCareHR3200

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19.
HIV travel law change brings peace of mind
Houstonian says he’s more at ease about traveling and packing medicine
By Susan Carroll
The Houston Chronicle, November 19, 2009
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6730400.html

Each time Houston writer Pablo Chapoy packed for a trip to Mexico, he carefully counted out his daily doses of his HIV medication, mixing them in with his vitamins and supplements in clear, plastic baggies.

Mindful of the United States' long-standing restrictions on the admission of HIV-positive immigrants and visitors, the 61-year-old green-card holder felt it was too much of a risk to just pack medication in its original prescription bottles. What would happen, he wondered, if U.S. Customs inspectors stopped him on his return trip to Houston and questioned him about his pills?

But no longer.

With President Barack Obama's announcement Oct. 30 that the U.S. will be ending its 22-year-old ban early next year, Chapoy is planning to pack his original prescription bottles for the first time when he makes a trip to Guadalajara for a book conference later this month.

Although there was no legal barrier stopping him from carrying his medicine before, he said he feels the lifting of the ban has reduced the stigma for HIV-positive immigrants.

'I am not afraid anymore,' Chapoy said.

Years of lobbying

The U.S. has faced harsh criticism internationally for having one of the most restrictive immigration policies for HIV-positive foreigners, particularly in comparison to other Western nations. Under U.S. law, foreigners with HIV are not permitted to immigrate to the U.S. — or even visit temporarily — unless they qualify for narrowly defined waivers.

The ban's repeal comes after years of lobbying by HIV and AIDS activists and public health leaders who have argued that the ban has no scientific basis. In 1987, when scientists were still exploring the transmission of HIV, U.S. health officials added HIV/AIDS to the list of communicable diseases that disqualified a person from entering the U.S.

'The travel ban has become a relic of an era in which policy was dictated by fear rather than by science, and now the science has caught up,' said Dr. Mark Kline, internationally recognized leader in pediatric HIV/AIDS and chair of pediatrics at the Baylor College of Medicine and physician-in-chief at Texas Children's Hospital.

Bush signed law

The process to end the ban was started last year by Congress and President George W. Bush, who signed a law removing HIV from the list of diseases that would require a waiver for immigrants and visitors. In September, U.S. immigration officials issued a memo that said an HIV diagnosis alone is not basis for denying an immigration or visa petition.

But before the ban could officially be ended, U.S. health officials had to write a new rule, submit it for public comment and finalize it. Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services published a final regulation that cleared the way for the ban to be lifted formally on Jan. 4.

Until then, the U.S. remains one of only about a dozen nations — including Iraq, Qatar and Armenia — that officially restricts the admission of foreign visitors and immigrants because of their HIV diagnosis.

'The fact of the matter is that immigrants or visitors from other countries — whether they are HIV-positive or not — are not a threat,' Kline said. 'They are not what is driving the epidemic in the United States.'

The ban has had very tangible and negative consequences, he said, including discouraging people from seeking HIV testing. Kline said he hopes the end of the ban closes that chapter for the U.S., and will prompt international organizations to consider holding conferences in the U.S.

Houston immigration attorney John Nechman, who teaches a course on HIV and the law at South Texas College of Law and the University of Houston Law School, held a seminar earlier this month to explain the impact of the end of the ban, calling it 'truly wonderful news.'

No more waiver process

He said the end of the ban will mean that visitors and immigrants are no longer required to deal with the 'horrendous' waiver process, which involves paying immigration officials a $545 fee and can add months if not years to a green card application. While a medical exam will still be required for applicants for permanent residence, an HIV test will no longer be part of the process.

Nechman warned it may take some time for word to get out to consular offices overseas charged with approving visas, and urged HIV-positive foreigners to carefully time their green card and visa applications around the Jan. 4 ban repeal if they hope to avoid applying for a waiver.

'This will still be one of those battles we will have to continue fighting and be vigilant about,' Nechman said.

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20.
Day-labor center's owner puts facility up for sale
Macehualli site, built with city funds, falls victim to economy
By Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), November 20, 2009
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2009/11/20/20091120phxdaylabor1120.html

After nearly seven years of controversy and financial troubles, the Macehualli Day Labor Center in northeast Phoenix is for sale, a victim of the poor economy.

The center, which opened in February 2003 just off Bell Road on 25th Street, cannot pay its mortgage, said Salvador Reza, the Latino activist who runs it.

'It's a sign of the times, with people unable to keep up with their mortgages,' said Keenan Strand of the Northeast Phoenix Neighborhood Action Alliance and an area businessman.

The center was created to keep day laborers, many of them undocumented immigrants who live in the Palomino neighborhood, off the streets. It was part of a nationwide effort to give workers and employers a safe place to negotiate work terms.

The center was built with $120,000 in city funds, but state law prohibits any further financial involvement.

Although the Phoenix center was built with taxpayer funds, daily operation costs are privately funded. Non-profit agencies Chicanos Por La Causa, Friendly House, Valle del Sol and Tonatierra supported the organization at first, but each had to withdraw support over time.

A city report in 2004 found the center attracted workers and employers, helped lower crime and spurred sales with nearby businesses.

But the report also pointed to several issues, including its off-the-beaten-track location and inability to secure an ongoing source of funding.

Over the years, the center almost closed several times as financial backers came and went.

The center also became a flashpoint in the illegal-immigration debate.

Illegal-immigration opponents tried and failed to recall Councilwoman Peggy Neely for her role in developing the center. They also kept a close eye on the center, with observers stationed nearby writing down license-plate numbers several days a week. In 2008, Sheriff Joe Arpaio conducted a crime sweep in the area that led to a near-riot outside the center.

Through it all, Reza continued to promote his dream of a permanent job-training facility at the site. With the support of Chicanos Por La Causa, he purchased the land, hoping that mortgage and tax payments would be less than the lease. But earlier this year, the organization pulled out, citing its own financial problems.

Now, Reza says, foreclosure is a possibility.

He said he cannot afford to make payments on a loan of $358,000 that he took out to purchase the land. He said he owes about $250,000.

He is hoping to find a solution before a sale or for a sale to a friendly buyer who will allow the center to continue.

Santiago Romero is the agent trying to sell the property. The price is $859,000 for the 2-acre site.

Reza said he relied on Romero's expertise in setting the price, based on comparable sales in the area.

'Hopefully, it will be a moot point,' said Strand, who owns the McDonald's restaurant nearby. Strand, whose efforts helped create the center, said if it closes, business owners will have to get together with police and laborers 'and come up with a new plan.'

'We've learned a lot in five years,' he said.

Luz Sarmina-Gutierrez of Valle del Sol, a social-service group that was one of the center's early financial backers, lamented the center's possible demise.

'The impact of the economy has dramatically affected its success,' she said, 'as well as community attitudes about illegal immigration led by Sheriff Joe Arpaio.'

She said the center has provided a safe place where workers were valued and respected.

She said workers probably will go back to the streets. 'The need for work will not go away,' she said.

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21.
Feds drop Sholom Rubashkin immigration charges
By William Petroski and Grant Schulte
The Des Moines Register, November 20, 2009
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20091120/NEWS10/911200374/-1/groupblogs/Feds-drop-Sholom-Rubashkin-immigration-charges

Federal prosecutors on Thursday dropped all 72 immigration charges against Sholom Rubashkin, sparing the already-convicted former Postville meat plant manager a second criminal trial.

People on both sides of the immigration debate noted Rubashkin escaped judgment on some of the central allegations arising from the federal government's May 12, 2008, immigration raid at Agriprocessors Inc. But they disagreed over whether a second trial was necessary.

'It sounds a little bit ironic, given that the employees were prosecuted so quickly,' said Lori Chesser, a Des Moines lawyer who specializes in immigration cases. 'But I don't think it is any indication of the government letting up on prosecuting employers for immigration violations.'

Craig Halverson of Griswold, national director of the Minuteman Patriots, a conservative activist group that opposes illegal immigration, said proceeding with a trial would have sent a message to businesses that they shouldn't violate immigration laws.

More than 300 people, mostly from Guatemala and Mexico, were arrested at Agriprocessors in the largest single site immigration enforcement operation in Iowa history.

Rubashkin could still spend the rest of his life in prison. He is awaiting sentencing, expected early next year, after being convicted last week by a federal jury on all but five of 91 business fraud charges listed in a 163-count indictment. The total maximum sentence for his convictions adds up to 1,255 years, although his actual sentence would likely be far less under federal guidelines.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan Jr. said in court papers filed Thursday that even if Rubashkin were convicted of the 72 counts of alleged immigration violations, it would have no impact on his eventual sentence because of last week's convictions.

Dismissing the remaining charges will avoid an extended and costly trial and lessen the inconvenience to possible witnesses, he said.

Deegan also said the jury's verdicts on several of the fraud and false statement counts were premised, at least in part, upon Rubashkin knowingly making false statements to a bank with regard to the harboring of undocumented workers at Agriprocessors Inc.

In the government's estimation, Rubashkin has been convicted of the most serious charges he faced in terms of potential penalties, he said.

Rubashkin lawyer Guy Cook said he viewed U.S. District Judge Linda Reade's decision to grant dismissal of the charges as a victory for his client.

'Frankly, the government should have done this a long time ago. In spite of the way the government characterizes things in its motion, we believe it overstates the verdict on the financial case in South Dakota.

Rubashkin has steadfastly denied the immigration charges. He has pled not guilty. In spite of the raid of May 12, he continues to assert he committed no crimes,' Cook said.

Robert Teig, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Cedar Rapids, declined to comment.

Rubashkin is being held in the Linn County Correctional Center in Cedar Rapids. He is awaiting a ruling by Judge Reade on a request by his lawyers that he be released on bail while awaiting sentencing.

Cook said he plans to file a motion this week seeking a new trial, based on what the defense believes were legal errors in the prosecution and trial of the case. If the new trial motion is not granted, an appeal will be filed, he said.

One criminal trial related to the Agriprocessors raid is still pending. Brent Beebe, 52, the plant's former operations manager, is scheduled to face trial beginning Jan. 10 in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. He is accused of federal immigration crimes following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Immigration lawyer Chesser said Thursday she is looking forward to the end of the criminal proceedings in the Agriprocessors case.

'Postville taught us a lot of lessons about justice that we need to absorb as a society and move forward positively. No good came out of this except for that,' she said.

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22.
Miami Dade College students protest deportation plans
By Alfonso Chardy
The Miami Herald, November 20, 2009
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1343211.html

Dozens of Miami Dade College students and some of their professors staged a rally Thursday demanding that federal immigration authorities free two Venezuelan brothers facing deportation.

The Kendall Campus rally launched a campaign aimed at putting pressure on the federal government to release Jesús and Guillermo Reyes and delay or cancel their deportations and those of their parents and brother Marcos, who are in hiding.

Jesús, 21, was taking criminal justice courses at Miami Dade College and was the 2007-08 Kendall Campus Student Government Association president. Guillermo, 25, recently received a computer-animation degree at the same college.

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23.
El Mirage police arrest 'human smuggler' suspect
By Lisa Halverstadt
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), November 19, 2009

El Mirage police executed a search warrant early Thursday at the home of a man they believe to be the ringleader of human-smuggling operation.
. . .
http://www.azcentral.com/community/surprise/articles/2009/11/19/20091119gl-nwvsmuggler1119-ON.html

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24.
ICE agents find 1-month-old in Phoenix drophouse
By Daniel González
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), November 19, 2009

Federal agents found a 1-month-old girl earlier this week while searching a house in north-central Phoenix that authorities say smugglers were using to hold illegal immigrants.
. . .
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2009/11/19/20091119drophouse1119.html

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25.
Feds: 6 illegal immigrants arrested in Wash.
Immigration officials say six illegal immigrants have been arrested in Mount Vernon, Wash., after agents descended on a trailer park.
The Associated Press, November 19, 2009

Seattle (AP) -- Immigration officials say six illegal immigrants have been arrested in Mount Vernon, Wash., after agents descended on a trailer park.
. . .
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010312485_apwaimmigrationarrests.html

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26.
Man sentenced for illegal re-entry to U.S.
By Stephen Hunt
The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City), November 19, 2009

A man who was among 76 people netted this fall during a two-month gang-enforcement operation was sentenced Thursday to two years in federal prison.

Juan Castillo-Ortiz, 26, who was arrested in August, pleaded guilty to re-entry of a deported alien and was sentenced to prison by U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups.
. . .
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13826632

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Overseas News

Support the Center for Immigration Studies by donating on line here: http://cis.org/donate

ATTN Federal employees: The Center's Combined Federal Campaign number is 10298.

[For CISNEWS subscribers --

1. Canada: Report warned against arming border guards on Native American land
2. Canada: Poll finds Canadians pleased with new naturalization materials
3. U.K.: Health system contractors accused of blackmailing illegal staffers
4. U.K.: Lawyers fight to prevent deportation of nine year-old Iranian child
5. Netherlands: NGO blasts treatment of foreign children
6. Norway: Immigration driving population growth
7. Finland: Border forces advise Turkish authorities on asylum-seekers
8. Finland: 70% of West African students provide false papers
9. Germany: Poll finds Turks believe more support needed for integration
10. Italy: Bill would grant limited suffrage to foreign residents
11. Italy: Report estimates four million Italians living abroad
12. Malta: PM renounces animosity surrounding issue
13. S. Africa: U.N. condemns violence against Zimbabweans
14. Australia: Imm. Min calls upon New Zealand to share burdens for asylum
15. Australia: Indonesia gov't seeks deal for burden sharing
16. Australia: Ruling party MP breaks ranks over asylum crisis
17. Australia: State premier calls for better population planning (story, 2 links)
18. Australia: Amnesty International head calls for closure of detention center
19. N.Z.: Taiwanese to enjoy visa-free travel

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

-- Mark Krikorian]


1.
Internal border report warned of violence if guards armed on Mohawk land
By William Campbell
The Canadian Press, November 19, 2009
http://www.metronews.ca/edmonton/canada/article/374034--internal-border-report-warned-of-violence-if-guards-armed-on-mohawk-land

Cornwall, Ontario -- An internal report warned the Canadian Border Services Agency of potential violence resulting from plans to arm border guards with handguns at a controversial crossing on Mohawk land outside the eastern Ontario community of Cornwall.

The document also cautioned that giving guards guns could further damage the border agency's relationship with local Akwesasne Mohawks, and recommended the agency look 'aggressively' at relocating the border office.

The report on the arming initiative, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, was written by the border agency in October 2008, more than six months before the controversial post was closed over the arming dispute.

The Akwesasne Mohawk First Nation covers Cornwall Island, which straddles the Ontario-Quebec-New York state borders. The border crossing was closed in May after guards left their posts following reported threats of violence. Officers stationed at the post were scheduled to be armed with 9-mm handguns the following day.

The crossing has since been temporarily relocated to the Seaway International Bridge, which links the island to mainland Cornwall.

A briefing note, which summarized the heavily censored report, recommended the agency 'look aggressively at long-term solutions to the Akwesasne issue including relocation of the CBSA office.'

The report outlined some potentially dangerous results from putting guns into the guards' hands.

'Arming officers will not be accepted lightly by some community members, particularly its hardliners, and will serve to aggravate difficulties between the community and the CBSA,' the report said.

'Whether the difficulties escalate into outright violence (versus intimidation) and whether they are long term or short term in duration' was considered subject to debate.

The report went on to warn that delaying or cancelling the Cornwall arming could hurt relations between management and staff at the crossing.

Ron Moran, national president of the Customs and Immigration Union, has said events leading to the closing mean officers 'can never work at the current location again, armed or unarmed.'

The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne has long opposed arming border officers at the crossing, saying it would violate their sovereignty and could lead to violent incidents.

It's unclear whether the government took steps to move the border office before it was shut down.

Christopher McCluskey, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan, said in an email Thursday that the federal government decided three years ago to arm border officers at all land crossings.

'The arming of border services officers ensures the safety and security of the community, travelling public and CBSA personnel,' McCluskey said.

'As an operational responsibility of the CBSA, they are responsible for the implementation of that decision. Almost all travellers entering Canada at land crossings now do so at ports of entry with armed officers.'

McCluskey said arming the officers matches the longstanding practice of the American Customs and Border Patrol.

'This is seen by both countries as an important measure to keep our shared border safe and secure.'

Border agency spokeswoman Panayiota Karaiskos said only that the agency is committed to ongoing discussions about the future of the crossing.

'The CBSA continues to explore options for a viable long-term solution' to the dispute, she added.

Van Loan has said arming border guards at all posts fulfils a 2006 Conservative Party campaign promise, and that no exception will be made for the Cornwall Island crossing.

Akwesasne Grand Chief Mike Mitchell said he wasn't surprised the agency armed its guards despite being warned of the consequences.

'It leads me to believe this has been the objective and the goal of customs, to find some way to legitimately give (the border guards) leave,' he said in an interview.

'They've finally achieved their objective to leave here and find some excuse, (so) they wouldn't have to come back.'

Mitchell said the Akwesasne people are law abiding but nearing the end of their patience over how the government has handled the dispute.

'Nobody here likes where this is being directed to go,' he said. 'If it's going to have a violent ending it's because they're pushing (us) towards that direction.'

Mark Holland, the Liberal public safety critic, said the government 'knowingly created a volatile situation' in Akwesasne which could have been avoided had the public safety minister heeded the warnings of his department.

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2.
Canadians seem pleased with additions to immigrants' handbook: poll
The Canadian Press, November 20, 2009
http://www.metronews.ca/edmonton/canada/article/375029--canadians-seem-pleased-with-additions-to-immigrants-handbook-poll

Ottawa (CP) -- A new poll suggests people are generally pleased with a new immigration handbook that emphasizes Canadian military and political history.

The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey suggests a majority of people feel that immigrants have a poor, or very poor understanding of Canadian history.

Respondents welcomed several of the new additions to the handbook, which is used to prepare for citizenship tests.

They liked the addition of a section on military history, a segment on Canadian inventors and the added emphasis on darker moments of history, such as the treatment of aboriginals.

They were more lukewarm, however, over the addition of Quebec separatism and sports heroes.

The poll, part of an omnibus telephone survey conducted Nov. 12-15, questioned 2,014 people and is considered accurate to within plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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3.
NHS hospital cleaning firm bosses held for 'blackmailing illegal staff'
Three managers at a NHS cleaning company have been arrested on suspicion of blackmailing foreign staff, amid claims that illegal immigrants have been employed at hospitals across the country.
By Matthew Moore
The Telegraph (U.K.), November 20, 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6609041/NHS-hospital-cleaning-firm-bosses-held-for-blackmailing-illegal-staff.html

The offices of ISS Mediclean were yesterday raided by police investigating reports that some of its managers at Kingston Hospital in south west London had threatened to report illegally employed colleagues to immigration authorities.

Channel 4 News claimed that some ISS bosses at Kingston are also being investigated for allegedly employing hundreds of illegal cleaning and catering staff at the hospital, and pocketing the wages of former workers after they left.

'When there was a rumour that immigration was coming, half the domestic force would not be available,' a whistle-blower told the programme.

'They just wouldn’t turn up or they were tipped off not to show up to work. They would simply disappear and they ran on a skeleton staff.'

ISS employs more than 43,000 people at dozens of NHS and private hospitals around Britain. At least two other hospitals where the firm has contracts are also being investigated.

Companies employing illegal immigrants in this country face fines of up to £5,000 per worker.

It is understood the allegations emerged following a tip off from a local community group in Kingston.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said two men, aged 47 and 43, and a 28-year-old woman were being questioned last night

He said: 'Kingston Police conducted a pre-planned operation to arrest three individuals for alleged blackmail offences.'

A spokesman for Kingston Hospital said: 'This is not the only hospital ISS is contracted to clean and provide other services for and it is not the only one to have become the focus of this inquiry.

'What has been uncovered here has led the UK Border Agency to at least two other hospitals where ISS has similar contracts.'

An ISS spokesman said the company is 'co-operating fully' with the inquiries that are under way.

He added: 'ISS deeply regrets any adverse reaction that this incident may have had on the patients, staff and visitors to the hospital.

'However, it is our responsibility to work within the law and to ensure that our employees do the same, which includes demonstrating their right to work legally.

'Immediate steps have been taken to ensure that the correct levels of management and staff remain in place.'

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4.
UK lawyers fight to save nine-year-old boy from deportation to Iran
By Alexandra Topping
The Guardian (U.K.), November 19, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/19/lawyers-fight-deportation-iranian-boy

Lawyers for a nine-year-old boy set to be removed from the UK tomorrow are urgently trying to stop his deportation.

The Iranian boy, known for legal reasons as Child M, has been locked up in Yarl's Wood in Bedfordshire, the UK's main immigration removal centre for women and families, since he was arrested with his mother and older brother in Manchester this week. They are due to be put on a flight to Iran tomorrow at 6.30pm.

Child M's mother has been trying to claim asylum, saying her life is in danger if she returns to Iran because photocopied extracts of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses were found in her house and business.

Richard Jones, Child M's lawyer, has given a new report to the UK border agency in which an independent expert testifies that the arrest warrant is genuine and states that the family would be in grave danger if sent back. If the agency discarded the report, the child's lawyers would make an urgent application to a high court judge for an injunction to prevent the deportation and allow the fresh evidence to be considered, he said.

In April this year, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the children's commissioner for England, said children refused asylum should no longer be detained while awaiting deportation. He warned in a report that children found time spent in Yarl's Wood 'like being in prison'.

Child M spent several weeks in Yarl's Wood last year and suffered serious physical and mental health problems as a result, said Jones.

Speaking from Yarl's Wood yesterday, his mother, 48, who cannot be named for her own safety, said about 10 immigration officers came into her house at 8.15am on Monday and took her and her two sons, Child M and his brother, 19. She collapsed and was taken to hospital before going to Yarl's Wood in a wheelchair.

She said her son was reacting very badly to the experience. 'He wet himself last night. He has nightmares. He feels very defenceless,' she said.

She added that she and her family would be sent to prison not only as punishment for being in possession of The Satanic Verses, but for publicly criticising the Iranian regime.

Her 23-year-old daughter was not at the house when the raid occurred and is now in hiding. She said Child M was receiving psychiatric help and had only recently begun to sleep in his own room. During his last incarceration he had a rash and his hair had begun to fall out, according to his lawyers.

'He was getting better, but now this is going to take him back to square one,' she said. UK border officials had removed her clothes as well as personal items from the house.

The family say they came to the UK in the summer of 2007 to visit relatives and recover from the death of Child M's father, who had died in a car accident. They say they intended to stay only for one or two months, but then received a phone call from Iran saying their home and business had been raided by police. Lawyers have previously produced a copy and translation of the arrest warrant, which said the arrests were 'with respect to disseminating fabrication and propagating against the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran through printing and publishing the noxious book Satanic Verses'.

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5.
Dutch neglect rights of migrant children
The Radio Netherlands News, November 20, 2009
http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/dutch-neglect-rights-migrant-children

The rights of migrant and refugee children are insufficiently guaranteed in the Netherlands, according to the human rights group Defence for Children International.

These children appear to have fewer rights than their Dutch peers, are ill-informed about their rights and are sometimes separated from their parents. Defence for Children says that twenty years after the adoption of the UN Children's Rights treaty, the Netherlands is not a paradise for children.

The treaty's twentieth anniversary is being commemorated at several Dutch venues on Friday. In Leiden, Unicef is presenting a critical report on the state of children's rights in the Netherlands to Youth and Family Minister André Rouvoet and his colleague Bert Koenders of the Ministry of Development Co-operation, in the presence of Queen Beatrix. Children from twenty schools will be presenting her their plans to promote children's rights.

An exhibition opens in the central town of Amersfoort of portraits of schoolchildren showing which children's rights they think are most important.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Defence for Children International can be found online at: http://www.defenceforchildren.org/

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6.
Population increase still high
The Norway Post, November 20, 2009
http://www.norwaypost.no/content/view/22783/1/

Image The population of Norway increased by 17,100 persons in the third quarter and has now reached 4,843,000. A little more than 60 per cent of the increase is due to immigration.

The rest is due to new births. The number of newborn is today at the highest level since the middle of the 1970s, according to fresh figures from Statistics Norway.

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7.
Finland advises Turks on how to recognise potential asylum seekers
The Helsingin Sanomat (Finland), November 19, 2009
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Finland+advises+Turks+on+how+to+recognise+potential+asylum+seekers/1135250903773

The Finnish Border Guard is worried about a recent increase in asylum seekers arriving in Finland on flights from Turkey.

The number has doubled from last year, and in October alone, between 30 and 40 Chechens came to Finland on flights from Turkey. Consequently, the Border Guard decided to go to Turkey, hoping to stem the flow.

Two Finnish experts have been dispatched to Istanbul to advise employees of Turkish Airlines how to identify and stop those travelling to Finland to seek asylum.

'Suspicions are aroused by a person who has a ticket via Finland to some other destination, who asks that his or her luggage should be checked only to Finland', says Pasi Tolvanen, the head of the border inspection unit of the Finnish Border Guard.

Tolvanen emphasises that the Finnish Border Guard does not have the authority to stop anyone in Istanbul, as the decision is made by Turkish Airlines.

At the Refugee Advice Centre in Finland, lawyer Marjaana Laine is surprised. 'I had not heard that, but it is not the job of an airline to decide who gets to apply for international protection', she says.

According to Laine, it is the job of Finnish immigration authorities to deal with those who have arrived in Finland with inadequate travel documents.

The Border Guard disagrees. 'Our task is to prevent illegal entry. We do not investigate it or punish it, if an asylum seeker is involved', Tolvanen says.

Tolvanen has learned from Turkey that a few people have been stopped at that end.

Laine feels that not allowing potential asylum seekers to board a flight increases crime and smuggling, as people seeking protection resort to illegal means.

About 400 asylum seekers holding Russian passports have come to Finland this year. About half of them are Chechens, of whom most have travelled via Istanbul.

The Istanbul route means that a Chechen who has fled to Turkey will buy a ticket to St. Petersburg via Helsinki. As transit passengers they are allowed to go through Helsinki without visas, and once in Finland they can apply for asylum.

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8.
Many West African students submit forged documents to study in Finland
The Helsingin Sanomat (Finland), November 20, 2009
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Many+West+African+students+submit+forged+documents+to+study+in+Finland/1135250903126

Only one-third of those West Africans who had been selected to study in Finnish educational institutions last spring and in early autumn were granted a residence permit.

'In fact, as much as 70 per cent of the Cameroonians and Ghanaians and 60 per cent of the Nigerians gaining selection to Finnish educational institutions were denied a residence permit', stated a press release issued by the Finnish Immigration Service.

Most commonly, the failure to secure a permit was caused by forged documents or insufficient income.

Forgeries of a number of documents were encountered, including false IDs, study and work certificates, as well as forged bank statements and health insurance documents.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs suspected already at the end of August that the HAMK University of Applied Sciences in Hämeenlinna had not sufficiently examined the qualifications and motives of the 130 African students recruited for the school in an additional application process in the late summer.

In the course of last summer, other Finnish educational institutes also received large numbers of applications from West African countries.

According to the Finnish Immigration Service, another reason for the decision to deny a residence permit was that the applicants had inadequate language skills.

The prerequisites for a student’s residence permit include having valid health insurance coverage and a minimum of EUR 500 per month, or EUR 6,000 per year, available for the duration of the student’s residence in Finland.

This year marked the first time that Finnish educational institutions obligated their students to pass an international language test.

In 2009, the Finnish Immigration Service has substantially increased its efforts in investigating the residence permit applications of African students.

When forged documents are presented with an application, the authorities cannot ascertain the applicant’s real motives for moving to Finland, the Finnish Immigration Service argues.

Presentation of forgeries is considered an attempt at illegal entry.

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9.
Turks: Germany must do more for integration
The Local (Germany), November 19, 2009
http://www.thelocal.de/society/20091119-23389.html

The vast majority of Turkish immigrants in Germany think their adopted country should do more to accommodate them, according to a new study released on Thursday.

Forty-five percent of the Turks surveyed said that they feel unwelcome in Germany. But an overwhelming 82 percent said their host should do more to aid their integration.

Germany is home to almost three million people with Turkish roots, making it the world's largest Turkish diaspora and Germany's largest ethnic minority.

The study said Turks were already engaged in many aspects of German society such working, paying taxes and being able to afford consumer goods such as cars. But mentally, there was still a huge gulf between Turks and their host country.

'This is a group of people who are deeply committed to their cultural and religious roots and Turkish values,' the study said. 'And they are not fundamentally prepared to give them up.'

A damning report published in February found that although many Turks have been in Germany for nearly 50 years they are the least well integrated of all immigrant communities.

Other recent surveys have shown that they are more likely to leave school without qualifications than the overall population, more likely to be unemployed and below the poverty line.

This latest survey was carried out by research institutes Info GmbH and Antalya-based Liljeberg Research International. Around 1,000 Germans, people in Germany with Turkish roots and Turks in Turkey took part in the survey.

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10.
Italy: Bill gives immigrants right to vote in local polls
ADN Kronos International (Italy), November 19, 2009
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=3.0.4014650040

Rome -- A bill has been introduced in the Italian parliament granting immigrants from outside the European Union who have been legally resident in Italy for five years the right to vote in local elections.

The cross-party bill was tabled by MPs from Italy's centre-left opposition and from the ruling conservative People of Freedom Party (PdL) of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Centre-left Democratic Party's Walter Veltroni, the PdL's Salvatore Vassallo, Leoluca Orlando from the centre-left Italy of Values party and Roberto Rao from the centrist Union of Christian and Centre Democrats party (UDC) presented the bill to the Italian lower house of parliament late on Wednesday.

'The bill meets an urgent need to ensure immigrants are included in our society and made to feel responsible for their lives,' said Veltroni, who is the former Democratic Party leader and ex-mayor of the Italian capital, Rome.

The PdL's junior coalition partner, the anti-immigrant Northern League, opposes giving immigrants voting rights.

'Immigrants should go back home,' Northern League party leader Umberto Bossi said on Wednesday, commenting on the bill.

But Berlusconi's key ally and lower house of parliament speaker Gianfranco Fini has stated his support for moves to give immigrants more rights.

At an immigration conference near the northern city of Treviso on Tuesday, Fini said he supported granting citizenship to the children of immigrants who are born and grow up in Italy and attend school.

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11.
Immigration: Millions of Italians living abroad
ADN Kronos International (Italy), November 19, 2009
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/CultureAndMedia/?id=3.0.4015028043

Rome (AKI) -- Almost four million Italians are living abroad, according to a new report released on Thursday. The Migrantes Foundation said that there were 3.91 million Italian citizens living outside the country - in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania. In 2008, the number was 3.73 million.

Migrantes, a Catholic organisation, said that of the total number living abroad, the majority - 2.18 million - lived in Europe, 1.52 million in the Americas, 126,000 in Oceania, 51,000 in Africa and 32,000 in Asia.

More than a third of the Italians living abroad were born outside Italy, according to Migrantes.

The top destinations for Italian immigrants are Germany, Argentina, Switzerland, France, Brazil, Belgium and the United States. Over 54 percent of them come from the impoverished south of the country.

Most of the Italians who have emigrated come from the capital Rome, and the southern cities of Agrigento, Cosenza, Salerno and Naples.

Fifty-four percent of them are under 35 years-old.

However, Italians over 65 years old (19.3 percent) outnumber Italians aged under-18 who are living abroad (16.6 percent).

In contrast, there are 3.89 million foreigners resident in Italy.

Migrantes also said that usually, Italians who live abroad had become more prosperous.

Many of them own a house, many have a second home in Italy, and spend their vacation in Italy and remain religious.

The report also said that there are at least 60 million people of Italian origin in the world, with 68 percent of them living in Latin America, 28 percent in North America, 3.5 percent in Europe and 0.5 percent in Australia.

'Without their courageous decision to emigrate and live abroad...Italy today would not be part of world summits of wealthy and developed countries,' said the report.

The Migrantes Foundation is part of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI).

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12.
Comments on immigration frightening - Prime Minister
The Times of Malta, November 20, 2009
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091120/local/comments-on-immigrations-frightening-prime-minister

The level of 'racism, intolerance and animosity' in comments on immigration was more than frightening and shocked Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

Speaking this evening during a seminar organised by the Pro Pontefice Centesimus Annus Foundation on the encyclical Caritatis in Veritate, Dr Gonzi said the problem of immigration could only be solved through strong international cooperation.

Malta was working within the European Union and United Nations institutions for an international solution to be found.

Like the Pope in this encyclical, Malta always insisted that every immigrant had fundamental rights which should be respected by all in every circumstance.

Dr Gonzi said that whenever he read comments on the subject, he always asked what had happened to the values of love and hospitality towards those suffering, which had built up this country.

In saying so, the Prime Minister said, he did not want to seem that he was mitigating the extent of the problem for Malta.

EU assistance could help the country mitigate the financial burden and the social burden could be eased through education.

Civil society, led by the Church, should help the people understand these people, who came from different cultures, better.

The problem, he said, would become more burdensome if it was transformed into a political ball.

The Prime Minister also touched on other issues including family and bioethics.

Both, he said, were fundamental to society and were becoming more complex.

The government believed in the value of the family and that it was its duty to safeguard and strengthen it. It also believed that marriage was the best foundation. However, there were marriages that failed and people who chose to build a family outside marriage. What should the government do when faced with such a reality? How should it safeguard the rights of the vulnerable in such situations?

The government, Dr Gonzi said, also believed in protecting human life as from conception. On the other hand, technology was developing and everything was becoming permissible because of lack of legislation. So it set up a parliamentary committee on assisted procreation.

The solution was not easy but it was not right to avoid current realities.

Dr Gonzi appealed to the foundation organising the seminar and others to commission technical studies on how aspects of Maltese society and its social and economical structures could be inspired by the encyclical being discussed.

These studies should bring together the vision of man’s complete development and the country’s situation.

They would provide an important voice to society and serve for the Church social teachings not to remain hidden, he said.

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13.
UN condemns South Africa attacks on Zimbabwe workers
The BBC News (U.K.), November 20, 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8370720.stm

The UN has condemned attacks against Zimbabweans seeking work in South African vineyards, which it says have driven 3,000 people from their homes.

Local farm workers accused the Zimbabweans near Cape Town of stealing their jobs by accepting lower wages.

South Africa saw an outbreak of xenophobic violence in May last year, when Zimbabwean refugees and asylum seekers were attacked.

More than 60 people died in the waves of mob violence.

The UN refugee agency said those displaced in the latest unrest were living in tents in a sports field north-east of Cape Town.

On Friday, police said they had arrested 22 people in the informal settlement of De Doorns in Western Cape for allegedly attacking foreigners earlier this week, South African Press Association reports.

The trouble broke out when South African farm labourers were angered at reports that the farmers were employing migrant workers at lower wages.

'They started to shout at us saying that we had to go back to Zimbabwe,' one migrant worker told the BBC.

'After that they started to break our houses. We phoned the police but the police didn't take action. They just stood there as people broke our houses and they stole our things.'

Correspondents say South Africa is keen to show the world that poverty and crime is under control in preparation for next year's World Cup.

But for millions of South Africans the reality is very bleak.

This year there have been township riots by residents unhappy at the lack of decent housing and basic services, such as water and electricity.

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14.
NZ should share refugee burden: Australian minister
The Radio Australia News, November 19, 2009
http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/200911/2747434.htm?desktop

Australia's Immigration Minister Chris Evans says New Zealand should share some of the burden of resettling the Sri Lankan refugees from the Oceanic Viking.

All 78 asylum seekers who were on board the customs ship have gone ashore and are now being processed in Indonesia.

The New Zealand Government has said it won't help, because it doesn't want to reward people who try to jump the queue.

But Senator Evans says New Zealand has a responsibility to take some of them.

'They have traditionally been a resettlement country for people found to be refugees in Indonesia,' he said.

'What we've been saying is as part of the Bali process there's got to be burden sharing around the region.'

'It's interesting of course that a couple of the boats we've intercepted recently were on the way to New Zealand...we've intercepted them and taken them to Christmas Island, so I think New Zealand understands it's gotta be part of the burden sharing.'

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15.
Share asylum burden, Indonesians plead
By Tom Allard and Karuni Rompies
The Sydney Morning Herald, November 21, 2009
http://www.smh.com.au/world/share-asylum-burden-indonesians-plead-20091120-iqwq.html

Indonesia has begun negotiating a new arrangement to handle asylum seekers with the Rudd Government as the country's foreign affairs minister called on Australia to ''share the burden'' of immigrants streaming through the archipelago.

Its call came as a customs vessel intercepted 53 asylum seekers off north-western Australia yesterday. Last night they were being taken to Christmas Island, along with two crew.

The boat was the fifth this week to make its way into Australian territory, but Indonesia is grappling with a larger influx of asylum seekers that is overwhelming its detention centres.

''We cannot bear the responsibility ourselves,'' said Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa. ''There should be a sharing of burden.''

Mr Natalegawa said talks had started on an ''implementing framework'' between the two countries that would include measures to try to stop the flow of people from countries such as Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

It is understood Indonesia wants the agreement to include new commitments from ''destination'' countries such as Australia to take more refugees, together with better law enforcement against people smugglers.

The four week stand-off on the Australian ship Oceanic Viking ended on Thursday, but almost 250 Sri Lankans who were intercepted trying to get to Australia even earlier remain on their boat in dreadful conditions at the port in Merak, refusing to get off and demanding the same treatment as their countrymen who were on the Oceanic Viking.

An Australian refugee activist who boarded the boat yesterday with Indonesian trade unionists and human rights lawyers described conditions as deplorable.

Anthony Main said they heard complaints of inhuman treatment, with many asylum seekers having malaria and complaining that the Indonesian navy would not allow them medical treatment.

Mr Main, the Socialist Party's national organiser, said the group delivered urgently needed supplies to the asylum seekers, including tarpaulins to protect them from worsening weather and fuel for a generator.

Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans has said the processing and resettlement of the Merak asylum seekers is a matter for Indonesia, even though the boat's interception followed a request from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to his Indonesian counterpart, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Privately, Indonesian officials are scathing of Australia's stance. ''The general feeling in Indonesia is that Australia has a moral responsibility not to abandon these people,'' a senior Indonesian Government source said.

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16.
Labor MP slates Rudd's asylum solution
By Paul Maley and Stephen Fitzpatrick
The Australian, November 21, 2009
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/labor-mp-slates-rudds-asylum-solution/story-e6frgczf-1225800999376

Outspoken Labor MP Julia Irwin has slammed her party's handling of the Oceanic Viking affair, saying Kevin Rudd's 'Indonesia solution' is worse than John Howard's Pacific version.

In the sharpest criticism levelled at the Prime Minister from his own side of politics, the member for the southwestern Sydney seat of Fowler, and supporter of Labor for Refugees, said she felt 'ashamed' by the actions of her government. 'It is now clear in humanitarian terms that the Indonesian solution is worse than the Pacific Solution,' Ms Irwin, who will not stand for re-election, told The Weekend Australian. 'I feel ashamed that a Labor government has allowed this to happen. We must stop playing politics with people's lives. The Oceanic Viking is an Australian ship and it should have returned to Christmas Island. Australia cannot evade its responsibility to process genuine refugees on Australian shores.'

Ms Irwin's scathing remarks followed revelations that women and children who disembarked from the Oceanic Viking were being held in immigration detention, contrary to an assurance given in parliament by Mr Rudd that they would be held in a house.

Trade Minister Simon Crean said the arrangements concerning women and children were unfortunate and the government's policy was that they should not be behind razor wire and bars.

'They are separated. They haven't got the razor wire, they have got the bars, unfortunate, yes. But it is a fact of life,' Mr Crean told Sky News. 'What we've got to try and do is to continue to urge . . . them (Indonesia) to accept our policy.'

Border Protection officers intercepted another asylum boat yesterday -- the 44th this year -- found carrying 53 passengers and two crew off Ashmore Island. And as criticism of Mr Rudd's special deal mounts, Immigration Minister Chris Evans refused to guarantee the resettlement deadlines outlined in the deal.

Genuine refugees aboard the Oceanic Viking were promised resettlement within four to 12 weeks, a time frame that is expected to strain Australian government agencies, particularly those responsible for security checking.

Asked if the government could guarantee those time frames, a spokesman for Senator Evans said: 'In line with the agreement with the Indonesian government, those persons from the Oceanic Viking will be assessed by the UNHCR and those found to be refugees will be referred by the UNHCR to third countries for resettlement.'

Australia's peak refugee advocacy group, the Refugee Council, also criticised the government for 'short-changing' the 78 asylum-seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking.

'If they are being confined, then clearly they are being short-changed,' Mr Gibson told The Australian. 'I think it probably goes without saying that what they currently seem to be receiving is not what was intended.'

Mr Gibson also challenged Kevin Rudd's assertion that there was nothing exceptional about the resettlement deal offered to the 78.

'Almost by definition, it was preferential,' he said. 'But that raises the broader issue and responsibility and arrangements of people who've been seeking to find their way to Australia and end up getting whacked in detention in Indonesia.'

Nevertheless, Mr Gibson defended the deal, saying it was necessary if the government hoped to achieve a humanitarian resolution to the stand-off.

Yesterday, the five Tamil women and five children at Tanjung Pinang Detention Centre remained in the facility's holding cell. They were also prevented from approaching the barred window looking out over the road.

The 68 men of the group were held in the high-security detention section of the centre.

Indonesian officials remain adamant that Australia must stick to its part of the deal.

Anyone from the group whose application for refugee status was unsuccessful would be deported at the end of that time, officials said.

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17.
Population planning must improve: Bligh
The Australian Associated Press, November 20, 2009
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/population-planning-must-improve-bligh-20091120-iptq.html

The federal and state governments need to plan better for Australia's growing immigrant population, says Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.

Ms Bligh, who earlier this week sought debate on how to decentralise the state, said on Friday that all governments needed to cooperate more over the country's future growth.

She said some of the drivers behind population growth were due to federal government policy but were left to state governments to handle.

'Some of the levers, such as immigration policy, things like the baby bonus, have consequences and state governments end up having to manage some of those consequences,' she told ABC Radio's AM program.

Ms Bligh said she agreed with current immigration levels.

'But I think there is some scope for some better planning between state and federal governments about where we would like to see the new Australian population concentrated,' she said.

'Without a doubt we've seen very strong interest from migrants in coming to all parts of Queensland and that's been the case now for a couple of years.

'That doesn't seem to be showing any sign of abating and it does require careful planning.'

Ms Bligh said states were more than capable of managing population growth, which did require planning and infrastructure.

The premier on Wednesday floated an idea of offering a $3,000 boost to the federal government's first-home owner's grant as a bonus for those buying in regional areas.

The cash would be used to encourage Queenslanders to stay in regional areas and those moving to the state to live outside the burgeoning southeast corner, she said.

Ms Bligh said the fast-growing state would face a 'crisis of liveability' if population growth was not managed well.

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Bligh says states forced to manage immigration impacts
By Melinda Howells
The ABC News (Australia), November 20, 2009
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/20/2748621.htm?section=business

Flannery calls for population inquiry
By Tony Eastley
The ABC News (Australia), November 20, 2009
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/20/2748335.htm

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18.
Amnesty International Chief Blasts Australia's 'Panic' Over Asylum Seekers
The head of Amnesty International, Irene Khan, says the Australian government should close its immigration detention center on Christmas Island.
By Phil Mercer
The Voice of America News, November 20, 2009
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/asia/AmnestyInternationalChiefBlastsAustralia-70607872.html

The head of Amnesty International, Irene Khan, says the Australian government should close its immigration detention center on Christmas Island. On a visit to Australia, Khan accuses the conservative opposition of exploiting voters' fears about asylum seekers for political gain.

Amnesty International Secretary-General Irene Khan says that holding asylum seekers at the Christmas Island processing center will not deter the flow of boat people heading to Australia.

On a visit to Canberra this week, Khan urged the government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to close the camp in the Indian Ocean, about 2,600 kilometers northwest of Perth.

The facility opened last year and houses asylum seekers recently picked up by the Australian navy.

A surge of unauthorized arrivals by boat has put the issue of immigration back in the public spotlight in Australia. Khan says the debate here has often been xenophobic.

The Amnesty International chief blames conservative politicians for whipping up public hysteria.

'I think it is unscrupulous politicians and populist media,' Khan said. 'There has been a lot of fuss being made about the boat arrivals when actually the numbers arriving by air are much higher. There seems to be a sense of panic when what is really needed here is to handle a humanitarian problem with regard to international standards.'

She says the number of boat arrivals in Australia is small compared those arriving in Europe.

Khan, however, calls the Rudd government's immigration policies an improvement on those of the previous conservative administration. She points out Mr. Rudd's decision to grant permanent residency rather than temporary protection visas to those deemed to be genuine refugees and the closure of the outback Woomera detention center and offshore processing facilities in the South Pacific.

Amnesty International says a multilateral approach is needed to deal with the asylum problem.

The Australian government says the surge of migrants arriving by boat is the result of conflicts in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan as well as the global economic crisis.

Australia accepts more than 10,000 refugees a year who are processed through non-governmental agencies in other countries.

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19.
Taiwanese to gain visa-free entry to NZ
The New Zealand Herald, November 21, 2009
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10610713

Taiwanese passport holders travelling will not be required from November 30 to apply for a visa to come to New Zealand, and the Taiwanese Business Association says this will bring back tourists and students from the island in significant numbers.

'Fishing and golfing in New Zealand have always been a hit, but the hassle of having to apply for a visa has made many opt to holiday in other, visa-free countries instead,' said the association's chairwoman, lawyer Royal Reed.

'A result is also that New Zealand education and business opportunities fell off the radar for the Taiwanese, because fewer people there talked about New Zealand,' Ms Reed said.

Visitor numbers from Taiwan to New Zealand plummeted from a high of 41,485 in 2000 to just 14,730 last year.

According to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, more than a third, or 12,000 of the 35,000 Taiwanese who emigrated in the mid-90s, chose New Zealand as their settlement destination.

But that number dropped to just about a dozen families moving here permanently in 2007.

The rest chose Australia, America and Canada instead because of better business and job opportunities.

Immigration New Zealand said the visa-waiver decision had been taken as part of a review of New Zealand's waiver assessment framework.

'New Zealand's visa waiver programme is designed to reduce cost and facilitate travel for tourists, short-term students and business people.'

Ms Reed said recent changes in Immigration's business migration policies had also reignited interest from Taiwanese wanting to move here as investor or entrepreneurial migrants.

'The combined policies will definitely be bringing a significant number of Taiwanese back to New Zealand.'

In other changes taking effect on the same day, a provision listing the type of permits available to those coming under the Working Holiday Scheme policy will be removed.

'The primary objective of the scheme is to allow young people to holiday in New Zealand, but also allow them to ... work and study in accordance with their scheme.'

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Center for Immigration Studies
1522 K St. NW, Suite 820
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076
center@cis.org www.cis.org
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