Daily news updates from CIS

March 11, 2010

Domestic News

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

[For CISNEWS subscribers --

1. Admin., legislators revving up for amnesty push (2 stories, link)
2. Immigration provisions threatening health care package
3. Census looks to bolster Latino participation
4. CA Congressman blasts GPS tool to aid illegals
5. NE legislature mulls prenatal care for illegals
6. AZ enforcement bills draw protests
7. UT bill would help protect kids' identities
8. Chicago leaders blast Obama over amnesty (story, link)
9. Amnesty activists to descend on DC
10. Young Chicago illegals flaunt status during march (story, link)
11. Liberians anxiously await extension of TPS
12. African Americans and black immigrants share uneasy bond
13. Chicago organization aids foreign moms
14. Decline in growth of Latino grocers expected
15. War hero, Greek immigrant inducted into French Legion of Honor
16. ICE agent awarded millions in CA police brutality suit
17. Seventeen arrested in Nebraska immigration sweep (story, link)
18. Police seek Ecuadorean immigrant’s assailant
19. NJ judge chastised for ridiculing Mexican defendant (link)
20. Russian man suspected in murder of client (link)
21. AZ traffic stops lead to arrest of illegals (link)
22. Illegal accused of scamming hardware store (link)

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

-- Mark Krikorian]


1.
Immigration Reform Effort Re-Emerges With New Senate Bill
By Trish Turner
The Fox News, March 10, 2010
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/10/immigration-reform-effort-emerges-new-senate/

Three years after efforts by Congress to reform the immigration system went down in flames, the issue is slowly re-emerging on the national stage, as two senators from the opposite sides of the political aisle work on crafting another bill.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. are set to appear Thursday at the White House for a meeting with President Obama in which they are expected to seek his guidance on charting a path forward.

The reform effort blew up in 2007 after more than a year of work when Republican critics branded the effort as 'amnesty' and the tide of public opinion turned strongly against the bill.

Graham, in fact, was booed at a Republican gathering in his state in 2006 for his work on comprehensive reform with Ted Kennedy and John McCain. Sen. McCain is conspicuously absent from the current talks; Graham remains at the table as the lone Republican supporter.

Schumer said comprehensive immigration reform is closer to reality than it appears.

'We only have a couple more things to get done,' he said Wednesday. 'They're hard. One is to get another Republican on the bill; one is to finally deal with the issue -- to get business and labor on the same side on future flow on low-wage workers.'

A senior Senate Democratic leadership aide close to the debate said of the White House meeting, 'They're giving the president an update on where they stand, but they're also reaching out to get support on securing that second Republican and for help in dealing with business and labor.'

Organized labor, in 2006 and 2007, fought any robust guest worker program, also called 'future flow,' as Kennedy's bill sought to create with the support of President George W. Bush.

Though a GOP aide with knowledge of the process told Fox News the effort is far from complete, Schumer maintained, 'We're getting real close. I'm optimistic.'

Immigrant rights groups have pushed to get a bill, even without another Republican joining, but Schumer said Wednesday, that's not going to happen. 'Senator Graham has been very good and generous and courageous in helping us move that bill forward. ... He has always said he wants a second Republican.'

Anxious to avoid the explosive failure of the last effort, Schumer said emphatically, 'We will not pass an immigration bill unless it's bipartisan. Everyone agrees with that.'

Schumer said it has been a tough slog to get a second Republican, particularly since pro-reform GOP Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, himself a Cuban immigrant, recently retired. 'It's been difficult finding a second Republican,' he said. 'We have four or five prospects we're working on now. But if we can't, we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. But we're not giving up.'

One Republican senator who is thought to be in play is the newest member of the body, moderate Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts. While Brown didn't slam the door on a compromise, he did not sound anxious to deal with this issue now with the unemployment rate hovering near 10 percent.

Brown told Fox News he has not yet been contacted by either Schumer or Graham, but he is willing to take a look at their bill, even though he suggested now is the time for Congress to focus on jobs, not immigration.

'We're doing health care, maybe immigration. The thing I haven't heard enough about is jobs, job creation. It's nonexistent. I think that's a mistake.' Brown said, 'Right now, people need jobs, period.'

When asked what must be in any immigration reform bill, Brown said, 'You need a strong border enforcement. You need a strong E-verification. I...have always felt that part of the problem is that we haven't provided the proper resources for people to be processed quickly enough. And when you have people waiting in line six, seven, eight, nine years in some instances, it's a disincentive to (immigrate) legally...In terms of allowing people to step ahead of the people who are trying to do it legally, I have a real problem with that.'

In fact, that very issue is what tripped up the earlier effort, what's commonly referred to as 'the path to legalization.' The Kennedy-McCain bill laid out a series of hurdles for potential citizens to clear, a six-year process in which workers who were in the country illegally could apply for a six-year 'conditional non-immigrant visa.' At the end of that period, a visa holder could apply for legal permanent residence if the person paid a $1,000 fine, passed a background check, and demonstrated an effort to learn English and civics.

Critics called this 'amnesty,' and at the time, the House, then run by Republicans, passed a narrow, border security-only measure, and left Senate Republicans who might have supported Kennedy-McCain holding the bag. In the end, that handful of Republicans bolted and the bill went down in flames.

It is not likely the crowded Senate calendar can withstand another controversial debate this year, but Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., continues to list it among his top priorities to tackle this year. Though Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the No. 2 Democrat in the chamber, did not sound quite so sure, 'Depends on support we get from the other side...I support comprehensive reform, but I'm going to leave that to Chuck.'

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Don't look now! Amnesty is back
Shades of Kennedy-McCain, new legislation being prepared
By Jerome R. Corsi
World Net Daily, March 10, 2010
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=127604

A new battle over illegal immigration is rapidly shaping up in the nation's capital.

Supporters of comprehensive immigration reform are demanding immediate legislative action from the Obama administration with a planned mass demonstration in Washington scheduled for March 21, billed as 'March for America: Change Takes Courage.'

Meanwhile, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have been meeting with the White House to reintroduce immigration legislation. The bipartisan effort is reminiscent of twice-failed attempts by Sens. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., during the administration of President George W. Bush.

Yet, Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, does not expect any comprehensive immigration reform legislation to be pushed by the Obama administration in Congress this year.

'There is very little appetite in Congress to deal with immigration reform this year largely, because President Obama does not truly care about pushing comprehensive immigration,' Krikorian told WND.

Get 'The Late Great USA' and find out how America is giving away its sovereignty

'President Obama only mentions comprehensive immigration reform when talking to Hispanic groups. It's not high on his legislative agenda, and that's why we are seeing the discontent among the open-borders groups.'

In a controversial move that recalls the effort to create a Real ID national identity card and the current E-Verify system, Schumer and Graham have announced their intention to create a biometric national ID card that workers would need to present to employers to demonstrate their legal status to work.

Krikorian considers this a ruse.

'The point of Schumer and Graham's new verification scheme is to kill the existing E-verify so illegal immigrants can get work right now,' he said. 'It's a tactical measure that has nothing to do with actually preventing illegal immigrants from getting jobs.'

Immigration activists angry at Obama

On Monday, a group of activists demanding comprehensive immigration reform held press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., broadcast by C-Span to tell the White House illegal immigrants and their supporters are losing patience with President Obama.

Arguing that deportations of illegals actually have increased by 60 percent under President Obama, the speakers at the press conference asserted, often in angry terms, that Obama was not living up to his campaign promises to relax enforcement of immigration laws.

Fair Immigration Reform Movement, or FIRM, a pro-immigration group organized under the auspices of the Center for Community Change in Washington, D.C., sponsored the press conference.

'Today I join my colleagues from immigrant and civil rights organizations from across the country to denounce the cruel and inhumane immigration enforcement processes that are tearing our communities and our families apart,' Angelica Salas, the executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles, or CHIRLA, said to begin the press conference.

Arguing that enforcement of immigration laws has become even more severe under President Obama than under President Bush, Salas called for activists around the country to join the March 21 immigration march on Washington.

'Many of us celebrated the election of Barack Obama and believed the then-candidate-for-president Barack Obama when he promised to fix our broken immigration system,' Salas said. 'Yet in the first year, the Obama administration has deported 387,000 people, a record high number of deportations.'

Fighting back tears, Beatrice Vasquez, a 15-year old Hispanic born in the U.S., next told the story about how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported her mother, who had illegally immigrated to the U.S., leaving her alone with her stepfather.

'My family had hopes Barack Obama was going to stop family separations,' she told the press conference. 'President Obama, show us you are going to do something to show that you are a true president, a president who keeps his word.'

'[The Obama administration] seems proud to out-enforce the Bush administration, deporting 1,000 immigrants a day,' Pramila Jayapal, executive director of One America an 'immigration rights coalition' in Seattle told the press conference. 'This is not leadership and this is not 'change we can believe in.''

Calling on the Obama administration to deliver, Jayapal declared, 'We expect the president to order his administration to stop the deportations and to demonstrate leadership on passing immigration reform.'

Brent Wilkes, national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, told the press conference, 'It is unconscionable to have over 380,000 people deported in the first year of the Obama administration, and our community is angry, and our members feel betrayed.'

Speaking largely in Spanish, Artemio Arreola, a spokesman for the Mexican-American Coalition for Immigration Reform, told the press conference he voted for the first time in November 2008 along with 10 million Hispanics, motivated by a charismatic candidate that promised to end deportations.

'Legalization is the solution, we want it now,' he said.

Obama administration stalls out

'Obama has not been what the open borders groups expected,' Krikorian told WND. 'Right now, all the White House is trying to do is to contain the anger of immigration advocacy groups. There is no way there is going to be a comprehensive immigration reform bill passed this year or next year for that matter.'

Krikorian noted White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had commented during the 2008 presidential campaign that a Democratic White House was unlikely to have the political resolve or legislation coalition needed to pass comprehensive immigration reform until the second term in office.

'The Obama administration has been saying for six months that comprehensive immigration reform legislation will be introduced in the Senate any time now, and there is still no bill forthcoming from the White House,' Krikorian said.

On Monday, the White House canceled a meeting initially announced with Schumer and Graham to discuss comprehensive immigration reform, allegedly because of scheduling difficulties.

HR 4321, known as the Gutierrez Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill after immigration reform advocate Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, D–Ill., currently has 94 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives.

+++

Senate Plan Calls for National ID Card
By Dave Eberhart
Newsmax, March 10, 2010
http://newsmax.com/Newsfront/identification-immigration-schumer-graham/2010/03/10/id/352236

Chuck Schumer struggles to find co-sponsor
By Meredith Shiner
The Politico (Washington, DC), March 10, 2010
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34222.html

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2.
Immigration provision has Hispanic Caucus threatening ‘no’ health vote
By Jared Allen
The Hill (Washington, DC), March 10, 2010
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/86125-hispanic-caucus-threat-to-vote-no-on-healthcare

A group of Hispanic lawmakers on Thursday will tell President Barack Obama that they may not vote for healthcare reform unless changes are made to the bill’s immigration provisions.

The scheduled meeting comes as Democratic leaders and the White House are struggling to craft a final bill that will attract 216 votes in the lower chamber.

Unlike abortion, immigration has flown beneath the radar, and almost seemed to vanish altogether as House Democrats have wrestled with how to accept a Senate healthcare bill far different from the one they passed in November.

But immigration remains just as explosive an issue and carries the same potential to derail the entire healthcare endgame, a number of Democrats said.

'It’s still one of those issues that’s out there,' said Rep. Xavier Becerra (Calif.), the Democratic Caucus vice chairman and the only Hispanic member of House leadership.

Since last fall, Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) members have kept quiet, at least publicly, about their objections to the immigration provisions in the Senate bill.

The Senate language would prohibit illegal immigrants’ buying healthcare coverage from the proposed health exchanges. The House-passed bill isn’t as restrictive, but it does — like the Senate bill — bar illegal immigrants from receiving federal subsidies to buy health insurance.

Hispanic Democrats say they haven’t moved from their stance that they will not vote for a healthcare bill containing the Senate’s prohibitions.

They claim that while it may be politically popular in some parts of the country to ban illegal immigrants from using their own money to buy coverage, it is not good policy. Illegal immigrants will, one way or another, need medical attention in the United States, and it would be cheaper and more humane to provide them coverage if they pay for it. Otherwise, they will seek treatments in the nation’s emergency rooms, effectively increasing medical costs.

'I don’t think the landscape has changed dramatically from where it was before,' Becerra said.

Every CHC member voted for the House bill last November.

On Wednesday, members of the CHC privately acknowledged they’ve told their leaders that anyone who is assuming they’ve backed away from their position is in for a rude awakening.

'The [Hispanic] Caucus didn’t want to raise it as an issue too early,' one Hispanic Democrat said Wednesday. 'But it’s real. It’s a problem.'

Those alarm bells have apparently been heard. CHC Chairwoman Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.) said she and others have, on behalf of two dozen Hispanic Democrats, been in discussions with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other leaders about how to resolve the matter.

'And we will continue having discussions,' Velazquez said.

However, it is unlikely that the Senate will be able to change the immigration provisions under reconciliation rules. And even if it is deemed possible, there may not be enough support in either chamber of Congress to do it.

Not every member of the CHC would stand in the way of healthcare over the immigration issue. As a House leader, it would be unlikely for Becerra to vote against the president’s signature domestic policy priority. And centrist Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) said the Senate language is 'not a deal-killer' for him.

But one member of the Hispanic Caucus said that, when the issue was raised in November, Cuellar was the only Hispanic Democrat who vowed not to bring down the House healthcare bill over the Senate’s tougher treatment of undocumented workers.

On Wednesday, Cuellar said he doubted he would be alone if it happens again.

'If [the Senate language] comes up for a vote over here, I think there will be other folks who’ll be with me in not voting no over that language,' he said. 'Are you going to stop the whole thing because of this provision here? I almost hate to say this, but it’s a cost-benefit analysis, a big-picture view.'

That’s the argument Cuellar said he expects to hear from Obama at Thursday’s meeting.

'If I was him, I would say ‘Look at the big picture,’' Cuellar said.

Another Democrat with ties to leadership who maintains close relationships with Hispanic Democrats said Pelosi will likely have to make a similar appeal.

'It’s still out there. And truthfully I don’t know what she’s going to do,' the member said. 'But I think in the end, it’s all going to be the Senate language, on everything. And then it’s just appealing to everyone’s sense of doing the right thing.'

One Hispanic House Democrat described Thursday’s meeting with Obama as 'critical to him fully understanding our thinking, our understanding his, and all of us figuring out how we go forward on both this healthcare bill and immigration reform as a whole.'

The White House recently renewed its pledge to pursue immigration reform this year, though few expect an immigration bill to pass in the 111th Congress.

At a similar meeting at the White House in early November, which occurred just days before the House voted on its healthcare bill, the CHC failed to convince Obama to reject the Senate immigration language.

The result was a bloc of solid Democratic votes that remained up in the air until a deal was reached at the last minute to address the gap between the House and the Senate immigration restrictions during 'conference negotiations.'

But the healthcare bill didn’t go to conference. And CHC members could now face a difficult choice in the weeks ahead.

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3.
Census Jobs Tough to Fill
U.S. Struggles to Hire Thousands of Bilingual Workers Needed for Accurate Count
By Ana Campoy
The Wall Street Journal, March 11, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704655004575113933611691558.html?KEYWORDS=immigration+OR+immigrant+OR+migrant

Dallas -- The U.S. Census Bureau is scouring Texas for an oddly elusive worker: the Spanish-speaking American who qualifies for the job.

U.S. Census recruiting assistant Terrie Valdez-Rubio at a job fair last month in Ontario, Calif.

Texas is home to more Hispanics than any other state except California, and the pool of job seekers should be brimming due to the highest unemployment rate in years. Yet the agency can't seem to come up with enough workers.

'It's hard to hire so many people,' said Efren Salinas, a Census spokesman based in the heavily Hispanic southern part of the state.

In Texas, the Census is still looking for 25,000 applicants from so-called hard-to-count communities—population groups that have low participation rates in the Census due to language or cultural barriers and educational gaps, among other factors. In cities near the Mexico border such as McAllen and La Feria, hundreds of positions remain unfilled, Mr. Salinas said. The Census expects to employ more than 100,000 workers throughout Texas at the peak of operations this year, in the late spring and early summer.

Other Census offices around the U.S. are experiencing similar difficulties recruiting workers from hard-to-count communities. In certain parts of Hartford, Conn., for example, the bureau is at 40% of its recruitment goals because it hasn't found enough workers who speak Russian, Korean and Urdu. Recruiters at the Boise office in Idaho, where an influx of African refugees recently settled, are short of Kirundi speakers. In Montana, workers are going door-to-door at Indian reservations to encourage more applicants.

The Census is charged, for purposes of Congressional apportionment, to tally everyone living in the U.S. every 10 years. Getting bilingual workers is important in order to get an accurate tally in ethnic neighborhoods where English is often a second language. Many of these workers are employed as enumerators, who follow up with residents who failed to mail in their forms.

In the case of Hispanics, because they represent a big chunk of the U.S. population, 15% according to estimates, mistakes in how they are counted could have a sizable effect on Census results.

'The bureau cannot have a successful census if they undercount Latinos,' something that has happened in the past, said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.

Texas, where Hispanics are one of the fastest-growing groups, stands to earn four extra seats after the 2010 Census, according to an analysis from Polidata, a research firm that does consulting for Republican entities. That is more than any other state.

The Census Bureau estimated that the U.S. Hispanic population grew by more than 30% between 2000 and 2008, but getting an exact count is tricky. Some Hispanics don't speak English, and those who are in the U.S. illegally tend to be suspicious of government employees. Migrant workers, even legal ones, may be hard to count because they don't have a permanent address.

The bureau is aggressively pushing to raise Latino participation, with the head of the agency visiting poor communities along the border, known as Colonias, earlier this year to promote the Census. The decennial count also has been publicized in Spanish-language media and among Latino school children.

But recruiting Latinos is hard for some of the same reasons they are difficult to count, recruiters say. Census workers must be proficient in English, pass a test to prove their math and map-reading skills, and preferably be U.S. citizens. (The bureau hires legal residents as a last resort if no citizens from a particular area are available.) In certain places, such as rural areas, Colonias or neighborhoods with a high proportion of undocumented immigrants 'there may be a very small fraction who are eligible,' said Mr. Salinas.

Lupe Ochoa, a San Antonio census employee, says the bureau is having problems finding applicants in her area, perhaps because people are afraid of the test, or they don't have a car, which isn't a requirement, but is strongly preferred.

From the packed pews at her church, Ms. Ochoa can tell there are many new Hispanic families that weren't around for the 2000 census. She should know, as the 2010 census will be her third as a worker.

Ms. Ochoa is urging everyone she meets in her daily rounds to apply for a Census job. She is also hopeful that the ranks of applicants will grow after mass testing sessions the Census is holding this week in San Antonio's Alamodome, a massive events venue near the city's downtown. Organizers expect 500 test takers every day.

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4.
Critics Blast Transborder Immigrant Tool as 'Irresponsible' Use of Technology
By Joshua Rhett Miller
The Fox News, March 10, 2010
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,588752,00.html

A cell phone application that will help illegal immigrants find water and key landmarks as they cross into the United States is an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds and an irresponsible use of technology, critics say.

The Transborder Immigrant Tool (TBT), the brainchild of three faculty members at the University of California-San Diego and a colleague at the University of Michigan, is a software application that can be installed into a GPS-enabled cell phone. In addition to helping immigrants locate water and landmarks, it also could alert them to Border Patrol checkpoints. And to make the trek a little less arduous, it also plays recorded poetry.

'I don’t think it’s an appropriate use of technology,' U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., told FoxNews.com. 'If other governments did this and tried to tell people ways to sneak into the U.S., I’m sure the Department of Defense would take issue with that. But because American universities are doing it, there’s not a whole lot of outcry about it.'

Hunter said he found the project to be a poor use of taxpayer money, particularly doing a recession.

Joe Kasper, Hunter’s spokesman, accused the universities of 'functioning as a platform' for a system that could potentially help human smugglers and illegal immigrants enter the United States.

'It’s amazing to think that university professors, whose salaries are funded by taxpayers, are actually designing a GPS application intended to facilitate illegal entry across the U.S.-Mexico border,' Kasper said in a statement to FoxNews.com. 'In this case, the university is functioning as a platform for a system that would ultimately help smugglers, other criminals and illegal immigrants navigate the border.'

The faculty members behind the project — UCSD’s Micha Cardenas, Ricardo Dominguez and Brett Stalbaum and the University of Michigan’s Amy Sara Carroll — declined comment for this story.

'As a collective, we have decided that we would prefer not to be interviewed by Fox News,' Carroll wrote in an e-mail. 'Our aesthetic diverges so much from your network's that we question the possibility of genuine dialogue in an exchange with you.'

But in an editorial that appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune, the group defended using taxpayer funds for their project.

'Compare the escalating economic costs of waging two wars and upgrading a border wall ($65 billion) to those of saving lives and exercising freedom of expression,' the editorial read. 'We submit that the latter two options are ‘priceless’; but, we’re open to competing cost-benefit analyses and nonviolent dialogue about the project.'

The four university employees — part of Electronic Disturbance Theater/b.a.n.g. lab, a UCSD and University of Michigan artist-based research group — said the TBT will be distributed by Mexican nongovernmental organizations and churches that deal with potential border-crossers.

The 'work-in-progress,' according to the editorial, represents both a 'conversation piece' and an ethical intervention.

Steven Cribby, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told FoxNews.com that border officials are aware of the technology — and aren’t particularly fazed.

'It’s not something that we’re overly concerned about,' said Cribby, adding that smuggling operations have long used technology to cross the border. 'Our fear is that instead of saving lives, a tool like this could give someone a false sense of confidence and perhaps encourage people to cross illegally into the unforgiving terrain. That’s one of our concerns. We take safety very seriously.'

According to fiscal year 2010 figures, 111 border-crossing-related deaths have been recorded to date since Oct. 1. In comparison, 351 people have been rescued along the border during that same span.

In a statement to FoxNews.com, UCSD officials declined to take a stand on the project.

'The university is built upon the academic freedom of its faculty members to direct their areas of research and inquiry,' the statement read. 'As a platform for innovative thought that may challenge the status quo, the university does not take positions on the political implications of its researchers’ work, relying instead on the marketplace of ideas to resolve conflicts or disputes over the merits of that work.'

Both state-funded institutions declined to provide any a cost figure for the project. The designers have raised $15,000 from a UCSD and an art festival award, the Associated Press reported.

But as institutions funded by taxpayer dollars, both schools have a 'duty' to disclose how much public money is being used to fund it, said Alex Nowrasteh, a policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based think tank.

'It’s definitely a waste of taxpayers’ dollars and inappropriate for any government employee to create a system that’s subsidizes migrant flows,' Nowrasteh said. 'But while this will help a few dramatic cases along the border, and may aid some illegal immigrants to enter the U.S., I don’t think it’ll have a major impact.'

Nowrasteh continued, 'But it’ll certainly increase the odds of survival for those who do take a journey across the desert.'

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5.
Nebraska Prenatal Bill Stirs Fight Over Immigration
Women’s eNews, March 11, 2010
http://www.womensradio.com/articles/Nebraska-Prenatal-Bill-Stirs-Fight-Over-Immigration/4635.html

Should a state be required to provide prenatal care for women with undocumented status?

A bill under contention in Nebraska proposes joining 14 states and the District of Columbia in providing prenatal care for all pregnant, low-income women regardless of immigrant status under CHIP, the children's health insurance program.

It is authored by Republican Sen. Kathy Campbell, a long-time advocate for women and children, who says the bill is 'morally right because all children deserve to be born healthy.' Republican Gov. Dave Heineman opposes it, saying taxpayer-funded benefits should not reach people without legal citizenship.

The bill is also backed by organizations that span the spectrum of opinions on fetal and maternal rights.

Nebraska Right to Life argues that providing prenatal care improves the chances that a woman will choose to give birth rather than seek an abortion.

The organization said it would consider legislators' votes in making campaign endorsements.

Heineman told the state's bishops on March 4 that although he respected their view that denying coverage might lead some women to seek abortion, he would not support the bill. Roman Catholics represent one-third of voters in the state.

The bill is also backed by organizations such as Voices for Children in Nebraska, which advocates for pregnant women and children, the Nebraska Medical Association and every medical organization in the state, many of which support a woman's right to choose.

However, many individuals spoke out against the bill at a hearing of the Health and Human Services Committee Feb. 25, urging the legislature to create an environment that would force expectant mothers to return to their native lands by denying them prenatal care, jobs and housing.

'No Options'

'Immigrant women don't have options,' said Jennifer Carter, director of the health care access program of Nebraska Appleseed, a not-for-profit law project in Lincoln that supports the bill. 'Although most immigrants work, they lack health insurance because their employers don't provide it and they earn too little to afford to buy individual policies.'

The decision, later this month, will need 30 of 49 votes to overcome Heineman's veto.

In a recent interview with Women's eNews, Campbell said the bill makes financial sense for Nebraska because children of undocumented mothers become citizens at birth and therefore eligible for state health programs.

'It is more economical for the state to pay a small sum for prenatal care than huge bills for a child who is born premature or with serious complications that could have been prevented and will require expensive interventions throughout life,' said Campbell, an advocate for children for over 30 years.

Steven A. Camarota, research director of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, say prenatal coverage of undocumented women is a matter of national concern.

'About 370,000 children--one out of 10 children born in the United States each year--is the child of an illegal alien,' he said.

Camarota added that the federal government has no coherent immigration policy, 'so states are left in the unenviable position of having to decide whether they should spend limited funds on prenatal care for future citizens of the state, medical care for legal residents, roads or other programs.'

Federal Policy Change Impacts State

For more than 20 years, Nebraska provided prenatal care under its Medicaid program to all pregnant, low-income women regardless of their citizenship status. In November, the federal government notified the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services that federal Medicaid policy does not allow coverage of an 'unborn child.'

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also advised Nebraska officials that the state could continue to provide prenatal care to pregnant women who do not qualify for Medicaid by covering unborn children under CHIP.

On March 1, Nebraska ended Medicaid benefits for 1,540 women, about 25 percent of the pregnant women eligible under the old rules. Seven hundred were U.S. citizens and legal immigrants and the other 840 were undocumented immigrants.

Expectant mothers who have undocumented status are already feeling the impact of the loss of Medicaid-supported prenatal care, said Dr. Kristine McVea, chief medical officer of the OneWorld Community Health Center in Omaha.

'In January, the state notified women who were newly pregnant and had applied for Medicaid that they would be ineligible for benefits,' McVea said. 'Many of these women have gone without care because there is a lack of facilities that can provide free or low-cost services where they live. Others have received basic care at community health centers like ours.'

However, McVea said that their facility doesn't have ultrasound and other equipment needed to treat women who develop complications during pregnancy and are at risk for premature births.

An Institute of Medicine study found that every dollar spent on prenatal care for women at high risk of delivering a low-birth weight infant saves $3.38 in medical care expenditures. Hospital stays for premature births average 12.9 days and cost $15,100, compared to 1.9 days and $600 for a normal birth.

Campbell says shifting prenatal care coverage from Medicaid to CHIP will save Nebraska money.

'Providing prenatal care for women with undocumented status under the CHIP program would save Nebraska about $4 million a year because (federal) reimbursement under CHIP is higher than Medicaid,' she said.

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6.
Immigration measures draw demonstrators
Bills involve trespassing, law-enforcement assistance
By Griselda Nevarez
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), March 11, 2010
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/03/11/20100311politics-immigration0311.html

Dozens of demonstrators rallied Monday at the state Capitol against bills that would make it trespassing to be in the country illegally and require local law enforcement to assist in enforcing federal immigration laws.

Members of several organizations carried signs and chanted outside the Executive Tower where Gov. Jan Brewer's office is located.

They delivered hundreds of letters urging her to veto Senate Bill 1070 and House Bill 2632 if they reach her desk.

Alfredo Gutierrez, a former state senator, said it would be unconstitutional to charge people in the country illegally with trespassing.

'These are people who aren't even jaywalking,' he said. 'It is merely their presence and their status of being undocumented that will make them criminals.'

SB 1070, sponsored by Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, won Senate approval and was awaiting action by the House.

HB 2632, sponsored by Rep. David Gowan, R-Sierra Vista, was awaiting a vote by the full House.

Both bills also would make it illegal to pick up and hire undocumented workers.

Anna Gaines, founder and chairwoman of American Citizens United, was among a group of counterdemonstrators who carried signs supporting the bills.

'We need to protect the jobs for Americans that live here,' Gaines said.

But Daniel Rodriguez of Phoenix said that allowing law enforcement to ask for a person's immigration status would make undocumented people reluctant to seek help from police.

'If people are afraid to call the police, then that's a big threat to our national security,' he said.

Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, said it would be a mistake to make police enforce federal immigration laws.

'This forces police officers to prioritize immigration enforcement over other public safety duties and I think that is a move in the wrong direction,' she said.

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7.
Utah Legislature: Utah looks to lock up kids' identities
By Geoff Liesik
The Deseret News (Salt Lake City), March 10, 2010
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700015531/Utah-looks-to-lock-up-kids-identities.html

Salt Lake City -- Call it another example of the law of unintended consequences.

As a state, Utah has done such a good job of making it harder for thieves to steal adults' identities that criminals have shifted tactics and are now going after the identities of children instead, some of them before the victims are even born.

Now a state legislator and the Utah Attorney General's Office are looking to lock up kids' Social Security numbers in an effort to protect 'the most vulnerable and most targeted victims of identity theft.'

HB387, sponsored by Rep. Eric Hutchings, will add resources to the state's successful IRIS Web site to help parents protect their child's Social Security number from unauthorized use or disclosure. The Republican from Kearns said the proposed legislation is a proactive approach to a growing problem.

'As soon as you get shot, then the police come. As soon as your identity gets stolen, then the A.G.'s office shows up,' Hutchings said Wednesday. 'This is a great chance for us to go way ahead of the crime.'

The impetus for HB387 came three years ago when Hutchings' youngest child was born. Hospital staff brought in a slew of paperwork, including an application for a Social Security number for the child. Hutchings said he scoured the form for a box he could check that would prevent the infant's number from being hijacked. He couldn't find one.

'You have to create (a Social Security number),' Hutchings said. 'You have to put it out there and make your child vulnerable and there's nothing you can do about it.'

Brooklyn Roush was 4 years old when her parents learned their daughter's identity had been stolen. That's when Roush's father lost his job and tried to enroll his daughter in the state Child Health Insurance Program, according to Ronald Mortensen with the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration. Roush's application was denied, Mortensen said, because a check of her Social Security number showed she was employed and earning roughly $40,000 a year.

Five years later the girl said her family is still trying to undo the damage that's been done.

'I think it's not very nice that people are ruining kids' futures,' the 9-year-old said during a news conference at the Capitol. 'It makes me really sad that people do that.'

HB387 has been redrafted six times and remains mired in the House, Hutchings said. He doesn't expect it to pass before the legislative session ends Thursday at midnight. Shurtleff, however, said Wednesday that his office will still make the improvements to the IRIS site that are called for in Hutchings' bill, regardless of whether or not it passes.

The IRIS Web site — www.idtheft.utah.gov — was launched in June 2006. Shurtleff said it has helped more than 2,400 victims and handled more than 3,300 complaints since its inception.

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8.
City Councils calls on Obama to deliver immigration reform
By Fran Spielman
The Chicago Sun Times, March 10, 2010
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/2095869,obama-chicago-aldermen-immigration-031010.article

The Chicago City Council demanded today that President Obama deliver on his broken campaign promise to deliver comprehensive immigration reform.

Three months after forcing the Obama administration to drop deportation proceedings against University of Illinois at Chicago student Rigo Padilla, Hispanic aldermen pushed through a resolution aimed at lighting a fire under the former U.S. senator from Chicago.

The resolution sets the stage for a massive demonstration in the nation’s capital scheduled for March 21. It calls for a moratorium on raids and deportations until immigration reform is passed.

'Our President — a President we’re very proud of — promised to address this issue after the first 90 days of his administration, then after 180 days, then after a year. It’s been 14 months,' said Ald. Danny Solis (25th).

'In the meantime, there’s been more deportations. There’s been families that have been broken. It’s a national disgrace. ... This has to stop. Enough is enough.'

Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th) noted that the first year of the Obama administration has produced 400,000 deportations, 'many more' than there were during the last year of the Bush administration.

'It is a shame that we need to see hundreds of thousands of children in this nation being separated from their parents just because we have a broken immigration system,' Maldonado said.

'This should be the last time that we need to ask President Barack Obama … to fulfill the promise of hope that he made to us.'

Ald. Ray Suarez (31st) noted that Democrats control the White House and both chambers in Congress, 'Yet we find excuses for why we can’t' approve immigration reform.

'When people run on a platform, excuses are unacceptable,' Suarez said.

He added, 'It is unconscionable to send Dad or Mom out because they weren’t born here after they’ve been here for 10 or 15 years. It is something this country has to work out.'

Ald. Ed Smith (28th) joined his colleagues in supporting the resolution. But, the Obama-bashing clearly made him uncomfortable.

'I don’t believe that the trepidation in this case is simply because the President [does] not want to pass this issue. But, it takes a lot of votes and a lot of involvement to get things done in Washington D.C.,' Smith said.

'So, just because it has not passed right now — I’m sure that this has not been taken off the table.'

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Aldermen Blast Obama for Lack of Immigration Reform
The WBEZ News (Chicago), March 11, 2010
http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=40583

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9.
Immigrants prep for march on D.C.
By Albor Ruiz
The New York Daily News, March 11, 2010
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/03/11/2010-03-11_immigrants_prep_for_march_on_dc.html

Talk is cheap. That's what immigrants and their supporters - fed up with empty promises about reform - are ready to tell to President Obama on March 21.

Carrying signs reading 'Friends make good on their promises,' thousands will rally in the nation's capital to demand immigration reform.

'One year and three months into the Obama administration, who would've ever imagined that tens of thousands of immigrants would march on Washington to protest its destructive immigration policies?' asked Chung-Wha Hong, the New York Immigration Coalition executive director.

Two days ago, on the steps of City Hall, several City Council members and dozens of leaders from community, faith, and labor organizations joined the NYIC to denounce the Obama administration's repressive tactics and declare support for the march. They also committed themselves to organize 10,000 New Yorkers to participate in the demonstration.

'I have never seen so many people so angry and so determined,' said Norman Eng, communications director for the NYIC.

The reasons for anger and disillusionment are plentiful. Under Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a record number of immigrants in 2009.

According to the Washington-based Fair Immigration Reform Movement, a national coalition of grassroots community groups, an average of 32,000 immigrants were detained each day in the first year of the Obama administration, and more than 380,000 were deported in just one year, an increase of more than 60% over the Bush years.

Despite the rising repression, a rational immigration system is still as distant as ever.

'While Washington dithers, millions suffer,' is how the NYIC sums up the current situation.

Hispanics massively supported Barack Obama's presidential aspirations and enthusiastically voted for him. They believed him when he promised to bring a more humane approach to immigration enforcement.

They trusted the young, charismatic African-American senator when he said: 'But we cannot - and should not - deport 12 million people. That would turn America into something we're not; something we don't want to be. While we work to strengthen our borders, we need a practical solution for the problem of 12 million people who are here without documentation - many of whom have lived and worked here for years.'

Yet, 15 months have passed since he took office and the suffering hasn't diminished for immigrant communities. Despite candidate Obama's words to the contrary, families are still mercilessly separated. Workers whose only crime has been to search for better lives in this country continue to be jailed in terrible conditions and summarily deported.

It is no wonder there is unprecedented anger among immigrants and their supporters.

The immigration community will not stand for the 'cynical politics' that has created this situation, Hong said.

The marchers' demands will not be new: no more raids and deportations, fair immigration reform, jobs. In other words, they will ask the President to fulfill his campaign promises. Nothing more.

'As we enter the 2010 election cycle, politicians will ask for immigrant votes again,' Hong said. 'We can safely advise them that broken promises and this unrelenting crackdown on immigrants won't win votes.'

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10.
Young immigrants declare illegal status
By Serena Maria Daniels
The Chicago Tribune, March 10, 2010
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-illegal-immigrants-march-20100310,0,7872478.story

Overcoming their fear of deportation, a group of college-age immigrants publicly admitted their undocumented status at a rally at the Federal Plaza on Wednesday in hopes of putting a face on the need for comprehensive immigration reform.

Members of the newly formed Immigrant Youth Justice League spoke of missing out on typical high school experiences and not being able to apply for driver's licenses and jobs. They urged people to phone or send texts to Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to urge him to use his leadership to pass immigration reform.

The emotional speeches followed a peaceful march of about 1,000 Chicagoans between Union Park and the Federal Plaza as part of 'National Coming Out of the Shadows Day,' a nationwide immigration reform effort.

One organizer, Nico Gonzalez, 23, of Pilsen, said he was 5 years old when he entered the U.S. illegally with his family from Mexico. He said his undocumented mother died of lung cancer two years ago after working in a bad factory job for many years. Gonzalez said her death inspired him to become more active in the immigrant rights struggle.

'People who are documented would not be working under such horrible conditions,' Gonzalez said.

The league was joined by several Latino City Council members at a news conference before the protest in calling for support for a larger rally in Washington on March 21.

Ald. Roberto Maldonado, 26th, was among several officials who angrily expressed disappointment that the Obama administration did not keep a promise to introduce a reform bill within the president's first year in office.

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Young illegal immigrants 'coming out' in US
By Sophia Tareen
The Associated Press, March 11, 2010
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1200514&lang=eng_news

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11.
Anxious time for Liberians in U.S.
By John E. Mulligan
The Providence Journal, March 11, 2010
http://www.projo.com/news/content/Liberian_refugee_status_03-11-10_UDHO1EJ_v5.37d409d.html

Washington, DC -- Rhode Island lawmakers expressed optimism Wednesday that Liberians in the state will win another year’s extension of their immigration status before it expires at the end of this month.

Members of the state’s congressional delegation also pledged to a group of about 100 Liberians from around the country that they will continue to seek a more elusive prize, legislation that could put legal immigrants from the war-torn West African nation on track toward American citizenship.

'This year is a difficult one, but we’re not going to stop, we’re not going to give up' on efforts to enact a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would contain a special provision to give Liberians a permanent home in the U.S., Sen. Jack Reed told the group at a gathering on Capitol Hill.

But the far likelier scenario this year — as it has been for most of the two decades since civil war drove Liberians to take refuge in the U.S. — is the temporary extension of a program that permits them to remain legally in this country, Reed said in an interview.

During much of that time, Democrats Reed and Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy have unsuccessfully sought a permanent resolution of the status of thousands of Liberian refugees. But along with legislators from other states where large numbers of Liberian immigrants reside, they have successfully lobbied through three presidential administrations of both political parties for continuation of the legal status for the refugees.

Reed, Kennedy, Rep. James R. Langevin and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse were among the legislators who addressed the group at what has become an annual moment of anxiety for Liberians in this country.

Legally, the immigrants are subject to deportation when their special status — known as 'deferred enforced departure' — expires on March 31. While the approaching deadline has often inspired fear among Liberians who have become well-settled in Rhode Island, the federal government has never signaled any intent to expel them. There have been years since the Liberian strife began in the late 1980s when the immigrants remained in the U.S. under a different status intended to protect refugees who would face violence or political persecution if they returned home. That status was withdrawn several years ago as Liberia progressed somewhat toward peaceful conditions.

In recent years, the Liberian community in the U.S. has worried more about the disruption of the life they have built over a period of years in this country with a generation of U.S.-born children, some of whom have grown to adulthood here as citizens.

Rhode Island, in proportional terms, has the nation’s largest Liberian population. More than 250,000 Liberians live in the United States.

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12.
Black, but not like me: African-Americans and African immigrants often have uneasy bond
By Mariana Mora
The Medill Reports (Northwestern Univ., Chicago), March 8, 2010
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=160650

Girmai Lemma is from Ethiopia. He has lived in Chicago for many years. He does not consider himself to be African-American: He is African.

Lemma is not alone. Constant tensions between African-Americans and non U.S.-born Africans refute the notion that the term African-American is interchangeable with black. In the eyes of many native-born blacks and African immigrants, it isn’t.

'It would have been nice if we had a good relationship with African-Americans, but we don’t,' Lemma said.

How Lemma defines himself may be irrelevant to the larger American society.

But within the black community, less than 2 percent are Africans. Lemma said that in the United States all black people are put in the same group. 'When we came from Ethiopia, we never thought we would be discriminated here,' Lemma said.

'[The police] follow you all the way until your house. It is a suburb, not too many blacks living there,' Lemma said. 'When they see you, what is black is black, until they hear your accent.'

While that might make police look favorably on African immigrants, it also cuts the other way.

Eugene Peba, originally from Nigeria, believes his accent causes African-Americans look down upon him.

'We don’t sound like they sound,' Peba said. 'It is a little bit weird. We think that they would say, ‘This is my brother,’ but there is a little bit of resentment.'

But Garrard McClendon, who hosts a show on CLTV that often focuses on African-American issues, said those feelings of resentment go both ways.

'I think that sometimes African-Americans are disrespected by immigrants because immigrants don’t see us taking advantage of the [opportunities] we already have,' McClendon said.

McClendon also said he blames the media for perpetuating stereotypical images of black people as criminals, underemployed or womanizers.

One academic said African immigrants pick up on those cues.

David O. Stovall, who teaches African-American and education studies at the University of Illinois-Chicago, agrees that Africans have preconceived notions of African-Americans, some positive, some negative. 'When people come to the States they already have an image of what black life is,' Stovall said.

Some African immigrants, Stovall said, see black people in the U.S. as a source of community, but others wish to distance themselves from them.

The source of the tension, Stovall said, is that Africans don’t understand the history of oppression that black people in the United States have faced. Additionally, many American black people are unaware of the turmoil that Africans have faced back home. The problem, Stovall said, 'is our inability to communicate our history, to engage our histories.'

Though both groups have roots in the same continent, their histories and experiences differ significantly. To some, the American black community and the African immigrant community sometimes segregate themselves.

'Most of the African people seem to group among themselves,' said Alice Ogbarmey-Tetteh, a Ghanaian who has been living in Chicago for more than 30 years. 'They have to learn how to socialize outside their community. If you want to survive in America you have to learn the system.'

From a sociological point of view, it is not simply a matter of integration between both groups. Mosi Ifatunji, race and ethnicity professor at UIC explained African immigrants are unable to understand why African-Americans are still upset about racial discrimination: The immigrants arrived at a point when it was formally over. 'African immigrants are seeing a different America and therefore have a different set of expectations,' Ifatunji said. 'African immigrants are not upset with American whites about slavery.'

For black people in the United States it is still hard to not have resentment against whites. 'To simply forget about the past for African-Americans is sort of to throw their ancestors under the bus,' Ifatunji said.

Even the American-raised children of African immigrants may feel distanced from the African-American community.

'When you come from Africa to United States, your identity is formed by the African-American experience,' said Oluwabukola Adeyinka, who arrived from Nigeria when she was 5. 'But I’m African. I have been my entire life.'

Adeyinka explained that older generations of Nigerians like her father have stereotypes of African-Americans as lazy and dangerous, despite having lived in the U.S. for years.

The distance between the American black and African immigrant communities is particularly apparent for immigrants during the census. Although they may not identify themselves as being part of the same group as African-Americans, they have only a single choice to select to identify their race on the census: 'Black, African-American or Negro.'

Other races and ethnicities have several categories from which to choose.

This category is particularly troubling for Africans who don’t consider themselves black. 'Ethiopians are a little lighter-skinned than black,' Lemma said.

Despite the tension and distance between Africans and African-Americans, there are some like United African Organization Director Alie Kabba, who think that both groups should work together to empower themselves as minorities in the United States.

'I think that in terms of electoral processes, Africans and African-Americans can generally work together,' Kabba said. 'The same issues that [affect] the African community, also have an impact on the African-American community.'

There are also organizations such as Washington D.C.-based National Coalition on Black Civil Participation, whose objective is to eliminate the barriers among black communities to promote social and economic justice, according to its Web site.

Ifatunji thinks that the discussion shouldn’t be whether black groups could merge culturally, but instead enhancing their common political interest as minorities.

'Your cultural traditions, let it be your cultural traditions. Your history, let it be your history. But political, if nothing else, we have a common interest across all lines of color against white supremacy,' Ifatunji said. 'Until we can be clear about that we’ll continue to suffer from white supremacy.'

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13.
Platicas helps pregnant women, moms find services, cope
By Elena Ferrarin
The Daily Herald Staff (Chicago), March 11, 2010
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=365044

Nearly three years ago, Monica Arellano was five months pregnant and severely depressed.

She had recently immigrated from Mexico to Palatine with her two children to join their father, who had been living in the United States for six years. She didn't speak any English and didn't have any friends.

Then someone told her about the Society for the Preservation of Human Dignity, a not-for-profit organization in Palatine.

Agency staff helped her find her footing, providing both counseling and maternity clothes and baby supplies. Most importantly, she said, she found a network of support when she started attending the agency's group 'Platicas,' or 'talks' in Spanish, where she met other Spanish-speaking women with whom she bonded.

'For me, it was a helping hand. It was an essential support,' she said.

The Platicas group meets on Wednesdays over six weeks. While children play in a corner or in their mothers' laps, the women discuss topics, often with the help of a guest speaker, ranging from the importance of getting mammograms to how to prepare diabetes-friendly Mexican food and first aid training.

English-speaking counselor Ann Daley leads the sessions and relies on volunteer Alicia Schoumacher, who is of Mexican descent, to translate what she says into Spanish. The two have been working together for seven years.

The group ranges from five or six women in the winter to up to 15 in the summer, 'a lot of them come by foot with their kids,' Schoumacher said.

Executive Director Catherine Vincus said the agency is mostly funded by individual donors. with some corporate and foundation funding. The group doesn't receive any government funding.

The society helps pregnant women and mothers with children up to age 3.

The agency's 12 counselors, eight of them on staff and two of them Spanish-speaking, all with master's level degrees, work with clients, addressing topics such as postpartum depression and shaken baby syndrome.

About 200 volunteers contribute to the operation, which provides all services free of charge.

Pregnant women can come to the center to explore alternatives such as adoption. Those seeking abortion information are referred back to their primary care physician, Vincus said.

All clients are assigned a caseworker, who assists with referrals to outside services, such as the Department of Human Services food assistance program, and prenatal and postnatal care, for example.

Clients are asked to 'earn' clothes from the agency's Baby and Maternity Closet program by attending at least two meetings at the center and one with another provider, such as a pediatrician visit, each month, Vincus said.

'Sometimes it's just the mom and the kids, and we become their family and support group, their support system,' she said. 'We really encourage them to use community services so that they don't rely on us all the time.'

The agency offers services regardless of clients' immigration status and has been actively trying to reach out to Spanish-speaking population of the Northwest suburbs. Among the issues faced by Latina mothers, said clinical director Kim Stobbe, are struggles with isolation and acculturation, as well as domestic violence and childhood trauma.

Teenage mother Alma Robles, of Rolling Meadows, said she was in dire need of help after her boyfriend left her when she was three months pregnant. Her daughter Samantha is now almost 1. 'I was 17, I didn't know anything,' she said.

'They told me where to take my daughter (to the doctor's), and about the stages of development, like at this age she puts everything in her mouth. I also like their library in Spanish,' she said. 'They have helped me a lot with my daughter.'

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14.
Latino-grocery boom likely to slow as second-generation shoppers surge
By Steve Raabe
The Denver Post, March 11, 2010
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_14651611

Jose Cortes stocks the shelves inside a Rancho Liborio. The chain says it is still seeing sales increases. Judy DeHaas, The Denver Post (Judy DeHaas, The Denver Post)

A growth boom in the Latino grocery-store sector could be poised for a slowdown in the next decade.

The development surge is set to level off as population changes make those stores less critical to Latino shoppers, industry experts are predicting.

Colorado has been a focus of the industry's ravenous appetite for expansion. Eleven large-format Latino-oriented groceries — owned by Avanza, Azteca and Rancho Liborio — have opened in the state since 2003. Dozens more are operating in California, Arizona, Nevada and other states with large Latino populations.

By offering bilingual signs, Spanish-speaking employees and food products from Latin American countries, the stores have been popular with Latino

But over the next decade, Latinos born in the United States will, for the first time, begin to outnumber foreign-born Latinos.

U.S.-born Latinos are more culturally assimilated and less likely than their immigrant parents to embrace Latino grocery stores, analysts said.

'The real growth in the Latino population is going to come from the second generation,' said David Morse, president of Los Angeles-based New American Dimensions, a multicultural marketing- research firm.

'The first generation wants a culturally familiar shopping environment, and that's why this (Latino) grocery sector has been so popular,' Morse said. 'But the second generation can shop anywhere they want, so the comfort of a Hispanic grocery is no longer an issue.'

A survey by New American Dimensions and the Food Marketing Institute shows that foreign-born Latinos are about twice as likely as Latinos born in the U.S. to seek stores with Spanish-speaking employees, store signs in Spanish and Spanish-language advertising.

Elisa Sandoval of Thornton said she spreads her shopping among three stores: the Rancho Liborio in Thornton, King Soopers and Safeway.

'This is a comfortable place to shop,' she said at Rancho Liborio. 'My mom doesn't speak much English, so this is a good place for her. For me, it's not a big thing.'

Analysts said they expect Latino groceries to continue to grow, but not at the fast pace of the past decade.

'There's a lot of business in this sector, and there's still growth, but it just isn't as meteoric as it was earlier,' said Carlos Camacho, a Denver-based food broker who supplies Latino stores. Officials of Minneapolis-based Nash Finch, owner of the Avanza chain, declined to be interviewed.

Rancho Liborio officials would not discuss plans for new-store development. Jorge Ortega, district manager in Colorado, said he agreed that changing Latino demographics could slow its rate of growth, but added that the chain's five Colorado stores are still showing increases in sales.

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15.
Pilot, 90, recalls narrow escapes in WWII
Shot down, Pisanos joined French Resistance
By Vincent Rossi
The San Diego Union Tribune, March 11, 2010
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/11/pilot-90-recalls-narrow-escapes/

Rancho Bernardo, CA -- What Steve Pisanos lived through as a downed flier in Nazi-occupied France during World War II sounds like a movie, but it was real.

Pisanos narrowly escaped death, first in the crash of his fighter plane in the French countryside, then at the hands of German soldiers pursuing him after the crash. Literally dodging machine gun bullets, Pisanos managed to lose the soldiers in some woods.

That was just the beginning of the pilot’s odyssey. Saved from capture by members of the French Resistance, Pisanos soon joined their ranks. For five months Pisanos participated in sabotage and other combat missions with his underground comrades. He was able to rejoin Allied lines after the liberation of Paris in August 1944.

Last September, by a decree of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Pisanos was named a Chevalier, or knight, of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest decoration. He formally received the medal from the French consul general of Los Angeles in a ceremony Saturday at the San Diego Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park.

In his letter to Pisanos announcing the award, French Ambassador to the United States Pierre Vimont called it 'a sign of France’s true and unforgettable gratitude and appreciation for your personal, precious contribution to the United States’ decisive role in the liberation of our country during World War II.'

Pisanos, who lives in Rancho Bernardo, was born in Athens, Greece, in November 1920. He arrived in the United States in 1938 after jumping ship from a Greek freighter. He found a job, learned English and earned a pilot’s license in 1940.

The next year, he sought to become an American fighter pilot to battle Germany but was turned away because he wasn’t a U.S. citizen. He then joined the Royal Air Force under a program for allied volunteers. With the nickname 'The Flying Greek,' he flew British and American fighter aircraft against coastal targets.

He hooked up with one of the American Eagles RAF volunteer squadrons, which were integrated into the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1942. He became a U.S. citizen in May 1943.

His first confirmed aircraft kill was in May 1942 in a P-47. On March 5, 1944, while on a bomber escort mission in a P-51B, he shot down four enemy aircraft, bringing his total to 10. But on that same day, his plane’s engine failed, and he was forced to crash-land south of Le Havre, France. During the crash, Pisanos jumped from the plane and dislocated his shoulder. French Resistance fighters helped him escape and even found care for his shoulder from a German doctor by forging identification papers.

The memories of that period remain vivid for Pisanos, animated and jovial at 90. He talks of being driven from a safe house in the countryside to one in Paris in a truck that was also ferrying machine guns for the Resistance.

The guns were hidden under burlap sacks and firewood. Pisanos was sitting on top of them. Suddenly, two German soldiers blocked the road, one of them aiming his Luger pistol at the truck. It turned out they just wanted to hitch a ride, a request the French driver couldn’t refuse.

The two Germans sat in the open back of the truck, on top of a pile of firewood hiding more machine guns. Pisanos’ fear of being caught began to ease as the truck passed through a number of armed checkpoints without having to stop, probably because of the soldiers in the back.

'That was our security,' Pisanos said with a grin.

The soldiers left the truck at the outskirts of Paris, and Pisanos and his partners continued on their way.

Then there was the time Pisanos and a downed British aviator, also being helped by the Resistance, had to flee a Gestapo raid about 2 a.m. in Paris. They climbed out a fifth-floor apartment bedroom window and onto a balcony, then leapfrogged their way over about five other balconies to escape.

'Thank God that the balconies in France are so close to each other,' Pisanos said.

After the war, Pisanos went on to a distinguished U.S. Air Force career, culminating in his retirement as a colonel in 1973. He has lived in Rancho Bernardo since 1978.

Pisanos’ days in France are recalled in his memoir, 'The Flying Greek: An Immigrant Fighter Ace’s WWII Odyssey with the RAF, USAAF and French Resistance,' published in 2008. That same year Pisanos was inducted into the San Diego Air and Space Museum’s International Aerospace Hall of Fame.

He has contributed many artifacts from his career to the San Diego Air and Space Museum, museum President and CEO James Kidrick said. When Pisanos told Kidrick about receiving the Legion of Honor and asked if the museum could host the presentation, Kidrick didn’t hesitate.

'I love the guy,' Kidrick said. 'Very few people get to experience such history firsthand. … He’s an international hero in the truest sense.'

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16.
ICE agent awarded $2.2 million in police assault
Chula Vista officers ignored undercover agent's badge, throwing him to the street and assaulting him.
By Richard Marosi
The Los Angeles Times, March 11, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-brutality-suit11-2010mar11,0,1754676.story

San Diego -- It was a stakeout gone bad, featuring jumpy police officers, human traffickers, a roughed-up federal agent, and a multimillion-dollar twist of an ending.

Sergio Lopez, an undercover U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, was tracking smugglers in October 2006 when Chula Vista police officers pulled him over.

These were dangerous times in the San Diego suburb.

A Mexican gang had been kidnapping residents, sometimes by posing as law enforcement officers.

'What . . . are you doing speeding through my city?' one officer asked Lopez.

Lopez, showing his badge, tried to explain.

The police officers handcuffed Lopez and forced him to the ground.

One month later, Lopez sued. On Wednesday, he was awarded $2.2 million by a San Diego jury that decided some of the five officers had assaulted and battered him.

According to the lawsuit, Lopez's head hit the asphalt, and his arm was pulled so severely that he feared it would snap.

The Chula Vista Police Department, which may appeal the decision, expressed disappointment.

Two of the officers have retired; the other three are still on the force.

'We believe our officers and supervisors acted appropriately . . . under suspicious and dangerous circumstances,' police spokesman Bernard Gonzales said.

Lopez is still a federal agent. And the smugglers?

'We were following a tip, and we had to shut down the operation. . . . We don't know what we missed,' said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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17.
17 arrested at Fremont, Neb., meatpacking plant for immigration violations, ICE says
By Timberly Ross
The Associated Press, March 10, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-ne-immigration-arrests-nebraska,0,6600006.story

Omaha, NE (AP) -- Seventeen people were in federal custody Wednesday as part of an ongoing investigation of a Fremont meatpacking plant by immigration officials, authorities said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Greg Palmore said the 17 were arrested Tuesday at Fremont Beef Company for immigration violations.

Immigration agents performed an 'enforcement action' — not a raid — to determine whether Fremont Beef is complying with immigration laws, he said. No further information is available, he said.

Fremont Beef president Les Leech said in a statement issued Wednesday that his company was among a thousand nationwide that were randomly selected for immigration audits. The names of Fremont Beef workers were entered in the Federal Trade Commission's identity theft database, which showed 18 matches, he said. Those workers were taken in for questioning.

Palmore said he wasn't sure how many were questioned, but 17 were taken into custody.

Leech said he's previously requested access to the FTC database, but has been denied. So, Fremont Beef uses the government's E-Verify system for all new hires.

'We have been doing, and will continue to do, everything legally possible to ensure the work authorization of our work force,' Leech said. 'Unfortunately, the system that we have access to just isn't perfect.

Illegal immigration has been a hot topic in Fremont, which is among a handful of Nebraska cities that have seen marked demographic changes primarily because of Hispanic work forces at meatpacking plants.

A group of Fremont residents are pushing for a special election on a proposal to ban renting to and hiring illegal immigrants within city limits. But city officials are seeking to block the election because they say the ordinance would conflict with federal law and lead to costly litigation. The Nebraska Supreme Court has agreed to take up the case.

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18.
NJ police seek man who shot, ran over bus driver
The Associated Press, March 10, 2010
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/6907183.html

Jersey City, NJ (AP) -- Police are asking for the public's help in finding a man who robbed and shot a New Jersey minibus driver, then stole the bus and ran him over, leaving him paralyzed.

Family members describe the 48-year-old bus driver as a hardworking, churchgoing Ecuadorean immigrant who lives with his wife and 6-year-old son in Guttenberg (GUT'-uhn-behrg), a small town along the Hudson River. Police haven't released his name.

The robbery occurred March 5 at about 12:15 a.m. in nearby Jersey City.

Lt. Michael Kelly says the bus' only passenger pulled a .40-caliber handgun on the driver, robbed him and shot him in the back as he tried to escape through the driver's side door.

The gunman then took off in the bus, running over the driver as he lay in the street.

The bus was found nearby and was impounded.

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19.
NJ judge scolded for mocking Mexican defendant's English skills, comparing other to OJ Simpson
The Associated Press, March 10, 2010

Trenton (AP) -- The New Jersey Supreme Court's disciplinary committee has publicly reprimanded a lower-court judge who belittled an immigrant defendant's poor English skills and compared another defendant to O.J Simpson.

Ocean County Superior Court Judge James N. Citta (SIT'-uh) made the remarks during two sentencings. He disparaged a Mexican immigrant's inability to speak English after six years in the United States and compared a man being sentenced for attempted murder to Simpson, who famously was acquitted in 1995 of killing his ex-wife and her friend.
. . .
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-judge-reprimanded,0,1291630.story

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20.
Unlicensed dentist charged in Oregon shooting death with man believed to be a patient
By William McCall
The Associated Press, March 10, 2010

Portland (AP) -- A Russian-speaking immigrant who police said may have been practicing dentistry without a license for years in Oregon has been charged with murder in the shooting death of a man believed to be a patient.
. . .
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-fake-dentist-killing,0,4257964.story

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21.
Sheriff's Office announces more immigrant arrests
The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), March 10, 2010

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office announced Wednesday that 14 illegal immigrants were arrested during a traffic stop Tuesday east of Phoenix. The Sheriff's Office later said the busts occurred in the Fountain Hills area at U.S. 87 and Shea Boulevard.
. . .
http://www.azstarnet.com/news/state-and-regional/article_13f8ada7-8abf-5348-a8dd-c57ae881ad16.html

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22.
Bar code scheme could cost Serbian man U.S. residency
The Chicago Sun Times, March 11, 2010

A Crown Point man is accused of running an elaborate scheme using fake bar codes to purchase products from Lowe's for less than their actual price.

He did all that while facing deportation for being in the country illegally.
. . .
http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2097163,bar-code-scheme-031110.article

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Overseas News

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

[For CISNEWS subscribers --

1. Canada: Police using financial data to track illegals
2. Canada: Poll finds majority support refugee reform
3. U.K.: Senior judge blasts system after sex-convict avoids expulsion
4. France: Halal burgers draw ire of non-Muslims
5. Netherlands: Immigrants displacing local political candidates
6. Denmark: New party to press for liberal immigration policies
7. Sweden: European nations sending more Iraqis back home
8. Finland: Egyptian grandmother loses deportation appeal (link)
9. Greece: Communist Party critical of citizenship bill
10. Italy: U.N. official blasts gov't over immigration policies
11. India: Gov't likely to sign visa agreement with Russia
12. India: Study reveals 20,000 youths attempt illegal move to E.U. each year
13. Philippines: Overseas workers group urge president to veto bill
14. Australia: Gov't urged to send new asylum seekers to 'back of the line'
15. Australia: Gov't increasing cooperation with Indonesia (link)
16. Australia: Gov't pressing charges against detainees involved in riot (link)

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

-- Mark Krikorian]


1.
Border agents banking on catching illegals
By Tom Godfrey
The Toronto Sun, March 10, 2010
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/03/10/13184706.html

Canadian border agents are routinely using confidential banking and credit card information to arrest illegal immigrant account-holders for deportation, a Toronto lawyer says.

Officers of the Canada Border Services Agency are using information from private banking records or credit files of illegal immigrants to target and arrest them, lawyer Guidy Mamann said this week.

Mamann said the policy surfaced after a Toronto man facing removal to Costa Rica received two letters from his bank alerting him that the CBSA was searching for him.

'I am worried because there are some privacy concerns,' said Jose, 42, who is sought on a warrant and didn’t want his last name used. 'I don’t think this is fair or right for them to be going through my banking information.'

Jose said he was stunned to learn the CBSA was on his trail and has obtained a lawyer. He will be returning home next week.

'I have tried everything to stay in Canada,' he said. 'I am tired to be always looking behind my back.'

Mamann said he wasn’t aware the CBSA officers were using the bank to arrest people.

'I have no doubt that this will offend people,' Mamann said.

He said most of those being targeted have been living in Canada illegally for more than 10 years and have bank accounts. They are sought on warrants.

CBSA spokesman Anna Pape said her officers are required by law to investigate persons wanted on Canada-wide immigration warrants for violations of immigration law.

'Our officers will follow all leads available in the performance of their duties under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act,' Pape said. 'Those who choose not to leave voluntarily face enforcement action.'

She said persons under removal orders are given reasonable notice and time to make arrangements to leave Canada.

Anne-Marie Hayden of the office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner said an individual’s banking or credit card information is considered personal.

'It is not something we have had an opportunity to examine and, to the best of my knowledge, we haven’t been consulted,' Hayden said.

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2.
Majority want refugee reform: poll
By Laura Payton
The Edmonton Sun, March 10, 2010
http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/canada/2010/03/10/13181721-qmi.html

Ottawa -- The vast majority of Canadians say it’s time to reform our country’s refugee system, but they think it’s less important than strengthening the economy.

A phone survey conducted by Harris/Decima for the department of Citizenship and Immigration, obtained by QMI Agency, found 84% of those surveyed somewhat agree or strongly agree the refugee system needs reform.

Most also agree that all claims should be dealt with faster so the ones judged to be false could be sent home sooner and genuine refugees settled more quickly.

But focus group research conducted along with the survey found that while participants want the system reformed, it wasn’t as big a concern for them as the economy, the environment, education and health care.

The focus groups also found most people want a reformed system to err on the side of fairness when dealing with refugees, and most participants don’t think there’s a huge problem with systemic abuse.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has been pushing for reforms since he took over the portfolio in 2008. The legislation was expected to be tabled before Parliament went on break in December, and it’s not known when Kenney will present it in the House of Commons. Claims have jumped 60% in the last two years and there is a 60,000 claim backlog.

Kenney won’t say what reforms are in the legislation.

Focus group participants were asked to consider a system that prioritizes claims depending on a country’s level of conflict. Mexico in particular caused disagreement among participants, and many identified Western Europe, Australia and the U.S. as unlikely origin countries for refugees.

Those questions could indicate Kenney is considering creating a list of safe countries of origin from which people won’t be allowed to apply for refugee status, or prioritizing applications based on a claimant’s origin country.

But 56% of survey respondents said claimants should get the same treatment regardless of where they’re from. Forty per cent said the system should 'be sensitive to where a refugee claimant is coming from.'

Kenney says claims found to be false have a very significant cost for taxpayers.

'We estimate that each asylum claimant costs taxpayers at least $29,000, so every time we have another thousand claimants that’s nearly $300 million in taxpayer costs,' he told QMI Agency. 'Last year (there were) 38,000 claims. So we’re talking about billions of dollars in costs.'

The survey is considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.1%, 19 times out of 20.

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3.
Judge condemns deportation system after sex attacker slips through net
A senior judge condemned the deportation system as it emerged that an immigrant who should have been sent home almost 15 years ago was allowed to stay in Britain to commit a rape and another sex attack.
The Telegraph (U.K.), March 11, 2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7415979/Judge-condemns-deportation-system-after-sex-attacker-slips-through-net.html

Lady Justice Hallett said she was 'astonished' that George Yousaf Dixon, 47, had not been sent back to his homeland in Sierra Leone after being handed a ten-year jail term and a recommendation for deportation as long ago as 1990.

Dixon, from Bury in Lancashire, managed to slip through the net and was not deported following his release from jail.

He went on to sexually assault a 20-year-old woman in July 2007 and then rape another 20-year-old in April 2008.

Dixon was sentenced to indefinite imprisonment for public protection at Bolton Crown Court on November 14 2008, having been convicted of rape and sexual assault.

The sentence is almost identical to a life term and Dixon must serve at least five years behind bars before he is even considered for parole.

Yesterday he appealed against that minimum term before Lady Justice Hallett, Mr Justice Ouseley and Mr Justice Hickinbottom at London's Criminal Appeal Court.

Condemning the fact that Dixon was still in the UK to commit the two sex offences, Lady Justice Hallett said: 'He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for customs and excise irregularities in 1990 and recommended for deportation.

'He has been brought before the courts several more time since then. I find it astonishing that he is still here now to commit these sexual assaults on these two women.'

The judge added: 'I wonder what the victims of these two sexual offences would think of the facts of this case?'

Dixon's lawyers argued that the five-year minimum term was too high.

But, refusing his application for permission to appeal, Mr Justice Hickinbottom said: 'He stripped and decided to foist himself on each of these ladies sexually.

'In our judgement the sentence is not arguably wrong in principle or manifestly excessive.'

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4.
The hubbub over halal: burgers for Muslims raise ire in France
Deutsche Presse Agentur, March 11, 2010
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313500,the-hubbub-over-halal-burgers-for-muslims-raise-ire-in-france.html

Paris (DPA) -- Anyone who craves a real hamburger probably wouldn't switch willingly to turkey meat, unless it was part of a diet. Indeed, some people might be put out if they had no choice in the kind of burger they could get, which is exactly what is happening to some patrons of the Quick chain in France, where some franchises have decided to cater exclusively to Muslim tastes.

The case of Quick's halal burgers is eliciting strong emotions after eight of the chain's 350 stores made the switch to serving only meat in accordance with Islamic guidelines. That means no pork and only meat from animals allowed to bleed out during slaughter.

'This is discrimination,' said Rene Vandierendonck, mayor of the French town of Roubaix. He doesn't mind that halal burgers are on the menu. 'But it goes too far when nothing else is offered.'

He has no plans to challenge the decision in court, but does plan to report it to federal discrimination authorities.

Quick, France's answer to McDonald's, has been experimenting with ways to appeal to its Muslim customers since last autumn. Along with the Quick in Roubaix, restaurants in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil and Marseille, home to large Muslim populations, have also removed regular hamburgers from the menu.

The company says it plans to track sales at its various stores to see whether the move is profitable.

Halal products are fairly common in France, available everywhere from supermarkets to farmers' markets in the form of butchers offering halal meat. Restaurants that cook to Islamic standards are also old news. And they don't just serve couscous and traditional Northern African fare. Young Muslim chefs are using many of those restaurants to experiment.

During Ramadan - the traditional Muslim fasting month - in 2009, television stations carried ads for halal ravioli. And, when it's time to make a toast, there's Cham'halal, alcohol-free sparkling wine.

The fact that the halal burger has raised so much attention is partially explained by the fact that regional elections are due, sparking the regular debates about the three I's - immigration, Islam and integration - guaranteed vote-getters.

Members of UMP, the party of the current French government, warn that the Quick decision is a move away from the sharp division of religion and state in France and have called for a boycott of Quick restaurants. It's unacceptable that non-Muslims are 'forced' to eat halal meat, says one UMP legislator.

But Green Party member Daniel Cohn-Bendit seems relaxed about the issue. 'If you want different meat, go somewhere else,' he says. He notes that no-one seems too troubled by the fact that kosher meat is on sale in Paris' Marais Jewish quarter.

And what do Muslims say about it all? Either they are avoiding the issue or are worried that their religion is going to be stigmatised for political ends.

After all, it's not been that long since, to great media uproar, France outlawed full body coverings in public spaces. That came as Immigration Minister Eric Besson started a debate about national identity, which has, at times, turned into a heated debate about Muslims in France.

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5.
Immigrants leapfrog natives into local government
By John Tyler
The Radio Netherlands News, March 11, 2010
http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/immigrants-leapfrog-natives-local-government

Dozens of immigrant candidates pushed aside colleagues with greater seniority to get elected to Dutch local councils in last week's elections.

They did this by getting more personal votes than others higher on their party's list of candidates.

This is not so unusual in the Netherlands, particularly in local elections, says Meindert Fennema, Professor of Political Theory at the University of Amsterdam. He explains the workings of the immigrant lobby.

How personal votes work

When the Dutch go to the voting booth, whether for elections to the national parliament or to municipal councils, they cast a vote for a political party. That is generally done by checking the name at the top of the party's list of candidates - the party leader.

But one can also check a name further down on the party’s list, thus choosing a person as well as a party. This is called a preference vote.

In other words, a candidate in a Dutch election has two ways to get elected. He or she can be high enough on the party’s list of candidates to take one of the seats allocated to that party under the proportional representation system.

Or a candidate can get enough personal votes to be elected, regardless of where he or she stands on the party’s list.

More about the Dutch voting system

'It’s a well-known phenomenon that well-organised immigrants vote for their candidate, man or woman, and in that way, these candidates fairly easily get onto the city council. After all, it doesn’t take that many personal votes.'

Widespread

But it appears to have happened on a larger scale this year than ever before. (National results are not yet available.) In every major city, and many medium-sized cities in the provinces, candidates of immigrant background have jumped ahead of their colleagues.

In Amsterdam, Ahmed Marcouch, born in Morocco and raised here in the Netherlands, got nearly as many personal votes as the leader of his party (even though he was number 29 on the party list). In Utrecht, two immigrant candidates got elected this way, in Rotterdam one. (See below for a partial list of cities where immigrants got elected through personal votes.)

Unrepresentative

In perhaps the most extreme example, in the southern city of Helmond, the Labour Party saw four of its candidates pushed aside. The party got enough votes for six seats on the city council. But the numbers three to six on the list of candidates, all of whom are native Dutch, were passed by. Four candidates of immigrant background further down the list drew enough personal votes to get onto the council.

This has led to some consternation in the Labour Party in Helmond. This is a medium-sized city of some 88,000 inhabitants, about twenty percent of whom are of non-western immigrant background. But according to the election results, two-thirds of the Labour Party caucus on the city council would be immigrants. And all male. That is not very representative.

In the meantime, one of those candidates of immigrant background has decided not to take his seat, in favour of a female candidate higher on the list.

But the issue remains: is it good to have so many immigrants chosen by personal votes?

Addressing this question in the wake of the previous municipal elections back in 2006, Labour Party leader Wouter Bos expressed his concern that too much expertise was being lost. The party compiles its list of candidates in part based on experience, and those further down the list were replacing more experienced candidates.

Professor Fennema says this is inevitable.

'This happens with every renewal. When the aristocrats had to give up their place in politics, they said the same thing. Every time a new group participates in the political process, some expertise is lost.'

Dutch politics is currently going through such a renewal. Politicians of immigrant background can be found at every level, from city council to mayor to the Dutch cabinet. ]

Ertan Isik, of the Labour Party in Eindhoven, was elected to the council with personal votes. Of Turkish parentage, Mr Isik has lived in the Netherlands for 33 years now. He is tired of the whole discussion.

'I don’t want to be regarded as an immigrant. No, I’m just a citizen with a certain background and certain capabilities. That’s how I want to be seen, and not just because of my background, with whatever prejeduces that brings. I find that inappropriate, and, as a matter of fact, insulting.'

But the discussion continues, not the least because party bosses appear to have underestimated the strength of the immigrant vote in these municipal elections. One way or another, immigrants are finding their way in Dutch political life.

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6.
New party to 'fokus' on integration
The Copenhagen Post, March 11, 2010
http://www.cphpost.dk/news/politics/90-politics/48473-new-party-to-fokus-on-integration.html

The government’s policies towards immigrants in Denmark have become too strict, according to Christian H. Hansen, who has founded the nation’s newest political party - Fokus.

Hansen comes from the nationalist Danish People’s Party (DF), which is generally known as being the strictest political party when it comes to immigration issues.

But the former DF MP says it is time for Denmark to open up to foreigners who have a lot to contribute to society.

‘Danish society shouldn’t be built up around where a person comes from,’ he told Politiken newspaper. ‘But that’s the case too often right now, which is why our integration policy isn’t succeeding as well as it should.’

Fokus – which Hansen claims supports the current Liberal-Conservative led government – will try to pull the government toward a more centrist direction on immigration issues, according to the party leader.

Another Fokus member who was previously with the Danish People's Party is Rikke Cramer Christensen, who echoed Hansen’s sentiments. She left DF after party MP Jesper Langballe supported anti-Muslim comments made by the president of the Free Press Society, Lars Hedegaard.

Langballe wrote that Hedegaard should not have said ‘that there are Muslim fathers raping their daughters when the truth instead seems to be that they are content with beating them to death’.

But according to Hansen, the immigration issue actually needs a ‘timeout’ from political debate. He suggested instead that there be more talk about the environment, climate and also animal welfare issues.

Hansen additionally lashed out at tax authority Skat and tax minister Kristian Jensen. He said the changeover to an internet-based system for taxpayers was unfair on the elderly and slammed the authority for its ‘less-than-satisfactory’ phone service.

Perhaps the most notable of Fokus’s new members is former porn star Kira Eggers, whose father is among the party’s founders.

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7.
Europe Deports More Iraqis
U.N. Refugee Agency Criticizes Some Nations for Tightening Policies; 'I'm Going to Get Killed'
By Matthew Dalton
The Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704869304575109982502159168.html?KEYWORDS=immigration+OR+immigrant+OR+migrant

European governments that welcomed tens of thousands of refugees from Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion are starting to send them back to what asylum-seekers and refugee advocates say is mortal danger, bringing sharp criticism from the United Nations agency that handles refugee issues.

The governments, including Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway, which traditionally have been among the most welcoming to refugees, are moving to deport Iraqis who can't prove their lives will be in danger upon their return.

They argue that Iraq is now safe enough to allow those not facing specific threats to go home.

The UNHCR guidelines allow governments to send people back to Iraqi Kurdistan in the north, but not to Baghdad and the surrounding provinces of Diyala, Kirkuk, Salah ad-Din and Nineveh.

'While the level of general and possibly individual violence has fallen, we would say the targeted violence is still certainly there,' said Andrew Harper, head of the Iraq support unit at the UNHCR. 'At this critical point in Iraq history, when you've got multinational forces withdrawing, now is not the time to be playing politics with the humanitarian needs of vulnerable refugees.'

Refugees say that while the security situation may have improved, the conditions that drove them from the country are still in place.

Jaafar, a 25-year-old Shiite Muslim who owned an electronics store, said he has been told by Dutch authorities that he will be sent back to Baghdad if he can't demonstrate he will be in danger. A court is reviewing his case.

Jaafar said he left Baghdad when a Shiite militia that had already killed two of his friends asked him to make videos and fake identification cards for the group.

He decided to flee, selling everything he could from his photography and video shop and using all his savings to pay his way to the Netherlands. He arrived there in February 2008, hoping to be granted asylum, and has been living in a refugee housing facility.

'If I go back home, I'm going to get killed by this group,' he said.

The European governments argue that Iraq is much safer since violence peaked in 2007.

In the Netherlands, where more than 15,000 Iraqi refugees live, former State Secretary of Justice Nebahat Albayrak said the government faced pressure to tighten its policy on refugees from Iraq and other violence-plagued countries, as public opinion has become increasingly opposed to immigration.

'I do want this country to stay generous in terms of providing protection for vulnerable refugees,' said Ms. Albayrak, who along with 11 other members of the Dutch Labor Party quit the cabinet over Afghanistan policy last month.

'If we have serious doubts about the safety situation in individual cases, we don't send them back,' said Ms. Albayrak, who issued the new policy

On its Web site, the Dutch Embassy in Baghdad says: 'The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to warn Dutch citizens against travel to all parts of Iraq, which remain very dangerous. Attacks against military and civilian targets throughout the country continue, including hostage-taking, kidnappings and random killings.'

Sweden, home to more than 30,000 Iraqis, the second-largest European Iraqi refugee population after Germany, approved 27% of Iraqi asylum applications in 2009, down from 93% in 2007. The government has deported some 460 Iraqis over the past two years, while 4,400 have returned voluntarily after being denied asylum, according to government figures.

'We feel that the claims must be assessed on an individual basis,' said Magnus Rosenberg, senior legal adviser at the Swedish Migration Board, the independent government agency that reviews asylum claims. 'Just because you are an Iraqi citizen coming from these five provinces is not enough.'

'There's no pressure or any directive from the government in any way towards the migration board,' Mr. Rosenberg added.

However, some critics say politics are at work. Conservative parties have gained strength throughout the continent in recent elections, using platforms that include tougher immigration policies. European governments in general worry that refugees will inflate claims in order to receive government subsidies for people granted asylum, although those subsidies are usually modest.

In the Netherlands, the right-wing Party for Freedom, led by Geert Wilders, is among the most popular parties in the Netherlands, according to recent opinion polls. The party favors halting all immigration from non-Western countries.

'Part of the reason for that is center-left parties are losing the battle for people's hearts on asylum and immigration,' said John Peder Egenaes, secretary-general of Amnesty International in Norway.

Germany, with close to 40,000 Iraqi refugees, has remained relatively open, though its government disagrees with the UNCHR position that Iraqis shouldn't be sent back to the central provinces around Baghdad. Other countries, such as the U.K. and France, have accepted fewer Iraqis since the invasion.

The problem for many Iraqi refugees is the difficulty of proving that they will be in danger if returned.

Jaafar insists the group that tried to recruit him killed his friends, one of whom also owned a photography and video store. But the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Department said Jaafar couldn't prove that the group was the same one that killed his friends.

Even some asylum-seekers with written documentation of their threats are rejected by the Dutch authorities, says Igna Oomen, a lawyer who is representing Jaafar in his asylum case.

'The IND says they have nothing to compare the letters with to see if they're real, because of course there isn't official stationery,' Ms. Oomen said.

Other asylum seekers face even tougher burdens. Usama said that after being kidnapped twice for ransom and stabbed with a screwdriver multiple times, he fled Baghdad—leaving behind a wife and young daughter. Two years ago, the 30-year-old flew to Damascus, paid $15,000 for a fake European passport and a plane ticket to the Netherlands.

Usama said he told the Dutch government that he owned a small factory that made women's shoes and was relatively well off, which made him a target for gangs and militias. The second time he was kidnapped, he was taken away by someone in an Iraqi police uniform, he said.

But Usama said he can't remember exactly when he was kidnapped—which Ms. Oomen, who also represents him, said is a common symptom among traumatized refugees. The IND, however, didn't believe he was kidnapped at all and withdrew his residence permit last year, after rejecting his request to bring his wife and daughter to the Netherlands. He faces possible deportation if he loses his court appeal.

Usama lives in a refugee shelter in a town north of Amsterdam. He said his wife and daughter back in Iraq are in danger. 'I can't sleep,' Usama said. 'Every night I drink myself to sleep.'

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8.
Egyptian grandmother will be deported
The Helsinki Times, March 10, 2010

An Egyptian grandmother will not be allowed to stay with her son in Vantaa. On 8 March the Supreme Administrative Court turned down an appeal against the refusal of a residence permit to, and deportation of, Eveline Fadayel.
. . .
http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/htimes/domestic-news/general/10188-egyptian-grandmother-will-be-deported-.html

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9.
KKE on citizenship bill
The Athens News Agency, March 8, 2010
http://www.ana-mpa.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=8499710&maindocimg=6529859&service=102

In a lengthy announcement issued on Sunday, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) criticised the final form of a bill for granting foreign migrants Greek nationality and the right to vote in municipal elections, saying it was a way 'to better manipulate and incorporate migrants in the bourgeois political system'.

The party's Political Bureau emphasised that the right to become a Greek citizen was made conditional on financial status - with ownership of property an indication of being integrated into Greek society - and political agreement with the 'specific economic-social system of exploitation and capitalist barbarity'.

'We are returning to the times when political rights were dependent on property,' it noted.

The political rights given to migrants would also be used to create divisions between 'old' and 'new' migrants, 'privileged' and 'unprivileged' and 'legal' versus 'illegal', it said.

The party disagreed with making the acquisition of nationality by the children of migrants dependent on their parents having five years legal and continuous residence in Greece that had to be proven via final residence permits, noting that thousands of migrants were currently unable to obtain or renew residence permits in spite of living and working in Greece for years.

It also disagreed with the addition of having a clean criminal record for those seeking Greek citizenship as adults, noting that among offences that would bar a migrant from acquiring Greek nationality were included those of resisting authority, slander and active support of migrants lacking papers.

KKE said its central position was the legalisation of migrants and refugees that live and work in Greece, giving them equal rights and facilitating their movement to other member-states of the EU, counter to the regulations and directives of the EU.

It added that the children of migrants should be recorded in municipal registers and enjoy the same rights as other children, obtaining Greek nationality upon coming of age, if they desired.

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10.
Top UN rights official rounds on Italy over migrants, Roma
Deutsche Presse Agentur, March 11, 2010
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313641,top-un-rights-official-rounds-on-italy-over-migrants-roma.html

Rome (DPA) -- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, on Thursday wound up a two-day visit to Italy by criticizing government policies towards migrants, as well as expressing concern with the way ethnic minorities are often portrayed in the Italian media. But a senior member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative coalition, Senator Maurizio Gasparri, questioning why Italy was being targeted by humanitarian groups, including the UN.

Pillay made her remarks during a news conference held after she inspected two Roma shanty settlements on the outskirts of Rome, and an identification and expulsion centre for illegal immigrants situated in the Italian capital.

She singled out the so-called push-back policy, through which Italy, following a 2008 pact with Libya, has deported illegal immigrants intercepted in the Mediterranean.

'While there are no examples of this practice (push-backs) that we are aware of in the last few months, the policy itself has not been revoked,' she said.

UN officials, rights activists and the Catholic Church say the deportations - which are carried out immediately - violate the rights of asylum-seekers since not enough is done to establish whether the migrants are fleeing from persecution and thus eligible for refugee status.

Pillay also reiterated concern with a law introduced in 2009 that makes illegal entry into Italy a punishable offense.

'As a result, women, children and men, who under international law, have not committed any crime, are sometimes spending more time in detention than genuinely convicted criminals,' she said.

On the situation of the ethnic Roma, Pillay said she raised in talks with officials, including Italy's interior and justice ministers, the need to grant access to health care and education, especially for those living in the shanty settlements and camps.

'I have also expressed alarm at the often extraordinarily negative portrayal of both migrants and Rome in some parts of the media, and by some politicians and authorities,' she said.

Pillay cited a survey of 5,684 TV news stories that dealt with immigration.

'Only 26 of these stories did not link immigration with a specific criminal event or security issues. This is a quite stunning statistic.'

She also called on Italy to speed up efforts to establish a 'National Human Rights Institution,' which was first touted a decade ago.

Gasparri however, defended the Berlusconi government's track record on the treatment of migrants.

'In other parts of the world there are well evident and serious violations of human and democratic rights (that are) routinely ignored by international bodies,' he said.

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11.
India, Russia close to clinching visa pact
The Indo-Asian News Service, March 8, 2010
http://www.indiatalkies.com/2010/03/india-russia-close-clinching-visa-pact.html

New Delhi (IANS) -- India and Russia are likely to ink a long-delayed visa pact that will ease the Russian visa regime to spur more contacts between businessmen of the two sides during the visit of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Friday.

‘The visa facilitation agreement has been finalised,’ reliable sources told IANS.

Under this agreement, an Indian businessmen wishing to apply for a visa to Russia will require a certificate from an industry body like Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) or Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) confirming his bone fide credentials.

The visa facilitation agreement is likely to be signed during Putin’s two-day trip to India, his first as a Russian prime minister.

The agreement could give a big boost to business ties between India and Russia, whose economic engagement has not matched the level of political and strategic ties due to a host of issues.

Russia’s stringent visa regime was widely considered as a major obstacle by Indian businessmen wishing to travel to that country to explore business opportunities.

India and Russia are aiming to more than triple their bilateral trade to $20 billion by 2015.

The two countries will also sign an umbrella civil nuclear agreement after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s talks with Putin Friday. The pact was initialled during Manmohan Singh’s trip to Moscow in December last year.

A slew of defence contracts, including $2.34 billion deal for refit of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, $1.2 billion deal for 29 more MiG-29K maritime fighters and the joint development of the stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) are also likely to be finalised during Putin’s visit.

Differences, however, remain on a second visa pact due to long-standing Russian insistence on including a redmission clause that stipulates India taking back those found travelling to Russia without valid papers.

The Indian external affairs ministry has sent a draft of this visa pact to its Russian counterpart, the sources said. But the second visa pact may not come through as India is opposed to accepting any readmission clause.

India has made it clear that it will not sign a readmission pact as it does not have a common border with Russia. New Delhi maintains that all the Indians were going to Russia on valid Indian passports and Russian entry visas.

Russia has signed a readmission pact with the European Union as a pre-condition for easing EU visas for its nationals.

Moscow is seeking a similar pact with India, which along with China, has been bracketed with those countries posing threat of illegal immigration.

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12.
20,000 Punjabi youths sneak into Europe every year: Study
The Indo-Asian News Service, March 11, 2010
http://www.indiatalkies.com/2010/03/20000-punjabi-youths-sneak-europe-year-study.html

Chandigarh (IANS) -- Every year nearly 20,000 Punjabi youths try to illegally migrate to European Union (EU) countries in pursuit of greener pastures, said a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report has said.

A majority of illegal migrants go to Britain, the report released here Thursday said.

It said many of them either land up in jails of those countries, commit suicide while on their way or lose lakhs of rupees to unscrupulous travel agents.

‘Out of the 340, 276 and 196 cases of immigration-offence related records examined at the Indira Gandhi International airport at Delhi respectively for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007, an average of 47 percent or almost one-half of the cases are related to destination countries in Europe,’ said K.C. Saha, former consultant with UNODC and the principal author of the report.

He added: ‘The number of Punjabi youths going through irregular migration to Europe, every year is around 20,000. However, I have no exact figures for Haryana but this state is fast emerging as a state for irregular migration.’

UNODC commissioned two research studies on the smuggling of migrants from Punjab and Haryana and from Tamil Nadu into Europe, and in particular to Britain.

This report was christened, ‘Smuggling of migrants from India into Europe and in particular to the UK: a study of Punjab and Haryana’.

Talking about the motivation that prompts youths to adhere to this illegal path, Saha said: ‘Legal migration options for unskilled workers are limited hence they resort to illegal migration. The phenomenon of irregular migration is not at all a stigma amongst the families of the migrants, provided it is successful. In fact, it is seen as a status symbol.’

The report also suggests ways to tackle this problem.

‘Regulations of agents and strict legislation against them is needed as they lure people into irregular migration. These agents are able to carry on their business without any hindrance from the local law enforcement authorities and civil society as they operate clandestinely,’ stated Saha.

‘Conviction rate is also very poor in these cases as police normally have no proof because the victims approach police very late,’ he pointed out.

The report also highlighted the fact that irregular migration has not only spread to new areas in Punjab but also to the neighbouring states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

‘This report mentions the reasons behind illegal migration and it will certainly help us tackle the problem of irregular migration. The state government is also working in this direction for a long time,’ said Punjab Chief Secretary Subodh Agarwal, who released this report.

The regional UNODC office for South Asia is based in New Delhi and it works in six countries: India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Christina Albertin, regional representative of UNODC, told IANS: ‘We are very concerned about irregular migration especially from Punjab and Tamil Nadu. Therefore we commissioned these reports, I hope that now governments can formulate strict laws to curb this practice.’

EDITOR’S NOTE: The U.N. report is available online at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/Smuggling_of_Migrants_from_India.pdf

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13.
Arroyo asked to veto bill amending law on OFWs
The GMA TV News (Philippines), March 11, 2010
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/185864/arroyo-asked-to-veto-bill-amending-law-on-ofws

A number of overseas Filipino workers’ (OFW) groups urged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last week to veto amendments to the migrant workers’ law, which they said are anti-OFW particularly the provision on mandatory insurance.

In a letter dated March 4, the groups said while the intent of some of the amendments are laudable, the bill amending the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 or Republic Act 8042 should be vetoed as a whole for several reasons.

The groups include members of the Consultative Council on OFWs (CCOFW), or representatives of migrant workers organizations, labor groups, trade unions, seafarers’ organizations, policy and research institutes and individual advocates.

The bill’s provision on compulsory insurance, the groups said, applies only to OFWs deployed through recruitment agencies and excludes the majority of Filipino workers whose services were not contracted through agencies.

The group said data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) covering 1990- 2008 show that only an average of 26.6 percent of the total number of OFWs are deployed through recruitment agencies, while the bulk of workers renew their contracts on their own or are hired through government placement or are direct hires.

Mandatory insurance should also not be legislated, they argued, saying recruitment or manning agencies must voluntarily insure their workers.

'In the case of the seafarers, prior to sailing, they are already enrolled by their employers in a comprehensive insurance policy, together with the vessels they work in. In the final version of the amendatory law, the proposed insurance is extended to seafarers. However, the benefits are far inferior to those enjoyed by seafarers under the current insurance scheme,' the groups stated in the letter.

The group also questioned the ability of pertinent government agencies to implement the amendments to the law, as they scored the POEA for allegedly failing to curb illegal recruitment as it is tasked to do so under the law.

Instead, the groups urge the government to work on forging rights-based labor agreements with receiving countries, which they said will do more in protecting the rights of OFWs.

The groups also expressed opposition to the retention of RA 8042’s section 10, which limits money claims of OFWs terminated without due cause to just the equivalent of three months’ salary for every year of the unexpired contract.

'[O]n the strength of our conviction that the amendatory law on RA8042, particularly the provision on the compulsory insurance provision and the non-repeal of the particular provision on Section 10 on money claims, will harm, not benefit, our migrant workers, we believe that you (Arroyo) should veto this bill,' the groups maintained.

The letter has over 40 signatories, including Center for Migrant Advocacy, Akbayan Citizen’s Action Party, Philippine Migrants Rights Watch, Alliance of Progressive Labor, and Focus on the Global South.

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14.
Send asylum seekers to the back of the queue: Fielding
The ABC News (Australia), March 11, 2010
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/11/2842736.htm?section=justin

Family First Senator Steve Fielding says the Federal Government should consider sending asylum seekers who arrive by boat to refugee camps in other countries because they are 'jumping the queue'.

The Government has been dealing with an influx of asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat, with the 21st vessel this year being intercepted yesterday.

The Christmas Island detention centre has been expanded to cope with the increase, but is nearing capacity.

Senator Fielding says while his proposal is 'controversial', people smugglers are exploiting asylum seekers because Australia has become a 'soft touch'.

He says his idea should be considered to stop the 'tidal wave' of boats coming to Australia.

'I think Australians would like the idea of the process of saying, 'If you're going to try and jump the queue you go to the back of the queue and wait in a refugee camp and wait your turn to come to Australia,' he said.

When asked by reporters if his proposal would contravene Australia's obligations under the UN Convention on Refugees, Senator Fielding replied: 'I think you can still work with the UNHCR on that issue because if they're fleeing for their lives why wouldn't they want to be waiting in a refugee camp where they're safe and sound?'

A spokesman for Senator Fielding says he is not proposing to send asylum seekers back to their home country.

Senator Fielding says Australia could negotiate with countries that have refugee camps to send the asylum seekers there.

Dr Graham Thom, refugee coordinator for Amnesty International Australia says the proposal breaches international law.

'It is also completely impractical and unrealistic,' he said.

'Australia would be trying to return refugees to countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia, and Malaysia who are already completely overburdened with refugees.

And Dr Thom says refugee camps are far from safe.

'In the camps on the Syria/Iraqi border which I visited in 2008, the conditions were appalling and extremely unsafe In these camps,' he said.

'Women had been burnt to death when their tents caught on fire, children had been hit and killed by passing trucks and refugees faced extreme weather conditions with little protection.'

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Chris Evans declined to comment on the idea.

After coming to power in 2007, the Rudd Government dismantled the Howard government's Pacific Solution and abolished temporary protection visas.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has signalled that a Coalition government would 'turn the boats back' and bring back a form of a temporary visa.

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15.
Jakarta's smuggle law years away
By Stephen Fitzpatrick and Mark Dodd
The Australian, March 12, 2010
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/jakartas-smuggle-law-years-away/story-e6frgczf-1225839789182

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's promise to introduce laws punishing people-smuggling with five-year jail terms was largely for political effect and could be years from being passed, it was claimed yesterday.

The proposed penalty backs down significantly from the 10-year sentences Australia believed as recently as late last year to be on the table.

Addressing the Australian parliament this week, Dr Yudhoyono said his government would 'soon introduce to parliament a law that will criminalise those involved in people-smuggling (and) those found guilty will be sent to prison for five years'.

However, the laws - which the President first proposed in 2008, during a trip by Kevin Rudd to Bali - are only at the drafting stage, which would then be followed by a lengthy passage through a potentially hostile parliament.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith admitted yesterday he had been given no timetable for the legislation, but said he accepted it would be 'subject to (Indonesia's) parliamentary process'.

The proposed five-year jail terms backtrack on 10-year sentences suggested in December to Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Tony Negus, during a trip to Jakarta.

Mr O'Connor told The Australian at the time the mooted sanctions were 'a very welcome sign . . . they mentioned between five and 10 years, which I think is a really significant thing, specifically in relation to people-smuggling offences'.

Doubts over Indonesia's move came as the 23rd asylum-seeker vessel to be apprehended in Australian waters this year was yesterday 220km northwest of the Tiwi Islands, near Darwin, after experiencing engine failure, according to a spokesman for Mr O'Connor.

Its 26 Afghan passengers brought to 1078 the number of asylum-seekers apprehended this year, along with 58 mostly Indonesian crew.

Under current Indonesian law, prosecutions for unlawful attempts to reach Australia by sea are usually conducted under immigration, maritime or administrative laws.

Repeat offender Abraham Louhenapessy, also known as Captain Bram, is currently being tried under maritime law for being in charge of a boat carrying about 250 Sri Lankans that was intercepted by Indonesia's navy on Mr Rudd's request last October. That boat remains at the dock at Merak, in western Java, with its occupants refusing to leave until Australia offers them resettlement.

But with no possibility of being charged for people-smuggling, Mr Louhenapessy is likely to receive only a small fine for sailing with incomplete paperwork, and will be allowed to return to his native Ambon island.

A presidential instruction issued in January, providing details of the policy agenda for every ministry in Dr Yudhoyono's government, makes no mention of any new people-smuggling legislation, despite the President's announcement on Wednesday.

Justice Minister Djoko Suyanto, asked recently what his own department's priorities were, replied that in line with the presidential decree 'eliminating corruption' was key.

Any people-smuggling legislation must first be drafted by Mr Suyanto's department.

After that, public submissions will be called and a revised version of the draft law will be submitted to Indonesia's parliament for consideration.

Parliament will then seek its own public submissions before finally voting on the bill.

Dr Yudhoyono's Democratic Party is well short of a majority in the 560-seat legislature, and only last week suffered a bruising defeat when most of its coalition partners voted against it in a process that could ultimately lead to presidential impeachment.

Politics lecturer Baiq Wardhani, from Surabaya's Airlangga University, yesterday described Dr Yudhoyono's promise during his parliamentary address in Canberra as 'diplomatic sweet talk' designed to impress Australia.

Dr Wardhani, an international relations expert with postgraduate degrees from Monash University, said talk of criminalising people-smuggling had arisen 'only because the President went to Australia . . . within the government itself, it's never thought about seriously.

'They concentrate more on strange laws such as the anti-pornography law, things that aren't really important,' Dr Wardhani said.

'I see it as only a mention of something without action being forthcoming.'

+++

Australia, Indonesia Strengthen Ties
By Rachel Pannett
The Wall Street Journal, March 10, 2010

Canberra -- Australia and Indonesia agreed Wednesday to establish tighter ties, in an acknowledgment that issues such as terrorism and people-smuggling require greater cooperation despite a history of tense relations.

Under the enhanced relationship brokered Wednesday, heads of government will meet annually either in Australia or Indonesia. The two nations' foreign and defense ministers also will meet each year, as Australia does currently with its closest military ally, the U.S., Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said.

They also reached a new framework on people-smuggling, a contentious issue in Australia that has dented the popularity of Mr. Rudd's government. Details were scant, however. Indonesia is a regional staging ground for growing numbers of political refugees seeking asylum in developed countries like Australia.
. . .
Among the areas where Canberra most wants to progress ties is the thorny issue of people-smuggling. Mr. Rudd's government last year made moves toward sending some refugee processing to its giant archipelago neighbor as its own facilities are at capacity. That sparked an outcry among human-rights advocates who argued asylum seekers' claims may be dealt with less fairly in Indonesia.

Mr. Rudd said the new framework will provide for 'enhanced cooperation on prevention and disruption of people-smuggling ventures, border and immigration management, and legal processes.' He also welcomed Indonesia's plan to criminalize people-smuggling later this year.
. . .
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704784904575112452266926986.html?KEYWORDS=immigration+OR+immigrant+OR+migrant

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16.
Evidence on detention centre riot in doubt
By Paige Taylor
The Australian, March 12, 2010

Prosecutors are unsure whether they have sufficient evidence against 11 asylum-seekers charged over a riot inside the Immigration Detention Centre on Christmas Island in November.

The commonwealth revealed its uncertainty about the case at the Christmas Island courthouse yesterday when the nine Sri Lankan men and two Afghanis made their first appearances to answer charges of taking part in a riot and wielding weapons, including a chair.

They all pleaded not guilty after arriving under guard in a minibus from the Phosphate Hill detention compound.

Prosecutor Joel Grinceri told the court the commonwealth needed more time to assess the evidence and find out about the availability of witnesses to the riot.

'The commonwealth DPP is not in possession of all relevant material from the Australian Federal Police to enable proper consideration of the sufficiency of the evidence and the possible approach to prosecute these persons,' Mr Grinceri said.
. . .
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/evidence-on-detention-centre-riot-in-doubt/story-e6frg6nf-1225839771896

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Center for Immigration Studies
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