Immigration

Stories of immigration, and more

Hey Conservatives: Immigrants Help, Not Hurt, Our Economy
Posted by Cristina Jimenez, DMI Blog on December 23, 2008 at 1:30 PM.

The current economic crisis has led immigration restrictionists to blame immigrants for the country’s economic downturn. What restrictionists seem to be ignoring is that our economy relies on the contributions of immigrants.

And this week, yet another report indicates that immigrants are essential for economic growth. The report Destination NJ: How Immigrants Benefit the State Economy by Rutgers University concludes that New Jersey’s 1.7 million immigrants have no negative impact on the state’s economy. Here’re some other findings:

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Fox Gives Racist, Out of Control Cop His Own TV Show
Posted by Angela Kelley, America's Voice on December 18, 2008 at 7:58 AM.

"Smile, You're Under Arrest" -- that's the name of a new reality TV show starring none other than Sheriff Joe Arpaio of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO). Yet Maricopa County citizens aren't smiling as Arpaio's tactics have wreaked a lot of havoc, and fought little crime.

Arpaio has transformed his police department into an immigration-enforcement agency, gaining international notoriety in the process. Armed with a 287(g) agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a mandate to enforce immigration law, Arpaio has taken the pursuit of undocumented immigrants to "unconstitutional extremes

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Proposed Interior Secretary Salazar: Obama's Most Controversial Cabinet Choice?
Posted by Roberto Lovato, Of America on December 17, 2008 at 5:28 AM.

Just hours after Barack Obama's announcement of Ken Salazar as his choice for Interior Secretary, denunciation of and opposition to Salazar have already turned the Colorado Senator in to the most controversial of President-elect Obama's many cabinet designees. This story in NPR ,"Environmentalists Fuming Over Salazar's New Post," describes the growing disillusion in the environmental community about the Interior Secretary designate Salazar, who Kieran Suckling, head of the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) said, "is very closely tied to ranching and mining and very traditional, old-time, Western, extraction industries. We were promised that an Obama presidency would bring change." A scathing press statement (see below) released by CBD includes a litany of pro-polluter anti-environmental positions taken by Salazar, including his vote not to repeal tax breaks for Exxon-Mobil and his vote for oil drilling of the Florida coast.

Questions about Salazar's past may bring more unwanted negative attention to Obama, who already finds himself fending off questions about Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. One reliable source in the DC environmental community just told me that the Interior Secretary position "may not be closed" because Salazar "has some issues from his past that may come out."

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Congressman Insults Entire Community By Praising Postville Raid
Posted by Lynn Tramonte, America's Voice on December 16, 2008 at 5:34 AM.

Today, in a Des Moines Register op-ed, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) claimed the Postville raid was a "step in the right direction" for our immigration policy.  He applauded deportation-only "solutions" to illegal immigration, which he claimed would  "help protect American workers and local communities."

If only Rep. King had stopped to listen to the very community and workers of Postville, Iowa. 

They held a telephonic press conference just yesterday to explain the real injury the raid had caused.  Rev. Steve Brackett of St. Paul's Lutheran Church discussed the impact on workers, families and the community: "The damage is irreparable," he stated.  The AP summarized his comments this way:

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Anti-Immigration Ads Don't Add Up in 2008
Posted by Staff, America's Voice on December 15, 2008 at 5:53 AM.

Washington DC -- A new report released today by America's Voice analyzes the use of immigration in political ads during the 2008 election cycle.  Of the 234 television ads that ran on the issue of immigration, 84% focused on stricter security measures and anti-immigrant language.  However, that strategy was a complete failure. Only 32% of candidates supported in the harshest category of ads won their races.

To compile the report, America's Voice used information from the Campaign Media and Analysis Group (CMAG) to track immigration ads in the 2008 cycle. We found that the issue of immigration was used in 234 television ads in 79 races and 35 states at a cost of $27.2 million.

We then ranked the ads were on a scale of 1 (positive and pro-immigrant) to 5 (extremely anti-immigrant).  The report finds that 56% of the ads fell under category 5, at a cost of $21 million.  Ads that were ranked 1 were only 5% of the total ads, representing $2.7 million.

Even though significant money and resources were poured into anti-immigrant ads, the bulk of the candidates using them were not elected.  Of the 218 ads aired by Republicans or Democrats in races that have been decided, only 69, or 32% favored a winning candidate.

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Bush's Top Immigration Official Loves to Hire Undocumented Workers
Posted by EZ Writer, Daily Kos on December 11, 2008 at 10:55 AM.

This is just too funny!

Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security secretary, is the TOP immigration official in the country.

Every few weeks for nearly four years, the Secret Service screened the IDs of employees for a Maryland cleaning company before they entered the house of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the nation's top immigration official.

The company's owner says the workers sailed through the checks -- although some of them turned out to be illegal immigrants.

This will be on page one of Thursday's Washington Post
(story not online yet, should be soon)
http://www.washingtonpost.com

This pretty much sums up the Bush administration.

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Bush Administration Makes Yet Another Ill-Conceived Midnight-Hour Policy Change
Posted by Staff, America's Voice on December 10, 2008 at 1:30 PM.

Washington, DC -- The Bush administration has announced regulatory changes to the H2-A agricultural guestworker program that remove protections for workers and make it easier for employers to bring in foreign workers. The changes were revealed on the Department of Labor's (DOL) website and are being proposed by DOL and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). They include reducing obligations for growers to recruit U.S. workers before applying to bring in foreign guestworkers, lowering the wage rate requirements by changing the program's wage formula and removing the already insufficient government oversight of the program. Below is a statement from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America's Voice:

"What the Bush administration is attempting to do in its twilight will do nothing more than hurt workers for decades to come. This comes as no surprise. The Administration has a record of coddling unscrupulous employers while going after hard working people. The raid on the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa is the perfect example: They decided to go after the employer only after sustained negative media forced them to. What this country needs is common sense solutions to tough problems, not last minute administrative changes that make things worse. The changes to the H2-A program, and the expected announcement of changes to H2-B program should not be implemented. However, if they are, we expect Congress to act swiftly and reverse them. The solution to our immigration problems lies in a comprehensive approach, and we expect to see movement on this front by Thanksgiving of next year."

High-Ranking Homeland Security Official Repeatedly Hired Undocumented Workers
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on December 7, 2008 at 8:20 AM.

If you work as a high-ranking border official, it's probably not a good idea to knowingly and repeatedly hire immigrants who entered the country illegally to clean your house.

It's one of those obvious lessons that Lorraine Henderson apparently forgot.

Lorraine Henderson, the regional director of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, was arrested Friday at her home in Salem. She was expected to appear in federal court later Friday.

 

Henderson is responsible for stopping illegal aliens from entering the country through the Port of Boston.

But according to an affidavit, for several years Henderson employed a Brazilian housekeeper who was an illegal immigrant. She also allegedly hired two other illegal immigrants, even after fellow agents warned her it was against the law.

Henderson was arrested after one of the women wore a wire and recorded Henderson telling the woman to "be careful" because once you're deported, "you will never be back."

The irony is rich.

SPLC Wins Fight Against Kentucky Klansmen Who Attacked Teen
Posted by Staff, Truth in Immigration on December 2, 2008 at 10:45 AM.

We congratulate the Southern Poverty Law Center for a court victory in Kentucky that awarded $2.5 million to a teenager who was assaulted by Klansmen because they thought he was an "illegal spic." Like the SPLC, we hope this verdict will spell the end of the Imperial Klans of America.

The following video clip comes from CNN's "Issues" with Jane Velez-Mitchell. The show was filmed two days before the jury ordered the IKA to pay the $2.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

For more information on the Kentucky case, click here.

Meet the Latino in Charge of Outlining Obama's Immigration Policy
Posted by Diego Graglia, Feet in 2 Worlds on December 1, 2008 at 4:14 PM.

Its fitting that Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar grew up in Calexico, the California town whose name is a combination of California and Mexico.  As a leader of President-elect Barack Obama’s task force on immigration, Cuéllar can certainly use some transcultural sensitivity.

Cuéllar, a law professor at Stanford University, has been named one of the co-heads of the Obama transition’s Immigration Policy Working Group.  The transition’s web site says, he is in charge of “working on a plan to implement the President-elect’s commitments to fix the immigration system through legislative and executive actions that promote prosperity, enhance our security, strengthen families, and advance the rule of law.”

Cuéllar has called the current immigration situation in the U.S. “a humanitarian crisis that we’ve ignored” and one that deserves an appropriate response, Spanish wire Agencia EFE reported.

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Obama Should Not Ignore Immigration Policy While Focusing on the Economy
Posted by Cristina Jimenez, DMI Blog on November 25, 2008 at 10:09 AM.

Despite the strong and decisive support from the immigrant electorate, many say immigration reform won't be in the agenda during the first year of the Obama administration. The economy is everyone's priority.

But some recent entrepreneurship reports indicate that the new administration should not ignore immigration policy when trying to help the economy.

A new study for the Small Business Administration by Rob Fairlie of UC Santa Cruz found that immigrants are nearly 30 percent more likely to start a business than non-immigrants, and they represent 16.7 percent of all new business owners in the United States. Nearly 30 percent of all new business owners per month in New York, Florida, and Texas, are immigrants.

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What Does Napolitano at Homeland Security Mean for Immigration Reform?
Posted by Diego Graglia, Feet in 2 Worlds on November 24, 2008 at 12:02 PM.

As Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano appears ready to become the first Democratic secretary of Homeland Security, pro- and anti-immigration observers are trying to decipher what her designation will mean for the future of immigration laws under President Barack Obama.

Napolitano, Spanish wire Agencia EFE remembered today, declared a state of emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border and was the first governor to ask for National Guard troops to be deployed to secure the border between the two countries. She has also vetoed tough immigration enforcement bills put forward by state Republicans and advocated measures like the prosecution of companies that hire undocumented workers. Overall she is seen as more of a hardliner on immigration than most Democrats.

Napolitano's approach on immigration is fundamentally pragmatic, her friend and think tank founder Fred DuVal told the Christian Science Monitor, adding her philosophy is, "Drop the ideology and let's talk about what we need to both make the border secure and the relationship with Mexico functional."

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Citizens Fight Back Against Hate After the Brutal Murder of Marcello Lucero
Posted by Lisa Votino-Tarrant, Long Island Wins on November 13, 2008 at 12:00 PM.

Last weekend, 7 teenage punks murdered Marcello Lucero, because they wanted to go get a "a mexican." It didn't matter who or what or where. It didn't matter that they ended an innocent man's life. It didn't matter that they were throwing their whole lives away. They were apparently consumed with hate and Marcello, an Ecuadorian immigrant, who was on his way to his friend's house to watch a movie, was what they decided to take their hate out on.

Marcello's Father passed away when he was a young boy and took over the role of the man of the house. He moved to the United States 16 years ago. His brother and sister live on Long Island and his mother and younger sister live in Ecuador.

I have spent my week in Patchogue at press conferences and small rallies in memory of Marcello. I have come to know many of the local community people and they are petrified to leave their house without a group of people. I also know that the Patchogue Librarian said she had many calls from her ESOL students saying they weren't coming to class, that they were to afraid to walk there.

And as if this tragedy isn't enough … there are two other hateful incidents this week in Suffolk County. Forty cars were vandalized in Mastic with racial slurs including threats against President-elect Barack Obama. In Islip Terrace, the KKK did an information drop, leaving their newsletter at peoples' doorsteps and mailboxes and also leaving the newsletter on car windshields at the train station.

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Why Did ICE Head Julie Myers Resign the Day After the Election?
Posted by Suman Raghunathan, Feet in 2 Worlds on November 11, 2008 at 4:47 PM.

Less than twelve hours after the results of last weeks' election were announced, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced Wednesday that Julie Myers, assistant secretary of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is leaving the agency by November 15.

Myers, who has led the agency since 2006, was the controversial face of the Bush administration's enforcement-focused immigration policy.

As Feet In 2 Worlds has reported,  recent large-scale ICE raids have been deeply unpopular, particularly among Latino voters and voters from other immigrant groups, and served to further tarnish the Republican brand. Post election analysis shows that Latinos gave Obama the winning edge in six states, helping to propel him into the White House and adding to Democratic majorities in Congress.

During Myers' tenure, the agency doubled the number of undocumented immigrants swept up into deportation proceedings to reach a new record of 274,000 sent back to their home countries in 2006. The agency also saw its budget grow exponentially -- and used it mostly for enforcement tactics including large-scale immigration raids that largely targeted undocumented workers rather than their employers.

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Obama Needs to Bring Change to Our Fatally Flawed Immigration System
Posted by Staff, National Immigration Forum on November 11, 2008 at 3:03 PM.

Editor's note: The following is a press release from the folks at National Immigration Forum.

Washington, DC - John Podesta, head of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, announced this week that the Obama transition team will conduct a thorough review of government agencies, regulations, and policies in order to identify administrative actions that can be taken immediately to begin to change government practices.  The following is a statement from Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, on the need to carefully examine the practices of the Department of Homeland Security.

The promise from President-elect Obama's transition team to strip away agency practices inconsistent with his vision of change comes not a moment too soon.  Our current immigration system is fatally flawed, and while legislation will be required to ensure permanent reform, the necessity for change at the administrative level is a natural starting point.

The deportation-only strategies executed by DHS and ICE over the past year have resulted in nothing but heartache for thousands of undocumented workers and their families, and have terrorized legal immigrant communities, and have degraded the due process rights upon which this country was founded. Even House Speaker Pelosi recognizes that the irresponsible execution of raids is an ineffective solution to our broken immigration system. The next Administration will have multiple opportunities to change the course of immigration policy even before any vote in Congress is taken.

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