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November 29, 2006

Economy, war cited for Hispanics deserting GOP

Exit polls suggest Latino voters deserted the Republican candidates at nearly twice the rate of non-Hispanic whites during this month's congressional elections, the Pew Hispanic Center said on Monday. But the conventional wisdom that Hispanics were turned off by the party's hard line on illegal immigration — and would deliver on the "Today we march, tomorrow we vote" cry from the spring's protest marches — was not the decisive factor, some experts said. MICHELLE MITTELSTADT for the Houston Chronicle.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 06:43 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Fanning the immigration flames...with hot air

One of the favorite topics over at WorldNetDaily, the generally nutty web site that mixes stories about secular plots against America and secret plans to turn North America into a super-state with ads for books by Pat Buchanan and stories about UFO cover-ups, is illegal immigration. Generally the tone of the stories is this: "Run! Run! Illegal immigrants are heading over your front lawn right now!" I visit the site sometimes for the same reason I read the Onion. John Whiteside on the Blue Bayou blog.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 06:35 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Immigration officials gird for rush to altar

Some people marry for love. Others for companionship. Some for money. And for a growing number of undocumented immigrants, marriage is for something else: a green card. BRIAN DONOHUE for the Chicago Tribune.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 06:31 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Deal made to check immigration status

A federal immigration agent will be stationed in Costa Mesa's jail full-time beginning in December to check whether people booked at the jail are illegal immigrants, officials announced Tuesday. ALICIA ROBINSON for the Daily Pilot.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 06:30 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

November 28, 2006

ESL Students Shut Out of New Schools

Students who are still learning English are being shut out of many of New York City's small, new high schools, according to a new report. By BETH FERTIG for WNYC.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 06:37 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Once Mexico's Hero, Fox Fades Out

Mexican President Vicente Fox leaves office this week with his promises to win greater access to the United States for Mexican immigrants, reshape his nation's economy and defeat violent drug cartels left unfulfilled. By ALISTAIR BELL for Reuters.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 06:35 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Dems Won Over Latino Votes, Study Says

Latino voters leaned heavily Democratic in the recent midterm elections, indicating the heated debate over immigration reform may have cost Republicans support in some key races, an analysis released Monday indicates. By Elizabeth Aguilera in the Denver Post.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 06:31 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Immigration Files Missing

About 30,000 applications from immigrants seeking citizenship were processed by the government even though thousands of background files used to determine eligibility were missing, congressional investigators found. In the Associated Press.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 06:28 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

More on Blancornelas

Here are two pieces filed by IJJ alumna ANNA CEARLEY in the San Diego Union Tribune about now-legendary Tijuana journalist Jesús Blancornelas: Courage and committment and Tijuana journalist exposed criminals.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 05:08 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

November 27, 2006

Bishops Call on Congress to Overhaul Immigration Policies

Bishops from three southern states where immigration has increased dramatically in recent years are asking federal lawmakers for an overhaul of U.S. immigration policy. In the Durham Herald Sun.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 09:07 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Major Reforms Uncertain in 2007

Comprehensive immigration reform is not a certainty under the newly elected Democratic Congress because of deep political divisions, pressure from labor unions and re-election concerns. By DANIEL GONZALEZ for the Arizona Republic.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 09:05 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Bush Seeks Unity on Immigration

The White House is reaching out to leading congressional Democrats on the issue of overhauling immigration, hoping to build a bipartisan coalition to support a "guest worker" program and provide a path to legalized status for many undocumented immigrants, lawmakers and administration officials said. By RICK KLEIN of the Boston Globe.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 09:03 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Biden: Blame Immigration Woes on Mexico

Sen. Joe Biden, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's incoming chairman, wants to get tough with Mexico, calling it an "erstwhile democracy" with a "corrupt system" responsible for illegal immigration and drug problems in the U.S. By JIM DAVENPORT of The Associated Press.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 08:55 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

November 26, 2006

Jesús Blancornelas, 70, Who Reported on Mexico’s Drug Violence, Dies

"OAXACA, Mexico, Nov. 24 — Jesús Blancornelas, a fearless journalist who won several awards for his crusade against drug cartels and survived an assassination attempt in 1997, died Thursday in Tijuana, where he founded Zeta magazine."

JAMES C. McKINLEY, JR., in the New York Times.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 06:50 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

November 25, 2006

Border group's finances scrutinized

"For the first time, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps has revealed a smattering of intriguing details on its finances, but some former Texas members say they're still not sure how the group has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributors' money."

SUSAN CARROLL in the Houston Chronicle. 

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 09:32 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

November 24, 2006

A Border Watcher Finds Himself Under Scrutiny

"[A lawsuit,] accusing Mr. Barnett of threatening two Mexican-American hunters and three young children with an assault rifle and insulting them with racial epithets, ended Wednesday night in Bisbee with a jury awarding the hunters $98,750 in damages."

RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD in the New York Times. 

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 04:58 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

November 22, 2006

Nativism Loses

The GOP's anti-immigration agenda was a big political loser in the midterm election. But by appointing Florida Senator Mel Martinez – a Cuban American who staunchly supports more liberal immigration policies – as the chair of the Republican National Committee, President Bush might have grasped that beating up on illegals may never again be a political winner for the GOP.

A Democratic Congress offers Bush an opportunity to make amends with the Latino community – not to mention escape his lame-duck status -- by a reviving his original, more enlightened approach to immigration reform. By SHIKHA DALMIA for Reason Magazine.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 10:23 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Two Methods in Enforcing Illegal Immigrant Hiring Law

The Bush administration is trying both carrot and stick in enforcing the law against hiring illegal immigrants. The carrot is harder to measure than the stick. By MICHAEL DOYLE for the McClatchy Newspapers.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 10:20 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Man's Deportation to Somalia Sets Off a Wave of Concern Over Safety

Mr. Jama, whose deportation was based on a 1989 conviction for owning an unlicensed gun, is among the first Somalis to be repatriated against his will since the United States Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 last year that the lack of a functioning central government in Somalia did not bar such deportations. About 4,000 Somalis nationwide are eligible for immediate deportation under the ruling, which turned on the syntax of a Congressional statute. By NINA BERNSTEIN for The New York Times.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 10:13 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Feds ramp up fines, raids on firms employing illegal immigrants

For years, many employers grew used to being fined at most a few thousand dollars for hiring undocumented workers, seeing it as a cost of doing business. But that has changed, with giant corporations now facing fines amounting millions of dollars and their CEOs taken away in handcuffs. HERNAN ROZEMBERG for the San Antonio Express-News.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 12:38 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Citizenship's cost burdens all of us

Despite warnings that it will deter the most low-income legal immigrants from taking their final step into the American dream, U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services plans to substantially increase the cost of the naturalization process. In 1998 it cost $95 to apply for U.S. citizenship. Today it costs $400. Next year it could leap to $600 or as much as $800. If my paycheck was capable of flying that far ahead of inflation every year I would be on vacation. THOMAS KEOWN for the Boston Herald.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 12:35 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Path toward wise immigration policy is finally taking right turn

Some people are still denying it, but the tide has turned in the right direction. America's heritage as a nation of immigrants is on the right path again. For the last couple of years, it seemed as if those who appealed to our worst instincts, those who became "leaders" by spreading divisiveness and xenophobia, were driving this country away from that great tradition. They used the attacks of 9/11 and the war on terrorism as an excuse to declare war on all immigrants. MIGUEL PEREZ for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 12:31 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Poll reveals divergent views on illegal immigration

More than two-thirds of Americans support enabling illegal immigrants to become citizens even as nearly the same percentage favor a crackdown on businesses that employ such immigrants, according to a national poll released Tuesday. JOSH DROBNYK for The Morning Call.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 12:29 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

November 21, 2006

They Come to Work, And To Send Money Home

he men are among the thousands of illegal immigrants who work under false identities in America's meatpacking industry – receiving a steady paycheck in exchange for constant and sometimes debilitating punishment to their bodies. Mr. Cus, a 23-year-old with broad cheekbones and full lips that seldom spread into a smile, paid a coyote $6,000 to guide him from the Quiché province in southeast Guatemala through the tropical terrain of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas – past gangs, border agents and to the banks at the Río Bravo in Ciudad Juárez.

To raise the money, he went to a Guatemalan loan shark, who now charges his family 10 percent interest monthly. By DIANNE SOLIS and DEBORAH TURNER for the Dallas Morning News.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 06:01 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Cash is King, But Corruption Reigns

 Town clerk pocketed migrants' cash payments, then landed in prison. By ARNOLD HAMILTON for the Dallas Morning News.

 

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 05:57 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Processing Plants' Dangers Don't Scare off Migrants

The opportunities lie in the punishing nature of the work, hacking at animal parts in rapid succession as carcasses fly by.

Each year, thousands of illegal immigrants gravitate toward meatpacking plants in places like Cactus, Texas, and elsewhere, in search of steady-paying jobs that many native workers avoid.

Their attraction to one of the most dangerous factory jobs in the nation, experts say, has created an environment that's increasingly difficult to monitor, complicating efforts to improve conditions across the industry. By SUDEEP REDDY for the Dallas Morning News.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 05:51 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Despite Challenges, Teachers and Students Forge Ahead in Cactus

Peals of laughter blend with conversations in Spanish as students in Stacy Murphy's class quiz one another for their impending English vocabulary test.  On the other side of the room, Anna Vazquez, a bilingual transition assistant, works with third- through sixth-grade students who are learning the language.

These are the children of immigrants who call Cactus home – their parents drawn to the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant by the prospect of a steady wage and a chance to provide their children with a decent education. By DEBORAH TURNER for the Dallas Morning News.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 05:47 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Cactus, Texas: Workers are Town's Backbone, But Many are Here Illegally

Cactus doesn't register on most U.S. maps, but for some in Mexico and Guatemala who want a better life, it has become a destination town. Their presence has transformed the community, creating national-size problems for its small-town leaders.

As America debates immigration policy in often bipolar terms – amnesty or deportation – Cactus is living the fuzzy, everyday reality of porous borders and the competing interests behind one of the biggest demographic shifts in U.S. history: impoverished millions eager for a better life, industries ready to snap up cheap labor, federal officials impotent to act and local residents left to deal with the resulting troubles.
The first of three parts by ARNOLD HAMILTON and DEBORAH TURNER for the Dallas Morning News.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 05:34 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

November 20, 2006

Roadblocks to U.S. Residency Spurring Trips Down the Aisle

Some people marry for love. Others for companionship. Some for money.

And in an era when undocumented immigrants make up an estimated 5 percent of New Jersey's population, growing numbers are tying the knot for something else: a green card. By BRIAN DONOHUE for the New Jersey Star Ledger.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 06:21 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Will a New Congress Confront Real Immigration Reform?

Six-term Phoenix-area Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., spent much of the last year trying to surf what he saw as a mounting anti-immigration wave. His hastily written book calling for U.S. troops along a fenced-off border, ``Whatever It Takes: Illegal Immigration, Border Security and the War on Terror,'' came out just in time for what he no doubt believed would be an easy re-election run. But it turned out that Hayworth fenced himself right out of office -- he lost Nov. 7 to a Democratic rival who had proposed a more liberalized immigration policy. By MARC COOPER in the San Jose Mercury News.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 06:18 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Signs of Hope on Immigration

The political earthquake in Washington has knocked loose some of the big obstacles to fixing the immigration system. A decent solution is now there for the taking, if President Bush and the newly Democratic Congress are willing to grab it. Editorial in The New York Times.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 06:14 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Linebacker plan catches more immigrants than criminals

"AUSTIN - An El Paso Times analysis of reports from state border security operations shows that border sheriffs are using federal dollars meant to fight drugs and violent crime to enforce federal immigration laws."

BRANDI GRISSOM, El Paso Times, Austin Bureau. 

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 10:08 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

November 19, 2006

The Other Side

"Her name is Lupe Moreno, the daughter of a Mexican immigrant, and she is a rarity here - one of only two Latinos in the bunch that day. But if her presence is the picture of incongruity, her reasons for being here reflect the sentiments of a growing number of U.S.-born Latinos who, at the risk of being labeled ethnic traitors, are asking this loaded question: are penniless newcomers - even if they’re compadres, paisanos, blood—eroding the quality of life in America?"

DENNIS ROMERO, 2006 NAM Award Winner, Best Investigative / In Depth (English) Reporting. 

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 11:31 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

November 18, 2006

Illegal Scholar

"Carlos is 17 years old with closely cropped black hair and an off-center smile. ... He's a typical teenager.  Except for two things.  First, he's a 'gifted' student and writer, according to his teachers. His GPA is 3.52, and his schedule is loaded with honors classes and Advanced Placement courses.  Second, he's an illegal immigrant. Carlos' parents brought him to this country from Mexico on a tourist visa when he was almost 8 years old. More than nine years later, the family is still here - hidden in plain view in one of Southeast Portland's working-class neighborhoods."

BETH SLOVIC in the Willamette Week Online. 

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 01:32 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Bill rekindles debate on birthright citizenship

"Anyone born in the United States is an American citizen, a right with post-Civil War roots and defined in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But a controversial bill filed for the 2007 session of the Texas Legislature, one of a flurry of measures seeking crackdowns on illegal immigration, is challenging this long-held tenet of U.S. citizenship."

JUAN CASTILLO in the Austin American-Statesman. 

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 05:53 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

November 17, 2006

Border Fence Cost Questioned

Electronic monitoring and other steps for enhancing surveillance along the southwestern border could cost 15 times the initial $2 billion estimate, the Homeland Security Department's inspector general says. In the Chicago Tribune.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 11:24 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Anti-Illegal Immigrant Law Put on Hold

A federal judge temporarily blocked the city of Escondido on Thursday from enforcing a law that punishes landlords for renting to illegal immigrants. In the Associated Press.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 11:19 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Colo AG Defends Abuse Case to Saudis

The state's attorney general traveled to Saudi Arabia this week to assure officials that a Saudi man convicted in Colorado of sexually abusing and virtually enslaving his housekeeper was treated fairly. In the Associated Press.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 11:17 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

GOP Can't Lose Latinos

Across the nation, Republicans are asking what they did wrong in the 2006 midterms. This is a question with many answers. But few missteps were more foolish — and few will be harder to correct — than those made with Latino voters. The appointment this week of Cuban-born Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida to chair the Republican National Committee is a good way to make a new start. But the damage done in the last year goes deeper than symbolism, and it will take more than one appointment to undo it. By TAMAR JACOBY for the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 11:14 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Jailing of clerics angers Muslims

Muslim leaders in the Boston area expressed outrage yesterday over the arrest and jailing of two senior clerics in an alleged scheme that provided religious-worker visas to immigrants who used them for secular jobs. MICHAEL LEVENSON for the Boston Globe.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 07:56 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Taking aim at immigration in Texas

With the Democrats in charge in Washington, conservatives in Texas are wasting no time on a pity party. Republicans, after all, are still in the majority here, controlling every statewide office and the Legislature as well as the top courts. To press that advantage, conservatives plan to put their imprint next year on a variety of issues ranging from abortion to school vouchers. Their biggest push by far, however, will be passage of a host of bills dealing with illegal immigrants, including one that just might challenge the 14th Amendment, which defines citizenship and requires states to provide civil rights to anyone born on U.S. soil. CATHY BOOTH THOMAS for Time.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 07:54 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Reality is still a rarity in immigration debate

The world would be a better place if some of the officials preoccupied with undocumented immigrants would shift their attention to the more egregious problem of undocumented assertions. Editorial for the Arizona Daily Star.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 07:51 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Democrats can lead immigration charge

Will Democrats take the lead on immigration? One of the quick and easy conclusions drawn from the Republican defeat in last week's midterm elections is that immigration as an issue failed to galvanize voters. It was "the dog that didn't bark," immigration advocates quipped, or, as The Wall Street Journal put it, the "fool's gold of American politics." Few races were decided because of what candidates did or failed to do on immigration. MARCELA SANCHEZ for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 07:49 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

IJJ Report Featured In Washington Post

Ellis Cose's report on the legacy and future of affirmative action has now been featured in the Washington Post.

Posted by Marc Cooper at 11:52 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Walkout in North Carolina

TAR HEEL, N.C. - About 1,000 nonunion workers, mostly Hispanics upset with the recent firing of immigrants for allegedly providing false documents, walked off their jobs at a Smithfield Foods Inc. slaughtering plant, a union spokeswoman said.  Associated Press.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 07:35 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

No No Escondido

"A federal judge temporarily blocked the city of Escondido on Thursday from enforcing a law that punishes landlords for renting to illegal immigrants.

U.S. District Judge John Houston said that he had serious questions about whether the law would survive legal scrutiny and that it may inflict "irreparable harm" on tenants and landlords.

The law had been scheduled to take effect Friday in the suburb 30 miles north of San Diego, where Hispanics make up 42 percent of the 142,000 residents."

ELLIOT SPAGAT for Associated Press. 

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 06:51 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Guest Wishes

"Helen Krieble wants to end all the horsing around over illegal immigration.

For years now, Krieble has hired people from outside the country to do the horse park's worst work. She always looks for American workers first, but few seem to want these low-paying, far-from-glorious jobs. Plenty of illegal immigrants apply every year, but Krieble refuses to break the law by hiring them.

"We need a guest-worker program, badly, to eliminate all these illegal people who are coming in here," Krieble says. "Then we wouldn't need that damn fence that they're building on the border."

Krieble opts to import laborers from Mexico -- legally. The process is a bureaucratic headache that eats up dollars and time, both for Krieble's staff and the state and federal government officials charged with monitoring the program. And at any point along the way, a prospective worker could fall through the cracks for something as simple as folding a form wrong. But right now, Krieble says, she has no choice if she wants to do things the right way."

LUKE TURF in Westword.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 06:38 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

November 15, 2006

Democrats may proceed with caution on immigration

When election results started rolling in Tuesday, Cecilia Munoz said that she and other immigration advocates were "holding our breath." One by one, Republicans who had fought tooth and nail for stricter immigration laws fell, turning control of Congress over to the Democrats. By morning, a 700-mile Mexican border fence passed by Republicans in a pre-election gambit had fallen flat with voters. A sharply worded GOP bill that targeted illegal immigrants and spurred marches by millions of Latinos in the spring appeared likely to fade into memory. DARRYL FEARS AND SPENCER S. HSU for the Washington Post.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 05:36 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Immigration-law reforms pushed

Latino activists began a renewed push Tuesday night for a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration policies. The Riverside-based National Alliance for Human Rights urged Congress to move swiftly to reform immigration laws in the wake of last week's election. STEPHEN WALL for the San Bernardino County Sun.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 05:35 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Study finds immigrants are not a disproportionate burden on health care

Adult illegal immigrants tend to be younger and healthier than their legal-resident counterparts, resulting in relatively low use of health care services, according to a study released Tuesday. VICTORIA COLLIVER for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 05:02 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Immigration and abortion?

A Republican-led legislative panel says in a new report on illegal immigration that abortion is partly to blame because it is causing a shortage of American workers. DAVID A. LIEB in the Washington Post.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 04:58 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Setting boundaries

The midterm elections sent candidates a pay-on-delivery package of demands. Resolving the Iraq war and sanitizing congressional ethics topped the list. Immigration hysteria did not. In 12 of 15 races dominated by the illegal immigration debate, moderate candidates won. Just two immigration hard-liners prevailed, according to www.immigration2006.org, which followed the issue. Editorial in the Houston Chronicle.

Posted by Matt Mundy at 04:57 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Second-Grade Fights Mom's Deportation

From a second-floor bedroom in a storefront church, Elvira Arellano scanned the Internet for news of her son -- a 7-year-old boy who had traveled to Mexico to ask that nation to help his family and others like them. In the Associated Press.

Posted by Hanna Ingber at 08:41 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Justice Dept. to Investigate L.A. County Youth Camps

The U.S. Justice Department plans to investigate dangerous conditions at Los Angeles County probation camps for teens, county officials said Tuesday. By SUSANNAH ROSENBLATT for the Los Angeles Times.