Civil Rights : Immigrants & Immigration policy |
Rights of immigrants, legal and illegal, in the United States and elsewhere and the impact of immigration policy on their welfare.
5/19/10
INTERNATIONAL
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Analysis & views: 3/29/10 2/12/10 1/25/10 1/23/10 1/12/10 7/30/09 2/11/09 Canadian government considering reducing immigration as a way of dealing with the country's problems of unemployment and economic downturn. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=1274345 12/6/08 Starvation on the Isle of Crete:. 15 Arab migrants, part of the large pool of undocumented immigrants attracted by the unofficial economy of the island, are on hunger strike to protest the lack of realistic opportunity for migrants to obtain Greek citizenship status, with high fees and long waiting periods for naturalization proceedings (Is this a harbinger for "immigration reform" in the U.S. with a supposedly enlightened "path to citizenship" offered to the undocumented?) http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45006 7/31/08 Many Afghan refugees are resisting efforts of Norwegian authorities to have them return to Afghanistan, using a combinations of inducements and coercion. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43391 6/1/08 South African immigrants are failing the elbow test and paying the price. In the current wave of anti-immigration obsession sweeping the country, xenophobic street thugs are stopping "suspected" migrants from other African countries like Mozambique and demanding that they pronounce the word "elbow." If they fail to do so with a Zulu accent they are beaten or even killed. These atrocities are a legacy of the inter-ethnic rivalries fostered by the late apartheid regime and the mass poverty produced by the neo-liberalist policies of the current one. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/why-is-south-africa-being-torn-apart/ 5/31/08 Vote in Switzerland could return the country to a system of requiring secret ballot approval by people in local communities of immigrants' applications for citizenship. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7427865.stm 5/19/08 "We should be the last people to have this problem." Statement by South Africa leader, commenting on days of rioting against immigrants, many of them refugees from Zimbabwe. He comments on the irony that many of the country's leaders were themselves forced to flee to other countries during South Africa's apartheid days. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/world/africa/20safrica.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin 5/7/08 Canada reports 41,000 missing illegal immigrants in the country. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080506.wauditor_main0506/BNStory/National/home 5/2/08 Denmark's political parties collide over one party's attempt to run an advertisement in Danish newspapers deriding a court decision to allow female Muslim judges to wear hard-scarves on the bench. http://www.cphpost.dk/get/106987.html 4/19/08 Consensus is seen in Danish public opinion and in Parliament that gang members who are not Danish citizens should be deported on conviction of crimes. http://www.cphpost.dk/get/106798.html 1/18/07 Reality falls far short of expectations for many Iraqi refugees in the United States http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0110/p01s01-woiq.html 1/1/08 Survey shows that Danish people are more open to liberalized work permits for immigrants than the country's restrictive laws tend to maintain. http://www.cphpost.dk/get/104977.html 12/21/07 Haitian immigrants experiencing severe discrimination in Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), south of the Bahamas, a playground for the wealthy of the world. http://www.latinamericapress.org/Article.asp?lanCode=1&artCode=5418 12/17/07 56 Somali refugees drown in Gulf of Aden as they attempt to reach Yemen. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7147412.stm 12/14/07 Mexicana who fought deportation through sanctuary in Chicago continues back in Mexico her personal crusade for immigration reform. http://www.latinamericapress.org/article.asp?IssCode=&lanCode=1&artCode=5414 11/29/07 Denmark's two-tier welfare system, with most immigrants in the lower tier, is condemned as discriminatory by Amnesty International. http://www.cphpost.dk/get/104547.html 11/14/07 Danish voters return to office a PM whose policies included strict anti-immigration laws. http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20071114/twl-denmark-vote-6b0205e.html 11/13/07 Illegal immigrants are pouring into Greece, many of them refugees from poverty and war in the Middle East. http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.prnt_article?e=C&f=13259&t=11&m=A14&aa=1 11//3/07 Raid on a shantytown in Rome may be an indication of rise of feelings against immigrants in Italy. http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article3124253.ece 10/6/07 Australians respond to the country's ban on refugee immigrants from Africa. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/africa_australia_african_refugee_ban/html/1.stm 9/20/07 UK ministers and union officials warn against the "demonisation" of immigrants suggested in a police chief's complaint about migrants and crime. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2979901.ece 9/19/07 Citing "feuds" between migrants of different nationalities and migrants' different cultural understandings of matters like the carrying of knives, a British Police Chief says she needs additional police forces to deal with these problems. 8/22/07 At Montebello summit, Canadian CEOs warn leaders of three nations that increased security at U.S./Canada border is an impediment to trans-national commerce http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070822.wmontebello22/BNStory/National/home 8/20/07 Countries around the world lay out the welcome mat for immigrants. That's assuming, of course, that they are highly educated and/or skilled; as opposed to the efforts almost everywhere to discourage immigration of the type supposedly welcomed by the Statue of Liberty. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/20/world/middleeast/20migrate.html?th&emc=th 8/20/07 Crisis in availability of unskilled labor in Denmark leads its PM to move to loosen country's laws on immigration restriction. http://www.cphpost.dk/get/103144.html 8/15/07 UK Guardian investigative report uncovers abuses of migrant laborers from Bulgaria employed in picking vegetables for British supermarkets. http://www.guardian.co.uk/supermarkets/story/0,,2148876,00.html 8/5/07 Unaccompanied children are increasingly making dangerous immigration journeys from Central America across Mexico into the United States. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0803/p06s02-woam.html 7/31/07 Mexico is struggling to contain illegal crossings at its southern border with Guatemala. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0731/p06s01-woam.html 7/30/07 Irish Minister of State notes increasing concentration of foreign nationals in some Dublin suburbs and attributes this to the effects of the government's rent subsidy scheme http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/frontpage/2007/0730/1185230139276.html 7/12/07 Denmark's immigration problems continue as a new report says the country has one of the world's "worst" records in the integration of immigrants. http://www.cphpost.dk/get/102609.html 7/6/07 As U.S. immigration system tightens, U.S. companies may join Microsoft in moving to Canadian cities like Vancouver to take advantage of Canada's more liberal immigration policy. http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=b55352a2-b491-4c5a-ae3e-46834a2e6d06&k=58907 7/5/07 University study shows that immigrants, mostly from Albania, Bulgaria and Poland, are having a favorable effect on the revitalization of inner city areas in Athens, Greece. http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.prnt_article?e=C&f=13241&t=11&m=A14&aa=1 7/2/07 Case of Australian man wrongfully held for immigration violation over last Christmas holiday highlights growing indications of flaws in the country's system of immigration control. 6/28/07 Danish language experts say parents who have "au pair" foreign workers for their children may risk stunting the Danish linguistic development of their children. http://www.cphpost.dk/get/102342.html 6/24/07 Cape Verde called the "Galapagos" of immigration": The tiny island nation, off the coast of Senegal in Africa, recapitulates in microcosm the world story of global migration and its effects on the areas from which people migrate. Lacking a viable local economy and attracted by opportunities in Europe, people migrate or long to migrate, and the economy is heavily dependent on migrant remittances, but increasing hostility to immigration in Europe and the pains of separation in Cape Verde contribute to the national mood of "sodade" or longing. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/world/africa/24verde.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th 6/4/07 Do developing nations really want to solve the crisis of immigration to their countries? According to monetary reformer, Richard C. Cook, if they do they will have to address the root cause of international migrations, which goes back to the dominance of the "Washington consensus" that has established an international economic structure in which people necessarily leave the extreme poverty generated by these policies to live in the "marginal" poverty that they find with employment in developing nations. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=5862 5/25/07 France may shortly be offering payments to immigrants, especially those from Africa, as incentives to return to their countries of origin. http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/africa/article06 5/4/07 Cleaning Paris suburbs wih an industrial power hose. This suggestion by Nicolas Sarkozy, Interior Minister at the time of the 2005 riots in Paris and now the front-running candidate for President of France, is costing him votes among immigrants in those suburbs, who overwhelmingly support his Socialist rival. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302255.html?referrer=email 5/3/07 Robert Frost: Before I built a wall I'd ask to know what I was walling in or walling out. Reuters correspondents present a litany of tales of wall-building throughout the earth and history: Northern Ireland's "peace wall," the Berlin Wall, Great Wall of China, Israel's apartheid wall in the West Bank, security walls in Baghad, gated suburban communities, the fences and walls going up on the U.S./Mexico border etc. etc. A common theme to these wall-building exercises is their futility in containing conflict or keeping out the fearsome stranger who invariably finds ways to breach the barriers. As they try to wall out that stranger, they wall in the more mean-spirited impulses of those who live within the walls. 4/29/07 Greek government sets up stringent new rules that must be followed by non-EU immigrants seeking permission to stay in the country. http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.prnt_article?e=C&f=13231&t=11&m=A19&aa=1 4/13/07 Australian PM John Howard wants to restrict immigration of people with HIV. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6551245.stm 4/1/07 Under new Russia law, immigrants will be allowed to work in country's shops and markets but not allowed to sell products in those markets. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6515293.stm 3/25/07 Economy Ministry in Poland assesses the economic consequences, many of them negative, of increased emigration of Poles to other EU countries as a result of European integration. http://www.warsawvoice.pl/view/14256 3/19/07 The immigrant wheel spins round: as Ireland today is prosperous and encouraging of immigrants while Irish in Boston experience U.S. hostility toward immigrants and stagnant economic conditions, many thousands of Irish immigrants to America are returning to Ireland; in County Kerry for example, so many have returned that sections are called Little Boston, after an earlier section of Boston was called Little Kerry because of the immigrants from there from County Kerry. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/03/19/going_full_circle/ 3/14/07 Immigration, especially to metropolitan areas, is by far the largest component of projected population growth in Canada. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070314.wcensusmain14/BNStory/National/home 2/21/07 Tougher border patrol enforcement at the Mexican border is making it more difficult for "commuter" illegals to make annual trips between their families in Mexico and their work in the United States. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/world/americas/21border.html?th&emc=th 2/21/07 Adventure tourism - Mexican style: People pay $18 to attend a theme park in Hidalgo, Mexico that entails a harrowing simulated battle with American border patrols to try to emigrate to the U.S. Participants get a "thrill," critics call it training for illegal immigration. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0221/p01s04-woam.html?page=1 1/17/07 EU to try "circular migration": Like the United States, the European Union is considering the revival of a "guest worker" program for foreign nationals that is generally thought to have been discredited. The EU hopes to cement the "temporary" in temporary visas, so that immigrant-sending countries will get the benefit of remittances from their workers in EU countries, and the program will hopefully avoid further incidents of hostility between natives and immigrants. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0117/p01s04-woeu.html 1/8/07 Police indifference to a serial killing episode in an immigrant slum which is a suburb of Delhi India, shocks observers of criminal justice system in India. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/07/news/india.php 11/23/06 Immigration control, European style: Ministers of E.U. and African nations meet in Libya to try to find ways to staunch the heavy flow of African migrants into European nations; focus is on European support for African development; when have you heard any such talk about U.S., Mexico, and Mexican immigration? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6172184.stm 11/23/06 A wee touch of immigration control, U.S. style: small amount of U.S.-backed Millenium Funds to be used to help finance business operations for poor farmers in Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16078826.htm 11/21/06 Many Muslim immigrants in Netherlands seek assimilation rather than militancy as a path to their adjustment to Dutch society. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6169398.stm 11/13/06 Mayors of cities on both sides of U.S./Mexico border denounce U.S. plans to build a border wall. http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2006/nov/13/local-briefs-las-cruces-logo-state-pays-family-bor/ 10/25/06 Britain to restrict immigration from Bulgaria and Romania for the first time as flood of immigrants is anticipated as these countries join the European Union. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/25/world/europe/25britain.html?th&emc=th 6/10/06 Mexico is working on its own version of "the wall:" a 600-mile long strip of territory along the U.S. border that would be a "nature corridor" and deter would-be immigrant smugglers from using it as a staging area for their operations. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14785316.htm 5/23/06 New center-left government in Italy struggles to provide amnesty for illegal immigrants, mostly from Africa. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5005858.stm 5/22/06 Immigration control with a European twist: Netherlands government shows prospective immigrants a video featuring a naked woman at a beach and gay men showing affection in a park---to test their acceptance of "Western values." (Values antithetical to those of Muslim countries). http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/05/22/europe_raises_bar_for_immigrants/?page=1 5/15/06 Two members of Sociologists Without Borders argue that the U.S., France and other western countries must stop dehumanizing immigrants as criminals and face up to the role of corporate globalization in producing the flow of immigration from less to more developed countries: http://counterpunch.org/golash05152006.html 4/24/06 Clouds over World Soccer Cup matches in Germany with a spate of anti-foreigner attacks by right wings groups: http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/04/24/fear/ 4/23/06 Backlash hits France as anti-immigration party gains ground in aftermath of last fall's riots by immigrant youth: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/world/europe/23france.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 4/20/06 While Mexicans in U.S. plan a non-work "day without immigrants" on May 1 to protest immigration reforms, Mexicans in Mexico plan a "great American boycott" of U.S. made goods: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0420-04.htm 4/7/06 U.S. among 10 industrialized nations that have failed to ratify a UN convention for the protection of migrant workers: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0405-01.htm 3/21/06 Use of Mexico as transit for Central Americans bound for U.S. is continuing irritant in U.S. battle against illegal immigration: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14147206.htm 3/19/06 As an experiment, Russia offers legal status to 7000 illegal immigrants: http://www.sptimesrussia.com/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=17027
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Websites: ACLU: Immigration Rights: http://www.aclu.org/ImmigrantsRights/ImmigrantsRightsMain.cfm AFSC: Immigrant Rights in the U.S.: http://www.afsc.org/immigrants-rights/default.htm Immigrant Solidarity Network: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/ National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights:
Analysis & views: 5/19/10 5/12/10 4/27/10 4/26/10 4/24/10 4/20/10 4/19/10 4/18/10 4/17/10 4/16/10 4/1/10 3/26/10 3/22/10 3/12/10 2/16/10 2/12/10 2/6/10 1/8/10 1/3/10 Desperate Somali refugees are looking for round-about ways to get to asylum in the United States. 1/2/10 12/22/09 12/19/09 12/14/09 12/7/09 12/6/09 11/22/09 10/27/09 10/21/09 10/12/09 7/22/09 7/22/09 New report shows sharp drop in rate of Mexican immigration to U.S. 7/16/09 Refugee soccer league in Baltimore lightens the adjustment burden of immigrant youths. 7/4/09 "Something there is that doesn't love a wallL." (Robert Frost) The "something" featured in an episode of NOW is the separation wall at the U.S./Mexico border, begun under the Bush administration and now continued under the Obama one, to the consternation of residents on the U.S. side of the border. Some residents find a wall being constructed through their very front yards, while others note an offset of the wall from the edges of their property along the Rio Grande River, creating a "no man's land" of territory accessible to immigrants who can simply walk around the wall at one of its numerous gaps, while farmers are denied any easy access to "their" land. No wonder they don't love a wall, any more than do Palestinians in the West Bank http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/527/index.html 7/3/09 American Apparel gets velvet glove treatment for its employing of undocumented immigrants.:. A "new approach" by federal immigration enforcement agents is put on display in actions against a Los Angeles t-shirt manufacturer which employs hundreds of undocumented at relatively favorable wages and produces a popular pro-immigrants t-shirt with caption "Legalize LA." In place of the heavy-booted immigration raids which were hallmarks of Bush administration enforcement, AA receives notices that it must come into compliance with laws against employment of such workers. Fines for companies and deportations for workers may yet be the ultimate outcome of this "softer" enforcement approach. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/us/03immig.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th 4/27/09 Race to the bottom is the effect of H1-b program? David Sirota says this is so, citing evidence that such "temporary" employment of high tech foreign workers does not have the "humane" effect asserted for it, but rather depresses wages for both foreign and domestic workers. 4/25/09 "Why do you put me here in America so I cdan't pay the rent?" An Iraqi man in Dallas expresses the frustration of thousands of Iraqis who have fled the violence in Iraq, only to encounter a lack of employment opportunity in the severe recession of the U.S. economy. Starting last September, the number of refugees allowed to enter has increased greatly, in response to other criticisms of the U.S. as not "welcoming" such people in the spirit of the Statue of Liberty. Far more are being admitted, but their condition in America raises a question about the quality of their "welcome." 4/14/09 Joe Arpaio loves 287(g); Many law abiding Americans have reason to fear it. The controversial Sheriff of Maricopa County Arizona has enjoyed an augumentation of his immigrant-bashing police forces by a little known provision of the nation's immigration law that allows police forces to be deputized to aid in the deportation of "criminal" aliens. He as well as numerous other local police forces around the country are accused of using the law as a pretext for deporting aliens for offenses as minor as driving with a broken tail light or having an open container. Arpaio himself is under investigation for abuses of police power; Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano is reviewing the whole program. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46480 2/14/09 "Suing a derelict attorney is not an adequate remedy." And yet that is the only "remedy" for an undocumented U.S. immigrant facing deportation because his lawyer did a poor job of representing him in deportation hearings. This is because deportation is considered a civil rather than a criminal proceeding, and "due process" rights do not apply since they supposedly do not result in the loss of "liberty" of the deportee. A New York Times opinion columnist says this is a too-subtle legalism that the new Justice Department should work to eliminate. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/14/opinion/14sat3.html?th&emc=th 2/4/09 Immigration enforcement: Government administrative memo:. In 2006, Congress authorized a huge increase in the budget for apprehending and deporting immigrants, with the idea that the funds would be used mostly to apprehend those with criminal records and already-existing deportation orders. Without any congressional amendment or oversight, administrators changed the rules of agent operations that allowed them to detain "ordinary" undocumented immigrants without regard to their criminal or immigration status, resulting in the "sweeps" of homes and work-places that have been featured in recent years. New Homeland Security Administrator Janet Napolitano has ordered review of these policies. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/us/04raids.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp 2/2/09 "Temporary" Liberian immigrants in Boston area, some of whom have been in refugee status in U.S. since early 1980s, face deportation to a country now deemed "pacified." 12/27/08 Rhode Island town makes a faustian bargain with the U.S. government:. Town of Central Falls, pop. 1900, landed in the 1990s the construction of the Wyatt Detention Center, designed as a facility in the war on drugs but, with the recent "crackdown" on illegal immigrants, has become a black hole of detention into which many of these immigrants are poured, including many residents of Central Falls itself. This New York Times feature article highlights a "burgeoning industry " across the country in which localities receive federal subsidies for every detainee housed in one of these facilities. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/us/27detain.html?_r=1&hp 12/6/08 Iowa kosher slaughter-house pleads not guilty to charges of illegally employing undocumented immigrants. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-12-05-iowa-slaughterhouse_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip 12/3/08 Will the Obama Administration stay on the "road to nowhere" demarcated by "political dualism" of both political parties on the subject of immigration policy: Robert Lovato, immigrant rights activist, notes this "dualism" going back into the Clinton administration and seemingly the focus of a Washington Consensus that there must be a crackdown on "illegal" immigration as a prelude of a path to citizenship for the undocumented. Some but not other Obama appointments suggest a change from this dualism which, since the 1990s, has trapped some 12 million immigrants into a "temporary undocumented" legal status that has not led to citizenship because the "time" has not been "right" for the full legalization of their residence in the country, making for exploitation of their labor without granting of their rights to citizenship. http://www.alternet.org/immigration/109594/?page=1 10/25/08 Raid of a brothel in Baltimore uncovers a situation of widespread human trafficking as women are imported from Mexico to serve as prostitutes. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.trafficking25oct25,0,5337561.story 10/23/08 Immigrants doing work that "Americans won't do": in this instances, teaching in urban ghetto schools, which are increasingly recruiting foreign teachers as native-born ones flee elsewhere. http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-10-22-foreign-teachers_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip 9/16/08 "Unfortunately, the city of Farmers Branch doesn't know when to quit." Statement by a member of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund which, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, is suing the Dallas suburb for yet another attempt to control "illegal immigration," this time by an ordinance requiring that all renters in the city obtain "occupancy" permits, a device by which the city apparently hopes to discourage residency by undocumented immigrants. http://www.aclu.org/immigrants/discrim/36765prs20080915.html 9/2/08 Who will clean up after Gustav? In New Orleans, it may be largely the thousands of migrants who were brought into the city for Katrina clean-up work. It appears that they are largely undocumented, and that many "rode out" the storm for fear of being tagged and identified in the evacuation process. In any case, many look forward to an opportunity to find work to continue remittances to their hard-pressed relatives in Mexico or other countries of origin. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/200/story/51429.html 8/31/08 Poor translations of English direction signs make life difficult for Spanish-speaking visitors to Maryland's motor vehicle division. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.watchdog31aug31,0,1311965.story 8/29/08 Hundreds of undocumented immigrants are detained at electrical manufacturing plant in Mississippi as ICE steps up enforcement effort. http://blogs.chron.com/immigration/archives/2008/08/post_160.html 8/24/08 ICE on voluntary compliance program for illegal immigrants: 'Well, that didn't work. Let's get tough again.'. A program that allowed immigrants subject to deportation to avoid "embarassment" by arrest at home or work nets only 8 volunteers from a pool of about 450,000 "candidates" for compliance. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency pledges a renewed campaign to round up its targets. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i5prhLjHvlhYqvnvbzyaGXUtL1WAD92NJNS81 8/13/08 “We treat each and every detainee in our custody with the same high level of quality, professional care possible " says Director of Nursing on behalf of a federal detention center in Rhode Island of its treatment of detainees of ICE awaiting deportation hearings. Tell that to Hiu Lui Ng, who immigrated to the U.S. from Hong Kong in 1992 but was caught up a year ago in a system of deportation detention that now has 300,000 detainees in private and publicly-operated jails. Actually, you couldn't tell that to Ng today, because this week he died after suffering severe back pain for which the "quality professional care" he received entailed his being dragged from his bed and hauled to an interrogation center to be threatened once more to give up his appeal against his deportation. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/nyregion/13detain.html?th&emc=th 8/11/08 Federally-funded Head Start program is started for children of migrant agricultural workers in Clackamas County, Oregon, with "no proof of citizenship" of parents required for participation. http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1218421520110830.xml&coll=7&thispage=1 8/9/08 Federal immigration raids in Boston area in sweep of "international gangs" are alleged to be ensaring many innocent people, especially Cambodian immigrants. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/09/activists_protest_federal_gang_raids/ 8/4/08 Increasing number of legal U.S. immigrants being caught up in an enforcement surge that subjects them to deportation because of crimes in their past. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/08/04/20080804immig-deport0804.html 7/31/08 Group advocating immigration restriction publishes study showing sharp drop in illegal immigration in the U.S. and attributes it to stepped up enforcement. Critics say the degree of drop may be exaggerated and more the result of economy than of enforcement. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/us/31immig.html?th&emc=th 5/27/08 "Internal affairs" department at DHS is doing a booming business at Mexican border. With "stepped up" Department of Homeland Security immigration enforcement has come an escalation in cases of Border Patrol agents working in cooperation with smugglers, many of whom operate with impunity knowing that corrupted agents will not open their car trunks to find the human cargo contained therein. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/us/27border.html?th&emc=th 5/17/08 Immigrant workers in America: Slavery or apartheid? Take our pick:. Ron Jacobs begins an essay on undocumented immigrants with the story of a group of Indian ones who walk off the job of post-Katrina reconstruction in Mississippi, an all-too-familiar story of immigrants brought in to do "jobs Americans won't do" under financial obligations to the contractors who brought them and threats of deportation by their employers that amount to slavery conditions. Other immigrant situations are more similar to apartheid South Africa, in which the suppression of native workers was based on a "pass" system, as identification failure while being in "white" areas could land them in trouble. Criminalizing employment or voting in America without "valid ID" has much the same effect on immigrants: Mexico as Soweto, U.S. as Capetown. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/go-to-work-go-to-jail/ 5/17/08 19 Texas border communities sue to stop construction of 70 miles of border fence along the U.S./Mexican border. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5785497.html 5/12/08 Being sick and being in immigration custody: Not a happy combination. Plight of a south Korean "war bride" immigrant highlights that of some of the 30,000 people being held for possible deportation in a "patch-work" of detention facilities around the country. Held for many months following her arrest for having bought some stolen jewelry a decade earlier, she shows the signs of recurrence of a cancer but is frustrated in her efforts to obtain medical assistance. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/specials/immigration/cwc_d2p1.html 5/12/08 In apparently increasing numbers, citizens are being arrested during immigrant raids across the U.S.A 5/11/08 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sets up shop at National Cattle Congress in Iowa: The ICE, along with FEMA, has "rented" the fair grounds in Waterloo for several weeks and set up trailers and other installations. Why? Counter-terrorism or disaster response exercises? Prelude to immigration raids? Possible conversion of the grounds into an immigrant detention center? DHS (parent agency of ICE and FEMA) isn't saying, and even Iowa's Senator Grassley can't find out. One thing for sure: it is making the local Latino population very nervous. Is it safe to go out to the Latin market, even if you're "legal?" http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2008/05/08/news/top_story/10323641.txt 5/11/08 Sheriff in Madison WI says he will not accede to demands of protesters that he stop reporting to Immigration and Customs Enforcement those undocumented immigrants in Dane County's jails. http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/285671 5/2/08 The sleeping giant goes back for a snooze.... In contrast to massive turnouts in past years at May Day events for those protesting anti-immigration action in the United States, yesterday's crowds were smaller and their rhetoric less intense in most cities across the country. Organizers attribute this to a combination of confusion about the "stalled" immigration reform legislation in Congress and an element of fear of people identifying themselves as undocumented in the face of repressive waves of immigration enforcement and the tightening of border security. Protesters demand that presidential candidate address immigration as a "priority" issue in their campaigns. 4/24/08 Illegal immigrants experience terror at 2 Boston live music venues, as officials are starting to question the legitimacy of their passports. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/04/24/bartenders_serve_up_drinks_customs_checks/ 4/5/08 What would MLK, who died 4/4/68, done after 4/1/08? The latter day was when the U.S. Director of Homeland Security suspended the rights of citizens to protest the building of a wall along the Mexican border. Texan Greg Moses has no doubt what King would have done, had he survived the Memphis assault and carried out his plan to "shut down Washington" with a march to demand implementation of his civil rights, anti-poverty and anti-imperilist agenda. He would be attempting once again to awaken the "sleeping giant" of a mass movement without which nothing seems to "move" in America. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/missing-king-the-first-forty/ 4/2/08 University of Wisconsin students protest the immigration detention of 22-year-old pharmacy student who came to the U.S. from Nigeria with her family at the age of 3. http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/279772 4/2/08 South Texans are angered at Bush administration's decision to allow waiver of environmental requirements to allow construction of Mexican border fence to continue. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5667062.html 4/1/08 When Juan the person becomes Juan the paperwork:. A 16-year-old boy, brought by parents to America at age 6 and about to graduate from a Florida high school, faces deportation to Colombia and responds in a moving YouTube video. In commenting on his situation and that of other "illegal immigrants," Sally Kuhn observes that a combination of dehumanizing fear and pity has been used to scapegoat immigrants for the country's problems, and that only a controlling emotion of love can overcome the demonization of immigrants in America. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/31/8002/ 3/29/08 Local law enforcement "crackdowns" on illegal immigrants may be eroding the cooperative relation between police and immigrant communities: Across the U.S., local jurisdictions are joining the Homeland Security push against illegal immigrants, making many immigrants reluctant to report crimes or to cooperate with police investigation of them, lest they be snared in a process that could lead to deportation. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080329/ap_on_re_us/policing_immigrants 3/16/08 A transformative politics of black-brown alliance may be underway in Mississippi and across the "solid" South: . The influx of migrant workers brought in to help rebuild Mississippi's casinos post-Katrina is the backbone of a burgeoning alliance between black and Latino political forces that threatens the white political machine in the state; and similar developments are occurring elsewhere in the South. http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/16888 3/15/08 "A man has a right to live with his wife " says a Ft. Worth photographer married to a Chinese woman. U.S. immigration officials in Texas and elsewhere do not honor this "right," nor the broader rule of international law that migrant families should not suffer separation from one another. A Special Rapporteur to the UN has just reported that some 1.6 million people in the United States are migrants forced to live away from their families, many because of the operation of mandatory detention laws that went into effect in 1996. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/03/raiding-the-family-room-in-texas/ 3/8/08 Life getting more difficult for undocumented immigrants in America, and its not just becuase of "crackdowns" implemented or threatened:. Latin American immigrants are heavily involved with work in the construction industry, which has been hardest hit by the housing construction slowdown. Many immgrants who have depended on day labor for funds to provide remittances to people back home are finding that work not available, and a severe decline in such remittances is being noted. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41505 2/24/08 Fast track for citizenship applications for U.S. soliders: George Bush promiseth, bureaucratic back log taketh away:. Facilitated citizenship application, along with amnesty for being undocumented immigrants, have been proposed or promised for veterans, partly as a recruiting inducement. Soldiers and ex-soldiers are finding, instead, that their citizenship applications are mired in months or years of delay in action on them. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/us/24vets.html?th&emc=th 2/24/08 High-powered "virtual fence" at Mexican border now online;, Can distinguish a human from a cow at 10 miles;. The Boeing-built high surveillance system is now producing results satisfying to DHS Secretary Chertoff, as numerous apprehensions are resulting. The Secretary says the actual "physical fence" of 770 miles will continue to be built, despite its unpopularity. Both Clinton and Obama, campaigning in south Texas, express approval of the "virtual fence" approach. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7260179.stm 2/22/08 "Our nation needs immigratns just as much as immigrants need employment." Wisconsin woman notes the lack of recognition of this "essential truth" in the current presidential campaign. Included in this "truth" is the way employers take advantage of the country's repressive immigration laws and the ever-present possibility of deportation if workers resist their exploitation. http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/273492 2/20/08 From Scott Fitzgerald's fictional "armory" to all-too-real John Rocker; Not that much changes in American feelings about immigrants in 90 years: \ Pierre Tristam rides subway line #7, aka the "immigrant's express," across ethnically diverse Queens and reflects on "white" Americans' reactions to immigrants that are similar between those of a Fitzgerald character and the modern-day Atlanta Braves pitcher. Tristam's own exhilaration in seeing multi-ethnicity in the flesh is not shared by Armory, Rocker and too many other Americans for whom the words "foreigner" and "stinking" are allowed to belong in the same sentence. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/19/7139/ 2/12/08 Wouldn't it be great to be the father of the first baby born in Rhode Island in 2008? Well, not so great for a man so "honored" this year, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala who, days after his "recognition" occurred, was recognized by immigration authorities and deported. His plight symbolizes a new intensity of "crackdown" on illegal immigrants in a state which has prided itself on being a "state of immigrants," as a state legislator of Italian origin introduces a bill rivalling the laws in Arizona and Oklahoma for its harsh treatment of the undocumented. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/02/12/illegal_workers_targeted_in_ri/ 2/9/08 Hidalgo County in Texas defies the plan of DHS director Chertoff to build a 370-mile Mexican border fence by the end of this year, objecting to a fence located at a distance from the Rio Grande that would cut off river access to people on the U.S. side of the border. They secure a bizarre "compromise" in which DHS will forego the fence for several miles and enhance the river levees to 18 feet. Meanwhile the Secretary proceeds apace with his plan to seize land for fence-building in Texas towns like Eagle Pass. 2/9/08 Utah legislature considering "crack down" legislation that would deny jobs and public benefits for the undocumented. http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695251644,00.html 2/8/08 "America's immigration problem is not down on the border, it's in Washington and on Wall Street":." Jim Hightower's trenchant critique of the effort to deal with the perceived "immigration crisis" by sealing borders, criminalizing employment and denying benefits to illegal immigrants. Rather than these futile measures, Hightower advocates a dual policy of helping to improve working conditions in both America and in countries of origin like Mexico. When working class Americans look for the source of their economic malaise, they should look not down on the immigrant, but up to the financial/political elite that has foisted on the workers of the world, in this and other countries, a profoundly worker-unfriendly social condition. http://www.alternet.org/workplace/76076/ 2/7/08 On Maryland's Eastern Shore, foreign workers are seen as essential to the area's economy but are also rejected as "illegals." http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.first07feb07,0,4695869.story 2/2/08 Business interests in Oklahoma file law suit in federal court challenging the state's stringent law against employment of illegal immigrants. http://newsok.com/article/3200015/1201935327 1/18/08 Move over, Mexican border landowners; we've got a deadline to meet here.... U.S. Department of Homeland Security has instituted over a hundred lawsuits to gain access to land near the border to survey and assess suitability for construction of border fences, some 600 miles of which it are under mandate from Congress to build by the end of this year. The border town of Eagle Pass, Texas is expected to relinguish control of 233 acres for this purpose. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/24897.html 12/19/07 Persecution of Hmong, already continuing in Laos in retribution for support of U.S. in Indo-China war, continues in Minneapolis, as a family is terrorized by a midnight SWAT team raid on a wrong address. http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/hc-raid1219.artdec19,0,2198530.story 12/17/07 Omaha man married to an illegal immigrant "did the right thing" and applied for her to gain citizenship. The application process backfired and resulted in the wife being permanently barred from U.S. residence. http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10211326 12/13/07 “Maybe we've just got to live with it; I mean, look around" ... says a resident of Storm Lake, Iowa, a proponent of tougher border enforcement and making English the official language in a town now called "little Mexico" but who doubts the practicality of proposed schemes for accomplishing that ideal, reflecting the ambiguity of presidential candidates on the issue http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/us/politics/13voices.html?th&emc=th 12/4/07 "I'll be back in three days" says one defiant deportee at Miami International Airport, where some 400 people a month are sent on deportation flights, many to Harlingen TX near the Mexican border. The deportees are the product of a stepped up immigration enforcement policy and they are "welcomed aboard" their deportation flights handcuffed and shackled. http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/330987.html 11/28/07 North Carolina community colleges are told they must admit students even though they are illegal immigrants if they are 18 and have high school diplomas. http://www.newsobserver.com/1565/story/796994.html 11/23/07 National Democratic Party may be preparing to "toughen its stand" on illegal immigration. http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/hc-immig1112.artnov12,0,2534316.story 11/20/07 Border Patrol and local courts in Texas have adopted "zero tolerance" toward illegal immigrants, who will be arrested and get jail time if they are caught. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5315873.html 11/19/07 Presidential candidates' positions on thorny immigration issue is described as a "make or break" issue for some candidates, with more breaking and making so far evident. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1119/p01s02-uspo.html 11/17/07 Phillipine immigrant couple prominent in State College PA subjected to deportation proceedings after discovery that he allegedly lied about their medical status in immigration documents completed 17 years ago. 11/16/07 Bishop from Utah playing a key role in a national Catholice Bishop organization attempting to find a "humane" solution to the problem of illegal immigration. http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695228187,00.html 11/14/07 New York Governor Spitzer decides to "move on" by dropping his controversial plan to provide drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants. He is expected to announce this decision today, citing his reluctant withdrawal from a plan in which he believed on "principle," but which has no chance to survive opposition from several directions; in effect, it's time to "move on" to other areas of need in New York's political agenda. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/nyregion/14spitzer.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin 11/9/07 Where illegal immigrants are a community problem, what's the solution? Probably in most U.S. cities and counties, the solution is a "crackdown" or attempt to deport illegals or deny them public services. In Addison, Illinois and a number of other U.S. localities, the response is different: a focus on needed services like English language instruction to try to bring illegals into the mainstream of U.S. society. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1109/p02s04-ussc.html 10/27/07 Illegal immigrants in California were literally smoked out of their homes during the recent fires. As wealthy people evacuated the area, many illegals were left behind to work in the fields. As their lives became endangered, some fled their homes only to be arrested by immigration officials and slated for deportation. Rather than risk this fate, others stayed behind to take their chances with the fires and some were found as charred bodies in homes and vehicles. Some of those who survived the fire and the arrests line up for day labor jobs for the "clean up" that follows the fire http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/27/us/27illegals.html?th&emc=th 10/17/07 Prince William (Virginia) County passes illegal immigrants crackdown resolution that would provide local police "cooperation" with federal authorities and deny some public services to illegals. 10/16/07 Department of Homeland Security's plan to issue letters to employees to demand the firing of workers whose social security numbers do not match those listed for them in the social security database (90% of whom, claims DHS, are illegal immigrants) is stymied as a federal judge stops the program after a suit alleging a high rate of mistakes in these records. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1016/p03s03-uspo.html?page=1 9/26/07 In a controversial program, some U.S. cities designate themselves as "sanctuary cities" in which police are forbidden to question people about their immigration status in the course of questioning them after their reporting of crimes. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0925/p02s01-usju.html 9/19/07 Immigration advocates (some not all) are touting the projected November release of a new video game, ICED (acronym for I Can End Deportation), produced by Games for Change, that pits illegal immigrant teenagers against immigration enforcement agencies. In the game, the player gets points for "good behaviors" like staying in school and not shop-lifting but in the end almost inevitably gets deported or otherwise suppressed. Advocates say it promotes others being able to put themselves in the shoes of immigants, critics say it portrays enforcement agents as "bullies." http://www.miamiherald.com/top_stories/story/240201.html 9/15/07 Immigration tale of two cities: Woodbridge, VA and New Haven, CT:. Reflecting national uncertainty about how to deal with illegal immigrants, Woodbridge (in William County) moves to implement enforcement regulations that threaten the lives and livelihoods of immigrants. Meantime New Haven grants special ID cards to undocumented immigrants and attempts to integrate them into the community's everyday life. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/200/story/19697.html 9/15/07 Increasing number of would-be Mexico immigrants are dying in the attempt to cross the border in Pima County, AZ. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/us/15border.html?th&emc=th 9/7/07 Social Security Administration plays the "logjam" card on illegal immigration: The agency enters a San Francisco case in which the court has produced an injunction against having them send letters to employers that they must fire workers whose social security numbers offered at the time of their employment do not match SSA records. SSA complains that 141,000 such letters have already been composed and argue (with maybe some questionable logic) that the injunction will create a "bureaucratic logjam" which will compromise their ability to process routine claims for retirement and disability benefits. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/07/washington/07mailing.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 9/3/07 U.S. labor unions win 30 day injunction against government sending letters to employees demanding firing of illegal immigrant employees. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/09/01/MN3RRTFO5.DTL 8/31/07 Settlement of a suit involving abusive conditions for children at Texas immigration centers allows the center to remain open with reforms in those conditions. 8/25/07 Fast-growing immigrant population on Nantucket Island struggles to reach accommodation with the mostly rich, white Americans to whose needs the immigrants cater. 8/17/07 "Militarizing" the border: new Border Patrol uniforms make them look more like soldiers, less like police. 8/14/07 U.S. businesses starting to feel the economic pinch from "crackdowns" on employment of illegal immigrants. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0814/p03s03-uspo.html 8/8/07 Legalization process for illegal immigrants having died in the U.S. Senate, government proceeds to the further criminalization of them: Government appeals to its conservative base by announcing "crackdown" plans to enforce regulations requiring employers to fire workers who furnish social security numbers that do not match the numbers on SSA's national database. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/washington/08immig.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 8/3/07 Bits and pieces of immigration reform legislation are beginning to be revived in U.S. Senate. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/03/washington/03immig.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 7/20/07 The migration that we forget to remember: The emigration of Americans to other countries. The CEO of a global marketing firm reports that fully a fifth of all Americans have migrated to another country or are seriously considering migration. He touts this emigration (mostly middle-aged rather than older Americans) as a possible solution to the country's immigration problem: migrant Americans can be thought of as "America's most foreign aid program" as their residence can help create more jobs and income in the countries into which they move, lessening the incentive for them to immigrate to America. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0719/p09s01-coop.html?page=1 7/17/07 Prince William County in Virginia joins the growing number localities in the U.S. enacting immigration control legislation in the absence of federal legislative changes. PWC deputies are now empowered to arrest people as illegal immigrants. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0717/p01s05-ussc.html 7/9/07 Seafood industry on Maryland's Eastern Shore is heavily depend on foreign labor, and migrants and industry leaders hope for a reprieve from a threatened elimination of a temporary worker program that permits their legal employment. 7/7/07 North Carolina lawyer laments with his legal immigrant clients the bitter disappointment of having U.S. government suspend the receipt of applications for permanent U.S. residency a month after announcing the opening of application process. http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/629641.html 7/4/07 Why did the immigration bil fail? E.J. Dionne cites two factors in the political atmosphere in America: (a) middle class Americans' resentment that government was attempting to address the needs of immigrants while ignoring their own pressing needs in health care, education, income improvement, etc. and (b) a prevalent mistrust of "government" to do anything competently, whether to manage hurricane relief, the war in Iraq, or a complicated immigration control system. The second of these is a "legacy" of conservative impassivity from which progressives can take little comfort as they contemplate governmental problems of social betterment (including, for example, a universal health care system that would address the first issue mentioned above.) 7/4/07 A group of 100 Haitians apprehended after an unauthorized grueling boat trip from Haiti remain in custody in south Florida awaiting approval for asylum to stay in the country. Their plight highlights an asylum-granting system that is showing a decline in applications as the futility of the applications is being experienced. The system is also sharply discriminatory by nationality (Cubans by law and Russians by usage are favored nationalities, while Haitians are among the least successful) http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0703/p03s03-ussc.html?page=1 6/29/07 "Shut down the rides, turn out the lights, the crowd goes home" is an Arizona lawmaker's summary of an "enforcement first (or only)" mode of thought about immigration that helped kill the immigration reform bill in the U.S. Senate. Rather than trying to improve life for illegal immigrants, the focus should be on making their immigration so uncomfortable that the 12 million "crowd" of them will soon go home. No more, please, of the "nurturant mother" (or was it "tough love?) approach to immigrants, let's just stamp "return to sender" on their rumps and send them back to the places from which he have come. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0629/p01s05-uspo.html?page=1 6/24/07 A library which sits astride the Vermont/Canada border, a proud symbol of U.S. and Canadian comity, has been discovered by smugglers and illegal immigrants as an unguarded way to cross the border. http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2007/06/24/a_quiet_imperiled_on_vt_canada_line/ 6/20/07 As U.S. officials unveil route plans for 173-mile section of a Mexican border fence approved by Congress, locals complain that the proposed route would upset many south Texas routines, endanger wild life habitats, and would even cut across the campus of a University of Texas facility at Brownsville. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/20/us/20border.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 6/19/07 President Bush's action in putting aside the provisions of a law requiring regular rotation of Mexican border guards on grounds that it violates his "executive authority" is one of 6 instances of presidential signing statements resulting in law violations, in a study conducted by Boston Globe. 6/18/07 With opposition from state legislatures, some U.S. cities are now allowing immigrants to vote in local elections http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0618/p03s03-ussc.html 6/18/07 In FBI-land, it takes 5 years and counting to get your name checked in connection with an application for naturalization. At least that's the experience of a South Korean woman, one person in a huge backlog of naturalization applications, a situation that bodes poorly for the touted "path to citizenship" in the now-stalled immigration reform bill. Even if they reform the law, can they reform the federal bureaucracy? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/16/AR2007061601360.html?referrer=email 6/16/07 Brooks County Texas is a "graveyard" for would-be border crossers, with bodies being found on local ranches on a daily basis. Local towns complain of the strain on their budgets of morgues, autopies and burials; hunters like cronies of President Bush have their tranquillity disturbed by the Mexicans, dead or alive. The only people really happy about the situation are a local militia that maintains a "portrait gallery" of pictures of the remains of these unfortunates. http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2509 6/15/07 Hispnaic radio broadcaster: No enforcementmodel for dealing with illegal immigrants is going to work: He advises U.S. Senators to "take their family to dinner" and give up on the so-far futile attempt at immigration reform based on border security, complicated legal paths to citizenship, dead end guest worker programs and sanctions against employers of the undocumented. None of these approaches has worked or will work. What will work, if we have the political will to do it, is to transfer our "enforcement" funds into investments in working conditions that will allow would-be migrants to remain at home; and to work on dismantling the system of "free trade" arrangements that help to produce intolerable conditions in the countries of immigrant origin. http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=30&ItemID=13059 6/15/07 Democratic and Republican leaders in Senate agree to have another go at passing immigration reform bill that stalled last week. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070614/ap_on_go_co/bush_immigration 6/14/07 Pierre Tristam sees a great revival of American bigotry in the popular outcry over immigration reform. The "crass roots" movement that derailed the immigration bill in Congress, like the racism and xenophobism of nativist movements that preceded it, is based on a prejudiced view of the ways in which immigrants have allegedly hurt or threatened American life. Instead, it should be noted how Mexican immigrants, among others, have been the "saving grace" of the American economy, as they have enabled the economic prosperity of the last 25 years. http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Columnists/Essays/opnESSAY061207.htm 6/12/07 Granny D weighs in on immigration debate. At Democracy for America meeting in New Hampshire, Doris Haddock goes to the heart of the immigration crisis, finding a pulse beat in the complicity of both parties in the U.S. and of both Mexico and the United States, in a NAFTA-induced coma in the Mexican economy to the benefit of agri-business interests in America who use their campaign finance clout to control both parties. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/11/1786/ 6/12/07 Use of military forces for border guard duty is increasingly being questioned as Texas Guardsmen are arrested for human smuggling. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4881430.html 6/11/07 Washington Post survey indicates that many of the judges appointed by the Justice Department are, contrary to law, appointed based on Republican Party loyalty, with many of them being unqualified in immigration law experience and most of the experienced ones having practiced on the side of prosecutions. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/10/AR2007061001229.html?referrer=email 6/6/07 As Congress debates various approaches to dealing with the issue, it largely ignores any consideration of action to stem the tide of immigration by working to improve the structure of opportunity for would-be migrants to remain in their countries of origin, especially Mexico. One analyst has noted that this is exactly how the European Union dealt with its own immigration problem after 1986, investing in economic development in countries like Spain and Portugal that had furnished many of immigrants to other parts of Europe. Had we followed suit at that time, the Mexico/U.S. issue today might have looked very different http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2007/06/MIA_from_immigration_debate.html 6/5/07 Maryland crabbing industry has a big stake in immigration bill now in Congress, as owners are reluctantly but firmly involved in the employment of temporary workers. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/04/AR2007060401878.html?referrer=email 5/30/07 Another way to discourage immigration: would-be applicants for citizenship will face sticker stock on July 30 of tripled application fees that could be over $3000 for a family of four. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4846076.html 5/28/07 Guest worker program: great for business, horrible for immigrants. A key component of immigration "reform" pushed by White House and now being considered in Congress would furnish businesses with a vital supply of cheap labor with no responsibilities and costs for health, education or welfare of their workers. Nice work if you can get it, and they will get a great deal of that for which they are asking with a "bi-partisan" support base. 5/28/07 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services accused of allowing a continued backlog of citizenship application processing in order to preserve its own budget dependent on application renewal fees. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/27/AR2007052701118.html?referrer=email 5/26/07 Bush would be better off losing his coveted immigration reform bill says John Podhoretz of New York Post (how many times have we ever linked his views?), noting that efforts to enact it alienate many Republicans whom he needs on his "side" come September and likely unsatisfactory progress in Iraq will give increasing impetus to Democrats' efforts to stop the war. 5/24/07 "It's like being a part of Mexico here " says an undocumented Mexican immigrant in Little Rock after walking away from a Mexican consulate office with an "identification" card that persons like himself can use to make bank and other transactions in the U.S.A. Defenders of these consulates, common throughout the country, describe them as normal diplomatic policy for a country to protect and assist its nationals abroad. Critics see them as an "end run" around American immigration laws. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/23/us/23consulate.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th 5/24/07 In Senate version of U.S. immigration reform bill, a "point" system for consideration of immigration approval is skewed sharply toward job skills: up to 47 points on a 100 point scale for employment criteria, 10 for family ties, the latter of which has been a major focus of immigration policy. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0524/p01s01-ussc.html?page=1 5/23/07 California peach gorwer speaks on immigration reform: The campaign against illegal immigrants has already decimated the farm worker force and tends to discourage labor intensive farming in favor of machine harvesting, at a sacrifice of food quality. What really needs "reform" is a change in the way we treat farm workers: their wages, working conditions and treatment as human beings, all part of the proper "social contract" between farm owners and workers. http://www.counterpunch.org/masumoto05222007.html 5/23/07 UN observer barred by US immigration officials from visiting an immigrant detention facility in Texas. After ACLU charges poor conditions at "emergency detention center" in Alice operated by KBR, an affiliate of Halliburton, a "Special Rapporteur" of UN who investigates human rights violation charges is denied access to the facility. 5/18/07 New "deal" between Republican and Democratic leaders of Senate on immigration is announced. Democrats get what they want: a (rocky) path to citizenship. Republicans get a "merit-based" system that will give precedence to those immigrants who can help the U.S. be more "competitive" (read brain drain) and put aside family unification criteria. News media gush over the deal as a great bipartisan accomplishment, citing the support of the Senate "liberal" Edward Kennedy. The measure is expected to get overwhelming approval in the Senate; House, with more polarized positions on the issue, may be the harder sell. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/18/washington/18immig.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 5/1/07 Immimgration rallies today expected to be far smaller than those a year ago. Protest weariness and intimidation from rising level of deportations is expected to diminish participation. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/us/01deport.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin 4/26/07 T. Willard Fair, head of Urban League of Miami, speaks out against the "path to citizenship" plans for immigration reform, complaining that illegal immigrants take many jobs away from blacks. His remarks highlight an ambiguity in the relationship between the black and immigrant civil rights movements. http://www.miamiherald.com/884/story/86837.html 4/19/07 Militarizing the border: A shirt-sleeved President Bush visits Yuma AZ, proclaims the dangers of immigration to U.S. society, and heaps praise on a military predator drone that is part of the array of high tech military hardware that is being diverted to border patrol as Boeing and other military contractors cash in on the border-guarding business. http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=30&ItemID=12618 4/2/07 Dallas immigrant rally much smaller in attendance than the huge one a year ago, but still "spirited" and focussed on urging Hispanics to vote, pursue citizenship and lobby Congress. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/040207dnmetimmigrally.3ce44b7.html 3/27/07 Cuban-American members of Congress ask President Bush to suspend deportation of Venezuelan immigrants considered to be "refugees" from Chavez's leftist regime. http://www.miamiherald.com/884/story/53947.html 3/23/07 Long delay expected in a federal judge's ruling on a lawsuit challenging Hazelton PA's anti-immigration legislation. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20070323_Ruling_awaited_in_Pa__towns_immigration_trial.html 3/20/07 Recent increase of arrests of employers for hiring illegal immigrants may be a tactic to encourage "business" interests to put pressure on members of Congress to support the proposed "guest worker" program. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0320/p01s02-usju.html?page=1 3/17/07 Anti-Defamation League of New England defines a new "mission" for itself: countering anti-immigrant bias. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/03/17/for_adl_another_mission/ 3/16/07 When justice and mercy collide. Stories of some of the 361 illegal immigrants rounded up last week in New Bedford Massachusetts highlight the society's ethical conflicts between the imperative to enforce its laws and to show compassion for the people involved in that enforcement. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0316/p01s02-ussc.html 3/16/07 Justice, mercy and the Bush Administration:. On his tour of Latin America, Bush was met by angry demonstrators in Guatemala, where he told the people that U.S. laws would be carried out with "respect" for those arrested, while Guatemalans, whose families and friends made up most of the arrestees in last week's "sweep" in New Bedford MA, were receiving different stories about the "respect" shown their countrymen. http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0315-31.htm 3/15/07 Local "crackdowns" on illegal immigrants may be headed to the Supreme Court. Local ordinances passed in Hazleton PA and elsewhere are being challenged in court suits that are likely to be reviewed by the high court. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0315/p03s03-usju.html?page=1 3/13/07 Congress prepares to take up again "comprehensive" immigration reform legislation including expansion of guest worker programs and opening paths to citizenship. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0313/p01s01-uspo.html 3/10/07 Immigrant rights groups supporting legislation in Congress that would repeal the prohibition on health care benefits to legal immigrants within the first five years of their U.S. entry. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/4465 3/4/07 Could Colorado use those California prisoners after all? State farmers are turning to 60 cents per day inmate workers to replace the immigrants being kept away by state's tough new immigration law. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/us/04prisoners.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 3/2/07 Globalization junk mail: "Return to Sender" anti-immigration operations treat immigrants as so much unwanted mail without any consideration of their human needs and aspirations. http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0301-29.htm 2/28/07 Guest workers of the world...oh never mind: As Congress considers expansion of the "guest worker" approach to illegal immigration, the guest worker system now in place promotes the exploitation of foreign workers who are denied the benefits they are promised and kept under constant threat of deportation if they complain. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/us/28labor.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp 2/27/07 Roadblocks on a path to citizenship: U.S. immigrants are finding their efforts to acquire English proficiency stymied by the short supply of instructional facilities and political resistance to teaching them. Arizona has even passed legislation to forbid public assistance to those seeking to learn English. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/education/27esl.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th 2/23/07 Divide and subjugate: Anti-immigration movement and mainstream media have cooperated to create a "conflict story line" of the relation between immigrants and African-Americans that has obscured the actual identity of political interest of the two communities. http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=30&ItemID=12176 2/22/07 Beefed-up security along U.S./Mexican border creates severe shortages of farm workers for lettuce harvest and other agricultural work. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0222/p02s01-usec.html 2/22/07 Mr. Anti-Immigrant hysteric, meet your cousin Ms. Anti-Abortion propagandist: New Years' flap over the citizenship status of a baby born to an undocumented Chinese immigrant highlights the intersection between the anti-choice and anti-immigrant movements in America. The alleged fertility of immigrant women and the alleged drain of their children on social services feeds a nativist paranoia of being demographically displaced and economically bankrupted by foreigners, leading to efforts to deport or discourage immigation of women of childbearing ages. http://www.alternet.org/rights/48284/ 2/10/07 Arrest of two dozen men waiting to be picked up for day jobs outside a 7-Eleven store in Baltimore spurs immigrant advocates' call for an indoor work center which has been resisted in the city and throughout Maryland. 2/9/07 Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations makes a "probable cause" determination of discrimination against immigrant customers of a local steak shop where a sign says that meals should be ordered in "English only." http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/16657337.htm 2/9/07 Anti-immigration sentiments in U.S. join gay marriage and urban crime as "hot button" issues that have contributed to resurgence of Ku Klux Klan. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0209/p02s02-ussc.html 1/29/07 When George Bush was Governor of Texas, "immigrant-bashing" was not allowed. With Bush gone, that has all changed radically. 1/27/07 Colorado's "tough" anti-immigration law which was to have saved the state money by denying state services to the undocumented as now shown, a year after its enactment, have failed to accomplish its purposes as state agencies report all cost, no gain. http://www.denverpost.com/ci_5081255 1/27/07 Evangelicals edge their way into the immigration debate with a "moderate" approach that raises the question "Whom would Jesus deport?" http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0126-09.htm 1/26/07 Migrant activist suggests that the migrant demonstrations last May stopped in their tracks a Minuteman/Sensenbrenner fascist effort to intimidate America's stateless people, her undocumented immigrants. Now, with Bush and the Democrats united in their pursuit of a "comprehensive" immigration reform that will effectively deprive migrants of citizenship rights, the movement may have to step to the plate once again. http://www.countercurrents.org/us-santos250107.htm 1/25/07 Operation Return to Sender nets 761 illegal immigrants in Los Angeles, most of them people who had already been deported and ignored deportation orders or who returned after deportation. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070123/ap_on_re_us/immigration_raids 1/21/07 The remnants of a Brazilian immigrant community in Philadelphia, including a school with instruction in Portuguese, are beginning to disappear with fear caused by reality and rumors of "crackdown" on illegal immigrants. http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/16507616.htm 1/18/07 Homeland Security IG audit finds inadequate health and safety standards at five centers for detention of suspected illegal immigrants. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0117ImmigrationTreatment17-ON.html 1/11/07 "Reverse discrimination" in St. Paul MN as school bus designed to transport non-English speaking immigrant children refuses to allow English-speaking children on bus. 1/6/07 Who's guarding Minnesota? 200 National Guard troops, some of whom have already completed a year and half deployment to Afghanistan, will be sent to New Mexico to help with border patrol operations against illegal immigrants. http://www.startribune.com/462/story/917802.html 1/2/07 Little sanctuary for Iraqi refugees in America: while the U.S. has traditionally granted "refugee" status to people fleeing political violence in their home countries, and did so for Iraqi refugees after a U.S.-sponsored attempt on Saddam Hussein's life in 1996, there is almost no provision for sanctuary immigration for any of the huge number of Iraqis fleeing the country today, as few actually apply either because of fear of reprisals against their families or because of a U.S. system that has not treated this as a "priority" problem. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/world/middleeast/02refugees.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th 12/27/06 Citing comparisons with Nazi Germany, Hispanic activists call for a moratorium on work place raids in search of undocumented immigrants. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122706P.shtml 12/27/06 Immigrant rights groups in Texas file suit against city of Farmers Branch for its ordinance forbidding the rental of housing to undocumented immigrants. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4427679.html 12/26/06 06 election fallout: Bipartisan effort underway in Congress to rewrite immigration legislation eliminating the "three-tiered" treatment based on length of undocumented status, withhold funding from border fence and put millions on path to citizenship. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/26/washington/26immig.html?th&emc=th 12/24/06 New Congress may enact immigration reform which would permit illegal immigrants to obtain temporary residency permits and permanent residency if they complete two years of college or service in the armed forces. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/shared/news/stories/2006/12/DREAM_ACT18_COX_W4784.html 12/22/06 Incoming Governor of Massachusetts (Democrat) says he will rescind a just-signed agreement between outgoing Governor (Republican) and federal authorities that would have allowed state troopers to be used to enforce federal immigration laws. 12/22/06 Over a week after federal agents raided Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in 6 states and arrested over 1000 workers, ostensibly on identity theft charges, their cases are in limbo, many of the arrested have literally been "disappeared" from their relatives and some have been deported directly to Mexico. Swift & Co. has suffered business losses as some other workers are afraid to come to work, but the company faces no charges for having employed the workers. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1221-04.htm 12/21/06 First they came for the immigrants: an adaptation of Pastor Niemoller's description of how German fascism developed as "they came" successively for Jews, Catholics and trade unionists, and no one spoke up who was not a member of one of those persecuted groups. None or few spoke for the victims of recent U.S. raids on meat-packing plants to arrest men and women whose "crime" was that they were trying to make a living for their families. By the time "they" get to you and me, there will be no one left to speak up. http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1220-22.htm 12/18/06 Protesters condemn the holding in a Texas prison of immigrants awaiting deportation decisions, including many children (with video): http://www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=176596 12/15/06 Texas Comptroller ignites heated criticism with a report showing that illegal immigrants are a vital part of the Texas economy. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/14/AR2006121401552.html?referrer=email 12/15/06 Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles in sued by legal immigrants who say they are wrongfully being required to produce proof of residency, making the agency an instrument of immigration control and resulting in hundreds of legal immigrants being denied licenses. 12/15/06 Illegal immigration raids on Swift's and other meat-packers may result in higher labor costs and increased meat costs for consumers and also lower prices paid by packers to cattle farmers. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IMMIGRATION_RAIDS_MEATPACKERS?SITE=DEFAULT 12/13/06 Federal agents raid meat packing plants in several states and arrest illegal aliens working with fraudulent ID. The raid is said to herald a new approach to illegal immigration through "work site enforcement." 12/7/06 Texas Governor changes his "tone" on immigration: during re-election campaign, he was a strident proponent of border enforcement; now he is touting the importance of Mexicans to state economy and calling for a "guest worker" program to legalize their residence. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4384841.html 12/6/06 Rep. Silvestre Reyes, scheduled to be next chair of House Intelligence Committee, is a strong proponent of electronic monitoring of the Mexican border, having supported a contract bid of a company which has badly bungled such contracts, and which employs Reyes' daughter. http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002069.php 11/20/06 Dallas Morning News runs special on the difficult everyday lives of illegal immigrants in meatpacking plants in Cactus, Texas. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories.html 11/19/06 What started in Hazelton PA has become a national trend, as small towns across American are clamping down on illegal immigrants. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4345974.html 11/19/06 Using undocumented immigrants when it pleases you: U.S. has employed thousands of Filipino workers, many undocumented, for construction work at Guantanamo and in Iraq, and now invites Filipino workers to labor for cheap wages in construction of a military installation in Guam. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HK17Ae01.html 11/16/06 DHS inspector general warns that the plan to build a high-tech "virtual fence" on the Mexican and Canadian borders will cost many billions of dollars more than now estimated; and the agency has little clear idea of what these costs will be, ranging from 2 to 30 billion. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501373.html?referrer=email 11/16/06 “Texas for a long time has avoided this anti-immigrant hysteria” says a Texas Hispanic leader. This may be about to change as a flurry of immigrant-restricting bills are filed for upcoming legislative session. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/us/16immig.html?th&emc=th 11/15/06 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is about to implement changes that will make the attainment of legal citizenship for immigrants more expensive, difficult and slow. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3891 11/14/06 A suburb of Dallas, Farmers Branch, is the first Texas city to make it illegal for landlords to rent homes to undocumented immigrants. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4332111.html 11/14/06 GOP-led legislative panel in Missouri says that abortion is partly to blame for illegal immigration because it reduces the number of American workers, as does a too-generous system of social services that removes the incentive for Americans to work. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061113/D8LCFTV00.html 11/13/06 Democrats appear to have made a slight electoral gain with Hispanics as a result of the immigration issue. http://sptimes.com/2006/11/13/Worldandnation/Just_a_little__immigr.shtml 11/10/06 As several anti-immigration hardliners were defeated in House elections, immigrant rights activists take new encouragment on prospects of enacting more favorable legislation. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/10/us/politics/10immig.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 11/9/06 Arizona passes several ballot initiatives designed to restrict the rights of undocumented immigrants. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3867 11/606 Christian Science Monitor article assesses the result of the "amnesty" provision in the immigration bill passed in 1986. http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1106/p13s01-ussc.html 11/4/06 Crackdown on illegal immigrants creates a climate of terror in a small Georgia town following a strike in a local poultry plant. http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1103/p02s02-usju.html 10/28/06 Comprehensive immigration reform? South Florida to get "one stop" processing centers to apply for immigration and the questions about U.S. history and government may be tougher (95% now pass). Immigration director Gonzales hopes Bush will re-focus on reforms instead of border enforcement after the elections. 10/27/06 As enforcement at U.S./Mexico border has stepped up, illegals seeks increasingly dangerous routes and 405 in Arizona alone have died along the border. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3816#corrections3816 10/26/06 Bush signs bill to establish a 700-mile U.S./Mexico border fence. Critics can't decide whether to call it shameful (Vicente Fox who compares it to the Berlin Wall), ineffective (is still unfunded and "won't stop illegals for more than a minute or two") or unfair (implements the "seal the borders" immigration proposal without addressing a guest worker program or path to citizenship.) http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Bush-Immigration.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 10/26/06 As immigration legislation stalls in Congress, large increase is noted in states and cities across the country in passing mostly restrictive new regulations. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3808 10/20/06 Michigan version of nationwide "Return to Sender" sweeps of illegal immigrants is helping create a serious shortage of migrant workers in western Michigan. 10/19/06 Fruits of globalization and drivers of immigration: unable to find jobs at home, Latin American migrants, legal and illegal, are sending record $45 billion per year home to help sustain their families in their countries of origin. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15793137.htm 10/15/06 Coming to Pennsylvania: Altoona joins Hazelton in passing local ordinance making it illegal to hire or rent to an illegal immigrant. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06288/730170-85.stm 10/12/06 In Chicago, an undocumented immigrant woman finishes her second month in sanctuary in a Chicago church, defying authorities to detain or deport her. City officials support her action, and city ordinances have forbidden police questioning about immigrant status, making Chicago in effect a "sanctuary city." http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3754 10/8/06 The "sleeping giant" of a Latino immigrant rights movement that awoke in March of this year has more the earmarks of the "last rites" of a dying movement, based on the miniscule turnout of participants in Labor Day events in the Los Angeles area. http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/immigration-rites/14522/ 10/8/06 Illegal aliens who participated in 9/11 clean-up, like other workers there, contracted illnesses associated with their work. Unlike these others, they found themselves deprived of medical help after the recent wave of enforcements against illegals. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/07/AR2006100700834.html?referrer=email 10/7/06 North Carolina TV station confronts congressional candidate running on platform opposing with illegal immigrants that illegals are working with his own company. http://www.wcnc.com/news/topstories/stories/wcnc-ad-10_5_06-norman.cc7be41.html 10/6/06 It's in the fine print: when Congress passed the Mexican border fence legislation, it left many loopholes that may keep the construction from actually happening: allowing the President discretion on where to spend appropriated funds, including possibility of high-tech "virtual" fences; and allowing local Governors and Indian tribes to determine actual fence placement. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501935.html?referrer=email 9/30/06 The Boogie Hombre will get you! Senate joins House in bypassing immigration "reform" and passing bill to construct a 700 mile border fence between Mexico and the U.S. With this "Israeli solution" to our international problems, Congress leaves town and Republicans will have 5 weeks before the election to scare the public about the brown menace of Latin immigration. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/29/AR2006092901912.html?referrer=email Vote is 80-19 with 26 Democrats (including Bill Nelson) supporting, 17 opposed. http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists00262 9/28/06 As Congress nears recess without having passed immigration legislation, earlier action that would have increased the number of visas that U.S. employers could use to attract skilled workers from abroad is also in limbo. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/27/AR2006092701996.html 9/22/06 Noting failures of earlier plans for electronic surveillance of U.S. border, Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff pledges to work closely with Boeing, which was just awarded billions in contracts to institute new high-tech plans, to insure that the system works this time. http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=5927 9/22/06 California judge permits immigrant rights advocacy groups to participate in a suit brought by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, which would invalidate a rule for Los Angeles police which forbids them to investigate suspects' immigration status in the course of their criminal investigations. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3698 9/21/06 Not just at the Mexican border: as Boeing gets cushy contract for surveillance towers in Arizona, defense contractors are drooling at the easy money that lies ahead with high-tech surveillance systems being planned at the Canadian border. http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0920-23.htm 9/20/06 Boeing Corporation expects to be officially informed today that it has won a $2.4 billion contract to build and operate high-technology surveillance towers on the Mexican border. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/AR2006091901715.html?referrer=email In winning this contract, Boeing beat out 3 other competitors from, like themselves, among the 7 biggest political campaign contributors in 2004. http://www.washingtontechnology.com/contributors/2004/ 9/20/06 U.S. plan to build immigration fence in Arizona desert may have a 75-mile gap at a vulnerable point over opposition to the fence of Tohono O'odham tribe, which has cooperated in operations against smugglers but regard themselves as having established rights for themselves of free border crossing. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/washington/20fence.html?=rss 9/20/06 A new " border invasion" between the U.S. and Mexico: not the Mexican nannies and yard men waiting to service the needs of irate wealthy Republicans in southern California, but many of those wealthy people themselves who are using their inherited baby boomer wealth to relocate themselves and their opulent life styles into Mexico, where a million bucks a year will go a long way. http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?emx=x&pid=122537 9/6/06 Civil liberties groups win a court-ordered injunction against implementation of harsh new anti-immigrants law in Hazelton PA, opening the way for legal challenges to such legislation in other states. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3628 9/6/06 New York Times reporters say their sources indicate congressional Republicans are likely to set aside their controversial "immigration reforms" legislation that do not play well politically and concentrate on "security" issues on which they think they can make a stronger appeal in the November elections. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090506L.shtml 9/3/06 Website allied with Judicial Watch, which "leads the fight against illegal immigration" reports that illegals plan to join in Labor Day demonstrations across the country and gives a list of the "suspect" organizations (like Code Pink) that are supporting this effort. http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/archives/001774.html 8/28/06 As illegal immigration "crack-downs" sprout around Massachusetts, editorial in Boston Globe urges that immigrants not be made "scapegoats" for economic woes. 8/27/06 Recent immigration is creating a "demographic bulge" and greater ethnic diversity with the record crop of children just entering school age. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/27/education/27education.html?th&emc=th 8/25/06 National Guard is setting up "observation posts" at the Arizona/Mexico border on tribal lands, and the natives regard the operation as an "invasion." http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?feature=yes&id=1096413502 8/22/06 Increased costs for border enforcement and payment of federal benefits to newly-legalized immigrants would create a cost of $126 billion over a decade under Senate version of the immigration reform bill. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/21/AR2006082101539.html 8/21/06 Immigration enforcement officials say they will respect the sanctuary of a Methodist church in Chicago and will not attempt to seize a Mexican woman in asylum along with her 7-year-old son. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20060818-2153-immigrationactivist-deportation.html 8/17/06 How to lose the Hispanic vote: DCCC-sponsored ad attacks "security" under Bush administration by showing a Mexican and Osama bin Laden scaling the same fence. Hispanic Republican group demands apology and removal of ad. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEMOCRATIC_AD_HISPANICS?SITE=723-04 8/17/06 Spokewoman for undocumented immigrants is defying U.S. deportation order by taking sanctuary in a Chicago church. 8/15/06 Asheville NC is among the cities joining in a national movement for local police crackdowns on illegal immigrants. http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060815/NEWS01/60814057/1149 8/15/06 New Census report shows that immigrants to U.S.A. are increasingly settling in areas of the country which have received fewer immigrants in earlier years. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/us/15census.html?th&emc=th 8/14/06 One-eyed man with one-eyed cat and a pistol and shotgun patrols a lonely stretch of U.S./Mexico border in California, part of a group of Minutemen volunteers who are maintaining vigilance against illegal immigrants. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/14/us/14minute.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th 8/13/06 Reports of Egyptian students arrested in Baltimore who came to the U.S.seeking jobs when they pretended to come for schools recall earlier Egyptian immigrants to the city who made successful lives here. 8/10/06 Pew Hispanic Center study shows that immigration has not harmed the job prospects of American workers. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/nation/content/shared-gen/ap/Other_US_Govermnent/Immigration_Jobs.html 8/10/06 U.S. labor unions and immigrant rights advocates make common cause in a rare coaltion of sometimes opposing forces. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/10/us/10labor.html?th&emc=th 8/5/06 Small town in south Georgia tries to cope with changes introduced by rapid increase in immigrant Hispanic population. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/us/04georgia.html?th&emc=th 8/3/06 National Guard official says at House Armed Service Committee hearing in Michigan that consideration being given to use Guard at the Canadian as well as Mexican border to bolster immigration enforcement. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060802/METRO/608020373/1003 8/1/06 What's a crime-victimized immigrant to do? Call the police and risk exposure to deportation? In California they are beginning to form Hispanic street gangs for self-protection of Hispanics. Sheriff, noting the beginning of such groups in Jacksonville, "re-assures" Hispanics there that the police are there to help them, not intimidate them. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/073106/met_4149627.shtml 7/31/06 Jobs that Americans won't do (and at wages no one should have to accept): millions of U.S. men are today employable but unemployed, as they refuse to accept jobs for which they are over-qualified and make do with taking out second home mortgages, using credit cards, disability payments and/or the indulgence of their family members http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/business/31men.html?th&emc=th 7/24/06 As talk of toughening Mexican border security continues in Congress, New Mexico's Senators were able to have additional funds required for law enforcement and court costs for a border crackdown added to the Homeland Security budget. http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_national_government/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19861_4863423,00.html 7/24/06 From green card to family reunification took 14 years for a Mexican immigrant who obtained legal status under 1986 immigration law. Similar delays could plague Senate "path of citizenship" proposed legislation today. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/23/AR2006072300508.html?referrer=email 7/17/06 Immigration abhors a vacuum, as shown in mass influx of Mexican migrants into the carpet mills of Dalton, Georgia, as native work force dries up. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/16/AR2006071600665.html?referrer=email 7/17/06 Upscale California beach community, Laguna Bay, encounters the immigration problem as a center for day laborers used by local employers who know most of the workers are "illegals" meets opposition from local Minutemen. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060717/ts_ 7/15/06 The dynamics of "getting tough" at the borders: as smuggling grows more risky the price of bribery of Border Patrol officials goes up and more corrupt people are recruited for employment in the Patrol. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/14/AR2006071401525.html?referrer=email 7/14/06 Hazelton PA passes nation's toughest laws against illegal immigrants, to revoke business licenses of those which employ them, fining the landlords of those who rent to him. Illegals are blamed for all of city's woes. http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/city-passes-harsh-law-against-illegal/20060713215209990003 7/13/06 Karl Rove gets mixed reviews (applause and boos) as he presents the Bush immigration reform plan to the annual convention of La Raza. 7/6/06 Republican congressional split over immigration policy is highlighted by hearings held on the two coasts. In New York, Mayor Bloomberg testifies to the importance of immigrants to the economy and the impracticality of deporting them. In San Diego, the emphasis is on beefing up the border patrol. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/05/AR2006070501549.html?referrer=email 7/6/06 Framing an issue. Thom Hartmann: the "immigration problem" is not the "illegal immigrants" but the "illegal employers" problem, as businesses have deliberately used undocumented immigrants to drive down their labor costs to the detriment of American workers: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0705-23.htm 7/5/06 White House officials say President may make a "significant shift" on immigration toward the House position of "enforcement first:" secure the borders, then take up issues of guest worker and path to citizenship programs. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/washington/05immig.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 7/4/06 Will they have to clean their own stable? Masschusetts Governor Romney wants to use state troopers to enforce anti-immigration laws; but police have relied for years on a company to furnish barracks-cleaning workers most of whose employees had "questionable" identity documents. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/07/02/troopers_had_relied_on_illegal_workers/ 7/4/06 Do migrant day laborers take jobs away from American workers? Two divergent views by two small-scale contractors on Long Island. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/03/AR2006070301080.html?referrer=email 6/29/06 Police in Massachusetts and Texas may soon be enforcing federal laws against illegal immigration. Critics, including some police, say this will compromise the already-delicate relationship between police and immigrant communities. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3348 6/25/06 Political observers note there is "no support" for a National ID program for immigrants because of civil liberties concerns, although the measure was "almost" passed the last time there was an immigration reform law passed in 1986. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/24/AR2006062400802.html?referrer=email 6/25/06 A border control school in southeastern New Mexico is working overtime and overcrowded to fulfill Bush plan to send 6,000 new agents to police the Mexican border. http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_national_government/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19861_4799427,00.html 6/25/06 Courts in Texas are invalidating school suspensions of students who skipped school to attend anti-immigration rallies, citing freedom of speech concerns. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3997731.html 6/19/06 With the amount of attention being given to the issue of immigration in this country, one would think that the growing death toll of prospective immigrants attempting to cross into the U.S. would receive an ample amount of publicity, with a humane solutin being sought. Not likely: http://counterpunch.com/nevins06162006.html 6/17/06 Blogger raises an interesting question: why do some Republicans who oppose amnesty for Mexicans who come to the U.S. seeking a better life applaud or condone Iraqi plan to provide amnesty for insurgents who have taken American lives? http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/so-republicans-are-for-amnesty-for.html 6/16/06 Joseph Nevins discusses the poverty of imagination and debate in Washington, noting the bi-partisan failure of political leaders to recognize: "that all people have a basic right to international mobility and residence." http://www.counterpunch.org/nevins06162006.html 6/12/06 Signs of the times: Philly cheesesteak joint in Philly posts sign: This Is America, When Ordering Speak English. http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Business/Headlines/bizBIZ03061206.htm 6/10/06 Texas Governor Perry unveils expensive new program of "neighborhood watch" along the Mexican border to allow citizens to use surveillance cameras that are connected to immigration enforcement. Critics say it won't work. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060906H.shtml 6/11/06 Senator Salazar of Colorado is emerging as the Democrats' "go to" man in their attempts to craft "moderate" immigration reform. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/immigration/3958879.html 6/5/06 First contingent of National Guard deployed for border crossing duty, 50 from Utah NG, arrive in Arizona along Mexican border. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/immigration/3931517.html 6/4/06 Border Patrol struggles with recruiting problems and instances of corruption within ranks as calls for enhancement of their mission grow. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/04/us/04border.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 5/30/06 "Real Americans" express outrage that immigrant Americans cannot assimilate to "our ways," when those ways involve Americans knowing far more about the characters in The Simpsons than having the slightest idea of the contents of the Bill of Rights in our Constitution. http://counterpunch.org/wise05302006.html 5/29/06 Why are there so many Mexican illegal immigrants? Do the math: the U.S. absorbs 500,000 Mexicans annually into U.S. economy, allows only 5,000 permanent visas worldwide per year for unskilled labor. Some say they should "wait in line" for legalization. What line? http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/29/us/29broken.html?th&emc=th 5/29/06 Most Hondurans in Boston area have failed to apply for temporary renewal of U.S. refugeee residence permission following Hurricane Mitch in 1998, avoiding the fee in anticipation of being able to get permanent residency status under "immigration reform." Most Salvadorans, being more "risk-aversive,." have applied. http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2006/05/29/refugees_facing_renewal_deadline/?page=3 5/28/06 New Mexico National Guard expected to arrive for enforcement duty at the Mexican border just in time for the annual influx of Mexicans crossing to the United States for the picking of fruit and vegetable crops. http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_local_state_government/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19859_4728997,00.html 5/28/06 Houston Chronicle's special coverage of immigration issue, with many different local and national stories. http://www.chron.com/news/specials/immigration/ 5/28/06 A wildfire without immigrants? Half of California's firefighters are immigrants, most Mexican; can the state afford to lose their services? http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/us/28fire.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 5/28/06 Meet the Progressive Daily Beacon. Young writers reflect on the immigration wall and on Helen Thomas' efforts to get answers from George Bush. http://progressivedailybeacon.com/more.php?page=opinion&id=1142 5/27/06 Despite serious reservations about some aspects of the bill, National Council of La Raza "commends" Senate for immigration reform measure just passed. http://www.nclr.org/content/news/detail/39627/ 5/26/06 Immigration by the numbers; since institution of increased border enforcement, per unit cost of border arrests has risen, the number of illegal immigrants has steadily risen, and the length of their stay in the country has doubled on average.
5/26/06 U.S. Senate passes immigration reform bill that, although far tamer than the draconian House legislation, is still an extreme set of laws that will do nothing to amend the real problem: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/421199p-355449c.html
5/26/06 Massachusetts State Senate passes anti-immgrant legislation that will bar immigrants from public and low-oncome housing in the state: http://news.bostonherald.com/immigration/view.bg?articleid=140877 5/26/06 Global economy expert: reducing poverty and joblessness abroad is the only real solution to immigration concerns in this country. http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0525-30.htm 5/25/06 Immigration reform bill deliberations are being influenced by a study by the conservative think-tank, Heritage Foundation, which is said by independent experts to portray a vastly over-stated picture of likely increases in illegal immigation without stiffer immigration controls. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052406F.shtml 5/25/06 Relaxed restrictions on the movements of illegal immigrants represent the only realistic hope they will ever to re-united with their left-behind children. http://www.alternet.org/rights/36602/ 5/24/06 Senate votes down 61-37, amendment that would allow all immigrants (except those with criminal records) to stay in the U.S. and work for citizenship. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/23/AR2006052300179.html?referrer=email For a record of this small band of immigrant rights supporters in Congress, see the vote at: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00138 Florida's two senators don't play in this "band." 5/21/06 In the wake of an "English only" resolution in Congress, English teacher in California urges that we "preserve" the language by having our native speakers learn to use it fluently and poetically, not by using it as a sledgehammer to attack our national tradition of unity through diversity. http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0520-24.htm 5/21/06 The "rational middle ground" sought by Bush for immigration reform is threatened as conservatives negotiate White House agreement to exclude low-skilled immigrant workers from citizenship, only to have their "deal" scuttled in the Senate. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/20/AR2006052000952.html?referrer=email 5/20/06 Visa violators, who have entered the U.S. legally, would not be stopped by border control initiatives, they are said to be among those who pose the greatest security risks; and they make up maybe 40% of the 12 million "illegal immigrants." http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/05/20/border_initiatives_miss_huge_group/ 5/19/06 President visits Mexican border security check-point for a photo-op to demonstrate his toughness on border crossing to conservative opponents of his immigration reform measure. http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-immi19.html 5/19/06 Los Angeles immigrant rights activist insists that neither the "moderate" (Senate) nor the "extreme" (House) version of the immigrant reform bill will avoid a violent and criminal ethnic cleansing deportation operation that immigrants must resist for the survival of their community and their families. http://counterpunch.org/santos05182006.html 5/18/06 Trent Lott, who has rhetorically waved the Confederate flag for years, says that immigration rights demonstrators "lose him" when they fly the flags of their native countries. http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0518-27.htm 5/18/06 Private military contractors preparing to bid for lucrative contracts to bring high tech surveillance operations to Mexican border security: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/18/washington/18border.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 5/18/06 Trying to deal with Mexican immigration without addressing the economic woes of Mexico; the U.S. needs to abandon its NAFTA-based impoverishment of Mexico and, as did European Union nations, encourage economic development that will allow people in potential migrant nations to stay home. http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0518-21.htm 5/18/06 Live from the Oval Office: dealing with immigration because of a "national crisis." (cartoon): http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=editorials 5/18/06 The Republicratic consensus on a border "crackdown:" Only 16 votes can be mustered in the Senate against a fence-building component to the immigration reform bill. http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00126 5/17/06 Voting registration said to be next "front" of immigrant rights movement; but for whom will they vote? Interviews with immigrants, legal and illegal, shows sharp ambivalence about congressional and White House plans: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.md.movement17may17,0,1270863.story?coll=bal-home-headlines 5/17/06 Voters in San Bernardino, CA, a heavily-Hispanic city, will decide fate of plan for severe crackdown on undocumented immigrants. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/05/16/state/n000608D19.DTL 5/17/06 Popular opposition to immigration is characterized as a "shell game" perpetrated by corporate interests which profit by cheap labor and the enforcement industry and divert public attention to a non-existent drain by immigrants on their own resources. http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs05162006.html 5/16/06 Who said the middle of the road is the most dangerous place to travel? President's "middle path" on immigration disappoints people on both sides of the debate. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/us/16react.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 5/15/06 Coalition of immigrant rights groups that organized May 1 protests is prepared to launch campaign to oppose Bush's border militarization plans: 5/15/06 As Bush plans his first speech on domestic issues from the Oval Office, he assures Mexico that plans to use National Guards for border security will not represent a permanent "militarization" of the border. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/15/washington/15bush.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 5/12/06 Use of military forces for Mexican border security is being considered: http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001/20060512/0650768777.htm&floc=NW_1-T 5/8/06 As elections approach, they are "waving the flag" in Texas, making immigrant demonstrators' Mexican flag display and singing national anthem in Spanish the "issues" that will allow politicians and voters to avoid legitimate questions of governance: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0507-22.htm 5/8/06 As legislators elsewhere debate deporting illegal immigrants, Massachusetts is considering legislation to require employers of day laborers to inform them of the conditions of work for which they are being hired: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/05/08/proposal_aims_to_protect_day_laborers/ 5/7/06 Backlash to immigrant rights protest movement? Trent Lott's reaction: illegals risk deportation by their participation. "We had 'em all in a bunch, you know what I mean?" http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060507/EDITORIALS0102/205070341/1098/editorials 5/6/06 Molly Ivins: in December 2005 a group of congressional Republicans, looking for a new "issue" for electoral exploitation, decided to play the "immigration card" and unexpectedly awakened the Sleeping Brown Giant; http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0505-25.htm 5/5/06 "Crack down" on illegal immigration being proposed in San Bernadino California as voters will be asked to approve measures requiring day laborers to prove identity, etc. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20060504-1913-ca-illegalimmigrants-initiative.html http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/14503377.htm 5/3/06 With congressional impasse on immigration reform, individual states are taking up the issue, most in "get tough" legislation like Arizona's proposal to build a border femce, some like Nebraska's grant of in-state tuition to children of illegals; critics say "patch-work" legislation won't solve the problem: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/02/AR2006050201728.html?referrer=email 5/1/06 House Republicans expected to balk at Bush's "pathway to citizenship" approach to immigration reform: 5/1/06 In the U.S.A., watch what you say: Indiana Congressman suggests that INS investigate the hiring practices of companies like McDonald's who say that a work stoppage by immigrant employees would severely curtain their business operations: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060430/LOCAL/60430004 5/1/06 Critics of today's immigrant boycotts say "the immigration reform movement is being commandeered to promote political causes." Say again? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/30/AR2006043000819.html?referrer=email 5/1/06 Thousands in California participate in May 1 boycott and protests: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/05/01/state/n111719D16.DTL 4/30/06 Many employers nation-wide are preparing to express solidarity with Monday's day of boycotts in protest of immigration reform: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042906E.shtml 4/28/06 Debate rages in Boston about advisability immigrant work walkout planned for Monday: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/04/28/planned_walkout_stirs_immigrant_debate/ 4/27/06 Rift opens between immigrant rights activists and U.S. business allies: Chamber of Commerce says planned May 1 plan in Mexico to refuse to "buy Gringo" risks alienating the businesses that are lobbying on their behalf: http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060427/WIRE/204270326/1117/news 4/27/06 Three-quarters of Americans who favor deportation of all illegal immigrants should look at the "face" of such immigrants: how they got here, how they have been integrated into U.S. society, what traumas deportation would cause for them: http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojomail.display&issue=060426#4 4/27/06 Latina media grapple with ambivalence about May 1 immigrant rallies: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3823094.html 4/26/06 Some skilled immigrants now hiring K-street lobbyists to help them obtain green cards: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/25/AR2006042501963.html?referrer=email 4/25/06 Governor Schwarnegger reports death threats against two Hispanic California officials (Lieutenant Governor and Mayor of Los Angeles) over the immigration issue: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1886095&page=2 4/24/06 Protests against immigration reform legislation resume in San Francisco, led by arch-bishop's denunciation of harsh enforcements in House version of the bill: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/24/BAGHQIE67U1.DTL 4/24/06 Millions of foreigners seeking legal immigration to America are stymied by bureaucratic processes that can make them wait years for visas, causing many to give up and seek illegal entry: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/04/23/the_wait_is_long_for_us_visas/ 4/22/06 With the government's lack of enforcement resources, skepticism is expressed about the seriousness of the Bush administration's commitment to a crackdown on employers of undocumented immigrants: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/04/22/crackdown_can_go/ 4/20/06 Minuteman official gives Bush an "ultimatum": begin building a wall on the U.S./Mexican border by May 25 or we'll build it ourselves: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33847 4/17/06 Anti-immigration sentiment in U.S. seems to have hardened in response to immigrant rights protests: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/us/17arizona.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 4/17/06 Senate immigration compromise contains several measures that are impossible to comply with: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14357560.htm 4/17/06 GA Governor Perdue to sign state immigration bill into law that nearly matches the draconian bill passed by the U.S. House: http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/14361885.htm 4/15/06 U.S. business owners ambivalent about their immigrant workers; need them for their operations, but some fired them for leaving work to participate in anti-immigration reform protests: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/15/us/15protest.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 4/14/06 Immigrant workers, with their quiet demands for justice in the work place, are challenging the Republican plan for "guest workers in a police state." The political backlash could bring "Morning in America" again: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0413-28.htm 4/14/06 Success of NAFTA in promoting international trade has contributed to the flood of illegal immigrants from Mexico to the United States as it produces a disparity of income of workers in the two countries: http://www.alternet.org/story/34768/ 4/14/06 Immigrant vigilante operations don't stop with Minutemen at the border; local law enforcement officials taking it on themselves to detain for deportation illegals who are stopped for traffic offenses and other minor violations: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/nyregion/14jails.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 4/13/06 Federal "clamp down" on illegal immigrants leads to new requirement for the presentation of a passport, birth certificate or other identification as condition of eligibility for Medicaid: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/healthcare/ 4/13/06 Opinion: a "guest worker" program for immigrants is a very, very bad idea: http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=11378 4/13/06 President's appearance in Virginia to tout Medicare drug benefit program highlights lack of medical care coverage of immigrants: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/12/AR2006041201837.html?referrer=email 4/11/06 New York Times report on immigrant rallies across the country suggests that they may show Hispanics emerging as a "potent political force." http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/11/us/11immig.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 4/9/06 Opinion: we are dependent on illegal immigrants for supporting the conveniences of our everyday lives, and criminalizing them will encourage a "don't look don't tell" practice of overlooking the illegality: the same system we have now: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14292843.htm 4/9/06 Alabama Republican women's club uses dolls with multi-billion dollar price tags depicting the "cost" of public services to the children of illegal immigrants to support their demand to deny U.S. citizenship to such children: http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/11444019328520.xml&coll=2 4/8/06 Immigration control policy debate rarely addresses the forced migrations created by corporate globalization: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0408-24.htm 4/7/06 Immigration deal falters in the Senate. No bill expected this year: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14291928.htm 4/7/06 GOP Rep. Sensenbrennner voices strong opposition to more lenient Senate immigration bill: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-07-sensenbrenner_x.htm 4/7/06 Senate immigration bill sets high standards for gaining citizenship: http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_3677698 4/4/06 Massive boycott being planned for May 1 by Immigrant rights groups to protest the recently passed immigration bill 4/2/06 Archbishop of Diocese of Los Angeles places the Church on the side of immigrant rights and opposed to current House bill: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/01/AR2006040101206.html?referrer=email 3/31/06 Immigrant protests fuel passage by Senate of a more immigrant-friendly version of immigration reform bill than that passed by the House: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0330-31.htm 3/31/06 HBO movie "Walk out" ignites Hispanic student protests against immigration reform bill: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0330-25.htm 3/30/06 People and drugs flowing across U.S.-Mexico border pose major problems for American immigration policy: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/29/AR2006032902228.html?referrer=email 3/28/06 Both Republicans and Democrats weighing the political advantages and costs of supporting different approaches to immigration reform: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/27/AR2006032701837.html?referrer=email 3/26/06 Congressional divide opens on approach to immigration reform. House says get tough, Senate says provide employment opportunites for undocumented immigrants: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/27/AR2006032700684.html?referrer=email 3/25/06 Massive turnout of protesters against immigration reform bill is seen throughout the U.S.: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032406T.shtml 3/24/06 Next week's Senate show-down on immigration reform bill will feature 08 presidential aspirants jockeying for position on the issue: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/23/AR2006032301785.html?referrer=email 3/23/06 Saying the proposed immigration bill would "criminalize Jesus" by forbidding aid to illegal immigrants, Hillary Clinton indicates her opposition to bill: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--clinton-immigrati0322mar22,0,2312317.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork 3/22/06 Catholic archbishop in Los Angeles explains his instruction to priests on non-cooperation with proposed legislation prohibiting assistance to illegal immigrants: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/22/opinion/22mahony.html?th&emc=th 3/22/06 Panic and protest among undocumented works increase as immigration bill works its way through Congress: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/21/AR2006032101792.html?referrer=email 3/21/06 Immigrant workers exploited in the "Gulf rush": http://www.agrnews.org/?section=news&news_section=3& 3/18/06 Tiny Mora Island, off U.S. coast in Caribbean, provides a hazardous way for Cubans to enter the U.S. under, "wet-foot, dry-foot" rule: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14127767.htm 3/17/06 Huge protest in Chicago against anti-immigration legislation: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=1&ItemID=9927 3/14/06 "Fifth column" fears may be fuelling a Pentagon plan to have detention centers for suspect immigrants, likely to be built by Kellogg, Brown and Root: (part l): http://www.alternet.org/rights/32647/ (part 2): http://www.alternet.org/rights/33295/ 3/9/06 Conservative support for illegal immigration described as part of a plan to "break the back" of the American middle class: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0308-20.htm 3/9/06 Arizona Governor sends National Guard to Mexican border to stop illegal immigration: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/08/D8G7NJE80.html 3/8/06 Growing number of illegal immigrants in U.S. work force is documented by new report: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/07/AR2006030700880.html?referrer=email 3/6/06 Mexican immigrants are said to be very beneficial for Texas family farming operations: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0306-29.htm 3/2/06 Mexican President Fox, referring to proposed U.S. wall against Mexican immigrations, says U.S. will soon be "begging" for Mexican workers: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13995696.htm 3/2/06 Immigration debate opens in Congress, pitting Republican business constituencies for guest worker status against those wanting crackdown on illegal immigration: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102200.html?referrer=email 2/27/07 Three defense mega-corporations compete for $2 billion contracts to provide electronic surveillance systems at U.S. borders: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/26/AR2006022600933.html?referrer=email 2/26/06 Proposed immigration wall: effective deterrent to illegal immigration, or expensive boondoggle? http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022606H.shtml 2/24/06 Immigration enforcement agents are using fake "safety" inspections and trainings to snare illegal immigrants: http://www.zmag.org/content/newstandard.cfm?itemid=2850
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FLORIDA:
STATEWIDE
Websites: Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center:
Analysis & views: 5/14/10 2/11/10 1/29/10 11/1/08 Amendment One asks Floridians to "wipe away an obsolete piece of the state's racist history.": Does that mean the amendment will attain the necessary 60% approval to pass? Not likely, says columnist for Miami Herald, noting that voters are "confused" by the language of the amendment which seems to confer rights on "illegal immigrants." http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/742213.html 10/25/08 Amendment 1 on Florida ballot would eliminate an archaic law in Florida forbidding aliens to own property; an unenforced law that most people don't support; but it's doubted that required 60% will approve because voters don't understand it. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/legislature/story/740836.html 8/3/08 Florida case highlights newest wrinkle in hospital dumping:. An illegal immigrant from Guatemala was seriously injured in a collision with a drunken driver in Stuart. The local hospital was obligated to provide for his extended post-hospital care, but could find no rehabilitative facility willing to take him and kept him as a hospital patient for years at great expense, finally chartered a plane and returned him to his rural Guatemalan home where he survives as a sick old man on a medical regime of "Alka Seltzer and prayer." The New York Times article on the case indicates that such "do it youself" deportations are little known but common in a system that provides minimal insurance coverage for illegal immigrants. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/us/03deport.html?th&emc=th 5/11/08 U.S. Coast Guard returns to Cuba 79 people from 3 separate "interdicting" operations against smugglers' vessels http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/528869.html 2/9/08 Increase is noted in "risky smuggling" of Cubans who arrive by speed boat in south Florida. http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/09/State/Speed_drives_increase.shtml 1/2/08 6 bills to be considered in Florida legislature could make it harder for immigrants to live and work in the state 12/9/07 Immigrants from Venezuela, Guatemala and Brazil are changing the face of south Florida cities of Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach and Jupiter. 11/29/07 Anti-immigration think tank total up some of the substantial "costs" to Florida of illegal immigration. 11/28/07 2007 A good fishing season for U.S. Coast Guard in catching Cubans off Florida coast: It's nothing like the interdiction of 37,000 Cubans during the rafter exodus, but the nearly 3,000 already caught this year is the largest number since that 1994 event. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/323390.html 10/8/07 Florida lacks clear policy on whether state enforcement agents are to question criminal suspects about their migrant status. http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/263944.html 9/19/07 Senator Christopher Dodd files bill that could result in stopping deportation of two Miami brothers from Colombia. http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/242616.html 8/22/07 Miami Republican lawmaker will push Congress to pass bill to prevent the deportation of two Colombian teen brothers who came to the U.S. as children and are threatened with deportation after one of them graduated as an honors high school student. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/211288.html 8/3/07 Juna Gomex case in Miami highlights vagaries if immigrant deportation process: An "illegal" immigrant from Colombia, an honors high school student who had spent virtually his whole life in Miami, is seized with his family in a middle of the night raid and threatened with immediate deportation. His friends intervene, the story is picked up by local media and Republican representatives in Congress introduce special legislation that would give the Gomez family at least a 45 day reprieve. But for the good fortune of this publicity, they probably would have been long-gone for Colombia. http://www.miamiherald.com/459/story/190490.html 7/1/07 In beauty pageant style, most of the Democratic candidates and one Republican (Duncan Hunter), parade before a Florida audience of Latino elected officials and their constituents, and all the Democrats express approval of immigration reform and opposition to the security fence. One of them (Kucinich) even used one of his moments on the runway to advocate for resumed trade with Cuba. (But K. got low marks for speaking in "halting Spanish.") http://www.miamiherald.com/884/story/156972.html 6/11/07 Zogby poll shows 60% of Floridians favor legalization of immigrants along lines of the bill now stalled in Congress. http://www.miamiherald.com/569/story/135496.html 6/4/07 Undocumented honors students in Florida are awaiting legislative action that would allow them to receive vital financial aids to attend college http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/jun/03/their_dreams_filled_uncertainty/ 5/22/07 Immigrants a "drain " on Florida economy? Not according to a new study published by Florida International University, which shows that immigrants are at least as well employed and educated as are native-born Floridians. http://www.miamiherald.com/884/story/114450.html 3/12/07 Against the tide of state immigration legislation: Florida legislative proposal would grant some assistance to undocumented immigrants in obtaining legal status, including in-state tuition at state's schools and green card offers to students and those in the military. With some Republican backing, passage is possible if difficult. http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/38877.html 3/8/07 Homeland Security holding training exercises to prepare to indict smugglers off the coast of Florida in anticipation of mass migrations of Cubans after Castro's regime comes to an end. http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stories/030807/D8NNVESG0.shtml 3/1/07 Tourism season in south Florida is the season for hotels and other industries to go in search of seasonally temporary workers, from South Korea for example. http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/27429.html 2/28/07 Dry foot this time. 6 of the 15 Cubans sent back to Cuba last year after an aborted attempt to enter Florida when they landed on an abandoned bridge off the coast are back in the U.S. and granted entry after successfully landing on a Key West beach. http://www.miamiherald.com/884/story/26281.html 2/26/07 Immigration authorities are knocking on doors in south Florida, looking for undocumented immigrants who, in many cases, have "been here for years." 12/29/06 Deportations of Haitians from Florida create a class of "deportees" marked by such Florida style affectations as metallic caps called "grills" on their teeth which help to mark them for severe discrimination as "grills" are thought to be the source of crime and violence in Haiti. 7/22/06 Republican candidate for Governor, Tom Gallagher, comes out for "tougher" enforcement against illegal immigration. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15096746.htm 4/23/06 Undocumented immigrant workers throughout Florida express dismay and anxiety at the recent "crackdown" on their employers: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042206H.shtml 4/11/06 And it's not over yet...statewide pro-immigration rally set for Orlando on May 1: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-asecmrally11041106apr11,0,4031149.story?coll=orl-home-headlines 3/25/06 Senator Martinez expected to "nudge" other Republicans toward supporting a "guest worker" provision of immigration reform, to deal with needs of a large number of Florida immigrants: 3/14/06 Social agencies helping poor farmworkers in central Florida express alarm that their activities will become illegal under Immigration Reform bill now being considered in Congress: 2/8/06 U.S. immigration policy discriminates against Haitians: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/carl_hiaasen/13786345.htm 2/2/06 Rise in human trafficking noted in Florida: http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060202/NEWS/60202001/1001/news01
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FLORIDA LOCALITIES
Websites:
Analysis and views: Broward Co.: 1/19/10 Miami: 8/22/08 Florida immigrant cause celebre, facing deportation to Colombia a year ago, now heads to Georgetown University as a student: Graduate of a Miami High School, brought with his brother to the U.S. a decade ago in their parents' hopes they could gain permanent visas for them, was rescued by special Congressional legislation from deportation, although the parents were deported. Debate rages between those who would protect the country from illegal immigration and those who advocate compassion for those already here http://www.miamiherald.com/news/top-stories/story/652781.html Miami: 7/29/08 Grand jury in Miami indicts two men who are alleged to be immigrant smugglers who also held their "clients" hostage in order to extort money from relatives. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbhostage0729xsbjul29,0,4517738.story Lake Co.: 6/1/08 Lake County Sheriff Gary Borders, appointed by Jeb Bush in 2006, seeks election by emphasizing his intention to crack down on illegal immigrants. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-lritchie0108jun01,0,4343825.column Miami: 5/13/08 One way for a Cuban immigrant to "dry-foot" in Florida:. A member of Team Cuba competing at Miami's Pan American Judo fails to "show up" for her return flight for Havana and is expected to be seeking political asylum. (There may be a lesson for this in U.S. immigration policy: border-sealing efforts to contain illegal immigration may not be effective if many, or even most, "illegals" are who those who entered the country legally and then over-stayed their visas.) http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/530667.html Jupiter: 4/4/08 Ex-police officer in Jupiter FL is suing the city for firing him as "whistle blower" because he complained about his persistent frustration from the city's unwillingness to cooperate in the deportation of illegal immigrants whom he picked up at a day labor center. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/04/04/c1b_utubecop_0404.html Polk Co. 1/9/08 Polk County citrus growers run into local opposition to their plans to build housing for migrant laborers who work in their fields. West Palm Beach: 1/2/08 West Palm Beach man has repaired and given bikes to thousands of children of immigrant workers http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpbikeman0102pnjan02,0,2250362.story Orlando: 12/18/07 Orlando-area religious leaders join others in protesting the anti-immigrant rhetoric of presidential candidates, especially Republican ones, saying their enforcement approach to immigration control is "polarizing" the community. Homestaed: 10/19/07 New-style "family re-unification" scenario plays out in Florida as 11 year old Homestead boy, left behind when his parents were deported after a traffic stop, is allowed to rejoin his parents in Mexico. http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/276761.html Orlando: 10/17/07 Small community of Myanmar refugees in Orlando are among the some 14,000 who have fled to the U.S. during the current protest crisis. Tampa; 10/7/07 Operator of a front yard camp for migrant workers continues to have problems with authorities in Tampa. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/oct/07/na-boarding-home-records-lead-to-grandmother/ Miami: 9/27/07 "The power of the street over the power of the family." A University of Miami sociologist's description of the situation of many Haitian-Americans in south Florida as parents find their marginal immigration and economic status forces them to cede to the authority of their children who operate without parental control, often by joining criminal and violent gangs. http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/251788.html Ft. Lauderdale: 8/31/07 Argentina-born architect who designed several user-friendly immigration centers in south Florida is sworn in as a citizen along with 150 others in one of these centers of Ft. Lauderdale. http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/220933.html Miami: 8/29/07 Two teenagers under 45-day stay of deportation to Colombia enroll at a Miami-Dade community college campus. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/218899.html Miami: 7/27/07 Juan Gomez graduated at the top of his class at Miami Killian High School, now faces deportation to Colombia, in which country he has never been http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/183665.html Orlando; 7/11/07 Orlando Indian immigrant uses a Ghandi-style protest tactic, sending flowers to head of immigration and citizenship service protesting the suspension of "green card" issuance for immigrants. Miami: 6/18/07 MESSAGE TO U.S. IMMIGRATION POLICY MAKERS OF 6,000 NEWLY NATURALIZED CITIZENS IN MIAMI. Since many of them endured years on years of "patient" waiting for the naturalization process to be completed, do they support quicker "amnesty" and citizenship for those who have entered the U.S. without documentation? Si!! http://www.miamiherald.com/884/story/143001.html Ft. Lauderdale: 5/1/07 Deportation fears may put a damper on immigrant rallies today in south Florida as elsewhere around the country. Orlando: 5/1/07 Wishy-washiness in Congress over immigration reform. Spokesman for Farmworkers Association of Florida in Apopka blames congressional stall on the legalization process for immigrants as a reason for the small expected turn out at a rally today at Lake Leola Park in Orlando. Tampa: 4/28/07 Immigration rights rallies in Tampa and elsewhere next week will feature illegal immigrants to openly flout their illegal status. U.S. immigration authorities will not apprehend them, to consternation of local anti-immigrant groups. http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBGP21H11F.html Orlando: 4/27/07 Rally for immigrants rights in downtown Orlando drew 20,000 participants last year; this year a rally at Lake Leola is expected to turn out 400. Coral Gables: 3/24/07 Another Elian Gonzales case brewing in South Florida? A Cuban father and U.S. relatives of a 4-year-old girl in Coral Gables are disputing custody of the child. (No minor matter this: Cuban-American voter reaction to the Gonzales case may well have tipped the Florida voting scales in 2000 and put Bush rather than Gore in the White House.) http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/51491.html Boca Raton: 3/22/07 Boca Raton teenager and her mother win asylum from an immigration court after an earlier period of detention in Pennsylvania for visa violation. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/03/22/s1b_puac_0322.html Orlando: 3/3/07 As immigration enforcement in the U.S. becomes tougher, the backlog of cases in immigrations courts in Orlando creates the possibility of some immigrants being deported before they ever have a chance to plead their cases. Tampa: 1/24/07 Cuban residents in Tampa are among the 8 million Americans who are legal residents who have never applied for citizenship but are now urged to do so in anticipation in reforms in immigration law. http://www.tbo.com/news/nationworld/MGB09JG9BXE.html Miami: 1/21/07 Wet foot-dry foot works for 27 would-be Cuban immigrants who land on an island near Key Biscayne FL. They will be allowed to stay but Coast Guard warns against the "inherently dangerous" (and they might have said usually unsuccessful) nature of such efforts. http://upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20070121-123015-5137r Miami: 1/1/07 Miami-area immigrant rights advocates are getting ready for a vigorous lobby of Congress on immigration reform legislation. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16359939.htm Martin Co.: 12/30/06 Boat containing heroin, handguns and 12 Jamaican illegal immigrants is beached in Martin County. Miami: 12/27/06 In Miami, immigration lawyers thrive as undocumented immigrants languish under a complex set of legal obstacles to the obtaining of green cards. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16325096.htm Sarasota: 12/19/06 26 Cuban refugees land at Longboat Key outside Tampa, the northernmost venture so far of such refugee landings. http://www.tbo.com/news/nationworld/MGBFLIZUVVE.html Immokalle: 11/24/06 Guadalupe Center's free Thanksgiving dinner in Immokalee draws a large and appreciative crowd of Hispanic takers, although the holiday is not celebrated in their home countries. http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/nov/24/thanks_any_language/?local_news Orlando: 11/4/06 Path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants in central Florida, now a very rocky one, might be smoothed a little by plans to locate southeast regional office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Orlando. Ft. Lauderdale: 10/30/06 With a "path to citizenship" for undocumented immigrants stalled in the throes of congressional politics, a desperate Brazilian couple in south Florida are attempting resolution of their immigration status by themselves instituting deportation proceedings, hoping to use a provision of existing laws that allows a judge to grant "exceptions." Ft. Myers: 10/17/06 "Operation Return to Sender" is the catchy name for sweeps of undocumented immigrants in southwest Florida which immigration opponents say is the "tip of the iceberg" and which immigrant rights groups say is sweeping up many innocent people. http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061017/NEWS01/61016054/1075 Green Cove Springs: 10/14/06 Immigration and Customs officials make a 5 A.M. at a Green Cove Springs (Clay County) trailer park with 40 residents, arrests 28 of them as undocumented immigrants. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/101406/met_5607871.shtml Tampa: 9/29/06 Reflecting increased political consciousness associated with the immigrant rights movement, Tampa area Hispanics are increasingly enrolling in English language classes and trying to avoid residence in Hispanic enclaves. http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGB7KT60OSE.html Cape Coral: 9/8/06 Americans Standing Tall,. an anti-illegal immigrants group, has filed petitions with Cape Coral City Council and the Lee County Commission for passage of laws to punish illegals and their landlords and employers. http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060907/NEWS01/60907031/1075 St. Petersburg: 8/21/06 St. Petersburg lawyer who represents clients in the long and difficult process of attain legal citizenship will understands their plight: he's a green-card seeker himself. http://www.sptimes.com/2006/08/21/Southpinellas/Lawyer_toils_for_othe.shtml Palm Bay: 8/17/06 Florida Immigration Coalition plans an "ecumenical, peaceful, prayerful gathering," as Palm Bay City Council schedules final vote on ordinance forbidding employment of illegal immigrants. http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060817/NEWS01/608170330/1006 Homestead: 8/14/06 In Homestead FL coming-of-age Hispanics experience both pride in the recent nationwide walkout protests and the discrimination they experience as a result of their undocumented status. http://www.sptimes.com/2006/08/14/State/Swirled_in_immigratio.shtml Palm Bay: 8/5/06 "I'm appalled at the hypocrisy in this room" says immigrant rights activist as Palm Bay Council votes for an ordinance with severe penalties for those who employ illegal immigrants. She notes that, after a hurricane, migrant workers were very active in the community's recovery. Would that the national "hypocrisy" stayed in that room! Orlando: 7/27/06 Criminalizing immigrants, local-style: Avon Park (Highlands County near Sebring) city council votes down effort of Mayor to ban illegal immigrants and penalize employers and landlords who deal with them; Mayor vows to continue the fight in other ways. For a copy of the ordinance that was defeated, see: http://www.avonpark.cc/reports/Illegal%20Immigrant%20Ordinance.pdf Palm Bay: 7/21/06 Sometimes those protest mobilizations work: "dozens of angry Hispanic" residents of Palm Bay appear before city council considering severe criminalization of illegal immigrants. Council tables the proposed law. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-immigration2106jul21,0,7671482.story?coll=orl-home-headlines Miami: 7/11/06 Coast Guard firing on a boat load of would-be Cuban migrants during which a woman died produces prosecution of smugglers and many questions about the CG action. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15010006.htm Lakeland: 7/10/06 Threatened crackdown on illegal immigration produces severe shortages of orange-pickers in Florida, as millions of boxes of Valencias remain unpicked as season end nears. http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060710/LOCAL/207100328/1078/news Key West: 7/3/06 Wet-foot, dry-foot. Key West artist/photographer documents ingenious efforts by would-be Cuban immigrants to construct "chugs" (homemade motor boats) to take them to a remote island off Florida Keys coast. Miami Herald puts up the result as a "slide show." http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14955022.htm Tampa: 6/27/06 Two Dominican stowaways are found dead in a shipping container on freighter bound from Dominican Republic to Port of Miami. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/gen/ap/FL_Stowaway_Deaths.html Miami: 6/13/06 How we gonna run a ballet troup without Chinese dancers? South Florida employers, already plagued with labor shortages, see situation getting worse as fears grow of more restrictive immigration legislation. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14803137.htm Ft. Lauderdale: 6/12/06 While many south Florida immigrant opponents fuss over cost of "picking up the tab" for services to immigrants and their children, restaurants and other business owners are noting the importance of "tabs" picked up by the immigrants themselves at restaurants and other local establishments. Gainesville: 6/11/06 Undocumented immigrants an increasing factor in Alachua County economy, fueled by heavy participation in construction and landscaping industries. http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060611/LOCAL/206110318/1078 Daytona Beach: 6/10/06 "Unease" in fern fields near DeLand grows with the organization of a Minute Man unit which is monitoring illegal immigrants working in the industry. http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD01060906.htm Miami: 4/21/06 Different categories of undocumented immigrants under reform bill would likely lead to the separation of many South Florida families from Central America: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14392593.htm Orlando: 4/15/06 Huge turnout at Orlando area migrant rights demonstrators was mobilized by efforts of many local grassroots organizations, spearheaded by Apopka-based farm workers' union: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-immigration1506apr15,0,3428900.story?coll=orl-home-headlines Ft. Lauderdale: 4/11/06 Thousands of South Floridians join marches for amnesty for illegal immigrants. Sun Sentinel report gives "equal time" to those with anti-immigrant views: Ocala: 4/11/06 Over 2,000 march in Ocala against criminalization of illegal immigration; Star Banner report is a "fair and balanced" report giving equal space to the views of fewer than 50 counter-demonstrations and Congressman Stearn's re-iteration of his support for Sensenbrenner bill: http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060411/LOCAL/204110341/1078/news Ft. Lauderdale: 3/10/06 As U.S. politicians struggle to re-define U.S. policy on illegal immigrants, 46 more Haitans are detained at Hillsboro Beach: Hollywood: 4/2/06 What I did on Spring Break: University of Minnesota students are severely harassed as they try to help needy Haitian immigrants: http://www.miaminewtimes.com/Issues/2006-03-30/news/metro2.html Plant City: 3/7/06 At Strawberry Festival in Plant City, growers and farm workers unite in opposition to bill in Congress for heavy penalties for employing illegal immigrants: http://www.tampatrib.com/MGBFFNVPHKE.html
2/2/06 Federal agents detaining foreign nationals in Miami as they appear at immigration hearings: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/13770629.htm
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