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30 June, 2008

The New Case Against Immigration: Both Legal and Illegal

The heading above is the title of a new book by Mark Krikorian. Mark writes:

My new book is being released this week: The New Case Against Immigration, Both Legal and Illegal, published by Sentinel, part of the Penguin Group.

The central point of the book -- the part of the ''Case'' that's ''New'' -- is that mass immigration is incompatible with modern society, not because the immigrants are different, but because we are. The changes that mark a modern country -- in the economy, society, government, technology, etc. -- are so fundamental that America's past success with immigration is no longer relevant. In other words, large-scale immigration was an important phase in our national development, but one we have outgrown.

The book has chapters on sovereignty, assimilation, security, the economy, government spending, and population, as well as a final chapter outlining in some detail what a modern American immigration policy should look like.

David Frum of the conservative American Enterprise Institute has written that the book ''will head any list of the outstanding public policy books of 2008. ... This is a book that will anchor the national conversation on immigration in the months ahead''

Mickey Kaus, a liberal journalist and welfare expert has written, ''It is to the immigration debate what Losing Ground was to the poverty debate. My copy is already dog-eared.''

To see more advance reaction to the book, as well as to read the Introduction, visit here

Or, to order, go to here

Print journalists should contact me directly, at msk@cis.org , while broadcast and internet journalists should contact Gwen Nappi, at gwen@mnspublicity.com

To arrange speaking engagements, contact the Penguin Speakers Bureau at speakersbureau@us.penguingroup.com

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



Australia: Crackdown on underpaid guest workers

Australia's new centre-Left government seems mad-keen to increase immigration but their union supporters don't like that at all. The measures below are an attempt to placate the unions. The unions have long been the major source of anti-immigration sentiment in Australia so there is no doubt that they will put the brakes on the do-gooder ambitions of their government

Harsh penalties for employers of 457 visa workers and increased powers for immigration officers are part of a shake-up of Australia's temporary skilled migration program to be proposed today by the Rudd Government. Immigration Minister Chris Evans said the new laws would help prevent the exploitation of foreign workers and ensure the wages and conditions of Australian workers were not undercut.

Senator Evans will today release a discussion paper on proposed reforms to the 457 visa regime, as part of a major review promised in April. Proposed changes include expanded powers for immigration officers to enter and search workplaces to determine whether employers are complying with sponsorship obligations.

Employers could also face penalties of up to 10 years' jail or $110,000 fines for providing false or misleading information, and naming and shaming if they fail to remedy breaches. Government agencies such as the Australian Taxation Office would also be able to share information to determine whether visa holders were being paid the correct amount.

The proposed changes, planned for September, come as Australia has dramatically increased its intake of permanent and temporary migrants. For the first time, the temporary skilled migration program will exceed 100,000 over the 2007-08 financial year.

In the discussion paper, the Government also seeks feedback on additional obligations that sponsors may have to temporary foreign workers. Unions have demanded guarantees of market wages for workers on 457 visas and tough requirements for bosses to prove skilled jobs can't be filled locally.

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29 June, 2008

McCain asks conservatives to stay home on election day

Says immigration reform "top priority" for first 100 days. "Reform" could mean anything but we know what McCain's track record is

Boldly declaring that he will make comprehensive immigration reform his "top priority," during his first 100 days in office, Sen. John McCain today assured Latino leaders that they will have an ally in the White House. "It will be my top priority yesterday, today, and tomorrow," McCain told the National Association of Latino Elected Officials Saturday. "Immigration reform will be my top priority because we have the obligation to address a federal issue from a federal standpoint. I will reach across the aisle again and work in a bipartisan fashion. We will resolve the immigration issue in America and we will secure our borders."

McCain made the statement in response to a question about his Oval Office priorities after mainly focusing on the economy during his opening remarks to the group. He addressed NALEO this morning just before his Democratic rival spoke, noting at the top of his remarks that he was hoping the conference could have served as a forum for his joint-town hall proposal.

While McCain mostly avoided attacks on Obama-not even taking his usual shot at the Democrat's support for a labor-backed amendment that hurt last year's Senate immigration effort-the Illinois Senator exercised no such restraint.

Instead, McCain noted the battle he had with his own party during the failed comprehensive immigration reform effort. "We tried, I reached across the aisle..and we worked in bipartisan fashion. And we were defeated and by the way it wasn't very popular-let's have some straight talk-with some in my party and so I did that and worked together so we could carry out a federal responsibility," he said. "We have to secure our borders. That's the message. But we also must proceed with a temporary worker program."

The Arizona Senator's remarks were also interrupted four times by hecklers-three members of the anti-war group Code Pink-and once by a man with a media credential seated with the press. McCain left off the last portion of his prepared remarks after the third interruption and went straight into questions from NALEO officials. Most NALEO attendees applauded McCain after each interruption and the GOPer received cheers after his response to the first heckler as she was escorted out. "I am sure you have seen the polls recently about trust and confidence in government and the frustration that Americans feel about us," he said, deviating from his prepared remarks. "The one thing Americans want us to stop doing is yelling at each other."

UPDATE: McCain Camp responds to Obama NALEO attack:

"It's quite audacious for Barack Obama to question John McCain's commitment to immigration reform when it was Obama himself who worked to kill the Senate's bipartisan immigration reform compromise last year. Barack Obama voted for five `poison pill' amendments designed by special interests to kill the immigration reform deal. These efforts were strongly opposed by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), the Democrat who led the fight for immigration reform, because he understood they would have the effect of ending the bipartisan work toward immigration reform," said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers.

"The reality is that Barack Obama has never reached across the aisle to lead in a bipartisan fashion on an issue of major importance to the American people when his own political interests were at risk. The American people are tired of typical politicians like Barack Obama. While John McCain was reaching across the aisle to solve the tough problem of immigration reform, Barack Obama was working for politics as usual in Washington."

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Italy gets real about crime-prone immigrant group

They are trying to spin it otherwise but the real problem is that Gypsies largely live by crime

Italy has announced controversial plans to fingerprint thousands of Roma Gypsy children in a bid to clamp down on street begging. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said mass fingerprinting by police would allow them to identify those caught begging instead of going to school. Their parents would then be questioned and risk losing custody of them. This would protect the children by deterring families who sent them out to accost passers-by, he said.

But the scheme, which will also involve fingerprinting all adult Roma, was immediately criticised for its unacceptable discrimination and "ethnic screening". There has been an angry backlash against Roma in Italy in recent months, with petrol bombs thrown at a camp in Naples and sporadic vigilante attacks. Many Italians blame Gypsies for the rising crime rate and the new Government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has launched a tough crackdown on crime and immigration.

There are estimated to be about 160,000 Roma Gypsies in Italy, often living in appalling conditions in makeshift camps with little basic sanitation. Officials plan to bulldoze all illegal camps and a recent opinion poll found that 68 per cent of Italians want all Gypsies expelled.

Vincenzo Spadafora, of the UN children's organisation UNICEF, said of the fingerprints plan: "If this is being brought in to protect the rights of Roma children, Italian children should also be fingerprinted to protect them as well. "Most importantly, children should not be treated as adults." Opposition MP Rosa Bindi said: "The minister may deny it's ethnic screening but it is frankly unacceptable."

Jewish groups also attacked the plan. Amos Luzzarto, a former leader of Italy's Jewish community, said: "There is a latent form of racism which manifests itself in cycles in Italian culture. "I remember as a child being stamped and tagged as a Jew and as such could not be trusted. "I think Italy is forgetting its past here. The racism of this initiative is evident and unacceptable. "This is not a new form of fascism, this is racism."

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28 June, 2008

Rep. Cannon's Defeat in Utah Marks Victory for Immigration Control

Tuesday's primary defeat of six term Utah Congressman Chris Cannon at the hands of political neophyte Jason Chaffetz was, without a doubt, the greatest electoral victory of the immigration control movement. The election was about one -- and only one -- issue: Chris Cannon's long support of amnesty for illegal aliens.

Before Tuesday, there was not one contest where supporters of border security could say that their issue won the election. This is not to say that the immigration control has not been popular with the American people. Polls have consistently shown across the board support for enforcement and opposition to amnesty. The grassroots of the Republican Party went into full on rebellion in the Summers of 2006 and 2007 when Bush, McCain, and Kennedy introduced their amnesty. Phone lines were shut down. The RNC saw fundraising hit new lows, with loyal Republicans vowing to never vote for, much less donate to, pro-amnesty politicians

But at the ballot box, the voters did not always put their money where their mouth was. Illegal immigration failed to become the "silver bullet" issue that would save the GOP from a Democratic takeover. Immigration restrictionists JD Hayworth, John Hostettler, and Randy Graf -- all of whom had very serious electoral problems unrelated to immigration -- were all defeated. Then, John McCain -- who had been the chief sponsor of both "comprehensive immigration reform" bills -- won the Republican nomination for president.

None of these contests were mandates for amnesty. Graf, Hayworth, and Hostettler's opponents all claimed to be tough on immigration, and John McCain won only after he started running ads saying he would oppose amnesty and "Secure the Border First." Nonetheless, his victory certainly conveyed the message to many politicians that if they could weather the storm of angry phone calls, the voters would let them flip flop come Election Day.

This plan had worked well for Chris Cannon in the past. The Congressman has been one of the most active pro-amnesty Republicans in the House. He voted for over a dozen amnesty bills and co-sponsored seven. This got him praise from open borders groups like La Raza and the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund. Upon winning the "Excellence in Leadership" award from the latter, he told the crowd, "We love immigrants in Utah. And we don't oftentimes make the distinction between legal and illegal. In fact I think Utah was the first state in the country to legislate the ability to get a driver's license based on the matricula consular and of that I am proud."

His liberal immigration record gave plenty of ammo to primary opponents who made anti-amnesty based challenges in 2004 and 2006. In both races, he began to talk tough in the weeks leading up to the primary. Upon reelection, he would continue to vote for amnesty. Cannon tried the exact same tricks this year. He put up ads with a picture of a fence saying "Chris Cannon will replace `catch and release' with `catch and deport'" He even erroneously accused his challenger Jason Chaffetz of being a supporter of amnesty.

Chaffetz responded that the Congressman "gets tough on immigration about two weeks before an election. That's it." He won in a 20 point landslide. Jason Chaffetz says his victory "is a mandate to fight for conservative Constitutional values." This is true, but aside from immigration, Cannon has generally fought for those values too. He has a 96% lifetime voting rating from the American Conservative Union and 100% from the NRA and the National Right to Life.

In addition to his conservative credentials, Cannon had numerous of other advantages going for him. He outspent Chaffetz by $600,000, and had George Bush -- who is still popular in Utah -- as well as the State's two Republican Senators campaign for him.

Were it not for immigration, Cannon would not have had to worry about a primary challenger. Some may question why we should go after an erstwhile outstanding conservative just for his deviation on one issue. It is precisely because conservative activists will not let otherwise trustworthy politicians waiver on issues like guns, taxes, and abortion that they have been able to make them winning issues.

We will not be able to even begin to fix the crisis of illegal immigration until the politicians who got us into our current mess are held accountable. One down.

Source



Immigration stressing Australian infrastructure

There are large political difficulties in providing new infrastructure. Just to take a very obvious example: More people increases the demand for water. So build news dams to supply it? Not if the Greenies have any say! And they do. The problems are political, not technical -- but that does not mean that they can easily be overcome

The congestion problems in the news this week have the same cause as a lot of other problems that make the Herald's front page. They're due to our increasing population, or more precisely, our failure to make adequate provision for it.

This might seem obvious, but in fact Sydney is in a state of denial about population increase. We don't prepare for it adequately and seem constantly surprised that public services and infrastructure fail. When they do, we blame politicians, or climate change, or the greed of people (other people) for cars and houses and air conditioning. Anything but what is often the main cause, population growth. This comes from births, migration from other parts of Australia, and immigration, but it's only the last category we have much control over.

This week the Bureau of Statistics announced that last year the nation's population grew at its fastest rate since 1988. The growth rate was 1.6 per cent, or 331,900 people. Net overseas migration contributed 56 per cent of that increase. As is well known, a large proportion of those people settle in Sydney. But for years, Sydney has just pretended it wasn't happening..

Water is a good example because it's so simple. A Water Supply Strategic Review prepared for the Water Board in 1991 noted that since Warragamba Dam had been completed in 1960, Sydney's water storage capacity had been increased by only 2 per cent. This was despite an increase in population from 2.3 million to 3.6 million. The report noted, given the projected future population increase, "if measures are not taken to provide Sydney with additional storage, early in the next century there will be a real risk of serious water restrictions being necessary".

The rest is history, but try to find anyone today who will admit our water restrictions are the result of population growth and the failure by governments to respond adequately. Much easier to blame drought and global warming.

The same thing can be seen with other issues. Just this week in the Herald there's been coverage of a report on road congestion by the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Among other things, the report advocates building more roads to keep pace with population increase. The Roads Minister, Eric Roozendaal, rejected the report as the work of "academics in ivory towers". He also rejected a proposal by the institute for congestion pricing of traffic.

So what do the streetwise guys in government propose as a response to population pressure on our roads? In relation to the size of the problem, just about nothing. When you consider the Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics has predicted an 18 per cent increase in car use by 2020 due to population growth, maybe we need something better.

Why has the link between immigration numbers and the above issues been ignored? One reason is that state governments have no say in those numbers. And the Federal Government has no (direct) responsibility for most of the problems they cause. If Kevin Rudd knew that when he bumped immigrant numbers up he'd be responsible for all the extra schools, hospitals and roads that would be needed, he might think twice.

Another reason immigration has been ignored is because to question it is to be seen as politically incorrect, even racist. This could why the environmental movement has largely ignored it, despite its central role in the problems the movement talks about all the time. The Australian Greens' record on this has been documented by author and conservationist William J. Lines. Writing with Natalie Stone in People and Place in 2003, he noted: "Originally promulgated in 1995, the [Green] party's population policy was revised in 1998 and again in 2002. With each revision the Greens altered their principles, lessened their commitment to limiting population growth . [and] replaced concern about population and environmental degradation with a social justice, global human rights platform."

Before the policy launch for the 1998 federal election, "the Greens' immigration policy proposed that 'Australia's voluntary immigration program be reduced as part of a strategy to achieve eventual stabilisation of the Australian population'. Subsequent policies dropped this strategy entirely and made no recommendation to reduce immigration. In fact the [policy] targets now openly encourage immigration". Another rollover occurred in the Australian Conservation Foundation. In his book Patriots (UQP), Lines describes how in the 1990s "each successive leader [of the ACF] displayed an extreme reluctance to discuss population".

Barry Cohen, the former Labor politician, noted recently that it is bizarre to hold apocalyptic beliefs about human-induced climate change while supporting near-record levels of immigration.

It's time for a national conversation about immigration numbers. We'll be starting from a long way behind. At the moment the Government doesn't even have an overall number for immigration for next year, which is strange when you consider the Prime Minister's belief in planning and targets. The issue of population was treated in a trivial manner by the 2020 Summit, which arrived at the following vision: "By 2020 we will have a sustainable population and consumption policy: while the population grows, net consumption should decrease." Let's get real.

Steve Bracks, the former Victorian premier, has called for the premiers' conference to devise a population policy and then look at how the nation will cope with the resultant immigrant numbers. He wants the Commonwealth to give more money for this purpose to the states. Whatever figure is arrived at, this sounds like a sensible approach.

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27 June, 2008

L.A. lawsuit fails: Cops still prohibited from grabbing illegals

A judge Wednesday threw out a lawsuit filed by a Los Angeles resident who wanted to repeal a long-standing LAPD order that restricts when police officers may ask people about their immigration status.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu, granting a motion from the city and the American Civil Liberties Union, said Harold Sturgeon had failed to prove that Special Order 40 was in conflict with federal and state laws that dictate the flow of information between local and federal agencies regarding people's immigration status.

Sturgeon sued the LAPD in 2006 in an effort to overturn the nearly 3-decade-old order, which prohibits officers from detaining someone solely for the purpose of determining whether he or she is in the country illegally. The order, implemented in 1979 by then-police Chief Daryl F. Gates, is aimed at encouraging illegal immigrants to assist police in cases by ensuring them that their cooperation will not put them at risk.

Sturgeon acknowledged he had no personal experience with the order, but instead brought the lawsuit as a city taxpayer, who argued that his taxes were being used to further an illegal endeavor.

"We're very pleased," said Hector Villagra, an ACLU director, after the ruling. For decades, "the Police Department has struck an important balance between public safety and the enforcement of federal immigration law. It has tried to maintain an equilibrium that would allow undocumented witnesses and victims of crime to feel confident that they can come to the police. . . . That balance has been upheld today."

In court papers, Sturgeon's lawyers called Special Order 40 "essentially a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy regarding illegal aliens." They tried to persuade Treu that the LAPD policy unlawfully restricted officers' ability to share information with federal immigration officials -- a claim that city and ACLU attorneys rebutted.

The judge rejected the gambit, saying the order did not prohibit LAPD officers from communicating with federal authorities. Paul Orfanedes, an attorney for Judicial Watch, the group that argued the case for Sturgeon, said he was "disappointed" with the ruling but declined to say whether he expected his client to pursue an appeal.

Wednesday's ruling had a particularly far-reaching effect because scores of police departments across the country have followed the LAPD in implementing similar policies.

Sturgeon is not the only one to have turned to the courts on the issue. Another lawsuit challenges Special Order 40 on the grounds that it violates an obscure state code that appears to require local police to report to federal authorities the names of illegal immigrants arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking or possession. That case is on hold until an appeals court rules whether the state code is constitutional, said attorney David Klehm, who drafted the litigation.

In recent months, there has been heightened political and public attention on Special Order 40. The policy came under intense scrutiny after the March killing of high school athlete Jamiel Shaw II. Shaw was allegedly gunned down by a reputed gang member who was in the country illegally. The suspect, Pedro Espinoza, had been released from jail the day before the slaying.

Opponents of the order, led by Shaw's parents, seized on the slaying, saying the boy would not have been killed had police not been hamstrung by the LAPD's policy. The claims were inaccurate because Espinoza had been arrested in another city and held in a county facility, but they nonetheless prompted a city councilman to call for an amendment to the order and sparked overwhelming public debate.

In delivering his decision, Treu was keenly aware of the intense feelings on both sides of the immigration debate and tried to preempt accusations that he was taking sides. In his ruling, Treu cautioned that it was not "the court's function to consider the wisdom of the enactment of Special Order 40." His decision, he said, "is rather a neutral exercise of legal interpretation."

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A last stand against the fence in Texas?

A U.S. Supreme Court decision paving the way for a 670-mile federal fence along the U.S.-Mexico border drew swift criticism from environmentalists, who promised to make another legal stand in Texas. The justices' turned down a plea Monday to hear a lawsuit opposing a two-mile section of the fence in Arizona brought by the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife. The section of fence in question in that case has already been built and even if the court had taken the case, oral arguments would not have been heard until October.

But Monday's decision could have the most immediate implications for Texas, where opposition has been most widespread and fence construction is expected to begin next month. The Audubon Society has already said that if the fence is built as planned in South Texas it would have to close its 557-acre Sabal Palm Audubon Center near Brownsville. The center would be left entirely in the no man's land behind the fence north of the Rio Grande. The Nature Conservancy's Lennox Foundation Southmost Preserve also would be affected, as would portions of the 90,000-acre Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, assembled over decades along the river to protect one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the country.

"We were all pinning a lot of hope on something happening at the Supreme Court level," said Merriewood Ferguson, a Brownsville environmentalist who has spent 25 years working to protect habitat near the river. "We're not giving up hope, there's just too much at stake."

The case rejected by the high court Monday involved a two-mile section of fence in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area near Naco, Ariz. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff waived 19 environmental, conservation and cultural laws in October to resume construction of the fence section after a federal judge halted it because there had not been enough environmental study. Fourteen House Democrats - including seven committee chairs - had filed a brief in support of the environmentalists' appeal.

Russ Knocke, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman, said, "As fence construction proceeds, the department will continue to be a good steward of the environment, and consult with appropriate state, local, and tribal officials." Some 331 miles of fencing had been constructed as of June 13.

The 2005 Real ID Act allowed Chertoff to waive laws that could impede the fence's construction. Chertoff has used the authority once each in California and Texas, twice in Arizona and once for portions of all four border states. When he last issued waivers in April, Chertoff said, "Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation." By giving Chertoff sweeping authority and setting an inflexible end-of-the-year deadline for the completion of 670 miles of fencing, Congress created a climate with little time or space to maneuver through the myriad issues at the intersection of national security, immigration policy and environmental conservation.

"This decision leaves one man - the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security - with the extraordinary power to ignore any and all of the laws designed to protect the American people, our lands, and our natural resources," said Oliver Bernstein, a Sierra Club spokesman. "The government has paid only lip service to public processes and to integrating environmental protection into border security efforts."

While most Americans hold an image of the border as a barren hinterland, the nearly 1,950-mile frontier has varied terrain and rich biodiversity. Private citizens, nonprofit organizations and federal agencies have spent decades protecting critical habitat for birds and endangered cats, including the ocelot and jaguarundi. Jim Chapman, president of Frontera Audubon, said the Supreme Court decision was just another indication of the prevailing "strange times." "If you don't stop and examine what the impacts may be, you won't know what they were until whatever you're trying to protect is gone," he said.

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26 June, 2008

Britain to get new border police force?

Plans for a new police border force are to be floated by the government, it has been revealed. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith made the admission in a 16-page response to a report by Lord Carlile, the independent reviewer of UK terrorism legislation. The proposal for a 3,000 strong force, put forward by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), will be in a police reform Green Paper.

The Conservatives accused the government of "playing catch-up". A Home Office spokeswoman said they wanted to use the Green Paper "to invite wider views".

The proposed border force would include uniformed officers and officers from Special Branch. It comes just months after the UK Border Agency was launched - comprised of officers from the Border and Immigration Agency, HM Revenue and Customs and UK visas. At the time the Conservatives dismissed the agency as "lacking the powers to chase people traffickers and employers of illegal labour".

On the idea of a police border force, the Home Office said the Green Paper looked at a "number of proposals for policing at the border, including the Acpo proposal". "No decision has been taken about the future of border policing and we are keen to use the Green Paper to invite wider views," a spokeswoman said.

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said such a force would be "welcome but very overdue". "For two years we have been calling for a dedicated border police force - something ministers have consistently rubbished," he said. "Having dithered, the government have now realised their error and are trying to play catch up."

A spokesman for Acpo said it saw merit in creating a separate agency or force to work closely with the UK Border Agency. "The government's focus should be on border control and this agency would focus on security, and would preserve the distinction between operational policing and the government."

The Home Office revealed its plans as the independent reviewer of UK terrorism legislation, Lord Carlile, warned in his annual report there was "real anxiety" among senior police officers at the potential use of light aircraft as "vehicle bombs". He also criticised police for overusing anti-terrorism stop-and-search powers, saying their use should be halved.

BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said aviation security has been a theme of Lord Carlile's reports. In his latest, Lord Carlile highlights the risk of terrorists hijacking executive jets which travel at high-speed across continents. Although there is said to be no intelligence about this, Lord Carlile said senior police officers had concerns, given the large number of private aircraft and small airfields.

Also in the report, the peer criticised police for over-using powers to stop-and search-people under the Terrorism Act - there were five occasions in 2007 when officers did not have authorisation. He said there was an "inconsistency of approach" among chief constables about the powers. It emerged last December that Sussex police had wrongly deployed the measures at Gatwick airport, where they unlawfully stopped and searched hundreds of people.

Lord Carlile's document showed that similar errors were made by the Greater Manchester and South Wales forces last year. The police must obtain ministerial authority before they designate an area a stop-and-search zone under the Terrorism Act 2000. To remain legal, this must also be renewed regularly, otherwise the police could be sued for wrongful detention.

Lord Carlile said 12 people were detained. He hoped they had been informed of the mistake in writing, so they could consider suing the police. The peer also said that 257 people were arrested under terrorism powers in 2007, of whom 126 were eventually released without charge. "The realities of this kind of policing increase the possibility of arrests later found to be of innocent members of the public," he said. But he added: "I am satisfied that the level of arrests is proportionate to perceived risk."

Lord Carlile also expressed "serious worries" about the Crown Prosecution Service's practice of charging terrorist suspects on the basis of less evidence - the so-called "threshold test". He said it contained "at least as many and certainly more concealed risks of causing unfair extended detention" as the proposal for 42 days' detention.

Source



Australia: Dole payment plan for illegal immigrants

TAXPAYERS would be forced to pay thousands of illegal immigrants the dole under controversial measures now being considered by the Rudd Government. For the first time asylum seekers and illegal immigrants fighting to stay in the country would be allowed to work and claim welfare benefits while taking the Immigration Department to court.

The proposal will mostly apply to illegal immigrants on tourist visas who fly into the country and then claim asylum when ordered to leave, rather than the stereotype of people who arrive on leaky boats. They are not in detention centres and are given a so-called "Bridging Visa E" until their cases are sorted out. The latest figures show there are 5624 people on the visas but the number often swells to as high as 7000.

Although overstayers would pay taxes if they found a job, taxpayers would have to pay millions in Centrelink and Medicare payments to those unable to find work. As well, taxpayers would have to foot the cost of appeals to the Migration Review Tribunal, the Federal Court, the full bench of the Federal Court and the High Court. Some court cases last a decade or more. Sources have told The Courier-Mail of one case involving a man who arrived in the 1980s and claimed asylum who was finally kicked out last year after exhausting all his appeal options.

The Opposition has denounced Labor's plan, warning that without safety measures taxpayers would bear the brunt of vexatious claims. It also said illegal immigrants would target Australia if the law was relaxed.

But Immigration Minister Chris Evans intends to speed-up the appeals process and close the loophole that enables some illegal immigrants to remain in the country for years while seeking numerous judicial reviews. "The Rudd Government is aware of concerns in the community about the difficulties faced by asylum seekers who are denied work rights or access to Medicare, " Senator Evans said. "The department is currently assessing the issue and will consult with a range of stakeholders when developing any changes to bridging visa policy. "It is also vitally important that the bridging visa regime is not open to abuse."

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25 June, 2008

More Grief for McCain on Secret Meeting with Hispanics

Sen. John McCain took some grief from the Left for keeping a tight handle on who he invited to his secret meeting with Hispanics in Chicago last week. And he took some grief from the Right for apparently promising at that meeting to pursue a pathway to citizenship for some illegal immigrants.

The grief from the Right continued today. Anti-amnesty crusader Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., wrote McCain a letter calling him out on the meeting, questioning McCain's commitment to pledges made earlier in the campaign, and snarkily invoking McCain's "Straight Talk" mantra. Tancredo asks if promises made by McCain earlier in the presidential campaign to hold off on giving longtime illegal immigrants a "pathway to citizenship" until after the borders were secured were any more than lip service, and wonders whether the presumptive Republican nominee's candidacy is a Trojan horse for amnesty.

"Senator, given your past sponsorship of amnesty legislation, such statements raise troubling questions. Are you planning to break a promise you made in February to postpone all other immigration reform legislation until we have first secured our borders?" writes Tancredo, who goes on to ask McCain to use an upcoming speech to the pro-pathway to citizenship National Council of La Raza in San Diego to embrace a "security first" immigration approach. "I challenge you to deliver a message to that assembly which does not pander to their amnesty agenda. You should speak to the La Raza convention and to all Hispanic audiences about America's need for secure borders as a priority above all other immigration reforms," Tancredo said.

McCain was a vocal proponent of the failed Senate attempt to pass comprehensive immigration reform when Republicans controlled the body in 2006. He was a less visible proponent in 2007, when Democrats were in charge, though he voted again for a bipartisan, comprehensive approach to immigration in both years.

The second attempt at immigration reform failed as his presidential campaign was ramping up. McCain explained to Republican voters in debates that he had gotten "the message" and would work to secure American borders before pursuing a pathway to citizenship.

"Giving Americans "Straight Talk" -- telling them what they need to hear instead of what they want to hear - demonstrates leadership, and as you have correctly pointed out many times in the past, that is what America needs now more than ever," he said.

Source



Immigration critics don't rely on Presidents

GWB was not their friend nor will the next President be much help

Just last year, an increasingly powerful grass-roots movement celebrated its success in killing an effort to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants. Its influence spread as a procession of presidential candidates proclaimed their support. But now there are just two candidates for the nation's top office, Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.). And both have taken immigration stands that restrictionist groups find appalling.

Although heavily supported and highly organized, those who oppose illegal immigration suddenly find themselves without a champion. "That's the reality we're dealing with: a choice we don't consider a choice," said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, which advocates stricter controls on legal and illegal immigration. "These two guys were pretty much at the bottom of all the candidates. They're the worst, the bottom of the barrel, that ended up winning."

But a loose coalition of activist groups has rejected the prospect of sitting out the presidential campaign, or waiting until next time. Instead, groups have begun working to hem in the future president. They have pushed for new city and state laws, helping spur hundreds of bills around the country in the last three months. They've held conferences to educate members nationwide and lobby local officials. And they're promoting the election of congressional candidates who take a hard line on immigration.

The strategy is to reshape the national political landscape to fend off future liberalization proposals. "We're doing everything we can to dig in, in the states and in Congress," said William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, a political action committee.

The picture looked much rosier a few months ago, as far as these groups were concerned. The field of Republican presidential candidates included two -- Reps. Duncan Hunter of Alpine and Tom Tancredo of Colorado -- who ran campaigns based largely on their opposition to illegal immigration. But Obama and McCain are seen as generally indistinguishable on the issue. McCain, while toughening his stance recently, has backed proposals providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Obama favors a similar mix of enforcement and legalization. "The chances of influencing one of these two guys to take a pro-worker, pro-environment position are very low," said Beck. However, "bringing public pressure to bear to not dismantle enforcement and improve border security has some chance of success."

Some of the groups working on that goal are tightly aligned, sharing office space and funding. Others share advice and occasionally cooperate. Most are ramping up efforts.

The staff of the Immigration Reform Law Institute has been working since 2002 to aid state legislators concerned about illegal immigration. Every step of the way, there have been legal challenges to the bills they have written, said institute director Michael M. Hethmon, and with each challenge, they've found ways to make their bills stronger. "We were constantly learning," Hethmon said.

His group and Gheen's Americans for Legal Immigration have developed a state- level legislative package that requires businesses to verify the legality of new employees, bans public aid for illegal immigrants, and makes it a felony to transport an illegal immigrant.

They have helped turn that package into tough state-level immigration laws by offering their help for free. The Immigration Reform Law Institute has worked on bills in Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi and Colorado, as well as South Carolina, where colleges now bar illegal immigrants. The organization's efforts in Michigan, Indiana and Florida failed this year, but other initiatives are underway. At least 1,106 measures related to immigration were considered in 44 states in the first quarter of 2008, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Twenty-four states passed 44 laws and 38 resolutions. Not all of those measures sought to crack down on illegal immigrants, but many were influenced by the Immigration Reform Law Institute or affiliated groups.

"We see this state and local activity as not only effective in itself . . . but there's also the long effect as, one by one, these states line up," Hethmon said. "As these jurisdictions confront this issue, it builds up a positive and helpful kind of pressure on Congress."

NumbersUSA concentrates on elections but soon will expand its work to legislation, Beck said. For now, the group tracks the immigration positions of every candidate in every race and assigns them a grade that is distributed monthly to the organization's 640,000 members. Beck boasted that NumbersUSA had an average of 1,300 members per congressional district. But he added: "We need more participation on the ground." To that end, Beck is looking for fundraisers and local leaders in preparation for November's congressional races. He argued that a Democratic Congress "doesn't necessarily mean bad things for us."

Some freshman Democrats who won seats from Republicans are tough on illegal immigration because "they need a way to show people that they're different from the party leadership," he said.

Beck once saw the same split among Republicans. Though the Bush administration and much of the party leadership backed changes that would legalize illegal immigrants, other Republicans shifted to a stricter stance. "We've spent the last seven years separating the Republican back bench from the party leadership with tremendous success," said Beck, who said his sights are now on the Democrats. "We'll continue to push that line hard."

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24 June, 2008

Court rejects case on fast track for border fence

The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a plea by environmental groups to rein in the Bush administration's power to waive laws and regulations to speed construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has used authority given to him by Congress in 2005 to ignore environmental and other laws and regulations to move forward with hundreds of miles of fencing in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. The case rejected by the court involved a two-mile section of fence in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area near Naco, Ariz. The section has since been built.

"I am extremely disappointed in the court's decision," Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said. "This waiver will only prolong the department from addressing the real issue: their lack of a comprehensive border security plan." Thompson chairs the House Homeland Security Committee. He and 13 other House democrats - including six other committee chairs - filed a brief in support of the environmentalists' appeal.

Earlier this year, Chertoff waived more than 30 laws and regulations in an effort to finish building 670 miles of fence along the southwest border. Administration officials have said that invoking the legal waivers - which Congress authorized in 1996 and 2005 laws - will cut through bureaucratic red tape and sidestep environmental laws that currently stand in the way of fence construction.

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Immigrants burn down buildings at French deportation centre

Illegal immigrants started a fire on Sunday at one of France's biggest deportation centres outside Paris, burning down two buildings and injuring about 20 inmates waiting for expulsion, police said. The blaze began when a number of inmates set mattresses on fire after the death on Saturday of a Tunisian immigrant detained in the centre, one inmate told Reuters by telephone.

Police said in a statement that 20 people "made uncomfortable by fumes" had been taken to hospital, but that no one had been seriously injured. They said several fires had been started deliberately, severely damaging two buildings housing a total of 273 inmates. All the buildings' occupants have been evacuated and will be moved to other centres.

A 41-year-old Tunisian immigrant died in the Vincennes centre yesterday, and police said he died from a heart attack while alone in his bedroom. An investigation into his death has been opened, but the MRAP organisation against racism said the death shows that detention conditions in French deportation centres are poor. "This one too many death is to be blamed on the obsessive, cruel, brutal and inhuman policy that criminalises immigration," the MRAP said in a statement.

The French government has said it is aiming to expel 26,000 illegal immigrants in 2008 after missing its goal of 25,000 last year.

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23 June, 2008

Minutemen, others march in L.A. to protest illegal immigration



In May, it was immigrants marching for immigration reform. This weekend, about 50 protesters marched in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday to decry violence by illegal immigrants and to demand that the Los Angeles Police Department change its controversial policy, Special Order 40, limiting when someone can be questioned about their immigration status.

The marchers, including anti-illegal-immigration Minutemen and local community activists, also called for justice for Jamiel Shaw II, 17, a black athlete who was shot and killed in March by an alleged gang member who authorities say was in the country illegally.

Photo: Dozens of protesters, including anti-illegal-immigration Minutemen and community activists, march along Broadway in downtown L.A. to decry violence by illegal immigrants and to demand that the Los Angeles Police Department change its controversial policy limiting when someone can be questioned about their immigration status.

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Feds let down the States over border deployment of national guard

Operation Jump Start sent National Guard troops to states like Arizona beginning in June 2006. The idea was to assist the Border Patrol while the government hired and trained thousands of additional agents and while we built hundreds of miles of border fence.

Each of those things has happened to a degree, but not at a level that officials had hoped, which is why Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, along with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, have asked the federal government to extend the mission beyond its original deadline of next month. They have been turned down.

I wondered how the governor felt about that. "With Jump Start, we've finally seen improvement," Napolitano said via e-mail. "But I doubt you could convince anyone in Arizona that the border problems have suddenly been solved. Until Congress overhauls immigration law, giving us a full set of workable tools to deal with illegal immigration, it makes absolutely no sense to end Operation Jump Start."

Particularly in the summer, when the danger of succumbing to the heat is greatest. In July 2005, 68 people died while trying to cross the border, seven in one day. The National Guard presence, along with improvements that include fencing and vehicle barriers, have helped. But the hi-tech border security that the federal government has promised to construct is years away from completion.

Napolitano discussed her reasons for wanting to extend Operation Jump Start in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff back in March. Speaking of the "virtual fence" and other issues, Napolitano wrote:

"Your office has announced the system cannot be operational before 2011 . . . Real solutions to fix our broken border cannot wait that long. Human and drug smuggling rings continue to thrive in Arizona, crossing our border and using our cities and major hubs to transport crossers throughout the county . . . I have always believed that drawing down Operation Jump Start would be a mistake. Now that promised improvements in border security measure will not come to pass anytime soon, the federal government has no excuse to scale back the program. Common sense dictates that the drawdown should stop, and that a continued high National Guard presence should be maintained."

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22 June, 2008

A McCain flip-flop on immigration?

Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign is going after Republican rival Sen. John McCain, questioning whether the Arizona senator is offering contradictory language on the hot-button issue of immigration reform following a closed-door meeting McCain held with activists during a recent trip to Chicago.

The criticism leveled by Robert Gibbs, Obama's communications director, marked a day of accusations between the Obama and McCain camps over which presumptive presidential nominee is more guilty of political doublespeak--a shorthand way to describe pandering versus truth telling. The Obama camp's move may be aimed at deflecting criticism the Democratic candidate said one thing--promising to negotiate a pact with McCain on public financing--and did another by rejecting it.

In the aftermath of McCain's closed-door visit with more than 100 Hispanic leaders on Wednesday--sandwiched into a fundraising visit by the Republican contender--a conservative anti-illegal immigration activist who attended the meeting contended McCain was offering conservatives one view of immigration reform while telling Latinos another. In the meeting, attendees said McCain promised that, if elected, Congress would pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill. That's anathema to people like Rosanna Pulido, the director of the Illinois Minuteman Project, who attended the event. Pulido said McCain used the phrase "comprehensive immigration reform" three times. "To me, it's a code word for amnesty" for illegal immigrants to gain citizenship, she said.

Pulido, who is of Mexican decent, acknowledged she told the Associated Press she thought McCain was "pandering to the crowd" by making a major emphasis on immigration reform in his 15-minute speech. Another attendee, Democratic Illinois state Sen. Martin Sandoval from Chicago's Southwest Side and an elected Hillary Clinton delegate, met privately later with McCain. He said McCain's remarks about immigration reform in the larger forum only lasted about 90 seconds while the Arizona senator talked more about job creation, keeping taxes low and the war in Iraq.

Pulido and Sandoval don't get along at all and Pulido has dubbed Sandoval the "godfather" of the illegal immigration movement into the state. "He's one John McCain in front of white Republicans and he's a different John McCain in front of Hispanics," Pulido said, echoing remarks she made earlier to the AP. But Sandoval said Pulido's comments and the resulting fallout over his own meeting with McCain were an "overreaction" and that he told the Republican contender the same thing he would tell Obama--"Nobody should take for granted the Latino community."

Pulido has been vocal in her criticism of immigration reform efforts. Among the Illinois Minuteman's Web site's features is an article discussing the likely success of a U.S. military-led coup of the federal government as a result of illegal immigration and the war in Iraq. Pulido also has maintained that increases of up to 90 percent in the property taxes of Chicago-area Cook County homeowners were due to the costs of bilingual education and the costs of providing health and other services to illegal immigrants.

There are a couple of issues of interest here. Obama has had difficulty attracting Hispanic voters who flocked to his vanquished rival Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign. Now, the Obama campaign is relying on criticism leveled by a Republican conservative activist who has referred to the presumptive GOP nominee as "Juan McCain" to push their criticism of McCain doubletalk.

The Obama push may help drive some conservatives who already have raised red flags about McCain further away. McCain led a failed push for immigration reform that included a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants but the proposal met with overwhelming public outcry, particularly among Republicans. But it is questionable whether the criticism helps Obama with the Hispanic audience he is trying to draw.

Pulido said she found it ironic that the Obama campaign would try to use the immigration meeting and criticism of McCain for political advantage. "(Obama) really has little room to say anything because the only person who has a worse record than John McCain on immigration is Barack Obama, selling out his own people, the African-Americans who suffer more at the illegal immigration crisis than any Americans," she said. "Those people have just suffered more, their jobs and benefits and all that. It's really shameful that he is using it because his record is absolutely shameful."

As for McCain, Pulido said, "He has lost his way in the Republican Party. I am a conservative before I am a Republican and I am at the breaking point, like other Republicans are. There is such a backlash with John McCain."

The Obama campaign cited a Jan. 30 debate among the GOP presidential rivals in which they contended McCain said he would not vote for his immigration reform measure today because the American people made it clear that border security was their top priority. "It was just one of several examples through out the week of John McCain being in a tortured debate with John McCain," Gibbs said.

Other examples, Gibbs said, was McCain's reversal on off-shore oil drilling, telling Hillary Clinton supporters last weekend that he had no litmus test for federal judges despite telling abortion opponent and one-time GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer the opposite in 2000. Bauer told the Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody that McCain, whom Bauer now supports, never made such a commitment in 2000.

The Obama campaign also said that McCain surrogate Carly Fiorina, in an appeal to Clinton's female supporters, noted that the Arizona senator "has never signed onto efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade," the landmark Supreme Court decision on abortion. But McCain, in a February 2007 visit to the early GOP primary state of South Carolina, said he believed the decision should be reversed.

Gibbs termed Friday "the end of pander week aboard the double-talk express of the John McCain campaign"--a takeoff of McCain's "Straight Talk express." For McCain's part, Tucker Bounds, spokesman for the Republican's campaign, responded with this comment:

"Despite the wildly misinformed opinions of Barack Obama's spokesman, John McCain fundamentally believes that we need to secure our border, and then move forward to address the need for immigration reform in a respectful and compassionate manner that recognizes that we are all God's children. That's his position yesterday, today and every other day - before all the groups he meets with."

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Italian Plan to Deal With Migrants Could Affect Residents Who Rely on Them

It is an everyday symbol, touching almost, of Italy's troubled demographics: an older Italian out for some air, at times arm in arm with an immigrant aide. The aides often are not here legally but have been tolerated because they do work few Italians do: care for the nation's rapidly aging population.

But much as Italy is growing older, it is also more worried about crime. And in the eyes of many Italians, for whom immigration is a relatively new phenomenon, immigrants also have a central role in this. Under a law proposed by the far right wing of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's new government, it would become a felony offense to come to Italy illegally, punishable by prison. "These days on the streets, you see a lot of policemen, sometimes in plain clothes, stopping people and demanding their documents," said Pilar, 31, a Peruvian here illegally who takes care of a 76-year-old Italian woman. She would not give her full name for fear of being deported. "If they stop me, then what will I do?" she said.

The law would be one of the strictest in Europe - and the proposal has drawn strong opposition from center-left political parties, human rights organizations, the Vatican, the United Nations and Italian prosecutors worried about overwhelmed courts.

Around Europe, the mood is not friendly toward immigrants: this week the European Union Parliament voted to allow illegal immigrants to be held in detention centers for up to 18 months pending deportation. Expelled immigrants who defy the order to leave can be banned from re-entering the European Union for up to five years. Experts say these restrictions are ultimately aimed at deportation. Italy would go a crucial step further, making it a prosecutable crime to enter the nation without papers - something that Mr. Berlusconi himself does not seem to like. He recently ventured that it might be "unrealistic" for the state to jail perhaps hundreds or thousands of illegal immigrants.

But he was careful to say that this was "only a personal opinion," because he is not willing to take on the bill's sponsors: the Northern League, an allied party that once advocated secession of Italy's more prosperous north. More to the point: it brought down Mr. Berlusconi's first government in 1994.

The law, part of a broad anti-crime package being discussed in Parliament, would in theory apply to all illegal immigrants here. But experts say it is particularly problematic as it relates to the illegal immigrants who care, in increasing numbers, for the nation's older citizens. The reason is that Italians have constructed an informal, do-it-yourself welfare system that preserves the importance of the Italian family by bringing aides into houses rather than shipping aged parents to nursing homes.

In Italy, where life expectancy is increasing and the birthrate is among the world's lowest, the market for foreign home care aides is expected to swell. Istat, the Italian statistics agency, predicts that in 10 years 13.4 million Italians - nearly a quarter of the population - will be 65 or older. By 2040, they will account for a third of all residents. Domenico Volpi, 82, a retired expert in children's literature who keeps busy writing essays and textbooks, said he would be lost without Brigida Parales, who moved here from Ecuador eight years ago. She cooks his meals, cleans his house, reminds him to take his medicine and keeps him company. "She's indispensable," Mr. Volpi said.



Ms. Parales is one of the few legal aides. Many more are not, and human rights experts fear that if the new law is passed, employers who do not want to deal with the hassle of legalizing their help (and who fear possible judicial repercussions), may decide that their aides are imminently disposable.

The measure is part of an extensive anti-crime package drafted as one of the new government's first acts in response to widespread fears among Italians that unregulated immigration had increased crime. "Families are both perpetrators and victims" of illegal immigration, said Maurizio Ambrosini, a professor of sociology of immigration at the University of Milan. "They want tough laws on illegal immigration, but they are the reason that many immigrants come to Italy illegally."

Assurances have been numerous that the police will not be trolling public parks looking to handcuff domestic workers taking their older charges for a walk. Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi has suggested that exemptions could be made for some of the 405,000 foreign domestic workers who applied to be legalized last December. But the heated political debate of recent days suggests that finding a compromise will not be easy.

More here





21 June, 2008

Dems happy to spend on deporting criminal illegals

Going into November’s elections, House and Senate Democrats are outbidding the White House on spending for immigration enforcement, with a special emphasis on deporting people convicted of major drug offenses and violent crimes.

Immigration remains a highly divisive political issue — especially in the House Democratic Caucus. But targeting convicted criminals is seen as safe ground for the party and a pressure point to highlight shortcomings in the current enforcement system.

A Homeland Security budget bill now moving through the House Appropriations Committee specifies that at least $800 million be spent after Oct. 1 to identify and remove the most violent and dangerous criminals from the U.S. And Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) is expected to take an even more aggressive approach Wednesday in his own plan, adding more money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations within Homeland Security.

In the case of immigration enforcement, an April report to lawmakers from ICE estimates that between 300,000 to 450,000 illegal immigrants convicted of a crime are detained each year in federal, state, county and local facilities — all subject to deportation. But it was only last winter that ICE finally reached a point where it had 100 percent screening of state prisons, according to data submitted by the agency. And huge information gaps remain regarding prisoners in an estimated 3,100 county and local jails around the country.

Homeland Security officials say any long-term solution rests on investing in new technologies and improved interoperability to give ICE a virtual presence throughout prisons and jails nationwide. And although it has not been as fast as lawmakers want, there has been a steady escalation in the number of prisoners identified and charged for removal. “It is absolutely a top priority,” says Kelly Nantel, a spokeswoman for ICE. But after the new Democratic Congress added $200 million to the agency’s 2008 budget for this purpose, the White House didn’t continue the funding in its 2009 request, and ICE has yet to spend most of the money.

In its April report, for example, the agency committed only $25.5 million for 2008 and $174.5 million in 2009. This explains some of the frustration by Rep. David E. Price (D-N.C.), who manages the Homeland Security budget in the House. In his new bill, which won subcommittee approval last week, Price would require that ICE submit quarterly reports on meeting the committee’s goal. Price complained that too much emphasis is going to worksite raids rather than deporting criminals.

For example, ICE’s worksite enforcement arrests for noncriminal charges jumped from 445 in 2003 to 4,077 in 2007 — a better than 800 percent increase. In the same five-year period, the number of criminal deportations rose by 16 percent, from about 82,868 to 96,018.

Nantel counters that these percentage comparisons are misleading, and says that ICE — with some credit to Congress — has been stepping up its processing of convicted criminals for deportation. In 2006, for example, just 67,000 had been charged for deportation; by 2007 that number had doubled to 164,000, and the goal is to begin proceedings for 200,000 persons this year.

ICE estimates that it would require between $2.1 billion and $3.4 billion each year to remove all illegal immigrants convicted of crimes — an impossible sum given the budget today. But about $907 million would be sufficient to target those Level I prisoners convicted of major drug offenses or violent crimes.

This is the rationale behind the House bill allocating $800 million for this purpose; with the unspent funds left from 2008, the agency could then have as much as $950 million available.

The details of Byrd’s approach aren’t yet known, but the West Virginian will commit more money and is more aggressive than the House on enforcement, including the worksite raids that have angered many Hispanic lawmakers.

Thus, the House’s approach is more one of shifting priorities within ICE’s $4.8 billion budget. The $800 million commitment represents 17 percent of the total, and only about $60 million in new money is added. By comparison, Byrd is expected to take an approach of providing more robust funding generally, with possibly $160 million in new money for the purpose of targeting major criminals for deportation.

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Not too bright British bureaucracy

Martha Stewart refused entry to the UK



Martha Stewart has been refused a visa to Britain because of her criminal convictions for obstructing justice. The lifestyle guru, convicted four years ago in the US for obstructing justice, was planning to speak at the Royal Academy and to hold meetings with several figures in the fashion and leisure industry, including Jasper Conran, and was due to travel within the next few days.

The refusal by the UK Border Agency was sent to Ms Stewart, aged 66. A spokesperson for the business magnate said: "Martha loves England and hopes this can be resolved and that she will be able to visit soon." She added that Ms Stewart has many friends in Britain, which she has visited numerous times. A cook, designer and publisher, Ms Stewart was once called "the definitive American woman of our time" and once collaborated with Wedgwood on a range of crockery.

A British government official called the decision "an own goal" given the transatlantic business and goodwill her visit could generate. "It is a bit silly given some of the other people allowed into the country," the official added.

It was not clear if Ms Stewart had been singled out or was a victim of a blanket rule imposed by the new agency. In 2004 she served five months in prison for lying to federal agents investigating the sale of shares shortly before they fell sharply in value.

The UK Border Agency said it would not comment on individual cases. A spokesman added: "We continue to oppose the entry to the UK of individuals where we believe their presence in the United Kingdom is not conducive to the public good or where they have been found guilty of serious criminal offences abroad."

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20 June, 2008

Escape blunder in Britain as minister launches immigration crackdown

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, faced embarrassment today after seven illegal immigrants broke out of a detention centre on the day she unveiled a new crackdown on immigration. Miss Smith revealed a "tough" strategy for tackling offenders and launched it by meeting with police officers carrying out dawn raids on alleged bent solicitors and bogus colleges.

But within hours, news had emerged of a security breach at the Campsfield detention centre in Oxfordshire. Three men who were facing deportation are on the run tonight. Opposition leaders hit out at repeated, "unacceptable" blunders at Campsfield and said the timing of the incident, coinciding with the new policy launch, was "sadly appropriate".

In a raft of new measures, Miss Smith announced that the UK Border Agency would "name and shame" employers who hire illegal immigrants, that those who were convicted and sentenced to a year or more faced "automatic deportation", and launched a crackdown on illegal immigrants obtaining British driving licences.

In the London raids, police arrested at least eight men and women linked with companies they believe helped illegal immigrants to settle in the UK. Officials believe the firm of solicitors at the centre of the inquiry was issuing false education certificates to them, which they would then use to "enrol" at one of four bogus colleges across London and fraudulently apply for student visas.

Only later did the break-out emerge. Four of the escapees were recaptured by police shortly after the alarm was raised at 4 am, including one, a Libyan with a criminal record, who was found eating tomatoes at the Botanical Gardens in Oxford. The other three remain on the run, Thames Valley Police said. The break-out happened just five days after a fire at the 215-man Campsfield detention centre, during which around 20 detainees staged a rooftop protest. There was a riot at the centre last December and 26 detainees escaped from the centre in a mass break-out months before.

Dominic Grieve, Shadow Home Secretary, said: "It is sadly appropriate that a serious and dangerous incident at an immigration detention centre should coincide with the Government's latest attempt at talking tough on immigration. "Announcing yet another reorganisation of the UK Borders Agency and putting names on a website is no substitute for real action. Naming and shaming is no substitute for catching and convicting. "All of this shows why we need an integrated Border Police Force bringing together the police with immigration and customs, to make our borders safer and the immigration system less chaotic."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "This is the fifth major disturbance at Campsfield in little over a year and the second in a week. It raises serious questions about the wisdom of mixing foreign national ex-prisoners with immigration detainees. "The frequency of fires and escapes suggests there are significant problems with either the Home Office system or the management of Campsfield itself."

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Federal prosecution of illegal immigrants soars

The White House lauds the dramatic increase, but critics cite higher priorities

The Bush administration has sharply ratcheted up prosecutions of illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in the last year, with increases so dramatic that immigration offenses now account for as much as half the nation's federal criminal caseload. In the widening crackdown, administration officials prosecuted 9,350 illegal immigrants on federal criminal charges in March, up from 3,746 a year ago and an all-time high, according to statistics released Tuesday. Those convicted have received jail sentences averaging about one month.

The prosecutions are among the most visible steps in a larger effort that includes work-site raids, increased border patrols and the use of technology and fences. Often controversial, the patchwork of measures represents the administration's response to failed congressional attempts last summer to overhaul federal immigration laws.

Administration officials and conservative groups have lauded the increase in prosecutions. But critics say data show illegal immigrants are still trying to enter the country. And some lawyers argue that the push is overwhelming a federal court system with limited resources and higher priorities. Even so, administration officials announced this month that they would be funneling more resources toward the effort, called Operation Streamline. "The results of this criminal prosecution initiative have been striking," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Chertoff's agency and the Justice Department, which oversee the effort, recently announced a plan to assign 64 attorneys and 35 staff members to prosecutions along the Southwest border. The program began as a pilot around Del Rio, Texas, in 2005 and spread to other areas. Officers and prosecutors participating in it practice "zero tolerance," and jail times can range from two weeks to six months. "The reason this works is because these illegal migrants come to realize that violating the law will not simply send them back to try over again but will require them to actually serve some short period of time in a jail or prison setting, and will brand them as having been violators of the law," Chertoff said. "That has a very significant deterrent impact."

The statistical analysis released Tuesday was compiled by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, considered an authoritative source for such figures. It called the increase "highly unusual."

Operation Streamline's larger aim is to give the administration another tool to use in its crackdown on illegal immigration, said Susan B. Long, a TRAC co-director and Syracuse University professor. "This is an effort to use the federal criminal justice system in immigration enforcement," Long said. "What it means is that immigration cases are dominating the federal court system these days. The volume of cases is really huge. This is a big deal."

Of 16,298 federal criminal prosecutions recorded nationwide in March, immigration cases accounted for more than half, Long said. The next-highest number, 2,674, was for drug offenses, followed by 702 for white-collar crime. TRAC researchers found that all but 142 of the 9,350 new federal immigration prosecutions in March occurred in certain areas along the border with Mexico. Texas was most active, followed by Southern California.

California is not formally a part of the program. But prosecutions of people who smuggle illegal immigrants across the state's border have increased sharply in the last five years, nearly doubling to 118 cases in March.

The deluge of prosecutions is overwhelming some lawyers involved in the process. Heather Williams, a federal public defender in Tucson, said the operation had a crushing effect when it was begun this year on a limited basis. Defense attorneys fear for clients who are hustled into court, en masse, after spending days crossing the desert. "We have to be concerned our clients are competent to plead, that they understand what's going on," Williams said.

Other immigrant advocates were critical of the increase in federal prosecutions. "It doesn't mean we have an end to illegal immigration or a way of dealing with it," said Angela Kelley, director of the Immigration Policy Center.

A recent study showed that would-be border crossers were more concerned about heat and harsh conditions than border enforcement, she said. The study, by Wayne A. Cornelius, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UC San Diego, found that 98% of immigrants from the Mexican state of Oaxaca were eventually able to enter the U.S.

But groups that want to see immigration tightly controlled applauded the new statistics. "It sounds like very good news," said Roy Beck, director of NumbersUSA, which advocates stricter immigration controls. "It's part of a pattern we've seen since last August where the administration, on the border and in the interior, seems almost monthly to be tightening the vise," he said.

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19 June, 2008

European Parliament Passes Stringent Immigration Guidelines

The European parliament has passed tough new immigration guidelines that sparked protests on the part of human rights groups and some lawmakers. European governments had already approved the new immigration measures, but they still awaited passage by the European parliament. That happened Wednesday.

The guidelines allow the European Union's 27 members to hold illegal immigrants for up to 18 months in special detention centers before deporting them. That is considerably longer than current detention policies in most EU countries - but members are not required to adopt the longer limits.

Those expelled also face a five-year re-entry ban applicable for the entire bloc. But governments must first give the immigrants a chance to leave the country voluntarily - and they are required to offer those detained free legal advice and other basic rights.

Those supporting the measures, including EU Commissioner Jacques Barrot, argue they safeguard rights for legal immigrants while setting common European standards for illegal ones. Barrot says Europe does not want to be a closed fortress. It will continue to welcome immigrants from elsewhere - just as it does now - and remain faithful to offering asylum to those needing it. But he says the European Union cannot accept illegal immigration, which he argues is not fair to anyone.

But critics like Nicolas Berger, director of Amnesty International's Brussels office, claim the new immigration guidelines are unfair. "We have mainly got two concerns about this reform directive," Berger said. "One is the length of detention. People [can] get detained for one-and-a-half years and these are people who have not committed any crime."

Amnesty is also worried that the five-year re-entry ban could hurt those who truly need asylum. "Europe is for us going in the wrong direction here quite a bit in terms of continuing this discourse of scapegoating immigrants, of putting immigrants and asylum seekers in the same box as criminals and connecting them to terrorism without looking at reality and individual cases," Berger said.

About eight million illegal immigrants reside in the European Union, according to the bloc's estimates. More than 200,000 were arrested in the first half of last year - but less than 90,000 were expelled.

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Lots of would-be Jews in Ethiopia

Israel needs more crime, apparently

How many people of Jewish descent are left in Ethiopia? Between 5,000 and 300,000, depending which Ethiopian-Israeli Knesset member you ask. On one side is MK Mazor Bahyna (Shas), who claims, "There are more than 300,000 Jews in Ethiopia who are entitled to immigrate to Israel, and they should be helped to get here." On the other side is MK Shlomo Molla (Kadima), who supports the official government position that the immigration from Ethiopia should be ended.

The disagreement between the two lawmakers reflects the profound differences of opinion within the Ethiopian community in Israel. Some are calling to bring anyone who claims a connection to the Jewish people to Israel, while others do not see the Falashmura, whose ancestors converted to Christianity, as Jews, and say many of them are lying about their Jewish origins.

"We have historical evidence and letters from the kaises (Ethiopian Jewish religious leaders) showing that 40 years ago there were more than 50,000 crypto-Jews who had been forced to convert," says Bahyna. "We believe that there are at least 300,000 today. This is a religious question. The rabbis have determined that they are Jews, and they should be brought here."

Molla, however, argues that Israel should stop bringing over Falashmura, in accordance with the 2005 government decision to cease the immigration as of this month. He calls Bahyna's stance "utter nonsense. Because of mistakes they made at the Interior Ministry, there are still 5,000 people in Ethiopia whose eligibility needs to be examined, but after that, the matter must be ended," he says. "This is a political decision. If they keep dragging their feet, an infinite number of Ethiopians with no connection to Israel or the Jewish people could come here."

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18 June, 2008

Washington-area police report wave of burglaries, cite illegal immigrants

A wave of burglaries is spreading across the Washington area, and police say illegal immigrants, hit by police crackdowns and the drop in new construction, are likely playing a key role. "The immigrant community is at a tipping point," said Montgomery County police community liaison Officer Luis Hurtado. "The poor economy is pushing more immigrants to turn to crime."

In the first five months of this year, burglaries climbed 10 to 20 percent in many jurisdictions. The District of Columbia had the greatest increase, jumping 20 percent from 1,370 in the first five months of 2007 to 1,638 for the same period this year. Montgomery County police said they've averaged 288 burglaries a month for the first five months of this year, up 23 per month, or nearly 10 percent, from last year. Alexandria stood out as the only jurisdiction showing a significant decline - 33 percent - but police couldn't explain the drop.

And many more burglaries in which illegal immigrants themselves are the victims have likely gone unreported; illegals often shy away from police, whom they fear may arrest them for violating immigration laws, community activists said. Last week, about 100 residents from the massive Latino community in Takoma/Langley Park, which straddles the Prince George's-Montgomery County line, met with police officials from both counties. They demanded action for what they described as a neighborhood under siege.

In recent weeks, a shopkeeper was shot to death and a police officer killed a man all within a one-block radius at the center of the community. But it's the unreported crimes that have residents most concerned, and improved relations with police are needed to fight back, said Mario Quiroz, spokesman for immigrant advocacy group CASA de Maryland.

Meanwhile, four illegal immigrants from Virginia and Maryland who work in construction told The Examiner there are fewer jobs available now that housing starts have fallen. Expanded efforts by area officials to check immigration status and punish employers who fail to verify employee status have ended much of the migratory cycle that carried illegals from job to job around the region.

Crime experts have mixed opinions on the role illegal immigrants play when it comes to breaking the law. Criminologists either believe illegals are more prone to criminal behavior because they've already broken one law upon entering the country, or they will more likely keep their hands clean, fearing deportation. Eric Rasmusen, an economist at Indiana University, studied a 2005 report to Congress on foreigners held in federal and state prisons to find that illegal immigrants commit 21 percent of crimes in the United States, costing the U.S. more than $84 billion. But William Chambliss, a criminologist at American University, disagrees: "It's always easy and nice to say there's a connection between illegal immigrants and crime ... but there's little to no empirical evidence to show that." Chambliss said there is a connection, however, between the failing economy and the rise in burglaries "that's not true of other, more violent crimes."

Making matters worse is that there are now many more items in people's homes - iPods and laptops, for example - that are easier to steal than there were a decade ago. At the end of the day, though, a life of crime comes with little profit. At best, Chambliss said, a burglar can get 10 percent of the value on a stolen item.

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NJ landlord sued over renting to illegal immigrants

A group opposed to illegal immigration is using federal anti-corruption laws to sue a New Jersey property manager for allegedly renting apartments to undocumented immigrants. The Immigration Reform Law Institute is suing Plainfield-based Connolly Properties, under the RICO statute, arguing that the company steers illegal immigrants into its buildings believing they will be too afraid to complain about deplorable conditions. The suit claims the property company - which manages several rental buildings in New Jersey and Pennsylvania - recruits illegal immigrants to fill its vacant apartments, segregates its tenants based on race - and steers low-income tenants and the undocumented to dilapidated properties.

Although proof of U.S. residency is not required to rent housing in New Jersey, the group is suing the management company under the RICO statute, arguing that they have so many undocumented tenants living in their properties that it constitutes harboring of illegal immigrants and should be punishable as an alien smuggling felony.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Newark, further argues that under RICO the money collected from undocumented tenants constitutes money laundering, if it can be proven the company is guilty of intentionally harboring undocumented immigrants. A telephone message seeking comment and a message left in person at the offices of Connolly Properties in Plainfield were not immediately returned Friday.

The Washington, D.C.-based Immigration Reform Law Institute - which is part of the Federation for American Immigration Reform - also supported efforts in Hazelton, Pa., and Riverside, N.J., to enact local ordinances making it a punishable offense to rent apartments or knowingly employ undocumented immigrants. A judge overturned the Hazelton ordinance, ruling it unconstitutional, and Riverside rescinded its ordinance, with officials saying the town could not afford the legal costs of defending it.

Mike Hethmon, legal counsel for the institute, said Friday that the group hoped to set a precedent by using RICO statutes to punish those who employ and house the undocumented as part of FAIR's strategy of "attrition through enforcement," which he described as tightening laws to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to live and work in the U.S. "Illegal aliens, almost by definition, don't complain about housing discrimination or slum conditions until something tragic happens and that kind of situation comes to light," Hethmon said. "Providing housing to illegal aliens promotes slum conditions almost intrinsically, so we want to address this issue."

Hethmon said the three plaintiffs in the suit so far included people of white, Hispanic and African-American heritage, and he hoped more tenants would join in suing the company, which he accused of exploiting the undocumented for financial gain. Hethmon said the plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages from the company but declined to specify the amount.

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17 June, 2008

Report from the Georgia grassroots

Illegal immigration has long been a very serious issue for many of us, and I have the worn paint brushes from covering up graffiti and even spent bullets collected from neighbor's houses to prove it. In short, illegal immigrants have already broken several laws in order to get to my neighborhood, and I can attest that their penchant for lawbreaking did not stop at our borders. We have had murders, home invasions and burglaries galore, but we have exercised our choice to stay put and fight for improvement rather than to run elsewhere. Many of those who have tried to run have discovered that they could not hide, as this problem eventually finds us all in one way or another.

We live surrounded by this every day, and we are crystal clear regarding the primary source -- yes, illegal immigrants. We have also remained well aware of those officials (both in public office and aspiring to be) who truly want to help us as opposed to merely helping themselves into elected positions.

I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Badie that citizens tend to hang on for dear life to out-of-context, misleading quotes and outrageous vote-seeking ideas expressed by politicians. The majority of us find it easier to accept the rhetoric and half-truths fed to us than to expend the effort to separate fact from fantasy. THAT is the root of the problem. Many politicians routinely take advantage of citizen apathy and lack of accurate information to attain elected office, after which the amnesia immediately sets in. They do this simply because it's the easiest route for them, and the voting public has allowed them to do it.

As one of only FIVE "just plain citizens" present at the Board of Commissioner's April public meeting in which the 287(g) program was officially kicked off, for example, I again observed the stark difference between reality and absurd political fiction. (Note that the purpose of the 287(g) program is to identify and hand over illegal immigrants to the federal authorities for deportation.)

Among other creative claims, Commission Chairman Charles Bannister has since suggested his sole sponsorship of the program, but at that meeting we witnessed the presentation and passage of the crucial funding measure via the efforts of Commissioner Lorraine Green. Incidentally, the vote appeared to be unanimous, including Mr. Bannister's own vote, which he cast for Ms. Green's proposal.

I am also fully aware of the positive impact that has already been felt upon my community as the mere word of this program has spread. I would suggest Badie visit some of the local strip malls, which have begun to see a reduction in the presence of predominantly illegal immigrant clientele. They are slowly being replaced by the return of old customers to those areas.

The point here is that as the July 15 primary approaches, we should all make an effort to separate reality from good ol' boy business as usual, do-nothing politics. A decisive rejection of the "same old" would be a crucial turning point for all of us in Gwinnett. Yes, Mr. Badie, a few of us have remained intently aware of what's going on, and we have discovered that with some effort both the doers and the big talkers among the candidates can be individually identified. Illegal immigration is among the top items on the list of Gwinnett issues that need to enjoy less discussion and see continued real progress, with the doers put in office and the talkers kicked to the curb.

Source



Toughest sheriff in US vows no let up in immigration fight

He's one popular guy and there's no doubt he's smart



He's been described as Hitler and a member of the Klu Klux Klan by Hispanic critics and immigrant rights groups, but Sheriff Joe Arpaio prefers to see himself as an equal opportunities advocate. "We lock everybody up," he says.

Arpaio, the self-styled "toughest sheriff in America" has ruled his fifedom in Arizona's Maricopa County with a steely, zero-tolerance that has enraged human rights activists but delighted headline-writers the world over. Demonstrations and picket lines follow his sweeps of largely Hispanic neighborhoods. He's been criticized by mayors and the governor of Arizona. On a recent Mexican holiday, one group batted around a Joe Arpaio pinata, an effigy filled with sweets that children attempt to split open with a stick.

The opprobrium heaped in Arpaio's direction is water off a duck's back: after 16 years in office, the veteran lawman is showing no signs of mellowing. "It just makes me more vigilant and go out more," Arpaio told AFP in an interview. "They ought to shut their mouth, let the system take its course, and if they don't like the laws, go out and get them changed. "But don't try to intimidate me to stop enforcing the laws. It will never happen ... That's how I take care of business."

During nearly two decades, Arpaio has garnered world-wide publicity for creating a tent city in the Arizona desert to house county jail inmates, sending out men and women in chain gangs to pick up trash, and clothing inmates in striped suits and pink underwear. He even offered to accommodate Paris Hilton in one of Maricopa County's jails when the celebrity socialite was sentenced to prison in Los Angeles last year for driving offences.

His latest crackdown against illegal immigrants began about 18 months ago. He has nothing against immigrants -- his parents were Italian immigrants ('legal' he adds pointedly) -- or Mexicans, he says. For Arpaio, illegal immigration is a fairness issue. Why should some people wait years for citizenship through the proper channels while others slip across the border? "The minute you crossed the border, you violated the law," Arpaio said. "There's no doubt that illegals are involved in drug trafficking and other crimes. Many of them, maybe the majority, come here to work. "Still, it's illegal to come here. I'm going to continue to enforce the law. I took an oath of office. I'm the bad guy. That's okay. It's alright with me."

Arpaio's last sweep sent 200 deputies, helicopters, and an armored car into a one square-mile Latino-dominated town, pulling over anyone with a cracked tail-light or a broken windshield. He rejects claims that his department is targeting anyone with brown skin. "We don't racial profile," he said. "We lock everybody up. I'm an equal opportunity guy."

About 16 percent of the 77,000 inmates booked into county jail this year were illegal immigrants. Arpaio believes that by keeping pressure on illegal immigrants, he can drive them from Arizona. "They're heading south, or they're going to California, but they're sure getting out of Arizona," he said. "If you can get them out of Arizona, you can get them out of the United States of America little by little. I'm not saying line up the buses, but put the pressure on them. "Little by little they're going to leave because it's going to be hard to find a job and they're going to go to jail."

Workers' rights and immigrants' rights groups say Arpaio's policies have created a climate of fear. [That's the idea!] Elias Bermudez heads Immigrants Without Borders, an immigrants' rights advocacy group. Arpaio's policies are discriminatory and "not conducive to a county that is 30 percent Hispanic," he said. "He has abused his authority and his elected position to create havoc and a feeling of terror in our community," Bermudez said. "He has capitalized on the fear and vulnerability of people who came into this country without documents, not in defiance of the laws of the United States, but because this country does not have a legal mechanism to seek work with documents. "This is a problem of developed nations against undeveloped nations, and it is a problem that needs solving."

Arpaio's sweeps will continue as long as he is sheriff, he says. His public support -- 80 to 90 percent approval ratings in polls -- make it unlikely he will lose a campaign for re-election in the fall. "I get more press in one day than the governor gets," he said. "If you go anywhere in the world, all you have to do is say Arizona,' and they say Sheriff Joe.' "Do you think they know who the governor is? I'm the toughest sheriff in America."

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16 June, 2008

Oregon man wins Great American Think-Off

Interesting that a critic of immigration won. But it was the people judging. If philosophers had beenn judging, he would have been unmentionable. Philosophers tend to be angry Leftists, The Ladderman (Brian Leiter), for instance

An Oregon man is the winner of this year's Great American Think-Off, a national philosophy competition that gives ordinary people the chance to debate some of life's perplexing questions. This year's question: "Does immigration strengthen or threaten the United States?"

Craig Allen, of West Lynn, Ore., won a gold medal Saturday after a live audience in New York Mills decided he was most convincing when arguing that the system of immigration and immigration policy is broken. He says it encourages an influx of illegal immigrants and poses a threat to the country. During the debate, the four Think-Off finalists touched on what it means to be an American and stressed that American identity is evolving.

The debate is held by the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding the cultural and creative opportunities of rural Americans. New York Mills is a farming town of some 1,200 people in central Minnesota, about 170 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

The silver medal winner was Deana Cavaliere from Richfield, Minn., who argued that immigrants of diverse cultures have created a mix of ideas that makes America an innovative and wealthy country. The other two finalists received bronze medals. Tom Bailey of Nashville, Tenn., argued that immigration strengthens the U.S., and Nick Thayer of St. Cloud, Minn., argued that it threatens the country.

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Revisiting the Virtual Fence and Immigration Policy

Whatta? I thought that the virtual fence was a dodo!

It looks like plans to erect an "operational configuration" of Boeing's virtual fence, also known as Project 28 are moving ahead. This apparently will include the installation of towers, radar, ground sensors, cameras and what would be expected to be upgraded software to make the system more usable by Border agents. It should be remembered that one of the complaints about the prototype P-28 installation was unusable images and software glitches.

Simultaneously, this comes with the announcement that President Bush had recently signed the Executive Order implementing the E-verify program, a mandate that makes all federal contractors participate to verify that employees are not illegal immigrants. The notice for this EO was published in the Federal Register on June 12th and indicates that the federal contractors will foot the large majority of the costs of implementation (estimated at $550 million over ten years, with $308 million in start-up and training costs).

"The E-Verify System is expected to help contractors avoid employment of unauthorized aliens and will assist federal agencies to avoid contracting with companies that knowingly hire unauthorized aliens," the rule states.

It is important to understand that the E-verify program is not fool-proof with 7% of the queries being unable to be confirmed by Social Security checks, 1% not being immediately confirmed by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services and the system not being immune to compromise through identity theft. Still, each step toward a more secure border and toward at least minimizing federal contractors hiring illegal workers, is a positive step,

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15 June, 2008

The AZ people support Arpaio

People donated more than $25,000 to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office last month following news that the governor had taken away some of the agency's funds to fight illegal immigration. The figure, made public late Friday, shows that hundreds of people did what most loathe to do each year during tax time - give money to the government - largely because of the heated political debate over immigration issues.Sheriff Joe Arpaio said donations began pouring into the office after Gov. Janet Napolitano announced she was yanking $1.2 million in state grants to instead create a special squad to chase fugitive felons.

While the donations don't come close to making up the hole left by Napolitano - it comes out to about 2 percent of the total - Arpaio said they show how adamant the public is about the issue. "I'm not asking for the money. I'm not even campaigning," Arpaio said. "But I can't take the check and rip it up when they give it to me." "Just think if I campaigned for it," he said, adding the donations were closer to $30,000 now.

Because of the response, Arpaio's office last month set up a special hot line that tells people to send checks to his office marked "for illegal immigration." The large majority of people who donated in May gave less than $250 to the sheriff's fund, according to county documents. The person who gave the most was Samuel Drewen of Glendale, whose gift was $3,845. Drewen could not be reached Friday for comment.

All of the donations will have to be approved by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday. County agencies typically have to report donations to the board every month, though few ever receive such gifts. "Isn't it sad that the public has to come forward (with money)?" Arpaio said. "It makes me very disturbed and sad, to be honest."

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Auditor blames FBI's 'antiquated' systems for immigration backlog

The FBI uses old technology and workers without enough training to do security checks on people applying for citizenship and other immigration benefits, a government audit found. The problems have led to large backlogs in name checks and are affecting people wanting to naturalize, become legal residents or bringing in foreign workers for businesses, said the audit issued Monday by the Justice Department's inspector general Glenn Fine.

Fine criticized the FBI for using an outdated system that matches submitted names to the FBI's index of names in its investigative files. The FBI missed opportunities to improve its "antiquated" systems by failing to raise its fees for name checks for 17 years, Fine said.

The FBI received 4 million name check requests in fiscal year 2007, more than 2 million from Citizenship and Immigration Services. It also processes about 21 million fingerprint checks a year, Fine's audit said. His audit praised the FBI's work on fingerprint checks, saying it is mostly automated.

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14 June, 2008

AZ Fun-park raids test state hiring law to prosecute employers

Company records seized in illegal-worker inquiry

Maricopa County sheriff's deputies seized hundreds of employee records from the parent company of three Valley summer-fun spots on Tuesday as part of a sweeping ID-theft investigation that may lead to the first use of a new state law to prosecute employers who knowingly hire undocumented immigrants. Nine workers associated with Golfland Entertainment Centers, which operates Waterworld, Golfland and Big Surf, were arrested in an investigation that stems from a tip the Sheriff's Office received in February. But any potential penalty for Golfland Entertainment Centers through a civil violation of the state's employer-sanctions law is likely a ways off, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said. "This may or may not turn into an employer-sanctions violation," he said. "These cases take time."

Thomas said it marked the first time that he and Sheriff Joe Arpaio have worked in concert to investigate potential violations of the Legal Arizona Workers Act, which took effect in January. Deputies served search warrants on Waterworld and Golfland for employee records. A Golfland Entertainment Centers official said the company is cooperating with the Sheriff's Office.

For company employees, Tuesday made for an unusual day. The arrests and seizures were the result of an investigation that started after a former Waterworld employee provided detectives with specific, credible information about workers at the water park using fraudulent IDs, sheriff's officials said. Armed with arrest warrants, undercover detectives targeted half-a-dozen workers suspected of ID theft early Tuesday as the employees were on their way to work at Waterworld.

Detectives caught four of them before 9 a.m. and then reconvened in a West Valley meeting room to make plans to serve warrants for Waterworld employee files at the water park and the company's local headquarters at Golfland in Mesa. By 11 a.m., detectives were collecting records for more than 400 employees at Waterworld and detaining a couple of other illegal-immigration suspects who happened to cross paths with the Sheriff's Office's federally trained deputies. Golfland Entertainment Centers employs more than 1,100 people in Arizona.

Deputies took into custody the fifth suspect as he attempted to flee Waterworld on Tuesday with two co-workers. Sheriff's deputies also detained the co-workers when they couldn't give sufficient evidence they were in the country legally. The sixth suspect deputies targeted arrived at the Waterworld office and was arrested without incident. Sheriff's officials reported having evidence that more than 100 employees at Waterworld could have potential discrepancies with Social Security numbers.

Dave Johnson, director of marketing for Golfland, said after the arrests that the company has nothing to hide. "We haven't tried to impede their investigation in any way, and we are confident we are in full compliance with the law," he said. Johnson said all employees hired this year have been vetted through E-Verify, a Web-based program that electronically checks the employment eligibility of new hires. The program went into effect this year under the hiring law. The new law says employers who knowingly hire illegal workers can face the penalty of having a business license suspended or revoked. The E-Verify system, however, can serve as a defense for employers.

Waterworld is one of three water parks owned by Golfland Entertainment Centers, which also operates the Big Surf water park in Tempe and Sunsplash water park and miniature-golf course in Mesa. Johnson said all parks would remain open as scheduled. The company's local headquarters is in Mesa at Sunsplash. Fred Kenney of Granite Bay, Calif., is listed as the company's president and chief executive. Golfland Entertainment Centers also operates six parks in California.

Tuesday's action from the Sheriff's Office drew a mixed response from patrons at the family-fun parks in the Valley. "You just usually don't think of that population working here," said Debbie Walton of Gilbert. "It's teenagers working summer jobs." Other residents echoed Arpaio's sentiment that his office should enforce all laws to the fullest extent. "I think it's necessary," said Susan Collins of Chandler. "We have to have laws. I'd like to see them enforced unless they've been changed." .....

Arpaio, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent, often likens immigration enforcement to drug suppression, in which authorities start with small-time offenders and attempt to work their way up to dealers and smugglers. In this instance, deputies arrest people suspected of identity theft with an eye on gathering enough information to potentially build a case against an employer over violation of a state civil statute. "We're not just looking at the employees, we're looking at the employers, we're looking at the businesses," Thomas said. He wouldn't say whether the case might serve as a bellwether of sanctions cases to come.

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Upscale Brits moving out

Even Bulgaria seems preferable to some Brits

As the economic mood darkens, Britain's wealth generators are moving abroad. So where exactly is everybody heading? The exodus is accelerating faster than house prices are falling. Refusing to risk their livelihoods on our spluttering financial situation, or have their spirits crushed by fear of rising crime, a new swath of high-flyers, executives and entrepreneurs are departing Britain for fresher, brighter economies. Think Brazil, China, Morocco, even Bulgaria and Albania.

Up to one million more Britons are predicted to join the five million expatriates currently abroad over the next five years. But evidence suggests that, driven by the economic gloom, availability of property and the ease of working abroad via the internet, the departure rate will increase still further. Almost two million have moved away in the past decade, according to figures released last month, with 200,000 quitting our shores in 2006, the last year for which official statistics are available.

The figures make for happy reading for some. ''Our turnover has increased by more than 70 per cent," says former immigration officer Liam Clifford, who now runs Global Visas, which helps people negotiate the tortuous process of getting clearance to work abroad. "We are swamped. People are disillusioned with Britain, and the tax system is punishing working people. About half of those going are entrepreneurial, types - what you might call aspirational non-doms. The people with get-up-and-go are getting up and going."

Among them is Michael Loughlin, 39, whose company, Eurologix, based in Staffordshire, makes X-ray scanners for airports and prisons. He is moving his family and his company's manufacturing operations to Toronto, from where he will export back to Britain. ''The Canadian government is biting my arm off to get me there, offering financial incentives and introducing me to potential customers, but no one here cares. We don't support entrepreneurship any more."

Although the predicted exodus of hundreds of affluent non-doms from Britain has, to some extent, been averted by Government concessions, many other wealthy individuals are leaving, says Andrew Langton, chairman of international estate agents Aylesford International, which has offices in Spain and France. Forty per cent of his company's business is now in overseas property. ''Brits are saying enough is enough and are quitting the nanny state. Those who are successful are asking, why stick around here and lose everything to inheritance tax?"

Experts say the wealthy are moving themselves and their money to Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong - which, despite Chinese control, remains a temple to capitalism and offers the privacy in banking and tax affairs that are under fire in traditional havens such as Monaco. Closer to home, even the previously unsympathetic tax regimes of Spain and France have become more welcoming in comparison with Britain.

Figures from overseas property advice site BuyAssociation.co.uk support the trend towards an exodus of the more affluent: the number of inquiries from those planning to emigrate has risen seven per cent over the past year. A shift upwards to properties costing between œ100,000 and œ300,000 suggests that home owners are capitalising on their UK properties before prices slump even more. Paul Collins, the website's property editor, adds that inquiries about properties in excess of œ1 million have increased fourfold in the past year.

At the same time, people are becoming more adventurous about their destinations. ''We have recently introduced new online guides to buying property and living in Albania, India and Malaysia because of growing demand. And Morocco is attracting a lot of interest because it's a big country, with a good government, and there is a lot of development. It's only another 30 minutes' flying time from the Costa del Sol."

China, too, is attracting Brits because it is seen as a land of opportunity in the way that Russia was in the mid-1990s, but without the corruption and mafia. The Communist government is desperate to open up markets further to Western interests - the Olympics offers an ideal opportunity that they are exploiting to the max. Many rich people are also attracted to Hong Kong.

According to Paul Collins, it's the prospect of economic hardship on the horizon here that ''crystallises thinking among people, prompting them to make decisions about their future that they have been considering for some time". This was precisely the case with Barry and Barbara Mardell, who lived outside Bognor Regis in East Sussex, and who moved to Cyprus in April. Aged 56 and 52 respectively, they are some way off retiring, but sought a better lifestyle when forced to rely upon one salary after Mrs Mardell, a former executive with Qinetiq, the defence contractor, had to give up work on health grounds. '

'The quality of life in Britain is not what it was," says Mrs Mardell. ''Our village was no longer a real village because of over-development; we suffered every time the Government changed taxes to penalise middle- class, middle-income people and our children couldn't find work because the immigrants took all the jobs." Now settled in Cyprus, her husband is starting his own facilities management company and they are shortly about to move into a three-bedroom detached house with swimming pool.

Even Bulgaria is seen to offer more opportunities for a better life than Britain, says David Hollands, who set up PropertyBulgaria.com after realising that its low cost of living and competitively priced properties - a tenth of what they might cost in Tuscany or the Dordogne - would be attractive to disenchanted Brits. ''We are getting up to half a dozen inquiries a week from people who are going, or want to go in the immediate future," he says. ''People are fed with all the CCTV cameras, having all this global warming stuff rammed down their throats and not having anywhere to park the car."

One of those who have taken the plunge is Martin MacMaster, 40, who runs an agricultural contractors in Bedfordshire and will soon be moving most of his business to Bulgaria. "I'm fed up with the rising cost of everything, including diesel fuel. I've given up banging my head against a brick wall. The quality of life in this country has dropped by 50 per cent over the past five years. It's not a political thing," he adds. ''I didn't vote for any of them."

He is one of a number of potential wealth generators of the future who are now lost to Britain. Simon Greenwood, 27, and his partner Charlotte Senior, 28, both left behind the prospect of good careers in London for a fresh start in undeveloped Puglia, southern Italy. ''We were fed up with commuting and the rat race. When we come back now, London seems so crowded, polluted and dirty." In the three years since they left, Ms Senior has written a novel and they have started a company that helps others relocate to the area.

Next year, Damon Kestle, 40, and his wife, Sarah, who is expecting their first child, plan to move to Brazil to start a restaurant in a new luxury housing complex in the north-east of the country. Mr Kestle, who runs a gastro-pub in north London, says: "Making money is not the only reason for going there, but I think we can expect a better standard of living. The economy is growing and I think in five years' time it will become the place to be. We come from Nottingham, which has a very high crime rate, and we are living in north London, which is full of knife crime, so I think Brazil is actually a better place to bring up a child." Whether it is Brazil, Italy or Bulgaria, he speaks for many when he says of his new chosen home: "It is where we see our future."

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13 June, 2008

The immigration non-debate on campus

Conservatives encounter deeply entrenched bigotry and hostility

Allison Daley is a third-year UC Davis student, double-majoring in political science and international relations. She also spent the past year as chairwoman of Davis College Republicans. Daley says the DCR has about 30 active members and 450 "on paper." In an e-mail exchange, she described what it's like to fly a straight flag in a city known for the freaky.

Is it lonely being a College Republican in Davis? What's the climate like for you guys on campus?

Being a College Republican in Davis is lonely in a way, but maybe it is because we are in such a minority, we have a tighter group of friends. We also obviously have many friends in apolitical circles. The climate for us on campus ranges from dismissive to hateful. The more active we become, the more hostile the climate gets. It seems that many people would prefer that we not be heard at all.

What has been the most challenging protest or event you've attended?

Without a doubt, the one we put on in response to last year's May Day protests-our often-misquoted "Illegal Immigration Capture the Flag" (not "Capture the Illegal Immigrant"). Our perspective was completely misunderstood, and people's attitudes became extremely combative, borderline dangerous. I received probably a hundred e-mails, more than one of which threatened me physically. Afterwards, I realized just how hard it is to get our message heard in a place that is unaccustomed to an actual debate.

Is there anything you do differently since then?

Since our capture-the-flag game, we have learned that unfortunately, perception can be more important than reality. While we know we were not being racist, many people believed that we were, and our message was in large part lost as a result. With that in mind, this May Day for our counter-protest, we had a more nuanced Socialist Career Fair, in which we satirically promoted a number of jobs that can be had in socialist societies, such as union boss, member of the secret police and gulag commandant. And while it was much lower-key, we think the event was overall a greater success.

Name an aspect of Davis political culture that makes you roll your eyes. Why?

The political culture in Davis is supposedly diverse and inclusive, but in reality, it does not appreciate dissent. Certain political and ethnic groups are allowed to do pretty much whatever they want, which creates a breeding ground for political radicalism. Other groups, like DCR and sometimes Christian groups, get no help whatsoever from the campus bigwigs. The double standard is so blatant that frequently, we are at a loss for words.

What's one aspect of Davis political culture that you value/appreciate (it's OK if there aren't any)?

How involved people are. I tend to disagree with their activism, and I don't like how some dip into radicalism, but overall, it is nice to not live in a politically apathetic community.

Source



New Zealand immigration department a mess too

It's a miracle of efficiency and probity compared to Canada, though

The embattled Immigration service deals with one case of improper staff behaviour almost every fortnight, newly published numbers reveal. Immigration Minister Clayton Cosgrove said yesterday that 26 incidents including theft, conflict of interest and misconduct had been recorded within the Immigration Service since January 2007. Other "behaviours" noted by the department included improper processing of applications, unauthorised release of personal information and improper cash handling.

The Department of Labour said it treated allegations of misconduct "very seriously and investigates them all". It had steadily improved its internal investigations processes in the past four years. However, in all four theft cases - which involved theft of money - no culprits were identified and only one was referred to police.

The most frequent form of improper behaviour over the past 17 months was system misuse, which the Labour Department said included acts such as inappropriate use of e-mail, misuse of the telephone system, accessing records of individuals without a genuine business reason, and using another employee's computer system identity to access or process applications. In two cases - one of misconduct and one of conflict of interest - staff resigned before investigations were completed, and three staff members were dismissed for failure to follow correct procedures.

National Party immigration spokesman Lockwood Smith said the number of incidents did not reveal the seriousness of problems within the department. "To me, what is most troubling about what has been going on is that we keep having revealed ... where managers have been involved in directing staff to do improper things. It shows that such a bad culture has developed within Immigration New Zealand."

The latest revelations have added to a difficult time for the department. Former Immigration boss Mary Anne Thompson resigned after claims that she had helped family members to obtain residency in New Zealand.

There are four investigations underway involving the department. Most recently, Auditor-General Kevin Brady was ordered by Prime Minister Helen Clark to conduct an independent inquiry into its operation. That will run alongside a police inquiry into Ms Thompson's alleged qualifications, the State Services Commission's inquiry into an earlier investigation of apparent favours given to Ms Thompson's relatives, and a Pacific branch review ordered by the Labour Department.

Source





12 June, 2008

Does mass immigration cause problems?

The British government has a solution: More bureaucrats! Only in Britain

The first specialist team designed to help local councils cope with the massive influx of immigrants will begin work this summer. A rural council in Norfolk will receive three experts from the Department for Communities and Local Government to ease the problems associated with new arrivals from abroad. Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said she was confident that the specialist cohesion teams would successfully tackle immigration related problems.

The first pilot team will begin working in Breckland district council in the summer and will remain there for about three months. Ms Blears also indicated that she did not believe that individual hospitals and police forces should receive money from a new fund raised from a levy on immigration applications.

Instead, the cash should be spent on integrated websites for migrants, on English language training or other, broader, projects, she said. "I think we can make the most of it by not providing bits and bobs to individual hospitals and local police forces," she told an audience in north London.

Ms Blears' statement is the first indication of how money from the new fund, first announced in February, may be spent by the Government. It is due to operate from next April.

Cambridgeshire chief constable Julie Spence indicated earlier this year that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith had said police forces struggling to cope with an influx of migrants may have been entitled to some extra cash from the fund.

Speaking at the launch of a strategy designed to manage the impact of migration, Ms Blears said Breckland council saw its population rise by more than 1,300 in 2005/06, almost entirely due to the arrival of immigrants from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Portugal.

Source



No Newspeak Allowed on Immigration

News journalism should not take sides in political disputes. So the next time you see a newspaper or television station refer to "undocumented workers," you may properly conclude that it is no longer practicing news journalism.

"Undocumented worker" is the favorite euphemism of many political activists who favor amnesty or other permissive responses to illegal immigration. Their Orwellian goal is to alleviate public concern about illegality and cost by manipulating the English language. It's a free country, so they get to say whatever they want. But those who claim to report the news dispassionately have no business colluding with such activists to misstate reality with nebulous or ill-fitting terms.

Objectively, the term "undocumented worker" doesn't work. Not all immigrants are workers. Some are children, disabled, college students, or aged adults, for example. As for documentation, that's never the real issue at hand. Some citizens or legal residents find themselves "undocumented' when applying for jobs or services, in the sense that they've forgotten or misplaced their birth certificates, Social Security cards, or other items. But many of those who reside in the country illegally or seek illegal, off-the-books employment possess plenty of documentation. It may be fraudulent, but it exists.

The use of the term "undocumented" as a substitute for illegal is absurd. Try applying it to other legal or policy disputes without guffawing.

For example, I happen to be one of those who believe that marijuana should be decriminalized, especially for patients who use it to alleviate pain. I also believe that governments should not regulate occupations such as barbering or auctioneering, and I don't think that governments should set wages and prices in a marketplace of competent, informed adults. That doesn't mean I think it would be anything but laughable to demand that reporters call pot an "undocumented therapy," report that customers who get their hair cut by unlicensed barbers have purchased an "undocumented coiffure," or refer to business paying workers off-the-books as practitioners of "undocumented capitalism." These are all illegal acts. I wish they weren't, but there it is.

As it happens, I am also pro-immigration. I think that, on balance, America benefits from healthy immigration flows and should take pride in its status as a free labor market and a beacon of liberty and opportunity. It is far too difficult for prospective workers to enter the country legally. The strong pull of economic opportunity induces many to disregard the law, with deleterious consequences for themselves and others.

But I recognize that the only way to build public confidence in any future immigration reform is to take their legitimate concerns seriously. The government certainly does have a responsibility to ensure that individuals entering our country are free from communicable disease, have no serious criminal records or intent, and plan to obtain employment to support themselves and their families. So there must be an orderly, legal immigration process. When self-styled "advocates" for immigration use terms such as "undocumented" to describe illegality, they express contempt for the rule of law. It makes the public angry. That's hardly a step towards immigration reform.

As for journalists, they have no business participating in such a charade. The correct English term to describe those who have entered the United States contrary to law is "illegal alien." They are illegally residing in the country, which makes them illegal residents. (Sorry to sound so grade-schoolish, but it's warranted when even college-educated people claim to believe that someone who illegally enters the country is not illegally residing there if he stays.) And "alien" is a fittingly broader term that "immigrant," because it includes not just people who come to a country with an honest intent to put down roots (the definition of immigration) but also visitors, criminals, and migrant workers who move back and forth across the border based on seasonal employment needs and family responsibilities back home.

I understand that "alien" now has an E.T.-related snicker factor, so "immigrant" will do as an imperfect but defensible substitute. But "undocumented worker"? Please. Newspeak is not AP style.

Source





11 June, 2008

Bush widens immigration checks

Federal contractors must verify workers' legal status, his order says. Millions could eventually be affected

The Bush administration, in an aggressive new effort to keep illegal immigrants out of the workforce, on Monday ordered all companies doing business with the federal government to begin ensuring their employees can legally work in the U.S. The order will require thousands of firms to use a government system called E-Verify to check workers' Social Security numbers. The system has been voluntary for private firms but mandatory for government agencies.

The policy, which initially applies to new hires, eventually could affect millions of federal contract workers nationwide whose jobs range from serving cafeteria food to launching NASA spacecraft. The step is one of several the administration planned after Congress failed last year to pass an overhaul of immigration laws. "The federal government should lead by example and not by exhortation," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who has encouraged firms to use E-Verify.

Groups advocating immigration restrictions have embraced E-Verify as a way to weed out illegal workers. But it has been criticized by business groups and immigrant advocates because errors in the Social Security database can lead to red-flagging legal residents. And with the rapid expansion of federal contracting under President Bush, some critics questioned whether the order would be workable. "I just don't know how the administration is going to enforce this," said Paul C. Light, a New York University professor and federal contracting expert who said such outsourcing had grown by 70% under Bush. "It's a very large number and very difficult to track. Who is responsible for making sure the sub-sub-sub-contractor is using E-Verify?"

E-Verify is already a success, Chertoff said, predicting that the executive order would affect "hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of workers." Chertoff made the announcement during an appearance with Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez in which they touted administration progress in enforcing immigration laws and beefing up border security. They also urged Congress to pass an immigration overhaul including guest worker programs, enforcement, and some accommodation for illegal immigrants currently in the United States. "We cannot neglect our economic security, and that is exactly what we're doing by neglecting comprehensive immigration reform," said Gutierrez, who worked with Chertoff and a bipartisan group of lawmakers on the 2007 legislation.

E-Verify is now used by more than 69,000 companies, with about 1,000 firms signing up weekly for the free Internet-based system. Many companies have enrolled because of stepped-up federal immigration raids. In industries that traditionally rely on immigrant labor, such as meatpacking, companies understand that not using E-Verify can prompt immigration officials to take a closer look. Chertoff said E-Verify cleared 99.5% of qualified employees automatically. But in 2006 the Social Security inspector general found discrepancies in 17.8 million records for citizens and legal immigrants that would create a "significant workload" to correct.

Lawmakers and other critics warned that forcing the more than 200,000 federal contractors to join E-Verify could overwhelm the Social Security Administration and create havoc for legal workers. "As the administration requires more employers and workers to move into E-Verify, it should at the same time ensure that the system does not impinge upon U.S. citizens' fundamental right to earn a living," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), head of the House subcommittee on immigration.

Firms doing business with the government risk losing their contracts if they break federal rules. Some business executives worry the new requirement could add expenses. "There's concern about increased costs and delays in hiring brought about by inaccuracies in the database," said Neal J. Couture, executive director of the National Contract Managers Assn.

Timothy D. Sparapani of the American Civil Liberties Union argued that E-Verify was "not real immigration enforcement" because the system could not detect applicants who used documents stolen from legal workers. He predicted the system would prompt more identity theft by illegal immigrants. "American workers' identities are essentially going to become a black market commodity," Sparapani said.

Still, many were pleased by Monday's action. "With today's announcement by Secretary Chertoff, we are diminishing the ability of illegal immigrants to find employment in the United States," said Rep. Brian P. Bilbray (R-Carlsbad). Added Dan Stein of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates restricting all immigration: "It's an excellent idea, long overdue."

Source



Local enforcement working

MILTON, Fla. - Three months after the local police inspected more than a dozen businesses searching for illegal immigrants using stolen Social Security numbers, this community in the Florida Panhandle has become more law-abiding, emptier and whiter.

Many of the Hispanic immigrants who came in 2004 to help rebuild after Hurricane Ivan have either fled or gone into hiding. Churches with services in Spanish are half-empty. Businesses are struggling to find workers. And for Hispanic citizens with roots here - the foremen and entrepreneurs who received visits from the police - the losses are especially profound. "It was very hard because the community is very small, and to see people who came to eat here all the time then come and close the business," said Geronimo Barragan, who owns two branches of La Hacienda, Mexican restaurants where the police arrested 10 employees. "I don't blame them," Mr. Barragan added. "It's just that it hurts."

Sheriff Wendell Hall of Santa Rosa County, who led the effort, said the arrests were for violations of state identity theft laws. But he also seemed proud to have found a way around rules allowing only the federal government to enforce immigration laws. In his office, the sheriff displayed a framed editorial cartoon that showed Daniel Boone admiring his arrest of at least 27 illegal workers. His approach is increasingly common. Last month, 260 illegal immigrants in Iowa were sentenced to five months in prison for violations of federal identity theft laws. At the same time, in the last year, local police departments from coast to coast have rounded up hundreds of immigrants for nonviolent, often minor, crimes, like fishing without a license in Georgia, with the end result being deportation.

In some cases, the police received training and a measure of jurisdiction from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, under a program that lets officers investigate and detain people they suspect to be illegal immigrants. But with local demand for tougher immigration enforcement growing, 95 departments are waiting to join the 47 in the program. And in a number of places, including Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, police officers or entire departments are choosing to tackle the issue on their own.

State lawmakers, in response to Congressional inaction on immigration law, are giving local authorities a wider berth. In 2007, 1,562 bills related to illegal immigration were introduced nationwide and 240 were enacted in 46 states, triple the number that passed in 2006, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. A new law in Mississippi makes it a felony for an illegal immigrant to hold a job. In Oklahoma, sheltering or transporting illegal immigrants is also a felony.

It remains unclear how the new laws will be enforced. Yet at the very least, say both advocates and critics, they are likely to lead to more of what occurred here: more local police officers demanding immigrants' documents; more arrests for identity theft; more accusations of racial profiling; and more movement of immigrants, with some fleeing and others being sent to jail. "It is a way to address illegal immigration without calling it that," said Jessica Vaughan, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports intensified local enforcement. She added, "They don't just have to sit and wait for Washington."

More here





10 June, 2008

Mexico: Open door to America for the world

Local police are accustomed to dealing with illegal border crossings, but they were astounded by the video of 15 Chinese immigrants unfolding themselves from the back of a red Suburban near this small border town. The vehicle appeared abandoned when police rolled up early on a recent Saturday morning. But when Border Patrol agents arrived and swung open the double rear doors, the Chinese immigrants tumbled out, squinting in the sunlight. "They were in bad shape," said La Joya Police spokesman Joe Cantu.

The immigrants were silent, able to communicate only with hand gestures. They did not try to run like so many in Cantu's other videos of Mexican and Central American immigrants. One man wanted to use Cantu's cell phone. When Cantu asked for the number he was handed one with a 212 area code - New York. Two more Chinese immigrants would be picked up nearby later that day and another group of nine was caught near the border about 50 miles away a few days later.

More than nine out of 10 illegal immigrants detained at the U.S.-Mexico border are Mexican. But for years, this easternmost sector of the border has had more than its share of what the Border Patrol calls "other than Mexicans" or OTMs. The Rio Grande Valley sector has accounted for as many as half of the border's OTM apprehensions in recent years while having only one-tenth of the total border apprehensions. During the first seven months of this fiscal year, this sector has nabbed nearly 11,000 OTMs, accounting for one quarter of its total apprehensions. Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador historically are the main sources of immigrants other than Mexico.

After surpassing 2,100 in 2005 and 2006, the number of Chinese immigrants caught along the border fell last year to 837, slightly more than 1 percent of all OTM apprehensions, according to Border Patrol data. In the first eight months of this fiscal year, 512 Chinese were caught. Border Patrol officials and others familiar with immigrant smuggling say the Rio Grande Valley's popularity likely stems from being the shortest path into the U.S. from Mexico City and Central America.

The specifics of how any of the Chinese ended up in South Texas are unknown, but the methods and routes have been evolving for more than a century. Most pay on average $55,000 to be shuttled from China to a final U.S. destination by an elaborate smuggling operation. If they get caught, they request asylum and lawyers are often hired by the Chinese smugglers, who will not get full payment unless the immigrants arrive at their destination.

"This was a very early route," said Peter Kwong, a sociology professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center, who wrote "Forbidden Workers: Illegal Chinese Immigrants and American Labor." Since 1882, when the U.S. began a crackdown on Chinese immigration that would last decades, Chinese have been crossing the Mexican border. Early on, most of the traffic was along the border with California because Chinese rode ships into Mexican ports on the Pacific coast, Kwong said. Eventually though, Chinese immigrants began sailing directly into U.S. ports.

The Mexican route regained popularity in late 1980s and early 1990s when U.S. ports became less accessible, Kwong said. The Golden Venture spectacle, when the ship carrying 286 Chinese immigrants beached in Queens, New York in 1993, drew broader attention to the issue of human smuggling and further tightened access. More Chinese began flying into U.S. airports and requesting asylum, Kwong said. When tighter restrictions on inbound international flights following the Sept. 11 attacks curtailed that path, smugglers began looking for less secure airports, Kwong said....

For years, Chinese and fellow "other than Mexican" illegal immigrants were processed and released with a date to return for a court hearing. The process was known as "catch and release." Only about one third of those OTMs showed up in court, according to a 2005 report prepared for Congress. That began changing in late 2005 and early 2006 with a new policy that sought to close that loophole.

Non-Mexicans caught trying to enter the U.S. now are steered into a streamlined process for "expedited removal." They are detained at centers like Willacy until they go before an immigration judge. Border Patrol credits the end of catch and release with the sharp drop in OTM apprehensions. Still, "we do encounter people from all over the world," said Daniel Doty, Border Patrol spokesman for the Rio Grande Valley sector. Just days before the 17 Chinese were picked up in La Joya, 13 Eritreans and five Ethiopians were caught in nearby Hidalgo.

Source



Deliberate blindness to crime problems in Australian immigration policy

The destructiveness of the Left on view again. Polynesians are a high crime group. They have no respect for personal property whatsoever most of the time. Yet Australia's Leftist government want to bring them in "to ease labour shortages"

AUSTRALIA is preparing to open its shores to thousands of "guest workers" from the Pacific as part of a radical plan to ease labour shortages in the bush. Kevin Rudd's bold "Pacific solution" will see as many as 5000 islanders granted special visas to work on farms and in vineyards. Federal Cabinet could endorse the migration scheme as early as next week, with the Prime Minister keen to unveil his plans to revitalise the region at a meeting with Pacific leaders in August. It will help sweep away the legacy of John Howard's foreign policy. The former prime minister had a rocky relationship with many Pacific leaders during his time in power.

The Coalition says it now has an "open mind" on a guest worker scheme, amid concerns it could undermine the integrity of Australia's migration program - and strip local workers of jobs. Under the plan to be considered by Cabinet, on June 19, workers from up to five nations - Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati and Tuvalu - will be involved. But Fiji will be "black-listed" from participating in the trial - a move likely to further inflame relations between Canberra and Suva.

Senior Government figures have confirmed islanders will be granted visas of up to seven months to work in regional communities. The Government will guarantee they receive Australian-award wages and conditions. Basic training will also be provided, in the hope these skills can be used when they return to their home countries. Known as Regional Seasonal Employment (RSE), the scheme has been successfully trialled in New Zealand, with Pacific islanders restricted to working in horticulture and viticulture.

Mr Rudd's support will send a very positive message to Pacific leaders, who have been lobbying Canberra to back the plan for years. It will be a key plank in a longer-term plan for the Pacific, aimed at transforming so-called "busted arse" countries and making them economically viable. Each year, Australia funnels hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid into the Pacific. But concerns have been raised that Papua New Guinea and other close neighbours need a longer-term partnership in order to survive. Both PNG and East Timor are likely to be involved in the scheme over the longer term.

The New Zealand trial has attracted strong interest, with the head of the Department of Immigration, Andrew Metcalfe, recently leading a high-level delegation to take a first-hand look. Shadow foreign affairs minister Andrew Robb is heading to New Zealand today, also to examine the guest worker scheme there. He said the Coalition has an "open mind" on the RSE plan.

In a critical breakthrough, ACTU president Sharan Burrow and Australian Workers Union boss Paul Howes have both endorsed the RSE scheme.

Source





9 June, 2008

Both parties duck on immigration

The tricky politics of immigration, an issue once seen as a driving force of the 2008 election, have relegated it to a back but hot burner in the presidential campaign debate and paralyzed Congress on the topic. Both John McCain and Barack Obama support giving legal status to millions of illegal immigrants, a position that strategists see as crucial to winning over Hispanics. But Republican and Democratic candidates are also wary of alienating white conservatives and blacks who oppose granting legal status or benefits to people who broke the law to come to the United States.

The searing rhetoric from opponents who brand that idea as "amnesty" has made the topic virtually untouchable, according to strategists and lawmakers. "Politicians from both parties are caught between Lou Dobbs voters and Latino voters. Presidential candidates will avoid this issue - both of them - and when they can't avoid it, they'll straddle," said Tamar Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorks USA, a coalition pushing for an immigration overhaul. "It doesn't pay as an electoral issue." The high-profile Dobbs is a CNN host who has used his early evening show as a platform to protest illegal immigration.

McCain and Obama have spoken of their support during the campaign for an immigration overhaul, but neither has made the issue a major part of his presidential bid. Each has reason to tread carefully.

McCain's position is a sore point between him and the conservative GOP base. He is caught between shoring up those core constituents and drawing support from Hispanics. "He's trying to appeal to one group of voters that hates the other," said Cecilia Munoz of the National Council of La Raza. Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio said it does not pay for McCain or GOP congressional candidates to highlight their party's rift on the issue. Those candidates lag far behind McCain in national polls that asking voters whether they support a Republican or Democrat for Congress. "Why focus on what divides us?" Fabrizio said.

McCain sometimes has sent conflicting messages on immigration. He hedged when asked whether, as president, he would sign legislation he helped write to legalize undocumented immigrants, and now says such action should only be taken after border security is strengthened. But he also publicly lamented the defeat of his measure, calling it "my failure, too."

For Obama, who is struggling to win over Latino voters, the predicament is less pronounced but no less puzzling. On immigration issues where he and McCain differ, Obama's views are out of synch with those of most voters, polls show. Obama's support for giving drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants is a prime example; polls show that the public overwhelmingly opposes it. Obama also supports giving legal status to immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children and have completed two years of college or military service. Democrats "do want to be out front on it, but they fear alienating those blue-collar, skeptical voters," Jacoby said.

Obama got a taste of that backlash recently. He drew heavy criticism in the blogosphere for suggesting that conservative cable TV hosts who routinely rail against illegal immigrants are partly to blame for an increase in hate crimes against Hispanic people. "A certain segment has basically been feeding a kind of xenophobia," Obama said at a fundraiser in Palm Beach, Fla. "If you have people like Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh ginning things up, it's not surprising that would happen."

The comment was a nod to a widespread feeling among Hispanic voters that bitter rhetoric against illegal immigrants is really veiled racism against U.S. citizens and legal residents who are Latino.

"The volatility of the issue discourages the national candidates from aggressively promoting the need for comprehensive immigration reform," said Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif. "When they're asked, they respond, but I've come to the conclusion that this campaign will not likely be a useful educational tool for demonstrating the compelling need for reform."

Candidates are finding other, less risky, ways to telegraph their sympathy for Hispanic voters. McCain has a TV ad praising Hispanics' service in Vietnam and Iraq and saying that some "love this country so much that they're willing to risk their lives in its service in order to accelerate their path to citizenship." Obama spoke Spanish in an ad aired in Puerto Rico that focused on economic concerns.

In Congress, Democratic leaders are skittish about immigration votes. Instead, they are holding House hearings - but no votes - on a measure written by one of their more conservative members, Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina, to strengthen border security and crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers. One Hispanic Democrat, Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, said his leaders were being "spineless." Others argue that Republicans, who have made it a strategy to force politically painful immigration votes on unrelated bills, essentially have blackmailed Democrats into taking tougher stances on the issue. In February, for example, Democrats joined Republicans to forbid illegal immigrants from getting an economic relief tax rebate. More recently, Senate Democratic leaders were forced to pull provisions from an emergency Iraq spending bill that would have awarded work permits for immigrant farm and seasonal workers.

"Congressional Democrats are struggling to figure out whether they want to sound like Republicans-lite or whether they want to actually get out in front of the issue and lead," Munoz said. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a supporter of a broad overhaul, said candidates in both parties face that dilemma. "You have to ask yourself, `Do I want to really get out front on an issue that isn't really going anywhere and my opponent can demagogue it and misrepresent my position?'" Flake said. "If you're going to go out on a limb on something, there has to be a payoff, and on this, there just isn't."

Source



Chertoff urges speed in building fence; Opposition puts border agents at risk, he says

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday he had attended the funerals of too many Border Patrol agents killed in the line of duty to permit environmentalists to block construction of barriers and all-weather road along portions of Texas' border with Mexico. Chertoff, speaking during an interview with the editorial board of the Houston Chronicle, pitted the safety of Border Patrol agents against the efforts of environmentalists to stymie Bush administration plans to complete a border fence before leaving office in January. Some 670 miles of pedestrian fencing or vehicle barriers are planned along the 1,947-mile U.S.-Mexico boundary.

Chertoff, who has set aside some environmental restrictions to speed fence construction, said he didn't want to "get enmeshed in endless litigation" with environmentalists who he said opposed fencing, lighting and other improvements along the border that would help the Border Patrol seize undocumented immigrants, smugglers and drug traffickers. "I've gone to too many memorial services where agents were killed in rollover accidents pursuing smugglers because there wasn't an all-weather road," Chertoff said. "I have to tell you in all honesty as between the sensitivity of an owl and having to look a family in the eye and say, 'I'm sorry you lost a loved one because we can't build a road.' I'm going with protecting the family and protecting the Border Patrol agent." The Border Patrol lists eight officers who have died in the line of duty since Chertoff took office in 2005.

Wayne Bartholomew, executive director with Frontera Audubon, a nonprofit conservation organization in Lower Rio Grande Valley, called Chertoff's comments "disingenuous, false and misleading." Bartholomew said the federal government had short-cut the environmental review process with the border fence project, failing to fully consider the potential impact on other public safety issues, including air and water pollution. "This isn't about building an all-weather road," Bartholomew said. "It's about following a process, and that process includes over 100 years of laws established by the United States Congress. He has put communities at risk by waiving these laws and unilaterally charging ahead without any oversight at all."

Chertoff has been battling resistance along the Texas border to the planned barriers, including a recent federal lawsuit by the Texas Border Coalition that includes leaders from 10 Texas border communities from Brownsville to El Paso. Chertoff, a former federal appeals court judge known for a no-nonsense style, said he remained willing to consult with critics but would not surrender the authority awarded him by the Republican-led Congress in 2005 to override environmental objections. "We have had multiple meetings with some of the most bitter critics, people that we have talked to again and again," Chertoff said. "Now consultation means - we try to see if we can work out an accommodation. It doesn't mean we consult for two years, it doesn't mean that a local official has a veto."

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Friday solicited bids by June 23 for construction of 6.6 miles of border walls in Cameron County. Chertoff conceded construction of border barriers "disproportionately" impacted border-land owners and border communities but insisted the obstacles served a greater good by impeding drug smugglers and undocumented immigrants.

"Some of the illegal migrants and drug smugglers who are coming through the border are causing destruction and problems deeper into Texas, deeper into other parts of the country," Chertoff said, citing a conversation with a local law enforcement officer. "What am I to say to that sheriff, 'Sorry I can't help you because the local mayor doesn't want to have a fence, so you're going to have to pay the price?"

Chertoff said local community leaders would find "a receptive hearing" if willing to negotiate alternative routes or steps to mitigate the impact of barriers. "But those who just oppose it, I'm sorry, but I have to say respectfully, the Border Patrol tells me from a security standpoint (and) their own force protection standpoint, as well as from the operational (point of view that) fencing is appropriate in some areas."

Chertoff downplayed the possibility that his department would extend the less intrusive, high-tech surveillance system in Arizona known as a "virtual fence" into Texas, where the border with Mexico is defined by the Rio Grande River. "Understand that its utility depends on the landscape," Chertoff said. "When you're dealing in an area, for example, with a lot of brush, and a river, it may not be as effective as an area where you have a kind of a larger, more wilderness type of terrain."

Chertoff said his department was paying landowners for access to their property to survey potential routes for the barriers. Chertoff emphasized that he would not submit to "years of litigation" that could postpone construction for a decade. "I don't think we have that 10 years to waste," he said.

Source





8 June, 2008

Border Patrol Doing Its Job

Post below recycled from Jammie man. See the original for links

"Immigrants fear ID checks aboard ferry". That is the headline of the AP story. We all know what the truth is, but it isn't until four paragraphs into the story that we get the truth that is self evident to anybody with two functioning brain cells.

Perez - who does odd jobs, mostly landscaping - is one of perhaps dozens of illegal immigrants on the islands who have been essentially trapped since February, when the U.S. Border Patrol began checking IDs on ferry runs from the islands to the mainland.

Prior to this admission in the article they paint 'ol Pedro, er, excuse me, Perez as a law abiding citizen just trying to provide for his family and decrying his inability to get to the mainland for shopping and healthcare. They miss the part where he shouldn't be shopping or using American healthcare facilities in the first place since he is here illegally. He should be using those fine facilities in Mexico.

The Border Patrol began a crackdown in Feb on the illegals they catch on the ferries so at least something is working half assed right.

Others have taken the risk and paid the price: As of late May, 49 people had been arrested by the Border Patrol and face deportation. All but one were Latin American

Just go ahead and read the whole liberal-slanted, gut-wrenching, tear-jerking propaganda piece that is weak on factual information but chock full of sympathy for the illegals. Not that a newspaper would promote an agenda somewhere other then their editorial pages.

So take a minute to dab at the tear forming in your eye, and then send a letter of support to the Border Patrol and let them know you appreciate the good job they are doing and encourage to continue doing exactly what they are doing.



Science benefits from attracting more skilled foreign workers

If America can host 12 million low-skilled Hispanics, it is hard to see where more scientists and professionals would be a problem.

Bob Greifeld ("America cannot afford to drive away talent", May 30) articulates many economic reasons for increasing the number of annually issued H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers. But while the purely economic justifications are persuasive, the scientific justifications are decisive.

Twenty-five per cent of international patents filed from the US listed a foreign skilled worker as the inventor, while 41 per cent of PhD scientists in the US are foreign born. Since 1901, one-third of American Nobel prizewinners in medicine and physiology were foreign born. Highly skilled foreign workers are disproportionately valuable compared to their numbers.

Related to H-1B visas are foreign graduate students. A 2005 World Bank working paper about foreign graduate students in the US revealed that each additional foreign graduate student will result in .63 more patent applications filed. In a time of rapid technological advancement and intense competition, America's immigration policy is cutting out its brain to save its good looks. Unfortunately, if this policy continues, America will end up dumb and ugly.

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7 June, 2008

NJ Imam deportation case raises immigration procedure issues

The EXTREMELY casual attitude to security on the part of government agencies that is revealed in this case would worry me sick if I lived in NYC or thereabouts. Osama bin Laden could even be living there. The Feds don't know their ass from their elbow and they don't even care about that

To one northern New Jersey counterterrorism task force, Mohammad Qatanani was considered an essential ally -- a moderate Muslim leader known for inviting FBI agents into his congregation to conduct seminars on terrorism prevention. Fifteen miles away in Newark, a different counterterrorism task force labeled Qatanani a possible terror suspect who had been categorized as a "person of interest" on his application for a U.S. green card.

His deportation trial -- testimony concluded Monday and a ruling is due in September -- has raised questions as to how smoothly counterterrorism efforts are coordinated in New Jersey, and about the ability of immigration authorities to get information from other agencies or check a person's background in their country of origin.

Qatanani, a 44-year-old Palestinian, has been the spiritual leader at the Islamic Center of Passaic County since 1996. The mosque is in Paterson, the heart of New Jersey's Arab-American community and home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the region. Qatanani's 1999 bid for U.S. residency was rejected, and he is facing deportation by U.S. immigration authorities who say he failed to disclose on his green card application a 1993 arrest and conviction in Israel for being a member of the militant group Hamas.

Qatanani has denied being a Hamas member and said he was never made aware of any charges against him. At his deportation hearing, he testified that he had been detained -- not arrested -- by the Israelis and subjected to physical and mental abuse in detention.

Since the proceedings began in early May, a number of witnesses have testified on the imam's behalf -- including a rabbi and several high-ranking New Jersey law enforcement officials. Hundreds of his supporters have maintained a vigil outside the federal courthouse in Newark for the duration of the trial, often using a megaphone to conduct prayers and plead for justice.

The disputed Israeli detention forms the basis of the U.S. government's case against Qatanani. U.S. immigration officials testified they didn't know about it until the imam brought it to their attention during a 2005 meeting he initiated to inquire about the six-year delay in processing his green card.

Heather Philpott, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, testified that when she first saw Qatanani's file in 2002, it had been categorized as a possible terrorism-related case. Philpott testified such flags are computer-generated by the Interagency Border Inspection System, a consortium of federal and local databases that checks anything from a suspended license to a criminal conviction. Philpott also said Qatanani's file contained no information as to why it had been flagged, and as a member of a Newark-based counterterrorism task force, she followed protocol by forwarding it to the FBI. She said the FBI background check came back clean.

Qatanani's lawyer, Claudia Slovinsky, asked Philpott whether she had done a background check on Qatanani in Israel or Jordan -- the two countries where he had spent most of his life. "We can't go on a fishing expedition for everyone who enters the country," Philpott replied. She testified that information from foreign governments is only included in the border inspection system's database if those governments voluntarily submit it.

Immigration Judge Alberto J. Riefkohl pressed Philpott on why immigration officials hadn't followed up more aggressively on the imam's case if they were concerned about him. "Taking into account there was a counterterrorism hit on his file, are you telling me there's no mechanism to make an inquiry in those countries?" Riefkohl asked. Philpott said that was the job of the FBI. The Newark FBI office did not return calls for comment.

Meanwhile, 15 miles away from Newark in Paterson, Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale testified that Qatanani had never been identified to his joint-terrorism task force as a person of concern -- despite being a highly public Muslim leader in a city where several of the 9-11 hijackers had lived prior to the attacks. "I know Dr. Qatanani as an individual that has bridged the gap between law enforcement and the community, that has fought against terrorism, that has brought peace," Speziale said. "There may be a missing piece of the puzzle -- but not my puzzle."

More here



Greenies: Britain should have 'zero net immigration' policy

Greenies hate people anyway so it figures

Britain should set an example to the world by reversing its steeply-rising population growth and allowing no more people into the country than leave, the Government's chief "green" adviser has said. Jonathon Porritt, chairman of the Sustainable Development Commission, said it was entirely possible to be "very progressive" on immigration while still having a policy of "zero net immigration" and no further population growth

Mr Porritt told an audience at the Cheltenham Science Festival, he would like to see Britain's population on a declining trend, instead of increasing to 65 million in ten years and to 70 million by 2031. Mr Porritt, who is a patron of the charity, the Optimum Population Trust, warned that globally spending on family planning was "massively" lower than the 8 billion pounds spent on HIV/Aids. Yet it should be around 12.5 billion to 15 billion if the world was to avoid a population of more than 9 billion or more by 2050.

Mr Porritt warned that in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, population trends were increasing "disastrously" because of low spending on family planning. In Kenya and Ethiopia, spending on family planning was now running at 2 per cent of spending on HIV/Aids. As a result the population of Kenya, which had been thought to be around 40 million by the mid-century was now expected to be 80 million. "We are guaranteeing an unstoppable flow of problems like HIV and Aids into the future," he said.

Mr Porritt said there were "complex cultural and religious reasons" why globally family planning had such a low priority. "I've highlighted the malign combination of a Catholic church which sees contraception as a wicked sin, a religious, ideological approach to family planning in the United States, politically correct and ignorant environmentalists and development economists."

He said it was "incomprehensible" why environmentalists and development economists would not acknowledge the significance of family planning and population policies. In fact, if one looked at the amount of carbon it would be possible to emit in 2050, without contributing to dangerous climate change, it was 10 billion tons of carbon, around one ton per person. The larger the world's population was the more uncomfortable that would be, but if the right policies were adopted 30 years earlier it would be possible to keep the world's population at around 8 billion.

Mr Porritt said people were uneasy talking about family planning as a means of reducing population growth. "Politicians won't touch it because they think it will get them into trouble on immigration policy." Others thought "it takes you into China's one child per family and other authoritarian policies." But he highlighted the example of Iran, where population growth had been halted simply through education, backed by religious leaders.

Around the world, he said, it was a universal truth that the longer girls remained in education, the fewer children they had. Mr Porritt said that the prevailing assumption of UN economists that population growth would fall as the world got richer was out of sync with the need for the human race to live within environmental limits. "We can't wait for Bangladesh to get rich enough to do something about it. It will be game over for human kind at that point."

Source





6 June, 2008

New Perspective On Immigration Reform

Four months ago a promising young man named Jamiel Shaw was gunned down in Los Angeles by a criminal alien who was freed from prison only the day before. Community members were shocked and saddened by another victim claimed to gang violence. Thousands turned out to say goodbye during the student-athlete's funeral. But weeks later an investigation revealed Shaw's assailant was no ordinary gang member. Pedro Espinoza, it turns out, was instead a violent criminal alien released from prison (and not turned over the Federal government) on March 1st, exactly one day before he murdered the seventeen year-old Shaw. Sorrow turned to anger, and a demand for action.

This tragic case highlights a new role that local law enforcement is playing, one for which they are poorly resourced or equipped. At a time when illegal immigration has turned every community into a border town, local law enforcement has become the nation's real border fence. We must recognize that they are playing this role by necessity, if not by choice, and resource them appropriately. The cop on the beat has a new threat in the form of criminal aliens. That threat can be easily and justifiably deported if correctly identified. The problem is that most local law enforcement officers, the men and women who find themselves on the front line of the immigration problem, don't have the resources or are actually banned from enforcing the country's existing immigration laws.

Jamiel Shaw's gang-land style execution, after all, provides a shocking example of what happens when police officers don't have the right tools in their arsenal. And too often, local rules and regulations leave law enforcement officials fighting with one hand tied behind their backs in the struggle to protect their communities.

LA's sanctuary policy, known as Special Order 40, is just one illustration. The local rule prohibits law enforcement officials from asking any questions about a detainee's immigration status. In cities that implement similar ordinances, law enforcement officials have no flexibility to ask questions even if they possess concrete evidence suggesting violation of our nation's immigration laws. The political leaders in these communities instead take a "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" approach to working with the federal government on illegal immigration.

Concerned citizens and police officers across the nation are pushing back. Tired of a slow and steady denigration of public safety in their communities and a dramatic spike in immigrant-related gang violence, citizens are demanding their legislators repeal sanctuary policies similar to Special Order 40.

The community has proposed "Jamiel's Law" which would place an immediate immigration hold on a criminal until the Feds pick him up. "Jamiel's Law" corrects in LA what has become a problem in sanctuary cities across the nation, but that is not the end of the story. In nearly ever American city small and large, citizens and law enforcement officials agree that Washington is not doing an effective job of enforcing immigration law, or answering the call from police officers when help is needed.

This is where Congress must step in to fill the breach. The CLEAR act, under consideration by the House, will prevent "catch and release" policies responsible for Jamiel Shaw's murder by providing law enforcement access to information on immigration violations. Officers currently lack that information unless they have a specific agreement in place with the Department of Homeland Security. As a result, they have no way to cross-check detained, arrested, or currently incarcerated bad-guys' criminal background with an immigration database. That gap in information sharing led to a violent criminal and illegal immigrant's release onto the streets of Los Angeles, where he gunned down Jamiel Shaw the very next day.

This is not another call for a wholesale, and possibly unrealistic, roundup of all illegal aliens. Rather it is a commonsense approach, giving cops the ability to protect our communities by kicking proven violent offenders out. One county in Tennessee has a relationship with DHS that allows them to identify criminal aliens in county jails. As a result of this relationship, 3,000 aliens were handed over to the federal government and deported last year.

By working together at the city, state and federal level, we can prevent senseless crime that afflicts communities around the country. Jamiel's family and citizens in LA have shown us the will in our communities is there. Washington just needs to replace political hand wringing with a little common sense.

Source



A look at S.C.'s new illegal immigration law

The following are highlights of the illegal immigration bill signed into law Wednesday. It will:

- Require all businesses to verify that newly hired employees are in the country legally. Public contractors with at least 500 employees must begin verifying their new hires by January. All other businesses must follow by July 2010.

- Create civil fines up to $1,000 per worker for failing to verify.

- Require employers to temporarily shut down if an investigation finds they knowingly hired illegal immigrants.

- Ban illegal immigrants over 18 from public assistance, with some exceptions such as emergency medical care.

- Create a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, for falsifying documents.

- Make it a felony to transport or harbor illegal immigrants, though it provides exceptions for some charities, such as churches and soup kitchens.

- Ban illegal immigrants from attending public colleges and bar them from winning state scholarships or grants. They would have to pay out-of-state tuition at private colleges.

- Allow fired workers to sue their former employers if they're replaced by illegal workers within 60 days.

- Bar gun sales to illegal immigrants.

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5 June, 2008

Judicial tyranny in Oklahoma

The constitution can say anything they want in the view of some judges

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked parts of an Oklahoma law targeting illegal immigration, saying the measures are probably unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Robin J. Cauthron issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting enforcement of provisions of the law that subject employers to penalties for failing to comply with a federal employee verification system.

The decision came on a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Oklahoma Chamber and other business groups, who argued that the electronic verification system is voluntary under federal law and that employers should not be subjected to state penalties. "Through harsh civil penalties, the Oklahoma law unfairly shifts the burden of immigration enforcement from government onto the backs of business," Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber, said in statement.

The provisions in effect since November prohibit illegal immigrants from receiving tax-supported services and make it a state crime to transport or harbor illegal immigrants, a provision loudly criticized by social agencies that work with the immigrant population. The state law took effect in November 2007, but the employer provisions under attack were set to take effect July 1.

Cauthron held that the plaintiffs would probably establish that the state measure pre-empted federal law on immigration. Attorney General Drew Edmondson defended the law. "We will attempt to overcome this hurdle when the matter is set for hearing on the permanent injunction," he said.

Rep. Randy Terrill, a Republican who introduced the legislation, predicted the case would be appealed if the plaintiffs prevail in their quest for a permanent injunction.

Source



SC takes a stand

After years of debate and disagreement, South Carolina has taken a stand on illegal immigration. And the governor has turned that legislation into law. They call it one of the toughest crackdowns on illegal immigration anywhere in the nation, signed into law this afternoon by Governor Mark Sanford. "We've said from day one that while we're a nation of immigrants, we're also a nation of laws - and that South Carolina shouldn't be in the business of sanctioning illegal activity with a wink and a nod," said Sanford.

A key feature of the new law is a so-called "E-Verify" system requiring employers to verify the legal status of employees through Homeland Security or with a South Carolina drivers' license. The law sets up agreements allowing state and local authorities to enforce federal immigration laws, and a hotline and online services to report and track violations.

The law requires state and local agencies to verify the status of adults who apply for public benefits, and it gives local governments a chance to pass their own immigration laws.

The law also has an impact on colleges, such as no scholarships or grants for illegals, and no in-state tuition rates at private colleges.

Workers replaced with illegal immigrants can sue their employers. Some of those employers, especially in agriculture and construction, will feel the effects of this new law.

Source





4 June, 2008

Senator Elizabeth Dole on the N. Carolina situation

There was a lot of noise last week in the media and by my opponent regarding my efforts to help local law enforcement protect our streets and neighborhoods from crimes by illegal aliens in North Carolina. I'll talk more about this in a moment, but first I want to address the larger issue of illegal immigration.

North Carolina has had one of the fastest-growing populations of illegal aliens in America. They've come here for two primary reasons. First, North Carolina has historically had a growing economy, so there were jobs. Second, the liberal politicians in Raleigh were very slow to address our lax laws regarding identification, so it was very easy to get a driver's license in North Carolina and having identification - even if received through forgery or falsification - is very important to an illegal alien.

According to 2006 estimates from the non-partisan Federation for American Immigration Reform, about 400,000 illegal aliens live in North Carolina. FAIR estimates that the cost to North Carolina taxpayers for emergency health care, education and incarceration was $997 million in 2006 alone!

Granting amnesty to illegal aliens will provide them access to many more federal and state programs - greatly increasing their cost to taxpayers. Granting amnesty without securing our borders is an invitation for millions more to come to America - illegally. This is what happened in 1986 when we had an estimated 3 million illegal aliens, and now we have an estimated 12 to 20 million. I have never hesitated nor beat around the bush regarding my position on illegal immigration. My position has been clear and unwavering:

* I have promoted and helped pass stronger border security measures. We must stop the massive influx of people coming into America illegally. We must gain control of our borders. No comprehensive immigration program has any chance of success if our borders are like Swiss cheese.

* I have opposed giving illegal aliens additional government benefits - including precious Social Security and Medicare benefits from a system that is already under financial stress.

* I have supported making English the official language of the United States.

* I support overturning Bill Clinton's executive order, which requires government run agencies to have materials printed in various languages. If you are here legally and want to become a citizen, you must learn English.

* I have supported increased security measures at our nation's ports and airports.

* I have passed a law that restricts visas to countries that will not take back their citizens who have been removed from the U.S. by court order.

* I have supported efforts for a properly functioning and verifiable temporary worker program.

* I have opposed amnesty for illegal aliens. I will continue to do so. I opposed and helped defeat three different attempts to provide amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. I opposed President Bush and some members of my own party in doing so.

Last summer, Washington tried to fool us again with promises to secure our borders and enforce our laws IF we legalized the millions of illegal aliens who are in America today. Albert Einstein once said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." This experiment was attempted in 1986, and as I mentioned, the illegal alien population has at least quadrupled since then.

Once the comprehensive bill was defeated, I was troubled that the immigration issue was quickly swept off Washington's priority list. So at every possible opportunity, I have worked to provide additional funding and resources for border security and internal law enforcement. I have even heard from colleagues who supported the comprehensive bill that in hindsight their judgment was wrong and now they are working intently on enforcement measures.

Most importantly, I traveled throughout North Carolina to talk with local law enforcement officials about the challenges and pressing issues that they faced. I took their concerns directly back to federal officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and asked them to put North Carolina in a unique position for a pilot program to address criminal illegal aliens.

The result has been a partnership over the last year where ICE and the North Carolina Sheriffs' Association have worked hand in hand to form a statewide plan to identify, apprehend and deport criminal aliens.

More here



Progress in Canada

A sweeping reform of Canada's immigration system is a step closer to reality - and Stephen Harper's minority government has survived a key confidence test, despite recent political troubles that have buoyed the opposition. The Tories' budget implementation bill - which contains the immigration reforms - survived three votes last night and looks certain to get the Commons' final approval tomorrow or Thursday before going to the Senate. Only a handful of Liberals turned up for the votes, which passed 114-83.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion says more and more voters are in the mood for an election, but he's biding his time. "An election will come. We'll choose our time," he told reporters in a well-used refrain. "More and more Canadians are asking this question, 'When, when, we want to go.' So I feel that more now than it was the case some months ago," Dion said. "It's good because we need to replace this bad government," he said, while refusing to say when his party will vote topple the Tories.

Last night's confidence votes on Bill C-50 were the first since foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier resigned last week after leaving sensitive government documents at his ex-girlfriend's home.

Opposition parties have denounced the overhaul of the immigration system contained in the bill. But as in past confidence votes, the Liberals voted strategically to avoid defeating the minority Conservatives and forcing an election.

Just so there was no doubt, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty stressed before the vote that Bill C-50 was a confidence bill. That means if it was defeated or amended, the government would fall. Bill C-50 contains a contentious proposal to give the immigration minister the power to issue "instructions" to her department to give priority to categories of skilled workers deemed in demand. The department would also have the power to refuse applications in other categories. The Commons voted three times last night - once on the larger budget bill, and twice more on NDP amendments that would have stalled the legislation.

NDP MP Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina) said the damage will be "irreversible" if the bill is passed. "It's damaging because family reunification is no longer a real priority. People are going to be treated like an economic unit, " she said. "It's dangerous because it gives sweeping power to the minister." She accused the Liberals of being "intimidated" by the Tories. "They're staying silent, they're rolling over, they're giving up and immigrant communities are extremely disappointed," Chow said. The Senate finance committee has already started to study the bill in a bid to ensure its passage before Parliament's summer recess.

Source





3 June, 2008

Record number of illegal immigrants charged with minor crimes

Since 2005, the federal government has filed criminal charges against more illegal immigrants than ever before, according to a story on the front page of The Washington Post. The paper says federal agents participating in this zero-tolerance program have been charging every person they catch crossing certain segments of the border with misdemeanor violations of federal law.

"In areas where it has been applied -- which total about 500 miles, or one-fourth of the border -- Operation Streamline has slowed border traffic more substantially," the paper says. "The number of apprehensions fell by nearly 70 percent in the last quarter of 2008 along a 120-mile stretch near Yuma, Ariz., after the program was phased in between December 2006 and June 2007, and by nearly 70 percent along the 210-mile span near Del Rio. Apprehensions fell 22 percent after Operation Streamline was initiated in October along 171 miles near Laredo, Tex."

As of February, the paper says third-party data show these immigration cases accounted for more than half of the Justice Department's new prosecutions.(The Post says a Justice Department spokesman challenged the specifics, but not the overall conclusions, of the group's report.)

Some critics say the program is consuming too many resources. Others complain that the initiative should focus on companies that break the law by hiring undocumented immigrants. "They're finding other routes," Ricardo Ahuja, the Mexican consul in Del Rio, Texas, tells the Star-Telegram, which reported on the program last week. "It's a question of supply and demand. If there weren't jobs waiting for them in the U.S., they wouldn't cross."

Source. WaPo story here.



Brits get tough on employers

Employers who hire illegal immigrants can be fined 10,000 pounds per worker from today in cases involving negligence, compared with a previous figure of 5,000 pounds. If the employer acts knowingly, the penalty could be an unlimited fine or jail. Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, described the moves, which include a points-based immigration system for people from outside the European Union, as "the biggest changes to British immigration policy in a generation".

Highly skilled migrants who wish to extend their stay will have to have suitable employment. The points-based system, based on a system already in place in Australia, will be tested for highly skilled migrants applying from India in April, and extended to the rest of the world by the summer. The system will then be extended to skilled workers with a job offer, students, and temporary workers. A tier for low-skilled workers is not planned while vacancies can be filled by migrants from Eastern Europe.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said: "The introduction of our Australian-style points system will ensure that only those with skills the country needs can come to work and study. "Today's proposals are part of the biggest changes to British immigration policy in a generation, which include a new deal for those migrants seeking citizenship here, a new UK Border Agency to strengthen controls at the border and the introduction of ID cards for foreign nationals."

The system puts in question the scheme under which Commonweatlh citizens with a British grandparent are allowed to settle in this country. The Labour MP Austin Mitchell said that any proposal to scrap "ancestral visas" would cause anger.

Ministers also revealed that businesses which want to sponsor and employ migrants must be licensed by the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA). A licence will be required from the autumn, when the second tier of the points-based system is due to come into effect. Employers can begin applying for licences from today.

Sponsors will be rated "A" or "B" according to criteria set by the Home Office. Their activities will be monitored, and poor performance could lead to them being downgraded or removed from the register.

The points-based system replaces 80 existing migration routes to the UK. Tier One requires highly skilled workers to achieve a total of 75 points, with various amounts awarded for education, age and their level of previous earnings. About 40,000 people applied under the previous scheme for highly-skilled migrants in 2006, with about 20,000 being successful. Separately, about 14,500 highly-skilled migrants applied to renew their stay in 2006, of whom about 14,000 were successful.

Net migration to the UK was 191,000 in 2006, the lowest level for three years and more than 50,000 down on the 2004 record. A record number of people came to live in the UK for at least a year - 591,000, up slightly on the previous record set in 2004. The number of people leaving Britain for 12 months or more also reached a record high of 400,000.

Just over half (207,000) of emigrants were UK citizens - the first time the annual number of British emigrants had exceeded 200,000. Net immigration of people from New Commonwealth countries was the highest of all foreign groups - and of the 115,000 net inflow in 2006, 80 percent came from the Indian subcontinent.

Source





2 June, 2008

Immigration raid spurs calls for action against owners

There is no doubt that scaring off employers would do most good but proving beyond doubt that they knew they were hiring illegals could be difficult

After the biggest immigration raid in U.S. history, hundreds of workers have been sentenced but not one company official as yet faces any charges -- something critics say is typical of a federal government that is tough on employees but easy on owners. Worker advocates and lawmakers say the fact that nearly 400 workers were arrested in the May 12 raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville -- or more than one-third of the total number of employees -- proves that company officials must have known they were hiring illegal immigrants. "Until we enforce our immigration laws equally against both employers and employees who break the law, we will continue to have a problem with immigration," said U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, an Iowa Democrat whose district borders Postville.

Such raids are designed to get headlines and make it appear that the federal government is cracking down on illegal immigration, said Frank Sharry, executive director of the immigration reform group America's Voice. But he says even those who think enforcement is the answer can't seriously believe the 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. can be arrested and deported. "Even if you wanted to pursue an imbalanced enforcement-first strategy, the only thoughtful way to do it would be to go after employers, make examples of them and try to scare other employers into compliance," he said. "They're not doing that."

The owner of the Postville plant, Aaron Rubashkin, has said that the company is conducting its own investigation "into the circumstances which led to the recent work site enforcement action, and is fully cooperating with the government." He said the company could not respond to specific allegations due to pending legal issues.

Court documents filed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent before the raid at the Postville plant indicate that authorities believed company supervisors were violating a number of federal laws including harboring illegal immigrants. An application and affidavit for search warrant alleged that:

--Based on 2007 fourth-quarter payroll reports, about 78 percent of Agriprocessors' 968 workers were using false or fraudulent Social Security numbers in connection with their employment.

--Agriprocessors was notified by the Social Security Administration in five separate letters of 500 Social Security number discrepancies for each tax year from 2000 to 2005.

--A Department of Transportation investigation found that an Agriprocessors supervisor was forcing workers to buy cars from him and allegedly registered the cars under falsified identities. An investigator found at least 200 cars were bought in this manner.

--The Iowa Department of Labor uncovered workplace safety problems including 39 citations since last October. Fines of around $182,000 were reduced Tuesday to $42,750 after the company agreed to correct some of the violations, which included improper storage and handling of hazardous chemicals and inadequate training in the use of respirators and handling of blood-borne pathogens.

--Allegations of child labor law violations are under investigation by the state. The investigation was initially halted by the ICE raid but has resumed, said Iowa Workforce Development spokeswoman Kerry Koonce. If confirmed, the violations could be prosecuted as misdemeanors under state law.

--Occupational Safety and Health Administration logs show records of incidents that led to five amputations, dozens of reports of broken bones, eye injuries and hearing loss at the plant between 2001 and 2006.

Immigration officials said the 389 arrests at the plant meant it was the largest single-site immigration raid in U.S. history. Of those arrested, 297 pleaded guilty and were sentenced. The guilty pleas included use of false identification documents to obtain employment, false use of a Social Security number or cards and unlawful re-entry into the United States.

About 60 of the workers taken into custody were released for humanitarian reasons and do not face criminal charges, while 20 others were detained on immigration violations only and face deportation proceedings, said Bob Teig, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in the Iowa's northern district. Five other defendants did not enter pleas and have cases pending in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.

The large number of people arrested, coupled with the allegations against Agriprocessors, has led some to conclude that the company is at least as culpable as the workers. "I'll be interested to see if federal authorities will be bringing any charges against the employer," Braley said in a telephone interview. Braley has questioned the cost of the Postville raid as well as an operation at Swift & Co. plants in Marshalltown and five other Midwest cities in 2006. Although federal agents arrested about 1,300 workers in raids at the Swift plants, Braley noted that no top company officials were charged. ICE officials told Braley they didn't have a cost estimate for the Swift raids.

Although it primarily has been Democrats who have questioned why few company officials are charged in immigration raids, the Republican congressman who represents Postville also expressed disappointment about how that operation was handled. James Carstensen, a spokesman for Rep. Tom Latham, said he views the raid as a blow to families seeking a better life and for the community, which is suffering economically. "It's a tragedy of an immigration system that is absolutely broken and the tragedy of an enforcement system that is probably not working as effectively as promised by the Bush administration," Carstensen said.

Rep. Timothy Bishop, D-New York, raised concerns about the federal action during a May 20 hearing of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and Labor. "Is it not reasonable to assume that if over a third of the work force employed at this plant violated labor law in one form or another that management has to have some complicity in those violations?" he asked James Spero, a deputy assistant director for ICE.

Spero answered that he couldn't comment on a potential ongoing investigation but said immigration enforcement at workplaces does include investigations into violations by management and owners. "The goal for our work site operations is to target and develop cases against the egregious employers who are committing violations," he said. Spero said investigations of the employers often take more time, and he noted that agents in Postville had search warrants and seized numerous documents from the company.

Kelly Nantel, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in a statement that it targets employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants but "must build work site investigations in stages." "Developing sufficient evidence against employers requires complex, white-collar crime investigations that can take years to bear fruit," she said

The agency said it filed criminal charges against more than 90 individuals in company supervisory positions last year. That is out of a total of 863 people who were charged with crimes during the year and 4,000 administrative arrests.

Agriprocessors, established in 1987 when Brooklyn, N.Y., butcher Aaron Rubashkin bought a shuttered meatpacking plant, is now the nation's largest kosher meatpacking facility. The owner's son, Sholom Rubashkin, has been running the Postville operation. However, the company said in its statement that it was seeking a new chief executive for the Postville operation. "The best course of action for the company, its employees, the local community and our customers is to bring new leadership to Agriprocessors," Rubashkin said in the statement.

The plant was closed on the day of the raid but resumed operation the next day at a reduced level. Company officials said they were hiring replacement employees and were working with immigration officials to "help us bolster our compliance efforts to employ only properly documented employees."

Source



Australia: Sydney to grow by around 25%

SYDNEY'S population will grow by nearly 1 million people by 2021 due to the Rudd Government's expansion of the immigration program - putting huge strain on the city's public transport, health, education and housing. A leading demographer, Bob Birrell, said the immigration intake would pump up the city's population to more than 5.1 million, up from about 4.3 million now and 350,000 more than planners had expected. His prediction comes on the eve of tomorrow's state budget, in which the beleaguered Iemma Government is expected to pour $58 billion into infrastructure over the next four years.

Dr Birrell, director of the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University, said the Rudd Government was giving too much weight to Treasury Department advice that raising the intake of skilled migrants would prevent a wages breakout and help cap inflation. "This is adopting a one-track mind to immigration, one that fails to recognise that Sydney historically absorbs about one-third of the people who arrive in Australia," he said. "It also fails to recognise the fact that their arrival imposes such huge stresses on existing resources that without the allocation of further funds to accommodate them, it can end of costing taxpayers and governments plenty."

In its budget last month the Rudd Government promised to increase the migration program by 37,500 places to 190,300 a year. Of the additional places, 31,000 are slated for skilled migrants, to meet the need for workers in a tight labour market driven by the resources boom in Western Australia and Queensland.

Dr Birrell said the population explosion would come despite Sydney losing up to 30,000 people a year to other states. He said that, apart from the increased intake, Sydney's population explosion would be driven by newly arrived migrant groups who tended to have higher fertility rates.

The Iemma Government's announcement at the weekend of $46 million extra for maternity wards to cope with a baby boom illustrates some of the effect on state infrastructure of an unexpected population increase. The Treasurer, Michael Costa, said yesterday that population growth was not just a matter for NSW. "This is a national issue," he said. "As the population grows, so does the demand for more services and infrastructure. "We'll keep working with the Federal Government to ensure that an appropriate portion of the $20 billion Infrastructure Australia budget goes to addressing issues such as urban congestion."

The Federal Government's boost in migrant numbers and its impact on Sydney infrastructure will have little effect on tomorrow's budget, because the effect will take years to be felt. But it will heavily influence the NSW bid to the Loans Council, now that it has been restored as the controller of Commonwealth and state borrowing limits. And it will play a big role in the NSW bid to the Grants Commission for a bigger share of the GST revenue.

The dean of the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of NSW, Peter Murphy, said federal governments generally took little direct interest in cities. If the Government wanted to pump up immigration, it needed to put money into state and local governments, "and that, typically, is where there has been a breakdown", he said. Although Sydney's share of new migrants had diminished due to the cost of accommodation and other factors, he said, "the numbers are still large, and Sydney has the largest share of the Australian economy".

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1 June, 2008

The battle of Farmers Branch: Democracy versus the judiciary

They are wasting their time with this judge. It will have to go to appeal. But he is probably giving them useful advice towards making their laws more waterproof

A federal judge on Wednesday struck down a Farmers Branch ordinance designed to block apartment rentals to most illegal immigrants. And he minced no words in refusing to green-light a later ordinance the city's attorneys had tailored to overcome legal issues related to the first. "The court has already held, at least as a preliminary matter, that five different versions of the [previous] ordinance violate the United States Constitution," U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay wrote. "The new ordinance is yet another attempt to circumvent the court's prior rulings and further an agenda that runs afoul of the United States Constitution."

But Judge Lindsay did not rule against the newer ordinance. Instead, he said the city had "put the cart before the horse" in asking for an opinion on the measure when it has drawn no federal court challenge.

That, however, may be about to change. Once Judge Lindsay issues his final judgment - which an attorney for the city said would incorporate all of his rulings in the lawsuit against the original ordinance - the city will begin a 15-day countdown to enactment of the newer measure.

And Bill Brewer, who represents some of the plaintiffs in the suit over the earlier measure, said Wednesday that if the city tries to implement the newer version, he will challenge it, too.

Newly elected Mayor Tim O'Hare, who as a City Council member has led the city's efforts to drive out illegal immigrants, said he expects Judge Lindsay to block the newer measure as well. "Then we would have two ordinances with which we can appeal to the 5th Circuit," Mr. O'Hare said. "We're confident in the end that we're going to prevail."

Judge Lindsay issued his permanent injunction barring implementation of the earlier measure, Ordinance 2903, a little more than a year after Farmers Branch voters approved it 2-to-1. "The people's will, and people's decisions, and people's wishes once again get ignored and overturned," City Council member David Koch said.

Judge Lindsay said in his ruling that he was aware of the widespread support for Ordinance 2903, and he recognized citizens' frustration over federal failure to enforce immigration laws. But he said the court must decide whether the law passes constitutional muster. "This is not the first time - nor will it be the last - that a court has held a politically popular ordinance to be unconstitutional," the judge wrote.

Mr. Brewer said, "Clearly, if we are not gaining popularity for our view, at least we are gaining credibility." Ordinance 2903 would have required apartment managers or owners to obtain and maintain evidence that tenants are U.S. citizens or legal residents. Opponents argued that it would saddle apartment personnel with the duties of immigration officers, unfairly burdening them with deciding who was eligible to rent.

The City Council adopted the newer measure, Ordinance 2952, in January. It would require prospective renters to pay $5 and declare their citizenship or legal U.S. residency to obtain a license to rent a house or apartment. Landlords could rent to anyone with a license, but the city would check the tenants' information against a federal database to confirm their legal status.

Judge Lindsay's decision against Ordinance 2903 came in a summary judgment - without allowing the case to go to trial. He wrote that only the federal government may determine whether someone is in the country legally. And he said the city, rather than deferring to the federal government's determination of immigration status, had created its own classification scheme for determining which noncitizens could rent apartments. "Because Farmers Branch has attempted to regulate immigration differently from the federal government, the ordinance is preempted by the supremacy clause" of the Constitution, Judge Lindsay said. He said numerous city proposals to revise the law failed because they would have required the court to essentially redraft the measure, which is not the court's job.

Lisa Graybill, legal director for the ACLU of Texas, which is one of the parties in the case, hailed the ruling. "It's a very clear victory for those of us who said from the beginning there are other more constitutional solutions to the problems that Farmers Branch identified and that these solutions so far are not only impractical, not only implausible, but clearly unconstitutional."

Michael Jung of Strasburger & Price, the law firm representing the city, expressed hope that Ordinance 2952 would ultimately withstand legal challenges. "The legal problems ... [Judge Lindsay] identifies with Ordinance 2903 have been addressed and we believe resolved in Ordinance 2952," Mr. Jung said.

At the Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that wants more immigration restrictions, spokesman Ira Mehlman noted that tough laws have been upheld in Arizona and Oklahoma. "There are a lot of conflicting legal opinions floating out there," he said, "and obviously, at some point, they are going to have to be bundled up by a higher court. Our view is that all these will be upheld."

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Democrat governor wriggling in Arkansas

Mike Huckabee as governor preached the gospel of compassion when faced with efforts to restrict state services to illegal immigrants. Mike Beebe preaches the rule of law. The Democratic governor is facing the same push for more state level immigration provisions that his Republican predecessor successfully bucked. Instead of using a preacher's flair, Beebe's using a lawyer's pen to parse his words on a proposed ballot measure aimed at illegal immigrants.

The day before a group called Secure Arkansas launched its signature gathering push to put its initiated act on the November ballot, Beebe dealt it a blow by announcing his opposition. The group hopes to put before voters a proposal that would require those older than 13 who seek benefits from a state agency to sign an oath saying they live legally in the country.

Unlike opponents who argue the that measure unfairly targets immigrants _ illegal or otherwise _ Beebe cast the issue as one of expanded government rather than discrimination. "All of the major provisions it proposes are already covered by federal or state laws, and this ballot title will create bigger government and cost Arkansans money," Beebe said. "Passing this initiative would merely re-state these same laws and add additional bureaucracy to Arkansas in the process."

Within a matter of days, though, Beebe's office acknowledged that he did not know that admission procedures at the state's two largest schools could give illegal immigrants in-state tuition rates. In response, the state's higher education director ordered all two-year and four-year colleges and universities to ask potential students if they are in the country legally.

But instead of winning over advocates Beebe may have aimed to please with his carefully worded opposition, he earned scorn from some of them. Alan Leveritt, publisher of the Arkansas Times and El Latino newspapers, blasted the governor for the decision and suggested he may have helped Secure Arkansas with the move. By ordering the schools to change their policies, Beebe gave the initiative's backers what they wanted, Leveritt said. "Now, without the haters signing a single petition, the governor has handed them a tragic victory," Leveritt wrote in a guest column in the Arkansas Times. Leveritt is also a member of the Arkansas Friendship Coalition, a group that was formed to oppose any state or local level measures they say unfairly targets immigrants.

Steve Copley, the coalition's chairman, has said he has no problem requiring state colleges and universities to make sure only legal Arkansans pay in-state tuition.

Beebe said he's not consciously trying to break from Huckabee's approach on immigration matters. An ordained Baptist minister, Huckabee as governor unsuccessfully pushed for legislation that would have made the children of illegal immigrants eligible for college scholarships and in-state tuition.

The argument the state has used in telling schools to ask potential students whether they live in the country legally mirrors the opinion Beebe issued as attorney general in 2005 questioning the scholarships and tuition proposal. Beebe is falling back on those legal arguments while Huckabee cast the immigration battle as a moral one. When a state senator proposed banning state services for illegal immigrants, Huckabee famously said the lawmaker drank a different kind of "Jesus juice" than him.

It's not the first time that Beebe has tread carefully or held his tongue completely on hot-button issues. On the issue of whether gays and lesbians should be banned from adopting or fostering children, Beebe opposes the ban but focuses more on how he says it would create a "rigid" blanket policy on adoptions.

Beebe also has avoided jumping into the fray of whether the state should institute a lottery to pay for college scholarships, as Lt. Gov. Bill Halter proposes. The governor says he supports giving the people a chance to vote on the matter. On the matter itself, he says he's undecided.

Even if the Secure Arkansas initiative doesn't make it on the ballot or is rejected by voters, Beebe may not completely avoid the immigration fight. Former Rep. Joyce Elliott, who sponsored the 2005 tuition and scholarships legislation, said she may bring the proposal offering in-state tuition to illegal immigrants' children back next year when she enters the Senate.

On illegal immigration, Beebe says he's not purposely avoiding the discussion of whether compassion or the rule of law should dictate how Arkansas treats its illegal immigrants. "It's just that I think you can be compassionate, and should be, and still follow the law," Beebe said last week. "They don't have to be mutually exclusive. However, I do believe that if something is the law you follow it. If you don't like the law, you try to change it in the way this country was set up and designed to change the law."

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