Immigration matters

absence of voices of reason....

2007-10-31T09:20:00.000-05:00

Great post at migramatters on the shortage of voices advocating sensible immigration reform and countering the misinformation spread by the likes of Lou Dobbs and Michelle Malkin, it also touches on something we have been talking about extensively on this blog in the past - the need for the latino vote to consolidate and get more political

There is one other important factor that needs to be taken into account when discussing the Democratic abandonment of meaningful immigration policy. Study after study shows that the Latino population will become the most important electoral demographic within the next few years. In states like New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Colorado, and Florida they may hold the key to 2008 victory.

But this power also seems to be going untapped. With the vicious Republican attacks on immigration issues, common wisdom has it that the Democratic Party will naturally be the beneficiaries of the Latino abandonment of that party. But should Latinos accept the DLC version of "Republican- lite" immigration policies? If this move to the right by the Democrats goes unchecked, what option does that leave? Latinos, and all other groups that contain large immigrant populations, need to come together and send a strong message that they will not be taken for granted. Their votes will not be won so cheaply. The Rahm Emanuels and James Carvilles of the world need to know that they should not be so quick to paint red states blue if in fact they expound views that are no different from their red state opponents.

We need to start to fight more effectively, we need to start to harness our power and direct it at countering the years of lies and propaganda promoted by the Republican Right. We need to let our Democratic "friends" know that they must hold true to the principles of equality, justice, and human-rights on which their modern party was founded …and if they fail that task…they are no better than their opponents....and should be given the same electoral consideration.

What Part of ‘Illegal’ Don’t You Understand?...

2007-10-30T12:24:00.000-05:00

Lawrence Downes on the word illegal and the mood in America today on illegal aliens

Good thing I am not an illegal immigrant. There is no way out of that trap. It’s the crime you can’t make amends for. Nothing short of deportation will free you from it, such is the mood of the country today. And that is a problem.

America has a big problem with illegal immigration, but a big part of it stems from the word “illegal.” It pollutes the debate. It blocks solutions. Used dispassionately and technically, there is nothing wrong with it. Used as an irreducible modifier for a large and largely decent group of people, it is badly damaging. And as a code word for racial and ethnic hatred, it is detestable.

“Illegal” is accurate insofar as it describes a person’s immigration status. About 60 percent of the people it applies to entered the country unlawfully. The rest are those who entered legally but did not leave when they were supposed to. The statutory penalties associated with their misdeeds are not insignificant, but neither are they criminal. You get caught, you get sent home.

A climate of fear....

2007-10-28T10:39:00.000-05:00

A report in Businessweek on the impact of the immigration raids on farms around the country...

A climate of fear is spreading among undocumented immigrant workers, causing turmoil in industries dependent on their labor. In August the Homeland Security Dept. announced that employers would be required to terminate workers who fail to produce valid Social Security numbers. Implementation of the new rule is delayed pending the outcome of a lawsuit brought against the government by the umbrella labor union group, the AFL-CIO.

But while the new rule has yet to take effect, its impact is already being felt by farmers like Torrey. An estimated three-quarters of agricultural workers in the U.S. are undocumented, and growers are starting to feel the paralyzing effects of losing their workforce. They say that unless the government implements workable reforms, the future of the U.S. as a food-producing nation is in jeopardy.

GOP and Immigration....

2007-10-01T10:57:00.000-05:00

This is a topic we have covered extensively on this blog, the GOP's anti-immigrant platform and what that means for the party's future. The rhetoric being spawned in talk radio and blogs as a result of the immigration debate is explicitly anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic

Nothing however, better exemplifies the compulsive irrationality that has taken over the Republican Party than its handling of the Hispanic electorate.

Latino voters, as Bush demonstrated in 2004, are by no means locked into the Democratic fold. On top of that, Republican strategists have been pounding for a decade the theme that Hispanics are crucial to the GOP future.

Ken Mehlman, who ran both Bush's 2004 campaign and the RNC, declared in a July 2006 speech (one of many on the subject) that as party chair,

"I know...that a Republican Party that does not reach out to Hispanics cannot win ... and a Republican Party that does not reach out to Hispanics does not deserve to win."

Similarly, Ed Gillespie, who ran the RNC before Mehlman, and who is now counselor to the president, laid it on the line in an April 2006 Wall Street Journal op-ed:

"The Republican Party cannot become an anti-immigration party. Our majority already rests too heavily on white voters, given that current demographic voting percentages will not allow us to hold our majority in the future. Between 2000 and 2004, President Bush increased his support in the Hispanic community by nine percentage points. Had he not, John Kerry would be president today.... Anti-immigration rhetoric is a political siren song, and Republicans must resist its lure by lashing ourselves to our party's twin masts of freedom and growth -- or our majority will crash on the shoals."

House and Senate Republicans have not only led the charge in killing immigration reform legislation, however, but their rhetoric has served to legitimize explicitly anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic calls to action in city councils, on numerous web sites, on talk radio, and in public discourse generally.

Immigration reform...two years on

2007-09-13T11:20:00.000-05:00

Great post at Migra Matters analyzing the past two years of the immigration reform movement.

Rather than always reacting to what legislation has been presented to us, the movement must define a firm set of goals as to what true immigration reform should be, then take those goals and march with them. These goals, once set, should become the cornerstone on which meaningful reform is built and should be presented to our political leadership to become the bedrock on which policy is crafted.

The time is now for those who truly want to advance the cause of immigration reform to come together and begin the hard work of crafting just such policy.

Policies that will address what future immigration should encompass.

Policies that will ensure that not only the immediate concerns of those here today are addressed, but also the concerns of those who will follow in the future.

Policies that look at the global realities of how US economic and foreign policy decisions effect and contribution to worldwide migration.

Policies that will ensure that all workers, both US and foreign-born are treated with dignity and economic justice.

Unless we, as Progressives and reformers, begin this needed dialogue amongst ourselves and start the hard work of reaching consensus, will forever be playing catch-up behind the likes of Lou Dobbs and Pat Buchanan as they continue to frame the national debate with the words of Frank Luntz and the Republican spin machine.

Justice denied...

2007-09-12T13:33:00.000-05:00

Influenced by the immigration rhetoric more idiots take matters into their own hands... only when it is a judge the consequences can be devastating..

Anna Calixto went to court Friday seeking an order of protection from her husband, Fernando Calixto. Instead, she was told to go back to her native country of Nicaragua by Blount County Circuit Court Judge W. Dale Young, according to witnesses.
Anna Calixto and witnesses said the judge asked Fernando Calixto — who came to the United States from Mexico — if he was in the United States legally. The judge told him if he wasn’t here legally, he had “no rights in court.”
The judge then asked the same question of Anna Calixto.
“When the judge asked if I was here legally,” Anna Calixto said, “I told him I have my temporary worker permit and I have the documentation showing it from the immigration service.
“The judge shrugged his shoulders like he didn’t care — then he told me to go back to Nicaragua.

Immigration Reform - Grade: Fail

2007-09-09T12:28:00.000-05:00

A NYT editorial on the failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform

With the Republican minority tacking xenophobic amendments onto every bill in sight, the chances of real, broad immigration reform seem as bleak as ever. Some say it is time to consider throwing out the old arguments. Bruce Morrison, a former Connecticut congressman with an extensive immigration portfolio, makes an interesting pro-immigrant case for ditching comprehensive reform. Fix legal immigration first, he says — get those backlogs down, get a steady supply of nurses, engineers and M.B.A.’s flowing, and impose strict biometric workplace IDs so that all future hiring is legitimate.

...You saw this coming... farms moving to Mexico

2007-09-05T10:59:00.000-05:00

More American farms, jobs and profits move south of the border because of lack of labor, you can bet Lou Dobbs, Michelle Malkin and the rest of the howling brigade on immigration will spin this blaming large farmers for taking jobs away from Americans. It is their rabble rousing rhetoric that is hurting America more....

Farming since he was a teenager, Mr. Scaroni, 50, built a $50 million business growing lettuce and broccoli in the fields of California, relying on the hands of immigrant workers, most of them Mexican and many probably in the United States illegally.

But early last year he began shifting part of his operation to rented fields here. Now some 500 Mexicans tend his crops in Mexico, where they run no risk of deportation.

“I’m as American red-blood as it gets,” Mr. Scaroni said, “but I’m tired of fighting the fight on the immigration issue.”

A sense of crisis prevails among American farmers who rely on immigrant laborers, more so since immigration legislation in the United States Senate failed in June and the authorities announced a crackdown on employers of illegal immigrants. An increasing number of farmers have been testing the alternative of raising crops across the border where there is a stable labor supply, growers and lawmakers in the United States and Mexico said.

2007-09-03T20:31:00.000-05:00

Here is a great article on the ethnic and racial aspects of the immigration debate

So the election grows closer, and it's time to satisfy all those people who have been demanding that we put a stop to illegal immigration. The failure of the so-called "amnesty bill" leaves the government no choice other than expulsion of anyone without papers.

The National Guard is activated and the city and state police forces are nationalized. Sweeps of Hispanic neighborhoods round up all the Spanish-speaking people with brown skin and sort them out according to who has the right documentation.

Six million of them are found to be illegal immigrants.

They are loaded into buses, trucks, cattle cars and transported to the Mexican border. It's all handled very humanely – they're well fed on the way, and we pay the Mexican government a hundred dollars per returnee to pay for their return to their homes. That's $600 million, but it's so worth it.

World Opinion

Of course, the sight of all those Mexicans being off-loaded at the border and forced to walk in long lines across the borders, surrounded by armed American soldiers and police – that's good television. Worldwide.

The outcry against our action is tremendous, but what do we care what the world thinks?

When Serbians ask why we bombed them for trying to expel native Albanians from Kosovo, when we're doing the exact same thing, we don't bother answering. We don't have to answer. We're the world's only superpower, and therefore everything we do is right.

The Serbians keep asking: The Kosovars had a terrorist organization; where were the bombings and killings by illegal Mexican immigrants?

To which we self-righteously reply: The Kosovars were the original inhabitants of the land you were trying to expel them from.

To which they reply: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and parts of several other states – they were all part of Mexico before America invaded and took that land. Don't talk to us about original inhabitants! Where's our apology, now that you're doing ethnic cleansing too?

It's not ethnic cleansing, we carefully reply. It's not because they're Spanish-speaking brown-skinned people that we think they posed a danger to America. It's because they didn't have green cards.

The Story on TV

The television reporters from many countries have more stories to tell than those scenes of border crossing. They show Mexican officials talking bitterly about how the relocation costs of the returning Mexican nationals are far more than the $600 million the US paid.

But Republican politicians are quick to answer that one: "If you didn't want to pay for their relocation, you shouldn't have let them across the border in the first place!"

Those Republicans look so good on television. Especially when the reporter goes on to show families in every poverty-stricken village in Mexico, their children crying with distended bellies.

"Why do you think our father went north of the border in the first place?" asks a Mexican teenager, her words translated into English. "There were no jobs. There was not enough to eat. Now he's back, there's still no job and no more money getting sent from the north. Instead of supporting his family, he's another hungry mouth in a house with no money."

The reporter goes on: "The hunger here is as bad as anything I saw in Ethiopia, Somalia or Darfur."

The Republican spokesman is adamant – he looks so good on camera when he says, "America does not exist to be a safety valve for the failures of the Mexican economy."

The Cost to Americans

As soon as the final solution to the illegal immigrant problem was decided on, everyone knew that it would be a disaster for farmers that depend on migrant workers to pick their crops. So the government spends another billion dollars to subsidize the farmers, allowing them to pay native-born workers a much higher wage.

The trouble is, picking isn't easy work, and it does require some knowledge and skill. Most of the Americans who accepted the jobs can't handle the working conditions. "You expect us to live here while we pick your crops? You expect us to work how many hours in the blazing sun?"

Too many of them head for home. Farmers wait for workers who never come.

It would have happened whether the American workers quit or not. Because the economy was too good. You see, President Bush, "the worst president in American history," presided over an economy with such low unemployment that there weren't enough workers desperate enough to leave their jobs and their homes and go on the road picking crops.

Prices for migrant-picked foods skyrocket, even as surplus crops rot in the fields, unharvested.

But it's not just agriculture that suffers. With so many workers stripped out of the American workforce, stores and service providers stay open only by working their employees in double shifts. Everybody's competing for workers in a labor-short market, and wages rise.

No, wages skyrocket. But something else happens, too. With such a scarcity of labor, unions are able to strike and make it stick – there is no "scab labor" eager to take the jobs of striking workers.

Owners and managers are bombarding Congress with messages saying, "We told you this would happen! We begged you not to take away this work force!"

And Republicans go on the air to say, "Those illegal immigrants were taking American jobs!"

"Yeah," answer the owners and managers. "But they weren't taking them away from Americans. They were mostly doing jobs that only existed because these people would work so hard for so little, and could be depended on."

"The American workers we're getting now," they say, "are mostly people who don't have the Mexican work ethic – they're full of their rights, but we can't count on them to show up every day. We're paying them three times the wages for half the work. If we're lucky."

Economists

The reporters talk to the free market economists who swore that when the illegal immigrants left, all those great jobs would return to Americans. "They just have to raise the wages higher to attract the workers they want," say the economists.

But in the real world, it doesn't work that way. As the wages rise and rise, management moves all the jobs that can be moved ... to Mexico. After all, it's Mexico that has a sudden glut of six million extra workers, desperate for any kind of job.

Only now all the money those workers earn stays in Mexico. It used to be that at least part of it was spent in the US.

So in the midst of the labor shortage, with prices rising, businesses are trying to sell their goods in an economy with six million fewer consumers. They weren't the top level consumers, but they bought things. Now they don't.

"You'll see," say the economists. "There's an initial shock, of course, but gradually the markets adjust." And it's true. With more and more businesses closing, there are more workers available who are starting to get desperate enough to take the lousy jobs the illegal immigrants left behind.

And when it has all settled out, a new equilibrium is found. We didn't just throw out the illegal immigrants, we threw out their jobs, too, and closed down all the businesses that served them.

The people who starved to death in Mexico aren't here to enjoy the growing prosperity in their country, with so many American jobs now available to them – but free market economists never mind a few thousand deaths here and there. The free market always recovers. "Let them die," the free market economists said, "and reduce the surplus population."

It Was the Right Thing

As for all those Americans who had angrily rejected the idea of amnesty for illegal aliens, many of them were certain the right thing was done.

"If you reward them for breaking the law, they'll just break it more," they say.

"But you're paying more for everything," the reporter asks.

"Worth it," they say.

"Why?"

"Because every illegal immigrant was a criminal!"

The reporter nods wisely. "So there's no more crime now."

"Well, no."

"At least the worst criminals were gone. All the murderers, the thieves, the rapists, the child molesters, the drug dealers – they're all gone, right?"

"Well, no. Some of them, but ... look, we're no longer subsidizing the education of their children! They're no longer using public services without paying taxes!"

"Interesting," says the reporter. "And yet poor Americans pay no income taxes, and they use the public schools without paying property taxes, either."

"But their landlords pay property taxes."

"But the landlords of the illegal immigrants paid property taxes. So I guess they weren't being completely subsidized by the American people, after all."

"And we aren't having to pay for all those extra English-as-a-Second-Language classes, right?" goads the reporter.

"Absolutely right! Everything's better! I can look around me and look at the people on the street and it feels like America again. Everybody's talking English! Except for the orientals and the towel-heads, of course, but you've got to take things one step at a time."

And the TV show cuts away.

Lawbreakers

On television, yet another Republican spokesman is trying to defend the disastrous expulsion of the illegal immigrants. His opponent on the talk show is one of those fuzzy-headed liberals, of course, so he's hardly worth talking to. But you have to give equal time, right?

"So the higher prices we're all paying, the reduced services, the loss of American jobs, the contempt the whole world feels for American ethnic cleansing – you think it was all worth it?" says the talk-show host.

The Republican spokesman nods wisely. "They broke the law even coming into this country."

"What if it was a stupid law?" asks the liberal.

"It was the law, and they broke it."

"And so they no longer deserved to live in America?" says the liberal.

"They never deserved to live here."

"So lawbreakers don't deserve to live here. Have you ever had a speeding ticket?"

"I'm an American. And I pay my traffic fines."

"But you broke the law."

"I was born here."

"But your ancestors weren't," says the liberal. "Your ancestors, somewhere along the line, were born somewhere else."

"But they came here legally."

"No sir, they did not," says the liberal. "I knew we'd get to this point, so I had your genealogy researched. Here's a list of your German ancestors who broke the law of their German-speaking state by emigrating."

"Those weren't American laws, so they weren't criminals here."

"And here are your Puritan New England ancestors, who came here as criminals because of their defiance of the laws concerning religion in England."

"They wanted freedom of religion."

"But they broke the law. And look – here are your Scotch-Irish and German ancestors who settled in Pennsylvania and North Carolina without getting legal title to their lands. They were all law-breaking squatters, and they kept getting caught farming on other people's land and had to move on."

"It was wide-open country then, and the laws were different –"

"And look – here are your ancestors who crossed over the Appalachian Mountains like Daniel Boone, into areas that the federal government absolutely declared off-limits to white settlers. Then when the Indians attacked them for illegally trespassing, they demanded that the US Army come and kill Indians so your ancestors could keep their illegally occupied land."

"I know the Indians were badly treated, but –"

"In fact, through most of the territory of the US, the first settlers were illegal immigrants, weren't they? US treaties supersede all other laws except the Constitution. So what about it? Do you favor the expulsion of all these white illegal immigrants to restore the land to the legal titleholders by US treaty?"

"That was a long time ago."

"Oh, so these Mexican immigrants – their problem was they just didn't stay long enough."

"If you give amnesty, you just get more of the same crime."

"But if you give amnesty and then change the laws so it isn't a crime anymore, then you won't get more of the same crime."

"That's giving in to the criminals!"

"Look," says the fuzzy-headed liberal, "we made up these laws. It's not like murder or theft or rape, where one person is infringing the rights of another. We just decided, arbitrarily, which people could come into our country and which could not. Our rules favored the rich; the poor in other countries weren't welcome.

"But there they were, starving in their own country," the bleeding-heart liberal goes on. "And the only thing holding them back from feeding their children was a border and a set of completely arbitrary rules. Stupid, needless rules that kept the workers in one country from getting the jobs that were waiting for them in another."

"Those are good laws! We don't want the riff-raff of other countries!"

"But we weren't getting the riff-raff, sir! We were getting the bravest, the hardest-working, the most determined to feed their families. We were getting the ones who scraped together the money to pay the illegal smugglers to get them across the border."

"There, you see? Criminals!"

"Vicious, terrible criminals – doing a job that only made money because of your immigration law. And when the immigrants got here, they worked hard."

"And used up welfare money and state services and all without paying taxes!"

"But if we had let them in legally, or let them stay once they were here and allowed them to change their status, they would have paid taxes. In fact, they already did pay sales taxes and property taxes. The only taxes they didn't pay were income taxes, and we paid them so little that even if they were citizens, they wouldn't have owed a dime."

"But they were endangering our culture –"

"Our culture has always tolerated thousands and millions of people who spoke other languages and clung together in memory of the old country. And then, a few generations later, we were all Americans together. Your fear of these immigrants merely shows your complete ignorance of American history.

"Hyphenate us all you want," the arrogant liberal continues, "go to whatever ethnic pride parades you want, but we're all Americans. We changed each other – the Irish, the Italians, the Germans, the Black slaves, the Russian Jews, the Chinese, the Japanese, they all came here and changed the way we talk and think and dress and sing and dance and read and write and it was always still America. Until now."

"What do you mean, until now?"

"Because it's time to take down the Statue of Liberty, sir. We no longer accept the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. We no longer lift a lamp beside the golden door. The door is steel, and we've shut it tight. This isn't America anymore."

"That's treasonous!"

"No, sir, you are the traitor. You're the one who declared that America was no longer a nation built around an idea, which accepted all who embraced that idea. Now it's just like any other nation on Earth. It stands for nothing except for holding on to what we've got and making sure there's no room for the people most desperate to come and join us."

"They didn't want to live under our laws!"

"Yes they did. All we had to do was change a law that made far less sense than the traffic laws Americans break or bend all the time! If you make breathing a crime, then yes, all the breathers are criminals, but the people who made the laws are the stupid ones."

"How dare you! We're the ones who wanted to keep America American!"

"America is a nation that thrived because of a constant infusion of eager new citizens. You have closed the door against the best and bravest of them. You have cut off the lifeblood."

"At least we're still speaking English!"

"That's right," says the fuzzy-headed liberal. "It takes a lot of brains and determination to learn to speak two languages fluently. We kicked out six million people who were willing to try to do that. And what we have left is ... you."

The human face of immigration failure

2007-08-30T13:05:00.000-05:00

the failure of comprehensive reform has left promising students stranded through no fault of their own..

Lucy Bottomley, at 23, is a picture of the best of her generation. She's smart, articulate, connected to community and just a few credits short of her bachelor's degree from Washington State University. She wants to be a teacher.

But the federal government is about to throw away the promise of this young woman — and of many others like her — thanks to the failure of immigration-reform efforts. Bottomley is in the United States illegally — something that came as a surprise to her. Born in England, she moved with her family to the United States at age 10 under a visa that has since expired.

Two years ago, Bottomley's American dream fell apart. Her mother was deported. Bottomley, who grew up in Walla Walla, faces deportation Sept. 15 whether she has her degree or not. She got one extension, thanks to the intervention of Congressman Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton. Though his office has been intervening again, a spokesman said he is not optimistic.

Bottomley's problem would have been solved if Congress had succeeded in enacting comprehensive immigration reform. The failed bill contained a provision to give such students as Bottomley — brought to the United States as children through no act of their own — to earn legal status by succeeding in college or serving in the military.

While the larger reform is considered dead until after the 2008 presidential election, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is leading an effort to enact the provision, known as the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act. Originally proposed by Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the effort has bipartisan support. Students in Bottomley's predicament are innocent of wrongdoing.

Better to help these young people, who have become American in so many ways, than to throw them out — not to mention waste the investment we have made in their public educations.

...of Republicans, Hispanic voters and immigration

2007-08-20T12:30:00.000-05:00

Fred Barnes on how the rhetoric in the Republican party on immigration is alienating Hispanic voters who are the fastest growing segment of voters..

By dwelling, often emotionally, on the problem of illegal immigration as a paramount issue and as if nothing is being done to deal with it, Republicans are alienating Hispanic Americans, the fastest growing voting bloc in the country. What's worse is many Republicans are oblivious to this or insist that losing Hispanic voters doesn't really matter because they'll never be reliable Republican voters anyway. These Republicans buy the notion that a sizable majority of Hispanics are and always will be Democrats.

This defeatism is wrongheaded. Hispanics are not lost to Republicans, as President Bush showed by winning more than 40 percent of their votes in 2004 and half their votes in 1998 when he ran for re-election as governor of Texas. The fact is Hispanics are conservative on cultural issues, entrepreneurial on economics, and intensely patriotic. They are a winnable constituency for Republicans.

But not if Republicans continue to concentrate on bashing illegal immigrants, as the party's presidential candidates have. Just this week, Mitt Romney spent day after day zinging Rudy Guiliani for opposing deportation of illegal immigrants when he was mayor of New York. Guiliani fired back that Romney, while Massachusetts governor, had tolerated so-called sanctuary cities that protected illegals.

Two potential candidates, Newt Gingrich and Fred Thompson, have increased their emphasis on illegal immigration. Gingrich declared himself "sickened" by the failure of Bush and Congress to confront the issue "while young Americans in our cities are massacred" by illegal immigrants. He was referring to the killing of three college students in Newark, New Jersey. An illegal immigrant is among those arrested in the murders.

Gingrich said Bush and Congress shouldn't have gone on vacation this month. And, rising to rhetorical heights, he said "the war here at home" against illegal immigrants is "even more deadly than the war in Iraq and Afghanistan." Whew!

There's a distinction to be made here between opposing the immigration reform bill that died in the Senate several weeks ago and the obsessive emphasis by Republicans since then on unlawful immigration. There were legitimate reasons for seeking to defeat the bill, though I favored it. But now the heated talk about illegals has drifted into demagoguery.

Deportation by attrition........

2007-08-05T14:32:00.000-05:00

The immigration debate turns uglier by the day...nice article in the NY times this week on how immigration laws being enacted in small towns across America are tearing apart communities and sowing the seeds of discord for years to come..

It’s in places like Carpentersville where we may be witnessing the opening of a deep and profound fissure in the American landscape. Over the past two years, more than 40 local and state governments have passed ordinances and legislation aimed at making life miserable for illegal immigrants in the hope that they’ll have no choice but to return to their countries of origin. Deportation by attrition, some call it............
........But with Congress’s inability to reach an agreement on an immigration bill, the debate will continue among local officials like those in Carpentersville, where the wrangling often seems less about illegal immigration than it does about whether new immigrants are assimilating quickly enough, if at all. In Carpentersville, the rancor has turned neighbor against neighbor. Once you scrape away the acid rhetoric, though, there’s much people actually agree on — but given the ugliness of the taunts and assertions, it’s unlikely that will ever emerge.

Farmers fed up with lack of immigration reform

2007-08-01T23:03:00.000-05:00

Farmers are facing tough times and the lack of progress on immigration reform is making things worse for this sector.

To listen to right-wing talk radio or the fear-mongers on cable TV, you would think that the only people upset by the unraveling of immigration reform are open-border liberals or left-leaning Latino activists.
Nope. Farmers and ranchers are as conservative as they come. Yet right about now, they're angry enough to spit nails.
American agribusiness is fighting off foreign competition from Asia and Latin America while losing workers to other industries. Someone who grows peaches in Central California might pay workers about $7 per hour, while construction firms often pay twice that.
The reason for the disparity is wrapped up in how much people are willing to pay for what they consume. A lot of Californians won't think twice about forking over a million dollars for a house, but they'll balk at the price of an apple, especially when they have the option of going to another store where the apples are cheaper because they come from China.
And given that California agribusiness generates more than $30 billion annually, the labor shortage is a concern for everyone in the state -- whether they realize it or not.

Latino baby boom changing demographics in California

2007-07-30T13:17:00.000-05:00

For the first time in modern history, most of the babies being born in California are Latino, according to an analysis of state birth records through 2005 by the Mercury News. Population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau also show that for the first time in 2004 more than half of the children under age 5 in California are Latino.

Free for all on immigration

2007-07-23T11:16:00.000-05:00

In the absence of the federal government to enact any meaningful immigrtion legislation, communities across the US have begun to push for anti immigration legislation, it seems the immigration is a good issue for every small time politician to whip up frenzy and engage in political theater of the worst kind.

"The retail spots ... for every two that went vacant, one would be filled by a Spanish-speaking business, then, you ... saw what was once a really, really, really nice neighborhood start to decline," O'Hare said in an interview with The Associated Press at the ornately decorated two-story home he shares with his two dogs.

O'Hare, a first-term city councilman and personal injury lawyer, believes those issues could be resolved if illegal immigrants left Farmers Branch.

Last summer, O'Hare began pushing the city to enact one of the most sweeping anti-illegal immigration measures anywhere in the U.S.

Demographics bound to reduce Latino Immigration?

2007-07-03T14:07:00.000-05:00

Birth rates across Latin America are in rapid decline and this might lead to a fall in the number of people wanting to migrate to the US.

According to the World Bank’s 2007 Annual Development Indicators, in 1990 Mexico had a total lifetime fertility rate of 3.3 children per female, but by 2005, that number had fallen by 36 percent to 2.1, which is the “break even” point for population stability in developed nations.

Mexican Immigration Will Solve Itself

Immigration Bill Dead?

2007-06-28T11:23:00.000-05:00

The Immigration reform bill failed a major cloture vote today, possibly signaling the end of any chance of immigration reform before the 2008 elections.
AP: Senate blocks immigration bill.

WASHINGTON - The Senate drove a stake Thursday through President Bush’s plan to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants, likely postponing major action on immigration until after the 2008 elections.

The bill’s supporters fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to limit debate and clear the way for final passage of the legislation, which critics assailed as offering amnesty to illegal immigrants. The vote was 46 to 53 in favor of limiting the debate.

Immigration reform Bill - Round II

2007-06-26T13:06:00.000-05:00

The Immigration bill is back in the senate and just survived a crucial vote, 64-35 to revive the bill.

The Senate voted Tuesday to jump-start a stalled immigration measure to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants.

President Bush said the bill offered a "historic opportunity for Congress to act," and appeared optimistic about its passage by week's end.

The pivotal test-vote was 64-35 to revive the divisive legislation. It still faces formidable obstacles in the Senate, including bitter opposition by GOP conservatives and attempts by some waverers in both parties to revise its key elements.

link

Texas Senators Help Defeat The Grand Compromise Immigration Reform Bill

2007-06-14T13:46:00.000-05:00

An interesting observation on the recent senate debate on the immigration compromise, both the senators from Texas were vehemently opposed to the bill. This in a state that has a significant population of voters who are Hispanic. Senator Cornyn offered amendments that would have effectively killed the bill

So why were Texas' senators two of the most ardent opponents of the sweeping bill? Why were neither among the "Gang of 12" who help stitch together the now-dead compromise?

Hutchison and Cornyn will list a disdain for the amnesty provisions in the bill, a need for greater border security and tougher restrictions on illegal immigrants. But also in the list is the reality of Texas politics.

Cornyn faces re-election in 2008 and Hutchison is considering a possible gubernatorial run in 2010. Each needs the votes of GOP conservatives who still run the state's Republican Party and turn out heavily in the March primaries.

read the whole story here
The Hispanic population in Texas, the ethnic group most affected by immigration reform, is 35.5% of the total population and 24.6% of eligible voters.
Me thinks the Latino vote in Texas is just not organized enough.

Immigration Refrom Bill dead?

2007-06-07T23:21:00.000-05:00

After failing to secure enough votes to limit debate on the Immigration Reform Bill, Senate majority leader Harry Reid withdrew the bill - this really cripples the chances of passing an Immigration reform bill this year.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A deal on granting legal status to 12 million illegal immigrants collapsed amid partisan rancor in the US Senate on Thursday, dealing a sharp blow to President George W. Bush.

The Senate’s Democratic leader Harry Reid withdrew the landmark and controversial measure after members voted for the second time in the day not to move it towards a final vote.

After tense hours of brinkmanship between Republicans and Democrats, only 45 members of the 100-seat Senate voted to limit further debate on the measure, 15 short of the total needed for it to proceed. Fifty senators voted against.

The impact of the point system

2007-06-05T08:39:00.001-05:00

Here is a graphic from the New York Times, showing the probable impact from the point system.

Link to the article

AP Headline: Illegal students await immigration plan

2007-06-04T08:15:00.000-05:00

Illegal students - the phrase itself sounds a misnomer, the new immigration bill would benefit about 1 million students. Almost all of these students having being brought to the US by their parents end up facing an uncertain future after they graduate. while they can remain in the shadows of society till they graduate, they cannot legally work after graduation - not a lot of motivation to stay in school and graduate.

While the bill is the subject of widespread debate, the provision addressing students is popular. Advocates say they will try to add it to other bills moving through Congress if the immigration legislation does not pass.

"I'm going to look for every chance I can find to make this the law," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a chief supporter of the idea.

"What we're saying is these kids deserve a chance," he said. "They didn't decide to come to America. Their parents did."

AP Article

IDEAS: advocates for undocumented students

U.S. to raise Immigration fees

2007-05-30T08:47:00.000-05:00

An average 66% increase is slated to go into effect in July, some interesting information here.. 99% of the budget of The Citizenship and Immigration Services comes from applicant fees.

Under the increases, which cover almost all immigration benefits, the cost of bringing a foreign fiance or fiancee will jump to $455 from $170. The price tag for a green card, or permanent resident visa, will rise to $930 from $325, and the cost of citizenship papers will increase to $675 from $330.

No jobs for US citizens without Homeland Security approval

2007-05-27T16:49:00.000-05:00

Under the terms of the new immigration bill, US citizens will have to seek the approval of homeland security before they can be hired for any job, in addition all current employees will have to be recertified from DHS that they are eligible for employment in the US.

This is a bureaucratic nightmare in my opinion, one that will replicate the no-fly list only much much worse. The inevitable database glitches, red flags for legal citizens, procedures in challenging any mistakes could very well overwhelm the DHS's Employment Eligibility Verification System (EEVS) and make it unworkable.

"EEVS would be a financial and bureaucratic nightmare for both businesses and workers," said Timothy Sparapani, ACLU Legislative Counsel. "Under this already flawed program no one would be able to work in the U.S. without DHS approval - creating a ‘No Work List’ similar to the government’s ‘No Fly List.’ We need immigration reform, but not at this cost."

The act allocates US$400 million for the implementation of the EEVS, but the Congressional Budgeting Office estimates the system to cost in excess of a billion dollars.

Another minus for the proposed bill, hopefully this will be fixed before the bill becomes law.

Wide support for legalization and Immigration reform

2007-05-25T16:17:00.000-05:00

The New York Times released a poll showing widespread support for Immigration reform and some sort for legalization program for the millions of illegal immigrants living in the shadows of our society.

Americans also favored education, jobs and skills over family ties for permanent resident considerations.

Read the full article here

Amendments galore...

2007-05-24T12:50:00.001-05:00

Amendments by the dozen are being offered up for the Comprehensive immigration act being debated in the senate now. It is safe to say that by the time the senators are through with it this act, it might look nothing like the one that was originally proposed. Amendments range from the ones that make some sense to the ones that are just offered for the benefit of the hard line elements back in the home district.

FIRM has some updates on the Coleman Forced Immigration Enforcement Amendment

Immigration Prof Blog on the Coleman Amendment

Merit points system for new comprehensive immigration law

2007-05-21T12:56:00.000-05:00

Here are some details of the point system being discussed, this table is from a draft of the bill (posted for sometime on AILA, and the final version in the bill might be different. but its a good first look at the options being discussed.

Category	Description	Max pts
Employment Occupation National interest/ critical infrastructure Employer endorsement Experience Age of worker	U.S. employment in Specialty Occupation (DoL definition) – 20 pts U.S. employment in High Demand Occupation (BLS largest 10-yr job growth, top 30) – 16 pts U.S. employment in STEM or health occupation, current for at least 1 year – 8 pts (extraordinary or ordinary) A U.S. employer willing to pay 50% of LPR application fee either 1) offers a job, or 2) attests for a current employee – 6 pts Years of work for U.S. firm – 2 pts/year (max 10 pts) Worker’s age: 25-39 – 3 pts	47
Education (terminal degree)	M.D., M.B.A., Graduate degree, etc. – 20 pts Bachelor’s degree – 16 pts Associate’s degree – 10 pts High School diploma or GED – 6 pts Completed certified Perkins Vocational Education program – 5 pts Completed DoL Registered Apprenticeship – 8 pts STEM, assoc & above – 8 pts	28
English & civics	Native speaker of English or TOEFL score of 75 or higher – 15 pts TOEFL score of 60-74 – 10 pts Pass USCIS Citizenship Tests in English&Civics–6 pts	15
Extended family (Applied if threshold of 55 in above categories.)	Adult (21 or older) son or daughter of USC – 8 pts Adult (21 or older) son or daughter of LPR – 6 pts Sibling of USC or LPR – 4 pts If had applied for a family visa in any of the above categories after May 1, 2005– 2 pts	10
		100
Supplemental schedule for Zs Agriculture National Interest U.S. employment exp. Home ownership Medical Insurance	Worked in agriculture for 3 years, 150 days per year – 21 pts Worked in agriculture for 4 years (150 days for 3 years, 100 days for 1 year) – 23 pts Worked in agriculture for 5 years, 100 days per year – 25 points Year of lawful employment – 1 pt (max 15pts) Own place of residence – 1 pt/year owned (max 5pts) Current medical insurance for entire family (5pts)	5

Overview of the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2007

2007-05-18T16:33:00.000-05:00

via AILA

Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2007

Title I

Title I requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to certify that the triggers are met before the Title IV (Guest Worker) and Title VI (Z visa ) programs can begin, with the exception of probationary status for Z workers and the programs for agricultural workers.

* Triggers include:
o 18,000 (CBP) Border Patrol hired
o Construction of 200 miles of vehicle barriers and 370 miles of fencing
o 70 ground-based radar and camera towers along the southern border
o Deployment of 4 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and supporting systems
o The ending of catch-and-release
o Resources to detain up to 27,500 aliens per day on an annual basis
o The use of secure and effective identification tools to prevent unauthorized work.
o The receiving and processing and adjudicating of applications for Z status.

* Title I also includes authorities and resources to augment border security including:
o physical infrastructure along the border
o additional field and investigative agents
o comprehensive plans and studies of the border region
o revisions to law enforcement techniques and enhanced authorities.

Title II

Title II provides for interior enforcement of immigration laws.

* The stiffening of laws and penalties relate to:
o the detention of criminal aliens
o the definition of aggravated felony
o gang violence
o passport, visa, and immigration fraud, including marriage fraud

* Other provisions include language regarding:
o Increased penalties for illegal entry and reentry
o encouraging aliens to depart voluntarily
o prohibiting aliens from possessing firearms
o alternatives to detention
o state and local law enforcement reimbursement and training
o the streamlining of background checks for immigration status

Title III

Title III addresses workplace enforcement by increasing penalties, revising and making mandatory a system of electronic employment verification, and promoting information sharing.

* This Title designs a worksite enforcement system that relies on electronic employment verification and a reduced list of documents that may be presented to employers to prove identity and work eligibility.
o Also increases penalties significantly over current law for unlawful hiring, employment, and recordkeeping violations.

* Verification of employees: As of the date of enactment, employers in national security-related industries, industries involving critical infrastructure, and federal contractors may be required to electronically verify employees, including new hires and/or current employees, with additional employers or industries added after 6 months.
o All employers would be required to electronically verify new hires within 18 months of enactment, or on the date on which the Secretary certifies that the system is operational.
o Once the system is implemented, all employers would be required to verify all current employees within by 3 years after enactment.

* Structure of the EEVS: After the date of hire but no later than the first day of employment, the employer must transmit to the EEVS via the Internet the data that the employer has taken from the worker's identity and work eligibility documents.

* Inconclusive determinations: Where the EEVS cannot conclusively determine the status of a worker's eligibility, a further action notice is issued and the individual must contact the appropriate federal or state agency to initiate resolution of status and the individual continues to work while the agency resolves his or her status.

* Final nonconfirmation: If the employer has received a final non-confirmation regarding an individual, the employer must terminate the employment of the individual, unless the individual files an administrative appeal of a final non-confirmation notice within 15 days.

* Data and Information Sharing: The Commissioner of Social Security must information to the Secretary of DHS regarding data contained within the Social Security database as in relates to employment verification.

* Fraud and tamper resistant social security cards: Not later than 180 days after date of enactment, the Commissioner is required to begin work to administer and issue fraud-resistant, tamper-resistant Social Security cards.

Title IV

Title IV establishes a new temporary Y worker program to address future labor needs of temporary foreign workers and discourage future illegal employment of undocumented individuals. The title also includes measures to protect the rights of U.S. and foreign workers and prevent the U.S. employer from abusing the program.

* Structure of new visa programs: This title creates a new future temporary worker program for workers who are coming to the U.S. to perform temporary job that the U.S. employer is unable to fill. It provides for:
o non-seasonal Y temporary worker (Y-1 visa)
o seasonal temporary worker
+ Y-2A for agricultural workers, sheepherder, goat herders, and dairy workers
+ Y-2B for non-agricultural workers; and
o their spouses and minor children (Y-3 visa).

* Matching Willing Workers with Willing Employers: All Y workers must be matched to a "willing employers" through an electronic database in order to qualify for a Y worker visa.

* Families of Y visa holders: can only accompany Y workers if the worker can:
o show proof of valid medical insurance and
o demonstrate that the wages of the principal Y nonimmigrant(s) are 150% above poverty level for the household size.
o Spouses and children who do not qualify for Y-3 visa may be admitted under other nonimmigrant status.

* Period of admission: A Y-1 worker can be admitted for a two year period that can be renewed twice if that worker spends a period of one year outside the United States between each admission.
o A Y-1 accompanied by dependents is afforded a single two year visa, non-renewable.
o Workers with Y-2A and Y-2B visa qualify for 10 month visas; no extensions may be granted.

* Permanent Bar: Y worker who fails to timely depart is permanently barred from any future immigration benefit.

* Wage: The employer must attest that the Y worker will be paid not less than the greater of the actual wage paid by the employer to all other similarly situated workers or the "prevailing competitive wage."

* Numerical Limitation: The Y-1 visa program has an initial cap of 400,000 with yearly adjustments based on market fluctuations.
o There are no numerical limitations for Y-2A while the Y-2B visas are initially capped at 100,000 with yearly adjustment based on market fluctuations.
o The market-based fluctuation is adjusted every 6 months during the fiscal year.
o The Y-3 visa for spouses and minor children limit may not exceed 20% of annual limit for Y-1 visas.
o A newly created Standing Commission will make recommendations to Congress regarding the Y visa numerical cap for each fiscal year following the initial year of the program

Title V

Title V restructures and rebalances the current system by which green cards are distributed.

* Rebalancing of Immigrant Visa Allocation: Resets the number of family-based, family backlog, merit-based immigrants, and eventual Z immigration green cards.
o The family categories are less than under current law since several of the extended family categories are reduced, while the merit-based is increased over the current employment-based levels after the processing of the family-based backlog.
o An annual total of 440,000 visas are allotted to process the backlog of family-based categories.
o It is estimated that the family backlog cases can all be processed in 8 years.
o An annual total of 10,000 visas are set aside for exceptional Y workers.

* Merit Based Points System: The current employment based green card system will be replaced by a merit based points system.

* Reducing Chain Migration and Permitting Petitions by Nationals: Elimination and reconfiguring of the following family-based preference categories:
o First: Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Citizens
o Second: Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Permanent Residents other than spouses and minor children of permanent residents
o Third: Married Sons and Daughters of Citizens
o Fourth: Brothers and Sisters of Adult Citizens
o Sets cap of 40,000 per fiscal year on category for parents of U.S. citizens.
o Sets cap of 87,000 per fiscal year on the second preference category for spouses and children of permanent residents.

* Elimination of Backlog: If the family-based visa petition in the eliminated category is filed before May 1, 2005, the petition can be processed under the prior law.

Title VI

This title provides a new visa for most individuals currently living within the U.S. illegally.

* Creates a new four-year, renewable "Z" nonimmigrant visa to address the undocumented population within the U.S. The visa is split up into three groups:
o a principal or employed alien (Z-1),
o the spouse or elderly parent of that alien (Z-2),
o and the minor children of that alien (Z-3).

* Cut off Date: In order to be eligible for this visa, one must have been illegally present within the U.S. before January 1, 2007.

* Fees and Penalties: To apply, an alien seeking Z-1 status must be currently employed and pay fees and penalties totaling $5,000 (less for derivative Z's) to be eligible for a green card under the merit-based system.

Probationary, the Permanent Z Status: Once an applicant submits a completed application, fingerprints, and is cleared by one-day background checks he will receive probationary benefits which can eventually be converted to a Z nonimmigrant status after all background checks are clear and the triggers set forth in Title I are achieved.

* LPR Status: A Z-1 nonimmigrant may adjust status to lawful permanent residence after the family backlog under Title V is eliminated if the Z applicant:
o Satisfies the merit requirements in the points schedule set forth in Title V.
o files the application for adjustment in the Z-1's country of origin and
o pays a penalty of $4,000.

* DREAM ACT: Individuals under the age of 30 that were brought to the United States out of their own control as a minor are eligible to receive their green card after 3 years rather than 8.

Title VII

Title VII includes a number of miscellaneous provisions involving assimilation, including increased funding for the office of citizenship and integration ($100M)

DEAL: Bipartisan deal on immigration

2007-05-17T15:27:00.000-05:00

Key points revealed so far:

Illegal immigrants can come forward and obtain a "Z visa" and—after paying fees and a $5,000 fine—ultimately get on track for permanent residency, which could take between eight and 13 years. Heads of household would have to return to their home countries first.

They could come forward right away to claim a probationary card that would let them live and work legally in the U.S., but could not begin the path to permanent residency or citizenship until border security improvements and the high-tech worker identification program were completed.

A new temporary guest worker program would also have to wait until those so-called "triggers" had been activated.

Those workers would have to return home after work stints of two years, with little opportunity to gain permanent legal status or ever become U.S. citizens. They could renew their guest worker visas twice, but would be required to leave for a year in between each time.

New limits would apply to U.S. citizens seeking to bring foreign-born parents into the country.

Senate Negotiators Agree on Immigration Overhaul Plan

New deal on Immigration reform to be announced soon...

2007-05-17T11:00:00.000-05:00

Republican and Democratic senators appeared to be closing in on a compromise deal on immigration to grant quick legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants while fortifying U.S. borders against new ones.

Details being leaked out are sketchy, but the deal involves setting up a system of points to enable undocumented immigrants present in the US before Jan 1 2007, to embark on a path to citizenship.

"Among the final sticking points was a stubborn dispute over how much family ties and other criteria should count toward green cards under a new "point system." The plan prioritizes advanced skills and education levels for future immigrants."

Link