In the news today: July 17, 2007

• At the top of our news-reel is a story in the New York Times today about how a significant percentage of HIV cases in Mexico can be traced back to migrant workers who went to the U.S. and brought the disease back home.

• The Christian Science Monitor takes a look at how an increasing number of local police across the country are enforcing immigration law.
• The Voice of America reports on lacking health care in immigrant detention centers.
  

Daily features: July 17, 2007

• Daily video/Candidate tracker
  

Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson discussed his views on immigration last week. He outlines a few main points: the need to secure the borders but not necessarily with a border fence or wall; the need to punish those who knowingly employ illegal workers; use more aggressive foreign policy with Mexico; raise legal immigration quotas; and formulate an earned legalization plan that would be contingent on learning English, passing a background check, paying taxes, paying a fine for entering illegally, and being employed.

• Tuesday blog round-up

• We discovered a new blog that struck us as rather interesting. The Southern Poverty Law Center's "Intelligence Project" compiles links to news articles every day that tracks the anti-immigration movement. You can subscribe to the Intelligence Project and receive updates every day.
• Apparently, illegal immigration in Illinois costs each household in that state $695/year. The comments on this site are interesting and we're sure our opinionated commenters will want to join in on the discussion.
  

• Cartoon of the day

Published in the El Universal (Mexico City) on July 16, 2007.

In the news today: July 16, 2007

• A New York appeals court has ruled that spouses of Chinese women affected by stringent population controls in their country do not necessarily qualify for asylum in the U.S.
• A Tulsa couple could be deported back to Mexico even though they are the parents of four American citizens.
• The Des Moines Register has a handy compilation of where GOP presidential candidates stand on immigration.
• The Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote a great news-feature on how Texas ranchers near the border feel about the border fence.
  
• John McCain's campaign staff dwindles even more.
  
• Earlier: McCain's stances on immigration, Iraq blamed for lagging campaign

Daily features: July 16, 2007

• Daily video

Legal immigrant rally in San Jose, CA on green card processing backlog.

Read our earlier post on this: Daily features: July 11, 2007

• Monday blog round-up

• Jean Pfaelzer, of a George Mason University blog, takes a look at "What's scary about the anti-immigration debate".
• Would you pass the citizenship test?
• Cyberhillbilly's blog posted a video of Geraldo Rivera and Bill O'Reilly discussing immigration last night.
  

• Cartoon of the day

By Eric Allie of PoliticalCartoons.com, July 13, 2007.

Video game: You win if you escape deportation

In what is likely the most interesting immigration-related news tidbit in the pop culture sphere, ABC News reports that a New York-based human rights group called Breakthrough has designed a video game called "ICED!", or "I Can Escape Deportation!".

The game, free to download here starting this September, allows players to step into the role of an undocumented immigrant in the United States, with the ultimate goal of avoiding deportation by the immigration authorities.

From the ABC News article:

ICED! players are required to make "moral choices." Jumping turnstiles in the subway or robbing stores causes players to lose points and puts them in danger of getting caught by an immigration official and detained or deported.

Conversely, players can gain points and avoid detention by planting trees, helping the elderly or volunteering around their community.

According to Breakthrough's Web site, the game simply and directly "teaches players about the unjust nature of U.S. immigration policy."

Random deportation trials, long lines to use the phone and sexual harrassment in detention centers are among the situations depicted in the game.

In the news today: July 13, 2007

• A Mexican couple gets a one-year deportation reprieve as their 17-month-old daughter undergoes surgery for a rare heart defect reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
• A Pakistani held at an immigration detention center has sued the Immigration Department for placing him in a room with a heroin user as well as for violence and harrassment endured while a detainee, reports ABC News.
• The Los Angeles Times reports that 10 more suspects have been arrested in an "ongoing federal investigation into a scam involving Asians willing to pay thousands of dollars to immigrate to this country by entering into phony marriages with U.S. citizens from Vietnamese and Chinese communities in Southern California."

Daily features: July 13, 2007

• Daily video

The Department of Homeland Security is withholding border security money from Arizona. Aired on CNN, July 12, 2007.

• Friday blog round-up

• Michael Linton of the FirstThings blog talks about his daughter's experience with undocumented workers at a restaurant where she waitressed.
• The ImmigrationProf blog provides links to contacting your congressmembers if you are interested in having them support or rally against the DREAM Act. For those of you not in the know:
• "It would provide a 6-year path to permanent residence and eventual citizenship for individuals brought to the U.S. years ago as undocumented children if they graduate from high school and continue on to college or military service."

• Cartoon of the day

By Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com.

Border fence mishaps, cont.: Build it through the University of Texas

We're only supposed to post twice a day this week to help out our tech-team as they move everything from this hosting site to to the new website, but we felt we absolutely had to make this one-half of our posts today.

Remember how we posted a few weeks ago that part of the border fence in Arizona had been built into Mexico? And that it would cost up to $3.5 million to fix?

Well, here's something that passed under our radar last month: the Department of Homeland Security planned to build the fence through the University of Texas at Brownville's campus, leaving its International Technology, Education and Commerce campus south of the border.

"What about traffic between classes, [the president of the university] wondered. 'Would the students need to show a passport?'"

Earlier: Daily features: July 11, 2007, 'Virtual' AZ border fence to stay quite virtual for now, In the news today: July 9, 2007, U.S. built border fence into Mexican territory; it'll cost up to $3.5M to fix

Daily features: July 12, 2007

• Daily video

Tomás Contreras, a legal immigrant and entrepreneur, talks about his three-month stay in an immigrant detention center. He was detained on his way back from visiting family in Mexico. This video is part of Voces de la Frontera's reality tour.

• Thursday blog round-up

• 'Gandhian' visa flower protest by Indian immigrants gets noticed, and the SAJA blog compiles news links.
• The StructuralPatterns blog wonders why and how Rudy Giuliani can 'collapse' immigration and terrorism together.
• The GreenFertility blog ridicules Pat Buchanan for stating that immigrants bring disease into the country; followed by a news article that states that the unhealthy are very unlikely to immigrate at all.
  

• Cartoon of the day

By Daryl Cagle at MSNBC.com. Published July 11, 2007.

In the news today: July 11, 2007

• The Columbia Tribune reports that Missouri is to get an immigration court of its own. Presently, all of its court cases are heard in Chicago which has led to a major administrative backlog.
• The Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, visited the capital today. In an interview with the Voice of America, he said he asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice not to abandon debate on U.S. immigration reform.
• Three more workers of a Swift & Co. plant in New York were arrested today in an undocumented worker raid, reports the AP. The raid followed a massive one that took place concurrently in six states where the company has plants on Dec. 12. During last winter's raid, 1,200 undocumented workers were arrested.
• Also in New York state, 30 undocumented workers at a children's summer camp were arrested yesterday.
  

Daily features: July 11, 2007

• Daily video

The border fence cameras/sensors may not be working as expected. Aired on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360", July 10, 2007.

This shouldn't be suprising to our readers: Virtual' AZ border fence to stay quite virtual for now

• Wednesday blog round-up

• The Houston Chronicle's blog reports that some attorneys there are encouraging legal immigrants who've been waiting on their green cards for many years to join the class action lawsuit in Chicago.
• This fits in with our earlier post, Citizenship applicants sue U.S. over delays
• Neal Boortz writes in his blog that no action on illegal immigrants will ever be effective because such action would disproportionately affect Hispanics, which would be "politically incorrect", much to his chagrin.
• Tanya Doriss at the Center for American Progress writes about reproductive justice and immigrants' rights. Her arguments are backed by statistics.
  

• Cartoon of the day

Published in the El Universal newspaper (Mexico City), July 10, 2007.

In the news today: July 10, 2007

• Eric Zom, a Chicago Tribune columnist, discusses criminal illegal immigrants (and differentiates them from illegal immigrants whose only crimes are their undocumented status). He ties his discussion to a current trial in Chicago.
• Drew Westen, a HuffingtonPost columnist, writes about language and what he perceives as its connection to the failed immigration reform bill.
• The Arizona Republic reports that employers are confused about tough new hiring laws that go into effect in that state on January 1, 2008. From the article: "The employer-sanctions law will revoke the license of any company caught twice with undocumented workers "knowingly" on the payroll. A first offense can bring a suspension."
  
• We posted on the "Basic Pilot" program last week: Immigrant verification plan makes headway on the state levels

Spotlight on our commenters

We'd be kidding ourselves if we thought you all came just to read our posts—the best part of reading blogs is checking out what your fellow readers think. Fortunately for us, this blog attracts strong personalities and points of view. We thought we'd highlight some of the better discussions among our commenters here:

• At the top of the list, certainly, comes the discussion about what it means to be an "ANTI" and a "PRO": We Ask You: What do ANTI and PRO really mean?
• A similarly charged discussion stems from the Q&A we posted with an immigrant rights advocate: Q&A: Common misconceptions about immigrants
• Yesterday's news-reel prompted a commenter to provide some news we missed: In the news today: July 9, 2007
• Our post on a border fence mishap led to discussion on the fence's practicality: U.S. built border fence into Mexican territory; it'll cost up to $3.5M to fix
• A post on the Hispanic vote kick-started some discussion we believe could go further: GOP presidential candidates could lose Hispanic support in 2008

Daily features: July 10, 2007

• Daily video:
  

Kathy Kiely's master's degree project is a video of members of Congress speaking about their immigrant roots.

• Tuesday blog round-up + Soundclip:
  

• The VanishingAmerican blog takes a look at "mushy moderates" and immigration.
• Chicago Public Radio introduces us to Rose Anne, a second-generation Mexican-American as part of their ongoing Chicago Matters: Beyond Borders series.
• The BatseLine blog synthesizes the recent headlines about illegal immigration issues in Tulsa, OK.

• Cartoon of the day

By Lisa Benson, WashPostWritersGroup.

In the news today: July 9, 2007

• The Boston Globe published a really well-written news-feature in Saturday's paper about a five-year-old girl who faces a deportation hearing that could potentially separate her from her family in the U.S. The article will surely pull heart-strings as well as fan some people's flames.
• The Austin American-Statesman reports that border fence construction in southern Texas may significantly damage the Rio Grande eco-system.
• USA Today published a news-feature today on illegal immigrants who seek refuge from the immigration authorities in places of worship.
• The Hartford Courant reports that 26 of 32 illegal immigrants arrested in raids in New Haven, CT last week are back home after their families posted bail.
• The Ashland City Times (Tennessee) published a profile of the Maury County sheriff who is either revered or abhorred for his illegal immigration crackdown.
  

Daily features: July 9, 2007

• Daily video/Candidate tracker:
  

Ron Paul, Republican presidential candidate, speaks of immigrants' "American" work ethic.

• Monday blog round-up

• John Hawkins at RightWingNews' blog looks at how illegal immigration has affected two GOP senators: Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
  
• The Council on Foreign Relations' blog compiles information on "Immigration: the Other Health Crisis".
• About.com answers FAQs on green card marriage.
  

• Cartoon of the day

Published in the Boston Globe, July 7, 2007.

We Ask You: What do ANTI and PRO really mean?

Commenter Maryst drew our attention to an interesting, very relevant question.

For those of you who read a lot about immigration online, you know that the blogosphere and forums often refer to the "ANTIs" and the "PROs".

So we want to know, from you, how you would explain either category. ANTIs: what are you against? PROs: what are you for? And how do you see the opposing group? Alternatively, do you feel you don't fit into either of those categories? Why?

Friday blog round-up

• The BillT blog links to an article about Microsoft opening a research center in Vancouver to get around strict immigration rules in the United States.
• The National Center for Policy Analysis says that due to the declining fertility rate in Mexico, the influx of illegal immigrants to the U.S. will likely fix itself in time.

Daily video: Income inequality in Mexico and its connection to illegal immigration

Aired on CNN, July 5, 2007. (Note: Video quality is not great.)

MATT.org spotlight

• In the forums, members discuss "Loyalty & Dual Citizenship"—a point of contention between the anti- and pro-immigration camps.
• Marisa Treviño, a MATT contributing writer, looks at the Hispanic vote in 2008.
• Learn about MATT.org's "Hecho en América" initiative to promote products made in the Americas as a pathway to creating more jobs throughout the continent.
  

Cartoon of the day

By Nick Anderson, syndicated cartoonist.

Immigrant verification plan makes headway on the state levels

Washington Business Journal reports that at the state levels, more employers will be required to verify that all their employees are legally allowed to work in the United States. The verification process called "Basic Pilot" is voluntary now and only 18,000 companies are signed up and using it. That may chance with state-based legislation:

Though Congress' attempts to make the program mandatory have failed for now, state and local governments are rapidly making Basic Pilot a reality for companies. Companies that do business with Colorado, Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arizona and Mission Viejo, Calif., are required to enroll in the program. Comprehensive legislation is pending in Missouri and South Carolina to require all employers to participate in the program. More than 30 other states considered similar legislation in the past year.

Qualtrics poll: Most Americans favor deportation for illegal immigrants

Qualtrics, an Internet-based survey group, found that 68 percent of respondents favor deportation as the answer to illegal immigration; another 20 percent feel that illegal immigrants should be given legal status and a chance at citizenship.

Citizenship applicants sue U.S. over delays

The AP reports on an interesting aspect of becoming a citizen in the United States. Apparently, a "name check"—a requirement to moving along the naturalization application—takes over six months for around 150,000 people:

The FBI completes about 62,000 name checks every week, with close to 27,000 new requests coming from USCIS alone on a weekly basis, said Trent Pedersen, a spokesman with the bureau's Salt Lake City office. (...)

The wait may get worse before it gets better, warns Audrey Singer, an immigration fellow with the Brookings Institute. As lawmakers grapple over the best ways to ensure a secure nation - creating stricter laws on everything from green cards to passports to citizenship applications - agencies such as the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are bound to get more bogged down, she said.

Lawsuits are becoming more common, and would-be citizens in several states including Utah, California, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Idaho have sued in the hope of speeding up the process.

Mexican music turns Chicano, tackles immigration issues

On a holiday-like note, we wanted to point you in the direction of a New York Times article that looks at how Mexican "corrido" music has been translated into Chicano culture here in the United States. We're sure that the lyrics and story will be of interest to readers of our blog.

Now they are putting up barriers in front of us so we don't return / but that is not going to block us from crossing into the United States / We leap them like deer, we go under them like moles

Soundclip: How immigration has affected Beardstown, IL

NPR did an interesting news-feature on how Beardstown, IL, a very small town based around a pork processing plant, has been affected by a recent influx of both legal and illegal immigrants who now number at around 6,000. Listen to it here.

(This is today's last post.)

McCain's stance on immigration, Iraq blamed for lagging campaign

Media across the board have been reporting that Sen. John McCain's Republican presidential nomination campaign has suffered tremendously in this past quarter. His campaign announced it had raised only $2 million, compared to the $11 million it raised in the previous three months.

"McCain for President" has fired dozens of employees and stopped paying others, including the campaign manager, who will now work for free. That campaign manager, Terry Nelson, said the lack of support is probably due in part to McCain's support of the Iraq war and S.1639, the comprehensive immigration reform bill that failed last week.

Earlier: GOP presidential candidates could lose Hispanic support in 2008 & Tuesday blog round-up

Editorial round-up

The Salt Lake Tribune compiled varying editorials from several different newspapers published on the failed comprehensive imigration bill, S.1639.

SoCal hunger strike for legal status

The Los Angeles Times reports that three dozen young people in Southern California are going on a hunger strike until Monday in order to call attention to the need for a legal path to citizenship for illegal immigrant students.

Daily video/Candidate tracker: Obama on undocumented workers

Sen. Barack Obama on the campaign trail in Laconia, N.H. yesterday.

Soundbites: Post-S.1639

• Peter D. Saling, a professor at SUNY, calls for the U.S. to close the borders by using Social Security database, in a NYT op/ed.
• Robert S. Nix and Lauren A. Schwartz write in the Allentown, PA Morning Call that the failure to pass immigration reform leaves seasonable labor in 'limbo'.
• Texas Senate candidate calls the border fence a waste of money unlikely to stop illegal immigration.
  

Q&A: Common misconceptions about immigrants

We spoke to Shuya Ohno, who works with the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), about stereotypes regarding immigrants to the United States.

Q: What is one of the greatest misconceptions Americans harbor regarding immigration?

A: I think a lot of people think they take away our jobs. The truth is that at every sector in the economy, we need more immigrants to fill jobs. We know about the agriculture sector, but it’s also construction, and other low-wage jobs. The reason there are so many low-wage jobs open right now is because over the last fifty years, the education level of the American worker has changed; [whereas] fifty years ago about 50% had graduated from high school, now it’s over 80%. The economy reflects that with higher-paying jobs that require college degrees. That doesn’t mean that janitorial and food preparation services have gone away—those jobs still need to be filled. In fact, they need to be filled more so now because there are more people in the country. Studies show that areas with the highest number of immigrants have fairly low or some of the lowest unemployment rates.

Q: Let’s talk about the widespread notion that illegal immigrants choose to be illegal rather than legal in this country.

A: Of course, if they could come in legally they would, but that option doesn’t exist. You have to understand it’s not an easy choice to make to cross the desert, especially with young ones, risking your life. They are fleeing economic and political devastation and persecution. They want a better life just as all generations of immigrants to the U.S. have wanted. If they could come in legally, they would. If the Ellis Island system would stlill exist, all these people would absolutely have legal status.

Q: Misconceptions regarding assimilation are rampant, aren’t they?

A: Yes, another great misconception is that they don’t want to learn English, assimilate, and be Americans. This is simply not true. There’s huge waiting lists all over the country, especially in metropolitan areas, for ESL [English as a Second Language] classes. People want to learn English as it’s critically important. It’s not that people don’t’ want to, it’s that there’s not enough services for them. In every wave of immigration to this country, this is always an attack: newcomers don’t want to assimilate. But by the second generation, their kids are bilingual; by the third, English is the primary language. This was true of Italians, Germans, and absolutely true of Spanish-speaking immigrants today.

Q: What about immigrants and health care?

A: People think immigrants are taking up all the room in the ERs and getting benefits US citizens don’t. The federal government basically is allowing K-12 education for anybody living in the country. It’s good for everyone to keep kids schools. Similarly, ER care should be available for everyone, so this is why immigrants are allowed there regardless of their immigration status. This is misleading in a way because most undocumented immigrants get no public benefits, no welfare, no food stamps—they certainly don’t get health care (no preventative or pre-natal care) so they rely on emrgency care. The use of ER services by undocumented immigrants is very small compared to the per capita use by the general population. Most of the undocumented population are healthy, working age people and they’re working most of the time. They can’t afford not to work. One of the most ridiculous things I ever heard was a Massachusetts state legislator say that immigrants bring in diseases. I don’t want to dignify that with further comment. It’s just absurd.

Q: What of the idea that immigrants don’t pay taxes?

A: [The] former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, said that immigrants—including undocumented immigrants—pay more than their fair share in taxes. Undocumented immigrants pay federal income tax but don’t get any of the benefits a regular tax payer does. These people don’t get tax refunds nor are they granted welfare, food stamps, and other federal benefits.

*Please note!* In the coming weeks, we plan to ask similar questions to a member of an anti-immigration group, as well as other stakeholders such as politicians, immigrants, and more. If you have any specific people in mind, drop us a line.

(This is today's last post.)

Brown: Immigration bill indicates politics is always partisan

Peter Brown of Yahoo!News just posted a concise, well-written opinion piece that draws together what most of us already know about politics in America: it usually comes down to party lines. In this op/ed, Brown takes a look at how partisan politics came into play during the discussion of the comprehensive immigration reform bill, S.1639, last week. Especially interesting is Brown's look at the division among Democratic senators and his analysis of that party's leadership.

Senators give themselves a $4,700 pay raise

Somehow this bit of news was lost to us among all the immigration bill headlines. On June 27 it was decided that your senator will now make $170,000 a year.

Daily video: Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly on the failed immigration reform bill

Some readers wrote to us asking why we selected the liberally-slanted Jon Stewart video for our last "Daily video" post on Friday. Like our cartoons of the day, and everything else we post on this blog, we try to present our readers with as many different viewpoints as possible. Today, for example, we head to the right's camp.



Aired on FOX News' "The O'Reilly Factor".

We Ask You: A government immigration ombudsman?

While making the Internet rounds this morning, we came across an incredibly interesting concept. In Australia, there is a government-funded position called "Commonwealth and Immigration Ombudsman."

The man who currently holds this position, John McMillan, reports on how he feels the Department of Immigration has been doing. For example, he recently released a report criticizing the department for several errors that led to the detention of 247 immigrants there.

Is such a thing even potentially feasible in the United States—an ombudsman for the Department of Homeland Security or U.S. Immigration? Would such a position be beneficial or do other members of society provide enough necessary criticism that there's no need for it? What would such a position add, if anything? Would the government stand for it? Would voters like this idea? Do you? Post in the comment section and let's get some good discussion going.

Monday blog round-up

A daily feature, here we highlight interesting posts, points of view, and links as recorded on the blogosphere.

• ImmigrationEquality's blog provides some interesting links concerning LGBT people held in immigrant detention centers.
• Nelson Guirado divvies up Americans according to how they view immigration. According to him, the groups are: Immigration Charitists, Culture Preservationists, Redistributionists, and Culturally Confident America Firsters.
  
• Winston Smith at the PoliticalCesspool takes a look back at S.1639.
• Noam Biale of the HuffingtonPost wonders what really killed S.1639.
  

Border crossing increasingly dangerous for patrolmen & immigrants

There's a great news-analysis piece in the Los Angeles Times today. The article by Nicholas Riccardi stems from the headline-grabbing story on how Nicholas Corbett, a U.S. Border patrolman, is now charged with murder for shooting Francisco Javier Dominguez-Rivera, who was trying to cross into Arizona from Mexico.

The article gives us a pretty good run-down of how illegal border crossing from Mexico into Arizona has become increasingly dangerous for both the side trying to keep the illegal immigrants out, and those trying to come in. Here's an excerpt:

Assaults on agents are up 10% in southeastern Arizona over last year, and though the number is holding steady nationwide, the Border Patrol says attacks have become more violent. Officers say immigrants are more likely to run and throw rocks or, as happened near Yuma, Ariz., last month, Molotov cocktails.

The Border Patrol has seized nearly twice as much cocaine this year as last. The crossing is riskier for illegal immigrants too. Deaths among crossers are up 21% over last year. Bandits watch border-crossing routes, robbing immigrants and sometimes kidnapping entire groups. (...)

Cartoon of the day

By Steve Benson, The Arizona Republic.

Candidate tracker

A regular feature, here we track what U.S. presidential candidates have had to say about immigration-related policy in recent days.

• Democratic presidential candidates promised the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials they will continue to pursue comprehensive immigration reform. Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, and Barack Obama, among others were there. Republican presidential candidates were invited, but only Rep. Duncan Hunter showed up.
• Rudy Giuliani reaffirms the U.S.' need for "secure borders" after the terrorist scare at Glasgow's airport this Saturday: "[I]f you don't end illegal immigration, almost nothing is possible, because no matter what you do, things are going to get worse."
• Mitt Romney says he doesn't want to deport the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the country but he doesn't want to give them a "special pathway" to legalization either.

Missing soldier's wife gets green card

The wife of a soldier missing in Iraq can strike one worry off her list: the Department of Homeland Security gave her a green card this weekend, FOX News reports. Having entering ilegally from the Dominican Republic, Yaderlina Hiraldo Jimenez had earlier been served deportation papers. Her G.I. husband, Alex Jimenez (right), has been missing since mid-May.