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."

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.
  

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.
  

MATT.org spotlight

A daily feature, here we spotlight interesting links on the MATT.org website.

• An op/ed by E.J. Rangel, in which he says that discussion of foreign loans to and investments in Mexico are missing from the immigration debate.
• Michelle Guevara reports that immigration raids are on the rise.
• Learn about the MATT Foundation's initiative to create more jobs south of the border through micro-loans.