Undocumented Immigration
Communities Across the Nation Rethink Hard-Line Immigration Laws
Amidst a deep economic recession and a growing climate of fear and alienation within immigrant communities, many states, cities and counties that "plunged into the immigration debate are having second thoughts," reports USA Today. In states like Texas, Alabama and elsewhere, hard-line immigration legislation has been repealed or modified by lawmakers that have come to terms with the fact that the time and expense associated with implementing such policies has made their anti-immigrant position less popular among their constituents. In Iowa and Utah, legislators are proposing similar reversals. Accusations of racism and a surge in anti-immigrant hate crimes are also cited by USA Today as reasons for the about face. Read More
Prince William County Crusader Hangs Up Anti-Immigration Hat
Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman, Corey Stewart, has been at the forefront of an anti-immigrant crusade, setting the gold standard for local law enforcement "crackdowns" on the immigrant community in the last few years. Recent shifts in the political wind, however, have conveniently blown this Virginia Republican away from his undocumented immigration crusade toward more hot ticket topics, like the economy. Following the example of many GOP leaders who have recently softened their anti-immigration tone, Stewart, who built his ticket by cracking down on illegal immigrants as a social imperative, is now whistling another tune. According to the Washington Post, Stewart is changing his image in response to ‘plummeting home values, statewide Republican electoral defeats and widespread economic instability.' Read More
Steele Rewords, not Redefines GOP’s Immigration Stance
New RNC Chairman, Michael Steele declared in his acceptance speech that it's "time for something completely different." Yet when it comes to immigration, Steele is side-stepping pragmatic politics and choosing to stick with the same hard-line position that soured Latino and immigrant voters and contributed to the GOP's devastating losses this past election year. When pressed by Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, who asked Steele if the GOP needs to change its position on immigration reform and reach out to Hispanics and let them know that they have a home in the Republican Party, Steele replied: Read More
ICE’s Costly Net Catches Non-Fugitives, Misses Violent Criminals
The Bush Administration's increased interior enforcement measures were originally billed as necessary for national security and public safety. But it appears that very few terrorists or violent criminals have been caught. A new report by the Migration Policy Institute entitled "Collateral Damage: An Examination of ICE's Fugitive Operations Program" finds that as their budget multiplies and the number of immigrants apprehended increases, ICE is netting fewer and fewer violent criminals and arresting more and more undocumented immigrants with no criminal history. Read More
Unemployed Americans Are Just Collateral Damage in War on Immigrants
It would seem that the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and the Heritage Foundation regard unemployed Americans as little more than collateral damage in their endless war against immigrants. Both groups have concocted a new and predictably anti-immigrant argument against passage of the economic stimulus bill now under consideration in the U.S. Senate, which is intended to save or create jobs for millions of unemployed and soon-to-be-unemployed Americans. According to CIS and the Heritage Foundation, the fatal flaw of this bill is that some of the jobs it creates, especially in the construction industry, might end up in the hands of undocumented immigrants. Apparently, this is reason enough to delay passage of the bill until it is modified to require unemployed Americans to jump through hoops in order to prove that they are entitled to work in the United States. Read More
Candidate for RNC Chair Chip Saltsman Stirs Controversy with “Star Spanglish Banner”
At a time when the GOP should be warming up to key Latino and immigrant voting blocs, Chip Saltsman-candidate for the next chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC)-chose to ring in the New Year with a song called "The Star Spanglish Banner." Saltsman, who is also known as the former head of the Tennessee Republican Party who managed the Mike Huckabee campaign, included the song on his controversial holiday CD that he sent to RNC members as a Christmas gift. The story-which NDN's Melissa Merz officially broke-exposes yet another example of the xenophobic and bigoted rhetoric put forth by reckless public figures that has fueled rising hate crimes and violence against Latinos. Today's Huffington Post's head-lining article, "Star Spanglish Banner: RNC Candidate Chip Saltsman Causes Immigration Stir," described the song as: Read More
Push Still Strong for Immigration Reform in Early Obama Administration
Today, Barack Obama stepped into the Oval Office on his first full day in the White House as President of the United States and met with economic advisors to start "making early progress on the change he promised." In the spirit of both economic recovery and social change, immigration should be addressed in President Obama's early conversations. Latinos are demanding it ought to, experts and advocates are confident it will. Read More
Presidential Leaders Want Comprehensive Immigration Reform on Front Burner
President Bush counted immigration reform as one of his major regrets this week when cautioning the GOP not to be perceived as so "anti-somebody." While Bush's promise of comprehensive immigration reform took a back seat to the Iraq War back in 2001, current headlines suggest Obama's immigration reform campaign pledge is similarly taking a backseat to our economic woes. But in a step toward more immediate immigration reform, President-Elect Barack Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon yesterday for lunch at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C., to discuss, among other things, comprehensive immigration reform as a priority. Read More
Separating Fact From Fiction About Immigrants and Crime
The perennially hot, and inflammatory, question of whether or not immigration is related to crime has yielded front-page stories in both the Washington Post and New York Times over the past two days. In different ways, each of these stories highlights the extent to which the myth of a supposed link between crime and immigration has long been based on emotion rather than fact. Although study upon study over the past century has demonstrated that immigration is not associated with more crime, the "myth of immigrant criminality" persists. Read More
Questions Remain on Sedation of Deportees
Just when you thought you heard it all when it comes to the gruesome treatment of immigrants detained by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), we learn that immigration staff has overseen the sedation of 384 deportees over the past six fiscal years. ICE sedated 10 deportees in the last fiscal year alone. But that's not considered the news. Recent headlines are boasting that the figure represents ICE "cutting back" on sedating deportees with Haldol-a powerful drug that's commonly used to treat schizophrenia and such psychotic symptoms as hallucinations, delusions, and hostility. Cutting back? Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone
