Michele Waslin: Expanding eligibility to additional family members and individuals in removal proceedings, as well as allowing immigrants to appeal their denials and apply from inside the U.S. would be an improvement.
House VAWA Bill Threatens Protections for Immigrant Women and Children
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Michele Waslin: VAWA is an important piece of legislation that deserves to be free from partisan battles over immigration issues.
ICE Focusing on Dangerous Criminals
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Seth Hoy: DHS directed ICE attorneys to begin a review process of current immigration cases pending before immigration courts in order to close or dismiss those cases warranting prosecutorial discretion.
Raising Per Country Immigration Caps
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Michele Waslin: H.R. 3012 would make small but significant changes to the way green cards are distributed by eliminating per country numerical limits on employment-based green cards and raising the limits on family-based green cards which go to immigrants from each country.
New DHS Data Highlights Benefits of Integration Requirements
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Michele Waslin: Without the promise of a green card, legalization is nothing more than an expanded temporary worker program, running the risk of creating a second-class citizen with the right to work, but with no incentives to put down roots, become U.S. citizens, and fully integrate.
Rocky Road Ahead for DREAM Act
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Marcu Stern: even though the DREAM Act has drawn Republican support in the past, it’s unclear whether the White House can win over enough Senate Republicans to make up for the handful of Democrats who are expected to vote against the bill.
Young Immigrant Breaks Down While Sharing Her ‘Greatest Fear’ With Obama
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Andrea Nill: The Obama administration can do something about processing backlogs, however it’s up to Congress to reform the immigration system.Currently, the visa system is currently outdated by over twenty years and does not meet the needs or demands of a 21st century globalized economy — let alone immigrant families.
Miss Universe 2009 Secures A U.S. Green Card
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Andrea Nill: It’s great that Miss Universe Jimena Fernandez will be bringing her talents, beauty, and philanthropic work to the U.S., however, what’s unfortunate is that many of her fellow Latin Americans have been waiting for decades just to get their foot in the door.
Obama Administration Considers Bypassing Congress on Immigration Reform
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Marcus Stern: Supporters of comprehensive immigration reform are certain to welcome any effort by the Obama administration to unilaterally open pathways to citizenship for many currently in the country illegally. But the draft is also sure to outrage immigration-restriction groups.
ICE Claims It’s Not Legally Responsible For Immigration Detention Death
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Andrea Nill: This week, a judge will decide on whether the federal government bears culpability for another immigration detention slip up: the August 2008 death of Chinese immigrant, Hiu Lui “Jason” Ng. ICE is also arguing that this case should be dismissed on grounds that staffers at the jail at which Ng died are contractors — not government employees.
Time for a New DNC Chair!
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Steve Ybarra: The $28 million that the Big O spent on Latinos and Chicanos was well spent and did the job of helping Latinos nationwide figure out that the Democratic Party was indeed on their side. So far, since the new DNC Chair (whoever he is) has been in office, we have seen absolutely no evidence that he gets it. So it is time for him to be shown the door and let’s get back to winning the midterms and finding a dogcatcher to elect.
CNN Airs Anti-Immigrant Front Group’s ‘Pro-Labor’ Incendiary Ad
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While CNN refuses to air an ad criticizing the insurance industry which is actually backed by labor, the “Coalition” of anti-immigrant labor-friendly posers has its misleading ad placed on regular rotation.
Savage Blames Immigrant ‘Gang-Bangers’ For ‘Destroying California’
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Yesterday, Media Matters highlighted statements made by “shock-jock” radio host Michael Savage on his Friday show in which he lashed out at immigrant “gang-bangers” for “destroying California.” Savage, whose inflammatory rhetoric recently got him banned from entering the U.K., vowed that only God himself will shut him up: SAVAGE: The illegals [immigrants] have destroyed the [...]
Immigration Report Highlights Bush Administration’s ‘Flagrant Disregard For Rule of Law’
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Two years after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) swept up and detained thousands of workers from six meatpacking plants across the country during one of the nation’s largest immigration raids, a new report released by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) today details how ICE officials terrorized UFCW members under the [...]
Department of Homeland Security Suspends “Widow Penalty”
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This week, the Obama administration took another step toward restoring fairness and humaneness to the immigration system. On Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that she would grant a two-year reprieve to immigrants who were married to U.S. citizens but did not complete the permanent residency process because their American spouses [...]
Beck Decries ‘Empathy’ For ‘Anchor Baby Thing’
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While railing about the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to temporarily halt the deportation of widows and widowers of U.S. citizens, Fox News’ Glenn Beck yesterday slammed “anchor babies,” the U.S.- born children of immigrants, and called for the overturn of the 14th Amendment which grants natural-born citizenship: BECK: You know the anchor baby thing [...]
Local Police Report Makes the Case for Federal Enforcement of Immigration Laws
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This week the Police Foundation issued a long awaited report, The Role of Local Police: Striking a Balance Between Immigration Enforcement and Civil Liberties. The Police Foundation found that because Congress has failed to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform, states and localities have spent more time and resources curbing immigration themselves at the high [...]
Obama’s Controversial Two-Step Moves in Direction of Immigration Reform
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After boosting border enforcement, the Obama Administration recently announced that it will also increase funding for a troublesome program started by George W. Bush. The controversial program gives Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unregulated access to the immigration information of every person in local prisons across the United States. Although Obama may be sending mixed [...]
Obama Budget Not a Replacement for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
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The Obama Administration appears increasingly poised to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform, as promised. Last Thursday, the White House announced budgetary initiatives that signal a change in priorities and pave the way for immigration reform. At the same time, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, testified before the Senate yesterday about her plans to [...]
Sheriff Joe Arpaio to Recruit and Arm Citizens, Neo-Nazis Have His Back
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Rather than cleaning up his police department and addressing allegations of racial profiling and discrimination, Arpaio has decided to recruit and arm more Maricopa citizens in the absence of state funds. Back in April, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in Arizona voted to postpone the acceptance of $1.6 million from the state to help [...]
Reflections on May Day
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Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez of Democracy Now! sat down with Alex Sanchez of Homies Unidos and Janis Rosheuvel of Families for Freedom to discuss the nation’s immigration policy, its overall treatment of undocumented immigrants and the impact of the May Day protests in Los Angeles. Alex Sanchez believes the May Day movement has not [...]
Low-Income Latinos and Immigrants Reported “Under Siege” in the South
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This week, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a new report entitled “Under Siege: Life for Low-Income Latinos in the South.” SLPC report adds to the mounting evidence pointing to the harmful impact that the absence of a functioning immigration system is having on Latinos and immigrant communities. SPLC investigators interviewed and surveyed 500 [...]
Human Rights Organizations Say Immigrants Caught in Detention Dragnet
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On any given day, more than 30,000 immigrants are detained in the U.S. More than 300,000 men, women, and children are detained by U.S. immigration authorities each year. ICE reported that the average stay in detention was 37 days; however many immigrants and asylum seekers are detained much longer – months or even years – [...]
Mexicans Choosing to Weather Economic Storm in Home Country
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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has ordered reviews of many operational aspects of the immigration and border security system and has even delayed a series of proposed immigration raids and other enforcement actions at U.S. workplaces. Yet while many of the Bush administration’s “attrition through enforcement” tactics are being re-evaluated and scaled-back, potential [...]
Citizen Children Neglected and Deserted in Wake of Immigration Raids
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Miguel is a US citizen child who grew up in Minnesota like any other little American boy. But his parents are undocumented workers from El Salvador who worked at the Swift plant in Worthington, Minnesota. On December 12, 2006, the plant was raided by ICE, and more than 200 workers were detained, including Miguel’s mother. [...]
Largest U.S. Fast Aims to Turn Out Voters
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The largest hunger strike in U.S. history will begin Oct. 15, to call attention to voter mobilization, immigrant rights organizers say. One hundred dedicated activists will encamp at the historic heart of Los Angeles — La Placita Olvera — to fast for 21 days before the Nov. 4 elections. They expect to be joined by [...]
McCain-Palin Attacks Fall Flat with Latinos
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The Republican attack machine has launched a multifaceted offensive to falsely accuse Democrat Barack Obama of being anti-immigrant. In Spanish-language ads directed at Latino voters in the battleground states of Florida, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada, John McCain wrongly claims Obama blocked the path to legalization. At the same time McCain and the GOP are [...]
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