On December 10, 2010, the Associated Press published an article entitled, "Judge dismissed part of challenge to Arizona law." Although governor Jan Brewer requested that challenges to some of SB 1070's most controversial sections and she was denied, some parts of the U.S. Department of Justice's challenges to the new law were dismissed.
The U.S. District Judge, Susan Bolton ruled on Friday and ultimately "struck down the federal government's challenge to the portion of the law that prohibits the transport of illegal immigrants" (2010). It will be interesting to read the rulings that will be made over the law's most controversial sections in the weeks to come.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Ohio Lawyer Requests Teen's Deportation be Delayed
Dan Sewell published a report on Bernard Pastor today, he is an illegal immigrant from Guatemala who has been in the United States since the age of three. Recently, he got into a minor car accident which is how police discovered that he was not a United States citizen. He attends high school in Cincinnati, Ohio and is in the top of his class. His attorney, David Leopold is arguing that "there is no urgency to remove 18-year-old Bernard Pastor from the country where he has lived since the age 3" (Sewell, 2010).
Leopold is the head of the Immigration Lawyers Association and was contacted by supporters of Pastor as well as immigration reform advocates a week ago regarding this case. He has undertaken this case without fee and has already "a formal request that his deportation be deferred" (Sewell, 2010).
Although I posted recently regarding this case, I think it is worth describing the situation again. Pastor and his family fled Guatemala as his father faced persecution, he was denied citizenship a few years ago. According to Pastor, "he considers himself an American, speaks little Spanish and hardly knows anyone in Guatemala" (Sewell, 2010).
Pastor is now being referred to as a poster child for the proposed DREAM Act that is currently being debated in Congress. If the bill were to pass, Pastor could gain citizenship and attend college in the United States, or join the military. "Opponents say passing the legislation would encourage more illegal immigration at a time when many Americans are looking for jobs" (Sewell, 2010), but this seems a bit ridiculous as the act is only applicable to children that have been here since they were very young, so even if someone were to come here illegally with their child, it would be quite a while until they were of age to gain citizenship.
Leopold is the head of the Immigration Lawyers Association and was contacted by supporters of Pastor as well as immigration reform advocates a week ago regarding this case. He has undertaken this case without fee and has already "a formal request that his deportation be deferred" (Sewell, 2010).
Although I posted recently regarding this case, I think it is worth describing the situation again. Pastor and his family fled Guatemala as his father faced persecution, he was denied citizenship a few years ago. According to Pastor, "he considers himself an American, speaks little Spanish and hardly knows anyone in Guatemala" (Sewell, 2010).
Pastor is now being referred to as a poster child for the proposed DREAM Act that is currently being debated in Congress. If the bill were to pass, Pastor could gain citizenship and attend college in the United States, or join the military. "Opponents say passing the legislation would encourage more illegal immigration at a time when many Americans are looking for jobs" (Sewell, 2010), but this seems a bit ridiculous as the act is only applicable to children that have been here since they were very young, so even if someone were to come here illegally with their child, it would be quite a while until they were of age to gain citizenship.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests 14 in Fort Myers
Fourteen people were arrested by immigration officials in Fort Myers "last week as part of a five-day statewide operation targeting immigrants convicted of crimes" (2010). According to a report for the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, "the sweep ended Friday and netted 95 total arrests including 84 men and 9 women from 22 nations, including countries in Latin America, Asia, Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa" (2010). The ICE conducted the operation and they aim "to take in criminal immigrants with convictions for drug trafficking offenses, violent crimes and sex offenses" (2010).
Kentucky Republicans Push for Arizona-style Immigration Law
Today an article regarding Kentucky and its immigration policies was published. The Republicans of the state want to follow Arizona's lead and "pass immigration-enforcement legislation that would allow police to check the citizenship status of people they stop" (Weber, 2010). There are critics in Kentucky arguing what many in Arizona have, that the Republicans are riding anti-immigration sentiment.
It will be interesting to see how many states begin writing up legislation similar to Arizona's, although it is currently being challenged in the federal court of appeals.
It will be interesting to see how many states begin writing up legislation similar to Arizona's, although it is currently being challenged in the federal court of appeals.
DREAM Act Discussed in Fort Wayne
This video simply presents two different arguments regarding the DREAM Act; one man opposing the bill states that "people are working hard to send their kids to school now, paying for it out of their pockets and some of them can't get grants, some of them can't get scholarships. But, this may move these people ahead of them." I think that this statement again, as I have stated in previous posts, has a sort of alienated view of immigrants. This view seems evident through this statement and it made me wonder how allowing more people to go to college would actually impact their chances of obtaining the grants or scholarships. It also seems presumptuous of him when he explains how hard people are working to send their kids to school now, as he seems to imply that parents of non-citizens may not be working as hard.
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Sunday, December 12, 2010
Another View of the Borders
Supply And Demand
More fences, more guards, more guns on the border won’t stop illegal immigration. And it is sheer fantasy to believe that spending additional billions on enforcement alone is the solution. If you are angry about the illicit movement of people across the U.S.-Mexican border, you should be just as angry at leaders whose only answer is hardening our border defenses. They ignore the powerful forces of supply and demand that motivate migrants and their criminal smugglers.
The paragraph listed above is pulled from an article written by Audrey Howard regarding smugglers and the Mexican/American border. The article is entitled, "Smugglers are Creative when Crossing Mexican Border," and it quickly discusses a report that was recently issued by Janice Kephart (an internationally recognized border security expert) for the Center for Immigration Studies. In the report "she concludes that designation of new border wilderness areas would provide the Border Patrol with little ability and little incentive to do its job under law, let alone state, local and other federal law enforcement. She says actual conservation of public lands would be better served by protecting our public safety and national security with adequate law enforcement and infrastructure" (Howard, 2010).
I am going to pull another paragraph straight from Howard's article and list it below;
Guards And Fences
Guards and fences are politically easy. Fortify the U.S.-Mexican border with more of both and you not only stop the hordes of illegal border crossers, you motivate hordes of Americans to vote for you. This is the narrative and fallacy of present-day politics. The enforcement-only strategy rides a popular wave because it is simple to explain and sounds tough. But it won’t work.
Ultimately, I think that it is pretty interesting to read the previously posted opinion regarding borders and then compare it to this article. I think that this article speaks a lot of truth and feel as though the "supply and demand" paragraph is extremely accurate.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Border Security
The Arizona Republic published an opinion piece entitled, "Border Security is Only a Part of [the] Solution" regarding Arizona's border with Mexico. When I began to read this article I expected it to be an argument of how Arizona's borders need to be secured against the Mexican immigrants who want to take over America- or something of that nature, but I was wrong (until the very end at least). The article begins with the following statement, "even though the vast majority of those who cross the border illegally are simply migrants in search of work or attempting to join family members, they are led by criminal smugglers who are violent and devious. There are also drug smugglers and common criminals crossing that line. There is potential for terrorists to exploit a porous border. With rising cartel violence in Mexico, the need to secure the borders is even more evident" (2010).
The author continues through explaining how border security has in fact increased and provides statistics of how in the fiscal year of 2010, the Customs and Border Protection budget increased from 5.4 billion dollars when it was first created to eleven billion dollars. According to Matt Chandler of the Department of Homeland security, there has been an eighty percent increase in border patrol agents along the southwestern border since 2004.
According to the Yuma Border Patrol, they have achieved "operational control, [which is] the ability to detect, respond and interdict illegal border penetrations- or in other words, to maintain overall situational awareness to respond quickly to threats as we detect them incoming- i.e., a group of illegal border crossers, drug traffickers, etc." (2010). The Yuma Sector is 126 miles long and aside from some mountaintops, is completely fences, "from 25-foot steel walls to triple-layer segments separated by sandy no-man's zones that are stripped of vegetation and patrolled by agents in vehicles" (2010).
Although there have been great strides in protecting the border- as stated by the author of this publication, there really is not any way of knowing if the human smugglers simply diverted to other Arizona routes. The author also states that the Tucson Sector is more attractive for human and drug smugglers due to the fact that it has a more direct route than Yuma to Phoenix, as well as the fact that Tucson itself is a distribution hub.
The author continues through explaining how border security has in fact increased and provides statistics of how in the fiscal year of 2010, the Customs and Border Protection budget increased from 5.4 billion dollars when it was first created to eleven billion dollars. According to Matt Chandler of the Department of Homeland security, there has been an eighty percent increase in border patrol agents along the southwestern border since 2004.
According to the Yuma Border Patrol, they have achieved "operational control, [which is] the ability to detect, respond and interdict illegal border penetrations- or in other words, to maintain overall situational awareness to respond quickly to threats as we detect them incoming- i.e., a group of illegal border crossers, drug traffickers, etc." (2010). The Yuma Sector is 126 miles long and aside from some mountaintops, is completely fences, "from 25-foot steel walls to triple-layer segments separated by sandy no-man's zones that are stripped of vegetation and patrolled by agents in vehicles" (2010).
Although there have been great strides in protecting the border- as stated by the author of this publication, there really is not any way of knowing if the human smugglers simply diverted to other Arizona routes. The author also states that the Tucson Sector is more attractive for human and drug smugglers due to the fact that it has a more direct route than Yuma to Phoenix, as well as the fact that Tucson itself is a distribution hub.
Employers and Undocumented Employees
Fox News Latino published an article entitled, "High Court Mulling Law Punishing Employers Who Hire Undocumented" which explores whether or not businesses can have their licenses taken away if they knowingly hire undocumented workers. There was a hearing last Wednesday regarding the issue, but, according to the article, "the U.S. Supreme Courth is not expected to render a decision before summer" (2010). At the most recent hearing it was argued by Arizona and Justice Antonin Scalia that enforcement of immigration law has been left to individual states, as the federal government has failed to do so. Businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants in Arizona are faced with a law that threatens to take away their licenses, according to this article, the hearing Wednesday made it seem as though justices would be following Arizona's suit.
The law that threatens business licenses in Arizona was signed in 2007 by Democrat Janet Napolitano who at the time was Arizona's governor and is now the Homeland Security secretary of the administration. The law "was intended to diminish Arizona's role as the nation's hub for immigrant smuggling by requiring employers to verify the eligibility of new workers through a federal database. Employers convicted of violating the law can have their business licenses suspended or revoked" (2010).
Reading about the debate regarding this law and a possible federal law is interesting as Congress does want to put forth measures to prevent employers from hiring illegal workers, but they also, according to this article, want "to be sure that people who are in the United States legally are not discriminated against because they may speak with an accent of look like they might be immigrants" (2010).
In the end, I think the whole issue is quite tricky; it seems unfair that illegal immigrants are the people who will be punished if a business is raided, while the employer often escapes even a "slap on the wrist". Many of the employers that hire these workers do so because they can pay them less than minimum wage; they are the ones who ought to be punished.
The law that threatens business licenses in Arizona was signed in 2007 by Democrat Janet Napolitano who at the time was Arizona's governor and is now the Homeland Security secretary of the administration. The law "was intended to diminish Arizona's role as the nation's hub for immigrant smuggling by requiring employers to verify the eligibility of new workers through a federal database. Employers convicted of violating the law can have their business licenses suspended or revoked" (2010).
Reading about the debate regarding this law and a possible federal law is interesting as Congress does want to put forth measures to prevent employers from hiring illegal workers, but they also, according to this article, want "to be sure that people who are in the United States legally are not discriminated against because they may speak with an accent of look like they might be immigrants" (2010).
In the end, I think the whole issue is quite tricky; it seems unfair that illegal immigrants are the people who will be punished if a business is raided, while the employer often escapes even a "slap on the wrist". Many of the employers that hire these workers do so because they can pay them less than minimum wage; they are the ones who ought to be punished.
Stereotype
This political cartoon caught my eye and really reminded me of the book written by Leo Chavez, "The Latino Threat." This cartoon really personifies the argument that Chavez was making in his book; how Latinos have been alienated and labeled to be one way. I love how this cartoon represents the stereotype and then so quickly rejects it. It is an excellent example of many people's attitudes towards immigrants and further, an example of how such attitudes are quite unjust.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
The United States 'Volatile' Population
I found an article that was interesting regarding immigration and its effects on the population of the United States. According to Haya El Nasser, the nation's population was determined to be 281.4 million in the 2000 Census, but early estimates of the 2010 Census indicate lower numbers; 305.7 million people.
This year is the first one that the agency has put out five estimates "based on Census survey and administrative records such as births, deaths and immigration" (Nasser). These estimates, according to Nasser, are reflective of the widespread changes regarding immigration that have taken place between 2000 and 2010.
I think it is interesting that the Census is reporting smaller population numbers for the 2010 Census and wonder just how much of the change can be attributed to legislation like Arizona's SB 1070. It will be interesting to see the actual results of the Census later this month and just how they correlate to changes that have taken place over the last decade.
Follow-up
On December 4, Scott Wong wrote a short piece regarding the DREAM Act and how the Senate would be holding a vote in the coming week on it. The votes being held next week in addition to the DREAM Act are on "immigration, a health care bill for 9/11 rescue workers and a cost-of-living adjustment for seniors" (Wong). According to Reid, it "leaves a pretty clear path to tackle larger issues like tax cuts, a government spending bill, ratification of the START nuclear-arms treaty, and possibly the massive defense bill which includes the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" policy" (Wong).
The DREAM Act must receive sixty votes in order to advance in the Senate, but a number or Republicans have vowed this week that they would "block any legislation brought up before the chamber deals with expiring Bush-era tax cuts and funding for government operations" (Wong). Wong also pointed out that "in recent days, calls from the Obama administration, the Hispanic community and immigrant advocates" have intensified in urging congressional action on the bill.
Revisiting the DREAM Act
Brian Montopoli wrote an article entitled, "Is There a Last Gasp for Immigration Reform?" on December 1. Within his article he discusses how the DREAM Act is essential to any immigration reform and talks about what the Democrats have to do to get the vote to the Senate. According to Montopoli, "The DREAM Act is a major priority of Hispanic groups, who represent a growing and crucial voting bloc. [He goes on to say that] without them Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, among other Western Democrats, would now be preparing for retirement."
It is going to be a challenge to bring the DREAM Act for a vote in the Senate, "Republicans say they will block any and all other legislation until the Bush tax cuts have been extended and the government, which runs out of money on Friday, has been funded" (Montopoli). The bill needs sixty votes in order to pass and that is still in the air, at least two of the Democrats will likely vote against it which will only offset the two Republicans that seem to support the bill. In order for Reid to overcome a filibuster two more Republicans would have to vote for it. It is also not yet a "sure thing in the House: Democrat Steny Hoyer said today that he has not yet determined whether or not is will come to the floor, and even if it does, expect a number of Democrats to vote against it" (Montopoli).
Although it seems unlikely that it will pass as of right now, I do think that the Democrats should continue to push for the Senate and House vote. I think that if it is passed it would prove to be quite beneficial to the United States. It would be providing a path to citizenship to those people that have been in America since they were young children, have not committed any serious crimes, and have gone to school with the ultimate goal of college or the military. It seems to me that these people would be ones that we want to be American citizens, people who are quite valuable to society as a whole.
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