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31 December, 2009

Immigration Update from FAIR

Detroit Terrorist Attack Highlights Lax Immigration Policies

In a near catastrophic event last week, the thwarted attack on Northwest flight 253 serves as a reminder for our elected officials – immigration policies are national security policies. The Obama administration and Congress must enforce our immigration laws to adequately protect our national security.

Full implementation of common sense immigration polices are vital to ensuring the safety of not only air passengers, but of all U.S. citizens. However, instead of strengthening identification requirements, the Department of Homeland Security recently extended the deadline for states to comply with REAL ID. REAL ID is the federal law requiring that driver's licenses and other government issued identity documents meet certain security standards to ensure that they are not abused by terrorists and other criminals. This postponement effectively terminates implementation indefinitely and is the direct result of DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano’s support of PASS ID, which would repeal many of the key national security and immigration enforcement provisions established by REAL ID and recommended by the 9-11 Commission.

PASS ID will essentially re-establish many of the security and immigration loopholes that allowed the 9/11 hijackers to carry out their attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

New Asylum Detention Policy Jeopardizes National Security

On Wednesday, December 16, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that it will stop detaining aliens seeking asylum as “part of ICE’s ongoing immigration detention reform efforts.” Under the new policy, aliens who show up at the U.S. border without proper documentation but claim asylum will immediately be eligible for parole into the U.S. if they have a credible fear of persecution or torture and are not considered a danger or flight risk.

Under current ICE policy, aliens who come to United States without documentation and request asylum are detained until immigration officials have determined whether the alien’s asylum claim is legitimate. This process sought to promote national security by giving federal officials time to screen asylum applications before releasing applicants into the general public.

Federal officials began to take detention of asylum applicants more seriously after discovering that immigration officers cleared Ramzi Yousef into the country after he entered the United States at JFK airport on September 1, 1992, without travel documents and applied for asylum. He then began organizing the first attack on the World Trade Center and fled the country after the blast.

According to FAIR Director of Special Projects Jack Martin, the policy is “irresponsible because it rewards illegal entry” and “dangerous because there is no check on the identity of the traveler.” Martin concluded that the revisions would serve as “a green light to Al Qaeda.”

Democratic Support for Amnesty Bill Grows

As the Obama administration continues to dismantle meaningful immigration enforcement, Democrats in Congress are flocking to Rep. Louis Gutierrez’s mass amnesty legislation. The recent breaches in our national security call into question the feasibility of doing background checks on 13 million illegal aliens. It’s a shear impossibility and would dilute valuable law enforcement resources from the mission of homeland security.

See if your congressman is co-sponsoring the House Democrats amnesty bill H.R. 4321 by going to www.steinreport.com/archives/013052.html

The above is a press release dated December 30 from Federation for American Immigration Reform, 25 Massachusetts Avenue - Suite 330 Washington DC, 20001, Office 202-328-7004. Contact Bob Dane 202-328-7004 or Dustin Carnevale 202-328-7004. for details of the above. Email: media@fairus.org. Founded in 1979, FAIR is the oldest and largest immigration reform group in America. FAIR fights for immigration policies that enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs and wages and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.



Australia now a magnet for people smugglers

The federal opposition says the arrival of another boatload of asylum seekers shows that Australia has become a favoured destination for people smugglers. A boat carrying 11 suspected asylum seekers was intercepted near the Ashmore Islands off northern Australia late on Monday by Border Protection Command.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says the continuing arrival of boat people is putting the assessment system under too much pressure. "The government's indifference and weakness, both in their border protection policies and the decisions they've taken, have ensured that Australia has become a magnet for people smugglers," Mr Morrison told ABC radio on Tuesday. "So we're now left with a situation where we have Christmas Island full, boats arriving pretty much at will and this must be putting extraordinary pressure on the processing systems that need to be undertaken under such overcrowded conditions."

The latest suspected asylum seeker arrivals will be taken to nearby Christmas Island for questioning and to undergo security, identity and health checks.

The interception comes only days after the federal government rejected claims overcrowding in detention facilities on Christmas Island had forced it to move 30 Afghan asylum seekers to Melbourne for processing. It is the 59th asylum seeker boat to have been intercepted in Australian waters so far this year.

SOURCE





30 December, 2009

Thais evict Hmong illegals

I have mixed feelings about this. There is no doubt that the Hmong are genuine refugees -- unlike the majority who make that claim -- but they seem in general to be very egocentric and contemptuous of the rights of others (See here and here) -- so are very low on acceptability as immigrants. I don't blame the Thais

Thailand has sent army troops with shields and batons to begin evicting 4000 ethnic Hmong asylum-seekers from Thai camps and send them back to Laos despite strong objections from the US and rights groups who fear they will face persecution. Under tight security, an initial group of Hmong - many of them children - was driven out of the camp in covered military trucks, each manned by several soldiers. Journalists kept at a distance from the camp could see the convoy as it left. Thai authorities said the first batch would include 448 people.

Washington called for the eviction to stop. "The United States strongly urges Thai authorities to suspend this operation," US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in a statement, noting that the UN and Thailand in the past had deemed that many of the Hmong in this group were "in need of protection because of the threats they might face in Laos".

The Hmong, an ethnic minority group from Laos's rugged mountains, helped US forces during the Vietnam War. Many Hmong fought under CIA advisers during the so-called "secret war" in Laos before it fell to the communists in 1975.

The Hmong claim they have been persecuted by the Lao government ever since. More than 300,000 Laotians, mostly Hmong, are known to have fled to Thailand since 1975. Most were either repatriated to Laos or resettled in third countries, particularly the US - but Washington has said it has no plans to resettle more Hmong.

The Thai government claims most of the Hmong are economic migrants who entered the country illegally and have no claims to refugee status, and says it has assurances from Laos that the Hmong will be well-treated. The group was being held at a camp in northern Thailand that the government wants to close.

The Thai army's co-ordinator for the operation, Colonel Thana Charuwat, said 5000 soldiers, officials and civilian volunteers were involved in the eviction. He said the troops carried no firearms and that their shields and batons met international standards for dealing with situations where people were being moved against their will. Two dozen trucks could be seen heading towards the refugee camp yesterday.

SOURCE



Poll: Pew and Pulpit Disagree on Immigration

Zogby Survey Finds Religious Leaders and Members at Odds

In contrast to many national religious leaders who are lobbying for increases in immigration, a new Zogby poll of likely voters who belong to the same religious communities finds strong support for reducing overall immigration. Moreover, members strongly disagree with their leaders’ contention that more immigrant workers need to be allowed into the country.

Also, most parishioners and congregants prefer more enforcement to cause illegal workers to go home, rather than legalization of illegal immigrants, which most religious leaders prefer. The survey of Catholic, mainline Protestant, born-again Protestant, and Jewish voters used neutral language and was one of the largest polls on immigration ever done. Among the findings:

Most members of religious denominations do not feel that illegal immigration is caused by limits on legal immigration, as many religious leaders do; instead, members feel it’s due to a lack of enforcement.

* Catholics: Just 11 percent said illegal immigration was caused by not letting in enough legal immigrants; 78 percent said it was caused by inadequate enforcement efforts.

* Mainline Protestants: 18 percent said not enough legal immigration; 78 percent said inadequate enforcement.

* Born-Again Protestants: 9 percent said not enough legal immigration; 85 percent said inadequate enforcement.

* Jews: 21 percent said not enough legal immigration; 60 percent said inadequate enforcement.

Unlike religious leaders who argue that more unskilled immigrant workers are needed, most members think there are plenty of Americans to do such work.

* Catholics: 12 percent said legal immigration should be increased to fill such jobs; 69 percent said there are plenty of Americans available to do such jobs, employers just need to pay more.

* Mainline Protestants: 10 percent said increase immigration; 73 percent said plenty of Americans are available.

* Born-Again Protestants: 7 percent said increase immigration; 75 percent said plenty of Americans are available.

* Jews: 16 percent said increase immigration; 61 percent said plenty of Americans available.

When asked to choose between enforcement that would cause illegal immigrants to go home over time or a conditional pathway to citizenship, most members choose enforcement.

* Catholics: 64 percent support enforcement to encourage illegals to go home; 23 percent support conditional legalization.

* Mainline Protestants: 64 percent support enforcement; 24 percent support legalization.

* Born-Again Protestants: 76 percent support enforcement; 12 percent support legalization.

* Jews: 43 percent support enforcement; 40 percent support legalization.

In contrast to many religious leaders, most members think immigration is too high.

* Catholics: 69 percent said immigration is too high; 4 percent said too low; 14 percent just right.

* Mainline Protestants: 72 percent said too high; 2 percent said too low; 11 percent just right.

* Born-Again Protestants: 78 percent too high; 3 percent said too low; 9 percent just right.

* Jews: 50 percent said it is too high; 5 percent said too low; 22 percent just right.

Discussion

Most major denominations agree that illegal immigrants must be treated humanely. But the leadership often goes much further and takes the position that illegal immigration is caused, at least in part, by not letting in enough legal immigrants. They then call for increases in the number of workers and family members allowed into the country. For example, early this year, the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) issued a resolution stating that, “Due to the limited number of visas, millions have entered the United States without proper documentation.” The NAE then calls for increases in the number of immigrant workers allowed in.

The Catholic Church states that the law must be reformed so that more “laborers from other countries can enter the country legally.”

The Episcopal Church adopted a resolution in July of this year stating that, “Immigrants are filling the jobs that go unwanted and unfilled by U.S. citizens.” The resolution makes clear more immigrant workers need to be allowed in legally.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in November 2009 adopted a document that states illegal immigrants do jobs that “citizens often will not do” and that legal immigration should be increased to meet, “the annual need for foreign workers.”

A Commission of the Union for Reform Judaism argues that limits on immigration contribute to illegal immigration, and calls for legislation that “Increases the number of visas allowing unskilled laborers to work in the U.S.”

Most parishioners believe that enforcing the law and improving the wages and working conditions of unskilled workers to attract more Americans is the best way to deal with illegal immigration. The huge divide between leaders and members means that if there is a full-blown immigration debate next year it will be all the more contentious, with Jewish and Christian leaders on one side of the issue, their members on the other, and elected officials in the middle.

Methodology

Zogby International was commissioned by the Center for Immigration Studies to conduct an online survey of 42,026 adults. Zogby used its online panel, which is representative of the US population. Zogby International weighted the data slightly to more accurately reflect the U.S. population. Zogby conducted the survey from Nov 13 to 30, 2009. The margin of error for the three Christian groups is +/- 1.1 percent and +/- 2.4 percent for likely Jewish voters.

The above is a press release dated Dec. 29 from from Center for Immigration Studies. 1522 K St. NW, Suite 820, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076. Email: center@cis.org. Contact: Steven Camarota, (202) 466-8185, sac@cis.org





29 December, 2009

Fire Napolitano

By Jonah Goldberg

Understandably, the White House is trying very hard to get out in front of the would-be Christmas bomber story. The head of the Department of Homeland Security isn't helping. I watched her on three shows and each time she was more annoying, maddening, and absurd than the pevious appearance. It is her basic position that the "system worked" because the bureaucrats responded properly after the attack. That the attack was "foiled" by a bad detonator and some civilian passengers is proof, she claims, that her agency is doing everything right. That is just about the dumbest thing she could say, on the merits and politically.

I would wager that not one percent of Americans think the system is "working" when terrorists successfully get bombs onto planes (and succeed in activating them). Probably even fewer think it's fair that they have to take off their shoes, to endure delays and madness while a known Islamic radical — turned in by his own father — can waltz onto a plane (and into the country). DHS had no role whatsoever in assuring that this bomb didn't go off. By her logic if the bomb had gone off, the system would have "worked" since it has done everything right.

Napolitano has a habit of arguing that DHS is a first-responder outfit. Its mission is to deal with "man-caused-disasters" after they occur. It appears she really believes it. If the White House wants to assure people that it takes the War on Terror seriously (a term Robert Gibbs used this morning, by the way), they could start by firing this patently unqualified hack.

SOURCE



Fire Napolitano, Cont'd

More reax, from a reader:

Jonah,

I had the same reaction. I also have noticed Gibbs and others claim that his name was on a watch list data base of 550,000 names. They make it sound like this is a monumental task to query a match. When I make a purchase using a credit card, I swipe my card and within seconds that information is accessed from a data base of millions and my purchase is approved. Now that the US government is in the banking business, what's their excuse?

And, from another reader:

Jonah,

I most wholeheartedly agree with your calls for Napolitano to be fired. I have had repeated correspondence with my Congressman (Burgess - TX 26th) in the past on that subject, and Congressman Burgess has repeatedly called for her to step down, so far with no avail. I did write Congressman Burgess and both my Senators again with a renewed call for her to resign.

I do think Gibbs' use of the term "War on Terror" represents a concession on the part of the Obama Administration that it realizes this war is far from over, and maybe they are starting to understand that these people hate all Americans, and not just George Bush.

Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part. Nonetheless, it's becoming abundantly clear to everyone that this administration must seriously change its amateurish ways or there will soon be a lot of Americans who have to pay with their lives.

SOURCE



Homeland Security Clears Terrorists To Fly and Immigrate

Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) is asking their more than 30,000 national supporters to contact their members of Congress today to demand immediate Congressional investigations to determine why the Department of Homeland Security is continuing to give valid U.S. visas to millions of people on the terrorism watch lists, including the Detroit Flight 253 bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

ALIPAC called for the termination or resignation of Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano earlier this year, when it was discovered her department was instructing police officers to scrutinize Americans concerned about popular issues such as illegal immigration, taxes, and government spending as possible domestic terrorists. Napolitano's "advisories" to police were based on strange Internet blogs and political sources, instead of traditionally accepted law enforcement methods.

"At this time the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government under Bush, and now Obama, appears consistent in efforts to jeopardize the security, prosperity, and freedoms of the American public," said William Gheen. "Existing laws passed by Congress requires Homeland Security and Immigration Services to screen and reject all visa applicants on the terrorism watch lists. The Detroit bomber was just the latest proof that millions of visa applicants are not being properly checked, despite earlier revelations about this problem. That is why we are calling on Congress to investigate and correct this situation immediately."

On 8/23/2006, Sara A. Carter of the Washington Times revealed a major scandal with evidence that 75 percent of applicants for immigrant benefits such as green cards, work visas, and a host of other documents, were not being screened against terrorism watch lists or being denied when they were found on the lists. According to sources from inside DHS and USCIS, millions of immigration documents were issued to people that had not been checked against the lists.

See: Terrorist screening missed 75% of time Green card and visa applications -- http://www.alipac.us/article1459.html

ALIPAC is encouraging the public to renew calls for the dismissal of Janet Napolitano, along with demands for Congressional hearings to investigate those responsible for the massive and systematic disregard for existing immigration and national security laws passed by Congress.

"Janet Napolitano has been busy trying to pass Amnesty for illegal aliens and casting suspicion on American citizens who are fed up with Government corruption and failures, instead of doing the job of protecting Americans against terrorist threats," said Gheen. "Each day the evidence all around us grows that the Executive Branch of the U.S. government has been compromised and hijacked by political interests that are not empowered by the Constitution." said Gheen. "Giving aid to militant enemies of the United States at a time of war is an act of Treason, and we need Congress to find out who the traitors are and how many thousands of visas these government employees have given to people on the terrorist watch lists. Those thousands of visa holders who are currently in the U.S. and on the terrorism lists need to be located and removed immediately! Those who are responsible for issuing the visas should be fired and possibly charged with crimes. All new visa applicants must be properly screened."

Americans for Legal Immigration PAC has the archive materials which show the prior disregard of the terrorism watch lists, as well as revelations that TSA has cleared illegal aliens to work in airports, U.S. air marshals have been ordered not to hinder illegal aliens flying into the U.S. in large groups, and illegal aliens have been cleared to work on commercial jet aircraft engines. This latest scandal involving the U.S. visa issued to the terrorism suspect from Detroit is only the latest in a large pattern of high level government officials betraying the American public on numerous laws designed to protect the American public.

SOURCE





28 December, 2009

For first time in a decade, legal immigration to Israel is on the rise

For the first time in 10 years the number of immigrants to Israel has risen this year, according to Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky and Immigration and Absorption Minister Sofa Landver. In 2009, 16,244 people immigrated - a 17 percent jump over last year's 13,859.

The number of immigrants from English-speaking countries has also increased by 17 percent this year, from 4,511 to 5,294, said Eli Cohen, the director-general of the agency's aliyah department. "After 10 years during which we saw less and less immigrants, now we see an increase," said Sharansky yesterday at a press conference at the Jewish Agency's Jerusalem headquarters. "This year there were more immigrants from the former Soviet Union, more immigrants from the United States, from Britain and from South Africa - there's an increase from almost everywhere."

The largest number of new immigrants still comes from the former Soviet Union, where the numbers increased by 21 percent from 5,867 to 7,120.

Sharansky and Landver attributed the climb to what the Jewish Agency calls its "Red Carpet" program, which includes so-called aliyah fairs for new arrivals during which they are assisted with their initial absorption, such as opening bank accounts, choosing health care providers, etc.

The numbers presented at yesterday's press conference include four planeloads of immigrants who are scheduled to arrive in Israel this week, but exclude Ethiopians who moved to Israel this year, as they did not immigrate according to the Law of Return but based on a special law, called the Law of Entrance.

SOURCE



Gutierrez "postpones" dealing with homosexual immigration

The "comprehensive" immigration reform bill introduced this month does not include gays and lesbians.

Gutierrez "The lawmaker said Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who has led the House effort on comprehensive immigration reform, initially 'didn’t want to deal with it. At all.' Then he tried to work out a 'stupid' compromise whereby the same-sex partner provisions would be in the bill but they wouldn’t take effect for five or six years, said this Member. ..

Gutierrez denied that he wanted to keep gay and lesbian language out of his bill. 'That’s just not true,' he said, pointing to his long-standing record of supporting the gay community. The real issue, he said, is that same-sex partner matters have not come up in past immigration reform debates and people are still figuring out how to bring the two camps together. 'There has never been a serious, in-depth discussion between the gay and lesbian community and the immigrant community. It’s never existed,' Gutierrez said. 'It’s a new conversation, but not one that I’m fearful of. I welcome it. But you can’t expect after nearly two decades of struggle for a new component' to be quickly embraced."

An amendment with a same-sex provision has been proposed by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) who noted that a repeal of DOMA would alleviate the issue.

Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said she was 'very frustrated' because she 'wanted to see a bill that was comprehensive. But we deal with political reality here.' Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who earlier this year pronounced a DOMA repeal 'dead' this Congress, predicted it will be 'a very, very hard sell' to attach the same-sex provision to the immigration reform bill.

Gutierrez released a statement to the Windy City Times: "The process I am committed to being a part of in Congress will, I hope, address the unacceptable situation that lesbian and gay bi-national couples live under every day. … Everyone's goal should be a comprehensive immigration reform bill that includes a commitment to all families and honors our history as a nation of immigrants. That is my goal, and it is inclusive of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, too."

The paper adds: "Gutierrez also noted his support for the Uniting American Families Act, which would let U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to sponsor their gay and lesbian partners for immigration to the United States. That measure received a local boost in support last week as the Chicago City Council passed a resolution, introduced by Aldermen Tom Tunney and Daniel Solis, urging its passage in the House of Representatives."

SOURCE





27 December, 2009

Immigration forces prepare for rematch in Arkansas

Groups on both sides of the immigration reform debate in Arkansas don't find much to agree on, but they both see next year as a chance for a rematch. The possibility of Congress taking up immigration reform again and another ballot initiative campaign by an anti-illegal immigrant group have advocates of both sides approaching 2010 as another battleground year.

The announcement earlier this month that a coalition of lawmakers in Washington are pushing for another try at reforming the nation's immigration system has mobilized activists in the state once more.

A group of religious leaders from around the state that includes state Appeals Court Judge Wendell Griffen has already begun campaigning for some type of reform, calling it a moral issue. Steve Copley, a Methodist minister and activist on immigration issues, says he's hopeful that the push for reforms will come next year after Congress addresses overhauling the nation's health care system. Copley said he's hopeful that any legislation will include a path to citizenship for the some 12 million people who are in the country illegally. "The system's broken and something needs to happen," Copley said.

Key Republicans view the push as an opportunity for a do-over, with former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie saying in a recent Little Rock speech that it could help the GOP soften its image and possibly attract more Hispanic voters. "I think there's an opportunity there for Republicans to get the tone right in this debate and not come across as anti-immigration, but pro-legal immigration," Gillespie said earlier this month. "As a whole, I think our party was poorly positioned on the immigration debate."

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee echoed those comments, noting that he had "paid dearly" during the Republican presidential campaign for his past support of legislation that would have made the children of illegal immigrants eligible for scholarships and in-state tuition rates. "Republicans have to be careful to distinguish between standing for principles of law and order and recognizing the obvious issue of the growing demographic influence of the Hispanic population," Huckabee said. "I believe that most of the problem with illegal immigration is the fault of the government because the government never controlled our borders."

Finding that balance in Arkansas may be difficult, however, judging by this year's legislative session. A revived attempt to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for in-state tuition failed in the Senate despite a vigorous push by its sponsor. That push included a rare "committee of the whole" hearing before the full Senate and lobbying by heads of the state's major colleges and universities. "The bottom line is this: They are in our state. They are not leaving," Sen. Joyce Elliott said earlier this year. "We can choose to have them here as educated people, or we can choose to have them here as folks that we deny an education to. That's our choice."

The measure faced objections from lawmakers who said they were worried that it would violate federal law, and who also said they were afraid it would reward illegal immigration by offering the lower rates.

The same chamber had halted a similar proposal in 2005 by Elliott, who was then a House member calling for in-state tuition as well as scholarships for the children of illegal immigrants. That measure passed the House, but failed in the Senate despite removal of the scholarship provision. That failure, in part, has emboldened a group known as Secure Arkansas to try once more with its own proposal that would require state government agencies to verify that all those seeking benefits are legal U.S. residents. The group, which tried and failed to get a similar measure on the ballot last year, has gathered about 3,000 signatures in its effort to get the proposal on next fall's ballot. The group must gather 77,468 signatures to place the proposal on the November 2010 general election ballot.

The measure is likely to face resistance again from Gov. Mike Beebe, who opposed the proposal last year because he said it would duplicate laws that are already on the books. Beebe's office has said the governor was likely to again oppose the measure if it was similar to last year's proposal.

Jeanne Burlsworth, the group's chairwoman, said she thinks Secure Arkansas will be more successful this time because it started gathering signatures earlier and has a more organized campaign than it did last year. Burlsworth says she thinks the congressional talks on immigration reform will spur more interest in the restriction. "Arkansas has been a battleground state and I feel like the people are going to be more determined than they ever have been to see change," Burlsworth said.

SOURCE



Indonesians tough on Tamil and Afghan illegals aiming for Australia

This is very positive. It was the tough treatment of illegals by Australia's Howard government that stopped the flow. And it is the "humane" policies of the Rudd government that restarted the flow. The Rudd government is too pusillanimous to use tough policies itself but finances the Indonesians to do so

As Tamil Oceanic Viking refugees arrive in Australia, those on the boat at Merak and in immigration detention in Indonesia have called on the Australian government to act compassionately and guarantee their processing and re-settlement in Australia.

"We are the same as the people on the Oceanic Viking," said Alex, from the boat at Merak. "We have been waiting since early 11 October. The Australian government personally phoned the Indonesian president to intercept our boat. If we had been treated the same as those on the Oceanic Viking we would have been processed by now. But now, 31 children will be spending Christmas on the boat."

Asylum seekers in immigration detention in appalling conditions in central Jakarta have also asked the Australian government to intervene in their cases. Nine Afghan men, including one who has been there 15 months, are in a cell, three by five metres.

The Afghan detainees asked Australian refugee activists visiting the Jakarta detention cells why the Australian government signed the Refugee Convention if it was not going to give refugees protection.

The twelve Tamil detainees from the Merak boat in the second immigration cell said, "Some of us already have UNHCR refugee status, but we are being treated like criminals. Some of us have been threatened with deportation. We were told that we would see the UNHCR but we haven’t seen them. We need Australia’s protection."

Four of the Tamils were detained by the Indonesian police after they left the Merak boat, some seeking medical attention, last Thursday. One of them left Sri Lanka in December 2008, after his brother was arrested as an LTTE sympathiser and he also began to be harassed.

The refugee activists were shocked by the conditions in which the Tamil and Afghan men are being imprisoned. The Tamils cell is a triangular hole barely three by ten metres, holding twelve men.

"It is no better than a cage," said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refuge Action Coalition. "They get only two meals a day, and fruit only once a week. They sleep in rosters, because there is so little room. They are not allowed out to exercise."

"This is the reality of the Indonesian solution," said Ian Rintoul. "The interception, detention and mistreatment of asylum seekers is being funded by the Australian government. Sri Lanka is still unsafe. If these people were on Christmas Island, at least they would be in tents and be able to walk around. There would certainty for resettlement.

"Kevin Rudd needs to make another phone call," said Ian Rintoul, "This time to let the Indonesian president know that Australia will live up to its obligations under the Refugee Convention and resettle the asylum seekers stranded in Indonesia."

SOURCE





26 December, 2009

No U.S. Immigration Law Reform soon

Comprehensive reform will probably not arrive during the first three months of 2010. So said Angelo Amador, executive director of immigration policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Amador spoke as part of a panel during the recent Dairy Business Association (DBA) conference in Madison.

There are at least two reasons for the likely delay, according to Amador. First, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) is no longer in the Senate. Kennedy was a champion for comprehensive immigration reform. And, with a replacement for Kennedy, plus other new faces in the Senate, “new ideas” are being presented, Amador explained. “So we have to start from scratch.”

A second reason for a delay is that the House and Senate must deal with other pressing matters, too. One of those is climate change legislation. It’s “pretty clear,” said Amador, that climate change will be the first issued addressed by Congress.

If the nation’s immigration laws are not reformed during the first three months of 2010, how about getting them changed by April? If an April or May deadline is not met, it’s not likely that much will happen during the summer, Amador told his DBA audience of dairy producers, many of whom rely on Hispanic labor.

During next summer, many in Congress will want to hit the campaign trail at home, since 2010 is an election year.

Even if no meaningful reform of immigration laws takes place next year, the issue will still generate a lot of activity, said Tamar Jacoby, president and chief executive officer of ImmigrationWorks USA, a federation of employers.

“...The dynamic to watch,” she said, is “...between the President and Congress.” President Obama needs to “at least look like” he and his fellow Democrats are working on immigration reform, she explained. That’s because the Democratic Party has a large base of Latino voters who want immigration laws altered.

“The problem is, in Congress, nobody really wants to do it” (immigration reform), Jacoby remarked. However, to please voters in their home districts, politicians want to “look like” they’re “pushing” on the issue, she added.

Making immigration reform even tougher to accomplish is the fact that partisan politics is involved. Jacoby said the Republicans “don’t want to give him (President Obama) a big victory.”

Because of those conflicting forces, the nation could end up with a “piecemeal” answer, Jacoby continued. That could come as legislation that grants amnesty to workers who are in the U.S. illegally, but does nothing to make a reliable supply of foreign labor available to segments of the economy -- like agriculture -- that need it most, she indicated.

If piecemeal legislation doesn’t pass, either, two other scenarios could play out, Jacoby said. The first such scenario n and the worst one, according to Jacoby - has immigration reform turning into an all-out “politicized battle.” The second scenario is that Congress could simply decide to do nothing to address the problem. “Congress is uncertain,” Jacoby remarked. That uncertainty could yield legislation that employers do not like, she warned.

Agriculture and other industries need a “pipeline” that allows immigrant workers to enter the U.S. legally, Jacoby said. Such a pipeline is the “most important” aspect of any immigration reform law, she emphasized.

Businesses need to become more involved in the dialogue, Jacoby asserted. Dairy farmers, restaurateurs, and construction company owners all need to tell members of Congress how much they “need immigrants,” she said.

More HERE



Canada: Up to 50 Tamil migrants soon to be released

About 50 Tamil migrants taken into custody off B.C.'s West Coast will soon be released and allowed to settle with their families already living across the country, says an immigration lawyer representing several of the men. Immigration officials will be working through the holidays to process many of the men held in detention for two months after arriving on the Ocean Lady freighter in October, said Narindar Kang. "The writing is on the wall and we're just waiting to schedule a date. It is, in essence, an agreement between both counsel," he said Friday.

The ship was intercepted in Canadian waters on Oct. 17 after crossing the Pacific from Sri Lanka. The group claims they were fleeing persecution after the country's bloody 26-year civil war.

Twenty-three men had been ordered released by the Immigration and Refugee Board as of Thursday and more than two dozen more would likely be freed within the first week or two of January, Kang said. "Not only have there been formal orders, either by joint submission or by application of the detainees, but the other counsel have been receiving letters saying 'We are amenable to have your client released before we go to court,"' Kang said. "I don't anticipate that there's going to be any issues with these individuals."

The remaining men in detention are being held on the basis of information that hasn't been revealed to them or their lawyers, Kang said. He and his colleagues will bring in special advocates to aid the detainees on these cases. While the government has, in many cases, worked with the lawyers to devise mutually agreeable terms of release, it has also raised security questions about some of the men. There are concerns the migrants may include those who may have links to the Tamil Tigers, the military arm of the Tamil separatist movement that's been at war with the Sri Lankan government for decades. "We're hoping the nature of that evidence can be examined in a fairly quick fashion," he said.

Of the larger group to be released sooner than later, Kang says most have family members already living in Canada. "Siblings, parents, cousins, in many cases immediate family members, and if not that than certainly extended family are here," he said. "There's a strong foundation for their refugee claims. That's I think why - given the timing now and given the fact that at the public expense they've been detained for over two months - it wasn't making sense to the decision makers that they be detained further."

Officials with the Immigration and Refugee Board couldn't be reached for comment.

The migrants will be released on restrictions, including bonds in the range of $2,000 to $10,000, and requirements to report weekly and not associate with terrorist groups. The majority plan to move to Toronto, while others will go to Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver. "Many of these young men are highly educated professionals," Kang said. "Once time passes and people come to know (this, they will realize) they never posed a threat and those individuals certainly should have been released a long time ago."

SOURCE





25 December, 2009

The Danish experience

The article below is from a couple of years back but seems worth bearing in mind. It is by Susan MacAllen, a contributor to FamilySecurityMatters.org and many other publications

In 1978-9 I was living and studying in Denmark. An elderly woman to whom I was close said something to me one day that puzzled me for many years after. I forget what the context of our conversation was, but she commented that I - as a young American in Denmark - should not let any Dane scold me about the way America had treated its black population, because the Danes in her view treated their immigrants at least as badly. I wasn’t sure which immigrants she meant, so I asked her. She answered that she meant those from the Middle East.

But in 1978 - even in Copenhagen, one didn’t see these Muslim immigrants. The Danish population embraced visitors, celebrated the exotic, went out of its way to protect each of its citizens. It was proud of its new brand of socialist liberalism - one in development since the conservatives had lost power in 1929 - a system where no worker had to struggle to survive, where one ultimately could count upon the state as in, perhaps, no other western nation at the time. The rest of Europe saw the Scandinavians as free-thinking, progressive and infinitely generous in their welfare policies. Denmark boasted low crime rates, devotion to the environment, a superior educational system and a history of humanitarianism.

Denmark was also most generous in its immigration policies - it offered the best welcome in Europe to the new immigrant: generous welfare payments from first arrival plus additional perks in transportation, housing and education. It was determined to set a world example for inclusiveness and multiculturalism. How could it have predicted that one day in 2005 a series of political cartoons in a newspaper would spark violence that would leave dozens dead in the streets - all because its commitment to multiculturalism would come back to bite?

By the 1990's the growing urban Muslim population was obvious - and its unwillingness to integrate into Danish society was obvious. Years of immigrants had settled into Muslim-exclusive enclaves. As the Muslim leadership became more vocal about what they considered the decadence of Denmark’s liberal way of life, the Danes - once so welcoming - began to feel slighted. Many Danes had begun to see Islam as incompatible with their long-standing values: belief in personal liberty and free speech, in equality for women, in tolerance for other ethnic groups, and a deep pride in Danish heritage and history.

The New York Post in 2002 ran an article by Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard, in which they forecasted accurately that the growing immigrant problem in Denmark would explode. In the article they reported:

· "Muslim immigrants…constitute 5 percent of the population but consume upwards of 40 percent of the welfare spending."

· "Muslims are only 4 percent of Denmark's 5.4 million people but make up a majority of the country's convicted rapists, an especially combustible issue given that practically all the female victims are non-Muslim. Similar, if lesser, disproportions are found in other crimes."

· "Over time, as Muslim immigrants increase in numbers, they wish less to mix with the indigenous population. A recent survey finds that only 5 percent of young Muslim immigrants would readily marry a Dane."

· "Forced marriages - promising a newborn daughter in Denmark to a male cousin in the home country, then compelling her to marry him, sometimes on pain of death - are one problem..."

· "Muslim leaders openly declare their goal of introducing Islamic law once Denmark's Muslim population grows large enough - a not-that-remote prospect. If present trends persist, one sociologist estimates, every third inhabitant of Denmark in 40 years will be Muslim."

It is easy to understand why a growing number of Danes would feel that Muslim immigrants show little respect for Danish values and laws. An example is the phenomenon common to other European countries and the U.S.: some Muslims in Denmark who opted to leave the Muslim faith have been murdered in the name of Islam, while others hide in fear for their lives. Jews are also threatened and harassed openly by Muslim leaders in Denmark, a country where once Christian citizens worked to smuggle out nearly all of their 7,000 Jews by night to Sweden - before the Nazis could invade. I think of my Danish friend Elsa - who as a teenager had dreaded crossing the street to the bakery every morning under the eyes of occupying Nazi soldiers - and I wonder what she would say today.

In 2001, Denmark elected the most conservative government in some 70 years - one that had some decidedly non-generous ideas about liberal unfettered immigration. Today Denmark has the strictest immigration policies in Europe. ( Its effort to protect itself has been met with accusations of "racism" by liberal media across Europe - even as other governments struggle to right the social problems wrought by years of too-lax immigration.) If you wish to become Danish, you must attend three years of language classes. You must pass a test on Denmark’s history, culture, and a Danish language test. You must live in Denmark for 7 years before applying for citizenship. You must demonstrate an intent to work, and have a job waiting. If you wish to bring a spouse into Denmark, you must both be over 24 years of age, and you won’t find it so easy anymore to move your friends and family to Denmark with you. You will not be allowed to build a mosque in Copenhagen. Although your children have a choice of some 30 Arabic culture and language schools in Denmark, they will be strongly encouraged to assimilate to Danish society in ways that past immigrants weren’t.

In 2006, the Danish minister for employment, Claus Hjort Frederiksen, spoke publicly of the burden of Muslim immigrants on the Danish welfare system, and it was horrifying: the government’s welfare committee had calculated that if immigration from Third World countries were blocked, 75 percent of the cuts needed to sustain the huge welfare system in coming decades would be unnecessary. In other words, the welfare system as it existed was being exploited by immigrants to the point of eventually bankrupting the government. "We are simply forced to adopt a new policy on immigration. The calculations of the welfare committee are terrifying and show how unsuccessful the integration of immigrants has been up to now," he said.

A large thorn in the side of Denmark’s imams is the Minister of Immigration and Integration, Rikke Hvilshoj. She makes no bones about the new policy toward immigration, "The number of foreigners coming to the country makes a difference," Hvilshøj says, "There is an inverse correlation between how many come here and how well we can receive the foreigners that come." And on Muslim immigrants needing to demonstrate a willingness to blend in, "In my view, Denmark should be a country with room for different cultures and religions. Some values, however, are more important than others. We refuse to question democracy, equal rights, and freedom of speech."

Hvilshoj has paid a price for her show of backbone. Perhaps to test her resolve, the leading radical imam in Denmark, Ahmed Abdel Rahman Abu Laban, demanded that the government pay blood money to the family of a Muslim who was murdered in a suburb of Copenhagen, stating that the family’s thirst for revenge could be thwarted for money. When Hvilshoj dismissed his demand, he argued that in Muslim culture the payment of retribution money was common, to which Hvilshoj replied that what is done in a Muslim country is not necessarily what is done in Denmark. The Muslim reply came soon after: her house was torched while she, her husband and children slept. All managed to escape unharmed, but she and her family were moved to a secret location and she and other ministers were assigned bodyguards for the first time - in a country where such murderous violence was once so scarce.

Her government has slid to the right, and her borders have tightened. Many believe that what happens in the next decade will determine whether Denmark survives as a bastion of good living, humane thinking and social responsibility, or whether it becomes a nation at civil war with supporters of Sharia law. And meanwhile, Americans clamor for stricter immigration policies, and demand an end to state welfare programs that allow many immigrants to live on the public dole. As we in America look at the enclaves of Muslims amongst us, and see those who enter our shores too easily, dare live on our taxes, yet refuse to embrace our culture, respect our traditions, participate in our legal system, obey our laws, speak our language, appreciate our history . . . we would do well to look to Denmark, and say a prayer for her future and for our own.

SOURCE



Hit-and-run Muslim asylum-seeker allowed to stay in Britain

A failed asylum-seeker who left a 12-year-old girl to die in a road traffic accident has won the right to remain in this country, an outcome that has outraged her family and stunned officials from the UK Border Agency.

Aso Mohammed Ibrahim, 32, had already been banned from driving and was facing deportation when he left Amy Houston dying under the wheels after colliding with her in his black Rover car. The Kurdish Iraqi, who has since committed further driving offences, was told by a judge in Manchester that he could stay in Britain because, in the six years since the tragedy, he had put down roots, married a British woman and now had two daughters.

Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary and the MP for the dead girl’s family, said he was so alarmed by the court’s decision that he intended to press Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, for an urgent review.

Paul Houston, 39, Amy’s father, has been campaigning for the Iraqi to be deported since his daughter’s death in November 2003. “My daughter would be alive today if Ibrahim, a banned driver, had not flouted the law and got into the car that day. If he is not prepared to live by our laws, then he does not deserve to stay here. It is not a question of race. It is a question of right and wrong,” he said. “I cannot believe the judge’s decision that he thinks it is right for him to stay here. They may as well give out passports in lucky bags because that is all they are worth. “It was very difficult for me to go to the hearing and stand ten feet away from the man who killed my daughter. The court’s decision is the best Christmas present he could wish for, and a terrible one for my family. Where is the justice?”

Mr Ibrahim, who has never held a valid driving licence, had been banned for nine months for driving while disqualified, without insurance or a licence, and was on bail at the time of the collision.

Amy was on her way to a record shop to buy the new CD of her favourite group, Busted, when she stepped into the road near her home in Blackburn and into the car’s path. She was trapped under the vehicle and had to be freed by firefighters. A police officer drove the ambulance to hospital to allow paramedics to treat the child but she died later that day.

While the rescue operation was under way Mr Ibrahim panicked and fled from the scene. He later confessed to a friend what he had done and gave himself up to police. He served two months of a four-month jail term. In 2006 he was convicted on a fresh charge of driving while disqualified, the latest in a series of motoring offences. The UK Border Agency had been anxious to deport Mr Ibrahim at the earliest opportunity, even taking him into the care of a deportation centre.

He launched his latest appeal under human rights legislation, suggesting that deporting him would breach his right to “respect for family life”.

Mr Ibrahim, speaking at an earlier appeals hearing, said: “This incident when Amy died was an accident and should not stop me living in this country with my family. “I did not expect to meet Christina [his partner] or have children when I came here seven years ago but it has happened and I cannot leave them. I cannot go back to Iraq. Do you not watch the news? It is far too dangerous.”

Mr Straw said that he would be writing to the Home Secretary “to see if there is any way we can appeal against this decision ... I will also be talking to the family. They have been through an awful ordeal.”

The UK Border Agency is assessing the implications of the case for asylum-seekers deemed to be a danger to the public. Jo Liddy, the agency’s regional director, said: “We are extremely disappointed at the court’s decision to allow Mr Ibrahim’s appeal against removal from the UK. We have made it clear that we will prioritise the removal of those foreign nationals who present the most risk of harm to the public.

“Last year we removed a record 5,400 foreign nationals, including over 50 killers and attempted killers, over 200 sex offenders and more than 1,500 drug offenders. In total more than 66,000 people were removed or returned home voluntarily.”

SOURCE





24 December, 2009

Radical Amnesty Bill Introduced in House

More detail on the Gutierrez bill

On Tuesday, December 15, open borders advocate Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced H.R. 4321, the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009," (CIR ASAP). H.R. 4321 would grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, dramatically increase legal immigration, and create loopholes in existing penalties in exchange for promises of "enforcement" in the future. (See FAIR's Legislative Updates from October 19, 2009 and December 14, 2009). At introduction, CIR ASAP had over 90 original co-sponsors in the House of Representatives. (See Cosponsor listing).

CIR ASAP contains several amnesty programs, including AgJOBS (Title IV, Subtitle B); the DREAM Act (sprinkled throughout the bill); and a broad amnesty program through which millions of illegal aliens could obtain "earned legalization" (Title IV, Subtitle A). These provisions are in many ways similar to those in the Bush-Kennedy Amnesty Bill of 2007, except that several significant requirements have been weakened. For example, for an illegal alien to receive amnesty under H.R.4321, he or she does not even have to establish employment, only that he or she is an active member of the community.

In addition to granting amnesty, CIR ASAP would dramatically increase legal immigration by:

* Recapturing purportedly "unused" family and employment-based green cards from 1992 to 2008 (§301(a)-(b)). According to State Department data, this provision alone could bring in as many as 550,000 immigrants-all of whom would compete with American workers for jobs. (U.S. State Department, Unused Family and Employment Preferences Numbers Available for Recapture, Fiscal Years 1992-2007).

* Expanding the definition of "immediate relatives" to include children and spouses of lawful permanent residents. (§302). This would allow an unlimited number of these children and spouses to immediately qualify for a visa.

* Increasing the annual per country limits on family and employment-based visas from seven percent to ten percent. (§303). Under current law, each foreign country has a seven percent share of the total cap of visas allocated each year.

In exchange for the multiple amnesties and massive increases in legal immigration proposed in the bill, H.R. 4321 contains measures ostensibly aimed at strengthening immigration "enforcement." Upon closer examination, however, CIR ASAP would actually undermine the enforcement of our immigration laws. For example, the bill would:

* Repeal the highly successful 287(g) program, which allows federal officials to train state and local law enforcement agencies in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. (§184).

* Establish a new, untested electronic employee verification system. (§201). This would completely reverse years of progress made with respect to E-Verify.

* Temporarily suspend Operation Streamline pending a re-evaluation of the program's future viability. (§125(a)). Operation Streamline is a highly successful, zero-tolerance program that targets illegal aliens for immediate prosecution upon apprehension at or near the border. After Operation Streamline was put into effect in December 2006, the Yuma, Arizona sector saw nearly 1200 prosecutions in the first 9 months. Border apprehensions decreased by 70 percent. (CBP Press Release, July 24, 2007).

* Prohibit the Armed Forces and the National Guard from assisting in securing the border unless: (1) the President declares a national emergency, or (2) the use of the Armed Forces/National Guard is required for specific counter-terrorism duties. (§131(a) & (b)).

* Require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to identify and inventory the current personnel, human resources, assets, equipment, supplies, or other physical resources dedicated to border security and enforcement prior to any increase in these categories. (§114(a); §116(a)).

At a press conference announcing the introduction of his bill, Rep. Gutierrez indicated that his bill was to set the Congressional Hispanic Caucus's standard for immigration reform legislation. However, he also acknowledged that the Senate will most likely be the first chamber to act on amnesty legislation. While a bill has not yet been introduced in the Senate, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is planning to introduce a bill in early 2010, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has indicated he will kick off the amnesty debate sometime in February or March. (Congressional Quarterly, December 15, 2009).

SOURCE



Bribed to quit Britain: Foreign criminals offered up to £5000 if they agree to go home

Thousands of foreign criminals are being offered credit cards pre-loaded with more than £450 of taxpayers' cash if they agree to return home. Rapists, muggers and burglars are being offered the astonishing perk as part of a package worth up to £5,000 designed to 'bribe' them to leave the UK. The credit cards are loaded with money which the convicts can spend as soon as they leave British soil. The remainder of the windfall is payable 'in kind' when they return home, and can include cash to set up a business.

Shadow Justice Secretary, Dominic Grieve said: 'This is simply outrageous. It is bad enough that Gordon Brown lost control of our borders and has let thousands of foreign criminals into the country. 'Now we learn that foreign prisoners are being given cash cards loaded with hundreds of pounds of taxpayers' money. The lesson is clear: under Labour, crime pays and the taxpayer foots the bill.'

Details of the pre-loaded cashcard emerged in Parliamentary answers. It lays bare the Government's desperation to hit a target set by Gordon Brown to remove thousand of foreign criminals every year. The prisoners receive £46 in cash to spend in Britain. They are then given the card containing £454 to spend overseas. It builds upon the existing policy of bribes. One in four of the foreign criminals who was deported last year only went home after being offered one of the special payments. The card can be used as a chip-and-pin - and could even be used to buy duty-free gifts on the way home.

Border and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said: 'Our Facilitated Returns Scheme saves the taxpayer money because foreign criminals are removed direct from jail or immigration detention, often before their sentence ends. 'This means foreign lawbreakers cannot drag out the removal process for months with frivolous appeals which clog up the legal system. 'Every day that we can get these individuals out of the country early saves taxpayers over £100 a night in detention costs.

Last year we removed a record 5,400 foreign national prisoners.' The scheme began in October 2006 to encourage foreign criminals to return to their home country once they have passed the point in their sentence when they would be released if they were British. Assistance is provided up to a maximum of £5,000 for serving foreign criminals who go home shortly before their jail term is complete, and £3,000 for those who have finished their sentence.

The maximum grant has repeatedly been increased since it was introduced at £800 three years ago. Officials argue it is cheaper than trying to force the convicts to go home. There is no guarantee of success as foreign nationals who have lived in Britain for many years can claim to have established a 'family life' here. This can prevent their deportation on the grounds of human rights laws.

In 2008, about 1,350 foreign criminals took advantage of the programme. Those who received such a deal represent a quarter of the 5,400 foreign criminals that the Home Office boasted it had removed from Britain during the year.

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive at the TaxPayers' Alliance said: 'It's a disgrace that we bribe foreign criminals to go home at all, they should be deported immediately. 'The fact that we also give them a hefty cash bonus to spend as they wish will rightly anger the lawabiding taxpayers who are footing the bill for this hare-brained scheme.'

SOURCE





23 December, 2009

Corrupt college OK by the British government

A college exposed by The Times for providing fake places to more than 1,000 foreign nationals has been awarded a new government licence to bring hundreds of overseas students to Britain.

King’s College of Management (KCM), in Manchester, closed in the summer after The Times revealed that although it claimed to have only 67 students it had secretly enrolled more than 1,100 foreigners and offered places to a further 1,575.

After The Times handed the Home Office a dossier of evidence in May, KCM was temporarily shut down by its owner, Farah Anjum, a Pakistani businesswoman.

It has now reopened with a new director but using the same name and premises. The sole director of Universal Education Services Ltd, the new company running the college, says that he is a retired former officer of the Pakistani Army who came to Britain in 2001. Shabbir Hussain Malik, 64, told The Times that Dr Anjum was a family friend who sold him the college for £15,000. He insisted that she and others previously associated with KCM were no longer involved in its operation.

Since March, any college wishing to bring foreign students to Britain has been required to pass a two-stage inspection. As a result, the number of institutions entitled to enrol foreign nationals has fallen from 4,000 to 2,000. KCM had already passed the first hurdle, winning accreditation as a “high-quality institution” from a government-approved education body, before its operation was exposed by The Times.

In a secret recording obtained by the newspaper, a woman confided that a KCM employee charged £1,000 last year to help her 18-year-old nephew to gain a student entry visa. He was told that he would be able to find a full-time job and would not need to attend any lectures. After a year, he would be given a false college certificate to confirm his impeccable attendance record. The college also kept a hidden list of 207 people already living in Britain who were sold fake diplomas.

KCM failed to win one of the licences under its previous ownership, but has now passed the second stage of the process, a Border Agency inspection that the Home Office described as unannounced and rigorous.

Mr Malik said that he was now entitled to enrol up to 500 international students but initially intended to keep the numbers down to “125 or 150”. KCM will charge annual tuition fees of up to £4,500 for its courses.He said: “I’m keeping a very close watch on the attendance records of all the students. Anyone who misses three days without a valid reason will be reported to the Home Office.”

In May, The Times revealed close ties between 11 colleges in London, Manchester and Bradford, all formed in the past five years and linked to three Pakistani fraudsters who entered Britain on student visas. They exploited a gaping hole in the immigration system to help thousands of Pakistanis to enrol as students in the network of sham colleges. The newspaper’s investigation led to an inquiry by the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee.

A spokesman confirmed that the Home Office was still investigating some of the people previously involved with the running of KCM and those linked to a second college whose bogus operation was exposed by The Times, Manchester College of Professional Studies.

Eight of ten terror suspects arrested in April in Manchester and Liverpool over an alleged al-Qaeda bomb plot were enrolled at the college. None was charged.

SOURCE



A migrant a minute registers with British GPs: Huge increase puts doctors under pressure

Immigrants are registering with a GP for free healthcare at a rate of more than one every minute, it was revealed last night. Analysis of NHS research shows that 605,000 people who arrived from overseas registered with a doctor in England and Wales last year - up by 50 per cent in only seven years.

Campaigners say this places a significant 'strain' on services and could force patients to wait longer for appointments and treatment.

Doctors are under pressure with the amount of immigrants they have registering with their surgeries. While the number of GPs has increased over the past seven years it has not kept pace with the increase in registrations. The Tories said the GP figures were yet another example of why a cap is needed on migrant numbers.

It is the first time statisticians have examined NHS data on the number of registrations made by people previously living overseas. Of the total, 536,000 were migrants who - under Government rules - were entitled to free care. Others are Britons returning from a stint overseas, but there are fears a proportion of the remainder are illegal immigrants taking advantage of free NHS care.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch, which compiled the report, said: 'This amounts to an open door to primary care which can also lead to access to secondary care. 'The Government has been dithering while the NHS has been struggling to cope with the extra numbers resulting from mass immigration. 'In present financial circumstances it is surely obvious that we do not have the resources to cope with the extra ten million people now officially projected over the next 25 years - seven million as a result of immigration.'

There are currently no checks on the entitlement of those who seek to register with a GP. Instead, doctors have discretion to register whoever they choose.

Ministers carried out a review of access to healthcare, which could have led to overseas visitors being barred from receiving some treatments. But, five years after the review was commissioned, the Department of Health said it would maintain the status quo.

Many of those registering for treatment are from Eastern Europe. Doctors have reported an increase in women from the former Eastern Bloc seeking maternity services. However, they also stress most incoming Eastern Europeans are young and in good health.

There are 34,101 GPs in England and Wales. Earlier this month, doctors said more GPs were needed to offer patients the 20 minute appointments which many need. Dr Richard Fieldhouse, of The National Association of Sessional GPs, said one issue was that many of the newly registered immigrants spoke little or no English adding to appointment times. He said: 'We have to draw diagrams. It takes probably 25 to 30 minutes. We want to do everything we can for them.'

A British Medical Association spokesman said: 'Doctors' primary concern is for patients' clinical need. If people are in the UK legitimately then they have a right to healthcare and there should be adequate resources in place to provide this.'

But Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'It is clearly unacceptable that someone who has paid for the NHS throughout their working life should face delays or queues as a result of recent immigration.'

The Department of Health said last night: 'Access to a GP can have both public health and cost benefits. It is better and cheaper for a GP to treat a patient at an early stage rather than risk an emergency hospital admission when a condition becomes acute.'

SOURCE





22 December, 2009

Ariz. gov: Release many criminal immigrants to ICE

Gov. Jan Brewer says Arizona could cut its budget deficit by millions of dollars by taking nonviolent illegal immigrants out of state prisons and turning them over to federal authorities for deportation to their homelands. This approach to cost-cutting has been used in Arizona, the busiest illegal gateway into the United States for illegal immigrants, since 2005.

Brewer, who ordered the state's prison director to turn over as many nonviolent criminal immigrants as possible to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation, said the federal government has failed to fully reimburse Arizona for the costs of incarcerating illegal immigrants convicted of state crimes. "The federal government refuses to secure our borders and allows criminal aliens to enter our state, and then Arizona taxpayers pay for the prosecution of these criminal aliens. And then the federal government sticks us with the bill for their incarceration," Brewer said. "We cannot afford to be their host."

The Republican governor discussed the handovers and other cost-cutting measures at a cabinet meeting Monday that was focused on confronting the state's budget crisis. Brewer said Arizona is facing some of the worst financial days in its 97-year history, with prospects for the coming year looking bleak. Even after the Legislature approved a budget bill over the weekend, Arizona still faces a $1.5 billion deficit this year and a projected $3.4 billion shortfall next year.

The bill contained $193 million in funding cuts and other changes that set the stage for agencies to reduce services and cut state employee pay. It included a midyear 7.5 percent cut for most agencies and sweeps dollars from more than 100 special purpose funds to prop up regular budget spending. The bill, which Brewer said she intends to sign in the coming days, said state agencies may cut employee compensation by up to 5 percent. Brewer instructed a state official Monday to begin the rule-making process necessary for carrying out such a pay cut. But Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman later said the process was started as a contingency.

The governor said the release of criminal immigrants from state prisons will reduce the state's costs and that she would work with state lawmakers to come up with tougher penalties for such offenders who sneak back into the country after their release from prison. Under state law, the state may release a criminal immigrant to federal authorities if it gets a deportation order and the inmate has served at least half of his or her sentence, typically for crimes like drunken driving and lower-level drug offenses. Prisoners convicted of murder or sex offenses aren't eligible for release. The number who could be released was unavailable early Monday afternoon.

Barrett Marson, spokesman for the Arizona Department of Corrections, said state law allows for such releases 90 days before the end of a prison sentence. Marson said state prison officials were working to transfer several hundred criminal immigrants to federal authorities. "The state Department of Corrections has been conferring with ICE about this possibility, so we will be prepared," said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Republican Sen. Russell Pearce of Mesa, the Legislature's staunchest advocate for tougher immigration enforcement, said he will help pursue legislation to impose tougher sentences on criminal immigrants who sneak back into the United States. "If they return to the state of Arizona, they are going to have white hair when they get out of that prison," Pearce said.

SOURCE



British Government makes concessions to e-borders project

IT project to check travellers' identities against police databases does not meet EU rules. Another British bungle

The future of Labour's £1.2bn 'electronic borders' scheme is in doubt after the Government had to make a series of concessions to ensure it met EU rules. Originally the UK e-borders rules required airlines, ferries and rail companies to check the details held on all passengers’ passports; including name and address, departure and arrival points. This was so the British authorities could check these details against databases and watch lists held by police and security forces.

However, this breached EU rules governing free movement of people within member states. A report from the Commons Home Affairs select committee warned that the way the UK was implementing its e-borders project would make it illegal under EU law. It called for the scheme to be put on hold when it pointed out that “an EU Member State cannot impose any requirement other than simple production of a valid identity document on an EU citizen other than in exceptional circumstances.”

Chairman Keith Vaz said: ”A very disappointing oversight is that we are sure that what the programme requires will be illegal under the EU Treaty. “It is shocking that money has already been spent on a programme which could never be implemented. We cannot have another massive IT project which flounders or is even abandoned at huge cost to the taxpayer, it is simply unacceptable."

Since then the Government has held negotiations with the European Commission, and forced to offer a series of concessions. The Home Office has agreed that the collection of passenger information will now be on a voluntary basis. [Which makes it useless. Anybody with something to hide will not volunteer]

Phil Woolas, UK Border and Immigration minister argued that the programme wouldn’t be scrapped and was fully compliant with EU law which he claimed was confirmed by the EU Commission. [Woolly Phil again]

SOURCE





21 December, 2009

Habitually criminal Hispanic illegal repeatedly ignored by immigration authorities until he stabs someone 43 times

Well-meaning free-marketers have a dangerous blind-spot when it comes to illegal immigration. Stories like this happen every single day in these United States, and while the media tries to downplay them, they are horribly corrosive to faith in our political authorities and sworn law-enforcement officials:

Through nine arrests, no one questioned whether 14-year-old Noel Cruz-Diego was in the U.S. legally until he was charged with burglary, robbery and stabbing a Lakeland man 43 times last month.

Juvenile arrest reports obtained by The Ledger this week detail charges against him during 2 1/2 years and show that law enforcement knew for at least two years the teen was born in Mexico.

But an immigration detainer wasn't placed on the teenager until recently by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, when the agency was notified of Cruz-Diego's questionable status by the Polk County Sheriff's Office, according to DHS officials.

Although a minor, Cruz-Diego faces adult charges in the most recent case, in which he is accused of breaking into Daniel Granton's home Nov. 18 and stabbing him.

Let's just run the numbers in this ghastly story: 14 tender years of age; 9 arrests; in 30 months; 2 burglaries in 1 hour, the 2d of which resulted in: 43 stab wounds.

"Trailing blood, [the victim, Daniel Granton] crossed the street to Jeanette Garro’s house and knocked on the door for help. But Garro and her husband were asleep. Garro said Granton left pools of blood on her front door and sidewalk, then collapsed underneath her carport on his way to the back door."

No, no, NOOO, this is not what Emma Lazarus had in mind. It's long past time libertarian-oriented stopped averting their eyes to it, and started contributing to a remedy to this eminently remediable problem. Even if we didn't apply a "zero-tolerance" policy for illegal aliens, why not a "two-strikes and you're out" policy?

It would have saved Daniel Granton a few quarts of blood.

SOURCE



Migrants use student loan scam to get visas to Britain

Serious loopholes in immigration rules are potentially allowing thousands of young Indians to enter Britain on falsely obtained student visas, an investigation by The Sunday Times has found. Undercover reporters found foreign agents offering would-be students £10,500 loans so they can convince the UK Border Agency in their visa applications that they have enough money in their bank account to pay fees and support themselves in Britain. The money is handed back to the lender as soon as it has appeared on bank statements for a month. The cost to the student is a 7% interest charge and £200 processing fee, which amounts to about £935.

In a covertly filmed investigation, The Sunday Times has established that the scam is operating widely in towns in Punjab, northwest India. It threatens to undermine new Home Office immigration rules which ministers insisted would reduce the number of new arrivals. Instead, the number of visas granted to Indian students has nearly doubled in the past year, from 29,000 to 52,000. It is feared that many have no intention of studying and simply disappear after entering the UK.

The new points-based entry system was created by Liam Byrne, the former immigration minister and now chief secretary to the treasury. Students need 40 points to come to Britain. They receive 30 for holding a course offer from a college or university and 10 for proving that they can pay fees and support themselves.

When the system was introduced in March, Jacqui Smith, then home secretary, said it would force immigrants to “play by the rules”. In the dusty farming towns of the Punjab, however, the system has fuelled a thriving industry to supply student visas, often by dubious means. Billboard advertisements openly offer them for £2,000, as poor would-be immigrants seek out office blocks known locally as “visa factories”. Vikram Choudhri, criminal lawyer to the chief minister of Punjab, said: “Thousands of students are going to the UK every year to work and earn there. Their main motive is to go and settle and very few go to reputable universities.”

Under the new rules, students have to show they have £7,200 in their bank accounts plus the first year’s fees for a course in London, or £5,400 plus a year’s fees for a course outside the capital.

An undercover reporter last week approached five visa agencies in different Punjabi towns seeking help to move to the UK, emphasising that his intention was to find a job rather than study. In four cases the agencies offered him a loan as “proof” that he could fund the course. In Jalandhar, Academic Overseas Education Consultants were eager to help. Neha Trikha, the admission manager, told the reporter he would need more than £8,000 in his account to apply for a student visa. When the reporter said he did not have the money, Trikha replied: “This is a basic problem. Everyone has this problem. Funds can be arranged. We would charge you 7% interest on it.”

The company said it could “assure” the reporter of a place at a British college in March and named three where courses would be available. When the reporter emphasised again that his real goal was to work rather than study, Trikha said: “Our job is to send you there. You are allowed to work four hours [a day]. It is illegal but it is up to you if you want to work more than four hours. Your friends in London will help you with that.” Garry Singh, the director, later said his company did not provide such loans and denied it had given the reporter any improper advice.

The nearby Peridot Consultancy also offered a loan. Mohit Aneja said it would be “no issue” supplying the money for a charge of 35,000 rupees (£460). “We will get it done,” he said. When confronted, Aneja denied he had offered the loan and said he had done nothing wrong.

Anshu Sharma, from the Bona Fide Institute for Foreign Languages, did not offer a loan but said the UK system was lenient. “[Because] the deposit doesn’t have to be from a blood relation, anyone can show money on your behalf,” she said. “Nobody has that amount of money in their account. [Financiers] are in demand and they are charging somewhere around 7%-10% for show money.” A spokesman later insisted the company would never advocate using loans for visa applications.

Anchu Thaper, a moneylender from Ludhiana, said he had supplied seven clients in the last year with funds for student visas. “In normal practice, UK study visas are given in 28 days,” he said. “You just need [800,000-1.2m] rupees (£10,000- £16,000) in your bank account for that 28 days. People take out the money and then return it when they get the visa.”

Rakesh Kumar Jaiswal, senior superintendent of police in Jalandhar, said there was a “craze” among young people to emigrate. “It’s very tempting for the youth to want to go abroad and settle there but they don’t know what the visa procedure is and they get trapped in a vicious cycle of racketeers,” he said.

It is not clear how many people using the scams uncovered by The Sunday Times have managed to enter Britain. A Home Office spokesman said bank statements from India were not taken at face value and where applications were suspicious further checks and interviews were carried out. In neighbouring Pakistan, however, checks appear to have been less than thorough. In September, the Home Office reported that just 29 out of 66,000 visa applicants from Pakistan had been interviewed in the past year.

SOURCE





20 December, 2009

Gutierrez bill would give millions citizenship

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a leading congressional advocate for immigrants' rights, has introduced a bill that would allow millions of illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens and would end a controversial program that enlists local police to enforce immigration laws.

The bill is widely viewed as too liberal to pass. Obama administration officials have said they are looking instead to a more moderate, bipartisan immigration-reform bill to be introduced in the Senate early next year by Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Still, the Chicago Democrat made it clear that he and his allies expect a seat at the negotiating table as lawmakers and the White House seek middle ground on the polarizing issue. Gutierrez's bill, endorsed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Black Caucus and Asian Pacific American Caucus, would allow illegal immigrants to stay in the country while they apply to become legal residents or citizens. They would have to pay a $500 fine and show they've made a contribution to the country through work, education, military or community service.

The legislation also would repeal a program that enlists local police and sheriff's deputies to enforce federal immigration laws. The bill says only the federal government has the authority to enforce those laws.

It also includes a provision that would allow states to offer in-state school tuition to students who aren't citizens and whose parents may be in the country illegally.

The bill acknowledges that strong border security is needed, but it also calls for increased oversight of border control agents to ensure civil liberties are protected. "As a candidate for president, Barack Obama promised comprehensive immigration reform, and we have brought him the bill to accomplish this," Gutierrez said.

Opponents of the bill said they're angry the bill offers amnesty to millions of illegal workers while so many citizens are out of work. "People feel shocked and completely betrayed that any elected official would propose legalizing illegal immigrants, stopping local police from enforcing immigration law, and stopping increased border security when we have over 15 million Americans out of work," said William Gheen of Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee.

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who has co-sponsored past immigration-reform bills with Gutierrez, said he was disappointed by the legislation. "It repeats the mistakes of the '86 reform -- massive legalization without a temporary-worker program to accommodate future labor demands," Flake said. Flake also criticized the bill for watering down the penalties illegal immigrants would face before they could become legal residents. Previous bills have called for a $2,000 fine and would have required illegal immigrants to return to their home countries before returning to the United States.

Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) said the bill is going nowhere. "Congressman Gutierrez is an ardent supporter of immigrant rights and has introduced at least 20 major immigration bills in the past 10 years, but none has been cleared by a committee for a vote on the House floor," Lewis said.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said last week the Obama administration is pinning its hopes for reform on Schumer's bill. "We are providing assistance now to Sen. Schumer," she said.

SOURCE



How hundreds of "asylum seekers" in Britain get luxury homes far beyond the means of most working people

Their magnificent townhouse overlooks a courtyard and is in one of the most expensive areas of London. It has four storeys, six bedrooms (some with balconies), three sitting rooms and four bathrooms - as well as a concierge service. The property is worth a cool £1.8 million and would cost you or me nearly £1,600 a week to rent.

So who do you think lives here. Is it: (a) a banker; (b) an MP fiddling expenses; or (c) an unemployed former asylum seeker and her family? The last answer is the correct one. In other words, taxpayers are picking up the £6,400-a-month bill to keep Nasra Warsame, seven of her brood and her elderly mother in the lap of luxury.

Mrs Warsame's husband and their eighth child, by the way, have been provided with a two-bedroom council flat nearby. His wife's palatial residence isn't big enough, apparently, to accommodate them all.

So how is Mrs Warsame enjoying her publicly-funded mansion? There was no response when we 'buzzed' her state-of-the art video intercom which allows her to screen visitors. No one could blame her for keeping a low profile (if that's possible in such a grand home), considering that her case, among others, prompted the Government's announcement this week that benefit rules are to be changed.

For the Warsames are one of a number of families enjoying life on Millionaires' Row, courtesy of our welfare state system. Let's take a quick tour. First stop, David Cameron's trendy neighbourhood of Notting Hill and a £2.6million villa with wooden floors, granite work tops and roof terrace - home to single mother-of-eight Francesca Walker. Francesca, whose mother is Jamaican, spent many years in a succession of council flats, which she claimed were virtually uninhabitable. As a result, the council was forced to consider her as 'technically homeless'.

Her eight children are fathered by two different men and she was housed in a privately-owned villa because the council had no suitable accommodation of its own.

Next is a detached, double-fronted £1.2million house in Acton, West London, with three shower rooms and 'accessories' including a 50-in plasma TV, laptops, Wii, iPhone and PlayStation - home to the seven-strong Saiedi family from Afghanistan.

Then there is the £1million mock-Tudor property, comprising two sitting rooms, conservatory and double garage, in Edgware (home to single mother-of-five Omowunmi Odia), and another £1million property in Barnet (home to the Connors, a family of Irish travellers).

In fact, 16 families are living in million-pound-plus London properties funded by the controversial Local Housing Allowance, which allows people to rent from private landlords and hand the bill to the state. These examples alone cost us £2.4million a year - enough to put at least 100 extra police officers on the streets of the capital.

But this isn't the real story, or not all of the story, anyway. It gets even worse. Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper insists 'very high rents' represent only a 'small proportion' of overall housing allowance claims. Well, that depends on how you define 'very high'. Does £1,000-a-week fall into this category? The Mail has learned that around 100 households, mostly in London, now receive this amount via their local authority. How many families can afford monthly mortgage repayments of £4,000?

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said it could not provide us with figures for those claiming £500 a week without receiving a Freedom of Information request in writing, which means Christmas would have come and gone by the time we got an answer. But Tory-run Westminster Council, which has been left to pick up the flak over Mrs Warsame, was happy to oblige. Funnily enough, no Freedom of Information request was required. In fact, a staggering 800 households in the borough qualify for £500-a-week payments. Or, to put it another way, they are living in properties that, back in the real world, they would only be able to afford if they were earning between £70,000 and £80,000 a year.

The average salary in this country, remember, is a little more than £20,000 a year.....

Here's one final statistic to ponder. In five other London boroughs, including Islington, and Hammersmith and Fulham, 722 families each receive a Local Housing Allowance of £2,000 a month - which adds up to more than £30million a year of taxpayers' money.

And this at a time of the worst recession in living memory. A time when, apart from anything else, we can't afford even to send our troops into battle in Iraq and Afghanistan with the proper equipment. Could there be a more potent example of just how wrong-headed this country has become?

More HERE





19 December, 2009

Determined Tamil illegals given special treatment, Indonesian and Canadian officials say

Kevin Rudd's claim that the 78 Tamils rescued by the Oceanic Viking received no special treatment was in tatters yesterday after officials in Canada and Indonesia described the arrangements made for the refugees as extraordinary. With the first of the rescued Tamils expected to arrive in Australia as early as today, Canadian immigration officials said they were preparing to take almost a quarter of the refugees.

A spokesman for the Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Department, Douglas Kellam, said Ottawa would give priority to those with family in Canada. "Based on the criteria we have and the indications of who would be interested we expect it would be less than a quarter of the people on the boat," Mr Kellam told The Weekend Australian. "It's not as though there's a quota we have, that's our indication of the number of people we're looking at."

But in an unusual development, he said the refugees would be taken via a UN transit centre in Timisoara, Romania, a few hundred kilometres from Bucharest. This would allow Canadian officials to conduct health, security and criminal checks on the refugees. "I've been told the access to persons in Indonesia is complicated," Mr Kellam said.

Asked if the Tamils had received a special deal, he said yes. "Has Canada ever taken individuals at the request of other countries? The answer to that is yes, it has happened before. But it's not a normal thing."

Canada is one of several countries that have agreed to take some of the refugees, who for a month refused to leave the Viking unless they were taken to Australia, their original destination. Norway, New Zealand and possibly the US will also take some of the Tamils, who have all been found to be refugees by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Mr Rudd has claimed there was nothing special about the deal offered to the Tamils, who were promised rapid resettlement for leaving the boat. But the incident has generated ructions within the refugee resettlement sector. Individuals and agencies have complained about the burden placed on them to expedite the resettlement and the damage to working relationships, including with the Indonesian government.

A spokesman for the Indonesian Foreign Ministry agreed the deal offered to the Sri Lankans was special. "In comparison to other cases certainly this is rather unique," he said. "Some countries put extra effort into resolving this problem."

SOURCE



Britain's Gatwick Immigration Unit 'Deeply Depressing'

What's it supposed to be? A laugh a minute? If a prison is merely "depressing", it's pretty good

Prison inspectors have called for "urgent action" to address the "wholly unacceptable" conditions at an immigration removal centre connected with Gatwick Airport. The inspection of Tinsley House had been "deeply depressing", prisons chief inspector Dame Anne Owers said.

Arrangements for children and single women had deteriorated since her last visit in 2007, she went on. She added: "Tinsley House has become almost an afterthought, housing some poorly-cared-for children and a small number of scared and isolated single women."

The report claims unnecessary force was used on children during the removal of a family, while childcare and education have got progressively worse. Children at the centre were also said to have limited access to fresh air, and the centre's male-dominated population was described as intimidating for the single women being held.

Tinsley House is run by Group4 Security, a private contractor which manages the centre on behalf of the UK Border Agency. The centre can hold up to 154 detainees, many of whom are suspected of visa violations, illegal entry to the UK, or are awaiting deportation or decisions on asylum applications.

The UK Border Agency's David Wood said: "We accept the conditions at Tinsley House at the time of the inspection were not ideal but we do not agree that they are wholly unacceptable for women and children. "However, we are nonetheless reviewing our services. Treating women and children with care and compassion is a priority for the UK Border Agency. "Removal centres are a necessary part of enforcing immigration control. It is vital that they are well-run, safe and secure. "Detainees (must be) cared for with respect, with access to a range of medical, educational and welfare facilities."

About 1,000 children a year are held in privately run Immigration Removal Centres overseen by the UK Borders Agency. Earlier this month a report by the medical organisations in the UK called for an immediate end to the long-term detention of families with children.

SOURCE





18 December, 2009

Obama Silent on new amnesty bill

A comment from the Left by Anis Shivani. Shivani is an Indian surname

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) has just introduced a landmark immigration reform bill, which ought to be the basis of any legislation in the current Congress: See here (PDF)

This is the most important piece of domestic legislation advanced in many, many years. Interestingly, neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post feature front page coverage; the news stories all note that this is just the opening salvo, and the bill as it is is dead on arrival because Republicans won't support it.

The silence from the White House is deafening--no public show of support from President Obama, who continues to maintain highly favorable ratings among Latinos (despite his having ignored, so far, all the promises he made to the Hispanic community during the election campaign).

The Democratic party, the establishment news media, and Obama himself are holding fire for the bill they do want to support, the draconian Schumer legislation which has already been drawn up (in conjunction with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, he of the military tribunals and impeachment), but which awaits an opportune moment early next year to be sprung upon the public. No doubt, as soon as Schumer releases his bill, Obama will declare that that's the kind of legislation he can get behind.

The Senate immigration legislation will bear the same resemblance to the House bill offered by Gutierrez and his cosponsors as their pathetic legislation (do a lot of harm, destroy even the nicer parts of the system) bears to the House health care legislation.

The silence tells us a lot about Obama (as we have learned again and again over the course of this year): his heart is where the corporate-funded Democratic Leadership Council once was (he is their true standard-bearer today), his true soulmate is really Joe Lieberman. Obama, deep down, loves Lieberman; that's who he really is, once you strip down the empty rhetoric and futile gestures. He cares not a bit for the working poor, immigrants, even entrepreneurs and innovators, those who make this country tick. He was brought in to preserve the privilege, segregation, and division among classes and races; that's what he has done with health care, and that's what he plans to do with the chaotic, utterly counterproductive immigration bill Schumer is holding back. Latinos, immigrants, take note!

One would have expected Janet Napolitano to say a few kind words about the House legislation, but she remains silent too: it's not the kind of humane, non-punitive reform she had in mind when she promised recently that Congress would get it done next year.

What exactly is so terrible about the Gutierrez bill that has corporate-Democrats cowering in their shells? It is humane, it is flexible, it is rational, it is practical, it is optimistic, and it calls on our great traditions of welcome and openness--features which will be markedly absent from the legislation Obama is prepared to support. It is the kind of legislation Ted Kennedy would have been proud to support. Unfortunately, ours is not the era of the New New Deal; it is the era of the Bad to Worse Deal; any "comprehensive" legislation emanating from the Obama administration makes things worse than they already are, by sneaking in corporate-favored provisions....

More HERE



White Americans to become minorities around 2050: report

White Americans will be no longer the majorities in the United States around 2050, eight years later than previous expectation, said a Census Bureau report released on Wednesday. The Census Bureau has earlier predicted that white children will become a minority in 2023 and the whole white population will follow in 2042.

However, due to the economic crisis and stricter immigration policies after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the flow of foreigners into the United States has been slowed. The updated report said that the total U.S. population, which currently stands at 308 million people, is expected to reach 399 million by 2050, and the whites will make up 49.9 percent of the total, instead of two-thirds now.

By 2050, the black will remain accounting for 12.2 percent, and Hispanics' share will rise from 15 percent now to 28 percent, said the report, adding that Asians will also increase their share from4.4 percent to 6 percent during the same period.

However, the bureau noted that the prospect of the demographic shift will not be only based on birth and death rates, but also influenced by a number of uncertain factors, including the economic growth, cultural changes and disasters as well as the immigration policy reform. So the projections can be used more as a guide, it added.

SOURCE





16 December, 2009

Obama admin. to stop detaining Asylum Seekers

The Obama administration said Tuesday it will stop detaining asylum seekers who have a credible fear of persecution in their home countries. To be released into the U.S., the asylum seekers will have to establish the credible fear and their identities and show they are not dangerous or a flight risk, said John Morton, Department of Human Services assistant secretary overseeing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Foreigners who arrive at a port of entry and are found to have a credible fear will automatically be considered for release into the U.S., Morton said.

Asylum seekers still will spend time in detention while they undergo interviews and their information is checked, but the administration hopes to reduce the length of their stay with a policy change, ICE said. Their stay in the U.S. will be considered temporary until a final decision is made on their asylum claim.

Currently, foreigners who come to the U.S. without valid documents can be immediately removed from the country, without a hearing. Also, requests for release must be made in writing, ICE said.

Brian Hale, ICE spokesman, said the new policy also will apply to people seeking asylum and already in detention.

The advocacy group Human Rights First reported last April that from 2004 to 2007, the rates of temporary release of asylum seekers dropped from 41.3 percent to 4.2 percent.

The Bush administration toughened criteria for asylum seekers to win release from detention in 2007. Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, said those rules were "unduly harsh" and cheered the changes Tuesday. Immigrant advocates wanted to see more details on the change before commenting.

Steve Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for tougher immigration laws, said detention ensures people show up for hearings. "The overwhelming amount of people who apply for asylum don't get it and that's why they don't show up. Lack of detention destroys the credibility and meaningfulness of immigration courts," Camarota said.

SOURCE



International deal to resettle 78 Tamils in several countries

Australia is on the verge of clinching a deal with New Zealand, Canada, Norway and possibly the US to help resettle the 78 Tamil asylum-seekers rescued by the Australian Customs vessel the Oceanic Viking. The Australian understands a number of countries have indicated a willingness to take some of the Sri Lankans, who were rescued in October after their boat foundered. However, while sources say "a significant" number of the Sri Lankans are expected to be resettled in third countries, Australia is still set to take the majority.

News of the expected breakthrough came as a boat carrying 55 people was intercepted off Ashmore Reef on Tuesday night. The interception -- the 54th this year -- will push the immigration detention centre on Christmas Island to a boatload from breaking point. According to an Immigration Department spokesman, there are currently 1443 detainees on the island. But when the 55 intercepted on Tuesday arrive the number will jump to 1498, just 62 shy of the centre's current capacity of 1560.

There is a growing expectation the government will begin transferring asylum-seekers to detention centres on the mainland, possibly as early as next week. At least three countries -- New Zealand, Canada and Norway -- are believed to have indicated to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees a willingness to take some of the 78 Tamils. The US is also understood to be interested, although it is not clear if a formal offer has been made.

New Zealand's involvement would represent an about-face a month after Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman refused to help resettle the Tamils, issuing a pointed rebuff to the Rudd government over its "ad hoc" handling of the incident. A spokeswoman for Dr Coleman could not be contacted for comment yesterday.

Nor would Mr Rudd's office comment on the claims. A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Chris Evans would say only that Australia was in discussions "with other countries around the world which also have resettlement programs".

Yesterday, The Australian reported all 78 of the asylum-seekers had been designated genuine refugees by the UNHCR, increasing the pressure on Canberra to find the Sri Lankans a home. It is not clear how many of the 78 will be resettled in third countries, although it is understood more than half will end up in Australia. One source said the numbers were still the subject of discussion, but that "a significant number" were expected to go to third countries.

Much will depend on whether Indonesia chooses to strictly enforce the timeframes for resettlement. In exchange for leaving the Oceanic Viking, Australia promised successful refugees would be resettled to a third country within four to 12 weeks. But the agreement also involved Indonesia, making continued goodwill from Jakarta essential.

Organising access to the asylum-seekers is also understood to be a potential barrier, with other resettlement countries expected to want see the 78 in order to conduct their own checks.

SOURCE





16 December, 2009

House Democrats' Massive Amnesty Bill Certain to Encounter Fierce Public Opposition

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) described the introduction of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP) as wholesale sell-out of the interests of the American people. The bill being introduced today by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and over 90 Democrats is certain to meet fierce public opposition.

CIR ASAP would grant amnesty to virtually every illegal alien in the United States and vastly increase future flows of low-skilled, low-wage immigrants. The legislation focuses exclusively on satisfying the demands of illegal aliens, ethnic interest groups and cheap labor employers, while offering nothing that serves the interests of law-abiding Americans.

"At a time when some 25 million Americans are either unemployed or relegated to part-time work, the last thing the Democratic majority ought to be focused on is a massive amnesty and immigration expansion bill," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "Legalizing millions of low-skill, low-wage workers who would depend heavily on government services is simply bad immigration policy at any point in time. When the federal government is running a $1.4 trillion deficit, and numerous state and local governments are facing fiscal crises, it represents the epitome of irresponsibility."

In addition to granting amnesty to millions of immigration lawbreakers for the bargain basement price of $500, CIR ASAP would:

· Weaken immigration enforcement at the borders and in the interior of the country.

· Vastly expand the ability of illegal aliens to fight their removal from the U.S. (in many cases with U.S. taxpayers footing the bill).

· Preempt state laws that assist in immigration enforcement.

· Dramatically increase both employment-based and family-based immigration.

· Eliminate federal/local enforcement cooperation agreements.

"CIR ASAP offers nothing to law-abiding Americans, except more competition for scare jobs, higher taxes, and more government deficits," Stein said. "While American families are feeling the pain of this deep and protracted recession, Rep. Gutierrez, with the backing of the Democratic leadership and the White House, seems to be focused on political payoffs for a narrow group of amnesty obsessed constituencies.

"If congressional leaders were surprised by the intensity of public opposition to amnesty legislation in 2007, when unemployment hovered around 4.6 percent, they had better brace themselves for an even stronger reaction in 2010. CIR ASAP amounts to a fire sale on American citizenship and American jobs and the public will make its voice heard loudly again in 2010," predicted Stein.

The above is a press release dated December 15 from Federation for American Immigration Reform, 25 Massachusetts Avenue - Suite 330 Washington DC, 20001, Office 202-328-7004. Contact Bob Dane 202-328-7004 or Ira Mehlman 206-420-7733 for details of the above. Email: media@fairus.org. Founded in 1979, FAIR is the oldest and largest immigration reform group in America. FAIR fights for immigration policies that enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs and wages and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.



The Calais problem

Last September, when French authorities sent riot police to raze "the Jungle," a makeshift camp near Calais, they made sure plenty of international media were on hand. By closing the camp and dispersing its population of clandestine aliens who were awaiting a chance to sneak across the Channel to Britain, the authorities aimed to provide clear proof of France's determination to battle illegal immigration. But less than three months later — with TV cameras gone — humanitarian workers are struggling to deal with problems that have actually been exacerbated by the raid.

On Dec. 9, the aid group Secours Catholique won permission to begin setting up a center to care for the most vulnerable aliens who stayed in Calais after the Sept. 22 operation. The approval didn't come easy. With more than half of the nearly 1,000 refugees who occupied the camp relocated elsewhere, Calais city officials fought efforts by Secours Catholique and other aid groups to set up any services for the remainder for fear that even minimal aid could swell illegals' numbers again. Secours Catholique not only had to win a November court case to overcome the refusal of Calais authorities but also promised that the unit would provide just health, medical and sanitary services to women, children and ailing men among the 300 illegals currently estimated to be in the area — and run it only during the day.

"There will be no lodgings in it, and it will be administering to the most vulnerable of refugees," says Philippe Lefilleul, a member of Secours Catholique. "Resistance to any facility was sufficiently high that we're having to limit what we do to minimum humanitarian levels."

Lefilleul says a majority of people who had resided in the Jungle have fallen back to nearby towns on the coastline — or have retreated all the way back to camp aside canals in Paris where they wait for smugglers to hide them in U.K.-bound trucks or freight trains. And Calais doesn't want those and newly arrived illegals to join the estimated 300 Jungle inhabitants still in town. The reason is evident: with its proximity to Britain — 30 miles, connected by ferries, trucks, cars and passenger and freight trains using the Chunnel — Calais remains a magnet for clandestine aliens and the human traffickers exploiting their desire to reach the U.K. (where obtaining refugee status is easier and brings more in aid payments). Britain has long demanded that Paris take action to prevent migrants from congregating on French shores with the aim of illegally sneaking across the Channel. (See the top 10 news stories of 2009.)

France took a first step in 2002, when then Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy closed down the Red Cross–run refugee shelter in the Sangatte suburb of Calais, which had housed thousands of illegals planning a jump to England. That only sent inhabitants of Sangatte's center flocking to other parts of Calais and its environs.

With Sarkozy now President — he has made fighting illegal immigration one of his main priorities — the destruction of the Jungle was designed to send a forceful message that France's humanitarian sympathy had run out. That message seems to have little impact on the people who view Calais as a staging post for a new life, many of whom have fled greater privations and dangers than a newly hostile Calais can offer. Instead, Lefilleul reports, migrants have simply gone underground and into deeper misery, hiding from even the aid groups looking to provide them minimal levels of assistance. "We aren't condoning illegal immigration and aren't naive about the role of traffickers in all this," he says. "But offering a little humanitarian care to such vulnerable people is our duty as fellow human beings and Christians." (See the TIME video "In Calais, a Dead End for Refugees Bound for Britain.")

That's not how Lefilleul's Secours Catholique day center, due to begin operating in January, is viewed across the Channel, where some hostile press reports dubbed it Sangatte II. "This is another gesture of contempt from France to Britain," said U.K. Conservative Party shadow immigration minister Damian Green. "It will encourage more potential illegal immigrants to try to break our law."

Natacha Bouchart, conservative mayor of Calais and a backer of Sarkozy's anti-immigration hard line, says her city and others on the coast are "hostage to the British" asylum laws. She says the U.K. should tighten those rather than shift the responsibility on French authorities to keep illegal aliens from making it to Britain.

SOURCE





15 December, 2009

New from the Center for Immigration Studies

1. A Huge Pool of Potential Workers: Unemployment, Underemployment, and Non-Work Among Native-Born Americans

Excerpt: While the current high rate of official unemployment is well known, there is a broader measure of employment that the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls U-6. It includes the unemployed as well as people who would like to work, but who have not looked for a job recently and those involuntarily working part-time. In addition, there are individuals who are not in the labor force at all. A look at these numbers shows the situation is particularly bad for minorities, the young, and less-educated Americans. These are the workers who face the most competition from immigrants - legal and illegal. (All figures in this report are seasonally unadjusted and are from the third quarter of 2009.)

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2. On 'Moving Toward More Effective Immigration Detention Management'

Excerpt: Our immigration policy has never lagged in letting people in. And we have gotten a little better at keeping out those who should be kept out. But our progress in the third of Ms. Jordan's requirements – removing those who should not be here – still leaves much to be desired.

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3. The Cat in the Hat Goes to the White House

Excerpt: 'The Cat in the Hat' fancies an exasperating experience when two bored children receive an unwelcome visit from a naive and arrogant cat who causes destruction, and then more. I thought it an appropriate analogy to these first 300 days or so with the Obama administration.

Here the Cat is President Obama, Thing One Harry Reid and Thing Two Nancy Pelosi. Sally and her brother are intelligence agents with their hands tied in the new administration.

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4. The FBI's 2008 Hate Crimes Statistics: Open Season on Opponents of Illegal Immigration, But Not on Hispanics

Excerpt: The FBI’s latest annual “Hate Crimes Statistics” (the 2008 report was released last month) is by general consensus an unscientific, even haphazard measure of the frequency of criminal offenses committed against persons or property motivated, to employ statutory parlance, “in whole or in part by bias.” The FBI cautions us about the unreliability of the figures in several prominent places in the accompanying narrative. However, this warning and the broadly shared critique does not prevent some media, the for-profit “tolerance” industry, political partisans, and representatives of a variety of special interests (including advocates for illegal aliens and “comprehensive immigration reform”) from using these subjective data to draw large, authoritative-sounding conclusions about bigotry, xenophobia, and nativism in America purportedly so pervasive and dangerous as to threaten its very social fabric. (Others, looking at the identical hodge-podge of figures might judge differently). Further, these figures are used as ammunition in policy debates to lend an air of moral urgency to the pursuit of partisan goals sought by putative victim groups.

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5. Pa. Labor Committee Votes for Construction Industry E-Verification

Excerpt: On Tuesday the Pennsylvania House Labor Relations Committee unanimously approved two bills that would require the state's construction and building trades industry employers to use E-Verify and the Social Security Number Verification Service (SSNVS) to avoid hiring illegal workers and confirm the Social Security numbers of all employees. Sponsored by Rep. John Galloway, a Democrat from Bucks County, the bills have strong support from the construction and building trade unions. If enacted, this would be the first industry-specific state verification law, and the first state verification law to insist that private employers screen all workers, not just new hires.

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6. NPR and FOX: The Pot Calls the Kettle Black

Excerpt: The political/culture war waged against Fox News (part of a larger effort which includes stigmatizing opponents of mass immigration) has taken a surprising twist.

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7. Napolitano Says Value of Exit Tracking System Is 'Dubious'

Excerpt: In an oversight hearing this morning before the Senate Judiciary Committee, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano answered questions on a wide range of issues, including the collapse of worksite enforcement, the lack of funding for detention space, and interior checkpoints. Most of her answers were predictable and confirmed the administration's focus on arresting and removing only those illegal aliens who have committed serious crimes, and making sure employers complete the proper paperwork in hiring. Napolitano also revealed that she is skeptical of the value of expanding US-VISIT, the biometric entry screening system, to also track visitor departures.

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8. Police Chiefs – Justifying Illegal-Alien Crime

Excerpt: The ability of law enforcement officers to justify the criminal acts of illegal aliens, while at the same time making them out to be victims, never ceases to amaze me.

I recently wrote about the outgoing Los Angeles Chief of Police’s concern for maintaining good relations with the illegal-alien community at the expense of law-abiding American citizens and legal residents.

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9. The Relative Handful of Self-Starting Immigrants in Our System

Excerpt: Although once-upon-a-time all immigrants were self-starters, only a tiny minority of legal immigrants now are in this category – all because of our peculiar immigration policies.

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10. Job One on New Jobs

Excerpt: President Obama has laid out his latest, great policy agenda item: a new jobs program. Unfortunately, his plan omits the easiest, most cost-effective measure. To get Americans back to work, stop importing 125,000 new foreign workers every single month.

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11. Man Bites Dog ...

Excerpt: and the MSM reports honestly on immigration. Nurit Aizenman has a good piece on the front page of today's Washington Post on the 'Struggles of the second generation,' combining one man's story with actual data:

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12. Putting Illegal Criminals Before Cops

Excerpt: Washington, D.C.'s Maryland suburbs are the home the latest jurisdiction to let political correctness put Americans at risk from criminal aliens. The indefensible policy of Montgomery County bars county police officers from communicating with federal immigration authorities, unless the suspect has first committed a terrible crime. Even then, officers must get permission to call ICE.

The above is a press release dated Dec. 15 from from Center for Immigration Studies. 1522 K St. NW, Suite 820, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076. Email: center@cis.org.





14 December, 2009

Ireland not such a soft touch for bogus "students"

A marked contrast with Britain

GOVERNMENT IMMIGRATION policy is blocking international students from coming to Ireland and contributing to the economy, the Lord Mayor of Dublin Emer Costello has said. She said the Government rejected almost 40 per cent of applications from Chinese students and nearly half of applications from Turkish students who wanted to study at Irish third-level institutions, even when they had been accepted for entry to courses.

Britain, in contrast, accepted 95 per cent of applications from Chinese students and 90 per cent of Turkish students, she said. “While vigilance at our borders and entry points is essential, we should be able to develop a rational way of welcoming international students who have been accepted for entry into university and higher education courses.”

Speaking at the Lord Mayor’s welcome gathering for international students in the Mansion House, Ms Costello said international students were an important element in economic development and job creation. “International students from countries outside of the EU contribute over €500 million annually to the Irish economy. It’s a growing and important market and Dublin needs to get its share. Melbourne, a similar-sized city to Dublin, earns over €2 billion annually from the same market.”

A 2004 Government report had identified the international education sector as one of the world’s faster growing business sectors and recognised the importance of this market for Ireland. However, she said this was in conflict with the immigration process which made it more difficult for students to enter Ireland than Britain.

DIT head of International Affairs Robert Flood told the gathering that every 100 students living in Dublin support 15 local jobs in phone companies, supermarkets, shops, restaurants and other services. “Between DIT and TCD alone that equates to 214 jobs and over €14 million to the local economy in Dublin city,” he said.

SOURCE



Immigration reform should include measures to combat stolen IDs

For victims of identity theft, it doesn't take long to discover the problem is way bigger than one person. It involves government agencies and a bureaucracy that is difficult to maneuver and even more difficult to understand. It may involve dealing with multiple law enforcement agencies, some that may be unwilling to investigate the case and really don't have to. It involves hours on the phone and computer, filing reports, clearing records, making inquiries and trying to find help.

And, of course, the stealing of identities, especially the illegal use of Social Security numbers, is part of the huge issue of immigration, which the federal government has yet to address in any comprehensive way.

Rep. Betsy Markey, D-Colo., said more needs to be done to address the crime of identity theft and assist victims, and help stop the illegal use of stolen Social Security numbers. There needs to be better ways for employers to check if Social Security numbers are legitimate or if they have been stolen. E-Verify, an Internet-based system that allows an employer to determine the eligibility of an employee to work in the United States. Right now, using E-Verify is voluntary, Markey said, and is limited to new hires only.

Markey hopes the government can work to encourage more employers to take part in the system. She said there have been improvements in the system, like requiring many employers who have federal contracts or subcontracts to use E-Verify.

A report issued by the University of Denver last week calls for permanent implementation of E-Verify. “Employers need a much better way to know if someone is in fact authorized to work in the United States,” said University of Northern Colorado President Kay Norton, who sat on the 20-member panel that issued the report.

Another problem is the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service are not, by law, allowed to communicate. So, if a victim gets their work record cleared of income obtained by the identity thief, the IRS doesn't know, and will still claim that income on the victim's taxes. “There needs to be more coordination between the Social Security Administration and the IRS,” Markey said.

But, ultimately, the solution to the illegal use of Social Security numbers could be addressed through immigration legislation, especially if the bill includes a guest worker provision that would make it easier for workers to temporarily enter the country on work visas.

Markey said that it is expected a comprehensive immigration bill will be introduced early next year that will address not only border security, but will include a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and a plan to allow guest workers into the country.

Despite a full plate including health care reform and the struggling economy, Markey said she is confident Congress will address immigration reform next year. “I'm not sure when, but we are going to get to it,” Markey said.

SOURCE





12 December, 2009

Time for an Immigration Moratorium

by Virgil Goode

When Barack Obama completely ignored the problem of uncontrolled immigration during his Jobs Summit, my former colleague Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) issued the following statement that was signed by 21 conservative Republican congressmen:

“With a 10 percent unemployment rate, now is the time for the Obama administration to stand up for citizens and legal immigrant workers. Now is the time for the President to enforce immigration laws. When the jobs stolen by illegal immigrants are recovered for citizens and legal workers, American workers will benefit. President Obama could create eight million jobs for citizens and legal workers simply by enforcing immigration laws.”

I applaud Rep. Smith for standing up against illegal immigration, but we need to go a step further to protect displaced American workers. The first priority of our government needs to be the interests of American citizens—both native born and naturalized,—not “legal immigrant workers.” And the 25 million American citizens out of work are not only pushed out by illegal aliens, but also by certain legal immigrants.

Even if we completely stopped illegal immigration tomorrow, the government still issues 75,000 permanent work visas and approximately 50,000 temporary work visas every month. These 125,000 jobs should go to Americans first.

On Monday, the Census Bureau released an analysis on the immigrant make up of the American workforce. They found that nearly one out of every six workers is foreign born. This is the highest number since the early 1920s, at which point Congress significantly reduced immigration levels that continued until Ted Kennedy’s 1965 Immigration Act. Immigrants only accounted for five percent of the workforce when Kennedy’s bill passed..

Since the economic crisis began over a year ago, there’s been no discussion about reducing total immigration levels and we’ve allowed over 1.5 million new legal foreign workers in the country. As Pat Buchanan recently wrote, “probably twice as many jobs have been taken by these folks as the 650,000 the Obamaites claim were saved or created by their $787 billion stimulus package.”

What should we do? Roy Beck of the non-partisan Numbers USA testified at a Congressional Forum where he recommended we

cut the 75,000 each month as close to zero as possible as long as the overall U-3 unemployment rate remains above, say, 5%?...The numbers demand the introduction of legislation to suspend the issuance of as many permanent work visas as possible during this Jobs Depression.

This policy is a no brainer. It is pure madness to continue to keep flooding our country with millions of foreign workers when our own citizens cannot find jobs. It is time for a moratorium.

An immigration moratorium does not mean we will not allow a single immigrant into this country. We would still welcome spouses of US Citizens, people of extraordinary ability, and few other immigration categories. However, we should cut off employment based work permits until Americans are back on their feet.

Once that happens—and it never will if we continue our failed immigration policies—then we can have a discussion about what the proper levels of immigration should be. We should have had that in 1965, but did not because Ted Kennedy and his friends wrongly stated the effects of the 1965 Immigration Act. At the time, Kennedy claimed that his bill would not “cause American workers to lose their jobs” and that “our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually.” 45 years later, over a million of immigrants come into our country every year causing millions of American workers to lose their jobs.

With unemployment above 10%, no one can say with a straight face that “immigrants are doing the jobs Americans won’t do.” Without that justification, a moratorium is just plain old common sense.

SOURCE



Illegals not allowed to drive in Ohio

A magistrate declined this morning to prevent the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles from canceling the registrations of nearly 45,000 vehicles largely driven by undocumented immigrants. Franklin County Common Pleas Court Magistrate Pamela Browning declined to grant a preliminary injunction against the BMV sought by the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Beginning early Wednesday, it will be illegal for thousands of immigrants to drive Ohio's roads. The BMV is canceling their vehicle registrations for failing to prove they are legal U.S. residents.

Police can stop those driving with revoked registrations and issue tickets and seize license plates. Drivers who cannot provide adequate identification risk going to jail, with undocumented immigrants potentially facing deportation.

Browning ruled that there was no evidence of "unjustifiable harm" to immigrants and that BMV had a compelling public-safety interest in canceling the questioned registrations. The state is properly enforcing registration laws and the agency is not demanding anything different from Latinos than is demanded from all Ohioans who register vehicles, Browning found.

The Latino organization can seek to overturn Browning's ruling by filing an appeal with Common Pleas Court Judge Guy Reece. The group's state director, Jason Riveiro, said an appeal is planned by the end of the week.

Fearing thousands of fraudulent vehicle registrations could have been issued to immigrants, the BMV began a crackdown on Oct. 8. The state mailed 47,457 letters to those with questioned registrations instructing them to appear at BMV offices by today and provide a state driver's license or ID number or a Social Security number so their identities could be verified. While the BMV's letter said that registrations would be cancelled effective Dec. 8, the agency decided to wait until Wednesday to take the action to provide those affected with a full 60 days notice, said spokeswoman Lindsay Komlanc.

As of last week, fewer than 6 percent had provided identification and updated their registrations. Undocumented immigrants typically don't have state-issued identification and Social Security numbers.

Latino leaders and lawyers had argued that the state had no authority to cancel the registrations and suggested the state illegally was delving into the immigration status of Ohio residents. Komlanc said the BMV was pleased that the magistrate's ruling found that the state's action is legal.

The threat to revoke license plates has prompted some immigrants to move out of Ohio and depressed business at Latino-owned businesses, some Latino leaders have said. Riveiro denounced the state "fish hunt," saying it had cast a wide net that snared immigrants who make significant contributions to the state's economy.

Investigators' findings suggest that thousands of vehicles may have been registered fraudulently through so-called "runners" -- legal U.S. residents who collected fees from undocumented immigrants to register vehicles on their behalf.

BMV changes to weed out fraudulent registrations began on Aug. 24. The reforms were delayed for more than a year after former Public Safety Director Henry Guzman met with Latino business owners and then asked for improvements to the policy. The state inspector general is investigating the delay and the role of "runners."

SOURCE





11 December, 2009

Unemployed Natives Available for Work

Report Finds Huge Number of Less-Educated Americans Not Working

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has released a new study detailing the U-6 unemployment rates among native born workers. U-6 is a broader measure of employment that includes the unemployed, people who would like to work but who have not looked for a job recently, and those involuntarily working part-time. A look at these numbers shows the situation is particularly bad for minorities, the young, and less-educated Americans. These are the workers who face the most competition from immigrants – legal and illegal.

The study, “A Huge Pool of Potential Workers: Unemployment, Underemployment, and Non-Work Among Native-Born Americans,” is authored by CIS Director of Research Steven A. Camarota and Demographer Karen Jensenius. Among the findings:

* As of the third quarter of 2009, there are 12.5 million unemployed native-born Americans, but the broader U-6 measure shows 21 million natives unemployed or underemployed.

* There are 6.1 million natives with a high school education or less who are unemployed. Using the U-6 measure, it is 10.4 million.

* In addition to those less-educated natives covered by U-6, there are another 18.7 million natives with a high school education or less not in the labor force, which means they are not looking for work.

* The total number of less-educated (high school education or less) natives who are unemployed, underemployed, or not in the labor force is 29.1 million.

* To place these numbers in perspective, there are an estimated seven to eight million illegal immigrants holding jobs.

* As of the third quarter of 2009, the overall unemployment rate for native-born Americans is 9.5 percent; the U-6 measure shows it as 15.9 percent.

* Nationally, the unemployment rate for natives with a high school degree or less is 13.1 percent. Their U-6 measure is 21.9 percent.

* State with the highest U-6 rates for less-educated natives are Michigan, California, Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Nevada, Illinois, and Georgia.

* The unemployment rate for natives nationally with less than a high school education is 20.5 percent. Their U-6 measure is 32.4 percent.

* Nationally, the unemployment rate for young native-born Americans (18-29) who have only a high school education is 19 percent. Their U-6 measure is 31.2 percent.

* Nationally, the unemployment rate for native-born blacks with less than a high school education is 28.8 percent. Their U-6 measure is 42.2 percent.

* The unemployment rate for young native-born blacks (18-29) with only a high school education is 27.1 percent. Their U-6 measure is 39.8 percent.

* Nationally, the unemployment rate for native-born Hispanics with less than a high school education is 23.2 percent. Their U-6 measure is 35.6 percent.

* The unemployment rate for young native-born Hispanics (18-29) with only a high school degree is 20.9 percent. Their U-6 measure is 33.9 percent.

* Nationally, the overall unemployment rate for immigrants (legal and illegal) is 9.9 percent. Their U-6 measure is 19.6 percent, which is significantly higher than the rate for natives.

* The unemployment rate for immigrants with less than a high school education is 12.3 percent. Their U-6 measure is 27.4 percent. The unemployment rate for young immigrants (18-29) with only a high school education is 12.2 percent. Their U-6 measure is 25.2 percent.

The above is a press release dated Dec. 10 from from Center for Immigration Studies. 1522 K St. NW, Suite 820, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076. Email: center@cis.org. Contact: Steven Camarota, 202-466-8185, sac@cis.org



Illegal Immigration Crisis in Australia

By John Stone

ANYONE SURVEYING the Australian immigration policy scene today must be seized with an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Not only has the Student Visa racket emerged into the plain light of day, with its chains of corruption from beginning to end, but the threat to our borders from the illegals has re-erupted.

The Student Visa program, as noted earlier, stands out for its corrupt practices in an immigration program now grown notorious for corruption across its entirety (including not least its Refugee and Special Humanitarian Visa components). So long as we blindly continue to fail to acknowledge that Australian citizenship (the real goal of almost all involved, both genuine students and bogus “students” alike) is a highly valuable property right—for which people from countries such as China and India will pay whatever bribes are necessary—it will remain so.

As to the re-emergence of the people-smugglers and their human cargoes, put aside, first, the lying (regrettably, there is no longer any other word for it) assertions by the Rudd government that the recent upsurge of illegals arriving on our shores owes its origins solely to “push” factors—in particular, the conflict in Afghanistan and the defeat of the Tamil Tiger insurgents in Sri Lanka. No more people are squatting in UNHCR camps around the world today than there were when the Howard government shut down the earlier people-smugglers’ trade in boat people.

At any given time, people-smugglers and their criminal clients have a choice of destinations—continental Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States (usually via Mexico), Canada, Australia and so on. The choice they make will be a function of the relative expense (that is, the fee charged by the smuggler), the relative value to the client if successful (very high in the case of Australia), and the relative likelihood of such success. Under the Howard regime, that last factor had become so small, and subject to such relative hardship even if successful, that the choice was strongly weighted in favour of attempting to go somewhere other than Australia.

The tearing down by the Rudd government of the barriers erected by its predecessor has changed all that, and no amount of lying denials of that fact will alter it.

At the time of writing, a new element has entered the equation. Having boasted of abolishing “the Pacific solution”, the Rudd government has now been forced to go, cap (plus millions of dollars) in hand to the government of Indonesia. On bended knees, it has been begging that country to “warehouse” two boatloads of illegals—most of them, seemingly, from Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, the criminals involved have resorted—with the eager co-operation of the Australian media—to one threat after another: first, to blow up, or set fire to, one of the boats in question; second, to embark on several hunger strikes—rapidly abandoned when that tactic failed to work; third, refusal to disembark from either vessel without various “guarantees”; and so on.

Not only is this whole bizarre incident leading to Australia being seen as a laughing stock around the world—with both the illegals and the Indonesian authorities playing our government for suckers—but also, even if eventually resolved (temporarily) in our favour, there can be no lasting assurance in such arrangements. To quote again from that above-mentioned Quadrant article three years ago, “we would be wise to avoid becoming too reliant on Indonesia’s goodwill and co-operation. As the record has consistently shown, those attitudes can change overnight.”

Meanwhile, the so-called processing facilities at Christmas Island have become rapidly over-crowded. (I say “so-called” because there is no way that people who arrive there without identity papers can be properly processed as to their criminal—or even terrorist—records, or general character. Nor, as a matter of fact, can they be properly checked for various transmissible diseases, given the facilities available on the island.) The government has been frantically trying to minimise this problem, principally by “clearing” the criminals involved and granting them Permanent Residence visas. So frantic has this process been that even the illegals—one or more of whom is known to have deliberately set fire to the boat off Darwin on which, as a result, five people perished—were also recently granted permanent residence and released into the West Australian community.

If the government’s performance on all this has been abysmal, the Opposition’s has been little better. Not until a former Minister for Immigration, Philip Ruddock, spoke to the Australian (and then gave a succession of excellent, hard-hitting interviews to both radio and television), had we heard so much as a cheep out of the Opposition. Its formal spokeswoman on immigration matters, Sharman Stone (no relation, I am glad to say) had effectively said nothing. The best that the Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Turnbull, could do was call for an inquiry! Why he would need an inquiry into these matters when he has within his own party room two of the most knowledgeable people in Australia—Philip Ruddock and Kevin Andrews, both of whom he has small-mindedly relegated to his backbench—beggars imagination.

In a larger sense, of course, we do need an inquiry, and a thoroughgoing one at that, into the whole corrupt immigration scene—one leading to an immediate major reform and reshaping of the Department of Immigration. The Howard government failed to take up that suggestion, and the present government will certainly not do so.

The bottom line is this. It is the first duty of any government to protect its citizens, including their protection against invasion by undesirables and incompatibles who seek to penetrate the nation’s borders by entering into criminal conspiracies with people-smugglers. The Rudd government’s palpable failure in this respect means that we have lost control of our borders. Just as the British government under Tony Blair (whom Kevin Rudd more and more closely resembles) lost control of immigration into Britain—with results that are now producing a sharp rise in the fortunes of Britain’s only truly fascist political party, the British National Party—so we are losing control of immigration into Australia. Though the consequences may be literally incalculable, one thing is certain: Australia will be a lesser country—and progressively so—as a consequence.

SOURCE





10 December, 2009

Migrant numbers double in 30 years: One in ten living in the UK is now foreign-born

The number of immigrants living in Britain has almost doubled in less than three decades, official figures show. More than 10 per cent of the population - 6.7million - were born abroad, the Office for National Statistics has found. The analysis shows that the count of those born abroad - now agreed to be the best figure for measuring the rate of immigration - is two million higher than it was just eight years ago. And the figure is nearly double the 3.38million people born abroad who were recorded as living in Britain in 1981.

The scale of immigration over the past few years was set out in a breakdown by National Statistician Jil Matheson, the recently-appointed head of the Government's Office for National Statistics. She said that there are 689,000 migrants from Eastern Europe in Britain, an increase of 522,000 since Poland and seven other Eastern European countries joined the EU in 2004. But these make up only one in ten of the foreign-born population of the country, Miss Matheson found.

She also endorsed the ONS projections that say that the UK population will hit the politically sensitive 70million mark in 2029. She added the recession is likely to have only a small impact on the record levels of immigration since 2001.

The ONS report found that Eastern Europeans have begun to emigrate as well as to arrive in Britain, and overall 20,000 more Eastern Europeans came to this country than left it in 2008. Current research, Miss Matheson added, suggests that 'a short-term period of falling immigration can be expected, before immigration levels rise again to pre-recession levels'. She concluded: 'The current recession is likely to have a small and temporary effect on net migration.'

Her findings run counter to assurances from Gordon Brown and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas that the new Home Office points-based immigration system will curb numbers coming into the country and the 70million population mark will never be reached.

Sir Andrew Green, of the Migrationwatch think-tank, said: 'This report confirms the massive impact of immigration on our population under the present Government. 'It must be brought under control, but so far Government policies are completely inadequate for the purpose.'

However, Border and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said: 'These population projections do not take into account the impact of future government policies or those Eastern Europeans who came here, contributed, and are now going home. 'Projections are uncertain. For instance in the 1960s they said our population would reach 76million by the year 2000, this was off target by 16million.' He added: 'And let's be clear the category "foreign-born mothers" includes British people born overseas - such as children whose parents are in the armed forces or those who come to Britain at a very early age.'

Previous research counted the number of foreign passport holders, but with many being granted British citizenship counting those who are foreign born is now thought to give the most accurate figure.

The findings on the scale of immigration follow evidence that the arrival of large numbers of migrant workers has pushed down wages and living standards for low-paid workers. A report last week by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation charity found that the poorest-paid working families have been getting poorer and suffering greater unemployment not since the onset of recession, but from 2004 onwards during a time of economic boom.

SOURCE



Obama’s Phantom Immigration Enforcement Policy

The setting was not quite the flight deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln with a “Mission Accomplished” banner as the backdrop, but it was the next best thing. Speaking at the Center for American Progress (CAP) on Nov. 13, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared victory over illegal immigration and announced that the Obama administration is ready to move forward with a mass amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens already living in the United States.

Arguing the Obama administration’s case for amnesty, Napolitano laid out what she described as the “three-legged stool” for immigration reform. As the administration views it, immigration reform must include “a commitment to serious and effective enforcement, improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm but fair way to deal with those who are already here.”

Acknowledging that a lack of confidence in the government’s ability and commitment to effectively enforce the immigration laws it passes proved to be the Waterloo of previous efforts to gain amnesty for illegal aliens, Napolitano was quick to reassure the American public that those concerns could be put to rest.

“For starters, the security of the Southwest border has been transformed from where it was in 2007,” stated the secretary. Not only is the border locked up tight, she continued, but the situation is well in-hand in the interior of the country as well. “We’ve also shown that the government is serious and strategic in its approach to enforcement by making changes in how we enforce the law in the interior of the country and at worksites…Furthermore, we’ve transformed worksite enforcement to truly address the demand side of illegal immigration.”

If Rep. Joe Wilson had been in attendance to hear Secretary Napolitano’s CAP speech he might well have had a few choice comments to offer. But since he wasn’t, we will have to rely on the Department of Homeland Security’s own data to assess the veracity of Napolitano’s claims.

According to DHS’s own reports, very little of our nation’s borders (Southwestern or otherwise) are secure, and gaining control is not even a goal of the department. DHS claims to have “effective control” over just 894 miles of border. That’s 894 out of 8,607 miles they are charged with protecting. As for the other 7,713 miles? DHS’s stated border security goal for FY 2010 is the same 894 miles.

The administration’s strategic approach to interior and worksite enforcement is just as chimerical as its strategy at the border, unless one considers shuffling paper to be a strategy. DHS data, released November 18, show that administrative arrests of immigration law violators fell by 68 percent between 2008 and 2009. The department also carried out 60 percent fewer arrests for criminal violations of immigration laws, 58 percent fewer criminal indictments, and won 63 percent fewer convictions.

While the official unemployment rate has climbed from 7.6 percent when President Obama took office in January to 10 percent today, the administration’s worksite enforcement strategy has amounted to a bureaucratic game of musical chairs. The administration has all but ended worksite enforcement actions and replaced them with paperwork audits. When the audits determine that illegal aliens are on the payroll, employers are given the opportunity to fire them with little or no adverse consequence to the company, while no action is taken to remove the illegal workers from the country. The illegal workers simply acquire a new set of fraudulent documents and move on to the next employer seeking workers willing to accept substandard wages.

In Janet Napolitano’s alternative reality a mere 10 percent of our borders under “effective control” and sharp declines in arrests and prosecutions of immigration lawbreakers may be construed as confidence builders, but it is hard to imagine that the American public is going to see it that way. If anything, the administration’s record has left the public less confident that promises of future immigration enforcement would be worth the government paper they’re printed on.

As Americans scrutinize the administration’s plans to overhaul immigration policy, they are likely to find little in the “three-legged stool” being offered that they like or trust. The first leg – enforcement – the administration has all but sawed off. The second – increased admissions of extended family members and workers – makes little sense with some 25 million Americans either unemployed or relegated to part-time work. And the third – amnesty for millions of illegal aliens – is anathema to their sense of justice and fair play.

As Americans well know, declaring “Mission Accomplished” and actually accomplishing a mission are two completely different things. When it comes to enforcing immigration laws, the only message the public is receiving from this administration is “Mission Aborted.”

SOURCE





9 December, 2009

Immigrants to Britain awarded English language certificates without training

A crackdown is needed on centres awarding English language qualifications to immigrants, the exams regulator said.

Ofqual said there were fears that some certificates were being issued with little or no training or learning taking place.

It has written an open letter to all organisations that award the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) qualification.

It said: “There are concerns being expressed about the way in which immigrants coming to the UK can obtain ESOL with citizenship qualifications, as a means to applying for permanent residence in the UK.

“Allegations are being made about a number of centres offering these qualifications, stating that the certificates are being issued with virtually no training or learning taking place and with insufficient rigour in the assessment process.

“We are writing now to ask you all to review your ESOL provision, to check the centres you have approved are offering this qualification without compromising its integrity, so that the learners get the qualification they deserve and certificates are therefore valid.

“Where there are cases of suspected malpractice at a centre we expect you as the awarding organisation to conduct a full investigation and take action as appropriate.”

SOURCE



Australia's conservatives getting tougher on illegal immigration

The Coalition's dumped immigration spokeswoman, Sharman Stone, says she has been "done over by the Right" as Tony Abbott moves to harden the Coalition's stance on immigration. The Australian understands the Opposition Leader will appoint Sydney MP Scott Morrison to the immigration porfolio in a new frontbench line-up expected to be announced today. Last night Dr Stone lashed out at her demotion, saying she had sought to steer a middle course between party moderates and hardliners.

Mr Abbott's reshuffle comes as the number of unauthorised boat arrivals this year approaches 2500, following the interception of the 51st boatload this year on Sunday.

Mr Morrison was elected to parliament in 2007 following the retirement of Bruce Baird, an outspoken critic of John Howard's hard line on immigration. His appointment to the front bench follows a widespread feeling within the party that Dr Stone had failed to "cut through" in her criticism of the government, a charge she angrily rejected.

"I've been done over by the Right," Dr Stone told The Australian yesterday. "It's about payback. Immigration was so difficult because you were sandwiched between the left and the right wing of the party. I happened to believe that I was steering the right path and I had a lot of support for that, including, of course, from the leader at the time."

Dr Stone is one of a number of moderates understood to have been dumped from the shadow cabinet. One Turnbull supporter said yesterday the reshuffle had rewarded hardline Abbott supporters and punished Turnbull backers. Dr Stone's public outburst came on the same day deposed leader Malcolm Turnbull attacked in his blog Mr Abbott's stance on climate change, suggesting the Coalition's internal bickering was far from over.

Nevertheless, Dr Stone, who has accepted a position as the Coalition's spokeswoman for women, youth and early childhood, pledged to work with her successor, as well as Mr Abbott, her ideological opposite. She said she would bring considerable experience to her new role. "I'm well known for championing the rights of women, particularly in the area of reproductive health and also indigenous, rural and migrant women," she said.

Dr Stone fired a warning shot over the new Opposition Leader's bow, saying it was essential the Coalition did not fall back on the hardline policies of the past. "It will be essential that the moderates that remain in the party continue to steer through the middle ground, ensuring that the real grassroots of the party continues to build in multicultural communities," Dr Stone said. "After all, we were the party that abolished the White Australia policy with Harold Holt in 1966."

Dr Stone's remarks came as authorities on Christmas Island prepared to process a boatload of 40 people intercepted on Sunday night -- the 51st boat to arrive this year. All told, the boats have ferried 2353 passengers and 115 crew to Australia's shores, bringing to 2468 the number of unauthorised arrivals by boat this year. More than half of those people, 1286, remain in immigration detention on Christmas Island.

Refugee Council of Australia chief executive Paul Power criticised the system of offshore processing, saying it made more sense to manage asylum-seekers on the mainland. "Years of strident political debate has lead to a situation where decisions are made to minimise political embarrassment to a government," Mr Power said. "Both major parties have done that."

SOURCE





8 December, 2009

New from the Center for Immigration Studies

1. Three Years of Fraud in the U.S.: The Case of Manoj Kargudri

Excerpt: The Center for Immigration Studies is releasing the third video in its series Border Basics by Janice Kephart, Three Years of Fraud in the U.S.: The Case of Manoj Kargudri.

Following closely on the heels of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s announcement that she is looking forward to working with Congress on “comprehensive immigration reform,” Janice Kephart explores how the agency that would be responsible for carrying out an amnesty of 12 million illegal aliens still cannot ferret out fraud in a single simple employment petition even eight years after 9/11.

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2. The American-Bashers

Excerpt: Those of us who seek to change U.S. immigration policy so that it will no longer serve as a tool to displace, disrupt, and impoverish working Americans get subject to a lot of name calling: 'xenophobe,' 'anti-immigrant,' 'racist.'

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3. Immigrants to the U.S. Were Once Self-Starters – But No More

Excerpt: 'Self Starters' are well regarded in the American culture – they create their own careers without help from family or old-school ties. All legal immigrants to the United States used to be self-starters. But no more.

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4. Immigration Enforcement — A Jobs Program

Excerpt: Over at The Corner, I linked to a USA Today story the other day about Americans elbowing illegals out of the way for day-labor jobs, under my headline of 'And Yet, We Still Haven't Suspended Immigration.' In response, one reader wrote, sarcastically, 'Yah, because protectionism is clearly the answer for our economic woes.' This betrayed a widespread misconception about immigration and trade, one that's important to keep in mind as the president unveils the political theater production called his 'Jobs Summit.'

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5. Our Unsecure Border: More Evidence from the Coronado National Forest in Arizona

Excerpt: Our borders are not secure, despite claims to the contrary by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. And she and others have linked their case for 'comprehensive immigration reform' to such security.

A federal government internal incident report obtained from the Department of Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service and a news story from Nogales, Ariz., dated December 1, 2009, are indicators that our borders are far from secure -- direct from those who live and work on the border. This is especially true in Arizona, the home state of Secretary Napolitano, where the southeast corner of the state is covered by 60 miles of Forest Service federal land known as the Coronado National Forest, which remains downright dangerous.

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6. Immigration-Poverty Connection Missing in Harvard Report

Excerpt: The Nieman Foundation at Harvard has just published a sharp-edged attack on the press for failing to cover the rise of poverty in the United States. Written by investigative reporter John Hanrahan, it is available at the foundation's website.

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7. Same-Sex Marriage and Immigration Rights – An Issue That Could Tear Apart the Open Borders Coalition?

Excerpt: There is a question in current U.S. immigration policy debate that has the potential for tearing apart the Open Borders coalition: should the U.S. recognize same-sex marriages in the immigration context?

In other words, should we grant marital visas to aliens marrying Americans of the same sex?

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8. In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens -- Felonies and False Hopes

Excerpt: Why does Utah, among other states, encourage students who are illegally in the United States to commit multiple, job-related felonies and why does it create false hopes for these young people?

The answer to these questions can be found in Utah's in-state tuition program.

The above is a press release dated 8th. from from Center for Immigration Studies. 1522 K St. NW, Suite 820, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076. Email: center@cis.org.





7 December, 2009

New British immigration rules result in flood of bogus students

New Home Office immigration rules, which ministers promised would reduce the number of new arrivals, have actually led to a surge in applications and prompted immigration officials to voice their concerns. Thousands of bogus students are being handed British visas after the Government's much-heralded reform of the immigration system created a major loophole, an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

Whistleblowers within the immigration service have revealed for the first time that rising numbers of student visa applications have created a big global backlog because new Home Office rules left officials powerless to refuse fraudulent applicants. Undercover reporters in three foreign countries have also exposed a host of fraudulent methods used in attempts to exploit weaknesses in the Home Office's new "points-based" immigration system. These include:

:: Fake "relatives" in Britain offered at $1,000 (£610) each, to make visa applications look more impressive.

:: Under-the-counter loans organised for foreigners to "prove" they can pay course fees and support themselves, although the money is handed back to the lender once it has appeared on bank statements.

:: Immigrants being advised to apply to a legitimate university and then switch to a bogus college once on British soil.

Last week, Professor David Metcalf, the chairman of the Home Office's Migration Advisory Committee, said he was "stunned" by the number of colleges allowed to bring students into the country on degree courses despite them being "not proper universities", and called for the scope of student visa sponsorship to be reviewed. A separate review is already under way after Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, last month called for a rethink of the student visa system.

The situation has worsened to such an extent, and created such a rush of applications, that one foreign government has already raised "concerns" about the points-based system with Home Office ministers, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. Government officials in the Philippines alerted British consular staff to the large number of poorly-educated citizens who were heading for Britain on study visas.

Theresa Dizon-de Vega, Consul-General at the Philippine Embassy in London, said: "The Ambassador had a very productive discussion recently with minister Phil Woolas and officials of the UK Home Office. "The Philippine Embassy and the UK Home Office agreed to co-ordinate closely and exchange information and views on various immigration-related concerns including the implementation of the new points-based system of migration."

It is a major blow for the points-based system (PBS) which was meant to "raise the bar" and reduce the number of immigrants coming to Britain from outside Europe. Devised by Liam Byrne, the former immigration minister who has since promoted to the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the PBS came into force for overseas students in March. It requires students to have 40 points to come to Britain. Applicants receive 30 points for holding a course offer from a college or university, and 10 points for proving they can pay the fees and support themselves while in the country.

Sources within the UK Border Agency claim the PBS removed the discretion of entry clearance officers in British embassies around the world, who are now forced to approve applications if candidates demonstrate they have 40 points, even if they suspect the applicant is a fraud.

An investigation by this newspaper has exposed widespread abuse by visa agencies in India, China and the Philippines which are advising customers on how to get around the British Government's requirements, with some admitting that most "students" were simply coming here to work. One agency in Fazilka, in Punjab, India, made an extraordinary pledge, telling our reporter: "We guarantee an applicant a student visa within a month." At another agency based in a cramped, stinking building in Fazilka, close to the Pakistan border, an adviser told our reporter that students in Britain always find a way to work more than the permitted 20 hours a week.

In the Philippines, one agency offered to bolster a visa application by arranging for Filipinos already living in Britain to pose as members of the applicant's family for $1,000 and also promised that course records could "be arranged" for a fee, even if the student had failed their exams. The applicant would then be able to secure a place in a British college – winning 30 points required under the PBS – on the basis of fraudulent paperwork.

Agencies in China advised applicants to register with a bona fide language school or university, and then switch to a bogus college once on Britain soil, to make it easier to extend their visa. Li Wiuling, an agent in Beijing, said: "You can change after you arrive, because the formal ones are expensive." She offered a "guaranteed" visa for 40,000 yuan (£3,500) and promised that anyone who failed to attend their classes in Britain faced little prospect of being discovered. "There are so many people doing the same thing, they are all fine. There won't be one risk out of 100," she said.

Sources in the immigration service estimate that there are 5,000 immigrants in the London area alone who arrived here as bogus students and are working in the black economy, possibly with little intention of ever returning home.

Awareness of the Home Office's new rules in countries such as China, Pakistan and India has led to student visa applications quadrupling in some areas, generating a global backlog running into tens of thousands, The Sunday Telegraph discloses today. Applications in Sri Lanka and Nepal are also believed to be increasing....

Damian Green, the shadow immigration minister, said: "Ministers should be very worried if the new system is easier to exploit than the old one. They must act to reassure the public, and genuine colleges, that this is not another immigration disaster in the making. "The borders agency needs to call in all applications that have come through these routes as a matter of urgency."

A source said: "Under the old system under the Immigration Act, immigration officers could reject an application they believed was not legitimate. They don't have that ability any more. "As long as an applicant gets the points there is no flexibility for the entry clearance officer to reject the visa. It's a terrible loophole. "The government's spin was that the PBS would make it much quicker and easier to spot false applications, but it has actually made things much worse."

A Home Office spokesman denied there was a moratorium on applications and insisted that the rise in student visa numbers was down to the global recession and not the PBS.

Phil Woolas, the immigration minister, said: "The points-based system ensures that colleges and schools must be licensed to bring in foreign students, inspected by accreditation bodies and the UK Border Agency to ensure they are genuine, and take responsibility for their students. "Before we tightened controls around 4,000 UK institutions were bringing in international students, this has been reduced to around 2,000. "We continuously monitor our systems and where improvements can be made we will make them."

More HERE



2010 U.S. census count could be tricky

Where will you be on Census Day — living in your RV, couch surfing at your friends', squatting in your parents' basement?

The U.S. Census Bureau is preparing to count the more than 308 million men, women and children living in the country April 1, 2010. With just 10 questions on next year's form, this would seem simple enough. Yet the count is likely to be not just the most costly but possibly one of the most difficult ever staged. "We are studying a population that is harder to count than the 2000 population," census director Robert Groves told a group of journalists recently.

The lingering effects of the recession make it harder to find and count people. Millions of U.S. residents are now jobless or homeless — with no fixed address. One out of eight housing units is vacant nationwide; the rate in Washington state is about one in 20. Furthermore, an influx of immigrants — legal and illegal — over the past two decades make the counting that much tougher.

The Census Bureau realized in recent years that it missed significant numbers of new immigrants in the 2000 count — including many from countries where mistrust of government is common. That could again be a problem. For example, a group of Latino clerics has been urging illegal immigrants to boycott the census until Congress fixes the nation's immigration laws. "The immigration raids have made some immigrants wary. They see census workers in that general way of being from the government," said Sergio Romero, a professor at Boise State University who took a leave of absence to do community outreach for the 2010 census.

Among a broader group of Americans, there also appears a growing mistrust of the federal government's reach after the 9/11 attacks and evidenced by the so-called Tea Party protests against economic-stimulus programs and health-care reform, Romero said. When he makes presentations about the census, Romero has been challenged by many of these skeptics. "Sometimes people will say, in their opinion, the federal government should not be collecting our personal information, but because it's the law they will comply," he said. "Others will state they will not complete the questionnaire. Period."

The census, mandated by the Constitution, helps determine how more than $400 billion in federal funds for things like public housing, highways and schools are distributed to state and local governments. States have a big incentive to get the count right: Each uncounted person means a loss of about $1,400.

Census results are also used to determine how many members of Congress each state gets, as well as draw new political boundaries. Unlike in 2000, the U.S. government will bear the lion's share of census costs, expected to reach roughly $15 billion. Cities and states, saddled with budget deficits, have little or no money to reach their own populations. Washington, for example, has no money to devote to the 2010 count. Seattle will spend only about $10,000 this year and an unknown amount next year.

Like the state, the city is planning some cheaper ways of urging people to fill out their census forms. Those include flashing reminders of the census on highway signs or inserting reminders into utility bills.

State and local governments have established complete-count committees, and the Census Bureau has formed partnerships within local communities to help raise awareness — particularly in hard-to-count areas where there are high concentrations of renters, immigrants, single men between 18 and 24, noncollege graduates and college students. "Our biggest problem will be getting good response from each household," said Michael Burns, deputy regional director for the bureau. "Some people might be reluctant to put someone on their questionnaire if they are just sleeping on the couch. Or if it's an uncle from Italy who came over on a tourist visa and decided to stay, living in the house, they might be scared to put him on the questionnaire."

Census forms will be available in six languages — Russian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish and English. For the first time, the agency will mail out forms in Spanish to 13 million households, including to two neighborhoods in Seattle.

The recession and growing joblessness present difficult challenges about how to count people where they live. Many people have lost their homes in this recession and are now doubling up with relatives, living in RVs or in shelters. "We expect the number of people in homeless situations to go up as a result of the economy," Burns said. "Homeless providers and advocates are seeing people now that they've never seen before."

Over a three-day period in late March, canvassers will attempt to count those who are in shelters and at mobile food vans and soup kitchens. Based on information they obtain from homeless-service providers, canvassers on the final day will go out in search of those living in outdoor locations, such as under bridges, along riverbanks, and — for the first time — living in their cars.

More HERE





6 December, 2009

Washington raid brings deportations, mixed signals

First they were arrested and faced deportation under what has proven to be the Obama administration's only workplace raid. Then they were given work permits, and told they could stay in the United States while their employer was being prosecuted.

Now, the more than two dozen undocumented workers arrested during the February raid here at Yamato Engine Specialists Ltd. are again facing deportation. "Well, what can you do? You can't run, that'd be worse," Gerardo Arreola Gonzalez, one of the 28 workers arrested, said about the raid. "I had to face it. Yes, I felt fear, thinking, 'The dream is over.'"

Gonzalez's unusual journey through the immigration system symbolizes just how much immigration policy has changed under President Barack Obama — and how it's still a work in progress.

The deportations and likely removals are a conclusion to a case that displeased both advocates for illegal immigrants and those who lobby for stricter immigration enforcement. In this case, the company, the workers, and even the Seattle U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office that conducted the raid came in for some sort of punishment or special scrutiny.

Two days after the raid, ICE officials traded urgent e-mails going over answers to questions sent by an apparently miffed White House, according to e-mails obtained by the Associated Press through a federal records request.

In all, 28 men and women — mostly from Mexico — were arrested that February morning. One man opted to leave the country shortly after the raid. The 27 who remained were given work permits until the case against Yamato ended. Now, five of the 27 workers have been deported. Seven have been allowed to leave the country voluntarily and 15 await court dates with an immigration judge, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lorie Dankers. Dankers declined to comment further on the case.

"We're disappointed. We really did think that things would be different under the Obama administration," said Pramila Jayapal, executive director of OneAmerica, a Seattle-based immigration advocacy group. "It's very mixed signals ... we thought we were getting an administration that was supportive."

Immigration advocates were elated when Obama took office, thinking he'd bring immigrant-friendly enforcement policies. The raid shocked them, and they protested loudly.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano then ordered an internal review of the raid. The workers arrested were given work permits, and the company became the focus of the investigation.

But those who favor strict immigration enforcement saw Napolitano's review as a signal for lax enforcement, and a rebuke to the Bush administration's immigration policy.

For William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, Obama's approach to targeting involved employers is no better than the Bush administration's targeting of those here illegally. Both are incomplete policies, he said. "I am for the actual enforcement against all parties involved in illegal immigration," Gheen said. "Obama is an arbitrary enforcer, just like Bush, on immigration."

The Obama administration's approach became clearer in the months after the raid: a focus on employers. Hundreds of audit forms were sent out to businesses nationwide, notifying employers to certify that their workers have valid Social Security numbers and other forms of identification proving eligibility to work in the U.S. The administration has also sought to maintain workable enforcement agreements between ICE and local police agencies, and has sought to improve conditions for immigrants detained by the government.

The government's audits of employment status have led to significant job losses. In Los Angeles, American Apparel fired 1,500 workers in September. In Minneapolis, another 1,200 janitors were cut in November.

In order to level charges against employers who hire illegal immigrants, federal prosecutors need the testimony of those workers, and that requires the arrest, confinement and questioning of employees to obtain evidence. "The most convincing part of that proof comes from illegal aliens," Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Reno said after the Yamato case. "It's going to be just as disruptive to the illegal aliens. That's not going to change."

That new reality doesn't sit well with either side of the immigration debate. "How could you trust their testimony if you bribed them for it? These people will say anything you want them to say," Gheen said. "They're saying they're not actively going after the worker, but the workers are a casualty when they have lost their jobs," Jayapal said.

Meanwhile, ICE officials were heartened by some of the response they received to the raid, according to the e-mails obtained by the AP. Seattle-based Special Agent in Charge Leigh Winchell forwarded an e-mail to his staff from Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, a vocal immigration enforcement advocate, who said Napolitano's call for a review was "backwards." "I cannot control the politics that take place with these types of situations, but I can remind you that you are great servants of this country and this agency," Winchell wrote to his troops.

More HERE



Australia: Crammed Christmas Island centre to cost extra $45m



Christmas Island will cost the Federal Government $45 million more than it budgeted for this year as the overstretched detention centre is expanded to house hundreds more asylum seekers. The Immigration Department said this week it would boost capacity on the island to hold as many as 2200 asylum seekers, more than double the permanent population. A new compound for 400 men will be completed at the high-security complex by March. There are plans to house asylum seekers in tents until then. "The tents may be used for accommodation or for recreation and education activities," a department spokesman said.

The extension provoked an angry response from the co-ordinator of A Just Australia, Kate Gauthier. Asylum seekers could be supported in the community for a fraction of the price, or $56 a day, she said.

After the budget, the Immigration Department was given an extra $34 million for infrastructure expansion on Christmas Island. It was also topped up for an additional $11 million in running costs, 2009-10 portfolio additional estimate statements showed. "That $45 million is throwing good money after bad," Ms Gauthier said. "When the Government came in, it agreed detention on Christmas Island was a bad policy but said it was obliged not to waste taxpayers' money and use the facility if they needed it. Now they are going one step further."

The detention centre was built by the Howard government to house 800 people but lay dormant until boat numbers began increasing last year. Despite numerous calls to process asylum claims on the mainland, Labor has adhered to an election promise to keep boat arrivals offshore.

The Australian Human Rights Commission said yesterday it was concerned about the level of community support and services available to people held on the small island. "Increases in numbers, of course, exacerbate our concerns," the president, Catherine Branson, said. "The detention centre itself was designed to accommodate a certain number so to have it now modified to take a larger number raises issues we would like to know more about."

Some dongas from the now closed Baxter detention centre had arrived on the island and more would follow, the Immigration Department said.

A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said asylum seekers would be brought to the mainland if the island filled up.

The Opposition said more beds would not stop the dangerous and criminal activities of people smugglers. "The Government must reintroduce measures and messages that make it clear people smugglers will not be tolerated as the de facto selectors of Australia's newest residents," the immigration spokeswoman, Sharman Stone, said. The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, said he supported former leader Malcolm Turnbull's pledge to reintroduce temporary protection visas.

SOURCE





5 December, 2009

Obama needs some 'immigration' reform?

Inconsistent principles or no principles?



I don't understand why the White House is so upset about the two party crashers at Barack Obama's steak dinner the other night.

Is it really appropriate and politically correct to call them party crashers just because they trespassed on Mr. Obama? Does that make them criminals? Isn't that discrimination? Shouldn't they be rewarded for such bold and brave behavior? Maybe they were just trying to feed their family?

I would suggest that it's more appropriate to call them "undocumented guests."

Just because they weren't officially invited doesn't mean they should be treated like criminals. Maybe they should get free health care, free housing, free legal services and free White House green cards so next time they can enter legally. And they should be able to bring all of their relatives and family members, too.

How can Mr. Obama be mad at them just because they crossed over some arbitrary man-made border? They were there only to do the things that regularly invited guests didn't want to do. (Like hang out with Joe Biden.)

How can the White House punish these poor oppressed undocumented visitors?

SOURCE



Asylum-seekers in Australia OFFERED face, fingerprint scans

Wotta lotta crap! Anyone with something to hide will simply opt out of it!

ASYLUM-SEEKERS living in Sydney and Melbourne will have their faces and fingerprints scanned as part of a new Federal Government border security initiative.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans today announced protection visa applicants in the two capital cities, where the biggest case loads are found, will be asked to conduct a digital scan of their faces and fingerprints. Senator Evans said establishing the identity of non-citizens was a fundamental part of visa assessment and processing and helped keep Australia's borders secure. "This initiative will improve our current processes for identity checking and assessing people's claims for protection under the Refugees Convention," he said. "It will also strengthen out ability to detect inconsistent identity and immigration claims."

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship is already conducting facial and fingerprint scans of immigration detainees on Christmas Island as well as illegal foreign fishers. The biometric information is also taken from people sitting the citizenship test and as part of health assessments.

Senator Evans said the images would be shared with other countries such as Britain, the US and Canada to determine applicants' immigration histories.

Participation in the scheme is voluntary and will be confined to Sydney and Melbourne for the next six months. Those who don't want to be involved will have their visa applications processed as normal.

The Government will consider expanding the initiative nationally and making it compulsory at the end of the pilot program. [So if the "pilot" program finds no villains that will be used as a reason not to make it compulsory? That is no doubt the level of reasoning involved. A non-compulsory program is NOT a pilot for a compulsory one]

SOURCE





4 December, 2009

Missing from the Jobs Summit: 8 Million American Jobs Now Held by Illegal Aliens

Missing from President Obama's "Jobs Summit," will be any discussion of millions of existing U.S. jobs that could be available to American workers, warns the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Some 8 million U.S. jobs are currently filled by illegal aliens.

While 15.7 million American workers are officially unemployed and an estimated 10 million more are involuntarily working part-time or have given up looking for work, the Obama administration has abandoned worksite immigration enforcement and removal of illegal workers.

"The administration could free-up much needed jobs for millions of unemployed Americans simply by enforcing existing immigration laws," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "While the administration is spending $787 billion of borrowed money in an effort to create or save jobs in this country, there are 8 million jobs that already exist and that American workers would be happy to fill if they were given the opportunity."

American workers who are displaced by illegal aliens are estimated to cost taxpayers about $15 billion annually for benefits that need to be provided to the unemployed. However, rather than imposing severe penalties against companies that hire illegal aliens and removing illegal workers, the Obama administration is conducting meaningless paperwork audits and allowing the illegal workers to remain in the country and compete for other scarce jobs. In addition, the administration and the congressional leadership have discouraged many illegal aliens from leaving the U.S. by promising legislation in 2010 that would offer them amnesty.

"Double-digit unemployment is a serious problem that demands decisive action on the part of the president and congressional leaders. Instead, the White House and the congressional leadership are protecting the interests of people who are in the country illegally at the expense of millions of citizens and legal residents who are struggling through this protracted economic crisis," Stein charged.

"Enforcing our immigration laws won't magically solve the country's economic or employment woes, but it would be enormously beneficial to millions of unemployed Americans who want nothing more than an opportunity to work and support their families," continued Stein. "Without serious efforts by the administration to free-up the 8 million American jobs held by illegal aliens, the summit, unfortunately, will amount to little more than political theater."

The above is a press release dated December 3 from Federation for American Immigration Reform, 25 Massachusetts Avenue - Suite 330 Washington DC, 20001, Office 202-328-7004. Contact Bob Dane 202-328-7004 or Ira Mehlman 206-420-7733 for details of the above. Email: media@fairus.org. Founded in 1979, FAIR is the oldest and largest immigration reform group in America. FAIR fights for immigration policies that enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs and wages and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.



Australian Immigration Intake at Record High

New statistics show that over 500,000 long-term or permanent migrants arrive in Australia each year. Figures released from the Bureau of Statistics Australia have confirmed that 510,564 migrants, students, and long-term workers have arrived in Australia in the year to June. This is an increase of 15% on the previous year.

According to the preliminary statistics, Australia has grown by 443,139 or 2.07%. The growth comes due to a number of factors including a significant increase in births, with more than 300,000 new babies born, bringing Australia's fertility rate back to 1.98. Though fertility rates have improved, two thirds of Australia's population growth still comes from immigration.

Within Australia, Western Australia grew the most at 3.03%, and Perth is forecast to house 2 million people in the near future. Victoria's population grew by a record 2.14% for the state, and is expected to reach a population of 5.5 million by February 2010. It is estimated that Melbourne reached 4 million people in September 2009, and is now growing at approximately 2000 a week.

SOURCE





3 December, 2009

THE TRAGEDY OF DETROIT : HOW IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURALISM DESTROYED IT

By Frosty Wooldridge

For 15 years, from the mid 1970s to 1990, I worked in Detroit, Michigan. I watched it descend into the abyss of crime, debauchery, gun play, drugs, school truancy, car-jacking, gangs and human depravity. I watched entire city blocks burned out. I watched graffiti explode on buildings, cars, trucks, buses and school yards. Trash everywhere! Detroiters walked through it, tossed more into it and ignored it.

Tens of thousands and then, hundreds of thousands today exist on federal welfare, free housing and food stamps! With Aid to Dependent Children, minority women birthed eight to 10 and in once case, one woman birthed 24 kids as reported by the Detroit Free Press —all on American taxpayer dollarss. A new child meant a new car payment, new TV and whatever mom wanted. I saw Lyndon Baines Johnson’s “Great Society” flourish in Detroit. If you give money for doing nothing, you will get more hands out taking money for doing nothing.

Mayor Coleman Young, perhaps the most corrupt mayor in America, outside of Richard Daley in Chicago, rode Detroit down to its knees. He set the benchmark for cronyism, incompetence and arrogance. As a black man, he said, “I am the MFIC.” The IC meant ‘in charge’. You can figure out the rest. Detroit became a majority black city with 67 percent African-Americans.

As a United Van Lines truck driver for my summer job from teaching math and science, I loaded hundreds of American families into my van for a new life in another city or state. Detroit plummeted from 1.8 million citizens to 912,000 today. At the same time, legal and illegal immigrants converged on the city, so much so, that Muslims number over 300,000. Mexicans number 400,000 throughout Michigan, but most work in Detroit.

As the Muslims moved in, the whites moved out. As the crimes became more violent, the whites fled. Finally, unlawful Mexicans moved in at a torrid pace. You could cut the racial tension in the air with a knife! Detroit may be one our best examples of multiculturalism: pure dislike and total separation from America.

Today, you hear Muslim calls to worship over the city like a new American Baghdad with hundreds of Islamic mosques in Michigan, paid for by Saudi Arabia oil money. High school flunk out rates reached 76 percent last June according to NBC’s Brian Williams. Classrooms resemble more foreign countries than America. English? Few speak it! The city features a 50 percent illiteracy rate and growing. Unemployment hit 28.9 percent in 2009 as the auto industry vacated the city.

In this week’s Time Magazine October 4, 2009, “The Tragedy of Detroit: How a great city fell and how it can rise again,” I choked on the writer’s description of what happened: “If Detroit had been savaged by a hurricane and submerged by a ravenous flood, we'd know a lot more about it,” said Daniel Okrent. “If drought and carelessness had spread brush fires across the city, we'd see it on the evening news every night. Earthquake, tornadoes, you name it — if natural disaster had devastated the city that was once the living proof of American prosperity, the rest of the country might take notice.

But Detroit, once our fourth largest city, now 11th and slipping rapidly, has had no such luck. Its disaster has long been a slow unwinding that seemed to remove it from the rest of the country. Even the death rattle that in the past year emanated from its signature industry brought more attention to the auto executives than to the people of the city, who had for so long been victimized by their dreadful decision-making.”

As Coleman Young’s corruption brought the city to its knees, no amount of federal dollars could save the incredible payoffs, kick backs and illegality permeating his administration. I witnessed the city’s death from the seat of my 18-wheeler tractor trailer because I moved people out of every sector of decaying Detroit.

“By any quantifiable standard, the city is on life support. Detroit's treasury is $300 million short of the funds needed to provide the barest municipal services,” Okrent said. “The school system, which six years ago was compelled by the teachers' union to reject a philanthropist's offer of $200 million to build 15 small, independent charter high schools, is in receivership. The murder rate is soaring, and 7 out of 10 remain unsolved. Three years after Katrina devastated New Orleans, unemployment in that city hit a peak of 11%. In Detroit, the unemployment rate is 28.9%. That's worth spelling out: twenty-eight point nine percent.”

At the end of Okrent’s report, and he will write a dozen more about Detroit, he said, “That's because the story of Detroit is not simply one of a great city's collapse. It's also about the erosion of the industries that helped build the country we know today. The ultimate fate of Detroit will reveal much about the character of America in the 21st century. If what was once the most prosperous manufacturing city in the nation has been brought to its knees, what does that say about our recent past? And if it can't find a way to get up, what does that say about our future?”

As you read in my book review of Chris Steiner’s book, $20 Per Gallon, the auto industry won’t come back. Immigration will keep pouring more and more uneducated third world immigrants from the Middle East into Detroit—thus creating a beachhead for Islamic hegemony in America. If 50 percent illiteracy continues, we will see more homegrown terrorists spawned out of the Muslim ghettos of Detroit. Illiteracy plus Islam equals walking human bombs. You have already seen it in the Madrid, Spain, London, England and Paris, France with train bombings, subway bombings and riots. As their numbers grow, so will their power to enact their barbaric Sharia Law that negates republican forms of government, first amendment rights and subjugates women to the lowest rungs on the human ladder. We will see more honor killings by upset husbands, fathers and brothers that demand subjugation by their daughters, sisters and wives. Muslims prefer beheadings of women to scare the hell out of any other members of their sect from straying.

Multiculturalism: what a perfect method to kill our language, culture, country and way of life.

SOURCE



Health Care Provisions Still Soft on Illegal Aliens

Amendments Expected to Target Issue

Assurances that the two health-care reform bills would not benefit illegal aliens are not accurate. A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies examines in detail the immigration-related provisions of both the House-passed HR 3962 and the bill now being debated in the Senate, HR 3590. The report concludes that the bills, in their current form, would indeed give illegal aliens access to taxpayer-funded health care well beyond emergency medical treatment.

The report, “Immigration-Related Provisions of Senate and House Health Reform Bills,” is authored by CIS Fellow James R. Edwards, Jr.

Key findings include:

* HR 3962 ensures illegal alien access to the exchange and public option. HR 3590 states illegal immigrants are excluded from these.

* Both bills ostensibly bar illegal aliens from receiving the premium subsidy, and both bills use some form of eligibility verification for the subsidy.

* Both bills expand Medicaid eligibility. Both bills lack verification requirements based on citizenship or immigrant status. Both contain serious loopholes to enroll illegal aliens easily into Medicaid. HR 3962 automatically covers anchor babies.

* The eligibility verification process in each bill falls woefully short of protecting taxpayer liability to cover or subsidize people living unlawfully in the United States. Both the House and Senate bills’ verification processes will encourage large-scale fraud and abuse.

* The Senate bill exempts illegal aliens from the mandate that everyone have health insurance or else face a tax penalty. This perverse exemption treats illegal aliens better than the bill treats American citizens.

The above is a press release from from Center for Immigration Studies. 1522 K St. NW, Suite 820, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076. Email: center@cis.org. Contact: Bryan Griffith, (202) 466-8185, press@cis.org for enquiries





2 December, 2009

The Immigrant Health Care Bill

Patient says, "Doctor, whenever I drink coffee, I have a stabbing pain in my eye." Doctor says, "Lady, take out the spoon before you drink."

Identifying obvious problems and dispensing common sense solutions is never the first instinct of Washington lawmakers. Our current health care reform debate - 2074 pages long - is no exception. Lost in detail, and guided by special interests, lawmakers have either forgotten or deliberately avoided asking a fundamental question that most Americans want answered: "why are there so many uninsured and who are they?" (continued in full entry)

Immigration is a major factor but this is an ignorable truth for those who want only to treat the symptom. More than one third of the uninsured in the U.S. are immigrants (legal and illegal). That same population constitutes almost half of the uninsured in California and 40% in Texas. This should be no surprise. The March 2009 Current Population Survey (CPS) reveals that 23% of the 21 million non-citizens in the U.S. were below the 100% threshold of the federal poverty level.

President Obama and key congressional leaders claim their health care bill will decrease costs and increase accessibility for 36 million uninsured in America. That remains inconclusive but what is incontrovertible - and terribly inconvenient to include in the sales pitch - is that a staggering portion of immigrants will benefit from a nationalized health care plan. It is not hard, then, to conclude that the health care reform bill is really a massive bailout for years of irresponsible immigration policy as much as it is a bill to improve health care. Truth in labeling would dictate that the Senate Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) would be more accurately described as the Immigrant Health Care Bill.

Lack of sensible controls led to the mortgage and banking crisis and subsequent bailouts; similarly, the crushing national debt has now arisen from years of poor choices about whom and how many we've been admitting into the U.S. For decades, the government has not only been turning a blind eye to illegal immigration, importing millions of guest workers, but has also been fast stamping the green cards of ever increasing numbers of the world's least skilled, least educated and most heavily government dependent. The bulk of America's legal immigrants are admitted simply because they have a relative here, not because they offer substantive skills or self reliance, common sense criteria to which most industrialized countries adhere. Sixty-nine percent of legal immigrants come to the U.S with no reported profession, occupation or job, and on average, a 9th grade education. The result has been the establishment of a permanent underclass of ill-equipped low-wage workers who pad the pockets of business but who ultimately consume more than they contribute and require public subsidies to survive.

Yes, we're all getting our lawn mowed, but the one trillion dollar health care reform bill - one third of which will subsidize indigent immigrants - doesn't really make cheap labor sound like much of a bargain anymore, not that it ever was. The gain has always been privatized and the cost socialized.

Of course, to blame legal immigrants is to miss the point. They're simply acting rationally, capitalizing on an immigration system that favors employers who profit from cheap immigrant labor. Rather, the blame rests with politicians who ignored the needs of the American worker-taxpayer and instead pandered to a constituency of cheap labor, powerful ethno-centric special interests, and Democratic party leaders wanting to increase the electorate of the needy to create instant voters. The result has been a flood of cheap foreign competition into the job markets, uninsured patients burdening hospitals, limited English proficiency students lowering educational standards in public schools and criminal aliens crowding jails.

But perhaps more prudent policies are right around the corner! After all, the same politicians whose immigration policy malfeasance created the mess are now asking America to pick up the tab for the Immigrant Health Care Bill. Surely they must be committed to avoiding the mistakes of the past.

Not even close.

At the same time this Congress is plotting how to beg, borrow and steal from the American taxpayer to subsidize immigrant health care it is simultaneously preparing the stage for a massive amnesty bill. Its impact will only perpetuate the endless cycle of chaos and exacerbate a sociological triage for resources. Special interest influences have such a stranglehold on our immigration system that not even teetering of the edge of financial meltdown appears to dissuade lawmakers from continuing self-destructive behavior.

Lowering levels of immigration and sensibly managing skilled based flows are the solutions. American workers at the lower end of the economic ladder would have less competition for jobs and see their wages rise while new immigrants would use their skills to sustain their own needs. With an unemployment rate of 10.2%, fierce competition for jobs, a continuing mortgage crisis and no end in sight to further government spending and entitlement mentality, we could all use some breathing room.

In the short run, Americans must demand that the final Senate version of the health care bill rectify immigration related problems in the House bill. Meaningful verification, closing Exchange access to illegal aliens, and maintaining the longstanding 5 year waiting period for federal benefits for most legal immigrants must be part of the package.

But the broader problems will remain and grow worse in the absence of true immigration reform that emphasizes enforcement and a reduction of the numbers. And an amnesty bill is simply out the question. The Immigrant Health Care Bill, if passed, must be a reminder that our current immigration system must vitalize our economy, not burden it.

As Thoreau said, it takes two to speak the truth - one to speak, the other to hear. Is there any one listening?

SOURCE



A Case Study in Immigration Fraud

New Video Highlights Weaknesses

The Center for Immigration Studies is releasing the third video in its series Border Basics by Janice Kephart, "Three Years of Fraud in the U.S.: The Case of Manoj Kargudri".

Following closely on the heels of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s announcement that she is looking forward to working with Congress on “comprehensive immigration reform,” Janice Kephart explores how the agency that would be responsible for carrying out an amnesty of 12 million illegal aliens still cannot ferret out fraud in a single simple employment petition even eight years after 9/11.

Kephart examines the case of Manoj Kargudri, an Indian national who exploited simple loopholes in our immigration system five times over three years to enter and remain in the United States. Kargudri was finally stopped at the San Antonio airport on August 28, 2008, by the Transportation Security Administration. He was not stopped because of his immigration violations, but rather because he had a one-way ticket to Washington and in his carry-on luggage were box cutters and a homemade battery strapped to his MP3 player. Luckily, he turned out not to be a terrorist, but the fraud in the immigration system allowed Kargudri to obtain a visa and enter and stay in the United States for three years before he was finally arrested and deported.

Kephart concludes that while Kargudri’s employment fraud is largely solvable, the agency responsible for adjudicating immigration benefits, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, has been making unfulfilled promises for years about upgrading its systems to effectively reduce application fraud. In a broader context, the Kargudri case raises more questions about the soundness of pursuing amnesty within a bureaucracy where applicant fraud still runs rampant.

SOURCE. (Video at source)





1 December, 2009

Tracking smugglers along the Mexican border

Under a scorching sun in the harsh desert along Highway 9 in southern New Mexico, Border Patrol agents Rito Jara and Juan Treviso are quickly on the move, scouring the hard ground, trying to pick up footprints from suspected drug smugglers or immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico.

The agents discovered the footprints next to a cattle fence while on routine patrol early in the morning about three miles north of the U.S.-Mexican border. Finding more prints across the highway, they determined that two men passed by here around midnight, eight hours earlier. It appeared they were walking north across the barren scrubland toward either the town of Deming, New Mexico, or U.S. Highway 10, where they could be picked up and spirited away.

Joining the search, Border Patrol Field Operations Supervisor James Acosta said it was possible the men had already reached the Cedar Mountain Range, many miles ahead, and were now hunkered down to avoid daylight search parties and the searing heat. One potential hideout, Acosta suggested, was a notorious mountain pass known locally as Doper's Gap, because of all the Mexican traffickers who have already passed though there carrying burlap knapsacks filled with illegal drugs bound for U.S. street corners. As of this writing, the two men who left their tracks along the highway were still being sought.

Three years ago, smuggling and illegal immigration were so out of control in southern New Mexico that the governor declared a state of emergency and called in the National Guard to assist the U.S. Border Patrol. "We had several narcotics organizations that were exploiting that particular area," said Acosta.

Agents said law enforcement efforts to slow illegal border crossings in neighboring Texas and Arizona had the unintended effect of forcing thousands of Mexican immigrants and smugglers to change routes and brave the harsh conditions in New Mexico's desert, where in many places there was nothing more than a wire fence separating the two countries.

It was not uncommon then for the Border Patrol to report hundreds of apprehensions a night and for ranchers to complain of widespread thefts and break-ins as illegal immigrants trekked north into the United States.

In a further attempt to seal the border and restore order, the Border Patrol this year opened Camp Ramsey, a permanent forward operation base, or FOB, in the middle of the desert. It is 26 miles west of Columbus, New Mexico, the nearest town, and 60 miles from Deming, where the closest Border Patrol station is located.

Sixteen agents are assigned to the FOB on a rotating basis and work twelve-hour shifts, day and night. "We need them close to the border, which is going to reduce the time to respond," explained Acosta, who helped open the facility. Camp Ramsey has dorm rooms, showers, television and a dining facility for the agents, along with holding cells and processing facilities for detainees.

Every day, at noon and at midnight, a fresh team of agents heads out on the desert to begin a new search. Their high-tech arsenal includes seismic sensors, which detect people walking across the desert, heat-seeking cameras, lasers and night vision goggles, which are used to pinpoint immigrants crossing the border under cover of darkness.

Even on the black and white camera monitors used at night, agents can easily determine when the images on the screen are from drug traffickers. "Usually you can tell when it's dope, because it's a bigger bag that they carry and they're pretty hunched over," said Francisco Guerrero, a Border Patrol agent manning a mobile camera site.

Of equal importance, though, and used widely by all the agents in the desert, is a low-technology skill known as "sign cutting," a tracking method perfected centuries ago by Native Americans hunting for food.

"We keep our eyes to the ground, we try to pick up any disturbances, whether it's brush, whether it's a footprint on the ground, a turned over rock, just anything," said Acosta. Sign cutting helps agents determine whether a person is crossing the desert, how many others are with him and how long ago they passed by. All that, agents say, can be seen in the dust, rocks, grass, bushes, anthills and prairie dog mounds that cover the landscape here.

"Agents do it everyday, every single day agents are finding people, finding narcotics, finding illegal crossers off one footprint," said Acosta while standing near a dry wash, which is a known route for smugglers on foot. "This is all drug trafficking right here, every bit of it," he said. "The fact it sits just a little bit lower than the surrounding area gives them a little bit more cover."

More HERE



Most Republicans and Republican Leaning Independents Say GOP Puts ‘Too Little’ Emphasis on Illegal Immigration

Sixty-one percent of Republicans and independents who say they lean towards the Republican Party say they think the Republican Party puts “too little” emphasis on the issue of illegal immigration, according to a new Washington Post poll.

The poll asked respondents their opinion about the degree of emphasis the Republican Party puts on eight issues: gun rights, same-sex marriage, abortion, federal spending, taxes, the environment, illegal immigration, and the economy and jobs.

The question was: “Thinking about the Republican Party in general and not just the people in Congress, for each issue area I name, please tell me if you think the party in general puts (too much) emphasis on the issue, (too little) emphasis on the issue, or about the right amount?”

Of the eight issues, illegal immigration was the one to which the most people said the party gave too little emphasis. Sixty-one percent of the Republicans and Republican leaning independents said the GOP gave illegal immigration too little emphasis. Another 29 percent said the GOP gives illegal immigration the right amount of emphasis. Only 9 percent said the GOP gives illegal immigration too much emphasis.

The two issues that ranked second for the percentage of people who say the GOP gives them “too little” emphasis were “the economy and jobs” and “federal spending.” Sixty percent of respondents said Republicans give each of these two issues too little emphasis.

On none of the issues polled did a majority say that Republicans put “too much” emphasis. Seventy-six percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said the GOP either put “too little” or the “right amount” of emphasis on abortion, while 23% said the GOP put “too much” emphasis on abortion. Seventy percent said the GOP put either “too little” or the “right amount” of emphasis on same-sex marriage, while 27% said the GOP put “too much” emphasis on same-sex marriage.

The poll, released Monday, was a random-dial telephone survey of 1,306 people, conducted Nov. 19-23. The sample included 485 Republicans and 319 Republican-leaning “nonpartisans.”

SOURCE








Postings from Brisbane, Australia by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.) -- former member of the Australia-Soviet Friendship Society, former anarcho-capitalist and former member of the British Conservative party.


The "line" of this blog is that immigration should be SELECTIVE. That means that:

1). A national government should be in control of it. The U.S. and U.K. governments are not but the Australian government has shown that the government of a prosperous Western country can be. Up until its loss of office in 2007, the conservative Howard government had all but eliminated illegal immigration. The present Leftist government has however restarted the flow of illegals by repealing many of the Howard government regulations.

2). Selectivity should be based on "the content of a man's character, not on the color of his skin", as MLK said. To expand that a little: Immigrants should only be accepted if they as individuals seem likely to make a positive net contribution to the country. Many "refugees" would fail that test: Muslims and Africans particularly. Educational level should usually be a pretty fair proxy for the individual's likely value to the receiving country. There will, of course, be exceptions but it is nonetheless unlikely that a person who has not successfully completed High School will make a net positive contribution to a modern Western society.

3). Immigrants should be neither barred NOR ACCEPTED solely because they are of some particular ethnic origin. Blacks are vastly more likely to be criminal than are whites or Chinese, for instance, but some whites and some Chinese are criminal. It is the criminality that should matter, not the race.

4). The above ideas are not particularly blue-sky. They roughly describe the policies of the country where I live -- Australia. I am critical of Australian policy only insofar as the "refugee" category for admission is concerned. All governments have tended to admit as refugees many undesirables. It seems to me that more should be required of them before refugees are admitted -- for instance a higher level of education or a business background.

5). Perhaps the most amusing assertion in the immigration debate is that high-income countries like the USA and Britain NEED illegal immigrants to do low-paid menial work. "Who will pick our crops?" (etc.) is the cry. How odd it is then that Australians get all the normal services of a modern economy WITHOUT illegal immigrants! Yes: You usually CAN buy a lettuce in Australia for a dollar or thereabouts. And Australia IS a major exporter of primary products.

6). I am a libertarian conservative so I reject the "open door" policy favoured by many libertarians and many Leftists. Both those groups tend to have a love of simplistic generalizations that fail to deal with the complexity of the real world. It seems to me that if a person has the right to say whom he/she will have living with him/her in his/her own house, so a nation has the right to admit to living among them only those individuals whom they choose.

I can be reached on jonjayray@hotmail.com -- or leave a comment on any post. Abusive comments will be deleted.