The primary version of this blog is HERE. The Blogroll. My Home Page. Email John Ray here. Other mirror sites: Political Correctness Watch, Dissecting Leftism, Greenie Watch, Australian Politics, Socialized Medicine, Tongue Tied, Food & Health Skeptic, Education Watch and Gun Watch. For a list of backups viewable in China, see here. (Click "Refresh" on your browser if background colour is missing). The archive for this mirror site is here or here.
****************************************************************************************



31 May, 2009

Sotomayor-La Raza link questions spread: CNN, MSNBC feature comments from critic of illegal immigration

How an organization that calls itself "The Race" can be non-racist is a puzzle far to deep for me to figure out -- JR

Questions over the fact that President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, claims membership in La Raza, which has promoted driver's licenses for illegal aliens, amnesty programs and no immigration law enforcement by state and local police, are spreading, with both CNN and MSNBC featuring discussion of the issue with a severe critic of illegal immigration.

WND reported earlier this week when it was confirmed the American Bar Association listed La Raza, which means "the Race," as one of the groups in which Sotomayor is a member. Talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh described Sotomayor as a "racist" based on her statement that she should be able to make better judgments than a white man, not on her La Raza membership. But former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., took the criticism a step further in his interviews on the two networks. On MSNBC, Tancredo said Sotomayor should be disqualified from the court nomination because of her remarks.

He said when her actual statements are reviewed, the issue is clear. "If I were to say something like this, 'I think only a white man could judge the law really well. I think a white man could interpret it better than a brown woman,' would that disqualify me? I would think so. I would hope so," he said.

Sotomayor's actual statement, made during a 2001 speech at the University of California's Berkeley School of Law, was: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

It was published the next year in the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal. "It would disqualify anyone else," Tancredo said. On CNN, he described La Raza as a "Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses," and suggested if a judge belongs to such an organization, something needs to be provided in the way of an explanation "to convince me and a lot of other people that it's got nothing to do with race."

Even the White House jumped into the fray, with press secretary Robert Gibbs explaining today the judge was "simply making the point that experiences are relevant to the process of judging" and conceding the word choice probably wasn't the best. "I think he'd say her word choice in 2001 was poor," said Gibbs, asked about White House thoughts on the controversy. "I think if she had the speech to do all over again I think she'd change that word," said Gibbs, when asked about Sotomayor's reference to "better."

At the Colorado Independent, Ernest Luning reported that La Raza officials didn't think much of Tancredo's comments. "He doesn't know what he's talking about," spokeswoman Lisa Navarrete told the newspaper. "He's defamed our organization and told falsehoods about our organization without any basis in fact or evidence. That's not who we are or what we do."

Tancredo often has taken politically unpopular positions, one time suggesting that the threat of a U.S. bombing of Mecca should be on the table if that's what it would take to prevent another terrorist attack on the United States.

At the Swamp Politics political blog, Mark Silva wrote that Tancredo might not even be a factor of the debate over Sotomayor "if he hadn't sought the Republican Party's presidential nomination last year as an outspoken critic of illegal immigration – and if he hadn't also denounced the National Council of La Raza … as a 'Latino KKK without the hoods.'"

Glenn Thrush at Politico.com noted La Raza is "one of the nation's oldest mainstream Hispanic advocacy groups, with 300 neighborhood affiliates and corporate sponsorship that includes Citigroup."

Tancredo said, "There is no one else I can think of who could possibly have said the kind of things she said, if they were reported accurately, about the benefits of being a brown woman as opposed to being a white man in interpreting the law, and nobody could look at that and say that that was not a racist, sexist statement that would disqualify anybody else."

On the Politico forums page, an anonymous participant wrote: "It seems that as we have had racism from white Americans in our past, now white Americans are experiencing reverse racism from other races. Neither is better than the other. In both cases, this is an example of racism. What happened in the past is one thing, but we are living in the present. People have a chance to move on and not play the race card anymore. Is there anyone brave enough to say that attacks on white Americans are just as bad as attacks on Americans of other colors?"

"I'm not saying she's a racist, but the statement sure is," columnist Ann Coulter said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "Imagine a judicial nominee said 'my experience as a white man makes me better than a latina woman,'" blogged former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. "Wouldn't they have to withdraw? New racism is no better than old racism. A white man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw."

As WND previously reported, La Raza was condemned in 2006 by former U.S. Rep. Charles Norwood, R-Ga., as a radical "pro-illegal immigration lobbying organization that supports racist groups calling for the secession of the western United States as a Hispanic-only homeland." Norwood urged La Raza to renounce its support of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan – which sees "the Race" as part of an ethnic group that one day will reclaim Aztlan, the mythical birthplace of the Aztecs. In Chicano folklore, Aztlan includes California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Texas.

SOURCE



Texas Lawmakers balk on illegal immigration bills

The Legislature balked again this session at measures that target illegal immigration — owing partly to the divided House and to questions of constitutionality.

"For some folks, these are line-in-the-sand-type bills ... Some bills have opportunity for discussion; some don't," said Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, chairman of the House State Affairs Committee, where several of the measures died this year.

Lawmakers introduced numerous proposals, many of them repeats from past sessions, that would stiffen penalties and deny benefits to illegal immigrants. But the vast majority never made it out of committee, including a ban on "sanctuary cities," which do not enforce immigration laws; a tax on money transfers to Mexico, Central America and South America; and a block on citizenship for U.S.-born children whose parents are illegal immigrants.

The standstill has led some to speculate that state Republicans have backed off the contentious issue, or at least have decided that it should be handled in Washington.

"I think the leadership got the message," said Luis Figueroa, legislative staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "What is the party going to stand for? Anti-business? Anti-Latino? These are not the two messages they want their party to be offering."

The 44-member Mexican American Legislative Caucus discussed the issue with Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, in meetings before and after his rise to the speaker's post, members said. Although no formal agreement was made on what immigration bills, if any, would get a vote, there was an agreement to "govern from the center," said Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, caucus chairman.

"We've demonstrated pretty clearly we can keep those bills from ever coming to the floor," said Martinez Fischer, a San Antonio Democrat. "Joe understands the idea of what comes around goes around — we just have a philosophical respect for each other."

Straus' office acknowledged a meeting with the group but would not discuss details.

Rep. Larry Taylor, head of the House Republican Caucus, said immigration hasn't been a priority this session because of the dominance of other items, such as windstorm insurance.

"There's a limit to what we can do at the state level," the Friendswood Republican said.

There's also the issue of litigation, said Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas. He said lawmakers do not want to act because they were told in 2007 that several of the bills, including one to block citizenship for U.S.-born children with illegal immigrant parents, are unconstitutional. That claim was echoed by numerous lawmakers, including Taylor.

Swinford was chairman of the House State Affairs Committee in 2007, when many of the same bills failed to gain traction. He said that after consulting with a focus group of constitutional lawyers, including representatives from the attorney general's office, he determined that some of the bills could drag the state all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Swinford then stated publicly that he would not give any of the bills a vote.

But none of that has stopped Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, who has repeatedly introduced legislation that deals with illegal immigration over the past two years, including a bill that would restrict in-state college tuition to U.S. citizens.

Berman, who plans to run for governor in 2010 and to make immigration a keystone of his platform, acknowledged that his proposals would result in litigation, but that's the point, he said. Berman said that he thinks the state would win in court but that lawmakers should not concern themselves with questions of constitutionality. That is the judicial system's job, he said.

"Many of our bills were good bills," Berman said. "If the federal government isn't doing it, then the states should do it."

On May 18, Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, managed to shepherd legislation through the Senate that would require law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of people imprisoned for certain felonies. The measure passed with near-unanimous support, but it failed to get a vote in the House Corrections Committee.

SOURCE





30 May, 2009

British academics want to boycott visa 'snooping'

This is mostly just self-righteous posing that will collapse like a deflated balloon in due course. The Home Office has said that it will remove their accreditation to take overseas students if they do not comply and that would be a big hit to their revenues. Keeping records of attendance at tutorials is already common in some disciplines so extending that to all disciplines should not be onerous

University academics say they will boycott new visa rules for overseas students that would make them into "immigration snoopers". Delegates at the University and College Union's annual conference said they did not want to become a branch of the UK Border Agency.

Under the new rules universities are expected to monitor whether overseas students really attend their courses. The Home Office said such things were part of their normal duty of care. Institutions must also report concerns that a student could be involved in terrorism.

In a debate at the conference, in Bournemouth, delegates argued that the rules would place a strain on the relationship between staff and students from outside the European Union. General secretary Sally Hunt said: "UCU members are educators not border guards." She said later: "Politically, UCU is absolutely opposed to this legislation and we know that many members have strong and principled moral objections as members of society and as professional educators. "One of the more pernicious effects of this new system will be to turn our members into an extra arm of the police force, placing monitoring and reporting responsibilities onto academic and support staff."

One of the resolutions tabled for discussion said the new system "makes educators into immigration snoopers which could damage UK education irreparably". It deplored "this pandering to anti-immigration racism" and committed the union to "non-compliance with all such policing and surveillance duties".

But a Home Office spokesman said: "Educational institutions have a duty of care to all their students and checking that they are attending and making progress in their studies is part of that responsibility. "The records we expect education providers to keep are those which most will keep for their own purposes anyway."

SOURCE



Britain's anti-immigration party: The other side

Mainstream media comments on the BNP are uniformly vituperative and often misleading. In the interests of balance, therefore, I put a case for the defence, written by J. P. Straley

I’m not a Brit, but as an American and an avid internet observer of the British scene, I have been fascinated to watch the rise of what might be an effective nationalist political party in Britain.

The British National Party, under its leader Nick Griffin, has been touting Britain’s elections for Members of the European Parliament, to be held on June 4, as its breakthrough. It hopes to capture five MEP seats, with the possibility of a few more if all the cards fall its way. (Which seems to be happening, as the extraordinary U.K. House of Commons expenses scandal in Westminster engulfs ever more British MPs of all parties.)

Commenters in the Brit political blogosphere predict anywhere from zero to five seats, with three as the most common guess. Any seats at all will produce public funding for the party, a very substantial boost, and will raise their visibility in Britain.

It’s happened before. Another small party, the United Kingdom Independence Party [UKIP], whose main plank is to take Britain out of the European Union, was very successful in the last MEP election. But UKIP contests few local elections in Britain. For the upcoming June 4 MEP election, polls show it losing ground. Part of this may be the difference in styles. BNP is a bit scruffy and makes a fuss, while UKIP appears to be much more urbane. Unhappy British voters—particularly former Labor voters—appear to like the fuss.

I know I’m not supposed to like the BNP. Because it openly states that ethnicity matters, the British press and TV treat the BNP as if it is toxic waste. The U.S. Mainstream Media follows suit, when it mentions the party at all. The BNP did rise out of the ashes of a more strident National Front Party, and some of its leaders allegedly have or have had radical links (sort of like Obama and Jeremiah Wright, although Griffin has distanced himself much more effectively). All I can say, at a distance of 3000 miles, what the BNP is actually saying and doing now looks rational, reasonable and pretty darn good to me.

Nationalist politics acknowledge the ethnic dimension of nations. Levelers assert there is no difference between peoples, and happily dilute—even replace—the heritage peoples of the West. Nowhere are they more active than in Britain.

I use the term "Heritage Peoples." This is intuitively obvious, but let us see what BNP says about being "British":

"We mean the bonds of culture, race, identity and roots of the native White peoples of the British Isles. We have lived in these islands near on 40,000 years. We were made by these islands, and these islands are our home. When we in the BNP talk about being British, we talk about the native peoples who have lived in these islands since before the Stone Age, and the relatively small numbers of peoples of identical race, such as the Saxons, Vikings and Normans, and the Irish, who have come here and assimilated."[BNP FAQ, 2007]

Indeed, in an April 23 quote, Griffin himself describes the ethnic quality of Britishness in plain language:

"We don't subscribe to the politically correct fiction that just because they happen to be born in Britain, a Pakistani is a Briton. They're not. They remain of Pakistani stock,' he added.

"You can't say that especially large numbers of people can come from the rest of the world and assume an English identity without denying the English their own identity, and I would say that's wrong.

"In a very subtle way, it's a sort of bloodless genocide.'[BNP Updates Language & Concepts Discipline Manual, BNP News, April 27, 2009]

Many whites in Britain appear to be self-haters, and are quite happy to trade Cotswolds country churches for mosques and minarets. So you can imagine the calumny thrown at Griffin over this remark!

Indeed, the "racist" epithet is thrown at BNP every day. BNP replies that it prefers a truly multicultural world where British people are clearly British and peoples from other countries are likewise unmistakable in their provenance. This is not an original policy with BNP, of course—in the second half of the twentieth century colonies of whites throughout the third world were encouraged to pack up and leave.

The BNP’s policies strike me as candid and accessible. Here, for instance, is BNP policy on immigration:

"On current demographic trends, we, the native British people, will be an ethnic minority in our own country within sixty years.

"To ensure that this does not happen, and that the British people retain their homeland and identity, we call for an immediate halt to all further immigration, the immediate deportation of criminal and illegal immigrants, and the introduction of a system of voluntary resettlement whereby those immigrants who are legally here will be afforded the opportunity to return to their lands of ethnic origin assisted by generous financial incentives both for individuals and for the countries in question."[Policies—BNP Website]

Here is a nationalist party that cherishes its Heritage People and states clearly the goal to retain the traditional ethnic balance of their nation. It recognizes the fact of the demographic tsunami—something even sensible observers in the U.S. shrink from doing. The BNP intends to halt the immigrant flood and roll back the replacement of its Heritage Peoples. What’s wrong with that?

Clever use of the internet has partially defused the uniformly negative media coverage of BNP. The BNP site offers fresh material daily, and it pulls no punches with its stories. There is certainly interest in the site. According to Alexa internet ratings, the BNP has far, far more traffic than Conservatives, LibDems, or Labor.

The BNP forces are also masters of the You Tube media. A single Y-T inquiry with key word "BNP" yielded forty pages of listings, albeit there were many dissenting views such as the one with the uncivilized title, "BNP Are C_nts". Whichever side of the BNP divide you stand on, if you like your material in movie-form, it’s ready for you.

By no means is BNP a wholly electronic communicator. In those area that offer promise, BNP organizers canvas door to door with pamphlets and face-to-face explanations why BNP says, "Britain first!" This year, for the European Parliament election, it has sent out 29 million pieces of mail!

British race-relation quangos and their fellow travelers in government are well-aware of the BNP and Griffin. In December 2004, he was arrested after a covert taping (by a BBC i.e. tax-funded operative) of a speech before a private gathering. BNP and Griffin identify the increasing Muslim population in Britain as one of the chief threats to the country, and in the December 2004 meeting he was captured on tape as suggesting that Islam was a "…wicked and vicious faith." He knew that he was treading the edge of the draconian Race Relations law, and further said he could possibly get seven years prison for such a statement. Government pursued just that course, charging four counts of "incitement to racial hatred." Griffin was eventually acquitted on all counts. Not surprisingly, the BNP proposes to abolish all restrictions on free speech, absent only "…common law restrictions on incitement to violence…"

Another grim reminder of official antipathy: BNP membership—that is, membership in a democratic and legal political party—is grounds for local governments to sack police and teachers. In the fall of 2008 the party membership list was leaked, and many such firings occurred.

Is BNP a one-issue anti-immigration party? Widening its scope seems to have been a part of Griffin’s leadership. The issues of EU membership (out now, please), trade (mild protectionism), job protection (part of the immigration and guest worker issue), crime (unshackle police, allow persons to resist an intruder without penalty), defense (small, competent forces, avoid foreign wars), energy (develop alternative fuels and energy, promote advanced nuclear power), environment, education, and health are all covered in the manifesto. All told BNP’s policy seems to be fairly conventional nationalism, bent on internal improvement and de-emphasizing foreign involvement, with an added tinge of social democracy. Voters certainly have a choice—BNP policies are a rather stark contrast to the Lib-Lab-Con party line.

BNP strategy seems to be to build the party in disaffected regions (London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, and Burnley northeast of Liverpool are examples), and let success in electing members to local offices (town and city "councilors") increase the appeal of their brand. BNP is eager for councilors to render good service to constituents, though of course some do poorly in the event—an artifact of governing versus merely opposing government) Electing local councilors builds the party machinery and provides experience in actual government for members, as well as building a positive picture to combat negative propaganda.

There are no BNP Members of Britain’s Parliament at this time. It takes determination, organization, and grit to make an election-winning party from scratch. But the BNP is making progress:

Total votes in General Elections

1983 14,621

1987 553

1992 7,631

1997 35,832

2001 47,129

2007 192,748

Make no mistake, the BNP remains very much a minority party. The ’05 results represent only 0.7% of the total voters, country-wide. But the 2007 Welsh showing was 4.3% of the vote, and in the ’08 London Mayoral contest more than 5% of voters went BNP. The party has discrete areas of strength, and these are where it means to win MEP seats.

The stakes are high for Britain. Shall it retain its traditional identity, or become a collection of synthetic citizens, whose opinion is perhaps better polled as mere consumer preference?

It would be interesting to see a country-wide nationalist political party in the US so straightforward in its platform, and so effective in its party-building effort. If BNP are successful on June 4, it will be a lesson to patriots throughout Europe and the US.

Stay tuned, June 4 will be here before you know it!

SOURCE





29 May, 2009

Attention, Terrorists & Illegal Aliens: Here's What You Do To Get into America w/ a New Identity, Courtesy of Homeland Security

By Debbie Schlussel



Part of the reason that the federal government made a big deal (and spent a whole lot of money--much of wasted on dud machines and programs) on getting alien fingerprints when they enter the country (and when they leave, if ever) is that aliens--including terrorists--often give fake names and fake IDs. Without fingerprints, there is no way to ever keep any record of who they are and whether an alien who has already been deported or committed violent crimes is trying to re-enter.

But now, in case aliens and terrorists didn't know, the Department of Homeland Security and USA Today--getting info from the Annals of Oncology (yes, a cancer magazine)--are providing instructions on how to obscure or get rid of fingerprints. Oh, and by the way, here's yet another reason to profile Arabs and Muslims--you know, the work that Americans just won't do.

Before they can enter the USA, virtually all non-U.S. citizens 14 to 79 have their fingerprints screened at the airport or seaport to confirm their identity and make sure they're not a security threat.

Stop right there. Why are we NOT fingerprinting kids under 14? Ever see the age of several of the Muslim homicide bombers in Gaza? Often they are just kids. I guess we're saying, as long as you get into America before 14, you're in and we can't trace you.

But what if you don't have fingerprints?

That was the dilemma faced by a Singapore cancer patient whose chemotherapy drug caused severe peeling of the skin on his hands and feet, which erased his fingerprints. His oncologist describes the case in a letter published online today by the Annals of Oncology.

The 62-year-old man was taking capecitabine, sold in the USA as Xeloda, for head and neck cancer that had spread to his bones, chest and abdomen (in the USA, Xeloda is approved for the treatment of breast and colorectal cancer that has spread). He developed hand-foot syndrome, a drug side effect that causes the skin on the hands and feet to peel.

After taking capecitabine for more than three years, the man, who wasn't identified by doctors, flew to the USA to visit relatives. He was detained at the U.S. airport by Customs and Border Protection officers for four hours because they couldn't detect his fingerprints, his doctors, from the National Cancer Centre Singapore, write.

Finally, the officers were satisfied that he wasn't a security threat and allowed him to enter the country. They told him to travel with a letter from his oncologist explaining his lack of fingerprints.

Two years ago, Spanish cancer doctors reported a similar story about a 39-year-old flight attendant detained for several hours at a U.S. airport until her doctor faxed an explanation that the capecitabine she'd been taking for breast cancer had erased her fingerprints.

Many other drugs can cause hand-foot syndrome, but there is little information about whether they lead to fingerprint loss, Su-Pin Choo, one of the co-authors of the new letter, said in an e-mail.

"Hand-foot syndrome is more common with capecitabine than with most other drugs," Choo wrote. Fingerprint loss probably is also related to how long a patient takes a drug that causes hand-foot syndrome, he said, and he added that patients receiving a continuous infusion of 5FU, a common cancer drug, also should consider carrying a letter attesting to that if they travel to the USA.

In the world, an estimated one in 50 people lack matchable fingerprints. "We have standard operating procedures that take that into account," says the Department of Homeland Security's Anna Hinken. She says Customs and Border Protection officers decide whether to admit such people on the basis of other physical and behavioral traits.

Wow, way to go, Homeland Security! Now, terrorists and illegal aliens know your methods and procedures on this issue and will take advantage to game the system some more. Because, hey, we don't have enough of that already.

This is brainless. And it's why we need to profile. But for now, here's what's on the Al-Qaeda shopping list: loads of capecitabine a/k/a Xeloda. Oh, and as for the doctor's notes, well, as I've already noted on this site, time and again, there are plenty of Muslim doctors who support Islamic terrorism, take part in it, and help illegal aliens into the U.S.

*** UPDATE: Hey, just in case terrorists and illegal aliens don't have the proper back story on why they don't have fingerprints, our awesome Department of Homeland Security gave USA Today some great excuses for aliens to tell Customs and Border Protection agents:



SOURCE



Woman deliberately left in burning car by Muslim boyfriend

In the usual way, the newspaper makes no comment on the origins of Waqas Arshad but you don't have to know much to recognize it as a Pakistani or Indian Muslim name. There are many such people in Britain as a result of the negligible immigration controls in recent years. Waqas Arshad seems to have been quite a piece of work, starting out with drunk driving and driving while uninsured. I am sure Miss Brady's family wish that British immigration had been more selective in the past. I literally cannot imagine an Englishman behaving the way this piece of slime did

Waqas Arshad, 24, crashed into a tree but told emergency services there was nobody inside, despite knowing 17-year-old Emily Brady was trapped in the burning wreckage. Yesterday, Miss Brady's mother Patricia said: 'It was despicable behaviour to make no attempt to try and pull her out of the car.' It was only as firefighters tackled the blaze that they realised the teenager was in the car, still strapped into the passenger seat.

Arshad, of Luton, pleaded guilty yesterday to causing death by careless driving while over the alcohol limit, and causing death by driving while uninsured.

Speaking outside Luton Crown Court today Mrs Brady, 48, said the family were shocked at hearing Arshad had left his girlfriend in the car and made no effort to help her. She said: "Emily lost her precious life on November 2, changing forever the lives of those of us that love her. This was a community tragedy." She said Emily was a full-time student at college, training to be an accountant, and worked on Saturdays at Sainsburys.

'There is a very good reason why drinking and driving is illegal - the consequence is there are many victims,' she added. 'Emily lost her life so horrifically, there are many years of pain ahead. I will never recover from this enormous loss, her terrible absence will be with us until we die.

'However, I am shocked and distressed to learn at this hearing that Waqas Arshad denied she was in the car, made no attempt to rescue her, and in fact lied to the emergency services that she was in the car, trying to conceal her body.'

Natalie Carter, prosecuting at Luton Crown Court, told the court Arshad lost control and crashed into a tree in Eversholt, Bedfordshire, at 3am on November 2 last year. But instead of calling for help, he got out of the car and did nothing. Mrs Carter said: 'After the collision it's plain that Emily Brady was in the passenger seat; the defendant in the driver's seat. 'She did not die as a result of the injuries received in the collision, which included two broken vertebrae, but she died as a result of carbonisation.'

The court - packed with relatives of Miss Brady, who lived in Dunstable - heard how firefighters answering a call from a witness asked Arshad if there was anyone in the car. He told them 'no'. The couple had been together for about six months and had been out drinking together that night. It had been raining and the road surface was wet. Mrs Carter said Arshad had failed to negotiate a right-hand turn on the country lane and crashed into a sycamore tree. The vehicle eventually came to a halt in a field and caught fire. She told the court that both had been wearing seat belts.

Yesterday, Judge John Bevan QC told Arshad a prison sentence was inevitable. He adjourned the case and remanded the defendant in custody until sentencing on June 19. The court also heard that Arshad had been arrested for drink driving while on bail following the incident.

SOURCE



Australian immigration unlikely for Tamil Sri Lankans

Given that Tamils tend to be a very aggressive lot, this is a welcome decision. Perhaps even the Leftists of the Australian government saw that violent clashes in Australia (some of which we have already seen) between Tamils and Sinhalese were best avoided

Australian immigration officials has spoken out at media reports the country will be welcoming Tamil Sri Lankans displaced by recent violence to move to Australia. The news follows reports in Australia and Sri Lanka of an Australian immigration humanitarian program that while not wholly inaccurate, ‘may have unnecessarily raised some people’s expectations’.

"The target of Australia’s humanitarian program is those applicants who are outside their home country and who are subject to persecution or substantial discrimination in their home country,” said a Department of Immigration and Citizenship spokesman.

The developments concerning Sri Lankans wanting to move to Australia has been defended by Australian immigration authorities who are keen to emphasize the views of the Australian public and consulting with refugee organisations and the UN are priorities when considering any humanitarian program.

"While applications for Australia’s humanitarian program may be lodged at the Australian High Commission in Colombo, the large majority of people who apply from within their home country will be disappointed with the outcome.

“The immediate humanitarian priority for the international community, including Australia, is to support the population in north-east Sri Lanka displaced by the conflict by helping to provide food and shelter and other assistance to stabilise living conditions.”

SOURCE





28 May, 2009

Immigration Checks on Criminals Could Increase Deportations

Local police are enlisted to help ferret out uninvited visitors

The Obama administration is expanding an effort to check the populations of local jails for illegal immigrants, a move that could significantly expand the number facing deportation hearings. Currently, many local police jurisdictions lack either the time or the resources to verify the immigration status of those in custody.

The Secure Communities program, which began last year as a pilot study, will expand into all the country's jails by 2013. It allows law enforcement officials to automatically match fingerprints against federal immigration databases so that those in the country without authorization will face deportation when they complete their jail terms. Law enforcement officials already verify the immigration status of those in federal and state prisons. Immigration and Customs Enforcement estimates the number of incarcerated criminal aliens in the United States at between 300,000 and 450,000 people.

Currently, everyone arrested and booked into a local jail is fingerprinted, and the prints are run through the FBI's criminal history database. If local police want an immigration check, Department of Homeland Security personnel have to search their records manually. Last year, only 10 percent of the inmates in the country's 3,000 local jails had their immigration status checked.

Since October, the program has operated on a trial basis in dozens of counties around the country and in such cities as Dallas, Boston, Houston, Miami, and Phoenix. Police officers in those jurisdictions fingerprint inmates and automatically query the prints through both DHS and FBI databases. The system does not identify those who have never been fingerprinted by government authorities.

Secure Communities is less controversial than other efforts that enlist local law enforcement to fight illegal immigration. That may be, immigration advocates say privately, because even the staunchest immigrants' rights groups are wary of advocating too strongly for illegal immigrants who are behind bars, since it could undermine their larger efforts. Still, critics of the new program contend that it will lead to racial profiling. Last month, a coalition of immigrant rights groups wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and told her that the program "creates an incentive for police to arrest people on pretextual or minor crimes so that their immigration status can be checked." The program "will likely lead to unlawful racial and ethnic profiling," the coalition said.

Indeed, federal authorities are currently investigating several claims that similar programs, which essentially deputize police to enforce immigration law, have led to instances of racial profiling in certain jurisdictions. An investigation by the Government Accountability Office earlier this year found that one such program did reduce crime but also led to community concerns about racial profiling and police intimidation.

For their part, immigration officials say universal checks will reduce allegations of bias. "The fingerprints of all persons arrested and booked will be processed through the system, regardless of race, nationality, or ethnicity," says David Venturella, the program's executive director.

SOURCE



England absorbs virtually all net migration to UK, MPs warn

Between 1991 and 2007, more than 2.1 million migrants were added to the population of England, which last year became the most crowded major country in Europe. The nation has taken more than 20 times more migrants than Scotland, even though it is only ten times the size in terms of population.

The study, by the Cross Party Group on Balance Migration, warns the population of England is likely to increase by a further ten million over the next two decades, of which seven million will be migrants. Nicholas Soames, Tory MP and co-chairman of the group, said: "The political establishment is in denial on immigration – even though it is of concern to nearly 80 per cent of the population. If they are to reconnect with the people of England after the current political crisis, politicians must end their timidity, silence and inaction on this critical issue."

Net international migration to England between 1991 and 2007 was 2,149,000, which accounted for 92 per cent of the total over that period. Scotland's migrant population increased by 105,000 over the period, Wales by 56,000 and Northern Ireland by 27,000. England effectively absorbed 11 times more migrants than the other three home nations combined, even though it is only five times as large in terms of total population.

Frank Field, Labour MP and co-chairman of the group, added: "This research shows that immigration is overwhelmingly an issue for England rather than other parts of the UK. England can expect a population increase of nearly 10 million people in the next 20 years or so, of which 7 million will be thanks to new immigration."

The Daily Telegraph told last year how England's population is growing at the fastest rate since records began and is now the most crowded major country in Europe after overtaking Holland. Figures showed that the population density is higher than ever before, with forecasts predicting 157 people for every square mile by 2011. This compares with 111 for every square mile when the figures started to be collected in 1931.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the think-tank Migrationwatch, said: "This paper really underlines that immigration is a problem for England, not the UK. "Those who favour continued immigration need to explain why we want an extra seven million people in what is already the most crowded country in Europe. "They also need to explain how we are going to pay for all the extra infrastructure when the public finances are already hugely in deficit."

SOURCE





27 May, 2009

Disappearing fingerprints an immigration problem

A Singapore cancer patient was held for four hours by immigration officials in the United States when they could not detect his fingerprints -- which had apparently disappeared because of a drug he was taking.

The incident, highlighted in the Annals of Oncology, was reported by the patient's doctor, Tan Eng Huat, who advised cancer patients taking this drug to carry a doctor's letter when travelling to the United States.

The drug, capecitabine, is commonly used to treat cancers in the head and neck, breast, stomach and colorectum. One side-effect is chronic inflammation of the palms or soles of the feet and the skin can peel, bleed and develop ulcers or blisters -- or what is known as hand-foot syndrome. "This can give rise to eradication of fingerprints with time," explained Tan, senior consultant in the medical oncology department at Singapore's National Cancer Centre.

The patient, a 62-year-old man, had head and neck cancer that had spread but responded well to chemotherapy. To prevent the cancer from recurring, he was put on capecitabine. "In December 2008, after more than three years of capecitabine, he went to the United States to visit his relatives," Tan wrote.

"He was detained at the airport customs for four hours because the immigration officers could not detect his fingerprints. He was allowed to enter after the custom officers were satisfied that he was not a security threat."

Tan said the loss of fingerprints is not described in the packaging of the drug, although chronic inflammation of the palms and soles of feet is included. "The topmost layer ... is the layer that accounts for the fingerprint, that (losing that top layer) is all it takes (to lose a fingerprint)," Tan told Reuters.

"Theoretically, if you stop the drug, it will grow back but details are scanty. No one knows the frequency of this occurrence among patients taking this drug and nobody knows how long a person must be on this drug before the loss of fingerprints." (Editing by Alex Richardson)

Source



SCOTUS pick could buy Obama time on immigration

President Obama’s decision to nominate federal appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court may help him delay a thornier challenge: what to do with millions of illegal immigrants living in the United States.

The nomination of the first Hispanic justice drew praise Tuesday from the Latino community at a time when many are growing anxious over inaction on broad legislation that would put illegal immigrants — most from neighboring Mexico — on a path to citizenship. Hispanic lawmakers have been pressing Obama to deliver for a key demographic that helped put him in office, with immigration reform the top priority.

The White House has yet to commit fully to taking up broad immigration policy changes this year, with Obama instead pushing forward in tough fights over healthcare, climate change and closing the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Former President George W. Bush twice failed to enact “comprehensive immigration reform” and Obama has kept a relatively low profile on the topic. While many advocates say the two are not directly related, some admit Obama has bought himself a little time with the nomination.

“The Latino community — and not just Latinos, but anyone who’s had a set of life experiences like Sotomayor — will always remember Barack Obama for this,” said Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), vice chairman of the Democratic Caucus and the only Hispanic in House leadership. “This will inspire people who were hungry to see a reform of our broken immigration system to stand behind the president on this issue and behind the decisions he makes.”

Senate Democrats and allied interest groups say they’re committed to legislation by the end of Obama’s first year in office. But the stark realities of the calendar, the harsh politics of the issue and unemployment figures nearing double digits are fully within view. Even some of the movement’s biggest advocates are lowering expectations, saying much depends on Obama’s desire to enact sweeping healthcare changes and the president’s own popularity in the months ahead.

Obama is set to hold a high-profile meeting on immigration with key lawmakers June 8, but the congressional calendar is already bogged down with complicated legislation. Any effort on immigration must overcome the politics that shreds party unity on the issue and the grassroots opposition from talk radio and cable television that helped kill Bush’s attempts.

More HERE



Apprehended illegals to get an immediate right to seek employment in Australia?

The Federal Opposition says a proposed overhaul of the bridging visa system would further soften Australia's border protection policies, sending the wrong message to people smugglers.

A Parliamentary inquiry says there need to be changes to how the system works, including offering applicants increased assistance to health care, legal services and accommodation.

The Greens say the changes do not go far enough, the Opposition's immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone says the recommendations would allow people into the community before they have had their identity and security status checked.

"That is just another message right now that I think is very unhelpful as the people smugglers literally get bigger and bigger boats, and become more and more active in what is a very dangerous and inhumane trade," she said. "The message says, 'Look, we're not even going to complete all of your identity checks before we pass you into Perth or Adelaide or some other community where you can work, where you'll be given unemployment benefits if you can't get a job, where we'll find you decent accommodation'."

Source





26 May, 2009

Absurd British immigration clearance procedures

"Tougher" rules have been accompanied by much more lax enforcement. The letter below from a recently retired British immigration official appeared in "The Times" so may attract some attention

I worked at the immigration coalface for 38 years, including spending a number of spells as an entry clearance officer abroad. Your recent reports (May 21) echo the concerns of many recently retired immigration service personnel and many still within the ranks of the UK Border Agency.

The new points system for visa applications, brought about because of an insistence in drastically cutting costs to the detriment of security and a fair and firm immigration process, has devastated the visa officer network that had successfully operated for many years. Whereas previously most visa/entry clearance officers were UK-based, highly trained immigration service or Foreign Office staff, well versed in ferreting out the obvious and at times the not so obvious bogus student, now most applications are now dealt with on a “tick box” system, rather than by personal interview. More and more visa officers are locally engaged staff who are not British citizens and in many cases have never even visited Britain. To leave the security of this country and the implementation of UK government immigration policy in their hands is ridiculous.

In Mumbai some years ago I interviewed a young Indian student coming to study a fairly high level IT course; his papers were in order as were the arrangements for finance. Asked what he used the mouse for on a computer he said he did not leave his computer on the floor so a mouse would not get near it! A few more questions revealed he had absolutely no knowledge of IT and his visa application was refused. Would the current system have revealed this? Of course not. Furthermore, immigration officers at UK ports of entry are now actively discouraged from interviewing visa holders on arrival as this is considered too time consuming and not a good use of resources; “no second bite of the cherry” being the common mantra. This despite the knowledge that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of bogus students arriving annually.

If the Government is serious in its wish to have an effective visa and border control system, then financial consideration must not be its highest priority.

SOURCE



Berlusconi says Italy welcomes legal immigrants and genuine asylum seekers

But Italy does now crack down on the many illegals, mostly from Africa, who come to Italy for economic reasons only

Italy's conservative prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has sought to deflect criticism of Italy's harsh immigration policies by stressing potential migrants are welcome in his country. In an interview posted to the US television network CNN's website on Monday, he said immigrants who qualified to come to Italy should be allowed to work and create a better life for themselves and their families.

"We welcome those (immigrants) who have the right to come here. This is what the United States and all normal countries do," Berlusconi told CNN. "We are absolutely open to those who come to our country with the wish to integrate and to work... we keep an open door to all who are eligible to come to work in Italy or request asylum," Berlusconi said.

He rebutted criticism directed at his government by the Italian opposition, the United Nations and the Catholic church over its hardline immigration policies that were part of its electoral pledge to clamp down on illegal immigration. These policies have included turning back boatloads of migrants to North Africa before they enter Italian coastal waters, under an accord signed between the Italian and Libyan governments last year.

"Does it seem humane to you to transfer these people to (Italian) holding centres and detain them for months, only to then send them back to where they came from?" he asked rhetorically. "I think it is kinder to return them to the country from which they set sail and hand them over to the United Nations refugee agency which can assess any asylum claims there."

If illegal immigrants enter Italian waters, however, authorities assess their claims for asylum or protection, and whether they come from situations where they are in danger or face oppression, Berlusconi said. "The Italian model is one that is totally in line with the behaviour of all western states and with European Union directives," he said. Italy welcomes immigrants, and has always provided them with medical care and schooling for their children, Berluconi said.

He blamed the previous centre-left government for having "spread the word" in North African and Asian countries that Italy's borders were "open to all". Italy had to shut its doors "to the great majority of those who are brought here, many of whom are reduced to conditions of slavery by the criminal organisations who profit from them," Berlusconi concluded.

SOURCE





25 May, 2009

Japan cracking down

Foreign residents in Japan staged a rally in Tokyo Sunday to protest against proposed changes in immigration laws which they say could lead to tighter monitoring of immigrants. Some 200 people, including many Japanese supporters and activists, walked through streets near the Ginza luxury shopping district, denouncing the planned move while holding banners rejecting the plan.

Under the changes, the national government would control the registration of foreign residents, a process that has been administered by local towns and cities. The justice ministry would issue new registration cards embedded with chips that would record identification data. The cards would replace the current foreign resident registration cards, issued by local government.

Officials said the change would make it easier for foreigners to access public services to which they are entitled.

Opponents however said the move reflects the government's aim to monitor immigrants more closely. The move could also deny public services, including some medical care, to undocumented foreigners and asylum seekers, said the Japan chapter of Amnesty International.

The continued requirement for foreigners to carry the card alienates non-Japanese residents here, they added. "Integrate, not discriminate, foreign residents," said one of banners held by the marchers.

Japanese citizens are not required to carry residency ID cards. But their addresses and other identification information are recorded on a nationwide database, which national and local officials use regularly.

SOURCE



British anti-immigration party attracting more online interest than all other major parties

The British National Party is outperforming the major parties online, according to a new analysis of the far-right strategy in the run up to next month's European elections. Fresh evidence suggests that the BNP is outdoing Labour and the Conservatives in luring visitors to its website, where it outlines policies such as halting immigration, the reintroduction of corporal punishment and the return of the death penalty.

The statistics came as the Archbishops of Canterbury and York urged voters yesterday not to let the ongoing MPs' expenses scandal convince them to vote BNP in June.

Dr Matthew Goodwin of Manchester University and editor of The New Extremism in 21st Century Britain, argues that the BNP is engaged in an "unprecedented" cyber-campaign. Figures from Alexa, which measure the level of traffic to internet sites over the past three months, reveal the BNP is far ahead of the other mainstream parties' websites. The BNP's site is ranked globally as the 46,000th most popular site on the internet.

The Conservatives sit in 165,000th place, the Liberal Democrats are 198,000th leaving Labour way back about 248,000th. The relative popularities are confirmed by Google Trends for websites, which reveals online interest in the BNP persistently spiking ahead of the mainstream parties.

The figures from Alexa also show the BNP registering more traffic than highly publicised political blogs such as Guido Fawkes. They also reveal that once logged on, surfers spend twice the amount of time checking out the BNP's ideas compared to those on the Conservative website – 6.3 minutes a day compared to 2.7 minutes. But the figures don't take account of the fact that Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem blogging and internet sites are far more profuse.

Dr Goodwin argues that the BNP under Nick Griffin is now augmenting grass roots support through the electronic media. For example text messages sent to random numbers seek a small donation to party funds and ask recipients to forward the plea to family and friends. Voters who make inquiries are directed to a party call centre. Dr Goodwin says: "The BNP's shift to an Obama-style online strategy enables it to circumvent the tactics used by other parties to starve it of publicity and also shows up the dangers of that approach."

He concludes that the BNP is "sidestepping a hostile press by delivering its message direct to the desktop". Meanwhile, a leaked BNP "education and training" document circulated among activists and seen by The Independent gives detailed advice to its supporters to exploit "the growing power of cyberspace media".

It warns against linking unofficial blogs with the main party website, promoting "barking mad" conspiracy theories and poor standards of English. It concludes: "We should use such sites to 'bring the horse as close as possible to the water' and once they find that they agree with our policies, hopefully they'll drink."

Dan Hodges of the anti-racist [Trotskyite] group Searchlight said the web traffic figures massively overstated the true level of interest in the far-right party and accused the BNP of massaging the numbers. "On the basis of their web hits they are more popular than all the mainstream parties combined but that is just not the case. It does not reflect the level of support," he said.

SOURCE





24 May, 2009

Obama wants more Cuban immigration

Last time Castro let his people go was the 1980 Mariel boatlift, when Castro sent the USA all his criminals, nutcases and misfits! But only old guys like me remember that, I guess

In a fresh overture to Cuba, President Barack Obama is asking the communist government to resume talks on legal immigration of Cubans to the United States. Obama's proposal would reopen discussions that had been closed off by former President George W. Bush since they were last held in mid-2003. His move comes ahead of the United States' attendance at a high-level meeting early next month of the Organization of American States, where Cuba's possible re-entry into the regional bloc will be discussed.

The State Department said Friday it had proposed restarting the talks to "reaffirm both sides' commitment to safe, legal and orderly migration, to review trends in illegal Cuban migration to the United States and to improve operational relations with Cuba on migration issues."

In April, Obama decided to rescind restrictions on travel to Cuba by Americans with family there and on the amount of money they can send to their relatives on the island.

Obama "wants to ensure that we are doing all we can to support the Cuban people in fulfilling their desire to live in freedom," Darla Jordan, a department spokeswoman, said Friday. "He will continue to make policy decisions accordingly."

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will attend the June 2 meeting in Honduras, told lawmakers this past week that the U.S. would not support Cuba's membership in the organization until and unless President Raul Castro's government makes democratic reforms and releases political prisoners. She and Obama have also said that broader engagement with Cuba, including the possible lifting of the U.S. embargo on the island, is dependent on such steps.

There was no immediate reaction from the Cuban government on Friday, but communist officials were angered when the Bush administration decided to scuttle the talks on grounds they were not crucial for monitoring agreements aimed at preventing a mass exodus from the island.

In Miami on Friday, the influential Cuban American National Foundation welcomed the news, saying resumed migration talks could be "an opportunity to resolve issues of United States national interest."

However, three Cuban-American members of Congress from Florida denounced the move as "another unilateral concession by the Obama administration to the dictatorship." "The United States suspended the 'migration talks' with the Cuban dictatorship in January 2004 because the Cuban regime refused to comply with basic aspects of the Migration Accord of 1995," Republican Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, his brother Mario and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, said in a statement. "The Cuban regime continues to violate the accord by denying hundreds of exit permits annually to Cuban nationals who have received visas to enter the United States. The Obama administration should first insist that the Castro dictatorship complies with the accord before renewing 'talks.'"

The twice-yearly meetings in alternating countries had been the highest level contacts between the two countries, which have no diplomatic relations. The suspension of the talks occurred during an especially prickly period during which then-president Fidel Castro publicly criticizing James Cason, at the time head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, as a "bully" and Washington condemning Havana for a crackdown that rounded up 75 dissidents and sentenced them to long prison terms.

The talks were created so the countries could track adherence to 1994 and 1995 accords designed to promote legal, orderly migration between the two countries. The aim was to avoid a repeat of the summer of 1994, when tens of thousands of Cubans took to the sea in flimsy boats.

SOURCE



Australia's conservatives want more Tamils in Australia

I hope this is just a ploy to embarrass the Leftist government because there is nothing cautious about it. The Conservatives are running bleeding-heart Canada at the moment and even they are running away from the same idea. And read this if you want to know how violent Tamils already in Australia can be. Following the article below I add a few excerpts from a Sri Lankan newspaper giving a roundup of what Tamils worldwide are up to. They just seem to be a very violent people and it is their reliance on violence that got them into their present pickle. The Sri Lankan government negotiated with them for 30 YEARS in hopes of a peaceful settlement but got nowhere. Tamil terrorism never stopped for long. The suicide belt was a Tamil invention.

The Federal Opposition says the Government should consider offering temporary protection visas to Sri Lankan Tamils affected by the civil war in their country. Since the war ended, aid groups have warned that hundreds of thousands of civilians are homeless and refugee camps are struggling to cope under the strain. The Australian Government says it too is concerned but so far it is refusing to say whether there are any plans to offer Tamils asylum in Australia outside of the existing refugee program.

Opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone told The World Today Australia needs to consider responding as it did in the Balkans crisis and in East Timor by offering temporary protection to Tamils. "When we were in government in May 1999 we responded to the Balkan war crisis and we brought out 4,000 Kosovars under what are called 'safe haven visas'," she said. "There's a lot of options for this Government ... to think about and it really staggers me that they don't seem to be talking about the options which are on the statutes in Australia."

She said the Migration Act 1958 has provisions for the "safe haven visas". "These visas give you a period of time in Australia while your country settles," she said. "For example with the Kosovars, they came out in May 1999 and they returned on special flights in April 2000."

She said the Tamils have integrated into Australian society as well as immigrants from other countries have. [Considering the words and behaviour of Australia's various Muslim groups, that's faint praise]

"We have one of the most successful multicultural countries on earth," she said. "Not only have our Tamils been great Australians; we have our people from the Punjab, our people from Africa now. "We are a place that has extraordinary success in offering a tolerant, safe country for new settlers. "I'm quite staggered that this Government doesn't seem to be entertaining any of the options that are available in Australian law and just seems to be talking about, 'oh we need to work out why these people want to leave the country'."

Ms Stone said any worries that members of the rebel Tamil Tigers may infiltrate Australia are unfounded because of the Department of Immigration's procedures. [Forgive me while I laugh!]

"That's always the risk, when you talk about any migration program or refugee humanitarian program," she said.

"That's why our own Department of Immigration has to be very good [It may have to be but it isn't. Why do we now have a huge problem of African crime?] at identifying people according to their security, health and of course identification factors.

"We didn't do so well it would seem after the second World War where it appears that numbers of people who were in fact war criminals ... a few [got] into Australia. "It's extraordinarily hard to be 100 per cent successful in your screening, but every country has to do that." [The woman is a moron. She knows the problem but just waves it away]

SOURCE



Fires of hatred still burning amongst the Tamil diaspora

The Sri Lankan government is offering the Tamils regional autonomy (extreme Federalism) but that will not satisfy the aggressive Tamils abroad

For the world’s Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, a community numbering over 800,000 the announcements regarding the end of the civil war has not been a cause for celebration but rather inspired despondency and disbelief....

Expatriate communities have been enormously active organising demonstrations – much publicised fasts, and even violent attacks, in an effort to pressure the governments of their adopted countries to force a ceasefire in Sri Lanka...

This intransigent fear, the anger of a diaspora that has shown that it is prepared to finance violence in this country is now arguably the principal challenge facing the government as it attempts to pacify the newly ‘liberated’ land in the north.

As this nation celebrates ‘liberation’ many Sri Lankans are prepared to embrace and accept the government’s promises to build a new unified inclusive nation on the ashes of the Eelam dream, but the diaspora is exposed to an entirely different set of news and propaganda.

However the lack of alternatives the continued commitment to violence and the doctrine of the separate state is at times genuinely distressing. Not a single member of the Tamil diaspora contacted by The Sunday Leader was interested in a future within a united Sri Lanka.

Extraordinarily the views of the younger generation many of whom had been born outside Sri Lanka were often even more hard-line than those of the older expatriate Tamils. “The struggle will go on, even without Pirapaharan, without the LTTE. A separate state for Tamils is an idea that cannot be defeated. As long as Tamils are denied their freedom the attacks, the violence will continue, that’s all we can say,” said a speaker from the Young Tamil Association in France, which has organised a series of much publicised fasts in the French capital.

Three decades of war funded by Tamils abroad is testament to the influence the Tamil diaspora is able to wield even from thousands of miles away and distant as they maybe the Tamil diaspora has proved that it is anything but insignificant.

Recent pro LTTE demonstrations have rocked capitals around the world and were a demonstration of the organisation and commitment that defines the diaspora. Ultimately however there is no hiding the fact that the demise of the LTTE has thrown Tamil communities worldwide into confusion.

But the hatred, the fear, the mistrust still voiced by Tamil community leaders abroad remains perhaps the principal danger to peace and stability on the island. Over the past three decades these communities have financed several wars on this island and they may yet be prepared to finance another.

While the LTTE’s Eelam wars may have ended the ethnic conflict in the island will end only when the hatred, fear and the suspicion held by several sections of Sri Lankan society are broken down.

And only by convincing the expatriate Tamil community to stop financing hatred and fear in Sri Lanka can the government and the country hope to make progress in the reconciliation process this island now desperately needs.

To put a final end to divisions in Sri Lanka it is now imperative that steps are taken to convince Tamil communities outside of Sri Lanka that a future is possible within a unified if not necessarily unitary state.

Over the past decades the diaspora as much as the LTTE proved itself a powerful and intransigent foe – one that unlike the LTTE remains highly motivated and undefeated. The biggest challenge confronting the government and the country at present now regards how to set about turning this foe into a friend.

The money and campaigning zeal of the diaspora fuelled a destructive armed struggle to divide Sri Lanka for 26 years – the same energy and wealth used to further the development of the island could yet herald a new dawn for the country.

SOURCE





23 May, 2009

Nearly a quarter of babies born in UK are born to mothers from outside the UK

The number of babies born in England and Wales reached an all-time high last year. There were more than 700,000 births, 100,000 more than when the birthrate hit its lowest in 2001. The birthrate has been pushed up fast in recent years by immigration. Last year nearly a quarter of all babies in England in Wales were born to mothers who were themselves born abroad.

The number of live births in 2008 was 708,708, of which 24 per cent were born to mothers from outside the UK, according to figures from ONS. The figures were released by the Office for National Statistics, which said: 'Fertility rates for 2008 give an average number of 1.95 children for every woman (over their lifetime) in England and Wales, the highest since 1973 when there was an average of two children for every woman.' The number of births, 708,708, was the highest since 1972, when the long postwar baby boom began to fade away.

Migration is a key reason for the rising birthrate. Some 24 per cent of all babies were born to mothers from abroad, up from 23 per cent in 2007 and 14 per cent in 1998. More than 15 per cent of all babies have both a mother and father born outside the UK. In London, more than half of all children are born to foreign-born mothers.

Among women born in Britain, fertility rates are running at a low level - a British-born woman can expect to have 1.6 children in her lifetime. Mothers born outside Britain have a current fertility rate of 2.2 children. The highest fertility rate is among women born in Pakistan and Bangladesh, who can expect to have 4.7 and 3.9 children respectively.

The town with the highest fertility rate was Boston in Lincolnshire, where women can expect 2.81 children in a lifetime. The East of England has attracted high numbers of migrant workers in recent years to agriculture and factories.

High fertility rates among immigrant groups are thought likely to play a central role in pushing up the overall population. Official projections suggest that the UK population will reach 70 million by 2028, and that 70 per cent of the ten million increase will be driven by immigration.

Critics said the figures pointed to future problems for 'social cohesion'. Robert Whelan of the Civitas think-tank said: 'This shows the impact that mass immigration is having on the demography of the country. 'It is changing the make-up of the population. 'Many of the children now being born will be brought up in a different culture to that of the majority population. 'This suggests there may be issues in the future when the children grow up and make up a high proportion of the population.'

The population also rose as mortality rates in England and Wales fell to the lowest level ever recorded. Last year fewer than 7,000 men and 5,000 women in every million died - a rate that has fallen by 25 per cent for men and 19 per cent for women over the past decade. Nine out of every 20 babies were born outside marriage last year, the ONS figures showed. The proportion of children born to unmarried mothers has passed 45 per cent for the first time, up from 37 per cent in 1997, when Labour came to power.

Labour has been accused of encouraging single parenthood with tax and benefit systems that favour lone mothers over couples. Until 30 years ago only about one baby in every ten was born to an unmarried mother.

SOURCE



NH: Town rises up for bakery

Flexibility from an immigration bureaucracy! Unbelievable. But only after immense pressure, of course

When the boulangerie opened eight years ago in this hardscrabble town near the Canadian border, there was no reason to think it would survive even a day. Baguettes were not in high demand. Indeed, residents who poked heads in the shop often eyed the skinny loaves suspiciously before screwing up the courage to ask what they were. Bets were placed that the Parisian owners would close up shop and move back to France.

But Le Rendez-Vous, a bit of the Left Bank in the North Country, with its gleaming exposed wood beams, tinkling strains of Vivaldi, stuffed sofas, and antique cuckoo clocks, soon was drawing locals and visitors alike for its almond croissants and apple tarts, which sold out every afternoon. The town helplessly watched as a worsening economy forced the closure of local paper mills, layoffs at the nearby Ethan Allen factory, and the shuttering of the Ford dealership. Through it all, Le Rendez-Vous, with its baskets of crusty loaves and paintings of Paris scenes, was a remarkable success.

So when word came in April that the bakery was shutting down - not because of the economy, but because the US Embassy in Paris refused to renew the visa of the owner - the townspeople were vexed. Federal bureaucrats, they were told, had decided that the bakery did not make enough of a profit to warrant a renewal. It was then that a community rose up in protest. "We'd lost enough," said Steve Colby, 71, a retired machinist. "We didn't need to lose anything more up here."

They began sending letters to the US Embassy in Paris. They lobbied their congressmen to get behind their appeal. They signed a petition by the hundreds and sent it to American diplomats several thousand miles away. Their argument: The bakery might not earn huge sums of money, but it contributed plenty to the community, providing a place for residents to gather, while offering hope that a small business, even one as unlikely as the boulangerie, could thrive in their town.

"You cannot imagine what they did for me," said Verlaine Daeron, a 51-year-old former nurse-turned-bakery owner. She said her visa application folder at the US Embassy in Paris contained two pounds of letters from Colebrook-area residents and added, "It's a very, very nice town."

This week, Colebrook residents got their wish. The US Embassy reversed its decision and granted Daeron her visa, according to Daeron and the New Hampshire state director for Senator Judd Gregg, who was briefed by State Department officials on the case. A State Department spokeswoman, Laura Tischler, said the department does not comment on individual visa cases.

Yesterday, as word of the reversal trickled out and anxious residents tucked into Le Rendez-Vous, Marc Ounis, Daeron's business partner, stood smiling with arms folded over his apron and baker's whites offering the exact answer they wanted to hear: The bakery would remain open.

More HERE



Australian migrant alert system flawed: audit

The database used by immigration authorities to detect criminals, terrorists and other undersirables entering Australia has been criticised as outdated and inaccurate. A report by the National Audit Office has found serious problems with the Immigration Department's Movement Alert List, the database aimed at protecting Australia from dangerous people. The report found the quality of the information on the system had been declining for several years. It also criticised the Immigration Department for not properly maintaining the database and for failing to purge it of dated, inaccurate information.

The report, which made five recommendations, noted the integrity of the database had long been a problem. "Despite efforts to improve MAL data, the overall quality of data has been declining in recent years," the Audit Office said. "Contributing to this position has been the challenge faced by the department in implementing an effective accountability regime to assure the quality of records over time." Compounding the problem was the fact that no one in the department took responsibility for flaws in the system. The system's shortcomings increased the likelihood that authorities might fail to detect a person who posed a threat to the community, the report found. However, the auditor said there was no evidence this had occurred.

The Audit Office said the department had conducted numerous reviews aimed at improving the quality of information, but noted that "most often, these actions falter at the point where someone within DIAC has to take responsibility for carrying out corrective action".

The quality of the Immigration Department's record-keeping has long been an issue. In 2005, the Palmer Report into the wrongful detention of Cornelia Rau criticised the department for "siloing" information.

The MAL is a huge, sprawling database comprising millions of entries. It has two components: a Person Alert List (PAL), which is a database of more than 680,000 people on whom Immigration holds "adverse" information; and more than 2.4 million records of travel documents believed to be lost, stolen or otherwise considered suspect. At present fewer than 1000 Australians are included on the list.

The Audit Office criticised Immigration for wanting to expand the number of Australians on the list. "DIAC's policy on the inclusion of Australians on MAL is not currently coherent or complete," the auditor wrote. "It has not fully clarified its reasons for wanting to list Australians on MAL, nor therefore identified the specific characteristics that would justify considering Australians for listing on PAL."

SOURCE





22 May, 2009

Wonderful news for the the Gurkhas and the many who admire them

I am so delighted by this long overdue decision: Britain has announced a climbdown on Gurkha settlement rights. The obnoxious and venal British government finally acknowledges that those who put their lives on the line for Britain should be allowed to live in Britain



BRITAIN has announced a climbdown over settlement rights for Gurkha veterans, saying all of the Nepalese fighters who have served at least four years can apply to live here. The amended settlement guidelines, announced by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith in the House of Commons, were greeted by an explosion of applause and victory cries by Gurkhas and campaigners gathered outside Parliament.

Gordon Brown has "made a brave decision on behalf of the bravest of the brave," said Indian-born actress Joanna Lumley, who spearheaded the fight against residency restrictions on Gurkhas who retired before 1997. "This will be received in Nepal today with the greatest joy and gratitude," she added, standing in front of Gurkha veterans in wheelchairs wearing their service medals awarded by the British army.

Under the outgoing rules, Britain would only grant residency rights to 4300 ex-Gurkhas, falling short of demands that they be granted to all 36,000 Nepalese ex-soldiers who served with the British army before 1997. But announcing the new policy, Ms Smith told lawmakers: "All former Gurkhas who retired before 1997 and who have served more than four years will now be eligible to apply for settlement in the UK. "On the basis of the figure of 10,000 to 15,000 main applicants that has been suggested by Gurkha representatives, I expect to be able to welcome these applicants and their families over the course of the next two years. "I'm making resources available... to do this and I'm making it clear there should be no time limit on these applications."

The Government was forced to change its stance after it suffered a defeat on the issue in a Commons vote last month. Ms Smith said that after the defeat, ministers had undertaken to "respect the will of the House" and drawn up the new rules. She reiterated that Gurkhas who retired after 1997 - when their base was moved from Hong Kong following the territory's handover from Britain to China - already had the right to settle here and more than 6000 had done so.

Britain's border authorities have been instructed to process 1400 outstanding applications from former Gurkhas "as a matter of urgency by June 11," she added. Successful applicants would be entitled to bring with them their spouses and dependent children under 18.

An emotional Lumley said: "It is one of the happiest days of my life. This is a landmark day we will never forget." She said she remained a "daughter of the regiment" because her late father had fought with the Gurkhas. The star of the cult TV comedy Absolutely Fabulous has led the campaign, which has also been backed by the opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

SOURCE



Australia: African problems in Brisbane too

An example of the thanks Australia gets for taking them in as refugees. There are of course much more frequent such examples in Sydney and Melbourne

FOUR Sudanese nationals seriously injured two senior off-duty police officers at a Brisbane football club after having first threatened to rape their wives and children, a jury has been told. A Brisbane District Court jury was told the four also allegedly assaulted the manager of the Southern Districts Rugby Union Club at Annerley about 12.30am on November 24, 2007. Magid Santino Agwaig, 25, Marier Majur Amour, 22, and brothers Doctor Martin and Hakuma Martin Mirich-Teny, 21 and 25, all yesterday pleaded not guilty to two counts each of grievous bodily harm and one of common assault.

Prosecutor Catherine Birkett said off-duty officers Senior-Sergeant David Ewgarde and Inspector Stephen Munro, who is also the football club's president, were at a Christmas party on the evening of November 23. Ms Birkett said the officers and manager Donald Godfrey had been standing on the clubhouse veranda when they heard loud banging sounds nearby. The court was told Godfrey and Munro went to investigate and found a group of men kicking metal signs.

Ms Birkett said Godfrey and Munro asked the group to desist and move on, but were then subjected to a string of loud expletives and racial slurs. The jury said members of the group made comments such as "you white pieces of s***", "get back on the boat" and "go back to England". Ms Birkett said one comment heard was: "We are going to rape your children."

She said when Godfrey tried to entice them to leave he had liquid, possibly cheap wine, thrown in his eye and was then repeatedly hit. The jury was told both Ewgarde and Munro were then assaulted by one or more of the group. Ms Birkett said Munro later required surgery for several fractures to his eye-socket, while Ewgarde required dental treatment to remove teeth smashed in the alleged attack.

Munro testified he was "king-hit" when he tried to move the youths off the club's grounds. "The next thing (I know) I am king-hit straight into my right eye," he said. Munro said he later required 13 stitches for three lacerations around his left eye and required surgery to correct his eye-socket fractures.

SOURCE



Leader of anti-immigrant party to attend Buckingham Palace garden party

Note that 70% of Britons want big cuts in the rate of immigration so Mr Griffin is a better representive of the British people than are the traditional parties. That is why he evokes such hysteria

Buckingham Palace was facing criticism from anti-racism campaigners after it was disclosed that Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party, was to attend a garden party hosted by the Queen. Mr Griffin, who has previously attacked the Royal family, is to attend the function as a guest of Richard Barnbrook, a BNP member of the London Assembly. All members of the assembly have been invited to the party on July 21 but Mr Griffin’s likely attendance was met with disbelief and anger by anti-racism campaigners.

He has been a persistent critic of the Royal family and the Prince of Wales in particular. He once said: "He [the Prince] has made known his desire to represent people of all faiths and races. This clearly shows the gulf that lies between the monarchy today and the British people." [An arguably true statement]

Campaigners condemned Mr Griffin’s attendance. A spokesman for Searchlight, the anti-fascist group, ["Searchlight" is in fact a far-Left Trotskyist group] said: "Many members of his organisation have been convicted of crimes of violence and racial harassment. [Practically the whole of the British parliament has recently been revealed as a nest of thieves so accusations of criminality could flow in many directions. And the BNP "crimes" were mostly thought crimes that would be protected in the USA under the 1st Amendment] We would have thought on security grounds alone he would be denied access to Buckingham Palace."

Members of Republic, an anti-monarchy pressure group, were disbelieving. Graham Smith, a spokesman, said: "This is a catastrophic blunder. "This gaffe will ensure the BNP will get acres of free publicity. It beggars belief that this could happen so close to an election." [It is the Leftist protests that will give the BNP publicity, not the original invitation]

A source close to Buckingham Palace said: "I think we can be quite certain that thousands of people will be attending the garden party and that the chances of any member of the Royal family actually meeting the BNP contingent are highly unlikely."

A palace spokesman said it was not consulted on guests and relied on the nominating organisations. "Where a guest is not judged to be a direct threat to security, as judged by the police, an invitation would be issued," he said.

Mr Barnbrook said: "I imagine there will be a to-do. These things are going to happen more and more as the party goes forward."

A BNP spokesman said it would be "absurd" for Mr Barnbrook to snub an invitation from the Queen.

SOURCE





21 May, 2009

Border passport program ready to go, Napolitano says

A long-delayed requirement for Americans traveling to Mexico or Canada to have a passport will take effect June 1 as promised with no further postponements, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday.

The Department of Homeland Security has handed out more than 6 million information sheets to people crossing the borders and has run TV ads reminding Americans that it will no longer be possible to cross the borders and re-enter the U.S. without a U.S. passport or special U.S. passport card.

Americans have become accustomed to crossing the borders by car or on foot without having to show anything more than a driver's license. "These are real borders, the law is the law, and this is not going to be postponed any more," Napolitano said at a breakfast meeting with reporters.

The passport requirement, part of an anti-terrorism measure known as the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, had originally been scheduled to take effect last summer during the Bush administration. It was delayed largely by northern border lawmakers in Congress, who feared it would disrupt commerce and tourism between the U.S. and Canada.

Napolitano said federal border officials are ready to implement the new requirements, and she said she is confident the program will go well, without big backups at the borders. "If you'd have asked me four months ago if we were ready, I'd have said I don't know," the former Arizona governor said. "But the department has done everything humanly possible to give this thing a smooth landing."

Napolitano said she knows some Americans will be caught by surprise on June 1st, and some have procrastinated too long getting their passports. "We'll work with them at the border," she said.

Under the new requirements, Americans must have a traditional U.S. passport book or a less-expensive passport card to re-enter the country by land or sea after traveling to Mexico, Canada, Bermuda or the Caribbean region. Americans traveling by plane to and from those countries must have a passport book. A passport card will not be accepted.

The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative was created after Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, requiring all travelers to the U.S. to carry a passport as proof of citizenship.

SOURCE



70% of Britons want big cuts in the rate of immigration

Seven out of ten adults want a massive cut in immigration, a poll has revealed. The YouGov survey found that just one person in 20 supports the current record levels, which have boosted Britain's population by 300,000 a year over the past five years. The findings suggest immigration could become a significant election issue and sparked warnings that voters could turn to extremist parties if mainstream politicians fail to acknowledge their concerns.

The poll, commissioned by MigrationWatch for the Cross Party Group on Balanced Migration, was published on the eve of the release of immigration figures today. It found that 79 per cent of people were concerned or very concerned about immigration. Seventy per cent of the 2,072 respondents favoured cutting levels by 80 per cent or more. Of those, 17 per cent said net immigration should be brought below 50,000 a year - a level last seen in the early 1990s.

Another 39 per cent favoured a policy of zero net immigration, with the numbers settling in the UK matching the numbers emigrating. Sixteen per cent said the number of immigrants should be lower than those leaving. Just over half of more affluent voters - ABC1s - wanted either zero or negative net immigration, while 63 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds favoured a figure below 50,000.

Home Office ministers say their new points-based immigration system represents a tough crackdown. [Crap! It affects only a tiny proportion of arrivals] But critics say it will have little effect, especially as Britain has no control over the numbers arriving from EU states, including eastern Europe.

SOURCE





20 May, 2009

US to expand jail immigration checks

The Obama administration is expanding immigration checks to nearly all local jails, which could sharply increase U.S. deportation cases, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

Expanding the program could result in a tenfold increase in illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes and identified for deportation, the report said, citing current and former U.S. officials. The program, initiated by former President George W. Bush, began in October and operates in 48 counties, the Post said.

It also operates in Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Boston and Phoenix. It would expand to nearly all local jails by the end of 2012, the Post said, citing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement service.

Federal and state prisons already check the immigration status of inmates. But authorities lack the time and staff to do the same at local jails, which house up to twice as many illegal immigrants at any time, the article said.

Obama is seeking $200 million for the program in his proposed 2010 budget, a 30 percent increase that puts it on track to receive $1.1 billion by 2013, the newspaper said.

SOURCE



Satellites zoom in on crime at border

A relatively obscure U.S. intelligence agency has begun using satellite photographs to help authorities bust drug runners along the nation's Southwest border. R. Scott Zikmanis, a deputy director of operations with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, said pictures from space can be used along with other intelligence to pinpoint Mexican narcotics operations and anticipate smuggling forays into the United States. An eye in space adds one more tool to an ever-expanding technological arsenal aimed at defending the border from narcotics traffickers, human smugglers and terrorists.

If, for example, phone surveillance by the National Security Agency were to intercept cartel conversations in Mexico about a planned marijuana shipment, Zikmanis said, a satellite could be directed to photograph the staging operation, and pictures could be transmitted to U.S. agents along the border. The American authorities could then alert Mexican counterparts to the stash-house location or use the intelligence to calculate when and where loads may come across the border, he said. "Is it possible? Of course it is," Zikmanis said. "Is it practical? Yes."

At a Phoenix conference on border security last week, Zikmanis said his agency already has supplied some data to the El Paso Intelligence Center, a federal clearinghouse for the investigation of drug cartels.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency focuses on surveillance on foreign soil for the Pentagon, though it also has assisted emergency responders in domestic disasters such as wildfires and Hurricane Katrina. The use of satellite imagery for border security, however, has been limited because of concerns about a military agency assisting domestic law enforcement, Zikmanis said. A federal law, the Posse Comitatus Act, strictly limits U.S. military operations on American soil unless such operations are authorized by Congress. The NGA and NSA are agencies belonging to the Department of Defense.

Border-security surveillance will be done over Mexico, not the United States, Zikmanis said. His agency uses both military and commercial satellites.

Because the military photographs may be classified, he said, the agency is wrestling with legal questions about what can be shared with law enforcement. Chris Calabrese, an attorney with the Technology and Legal Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, said emerging surveillance techniques have put a squeeze on civil liberties. "We are in the midst of a really dangerous time in terms of technology," Calabrese said. "The idea that such a powerful tool might be turned on U.S. citizens is really troubling."

An NGA newsletter said cameras already are being used to provide the Department of Homeland Security with intelligence on human-smuggling corridors in the United States. The new border operation will deliver more focused and immediate information, Zikmanis said. Although satellite images are not available for real-time surveillance, he said, analysts will be able to combine pictures with other data to target smuggling operations.

Zikmanis said he has worked for a federal drug-interdiction agency in Florida and is eager to help with border security. "I've got pictures of me (from Florida) sitting on a half-million dollars of cocaine," he said. "I love those pictures. I want more of them."

SOURCE





19 May, 2009

CIS roundup

1. Pandering by the ADL

Excerpt: Whatever expletives others have used to characterize its action, what the ADL has done isn't an aberration. It flows from deeply rooted predilections: unconditional commitment to open-borders immigration and its mission as a professional 'tolerance promoter' to promote tolerance even for the least tolerant (with some exceptions, of course). When this American Jew was being defamed by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) using inaccurate, scurrilous, politically motivated 'research' provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) claiming I'm a 'white supremacist' seeking to 'penetrate' the Jewish community (they smeared me because they disagree with me on immigration policy), I didn't find an ally in the ADL. Rather, having done no research of its own and having made no effort to contact me to ascertain my views, the ADL backed my accusers. Interviewed in the JTA article about HIAS's McCarthyism, Deborah Lauter, ADL's civil rights director, said 'the community should be 'wary' of Steinlight.' The revealing little drama summarizes the ADL in 2009: be wary of opponents on immigration policy but protective of Islam! Commonsensical American Jews should pay close attention.

********

2. Secure Fences Work at White House

Excerpt: Open-border advocates often claim that fences don't work. Why, then, does the White House have a secure, dual perimeter fence (both metal and 'virtual') and limited points of entry—with officials doing quick background checks at each?

********

3. 'Secure'?: Another New Definition from Secretary Napolitano

Excerpt: On Wednesday, the House Homeland Security Committee conducted a hearing on the 2010 budget priorities of the Department of Homeland Security. The budget was submitted to Congress on May 7, 2009 as part of the President's $3.5 trillion Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Proposal. The ranking Republican on the subcommittee with jurisdiction over U.S. borders and counterterrorism, Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), yesterday during the hearing specifically asked DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano whether she still supported repeal of the REAL ID Act. This was the exchange:

********

4. Sauce for the Goose

'India Sends the Foreign Pilots Back Home' — but at the same time their government has temerity to insist that we keep taking more of their entry-level computer programmers? I'm not even arguing the merits of the case (for more on that, see here and here) — but the hypocrisy is interesting.

********

5. On E.J. Dionne's 'Buying Time on Immigration'

Excerpt: Before giving E.J. Dionne two cheers for the quotient of candor in his Washington Post column 'Buying Time on Immigration,' plus three cheers for calling for greater decency in the immigration debate, and a well deserved rap on the knuckles for playing fast and loose with data, it is worth noting a broad rhetorical shift in the media reflected in his column. This change has been introduced into writing and speaking about immigration policy so quietly and ubiquitously it's easy to miss. 'Immigration reform' has become the standard euphemism and current newspeak for evidently passé 'comprehensive immigration reform.' For those of us that oppose the policy – whatever it's called – there's reason for a modicum of satisfaction given this reflects the other side having figured out it's pushing a highly unpopular policy.

********

6. The Change They Seek

Excerpt: In what has become an annual exercise, activists came together on May 1, International Workers’ Day 2009 to demand a pardon for all those residing illegally in the country. And although last week’s rallies lacked the magnitude and intensity of recent years—when a sweeping legislative amnesty appeared imminent—they were replete with the same conspicuous contempt for the American mainstream that illegal aliens ostensibly seek to join.

********

7. Farm Labor & Food Cost Video

Excerpt: The video below explains the relationship between farm worker wages and food costs. If you are interested in a more detailed explanation, please visit 'Food Costs and Labor Costs: 2007' at the Migration Dialogue website.

********

8. Presentation: State & Local Enforcement

Excerpt: The presentation provides an overview of U.S. immigration policy and issues, including crime associated with illegal immigration, describes immigration law enforcement tools that can assist state and local law enforcement programs, and provides the elements of a sound local strategy for dealing with criminal aliens.

********

9. Amnesty Without Congress

Excerpt: I've mentioned before (most recently here) the use of Temporary Protected Status as a way for the president to unilaterally give what amounts to permanent amnesty to illegal aliens, granting them work authorization and Social Security numbers. I'd never seen any group demand TPS for all illegals, though, until I saw this, which lists the many ways the president could amnesty some or all illegal aliens on his own authority. TPS is for illegals who can't be deported because of emergency conditions — a hurricane destroyed their country's airport or a volcano buried their island in ash. But a spokesman for the group making the demand, the Southern California Immigration Coalition

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 www.cis.org



Reality bites Spain

Spain's real estate boom, which helped to create more than 5 million new jobs, was supported by cheap labor, largely supplied by immigrants from Latin America, Eastern Europe and North Africa. More than 920,000 new immigrants arrived in Spain during 2007, according to the latest data published by the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE). This was on top of the 802,971 new arrivals in 2006, the 682,711 new arrivals in 2005, and the 645,844 new arrivals in 2004. Spain now has a total of 5.2 million immigrants, more than 10 percent of its population, which has swelled from 40 million in 2000 to just over 46 million in 2009.

According to the Fundación BBVA research institute, Spain now has the second-largest number of immigrants as a proportion of the population in the developed world, after the United States. But immigrants are now losing their jobs at more than twice the rate of Spaniards, raising fears that they will turn to crime.

To ward off social tensions, the Spanish government is now rethinking its immigration policy. In 2005, Zapatero angered other European leaders by giving a blanket amnesty to 800,000 illegal immigrants. By contrast, he now supports the European Union's Return Directive for undocumented workers. His government also wants to restrict family immigration to parents and their children under 18. The law currently allows grandparents and in-laws to join their families.

In July 2008, the Spanish government launched a scheme to pay unemployed migrant workers to return to their country of origin. The plan offers documented migrants who have lost their jobs two lump sums, one before they leave Spain and the other once they have returned home. In exchange, immigrants are required to hand over their residence visas and work permits and agree not to return to Spain for at least three years. But so far there have been only around 4,000 takers, a tiny fraction of Spain's immigrant population.

Spain now seems to be turning to more draconian measures. Police in major Spanish cities like Madrid and Barcelona have been given weekly quotas for arresting illegal immigrants. According to a leaked internal memo, police in Madrid have a weekly target of 35 arrests, with priority given to seizing Moroccans because they can be sent home quickly and cheaply.

The problem of runaway immigration was a major issue during Spain's 2008 general election. Toward the end of the campaign, the race turned decisively in Zapatero's favor after his main opponent called for a crackdown on illegal immigration. At the time, Zapatero said the proposals were inhumane and many Spanish voters seemed to agree. But Zapatero's recent about-face suggests an emerging consensus that Spain has a real problem, and one it needs to address more effectively.

More HERE





18 May, 2009

Crazy and secretive Canadian immigration bureaucracy releases killer

The release of a double-murderer onto city streets occurred despite the contention of the federal government that the convicted killer should remain in custody, immigration officials said Saturday. Elvir Pobric, who escaped a Bosnia prison more than 10 years ago and hid as a fugitive in Canada, was released last week, days after his detention review hearing was closed to the public.

The fact Immigration and Refugee Board adjudicator Lee Ann King made the decision to release Pobric pending another hearing, without offering any reasons, has left politicians and police asking questions. "First, while the IRB operates independently of the government, we are concerned this detention hearing was decided in private as well as the secrecy surrounding the hearings and the decision, " said Alykhan Velshi, spokesman for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

"I would note the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act permits such reviews to be held in public when it is appropriate to do so." "I note as well the government had strongly argued Pobric's detention should be maintained."

Police Chief Rick Hanson would not elaborate on the case but said reports of the convicted killer’s release are concerning. "Based on what I am hearing in the media, the federal minister is asking all of the right questions and I certainly share the minister’s concerns," Hanson said.

Pobric is said to have entered Canada as a refugee about 10 years ago.

SOURCE



A guy called Mohammed is surprised that immigration officials take a close look at him!

An award-winning author and BBC correspondent is slamming New Zealand's border controls as racist after he was detained on arrival at Auckland Airport. Adding to the embarrassment, Mohammed Hanif won the award in New Zealand and he's using the spotlight to criticise the Immigration Service.

Hanif received warm applause as he won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for best first book, much warmer, he says, than the treatment immigration officials gave him on arrival. "They took out everything that I had in my bags from my socks to my underwears to my note books and they never gave me a reason what exactly was it that they were looking for," he says. He was detained for two hours with his wife and son in tow. Hanif says he was singled out because of his race.

"People who look like me, i.e. brown and have curly hair, have written books in the past and continue to do so and occasionally they do get invited to these festivals," he says. "You look at people entering your country from a certain point of view which is obviously racist." Hanif says he told officials he was here to attend a writers' festival but they didn't seem to listen. "They seemed to believe that nobody actually reads or writes in New Zealand. That's what they seemed to believe," he says.

The Immigration Service has made no official comment but their staff say they are trying to find out exactly what happened.

Lucky Hanif's first impressions of New Zealand will not be his last. "Friendliest people I've meet anywhere in the world and probably the nicest book festival I've been to," he says.

But he has one last word for New Zealand's Immigration Service. "If they were trying to find terrorists I'm sure again they're not going to find terrorists through their underwears," he says. He hopes he will have less trouble next time he visits New Zealand.

SOURCE





17 May, 2009

Newest AgJOBS bill enjoys bipartisan House support

The AgJOBS bill that is back in Congress shows early bipartisan support in the House of Representatives. But its chances of passage, as usual, are up in the air. California's Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced the Agricultural Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act to the U.S. Senate on Thursday, May 14. Reps. Howard L. Berman, D-Calif, and Adam Putnam, R-Fla., simultaneously introduced the same legislation in the House of Representatives. The bill would start a five-year program to find undocumented farmworkers, legalizing those having worked in the U.S. for two years. It would also tweak the H-2A guestworker program, which is said to be cumbersome and seldom used.

"Today across the United States, there are not enough agricultural workers to pick, prune, pack or harvest our country's crops," Feinstein said in a statement. "This legislation would help to ensure a consistent, reliable agriculture work force to ensure that farmers and growers never again lose their crops because of a lack of workers."

Similar legislation died in Congress in 2007. Other immigration-reform bills have also failed in recent years, running alone or as part of comprehensive immigration measures. Those efforts have enjoyed varying levels of bipartisan support in both houses. The current bill shows such support only in the House, where it has 26 co-sponsors, 11 Republicans among them. Two of those - Reps. George Radanovich and Devin Nunes - are from California. Feinstein's bill has sixteen co-sponsors, all Democrats.

Reform of immigration law has kept the United Farm Workers union occupied for at least the past decade. Spokeswoman Maria Machuca says the current effort has strong chances of success with stronger Democratic representation in Washington, in addition to a president who supported similar efforts as a senator. "I think that everybody understands that farmworkers need immigration reform," Machuca said. "Even if we don't get comprehensive reform, we need to do something for farmworkers."

John Thompson, spokesman for the Idaho Farm Bureau, describes the AgJOBS bill as "a path to a solution." Pointing out that agriculture in Idaho brings in $21 billion in total sales and employs 156,599 people, Thompson said that having a stable agricultural workforce is essential if agriculture to prosper and grow. "Without a reliable workforce, it just makes the future so much more tenuous," he said. Thompson also said the bureau is in favor of the "earned legalization" provision in the bill. "You can't just round them up and kick them out," he said, referring to the estimated 12 million illegal workers in this country. "It will never happen. It would be too big a job."

In Washington state, Michael Gempler, executive director of the Washington Growers League and immediate past president of the National Council of Agricultural Employers, described the bill as "very significant." Also significant, he said, is that AgJOBS is a bipartisan bill that has the support of farm and farmworker groups, as well as a wide range of groups including the National Association of Counties. "Everyone's onboard with this bill," he said. "That's what it will take to get it passed into law. The groups understand the importance of agriculture to our economy, and our rural economy, in particular."

Gempler hopes that Congress will pass the bill "in short order" rather than waiting to include it in a comprehensive immigration-reform bill. Pointing to the likelihood of a mandatory E-verify system and Immigration and Customs Enforcement's more aggressive stance toward employers who hire illegal workers, Gempler said AgJOBS is all the more critical now. "Our country depends on agriculture," he said. "We need to make sure it can run efficiently without the unacceptable risky environment we're working in now." Washington state's ag employers hire about 100,000 seasonal workers each year, Gempler said.

SOURCE



Immigration problem 'urgent' in Malta, says EU

EU member states need to show concrete solidarity with Malta because the illegal migration problem here needs to be seen to urgently, the European Commission president's head of Cabinet said yesterday. Joao Vale de Almeida said the problem being faced by Malta with influx after influx of illegal migrants was not Malta's alone but Europe's problem too.

Addressing a conference on Malta's first five years as an EU member state, Mr Vale de Almeida said: "The message I will be relaying in Brussels after my short visit here is one of great urgency. We need the engagement of all member states to find solutions. This is not a Maltese problem but a European one. On this issue, we need an appropriate response from all other member states. I am confident that we will find ways of helping Malta deal with the problem." Mr Vale de Almeida is the right hand man of EU Commission President Josè Manuel Barroso. He represents him at high-level meetings, including at the G8 and the G20.

He said the European Commission was acting on three levels to try and solve the immigration problem affecting Malta. Firstly it was directly supporting Malta with financial assistance, the Frontex patrols and the expertise to help Malta deal with the problem. Secondly, it was actively engaging on the external front with countries of origin and countries of transit, like Libya for example. "We cannot solve the problem if we do not address these two aspects of the chain," he said.

Lastly, he said, the Commission was seeking to implement the principle of solidarity. "You cannot be in a union without sharing the burden of problems affecting other union members. This is the spirit of the EU. We need to translate this expression of solidarity in concrete terms. "The idea of a mandatory burden sharing mechanism is attractive but we have to create the right conditions for that to materialise. We have to find effective and pragmatic solutions in the short term," he said.

On Malta's five-year experience as an EU member state, Mr Vale de Almeida said the impression of the country in Brussels was "extremely positive". "What we get from Malta is always a high-quality contribution".

Earlier, President George Abela said EU membership was in the country's long-term interest. He said the last five years were historic and important to the island. "This milestone after just 40 years of independence was a remarkable achievement which showed us how with sacrifice, optimism, determination and courage, great things can be achieved even by a small country like ours," he said.

Dr Abela said Maltese values formed the very foundation of the EU. It had joined a union which complemented its values and ideals. The adoption of the euro sheltered the Maltese economy in the present financial crisis and brought about fiscal discipline.

His speech echoed that of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi who spoke on the reconstitution of Meusac which, he said, gave civil society a stronger voice which now had to be maximised. Dr Gonzi said fear of change had been the main obstacle to Malta's EU membership bid but looking back, one could now see that such fear was unfounded. He said he was proud that Malta was now a successful EU state.

On the introduction of the euro, Dr Gonzi said that a year after Malta introduced the euro, this had sheltered the Maltese economy and the Maltese managed to shift from one currency to another in a smooth way.

Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat stressed that May 1, 2004 was not a destination but a starting point for Malta. "Now we have to look beyond the here and now. We have to work hard to ensure the financial crisis passes with the least possible affect on Malta," he said. Dr Muscat said that due to broken promises and bad decisions all over Europe, Europeans were blaming the EU for being passive in the face of what was happening. Malta needed to be a leader not a follower, with civil society not feeling like outsiders in the decision-making process, he stressed.

SOURCE





16 May, 2009

The E-Verify backdown

Janet Napolitano has raised hopes for better immigration enforcement many times in her career and then disappointed those cheering her on, but I want to believe my eyes/ears that she signaled a major commitment to E-Verify this week. It appears the Obama Administration is finally starting to separate itself from the most extreme open-borders elements of the Democratic Party. Napolitano's testimony before Congress was most significant -- and encouraging.

Napolitano appeared at separate hearings of the Senate and House committees on Homeland Security and said:

"I'm a big supporter of E-Verify."

You love us! Now, how about some evidence, or at least some specifics to your promise to protect American workers from having unscrupulous employers hire illegal foreign workers?

"E-Verify is an essential tool for employers to maintain a legal workforce. " -- Napolitano to Congress

Oooh, that's nice. You have a reason for loving E-Verify -- and, hence, loving us regular Americans. "(E-Verify is) a cornerstone of workplace enforcement across the country. " -- Napolitano to Congress

Shocking!

I know that I shouldn't be shocked that the woman with the chief responsibility for enforcing immigration laws actually understands and believes in her chief enforcement tool. But given the anti-E-Verify efforts of the Senate Democratic leadership the last year, and the less than enthusiastic support for E-Verify by the new Obama Administration to this point -- well, Napolitano's comments this week were very, very refreshing.

Senate Majority Leader Reid has allowed the radical open-borders fringe of his Party to block long-term extension of the E-Verify program. It needed to be authorized last November. Sen. Menendez (D-N.J.) blocked a vote because the Senate wouldn't agree to increase new foreign workers and their dependents by a half-million in 2009. Reid refused to stand up to Menendez but allowed E-Verify to be extended to March of this year. When Sen. Sessions (R-Ala.) pushed an amendment in February to save the program and extend it for years, Reid made sure that the amendment was tabled, but gave a stay of execution, extending E-Verify until the end of September.

Until this week, the Obama Administration has not weighed in on the future of E-Verify. The open-borders rabble in Congress don't even want E-Verify's electronic verification of workers even after an amnesty. The more moderate amnesty supporters are willing to have E-Verify after the amnesty but are willing to kill it if an amnesty doesn't pass.

Napolitano's testimony this week surely sounded like an unequivocal endorsement of continuing E-Verify totally separate from what might happen with the amnesty fight. She noted that the Obama budget provides funding for three more years. And it adds $12 million to provide $112 million for the program during the next fiscal year.

More than 124,000 businesses are running their new hires through the internet-based identification program that enables employers to check whether an employee is authorized to work. A thousand new businesses a week are signing up because the employers already using it love E-Verify for protecting them from breaking federal laws and for helping ensure that they can keep the workers they hire. Use of the system has grown especially fast since a number of states have started requiring some or all of their governments, contractors and businesses to use E-Very. (Take a look at our map of these states.)

We hope that the use will soon become so common in business communities all across America that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will finally stop fighting it and allow a federal mandate for all employers to use it. That day will be much, much closer if a last-year Bush Administration rule is allowed to take effect, requiring all federal contractors to use E-Verify. Pres. Obama has seemed ambivalent or even hostile about that new rule, twice delaying its implementation. But Napolitano this week indicated that the federal contractor rule should be implemented early summer.

The cheap-labor, open borders groups are in a panic. Their argument for years has been that the feds could never grow the system fast enough, or that mistakes in the database would lead to Americans losing their jobs, or that the program would be too onerous for business.

As a higher and higher percentage of new hires go through E-Verify, and as the businesses using it continue to laud its efficiency and low cost, and as open-borders advocates continue to fail to find examples of U.S. workers hurt by E-Verify, the dire warnings by the open-borders folks will be seen as empty rhetoric.

With this seeming pragmatic approach to immigration enforcement emerging in the Obama Administration, a lot of extra pressure is developing for congressional Democrats. Do they want to be seen by their constituents as clinging to the extremist elements of the Party that favor largescale illegal immigration, or will they move toward the center where Obama and Napolitano seem to be moving on E-Verify?

You will know whether your congress(wo)man is an extremist or a pragmatic protector of U.S. workers by whether he/she co-sponsors the SAVE Act which Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) intends to introduce soon. It would over a few years phase in E-Verify so that every single worker in America has to be run through it, to open up jobs for the 13 million unemployed Americans.

SOURCE



Immigrants as a source of support to America's aging population

The usual rubbish below. Because they usually work at the bottom end of the labor market, very few Hispanics would have to pay tax even if they wanted to. So saying that they are important as a source of tax revenue, now or in the future, is a lie and a fraud. Approximately 95% of American tax revenue comes from people of ABOVE average income and very few Hispanics are going to move into that bracket any time soon.

Australia has just put its official retiring age up from 65 to 67 and that is how America also will cope with its aging population in due course. And with the drain of providing medical and education services to illegals, the age in America might even have to rise to 70

Reports released by the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees this week have re-focused public attention on the deteriorating financial condition of the nation's main health and retirement programs. These reports underscore not only the severity of the current recession, but also the demographic crisis confronting the nation as the native-born population ages. The coming wave of retiring Baby Boomers reminds us of the increasingly important role that immigrants play in the U.S. economy as taxpayers, workers, consumers, and homebuyers.

In an IPC report, demographer Dowell Myers of the University of Southern California has succinctly analyzed this looming demographic crisis and the role that immigration can play in overcoming it:

* Over the next 20 years, the number of senior citizens relative to the number of working-age Americans will increase by 67 percent.

* This means that more and more retirees "will transition from being net taxpayers to net recipients of health and pension benefits, and they will be supported by a smaller workforce that is struggling to meet its own needs."

* These "mass retirements" will not only strain the Social Security and Medicare programs, but will also drive labor-force growth "perilously low - perhaps below zero in many states - which will depress economic growth as a whole."

Moreover, "seniors are also net home sellers, and accordingly, there will be 67 percent more people in the selling ages relative to the younger adults who are likely to be buyers. Thus the mass sell-off launched by aging poses a great hazard for all home sellers and their home values in the two decades ahead."

The aging of the native-born population will leave the U.S. economy short on workers and taxpayers just when more workers and taxpayers are needed to support the increasing number of retiring Baby Boomers. Immigrants can help fill this gap. And, as the IPC points out in a recent compilation of economic data, sensible immigration reform would maximize the economic contributions of immigrants, which will shore up not only Social Security and Medicare, but the U.S. tax base and the U.S. workforce as well.

SOURCE





15 May, 2009

Moronic British immigration rules hurt the hospitals

They are cracking down heavily on legal immigration when over 90% of their problem is illegal immigration -- which is "too hard" to solve

Patient safety could be put at risk because changes to immigration rules could force hundreds of junior doctors out of the NHS, a union warns. The British Medical Association said reform of the tier one skilled migrant category was unfair on foreign medics. The union said it meant doctors in the first two years of training would not be able to apply for the next stage. The BMA added that this could lead to a shortage of doctors eventually, compromising safety in the process.

BMA chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum has now written to Health Secretary Alan Johnson urging him to intervene to protect the NHS workforce. He wants the Department of Health to take up the issue with the Home Office immediately as the NHS is also facing difficulties over the forthcoming introduction of the European working directive for junior doctors.

From August, the scope of the directive will be extended to junior doctors, limiting their working week to 48 hours. Dr Meldrum said: "The full implementation of the directive coupled with a situation in which a proportion of prospective trainees can no longer continue with their training due to ever-tightening immigration rules is likely to exacerbate rota gaps, putting patient safety at risk. "The BMA is requesting that the Department of Health intervenes."

The change to immigration rules in March means that those applying for the tier one category, which in the heath service covers junior doctors who have completed the foundation stage of their training and want to move on to specialist training, need to have a master's degree. But a medical degree - despite being a five-year course - is only classed as a bachelor's, meaning all foreign junior doctors from outside the EU will be excluded.

In his letter, Dr Meldrum pointed out that as well as affecting those doctors who have already started junior doctor training, the thousands of foreign medical students at university in the UK could also end up leaving. He said workforce planning in the health service was counting on these students becoming NHS doctors over the next few years.

SOURCE



'Club class' illegal immigrants are paying £10,000 to fly to Britain on tourist planes

Illegal immigrants posing as tourists are paying up to £10,000 each to fly into Britain as part of a 'club class' smuggling service. Organised gangs of people smugglers are targeting holiday flights from the Continent, particularly Greece, to the Irish Republic. The £10,000 cost compares to an average of just £500 to £1,000 for those willing to take their chances on lorries and trains crossing the Channel from Calais to Dover. But the expensive 'immigration package', which includes forged passports and visas, has a much higher chance of success, according to officials.

The latest smuggling plan came to light earlier this week after the arrest of a ten-strong gang in Paris. They are believed to have made £500,000 in just nine months successfully smuggling scores of illegal migrants. Based in a flat close to the Gare du Nord Eurostar station, they regularly booked migrants on flights to the Irish Republic. Greece, which is a major transit point to Britain for migrants from Asia, was a popular route. Once in the Republic, the illegal migrants would use the forged papers to enter Britain via domestic flights or ferries.

'It was the club class service for migrants who had sold their homes and businesses to start a new life in the UK,' said an officer from the French anti-illegal immigration agency OCRIEST. 'These were people who were prepared to devote their life's savings to getting to their Eldorado, and an airborne immigration package was their best option.'

He said tourist flights from Greece to Ireland were not policed as stringently as those on major tourist or business routes and that it was relatively easy for illegal migrants from Asia and Eastern Europe to mingle with planeloads full of Greek and Irish holidaymakers. 'They are often waved through customs and immigration because they're not obvious flights for illegal migrants to take,' the officer said.

'Another advantage for the migrants is that passports of people resembling them can be stolen or bought in Greece and can then be used on the planes. 'Immigration procedures are far tougher in France and Britain, and it's much harder to get hold of forged travel documents. It's a highly sophisticated route, but one which is still used regularly. 'Airborne illegal immigration does not come cheap, but for those who can afford it, it's a much quicker and hassle-free option than travelling all the way to Calais to try to get a place in the back of a lorry.'

The gang, Iraqi and Iranian men aged between 26 and 54, have made full confessions in exchange for a reduction in prison sentences, which could top ten years. They are expected to be charged with a range of people-smuggling offences. Jean-Michel Fauvergue, the head of OCRIEST, said: 'This gang was extremely well organised and not solely operating on French territory.'

SOURCE



A great letter

I have not been able to check whether this letter is genuine or a fake but it sure sounds like our Joe









14 May, 2009

L.A. County plans to check immigration status of all inmates

All local police agencies in Los Angeles County plan to begin screening the immigration status of all inmates booked into jails

Los Angeles County plans to begin checking the immigration status of all inmates booked into its jails this month in an effort to identify and deport more illegal immigrants with criminal records.

Sheriff’s employees will run the inmates’ fingerprints through federal databases to see if they have had any contact with the immigration system and will place holds on those believed to be in the country illegally. Once they have completed serving their sentences, the inmates will be transferred to immigration custody for possible deportation.

The Los Angeles County Jail began working with federal immigration agents in 2006 to screen inmates, but officials said the new federal program is much more accurate than the current system because all inmates — not just the ones who say they are foreign-born — will be checked. “There is another layer of screening going on,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Kevin Kuykendall. “It’s another tool to increase our effectiveness and make sure we get to everyone we need to get to.”

Illegal immigrant Pedro Espinoza is accused of killing high school football star Jamiel Shaw II last year, one day after Espinoza was released from an L.A. County jail. Espinoza wasn’t red-flagged for an interview because he said during booking that he was born in the U.S. Earlier this week, Shaw’s family sued the Sheriff’s Department for negligence and wrongful death for releasing Espinoza.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement already launched the program, dubbed Secure Communities, in 48 counties in seven states. Los Angeles, San Diego and Ventura will be the first counties in California to participate.

The federal agency plans to expand the program to all county jails and state and federal prisons by the end of 2012. President Obama asked Congress last week for a 30% increase in federal funds for Secure Communities, bringing the annual budget to nearly $200 million.

SOURCE



Italian parliament criminalizes illegal immigration

Forza Italia!

Italy's lower chamber of parliament has passed a hotly debated measure making it a crime to enter or stay in Italy illegally as Premier Silvio Berlusconi's conservative forces continue cracking down on illegal migration.

In a bid to ensure swift passage, Berlusconi's allies put the legislation to a confidence vote, which they easily won 316-258. Confidence votes force lawmakers to close ranks since defeat would force the government's resignation.

The legislation must now be approved by the senate. It would make it a crime to enter or stay in Italy illegally, punishable by a fine of $6,840-$13,670, although no prison penalty would be imposed. In addition, the legislation imposes a prison term of up to three years for anyone who rents an apartment to an illegal immigrant.

SOURCE



Amazing! Leftist Australian government allows an illegal immigrant to be deported

Will this be the last such episode? Judging by recent policy pronouncements, I expected that the illegal might just be given coffee and money instead

A Nigerian man who was pulled off a fence at Sydney's Villawood detention centre overnight will be deported tomorrow, just two days before he was due to marry an Australian woman. The man climbed onto the fence on Tuesday afternoon to protest against the Immigration Department's plans to send him home. He was given blankets, food and water before police were called to the centre about midnight last night.

Detainees threw rocks at police and security staff, who talked the Nigerian down while standing on a cherry picker around 2:00am (AEST).

The Fire Brigade also sent two crews to put out two small blazes that were lit inside the centre during the commotion.

Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition, says it is a particularly sad case because the man had planned to get married this Sunday. "A woman, Marie, knew him before he arrived in Australia apparently but has been visiting since he arrived in May last year," he said. "It was very well known that they were to be married on Sunday and yet at the moment, he's still scheduled to be removed on Friday."

Immigration Department spokesman Sandi Logan says tomorrow's deportation will put an end to a long-standing case for the man. "We understand he may have been upset; however, he's exhausted every avenue of appeal to remain in Australia," he said. "It's only right - and I think the community would expect it - that people who have no right to remain in Australia should be returned."

SOURCE



Will visa limits stop further illegals being allowed into Australia this year?

Refugee advocates are calling for an increase in humanitarian visas as a 12th refugee boat this year was intercepted in Australian waters yesterday. It was carrying 31 asylum seekers and three Indonesian crew members.

Immigration policy observers are expecting a "modest" increase to the humanitarian program beyond 750 additional spots announced in last year's budget for Iraqi nationals who assist Australian defence personnel in the Gulf war. That already-announced increase will take Australia's overall humanitarian intake to 13,750 annually.

Graham Tom, refugee advocate for Amnesty International, said as conflicts worsened in trouble spots such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Western nations would have to raise their humanitarian intake.

Earlier this year the UN Refugee Agency released figures showing an increase of 12 per cent globally across 2008 of people seeking asylum. That has correlated with a sharp increase in boat arrivals in Australia since September last year, 19 in total carrying 710 people.

Since September last year there have been 138 approvals for humanitarian visas for people in various forms of immigration detention on Christmas Island. Fourteen have been refused and four have returned voluntarily to Sri Lanka.

There are a further 459 people on Christmas Island with asylum seeker claims, with the additional 31 — believed to be adult Afghan men — now en route to the island for immigration processing. A spokesman for the Immigration Department said last night approvals of asylum seeker claims would fill all available visa spaces this financial year.

SOURCE





13 May, 2009

US, Canada prepare as enhanced border checks loom

For Americans headed to Montreal or Canadians visiting Michigan's Mackinac Island, those trips get a little more complex this summer. As enhanced border crossing requirements loom, more states and provinces are putting in place the tools needed to make it easier for people to go between the U.S. and Canada. There are still a few loose ends, but officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection say they will be ready June 1, the day the United States fully implements the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. The initiative strengthens documentation requirements for everyone entering the country, calling for passports or special driver's licenses.

The requirements will be in effect along the entire U.S. border with Canada. The initiative doesn't affect Mexican nationals, who are already required to present a passport and visa to come into the U.S.

Vermont, New York, Michigan and Washington state and the province of Quebec are the only places issuing enhanced driver's licenses, according to the customs agency. The license is designed for travel into the U.S. by land or sea. Extra documentation and an interview is generally required to get the special licenses, which are considered secure.

Homeland Security delayed full implementation of the travel initiative after howls of complaints from officials in border states. "When I look back at where we were a couple of years ago when they were going to roll this out, there's no way they were ready for it," said Bill Stenger, the president of the Jay Peak ski resort in Vermont, which is just south of the border and relies heavily on Canadian skiers and summer tourists.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., helped pass the legislation that delayed full implementation. "The extra time has helped avert a major mess at the border," Leahy said. "That would have been an economic shock wave that would have hurt Vermont and other border states. Federal agencies today are better prepared, and more Canadian visitors are aware that the change is coming."

Over the past year, customs officials have installed scanners at most of Vermont's border crossings that can read chips in enhanced driver's licenses. The scanners reduce the time every person spends at the border, said James McMillan, the customs agency's port director for Highgate Springs, at the north end of Interstate 89. Over several hours, the time savings can be significant, said John Makolin, the CBP area port director for Vermont and New Hampshire. "It does add up and it may seem incidental, but as time goes on and the document gets out there, it's quicker, quicker, quicker," Makolin said.

The new border policy will quickly be tested. The Quebec holiday of St. Jean Baptiste Day is in late June and Canada Day is in early July, both of which traditionally bring Canadian travelers into the United States. "I want to make sure our Canadian neighbors have an affordable way to enter the United States," Stenger said.

SOURCE



Switzerland wants to keep out those pesky Germans

It is mostly Germans who take away well-paid Swiss jobs from the Swiss

The Swiss government may impose temporary limits on immigration for EU job seekers amid rising unemployment in the country, Swiss newspapers reported on Sunday. "Backed by the latest job market and migration statistics, the government will soon make a decision on the possible activation of the protection clause," justice department spokesman Philippe Piatti told NZZ am Sonntag.

Under an accord between the EU and Switzerland, EU workers can take up jobs in Switzerland without being subject to a work-permit quota system. To protect the Swiss job market from over-saturation, the deal also includes a clause allowing Bern to impose temporary restrictions if immigration grows by over 10 percent in a year compared to the average rate in the previous three years.

Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf and Economy Minister Doris Leuthard were preparing a case for a temporary limit on immigration from the EU, it said.

If the clause is activated, immigration from the 15 older EU states would be limited to the average migration rate of the previous year plus 5 percent for a maximum of two years. Such a clause has not been penciled into an extended agreement that included the newer EU member states.

Switzerland's export-dependent economy has been hit by the global slowdown. Unemployment rose to 3.5 percent in April from 3.4 percent in March, according to official figures reported Friday.

SOURCE



Skilled migration to Australia cut back. Useless parasites welcome

There is a very high rate of welfare dependency among "refugees". None of them are in fact genuine refugees. They could have claimed refuge in any of the several countries they passed through on their way to Australia.

SKILLED migration will be slashed in the next year, but the Government expects the number of migrants to reach record levels in the long term. Net migration could reach up to 230,000 arrivals a year, well above the 180,000 expected in 2009-10.

Expectations of more boat people arriving on Australian shores means greater border protection, fewer skilled immigrants and a revamp of the country's biggest mainland detention centre. While the Rudd Government has tried to play down the recent flurry of people smuggling boats in Australian waters, the Budget highlighted a change in direction.

Border protection measures included $1.3 billion to increase patrols in Australia's northern waters, including another boat. Two more aircraft will boost aerial surveillance, while more than $100 million has been set aside to strengthen relationships with neighbouring countries and improve co-operation on people smuggling laws. Airport security and international counter-terrorism efforts will be increased, with the Australian Federal Police given an enhanced international role. The Defence Department has earmarked $1.5 billion for an extra 700 Navy recruits.

The skilled migrant intake has been slashed to 108,000 from the Government's previously planned cap of 133,500. New skilled migrants will need a better grasp of English and will have to meet skills testing targets. But an extra 1000 people will be welcomed to Australia under the humanitarian program and there will be another 3800 places for families.

Overall migration for 2009-10 will fall just short of 169,000 places -- down 21,600 on the planned level. The Government said it was planning for the long-term migrant intake to range from 150,000 to 230,000 net arrivals a year.

The Immigration Department has also set aside $40 million over the next four years to further combat people smuggling, specifically those coming from or through Indonesia. Some of this money will help the Indonesian Government manage its detention centres to relieve pressure on Australia's border patrols.

An extra $12.6 million has been tagged to help Asia-Pacific countries strengthen anti-terrorist measures.

The Immigration Department predicts it will save about $160 million over the next four years through slashing programs and increasing efficiency.

SOURCE





12 May, 2009

The scum that illegal immigration brings to Britain

Adult "asylum seeker" raped girl,13, after he lied about age and was placed in children's home

Birmingham City Council are said to be 'cooperating with police investigations in relation to a young person'. An asylum-seeker has been arrested after the alleged rape of a young girl from a children's home where he had been placed after apparently lying about his age.

The Afghan presented himself to Birmingham Social Services and claimed he was a 13 year-old minor, but staff suspected he was really over 18. He was placed at the council-run children's home after producing medical evidence at an immigration hearing which seemingly backed his claims of being a child. But the Afghan was later arrested following the suspected rape of a 13-year-old girl from the care home and police found an immigration card which appeared to confirm that he was really 19. Social services have now begun an investigation after the asylum-seeker was quizzed about the suspected sex attack, a case which has seen another adult charged with rape.

'The Afghan presented himself some time ago as a minor, seeking asylum,' said a source. 'He claimed to be 13 years old but from the outset social services had doubts. 'Yet if someone's an asylum-seeker and a minor then social services are duty bound to look after them. 'Birmingham social services' experts were involved in challenging his claim that he was 13 at two immigration hearings and at one hearing he was legally declared an adult. 'But at an appeal he produced a letter from a doctor claiming he had some characteristics of a child, so the court had to accept he was a child.'

The asylum-seeker is currently on police bail after being arrested on suspicion of the rape, which is alleged to have occurred in Birmingham last month. Two youths in their late teens were also detained by police. One was later charged with rape and remanded in custody after appearing before Midland magistrates, while the other has also been released on police bail.

The Afghan has now been moved to a 'specialist placement' while police inquiries continue into the alleged rape, as well as his true age. 'The truth is we just don't know how old he is for sure,' said one source. 'Most think he is an adult over the age of 18. It's proving it that has been the problem.'

A Birmingham City Council spokesman said: 'We are cooperating with police investigations in relation to a young person and these investigations are ongoing. 'People referred without documents to support their age present difficulties to all local authorities. 'The Local Authority seeks to verify information through medical and social work assessments and in the interim makes appropriate arrangements for the young people concerned.'

SOURCE



Silvio Berlusconi under fire over anti-immigration remarks

Signor Berlusconi is a very popular Prime Minister despite (or because of?) his penchant for saying exactly what he thinks. And I have no doubt that he speaks for his voters in this matter. It may be noted that Italians in general are much less afraid of "racism" accusations than are more Northern countries. One reason is Italy's distinguished history in WWII, when Italians from the Pope down did all they could to hide Jews from the Germans



Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, today came under fire from the Catholic Church as well as the Left after declaring that Italy was not and should not be a multi-ethnic society.

Mr Berlusconi's centre Right coalition won power a year ago partly by vowing to crack down on crime and illegal immigration. This weekend he praised Libya for taking back 500 would be migrants who have been intercepted by Italian naval vessels over the past five days, under a new Italian-Libyan accord.

"The Left's idea is of a multi-ethnic Italy," Mr Berlusconi told a news conference. "That is not our idea, ours is to welcome only those who meet the conditions for political asylum."

Italy was once itself a country of emigrants, but now sees itself as in the front line of an assault by poor and often desperate African, Asian and other migrants trying to get into Europe. The centre Left opposition however condemned Mr Berlusconi's remarks as racist.

Dario Franceschini, head of the Democratic Party, the main opposition force, said "It is not for me or Berlusconi or anyone else to decide. This will be the century of multi-ethnic societies. France, Great Britain and Germany are European nations with far more immigrants than us, but they have worked for integration."

Monsignor Mariano Crociata, secretary of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI), defended multiculturalism as a "value" that already existed in Italy. [Is "Thou shalt accept illegal imigrants" the 11th commandment? I must have missed that one]

However the anti immigrant Northern League, which is a member of the Berlusconi coalition and controls the Interior Ministry, hailed the interception and deportation of migrants, saying said it was "a revolutionary change from the past". Last week there was an outcry when the League suggested some Milan Metro carriages should be reserved for Milanese only, though it later said it was not a serious proposal.

SOURCE



Australian universities demand easier passage for academic migrants

Hard to see any objection to this

UNIVERSITIES are urging the Government to ease immigration restrictions on academics to help head off a looming shortage as large numbers of baby-boomer professors and lecturers retire. Amid the fallout from the global financial crisis, the Government in March moved to cut the permanent skilled migration intake. But universities, which see migration as a way to overcome looming academic skills shortages, are warning that the move could leave the economy short when it recovers.

"There is generally a two-year time lag from immigration policy change to outcome, so as a response to the global financial crisis, this policy will do little to protect the jobs of Australian citizens in the short to medium term," Vicki Thomson, executive director of the Australian Technology Network group of five universities, said in a briefing paper. "In fact, it has the potential to see the economy left wanting precisely at the time we expect to see improved economic conditions."

The ATN is lobbying Immigration Minister Chris Evans to ease restrictions on academic migration to make it easier to recruit offshore amid rising competition globally for academics. Between 1994 and 2006, Australian universities employed more than 7000 academics from overseas on permanent or long-term arrangements. "This figure will need to grow expotentially to replace the exodus of academics leaving the workforce in the next 15 years," the ATN said.

SOURCE





11 May, 2009

Wow! Obama wants to EXPAND e-Verify

All indications were that Congressional Democrats wanted to kill it off -- hence the rather agonized tone in the article below

There is a stereotype of illegal immigrants, stealing across the border into the United States, hoping for jobs -- and getting hired by unscrupulous employers looking for cheap labor. How much does that really happen? In the emotionally charged debate over immigration, it's hard to say.

But as one step to stop illegal hiring, the Obama administration is reportedly asking for $112 million in its new budget -- a 12 percent increase -- for E-Verify, a massive computer database that employers can use to make sure the people they hire have the legal right to take the job. "Companies want a way to be legal," said Tamara Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorks USA, a group that represents employers on immigration issues. "We're not giving them the tools to do it."

E-Verify, currently run by the Department of Homeland Security, is used by about 120,000 employers around the country. The system is voluntary, and there is no charge for companies to log on and check out job applicants. If a worker tries to get a job, an employer can go online, enter the person's name, Social Security number and other data, and find out whether the applicant is in the U.S. legally. The government says 2 million checks were run in 2006, the last year for which complete numbers are available, and preliminary answers come back in 3 to 5 seconds.

At least, that's the idea. In reality, companies, government officials and advocates for immigrants' rights say E-Verify needs work. "If you're looking at it as an immigration enforcement tool, this is not the answer," said Tyler Moran, Employment Policy Director for the National Immigration Law Center, a group that says it stands for the rights of low-income immigrants.

Moran and others say the system is not up to the task of screening thousands or millions of people, and employers often misuse it, either to get around government regulations or because they don't understand what they're doing. "Right now it's only used by a bit more than 1 percent of the country's employers," Moran said. "That's pretty small. We don't know what would happen if it were expanded rapidly."

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, the ranking Republican on the House Immigration Subcommittee, defended E-Verify, arguing that if illegal immigrants know they'll be stopped when they apply for jobs in the U.S., they'll have less incentive to sneak into the country. "In these tough economic times, no American jobs should go to illegal immigrants," King said in a statement. "E-Verify is a quick and easy system that shuts off the illegal worker jobs magnet and provides employers with a way to verify that their employees are legal to work. Americans cannot afford to lose more jobs to illegal workers. The American people want this Administration to enforce existing immigration laws and protect American workers by using the E-Verify system."

Few companies contacted by ABC News were willing to talk on the record about their experiences with E-Verify. For instance, the giant poultry company Perdue sent the following statement: "We are doing all that the law allows to verify each applicant's identity and employment eligibility. If we find that an associate has presented false information on an employment application, that person will be immediately terminated." Perdue confirmed it uses E-Verify, but referred questions to Jacoby at ImmigrationWorks USA.

"There are still glitches in it," Jacoby told ABC News. "That said, some system like this is absolutely imperative for a working immigration system."

As the administration expands the system, the pressure is on to make it work -- a fact that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano acknowledged in Senate testimony on Wednesday. "I believe E-Verify is very important and must be an integral part of immigration enforcement moving forward," Napolitano said. "So we know that, with incentives and otherwise, E-Verify can really make a difference. We are committed to making it better."

SOURCE



SCOTUS has a brain fart

I understand that the judgment turned on the basic judicial principle of the importance of intent. But since the intent to defraud was clearly there, I fail to see why that had any meliorative force on this occasion

According to a recent Associated Press story, "Court rules for immigrant in ID theft case" (dated 04 May 2009), the Supreme Court decided that the identity theft of someone else's Social Security number that Flores-Figueroa had used wasn't really a crime because the guy didn't know that "the number belonged to a real person".

What country am I living in? I thought it was one where the fraudulent use of any Social Security number was a felony crime, that included using a number already assigned to a person (living or dead) or a made up number.

Imagine being in Amanda Bien's shoes when she got a letter from the IRS in February of last year, demanding $3000.00 in unpaid back taxes. These taxes were from five jobs in other states that she had never worked at. The culprit was a 28-year old illegal alien who worked at a Taco Bell, a Wendy's, two different Target stores, and then at Engineered Air in Desoto, Kansas, where he was finally arrested. The person pretending to be Amanda Bien and using Amanda's SS number was Rocio Diaz Cano.

Then there was a teenager who applied for his first job. When he got his first paycheck, he found that part of his wages were being garnished for child support because someone else, some deadbeat dad, had been using his Social Security number.

According to Social Security about 75% of illegal aliens use fraudulent social security numbers in order to gain employment. In the state of Utah alone, one million children have their SS numbers used by illegal aliens.

Using a made up SS number that currently doesn't exist may not seem like an important issue but it is. Sooner or later such a number will be issued to a real person by the Social Security administration.

Imagine a child already having bad credit, a tax liability, and a work history and the kid hasn't even learned to walk yet. What happens later on when that child grows up into a teenager or a young adult and tries to buy his or her first car with a bad credit history already attached to the SS number? What happens when that person tries to get a job in today's world where employers check credit ratings and work histories of potential employees?

Social Security number identity theft is touted as being a "victimless crime", but is it really? And how bad can it get? For Dublin, California resident Audra Schmierer her SS number was used by 200 illegal aliens, earning her a tax nightmare of a million dollars. Steve Millett had Abundio Perex steal his SS number with which Perez acquired 26 credit cards, a mortgage, and several car loans.

Linda Trevino applied for a job at a local Target store, but was turned down because, according to their records, someone with the same SS number was already working there. And the problem didn't stop there; she had to contend with bills and creditors that weren't hers. The government wanted her to pay back the unemployment that she had collected while her SS number was working, and then there was the nightmare of the IRS wanting money for unpaid taxes on income she never had earned.

How bad can the problem be? According to immigrationcounters.com there are 22 plus million illegal aliens in this country (some other sources cite numbers as low as 12 million or as high as 30 million, but many sources agree that the estimates are grossly understated), and those who work the "over-the-table" jobs, requiring documentation for employment, commit the felony crime of ID fraud/theft.

It's estimated that nine to ten million people each year become victims of ID theft. The states that are hit the hardest are Arizona, California, and Texas.

In 2007, Arizona had a reported 293,500 victims of ID theft, costing $147 million dollars and 1.2 million hours to recover and repair. In Arizona, 19% of the victims of these ID thefts were children.

In California, in 2007, 1.5 million people fell victim to ID theft, and it had cost $749 million dollars and 6 million hours to recover and repair the damages. In Texas, in 2007, 880,400 individuals became victims to ID theft, costing 3.5 million hours and $435.7 million dollars to fix. Between 01 Jan 2002 to 31 Dec 2007, it was estimated that 20% of the population (64% of households) were hit with ID thefts.

In an immigration raid at a Smithfield Foods plant in the Bladen County town of Tar Heel, 86% of the arrested workers were found to have stolen identities. In a raid of a Tyson Foods plant, federal agents found one manager had requested roughly 500 illegal workers with photo IDs and Social Security cards.

To compound the problem, some Social Security numbers don't get stolen once and used, they get passed around families and neighborhoods, or sold over and over again. Some may consider a possible benefit to contributions to Social Security accounts; however, money from mismatched numbers and names goes into the Earnings Suspense File, and those whose names and SS numbers are stolen risk losing their Social Security benefits when the thief starts collecting them.

To be fair, illegal aliens aren't guilty of all the ID thefts that occur. Some are American citizens who steal the identities of other Americans, and there are even parents who steal the identities of their children in order to commit fraud, but the bulk of the problem is tied into our problem of illegal aliens.

The unanimous decision favoring Flores-Figueroa by the Supreme Court last Monday sets a precedent that'll worsen the problem. Identity theft is a felony crime which is punishable by five to thirty years of prison. A piece of legislature that was passed during the Bush administration had made mandatory the additional sentencing of two years to existing sentences of arrested and prosecuted illegal aliens. Now these felons have the golden opportunity of getting away with stealing someone's identity simply by claiming they didn't know the number they were using belonged to a real person.

Each and every one of those judges should be forced to resign their posts. What were they thinking? Certainly not about the welfare of the citizens of this country. Certainly not about the lives that get destroyed because some employers want cheap labor.

SOURCE





10 May, 2009

Immigration and Self-Preservation

by Mike Adams

I will be the first to admit to being annoyed by automated phone instructions that direct me to press “one” for English and “two” for Spanish. It is more than a minor inconvenience. It is a matter of principle. If immigrants are to make a meaningful contribution to society they must do a little work before they are given all of society’s benefits. That includes taking the time to learn English. It’s the same logic that was used to put me through a semester of pledging before being admitted to the ranks of the Sigma Chi fraternity in 1986.

But the statist says he does not want American institutions to teach immigrants our language, our history, and our culture. He says he does not want to do so because of his commitment to the religion of moral relativism. He says that to do so would send the wrong message that American culture is somehow better than other cultures.

Of course, the statist is being less than truthful. The very fact that we are flooded with immigrants shows that we are superior to other countries like Mexico. The fact that past nations like East Germany have had to build walls to keep people in, not out, shows they are aware of their inferiority. We don’t need to worry about hurting their collective feelings.

So the statist may as well admit that it is not out of principle – as if moral relativism can, indeed, be principled – that he makes immigration so easy. The reason is one of raw power. He wants more votes in order to advance the statist agenda.

The statist may, from time to time, claim that his stance on immigration is pragmatic rather than principled. This is at best an unprincipled distortion of the truth. He cannot claim that amnesty is a “solution” to the “problem” of filling low wage jobs that poor people will not fill. It is his stance on immigration that drives down wages in the first place. Surely one cannot claim credit for solving the problems he created himself.

It is hardly surprising that the statist mentality leads not just to a desire to erode borders but, also, to a desire to erode our national defense. Those who are unwilling to see our nation as superior are hardly in a position to argue for military superiority. The same mentality that leads to faith in moral relativism leads to faith in the United Nations. But George Washington saw things differently. In 1793, he said the following:

There is a rank due to the United States among nations which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war.

At a time when America is flirting with statist policies, other nations are moving beyond their own borders in search of resources, which, if obtained, could drastically change our standing in the world. Russia is claiming the North Pole as its own in order to obtain more oil. China is making contracts with Latin America in pursuit of the same goal.

Meanwhile, the statist is unconcerned. America is only five percent of the world’s population. But it consumes twenty-five percent of the world’s energy supply. The statist “solution” to the “problem” of such global inequality is to make America poorer.

This statist mentality is so pervasive that it threatens our economy, our national security, and every aspect of our individual liberty. Its advance has been made possible, not just by Democrats, but also by unprincipled Republicans. Herbert Hoover made FDR’s New Deal possible with protectionist policies following the stock market crash of 1929.

George W. Bush has similarly enabled President Obama with his TARP policies of 2008. His statement that he “abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system” will live in infamy. It has secured his place in history as the Republican Jimmy Carter – a president so inept that he took down an entire party for a whole generation.

But thank God groups like the Young America’s Foundation and the Leadership Institute are working to produce a new generation of conservatives who will help rebuild this nation based on conservative principles. And thank God Mark Levin has written Liberty and Tyranny to show them just how to do it. I believe Mark Levin is correct in asserting that we must limit the Supreme Court’s judicial review power. We must do so by establishing legislative veto power over Court decisions with a supermajority vote of both houses of Congress. That would be more in line with the Framers intent than the status quo. I believe Mark Levin is also right in asserting that we must end the monopoly of government education by applying anti-trust laws to the National Education Association. We must do the same for the American Federation of Teachers.

Whatever we do, we must act soon. For, it was Ronald Reagan who warned us: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our grandchildren what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

SOURCE



Feds ready to build “virtual” fence along border

What a joke! The one tried during the Bush admin was a failure. If this is what is meant by Obama's "new attitude" to border control, it is a paper tiger, to put it politely

Federal officials say they're ready to begin building a "virtual fence" along the U.S.-Mexico border.

They expect it to cover nearly the entire 2,000-mile boundary within five years.

The executive director of the Homeland Security Department's Secure Border Initiative program said that construction could start within weeks.

The first towers holding sensors, cameras and communications gear to detect drug smugglers and illegal immigrants will be built along 53 miles of Arizona's border with Mexico. Towers on the remaining 320 miles of the state's southern border will follow.

Project director Mark Borkowski says New Mexico will get virtual fencing next, followed by California and most of Texas.

SOURCE





9 May, 2009

Gurkhas angry as British test cases snubbed

It is only huge public anger that gets a semblance of decency out of Britain's "compassionate" Leftist government. There is enormous admiration for the Gurkhas in Britain -- but not in the British government

Gurkha campaigners have voiced anger after test cases for retired Nepalese fighters to settle in Britain were rejected -- although the government hastily stepped in to try to reassure them. In a new embarrassment for Prime Minister Gordon Brown over the rights of the veteran soldiers, his immigration minister was forced to take to the airwaves at short notice to defuse the campaigners' fury on Thursday.

The snub to the Gurkhas came a day after Brown vowed to forge new plans within a month after the shock rejection by lawmakers last week of government's proposals to let only a limited number settle. Under the current rules, Britain would give residency rights to only 4,300 ex-Gurkhas, falling short of demands that they be granted to all 36,000 Nepalese ex-soldiers who served with the British army before 1997.

Indian-born British actress Joanna Lumley said after meeting Brown on Wednesday she believed she could trust him, and that the Gurkhas were counting on him to help them. But on Thursday it emerged that five Gurkhas -- including veterans of the Falklands and Gulf wars as well as the widow of another Gurkha soldier -- had had their applications to remain in Britain rejected by the government. "We trusted the prime minister to take charge of the situation. This is an outrage and a disgrace," said a spokesman for the campaign in an initial reaction.

The rejected applications were for Falklands veteran Lance Corporal Gyanendra Rai, as well as two other veterans, Deo Prakash Limbu and Chakra Prasad Limbu, and a Gurkha widow. But minutes before Lumley was due to hold a press conference to voice her ire, immigration minister Phil Woolas appeared on news channels to say the five Gurkha veterans had not been definitively rejected. He claimed the letters sent to the old soldiers said they had been rejected under current guidelines, but reassured them their cases would be reviewed under new rules to be decided by July.

In fast-moving developments, he then held impromptu talks with Lumley, before appearing at a hastily-arranged joint press conference with her at which the tension was palpable. "There are new guidelines coming forward and no action will be taken until those guidelines are in place," Woolas said, while Lumley explained she had been contacted by the prime minister's office, surprised at the rejections. "I am confident, and I can give you reassurance, that these cases will be settled in favour of the Gurkhas," the minister told Sky News television.

The government has argued that the cost of bowing to the Gurkhas' demands "could well run into billions of pounds". But lawmakers, including some from Brown's ruling Labour Party, dealt a shock defeat to the plans in parliament last week, forcing the government to think again.

About 200,000 Gurkhas fought for Britain in the two world wars and more than 45,000 died in British uniform. About 3,500 Gurkhas currently serve in the British army, including in Afghanistan.

SOURCE



Obama reverses stance on immigration

Or does he? Only time will tell. It is encouraging that he seems finally to have got the need for border control into his thick skull, however. Depend on it that he WON'T achieve border security, though. He hasn't got what it takes for that. Actual TOUGHNESS would be needed for that, not high-flown but empty talk designed to please everyone.

On the thorniest of political issues, President Obama has embraced the enforcement-first position on immigration that he criticized during last year's presidential campaign, and he now says he can't move forward with the type of comprehensive bill he wants until voters are convinced that the borders can be enforced.

Having already backed off his pledge to have an immigration bill this year, Mr. Obama boosted his commitment to enforcement in the budget released Thursday. The spending blueprint calls for extra money to build an employee-verification system and to pay for more personnel and equipment to patrol the border.

This security-first stance is not unlike that of President George W. Bush, Bush Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, who said their immigration bill failed in 2007 because voters didn't trust the government to be serious about enforcement. "If the American people don't feel like you can secure the borders," Mr. Obama said at his press conference last week, "then it's hard to strike a deal that would get people out of the shadows and on a pathway to citizenship who are already here, because the attitude of the average American is going to be, 'Well, you're just going to have hundreds of thousands of more coming in each year.' "

Republicans say the shift is a sign that Mr. Obama, who during the campaign repeatedly called the issue a priority, is uncertain how to move forward. "I don't think Barack Obama understands the immigration issue. I don't know that he has spoken about it in any depth during his entire political career," said Rep. Steve King of Iowa, the top Republican on the House Judiciary subcommittee that handles immigration. "I think he's finding his position, and I think that's why we're getting these moving positions."

Immigration questions dog Mr. Obama. He was asked about the issue at a town hall in California and has been prodded by Spanish-language reporters, to whom he has given plenty of access. But so far, even as he puts off a target date for signing a comprehensive bill, he has kept the support of immigrant rights groups, who applaud his changes at the Department of Homeland Security and say he's still committed to their top priority - a bill that would legalize most illegal immigrants. "Given all the givens - you can't look at any one priority in isolation - he's made a decent start," said Angela M. Kelley, who used to be director of the Immigration Policy Center and is now vice president for immigration issues at the Center for American Progress. But, she said, he will need to show some progress before the year is out. "The president needs to help Congress steer this issue, so there has be a pretty clear road map that he's stating publicly about how he wants us to proceed, and then have the internal workings of the White House support what he says publicly," she said.

The 2007 bill was blocked in the Senate by a bipartisan filibuster, but Republicans provided most of the "no" votes and took most of the blame. Even with expanded Democratic majorities and a sense among immigrant-rights groups that voters' attitudes on the issue have shifted in their favor, Mr. Obama still will have to win Republican votes. Mr. King said that math may be part of the reason why the president is now talking about enforcement. "It looks to me that Obama has a clear instinct to lurch as hard to the left as possible, but I think he also recognizes now there are some real limitations to what you can do because you've still got to get 60 votes in the Senate," Mr. King said.

Last summer, as a candidate, Mr. Obama said stepped-up enforcement had to be coupled with rewriting immigration rules and giving both instant legal status and an eventual path to citizenship for most illegal immigrants who are willing to pay a fine and learn English. He also told the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials that comprehensive immigration - the term backers use for a bill that includes legalizing illegal immigrants - would be "a priority I will pursue from my very first day."

But last month, on Univision's "Al Punto" Sunday political talk show, host Jorge Ramos tried to pin down Mr. Obama on his campaign "guarantee" that "we will have, in the first year, an immigration bill that I strongly support." "You are absolutely right, the economic crisis has meant that I have been putting a lot on Congress' plate," Mr. Obama told Mr. Ramos, according to Univision's transcript. "So what that's meant is that just in terms of the calendar, I can't guarantee that I will have a bill on my desk before the end of the year."

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was asked whether Americans have enough confidence in border security. "It depends on who you ask and when," she said.

Those who want to see stricter limits on immigration say they have been amazed at how much leeway Mr. Obama is being given by immigrant rights groups who have been harshly critical of calls for enforcement first. "I'm just surprised at how muted the reaction has been to Obama's complete lack of action on immigration," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, who said immigrant rights groups are giving Mr. Obama "a lot more slack than they would have given a President McCain."

Earlier this year Mr. McCain told The Washington Times that immigrant rights supporters were mistaken if they thought Mr. Obama's promise to conduct meetings meant they will see a bill. "I was fascinated the Hispanic Caucus came out all excited - 'Hey, he said we're going to have forums and meetings and conferences on it' - is there somebody that doesn't understand the issue of immigration? So if the president wants to lead and make a proposal on comprehensive immigration reform with the principle of securing our borders first, then I'm ready to join in. But the president has to lead," Mr. McCain said.

SOURCE





8 May, 2009

Britain's dumb border control again

They catch illegals arriving and then send them to a place where they can just walk right out the door.

Organised criminal gangs have exploited a children's home beside Heathrow airport for the systematic trafficking of Chinese children to work in prostitution and the drugs trade across Britain, a secret immigration document reveals.

The intelligence report from the Border and Immigration Agency, obtained by the Guardian, shows how a 59-bed local authority block has been used as a clearing house for a trade in children that stretches across four continents. At least 77 Chinese children have gone missing since March 2006 from the home, operated by the London borough of Hillingdon. Only four have been found. Two girls returned after a year of exploitation in brothels in the Midlands. One was pregnant while the other had been surgically fitted with a contraceptive device in her arm. Others are coerced with physical threats to work as street-sellers of counterfeit goods. It is thought that many work in cannabis farms.

The report, marked "restricted", reveals that victims of a trafficking network that has agents based as far apart as China, Brazil, Japan, Malaysia and Kenya arrive at the home just outside the airport perimeter, only to disappear almost immediately. It states: "The absconding may be at the facilitation of organised crime groups and the children may then be exploited for financial gain."

The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, is facing calls from the opposition to explain how the home came to be exploited by traffickers. "This report appears to highlight a scandalous situation in our immigration system," said the shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling. "To have such a large number of children going missing when they are supposed to be in care is unacceptable. We need an urgent explanation from the home secretary."

The report, by the immigration agency's national intelligence unit, was passed to the Guardian by a source concerned that too little action was being taken to tackle the problem. It says Chinese children arrive alone on flights to Heathrow before they are picked up by border officials and taken into local authority care. In two thirds of cases, they disappear quickly – most within a week and many within 24 hours. Many flee during fire drills and 10 have jumped out of windows. Others simply walk out of the front door into waiting cars.

Hillingdon council said the disappearances seemed "planned and coordinated" by criminal gangs. "They were being trafficked and there has been organised movement through the facility," said Julian Worcester, the deputy director of children's services. He said the number of Chinese children coming through Heathrow had declined recently as a result of attempts to disrupt the networks, but the most recent figures show the problem remains. Between April and December 2008, 13 of the 41 Chinese children taken into care in Hillingdon disappeared.

"There is still a large proportion who go missing but the total numbers are going down," said Worcester. "As a result of coordinated action, Heathrow is now seen as a more difficult airport to traffic people through. We think some of the activity has been displaced to other airports, in particular Stansted in Essex and Manchester." There is no suggestion that anyone involved in the administration of the home is responsible for aiding the traffickers. Other residents have fled situations in troubled countries, including Iraq and Somalia, and have not been trafficked.

Chinese children now account for a quarter of all suspected trafficking cases involving under 18s.

MPs and campaign groups are increasingly concerned at the number of suspected victims of trafficking who are going missing from local authority care. Last week, the Home Office's child exploitation and online protection centre said one in five suspected victims of child trafficking were missing from care. "The Hillingdon experience is of such national significance that it cannot be swept under the carpet," said Christine Beddoe, the chief executive of Ecpat UK, a charity that campaigns against child trafficking. "We have been calling on government for an inquiry into missing children for years. Every year we are ignored, hundreds more children are being exploited. Does it require another death like Victoria Climbié for the government to act?"

Minutes of a recent meeting about Chinese child trafficking attended by officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the UK Human Trafficking Centre revealed a "lack of will to deal with child trafficking cases" among police child abuse investigation teams.

Ping Hayward, the director of the Chinese Community Centre in London, said: "This is a hidden and underground part of Chinese life."

SOURCE



Australia: Border security to get $500m boost in 2009 budget

What's the point if when you catch illegals you treat them as honoured guests? Australias Leftist government "punishes" them when they arrive by giving them money to go shopping and will listen sympathetically to any pack of lies. I kid you not: Money to go shopping is one of the first things they get when they arrive, plus better accommodation than they have ever had before. John Howard used to just send them to jail

BORDER security is expected to get up to $500 million in funding in next Tuesday's federal budget. Since the Rudd government abolished temporary protection visas last August, 18 vessels of asylum seekers have been intercepted in Australian waters. This has led to opposition claims that the government's border protection policy has failed.

The government will outline a Regional Action Plan which could receive between $200 million and $500 million in anti-people smuggling measures, The Australian reports. The funding is expected to finance more boats and aircraft, training for border-control staff and extra Australian Federal Police (AFP) in the south-east Asia region.

The AFP is tipped to get an extra $80 million for counter-terrorism measures overseas.

SOURCE





7 May, 2009

Named and publicized: The 16 barred from Britain

We read:

"Sixteen people banned from entering the UK were "named and shamed" by the Home Office today. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she decided to make public the names of 16 people banned since October so others could better understand what sort of behaviour Britain was not prepared to tolerate. The list includes hate preachers, anti-gay protesters and a far- right US talk show host.

"I think it's important that people understand the sorts of values and sorts of standards that we have here, the fact that it's a privilege to come and the sort of things that mean you won't be welcome in this country," Ms Smith told GMTV. "Coming to this country is a privilege. If you can't live by the rules that we live by, the standards and the values that we live by, we should exclude you from this country and, what's more, now we will make public those people that we have excluded.

"We are publishing the names of 16 of those that we have excluded since October. We are telling people who they are and why it is we don't want them in this country." She said the number of people excluded from Britain had risen from an average of two a month to five a month since October.

The list of the 16 "least wanted" includes radio talk show host Michael Savage, real name Michael Weiner. "This is someone who has fallen into the category of fomenting hatred, of such extreme views and expressing them in such a way that it is actually likely to cause inter-community tension or even violence if that person were allowed into the country," Ms Smith told BBC Breakfast.

Also named are American Baptist pastor Fred Waldron Phelps Snr and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, who have picketed the funerals of Aids victims and claimed the deaths of US soldiers are a punishment for US tolerance of homosexuality. Hamas MP Yunis Al-Astal, Jewish extremist Mike Guzovsky, former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard Stephen Donald Black and neo-Nazi Erich Gliebe are also on the list released today.

Source

There is nothing wrong with this in principle. If I am entitled to say who is allowed to enter my house, surely a nation has a right to say who will enter it.

That the aim seems to be to suppress certain speech is however disturbing, but not as disturbing as it once would have been. I would guess that this ban is the best free advertising these guys could have got. Young people are inherently rebellious and many will resent attempts to hide things from them. And these days it takes only a few minutes on the net to find out all that these guys stand for. The British government has just given them all a huge boost towards getting their ideas out.



Some boatpeople seeking asylum in Australia for the second time

They know that everything has changed and that the new Leftist government will "punish" them by giving them money to go shopping and will listen sympathetically to any pack of lies. I kid you not: Money to go shopping is one of the first things they get when they arrive, plus better accommodation than they have ever had before

At least a dozen of the asylum seekers who have arrived in the current wave of boatpeople are return visitors, some having been granted temporary protection visas and others having been rejected after arriving on the now-infamous MV Tampa. Figures supplied by the Immigration Department revealed that between October and January, four of those who arrived by boat had been in Australia previously on temporary protection visas. The figures will reignite the debate about the effectiveness of the controversial visa scheme, which the federal Government abandoned but which the Coalition has suggested should be restored.

A further five boatpeople in the recent influx had been detained on Nauru as part of the now-defunct Pacific Solution and were voluntarily repatriated after their claims for protection failed. Of those five, four had sailed for Australia and been rescued by Norwegian freighter MV Tampa, which arrived in Australian waters in 2001, becoming a flashpoint election issue and leading to the Howard government creating the Pacific Solution of offshore processing centres.

The department revealed yesterday that since January, a further three boatpeople who had arrived were known to have either been in Australia previously or been detained on Nauru. The figures mean that at least 12 of the asylum seekers to have journeyed to Australia in the current wave of arrivals have tried, or succeeded, in coming to Australia before. A spokeswoman for the Immigration Department said last night it was possible the number could climb because some of the 231 asylum seekers who had arrived in Australia since January had still to be processed.

There have been 17 unauthorised boat arrivals since the Government announced in August a softening of detention policies.

The Coalition has said changes to Australian policy, in particular the abolition of TPVs, have contributed to the spike by conveying the impression Australia is now a soft touch. TPVs allowed asylum seekers to stay in Australia for three years, requiring them to demonstrate a need for protection on an ongoing basis. They were abolished in May last year, fulfilling an election pledge by Labor.

Malcolm Turnbull has said given the current surge, the Government must consider restoring the controversial visa. But he has stopped short of committing the Coalition to such a move amid fears it could reopen a damaging rift in his party between moderates, who opposed the visa - and hardliners. The Government has rejected the Coalition's arguments, saying a worldwide surge in refugees is behind the recent influx.

Yesterday, Refugee Council president John Gibson said it was difficult to know exactly why refugees might have chosen to leave Australia without assessing their individual cases. But he suggested one reason might be the visas themselves. "There have been some cases where people have been given protection but have returned home out of concern for their families," Mr Gibson told The Australian. "One of the causal functions in the increase in the number of people aboard the boats was the fact that TPVs didn't allow family reunions."

Opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone said the Coalition would be watching the processing of two-time asylum seekers very closely. "If they haven't experienced extreme trauma in the intervening years since their first rejection, then the Coalition will demand to know how the criteria for refugee selection has changed," Dr Stone told The Australian.

Mr Gibson said a change in the political or physical situation in a refugee's home country might also account for a decision to return or reapply.

SOURCE





6 May, 2009

CIS roundup

1. Man-Averted Disaster

The five Muslim immigrants who'd plotted to kill American soldiers at Ft. Dix in New Jersey have been sentenced, four to life and one to 33 years. I wrote a while back on how the many weaknesses in our immigration system contributed to this conspiracy.

********

2. Trends in Immigrant and Native Employment

Excerpt: This report finds that immigrants have been hit somewhat harder by the current recession than have native-born Americans. Immigrants (legal and illegal) now have significantly higher unemployment than natives. This represents a change from the recent past, when native-born Americans typically had higher unemployment rates. The picture is complex, with the least and most educated immigrants experiencing the largest increases in unemployment relative to natives. However, the least educated immigrants still have a lower unemployment rate than their native-born counter parts. (All figures in this report are seasonally unadjusted).

********

3. No 9/11 Hijackers Came Through Canada, But That Doesn't Mean Canada Is Terrorist-Free

Excerpt: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano's April 20, 2009, comment agreeing with a reporter that the 9/11 hijackers entered the U.S. from Canada was more than a minor gaffe. It was a serious blunder. Whether or not the Canadian press was baiting the DHS Secretary is irrelevant; what is relevant is that any DHS Secretary who fails to have sufficient grounding in the facts surrounding 9/11 – the most serious breach of our homeland security in history – to refute the press upfront is raising serious questions about this administration's interest in actual homeland security, versus some other agenda.

Ignorance, Ms. Secretary, is definitely not bliss. Magnifying the blunder is that Secretary Napolitano has made clear through her statements and actions up to this point that she has little interest in 9/11 or in the 9/11 Commission's findings and recommendations. Review her comments and there is no reference anywhere. Offensive, perhaps, to 9/11 victims and lessons learned? Counterproductive, perhaps, to U.S. national and economic security?

********

4. I Wonder Why This Didn't Get Any Press?

Excerpt: The threat was a handwritten letter in Spanish threatening judicial and law enforcement officers with the bombs with the 'intent to kill the most number of Americans,' according to a press release.

********

5. Heckuva Job, Alan!

Excerpt: Alan Greenspan, whose unswerving opposition to financial regulation as Fed Chairman steered the national economy steadily toward the abyss, has been invited to share his thoughts about immigration with the Senate. Greenspan heads the witness list for Thursday's immigration subcommittee hearing titled 'Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2009; Can We Do It and How?'

********

6. Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems

Excerpt: A newly released consultant‘s report on the admission of illegal aliens to the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) stresses small scale financial gains for the system and debatable benefits of ‘access’, as opposed to the rule of law and the interests of citizens and legal residents of the state.

********

7. It's Always a Great Time to Have an Amnesty!

Excerpt: Well, that's what I thought of when I read the recent Wall Street Journal column, 'We Need an Immigration Stimulus' an economic downturn is the right time to move on immigration, one of the few policy tools that could clearly boost growth.' Spoken like the thankless real-estate agent trying to sell this house in Detroit.

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 www.cis.org



Each illegal immigrant costs Britain a million pounds, says study as Government faces calls for amnesty

At least America's Hispanic illegals mostly work. In Britain a majority of illegals are complete parasites on working Britons

An amnesty allowing illegal immigrants to stay in Britain would cost taxpayers 1 million pounds for each newcomer, a shocking new report revealed today. The massive sum reflects the costs of handouts and other state services provided over the lifetime of the average immigrant. The figure would also apply to many of those who have already been granted asylum in Britain, according to campaign group Migrationwatch which commissioned the study.

Their revelation came as thousands of churchgoers, trade unionists and charity workers today prepared to rally in London in support of an ‘earned amnesty’ for 450,000 foreigners. The coalition argues that providing permanent residency for those long-term illegal immigrants who meet certain conditions – roughly half the total – would bring in more than 1billion of tax a year.

But Migrationwatch warned that such an amnesty would overburden the public purse during a recession and only tempt more migrants into the country. ‘Our calculations show the numbers are truly enormous, adding an unacceptable – and entirely unnecessary - burden to the nation’s balance sheet,’ said the group’s chairman Sir Andrew Green. ‘It is clear that not only is rewarding illegal behaviour wrong in principle but the experience of Spain and Italy shows conclusively that it encourages even more illegal immigration in anticipation of future amnesties. ‘This is a ridiculous proposal which is bound to increase illegal immigration rather than reduce it. It is also a shocking waste of public money at a time when we can least afford it.’

To calculate the individual cost of each granting asylum, Migrationwatch researchers set the tax and National Insurance paid by immigrants against their demands on state funds. The research is based on a married 25-year-old, married with two children, who earned the minimum wage and lived in private rented housing, retired at 65 and lived until 80. The major component of the costings is Housing Benefit.

An immigrant couple living on the minimum wages who then retire on Pension Credit, will receive Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit throughout their working life and throughout their retirement. The total Housing Benefit they receive will be 291,000 plus a further 19,000 pounds in Council Tax Benefit. In London, where some 70 per cent of illegal immigrants are believed to live, the costs are even greater. As rents are considerably higher in the capital the total lifetime costs for a two child family resident in London is 1.1million, of which 505,000 is Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

‘Clearly some of these immigrants will already be married, or will not marry, and some will work above the minimum wage so that their Housing Benefit will be lower,’ said Sir Andrew, a former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia. ‘On the other hand some may have families of more than two children, thereby attracting more Child Benefit and Child Tax Credits. ‘Also they may be unemployed – immigrants are, on average, more likely to be economically inactive than the UK population as a whole.’ Compared with the UK average of 22 per cent of the working age population being economically inactive, the rate among Somali, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Iranian immigrants respectively is 81 per cent, 56 per cent, 55 per cent and 48 per cent.

Campaigners gathering in support of granting asylum to illegal immigrants will be heartened by London Mayor Boris Johnson’s comments that providing amnesty would be ‘morally right’. Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Christians from other denominations will attend services in the capital – where two thirds of immigrants live - before taking part in a rally in Trafalgar Square as part of the Strangers into Citizens day of action. High-profile church supporters include Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, who steps down later this month as leader of Catholics in England and Wales and his successor as Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols.

Neil Jameson, co-ordinator of the campaign, said: ‘The current government strategy of imposing heavy fines and document checks on employers as well as deporting families is an inhumane, costly, and complicated way to tackle irregular migration. ‘We propose that those who have been here for four or more years should be admitted to a two-year pathway to full legal rights during which they work legally and demonstrate their contribution to UK economy and society. ‘Combined with the current border-tightening measures, our policy will reduce illegal immigration, and British society will be the winner.’

Migrationwatch’s claims were also dismissed by the organisers of the rally. ‘Neither Sir Andrew Green nor I are economists,’ said Dr Austen Ivereigh, Strangers into Citizens’ director of policy. ‘So we should defer to those who are. And they are agreed that a Spanish-style regularisation, as advocated by President Obama, has great economic benefits. ‘In the case of Spain in 2005, the measure paid for itself many times over in new social security and tax revenues.’

Spanish authorities let 44,000 settle under an amnesty in 1985, but when the exercise was repeated in 2005 the figure soared to 700,000.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: ‘Our policy on an amnesty for illegal immigrants remains unchanged and is very clear. ‘Those here illegally should go home, not go to the front of the queue for jobs and benefits. ‘We have a proud tradition of offering sanctuary to those who truly need our help, but to grant an amnesty would be likely to create a significant pull factor to the UK and would undermine the asylum system as a whole.’

SOURCE





5 May, 2009

Tamil asylum seekers can stay in Britain after threatening to commit suicide if deported

Most Tamils live in India so they could go to India in perfect safety

Two Tamil asylum seekers have won the right to stay in Britain after they threatened to commit suicide if deported. Three Appeal Court judges ruled that sending the brother and sister back to Sri Lanka to kill themselves would breach their human rights.

But Home Office ministers are furious at the ruling, which they fear will become a precedent offering an easy way for any would-be refugee or illegal immigrant to stay in the UK. Until now, the courts have considered the likelihood of torture or mistreatment when ruling on deportation cases - rather than a deportee's own fears and state of mind. Immigration minister Phil Woolas claimed the judgment 'defied common sense' and said he would appeal to the House of Lords.

The Tamils, who have not been named, arrived in Britain in 2003 claiming they had been raped and tortured in prison in Sri Lanka as a result of the decades-long civil war between the government and Tamil separatists. Their claim for refugee status was rejected but they have battled deportation ever since and won a ground-breaking victory in the Appeal Court last week. Lord Justice Sedley, Lady Justice Arden and Lord Justice Moses ruled that sending them home would breach their right to life in the European Convention on Human Rights.

The news comes as thousands are expected to attend a rally in Trafalgar Square today calling for an amnesty for illegal foreign workers.

The Home Office maintains that the siblings could safely travel back to Sri Lanka, and that their threat of suicide is based on a 'subjective fear' of mistreatment. But three Appeal Court judges accepted that if the man and woman were deported then their 'only perceived means of escape' from their situation would be to take their own lives - meaning that sending them home would breach their right to life under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Lord Justice Sedley, sitting with Lady Justice Arden and Lord Justice Moses, said: 'Hope can alleviate intolerable stress. Take away hope and stress may become unbearable. 'Lifting the threat of removal would remove one of the principal sources of depression.'

Britain's courts have until now considered similar deportation legal battles on the facts relating to conditions in the country in question, and the likelihood of torture or mistreatment - rather than a deportee's own fears and state of mind. By taking the threat of suicide into account the Appeal Court has apparently torn up that principle, attaching far greater legal weight to the deportee's belief about the danger they might face in their homeland.

Phil Woolas said: 'We will appeal and consider our legal options. 'The judgement goes well beyond the intention of Parliament and defies common sense.' Britain already struggles to enforce deportations in many cases due to human rights laws, with removals often delayed for years by challenges grinding through the courts. Abu Qatada, the man described as Osama bin Laden's ambassador to Europe, is fighting against his deportation to Jordan by claiming that he faces torture or death.

Details of the latest case emerged as the Government came under further pressure to allow an amnesty for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants living in Britain. Thousands of people are expected to attend a rally in Trafalgar Square today supporting the 'Strangers into Citizens' campaign, calling for an 'earned amnesty' for illegal foreign workers in the UK - whose number are estimated at between 500,000 and 950,000. They claim 'regularising' the status of illegal immigrants would increase tax revenues by £1billion a year and prevent exploitation.

But opponents claim similar amnesties in other countries have simply attracted even greater numbers of illegal immigrants who arrive in expectation of another amnesty in future.

SOURCE



Australia: Illegal immigrants who overstay visas will no longer be put in detention camps

Instead they will be invited in for chat and given coffee -- I kid you not

ILLEGAL immigrants will no longer be locked up and deported when caught by authorities, in a major softening of immigration procedures. Instead, people who overstay their visas will be invited into an immigration office and could even get temporary bridging visas. Immigration officers have been instructed not to detain visa violators unless they are known to be violent criminals or have previously been instructed to leave.

Until last week, illegal foreigners were immediately detained at detention centres and put on planes home within weeks. The new approach is in line with a general softening of immigration policy by the Rudd Government. Under the policy, officers are required to issue illegal foreigners with bridging visas and work with them to get them home. "We basically have to invite them into the office for a coffee," an insider within the department said. "They can get a couple of weeks or six months, whatever it takes to get them home without detaining them."

Mandatory detention was axed last year, but until now only asylum seekers have been allowed to live in the community. The new directive from Immigration Minister Chris Evans' office was issued to immigration officers verbally last week.

There are almost 50,000 visa overstayers living illegally in Australia. More than one in 10 is from China. Entrants from the US, Malaysia and Britain are also big overstayers. Most come in on tourist visas, but about 3600 are foreign students who disappear into the community when their course is over.

The Government has also closed down offshore processing facilities on Nauru and Manus Island.

Senator Evans' directive has divided opinion within department ranks, with some fearing the softer approach could send a dangerous message. "I guess it says people can pretty much do whatever they want now," the insider said. "They've been caught, but they can stay and go home when they want."

The move could open the floodgates for unwelcome visitors. "It certainly could be open for exploitation," the insider said. "Prisons are not nice places to be in. Many of these people are not criminals, but I guess it doesn't convey a strong message."

Senator Evans said detention would only be used as a last resort. "The presumption will be that persons will remain in the community while their immigration status is resolved," he said. "If a person is complying with immigration processes and is not a risk to the community, then detention in a detention centre cannot be justified. "The department will have to justify a decision to detain - not presume detention."

SOURCE



Australia's ever-growing flood of "boat people"

Detention renovations as island struggles with influx

OUTDOOR areas will be dormitories and dozens of bunks have been flown to Christmas Island's detention centre before the arrival of 136 asylum seekers. There are already 262 asylum seekers in various forms of detention on the remote island - the highest number since the mass arrivals that preceded the Tampa stand-off in 2001.

The surge that began last September has so far delivered 411 asylum seekers to Christmas Island, and the rise in numbers, although good for local businesses, has created an expensive challenge for the Government. Last week, the Department of Immigration reverted to bringing in staff, contractors and supplies on commercial flights to save about $70,000 it had been spending each Thursday on a charter flight from the mainland.

Since 2001, the commonwealth has invested more than $500million in detention-related infrastructure on the island, including 162 bedsits, five duplexes and two houses for staff and community detainees, but shortages are now being felt keenly. Negotiations are under way that could allow guards and staff to live at the island's mothballed 156-room casino, and the department's review of accommodation on the island has included talks over two more blocks of flats in the suburb of Poon Saan.

The department's stock of accommodation has become strained as increasing numbers of families and minors are granted community detention; last month, a group of five Sri Lankan asylum seekers was moved out of a department-owned duplex in the suburb of Drumsite and back to transportable huts on the site of the island's old detention centre to make room for new community detainees.

The old detention centre, built as a temporary measure after the Tampa incident, is also being used again by immigration officials processing asylum seekers from the adjacent family compound, which houses 41 adults and children. The compound initially had a capacity of 50, but has been adapted and has held as many as 61 in recent weeks.

The island's main detention centre now holds 193 single men and, as HMAS Tobruk prepares to deliver a further 136 people, it is being readied for what its staff term "surge capacity".

SOURCE





4 May, 2009

How immigration rules aimed at saving Britain from terrorists keep out village cricketers



Cricketers from abroad who want to play for local teams in Britain are being stopped by new rules designed to flush out terrorists and illegal immigrants. Until now, overseas players simply had to visit their local British Embassy or High Commission to satisfy officials they were entitled to a temporary UK work permit. They would produce their passport and evidence of an intention to go home again by showing a return air ticket. The process took a matter of days.

But now, under strict new rules laid down by the UK Border Agency, scores of foreign players have been unable to come to Britain in time for the new season. Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green said last night: ‘We are now in the ridiculous position where the Government can’t keep out the people we don’t want in the country, and won’t let in the people we do want. ‘The chaos in the immigration system is never ending.’

The new rules require foreign players to qualify for a temporary work visa through a new points system. They must prove they have earned at least £20,000 a year, have no criminal record and possess sufficient funds to support themselves in the UK. They must be sponsored by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and supply fingerprints to verify their identity.

The cricketers, mostly professionals in their own country, must then be interviewed by British consular officials.

Many town and village teams pay overseas professionals to turn out for them, with some of the most successful clubs able to pay their star imports thousands of pounds a game. The clubs – who are allowed to field one foreign professional each – are up in arms.

Australian professional Ryan Broad, 27, a right-hand batsman and medium-pace bowler known as ‘Dagger’, was due in the UK over a week ago to play for Bacup Cricket Club in the Lancashire League. But Broad, who is an opening batsman for Queensland, is still waiting for his application to be cleared.

Bacup’s captain Peter Killelea said: ‘Throughout the country this cricket season, many clubs will be forced to at least start the season without their chosen professional or even to do without them completely. ‘This will have devastating effects on their already precarious financial positions. I actually imagine many cricket clubs may fail to reach the end of the season.’

Thornaby Cricket Club in Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, was expecting Khurram Shezhad, a 25-year-old Pakistani batsman and right-hand spin bowler, to arrive last month to play for its first team and coach youngsters. He is still awaiting permission and will have missed five matches with Thornaby by next week. James Carter, Thornaby’s chairman, said: ‘It is hugely frustrating.’

A Border Agency spokesman said: ‘These checks are a crucial part of securing the border. They have already detected at least 5,000 false identities. We complete most applications within a week.’ [A PROMPT British bureaucracy?? Don't believe it]

SOURCE



Canada: No honour in this immigration decision

Hard to believe that federal immigration authorities, who seem to have had few qualms about allowing unsavoury types to stay in Canada in the past, would have ordered the deportation of a woman in danger of being the victim of an honour killing.

Yet, the feds were quite ready to send Mississauga hairdresser Roohi Tabassum, 44, back to Pakistan this week, despite evidence that her male relatives would kill her because her occupation involves touching men's hair.

Smuggled into Canada via the U. S. eight years ago, Tabassum's refugee claim was denied and she was told to leave Canada on Tuesday. She was given a last-minute postponement and chance for appeal in Federal Court after submitting letters from her husband which stated he and other male family members might kill her if she returned to Pakistan.

The potential for being a victim of an honour killing is something immigration authorities must take with the utmost gravity. U. S. State Department figures reveal that in 2006, 1,806 girls and women were murdered in honour killings, and 5,375 were pressured by their families to commit suicide. Canadian Forces are fighting in Afghanistan to ensure a brighter future for women's rights in that country. It would be tragically ironic if a woman in danger of having her most basic human right violated could not find the protection she needs right here in Canada.

There is no question that Tabassum should stay.

SOURCE





3 May, 2009

Arpaio supporters rally in Sun City West

On the same morning thousands gathered in Phoenix to show their disapproval for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a separate rally in the West Valley attracted supporters of the sheriff and his controversial policies toward illegal immigration. Approximately 150 people gathered at the R.H. Johnson Recreation Center in Sun City West to hear Arizona politicians and the sheriff himself speak in favor of tough immigration enforcement.

"This illegal immigration [issue] has made me the poster boy for illegal immigration enforcement," Arpaio said to the crowd. "I took an oath of office to enforce the law ... If people want to change things, why don't they change the law?"

The sheriff's speech focused on his 12 years of experience working at border and his belief that representatives from Washington were out of touch with Arizona's problems. "Most politicians don't know where Mexico is . . . We're not going to surrender to Washington on this issue," he said. "[There are] 900 square miles of this county, and I represent every inch."

Among the main opinions heard at the rally was the belief in a link between illegal immigration and problems like violence, drugs and the recent fears over swine flu, though Arpaio critics say violence has more to do with America's drug problem than immigration. Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, said a disproportionate number of illegal immigrants become involved in violent crime and drugs. Asked if he had information to support that claim, he said, "The sheriff will tell you [the statistics.] I saw them a couple weeks ago - good statistics."

Harper stressed the sheriff's immigration enforcement as a necessary complement to other types of law enforcement. "They're not just targeting illegal immigrants," he said, adding that many illegal immigrants are discovered during routine traffic stops.

Several crowd members carried American flags and signs reading, "Way to go Sheriff Joe" and "What part of illegal don't you understand?" Jennifer Self, a resident of Sun City West, came to the rally to show her concern over an issue she says frightens her. "I understand the people who want to come here and make a better life," she said. "Our family came over from Europe, but they came through the front door. "I have two grandchildren," she added. "My grandchildren aren't going to live the life I did - I fear for them."

John Chaney, another local resident, organized the event. He said the rushed timetable for the rally and only limited media coverage hurt the turnout. Several speakers during the rally questioned why no television cameras had turned out. "I think we should have had a lot more [people]," he said. However, Chaney said he was pleased with the community's support. "These people in these communities are the core supporters," he said, referring to Sun City West and Legislative District 4, which hosted the rally.

SOURCE



LA judge orders widows' green card cases reopened

It is appalling that bureaucratic delays are being used to deny women what they would otherwise be entitled to

A federal judge on Friday ordered the government to reopen the immigration cases of dozens of foreign widows whose American citizen spouses died before they could get their green cards. U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder ruled that the Department of Homeland Security could not deny the widows' applications to remain in the country legally because the agency didn't process the paperwork before their spouses died.

The class-action case is one of many lawsuits filed across the country by foreign spouses affected by the so-called "widow penalty." In recent years, U.S. authorities have denied widows' applications to remain in the country because their American spouses died before they had been married for two years — and before officials finished processing their paperwork. One woman's husband was killed in Iraq. Another's husband was killed in the line of duty for the U.S. Border Patrol.

The ruling applies to several dozen widows in Western states, and lawyers elsewhere hope it bodes well for their clients in dealings with the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services agency. "The court's decision demonstrates that it is time for CIS to end the widow's penalty nationwide," said Caryn C. Lederer, a lawyer for the New York Legal Assistance Group. The nonprofit group is suing on behalf of a Russian woman who lost her American husband 1 1/2 years after they married.

Amy Kudwa, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said Secretary Janet Napolitano has recognized the widows' predicament and asked staff to come up with a solution.

Friday's ruling follows a tentative decision issued by Snyder last month. Brent Renison, an attorney for the widows, said it applies to about 60 widows in Western states out of roughly 200 widows who face similar problems nationwide. Renison welcomed the ruling but said there's no guarantee widows will be given green cards just because their cases will be reviewed. "We got a little farther up the mountain," he said.

Snyder's ruling follows a 2006 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of a woman who had been ordered deported to South Africa after her husband was killed in a car accident. The court said she had the right to have her residency application reviewed. After the 9th Circuit ruling, immigration officials started letting widows in Western states apply to have their applications considered on humanitarian grounds as long as they could find another American citizen relative willing to provide an affidavit of financial support on their behalf.

Renison argued that the government was erecting additional barriers for widows. Snyder agreed, and ruled that the government could not require the affidavit.

Monika Monroe, a 32-year-old German makeup artist, hopes that makes the difference in her case. Her husband, Tim, whom she met on a vacation to Prague, died of a heart attack less than three months after they married. For nearly two years, Monroe said, she has found herself struggling with immigration authorities to stay in the hillside house in Los Angeles she shared with her husband and their two dogs. "I am hopeful," said Monroe, whose living room is covered with photographs of the couple embracing on a road trip up California's coast and at their Las Vegas wedding. "I feel like I have a little bit more ground under my feet, maybe I can start walking."

SOURCE





2 May, 2009

Canadian immigration opens its doors to endangered Afghan workers

This rather shows up the disgraceful British treatment nof the Gurkhas

Afghans who have worked alongside Canadian military and diplomats, risking their lives, are to be allowed to move to Canada.

Jason Kenney, the Canadian immigration minister, is introducing the humanitarian policy which will provide a safe haven for people who risk danger in their homeland through their former work with Canadian military and government.

Hundreds of Afghans are expected to benefit from the move, which goes further than the plans made by the previous government to bring over just a few injured translators.

Any ex-employee who served for 12 months and who has become injured or can prove they face danger in Afghanistan will have their Canadian visa application fast-tracked under the scheme, to which Kenney is putting the final touches. The first Afghans and their families are expected to begin to move to Canada within a few months.

However, Kenney says that his first priority will be to move people to a safer part of Afghanistan to prevent a mass exodus of moderate, educated Afghans from the country.

Kenney added, “I think Canadians would be proud to help provide refuge to those who have helped our forces, aid personnel and diplomats.

SOURCE



Australia: Old casino plan to ease Christmas Island crush

The Rudd Government is contemplating leasing Christmas Island's mothballed five-star resort casino to accommodate the number of officials needed to process the increasing population of asylum seekers on the island. The expected arrival on Saturday of a further 54 asylum seekers and two crew will bring the number of people detained on the island to 465 since September, when the recent run of asylum-seeker boats began. It is a far cry from 2007, when two Vietnamese brothers were the only occupants of the island's old detention centre for much of the year.

The new $400 million centre is still well below its maximum capacity of 800, or the 400 it can hold comfortably. But the influx of asylum seekers - there are now 234 detainees in various forms of detention - has created logistical challenges for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship as it tries to accommodate more than 150 staff, contractors, investigators and service providers on the tiny island of 1200.

As a possible solution, the Government is considering leasing the resort casino, which has 156 rooms. The Christmas Island Casino Resort was one of the world's most profitable, but it closed in 1998 when Indonesian owner Robby Sumampow was bankrupted during Asia's economic meltdown. Islanders have grown accustomed to sharing the 134sqkm island with a detention-related workforce; there were up to 300 fly-in, fly-out workers on the island at all times between 2005 and 2007 during construction of the new detention centre.

Tourist operators fear the Government's appetite for accommodation could leave little for holiday makers. Singapore-based Eco Adventures owner Timothy Tan said the island had enormous potential and could carve a strong future for itself as an eco-tourist destination, but it needed more good-quality accommodation, such as the resort. Mr Tan sent about 140 tourists, mostly divers, to the island each year and estimated he could send 240 a year. "It is a fascinating place, and now with flights out of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore each week, I could send a lot more people their way," Mr Tan said. "There needs to be some changes, more places to eat, more dive businesses, more places to stay."

There are 40 asylum seekers - all family groups - living at the island's construction camp. And there are 33 asylum seekers living in community detention on the island, including unaccompanied minors who live with paid guardians. Since September, 138 asylum seekers delivered to Christmas Island have been granted permanent protection visas and resettled on the mainland.

SOURCE





1 May, 2009

Senate Immigration Subcommittee Hearing Unfairly Stacked with Witnesses Favoring Amnnesy

Two years ago, a small group of senators emerged from behind closed doors with a bill offering amnesty to illegal aliens, cheap foreign workers to business interests, and vague promises of immigration enforcement. Despite that bill being overwhelmingly opposed by the American public, the U.S. Senate is laying the groundwork yet again. The Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Refugees, chaired by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), is today holding a hearing on so-called "comprehensive immigration reform," legislation that would grant amnesty to the estimated 12 million illegal aliens living in America."

The hearing is revealingly entitled "Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2009, Can We Do It and How?" Based on the disproportionate number of invited special interest witnesses who represent illegal aliens and business interests, the testimony of today's hearing appears designed to simply affirm the manner of timing of an amnesty with little or no discussion as to the actual merits of enacting it. Notably missing is any proportional representation of the American public who want immigration laws enforced and competition for jobs and wages from illegal aliens reduced.

Today's hearing will repeat the tactics and the mistakes of the past. The 2007 legislation was written in secret with extensive input from lobbyists. It was ultimately defeated because of overwhelming public opposition. In 2009, Americans continue to reject the idea of amnesty for millions of immigration lawbreakers and guest worker programs that would further undermine American workers and taxpayers.

"A lot has changed in the past two years," noted Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). "Our economy has gone into a tailspin, unemployment has doubled, government at every level is running massive deficits, and the public recognizes more than ever that their own interests are being ignored by the political and economic elite.

"What hasn't changed is the arrogance and indifference of many in Washington, and the demands of the special interests seeking political and economic gain at the expense of hard-working, law-abiding Americans," continued Stein. "Rather than an honest attempt to assess the social, economic, fiscal and environmental impact of a massive amnesty and foreign guest-worker bill, today's hearing amounts to little more than a kangaroo court in which the special interests get to play the roles of witness, judge and jury."

Sen. Schumer was one of the key authors of the failed 1986 experiment that granted amnesty to some 3 million illegal aliens. Schumer candidly admitted last week that, "No one believed [the 1986 bill] was tough enough on illegal immigration," but neither he nor other supporters of that bill said so publicly at the time.

FAIR, which spearheaded a massive public education effort to inform the public of the consequences of the 2007 attempt to enact an illegal alien amnesty and guest worker bill, is prepared to replicate that effort should a similar bill be offered in 2009. "The nation is facing its worst economic, employment and fiscal crisis in living memory. Any attempt to pass legislation that rewards those who have broken our laws at enormous expense to embattled American workers and taxpayers will meet with even more fierce public resistance in 2009," predicted Stein.

The above is a press release dated April 30 from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, 25 Massachusetts Avenue - Suite 330 Washington DC, 20001. 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. Contact Ira Mehlman at 206-420-7733 or Bob Dane at 202-328-7004 for enquiries



Immigration Agents to Turn Focus to Employers

In an effort to crack down on illegal labor, the Department of Homeland Security intends to step up enforcement efforts against employers who knowingly hire such workers

Under guidelines to be issued Thursday to Immigration and Customs Enforcement field offices, agents will be instructed to take aim at employers and supervisors for prosecution “through the use of carefully planned criminal investigations.” Senior officials of the Homeland Security Department said Wednesday that illegal workers would continue to be detained in raids on workplaces. But the officials said they hoped to mark an abrupt departure from past practices by making those arrests as part of an effort to build criminal and civil cases against employers.

Under the Bush administration, the officials said, most raids were conducted largely on the basis of tips that an employer was hiring illegal workers, rather than on information gleaned from audits of employer records or undercover investigations. As a result, agents rounded up thousands of illegal immigrants but rarely developed the evidence necessary to show whether businesses were knowingly using illegal labor.

Last year, for example, nearly 6,000 people were arrested in workplace immigration raids across the country, but only 135 were employers or managers. The new guidelines, meant to provide a road map to agents who have been operating with little guidance and oversight from Washington, instruct them to pursue evidence against the employer before going after the workers. “Enforcement efforts focused on employers better target the root causes of illegal immigration,” [Can't argue with that] say the guidelines, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. “ICE must prioritize the criminal prosecution of actual employers who knowingly hire illegal workers because such employers are not sufficiently punished or deterred by the arrest of their illegal work force.”

The rules could draw a storm of complaints from employers, who argue that they are easily duped by workers with bogus documents and that the government has not established a reliable system for verifying immigration status. The rules are likely to win praise, though, from advocates who have long considered raids at work sites to be symbols of a crackdown that, they say, violates workers’ rights and divides immigrant families while ignoring employer abuses. Raising the bar on what is required to undertake such raids could result in fewer of them.

The guidelines are a significant step toward President Obama’s pledge to overhaul the nation’s immigration system. The president’s aides said recently that he would ask Congress this year to consider changes that among other things would give legal status to the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants now in the country. But a worsening economy could weaken political support for such changes. In the meantime, the administration has begun a review of steps it can take without Congressional approval.

In his news conference Wednesday night, Mr. Obama restated his commitment to an immigration overhaul, saying the United States could not continue with a “broken” system. With regard specifically to workplace enforcement, he said he was looking for “a more thoughtful approach than just raids of a handful of workers, as opposed to, for example, taking seriously the violation of companies that sometimes are actively recruiting these workers to come in.” “That’s something we can start doing administratively,” he added.

Among Janet Napolitano’s first acts as secretary of homeland security was to order reviews of many parts of the nation’s immigration system. Ms. Napolitano promised to stem the rising tide of illegal immigration by strengthening border enforcement and cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants.

Work on the guidelines that are to be issued Thursday began after a February raid against a mechanic shop in Bellingham, Wash., where 28 illegal workers were seized. Ms. Napolitano, angry in part that her office had not been notified about the raid, ordered a review, and a couple of weeks later ICE officials took possession of the employer’s files, released the immigrants from detention and gave them permission to work while they cooperated with an investigation of the company, Yamato Engine Specialists. That inquiry continues.

One senior official said ICE agents worked from a field manual offering a menu of strategies that can be used in pursuit of workplace enforcement. But the manual does not lay out the order in which the strategies should be employed, or explain the agency’s objectives. As a result, enforcement actions have been undertaken at the discretion of each field manager rather than Washington’s direction. “That’s how you ended up with investigations that focused on low-hanging fruit,” the official said, “rather than on both the employers and the illegal workers that they intentionally hired.”

Among the most significant of the new guidelines is one in which agents are instructed to “obtain indictments, criminal arrest or search warrants, or a commitment from a U.S. attorney’s office to prosecute the targeted employer, before arresting employees for civil immigration violations at a work site.” [i.e. almost complete inaction?]

The guidelines call on agents to seek civil penalties, including fines and disbarment from federal contracts, in cases where they do not have enough evidence to press criminal charges. And they require that at least 14 days before conducting a raid, the relevant field office notify ICE headquarters with information including a proposed strategy for prosecuting the employer.

They also require that rules involving humanitarian considerations be taken into account in raids on work sites that have at least 25 employees. Those rules, which previously applied to raids involving at least 150 workers, generally allow the authorities to release detainees who are sick or who are sole caregivers for small children.

SOURCE