ImmigrationProf Blog

Luis Urrea at UC Davis

Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway, spoke about his book at UC Davis on Thursday as part of the Campus Community Book Project.   The Devil's Highway, which tells the tragic story of 14 people who try to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, is this year's book for the project.

The Campus Community Book Project allowed the campus to focus its attention on immigration.  The book was a launching pad for dozens of talks, discussions, and film screenings over the last few months.  Hundreds of faculty, students, staff, and administrators participated. For more information on the campus community book project and the complete schedule of events for this project, go to: http://occr.ucdavis.edu/ccbp2007.

A graduate of UCSD, Luis Urrea (www.luisurrea.com) was a wonderful storyteller and engaging speaker.  Based on extensive research and interviews, he skillfully humanized the law enforcement officers as well as the migrants.

The Devil's Highway was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.  Urrea also is author of many other books, including Nobody's Son and The Hummingbird's Daughter.  I enthusiastically recommend his work!

KJ

Challenge to Prince William County Ordinance Tossed -- For Now

AP reports that a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that challenged Prince William County's recent effort to clamp down on undocumented immigrants. U.S. District Judge James Cacheris said the plaintiffs lacked legal standing to challenge measures passed earlier this year by the Prince William County Board of Supervisors. One resolution requires police to check the immigration status of people they detain if they have reason to suspect the person is undocumented. A second seeks to deny numerous county services to illegal immigrants, including business licenses, drug counseling, housing assistance and some services for the elderly. County attorneys successfully argued that the plaintiffs could not show they had suffered from the measures, which have not yet been fully implemented.

Upon full implementation, bet on seeing a suit brought by people actually affected by the ordinance.

UPDATE  Here is a copy of the order.  Download prince_william

KJ

"CNN: Corrupt News Network"?

We covered the fireworks of the Republican Presidential debate earlier in the week.  And Lou Dobbs,who cannot be racist because his wife is Mexican-American and who we seemingly cannot avoid seeing on television at any airport in the country, has  been a popular piñata for these blogsters.  Tim Rutten of the L.A. Times has a very critical -- and especially refreshing because it came from a major news daily -- column linking the debates, CNN, and Lou Dobbs.  In "CNN: Corrupt News Network: A self-serving agenda was set for the Republican presidential debates," he writes:

" Selecting a president is, more than ever, a life and death business, and a news organization that consciously injects itself into the process, as CNN did by hosting Wednesday's debate, incurs a special responsibility to conduct itself in a dispassionate and, most of all, disinterested fashion. When one considers CNN's performance, however, the adjectives that leap to mind are corrupt and incompetent.

Corruption is a strong word. But consider these facts: The gimmick behind Wednesday's debate was that the questions would be selected from those that ordinary Americans submitted to the video sharing Internet website YouTube, which is owned by Google. According to CNN, its staff culled through 5,000 submissions to select the handful that were put to the candidates. That process essentially puts the lie to the vox populi aura the association with YouTube was meant to create. When producers exercise that level of selectivity, the questions -- whoever initially formulated and recorded them -- actually are theirs.

That's where things begin to get troubling, because CNN chose to devote the first 35 minutes of this critical debate to a single issue -- immigration. Now, if that leaves you scratching your head, it's probably because you're included in the 96% of Americans who do not think immigration is the most important issue confronting this country. . . .

****

So, why did CNN make immigration the keystone of this debate? What standard dictated the decision to give that much time to an issue so remote from the majority of voters' concerns? The answer is that CNN's most popular news-oriented personality, Lou Dobbs, has made opposition to illegal immigration and free trade the centerpiece of his neonativist/neopopulist platform. In fact, Dobbs led into Wednesday's debate with a good solid dose of immigrant bashing. His network is in a desperate ratings battle with Fox News and, in a critical prime-time slot, with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. So, what's good for Dobbs is good for CNN. In other words, CNN intentionally directed the Republicans' debate to advance its own interests. Make immigration a bigger issue and you've made a bigger audience for Dobbs.

That's corruption, and it's why the Republican candidates had to spend more than half an hour "debating" an issue on which their differences are essentially marginal -- and, more important, why GOP voters had to sit and wait, mostly in vain, for the issues that really concern them to be discussed. . . ." (emphasis added).

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  One has to wonder why Lou Dobbs remains on the air.  It is not because he is reporting "news."  Nor is he particularly insightful (even when he has his facts right).  What else can it be besides ratings and money?  And, if one believes Rutten's account, $ is affecting CNN's marketing, programming, and questions posed at a Presidential debate!

KJ

December 18 Call to Action--International Migrants Day

Following another year of Congress ignoring calls for just and humane legislation that strengthens and promotes rights and instead pushing and approving bills and measures reinforcing continued attacks, repression, and scapegoating of immigrant communities, the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR) invites you to close the year by organizing and supporting events to celebrate International Migrants Day, reaffirming our commitment to the rights of all immigrants. Please go here for more information.

bh

New SSRN Articles

"Lawmakers Gone Wild? College Residency and the Response to Professor Kobach" MICHAEL A. OLIVAS University of Houston Law Center  http://ssrn.com/abstract=1028310

"Unsecured Borders: Immigration Restrictions, Crime Control and National Security" JENNIFER M. CHACÓN University of California, Davis - School of Law  Full Text: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1028569

"The Overlooked Costs of Religious Deference" ROBIN FRETWELL WILSON Washington and Lee University - School of Law  http://ssrn.com/abstract=1028776

"Citizenship and Fundamental Rights (Ciudadanía Y Derechos Fundamentales)" NORONHA RODRIGUES University of the Azores - Department of Economics and Business, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela - Departamento de Derecho Público y Teoría del Estado  Full Text: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1026858

"In the Shadow of Article I: Applying a Dormant Commerce Clause Analysis to State Laws Regulating Aliens" ERIN F. DELANEY New York University - School of Law  Full Text: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1027421

"The Crimmigration Crisis: Immigrants, Crime, and Sovereign Power" JULIET P. STUMPF Lewis & Clark College - Law School  Full Text: http://ssrn.com/abstract=935547

KJ

El Paso Border Conference: El Paso Police Chief

At the Border Policy conference that I am attending in El Paso, Richard Wiles, Chief of the El Paso Police Department had this response to a question about the notion of local law enforcement involvement in enforcing federal immigration laws:

"We recognize that we are one community--both El Paso and Juarez. The relationships, including family, have allowed the community to thrive. We know the majority come across for economic reasons. Some allege that illegals come across to commit crimes. But nothing could be further from the truth. El Paso is one of the safest places in the United States. Immigration is a federal responsibility. We have not been provided with extra resources. We don’t have the resources to take on federal immigration responsibility. What’s next? Will we have to knock on people’s doors to say that you owe back taxes to IRS? I’m not shirking my responsibility with respect to criminal law responsibilities. We know we have to work to prevent crime, but if crime is committed we need to find the perpetrator. We also know that many immigrants are victims of crime. But this is different from enforcing federal immigration laws. We have 1100 officers, and the community must respect and trust us. They can’t be afraid to call us. We don’t want them to worry that if they are a victim and call, that we will ask them for their papers. What worries me the most (I refer to this as blackmail) is that they try to force us to enforce immigration laws by conditioning grant monies on federal enforcement. Don’t tie general grants monies to this type of enforcement."

bh

ILRC Names Sally Kinoshita as Deputy Director

On behalf of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, we are thrilled to announce that Sally Kinoshita has accepted the position of ILRC’s new Deputy Director.  Deputy Director is a new position at the ILRC and we are very excited that Sally has accepted the position.

Sally graduated from the University of California at Davis School of Law in 1998 and has served as an ILRC staff attorney since 2001.  Sally has dedicated her legal career to promoting policy and advocacy on behalf of immigrants. She is recognized nationally as an expert on immigration matters relating to domestic violence, child abuse and other crimes and has trained and mentored volunteer attorneys, advocates, judges, law enforcement agencies and social workers throughout the country. In addition to her invaluable work with ILRC, Sally has worked for the Asian Law Caucus, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild and ASISTA Immigrant Women’s Technical Assistance Project in Des Moines, Iowa.

Sally has conducted extensive training programs and developed comprehensive resource materials on immigration, domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.  She is also the author and co-author of numerous ILRC resources and practice manuals for legal advocates working with immigrant survivors of domestic abuse and crime.  Her publications include, How to Obtain U Interim Relief: A Brief Manual for Advocates Assisting Immigrant Victims of Crime; Special Immigrant Juvenile Status for Children Under Juvenile Court Jurisdiction; The VAWA Manual:  Immigration Relief for Abused Immigrants, Immigration Benchbook for Juvenile and Family Court Judges.  Additionally, Sally co-authored, Application of Protection Remedies for Victims of Domestic Abuse, Human Trafficking, and Crime under U.S. Law to Persons Physically Present in the U. S. Territories for the Family Violence Prevention Fund.

We are confident that Sally will excel in her new position and that ILRC, as well as the community based organizations with which we partner and the immigrants we serve, will all benefit greatly with her as Deputy Director.  Please join us in extending congratulations to Sally.

The interim assistant director is Rene Perez.  The staff attorneys include Kathy Brady, Angie Junck, Nora Privitera, and Mark Silverman.  Donald Ungar is Of Counsel to the ILRC and Bill Hing volunteers as its General Counsel.

Sincerely,

Lisa Spiegel
ILRC Board Chair

Eric Cohen
Executive Director

bh

No Plan for Returning Iraqi Refugees

Yesterday, we blogged about the return of refugees to Iraq.  Unfortunately, in "Iraq Lacks Plan on the Return of Refugees, Military," MICHAEL R. GORDON and STEPHEN FARRELL report that "U.S. military officials said the Iraqi government had yet to develop a plan to absorb returning refugees and keep them from setting off a new round of violence."  No plan.  Sound familiar?

KJ

Immigrant of the Day: Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan (Ireland)

Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan (born May 26, 1964 in Skerries, Dublin, Ireland) is the author of many science fiction and dark fantasy works, including six novels, many comic books, more than one hundred published short stories, novellas, and vignettes.

As a small child, Kiernan moved to the United States with her mother. Much of her childhood was spent in the small town of Leeds, Alabama.  Kiernan attended college at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Colorado at Boulder, studying geology and vertebrate paleontology, and she held both museum and teaching positions before finally turning to fiction writing in 1992.

Kiernan's first novel, The Five of Cups, was written in 1992-93 but was not published until 2003. Her first published short story was "Persephone," a dark science-fiction tale, released in 1995.

Kiernan has had short fiction selected for Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, and The Year's Best Science Fiction, and her short stories have been collected in several volumes.

Kiernan lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

KJ

News from the North: Canadian Court Finds that U.S. Fails to Honor International Refugee Obligations

The Federal Court of Canada has ruled in favor of the Canadian Council for Refugees, Canadian Council of Churches, and Amnesty International in finding that it was inappropriate for the Safe Third Country Agreement to designate the United States as a "safe third country" for asylum-seekers (who if they make it to the U.S. before entering Canada can be returned there). The decision, 123 pages long, found that the United States fails to comply with Convention on Torture or Article 33 of the Refugee Convention and the U.S./Canada safe third country agreement was flawed as there was no ongoing meaningful review mechanism. Expert witnesses for the asylum-seekers included Eleanor Acer, Susan Akram (Bostin U), Deborah Anker (Harvard), James Hathaway (Michigan), Karen Musalo (Hastings), Victoria Neilson, Hadat Nazami, Jaya Ramji Nogales (Temple), Andrew Schoenholtz (Georgetown), Philip Shrag (Georgetown), Morton Sklar and Steve Watt.  The Canadian government's witnesses were Kay Hailbronner, David Martin (Virginia), and Bruce Schoffield.

We will see what happens at the Canadian Supreme Court.

KJ

Burger King Has It Its Way: Our Fast Food Nation and Migrant Farm Workers

Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness, has an op/ed in the N.Y. Times about Burger King's wage dispute with Florida farm workers.  From the story, it looks like McDonald's and Taco Bell are a tiny bit more generous to their workers.

KJ

Discussion on "Immigration, Amnesty, and the Rule of Law"

For an hour long discussion of "Immigration, Amnesty, and the Rule of Law" with T. Alexander Aleinikoff (Dean, Georgetown), John S. Baker, Jr. (LSU), Kris Kobach (UMKC), Gerald L. Neuman (Harvard), Judge Carlos T. Bea (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit), click here.  The Federalist Society's Administrative Law Practice Group presented this discussion at the 2007 Annual National Lawyers Convention on November 16, 2007.

For the most part, the discussion on this panel is pretty good.   The Q&A revealed much about the audience but Dean Aleinikoff and Professors Neuman and Baker did a great job trying to keep the discussion "real," i.e., grounded in law and fact.

KJ

Immigration Radical? "John McCain said not everyone in the U.S. illegally should be deported"

AP reportsthat Senator John McCain has staked out a "radical" position on immigration (at least in the current political climate with among others Rudy Guiliani and Mitt Romney fighting it out to be the toughest on immigrants) :

"Suggesting compassion, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said not everyone in the U.S. illegally should be deported.

"If you’re prepared to send an 80-year-old grandmother who’s been here 70 years back to some country, then frankly you’re not quite as compassionate as maybe I am," McCain said Wednesday in response to a question from a Clemson University student who described himself as the child of legal immigrants."  (emphasis added).

KJ

Framing the Immigration Debate

George Lakoff and Sam Ferguson have written an essay on the language of the immigration debate:

Framing is at the center of the recent immigration debate. Simply framing it as about “immigration” has shaped its politics, defining what count as “problems” and constraining the debate to a narrow set of issues. The language is telling. The linguistic framing is remarkable: frames for illegal immigrant, illegal alien, illegals, undocumented workers, undocumented immigrants, guest workers, temporary workers, amnesty, and border security. These linguistic expressions are anything but neutral. Each framing defines the problem in its own way, and hence constrains the solutions needed to address that problem. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we will analyze the framing used in the public debate. Second, we suggest some alternative framing to highlight important concerns left out of the current debate. Our point is to show that the relevant issues go far beyond what is being discussed, and that acceptance of the current framing impoverishes the discussion. For the full essay, click here. Courtesy of the Rockridge Institute.

bh

Refugees Return to Iraq

Mike Nizza reports in the NY Times:

Was it the success of the surge, or the urge to make a living? The motivations of Iraqi refugees returning home from Syria came into focus on Tuesday, when 20 busloads of them set out for Baghdad, though not before a sampling were interviewed by staff members of the United Nations refugee agency:
Some of the refugees heading back to Iraq said they were convinced that it was now safer. “I want to leave because the security situation in Iraq is much better and the atmosphere is less dangerous,” Abu Ali, a refugee from Baghdad, said as he waited to board a bus with his three children.
But many of the refugees said financial considerations, rather than security concerns, were the deciding factor in their decision to return. “The money is finished and my visa has expired,” said Ahmed Hussein from Baghdad’s Sadr City district. “Of course I want to stay here, but I can’t,” he said.
That mixed bag of anecdotes has a much more dramatic bent in light of statistics cited by the agency. About 17 percent of returning Iraqis were in Abu Ali’s camp, voting for the war’s success with their feet, as some have concluded. Most of the rest — about 70 percent of respondents — were voting instead for their wallets, and for a return on their own terms: without visas, they said, the Syrian authorities could have sent them back at any moment. Click here for the full story.
bh

Immigration Fireworks at GOP Debate; Romney and Guiliani as the "Newest Nativists"?

There were some immigration fireworks last night at the CNN/YouTube GOP presidential debate last night in St. Petersburg, Florida. Unlike previous debates in which the candidates focused their attacks on Hillary Clinton, Wednesday night saw the candidates attack each other. Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney traded jabs over immigration, which they have been arguing about on the campaign trail. As CNN described it,

"Romney attacked Giuliani's record, saying that as mayor, he promoted illegal immigration. And Giuliani shot back, accusing Romney of having a "sanctuary mansion" at his own home. "In his case, there were six sanctuary cities. He did nothing about them. There was a sanctuary mansion -- at his own home, illegal immigrants were being employed," Giuliani said.

Romney denied Giuliani's allegation, and the two raised their voices as they tried to talk over each other.

In his quest to appeal to the hard-line immigration wing of the party, Romney also turned some of his fire on the same topic toward former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has been rising in the polls. Rep. Tom Tancredo, who has anchored his candidacy on securing the borders and cracking down on illegal immigration, seemed delighted with the give and take, saying the other candidates were trying to "out-Tancredo" him."

For the YouTube question and the heated Romney/Guliani exchange on immigration, click here.

UPDATE

The immigration discussion at the debate has brought forth much commentary.  NPR's "All things Considered" interviewed Susan Gzesh (University of Chicago) on some of the legal and ethical issues facing homeowners (or mansionowners) hiring workers.  The Washington Post comments on the Romney/Guiliani immigration tiff and refers to them as the "newest nativists," while offering some kind words to Sen. McCain and Gov. Huckabee.

KJ

On Immigrant Assimilation

I have been interviewed on the radio several times in recent weeks about my new book. A question that often comes up in some form is "why don't immigrants assimilate like my immigrant ancestors did?"  Samuel Huntington has made this argument in his book Who Are We?  Similar charges were leveled at past immigrant groups including the Germans, Irish, Chinese, Japanese, southern and eastern Europeans, etc., etc.  Well, there is much evidence that immigrants in fact do assimilate into American society (despite the scarcity of ESL programs and long naturalization backlogs).  The Pew Hispanic Center provides the lastest piece of evidence of immigrant assimilation.  According to its latest study, nearly all Hispanic adults born in the United States of immigrant parents report they are fluent in English. By contrast, only a small minority of their parents describe themselves as skilled English speakers. This finding of a dramatic increase in English-language ability from one generation of Hispanics to the next emerges from a new analysis of six Pew Hispanic Center surveys conducted from 2002 to 2006 among a total of more than 14,000 Latino adults. The analysis finds that fewer than one-in-four (23%) Latino immigrants reports being able to speak English very well. However, fully 88% of their U.S.-born adult children report that they speak English very well. Among later generations of Hispanic adults, the figure rises to 94%. Reading ability in English shows a similar trend. The analysis also finds that English is spoken more commonly at work than at home. The report is available at the Pew Hispanic Center's website, www.pewhispanic.org.

KJ

NY Times Duped by CIS?

I have heard reporters say repeatedly that they understood that one could not rely on the "reports'"of anti-immigrant groups such as the well-funded Center for Immigration Studies.  The unofficial paper of record seems to have missed that memo.  The N.Y. Times reports as news that

"Immigration over the past seven years was the highest for any seven-year period in American history, bringing 10.3 million new immigrants, more than half of them without legal status, according to an analysis of census data released today by the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington.

One in eight people living in the United States is an immigrant, the survey found, for a total of 37.9 million people — the highest level since the 1920s. The survey was conducted by Steven A. Camarota, director of research at the center, which advocates reduced immigration." (emphasis added).

There is a blog -- There Krikorian Goes Again -- that is devoted to "[a] sampling of the more startling anti-immigrant things Mark Krikorian (Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies) has written or said."  Check it out.

Why rely on a report as news from an advocacy group whose last report that even could be loosely characterized as pro-immigration was published in the Dark Ages?

KJ

Immigrant of the Day: Rufo Roman (Mexico)

Rufo Roman, currently of Spartanburg, South Carolina, is our Immigrant of the Day.  Roman, who owns the restaurant Mexico Lindo East with his wife, Rita, is being held in detention awaiting deportation. Rufo pled guilty to re-entry of a deported alien but had admitted his illegal status on immigration forms several years ago as part of the process to gain permanent residency status and paid a $1,000 fine, his wife said. 

Friends petitioned on his behalf, describing Roman as an otherwise law-abiding businessman trying to stay with his family through what he thought were the correct channels. "We tried to do it right to the best of our ability," said Rita, a native of Lebanon and a U.S. citizen. "The government never told us we did anything wrong until five years later. We paid the dues. We told them everything, to the best of our knowledge. "We're very sorry he entered the country illegally, but we tried to rectify it by making him legal."

The Romans were married in 2002 in the United States. Rita has one daughter, 11-year-old Nawal, whom Rufo, a Mexican national, helped raise since she was 3. He was head chef at the restaurant, which has hosted Spartanburg County Republican Party events, monthly chats with U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis and charity functions, including free dinners for the needy and fundraisers. County Democratic Party Chairwoman and former U.S. Rep. Liz Patterson, who lobbied on Rufo's behalf, called the way the case was handled unfortunate. "He's a successful businessman here in town and has been trying to get his green card for a number of years and did not realize he was in violation of the law," she said. Patterson said she was disturbed to learn immigration officials wouldn't allow the Roman family to pay for a flight to Mexico, where Rufo could begin application for residency, but rather are keeping him in custody at taxpayers' expense.

For more about Roman, click here.

KJ

Ninth Circuit has New Chief Judge

A previous Immigrant of the Day, Judge Alex Kozinski has become the new Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Click here for the press release.  the Ninth Circuit decides more immigration appeals than any other circuit in the country.

I have argued immigration cases before Judge Kozinski and have found him demanding but fair.  Judge Kozinski has authored numerous immigration opinions on the Ninth Circuit.  One of particular interest to readers of this blog is his concurrence in Rodriguez-Roman v. INS, 98 F.3d 416 (9th Cir. 1996), an asylum case in which the applicant had fled Cuba.  in the concurrence, Judge Kozinski discusses the persecution at the hands of communist regimes, something that his family experienced first-hand in Romania.

KJ

LA 8 Judge Speaks His Mind

We previously have blogged about the dropping of charges against the LA 8.  The immigration judge, Bruce Einhorn,  in the case, who has retired and is an adjunct professor of international human rights law and war crimes studies at Pepperdine, has written a scathing commentary in the Los Angeles Daily Journal (Download einhorn_112607.pdf ) about the U.S. government's handling of the LA 8 case and the lack of independence of immigration judges:

"Without judges emancipated from the tyranny of partisan rhetoric and political sound bites like "national security" and the "war on terror," the encroaching power of government in the name of freedom will make us all less free. In the end, my decision to dismiss the cases against Hamide and Shehadeh was not all about them but much about us, about our right to restrain the ambitions of an imperial and imperious executive.

In this epoch, as in all periods of national stress, our self-preservation requires much struggle and sacrifice - but never, ever must it steal from us our constitutional soul. If we become soulless, we will never be safe, from enemies foreign or domestic. Rather, we will be the walking dead, without a democratic destiny."

KJ

Guantánamo is Here: The Military Commissions Act and Noncitizen Vulnerability An Issue Brief by: Muneer I. Ahmad

Here is an "Guantánamo is Here: The Military Commissions Act and Noncitizen Vulnerability" An Issue Brief for the American Constitution Society by Muneer I. Ahmad.  Professor Ahmad examines how the Military Commissions Act of 2006 ("MCA") allocates rights premised on a distinction between citizens and noncitizens, which, he argues, creates a rights differential supported by neither law nor reason. In the two upcoming Supreme Court cases, Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. United States, the Court will decide whether the MCA constitutionally removes the right of habeas corpus for detainees at Guantánamo Bay. By analyzing the origins of the MCA, and how in its current form the Act "strips [the] substantive and procedural rights of noncitizens only," Professor Ahmad argues that the ramifications of the Court's decision may extend well beyond the Guantánamo detainees. For instance, in Al-Marri v. Wright, an attempt has been made to strip habeas rights for an individual detained in South Carolina. In addition, Professor Ahmad explains that the MCA's divide between citizens and noncitizens "contributes to a culture of immigrant vulnerability." He concludes that the MCA has raised "questions of how, and why, citizenship matters to the availability of the most fundamental protections against the exercise of state power," and in so doing "has brought Guantánamo to our shores."

KJ

A True Gem: Felix Cohen on Immigration

Tova Indritz uncovered this wonderful "blast from the past" (Download cohen_guild_1939.pdf):

Last night I read a terrific article entitled The Social and Economic Consequences of Exclusionary Immigration Laws. It discussed the anti-immigrant climate in Congress and the country, that that these attitudes are commonly supported on the theories that (a) immigrants threaten the American standard of living, (b) that immigration increases unemployment, and (c) that immigration lowers the cultural level and menaces the American way of life. It then proceeded to analyze facts and statistics to show that each of these arguments are completely wrong.

It was well written and so very interesting.

The article was published in the October, 1939 (yes, that's 1939) issue of the National Lawyers Guild Quarterly (Volume 2, No. 3).

It was written by the brilliant Felix S. Cohen, a member of the Guild's National Executive Board and was then chair of the Guild committee on International Law. And, yes, if you do any Indian Law, he is the same Felix Cohen, who in 1942 published the seminal Handbook of Federal Indian Law, which is still updated and the standard treatise on Indian Law today. He also wrote Ethical Systems and Legal Ideals in 1933. At the time he wrote this article, although the publication does not say so, he was a lawyer in the Solicitor's office of the U.S. Department of Interior under Secretary Harold Ickes.

. . . Although some of the statistics are from the 1930 census, the general arguments are as fresh today as when written, and this strikes me as worth reprinting, to encourage those who toil in these vineyards today.

By the way, of the 11 bills he mentions in a footnote as then pending in Congress, the most succinct was one introduced by a Congressman from Georgia, which reads in its entirety as follows: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that after December 31, 1939, no immigrant (as defined in section 203, title 8, United States Code) shall be admitted to the United States. Sec. 2. That after December 31, 1939, every alien in the United States (as defined in section 173, title 8, United States Code) shall be forthwith deported." Makes one either laugh or cry.

Here's one quote in his discussion of the history of immigration law, after describing the 1882 Chinese exclusion laws: " The 'Whereas' clause of this Act is strangely reminiscent of explanations of aggression and racial persecution offered by certain European nations in recent years: 'Whereas, in the opinion of the Government of the United States, the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities within the territory thereof . . .' Apparently Congress, in its anxiety to do away with the riots and lynchings which were directed against Chinese in certain localities, decided that the proximate cause of the disorders was the existence of the Chinese victims. By preventing them from entering the country, Congress made sure that they would not be molested, and by denying those who had already entered the rights of citizenship, Congress made sure that their rights would not be violated."

***

This article is well worth a read.  It is amazing how so many of the restrictionist arguments -- and the rebuttals -- never really change.  Cohen's Legal Realist approach to the immigration debate is written in elegant prose with impeccable logic.  What fun!

KJ

Berkeley as the "Immigrant University"

Inside Higher Education has an article on "Berkeley as the ‘Immigrant University"  It begins:

"California has long been a land of immigrants; in 1920, almost a quarter of its residents were foreign-born, though the vast majority of the population had European roots. So it probably won’t shock anyone that the state’s flagship public university, the University of California at Berkeley, today has a strong immigrant tilt to its undergraduate student body. But even seasoned observers of the state and the university might be surprised by the extent of the immigrant presence at Berkeley, which the authors of a new study characterize as “tremendous and unprecedented": 63 percent of the campus’s undergraduate students (excluding international students) were either born outside the United States or have at least one foreign-born parent.

The figure is lower, but still strikingly high, in the University of California system broadly, with 54 percent of undergraduates at all nine campuses being first- or second-generation immigrants (the university’s campuses at Irvine, Riverside, Los Angeles and Merced have the largest immigrant populations after Berkeley)."

GO BEARS!!  BEAT STANFORD!  See "The Play."  Disclaimer:  Both BH and KJ are loyal Cal alums!

KJ

El Paso Border Conference Agenda

Building a New Vision of the Border
November 29th and 30, 2007
Camino Real Hotel
El Paso Texas

Day 1
Thursday, November 29th, 2007
8:30am    On site registration. Continental Breakfast will be served
10:00        Opening Remarks Task Force Co-chairs of the US/Mexico Task Force (Jose Rodriguez and Manny Ruiz)
10:10        Welcome by Mayor Cook of the City of El Paso
10:15        Statement by Congressman Silvestre Reyes (By Video Projection)
10:20        Setting Up the Mood of the Conference
10:30        Specific Objectives of the Conference and Agenda Overview (Fernando Garcia -BNHR, Jennifer Allen – BAN, Conference Moderators)
Morning Session:    Setting the Context – Root Causes of Immigration and History of Border Policy)
11:00    Panel 1.  Root Causes of Migration. This panel will be comprised of practitioners, historians and policy analysts that highlight the global and national policies and trends that contribute to the push-pull factors of migration to the United States.
    Moderator:     Neil Harvey, New Mexico State University
    Panelists:    Oscar Chacon, Director of the National Alliance of Latin-American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC)
                Sister Kathleen Erickson, Sisters of Mercy
                Delle McCormick, Director of Borderlinks
                Erica Dahl-Bredine, Catholic Relief Services

12:00        Trailer on Migrant Deaths at the US/Mexico Border. Produce by John Carlos Frey (Gatekeeper Productions)
12:05        Break
12:30        Lunch   
12:50            Key Note Presentation on History of Border and Immigration Policy (Professor Bill Hing, UC Davis California). Lunch Continues
1:15        Break
Afternoon Session:     What is the perception of the border from outside the border?
1:30        Panel 2. Journalist Perceptions of the US/Mexico Border. This panel will be comprised of local and national press that report on border issues. They will reflect on they key stories, themes, language, spokespeople and images that have dominated media coverage about the US-Mexico border.
Moderator:     Elhiu Dominguez, El Paso County Office

Panelists:        Louie Gillot, El Paso Times
            Patricia Giovine, EFE wire service
            Zoltan Csanyi, Univision El Paso
                Ted Robbins, NPR South West Correspondant
                Lorena Figueroa, Diario de El Paso

2:45        Panel 3: National Advocacy Groups Perception of the Border.  This panel will be comprised of representatives from think tanks and organizations that are critical to the national policy debate on immigration and the border.  Panelists will discuss the patterns, proposals, spokespeople, language and other aspects of the border policy debate with an emphasis on the disconnect between these trends and the participation of local border communities.
    Moderator:    Zoe Hammer

    Panelists:    Josh Bernstein, National Immigration Law Center
            Kerry Sherlock, Rights Working Group
            Angela Smith Dieng, Detention Watch Network
                    Jennifer Johnson, Latin America Working Group

4:00         Day Summary
6:30-9:00     Community Reception at Club Blu (Half block from Hotel)

Day 2

Friday November 29th, 2007
8:30    Continental Breakfast (Main Conference Room)

Morning Session: How do we transform current perception and create a new Border Policy Vision.

9:00    Panel 4. Presentation of the Guidelines for Alternative Border Enforcement Policies and Practices. Border Task Force members will give the context and message of the guidelines, highlighting the policy categories. Additionally, they will talk about the history and policy accomplishments of the Border Task Force. 

Presentation on History and Background: Roundtable Discussion with Founding Members of the US/Mexico Border and Immigration Task Force:
Manny Ruiz, Santa Cruz County Arizona
Seth Polley, Episcopalian Vicar, Arizona Dioceses 
Jose Rodriguez, El Paso County Attorney
Professor Zoe Hammer, Northern Arizona University
Raymond Michalowski, Regents Professor, Northern Arizona University
Susie Bird, City of El Paso Representative
Veronica Escobar, El Paso County Commissioner
Prof. Heyman, Chair of Anthropology Department UTEP
Chief Richard Wiles, El Paso Police Department

10:00    Break-out Sessions
Conference Participants will split into five different tracks to discuss the main themes and issues of the Border Policy Conference. Each track will begin with a roundtable discussion to frame the issues but more importantly, to review the border policy guidelines and to provide further recommendations. The groups will also work to shape vision, values, language and strategies to move forward a new border policy vision.

Session 1. Border Enforcement Accountability and Oversight.  Moderated by Border Task Force Member El Paso City Representative Susie Byrd, Cochise County Supervisor Paul Newman and Tucson City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich.

Presenters:
•    Border Network for Human Rights presentation on Immigration Law Enforcement Misconduct at the Border(A Case Study of Human Rights Violations at the Border)

Session 2. Border Operations, Fences-Walls, Border Deaths and Border Militarization. Moderated by Border Task Force Member Professor Joe Heyman, Mayor Ruben Segura, and Vicar Seth Polley

        Presenters:
•    Professor Tim Dunn, Salisbury University. Presentation on Border Militarization
•    Jay Johnson, Border Ambassadors. Presentation on Fencing and Walls

Session 3. Ports of Entry and Border Economic Integration. Moderated by Border Task Force Member Santa Cruz County Supervisor Manny Ruiz and El Paso County Commissioner Veronica Escobar

Presenters:
•    Senator Eliot Shapleigh, Texas State Representative
•    Erin Ward, Director, US-Mexico Border Outreach and Project Coordination, New Mexico State University.

Session 4. National Security, Community Security & Local Law Enforcement/Immigration Enforcement. Moderated by Border Task Force Member El Paso County Attorney Jose Rodriguez and UTEP Professor Cristina Morales.

Presenters:
•    Chief Richard Wiles, El Paso Police Department. Presentation on Local Law Enforcement and Federal Immigration Enforcement.
•    Regents Professor Ray Michalowski, Department of Criminology, NAU.

Session 5. Detention, Deportation and Due Process. Moderated and Presented by Border Task Force Member DMRS Director Ileana Holguin, Sister Kathleen Erickson, Las Americas Ray Rojas and NAU Professor Zoe Hammer

12:00    Lunch-Caucus Meeting (Border Mayors Caucus, Law Enforcement Caucus, Community Groups Caucus, Academia Caucus, Religious Caucus, etc)

1:30    Break-out Sessions Continue… Strategies, Message, Tactics and Vision

3:30    Report Back and General Session Discussion

5:00    Closing

bh

First Circuit Dismisses New Bedford Case

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit by noncitizens arrested in the New Bedford, Massachusetts raids last spring.  "This appeal has its genesis in a dramatic raid on a leather goods factory in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Enforcement of the immigration laws is difficult and oftentimes controversial work. So it was here: the raid led to the detention of hundreds of undocumented aliens and put significant strains on those involved and those who wished to help." Aguilar v. U.S.  Immigration & Customs Enforcement (Nov. 27, 2007).

The court affirmed the dismissal based on lack of subject matter jursidiction based on provisions of the REAL ID Act.  In conclusion, the court expressed hope that ICE would learn from the case and employ less "ham-handed ways" in enforcing the law in the future.

KJ

KJ

Immigrant of the Day: Mickey Hargitay (Hungary)

Miklós Hargitay, popularly known as Mickey Hargitay (1926–2006) was an actor and Mr. Universe 1955. Born in Budapest, Hungary, he was once married to movie star Jayne Mansfield and is the father of actress Mariska Hargitay (Law and Order SVU).

An underground fighter during World War II, Hargitay fled Hungary after the war and moved to the United States. He was inspired to begin bodybuilding after seeing a magazine cover of Steve Reeves, famed for playing Hercules. In 1955, Hargitay was named Mr. Universe. After winning Mr. Universe, he joined Mae West's muscleman revue at New York's The Latin Quarter, where he met Jayne Mansfield, his wife from 1958 to 1964.

Hargitay is the first recipient of the Joe Weider Lifetime Achievement Award. In May 2006, he received the Muscle Beach Hall of Fame Award.

Hargitay's daughter, Mariska, won a Golden Globe (2005) and Emmy (2006) for her portrayal of Detective Olivia Benson on the television show Law and Order SVU.

Arnold Schwarzenegger , a previous Immigrant of the Day, cplayed the role of Mickey Hargitay in the 1982 television TV-movie The Jayne Mansfield Story.

KJ

Staff Attorney Opening at the ILRC

IMMIGRANT LEGAL RESOURCE CENTER JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

STAFF ATTORNEY

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) is seeking a staff attorney to work full time.  The ILRC is a national non-profit legal support center located in San Francisco, California specializing in immigration law, policy, and immigrants' rights.  The ILRC’s work concentrates on three main areas: (1) the provision of legal technical assistance, trainings, and publications; (2) the provision of assistance to our clients (paralegals, attorneys, organizers and advocates, and immigrant community members and lay advocates) to help them participate in civic affairs, and become more empowered in order to expand the rights and political power of immigrants in our society; and (3) participation in policy and advocacy issues around immigration law and immigrants’ rights.

The ILRC is a team-based organization that makes most of its decisions in a collaborative fashion that allows for significant staff input. 

Job Responsibilities: The staff attorney will be responsible for:

•    Working in several project areas at the same time including providing legal technical assistance to the staff of nonprofit agencies and pro bono attorneys working with low-income immigrants on issues relating to family-based immigration, removal and deportation defense, VAWA, asylum, and other issues;
•    Working with networks of other immigrants’ rights organizations and/or organizing groups on immigration law and immigrants rights issues;
•    Coordinating and making presentations on immigration law and policy at trainings and writing and editing manuals, materials, and outreach flyers and information for attorneys, paralegals, organizers, members of the immigrant community, and others;
•    Writing grant proposals to foundations and corporations and meeting with funders; and
•    Traveling for trainings, funder visits, and other events in California and throughout the United States.

Qualifications: The applicant is required to:

•    Have at least two years of experience representing low-income clients in the practice of general immigration law, especially family-based and removal cases;
•    Have a broad knowledge of family-based and removal cases including the grounds of inadmissibility and deportability;
•    Have excellent writing, editing, legal analysis, and oral presentation skills; 
•    Be very well organized, flexible, reliable, dependable, an independent worker, able to juggle many projects at once, and able to work in a team based collaborative decision-making environment;
•    Be willing and able to travel throughout California and the United States; and
•    Be licensed to practice law in some state in the United States.

It is a plus if the applicant has:

•    Experience writing and securing grants from foundations and corporations;
•    Experience working in, leading, or forming coalitions;
•    Experience working as a community organizer: and/or   
•    The ability to speak Spanish, Mandarin, or Cantonese fluently or conversationally.

Salary/Benefits: Pay commensurate with experience. Excellent benefits including health, dental, vision, flexible spending account for medical and dependent care, vacation and potential for retirement. 

Applications: This position will remain open until it is filled.  We will consider applications on an ongoing basis beginning immediately.  To ensure consideration of your application, please submit a cover letter explaining your qualifications for the position, a resume, a writing sample, and the names of three references as soon as possible to:

R Pérez, Assistant Director
ILRC
1663 Mission Street, Suite 602
San Francisco, CA  94103
Fax: (415)255-9792 (no calls, please)
rperez@ilrc.org

bh

Labor Migration to Spain and Canada

RESEARCH SEMINAR SERIES
Fall Quarter 2007

Produce & Production "In Season": Comparing International Labour Migration - Canada & Spain

Jenna L. Hennebry
Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, Canada

Please note special meeting day and time
Monday, December 3, 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Eleanor Roosevelt College Administration Building
Conference Room 115, First Floor
Reception to follow

Examining the political and economic frameworks of agricultural labour migration systems and the experiences of temporary migrants within these systems, this paper provides a comparative analysis of Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, with specific reference to the United States and Spain. This research is based on the analysis of secondary data on labour migration flows in Canada and Spain, labour migration policy frameworks and managed migration practices in Canada and Spain, and extensive qualitative data collected between 2002-2006 on Mexico-Canada migration. Preliminary qualitative data and secondary quantitative data on Moroccans in Spain provide valuable comparisons. Seasonal agricultural migration systems are argued to be recursively related to globalization (and new agricultural production regimes), where foreign labour dependence and remittance economies are created and perpetuated through globalization and a "migration industry" powered by new information and communication technologies. In addition, foreign labour dependence under the conditions of globalization, structures the constrained transnational practices of migrant workers and their families within the institutional parameters of managed labour migration systems.

Dr. Jenna L. Hennebry has an academic background in sociology and demography, specializing in the political economy of international labour migration. She has work experience in academic, public policy, and applied research domains, utilising both qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches. Research interests include comparative studies of Mexican-Canadian and Moroccan-Spain labour migration policies and practices, the formation of migration industries around temporary migration flows, migration policy and foreign worker programs, transnational practices among labour migrants and their families, migrant worker health and human rights, ICTs & development among migrant sending and receiving communities. Recent research includes extensive qualitative fieldwork and interviewing with Mexican seasonal migrants and their families, and comparative studies of Morocco-Spain labour migration.

These seminars are open to all members of the UCSD community, as well as faculty and students from other universities and the general public. For directions to CCIS, visit our website. Parking permits can be purchased at the information booth on North Point Drive (north end of campus). Visitors may also use metered parking spaces (max. 2 hours) in the North side parking lot. Papers previously presented at CCIS seminars can also be downloaded from our website under “Working Papers.”  For further information, please contact Ana Minvielle (E-mail: aminvielle@ucsd.edu, Tel#: 858-822-4447).

Center for Comparative Immigration Studies
9500 Gilman Drive
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093-0548

bh

Somali Refugees in the Hands of UNHCR

The Associated Press reports:

Kenya handed 22 Somalis -- mainly women and children -- who spent about two weeks in the transit lounge of the capital's main airport to the U.N.'s refugee agency, the agency said Monday.

Kenyan immigration officials transported the exhausted asylum-seekers from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi to Dadaab refugee camp in the northeastern region of Kenya on Saturday, said the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in a statement, expressing concern over the fate of three others whose whereabouts remained unclear. Click here for the full story.

bh

Efforts to Deport John Demjanjuk Continue

AP repots that the Sixth Circuit once again is hearing about the efforts to deport an alleged nazi war criminal.  The U.S. Justice Department began trying to deport former Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk more than three decades ago, claiming that he was an armed guard at a Nazi death camp and helped murder Jewish prisoners in World War II. Demjanjuk was extradited to Israel in 1986 and was under a death sentence until Israel's Supreme Court ruled in 1993 that Demjanjuk was not the sadistic guard at the Treblinka death camp in German-occupied Poland whom prisoners called "Ivan the Terrible."

Since Demjanjuk's return to the United States, the Justice Department has continued its efforts to send him back to his native Ukraine — or Germany or Poland — saying it was sufficient that Demjanjuk falsified information on his applications to enter the U.S. in 1952 and to become a citizen in 1958. His U.S. citizenship was revoked in 1981, restored in 1998, and revoked again in 2002. Now 87, Demjanjuk is facing what may be his last chance to stay in the U.S. Oral arguments are scheduled for Thursday in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for teh Sixth Circuit on a motion to set aside a deportation order based on a U.S. District Court judge's decision in 2002, affirmed on appeal in 2004, that Demjanjuk — although not "Ivan the Terrible" — was a guard at the Nazis' Sobibor extermination camp, where an estimated 250,000 Jews were murdered, and at two other concentration camps in German-occupied Poland.

KJ

N.J. Policy on Police Questioning of Immigration Status Violated

New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram said yesterday that a city police official acted improperly by asking about the immigration status of two journalists who witnessed a crime scene in September, violating a state directive on immigrants and law enforcement. The journalists, a freelance photographer and the editor of The Brazilian Voice newspaper, reported to the police that the photographer had found a woman’s body in a Newark alley. They were questioned about their immigration status by the official. The directive, introduced in August, tells the police to ask the immigration status only of those arrested on indictable offenses or for drunken driving. In a statement, Attorney General Anne Milgram, above, said the directive “specifically prohibits police from inquiring about the immigration status of any victim, witness or person requesting police assistance.”

Do you think it a coincidence that police questioned journalists from The Brazilian Voice  about their immigration status?

KJ

Undocumented Immigrants from Latin America Less Likely Than Latino U.S. Citizens to Use Hospital Emergency Rooms

Restrictionists often point to the costs of undocumented immigratnts as a reason for increased border enforcement.  Yesterday, we posted a story about a study showing that immigrants in New York carry their weight economically.  Today, the L.A. Times reports that undocumented immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries are 50% less likely than U.S.-born Latinos to use hospital emergency rooms in California, according to a study published Monday in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

In Los Angeles County, much of the focus of that debate has been on hospital emergency rooms. Ten have closed in the last five years, citing losses from treating the uninsured, and those that remain open are notorious for backlogs. By federal law, hospitals must treat every emergency, regardless of a person's insurance -- or immigration -- status. Undocumented immigrants, who often work at jobs that don't offer health insurance, are commonly seen as driving both the closures and the crowding. But the study found that while illegal immigrants are indeed less likely to be insured, they are also less likely to visit a doctor, clinic or emergency room.

In related news, the Washington Post reports that the cost of delivering government services to illegal immigrants in Fairfax County, Virginia is all but impossible to determine, County Executive Anthony H. Griffin said in a report made public yesterday. That's because no one knows how many undocumented immigrants live in the county and because many of the services -- such as libraries, parks, public transit and roads -- are provided to everyone and not designed for a specific subset of the population.

KJ

Immigrant of the Day: Dan Aykroyd (Canada)

Daniel Edward Aykroyd (born July 1, 1952) is an award-winning comedian, actor, screenwriter, and musician. He was an original cast member of "Saturday Night Live," an originator of the Blues Brothers (with John Belushi), and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.

Aykroyd was born on Dominion Day 1952 at the in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He intended to become a priest until the age of seventeen. He attended Lisgar Collegiate Institute, St Pius X, and St Patrick's, where he was briefly expelled from the latter: he dressed up a pig to look like the pope and brought it to school for show and tell.

Aykroyd went on to study criminology and sociology at Carleton University. He worked as a comedian in various Canadian clubs. Aykroyd went on to gain experience in The Second City comedy troupe and in the National Lampoon stage shows. While working with Second City, Aykroyd moonlighted as the announcer for Citytv in Toronto.

Aykroyd gained fame on the American late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live, where he was a writer and cast member for its first four seasons (1975-79). In 1977, he received an Emmy Award for writing on Saturday Night Live.

Aykroyd was good friends with John Belushi, who recruited him for Saturday Night Live. According to Aykroyd, it was his first meeting with Belushi that helped spark their popular Blues Brothers act. After leaving Saturday Night Live, Aykroyd starred in a films. One of his best-received performances was as a blueblood-turned-wretch in the 1983 comic drama Trading Places. Aykroyd's acting career reached its peak when he received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for 1989's Driving Miss Daisy; the movie starred previous Immigrant of the Day Jessica Tandy.

Aykroyd is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

KJ

New Human Rights and Immigration Articles

Hughes, Katherine. Note. Operation “drive out the trash”: the case for imposing targeted United Nations sanctions against Zimbabwean officials. 76 Fordham L. Rev. 323-386 (2007).

Linares, Juan Carlos. Hired hands needed: the impact of globalization and human rights law on migrant workers in the United States. 34 Denv. J. Intl’l L. & Pol’y 321-352 (2006).

Greene, Monica Diaz. Study note. Birthright citizenship: should the right continue? 9 J.L. & Fam. Stud. 159-169 (2007).

KJ

Boycott of Michael Savage

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/26/2007) - On Tuesday, November 27, the newly-formed Hate Hurts America Community and Interfaith Coalition, a group of religious and civic organizations seeking to challenge hate speech on talk radio, will hold a news conference in San Francisco, Calif., to call on advertisers nationwide to stop airing commercials on Michael Savage's syndicated "Savage Nation" program.

Coalition representatives will also call on other faith-based and community groups to join the national campaign against hate rhetoric on talk radio targeting minorities.

WHAT: 'Hate Hurts America' Coalition Calls on Advertisers to Drop 'Savage Nation' Spots
WHEN: Tuesday, November 27, 10 a.m.
WHERE: Outside Talk 910 KNEW, 340 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA
CONTACT: Hate Hurts America Community and Interfaith Coalition Coordinator Sabiha Khan, 407-430-3747

Savage, whose program airs on more than 300 radio stations nationwide, screamed attacks on Muslims, Islam and the Quran during his October 29, 2007, program.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on radio listeners of all faiths to contact companies that advertise on Savage's program to express their concerns about the host's anti-Muslim bigotry.

SEE: National Radio Host Goes on Anti-Muslim Tirade

Advertisers that have already stopped advertising or refuse to place their ads on Michael Savage's program include AutoZone, TrustedID, Citrix, OfficeMax, and JCPenney.

bh

Collection of CRS Reports on Immigration

Reports from the Congressional Research Service are in-depth and scholarly, unlike GAO and OIG reports which focus primarily on budget and fraud issues, respectively. CRS reports are intended for Congressional representatives and their staffers, and are not easily obtainable, unlike GAO and OIG reports which are available to the public on a variety of government websites. CRS reports on immigration are now available on ILW.COM on a handy page that you may wish to bookmark.

KJ

University of Michigan, School of Law Screening and Panel Discussion on the Iraqi Refugee Crisis

University of Michigan, School of Law Screening and Panel Discussion on the Iraqi Refugee Crisis Thursday, November 29th 4:00 - 5:30pm Rm 100 Hutchins Hall, University of Michigan

Moderator: Professor James Hathaway Panelists: Anwar Aljebir, Sarnata Reynolds (Amnesty International), Elizabeth Campbell (Refugee Council USA), Amelia Templeton ("Lifeline for Iraqi Refugees Project" at Human Rights First), Kirk Johnson (The List Project), Kalyanee Mam (Iraq Refugee Documentary) Sponsored by: The Middle Eastern and North African Law Students Association, Student Network for Asylum and Refugee Law The Iraq Refugee Documentary project will be screening the trailer for their documentary, "Between Earth & Sky" that follows the hopes and struggles of Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria, as well as in the Kurdish regions in northern Iraq. This documentary is part of a greater effort to raise awareness of the horrific situation of Iraqi refugees and the dangers faced by displaced persons across Iraq and to mobilize action to support the increased admission of Iraqi refugees into the United States. The panel discussion that will follow will further engage the audience with more stories and information about the magnitude of the Iraqi refugee crisis and connect the audience with ways in which they can also become actively involved in making a difference. For further information please contact: Kalyanee Mam, Iraq Refugee Documentary www.iraqrefugeedoc.com, iraqrefugeedoc@yahoo.com

KJ

Immigration Debate in North Dakota

Kathy Kiely writes in USA Today:

The tension in North Dakota reflects why the nation's debate over immigration is likely to be such a potent issue in next year's presidential campaign. More than 1,400 miles from the nation's southwestern border and far from the cities where the debate has been most prominent, the conflicts many communities face in dealing with an aging workforce are exposed in North Dakota like the flat prairie landscape after the fall harvest.

Nationally, the U.S. Commerce Department projects that the number of people in prime working years, ages 25 to 54, will increase 0.3% a year through 2015. In the third quarter of this year, the economy grew by 3.9%.

"We're facing a dramatic labor shortage," Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said in a speech in March. "Without immigrants, we don't have enough workers. Period."

The demographic crisis in North Dakota is more severe. The population increased in only six of North Dakota's 53 counties from 1990 to 2000.

"We simply don't have enough workers," says Orville Tranby, a community leader who in 1999 helped Griggs County, where Cooperstown is the seat, and neighboring Steele County win a 10-year federal grant to create jobs and stem population loss.

When developers proposed locating a dairy in the area, however, the community shot it down. A proposed hog plant is facing similar opposition. Tranby says it's because some residents fear such facilities might attract a wave of Hispanic immigrants who could change the local culture. Click here for the full story.

bh

Immigrants Carry Their Weight Economically, NY Study Finds

The N.Y. Times reports that a new study concludes that immigrants contribute nearly one-fourth of the economic output of New York State, and outside of New York City, they are overrepresented in some of the most critical occupations, including higher education and health care. The study, conducted over the past year, concluded that the contributions of people born outside the country have spread far beyond the low-wage, low-skill work often associated with immigrants. Most immigrants meld into New York communities, learn to speak English and buy homes, it found. The institute is an independent research organization that focuses on public policy in New York State. “We just felt like there was such a deep misunderstanding about who immigrants were that the political discourse often got far afield from any factual basis of what’s really going on here,” said David D. Kallick, a senior fellow at the institute and the principal author of the study, “Working for a Better Life.”

We will post a link to the study when the study is released later today.

UPDATE  Here is the report.

KJ

Immigrant of the Day: Jesus Manuel Cordova (Mexico)

Our Immigrant of the Day is Jesus Manuel Cordova, the hero who saved a young boy in the desert whose mother died in an auto accident on Thanksgiving Day.  Cordova cared for a 9-year-old boy found wandering alone after his mother died in a canyon crash near the U.S./Mexico border in southern Arizona. The boy was looking for help after his mother crashed her van off a cliff on Thanksgiving Day.  Unable to pull the mother out of the car, Cordova comforted the boy while they waited for help. The woman unfortunately died a short time later.

"[Cordova] stayed with [the boy], told him that everything was going to be all right," the local sherriff said. As temperatures dropped, he gave him a jacket, built a bonfire and stayed with him until about 8 a.m. Friday morning, when a group of hunters passed by and called authorities.

Cordova was taken into custody by Border Patrol agents. He had been trying to walk into the U.S. when he came across the boy.  Cordova was returned to Mexico where he was later interviewed; he mentioned that he watched over the boy in the desert because he was thinking about his own four children in Mexico and could not leave him alone while he completed his journey to Tucson.

Click here for our original post on this story and a link to a news report, and here for more about this story.

UPDATE  AP later reported that Cordova, who rescued a 9-year-old after the boy's mother died in a car accident in the southern Arizona desert, was honored on December 4 by U.S. and Mexican officials at a border crossing. He stood by shyly with his mother and stepfather as officials talked about his efforts to save Christopher Buchleitner on Thanksgiving. The district director for U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said Cordova deserved the opportunity to come to America to work and that the congressman plans to introduce legislation that will let him get a special visa. Such legislation rarely passes, but Grijalva aide Ruben Reyes said it was the only way they knew of to show their thanks.

KJ

Immigration and Affirmative Action

Peter Brown has an interesting op-ed in the Dallas Morning News comparing immigration with affirmative action in presidential politics:

Immigration is becoming for the 2008 election what affirmative action and racial preferences were 15 years ago – the kind of emotional wedge issue that offers Republicans a way to split rank-and-file Democrats from their leaders.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the battle over programs aimed at helping minorities was a major factor in many political campaigns. The election results often appeared to contradict what seemed to be the public's opinion on the issue.

Looking back, much of the confusion stemmed from the wording of many poll questions on the subject. They tended to show strong support for "affirmative action," which was how the programs were described by supporters and, often, the media.

But opponents used the term "racial preferences" to describe programs that often gave minorities an edge in competition for college admission and jobs. When pollsters used that language to describe the programs, they found strong public opposition. Click here for the full op-ed.

bh

The Alleged Deportation of "Gang Members"

In "Immigrant Workers Caught in Net Cast for Gangs," NINA BERNSTEIN writes about the collateral impacts of the efforts to deport "gang members."  The story begins:

"It was still dark the morning of Sept. 27 when armed federal immigration agents, guided by local police officers, swept into this village on the East End of Long Island. Within hours, as the team rousted sleeping families, 11 men were added to a running government tally of arrests made in Operation Community Shield, a two-year-old national program singling out violent gang members for deportation.

“Violent foreign-born gang members and their associates have more than worn out their welcome,” Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said at an October news conference announcing the arrests of 1,313 people in the operation over the summer and fall nationwide. “And to them I have one message: Good riddance.” But, to the dismay of many of Greenport’s 2,500 residents, the raid here did not match her words.

Only one of the 11 men taken away that morning was suspected of a gang affiliation, according to the Southold Town police, who patrol Greenport and played the crucial role of identifying targets for the operation.

The 10 others, while accused of immigration violations, were not gang associates and had no criminal records."

Immigration law professors Dan Kanstroom (Boston College) and Jennifer M. Chacón (UC Davis) are quoted in the article.

KJ

Back to the Drawing Board on Social Security "No Match" Enforcement

The Washington Post reports that the Bush administration has asked a federal judge to delay hearing a lawsuit in San Francisco until a new strategy is completed. In papers filed in San Francisco late Friday afternoon, Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey S. Bucholtz told U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer that the Homeland Security Department is making changes to its controversial plan to pressure employers to fire workers with suspect Social Security numbers. The Justice Department asked the judge to delay the case until March 24, or until a new program is ready.

KJ