ImmigrationProf Blog

Immigrant of the Day: Jim Carrey (Canada)

Actor Jim Carrey (born January 17, 1962) is an actor, comedian, and producer. Carrey has received four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning two. Known for his highly energetic slapstick performances, he has been described as one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood. Carrey first gained recognition in 1990 after landing a recurring role in the sketch comedy In Living Color. His first leading roles in major productions came with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), Dumb and Dumber (1994), The Mask (1994), and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995). In 1997, he gave a critically acclaimed performance in Liar Liar, which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor. He then starred in the critically acclaimed hits The Truman Show (1998) and Man on the Moon (1999), with each garnering him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. In 2000, he gained further recognition for his portrayal of the The Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Three years later, Carrey starred in the major blockbuster film Bruce Almighty (2003). The following year he starred in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), for which he received another Golden Globe nomination in addition to a BAFTA Award nomination. He then starred in popular productions Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), Fun with Dick and Jane (2005), Yes Man (2008) and A Christmas Carol (2009). More recently, he has starred in Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011) and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013). He is set to star in Kick-Ass 2 as Colonel Stars and Stripes in late 2013.

Carrey was born in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, the son of Kathleen, a homemaker, and Percy Carrey (1927-1994), a musician and accountant. His mother was of French, Irish, and Scottish descent and his father was of French Canadian ancestry (the family's original surname was Carré).

Carrey became a naturalized U.S. citizen in October 2004 and remains a dual citizen of both the United States and Canada.

KJ

DACA's First Birthday

 

Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of the announcement of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. After organizing by immigrant youth and their allies, President Barack Obama announced on June 15, 2012, that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security would not deport certain undocumented youth and that these youth would be eligible for work permits.

Click here for a snapshot of this program and DACA’s future.  From August 15, 2012, to April 30, 2013, 515,922 people applied for DACA and 497,965 have been approved. Mexico, South Korea, and the Philippines are among applicants’ top 10 countries of origin.

KJ

Immigration Articles of the Day: Immigrant Assimilation into U.S. Prisons, 1900-1930 by Carolyn M. Moehling and Anne Morrison Piehl and Response, In Defense of DACA, Deferred Action, and the DREAM Act by Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia

Immigrant Assimilation into U.S. Prisons, 1900-1930 by Carolyn M. Moehling Rutgers University, Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and Anne Morrison Piehl Rutgers University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) May 2013 NBER Working Paper No. w19083

Abstract: The analysis of a new dataset on state prisoners in the 1900 to 1930 censuses reveals that immigrants rapidly assimilated to native incarceration patterns. One feature of these data is that the second generation can be identified, allowing direct analysis of this group and allowing their exclusion from calculations of comparison rates for the “native” population. Although adult new arrivals were less likely than natives to be incarcerated, this likelihood was increasing with their years in the U.S. The foreign born who arrived as children and second generation immigrants had slightly higher rates of incarceration than natives of native parentage, but these differences disappear after controlling for nativity differences in urbanicity and occupational status. Finally, while the incarceration rates of new arrivals differ significantly by source country, patterns of assimilation are very similar. Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.

 

Response, In Defense of DACA, Deferred Action, and the DREAM Act by Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia Penn State Law Texas Law Review, Vol. 91:59 Penn State Law Research Paper No. 5-2013

Abstract: This essay responds to “The Obama Administration, the DREAM Act and the Take Care Clause” by Robert J. Delahunty and John C. Yoo. Though I credit Yoo and Delahunty for considering the relationship between the DACA program and the President’s duties under the “Take Care” clause, they miss the mark in at least three ways: 1) Contrary to ignoring immigration enforcement, the Obama Administration has executed the immigration laws faithfully and forcefully; 2) Far from being a new policy that undercuts statutory law, prosecutorial discretion actions like DACA have been pursued by other presidents, and part of the immigration system for at least 35 years; 3) Despite the unsurprising fact that some people who could qualify for the congressionally-created DREAM Act possess the kinds of equities that make them attractive for a prosecutorial discretion program like DACA, it is simply inaccurate to equate the limbo status offered with a grant under DACA to the secure status that attaches to those eligible under the congressional solution known as the DREAM Act. These three points are analyzed in greater detail in this essay. While the DACA program “feels” like something more or greater in scope than previous acts of prosecutorial discretion, the authority being exercised by the agency is no greater or different. It is dangerous to argue that the potential size of the class that stands to benefit from DACA or the greater transparency somehow makes the DACA program legally unsound or different. Conceivably, a future Administration could place a cap on the number of applications that can be approved under DACA but this is a policy question, not a constitutional one.

KJ

From the Bookshelves: Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies Migrant Farmworkers in the United States by Seth Holmes and Immigration, Civilization, and America By Alvaro Vargas Llosa

Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies Migrant Farmworkers in the United States by Seth Holmes

This book is an ethnographic witness to the everyday lives and suffering of Mexican migrants. Based on five years of research in the field (including berry-picking and traveling with migrants back and forth from Oaxaca up the West Coast), Holmes, an anthropologist and MD in the mold of Paul Farmer and Didier Fassin, uncovers how market forces, anti-immigrant sentiment, and racism undermine health and health care. Holmes’ material is visceral and powerful—for instance, he trekked with his informants illegally through the desert border into Arizona, where they were apprehended and jailed by the Border Patrol. After he was released from jail (and his companions were deported back to Mexico), Holmes interviewed Border Patrol agents, local residents, and armed vigilantes in the borderlands. He lived with indigenous Mexican families in the mountains of Oaxaca and in farm labor camps in the United States, planted and harvested corn, picked strawberries, accompanied sick workers to clinics and hospitals, participated in healing rituals, and mourned at funerals for friends. The result is a "thick description" that conveys the full measure of struggle, suffering, and resilience of these farmworkers.

Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies weds the theoretical analysis of the anthropologist with the intimacy of the journalist to provide a compelling examination of structural and symbolic violence, medicalization, and the clinical gaze as they affect the experiences and perceptions of a vertical slice of indigenous Mexican migrant farmworkers, farm owners, doctors, and nurses. This reflexive, embodied anthropology deepens our theoretical understanding of the ways in which socially structured suffering comes to be perceived as normal and natural in society and in health care, especially through imputations of ethnic body difference. In the vehement debates on immigration reform and health reform, this book provides the necessary stories of real people and insights into our food system and health care system for us to move forward to fair policies and solutions.

 

Immigration, Civilization, and America By Alvaro Vargas Llosa

The recent reawakening of the debate about immigration in the new millennium has evoked intense emotion particularly in the United States and Europe. To what degree are foreigners culturally different? Can immigrants assimilate into the new society? How have recessions and times of prosperity influenced—more significantly than government efforts—the number of immigrants coming into the United States and other countries? Renowned author Alvaro Vargas Llosa answers these questions and more in this compelling new book about our immigration nation. Global Crossings: Immigration, Civilization, and America cuts through the jungle of myth, falsehood and misrepresentation that dominates the debate, clarifying the causes and consequences of this great American tradition. Alvaro Vargas Llosa finds that immigration’s contributions to an economy far outweigh the costs.

Alvaro Vargas Llosa is a Senior Fellow of The Center on Global Prosperity at the Independent Institute.

KJ

Sen. Rand Paul Tells Leaders to Remember Immigration Reform is about People, Not Just Policies

 

Following Tuesday's Senate vote to debate immigration reform, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) offered the keynote address on the topic at a Town Hall and Prayer Rally in Washington, D.C., hosted by The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) and The Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles. More than 130 Hispanic-American Christian pastors and leaders from the D.C. area joined the discussion, which centered on the urgent need for immigration reform.

"As we continue to debate immigration in Congress this week, I think sometimes the human factor gets lost," said Paul. "When discussing the issues, it's important to remember that we're talking about people, not just policy." Paul explained that the numbers and statistics associated with immigration cannot prevent lawmakers from seeing the real-life implications of their decisions. "We're not talking about criminals," Paul said. "We're talking about immigrant workers caught up in a failed government visa program."

Paul proposed an immigration reform plan that includes work visas for those who are already in the U.S. and are willing to work, modernization of visas allowing for better tracking, and a middle ground between amnesty and deportation by allowing those who are illegal to become legal through a probationary period. "Man's humanity toward man is how we will be judged," said Paul. "For the teacher, for the student, for the immigrant, for the unborn and for the next generation ... We, as Americans, should never lose sight of the things we share in common, and do our best to love thy neighbor, every chance we get."

Paul also spoke to the importance of education and a system that allows students of all nationalities to succeed, something which the NHCLC leadership believes is the civil rights issues of our day.

KJ

Immigrant of the Day: Salma Hayek (Mexico)

A naturalized U.S. citizen, Salma Hayek Jiménez is a Mexican-born film actress, director and producer. She began her career in Mexico starring in the telenovela Teresa. In 1991, Hayek moved to Hollywood and came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as Desperado (1995), Dogma (1999), and Wild Wild West (1999). Her breakthrough role was in the 2002 film Frida as Frida Kahlo which she received an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress.  Hayek played a brutal druglord in the 2012 Oliver Stone movie Savages.

 

 

KJ

Asians Fastest-Growing Race or Ethnic Group in 2012, Census Bureau Reports

The U.S. Census Bureau announced Asians were the nation's fastest-growing race or ethnic group in 2012. Their population rose by 530,000, or 2.9 percent, in the preceding year, to 18.9 million, according to Census Bureau annual population estimates. More than 60 percent of this growth in the Asian population came from international migration. By comparison, the Hispanic population grew by 2.2 percent, or more than 1.1 million, to just over 53 million in 2012. The Hispanic population growth was fueled primarily by natural increase (births minus deaths), which accounted for 76 percent of Hispanic population change. Hispanics remain our nation's second largest race or ethnic group (behind non-Hispanic whites), representing about 17 percent of the total population.

KJ

Immigrant Children Less Likely to See a Doctor than the U.S.-Born Even When Insured, New Report Finds

Low-income immigrant children are less likely than their U.S.-born citizen counterparts to see a doctor even when they are insured. Similarly, immigrant adults are less likely to use emergency rooms than low-income natives, a new Migration Policy Institute (MPI) report that examines health care coverage and usage among immigrants and the U.S. born finds. The report, Health Care for Immigrant Families: Current Policies and Issues, finds that low-income immigrant children with private or public health care insurance were significantly less likely to visit a doctor’s office during 2010 than their native-born counterparts – 44 percent versus 69 percent for children with private coverage, and 62 percent versus 71.5 percent for children with public coverage. Overall, whether insured or uninsured, 47 percent of low-income immigrant children reported visiting a doctor’s office during 2010 compared to 69 percent of U.S.-born children.

KJ

Video: Living Undocumented

 

 

Living Undocumented explores the lives of diverse undocumented immigrant youth to illustrate the realities, challenges and opportunities they face through high school, college, and beyond. It is directed by Tatyana Kleyn (City College of New YorkSchool of Education) and produced by Ben Donnellon. It features 6 DREAMers, who portray the realities of our nation’s immigration system and its impact on undocumented youth.

The documentary is intended for all audiences, but with the accompanying lesson plan and resource guide for students and educators, it is especially useful in high school classes. 

KJ

Senator Kaine Supports Immigration Reform -- in Spanish!

 

Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) delivered a floor speech in support of immigration reform in Spanish.  And the Spanish is pretty darn good.   For the text in English, click here.

Accoding to the Washingon Post, "[i]t was the first time a sitting senator has delivered a floor speech entirely in Spanish, according the Senate records. The Senate Library said it has no record of the three Latino senators — Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) — giving any extended remarks in Spanish."

KJ

OECD International Migration Outlook 2013

Check out the OECD International Migration Outlook 2013.

KJ

Deport the Statue of Liberty?

 

In this time of crisis, we believe that there is no room for negotiation when it comes to the legal status of our nation’s residents and culture. As Congress debates immigration reform, it is imperative that we do our best to preserve American culture. For this reason, we, the Legals for the Preservation of American Culture, have launched a campaign to deport the Statue of Liberty back to France. We call on US citizens, like you, to join us in insisting that our government remove the statue for the sake of our nation’s heritage and it’s future. We need to #TakeLibertyBack and #DeportTheStatue NOW!

KJ

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) Petitions House Colleagues to Stop Using “Illegal” To Refer to Undocumented Immigrants

 

The Humane Immigration Status Resolution

One day after debate officially began in the U.S. Senate on the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 (S.744), Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) released a new petition on MoveOn.org urging his colleagues in the House of Representatives to stop referring to undocumented immigrants as “illegal” and support H.Res.115, the Humane Immigration Status Resolution. Nearly 1,000 MoveOn.org members have signed on in support of Rep. Rush’s campaign and the Humane Immigration Status Resolution.

KJ

THE HIDDEN STORY OF RAPE ON THE JOB IN AMERICA

Watch Rape in the Fields on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

 

 

FRONTLINE and Univision News Present Rape in the Fields/Violación de un Sueño Tuesday, June 25, 2013, at 10 p.m. on PBS Saturday, June 29, 2013, at 7 p.m. on the Univision Network

For the women who pick and handle the food we eat every day, sexual assault often comes with the job. FRONTLINE partners with Univision News--the award-winning news division of the leading media company serving Hispanic America, Univision Communications, Inc.--for Rape in the Fields/Violación de un Sueño, to uncover the hidden price that many migrant women working in America's fields and packing plants, especially those who are undocumented, are paying to keep their jobs and provide for their families. While debate rages on Capitol Hill over the legal and economic impact of immigration reforms, this FRONTLINE documentary focuses on the human side of the issue: how female farm workers fall prey to their field bosses and co-workers--and dare not denounce their attackers. Otherwise, they run the very real risk that they'll lose their jobs or be deported.

lKJ

At the Movies: Dirty Wars

 

 

The film Dirty Wars is opening in San Francisco and Berkeley on Friday, June 14, and other cities nationwide. The film features independent journalist Jeremy Scahill, the New York Times bestselling author of Blackwater and now Dirty Wars (the book of the same title as the film). The film won the Cintematography Prize at Sundance. Variety says it is "astonishingly hard-hitting" and adds: "This jaw-dropping, persuasively researched pic has the power to pry open government lockboxes."

KJ

Disappeared and Departed By Lucero Chavez, ACLU of Southern California & Sean Riordan, ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties

  

 

From the ACLU:  Why are so many Mexican nationals with deep family ties in the United States and strong claims to reside here lawfully instead "choosing" to be immediately expelled from the country? Because immigration enforcement authorities in Southern California routinely pressure these immigrants – some of whom have been here for decades – to surrender their right to seek legal status. Through abuse of a process known as "administrative voluntary departure," Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers compel these immigrants to involuntarily sign summary expulsion orders. Today, the ACLU and Cooley LLP filed suit in California to challenge these endemic abuses.

From a day laborer arrested for lack of proper identification, to a worker stopped for driving without a license, to a young woman with cognitive disabilities who could not assert her own rights, numerous aspiring citizens – people whom the President has deemed part of the fabric of our great nation – are subject to coerced voluntary departure. Our lawsuit alleges that Border Patrol and ICE officers in Southern California systemically employ pressure, deception, and threats to effectively force individuals to sign for voluntary departure. These officers often tell individuals that they "have to" sign for voluntary departure and that they have "no rights." In addition, officers systemically lie, give patently false "legal advice," and even use pure physical force to coerce individuals to sign away their rights. Officers routinely mislead individuals into signing for voluntary departure by telling them they can easily obtain lawful status to return to the United States once in Mexico. In actuality, there are significant legal impediments to obtaining legal status from Mexico after voluntary departure. Immigration officers also refuse to let individuals contact their families or legal counsel while they are faced with the "choice" of whether or not to sign a voluntary departure form.

KJ

White House Staffers Share Their Immigration Stories

 

 

From the White House Blog:  The United States is a nation of immigrants. And the White House, like nearly every other American office, is full of staffers whose stories started in countries all over the world. We asked some of them to share their own immigration stories, and explain why they think it’s so important to fix our broken immigration system once and for all. Check it out, then share your own immigration story here.

KJ

From the Bookshelves: One Out of Three: Immigrant New York in the Twenty-First Century Edited by Nancy Foner

 

One Out of Three: Immigrant New York in the Twenty-First Century Edited by Nancy Foner

This absorbing anthology features in-depth portraits of diverse ethnic populations, revealing the surprising new realities of immigrant life in twenty-first-century New York City. Contributors show how nearly fifty years of massive inflows have transformed New York City’s economic and cultural life and how the city has changed the lives of immigrant newcomers. Nancy Foner’s introduction describes New York’s role as a special gateway to America. Subsequent essays focus on the Chinese, Dominicans, Jamaicans, Koreans, Liberians, Mexicans, and Jews from the former Soviet Union now present in the city and fueling its population growth. They discuss both the large numbers of undocumented Mexicans living in legal limbo and the new, flourishing community organizations offering them opportunities for advancement. They recount the experiences of Liberians fleeing a war torn country and their creation of a vibrant neighborhood on Staten Island’s North Shore. Through engaging, empathetic portraits, contributors consider changing Korean-owned businesses and Chinese Americans’ increased representation in New York City politics, among other achievements and social and cultural challenges. A concluding chapter follows the prospects of the U.S.-born children of immigrants as they make their way in New York City.

About the Author Nancy Foner is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Hunter College and at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is the author of numerous books, including From Ellis Island to JFK: New York’s Two Great Waves of Immigration.

KJ

Immigration Article of the Day: The Citizenship Line: Rethinking Immigration Exceptionalism by Rachel E. Rosenbloom

 

The Citizenship Line: Rethinking Immigration Exceptionalism by Rachel E. Rosenbloom Northeastern University - School of Law 2013 Boston College Law Review, Forthcoming

Abstract: As immigration reform takes center stage, accompanied by calls for yet more increases in border and interior enforcement, a critical issue demands the attention of scholars and policymakers. It is not possible to police the movement of noncitizens without first determining who is and is not a citizen, and on a formal level the doctrinal framework of immigration law carves out special procedural protections for citizenship claims. Yet citizenship determinations occur deep inside an adjudication system that has been profoundly shaped by “immigration exceptionalism.” Thousands of U.S. citizens are swept up in immigration enforcement actions every year, and dozens of cases have come to light in which erroneous deportations of citizens can be traced to racial profiling in immigration enforcement and the reduced procedural protections afforded to noncitizens, manifested in summary proceedings, lengthy detention, and lack of access to counsel. Such cases compel us to reconceptualize citizenship as not just a status that precedes immigration enforcement but also one that is, in a functional sense, produced by such enforcement. This insight has important consequences for both theoretical understandings of citizenship and constitutional analysis of immigration enforcement. Drawing on historical and contemporary material, this Article proposes a new understanding of immigration exceptionalism, exploring its implications for the rights of both citizens and noncitizens and highlighting its central reliance on the notion that citizenship status can function as a threshold jurisdictional inquiry. Arguing that such reliance is misplaced, this Article sets forth a new vision for an immigration adjudication system that takes seriously the presence of U.S. citizens within it. Such an approach offers a new avenue for critiquing core features of contemporary immigration enforcement such as mandatory detention and fast-track removal procedures, calling into question not just the merits of this system but also its fundamental coherence.

KJ

Chamber of Commerce Selects Lobbyist for Immigration Reform

The BLT reports that, after lobbying for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's legal reform group for five years, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck in Washington has received a new assignment from the business federation. The Chamber, an important supporter of immigration reform, has tapped Brownstein to advocate for it on congressional immigration reform proposals, according to lobbying registration paperwork filed with Congress on Tuesday.

KJ