Immigration Law

TIME MAGAZINE'S JOE KLEIN CALLS OUT DOBBS FOR DEMAGOGUERY

Posted on May 27, 2008
And this is from the star columnist at the news magazine owned by CNN's parent company, Time Warner. Here's the post: Given the amount of serious journalism going on at CNN--the reporters risking their lives on battlefields all over the world, fine journalists like John King and Candy Crowley working to report the presidential campaign accurately, the excellent fact-checking that Wolf Blitzer did earlier this year on the Obama Madrasa smear--given all that and a nearly thirty year history of really trying to present the facts straight...

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CONSIDERS REQUIRING VISAS FOR AMERICANS

Posted on May 27, 2008
Apparently (not sure how reliable this source is), members of the European legislature do not like the fact that the US grants visa waiver status to fewer than half of the EU's 27 members.

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: CESAR ALVAREZ - LAWYER

Posted on May 27, 2008
Cesar Alvarez is one of the generation of young Cubans who came to the US as refugees in the early 1960s after the revolution in his home country. I grew up in Miami during a time when many of these new arrivals were planting new roots and starting to make their mark on the country...

BORDER PATROL AGENTS GONE BAD

Posted on May 27, 2008
The New York Times reports on this phenomenon. Unfortunately, the rush to rapidly expand the ranks in the Border Patrol will bring these kinds of problems.

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NEW ICE TACTIC: JAIL IMMIGRANT WORKERS

Posted on May 26, 2008
The Postville, Iowa raid of a Kosher meatpacking plant earlier this month not only was unprecedented in terms of the number of workers detained - nearly 400 with warrants ready for up to 300 more. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did something it has rarely done before, and certainly not on this scale...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: LEONARD COHEN - SINGER/SONGWRITER/POET/NOVELIST

Posted on May 26, 2008
Canadian-born Leonard Cohen should be better known by Americans given his amazing 40+ year career. That may be because others have often gained more fame singing Cohen songs than Cohen himself. Judy Collins was one of the first when she had a hit in 1967 with Cohen's Suzanne...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: SCOTT DIXON - INDY 500 WINNER

Posted on May 25, 2008
Congratulations go to Scott Dixon of New Zealand who now sits at the top of the American race car world with his first time win today in the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500. Dixon has been in an elite group of race car drivers for the last few years, but today's win is a major breakthrough for the Kiwi.

WSJ PANS E-VERIFY

Posted on May 24, 2008
The Wall Street Journal has an excellent editorial today on E-Verify (thanks USC for the link). Last week DHS defended E-Verify claiming that getting problems resolved was no big deal. Keep in mind that most of the data problems are with the Social Security Administration...

USCIS CLARIFIES E-VERIFY OPT QUESTION FOR STUDENT VISA HOLDERS

Posted on May 23, 2008
One question that was not answered last month when USCIS released a rule allowing for 17 month work authorization extensions for certain STEM professionals was whether E-Verify must be deployed system-wide by a company or not in order to qualify for the extension...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: JORN OLSEN - EPIDEMIOLOGIST

Posted on May 23, 2008
If there wasn't enough bad news lately, we're now hearing that there's a link between cell phones used by pregnant women and behavioral problem in children. Even the researcher who found the link - Danish-born Jorn Olsen - is not sure if there is any causal link...

CATO REBUTS DHS E-VERIFY DEFENSE

Posted on May 23, 2008
The folks at the Cato Institute take DHS to task for misleading people about E-Verify error rates.

CATO'S E-VERIFY DEBATE WITH DHS ENTERS ROUND 2

Posted on May 23, 2008
This is getting good. The Department of Homeland Security issued another defense of E-Verify saying that the system has the capacity to handle a massive increase in the number of employers. The Cato Institute's Jim Harper pokes holes in the argument noting that it's not the technical capacity to handle the data that's the problem, but the massive manpower and money that will be required to resolve errors...

OBAMA: DOBBS, LIMBAUGH CAUSING RISE IN HATE CRIMES

Posted on May 23, 2008
Cause. Effect.

MEDIA MATTERS TAKES ON DOBBS, O'REILLY AND BECK

Posted on May 22, 2008
Media Matters has issued a comprehensive report outlining some of the outlandish theories that hosts of various cable "news" shows are promoting. The shows are also criticized for promoting extremists groups by inviting their representatives on their shows.

HOUSE CONRAD 30 EXTENSION BILL ADVANCES

Posted on May 22, 2008
The House of Representatives has passed a bill by voice vote authorizing a five year extension of the Conrad 30 J-1 physician waiver program as well as a doubling of FLEX slots to 10 per state from the current five. The Senate then needs to pass a bill and to the extent there are differences, the two must agree and then re-vote on the compromise language...

DHS DEFENDS E-VERIFY'S INTEGRITY

Posted on May 21, 2008
DHS issued a letter in its Leadership Journal arguing the program is not as inaccurate as people believe. I'd point out that their comment that it's perfectly easy to go and correct a problem is misleading. The Social Security Administration can take months to correct a problem and E-Verify only allows eight days.

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: GRAHAM NASH - SINGER

Posted on May 21, 2008
When I was 17 years old, I volunteered for an election campaign and the theme song was one that I find really inspiring - Crosby Stills Nash and Young's Teach Your Children Well. My friends and I who volunteered really thought we could change the world...

CHECKPOINTS

Posted on May 21, 2008
This is a video made by a fellow upset about checkpoints being set up by the Border Patrol (which are popping up in lots of places). I have to admit that I felt conflicted while watching this. The lady was just doing her job and was not being rude or out of line...

MISSOURI PASSES TOUGH NEW EMPLOYER SANCTIONS LAW

Posted on May 21, 2008
Employers in Missouri will now be subject to losing business licenses for hiring unauthorized aliens and many employers in the state will have to begin using E-Verify.The law takes effect January 1, 2009. I've read through the bill and have prepared a summary...

KENNEDY HAS BRAIN TUMOR

Posted on May 20, 2008
This is terrible news for the pro-immigration community. Senator Kennedy is the chair of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee and a vigorous advocate of pro-immigration policies. I'm praying for you Senator Kennedy.

OBAMA'S STANDING WITH HISPANICS IMPROVES

Posted on May 20, 2008
For the first time in this election cycle, Barack Obama's support amongst Hispanics is better than Hillary Clinton's. Given the hope that Senator McCain's folks have that they can do better amongst Hispanics than other Republicans, this poll is interesting...

LOFGREN INTRODUCES DETAINEE MEDICAL STANDARDS BILL

Posted on May 19, 2008
Kudos to House Immigration Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren for introducing the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008. The bill would require the establishment of procedures to ensure the timely and effective delivery of medical care to immigrant detainees around the US...

BORDER PATROL TO TARGET HURRICANE EVACUATIONS

Posted on May 18, 2008
Not too much surprises me when it comes to immigration enforcement these days, but this story made me do a double take. Apparently, Border Patrol agents will be questioning people boarding evacuation buses when a hurricane approaches the Rio Grande region in Texas...

GAO WARNS CONGRESS ON E-VERIFY

Posted on May 17, 2008
The General Accounting Office has released their official testimony before the Social Security Subcommittee in the House of Representatives. A few points caught my attention: A mandatory E-Verify program would necessitate an increased capacity at both U...

ICE ARRESTS BORDER PATROL AGENT FOR ALIEN SMUGGLING

Posted on May 16, 2008
This is a new twist on an old story - immigration officials taking advantage of their positions of power and turning to corruption. This is the first case I can recall where a Border Patrol agent was charged with a crime so serious.

IMMIGRATION VOICE URGING MEMBERS TO CONTACT HISPANIC CONGRESSMEN

Posted on May 16, 2008
I can sympathize with why members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are blocking pro-immigration bills from moving in Congress. They fear that if pro-immigration bills move, they will lose key allies in pushing through measures of concern to the caucus, particularly when it comes to putting the twelve million illegally present immigrants on a path to a legalization...

SENATE DIPS TOE IN THE WATER TO MOVE IMMIGRATION MEASURES

Posted on May 16, 2008
Yesterday, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up a war spending bill and included a number of immigration provisions. The measures included - a lighter version of AgJobs - the restoration of the H-2B returning worker provision - the recapture of unused employment green card numbers - an early adjustment provision allowing people to file adjustment cases before employment green card numbers are available - extension of the EB-5 investor visa program - a new grant program relating to border security Unfortunately, these provisions are likely to be removed because of Senate rules requiring amendments be germane to the underlying appropriations...

USCIS SETS UP GENEALOGY SERVICE

Posted on May 16, 2008
This won't interest a lot of readers, but as an avid genealogy researcher, I'm really pleased to hear that USCIS is setting this up. There are instances where this may be useful as well for those trying to claim citizenship at birth and who need access to US immigration records for their parents and grandparents...

MEXICAN POLICE SEEKING ASYLUM IN US

Posted on May 15, 2008
More bad signs of instability at the US-Mexican border and challenges that face both countries in dealing with drug and immigration policies.

CALIFORNIA LEGALIZES SAME SEX MARRIAGE, BUT COUPLES MUST WAIT FOR IMMIGRATION EQUALITY

Posted on May 15, 2008
Even though a number of US states have recognized same sex marriages and civil unions - California today becoming the latest - immigration equality is still a long way off. That's because the Defense of Marriage Act - an unjust relic of the 90s - forbids the federal government from conferring any benefits to same sex couples...

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