Tag: immigrants (page 4)

Is Immigration reform on the horizon?

A bipartisan proposal for comprehensive immigration reform that would allow millions of illegal immigrants to participate in a guest-worker program and possibly gain citizenship was introduced in the House yesterday, the first to be submitted since Democrats took control of Congress this year.

The proposal from Reps. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.) is a far cry from a measure passed by the Republican-controlled House in 2005 that focused on tough enforcement actions to reduce illegal immigration. The House bill died in a conference committee along with a competing Senate bill that was similar to the Flake-Gutierrez proposal.

Of course, Tom Tancredo calls it an amnesty bill. It's anything but. My question is, is it enough? I haven't seen a copy of the bill, but I'll update when it becomes available.

Senator Edward Kennedy has a diary up at Daily Kos addressing the nation's need for immigration reform. Best line:

We must find a better solution to our immigration crisis than raids that rip families apart.

His staff will be answering questions in the comments, and he will personally respond to some tomorrow.

In its never-ending battle against the undocumented among us, Congress enacted the Deficit Reduction Act. The goal was to deprive undocumented residents of Medicaid. But, it's also depriving U.S. citizens.

Under a 2006 federal law, the Deficit Reduction Act, most people who say they are United States citizens and want Medicaid must provide “satisfactory documentary evidence of citizenship,” which could include a passport or the combination of a birth certificate and a driver’s license.

Some state officials say the Bush administration went beyond the law in some ways — for example, by requiring people to submit original documents or copies certified by the issuing agency.

“The largest adverse effect of this policy has been on people who are American citizens,” said Kevin W. Concannon, director of the Department of Human Services in Iowa, where the number of Medicaid recipients dropped by 5,700 in the second half of 2006, to 92,880, after rising for five years. “We have not turned up many undocumented immigrants receiving Medicaid in Waterloo, Dubuque or anywhere else in Iowa,” Mr. Concannon said.

Stupid is as stupid does.

There are three million children in the U.S. with at least one parent who is an undocumented resident.

What happens to them when their parents are swept up in an immigration raid?

What is going to happen to the children? These children are American-born," said Helena Marques, executive director of the Immigrant Assistance Center in New Bedford. "There are hundreds of children out there without their moms, in tremendous need. These babies have become the victims of a problem that legislators can't seem to fix."

It's time for these immigration raids to stop. We need a path to citizenship for those who are already in this country.

The feds have gone and done it again, this time in New Bedford, Mass.

Dozens of young children were stranded at schools and with baby sitters after their parents were rounded up by federal authorities who raided a leather goods maker suspected of hiring illegal immigrants, authorities said Wednesday.

Immigration officials said 327 of the 500 employees of Michael Bianco Inc., mostly women, were detained Tuesday by immigration officials for possible deportation as illegal aliens.

About 100 children were stuck with baby sitters, caretakers and others, said Corinn Williams, director of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts.

"We're continuing to get stories today about infants that were left behind," she said. "It's been a widespread humanitarian crisis here in New Bedford." (my emphasis)

More...

The New York Times reports on Colorado's plan to use prison inmates as farm laborers in place of immigrants.

Under the program, which has drawn criticism from groups concerned about immigrants’ rights and from others seeking changes in the criminal justice system, farmers will pay a fee to the state, and the inmates, who volunteer for the work, will be paid about 60 cents a day, corrections officials said.

My objections to the program are over at 5280.com, where among other things I note that the L.A. Times is spot on in calling the proposal evidence that Colorado's strict anti-immigrant laws have backfired.

An enlightened legislator in Florida has introduced a bill to ban the phrase "illegal alien" from state documents.

"I personally find the word 'alien' offensive when applied to individuals, especially to children," said Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami. "An alien to me is someone from out of space."

She has introduced a bill providing that: "A state agency or official may not use the term 'illegal alien' in an official document of the state." There would be no penalty for using the words. In Miami-Dade County, Wilson said, "we don't say 'alien,' we say 'immigrant.'"

The better phrase, as I've used here on TalkLeft for years, is "undocumented resident." I hope this bill passes...and spreads.

Almost a year ago, our nation's immigrants marched in cities across America, rightly proclaiming, "We are America."

The New York Times takes a look at what's happened in the year since the marches.

• border enforcement
• federal raids
• local crackdowns
• gutted due process
• a web of suspicion
• the bureaucratic trap
• the rise of hate

The Times opines:

Hopelessly fixated on toughness, the immigration debate has lost its balance, overlooking the humanity of the immigrant. There is a starkly diminished understanding that hospitality for the stranger is part of the American ethos, and that as much as we claim to be a nation of immigrants, we have thwarted them at every turn. We must do better.

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What holds 400 illegal immigrants from 30 countries, 170 of them children? The T. Don Hutto Family Detention Center, for which the Corrections Corporation of America receives $2.8 million per month.

A jail by any other name is still a jail. A detention camp is still a detention camp. That the prisoners wear scrubs instead of orange jumpsuits or pink underwear doesn't change a thing.

The Government invited the media today. Surprise, for the first time there was pizza on the menu. How humane. They brought in plastic potted plants to warm up the place. The Government says its more like a community college than a jail.

What a farce. Can the "students" leave? Of course not. It's a jail.

More...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched its biggest series of arrests of undocumented residents this week in Los Angeles as part of Operation Return to Sender. 761 people were arrested, most of them at home or in local jails.

The government says most of them were under deportation orders or had previously been deported.

What about the rest of them? How many had merely overstayed a visa or had no prior contact with law enforcement?

Those that were arrested in jail will have to finish serving their sentences before being turned over for deporation. Guess who pays for their incarceration? You, the taxpayer. Why not just deport them now?