December 2009
22 posts
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Editorial from NYT: States and Localities Enact...
This article speaks for itself.
States have taken it into their own hands to deal with illegal immigration. And with an issue like this, it is no shock that certain states have gone simply too far, enacting harsh laws that impede on the natural rights of the individual.
Illegal immigraiton isn’t something that will just go away if you ignore it after awhile. It is a problem, and...
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Another Case Where ICE Failed to Stop Illegal...
Just another case where ICE has failed.
Back in 2008, ICE officials, US Legal immigrants, and US citizens were brought before a House Judiciary Subcommittee to challenge the detention and removal procedures. The committee found that ICE was in violation of many civil rights laws and forced to establish new regulations that protected the rights of immigrants and detainees. And yet, again, we...
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Its Official, KBH Announced, and Illegal...
KBH announced last Monday that she will be running for governor of TX. And, to combat Bill White, she announces that Immigration will be her top issue. But I ask, in midst of economic recession, a climate change crisis, and a major healthcare debate, why has she decided to run on the issue of illegal immigration? Waste of time. She needs a stronger issue that applies to the working class families...
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Who is Alexander Massa?
This article is absolutely ridiculous. No wonder this columnist only writes on hardliner right wing sites. He really has nothing to say except the mainstream arguments such as they are pouring our over our boarders and destroying our economy. When will they get a new battle cry?
I like his ideaology chart.
Austin H.
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Blogs becoming a factor in Immigration Debate
The emergence of new media and the cult like following that it entails has given new wings to the pro-immigration movement. Blogs like Immigration Equality Blog have compartmentalized the debate into categories each with their corresponding blogs. This specific blog is backed by a PAC named Immigration Equality.
A new development of the new media in all spheres of political life is the...
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New media a factor in immigration debate? →
As the textbook eludes to, the emergence of new media in politics and policy making has forever changed the game. This article I found from the Brookings Institute confirms this thought and explains in more depth how and why this is the case, especially in regard to the immigration debate.
New media, through its ability to broadcast news instantaneously to people around the globe, has the...
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A foreign perspective →
Unlike the press coverage of immigration in the U.S., which focuses mainly on the should we or shouldn’t we/are they good or are they bad style debate, this article from BBC News takes a different approach.
Rather than taking the traditional approach, the article focuses more on the economic side of the detention of those who are found here illegally. According to the report, there has...
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Immigrants buying up all the "best" steaks...
“THIS IS A DISGRACE AND A SLAP IN THE FACE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHEN, PEOPLE FROM OTHER COUNTRIES (ie) MEXICO CAN COME HERE ILLEGALLY AND TAKE JOBS FROM LEGAL CITIZENS AND NOTHING IS BEING DONE ABOUT IT. ITS NOT FAIR AND NOTHING GOOD WILL COME OF THIS. THINGS ARE GETTING WORSE FOR AMERICANS INSTEAD OF BETTER IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY. OBAMA SHOULD HAVE NEVER MADE PROMISES TO THESE PEOPLE THAT...
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The Other Side: A Look at a Mexican Newspaper
Most of the stories posted on this blog are from American mainstream media sources. I thought it’d be interesting to look at the other side and examine how Mexican media covers the growing immigration problem.
This is a rather old article, but important none the less. The Guadalajara Reporter released an article back in August examining the talks held by President Obama, Calderon and PM...
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Where two contentious issues intersect →
This article written by David Montgomery of the Washington Post outlines a “big sticking point” for healthcare reform; illegal immigrants, and their coverage within the proposed bill.
The big problem with both debates (immigration and healthcare reform) is that so many people in the United States have a huge problem with helping out their fellow neighbors. I hate to say it, but...
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The boundries for ICE
A New York Times article chronicles a development on Capitol Hill regarding a new facet of the illegal immigration problem in the United States. According to reports published by Human Rights Watch and Transactional Records Clearing House, numbers of immigrants are being transferred quickly or more frequently than necessary. This action can and does cause problems within the bureaucratic...
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Court Rules that Mass Immigration Hearings is...
This post from the AP is pretty interesting. As a result of Project Steamline, no tolerance zones were set up along the border in Texas, Arizona and California. In these zones, immigrants who are caught have the chance of being tried in federal court.
However, because of the high volume of immigrants caught coming through these zones, many officials have turned to efficiency, reading the rights...
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Immigration is Good for the Economy Followup
As a response to the article from Mitra regarding immigrants and the economy:
The study referred to in that article comes from The Fiscal Policy Institute. The nonpartisan research firm studied 25 metropolitan areas and found that immigrants contribute nearly 20% to the local GDP. By contrast, that makes up about 20% of the population. It is a 1:1 ratio. The taxes and profits made and paid by...
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Obama lifts ban on HIV+ immigration
while I am happy to see that President Obama lifted a ban on HIV+ persons entering (not even immigrating…entering) this country, it seems kind of ridiculous that this ban has even been in place since 1987…the year I was born. 22 years of this? Really?! Immigration Equality reports that the other countries with this travel restriction are: Armenai, Brunei, Moldova, Iraq, Qatar, Russia,...
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Houston continues to earn reputation as intolerant...
It is being reported that Houston chapters are requiring potential beneficiaries of its annual christmas toy drive for children to undergo a background check that would verify the immigration/citizenship status of the children and their families before any gifts will be distributed. I can’t imagine that many people will actually be DENIED a gift for their children if they are found to be...
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Study finds immigrants are a strong benefit to...
In yet another article showing evidence in favor of the benefits of encouraging legal immigration into this country, a study has been published that shows that immigrants are amongst the hardest workers in the labor force. They seem to be very beneficial to the United States’ economy, in smaller cities as well as large. Also, there is data that suggests that the idea of immigrant workers...
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Mass Courts
Courts in Arizona’s “zero tolerance zone,” designated by “operation streamline,” hold mass hearings for suspected illegal immigrants. However it has been long rumored that the court proceedings neglect some back rights that the detainees hold.
The 9th District Court of Appeals in San Francisco has found the seam to this procedure. Courts in Arizona have not been...
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"Why are we focusing on this?" →
An article by Jared Allen of The Hill entitled, “Proponents alter immigration legislation in the face of tough economic climate,” provides an interesting, and I think relevant take on immigration reform given our current economic situation here in the U.S. Noting that the current unemployment rate is at 10.2% and expected rise further throughout the next year, the author takes the...
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Some Toy Drives are Checking for Immigration...
The Texas Observer commented on an article from the Houston Chronicle reporting that some toy drives around Texas are checking immigration status of parents as a stipulation to recieve toys this Christmas. Forgive me if I am wrong, but last time I checked, toy drives are for CHILDREN. When was the last time a five year old Mexican woke up one day and decided he was going to cross the border...
November 2009
14 posts
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Illegal Immigration Enforcement Has Inhibited...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/27/opinion/27fri2.html
This editorial from the NYT makes a good point, our current immigration policies have lead law enforcement officials to use racial profiling as a means to identify illegal immigrants.
It is absolutely imperative that the Obama administration tackle illegal immigration head on, without creating the image that all illegal immigrants are a...
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Two birds with one stone? →
As this AP article states, immigration reform and Hispanic support of President Barrack Obama and the Democratic Party go hand in hand. With the Hispanic population within the U.S. constituting the “fastest growing minority group” in the country, it seems like a no-brainer that they should be a constituency that the Democratic Party would try to hold on to moving into the 2010...
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Economy causing drops in immigration? →
According to this article from the New York Times the number of migrants detained for trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border has dropped dramatically year over year from 2008 to 2009. The article provides an unbiased analysis of the possible reasons behind this drop in border crossing, providing both the Democratic and Republican voices of the argument. Democrats seem to be using the drop in...
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Pro Immigration PAC growing
In the PAC world of immigration usually anti-immigration supporters win with both money and man power. However, the times are changing. Historically this has been a one side debate as far as PAC’s and their corresponding money are concerned. However, in Miami, two of the nation’s most organized pro-immigration PACS are boasting relatively high numbers making them contenders in...
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The Catholic's new voice: Immigration
Every year Catholics around the country unite on one specific issue regarding the nations and their lives. With these post cards they solicit their representatives in Washington to enact the change they advocate for. In the past it has been issues like abortion and euthanasia. However this year it is immigration. The Catholic Church backed by the highest ranking officials of the institution began...
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Pew Research poll reveals where immigration is on...
A new poll just released from the Pew Research Center revealed that immigration is a ‘mid-level’ issue among the majority of voters, ranking well below the economy and healthcare in terms of salience. While this comes as little to no surprise, this is one of the reasons why the Obama administration has decided to wait until at least late next year to introduce an overhaul of the...
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Immigration charges dropped in slaughterhouse case →
Here is an article from the AP reporting on the charges dropped against a slaughterhouse owner who harbored and employed over 350 illegal immigrants. Beyond the financial charges the owner faces Rubashkin was also convicted of “harboring illegal immigrants for profit, conspiracy to commit document fraud and aiding and abetting document fraud.” This is just another example of the human...
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Immigration reform needed on administrative side...
This article, from the Miami Herald, follows the story of a Salvadoran man who was mistakenly deported from the United States due to an oversight issue on the part of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The agency apparently missed out on some key evidence that differentiated the man ( who has temporary protective status as a refugee from an earthquake that occurred in El...
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Harris County: The New immigration model
Harris County was the first in the country to utilize the Secure Communities Program, which allows law enforcement access to the immigration database. This program unlike others, such as in Arizona, has not drawn heavy national criticism for the tactics used in implementing the program. Many of the other programs, like those in Arizona, implement questionable tactics in discovering illegal...
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Immigration reform on the horizon? →
Through this article, it’s evident that the Democratic Party is already hard at work crafting their message for an imminent push toward immigration reform. According to the article’s author, Julia Preston, the White House is working to construct a plan for immigration reform that contrasts the effort by the former Bush administration in 2007.
During the current economic recession, it...
Open Borders: A Blog About Immigration Reform
Katy Johnson
The United States is home to an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants, many of which come from the border. Illegal immigrants has many consequences for this country. For one, undocumented workers have created an “underground” economy. Immigrants work for an employer, undocumented, and thus are not subject to minimum wage laws, and even more, deprive national state...