Immigration Law

CONGRATS, ROBERT PLANT

Posted on February 08, 2009
Congratulations are due to Robert Plant, the British-born rock singer who moved to American in the 1960s and has been an icon for decades. My February 16, 2008 Immigrant of the Day won another Grammy this evening for Best Pop Collaboration with the wonderful Alison Krauss who I heard several times live in my second hometown - Nashville.

HOUSE PASSES BILL REQUIRING DETENTION FACILITIES TO REPORT DEATHS

Posted on February 07, 2009
The US House passed a bill that got little attention this week that was a step in the right direction. Here is a press release from the ACLU offering details: House Passes Bill To Expand Reporting Of Immigrant Deaths In Detention Deaths In Custody Reporting Act Provides Overdue And Welcome Accountability, Says ACLU FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 3, 2009 WASHINGTON ? In the wake of recent reports about the November death of an immigrant detainee at the Piedmont Regional Jail in Virginia, the U...

SENATE ADDS ANTI-H-1B PROVISION TO STIMULUS BILL

Posted on February 07, 2009
Yesterday, the Senate passed by voice vote an amendment relating to H-1B applications by banks that received bailout money. I've prepared a detailed post about the provision, but have held off on putting it up because there was a last minute modification to the language posted online and I am still trying to get the final language...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: RAM SHRIRAM - INTERNET PIONEER

Posted on February 06, 2009
Indian-born Kavitark Ram Shriram is a founding board member of Google and one of it's major shareholders. He has also served as an officer at Amazon.com when the company was still in its early days and an early officer at Netscape. The billionaire currently serves on the boards of Plaxo, Zazzle and PodShow and on the advisory board of Naukri...

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NEW SPLC REPORT DETAILS LINKS OF NATIVIST GROUPS TO WHITE NATIONALISTS

Posted on February 06, 2009
The Southern Poverty Law Center has been investigating this subject more than any other group. And they've apparently struck a nerve because the nativist groups go crazy whenever SPLC probes this topic. I would be surprised if the comments for this post are NOT especially colorful.

NY TIMES: ICE MISLED CONGRESS ON USE OF RAIDS FUNDS

Posted on February 05, 2009
This is more than just a story about how ICE is focusing on non-criminal aliens rather than the criminals DHS has touted to request more and more funding from Congress. This story shows step by step how ICE abandoned its promise and it should be a wake up call to Congress to have better oversight over how its funds are spent.

WE'RE JUST MISUNDERSTOOD

Posted on February 03, 2009
America's Voice points to an interview with new Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele as evidence that the GOP still doesn't comprehend that they are now considered the anti-immigrant party. They point to this interview on Fox News last week:WALLACE: Does the GOP need to change its position on immigration reform, guest workers, path to citizenship, to reach out and say to Hispanics, "You have a home in the Republican Party?...

WHY WE NEED THE H-1B PROGRAM NOW MORE THAN EVER

Posted on February 03, 2009
During the Great Depression, Congress and President Hoover responded to strong public pressure and did the one thing the wisest economists warned against - they enacted massive new trade barriers to protect US companies from competition. Countries around the world did the same and the result was a decline in world trade that many believe made the Depression much worse...

THE NATIVISTS ARE RESTLESS

Posted on February 02, 2009
There's a great editorial in the morning NY Times that I meant to link to earlier today. As always, the Times seems to be ahead of most papers around the country in terms of the depth of their news coverage and the passion of their editorial page advocacy.

.04%

Posted on February 02, 2009
This morning the Associated Press is running one of the most unfair pieces I've seen in a long time regarding the H-1B visa program. I expect this sort of thing out of the xenophobic fringe press, but the AP is an organization that used to be known for objectivity...

AG NOMINEE SAYS HE'LL TAKE A LOOK AT REVERSING COMPEAN CASE

Posted on February 02, 2009
Attorney General nominee Eric Holder has told Senators that he was prepared to review the extremely controversial last minute ruling by former Attorney General Michael Mukasey that having incompetent representation would no longer be a defense to being deported...

GILLIBRAND STARTING TO SOUND LIKE A NEW YORK SENATOR SHOULD

Posted on February 02, 2009
The freshman Senator from the Empire State told a Latino audience this week that she not only understands that her prior anti-immigrant positions as a Congresswoman from a conservative district were not going to work in her new job. According to the New York Times:In particular, she promised to take a lead in promoting a Congressional bill to roll back a federal provision that discourages states from charging in-state tuition to the children of illegal immigrants who attend state-supported universities...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: BEN GRAHAM - NFL PUNTER

Posted on February 01, 2009
Ben Graham will become the first Australian ever to play in a Super Bowl when he suits up later today in Tampa. He's the punter for the underdog Arizona Cardinals. He played Australian Rules Football for several years before coming to the US in 2005 and signing on with the New York Jets...

SENATE PASSES BILL PROVIDING HEALTH COVERAGE FOR IMMIGRANT KIDS

Posted on January 30, 2009
The House passed this even before the President was sworn in. The bill now brings in a large number of legal immigrant children in to the Children's Health Insurance Program. Pro-immigrant groups are applauding the measure. From a press release from the National Conference of La Raza: Legal immigrant children in the U...

NEW I-9 FORM DELAYED TWO MONTHS

Posted on January 30, 2009
Last week I blogged about the new Executive Order delaying all regulations from taking effect for 60 days. Two rules that seemed to fit the bill were the E-Verify federal contractor rule and the other is the new I-9 form with tighter (and controversial) document requirements...

EXPERTS REFUTE EXTREMIST GROUP CLAIMS ON 2008 ELECTION

Posted on January 29, 2009
The November elections were just a few weeks ago so I was surprised to hear that various anti-immigrant extremist organizations have been trying to re-write history and claim that the voters were actually sending an anti-immigrant message. Huh?!! People paying attention know that this is a bunch of malarkey, but it's important that this type of nonsense does not go unchallenged...

CONGRESSIONAL HISPANICS OPPOSE INSERTING E-VERIFY PROVISIONS IN STIMULUS PACKAGE

Posted on January 29, 2009
Members of the powerful Congressional Hispanic Caucus have sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging her to strip provisions extending E-Verify for five years and requiring employers receiving stimulus money to use the electronic system. The group's main arguments are that the system is still not accurate enough and that it will disproportionately affect Hispanic workers...

GILLIBRAND PLEDGES TO RE-VISIT PAST IMMIGRATION POSITIONS

Posted on January 28, 2009
Kirsten Gillibrand was sworn in yesterday as the new Senator from New York and the complaints of pro-immigration groups and media outlets over her dismal voting record in the House of Representatives apparently has had an impact:Immediately following the announcement, liberal blogs and New York?s ethnic media lit up with complaints about Ms...

ANTI-IMMIGRANTS DISCOVER MY BLOG

Posted on January 27, 2009
Have you noticed an uptick in comments from anti-immigrant posters you've never seen here before? There's a reason. A friend of mine forwarded me the latest email newsletter from the nice folks at the Federation for American Immigration Reform and they have a little article discussing the Gillibrand Senate appointment mentioning how pro-immigration groups were reacting with concern over Ms...

BREAKING NEWS: E-VERIFY CONTRACTOR RULE NOW ON HOLD UNTIL MAY

Posted on January 27, 2009
Just got word that DHS and the plaintiffs in the suit challenging the E-Verify federal contractor rule agreed on the extension of the applicability date of the E-Verify contractor rule until May 21, 2009 in order to give the new President time to review the rule...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: RAUL HINOJOSA-OJEDA - SOCIAL SCIENTIST

Posted on January 26, 2009
I've just blogged about the new study released by UCLA's Dr. Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda on the impact of a legalization program on economic recovery in the US. Dr. Hinojosa-Ojeda is a native of Mexico and was raised in Chicago. He received a bachelors, masters and Ph...

COULD IMMIGRATION REFORM BE AN ECONOMIC STIMULUS?

Posted on January 26, 2009
UCLA's Dr. Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, Executive Director of the university's North American Integration and Development Center, makes the case that a legalization program on a large scale will be an economic boon to the country:Legalization of the nation?s undocumented workers is now an economic necessity, as well as amoral and civil rights imperative...

ANOTHER GOP LEADER CALLS ON PARTY TO RE-THINK IMMIGRATION VIEWS

Posted on January 26, 2009
Here here for another grown-up saying what the politically tone deaf in the Republican Party don't seem to want to hear - if the party doesn't re-invent itself as a pro-immigration party, it will spend many years in the minority. Former Republican National Committee Chair and Bush Cabinet Secretary Jim Nicholson reminds his party that Hispanics are a natural constituency based on many of their views on social and economic issues...

SENATOR ADVOCATES MICROSOFT FIRE FOREIGN NATIONALS FIRST

Posted on January 26, 2009
The news that Microsoft will be laying off 5,000 workers is certainly troubling since the company has traditionally been very reluctant to release folks and only a year ago was discussing how they had 5,000 openings they could not fill. The anti-H-1B Senator Charles Grassley has now jumped in to the fray demanding that Microsoft start firing its H-1B workers before any "similarly qualified" workers lose their jobs...

WHITE HOUSE CONSIDERING REPEALING DIRECTIVE RELATED TO PRESIDENT'S AUNT

Posted on January 26, 2009
Strange politics here. President Bush's Homeland Security Department issued an order last November when the story broke that then Senator Obama's aunt was in the country illegally and subject to deportation. Now the President is seeking to scrap the directive presumably to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

STIMULUS BILL MAKES MAJOR E-VERIFY CHANGES

Posted on January 24, 2009
The House has included a provision extending the E-Verify program from March 6, 2006. The House Appropriations committee has not released the text of the amendment yet so I'm not able to clarify the exact period of extension. The press release from the committee linked above says it is extended for five years...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: AMER DELIC

Posted on January 24, 2009
Bosnian-born Amer Delic had a great Australian Open losing in the third round to defending champion Nova Djokovic of Serbia. Delic won the NCAA Singles Championship in 2003 while representing the University of Illinois and has played in a number of major tournaments over the last few years...

AMERICA'S VOICE URGES GILLIBRAND TO UPHOLD NY PRO-IMMIGRATION TRADITION

Posted on January 23, 2009
America?s Voice to Gillibrand: Uphold NY Tradition of Sensible Immigration Policy Moving from Conservative District to Statewide Office, Appointee Must Recognize Policy & Political Demand for Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2009 Washington, DC ? Below is a statement from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America?s Voice in response to Governor David Paterson?s appointment of Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) to the U...

NASHVILLE SAYS NO TO ENGLISH-ONLY AMENDMENT

Posted on January 23, 2009
I'm proud of my former hometown (though I'm there often enough for work that it still is a home away from home). The city has been known for its hospitality over the years - it once actually garnered an award for the friendliest city in America. But in recent years, it's hostile treatment of immigrants has been making national headlines...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: PENELOPE CRUZ - ACTRESS

Posted on January 23, 2009
The beautiful Spanish actress Penelope Cruz was nominated for her second Academy Award today for her supporting role in the recent Woody Allen film Vicky Christina Barcelona. Ms. Cruz was nominated a couple of years ago for her performance in the Spanish film Volver.

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