ARIZONA


JOBS IN JEOPARDY

ARE YOU WILLING TO LOSE YOUR JOB SO AN ILLEGAL WORKER CAN BE DEPORTED TO MEXICO?

THINK ABOUT IT.

The Arizona Republic
August 10, 2007

Under Arizona's employer-sanctions law, a business can be shut down for 10 days for hiring one undocumented worker.

Let's say that business has 100 employees.

The undocumented worker gets deported.

Ninety-nine other workers lose 10 days' pay.

If another undocumented worker is found on the payroll within three years, the employer's business license is permanently revoked.

Another undocumented worker gets deported.

Ninety-eight people are out of work.

You could be one of them.

In the ***per-sticker world of simplistic solutions, some might say, "Tough luck." After all, we have to do something about illegal immigration, don't we?

In the real world, this law is entirely unreasonable.

It requires businesses to verify the work status of new employees through a federal program called Basic Pilot, which cannot detect identity fraud and is considered unreliable even by some who use it. Meatpacker Swift & Co. was using Basic Pilot when federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested more than 1,200 workers at plants in six states last December.

Supporters of Arizona's law say using Basic Pilot provides a defense against the sanctions in the state law. Businesspeople disagree. They say the language of the law imposes the business death penalty on the second offense. Period.

You can say it serves them right. You can correctly point out that, if there were no jobs for illegal immigrants, few would enter our country illegally.

You are right. We need a solution to the problem of illegal immigration.

This is not the solution.

This is another problem.

And you, average Arizona resident, already are suffering consequences for a law that doesn't even go into effect until Jan. 1.

Consider: In the next 15 years, 100,000 employees will be hired at the fast-food restaurants Jason LeVecke owns in Arizona. Anybody can make two mistakes in 100,000.

Under Arizona's law, those mistakes could cost LeVecke his license to operate all 56 of his Carl's Jr. restaurants and put about 1,250 people out of work.

LeVecke paid for development rights to open 45 more stores in Arizona. Because of the employer-sanctions law, he has redirected his business development to Texas.

"It's just too risky," the Tempe native says. "I can't afford to keep all my eggs in Arizona anymore."

Consider: Nan Walden is vice president and counsel of Farmers Investment Co., the largest grower and processor of pecans in the nation. For 60 years, it has operated out of the Green Valley/Sahuarita area. Walden says she has a stable, legal workforce. But what if she makes one mistake?

"I have millions of dollars of inventory in cold storage," she says. "If they shut us down for 10 days, we'd be out of business."

She says businesses shouldn't be subject to state sanctions if they follow federal rules. Under this law, they are.

"The damage this will do to Arizona's economy over the next few years will be hard to fix," she says.

Consider: Sundt Construction pays $18 to $20 an hour plus benefits for skilled crafts workers, says J. Doug Pruitt, chairman and CEO. Yet the company has turned down a "considerable amount of work" in Arizona in the past two years because of labor shortages.

"We can advertise till hell freezes over, and there is not a supply of skilled workers," he says.

Pruitt's company already uses the Basic Pilot program because he has no desire to hire illegal workers. But he says the program has a high error rate.

The two-strikes provision of the employer-sanctions law "is like the death penalty for running a stop sign," he says.

Consider: Joe Sigg, director of government relations at the Arizona Farm Bureau, says dairies pay $10 to $12 an hour and can't find enough workers. Seasonal crop pickers make $17 to $18 an hour, but farmers can't find workers.

Sigg says people with legitimate work papers have been increasingly reluctant to come across the border to work near Yuma because of the increasingly hostile attitude toward migrant workers in Arizona. The new law makes it even more likely that migrant workers, legal ones and undocumented ones, will go to other states.

That matters. Banks consider the availability of labor when they make loans to farmers. If farmers face labor shortages, they plant less, Sigg says.

If agriculture can't find labor, "agriculture will move" out of state or out of the country, he says.

A lot of other jobs will disappear, too, because workers don't just work. Workers buy groceries, clothing, televisions, furniture and cars. Workers rent apartments. They go out to eat and see movies. Workers, even undocumented ones, keep the economy going.

Consider: Under the employer-sanctions law, prosecutors have to check out complaints from anyone - even a disgruntled employee or competitor. The potential disruption from what Sigg calls "drive-by, anonymous complaints" creates a perilous environment for business. Entrepreneurs notwithstanding, business thrives on certainty and stability.

Arizona's employer-sanctions law is a problem. So is an even harsher initiative that is being shopped around the state.

A solution to illegal immigration has to come from Congress, and it has to recognize that the undocumented immigrants currently in this country are an integral part of the economy. Arizona's employer-sanctions law is a cheap trick with the depth of a ***per sticker and the precision of a land mine. Unless it is struck down in court, it will hurt the state's growth and economy.

That will cost jobs. One of them could be yours.

In all simplicity:

ANY IMMIGRANTS HAVING ENROLLMENT PROBLEMS?
MALDEF WILL STEP IN


Learning the Language

Mary Ann Zehr is an assistant editor at Education Week. She has written about the schooling of English-language learners for more than seven years and understands through her own experience of studying Spanish that it takes a long time to learn another language well. Her blog will tackle difficult policy questions, explore learning innovations, and share stories about different cultural groups on her beat.

Any Immigrants Having Enrollment Problems? MALDEF Will Step In

Every once in a while, I hear of a situation in which a school district employee doesn't know that children are entitled to a free K-12 public education in this country regardless of their immigration status"”and causes unnecessary problems for immigrant parents. That reportedly was the case with the assistant of the superintendent of the North Chicago Community Unit School District #187, in North Chicago, Ill., who is accused of telling a parent she couldn't enroll her child in school without providing proof of legal residency or work authorization.

A regional counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund reports in an Aug. 9 letter to Superintendent Sandra Ellis that though the issue was eventually resolved--after MALDEF intervened--he still finds it disturbing that the district employee was so uninformed about federal and state laws. He also said it was disturbing that the employee gave the parent information from the Web site of an organization fighting illegal immigration, the American Resistance Foundation (which, according to its Web site, is now defunct.) An Aug. 10 MALDEF press release has other details.

By the way, Illinois is one state that recently has taken extra steps to clarify that school officials cannot inquire about a parent's immigration status. (Click here for an article I wrote for Education Week in April about the rule change.)

The employee that MALDEF identifies as being misinformed didn't return my call seeking her side of the story.

I think there is a lesson to be learned here that school districts need to ensure that anyone who interacts with parents on student registration issues must be clear about what immigrant students' rights are under the law.

Posted by Mary Ann Zehr on August 17, 2007 11:00 AM | Permalink

Press Releases
------------------------------
MALDEF PROTECTS THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF STUDENTS AS THEY ENROLL IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

School officials violate state and federal laws after rejecting valid residency documents and denying enrollment of Latino students

August 10, 2007

CHICAGO, IL – The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) today issued a letter demanding that a district official in the North Chicago Community Unit Schools refrain from contacting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about parents seeking to enroll children who may not have legal immigration status. Earlier this week, MALDEF's regional office was contacted by a parent who was told by the district's office that she should teach her children at home because of the parent's immigration status, despite the fact that the parent was a resident of the school district. MALDEF reminded district officials that the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in Plyler v. Doe that public schools can not deny admission to a student based on the student's or parent's immigration status and that school officials can not ask students or parents questions that may expose their undocumented status.

"Parents seeking to enroll their children in school should not have to be subjected to this type of conduct," said Chicago Regional Counsel Ricardo Meza.

Founded in 1968, MALDEF, the nation's leading Latino legal organization, promotes and protects the rights of Latinos through litigation, advocacy, community education and outreach, leadership development, and higher education scholarships.

For more information contact:
Rosa María Santana: 213-629-2512, x. 124
Ricardo Meza: 312-427-0701

MISSOURI


DEVELOPER FACES PANEL OVER LABOR ALLEGATION

By Matthew Franck
POST-DISPATCH JEFFERSON CITY BUREAU
08/18/2007

JEFFERSON CITY "” The developer of a St. Charles County housing project faced the wrath of a state commission Friday for allegedly using illegal immigrants on a project that's subsidized by federal and state tax credits.

By the time the grilling was over, members of the Missouri Housing Development Commission vowed to swiftly put in place new rules demanding that developers verify that workers are not in the country illegally.

But it's unclear exactly what new regulations the commission might enforce. Meanwhile, the developer accused of wrongdoing sternly told the commission that he has followed all the rules.

On the hot seat was Pete Hennessey, of Hennessey Development Inc. of Clayton. The company's $20 million Southernside Apartment Complex project in O'Fallon, Mo., has come under fire for allegedly hiring a subcontractor with illegal immigrant laborers. Advertisement

None of the allegations has been proved, and Hennessey has repeatedly insisted he is free of any wrongdoing.

The construction project is partly funded by more than $13 million in state and federal tax credits over 10 years, administered by the housing commission.

On Friday, Hennessey told the commission that he has met all of the tax credit's requirements as it concerns gathering immigration documents. He said when allegations surfaced in June, he also supplied information to federal officials.

"I've done everything I can," he said, adding that if he knew illegal immigrants were working on the project "I'd kick them off the site."

But some members of the commission challenged Hennessey. At a minimum, they say, he failed to take any steps to verify documents. And one official accused the developer of knowingly having illegal immigrants on the project.

"Your problem is you know you have illegal workers on that site," said Doug Gaston, deputy to Treasurer Sarah Steelman, who sits on the commission.

Hennessey said he supplied immigration documents to the commission and assumed they were verifying their validity.

Gaston said that verification apparently did not take place. But he said in an interview that developers, not the state commission, have the primary responsibility to ensure workers are legal.

Ed Martin, chief of staff to Gov. Matt Blunt, told the commission that the incident illustrates the need for more rigorous standards for developers who seek state tax credits. If developers fail to take proper steps, sanctions could include a lifetime ban from receiving credits, Martin said.

On Friday, Steelman called on Hennessey not only to get rid of any undocumented workers but to hire only local labor.

Richard Baalmann Sr., the commission's chairman, said he does not want the controversy to threaten the completion of the O'Fallon project.

"I don't think any of us want to kill the deal," he said.

But he and other members of the commission agreed to form a task force to develop new rules immediately.

While members of the group have not yet been named, O'Fallon Mayor Donna Morrow told the commission she would like to be included.

The illegal worker allegations aren't new to O'Fallon. Last year, a similar tax-subsidized project came under scrutiny for labor practices.

"I will not tolerate this happening a third time in O'Fallon," Morrow said.

mfranck@post-dispatch.com | 573-635-6178

COLORADO



FACING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRACKDOWN, FARMS LOOK TO INMATE LABOR

FARMERS AND ACTIVISTS SAY THE PROGRAM IS ONLY A TEMPORARY SOLUTION

The ongoing debate over illegal immigration in the U.S. is having some strange and unintended consequences in the West, where farmers facing acres of unpicked crops are replacing immigrants with inmates.

In Colorado, which last year passed some of the strictest immigration laws in the country, a new program aims to stem a severe labor shortage by using prisoners to work fields once farmed by migrant workers. In Arizona and Idaho, farmers are begging for the expansion of existing prison labor programs as states begin to target employers who hire illegal immigrants.

But both farmers and activists say such programs provide only a temporary solution to a permanent labor problem that seems ever further from resolution.

Inmates from Colorado's La Vista Correctional Facility for Women headed out to the fields in May, after state representative Dorothy Butcher (D-Pueblo) worked with five family farmers to fill crop-picking jobs almost no one had applied for. Butcher said Colorado's tightened immigration laws, passed during a special session last summer, have chased huge numbers of migrant workers from the state and left farmers wondering "what the hell to do."

Butcher answered that desperate question in February, when she told farmers that inmates accustomed to working difficult prison jobs might do well in the fields.

"Those women do tough manual labor," Butcher said. "They do construction. I figured if they could do all that they could work on farm."

Massive Labor Shortages Expected

To qualify for the program, prisoners must be at a minimum security level and have exemplary behavior – and they must volunteer. So far, 20 women have joined the program, making up two crews. Colorado Department of Corrections spokesperson Katherine Sanguinetti said the program could expand to maximum of four crews this year, a number Butcher acknowledges will provide a temporary solution for this summer but will not solve the labor shortage in the long run.

With comprehensive immigration reform again stalled in Congress and states across the nation tightening immigration laws, agricultural labor shortages will become increasingly common, according to Austin Perez of the American Farm Bureau. The agricultural workforce has decreased by 10 % over the last 5 years, Perez said, even though pay has increased by 20%.

Facing Illegal Immigrant Crackdown, Farms Look to Inmate Labor

Farmers and Activists Say The Program Is Only a Temporary SolutionFont Size

"I think we're going to see massive labor shortages by the end of the summer," Perez said.

For now, inmate labor is helping stem the problem in Colorado, as well as in Arizona and Idaho. Although Arizona and Idaho's inmate labor programs are well-established, they are under new pressure to expand.

The Arizona Department of Corrections is currently conducting a system-wide review to determine the maximum number of inmates eligible and available for labor programs, said Arizona Correctional Industries officer Richard Selapack, and Idaho corrections officials have seen a marked increase in requests for workers, according to Department of Corrections Director Brett Reinke.

"As the need presents itself "” and there definitely is a need in Idaho "” we would like to be able to set up facilities to transition inmates into this workforce," Reinke said.

Chain Gangs?

But even if inmate labor can ease farmers' troubles, programs such as Butcher's face criticism from both prisoner and immigrant rights groups. Butcher said that when her plan became public, a variety of student and other activist groups decried it as a return to chain gangs and slavery. Several activists offered to work in place of the inmates, Butcher said, and two people actually showed up. After one day in the fields, she said, they never came back.

Egg farmer Clint Hickman, who has used inmate labor on his facilities in Arizona for 12 years, said despite the difficulty of agricultural work, the prisoners he has worked with feel validated by work release programs, not demeaned by them.

"I can tell you my guys don't feel like these things are chain gangs," Hickman said.

Part of the reason is that unlike in traditional chain gangs, prisoners are compensated for their work. Inmates working in prison laundries or cafeterias are typically paid less than a dollar an hour, but farmers employing inmate labor pay the state at least minimum wage, a portion of which goes to the prisoner for spending money, child or spousal support, victim restitution, or savings.

"Some of the guys have graduated with 20 to 30 thousand cash," Hickman said. "It gives them a great start. I've seen guys who have started their own construction companies. I've also seen guys who have had the biggest coke parties in the world and they're right back in.

Farmers in the Colorado program pay $9.60 an hour for the inmate's labor, which covers the inmate's $4 an hour take home pay as well as transportation costs and wages for one prison guard per crew.

But even if modern inmate labor programs bear little resemblance to chain gangs, they may be "dangerous quick fixes" that will actually damage the future of the agricultural workforce, according to United Farm Workers spokesperson Alisha Rosas.

"We believe that farm labor is skilled labor," Rosas said. "You can't just replace one workforce with the other."

Agricultural workers need to be properly trained, Rosas said, and many prison programs do not have time to do that. In addition, immigrants for whom agricultural work is their livelihood take their jobs much more seriously than prisoners, who can just go back to prison if they get fired, Rosas said.

"For a prisoner, with all due respect to that individual, there's a lot less at stake," Rosas said. "You cannot toy with food safety or quality when it comes to picking what feeds people."

Even though Butcher sees prisoners as an acceptable solution for now, in the long run she advocates a return to traditional agricultural workers through a possible state-run guest worker program. United Farm Workers and the American Farm Bureau also support programs that would allow an increased number of immigrants to work legally in agriculture, but some farmers aren't holding their breath for either increased inmate labor programs or guest workers plans to come to fruition.

"There's not enough qualified inmates to make too much of a dent in a nationwide problem," Hickman said. "We're starting to institute robotics. We wouldn't be spending that kind of money if we saw either inmates or civilians as the answer."

U.S. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

TEXAS, FARMERS BRANCH

FB RENTAL BAN DISPUTE STILL HAS NO RESOLUTION
RESIDENTS DIVIDED ON RENTAL BAN'S IMPACT

August 18, 2007
By STEPHANIE SANDOVA
The Dallas Morning News
ssandoval@dallasnews.com

FARMERS BRANCH – A year after City Council member Tim O'Hare launched a contentious debate with his crusade to crack down on illegal immigrants, residents are still divided – about whether the city has changed for better or for worse.




MELANIE BURFORD/DMN

Blue Star Deli owner Dave Mooney, with customers (from left) Greg Thornell, Mitch Womble and Dennis Arnold, says his ties to the ordinance's backers took a tool on business. Some said their opinion on Ordinance 2903, which would ban apartments from renting to most illegal immigrants, ended longtime friendships, hurt business and created an unfriendly atmosphere for Hispanics.

"It's given those people who hate the changes the Hispanic culture has brought on the city due to their increased numbers an opportunity to hang on to their hatred," former City Council member Junie Smith said.

But Mr. O'Hare said the debate has united neighbors, gotten residents more involved in their community and given the city a financial boost.

"Has this had a negative impact? In the minds of some, I would say yes," he said. "However, the overwhelming majority of people inside Farmers Branch view our direction as nothing but positive."

The argument portraying the effort as a racist issue is getting "old and tired," Mr. O'Hare said. "It's an illegal thing."

Also Online

Tell Us: Would you support a similar ordinance in your city?

Archiv e: Read previous articles on the immigration battle in Farmers Branch.
The beginning
Mr. O'Hare said he doesn't remember exactly what caused him to propose anti-illegal-immigrant measures that put the city of 28,000 in the national spotlight.

"I can't point to just one thing," he said.

But he said there was increasing resentment over the growing number of Hispanic students in Farmers Branch schools who didn't speak English, and over an influx of businesses catering to Spanish-speaking customers in the Four Corners shopping center in the heart of town.

At about the same time, the owner of Arbor Creek Montessori School began complaining repeatedly about crime and nuisances associated with the largely Hispanic-occupied Cooks Creek Apartments across the street.

In May 2006, 18-month old Eva Gallegos was killed in a drive-by shooting as she slept next to her father. Two suspects arrested later were believed to be illegal immigrants with ties to the girls' family.

"To ignore all that ... or pretending it does not exist, you're not doing right by your community," Mr. O'Hare said.

Finally last August, as a handful of cities across the country began to approve ordinances targeting illegal immigrants, Mr. O'Hare tapped illegal immigrants as the root cause for most of the city's problems – including property values, crime, unkempt houses and yards and declining school performance.

Mr. O'Hare's proposal to make English the city's official language and prohibit apartment landlords from renting to illegal immigrants touched off a yearlong controversy that some won't soon forget.


Backlash

The once-popular mayor, Bob Phelps, now stands alone on a City Council that has made defending the ordinance all the way to the Supreme Court and pursuing further anti-illegal-immigration efforts a top priority.

Mr. Phelps said he had planned to seek a fifth term to stay on until DART rail service arrived in Farmers Branch. But the criticism he received for saying the ordinance was ineffective and too costly to defend in court, and having his home targeted by vandals twice, has been too much for him and his wife.

Being mayor "is different than it used to be," Mr. Phelps said. "It used to be fun and good. The fun is gone out of it. ... The stress it's caused my wife, it's just not worth the hassle."

Former Mayor Dave Blair said his opposition to the ordinance – for the same reasons cited by Mr. Phelps – caused one longtime friend to stop talking to him.

"People I've known for 20 or 30 years won't talk to me now," he said.

Mr. Blair, a founding member of the Farmers Branch Rotary Club, which bills itself as nonpolitical, left the club last month after the board decided not to admit Elizabeth Villafranca.

Ms. Villafranca, who along with her husband owns Cuquita's restaurant in Farmers Branch, campaigned heavily against the ordinance.

Mr. O'Hare, president-elect of the Farmers Branch Rotary Club, said the board voted 9-0 against admitting her.

He said the club is nonpolitical but has a four-way test, the first of which is, "Is it the Truth?"

"On multiple occasions I saw what I believe to be a complete, total disregard for the truth," Mr. O'Hare said, mentioning Ms. Villafranca's affidavit that was the foundation for a lawsuit by the League of United Latin American Citizens against members of the political action committee campaigning for Ordinance 2903.

In it, she accused some ordinance supporters of stalking and harassment.

Mr. O'Hare said that he also would deny membership for any of his supporters if their character were questionable.

Ms. Villafranca said that she didn't lie during the campaign or in the affidavit and that the Rotary Club's refusal to admit her was based on her opposition to the ordinance.

She was inducted into the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Rotary Club on Thursday.

Ms. Villafranca's experience also caused Linda Haddock to leave the Farmers Branch Rotary Club. She had invited Ms. Villafranca to apply for membership.

Ms. Haddock said the furor over the ordinance – and her vocal opposition to it – caused her to lose business at the Spa at the Marlin. She moved the business to Carrollton in early July, after 6 ½ years in Farmers Branch.

"They were boycotting me, the Support Farmers Branch group," she said. "I had several clients tell me they got phone calls asking them not to come to the Spa at the Marlin."

Leaders of Support Farmers Branch have said there was no organized boycott.

On the other side, Blue Star Deli owner Dave Mooney said that allowing radio and television shows that supported the ordinance to broadcast from his shop also hurt his business. One large company nearby, he said, told employees not to order food from him for meetings. But blogs and e-mails about his woes prompted supporters to flock to the restaurant.

Meanwhile, business at Cuquita's is down markedly.

"But I don't know if you can relate it directly" to the immigration debate, Ms. Villafranca said.

Resident Michelle Holmes said Ms. Villafranca's actions during the campaign prompted her to stop going there.

"She tried to make it personal. To me it wasn't personal," Ms. Holmes said.


Hispanic unease

The debate has made some Hispanics feel uncomfortable in Farmers Branch.

Romelia Peña, who is teaching dances to 36 students in preparation for a quinceañera, said her students use humor to deal with the situation.

"If someone doesn't show up, they'll joke with him next time, saying, 'What happened, did the Farmers Branch police get you for being illegal?' " she said.

Roy Morales said that in the more than 40 years he's lived in the city, Farmers Branch has been the kind of place where neighbors look after one another – and still do.

But he said he's felt the tension.

"It seems like when people look at you, they think, 'You're illegal.' Even me, and I was born here," Mr. Morales said. "It was just a look. But it might have been me."


City revenues

But supporters like newly elected council member Tim Scott said he's heard from people who bought homes in Farmers Branch because they supported the city's efforts. He said others from out of town shop and dine in Farmers Branch to show their support.

And a simultaneous focus on redevelopment has caused developers to take notice, with two projects in the works to tear down old office buildings and build new townhouses, restaurants and retail, Mr. O'Hare said.

Mr. O'Hare also points to increased sales tax totals and higher property values.

"I believe that is a direct result of our city's commitment to revitalization, and there is no doubt our city's stance on illegal immigration contributed to these positive influences," he said.

The upward trends in sales tax revenue and property values have allowed the city to maintain the same property tax rate while adding 15 firefighters and three personnel to the Police Department.

Sales tax revenue is up 8.9 percent from the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year through July. That's not as big a jump as a year earlier, when sales tax revenue during the same period was up 10.8 percent.

One of Mr. O'Hare's complaints was that home values were rising too slowly. In 2006, the average market value of a new home rose only 0.8 percent from 2005. This year, the average market value of a home is up 3 percent over 2006.


Apartments

There's also no evidence that Hispanics have moved out of the apartments or the city because of the ordinance, which is not being enforced after U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay in June issued a preliminary injunction until a trial can be held.

But a report by ALN Systems Inc., which tracks multifamily data, indicates that apartment occupancy rates are dropping.

Farmers Branch apartments showed a 90.5 percent occupancy rate at the end of May, and that dipped to 86.3 percent at the end of June.

ALN tracks only those 10 complexes with 90 units or more. Overall, Farmers Branch apartment occupancy rates at the end of June were down 5.2 percent from the year before. That's the largest decrease in the 30 Dallas-Fort Worth area cities that ALN surveys.

In D-FW as a whole for the second quarter of this year, occupancy rates were down 0.1 percent, with rental rates per square foot up 3.6 percent over the second quarter last year.

Bonnie Brown, senior consultant with ALN, said the occupancy rate of Farmers Branch apartments dipped to a seven-month low of 86.6 percent at the end of January, just after the City Council approved the rental ban and decided to put it to voters in May.

"In February, apartment occupancy within the city began improving and by May of this year was around 90.5 percent again," Ms. Brown said. "However, over the last two months, occupancy within this town has once more waned."

During the election campaign for Ordinance 2903, supporters also said the illegal immigration debate was having a positive impact on crime.

Police Department statistics show that overall crime from August 2006 through June 2007 is up 2.8 percent from the same period a year before.

Members of the news media that swarmed the city during the debate and election campaign now show up only sporadically. City Council meetings that drew hundreds of residents are again quiet and uneventful.

As hundreds of residents gathered for neighborhood and block parties on National Night Out Aug. 7, divisions in the community weren't evident.

"It was a nasty election," said Gail Scott, who twice had signs opposing Ordinance 2903 stolen from her yard. "It put people at arm's length. But it's been a while. I think a lot of things are trying to heal."

Rodney Prittle said there's been no discernible change.

"If I've seen anything in my group, it's a reluctance to talk about it," he said.

David Cozart said the only real change he's noticed is that people are more aware of who they're doing business with. Some friends have told him they changed their yard service or pool maintenance companies, not wanting companies that employed illegal immigrants.

"Things do seem to be pretty much as they were before to me, before all this controversy began," he said.

MEXICAN TRUCKS NEAR FULL ACCESS TO U.S.

The Associated Press
08.18.2007

WASHINGTON - Some Mexican trucks will be allowed to carry cargo anywhere in the United States as soon as a federal inspector general certifies safety and inspection plans, the Bush administration announced Friday.

The latest step toward implementing a controversial provision of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement drew instant condemnation from labor and driver-owner groups that fear the program will erode highway safety and eliminate U.S. jobs.

The decision was announced by a Transportation Department notice in the Federal Register, a dry, daily compendium of new federal rules read mostly by lobbyists and lawyers.

A one-year demonstration project allowing 100 Mexican motor carriers full access to U.S. roads will begin as soon as the department's inspector general certifies that safety and inspection plans and facilities are sufficient to ensure the Mexican trucks are at least as safe as U.S. trucks. That requirement was imposed by Congress.

Mexican trucks are now confined to commercial zones within about 25 miles of the border.
Teamster Union president Jim Hoffa questioned the timing - during Congress' August recess - of the administration's decision "to move forward with its hugely unpopular program to throw open our borders to unsafe Mexican trucks." Hoffa noted that the House voted last month to cut off funding for the program but that the Senate has yet to vote.

Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said the administration had only minimally complied with congressional directives but not with "the spirit of what Republicans and Democrats in Congress intended."

The Transportation Department acknowledged that most of the 2,300 public comments on the project challenged its safety and economic effects. But the agency concluded the demonstration, involving about 10 percent of the Mexican truckers who applied, "is sufficient to determine whether the safety oversight program" can ensure there will be no erosion of highway safety.

1ST REVAMP OF BORDER PATROL UNIFORMS IN 50 YEARS

The Associated Press
08.17.2007

Leather belts with brass buckles are out; nylon belts with quick-release plastic buckles are in. Slacks are out; lightweight cargo pants are in. Shiny badges and nameplates are out; cloth patches are in.

The Border Patrol uniform is getting its first makeover since the 1950s to look more like military fatigues and less like a police officer's duty garb.

The new uniform, introduced this week, reflects how illegal border crossings have changed in the last decade. As enforcement heightened, routes moved from urban streets to unforgiving, often remote mountains and deserts on the 1,952-mile, U.S.-Mexico border. That includes 370 miles in southern Arizona, the busiest and deadliest corridor for illegal immigration.

The uniform changes are designed to make agents better able to move on foot in the heat.
"We still do street patrols, but 99.9 percent is hills and rugged terrain," said Joe Perez, supervisor of the agency's Chula Vista station, which guards a seven-mile stretch of border in the San Diego area. "We pushed it out to where it's a lot more difficult to cross."

The redesign marks only the second major uniform change since the Border Patrol was created in 1924, said Assistant Border Patrol Chief Scott Garrett, who oversaw the national launch. In the 1950s, World War I-era cavalry-type uniforms were jettisoned.

The new uniform - in the works for three years at a cost of $7.5 million to outfit 14,000 agents - is designed to be "more operational, more tactical," Garrett said.

The quick-release belts are designed to prevent drownings in the Rio Grande and elsewhere, Garrett said. Loaded with flashlights and other gear, the heavy belts made it more difficult to stay afloat. Four agents have drowned since 2003, most recently in May in the Coachella Canal in the southeastern California desert.

Two large pockets with Velcro flaps can hold ready-to-eat meals, flashlight batteries and global positioning system devices.
Badges and nameplates are sewn on because the old, shiny pins often fell off when agents crawled and whacked through brush. The new nameplate matches the olive green uniform to make agents less visible to people who are trying to hide.
"When the moonlight shined on that name badge, you really stood out," Perez said.

The makeover comes shortly after the Border Patrol switched to a lighter .40-caliber handgun. The new holster is a plastic loop, instead of leather snap, which was prone to stretching.

The launch didn't go without last-minute hitches and scattered complaints.

Earlier this week, it was postponed to Oct. 1 from Wednesday because some agents didn't get their uniforms in time or ordered the wrong sizes. Then agents were told to be in their new uniforms by Thursday, even though a few didn't have them.

Some agents said the yellow patch badge was still too visible. Others who drive all-terrain vehicles grumbled that the two-piece uniform was inferior to their old jumpsuits, which kept out dirt.

[Comment from Explora: Give it some time and we'll probably read about the contractor who manufactures these had hired illegal immigrants.

MEXICANS SENDING LESS MONEY HOME, STUDIES FIND

By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.19.2007

A few years ago when houses were going up like weeds and 40-hour workweeks were common for construction workers, Jorge Ibarra sent money to his wife and son in Sonora every week.
Construction has slowed in Tucson, though, and now Ibarra works just 27-30 hours a week. He goes to Western Union only every 20 days.
"There's just not as much work," Ibarra, 50, said in Spanish. He has lived in Tucson illegally for six years.

His story is backed by studies that show remittances from the United States to Mexico seem to be flattening.

A survey in June by the Inter-American Development Bank found the percentage of Mexicans living outside their home country who regularly send money home fell to 64 percent in the first half of 2007, down from 71 percent last year. About half the respondents said they were in the United States legally.

Another study, released in May by the Pew Hispanic Center, showed that monthly remittances grew by an average of 26 percent from 2003 to June 2006, but monthly growth plunged to 3 percent in March 2007. That study was based on data from the Bank of Mexico that does not specify whether respondents are in the United States legally or not.

The percentage of Mexicans regularly sending money home from new destination states such as North Carolina, Wyoming and Alabama decreased to 56 percent from 80 percent, the study from the Inter-American Bank found.

In older destination states such as Arizona, California and Texas, it dropped slightly to 66 percent from 68 percent.

Immigrants in newer states have been saving their money because uncertainty about their future is fueled by lack of social support from immigrant-rights organizations prevalent in places such as Arizona, said Peter Bate, an Inter-American Bank spokesman.

Many said they want to be prepared in case they have to move to a different state or return to Mexico, he said. In states such as Arizona, immigrants felt more secure.

In the older destination states, 66 percent of respondents said they expect to still be living in the U.S. in five years. In new states, only 49 percent said that.

Less work is a major factor, too.

Eighty-three percent of the 900 Mexican and Central American immigrants interviewed said it's more difficult to find work this year than last year. Many of them "” 28 percent "” said they worked in construction.

Humberto Verdugo, 40, said the higher cost of gas and food plus paying for the truck he recently bought has left him with less money to send home to his mother in Alamos, Sonora. Even though he has steady construction work, after making a car payment at a local check-cashing store Friday he was left with only $7 from his paycheck.

"It's expensive "” the rent, the bills, the food, the car," said Verdugo, who has lived in the United States illegally since 1996 with his wife and son. He said he used to send money to his mother once a month but now does it only when he can afford it.

● Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com.

quote:

Originally posted by explora:
[Comment from Explora: Give it some time and we'll probably read about the contractor who manufactures these had hired illegal immigrants.

No, probably made outside the US, like in Guatamala, Brazil, or China.

GREEN CARD VERIFICATION DEVICE DETERMINES AUTHENTICITY

August 8, 2007 - Designed for employers, law enforcement, and state/federal agencies, Green Card Authenticator authenticates US Permanent Resident Card (Green Card). It provides 3 levels of assurance: confirms or questions authenticity of card; verifies whether authentic card is still valid; and reads/displays facial image, name, gender, date of birth, and nationality of legitimate cardholder on standard PC screen. Printed record of results is automatically generated for future reference if required.

Press Release
Release date: July 23, 2007

LaserCard Corporation Helps Employers Resolve Critical Problem of Employment Eligibility

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., July 23 - LaserCard Corporation (NASDAQ:LCRD), a leading supplier of secure ID credentials used in biometric identification, today announced the introduction of its "Green Card Authenticator," the ultimate support to employers, law enforcement, and state and federal agencies seeking to authenticate the U.S. Permanent Resident Card, commonly referred to as the "Green Card."

The Green Card is probably the most famous - and most sought after - identity card in the world. It confirms the holder's right to permanently reside and work in the United States. LaserCard Corporation is proud to be the manufacturer of this highly-counterfeit resistant card which includes some of the most sophisticated overt and covert security features available today.

The Green Card Authenticator provides three levels of assurance. The first is to confirm or question the authenticity of the card; the second is to verify whether an authentic card is still valid; and the third is to read and display on a standard PC screen the facial image, name, gender, date of birth, and nationality of the legitimate cardholder. A printed record of the results is automatically generated for future reference if required.

"Following the recent demise of immigration reform legislation, Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff expressed regret that DHS would not receive additional funding to support employers in their need to verify the right of prospective employees to work in the United States," said Richard Haddock, President & CEO, of LaserCard. "With DHS becoming much more proactive in worksite raids and enforcement, honest and diligent employers across the U.S. are looking for a means to verify the employability of foreign job applicants. LaserCard Corporation is pleased to be able to contribute to these efforts by providing employers and government agencies with authentication technology for U.S. Permanent Resident Cards," added Mr. Haddock.

Pricing and Availability

The Green Card Authenticator is priced at $1,495 in single units. It is available immediately from LaserCard Corporation. See http://www.lasercard.com/products.php?key=157 for detailed product and ordering information.

About LaserCard Corporation

LaserCard Corporation, a leader in secure ID solutions, manufactures and markets LaserCard(R) optical memory cards, LaserPASS(TM) Optical/RFID cards and chip-ready Optical/Smart(TM) cards, all featuring Optical IDLock(TM) technology, and other advanced-technology secure identification cards. The Company's secure ID cards are used in countries around the world, including the United States, Canada, Italy, India and the Middle East for demanding requirements such as border security, immigration and national identification. In addition, the Company provides optical card read/write drives, optical card system software, card-related ID subsystems and card issuance enabling services. The Company operates a wholly-owned German subsidiary, Challenge Card Design Plastikkarten GmbH, which manufactures specialty cards, and markets cards, system solutions, and card personalization printers under the CCD and Cards & More brands.

CONTACT: Stephen D. Price-Francis, VP Business Development of LaserCard Corporation, +1-631-385-7135

Contacts:

Marketing:
Stephen D. Price-Francis VP Business Development
USA
Phone: 631-385-7135
--------------------------------
Company Information:
Name: Lasercard Systems Corp.
Address: 2644 Bayshore Pkwy.
City: Mountain View
State: CA
ZIP: 94043