NAVARRETTE: LET'S BE OPEN TO NEGOTIATION

Ruben Navarrette Jr.
THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
Monday, August 20, 2007

The national dialogue over immigration reform is like a delicate negotiation "” one that works only if both sides deal in good faith. Which explains why the debate stalled. Neither side has been honest about what they really want and don't want.

We already knew that those on the right were being deceitful. They insist that border security is all they care about, when much of what drives them is a nativist impulse to reverse what they see as the "Mexican-ization" of the United States complete with taco trucks, Mexican flags and Spanish-language billboards.

But recently we learned that those on the left can be just as disingenuous. They insist that they support increased border enforcement as part of a comprehensive reform package, but when the enforcement comes a la carte, they cry foul.

These are some of the same people who also say we focus too much on the illegal immigrants and not enough on those who hire them. That's what I hear whenever I speak to Latino groups: that authorities should concentrate on the farms, restaurants, hotels and other businesses that depend on illegal immigrants to do the jobs that Americans pass up.

They have a point. It's just more sporting when government goes after people who have the resources to strike back. As it stands, most employers get a free pass. They have a long list of excuses, claiming that they didn't know a worker was illegal, that subcontractors do the hiring, that the documents presented looked real, or that they can't deny jobs to people they suspect are undocumented lest they get sued for discrimination. And on it goes.

Yet when people make the argument that we focus too much on immigrants and not enough on employers, the implication is that they support cracking down on those doing the hiring. Apparently not. Otherwise the left wouldn't be so upset over a new initiative from the Department of Homeland Security that aims to go after employers who repeatedly hire illegal immigrants. It's as if the left finally figured out that if the government cracks down on employers, the tactic could punish workers by putting them out of a job.

That's too bad. Neither the illegal worker nor the unscrupulous employer deserves much sympathy. Besides, if you don't attack the problem at the root, you'll never solve it.

The left's fury was aroused by the announcement that Homeland Security would target employers through "no-match" letters sent by the Social Security Administration. Those letters go to employers informing them that the Social Security numbers of 10 or more workers don't match those on government records, a good indication that the workers could be in the country illegally. Under the new guidelines, once employers are notified that they have illegal workers, they would have to prove that the problem had been corrected even it that means firing the workers who provided phony documents. Those employers who don't comply with that requirement could face fines of up to $10,000 per violation.

The National Council of La Raza blasted the new policy as "an assault on the civil rights of all Hispanic Americans," according to a statement from President Janet Murguia. She said the new measures would result in "the racial profiling of all working Latinos" and "impose a substantial burden on a subset of our citizens which is based entirely on the color of their skin, their accent, or their name."

The pro-immigrant National Immigration Forum predicted the new strategy would fail, with "disastrous, economic, security and civil rights consequences." A spokesman did say that such enforcement measures could make sense but only combined with "a functioning legal immigration system."

The New York Times editorial page called the crackdown on employers "infuriating and potentially dangerous" because of a 4 percent error rate with the database at the Social Security Administration, which produces the "no-match" letters. The newspaper also blasted the Bush administration for embracing an enforcement-only approach.

It's fine to oppose an enforcement-only approach as a wishful and ineffective strategy to curb illegal immigration. But that shouldn't stop you from supporting those elements that are fair and reasonable, such as cracking down on employers who repeatedly break the law.

Otherwise, folks might conclude that what you really want is an open border. That's not a logical position, but at least it's clear. And those who think we should go in that direction should just be honest and say so.

Then maybe we can restart the negotiation.

IMMIGRANT FAMILY FIGHTS TO BEAT THE ODDS
SISTERS VOW TO GRADUATE, JUST AS THEIR BROTHER DID


By Jason Wermers
jwermers@news-press.com
Originally posted on August 19, 2007

Alexia Ramirez is well aware she doesn't face the best odds of succeeding.

The 14-year-old, who lives in the Manna Christian RV Park in Bonita Springs, will begin her ninth-grade year at Estero High on Monday.

She knows of friends like herself "” immigrants "” who have not made it through high school, succumbing to pressures of drug abuse or to the call to work to support the family.

But she has an example to follow. Her 18-year-old brother, Luis, graduated from Estero last spring.

The family emigrated from Matamoros, Mexico, first to Texas, then to Lee County, seven years ago.

Luis and Alexia learned English in Lee County schools. Alexia was beneficiary of bilingual teachers in second and third grades.

She already is starting to lend a hand to immigrant children coming up behind her. She has served as a volunteer tutor at New Horizons Super Kids Club in Bonita Springs for children who speak little or no English.

"The little kids are learning at a young age so they can succeed later in life," Alexia said. "I like teaching people something, but mostly the little kids."

Michelle Ramirez, 11, followed in her older siblings' footsteps. She is about to enter fifth grade at Spring Creek Elementary, the same school her sister attended. And because she was not yet in school when the family arrived in the United States, she learned English at home from Luis and Alexia.

"I was scared my first year," Michelle said. "I didn't know anybody."

But she made friends. And her teachers helped her master English.

"They've done well," she said of her teachers. "They helped me a lot in school."

Sergio and Josefina Ramirez work to support their children. Sergio is a construction worker; Josefina cleans a clubhouse at a nearby apartment complex.

Luis Ramirez is setting his sights on earning a college degree. Alexia and Michelle hope to follow his example.

Alexia said she wants to become an English for Speakers of Other Languages teacher in the United States. Michelle would like to be a social worker in Mexico when she grows up.

"It's good," Alexia said of the Lee County school system. "They taught me a lot more stuff that I wanted to know than when I was in Mexico."

Lidia Avila, Claudia Avila-Lopez and Diane Bennett listen as speakers at a rally describe raids on suspected illegal immigrants in Columbia, Tenn. (JOHN PARTIPILO / THE TENNESSEAN / FILE)



RAIDS PROMISE TO MAKE BAD IMMIGRATION SITUATION WORSE

TODAY'S TOPIC: CLOSING IN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Tennessean.com
Our View
08.21.07

The fear level is running high in Maury County after a series of raids on trailer parks to arrest suspected illegal immigrants.

In May, Maury County Sheriff's Department deputies and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents entered a home at Countryside Village and arrested 24 people, all Hispanic. Fourteen of the suspects have since filed suit against Maury County Sheriff Enoch George and Department of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff (Homeland Security oversees ICE), alleging that the officers entered the home illegally, without warrants, and that they singled out the suspects based on their ethnicity.

Some of the arrestees also say they are in the U.S. legally. George has not commented on the lawsuit, and an ICE spokesman said that suspects are arrested if they cannot immediately prove they are here legally.

More raids took place in June and July in Maury County. In all, about 80 people have been deported. The lawsuit has been amended to include subsequent raids. And while some of these arrestees certainly should not have been allowed to remain, a volatile atmosphere has set in, and county and federal officials should consider calling a halt to these raids. The collateral damage of such a strategy is too great.

Sheriff George has said that in the May raid, officers were investigating a gun case when they uncovered evidence that the others were undocumented immigrants. That does not explain why the further raids were conducted, unless they were purely to root out cases of illegal immigration, and not of violent crimes.

If there is no suspicion of guns, drugs or foul play, it is hard to understand why authorities could not request documentation individually, and work with community agencies and the church community to handle the situation calmly and in such a way that there would be no question that individuals were treated fairly.

Instead, the raids carry a perception of political show, to satisfy the strident voices claiming that illegal immigrants are stealing jobs and committing crimes against U.S. citizens. And, indeed, the Bush administration said earlier this month that it would step up enforcement of immigration laws because Congress failed to pass the president's immigration reform plan.

With more than 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, massive raids and sweeps are a risky approach. Not only will legal immigrants get unfairly caught up in the justice system, simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and could not prove their citizenship on the spot; also, the fear emanating from news of the raids will drive many immigrants into hiding.

The U.S. Census Bureau noted as much last week, when it asked that federal agents suspend raids during the upcoming census count, knowing that they can't get an accurate count when ICE officers are also knocking on doors to deport people.

Ultimately, though, the key issue is fairness. It is hoped that the Maury County raids were, indeed, conducted appropriately. The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees that all people, not just citizens, be free from illegal searches and seizures.

The notion that all undocumented immigrants are guilty until proved innocent goes against what this nation stands for.

AIDING MEXICO KEY TO HALTING MIGRANT TIDE

The Arizona Republic
Aug. 19, 2007 12:AM

The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that in 1999 about 968,000 illegal immigrants entered the United States, and a conservative estimate says that there are 8 million illegal immigrants currently in the country. That is a huge problem that the country faces, but an even larger problem for the people of Arizona because the majority are coming from Mexico, with which we share a border.

I'm not going to address the question of what to do with the immigrants already residing in the country; instead, I'm going to propose measures that I think should be taken to drastically reduce the flood of new immigrants.

Since the issue has suddenly become prime-time news, the question for Arizona policymakers is what to do about this problem. Do we support President Bush's proposal to build a wall? I think there is a more-productive and less-insulting answer.

To find the elusive answer, you must first ask a question. Why do people give their life savings to be smuggled across a border, an invisible line?

They do this because they want a chance at the American Dream, to live in the wealthiest country in the world and have their own chance at financial success. A typical Mexican worker will make one-tenth the salary of his illegal Mexican-American counterpart.

The problem is obvious, as is the solution. Arizona must take steps to improve the economic conditions in Mexico by encouraging statewide businesses to invest there and by pressuring the national government to adopt a policy similar to the Marshall Plan that was used to rebuild Western Europe after World War II.

Arizona has already taken positive steps in this direction with its involvement in the free-enterprise zone that extends 90 miles into the interior, which has been created to help promote American investments. This program has granted corporations that build factories in this zone a significant tax break and has given many otherwise unemployed people a steady income.

I think that this program should be expanded so that the free-enterprise zone extends 200 miles into the interior so that the program will positively affect other cities besides the border towns. Corporations need a greater incentive to build factories in this zone, so I believe Arizona should increase tax cuts and give the companies incentives to build more factories.

However, for corporations to qualify for these tax reductions, they must pay all their employees at least a minimum wage of $5 an hour.

This is a compromise because the wage is lower than the U.S. minimum wage, but it ensures that all workers will make a living wage similar to what they might make in America. Hopefully, these conditions will be enough of an incentive for these people to work in Mexico instead of risking illegal immigration.

While the actions that Arizona can directly take are vital, I don't believe they will stop even a small percentage of the illegal immigration. To truly combat illegal immigration, Arizona lawmakers need to pressure the national government to take a more-comprehensive stand against illegal immigration by adopting a plan like the Marshall Plan that applies to all of Latin America.

Currently, the United States is spending $7.3 billion annually on border patrol and is projected to spend well over $8 billion on a state-of-the-art border fence. A more-sensible solution would be to redistribute those funds toward an economic-aid program that would benefit all Latin America because many of the illegal immigrants are actually coming from other Latin American countries through Mexico.

Another viable option that Arizona lawmakers could propose, which would make an immediate impact, is to expand the North American Free Trade Agreement to include all Latin America. The North American Free Trade Agreement made a significant economic impact on Mexico, and it has also been very beneficial for the United States. Why can't it work with all of Latin America?

Illegal immigration is obviously an ongoing and ever-increasing problem for Arizona, but I believe with careful evaluation of the problem and implementation of some version of these two proposals, meaningful progress can be made to stem the problem.

I understand that putting up a fence is the easiest and most-visible way to address the issue, but it isn't solving the root problem. It's like trying to plug the holes in a sinking ship. Instead, we need to throw these sinking Latin American countries a life preserver.

This essay by Dawson Thomas Rauch, a recent graduate of Fountain Hills High School, earned an honorable mention in the Young Steward of Public Policy Scholarship Award Program by the Morrison Institute for Public Policy.

THREE AMIGOS LAUNCH SUMMIT TALKS AMID PROTESTS

Norma Greenaway, Richard Foot and
Andrew Thomson, CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, August 21, 2007

MONTEBELLO, Que. - Arctic sovereignty, border security and the war in Afghanistan topped the agenda as the three North American leaders began their summit meeting Monday against the backdrop of stubborn protests and concerns about the threat of Hurricane Dean sweeping toward Mexico.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper greeted U.S. President George W. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon at the heavily fortified Chateau Montebello, an aging luxury resort on the banks of the Ottawa River. The serene scene was out of sight of angry clashes between protesters and police, and Harper blew off reports of their activities.

"I've heard it's nothing," he commented to reporters over his shoulder as he waited to greet the U.S. president. "A couple of hundred? It's sad."

The prime minister then ushered Bush inside for a private meeting as Secret Service personnel pulled parts of a presidential bicycle from a golf cart and carried them into the lodge. Bush and Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, also on hand for the summit, later took a spin around the grounds on their bikes.

--- Meanwhile, outside the gates of the luxury compound, riot police used tear gas, pepper spray and plastic bullets to quell protesters rallying against North American integration.

Hundreds of Surete du Quebec, RCMP and OPP officers, armed with batons, shields and gas masks faced a belligerent faction of the more than 1,000 protesters on site. Many protesters took direct hits to their eyes, staggering back for medical attention. In response, protesters in gas masks, goggles and balaclavas hurled rocks, tomatoes, and bottles filled with stones at the police.

Five police officers suffered minor injuries. Two men and two women were arrested.---

Video of the outside events was played on two monitors inside the lobby of the chateau, but a Canadian official said the prime minister had barely had time to glance at it.

In their private meeting, Harper and Bush discussed Canada's efforts to assert its sovereignty over the Northwest Passage. Harper specifically mentioned comments on the weekend by Paul Cellucci, a Bush-appointed former U.S. ambassador to Canada, that the Northwest Passage should be considered part of Canada. The U.S. insists it is international waters, but a Canadian official said after the meeting that the U.S. president "took note" of Cellucci's comments on the issue.

On Afghanistan, Canadians officials said Harper restated his position that the Canadian military mission in the war-ravaged country would not be extended without parliamentary consensus.

The two leaders also talked at length about security concerns at the border. They are expected to announce an agreement today that is aimed at finding ways to keep people and goods flowing across the border in the event of a crisis.

Hanging over the two-day summit were mounting worries about the toll hurricane Dean, which already devastated Jamaica overnight Sunday, might take as it headed toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, and possibly on to the U.S. mainland. In a sign Calderon may leave earlier than expected, he and Harper rushed to hold their bilateral meeting before their dinner with Bush. The Canadian and Mexican leaders had been scheduled to continue their talks on Wednesday.

The Canadian government has offered up to $2 million in immediate relief to countries hit by the hurricane.

The Mexican president and his family spent the weekend at the prime ministerial summer retreat at Harrington Lake, Que., with Harper and his family in what officials described as a typical cottage weekend of swimming, boating and sing-songs around a campfire.

They also celebrated Calderon's 45th birthday with a cake.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters aboard Air Force One the president was being kept abreast of developments with hurricane Dean, getting repeated updates on its potential effect on Mexico and Texas.

The summit has been a source of angry protests for weeks, primarily because of the three leaders' plan, conceived in 2005, to try to more closely integrate the security and commerce of the continent. The process is known as the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

Opponents in all three countries have denounced what they say are secret negotiations over everything from energy trade to border security that they say as an assault on their respective countries' sovereignty.

The three leaders had their first trilateral meeting of the summit at a working dinner Monday evening inside an opulent mansion on the Montebello property that normally operates as a heritage museum.

The Canadian-themed menu included appetizers of smoked duck and seared scallops, followed by rack of Nunavut caribou with cranberries, plus pralines, English cream and red berry coulis for dessert.

Earlier in the day, Harper arrived at sunny and warm Montebello about an hour ahead of Bush, who was met at the Ottawa airport by Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean.

His scheduled 15-minute private meeting with Jean turned into a 30-minute chat in the government terminal, after a U.S. Marine collapsed on the tarmac while standing guard at one of the president's waiting helicopters. The unconscious guard was treated on the asphalt, then carried into an ambulance on a spinal board before Bush boarded his helicopter for the quick flight to Montebello.

At Montebello, the leaders were moved around the grounds in a motorcade of golf carts, some decorated with Canadian flags.

Protesters were supposed to be kept far from the leaders' private talks at two staging areas about two kilometres away. But many, armed with banners and painted signs, gathered on the main road through Montebello that passes the hotel complex. They were met there by a wall of riot-equipped police officers. Montebello's main roads were closed by police soon after most of the protesters - estimated at about 1,000 people - arrived at noon Monday.

Faced with police resistance, most front-line protesters opted for an impromptu sit-in. Others began dousing their bandannas with vinegar in anticipation of tear gas attacks.

Dozens of journalists from the three countries were packed into the resort's curling rink, and given only minimal access to the leaders.

The three leaders will meet today with the North American Competitiveness Council, a collection of 30 CEOs and corporate chairmen, 10 from each country. The independent body was created under the SPP to advise leaders on how best to strengthen North American integration.

The Canadian members of the council, each appointed by Ottawa last summer, are Dominic D'Alessandro, of Manulife Financial; Paul Desmarais Jr., of Power Corporation; David Ganong, of Ganong Bros.; Richard George, of Suncor Energy; Hunter Harrison, of Canadian National; Linda Hasenfratz, of Linamar Corp.; Michael Sabia, of Bell Canada; Jim Shepherd, of Canfor Corp.; Annette Verschuren, of The Home Depot, and Richard Waugh, of Scotiabank.

Council members from the three countries will release a report to the three leaders, showing what progress has been made so far on the SPP, and what still needs to be done.

Critics say the council is proof that the three governments are only consulting big business, and ignoring everyone else, in their pursuit of closer economic and security ties.

With files from Jack Aubry, Ottawa Citizen

© CanWest News Service 2007

ICE



Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrest a suspect during a pre-dawn raid in Santa Ana, Calif., in this file photo from Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007. The Census Bureau plans to ask immigration enforcement officials to suspend raids during the 2010 census to help improve accuracy in counting illegal immigrants. (AP Photo/Mark Avery/File)

U.S.: CENSUS WON'T DETER IMMIGRATION RAIDS

By Stephen Ohlemacher
Associated Press Writer
August 18, 2007

WASHINGTON --Immigration officials sharpened their message a day after being coy about whether they would agree to halt enforcement raids during the 2010 census. "We won't entertain any request to scale back our efforts," Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Kelly Nantel said Friday.

Census officials had planned to speak with immigration agents about curbing enforcement during the population count, the Census Bureau's second-ranking official said in an interview earlier this week.

Raids during the population count would make an already distrustful group even less likely to cooperate with government workers who are supposed to include them in the headcount, Deputy Director Preston Jay Waite had said.

When asked Thursday if the immigration enforcement agency would consider suspending raids during the census, spokeswoman Pat Reilly said, "If we were, we wouldn't talk about it."

"We're an investigative agency," she added. "We don't talk about how we target our enforcement activities."

The Constitution requires the Census Bureau to count everyone, including illegal immigrants, in the census.

Immigration agents informally agreed to cooperate with the Census Bureau during the 2000 census by not conducting any large-scale raids, said Waite and Kenneth Prewitt, who directed the Census Bureau during the 2000 count.

Public discussion about possibly repeating the policy in 2010 knocked the Bush administration off message a week after two members of the president's Cabinet announced stepped-up efforts to enforce the nation's immigration laws.

Nantel said she wanted to clarify the enforcement agency's position.

"I don't want there to be any question in the American people's mind as to whether or not ICE would suspend enforcement efforts," Nantel said. "The answer to that is emphatically no."

----
On The Net: Immigration and Customs Enforcement: http://www.ice.gov/

ICE DEPORTS HIGH-PROFILE CRIMINAL FUGITIVE ALIEN TO MEXICO
WOMAN WHO SOUGHT REFUGE IN CHICAGO CHURCH ARRESTED DURING A WEEKEND TRIP TO L.A.







LOS ANGELES - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today that a criminal fugitive alien who spent a year seeking to elude federal capture inside a Chicago church has been deported to Mexico following her arrest by ICE here yesterday afternoon.

Elvira Arellano, 32, a citizen of Mexico, was arrested by ICE officers Sunday afternoon in downtown Los Angeles. Arellano was taken into custody without incident based upon an order of removal originally issued in 1997.

After being processed at ICE's staging facility in Santa Ana, Calif., Arellano was transported 100 miles to the border crossing at San Ysidro, Calif., where she was turned over to Mexican immigration officials late yesterday. ICE coordinated closely with representatives from the Mexican consulate to ensure Arellano's safety during the evening repatriation.

Arellano's U.S. citizen son was with her at the time of her arrest. At Arellano's request, he was left in the custody of her traveling companions, including Pastor Walter Coleman, the Pastor of the Chicago church where she had received sanctuary for the past year.

Following her removal in 1997, Arellano illegally re-entered the United States, a felony violation punishable by up to 20 years in prison. In 2002, ICE agents arrested Arellano at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, where she was working illegally for a janitorial services business whose employees had access to security sensitive areas of the facility. Subsequently, Arellano was convicted of criminal charges for using another person's Social Security number to illegally obtain employment.

Identifying, arresting, and removing criminal aliens and immigration fugitives - aliens who have ignored court orders to leave the country - is one of ICE's top enforcement priorities. In the first 10 months of this fiscal year, the agency carried out more than 220,000 alien removals.



-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

Last Modified: Monday, August 20, 2007

IMMIGRATION - THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

Descritics.org
August 21, 2007
Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta

It has been a curious few weeks for immigration, emigration and migration across the world. This is one of the most emotional and stressful topics in politics these days as this cuts directly into the heart of our identity. Whether the identity is based around skin colour, language, nationality, religion, or what have you, when the "other" comes in, there is always the potential for chaos. Do not think that this is a rich country problem only, immigration is a problem in places such as Mongolia as well. The Sydney Morning Herald termed it as "INVASION". Now when you hear that some country is being invaded, what does it make you feel? how would you feel if YOUR country is being invaded?

Here's a quick review of the news stories and they just show how challenging immigration is.

1. The Mexican President is criticising the US Congress for suspending the congressional debate on the reform of immigration laws. As you do know, immigration is again turning into a third rail of US politics (as an aside, there are so many third rails, medicare, medicaid, abortion, terrorism, Iraq, *** rights, etc. etc. etc. that it is no wonder that the country is becoming so polarised). But you have to remember that specially the Mexican migration is much different from all other immigration factors. This is because this is primarily illegal. Which is why I find the Mexican leadership's commentary so strange, given that their citizens are technically breaking the law by migrating into USA, I would have expected that they would be quiet! Instead, this pattern of behaviour is quite consistent, it is almost like a right, the right to emigrate into USA illegally. No wonder people get so excited. Why are people getting so excited?

2. One out of ten counties in the USA now has whites as a minority. Leaving aside the intellectual incoherence in which one is comparing a skin colour with a culture, humans do identify with colour. (the attention to colour only seems to happen when the colour is non-white, when it's white, it's apparently fine!). So no wonder that the whites are getting excited. This also further points to why gaining agreement on immigration reform is going to be so complicated.

3. The Economist reports on how two immigrant groups in the USA, blacks and hispanics, are now on a collision course. Some quotes are of interest.

Last year Pew, a pollster, found that one-third of blacks believe immigrants take jobs from Americans"”more than any other group. Yet in some ways their views were benign. Blacks are less likely than whites or even Hispanics to believe that immigrants end up on welfare or commit crimes. Latinos, on the other hand, appear to make no such concessions. One survey of Durham, in North Carolina, found that 59% of Latinos believed few or almost no blacks were hard-working, and a similar proportion reckoned few or almost none could be trusted. Fewer than one in ten whites felt the same way.

One reason blacks and Latinos have failed to form an alliance is philosophical. The black civil-rights struggle, in the South at least, was mostly about asserting legal rights and demolishing barriers to voting by those who were, in theory, already enfranchised. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Latino struggle is quite different. Its goal is often the selective or non-enforcement of the law, particularly on immigration. </span>A common demand, for example, is for local police not to co-operate with federal immigration agents. And, whereas blacks in the 1960s demanded power in proportion to their numbers as adult citizens, Hispanics want rather more.

4. Over on this side of the pond, the African migration into Spain is happening at very high levels, despite very high risk. To try to manage this migration, Spain is trying something else.

The program, promoted by the Spanish and Senegalese governments, aims to bring hundreds of workers to Spain this year with renewable one-year visas and jobs. Workers on one-year permits may have their contracts extended, at which point they have the right to bring over their immediate family. Ultimately, officials here say, the plan is to bring in thousands of immigrants through the program.

Will it work? Of course it will work. Will it reduce illegal immigration? Are you joking? Why would anybody want to just work for 1 year, go through bureaucratic hoops and so on and so forth, when they can easily come over illegally and save money?

5. Take a look at this story where people are actually now getting killed because of immigration. Assam in India has a long history of immigrants from Bangladesh and other parts of India. Assam is relatively rich and also has an industry (tea), which require quite a lot of common labour. Given the shortage of indideneous labour, poor immigrants from bangladesh and migrants from elsewhere in India have flooded into this state. With the result? They have generated angst, and because the political system went into the toilet, the natives revolted. The political parties saw the immigrants as votes and helped them to turn the demographics of the state. The natives massacred thousands of Bengalis and till date, not even a single person has been charged, forget about being sentenced.

6. British immigration laws, specially those relating to high potential migrants were reported to be unlawful as they breached the European Convention of Human Rights (mainly because they imposed conditions on a retrospective basis!). As you can appreciate, most of these migrants were highly skilled and qualified, came over to the UK to take up jobs and fulfill skill shortages. So the laws are back to the drafting board. Furthermore, the fact that the Glasgow terrorist acts were attempted by immigrant doctors in the NHS is another nail in the coffin of the immigration reform in the UK.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Dr. Bhaskar Dasgupta works in the city of London in various capacities in the financial sector. He has worked and travelled widely around the world. The articles in here relate to his current studies and are strictly his opinion and do not reflect the position of his past or current employer(s). If you do want to blame somebody, then blame my sister and editor, she is responsible for everything, the ideas, the writing, the quotes, the drive, the israeli-palestinian crisis, global warming, the ozone layer depletion and the argentinian debt crisis.

PREPARING IMMIGRANT WORKERS FOR CHANGE
A LOCAL NONPROFIT FEARS FALLOUT FROM A NEW POLICY

By Michael Matza
phillynews.com
Inquirer Staff Writer



AKIRA SUWA /Inquirer Staff Photographer
"The Social Security database is known to be faulty," says Anne O'Callaghan, executive director of the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians. "We're very worried about this."


With the federal government pledging to crack down on undocumented workers by using Social Security records as its principal sledge, companies that employ large numbers of immigrants are preparing to feel the heat.

The Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, a job center for foreign-born workers, with offices in Philadelphia and Upper Darby, is gearing up, too - for the expected fallout.

"We're very worried about this," said Anne O'Callaghan, the center's executive director. "The Social Security database is known to be faulty. If you use it for immigration enforcement, it is certain some significant number of work-authorized immigrants will be unjustly fired."

A report in December by the Social Security Administration's inspector general found the database had an error rate of 4.1 percent. Misspellings, data-entry mishaps, name changes and other mistakes involve about 17.8 million records.

Nonetheless, Department of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff recently announced a new emphasis on the rules that require companies to terminate employees with dubious Social Security numbers or face fines of up to $2,200 per illegal worker.

How the initiative will work remains to be seen, because a Homeland Security spokeswoman acknowledged last week that an IRS privacy provision prevents direct sharing of information between her department and the Social Security Administration.

The movement for stricter enforcement of existing laws comes on the heels of the Senate's deadlock over legislation to overhaul immigration.

While watching to see whether the government means what it says, groups such as the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates immigration restrictions, say the crackdown is overdue.

"The standard response to illegal immigration has been increased border enforcement. And, in fact, such tightening of the border was long overdue," the group wrote on its Web site. "But there has been almost no attention paid to enforcement at work sites within the United States."

Starting next month, authorities are to rigorously enforce the so-called no-match letters that the SSA has, since 1994, sent to companies whenever names, Social Security numbers, and W-2 forms don't jibe.

Companies have frequently ignored the letters with little consequence. Even when new regulations went into effect after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, enforcement generally was lax.

Now "no-match" mailings will include separate letters from the DHS warning companies and suspect employees that they have four months to reconcile discrepancies or face prosecution, deportation, and increased civil penalties against the companies "for knowingly employing an unauthorized person."

To prepare immigrants and employers for workplace raids and other tough enforcement measures, the Welcoming Center, a nonprofit serving Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania suburbs, stresses the contributions of immigrants to the regional economy, holds information sessions for employers, and distributes "The Changing Face of Pennsylvania's Workforce," a 26-page primer about hiring foreign-born workers that includes information about the dozen or so visa categories permitting people to work seasonally or permanently in the United States.

Among the primer's findings:

An average 8 percent of the Greater Philadelphia population was "foreign born" in the decade 1970 to 1980; an average 37 percent was foreign born in the decade 1990 to 2000.

In 1970, the top five countries of origin for immigrants relocating to Greater Philadelphia were all in Europe; in 2005, none were. The leading country in 1970 was Italy. In 2005, it was India.

Whereas immigrants once settled almost exclusively in inner-city neighborhoods, now many settle directly in suburbia. The foreign-born population of Delaware County, for example, rose 33 percent from 2000 to 2005.

Since 2003, the Welcoming Center has provided job referrals and other assistance to more than 2,000 clients from 62 countries. The center's diverse staff of 10 speaks at least eight languages and provides newcomers with leads on where to study English.

At a recent legal briefing the center held for a half-dozen employers, including a home-health-care agency and a Philadelphia community center, there was palpable fear about the impact of the new rules, said lawyer Elizabeth Surin, who gave the briefing.

If we can't verify, do we have to fire them? attendees asked. "It was clear from the audience," Surin said, "it was a big concern."

Although the stereotype of an immigrant is a low-skilled, low-wage, possibly undocumented laborer, the center provides assistance only to people who are legally permitted to work in the United States and can prove it. Many are well educated. They held high-status jobs in their native lands and had to settle for less after arriving here.

The center's goal is to match these people and others like them with appropriate employers - not only because that's a nice thing to do, but also because it makes sense for the region economically.

Pennsylvania's population is among the nation's oldest. Waves of retirements could lead to chronic shortages of qualified workers in health care, information technology, and other critical industries, the center contends.

"Pennsylvania has the second-oldest workforce in America. If demography is destiny, where does that leave us in 10 years?" O'Callaghan asked, adding that work-eligible immigrants are an "undervalued human resource" for the region's productivity.

At the other end of the spectrum are the people who "milk our cows, bake our bread, cut our lawns, build our roofs," immigration lawyer Hector Chichoni said. They may work illegally at the moment, he said, but they deserve a shot at becoming legal. Pathways to legal status are what the Senate legislation contemplated, along with stringent enforcement measures, but efforts at a compromise failed.

Chichoni, 45, an Italian-born, Argentinian-raised Miami lawyer and author of a chapter called "What to Do When the Government Knocks at Your Door: Dealing With Trouble" in a publication for immigrants, believes federal "manpower will never be enough to police all the employers in the United States."

Compounding the problem, he said, is the fact that a portion of the undocumented immigrant workforce - freelance landscapers, for example -is virtually invisible because it operates on a cash-only basis.

"How is the government going identify those people?" he asked. "They are not in the system and will never go into the system."


Contact staff writer Michael Matza at 215-854-2541 or mmatza@phillynews.com.

IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN THREATENS B.U.MPER U.S. APPLE HARVEST

International Heral Tribune
Americas
By Lisa W. Foderaro
Published: August 21, 2007

HAMPTONBURGH, New York: With a look of supreme satisfaction, Jeff Crist squinted at the Ginger Golds and Jonamacs ripening under an incandescent sun on his apple orchard here: the trees were so laden that they almost seemed to strain under the effort.

"It's a vintage crop - a solid quality crop, which means good sugars in the apples," he said. "They should eat very nicely, almost like a good wine."

This is the third year in a row of near-perfect weather, and Crist, a fourth-generation apple grower, like many other growers in the Hudson Valley, is finally feeling secure after a disastrous string of harvests marred by early frost and hail. In fact, Crist is so bullish that he recently bought a 164-acre, or 66-hectare, orchard nearby, bucking the trend of recent decades of selling apple orchards to housing developers.

But while weather conditions have cooperated and industry experts say demand for apples across the United States has approached an all-time high, there are new fears in New York and around the country over whether there will be enough hands to pick the crop. The Bush administration announced new measures this month to crack down on employers of illegal immigrants.

Growers' associations across the country estimate that about 70 percent of farmworkers are illegal immigrants, many of them using fake Social Security numbers on their applications. Under the new rules, if the Social Security Administration finds that an applicant's information does not match its database, employers could be required to fire the worker or risk being fined up to $10,000 for knowingly hiring an illegal immigrant.

"Farmers are required to validate the legal status of their workers, which they do," said Peter Gregg, a spokesman for the New York Apple Association, a nonprofit group representing more than 670 commercial apple growers in the state. "But a lot of times the paperwork is false, so they're unwittingly or unknowingly hiring workers who are here illegally. And then a raid will occur, and all of a sudden their workers will leave."

For apple growers in New York, where the forces of nature and the market have at last come together in their favor, the potential fallout from the new immigration initiative is particularly unsettling.

"We have three billion apples to pick this fall and every single one of them has to be picked by hand," Gregg said. "It's a very labor-intensive industry, and there is no local labor supply that we can draw from, as much as we try. No one locally really wants to pick apples for six weeks in the fall."

Crist, who was recently named apple grower of the year by a leading fruit industry magazine, lobbied in Washington for passage of a new guest-worker program. But the program was included in the overall immigration overhaul legislation that collapsed on the Senate floor in late June. Growers say that only 2 percent of farmworkers nationwide come from the current guest-worker program, which, they say, is plagued by bureaucracy, low capacity and delays.

Another Hudson Valley apple grower, Mark Roe of Roe's Orchards in Blooming Grove, will get five workers through the existing program for the harvest this autumn. He said he planned to hire about seven other pickers. As for past workers, Roe said: "It's hard to tell who's legal and who's not. They all have documents."

He, too, is worried about the tougher immigration rules and what they might mean for his 240-acre fruit and vegetable farm, which was started by his great-great-grandfather in 1827 and is still worked by his grown children.

"We need something better, something grower-friendly," he said.

So far, the Hudson Valley has not been subject to the raids that have rippled through farms and orchards in western New York, especially in the Buffalo area.

"Last year, there were significantly more raids targeting agriculture in New York," Gregg said. "A lot of growers lost numerous workers at the peak of the harvest. They had to scramble to try to find someone else.

"It was difficult. In a lot of cases, there were apples left hanging on the trees."

For now, both Crist and Roe say they have enough pickers for the initial harvest. Workers are now plucking Ginger Golds, one of the first varieties to ripen, and placing them in wooden bins that each hold 2,000 to 3,000 apples.

A crew leader who for decades has recruited workers for Crist's orchards said that if the current source of labor dried up there would be few other alternatives. The workers are mostly Hispanic men who pick citrus fruits in Florida and then move north for the apple harvest.

Despite the labor concerns, growers seem to be optimistic, having emerged from the stretch of growing seasons that were devastated by storms and wild swings in temperature.

"Five or six years ago, we were ready to wrap up our affairs," said Crist, who owns six orchards totaling 600 acres in Orange and Ulster counties. "It looked pretty dismal, and a number of growers either chose to get out or they had to get out. There are less of us today than there used to be. But we're back on solid footing."

In the past two decades, the number of farms in Ulster County, the second-highest apple-producing county in New York State behind Wayne County, has steadily declined, according to Michael Fargione, an educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension, which provides research information and educational programs to farmers. In 1985, 104 farms covered 11,629 acres in Ulster County. By 1996, the number had slid to 63 orchards on 8,632 acres. And by 2001, the most recent year for which figures are available, there were 56 apple orchards on 5,669 acres.

But growers and agriculture experts say that in recent years fewer orchards in the Hudson Valley seem to have fallen to housing developers. "My impression is that over the last three years, the decline has either stabilized or at least reduced its rate," Fargione said.

Roe, whose farm stand was awash in the rosy hues of just-picked peaches and plums, said his family had no intention of selling.

Indeed, the weather this season - with ample rain and sunshine - seems to have strengthened his zest for farming.

"It's been practically perfect," he said. "It's just one of those things you hope for and dream about, and it rarely happens."