News Digests
Citizens For Immigration Reform regular news digests that are sent to
those on the email list.
09-03-2009
Action:
The healthcare debate is not over! Congressmen and Senators go back to
Washington on Tuesday. Keep the pressure up or if you haven't been in
contact with your elected official, take time to do so.
Eagle
Forum:
·
Illegal Aliens Will Be
Covered. Proof of citizenship is not
required in order to apply for coverage under the "public option." In
the Senate bill, illegal aliens are exempted from the government
mandates to purchase health insurance, which means that lawful Americans
will have to pay a fine for not purchasing insurance, but illegals will
be off the hook, and continue to reap health care treatment at
taxpayers' expense.
New Data Alter Old Positions On Immigrants -
By
MICHAEL BARONE
| Posted Wednesday, September 02, 2009 4:20 PM PT
Before leaving for his vacation on Martha's Vineyard, Barack Obama said
the next big item on his legislative agenda — well, after health care
and cap-and-trade and maybe labor's bill to effectively abolish secret
ballots in union elections — was immigration reform.
What he has in mind, apparently, is something like the comprehensive
immigration bills that foundered in the House in 2006 and in the Senate
in 2007. These featured guest-worker and enforcement provisions, as well
as a path to legalization.
The prospects for such legislation still seem iffy. Immigration bills
have typically needed bipartisan support to pass, and the Republicans
who took the lead on the Senate bills in 2006 and 2007 aren't interested
in doing so again. And some Democratic congressional leaders are wary of
a bill that many members' constituents oppose.
But there's another reason why Congress and the administration would be
unwise to revive the 2006-07 legislation. The facts on the ground have
changed. The surge of illegal immigrants into the U.S., which seemed to
be unrelenting for most of the last two decades, seems to be over, at
least temporarily, and there's a chance it may never resume.
Camp
gives border agents new presence in New Mexico desert
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 - Alicia A. Caldwell, The Associated Press
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-border_01tex.ART.State.Edition1.4ba8b3b.html
HERMANAS, New Mexico – Smugglers and illegal immigrants have crossed a
barren stretch of the New Mexico desert for years, wearing booties over
their shoes to hide footprints in the sand even though there was little
fear that a border agent would spot them.
To reach this remote and rugged area, U.S. Border Patrol agents had to
drive 90 miles from the nearest office in Deming. Then, if they caught
anyone, the agents had to drive them back to the small southwest New
Mexico town to be processed. Meanwhile, the U.S.-Mexico border, which in
some places is marked only by a private rancher's fence, remained wide
open.
With so much time spent on the road and so little out searching for
illegal immigrants and smugglers, the Border Patrol set up Camp Ramsey
this summer. Agents hope the outpost about a mile north of the Mexico
border will give them a permanent presence in the desert that until now
had been patrolled only as time allowed.
FAIR Legislative Update:
Illegal Alien Faces Death Penalty for 2008 Murder of High School
Football Star
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced last
week that it will seek the death penalty for Pedro Espinoza — an illegal
alien member of the 18th Street Gang who allegedly murdered 17-year old
high school football star Jamiel Shaw, Jr. in cold blood last year.
Shaw's murder on March 2, 2008 touched off an explosive debate over
Special Order 40 — the Los Angeles sanctuary ordinance which does not
require police officers to check the immigration status of suspects who
have been arrested.
09-15-2009
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6612379.html
Perry deploys ‘Ranger Recon' to the border
By JAMES PINKERTON HOUSTON CHRONICLE Sept. 10
Gov. Rick Perry announced Thursday he's sent a special contingent of
Texas Rangers called “Ranger Recon” to hot spots along the Texas-Mexico
border to engage drug and human smugglers.
Perry said the special teams — drawn from the state's elite
144-officer Texas Ranger division — began operating in early August in
remote areas on the Texas border where cartels and human smugglers have
“overrun” private farms and ranches. The division is supported by 200
Texas National Guard members, part of what the governor described as a
continuation of $110 million in state-funded operations to contend with
the fallout from Mexico's increasingly violent drug war.
http://www.riograndeguardian.com/columns3_story.asp?story_no=5
Vasquez: Perry’s use of Texas Rangers along border reminds us of an ugly
past
By Josemaria Vasquez
Texas officials oppose pedestrian fence along U.S.-Mexico border
Thursday, September 10, 2009
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-borderfence_10tex.ART.State.Edition1.4ba62ce.html
Gary Martin, San Antonio Express-News
WASHINGTON – A group of Texas officials urged Congress on Wednesday to
block a move to require more pedestrian fences along the U.S.-Mexico
border.
Construction was under way in February on a fence that some officials
say does little to stop illegal activities.
The Texas Border Coalition wants a House-Senate conference committee to
remove language from the spending bill for the Department of Homeland
Security that would require the federal government to replace vehicle
barriers and a high-technology "virtual fence" with pedestrian fencing.
National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers
Diario Xalapa (Xalapa, Veracruz) 8/31/09 (part of large “o.e.m.” paper chain)
Border fence said to reduce illegal border crossings
Cecilia Romero-Castillo, head of Mexico’s National Immigration Agency,
said that the flow of Central Americans into Mexico and the migratory
flow into the United States have both decreased because of the border
fence being built “on the border of that country” and also because of
the world economic crisis, “as well as the anti-immigrant policies which
have been implemented in the neighbor country to the north.”
Sane
Immigration Reform on Tap? 09 13 09
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/11/AR2009091103414.html
The chances of building a sane immigration system seemed unlikely
enough in 2007 before it was squashed by divisions among Democrats and a
talk radio-fueled revolt on the right. If anything, they look even worse
now, given the competing debates over health care and energy, a jobless
rate edging toward 10 percent, and a plateau or decline in the number of
illegal immigrants in the country.
DPS:
School bus driver could not avoid fatal accident
By PEGGY O'HARE Copyright 2009 HOUSTON CHRONICLE Sept. 8, 2009, 10:25PM
A Willis High School student killed last week when a school bus ran
over him after he fell from a moving pickup had been fighting with
students in another vehicle just before his fatal fall, a state trooper
said Tuesday.
Alex Caballero, 17, died Friday after the accident on Texas 75,
minutes after school let out for the holiday weekend, said Department of
Public Safety Trooper Cody Cullar. Caballero's younger brother was
riding on the bus at the time and saw the aftermath of the accident,
Cullar said.
The young man at the wheel of the pickup that Caballero fell out of
drove away, but later returned with Caballero's parents, authorities
said. Jose Juan Sanchez, 18, of Willis, was arrested for failure to stop
and render aid involving a death, a third-degree felony, Cullar said.
Sanchez had no Texas driver's license and is in the country
illegally, Cullar said
National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers
El Heraldo (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) 9/7/09
Hondurans in the United States
As part of the “Week of the Migrant’”, Honduras’ National Migrations
Forum reported that the Honduran community in the United States is the 5th
largest and the one with the largest growth among those in “irregular
status”
[read: illegal]. The report estimates that somewhat over one
million Hondurans reside in the United States, that is, around 15% of
the country’s population. The Chancery
[equiv.: Dep’t. of State] estimates that some 250 thousand
of them are legal permanent residents, 75 thousand are under the
“Temporary Protection Status” program and the rest are in illegal
status. Women and children have now joined the numbers of those who
leave. Honduras’ Migration & Foreigners Affairs Agency reported that
2,347 children were deported to Honduras from Mexico & the U.S. in 2008.
09-18-2009
Texas Border Volunteers
will be conducting a 10-day border watch in S.TX in October. If you are
interested in participating in this border watch...please contact the
following members for dates, details, reservations,
membership and other
information as soon as possible:
Linda
at:
fal_air_sofort@hotmail.com or
361/325-5209
Tom
at:
vol052000-tbvmbrship@yahoo.com
(membership info)
TBV
MEMBERSHIP IS REQUIRED BEFORE
PARTICIPATING ON ANY TBV BORDER
WATCH!! Membership
application form and instructions can be found at "Join Us" on the
www.texasbordervolunteers.org website.
The TBV
border watch operation sighting/apprehension results for the
September weekend border watch were:
40
illegals - sighted and reported to the
Border Patrol by
TBV volunteers
28 illegals -
apprehended by Border Patrol
Sent by
Washingtonians for Immigration Reform -
WFIR@comcast.net
In case you were not
aware of it, ACORN also supports amnesty for illegal aliens and does it
with your tax dollars.
The following was
copied and pasted from the ACORN web site.
ACORN demands that
lawmakers pass comprehensive immigration reform measures that include
the following:
-
A path to citizenship for the
estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the
United States.
-
Protection for all workers – both
native and foreign-born – by upholding fair wages and working
conditions for U.S. and immigrant workers and by ending exploitation
and abuse of undocumented immigrant labor.
-
Reunification of families through
removal of restrictions and bureaucratic delays. Those who have
waited in line should have their admission expedited, and those
admitted on work visas should be able to keep their nuclear families
in tact.
-
Restoration of the rule of law and
enhancement of security by providing a path to permanent status with
effective enforcement.
http://thehill.com:80/homenews/senate/59331-menendez-forces-immigration-debate-into-healthcare-fight
Senior Democrat turns
healthcare debate into fight over immigration
By
Alexander Bolton -
09/18/09 06:00 AM ET
"Sen. Robert
Menendez (D-N.J.) is putting Democrats in a bind by seeking to
let illegal immigrants benefit from the healthcare overhaul,"
The Hill reports. "Menendez, the only Hispanic senator, has
considerable leverage with Democrats because he may represent the
deciding vote on the Senate Finance Committee set to mark up the
legislation next week. He's also the party's campaign committee
chairman, giving him added influence."
- - - -
One Democratic aide said
it would be difficult for Menendez to win the inclusion of illegal
immigrants into the insurance exchange. But Menendez may have more
success increasing subsidies for those mixed families that
include illegal immigrants.
Under Baucus’s plan, a
family that includes illegal immigrants would receive lower subsidies
than those without but earning the same income.
For example, the plan would count the income of illegal immigrants in a
family when assessing how much federal aid a family could receive;
families with higher incomes receive lower subsidies. But the illegal
immigrants in a family would not be eligible for healthcare subsidies,
even though their income would be counted to determine the level of
federal aid to the family.
http://www.nafbpo.org
La Hora
(Guatemala City, Guatemala) 9/16/09
Health care urged for illegal aliens
(full transl.) – (quote):
The leaders of MIGUA, the Guatemalan
Immigrant Movement in the United States, declare the following in reply
to the speech by President Barack Obama about the urgency of reforming
the healthcare system and in reply to the controversy which has arisen
about this issue.
We are in accord with President Barack Obama
that it is time to bring about an exhaustive health reform that may
radically transform the healthcare system and the manner in which the
system is financed. The creation of a stronger and more productive
society is achieved in large measure with the good health of children,
adults and elderly persons.
Amado Espana, leader of MIGUA in New Jersey,
pointed out that “Unfortunately, President Obama has weakened in the
face of organized political forces that are opposed to any change so as
to continue profiting from a bankrupt system and who take the
opportunity to continue implanting fear and hatred against the immigrant
community. This strategy is not only immoral, because health is a human
right, but it is also counterproductive, since denying health care to
some places everyone at risk during this time of contagious and
transmittable diseases.”
The immigrant community, independently of
its immigration status, is an integral part of the United States. The
Latin community, and especially the undocumented immigrant community, is
particularly and negatively affected by the present health care system.
Of the approximately 47 million persons without health insurance 16
million are Latin. Immigrants compose 27.1% of those who lack medical
insurance and, of these, 59% are undocumented immigrants.
Edgar Ayala, MIGUA spokesman in Oakland,
California, stated “Denying medical care to immigrants violates the
principles which Senator Kennedy brought up to President Obama in a
letter he wrote him before dying [sic] ‘health care is a
decisive theme for the future and for prosperity…and it goes beyond
material things; what we face is a moral problem?[sic] What’s
at stake is not only the details of a policy but a fundamental principle
of social justice and the character of our nation’ “
Carlos Gomez, Vice-president of MIGUA in
Chicago, Illinois, finished by saying “The immigrants, independently of
our immigration status, our families, our children, are an integral part
of the fabric of this great nation, and it is for that reason and for
the social well being and health of all, that we must be included in the
health reform.”
( – unquote – )
http://www.nafbpo.org
La
Cronica de Hoy 9/4/09
Mexican migrants in US to be
offered health insurance by Mexico
(Though
a week old, this story has now gained new currency).
Mexican immigrants in the US will be able to enroll themselves and their
families in Mexico in the health insurance of their own country through
their consulates in the United States. This is a new measure of the
Mexican government to insure the 2.3 million Mexicans who still lack
access to health care, according to Mexico’s Secretary of Health. Dr.
Jose Angel Cordoba Villalobos pointed out that the new plan will enable
Mexican workers in the US who support their families in Mexico to offer
their relatives at home the benefits of medical care and also benefit
themselves when they return. ”We know that many migrants come to the US
because they have no work. And on many occasions, have not had the time
or the knowledge of the existence of public insurance,” said Villalobos.
”What this is about is that there exists a guarantee of attention.”
Public insurance in Mexico began in 2003
for those who were self employed and for the unemployed who lacked
access to the health system. Villalobos said that of the 12.5 million
Mexicans presently eligible for the insurance, 10 million use it.
Those migrants who enroll in the Mexican public insurance from
consulates in the US can only receive medical attention in Mexico.
Additionally, the Mexican government is
working on the creation of a private insurance to be offered in the US
for medical attention to immigrants. The pilot program will be tried
with some 3,500 temporary workers in the Yakima Valley in Washington
State. ”We are coming to negotiate and to see in what way we can
support them,” Villalobos said of the trial insurance plan.
09-29-2009
http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2009/sep/judicial-watch-represents-police-officer-lawsuit-against-houston-houston-police-depart
Judicial Watch Represents Police Officer in Lawsuit against
Houston, Houston Police Department over Illegal Immigration
Policy
Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of Houston Police Sergeant Joslyn M.
Johnson on the Third Anniversary of the Death of Her Husband, a
Former Police Officer Killed in the Line of Duty by Illegal
Alien.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/28/liberals-seek-health-care-access-for-illegals/
Liberals
seek health-care access for illegals Democrats
give demands
Fearful
that they're losing ground on immigration and health care, a
group of House Democrats is pushing back and arguing that any
health care bill should extend to all legal immigrants and allow
illegal immigrants some access.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/310569.php
Feds say
no plan for fewer agents along U.S.-Mexico border
By Brady
McCombs Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.25.2009
There will be no
decrease in the number of U.S. Border Patrol agents on the
Southwest border when the new fiscal year starts next week but
Department of Homeland Security acknowledge that they are trying
to add agents along the border with Canada.
NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
http://www.nafbpo.org
Foreign News Report
El Salvador. Com
(San Salvador, El Salvador) 9/17/09
Salvadorans to ask change in U.S.
immigration laws
A group of Salvadoran leaders in the United
States has traveled to El Salvador to request support from members of
that nation’s Legislative Assembly [read: Congress] and to have
those members accompany them to the United States and speak to U.S.
congressmen on September 24 regarding a reform of the immigration laws
of the U.S.
More than 100 Salvadoran leaders will meet
in Washington with U.S. members of Congress, among them Peter King,
Lincoln Diaz Balart and Mario Diaz Balart, to discuss immigration
reform. Raul Flores, president of the “Salvadorans in the World”
organization, stated that congressmen known for their resistance to
immigration reform are willing to listen to the Salvadorans. The meeting
of the countrymen will take place in conjunction with the “First
Salvadoran American leadership summit” which will take place at
the National Headquarters of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU.)
(sister organization to
ACORN)
Last week the Salvadoran Chancery confirmed
the participation of representatives of the Salvadoran government who
will avail themselves of the opportunity to obtain resources that will
allow them to make an immigration reform proposal.
Visit
http://www.bibdaily.com
Mexicans making use of business visas to reach U.S.
"Gama, 34,
and a business partner who followed him here are among thousands of
Mexico's affluent citizens using U.S. business visas to essentially buy
an escape from their nation's drug war. These visas, known as the “E”
and “L” series, allow this growing class of elite drug war refugees
involved in business and trade to gain residency and possible
citizenship and bypass immigration entanglements that commonly block
their less-affluent countrymen. They are taking full advantage as never
before, according to immigration attorneys, real estate agents and
business people." San Antonio Express-News, Sept. 20, 2009.
E-Verify to be
extended through October 31, 2009
"[T]he House-Senate Committee on Appropriations approved a stopgap
spending measure to allow continued government operations of various
programs, including E-Verify, through October 31, 2009." John Fay, Sept.
24, 2009.
Border fence to cost $6.5B over 20 years
"It will cost taxpayers $6.5 billion over the next 20 years to maintain
the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a government
audit." AP, Sept. 17, 2009.
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