Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Arkansas Consulate Issues Matricula Cards, Banks Continue to Accept Them

Kennedy, Menendez Bill Would Restrict Raids

Lawsuit Challenges Okla. Enforcement Law

"A coalition of business groups is asking a U.S. appeals court to prevent an Oklahoma anti-illegal immigration law from being enforced. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Oklahoma Restaurant Association, and the Oklahoma Hotel and Lodging Association, among others, say immigration enforcement should be left to the federal government, not the states, Legal Newsline reported Wednesday," UPI writes. "The groups say the Oklahoma law, which requires employers to verify the immigration status of employees and contractors or subcontractors, forces them to use the voluntary federal online verification system to determine workers' legal status. The law, which isn't being enforced, also requires that businesses with state contracts to withhold income taxes of contractors and subcontractors if they don't use the federal verification system."

Rep. Poe: Terrorism is an Immigration Enforcement Issue

"Edward Schumacher-Matos's Oct. 2 book review of "The Closing of the American Border" by Edward Alden could more accurately have been called "How Quickly We Forget." While it may represent an accurate account of the written work, its conclusions portray an astonishing disregard for recent history, most notably the 9/11 terrorist attacks just seven years ago. To suggest that immigration enforcement and counterterrorism should be treated separately is simply wrong," says Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) in a letter to the Wall Street Journal. "We know now that several of the 9/11 terrorists abused the nation's immigration laws. The fact is that if the immigration enforcement tools that exist today had been in place prior to 9/11, each of the hijackers would have received additional scrutiny by law enforcement authorities."

Mexico Faces Economic Crisis

"The Mexican government has taken emergency financial measures to withstand the winds of crisis from the United States, which this country is heavily dependent on as shown by their daily bilateral trade volume of one billion dollars on average. However, the measures will not completely ward off the impact, say analysts. The difficulties faced by Mexican migrant workers will also complicate the government's strategy. Remittances from Mexicans living in the United States, the country's second largest source of foreign exchange after oil exports, have already shrunk, and experts predict that they will continue to fall," IPS news writes. "The majority of Mexico's exports and imports are tied to the United States, and U.S. consumption and demand directly fuel a large part of the country's manufacturing sector and jobs. Mexico's exports to the United States stand at over 272 billion dollars a year, with manufacturing (largely involving for-export assembly plants) accounting for 81 percent, oil and minerals for 16 percent, and agriculture for most of the rest."

Postville Followup: Illegal Employers Hate the Party Being Over

"Welcome to ground zero of the nation's immigration debate -- the tiny town of Postville, Iowa, a rural community of 2,400 tucked into the northeast corner of a state that's 94 percent white. It's a town that's been turned 'topsy turvy,' Mayor Bob Penrod says, since hundreds of heavily armed federal immigration agents swooped in a few months ago and raided its main employer, Agriprocessors, the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant," CNN reports. "It appears, based on 2007 fourth-quarter payroll reports, that approximately 76 percent of the 968 employees of Agriprocessors were using false or fraudulent Social Security numbers in connection with their employment," ICE alleges in its affidavit [. . .] ICE has no apologies for cracking down. 'Local disruption is easy to see and report on. What is less obvious is the devastation caused by the hundreds of illegal aliens who stole the identities of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents,' ICE's Counts said."

Countries Refusing to Take Deportees Would Face Sanctions Under Proposal

"Rebecca Harrison clutched a red folder of court papers detailing her ex-husband's molestation conviction from 16 years earlier, waiting for her case to be called by a Harris County family court judge. 'I just can't believe it,' she said, warily eyeing her ex-husband, Mohammed Malekzadeh, a native of Iran, as he sat on a wooden bench in the hallway outside the courtroom Tuesday. 'We always assumed he would be deported when he finished his sentence. Everyone did. It's scary,'" the Houston Chronicle reports. "Rep. Dent (R-Pa.) has co-sponsored a House bill that mirrors legislation proposed by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., that would amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to prohibit providing aid to countries that deny or unreasonably delay attempts to send back their citizens. The bills also contain provisions that would prohibit U.S. officials from issuing visas to people from countries that block the repatriation of immigrants."

Wooldridge: What If We Had Open Borders?

"What if the U.S. opened its borders to unlimited immigration? What if Colorado added another five to ten million or even 20 million people? Let’s face it, California, at one point, housed a mere five million like Colorado. Today, that state features 37.5 million on its way to 60 million. At one point, citizens did not suffer gridlocked traffic, water shortages or air pollution. In the early years, neither did Colorado. The same goes for all cities of the United States," notes Frosty Woolridge in the Denver Post. "Thus, if we opened our borders to save humanity from its horrible fate, an immediate 18 million starving souls could find food and shelter in the USA annually. However, after a mere five years, that equals 90 million added to our country. In 10 years, that equals 180 million people and in 20 years…well, you get the picture. If you think Colorado suffers water shortages, air pollution and gridlock today, you ain’t seen nothing yet!"