|
FAIR Staff Contributions |
||
|
Latest Research
FAIR Press Release
7 Principles of Immigration Reform Resources & Links
All e-mail is subject to print, including your name. If you don't want us to publish your e-mail, or if you would like to remain anonymous, just let us know.
Add Stein Report headlines to your website or blog A notice to our readers: Comments on the Stein Report will only be posted when they seek to advance constructive debate and discussion, whether or not the poster agrees with the initial posting. Thank you. | ||
|
Check out FAIR on:
|
|
|
July 26, 2010 Stop Holding Back The Enforcement Data, President Obama The coverage today about the "high" number of deportations by the Obama administration comes back again to the issue of transparency in government, something the Obama administration refuses to abide when it comes to immigration enforcement. Buried in the Washington Post coverage today of the non-data release is this: "Morton said the 400,000 people expected to be deported this year -- either physically removed or allowed to leave on their own power -- represent the maximum the overburdened processing, detention and immigration court system can handle." That 400,000 is an "expectation" or "projection" - it hasn't even happened, yet the media is reporting it as a done deal. If BP reported that it was "projecting" a complete oil-spill cleanup by the end of the year, would you believe them? This is part and parcel of the selective data releases about enforcement that the Obama administration is using to try and shape public understanding of what is and is not being done to control illegal immigration. DHS is refusing to release the data that would clarify exactly how many illegal immigrants were 1)actually prosecuted in federal court (not had their case referred for prosecution) and 2)actually deported and 3)apprehended and then allowed to voluntarily depart the U.S. For example, the 2008 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics very clearly lists the amount of removals (i.e. deportations) and voluntary departures separately. In FY 2008, there were 351,000 removals and another 811,000 voluntary departures. The conflation of some? all? voluntary departures with actual deportations by the Obama administration is nothing more than an attempt to create the impression that real enforcement is occurring. Mr. President, it is past time to release all the DHS enforcement numbers (not "projections") to the public so that they can make their own judgment about how well the DHS is doing its job.
Hazleton Still Waits for Ruling "While the national debate over illegal immigration plays out in Arizona, lawyers across the country are still waiting and watching for a federal appeals court decision on a lower court ruling that invalidated Hazleton's immigration law. Today is the third anniversary of the ruling by U.S. District Judge James M. Munley that grabbed national attention in finding the southern Luzerne County city's immigration law was unconstitutional," the Republican Herald says. "The case grew out of Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta's attempt to clamp down on illegal immigration through a city ordinance that punished landlords who rented to aliens or business that employed them."
Fremont Council, Which Opposed Immigration Ordinance, Tries Pre-Emptive Surrender The city council of Fremont, Nebraska, is considering suspending an ordinance similar to ones enacted by other cities around the country to halt illegal immigration. The council opposed efforts by citizens in Fremont to put the ordinance to a vote as a ballot proposition. "U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp will hear requests Wednesday afternoon from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund," notes the AP.
ICE Won't Say if Agency Will Help Enforce SB 1070 "Arizona's tough new immigration law is slated to take effect Thursday, but the nation's immigration enforcement agency has not indicated whether it will cooperate with police who are trying to enforce it," the Arizona Republic says. "Without cooperation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, much of the law would become unenforceable: Police would have no way of determining, from federal authorities, the legal status of suspected illegal immigrants as the state law requires. And that would severely hamper efforts to arrest them for violations of the law."
Sanctuary Cities Problem Draws Media Notice "Everyone has noticed the hypocrisy of the government going after Arizona and ignoring the sanctuary cities," Bob Dane, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told the LA Times. "They have it exactly backwards. Arizona is applying federal law, and sanctuary cities are violating it." Beginning in the 1980s, more than 40 cities and counties adopted ordinances or resolutions declaring they were sanctuaries for immigrants. Police and other city employees were told they should not ask about a person's immigration status, and they should not tell federal agents if they learned a person was here illegally.
|
