Let’s welcome the new Green Card! For the past several years, the color of the Green Card has remained a light shade of pink. On May 11, 2010, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it has completely redesigned the card, adding new and enhanced features. Among its many improvements, the Green Card is finally going to be the color green. USCIS has begin to issue all Green Cards in the new format from May 2010 onwards. Those non-green colored Green Cards issued before May 2010 will still continue to be valid before their expiration. Card holders will receive the redesigned green-colored Green Cards upon renewal or replacement. If your card does not have an expiration date, USCIS recommends that you replace your card to obtain the new green-colored Green Card. Currently, the filing fee for renewal or replacement is $370.
Nine police chiefs to challenge Arizona immigration law
Top Justice Department officials have drafted a legal challenge asserting that Arizona’s controversial immigration law is unconstitutional because it impinges on the federal government’s authority to police the nation’s borders, sources said Wednesday.
At the same time, the government officials said, the department’s civil rights section is considering possible legal action against the law on the basis that it amounts to racial profiling of Latinos who are legally in Arizona but conceivably could be asked to provide documents proving their citizenship.
U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. met Wednesday with nine top police chiefs who object to the Arizona legislation and promised them he would act on the recommendations soon, a spokesman said.
The police chiefs urged Holder and the Obama administration, which has grave reservations about the Arizona measure, to stop the law. The chiefs said it would seriously hamper local police work if officers had to serve as border patrol policemen.
More here…
No need to fear immigration law
This is a letter by Rev. Dr. Billy Bruner, Letter to the editor. Another point of view about the Arizona Law debate:
I am writing this letter in concern over so many being upset about a law dealing with “illegals.”
There are those who support the illegal immigrants and feel that any law against them is injustice. If these same people are supports of “illegalism,” I wonder, would they support me driving my car without a tag, without proper driver’s license and etc.?
The state of Arizona passed a law against “illegal” immigrants, not “legal” immigrants — against those who violate the law of their state and that of the U.S., as far as I can understand the law.I cannot understand why there is so much concern by American citizens about being stopped by a law enforcement officer. I do not care if one stops me, because I have nothing to hide. I may be disappointed that I am being delayed, but the fact is that if the officer is doing the stopping due to some matter that affects the laws of the county, state or national government, I have no concern. Any officer who does this outside of the legal rights he or she has concerning their position as an officer should not be an officer in the first place.
I contend that those who oppose this so strongly are those who have something to hide, and/or are against the democratic laws of our great nation. I close this about “illegals” by saying that the current administration will oppose the Arizona law because it affects those who supported Obama politically. It is a political issue rather than a true matter of dealing with illegal immigrants.
Why the Major Leagues Should Boycott AZ
Great poem by Leslie Holman, AILA Secretary, 5/7/10
They’ll take you out of the ball game
They’ll pick you out of the crowd.
They’ll hand you a warrant, your bags they will pack
They’ll make sure you never get back
‘Cause they root, root root
For their “home” team.
If you’re not white it’s a shame.
Don’t say uno, dos, or tres strikes
you’re out
At an AZ ball game.
Breaking News: Obama takes immigration reform off agenda
We feared that this may happen, and it did. Immigration reform has become the first of President Barack Obama’s major priorities dropped from the agenda of an election-year Congress facing voter disillusionment. Sounding the death knell was Obama himself.
The president noted that lawmakers may lack the “appetite” to take on immigration while many of them are up for re-election and while another big legislative issue — climate change — is already on their plate.
“I don’t want us to do something just for the sake of politics that doesn’t solve the problem,” Obama told reporters Wednesday night aboard Air Force One.
Immigration reform was an issue Obama promised Latino groups that he would take up in his first year in office. But several hard realities — a tanked economy, a crowded agenda, election-year politics and lack of political will — led to so much foot-dragging in Congress that, ultimately, Obama decided to set the issue aside.
Read more….
Attorney General Eric Holder to challenge new Immigration Law in AZ
Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that the federal government may go to court to challenge Arizona’s new law which makes it a state crime to be in the United States illegally.
The controversial bill gives Arizona law enforcement the authority to stop people whom officers have “reasonable suspicion” of being in the country illegally, detain these individuals while verifying immigration status, and arrest undocumented immigrants for transfer to ICE custody. The bill, also known as the “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act” also makes it a crime to be in the state illegally and to provide transportation to someone you know is undocumented.
Those who oppose the bill are concerned about possible civil rights violations, and worried that the legislation will lead to racial profiling — a major concern for Arizona’s approximately 30% Hispanic population and larger mixed race population. The bill does not list the characteristics officers will be looking for to determine “reasonable suspicion.”
The Justice Department and the Homeland Security Department are reviewing the state law, which takes effect in late July or early August, 90 days after the Arizona Legislature adjourns.
A number of options are under consideration including “the possibility of a court challenge,” the attorney general said in response to questions on the Arizona law posed during a news conference on another topic.
Read more here…
San Diego Immigration Attorney – French Gourmet bistro hit with immigration charges
The owner of the landmark restaurant and bakery The French Gourmet and a longtime manager there pleaded not guilty to federal charges that they hired illegal workers and lied to the government that they had the proper work documents.
Michel Malecot, president of the restaurant, bakery and catering business on Turquoise Avenue in Pacific Beach, and Richard Kauffmann a manager and pastry chef, were charged with 16 counts of conspiracy, harboring illegal immigrants and false attestation. The charges stem from a raid conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the business in May 2008.
Malecot posted a $75,000 bond and Kauffmann a $60,000 bond after entering their pleas in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Nita L. Stormes.
The indictment alleges that Kauffmann and other managers would hire illegal workers and then certify on government forms that they had verified their Social Security and other documents and they were legal to work in the country.
In a half-dozen instances alleged in the indictment, the restaurant received “no match” letters form the Social Security Administration saying the Social Security numbers submitted in the forms were not valid. The restaurant would then submit new forms with new Social Security numbers falsely saying that the documents appeared genuine, the government charged.
More from the Union Tribune….
Will others follow Arizona’s lead on immigration?
Now that Arizona lawmakers have passed what’s considered some of the toughest immigration legislation in the country, other states are watching to see whether they should follow in the state’s footsteps or stand back.
Arizona’s bill orders immigrants to carry their alien registration documents at all times and requires police to question people if there’s reason to suspect they’re in the United States illegally. It also targets those who hire illegal immigrant day laborers or knowingly transport them.
Critics, including immigrant advocates and the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, are concerned that the legislation will foster racial profiling, arguing that most police officers don’t have enough training to look past race while investigating a person’s legal status.
The bill made it through the state Senate on Monday after it was passed by the state House last week. It’s now awaiting the signature of Republican Gov. Jan Brewer. Supporters of the measure expect her to sign it. Latino members of Congress are calling on Brewer to veto it.
more here…
Arizona immigration bill expected to become law
Some call this the strictest immigration bill ever introduced, is going through the Arizona legislature.
If the bill becomes law, one of its provisions would allow local police to check a person’s immigration status. Currently, that right is reserved for federal agents.
Arizona’s largest police union, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association (PLEA), has come out in support of the bill.
Additionally, the bill states that officers cannot solely consider race, color or national origin when carrying out their duties.It also says that people living here illegally could face criminal charges and that blocking traffic to pick up passengers and bring them somewhere else for work would be a ticketable offense. Further, the bill would prohibit people from transporting or harboring illegal aliens.
Right now the bill is in the senate and is expected to pass. It will then go to the governor, and she too is expected to sign it. What does it say about the climate for sweeping reform? you tell me.
Immigrants: The key to Social Security Reform
Even though most Americans are putting money into the Social Security fund, those taxes are falling short of what’s needed to break even. Commentator Robert Reich, NPR says letting more immigrants into the U.S. may be the answer.
The biggest reason Social Security is in trouble, and Medicare as well, is because America is aging so fast. The baby boom generation is retiring. Seniors are living longer. And families are having fewer children.
Add it all up and the number of people who are working relative to the number who are retired keeps shrinking.
Thirty years ago there were five workers for every retiree. Now there are three. Within a couple of decades, there will be only two workers per retiree. There’s no way just two workers will be able or willing to pay enough payroll taxes to keep benefits flowing to every retiree.
This is where immigration comes in. Most immigrants are young because the impoverished countries they come from are demographically the opposite of rich countries. Rather than aging populations, their populations are bursting with young people.
Once the American economy recovers, most new immigrants to the U.S. will be working for many decades.
Get it? One logical way to deal with the crisis of funding Social Security and Medicare is to have more workers per retiree, and the simplest way to do that is to allow more immigrants into the United States.