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Thousands of immigrant rights advocates marched in front of a county jail in Phoenix Saturday in a protest that was aimed at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration efforts and was marked by a clash between a small group of protesters and police officers.

Organizers say the protest was meant to show officials in Washington that Arpaio shouldn’t handle immigration enforcement, and that Congress and the Obama administration need to come up with a way for immigrant workers to come to the country legally.

Critics have accused deputies working in Arpaio’s immigration efforts of racial profiling, which the sheriff denies. He says his deputies approach people when they have probable cause to believe they had committed crimes.

Read more here…

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For decades this city-state was known as one of the world’s most driven economies. But as Singapore recovers from recession, its residents are questioning a key part of the country’s economic model: its long-standing openness to foreigners as well as a labor force that is not always legal.

Singapore has thrown open its doors to bankers and expatriates in recent years, making it easy in many cases to establish residency and hastening the country’s emergence as an Asian version of Dubai. It also welcomed low-skilled laborers from Bangladesh and other developing countries to help man construction sites and factories.

The goal was to capture more Asian wealth and offset Singapore’s low birth rate with immigrants, spurring economic growth. But the push has also fueled discontent, turning immigration into a red-hot political issue in a country where dissent is still tightly controlled by the government.

Between 2005 and 2009, Singapore’s population surged by roughly 150,000 people a year to 5 million—among the fastest rates ever there—with 75% or more of the increase coming from foreigners. In-migration continued in 2009 despite expectations it would collapse because of the global recession.

Read more here….

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As Haiti reels from a devastating earthquake that flattened buildings and left thousands of people trapped under rubble, three Republicans from Florida are calling on President Obama to do what President Bush never did — grant temporary protected status to undocumented Haitians living in the U.S.

Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen wrote a letter to Obama arguing that “the combined destruction from today’s catastrophic earthquake and the previous storms clearly makes forced repatriation of Haitians hazardous to their safety at this time…We strongly believe that it is for such a situation that Congress created TPS.”
Even Broward Democrat Alcee Hastings added his name to the effort, calling it “not only immoral, but irresponsible” to send the illegal Haitians back home.

The Obama administration has said that it wants to review the issue of the Haitians as part of a comprehensive approach to immigration reform. Coming to the aid of the mostly Catholic country are some advocacy groups with political punch, including the Catholic Church.

In February, Obama’s Department of Homeland Security went ahead with the deportation of 30,000 Haitians first ordered up by the Bush administration. In response, Haiti stopped issuing travel documents for them, leaving some 600 Haitians in detention centers. In June, the Washington Post did a series on substandard medical care provided to the detainees.

By July, Obama said he was “very sympathetic” to the plight of the Haitians, but by October the advocacy groups were publicly expressing their unhappiness. “I feel they are stringing us along, and we are in an awkward position,” said Randolph McGrorty, chief executive of Catholic Charities Legal Services. “Do we allow them to string us along because they are our allies or do we start calling them on the carpet for it?”
Now, given the utter destruction of the country’s already-limited infrastructure, political pressure is likely to grow even further on the administration to let the illegals stay. Already today the DHS issued a statement that will halt all deportation to Haiti as they continue to monitor the situation, further actions are expected by the government, we feel that this may a great opportunity to pass some sort of emergency legislation to allow the first wave of illegal migrants to stay in the US, maybe this is the bginning of something bigger.

For the complete LA Times story here..

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Most permanent residents think that just by having the Green Card they are safe from deportation, they should think again.

When Jose Angel Carachuri-Rosendo was just 4 years old, his family moved from Mexico to Texas as legal U.S. immigrants. As the years passed, Carachuri-Rosendo firmly planted roots in the Lone Star State with his fiancée and four children, who were all U.S. citizens. But after a series of misdemeanor offenses, he was required to leave the place he had called home for more than 20 years. In 2004, he was convicted of possessing less than two ounces of marijuana, and in 2005 he was convicted of a second drug-possession offense for having a single anti-anxiety tablet, Xanax, without a valid prescription. After the second conviction, he was deported to Mexico.

In December the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear the case in an effort to clarify the law and help lower courts make consistent determinations. The court will specifically address whether legal immigrants convicted of repeat minor drug-possession crimes should be subject to deportation.

What do you think is it reasonable to push somebody like Jose through the system and deport him, or should the government focus on hard criminals that can actually cause harm to our society instead. Some food for thought.

Read the Newsweek story here.

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Here is an interesting story by the NY Daily News. An advocate for immigrants is under fire for sending text messages to warn Hispanics about crime sweeps by an Arizona sheriff. What a horrible thing to do, don’t you think:))

According to The Associated Press, Lydia Guzman, director of immigrant advocacy group Respect/Respeto, began sending text messages to alert thousands of people to the sweeps, which critics say are just an excuse to round up illegal immigrants.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said his department doesn’t engage in racial profiling, and that the real goal of the texts is to help illegal immigrants avoid arrest. What a saint, he must be nominated for a human rights award.

Read more here..

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Here is a creative idea to report from the the New York Times, four immigrant students set out on foot from downtown Miami on Friday, starting a four-month walk to Washington to protest what they called the Obama administration’s lack of action on legislation granting legal status to illegal immigrants.

Three of the four protesters, who are current or former students at Miami Dade College, do not have legal-resident status and risk detention by immigration authorities during the 1,500-mile walk.

The students’ trek showed the resolve and also some limitations of groups supporting an immigration overhaul that would include measures to legalize illegal immigrants. Those groups said this week that they would start a national campaign in January to pressure President Obama to push for the overhaul before midterm elections in November.

But as immigration enforcement has continued at a steady pace during the first year of the Obama administration, many illegal immigrants are clinging to jobs and families in this country and may be afraid to participate in public demonstrations. With unemployment holding at 10 percent, immigrant advocates acknowledge that their campaign could awaken passionate opposition in Congress and around the country.

This is a risky move, but 2010 will also be a defining year for Immigration reform. I expect more arrests and more Immigrants on the run before we have our much desire CIR passed. Will keep you posted. Click here for the NY Times article

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So as the year comes to an end, what will be the future of Immigration reform. President Obama’s administration has told immigration reform backers the president is committed to giving illegal immigrants a path to U.S. citizenship, officials said.

Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina and other top officials delivered the message in a conference call, the Los Angeles Times reports. Staff members have also told Hispanic leaders privately that President Barack Obama will back legislation in the next year.

All we know is that if nothing significant will pass in 2010, the prospects for a major reform will become impossible. Read more here…

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According to the LA Times, Predator drones, the unmanned aircraft used by the U.S. military in the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones, will soon be employed to track illegal immigrants on the Mexico-California border.

The drone, will be operated out of the Antelope Valley by the military contractor General Atomics. The drones will fly above the border region with advancing electronic tracking equipment looking for illegal immigrants crossing into California.

According to the San Diego-based company, the drones will transmit information to U.S. authorities on human smuggles as well drug smuggling.

 

Read more here….

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Here is a good one from the Houston Chronicle. some Houston charities are asking whether children are in the country legally before giving them toys.

The Salvation Army and a charity affiliated with the Houston Fire Department are among those that consider immigration status, asking for birth certificates or Social Security cards for the children.

What is the point here???

The point isn’t to punish the children but to ensure that their parents are either citizens, legal immigrants or working to become legal residents, said Lorugene Young, whose Outreach Program Inc. is one of three groups that distribute toys collected by firefighters.

Read more here…