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Source: Newsmax
President Barack Obama is ignoring the country’s immigration statutes despite saying in an interview last week that no occupant of the Oval Office has the right to bypass the law, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith charged Monday. (more…)
The initiative would allow spouses, parents, or children of US citizens who have been illegally in the country to legalize their status without a lengthy wait abroad.
USCIS announced a Notice of Intent to change its current process of not initiating consideration of waivers necessary for illegal immigrants to return to the U.S. until they have left the United States. Eduardo Soto, CEO of Como Inmigrar a USA , stated: “this is a big step forward in a field the Obama Administration has done little about” said the immigration lawyer in Miami.
Source: USA Today
NOGALES, Ariz. – The number of illegal immigrants arrested by the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector fell by over 40% last year, indicating a significant drop in illegal immigration has declined considerably in Arizona. (more…)
During the last eight years, 126 illegal immigrants have died while under the custody of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers in the United States.
The first case that took place during the 2012 fiscal year was Anibal Ramirez Ramirez, 35, from El Salvador, who died on October 2 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (more…)
According to president Barack Obama, he backs an immigration reform and announced last month an initiative to ease deportation policies, but he has ousted 1,000,000 illegal immigrants in two and a half years. If the Administrations keeps up this pace, Obama will deport more people in one term than George W. Bush did in two.
This contradiction between rhetoric and reality is a key element of debate over U.S. immigration policy, and stakes are high for the next presidential election, having in mind that in 2008, 67% of Hispanics voted for Obama over Republican candidates. (more…)
Rep. Gov. Robert Bentley signed Thrusday the HB-56 bill, making it the toughest immigration law in the US.
Alabama vaulted past Arizona on Thursday with what is being called the most restrictive law in the nation against illegal immigration, requiring schools to find out if students are in the country lawfully and making it a crime to transport an undocumented immigrant.
Advocacy groups promised to challenge the sweeping measure, which like Arizona’s law also allows police to arrest anyone suspected of being illegally in the US if the person is stopped for some other reason. In addition, it requires all businesses to check the legal status of workers using a federal system called E-Verify.
“It is clearly unconstitutional. It’s mean-spirited, racist, and we think a court will enjoin it,” said Mary Bauer, legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center. The takes effect Sept. 1.
Republican Gov. Robert Bentley, who signed it into law Thursday, expressed confidence it would withstand any legal challenges.
“We have a real problem with illegal immigration in this country,” he said. “I campaigned for the toughest immigration laws, and I’m proud of the Legislature for working tirelessly to create the strongest immigration bill in the country.”
Alabama has an estimated 120,000 illegal immigrants, a nearly fivefold increase from a decade ago, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Many of them are believed to be working on farms, at chicken processing plants and in construction.
One of the legislation’s sponsors, GOP Sen. Scott Beason, said it would help the unemployed by preventing illegal immigrants from getting jobs in the state. Alabama’s unemployment rate stood at 9.3 percent in April, the most recent figure available.
“This will put thousands of Alabamians back in the work force,” Beason said.
The Alabama Business Council has not taken a public stand on the law. In neighboring Georgia, some farmers and business owners warned that a crackdown passed recently in that state would make it more difficult to hire the laborers they rely on – many of whom are undocumented immigrants.
Texas' Gov. Rick Perry during a visit to New York city.
Senate Republicans passed a priority issue for their party when they outmuscled their Democratic colleagues on an immigration-related bill intended to make it easier for law enforcement to corral undocumented immigrants.
At its core, SB 9 allows law enforcement officers to ask someone about their immigration status after they are detained and also establishes uniform statewide standards. It also would ban local governments from enacting a policy prohibiting the enforcement of state or federal immigration laws.
But critics say it will invariably result in racial profiling and make it less likely for immigrants to report crime because the legislation also allows police to question witnesses in the course of an investigation. Police chiefs in each of the state’s largest cities oppose the legislation.
Democrats contend the bill is the “largest assault against Latinos” in recent decades and could help inspire Hispanics to vote in next year’s election.
The legislation — and nine of 11 amendments — broke along party lines. The Senate has 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats.
In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all children regardless of their immigration status are entitled to public education
A bill that would require principals to keep track of undocumented students in their schools was proposed by the House Education Committee in North Carolina.
The HB744 bill or the “Student Security Act” wouldn’t bar anyone from attending school in North Carolina, but would be important for determining the costs of illegal immigration to the state said Rep. Dale Folwell.
But the initiative would intimidate parents and likely run afoul of federal law, opponents told a legislative panel on Tuesday
In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all children are entitled to a public education, including children who are in the U.S. illegally
An Arizona-style immigration law was passed in Georgia's state Congress. CNN
A tough Arizona-style immigration bill cleared the Georgia legislature late Thursday and needs only the governor’s signature to become law.
The legislation would give police authority to question suspects about their immigration status. It would also require many private employers to check the immigration status of newly hired workers on a federal database called E-Verify.
After extended debate, both the state Senate and House of Representatives passed the crackdown on illegal immigration in the final hours of their 40-day session.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has not said whether he would sign it.
Deal supported E-Verify as a member of the U.S. Congress, said Phil Kent, spokesman for the Virginia-based nonprofit Americans for Immigration Control.
“It would be political suicide for him to go against the wishes of the large majority of the people’s representatives,” Kent said on Friday.
Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, on Friday called for Deal to veto the bill.
The legislation will discourage tourism and overseas investment in Georgia and create a shortage of farm workers to pick crops, Gonzalez said.
“This bill will kill jobs and ruin Georgia’s economy,” he said.
But the Georgia Chamber of Commerce said legislators had addressed the majority of their concerns.
The bill exempts small businesses from E-Verify requirements and gives the businesses required to use it a 30-day grace period to correct good-faith violations.
“We believe that the bill that passed attempts to strike an important balance between addressing the challenge of illegal immigration and allowing Georgia’s economy to continue to grow,” the chamber said.
Critics predicted a costly legal fight for Georgia, similar to the one playing out in Arizona.
On Monday, a U.S. appeals court upheld an earlier court ruling that blocked parts of Arizona’s controversial immigration law from going into effect.
That included the provision that would require police to determine the immigration status of a person they have detained and suspect is in the country illegally.
Arizona-inspired immigration measures also are proceeding through legislatures in Alabama, Indiana, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Utah has passed and the governor signed an Arizona-inspired measure which also included provisions such as a guest worker program.
Reuters
Consulate Mexican ID's will not be accpeted as valid NC identity. EFE
A photo identification card issued by the Mexican consulate would no longer be considered acceptable ID in North Carolina to prove identity or establish state residency by police, judges and government officials in legislation tentatively approved Tuesday in the House.
The measure, which provoked arguments on the House floor over illegal immigration and the growing Hispanic population in the state’s workforce, targeted the “matricula consular” that Mexican citizens can receive while in the United States.
The ID card would be removed from a list of acceptable documents to establish state residency to get a driver’s license, obtain auto insurance or enroll in Medicaid. The IDs also could no longer be accepted by local governments, and the prohibitions would apply to similar cards issued by other countries for their citizens in the U.S.
The FBI has called the matricula consular an unreliable document, said Rep. Mike Hager, R-Rutherford, one of the bill’s chief sponsors. The Transportation Security Administration doesn’t list that ID among those that can be shown to get through a security checkpoint and onto a flight. Critics of immigration policy argue that bogus cards are fabricated and used by people in the country illegally.
The matricula consular “is not worth the paper and plastic that it’s printed on,” said Rep. George Cleveland, R-Onslow, another bill sponsor, before the bill was given initial approval by a vote of 64-53. “Basically anyone that wants one can get one.”
Opponents of the bill said cards issued by the Mexican consulate — there’s one in Raleigh — are reputable, pointing to comments made by Mexico’s consul general for the Carolinas to a committee last week. Removing the cards from the list will harm relations between the state and many countries, speakers said during floor debate.
“The Mexican consul spoke in the number of ways that this is a valid ID card,” said Rep. Paul Luebke, D-Durham. “We are saying to the Mexican government … we reject the actions of your government.”
The abuse of the cards doesn’t seem to be a great problem in this state, since state officials didn’t come to the committee to support the bill, said Rep. Bill Faison, D-Orange.
The bill could make it impossible for parents to pick up their children at school in a district that requires photo identification to take them out of school, Luebke said. The chamber rejected Luebke’s proposed amendment that would have made clear the matricula consular was valid in those situations.
Another defeated amendment would have preserved the use of the card to obtain liability insurance. Hager and Cleveland said there would still be several other forms of acceptable ID, such as a passport, or even a utility bill with a person’s name on it, allowed in the law.
“If you are a legal immigrant in the United States you are required to carry your ID with you at all times,” Hager said.
Luebke represents Durham, one of at least two North Carolina cities that have directed police and other departments to accept it as any other valid form of identification, as some banks do.
Bill opponents argued that eliminating the use of the matricula consular for residency will make it harder to identify inmates in county jails and people during public health crises. It also sends the wrong signal to people from other countries who work here, said Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Wake.
Democratic Rep. Tim Spear of Washington County joined all but two Republicans who voted for the bill. GOP Reps. Jeff Barnhart of Cabarrus County and Danny McComas of New Hanover County voted no. A final House vote is needed before it goes to the Senate.
AP
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