Immigration News Blog

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Fewer illegal immigrants make annual Mexico visit

Fewer illegal immigrants make annual Mexico visit
Returning Mexicans, researchers say, have generally been divided between "sojourners," those with temporary or seasonal jobs in the United States who cross once or more a year, and "settlers," those who move to the United States for an extended period but at some point choose to return home.

 

An early Christmas for immigration reform

An early Christmas for immigration reform
Salt Lake Tribune, UT -
Christmas came early for those of us who believe that the only honest way to combat illegal immigration is to bring criminal charges against the ...

 

Fewer Hispanic immigrants hired after raid

Fewer Hispanic immigrants hired after raid
Fewer Hispanic immigrants are being hired to replace meatpacking workers arrested at Swift & Co. plants in Grand Island, Neb., and Greeley, Colo., during last week's immigration raid, union officials said this week. Local 22 union president Dan Hoppes said 40 to 50 new workers have been hired at the Grand Island plant since the raids.

 

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

High-tech companies want immigration changes

High-tech companies want immigration changes
Philippine News Online, Philippines -
The high-tech industry is lobbying members of Congress to change their immigration policies toward highly skilled immigrants. ...

 

Panel offers sensible ideas to reform immigration

Panel offers sensible ideas to reform immigration
Chicago Sun-Times
The New Americans Policy Council was formed by Gov. Blagojevich a year ago to draft the state's strategy to aid immigrants. It released a report last week that called integration "one of the most overlooked issues of governance," given the rapid growth of the country's immigrant population, the pace of the global economy and the demand for both highly skilled and low-skilled workers.

 

Sweden sees record immigration in 2006

Sweden sees record immigration in 2006International Herald Tribune, France -
Immigration will reach record levels in Sweden this year with nearly 100000 people moving to the Scandinavian country, up 48 percent from ...

 

Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Comprehensive immigration reform would protect our security, allow our economy to grow, protect the wages of US workers, honor our value of rewarding hard work ...

 

Britain to tighten immigration norms with fingerprints,...

Britain to tighten immigration norms with fingerprints,...
In a move to tighten immigration flows to the country, Britain has issued fresh norms that would compel foreign nationals in the UK to register their biometrics, which include fingerprints,

 

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Chinese Success Story Chokes on Its Own Growth

Chinese Success Story Chokes on Its Own Growth
By HOWARD W. FRENCH
Few cities have created wealth faster than Shenzhen, but the costs stare out from every corner.

 

Activists say firms exploiting immigrant workers

Activists say firms exploiting immigrant workers
Source: Boston Globe
A group of labor and immigrant advocacy groups met in Chinatown yesterday to protest worsening conditions for immigrant workers in Massachusetts.

 

Chinese city may limit migrants

Chinese city may limit migrants
In Asia-Pacific
China's Guangzhou city may limit migrant workers because of "social problems" they bring, state media said.

 

US Immigration Debate Links Communities

US Immigration Debate Links Communities
OhmyNews International
Rhetoric and political spin increasingly shape the ongoing immigration debate within the United States. In this emotionally charged environment, politicians, activists from particular immigrant communities, and the public at large often forget that the costs, consequences and impacts of immigration are highly complex.

 

Immigration: Bonus or bain? - Expatica

Immigration: Bonus or bain? - Expatica
Confronted with images of migrants storming fences to enter Madrid's North African enclaves and taking to the sea by the thousands for the dangerous voyage to the Canary Islands, Spaniards are growing worried about immigration even as evidence mounts that the phenomenon is making their country richer.

 

Monday, December 18, 2006

Britain Says Long-Term Jobless Should Vie With Immigrants for Employment

Britain Says Long-Term Jobless Should Vie With Immigrants for Employment
Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K., which has accepted about 500,000 workers from Eastern Europe to fill job vacancies, will try to get more long-term British jobless people back to work. ''Economic migration from the EU has only served to highlight the

 

Liberalise immigration, Indian PM tells developed world

Liberalise immigration, PM tells developed world
Hindu, India -
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday exhorted the developed nations to liberalise immigration and the movement of labour, remove the trade ...

 

More Americans abroad giving up citizenship for lower taxes

More Americans abroad giving up citizenship for lower taxes
She is a former U.S. marine, a native Californian and, now, a former American who prefers to remain discreet about abandoning her citizenship. After 10 years of warily considering options, she turned in her U.S. passport last month without

 

Tech Industry Has Ulterior Motive Regarding H-1B Visas

Tech Industry Has Ulterior Motive Regarding H-1B Visas
by Phyllis Schlafly
The technology industry has dispatched its fat-wallet lobbyists to demand that the new Congress vastly increase the number of foreign computer software techies and engineers who can be imported on H-1B visas. This demand is based on the claim that we suffer a labor shortage in those fields, but that's a bare-faced lie to erect a smoke screen around the real reasons.

 

Limbless boy is the focus of pesticide debate

Limbless boy is the focus of pesticide debate
The mother of the little boy who has no arms or legs does not linger in the bicycle aisle. She does not ask the Wal-Mart clerk where to find the Jump-O-Gym, and certainly she does not stop in the guitar section, where the big boxes feature pictures of smiling kids plucking away at guitar strings. Those children have fingers, toes, arms, legs. Those children are not Carlitos.

 

Friday, December 15, 2006

DISPATCH FROM THE IMMIGRATION WARS Texas Official's Report Ignites ...

DISPATCH FROM THE IMMIGRATION WARS Texas Official's Report Ignites ...
Washington Post, United States -
It is a Texas showdown, a war of words over illegal immigration at the border. State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn ...

 

EU Summit to focus on illegal immigration

EU Summit to focus on illegal immigration
AngolaPress, Angola -
...opened in Brussels on Thursday, is expected to decide on the establishment of a permanent coast patrol network in order to fight against illegal immigration. ...

 

California city kills immigration law modeled after ...

California city kills immigration law modeled after ...
Wilkes Barre Citizen's Voice, PA -
The council also may seek guidance from the federal government for verifying immigration status and enforcing of immigration laws, the statement said. ...

 

Escondido City Council members say immigration fight not over

Council members say immigration fight not over
North County Times, CA -
ESCONDIDO ---- We're not ending our fight against illegal immigration and its effects on Escondido, several City Council members said Thursday. ...

 

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Cracking down on immigration

Cracking down on immigration
PBS -
GWEN IFILL: Now, two views on the immigration raids. In a moment, we'll hear from Julie Myers, assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ...

 

Sceptics wrong on term limits – Immigration Minister

Sceptics wrong on term limits – Immigration Minister
Royal Gazette, Bermuda -
Fears that the six-year work permit limit rule will damage Bermuda’s international economy were last night dismissed as “utter nonsense” by Labour and Immigration Minister Derrick ...

 

Yale students sue federal officials over immigration raid

Yale students sue federal officials over immigration raid
Boston Globe, United States -
The lawsuit, filed against the US Department of Homeland Security on behalf of several immigration advocacy groups, seeks records related to a sting operation ...

 

California firm, execs plead guilty to hiring illegal workers

California firm, execs plead guilty to hiring illegal workers
A Southern California fence-building company pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court to knowingly hiring illegal aliens from 1999 to 2005. Golden State Fence Co. agreed to pay a $4.7 million fine.

 

Worthington still reeling after raid

Worthington still reeling after raid
WORTHINGTON, Minn. The day after wasn't any easier. Residents of this southwestern Minnesota community were coping Wednesday with the fear, uncertainty and anxiety created by a surprise raid the day before at Worthington's Swift & Co. pork-processing plant, where 230 people were detained for alleged immigration violations.

 

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Series of Immigration Raids Hits Identity-Theft Ring

Series of Immigration Raids Hits Identity-Theft Ring
NPR audio:
The federal government says it has broken up a major identity-theft ring that helped illegal immigrants get jobs. More than 1,200 people were arrested in raids on meat-packing plants in six states Tuesday, in the largest-ever workplace crackdown on illegal immigration. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says people's identities were being bought or stolen so that illegal immigrants could secure jobs in the United States.

 

Feds focus on identify theft in raids (AP)

Feds focus on identify theft in raids (AP)
AP - Federal officials said Wednesday that the raids on meatpacking plants in six states uncovered a "disturbing front" in the battle against illegal immigration — identity theft as a tool to obtain employment.

 

Global: Organising and defending the rights of migrant workers

Global: Organising and defending the rights of migrant workers
LabourStart headline - Source: ITUC
Around 60 trade unionists from all over the world and representatives of international organisations dealing with migrant workers’ rights are meeting in Brussels for a seminar organised by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). The seminar runs until 15 December and it will address the question of organising migrant workers and protecting their rights.

 

How Immigration Upended Dreams Of an Entrepreneur

How Immigration Upended Dreams Of an Entrepreneur
Wall Street Journal (subscription necessary to view entire article)
Amid the debate over illegal immigration, one of the most contentious questions is whether unauthorized workers from Mexico and other Latin American ...

 

Netherlands in crisis over immigration

Netherlands in crisis over immigration
Times Online, UK -
The Netherlands was plunged into a constitutional crisis today after Rita Verdonk, the hardline immigration minister, rejected a vote of no confidence and ...

 

Immigration policy the focus of debate at TAB conference

Immigration policy the focus of debate at TAB conference
East Texas Review, TX -
Is the issue of illegal immigration strictly federal? It depends on whom you talk to. The Texas Association of Business (TAB) and its spin-off group, Texas Employers for Immigration Reform (TEIRS) are calling for a federal guest worker program that allows illegal immigrants to earn citizenship status.

 

Immigration raid roils Worthington Minnesota

Immigration raid roils Worthington
WORTHINGTON, Minn. — Federal immigration officials staged a surprise raid at a Worthington pork-processing plant Tuesday, terrifying immigrant workers and bringing operations to a standstill.

 

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Undocumented Migrants are Criminals in Mexico, by Enrique Andrade Gonzalez

Undocumented Migrants are Criminals in Mexico, by Enrique Andrade Gonzalez
Mexico is a nation that generates emigrants, with one out of every seven workers leaving the country. Furthermore, it receives immigrants from abroad, mainly from Central and South America. Yet up to now Mexico’s national migration policy and practices have failed to respond to complaints that we must insure proper treatment of Mexicans living abroad, and respect for their human rights in the United States regardless of their legal status.

 

U.S. Immigration Policy Hinders Entrepreneurship

U.S. Immigration Policy Hinders Entrepreneurship
Immigrants in the U.S. from 1990-2005 founded 25 percent of all public venture-backed companies and about 40 percent of the high-technology start-ups operating today, according to a study issued recently by the Arlington, Va.-based National Venture Capital Association.

 

Immigration policy not race-based: Australia

Immigration policy not race-based says Prime Minister
The Age, Australia -
A new citizenship test for migrants is not a step towards reintroducing a racially discriminatory immigration policy, Prime Minister John Howard says. ...

 

Immigration agents raid meat processing plants in 6 states

Immigration agents raid meat processing plants in 6 states
Centre Daily Times, PA -
Federal agents raided meat processing plants in six states Tuesday and arrested an unknown number of suspected illegal immigrants in an identity theft investigation, temporarily suspending operations at all six plants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said the workers were being arrested on administrative immigration violations and, in some cases, criminal arrest warrants stemming from a nearly yearlong investigation.

 

Monday, December 11, 2006

For newcomers to America, suburbia is the place to be

For newcomers to America, suburbia is the place to be
Boston Globe, United States -
He skipped the sort of city living linked to immigration for over a century. Subramanian is typical of many immigrants across the country. ...

 

Immigration failing Canadian business

Immigration failing Canadian business
Canada.com, Canada -
Canada's immigration system could alleviate much of the skills and labour crunch bedeviling many businesses by making changes that would better match the type of labourers smaller firms are in desperate need of, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said Thursday.

 

In NJ, many anti-immigration laws crumble under high costs

In NJ, many anti-immigration laws crumble under high costs
The News Journal, DE -
According to Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute at the New York University School of Law, most local efforts like traffic, housing or loitering laws that try to solve immigration problems have consistently failed for one of two reasons: They are either ruled unconstitutional, or judges rule that immigration enforcement is under the jurisdiction of only the federal government

 

Immigration seminar poses many questions, few answers

Immigration seminar poses many questions, few answers
Telluride Daily Planet, CO -
The mostly hispanic immigrants attending the immigration seminar at the Wilkinson Public Library Saturday seemed eager to hear more about the legal avenues ...

 

Valley split on Desert Sun immigration study

Valley split on Desert Sun immigration study
The Desert Sun, CA -
Researchers look at three public sectors — health care, public safety and education to tally the cost of undocumented immigration, which is often shared by ...

 

Friday, December 08, 2006

Study shows Iowans learning to deal with immigration (WQAD Moline)

Study shows Iowans learning to deal with immigration (WQAD Moline)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A new study shows that while politicians continue to argue over immigration, community leaders in Iowa and other "gateway" states are fending for themselves in dealing with problems posed by immigrants.

 

Texas: Immigrants Impact on the Budget

The state’s economy would have been almost $18 billion poorer in the last fiscal year without illegal immigrants who added to state coffers but were a drain on local government, says a report by the state comptroller. The report is billed as the first detailed look by a state at the impact of undocumented immigrants on its budget. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that the United States had 11.1 million undocumented immigrants in 2005. Of these, it said Texas accounted for between 1.4 million and 1.6 million. “The absence of the estimated 1.4 million undocumented immigrants in Texas in fiscal 2005 would have been a loss to our gross state product of $17.7 billion,” said the comptroller, Carole Keeton Strayhorn.

 

Remittances from U.S. to Mexico, 1995 – 2005

Remittances from U.S. to Mexico, 1995 – 2005
By Peter Rousmaniere
Wikipedia has a well developed entry on illegal immigration to the United States. One of its tables tracks the growth of remittances to Mexico. They grew at a phenomenal rate in the past ten years, from a little under $4 billion to over $20 billion, according to Mexican banking officials. I have entered below by year the amount of remittances and the annual percentage of increase. I surmise the growth rate was spurred mostly by increases in per capita earnings of Mexican workers here – legal and illegal, for the scale of the growth cannot be accounted for by the increase in population. As I have posted before, the number of Mexican households earning more than $100,000 increased by 65% between 2000 and 2005.

The Mexican study which presented the data is found here.

year, dollars in millions, % change over prior year
1995 3.673
1996 4.224 15.0%
1997 4.865 15.2%
1998 4.744 -2.5%
1999 5.910 24.6%
2000 6.573 11.2%
2001 8.895 35.3%
2002 9.814 10.3%
2003 13.396 36.5%
2004 16.613 24.0%
2005 20.035 20.6%

 

Monday, December 04, 2006

Immigration Nation (New York Times)

Immigration Nation (New York Times)
Summary: The United States is far less divided on immigration than the current debate would suggest. An overwhelming majority of Americans want a combination of tougher enforcement and earned citizenship for the 12 million illegal immigrants in the country. Washington's challenge is to translate this consensus into sound legislation that will start to repair the nation's broken immigration

 

Friday, December 01, 2006

The Immigration Answer? It’s in Mexico’s ...

The Immigration Answer? It’s in Mexico’s ...
New York Times, United States -
Poorly functioning Mexican and Latino educational systems are a central problem behind current immigration dilemmas, and the United States is partly responsible ...

 

Immigration system tears at society’s fabric, state US bishops ...

Immigration system tears at society’s fabric, state US bishops ...
The human consequences of the “severely flawed” US immigration system that tears each day at the social fabric calls out ...

 

EU unveils new immigration plans

EU unveils new immigration plans
BBC News
BRUSSELS, Belgium — The EU's immigration chief on Thursday announced plans to attract skilled African labor while boosting efforts on the EU's southern ...

 

Brunei Employers Warned On Immigration Laws

Employers Warned On Immigration Laws
Bru Direct, Brunei Darussalam -
Despite warnings and raids, employers are still taking and providing wages to workers without any regard to the immigration law and

 

Malaysia Special courts at depots to clear immigration cases

Special courts at depots to clear immigration cases
Malaysia Star, Malaysia -
14 hours ago... We also do not have to ferry the illegal workers because they are already at the depots,” Tan told reporters after launching Immigration Department’s ...

 

Fear of a Brown Planet: Blacks and Immigration Reform

Fear of a Brown Planet: Blacks and Immigration Reform
Get Underground, CA -
Earlier this year, the Latino-led protests over immigration reform were tinged with the same bravado of that hip-hop movement. ...

 

POLICY -- What's next in the immigration debate?

POLICY -- What's next in the immigration debate?
West Fargo Midweek, ND -
Why should the Democrats care so much about the immigration debate?

 

Immigrant crackdown may aid union drive

Immigrant crackdown may aid union drive
TAR HEEL, N.C. - For Hector Pizzaro, it wasn't the rigors of a bloody workday spent slicing freshly killed hogs along an assembly line that led him to walk off the job. It was the chance he might lose that job.

 

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