Protect Yourself and Your Family: Get Immigration Help from a Licensed Professional (PDF)

"Notarios," Visa Consultants, and Immigration Consultants Are Not Attorneys (PDF)

Feds Moving to Dismiss Some Deportation Cases

August 24, 2010 - Chron - Richard Rocha, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, said Tuesday that the review is part of the agency's broader, nationwide strategy to prioritize the deportations of illegal immigrants who pose a threat to national security and public safety.

A Record Backlog in Immigration Courts

August 24, 2010 - The Washington Post - The massive backlog is partly the result of more aggressive enforcement, as the administration has moved swiftly to conduct audits of businesses that hire immigrants, expand programs like Secure Communities -- which allows local law enforcement to target illegal immigrants with criminal records -- and target illegal immigrants with alleged gang ties. And the number of immigration cases will continue piling up in the absence of a comprehensive immigration overhaul and a pathway to legal status for illegal immigrants.

2010 May See New High in Border-Crossing Deaths

August 24, 2010 - Los Angeles Times - Amid the politics, undocumented migrants continue to pay a human cost in their attempts to enter the U.S. Although illegal immigration as a whole is down in 2010, stronger border enforcement in California and Arizona has pushed attempted migrants to the most inhospitable desert routes, and not without consequence.

Sheriff Tells US to Move Detainees

August 20, 2010 - The Boston Globe - The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department has ordered US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to remove all immigrant detainees from a Boston jail by Oct. 12, accusing the agency of a “staggering lack of communication and respect,’’ in a letter sent last week.

USCIS Implements H-1B and L-1 Fee Increase According to Public Law 111-230

August 19, 2010 - USCIS - On Aug. 13, 2010, President Obama signed into law Public Law 111-230, which contains provisions to increase certain H-1B and L-1 petition fees. Effective immediately, Public Law 111-230 requires the submission of an additional fee of $2,000 for certain H-1B petitions and $2,250 for certain L-1A and L-1B petitions postmarked on or after Aug. 14, 2010, and will remain in effect through Sept. 30, 2014.

DOL Obtains Nearly $1 Million in Back Wages and Interest for H-1B Workers

August 17, 2010 - US Department of Labor - Smartsoft International Inc., a computer consulting company based in Suwanee, Ga., has agreed to pay nearly $1 million in back wages and interest to 135 nonimmigrant workers temporarily employed by the company under the H-1B visa program.

Obama's Aunt Was Ruled at Risk

August 17, 2010 - The Boston Globe - The immigration judge who granted President Obama’s aunt asylum three months ago based his decision on the fact that an anonymous federal official had disclosed information about her immigration status to the media, a “reckless’’ act that exposed her to heightened threats of persecution in her native Kenya, according to the ruling, obtained yesterday by the Globe.

EOIR Announces More Secure Toll-Free Number (PDF)

August 16, 2010 - U.S. Department of Justice - The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) announced today the launch of a new, upgraded automated case information system, which is designed to assist respondents and their representatives and families in learning the current status of their proceedings.

IT Firms Howling As Visa Fees Leap

August 15, 2010 - The Wall Street Journal - New U.S. legislation that sharply boosts visa fees to pay for tighter border security may play well in some parts of the country, but the applause is faint in Silicon Valley.
The measure, signed into law by President Barack Obama on Friday, is expected to raise operating costs for outsourcing firms that use large numbers of foreign-born employees to serve their U.S. customers. But the biggest impact, critics say, is to increase the perception that America is becoming more protectionist and hostile toward foreigners.

Undocumented Filipino Immigrant Wins At-Birth US Citizenship

August 12, 2010 - New York Community Media Alliance - For several years, the two men have been involved in many moves – immigration moves – to resolve Mr. Villar's daunting immigration problem. Mr. Villar overstayed his visitor's visa a year after arriving in 2003 and since then has been living under the shadows and working under the table just to provide for his family here in the United States and in the Philippines.

Born in the U.S.A.

August 12, 2010 - SFGate.com - As right-wing pols call for the elimination of birthright citizenship, the commemoration of Angel Island's 100th anniversary reminds us what's at stake for Asian Americans -- and the nation as a whole.

Defending the Fourteenth Amendment

August 04, 2010 - American Immigration Council -  Restrictionist groups and legislators have persisted in their attempts to restrict or repeal birthright citizenship in State Houses and the U.S. Congress. Over the years, several bills have been introduced that would deny U.S. citizenship to children whose parents are in the U.S. illegally or on temporary visas.

Judge Blocks Key Parts of Immigration Law in Arizona

July 28, 2010 - The New York Times - A federal judge, ruling on a clash between the federal government and a state over immigration policy, has blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona’s immigration enforcement law from going into effect.

Ariz. Immigration Law Is A Challenge For Police

July 28, 2010 - NPR - Even the people who would be charged with enforcing Arizona's controversial new immigration law can't agree on the question of whether it's a good idea.

Online Detainee Locator System

July 26, 2010 - DHS - Use this page to locate a detainee who is currently in ICE custody, or who was released from ICE custody for any reason within the last 60 days.

I-9 Final Rule: Electronic Signature and Storage (PDF)

July 22, 2010 - Federal Register - This final rule amends Department of Homeland Security regulations to provide that employers and recruiters or referrers for a fee who are required to complete and retain the Form I–9, Employment Eligibility Verification, may sign this form electronically and retain this form in an electronic format. This final rule makes minor changes to an interim final rule promulgated in 2006. DATES: This final rule is effective August 23, 2010.

One DHS: The Blue Campaign

July 20, 2010 - DHS - The components of the Department of Homeland Security combat human trafficking through a variety of programs based on unique statutory authorities and institutional histories. The Department coordinates and unites these initiatives under the "Blue Campaign."

Immigration Caseload is Growing

July 18, 2010 - Tulsa World - Oklahoma's immigration court, which is part of the regional Dallas office, is experiencing a decade-high number of cases and an increasing backlog. Immigrants will wait at least nine months to a year between the initial appearance and a hearing date. In some larger cities, the wait can be up to three years.

USCIS Published First-Ever Proposed Fee Waiver Form Agency Actively Seeks Public Comment Fact Sheet

July 16, 2010 - USCIS - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has proposed for the first time a standardized fee waiver form in an effort to provide relief for financially disadvantaged individuals seeking immigration benefits.  USCIS has published a notice in the Federal Register seeking public comment on the proposed form – Form I-912, Request for Individual Fee Waiver.

USCIS Reaches Milestone: 10,000 U Visas Approved in Fiscal Year 2010 Questions and Answers

July 15, 2010 - USCIS -  U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it has approved 10,000 petitions for U nonimmigrant status (also referred to as the “U visa”) in fiscal year 2010, an important milestone for a program that offers immigration protection to victims of crime while also strengthening law enforcement efforts to combat those crimes.

DHS Notice: Extension of the Initial Registration Period for Haitians Under the Temporary Protected Status Program (PDF)

July 13, 2010 - Department of Homeland Security - This notice extends the registration period through January 18, 2011. This extension is necessary to provide applicants more time to register for TPS.

'Clock is ticking' on immigration reform legislation

June 25, 2010 - CNN - With Arizona's controversial immigration law set to go into effect next month, calls for federal action on comprehensive immigration reform are growing louder.

Migrants' children make emotional plea

June 25, 2010 - Miami Herald - It started out as a news conference by children to announce their participation in a planned demonstration in front of the White House next month to demand a halt to deportations of undocumented immigrants.

But the press briefing quickly turned into a highly emotional event with several children breaking down in tears as they described how their parents had been detained, deported or continued to live in fear of imminent immigration detention.

Case deepens immigration debate

June 20, 2010 - Boston Globe - Two weeks ago, after trying to board an airplane with his student ID and Mexican consular card because he had lost his passport, he sat handcuffed in detention at the San Antonio airport and contemplated suicide. The idea of returning to a country he did not remember was overwhelming.

Yesterday, Balderas called friends to share the good news and issued a statement on his Facebook support page thanking his supporters.

USCIS Seeks Public Comment on Proposal to Adjust Fees for Immigration Benefits

June 11, 2010 - USCIS - The proposal, posted to the Federal Register today for public viewing, would increase overall fees by a weighted average of about 10 percent but would not increase the fee for the naturalization application.

350 immigrants held more than 6 months while fighting deportation, U.S. says

May 20, 2010 - Los Angeles Times - The list of names was turned over to the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California late last month as part of a class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The ACLU is battling for the right of detainees held for six months or more to have hearings on whether they can be released from custody while their cases are pending.

Visas for illegal immigrant crime victims debated

May 20, 2010 - Dallas Morning News - The issuing of U visas comes at a tense time in the national immigration debate, amid a polarizing crackdown and potentially broader policing powers against immigrants in Arizona. And it illuminates a prickly point of justice: Should the federal government give illegal immigrants special treatment for a societal good such as fighting violent crime?

Strict Reading of Visa Rule Trips Up More Couples

May 14, 2010 - New York Times - His offense: an error in his green card paperwork, which he filed after he entered the country under the visa-waiver program. That program, used by millions of travelers from 36 favored nations, including Germany and Britain, allows a 90-day stay, but includes a little-noticed provision requiring foreign visitors to give up any right to contest summary deportation, except in a claim for asylum.

USCIS redesigns green card

May 12, 2010 - Examiner - The Permanent Resident Card granted to foreign-born residents who apply to live permanently in the U.S. has been redesigned and now includes numerous safety features that will make counterfeiting and immigration fraud nearly impossible.

Family of Iraqi boy who was set on fire is granted asylum in the U.S.

May 12, 2010 - Los Angeles Times - An Iraqi boy who was set on fire while playing outside his Baghdad house in 2007 has been granted asylum to stay in the United States, his attorney said Monday.

U.S. immigration policy critical for tech firms

May 11, 2010 - Washington Post - Although public dialogue on immigration has focused on a path to legalization for the millions of illegal immigrants living in the United States, technology companies have lobbied for years on a different but related issue: streamlining and easing the employment of skilled legal immigrant workers.

Even in the Midwest, asylum sought by more fleeing drug violence in Latin America

May 10, 2010 - Chicago Tribune - With narco-violence spiking south of the border, U.S. officials report a sharp increase in the number of Mexicans seeking and gaining asylum because they fear for their lives in their homeland, along with a continuing flow from Guatemala, El Salvador and elsewhere.

Immigration Status of Army Spouses Often Leads to Snags

May 8, 2010 - New York Times - Immigration lawyers and Department of Homeland Security officials say that many thousands of people in the military have spouses or close relatives who are illegal immigrants. Many of those service members have fought to gain legal status for their family members — only to hit a legal dead end created in 1996, when Congress last made major revisions to the immigration laws.

Outlook: 'Five Myths about immigration'

May 3, 2010 - Washington Post - Doris Meissner, senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, was online Monday, May 3 at 11 a.m. ET to discuss her Outlook article titled, "5 Myths about immigration."  Meissner was the commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service from 1993-2001.

Hundreds of fugitive immigrants arrested in federal crackdown

May 3, 2010 - Miami Herald - As dawn lit the sky, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers climbed aboard five vehicles and drove in a convoy to the homes of two ``targets,'' residents of separate apartment complexes in Miami Gardens. Though neither man was found, other federal officers elsewhere around the country and in Puerto Rico detained 596 foreign-born fugitive criminal convicts in a vast sweep as part of Operation Cross Check. 

Cross Check was one of the largest sweeps of foreign criminal convicts since ICE was created in 2003 in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Ariz. immigration policy sets off polarizing debate

May 2, 2010 - USA Today - With a stroke of her pen, Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer not only signed into law the toughest immigration law in the country, she also reignited a polarizing debate. Protesters held dozens of marches in Los Angeles, New York and other cities Saturday to cap a chaotic week.

Racial profiling in Arizona?  That's nothing new, critics say

May 1, 2010 - Los Angeles Times - As the country debates whether a tough new Arizona law against illegal immigration will lead to racial profiling, Latino activists and civil rights attorneys contend that profiling is already a reality in the Maricopa County, where two-thirds of the state's residents live.

Refugee jailed as US fights asylum grant

April 30, 2010 - Boston Globe - Baskaran Balasundaram arrived at Logan International Airport in summer 2008 with a story of torture and survival, seeking refuge from a violent civil war in his native Sri Lanka.

But if Balasundaram, now 27, expected to find freedom in the United States, he was mistaken.  He has remained locked up at the Suffolk County House of Correction since he arrived in Boston nearly 22 months ago, even though an immigration judge granted him asylum in February 2009.

Iraq war veteran may be denied citizenship

April 26, 2010 - Los Angeles Times - As part of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, noncitizens who serve in the military one year during peace time or one day during wartime are eligible to apply for fast-tracked citizenship. In 2002, President George W. Bush issued an executive order and invoked the wartime law as of Sept. 11, 2001.

Between September 2001 and March 2010, more than 58,000 men and women in the armed forces were naturalized, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The agency doesn't track how many were undocumented.

Report criticizes increased deportation of legal immigrant parents

April 1, 2010 - Los Angeles Times - Authorities have deported the legal immigrant parents of more than 88,000 U.S. citizen children in the last decade, according to a report released Wednesday.

The report, published by the UC Berkeley and UC Davis law schools, found that the majority of parents were deported for what it described as "minor criminal convictions" now classified as aggravated felonies, including nonviolent drug offenses, simple assaults and drunk driving. One parent was deported after selling $5 worth of drugs.

Court Requires Warning About Deportation Risk

March 31, 2010 - New York Times - The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that lawyers for people thinking of pleading guilty to a crime must advise their clients who are not citizens about the possibility that they will be deported.

Disabled Immigration Detainees Face Deportation

March 29, 2010 - New York Times - For lawyers offering free legal information at large immigration detention centers in remote parts of Texas, the task is difficult enough: coaching hundreds of detainees on how to represent themselves at assembly-line deportation hearings. But the lawyers soon discover a more daunting problem: many detainees are too mentally ill or mentally disabled to understand anything.

Court Keeps Asylum Seekers in Limbo

March 25, 2010 - Chicago Public Radio - Chicago’s federal immigration court is backed up with a record 8,696 cases. The average wait for a hearing is more than a year. Some immigrants don’t mind, since the backlog buys them time here. But it’s hard on asylum seekers. And it has consequences for other parts of the justice system.

Supreme Court Enters 'Curious Corner of Immigration Law'

March 24, 2010 - ABA Journal - The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide the constitutionality of an immigration law that makes it more difficult for the children of immigrants to become U.S. citizens based on the citizenship of their fathers, rather than their mothers.

Backlog of hearings at all-time high in U.S. immigration courts

March 12, 2010 - Washington Post - The backlog of deportation, political asylum and other cases awaiting a hearing in federal immigration courts has reached an all-time high even as a record number of judge positions remained unfilled, according to a report released Friday.

The analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan research organization at Syracuse University, found that 228,421 cases were awaiting a hearing in the first months of fiscal 2010, which began Oct. 1, up 23 percent since the end of fiscal 2008 and 82 percent higher than 10 years ago.

Asylum approvals for Mexicans up

March 2, 2010 - Miami Herald - In fiscal year 2008, asylum officers and immigration judges combined approved 250 Mexican asylum petitions compared to 153 the previous year and 133 in 2006 -- the formal start of the war on drugs launched by Mexican President Felipe Calderón. Separate figures from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services show an increase in Mexican asylum case approvals from fiscal year 2007 to 2008 -- 146 to 264 -- but a decrease to 249 in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2009. USCIS cases often cover more than one person.

Though still relatively small compared to the number of asylum petitions from other countries, Mexican asylum approvals are significant when you consider that virtually all were denied in the early 1990s. The majority of new asylum applicants are former police officers, lawyers and journalists.

One Man's Fight for Citizenship

February 25, 2010 - Minnesota Public Radio - From behind bars, Alameda had to furnish proof that he met the criteria for "birth abroad" citizenship. With the help of Roger Junnila, a volunteer attorney with the Detention Project, and William Mitchell law students, Alameda proved his father is a citizen of the United States, that his parents were married, and that he was born in Mexico.

Citizenship would hinge on meeting a fourth requirement: That the elder Alameda, born in 1930, lived in the United States for 10 years before his son was born in 1962.

Five of those years must have been after his father turned 14. Today the requirement is five years total.

Vows to Move Quickly for Haitian Immigrants to U.S.

January 20, 2010 - New York Times - Clutching their passports and well-thumbed documents, hundreds of illegal Haitian immigrants crowded into a Roman Catholic church here on Wednesday to seek help in applying for a program that would allow them to stay and work legally in the United States for 18 months.

Officials said they expected 100,000 to 200,000 Haitians who have been living illegally in the United States to take advantage of the offer from the Obama administration for temporary legal status.

TPS: Haiti's illegal immigrants given temporary protection in U.S.

January 15, 2010 - Christian Science Monitor - In a move supported by both Democrats and Republicans, the Obama administration Friday extended special protection to some 100,000 Haitians living illegally in the United States that keeps them from being deported.

U.S. Reopens Visa Program for Foreign Workers

August 7, 2009 - Wall Street Journal - The U.S. government said Thursday that it resumed accepting applications for the H-2B foreign temporary worker visa after receiving far fewer petitions from U.S. employers than anticipated.

The congressionally mandated annual cap for H-2B visas is 66,000, and the government has issued only 40,640 this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

Obama aims to overhaul immigration jail system

August 6, 2009 - Los Angeles Times - Pledging more oversight and accountability, the Obama administration announced plans Thursday to transform the nation's immigration detention system from one reliant on a scattered network of local jails and private prisons to a centralized one designed specifically for civil detainees.

Latino Groups Criticize Obama On Immigration Raids (link to audio)

August 5, 2009 - Tell Me More - President Obama is taking heat from a growing number of critics on several issues. Among them are Latino leaders who say Obama has not only continued, but expanded many Bush-era immigration policies and tactics — such as home raids — which some see as discriminatory.

Firm Stance on Illegal Immigrants Remains Policy

August 3, 2009 - New York Times - After early pledges by President Obama that he would moderate the Bush administration’s tough policy on immigration enforcement, his administration is pursuing an aggressive strategy for an illegal-immigration crackdown that relies significantly on programs started by his predecessor.

U.S. steps us H-1B, green card assault with paper chase

July 15, 2009 - IDG News Service - The H-1B visa and Permanent Residency Card, or green card, programs are under a new assault, and not from its usual opponents in Congress and elsewhere, according to immigration attorneys. The program now appears to be under attack from worker bees in the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services bureau and other regulatory agencies who have dramatically increased the amount of paperwork required from employers looking to hire workers with green cards or H-1B visas.

Thousands Of H-1B Visas Still Up for Grabs

July 14, 2009 - InformationWeek - Want an H-1B visa to work temporarily in the U.S. starting this fall? You still have a pretty good shot if an employer is willing to file a petition for you. The U.S. still has about 20,000 visas available for fiscal 2010.

U.S. relents in 11-year-old girl's deportation case

June 26, 2009 - CNN - Eleven-year-old Ewelina Bledniak was looking at a year split from her parents, split from her friends, away from everything she loves about living in America.

The federal government was ready to deport Ewelina to her native Poland because when she was 3 years old, the family missed a deadline to file a key immigration document.

A Way Forward on Immigration

June 26, 2009 - New York Times Editorial - President Obama and Congress members met privately at the White House on Thursday for their first major discussion of immigration reform. Immigration is just one unsolved national crisis among many, and it was hard not to suspect that the parties might use the meeting — which had already been twice postponed — to dampen expectations for a bill this year.

Obama to Lay Groundwork for Immigration Debate (link to audio)

June 25, 2009 - Morning Edition - President Obama meets at the White House Thursday with supporters and opponents of changes to the nation's immigration system. Aides say the president hopes to start a formal debate on immigration later this year.

White House Hosts Meeting on Immigration (link to audio)

June 24, 2009 - All Things Considered -  After two delays and months of hand-wringing among immigrant advocates, President Obama finally meets with members of Congress Thursday to take up the thorny issue of immigration.

Precedent Reinstated in Deportation Cases

June 4, 2009 - Washington Post - Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. yesterday overturned a Bush administration ruling in January that immigrants do not have a constitutional right to effective legal counsel in deportation proceedings.

Supreme Court Opens a Door, Barely, for Immigrants Fighting Deportation

April 28, 2009 - New American Media - A recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court makes it difficult for asylum-seekers to challenge deportation orders.

Foreign IT Pros Working in U.S. Earning More Than Americans

April 28, 2009 - InformationWeek - While opponents of H-1B and L-1 visas have long argued that the temporary work programs encourage employers to hire cheap foreign labor, a new study says noncitizen IT professionals earn pay that's on average 5% to 9% higher than American workers with similar education levels and IT experience.

End the 'Widow Penalty'

April 27, 2009 - New York Times Editorial - For hundreds of unlucky immigrants, the death of a wife or husband has been quickly followed by an order to leave the country. It’s called the “widow penalty,” a tragic quirk in federal law that unfairly punishes recently married immigrants whose citizen spouses die before their green-card paperwork is processed.

U.S. lesbian mother given deportation reprieve

April 27, 2009 - Associated Press - A Philippines-born lesbian mother ordered to leave the country next month for overstaying her visa will likely be allowed to stay through next year thanks to intervention from U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Immigrants' Children: A Foot In Two Worlds

April 2009 - NPR - Immigrants bring many things to the U.S., but their lasting contribution to the country has always been their children. NPR's series Immigrants' Children looks at that legacy, telling the stories of those children and examining the issues they face.

Siblings Divided by Immigration Laws

April 27, 2009 - New York Times - As part of a series on immigration, Room for Debate last week convened a discussion on the issue of young illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children with their parents and were raised and educated here.

A Family Divided by 2 Worlds, Legal and Illegal

April 25, 2009 - New York Times - In fact, most immigrants live in families, with a blend of legal statuses, opportunities and dreams. To spend time with this Queens family is to see, up close, how the growing disparities within immigrant homes are pulling their members in opposite directions and complicating efforts to plan a common future.

White House May Alter Haitian Immigrant Policy (link to audio)

April 24, 2009 - Morning Edition - A week after allowing Cuban-Americans more freedom to return to their native country, there are signs the Obama administration may soon change U.S. policy for Haitian immigrants. Immigration activists say they're hopeful the administration will act soon to at least temporarily stop deporting Haitians to their devastated home country.

H-1B demand follows the economy -- down

April 13, 2009 - Computerworld - Demand for H-1B visas usually fluctuates with the economy, and this year is no exception. In fact, the initial number of H-1B applications filed with the federal government was down even more sharply than expected from the number filed a year ago.

Immigrant Rights Groups Challenge ID Theft Arrests (link to audio)

July 24, 2008 - Morning Edition - For years, the chief punishment for immigrants caught working illegally in the United States has been deportation. But prosecutors are now bringing criminal charges that include aggravated identity theft, which can bring a hefty prison sentence. Immigrant rights groups and some members of Congress are challenging the practice.

Bill Would End U.S. Ban on Visas For Those With HIV (link to audio)

July 19, 2008 - Weekend Edition Saturday - This week, the Senate approved a $48 billion extension of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Included in the bill was a provision that would lift a ban, in place since 1987, on visas for people with HIV.

Immigrants Eager to Vote Sue to Hasten Citizenship

July 15, 2008 - New York Times - Lawyers representing a Latino advocacy group told a federal judge on Tuesday that tens of thousands of people in and around New York City, most of them Latino, were at risk of being disenfranchised in the November elections because the federal government was taking so long to process their citizenship applications.

Students Recall College Life as Undocumented Immigrants (link to audio)

July 14, 2008 - Tell Me More - College life, for any undergraduate student, is often met with challenges that can sometimes seem larger than life. Those same challenges can be even more burdensome for undocumented immigrants on campuses across the U.S.

Kent Wong, editor of Underground Undergrads and director of the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education, is joined by Mariana Zamboni, who attended college as an undocumented immigrant. The two discuss how the nation's immigration debate, for some students, shapes the college experience.

Mexico Border Fence to Divide Farmer's Land (link to audio)

July 8, 2008 - The Bryant Park Project - The Department of Homeland Security is putting up about 700 miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. Environmental groups have challenged it in vain. So far, more than 330 miles have gone up in California, Arizona and New Mexico.

Immigration Agency Responds to Abuse Claims (link to audio)

July 4, 2008 - News & Notes - A recent Washington Post investigation uncovered poor healthcare and neglect in some detention centers operated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). Farai Chideya speaks with ICE spokeswoman Kelly Nantel to get the agency's response to the reporting and alleged mistreatment.

Investigation Reveals Immigration Detainee Abuses (link to audio)

July 4, 2008 - News & Notes - A Washington Post investigation has revealed many immigrants, who are detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, receive poor or substandard medical care.

The inquiry identified 83 people who died while in custody.

For more, Farai Chideya speaks with Dana Priest, who co-wrote the Washington Post series. We also hear from Ann Schofield Baker, the attorney for Amina Mudey — a former detainee from Somalia, who was heavily drugged against her will and suffered side effects from the medication.

Immigration Prosecutions Hit New High

June 2, 2008 - Washington Post - Federal law enforcement agencies have increased criminal prosecutions of immigration violators to record levels, in part by filing minor charges against virtually every person caught illegally crossing some stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border, according to new U.S. data.

The great Washington Post four-part series on the medical treatement of immigrants in detention. 

One of the authors, Dana Priest, just won a Pulitzer Prize for her series on the treatment of veterans at Walter Reed Hospital.

Vicente Fox on U.S. Immigration (link to audio)

May 28, 2008 - Tell Me More - Former Mexican President Vicente Fox offers his views on drug violence in Mexico, the unsolved murders of young women in Ciudad Juarez, and America's handling of the immigration issue. Fox also weighs in on how the presidential campaign in this country has affected immigration politics, and explains why he disagrees with the Bush administration's effort to build a fence along the border.

With Migrant Workers in Short Supply, a Farmer Looks to Machines

May 27, 2008 - New York Times - Last fall, the Farm Credit Associations of New York, which finance farmers in the area, issued a projection, using federal Department of Agriculture data, showing that 800 farms in the state with total sales estimated in excess of $700 million were “highly vulnerable to going out of business or forced to severely cut back their farm operations.”

ICE Eyes 400,000 Deportations (link to audio)

May 27, 2008 - All Things Considered - For decades, the nation's jails and prisons had little formal role in immigration enforcement. It was possible for an illegal immigrant to be arrested for a crime, be convicted, serve time, then be released, without ever being turned over for deportation. Now, the federal immigration agency has a plan to keep that from happening.

Calif. Rep. Says Immigration Issue Misunderstood (link to audio)

May 27, 2008 - Tell Me More - Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D-Ca) explains why she believes many Americans don't understand the actual effects of immigration. She partly blames the media for spreading misinformation. Solis explains her strategy for changing public opinion and why she's made immigration a central issue of her congressional service.

Prayers for the Invisible: Immigrants Who Die in Legal Limbo  

May 24, 2008 - New York Times - Among the many rituals of the Roman Catholic Church, none specifically mention a Mass for the Invisible. Still, on Thursday, 12 people gathered at a church in Lower Manhattan to remember Boubacar Bah, a 52-year-old tailor from Guinea who overstayed a tourist visa and died in an immigration detention center.

Immigration Officials Arrest 905 in California Sweep

May 24, 2008 - New York Times - Federal immigration agents have arrested 905 people in California in the past three weeks after a statewide search for those who had violated orders to leave the country. The operation was the latest in a series of national sweeps by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

270 Illegal Immigrants Sent to Prison in Federal Push

May 24, 2008 - New York Times - In temporary courtrooms at a fairgrounds here, 260 illegal immigrants were sentenced this week to five months in prison for working at a meatpacking plant with false documents. Two others received longer sentences, while another eight were convicted of a separate crime.

Deportation Hearings Follow Iowa Raid (link to audio)

May 19, 2008 - Most of the 400 workers arrested last week in an immigration raid on a meat-packing plant in Postville, Iowa, face immediate deportation as court hearings begin. The raid affected roughly 10 percent of the town's population.

Immigrants' Children Find Better Lives, Study Shows

May 18, 2008 - New York Times - A decade-long study of adult children of immigrants to the New York region has concluded that they are rapidly entering the mainstream and doing better than their parents in terms of education and earnings — even outperforming native-born Americans in many cases.

No Rebates for You

May 15, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - Immigrant restrictionism is stiffing hundreds of thousands of American citizens and legal residents out of their tax-rebate checks

Immigration and Gang Violence Propel Crusade

May 15, 2008 - New York Times - The Los Angeles Police Department was one of the first in the nation — nearly three decades ago — to institute a procedure that prohibits officers from initiating contact with people for the sole purpose of learning their immigration status. The procedure, known as Special Order 40, was designed in part to reassure illegal immigrants who historically had shied from reporting crimes and assisting police investigations.

But in the context of contemporary immigration politics, the procedure is now perceived in black neighborhoods and beyond as a roadblock to using immigration laws as a tool against Latino gang violence.

'Careless Detention' Exposes Deadly Threat (link to audio)

May 14, 2008 - Talk of the Nation - The Washington Post began a series of investigative reports on Sunday revealing medical mistakes at immigrant detention facilities in the U.S. Reporters Dana Priest and Amy Goldstein talk about their series, "Careless Detention," which chronicles neglectful treatment that may have contributed to 30 detainee deaths.

Officers Battle Visa Hurdles for Iraqi Aides

May 14, 2008 - New York Times -Nearly 2,000 interpreters in Iraq and Afghanistan have applied to the State Department for a special immigrant visa, which was begun in 2006 as a last resort for those fearing for their lives. So far 1,735 cases have been approved, though it is unclear how many interpreters have come to the United States.

In its first year the visa program for interpreters was limited to only 50 spots. Since then it has expanded to 500 spots a year.

But the numbers tell only part of the difficulty. The program does little to minimize the visa bureaucracy. The process, complicated for anyone, is especially hard for interpreters.

They are considered refugees, and refugees cannot apply from their native countries, in this case Iraq. But Jordan and Syria have closed their borders to the flood of Iraqi refugees. Passports issued by the government of Saddam Hussein are not valid, often making it impossible to cross borders legally.

Conditions at Detention Centers Questioned (link to audio)

May 13, 2008 - Tell Me More - Reports of substandard health care and unnecessary deaths at U.S. immigration detention centers have heightened concerns among immigrant families and advocates. Reporter Elizabeth Llorente, who writes for New Jersey's The Record, has been reporting on the issue for more than a decade; she talks about the recent reports and the changes some advocates are demanding.

What Social Security Isn't Meant to Do

May 12, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - To hear some in Congress tell it, the federal government urgently needs to expand its electronic employment verification system, E-Verify, to all corners of the country and force every business to use it. But a hearing in the House last week raised serious questions about the costs and collateral damage of that expansion, the latest scheme by hard-liners to slam the door shut on unauthorized immigrant workers.

Better Health Care Sought for Detained Immigrants

May 7, 2008 - New York Times - The head of a Congressional subcommittee looking into complaints of inadequate medical care in immigration detention announced on Tuesday that she had introduced legislation to set mandatory standards for care and to require that all deaths be reported to the Justice Department and Congress.

Death by Detention

May 6, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - A chilling article by Nina Bernstein in The Times on Monday recounted the secrecy, neglect and lack of oversight that are a few of the shameful symptoms of the booming sector of the nation’s prison industry — the detention of undocumented foreigners.

Few Details on Immigrants Who Died in Custody

May 5, 2008 - New York Times - Death is a reality in any jail, and the medical neglect of inmates is a perennial issue. But far more than in the criminal justice system, immigration detainees and their families lack basic ways to get answers when things go wrong.

No government body is required to keep track of deaths and publicly report them. No independent inquiry is mandated. And often relatives who try to investigate the treatment of those who died say they are stymied by fear of immigration authorities, lack of access to lawyers, or sheer distance.

Crowds Smaller at Immigrant Rallies

May 2, 2008 - New York Times - Thousands of supporters of immigrant rights gathered in more than a dozen cities on Thursday afternoon. But the crowds seemed smaller than at comparable events in past years, with the turnout apparently depressed by fear of arrest.

Immigrants Challenge U.S. System of Detention

May 1, 2008 - New York Times - Immigrants who spent time in detention while fighting deportation filed a federal suit on Wednesday against Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, demanding that the agency issue legally enforceable regulations for its detention centers.

Citizenship Checks on Wash. Ferries Stir Controversy (link to audio)

April 30, 2008 - Morning Edition - The U.S. Border Patrol has started regularly checking the citizenship of passengers on certain ferries inside Washington state. Such nationality checks are common in the Southwest, but along the Canadian border, they're still relatively new — and to many people, the checkpoints have come as a shock.

Pulling Back the Immigration Posses

April 30, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - Many parts of the nation have tilted severely toward harsh, unyielding policies to catch and punish illegal immigrants, but not everyone has gone over the edge. Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona on Monday pushed back, vetoing a bill that would have required all police and sheriff’s departments in the state to join the federal immigration posse.

Tomato Growers Cut Crop amid Immigration Worries (link to audio)

April 25, 2008 - Morning Edition - Tomato growers in New Jersey say tougher immigration enforcement may change this year's crop. It's getting harder to hire the migrant laborers — many of them from Mexico — who traditionally pick tomatoes during the few weeks when they're ripe.

Employers Escaping Charges in Immigration Raids (link to audio)

April 25, 2008 - All Things Considered - Two years ago, the Department of Homeland Security announced a new strategy for immigration enforcement. It said it would start bringing criminal charges against companies that employ illegal workers. Since then, there's been a dramatic increase in raids on businesses, but few prosecutions against employers.

A 'Surge' for Refugees

April 22, 2008 - New York Times Op-Ed - IT is a grave humanitarian crisis: 1.5 million Iraqi refugees living in deplorable and declining conditions in Syria and Jordan.

Pope Speaks Up for Immigrants, Touching a Nerve

April 20, 2008 - New York Times - Even as he was flying to the United States, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of protecting immigrant families, not dividing them.

Immigration, Off the Books

April 17, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - Every American who has a job or wants one should be following the debates in Congress over bills to crack down on illegal hiring. Employment verification is one of the few ideas still lurching around the Capitol after last year’s Senate shootout mowed down a forest of immigration reforms. It’s boring and complicated — it’s about databases — but unlike other immigration fixes, it affects every worker and employer in America, native-born or not.

New Jersey's Immigration Crackdown

April 16, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - Illegal immigration is inherently a matter for the federal government, but local police forces are increasingly conducting their own crackdowns. The police in some New Jersey towns have been aggressively looking for immigration violations and, predictably, it has been leading to abuses. The state should scale back police involvement in immigration enforcement.

The Verge of Expulsion, The Fringe of Justice

April 15, 2008 - New York Times - Federal appeals are not usually a volume business. Even fancy Manhattan firms with hundreds of lawyers seldom have more than a handful of cases pending in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which is known for its august history, superior judicial craftsmanship and special expertise in commercial and securities case.

Perfectly Legal Immigrants, Until They Applied for Citizenship

April 12, 2008 - New York Times - Largely overlooked in the charged debate over illegal immigration, many of these are long-term legal immigrants in the United States who were confident of success when they applied for naturalization, and would have continued to live here legally had they not sought to become citizens.

As applications for naturalization have surged, overburdened federal examiners, under pressure to make quick decisions and also weed out any security risks, prefer to err on the side of rejection, immigration lawyers and independent researchers said. In 2007, 89,683 applications for naturalization were denied, about 12 percent of those presented.

Many Visas Are Sought for Skilled Immigrants

April 11, 2008 - New York Times - Federal immigration authorities received about 163,000 petitions for temporary work visas for highly skilled immigrants for the year starting Oct. 1, officials said Thursday, nearly twice as many as the number of visas available.

Immigration Outsourced

April 9, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - Not content to botch immigration policy all by itself, Congress has handed large parts of the job to others to mishandle. It gave the homeland security czar the czarist powers to overturn any law and ignore any court to seal the border. Now Michael Chertoff is clear-cutting a forest of regulations to wall out Mexico by the end of the year. And through the program known as 287(g), his agency is parceling out duties to a growing number of local police and sheriff’s departments, raising an army of junior deputies in the war on illegal immigrants.

Power to Build Border Fence Is Above U.S. Law

April 8, 2008 - New York Times - Securing the nation’s borders is so important, Congress says, that Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, must have the power to ignore any laws that stand in the way of building a border fence. Any laws at all.

San Fransisco Reaches Out to Immigrants

April 6, 2008 - New York Times - The city of San Francisco has started an advertising push with a very specific target market: illegal immigrants. And while the advertisements will come in a bundle of languages — English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese — they all carry the same message: you are safe here.

More Training for Foreign Students

April 5, 2008 - New York Times - Immigration officials said they were extending the duration of on-the-job training for immigrant students who are recent graduates with advanced degrees in science, technology and engineering. The training period will be extended to 29 months from 12 months for immigrants on student visas employed in jobs related to their field of study. Training will also be automatically extended for students who are waiting to shift to temporary work visas known as H-1B. The measure, which officials said would benefit about 25,000 students, is designed to close visa gaps that had forced some highly skilled graduates to leave the country.

Wonder Bread and Curry: Mingling Cultures, Conflicted Hearts

April 4, 2008 - New York Times - Jhumpa Lahiri's characters tend to be immigrants from India and their American-reared children, exiles who straddle two countries, two cultures, and belong to neither: too used to freedom to accept the rituals and conventions of home, and yet too steeped in tradition to embrace American mores fully. These Indian-born parents want the American Dream for their children — name-brand schools, a prestigious job, a roomy house in the suburbs — but they are cautious about the pitfalls of life in this alien land, and isolated by their difficulties with language and customs. Their children too are often emotional outsiders: having grown up translating the mysteries of the United States for their relatives, they are fluent navigators of both Bengali and American culture but completely at home in neither; they always experience themselves as standing slightly apart, given more to melancholy observation than wholehearted participation.

Faster Background Checks Are Pledged

April 3, 2008 - New York Times - The federal Citizenship and Immigration Services agency announced an agreement with the F.B.I. to speed up security background checks of immigrants applying to become permanent residents and United States citizens. The agencies said they would finish by May all background checks that have been backlogged for more than three years and by July for all cases waiting more than two years. The agencies said they planned to expand staff and streamline procedures. Currently, about 66,000 cases have been waiting longer than six months.

New Bill May Speed U.S. Visas for Artists

April 3, 2008 - New York Times - When it comes to artists trying to obtain visas, notorious performers like Amy Winehouse usually get the headlines. That British soul singer’s application to come to the United States for the Grammy Awards in February was initially denied, with speculation that the refusal was because of her alleged use of illegal drugs.

Michael Chertoff's Insult

April 3, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - To the long list of things the Bush administration is willing to trash in its rush to appease immigration hard-liners, you can now add dozens of important environmental laws and hundreds of thousands of acres of fragile habitat on the southern border.

Government Issues Waiver for Fencing Along Border

April 2, 2008 - New York Times - In a sweeping use of its authority, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that it would bypass environmental reviews to speed construction of fencing along the Mexican border.

Immigration Issues End a Pennsylvania Grower's Season

April 2, 2008 - New York Times - As in politics, timing is everything in tomatoes.

Finding and keeping the field hands who can pick 10,000 tomatoes a day during the hot months of August and September is no less a test of organizational traction than any get-out-the-vote drive.

How Immigrants Saved Social Security

April 2, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - Immigration is good for the financial health of Social Security because more workers mean more tax revenue. Illegal immigration, it turns out, is even better than legal immigration. In the fine print of the 2008 annual report on Social Security, released last week, the program’s trustees noted that growing numbers of “other than legal” workers are expected to bolster the program over the coming decades.

A Foolish Immigration Purge

March 27, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - Leave it to the Bush administration to throw thousands of law-abiding American workers and companies off a cliff in perilous economic times.

Immigration's Fallout: Fewer Fresh Tomatoes? (link to audio)

March 26, 2008 - The Bryant Park Project - Workers in the agricultural sector have been hard hit by the congressional failure to create a sustainable immigration policy. But one farmer in Pennsylvania — who before this year had operated the largest fresh-market tomato producing farm in the state — says the policy gridlock is forcing him to stop growing tomatoes.

An Agent, a Green Card, and a Demand for Sex

March 21, 2008 - New York Times - No problems so far, the immigration agent told the American citizen and his 22-year-old Colombian wife at her green card interview in December. After he stapled one of their wedding photos to her application for legal permanent residency, he had just one more question: What was her cellphone number?

Citizenship, Thwarted

March 19, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - The director of the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services agency, Emilio Gonzalez, is stepping down next month, leaving behind a gummed-up bureaucracy and perhaps a million empty promises. That’s about how many people are stuck waiting to have their citizenship petitions approved by the agency, which was swamped last summer by a flood of applications that it failed to predict or prepare for.

For Foreign Investors, Profit Isn't Only Goal

March 16, 2008 - New York Times - BRIAN GOULDING recently moved with his wife, Majella, and three young children to Wilmington, N.C. “It’s gorgeous here,” he said, referring to the region’s temperate climate.

But Mr. Goulding also has a strong interest in the colder environs of northern Vermont and, specifically, the success of a new hotel at the Jay Peak ski resort, five miles from the Canadian border. If the hotel, expected to open next fall, succeeds, Mr. Goulding and his family, who are from Ireland, will be allowed to remain in the United States.

The Gouldings are among the beneficiaries of a program that grants foreigners legal residency in the United States if they invest in job-creating businesses. “If, in two years, the project has delivered the employment to the state of Vermont,” Mr. Goulding said, he will receive a permanent green card. “If the project collapses,” he said, “I won’t.”

Newer Immigrants Taking Over Diners

March 16, 2008 - New York Times - THE suburban diner business — once as dependably Greek as feta or moussaka — is increasingly making room for immigrants from other countries, even other continents.

Goal Set for Reducing Backlog on Citizenship Applications

March 15, 2008 - New York Times - Immigration officials said on Friday that they expected to complete about 930,000 citizenship applications in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, reducing a huge backlog in a time frame that would allow many new citizens to register to vote in the November elections.

The Road to Dystopia

March 13, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - The search for a silver bullet to slay illegal immigration continues. Hard-liners are turning the country upside down looking for it.

Gates Tells Congress What Is Needed for Better Workforce

March 13, 2008 - Associated Press - More investment in math and science education and a more liberal policy toward skilled foreign workers are crucial if America is to avoid losing its competitive edge, a founder of Microsof, Bill Gates, told Congress on Wednesday.

Bill Gates Targets Visa Rules for Tech Workers (link to audio)

March 12, 2008 -  All Things Considered - Bill Gates says the United States' position as the global leader in innovation is at risk.

Latino Immigrants Fight to Be Counted in November (link to audio)

March 12, 2008 - Tell Me More - Cesar Perales, president of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, recently filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of Latino immigrants who want their U.S. citizen applications processed in time to vote in November's presidential elections. Perales is joined by Manuel Martinez, a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Workers Sue Gulf Coast Company That Imported Them

March 11, 2008 - New York Times - A group of 500 foreign welders and pipefitters brought in to work at Gulf Coast oil rig yards after Hurricane Katrina said Monday that they had sued their employer, claiming they were lured with false promises of permanent-resident status, forced to live in inhumane conditions and then threatened when they protested.

Community Organizer Fights for Immigrants (link to audio)

March 11, 2008 - Morning Edition - There doesn't seem to be much middle ground when it comes to opinions on Salvador Reza, a community organizer in Phoenix who believes that all immigrants who want to work should be welcomed with full labor rights.

Immigration Policy in U.S. Is Criticized by U.N. Aide

March 9, 2008 - Associated Press - The United States is not doing enough to protect immigrants’ rights, a United Nations human rights expert said Friday. The adviser, Jorge A. Bustamante, said immigrants were often subject to indefinite detention and forced deportation.

Latinos Seek Citizenship in Time for Voting

March 6, 2008 - New York Times -  A lawsuit filed Thursday in a federal court in New York by Latino immigrants seeks to force immigration authorities to complete hundreds of thousands of stalled naturalization petitions in time for the new citizens to vote in November.

Deportation Pact Alarms Vietnamese Immigrants (link to audio)

March 5, 2008 - All Things Considered - In January, the U.S. Immigration Service signed a pact with the Vietnamese government, agreeing to deport thousands of illegal Vietnamese immigrants who are currently under deportation orders.

Prior to this pact, the Vietnamese government refused to take in deportees. The bulk of those who face imminent deportation have been convicted of felonies in this country, yet the large Vietnamese immigrant community is alarmed.

Border Insecurity

March 4, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - From San Diego on the Pacific to Brownsville on the Rio Grande, a steel curtain is descending across the continent. Behind it lies a nation so confused and conflicted by its immigration problems that it has decided to wall itself off and wait for things to fix themselves. This country once was a confident global magnet for an invigorating flow of immigrant workers and citizens-to-be. Now it is just hunkering.

Mourning Resonates From Staten Island to Sri Lanka

March 4, 2008 - New York Times - A pending autopsy may explain the death of his wife, Tai Ling Feng, 36, a Taiwan-born United States citizen who worked in a bank. But to the young widower and the multiethnic circle of friends who had cheered on the couple’s courtship as a uniquely New York love story, immigration law now seems to be compounding a New York tragedy.

Expansive Border Fence Stirs Fights Over Land (link to audio)

March 3, 2008 - Tell Me More - The U.S. government is constructing a 700-mile fence along its border with Mexico, leaving many inhabitants within the construction area fighting to keep their land. Eloisa Tamez talks about being sued by the federal government to gain access to her land near Brownsville, Texas. Tamez is joined by Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada.

A Taste of Colombia Rolls Through New York's Streets

March 3, 2008 - New York Times - As New York City’s Colombian population has ballooned, one custom that has been transplanted is the use of rustic buses, or chivas as they are called in Spanish, for parties.

Delay in Muslims' Citizenship Process Leads to Suits (link to audio)

February 28, 2008 - All Things Considered - Twenty-five Muslims are suing the Justice Department and immigration officials, accusing them of stalling their citizenship applications with unreasonably prolonged background checks. The lawsuit says the plaintiffs have been waiting two to five years for their applications to be processed.

Iraqi Refugees Struggle to Build a Life in the U.S. (link to audio)

February 28, 2008 - Morning Edition - Most Iraqis are coming to the U.S. as refugees, with several months of federal assistance for rent and food. But about 1,000 — including Salman — have come on Special Immigrant Visas that offer no aid. Salman has been staying in the guest room of his former American boss. He says she's extremely kind, and has even loaned him money, but he wonders how long he can keep imposing.

New Tactics to Control Immigration Are Unveiled

February 23, 2008 - New York Times - Bush administration officials said Friday that they would begin using new technology to create a virtual fence along sections of the border with Mexico, and that construction had been completed on 302 miles of physical fence.

Dinaw Mengestu Captures Immigrant Life (link to audio)

February 19, 2008 - NPR.org - "How was I supposed to live in America when I had never really left Ethiopia?" questions Sepha Stephanos, the protagonist of The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears. That isolation and frustation of immigrant life is thoughtfully portrayed in the award-winning fictional debut from Dinaw Mengestu.

Proportion of Immigrants in U.S. Rises

February 11, 2008 - New York Times - If present trends continue, within two decades the proportion of immigrants in the United States will surpass the peak reached more than a century ago, a new analysis concludes.

Calderon to Visit Mexican Immigrants in the U.S. (link to audio)

February 10, 2008 - All Things Considered - Mexican president Felipe Calderon will tour the United States this week, but he's not likely to meet with President Bush or the presidential contenders. Instead, Calderon is heading to cities with large Mexican immigrant populations. Calderon has a message of support for those immigrants, who still play an important role in domestic Mexican politics.

Los Angeles: 120 Caught in Raid

February 9, 2008 - Associated Press - More than 100 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided a printer supply manufacturer Thursday in the San Fernando Valley, taking into custody about 120 employees accused of being in the country illegally and arresting eight on federal criminal charges, the authorities said. The raid was at the offices of Micro Solutions Enterprises, said Virginia Kice, a customs spokeswoman. The eight people were arrested on suspicion of providing fraudulent information to get their jobs, Ms. Kice said.

Iraqi Refugees Heading for the U.S. (link to audio)

February 8, 2008 - The Bryan Park Project - More than 2 million Iraqis have fled the country since the war began. The U.S. expects to receive 12,000 by October. Joe Roberson, director of the Church World Service's Immigration and Refugee Program, talks about where the others have gone.

White House Moves to Ease Guest Worker Program

February 7, 2008 - New York Times - The Bush administration announced plans on Wednesday to overhaul the notoriously inefficient federal guest worker program for agriculture, seeking to provide more legal workers to American farmers who now rely primarily on illegal immigrants.

Processing of Iraqi Refugees Remains Slow, U.S. Says

February 5, 2008 - New York Times - Last year the Bush administration vowed to find a way to accelerate the processing of immigrant visas and the granting of refugee status so that Iraqis who worked for the American Embassy in Baghdad could immigrate to the United States. But a State Department update on the issue on Monday showed that a gap remains between words and action.

A Tiny Staff, Tracking People Across the Globe

February 4, 2008 - New York Times - Every moment has its magazine, and for the age of migration it is the Migration Information Source, a weekly (more or less) online journal followed worldwide by scholars, policy makers and the occasional migrant in distress. “My soul’s dying every moment,” an Iranian asylum seeker wrote last year in an e-mail message from Greece. “Give me an answer.”

New York's Newest Citizens Hungry to Cast Their Votes

February 3, 2008 - They know whom they will vote for, though some are a little uncertain about how to vote (they are hoping someone at the polling station will explain it to them). They come from Mumbai, India; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; and Georgetown, Guyana, and their political opinions and insights on the eve of New York State's presidential primary on Tuesday have been little noticed by polls and pundits.

Coming to America

February 3, 2008 - It is hard to imagine where American culture would be today without the contributions of Hitler and Stalin — that is, without the thousands of creatively gifted refugees who fled these murderers. A good many cultural historians and writers have explored this meaty subject from different angles since Anthony Heilbut’s 1983 landmark, “Exiled in Paradise” (still the best book on the topic). And now, in “Artists in Exile,” Joseph Horowitz has taken a crack at it.

Vietnam Agrees to the Return of Deportees from the U.S.

January 23, 2008 - American immigration authorities reached an agreement on Tuesday with Vietnam that clears the way for Vietnamese immigrants under deportation orders to be sent back to their country.

Rise of Chavez Sends Venezuelans to Florida

January 23, 2008 - New York Times - According to census data, the Venezuelan community in the United States has grown more than 94 percent this decade, from 91,507 in 2000, the year after Mr. Chávez took office, to 177,866 in 2006. Much of that rise has occurred in South Florida, making the Venezuelan community one of the fastest growing Latino subpopulations in the region this decade. In many ways, the Venezuelan influx is reminiscent of the Cuban migration spurred by Fidel Castro's overthrow of Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and his imposition of a socialist state.

The Immigrant Vote

January 19, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - The Nevada caucuses today will be the first test of the mood of immigrant voters since comprehensive immigration reform was killed.

One Argument, 12 Million Holes

January 18, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - The big fat immigration bill that died last year in Congress was, for all its flaws, an anchor that kept debate tethered firmly to reality. Like it or not, it contained specific remedies for the border and the workplace. It had a plan for clearing backlogs in legal immigration and managing its future flow. Perhaps most critical, it dealt with the 12 million illegal immigrants already here, through a tough path to earned citizenship.

Legal Immigrants Facing a Longer Wait

January 18, 2008 - New York Times - Because of an unprecedented surge in immigration applications last summer, legal immigrants will have to wait much longer during the next two years to receive visas or naturalization papers, the top official of the federal agency that issues those documents said Thursday.

U.S. to Speed Deportation of Criminals in Jail

January 15, 2008 - New York Times - Federal authorities expect to identify and deport more than 200,000 immigrants who are convicted criminals serving time in prisons and jails across the country, the country’s top federal immigration enforcement official said Monday.

In Texas, Weighing Life With a Border Fence

January 13, 2008 - New York Times - Rafael Garza, a former mayor of this small border city, stood steps from the back door of his simple brick house and chopped the air with a hand. “This is where the actual fence would be,” he said.

Refugees in the Cold

January 12, 2008 - New York Times Editorial - Thousands of elderly and disabled refugees who have found safety in the United States in recent years may soon find out just how cold and equivocal America’s welcome can be. These vulnerable newcomers are subject to a federal law that cuts off their disability benefits if they do not become citizens within seven years.

Agency Acts to Cut Delay in Gaining Citizenship

January 12, 2008 - New York Times - Federal officials said Friday that they had agreed on an emergency plan to hire back about 700 retired government employees in an effort to pare an immense backlog in applications for citizenship by legal immigrants.

Administration Is Rebuffed in a Ruling on Deportation

January 11, 2008 - New York Times - A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Thursday blocked the government’s efforts to deport a Coptic Christian who said he would be tortured if he were returned to Egypt. The ruling was a rebuff to the Bush administration’s practice of relying on confidential assurances to send people to countries that have been known to practice torture.

Immigration Is Defying Easy Answers

December 30, 2007 - New York Times - New immigration and the political reaction against it are nearly as old as the United States itself. Yet the immigration surge of the last decade has awakened tensions of unexpected intensity that have pervaded the presidential campaigns of both parties and stirred voter anger across the country.

Immigration Remains a Hot Topic for 2008 (link to audio)

December 30, 2007 - Weekend Edition - The problem of how to deal with illegal immigration was one of the big issues of 2007 for President Bush and the Congress, and promises to remain on the table in 2008.

Los Angeles Combating Gangs Gone International

December 26, 2007 - New York Times - Two gangs that originated on the streets here have grown so large in El Salvador that there are two prisons in that country devoted exclusively to their members, one for each gang, according to officials who traveled there recently to meet with the local authorities.

Cubans Reach United States Via Mexico (link to audio)

December 26, 2007 - Morning Edition - In the past year, more Cubans have been avoiding stepped-up Coast Guard patrols in the Florida Straits and reaching the United States illegally through Mexico. U.S. policy allows most Cubans who reach American soil to stay, unlike illegal immigrants from many other nations.

Immigration Ground Zero

December 26, 2007 - Washington Post Editorial - THE NEW ground zero in the debate over illegal immigration is Arizona, where the nation's toughest and potentially most far-reaching crackdown on undocumented workers and their employers is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1. The Arizona law, passed resoundingly by the state legislature after Congress failed to enact immigration reform last summer, penalizes companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants by suspending their business licenses for up to 10 days; ; on a second offense, the business license would be revoked -- what Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) has called a corporate "death penalty." Thus the Arizona law may become a test case for how much pain a state is willing to endure, and inflict, in the name of ridding itself of a population that contributes enormously to its economic growth and prosperity.

Newest Citizens Have Something to Celebrate (link to audio)

December 25, 2007 - Day to Day - At a swearing-in cermony at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Alex Chadwick finds out why these immigrants — from Mexico, Iran, France and Sierra Leone, among other countries — wanted to become citizens.

Many say they want to feel accepted, a part of society. Most point to the opportunity to vote.

African Immigrants Confront American Dream (link to audio)

December 25, 2007 - News & Notes - Dollars and Dreams is a documentary film focused on the pursuits and challenges of numerous West African immigrants as they confront the idea of the American Dream and the reality of the New York experience.

Farai Chideya talks with the film's director, Jeremy Rocklin, and Sidi Ibrahime, an immigrant from the Ivory Coast.

Illegal Immigrants Good Mortgage Risk (link to audio)

December 25, 2007 - Morning Edition - Some banks allow illegal immigrants to obtain a home mortgage even if they don't have a Social Security number. While the borrower's citizenship status may be undocumented, their ability to pay is thoroughly checked out. Surprisingly, illegal immigrants are often a good risk.

Opening Our Eyes to Slavery

December 23, 2007 - New York Times Opinion - However capably federal lawyers may have prosecuted the case against Varsha and Mahender Sabhnani, who were convicted last week of enslaving and torturing two Indonesian women in their opulent home in Muttontown, it was certainly not brilliant or aggressive law enforcement that broke the case.

Latino Hate Crimes on the Rise (link to audio)

December 23, 2007 - All Things Considered - Southern Poverty Law Center statistics show that hate crimes reported against Latinos increased 35 percent between 2003 and 2006. According to the Center's Mark Potok, the spike reflects the nation's increasingly strident debate over illegal immigration.

Spitzer Pardons Ex-Convict to Spare Him Deportation

December 22, 2007 - New York Times - Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced the pardon on Friday of a 54-year-old Brooklyn man convicted of robbery 16 years ago, saying the pardon would spare the man from being deported to Jamaica.

Long Island Couple Convicted of Enslaving 2 Domestic Workers for Years

December 18, 2007 - New York Times - The so-called Muttontown slave trial involved a wild barrage of testimony by two Indonesian domestic workers who were employed — and, prosecutors say, enslaved and tortured for years — by a well-to-do couple on Long Island. And the verdict Monday morning made for no less wild a scene.

Lives Are Growing Harder, Hispanics Say

December 14, 2007 - New York Times - After a year of stepped-up enforcement against illegal immigration and polarized debate on the issue, about half of the Hispanics in the United States now fear that they or a relative or close friend could be deported, a report released Thursday by the Pew Hispanic Center found.

Warehouse Workers Quit in Immigration Inquiry

December 13, 2007 - New York Times - Fresh Direct, the online grocery delivery operation that caters to affluent and overworked New Yorkers, lost dozens of employees this week after federal immigration officials notified the company that its employee records were under investigation.

Debates Persist Over Subsidies for Immigrant College Students

December 13, 2007 - New York Times - Go to college, we urge our children. College is the new high school, and without an undergraduate degree, they will be doomed to low-earning, second-rate lives.

Yet we send the opposite message to thousands of young people because they have been brought into this country illegally by their parents, sometimes when they were toddlers, or remained beyond their visa deadlines. About 65,000 persevere well enough every year to graduate from high school, according to the Washington-based Urban Institute, but once they do, we make going to college hard if not impossible.

Federal Suit Is Seeking to Expedite Citizenship

Immigration Agency Faces Lawsuits Over Tactics (link to audio)

November 23, 2007 - All Things Considered - Federal immigration agents have dramatically stepped up raids in the past few years. Officials say they target only criminals and those who have ignored deportation orders. But immigrant rights groups complain many with no criminal record are being swept up.

The Immigration Wilderness

November 23, 2007 - New York Times Editorial - The nation certainly sounds as if it’s in an angry place on immigration.

A major Senate reform bill collapsed in rancor in June, and every effort to revive innocuous bits of it, like a bill to legalize exemplary high school graduates, has been crushed. Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York hatched a plan to let illegal immigrants earn driver’s licenses — and steamrollered into the Valley of Death. Asked if she supported Mr. Spitzer, Senator Hillary Clinton tied herself in knots looking for the safest answer.

Immigrants, Refugees Celebrate Thanksgiving (link to audio)

November 23, 2007 - Day to Day - Thursday marked the first Thanksgiving for many newly arrived immigrants and refugees in the United States.

Dr. Najeeb Hanoudi, an Iraqi refugee, tells Madeleine Brand how he spent the day. He arrived in Detroit last week.

Surge Brings New Immigration Backlog

November 23, 2007 - New York Times - Immigration authorities are swamped in new bureaucratic backlogs resulting from an unanticipated flood last summer of applications for citizenship and for residence visas, officials said.

Influence of Immigrant Voters in Iowa Grows (link to audio)

November 23, 2007 - Morning Edition - In January, Iowans will cast their decisive votes in the nation's first caucus. The state has an estimated 40,000 Hispanic voters. That isn't a huge number, but Iowa is experiencing a migration boom that will have a major impact in the future.

The Presidential Immigration Divide (link to audio)

November 21, 2007 - Day to Day - The matter of immigration is already drawing lines between candidates in the presidential race. Madeleine Brand talks to Politico's Jim Vandehei about the candidates' positions on immigration.

Border Fence Work Raises Environmental Concerns

November 20, 2007 - New York Times - The Department of Homeland Security is ahead of schedule in building some 700 miles of fencing along the Mexican border, but some environmental groups, elected officials and local Indian tribes say too little attention is being paid to the environmental consequences of the barriers.

Smuggled Chinese Travel Circuitously to U.S. (link to audio)

November 20, 2007 - Morning Edition - Since the late 1980s, hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants from China's Fujian province have been smuggled into the United States.

Chinese Immigrants Chase Opportunity in America (link to audio)

November 19, 2007 - Morning Edition - Over the past two decades, illegal immigrants from the Fujian Province of China have flooded into New York City's Chinatown.

Migrant Money Flow: A $300 Billion Current

November 18, 2007 - New York Times - THE money flows in dribs and drabs, crossing borders $200 or $300 at a time. It buys cornmeal and rice and plaid private school skirts and keeps the landlord at bay. Globally, the tally is huge: migrants from poor countries send home about $300 billion a year. That is more than three times the global total in foreign aid, making “remittances” the main source of outside money flowing to the developing world.

Candidates Walk a Tightrope on Immigration

November 18, 2007 - New York Times - THE Republican presidential candidates talk about illegal immigration as if they were in an arms race on toughness. The Democratic candidates have begun to tread more warily on the issue, as their debate last week in Las Vegas showed, but they still favor the language of accommodation over alarm.

Immigration Raid Sets Off Trajedy for Mass. Family (link to audio)

November 12, 2007 - All Things Considered - In September, NPR's Claudio Sanchez reported on the fallout from a huge immigration raid in New Bedford, Mass.

Sanchez revisits one of the families to hear its tragic story — a husband, deported to Guatemala, returned to the U.S. only to die in his wife's arms. Now, the family faces an uncertain future.

Syria to Let U.S. In to Screen Iraqis Seeking Resettlement

November 9, 2007 - New York Times - Syria has agreed to allow American interviewers into the country to screen  Iraqi refugees for admission to the United States, clearing a major obstacle to the Bush administration’s resettlement program, the State Department said Thursday.

Help Wanted

October 31, 2007 - New York Times Editorial - Congress has finally pried open America’s door to Iraqis and Afghans who have served this country at great risk. Congress needs to go a lot further, adding more visa slots and approving resettlement benefits that would allow these people to grab the lifeline the United States has been far too slow to offer.

Candidates Weigh Illegal Immigrants' Driving Rights (link to audio)

October 31, 2007 - All Things Considered - Democrats vying for their party's presidential nomination disagreed at their debate Tuesday night about whether states should issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

The questions were what to do about people who are driving without having proved they are safe drivers, and whether states should give official identification to someone illegally in the U.S.

Students' Family Members Are Deported

October 30, 2007 - New York Times - The parents and grandmother of two college students in Miami whose fight for legal immigration status came to symbolize the hopes of illegal immigrant students were deported to Colombia on Tuesday.

Governor Spitzer Retreats

October 30, 2007 - New York Times Editorial - Gov. Eliot Spitzer has confronted the most intense public criticism of his political career — and caved. Not so long ago, Mr. Spitzer was doing the right and brave thing, planning to offer driver’s licenses to qualified but undocumented immigrants. The plan was inherently fair and would have made the state and its roads safer. Unfortunately, it also made Mr. Spitzer the target of some very nasty rhetoric from his political opponents, while his allies offered mostly weak-kneed support.

Migrants in San Diego Camp Killed in Fires (link to audio)

October 26, 2007 - Morning Edition - Four people were found dead in a migrant camp east of San Diego where wildfires have been raging. Border patrol agents were taking a routine look at the border with Mexico. They were near a major corridor for illegal immigrants who walk into the United States. That was where they found four charred bodies. It's not clear how long the bodies had been there.

Rice Admits U.S. Erred in Deportation

October 25, 2007 - New York Times - Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice admitted Wednesday that the United States had mishandled the case of a Canadian who was deported to Syria and who has said he was tortured there, but she stopped short of an apology.

Fires Highlight Safety Needs of Migrant Workers (link to audio)

October 25, 2007 - All Things Considered - San Diego County is home to tens of thousands of immigrant workers, both legal and undocumented. Their homes and workplaces may be at risk, but poor access to services and fear of immigration authorities at evacuation centers may keep some from seeking shelter.

Bill for Immigrant Students Fails Test Vote in Senate

October 24, 2007 - New York Times - A bill to grant legal status to illegal immigrants who are high school graduates was defeated Wednesday in a test vote in the Senate, significantly dimming the prospects for any major immigration legislation this year.

Candidate Calls for Raid on Immigration Bill Event

October 24, 2007 - New York Times - Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado, a Republican presidential candidate whose fierce opposition to illegal immigration is the center of his campaign, contacted the immigration service yesterday demanding that agents raid a senator’s news conference.

A Chance to Dream

October 24, 2007 - New York Times Editorial - The Senate has a chance today to pluck a small gem from the ashes of the immigration debate. A critical procedural vote is scheduled on the Dream Act, a bill to open opportunities for college and military service to the children of undocumented immigrants.

Immigrants criticize mental health care for detainees

October 24, 2007 - San Antonio Express-News - One was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The other was manic-depressive. But as far as the federal immigration detention system is concerned, the pair say, their illnesses were checked at the door. 

For Cubans Fleeing to the U.S., The First Stop Is Often Mexico

October 16, 2007 - New York Times - Cubans are migrating to the United States in the greatest numbers in over a decade, and for most of them the new way to get north is first to head west -- to Mexico -- in a convoluted route that avoids the United States Coast Guard.

No Need for a Warrant, You're an Immigrant

October 14, 2007 - New York Times - LONG ISLAND officials protested when federal agents searching for immigrant gang members raided local homes two weeks ago. The agents had rousted American citizens and legal immigrants from their beds in the night, complained Lawrence W. Mulvey, the Nassau County police commissioner, and arrested suspected illegal immigrants without so much as a warrant.

The Inexplicably Uncourted Latino Vote

October 13, 2007 - Washington Post - Presidential candidates from both parties have yet to fully embrace the importance of the Latino vote. Meanwhile, President Bush has alienated the Latino community by allowing the administration's policy to be hijacked by restrictionists. Alienating the fastest growing voting population is a big mistake for any politician or candidate that wishes to remain relevant to the Latino community -- an increasingly significant segment of our society.

The Anti-Deportationist Backlash

October 13, 2007 - Wall Street Journal - Like many conservatives, I have long admired former Rep. J.D. Hayworth as an important, articulate advocate of many causes I hold dear. I am troubled that his fanaticism on the single subject of deportation has deprived the nation of his dependable votes for victory in Iraq, tax cuts, school choice and the right-to-life.

A Crackdown on Hold

October 12, 2007 - New York Times Editorial - A federal judge has halted a reckless plan by the Bush administration to use Social Security records for immigration enforcement. This is good news, not just for the American economy, which would have been crippled by the attempt to force millions of undocumented workers off the books, but also for the untold numbers of innocent citizens and legal residents who also would have been victims of the purge.

Immigrants and Laureates

October 12, 2007 - Washington Post - Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize is getting almost all the attention, but America's two other new Nobel laureates also have interesting stories. Geneticists Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies won the Nobel Prize in medicine for their work in gene targeting. And while their honor highlights the quality of American research, it also shows how our scientific community is enriched by highly skilled immigrants.

Are Local Crackdowns Forcing Immigrants Out? (link to audio)

October 12, 2007 - All Things Considered - States and towns across the country are passing measures aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration, and there is anecdotal evidence that undocumented immigrants are moving out of those areas.

There are reports of declining school enrollments, panic home sales and sharply falling business at shops catering to Hispanics.

Crackdown Upends Slaughterhouse's Work Force

October 12, 2007 - New York Times - Last November, immigration officials began a crackdown at Smithfield Foods’s giant slaughterhouse here, eventually arresting 21 illegal immigrants at the plant and rousting others from their trailers in the middle of the night.

Lawsuit Targets Prince William

October 11, 2007 - Washington Post - Civil rights groups filed a lawsuit yesterday targeting Prince William County's closely watched crackdown on illegal immigration, arguing that a measure ordering police to check the immigration status of people in custody violates federal law.

Judge Blocks Bush Measure on Illegal Workers

October 11, 2007 - New York Times - A federal judge in San Francisco today ordered an indefinite delay on a central measure of the Bush administration’s new strategy to curb illegal immigration.

U.S. border officer guilty of smuggling aliens

October 11, 2007 - Windsor Star - A fired U.S. border inspector was sentenced to two years in prison Thursday for his role in smuggling illegal aliens into the U.S. from Canada.

Cuban Migrants Have It Easier on U.S.-Mexico Border

October 11, 2007 - Reuters - The United States has tightened security on the Mexican border and deported illegal immigrants but one group of Hispanics is welcome at border posts: Cubans fleeing the communist island.

ACLU and Victims of Inadequate Medical Care in Immigration Detention Tell Congress to Prevent More Deaths

October 4, 2007 - ACLU Press Release - The American Civil Liberties Union and victims of inadequate medical treatment in immigration detention facilities testified in Congress today urging more oversight of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in whose custody at least 65 people have died since 2004. According to the ACLU, inadequate medical care may be a leading cause of death in immigration detention. Activists, experts, victims of deficient medical care in ICE detention and relatives of people who died in ICE custody all testified, sharing harrowing stories and sobering facts.

Insane on asylum

October 4, 2007 - Los Angeles Times Opinion - Plenty of pious statements have been made over the last year -- many of them by senior Bush administration officials -- about how the United States has a moral obligation to help the more than 2 million refugees who have fled Iraq, most particularly those who have become targets because they worked for the Americans. Credibility with the Iraqi population, in the broader Middle East and around the world will be gauged by whether the U.S. keeps its promises. Now we may judge the administration's performance by the benchmarks it set for itself.

The Bush administration promised to grant refuge to 7,000 Iraqis during this fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30; just 1,608 were admitted. It plans to take in 12,000 in fiscal 2008. (Sweden, which opposed the Iraq war, has already admitted more and plans to resettle 20,000 Iraqis this year alone.)

Door remains open at Hutto

October 4, 2007 - Houston Chronicle -Maybe it was the international media scrutiny. Maybe it was the 10 federal lawsuits alleging harmful conditions. Perhaps it was the case earlier this year of a guard having sex with a detainee.

Whatever the motivating factor, Williamson County has apparently concluded that helping the federal government detain immigrant parents and children in a converted medium-security prison is a risky business, one to which the county no longer wants a part.

U.S. sailor: Don't deport my wife

October 3, 2007 - CNN - Eduardo Gonzalez, a petty officer second class with the U.S. Navy, is about to be deployed overseas for a third time. Making his deployment even tougher is the fact his wife may not be around when he comes back.

Judge Blocks Program to ID Illegal Immigrants (link to audio)

October 2, 2007 - Morning Edition - A federal judge in San Francisco blocks the start of a controversial program to find illegal immigrants in the nation's workforce. Under the plan businesses face penalties if they keep workers whose Social Security numbers don't match their names.

Judge delays crackdown on employers of illegal workers

October 2, 2007 - San Fransisco Chronicle - A federal judge signaled Monday that he is likely to prevent the Bush administration from threatening employers with prosecution if they fail to fire illegal immigrants.

Officials Protest Antigang Raids Focused on Immigrants

October 2, 2007 - New York Times - Nassau County officials today will call for a federal investigation into a series of antigang raids last week that resulted in the arrests of 186 immigrants on Long Island. They said that the vast majority of those arrested were not gang members and that local police were misled and endangered by the operation.

Virtual Border Security Behind Schedule (link to audio)

October 2, 2007 - Morning Edition - Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff says the government is making progress securing the nation's southern border. He says fewer illegal immigrants crossed in the last year, the number of border agents is up, and the number of miles of fencing has doubled. But a high-tech virtual fence, touted as the best tool for gaining control borders, is well behind schedule.

Burmese Refugees Find New Home in Indiana (link to audio)

September 30, 2007 - Weekend Edition - Some 3,500 refugees from Myanmar, also known as Burma, have made new homes in Fort Wayne, Ind. A support system offers refugees assistance such as food stamps and health care. About 100 new Burmese refugees are arriving each month.

Pieces of Immigration Bill Reassembled (link to audio)

September 24, 2007 - Morning Edition - In a piecemeal approach, Senate Democrats seek to revive parts of a defeated bill to overhaul immigration policy. One effort would put illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children on a path to citizenship if they enroll in college or join the military.

Spitzer Grants Illegal Immigrants Easier Access to Driver's Licenses

September 22, 2007 - New York Times - New Y ork State, home to more than 500,000 illegal immigrants, will issue driver’s licenses without regard to immigration status under a policy change announced yesterday by Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

New York's Immigrant Drivers

September 22, 2007 - New York Times Editorial - Gov. Eliot Spitzer made a very important if politically hazardous decision yesterday. He decreed that New York State’s Department of Motor Vehicles will award driver’s licenses to those who can prove who they are and pass the tests, not only those in good standing with the federal immigration authorities. That decision is correct for all who use New York’s roads.

U.S. Rule Limits Emergency Care for Immigrants

September 22, 2007 - New York Times - The federal government has told New York State health officials that chemotherapy, which had been covered for illegal immigrants under a government-financed program for emergency medical care, does not qualify for coverage. The decision sets the stage for a battle between the state and federal governments over how medical emergencies are defined.

David Carliner, Lawyer and Immigration Advocate, is Dead at 89

September 22, 2007 - New York Times - David Carliner, an influential left-leaning lawyer whose work for clients ranging from scholars and scoundrels to cooks and cabdrivers helped define modern immigration law, died Wednesday in Washington. He was 89.

Immigration Raids Single Out Hispanics, Lawsuit Says

September 21, 2007 - New York Times - A federal lawsuit filed yesterday charges that agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement unlawfully force their way into the homes of Hispanic families in the New York area without court warrants or other legal justification, sometimes pushing down doors in the middle of the night, in search of people who do not live there.

Judge Who Chastised Weeping Asylum Seeker is Taken Off Case

September 21, 2007 - New York Times - A New York immigration judge who rebuked a Chinese man for weeping during his asylum hearing has been rebuked herself by a federal appeals court that took the rare step of ordering her off the case.

Pass the Dream Act

September 20, 2007 - New York Times Editorial - A small but worthy step toward immigration reform is returning as an amendment to the defense authorization bill. As the Senate debates that fat holiday wish book for the Pentagon, it should rescue this sliver of bipartisan good sense from the wreckage of last summer’s failed immigration debate.

U.S. Appoints Officials for Iraq Refugees

September 20, 2007 - Reuters - The Bush administration on Wednesday appointed two senior officials to clear bureaucratic roadblocks blamed by Washington for the painfully slow pace of admitting Iraqi refugees to the United States.

Measure Would Offer Legal Status to Illegal Immigrant Students

September 20, 2007 - New York Times - A bill to offer legal status to illegal immigrant students who have graduated from high school was revived this week in the Senate, the first effort to advance a piece of broad immigration legislation that failed in June.

A uniquely American DREAM

September 19, 2007 - Los Angeles Times - Thoughtful people will disagree about immigration policy -- how many foreigners to let in, for what purpose, and what to do about the 12 million illegal immigrants already in this country. That's why sweeping immigration reform has failed again and again. This fall, Congress should think smaller, and figure out what it can agree on, before another year passes with no progress. It might start by considering young people like Lucia.

Farmers worry about immigration crackdown (link to audio)

September 18, 2007 - All Things Considered - A court will soon decide whether the Department of Homeland Security can go ahead with a crackdown on illegal workers. DHS wants to hold employers accountable if their workers' Social Security numbers can't be proved valid. Employers fear the new rule could put them out of business and farmers feel especially vulnerable.

Crocker Blasts Refugee Process

September 17, 2007 - Washington Post -  The U.S. ambassador to Iraq warned that it may take the U.S. government as long as two years to process and admit nearly 10,000 Iraqi refugees referred by the United Nations for resettlement to the United States, because of bureaucratic bottlenecks.

Music Scholar Barred From U.S., but No One Will Tell Her Why

September 17, 2007 - New York Times - Nalini Ghuman, an up-and-coming musicologist and expert on the British composer Edward Elgar, was stopped at the San Francisco airport in August last year and, without explanation, told that she was no longer allowed to enter the United States.

Immigrant Songs Offer New Twist on Old Sounds (link to audio)

September 16, 2007 - Weekend Edition - The phrase "protest song" often brings to mind a collage of faces from the past: Maybe it's Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and the civil-rights music of the 1960s, or perhaps Woody Guthrie and his songs from the Dust Bowl days. These balladeers defined their times, and their music was a reflection of the politics, economics and social upheavals of the day.

At the U.S. Border, The Desert Takes a Rising Toll

September 15, 2007 - New York Times - “I can’t breathe,” Felicitas Martínez Barradas gasped to her cousin as they stumbled across the border in 100-degree heat. “The sun is killing me.”

Iraqi Refugees Arrive in Atlanta (link to audio)

September 13, 2007 - Morning Edition - More than 4 million people have fled their homes in Iraq since the war began. According to the United Nations, about half of those have become refugees in Syria, Jordan and other neighboring countries.

Barriers Abound for Immigrants Learning English (link to audio)

September 11, 2007 - All Things Considered -Immigrants' English skills are often part of the U.S. debate over foreign workers. Demand for English classes far outstrips supply, even as work, family duties and other obstacles stand in the way of efforts to master a new language.

Albanian Says He'll Be Slain if Deported

September 10, 2007 - Associated Press - An Albanian restaurant owner who says he publicly identified the men accused of gunning down a lawmaker in his home country is fighting to stay in the United States, for fear he will be killed if deported.

Fitting together the pieces of a tragedy

September 9, 2007 - Boston Globe - Edwidge Danticat was raised by her aunt and uncle in Haiti and joined her parents in the United States when she was 12. Her peerless fiction includes "Breath, Eyes, Memory" and "The Dew Breaker." In 2004, when Danticat was pregnant with her first child and while her father was dying of pulmonary fibrosis, her uncle, an elderly churchman, was forced to flee the violence in Haiti.

Despite having documentation and having visited America before, a frail Joseph Danticat was first detained by US Customs, then shackled and imprisoned. Without his medication, he died within days. Earlier this year, The New York Times reported that 62 immigrants have died in US administrative custody since 2004. "Brother, I'm Dying" (Knopf, $23.95), a model of grace and restraint, tells the story of Uncle Joseph, of the Danticat family, and of their country.

A Death in the Shadows

September 9, 2007 - New York Times - The indictment last week of a Mount Kisco police officer in the death of Rene Perez may at last bring clarity to a murky, troubling homicide case. The fate of Mr. Perez, a 42-year-old Guatemalan immigrant, has been a mystery since he was found, fatally wounded, beside a road in Bedford last April. The accounts of that night showed it to have been yet another among countless dozens of run-ins between the police and Mr. Perez, who was by many accounts an alcoholic and a chronic public nuisance. Responding to complaints about Mr. Perez’s unruliness, various officers shuttled him that day from Bedford to Mount Kisco and back to Bedford, and at some point, the indictment claims, Officer George Bubaris did something that — for the moment, anyway — ended the problem of Mr. Perez.

Is It Fixed Yet?

September 9, 2007 - New York Times Editorial - The immigration battle that ended this summer was a victory for the simple, straight-ahead approach. The supporters of comprehensive reform did not have the votes for their exotic blend of tough compassion, of punishing then rewarding illegal immigrants with a nonamnesty that everybody called amnesty. The Republicans’ bill-killing argument was: punish all the lawbreakers and seal the border, just seal it already.

Once Facing Deportation, a Woman Gets Asylum

September 8, 2007 - New York Times - It was a case that galvanized protests in Chinese-American communities around the United States last year and drew international attention: the pregnant Chinese woman who miscarried twins soon after she was taken by federal immigration officers from Philadelphia to New York to be deported.

Plan to Target Businesses That Employ Immigrants Draws Fire

September 8, 2007 - Washington Post - A pending crackdown by the Bush administration against U.S. companies that employ illegal immigrants faced growing opposition yesterday, as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and several large industry groups joined an AFL-CIO lawsuit to halt the program and the U.S. Small Business Administration said it was considering whether to take their side.

Officials Face Constitutional Complexities

September 7, 2007 - Washington Post - For elected officials who promised Northern Virginia voters that they would make their communities less hospitable to illegal immigrants, Herndon Town Council member Dennis D. Husch has some advice: Read up on the Constitution.

High-tech border system needs work

September 6, 2007 - Los Angeles Times - A much-touted, high-tech system being tested along the border with Mexico failed to meet expectations and is being reworked, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday. Still, he said, border security has improved dramatically.

Feds Stand Down on Immigration Crackdown (link to audio)

September 4, 2007 - Morning Edition - A new plan to crack down on illegal immigration is on hold. The federal program was supposed to have started this week. It compares employee Social Security numbers with those on file, and cracks down on employers with too many mismatches.

In a New Jersey Town, an Immigration Fight Pits Brother Against Brother

September 4, 2007 - New York Times - Bryan Lonegan, a prominent immigrant rights advocate, gets the question all the time. Is he related to Steven M. Lonegan, the Republican mayor of Bogota, N.J., who demanded last year that McDonald’s remove a billboard written in Spanish and who then pushed to make English the town’s official language?

Iraqi Refugees in the U.S. (link to audio)

September 3, 2007 - Talk of the Nation - Retired Gen. Joseph Hoar talks about his op-ed that appeared in The New York Times on Friday, in which he argues that the United States needs to open its doors to more Iraqi refugees.

Mexican President Assails U.S. Measures on Migrants

September 3, 2007 - New York Times - President Felipe Calderón harshly criticized the United States government on Sunday for the recent crackdown on illegal immigrants, saying it has led to the persecution of immigrant workers without visas.

Immigrants' Labors Lost

September 3, 2007 - New York Times Op-Ed - IMAGINE we wanted to create a huge Latino underclass in this country. We would induce more than 500,000 illegal immigrants to enter annually. We would see Latinos account for half of America’s population growth. We would turn a hardened eye toward all 44 million Latinos, because 12 million jumped our borders to meet our labor demand.

Living in Fear for Helping America

September 1, 2007 - New York Times Editorial - Of all the Iraqis jaded by the failure of the United States’ invasion, few are more fearful than the tens of thousands who worked loyally for the American war effort but now find themselves hunted as traitors by militant gunmen.

Rules on Hiring Illegal Workers Delayed

September 1, 2007 - New York Times - A federal judge in San Francisco yesterday temporarily barred the Department of Homeland Security from carrying out new rules to crack down on employers of illegal immigrants, dealing a legal setback to a central part of the Bush administration’s effort to step up enforcement of the immigration laws.

Abandoned at the Border

August 31, 2007 - New York Times Op-Ed - FOR more than a year, men and women in our armed forces have been urging the United States to bring to safety the Iraqi translators and others who have worked beside them and are now the victims of retaliation. A Marine captain, Zachary Iscol, said he owed his life and the lives of his men to his Iraqi translator. “Just coming to work was an act of heroism and courage on his part,” Captain Iscol said.

Texas: Iraqi Christian granted asylum

August 31, 2007 - Associated Press - An Iraqi Christian who used migrant smugglers to enter the United States after escaping persecution in his home country has been granted political asylum and will be allowed to remain. The immigration judge, William Peterson, granted a request from the man, Aamr Bahnan Boles, in Harlingen on Wednesday. Mr. Boles escaped from Iraq and made his way through Mexico to the Texas border near Brownsville, where he was captured with two other young Iraqi men as they swam the Rio Grande in April 2006. They claimed asylum on grounds they were subjected to brutality and threats in Iraq because of their faith. Mr. Boles served six months in prison on a charge of illegal entry while the F.B.I. investigated his claim. In January, he was released and has been staying with a relative in Sterling Heights, Mich.

Africans Making New Lives in the U.S. (link to audio)

August 28, 2007 - News & Notes - The number of African immigrants in the U.S. has more than tripled over the past decade, according to the Census Bureau. The influx is diverse, from scholars to illiterate refugees. More than 40 percent have college degrees, which is higher than the U.S. average.

Arizonans, Border Patrol Clash Over Checkpoint (link to audio)

August 24, 2007 - Morning Edition - On Interstate 19, the main corridor from Nogales, Ariz., to Tucson, drivers encounter a series of temporary barricades that cause them to slow down and eventually stop. They roll down their windows and pull up to a Border Patrol agent. The agent asks them their citizenship, where they're coming from and where they're going.

Discussing Elvira Arellano: Immigrant Hero? (link to audio)

August 23, 2007 - Tell Me More - Elvira Arellano is known to some as the Rosa Parks of the immigrants' rights movement. Arellano was recently deported to Mexico after refusing to leave the United States willingly for fear of being separated from her American-born son. Her stardom as the "representative" of immigrants continues to be debated.

Immigration Activist Deported to Mexico (link to audio)

Aug. 20, 2007 - Day to Day - Immigration activist Elvira Arellano, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who took sanctuary in a Chicago church, has been deported back to her home country. Arellano was attending a conference in Los Angeles, where she was taken into custody. Arellano stayed in the Chicago church for a year, and has an 8-year-old son who was born in the United States.

U.S. Agency Is Swamped by Request for Visas

August 18, 2007 - New York Times - Immigration authorities have received about 300,000 applications for high-skilled-employment visas since July 1, federal officials said yesterday, a deluge unleashed after the federal government first said it would not accept any applications for those visas during July and then reversed course.

Dying woman takes oath of citizenship

August 18, 2007 - Arizona Republic - Her body growing weaker day by day because of terminal cancer, Maria Torres de Chamberlin rose from her living room recliner Friday afternoon to celebrate one of the greatest days of her life.

She became a U.S. citizen.

Iraqi scholars seeks asylum

August 18, 2007 - Los Angeles Times - Ali Fadhil and his Iraqi medical school classmate promised two years ago to return home when their Fulbright scholarships in the United States ended.

That was before sectarian violence worsened last year. And it was before attention turned to Iraqi medical students in the wake of foiled attacks in Britain allegedly by a group of Muslim medical professionals, including an Iraqi doctor.

Gay Refugees Seek Asylum in U.S. (link to audio)

August 13, 2007 - Tell Me More - The United States offers asylum to gays and lesbians from other countries, and more are seeking it. In this week's Behind Closed Doors, Ivinelda Dos Santos shares why he sought asylum in the U.S. Also, Victoria Nielson with Immigration Equality, a group that works to help gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people seeking asylum, talks about the work of her group.

The No-Match Non-Solution

August 13, 2007 - New York Times Editorial - Who kept telling the country that immigration reform through enforcement alone was doomed to fail? President Bush, for one. “All elements of this problem must be addressed together,” he warned, “or none of them will be solved.” So what can be said about Mr. Bush’s latest stab at a policy, which fixates almost entirely on barricading the border, rooting out illegal workers and punishing their employers?

Maybe he forgot.

U.S. Anti-Terrorism Laws Hold Up Asylum Seekers

August 13, 2007 - Washington Post - More than seven months after the Bush administration promised help to a group of foreign nationals whose applications for asylum or refugee status have been hindered by strict interpretation of anti-terrorism laws, only a handful of the applicants have had their cases resolved.

To Curb Illegal Migration, Spain Offers a Legal Route

August 11, 2007 - New York Times - Fatou Faye was not the first person to head for Spain from her run-down corner of Dakar, the Senegalese capital. Half a dozen friends and relatives left before her, squeezing into wooden fishing boats and wagering their lives on the high seas for the chance of a future in Europe.

Rules to Target Illegal Immigrants Worry Employers (link to audio)

August 9, 2007 - Morning Edition - The Bush administration is about to clamp down further on the hiring of illegal immigrants. It's expected within days to announce new rules that would effectively require employers to fire workers if they use phony Social Security numbers. But employee and business groups fear the change could also hurt many legal workers.

Fewer Mexican Immigrants Are Sending Money Back Home, Bank Says

August 9, 2007 - New York Times - This year a smaller percentage of Mexican immigrants in the United States sent money back to their homeland than in 2006, according to a report released yesterday by the Inter-American Development Bank. The bank said the reduction had left at least two million people in Mexico without the same financial help they had once received.

Our Town

August 5, 2007 - New York Times Magazine - When I first met with Judy Sigwalt and her fellow village trustee Paul Humpfer this past April, they were, understandably, feeling assured, if not emboldened. A few weeks earlier, with the endorsement of the two local newspapers, they were elected to their village board on the platform that their town, Carpentersville, Ill., should do everything in its power to discourage illegal immigrants from settling there. They vowed to pass a local ordinance that would penalize landlords that rented to illegal aliens and businesses that hired them. They also pledged to make English the official language of the village, which would mean discontinuing the practice of printing various notices — including building-code violations and the monthly newsletter — in both English and Spanish. The third candidate on their slate also won, giving them a majority on the board. Sigwalt and Humpfer considered their election a mandate. Indeed, many in this village consider them heroes. Their supporters wear buttons that read, “Illegal Means Illegal,” and: “I’m tired. Are you? Ask Me Why!” with a sickly looking bald eagle wrapped in the American flag.

German native given more time in U.S.

August 4, 2007 - Toledo Blade - It’s been 10 years since Manuel Bartsch’s step-grandfather brought him to the United States as a 10-year-old German immigrant.

It’s been nearly two years since Mr. Bartsch was jailed, awaiting deportation for unknowingly violating a 90-day-visa when he was still a child.

Illegal-immigrant Crackdown Looms

Can Two Kids Alter Immigration Law?

Immigrant Simic to U.S. Poet Laureate

Plight of Muslim Immigrants in Post-Sept. 11 America

August 1, 2007 - New York Times - In their no-frills documentary, “Out of Status,” Pia Sawhney and Sanjna N. Singh examine the actions of the Immigration and Naturalization Service after 9/11 and the devastating repercussions for America’s Muslims.

Judge Finds Widespread Abuses in Immigration Detention

July 31, 2007 - ACLU News Release - In a nationwide review of legal rights for immigrants in federal detention, a federal judge has found serious violations of the government's own standards relating to detention conditions.

In Deadly Desert, Border Crossers Opt for Capture (link to audio)

July 31, 2007 - All Things Considered - All day long, buses pull up about 100 yards short of the traffic-choked Mariposa port. The entry marks the boundary between Nogales, Ariz., and Nogales, in the Mexican state of Sonora. The buses carry people who got caught trying to cross the border. If they have no criminal record, it is U.S. policy to simply drive them back to the border and drop them off.

Witnesses to Persecution

July 29, 2007 - New York Times - Thinking realistically about the history of the American West easily lands on the list of this nation’s top 10 least favorite pastimes. Hundreds of historians have invested their life force in pointing out the inaccuracies in the image of the 19th-century West as a place of colorful romance and innocent adventure. “No thanks,” the believers reliably respond. “We like our version a lot better.”

Now, Jean Pfaelzer steps forward as a fresh reinforcement in this morale-draining campaign. In “Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans,” she tells the story of the “thousands of Chinese people who were violently herded onto railroad cars, steamers or logging rafts, marched out of town or killed,” from the Pacific coast to the Rocky Mountains. Despite the forceful adjective of Pfaelzer’s subtitle, this burdensome history has not been entirely “forgotten.” Scholars have written comprehensively and memorably about it. But it is surely accurate to say that a majority of Americans live without a recognition of the degree, scale and extent of these chilling undertakings.

Iraqi Refugee Program Moving Slowly (link to audio)

July 29, 2007 - Weekend Edition - Syria and Jordan are appealing for help in dealing with a refugee crisis from Iraq, where more than 2 million people have left the country.

The United States has pledged to bring in about 7,000 Iraqi refugees this year, but has yet to come even close to that number. Members of Congress are getting frustrated with the slow pace of admissions — particularly for Iraqis targeted because of their association with the Americans.

Humanity vs. Hazleton

July 28, 2007 - New York Times Editorial - A federal judge has dealt what we can only hope is a decisive blow against a dangerous trend of freelance immigration policies by local governments. Judge James M. Munley of the central Pennsylvania district, struck down ordinances in the town of Hazleton that sought to harshly punish undocumented immigrants for trying to live and work there, and employers and landlords for providing them with homes and jobs.

Judge Voids Ordinance on Illegal Immigrants

July 27, 2007 - New York Times - A federal judge in Pennsylvania yesterday struck down ordinances adopted by the City of Hazleton to bar illegal immigrants from working or renting homes there, the most resounding legal blow so far to local efforts across the country to crack down on illegal immigration.

Meeting on Aiding 2 Million Iraqi Refugees Highlights Divisions

July 27, 2007 - New York Times - Diplomats and other delegates met here on Thursday to try to find ways to resolve the plight of more than two million Iraqi refugees estimated to be in Jordan, Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East, but they stopped short of proposing any concrete solutions.

Law Targeting Illegal Immigrants Struck Down (link to audio)

July 26, 2007 - All Things Considered - A federal judge has struck down a law targeting illegal immigrants in Hazleton, Pa. The law would have penalized employers who hired illegal immigrants and fined landlords who rented to them.

Hazleton is just one of several communities that have passed such laws, saying Congress has failed to block illegal immigration.

U.S. Officials Admit Delays in Issuing Visas to Iraqis

July 24, 2007 - New York Times - Bush administration officials said Monday that they were trying to help Iraqis working for the American Embassy in Iraq to immigrate to the United States, but they also conceded that a gap remained between American words and actions on the issue.

Report for local police explains immigration issues

July 24, 2007 - USA Today - The nation's largest association of police chiefs is distributing an unusual primer on immigration enforcement to thousands of law enforcement agencies, saying the absence of a national immigration policy has left local communities with an "overwhelming" burden.

School Recruiters Turn To 'Innovative Places'

July 23, 2007 - Washington Post - Ireneo Abadejos and Julieta Perez are among what they call the "lucky 30" Filipino teachers hired by the Prince George's County school system in October 2004 as part of an experiment to help fill a big teacher shortage.

Temporary Workers, Lasting Impact

July 23, 2007 - Washington Post - The iPod-carrying lifeguard watching over the rooftop pool at the posh Park Connecticut apartments, the physics teacher at Suitland High School and several laborers all have one thing in common: They are among the foreign workers who keep the local economy running, turning up more and more often in unexpected jobs.

 

The Blue Campaign is organized around the "three Ps" of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000: Prevention, Protection, and Prosecution.