We should take a look at the Immigration system in Canada.






Legal Foreign workers disappeared after arriving in Canada, P.E.I. mussel grower Says.


A mussel grower who took part in a federal foreign-worker program says he was burned to the tune of more than $50,000 when workers he brought over from Sri Lanka disappeared after two weeks.

Stephen Stewart, owner of Stewart Mussel Farms Inc. in Borden, P.E.I., testified Tuesday during a House of Commons standing committee on citizenship and immigration hearing in Fredericton.

He told the committee loopholes in immigration laws should be closed so employers can enforce contracts with foreign workers.

In May 2006, Stewart hired 11 workers from Sri Lanka through a private third party to work at his plant in Borden.

He told the committee it cost him more than $20,000 in return airfare for the workers, $20,000 for accommodations, the cost of a 12-seat van to provide transportation in and around Borden, and other incidentals in accordance with federal rules designed to accommodate foreign workers.

Stewart said the eight-month work agreement included a Canadian visa valid for a year.

"Two weeks after they arrived here they priced taxi fare to Ottawa, and two weeks after that they all disappeared," he told the committee.

Stewart said he complained to the Immigration Department and the RCMP.

"The RCMP searched my property and took the foreign workers' possessions they had left behind," he said. "Immigration officials said no laws were broken and there was nothing they could do.

Immigration Backlog. Open a little light to the Immigrants future.



Good news but not great news. Immigrants trying hard to reached their American Dream but their Still a huge Backlog at Immigration Offices. .

LOS ANGELES -- Some federal immigration offices in the Los Angeles area are being kept open on weekends to help reduce the nation's largest backlog of immigration applications.

According to figures from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, its Los Angeles District had 127,533 pending applications in January. The district covers seven Southern California counties.

That figure is nearly 70 percent larger than the nation's second-biggest backlog, in Miami.

District Director Jane Arellano says applicants in Southern California typically wait nine months to a year for an interview. But officials say weekend schedules at offices in East Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Bernardino are helping cut that wait.

Nationwide, Citizenship and Immigration Services received 1.4 million applications in 2007, nearly double the number for 2006

Hoy Marchamos, Manana Votamos. Today we march, tomorrow will vote. Marches and Actions announced for May 1st.



National Day of Action in Defense of Immigrant Families

MAY 1

ARIZONA

Tucson
March and Meeting
South Gate Shopping Center
8 AM

Phoenix
March
Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum to State Capitol
8:30 AM

CALIFORNIA

Berkeley
Rally and March
Sproul Plaza to City Hall
11 AM
Castroville

Chico
Meeting/March
City Hall
3 – 8 PM

Davis
Meeting and March
UC Davis Campus
11 – 2 PM


Farmersville
March
Memorial Park
4 PM

Fort Bragg
March
La Bamba Store
9:00 AM

Fresno
Meeting and March
Medical Center- Fulton Mall
4 - 8 PM

Los Angeles
March
Olympic/Broadway
12 PM

Los Angeles
March and Meeting
3rd/Vermont to McArthur Park
2 – 7 PM

Los Angeles
March
5 Points to City Hall
11 AM

Madera
Meeting
5 PM

Martinez
Vigil and March
Martinez Marina
5:30 PM

Modesto
Mitin
Hatch Road/Crow Landing
10 AM

Mountain View
Vigilia
The Worker Center
Calvary Church
5 PM

Oakland
March
Fruitvale Plaza – along International Boulevard
9 AM

Sacramento
March
Hiram Johnson High School to State Capitol
10 AM

Salinas
Four marches
Constitutional and Laurel
12 PM – 5 PM

San Diego
March
Chicano Park to City Hall
10 AM

San Diego
Rally
City College
3 PM

San Francisco
March
Dolores Park to Civic Center
12 PM – 3 PM

San Jose
Rally and March
Mi Pueblo Shopping Center
4 PM

San Rafael
Vigil and march
Community Center – Canal
6 AM – 10 AM

Santa Rosa
March
Old Albertsons Shopping Center
11 AM

COLORADO

Denver
March
Lincoln Park
10 AM

ILLINOIS

Chicago
Rally and March
Union Park
Chicago
10 AM

INDIANA

Indianapolis
March
5 – 9 PM

KENTUCKY

Louisville
Meeting y march
Courthouse to Jefferson Park
5 – 7 PM

MASSACHUSSETTS

Boston
Meeting and march
Boston Common
4 PM

Chelsea
March
City Hall to Central Square
2 – 5 PM

MICHIGAN

Detroit
Meeting
Downtown

MINNESOTA

Minneapolis
Marcha
Lake Street
4 PM

NEVADA

Las Vegas
Mitin
US Federal Courthouse
7 PM

NEW JERSEY

Elizabeth
Meeting
Warinanco park
11 AM

NEW MEXICO

Albuquerque
March
Tiguex Park
3 – 5 PM

Santa Fe
March
Downtown – De Vargas Park
4 – 7 PM

NEW YORK

New York City
Meeting and March
Union Square Park to Federal Plaza
4 PM

NORTH CAROLINA

Raleigh
Peaceful Gathering
Legislative House

OREGON

Portland
Meeting and March
SW Park
4 PM

Salem, OR
March to State Capitol
11 AM -3 PM

PENNSYLVANIA

Pittsburgh
March and Meeting
Downtown to Mellon Square Park
4 PM

TEXAS

Austin
Meeting
State Capitol
5 – 7:30 PM

McAllen
March
Municipal Park
6 PM

San Antonio
Meeting and March
Plaza del Zacate
12 PM – 7 PM

WASHINGTON

Bellingham
Meeting
Cornwall Park
12-6

Mt. Vernon
Meeting and March
11am

Seattle
March and meeting
Seattle Center Fisher Pavillion
3 PM

Yakima
March
Miller Park
3:30 PM

WISCONSIN

Madison
March and meeting
State Capitol
12 PM

Milwaukee
March
12 PM

CANADA

Vancouver

March in Solidarity with Migrants, Migrants and Undocumented
Clark Park to Grandview Park
6 PM

APRIL 29

Modesto, CA
Rally-March
Gil’s Plaza
3 PM

Mendota, CA
March of Children
10 AM

Jersey City, NJ
Rally
Journal Square
3 PM

APRIL 30

Los Angeles
Immigrant Rights Teach In
Antioch University
2 PM

New York
Public Forum on STRIVE Act
LaGuardia Community College
1 – 2:30 PM

Please, be alert that Minuteman Groups, Alipac Members will show up to those marches.
Let's marched civil and without violence.
Email going thru all Anti Immigrants sites about the marches..

Si se puede. Yes, We can.

Where does exactly the high crime rates of undocumented immigrants numbers come from ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ? ? ? ?



Who should be responsible and accountable for spewed ignorance and bigots numbers?
Why we are not discussing the debate on Immigration with a rational debate with a fair and balanced facts and not bigots, inflated numbers?

In fact even cities, States has been reached the lowest level in crime by years when supposedly the legal and undocumented Immigration increased.

But Hispanics living in Chandler fear Joe Arpaio’s immigration sweeps will be a repeat of the “Chandler Roundup,” the 1997 raid in which local and federal authorities arrested hundreds of people suspected of living in the country Undocumented — including U.S. citizens.

Gascón spoke publicly for the first time Tuesday at a press conference about the possibility of Arpaio’s sweeps moving into Mesa. The police chief said he is worried he may have to pay officers overtime, and is concerned with the possibility of racial profiling and civil disturbances occurring in his jurisdiction.

Gascón cited a “growing concern that people are being stopped because of the way they look,” and said he is fearful that this type of police behavior could continue into the future.

“I’m extremely concerned if we create generations of police officers who don’t understand the 14th Amendment,” Gascón said from a podium inside the police department.

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires, among other things, that states provide everyone with equal protection under the law.

Gascón said he has seen incidents, including one in his city, where people were held for hours because they were believed to be in the country illegally, when in fact, they were not. And the chief said his department has found that illegal immigrants aren’t even the people committing most of the crimes.

A two-year study conducted by Mesa police showed that the ethnic groups who commit crimes in Mesa tend to be proportionate to the number of members of that group who reside in the city. Also, the study found that illegal immigrants are not committing crimes at a disproportionate rate.

In fact, in 2007 crime reached the lowest point the city has seen in ten years, despite the fact that the illegal immigrant population has risen. He called this a “phenomenon” that hasn’t yet been explained, but asked the question that if illegal immigrants are bringing crime into the area, then why has crime not risen?

“There are some academics that would argue that illegal immigrants are less likely to commit crimes,” Gascón said.

He said that in many cases illegal immigrants are fearful they’ll be deported if they break the law and added that even most gangs contain legal residents. “There is so much misinformation out there,” Gascón said. “The gang problem in Arizona is not driven by illegal immigrants...the gang problems in this country are home grown. They are social and economic problems in our inner cities

Hot Topics on His Panic Blogs.
Working together for a common cause: The American Dream, Justice and Human rights for all.

Dee at Immigration talk with Mexican American exposing the false accusations to Hispanics Students. http://immigrationmexicanamerican.blogspot.com/2008/04/girl-makes-false-accusations-anti-blogs.html

Ctizene Orange exposed know your rights in case of ICE raids. http://www.citizenorange.com/orange/2008/04/prepare-for-ice-raids-chirla-v.html

Damm Mexicans exposed the ignorance goes beyond reality for the Anti Immigrants. Crazy. http://damnmexicans.blogspot.com/2008/04/crazies.html

American Humanity exposed el Loco anda suelto. Sheriff Joe Arpaio is obssesed at Mexicans and Latinos. His behavior is not only reprehensible, but it’s irresponsible. http://americanhumanity.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/lawmakers-letter-to-arpaio-ktarcom/

Illegal is illegal exposed a Dream deferred. The denial of opportunitties for their American Dream. http://illegalisillegal.blogspot.com/2008/03/dream-deferred.html

Immigrant List reported that John McCain admitting that the harsh immigration rhetoric has hurt the Republican party. http://www.immigrantslist.org/index.php/blog/entries/mccain_says_immigration_hurting_gop/

The Unapologetic Mexican exposing the bill past due. http://www.theunapologeticmexican.org/elgrito/2008/04/bill_past_due.html

Counterpunch exposing the Anti Immigrant Hysteria and the Anti Immigrants in America. http://counterpunch.com/waj04092008.html

Building America together. Let's make a change once in our life. sign the pledge
that "We Must Build America Together ". http://www.fairimmigration.org/petition/

Citizens against Hate exposed the War of Word: The Invisible Opportunity. http://nicolen.wordpress.com/2008/03/26/war-of-the-word-%c2%ab-the-invisible-opportunity/

Causa Oregon exposing The Alipac, and the Anti Immigrants groups sharing egg on their face. http://causaoregon.blogspot.com/2008/04/alipac-anti-latino-groups-share-egg-on.html

Fronteras discussing What does mean to be Highly skilled?. http://www.fronteras.org/2008/04/08/what-does-it-mean-to-be-highly-skilled/

War on Racism exposing Racism in our modern world. White supremacist gets life for killing 7-Eleven Clerk. Which 7-11 does have nothing to do with 9-11 !!!!!!!!!. http://waronracism.blogspot.com/2008/04/white-supremacist-gets-life-for-killing.html

Latino Pundit acknowledge Latinos and their Jewish Heritage. http://www.latinopundit.com/2008/04/latinos-and-their-jewish-herit.html

Vivir Latino exposing the role reversals: White collar day laborers. http://vivirlatino.com/2008/04/09/role-reversals-white-collar-day-laborers.php

Mexico Trucker explaining the cross border program. http://mexicotrucker.com/2008/04/09/explaining-the-cross-border-program-to-joe-6-pack-american/

State of Opportunitty discussed Oprah and the "Salt Retention Slavery Hypothesis. http://opportunityagenda.typepad.com/the_state_of_opportunity/2008/04/oprah-and-the-s.html

Save Darfur from Genocide. Tell Investment Firms to Stop Investing in Genocide. Is your Mutual fund funding genocide? http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/divest_now

Again ignorance goes beyond History and reality from Another Republican representative. The U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite said that Puerto ricans are foreign Citizens. Does she means Puerto Ricans are not U.S. Citizens?


Apparently she forgot The Jones-Shafroth Act (1917), also known as the "Jones Act" or "Jones Law" for Puerto Rico, amended the "Organic Act of Puerto Rico" created by the Foraker Act of 1900. (This "Jones Act" applies only to Puerto Rico.

This act applies to the grant of citizenship to all citizens of Puerto Rico. The 1917amendments to the "Organic Act of Puerto Rico," amended the Foraker Act of 1900.
Many Puerto Ricans served in the United States Armed Forces beginning in World War I.

The comments by U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite that Puerto Ricans living on the island are “foreign citizens” who should not receive the benefits of the economic stimulus plan that Congress is considering have touched a firestorm.

Even the government of Puerto Rico, a United States territory since 1898 whose people have U.S. citizenship since since 1917, issued what is sort of a reprimand letter to Brown-Waite on Thursday through Eduardo Bhatia, its representative in Washington, D.C.

Bhatia told her: “your comments … published in the Orlando Sentinel complaining that Puerto Ricans are ‘foreign citizens’ and should not benefit from the federal economic stimulus plan were not only wrong but also highly insensitive.”

He wondered if her comments “stemmed from sheer ignorance about Puerto Rico” and listed some helpful facts for the next time Brown-Waite decides to comment on island issues.

“One would assume that someone like you who was born in New York and represents a district in Florida — two states where over 2 million Puerto Ricans reside— would know that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and have been U.S. citizens for close to a century,” Bhatia’s letter stated.

Puerto Rican activists in metro Orlando —where the population that traces its heritage to the island surpasses 220,000— are livid. Many have written letters of protest or discussed the matter in the airwaves of the region’s Spanish-language media, even speaking of a protest and offering to teach Brown-Waite some history and geography lessons.

“She is an ignoramus,” said Emilio Pérez, president of the Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida. “I think we should make an example of her. Puerto Ricans should unite to support whoever is running against her in the next election.”

Some activists in the Orlando area were ready to march on Brown-Waite’s office, if necessary, to get her to apologize for what they saw as a disrespectful characterization of all Puerto Ricans.

“Are we going to continue tolerating the constant insults to the Puerto Rican heritage and our rights and responsibilities for this nation?” asked Zulma Vélez Estrada, a Kissimmee activist, in a letter to the community. “Are we going to consent to this nonsense or are we going to stand for our dignity and demonstrate our place in history, and in this community?”

Armando Ramírez, an Osceola activist who had been calling for a protest, said the community would wait before organizing a protest to see if Brown-Waite would apologize.
Sam López, who chairs the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne, said he has heard from many Puerto Ricans willing to participate in a protest. He blames the congresswoman’s comments on anti-Hispanic sentiment that has rubbed off from the immigration debate.
“This is basically a continuation of a Republican Conservative agenda, demeaning Hispanic people,” Lopez said. “

Why Federal Goverment let part of our society being guardians of national immigration laws which has led to harmful racial and ethnic profiling?.

"There is more work to be done," said University of Missouri System President Gary Forsee after greeting the crowd with "buenas tardes," the Spanish phrase for "good afternoon."
Forsee also for the first time publicly announced the university’s opposition to a proposed Missouri constitutional amendment to make illegal any form of affirmative action. Concurrent with the Council on Public Higher Education, a group of presidents and chancellors of public institutions of higher education in the state, Forsee said claims that affirmative action resulted in reverse discrimination were "false, absolutely false."
In a session after the introductory remarks, Kansas City immigration lawyer Roger McCrummen addressed the implications of local enforcement of national immigration laws.
"Many people are saying, ‘Let’s make their lives so miserable here that they’ll go back, they’ll self-deport,’ " McCrummen said at the Stoney Creek Inn’s conference room, where the MU-sponsored conference is being held through tomorrow. "That’s not going to happen because they have families here and jobs here. It only makes a less secure society."
McCrummen described the formation of a "checkpoint society" by the litany of immigration laws being considered in Missouri that seek to empower local law enforcement officials, employers and private landlords to check the immigration status of people.
"If it’s not helping families or the economy … then why are you insisting on such laws?" McCrummen asked.
Hyuen Pham, an immigration law expert from Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in Fort Worth, said charging local law enforcement and private citizens who are untrained in immigration law to be guardians of national immigration laws has led to harmful racial and ethnic profiling.
"The trend of local enforcement of immigration law might be one of the most important today," she said.
During the question-and-answer period, attendee Andy Laughlin of Stark City asked why no distinction was being made between people who are "anti-immigrant" and those who are "anti-illegal immigrant."
"Those are two completely different people in my view," said Laughlin, who works in early childhood development with both legal and illegal immigrant families. Laughlin also took offense to comments by the speakers that claimed enforcing certain immigration laws would split "mixed-status" families, where a mother and child might be legal residents and a father not.
"If you capitulate to somebody that’s illegal in the name of community relations, then that’s a big error or a big mistake," he said. Laughlin later called the Tribune to clarify: "It’s all very complex, and there’s no easy answer, and to give a knee-jerk reaction is wrong.
"This is not the same thing as a bank robber, rapist, murderer because of the complexity," he said, describing a hypothetical situation. "This is a man. The only illegal activity he’s doing is being here illegally, but being understanding and sympathetic is a necessity."

Detention facility for immigrant kids sued for violating and abuse their civil and constitutional rights.





Eight immigrant teenagers held at a facility for unaccompanied minors filed a federal lawsuit Thursday claiming they were abused and denied access to attorneys.
The teens from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Cuba were being held at the San Antonio facility run by Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc. under a contract with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Undocumented minors caught by authorities in the United States fall under the care of ORR while their immigration cases are decided.
But Susan Watson, an attorney for Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, said the teens were beaten and subjected to other excessive force in violation of their constitutional rights.

At least one teen was knocked unconscious, but complaints to facility administrators were ignored, according to the lawsuit.
Officials at Cornell also denied the teens access to attorneys by unnecessarily transferring them to other facilities before scheduled lawyer meetings, the lawsuit alleges.
The suit names Cornell and 15 employees along with three employees of ORR. It does not name ORR itself because the teens have not filed or exhausted their administrative claims against the agency, a requirement that must be fulfilled before the federal government can be sued.
"We vociferously dispute the charges in the lawsuit, and we'll make our case in court," said Cornell spokesman Charles Siegel.
The facility has 122 beds, but Cornell has a contract to house no more than 25 unaccompanied minors there, Seigel said.
Calls to officials at ORR were not immediately returned .
The allegations raised by the immigrant teens were not the first against Cornell.
Arkansas fired Cornell from the operation of a juvenile facility in November 2006 after finding employees inappropriately injected youth with anti-psychotic medication to control behavior.
And in September, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials removed 600 detainees from an Albuquerque, N.M., facility run by Cornell, citing failure to maintain safety, health and well-being standards there.

U.S. closed the door for H1B Applications




The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service says it has stopped taking visa applications for skilled workers – seven days after the visa window opened for the 2009 fiscal year.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which wants companies to have wider and easier access to foreign workers, quickly complained that employers would have “a problem” filling jobs domestically and that bright foreigners would be less likely to want to study and work in the U.S.

At issue are 65,000 H1B visas available for employers seeking to bring in skilled workers for up to six years. There are an additional 20,000 H1B visas for foreign-born graduates of U.S. universities with master’s and doctoral degrees.

The visas are available for the year beginning Oct. 1, but employers are allowed to file applications six months early—which means April 1. The immigration service collected applications through April 7, when it concluded it had more than enough to fill its quota. It now will hold a random drawing to winnow down the applications.

The chamber pointed out that an employer who needs a specialized worker today couldn’t bring him or her to the U.S. for at least 18 months—until after the start of fiscal 2010.

In recent years, the immigration service has collected more than enough applications for the 65,000 skilled-worker visas within days of opening the visa window, but it has taken several months for employers to take up the 20,000 visas for U.S. university graduates. This year, both categories filled within days.

Employers have been leaning on Congress for years to lift the visa caps, and Congress is generally sympathetic. But the bills usually drown under the weight of amendments attached by groups representing other immigration issues, including legal status for illegal immigrants, in-state tuition for illegal-immigrant children and more seasonal work visas.

Three skills bill were introduced in the House this spring, but with little hope of a comprehensive reform bill any time soon, those bills also are likely to be magnets for other immigrant issues

THE PERMANENT LABOR CERTIFICATION PROCESS:




A Broken and Dysfunctional System that Serves Neither American Employers Nor American Workers neither applicants.


THE ISSUE:

Current law requires most employers seeking to permanently employ immigrants to obtain a certification from the Department of Labor (DOL) that there are no U.S. workers able, willing, qualified or available for the position offered to the foreign national before they are granted permanent residence (a "green card"). However, the system developed by DOL to meet this requirement has become inefficient and overly bureaucratic and goes far beyond the original statutory requirement. It neither meets the needs of employers looking to fill a position nor protects the U.S. workforce.

BACKGROUND:

From a single clause in the Immigration and Nationality Act, DOL has created 23 pages of regulations, innumerable policy directives, an entire Technical Assistance Guide, a Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals, a multimillion dollar bureaucracy and a system that is often completely unintelligible to employers. This system mandates a DOL-sponsored, supervised, and detailed recruitment process, separate from and conducted often much later than an employer's own unsuccessful domestic recruitment efforts.

The DOL, not the employer, dictates the appropriate methods of recruitment, the correct description of the job, and the "normal" requirements for the job. DOL also receives and reviews all applications, and decides whether the ultimate selection or rejection of a candidate was acceptable.

The entire process can take two years or longer to complete in some areas of the country. Such an extended period of time requires employers and foreign nationals to put their businesses and lives on hold. Any change in the employer, the job, or the recruitment, requires that the process begin again.

CURRENT STATUS:

All parties involved in the system agree that it is dysfunctional. DOL has tried to "reengineer" the program over the last several years. However, inconsistent direction from policy-makers, and inconsistent implementation in the regions has stymied any effective change. Further, DOL's lack of resources to implement the program has led to unconscionable delays and backlogs in most areas of the country

IMMIGRATION SYSTEM IS DYSFUNCTIONAL AND NEEDS A REFORM. PROBLEMS WITH EMPLOYMENT BASED IMMIGRATION.






EMPLOYMENT-BASED IMMIGRANTS:

Per-Country Limits Make No Sense

ISSUE:

Certain skilled foreign nationals who are eligible for permanent residence (green cards) are unable to complete processing of their applications simply because of their country of origin. Current immigration law imposes limits on the number of employment-based immigrants who can come from any single foreign country, without regard to their skills or the ways they can benefit the United States. Because of this limitation, backlogs in certain categories can mean waits of several years before these skilled immigrants can take up the positions for which a U.S. employer has sponsored them. Some of these individuals already are in the country working for their employers, but when their temporary status expires will have to leave the country, and their jobs.

BACKGROUND:

Per-country limits have not always existed. Until 1986, no per-country limits applied to any country in employment-based categories. Under current law, no more than 9,800 visas can be issued to employment-based immigrants (including their spouses and children) from any single country. The quota bears no relation to demand: countries with large populations or a large number of emigrants have the same quota as countries with small populations or low emigration rates.

The backlogs are a recent phenomenon.

The high-tech boom has led to an increase in the number of employment-based applicants, particularly from India and China, resulting in these backlogs. However, while persons from those countries have to wait in long lines, more than 20,000 visas under the overall employment-based cap went unused last fiscal year, since many countries never come close to using up their annual allotment.

Per-country limits restrict competition.

Because of the long waiting times, employers and the U.S. cannot benefit from the skills these immigrants offer, simply because of the accident of their location of birth. This limitation flies in the face of the U.S. policy to bring the best skills and talents of the world to this country. Further, because many of these potential immigrants decide to take jobs in other countries instead of waiting, the United States is placed at a competitive disadvantage.

Per-country limits have resulted in absurd situations.

Some foreign nationals in the backlog have qualified to immigrate because they have skills and abilities that "will substantially benefit the United States" and are "in the national interest." Even though the INS has certified their potential value to the United States, these individuals still must wait years before they can get their green cards. In addition, foreign nationals waiting their turn include persons that will hold jobs for which the Government has certified there are no U.S. workers available, requiring employers to go without needed employees for long periods of time.

CURRENT STATUS: The Senate-passed version of the H-1B bill originally included a provision that would have allowed employment-based immigrants to obtain their green cards without regard to the per-country limits as long as there were unused visas available in their category. However, the final compromise measure that was signed into law did not include this provision

Joe Arpaio is out of control. We need people like Mr. Arpaio in Iraq !!!!!!!!









To see how unhinged things have become, it pays to zero in on the squalid doings in Maricopa County, Ariz. It is home to Phoenix, the country’s fifth-largest city, and the largest 287(g) program anywhere.

It is run by the county sheriff, Joe Arpaio, who has built a national reputation for toughness through years of cruelty to prison inmates and an insatiable appetite for publicity. Where most departments have only handfuls of officers trained to enforce federal immigration laws, Sheriff Joe, as he is known, has 160. Their efforts are supplemented by what the sheriff says, without apology, is a 3,000-member “posse.”

For months now, Sheriff Joe has been sending squads of officers through Latino neighborhoods, pulling cars over for broken taillights or turn-signal violations, checking drivers’ and passengers’ papers and arresting illegal immigrants by the dozen.

Because he sends out press releases beforehand, the sweeps are accompanied by TV crews and protesters — deport-’em-all hard-liners facing off against immigrant advocates. Being Arizona, many of those shouting and jeering are also packing guns. Sheriff Joe, seemingly addicted to the buzz, has been filmed marching down the street shaking hands with adoring Minutemen.

If this doesn’t look to you like a carefully regulated, federally supervised effort to catch dangerous criminals, that’s because it isn’t. It is a series of stunts focused mostly on day laborers, as Sheriff Joe bulldozes his way toward re-election.

The sheriff says he is keeping the peace, but it seems as if he is doing just the opposite — a useless, reckless churning of fear and unrest. Mayor Phil Gordon of Phoenix has denounced him, saying the raids are interfering with undercover city police officers and federal agents. The mayor of Guadalupe implored him to leave her community alone. State and county officials have pointed out that Sheriff Joe has ignored tens of thousands of outstanding criminal warrants while chasing day laborers and headlines. They say he has grossly violated the terms of his 287(g) agreement — which calls for federal oversight of local police — and have called on Washington to rein him in.

“Do you think I’m going to report to the federal government?” he said. “I don’t report to them. If they don’t like the contract, they can close it up. That’s all.”

“By the way,” he said, “we do have a 3,000-person posse — and about 500 have guns. They have their own airplanes, jeeps, motorcycles, everything. They can only operate under the sheriff. I swear ’em in. I can put up 30 airplanes tomorrow if I wanted.”

The federal government so far seems unconcerned.

“He has stayed within the bounds of the agreement,” Matthew Allen, special agent in charge of immigration and customs enforcement in Arizona, told The Arizona Republic. Jim Pendergraph, an I.C.E. official from Washington, told the paper that after driving to Guadalupe to watch Sheriff Joe in action: “I saw nothing that gave me heartburn.”

It’s past time for Congress to hold hearings on these agreements, starting with a subpoena for Sheriff Joe.

Why a nation so keen on seeing itself as a light for the world, and both admired and hated for its bluster and swagger.




I outlined the ongoing strains of xenophobia and racism in U.S. society. By Gregory Rodriguez.


Last February, I found myself in the difficult position of explaining American insecurity to a group of Mexican undergraduates at a college in Matamoros, Mexico, just south of the border at Brownsville, Texas. I was taking questions after delivering a lecture on the long-term prospects of Mexican immigrants being accepted into U.S. society. A neatly dressed young man in the back stood up to ask a pointed question. "How," he said politely in Spanish, "could such a rich and powerful country be so self-centered as to build a wall on its border to keep people out?"

For a moment, I figured I could give him a simple answer: A vocal constituency wants to keep border crossers out at all costs; they operate under the easy rubric of law enforcement and homeland security. But he was asking a deeper question than that

First, I discussed the historical cycle of the U.S. embracing and then rejecting the outside world, how we can sometimes be both generous and selfish to newcomers. I outlined the ongoing strains of xenophobia and racism in U.S. society. I mentioned the profound ethnic demographic shift in the U.S. and asked him whether he thought Mexicans would be any less "self-centered" if faced with a similar situation. And then I got to the hard part: having to explain why citizens of arguably the richest and most powerful nation on Earth could feel so put upon by the world.

Last week, the Bush administration's Department of Homeland Security announced that it would use its waiver authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations to finish building 670 miles of fence along our southern border by the end of the year. And if all that goes according to plan, I won't be the only American having to explain what this new border wall says about us as a people and a country. For the last 120 years, Americans have been able to point to the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of our collective pride in our immigrant origins. But future generations are more likely to point to the wall on our southern border as an altogether different symbol.

The most vocal supporters of the border wall like to portray the United States as a hapless victim of illegal immigrants. They act as if these people show up out of nowhere, as if they are not part of a long-established pattern. There's little recognition that the U.S. is just as responsible for creating the flows northward as is our eternally mismanaged southern neighbor.

We forget that as early as the late 19th century, we looked to Mexicans to build the railroads throughout the Southwest; that, in 1917, when Congress closed the door to European migration, it quietly made plans for Mexicans to fill our labor needs; that, beginning in World War II, we imported hundreds of thousands of Mexican guest workers who familiarized themselves with life in the U.S. and shared their experiences and networks with their families and friends back home.

Yes, there is a difference between legal and illegal immigration, but sometimes one begets the other. When Congress began to reduce the number of legal visas available to Mexicans from an unlimited supply in the mid-1960s to 20,000 per year in 1976 (not including family reunification), it not only didn't stop the northward flow it had helped foster, it literally created illegal immigration.

My inquisitor in Matamoros, and others in the audience, seemed to acknowledge that the U.S. had no moral obligation to offer economic opportunity to the people of Mexico. But he did seem genuinely confused about why a nation so keen on seeing itself as a light for the world, and both admired and hated for its bluster and swagger, could cower behind a wall from a migration that it helped create. Mexicans -- and Canadians for that matter -- who live in our shadow and define themselves against casual displays of U.S. power can't fathom our anxieties.



"The average American," I said, "doesn't feel as powerful and entitled as the national image would suggest. In fact, in many ways both our economic system and our diverse origins encourage a strong sense of social insecurity. As individuals and members of groups, Americans are constantly jockeying for position and legitimacy. On an everyday level, they're not likely to feel as secure as you'd imagine."

But nearly two months later, I realize that I didn't fully answer the man's question.

So here it is: Although there has always been a flip side to American confidence and bravado, by building the wall --

all three leading presidential candidates voted for it

-- we Americans have chosen to enshrine and showcase our insecurity. And whether you agree with the decision to build it or not, you have to admit that such a defensive act is an odd thing to do for a nation so proud of its global power and largesse


http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-oe-rodriguez7apr07,1,7050658.column

Exposing the illegal conduct of the Minuteman Leader

Judge for yourself. Lou Dobbs assured nationally that any member of the Minuteman do not incite to violence..

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Minutemen shows the accomplishment: Chicken Dance

Have fun and enjoy it.

Ilegal Yellow Submarine

I had posted this video from Illegal yellow submarines from a special request. Patriot

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Cancer Growing in Prince William

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