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30 April, 2008

Northern Virginia: Prince William County policies working

And may drive others in the same direction

Hundreds of foreign-born families have pulled their children from Prince William County public schools and enrolled them in nearby Fairfax County, Arlington County and Alexandria since the start of the school year, imposing a new financial burden on those inner suburbs in a time of lean budgets. The school-to-school migration within Northern Virginia started just as Prince William began implementing rules to deny some services to illegal immigrants and require police to check the immigration status of crime suspects thought to be in the country illegally.

Opponents of the rules say they have had a chilling effect on Prince William's once-thriving Latino community, prompting even legal immigrants to flee a hostile environment. Supporters say the rules have done what they were supposed to by primarily pushing illegal immigrants out. "The resolution is clearly working," said Corey A. Stewart (R-At Large), chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. "It is driving down the non-English-speaking portion of the schools and saving us millions of dollars. They're going to other jurisdictions and costing them money." Stewart called those jurisdictions "sanctuary" cities and counties, saying illegal immigrants are welcome there. He added: "There is going to be pressure to enact similar resolutions in those neighboring cities and counties." Officials from those jurisdictions reject that assertion.

Until now, the evidence of a migration has been largely anecdotal, making it difficult to measure or trace its causes. Data from school systems, however, provide the most concrete evidence to date that a significant exodus of immigrants is underway -- and that most of those leaving are settling in neighboring communities.

According to the Prince William school system, enrollment in the English for speakers of other languages, or ESOL, program dropped by 759 between September and March 31. It was the first known instance of a decline in ESOL students, said Irene Cromer, a schools spokeswoman. During that period, 623 ESOL students from Prince William enrolled in Fairfax schools, compared with 241 in the same period the previous year. Eighty-three enrolled in Arlington, and 75 signed up in Alexandria, the latter up from 10. Twenty-three ESOL students from Prince William enrolled in Loudoun County, officials there said.

School officials in Fairfax and Arlington said the new students are scattered across a number of schools, minimizing their effect on programs and budgets. In Fairfax, for example, a net increase of about 400 students isn't so dramatic when measured against the county's overall ESOL population of more than 21,000 students. "We get about 6,000 new language-minority students a year," said Teddi Predaris, director of Fairfax's Office of ESOL Services. "An increase of 400 is noticeable, but what adjective you put in front of it depends on your perspective."

Still, Stewart noted that Prince William's schools expect to save $6 million in education costs as a result of the exodus -- a cost that will be borne by the other communities. Some officials in Fairfax and elsewhere say they expect the numbers to climb in the next academic year.

More here



The Italian situation

The overall figures below don't give the full story. Not all immigrants are equally desirable or undesirable. Some groups are much more crime-prone than others -- as just about all Italians are now acutely aware. Romanian Gypsies and Africans have, for instance, been particularly troublesome in Italy. By the same token, the very high percentage of foreigners in Switzerland is less troublesome because relatively few of the foreigners there are from troublesome groups. Most foreigners in Switzerland are of Western European origin.

Note the high concentration of foreigners in Italy's prosperous North. That is of course the foundation of the furiously anti-immigration attitudes of the influential Northern League political party -- shortly to be included in Italy's government.

Note also that the figures below say nothing about ILLEGAL immigration

The number of foreign residents in Italy with valid residence permits has been put at just over two million, four hundred thousand (129,000 more than there were last year). Over 88 pct of them live in the Centre-North of the country, with a good quarter in Lombardy.

These are among the figures (up-dated as of first January 2007) in the initial Report on Immigration issued by Italy's Interior Ministry and presented at the President's palace by Minister Giuliano Amato and Under-Secretary Marcella Lucidi. The dossier contains a fair few "surprises" starting with the number of foreigners as a percentage of the whole population: at 5 pct Italy takes twelfth place in an imaginary European league table headed by Switzerland (20.2 pct), Austria (9.4 pct), Germany and Belgium (8.8 pct), Greece (8.1 pct), France (5.7 pct), Ireland (5.6 pct), Sweden and Denmark (5.4 pct), the United Kingdom (5.2 pct), Norway (5.1 pct).

There is a clear territorial division between the South (where foreign residents make up just 1.6 pct of the population) and the Centre-North (where the ratio peaks at 6.8 pct). The regions with the highest densities of immigrants are, following Lombardy, Veneto, Lazio and Emilia Romagna, but the situation within individual provinces is highly chequered, with peaks of over 10 pct, for example in Prato and Brescia.

Source





29 April, 2008

Britain: Immigration undermines education

And it is the leader of Britain's wishy washy party that says so!

Rising immigration is putting pressure on schools and undermining education standards, Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, warns today. Mr Clegg says an influx of children who do not speak English is hampering the work of teachers and proves that ministers failed to plan for current levels of migration. We must acknowledge that rising migration is putting pressure on schools at all levels," he will say.

Mr Clegg's comments mark his party's strongest criticism of Labour's open-door immigration policy, and may spark speculation that he is moving to the Right. In a speech to the 4Children conference in London today, Mr Clegg will reveal figures showing that nearly 800,000 pupils - 12 per cent of the total - are registered as having a first language other than English. That marks a 60 per cent rise since Labour came to power in 1997. The Daily Telegraph revealed in December that children with English as their first language were now in the minority in more than 1,300 schools.

"The latest wave of migration has brought large numbers - of Eastern Europeans in particular - to parts of the country that have little experience of dealing with speakers of other languages in schools," Mr Clegg will say. "Even a few children in a class can be a real challenge for a teacher used to strong English language skills, especially if children are arriving in the middle of a school year - and in unpredictable numbers. "It's a challenge for native English speakers, as well - because their learning suffers too when a class can't move forward together, learn together and share experiences fully."

Mr Clegg's aides say he has chosen to raise the issue of immigration and education after receiving complaints from head teachers who say their biggest challenge is coping with the number of languages spoken at their school. He will insist that his party will never support calls to end mass immigration, saying: "The problems stem from our failure to plan for population changes, not from the existence of migrants."

However, his speech could still raise suspicions among Lib Dem activists that Mr Clegg is trying to shift to the Right to counter a resurgent Conservative Party. Some analysts say the third party will be badly squeezed in Thursday's local government elections, perhaps losing as many as 200 seats as the Tories advance. Although the Lib Dems' poll ratings are steady at about 17 per cent, the party has reaped no clear benefit from Gordon Brown's recent troubles.

Mr Clegg has been testing the waters for a shift to the Right, even hinting that the Lib Dems could fight the next general election on a promise of cutting the tax burden

Source



Are H-1Bs the Best and Brightest?

New Report Shows That Most Are Not

A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies demonstrates that most H-1Bs are ordinary people doing ordinary work, not the geniuses claimed by industry lobbyists.

Those arguing for an increase in the number of H-1B visas (ostensibly temporary visas for 'specialty occupations,' many of them in the computer industry) claim that continued U.S. leadership in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics hinges on our ability to import the world's best engineers and scientists. But this new data analysis shows that the vast majority of H-1B workers - including those at most major tech firms - are not the innovators industry portrays them to be.

The new report, entitled 'H-1Bs: Still Not the Best and the Brightest,' is authored by Dr. Norman Matloff, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Davis, and is online here

The analysis is based on the simple fact that in a market economy, if workers are indeed outstanding talents, they will be paid accordingly. This can be determined by computing the ratio of the foreign worker's salary to the prevailing wage figure stated by the employer (this report calls that ratio the 'Talent Measure' or TM). A TM value of 1.0 means that the worker is merely average, not of outstanding talent. The findings:

# The median TM value over all foreign workers studied was just a hair over 1.0.

# The median TM value was also essentially 1.0 in each of the tech professions studied.

# Median TM was near 1.0 for almost all prominent tech firms that were analyzed.

# Contrary to the constant hyperbole in the press that 'Johnnie can't do math' in comparison with kids in Asia, TM values for workers from Western European countries tend to be much higher than those of their Asian counterparts.

# Most foreign workers work at or near entry level, described by the Department of Labor in terms akin to apprenticeship. This counters the industry's claim that they hire the workers as key innovators.

CIS press release above





28 April, 2008

Texas lawmakers determined to halt illegal immigration

Watching as states around the country take immigration into their own hands, Texas lawmakers who failed last year to crack down on illegal border crossers have vowed to catch up in 2009. Last year, state lawmakers nationwide submitted more than 1,500 immigration-related bills, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. More than 200 of those proposals became new laws in 46 states. Texas neighbor Oklahoma and fellow border state Arizona have adopted some of the toughest anti-immigration measures, and at a hearing last week, some Lone Star lawmakers said they hoped to follow suit. "I think God would have us work on it and vote," said state Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball.

Some legislators say laws in those states are helping the economy and reducing pressure on public services. But lawyers and some business groups in Arizona and Oklahoma said immigration restrictions there have hurt businesses and have created an exodus of not only undocumented immigrants but also of Hispanic citizens. "The perception from the Hispanic community is they have been solely targeted by a bunch of racist rednecks," said Campbell Cooke, an immigration attorney in Tulsa. The city, he said, has lost about half its Hispanic population since Oklahoma legislators adopted anti-immigration legislation and Tulsa police began enforcing federal immigration laws.

Among other things, the Oklahoma law requires public employers to use a federal system to verify an employee's citizenship. Later this year, all contractors and subcontractors for public agencies will also have to use the system. Employers would also be subject to a discrimination lawsuit in Oklahoma if they fired an employee who is a citizen while keeping a worker who is undocumented. Under the law, transporting or "harboring" an undocumented immigrant is a felony. It also requires anyone older than 14 to provide proof of citizenship before receiving public benefits, except for some emergency services. "This has a huge impact throughout the community, both social and from an economic and work-force perspective," Cooke said.

Arizona adopted even more-stringent employer penalties, requiring all companies to conduct citizenship checks for their workers or risk losing their operating licenses. Ann Seiden, spokeswoman for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said it's difficult to gauge whether economic slowdowns in the state have been caused by the new laws or by the overall financial troubles nationally. But she said businesses have been confused about their new responsibilities and what liabilities they might face. "It's created an atmosphere of uncertainty, and that was our greatest fear," Seiden said.

Arizona state Rep. Russell Pearce wrote much of the anti-immigration legislation. He said claims of economic woes and Hispanic exodus were lies. "It's a huge economic boon," he said. With undocumented immigrants leaving the state, he said, taxpayers would save on costs for education, health care and public safety. And, he said, wages would go up because employers would not have a readily available supply of cheap labor. He also said those in the United States legally have no reason to flee the state. "The goal is to not to incentivize people to break our laws," Pearce said.

Texas lawmakers last year filed dozens of bills meant to force undocumented immigrants to leave the state. None of the major restrictions made it far in the process, though, after the lawmaker overseeing the bills asked the Texas attorney general to review them. State Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, said he wanted to ensure that Texas didn't wind up in losing lawsuits over unconstitutional measures. Instead, he concentrated on a law that put $110 million into border security. The measures also faced stiff opposition from civil-rights and business groups.

Disappointed that Texas has fallen behind other states, state Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, said he would file legislation to follow their leads. He said the Oklahoma economy is improving as thousands of immigrants leave the state. Any positive impact undocumented immigrants have on the Texas economy, he said, is outweighed by their cost to the state in public services. At the very least, Berman said, Texas should implement laws that punish employers who hire undocumented workers, should make English the state's official language, should require photo identification for voting and should restrict noncitizens' access to public benefits.

By not stopping illegal immigration, he said, elected leaders are allowing "multiculturalism to prevail and flourish." "We are a nation of laws, and if we continue on this path, we will lose the great republic that our forefathers gave to us," Berman said.

State Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, said anti-immigration measures were not targeted at Hispanics, but were meant to ensure national security. "We're not just talking about Mexico. We have a concern about all the folks coming over our southern border."

Kathleen Campbell Walker, lawyer with Brown McCarroll in El Paso and president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said Texas lawmakers should expect a surge of lawsuits and a departure of businesses if they adopt measures like Oklahoma and Arizona did. "You're going to have racial profiling; you're going to have proliferation of discrimination," she said. "Do we really want to go back to an era like the civil-rights era?" Companies, she said, are already beginning to have trouble deciphering the patchwork of immigration laws that states are adopting in addition to existing federal regulations. "It will drive you looney-tunes," she said. "I don't know if a Ouija board is enough to help you figure it out."

Bill Lenderman, who lives in East El Paso, said controlling immigration was not about race but about maintaining American sovereignty. "They'll destroy the culture of the country," he said of undocumented immigrants. Lenderman said Texas lawmakers should follow Oklahoma's example. "Tell them 'you're not welcome here,' " he said. "Go away -- no benefits and no jobs."

Source



'Painting' the target in border clashes

Some U.S. Border Patrol agents along the Mexican border are packing paintball rifles, but they're not being used for games. Agents in the patrol's Tucson, San Diego and Yuma sectors have been armed with guns that launch pepper spray and paintball projectiles and are trained to fire paintballs when they come under attack along border fences.

Splattering paint on rock throwers at high velocities is intended to dissuade them and to combat what has become a sharp increase in the number of rockings and other assaults on agents along the Mexican border. "It has become a very effective tool," said Border Patrol spokesman Ramon Rivera. "It has helped agents dramatically."

The Border Patrol has about 1,000 of the paintball guns, which have been in the hands of agents since October. The gun, known as the FN303, is produced by a Belgian company and it replaced a less effective paintball gun that was used for three or four years in Nogales, Ariz., Rivera said. At a range of about 225 to 250 feet, someone hit with a paintball could end up with stinging, welts, bruises or contusions, "and you're not going to just be able to wipe it (the paint) off your clothes," Border Patrol spokesman Lloyd Easterling said. "It certainly lets you know that you've been hit with one of these things; it's designed for you to take note and to stop what you're doing." ....

I think that is called a "memorable experience" in using non lethal force. For a while I had a low voltage wire around some of my flower beds to keep the critters out. Having accidentally touched it on occasion, I can attest that it too was a memorable experience that got my attention. Most of the rock throwing is cross border. That is the reason there are no arrests.

Source





27 April, 2008

Unemployment in Oklahoma plummets after crackdown on illegals

Should reduce house prices too

Unemployment rates are rising across the United States, except Oklahoma. That state is experiencing the most dramatic reduction in unemployment since 2007, an improvement many in Oklahoma attribute to the passage last year by the state legislature of a strong employment-focused immigration reform law. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday reported unemployment in Oklahoma had fallen to 3.1 percent in March, down from 4 percent in March last year, while unemployment nationwide was 5.1 percent, up from 4.4 percent in March last year.

"Oklahoma is no longer 'OK' for illegal aliens," said State Rep. Randy Terrill, who sponsored House Bill 1804 which passed by overwhelming majorities last year in both the House (84-14) and Senate (41-6) of the Oklahoma Legislature. "The bottom line is illegal aliens will not come here if there are no jobs waiting for them," Terrill said. "They will not stay here if there is no government subsidy, and they certainly won't stay here if they know that if they ever encounter our state and local law enforcement officers, they will be physically detained until they are deported."

House Bill 1804, the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007, has been characterized by USA Today as "arguably the nation's toughest state law targeting illegal immigration." The Oklahoma law imposes strict penalties on employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens, makes it a felony to transport or shelter illegal immigrants, forbids the state to issue drivers licenses or pay social welfare benefits to illegal aliens or their families, and empowers state and local police to enforce federal immigration laws.

Last month, the Oklahoma Bankers Association threatened Oklahoma would lose about $1.8 billion annually in productivity and wages, largely because House Bill 1804, which went into effect in November last year, will force an estimated 50,000 illegal immigrants to leave the state. The group based the conclusions on a study done by economists Russell Evans and Kyle Dean of the Oklahoma-based Economic Impact Group that estimated as many as 70,000 illegal immigrants were living in Oklahoma when the legislation was passed.

Proponents of the law would counter that forcing illegal aliens to leave Oklahoma was precisely the intended effect of the bill. "The next question to ask would be whether citizens have taken jobs that illegals used to do," observed blogger Tom Blumer. "Though the lower unemployment rate doesn't in and of itself prove that, it does point strongly in that direction." "Will anyone in Old Media dig more deeply into the Sooner State's situation?" Blumer wondered. "Or will they try to pretend that Oklahoma's improvement doesn't exist, because finding out why might expose some inconvenient truths, and hurt the cause of illegal-immigrant 'amnesty.'"

Source



Legal obstructionism

Left-leaning judges can make any decision they like -- and they will. They can even find a right to abortion in the constitution -- even though the word "abortion" is not mentioned there

As Bush administration officials prepared Friday to finalize rules cracking down on employers of illegal immigrants, business and civil rights advocates continued to hammer the plan, calling it an expensive and ill-conceived attack on legitimate workers and their employers. The Department of Homeland Security closed a 30-day window Friday for public comments on a new version of its "no match" rule. Agency officials hope the new language will persuade a San Francisco federal judge to lift an injunction imposed in October and allow the regulations to go into effect. The no match rule would give employers 90 days to resolve discrepancies in their workers' Social Security numbers, plus an additional three days for an employee to submit a new, valid Social Security number, before firing employees who can't comply.

Hiring undocumented workers has been illegal for two decades, but until now, employers were not held liable for fraudulent documents. Under the no match rule, employers who fail to comply could face fines or criminal penalties. "This is an important tool for employers to be sure they're acting in good faith and an important tool of immigration enforcement," said Veronica Nur Valdes, a spokeswoman for Homeland Security.

But the American Civil Liberties Union and other immigrant advocacy groups pointed Friday to an analysis released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce suggesting that if the no match requirements take effect, they would cost American businesses more than $1 billion a year and could force up to 65,000 legally authorized workers out of their jobs. "It's the equivalent of a massive tax on small business and an attack on U.S. workers in an especially perilous time for the economy," said Lucas Guttentag, director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project.

Critics of the no match rule say they fear legal workers could get caught in a maze of bureaucracy trying to correct Social Security errors and end up being fired by employers before they can prove they are authorized to work.

But advocates of stricter immigration enforcement aren't buying those arguments. "This is not an unmanageable burden. ... It would be an extraordinarily useful tool in deterring illegal immigration," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. If undocumented immigrants can't hold onto jobs, they are more likely to leave the United States, he said.

Critics of the no match rule disagreed. The Chamber of Commerce analysis, conducted by public policy analyst Richard B. Belzer, predicted that more unauthorized workers would enter the underground economy. He also predicted the rule would increase identity theft as illegal immigrants became more desperate for legitimate Social Security numbers.

Once the Department of Homeland Security finalizes its revised regulations, the agency plans to ask U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer to lift the injunction on the rule, said Nur Valdes. If that doesn't happen, the agency will go forward with an appeal pending before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Source





26 April, 2008

An Example of AP's Bias in Favor of Illegal Immigration

The issue of illegal immigration has seemed to drift from the front pages of the news, of late, but the AP is not finished trying to advocate for law breakers everywhere, it seems. On April 25, the Associated Press posted a story that serves as a perfect example of how the wire service aims their reporting to support illegal immigration in the United States. In "Arizona sheriff stirs furor with crackdown on illegals," all the negative framing of the issue is used against Sheriff Joe Arpaio's efforts to curb illegal immigration and those who stand against him are constantly given the benefit of the doubt with neutral or positive language describing their actions. Additionally, whenever illegals are mentioned they are presented as victims, one "afraid" immigrant even being quoted as calling our immigration officials "the devil."

The subject of the story is Sheriff Arpaio's recent "crackdown" on illegal immigrants in his jurisdiction of Maricopa County, Arizona. After Federal training was given to his officers, the sheriff began a series of sweeps across the county to detain illegal immigrants. His actions are completely legal and not a single case of abuse by the sheriff's officers has been reported -- a fact that the AP story doesn't bother to mention until the 20th paragraph of the 22 paragraph story.

As the AP piece starts we get a shot at Arpiao right away with a snarky description of the man as being the "self-proclaimed 'toughest sheriff in America.'" Then the AP starts right in with several paragraphs of Hispanic pandering, public officials in small towns inside Arpaio's jurisdiction attacking the sheriff's actions. In fact, as paragraph after paragraph of the his detractors appear in the AP piece railing against the man's work, the man himself gets only a few lines in the story to defend himself.

But, even as the sheriff's actions are proven legal and professional, he is accused of "grandstanding," "racial profiling," and ignoring the elected officials of the towns in which his sweeps have occurred. The AP also reminds us that the sheriff's "raids" are occurring "on heavily Hispanic sections." This "heavily Hispanic" line is thrown into the story as if looking for illegals in "heavily Hispanic" areas is somehow a racist action. Of course, logic would make one ask where else would one look for illegals if not in the areas in which they congregate?

Then we get the AP's catalogue of Hispanic pandering, public officials attacking the sheriff.

"I was upset. We did not request them here," said Guadalupe Mayor Rebecca Jimenez, who charged that the patrols were meant to raise Arpaio's profile for his re-election campaign this year.

So, this mayor is allowed to charge Arpaio of grandstanding merely for campaign purposes, yet the question is never asked of her why so many illegals were found in her town in the first place? Why is she looking the other way as her town fills with illegal aliens?

Then we get the whining from Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon.

As for Phoenix, Mayor Phil Gordon said Arpaio should be concentrating on more pressing duties such as finding people with warrants against them, and he has asked for a federal civil rights investigation, complaining the sheriff is singling out people who are "driving with a broken taillight or have brown skin." The U.S. Justice Department refused to comment.

This panderer is given space to say that Arpaio is illicitly employing racial profiling even as no proof was offered that Arpaio has pulled people over merely for having "brown skin." While it's quite a charge, the AP offers no real proof to substantiate the bald politically charged claim made by Mayor Gordon.

Then, even as the sheriff is accused in the AP piece of sparking "protests" with his actions, the AP gives the police chief of Mesa a chance to seem as if he merely wants notification of future sweeps so that he might work to protect people from "unrest."

And in Mesa, Arizona's third-largest city, the police chief has requested two days' notice of any sweeps Arpaio might conduct there, so that his officers can be prepared for any unrest.

It does not occur to the AP, though, that if Sheriff Arpaio were to alert the police chief of Mesa ahead of time, this would not help stop protests, but will instead give the sheriff's opponents time to organize before he has a chance to institute the sweep. In other words, should the sheriff warn Mesa ahead of time, not only will illegals get the word to go into hiding, but opponents of the sheriff will be there to meet him and protests will certainly end up occurring. The Mesa police chief most likely isn't interested in protecting against "unrest" he's interested in fostering it.

Now, it cannot be ignored that the sheriff is observing the law. Yet, the AP negatively describes Arpaio's efforts as "pushing the boundaries on immigration." Are the illegals themselves not pushing the boundaries of the law? Apparently the AP doesn't see it that way. As far as the AP is concerned only the sheriff is being provocative by enforcing the law but those actually breaking the law are not doing anything wrong. Naturally, the AP wants to portray the sheriff's actions as creating civil unrest, maybe even handing the reader a thinly veiled warning of riots.

The crackdowns have led to demonstrations by protesters on both sides of the immigration debate.

So, once again, imagine how things might get out of hand if Arpaio was stupid enough to have announced his targets ahead of time like the police chief of Mesa wants! Then the AP portrays the illegals as innocents, folks who are victims of Arpaio's mean-spirited "raids."

Civil rights advocates said Arpaio is spreading fear among Hispanics, illegal or not. "You have cooks, landscapers, nannies afraid to drive," said Hector Yturralde, president of the group Somos America.

And...

Weeks after the crackdown, 20 Spanish-speaking day laborers gathered at a dusty intersection to wait for people to offer them work. Ramon Arajon Contreras, a laborer from Mexico who has lived in Guadalupe for eight years, said the sweep frightened him so much that he hid out in his house until it was over. He said he is still afraid. "If I see immigration officers," he said, "it's like I see the devil."

Isn't it a good thing that a man who has been breaking our laws for over 8 years is finally finding some fear that he is a criminal? Not according to the AP, sadly.

All in all, this AP story was little else but a sustained attack on Arpaio as he tries to enforce our nation's laws with enemies to our laws given all the space they want to call the sheriff names and cast doubts on his integrity and motives. Meanwhile, the man himself is given little space to explain himself and his supporters afforded but sparse room to show their appreciation for his actions. The net effect is to show that the AP is plainly on the side of law breakers and stands firmly against our immigration laws.

Source



Surge of illegals into Scotland

Police have caught more than 1,000 people later identified as illegal immigrants at ports in south west Scotland over the past four years. Numbers of foreign nationals detained at Stranraer and Cairnryan have more than doubled between 2004 and 2007. Crimes including people trafficking for the sex trade have also been detected.

A spokesman for Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary said the figures should deter people from trying to use the ports without the proper documents. Police say the ports are the fourth busiest points of entry to Scotland after airports in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. About 1.9m passengers and 900,000 vehicles pass through the facilities each year. People from 67 different countries have been stopped by police and subsequently identified as illegal immigrants. There were 117 such cases in 2004 but that rose to 259 last year. The total number detected over the four-year period is 1,007.

Among the nationalities without proper documents were people from Pakistan, Sudan, Iraq, Romania, Nigeria and Afghanistan. Det Ch Insp Steven Carr, who works at the ports unit, said it was always looking out for any immigration offences. "Our primary function is protection of UK security," he said. "But during the course of our work we come across other offences." These include drugs and motoring crime as well as immigration issues. "The staff here are multi-skilled because there is a multitude of offences," said DCI Carr.

The police effort is backed up by three officers seconded to the UK Border Agency (UKBA). "They have the power of immigration officers up to the point of sending somebody back to their own country," he explained. Police believe that thanks to that facility and a good working relationship with ferry operators in Dumfries and Galloway they have been able to foil organised crime. "We have reported a number of people to the fiscal for the facilitating of people into the UK," said DCI Carr. "It is a well-documented process that organised crime groups make a lot of money out of charging people extortionate amounts to come into the UK. "Organised crime groups are very proficient at it - in many ways it is safer than drugs or other forms of contraband."

The force has also been part of a number of national operations. "We were also involved in Operation Pentameter on the trafficking of people for use in the sex trade," said DCI Carr. At least a couple of young women who police believe were destined for prostitution were discovered by the Stranraer ports unit. Dumfries and Galloway Police believe it demonstrates that the region's ferry terminals are not a "soft touch" for illegal immigration. "The smallest force in the UK still gets to deal with the biggest issues," said DCI Carr. "If you come through the ports of Stranraer and Cairnryan you are taking a risk - we monitor the ports 24 hours a day. "You will be found out, detected and reported or handed over to the UKBA."

Source





25 April, 2008

Britain, Spain To Combat Illegal Immigration

Sounds like a lot of bull but maybe there is something to it

The British and Spanish governments agreed to enhance cooperation to combat illegal immigration from Africa into the European Union (EU). "Spain and the United Kingdom can work together to help the EU deal effectively with the human tragedy of illegal immigration, and we can stimulate the EU into becoming a model power and promoter of human and economic development across the globe," Britain's minister for Europe Jim Murphy said during his speech at a lunch at Spain's New Economic Forum.

According to Murphy, Britain and the other EU members can learn a lot from Spain's experience on the issue particularly in North Africa. Spain has signed deals with seven West African countries in a bid to control the flow of migrants.

Based on estimates of national statistics institute INE, the number of immigrants living in Spain soared from around half a million in 1996 to 4.5 million by the end of 2006 out of a total population of 45.12 million people.

Source



Human smuggling case thrown out in Canada

Because U.S. immigration officials were too tired to bother about blacks sneaking in via Canada. In a Canadian court they might have been required to make an effort -- which is not on. They go only for the low-hanging fruit.

Three Charlotte County men who last year allegedly attempted to smuggle two people from Guyana into the United States were set free last week after a New Brunswick Provincial Court judge ruled that U.S. law enforcement officials apparently didn't have their act together, according to a Canadian newspaper. Charged in connection with the smuggling incident were John Wayne Richardson, 48, his son John Jason Richardson, 22, and Byron Lawson Murray, 57, all of St. Stephen. They could have faced up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

According to the St. Croix Courier Weekend newspaper of St. Stephen, the three defendants were charged in January 2007 with conspiring to break American law by allegedly attempting to smuggle two Guyanese nationals into the U.S. A problem developed in the case when Canadian legal officials attempted to get a U.S. attorney to appear in court in St. Stephen to testify about the law in question. The requests for the U.S. attorney to testify were made under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between Canada and the U.S., which seeks "to improve the effectiveness of judicial assistance and to regularize and facilitate" procedures between the two countries, according to the U.S. State Department's Web site.

According to the newspaper, the attorney who had originally agreed to testify backed out. The newspaper did not identify the attorney or the U.S. agency he worked for. The U.S. Attorney's Office did not return a telephone call Monday. The crown prosecutor, David Schermbrucker of Canada's Public Prosecution Service in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said the expert agreed to testify but later backed down after his superiors denied him permission to do so.

According to the newspaper, Schermbrucker said that in order to prove to the court that the accused had violated U.S. laws, the information had to come from an expert in American law. Schermbrucker said he had found another U.S. legal expert who would testify and asked the judge for a new trial date, but the defense attorney for the Richardsons balked.

Attorney Joel Hansen of St. Stephen told the judge that the men had not necessarily broken Canadian law, the newspaper said. "They were charged with conspiracy to break American law. Quite frankly, to this day, I don't really know what that law is," the newspaper quoted him as saying. "I believe this case was to show the Americans that we're serious about border security. "We're prepared to cooperate with you, but they wouldn't cooperate with us," he said. "Go figure."

The decision by Provincial Court Judge David C. Walker to toss out the case surprised everyone in the courtroom, the newspaper said. In tossing the case out, the judge said the crown prosecutor's office did not have its "U.S. ducks in a row" and said the "charge against the accused was not murder, but a complex analysis of U.S. law" to see if they were in conflict with Canadian law, the Courier said. The judge said he was not going to keep "Canadians in a holding pattern to protect an American law that the [prosecutor] claimed was the essence of its charges against the men when the U.S. did not appear to be either available or able to provide information to the court."

Although the charges were tossed out of provincial court, the case has reached Washington, D.C., where U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, is looking into it. "Senator Collins first learned of this case on Saturday during her visit to Calais," a spokesman for Collins said Monday. "Based on what she was told, Senator Collins is alarmed that charges were apparently dropped due to a lack of coordination between Canadian and American officials. She has asked her staff on the Senate Homeland Security Committee to look further into this matter."

Source





24 April, 2008

The latest from CIS

1. “Jimmy Hoffa” in a Dress: Union Boss’s Stranglehold on Mexican Education Creates Immigration Fallout

EXCERPT: Most newcomers from south of the Rio Grande have had access to an extremely low level of education, assuming they have even received instruction in basic subjects. Poverty constitutes an important factor in their condition, as well as the failure of lower-class families to emphasize education in contrast to, say, similarly situated Asian families. These elements aside, Mexico’s public schools are an abomination — to the point that the overwhelming majority of middle-class parents make whatever sacrifices are necessary to enroll their youngsters in private schools where the tuition may equal $11,000 to $12,000 annually.

The primary explanation for Mexico’s poor schools lies in the colonization of the public-education system by the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE, according to its initials in Spanish), a hugely corrupt 1.4 million-member organization headed by political powerhouse Elba Esther Gordillo Morales. Rather than lecture American lawmakers on what bills to pass, Calderón would do well to devote himself to eliminating this Herculean barrier to the advancement of his own people within their own country.

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2. The Debate Over Non-Citizen Voting: A Primer

EXCERPT: There is no more iconic feature of American democracy and citizenship than the right to vote. Men and women have marched for it, fought for it, and died for it. Historically, those without property, women, and African-Americans have all legitimately counted their progress toward full citizenship by their ability to vote. And they have correctly judged America’s progress toward living up to its ideals by the extension of the vote to all of the country’s citizens. Given these facts, it is understandable that the average American might well ask: What debate?

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3. No Coyote Needed: U.S. Visas Still an Easy Ticket in Developing Countries

EXCERPT: Mention the words “illegal immigrant” and most Americans conjure up images of desperate migrants sneaking across the Mexican border. There is another side to America’s immigration problem, however, that most know very little about — those who come with valid, temporary visas and do not return home. According to a 2006 Pew Hispanic Center study, nearly half of the 12 million-plus illegal aliens in America arrived legally with temporary, non-immigrant visas. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates that a “substantial” percentage of America’s illegal population is made up of visa overstays — their estimates range from 27 to 57 percent. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted in a 2004 report2 on visa overstays that DHS may be significantly underestimating the magnitude of the visa overstay problem — noting that the DHS study only quantified the number of visa overstays in the illegal population — whereas many who overstay visas are later able to legalize their status.

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4. The H-2B Visa Program and a “Shortage” of American Workers

EXCERPT: There is no evidence of a labor shortage, especially at the bottom end of the labor market. If there was, wages, benefits, and employment should all be increasing fast, the opposite of what has been happening..... Data show stagnation or a decline in wages.

Hourly wages for men with less than a high school education grew just 1.9 percent between 2000 and 2007. Hourly wages for men with only a high school degree actually declined by 0.2 percent between 2000 and 2007.

The share of employers providing health insurance has also declined.

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5. Immigration and Black Americans: Assessing the Impact

EXCERPT: The overall deterioration in employment rates, wages, and benefits is a strong indication that less-educated labor is not in short supply. If such workers were in short supply, wages and benefits and employment rates would all be rising, as employers try desperately to attract and retain the relatively few workers available. But this seems to be exactly the opposite of what has been happening. The deterioration in the labor market for less-educated black men is particularly problematic because they already tended to make the lowest wages and have the lowest labor force participation rates.

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6. Illegal Immigration: The Impact on Wages and Employment of Black Workers EXCERPT: As for wage suppression, all studies show that the large infusion of immigrants has depressed the wages of low skilled workers. It is the illegal immigrant component of the immigration flow that has most certainly caused the most damage but there is no way to isolate their singular harm. But even these studies most likely underestimate the true adverse impact because there is a floor on legal wages set by minimum wage laws that do not allow the market to set the actual wage level. What is known is that wages in the low wage labor market have tended to stagnate for some time. It is not just that the availability of massive numbers of illegal immigrants depress wages, it is the fact that their shear numbers keep wages from rising over time and that is the real harm experienced by citizen workers in the low skilled labor market.

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7. Weaknesses in the Visa Waiver Program: Are the Needed Safeguards in Place to Protect America?

EXCERPT: Chairman Feinstein, Ranking Member Kyl, and other subcommittee members, thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss weaknesses in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which are important to consider as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) moves to expand the program rapidly. This expansion is proceeding before the needed tools are in place to manage the program effectively, and apparently without regard to legitimate security and law enforcement concerns about visitors from many of the countries in question. As a result, Americans will be more vulnerable to terrorist attack, more exposed to organized criminal enterprises, and will experience even more illegal immigration, all of which comes at enormous fiscal and social cost to the nation.

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8. Survey: Voters Unaware of Candidates’ Immigration Positions

EXCERPTS:

* Only 34 percent of McCain voters, 42 percent of Clinton voters, and 52 percent of Obama voters correctly identified their candidate as favoring eventual citizenship for illegal immigrants who meet certain requirements.

* Of McCain voters, 35 percent mistakenly thought he favored enforcement that would cause illegals to return home, another 10 percent thought he wanted mass deportations, and 21 percent didn’t know his position.

* Voters often held different positions from the candidate they supported. Only 31 percent of McCain voters had the same immigration position as he does. For Clinton voters, 45 percent shared her position; 61 percent of Obama voters shared his position.’



Illegal immigrants sent on way by British police

Illegal immigrants are being released by police and given directions to the nearest immigration office, despite a government pledge that they would be detained, the Conservatives say today. Ten out of 27 police forces said that if the immigration service was unavailable, illegal immigrants who claimed asylum were released.

The figures were obtained by the Conservatives under freedom of information laws. The police forces who send illegal immigrants on their way are Dorset, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, South Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Thames Valley, Suffolk and Bedfordshire.

Liam Byrne, the Immigration Minister, said last month that illegal immigrants would be detained. But Damian Green, the Tory immigration spokesman, said: “He says the system has changed, but in many parts of the country there is the same old inability to enforce the law.”

Source





23 April, 2008

Murderous African gangs come to Australia

Thanks to Australia's lax "refugee" policy

Eddie Spowart was stabbed to death because he didn't smoke and couldn't give a cigarette to a gang of youths who approached him at a train station yesterday. Horrified friends told The Daily Telegraph that the 54-year-old had been on the phone when the group of African males approached him at Granville Train Station about 12.45am. They asked him for a cigarette but when the Fijian qualified fitter, who moved to Australian in 1989, told them to go away because he didn't smoke things turned nasty, his long-time friend Tony Chand said. He was stabbed several times in his thigh, stomach and underneath his shoulder.

"He was waiting for a train in Granville - he was approached by a group of African boys. They asked him for a cigarette but Eddie didn't smoke - he told them that - one led to another and the next thing he just just collapsed," said Mr Chand who has known Mr Spowart since they were children in Fiji. "No one knew at first that he's been stabbed. "We're all upset, depressed and angry - no one can believe it. "Eddie would make friends with anybody, he wasn't a violent person. He just append to be in the wrong place at the wrong time - he was asked for a cigarette and was stabbed because he didn't have one."

Mr Spowart had been drinking with mates at a friends place and then a local pub in Granville before the stabbing. He had walked with a group of friends had walked to the Granville train station to catch a train home to the Westmead home he shared with his sister Elizabeth Spowart. Ms Spowart said she and her eight surviving brothers and sisters were shocked by the manner of Mr Spowart's death. "He was always joking, he was a very happy person, he never carried any weapons or anything of that sort," she said. "We're not coping with this well at all - the family are all coming from overseas and interstate. "No one can believe what has happened because he wasn't the type to go and fight and all that."

Mr Spowart was taken to Westmead Hospital but died several hours after the attack in Memorial Ave. Rosehill Local Area Command police, assisted by the State Crime Command Homicide Squad are investigating Mr Spowarts death. Police are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the incident or noticed a group of black African males in the vicinity of Granville Railway Station, Memorial Avenue or near the bus interchange on Mary Street around 12.45am yesterday, to contact Rosehill Police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Source



Italy aflame over immigration flood: Lessons for Britain?

A warm spring evening, and in the northern Italian town of Cittadella a gaggle of tourists pause outside its perfectly preserved medieval battlements, craning their necks skywards. They're admiring the Torre di Malta, a tower whose 6ft-thick walls soar up, up and away. It was built in 1251 to house the torture chamber of the region's then ruler, one Ezzelino da Romano III, a man so evil he came to be known as The Son of Satan.

It's Wednesday and, although the sightseers don't know it, just a stone's throw away one Massimo Bitonci, is holding court. The venue is a restaurant and the 42-year-old mayor, an urbane sort of chap, is struggling to grab a mouthful of his pizza, such is the stream of locals waiting to pay homage to him. He's a great man, say his accolytes, a man who will "go down in history". Maybe, maybe. But, his fan club aside, there's no guarantee he won't be remembered with the same sort of distaste as his predecessor.

For Mr Bitonci is a member of the Lega Nord, or Northern League, the far-Right political party originally set up to campaign for the secession of northern Italy from the rest of the country. But more pertinently today, the party is also deeply and vociferously opposed to the wave of immigration sweeping through Italy. And it's on this ticket that Mr Bitonci has made something of a name for himself.

Shortly before Christmas he announced that in the future no foreigners could settle in Cittadella without first meeting certain criteria. These were that they had no criminal record, had guaranteed regular work with an income per family member of at least 4,000 pounds per year, and a home that provided each inhabitant with at least 14 square metres of space. While at first glance these demands might not sound Draconian, consider the poverty-stricken state in which most immigrants arrive in their chosen country. Few would be able to meet such criteria. So Mr Bitonci's aim, quite simply, appears to be to prevent any immigrants from settling there.

Unsurprisingly his diktat created a stir across Italy with Left-leaning politicians accusing him of racism and of violating human rights. But for all the furore, there's no doubt that he got off far more lightly than his political equivalent in Britain - a council leader, say - would have if they had dared suggest anything even remotely similar. Indeed, if anything, the row bolstered Mr Bitonci's popularity and that of his party. Indeed, earlier this week, he was elected to the national Parliament, one of 60 Northern League MPs. The party's success was unprecedented, their share of the vote doubling as support for popular Left-wing parties such as the communists and socialists collapsed.

Indeed the League's controversial leader Umberto Bossi (he once called on the Italian Navy to turn its guns on boats bringing in illegal immigrants across the Mediterranean) now finds himself at the helm of the third largest Parliamentary party and a key prop to the incoming government of Silvio Berlusconi. The result is that the Northern League is able to exert influence on Italian politics. Indeed, as a thank you for its support, Prime Minister Berlusconi has already promised tough measures against crime, blamed by many Italians on illegal immigrants.

"One of the first things to do is to close the frontiers and set up more camps to identify foreign citizens who don't have jobs and are forced into a life of crime," the 71-year-old conservative leader announced. "Secondly we need more local police constituting an "army of good" in the piazzas and streets to come between Italian people and the army of evil." Inflammatory language indeed.

Another Northern League politician went even further: "We are already at work on a new immigration law and it will be ready soon. "Our borders have more holes in them than a gruyere cheese and through them illegal immigrants are passing - all at the expense and the patience of Italians. "We no longer wish to be division two citizens in our own country at the expense of gypsies and non-European Union citizens."

What makes the situation in Italy of such interest - and, indeed, such concern - are the parallels to be found within British society. One of the key motives that persuaded Italian voters to turn out for the Northern League was a fear of crime caused by immigrants. In recent years there has been an influx of arrivals from Bulgaria and from Romania. Conservative estimates put the number of Romanians living in Italy at 550,000 (out of a population of 60 million), but statistics suggest they are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime. It has been stated that Romanians comprise 15 per cent of the Italian prison population and are responsible for 5.6 per cent of all murders.

In urban areas like Rome, the situation is even worse. Police statistics last year showed that they were responsible for more than 75 per cent of all crime in the capital, including 76 murders, 300 rapes and 2,000 robberies. And of all the crimes attributed to these economic migrants, one in particular sent shockwaves through Italy. One evening last November, 47-yearold Giovanna Reggiani was walking home in the suburbs of Rome, passing a shanty town of shelters erected by some 200 Romanian immigrants, when she was confronted by one of their number, Nicolae Romulus Mailat. Having first repeatedly smashed a rock into her face, he slung the devout Roman Catholic over his shoulder and carried her to some wasteland where she was sexually assaulted and robbed of the 13 popunds she had in her purse.

After the alarm was raised by an older woman immigrant, Italian paramedics were horrified when they discovered Giovanna's body in a ditch. Her face was a bloody pulp and they could only tell it was a woman of "indeterminate age" from her clothes. Days later, she died of her injuries.

As news of the attack spread, vigilante groups wreaked their revenge. Four Romanians begging in the centre of Rome were beaten and stabbed, while immigrant shacks were torched the length and breadth of Italy. Attempting to get on top of the situation the former Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, forced through a decree to allow the expulsion of foreigners for reasons of "public security". All foreigners including those from the EU were covered - no trial was required, only a decision by the local prefect that the people in question were a threat. While that quelled disturbances the sense of unease did not recede. And so it came as little surprise that the Northern League was able to tap into such fears and to manufacture an electoral triumph.

Professor James Walston, a lecturer on Italian politics at the John Cabot University in Rome, explains: "To the ordinary Italian there is a real threat to security from immigration and they feel that the Northern League is best suited to deal with the situation. "A lot of the fear is misplaced and irrational, but that has gone over the heads of the majority of Italians who have seen violent crimes blazed all over the Press and TV. "The Northern League grabbed the working-class vote and even white collar workers, a swathe traditionally more likely to back Left-wing parties. "Put simply, Italians are concerned about immigrants; bluntly speaking, they just don't like them and they see them as a problem."

In Britain, similar tensions are bubbling away beneath the surface as communities across the country attempt to adapt to unprecedented levels of immigration. Analysts fear the far-Right British National Party may win a London Assembly vote in next month's elections because of this increasing concern. Again, crime and the perception of crime is a key concern and this week a debate has been raging as to what impact immigrants, particularly those from Eastern Europe, are having. Police say that while they are no more likely to be arrested than a British citizen, processing them takes more time and costs more because they speak little English. Further, a new report by the Association Of Chief Police Officers warns that the scale and speed of immigration has led to problems. It states: "EU migration has led to a surge in the exploitation of migrants and crime, including extortion, pickpocketing, human trafficking and a growing sex trade."

Smaller police forces in rural areas, where hundreds of thousands of Eastern European migrants congregate to work on farms, are facing "the biggest challenges". The study adds: "While this country has accommodated this influx with little rise in community tensions, in some areas sheer numbers have created resentment."

So far in Britain politicians from the far-Right - the British National Party - have had only limited success in tapping into this discontentment. But there is a concern that an incident similar to the murder of Giovanna Reggiani may change that. To prevent that happening, the established political parties are being urged to confront the concerns of the British public. In Italy, Romano Prodi, the ousted Prime Minister, was seen to have failed in this respect, so leaving the door open for the Northern League....

In Padua, the local authorities erected a wall around an immigrant community which it said was responsible for a prostitution and drug-dealing. At Ardo, the mayor posted a bounty of 400 pounds for anyone turning in an illegal immigrant. And in Treviso, a League councillor told a session of the council: "With immigrants, we should use the same system the SS used, punishing 10 of them for every slight against one of our citizens." Another mayor called for a ban on illegal immigrants marrying, another to ban them from being eligible for school scholarships, another to limit Italian citizenship to foreigners with a perfect knowledge of Italian.

What the future holds for the Northern League is hard to know. It may be that as the Berlusconi government adopts some of its less extreme policies, its attractiveness will wane. In France, for example, Nicolas Sarkozy stole votes from Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front by talking tough on immigration and law and order. Among the most controversial measures was a proposal, now adopted by the French parliament, to require DNA testing for foreign dependents wanting to join their families in France. Even in Britain the Labour Government, after a decade of appalling mismanagement, is finally making faltering steps to regain control of the UK's borders.

More here





22 April, 2008

Canadian doubts

Globalization has increased acceptance of a multi-racial world and provided endless supplies of skilled and other labour, so what's not to love about mass immigration? While Canada's opposition parties quibbled over modest measures expediting the arrival of skilled immigrant workers, one answer to that question appeared in a report from the British House of Lords. Stunningly, it concludes that record levels of immigration bring no economic benefits.

The Economic Impact of Immigration argues that immigration addresses neither labour shortages nor problems associated with an aging society. Rather, low-paid and young workers are being placed at a disadvantage because of competition from immigrants; worse, strains on public services and Britons being priced out of the housing market risk stoking social tensions. According to the Telegraph, the British government welcomed this contribution to its "huge immigration shakeup."

Here in Canada, few noticed the British report or even Britain's "immigration shakeup," though for similar reasons cracks have been appearing in Canada's immigration portfolio too, and a small but growing number of academics, former civil servants and diplomats knowledgeable about Canada's complex and inefficient immigration system are speaking out.

Martin Collacott and James Bissett have reached conclusions similar to the new thinking on immigration now gripping most Western democracies, as did the late Bernard Ostry, while economists and professors emeritus such as Alan Green (Queen's University) and Herbert Grubel (Simon Fraser) are backing them up with far-reaching data and analysis.

Citizen groups, too, like Canada Immigration Watch are organizing to counter the vast stakeholder industry of immigration lawyers, consultants and advocacy groups that has so far monopolized Canada's immigration file. Out west, the Alberta Federation of Labour is squaring the debate with today's labour market realities. A paper by Herbert Grubel, for instance, blames Canada's poor selection criteria and high rates of immigration for the failure of recent immigrants to achieve incomes comparable to resident Canadians, even though previous immigrants did so within 10 years of arrival. Accordingly, Immigration and the Welfare State in Canada, published by the Fraser Institute, estimates a cost to Canadian taxpayers of more than $18 billion for immigrants who arrived between 1990 and 2002.

To understand Canada's selection criteria, it's helpful to see how the numbers align under Canada's two largest classes of immigrants to Canada: economic and family. In 2002, 23.3 per cent of all Canadian immigrants were principal applicants, that is skilled workers who acquired sufficient points for language, skills, etc., under Canada's selection criteria to gain admission to Canada while their spouses and dependents, who are allowed automatic entry, comprised a further 30.5 per cent. Together, at 53.5 per cent of total immigrants, they made up the bulk of Canada's Economic Immigrants.

Family-class immigrants, at 28.5 per cent of the total in 2002, are the other dominant set. Consisting of parents and grandparents (9.8 per cent) and "immediate" family members (18.7 per cent), these immigrants must be sponsored. Like parents and grandparents, the myriad cousins, uncles, in-laws, sisters and fianc‚s are then able to sponsor other "immediate" family members, leading to a phenomenon known as "chain" migration. In other words, family-class immigrants meet no selection criteria. This means they often arrive with no language or job skills and a commensurately diminished capacity for paying taxes and social integration.

The economic success of immigrants is also affected by the rate at which they arrive. Having levelled out at 0.5 per cent of the population or less after the Second World War, it skyrocketed in the 1990s to today's one per cent - the highest in the world. These high rates, combined with slow economic growth in the 1990s, says Grubel, affected the income of new immigrants and those arriving in the previous decade who now had new competition for jobs. It was in this period, too, that the number of ethnic enclaves - defined as "census" regions where at least 30 per cent of the population is of a particular ethnic background - rose to 254 by 2001, from six in 1981.

Despite similar economic conditions during the same period, Australian immigrants fared better than Canada's. Migrants there must meet more stringent requirements for skills, credentials and language. Australia also denies entrants social benefits for two years and admits a higher proportion of work-age immigrants. Parents of principal applicants, for instance, may enter only if the majority of their independently qualified children already reside in Australia.

If economic realities matter, the new thinking on immigration may find its ultimate home among the stewards of today's labour market. After appearing before a Commons standing committee where he opposed employer exploitation of temporary workers, the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour told me how, even in booming Alberta, there is no blanket shortage of labour. "Overall, the market is tight but absolute shortages exist only in certain sectors. In others, like natural gas, forestry and agriculture, workers are being laid off," Gil McGowan said

So why aren't we employing the people who are here, aboriginals for instance? Provincial training programs are what need fixing, he suggests. "Politicians have a cartoon understanding of what is happening in the labour market."

Source



Immigration among top social evils in UK

Immigration and responses to the phenomenon are among the 10 social evils afflicting British society, a survey released on Sunday by a major think-tank said. According to a survey by Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the British people feel a deep sense of unease about some of the changes shaping British society. The 10 social evils pointed out by the respondents were: individualism, greed, decline of community, decline of values, drugs and alcohol, poverty and inequality, decline of the family, immigration and responses to immigration, crime and violence and young people as victims or perpetrators.

On the social evil of immigration and responses to immigration, some participants felt that local residents lost out to immigrants in competition for scarce resources. Others criticised negative attitudes to, and lack of support for immigrants and thought society should be more tolerant and inclusive. Besides, it was felt that the British society had become more greedy and selfish, at a cost to its sense of community.

Respondents to the consultation carried out by the foundation said that Britons no longer shared a set of common values and that they had lost their 'moral compass'. The four social evils which emerged as the cause for most worry among the respondents were individualism, greed, decline of community and decline of values.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is one of the largest social policy research and development charities in the UK. It supports a research and development programme that seeks to understand the causes of social difficulties and explore ways of overcoming them.

Source





21 April, 2008

Powell has won: A view from India

As people from India were a major source of Enoch Powell's unease, one might expect him to be hated there. The following article from The Times of India actually defends him in some ways

The late Enoch Powell, controversial British politician, poet, linguist and once-aspiring Viceroy of India, would surely have laughed to see the kadhai and rice bowl protests in London on Sunday. Exactly 40 years ago, to the day, Powell made his infamous 'rivers of blood' speech in newly-multicultural Birmingham. Using his oratorical powers and vast knowledge of the classics, Powell predicted uncontrolled immigration would raise racial tensions in UK the same way the Roman poet Virgil described "the river Tiber foaming with much blood".

Four decades later, the streets of the capital of politically-correct Britain were foaming with an estimated 45,000 South Asian, Chinese and Turkish catering workers protesting against strict new immigration controls. The new measures for non-European workers effectively keep the curry, chow mein and kebab chef out of Britain unless he speaks good English and has educational qualifications of the sort you don't normally find in halwai or czar of the tandoor.

If anything, the caterers' public ferment shows that Powell's controversial, if divisive, views about British multi culturalism and open-door immigration policy had finally been dignified by officialdom. The immigration controls Powell wanted have finally come to pass.

Powell quoted the registrar-general's statistics to estimate Britain would have five to seven million 'coloureds', or one-tenth of the total population, by the year 2000. By any reckoning, that was magic maths. Britain's office of national statistics says that in 2001-2002, 7.6% of the UK's population consisted of non-white ethnic minorities, which is only a bit more than Powell's predicted one-tenth.

But it was not his number-crunching that made, in his own words, his speech "go up 'fizz' like a rocket; but whereas all rockets fall to the earth, this one is going to stay up". Powell gave voice to the deepest fears of the Mr and Mrs White Average when he declared, "We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependants, who are for the most part the material of the future growth of the immigrant-descended population. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre".

The speech had severe political consequences for Powell. He was sacked from the shadow cabinet by a Conservative Party, which privately agreed with parts of his politically incorrect demagoguery even as it felt publicly unable to endorse it. And yet, just three days after the speech, 1,000 dockers went on strike to protest against Powell's dismissal. Their placards said 'Back Britain, not Black Britain'. By early May, Powell had received 43,000 letters and 700 telegrams supporting him. A Gallup poll found 74% of UK agreed with Powell's premise and 69% felt he should not have been dismissed.

Forty years on, the luxury of hindsight allows Britain to ruminate on the rights and wrongs of the strange saga of Enoch Powell's predicted rivers of blood. First and foremost, those rivers do not run and may be, never will.

Second, Powell was not an insular racialist. He loved India and worked hard to achieve fluency in two Indian languages. But he firmly believed it wrong to impose a mammoth immigrant community on a small island, with all the attendant perils for social cohesion.

The new immigration controls show that Britain agrees with Powell. It just doesn't have Powell's guts to say so, straight off.

Source



Putting critters and plants ahead of national security

The debate over the fence the United States is building along its southern border has focused largely on the project's costs, feasibility and how well it will curb illegal immigration. But one of its most lasting impacts may well be on the animals and vegetation that make this politically fraught landscape their home.

Some wildlife researchers have grown so concerned about the consequences of bisecting hundreds of miles of rugged habitat that they have talked of engaging in civil disobedience to block the fence's construction. "This wall is so asinine, and so wrong, I am one of a dozen scientists ready to lay our bodies down in front of tractors," Healy Hamilton, who directs the Center for Biodiversity Research and Information at the California Academy of Sciences, told colleagues at a recent scientific retreat here. "This is one thing we might be able to stop." "Make it 13!" said Allison Jones, a conservation biologist at the Wild Utah Project, an advocacy group.

Hamilton and Jones have yet to throw themselves before bulldozers, but their call to arms reflects the researchers' growing fears that the wall will imperil species that, in Hamilton's words, "walk, fly or crawl across that border." ...

Are these guys actually trying to say the fence is going to keep birds from flying over it? To even suggest that threatens what credibility they have on the issue. Having grown up on the border, I am confident that the Mesquite trees will survive any fence too. We should not be putting critters ahead of our ability to control our border. This is just another excuse to fail.

It starts with the false premise that the environment is fragile. In Texas, nothing could be further from the truth. The environment down here can overtake anything man can build, if it is not restrained by pruning and clipping.

Source





20 April, 2008

Upside to a down economy: fewer illegals

Post below lifted from Mangan. See the original for links



The L.A Times has a story (sent to me by Malcolm Pollack), Arizona slams door on illegal immigrants which, though it contains lots of liberal whining about Arizona's unwillingness to invite the world, shows that success is possible. Money quote:

"What I love about what Arizona is doing is we don't have to rely on the federal government," said state Rep. Russell Pearce, a Mesa Republican who has authored most of the toughest measures. "It has truly woken up the rest of America that states can fix that problem." The campaign has had an effect: Illegal immigrants complain it's impossible to find good work and are leaving the state.

Not coincidentally, the front page of today's Wall Street Journal features an article, Visa Violators Swept Up In Widening Dragnet, which says that "OTMs", or "Other then Mexicans", have come under increasing scrutiny by ICE. Sob stories ensue. And finally, yesterday's WSJ featured Crossings By Migrants Slow as Job Picture Dims. Si, se puede!



'Cold war' fear of Britain's race watchdog chief

Uncontrolled immigration has led to a "cold war" between ethnic communities, according to the head of Britain's race watchdog. Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), believes the policy failures risk engendering racism among millions of educated professionals.

Mr Phillips will set out his concerns in an address to mark the 40th anniversary of Enoch Powell's notorious "rivers of blood" speech - in which the Tory frontbencher warned of disastrous social consequences if immigration levels were not reduced. While Mr Phillips is expected to stress that the dire predictions have not come true and immigration has not been too high, he will say the influx has had worrying effects. "Powell predicted 'hot' conflict and violence. However, we have seen the emergence of a kind of cold war in some parts of the country, where very separate communities exist side by side... with poor communication across racial or religious lines," Mr Phillips will say. "In essence, Powell so discredited any talk of planning or control that it gave rise to a migration policy in which government knew too little about what was going on. Ironically, Powellism and the weakening of control it engendered may have led Britain to admitting more immigrants rather than fewer."

Mr Phillips is expected to warn ministers that they are boosting anti-immigration parties such as the BNP by failing to respond to reasonable concerns from large sections of the "settled" population. He will say: "For every professional woman who is able to go out to work because she has a Polish nanny, there is a young mother who watches her child struggle in a classroom where a harassed teacher faces too many children with too many languages between them."

Shadow home secretary David Davis said: "Mr Phillips raises a brave and timely warning and points out the consequences of a disastrous loss of immigration controls. "It has had adverse consequences for public services, housing and community relations. Whilst managed immigration is for the benefit of the country, uncontrolled immigration can lead to serious problems for the whole nation."

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19 April, 2008

Capital Area Groups Unite to Fight Illegal Immigration

Ten groups from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., announced Thursday they're joining forces to fight illegal immigration in the region surrounding the nation's capital. The newly-formed Capital Area Alliance Against Illegal Immigration hopes to pool the resources and knowledge of member organizations to end what it calls "political and legislative support for illegal immigration" in the region. "Crime, unfortunately, doesn't know political boundaries too well," said Greg Letiecq, executive director of Save the Old Dominion and leader of the Virginia branch of the Alliance.

Chuck Floyd, head of the organization's Maryland arm, agreed. "We're going after them with this particular group and trying to coordinate policies in the region, because we find that Virginia, Maryland and D.C. are not on the same sheet of music when it comes to enforcing policies," he said.

Floyd, Letiecq and Washington branch leader Bill Buchanan praised some of the Virginia General Assembly's recent political moves, including passing bills that revoke the license of a business found hiring illegal immigrants and to deny bail to illegal immigrants. Maryland and Washington could benefit from adopting policies like Virginia's, Letiecq said. "As the impacts of different policies between jurisdictions become more obvious, it's going to be important to help citizens of Maryland understand what the solutions are that are working in Virginia," Letiecq said.

Maryland Delegate Victor Ramirez, D, saw the organization as an attempt for the groups to increase their numbers to gain more leverage. However, the multi-state hierarchy of the Alliance might end up causing the group trouble, Ramirez said. "I think their plan may backfire on them," he said. "In Maryland, it's a more progressive state than Virginia, and if we see people from Virginia meddling in Maryland's policies, I think it's going to galvanize support against people who advocate these Draconian policies that create hate."

The Alliance's founding member organizations are the American Border Patrol, Defend D.C., Help Save Loudoun, Help Save Manassas, Help Save Maryland, Judicial Watch, the Maryland Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, Save the Old Dominion, Vienna Citizens' Coalition and the Virginia Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.

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Pope controversy

Amusing to see a far-Leftist like Dean defending the Pope. It really is true that these guys will say anything and believe in nothing -- except getting power for themselves, of course. I myself think that the Pope seems to have forgotten some words by the founder of his faith: "My kingdom is not of this world"

The chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) today slammed Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, for criticizing Pope Benedict XVI on the issue of immigration and urged Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain to distance himself from the congressman, one of McCain's backers.

Yesterday Tancredo denounced comments Pope Benedict made during an address to Catholic bishops urging them to accept and welcome immigrants. "I want to encourage you and your communities to continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials, and to help them flourish in their new home," Pope Benedict told the bishops gathered at the United States at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.

Tancredo, who recently finished a failed presidential bid based on a platform of fighting illegal immigration, accused Benedict of making "amnesty a key issue in his papacy." "I am not taking issue with the pope's moral authority and respect his views on the threats of Islamic immigration," Tancredo said in a statement. "However, it is not in his job description to engage in American politics."

This morning DNC Chairman Howard Dean called on McCain to distance himself from Tancredo. "If John McCain is serious in his pledge to run a respectful campaign, he should immediately denounce Tom Tancredo's insulting remarks about Pope Benedict XVI," Dean said in a release. "After years of failing to address immigration reform, the Republican party has instead used the issue to scapegoat people to win elections."

When contacted by The Washington Times, the McCain campaign had no comment and referred questions to the Republican National Committee. "At this point, Howard Dean will do and say absolutely anything to distract from his party's bitter infighting," said RNC spokesman Alex Conant. "Voters will see this for what it is - desperation."

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17 April, 2008

Democrat doubts chances for immigration reform

It is hard to disagree with that. There just IS no middle way any more. Past U.S. experience has shown that "reform" just means opening the floodgates

The chairman of a House committee that is usually the first stop for immigration bills says he doubts Congress will ever pass sweeping immigration reform. Democratic Rep. John Conyers said Wednesday that lawmakers should work on pieces of the immigration issue such as providing enough workers for businesses. He says he'll be a dedicated student of whoever accomplishes comprehensive immigration reform. His statement came at a hearing filled with business people wanting more H2B visas for seasonal workers such as seafood processors.

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Immigrant crime: A good old British "fudge" again

What no policeman or other official can say in Britain is that the big problem is not with Poles but with blacks. And the "British" population now includes large numbers of blacks. So comparing immgrants overall with the "British" population overall is uninformative. On both sides of the ledger you will have a mixed population of blacks and whites. Comparing crime among immigrant blacks with white British crime, however, would reveal a REALLY alarming situation -- which is why no such comparison will be made available

The influx of migrant workers into England and Wales from eastern Europe has not led to the crime wave that some have suggested, a police report says. Since 2004, about 800,000 people have registered for work in Britain from many eastern European countries.

The report by two chief constables has been sent to the home secretary ahead of a meeting with senior officers. It says the influx of migrants has created problems in some areas but overall crime levels have not risen. With the recent expansion of the EU, migrants have entered the UK from such countries as Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, and more recently Romania and Bulgaria.

Last year, Cambridgeshire's chief constable, Julie Spence, sparked controversy by claiming the sudden influx in east European workers had led to community tensions and increases in certain types of crime. Several other forces said they were having similar problems.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) canvassed the views of detectives and community officers across the UK. It found no evidence that crime was more prevalent among East Europeans than other groups. It said the sheer number of migrants in some areas had caused tensions and policing pressures - but the problems were minimal. "Our report is very clear: it has led to an increase in some tensions. "Particularly, say, those areas which have had higher concentrations - you get misunderstandings, you get rumours, you've got big pressure on things like housing. You get rumours that wages are being held down," Mr Fahy said.

"What is different about this wave of immigration is that it's so sudden. "Which has created a different dynamic which has created tensions and people like Julie Spence have pointed out that we have had huge increases in the interpreters budget, but that's not really just about eastern Europeans being offenders, it's also about them being victims and witnesses of crime." He said the nationality of offenders should be recorded to make it easier to monitor crime trends, and called on eastern European states to share criminal intelligence more widely.

Mrs Spence stood by her comments, saying that immigrants were not responsible for a "crime wave" but recent population growth had given police "significant challenges", particularly with non-English speakers, as the force deals with people from 93 cultures, speaking 100 languages. "Looking after victims and witnesses and managing community tensions is substantially more complex now than three years ago," she said. "We have seen an increase in specific offences such as motoring offences, sex trafficking, and worker exploitation - a form of modern-day slavery. Our workload and its complexity is increasing. "Some parts of the country are no doubt unaffected by this. However, Cambridgeshire certainly is."

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16 April, 2008

McCain Plea to Hispanics Dismays Anti-Immigration Republicans

Walking both sides of the street is normally a Democrat specialty but maybe McCain can do it

Arizona Senator John McCain cites his standing with his state's Hispanics as proof that he is a different kind of Republican, distinct from the illegal- immigration foes who dominate the party. He vows to campaign in the barrios, gunning for the 70 percent Latino support he won in his last senatorial election. That's precisely what worries anti-immigration Republicans, who say the party's base will stay at home if it detects the kind of mariachi politics that President George W. Bush practiced to win more than 40 percent of Latino voters in 2004. If McCain ``panders for the Hispanic vote, politically, he'll kill himself and he'll kill us,'' said Arizona state Representative Russell Pearce, a Republican who is leading a effort to revoke business licenses of employers who knowingly employ illegal immigrants. ``There are more votes in my approach than his.''

McCain, 71, plans to test that theory. He may be the one Republican in a position to do so. After a divisive immigration debate in 2006, Republican candidates in that year's mid-term elections only received 30 percent of the Hispanic vote, down more than 10 points from 2004, according to exit polls.

If the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, had garnered the kind of Hispanic support his party had in 2006, he might have taken three western states that Bush narrowly captured -- Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico -- and won the presidency. Democrats look at those numbers, as well as the 50 percent increase in Hispanic voter turnout and sense an opportunity.

McCain is ``starting from an enormous deficit,'' said Simon Rosenberg, president of NDN, a Democratic advocacy group in Washington. While acknowledging that McCain has a better brand than other Republicans, Democrats said he wounded himself when he conceded in a Jan. 30 Republican debate that he would no longer vote for the immigration bill he sponsored in 2006 with Senator Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat. ``John McCain was once a champion of immigrants,'' said Rosenberg, ``but he walked away from his own bill.''

In Arizona, many Hispanics, including Democrats, disagree that McCain has abandoned them. They are ready to vouch for him, recalling a senator who would paint houses in the barrios of South Phoenix on weekends. ``This is not like all of a sudden he wants to be close to Hispanics,'' said Tommy Espinoza, a Democrat and the president of La Raza Development Fund, who worked with McCain in the late 1980s to help fix-up derelict bungalows in South Phoenix. ``Painting is not the senator's forte, but he was out there.''

McCain will need those kinds of testimonials to replicate Bush's success in drawing Hispanic voters. The presumptive Republican nominee acknowledges his challenge, telling reporters on his campaign plane on April 6 that he has ``a lot of work to do'' to persuade Hispanics to return to his party. Still, he said ``the Hispanic vote is up for grabs'' and his campaign will announce a plan to attract those voters later this month.

McCain's partnership with Kennedy, which almost doomed his candidacy, ``gives him an open door'' to reach out to Latinos, said Charlie Black, a senior adviser. Hispanics saw that ``he had the courage to sacrifice politically to do the right thing.'' That opening will allow McCain to make his case to Hispanics on education, trade and cultural values, Black said. ``For a lot of Republicans, the door is not open any more,'' he said....

McCain's advisers said he has a stronger bond with Hispanics than many Democrats recognize. They point to his Jan. 29 victory in Florida, where he captured more than 50 percent of the Hispanics who voted in the Republican primary, as proof he can make his case nationally.

While they recognize McCain's past strength, some Arizona Latino Democrats said he may have lost ground during his quest for his party's nomination. ``That track record of support is there in the community,'' said U.S. Representative Raul Grijalva, 60, an Arizona Democrat. ``But the about-face is going to very difficult for him to deal with.''

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Canadian Tories grasp the nettle on immigration

The holy trinity of issues to be avoided if you are a politician and want to stay in office are privatized health care, religion and immigration. So it is with laudable courage that the Harper government has sought to reform the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. There is a backlog just shy of a million people seeking visas to enter Canada. The average wait period to get a visa is somewhere in the neighbourhood of six years and the situation is getting worse rather than better. The Conservatives want to make the system more efficient. They want to ensure that those entering Canada have the appropriate job skills to contribute to the economy and address labour market shortages. Why then is this so problematic?

The Liberals are attempting to vilify the Conservatives by suggesting there is a "hidden agenda" at play. They are invoking the fossilized stereotype of the Conservative party as a white Anglo-Saxon elite. It has even been reported that some Liberal MPs have told their constituents Prime Minster Stephen Harper doesn't like Muslims. It has become a messy, ugly business obscuring a reality that the current system is not working.

Immigration based on family unification has been a cornerstone of Liberal hegemony in federal politics since the days of Lester Pearson. Pierre Trudeau exploited it throughout his political career to the point Liberals now believe they are the only party qualified to opine on such matters. Yet the same Liberal party recognized under the mandate of both Jean Chretien and Paul Martin that change was overdue and immigration had to be more responsive to a growing skilled labour deficit. Indeed, reform was underway under the tutelage of former immigration minister Judy Sgro until she ran afoul of a pizza delivery man and a Romanian stripper. Something the Liberals should remember when they suggest the current minister, Diane Finley, will be allowed to personally "cherry pick" the applicants who enter Canada.

Although Sgro was ultimately vindicated in what became known as "Strippergate," she personally approved 792 temporary resident permits during her brief tenure, so the Liberals' assertion that the Tories are setting a new standard for ministerial intervention is unfounded. No, what really troubles the Liberals about the proposed changes is that they so clearly demonstrate their impotence against a Prime Minister they loathe and who continually outflanks them in a minority parliament.

There has been much hue and cry over the fact this legislation is buried in the budget bill. The Liberals and the NDP would prefer it was a stand-alone piece of legislation that they could collectively defeat. How surprising then that Harper would make this an issue of confidence by wedding it to the budget bill. It's called smart politics. Harper put the Liberals in a box. They vote against the immigration bill, they trigger an election they don't have the resources or the popular support - particularly in Quebec - to win. They abstain and lose face yet again, adding to a growing list of capitulations on Afghanistan, the crime bill and the budget itself. Their brand withers as the Conservative election coffers swell.

Last week the Liberals once again demonstrated the elasticity of their principles and sided with the government as the Commons voted 201-68 on an NDP motion to reject the budget-implementation bill that contains the immigration changes. Politics is a blood sport and the Liberals are hemorrhaging badly. If this were a boxing match the referee would stop the fight.

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15 April, 2008

Why not use the immigration tools Congress has already passed?

For over 200 years, immigrants coming to our nation have found hope at their first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. The words written at its base, "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," capture the American identity. That is why the debate over immigration is so important to the American people. It strikes at the heart of what our nation stands for - freedom, equality and opportunity for all. But in order to preserve these ideals, we must put an end to illegal immigration.

Texans may understand this better than anyone else. As a border state, we experience the immediate impact of illegal immigration in our schools, our hospitals and our communities. We also understand what many elected officials still don't - rewarding lawbreakers with amnesty only encourages a new flood of illegal immigrants. Nearly half a million people come illegally to the U.S. each year. Add that to the 12 million to 20 million illegal immigrants who are currently living here and you have a city twice the size of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Clearly this is a growing problem that Congress must address.

And in fact, we did address it - more than 10 years ago. In 1996, Congress passed comprehensive immigration reform to put an end to the growing problem. Unfortunately, both Republican and Democratic administrations refused to enforce the law. So Congress spent the past decade passing more laws to try to quell the flood of illegal immigration. These too remain largely unenforced. For example, in 2006 Congress called on the administration to secure one-third of the border with a fence. The Secure Fence Act authorized the Department of Homeland Security to build more than 700 miles of fencing along the southwest border. To date, only 167 miles of fencing have been constructed.

Congress also gave the administration the authority to put an end to the job magnet that draws illegal immigrants. And although that law was enacted in 1986, 7 million illegal immigrants are working in the U.S. In 1996, Congress prohibited public colleges from giving preferential treatment to illegal immigrants. The law required colleges and universities that offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants to also offer in-state rates to all U.S. students. But to date, the Department of Justice has not filed a single suit to stop the 10 states that violate this law. American taxpayers foot the bill for public education. If anyone receives the benefit of in-state tuition, it should be those who pay for it.

These are just a few of the many tools Congress has given the administration to enforce immigration laws. But at the end of the day it doesn't matter how many laws Congress passes if the administration simply disregards them. And it doesn't matter how many tools we give, if Homeland Security refuses to use them.

America has the most generous immigration policy in the world, admitting one million legal immigrants every year. These individuals follow our laws and wait in line as they anticipate their chance to live the American dream. But in order to sustain such a high level of legal immigration, we must first curb the flood of illegal immigration. No new tools are required. No new laws are needed. We simply need the administration to enforce the immigration laws that Congress has already passed.

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Foreigners carry out one in every five killings in Britain, police figures reveal

One in every five murders or manslaughters in England and Wales is committed by a foreigner, police figures revealed. In one area of London, the figure is one in three. This is despite the fact that foreigners represent only around one in 16 of the general population. The statistics are so alarming that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith will hold a migrant crime summit on Thursday amid worries that police are struggling to cope.

According to figures revealed under the Freedom of Information Act, the 96 foreign nationals convicted of homicide last year were from 28 different countries. They were involved in 21 per cent of the total of 461 murder and manslaughter cases. Critics blame the Government's failure to deport foreign criminals. Recent cases have involved foreigners who had already been convicted of robbery and assault but were allowed to remain after serving their sentences.

Conservative MP David Davies, a member of the Commons home affairs committee, said: "These extraordinary figures demonstrate the failure of the Government's immigration policy, which has seen all sorts of undesirable characters being able to get into this country and use the Human Rights Act to escape deportation."

The figures show a wide variation between areas. In London, as many as 76 out of 231 identified killers were foreign nationals. In Manchester, it was eight out of 42, and in Bedfordshire, three out of seven. But in West Yorkshire, it was none out of 47.

In many cases, the figures reflect the influence of immigrant crime gangs. Scotland Yard said half of the organised crime gangs in London are "ethnic", or bound by a common language or homeland-The most common nationalities for foreign killers were Pakistani, Indian and Jamaican. Foreigners were also more likely to be victims. According to the figures, 15 per cent of those who died were from overseas. In many cases, both victim and killer were from the same immigrant community, reflecting internal feuding.

Not all police forces responded to requests for information but the figures available cover more than half of the 755 homicides in 2006-2007. Among the most high-profile cases was that of Roberto Malasi, an 18-year-old Angolan asylum seeker who shot dead a 33-year-old woman as she cradled her baby niece at a christening in south London. Malasi went on the run and two weeks later stabbed to death an 18-year-old pastor's daughter who he felt had "disrespected" him.

Other cases include Yusuf Jama, a Somali asylum seeker, who was in the gang that shot dead PC Sharon Beshenivsky in Bradford in 2005. The revelations are likely to feature on the agenda for Thursday's summit, which was called by the Home Office earlier this year. It is the first of its kind, and follows letters of concern from Chief Constables. Cambridgeshire's Julie Spence warned as long ago as 2005 there was "community tension" involving migrants which had the "potential for large-scale public disorder". She was forced to write again last year, saying the problem had "clearly magnified". Kent's Michael Fuller has also warned that the size of his force has not kept pace with an explosion in migrant numbers.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Last year, we deported a record number of foreign national criminals. Anyone convicted of a serious crime, such as murder, will be automatically deported."

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14 April, 2008

The wrongheaded ADL again

The ADL was set up to defend Jews against discrimination and prejudice. About the only antisemitism in America these days, however, comes from Muslims and the Left and the ADL is usually too Leftist to do anything about that. So it has morphed into an anti-Christian organization. Evidently even that is not enough to keep them busy so they have now decided that defending illegals is their job too. Since the illegals concerned are almost all Catholics, that must be confusing for them. Fancy DEFENDING the hated Christians for a change! Maybe they have taken up the obsolete Protestant view that Catholics are not really Christians.

I wonder if we will ever see the ADL prosecuting any of the many Muslim hate-merchants who infest the universities? Don't hold your breath! ADL stands for "Anti-Defamation League" but Muslims can defame Jews and Israel all they like, apparently

The heat is once again on Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose illegal immigration crackdowns have earned him another critic. The Anti-Defamation League is not calling on Washington, D.C., to intervene, asking the Department of Justice to investigate the self-proclaimed "America's Toughest Sheriff." The Anti-Defamation League calls Arpaio's recent controversial sweeps nothing more than racial profiling.

Arpaio has set up shop all over the county in the past few months. He said his deputies and posse have arrested nearly 75 illegal immigrants in the last few operations alone. As the number of arrests grows, so does the controversy surrounding the sweep. "The last I heard, it's illegal to be in this country," Arpaio said. "They're criminals. Let's get that straight. We have been trained and we are enforcing the law. We haven't had any problems."

Once a location has been chosen, the sheriff moved in. Deputies scour the neighborhood, looking for traffic violations. When they find one, ICE-trained deputies use alleged probable cause to check the legal status of the occupants.

The Anti-Defamation League is questioning the sheriff's motives. "Numbers of people have been detained during the 'sweeps,' but not all of them have been found to be undocumented," said A.D.L. Board Chairman David Bodney and A.D.L. Regional Director Bill Strauss. "This raises serious questions about the process and its effect upon the community." "No. No, that was just one case -- possibly," Arpaio said. "We don't' do that. We have the expertise to place holds on them. If that is wrong, let them prove it."

Several city officials where the sheriff has set up patrols have criticized the operations. Recently, the Mesa police chief asked for fair warning if and when the sheriff comes to town. While he has taken heat about wanting to go into Mesa, Arpaio said he's still going to move in. "You don't really don't think I'm going to stop, do you? Never happen," he said. "In fact, I am going to increase my vigilance in going after the crime and also the illegal immigration problem." Arpaio said several state legislators have asked for him to come in and clean up Mesa. He said he will be there. The question is when

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Chertoff Defends Immigration Enforcement

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says he feels the pain of employers pinched by intensified efforts to control illegal immigration, but adds that until Congress enacts broad immigration reforms they shouldn't expect any changes in enforcement. In an interview with The Associated Press, Chertoff said this week that the rising complaints from businesses offer some evidence the Bush administration's approach is working. "This is harsh but accurate proof positive that, for the first time in decades, we've succeeded in changing the dynamic and (are) actually beginning to reduce illegal immigration," Chertoff said. "Unfortunately, unless you counterbalance that with a robust system to allow people to come in temporarily and legally, you're going to wind up with an economic problem."

Chertoff defended the actions of his agency, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "We're enforcing the law as it is, but Congress has not yet given us the authority to really expand the temporary worker program," he said in the Tuesday interview. "If we could do that, then most of these businesses could find legal solutions."

Chertoff sharply criticized businesses that complain the crackdowns on their hiring of illegal immigrants will cost them money. In a federal court case last year, groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce argued that the department had failed to account for the economic impact of new regulations on businesses. The argument "basically suggests we can't enforce the law because it will prevent people from making money illegally," Chertoff said. "The business community loves it (hiring illegal immigrants) because you have illegals, you pay them less, they have no place to go to complain."

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wrote Chertoff a letter last month asking federal officials to rethink their policy on workplace immigration crackdowns, saying they could have "severe and lasting effects on our local economy." Villaraigosa accused federal officials of targeting "established, responsible employers" and said ICE should spend its limited resources targeting employers who exploit wage and hour laws.

Asked about the mayor's plea, Chertoff gave no indication that Villaraigosa would get the review and revision of ICE's enforcement priorities he is seeking. "I would be delighted to see Congress give us a way to bring workers in legally," Chertoff said. "Those workers would then be able to address the economic needs of the city and they would do it in a legal way. But as long as the law is as it is, I will enforce the law as it is."

Villaraigosa spokesman Matt Szabo said the mayor hopes to discuss the matter with Chertoff in person soon when he visits Washington. Szabo emphasized that Villaraigosa "is not suggesting the secretary should not enforce the law; he's saying that the laws that we have are broken." "In the meantime, we need to enforce the laws on the books in a much smarter way that targets those who are the greatest threat to the residents of this country," Szabo said.

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13 April, 2008

The world's most perverse immigration policy?

The USA lets in milions of low IQ people but goes to great lengths to keep out the brightest people



One of the most unjustly neglected films of the past few years is Mike Judge's "Idiocracy". Mr Judge is the genius behind Beavis and Butt-Head, two of the most disgusting creatures on television, and Hank Hill, one of the wisest. In "Idiocracy" he turns his talents to futurology-and to the troubling question of the long-term impact of dysgenic breeding, junk food and grunge culture on America's collective IQ.

The premise is simple. Two typical citizens-the army's "most average" soldier and a street prostitute-find themselves transported 500 years into the future. They soon discover that they are towering geniuses compared with the knuckle-draggers who inhabit the America of 2505. The country's best university is run by Costco. People are named after brands such as Frito and Mountain Dew. Starbucks has become a chain of brothels. The president is a former porn star and wrestling champion.

One might imagine that America's politicians would do all that they could to prevent Mr Judge's dystopia from materialising. But when it comes to immigration they are doing exactly the opposite-trying their best to keep the world's best and brightest from darkening America's doors.

Consider the annual April Fool's joke played on applicants for H1B visas, which allow companies to sponsor highly-educated foreigners to work in America for three years or so. The powers-that-be have set the number of visas so low-at 85,000-that the annual allotment is taken up as soon as applications open on April 1st. America then deals with the mismatch between supply and demand in the worst possible way, allocating the visas by lottery. The result is that hundreds of thousands of highly qualified people-entrepreneurs who want to start companies, doctors who want to save lives, scientists who want to explore the frontiers of knowledge-are kept waiting on the spin of a roulette wheel and then, more often than not, denied the chance to work in the United States.

This is a policy of national self-sabotage. America has always thrived by attracting talent from the world. Some 70 or so of the 300 Americans who have won Nobel prizes since 1901 were immigrants. Great American companies such as Sun Microsystems, Intel and Google had immigrants among their founders. Immigrants continue to make an outsized contribution to the American economy. About a quarter of information technology (IT) firms in Silicon Valley were founded by Chinese and Indians. Some 40% of American PhDs in science and engineering go to immigrants. A similar proportion of all the patents filed in America are filed by foreigners.

These bright foreigners bring benefits to the whole of society. The foreigner-friendly IT sector has accounted for more than half of America's overall productivity growth since 1995. Foreigner-friendly universities and hospitals have been responsible for saving countless American cities from collapse. Bill Gates calculates, and respectable economists agree, that every foreigner who is given an H1B visa creates jobs for five regular Americans.

There was a time when ambitious foreigners had little choice but to put up with America's restrictive ways. Europe was sclerotic and India and China were poor and highly restrictive. But these days the rest of the world is opening up at precisely the time when America seems to be closing down. The booming economies of the developing world are sucking back talent that was once America's for the asking. About a third of immigrants who hold high-tech jobs in America are considering returning home. America's rivals are also rejigging their immigration systems to attract global talent.

Canada and Australia operate a widely emulated system that gives immigrants "points" for their educational qualifications. New Zealand allows some companies to hand out work visas along with job offers. Britain gives graduates of the world's top 50 business schools an automatic right to work in the country for a year. The European Union is contemplating introducing a system of "blue cards" that will give talented people a fast track to EU citizenship.

The United States is already paying a price for its failure to adjust to the new world. Talent-challenged technology companies are already being forced to export jobs abroad. Microsoft opened a software development centre in Canada in part because Canada's more liberal laws make it easier to recruit qualified people from around the world. This problem is only going to get worse if America's immigration restrictions are not lifted. The Labour Department projects that by 2014 there will be more than 2m job openings in science, technology and engineering, while the number of Americans graduating with degrees in those subjects is plummeting.

The United States is fortunate that it can solve its talent problem with the wave of a magic wand, by simply expanding the supply of visas to meet the demand. Raise the cap on H1B visas-or better still abolish it-and increase the supply of green cards, and the world's brightest will come flooding in. A country that is blessed with a dynamic economy and a world-beating higher-education system does not even have to go around wooing people, as other countries do.

Yet America suffers from one big problem: its political system is especially dysfunctional when it comes to immigration. A few brave souls are trying to lift the H1B visa cap. But most politicians are more interested in bellowing about building walls to keep illegal immigrants out than thinking seriously about the problem. And a few are even actively campaigning to reduce the number of H1B visas in order to keep American jobs for Americans. As Mr Judge might well wonder: how do you win the global talent wars when Congress is already in the hands of the idiocracy?

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Immigration is a hot election topic in Northern Italy

Wearing an Italian soccer cap and sipping an espresso, Moroccan Abbes Mohamed is certain that a centre-left victory in Italy's election on Sunday and Monday would improve life for immigrants. "The left is much more for integrating foreigners than the right. They just make it difficult," said the 35-year-old in a cafe in Verona, northern Italy. "I really hope the left wins." Mohamed has lived in Italy for over five years, but he says he is fearful for new immigrants if poll favourite Silvio Berlusconi and his anti-immigrant Northern League allies win.

The League's stance plays well in the rich north, where resentment of foreigners has spread as the number of immigrants, particularly from north Africa and eastern Europe, has grown. One League campaign poster shows a Native American in feathered head-dress with the text: "They were also subjected to immigration and now they live on reserves! Think about it."

In contrast to previous campaigns, the main sides contesting this vote -- called after Romano Prodi's centre-left government fell in January -- have not put immigration in the spotlight, though both have promised to get tough on crime by immigrants. The spread of Roma or gypsy camps on city outskirts has raised concern among Italians about crime and other problems blamed on illegal immigration. Forced removals are common.

Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party promises to expel all illegal immigrants and crack down on gypsy camps and "centres linked to the preaching of Muslim fundamentalism". Walter Veltroni's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) puts the focus on integration, looking to increase the duration of legitimate immigrants' residency permits but to guarantee that expulsion orders for illegal immigrants are really carried out.

NORTHERN LEAGUE INFLUENCE

When Berlusconi, who is seeking a third term as prime minister, hinted at giving immigrants a vote, the League's response was so furious that the idea was quickly dropped. The 66-year-old League leader, Umberto Bossi, was minister for reforms under Berlusconi until suffering a stroke in 2004, and once advocated the use of gunships to ward off immigrants. The League spearheaded the so-called Bossi-Fini law under the last Berlusconi government that imposed tougher penalties for illegal immigration; its performance in the election could determine the character of the new government. Another Berlusconi ally, prospective finance minister Giulio Tremonti, quipped that the PD "prefers couscous" to local food.

In the northeast, where the PDL is confident of a strong lead, a recent poll in three provinces indicated that 40 percent of residents see immigrants as a threat to law and order. Legally registered immigrants make up nearly 5 percent of Italy's 58 million people but the number of illegals is unknown. "Immigration is an important issue here," said Verona pensioner Armando Ferrone.

To curb what they see as delinquent behaviour by illegal immigrants, some mayors have taken matters into their own hands. "Illegal immigrants represent one-third of Italy's prison population. In the north, it is over two-thirds," said Verona mayor Flavio Tosi, from the Northern League. In Verona, where foreigners make up 12 percent of the population, immigrants seeking publicly funded housing must meet certain income and health conditions, though Tosi said this was justified by European Union housing directives. The mayor of the town of Citadella, in the Veneto region, issued rules stating that foreigners can apply for residency only if they have adequate incomes and housing provisions and are not deemed "socially dangerous". This was branded discrimination by the national government, but has been adopted by 40 other Veneto town halls.

Source





12 April, 2008

300,000 Mexican babies born in US hospitals!

Over the last couple of years, we've seen some improvements on the illegal immigration front. Enforcement works! It's getting a lot more difficult to cross the border or find work. You won't believe this:

"It was 5 a.m. and CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts is with a woman who is nine months pregnant. She's rushed to a south Texas hospital to undergo a C-section - a $4,700 medical procedure that won't cost her a dime. She qualifies for emergency Medicaid. She gave birth to a healthy, 8 1/2 pound baby boy - born in America. His Mexican mother gave him an American name: Eliot.

Eliot is one of an estimated 300,000 children of illegal immigrants born in the United States every year, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. They're given instant citizenship because they are born on U.S. soil, which makes it easier for their parents to become U.S. citizens."

I'm sorry. It has to stop. We can't have 300,000 women crossing the border every year to have their babies over here. This is wrong for two reasons:

1) They don't have health insurance so the taxpayers have to pick up the tab. It's one thing to provide free health care for poor Americans. It's quite another thing to provide it for illegal aliens.

2) This is ma