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Migrant Health Promotion
Mar 9, 2011, 12:12:52 PM3/9/11
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MHP Immigration News Service
March 8, 2011
Immigration News Service is a project of Migrant Health Promotion. Its purpose is to educate members of the farmworker health community about trends in immigration policy and empower them to become involved in the immigration policy debate. This bi-weekly news service features articles from mainstream, national, local, and alternative news sources and presents links and excerpts, without editorializing.
Submit articles to be considered for inclusion in this news service to cdu...@migranthealth.org. To learn more about Migrant Health Promotion, visit www.migranthealth.org. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation.
Tell your friends to subscribe to Immigration News Service by emailing mhp_immigr...@googlegroups.com. Do you have feedback on format or content of Immigration News? Contact cdu...@migranthealth.org.
Join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MigrantHealth.
Table of Contents
1. Deaths of 3 federal agents highlight changing dangers. Jerry Markon. Washington Post Staff Writer. February 20, 2011.
2. White House 2012 budget proposal increases immigration enforcement dollars. Marcos Restrepo. The Florida Independent. February 22, 2011.
3. Republicans Must Walk Fine Line on Immigration. Ross Ramsey. The Texas Tribune. February 26, 2011.
4. International study points out U.S. immigration policy successes, failures. The American Independent. Marcos Restrepo. March 1, 2011.
5. Immigration legislation sparks debate in Michigan. Tim Martin. Associated Press. The Chicago Tribune. March 1, 2011
Links and Excerpts
1. Deaths of 3 federal agents highlight changing dangers. Jerry Markon. Washington Post Staff Writer. February 20, 2011.
Excerpt: The shooting deaths of two federal agents last week and three in two months highlight the heightened risk to federal investigators who are confronting increasingly violent fugitives, drug traffickers and other criminals, authorities said.
The killing of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Mexico on Tuesday was followed by the slaying of a deputy U.S. marshal in West Virginia on Wednesday, an unusual confluence of events that left officials deeply troubled. A Border Patrol agent was fatally shot in Arizona in December.
The killings, while not connected, come amid a broadening federal role in fighting violent crime that was once left mainly to state authorities, investigators said. Federal-state task forces on violent crime have multiplied since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, bringing federal agents in closer contact with dangerous criminals. And the government says it is pouring resources into fighting drug trafficking and other crimes along the border with Mexico..
"It's much more violent than in the past,'' said Mike Earp, assistant director of investigations for the U.S. Marshals Service, which arrests fugitives and works with state and local law enforcement on regional fugitive task forces that target violent offenders. "Many more of these people are armed, and they have an utter disregard for human life.''
2. White House 2012 budget proposal increases immigration enforcement dollars. Marcos Restrepo. The Florida Independent. February 22, 2011.
Excerpt: President Obama’s 2012 Department of Homeland Security budget proposal favors immigration enforcement increases for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, aka ICE.
Customs and Border Protection would receive 21 percent of the proposed 2012 Homeland Security budget (a 3 percent increase), ICE 10 percent (a 1 percent increase) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 5 percent (a 5 percent drop).
According to the Immigration Policy Institute:
On the one hand, the budget increases funding for worthy causes such as immigrant integration, alternatives to detention, and civil-liberties oversight of enforcement programs.
On the other hand, these funding increases are dwarfed by the size of the budget for border and interior immigration enforcement. In other words, despite some good intentions, and an effort to balance the impact of enforcement programs, ultimately the budget reflects a commitment to the enforcement-without-reform policies that have failed so miserably over the past two decades.
The budget proposal supports the largest deployment of Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection officers in the agency’s history.
The enforcement and administration of federal immigration laws includes an increase for 3,300 detention beds, the Secure Communities program, the Visa Security program, worksite enforcement and E-Verify.
The 2012 budget proposal would allow Secure Communities — a controversial fingerprint-sharing program that checks detainees’ fingerprints against federal databases for criminal or immigration status violations — to expand to 96 percent of all U.S. jurisdictions. All 67 Florida counties are currently enrolled in Secure Communities.
3. Republicans Must Walk Fine Line on Immigration. Ross Ramsey. The Texas Tribune. February 26, 2011.
Excerpt: The growth of the state’s Hispanic population and the rise of immigration as a political issue puts Texas Republicans in a tight spot.
It’s clear in the polls, on the political stump, on the news, at rallies and in the aisles of the Legislature that voters strongly support tougher enforcement of immigration laws and that conservative and white voters strongly support more restrictions and fewer benefits for illegal immigrants and their children.
It’s also clear that Hispanic voters — part of the fastest-growing group in the state’s population — don’t agree with their fellow Texans on many of those issues. Can Republicans keep their current voters happy without alienating the Hispanics they hope will support them in statewide races in the future?
Bill Hammond, a former Republican legislator who now heads the Texas Association of Business, thinks immigrant-bashing legislation could undermine the G.O.P., making Hispanics feel unwelcome and hurting businesses at the same time. “I think you suffer in the short term as well as the long term,” Mr. Hammond said..
Now the climate has changed, visible in the makeup of the Legislature. Republicans have 101 seats in the 150-member House, and 19 in the 31-member Senate. The clarity of what G.O.P. voters want is reflected in the bills filed by their elected officials. They’re talking about taking in-state college tuition away from the children of illegal immigrants who live in Texas. They’ve proposed Arizona-style legislation to make local police the enforcers of federal laws. They’re calling on the federal government, meanwhile, to enforce those laws and to — this is Mr. Perry again — send more people to patrol the border in the interest of safety. They’ve renewed calls to crack down on businesses that hire illegal immigrants..
“I don’t think this is the kind of issue that defeats you in a Republican primary,” Mr. Hammond said. “You have to be atrocious to get defeated in a Republican primary. Taxes might fall into atrocious activity, but I don’t think this does.”
4. International study points out U.S. immigration policy successes, failures. The American Independent. Marcos Restrepo. March 1, 2011.
Excerpt: The United States ranks ninth out of 31 countries in an international study evaluating immigrant integration policies released this week.
The Migrant Integration Policy Index (aka MIPEX), produced by the British Council and the Migration Policy Group, evaluates seven areas: labor market mobility, family reunion, education, political participation, long-term residence, access to nationality and anti-discrimination measures in all European Union member states plus Norway, Switzerland, Canada and for the first time the U.S.
The Immigration Policy Center, the research and policy arm of the American Immigration Council, served as a U.S partner for the study, and helped answer questions and gather information from various American experts.
The study indicates that strong U.S. anti-discrimination laws protect immigrants and guarantee them equal rights and opportunities, a model for immigration rules elsewhere.
Mary Giovagnoli, director of the Immigration Policy Center, told The Florida Independent that the U.S invests very little in immigrant integration and that budget cuts at the state and federal level put the country’s positive ranking at risk. She added that policymakers need to know that helping people to integrate and learn English provides a large return on investment..
According to the study, U.S legal status gives most migrant workers and their families some of the same chances in the labor market as native-born Americans, but immigrants often take jobs far below their skill level.
The report also states that all students, regardless of status, have access to public education but “undocumented students have no clear legal path to college, nor in-state tuition in 39 states.”
According to the MIPEX, everybody in the U.S. receives basic political freedoms, but until they naturalize, immigrants do not have formal political rights. The study pointed to state programs, like in Illinois, that seek to increase immigrant integration. It also highlighted that legal resident status is fragile.
The index finds that long-term immigrants with legal status have good opportunities to live with their families and find a job, but not as solid as those Americans enjoy. Conditions in law are not unfavorable, but since 1996, for example, many permanent legal residents cannot use federal benefits — a situation not remedied in the final 2010 health care reform law.
5. Immigration legislation sparks debate in Michigan. Tim Martin. Associated Press. The Chicago Tribune. March 1, 2011.
Excerpt: LANSING, Mich. — A proposal that would get police more involved in checking the Immigration status of people they pull over sparked criticism Tuesday at the Michigan Capitol, with an immigrant rights group and some pastors saying it would create a climate of fear and division.
Republican Rep. Dave Agema of Grandville said the bill he introduced last week was a "common sense" measure to help ensure that federal Immigration law is enforced in Michigan.
The measure would require law enforcement officers to make a "complete, full and appropriate attempt" to verify a person's Immigration status after the person is stopped for another offense and officers have probable cause to suspect the person is in the country illegally..
Opponents say the bill would hurt Michigan's business climate and reputation by creating an atmosphere where even legal immigrants feel unwelcome. Opponents said the Michigan bill is patterned after one in Arizona that sparked national criticism.
"The future of Michigan's economy relies on attracting the best and brightest from across the world," Rev. Fred Thelen, pastor of Cristo Rey Catholic Church in Lansing, said in a statement. "It would be foolish to pass this law and signal to the world that Michigan does not welcome the world, but treats it with suspicion."
Opponents said the bill "virtually mandates" racial profiling, but bill supporters said protections against racial profiling are in place. The proposal states that it would be enforced in a manner consistent with federal Immigration laws and "protecting the civil rights of all persons."
Michigan's law enforcement officers already have the power to contact federal Immigration officials if they've stopped someone that they have probable cause to believe is in the country illegally. But Michigan State Police say there's no state Immigration law that makes that a requirement or spells out procedures to follow if they suspect they've stopped an illegal immigrant.
March 8, 2011
Immigration News Service is a project of Migrant Health Promotion. Its purpose is to educate members of the farmworker health community about trends in immigration policy and empower them to become involved in the immigration policy debate. This bi-weekly news service features articles from mainstream, national, local, and alternative news sources and presents links and excerpts, without editorializing.
Submit articles to be considered for inclusion in this news service to cdu...@migranthealth.org. To learn more about Migrant Health Promotion, visit www.migranthealth.org. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation.
Tell your friends to subscribe to Immigration News Service by emailing mhp_immigr...@googlegroups.com. Do you have feedback on format or content of Immigration News? Contact cdu...@migranthealth.org.
Join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MigrantHealth.
Table of Contents
1. Deaths of 3 federal agents highlight changing dangers. Jerry Markon. Washington Post Staff Writer. February 20, 2011.
2. White House 2012 budget proposal increases immigration enforcement dollars. Marcos Restrepo. The Florida Independent. February 22, 2011.
3. Republicans Must Walk Fine Line on Immigration. Ross Ramsey. The Texas Tribune. February 26, 2011.
4. International study points out U.S. immigration policy successes, failures. The American Independent. Marcos Restrepo. March 1, 2011.
5. Immigration legislation sparks debate in Michigan. Tim Martin. Associated Press. The Chicago Tribune. March 1, 2011
Links and Excerpts
1. Deaths of 3 federal agents highlight changing dangers. Jerry Markon. Washington Post Staff Writer. February 20, 2011.
Excerpt: The shooting deaths of two federal agents last week and three in two months highlight the heightened risk to federal investigators who are confronting increasingly violent fugitives, drug traffickers and other criminals, authorities said.
The killing of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Mexico on Tuesday was followed by the slaying of a deputy U.S. marshal in West Virginia on Wednesday, an unusual confluence of events that left officials deeply troubled. A Border Patrol agent was fatally shot in Arizona in December.
The killings, while not connected, come amid a broadening federal role in fighting violent crime that was once left mainly to state authorities, investigators said. Federal-state task forces on violent crime have multiplied since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, bringing federal agents in closer contact with dangerous criminals. And the government says it is pouring resources into fighting drug trafficking and other crimes along the border with Mexico..
"It's much more violent than in the past,'' said Mike Earp, assistant director of investigations for the U.S. Marshals Service, which arrests fugitives and works with state and local law enforcement on regional fugitive task forces that target violent offenders. "Many more of these people are armed, and they have an utter disregard for human life.''
2. White House 2012 budget proposal increases immigration enforcement dollars. Marcos Restrepo. The Florida Independent. February 22, 2011.
Excerpt: President Obama’s 2012 Department of Homeland Security budget proposal favors immigration enforcement increases for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, aka ICE.
Customs and Border Protection would receive 21 percent of the proposed 2012 Homeland Security budget (a 3 percent increase), ICE 10 percent (a 1 percent increase) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 5 percent (a 5 percent drop).
According to the Immigration Policy Institute:
On the one hand, the budget increases funding for worthy causes such as immigrant integration, alternatives to detention, and civil-liberties oversight of enforcement programs.
On the other hand, these funding increases are dwarfed by the size of the budget for border and interior immigration enforcement. In other words, despite some good intentions, and an effort to balance the impact of enforcement programs, ultimately the budget reflects a commitment to the enforcement-without-reform policies that have failed so miserably over the past two decades.
The budget proposal supports the largest deployment of Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection officers in the agency’s history.
The enforcement and administration of federal immigration laws includes an increase for 3,300 detention beds, the Secure Communities program, the Visa Security program, worksite enforcement and E-Verify.
The 2012 budget proposal would allow Secure Communities — a controversial fingerprint-sharing program that checks detainees’ fingerprints against federal databases for criminal or immigration status violations — to expand to 96 percent of all U.S. jurisdictions. All 67 Florida counties are currently enrolled in Secure Communities.
3. Republicans Must Walk Fine Line on Immigration. Ross Ramsey. The Texas Tribune. February 26, 2011.
Excerpt: The growth of the state’s Hispanic population and the rise of immigration as a political issue puts Texas Republicans in a tight spot.
It’s clear in the polls, on the political stump, on the news, at rallies and in the aisles of the Legislature that voters strongly support tougher enforcement of immigration laws and that conservative and white voters strongly support more restrictions and fewer benefits for illegal immigrants and their children.
It’s also clear that Hispanic voters — part of the fastest-growing group in the state’s population — don’t agree with their fellow Texans on many of those issues. Can Republicans keep their current voters happy without alienating the Hispanics they hope will support them in statewide races in the future?
Bill Hammond, a former Republican legislator who now heads the Texas Association of Business, thinks immigrant-bashing legislation could undermine the G.O.P., making Hispanics feel unwelcome and hurting businesses at the same time. “I think you suffer in the short term as well as the long term,” Mr. Hammond said..
Now the climate has changed, visible in the makeup of the Legislature. Republicans have 101 seats in the 150-member House, and 19 in the 31-member Senate. The clarity of what G.O.P. voters want is reflected in the bills filed by their elected officials. They’re talking about taking in-state college tuition away from the children of illegal immigrants who live in Texas. They’ve proposed Arizona-style legislation to make local police the enforcers of federal laws. They’re calling on the federal government, meanwhile, to enforce those laws and to — this is Mr. Perry again — send more people to patrol the border in the interest of safety. They’ve renewed calls to crack down on businesses that hire illegal immigrants..
“I don’t think this is the kind of issue that defeats you in a Republican primary,” Mr. Hammond said. “You have to be atrocious to get defeated in a Republican primary. Taxes might fall into atrocious activity, but I don’t think this does.”
4. International study points out U.S. immigration policy successes, failures. The American Independent. Marcos Restrepo. March 1, 2011.
Excerpt: The United States ranks ninth out of 31 countries in an international study evaluating immigrant integration policies released this week.
The Migrant Integration Policy Index (aka MIPEX), produced by the British Council and the Migration Policy Group, evaluates seven areas: labor market mobility, family reunion, education, political participation, long-term residence, access to nationality and anti-discrimination measures in all European Union member states plus Norway, Switzerland, Canada and for the first time the U.S.
The Immigration Policy Center, the research and policy arm of the American Immigration Council, served as a U.S partner for the study, and helped answer questions and gather information from various American experts.
The study indicates that strong U.S. anti-discrimination laws protect immigrants and guarantee them equal rights and opportunities, a model for immigration rules elsewhere.
Mary Giovagnoli, director of the Immigration Policy Center, told The Florida Independent that the U.S invests very little in immigrant integration and that budget cuts at the state and federal level put the country’s positive ranking at risk. She added that policymakers need to know that helping people to integrate and learn English provides a large return on investment..
According to the study, U.S legal status gives most migrant workers and their families some of the same chances in the labor market as native-born Americans, but immigrants often take jobs far below their skill level.
The report also states that all students, regardless of status, have access to public education but “undocumented students have no clear legal path to college, nor in-state tuition in 39 states.”
According to the MIPEX, everybody in the U.S. receives basic political freedoms, but until they naturalize, immigrants do not have formal political rights. The study pointed to state programs, like in Illinois, that seek to increase immigrant integration. It also highlighted that legal resident status is fragile.
The index finds that long-term immigrants with legal status have good opportunities to live with their families and find a job, but not as solid as those Americans enjoy. Conditions in law are not unfavorable, but since 1996, for example, many permanent legal residents cannot use federal benefits — a situation not remedied in the final 2010 health care reform law.
5. Immigration legislation sparks debate in Michigan. Tim Martin. Associated Press. The Chicago Tribune. March 1, 2011.
Excerpt: LANSING, Mich. — A proposal that would get police more involved in checking the Immigration status of people they pull over sparked criticism Tuesday at the Michigan Capitol, with an immigrant rights group and some pastors saying it would create a climate of fear and division.
Republican Rep. Dave Agema of Grandville said the bill he introduced last week was a "common sense" measure to help ensure that federal Immigration law is enforced in Michigan.
The measure would require law enforcement officers to make a "complete, full and appropriate attempt" to verify a person's Immigration status after the person is stopped for another offense and officers have probable cause to suspect the person is in the country illegally..
Opponents say the bill would hurt Michigan's business climate and reputation by creating an atmosphere where even legal immigrants feel unwelcome. Opponents said the Michigan bill is patterned after one in Arizona that sparked national criticism.
"The future of Michigan's economy relies on attracting the best and brightest from across the world," Rev. Fred Thelen, pastor of Cristo Rey Catholic Church in Lansing, said in a statement. "It would be foolish to pass this law and signal to the world that Michigan does not welcome the world, but treats it with suspicion."
Opponents said the bill "virtually mandates" racial profiling, but bill supporters said protections against racial profiling are in place. The proposal states that it would be enforced in a manner consistent with federal Immigration laws and "protecting the civil rights of all persons."
Michigan's law enforcement officers already have the power to contact federal Immigration officials if they've stopped someone that they have probable cause to believe is in the country illegally. But Michigan State Police say there's no state Immigration law that makes that a requirement or spells out procedures to follow if they suspect they've stopped an illegal immigrant.
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