Quantifying the cost of illegal immigration

It's not easy to quantify the cost of illegal immigration. For every kid who goes to school or gets medical treatment on the taxpayer's dime, there are ten families worth of illegal immigrants who pick our fruits and vegetables, bus our tables and take care of our yards at a rate significantly less than minimum wage. So whatever you put into the collective American pot that goes toward taking care of the cost of illegal immigration, you probably get back in services and goods that cost much, much less than they would if it were American citizens holding those jobs. So there are mix of variables when trying to determine the cost of illegal immigration. And what makes it an even harder topic to tackle is that the topic is a political hot-button issue, with republicans and democrats lined up on opposite sides of the aisle ready to leap to attack (or defend) depending upon what you say, think or do. In the process, facts have become less of a concern than maintaining lockstep dogma with those on "the same side as you." Some things to understand when figuring out the cost of illegal immigration: The United States government does not spend 11 to 22 billion dollars per year on illegal immigrant welfare. This is a popular canard trotted out by the Lou Dobbs'es of the world, and it's not based in fact. That's actually a good rule of thumb: If the information you're getting on the cost of illegal immigration comes from Lou Dobbs, or comes from a report that links to Lou Dobbs, or comes from someone who watches Lou Dobbs on television, it's a compromised source. Dobbs's personal income is based upon maintaining viewership for his television show. When viewership started declining, he began to use harsher and harsher rhetoric toward illegal immigrant. This caused viewership to go up. So he got even harsher. And got more viewers. So in essence, Dobbs fabricates information about the cost of illegal immigration - usually going out of his way to make them as outlandish as possible - for money. If someone's doing something so egregiously for cash, you have to take their "facts" with a grain of salt. For example, Dobbs once said that a full thirty percent of prisoners in American jails are illegal immigrants. This is patently false; a CIS report put the number closer to eleven percent. While that's still a significant percentage, that doesn't change the fact that Lou Dobbs is a liar.

Posted on: 24 May 2010 | 10:38 pm

Native American Indian's give immigrant amnesty to the rest

The United States is now solidly part of the western world, having been colonized from the sixteenth century to the twentieth, when the Apache's, not willing to extend immigrant amnesty to the western invaders, were finally released from their prisoner of war camp and allowed to return to their ancestral homes, as close as they could get to it. Conquest, not some divine law, put the land of the United States, North America, into the hands of those who now claim it as their own. Manifest destiny drove the European invaders from one end of the continent to the other, immigrants all, none applying for amnesty to the natives who wanted them out, not when killing the natives was the easier path. To the New World they came, as if the Divinity had created this continent only on their arrival, bestowing right of claim on them for the civility of their ways. But if law is to be universal, then Americans can't escape the fact that this land was taken without the cover of law, that they and their progeny are essentially illegal immigrants and, some natives would say, should be asking for immigrant amnesty themselves. Fortunately for these invaders, amnesty is no longer necessary: those who were rightful, de facto owners of the land are mostly dead or were herded into concentration camps we euphemistically call reservations.Today, as it was in the colonizing days of the Americas, a new set of immigrants have invaded the land, coming, not with sabers, horses, rifles and cannons, but with bodies hardened for back-breaking work, not so much looking for Eldorado's land of gold, but for the chance to live the life of a modern, civilized man. These immigrants came in full view, in full knowledge of the U.S. government -immigrant amnesty by silent consent - to fill jobs that U.S. citizens, fully equipped with high school diplomas and corporate office, warehouse, factory and plant experience, no longer wanted. Many of these immigrants came under the laws of immigration to this country, and never was there one available immigration position left unfilled for these blue collar legals, yet the demand for such workers not only remained, but grew to such a proportion, that a nod and a wink replaced the tedious immigration procedure, especially when the crops were in danger of destruction and U.S. agriculture stood to lose great profits throughout the world. There was no call for exportation of these immigrants then, no counter call for amnesty, for jobs were aplenty for all, no, not until the U.S. leadership let the prominence of America fall in international economics, when jobs became scare, that calls resounded throughout to deport these illegal immigrants, to deny immigrant amnesty, thereby making those once unattractive jobs available for the children of those illegal immigrants who came on wooden ships centuries before with no invitation in hand.Let us be fair. Perhaps we should allow the Native American Indians, what's left of them, to determine who should and who should not receive immigrant amnesty. It was theirs first.

Posted on: 21 April 2010 | 1:38 am

Irish Immigration an Ongoing Phenomenon

For most people who know anything about the history of immigration to the United States, Irish immigration is almost always associated with the great Potato Famine of the 1840s.That was when Ireland's major cash crop, the potato, failed, which spurred mass emmigration on the part of the Irish that would leave the current population of Ireland less than half of what it was nearly 170 years ago.The interesting thing about Irish immigration, however, is that it never actually stopped. Such communities as Woodlawn in the The Bronx, New York, have a sizable Irish immigrant population to this very day.I am an American of Irish lineage, and my family arrived in the United States in 1904 as a result of the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland. A friend of my family, who was a very little girl when she emigrated here not too long after my family did, told me horror stories about clashes between the Irish Republican Army and the British police — atrocities that, three generations removed, I could not even begin to fathom.It is always interesting to me to read about the various waves of immigration to the United States in history texts and the time periods with which they are associated, because our family was one of thousands that made the move from Ireland at that time.On the other end of the time spectrum, there is my friend, Matt, who emigrated from Ireland to the U.S. in 1991. He is hardly indicative of Irish immigration to America in general, because he came to Texas instead of the Northeast, which is where most Irish immigrants go, and he actually moved to the United States because he met and fell in love with his American wife while she was on vacation in Dublin.He is, however, another exception to the widely-held belief that Irish immigration was chiefly a 19th century phenomenon.Another misconception that many people hold about Irish immigration is that they think most Irish moved to the United States. The reality is that the Irish have emmigrated to countries throughout the world – to Canada, to Australia, and to the U.K., and to Mexico and Central America and South America.While there are less than seven million people living in Ireland, there are more than 70 million people of Irish ancestry in the world.I think this just goes to show what a huge impact that Irish immigration has made on so many nations throughout the world, including the United States. John Hancock, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was of Irish heritage.With such a large number of descendants throughout the world compared to such a small native population, one has to wonder if Irish immigration has been more prolific than immigration from any other country.

Posted on: 17 April 2010 | 6:31 pm

Immigration to America

It would be wrong to say that immigration to America has "become" a hot-button issue, since immigration to America has simply always been a hot button issue. From the days of the earliest European settlers, through the great waves of European immigration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to the modern immigration tides from East Asia and Latin America today, immigration to America has always been a political football for demagogues looking to score cheap points with isolated, tribalistic denizens of the country's less enlightened areas.Depending upon your point of view the history of immigration to america began in earnest with the Pilgrims and the Plymouth Colony of the early seventeenth century. This was the first permanent establishment of europeans on the east coast of the continent, though it should be noted that Vikings had established villages in both Greenland and on the northern tip of Newfoundland over seven hundred years previous.That said, the real beginning of immigration to America started with the europeans in the eighteenth century. Records vary, but various sources say that somewhere from four hundred thousand to one million europeans - mainly of German and British descent - immigrated to America between colonial times and the year 1814. In addition to the Dutch settlements along the Hudson River and the British settlements in New England, there was also a wave of French immigration to America along the gulf coast - specifically Louisiana - and Scots-Irish immigration to America throughout Appalachia but most specifically to what is now western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky. And of course there were hundreds of thousand of slaves that immigrated to America during the same time, however, since the slaves weren't crossing the Atlantic of their own accord, they are generally not counted in immigration to America statistics.The real explosion in immigration to America happened at the close of the Napoleonic Wars, sometimes called the Napoleonic World War, which played its last act in 1815. That, combined with a relaxation of immigration laws, saw a surge or Europeans making their way to America.The biggest post-1815 waves of immigrants came from Ireland, Germany, the United Kingdom and France. While a great many French settled in Quebec in what is now Canada, most of the other groups dispersed throughout the United States.But numbers really picked up starting in 1845 with the Irish Potato Famine, followed by a general famine throughout Europe and a number of failed revolutions three years later. By the 1850s, nearly one million Europeans per year were immigrating to America.

Posted on: 17 April 2010 | 6:27 pm

Illegal Immigration - It's Impact on the US Economy

Alien workers have played a very important part of the U.S. economy and throughout its history. The topic of illegal immigration often irritates a lot of emotion and has recently geared a lot of attention in the press. Immigrants are having more of an impact on the economy than ever before because of their large quantities in people. To many people, immigration issues revolve around economic arguments, such as the fact that immigrants will take work away from native workers at a much lower wage. With the foremost presence of illegal immigrant workers in the U.S., economists agree that there are many burdens and blessings that come with immigration, but they have all strained different conclusions in addressing the following questions with regards to illegal immigration:1. How do illegal immigrants benefit the U.S. economy?2. How do illegal immigrants damage the U.S. economy?3. Can the U.S. address and solve these problems with illegal immigration?4. Can illegal immigrants eventually become full citizens in the U.S.?This review of the literature on illegal immigration and its impact on the U.S. economy focuses on these four questions.How do Illegal Immigrants Benefit the U.S. Economy?In a perspective article, Davila (2006) insists that immigration can indeed be good for businesses. The reason why it is good for businesses because immigration supplies labor at a relatively lowcost, though the real concern is how often that immigrants are paid substandard wages (Davila, 2006). Although immigration can be good for businesses, major businesses "are, of course, concerned with hiring illegals, especially given the senate proposals, which would place more emphasis on employers verifying that employees are legal immigrants" (Davila, 2006). However, many illegal immigrants bring hard work ethic to the U.S, which businesses are often taking into consideration to their open positions. Davila believes that immigration should be perceived as a way to improve our economy and use all possible resources at our will. This improvement of our economy brings the hard work ethic of illegal immigrants that should be highly rewarded (Davila, 2006). In retrospect, the conclusion of Davila is that it is important to continue to encourage those who want to come to the U.S. to do so legally and continue to contribute to our economy.Although it may to true that many illegal immigrants are motivated to bring its hard work ethic to the U.S., it is however, uncertain that their authentic motivation is to tap into freely available resources. Enciro Marcelli believes that it is generally recognized that most illegal immigrants are more motivated to enter the U.S. to "build a better life for themselves and their families by securing a higher paying job" (Marcelli, 2005). There exist many common claims by the U.S. legislation on illegal immigration. Those includes: immigrations migrate to the U.S. to use its welfare program and public services and unauthorized immigrants take jobs away and depress the wages of, lower-skilled, minority workers.In a study undertaken in the late 1980's by a team of University of Texas researchers using 1980 U.S. Census data, they reported that although "legal immigrants had a small negative effect on the wages of U.S.-born white workers in the U.S. Southwest, undocumented Mexican immigrants actually had a small positive effect" (Marcelli, 2005). During the same time of the research done by the University of Texas scholars, another group of researchers from the University of Toledo in the early 1990s used the same data. However, they investigated the impact of undocumented immigrants on the unemployment of U.S.-born minority workers rather than the impact of undocumented immigrants on the employment of U.S.-born minority workers. They found an incredible inverse relationship. This is because illegal immigrants as they concluded enjoy clustering in states where unemployment rates were lower. The researchers interpreted this finding as "suggestive of labor market complimentarily rather than substitution" (Marcelli, 2005). In rebuke, the conclusion of Marcelli suggests that illegal immigrants fill undesirable jobs only after more collectively groups of workers drift into higher paying occupations (Marcelli, 2005). This means there is no loss in jobs as immigrants do not take jobs away from currently employed citizens.In contrary to Marcelli with the issue related to the extent to which illegal workers utilize more public services than their tax contributions, Moretti and Perloff (2000) "found that the participation in welfare programs by illegal immigrant worker families was 8% in contrast to 27%, 30%, and 42% for citizen, amnesty, and green card worker families, respectively" (Moretti & Perloff, 2000). Although this research is sustainable to the validity of welfare programs, it did not take into consideration the tax contributions with service usage. Their analysis was not based on tax contributions because "since most pertinent tax payments are via payroll deductions or sales tax collections, the general belief is that tax contributions vary little by legal status" (Moretti & Perloff, 2000). There analysis therefore, included all public services as well as public education. With the conclusion of this analysis, it shows that illegal immigrants are actually contributing to public services as well as social security because not only are they employees but they are also consumers who gives back to the community as well.How do illegal immigrants detriment the U.S. economy?While there are some that supports immigration, there are also many firm believers that immigration poses problems to the U.S. economy. Zedillo believes that illegal immigration poses problems for the U.S. every year "the size of the population living illegally in this country grows by as much as half a million people" (Zedillo, 2007). He argues that company employers who hire these illegal workers are also violating immigration laws because employers who hire illegal workers also violate immigration laws when misled by false documents (Zedillo, 2007). The reason why illegal workers are often employed is because it makes it easier for the employer and employee to escape paying taxes. Without paying taxes, Zedillo argues, illegal immigrants can become "a drain on social services and a public charge upon those states receiving the bulk of the inflow" (Zedillo, 2007). With the free ride of not having to pay taxes, illegal immigrants are more prone to abuse and exploitation without the aid of the government programs. Zedillo concludes that while working in these harsh conditions, many illegal immigrants find it hard to economically and culturally live in the U.S. due to having the risk of become an underclass and face a social conflict with U.S. citizens (Zedillo, 2007). By having social conflicts with others, illegal immigrants will hurt government services by not actively participates in contributing taxes however they will benefit the overall economy in which "immigration is essential to the dynamism of the American economy and for sustaining its pace in job creation" (Zedillo, 2007).Lewis, on the other hand, believes that not everyone benefits from immigration; there are both winners and losers (Lewis, 2007). Immigration's benefits derive from reducing wages in the less-skilled jobs that immigrants take. Lewis concludes that average Americans will not be harmed by this; relatively few Americans work in low skilled jobs may be affected by this in which immigration may reduce the earnings of some low-skilled Americans (Lewis, 2007).Can the U.S. address and solve these problems with illegal immigration?To address the problems of illegal immigrants entering the U.S., there are two realistic options: do nothing, or establish a legal mechanism for migration. The U.S. government orders strict border patrol and various immigration enforcement actions every year. However economists believe that no matter what the total amount spent on immigration, without inclusive reforms, these problems will only grow worse. As Emerson reported in his article, "closing the border, and no significant guest worker program could result in increased wage rates under the assumption of immobile capital and no changes in production" (Emerson, 2007). However, there is considerable doubt raised in the effectiveness of efforts to reduce the flow of illegal workers across the border (Hanson, Robertson, & Spilimbergo, 2002). When illegal immigrants are willing to do anything and everything to get an opportunity to enter the U.S., it is questionable that the use of fencing and other approaches will achieve an end to this because the economic pressures of illegal immigrants to enter the U.S. from neighboring countries are just too great.On the other hand, doing nothing is always an option, but the approach goes against U.S. policy of having laws. Organizing legal mechanisms for migration solves this process by removing workers with unknown identification and employers from a mere guessing game about the status of their employees. In any case, research has shown that workers switching from an illegal status to a legal status will command a higher wage, but this cannot be argued because employers are already risking a lot of money in taking the risk of hiring employees with an illegal work status. Illegal immigration is persistent because it has a strong economic rationale. This is because low-skilled workers are increasingly scarce in the U.S. while they are still very abundant in Mexico and Central America. Impeding illegal immigration without creating other opportunities for legal entry would conflict with market forces that push labor from low-wage countries to the high-wage U.S. labor market.Can illegal immigrants eventually become full citizens in the U.S.?With the trouble and cost of money trying to secure the border between Mexico and the United States, the case for amnesty has emerged onto the minds of many as an alternative way to solve the problem of immigrants securing their place inside the U.S. But what are some alternatives to letting illegal immigrants stay? Deporting millions? Creating punishments? In an article reported by Thornburgh, he believes that whether fining illegal aliens or putting them into schools, at the end of the day, illegal immigrants would be allowed to stay and become full citizens under the Senate compromise bill of Amnesty obstructed by Senator John McCain (Thornburgh). McCain proposes that this bill will be an amnesty but by "impose fines, fees and other requirements as punishment" (Thornburgh). This bill will be good for America because the estimated twelve million illegal immigrants prove to be non-deportable. In the history of the previous amnesty of 1986, offered a path to citizenship for three million illegal immigrants.This amnesty ignited the larger wave of illegal immigration that followed soon afterwards. The '86 amnesty showed soon-to-be immigrants from around the world that the U.S. was weak-willed and would eventually give citizenship to illegal immigrants. Soon after, Mexicans and other illegal immigrants hurricanes through the U.S. borders with no limitations. Studies show that this peak in migration depended less on changes in its policy and more on economic conditions between the U.S. and Mexico. Thornburgh suggests that to solve down illegal immigration, "you could induce a recession in the U.S." (Thornburgh). He also proposes that a better idea is to help Mexico to create more jobs that pay a better rate (Thornburgh).A recent Council on Foreign Relations study found that when Mexican wages drop ten percent in comparison to U.S. wages, there is a six percent increase in the attempts of illegal immigrants to cross the border illegally (Thornburgh). This is an astonishing result in which shows how complex or corrupt the Mexican economy may be. While Mexico stabilizes itself, there is both political and technological influences to make enforcement a serious part of a new amnesty plan. By enforcing National ID cards, employer verification, high-tech border controls, these all could aid in making sure that this would be the last amnesty of its generation.An angry outburst in immigration to the U.S. has raised many concerns over what our immigration policy should be. While the pro-immigrant supporters say "immigrants do jobs natives won't do" is overly stated, it is true that there are fewer Americans who work in the same field as low-skilled immigrants such as in agriculture. As a consequence to this fact, most Americans benefit from immigration because it reduces the wages of some low-earning American workers who compete with immigrants for jobs. This is not a problem because U.S. labor markets are flexible to absorb immigrants without depressing low-skilled Americans' earnings. One reason for this is that employers are able to adapt their production methods to the available work force, which goes well with their ability to adapt to changes in immigration policy. As congress again grapples with immigration acts and amnesty, one would hope that it will pay off failures of the past by creating a foundation that allows active participation of legal workers in the U.S. economy. Otherwise, the U.S. is likely to find itself with even larger illegal populations in the very near future.References(2006). Immigration: Issues and Perspectives for Businesses. 22, Retrieved July 3, 2007, from http://ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsh&AN=22232110&site=ehost-liveEmerson, R. Agricultural Labor Markets and Immigration. 22, Retrieved July 4, 2007, from http://ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&AN=25022853&site=ehost-liveErnesto, Z. Migranomics Instead of Walls. 179, Retrieved July 3, 2007, from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=15&sid=809c541e-3f41-45db-a22b-7f09b9f98c4f%40SRCSM1G, Dula (2006).How to partly bounce back the struggle against illegal immigration to the source countries. Population Economics, 19, Retrieved July 4, 2007, from http://www.springerlink.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/content/2l1152375246hp71/Hanson, G (April 10, 2007).Free Markets Need Free People. Retrieved June 20, 2007, from http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/pqdweb?index=0&did=1252087971&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1183959887&clientId=3751Lewis, E.The Impact of Immigration on American Workers and Businesses. 22, Retrieved July 01, 2007, from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=2&sid=19c8a2aa-2925-4115-b08b-841b9c207441%40SRCSM1

Posted on: 19 December 2009 | 4:54 am

One step closer to immigrating to the US: submitting your application

One step nearer to entering the US : submitting your claim So, you're prepared to leap thru some rings to immigrate to the US, huh? Well, it's actually not all that frightening a technique if you are ready for it.Do you not think you need to know what they are? Remember that as you go thru the immigration process, your consulate or embassy will have plenty of power and so does the Yankee immigration officer, in reality the second will have the final say. Proof, documents, and perspective aside, you are not ever in total control of your immigration.So be sure you cross your t's and dot your i's! Try and be as correct and complete with your claim process so you don't encounter any difficulties on the way to your new living arrangement. Before submitting your immigration application, there are a couple of things to remember. In order to avoid problems that frequently haunt others attempting to do the same goal, follow the advice below : Your passport will be vital when making an application for a visa. Confirm it is up to date and has correct info about you it's simple to download an immigration form online, simply make sure it is the correct one and you have Acrobat Reader for viewing also, when you go to print, you can be needed to print it out back to back and with certain dimensions Fill out the form as at length and awfully as you can, otherwise put N / An An recent, face-fronting photograph with high contrast is a complete must for your claim so have this available Your host in the U.S. Can start putting the method in motion by sending in all required, recent documents to the consulate you are working with, you'll be wanting to be certain that there are no inconsistencies with the data your host and you give the consulate get ready to answer questions during your interview about why you are entering the U.S, there are certain qualifications to do such a thing and you need to watch out that you do not disqualify yourself on accident! You can simply get a visa application visiting U.S. UnitedStatesVisas.gov and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are amazing resources for you. Now, to submit your visa, you have to find the acceptable consulate to submit it to. Arrange an appointment with the consulars office and ask about costs beforehand. What you'll need is : a passport, crucial documents, visa application forms ( naturally ), and payment for whatever charges. Once the consulars office O.K's you, you may then greet an immigration officer in America. Office of Homeland Security will identify the length of your stay and all those alternative critical details about your immigration standing.

Posted on: 8 November 2009 | 1:58 pm

Illegal Immigration And The Catholic Church

I'm a Catholic.Also I am against illegal immigration. I think that we should clamp down tougher on illegal aliens and we should do more to guard our borders. Churches, whether or not they be Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or other have a different duty, in society, than presidencies, police departments and voters. After an interview with Cardinal Mahony of the Catholic Church, the LA Times reported'In an interview on the brink of Ash Wed., Mahony asserted he intended to use the 1st day of the Lenten season to call on all 288 parishes in the LA Archdiocese, the state's biggest, to fast, pray and press for tolerant immigration reform. U.S. Roman Catholic bishops support offers for a guest-worker program, legalization of undocumented immigrants and more visas for migrants' families.'. The Times further let slip that'In his most forceful comments to date, Mahony stated that he would teach his monks to defy legislation if authorized by Congress that would need churches and other social affiliations to ask immigrants for legal paperwork before providing help and penalise them if they decline to do so. That provision was included in the immigration bill latterly passed by the House of Members, a corresponding offer is in the version that the Senate Judiciary Panel plans to start discussing this week.'. Cardinal Mahony stated'The entire idea of punishing folks who serve immigrants is un-American. If you take this to its logical, ridiculous extraordinary, each single person who comes up to get Holy Communion, you've got to ask them to show papers. It becomes ludicrous and the church isn't on the point of getting into that.The church is here to serve folk.We aren't about to become immigration agents. It just throws more gasoline on the dialogue and inflames people.' In a letter to the Times a reader stated'It is time for the Internal Income service to look into the Catholic Church's tax free standing. I do not believe that Cardinal Mahony is joining in politics. He wasn't telling his parishioners what position to take on illegal immigration, he was simply asking ( not odering ) his parishes to'fast, pray and press for humane immigration reform' and indoctrinating his monks to keep on to provide help to folk without regard for their immigration standing.To reject someone the sacraments of confession, communion, baptism, last rites, wedding, etc, or to deny financial help or comfort during periods of need, because that person might or might not be here legally or because that person would possibly not be ready to prove that he is here legally, would be unchristian and against the meaning of the Church. In my judgment, any clergyman that would reject help primarily based on immigration standing, wouldn't be fit to be called a clergyman. Cardinal Mahony also said that he disagreed with certain new laws and rules being suggested. I don't agree with some of his statements, however this nation's constitution guarantees liberty of speech, and I suspect that he deserves to be in a position to vocalize his thoughts and feelings, like the rest of us.His being a Cardinal shouldn't rob him of his right to freedom of speech.He isn't, of course, talking of betrayal or hate and he isn't saying that God instructed him to make his statements. He isn't saying that God will punish those that don't follow his ( Cardinal Mahony ) wishes. Cardinal Mahony advocates immigrant rights and I and many others disagree with plenty of the rights he recommends he's a citizen of this country and irrespective of what his position or influence, should have the legal right to speak up on issues that he has a belief in. All are able to speak out. Why should church leaders be prevented from talking out? Yes, the govt. should do all it can to stop illegal immigration. No, churches shouldn't be stopped from caring for their flock and they shouldn't be stopped from caring for somebody just as he or she might or might not be a voter or a legal immigrant. The govt. 's needs and the church's needs aren't the same.

Posted on: 8 November 2009 | 1:55 pm

The immigration history of the united states

It's often said that the United States is a nation of immigrants. Our immigration history starts back, really, in pre-history, as the "indigenous" peoples of the Americas actually immigrated from Asia, crossing a land-bridge between Siberia and the US state of Alaska. So not even the native Americans are actually native.That said, for historical purposes the real immigration history of the united states begins with the Pilgrims and Puritans of the seventeenth century. This first wave of immigrants were religious refugees from Europe, fleeing religious persecution in England, Germany, France and other regions. The irony of this chapter of immigration history is that they then constructed exactly what they were running from, in turn persecuting the American indians they encountered as well as other, newer immigrant groups that had different cultures and religious practices themselves.Of course, the numbers of immigrants coming to the Americas from Europe in this era was relatively small when compared with what was to come. The era of "Mass Migration", as it is called, roughly coincided with the industrial revolution and began in the 1820s. America.gov has a section on it in which they put the numbers into persepctive:This period ushered in the first era of mass migration. From that decade through the 1880s, about 15 million immigrants made their way to the United States, many choosing agriculture in the Midwest and Northeast, while others flocked to cities like New York, Ph iladelphia, Boston, and Baltimore.Factors in both Europe and the United States shaped this transition. The end of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe liberated young men from military service back home at the same time that industrialization and agricultural consolidation in England, Scandinavia, and much of central Europe transformed local economies and created a class of young people who could not earn a living in the new order. Demand for immigrant labor shot up with two major developments: the settlement of the American Midwest after the inauguration of the Erie Canal in 1825 and the related rise of the port of New York, and the first stirrings of industrial development in the United States, particularly in textile production, centered in New England.Some of the immigrant communities that flourished during this time were the Germans, who still make up the largest ethnic base in the United States. This also was the origin of the Irish immigration history of the US, with Irish settling primarily in the cities of New York and Boston. Italian, Eastern European and Jewish waves of immigration were to follow, all the way up to the Mexican and Chinese mass immigration waves of today.

Posted on: 19 July 2009 | 2:04 am

Are you against immigration?

Just a few years ago, demonstrators lined the streets all over America, protesting Americans against immigration from Mexico.President George W. Bush argued that steps would be taken to halt illegal immigration through our southern border. Our Congress subsequently approved allocation of some hundreds of millions of dollars to construct a wall across hundreds of miles of the states bordering Mexico and to increase border patrols.At the height of the media focus on the illegal immigration issue, two border patrol officers attempted to stop a Mexican citizen, allegedly a drug dealer, from entering the United States through Texas. The would-be immigrant, intent on getting his goods through to the U.S., was alleged by the two border patrol agents to have fired a shot, first, which they returned, resulting in his death. This incident received wide attention in the media, with people becoming polarized on both sides of the incident. The two border patrol agents were tried for murder and convicted. This trial created a media frenzy, replete with reports from both camps, those against immigration issues of this sort and those who claimed this was only further evidence of police brutality.The illegal immigration issue was again in the news, following the Katrina disaster. The reconstruction efforts in New Orleans and surrounding areas was characterized by the almost exclusive hiring of illegal Mexican citizens to perform the labor. These contractors were eager to make a good profit by hiring cheap labor, in violation of American labor laws. While American citizens, desperate for work, were turned away, in favor of non-citizens who would work for less than the legal Federal minimum wage, the wave of American citizens against immigration grew exponentially.The majority of American people were outraged. The Federal agencies who were supposed to be combatting illegal immigrants seemed to be turning a blind eye to the cheap labor, employed by the large American contractors, at the expense of down and out Americans, more than willing to work these jobs.Behind the scenes, without the knowledge or approval of Congress, our President had worked out a deal with Canada and Mexico to form what we now know as the 'North American Treaty', a plan which will merge Canada, the United States and Mexico, to create a 'borderless' entity quite similar to the European Union, erasing borders and creating a morphed constitution. This treaty effectively negated our constitution and will go into effect in the coming year.It no longer matters if you are against immigration. The merging of sovereign countries is in the works. Laws are being rewritten as we speak. The planned North American Union includes a change in our currency. The American and Canadian dollars are to be integrated with the Mexican peso. The bankers are happy to see this consolidation. The argument against immigration has become a moot point.The new currency, the 'Amero', follows the pattern of the Euro, now firmly ensconced in the world market. It's interesting to note that, following the initiation of the Euro, the European markets were flying high, out pacing the dollar. However, some years into the European Union, Europe's economy is also now in trouble.Europeans have now adopted strict regulations on immigration policies, in an attempt to stabilize their economies, using protectionist strategies in order to provide employment to their citizens, but to no avail. Today, a global economic collapse is in the offing.Perhaps the people who are against immigrant programs which only serve to exploit immigrant labor, are not far off the mark. All of the nations are being swallowed up in this so called New World Order.What will be the result of the American dollar being replaced with a continental currency? Is this plan a precursor to global dominance of labor, without restriction? Are we all to be enslaved, with our Constitution gutted? People who are against immigration should think long and hard about the details. What are we really fighting? Consider that a very small group of people are running the world. We, the people, are the ultimate victims.

Posted on: 16 July 2009 | 7:56 pm

Immigration Documents

Some lack the time to interpret those documents themselves, other don't know the language of the first document. Finding the right person to interpret a document or a project can often be a hard job, particularly when it comes to more complicated languages. If you have an interest in immigration translations Canada, then step one you need to take is perform an in depth search on the web.If you want a straightforward document interpreted, immigration documents or a domain, these pros are there for you. Having the ability to interpret from and to so many languages is another explanation of them being the right company for your interpretation wants. Interpretation has given a totally new meaning to the theorem of communication and the professionals working on translations Toronto know that.But how precisely can an immigration barrister help you? Here are a couple of the most serious areas of practice in immigration law that your barrister will help you figure out. An immigration counsel will help you determine if you meet the accurate wants of changing into a voter of the U.S. You have to demonstrate an elementary level of British ( reading, writing, understanding ), and, six. Also, exemptions from British needs are available for those over fifty five years of age who and have resided in the U.S. As a Legal Permanent Resident for fifteen years, or are over fifty years old and have resided in the U. S.As a Legal Permanent Resident for twenty years. The legal test for both groups is similar. Interpretation has given a completely new meaning to the tenet of communication and the executives working on translations Toronto know that. Local speakers are prepared to work on different projects in languages that are spoken by millions of folks on the planet, for example Spanish, Chinese or French.For them, any project matters, without reference to the size or significance. For them, it isn't the scale of the project that matters but achieving the objectives, offering a bridge between different languages. This is where experience comes in handy, with talented translators having the ability to tackle even the most troublesome translations and delivering the predicted results. If you have an interest in immigration translations or not, these pros will look after your project from beginning to finish. Prepare to gain from a pro interpretation and return if you need their top-of-the-line services.

Posted on: 26 April 2009 | 2:09 am

N.Y. lawmaker wants ICE in jails

A New York state lawmaker wants jail guards there to receive immigration law enforcement training. "I'm going to work with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to sign up counties who have their own correctional facilities," said State Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Carmel. On Feb. 6, the Danbury Common Council gave Police Chief Al Baker authorization to enroll in the ICE ACCESS/287(g) program. Danbury will become the first municipality in Connecticut to enroll in the program, assuming ICE approves the city's application. Danbury officials have said the city will be sending two or three detectives to receive the training. Ball, however, thinks it is more effective to start a New York jail house program, where the names of suspected illegal immigrants would be screened using a federal database.Read More

Posted on: 15 March 2009 | 5:39 pm

Cubin casts first House vote since October

WASHINGTON (AP) n Rep. Barbara Cubin returned to Washington this week and has cast her first vote in the U.S. House since October 25th.Cubin plans to retire at the end of the year. She was away from her duties in Washington for several months last year as she took care of her husband, who has been critically ill. She voted "present" on a procedural vote Tuesday night.She said in a release that her priorities in her final year in Congress are health care, energy development, immigration and public land management.Cubin said she will push bills that combat the spread of drug-resistant diseases, boost cancer screenings and expand treatment options for methamphetamine addicts. She said she will also push to add Medicare providers in Wyoming.Read More

Posted on: 23 February 2009 | 8:29 pm

Phoenix cops to check citizenship of suspects

Phoenix police will ask the immigration status of everyone they arrest or cite for committing a crime, under a new policy announced Friday. The policy will affect people booked into jail, as well as those who are issued a citation and released on misdemeanor charges, said Phoenix police Chief Jack Harris. If the arresting officer has reason to believe the suspect in a misdemeanor case is an illegal immigrant, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will be notified under the new policy, which will take about 90 days to put in place, Harris said. Under the departments current policy, only people arrested for major felonies are questioned by Phoenix police as to their immigration status. People stopped for most traffic violations, crime victims and witnesses will not be asked about immigration status under the policy, which was devised by four former prosecutors appointed by Mayor Phil Gordon in December to study the issue.Read More

Posted on: 19 February 2009 | 9:05 pm

Eric Niiler, NPR Biography

Eric Niiler reports for NPR's national desk. His work can be heard on All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and other NPR newsmagazines. Before moving to his current post, Niiler was a reporter for NPR's Day to Day program, and also filed pieces for NPR's national and science desks. Niiler comes to NPR from KPBS Radio in San Diego, Calif., where he covered immigration and border issues between the United States and Mexico. In April 2004, he was an embedded reporter with U.S. Marines in Iraq reporting for KPBS and NPR. Before joining KPBS in 2001, Niiler worked as a freelance journalist in San Diego. He contributed his knowledge of Mexico and the environment to various publications including Scientific American, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, and the Christian Science Monitor.Read More

Posted on: 12 February 2009 | 7:41 pm

EXCLUSIVE - The Observer talks to BNP chairman Nick Griffin

I would love to come down and debate issues in public but we are simply not able to. All that would happen is our opposition would bus in demonstrators to stand outside or put pressure on the owner of the venue to not to let us meet there."We would then most likely be blamed for any disturbances so we have to go out of our way to avoid confrontation."Mr Griffin held a three hour questions and answer session at the meeting on Monday night with a number of issues covered including what he described as "the transformation of Hastings caused by immigration."The outspoken former National Front member said that far from deterring tourists the removal of foreign nationals would make Hastings a far more attractive destination.He said: "Tourists come visit the town expecting to see somewhere connected to 1066 and the Battle of Hastings.Read More

Posted on: 1 February 2009 | 2:44 pm

Tories may outlaw forced marriages

A Conservative government would consider making forced marriages a criminal offence, David Cameron will announce. The Tory leader will denounce the practice whereby hundreds of schoolgirls, as well as a minority of boys, are forced into marrying someone they do not want to as "bizarre and unacceptable". He will commit a future Conservative government to a series of measures to tackle the problem - include a requirement that both would-be brides and grooms coming to Britain to get married and their partners in the UK are at least 21. British nationals going abroad to marry would have to register in the UK beforehand if they want their marriage to be recognised for immigration purposes. The announcement coincides with a visit by Mr Cameron to Bradford where he is holding a meeting of the shadow cabinet as well as meeting campaigners and victims of forced marriages.Read More

Posted on: 24 January 2009 | 9:46 pm

Rudy hangs in; Times may help, too

Recent polls suggest the GOP Florida primary is a two-man race between John McCain and Mitt Romney. But Rudy Giuliani showed last night why reports of his death are premature - and maybe wrong. Giuliani, in a political funk for the past two months, put on a solid performance to keep his hopes alive. While he wasn't spectacular or dramatic, he was comfortable, forceful and precise with his answers. He was as good on the economy, immigration and the danger of Islamic terror as McCain and Romney. What might have given him an edge in many voters' eyes was a curious question from moderator Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News. In asking Giuliani to defend himself against a vicious editorial in today's New York Times that denounces the former mayor, Williams inadvertently made the brusque Giuliani a sympathetic figure.Read More

Posted on: 23 January 2009 | 8:27 pm

District judge upholds employer-sanctions law

A federal judge upheld the merits of Arizona's landmark employer-sanctions law Thursday, saying it does not overstep the federal government's authority to regulate illegal immigration. U.S. District Judge Neil Wake dismissed arguments by a coalition of business and Latino civil-rights groups that the law unconstitutionally gives the state controls over immigration. Wake noted that the state law controls business licenses and does not determine who should be admitted into the United States. The Legal Arizona Workers Act gives the state authority to suspend or revoke the business license of any employer found to have knowingly or intentionally hired an illegal immigrant. The 15 county attorneys have the power to enforce the law but have said they have no intention of bringing any enforcement actions before March 1.Read More

Posted on: 19 January 2009 | 6:40 pm

Immigration u-turn grants centenarian's wish

A 101-year-old widower will live out his twilight years with his only living relative in New Zealand after immigration officials reversed a decision to send him back to England. The widower, a retired research chemist who has been living with his English-born New Zealand-resident son since 2006, was refused residency on a technicality - his son hadn't lived here for the required minimum 184 days in each of the three years before his application was made. In his application for residency, the centenarian told immigration officials he no longer wished to live alone in Britain and his 63-year-old son thought the sensible and responsible option was for him to come to live with him and his wife. The 101-year-old arrived on a visitor's permit in July 2006.Read More

Posted on: 11 January 2009 | 11:43 pm

Rage Against the (Sewing) Machine

Syracuse University Press, 224 pages, $29.95. Yiddish today, like a century ago, is a sharply divided language. On one hand, it is still the language spoken in countless ultra-Orthodox homes in Brooklyn, Israel and Europe, and on the other, it's the phantom limb of Ashkenazic Jews, rooted in an Eastern European culture that barely survived immigration and the Holocaust. It has served many purposes, from marking the line between the Torah and the tavern to becoming the vehicle for Jewish global citizenship. It is a language that is no longer spoken by the vast majority of today's Jews, but it helped create their identities anyway. Marc Miller's new book, “Representing the Immigrant Experience: Morris Rosenfeld and the Emergence of Yiddish Literature in America," is an evocative and deft examination of one poet who unknotted his Yiddish tongue in America and became what can be described only as a pop star.Read More

Posted on: 5 January 2009 | 2:22 am

Grassroots efforts brings Freedom Festival

Uyger spoke of his immigration to America at the age of eight from Turkey, and how at first he resented being displaced to a foreign culture, but quickly came to love America for the hopes and opportunities it offered. A lifelong Republican until recently, Uyger used to organize pro-war rallies in 1991, and continued to vote Republican until the last election, when he became fed up with the direction that President Bush had taken this country. Uyger gave a quick but thorough history of the war in Iraq, and said that the President should be impeached for the many laws he has broken, including the Geneva Convention. 'You don't attack countries that haven't attacked you; that set a terrible precedent,' said Uyger. Although he was unable to attend the Freedom Festival, Congressman Kevin McCarthy of the 22nd District, in which the Kern Valley is included, issued the following statement: "The debate about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan is one that I encourage as we look for solutions to increase stability and security, and create a situation on the ground where our troop levels can eventually be reduced in what we all hope is the near future.Read More

Posted on: 24 December 2008 | 7:46 pm

Travis Co. Jail Immigration Fracas Hits Commissioners Court

Travis County Commissioners Court convened long past quitting time Tuesday afternoon to deliberate the Sheriff's Office's recent decision to provide U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforce­ment with office space in the jail, with county officials claiming they never dreamed the arrangement would cause such a fuss and immigrant activists countering that it's an out-of-character betrayal of the minority community. An indignant Sheriff Greg Hamilton disputed the alleged nefariousness of the plan, insisting the Sheriff's Office is merely providing an old desk and a tiny room so ICE agents won't have to stand at a counter to process deportation paperwork, that it is his prerogative as sheriff to delegate jail resources, and that the Sherrif's Office is legally obligated to cooperate with ICE and other law enforcement.Read More

Posted on: 22 October 2008 | 8:35 pm

Immigration Minister Chris Evans uneasy 'playing god'

IMMIGRATION Minister Chris Evans says he has too much power and feels uncomfortable about "playing God'' on individual migration cases. Senator Evans told an upper house committee today there had been a big increase in ministerial intervention in migration decisions during the Howard government. Section 501 of the Migration Act allows the minister to cancel or refuse a person a visa on character grounds. This was the section used by former immigration minister Kevin Andrews to revoke the visa of Dr Mohamed Haneef, after the former Gold Coast hospital registrar was granted bail on a terrorism charge which was later dropped. Senator Evans said ministerial intervention in individual migration cases had become the norm in recent years and, in some cases, people had no appeal rights.Read More

Posted on: 21 October 2008 | 8:43 pm

Federal Protective Service woes could threaten building security

The Federal Protective Service's budget shortfalls and shrinking workforce could threaten the physical security of government buildings, according to preliminary findings from the Government Accountability Office. FPS, the agency charged with providing physical security and law enforcement services to approximately 8,800 facilities owned or leased by the General Services Administration, was transferred in 2003 from GSA to the Homeland Security Department's Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau. Since then, FPS has faced multimillion-dollar funding shortages and ensuing management challenges. Traditionally, FPS was able to make up its budget deficit through GSA's Federal Buildings Fund. But now, as a part of Homeland Security, FPS no longer can tap into that fund and has had to scramble to cover operational expenses and implement cost-cutting measures.Read More

Posted on: 22 July 2008 | 8:20 pm

Thousands of foreign workers on Saipan rally for justice

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (AP) _ Thousands of foreign workers in the Northern Mariana Islands marched through Saipan's tourist and business district. They were protesting local laws they say give them no protection amid the demise of the once thriving garment industry. The workers rallied in support of a bill in the U.S. Congress to federalize the island's immigration system. They say that would allow those already legally employed to retain nonimmigrant work and study status in other U.S. territories and states. Commonwealth Governor Benigno Fitial opposes the measure. He says it ignores recent improvements in labor standards and could cripple attempts to revive the islands' depressed economy. (Copyright 2007 Associated Press.Read More

Posted on: 22 July 2008 | 12:18 am