The Gringa

Immigrants and Healthcare from the Migration Policy Institute

2009-11-09T07:32:00.000-05:00

The following link and abstract are from the Migration Policy Institute's "latest news" site. You can download the entire article following the link below.

Immigrants and Health Care Reform: What's Really at Stake?
By Randy Capps, Marc R. Rosenblum, and Michael Fix
Health care reform proposals under consideration in Congress that would exclude many legal immigrants from core benefits and impose new verification requirements would have important spillover consequences for taxpayers and other health care consumers. In a new report, MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy offers the first-ever estimates of the size of uninsured immigrant populations in major immigrant-destination states, the number of immigrant workers covered by employer-provided plans, and the share of immigrants employed by small firms likely to be exempted from employer coverage mandates. The report, based on MPI analysis of Census Bureau data, also examines health coverage for immigrants by legal status, age, and poverty levels.
Download Report | Press Release

Guide for Undocumented Students

2009-11-08T06:41:00.001-05:00

The link above will take you to the National Council of La Raza's Keeping the Dream Alive: Resource Guide for Undocumented Students.

No Immigration question on the 2010 Census

2009-11-08T06:34:00.001-05:00

The Senate voted down the "Vitter Amendment" --a brazen political stunt that would add questions about one's immigration status on the 2010 census. It was an ridiculous idea, one that would have delayed the census AND increased costs (does anyone else out there wonder WHY Republicans have no problems spending money frivolously in instances like this?).

Although no one is talking about timetables for immigration reform, it continues to rumble beneath the surface. How it will take shape is another question. My hope is that Democrats will be able to ignore the anti-immigrant extreme and push forward with a reasoned debate. One thing that the health care debate has made clear: it is still possible to get things done IN SPITE OF the wackos.

in reference to: Census Dodges a Bullet but the Immigration Issue Remains - Up Front Blog - Brookings Institution (view on Google Sidewiki)

Health Care and Immigration

2009-11-08T06:26:00.001-05:00

Well, they finally did it--the House passed a health reform bill that -- if it becomes law--will mark a major shift in America's safety net. But the passage of this bill into law could hinge on immigration language. The Hispanic caucus has told the President that if the language in the bill does not insure the undocumented, many in their membership will not vote for it.

This seems completely insane politically. No advocate of immigrants' rights wants to see the undocumented left out, but it's also hard to make an argument for killing a bill that will benefit so many Americans.

My suggestion: leave the immigration issues to rest until you take up immigration reform next spring. If you lose healthcare, you have NO CHANCE of reforming immigration.

in reference to: Health Care Bill Could Hinge on Immigration Language - Political Hotsheet - CBS News (view on Google Sidewiki)

U.S. to ID departing foreign visitors

2009-11-08T06:21:00.001-05:00

DHS is finalizing a project that would collect fingerprints or retinal scans from ALL foreign travelers at U.S. airports as they leave the country.

The idea here is to determine who is leaving the country, and possibly, to determine who is still here (and overstaying a visa). The article does not mention a to scan and print the visitors who leave by car, boat and train. It also does not address the issue of who is entering the country. It would seem logical to do this at entry and exit, no? I mean, do we really care if an alleged terrorist leaves, or enters, the country?

This is a costly program and most airlines have opposed it.

in reference to: DHS readies plan to track foreigners flying from U.S. - washingtonpost.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Underground Undergrads:UCLA's Undocumented Immigrants Speak Out

2009-11-06T07:52:00.000-05:00

As part of an ongoing series of conversations on international migration, Migration Projects @ Mason is pleased to announce a book talk and DVD presentation of Underground Undergrads: UCLA Undocumented Immigrants Speak Out. Kent Wong, Director of UCLA's Center for Labor Research and Education and Mantias Ramos, UCLA graduate and immigration rights activist, will discuss the DREAM Act, an important piece of legislation designed to ensure that all students have access to higher education. The event will be held on Thursday, November 12, 2009, 1:30-2:30pm at the Johnson Center Cinema at George Mason University's Fairfax Campus.

Every year tens of thousands of students who have grown up in the United States and graduate from U.S. high schools face uncertain futures due to their undocumented status. The DREAM Act, bipartisan legislation introduced to Congress in March 2009, seeks to reform current immigration law that keeps the children of undocumented immigrants from gaining legal residency and limits their access to the life-changing opportunity of undergraduate education. Also known as the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, passage of this legislation would initiate two major shifts in how this population is treated under the law: It would permit students who have grown up in the U.S. to apply for temporary legal status, and to ulitmately secure permanent status and eligibility for citizenship after attending collges or serving in the miliary. The legislation would eliminate penalties incrurred by states that provide in-state tuition regardless of a students' legal status.

Our speakers wil not only address the significance of the publication of Underground Undergrads, which chronicles the challenges and triumphs of young people striving to achieve an education under teh most desperate circumstances, but will speak to broader questions of immigration reform, including: What are the potential pitfalls of linking miliatary service to acces to legal status? And how might thte growing concensus about the necessity of providing a path to citizenship for undocumented students be expanded to include the millions of undocumented workers crucial to our economy? Please join us and our speakers engage these and other important issues in a timely and critical discussion.

If you have any questions, please contact Debra Lattanzi Shutika at George Mason University.

Poultry Processing Film fined after immigration raid

2009-11-04T08:09:00.001-05:00

This article from today's Baltimore Sun discusses a settlement between Federal Prosecutors and House of Raeford Farms. Raeford Farms was raided a few months back, and subsequently fined 1.5 million dollars for hiring undocumented workers.

I highlight one aspect of this settlement--the perpetrators, two plan managers, will avoid criminal records if they complete probation.

I'm all for giving non-violent offenders a second chance. I also strongly oppose the practice of incarcerating people without just cause. But I do think it inherently unfair that these two managers --who are now convicted criminals--should be able to walk away from this incident without criminal records.

It further reinforces the fact that U.S. immigration laws and enforcement turn a blind eye to those who hire the undocumented, while the immigrants are left to pay the costs for our broken system.

in reference to:

"The deal will also let two indicted managers at the poultry company's Greenville, S.C., plant avoid criminal records, provided they enter a probationary program."
- Poultry firm fined $1.5 million after immigration raid, monitoring -- baltimoresun.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Driving without English?

2009-11-04T08:01:00.009-05:00

We've all read about the hazards of driving while Latino (or African American), but is it possible to be ticketed for not speaking English? According to the Dallas Morning News article, it is. In fact, 39 drivers were ticketed in a 3 year period. Hmm, I guess we don't want to habla espanol in Tejas these days.

The point here is not so much that this is just completely ridiculous--which it of course is--there is not official language and it is NOT illegal to speak a language other than English. However, this report points to a serious issue--if this can happen in Dallas, where there is a robust Latino population, what does it say about the rest of the U.S.?

Last year, a woman was beaten by police in Prince William County, VA when she was pulled over and refused to sign her ticket. She did not speak English, and tried to communicate with the officer that she did not want to sign something she could not read or understand. This article raises a larger question:
what is happening to immigrants and foreign visitors in the U.S. when they encounter our law enforcement officials and cannot effectively communicate in English?
in reference to: Dallas police ticketed 39 drivers in 3 years for not speaking English | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News (view on Google Sidewiki)

U.S. Supreme Court seeks opinion on Ariz. Immigration Case

2009-11-03T07:21:00.001-05:00

At issue is whether federal immigration law prevents states from imposing their own penalties on businesses that employ undocumented immigrants. This case has been filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce against the state of Arizona after it passed a law in 2007 that imposed penalties on businesses that hire undocumented workers.

This could be an interesting case in several ways. First, it could halt much of the local legislation that has been enacted in jurisdictions across the U.S. That could be good news for immigrants across the nation, many of whom (even those with full authorization to live in the U.S.) have been unfairly discriminated against because they look Latino. Secondly, it could send a clear signal that U.S. labor law, which is set up to shelter employers who violate immigration laws, should continue as per precedent.

I'm no fan of punishing immigrants when the people who hire them are allowed to violate the law with impunity. However, the attempts to address our immigration problems locally has simply failed. It should be interesting to see what comes of this.

in reference to: UPDATE: US High Court Seeks Opinion On Ariz Immigration Case - WSJ.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

The New Faces of Day labor

2009-11-02T08:22:00.001-05:00

This article from the Las Vegas Sun discusses a recent trend at day labor centers: the appearance of U.S. born workers. The idea of Americans forming a cue along Latinos in a Home Depot parking lot generates a 21st Century Grapes of Wrath image. This is where we are. The economy is that bad.

But the fact that we're likely to see Anglo faces among the brown "loitering" outside our convenience stores. Perhaps now we can rethink the idea of local day labor centers.

5 Misconceptions about the Land of Opportunity

2009-11-01T10:38:00.000-05:00

This article from today's Washington Post highlights a few false impressions that many Americans have about the U.S. being a land of opportunity, including one about immigration.

You'll note that I changed the title to "misconceptions" from "myths." The folks a Brookings have my undying respect, but they should know the difference between a myth (a type of sacred narrative) and misconception (belief not supported by data or "facts").

Mexican Soldiers find tunnel under U.S.-Mexico border

2009-11-01T10:30:00.000-05:00

The secret tunnel discovered near the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico. Photo: AP

Whispers of a secret tunnel running under the border between the U.S. and Mexico have lived for decades in the folklore of the two countries. Earlier this week, Mexican authorities actually found the makings of a tunnel from Tijuana. Mexican soldiers discovered a sophisticated but incomplete tunnel running under the border into the United States and arrested six people in the process of digging, the army said. I point this story out because of who discovered it, apprehended the diggers, and essentially shut it down: the Mexican Military. The story concludes:

Tunnels under the US-Mexico border of varying degrees of sophistication have been found in different areas of the border, including one found in Nogales, Arizona, in June, and large sophisticated tunnels in the Tijuana area in 2008 and 1993.

What's Becoming?

2009-10-31T10:59:00.001-05:00

The older I get, the more I realize that some problems (but certainly not all) will tend to work themselves out.

Take immigration for instance. When I look at the future of America, I see a new generation of voters. These young women and men are growing up in more diverse neighborhoods and accustomed to the American that's becoming.

Then I happen to stumble on articles like the one linked above. It outlines how "Fifty-four members of Congress, mostly Republicans, have signed a letter to President Barack Obama praising the 287(g) program that allows specially trained state and local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law." It goes on to say that President Obama has been to soft on "aliens."

Isn't that great?

If you read this blog very often, or even scroll down to the bottom of the page, you'll see that I really disagree with the use of local law enforcement for issues that aren't, well for lack of a better word, local law enforcement. So why does this article make me chuckle?

It's simple: it's obvious that the folks fighting immigration and all of the other alleged social "ills" that are defining the American that's becoming are part of an agenda that's dying. Literally. Within 30 years, who do these people think are going to be voting? Are they daft enough to truly believe that immigrants and their native-born children are truly going to be pushed back to their ancestral homelands?

Perhaps they do. For now I'm content allowing them to have their little fantasy of white America. But that's not the America of today or tomorrow. It's gone. And in the next few decades when these immigrant, gay and otherwise marginalized groups come of age and start voting, who do you think they're going to vote for?

That's the America, the one where the GOP of the early 21st Century is a museum relic, is the one that I'm looking forward to seeing.

It is time to start talking Immigration Reform?

2009-10-31T10:45:00.000-05:00

From the Gardian Newpaper (UK):

Latinos need more than lip service
Families are being torn apart by America's broken immigration system. President Obama needs to show leadership and fix it

Barack Obama greets supporters at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's gala. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty

I'm not talking the first 100 days here, but sometime during his first term, Obama should revive interest in comprehensive immigration reform.
(Get to work on immigration, 7 November 2008)

When Barack Obama won two-thirds of the Latino vote a year ago, he did so without making immigration reform a major part of his election campaign. At a time when the economy teetered on the verge of disaster, it seemed enough to know that he favoured a pathway to citizenship to bring the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the country "out of the shadows" and endorsed a guest worker programme. Like the rest of the nation, we focused on other issues – and then we voted for him in bigger numbers than the general population.

But because so many of our friends, family members and neighbours are affected, the long-delayed overhaul of the dysfunctional immigration system is never far from our minds. So when, earlier this year, Obama said that the issue would dominate his fall schedule, Latino groups nationwide rejoiced. The broken system that carried out inefficient and sometimes cruel workplace and neighbourhood raids, that kept an administrative backlog the size of Delaware and that tore families apart would at last get the attention it has desperately needed for years.

But ever since August, when Obama, in the midst of economic woes and a healthcare war still going on, announced that he was pushing immigration reform back to 2010, it has seemed like a distant dream – especially because next year's midterm elections in Congress promise to be brutal.

The question hangs ominously in the air: Why would a president whose approval ratings have recently slipped and whose party must face comeback-hungry Republicans in a battle to hold House and Senate seats, and who has already taken one divisive, Sisyphean task – healthcare reform – take on another?

Quite simply, because it's the right thing to do. As I wrote in my post-election column a year ago, it makes economic sense, something we could certainly use right now. But let me add one more reason – a humanitarian one.

I recently interviewed families who had been forced apart because of immigration issues. In one case, an undocumented mother who had been brought to the US as a baby was denied legal residency – though her parents had been granted it – because of a technicality that she appealed four times. One month before she was to graduate nursing school, Cristina Ramirez was picked up at her southern California home at 8am and dropped off with nothing but her cell phone in Tijuana, Mexico at 2.30pm. She spent the next 18 months living in the dangerous city while negotiating the labyrinthine immigration system to get back to her four kids and US citizen husband.

In another case, I spoke to a father of two whose undocumented wife had been deported but who had chosen to go into hiding rather than return to Nicaragua on his own deportation order. As US-born citizens, his kids were entitled to stay. But because of his illegal status, they would virtually be forced to leave with him or be left behind with relatives if he honoured the order.

Ronald Soza – who had fled Nicaragua's political turmoil and tried unsuccessfully to get legal status through a special law favouring political prisoners from that country – was in tears as he recalled the heart-wrenching decision to remain with the kids rather than have the three join his wife. "This is their country. They are both intelligent and great students and here, they can finish their education and be somebody," he said, in tears. "In Nicaragua they'd simply have no future."

In many cases like Soza's, the parents bear great responsibility for putting themselves and their kids in a questionable situation. But so should the US, which has never come to terms with the fact that its demand for cheap labour makes dangerous, illegal border crossings attractive and its immigration system has never successfully dealt with foreign workers. Obama has the opportunity to change that now. He should take it.

Press Release: Migration Projects @ Mason

2009-10-30T19:03:00.003-05:00

Press Release

A study by George Mason University researchers has found that a majority of residents in two Manassas neighborhoods express deep-seated anti-immigrant sentiments, though fewer than half say immigration has affected them personally. They survey, which included life history interviews, was conducted from Spring 2008 to Summer 2009 to attain an in-depth understanding of the forces inciting a local movement to adopt legislation to "crackdown" on illegal immigration in Prince William County.

Forty-six percent of those surveyed indicated that immigration had had either no effect on them personally or has had a positive effect. A total of 79 percent stated that they like their neighborhoods and 56.9 percent said that they planned to stay in their neighborhood in the next five years.

Yet, 53 percent of the residents in the Weems and Sumner Lake neighborhoods surveyed stated that the U.S. should take decisive action to deport illegal immigrants, and/or blamed them for depleting local resources such as health care and education. Some expressed strong anti-immigrant sentiments as indicated by the statements: "The place is being barraged with Latinios....Everywhere you go, there are swarms of them," and, "Can I send them on a bus and load it up until they all speak English?" Others were more moderate in their sentiments, citing the issue of immigrants having entered the country illegally as a key concern. Researchers also found that some neighborhood residents were involved in community activities aimed at minimizing neighborhood conflicts around issues of immigration.

Interviews were conducted in selected neighborhoods revealed that Census tract data and press accounts to have become home ot both white, native-born Americans and Latino immigrants in the preceding decade. The survey employed an in-depth sampling strategy, the ethnosurvey, which requires in-person interviews at randomly selected street addresses. The survey produced 104 responses for face-to-face interviews of approximately one hour in which residents were asked their opinions on a number of neighborhood quality of life measures. These findings were followed by 21 life history interviews that were taped and transcribed verbatim.

Researchers Carol Cleaveland and Debra Lattanzi Shutika are examining the discrepancy between the perceived high quality of life for most residents, and the expression of strong anti-immigrant sentiments. One explanation, the researchers note, might be the patterns of residency--in particular the use of residential property to house large groups of men. Neighbors believed that the men had been recruited for the construction industry, which had flourished prior to the recession. Sixty-six percent of those interviewed complained of overcrowded houses, and 59 percent stated that too may cars are parked on streets as a result of this overcrowding. Fifty-three percent said tha some homes in their neighborhood were poorly maintained. Seventy percent cited foreclosures as a problem in their neighborhoods.

Obama Announces the End of the HIV Travel Ban

2009-10-30T18:56:00.001-05:00

President Obama announced the end of the the 22-year ban on travel and immigration by HIV-positive individuals, noting that the decision to do so was "rooted in fear rather than fact."

Opposing Lou Dobbs

2009-10-30T18:52:00.000-05:00

Is someone trying to kill Lou Dobbs?

Apparently, he thinks so. Dobbs recently reported an incident where his wife was shot at in front of his home. Dobbs claims that pro-immigrant groups have been after his hide for his vitriolic anti-immigrant rhetoric, which has been linked to hate groups. That aside, was this a true attempt on Dobb's life or (more accurately) his wife's life?

NJ State police don't seem to think so. Apparently, Dobbs lives in an area where hunters frequent, and the troopers tend to think that this was a hunting accident. If it wasn't, the alleged murderer wasn't a very good shot. The officer noted that the bullet struck the "'apex of the house, near the roof,' high above a standing person."

New Publications from the Migration Policy Institute

2009-10-30T18:39:00.001-05:00

The following abstracts and links (all from MPI) will take you to three new publications from the Migration Policy Institute.

Learning by Doing: Experiences of Circular Migration
By Kathleen Newland, Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, and Aaron Terrazas
Increasingly, policymakers are considering whether circular migration could improve the likelihood that global mobility gains will be shared by migrant-origin and destination countries alike — as well as by migrants themselves. This MPI Insight examines the record of circular migration, both where it has arisen naturally and where governments have taken action to encourage it.

Closing the Distance: How Governments Strengthen Ties with Their Diasporas
Edited by Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias
This book explores how developing-country governments have institutionalized ties with emigrants and their descendents. It offers an unprecedented taxonomy of 45 diaspora-engaging institutions found in 30 developing countries, exploring their activities and objectives. It also provides important practitioner insights from Mali, Mexico, and the Philippines. Contributors include: Kathleen Newland, Director, Migrants, Migration, and Development and Refugee Policy programs, MPI; Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, Associate Policy Analyst, MPI; Patricia A. Sto. Tomas, Chairman, Development Bank of the Philippines and former Secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment, Government of the Philippines; Badara Aliou Macalou, Minister of Malians Abroad and African Integration, Government of Mali; and Carlos González Gutiérrez, Consul General of Mexico in Sacramento, Calif., and former Executive Director, Institute of Mexicans Abroad, Government of Mexico.

Hometown Associations: An Untapped Resource for Immigrant Integration?
By Will Somerville, Jamie Durana, and Aaron Matteo Terrazas
Hometown associations, the organizations that immigrants create for social, economic development, and political empowerment purposes, play an important – and underexamined – role in immigrant integration. Though policymakers focus chiefly on the associations’ development potential, this MPI Insight recommends cooperative interventions to strengthen their immigrant integration capacity.

Gutierrez says immigration reform "can't wait"

2009-10-27T18:36:00.000-05:00

Follow this link to Congressman Gutierrez' interview on NPR's Tell Me More, broadcast earlier today.

LAPD wants to fight crime, not immigration

2009-10-27T18:33:00.001-05:00

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, who is ending his seven years as chief of the LAPD, said Tuesday the LAPD must stay out of the business of collaring illegal immigrants if it wants to keep solving crimes. He urged his eventual successor to continue a three-decade-old policy known as Special Order 40. It prohibits officers from stopping people solely to determine whether they are in the country illegally. He said,
"My officers can't prevent or solve crimes if victims or witnesses are unwilling to talk to us because of the fear of being deported."

San Francisco to remain a Sanctuary City for Immigrant Youth

2009-10-21T08:16:00.000-05:00

Three Cheers for San Francisco--

Undocumented youths arrested on felony charges in San Francisco would have to be convicted before police could turn them over to federal immigration officials under a new policy approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

The supervisors voted Tuesday to overturn an existing ordinance that allows police to hand over juvenile illegal immigrants after they have been arrested on felony charge.

The supervisors' 8-2 vote is enough to override an expected veto from Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Immigration questions on the 2010 Census

2009-10-21T08:14:00.000-05:00

More on this debate here. It appears that reasonable people do see the folly in this quest.

JUSTICE for Immigrant YOUTH

2009-10-20T19:49:00.001-05:00

A social movement to protect immigrant youth in San Francisco.

Fairfax Co. VA to initiate "Secure Communities" Program

2009-10-20T07:08:00.002-05:00

Fairfax County, Virginia officials are pushing local law enforcement initiate a new federal program to automate fingerprint checks on suspected undocumented immigrants in county jails. "Secure Communities is not a 287(g) program, which essentially an agreement that local law enforcement will hold and turn over suspected criminal immigrants.

The focus will be on identifying criminal aliens who have been convicted of Level 1 crimes, which include major drug offenses and violent offenses, such as murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping. ICE agents plan to interview inmates using video teleconferencing equipment in the county's Adult Detention Center.
in reference to:

The focus will be on identifying criminal aliens who have been convicted of Level 1 crimes, which include major drug offenses and violent offenses, such as murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping. ICE agents plan to interview inmates using video teleconferencing equipment in the county's Adult Detention Center.
- Fairfax gearing up for federal illegal immigrant checks at jails - Virginia Politics - (view on Google Sidewiki)

Census 2010: The Citizenship Question

2009-10-18T20:29:00.002-05:00

Two republican senators (Vitter of LA and Bennett of UT) have proposed an amendment to a spending bill that will bar funds being used for the Census if it doesn't ask about a person's citizenship status. The measure would require a change that would cost millions of dollars--and a reprint of 425 million census questionnaires-- and possibly threaten the accuracy of the count.

This seems like one more GOP measure to waste money. Has anyone else noticed that they have no problem ignoring budgetary issues if they want to push a partisan issue like this?

On the upside, this type of political maneuvering could force congress to consider immigration reform sooner.
in reference to: Lawmakers Battle on Census Question - WSJ.com (view on Google Sidewiki)