The state Legislature will ask voters in November to make English Arizona's official language. Voters approved a similar measure in 1988, but it was struck down as unconstitutional. Voters also will consider a fresh round of restrictions on benefits illegal immigrants can receive. Those include state-funded child care assistance, adult education classes and cheaper in-state tuition at public universities. Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano called for spending some $100 million on border security, but vetoed a $160 million Republican bill that she said did not adequately penalize employers who hire illegal immigrants. The proposed penalties were reduced after business interests complained. The negotiated budget, signed Thursday, includes $18.3 million to fight illegal immigration.

23 Jun 2006 @ 08:56 am
Source: Idexer.com

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah high school graduates should not get in-state college tuition rates if they are illegal immigrants, most respondents to a new survey said. Seventy-one percent of the 625 registered voters who were interviewed by telephone for the statewide poll for The Salt Lake Tribune this week said Utah should "repeal the current state law that offers the discounted resident college tuition rate to the children of undocumented immigrants." The poll was conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Research and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Respondents also supported building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border (56 percent) and opposed a path to citizenship for immigrants who are in the United States illegally (54 percent). Ruth Bick, 63, a political independent from Ogden, said Utahns should not have to pay taxes to subsidize a college education for illegal immigrants. The state's middle class already is burdened enough with big tax bills, she said. Layne Barnes, a West Jordan Republican, said children of illegal immigrants already get free assistance and a free public school education, so "they should not be rewarded for breaking the law." "I have no sympathy for them," he said.

22 Jun 2006 @ 12:15 pm
Source: Idexer.com

Finally a consensus has been reached on immigration. No, not among politicians, who can't agree on a rational immigration reform. The agreement is among professional economists. In an open letter sponsored by the Independent Institute to President Bush and Congress last week, more than 500 prominent economists, including five Nobel laureates, proclaim that "immigration has been a net gain for American citizens." The letter adds that "while a small percentage of native-born Americans may be harmed by immigration, vastly more Americans benefit from the contributions that immigrants make to the economy, including lower consumer prices. As with trade in goods and services, gains from immigration outweigh the losses." Alan Greenspan often made this same point about the benefits of immigration while he was Federal Reserve Chairman. What is striking about this immigration letter is that it is signed by economists from different fields of research, political affiliations and ideologies. It is possible that no other issue in the economic field, with the exception of the benefits of free trade, inspires such unanimity of professional opinion as immigration does.

21 Jun 2006 @ 06:13 pm
Source: Idexer.com

Americans Standing Tall has a message to lawmakers and locals: The line has been drawn. "Instead of sticking our heads in the sand, I like to say we've drawn our line in the sand," said Americans Standing Tall President Harold Poole. "We just feel our country is being invaded by an illegal group of people who really have no right to be in this country ... We can't just pick and choose which laws we choose to enforce and which we choose to ignore." The 27-member anti-immigration group formed shortly after the April 10 rally in Fort Myers, which drew out an estimated 75,000 to 80,000 protestors who balked the strict immigration laws churning through the Senate. Americans Standing Tall hopes to show in its July 1 "Citizen's Day Rally" on the steps of the Fort Myers City Hall that there is another voice in this debate -- and it's saying illegal immigrants need to pack up and ship out.

19 Jun 2006 @ 04:17 pm
Source: Idexer.com

WASHINGTON -- Despite his stand against allowing illegal immigrants to gain legal status, Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., co-sponsored a bill that would grant such a pathway for illegal aliens already in the country who work in agriculture for several years. A version of the bill was incorporated into the immigration legislation that the Senate recently passed. The measure, commonly called the AgJobs bill, was first introduced in February 2005 by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho. It has 47 co-sponsors besides Burns, including Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., to Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass...As passed by the Senate, the workers in order to be granted legal permanent residence must prove they have already been performing agricultural work in the United States during previous years and then continue to work at least 150 work days for three more years.

17 Jun 2006 @ 04:37 am
Source: Idexer.com

SHAMOKIN - More than a dozen suspected illegal immigrants were discovered Wednesday but not detained at a strip mall construction site, authorities said. None of the 18 Spanish-speaking laborers could be detained because the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency did not have agents available to go to the scene, and other law enforcement agencies did not have jurisdiction, District Attorney Anthony J. Rosini said. The raid was conducted after Rep. Robert E. Belfanti Jr., D-Mount Carmel, received a tip of possible child labor law violations at the site in Coal Twp., Rosini said. About two dozen workers laying blocks jumped from scaffolding and ran into the woods when officers arrived at the site along Route 61 south of Shamokin, Rosini said. Ten of the 18 who were caught did not have identification papers, he said. They included two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old. Rosini said the workers told investigators they were not paid overtime and taxes were not deducted from their pay. Their employer, an Ohio firm that was a subcontractor, was ordered off the site, he said.

16 Jun 2006 @ 04:55 am
Source: Idexer.com

Maricopa County sheriff's deputies are arresting enough undocumented immigrants that at least 11 more large tents are needed at the Tent City Two complex outside the Towers Jail to house them, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Wednesday. Tent City One is outside the nearby Estrella Jail in southwest Phoenix. There are about 2,000 inmates in the two tent facilities and about 10,000 inmates in all Maricopa County jails. "We've been arresting about 100 people a month since the county attorney ruled that people involved in smuggling conspiracy could be prosecuted," Arpaio said. "We might arrest as many as 1,200 in the next year." In August, Arizona legislators passed an anti-human-smuggling statute that gave prosecutors a tool to go after coyotes, or smugglers, who traffic in undocumented immigrants. Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas later issued an opinion saying undocumented immigrants suspected of paying coyotes could be prosecuted as conspirators. "The law is clear and I intend to enforce it," Arpaio said. "But we're going to run out of room (in the jails) at this rate."

15 Jun 2006 @ 01:49 pm
Source: Idexer.com

Despite the public's mounting discontent with illegal immigration, workers who sneak into the country are still filling jobs in construction and other industries. And experts say illegal immigrants will keep finding jobs in Tucson's $2 billion-a-year home-building industry, which needs 5,000 more workers, the Arizona Daily Star reported Tuesday. "The Arizona economy, the Tucson economy, the national economy continues to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs each year for low-skilled workers in construction, landscaping, food preparation and cleaning at a time when there just aren't enough Americans around to fill all the jobs," said Daniel Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian research foundation in Washington...Critics say employers are encouraging illegal immigration by offering jobs to those who sneak across the border. The government's current approach in dealing with illegal hirings and a proposal in Congress to crack down on the practice have been criticized as ineffective in confronting the problem. Higher wages might help draw more legal workers to the field, but several local builders and subcontractors worry that could drive down profit margins that they say are already thin.

14 Jun 2006 @ 09:54 am
Source: Idexer.com

Six people died trying to enter Arizona illegally in the deadliest weekend for illegal immigrants this year, authorities said. Three deaths occurred when a stolen vehicle rolled over in Eloy on Saturday after a pursuit by Border Patrol and state Department of Public Safety officers, said Border Patrol spokesman Jim Hawkins. The Border Patrol found more dead when a Customs and Border Protection helicopter with a search-and-rescue agent aboard spotted a campfire near Cowlick on the Tohono O'odham Nation on Saturday night, Hawkins said. Five illegal immigrants had run out of water and started the fire to signal for help. Agents reached the group and found two men dead. A Border Patrol agent found a sixth body in Gardner Canyon in Sonoita on Sunday, Hawkins said. The deaths pushed the number of known illegal immigrant deaths in the Border Patrol's Tucson sector to 95 since the fiscal year started Oct. 1.

13 Jun 2006 @ 07:25 am
Source: Idexer.com

The mayor of Hazleton wants English as the official language of the city but there is more to a proposed new law than that. Just ask anyone who lives in Hazleton and they'll probably tell you the population is swelling, swelling with immigrants. Officials say some of the crime there, including the two men recently charged with murdering a man, was committed by illegal immigrants. "We had a man shooting a gun at a playground around that same time. He was here illegally. We had a drug bust on Wyoming Street. Two of the six were illegal. We had a murder on Wyoming Street. That person was illegal," said Mayor Lou Barletta. That's why he wants the Illegal Immigration Relief Act passed. The city could fine landlords for knowingly renting housing to illegals. There would be a $1,000 fine for every violation. Companies could lose licenses to operate in the city if illegals are knowingly hired. The act also makes English Hazleton's official language. That means all city documents will only be available in English. The head of the city's Hispanic community supports the mayors actions.

12 Jun 2006 @ 05:26 pm
Source: Idexer.com

FORT WORTH - Striking a markedly different posture from Republicans, the Texas Democratic Party on Saturday endorsed an immigration policy encouraging assimilation over wall-building. The party, many of whose voters, candidates and officeholders are Hispanic, has traditionally been supportive of immigration. But a new platform adopted by delegates to the party's state convention included language specifically striking back at GOP-led attempts to tighten up the border with Mexico without helping immigrants become citizens. Texas Democrats also continued to poke fun at the proposed border wall, which Texas Republicans have endorsed. "Before we start building a fence, all of us need to know two things: how much it's going to cost and then who's going to build it," said state Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, whose father was born in Spain and mother emigrated from Mexico. "The reality is, we probably will need more undocumented workers to build that fence than we have currently in the United States," he added.

11 Jun 2006 @ 05:30 am
Source: Idexer.com

OVER the past few months, the temperature has risen significantly in the immigration debate. Citizens and leaders at all levels of government are working together to find long-term solutions. At a time when we are working diligently to put a stop to the flow of illegal immigration, I chose to vote against the renewal of a $100,000 federally funded contract for a day labor center in Houston's East End. This center assists people in finding work. It is the only city-authorized, federally funded day labor site remaining in Houston. Recent studies show that at least 85 percent of people who access day labor sites are illegal immigrants -- a statistic punctuated by a May 18 Houston Chronicle article that points out that 100 percent of the day laborers a reporter talked to at this North Sampson Street site were illegal. This is clearly a city issue. By funding this center, the city of Houston is supporting the process of hiring illegal immigrants. This is wrong.

10 Jun 2006 @ 06:38 am
Source: Idexer.com

Proposed legislation requiring troopers to take undocumented immigrants across state lines to federal authorities would open "a whole Pandora's box," Missouri's top public safety official wrote lawmakers Thursday. The Highway Patrol would need special authority to operate outside the state, and in any case, the Department of Public Safety does not have the manpower or vehicles to handle such a job, director Mark James wrote to Rep. Ed Emery, a Lamar Republican, chairman of the House Special Committee on Immigration. The panel heard testimony Thursday from state agencies and others on undocumented immigration. Legislation earlier this year to give troopers power to enforce federal immigration laws passed the Senate but never was taken up in the House. "The Department of Public Safety has concerns with any legislation making the highway patrol responsible for enforcing federal immigration laws beyond the current process of temporarily detaining illegal aliens until ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents respond," James said in the letter.

09 Jun 2006 @ 02:35 am
Source: Idexer.com

They're dedicated. They're hard working. And they're willing to work for the paltry $7-an-hour wage at Dunkin' Donuts in Monroe. But legally, they can't work in this country. So, Hak can't hire them. And for the past two months - since screening new hires through a federal test program - he's seen more disappointed faces. "We've had to turn a lot of people down," said Hak, an immigrant from Morocco. "Most of the workers are competent. They show respect for the job. It's really hard." Effective June 1, Dunkin' Donuts corporate office mandated that all stores check new hires through the voluntary federal Basic Pilot Program. Hak said the Monroe store he manages started screening in April. The voluntary program, established in 1997, is designed to help employers discern the legal working status of new hires by running the person's information through a database containing 425 million Social Security records and 65 million immigration files.

08 Jun 2006 @ 04:53 am
Source: Idexer.com