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May 2008
Tancredo fails to block foreign aid to Mexico
An amendment by Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., that would have blocked certain foreign aid to Mexico until various conditions were met, was voted down by the House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday.
Lawmakers are debating a package of foreign aid, known as the Merida Initiative, that would provide $500 million to fight drug cartels in Latin America.
Tancredo’s amendment would have required the president to certify that the U.S.-Mexico border was secure before aid could be provided to Mexico.
In addition, it would have required a determination that law enforcement agencies in Mexico were not involved or complicit in the trafficking of drugs, weapons or people. Congress would have to approve the president’s certifications.
“Mexico must be required to clean up its act before we send truckloads of our tax dollars south - or we run the risk of American aid being siphoned off by the very drug cartels we are trying to defeat,” Tancredo said, in a press release.
The measure failed by a vote of 23 to 10.
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U.S. drugging immigrants before deportation
The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
The paper cited medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.
The Post identified more than 250 cases in which the government has, without medical reason, given drugs meant to treat serious psychiatric disorders to people it has shipped out of the United States since 2003.
Read the story here.
The article is the latest in a series about the poor treatment of immigrants in government custody. Previous installments explored 83 deaths of foreigners being held by the United States and “shabby medical care” in other cases.
See the entire series here.
One of the authors, Dana Priest , won the Pulitzer Prize this year for a series on poor conditions and care of U.S. soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
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Are immigrants assimilating?
Current immigrants — especially Mexicans — are less assimilated than those 100 years ago, a study released Tuesday found.
However, the pace of assimilation over the past 25 years is higher than in previous waves, said the study by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank in New York.
“The nation’s capacity to integrate new immigrants is strong,” said Jacob Vigdor, an associate professor of Public Policy Studies and Economics at Duke University who authored the study.
But the progress “is not present for all groups and in particular, it’s not present among some of the Latin American immigrants that are at the heart of the immigration debate these days,” he added.
The study uses Census data going back more than a century to measure assimilation through various indicators such as English-learning, employment, home ownership, rates of marriage to native-born people, child bearing, naturalization, educational attainment, military service and many others.
Based on these factors, the study creates an assimilation index ranging from 1 to 100, with 100 being complete assimilation.
Currently, immigrants collectively have an assimilation rate of 28. In 1900, it was above 50.
Jeffrey Passel, a demographer with the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-partisan research group in Washington, said that the index was flawed as a measure of assimilation.
“Assimilation is a process that takes place over time and over generations. They’re not measuring that,” he said.
In addition, Passel said that the snapshot of immigrant assimilation is weighed heavily towards new immigrants who are clearly going to be less integrated into the larger society. In addition, he said that the study fails to take into account that 30 percent of current immigrants are in the United States illegally, which is vastly different than a century ago.
Read more here.
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ICE raid in Iowa could lead to 700 arrests
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted a raid Monday morning at Agriprocessors, Inc., in Postville, Iowa.
According to an ICE press release, the action was prompted by “evidence relating to aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers and other crimes, as well as a civil search warrant for people illegally in the United States.”
The Des Moines Register reports that Agriprocessors is the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant and that the raid may have resulted in as many as 700 arrests.
Read more here.
ICE said that everyone taken into custody will be interviewed by ICE agents and public health officials “to determine if they have health, caregiver, or other humanitarian concerns.”
“As a result of those interviews, over 40 individuals have so far been released on humanitarian grounds under supervision, pending future immigration proceedings,” the press release said.
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MALDEF angry at Rush Limbaugh
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund is angry at Rush Limbaugh.
Limbaugh made the comment on his radio show.
In a letter to Limbaugh, MALDEF President John Trasvina said the characterization “speaks volumes about your view of America and the role or status of people who do not fit your preconceived notion of what an elected official should be.”
He added: “Perhaps as our community continues to increase its presence as the teachers, lawyers, professionals and civic leaders that our country depends on, you will finally move beyond your outdated mindset which attempts to exclude an entire American population from being the leaders of this nation.”
Latino groups have become more aggressive about objecting to rhetoric in the media.
Several Hispanic organizations recently complained about a report on the CBS Evening News about immigrants who give birth to children in the United States. They said the segment was unfair and one-sided.
In addition, several Hispanic groups started a Web site — www.wecanstopthehate.org — to monitor what they called “hate speech” in the media.
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Tancredo calls for fence on the Canadian border
Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican famous for his fight against illegal immigration, said this week that the United States should build a fence along the Northern border with Canada.
A Canadian government watchdog group found that the agency did not have contact information for 41,000 of the 63,000 people it had tried to expel from the country. Most were rejected refugee applicants.
“Considering that the U.S. and Canada share 5,000 miles of unguarded border, it is imperative the Canadian government track down these individuals,” Tancredo said in a letter to the Canadian Ambassador to the United States. “Our open borders present a serious danger to our citizens and I am calling again on our government to build a fence along our northern border as well as our southern border.”
Read the full Tancredo press release here.
Read more about the watchdog report here.
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Latino museum bill signed into law
President Bush on Thursday signed into law a measure that could lead to the creation of a National Museum of the American Latino in Washington.
The museum would focus on the artistic, cultural, and historical contributions of Hispanic Americans.
Under the measure, a 23-member commission will be charged with bringing together experts, policy makers and other interested parties to discuss the museum’s viability and establish a fundraising plan.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the bill’s passage and signing “helped bring long overdue recognition to the vital place that Latinos have in our national mosaic.”
The effort is spearheaded by Rep. Xavier Becerra, a rising star in the Democratic Party, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Flo., the fist Hispanic woman elected to Congress.
“If progress is measured in baby steps, I think it’s fair to say that the president’s pen today has brought this important project into its adolescence,” said Becerra. “It is my hope that the commission will begin its work soon so that this vision, this dream, will further mature into full reality. It is truly an incredible day.”
Read more here.
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More immigrants suing U.S. because of citizenship backlog
The number of immigrants suing the federal government to force a decision on their backlogged citizenship applications is increasing sharply, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
In fiscal 2005, applicants filed 370 such lawsuits against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. By last year, the number had jumped to 3,900, and applications this year are on pace to surpass 5,200, the Post said.
The backlog was caused by an unprecedented number of applications last year — more than 1.4 million.
Lawmakers have blasted the agency for not preparing for the increase.
At a hearing last month, Sen. Edward Kennedy told Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff that 580,000 people who applied for citizenship in time to vote in November will be denied that chance because of the delays.
Chertoff said that USCIS will process a record 1 million naturalization applications by the end of the current fiscal year, 30 percent more than in 2007.
Read the Washington Post story here.
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GOP senators, Hispanic business leaders push Colombia trade pact
Flanked by a group of Republican senators, Hispanic business leaders Wednesday announced a grass-roots effort to convince the House to pass the Colombia free trade agreement.
The House voted 224 to 195 last month to put off consideration of the trade pact until Pelosi decides the time is right to bring it to the floor. Pelosi has said she wants the Bush administration to address U.S. economic issues first.
But Hispanic leaders called that a slap at the Hispanic community and at Latin America.
“We resent the idea that we’re going to use a Latin American ally as some kind of bargaining chip to make a deal for something else,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez said at a Capitol news conference with the senators and business leaders.
Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., said he agreed with Gutierrez that the trade agreement’s fate “is a Hispanic-American issue.
“I think you’ve heard from the Hispanic leaders on how they feel about it. It’s a moral imperative, but beyond that it is an issue with the Hispanic community of America.
“We understand, instinctively, the need for this trade agreement to improve the lives of people in Latin America — in Colombia. We know that Colombia, by being at a disadvantage if it doesn’t have a free trade agreement, will backslide economically. It will be a detriment to Colombia.”
Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., the ranking Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said the trade agreement is “very important to our national security,” because the democratically elected government of President Alvaro Uribe is threatened by the Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez.
“If we turn down this free trade agreement, we are saying ‘we support Hugo Chavez and not President Uribe,’ ” Bond said.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the trade agreement “just makes good economic sense here at home, particularly at a time when our economy has grown soft.
“But this is also about how America treats its friends,” Cornyn said. “President Uribe has been one of our best friends. He has joined us in our fight against narco-traffickers, and it’s important to the United States’ national security that we have friendly, democratic governments in Latin America.
“This is not something we can neglect,” Cornyn said. “We cannot use Colombia as a bargaining chip for something else here, in Washington, D.C.”
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Hearing on E-Verify, SAVE Act
Forcing companies to use a government system to verify the legal status of workers would cause thousands of citizens and legal residents to be initially rejected for work and cripple the Social Security Administration, critics told Congress Tuesday.
The system, known as E-Verify, is currently voluntary, but several proposals in Congress — including an immigration enforcement measure known as the SAVE Act — would make it mandatory.
John Trasvina, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said that the E-Verify system relies on faulty Social Security Administration (SSA) and Department of Homeland Security databases and would therefore create an official “no-work” list requiring millions of U.S. citizens and legal workers to bear the burden of proving their legal status.
“Forcing a deeply flawed system upon an unstable economy is not the answer,” he told the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security.
The panel’s chairman, Rep. Michael McNulty, D-N.Y., said he was concerned that SSA offices could be overwhelmed with a “massive new workload” as U.S. citizens and other authorized workers try to correct their information.
Rep. Heath Shuler, a North Carolina Democrat who authored the SAVE Act, said that targeting employers is the key to solving the problem of illegal immigration and that the system works.
E-Verify is free, easy-to-use, and allows participants to successfully match 93 percent of new hires to government databases in less than 5 seconds, Shuler said.
Of the remaining 7 percent, the vast majority do not contest the result, he added.
Shuler noted that every congressional staffer and employee of a federal agency has passed through the E-Verify system over the past decade.
“I have the utmost confidence in this program,” he said.
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John McCain: tenor of immigration debate has harmed Republicans
Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP candidate for president, said Monday that “the tenor” of the immigration debate has harmed the image of Republicans with Hispanics.
In addition, he said that most Hispanics “want us to have an attitude, which I think most Americans do, that these are God’s children, and they must be taken care of, and the issue must be addressed in a humane and compassionate fashion.”
McCain also launched a Spanish-language website. See it here.
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National day of prayer for jailed border agents
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., on Monday called for a national day of prayer for two former Border Patrol agents who are serving long terms in jail.
Their case has become a cause celebre on talk radio shows and among groups that advocate tougher border controls.
In a press conference, Rohrabacher asked the American people to join him in a national day of prayer on May 11, which is Mother’s Day and the beginning of National Police Week.
“The Ramos and Compean prosecution already represents one of the greatest miscarriages of justice I’ve ever seen and if their case isn’t overturned, every law enforcement officer will be put on notice that if they use their weapon, they could face 10 years in prison,” he said.
U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton of the Western District of Texas, has staunchly defended his prosecution in the case.
Ramos is shown in this AP photograph from January, 2007 when he surrendered to authorities.
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Florida Hispanics increasingly Democratic
For the first time, the number of Hispanic Democrats in Florida is expected to exceed the number of Hispanic Republicans, the Politico reported Monday.
The story says that the Florida secretary of state is expected to release the latest numbers this week.
“The significance of the numerical flip is mostly symbolic, but it’s a powerful symbol at a key moment: Quietly, Democrats are debating whether to mount a full-out, expensive challenge to Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, in Florida,” Politico says.
Read more here.
