The disgruntled day laborer from Guatemala who, allegedly, in a drunken rage tossed a roll of accelerant-soaked toilet paper into a baby carriage parked in the stairwell of a Bensonhurst building, is a poster boy for all that is wrong with a national immigration system depleted by an estimated 12-to-22...
The Republicans and Democrats who gathered Sunday agreed there are problems with health care, the immigration system and the economy. Their differences came into focus when they talked about the causes and solutions.
( Kansas State University ) Evaluating students' Scholastic Aptitude Test scores over seven years, a K-State economist concluded that US-born students' scores weren't negatively affected by immigration and their chances of applying to a top college weren't diminished.
Just a year ago, a happy family life seemed out of reach for Chad Brennan, 33. The Army veteran was losing faith in an immigration system that had blocked his Venezuelan-born wife from entering the United States for 10 years - punishment for overstaying her tourist visa as a teenager.
WASHINGTON — Failing to overhaul the nation's immigration system, currently a backburner issue for Congress and President Barack Obama, could play a pivotal role in key mid-term election races in November, according to a new study on Latino voting patterns.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Dozens of people gathered for a prayer vigil in downtown Syracuse in hopes of raising awareness for immigration reform. The Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse sponsored the vigil.
Unauthorized immigrants in Princeton are faced with a myriad of challenges as they try to provide for themselves and their families, panelists at a discussion on the topic said last week.
MIAMI - One by one, musicians from the renowned Cuban salsa band Los Van Van made their way past immigration officials at Miami International Airport and into the bright lights and cameras of the Spanish-language media.
President Obama's aunt is once again in the news. The half-sister of the President's father is back in the courtroom fighting deportation for the second time.
Zeituni Onyango first came to the public's attention in 2008, just days before the start of Barack Obama's November campaign. She arrived in the United States in 2000 and had been ordered for deportation in 2004 after an immigration judge denied her request for asylum from her native Kenya.
During the deportation hearing held in Boston on Thursday, Onyango again made her case for asylum. According to reports, Onyango is petitioning to remain in the United States based on her medical condition, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and the fear of persecution if she were to return to Kenya. The immigration judge has given lawyers a month to file written arguments. Onyango is being allowed to remain in the United States until a decision is made, which could be as late as May 25.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked if the President had submitted a statement on behalf of his aunt. Gibbs replied:
"The President learned of this information, as you probably know, on the campaign trail I think in early November of 2008 when it came out. We said then and we would continue to say that everybody in this country should and must follow the law. We have not been involved at all in that hearing, and we'll let the law play out as it should. And I would refer you to ICE for any other comments on what happens with the hearing."
Gibbs added that the President has not spoken with his aunt, nor has he or any member of his family played any part in her legal representation.
The President's 2011 budget is out, and once again, the immigration portion of the budget is focused on border security and immigration enforcement. Of the nearly $4 trillion budget, only $18 million is earmarked for programs that support legal immigrants.
Border security has always been a big part of Obama's immigration agenda, so there really are no surprises in this budget. Does this spell disaster for comprehensive immigration reform? Not really. Before we see any real change to how fiscal dollars are spent on immigration, Congress needs to move forward with immigration reform legislation.
"The progress that - the work that we were doing in the fall is continuing now. We're meeting with all different kinds of groups, trying to get everybody together to come out for one bill. In fact, yesterday, I met with Lou Dobbs who, as many of you know, is changing his views on immigration."
"Now I've said all along, even before last Tuesday with the Massachusetts election, that we have to have this bill be a bipartisan bill -- two Democrats, two Republicans -- to introduce it. We're not there yet. We're still working on getting our Republicans, but we're talking to people who have a lot of interest and enthusiasm, and our intention is to move forward."
- Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship, Senator Chuck Schumer, addressing a questionposed to him at a news conference on Thursday, in an attempt to reassure comprehensive immigration reform supporters following President Obama's brief remarkson the subject during his State of the Union Address.
Did you catch the State of the Union address last night? If you missed it, you can watch the videoon The White House website. As expected, immigration did end up in President Obama's speech. Here's what he said:
"And we should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system -- to secure our borders and enforce our laws, and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nation."
That's not an introduction; it's all that was said on the topic. The same President who told Americans that immigration reform would be one of his top priorities, devoted 38 words or about 11 seconds of his 72-minute address to the topic of immigration reform. Are we supposed to find that encouraging? The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) thinks so:
"In the State of the Union Address this evening President Obama made clear his ongoing commitment to immigration reform..."
Really? Was the IPC listening to the same speech that I was? My impression of last night's address, from an immigration issues perspective, is more in line with Prerna Lal at Change.org:
"Obama only mentioned the broken immigration system in passing, framing it in the language of 'law and order.' Furthermore, he said nothing about getting the job done this year. Fail."
If you asked me to grade the President on his commitment to immigration reform after listening to last night's speech, I'd have to agree with Ms. Lal. "Fail."
America's Voice has released a new report entitled The Power of the Latino Vote in the 2010 Elections. The organization released the following statement in connection with the report: Experts Highlight How Latino Voters Will Influence 2010 Elections 40 Competitive Races in 12 States Could Hinge on Latino Voter Turnout Washington, DC – The Latino vote has grown exponentially since 2000, changing the political landscape in more than a dozen states across the country, and is poised to be pivotal yet again in the 2010 cycle. According to experts on the politics of the Latino vote, who gathered on a...
A new report from the Economic Policy Institute makes the case that immigrants at all wage levels actually lift wages for US workers:A key result from this work is that the estimated effect of immigration from 1994 to 2007 was to raise the wages of U.S.-born workers, relative to foreign-born workers, by 0.4% (or $3.68 per week), and to lower the wages of foreign-born workers, relative to U.S.-born workers, by 4.6% (or $33.11 per week). In other words, any negative effects of new immigration over this period were felt largely by the workers who are the most substitutable for new...
My friend Dan Kowalski linked today to an article in the Detroit Free Press about Naji Chammout, a Lebanese native who has been waiting on his citizenship application to be approved for ten years years. That might surprise people when they learn that Chammout volunteered for the US Army in 2004 when he was a green card holder and served as a translator to top American military commanders in Iraq. He sold his Louisiana gas station for the chance to serve his adopted country and went to some of the most dangerous places in the war zone. US Army Brigadier...
There's a great op-ed in the Washington Post by Kevin Huffman that highlights some of the antics of the former Congressman: In our moderate, land-locked state [Colorado], my Republican neighbors would sometimes express puzzlement over Tancredo’s obsession. He came to sound more like a deranged border-patrolling Minuteman than a Colorado congressman. On Thursday, Tancredo delivered the opening remarks at the national Tea Party convention, and, as I watched the clips, I was struck by two things. First, it was oddly gratifying to see Tancredo take the next step in a long personal journey toward Crazy Land. *** Here is Tancredo’s...
In a time when the country is facing a $1.5 trillion deficit and the antis are calling for massive increases in spending on immigration enforcement, it's nice to see someone calling out the immigration prosecutors for what is a huge waste of taxpayer dollars. From the Austin American-Statesman: In an order filed Friday, a federal judge in Austin questioned U.S. prosecutors for seeking criminal convictions in court against some illegal immigrants, writing that the practice "presents a cost to the American taxpayer ... that is neither meritorious nor reasonable."The order by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks comes as his...
Philadelphia-area Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA) is coming under fire for supporting an anti-immigration resolution in the House. America's Voice has launched an online campaign to force Murphy to remove his name from the hardline resolution: America’s Voice announced today the beginning of an online advertising campaign to encourage Americans to contact Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA) and demand that he remove his name from controversial immigration resolution H.Res. 1026, the so-called “BRIDGE Resolution.” Murphy has come under fire from religious, progressive, and community leaders for joining with the virulently anti-immigrant Rep. Steve King (R-IA) to co-sponsor the resolution. The BRIDGE Resolution...
One of the stumbling blocks in the behind the scenes negotiations to craft a bipartisan immigration reform bill that also has the support of business and labor unions has been a proposal to create a commission that would basically determine quotas for all employment-based immigration categories. The business community and many Republicans have expressed concerns that the commission would be politicized. Labor unions have not been compromising on this issue and that has caused delays in working out a final deal that will allow Senator Schumer to introduce his bill. According to journalist Jeffrey Kaye, however, a compromise may be...
THe AP reports on developments in the case that caused so much controversy during the presidential campaign. Aunt Zeituni's lawyer is my friend Margaret Wong.
The final season of ABC's Lost begins tonight wrapping up the groundbreaking science fiction drama that is truly addictive and has one of the most complex plots ever devised for television. The show also has an international cast that American's have rarely seen and which makes the show even more appealing. Here are some of the immigrants that have played important roles in the show over the last six years - Naveen Andrews - UK - Sayid Jarrah Daniel Dae Kim - South Korean - Jin Kwon Yunkim Kim - South Korea - Sun Kwon Evangeline Lilly - Canada -...
Hi everyone!
Just like everybody else here, I am stuck in AP since my interview at Islamabad, Pakistan Embassy in the first week of January, 2010.
I...
Hello Guys, I've been out of the US for almost three month and I'm going back in a couple of weeks, I don't have my green card as I left it back home...
:wave: Hello everyone, this is my first post. My husband is US citizen and he is filing i-864 for me. His mother is a joint sponsor. My question is...
Chart for determining whether LEGITIMATE CHILDREN BORN OUTSIDE THE U.S.
Acquired U.S. Citizenship at Birth
Step 1
Select Period In Which Child Was Born
Step 2
Select Applicable Parentage
Step 3
Measure citizen parent's residence agains the requirements
for the period in which child was born. (The child acquired
U.S. citizenship at birth if, at time of child's birth,
citizen parent had met applicable residence requirements.)
Before noon (EST) 5/24/1934
Either parent citizen
Citizen parent resided in the U.S.
before the childs birth.
On or after noon (EST) 5/24/1934 and before 1/13/41
Both parents citizens
If both parents are U.S. citizens, at least one
resided in the U.S. before the childs birth.
One citizen and one alien parent
If one parent is a U.S. citizen, the U.S.
citizen parent must have resided in the U.S. before the childs
birth.
On or after 1/13/41 and before 12/24/1952
One citizen and one alien parent
Citizen had resided in U.S. or its outlying possessions
10 years, at least 5 of which were after age 16, or if
citizen parent served honorably in U.S. Armed Forces:
(1) between 12/7/41 and 12/31/46, 5 of the required 10
years may have been after age 12; or (2) between 12/31/46
and 12/24/52, parent needed 10 years physical presence,
at least 5 of which were after age 14.
Both parents citizens
One had resided in the U.S. or its outlying possessions.
On or After 12/24/1952 and before 11/13/1986
Both parents citizens
One had resided in the U.S. or its outlying possessions. (1)
One citizen and one alien parent
Citizen had been physically present in the U.S.
or its outlying possessions for 10 years, at least
5 of which were after age 14. (1)
On or after 11/13/1986
Both parents citizens
At least one resided in the U.S. or its outlying
possessions before the childs birth. (1)
One citizen and one alien parent
Citizen parent must have been physically present
in the U.S. or its outlying possessions for 5 years, at least 2
of which were after age 14. (1)
Physical presence abroad of dependent unmarried son or daughter as member of household of a person serving
honorably in U.S. Armed Forces or employed by U.S. Government or International Organization may be counted as
physical presence.
Editor's Note: The requirement that a child born outside the United States who acquired U.S.
citizenship at birth reside in the U.S. for a certain period of time was eliminated prospectively on
October 10, 1978 and retroactively in 1994. The
1994 law provides that a person who lost their citizenship due their failure to meet the retention requirement
before October 10, 1978 may regain their citizenship upon taking an oath of allegiance to the United States.
