Make sure you read "How Immigrants Saved Social Security!!!!"
Apparently, ILLEGAL ALIENS are going to be here for DECADES!!!!

Tried shortening urls....didn't work. If you see something of interest, just click on the link to read it.


LULAC National Policy Newsletter 04/10/2008

LULAC uses the term "undocumented" to refer to US residents who are out of status and we may have altered the articles below to incorporate this term.

IMMIGRATION

U.S. will not explain how border fence will affect environment

Houston Chronicle

The federal government does not have to explain how the border fence will affect the environment along the U.S.-Mexico border after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff waived a law requiring a final report on the fence's impact. (Read More)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5671286.html

Dems say citizenship backlog may affect vote

Senators criticize the homeland-security chief as applicants wait 13 to 15 months.

Denver Post

Democratic senators blasted the nation's top homeland-security official Wednesday for a backlog in citizenship applications that could keep hundreds of thousands from voting in the 2008 election.

Kennedy said that 580,000 people who applied for citizenship in time to vote will be denied that chance because of the delays. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who is chairman of the panel, said that the backlog is especially troublesome since the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services increased its fees substantially last summer in an effort to expedite processing times. (Read More)

http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_8788484

E-Verify Would Cost $40 Billion, CBO Says

Employer verification boondoggle will rob taxpayers of hard-earned benefits

ACLU Press Release

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released the estimated cost to implement H.R. 4088, the Secure America through Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act of 2007, and found that the proposed legislation would cost taxpayers more than $40 billion over 10 years. H.R. 4088, introduced by Representatives Heath Shuler (D-NC) and Tom Tancredo (R-CO), would implement a national employer verification system and mandate it for all new hires. It is currently under consideration for a "discharge petition" that would allow the bill to bypass the traditional committee markup process and instead go directly to the House floor. (Read More)

http://www.aclu.org/immigrants/workplac ... 80408.html

Department of Homeland Security, Immigration Officers Sued for Constitutional Violations in Pre-Dawn Home Raids Practice

Complaint cites pattern of dragnet sweeps, 'culture of lawlessness'

PRNewswire

Seton Hall Law School's Center for Social Justice and Lowenstein Sandler PC, filed suit today in federal court, alleging that federal law enforcement officials violated the ten victims' constitutional privacy and due process rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments by entering their homes without consent or a judicial warrant during pre-dawn "raids." The plaintiffs include two U.S. citizens, a permanent resident, and a lawful protection-status grantee. (Read More)

http://www.aclu.org/immigrants/workplac ... 80408.html

S.F. promotes services for Undocumented immigrants

San Francisco Chronicle

A series of new television and radio commercials, billboards and bus shelter signs will soon go up around San Francisco advertising the fact that the city by the bay is also a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants.

City officials on Wednesday unveiled the $83,000 ad campaign, which features images of smiling residents and the iconic city skyline and spreads the message in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Russian. Brochures, which will be handed out in public buildings like police stations and hospitals, promise safe access to city services for the undocumented and a don't-ask-don't-tell policy when it comes residency status. (Read More)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... NVUM70.DTL

Commission Hears Testimony on US Immigration Raids

Boston Globe

Immigrants and their advocates testified before a union-led commission at the State House yesterday that federal agents violated undocumented immigrants' constitutional rights and treated them inhumanely during recent raids, prompting swift denials from the federal government. (Read More)

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articl ... ion_raids/
Lawsuit Challenges Immigration Raids in New Jersey

New York Times

Immigration agents systematically entered homes and made arrests without proper warrants during raids to round up immigration fugitives in New Jersey, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday. (Read More)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/us/04 ... yt&emc=rss

Detention facility for immigrant kids sued for abuse

Associated Press

Eight immigrant teenagers held at a facility for unaccompanied minors filed a federal lawsuit Thursday claiming they were abused and denied access to attorneys.

The teens from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Cuba were being held at the 122-bed facility run by Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc. under a contract with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Undocumented minors caught by authorities in the United States fall under the care of ORR while their immigration cases are decided. (Read More)

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedconte ... KGG82.html

41 Arrested in First Month Of Stricter Immigration Policy

Washington Post

Nearly 100 people have been questioned about their citizenship status in Prince William County since a crackdown on undocumented immigration went into effect a month ago, Police Chief Charlie T. Deane told supervisors yesterday.

Most of the checks have occurred during traffic stops and calls for service, Deane said. Forty-one of the 89 people whom officers questioned were arrested on various charges and taken to the county's adult detention center.

The board voted in the fall to direct officers to check the residency status of crime suspects who they think might be in the country illegally. Many in the immigrant community have said they fear that police will use the program to profile Latino residents. (Read More)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... =informbox

Detainee Program Strains Va. Jail

Pr. William Cites Delays by ICE

Washington Post

A highly touted partnership between the Prince William County jail and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is showing signs of strain, as crowding at the facility has hit an all-time high and federal agents are taking weeks -- not the agreed-upon 72 hours -- to pick up undocumented immigrant suspects, jail officials said.

Letters sent recently by Prince William jail board Chairman Patrick J. Hurd to Julie L. Myers, head of ICE, and top officials in Prince William and Manassas said that jail workers are "at or close to their limit" as a result of new local policies that require residency checks of inmates suspected of being in the country illegally. Jail employees with immigration training are working 60 hours a week, Hurd said, and the facility is spending $220,000 a month to house a growing number of inmates elsewhere in the state. (Read More)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... ailarticle

Law Officials to Receive Training On Visa Meant to Aid Crime Victims

Special Pass Grants Temporary Legal Status to Some Undocumented Immigrants

Washington Post

The U-visa provision grants four years of legal status for victims of domestic violence, sex crimes, human trafficking and other offenses. Those approved for the visas can then apply for permanent status. U-visas must be endorsed by a law enforcement agency involved in the investigation or prosecution of the crime. (Read More)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01978.html

Groups sue, challenge Prop 100

Arizona Republic

Two national civil-rights groups brought a class-action lawsuit in federal court challenging Proposition 100, the state law that denies bail to undocumented immigrants accused of serious crimes.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund claim that the 2006 citizen's initiative is unconstitutional, in part because it denies individual hearings to defendants as to whether they are flight risks or dangers to the community. (Read More)

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... u0408.html
LABOR

Employers Cut 80,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Hits 5.1 Percent

Houston Chronicle

Employers slashed 80,000 jobs in March, the most in five years and the third straight month of losses. At the same time, the national unemployment rate rose from 4.8 percent to 5.1 percent, the clearest signal yet that the economy might already be shrinking. (Read More)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5674422.html

Don't create scapegoats: Enforce wage laws for all

Des Moines Register

In industries across the country, workers are not receiving the wages owed them under minimum-wage and overtime laws. Earlier this decade, a U.S. Department of Labor report found that 60 percent of U.S. nursing homes routinely violated overtime, minimum-wage or child-labor laws. Other studies have found similar levels of violations in the garment and restaurant industries.
Legislators in the Iowa Senate have introduced SSB 3286 to put real teeth into Iowa's wage-and-hour laws. The bill would significantly raise civil fines for violators, require them to pay legal damages of up to twice the amount of unpaid wages, and better protect from retaliation employees who complain about illegal conditions. (Read More)

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/p ... /OPINION01

EDUCATION

Two Lenders Stop Making Student Loans

Boston Globe

CIT Group Inc. and NorthStar Education Finance Inc. will stop making loans to US students after lending costs soared, reflecting the global slump in credit markets. (Read More)

http://www.boston.com/business/articles ... ent_loans/

House Panel OKs Higher Limits for Student Loans

Boston Globe

Students may increase their borrowing for college by $2,000 a year and private lenders could sell the debt to the government for a profit under legislation approved by a House panel yesterday. The measure, passed by the House Education and Labor Committee on a voice vote, is intended to ensure that turmoil in the credit markets doesn't prevent students from financing their educations, sponsors said. (Read More)

http://www.boston.com/business/articles ... ent_loans/

Both Clinton and Obama attack No Child Left Behind Act

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The No Child Left Behind Act has been a flash point in education circles for five years, with critics saying schools have become obsessed with testing math and reading and supporters saying the law has helped prevent some students from falling through the cracks.

In the Democratic presidential primary campaign, there are more similarities than differences in the criticisms of the act made by Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, both of whom are members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, which plays a key role in education legislation.

When they criticize NCLB on the campaign trail, both can count on hearty applause. (Read More)

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08100/871524-298.stm

[color=darkred][b]HEALTH

How Immigrants Saved Social Security

New York Times

Immigration is good for the financial health of Social Security because more workers mean more tax revenue. Undocumented immigration, it turns out, is even better than legal immigration. In the fine print of the 2008 annual report on Social Security, released last week, the program’s trustees noted that growing numbers of “other than legalâ€