Thread: Obama to speak on immigration policy in Texas TUE.

Statewide, the Hispanic population jumped 63.5 percent in the past decade, the Asian population grew 39.4 percent, and the black population grew 24.3 percent — three times the growth rate of the white population.

The changing face of Oregon
Census could bring legislative shift toward Asians, Latinos
By Steve Law
The Portland Tribune, Apr 28, 2011

http://portlandtribune.com/news/story.p ... 4227520200

Originally Posted by TakingBackSoCal

I will tell you right now that I had never given this "birther" issue any credit. In fact, it was not until the White House released the birth certificate that it had gained my attention.

I found two extremely strange inconsistencies that merit some attention.

First of all, the birth certificate that the White House released lists Obama's birth as August 4, 1961... and that Obama's father was born in "Kenya, East Africa". This wouldn't seem like anything of concern, except the fact that Kenya did not even exist until 1963.

The other item that I looked into was the hospital that Obama was born in. On the birth certificate released by the White House, the listed place of birth is "Kapi'olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital". This cannot be, because the hospital(s) in question in 1961 were called "KauiKeolani Children's Hospital" and "Kapi'olani Maternity Home", respectively. The name did not change to Kapi'olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital until 1978, when these two hospitals merged. How can this particular name of the hospital be on a birth certificate dated 1961 if this name had not yet been applied to it until 1978?

I also hadn't payed any attention to the birther issue, but you're correct on both counts.

Obama visit to El Paso to focus on immigration



By Milan Simonich Santa Fe Bureau
Posted: 05/09/2011 01:05:47 AM MDT

The nation of immigrants has a problem older than Ellis Island.

Who should be allowed into America and who should not?

President Obama will travel to El Paso on Tuesday to renew discussions about a national immigration policy - a conversation that almost always brings about confrontation.

Even Obama's overture about tackling the longstanding problem is bringing him criticism.

For instance, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said that, until the border with Mexico is secure and free of violence, immigration reform cannot occur and should not be a priority.

Others say reform of immigration law should have occurred decades ago.

One is a 36-year-old resident of El Paso, a mother of American-born children, who lives in fear because she is in the United States illegally.

For her, immigration is a moral and economic issue, not a political one.

"Mexicans want to work," said the woman, who most recently was in the restaurant industry.

Her life would be easier, her job prospects so much better, she said, if she had a swift path to citizenship.

Critics of adults in the country illegally say the fact that their children are U.S. citizens should not matter.

The woman said it is easy for others to say she should move her family across the border. But it is not something she will do.

A total of 3,111 people were murdered last year in Juárez. El Paso had five homicides for the entire year.



Put another way, one murder occurred every two months in El Paso.
Juárez averaged almost nine killings a day.

Marcela Diaz, a California native educated in the Ivy League, has spent the last 10 years working with an immigrant organization in New Mexico. She said Obama is feeling pressure from congressional Democrats to craft a policy that would curtail domestic problems with immigration law.

Diaz said jailing illegal immigrants who have minor records or no criminal record at all has cost New Mexico counties tens of thousands of dollars annually.

"We've seen a shift from workplace raids to jail programs," said Diaz, executive director of Somos Un Pueblo Unido in Santa Fe.

As for what should be done, Diaz said she hoped the president would move forward with a broad agenda to stop deportations and enable law-abiding people to become citizens.

She said another focus on the Dream Act, which would give younger illegal immigrants entry to the U.S. military or American colleges, would help only "a minute number" of those who could be productive U.S. citizens.

More criticism of Obama is coming from Republicans in Congress.

McCaul, who represents a district that extends from Austin to suburban Houston, said the border is a powder keg, even if most Americans do not realize it.

"This administration is not giving the American people a complete picture of security on our border with Mexico," McCaul said. It is not 'better now than it has ever been.' and the data on spillover crimes and violence is deceiving and underreported."

He said border security must take precedence over any immigration reform proposal. Once the border is secure, McCaul said, it should be opened selectively, to highly educated immigrants, such as scientists and engineers who could help the economy.

Susana Martinez, the new governor of New Mexico, is a Republican with a different perspective.

She said "the federal government certainly has to step up to the plate" on immigration, but she criticized Democrats in her own state for creating border-security problems for the country.

"One of the first things we have to do is stop making New Mexico so attractive to illegal aliens by providing them with a (state) driver's license," Martinez said.

The New Mexico Legislature in 2003 approved a law enabling illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. It is the only border state with such a law, though Washington and Utah have similar licensing provisions.

Martinez this year supported a bill to stop licensing illegal immigrants. It cleared the New Mexico House of Representatives but died in the Senate.

Ideas on how immigrants should be dealt with abound, but solutions are more elusive. The president may restart the debate in El Paso.

Ashley Meeks of the Las Cruces Sun-News contributed to this report. Milan Simonich, Santa Fe Bureau Chief of Texas-New Mexico Newspapers, can be reached at msimonich@tnmnp.com or (505) 820-6898. His blog is at nmcapitolreport.com.


http://www.lcsun-news.com/dona_ana_news ... source=rss

So Vincente Fox was in Houston a week or two ago and now Obozo is in El Paso. Seems ODD?