What the Unions have to say

I was looking for a good article that explained this so-called "three-legged stool" immigration reform we are supposed to be expecting next year, and came across this, and thought it was interesting. The article focuses on the issue of foreign workers, and that labor unions are against the US granting more work visas. We've discussed the fact that something definitely needs to change in this area of immigration control, because the current system isn't working. Many immigrants keep coming to the US illegally whether they have a work visa or not, so something's gotta give, right? Well, the labor unions say NO. They don't want their workers to have to compete with foreign workers, especially now when jobs are becoming harder to come by.

But the author of this article seems to me to be suggesting that they better learn to deal with it, and I get his point. Trying to stop economic globalization, including foreign competition for jobs, is a waste of time if you ask me.

Anyway, its just interesting to see the debate from the unions' point of view, and important too, because they do have some substantial political influence, especially with this administration.

Immigration Detention: Give Detainees Fair Hearings

"Immigration detention can be made more humane and fair without compromising national security." After reading this article it reminded me of the Snake head Book with Sister Ping. The points made in the article were the same issues that the illegal immigrants faced once they were in a detention facility. The system "is fatally flawed." It goes to talk about how the detainees are taken as far away from the area they were first picked up at which results in isolation and sometimes no counsel at their deportation hearings resulting in an unfair trail. In their conditions detainees are more likely to just except deportation instead of returning back to detention. Its sad how the article portrays the indecisive panel; they were trying to solve a problem and give light and justice to people that really don't have a chance and on the the other side they feel the way things are set up are fine. In the end its still being debated and people are still being mistreated in the sense where there not given the full right to fight to stay in America.

Joe Arpaio, Illegal Immigration Hard-liner, Heckled by Students

Joe Arpio is one of the more infamous figures in the anti-immigrant movement. A sheriff of an Arizona county, he has been a controversial figure not just for his stance on immigration, in which he instructed his deputies to check the immigration status of people they suspect are in the nation illegally, but also for his brand of muckraking politics and allegations of misusing county property.

In a recent question-and-answer session at the Arizona State University he was heckled to the point of leaving by students. While I understand their objections to Arpio's policies, I feel that the heckling was actually counter-productive during a session where he was asked to explain and justify his actions.

12 arrested after authorities discover tunnel from Mexico into San Diego

While I am generally for immigration reform more accommodating to immigrants, particularly the ones who risk their lives in the journey from the Mexican side of the Mexican-U.S. borders, articles like this one also serve as a reminder that criminal elements take advantage of the state of immigration for their own ends.

Arizona's Immigrant Politics a Hurdle for 2010 Census

The intersection of immigration and the U.S. census is an interesting thing to read about. The census is how the U.S. government determines who the people are who live within the nation's borders. By compiling the raw data of family sizes and other information it allows the government to determine how best to allocate money for social projects. Projects that can provide access to housing, education and other services. But at the same time the census is feared by some as an opportunity to round up undocumented workers, leading to many immigrant communities refusing to fill out the forms. As a result, the census returns incomplete data which means that allocated funds will not go where they are needed most. Meanwhile there are political movements who have a vested interest in seeing an incomplete picture of the nation's population in order to maintain a political status quo.

This article touches on some of the competing interests and fears in Arizona communities as the 2010 census approaches.

‘Chaotic’ immigration system leading to wrongful deportations

This story about immigration detainees illustrates the very human cost of failing to reform the detention system that undocumented immigrants go through. Part of recent studies on the system, it describes people who were wrongfully detained and removed from the country, and a more shocking fact was the 85 people who had died while in custody in the past 5 years.

Report claims illegal immigrants have small impact on country's economy

The conflation between immigration and the economy is an especially touchy subject given the circumstances of the day, and one of the favored canards spoken by anti-immigrant groups is that the presence of immigrants deprives citizens of jobs and drives down the economy.

While this study doesn't address other social issues that would also become the subject of attack, it addresses the effect immigrant work has on local economies. It finds that there is indeed a slight economic depression where businesses use cheaper immigrant labor, however it is not the catastrophic effect that alarmists claim, and that the benefits in stimulating job growth and the movement of money results in a net benefit.