01/18/2007

An excellent article by Ben Fulton of the Salt Lake City Weekly advocating higher education for undocumented students.

Via The News Today

L.M. (not a real name’s initials) is in the bind!

For two years since that exciting first day when she first came,
life has been an incessant emotional roller coaster ride for L.M. who,
like many other, has come to the US as a visitor but has decided to
stay in the country after the expiration of her visa. At least, that
was what she claimed to be the sequence of events although again, like
many others, L.M. has planned on staying in the US even
before she took the trip. Now, in retrospect, had L.M. been given a
chance to do it all over again, she would have done differently.
Because, thanks to the ‘Immigration Consultant’ that she has been
introduced to by the ’employer’ in Los Angeles who entered into contact
with her while still in the Philippines, now, two years and many
promises later, LM is really in the bind.

The arrangement made back in Manila seemed straightforward enough:
L.M. come to the US with a visitor visa. Upon landing she would go to
work in a small business. A ‘special deal’ was made with the ’employer’
for her labor. Then, through the ’employer’ L.M. recruited the service
of an “Immigration Consultant” who was to file a petition on her behalf
for the Labor Certification (*) that would get her that prized green
card. The fact that the ‘consultant’ signed a contract with and
received payment from L.M. instead of with the ’employer’ as the law
mandates, did not seem to bother anyone involved.

The Labor Certification filing, the necessary first step on the road
to a green card based on employment, was not properly done, it turned
out. Then, when the law changed in 2005, the petition did not get
resubmitted accordingly to the new law. For two years, every month,
L.M. religiously paid to the ‘Consultant’ the hundreds of dollars
toward a payment plan for her fees. All the while, she was not informed
as of the progress of her case (there was no case to begin with because
of the improper filing). Then, without proper counsel from her
‘Consultant’, L.M. moved to take another job with the assumption that
the immigration petition on her behalf was in progress, providing the
‘Consultant’ with the awaited excuse to terminate her services, two
years and several thousand of dollars later. L.M. is now out of status
and subject to be removed from the US from which she is barred from
returning for ten years.

During the current debate toward a comprehensive immigration reform
in the US, advocates for the need to combat against the unauthorized
practice of law (UPL) became increasingly vocal. The need here was to
provide the proper assistance to the undocumented aliens crowd that is
the least likely to report any abuse or frauds, because there is no
venue to do so without compromising their immigration status. Such
absence of venue of help makes them the ready victims of unscrupulous
‘consultants’ who, fearless of legal consequences, scammed those
victims off their meager but hard earned money. The list of abuses is
long. There are reports of threat of reprisal (by snitching to the
government), of unnecessary withholding of documents; of holding off
response to request of information, of incompetent and indiscreet staff
etc…

Most of the ‘consultants’ in question are from the same ethnic
background as their customers. This allows them to gain the client’s
confidence. L.M.’s ‘consultant’ is also from the Philippines. Most will
advertise that they only ‘consult’ and that they are not practicing the
law. However, the Code of Federal Regulation states that the practice
of the law includes the “selection and completion of the forms to seek an immigration benefit”.
Consultants like that of L.M. have committed the illegal act of
practicing the law without a license in the United States. In L.M.’s
case, the ‘Consultant’ in question may now be under scrutiny by the law
enforcement agencies for possible UPL criminal wrongdoing.

An immigration lawyer can help a prospective immigrant in more than
one ways: He/she can analyze the client’s case and, explain to her the
possibilities of benefit under the law and the legal process to obtain
such benefit. He or she can assist in petitioning on behalf of the
client and be her advocate when it came to speaking for her with the US
government agencies and if necessary, represent the client in a Court
of law. In LM’s case, her Labor Certification could have been properly
done had she been assisted by an American attorney, not only because of
the legal competency, but also by the code of ethics that bind the
profession. Surprisingly, such could have been much less costly,
financially speaking.

varUsername = “jeckhoff@dmreg.com”;document.write(“By JEFF ECKHOFF“);By JEFF ECKHOFF
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
December 18, 2006

British
army Corp. Bob Pattinson was introduced to Iowa by soldiers in a
military camp outside an Iraqi palace. He fell in love, first with the
state’s people, then with the place.

“Friendships like that
don’t come around so often,” Pattinson explained last month. “So when
they do, you hold on to them because, like I tell my kids, true friends
will never leave you.”

But U.S. immigration authorities can –
and will – block an official “honorary Iowan” from legally beginning a
new life among the buddies he made in combat.

This is a story of
cribbage, football and the government red tape that has made it easier
for soldiers on both sides of the Atlantic to understand why immigrants
might chose to live illegally in this country.

“If somebody
truly wanted Bob and his family to be here, they could make it happen,”
said Ray Reynolds, a frustrated Iowan trying to help Pattinson
immigrate. “The way I look at it, if this guy’s good enough to drive
our colonels and generals around in Iraq, then he’s good enough to make
some kind of contribution here.”

The official certificate signed
by Gov. Tom Vilsack in 2005 to make Pattinson an “honorary Iowan” says
the career British military man befriended an Iowa National Guard unit
“with his positive attitude and infectious humor that greatly helped
ease soldiers’ fears and homesickness.”

Pattinson, a northeast
England native assigned to drive dignitaries around during the first
year of the Iraq invasion, discovered common souls the first time he
wandered into a camp of the Iowa National Guard’s 234th Signal
Battalion.

Soon, Pattinson began dropping by regularly to play
cribbage and chat about life back home. He taught the Iowans about
rugby; they schooled him in the importance of Hawkeye football. At
Pattinson’s invitation, the Iowans spent Christmas 2003 caroling at the
home of a British general while car bombs exploded outside.

“He
had this knack for giving us a piece of normal life, to make things
normal in an abnormal world,” said Reynolds. “It’s not so often that
you find somebody and you just click.”

Two years later,
Pattinson brought his wife and children to Iowa for a visit. Julie
Pattinson took her husband aside and quietly asked if they could stay.

“From
the first day, from the first person we met, I’ve loved it,” Bob said.
“I love the way of life. There’s no hustle, no bustle.”

And there’s almost no chance that the Pattinsons will get to embrace Iowa life anytime soon.

The
problem, according to Pattinson, Reynolds and local immigration
experts, is that there are few paths to legal U.S. residency for a
foreign citizen with no relatives in America: Pattinson can invest $1
million in an Iowa company (not an option), enter a lottery for one of
roughly 50,000 visas issued annually nationwide, or find a potential
employer willing to certify that Pattinson is uniquely qualified for a
job no American can fill.

Visas are awarded in October, but the
application deadline is in April. That means a long waiting period for
a 23-year military man with few special skills other than the ability
to teach soccer.

Potential employers would “have to apply in
April, then keep that job open until October,” Pattinson said. “That’s
not going to happen. I don’t need a business degree to know that.”

Even
if Pattinson had a blood relative who was already here, the backlog to
get a visa could force a wait of five or 10 years to enter the country
legally, said immigration attorney Michael Said.

“This gentleman
is not coming over, I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t care how nice he is,
he’s not coming over – not with the current immigration laws.”

Continue reading

Via Chicago-Sun Times
November 28, 2006
BY MIGUEL PEREZ

With state and local governments threatening to continue passing immigration laws and usurping the responsibilities of the federal government, can Congress afford to keep delaying immigration reform?

Better yet, with Democrats benefitting from the Hispanic backlash against Republican immigrant-bashers in the midterm elections, can the new Democratic majority afford to take the Latino vote for granted?

Will Democrats act on immigration reform, or will they become the victims of another Hispanic backlash in 2008?

Amazingly, after nurturing the aspirations of Latinos and other immigrants who voted overwhelmingly for Democrats in the midterm elections, some Democrats are already putting the brakes on immigration reform.

In the midterm elections, voters banished many of the most anti-immigrant Republicans. But now that that Democrats are about to take control of both houses of Congress, expectations have been raised in immigrant communities, yet Democrats say immigration is no longer an urgent issue that must be resolved.

Continue reading

Via LATimes.com

HAZLETON, PA.
— The changes came bit by bit to Hazleton this fall.

One
morning Rich O’Brien woke up and his neighbors across the street were
gone. For the first time in memory, William Sernak, who farms in a town
nearby, could not find enough workers at harvest time. And Amilcar
Arroyo has watched as the wire transfers sent from his store dropped
from $700 a day to $200 to $50.

Nearly four months have passed since Hazleton’s City Council approved
an ordinance designed to make the city, in Mayor Louis J. Barletta’s
words, “one of the toughest cities in America for illegal aliens.”
Although the ordinance has not taken effect, it has had its desired
result: Barletta has no statistics, but guesses that as many as 5,000
Latinos may have left town.

“Some in the middle of the night,” he said. “You would suspect they were illegals that left so quickly.”

Though that estimate seems high, some changes are apparent.

Suddenly,
there is quiet on Wyoming Street, where young Latino men once milled in
the evening. Shopkeepers there say their business has dropped by 20% to
50% and two businesses have shut down. The shift has turned the clock
back in Hazleton, an old coal city of 30,000 that had attracted about
10,000 Mexicans, Dominicans and other Latino immigrants over the last
decade.

O’Brien, a truck driver, has watched the change with deep satisfaction.

“The
drug dealers are starting to leave town,” said O’Brien, 61, a longtime
resident. The street is “better empty than full of drug dealers and
murderers and thieves.”

Barkeep Maurice Umbriac, 70, noted that
some of the immigrants were good people. But he could see O’Brien’s
point: “People keep complaining the businesses aren’t doing well over
there, but what kind of business do you want?”

Since the law
passed July 15, Hazleton has become the test case for a new sort of
immigration overhaul: the local crackdown. The Illegal Immigration
Relief Act would impose penalties on landlords or employers who allow
undocumented immigrants to live or work in the city.

More than
30 cities and towns, including Escondido, Calif., have considered or
passed ordinances based on Hazleton’s. Most are waiting to see whether
the law withstands court challenges by civil rights groups, which argue
that local governments have no right to regulate immigration. A U.S.
district judge last week granted a temporary restraining order to stop
enforcement of the Hazleton law, which was to have taken effect Nov. 1.
Barletta said he expected the case to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme
Court.

In Hazleton’s heyday 70 years ago, coal miners from
Italy, Czechoslovakia and Ireland streamed through the streets at the
end of their shifts. But coal and textiles collapsed, and by 2000, the
population had declined to 23,000, with a median age of 40. The Latino
arrivals — many of them from New York and New Jersey — opened 50
businesses downtown and boosted property values.

With the
arrival of families from larger cities, though, crime in Hazleton began
to change, said Police Chief Robert Ferdinand. There had always been a
drug trade in Hazleton, but it became more brazen, with “a certain
cold-bloodedness to it that we had never seen before,” he said. The
30-man police department was overwhelmed, he said, and people began to
worry.

“Worst-case scenario, as crime continued to increase
and violent criminal activity continued to increase, the remaining
decent people would leave the city and leave it to the criminal
element,” Ferdinand said.

Anger had built up to a point that
startled Father John Ruth, assistant pastor at St. John Bosco Roman
Catholic Church, north of Hazleton. In July, Ruth decided to preach
against the law, and for the first time in his career, he got anonymous
hate mail in response. Worshipers took him aside to argue with him, and
fellow priests disapproved.

“They are angry,” Ruth said. “There is a sense of anger and fear and frustration overall.”

Sernak,
who farms corn, hay and vegetables in the nearby town of Weatherly, ran
into more concrete problems: The law prompted the Sernaks’ usual crew
of Mexican workers to leave the area.

Sernak advertised in the local newspaper, and recruited 15 young people. They were not “fit to work,” he said.

“We
don’t realize how hard it is to go out in 80-degree weather and try to
pull weeds in the sun,” said Sernak, 47. “Most people couldn’t last one
day. Most people didn’t last till lunch.”

Sernak sympathizes
with Barletta’s complaints: His Czech relatives all learned English, he
said. But his troubles this season were so severe, he said, that “we
don’t know if there will be a next season.” His father, Henry, 79, rode
by on a small tractor. He had a question: “What will this country do
without those people?”

Continue reading

By Odette Alcazaren-Keeley, New America Media

SAN FRANCISCO—
Many ethnic voters will troop to the polling booths on
Tuesday with one thing in mind: immigration. And there are indications
from ethnic journalists that their communities are leaning toward the
Democratic ticket to get the kind of comprehensive immigration reform
law they want. Some fear that the issue will get swept under the rug
until the new Congress starts in January.

Alberto Vourvoulias, executive editor of El Diario/La Prensa, the
country’s oldest Spanish-language newspaper, says immigration is the
core issue driving voters in New Jersey to vote for incumbent Democrat
Senator Bob Menendez. Menendez, the son of Cuban immigrants, has been
“pro-immigrant, supporting comprehensive immigration reform and voting
against the construction of the 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico
border,” Vourvoulias explains.

Sen. Hillary Clinton’s vote in favor of that border wall is why his
readers are unhappy with her, according to Vourvoulias. Protests led by
immigrant rights groups criticized Clinton’s vote for the wall. Despite
this, El Diario/La Prensa is endorsing Clinton, although, Vourvoulias
says, “We do have a caveat for her, and that is we urge her to support
immigrants, whether undocumented or not, and we are also very worried
about her position on the Iraq war.”

The newspaper is supporting both New York Democratic candidates Clinton
and gubernatorial hopeful Eliot Spitzer, based on what Vourvoulias
calls “the small party-line basis.” The paper, Vourvoulias explains, is
supporting candidates based on issues that are closest to the hearts of
Latinos. “It’s an innovative approach, it’s the first time it’s been
done in New York, and we’re the only publication to have done it,”
Vourvoulias says. The paper wants Spitzer to be aware of the importance
of affordable housing, to support fairer health care for the poor and
to stand up for immigrants.

Joe Wei, national desk editor for World Journal, one of the largest
Chinese-language dailies in the United States, predicts that most
Chinese voters might favor Democrats, hoping for the passage of a
comprehensive immigration law that will benefit the community.

Wei predicts a generally lower turnout than the last elections in 2004,
except where Asians are running for office. He points out that the only
Asian-American in a national campaign is incumbent Congressman David
Wu, running for re-election in Oregon. Most are running for state and
local slots. If elected, Democrat Ellen Young will be the first Asian
female State Assembly person in New York. “In California,” Wei says,
“we have Democrats John Chiang running for state controller and Judy
Chu running for state tax commissioner.” According to Wei, “here in New
York, the Asian American Legal Defense League for the first time will
send out an elections monitor to at least eight states where there are
[many] Asian voters.” Wei assumes the extra monitoring of bilingual
election services will encourage more Asian voters.

South Asians are worried about immigration reform, says India Currents
editor Ashok Jethanandani, but few realize “just how many undocumented
workers there are from the community and how much the issue affects
us.” There are about 280,000 undocumented Indian Americans,
Jethanandani says, a number which has doubled in the past five years.
“It’s a fast-growing population that doesn’t have much representation,”
Jethanandani says, and “the South Asian response to the problem has
been along their party affiliations.”

The California-based monthly magazine has also been monitoring Indian
American candidates running this year. Jethanandani says the number of
Indian candidates increases each election cycle. “This year, about
30-40 candidates nationwide are seeking office and will drive more
voters to the polling precincts,” he says.

The most politically engaged ethnic population, African-Americans,
won’t be focused on immigration reform. One of the country’s biggest
African-American newspapers, The Washington Afro, has been reporting
extensively on key races, that could increase black representation in
Congress. Senior reporter James Wright is keeping a close eye on
Maryland, where Republican candidate Michael Steele is running for U.S.
Senate. “There’s also Anthony Brown, the black candidate running for
Lt. Governor on the Democratic ticket with Baltimore Mayor Martin
O’Malley running for Governor,” Wright adds. It’s hoped that Brown,
being African-American, will deliver black votes for O’Malley. Wright
points out, “the problem is the black vote is no longer just squarely
into the Democratic column…the question is turn-out,” Wright says.

“The black vote is a swing vote in a lot of these statewide elections,”
Wright says. He believes that if even one house of Congress changes
hands, it will be due to the black vote.

Even if most political pundits see this election as a referendum on the
Bush administration and the Iraq war, Wright believes that for the
black community it’s actually a referendum “on Hurricane Katrina, and
the way black people were mistreated.” Victims are still waiting for
their money from FEMA, and many residents want to go back home but have
nothing left to return to in Louisiana. Among African-American voters,
Wright says, “Mr. Bush’s response to Katrina destroyed him.”