AP reports that The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop immigration raids.
AP reports that The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop immigration raids.
ICE: Tab to remove illegal residents would approach $100 billion
CNN recently reported that it would cost approximately $100 billion to remove all 12 million people in the U.S. “An ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] spokesman later said the $94 billion did not include the cost of finding illegal immigrants, nor court costs — dollar amounts that are largely unknowable.”
Another unknowable number, and one most relevant and material in my opinion, is the actual number of undocumented workers in the U.S. – some have put this number as high as 20 million, as opposed to ICE’s estimate of 12 million. Secondly, the cost of finding and processing/prosecuting these undocumented people is ‘unknowable’ according to ICE, and hasn’t been factored into the $100 billion amount [which only includes ICE personnel costs, room and board in a detention cell for 32 days as well as transportation back to the person’s home country]. These two additional costs would easily dwarf the prison and transportation costs.
Collateral costs would be immense as well. Employers would lose
billions; so would the retail industry, housing market, auto dealers and banks, to name a few.
Bottom line: the actual cost may be more than double ICE’s figure, plus the aforementioned collateral costs. Even assuming the money is made available, and assuming that the 12-20 million people can somehow be found, logistical bottlenecks in ICE manpower, court access and detention cells, as well as the grim reality of the true economic impact of such a move will preclude any serious attempt to mount a large scale removal program.
ICE’s cost analysis is not helpful, accurate or realistic. They may just as well have announced the cost of a popsicle stick ladder to the moon without factoring in the cost of glue, and while pointedly ignoring the laws of gravity and physics. We need to face reality and look to comprehensive immigration reform.
Australia’s much closer to the U.S. than Canada is
Barbara Yaffe of the Vancouver Sun illustrates the differences between the US-Australia and US-Canada relationships. Australia’s geographic isolation from the West leads to a stronger desire in the country for good relations with the West, particularly the US. This relationship in turn leads to improved US immigration options (E-3 visas for example) for Aussies.
Kevin, 10, helps reform U.S. immigration
Via The Star
A settlement between the U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement and the American Civil Liberties Union, Washington contained a provision requiring the improvement of conditions for children held by ICE.
Excerpt:
“All 10-year-old Kevin Yourdkhani remembers about the T. Don Hutto
immigration detention centre in Texas is that it’s “a very bad place
for children and babies…As part of the settlement, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
said it would allow detained children to move freely at the facility,
provide a full-time paediatrician, end the “count system,” install
privacy curtains around toilets and offer outings, toys, books and
child-appropriate food to minors.”
Congress Pushes Back on H1-B Visas
Via ChannelInsider
The possibility of H-1B reform or relief seems to be unlikely, according
to this article.
U.S. Deports Parents of Dead Soldiers
Via Alternet
Three years after U.S. Army Private Armando Soriano, 20, died fighting
in Haditha, Iraq, his father is facing deportation. Soriano is now
buried in Houston, Tex., his hometown, where his parents, undocumented
workers from Mexico, are currently living.
‘Green-card soldier’ film tragic
“The Short Life of Jose Antonio Gutierrez is an award-winning documentary about the first U.S. soldier to be killed in Iraq during the current war.
Gutierrez was not actually an American but a “green-card soldier,” one of the thousands of non-citizens in the U.S. Armed Forces who hope their military service will speed up citizenship. “
Continue Reading
U.S. Agency Is Swamped by Requests for Visas
By JULIA PRESTON
“Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency, was still receiving applications for employment visas yesterday, the last day of a special period it announced on July 17 for immigrants with professional skills to file petitions for permanent residence visas, known as green cards. As a result, the total tally of applications received in the last six weeks was not available.
Continue reading
Combating Criminal Gangs from Central America and Mexico
VIA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Fact Sheet
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
July 18, 2007
Combating Criminal Gangs from Central America and Mexico
Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas A. Shannon, Jr. today announced the Strategy to Combat Criminal Gangs from Central America and Mexico. Under this comprehensive strategy, the United States will work with partner countries to combat transnational and other gangs that commit crimes in Central America, Mexico, and the United States through both prevention and enforcement. It will help prevent youth from entering gangs and strengthen the fight against gang-related violence and other crimes. This strategy is one component of a larger regional security plan that was discussed by President George W. Bush, Guatemalan President Oscar Berger Perdomo, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon and now is under development by the Central American countries.
Criminal gangs are a threat to the security and stability of the communities in which they operate. Gang members prey on communities, families, and children by employing tactics such as extortion, murder, and other crimes. Gangs move with impunity across borders, and gang violence threatens fragile democracies.
The strategy sets forth five areas in which the United States will work with our neighbors to combat criminal gangs:
1. Diplomacy: The United States will work with partner countries, the international community, the private sector and non-governmental organizations to identify resources and make legal and policy improvements that help protect youth and combat crime.
2. Repatriation: The United States will work with our partners in Central America and Mexico to share information and improve the process of returning gang members who have come to the United States illegally and, where feasible, help returning gang members be productive members of their communities.
3. Law Enforcement: Regional police and justice officials will collaborate to track down criminal gang members, including by working through a new Central American Fingerprinting Exploitation initiative, and to pursue criminal gang members through joint law enforcement efforts such as the new Transnational Anti-Gang Unit in El Salvador.
4. Capacity Enhancement: The United States will share knowledge and tools with countries to improve law enforcement and prevention. This includes providing training, knowledge, and tools through mechanisms such as the Regional Gangs Program, The Organization of American States’ Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (OAS/CICAD), and the International Law Enforcement Academy in El Salvador.
5. Prevention: The United States will work with our neighboring countries to develop prevention programs and national and regional policies that protect our youth by providing alternatives to joining criminal gangs and helping members leave gangs.
2007/607
Released on July 18, 2007
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The U.S. Immigration Law Blog by Ashwin Sharma 