HispanicTips » Eye Openers

Illegal immigrant ban a first - State’s move has shaken up the academic world - North Carolina’s community colleges ban on illegal immigrants

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:34:20 +0000

"N.C. community colleges are the first statewide system to bar illegal immigrants from seeking college degrees, according to the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

The move has shaken up the academic world by going beyond the nationwide debate over whether undocumented students should pay lower in-state tuition.

"This has really caught the attention and caused a lot of alarm," said Dan Hurley, the association's director of State Relations and Policy Analysis. "Charging them out-of-state tuition is one thing, but barring them entirely is another."

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I give up, says Brazilian minister who fought to save the rainforest

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:30:57 +0000

"Brazil has been accused of turning its back on its duty to protect the Amazon after the resignation of its award-winning Environment Minister fuelled fresh fears over the fate of the forest. The departure of Marina Silva, who admitted she was losing the battle to get green voices heard amidst the rush for economic development, has been greeted with dismay by conservationists.

"She was the environment's guardian angel," said Frank Guggenheim, executive director for Greenpeace in Brazil. "Now Brazil's environment is orphaned.""

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Missouri Senate OKs illegal immigration bill

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:11:58 +0000

"Senators have approved legislation adding penalties and restrictions on illegal immigrants and employers.

Senators passed the bill 27-7 today, but it has a provision House leaders don't like. It would allow employers who misclassify workers as "contractors" instead of "employees" to be fined up to $50,000."

HispanicTips.com - A Blogante News Service For, From & About Hispanics & Latinos

Immigrant workers in New Orleans start leaving

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:46:57 +0000

"The stops and starts of the post-Katrina rebuilding effort, often due to bureaucratic delays in funding, still provided plenty of work to rebuild homes and businesses. But reconstruction work has slowed as projects are completed or transition to phases requiring highly specialized skills.

"In the immediate aftermath, labor demand was huge and few workers were willing to accept the labor and residential conditions that prevailed in the city," said Elizabeth Fussell, a Washington State University professor who studied immigration after Katrina.

"Now there is less demand, and it is for workers with more skills and perhaps certification by the state. This translates to less demand for low-skill, undocumented workers.""

HispanicTips.com - A Blogante News Service For, From & About Hispanics & Latinos

Latino help center swamped since raid - Waterloo, Iowa

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:43:59 +0000

"Hundreds of immigrants have flocked to El Centro Latinoamericana in downtown Waterloo to fill out forms that would designate custody of their children in case there is another raid, but most aren't asking how to gain U.S. citizenship.

Normally, El Centro serves 10 to 20 clients daily, but workers there are seeing as many as 100 a day since Monday's raid in Postville. "

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Human toll told in Postville - Iowa (with video)

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:26:59 +0000

"An Agriprocessors employee has returned to Postville after being detained by federal agents following the raid at the world's largest kosher meatpacking plant on Monday. But she fears her husband has been deported, leaving her and her two children behind.

The woman, fearing retribution, asked that her name not be used. She is wearing an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet so immigration officials can monitor her whereabouts. She was released for humanitarian reasons so she could care for her children, ages 9 and 12."

HispanicTips.com - A Blogante News Service For, From & About Hispanics & Latinos

Illegal Worker Describes Escape from Plant - Postville, Iowa

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:22:03 +0000

"St. Bridget Catholic Church is a place for many of Postville's Hispanic community to to catch their breath... to cry behind closed doors... and for illegal immigrants, like Eduardo Melendez, to hide from the law.

He says, in Spanish, "They grabbed us by the hair and said, 'Hurry. Walk.' Other workers were lying on the floor. Many were in handcuffs."

Somehow, Melendez and his cousin escaped ICE agents during the raid at Agriprocessors. But eight of their family members, including Melendez' brother, didn't make it out. He says the church is now his only option."

HispanicTips.com - A Blogante News Service For, From & About Hispanics & Latinos

Postville immigration raid sends shockwaves - Dubuque County Hispanics feel the impact - Iowa

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:12:11 +0000

"Hundreds of northeast Iowa Hispanics are living in fear they will be targeted in federal immigration raids, in the wake of the Postville raid Monday. Local volunteers are working to calm the confused and terrified family members left behind.

The anxiety is being felt across Dubuque County, where Hispanics reportedly are not showing up for work and are afraid to leave their homes.

"We're getting calls from people who are asking if it's safe to go to work. They panicked when they heard what happened in Postville and walked off their jobs to go see if their families were OK," said Terri Reynolds, immigration outreach coordinator for the Dubuque Archdiocese Catholic Charities."

HispanicTips.com - A Blogante News Service For, From & About Hispanics & Latinos

Georgia’s Gov. Perdue vetoes Mills’ driver’s license bill

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:55:58 +0000

"Gov. Sonny Perdue Wednesday vetoed a bill sponsored by state Rep. James Mills of Gainesville that would have required law enforcement officers to impound the vehicle of any person caught driving without a valid driver’s license.

The bill had been criticized by Hispanic advocates as unfairly targeting immigrants, something Mills repeatedly denied.

In signing the veto, Gov. Perdue said "While it does provide three exceptions – (1) persons driving with an expired license; (2) first-time offenders that are under 17 years of age; and (3) persons otherwise exempt from carrying a Georgia drivers’ license – it mandates impoundment in all other circumstances.""

HispanicTips.com - A Blogante News Service For, From & About Hispanics & Latinos

A look at recent Mexican drug-war violence - (striking list of May murders)

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:33:27 +0000

"A look at recent Mexican drug war-related violence:

May 10 — The No. 2 on the Juarez police force was shot more than 50 times and killed near his home. The Juarez police chief resigned that same day.

May 9 — Four gunmen in a truck shot and killed a former commander of Mexico City's anti-kidnapping unit. The former commander was shot seven times in the head in front of his apartment. At the time he was working for the Honor and Justice Council of Mexico City's police, which is similar to the internal affairs units in U.S. police forces."

HispanicTips.com - A Blogante News Service For, From & About Hispanics & Latinos

Feds combing jails for illegal immigrants - (4,453 legal and illegal immigrants have been placed into removal proceedings in Washington State since June 2007)

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:27:16 +0000

"A little-noticed program to remove criminal immigrants from the U.S. has local immigration officials boasting about big results as they comb jails, juvenile centers and courts across Washington state in search of deportable inmates.

Since their big push began last June, immigration officials have placed 4,453 legal and illegal immigrants from throughout the state into removal proceedings. Last year, criminals represented about one-third of all immigrants who were expelled from the Northwest region and the U.S."

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14 Colombian paramilitary warlords extradited to U.S. - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe decided to send 14 paramilitary leaders to the U.S. to face drug-trafficking charges. Victims groups said the move jeopardizes their reparations.

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:48:20 +0000

"The surprise move by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to authorize the extradition of 14 notorious paramilitary warlords early Tuesday morning to the United States won applause from the Bush administration and was expected to raise his sky-high popularity in Colombia even higher.

But many people fear that sending the men to the United States to be tried on cocaine-trafficking charges will keep victims' families from receiving any of the promised reparations from the paramilitary leaders.

In a nationwide television address, Uribe said that he agreed to the extradition because the paramilitary leaders had been continuing their criminal activities behind bars and had failed to make restitution."

HispanicTips.com - A Blogante News Service For, From & About Hispanics & Latinos

‘NY Times’ Duped by Chilean Security Guard

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:39:36 +0000

"The New York Times got a lesson in checking sources when a port security guard in Chile claimed he was the port's director, according to an editor's note published Tuesday that revealed the error.

In a March 27 Times story about an infectious virus that is killing salmon in Chile's salmon farming industry, reporter Alexei Barrionuevo quoted Adolfo Flores, who said he was the director of the Port of Castro, Chile, the note stated. It added that he was "describing bags of fish food stored at the facility by Marine Harvest, a Norwegian company, as containing antibiotics, pigments and hormones.""

HispanicTips.com - A Blogante News Service For, From & About Hispanics & Latinos

LA prosecutor taken off case of slain football star - the Jamiel Shaw Jr. case

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:03:21 +0000

"The community solidarity that followed the killing of high school football star Jamiel Shaw Jr. did not last.

A prosecutor has been pulled from the case after clashing with Shaw's parents, who are demanding hate-crime charges against the suspect, believed to belong to a violent Hispanic gang. And the family is fighting suggestions that an affinity for a rival gang was what led to Shaw's slaying March 2.

At the heart of the friction is the polarizing issue of race in a city known for its diversity of cultures. Shaw, 17, was black; prosecutors say the man charged with killing him, Pedro Espinoza, is in the country illegally."

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Temporary worker program blocked by Congressional Hispanic Caucus

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:01:27 +0000

"The all-Democratic Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which includes 17 Latino members of Congress, has dug in its heels in an effort to bring relief to undocumented workers and their families who are currently being subjected to immigration raids. But in return, it is becoming the target of heavy pressure from the hotel, resort, seafood and other industries.

Last fall, the leadership of the Caucus developed a strategy to create leverage for progress on immigration reform. Concluding that the full package of “comprehensive immigration reform” was not achievable until the Democrats increased their congressional majority and replaced Bush in the White House, the Caucus decided to narrow its focus to measures that would undo the harm being done everyday by the immigration raids and other enforcement procedures ordered by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. So the Caucus tentatively adopted a proposal from grassroots immigrants’ rights activists to provide provisional, renewable five-year visas for most undocumented immigrants now living and working in the United States."

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Japanese steakhouse to pay $80K over harassment of Hispanic women - Maryland

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:54:15 +0000

"A White Marsh Japanese restaurant and sushi bar will pay $80,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit claiming Hispanic women were harassed there.

Kobe Steak House agreed to pay the women after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit accusing workers of making unwelcome sexual advances toward several women, the federal agency said Tuesday."

HispanicTips.com - A Blogante News Service For, From & About Hispanics & Latinos

Immigration raid notebook - Iowa - (looks like ICE did use the National Cattle Congress grounds in Waterloo for the Postville raid)

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:21:47 +0000

"Interpreters hoping to help immigration lawyers arrived at the National Cattle Congress grounds in Waterloo around 9:15 this morning, but when they had not gained access to the site an hour later, most left.

Four interpreters requested by the lawyers to arrive were told by security officers guarding the entrance to go to the other side of the site to meet with security there. Those officers told them to go back to the first entrance and wait across the street.

“They told us we’re not cleared,” said Mario Basurto, 26, a program coordinator at El Centro Latinoamerica in Waterloo. "

HispanicTips.com - A Blogante News Service For, From & About Hispanics & Latinos

North Carolina Community Colleges Will No Longer Admit Illegal Immigrants

Tomas — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:20:47 +0000

"North Carolina's community colleges will no longer admit illegal immigrants, returning to more restrictive policy on the advice of the state Attorney General's Office."

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Thousands protest violence in Mexico - Ciudad Juarez

Tomas — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:13:21 +0000

"Thousands of white-clad people marched silently Sunday to protest a surge of drug-related violence in a Mexican city across from Texas where the No. 2 police officer was shot dead.

The crowd of several thousand students, church leaders, businessmen and politicians walked for about four miles (six kilometers) across Ciudad Juarez to a park near a border crossing, breaking the silence in a burst of speeches, dancing and singing.

More than 200 people have been killed so far this year in Ciudad Juarez. The city of 1.3 million across the border from El Paso, Texas, is home base for the powerful Juarez drug cartel."

HispanicTips.com - A Blogante News Service For, From & About Hispanics & Latinos

Citizenship Proof Next Up in Voter ID Battle

Tomas — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:05:10 +0000

"In the wake of the Supreme Court's approval of an Indiana law requiring voters to present a state-issued photo identification card at the polls, voting security activists are seeking to take the argument over voter ID one step further, just in time for the presidential election. Missouri lawmakers plan to vote on an amendment to the state constitution that would require voters to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The amendment would tighten the proofs required for registration in the state. The Missouri Constitution already requires that voters be citizens, but currently, Missourians can show a utility bill as proof of residency and are not required to provide a birth certificate to register to vote."

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