Immigration News

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Proof of legal residency requirements

Under Colorado's new illegal-immigration reform law, people applying for many taxpayer-funded programs must do more to prove they're legal U.S. residents. (The new rules also apply to people currently in programs who must periodically recertify their eligibility.) They must:

• Sign an affidavit saying they are in the country legally

• Present one of four IDs: A Colorado driver's license, state-issued ID, a Merchant Mariner card or a Native American Tribal document. (The Department of Revenue is expected to issue emergency rules once the law is signed by Gov. Owens that will give people without the required ID additional options until March 1.)

• Undergo verification of immigration status through a federal online program known as SAVE.

Programs expected to adopt stricter ID rules (as defined in House Bill 1023):

• In-state college tuition

• Federal and state financial aid for colleges

•College Opportunity Fund (state-funded college tuition stipends)

• Medicaid (up to 75,000 people)

• Unemployment benefits (about 21,000 people)

• Colorado Workforce Centers (help people find a job or get job training)

• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (formerly known as welfare)

• Restaurant and liquor licenses

• Business licenses issued by municipalities

• Foster care and child care licenses

• Low income energy assistance (LEAP - about 100,000 households receive this benefit in the winter)

• Any individual or sole proprietor who gets a state contract approved by the Department of Personnel and Administration

• Old Age Pension - State Medical Program (medical coverage for elderly people who don't qualify for Medicaid but have a state pension and a disability - estimated 4,700 people will be affected)

• CHP plus (basic health plan that will apply only to children over 18 and pregnant women - estimated 2,300 people affected)

• Colorado Indigent Care Program (hospitals and clinics that get state money through this program will be required to go through the new ID verification process for poor people, such as the homeless, who enroll)

Programs that are not expected to change:

• Food stamps

• Building permits

• Women Infants and Children (WIC) nutritional program

• Pre-natal services

• Immunizations

• Communicable disease prevention programs

• Family planning programs

• Suicide prevention programs

• K-12 public education

• Fire and police services

• Criminal justice system services

• Educational programs on health effects of smoking and chronic diseases

• Temporary disaster relief

• Driver's license application process

• Services and programs for children under 18

• Recreational licenses, such as those for fishing and hunting

• Firearms permits

• Emergency room care and labor and delivery

• Public transit, public park, public garbage service and library use

[Soldier4Christ]

Judicial Watch’s Lawsuit Against LAPD to Move Forward


Judicial Watch, the public interest group that seeks to promote the rule of law, announced today that California Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu has ruled against the Los Angeles Police Department in an attempt to halt a lawsuit challenging Special Order 40, the LAPD sanctuary policy that prohibits police officers from inquiring about an individual’s immigration status and restricts police officers’ ability to communicate freely with federal immigration officials about illegal aliens (Harold P. Sturgeon v. William J. Bratton, et al., Case No. BC351646.)  Judge Treu overruled the LAPD’s “demurrer,” which would have ended the lawsuit, following a July 27 hearing.  The case will now proceed to discovery.

 

“The parties have expended a great deal of energy arguing their substantive claims here on demurrer.  However, in a demurrer, the sole issue is whether the facts pleaded, if true, state a valid cause of action,” Judge Treu noted in a tentative ruling delivered to both parties the day before the hearing.  “[Judicial Watch’s] complaint sufficiently alleges a cause of action…to withstand demurrer.  The demurrer is therefore overruled.”

 

Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit on behalf of Harold P. Sturgeon, a City of Los Angeles taxpayer, on May 1, 2006.  The lawsuit alleges that Special Order 40 violates both federal and California law.  It seeks a judgment declaring that Special Order 40 is illegal and an injuction preventing the LAPD from spending any additional taxpayer funds to carry out or enforce the policy.

 

“It cannot be denied that Special Order 40 and the policies, practices, and procedures arising thereunder violate both the letter and spirit of [federal law],” Judicial Watch argued in a legal memorandum filed with the court on July 14.  “The LAPD has adopted what is in effect a ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy with respect to immigration status.”

 

In 1996, Congress enacted legislation which states, “…a Federal, State, or local government entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (now Immigration and Customs Enforcement) information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual.” 

 

“Police officers are our first line of defense against any kind of illegal activity, and LAPD’s sanctuary policy helps illegal aliens to remain undetected in the City of Los Angeles,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.  “In so doing, Special Order 40 undermines enforcement our nation’s immigration laws.”

[Soldier4Christ]

Pro-immigration groups plan rallies


Organizers of the Los Angeles pro-immigration march that drew half a million people and attracted international attention have plans for more street demonstrations in September to urge Congress to pass an immigration reform bill.

Similar marches were organized in Chicago this month drawing 10,000 protestors. With pressure mounting on both sides of the debate, immigration reform could once again come to center stage.

"We are out there pushing for better and real immigration reform ... People are out there waiting, they want to march," said Javier Rodriguez, an organizer with the March 25 Coalition. Rodriguez said a Labor Day weekend march would follow the same route as the pro-immigrant march downtown on March 25. Another march is planned for that weekend in Wilmington by the newly formed Liberty and Justice for Immigrants Coalition - comprising Teamsters, Hermandad Mexicana and the Mexican American Political Association.

"We prefer no bill this year (over) a bad bill. We can go out there and demonstrate that people are willing and encouraged to defeat both pieces of legislation this years," said Nativo Lopez, president of MAPA.

Protestors centered their anger on a House bill by James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc, that would have made all illegal immigrants criminals and created a 700-mile wall along the Mexican border. The bill garnered support from many House Republicans. But other observers say more marches could create even further division between both sides of the red-hot immigration debate.

"All it does is solidify the people that are for them, and those that are against them; it's unclear how it impacts people on the fence," said Ricardo Ramirez, an assistant professor of political science at University of Southern California. Since the marches, dozens of groups - from immigrant rights activists to political associations - have launched citizenship and voting drives to focus the momentum created by the mass protests into political clout.

House Republicans have even created their own immigration road show - holding hearings in more than a dozen states over the summer - aimed at forcing President George Bush to cave to the House's more restrictive legislation.

"The experience is that these marches have backfired," said Ira Melhman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group advocating tighter border controls. "The American public look at these and they are outraged. There are millions of people breaking the law and they are being rewarded for it."

[Soldier4Christ]

Provisions take aim at immigration


Just as the year's state legislative session came to a close, legislators added several provisions into bills intended to curb the flow of illegal immigrants into the state.

The provisions address driver's license security, employment and law enforcement.

The addition of the measures on the final evening of the legislative session surprised some activists for tighter immigration enforcement, who thought the laws would die at the end of the session. Activists for greater immigration enforcement had complained that the Democratic leadership was not addressing a serious illegal immigration problem.

"We really (thought) they were not going to pass anything until the last minute," said William Gheen, president of the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC.

About 390,000 illegal immigrants live in the state, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Democratic leaders have said that immigration is a federal issue limiting their ability to pass enforceable laws. But they say they are actively exploring what states can do, as shown by the passage of these bills.

"Sometimes people urge us to do things that states can't do or would be ineffective to do," said Rep. Joe Hackney, a Chapel Hill Democrat. "But there are other things that we can do and we ought to be investigating those and doing those that make sense."

New Requirements

Legislators passed several bills in the 2006 session hoping to address the growth of the state's illegal immigrant community.

DRIVER'S LICENSE

Legislators voted to eliminate the use of the Individual Taxpayer ID Number as a valid identification document for driver's license applicants.

EMPLOYMENT

State agencies, beginning next year, will be required to check a federal database to verify that newly hired employees are authorized to work in the United States. School systems have until March to comply.

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Local and state law enforcement are now authorized to join a federal program that gives officers the authority to investigate, arrest and detain illegal immigrants.

[Soldier4Christ]

Immigration Officials Using New Tactics


DALLAS The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arm of Homeland Security is going after employers who hire illegal immigrants, and they're using criminal prosecution.

Recent crackdowns at worksites nationwide illustrate the agency's new posture. To offset enforcement, the Department is also offering an educational training program for companies that want help identifying those who should not be hired.

The program is called "Image."

Large corporations and those who work at critical infrastructure locations will have top priority. Immigration officials describe critical infrastructure as power plants, airports, bridges and worksites that may be targets of a terrorist attack.

"There's always a threat of terrorism, that's our main focus, that's why we're Homeland Security," said John Chakwin, Jr., the Special Agent-in-Charge for the Dallas Office of I.C.E.

Federal officials say they won't be teaching employers how to be document fraud experts, but employer will learn how to spot bogus documents such as drivers licenses and social security cards.

In addition, the department will conduct periodic audits in partnership with the employers. Chakwin says those employers who participate in the program could use that to mitigate future violations.

Javier Arias is the owner of two small construction firms, and he likes the idea of government assistance in the hiring process, but worries about the cost. "We're for any program that's going to help us to have better control. Is it going to have an impact economically? Are we going to have to hire a new person? We don't know."

[Soldier4Christ]

Illegal border traffic shifting
As federal patrols concentrate on Arizona, San Diego and two Texas sites show an increase in attempts to cross.

The number of people being caught trying to enter the U.S. illegally has dropped slightly this year. But the latest federal figures also show that the California and Texas borders are seeing increased traffic.

The numbers from the U.S. Border Patrol reveal that illegally crossing the border is just as deadly as last year. And that an increasing number of undocumented immigrants are being picked up near death by the border patrol's search and rescue teams.

Such data are often used by both sides in the congressional illegal immigration debate. Some lawmakers say the only answer is to put even more agents along the border. Others say increased manpower must be accompanied by a new legal way for migrant workers to enter and work here. The political deadlock has led to two vastly different bills being passed in the House and Senate and no meeting of the minds in sight.

Ever since federal officials cracked down on the San Diego and Texas sectors in the 1990s, Arizona gradually has become the focal point for illegal crossers. The Tucson area still has more illegal immigrants coming over the border than any other single sector.

But the most recent numbers show an upswing in illegal traffic in San Diego and two Texas areas – El Paso and Laredo.

"We're just making it harder for them to cross at Tucson," said Maria Valencia, a spokeswoman for the Border Patrol.

Valencia said as the number of agents grows all along the border, federal officials hope it will become more difficult for people to cross.

But those who have made it their mission to look out for and try to help those illegal crossers who are sick and dying say that all the beefed-up enforcement has done is spur the illegal immigrants to make a more treacherous journey. Border Patrol officials agree.

It led last year to a record number of deaths along the border – 472, according to federal records – and the numbers are close to being on the same pace this year.

The 193 border agents who make up the rescue teams respond to the 80, 30-foot-high rescue beacons placed along the most frequented illegal immigrant routes. Someone in distress can press a button to signal the nearest Border Patrol station for help. The number of rescues has increased most in Texas.

"We weren't finding them before," Valencia said. The agents are trained in first aid, can provide intravenous fluids and take a migrant to a hospital. Once they are stabilized, the illegal immigrants are processed and returned home.

"A bunch of these guys are real angels as far as I'm concerned," said the Rev. Robin Hoover, head of Humane Borders, an Arizona-based group that puts water along migrant routes. He said when they find people in distress, they often call the Border Patrol.

Hoover said that rather than eliminate the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S., the increased border patrols have mainly "pushed the migrants into the more dangerous areas.

"Fifteen years ago migrants walked around the end of the fence in the town, got on a bus and disappeared," Hoover said. "Now they have to walk for three and a half or four days."

Congress has consistently raised the Border Patrol budget and has been impatient with the pace at which new agents are being hired.

President Bush recently asked for 6,000 National Guard troops to go to the border to do the kind of maintenance and fence-building that could free up agents to catch those trying to illegally enter the country.

[Soldier4Christ]

 Current Immigration Boom Dwarfs Great Wave of 1910

The current boom in the United States immigrant population dwarfs the peak of the great immigration wave of 1910, according to a study by the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, DC.

The study indicates that there are 35.2 million immigrants -- legal and illegal -- living in the U.S., making it the largest immigrant population in U.S. history.  Also, the current wave is two and a half times the 13.5 million immigrants in 1910.

Nearly half of the post-2000 immigration arrivals are believed to be illegal aliens, who've either entered the country illegally or are part of the almost 3 million visa overstays.

States with the largest increases in their immigrant populations are California, Texas, Georgia, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington, Virginia, Arizona, Tennessee, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina and Mississippi.

The CIS study reveals that the poverty rate for immigrants is 57 percent higher than that of U.S. citizens, and that one-third lack health insurance, while almost one-third are on some type of government welfare program.

Lower educational attainment of many immigrants plus their low wages are the primary reasons given by the CIS for why so many immigrants use welfare programs and cannot pay for healthcare.

[Soldier4Christ]

 Meeting in Hazleton About New Immigration Law


Since July 14th, Hazleton has made national headlines with its aggressive immigration legislation.

The new ordinance calls for stiff fines for businesses that hire immigrants who are here illegally and land lords who rent to them.
It also makes English the city's official language.
Tonight, community leaders against the law came together to find a way to combat it.
WFMZ's Karin Mallett joins us now live with the details.
Karin?


The Pennsylvania Statewide Latino Coalition says since the passage of this law- more than 300 workers in the Hazelton area have been fired from their jobs and two factories have closed their doors to anyone not able to prove they are here legally.
So this morning at Saint Gabriel's Church in the very city that passed the ordinance - community leaders and immigration activists came up with a strategy.

Velez: 21:10
In the schools, in the streets, people say stop speaking Spanish- that it's not legal anymore, there's a lot of misconstruction in this ordinance.
People are taking it as a right to be a bigot, as a right to be racist.
\ REPORTER:

Youth leader Marisol Velez says Hazelton's new immigration ordinance has the small city judging neighbors by their faces- and the color of their skin.
And that the tension is growing.
Nats of meeting

\ REPORTER:

PSLC is expected to file an appeal Monday arguing that undocumented immigrants- although limited- still have rights.

And question whether Hazelton has any legal right to act on what it considers a federal issue.

Siobhan Bennett: 28:25

There's a right way to do things and an unfair way to do things.
\ REPORTER:

Chair of Allentown's Democratic Committee, Sioban Sam Bennett, says she doesn't condemn Hazelton city council members for trying to come up with a solution to the immigration problem- but criticizes the way they went about it.
Bennett: 31:15

Is immigration an issue that we all care about? Absolutely, but when you create legislation that ends up being discriminatory not only to Latinos but to Czechs, Poles, Latinos and Italians- then we know tat we have a piece of legislation that is too vague and ends up being a violation of people's civil rights.

[Soldier4Christ]

U.S. immigration protesters scuffle in New York

U.S. immigration activists clashed at the site of the World Trade Center on Wednesday when an anti-illegal immigration group called for secure borders to avoid a repeat of the September 11 attacks and counterprotesters yelled "racists go home."

Supporters of the Minuteman Project, which patrols the U.S.-Mexican border for illegal immigrants, and immigrant rights activists, who showed up at the Minuteman event, became involved in a heated argument.

Jim Gilchrist and Jerome Corsi, authors of "Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders," were whisked away when some immigrant rights supporters broke through a police barrier and scuffled with Minutemen supporters.

Corsi, who also wrote a book critical of Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, accused President Bush of leaving U.S. borders wide open.

"When the World Trade Center was attacked, we saw a failure of the Bush administration to protect our borders and to enforce our immigration laws. This tragedy could be repeated," Corsi said.

Gilchrist and Corsi said they held their event at Ground Zero to dedicate their book to the families of the September 11 victims.

About 50 immigrant rights advocates waved placards reading, "New York is an immigrant town -- Minuteman not welcome," while about 30 anti-illegal immigration protesters held banners that said, "Stop the invasion" and "U.S. jobs for U.S. citizens."

Polls show immigration reform is an important issue to many Americans, but negotiations over immigration reform have stalled in the U.S. Congress. The House of Representatives and the Senate have passed vastly different bills and it is increasingly unlikely the two sides will bridge differences ahead of the November congressional elections.

Senate legislation would give the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants a chance to earn U.S. citizenship, while the House bill that would criminalize illegal presence.

Stephen Durham, 58, was one of 50 activists who protested the Minutemen's appearance in New York.

"I'm really appalled that (the Minuteman Project) would use 9/11 to publicize a plan (to secure U.S. borders) which is fundamentally so unconstitutional and un-American," he said. "We are all immigrants. Immigrant labor built America."

[Soldier4Christ]

Mexican Mafia Captain Arrested While Smuggling Illegal Aliens

A ranking member of the violent Mexican Mafia gang was arrested near Laredo, TX, on Thursday by federal agents while he attempted to smuggle into the US 12 aliens hidden in the back of a tractor-trailer.

Jorge Antonio Espinoza, 40, from Laredo, was in federal court Friday morning where he was charged with attempting to transport illegal aliens into the United States. Espinoza was denied bond and is expected to remain in federal custody pending his next hearing scheduled for Aug. 4.

Customs and Border Protection inspectors discovered the smuggled aliens when Espinoza tried to pass through the checkpoint located near Interstate Highway 35 near Laredo. The aliens were found hidden in the back of the tractor-trailer during the secondary inspection process.

“Individuals who seek to threaten the safety of our communities, such as members of violent street gangs, will be sought out and brought to justice,” said Alonzo Pena, special agent-in-charge of  Immigration's Office of Investigations in San Antonio.

“Espinoza is a smuggler who has no regard for human life. He attempted to transport 12 people inside a refrigerated tractor-trailer where they could have suffered severe medical complications,” he said.

Espinoza is one of the captains of the “Mexican Mafia” that operates in Laredo. His criminal history ranges from possessing drugs to escaping from prison.

The immigrants discovered inside the trailer were citizens of Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. All 12 remain in custody pending the outcome of their immigration cases.

This arrest is the latest law enforcement action under Operation Community Shield, a nationwide ICE anti-gang initiative to disrupt, dismantle and assist in criminally prosecuting violent gangs by employing the full range of law enforcement authorities available.

Operation Community Shield was launched in February 2005 targeting MS-13 gang members, and was expanded in May 2005 to target all gangs.

An ICE assessment identified that most gang members were foreign-born, in the United States illegally, had prior criminal convictions, and/or were involved in crimes that made them subject to ICE's extensive immigration and customs authorities.

[Soldier4Christ]

Why Allentown is cool to immigration law
While Hazleton takes a hard line, Valley city relies on experience.


When Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta rolled out his plan to keep illegal immigrants out of his coal region city in June, he was greeted with a groundswell of local support and the bright lights of television cameras.

Embraced by many of the city's longtime residents, the proposal sailed through Hazleton City Council in just a month by a comfortable 4-1 margin.

In contrast, when Allentown City Councilman Louis Hershman presented a similar proposal last week, you could almost hear the crickets chirping.

Most of Hershman's colleagues on City Council treated the plan as if it were contagious. One, Julio Guridy, called the ordinance ''racist and mean-spirited.'' Mayor Ed Pawlowski dismissed it as irrelevant to solving the city's deeper problems, caused by poverty.

Council President David M. Howells Sr. has set up a committee to look into immigration issues, but there is no guarantee the proposal will even make it onto City Council's agenda.

So why did Allentown officials barely shrug at the Hershman proposal while Hazleton passed what is considered the strictest ordinance of its kind in the country with great fanfare and very little opposition, except from the Hispanic community?

The answer lies in the differences in the two blue-collar cities, indeed, even the differences in their Hispanic populations.

For one thing, Allentown's Hispanic community, the group that has traditionally led opposition to immigration crackdowns, is larger and has simply been around a lot longer.

Then there's size. Surrounded by rapidly growing suburbs and home to 106,000 residents, the more cosmopolitan Allentown is more than three times the size of Hazleton.

Its residents are more familiar with urban quality-of-life issues such as noise, traffic and crime that appear to have rattled Hazleton in recent years as its population has swelled.

''I think people draw from their own experiences,'' said Lisette DePaula, chairwoman of Allentown's Human Relations Commission. ''Over 20 years, the look of the city has changed, the demographics have changed, but there has not been total calamity as predicted 20 years ago.''

DePaula, whose Cuba-born parents came to America through Ellis Island, said those fears and anxieties, while still present, are slowly eroding.

The makeup of Allentown's Hispanic community also plays a part. It's more than two-thirds Puerto Rican, all of whom are U.S. citizens. There are no updated statistics for the breakdown of Hazleton's Hispanic population, but it is generally believed that a majority are Dominican.

And finally, Allentown also has two Hispanic city councilmen, an active Hispanic Chamber of Commerce with outspoken leaders, and wide Hispanic representation on a variety of boards and prominent social services agencies such as Casa Guadalupe and the Alliance for Building Communities.

''If Hazleton had two Hispanic councilmen, it just wouldn't happen,'' said Allentown attorney David Vaida, a founder of the Lehigh Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and an outspoken advocate for Hispanic issues. ''By the time you get to Hispanic councilmen, you have been through the war already. It's part of the fabric of the city.''

Guridy put it more bluntly.

''It would be political suicide for anybody in the Lehigh Valley to try to pull this kind of … legislation,'' Guridy said.

Barletta said he's not sure what would happen if his city had two Hispanic council members, but he said the size difference could have something to do with the level of interest in taking on the illegal immigration issue.

Hazleton's already meager resources have been stretched thin by an influx of 8,000 mostly Hispanic residents over the last five years, he said.

''They don't feel it as harshly as I do,'' Barletta said of Allentown.

Allentown, in many ways, hashed out its public debate over the city's changing demographics in the 1970s, '80s and '90s, when the rapidly growing Hispanic community mobilized to oppose efforts to make English the city's official language.

The ordinance, championed by late councilwoman Emma Tropiano, eventually passed in 1994, but not before two years of contentious debate that demonstrated the growing influence of the city's Hispanic community.

Nicholas Butterfield, the city's human relations officer since 1986, said Hershman's proposal contains echoes of that old debate.

''It seems very much like a repeat of old Emma,'' he said.

That's not to say Allentown is without tensions. As the city's Hispanic population increases, some long-term, mostly white residents blame the influx for a rise in crime and a strain on the city's schools.

''I think it is a little more muted. The longer the [Hispanic] community is here and the more they get the vote and use the vote, the more muted it becomes,'' Butterfield said.

Muted, perhaps, but not gone entirely.

During the 2005 mayoral election, eventual winner Ed Pawlowski was greeted at one senior center appearance by a woman lamenting the changeover of the city's once genteel Seventh Street shopping district into a bustling hub of Hispanic-owned and -oriented businesses.

The ''porta rickans'' there will knock you down and take your money, she told Pawlowski.

Positions of influence

But compared to largely white Hazleton, a once shrinking city where the Hispanic population has exploded in the last five years from barely 1,000 to an estimated 7,000 to 8,000, Hispanics have been a fixture in Allentown for decades.

In 1990, 12,274 Hispanics called Allentown home, making up 12 percent of its population. That doubled in 2000 to 24.4 percent, and city leaders estimate it is approaching 33 percent today.

Hazleton had 1,132 Hispanics in its population of 23,300 in 2000, according to the U.S. Census. Now, the Luzerne County city's population is around 30,000, about 8,000 of whom are Hispanic, city officials estimate. As recently as 1990, there were fewer than 250 Hispanics living in Hazleton, barely 1 percent.

With a Hispanic population that has grown so rapidly, there has been little time for that segment of the population to establish a power base in Hazleton.

With two decades to build on, Allentown's Hispanic community's influence can be seen in Allentown city government, where Guridy and Martin Velazquez III sit on City Council and Erlinda Agron, an Allentown School Board member, heads the city's brownfields redevelopment efforts.

DePaula, chairwoman of the board of Casa Guadalupe, works as an aide to state Sen. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh.

Lazaro Fuentes, president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, talks with Pawlowski regularly to offer his assessments of city policy. And Fred Banuelos leads the Alliance for Building Communities and serves on the Allentown Planning Commission.

''The more we involve ourselves in the community, the more we are seeing positive results. There is more collaboration occurring, [though] not as much as I would like to see,'' Fuentes said.

Link to crime

There is also the issue of crime.

In Hazleton, two high-profile crimes within the last year — a murder and a playground shooting that involved illegal immigrants — sent a wave of uneasiness through the city. Hazleton experienced only two murders between 1999 and 2004, according to uniform crime reports.

But overall, the reports show that between the same period, violent crime remained relatively steady.

While the murder and violent crime rates in Allentown fluctuate, residents of the state's third largest city have become used to a certain amount of crime.

Allentown police sometimes come across illegal immigrants when they are investigating crimes. When police make arrests, they always check suspects' citizenship. But illegal immigrants have not been a major factor in violent crime in the city.

''It has been a handful, and literally a handful,'' said Ron Manescu, chief of investigations. ''It might be someone we stopped on a traffic stop who didn't have [an] ID. It is not anything that I see as a pervasive problem. We don't have an area that we have a bunch of people who are living illegally in town.''

Hershman, who is looking forward to delving into the illegal immigration issue in Allentown through his new ad-hoc committee, said he never set out to divide the city along racial lines.

He said he just wanted to do what he could to help the city cut down on whatever problems illegal immigrants are causing in Allentown. As to why his proposal was not greeted with fanfare?

''We're a diverse city and we are used to being diverse,'' Hershman said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Illegal Immigration problems are not unique to just the United States.

_____________________


Fresh questions on illegal immigration

A report on the serious criminal threats facing Britain has prompted a fresh row row over illegal immigration.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency's 'threat assessment' said the cost of smuggling a person from France into Britain could now be less than £150.

Campaign group Migrationwatch said the news proved it was "incredibly easy to get people into Britain clandestinely".

Soca's report said the price that illegal immigrants pay to be smuggled into the UK could "vary substantially".

"Some pay less than £150 to enter the UK from France clandestinely," it said.

"Meanwhile, Chinese migrants may be charged up to £20,000 to be facilitated from China to the UK. Some Sri Lankan migrants pay £5,000 to £10,000."

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch, said that the lower end of the range was "extraordinarily cheap - not much more than the usual fare".

"It suggests that it is incredibly easy to get people into Britain clandestinely," he said.

"It also suggests that the much-trumpeted closure of the Sangatte refugee camp near Calais has had very little practical effect on the flow of illegal immigrants into Britain."

But Keith Best of the Immigration Advisory Service said he was "highly sceptical" of the figure.

"Based on what has been said before, I would have though the figure would be in the high hundreds, if not the thousands," he added.

Soca's review also said there was a "high" threat from organised crime.

It revealed that 25 to 35 tonnes of heroin are smuggled into the country every year, along with 35 to 40 tonnes of cocaine.

And Britain is the third highest consumer of ecstasy in the world, it said.

[Soldier4Christ]

NHS and schools 'at risk from surge in EU immigration'


A HUGE rise in immigration from Eastern Europe next year could cause chaos in schools and hospitals and spark a public backlash, according to a leaked government report.

It also gives warning that ministers may be forced to abandon their refusal to grant housing and welfare benefits, creating what it describes as an extra “pull factor”, attracting further immigrants.

The arrival of hundreds of thousands from abroad is already forcing down wages for low-paid workers with “serious implications” for social discord, the report insists. A “step change” in the level of immigration when Romania and Bulgaria join the EU next year could make things worse, it says.

The document, by the junior Home Officer minister Joan Ryan and entitled Migration From Eastern Europe: Impact on Public Services and Community Cohesion, reveals that every government department has been ordered to draw up contingency plans to deal with the extra pressure on schools, housing and health.

The report says that schools will be under pressure, with thousands of children arriving here unable to speak English.

It insists that hospitals will struggle to cope with Eastern European patients who “block” hospital beds because they are ineligible for social care and benefits if they leave.

The report also reveals that towns and cities where large numbers of the new immigrants have settled are demanding millions of pounds of extra money to cope.

The leaked document, marked “Restricted”, was written by Ms Ryan on July 19, the day after she submitted a report saying that 45,000 “undesirable” criminal migrants from Romania and Bulgaria may settle in Britain next year.

The report also insists that, although foreign workers have filled jobs that British workers do not want to do, there is evidence that wages for low-paid workers have been affected.

It says: “There is anecdotal evidence, particularly from Southampton, a port of entry for Eastern Europeans, that the effect of migration . . . has been to depress wages for low-paid workers. If this were widely true, or that perception were to spread widely, the implications for community cohesion would be potentially serious.”

Ms Ryan is concerned that a legal challenge could force the Government to abandon restrictions on Eastern European immigrants applying for benefits and social housing. Her report says that some councils are demanding an end to this restriction so that they can get them off the streets.

The Government is already being criticised for underestimating the flood of migrants from eight former Soviet bloc states that joined the EU in 2004: some 662,000 came to Britain in the past two years, instead of the 10,000 to 26,000 predicted. Ministers expect that number to rise by up to 140,000 next year.

The leak coincided with a police report yesterday revealing that the migration of East Europeans to the UK is bringing mafia-style gangsters and organised prostitution to rural areas. The document, an unlisted appendix to a council meeting in Cornwall, cites figures from Boston, Lincolnshire, where there are large numbers of migrant workers.

In Boston, the report notes, “the local community have reacted adversely” to “drinking, noise and the open proliferation of massage parlours”.

A recent police stop-and-check in Lincolnshire found 50 per cent of all drivers were committing an offence and 97 per cent of those were migrant workers.

The document notes: “There has also been a marked increase in road traffic accidents in this rural area. There is a real concern over safety issues as a consequence.”

It reports that in Boston there is a “rapid increase” in bulk buying of new homes for “labour providers” to house their low-paid workers. The report says: “This has fuelled demand and price inflation. The council estimates the average two-bedroom house price has risen 400 per cent in six years. There has been ‘ghettoisation’ of some areas. Surprisingly, this is not just in older housing areas: but also on new-build estates, where blocks of property are being bought direct from developers.”

The report was drawn up by Kerrier council, in Cornwall, where an estimated 2,500 migrants fill jobs in agriculture, fishing and catering.

Police also revealed yesterday that illegal immigrants are being smuggled into Britain from France for less than £150 a head. The disclosure by the low-profile Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), set up four months ago, was far less than any fee previously mentioned in relation to people smuggling. It emerged in Soca’s “threat assessment” of serious and organised crime in the UK.

[Soldier4Christ]

British report warns of immigration crisis

Britain's schools, housing and welfare services face a devastating crisis from growing numbers of Eastern European immigrants, a government report says.

Every government department has been ordered to draw up expensive emergency plans after being told Britain's public services face a catastrophe from high immigration, London's Mail on Sunday reports.

The government report supplied to the newspaper also warns that a "steep change" in the level of immigration in 2007 could trigger an angry backlash across the country.

The report, marked "restricted," says Eastern Europeans are flooding homeless shelters and willing to work for low wages, forcing British workers to take pay cuts.

The number of immigrants entering Britain since Poland and seven other Eastern European countries joined the European Union two years ago is estimated at 600,000, the newspaper says, compared with Britain's original prediction of 5,000 to 13,000 a year.

Romania and Bulgaria are set to join the European Union next year.

[Soldier4Christ]

Scarce skills to ease immigration - Mbeki

Foreigners with scarce skills would in future find it easier to immigrate to South Africa, President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday.

"You cannot treat those people as ordinary, you must find ways of expediting the process through immigration," Mbeki told the media after a three-day Cabinet lekgotla.

Mbeki said the Department of home affairs was drawing up a scarce skills immigration quota list detailing the skills in short supply in South Africa. The department would then find ways to make it easier for people with those skills to immigrate to South Africa.

He said home affairs would identify the obstacles these people faced when they wanted to immigrate and suggest ways to overcome them.