Please visit our YouTube, Twitter and Facebook pages.

1. Gingrich's immigration stance
2. Study: US good at integration
3. OK House panel okays bill
4. UT lawmakers work on enforcement
5. Embezzlement charge at ICE

1.
Gingrich's dual courtship of GOP base, Latino voters could pose problem
By Sean J. Miller
The Hill (DC), March 1, 2011

Newt Gingrich’s simultaneous courtship of the base of the Republican Party and Latino voters could pose major problems for his likely bid for the White House.

Gingrich, who is soon expected to announce the formation of a presidential exploratory committee, frequently stresses the need for the GOP to reach out to Latinos. According to the 2010 census, Latinos are now the fastest-growing and largest minority group in the country.

Putting that call into practice, the former House Speaker has set up a bilingual news and opinion website directed at Latinos and has staked out a nuanced position on immigration reform that some critics have labeled amnesty.

At the same time, Gingrich has tried to woo conservative activists, coming out against the construction of a mosque near the Ground Zero site in lower Manhattan and calling for the elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency. ??

The problem, according to some observers, is that Gingrich’s stance on immigration doesn’t lend itself to an easy explanation for a conservative talk-radio audience.

“If I was his adviser, I would just say, ‘Let’s call a truce on that one for now,’ ” said Rep. Jack Kingston, a Georgia Republican who served with Gingrich in the House. “Immigration and illegal aliens are still a very, very hot topic. And people who will be voting in the Republican primary do not want to hear about any backdoor amnesty program.”

Gingrich uses phrases like “pathway to legality” to characterize his support for a measure similar to the DREAM Act, which grants young illegal immigrants U.S. residency if they enroll in college or join the military.

Other powerful players in the GOP, including former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie and Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, who have warned conservatives to watch their rhetoric on immigration.

Regardless, many right-wing bloggers have lambasted Gingrich.

Three years after Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) stole the spotlight on immigration issues in the GOP presidential debates, Gingrich says that deporting 11 million illegal aliens is unrealistic.

Gingrich doesn’t shy away from critics who say he is soft on illegal immigration.

“I’m just going to ask them a simple question,” he told The Hill. “They’re going to take somebody who came here at 3 years of age, who doesn’t speak Spanish and who just graduated from a high school in Texas, and they’re going to say to him, ‘We’re going to deport you.’

“That’s certainly their prerogative. I don’t think the country will go for that. I think that’s so lax in a concern for the human beings involved.”

Gingrich emphasizes a border-security-first approach, which he noted in his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last month.

“I am deeply committed to securing the border,” Gingrich told The Hill. “I am deeply committed to changing the deportation rules for felons and gang members. … But I also think we have a huge challenge — what do you do with the human beings who are engaged, some of whom are married, have children? It’s a very complicated situation, and I don’t you think you can just wave a magic wand and have some kind of a simple, clean answer.”

That’s a position that could cause Gingrich hardship in some early voting states.
. . .
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/146631-gingrich-runs-to-right-but-n...

********
********

2.
Study: US scores well in integrating migrants
The Associated Press, February 28, 2011

A new study shows that U.S. policies to integrate migrants score well despite the fierce political debate over migration.

The study ranks US policies to give immigrants equal opportunities ninth among those of 31 countries studied in Europe and North America.

Leading the list are Sweden, Portugal and Canada. At the bottom are Cyprus and Latvia.
. . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/28/AR201102...

EDITOR'S NOTE: Read the full report here:
http://www.mipex.eu/

********
********

3.
Oklahoma House panel backs comprehensive anti-illegal immigration measure
By Michael McNutt
The Oklahoman, March 1, 2011

A House committee approved a bill Monday that would give law enforcement officials more authority to check the immigration status of motorists. Its author said the measure mirrors some parts of Arizona's anti-illegal immigrant law passed last year.

The House Judiciary Committee also approved a bill that would prohibit foreign laws from being enforced in state courtrooms.

Rep. Sally Kern, the bill's author, said it mirrors a ballot measure approved in November by state voters, but has been legally challenged.

“The intent is that we have American laws for Oklahoma courts,” she said.

Both measures now go to the full House of Representatives.

One immigration bill

Rep. George Faught, R-Muskogee, said his measure, House Bill 1446, would be a wide-ranging anti-illegal immigrant law. It's intended to be the only anti-illegal immigration measure to be passed this year, said Faught, who is co-chairman of a special joint committee to develop immigration proposals.

“Instead of creating a whole bunch of bills out there, the intent is to just run one immigration bill,” he said.

Faught said his measure would not seek to deny citizenship to babies born to illegal immigrants.

HB 1446, which the committee passed 12-3, would allow police to question people about their immigration status and to confiscate property — including homes and vehicles — belonging to those in the country illegally.

The measure would not allow racial profiling, Faught said. Motorists would have to be stopped for committing traffic violations, he said.

Faught said his measure, which is still being developed, includes language from Arizona's anti-illegal immigrant law into Oklahoma's anti-immigrant measure, HB 1804, that was approved in 2007. Both laws have drawn legal challenges.

HB 1446 would give state and local law officers the authority to ask about the immigration status of occupants of vehicles that are pulled over for legal traffic stops.

It also would prohibit employers from stopping their vehicles in public roadways to hire illegal immigrants and then take them to worksites.

Faught said his bill also would prohibit undocumented students from qualifying for state-funded scholarships.

“We want to make sure that those benefits given to our citizens are there for our citizens and not for those who are here illegally,” he said.
. . .
http://newsok.com/article/3544759

********
********

4.
Deal in works on immigration legislation
By David Montero
The Salt Lake Tribune, February 28, 2011

Rep. Stephen Sandstrom has agreed to a deal with legislative leaders in which he will remove the words “reasonable suspicion” from his legislation to have local police check the legal residency of people arrested or pulled over. In exchange, he has assurances of the likely passage of his enforcement-only bill in the Senate, knowledgeable sources confirmed Monday.

Senate President Michael Waddoups said he requested a meeting with Sandstrom Friday to voice concerns about the bill’s links to Arizona’s SB1070 — the law signed by Gov. Jan Brewer that has made that state the face of tough, state-based immigration reform bills.

“We’re asking him to make it in the format he wants,” Waddoups said. “With all of the objectionable things taken out.”

That format could include requiring Sandstrom to request a new bill file be opened on the House floor, giving it a new name and a new title — and, the Senate hopes — a new image that distances the bill from Arizona’s law.

Sandstrom said at this point he didn’t know if he would rename and renumber the measure.

“I would say possibly,” Sandstrom said. “But right now, no.”

The deal was struck because the House wanted to pass an enforcement-only piece of legislation and the Senate wanted to pass a guest-worker bill. Sandstrom and his key allies in the House — Reps. Chris Herrod and Carl Wimmer — were sour on guest-worker programs, claiming Utah had no ability to get the waivers needed from the federal government to make it a reality.

But Sen. Curtis Bramble began working on a comprehensive immigration reform bill weeks ago that mainly culled concepts from Sandstrom’s enforcement-only bill and Rep. Bill Wright’s guest-worker bill. That bill, SB288 — dubbed the Utah Compact Immigration Bill — gathered steam and support from the Senate Republican caucus, Lt. Gov. Greg Bell and Gov. Gary Herbert.

The Senate also passed out of committee by a 3-2 vote a pilot program needing a federal waiver by Sen. Luz Robles, D-Salt Lake City. Both Bramble’s and Robles’ bills illustrated the difference in the Senate and House views on the immigration issue.

Waddoups said he expected two immigration bills to emerge out of the legislative session — though conceded there could be as many as five — including a new Sandstrom entry that would allow Utah to issue H2 work permits through the federal government as a part of a pilot program bringing workers from Mexico to the United States for businesses that can’t find U.S. citizens to fill the jobs.

Bramble said he is the Senate sponsor on that bill.

The current pieces in place allow for the Legislature to move on the issue of immigration — though it’s unclear how the new deal will be received.
. . .
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51334401-76/arizona-bill-bramble-deal....

********
********

5.
ICE official accused of stealing gov't money
The Associated Press, February 28, 2011

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official has been charged with misusing his diplomatic passport and filing bogus travel expense reports to embezzle government funds.

A Monday statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in El Paso said 63-year-old Ahmed Adil Abdallat used his diplomatic passport for personal travel to Jordan and collected about $123,000 in travel expense reimbursements using fabricated receipts for lodging and car rentals.
. . .
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7450437.html