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1. Sen Graham: step up on amnesty
2. White Americans to be a minority
3. Weakness in tracking students
4. Poll: illegals burden budgets
5. First AZ sanctions bust

1.

Graham to Obama: Time to 'step it up'
By Glenn Thrush
The Politico (Washington, DC), March 10, 2010

President Barack Obama is summoning two key senators to the Oval Office on Thursday for an update on immigration reform efforts — but one of them, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), thinks Obama should be the one giving the update.

Graham, less than thrilled at the notion of providing the equivalent of a book report to the headmaster in chief, said Obama’s lack of direction on immigration reform is hampering Graham’s efforts to recruit additional Republicans to the cause.

“At the end of the day, the president needs to step it up a little bit,” Graham told POLITICO on Tuesday. “One line in the State of the Union is not going to do it.”

For the past six months, Graham and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) — who meet with Obama at 3 p.m. Thursday — have worked on a reform framework. Their plan, which hasn’t been introduced yet, includes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants (a liberal must-have) while sweetening the pot for moderates by proposing tough new safeguards, including a biometric national ID card for workers.

To the frustration of many reform advocates, Obama has kept his opinions of the possible deal vague, giving a head nod to reform in his State of the Union speech but not much more.

Obama spokesman Nick Shapiro offered no response to Graham’s challenge but reiterated the administration’s intention to allow Congress to hash things out before Obama weighs in, an approach reminiscent of his health reform strategy.

“The president’s commitment to fixing our broken system remains unwavering,” Shapiro said. “Earlier, the president told members of both parties that if they can fashion a plan to deal with these problems, he is eager to work with them to get it done, and he has assigned [Homeland Security] Secretary [Janet] Napolitano to work with stakeholders on that effort.”

Shapiro went on to reiterate Obama’s core principles — not prescriptions — including resolving “the status of 12 million people who are here illegally.” He punted when asked about the controversial ID system, which has the backing of some immigrant groups while sparking fierce opposition from civil libertarians.

“There are a number of options on the table, but we are clear that we need to build on and improve the existing verification system if we are going to get control of the job market for undocumented workers,” he said.

Napolitano, who has held dozens of meetings on the topic with House members and senators, was supposed to attend a previously scheduled Graham-Schumer meeting Monday, which had to be postponed when Graham’s flight from South Carolina was delayed. She’ll be overseas during Thursday’s meeting, an administration official said.
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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34162.html

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2.

Minority Births on Track to Outnumber White Births
The Associated Press, March 10, 2010

Washington, DC (AP) -- Minorities make up nearly half the children born in the U.S., part of a historic trend in which minorities are expected to become the U.S. majority over the next 40 years.

In fact, demographers say this year could be the ''tipping point'' when the number of babies born to minorities outnumbers that of babies born to whites.

The numbers are growing because immigration to the U.S. has boosted the number of Hispanic women in their prime childbearing years. Minorities made up 48 percent of U.S. children born in 2008, the latest census estimates available, compared to 37 percent in 1990.

''Census projections suggest America may become a minority-majority country by the middle of the century. For America's children, the future is now,'' said Kenneth Johnson, a sociology professor at the University of New Hampshire who researched many of the racial trends in a paper being released Wednesday.

Johnson explained there are now more Hispanic women of prime childbearing age who tend to have more children than women of other races. More white women are waiting until they are older to have children, but it is not yet known whether that will have a noticeable effect on the current trend of increasing minority newborns.

The numbers highlight the nation's growing racial and age divide, seen in pockets of communities across the U.S., which could heighten tensions in current policy debates from immigration reform and education to health care and Social Security.

There are also strong implications for the 2010 population count, which begins in earnest next week, when more than 120 million U.S. households receive their census forms in the mail. The Census Bureau is running public service announcements this week to improve its tally of young children, particularly minorities, who are most often missed in the once-a-decade head count. The campaign features Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer, the English- and Spanish-speaking Nickelodeon cartoon character who helps ''mommy fill out our census form.''

The population figures are used to distribute federal aid and redraw legislative boundaries with racial and ethnic balance, as required by federal law.
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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/10/us/politics/AP-US-White-Minor...

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3.

Calif. test-taking case shows gap in visa security
By Gillian Flaccus
The Associated Press, March 10, 2010

Santa Ana, CA (AP) -- A ring accused of helping people from the Middle East obtain student visas by taking their proficiency exams and classes has exposed vulnerability in the nation's security tracking system for foreigners who attend U.S. schools, experts said Tuesday.

The bust unsettled immigration authorities and federal lawmakers who implemented the sophisticated Foreign Student and Exchange Visitor Information System after learning one of the Sept. 11 hijackers had entered the U.S. on a student visa.

Immigration officials have broken up similar fraud rings in recent months in Miami, Orange County, Calif., Atlanta and the Los Angeles area. Many involved Korean students.

The scrutiny of foreign students once they arrive on a U.S. campus is a "serious chink in the armor" of the system, said Janice Kephart, former counsel to the 9/11 Commission and the national security policy director at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies.

"Vulnerability with universities remains a top issue," she said. "It's a clean way to come into the U.S."

Federal prosecutors charged a California man Monday with operating a ring of illegal test-takers who helped dozens of Middle Eastern nationals fraudulently obtain and keep U.S. student visas in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars.

Authorities allege Eamonn Higgins, 46, and about a dozen associates helped the students stay current on their immigration paperwork by attending classes in their name, writing term papers and taking finals with guaranteed grades of 'B' or above.

The case also alarmed Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis, a Florida Republican who became interested in the student visa tracking system after a 2007 case at the University of South Florida.

Bilirakis, a ranking member the House homeland security oversight and investigations subcommittee, is sponsoring a bill that would require in-person interviews of foreign students every 30 days during the school year and every 60 days during nonacademic periods.

"Obviously this process that we set up is not working and we have to find a better way," he said. "They have to be here for the right reasons, going to school, otherwise they should be deported."
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jNv0Bl6SeX5PFdAd2VYxcD...

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4.

Illegal aliens - strain on U.S. budget
By Chad Groening
One News Now, March 10, 2010

An immigration reform organization says a new survey reveals that two-thirds of the American people believe illegal immigrants are a major strain on the U.S. budget.

The recent survey from Rasmussen Reports reveals that the federal budget and deficit is shaping up to be a major factor for this year's mid-term elections. In addition, says the survey, voter attitudes opposing illegal immigration and lax enforcement standards are one of the driving forces behind the budget issue, as about 66 percent of voters feel the availability of government money and services draws illegal immigrants to the United States.

Ira MehlmanIra Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), believes the survey reveals that the American public is quite adept at recognizing the obvious.

"The American public is aware of the fact that illegal immigration does not provide cheap labor, it provides subsidized labor -- and that more often than not it is they, the American public, who are doing the subsidizing," he explains.
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http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=929634

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5.

Feds' inquiry led to sanctions related closure
By JJ Hensley
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), March 10, 2010

After all local law enforcement's work-site raids and news conferences, it was police work from federal immigration agents that forced the first Arizona business to close for violating the state's employer-sanctions law.

Danny's Subway, a sandwich shop at 1950 W. Indian School Road in Phoenix, will close for two days this year- Easter and Thanksgiving - under the terms of an agreement in which company President Dan Rose conceded that the business knowingly hired an illegal worker.

News of the agreement comes more than two years after the Legal Arizona Workers Act went into effect, and marks the first time that a business will experience the law's punitive side, which authorizes prosecutors to take a business license for up to 10 days on a first offense.

A second offense brings the possibility of permanent revocation of the business' license.

A spokesman for County Attorney Andrew Thomas said the two-day closure was part of the agreement filed Tuesday. Holidays were chosen because the sandwich shop has opened on Easter and Thanksgiving in prior years, but the franchise agreement authorizes the business to close on those holidays if the operator desires.

Closing the shop on unauthorized days could jeopardize the franchise agreement and risk permanent closure, which goes against the intent of the law on the first offense, said Michael Scerbo, a spokesman for the county attorney.

The business will be on three years' probation and is required to submit quarterly reports to the County Attorney's Office to ensure compliance with the law.

Though Thomas and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio have become the most strident enforcers of the employer-sanctions law - Arpaio's deputies have conducted 30 work-site raids and the two officials have appeared together at numerous news conferences to tout their efforts - their investigations have not led to the closure of an existing business.

Last year, operators of a Phoenix water park were found to have violated the law, but Waterworld was already out of business and its 10-day business- license suspension won't take effect unless the business reopens.

A complaint against a custom-cabinet and -furniture business, Scottsdale Art Factory, was filed in November and continues to make its way through court.

The case against Danny's Subway began taking shape in July 2008 when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents told the shop's operators that Fidel Vargas-Salgado was not authorized to work in the United States.
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http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/03/10/20100...