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1. Obama holds talks in Mexico
2. Admin not concerned about debate
3. Official hints at Haitian reprieve
4. Day labor center divides community
5. NC firm to release report

1.
Obama talks guns, immigration in Mexico
He vows to support a regional treaty to curb gun trafficking as well as greater cooperation on clean energy.
By Howard LaFranchi
The Christian Science Monitor, April 16, 2009

Mexico City -- President Obama struck a realistic tone in his first-ever visit to Mexico, pledging cooperation on key issues such as drug violence and immigration, but warning that nothing he or his Mexican counterpart could do would solve the problems completely.

In what has been scaled back to a less-than-24-hour visit, Mr. Obama also announced a few initiatives. He said he would push the United States Senate to ratify a treaty aimed at regulating the trafficking of certain types of guns in the Americas – a measure that was signed by President Clinton in 1997 but never ratified. In addition, he said that the US and Mexico, in tandem with other countries in the hemisphere, will pursue a clean-energy partnership.

The president sought to stress that the two countries were not linked solely by the challenges they share. “Our relationship is not defined only by these problems,” he said in an afternoon press conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderón. “It is also defined by our opportunities.”

During the press conference, Mr. Obama directly addressed controversial issues such as immigration and the violence sparked by drug wars here. In previsit interviews, Mr. Calderón told US media that he would ask for a reinstatement of the lapsed assault-weapons ban. Obama acknowledged that as a candidate he supported reinstating the ban that lapsed in 2004, but that it would be wiser turn to more realistic pursuits, like better enforcement of existing laws.

“I haven’t changed my opinion. [The ban] would make sense, I continue believing that,” he said. “[But] none of us is under the illusion that reinstating the ban would be easy.”

The goal, both Obama and Calderón emphasized, is not a utopian elimination of drugs and related violence, but a reduction to a more manageable level.

“Are we going to eliminate all drug flows? Are we going to eliminate all guns over the border? That’s not a not realistic objective,” Obama said. “What is a realistic objective is to reduce it so significantly – so drastically that it becomes once again a localized criminal problem as opposed to a major structural problem.”
. . .
On Immigration, Obama reiterated his determination to pass reform legislation this year. But he also said the US has “a legitimate concern” over the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who arrive from dozens of countries every year “without anyone knowing who they are.”

Part of his goal, he said, is to provide those people with a path to legal status: “They need to come out of the shadows.”

Calderón said that the only way to stop the migration “is to provide opportunities for our citizens” in Mexico. In the meantime, he added, the only option is to proceed with the kind of fair and just immigration reform Obama said he will seek this year.
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http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/04/16/obama-talks-guns-immig...

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2.
Gibbs: Bipartisan immigration reform
By Carol E. Lee
The Politico (Washington, DC), April 16, 2009

The White House is not concerned that taking up such a divisive issue as immigration will be counterproductive to President Obama's signature goal of uniting the country, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday. But he added that the Obama administration also doesn't see immigration reform passing Congress until there is "a healthy bipartisan majority" supporting it — something that seems unlikely to happen soon.

"We know this is not an easy issue - I think the president also understands that a number of the issues that he deals with in some way, shape or form are divisive," Gibbs told reporters Thursday night. "But that doesn't alleviate our obligations to deal with them."
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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21346.html

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3.
South Florida Haitian advocates hopeful after Clinton comments on deportations
Secretary of State: Haitian deportation policy under review
By Luis F. Perez
The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), April 16, 2009

Fort Lauderdale -- Cautious optimism spread through the Haitian community Thursday after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Obama administration may grant a reprieve to undocumented Haitians in the country.

"If they decide to something, I'm not going to say it's a day of deliverance, but it's something we have been looking for for a long time," said Jean Delva, a Boynton Beach Haitian who is fighting deportation.

In an interview with the Miami Herald, Clinton said the United States would continue to intercept Haitians trying to reach Florida by boat, but it's reviewing the policy of deporting those already here. The money they send back to Haiti helps support the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, she said.

Clinton never mentioned temporary protected status, which would give undocumented Haitians already here permission to stay and work. But advocates took Clinton's remarks as a signal of a policy shift to grant the status, which was denied by former President George W. Bush.

"I'm very encouraged that they're still considering this after three months of silence," said Randy McGrorty, executive director Catholic Charities Legal Service in Miami. "We were very concerned that they weren't going to do anything. This is the first public positive sign that we've had that they're going to do something."

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for reduced immigration levels, said he wouldn't oppose protected status if the government set deadlines to decide whether to send the protected immigrants home or to make them permanent residents.

"In almost every case, the appropriate step would be to send them back," he said.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/caribbean/sfl-haitian-tps-041609,...

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4.
Conservative project against illegal immigration targets Mountain View day-laborer center
By Jessie Mangaliman
The San JoseMercury News, April 16, 2009

Some residents of Mountain View are challenging the planned move of a day-laborer center to their neighborhood and have enlisted the help of Judicial Watch, a conservative national group that wages legal battles against similar centers around the country where immigrants seek low-wage handyman work.

The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, which has a project called "Sanctuary Busters," has sued cities around the country, claiming that day-laborer centers violate federal immigration law at taxpayer expense by hiring illegal immigrants.

"We're researching the facts in Mountain View," said Christopher J. Farrell, director of research for the group. "Litigation is certainly one of the options we're considering."

Wednesday night, Farrell led a meeting with several dozen residents, "a public education effort," he said, about the work that Judicial Watch has done on illegal immigration enforcement. It has filed lawsuits in Herndon, Va., and Laguna Beach, arguing that taxpayer money was being used to pay for the operation of day-worker centers in those cities.

Chris Newman, the legal director of a national group of day-laborer centers, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, dismissed the lawsuits as "baseless."

"They're meant to generate anti-immigrant sentiments," he said "These maneuvers are designed to gin up controversy and intimidate people."

The threat of a lawsuit is the latest setback to the Dayworker Center of Mountain View, a group founded in 1996 to help immigrants find hourly jobs like gardening and temporary construction with employers, many of them homeowners. During the height of the construction boom in the Bay Area, as many as a 100 workers a day found jobs from the center. It relies mostly on private donations but has received funding from Los Altos and Los Altos Hills.

But controversy about the hiring of illegal immigrants, and resident complaints of loitering, traffic and congestion, and lowered property values, has dogged the center. It moved from a church location late in 2007 to a downtown building owned by the Trinity United Methodist Church.
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http://www.mercurynews.com/valley/ci_12158842

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5.
Report due on immigrant college admittance
The TWEAN News (Raleigh), April 17, 2009

Raleigh -- A consulting firm hired to study the issue of admitting illegal immigrants to state community colleges will deliver its findings to the state board on Friday.

The report says colleges can do one of three things: charge illegal immigrants out-of-state tuition, charge them in-state fees or keep them from enrolling – which is the current policy.

The report estimates the system could take in about $1,700 a student if illegal immigrants paid out-of-state tuition. It suggests that in-state tuition could cost taxpayers, but create a better-trained workforce.

A survey done in February by Public Policy Polling found that 59 percent of North Carolina residents support banning illegal immigrants from community colleges.
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http://www.news14.com/content/local_news/triangle/607936/report-due-on-i...