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1. Obama urges action on amnesty
2. Group urges boycott of Census
3. Recession changes debate
4. Law student helps asylum seeker
5. Murderer faces deportation

1.
Obama urges Congress not to put off immigration reform
But lawmakers are in no rush to tackle a controversial issue that has broad economic and social implications.
By Gail Russell Chaddock
The Christian Science Monitor, June 25, 2009

Washington, DC -- President Obama Thursday called for some “heavy lifting” on immigration reform on Capitol Hill, but there’s no move there to rush into it.

With energy, healthcare, and financial regulation on a fast track, there’s little running room for an issue that has baffled lawmakers for the past three years. But for president and a critical mass of interest groups heavily invested in comprehensive reform, even a symbolic stake in the ground is a start.

“The consensus is that despite our inability to get this passed over the last several years, the American people still want to see a solution,” Mr. Obama said after a bipartisan meeting with House and Senate members.

“We’ve got a responsible set of leaders sitting around the table who want to actively get something done and not put it off until a year, two years, three years, five years from now, but to start working on this thing now,” he said.

Pressed on the issue at a briefing today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that “the plan has always been for the Senate to go first.”

The Senate passed immigration reform in 2006, but efforts bogged down in 2007 and 2008. House Democrats, who all face voters every two years, want to be assured that a plan can pass the Senate, before taking what is for many a tough vote.

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said at a Monitor Breakfast Thursday that one of the reasons the president called a meeting with lawmakers is to keep a focus on the issue because there isn’t yet a majority to pass comprehensive legislation.

“The Congressional Hispanic Caucus and immigration groups have all asked for a meeting because the votes aren’t there,” he said. “If the votes were there, you wouldn’t need to have the meeting, you’d go to a roll call.”

“If it doesn’t happen in the next two months, I don’t think that that means that it doesn’t happen between now and 2010,” he added.
. . .
“The White House meeting today is intended as political theater – a bone being thrown to the pro-amnesty groups to demonstrate the White House’s commitment to amnesty, even though they don’t have the votes to pass it,” says Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which promotes stricter controls on immigration.
. . .
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/06/25/obama-urges-congress-n...

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2.
Group causes controversy by urging undocumented immigrants to boycott U.S. Census
By Alejandro Cano
The Fontana Herald News (CA), June 25, 2009

The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders is urging undocumented immigrants to boycott the 2010 U.S. Census, alleging that the statistical value of millions of invisible residents will move legislators toward comprehensive immigration reform.

The call to boycott came last month but was reiterated last week after President Barack Obama released a long-awaited speech about immigration, which leaders of CONLAMIC thought had some positive points but did not go far enough.

The coalition, directed by Rev. Miguel Rivera, said that after thousands of deportations, Congress has the moral obligation to adopt an immigration reform policy that offers a path to legalization to about 12 million undocumented people.

The coalition urges Obama to stop deportations, and the group’s ultimate goal is to have immigration reform adopted by March 31, 2010, and that is only possible through the boycott, the coalition said.

However, Jose Calderon, professor at Pitzer College and a local civic leader, said that boycotting the census will have a negative impact on communities in the long run since it is via this method that government allocates money to local municipalities.

“We all need to be counted; it does not matter if we are legal or illegal, we all live in this country and have to participate in next year’s census,” said Calderon. “Speaking of moral obligations, it is our obligation as residents to be counted.”

Calderon said that the call to boycott is an extreme act of desperation that creates division and confusion among the Latino population.

“It is through the census that new voting districts are developed, and in San Bernardino County there is a big probability that this will happen in the near future with population growth. If we boycott the census, we might be boycotting our political representation,” said Calderon.
. . .
http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2009/06/25/news/doc4a4415bf120...

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3.
Economic Scene: How recession has changed the immigration debate
Politics, economics, demographics all come into play.
By David R. Francis
The Christian Science Monitor, June 25, 2009

The deep US recession has had one effect that polls say would please most Americans: Illegal immigration is falling.

More illegal immigrants are leaving. Fewer people are sneaking in – perhaps 200,000 a year instead of 500,000 in recent years, estimates Steven Camarota, an economist at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington. Thus, America’s illegal population has fallen from about 12 million in February 2007 to almost 11 million this February, he calculates.

So when immigration becomes a hot topic again – as it will, inevitably – will the recession have shifted the terms of the debate?

In some ways, yes. The US slump proves that immigration is sensitive to economic conditions. It also weakens the argument of pro-immigration forces that there are some jobs Americans won’t do. Mr. Camarota finds that claim “absurd on its face.”

He points to a newly available sampling of 4.7 million workers in 465 occupations, a massive survey that asks respondents whether they were born in the US. The US-born already hold a clear majority of jobs people often regard as being left to immigrants, such as housekeeping and grounds-maintenance workers. Only in picking fresh produce do immigrants hold a small majority.

Of course, economics is just one component of the immigration debate. Politics plays a huge role.
. . .
http://features.csmonitor.com/economyrebuild/2009/06/25/economic-scene-h...

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4.
Helping immigrants find Asylum
TU law students offer assistance
By Shannon Muchmore
The Tulsa World (OK), June 26, 2009

Having been physically assaulted and nearly blinded, Joel Lobo fled his home country of India in 2006. He got a job on a cruise ship and followed more job leads until he found himself stranded at a Kansas airport with $300 in his pocket.

Promised more work, Lobo made his way to Oklahoma, getting $2 or $3 an hour for odd jobs at restaurants.

He lost his home and his family, but in the United States, he is free to practice his religion as he chooses.

And now, thanks to the help of a University of Tulsa legal student and the immigrant law clinic where she works, Lobo has been granted asylum and is working to rebuild his life.

"When I decided to come to America, that was the right decision," he said recently. "The people are amazing."

Michalah Davis, who is going into her third year at the TU law school, helped Lobo, including traveling to Houston with him for his asylum hearing.

"It's definitely the best experience I've had in law school and probably life," Davis said.

The Boesche Legal Clinic at TU became an immigrant clinic in 2006. About 10 law students work each semester, with some staying on longer.

Last year, a grant from the George Kaiser Family Foundation created the Tulsa Immigration Resource Network, which, in addition to taking on clients, has a broader goal of offering education and social services to Tulsa's immigrant community, and promoting their rights and well-being.

Rebekah Guthrie, a recent TU law school graduate who now is a legal fellow for the resource network, said she's seen some horrifying cases and helped people get through traumatic experiences.

She has worked with victims of physical assault and domestic abuse and even young children who have been victims of incest.

Immigrants often are targeted because criminals assume that the victims will be too afraid of deportation to report the crimes.

Knowing that people are receiving the help they need, even if they aren't able to pay for it, keeps Guthrie going in her work, she said.
. . .
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090...

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5.
No prison, but deportation ahead for man convicted in 1979 Dorchester slaying
By Matt Collette
The Boston Globe, June 25, 2009

A Suffolk Superior Court judge today sentenced a man who shot another man to death in Dorchester 30 years ago to the years he had already served in jail, but the man will now be turned over to immigration officials, who plan to deport him to his native Jamaica.
. . .
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/06/after_30_years_1....

Please visit our YouTube and Facebook pages.

1. Obama urges action on amnesty
2. Group urges boycott of Census
3. Recession changes debate
4. Law student helps asylum seeker
5. Murderer faces deportation

1.
Obama urges Congress not to put off immigration reform
But lawmakers are in no rush to tackle a controversial issue that has broad economic and social implications.
By Gail Russell Chaddock
The Christian Science Monitor, June 25, 2009

Washington, DC -- President Obama Thursday called for some “heavy lifting” on immigration reform on Capitol Hill, but there’s no move there to rush into it.

With energy, healthcare, and financial regulation on a fast track, there’s little running room for an issue that has baffled lawmakers for the past three years. But for president and a critical mass of interest groups heavily invested in comprehensive reform, even a symbolic stake in the ground is a start.

“The consensus is that despite our inability to get this passed over the last several years, the American people still want to see a solution,” Mr. Obama said after a bipartisan meeting with House and Senate members.

“We’ve got a responsible set of leaders sitting around the table who want to actively get something done and not put it off until a year, two years, three years, five years from now, but to start working on this thing now,” he said.

Pressed on the issue at a briefing today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that “the plan has always been for the Senate to go first.”

The Senate passed immigration reform in 2006, but efforts bogged down in 2007 and 2008. House Democrats, who all face voters every two years, want to be assured that a plan can pass the Senate, before taking what is for many a tough vote.

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said at a Monitor Breakfast Thursday that one of the reasons the president called a meeting with lawmakers is to keep a focus on the issue because there isn’t yet a majority to pass comprehensive legislation.

“The Congressional Hispanic Caucus and immigration groups have all asked for a meeting because the votes aren’t there,” he said. “If the votes were there, you wouldn’t need to have the meeting, you’d go to a roll call.”

“If it doesn’t happen in the next two months, I don’t think that that means that it doesn’t happen between now and 2010,” he added.
. . .
“The White House meeting today is intended as political theater – a bone being thrown to the pro-amnesty groups to demonstrate the White House’s commitment to amnesty, even though they don’t have the votes to pass it,” says Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which promotes stricter controls on immigration.
. . .
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/06/25/obama-urges-congress-n...

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

2.
Group causes controversy by urging undocumented immigrants to boycott U.S. Census
By Alejandro Cano
The Fontana Herald News (CA), June 25, 2009

The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders is urging undocumented immigrants to boycott the 2010 U.S. Census, alleging that the statistical value of millions of invisible residents will move legislators toward comprehensive immigration reform.

The call to boycott came last month but was reiterated last week after President Barack Obama released a long-awaited speech about immigration, which leaders of CONLAMIC thought had some positive points but did not go far enough.

The coalition, directed by Rev. Miguel Rivera, said that after thousands of deportations, Congress has the moral obligation to adopt an immigration reform policy that offers a path to legalization to about 12 million undocumented people.

The coalition urges Obama to stop deportations, and the group’s ultimate goal is to have immigration reform adopted by March 31, 2010, and that is only possible through the boycott, the coalition said.

However, Jose Calderon, professor at Pitzer College and a local civic leader, said that boycotting the census will have a negative impact on communities in the long run since it is via this method that government allocates money to local municipalities.

“We all need to be counted; it does not matter if we are legal or illegal, we all live in this country and have to participate in next year’s census,” said Calderon. “Speaking of moral obligations, it is our obligation as residents to be counted.”

Calderon said that the call to boycott is an extreme act of desperation that creates division and confusion among the Latino population.

“It is through the census that new voting districts are developed, and in San Bernardino County there is a big probability that this will happen in the near future with population growth. If we boycott the census, we might be boycotting our political representation,” said Calderon.
. . .
http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2009/06/25/news/doc4a4415bf120...

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

3.
Economic Scene: How recession has changed the immigration debate
Politics, economics, demographics all come into play.
By David R. Francis
The Christian Science Monitor, June 25, 2009

The deep US recession has had one effect that polls say would please most Americans: Illegal immigration is falling.

More illegal immigrants are leaving. Fewer people are sneaking in – perhaps 200,000 a year instead of 500,000 in recent years, estimates Steven Camarota, an economist at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington. Thus, America’s illegal population has fallen from about 12 million in February 2007 to almost 11 million this February, he calculates.

So when immigration becomes a hot topic again – as it will, inevitably – will the recession have shifted the terms of the debate?

In some ways, yes. The US slump proves that immigration is sensitive to economic conditions. It also weakens the argument of pro-immigration forces that there are some jobs Americans won’t do. Mr. Camarota finds that claim “absurd on its face.”

He points to a newly available sampling of 4.7 million workers in 465 occupations, a massive survey that asks respondents whether they were born in the US. The US-born already hold a clear majority of jobs people often regard as being left to immigrants, such as housekeeping and grounds-maintenance workers. Only in picking fresh produce do immigrants hold a small majority.

Of course, economics is just one component of the immigration debate. Politics plays a huge role.
. . .
http://features.csmonitor.com/economyrebuild/2009/06/25/economic-scene-h...

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

4.
Helping immigrants find Asylum
TU law students offer assistance
By Shannon Muchmore
The Tulsa World (OK), June 26, 2009

Having been physically assaulted and nearly blinded, Joel Lobo fled his home country of India in 2006. He got a job on a cruise ship and followed more job leads until he found himself stranded at a Kansas airport with $300 in his pocket.

Promised more work, Lobo made his way to Oklahoma, getting $2 or $3 an hour for odd jobs at restaurants.

He lost his home and his family, but in the United States, he is free to practice his religion as he chooses.

And now, thanks to the help of a University of Tulsa legal student and the immigrant law clinic where she works, Lobo has been granted asylum and is working to rebuild his life.

"When I decided to come to America, that was the right decision," he said recently. "The people are amazing."

Michalah Davis, who is going into her third year at the TU law school, helped Lobo, including traveling to Houston with him for his asylum hearing.

"It's definitely the best experience I've had in law school and probably life," Davis said.

The Boesche Legal Clinic at TU became an immigrant clinic in 2006. About 10 law students work each semester, with some staying on longer.

Last year, a grant from the George Kaiser Family Foundation created the Tulsa Immigration Resource Network, which, in addition to taking on clients, has a broader goal of offering education and social services to Tulsa's immigrant community, and promoting their rights and well-being.

Rebekah Guthrie, a recent TU law school graduate who now is a legal fellow for the resource network, said she's seen some horrifying cases and helped people get through traumatic experiences.

She has worked with victims of physical assault and domestic abuse and even young children who have been victims of incest.

Immigrants often are targeted because criminals assume that the victims will be too afraid of deportation to report the crimes.

Knowing that people are receiving the help they need, even if they aren't able to pay for it, keeps Guthrie going in her work, she said.
. . .
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090...

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

5.
No prison, but deportation ahead for man convicted in 1979 Dorchester slaying
By Matt Collette
The Boston Globe, June 25, 2009

A Suffolk Superior Court judge today sentenced a man who shot another man to death in Dorchester 30 years ago to the years he had already served in jail, but the man will now be turned over to immigration officials, who plan to deport him to his native Jamaica.
. . .
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/06/after_30_years_1....