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1. NC Rep. re-introduces SAVE Act
2. Illegals add to uninsured
3. Report finds arrivals down
4. Police chiefs call for 'reform'
5. NC DMV to re-hire whistleblower

1.
Shuler re-enters immigration debate with get-tough bill
By Bill Theobald
The Gannett News Service, July 23, 2009

Washington, DC -- Rep. Heath Shuler will again thrust himself into the contentious immigration debate today by introducing legislation to toughen enforcement.

The Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act mirrors in many ways the bill he introduced in the previous Congress that attracted significant bipartisan support.

The Waynesville Democrat's bill would:

# Require employers to use the federal government's E-Verify database to make sure they're hiring legal workers.

# Increase the number of Border Patrol agents by 6,000.

# Create a pilot program to increase aerial surveillance and use other new technology to secure the border.

# Hire more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and create grants for some local law enforcement officials.

# Expedite removal of illegal immigrants by expanding detention capacity and adding immigration judges.

Shuler is scheduled to formally announce the bill at a Capitol Hill news conference that will include Sen. David Vitter, R-La.

Observers don't expect an immigration bill to pass this year because health care reform, climate change and other major issues are crowding the congressional agenda.

“Congressman Shuler thinks this is an important issue that should not be let go,” Doug Abrahms, Shuler's spokesman, said of the timing. “Immigration remains a top concern of most North Carolinians.”

Abrahms said immigration enforcement is an economic issue because keeping illegal immigrants from being hired would create job opportunities for citizens. About 100,000 employers use the E-Verify system voluntarily, he said.
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http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090723/NEWS01/...

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2.
One-third of 46 million uninsured could be illegal immigrants and citizen children
By Mike Sunnucks
The Phoenix Business Journal, July 22, 2009

Illegal immigrants and their children, many of whom were born in the U.S. and are citizens, could make up a sizeable chunk of the often-cited 46 million people without health insurance in the U.S.

The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that as many as 15 million of the uninsured in the U.S. are undocumented immigrants and their children.

The 46 million figure has been quoted by President Barack Obama and others in the debate over health care reform. The figure comes from U.S. Census Bureau estimates that takes account illegal immigrants and other non-U.S. citizens living in the U.S.
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http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/07/20/daily34.html

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3.
Recession, enforcement put damper on immigration from Mexico
By Dianne Solis
The Dallas Morning News, July 23, 2009

The U.S. recession doesn't appear to be driving many Mexicans back home, but the number of new arrivals is down by at least 40 percent, the Pew Hispanic Center reported in a study released Wednesday.

The report estimates that net migration between Mexico and the U.S. – the number of people coming to the U.S. minus those returning to Mexico – was about 203,000 for the 12 months ending February 2009. The number was 547,000 two years earlier.

The steep drop comes amid a crackdown on illegal immigration and a global recession.

"Immigrants come because they want to work," explained Jeffrey Passel, co-author of the Pew report. "You can put on top of that the increased enforcement in the last seven or eight years, which has driven up the costs of hiring a smuggler."

Nationally, the decrease in immigration traffic – either south or north – means that the Mexican foreign-born population remains at an estimated 11.5 million in early 2009, Passel said. That's down slightly from 2008, when Pew, a nonpartisan research center, estimated there were 11.6 million Mexicans in the U.S.

The Pew study differs with another study by the Center for Immigration Studies, which also looked at U.S. Census data. That research center, which favors restricted immigration, said a year ago that about a million Mexicans have returned home because of enforcement and the economy.

In North Texas, the recession's effects on California may mean more Mexicans are coming to Texas, said Enrique Hubbard, the Mexican consul in North Texas. The jobless rate in California was 11.6 percent – more than four percentage points higher than in Texas.
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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-im...

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4.
U.S. police brass urge immigration reform in Phoenix
By Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), July 23, 2009

Some of the nation's top police officers on Wednesday called upon Congress to promptly adopt an immigration-reform measure, saying local law-enforcement agencies across America are struggling to deal with crime and confusion caused by a broken system.

About 100 police chiefs and administrators from across the U.S. joined Department of Homeland Security officials in Phoenix for the National Summit on Local Immigration Policies, sponsored by the non-profit Police Executive Research Forum.

During closed discussions, participants agreed that the U.S. needs a comprehensive new law containing guest-worker programs, a means for immigrants to become permanent residents, and federal enforcement of the prohibition against hiring illegal immigrants, according to Chuck Wexler, the forum's executive director.

Dennis Burke, senior adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, attended the daylong symposium and agreed with the police chiefs.

"Congress needs to work quickly," Burke said. "Delay is not painless. Secretary Napolitano has said the situation the country is in is not defensible."

The meeting at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Spa focused on the struggles of police chiefs and county sheriffs trying to cope with unlawful immigration and related crime. The municipal law officers said Department of Homeland Security enforcement efforts have been inconsistent and unreliable for years, leaving communities to adopt helter-skelter policies that polarize the public.

"It's starting to tear my town apart," said Steven Carl, a police chief in Framington, Mass. "Especially with the economy going south. You see a hatred toward the immigrant population."

Larry Boyd, a chief in Irving, Texas, said he has been "beaten over the head" by conservative groups for not going after undocumented immigrants and by Latino groups for enforcing immigration laws.
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http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2009/07/23/20090...

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5.
DMV must rehire whistleblower
Worker had complained about immigrant policy
By Kristin Collins
The News and Observer (Raleigh), July 22, 2009

Raleigh -- The state must rehire a Division of Motor Vehicles examiner who was fired after complaining that illegal immigrants might be getting licenses in violation of state law, a Wake County judge ruled Tuesday.

Jeffrey M. Brown, who issued driver licenses in a New Bern DMV office from July 2006 to April 2007, will get about $70,000 in back pay and the right to return to his job after winning a civil lawsuit against the state. Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning said Brown was entitled to protection under the state Whistleblower Act.

Brown, of Trenton, sued the state in September 2007. At that time, the DMV's policy allowed some immigrants with temporary work visas to renew licenses for 4 or 8 years. That meant that their legal status in the country might expire before their licenses did, and it conflicted with a state law that said licenses should expire at the same time as visas. The problem did not affect new licenses, because they required more documentation.

State law has since tightened further, and the DMV has changed its policy to ensure that immigrant licenses expire at the same time as their legal visas. Illegal immigrants no longer have any avenue to get licenses in North Carolina.

"I was being forced to give licenses to illegals," Brown said after the ruling. His supervisors "specifically told me, 'Keep your mouth shut and keep issuing these licenses.'"

DMV officials testified that they were doing their best to comply with a law that, at the time, was in flux. They said their policy was to treat equally all those who presented a Social Security card, whether temporary or permanent.

"We could not discriminate," said Dolphus Marshburn, Brown's supervisor.

But they said Brown's firing had nothing to do with his complaints about DMV policy. They said Brown was a problem employee with negative attitudes about immigrants.

In his notice of termination, DMV supervisors cited three incidents that led to his firing. In one, he became angry when he didn't get requested vacation time. The other two involved immigrants.
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http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1616519.html