1. Sen. Schumer wants immigration bill
2. Iraqi refugees rechecked for terror ties
3. Mexican parents testify via Internet
4. MI Gov. wants more immigration
5. Religious orgs debate AL law
6. Day workers plan documentary

1.
Sen. Chuck Schumer tries reviving immigration bill
By Carrie Budoff Brown
Politico (DC), July 18, 2011

Sen. Chuck Schumer is attempting to revive moribund efforts to pass a comprehensive immigration bill, telling POLITICO Monday that he will hold a hearing next week focused on the economic argument for an immigration overhaul.

It’s a subtle shift in emphasis for immigration reform advocates, who met recently with Schumer (D-N.Y.) to plot a strategy.

“We decided we ought to start highlighting the fact that immigration creates jobs rather than takes them away,” Schumer, the No. 3 Senate leader, said in an interview. “Everyone agreed that is how we are going to start talking about immigration, as a job creator.”

The change in emphasis capitalizes on an all-consuming focus in Washington on the economy. President Barack Obama spent several weeks in the spring pushing for immigration reform, including a speech that highlighted the economic benefits, but the issue has been overshadowed by budget negotiations and stalled by a Republican-controlled House.

The dismal job reports have also soured efforts to pass a bill that would allow the country’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants to earn citizenship. The Center for Immigration Studies, which favors stricter immigration rules, released a report last month pointing to the rising unemployment rate as an argument for a further crackdown on illegal immigration.

But Schumer, chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s immigration subcommittee, said the July 26 hearing will argue the economic upside to immigration. Schumer is calling in business leaders to talk about the need for more highly skilled workers and mayors whose local economies have benefited from an influx of lower-skilled immigrants.

The witnesses includes NASDAQ chief Robert Greifield, Cornell University President David Skorton, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith, Amgen medical director Puneet Arora, and the mayors of Utica, N.Y., Lewiston, Maine, and Uvalda, Ga.

“Our immigration talks are moving along, and surprisingly well and regularly,” said Schumer, the Senate Democratic point person on the issue. “Immigration is a rough road and I’m making no predictions, but (the talks) are clearly not dead.”
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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/59311.html

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2.
Iraqi refugees in U.S. rechecked for terrorism links
By Brian Bennett
Los Angeles Times, July 18, 2011

In a far-reaching inquiry, authorities are rescreening more than 58,000 Iraqi refugees living in the United States amid concerns that lapses in immigration security may have allowed former insurgents and potential terrorists to enter the country, U.S. officials said.

The investigation was given added urgency after U.S. intelligence agencies warned that Al Qaeda leaders in Iraq and Yemen had tried to target the U.S. refugee stream, or exploit other immigration loopholes, in an attempt to infiltrate the country with operatives.

The rescreening began late last year after the FBI learned that an Iraqi man in Kentucky had participated in roadside bomb attacks in Iraq before he was granted U.S. political asylum in 2009. He and another Iraqi refugee were arrested in an FBI sting in May on charges of trying to send explosives and missiles to Iraq for use against Americans.

So far, immigration authorities have given the FBI about 300 names of Iraqi refugees for further investigation. The FBI won't say whether any have been arrested or pose a potential threat.

The individuals may have only tenuous links to known or suspected terrorists. The names were identified when authorities rechecked phone numbers, email addresses, fingerprints, iris scans and other data in immigration files of Iraqis given asylum since the war began in 2003.

They checked the data against military, law enforcement and intelligence databases that were not available or were not utilized during the initial screening process, or were not searched using sufficient Arabic spelling and name variations.

It addition to the Iraqis, authorities have rescreened a smaller number of refugees from Yemen, Somalia and other countries where terrorist groups are active.

U.S. officials say they have tried to plug the gaps as quickly as possible.

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-refugee-terror-2011...

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3.
Mexican parents recoup kids via Internet testimony
By Mark Stevenson
The Associated Press, July 18, 2011

Two girls ages 4 and 8 were reunited in Mexico with their deported migrant parents Monday, after the couple was allowed to offer testimony in custody hearings in Pennsylvania via Internet phone-and-image conferencing.

U.S. and Mexican lawyers for the couple say it is the first time they know of that a U.S. court has allowed testimony in a custody case to be made over the Web, using voice and image conferencing via a service like Skype.

The parents' Mexican lawyer, Gustavo Garcia, said the cost of renting professional video conferencing facilities, which have been used in court testimony in the past, runs between $300 and $500 an hour. That amount is often prohibitive for parents deported from the U.S.

Such couples often are sent home by U.S. authorities after being caught without proper documents, meaning it is very difficult to get visas to appear to testify before U.S. courts. They are left with a frustrating, long-distance battle they often can't pay for.

"We estimate that there very probably hundreds of such cases," Garcia said shortly before the girls arrived at Mexico City's international airport.

The parents, Alfonso Mejia and Margarita Almaraz, live in a low-income neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital and said they don't have much money.

U.S. lawyer Deirdre Agnew helped persuade a court in Chester County, Pennsylvania, to accept the couple's testimony via Skype. She said the low-cost alternative could offer hope to other families.

"That's what we're hoping, that this has opened a door," said Agnew, who flew to Mexico City with the girls. "I think that this can be used as a model."

The case recalls a well-known custody battle in 2010, when Mexican mother Cirila Balthazar Cruz won custody of her 1-year-old child, Ruby, after Mississippi authorities accused her of being an unfit mother.

Like that case, there were allegations in Pennsylvania of physical abuse, by Mejia against two of Almaraz's children from a previous relationship.

Their lawyers said the charges in both cases were unfounded and based on cultural misunderstandings.

The lawyers also noted that the allegations against Mejia were never proved, and said there was never any accusation of abuse against Ashley, 4, and Ashanti, 8, both of whom were born in the United States.

Unfamiliar with U.S. legal proceedings and scared because they were undocumented migrants, the parents missed court dates and the state took the two girls away from them in 2009. The parents were subsequently deported.

"They had already started the process to terminate the parental rights of the parents, to try to adopt the children out to an American family," Agnew said.

After the parents provided testimony via the Internet several times and proved they had undergone therapy and complied with court requirements, a judge ordered the girls returned to their parents. On Monday, the family was finally reunited after more than two years apart.

"They were excited," Almaraz said of her daughters' reaction to the homecoming.

Mejia said he hoped their case will help others in their plight.

"I would like to make a call that this not only be a precedent, but that it be continued, to help us to make this a reality for other parents as well, so that they can be with their parents once again," Mejia said.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gKc3e_BZax1lsZKWW4rjTy...

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4.
Gov. Rick Snyder to conference: Immigration can help Detroit, state
By Kathleen Gray
Detroit Free Press, July 19, 2011

Proposed state laws viewed as anti-immigration are too divisive to be taken up with Michigan's economy struggling, Gov. Rick Snyder said Monday.

"Those are negative issues that have no value," Snyder said after a speech on immigration at Wayne State University. "We've shared that general premise with the Legislature."

Bills introduced in the state Legislature this year would allow law enforcement officers to ask for immigration status if they suspect someone might be in the country illegally and require businesses to use a federal database to verify a potential employee's status.

Snyder said the proposals "are creating divisiveness. There are a lot of good reasons that we have to embrace immigration in a positive way."

State Rep. David Agema, a Grandville Republican who has sponsored some of the immigration bills, said he agrees with Snyder

"Legal immigration is good. Illegal immigration is bad," he said. "It's a security issue. It's a jobs issue, and it's a fiscal issue for the state."

Snyder said he wants to encourage foreign students to stay in the state once they have completed their education at state colleges.

"They're already participating in our economy and we should be finding ways to embrace them and keep them here," Snyder said at the New Michigan Media Conference in Detroit, which focused on immigration's impact on the state's economy.

He said he wants to find ways to connect foreign students to Michigan businesses so student visas become work visas more easily.

Snyder also said he plans to introduce a Global Michigan initiative to make it easier for immigrants and refugees to find jobs in their fields. And he envisions a Cultural Ambassador Program to encourage people from different ethnic groups to get more involved in their communities.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who created a stir in May when he suggested Detroit could solve its population loss problems by pushing for a law that would guarantee citizenship for foreigners as long as they agree to move to Detroit for seven years, spoke at the conference by a video link.

Asked about his Detroit proposal, Bloomberg said city leaders should look to states which have passed anti-immigration laws and reach out to immigrants living there.

"I'd go as fast as I could to recruit immigrants who are already here," he said.

Once in the city, he said, immigrants will buy abandoned housing, pay taxes, fill schools and create new businesses.

Both Bloomberg and Snyder said the current political climate in Washington isn't conducive to comprehensive immigration reform.

"The issue has gotten caught up in too much politics for far too long," Snyder said.
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http://www.freep.com/article/20110719/NEWS06/107190361/Gov-Rick-Snyder-c...

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5.
Stuck at the border
By Brittany Smith
World Magazine, July 18, 2011

Alabama’s tough new immigration legislation is sparking debate at many churches and faith-based organizations that are unsure on which side of the border to stand.

Like Arizona’s law, the Alabama bill allows law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of those they stop on the road, but Alabama takes it a step further: Those who give illegal immigrants a lift in their cars or “harbor” them can face criminal penalties and schools have to check to see if their students have legal status.

Some religious organizations, along with the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union, are suing to stop the law. United Methodist, Episcopal, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic church leaders have criticized the law as running counter to biblical teachings about caring for neighbors, helping visitors, and showing hospitality to strangers. Many Alabama residents, though, are tired of the failures of the federal government to combat illegal immigration.

“These leftists of religious costume seem unfamiliar with certain Scriptures, which are morally and theologically authoritative for serious Christians,” said James R. Edwards Jr. of the Center for Immigration Studies. He cites Romans 13:1: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.”

Others worry that the law could criminalize mission work with illegal immigrants. Alabama Baptist Convention President Mike Shaw, the pastor of a church in suburban Birmingham, said the law “is the toughest in the nation and personally I think all laws need to be enforced. I am concerned about the language concerning giving a ride in an automobile to an illegal immigrant. . . . Should we ignore people who are injured or have broken down on the side of a busy interstate highway and have small children in sweltering heat with no family or friends to help them?”
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http://online.worldmag.com/2011/07/18/stuck-at-the-border/

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6.

Day Worker video aims to go 'beyond stereotypes'
By Nick Veronin
Mountain View Voice (CA), July 18, 2011

In an effort to share their stories with the community -- and with help from a variety of local organizations -- a group of migrant workers affiliated with the Day Worker Center of Mountain View has produced a short documentary about their experiences coming to and working in the United States.

"Borderless Dreams" focuses on the personal histories of a handful of immigrants from Central and South America, who tell their stories through interviews conducted and filmed by fellow immigrants.

Of course, the film is about more than these workers' individual stories. "Borderless Dreams" takes a sympathetic view of migrant workers, both documented and undocumented, in Mountain View and throughout the U.S.

In acknowledgement of the immigration controversy, the documentary opens with a clip of two cable news personalities -- Bill O'Reilly and Geraldo Rivera -- engaged in a screaming match over the issue of illegal immigration. When the clip ends, the narrator encourages the audience to look "deeper than headlines," imploring viewers to see the subjects of the film as human beings with human dilemmas.

Driven by necessity

One of the film's subjects, Flor, tells her interviewer that she has come to Mountain View out of necessity. She has left her children in Mexico because back home she could not find sufficient work to support them.

A Guatemalan man, Jose, says that he was driven to the U.S. after his mother fell ill. "I didn't have enough resources to pay the medical expenses," he said. Jose was faced with the choice of heading north for more lucrative pay, or watching her die.

Both Flor and Jose speak favorably about the Day Worker Center, saying that their lives would have been much more difficult without the support they've received, the friendships they've made and the professional networking opportunities they've been afforded by the center.

All of the workers interviewed in the film are identified by their first name only.

According to Elliot Margolies, the film's editor, immigrants -- both legal and illegal -- are here to stay, and the vast majority of them are honest, hard-working people.

"The bottom line is, we are all here and we are sharing this community," Margolies said. "We want to be able to build each other up and not divide each other."

Opposing views

Jon Feere, a legal policy analyst for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies, does not share Margolies' view. Though Feere appreciates that most using the services of the Day Worker Center have certainly fallen on hard times, and while he acknowledges that the United States was founded and settled by waves of immigrants, he contends that immigration in this day and age -- both legal and illegal -- has become a burden on America. Furthermore, Feere believes that labor centers, such as the one on Escuela Avenue, are only exacerbating that burden.

"Certainly there is a human component to this and most immigrants who come here looking for jobs are good people," Feere said. All the same, he feels that illegal immigrants undermine the American workforce by driving down wages and taking jobs from U.S. citizens. "To me that's a serious problem."

Media Center's help

The video was produced by migrants recruited from the Day Worker Center, using equipment provided by the Midpeninsula Community Media Center in Palo Alto and under the supervision of Margolies, who runs strategic initiatives for the Media Center.

"Our goal was to create a communications vehicle that would help community members understand who the day workers are, why they are here and what their lives are like," said Margolies, who was the first person hired to the Media Center and served as executive director for its first 10 years. The documentary, which will be screened at churches and high schools up and down the Peninsula, is also meant to inform people about what the Day Worker Center does.

The project also served as an educational experience for the migrant workers behind the camera. Margolies said that a few of the workers took a liking to the videography work and expressed an interest in working on future media related projects at the Day Worker Center.

Margolies, who volunteers as an English instructor at the Day Worker Center, came up with the idea for the film, and worked with its director, Mar?a Marroqu?n, to get migrant laborers involved, and to write grant proposals to secure funding from both the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People.

The majority of funding for the project -- $30,000 -- came from a Silicon Valley Community Foundation grant, which awards financial support to projects that work to address two "challenging problems -- the successful integration of immigrants and the inability of receiving communities to understand and recognize immigrants as real and potential assets in the community, rather than as liabilities."

The project also received a $3,500 grant from the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People.

With a budget of $33,500 and a crew of mostly amateurs filming and capturing sound for the film, "Borderless Dreams" is by no means a professional production. Still, Margolies hopes that the documentary will help people better understand the mission of the Day Worker Center and identify with the local migrant labor community.

"We know that immigration reform is a very controversial topic, particularly in a recession," Margolies said. "We didn't set out to come out with a framework for policy-makers. What we really set out to do is to humanize the day laborers, and to go beyond stereotypes."
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http://mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=4497