1. Gov't pledges protection
2. Judge halts AL law
3. US Muslims feel targeted
4. Obama's uncle held by ICE
5. Immigrant says US reneged

1.
U.S., Central American nations pledge to protect migrants
By Joshua Armstrong
Cronkite News Service, August 30, 2011

Migrant laborers in this country will be able to get information on workers compensation, wage-and-hour laws and other U.S. labor protections “no matter how you got here,” under an agreement signed Monday.

The deal signed at the Labor Department adds Costa Rica, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic to the U.S. and three other Latin American countries that have agreed to look out for the rights of migrant workers.

As part of the agreement, those countries, along with Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua, will distribute information from their consulates here about regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and other U.S. labor agencies.
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http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/083011_migrant_protect/us-cen...

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2.
Federal judge halts Alabama immigration law
By Jeremy Redmon
The Atlanta Journal Constitution, August 29, 2011

A federal judge on Monday temporarily halted Alabama's tough new law targeting illegal immigration, just two months after another federal judge in Atlanta halted a similar law here.

The news from Alabama prompted people on both sides of the debate over illegal immigration here to offer their predictions on what could happen to Georgia's law, also called House Bill 87.

Alabama’s law, which mirrors parts of Georgia’s statute , was scheduled to take effect Thursday. But Chief U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Blackburna Republican appointee nominated to the bench by President George H.W. Bush, issued an order Monday, halting the law until Sept. 29.

In issuing her order, Blackburn did not rule on the merits of the legal challenges, saying she needed more time to do so. She said she will issue her decision by Sept. 28. That didn’t stop people here from speculating on what her ruling could mean for Georgia.

Charles Kuck, a local immigration attorney who is fighting Georgia’s law in court, sees the judge’s ruling as a positive development. He and other opponents of Georgia’s law argue it intrudes on the federal government’s authority to regulate immigration.

“In one of the most conservative states in the U.S., one of its most conservative judges put a temporary hold on the Alabama anti-immigration law,” he said. “Judges do not do this lightly. Here we see yet another federal judge realize what state legislators refuse to see: There is a limit to what a state can do on immigration enforcement, and that limit is found in the U.S. Constitution.”

On the other side, state Sen. Jack Murphy, a Republican from Cumming and one of the chief supporters of Georgia’s new law, said he wasn’t convinced the judge’s ruling would have any effect here. At the same time, he said he is optimistic Georgia will ultimately prevail in court.

“I am not sure that what [the judge] is doing in Alabama is going to affect us at all,” Murphy said. “I think our chances are still very good and that we will be successful on our appeal on that.”

The Justice Department filed suit this month to block Alabama’s law, arguing it is preempted by federal law. Blackburn heard oral arguments last week. Last year, the Justice Department used a similar legal argument to block parts of Arizona's law.
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http://www.ajc.com/news/federal-judge-halts-alabama-1151083.html

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3.
Most US Muslims feel targeted by terror policies
By Hope Yen
The Associated Press, August 30, 2011

More than half of Muslim-Americans in a new poll say government anti-terrorism policies single them out for increased surveillance and monitoring, and many report increased cases of name-calling, threats and harassment by airport security, law enforcement officers and others.

Still, most Muslim-Americans say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. and rate their communities highly as places to live.

The survey by the Pew Research Center, one of the most exhaustive ever of the country's Muslims, finds no signs of rising alienation or anger among Muslim-Americans despite recent U.S. government concerns about homegrown Islamic terrorism and controversy over the building of mosques.

"This confirms what we've said all along: American Muslims are well integrated and happy, but with a kind of lingering sense of being besieged by growing anti-Muslim sentiment in our society," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington, D.C.-based Muslim civil rights group.

"People contact us every day about concerns they've had, particularly with law enforcement authorities in this post-9/11 era," he said.

Muslim extremists hijacked four passenger planes on Sept. 11, 2001, crashing them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pa.

In all, 52 percent of Muslim-Americans surveyed said their group is singled out by government for terrorist surveillance. Almost as many — 43 percent — reported they had personally experienced harassment in the past year, according to the poll released Tuesday.

That 43 percent share of people reporting harassment is up from 40 percent in 2007, the first time Pew polled Muslim-Americans.

Asked to identify in what ways they felt bias, about 28 percent said they had been treated or viewed with suspicion by people, while 22 percent said they were called offensive names. About 21 percent said they were singled out by airport security because they were Muslim, while another 13 percent said they were targeted by other law enforcement officials. Roughly 6 percent said they had been physically threatened or attacked.

On the other hand, the share of Muslim-Americans who view U.S. anti-terror policies as "sincere" efforts to reduce international terrorism now surpasses those who view them as insincere — 43 percent to 41 percent. Four years ago, during the presidency of George W. Bush, far more viewed U.S. anti-terrorism efforts as insincere than sincere — 55 percent to 26 percent.

The vast majority of Muslim-Americans — 79 percent — rate their communities as either "excellent" or "good" places to live, even among many who reported an act of vandalism against a mosque or a controversy over the building of an Islamic center in their neighborhoods.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hNR5jmh-H1uJXx-lPVGcM5...

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4.
Obama uncle held in US by immigration officials
By Denise Lavoie
The Associated Press, August 30, 2011

President Barack Obama's uncle was stopped on suspicion of drunken driving, told police he planned to arrange bail through the White House and was being held without bail on an immigration detainer, authorities said Monday.

Onyango Obama was arrested last week in Framingham, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Boston, after police said he made a rolling stop through a stop sign and nearly caused a cruiser to strike his sport utility vehicle.

Police said that after being booked at the police station, Obama was asked whether he wanted to make a telephone call to arrange for bail.

"I think I will call the White House," he stated, according to a police report filed in Framingham District Court.

Police said Obama, who's originally from Kenya and is the half-brother of the president's late father, pleaded not guilty Friday and was being held without bail on a detainer from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In a court document, ICE said he had an earlier deportation or removal order.

His immigration status couldn't immediately be confirmed, but such orders are generally reserved for people living in the country illegally.

An immigration detainer, used by ICE to identify people in jail or prison who could be deported, is a request to another law enforcement agency to notify ICE before releasing the person from custody so ICE can arrange to take over custody.

A spokesman for ICE declined to comment on Obama's immigration case, and the White House had no comment.

The president refers in his memoir "Dreams from My Father," about retracing his roots and his 1988 trip to Kenya, to an Uncle Omar, who matches Obama's background and has the same date of birth.

Obama, 67, was charged with operating under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and failure to yield the right of way.

Michael Rogers, a spokesman for Cleveland immigration attorney Margaret Wong, said Wong will represent Obama. He confirmed that Obama is the half-brother of the president's father and the brother of another relative, the president's aunt Zeituni Onyango, of Boston.

Onyango made headlines last year when she won the right to stay in the United States after an earlier deportation order. She came to the U.S. from Kenya in 2000 and was denied asylum by an immigration judge in 2004.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iiIV2UmUAcyslWYvfoPKKp...

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5.
Immigrant Witness Says U.S. Reneged On Protection
By Carrie Johnson
NPR, August 30, 2011

Ten years ago, an Albanian immigrant agreed to help the Justice Department build a case against a mobster accused of human smuggling. In exchange, he says, federal prosecutors promised him a green card and protection for his family. But the mobster fled the country, and the informant, Ed Demiraj, says the U.S. government reneged on its commitment — with violent results.

All these years later, Demiraj tells NPR he and his family still are living in fear of an organized crime ring whose members threatened his life and left him for dead. Demiraj says a man approached him in a coffee shop in South Texas last week with an ominous warning to watch out. Then the windows in his house got broken.

"I put my life in danger, to protect your country, to protect the United States from those people," Demiraj says. "Why they doing to me like that?"

His story begins shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, in Texas, where Demiraj heard his boss, Bill Bedini, had been arrested on human-smuggling charges.

Demiraj, who wasn't in the U.S. legally, says he turned himself in and told a federal prosecutor in Texas that he wanted to help. But he had an important question once the talks got under way.
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http://www.npr.org/2011/08/30/140042057/immigrant-witness-says-u-s-reneg...