1. Perry faces problems
2. RI gives tuition break
3. MA Senate OKs check
4. NJ group to protest
5. DUI suspect illegal

1.
Perry faces immigration hurdles in Iowa
By Michael Finnegan
Los Angeles Times, September 26, 2011

Reporting from Newton, Iowa—
Less than two months into Rick Perry's presidential candidacy, a record on illegal immigration that served him well politically as a border-state governor is proving a tough sell with voters looking toward Iowa's Republican caucuses this winter.

It came up unbidden in the crowd of neighbors waiting recently for the Texas governor to drop by Uncle Nancy's Coffeehouse in Newton, the former corporate home of the washing-machine giant Maytag.

"I'm not sure I like Perry's approach to immigration," said Doug Ringger, a retired Maytag marketing man. "That concerns me a little bit — or a lot. I haven't heard him say we need to seal the borders."

Iowa voters are not alone in expressing such concerns, though they might seem jarring in a state whose small towns and cornfields are hundreds of miles from the nation's southern border. The state has faced little of the political turmoil over illegal immigration that has long been a staple of politics in California, Arizona, Texas and other places that are home to greater numbers of undocumented workers.

But the 2008 arrest of nearly 400 illegal immigrants at a meatpacking plant in Postville highlighted the arrival of undocumented workers in Iowa as never before. At the same time, the growth of Iowa's Latino population has sparked discomfort among some of the white conservatives who dominate the Republican caucuses.

Though Iowa remains the sixth-whitest state in America, its Latino population has surged from 33,000 in 1990 to 152,000 last year, census figures show. Even in the absence of precise figures showing how many residents are undocumented, that cultural shift has helped turn illegal immigration into a key issue for Republican caucus voters, said Dennis Goldford, a politics professor at Drake University in Des Moines.

"That presence, particularly with regard to very small-town rural Republicans who tend to think the country they know is disappearing, this becomes a problem for them," Goldford said.

The main troubles for Republicans in Iowa, as elsewhere, are Perry's opposition to a border fence stretching from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico and his signing of a bill allowing children of illegal immigrants to pay lower in-state tuition at public colleges in Texas. (He sparked additional anger by contending in last week's debate that those who didn't share his views on in-state tuition were heartless.)

Greeting Perry recently in the parking lot outside a restaurant in Council Bluffs, on the Missouri River, was a cluster of protesters waving signs assailing his immigration record. Ron Duncan, a retired Harrison County truck driver wearing a black Iowa Minuteman cap, carried a placard that read, "Gov. Perry — No in-state tuition for illegal aliens."

"Perry is horrible," Duncan, a leader of a local Tea Party Patriots group, said of the governor, who was one of the first politicians to embrace the "tea party" movement.

Perry did not mention immigration in his remarks to Republicans gathered across the parking lot on a patio outside Tish's Restaurant. That is his typical practice: He rarely speaks about immigration unless questioned or confronted in a debate. But immigration was on the minds of many who came to hear him, even if they largely welcomed his folksy style, his tribute to moral values and his conservative fiscal rhetoric.
. . .
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-perry-immigration-2...

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

2.
Rhode Island gives in-state tuition to illegal immigrant students
Los Angeles Times, September 27, 2011

Rhode Island education officials have voted to let high school graduates who are in the country illegally pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities, acting on an issue that state lawmakers have dodged and that has entered into the debate among the Republican presidential hopefuls.

The vote Monday night followed an hours-long public hearing punctuated by boos, cheers, and heated comments from audience members on both sides of the question. Eleven of the 13 members of the Board of Governors for Higher Education were there, and all voted in favor of the measure.

Board approves in-state tuition rates: wpri.com

The measure allows children of illegal immigrants who attended high school in Rhode Island for at least three years and who have graduated high school or received an equivalent degree to pay in-state tuition of $9,824, compared to $25,912 for out-of-state students. The rule takes effect next year.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which monitors states' legislative activity, 12 other states have similar laws. They include Texas, whose Republican governor, Rick Perry, has been dogged by the issue as he faces off against rival presidential candidates who oppose it.

Rhode Island's higher education officials took up the matter after the state's legislature repeatedly failed to act on it over the years, apparently fearful of backlash from voters.
. . .
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/09/rhode-island-approves-...

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

3.
Senators OK casino check on employees
By Noah Bierman
The Boston Globe, September 27, 2011

State senators approved a measure yesterday that would require casino developers to verify their employees’ immigration status using a federal electronic database, thrusting the casino debate into a national controversy over immigration enforcement.

The measure was among 60 amendments voted up or down in the Senate’s first day of debate on the bill that would authorize three casinos and one slot-machine parlor. The House passed its version of the casino bill earlier this month, but killed a similar amendment to require immigration checks using a federal database. The sides would need to negotiate differences in their bills before asking Governor Deval Patrick to sign off on their final product.

The size of the casino bill and the money that would come to the state from casinos has encouraged lawmakers to use the legislation as a vehicle for a host of pet causes. An amendment to spend casino money to improve fire stations, for example, was voted down yesterday, as was one to let paid professionals run charity poker tournaments. A measure to devote more casino profits to local tourist development funds was approved.

Senator Bruce E. Tarr, Republican of Gloucester and the minority leader, said during the debate that lawmakers are counting up ways to spend the new casino dollars, even if they have not yet received them.

“You can feel the excitement about the prospect of new money,’’ Tarr said as he fought unsuccessfully for an amendment that would have permanently defined the way state aid to cities and towns is disbursed.

The Senate is expected to continue debating amendments today, before taking the rest of the week off for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which begins tomorrow night. Senate President Therese Murray said last week that she expects the bill to pass, but she has agreed to let opponents use procedural maneuvers to delay a vote.

Murray said that the more contentious issues were purposely set aside yesterday. They will come up today or next week.

The immigration measure, which was also part of the Senate’s casino bill last year, passed by a vote of 32-6. Its sponsor, Republican Senator Robert L. Hedlund of Weymouth, said it was a simple screening process to ensure that the many jobs promised in the casino bill would go to legal residents. Opponents argued private employers believe the current federal requirements to verify employees’ immigration status are sufficient.

Before debate began yesterday, Senate casino opponents held a press conference and conceded they probably lacked the votes to derail the bill. But they vowed to use the debate on the bill’s 182 amendments to highlight what they said are flaws and inside deals in the bill, in hope of winning over the public. They pointed out that the bill requires a local ballot referendum before a developer can win a license in a given community, making public opinion an essential element.

Senator Patricia D. Jehlen, a Somerville Democrat who opposes casinos, proposed an amendment to rid the bill of a special earmark for the horse racing industry, 9 percent of revenue from the proposed slot machine parlor. “Frequently, I believe that it is a mistake to guarantee a subsidy to a particular interest group,’’ Jehlen said.
. . .
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/09/27/immig...

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

4.
NJ immigrant advocates to hold detention protest
The Associated Press, September 27, 2011

Advocates opposed to mandatory detention for immigrants plan to protest Tuesday to mark 15 years since a law took effect expanding its use.

A 1996 federal law requires immigrants slated for deportation or facing other legal issues to be held in detention while awaiting court proceedings.

A coalition of groups calling itself New Jersey Advocates for Immigrant Detainees plans to gather in Newark to call for a cancellation of a recently approved contract expanding the number of immigrant detainees held in Essex County.

The group says the federal immigration detention system is inhumane and disruptive to families.
. . .
http://www.chron.com/news/article/NJ-immigrant-advocates-to-hold-detenti...

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

5.
Drunken driving suspect had been deported 3 times
By Maria Sacchetti
The Boston Globe, September 27, 2011

An illegal immigrant from Mexico arrested this weekend in Boxborough on a sixth drunken driving charge had returned to the United States despite having been deported three times, federal officials said yesterday.

Eduardo Alementa Torres, a 48-year-old landscaper who lived in Marlborough, pleaded not guilty yesterday in Ayer District Court to driving while intoxicated and other motor vehicle charges. A judge ordered him held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing Oct. 3.

Yesterday US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said federal authorities had deported him three times, starting in December 2004, after finding him in Middlesex County Jail in Massachusetts.

Then, in 2005, US Customs and Border Protection discovered Torres in Arizona and deported him two days later. Border agents found him again in 2006 in California and deported him the same day.

But on Saturday morning, Boxborough police said, Torres was again in Massachusetts, allegedly driving with an open beer bottle on his passenger seat. A police officer stopped his 1988 Chevrolet pickup truck, which had an expired inspection sticker, and smelled a strong odor of alcohol. Police said Torres took a breath test that showed his blood alcohol level was 0.09 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
. . .
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/09/27/alleg...