1. Job council calls for immigration
2. NJ co. to re-bid detention center
3. IA town considers facility
4. CA nursery questions raid
5. AL industry questions law

1.
Obama Jobs Council Calls for Sweeping Changes in Federal Policies
The Associated Press, October 11, 2011

Decrying the human toll of the nation's economic and financial crisis, a group of corporate and labor leaders advising President Obama is calling for sweeping and urgent changes in government policies, from liberalized immigration and less restrictive regulations to a more business friendly tax system and greater spending on infrastructure.
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The jobs council's report, which will be the centerpiece of the president's meeting with council members, also calls for eased immigration rules for high-skilled foreigners, including automatic work permits or provisional visas to all foreign students after they earn science, technology, engineering or math degrees from U.S. colleges or universities.

"We are sympathetic to the political sensitivities around the topic of immigration reform," the council report states. "But when it comes to driving job creation and increasing American competitiveness, separating the highly skilled worker component is critical. We therefore call upon Congress to pass reforms aimed directly at allowing the most promising foreign-born entrepreneurs to remain in or relocate to the United States."
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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/10/obama-jobs-council-calls-for-...

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2.
Essex County to re-bid immigration detention center
By Eunice Lee
New Jersey Star Ledger, October 11, 2011

NEWARK — Essex County is preparing to rebid a roughly quarter-billion dollar contract to house immigration detainees after it tossed out the previous sole bidder, a politically connected company.

The first bidding process was ended after a letter from U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) questioned the fairness of the process.

In July, Lautenberg wrote to Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton citing concerns the county’s bidding process "may not be entirely fair, open and transparent." The letter came after the sole applicant, Education and Health Centers of America, landed the job.

In a responding letter, obtained Monday by The Star-Ledger, ICE officials said they received assurance from Essex the bidding process to find a vendor for the lucrative contract to house detainees in the county was "conducted in a fair and reasonable manner."

However, the federal agency also notes "ICE does not have the authority to review or enforce procurement laws or regulations at the state and local level," states the Aug. 4 letter.

The county later threw out the controversial bid to house detainees in Delaney Hall in Newark and is now expected to advertise an overhauled proposal. The contract is expected to be worth $50 million annually for five years.

This second round could differ significantly because Essex will be simultaneously seeking vendors to house two different groups: ICE detainees awaiting hearings or deportation, and county inmates receiving drug and alcohol treatment.

A county spokesman said the new bid is being finalized and declined to say when exactly it would be open to bidders. Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. said during a freeholder meeting last week the county is "ready to go out to bid very shortly."
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http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/10/essex_county_to_re-bid_immigra....

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3.
Grimes favors immigration detention site
By Todd Ezren
Des Moines Register, October 10, 2011

The city of Grimes will consider welcoming a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility that has stirred up controversy throughout the Des Moines area.

U.S. Federal Properties Co. is looking into acquiring a 16,000-square-foot space at 3100 S.E. Enterprise Drive and leasing the property to replace the cramped ICE facility currently operating in downtown Des Moines.

ICE processes and temporarily detains those suspected of being illegal immigrants. The Grimes planning and zoning commission unanimously approved the site plan for the ICE facility, which would include 10,000 square feet of new construction, last week and the Grimes City Council will take up the matter at 5:30 p.m. today.

“To me, it’s a pretty good location for it,” said Mayor Tom Armstrong. “Unless I’m totally misreading things, the site plan will probably be approved.”

The Grimes location in question is located to the west of Iowa Highway 141 and is occupied primarily by construction-related businesses. The leasing arrangement for a new ICE facility means that the city would continue to collect property taxes from the building’s owner.
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http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20111011/NEWS/310110035/-1/gall...

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4.
After immigration raid, California nursery questions U.S. policy
By Stephen Magagnini
The Sacremento Bee, October 11, 2011

The morning dew hasn't yet burned off the fields when Matsuda's nursery comes to life.

Mexican ballads pour out of new foreman Carlos Appollinar's pickup while he and an army of workers transplant hundreds of flowers, trees and shrubs into black plastic pots. They load bright-green hydrangeas, pink, purple and red rhododendrons and Greek cypresses that grow to 40 feet onto Matsuda's fleet of trucks, bound for retailers and landscapers in Los Angeles, Concord and San Jose.

Matsuda's, founded 60 years ago by the descendant of Japanese immigrants, has grown into a multimillion-dollar business covering 130 acres on Florin Road in Sacramento. But in recent months, the company has found itself in the cross hairs of the Department of Homeland Security, which under the Obama administration is cracking down on a growing number of businesses for hiring illegal workers.

Through Aug. 8, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had collected more than $8.5 million in fines from 308 businesses nationwide and launched 2,842 investigations of businesses — twice the number of cases initiated in 2009.

An ICE investigation last spring uncovered 61 undocumented workers from Mexico and Central America at Matsuda's – 60 percent of its full-time staff, including the company's longtime foreman.
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http://www.sacbee.com/2011/10/11/3974253/after-immigration-raid-californ...

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5.
Southwest Alabama industries losing migrant workers because of immigration law
By David Ferrara
Press Register (Mobile), October 11, 2011

MOBILE, Alabama -- The owner of a Mobile roofing company recently spotted 7 of his former employees cleaning up at a convention center in Florida. They were legally documented migrant workers, but had fled Alabama because of the state’s firm immigration law, said Jay Reed, president of Alabama Associated Builders & Contractors.

After the law passed, another Mobile construction employer located 14 former workers at a job site in Biloxi, Reed said.

Alabama’s new immigration law is regarded by some as the toughest in the nation. Though parts of it were blocked by a federal judge and it has been challenged by the U.S. Justice Department, key elements of the measure are being enforced, and the effects have rippled through a variety of businesses.

The hospitality industry in south Baldwin County reports losing a sizable chunk of its work force.

Sheila Hodges, a Gulf Shores Realtor who also owns 2 cleaning services in south Baldwin, said that at least 30 percent of her Starr Textile Services employees have left. More left Meyer Services "scared" of enforcement of the new law, even though they carried documentation.

Another economic blow after the BP oil spill

In southwest Alabama, she said, the legislation dealt another economic blow to an area still recovering from last year’s oil spill.

"As an employer, I’ll get creative," Hodges said. "I’ll find a way of bridging this gap until something better comes along. I have to. Unless BP’s got some oil workers that want to come clean."

Reed said many construction company owners are reluctant to speak publicly about hiring migrant workers, but it is a major part of the industry. He said he hopes the new law will create openings for Alabamians willing to perform the hard labor.

"For years, the labor-intensive jobs in Alabama haven’t been on graduates’ minds," Reed said. "When Alabamians don’t apply for those jobs, employers must look elsewhere for labor."

Betty Wiggins, who runs a small cleaning company out of Foley, said she doesn’t think she’ll be able to replace the immigrant workers who moved away.

She said that all her employees fill out tax forms and have shown Social Security cards, but she knows that some might be here illegally.

Wiggins hasn’t hired anyone since the law, which includes penalties for hiring illegal workers, took effect.

By April 1, Wiggins and all Alabama business owners will be required to verify each new worker’s immigration status through a program known as E-Verify.

Americans don't want to do the work Wiggins offers

Wiggins said many Americans don’t want the work she’s offering.

"I don’t know how to say this, but the illegal immigrants seem to do things that you ask them without question, where the American people are a little bit different," she said.

Mobile and Baldwin counties are among the most productive in America when it comes to nurseries, greenhouses and sod production, according to Deacue Fields, an agricultural economist at Auburn University who focuses on horticulture.

In Alabama alone, those areas of agriculture amount to a $2.9 billion industry, a majority of which is produced in Mobile and Baldwin, according to a 2007 study Fields compiled.

The long-term impact of the immigration law, he said, is unclear. But in the short-term, Fields said, "agriculture is going to have some pretty big negative shocks."

State Rep. Steve McMillan, R-Gulf Shores, favors immigration reform and said much of the law has been misinterpreted. He anticipates that south Alabama will have at least 1,100 agricultural industry job openings next spring as a result of the crackdown.

While he knows that the legislation has forced many people who are in Alabama legally to leave the state, McMillan expects that as more and more states develop such laws, the federal government will be inclined to develop a better work visa program to ensure that workers are documented.
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http://blog.al.com/live/2011/10/many_southwest_alabama_industr.html