1. Mexican police in TX hospital
2. Report: Immigration and pollution
3. States seek integration policy
4. Governors seek to expedite entry
5. Federal contractors oppose E-verify
6. Houston developer targets investor
7. Factory struggles to find workers

1.
Mexico drug war's costs, risks exported to U.S.
Officers and others wounded across the border are increasingly being transferred to an El Paso hospital.
By Miguel Bustillo
Los Angeles Times, August 17, 2008

El Paso, TX -- Lorenzo de la Torre Torres was on the cusp of death.

Drug cartel hit men had pumped the deputy police chief with more than 20 bullets, and slightly wounded his boss, after a wild car chase in Nuevo Casas Grandes, the Mexican city the two were supposed to protect.

Paramedics airlifted the officers 130 miles to Ciudad Juarez. Within hours, however, hospital officials wheeled them into an ambulance, which sped off to the Bridge of the Americas over the concrete-lined stretch of the Rio Grande that separates Mexico from Texas. There, an American ambulance picked them up and whisked them to El Paso's Thomason Hospital.

For the next two weeks, De la Torre was treated at U.S. taxpayer expense. El Paso police and sheriff's deputies stood guard around the hospital's perimeter 24 hours a day, wearing bulletproof vests and holding semiautomatic rifles. Hospital officials closed off all but one entrance to the building and sent visitors through metal detectors.

It was neither the first nor last time the arrival of a gunshot victim from Mexico has sparked a lockdown at the publicly owned hospital, which is a prized institution for El Paso.

The only hospital within a 280-mile radius to offer state-of-the-art trauma care, Thomason has become an unwilling treatment center of choice for law enforcement officials and others in the vicinity wounded in Mexico's drug turf battles. The violence has killed more than 2,000 people this year, and more than double that number in the 20 months since President Felipe Calderon began deploying 40,000 troops across the country to crack down on narcotics trafficking.

Thomason has treated 28 people wounded on the other side of the border this year, spending an estimated $1 million, hospital administrators said. Nineteen were U.S. citizens or had dual citizenship, and the rest had legal permission to enter the country.

Most of their identities have not been made public. One of the most recent was a bystander: a 1-year-old Juarez girl who was crushed by a runaway pickup truck after gunmen killed the driver in an apparently drug-related hit.

Because of the security threat posed by the wounded Mexican officers, the hospital has had to post guards and limit public access three times this year. It has even adopted a color-coded alert system similar to that of the Department of Homeland Security, letting workers and visitors know of the danger posed by the drug war targets inside.

The lockdowns have served as a frightening reminder that El Paso may not be immune from the mayhem consuming Ciudad Juarez, its more populous sister city across the Rio Grande, where more than 750 people have been killed this year.

El Paso leaders are frustrated and angry at the cost and risks brought about by their unexpected guests.

"It seems we don't find out until they walk in the hospital door," El Paso Mayor John Cook said. "If I, as the mayor, cross the border, it takes me a lot longer than it's taking some of these wounded folks. Clearly, some deals have been made at a higher level of government, and we didn't know about them."

El Paso officials last month took their worries to Washington, where Homeland Security officials assured them that there was no diplomatic deal to bring the drug war's wounded to Texas. Still, some El Paso leaders note that such transfers do not seem to be happening elsewhere on the border. They want the federal government to reimburse their costs.

Mexican officials have fully repaid the hospital for only one of the Mexican officers it has treated, and made partial payment for another. Thomason has gotten about $314,000 from the patients, their employers, insurers, and state and federal funding, hospital spokeswoman Margaret Althoff-Olivas said. Thomason expects that most of its costs will have to be borne by the state and federal government, she said.

"If I got shot down there, do you think I'd get this kind of an escort? I'd be lucky to come back in a garbage truck," said James Valenti, the hospital's chief executive. "We don't know whether some of the people being brought here are bad guys or good guys. But the history south of the border is that these people [hit men] will go to the hospital to finish the job if they need to. We're not equipped to deal with threats like that."

Last year, gunmen stormed a Tijuana hospital in search of a wounded accomplice, killing two state police officers.

Thomason administrators do not want to accept the patients, but have no choice under federal law. About half -- including the Nuevo Casas Grandes police chief, who had a hand wound -- did not need the Level 1 trauma care for which the hospital is known, those officials say.

The number of injured with U.S. ties has surprised some El Paso officials, who privately questioned whether some of the wounded were working with the U.S. government to stop drug trafficking.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-hospital17-2008aug1...

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2.
New blame leveled
Study warns of U.S. immigrants' CO2 emissions
By Stephen Wall
The San Bernardino Sun (CA), August 17, 2008
http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_10233426

Immigrants, especially illegal ones, can't seem to catch a break these days.

They've been blamed for the demise of the nation's public education and health-care systems.

Now, in a new study by a Washington, D.C., think tank, they're accused of contributing to global warming.

High levels of immigration, both legal and illegal, significantly increase worldwide greenhouse-gas emissions, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. The organization favors strict limits on immigration to the United States.

"The health of the planet is better if they remain in their home countries," said Steven Camarota, the center's director of research and co-author of the report.

On average, immigrants increase their carbon dioxide emissions fourfold by coming to America, the study says.

People who migrate to the United States generally aspire to improve their standard of living. This often entails a higher level of energy consumption, thus producing more carbon dioxide, according to the study released last week.

Less-developed countries in Asia and Latin America, which are the primary immigrant-sending regions, have much lower annual per-capita carbon dioxide emissions than the United States, the study says.

Before they come to this country, most immigrants from developing nations lead a much less energy-intensive lifestyle than they do when they get to the United States. Back home, most don't drive cars, and they consume a lot less electricity, Camarota said.

Critics question the motives of the organization that put out the study as well as the science behind it.

"Here we go again, using Latinos and immigrants as a scapegoat," said Latino activist Gil Navarro, a member of the San Bernardino County Board of Education. "They did the same thing with the Chinese and the Irish."

The study is "little more than a thinly veiled attempt to advance an anti-immigration agenda by appealing to Americans' concerns over other issues," according to America's Voice, an online pro-immigrant advocacy group.

Jim Mulvihill, professor emeritus of geography and environmental studies at Cal State San Bernardino, said the study's assumptions "are drawn from very gross generalizations."

It's true that immigrants from less developed areas do not consume as much coal, oil and natural gas as the typical American, Mulvihill said.

But activities that people perform in those regions, particularly agriculture, produce large amounts of carbon dioxide, he said.

Oxen, hogs and poultry - animals associated with agriculture - produce tremendous amounts of carbon dioxide in their feces, which are applied to fields as fertilizers, or consumed as fuels for heating, Mulvihill said.

Immigrants also tend to be younger, so even if they have advanced degrees and are professionals, they earn less than the comparable American on a per-capita basis, Mulvihill said.

"Even if you have a college education and are only 25, you won't be able to buy a Lamborghini or a Mercedes," he said of immigrants.

Camarota said the study is not intended to bash immigrants, noting that they produce slightly less greenhouse gases than the average native-born American.

But the impact of immigration on the environment cannot be ignored, he said.

If immigration levels continue, the U.S. population will grow from about 305 million today to 468 million by 2060, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

At least 30 million legal and illegal immigrants are likely to settle in the United States over the next 20 years, the study says.

If immigrants in the United States made up their own country, they would rank seventh in the world in annual carbon dioxide output, ahead of such countries as Canada, France and Great Britain, the study states.

"Immigration has very significant implications for greenhouse-gas emissions, and we should be thinking about that," Camarota said. "If we are going to have large numbers of immigrants, we have to understand the implications for the global environment."

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3.
Some States Seek Integration Path for Immigrants
By Miriam Jordan
The Wall Street Journal, August 14, 2008; Page A9

Behind the national debate over immigration, a handful of Democratic governors are mounting a quiet offensive to integrate, rather than repel, foreign newcomers.

The governors of Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Washington have signed orders that make immigrant integration a priority for their states, focusing on language, job and citizenship training as well as access to services, such as health care and public safety, for immigrants.

The federal government's failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform has prompted states and localities to come up with their own solutions to illegal immigration. Governors are taking divergent paths to cope with the record influx of immigrants, particularly those here illegally.

In March, Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri, a Republican, signed an executive order that empowers state police and correctional officers to enforce some immigration laws. It also requires companies that do business with the state to use an electronic system to verify whether job applicants are in the country legally and eligible to work. Georgia and Arizona also have recently passed anti-illegal immigrant laws.

The U.S. has absorbed a record number of immigrants since 1990, mainly from Latin America, Asia and Africa. The country is now home to about 38 million legal immigrants and 12 million undocumented immigrants. An additional 31 million people are children of immigrants.

Supporters of the executive orders to promote integration of foreign residents say the orders counter the hostile rhetoric of the immigration debate. "It's creating a political climate where immigrants are seen as a net benefit to the state," says Ngoan Le, a senior official at the Chicago Community Trust, a private foundation. "The state's highest officeholder is sending a message that his state welcomes immigrants."

Groups opposed to illegal immigration have criticized the orders, which don't differentiate legal from undocumented immigrants. Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation of American Immigration Reform, a national group that believes in curbing all immigration to the U.S., said the executive orders "send the wrong message."

Massachusetts last month became the most recent state to adopt the strategy when Gov. Deval Patrick signed an executive order calling for a coordinated approach to integrating immigrants, who represent 14% of the state's population.

After holding fact-finding public meetings across the state, an advisory council composed of business leaders, immigrant advocates, academics and policy makers will submit policy recommendations to the governor by July 2009. State agencies, faith organizations and private-sector employers then will be charged with implementing the new programs.

"Were it not for immigrants and refugees, Massachusetts would have seen a population decline in the last seven years," says Richard Chacon, executive director of the state's office for refugees and immigrants. "Immigrants are becoming increasingly important to the health of the state economy," Mr. Chacon says.

In February, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire issued a similar executive order creating the New Americans Policy Council, designed to make recommendations to the governor's office on immigrant matters, such as helping them learn English, transfer professional credentials and become civically engaged through public-private partnerships. About 12% of Washington state's population is foreign born.

In August 2007, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine signed an order that created an advisory panel on immigrant policy that is to present recommendations to the governor by the end of this year. About 20% of the state's residents hail from other countries.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, signed the New Americans Executive Order in November 2005, the first order of its kind. The order established a council comprised of business, faith, labor, community and government leaders to identify ways to improve the provision of services to immigrants and make recommendations to the governor.

In 2006, members of the policy council completed the first phase of their work. One outcome of that effort was the inauguration late last year of a pilot "welcoming center" in a Chicago suburb where thousands of new immigrants have settled.

Meant to be a one-stop shop, immigrants who visit can access several state and local services, such as signing their children up for school, finding out about health-care eligibility and learning about job-training opportunities. Bilingual staffers encourage adults to take English courses, attend computer courses or enroll their children in a new soccer league.

"It's in the best interest of the state, communities and immigrant families to expedite their integration," says Grace Hou, assistant secretary for the state department of human services.

Other programs under consideration will focus on vocational English courses and community police relations, with funding expected to come from the state, foundations and community organizations.

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, a nonprofit advocacy group that worked with Gov. Blagojevich to craft the executive order, has played a lead role in fostering integration initiatives in other states.

The coalition sponsored conferences to discuss with state officials and immigrant advocacy groups how to use executive orders to promote immigrant integration. The coalition then disbursed Carnegie Foundation grant money to three groups in other states -- including Washington and Massachusetts -- to help them spearhead efforts there.
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http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB121867506121839091-lMyQjAxMDI4MTE4...

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4.
Schwarzenegger hopes to speed border crossings
Governors at an annual conference explore public-private toll lanes to cut wait times between the U.S. and Mexico.
By Michael Rothfeld
Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2008

Hoping to cut down on wait times at the border, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday that he and other governors are exploring the idea of public-private partnerships to construct vehicle toll lanes at entry points between the United States and Mexico.

Schwarzenegger raised the issue at the closing of the 26th annual Border Governors Conference, a three-day summit that drew four governors from the United States and six from Mexico. Among the problems the governors agreed to tackle next year was the reduction of border crossing times.

Currently, passenger vehicles can wait up to two hours to cross the border, and commercial vehicles can wait up to four. These delays, according to the Schwarzenegger administration, could discourage tourism and other business.

Schwarzenegger said U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who also attended the conference, signaled a willingness to examine partnerships with private companies to develop new points of entry. Revenue from tolls could be used to repay construction bonds.

"Everyone agrees that we need to expand the pipe . . . which means that we can get more people across quicker, more efficiently," Schwarzenegger said at a news conference at Universal Studios, where the conference took place.

The governor said there could be legal hurdles to involving private developers at crossing points and acknowledged that the idea might be controversial.

Schwarzenegger said the governors' representatives would meet with federal officials soon to figure out how to create such partnerships without drawing criticism that "you're selling off the border" or giving up control.

Will Kempton, director of the California Department of Transportation, said the tolling system would be an extension of current lanes dedicated to passenger and commercial vehicles that have paid to pre-register so they can move through crossings faster.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-border16-2008aug16,0,7552656.story

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5.
Contractors oppose rule on employee citizenship verification
By Gregg CArlstrom
The Federal Times, August 18, 2008

Contractors are opposing a government plan that would require them to verify the immigration status of their employees.

They say the proposed plan, which could take effect in the next few months, would be a huge drain on their human resources staff. And they argue that there’s little evidence contractors are employing illegal immigrants.

The proposal would affect companies that win new federal contracts — they would be required to verify the immigration status of all employees working on a contract within 30 days of receiving it, including those working abroad. Contractors would also have to verify all new hires — whether or not they perform government work — for the duration of the contract.

The Homeland Security Department proposed the rule in June, in response to an executive order from President Bush directing agencies to verify that their contract employees are legally employed. Companies would be required to use E-Verify, the electronic verification system managed by Citizenship and Immigration Services.

More than 100 public comments on the proposed rule were sent to Homeland Security, mostly from contractors calling on the department to scuttle the plan. Criticism came from Lockheed Martin, Dynamics Research Corporation, IntelliDyne, the Professional Services Council, the Society for Human Resource Management, and a number of religious groups that advocate for immigrants’ rights.

Contracting groups have two main concerns about E-Verify. They claim it is not capable of handling so much activity, and that it generates a high number of incorrect results.

“E-Verify is just not ready,” said Olga Grkavac, executive vice president of the Information Technology Association of America. “Government and industry need time to improve the system and scale it, from limited use to the millions of private-sector employees working for the federal government.”

Industry advocates complain the new rule would have a major impact on business. The larger contractors would be required to check tens of thousands of employees — and even if each query takes only one minute, as CIS estimates, the burden adds up.

The Office of Management and Budget estimates the regulation would cost employers about $300 million over the next 10 years.
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http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=3677392

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6.
Pay-for-visa plan could revive Houston's Old Chinatown
Developer is marketing the area to wealthy foreign investors
By Purva Patel
The Houston Chronicle, August 18, 2008

Dan Nip's tried twice already. But this time he thinks he's figured out how to muster the development money to make Old Chinatown new again.

The answer may be in a little known federal program for wealthy foreign nationals who want to move to the U.S. — the EB-5 visa.

In exchange for a $1 million business investment that creates at least 10 jobs for at least two years, the immigrant gets permanent residency in the U.S., or what's known as a "green card."

For those willing to invest in economically depressed areas, such as Old Chinatown, the investment requirement drops to $500,000.

"For years and years and years we tried to redevelop that area, but for some reason nobody paid attention to it," said Nip, a Houston real estate developer who immigrated from China decades ago. "This program might help us move forward and attract more development there."

Though the EB-5 visa program has been criticized for favoring the wealthy, proponents say it attracts foreign investment and streamlines the process for investors who otherwise may park their money elsewhere.

The federal government's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved the east Houston area as the first local targeted area for the lower investment amounts in April 2007. The area borders U.S. 59 on the west, Preston Street on the north, St. Joseph Parkway on the south and Dowling on the east.

Nip and other silent investors, whom he declined to name, formed Global Century Development Group to market the area to foreign nationals and manage their investments.

The group can't share potential investment projects for the area yet because they haven't been finalized, Nip said.

Of the 31 investment zones approved under the program nationwide, 12 are active. Other approved investments include resorts in Vermont, an office building in New Orleans and dairy farms in South Dakota.

In 2007, such zones drew an estimated $500 million in investments, and that's projected to double to $1 billion this year, according to the immigration services.

The agency couldn't say exactly how many immigrants living in Houston have invested here in nontargeted areas under the program, but immigration attorneys say clients have invested in everything from office buildings to restaurants.

Some call it unfair

Some critics say the so-called "million-dollar visa" is unfair because it essentially allows wealthy immigrants and their families to buy their way into the country.

"It's selling green cards for all intents and purposes," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies and author of The New Case Against Immigration: Both Legal and Illegal. "If somebody wants to invest here, more power to them, but we're not some podunk community."

Critics are also quick to point out that the visa program, created in 1990 to attract foreign investment, was rife with abuse in the late 1990s as some investors tried to circumvent job and capital requirements.

But oversight has since gotten more stringent and applicants on conditional green cards must show after two years that they created jobs and invested money before they are granted permanent residency.

The strict requirements of proof, as well as the large investment amounts, have kept the EB-5 program from being used much, attorneys said.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5949744.html

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7.
After immigration raid, troubled Kosher meatpacking firm Agriprocessors soldiers on in Iowa
By Henry C. JAckson
The Associated Press, August 17, 2008

Postville, IA (AP) -- Three months after the nation's largest immigration raid, chickens and beef carcasses are again moving down the line at Agriprocessors' sprawling kosher meatpacking plant, but managers acknowledge that business still isn't back to normal.

The biggest problem is hiring people to replace the 389 workers arrested by immigration agents, managers told The Associated Press. More than 1,000 people worked at the plant before the May 12 raid.

And then there's the possibility that the state attorney general could file charges against the company following an Iowa Labor Commission investigation that alleged 57 cases of child labor law violations.

"Sure, it is challenging," said Chaim Abrahams, a manager at Agriprocessors. "Running a plant day to day no matter what is challenging. But we are ambitious and determined to restore it.

"And we're doing it with a smile."

That optimism isn't shared by some in this isolated community of 2,200 people in northeast Iowa. Many blame Agriprocessors for the tumult surrounding the raid, which pushed people out of jobs and homes, and in some cases separated children from parents.

Some residents said they're aghast at stories they've heard about conditions inside the plant, the town's biggest employer, where workers have complained of physical abuse by managers, wage violations and the hiring of underage employees.

"It would be great to have the plant but have it run by a different company or a different family," said the Rev. Lloyd Paul Ouderkirk of St. Bridget's Catholic Church.

Managers say their biggest problem is hiring enough qualified workers, at wages of $10 an hour or more, to replace the allegedly illegal immigrants caught by the federal raid.

Abrahams said the plant was operating at about half capacity.

"There's a lot of ups and downs when you are recruiting so quickly," Abrahams said. "It's a process that's evolving every day ... we're constantly building."

Abrahams explained the company's challenges while walking past workers dressed in blood-spattered smocks, worn over sweat shirts that warded off the chilly temperatures inside the plant. Most wore hair nets and hard hats as well as heavy boots to protect their feet against the inevitable animal flesh and blood found in a meatpacking plant.

Among those hired to recruit workers was James Cord, a regional manager with Jacobson Companies.

"Coming in within six weeks with enough people to get the plant to full capacity isn't a challenge ... it's nearly impossible," Cord said.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-agriprocessor...