1. Candidates to shun immigration debate
2. Fed. raid nabs 350 illegal workers
3. Poll finds western voters divided
4. IN legislative panel to probe policy
5. WA initiative would restrict services
6. IA town worries of possible raid
7. Restrictionist rally fizzles
8. Poultry mogul calls for reform

1.
Immigration won't be top issue for either Obama or McCain
By Todd J. Gillman
The Dallas Morning News, August 26, 2008

Denver -- Mindful of Hispanics' growing clout, Barack Obama has vowed to push for comprehensive immigration reform as president.

But energy, the economy and Iraq get top billing at the Democratic National Convention. Immigration won't get prime-time airplay – and that's fine with many advocates.

"There's going to be a lot of meat cleavers that McCain can use on Obama," said Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., who represents 300 miles of border. "He can drag that bloody rag of immigration around if he wants to. But we're not going to hand him the rag."

Just as Sen. John McCain placated the GOP's right wing by promising to control the border before pushing a guest worker program he has long supported, Mr. Obama would alienate swing voters by coming off as too enthusiastic about amnesty for undocumented workers.

So both prefer not to see immigration become a major campaign issue, said Tamar Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorks USA, a business group that promotes comprehensive reform, which includes border security and a path to citizenship.

"Obama wants to make some promises and not have the conversation go any further," she said.
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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stori...

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2.
Hundreds of Workers Held in Immigration Raid
By Adam Nossiter
The New York Times, August 26, 2008

Laurel, MS -- In another large-scale workplace immigration crackdown, federal officials raided a factory here on Monday, detaining at least 350 workers they said were in the country illegally.

Numerous agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement descended on a factory belonging to Howard Industries Inc., which manufactures electrical transformers, among other products.

As of late Monday afternoon, no criminal charges had been filed, said Barbara Gonzalez, an agency spokeswoman, but she said that dozens of workers had been “identified, fingerprinted, interviewed, photographed and processed for removal from the U.S.”

The raid follows a similar large-scale immigration operation at a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, in May when nearly 400 workers were detained. That raid was a significant escalation of the Bush administration’s enforcement practices because those detained were not simply deported, as in previous raids, but were imprisoned for months on criminal charges of using false documents.

The mass rapid-fire hearings after the Postville raid took place in a temporary court facility on the grounds of the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, Iowa. An interpreter was later sharply critical of the proceedings, saying the immigrants did not understand the charges against them.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/us/26raid.html

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3.
Western voters show mixed feelings on immigration
The Associated Press, August 25, 2008

Las Vegas (AP) -- Nevadans and voters in five other Western states support efforts to curb illegal Mexico-U.S. immigration, but also say they prefer that illegal immigrants already in the country have a chance to apply for legal status rather than be deported, a new regional poll said.

In Nevada, 76 percent of those polled said they support efforts including completing a border fence and penalizing employers who hire illegal immigrants, the newspaper poll said. Regionally, 71 percent of voters said they supported such efforts.

The telephone poll of 400 likely voters each in the states of Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming aimed to gauge Westerners' feelings about issues including immigration, climate change and gun control.

The survey was commissioned jointly by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Denver Post and the Salt Lake Tribune, and was conducted Aug. 13-15 by Washington, D.C.-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc.

Regionally, 53 percent favored the legal status approach, compared with 38 percent who favored deportation. In Nevada, 48 percent said illegal immigrants should have a shot at legalization, while 42 percent said they should be deported.

The regional results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Individual state results have a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

“It's a mixed bag with immigration,” said pollster Brad Coker, Mason-Dixon managing partner. “People want border security and to have laws enforced, but they also understand there are people here working who are probably good for the economy.”
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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080825-1020-wst-poll-immigrat...

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4.
Committee takes on immigration
By Deanna Martin
The Associated Press, August 25, 2008

Indianapolis (AP) -- State lawmakers charged with studying illegal immigration this summer are hoping to collect facts - not political grandstanding or heated rhetoric - during meetings next month.

The summer study committee on immigration issues has scheduled Statehouse meetings Sept. 9 and Sept. 16. The committee's co-chairmen - Republican Sen. Dennis Kruse of Auburn and Democratic Rep. Scott Pelath of Michigan City - said they are considering holding other meetings around the state.

Pelath said the first meeting will focus on the scope of illegal immigration in Indiana.

"We want to find out how many illegal aliens are in our state right now, where they live and what they are doing to earn a living," Pelath said in a news release this month.

The committee is made up of both House and Senate members, including Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon, a Democrat from Munster who is the only Hispanic member of the House. Also on the panel is outspoken Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, who butted heads this year with several lawmakers, lobbyists and the business community as he pushed for a bill to crack down on companies hiring illegal workers.

Kruse said the study committee needs to understand how illegal immigration affects the state economy, law enforcement and families.

"I hope through accurate research and analysis we'll find an appropriate and bipartisan solution," Kruse said.

Lawmakers have struggled in the past to find common ground on immigration.

The House and Senate passed different versions of Delph's immigration bill earlier this year, although both versions would have created a three-tier punishment system for companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants after 2009.
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http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080825/NEWS/80825035

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5.
Immigration initiative seeks state crackdown
Under a proposed initiative, illegal immigrants in Washington would be prohibited from getting state driver's licenses and denied public benefits, and employers — both public and private — would be required to verify that new hires can legally work in the U.S.
By Lornet Turnbull
The Seattle Times, August 26, 2008

Under a proposed initiative, illegal immigrants in Washington would be prohibited from getting state driver's licenses and denied public benefits, and employers — both public and private — would be required to verify that new hires can legally work in the U.S.

Supporters of Initiative 409 are trying to collect 224,880 signatures by December to force the Legislature to either act on their proposal or place it before voters in the next general election.

The initiative is patterned after a series of measures approved by Arizona voters in recent years to make that border state an unpleasant place for illegal immigrants. Local proponents, who are now attending fairs and festivals hoping to collect signatures, acknowledge that theirs is a more difficult battle in a largely liberal state that has been reluctant to touch such measures.

"Right now, each state more or less decides whether they'll abide by federal law," said Hal Washburn, of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, one of the initiative backers and a civilian group that monitors the borders.

"The federal government is letting employers slide," he said. "We'd like to see our laws enforced, and we'd like to get the Legislature on record as to where they stand on these issues."

Dianne Aid, an immigrant advocate with St. Matthew's Church in Auburn, said she was approached at the recent Kent Cornucopia Days festival by a signature collector.

Initiative backers are waging a campaign of misinformation to scare people, she said, pointing out that rules exist to prevent illegal immigrants from benefiting from public assistance.

But those backers cite a state auditor's report that shows illegal immigrants benefited from $103 million in health-care services in 2004.

Aid called the provisions of the initiative inhumane and impractical.

"If we are going to enact these oppressive acts against immigrants, then we need to take a deeper look at our responsibility in creating this immigration crisis," she said.

The Minuteman group has teamed up with two others opposed to illegal immigration: Washingtonians for Immigration Reform and Grassroots of Yakima Valley.
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008138605_illegal26m.html

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6.
Town wonders if it's next to face immigration raid
By Henry C. Jackson
The Associated Press, August 26, 2008

Perry, IA (AP) -- Immigration agents had barely left Postville when word hit Perry, about 200 miles to the southwest, that another raid was coming.

The rumor, which turned out to be false, spread like prairie fire through this central Iowa city's Hispanic community, reflecting a new reality for many small towns that can't be shaken.

In places like Perry, where Hispanics now make up at least a quarter of the population, residents are left wondering, "Are we next?"

"We are more vulnerable now," asked Angelica Cardenas, 28, who works in Perry's school system. "There is always fear of something like this, but with these raids, we know now it's real."

The government's shift to high-profile immigration raids — 389 people were arrested at Postville's Agriprocessors Inc. on May 12, and 350 were rounded up at Howard Industries Inc. of Laurel, Miss., on Monday — has instilled fear in towns across the country.

"These raids have really highlighted the difficulties towns face in this situation," said Ana-Maria Garcia Wahl, an associate professor of sociology at Wake Forest University who studies immigration issues in the Midwest and South. "I'm not sure all of these towns have an ability to cope and provide the crisis intervention."

Postville has lost more than a quarter of its pre-raid population of 2,300. Besides the detained workers, scores more fled or went into hiding.
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http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hEDkwmO0OBqZ38rnoETWb05eEIewD92PRJCG0

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7.
Anti-immigrant rally fizzles as DNC opens
By Kristen Wyatt
The Associated Press, August 25, 2008

Denver (AP) -- Remember the hot immigration debate?

The topic won't be headlining either presidential convention this year - and the border security issue barely drew a crowd Monday to a daylong anti-illegal immigration rally in Denver aimed at keeping immigration before politicians this fall.

A rally by the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps featuring Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr drew just a few dozen people.

Held at a Denver park a few miles away from the Democratic National Convention, the rally was more of a picnic, where even some counter-protesters shouting obscenities at the anti-illegal immigration activists failed to stir much emotion.

The anti-illegal immigration activists concede that the topic has fallen off the political radar this summer amid economic concerns and energy worries. They contend Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are afraid to bring up the subject because they're both seeking Hispanic votes.

"They're trying to walk a fine line so they can not turn off the middle class vote but still get the Hispanic vote," said Ralph Kelly, 66, of Colorado Springs.

But like others chewing turkey sandwiches and sitting in folding chairs at the almost-empty rally, Kelly seemed sanguine about the lack of interest in immigration. The retired electronic assembly worker said he understands why people are more worried about the economy.

"If I was still working and faced with losing my job, I'd be more worried about it too," he said.

Most of the attendees were graying, and they expressed little hope they'd influence Democrats gathering just across town.
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http://www.examiner.com/a-1554309~Anti_immigrant_rally_fizzles_as_DNC_op...

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8.
Pilgrim's Pride chief joins voices calling for immigration change
By Diane Solis
The Dallas Morning News, August 25, 2008

Poultry mogul Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim on Monday called for an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws.

"We have to rise up and do something," the 80-year-old co-founder of Pilgrim's Pride Corp. said at a gathering of Texas employers. "Every individual, all 300 million of us, every man, woman and child, is touched by this issue. We all have to have food. We all have to have shelter. And America doesn't have the labor to support the economy."

Mr. Pilgrim discussed the issue at a meeting in Irving attended by about 100 members of the lobbying group Texas Employers for Immigration Reform.

TEIR is an offshoot of the Texas Association of Business, headed by former Dallas state representative Bill Hammond. The group wants a legalization program for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. and a guest worker program for future labor flows.
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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/082608dnbuspilgr...