1.Voting record not a good test
2.Immigrant kids even less active
3.VA city enforcement causes exodus
4.PA murder case shows tensions
5.Mistreating HIV detainees alleged
6.Factory embodies immigration debate
7.Tribesman accused of fraud

1.
Scholars Say McCain, Obama’s Immigration Votes No Guide To How They Would Govern
By Caitlin Webber
The Congressional Quarterly (Washington, DC), August 4, 2008

Voting records and campaign pronouncements are the coin of the realm for pundits trying to predict how a presidential contender will lead once he moves into the Oval Office.

But presidential scholars say congressional votes and campaign promises are rarely an accurate predictor of presidential behavior, in large part because the differences between being a legislator and being an executive are so different.

And those indicators are even less helpful, historians said, in predicting how Sens. Barack Obama , D-Ill., and John McCain , R-Ariz., would handle immigration policy because there is little in their congressional voting records and stump speeches to set the two apart.

“Once you’re president everything changes, there are wholly are different set of pressures and wholly different consistencies,” presidential historian Allan Lichtman of American University said in an interview. “You’re no longer representing Illinois or Arizona, but a national political party and an entire nation.”

Some change is expected because the transition from Congress to the executive is an evolutionary process, like a child growing up, according to David Abshire, president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency.

But while former congressmen-turned-presidents can take on issues of broader interest when their constituency is the entire nation, there are still institutional constraints. Foremost among those are the demands of party constituencies.

“A president is not just a free-wheeler. He’s got to be a party leader,” Abshire says, “He can’t lose his base, but at the same time he can’t just default to the base and let it lead him.”

Lichtman said that history proves congressional votes and reputations don’t translate once you’re president.
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http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=2&docID=hsnews-000002934239

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2.
Many immigrant children even less active than U.S.-born children, study of nearly 70,000 says
By Lindsey Tanner
The Associated Press, August 4, 2008

Chicago (AP) --- Many immigrant children get even less vigorous exercise than their U.S.-born counterparts, the largest study of its kind suggests. Plenty of earlier evidence shows that U.S. children are pretty inactive. The new study of nearly 70,000 children simply found even lower levels of activity among immigrants.

Almost 18 percent of foreign-born children with immigrant parents got no vigorous exercise on any days of the week, and 56 percent didn't participate in organized sports.

By contrast, 11 percent of U.S.-born children with American parents got no vigorous exercise, and 41 percent didn't participate in sports.

Given the obesity epidemic and immigrants accounting for about 13 percent of the U.S. population, the authors said it is important to know whether there are ethnic differences in physical activity and sedentary behaviors. They were led by Dr. Gopal Singh, a researcher at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services's Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

Here's how the researchers explain their results: Immigrant families surveyed were on the whole poorer than nonimmigrants and lived in less safe neighborhoods. That means they likely had less time for exercise and sports, and worse access to places to engage in those activities.

But also, many immigrant parents place a high emphasis on reading, language lessons, studying and other inactive pursuits.

Interestingly, earlier research found that immigrants tend to be less overweight and obese than people born and raised in the United States. That difference tends to wear off with longer exposure to U.S. culture including junk food and television.

The new study also found that immigrant children generally watched less TV than American-born kids, although it did not look at obesity levels.

"Many of our American norms are not healthy," said Dr. Sarah Armstrong, a Duke University childhood obesity expert. "Could we just teach them our good habits, and not our bad?"

Armstrong said it was the largest study by far to look at the topic.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/ats-ap-med-inactive-...

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3.
America: Undocumented Workers
Hispanic America on the Move
Latinos' mass exodus from Manassas puts city at forefront of immigrant shift
By John Ibbitson
The Globe and Mail (Canada), August 5, 2008

Manassas, VA -- People look warily at the Anglo in the good clothes, carrying a notepad and knocking on doors along this ramshackle row of trailer homes. Most won't talk, but Mario reluctantly answers a few questions, with his teenage daughter acting as translator.

"The people are scared," he says. "They are moving away to states where there is no discrimination."

Mario is a Latino immigrant, living near the edge of this city on the edge of greater Washington. Are he and his family here legally?

"Some of us are legal," he replies. "Others are visiting."

Those "visiting" Latinos are fleeing Manassas. The city is in Prince William County, a community at the forefront of a profound shift under way in America. Large numbers of Hispanic immigrants are moving from areas hostile to illegal immigrants to places where the laws are laxer.

Hundreds of thousands more are quitting the United States entirely and returning to Mexico and other Latin American countries.

One recent report says 10 per cent of America's 12 million illegal Latino immigrants have fled the country in the past 12 months.

Once again, Latino America is on the move.

Four times since 2005, Congress tried but failed to find some path to legality for the illegal Latino immigrants. With the federal government paralyzed, state and local governments started taking action on their own.

In July, 2007, Prince William passed some of the strictest laws in the country affecting undocumented workers, the euphemism for illegal immigrants. The county created a police unit dedicated to locating illegals. Police were ordered to check the immigration status of everyone they arrest. Some city services are denied to anyone who cannot prove they are a legal resident.

Although the evidence is speculative and anecdotal, the drive appears to be working. Illegal immigrants are abandoning their homes and moving to other counties, where there is less danger of being deported.

One in every 111 homes in the county went into foreclosure in May. As many as 7,000 homes are thought to be vacant. The crackdown isn't the sole reason: declining housing prices have dried up construction jobs and slowed the economy, forcing immigrants to move elsewhere in search of work. And some of those foreclosures are victims of the bursting subprime mortgage bubble.

But Brad Puckett can testify to the outflow firsthand. He works at a car dealership that specializes in leasing and selling vehicles to customers with less-than-perfect credit. A year ago, Latino customers made up 60 per cent of the firm's business. Now it's 35 per cent.

"I don't believe it's the proper thing" to target illegal immigrants, he says. "These are good people who are just trying to make a living."

Nationally, the Latino illegal-immigrant population has declined by 11 per cent over the past 12 months, to 11.2 million from 12.5 million, according to a study released last week by the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that advocates for tighter immigration controls. Immigrants-rights advocates questioned the accuracy of the report, which is based on Census Bureau estimates of less-educated Hispanic adults living in the United States.

"There are huge doubts about the credibility of the analysis," maintains Craig Regelbrugge, co-chairman of Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform.

But "are people moving around because of shifting economic patterns, and are some deciding to move home? Absolutely."

While it is difficult to accurately assess cause and effect, the decline coincides with a raft of new measures to encourage illegal immigrants to leave the country. The Department of Homeland Security has staged several high-profile raids on workplaces harbouring large numbers of illegal immigrants. In the first six months of this year, 39 states passed at least 175 immigration-related laws. Some of them require employers to verify the legal status of their workers or face stiff fines or even the loss of their business licence. Others prohibit landlords from renting apartments to illegals. Still others require proof of legal residency before they will issue or renew a driver's licence.
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080805.IBBITSON05/TPS...

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4.
Mexican’s Death Bares a Town’s Ethnic Tension
By Sean D. Hamill
The New York Times, August 5, 2008

Shneandoah, PA -- Crystal Dillman knows that four teenagers have been charged in the death of her fiancé, Luis Ramirez, that the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is monitoring the case and that most people in this small town in the Appalachian Mountains believe it was a horrible crime.

But Ms. Dillman, the mother of Mr. Ramirez’s two young children, is not sure justice will prevail.

“I think they might get off,” she said of the four teenagers, “because Luis was an illegal Mexican and these are ‘all-American boys’ on the football team who get good grades, or whatever they’re saying about them. They’ll find some way to let them go.”

The case has raised similar concerns among Latinos across the country.

“For many Latinos, this is a case of enough is enough,” said Gladys Limón, a staff lawyer for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “And it can help us get attention to the wider issue that this is happening all over the country, not just to illegal immigrants, but legal, and anyone who is perceived to be Latino.”

Mr. Ramirez, 25, who had been in the country illegally for six years, picking crops and working in factories, died July 14 from head injuries received two days earlier.

Investigators said he had gotten into a fight with a group of teenage boys — most or all of them members of the town’s high school football team, the Blue Devils — who left him unconscious in a residential street, foaming at the mouth.

Exactly what happened during the fight is still hotly debated on Internet message boards in Shen’doh, as the town is called, with some saying it was just a street fight that went bad, and others claiming the teenagers singled out a Mexican immigrant for a beating and made anti-Mexican remarks.

Since Mr. Ramirez’s death, this town of 5,600 has been bitterly divided over the case, illuminating ethnic tensions that surprised town leaders.

“I’ve heard things like, ‘We don’t want to send our kids back to school because we’re afraid people don’t like Mexicans,’ ” Mayor Thomas O’Neill said. “That’s shocking to me. That is not the Shenandoah I know.”

Prosecutors have charged Brandon Piekarski, 16, and Collin Walsh, 17, with homicide, ethnic intimidation and other counts in adult court, though their lawyers are trying to have the case moved to juvenile court.

Derrick Donchak, 18, was charged with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and other counts, including providing liquor to the other boys on the night of the confrontation. All were members of the football team; Mr. Donchak was its starting quarterback.

A 17-year-old, whose name has not been released, was charged in juvenile court with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and other charges.

They have all pleaded not guilty.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/us/05attack.html

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5.
Activists: Mexican's death shows HIV-infected migrants suffer neglect in US detention
By Julie Watson
The Associated Press, August 4, 2008

Mexico City (AP) -- Olga Arellano sobs as she recalls how her HIV-positive daughter spent two months succumbing to infections in a U.S. migrant detention center, complaining that she didn't see a doctor or get the right medicine.

Fellow inmates also begged for help after Victoria Arellano started vomiting blood in their holding cell, where her lawyer said 105 detainees were crammed onto bunks and mattresses in a space designed for 40.

She died three days later, chained to a hospital bed.

The death of the 23-year-old transgender Mexican immigrant is at the forefront of discussions at this week's international AIDS conference in Mexico City. Rights activists say it shows the failure of immigration officials to deal humanely with HIV-positive inmates among the 30,000 migrants held in detention centers across the United States.

New York-based Human Rights Watch surveyed detention center officials and inmates after Arellano's death and found 14 cases in which it said HIV-infected immigrants were not given proper care while in custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Presented with details of the allegations by the Arellano family and the rights group, ICE spokesman Brandon A. Alvarez-Montgomery told the AP that he couldn't comment since Arellano is suing the agency. When Human Rights Watch first presented its report in December, ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said "ensuring the welfare and safety of those in our custody is one of our top priorities."

Activists say many HIV-infected migrants in U.S. detention centers are not given their medicine regularly, which is crucial to their survival. People with HIV can live otherwise healthy lives if they take a strict regimen of specific medications each day and closely monitor their blood cells to be sure their immune systems are working.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/ats-ap-aids-conferen...

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6.
Family owners of kosher Iowa slaughterhouse are embroiled in immigration debate
By David B. Caruso
The Associated Press, August 4, 2008

New York (AP) -- Two decades ago, the Rubashkin family of Brooklyn opened up a kosher slaughterhouse amid the cornfields of Iowa — not exactly a center of Jewish culture.

The bearded, fedora-wearing strangers from Brooklyn quickly transformed Postville into its own small-town melting pot. Immigrants from Guatemala and Mexico began arriving in great numbers to work at the slaughterhouse. Soon, the town was home to churches and temples, and the shelves of the grocery stores were stocked with tortillas and bagels.

Lately, though, the Rubashkins' grand cultural experiment seems to have lost any chance at a feel-good ending.

The family's Iowa business, Agriprocessors, the nation's biggest supplier of kosher meat, was raided by U.S. immigration agents in May. Nearly 400 workers, mostly Guatemalans, were swept up and jailed and are likely to be deported as illegal immigrants.

Labor organizers and workers have also accused the company of exploiting its employees, tolerating abusive behavior by managers and illegally hiring teenagers to work on the factory floor.

A few Jewish groups have questioned whether the plant, given its problems, should keep its kosher certification.

It all adds up to a mess for a family that has never sought attention, and now feels it is being attacked unfairly, especially by the media.

"The press? Terrible!" the family's patriarch, Aaron Rubashkin, told a reporter with the Jewish news service JTA during a rare interview in June. He said allegations that the company knowingly hired illegal immigrants and children and tolerated abusive conditions were all lies.

"I wish everybody would be treated like we treat people," he said.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-kosher-slaugh...

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7.
Feds, group claiming to be tribe wage legal fight in prosecution over illegal immigration
By Roxana Hegeman
The Associated Press, August 5, 2008

Wichita, KS (AP) -- When federal agents raided the offices of the Kaweah Indian Nation, Malcolm Webber told the arresting officer he had not committed fraud and was confused how he could be arrested on "sovereign soil," court documents show.

Now, almost a year later, Webber must defend himself against charges that he and his so-called tribe defrauded immigrants by claiming that tribal membership conferred U.S. citizenship. He is scheduled to go to trial Tuesday.

Prosecutors filed a motion on Monday to dismiss charges against the tribe, leaving the trial to focus on Webber alone.

His attorney, Kurt Kerns, told the federal judge last week that the defense will argue that Webber believed his actions were legal. In hopes of bolstering his argument that his client had no criminal intent, Kerns said he plans to introduce as evidence two books that he contends gave Webber the idea to sell tribal memberships to immigrants.

Webber, 70, of Bel Aire, also known as Grand Chief Thunderbird IV, is charged with two counts of harboring illegal immigrants, two counts of possession of false documents with intent to defraud the United States, two counts of conspiracy with intent to defraud the United States, one count of mail fraud and one count seeking criminal forfeiture.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-immigration-i...