1. DHS self-deport program begins
2. Texas executes Mexican murderer
3. Requirements of SC law are vague
4. TN poultry plant cancels Labor Day
5. IA plant faces child labor charges
6. Four immigrants play ping-pong

1.
Government invites illegal immigrants to turn themselves in, but offer draws few takers
By Amy Taxin
The Associated Press, August 5, 2008

Santa Ana, CA (AP) -- Wanted: Illegal immigrants with clean records who have ignored court orders to leave the country. Immigration officials are standing by to help you leave the country. No jail. No joke.

That invitation drew hardly any takers Tuesday on the first day of a new federal "self-deportation" program that offered 457,000 eligible illegal immigrants the chance to turn themselves in, get their affairs in order and leave the country without being detained.

The tepid response only reinforced doubts about an idea that has drawn criticism and even ridicule from both sides of the immigration debate.

"You would have to be crazy — who would want to turn themselves in?" said Angel Martinez, a construction worker who waited Tuesday outside ICE's Charlotte, N.C., office while his son visited a friend detained on immigration violations.

"Nobody wants to go back," said Martinez, who came to the U.S. illegally 15 years ago from Mexico City. "We risked everything to get here for a reason."

The offer from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement runs through Aug. 22 in Santa Ana, San Diego, Chicago, Phoenix and Charlotte, N.C., as part of the agency's new Scheduled Departure Program. It could be expanded nationwide if successful.

Agents were waiting to speed people through the process — which grants participants up to three months to get their affairs in order and provides the comfort of knowing their homes won't be raided.

But by Tuesday afternoon, only one person — in Phoenix — took the offer, according to an ICE official who spoke on condition of anonymity because not all the numbers are in. Officials in the other cities said they had no takers by mid-afternoon.

"Are people actually doing it? I really find it hard to believe," said Wendy Chavez, 22, of Anaheim, who took her mother for a citizenship test.

An ICE advertising campaign being launched Wednesday targets so-called immigration "fugitives," illegal immigrants who got caught and ignored a judge's order to leave but avoided other trouble with the law.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-immigration-s...

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2.
Texas executes Mexican killer amid international protests
The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to grant a reprieve urged by Mexico and an international court. Jose Ernesto Medellin was convicted of raping and killing two Texas teens in 1993.
By Reed Johnson
Los Angeles Times, August 5, 2008

Mexico City -- Jose Ernesto Medellin, a Mexican national convicted of the 1993 rape and murder of two Texas girls, was executed Tuesday night in Texas after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant a reprieve.

"I'm sorry my actions caused you pain. I hope this brings you the closure that you seek. Never harbor hate," Medellin, 33, told those gathered to watch him die. He was pronounced dead at 9:57 p.m. local time.

Demonstrations had been held in Mexico in anticipation of the execution. The controversy surrounding his execution, as well as concern here over the fate of 50 other Mexican citizens on U.S. death rows, appears likely to continue.

"It is striking the difference of perspective between the United States and many other countries," said David Fathi, U.S. program director for the group Human Rights Watch, which had opposed the execution.

"I think that [this] illustrates the widening gap."

Medellin was 18 when he and five fellow gang members raped Elizabeth Pena, 16, and Jennifer Ertman, 14, then beat and strangled them. Medellin later boasted to friends about the deed.

The buildup to Tuesday's execution drew worldwide attention and involved a host of players and institutions beyond the United States and Mexico.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague sided in 2004 with the Mexican government's argument that the United States had violated the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by failing to inform the arrested Mexican nationals of their right to seek help from the Mexican Consulate.

Mexico has asked that all 51 convictions be reviewed, creating the possibility for new trials or outright dismissals. The Hague court had ordered the United States not to execute any of five men on death row in Texas while the court reviewed their cases.

But the court, a branch of the United Nations, has no power to enforce its rulings. A spokesman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, has said that "the world court has no standing in Texas."
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-execute6-2008aug06,0...

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3.
Immigration law fuzzy on enforcement details, impacts
Labors Lost
By Greg Hambrick
The Charleston City Paper (SC), August 6, 2008

Calls have been steady ever since the governor signed a law in early June laying out employment verification requirements for all of South Carolina's business owners. Sometimes it's a contractor claiming that his competition is underbidding him by using cheap, illegal workers. Other times it might be someone randomly driving past a work site.

"We're averaging about one a day," says Jim Knight, spokesman for the Department of Labor, Licensing, and Review, which is responsible for enforcing the law. "That's just the ones who leave a message."

A recorded voice tells callers the state law will be largely unenforceable for nearly two years. But there appears to be a steady stream of folks who just need to vent.

Passed in early June, the new law lays out requirements for business owners above and beyond the standard employee verification mandated by Washington. By July 2010, every new employee will have their immigrant status verified, either using a valid South Carolina drivers license, a license from a state with similar standards, or through the currently voluntary federal E-Verify system.

The argument is that the existing check for illegal workers, the federal I-9 form, has been ignored or abused by employers. Whether they're the culprit or the scapegoat, business owners now can consider themselves the latest unit of the border patrol. Every employee will have to be checked, be it a Latino worker or your neighbor's kid who was born at Roper.

The state's Labor Department has launched an informational website, www.llr.state.sc.us/immigration, but questions linger.

Department staffing and enforcement costs have yet to be determined, Knight says. No funds has been provided, but legislators have said they'll find the money when it's needed next year.

The mechanics of the law are also missing. The new law makes reference to local business licences, but violations will only impact the state's newly minted "employment license," says lawyer Lee Gibbs Depret-Bixio.

"No one has to apply for it, but you can lose it," she says.

The license is vague; it's more like an implied privilege the state can withdraw if abused. The Department of Labor will have a list on its website of business owners who have lost their licenses.

There's no clear understanding of how the penalties will be enforced. Particularly in industries that would seemingly be the most affected by the new law — construction and landscaping — where workers are transient and can easily move from one area to another to dodge enforcement. The Labor Department will draft regulations this fall and present them to the legislature next year, Knight says.

By that point, large public contractors (with 500 or more employees) will already be required to follow the new law. Other public contractors and private employers of more than 100 will follow by July. All other private employers will have until July 2010.

But the lack of specificity on penalties might not be such a pressing issue. Beaufort County's local employment verification requirements (which includes independent local inspection of federal I-9 forms) has led to the auditing of more than 300 businesses since April.
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The Center for Immigration Studies released a report last week claiming 1.3 million illegal immigrants left the country between last August and May 2008, due in part to increased enforcement (the decline began prior to January, when unemployment numbers spiked among immigrants). If the exodus continues, the U.S.'s illegal population will be cut in half within five years, the report notes.

There's always a concern about the workforce in South Carolina, says Tom Sponseller, president and CEO of the Hospitality Association of South Carolina.

"In some areas of the state, there just never are enough residents there to fill all the jobs," he says.

Local employers likely impacted by the new law refused to comment for this story, but they've expressed their frustration elsewhere. Speaking at a public hearing on a new toll road across Johns Island, Roger Warren, president of the Kiawah Island Golf Resorts said the road could make his business more attractive to local workers.
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http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/PrintFriendly?oid=oid%3A49599

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4.
Muslim Holiday at Tyson Plant Creates Furor
By Steven Greenhouse
The New York Times, August 5, 2008

The union that represents workers at a Tyson Foods poultry plant in Tennessee has negotiated a contract that substitutes a Muslim holiday for Labor Day as one of the eight paid holidays at the plant.

The provision, which was proposed by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, has delighted the plant’s Somali workers, who account for hundreds of its 1,200 employees. But it has infuriated many outsiders, leading some to denounce Tyson and the union alike.

“You are a union that is proud of achieving a Muslim holiday and prayer room?” one person wrote the union. “A union in the U.S.A., a country based on Christianity. You call yourselves Americans? Have you forgotten 9/11?”

Another wrote: “You had no right to drop Labor Day. Muslim employees must integrate Labor Day into THEIR lives if they are going to live in America.”

Stung by the criticism, Stuart Appelbaum, the union’s president, said the decision was fully consistent with the spirit of Labor Day.

“We in the labor movement have always understood that unions are only strong when we work to protect the dignity of all faiths, and that includes Muslims,” said Mr. Appelbaum, who also serves as president of the Jewish Labor Committee.

“What we negotiated was the will of the workers,” said Mr. Appelbaum, who added that his was the first union to negotiate a paid day off for a Muslim holiday and that he was sure Tyson would not be the last employer to agree.

The plant affected is in the town of Shelbyville, some 40 miles south of Nashville. Under a five-year contract there, Id al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, is now one of the plant’s eight paid holidays.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/us/06muslim.html?

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State Department 'going out of its way' to accommodate Muslims
By Chad Groening
OneNewsNow, August 6, 2008
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Printer.aspx?id=204912

The head of an immigration reform organization says the recent controversy over a union contract at a Tyson Foods processing plant in Tennessee can be traced to the State Department going out of its way to allow Islamic "refugees" into the United States.

Mark Krikorian is executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). His new book is called The New Case Against Immigration: Both Legal and Illegal. He says it is outrageous that union employees at the Tyson processing plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee, will not have Labor Day as a paid holiday this year, but instead will be celebrating the end of Ramadan on October 1.

The plant has also provided a "prayer room" to accommodate the 250 Muslim employees, mostly Somalis, who work at the plant. Krikorian contends this is a far cry from a century ago when Henry Ford set up English classes at his plants for new immigrants.

"The first sentence that immigrants learned in Henry Ford's English classes [was] 'I want to be a good American.' And today what is Tyson doing? It's giving all workers, Muslim and non-Muslim workers, an Islamic holiday off and replacing Labor Day," he explains. "I mean it's really pretty outrageous."

And Krikorian says a significant element of Somali refugee resettlement to the United States is completely unnecessary in the first place.

"Tanzania and Mozambique actually offered to take these people. But they needed the United States and the U.N. to provide funding for resettlement," he adds. "Instead the State Department said, 'No we're just going to bring them into the United States.' It's insane!"

The policy, according to Krikorian, undermines the basic concept for refugee resettlement, which is that bringing refugees to the United States should be the last option.

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5.
Inquiry Finds Under-Age Workers at Meat Plant
By Julia Preston
The New York Times, August 5, 2008

State labor investigators have identified 57 under-age workers who were employed at a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, and have asked the attorney general to bring criminal charges against the company for child labor violations, Dave Neil, the Iowa Labor Commissioner, said on Tuesday.

“The investigation brings to light egregious violations of virtually every aspect of Iowa’s child labor laws,” Mr. Neil said in a statement announcing the results of a seven-month investigation at Agriprocessors, the nation’s largest kosher meat plant.

In a raid in May, 389 illegal immigrant workers were detained there in the largest immigration enforcement operation ever at a single workplace.

Mr. Neil said that investigators had found multiple child labor law violations for each under-age worker at the plant. They included employing minors in prohibited occupations, exposing them to hazardous chemicals, and making them work with prohibited tools like knives and saws, he said.

In a statement, Agriprocessors said it was “at a loss to understand” the investigation results. The company said it had cooperated with the inquiry, providing documents and opening the plant to inspectors. Last year, Agriprocessors fired four workers who were under age but had provided false documents as evidence they were old enough to work, the statement said.

Kerry Koonce, a spokeswoman for Iowa Workforce Development, the state labor department, said the number of under-age workers was by far the largest in an Iowa child labor case.

If convicted on criminal charges, the company could face fines of $500,000 to $1 million, Ms. Koonce said.

On Friday, labor officials turned over a confidential report on the investigation to the Iowa attorney general, Tom Miller, who will now decide whether to bring charges. Mr. Neil said he had urged Mr. Miller to prosecute “to the full extent of the law,” making it very likely that charges would be brought.

A spokesman for Mr. Miller, Eric J. Tabor, said that prosecutors were examining the evidence but that no decision had been made.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/us/06meat.html

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6.
U.S. table tennis: Who says you can't go home again?
Los Angeles Times, August 6, 2008

Beijing -- All four members of the U.S. table tennis team are from China, so there figures to be some mixed emotions when the Olympic competition begins next week.

”I have Chinese and American fans cheering for me,” said women's team member Jun Gao, a silver medalist for China in the 1992 Barcelona Games. "I grew up here. I lived in Beijing for eight years. I feel so happy I can play here."

Just don't expect the Americans to enjoy any kind of homecourt advantage. No country plays table tennis as well as China, which has won the last four men's world team championships and 16 titles overall. The 17-time champion women's team has lost just one world championship since 1975.

Which is one reason why many teams, not just the Americans, will have native Chinese competing here. And U.S. Coach Teodor Gheorghe, an immigrant himself from Romania, says his players' background will help them cope with the rabid following table tennis has in China.

"They are not afraid. They are really excited," he said. "Everybody wants to play in their country. We've played against Chinese teams. We played against Chinese players.
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2008/08/who-says-you-ca.html