1. Pols avoid topic at nat'l conventions
2. GOP want only legal residents counted
3. McCain struggles to maintain Hispanic support
4. ACLU accuses NJ schools of status checks
5. NV schools see foreign enrollment grow 300%
6. Employment opportunities shrinking
7. Illegals stay put during hurricane
8. Illegal sues USBP after being hit

1.
Parties may see immigration as no-win
Local advocates say they're hearing little at conventions
By Tom Kisken
The Ventura County Star (CA), September 3, 2008

Pundits say both presidential candidates view immigration as a no-win issue that won't be addressed during the campaign. What's your opinion?

They journeyed 24 hours from Oxnard to Denver and then 24 hours back, driving through the night in three large vans. They demonstrated, chatted up delegates and politicked for change.

But the fight for immigration reform that brought 47 immigrants and advocates from Oxnard to the Democratic National Convention didn't generate more than a heartbeat or two of attention from podium speakers, including presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Political analysts say they'll be surprised if Republicans in St. Paul this week spend any more time talking about an issue guaranteed to divide voters.

"I think for political reasons, they really don't want to talk about it," said Alicia Flores, the Oxnard reform advocate who helped organize the trip to Denver and this week has her television tuned to the Republican National Convention. "My message to them is that we're here. And we also vote."

Pundits speculate that both parties have pegged immigration as a no-win issue, at least at national conventions where a message tailored to one group can disenfranchise the next. No matter what they say or what side they take, they run the risk of losing potential votes.

"Immigration will be the elephant in the room for the next two months and maybe the next few years," said Tom Hogen-Esch, an associate professor of political science at CSU Northridge.

It was different when millions of immigrants marched in cities across the nation, demanding amnesty and chanting "Si se puede." If the convention had been held in 2005, immigration would have been one of the top three issues, Hogen-Esch said.
. . .
Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies that advocates for more enforcement against illegal immigrants, said the stances are similar enough that there's an unspoken agreement between the parties not to push the issue.

He thinks Democrats worry about alienating independent swing voters. McCain doesn't want to scare away Republicans ardently opposed to immigration reform.

That's why the candidate likely won't say much more about immigration in his convention speech Thursday than to acknowledge it's an issue, Krikorian said.

"He'll say something in his speech that they're all God's children, but we need to have border control first," he said. "If he says more than two or three sentences about it, I'll be surprised."
. . .
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/sep/03/parties-may-see-immigr...

********
********

2.
GOP platform says only legal residents should be counted in census
By Jim Abrams
The Associated Press, September 2, 2008

Washington, DC (AP) -- The 2008 Republican platform, in language that is hostile to illegal immigrants, says the makeup of Congress should be determined by counting only those legally residing in the United States in the next census.

"The integrity of the 2010 census, proportioning congressional representation among the states, must be preserved," says the platform language, which is a reinterpretation of the Constitution that could affect how congressional seats are apportioned. "The census," it says, "should count every person legally abiding in the United States in an actual enumeration."

The 14th Amendment of the Constitution, ratified in 1868, says representatives to the U.S. House "should be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed."

"Our mandate is to count all residents regardless of legal status," said Mark Tolbert, a spokesman for the Census Bureau.

The bureau does not ask questions about legal status. Immigration groups have put the number of illegal immigrants at up to 12 million out of a U.S. population of more than 300 million.

Michigan Republican Rep. Candice Miller has proposed a constitutional amendment specifying that congressional representation "shall be determined by counting the number of persons in each state who are citizens of the United States."
. . .
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-cvn-gop-cen...

********
********

3.
Hispanic voters a tough sell for McCain
The Republican candidate who received ample Latino support in his Senate races sees the bloc leaning heavily toward his rival
By Rick Pearson
The Chicago Tribune, September 3, 2008

St. Paul -- Gabriela Wyatt said she came to the United States from Mexico in 1992 because, with the advent of the North American Free Trade Agreement, her work would require her to learn English. She never went back.

Working in her family's restaurant in the U.S., Wyatt fell in love but told the boss at her government office back in Mexico that she needed more time in the States. She married, earned her citizenship and now is a first-time delegate to the Republican National Convention from Aurora and the Illinois Latino outreach director for presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

Wyatt praises McCain for his effort—ultimately unsuccessful—to broker a deal on Immigration reform, a plan that called for border enforcement but also included a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, prompting protests from Republicans.

"The conversation became very extreme on both sides, and there was a man of steel standing in the middle trying to fight for it," Wyatt said of the Arizona senator. "He was not worried about the political backlash. He was just trying to solve that issue."

McCain, however, has since conceded to Republican voters that he should have first pushed a plan to secure the borders before considering whether to provide a path to citizenship to 12 million undocumented immigrants.

McCain's evolution on the Immigration issue may be among the problems he faces in cultivating support from Latino voters, fast turning into a key voting bloc.

Not just Immigration voters

Heading into the nation's presidential nominating conventions, Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois held a lead ranging from 27 to 43 percentage points over McCain in polls of Hispanics, who make up almost 10 percent of the nation's voters and are expected to make up nearly one-third of the country's population by 2050.

Those survey results are unusual for McCain, who typically enjoyed overwhelming Latino support in his Senate contests. They also fall far short of the roughly 40 percent Hispanic support President George W. Bush received in his 2004 re-election bid.

Some voting experts say the issue of Immigration is too narrow to focus on in measuring the Hispanic vote. Polls show Latino concerns echo those of voters at large—the economy, jobs, health care, education and crime.
. . .
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-hispanicssep03,0,3609...

********
********

4.
ACLU: 20% of NJ schools asking about immigration
The Fort Mill Times (NJ), September 3, 2008

Newark, NJ -- The American Civil Liberties Union says at least one-fifth of New Jersey's school districts are asking students their immigration status as they register for school.

The ACLU says it violates state and federal law to ask.

Compliance in the ACLU's survey this year was little better than two years ago, after which the state Department of Education warned districts not to ask about students' immigration status.
. . .
http://www.fortmilltimes.com/124/story/277171.html

********
********

5.
Report: 300%+ Increase in Immigrant Students in Washoe County
By Kellene Stockwell
The KTVN News (Reno, NV), September 2, 2008

The number of immigrant students enrolled in the Washoe County School District has jumped more than 300% in the last 12 years.

In the 1996-1997 school year there were 565 immigrant students according to district figures; at the end of last year, there were 1,743 immigrants - an increase of 308%.
. . .
http://www.ktvn.com/Global/story.asp?S=8939846&nav=menu549_2

********
********

6.
Work disappears for day laborers
Immigrants find it harder to get by in slow economy
By Chris Echegaray
Tennessean (Nashville), September 2, 2008

The dawn has not yet arrived. Only the light from a gas station illuminates Victor Marquina, who walked in the darkness from his garage apartment. He is a day laborer looking for work.

Marquina sits on the curb, sipping coffee as others trickle in on a warm August morning. They wait, talking among themselves, but there is little work to be had. Marquina has no idea whether he will be chosen to work on this day. The same is true for the others.

Day laborers, berry pickers, taxi drivers and service industry workers like Marquina are the underbelly of the nation's economy, advocates and experts say, the underrepresented and the unwanted in American society. And now, they are hurting.

Nationwide, the economic slowdown has hit them hard — especially Hispanics. The real estate construction deceleration has spurred the loss of about 250,000 jobs in the past few years, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. For day laborers, just getting by has morphed into barely surviving, barely eating.

"They are the new Americans," says Megan Macaraeg, director of Middle Tennessee Jobs for Justice. "These workers are what makes the world go 'round. We have forgotten where we come from, who we are and the value of the work. They wash our cars, give us our rides from the airport and help in our building."

On any given day, according to studies, there are an estimated 120,000 day laborers — both legal and illegal — in the United States. They are bricklayers, painters, landscapers, anything their "patrones" — Spanish for bosses — want them to be.

During the height of the construction boom, they earned $12 or more an hour and held steady employment. Now, they earn much less working at places like carwashes or cleaning the seats and bathrooms at LP Field and Sommet Center.
. . .
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080902/NEWS01/809...

********
********

7.
Illegal immigrants opted to stay during hurricane
By Peter Prengaman
The Associated Press, August 2, 2008

New Orleans (AP) -- Many of the illegal immigrants who have been rebuilding New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina stayed behind when Gustav struck because they were afraid of being arrested if they boarded the buses and trains arranged by emergency officials.

"We know that people died during Katrina, but we had no choice but to stay here," said Carlos Mendoza, a 21-year-old illegal immigrant from Honduras who rode out the storm with seven other people. They took shelter in an apartment that is close to a street corner where day laborers congregate.

"Many stayed because of fear," Mendoza said. "I would say at least 50 percent of us."

Authorities offered to evacuate residents on buses and trains — and promised not to ferret out illegal immigrants. But fear of being arrested or deported kept Mendoza and every other undocumented person he knows from accepting the free ride.

Immigrant-rights groups estimate the city is home to as many as 30,000 illegal immigrants. No one knows how many stayed behind.

New Orleans' Hispanic population is tiny compared to other major American cities. But it was practically nonexistent until Katrina destroyed large swaths of the city. The reconstruction boom attracted thousands of illegal immigrants, mostly men from Mexico and Central America who worked as day laborers.

The jobs aren't quite as plentiful as they were immediately after Katrina. And even when work was easy to find, the pay wasn't always enough for immigrants to afford cars and the money needed to flee from a storm on their own.

On top of that, the government's crackdown on illegal immigrants has made day laborers nervous to travel.

"Moving around has become very difficult for undocumented workers," said Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Labor Organizing Network.

The city did take some steps to make it easier: Evacuation news releases were distributed in Spanish, and the city's 311 number had Spanish-speaking operators.
. . .
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iyJf4AjetFu540gIpceLrdgPMm5wD92UQEP00

********
********

8.
Illegal immigrant sues Border Patrol
By Leasa Conze
The KOLD News (Tucson, AZ), September 2, 2008

An illegal immigrant is suing the U.S. Border Patrol.

The man claims an agent ran over him and his daughter near Yuma two years ago, as the agent was pursuing other illegal immigrants.

The man's 12- year old daughter was killed.
. . .
http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=8940909