1. Law prevents SSN cross checks
2. More security on northern border
3. GOP punts on issue at convention
4. Obama for 'streamlining' H-2Bs
5. Senate race debates in-state tuition
6. Hearing on RI measure delayed
7. PA town's law back in court
8. TX city's law challanged

1.
Law bars officials from cross-checking Social Security numbers
By Jill Riepenhoff and Stephanie Czekalinski
The Columbus Dispatch, September 8, 2008

Buddy Birdwell has a wife and two kids -- and more lives than a cat.

When he's not a resident of northeastern Oregon who refurbishes furniture and belongs to the National Rifle Association, he is:

Adrian, a Columbus fast-food worker with a history of domestic violence.

Ernesto, a 33-year-old Dublin man caught driving without a license two years ago.

Maria Theresa, who bought a $220,000 house in Phoenix in 2006.

Carlos in Phoenix; Hector in Tampa; Marcos in suburban Los Angeles; Meliton in western Michigan; Miguel in Sedona, Ariz.; and Sandra in Glendale, Ariz.

The common link?

Birdwell's Social Security number, issued in 1980.

A database of public records collected and maintained by the company Nexis shows that nine other people have used Birdwell's Social Security number. The Dispatch discovered the overlap while researching Adrian's background through the subscription service.

"It's scary," said Birdwell, 41, after T he Dispatch alerted him to the situation. "I have no idea where they could have gotten a hold of my number."

While it's possible there could be typos in the public documents involved, it's likely that many or all of the seven men and two women using his number are living in the country illegally.

How they ended up with his number is a mystery. He doesn't know anyone in Ohio, Michigan, Florida or Arizona, he said.

Every year, the Social Security Administration collects millions of dollars from workers whose names and nine-digit numbers don't match, then holds the unclaimed money in a reserve account that now contains billions of dollars.

For U.S. citizens and foreigners legally admitted to the country, a Social Security number allows the government to track their earnings and entitles them to retirement, disability and death benefits.

For immigrants living here without permission, an illegally obtained or made-up number may clear the way to a job. Since 1986, it has been illegal to hire a worker without a Social Security number or a valid visa.

Illegal immigrants buy Social Security numbers from shady brokers, borrow them with permission from people they know, steal them, invent them and share them. Some use numbers belonging to their U.S.-born children.

Using another person's Social Security number is identity theft, even if it's used solely to gain employment.

Yet federal privacy laws prevent the Social Security Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and the Internal Revenue Service from cross-checking their vast electronic databases to identify illegal workers.

They can't tell one another about mismatches, and they can't alert citizens if their Social Security numbers land in the hands of others. Citizens basically have no way to find out if their number has been compromised.

Birdwell has been down this road once before. Five years ago, he said, he received a call from a hospital in Seattle.

"Some lady had been trying to use it to get health care," he said. "I found out that it may have been a Latino lady."

He pulled his credit report -- it was clean -- then called the police. They told him there was nothing they could do.

Birdwell is frustrated by the federal government's inability to secure Social Security numbers and track down abusers.

"They've tied everything into people's Social Security numbers," he said. "If people can steal them, it's worse than breaking into your house and stealing your stuff. That can be fixed and replaced, but your number can't. You can't go get a new one."
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http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/09/08/IMMIG...

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2.
Beefed up at the border
By Andrew Chung
The Toronto Star (Canada), September 7, 2008

Champlain, NY -- The end of America, literally, can be found along countless forlorn and narrow roads like the one Mickey Matott lives on here in upstate New York. It winds a bit this way and that, past fields of soybeans and rickety barns, until it just stops, his modest house like a period at the end of a long sentence.

There is more paved road beyond. But that's Canada. In between, there is a gate with a large "Road Closed" sign affixed to it.

Matott has lived here long enough to notice some differences. For one, the steady stream of illegals – "aliens" they're called here – walking unimpeded into the U.S. on this road has all but stopped.

"Oh yeah," he laughs, shaking his head while standing on his stoop, "there used to be so many crossing all the time; they used to come by dragging their suitcases."

That's all changed, Matott says. "They really put a halt to it. Now they patrol all over – they've been down here 10 times already today."

Bearded and shirtless, the 55-year-old prison guard cuts an affable, Santa Claus-like figure as he relaxes on a recent weekend afternoon. But then he motions to the tall pine in his front yard. You have to look closely, but deep in the richly needled branches there's a surveillance camera, nearly undetectable in its black weatherproof housing, trained on the gate. Below it is an electronic sensor, its thin arm directed at the road.

Matott is a proud American, but living right on the border with Canada, he sees a potential dark side to the intense new border security. Apart from the comings and goings of illegal aliens, the government now knows when Matott himself has left and returned to his house. He has emerged from his front door to find U.S. Border Patrol agents in his yard, he says (his dogs even bit one once).

"They can come right into your house if they want," he says. "It's all gone a bit too far." (The Champlain Border Patrol says agents will enter private property unannounced, but not a private dwelling.)

Seven years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the longest unguarded border in the world is becoming increasingly guarded. As critics continue to insist it's vulnerable to undetected entry by terrorists, the border is being squeezed tighter.

And illegal crossers are getting the message, the Border Patrol asserts.

Along the northern frontier, the number of arrests has been dropping steadily and significantly since before 9/11 – from more than 12,000 each year before 2001 to 6,380 last year. While it's impossible to know how many people try to sneak into the U.S., arrests are considered one of the best barometers. "We believe people are being deterred from entering the U.S. because the chances of them getting caught are now much greater," says Border Patrol operations officer Mark Henry. "A lot of it also has to do with us getting the right combination of personnel, technology and infrastructure on the border. We've received more agents, more sensors, more cars, more boats, more airplanes."The trend is reflected on the southern border with Mexico as well, where arrests are down significantly. More agents, an emphasis on prosecuting crossers instead of just deporting them and laws cracking down on employers who use illegal aliens, as well as a faltering economy, are all seen as contributing to the effect.

But the emphasis since 9/11 has shifted to the northern frontier. "The focus for them on the northern border is that it's a door for terrorists, whereas the southern border, it's been a mass of people desperate for work," says Sophie Feal, supervising immigration attorney at the Erie County Bar Association's Volunteer Lawyers Project in Buffalo. "So the way they justify this inordinate amount of enforcement resources on the northern border is the threat of terrorism."

Feal says that in the past year, the zeal for arrest and removal has been "so extraordinary."

Most Canadians are aware of stepped-up security at border crossings or at the airport. The Border Patrol is eager to show how the same is happening everywhere in between.

In the change room at the tidy Champlain Border Patrol station, a sticker decorates a locker door: "Terrorist Hunting Permit," it reads. "Permit No. 91101."
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http://www.thestar.com/article/492206

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3.
GOP candidates, convention steer clear of immigration
By Reid J. Epstein
Newsday (NY), September 8, 2008

During the Republican presidential primary, immigration was such an important topic that candidates were tripping over each other to be seen as the toughest defender of the nation's borders.

The issue became so hot that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the GOP presidential nominee, was forced to disavow his own immigration reform bill because it was seen by many Republicans as too lenient.

But a parade of Republicans came to the convention podium in St. Paul last week with barely a mention of immigration. On Wednesday and Thursday nights, 38 speakers addressed the GOP crowd and only one - unknown Kansas farmer Carolyn Dunn - even uttered the word "immigration." There was not a single mention of border security or amnesty from McCain or his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) said immigration wasn't discussed last week to avoid controversy among party members who remain divided on the topic.

"Why bring up an issue that could cause discord within the party?" he said. "Go with the issues that we know we have strong agreement [on] now."

Palin, McCain's running mate, has never publicly stated a position on immigration, according to the nonpartisan Web site ontheissues.org.

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), the anti-immigration crusader who in a November GOP debate accused his opponents of trying to "out-Tancredo Tancredo" on immigration, said McCain would prefer that the topic go away.

"Considering the fact that Senator McCain does not want to associate himself with that part of the party that has pushed for true immigration reform, it's not surprising," he said in a recent interview. "We lost that fight, essentially. What else can you do? Our guys lost."
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http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/monday/longisland...

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4.
Obama for streamlining the process for the high-skilled H2B visas
The Economic Times (India), September 6, 2008

Washington, DC -- Driving home the point that he is for creating jobs in the US, Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama has favoured streamlining the process for the high-skilled H2B visas for Indians and other foreigners to make sure that employers were not "gaming" the system.

"For those who don't know, the H2B visa programme is the programme whereby people with specialised skills, foreign nationals with specialised skills, are supposed to be able to come in and be sponsored by their employer. That's the idea," he said at a campaign event in Duryea, Pennsylvania yesterday.

Noting that there are some "highly specialised" areas meant to be covered under it, the Illinois Senator said:"Let's say, you know, you need a nuclear physicist in a particular area, and you just can't find one. And it turns out there's a guy who is Indian, who fits the bill. And you've gone out and you've tried to recruit people. ... And your business needs this. That's what the H2B visa is supposed to be for."

However, he said, the "problem" is that if employers want "to game the system, they might decide... We'll get a software engineer from India, even though there are a bunch of software engineers here... because we can pay him or her less. And that then undercuts the labour market and wages" in the US.

Obama's remarks were actually in an obvious reference to the H1B visa category in which software engineers would fit into. It is unclear whether the Senator had inadvertently strayed into the realm of H1B visas in the course of making his thoughts on the issue known, but he made it clear he will ensure that the high skilled visas will not be manipulated.

He was asked to comment on reports that businesses are pressuring the Bush administration to change the ways about determining the employment status where businesses would grant H2B status instead of having a state agency ascertain if there is a need.

The H-2B visa category allows US employers in industries with peak load, seasonal or intermittent needs to augment their existing labour force with temporary workers. Typically, H-2B workers fill labour needs in occupational areas such as construction, health care, landscaping, manufacturing, food service and processing and resort and hospitality services.

"... I want to return it (H2B) to its purpose, which is to make sure that it is only for these very specialised jobs where there is a shortage" in the United States, Obama said.
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http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3451866,flstry-1.cms

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5.
Noriega, Cornyn disagree on illegal-immigrant issue
Cornyn wants feds to reimburse state for education; Noriega doesn't
By R.G. Ratcliffe
The Houston Chronicle, September 8, 2008

Austin -- Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega said Monday he would not support any effort to require the federal government to reimburse the states for the cost of educating the children of undocumented immigrants.

Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn supports such reimbursements, a spokesman said.

A report from the state comptroller's office in 2005 estimated the annual cost of a public education for an estimated 151,000 undocumented children in Texas schools was $957 million for the 2004-05 school year.

Noriega noted that federal law requires the state to educate all children regardless of immigration status. He said while the children have an impact on local schools, many of the districts receive additional funding that is available for children who live in poverty or have special needs.

Noriega said he believes the best way to deal with the cost of undocumented immigrant children is to fix the national immigration system.

"They're not mutually exclusive: the need to have immigration reform and to have education reform," Noriega said.

Texans 'footing the bill'

Cornyn spokesman Kevin McLaughlin said the state's junior senator has supported efforts in the past to reimburse state and local governments for the cost of illegal immigration. McLaughlin said Cornyn would support a federal reimbursement for school districts.

"The federal government is not living up to its end of the bargain," McLaughlin said. "Texas taxpayers should not be left footing the bill."

Noriega made his comments while unveiling a federal education plan full of new spending proposals but lacking a tally of how much they would cost. Noriega said he did not know what his plan would cost but described it as an investment in the future.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5990857.html

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6.
Judge to hear from lawyers in RI immigration case
The Associated Press, September 9, 2008

Providence, RI -- Opponents of Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri's crackdown on illegal immigrants are taking their dispute to court.

Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union will make their first courtroom appearance Tuesday since filing a lawsuit last week. They want Superior Court Judge Mark Pfeiffer to stop Carcieri from forcing private employers to use a federal database called E-Verify to check the immigration status of new hires.

A hearing was initially set for Monday but was postponed until Tuesday.
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2008/09/09/judge_...

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7.
Hazleton's anti-illegal immigrant law back in court
Panel of judges to hear case four days before Nov. 4 election in which mayor is running for Congress.
By John J. Moser
The Morning Call (Allentown, PA), September 9, 2008

Hazleton will get to argue before a federal appeals court on Oct. 31 that a judge wrongly struck down the city's ordinance making it illegal to hire or rent housing to illegal immigrants, Mayor Lou Barletta announced Monday.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to have the appeal heard by a three-judge panel, and recent rulings by other federal appeals courts have given the city hope it can prevail, said Kris Kobach and Hank Mahoney, attorneys representing the city in defending its Illegal Immigration Relief Act.

''I've never wavered in my belief that Hazleton was right to pass the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, and I firmly believe that our case will be vindicated in the higher court,'' Barletta said at a news conference.

But Foster Maer, the lead attorney on the case for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund, expressed confidence at winning again, saying the other cases are different. ''It was the right decision,'' he said, ''and we'll prevail on appeal.''

U.S. District Judge James M. Munley struck down the ordinance in July 2007, calling it unconstitutional and saying it violated due process protections and the Supremacy Clause, which acknowledges federal law as supreme.

After the arguments, the federal panel probably will take six months and perhaps a year to rule, Kobach said.

More than 100 municipalities nationwide are watching the case to decide how to proceed with their own ordinances, Barletta said.

The Hazleton ordinance would impose heavy fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and businesses that hire them. Barletta introduced it in June 2006 after several violent crimes he attributed to illegal immigrants who followed thousands of Hispanics to Hazleton, which has more than 30,000 residents.

Several residents, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund, filed suit in August 2006, claiming the ordinance was misguided, unconstitutional and undemocratic. They sued the city again after it revised the law to bolster its chances in court.
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http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_1immigrant.6580053sep09,0,5874170...

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8.
Dallas suburb's move on illegal immigration being fought
Measure to keep illegal immigrants in Farmers Branch from housing has some seeking restraining order
By Anabelle Garay
The Associated Press, September 8, 2008

Under the latest ordinance, those who can't prove they live legally in the U.S. could not qualify for tenants' licenses, and the city would penalize landlords who rent to people without a valid license.

A group of landlords and a former city council member sued over the ordinance last week, contending the city is trying to regulate immigration even though it's the domain of the federal government. They also say the ordinance doesn't include clear procedures and safeguards while placing liability on landlords.

Dallas -- Opponents of a Dallas suburb's latest effort to drive away illegal immigrants asked a federal judge Monday to restrain Farmers Branch officials from enforcing a ban on rental housing to people who can't prove they are in the country legally.

They are seeking a temporary restraining order to keep Farmers Branch from requiring prospective apartment and house renters to obtain a city license as part of a rule set to take effect Saturday. Under the ordinance, the city would forward information from the license application to the federal government so it can verify immigration status.

The request to stop the ordinance continues a nearly two-year battle in Farmers Branch, where city officials have created a handful of measures attempting to keep illegal immigrants from living there. The proposed laws have been met by lawsuits and protests, and a judge found a previous city immigration-related housing rule to be unconstitutional.

Attorney Michael Jung, who represents Farmers Branch, said the city will oppose the request.

"The entire purpose of this ordinance is to encourage and prevent illegal immigrants from living in Farmers Branch," Jung said. "We don't think that it's going to be a significant burden to people who are legitimate and want to rent in Farmers Branch."

Violation of federal law

The plaintiffs allege the city is violating federal housing laws, and that the ordinance is part of an attempt to push out Hispanic residents.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5990883.html