1. Candidates walk line on issue
2. Candidates use Spanish ads
3. Protestant Latinos prefer Obama
4. NE Senate candidates spar
5. Immigration driving PA debate
6. Microsoft launches aid program
7. Activists want end to raids
8. MS pastor manages fallout
9. TN company faces suit

1.
Illegal immigration: Obama, McCain walk a fine line on divisive issue
By Steven Oberbeck
The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City), October 17, 2008

Almost lost in all the commotion surrounding the credit crisis on Wall Street - and the presidential campaigns' responses to it - is the controversy that surrounds the issue of immigration.

As recently as seven weeks ago, likely voters in four of six Western states responding to a poll considered immigration the top issue facing their state. In Utah and Wyoming, it was No. 2 behind oil and gas drilling on public lands, but many Utahns worry that with the election only weeks away, immigration is being paid scant attention because of the economy.

Of course bank failures and billion-dollar bailouts are important, but "illegal immigration is the number one issue for me after the economy," said Mary Ann Pollard, 68, a retired certified public accountant living in Park City. "It is disgusting, though, to hear people talking about the new laws they think we need. I'd just like to hear the candidates say we need to enforce the laws we already have."

About the only certainty when it comes to immigration is that in Utah and much of the West, the issue is a polarizing one that generates frustration and conflicted feelings.

For some, immigration is all about keeping U.S. borders secure, while for others it's about being compassionate to those less fortunate. Still others focus on ensuring that businesses have the workers they need to prosper.

The range of conflict was evident in the late August survey conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Inc. of 2,400 likely voters in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming. More than half, 53 percent, wanted the estimated 12 million undocumented workers in the U.S. to be offered the chance to apply for legal status. But an overwhelming 71 percent endorsed efforts to stop illegal immigration, including building a fence across the U.S.-Mexico border and penalizing employers who hire undocumented workers.

And the latter feeling isn't just talk, as evidenced by the Republican primary in Utah's 3rd Congressional District in June.

Six-term GOP congressman Chris Cannon was defeated by newcomer Jason Chaffetz, partly because voters in the conservative district viewed Cannon as being too forgiving of immigrants who are in the country illegally.

"It really is an issue that needs to be put back on the front burner. We can't just ignore the problem," said Chaffetz.

He supports a hard-line stand - beefing up border security and deporting immigrants found to be in the country without the proper documentation. He further argues that Utahns are being unfairly asked to "subsidize and tolerate a mass of illegal people flooding our country."

His Democratic opponent, Bennion Spencer, also supports beefing up border security. He says the government should crack down on employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers, but he also wants a system employers can trust that would reliably verify their workers are here legally.
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http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10743971

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2.
Spanish ads pit McCain, Obama against each other
Most of the nation is mostly unaware of battle for the Hispanic vote in crucial states
By Harnan Rozemberg
The San Antonio Express News (TX), October 16, 2008

San Antonio, TX -- Months on the campaign trail and barely a mention.

Mum also in three nationally televised debates.

But for nearly a month, unbeknownst to much of the country, the two presidential contenders have been slugging away at each other on immigration through Spanish-language advertisements in crucial swing states with growing Latino populations whose votes could sway the election.

The ads, running on Spanish-language television and radio in states such as Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico feature Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Republican nominee John McCain pointing fingers at each other for not having done enough on immigration.

McCain launched the opening salvo by blaming Obama for the collapse of last year's Senate bill seeking to overhaul the current immigration system.

Put on the defensive by what he deemed a false assault, Obama countered days later with his own Spanish ad linking McCain to the extreme-right Republican wing, widely seen as anti-immigrant.

So ensued a series of ongoing volleys on an issue that, until eclipsed by such matters as concerns over the economic meltdown, had retained national interest.

Though the ads mostly dish out criticism and fall short of offering solutions to the immigration problem, it's no coincidence that they're being offered only on Spanish-language airwaves, experts said.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6063412.html

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3.
Protestant Latinos favor Obama, poll says
Republican immigration policies have tilted them toward the Democrat, the study says.
By Nicole Gaouette
Los Angeles Times, October 17, 2008

Washington, DC -- Protestant Latinos, a growing group of voters who were key supporters of President Bush in 2004, have shifted their backing to Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, driven in large part by anger toward Republican immigration policies, according to a poll released Thursday.

Latinos overall represent about 6% of U.S. voters. Protestant Latinos -- about a third of all Latinos -- heavily supported Bush's reelection. This year, however, just over half of these voters support Obama for president; a third said they would vote for Republican Sen. John McCain.

More than 80% of Protestant Latinos, who tend to identify themselves as evangelicals, said the candidates' positions on immigration would be central to their vote this year, according to the survey.

"The shift is a direct result of the immigration reform debacle," said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, one of the four groups sponsoring the survey. "This is why Latino evangelicals are shifting to Barack Obama."

Swing states such as Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico, places where immigration has been highly controversial, have large concentrations of Latinos.

Most Latinos are Catholic and traditionally lean Democratic, but Republican strategists focused on building Latino Protestants into a key constituency over the Bush presidency. The approach paid off in 2004, when those voters gave Bush 63% of their vote, up from 32% in 2000.

McCain had positioned himself as a friend to Latinos, teaming up with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) in 2006 to write an immigration bill that would have given legal status to millions of illegal immigrants.

But many Latinos were angered by McCain's decision to distance himself from a comprehensive immigration overhaul in 2007, just as House Republicans adopted a strict platform against illegal immigration. Later, McCain said during a campaign debate that he no longer supported the 2006 immigration bill.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-evangelical17-20...

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4.
U.S. Senate candidates face off on economy, immigration
By Harold Reutter
The Grand Island Independent (NE), October 16, 2008

Grand Island, NE -- Experience versus change versus social justice.

That was the three-way argument that emerged during Thursday evening's debate in Grand Island among Republican candidate Mike Johanns, Democratic candidate Scott Kleeb and Green party candidate Steve Larrick about who should be elected the next U.S. senator from Nebraska.

Johanns told the audience at Walnut Middle School that as Nebraska's former governor and as Lincoln's former mayor, he has already been forced to make the kind of tough decisions that he would face as a U.S. senator.

He said the bottom dropped out of the state and national economy following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

He said he made tough choices on cutting spending as governor that helped the state get through the hard economic times that followed 9/11.

Johanns said that those conservative decisions set the stage for Nebraska's current financial condition, when the state has the largest budget surplus in its history.

Kleeb, though, said Johanns' political promises sound better now that he is a candidate facing voters rather than when he was a member of the Bush administration and supporting the president's policies.

Kleeb said those policies have left the country $10 trillion in debt, which is a bill of $33,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States.

Despite that huge federal debt, Kleeb said, the United States still has a crumbling infrastructure and 47 million people who do not have health insurance.

Those policies have left too many Americans with lower wages and increased costs, Kleeb said.

"We need not just a change in policies, but a change in leadership," he said.

Larrick decried the fact the United States is spending $1 trillion a year on defense spending. He said he favored an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, where the United States is spending $10 billion a month.

He said neither the Iraqi government nor its people want the U.S. military in their country.

Larrick said he has a three-part strategy for governance: Putting a strong emphasis on peace so the United States is not embroiled in so many costly wars, promoting renewable energy to better protect the environment for future generations, and promoting social justice, both domestically and abroad.

While Larrick promoted an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, Johanns said neither Iraq nor Afghanistan should be emphasized over the other when it comes to military strategy or strength.

Kleeb, though, said the Iraqi military is becoming increasingly able to provide security for its own country.

As that happens, the U.S. should put more emphasis on fighting terrorism along the Afghanistan and Pakistani borders, where violence is increasing because of a resurgent Taliban and the continued presence of al-Qaida.

Independent Editor Bill Dunn asked Johanns about a story in Thursday's Washington Post about how Karl Rove, Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush, asked various administration officials to make political trips in 2006 to help Republican candidates.

Dunn had information that Johanns took almost 38 trips at the request of the White House.

In light of that, Dunn asked all three candidates whether they would favor removal of the Office of Political Affairs from the White House. Rove headed the Office of Political Affairs.

All three candidates said yes, they would favor its removal.

Johanns, though, disputed any contention that he took taxpayer-funded trips that were purely political trips to support Republican candidates. He said what was in dispute was an allocation of costs for such trips.

Johanns said he thought the view that the trips were political would be challenged.

Kleeb said he favored greater enforcement against employers who hire illegal immigrants. He said the federal government also must fix the broken immigration system.

Kleeb said that as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Johanns favored an amnesty program for illegal aliens being pushed by President Bush.

But Johanns referred to the immigration portion of Kleeb's Web site. He said Kleeb only promotes that illegal immigrants pay fines and back taxes, plus go to the "back of the line" when it comes to U.S. citizenship. But Johanns said Kleeb's Web site does not talk about sending illegal immigrants back to their home countries.

Johanns said that only paying fines and back taxes is amnesty. He said he favors sending illegal immigrants back to their home countries where they would have to wait their behind their fellow countrymen who are attempting to enter the U.S. legally.

Larrick said he does not favor sending illegal immigrant parents, who have children who are U.S. citizens because they were born in America, back to their native lands. He said families should not be broken up. Larrick said he favors a path to citizenship for such citizens.

He also said the federal government should work to end policies by U.S. corporations that degrade economic conditions in other countries, which helps create a flow of illegal immigrants in the first place.

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5.
Immigration fuels Kanjorski-Barletta race
By Tom Infield
The Philladelphia, October 17, 2008

Hazleton, PA -- At 70, Beverly Shandrick has been a Democrat for decades. She likes U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski and says, "He's done a lot for the senior citizens."

But the "immigration problem," she says, might drive her to vote Nov. 4 for Republican Lou Barletta, Hazleton's mayor, who became a national conservative icon by cracking down on the illegal immigrants he said were draining the life from his city in the old coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania.

"They're taking over the town," Shandrick says of immigrants. "There's been a lot of crime since they moved in."

In a year when Democrats expect to consolidate their control of Congress, Kanjorski is one of the few party members ranked among the most vulnerable House incumbents. Barletta leads a new Franklin and Marshall College poll by 5 percentage points in what has become the most closely watched congressional race in Pennsylvania.

Kanjorski's troubles stem, in part, from passions Barletta unleashed two years ago when Hazleton become the first town in America to ban employers from hiring illegal immigrants.

Some voters feel unease over an influx of Latinos - many from New York City - that has transformed some places that hadn't seen many new faces in a generation.

Numerous communities nationally passed ordinances similar to Hazleton's. Barletta, 52, became a repeat guest on network news. He even was interviewed by TV stations from Japan, France, England, Germany and Italy.

Immigration appears to have dropped behind the sagging economy as an immediate voter concern, but it remains a potent force.

"It's absolutely an issue," Barletta said. "I'm not saying it's the top issue. The issue is not just illegal immigration; it's the lack of leadership in Washington. That's what has made this a race. I stood up."

A federal judge in Scranton overturned the Hazleton ordinance, saying only the U.S. government can regulate immigration. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia is scheduled to take up the case Oct. 31.

Kanjorski, 71, who is serving his 12th term, agrees with Barletta on major immigration issues. Both oppose "amnesty" that would permit illegal immigrants to gain citizenship.

But Kanjorski said Barletta, who also ran against him in 2002, had "abused the issue" for political gain.

"He's trying to convince people that it's the cause of all their problems," Kanjorski said.

In a Scranton rally Sunday, former President Bill Clinton fanned the issue.

Kanjorski has "a tough race because some people in his district believe that illegal immigration is a bigger cause of their economic problems than President Bush's economic policies," the Scranton Times-Tribune reported Clinton as saying.
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http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20081017_Immigration_fuels_K...

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6.
Microsoft set to help the littlest immigrants
With some of the biggest legal heavy hitters in the country and Angelina Jolie as a spokesperson, Microsoft today launched a new initiative to provide free legal services to illegal-immigrant children facing possible deportation.
By Lornet Turnbull
The Seattle Times, October 17, 2008

Partnered with some of the nation's legal powerhouses — and with actress Angelina Jolie as a spokesperson — Microsoft today launched an initiative to provide free legal help to hundreds of illegal-immigrant children who are on their own and facing deportation.

Through Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), the Redmond company and a group of law firms in nine cities will spend about $14.5 million over the next three years on an immigration legal-defense program for children, similar to a partnership Microsoft has had with local attorneys for years.

"While there are many worthy causes and cases, we wanted to focus on children who have been separated from their families and are in particular needy circumstances," said Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel for Microsoft.

"For children who have no one to speak on their behalf, a lawyer is a lifeline to protection."

Last year, about 8,000 illegal-immigrant children with no official adult supervision were processed in immigration court. They came from all over the world — the majority from Central America — some fleeing untold horror and abuse.

Crossing illegally into the U.S., some were separated from parents or guardians. Others were smuggled in alone by coyotes, people who help immigrants cross the border illegally for a fee.

Once here, some turned to the Department of Homeland Security seeking asylum. But most were picked up by immigration authorities at U.S. borders and airports or came to the attention of immigration authorities after running afoul of the law.

About 215 of these children were in Washington state.

Unlike adults, they are not placed in U.S. detention centers but in juvenile shelters scattered across the country. The youngest — sometimes just 3 or 4 years old — are placed in foster care.
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008276992_detainedkid...

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7.
Regional: Local Representatives Join National Call to End Immigration Enforcement Operations
The KPIX TV (San Francisco), October 16, 2008

Bay Area representatives for National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights joined a national teleconference today to urge an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations throughout the country.

The network believes when ICE makes multiple arrests, what the network call raids, it intimidates and segregates communities.

It believes both major presidential candidates should address immigration enforcement and come up with a less aggressive plan to inflict immigration laws.

"This is not the America we are trying to create. This is a divided America,'' said Executive Director of the Oakland region for the network Catherine Tactaquin.

However, ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley said in a prepared statement, "ICE takes its responsibility to enforce the nation's immigration laws seriously and carries out this mandate in a fair, humane manner that meets the highest standards of law enforcement.''
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http://cbs5.com/localwire/22.0.html?type=bcn&item=ICE-RAIDS-bagm-

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8.
After Mississippi Immigration Raid, Pastor Tries To Calm Chaos
By Marcelo Ballvé
The New American Media, October 17, 2008

Editor's note: Pastor Roberto Velez, like other clergy with a growing flock of undocumented immigrants, became de-facto leader of an emerging Hispanic community in Mississippi after immigration agents raided a local transformer plant, arresting 595 workers. New America Media's Marcelo Ballvé traveled to Laurel to uncover how a small town is dealing with the raid's aftermath.

Laurel, MS -- After four years building up a bilingual Pentecostal ministry in this diverse, working-class town, Pastor Roberto Velez thought he might rest on his accomplishments.

pastorBut Velez's real trial by fire began Aug. 25. That morning, in a raid on a local transformer plant owned by local manufacturer Howard Industries, federal agents arrested 595 immigrants. Perhaps a dozen of them were members of Velez's Peniel Christian Church.

"It was terrible," he recalls. "I received calls starting at 8:10 a.m. I was having breakfast. They said, 'Pastor! Pastor! Immigration got into Howard.' I rushed over there."

Velez, a relative newcomer to Laurel, was suddenly thrust into a role he never expected to have: crisis management.

Outside the plant's perimeter, Velez waited with anxious immigrant families in a steady rain, comforting workers' children and wives. As blue-jacketed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents milled around, Velez buttonholed them, demanding information on detainees' fates.

From that day forward, he would tend non-stop to his panic-stricken flock-- and to any other families who walked through Peniel's doors, in want after their breadwinners ended up imprisoned.

Velez's role is reminiscent of those assumed by other clergy in towns upended by large-scale ICE raids this year.

In Postville, Iowa, an elderly Catholic nun and retired priest stepped up to the front-lines, after the May arrest of nearly 400 illegal immigrants at a local meatpacking plant created what they described as "a man-made" disaster. In Greenville, South Carolina, Episcopal and Catholic clergy teamed up to create a safety-net for hundreds of affected families, after a raid Oct. 7 at a poultry plant.

It was a spontaneous ecumenical response at the grassroots. Independent of top-down organization, and unconcerned about the controversy surrounding illegal immigration, individual clergy like Velez took the initiative.

Though their work was accompanied by that of organized immigrant advocates, pro-bono lawyers and faith-based charities, they were motivated solely by extraordinary circumstances and their pastoral vocations.
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http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=54ff68...

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9.
Tenn. company is sued in illegal immigrant case
By Bill Poovey
The Associated Press, October 17, 2008

Chattanooga, TN (AP) -- A federal lawsuit accuses a financially ailing Tennessee cheese company of mistreating 12 illegal immigrant employees and having them wrongly arrested at their jobs in Manchester when they demanded back pay.

The Montgomery, Ala.-based Southern Poverty Law Center filed the damage suit Thursday against Durrett Cheese Sales Inc., contending the Latino employees were made victims of "wage theft, discrimination and retaliation" just after the company filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in August 2007.

A hearing on the suit has been set Nov. 3 at Winchester.

The law center's Immigrant Justice Project director, Mary Bauer, said the suit seeks damages for nine women and three men who were in the United States illegally when they were arrested at the factory in October 2007.

"They were out of status at the time this happened but that doesn't mean they should be arrested for asking to get paid," Bauer said. "No matter what their status is, the employer hired them."

The suit filed in Nashville says that after the company's bankruptcy petition the 12 workers were subjected to an "offensive, hostile and intimidating environment" because of their national origin and race.

The suit says the workers were referred to as "stupid Indians" and "donkeys," while non-Latino workers did not have pay delayed, or face threats or derogatory remarks.

The suit also names Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves, who said Thursday the group was arrested for disorderly conduct and turned over to federal immigration agents. Graves said the arrested workers were treated "with the utmost respect."
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http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/10/17/ap5568693.html