1. Study spurs environmental ad
2. Illegals continue exodus
3. MD politicians attend CASA event
4. OH rally calls for amnesty
5. IA meatpacking plant fined

1.
What's behind those ads?
TV ad links immigration to global warming
By Colin Rigley
The New Times (San Luis, CA), October 29, 2008

A new TV commercial, sponsored by Santa A new TV commercial, sponsored by Santa Barbara-based Californians for Population Stabilization, purports that increased immigration—both legal and illegal—will quadruple America’s carbon footprint.

In the commercial, running in heavy rotation on local channels, a 20-something male with spiked hair and a five o’clock shadow looks into the camera.

“Concerned about Americans’ huge carbon footprint?” he asks, casually thumbing to a large cutout of a footprint. “Then you should be concerned about immigration.”

Then he strolls over to a table topped with four identical cutouts, which he explains will be a reality in America if immigrants continue to flood the country.

CAPS’ argument is that when immigrants move to the U.S. they become assimilated into the high-polluting lifestyle. In other words, more immigrants means more Americans and more Americans means more global warming.

The commercial is based on a study by the Center for Immigration Studies, a group with a similar philosophy to CAPS. According to CIS, the national population will grow by about 100 million people by 2040 and 82 percent of them will be immigrants, who will clog the air with more pollution.

The global warming commercial is not CAPS’ first foray into the immigration debate. The group released a series of commercials throughout California that slam immigration for leading to rampant crime and overpopulation. Last year, CAPS spent a little more than $1 million, about half of which was spent on campaigns.

But immigrant-caused global warming is an unprecedented argument, one that caught at least one political expert off-guard. Mike Latner, a political science teacher at Cal Poly, said the linkage is an odd one, if not an outright logical fallacy. “The root problem is America’s CO2 emissions,” he said.

CAPS, however, holds firm that there will never be an end to global warming if the U.S. population continues to increase, even if per-person emission levels go down.

“You keep your final goal further away if you just keep on doing that successfully and allowing more and more people,” said CAPS President Diana Hull.
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http://www.newtimesslo.com/news/1258/whats-behind-those-ads/

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2.
Economy Has More Immigrants Traveling Back To Their Native Countries
The KTNV News (Las Vegas), October 29, 2008

The state of the economy economy has families making tough decisions.

"That is all we are seeing, the struggles and their tears. It's very heart breaking. They say I need food for my family I need rent," says Teri De La Tore with the Nevada Association of Latin Americans.

She works with immigrant families in need.

The organization helps provide social services like food and daycare.

Lately she has seen families pack up move to their native countries because they can't find jobs.

"When you see so many they are not making it, it is really sad to see that." Says Terri De La Tore.

According to the Center for Immigration studies, since last year the illegal immigrant population in the U.S. has dropped 11%, that equals to about 1 million people.
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http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9262672

EDITOR'S NOTE: CIS literature on enforcement-spurred repatriation is available online at: http://www.cis.org/trends_and_enforcement

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3.
CASA Center Groundbreaking Proves Fertile Soil for Politicians
By Ann E. Marimow and Miranda S. Spivack
The Washington Post, October 30, 2008; GZ09

Rarely have so many high-level Maryland politicos gathered for one community organization's event. Comptroller Peter Franchot (D) joked that for a moment he mistook this week's groundbreaking for CASA of Maryland's Multicultural Center in Langley Park for a dress rehearsal for the presidential inauguration.

Seated outside in the chilly Monday morning breeze were a long list of the state's Democratic leaders: U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, Rep. Donna F. Edwards, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, Secretary of Labor, Licensing and Regulation Thomas E. Perez, Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson and Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett.

The seating assignments posed something of a challenge for event organizers because of the November ballot measure on slots that has divided many elected officials and political groups in Montgomery and Prince George's.

Seated to one side of the podium were Perez, a leading proponent of slots, and Leggett, who reversed course last month and endorsed the measure, which would allow 15,000 machines at five locations in the state. On the other side were Franchot, one of the most outspoken opponents of slots, and Johnson, who said publicly for the first time that morning that he would vote against the measure.

The focus of the event, of course, was not state politics but the start of construction on CASA's $13.8 million headquarters and Multicultural Center. One by one, speakers praised the immigrant advocacy group for its work with the community and its leader, Gustavo Torres.
. . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/29/AR200810...

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4.
Rally near jail calls for immigration reform
Organizer says event's location was meant to serve as a symbol
By Eric Schwartzberg
The Middletown Journal (OH), October 30, 2008

HAMILTON — More than a dozen people rallied late Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 29, to urge those running for — or already in — political office to take a stand for comprehensive reform of U.S. immigration laws.

That includes a way for immigrants to live and work here legally, said rally organizer Sister Alice Gerdeman.

"If you're an immigrant, you are a human being and human beings have basic human rights," Gerdeman said. "If we had an immigration law that worked here in the United States, that was fair, that gave people the opportunity to be here legally, or people who are here in order to become legal, then I think you'd have a good argument.

"Right now our immigration law is totally broken."

The hour-long rally took place on Hanover Street near the Butler County Jail, which serves as a detention center for undocumented people being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
. . .
http://www.middletownjournal.com/hp/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/10/...

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5.
Meatpacker Is Fined Nearly $10 Million
By Julia Preston
The New York Times, October 29, 2008

State labor authorities levied nearly $10 million in fines Wednesday for wage violations at an Iowa meatpacking plant where nearly 400 illegal immigrant workers were arrested in a raid in May.

The fines against Agriprocessors Inc., one of the country’s largest kosher meatpackers, were the largest wage violations penalties ever levied in Iowa, state officials said.

About $9.6 million of the fines were for illegal paycheck deductions the company made for protective jackets and other uniforms that packinghouse workers were required to wear. Iowa inspectors found 96,436 deductions for uniforms from the paychecks of 2,001 workers, and brought fines of $100 per incident.

The workers’ wages had been reduced by $192,597, Iowa officials said.

“You cannot legally deduct for clothing required by the company,” said Kerry Koonce, a spokeswoman for Iowa Workforce Development, the state’s labor department.

Agriprocessors was also fined $339,700 for illegally deducting more than $72,000 from the paychecks of 1,073 workers for “sales tax.”

The company also failed to give final paychecks to 42 workers arrested in the raid and owes $264,786.45 in back wages, Iowa officials said.

The fines cover violations from January 2006 through June of this year, including six weeks after May 12, when immigration authorities arrested 389 workers at the Postville plant, mostly illegal immigrants from Guatemala.

“Once again, Agriprocessors has demonstrated a complete disregard for Iowa law,” Iowa’s labor commissioner, Dave Neil, said in a statement.

Last month the Iowa attorney general brought criminal charges against Agriprocessors for more than 9,300 misdemeanor child labor violations, involving 32 under-age workers. According to those charges, the company hired workers as young as 13 and put them to work using saws, knives and other equipment prohibited for young workers.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/us/30fine.html