1. Visa lottery registration begins
2. Election results to affect illegals
3. Obama's focus on border, amnesty
4. TX requires proof for licenses
5. UT task force meets on policy
6. Cardinal ignores policy effect
7. SC 'community' hit hard

1.
Diversity visa registration begins
President Elect to effect policy
Obama's focus on border, amnesty
The Gambia News Community (Gambia), October 9, 2008
http://wow.gm/africa/gambia/article/2008/10/9/us-diversity-visa-registra...

The DV-2010 lottery online entry begins at noon EDT (Eastern Daylight Savings Time) on October 2, 2008, and ends at Noon EST (Eastern Standard Time) on December 1, 2008.

According to a media dispatch from the US embassy in Banjul, the Congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program makes available 50, 000 permanent resident visas annually, drawn from random selection among all entries to persons who meet simple, but strict eligibility requirements from countries with low rates of immigration to the United Sates.

The applicants are to fill the form online and can visit tate.gov www.dvlotery.state.gov for instructions and application.

Applicants who have been selected for the diversity visa will receive a letter via email from the Kentucky Consular Centre. It advised that applicants should never send money for DV fees through the email, Western Union, or other service but in person only at the US embassy or Consulate at the time of visa application.

Applicants are also encouraged to contact the US embassy at consularbanjul@state.gov for questions about the process.

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2.
Race for the White House: Election to affect future of illegal immigrants
By Cindy Gonzalez
The Omaha World Herald (NE), October 9, 2008
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=10454693

Grand Island, NE -- Since her arrest two years ago in a high-profile immigration raid, Maria Gutierrez de Nunez has returned to trimming meat at the local plant where federal agents picked her up. She was jailed for three months.

She now has a government-issued work permit and is scheduled for a 2010 hearing to determine permanent residency.

And her five Mexican-born daughters have gained legal status through Nunez's U.S. citizen husband. Four girls are in college, one is in high school and all are employed.

Despite Nunez's fraud conviction, her family today is even more entrenched in American society than before the government nabbed her and about 260 illegal co-workers at the Swift & Co. meat processing plant here in December 2006.

Whether such raids are effective and should remain a key enforcement strategy is an area where the presidential candidates diverge most on immigration philosophies that otherwise are fairly similar.

Sen. Barack Obama has declared raids ineffective and called them publicity stunts.

The Illinois Democrat's Web site says: "Despite a sevenfold increase in recent years, immigration raids only netted 3,600 arrests in 2006 and have placed all the burdens of a broken system onto immigrant families."

Sen. John McCain calls for "enforcement first."

While the Arizona Republican does not expressly address raids on his Web site, he emphasizes that his No. 1 priority is to secure U.S. borders. He has called raids "a symptom of the problem rather than the problem itself."

Unlike many immigration policy changes that require Congressional approval, the president has administrative authority to call a moratorium on raids, said Frank Sharry of America's Voice, which supports the legalization of undocumented workers.

Sharry said he would expect a continuation of raids under a McCain administration and a de-emphasis on raids under an Obama administration.

Even an advocate of restricting immigration like Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies called the recent raids a political gimmick to make amnesty more palatable.

But Krikorian says they're helping his group's cause, noting the slowed growth of the foreign-born population. He expects wages to rise and more American workers to replace deported immigrants.

On the immigration debate's most contentious issue — a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. — McCain has changed his earlier stance.

He crafted a 2006 package that featured a way for qualified illegal foreigners to legalize their status. More recently, though, McCain said he would not vote for his own bill nor consider a guest worker plan or other initiative until after the U.S. border is secure.

Obama, while calling for beefed-up border control, favors what he calls a more "complete solution" that includes legalization for immigrants who pay fines and have clean records. He said he would introduce such a bill during his first year in office.

People here in Nebraska's fourth-largest city haven't reached a consensus on whether raids are worth the financial and social costs.

But certain facts have come to light since the crackdown.

In the subsequent year, the immigrant population in the Grand Island area of Hall, Merrick and Howard Counties dropped by 30 percent — from about 7,000 to 4,800, according to an annual Census Bureau survey. The data don't distinguish legal from illegal immigrants.

So, are raids effective?

Says Grand Island Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel: "If the target is to reduce illegal immigrants, looking at the data . . . probably."

He added: "People are scared, really, really scared."

Children were separated from parents who worked at Swift. Social service agencies were strained. And the demand for laborers to replace outgoing Latin Americans ushered in a new kind of cultural tension.

After more African refugees filled vacancies at the Swift plant, tensions over the Muslim workers' request for prayer time erupted last month into worker walkouts, protests, a brief plant shutdown and employee firings.

Joel, like others, questioned the underlying struggle. "Is it the 'illegal' issue, or is it that Grand Island has changed?"

Some residents wrongly assume that the Sudanese and Somali refugees are in the country illegally. In fact, the Africans were resettled by the U.S. State Department, and are eligible for such public benefits as food stamps that are off limits to undocumented immigrants.

City officials say that despite the disruption following the raid, schools and Hispanic merchants mostly are back to business.

Some areas are stronger.

Grand Island schools now have a raid disaster plan that has become a model for other districts. Officials who literally knocked on doors to restore trust strengthened the parent-teacher relationship, said Kris Burling of Grand Island schools.

Employers more vigilantly check worker eligibility, and some now provide training to detect fraudulent paperwork, said City Councilman Jose Zapata.

Still reeling two years later are many Latinos.

Nunez's daughters, who range in age from 17 to 26, say they'll forever remember the day mom didn't come home from work.

Nunez, 47, spent more than three months in an Iowa jail and visited with her children and husband only via telephone or a video screen.

Her young grandson required therapy. A distraught daughter threatened to drop out of high school, but her sisters persuaded her to stay in school.

Nunez, who worked as a teacher in Mexico before she came to the U.S. 10 years ago, was placed on probation after being found guilty of fraud and misuse of documents, a federal felony.

She was released on $4,000 bail pending the 2010 hearing on the residency application filed on her behalf by her U.S. citizen husband, Manuel Nunez.

Meanwhile, Maria Nunez continues to earn money for the girls' tuition and family living expenses, working the second shift at Swift.

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3.
Barack Obama on crime
By Jane Roh
The Philadelphia News Examiner, October 8, 2008
http://www.examiner.com/x-1082-Philadelphia-News-Examiner~y2008m10d8-Bar...

Both candidates rarely if ever mention crime on the campaign trail, even as violent crime has risen in some cities during the Bush administration. As a state senator, Barack Obama worked on death penalty reforms while opposing or sidestepping measures critics said painted him as soft on crime.

But according to his campaign platform and a questionnaire submitted to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Obama would prioritize anti-crime measures.

Obama supports increased funding for the popular COPS program, which has seen funding reduced under the Bush administration. His goal is an additional 50,000 police officers, along with new officer recruitment programs. Police advocates including the IACP have lobbied for top-down reviews of the criminal justice system, which has become disjointed by new homeland security and immigration initiatives. Obama says he support's the IACP's proposal of a new presidential task force to oversee a review and make recommendations.

While Obama does support the death penalty for terrorists, serial killers and child rapists, he has long backed capital punishment reforms. As an Illinois state senator he led a push for mandatory taping of police interrogations and opposed a measure expanding the death penalty to gang actvity, saying it unfairly targeted minorities.

Obama would also prioritize anti-recidivism measures to help reduce the prison population. He has proposed a prison-to-work program modeled on the welfare-to-work program, and calls for more drug courts and drug rehab programs.

Obama says he believes in a constitutional right to bear arms and agrees with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision striking down the District of Columbia's ban on gun ownership. At the same time, he backs closing the gun show loophole, restoring the federal assault weapons ban, and repealing the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts law enforcement's ability to trace gun data.

While Obama has pledged to redress what he says is the Bush administration's neglect of local law enforcement, he also wants to beef up federal coordination both domestically and abroad. He proposes risk-based allocation of homeland security dollars, and says he would direct the Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary for state and local law enforcement to report directly to the DHS secretary "instead of some lower-level official." Obama also says he would prioritize comprehensive immigration reform during his first year in office, and would call for greater resource allocation along the border.

Obama also supports federal legislation banning racial profiling by law enforcement at all levels.

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4.
DPS cracks down on illegal immigrants
Texas now requiring proof of legal status before issuing a driver's license
By Clay Robison
The Houston Chronicle, October 8, 2008
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6047852.html

Austin -- In a clampdown on illegal immigrants, the Texas Department of Public Safety has adopted a new policy requiring noncitizens to prove they are in this country legally before they can obtain or renew a driver's license.

Gov. Rick Perry applauded the change, which went into effect Oct. 1, as a way to strengthen the state's security.

"Texas is a great place to live and work, and while we welcome legally documented individuals to the Lone Star State, we must ensure that this privilege is not abused by those seeking to enter our country illegally," he said.

But Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said the policy change is a bad idea because illegal immigrants are going to drive anyway.

"People have to drive to get to work. You want people to get (auto) insurance. They can't get insurance if they don't have a driver's license," he said.

The immigrant driver's licenses will look different than regular licenses so that they are immediately recognizable to police, Perry said.

The immigrant licenses will have a "temporary visitor" designation and the date the driver's legal U.S. admission expires.

No driver's license will be issued for anyone whose legal entry into the country expires in less than six months.

People with indefinite admission periods will get one-year licenses that will have to be renewed in person with proof that the applicant's lawful status has been extended.

Under the change, people who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents of the United States must present valid governmental documentation that they are in the country legally before they can obtain a driver's license or personal identification card.

The documents must be issued by the Department of Justice, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Natu-ralization Service or Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Border crossing cards won't be accepted.

Lawful permanent residents must present valid immigrant visas or U.S. resident alien cards before getting licenses.

U.S. citizens seeking an initial application for a license have various options for proving citizenship, including a U.S. passport, citizenship certificate or a combination of other documents, including a birth certificate, military records and voter registration card.

State law also requires all applicants for driver's licenses to provide a Social Security number.

But applicants can bypass that requirement by signing an affidavit that they have been deemed ineligible for coverage.

The affidavit doesn't require applicants to state why they have been denied Social Security coverage, DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said. And, she added, illegal immigrants could have obtained licenses by submitting fake Social Security cards.

She said the Public Safety Commission, the DPS' governing board, imposed the new restrictions for immigrants on its own. Similar changes in policy have been proposed by legislators, but none of those bills has ever become law.

"The commission wanted to make sure the driver's licenses and identification cards were as secure documents as we could make them," she said.

The DPS estimates that as many as 2 million of Texas' 16 million licensed drivers — one in eight — may be immigrants, many in the country illegally, Mange said.

"That's nonsense," Harring-ton said of the estimate. "I don't think anybody has any idea."

Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, agreed.

"The idea that there's a flood of people (illegal immigrants) going into DPS offices, signing a form saying they're not eligible for a Social Security card and then getting driver's licenses is unbelievable," he said.

Coleman said the crackdown was election year "demagoguery" by Perry.

"It (immigration) is the issue that galvanizes their (Republican) base," he said.

Public Safety Commission Chairman Allan Polunsky, of San Antonio, said he initiated the policy change after learning of a taxi driver in Dallas who had brought undocumented workers into Texas from other states so they could obtain Texas driver's licenses.

Polunsky said he didn't know the taxi driver's motives but found it disconcerting that illegal immigrants could easily obtain driver's licenses in Texas.

He said the new restrictions also bring Texas into closer compliance with the federal REAL ID Act, which requires states to create specially marked licenses for some immigrants.

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5.
Task force meets on immigration
By Mark Havnes
The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City), October 9, 2008
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10674581

Richfield, UT -- Denny Drake knows the difficulties of dealing with issues involving undocumented immigrants and the ieffect they are having on Washington County.

Drake, a county commissioner, expressed his concerns at a meeting in Richfield on Tuesday night to the legislative Task Force on Immigration.

The task force convened in the southern Utah city to gather response from government officials and residents of Washington and Sevier counties to Senate Bill 81, set to go into law in July 2009, which requires public employers and public contractors to verify the identity of workers by checking Social Security numbers with an electronic database.

The bill also would require a number of state law enforcement officials to be trained and authorized to enforce immigration laws.

Drake estimates that 10 percent of the population in fast-growing Washington County is Latino, and is contributing to the stress on services such as health care, education and the economy. He said in discussions with officials of Intermountain Health Care, a major employer in Washington County, the cost of providing indigent care in 2007 was $24 million and the number could be higher this year.

"If they [IHC] close their doors, we'll lose a major employer and economic helper in Washington County," Drake said.

He also said schools are feeling the impact from the costs of teaching non-English speaking children.

Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith told the legislators that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the only agency that can effectively enforce immigration laws, but that ICE agents are overworked in the area.

"The federal government has not been dealing with the problem," said Smith.

Lorraine Gregerson, executive director of the Richfield Area Chamber of Commerce, said that only 2.6 percent of Sevier County is Latino, but she expects the population to grow.

She liked the idea of the electronic verification bill because most farmers who hire Latinos have no way of determining immigration status.

"Without them," Gregerson said, "it could be hard for some [farmers] to stay in business."

Sevier County Sheriff Phil Barney said undocumented immigrants are having a bigger impact on the northern part of the county around Salina and that the seeds of gang activity are being planted in the area. Barney said he would also like to see more involvement from ICE.

St. George resident Phyllis Sears, a founder of Citizens Council on Illegal Immigration, warned legislators that if immigration laws continue to go unenforced, then undocumented immigrants will erode the quality of life through increased crime and negative impacts on health care and schools.

William J. Carlson, public Policy Advocate for the American Civil Liberties Union in Salt Lake City, warned the task force members that like any laws on immigration, SB81 presents due-process concerns and could encourage racial divisions.

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6.
Cardinal says immigration is unstoppable
By Martin Barillas
The Spero News (Houston, TX), October 9, 2008
http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=33&idsub=128&id=16...

Cardinal Renato Martino, President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, in presenting the Message of Pope Benedict XVI for the 95th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, to be marked on January 18, 2009.

Said the cardinal on October 8, “More than 200 million people in fact live outside their native country, driven out by poverty, hunger, violence, war, ethnic rivalries, as well as by a longing for a better life.

The preferred destination is toward the richer areas of the world and this explains why immigration is often experienced by the host countries as a sort of ‘invasion’, with negative repercussions on their stability and security. This climate of withdrawal makes the human predicament of many immigrants even sadder and more bitter, pushing them into illegal conditions.

The migratory phenomenon in a global world is becoming unstoppable: the problem will not be solved by closing the borders but by the countries’ receiving the migratory flows with right, well-balanced and sympathetic regulations (…) The most serious problems we face today are on a global level.

In fact, no nation, alone, can for example guarantee world peace, safeguard the ecosystem or impede the senseless exploitation of natural resources. The same regards today’s complex migratory movement, in which all are called to contribute, particularly in the improvement of relations among populations and culture”.

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7.
Community torn apart by SC immigration raid
By Mitch Weiss and Jeffrey Collins
The Associated Press, October 9, 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jO9WZoMijd4RZonKDKU4OabjtjkgD93MN79O4

Greenville, SC (AP) -- When Magdalana Domingo Ramirez Lopez moved to this South Carolina city nearly two years ago to work at the chicken processing plant, she felt at home.

On weekends, the neighborhood near House of Raeford's plant was filled with the sounds of salsa music and the scents of Guatemalan cooking. She would shop with her three young sons at nearby businesses that catered to the immigrants — some in the country legally, others not.

While the sights and sounds reminded Lopez of her native Guatemala, she said she was happy living in the United States — a place that offered a better life for her family.

But those hopes were shattered Tuesday when federal agents swooped into the plant, arresting 330 suspected illegal immigrants, six of them juveniles, effectively shutting down the factory and tearing apart the close-knit community.

Lopez was arrested and could be deported, as her husband was two years ago.

"My whole life has changed," she said as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I don't want to go back. My sons are better off here. The country is so poor. There's nothing there."

In response to requests Wednesday for comment on the raid, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman said only that those arrested were violating immigration law.

A day after the raid, families waited to hear from loved ones at detention centers. Meanwhile, businesses and streets were vacant because those not rounded up stayed home, afraid agents would return.

Just days before, poultry workers visibly filled the neighborhoods around the plant.

The community's transformation was slow but steady over the last 15 years as the newcomers replaced working-class whites and blacks. Neighborhood residents who knew about federal charges against plant supervisors accused of helping illegal immigrants forge documents didn't think the trouble would trickle down to them.

After all, they were only here to give the plant long hours of joint-aching work and local officials didn't seem to mind. That thought was likely shared by immigrants in communities nationwide including states throughout the South, Iowa and New York who have been caught in similar raids by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Lopez, 29, believed she was safe. But she spent most of Tuesday being fingerprinted and questioned by federal agents and a day later was coming to grips with being sent back to Guatemala. Her sons — ages 4, 5 and 6 — were all born in the U.S.

"The whole time I was there with police, I cried. I kept thinking about my sons. That I wouldn't see them again," she said.

She left Central America because she didn't want her family to grow up in a place where she was so hungry at times that she had to eat grass and dirt.

"I came to the U.S. for work. I came in peace. My goal was to help my sons grow up in a better place. Now that's gone," she said.

House of Raeford processes chickens and turkeys in eight plants in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana and Michigan. The Greenville plant and its nearly 900 workers have been under scrutiny for almost a year as authorities looked into allegations the company knowingly hired illegal immigrants. Eleven supervisors and the plant's human resources director have been arrested, mostly for falsifying immigration documents.

The company has issued a statement saying it never knowingly hired illegal immigrants and was cooperating.

Many workers say they had no idea about the legal troubles or that a raid was imminent.

"We never thought they would come in and start arresting everyone," said 35-year-old Jorge Mendoza, who missed the morning raid because he works second shift. "That would be like shutting down the plant. They wouldn't do that, we thought. The plant is too busy."

Mendoza said he plans to move his family because it's too dangerous to stay.

Greenville County deputies couldn't do much about illegal immigrants because no provision in South Carolina law makes it illegal to be in the U.S. without permission. Instead, deputies who thought they arrested or spoke to an illegal immigrant were told to contact federal immigration officials, said Master Deputy Michael Hildebrand.

Those arrested in the raid face various charges, including re-entry after deportation, counterfeit documents and false statements. All are in the U.S. Marshal's custody and have been processed for deportation.

Luis Garcia, an interpreter in the area, said removing so many people will devastate the community.

"They're breaking families. Everyone is worried," said Garcia, who visited Lopez to see how she was doing.

Lopez is under house arrest and has to wear an ankle monitor until her deportation hearing Nov. 14. She has no money to hire a lawyer.

Her 4-year-old son, Issias, is recovering from surgery she doubted he would get proper medical care in Guatemala, where she plans to take her children to rejoin their father.

When immigration officials asked her to sign a deportation order, she said she refused, replying: "First you kill me, then I'll sign it."

Several miles down the road, Emilio Espinoza manages the Guatemala Restaurant in a strip mall with a grocery store, bakery and nightclub, all catering toward Hispanics.

His usually packed restaurant was empty at lunchtime Wednesday for the first time since he opened seven years ago. Half his employees didn't show up because they were scared immigration agents might be in the area.

"People are afraid to leave their homes," said the 35-year-old Espinoza.

David Wynn said he has watched the neighborhood change around his heating and air conditioning supply store across the street from the plant.

Everyone knew the plant hired illegal immigrants, said Wynn, who added no one wanted to do anything about it because they figured the workers were doing jobs no one else wanted. With the economy getting worse, that's probably no longer true and he worries what is going to happen to all the people caught up in the raid.

"We need to pray for them," Wynn said.