1. Obama may 'reassess' workplace raids
2. Obama yet to announce DHS choices
3. Napolitano could prioritize immigration
4. Tancredo may not be finished with politics
5. Venezuela election may increase immigration
6. VA panel makes 'watered down' proposals
7. Undercover ICE agent arrested in FL
8. WA nightclub owner arrested

1.
Options Abound for Executive Action on Immigration
By Caitlin Webber
The Congressional Quarterly, November 25, 2008

Even if comprehensive immigration legislation is a low priority in the 111th Congress, President-elect Barack Obama will have plenty of tools at his disposal for altering the border security and interior enforcement landscape.

The new administration can use executive orders, departmental reviews, regulations and personnel appointments to affect policy without Congress having to weigh in.

And having apparently settled on a Homeland Security secretary in Gov. Janet Napolitano , D-Ariz., viewed as possessing border security credentials, such a strategy makes sense, with the president otherwise engaged in confronting economic troubles at home and war and terrorism abroad.

Likely to be high on the immigration to-do list: re-examining the stepped-up worksite enforcement conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent months.

Human rights and immigrant advocates have blasted the raids, which are effective at netting large groups of illegal workers but can create public relations problems.

“I think that the Obama administration is definitely going to dial back on workplace raids, but I don’t see them putting it that way,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates reduced immigration levels. “They’re going to say ‘we’re re-assessing workplace raids.’”
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http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=hsnews-000002990766

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2.
Homeland security choices await Obama
By Jen Dimascio
Politico, November 25, 2008

As soon as he becomes president, Barack Obama will face key decisions about how to reshape the nation’s vast homeland security apparatus, including whether to scrap the White House Homeland Security Council and free up the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Before the election, the liberal think tanks Center for American Progress and Third Way produced a manual for the homeland security transition that may prove to be particularly influential in the new administration.

Labeled the Homeland Security Presidential Transition Initiative, the study was authored by one of the president-elect’s transition team chiefs, John Podesta, and Clark Kent Ervin, a transition team leader for homeland security. Former Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.) and former Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick, both mentioned as contenders for Cabinet-level positions, also worked on the study.

The report suggests announcing the secretary of homeland security early in the transition period, when the nation could be more vulnerable to attack. The study advises frequent meetings with the outgoing administration, gathering incoming leaders for a pre-inaugural table-top exercise simulating their response to an emergency and organizing a summit on homeland security in the first 100 days.

The transition team is moving quickly on personnel. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is expected to be named homeland security secretary. The transition team is already at DHS, laying the groundwork to help the appointees navigate the Senate confirmation process, said Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Acton, who is overseeing the transition for the administration.
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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15948.html

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3.
Napolitano Likely to Prioritize Immigration at Homeland Security
Arizona Governor Likely Nominee for Homeland Security Post
By John Dougherty
The Washington Independent, November 25, 2008

Phoenix -- If Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano becomes the new secretary of homeland security, this centrist Democrat could have the opportunity to institute nationwide reforms to address continuing problems with illegal immigration and border security. These reforms could grow out of the policies and programs that Napolitano has tested in her 15 years of public service in a state that is ground zero in America’s struggle to control its borders.

Napolitano, 50, is now frequently mentioned as President-elect Barack Obama’s leading candidate to run the Dept. of Homeland Security, a sprawling bureaucracy with 200,000 employees and a $50 billion budget that is responsible for protecting against future terrorist attacks, securing borders from illegal entry and responding to natural disasters through oversight of the much-maligned Federal Emergency Management Agency. The department also includes the Secret Service, the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies.

As governor, Napolitano developed expertise in many of homeland security’s primary missions. She gained a national profile when she demanded in 2006 that the federal government pay for deploying National Guard troops along the border to help the overwhelmed U.S. Border Patrol, a move that foreshadowed President George W. Bush’s deployment of guard troops to the Mexican border. Those troops have since been withdrawn, and last week Napolitano called for their redeployment.
Illustration by: Matt Mahurin

A former U.S. attorney and state attorney general, Napolitano has been widely popular in a conservative, Republican-leaning state since winning the governorship in 2002. She carried every legislative district in her 2006 re-election.

Critics say Napolitano gained notoriety more through shrewd political decisions, like her call for the National Guard deployment, than by taking tough stands on important issues, including human-rights matters, that could be major considerations for a homeland security secretary.

Critics also point to her actions while U.S. attorney for Arizona in the mid-1990s. Napolitano soft-pedaled a Justice Dept. investigation into the notorious Maricopa County jails operated by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who remains a powerful political force in Arizona. Arpaio, a Republican, later supported Napolitano in her first gubernatiorial campaign — a race she won narrowly.

If appointed and confirmed as DHS secretary, Napolitano is expected to take a pragmatic approach in dealing with the nation’s porous borders and millions of illegal immigrants. She’s against the concept of “sealing the border” with a wall, instead favoring high-tech solutions across the Southwest.

Napolitano has said she has no time for “unrealistic” demands to round up and deport every undocumented worker. At the same time, she’s not about to extend a blanket amnesty, like that approved by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. She has talked instead about a strict protocol for allowing immigrants to remain in the United States, including stiff fines and requiring a history of paying taxes.

Napolitano is also poised to reform the nation’s visa system to increase the needed supply of workers — whether skilled, high-tech experts or seasonal migrant farm workers. But that won’t be a back-door entry, Napolitano insists, because she supports tough employer sanctions for companies that knowingly hire undocumented workers.
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http://washingtonindependent.com/19967/napolitano-likely-to-prioritize-i...

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4.
Tancredo's crusade isn't over
Retiring congressman plans to keep promoting his conservative causes
By M.E. Sprengelmeyer
The Rocky Mountain News, November 25, 2008

Washington -- Take your pick: farewell or good riddance. But outgoing Rep. Tom Tancredo might not be leaving the political limelight for long.

"I'm not done with politics," the controversial, immigration-reform firebrand declared last week, sitting in a crowded cafeteria two floors below where his staff was packing up his old congressional office.

After five terms in Congress - two more than his discarded term-limits pledge - Tancredo said he's not finished making noise about conservative causes, including his crusade to stop illegal immigration.

That could mean working for an immigration-focused think tank. It could mean some talk radio work, or a behind-the-scenes role in Colorado Republican politics. Or it could mean throwing his hat into the ring for another campaign of his own - perhaps as early as 2010.

Though he doesn't have any firm plans, Tancredo took out his Blackberry and proudly displayed a note from one of his oldest friends telling him that family members already were working on a "Tancredo for Governor" campaign for 2010.

'Most alluring' option

He laughed about it but admitted it is the "most alluring" of any of the political possibilities.

Then again, Tancredo knows Democratic foes might be licking their chops, preparing to portray him as a xenophobe or, worse, too extreme to win a statewide office.

"Let me put it this way," Tancredo said. "If I were on the opposite side and a candidate like me were seeking office, and if I were advising his opponent, I'd be saying, 'Man, what a field day we would have . . . ' "

Such is the reputation Tancredo has built in his time as an admitted "bomb-throwing" back-bencher in Congress.

With the end of the lame-duck congressional session in Washington, D.C., Tancredo heads home not as some venerable elder statesman, not as a powerful committee chairman and not as a universally beloved figure - not even in his own Republican caucus.
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http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/nov/25/tancredos-crusade-isnt...

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5.
Venezuelan elections may mean more immigration, flight capital for South Florida
By Bill Frogameni
The South Florida Business Journal, October 25, 2005

With nationwide elections just finished in Venezuela, it’s wait-and-see time in that country and South Florida.

While President Hugo Chavez consolidated his power by winning the majority of races on Sunday, the immediate impact this may have on South Florida – a leading destination for Venezuelan immigrants and flight capital since Chavez’s 1999 election – is not clear.

A handful of opposition candidates may have won symbolic inroads with a few key gubernatorial and mayoral races, but instability persists, said Jerry Haar, professor of management and international business at Florida International University and a Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce board member.

There’s been a continuous drip of wealth and influx of immigrants from Venezuela to South Florida since Chavez took power, Haar said. And while immediate fallout from the elections isn’t certain, the elections won’t stop the flow.

In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated there were 32,000 Venezuelans living in South Florida. By 2006, that estimate more than doubled to 79,000.
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http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2008/11/24/daily7.html

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6.
Va. Panel on Immigration Steps Back From Hard Line
By Anita Kumar
The Washington Post, November 24, 2008; A01

Richmond -- Virginia, known for some of the nation's toughest policies on illegal immigration, appears to be abandoning its hard-line approach as state officials consider proposals to help foreign-born residents assimilate, including increasing the number of English classes.

In the coming weeks, the Virginia Commission on Immigration will send Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) two dozen recommendations, most of which would help immigrants instead of penalizing them.

Those on both sides of the issue say interest in immigration has waned because of the growing economic crisis, a clearer understanding of the state's limitations on a largely federal issue and backlash at the voting booth.

"I think some reality set in," said state Sen. John C. Watkins (R-Chesterfield), the group's chairman.

Recommendations include shortening the Medicaid residency requirements for certain qualified immigrants, offering in-state tuition to immigrants who meet specific criteria and creating an immigration assistance office.

The commission considered but did not adopt proposals to force immigrants to carry special identification cards, allow hospitals to fingerprint patients who do not pay their bills and require proof of legal residence to be eligible for public assistance.

Virginia officials have spent years addressing the issue of immigration, taking whatever actions they could within the confines of state and federal law. More recently, immigration turned out to be a less popular election issue than some lawmakers had hoped. As a result, state officials appear to be shifting their focus from fighting illegal immigration to assimilating the ever-growing population of legal immigrants.

Del. C. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah), who served on the commission and is staunchly anti-illegal immigration, described the panel's approach to enforcement as "very much watered-down."

"I can't totally disagree that some people are leery of the issue, because maybe it wasn't the wedge issue that some thought it would be," Gilbert said.

In recent years, as Congress repeatedly failed to pass immigration legislation, many states considered immigration bills that addressed employment, identification, law enforcement and public benefits.

In Virginia, Republicans and some Democrats in conservative-leaning districts seized on the issue, unveiling proposals to curb illegal immigration and talking up the cause on the campaign trail. Much of the debate was in Northern Virginia, including Prince William County, where officials curtailed government services to illegal immigrants and increased enforcement.

In 2007, a Washington Post poll found that 9 percent of likely voters in Virginia, and 17 percent in Northern Virginia, considered immigration the most important issue facing the state. But this year only 1 percent of likely voters surveyed listed immigration as a top issue.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/23/AR200811...

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7.
Undercover immigration agent charged with taking kickbacks
An immigration agent probing a South American migrant smuggling network was charged with accepting kickbacks from a paid federal informant.
By Jay Weaver
The Miami Herald, November 25, 2008

A federal undercover agent investigating an Ecuadorean-Chinese smuggling ring accepted cash kickbacks and other gifts from a paid U.S. government informant involved in the probe of the illegal migrant network, according to an indictment unsealed Monday.

Veteran Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Pedro Cintron, 52, is charged with taking $8,300 -- along with a gold bracelet and cellphones worth about $2,000 -- from the unidentified informant who worked with him in 2004 and 2005.

Cintron, who lives in Weston, also accepted $12,000 from a Chinese smuggler based in Ecuador as a down payment for bringing illegal migrants into the United States in late 2005, according to the indictment.

In addition to accepting illegal gratuities, Cintron is charged with theft, disclosing the name of a confidential informant and making false statements to authorities in the 14-count indictment. He was arrested Friday.
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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/5min/story/786354.html

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8.
Seattle nightclub owner charged with visa fraud
The Associated Press, November 24, 2008

SEATTLE -- A Seattle nightclub owner faces federal charges that he tried to help other immigrants, including a felon, obtain fraudulent green cards.

Marcos Neumann Garcia was arrested Monday. A complaint filed in U.S. District Court says he paid $42,500 to undercover agents who pretended to have connections to corrupt immigration officials. In one case, the charging papers say, he tried to have someone deported after that person had paid him $30,000 to obtain fake immigration documents.
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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_visa_fraud.html