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1. Obama takes notes on Canadian system
2. Napolitano re-evaluating REAL ID
3. Census profiles immigrant population
4. Mexican asylum seekers increase
5. Mexican emigration halves

1.
Obama arrives in Canada with immigration, economics and environment on the agenda
By Leonard Doyle
The Independent (U.K.), February 20, 2009

Ottawa -- There was snow on the ground in Ottawa yesterday as Air Force One touched down for Barack Obama's deliberately low key, first trip abroad as president.

In a moment replete with symbolism, Mounties in red uniforms gave the salute as Mr Obama was greeted by Canada's Governor General, Haitian born Michaëlle Jean. It was meant to be perfunctory encounter between Canada's acting head of state (in the Queen's absence) and the president, but it turned instead into a lengthy closed door session between the two black political leaders.

Mr Obama is interested in the success of Canada's immigration model and he was learning first hand from a woman whose family fled Haiti as refugees from the regime of Dictator Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier.
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/obama-arrives-in-canada...

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2.
Napolitano debates Real ID
By Audrey Hudson
The Washington Times, February 20, 2009

As governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano was no fan of the Real ID program that sets federal standards for state-issued driver's licenses which will be required in the future to board airplanes.

Now that she is Homeland Security secretary and overseeing the department that governs the contentious law, Miss Napolitano says she wants to examine "realistic options" with the officials who must put the program into action - the nation's governors.

Specifically, Miss Napolitano said she is looking at Washington state's modified version of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative program. The Pacific state issues security-enhanced driver's licenses that are accepted for crossing into the state from Canada.

In addition to Arizona, more than a dozen states have passed legislation prohibiting the implementation of the Real ID program, and similar legislation passed by the Virginia House and Senate last week is awaiting Gov. Tim Kaine's signature.

"Governors are committed to improving the security and integrity of state driver's licenses and identification systems, but the timelines and requirements mandated by Real ID are unrealistic," the National Governors Association (NGA) says in its policy position paper.

The NGA calls the program an unfunded mandate of $11 billion over five years that its members cannot afford.

Miss Napolitano said Real ID will be the focus of conversation when she drops by the NGA's winter meeting this weekend. She said governors need options to make identification more secure, but not necessarily "under the rubric of Real ID."

"Enhanced driver's licenses give confidence that the person holding the card is the person who is supposed to be holding the card, and it's less elaborate than Real ID," Miss Napolitano said.

According to the NGA, the Department of Homeland Security secretary should be granted the flexibility to recognize innovation at the state level.

"Several states have updated their systems to meet objectives similar to those of Real ID," the paper said.

Washington created its own pilot program as an alternative to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requirements put in place in January of last year, that required American citizens re-entering the U.S. from Canada, Mexico and Bermuda to present a passport.

The enhanced driver's license requires proof of citizenship, identity and residence and contains certain security features similar to a passport.

The Real ID program requires the state to implement 18 security standards, from the physical security of the card itself such as holograms and digital photos, as well as the process of how licenses are issued. For example, these advanced photos would be taken before the paperwork is begun on a license, so if the person provides false information and the license is denied, officials would have a picture of the person.

A process would also be in place to ensure multiple licenses have not been issued to a person from another state, and checks for legal immigration status.
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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/20/napolitano-debates-real-id/

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3.
2007 census data compares immigrant groups on LI
By Olivia Winslow
Newsday (NY), February 20, 2009

Marianela Jordan was just 5 years old when she and her family came to the United States in 1979 after a hurricane ruined their home in the Dominican Republic. They settled in Freeport, where relatives lived.

The family, which had overstayed tourist visas, received federal amnesty in 1986, clearing the way for citizenship. Jordan said she was 18 when she became a citizen. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia and is now director of the Coordinating Agency for Spanish Americans, which helps Latinos assimilate, making her the highest-ranking Latino in Nassau County government. She is studying for her master's degree in public policy at New York University.

Jordan's story shows the progression many immigrants make, as they work, pursue an education and try to make a better life for their families.

The Census Bureau yesterday released an analysis of 2007 survey data outlining some characteristics of the foreign-born population, such as the education they've attained, their income and employment status.

The data show immigrants from India, Australia, South Africa and the Philippines have the highest median household incomes. For residents born in India, for example, the median household income was $91,195. That compares to $46,881 for the foreign-born population overall, and $51,249 for the native-born.

Locally, Asian immigrants in Nassau - who number 77,603 - have a median household income of $100,403, versus $89,782 for the county's total population, according to the bureau. The Asian population in Suffolk County wasn't large enough to analyze.

For Latin Americans in Nassau - who number 125,327 - the median household income was $68,567; and in Suffolk - where Latin Americans number 105,500 - $72,091. Nationally, the bureau said about 68 percent of U.S. foreign-born residents and 88 percent of the native-born are high school graduates, while 27 percent of foreign-born and about 28 percent of the native-born have bachelor's degrees.

Census figures show Latin America to be the region that has sent the most immigrants to Long Island in recent years. The bureau's latest analysis shows 20.4 percent of Latin American immigrants in Nassau have a bachelor's degree or higher, compared with 40.2 percent of the county's total population. In Suffolk, it's 14.5 percent compared to 31.8 percent of the county's total population.
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http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/longisland/ny-lilati206042275fe...

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4.
Surge in Asylum Seeking Mexicans Taxing Already Overworked Immigration System
By Nora Zimmett
The Associated Press, February 19, 2009

Federal immigration officials are reporting a surge in the number of Mexicans crossing the border to seek asylum in the U.S., an increase analysts say is due to the drug violence and criminal activity that claimed a record 5,300 lives in Mexico last year.

The surge creates a huge workload for immigration officials, since American law prevents sending asylum-seekers home before they have gone through a monthslong legal process, which almost always proves fruitless. Most of the asylum-seekers wind up being found ineligible and sent back over the border.

But first they must fill out paperwork to apply for asylum. Then they are fingerprinted and go through background checks. After an applicant receives an interview notice, he is interviewed by an asylum officer from Citizenship and Immigration Services, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, to determine his eligibility. Once the asylum officer makes a decision, his supervisor must review it. Only then does an applicant receive a decision.

That process is expensive, since each case can take up to four months to resolve, and American taxpayers pay to keep the asylum-seekers in protective custody while they await a decision, which almost always isn't in their favor.

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2,231 Mexicans sought asylum in the United States in fiscal 2008 – up from 1,366 in 2006, before drug violence in Mexico began to escalate. And it is not just the number of applicants that is increasing – the number of approved applications has more than doubled from 61 in 2006 to 123 in 2008.

"The issue of asylum claims is one part of a number of signs we're seeing that are the results of border violence," says Michael Friel, director of media relations at Customs and Border Protection.

Few of the Mexicans are actually eligible to be given asylum status. According to the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, those seeking asylum in the United States must face persecution in their homeland based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinions.

Escaping violence from drug wars does not make a person eligible to be granted asylum in the U.S.

"Fleeing violence in a particular region of Mexico doesn't provide me a basis to claim asylum under our immigration laws," says Kathleen Walker, immigration attorney and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers' Association in El Paso Texas.

The process for seeking asylum is strict; an applicant has to prove not only that he is being persecuted in his country of origin, but that he also has a "credible fear" of persecution. He must also prove that there is nowhere in his country that he can go.

"If I can go to another area of Mexico, and it's not something that is countrywide, then the element of persecution is not going to be established," Walker told FOXNews.com. "CBP has to assess whether or not this person belongs to a particular class, they have a particular political belief, or whatever it may be that one can fall into the grounds that one can be granted asylum on. Just because you're fleeing generic violence is not a grounds to seek asylum and have it granted."
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,496925,00.html

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5.
Mexico: Exodus of migrants falls by more than half
By Mark Stevenson
The Associated Press, February 20, 2009

Mexico City (AP) -- Migration from Mexico, mainly to the United States, has fallen dramatically as fewer Mexicans leave their country to look for work abroad amid a global economic downturn, the government said Thursday.

The net outflow of Mexicans — both legal and illegal — declined by over 50 percent in the 12 months ending in August 2008, compared the same period a year earlier, said the Eduardo Sojo, president of the board of Mexico's National Statistics, Geography and Information Institute.

Sojo attributed the net drop in migration to tough economic conditions abroad motivating Mexicans to stay at home, rather than Mexicans in other countries returning to their homeland.

"There is declining tendency of people going abroad, but we have not detected, up to now, any increase in people returning to the country," Sojo said.

Sojo also said a recent survey of "leading indicators" suggests that the number of Mexicans planning to emigrate in the future is also dropping. He did not provide details of that survey.

He said the net outflow of Mexicans — those leaving the country minus those returning from abroad — dropped to 204,000 people between August 2007 and August 2008. That was down from 455,000 for the year ending in August 2007.

The number of returning Mexicans was roughly the same over the two periods, declining slightly to 450,000 by late 2008, from 478,000 in the 2007 period.

But the number leaving Mexico fell sharply to 654,000 from 933,000.

The government has said in past years that a majority who leave are undocumented migrants. Its figures are estimates based on quarterly surveys of Mexican households carried out by the institute.

A government survey also shows the number of households in Mexico that receive remittances — the money sent home by Mexicans working abroad, the vast majority in the United States — has also fallen to 1.16 million in 2008 from 1.41 million in 2005, Sojo said.

Remittances, Mexico's second-largest source of foreign income after oil, plunged 3.6 percent to $25 billion in 2008 compared to $26 billion for the previous year, according to the country's central bank.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jsXUs0VFbHFCymdO7i4mmk...