Please visit our YouTube and Facebook pages.

1. Obama resists calls for Haitian TPS
2. Republican Senator gears up for amnesty
3. Caucus urges immigration 'reform'
4. Reports criticize detainee health care
5. AR Senate to discuss tuition bill

1.
Protected status sought for Haitians
By Nicholas Kralev
The Washington Times, March 18, 2009

The Obama administration is resisting pressure from congressional Democrats and immigration advocates to allow tens of thousands of undocumented Haitians to remain legally in the United States until their impoverished country recovers from a devastating food crisis and a series of natural disasters.

The House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on immigration, citizenship, refugees, border security and international law is considering a draft bill granting "temporary protected status" (TPS) to Haitians, but its prospects for passage are slim.

A much faster way to provide relief would be for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to exercise her power under the law and approve such status by executive order. But she has no such intention, said her spokesman, Sean Smith.

"There is no change in our policy on temporary protected status, and deportations to Haiti are continuing," he said Tuesday. "And let me be clear: No one living in Haiti right now should be attempting to come to the United States in hopes that they will be granted TPS."

The Department of Homeland Security's decision is certain to anger the Haitian government, which repeatedly urged the Bush administration to stop deporting Haitian citizens. Officials at the Haitian Embassy in Washington could not be reached for comment.

Mrs. Napolitano's predecessor, Michael Chertoff, wrote in a letter to Haitian President Rene Preval in January that, "after very careful consideration, I have concluded that Haiti does not currently warrant a TPS designation."
. . .
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/18/haitian-refugees-rejecte...

********
********

2.
Martinez heats up immigration debate
By Gebe Martinez
The Politico (Washington, DC), March 18, 2009

As national Republican Party conservatives debate whether the party’s tent is big enough for the more progressive leanings of its first African-American chairman, Michael Steele, another Republican leader has reignited his own cause that always threatens to blow the top off the tent.

Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, the former Republican Party chairman who vividly remembers the “variety of names” conservatives called him because of his work on immigrant rights, is readying for another big brawl over the issue.

Right now, months before President Barack Obama is expected to outline his own immigration plan and before Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) decides how to re-engage on the issue — presumably after Obama shows his hand — Martinez is heating up the debate that will stretch his own party’s tolerance for increased immigration and multiculturalism.

The Florida senator is in a hurry to lead on immigration: He has less than two years remaining in his self-limited single term in the Senate.

“We have got to come to an understanding” on immigration, Martinez implored recently at the National Council of La Raza’s gala, where he and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) were honored for their work on behalf of Hispanics. “Comprehensive immigration reform has got to be back on the top of the agenda,” Martinez said. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Though Obama has promised to reform the immigration system, he has not decided when, leaving Martinez to conclude the delay shows a “lack of direction or interest.” But clearly, the Republican senator is putting pressure on the Democratic White House because there is little hope of changing the minds of his own party members standing under the incredible shrinking Republican Party tent.
. . .
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20125.html

********
********

3.
Asian-Americans urge Obama to reform immigration
Agence France Presse, March 17, 2009

Washington, DC (AFP) -- Asian-American members of the US Congress on Tuesday urged President Barack Obama to reform immigration by year end, saying the current system was tearing families in their community apart.

Mike Honda, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, wrote Obama a letter saying that immigration reform "must remain an early priority in your administration."

"Immigration raids tear families apart, dreams of undocumented students are suspended indefinitely and growing immigration backlogs keep close family members separated for years, sometimes decades," Honda wrote.

Honda, a member of Obama's Democratic Party, said some two million Asians hoping to be reunited with families were languishing in the immigration service's backlog, account for half of such cases.

He said Asian-Americans -- who account for some five percent of the US population -- were also concerned about the Department of Homeland Security's past treatment of detainees and lack of due process.
. . .
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jS8HteystrIWzbdkKsA13...

********
********

4.
Reports: Health Care For Potential Deportees Poor
By Greg Allen
The NPR News, March 17, 2009

Two new reports document something that has emerged as a serious issue for federal immigration authorities: a lack of adequate health care for detainees.

With some 400,000 people held by immigration authorities last year alone, stories about detainees receiving inadequate health care abound, and sometimes the consequences are fatal.

A recent case in Virginia involved a 48-year-old man, originally from Germany, named Guido Newbrough. He was being held in a county jail last year in Virginia when he became sick with a severe bacterial infection.

Susana Barciela of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center says it was a death that could have been prevented. "Seventy-five percent of the people who are treated for this disease properly survive," she says. "But he was given no treatment whatsoever, even though he'd been complaining for weeks."

Since 2003, advocates say, at least 80 people have died either in immigration custody or shortly after their release. The exact number is difficult to know, they say, because Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is not required to make that information public.

'You Had To Suffer Through The Pain'

Some of those cases — and many others that didn't end with fatalities — are detailed in two reports released in Miami by the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center and Human Rights Watch.

The Human Rights Watch report focuses on the plight of women held in immigration custody. Researcher Meghan Rhoad says that while only about 10 percent of detainees typically are women, they're held by a system that in many cases ignores basic needs.
. . .
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102015887

********
********

5.
Ark. lawmaker to discuss with full Senate bill on immigrant tuition
The Seattle Times, March 17, 2009

Little Rock -- A special hearing is planned before the full Senate to discuss a lawmaker's proposal to grant in-state tuition to the children of illegal immigrants.

A special hearing is planned before the full Senate to discuss a lawmaker's proposal to grant in-state tuition to the children of illegal immigrants.
. . .
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2008875537_xgrimmigrants...