1. ICE announces 'hurricane amnesty'
2. Small business lobbies for renewals
3. Bishops demand end to workplace raids
4. Worker woes continue for meatpacker
5. FL city crackdown raises concerns
6. FDA warns use of imported formula
7. TX guardsman dealt two year sentence
8. Man pleads guilty to smuggling

1.
Ike evacuation: 'Hurricane amnesty' to help Gulf's illegal immigrants
But increased raids this past year mean that many undocumented may choose to stay in the storm zone.
By Patrik Jonsson
The Christian Science Monitor, September 12, 2008

Atlanta -- As up to a million Texans flee the wind and rain of hurricane Ike, the federal government has imposed a "hurricane amnesty" for the state's estimated 1.6 million unauthorized immigrants.

That means no ID checks at shelters, no border patrol checkpoints, no Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents scouring the highways, says Dan Martinez, spokesman for the Austin-based Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He calls the massive evacuation a "humanitarian mission" to save lives ahead of what may become an 18-foot storm surge pushing against the vulnerable continental shelf of Texas.

Such assurances would normally be enough to convince the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants in seven coastal counties to get their families out of harm's way, says Frank Bean, director of the Center for Research on Immigration, Population and Public Policy at the University of California in Irvine.

But with the intensification of crackdowns and raids in recent years, evacuation may prove a tough sell to some Hispanics in the storm's path.

"There's a contradiction here – the government is between a rock and a hard spot," says David McEntire, an emergency response expert at the University of North Texas in Denton. "They want to enforce immigration laws, and another priority is to protect people and save lives. It's not going to be an easy task to reconcile them."

As mandatory evacuations begin today, the Red Cross has begun handing out leaflets across the region, informing illegal residents of the amnesty. Harris County officials have also informed Mexican Consulate General in Houston of the amnesty to help get the message out.

But in some areas, local emergency officials have not targeted the Hispanic community specifically. For one, authorities say they don't have a good handle on the exact number of undocumented workers living in the storm zone. "We know there's a significant number," says Marco Bracamontes, a Harris County spokesman.

In nearby Matagorda County, emergency officials are equally unsure. "I don't know how many are here," says James Gibson, a Matagorda County commissioner.
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http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0912/p99s01-ussc.html

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2.
Small-business owners urge Hill to restore visas
By Lindsey McPherson
The Washington Times, September 12, 2008

More than 200 small-business owners from Maryland and throughout the country went to Capitol Hill this week to ask their representatives to save their jobs by pushing a bill to restore H2-B visas.

The bill, Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2007, is an amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act, which limits the number of temporary workers that can enter the country. The amendment labels H2-B visa-holders as returning workers, removing limits on how many can return to work each season.

The visas, which allow foreign workers to legally enter the country and work at a seasonal job for about six to eight months, help provide workers to fill spots American workers won't take, said Hank Lavery, president of Save Small Business, the group that organized the meetings Wednesday on Capitol Hill. He said Americans are not attracted to the jobs because they are seasonal.

"We're advertising the jobs, we're doing everything we can to find Americans, but somebody trying to raise a family can't do it on a six-month job," Mr. Lavery said. "And there are not enough young Americans, or any Americans, willing to do the jobs."

He also said American workers could lose their jobs if the bill is not passed because employers would have to close businesses.

"This is about American jobs; this is not about immigration," he said to the business owners before they went to meetings.

To get that point across to the representatives, the owners talked specifically about the Maryland crabbing industry, which would lose an estimated 2.54 domestic workers for every H2-B visa job taken away, according to a University of Maryland, College Park, study released Monday.

Business owners from other industries — including landscaping, nurseries, swimming pools, restaurants and hotels — also came to tell their stories to the Maryland congressional representatives.
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http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/12/small-business-owners-urge-h...

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3.
Bishops Want Immigration Raids to End
By Julia Preston
The New York Times, September 12, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/12/us/12brfs-001.html?ref=us

Roman Catholic bishops urged the Bush administration to halt workplace immigration raids, saying the “humanitarian cost” was “unacceptable in a civilized society.” Speaking on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, John C. Wester, the bishop of Salt Lake City said that the escalating number of worksite raids over the past year had spread fear in immigrant communities and had made it difficult for detained immigrants to obtain legal representation. Bishop Wester also called on the Department of Homeland Security to refrain from conducting raids in churches, health centers and schools.

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4.
Dispute drags on between Colorado meatpacking plant and Somali workers over prayer breaks
By Ivan Moreno
The Associated Press, September 12, 2008

Dever (AP) -- Tensions have flared between Somali workers and officials at a Colorado meatpacking plant over when employees can break for prayer during the Muslim observance of Ramadan.

Religious discord between U.S. factories and Muslim workers is nothing new, but a spokesman for the D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations said he's never seen a conflict escalate to the point it has at the JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Greeley.

"Usually in these cases we're able to come to an amicable solution," CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said Thursday.

The conflict in Greeley began Sept. 5, when about 220 workers, according to Swift estimates, walked out during the evening shift, blaming the company's refusal to allow their breaks to coincide with sunset so they could pray.

Hooper said the timing of the sunset prayer for Muslims is the only one of the five daily prayers that can't be changed.

"You can't really say, 'Well I'll delay it for an hour and do it then.' You have a very narrow window of opportunity," Hooper said. During the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, workers can't eat or drink until that prayer, he said.

Swift spokeswoman Tamara Smid said 101 workers were fired, but United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 spokesman Manny Gonzales said the number was as high
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-muslim-worker...

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5.
Immigration Plan by JSO Raises Racial Profiling Fears
By Jackelyn Barnard
The WJXX News (Jacksonville, FL), September 12, 2008

Jacksonville, FL -- Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is working in conjunction with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and a number of Florida law enforcement agencies to track down criminals and immigration violators.

The initiative is under ICE's 287(g) program. It has stirred controversy in other parts of the country. And now it's coming to Jacksonville.

First Coast News has learned ten corrections officers from the Duval County Jail are training at the Florida Law Enforcement Training Center in South Carolina.

According to ICE, the JSO signed an agreement with the federal agency which enables officers to "legally identify criminal and illegal aliens that they may encounter, and to initiate removal proceedings for those found to be in the country illegally."

The JSO declined to talk about the initiative on camera. A spokesperson said the JSO wanted to wait until after the officers graduate from the program.

However, Sheriff John Rutherford told ICE last month, "We look forward to working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to weed out illegal criminal aliens in our community."

But not everyone is happy about the program.

"The shortages we have in Corrections, why are we taking ten officers now for what I believe is not an issue in Jacksonville, being illegal aliens?" asks Fraternal Order of Police President Nelson Cuba.
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http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/mostpopular/news-article.aspx?storyid...

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6.
FDA: Formula contaminated with melamine may be on sale at Asian groceries in US
By Ricardo Alonso Zaldivar
The Associated Press, September 11, 2008

Washington, DC (AP) -- Tainted infant formula from China may be on sale at ethnic groceries in this country, even though it is not approved for importation, federal officials warned on Thursday.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/ats-ap-fda-tainted-f...

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7.
Texas Guardsman sentenced to 2 years in prison for immigrant smuggling
The Associated Press, September 11, 2008

Laredo, TX (AP) -- A 27-year-old Army national guardsman was sentenced Thursday to two years in federal prison for his role in an immigrant smuggling scheme.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-soldiers-immi...

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8.
Man pleads guilty to smuggling illegal immigrants through SoCal bombing range
By Elliot Spagat
The Associated Press, September 11, 2008

San Diego (AP) -- A man pleaded guilty Thursday to running an organization that authorities said smuggled dozens of illegal immigrants per day through a live bombing range in southeastern California.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-migrant-smugg...