1. Study blasts resident-alien suffrage
2. Court upholds AZ enforcement law
3. McCain, Obama trade blows in Spanish
4. New ad ties McCain to Limbaugh
5. Crime up as illegals flood Texas
6. KS audit halted for lack of data

1.
Non-Citizen Voting: ‘American Dream’ or ‘One of the Worst Ideas Ever’?
By Caitlin Webber
The Congressional Quarterly, September 16, 2008
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=hsnews-000002952241

An emerging movement to give non-citizens the right to vote in local elections should be resisted because it puts at risk national cohesion and the value of U.S. citizenship, according to a new report by a group that supports lower immigration.

“The Constitution, the Congress and the courts have enshrined voting as a core indispensable element of American citizenship and democracy,” Stanley A. Renshon, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, said upon release of his paper, “Allowing Non-Citizens to Vote in the United States? Why Not.”

Those who support non-citizen voting argue that it would actually be more democratic because more interests would be represented and participation in the political process would aid newcomers’ assimilation.

The report attempts to debunk that claim. And conservative columnist Michael Barone took issue with that characterization at a Sept. 15 CIS event promoting the study.

“This proposal is a tactic by insincere manipulators who want to increase the number of votes cast on their side of the issues and in the absence of interested citizens are willing to try to find any votes they can,” Barone said.

Immigrant advocates say CIS is blowing a nascent academic debate out of proportion in an effort to stir up anti-immigration sentiment.

”The question remains why CIS keeps screaming ‘fire’ when there isn’t any smoke, let alone flames,” Angela Kelly, director of the Immigrant Policy Center, said in a statement. “CIS work does not inform and support the real thinking that needs to go into immigration reform, it avoids it.

A leading proponent for immigrant voting rights says he can only wish the “relatively small campaigns in different parts of the country . . . primarily academics and groups with very little resources” were more like the concerted effort the CIS report depicts.

“I’d love to see it be more concerted. I’d love to see more institutionalized support,” said Ron Hayduk, a political science professor at City University of New York. “Hopefully, this publication will help advance the cause by providing more publicity.”

Seven municipalities allow non-citizens to vote in local or school board elections, and several others are considering the issue, according to Hayduk’s group the Immigrant Voting Project.

Non-citizen participation is often quite low, a fact cited by Renshon and admitted by Hayduk.

That’s a result of several factors, he said, notably that many non-citizens resemble other voters who consistently have lower turnout. — those with lower levels of education and income.

Additionally, “there is a reticence to come forward and put their name on a registration list,” he said, which has grown “with the greater scrutiny of immigrants and immigrants’ greater state of terror.”

Common Sense and the American Dream

Some opponents of non-citizen voting say it would also likely result in negative unintended consequences for immigrants.

Barone argues that if non-citizen immigrant votes resulted in an election outcome not favored by the majority of citizens, “people would be angry . . . and support for legal immigration would take a nose-dive. It would bring out the most nativist and the most hostile elements in our thinking.”

Hayduk acknowledged that as “one possible outcome, but it could be quite the contrary and there are several ways that scenario could be avoided,” Hayduk said.

Supporters could “appeal to the idea of the American dream and its latest manifestation and [say] rather than weakening communities, immigrants bring assets and strength to achieve some of those components of the American dream.”

They’ll have a hard time convincing Barone.

He ended his statement on the CIS report saying, “in general, this is one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard in public policy. It defies common sense.”

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

2.
Appeals court upholds Arizona immigration law
By Gina Keating
Reusters, September 17, 2008

Los Angeles (Reuters) -- A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday upheld an Arizona law that targets employers who hire illegal immigrants by revoking their licenses to do business in the state.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals noted that the 2007 law, which has not been enforced, arose from "rising frustration with the United States Congress's failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform."

Some 12 million illegal immigrants are believed to live in the United States; many work with false papers and the issue of what to do with them has become a political hot potato.

It was not immediately clear whether Arizona would now begin enforcing the law or if its opponents would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The American Civil Liberties Union, a plaintiff in the suit, said the court expressly left open the possibility of further challenges if and when it was enforced.

Arizona attorney general Terry Goddard welcomed the ruling, and said his office would "continue to defend the statute should there be an appeal to the highest court."
. . .
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1729901720080917

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

3.
In ads, presidential candidates spar over immigration
Obama and McCain use Spanish-language commercials to seek Latino voters.
By Eunice Moscoso
The Austin American Statesman, September 18, 2008

Washington, DC -- Immigration has emerged as an issue in the presidential election — but only in Spanish.

In dueling ads airing in Florida and other swing states with large numbers of Latino voters, the campaigns of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and GOP nominee John McCain are casting each other in an anti-immigrant light.

Spokespeople for both candidates Wednesday denounced their opponent's ads as false, misleading and "desperate."

McCain's ad, the first to appear, accused Obama of trying to block a major bill supported by the Arizona senator last year that would have given illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.

It says Obama supported "poison pill" amendments "that made immigration reform fail" and that the Illinois senator is "ready to block immigration reform."

The ad refers to amendments that some people thought were unpalatable enough to kill the bill but others thought were intended to improve the fragile compromise measure.
. . .
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/09/18/0918camp...

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

4.
Immigration Ad Ties McCain to Limbaugh
By Nick Timiraos
The Wall Street Journal, September 17, 2008

Immigration is flaring up again in the presidential campaign, and Barack Obama on Wednesday released a new advertisement that tries to tie John McCain to his longtime critic, Rush Limbaugh.

After a primary campaign where Obama and McCain proposed to get tough on border security, the candidates this time are attacking each other for failing to secure an immigration deal that would have given illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. The rapid turnabout comes as both candidates court Hispanic voters in key southwestern battlegrounds.

“They want us to forget the insults we’ve put up with, the intolerance,” the television ad’s announcer says in Spanish. A picture of Limbaugh flashes on screen with quotes that the radio host said Wednesday had been taken out of context. The quotes read: “Mexicans are stupid and unqualified” and “Shut your mouth or get out.”

McCain’s presidential bid collapsed when he championed a comprehensive immigration bill that provided for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, which many in his own party blasted as amnesty for immigrants. But the ad ties McCain to efforts to quash the immigration bill.

“They made us feel marginalized,” the ad says, while accusing McCain and “his Republican friends” of having two faces, “one that lies just to get our vote and another…that continues the failed policies of George Bush.”

Bush has also drawn sharp criticism from within his party for pushing for the immigration bill.

Obama’s hard-hitting ad comes after the Illinois senator has dismissed a barrage of attacks by the McCain campaign as distractions, and he has promised that he would not respond in kind, instead telling supporters he would counterpunch by “telling the truth.”
. . .
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/09/17/immigration-ad-ties-mccain-to-l...

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

5.
Violent crimes surge after illegals invade Texas
Aliens flee strict immigration policies for friendlier Lone Star State
By Chelsea Schilling
The World Net Daily, September 17, 2008

While illegal aliens flee strict immigration enforcement policies in several states and settle in Texas, the state's budget is suffering and violent crime, soaring.

News reports indicate a flood of illegal aliens is coming from states such as Arizona and Oklahoma – where immigration crackdowns have made life more difficult for them. In the meantime, Texas' violent crime rates have taken a turn for the worse.

WND researched FBI crime statistics from years 2006 to 2007 for 29 of Texas' largest cities with populations of more than 100,000. The Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report reveals two of the state's well-known sanctuary cities with "don't-ask-don't-tell" policies, Houston and Austin, have surging violent crime rates. Houston experienced an additional 314 violent crimes in 2007 compared with 2006 figures. Austin had 213 more violent crimes reported to law enforcement than the previous year.

According to the stats, overall, the 29 most populous Texas cities had 1,083 more violent crimes committed in 2007 than in 2006. While arrest records usually do not indicate suspect citizenship status, the crime trend matches a migration wave of illegal aliens coming from locations such as Arizona and Oklahoma – states with strict immigration enforcement policies and declining violent crime rates.

Getting tough on illegals

Since 2006, Oklahoma has passed laws cutting off benefits such as welfare and college financial aid to illegal aliens. Thousands of Hispanics fled the Tulsa, Okla., area in the shadow of a 2007 state law that limits benefits and mandates deportation for illegal aliens, according to a report from KTUL television in Tulsa.

The news report said in East Tulsa, where a community of Hispanics had grown over recent years, there was a sudden drop in population.

Deputies from the Tulsa County sheriff's office went through training to handle apprehension and deportation procedures, and prepare them to perform multiple duties of both deputy sheriffs and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz told KTUL in 2007 that the impact of the illegal alien population was evident everywhere in the state, especially in jails.

"We see the effects of gangs, we see the effects of illegal immigrants, we see the effects of drugs, we see the effects of methamphetamines," he said.

According to the FBI preliminary crime report, Tulsa experienced 264 fewer violent crimes in 2007 than in 2006.
. . .
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=75585

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

6.
State immigration audit cut back
BY David Klepper adn Jeannine Koranda
The Wichita Eagle, September 18, 2008

Topeka -- Kansas lawmakers on Wednesday scaled back efforts to learn the true impact of illegal immigration in Kansas.

Lawmakers who have been grappling with the contentious issue had asked state auditors to provide hard numbers on the costs and benefits of illegal immigrants to state government and the economy. But lawmakers who oversee the auditors said Wednesday that there's not enough data available to draw firm conclusions.

Instead, the committee asked for a compilation of existing reports on illegal immigration to create a primer for lawmakers who expect to wrestle with the issue for years to come.

Rep. Nile Dillmore, D-Wichita, had inserted the audit into the budget the Legislature passed last spring, saying lawmakers need accurate numbers when debating illegal immigration reform.

The audit was to have studied how much illegal immigrants cost the state in public benefits, how much they contribute in taxes and economic activity, and their effect on jobs and wages. The Legislative Division of Post Audit estimated the report would take up to 20 weeks to compile.

Instead of the full report, Deputy Post Auditor Leo Hafner suggested that the state could answer the first two questions in about 12 weeks. Determining the effect on the labor market and wages would be more difficult, but other reports on the issue could be compiled in about four weeks, he said.

Auditors said there's so little data that an audit would be rife with assumptions and best guesses. Some agencies don't track who receivestheir services, and it's hard to gauge the percentage of taxes paid by illegal residents, let alone how much they help the economy through their labor. Even the number of illegal immigrants in Kansas would be an estimate.

Frustrated, lawmakers said a collection of national studies on immigration's effects, along with some state agency reports, will have to suffice.
. . .
http://www.kansas.com/news/state/story/533326.html