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1. Federal budget adds to ICE spending
2. DHS meeting encourages Hispanic lawmakers
3. Study criticizes VA co. policies
4. Illegal grads are underemployed
5. Suspended BP agent cleared

1.
2010 budget adds to DHS immigration programs
By Alice Lipowicz
The Federal Computer Week, February 26, 2009

The Obama administration has requested a 6.5 percent increase for the Homeland Security Department in fiscal 2010, which would raise the department’s discretionary budget to $42.7 billion.

That is $2.6 billion more than the fiscal 2009 level of $40.1 billion, as outlined in the president’s 142-page budget highlights document, titled “ A New Era of Responsibility.” The Office of Management and Budget released the document today. The funding is in addition to the $2.8 billion for DHS in the recent economic stimulus law.

Highlights of the DHS spending plan include $1.4 billion for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s efforts to identify and deport illegal aliens who have committed crimes.
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http://fcw.com/articles/2009/02/26/dhs-to-get-6.5-percent-increase.aspx

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2.
Hispanic lawmakers hopeful on immigration
By Jared Allen
The Hill (Washington, DC), February 26, 2009

Hispanic lawmakers are more hopeful than ever that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will end workplace raids by immigration enforcement officials.

Several lawmakers emerged elated from a closed-door meeting Thursday with Napolitano, held one day after she promised to investigate a raid of an engine shop in Bellingham, Wash. Earlier this week. During the meeting with the lawmakers, Napolitano said she had “grave concerns” about the raid, in which 25 people were detained for deportation hearings.

According to CHC members, Napolitano herself brought up the Bellingham raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, preempting questions from lawmakers who have long sought to end the policy of raiding workplaces to target workers.

“The meeting was very, very constructive. We’re happy,” said CHC Immigration Task Force Chairman Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.).

“We shared with her our concerns about the raid. She shared with us that she had grave concerns about the manner in which it was carried out and that it’s under evaluation.”

“I think the most important words were that she had ‘grave concerns,’” Gutierrez said.

Napolitano told the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday that she would look into the raid.

“I want to get to the bottom of this as well,” she told the panel. Napolitano also reiterated the administration’s commitment to focus on the employer side – rather than the employee side — of workplace enforcement.

The Tuesday raid is the first conducted by federal authorities since President Obama took office. Although the raids had become a staple of the Bush administration’s approach to immigration enforcement, Napolitano told lawmakers on Wednesday that she was unaware of the raid until it was over.
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http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/hispanic-lawmakers-voce-hope-after-n...

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3.
Questions raised about study on Prince William immigration policy
By David Sherfinski
The Examiner (Washington, DC), February 27, 2009

Prince William County’s government was unprepared for — and reacted ineffectively to — a massive influx of Hispanic immigrants, according to a study released this week, but some have raised questions about the report’s methods and findings.

The report by Audrey Singer, Jill H. Wilson and Brooke DeRenzis of the Brookings Institution also concluded that there was not sufficient vetting of the immigration resolution or research into its potential consequences before its passage two years ago.

The original resolution — which directed police to inquire into the immigration status of anyone detained for a violation of state law or county ordinance if they had probable cause to believe that person was in the country illegally — was passed July 10, 2007, after a four-hour public input session. It was later revised, after intense debate from both sides, to direct police to inquire into a person’s immigration status after they were arrested for a violation of state or county law.

Corey Stewart, chairman of the county’s Board of Supervisors, disputed the notion that the resolution was passed without proper examination.

“This was the most widely debated issue before the board in at least 25 years,” he said, citing an all-night “marathon” public input session the night of Oct. 16, 2007, before the second iteration of the resolution was passed.
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http://www.dcexaminer.com/local/Questions-raised-about-study-on-Prince-W...

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4.
Immigrant college grads in legal limbo can't get jobs
Undocumented, they pin hopes on DREAM Act
By Daniel González
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), February 27, 2009

In December, 11 undocumented-immigrant students who had been given private grants graduated from Arizona State University, some with honors.

In May, nearly 40 more are expected to graduate, some with engineering degrees.

But in the middle of a recession and with immigration reform not a priority now in Congress, the future of these young people, many of whom were brought to the United States illegally as children, is bleaker than ever.

Even as immigration enforcement has escalated across the country, hundreds of undocumented immigrants continue to graduate with associate, bachelor's and even master's degrees. But most remain stuck in professional purgatory. Undocumented, they are unable to legally land a job in their chosen career.

The immigrants have put their hopes in immigration reform, including a proposal in Congress called the DREAM Act that would allow undocumented students who complete high school to become legalized if they complete some college or military service. But even with a new president and Democrats in control of Congress, there are few signs that immigration reform will gain passage soon, especially with so many Americans out of work.

In the meantime, a special scholarship program in Arizona that funds undocumented college students will run out of money next year. The program was established after a 2006 law was passed that requires undocumented immigrants to pay higher, out-of-state tuition.

Some undocumented graduates, unable to get good jobs, have returned to Mexico or other countries they barely know. Many toil underground in the same labor and service-sector jobs as their illegal immigrant parents. Immigrant-advocacy groups maintain that these are the kind of immigrants that the United States should legalize and embrace: motivated, educated and on the road to self-sufficiency. They did not choose to enter the country illegally.

DREAM Act opponents

Lawmakers and others opposed to the DREAM Act say the immigrants shouldn't be given legalized status or tuition breaks because they will compete with Americans for jobs. Also, they say, legalizing them will create incentives for more parents to bring their children illegally into the country.

Guillermo, 22, an undocumented immigrant from Cuernavaca, Mexico, is one of the 11 who graduated from ASU in December. His mother brought him here illegally when he was about 4. He asked to be identified only by his middle name out of fear of being deported.

"It stinks having this education and not being able to use it," said Guillermo, who earned a 3.44 grade point average and a bachelor's degree in business management. His maroon-colored diploma sits on top of the television in his Tempe apartment. While his fellow graduates are busy sending out resumes to corporations, Guillermo sells shoes at a retail store, a job he got using an invented Social Security number and fake green card.

More than ever, undocumented youths who want to attend college face a painful dilemma: If they can find the money to attend, they may have little chance of securing work in their fields because of tougher enforcement of laws barring the hiring of illegal immigrants. If they don't attend, they could get stuck in dead-end jobs.

Their shrinking chances of getting professional work is one of the reasons State Treasurer Dean Martin opposes letting such students pay in-state tuition.

Martin, a Republican and former state senator, was the main sponsor of Proposition 300, which makes undocumented students ineligible for in-state tuition, tuition waivers, grants or any other financial assistance paid with state funds. Those students already are ineligible to receive federal financial aid.

Martin thinks it is a waste of tax dollars to help the students attend college because without legal status, they can't put their degrees to use and thus the state cannot recoup its investment.

Martin says out-of-state tuition more accurately reflects the cost of an education. Residents get the in-state tuition because they are more likely to remain here, make the higher incomes of college graduates and pay more income taxes.

Martin estimates Arizona has saved millions of dollars by blocking undocumented students from in-state tuition.
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http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/02/27/200902...

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5.
Jury acquits Border Patrol agent on rape charge
By Christopher Sherman
The Associated Press, February 26, 2009

Edinburg, TX (AP) -- An Hidalgo County jury on Thursday acquitted a Border Patrol agent who was accused of raping an illegal immigrant on a secluded dirt road in rural South Texas in 2007.

The jury deliberated just more than an hour before returning the acquittal for Border Patrol Agent Alberto Garcia.

When the verdict on the sexual assault charge was read, Garcia embraced his attorney and later sat with his head in his arms and sobbed.

Outside the courtroom, Garcia said, "I just thank God, my family, my attorney."

"I knew in my heart I didn't do it," Garcia said.

Reynaldo Merino, his lawyer, said a lack of scientific evidence and inconsistent accounts among the prosecution's witnesses likely failed to persuade the jury. Garcia has been suspended without pay from the Border Patrol.

Merino said Garcia had not decided what his future would be with the agency, but noted that the Department of Homeland Security had investigated him aggressively and there could be hard feelings.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6283432.html