Fixing Our Broken Immigration System

Daily Border Bulletin is up! Today's stories include:

U.S. needs to do more to protect foreign guest workers-  After allegations of violations of workplace standards in a seafood plant in Luisiana, there is a need to approve new rules protecting workers’ rights that have been blocked after business owners sued the Department of Labor and a group of senators from both parties shamefully voted to deny the department funding to enforce them, according to an editorial piece published in The New York Times.

Undocumented immigrants fight their right to work as attorneys- Three undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, and who later graduated law schools in California, Florida and New York, are trying to gain entry to their state bars so they can work as attorneys.

Americans support immigration policy at national level- Nearly 8-in-10 (77 percent) Americans say that immigration policy should be decided at the national level, while 1-in-5 (20 percent) say it should be left up to the states, according to Public Religion Research Institute’s June Religion & Politics Tracking Survey.

Daily Border Bulletin is up! Today's stories are:

Texan pastors plan to create National Church ID- A coalition of pastors proposes to create an identity card (ID) for undocumented immigrants to prevent them from being detained by police due to a lack of identity documents.

U.S. faciliates visa for tourists from India- In order to attract more tourists from India, the State Department announced an Interview Waiver Program for foreign visitors who were interviewed and thoroughly screened in conjunction with a prior visa application.

Mexico's Ambassadors suggest that Mexico and the U.S. co-host a World Cup- Mexico’s Ambassador to the U.S., Arturo Sarukhan threw out an ambitious, but crowd-pleasing, suggestion: that Mexico and the United States need to co-host the World Cup during a conference organized by the U.S.-Mexico Foundation, a nonprofit group that coordinates philanthropy and collaborative efforts between the United States and Mexico.

Daily Border Bulletin is up! Stories of today include:

California passes bill to ban status checks on immigrants- The California Senate passed a bill on Thursday that blocks local police from referring a detainee to immigration officials for deportation unless that person has been convicted of a violent or serious felony, reported news agency Reuters. The California Trust Act is now called “Anti-Arizona” bill because it shields immigrants from status checks by local police and challenges Republican-backed immigration crackdowns in Arizona and other states in the United States.

Immigrants produce the majority of U.S. patents- A recent study found more that immigrants were involved in three-quarters of patents from the United States top 10 universities, including MIT, Stanford and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Mexican border city attracts medical tourism- The Mexican border city of Mexicali has adopted medical care as its primary tourist lure, and it has been attracting a growing number of health care commuters from California and other nearby states.

Ciudad Juarez celebrates four days without murders- The first days of July have passed with no homicides in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

President Obama calls for immigration reform on Independence Day- President Barack Obama used an Independence Day ceremony in which immigrants serving in the U.S. military became citizens on Wednesday July 4th to renew his election-year call for new immigration laws popular with an important part of his political base.

Mexican actor Diego Luna directs film about Cesar Chavez- Mexican actor Diego Luna is directing the first feature film about Cesar Chavez, the Mexican-American union leader who organized farm workers in California and across the southwestern United States and led two historic grape boycotts aimed at drawing attention to harsh conditions in the fields.

Daily Border Bulletin is up! Today´s stories include:

Texas Senators push for public-private partnerships for border infrastructure- In a brief tour of two South Texas border cities Monday, Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, used the opportunity to tout a bill he has pending in the Senate that would allow for more public-private partnerships to increase staffing at ports of entry and improve infrastructure.

Peña Nieto lost election in the U.S.- The vast majority of the 40,000 Mexican expatriates who voted in Sunday’s election cast ballots against President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto.

American farmers fear labor shortages- A crackdown on illegal immigration, more job opportunities in Mexico and rising fees charged by smugglers are reducing the number of workers who cross the U.S. border illegally each year to help make up more than 60 percent of U.S. farmworkers.

Mexico´s presidential winner could affect American interests- Sunday’s Mexican election for president will have no immediate or dramatic effect on the U.S.-Mexico relationship, however, ties between the two countries, especially in the security arena and oil sector, could shift or adjust once the virtually elected president Enrique Peña Nieto  from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), takes office next December.

The end of an anti-immigrant state laws- Kristian Ramos, policy director of the 21st Century Border Initiative, writes an op-ed for the Huffington Post, stating that the three provisions that were struck down in Arizona’s SB 1070 anti-immigrant law have created legal precedent for other states to pass their own immigration laws outside of the existing federal ones. The Court was clear in striking down those three provisions; the Federal Government has pre-emptive powers in enforcing our nation’s immigration laws. 

Ohio needs more immigrants- Policy experts said Ohio’s economy could benefit from more immigrants moving to this state because they are much more likely than native-born residents to start businesses, and their establishments employ about one in seven people who work for small businesses.

The Daily Border Bulletin is up! Today's stories include:

Holder is cited in contempt- The attorney general Eric Holder is the first sitting member of a president’s cabinet in US history to be held in contempt of Congress after Republicans vented their fury over a gun-tracking investigation.

Hispanic voters are the new math of American politics- Arturo Vargas from NALEO projects that as many as 12.2 million Hispanics could vote in 2012.

Automobile parts maker will move production to Mexico- Federal Mogul is a worldwide maker of automobile parts, including wiper blades announced that it will move its production from Michigan City, Indiana, to its sister plant in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

Daily Border Bulletin is up! Today's stories include:

U.S. House debates today Holder’s role in Operation Fast and Furious- The U.S. House of Representatives was expected on Thursday to debate Attorney General Eric Holder’s role in “Operation Fast and Furious” and possibly charge him with contempt for failing to turn over some documents related to a failed probe of gun-running along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Migration to the U.S. fell in 2010 and rose in Mexico, OECD says- Migration to the United States fell by 8% in 2010. It dropped by 3% to European OECD countries – excluding intra-European movements – and rose by more than 10% to Canada, Korea and Mexico, according to the 2012 International Migration Outlook published on June 27, 2012.

Agency recommends changes to DHS to ease backlog on immigration courts- Government officials have adopted a series of recommendations to streamline federal immigration courts, where a record-high number of backlogged cases has brought the “fairness and effectiveness” of the courts into question

Today's Daily Border Bulletin is up and includes these stories:

More Hispanic candidates are running for Congress- The 2012 election is shaping up as a big one in the House for Hispanics, when more than ever members of this minority group are running for seats in the U.S. Congress.

Hispanics are underrepresented in federal jobs- Hispanics made up 8.1 percent of the federal workforce, compared with 13.6 percent in the overall workforce, a gap that has been consistent for years, according to data the government released Friday June 22nd.

Surface trade increases in NAFTA region- Surface trade between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners, Canada and Mexico, was 8.2 percent higher in April than in April 2011, totaling $79.8 billion, according to a press release of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Since John McCain and Ted Kennedy built the framework for what is called Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2005, the policy and political landscape has changed a great deal.  Pieces of CIR have been enacted, others stalled, others need updating.  In the aftermath of a tumultuous few weeks in the immigration reform debate we found ourselves asking – so if a bill were to move in the next Congress, what would it look like? What problems are we trying to solve now, and where should the emphasis be? Is the original McCain-Kennedy framework still applicable to just something else need to be constructed?  

To take a look at these questions NDN/NPI is launching a new series of events we call “Rethinking Immigration Reform.”  Our first in the series is with a terrific and thoughtful group of experts and advocates from across the political spectrum, including:

Tamar Jacoby, President and CEO, ImmigrationWorks USA
Thomas A. Saenz, President and General Counsel, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)
Frank Sharry, Executive Director, America's Voice

The first in our series of events will take place July 18th, at NDN/NPI's event space, 729 15th St, NW.  Lunch will be served at noon and the program will begin at 1215pm.   Seating is very limited for this event so please RSVP today.

Below please find some of our recent commentary on the state of the current immigration debate:

Simon's Statement on SCOTUS Immigration Decision Simon Rosenberg 6/25/2012

Why Jan Brewer Should Re-Consider Enforcing "Papers Please" Section of SB1070 Kristian Ramos 6/25/2012

NDN MEMO: With Pres Obama Our Border is Safer, Our Immigration System Better  Simon Rosenberg 6/22/2012

Simon Weighs In on Current Immigration Debate  Anjani Nadadur 6/22/2012