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Immigration

Shifting Climate, Moving People: Immigration and Climate Justice

by Michelle Chen on December 15 2009, 9:36AM

The impasse in Copenhagen underscores just how interconnected, and perhaps collectively doomed, we all are in the face of global climate change. And like the rapid currents of trade coursing around the globe, environmental destruction is reshaping the flow…

Topics: Environment, Global Affairs, Immigration

La Americana: One Continent. Two Countries. A World Apart.

by Leticia Miranda on December 11 2009, 2:44PM

Maria del Carmen Rojas is an undocumented Bolivian immigrant who was forced to leave her home for New York City after a devastating bus accident left her daughter, Carla, paralyzed from the waist down. Drowning in medical bills and…

Topics: Immigration

Weekly Diaspora: Unemployment Feeding Anti-Immigrant Sentiment

by Guest Columnist on December 10 2009, 12:36PM

By Nezua, Media Consortium Blogger The nation’s 10% unemployment rate is feeding anti-immigrant sentiment, as Marcelo Ballvé reports for New America Media. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) critiqued President Barack Obama’s recent jobs summit as “fatally flawed” because President Obama did…

Topics: Immigration

Justice Sotomayor Uses The Word “Undocumented” In Supreme Court Case Decision

by Julianne Hing on December 9 2009, 6:08PM

Mohawk v. Carpenter According to the Houston Chronicle, Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s use of the word “undocumented immigrant” in her opinion for the case Mohawk Industries, Inc. vs. Carpenter marks the first time the phrase has been used in a Supreme…

Topics: Immigration

I.C.E. and the Unmanned Aerial “Predator” Drones to Patrol US/Mexico Sea Border

by Jorge Rivas on December 7 2009, 5:31PM

This is the first unmanned aircraft that will be used to patrol at sea, said Juan Muñoz-Torres, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s office in Washington, D.C. Unlike the aircraft used to patrol over land, which rely…

Topics: Immigration

The Weekly Diaspora: Quiet Raids, Slippery ICE and Grinches

by Guest Columnist on December 3 2009, 1:14PM

By Nezua, Media Consortium Blogger The Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is shifting its focus to silent or “quiet” raids, as Erin Rosa reports for Campus Progress. In quiet raids, ICE conducts “audits” of staff at…

Topics: Immigration

Salvation Army Checks Its List Twice—for Immigration Status

by Michelle Chen on December 3 2009, 1:05AM

Note: This post has been UPDATED to reflect the Salvation Army’s new Santa screening policy: Want to know who’s naughty or nice this holiday season? According to a recent news report, the Salvation Army—that universal emblem of good will…

Topics: Immigration

Reevaluating Immigration Reform: What’s it Worth?

by Michelle Chen on December 2 2009, 6:58AM

The immigration debate these days looks more like a balance sheet than a political conversation. Reflecting the economic anxieties besieging politicians and voters, two competing views of immigrants emerge: as a vital contributor to the economy or a burden…

Topics: Immigration

Citizens-Only Santa Coming to A Charity Near You

by Tracy Kronzak on December 1 2009, 5:51PM

Christmas is the time of year when most people who celebrate this holiday are asked to look into their hearts and do something more to give to family, friends, and the community. Unless, of course, these people aren’t U. S….

Topics: Immigration

Sheriff Arpaio Forces Woman to Give Birth in Shackles

by Terry Keleher on December 1 2009, 12:22PM

It’s hard to imagine how Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio could possibly stoop any lower in his zeal to arrest and humiliate people who are, or look like, immigrants, whether they have legal status or not. But Arpaio, who is…

Topics: Immigration

“Good White Stock”: Child Refugees of the British Empire

by Michelle Chen on November 26 2009, 5:47AM

Forced migration, displacement, and racial social engineering are ugly modern phenomena that we typically associate with the denigration of oppressed racial and religious groups. But we recently got a glimpse of a colonization effort that in some ways inverted…

Topics: History, Immigration

Does the American Dream Have an Expiration Date?

by Michelle Chen on November 21 2009, 7:26AM

When making the case for immigration’s contribution to society, activists reflexively highlight the economic resilience of immigrant families, particularly their seemingly ceaseless drive to work their way up from poverty. While the tired “American Dream” mythology seems perilously naive…

Topics: Immigration

The Weekly Diaspora: Fort Hood, Pundits and Immigration Reform

by Guest Columnist on November 19 2009, 1:35PM

By Nezua, Media Consortium Blogger First it was immigrants from Mexico, now Muslims in the armed services. After the tragic shootings at Fort Hood, conservative pundits are verbally attacking Muslims and Arab-Americans, much like they have vilified the immigrant community….

Topics: Immigration

Immigration Reform 2010: Yellow Light for Migrants

by Guest Columnist on November 19 2009, 12:43PM

By Adebe D.A. For over a decade, 287(g) programs have been put into place to deter “illegal” immigration in the US. This past weekend, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano headed talks at the Center for American Progress about yet another overhaul…

Topics: Immigration

How Racist is U.S. Immigration Policy?

by Michelle Chen on November 14 2009, 12:22AM

It’s been over a century since the U.S. government wrote racial exclusion into law, and for the past few generations, American immigration policy and race have courted each other without directly overlapping—at least not on paper. Yet, even in…

Topics: Immigration, National Security

Immigrant Widow to Feds: Oh No, You Get Back Here

by Leticia Miranda on November 13 2009, 5:45PM

This is a great story to end the week. Lin Li Qu, the widow of an undocumented Chinese immigrant, is refusing to let the US government dodge responsibility for the cruel conditions that her husband faced at a Rhode Island…

Topics: Immigration

The Weekly Diaspora: Deporting Dobbs

by Guest Columnist on November 12 2009, 11:24AM

By Nezua, Media Consortium Blogger After 30 years, commentator Lou Dobbs—infamous for his tirades against undocumented immigrants—has left CNN, as TPM reports. Dobbs employed disturbing, dangerous, and dated language to slur immigrants, often equating them with disease and infection. There…

Topics: Immigration

Portraits of San Diego’s Immigrant Day Laborers

by Guest Columnist on November 11 2009, 2:53PM

By David Bacon Click after the jump to view more photos. In Oceanside, Carlsbad, Del Mar and north San Diego County, immigrant day laborers wait by the side of the road, hoping a contractor will stop and offer them work….

Topics: Immigration

The Weekly Diaspora: Immigration Impacts Everything

by Guest Columnist on November 5 2009, 12:20PM

By Nezua, Media Consortium Blogger While many pundits and political analysts are musing about what Tuesday’s mixed bag election results mean for Obama administration, New America Media reports that “there’s another trend to watch; the surprising prominence of immigration politics.”…

Topics: Immigration

NYC Marathon Winner is Not American Enough

by Jorge Rivas on November 3 2009, 11:13AM

CNBC Sports Business Reporter, Darren Rovell, wrote an online article titled “Marathon’s Headline Win is Empty”, in reference to an American finally winning the NYC marathon. “It’s a stunning headline: American Wins Men’s NYC Marathon For First Time Since ‘82”…

Topics: Immigration