Greg Siskind on Immigration Law and Policy

MEDIA MATTERS LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO SANCTION DOBBS

Media Matters has created a web site entited Dobbsconpiracy.com and is urging the public to send letters from the site to CNN president Joel Klein to complain about Dobbs' latest controversy - his questioning of the immigration status of President Obama. The Media Matters folks say that more than 15,000 letters have been sent via the site.

SENATE COMMITTEE VOTES TO REPLACE REAL ID LAW

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted today to scrap the controversial REAL ID law which will require states to begin implementing tough new standardized technology requirements for drivers licenses in just a few months. A number of states have rebelled against the requirements and they risk their licenses not being accepted for federal purposes - including boarding airplanes.

The measure that passed today is called the PASS ID bill and would extend deadlines and provide more government funds to help in the transition. From Govexec:

A Senate panel approved legislation today that would establish federal security standards for driver's licenses and identification cards, including a $150 million grant program to help states digitize birth records.

The bill creating the PASS ID program, approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee by voice vote, will require states to issue driver's licenses that are compliant with federal standards by 2016. States will have to show they are moving toward compliance by 2011.

The bill is intended to replace the 2005 REAL ID law, which federal and state officials roundly criticized as unworkable. It is expected to be brought to the Senate floor soon, as it needs to be enacted by December in order to repeal looming deadlines under REAL ID.

Details of the bill were negotiated in recent days by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman and ranking member Susan Collins, along with Sens. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and George Voinovich, R-Ohio.

THE GOP'S LAST CHANCE

The fact that the GOP has no clear plan to win the election next year other than hoping President Obama fails so miserably that people will feel no choice but to vote Republican became more apparent yesterday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13 to 6 to confirm Judge Sotomayor as the next Supreme Court Justice. And only one Republican voted in favor of the nomination. The GOP got shellacked by Hispanic voters last year - losing 3 out of 4 votes compared to getting nearly half of those votes in 2004. And political analysts are in general agreement that the loss of so many Hispanic voters cost the GOP dearly both in the congressional and presidential races last year. Some even credit this shift in votes to giving Obama the electoral votes to win the White House.

So one would think that the GOP would be scrambling to win some of those voters back. They certainly were sending the opposite message yesterday when they overwhelmingly opposed the well-qualified Sotomayor who will become the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice. They didn't help by declining invitations to attend the annual La Raza conference, an absence being noted in the Hispanic media.

The last major litmus test for the GOP on an issue Hispanic voters will be watching is the vote on immigration reform that will come later this year or early next year.  It is far from clear whether any GOP members of Congress have shifted their views yet. But what is clear is that the Hispanic community is starting to become a reliable Democratic bloc of voters and as the nation's fastest growing ethnic group, the GOP can't survive as a national party without them.

HARVARD GRAD FACES DEPORTATION

The Boston Globe reports on another case of a potential DREAM Act recipient facing deportation. Alan, the individual who is the subject of the story, is the son of Mexican migrant laborers, came to the US as an infant and his academic success has been an inspiration to children in his neighborhood. Like many others, he did not learn he was illegally present in the US until he was much older - in this case, high school. The Globe notes that Alan is going to leave the US:

Now Alan sees Mexico as his only option. His mother is against it: Alan barely knows his relatives there, and he has no professional connections. It is unclear whether Mexico’s elite would welcome him, even if he is a Harvard man.

A maxim he learned at Harvard often runs through his mind: To whom much is given, much is expected. He has $15,000 in loans he intends to repay.

“I should be able to take care of myself,’’ he said. “I don’t want to go home and sit on my butt and watch SportsCenter. If I do that, then these last four years have been a waste.’’

TAHA DEPORTATION BLOCKED

Really good news. A few days ago I wrote about efforts to stop the deportation of Walter Taha, a young man who entered the US at the age of two who would be an ideal DREAM Act recipient. Citizen Orange reports that the flurry of calls, faxes and emails about Walter were enough to convince them to defer Walter's deportation to allow him to attend college. 

ICE DETAINEE DIES IN CUSTODY

From ICE:

COLUMBIA, S.C. - On July 24, 2009, Vera Stojka, a 55-year-old Czech Republic national being held on immigration violations, passed away at the Columbia Care Regional Center (CCRC) in Columbia, South Carolina. The preliminary cause of death is cardiac arrest. Stojka was admitted to the CCRC on March 31, 2009, due to longstanding medical conditions.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials notified Stojka's next of kin and have placed calls to the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York. In addition, consistent with ICE protocol, the appropriate state health and local law enforcement agencies have been notified and an autopsy has been performed.

Not exactly a lot of information, but we'll see what emerges.

FEDS INVESTIGATING BORDER PATROL AGENTS' RACIST WEB POSTING

One of the comments on my post earlier today about the killed Border Patrol agent seemed pretty harsh - accusing most BP agents of being restrictionists with bad motives. I still think that's harsh and most Border Patrol agents are honestly out to do the necessary job of protecting our country's borders.

But the timing of a major scandal involving Customs and Border Patrol certainly will make many people question just who the agency is hiring. According to the NY Times:

After federal border agents detained several Mexican immigrants in western New York in June, an article about the incident in a local newspaper drew an onslaught of vitriolic postings on its Web site. Some were racist. Others attacked farmers in the region, an apple-growing area east of Rochester, accusing them of harboring illegal workers. Still others made personal attacks about the reporter who wrote the article.

Most of the posts were made anonymously. But in reviewing the logs of its Internet server, the paper, The Wayne County Star in Wolcott, traced three of them to Internet protocol addresses at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees border protection.

Homeland Security started an investigation into the posts this month, according to the reporter, Louise Hoffman-Broach, and Richard M. Healy, the Wayne County district attorney. A spokeswoman for the federal agency’s inspector general said she could neither confirm nor deny an investigation; department rules prohibit the use of office equipment for the personal transmission of material that could offend fellow employees or the public.

If you want to see what kind of filth actually was written on the taxpayer's nickel, go to the Wayne County Star story.

Over the years, I've had some pretty inappropriate comments written by people from government agency servers, though none quite this bad. I hope they track down this miscreant.

NATION'S TOP COPS AGREE ON NEED FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

If the restrictionists were really on the right side of the law and order argument, wouldn't they havelaw enforcement on their side? Sheriff Joe does not a movement make.Funny how Phoenix was chosen for the location of this forum. From the Arizona Republic:

Some of the nation's top police officers on Wednesday called upon Congress to promptly adopt an immigration-reform measure, saying local law-enforcement agencies across America are struggling to deal with crime and confusion caused by a broken system.

About 100 police chiefs and administrators from across the U.S. joined Department of Homeland Security officials in Phoenix for the National Summit on Local Immigration Policies, sponsored by the non-profit Police Executive Research Forum.

During closed discussions, participants agreed that the U.S. needs a comprehensive new law containing guest-worker programs, a means for immigrants to become permanent residents, and federal enforcement of the prohibition against hiring illegal immigrants, according to Chuck Wexler, the forum's executive director.

NEW PEW STUDY SHOWS IMMIGRATION FROM MEXICO HAS DECLINED SHARPLY

The study is consistent with other reports. Pew blames the decline on the recession while others blame tougher enforcement. I've stated before that I think it is a combination of the two. Pew also reports that the number of Mexicans returning home has not changed significantly.

SECRETARY OF COMMERCE ADMITS VISA PROCESSING AT CONSULATES IS HURTING THE COUNTRY

US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, the former Governor of Washington state, was recently speaking to the Washington International Trade Association in his home state had some frank words about the impact visa denials and delays are having on US commerce:

As we seek to open up markets for American companies abroad, the United States must also acknowledge that she has room to improve when it comes to increasing the secure flow of goods, services and people across our own borders.

In particular, the United States often makes it too difficult for foreign company executives to enter here to do business—a shortcoming that has had a tangible cost for American businesses by shutting out some of their best customers.

For example, the Association of Equipment Manufacturer Executives has reported that its members lose one in three Chinese buyers invited to attend major U.S. trade shows because their visas are denied—even though many of them have previously visited the United States on buying missions without incident.

Meanwhile, Boeing recently had to delay the delivery of a $250 million freighter because an inspector from the Chinese aviation authority didn't receive his visa on time.

Historically, processing for these types of visas could be done in a matter of weeks but recently the time has stretched to as much as four months.

The U.S. government has already made some tentative progress on improving the situation, but I have also created an interagency task force with the State Department and others to further improve the process.

Let's hope this means we'll see some meaningful changes in the near future.