Federal immigration officials raided an Iowa meatpacking plant this month in what is being called the largest operation of its kind in U.S. history. Nearly 400 of the plant's 900 employees were arrested on immigration charges. Do you feel safer?
Ever since immigration reform died in Congress last year, the Bush Administration has made a show of stepping up enforcement. But do homeland security officials really have nothing better to do than raid businesses that hire willing workers – especially in states like Iowa, where the jobless rate is 3.5%? These immigrants are obviously responding to a labor shortage for certain jobs. Giving them a legal way to enter the country would free up homeland security money and manpower to focus on real threats.
Continued...
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
A raid on fairness
HELICOPTERS hovered overhead as immigration officials closed in on Agriprocessors, a meat-processing plant in Postville, Iowa, earlier this month. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials called it the nation's largest "criminal worksite enforcement operation," and 389 workers were arrested.
It's a hollow victory, a show of force but not of wisdom. As the country has seen many times, raids hurt local economies and disrupt families. Worse, they are largely theater. Even big raids are too limited to make a dent in the country's complex illegal immigration challenge, which means figuring out what to do with an estimated 12 million people already here illegally.
If the government wants to send a message, it ought to pay more attention to prosecuting abusive employers who hire undocumented immigrants and mistreat them by withholding pay or doling out verbal and physical abuse. So far, no officials at Agriprocessors have been charged.
Continued...
It's a hollow victory, a show of force but not of wisdom. As the country has seen many times, raids hurt local economies and disrupt families. Worse, they are largely theater. Even big raids are too limited to make a dent in the country's complex illegal immigration challenge, which means figuring out what to do with an estimated 12 million people already here illegally.
If the government wants to send a message, it ought to pay more attention to prosecuting abusive employers who hire undocumented immigrants and mistreat them by withholding pay or doling out verbal and physical abuse. So far, no officials at Agriprocessors have been charged.
Continued...
Monday, May 19, 2008
Price put at $1.8 trillion
Study: That's what U.S. would lose if undocumented immigrants vanished
By JENALIA MORENO
The impact of illegal immigration on the U.S. economy.
• 8.1 million: illegal immigrants
• $1.8 trillion: annual spending, U.S.
• $220.7 billion: annual spending, Texas
• $652 billion : annual contribution to U.S. GDP
• $27 billion or more: * the costs of education, health care and incarceration in six states, including Texas
Sources: The Perryman Group;
*Federation for American Immigration Reform
If the 8.1 million undocumented immigrants who cut lawns, bus tables and perform other jobs disappeared overnight, the nation's economy would lose nearly $1.8 trillion in annual spending.
Texas, the second-hardest-hit state after California, would lose 1.2 million undocumented workers and $220.7 billion in expenditures.
These are just some of the findings from a study done by the Perryman Group, a Waco-based economic analysis firm, whose work was commissioned by Americans for Immigration Reform, a group spearheaded by the Greater Houston Partnership.
Houston's business community is trying to revive the politically charged immigration reform debate that has stalled in Congress. It plans to raise $12 million by December to fund a campaign for reform and thus far it says it has raised about 10 percent of that goal in pledges.
Continued...
By JENALIA MORENO
The impact of illegal immigration on the U.S. economy.
• 8.1 million: illegal immigrants
• $1.8 trillion: annual spending, U.S.
• $220.7 billion: annual spending, Texas
• $652 billion : annual contribution to U.S. GDP
• $27 billion or more: * the costs of education, health care and incarceration in six states, including Texas
Sources: The Perryman Group;
*Federation for American Immigration Reform
If the 8.1 million undocumented immigrants who cut lawns, bus tables and perform other jobs disappeared overnight, the nation's economy would lose nearly $1.8 trillion in annual spending.
Texas, the second-hardest-hit state after California, would lose 1.2 million undocumented workers and $220.7 billion in expenditures.
These are just some of the findings from a study done by the Perryman Group, a Waco-based economic analysis firm, whose work was commissioned by Americans for Immigration Reform, a group spearheaded by the Greater Houston Partnership.
Houston's business community is trying to revive the politically charged immigration reform debate that has stalled in Congress. It plans to raise $12 million by December to fund a campaign for reform and thus far it says it has raised about 10 percent of that goal in pledges.
Continued...
Friday, May 2, 2008
Protesters across America call for immigration reform
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in U.S. cities Thursday to protest federal immigration raids and deportations and to call for comprehensive immigration reform.
In Chicago, Illinois, 3,000 to 4,500 people marched in the city's downtown, police said. Several people carried a large American flag; others held banners or signs.
The early estimate of participants paled greatly in comparison to protests in Chicago in past years: In 2007, numbers reached about 150,000, and the year before, estimates ranged from 400,000 to 700,000.
In New York, hundreds of sign-carrying protesters gathered in Union Square, preparing for a march toward Foley Square in downtown Manhattan.
"We are demanding that the raids and deportations stop," said Teresa Gutierrez, one of the organizers for the New York rallies.
"We are for the rights of all immigrants, whether they're documented or not," she said.
New York protesters are also marching in support of workers' rights, she said.
Continued...
In Chicago, Illinois, 3,000 to 4,500 people marched in the city's downtown, police said. Several people carried a large American flag; others held banners or signs.
The early estimate of participants paled greatly in comparison to protests in Chicago in past years: In 2007, numbers reached about 150,000, and the year before, estimates ranged from 400,000 to 700,000.
In New York, hundreds of sign-carrying protesters gathered in Union Square, preparing for a march toward Foley Square in downtown Manhattan.
"We are demanding that the raids and deportations stop," said Teresa Gutierrez, one of the organizers for the New York rallies.
"We are for the rights of all immigrants, whether they're documented or not," she said.
New York protesters are also marching in support of workers' rights, she said.
Continued...
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