Archive for August 2006

PHOENIX A new survey of Arizona voters shows most supporting four immigration-related measures that the Legislature put on the November general election ballot

The same poll found a majority opposing an initiative measure on marriage.

Results of the poll were released today.

The poll found support for measures to deny bail to illegal immigrants charged with a serious felony.

Voters also appear to support making English the state’s official language while barring illegal immigrants from receiving punitive damages in civil lawsuits.

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Helsinki - Spain will organise a meeting of European Union member states bordering the Mediterranean to discuss ways of tightening their maritime borders after a wave of illegal immigration, the Spanish government said on Tuesday.

“We are going to call an urgent meeting of European countries bordering the Mediterranean to seek agreement on maritime border controls to halt illegal immigration from Africa,” Spain’s First Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega told reporters during a visit to Helsinki.

The countries to be invited, in addition to Spain, are France, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Malta, Cyprus and Slovenia. The Finnish presidency of the EU and the EU Commission will also attend.

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Many adults in Britain believe their country should enact stricter guidelines for immigrants, according to a poll by Ipsos-MORI. 63 per cent of respondents believe the laws in immigration should be much tougher.

In April 2005, as part of the governing Labour party’s election manifesto, prime minister Tony Blair announced the introduction of an immigration points system. The plan divides would-be immigrants into five tiers according to skills and job offers. The government claims the new system will eventually bring an end to the migration of low-skilled workers from outside the European Union (EU) into Britain.

On Aug. 22, the British government revealed that 427,095 persons from Eastern Europe have been allowed to work in Britain since May 2004. Conservative party immigration spokesman Damian Green urged for a change in existing guidelines, saying, “Controlled immigration makes life much better for everyone involved.”

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IN SMALL MUNICIPALITIES across the nation, brush fires of discontent are starting to erupt as officials struggle to control an influx of illegal immigrants.

Towns like as Riverside, N.J., Palm Bay, Fla., and Hazleton, Pa., have passed ordinances - some labeled “relief acts” - that punish landlords who rent to undocumented immigrants, and the businesses that hire them. Some cities, like Hazleton, have declared English their “official language.”

Joe Vento, owner of Geno’s steaks, probably understands.

And we understand, too, why these towns have enacted such legislation - the federal government, which sets this country’s immigration policy, has failed miserably to provide strong oversight, enforcement or direction.

Faced with increases in crime and overwhelmed by requests for municipal services, these small, not-so-well-off towns have taken things into their own hands. And, as much as we might sympathize with their plight, their efforts must not, and should not, usurp federal law. Several of these ordinances face court challenges on such grounds.

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A congressional hearing on the hot button issue of illegal immigration attracted 200 people to The Centre this morning, where elected officials and experts jousted over the merits of House and Senate bills.

Four members of the 40-member House Judiciary Committee, including Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., heard testimony from and questioned a panel of experts.

Today’s hearing was one in a series of Judiciary Committee field hearings across the country that are designed to point out perceived flaws in immigration legislation passed by the Senate in May.

Democrats have derided the hearings as a political stunt to delay House-Senate compromise negotiations over the two bodies’ starkly contrasting immigration bills and to rouse the emotions of conservative voters before the November elections.

But Hostettler said afterward that the Evansville hearing was worthwhile because it helped clarify an issue that is vital to residents of Vanderburgh and surrounding counties.

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A congressional hearing on the hot button issue of illegal immigration attracted 200 people to The Centre this morning, where elected officials and experts jousted over the merits of House and Senate bills.

Four members of the 40-member House Judiciary Committee, including Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., heard testimony from and questioned a panel of experts.

Today’s hearing was one in a series of Judiciary Committee field hearings across the country that are designed to point out perceived flaws in immigration legislation passed by the Senate in May.

Democrats have derided the hearings as a political stunt to delay House-Senate compromise negotiations over the two bodies’ starkly contrasting immigration bills and to rouse the emotions of conservative voters before the November elections.

But Hostettler said afterward that the Evansville hearing was worthwhile because it helped clarify an issue that is vital to residents of Vanderburgh and surrounding counties.

Complete text linked below:

A congressional hearing on the hot button issue of illegal immigration attracted 200 people to The Centre this morning, where elected officials and experts jousted over the merits of House and Senate bills.

Four members of the 40-member House Judiciary Committee, including Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., heard testimony from and questioned a panel of experts.

Today’s hearing was one in a series of Judiciary Committee field hearings across the country that are designed to point out perceived flaws in immigration legislation passed by the Senate in May.

Democrats have derided the hearings as a political stunt to delay House-Senate compromise negotiations over the two bodies’ starkly contrasting immigration bills and to rouse the emotions of conservative voters before the November elections.

But Hostettler said afterward that the Evansville hearing was worthwhile because it helped clarify an issue that is vital to residents of Vanderburgh and surrounding counties.

Complete text linked below:

WASHINGTON - Before job applicants can work at the Bird Key Yacht Club, Marsha Woerner submits their identity information to federal authorities over a computer system that checks databases for red flags.

The office manager doesn’t take that extra step to protect members of the exclusive club in Sarasota from being served martinis by felons, but rather to avoid running afoul of immigration laws.

The club is one of almost 11,000 businesses - a fraction of the millions nationwide - in a pilot project Congress authorized in 1996 to give employers an easy way to reduce the odds of hiring an illegal immigrant.

“It saves you a headache in the long run,” Woerner said.

Among the elements of immigration reform that the House and Senate have agreed on, in principle, is that all employers should use an expanded version of that system, which compares submitted information to millions of Social Security and immigration records at the time of hire.

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Nearly 5, 000 of state Rep. Monty Davenport’s constituents have been urged in a piece of mail from a conservative advocacy group to “Ask Monty why he’s pampering illegal aliens and putting drug dealers back on the street.”

The Coalition for Arkansas’ Future gave the first-term Democrat from Yellville an “Fminus” grade for voting for a bill that would have allowed illegal aliens who graduate from Arkansas high schools to qualify for in-state tuition rates and taxpayer-funded state scholarships at state universities.

The mailer also gave Davenport an “F-minus” for voting for a bill under which people convicted of making methamphetamine could be eligible for parole after serving half their sentences, not the 70 percent of the sentence formerly required. The bill became Act 1034 of 2005.

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Is Racism In South Africa Behind The Increased Immigration To Canada?

Prior to the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994 the exodus of white South Africans to other countries was known as the Chicken Run. With the new democracy only twelve years old a new exodus is evident and is now being captioned as the Brain Drain.

Whatever the caption might be, surveys published in the press (Sunday Times of 20 th August 2006) show that top academics and scientists are leaving South Africa supposedly for better salaries, better work opportunities and to gain further experience abroad. Furthermore, over 5,000 former South African teachers are currently employed in the UK alone when there is a shortage of teaching staff back home,

Is this a genuine brain drain or is there an underlying reason? What has emerged during the honeymoon years of the new democracy is the perception that the serious crime rate has increased, that fraud is prevalent, that vehicle hijackings are everyday occurrences, that some state officials are riding the gravy train and that affirmative action is racism in disguise.

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