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July 2008
- Journo 'Ecstatic' Over Demise of HIV Travel Ban
  
  newser | Daily Dish (The Atlantic) | Jul 17, 08 3:29 PM CDT
  
  HIV-positive journalist Andrew Sullivan is “ecstatic” over yesterday's passage by the Senate of a bill that would lift a US ban on visitors and immigrants with the virus that causes AIDS, he writes in his Atlantic blog. "I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's one of the happiest days of my whole life," writes the openly gay, British Sullivan, who plans to pursue citizenship. More »
- Senate Targets Ban on HIV- Positive Visitors
  
  newser | Associated Press | Jul 16, 08 4:31 PM CDT
  
  The Senate moved today to repeal a ban on allowing immigrants and vistors who are HIV-positive to enter the country, the AP reports. The measure was part of a $50 billion bill to combat AIDS worldwide. The US is one of only a dozen countries—including Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Libya—that forbids the entry of visitors with AIDS. More »
- More Mexican Immigrants Becoming US Citizens
  
  newser | Los Angeles Times | Jul 11, 08 1:45 PM CDT
  
  In 2007, while the US hotly debated immigration reform, the number of Mexican-born immigrants who became American citizens skyrocketed, the LA Times reports. Experts attribute the jump—122,000 people took the oath, 84,000 more than in 2006—largely to an aggressive pro-citizenship campaign and a desire to beat steep fee increases. Applications rose about 50%, to 1.4 million, in the same period. More »
- McCain 'Wobbling' Leftward Again on Immigration
  
  newser | The Hill | Jul 10, 08 7:10 PM CDT
  
  By John McCain’s own admission, his embrace of immigration reform nearly sunk his candidacy in the early primaries, writes Byron York in the Hill . But after saving his hide with a swing to the right and a pledge to "secure the border first" (a “legitimate flip-flop,” York specifies), the pendulum is moving leftward again. McCain recently told a Latino audience that comprehensive reform “will be my top priority yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” More »
- Cash-Strapped Businesses Battle Immigration Crackdown
  
  newser | New York Times | Jul 6, 08 6:57 AM CDT
  
  As state and federal authorities crack down on illegal immigration, businesses are fighting back, the New York Times reports. Employers, stung by aggressive new measures that would revoke the licenses of those found to have hired illegals, say their very existence is threatened. A few states are responding to the fears, and revising or rejecting tougher immigration laws. More »
June 2008
- Feds Triple Cases Against Illegals
  
  newser | Los Angeles Times | Jun 18, 08 12:00 PM CDT
  
  Prosecutions of illegal immigrants have soared in recent months, now accounting for half of all federal cases, the Los Angeles Times reports. Some 9,350 illegal immigrants faced federal charges in March of this year, up from 3,746 in March 2007, as the Bush administration ratcheted up efforts to use jail time, and the prospect of a criminal record, as a tactic to dissuade illegal border crossers. More »
- Prison of Cuban Baseball Ensnares US Agent, Too
  
  newser | Vanity Fair | Jun 13, 08 3:17 PM CDT
  
  Politics is keeping "at least half a billion dollars of baseball players in Cuba right now," one agent tells Michael Lewis as he investigates, for Vanity Fair , the case of an American sports agent now in jail for smuggling athletes. Gus Dominguez appears to be a victim of politics on the US side—though that web isn't half as tangled as the one facing athletes on Castro's island. More »
- Hands Bound, States Find Ways to Attack Immigration
  
  newser | New York Times | Jun 9, 08 9:13 AM CDT
  
  You hear a lot less Spanish these days in Milton, Fla. Hispanic immigrants fled the panhandle town after local police raided more than a dozen businesses, arresting at least 27 illegals. Technically, only federal agents can enforce immigration law, but cops around the country have found ways around that problem, the New York Times reports. Milton’s illegals were rounded up for identity theft. More »
- Under Violent Seige, Tijuana's Elite Flee
  
  newser | Los Angeles Times | Jun 8, 08 3:03 PM CDT
  
  As drug-fueled violence skyrockets in Tijuana, the upper-class is fleeing the city, with more than 1,000 wealthy families migrating to the US, reports the LA Times . The Mexican city is now second to Baghdad in kidnappings and many American real estate agents describe clients who arrive missing fingers or with fresh wounds. A government crackdown on drug cartels may have forced organized crime groups to seek out other means of income. More »
May 2008
- Gay? Fine. How About Some Grandkids?
  
  newser | New America Media | May 30, 08 2:30 PM CDT
  
  Once, most gay Indian-Americans could come out with one simple sentence: “Mom, Dad, I don’t think I am going to get married,” Sandip Roy writes for New America Media. But now that California has legalized gay marriage, Roy isn’t sure how to appease his folks. Like many supposedly conservative immigrant parents, they'd probably prefer married and gay over straight and single. More »
- 297 Illegal Immigrants Get Jail in Federal Crackdown
  
  newser | New York Times | May 24, 08 7:08 AM CDT
  
  Some 270 illegal immigrants have been sentenced to 5 months in federal prison in a sign that the Bush administration is taking a much harder line on undocumented workers, the New York Times reports. Busted for using fake IDs, the workers were among 389 swept up at a kosher meat-packing plant in Iowa in the biggest immigration raid on a workplace in US history. Until now, undocumented workers have usually been detained and deported. More »
- Illegal Immigration Spurs Identity Theft
  
  newser | City Journal | May 18, 08 6:15 PM CDT
  
  Identity theft and illegal immigration are not only keeping cops busy, they're often linked, Steven Malanga writes in City Journal . Illegals are known to swipe US workers' data to obtain jobs or commit crimes, and the top five states for identity theft have large immigrant populations. But efforts to stop the ID crime wave are drying up. More »
- US Drugging Foreigners for Deportation
  
  newser | Washington Post | May 14, 08 1:40 PM CDT
  
  The US government injects hundreds of illegal immigrants with dangerous psychotropic drugs to keep them sedated while being deported, the Washington Post reports. The so-called "pre-flight cocktail" often leaves detainees so incapacitated they need a wheelchair to get onto the plane. Used far more often than the "last resort" it's advertised as, the practice violates some international human-rights codes. More »
- No Rebates for Immigrant Taxpayers—or Yank Spouses
  
  newser | Associated Press | May 12, 08 3:30 AM CDT
  
  Hundreds of thousands of legal, taxpaying immigrants and their Americans spouses are among the unhappy few who won’t be getting a tax rebate check, AP reports. Taxpayers need a Social Security number to qualify—a rule intended to carve out illegal immigrants. Also inadvertently cut from the benefit are legal residents and American citizens—including US soldiers—who filed jointly with a spouse without a Social Security number, which can take years to obtain. More »
- Detained Immigrants Dying for Lack of Health Care
  
  newser | Washington Post | May 11, 08 8:49 AM CDT
  
  The number of detained immigrants has skyrocketed since 9/11, and many do not receive critical health care in overburdened federal detention centers, the Washington Post reports. Several immigrants, detained for minor offenses or waiting to seek asylum, received little or no care for life-threatening symptoms which finally killed them, a Post investigation found. More »
- Thousands Rally for Immigrant Rights
  
  newser | Associated Press | May 1, 08 6:15 PM CDT
  
  Immigrants and activists took to the streets by the thousands across the US today to put immigration reform back on the election agenda, the AP reports. In Chicago, 15,000 called for an end to deportations and better access to education, and big rallies also took place in DC, Miami, LA, and Tucson. This May Day turnout, however, didn't appear to rival the 1 million protesters who turned out nationwide in 2006. More »
- Hispanics Hit 15% of US Population
  
  newser | Wall Street Journal | May 1, 08 1:45 PM CDT
  
  The US Hispanic population is booming, driven more by a high birth rate among those already in the country than immigration, the Census Bureau says. Since 2000, Latinos have jumped from 12.6% to more than 15% of the total population—swelling their numbers to 45.5 million from 35.7 million. "If you close the borders tomorrow, there is still going to be a large Hispanic increase," a demographer tells the Wall Street Journal. More »
April 2008
- US Downturn Cuts Migrants' Payments Home
  
  newser | Washington Post | Apr 18, 08 10:30 AM CDT
  
  The downturn in the US economy is also hitting Mexico hard, the Washington Post reports. Money sent home from the US, known as remittances, dropped nearly 7% in January compared with the year before, the biggest plunge in 13 years, says the Mexican government. Without that money, the country's No. 2 source of foreign currency, many Mexicans can’t pay for basic needs. More »
- Senate Hopeful Hyped Notorious Worker Policy
  
  newser | Denver Post | Apr 10, 08 6:20 PM CDT
  
  A Republican vying for Colorado's open Senate seat has said the Mariana Islands’ guest worker program—infamous for reports of forced abortion, slavery and child prostitution—should be a “model” for national immigration overhaul. Bob Schaffer’s support dates from a 1999 trip arranged by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the Denver Post reports, where the then-congressman stayed on a beach resort, parasailing between factory visits. More »
- Immigration Chief Covered Up Racist Pics, Dems Say
  
  newser | Los Angeles Times | Apr 9, 08 2:20 PM CDT
  
  The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement tried to hide pictures of her giving an award to an employee in a racially insensitive Halloween costume, House Democrats say. Julie Myers was photographed smiling and standing next to an employee in prison garb and wearing blackface, whom she awarded the night's "most original costume" prize, the Los Angeles Times reports. More »