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Coming to America

"Immigration is the sincerest form of flattery." - Jack Parr

America's melting pot is on fire. Twelve million illegal immigrants currently live in the US, and nearly 900,000 more arrive each year. Yet the immigration reform that topped President Bush's second-term agenda has stalled as a skittish Congress attacks the proposal from left and right; meanwhile, a different kind of debate is heating up over skilled immigrants, and whether American firms need more to stay competitive.

Stories

Stories 41 - 60 of 138

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April 2008
- Immigration Chief Covered Up Racist Pics, Dems Say
  
  Los Angeles Times | Apr 9, 08 2:20 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - 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 »
- Border Fence Will Skirt Environmental Laws
  
  Los Angeles Times | Apr 2, 08 5:40 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Homeland Security is ditching environmental laws in a push to finish 670 miles of border fence along Mexico by the end of this year, reports the Los Angeles Times . Congress has approved a waiver for more than 30 environmental and cultural laws to accelerate building. Critics say the plans are being pushed through without proper assessment and will endanger wildlife. More »
March 2008
- Arizona Drafts Own Worker Bills
  
  Christian Science Monitor | Mar 31, 08 10:31 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Arizona is working on its own guest-worker program, hoping to supply state farmers with labor—and serve as a model for the rest of the country in the process, the Christian Science Monitor reports. But though top lawmakers are behind the measure, getting permission from the federal government—whose own guest-worker program is notoriously clunky—won’t be easy. More »
- Indians Protest 'Slave' Working Conditions in US
  
  BBC | Mar 28, 08 7:43 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Some 100 Indian immigrants have marched hundreds of miles from New Orleans to Washington to protest what they call "slave" working conditions at a marine construction company. The Indian laborers say they work long hours with 24 men sharing a dormitory for which they each had to pay more than $1,000 a month. The workers launched the demonstration to highlight the exploitation that can occur within the US guest worker program, reports the BBC. More »
- Visitor Fingerprinting Expanded
  
  Christian Science Monitor | Mar 27, 08 8:28 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Visitors to the US entering through New York's John F. Kennedy airport will have all 10 fingers scanned under a new program of the Department of Homeland Security, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Officials hope the program, called US-VISIT, will allow customs—which currently collects just two prints from non-citizen visitors—to snag entrants with fake documentation or criminal records. More »
- Philly Steak Shop Can Keep 'Please Speak English' Signs
  
  Philadelphia Inquirer | Mar 20, 08 5:10 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The owner of a Philadelphia institution can keep signs that ask customers to order their cheese steaks in English, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. A city agency ruled the signs at Geno's Steaks—"This is America. When ordering, please speak English"—do not violate discrimination rules; owner Joey Vento says he never turned away customers and just wanted to make a political point. More »
- US Needs More Visas, Gates Tells Congress
  
  CNET | Mar 12, 08 5:14 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Bill Gates exhorted Congress today to increase the number of available H-1B visas for highly skilled foreigners, and invest more in domestic education in science and technology, cNet reports. "It makes no sense to educate people in our universities, often subsidized by US taxpayers, and then insist they return home," Gates told the House Committee on Science and Technology. More »
- Jailed Woman Left for 4 Days
  
  Arkansas Democrat Gazette | Mar 11, 08 8:45 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - An illegal immigrant was forgotten in a courthouse holding cell in Springdale, Ark. for 4 days without food, water, or a toilet, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. With only sparse furniture and a lightbulb in her cell, Adriana Torres-Flores slept on the floor and drank her own urine to survive. The bailiff who forgot about her until yesterday is now “a broken man,” the county sheriff said. More »
- US May Move to Restrict H-1B Visa 'Cheaters'
  
  ComputerWorld | Mar 7, 08 8:11 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The US is expecting a record number of applications for H-1B visas—given to highly skilled, specialized foreign workers—and is considering rules to penalize companies that try to improve their chances, ComputerWorld reports. Desperate firms have been known to send more than one application—123, 480 were received last year; 65,000 are awarded—for the same individual to increase odds of being selected. More »
- Are Black Immigrants Black?
  
  Mother Jones | Mar 1, 08 7:31 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The notion that a black American must be a “descendant of West African slaves brought here to labor for whites against their will” just reinforces the “invisibility that black immigrants face in America,” Debra Dickerson writes in Mother Jones . But she can’t escape it herself, she admits; she has said that Barack Obama isn’t black, endorsing “a politico-cultural reality which I reject.” More »
February 2008
- McCain, Born in Canal Zone, Dismisses Citizenship Flap
  
  Associated Press | Feb 29, 08 9:12 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - A recent media flap about John McCain's citizenship is a non-issue, the candidate says. McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone while his father served there in the Navy, which makes him a natural-born citizen and qualifies him to run for president, the AP reports. His camp recently sought a legal analysis on the matter, and a New York Times article got pundits speculating. More »
- Giant, Diverse Texas Presents a Primary Riddle
  
  New York Times | Feb 26, 08 2:40 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Trying to win a primary in Texas is “like running a national campaign,” a veteran strategist says one week before the pivotal vote. With its enormous size and diversity, its multitude of media markets, and a voting system so complicated it’s been nicknamed the Texas two-step, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been campaigning at a breakneck pace, the New York Times reports. More »
- 'Virtual Fence' Cleared For Arizona Border
  
  Associated Press | Feb 22, 08 12:14 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The government has just given the green light to a 28-mile “virtual fence” along the Arizona/Mexico border, the AP reports. The system, which uses cameras, radar, and other sensor devices to detect border jumpers, is already partially constructed, and working. Last week Border Patrol caught 38 would-be illegal immigrants thanks to a system tip off. More »
- Families Battle Feds Over US Border Fence
  
  Washington Post | Feb 16, 08 7:30 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Americans on the southern US border are fuming over a federal fence that threatens to cut their properties in two, the Washington Post reports. The feds have erected about 165 miles of fence in the West and southwest, but some families, protecting land they have held for generations, are turning back surveyors. "This is the land that gave me my life and my spirit," one landowner said. "I will fight this all the way." More »
- FBI Bails on Immigrant Probes as Backlogs Mount
  
  McClatchy Newspapers | Feb 12, 08 4:45 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Immi