Center For Immigration Studies News 12/1/10

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Center For Immigration Studies News 12/1/10

Morning News, 12/1/10
By Bryan Griffith , December 1, 2010
1. Vote Possible by Friday
2. FL considers AZ type bill
3. UT lawmaker introduces bill
4. VA Sheriff touts Sec. Comm.
5. Groups lobby for DREAM Act


1.
Dream Act Vote Possible By Friday
By Sean Higgins
Investor's Business Daily, November 30, 2010
Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, told Capital Hill that his boss may file for cloture on the pro-immigration legislation this evening, meaning that a vote by the full Senate would likely come Thursday or Friday. He did not confirm it, though, saying they were “still trying to sort it out.”
In the final days of his recent re-election campaign, Reid had promised a vote on the bill during the Senate’s lame-duck session.
The White House has told supporters of the bill, which would offer citizenship to children of illegal immigrants provided they attend college or serve in the military, to get ready for a vote. Critics call it an amnesty, saying the provisions would be eligible to people as old as 35.
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http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhi...oliticsinvesti...
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2.
Florida follows lead of Arizona on immigration
By Jim Ash
Florida Today, December 1, 2010
State Sen. Mike Bennett, a Republican from Bradenton and one of Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos' top lieutenants, is putting immigration reform on the front burner this spring, but he insists his Arizona-style bill will not promote racial profiling.
"My target is the criminal element, the gang element," Bennett said Tuesday.
Bennett's SB-136 would require police to check the immigration status of suspects and report anyone who is not in the country legally to federal immigration authorities. Anyone caught without proper paperwork would face a misdemeanor charge and a $100 fine. The bill also says a police officer "may not consider race, color, or national origin" when asking for the documentation.
The Arizona law sparked nationwide protests and boycotts as well as a federal lawsuit from the Obama administration. In July, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton struck down most of the law, including the part that calls for law enforcement officers to check a suspect's immigration status.
Bennett said the bill is not in its final form and will be "tweaked" as it makes its way through committees. He said he wants to give police more power to detain and deport violent criminals and gang members who are in the country illegally.
"I'm thrilled to see Sen. Haridopolos file a bill and include E-verify," said
State Rep. Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, said he was thrilled the bill was filed including E-verify, adding that there were two similar bills in the House right now, one of which includes the E-verify language.
"I'm either going to file a companion bill . . . or sponsor both bills in the house," he said.
E-verify is an Internet-based system that helps businesses determine whether their employees are eligible to work in the U.S.
Workman said the two bills likely would merge into one version.
"I will be taking the lead in the House and participate to see immigration reform in Florida," he said.
Critics say the Legislature is overstepping its bounds and that lawmakers are pandering to the ultra-conservative tea party movement.
"It's not the job of a state to enforce immigration laws," said Sally Schmidt, executive director of the Equal Justice Center in Fort Myers. The not-for-profit group helps immigrants navigate the federal system.
Schmidt said the law would invite discrimination and lead to confusion. Many immigrants are in the country legally but still waiting for proper documentation, she said. Detaining them for not having the right paperwork would violate their civil rights, she said.
"People are in such different states of immigration status," she said. "These are people who are paying taxes and performing valuable work."
Bennett sees no distinction between a police officer asking for a driver's license or a green card. Gov.-elect Rick Scott, who is set to be sworn in Jan. 4, agrees.
Scott hasn't changed his position since the campaign trail, spokesman Trey Stapleton said.
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http://www.floridatoday.com/article/...33/1006/Florid...
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3.
Robles calls her immigration bill ‘a better solution’
By David Montero
The Salt Lake Tribune, December 1, 2010
Undocumented immigrants in Utah would be required to carry a state-issued permit, learn English and be subject to criminal-background checks, while employers would face financial penalties for hiring those without the permits, under a bill unveiled Tuesday by state Sen. Luz Robles.
The 21-page draft of the Utah Pilot Accountability Permit Program essentially puts the onus on the undocumented immigrants to come forward, register for an “accountability card” and emerge from the shadows of society. It is being framed as an alternative to Rep. Stephen Sandstrom’s enforcement-only bill modeled after the controversial Arizona immigration law that requires local police to check the legal status of those suspected of criminal activity or committing an infraction.
“This is a better solution to a broken immigration policy and a more realistic solution as well,” said Robles, D-Salt Lake City.
She estimated there are 110,000 undocumented immigrants in the state of Utah.
Robles said her bill is tougher than that of Sandstrom, R-Orem, whose proposal is a catch-and-release plan that will eventually be rejected in federal court. Portions of Arizona’s law have already been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge.
But Cherilyn Eagar, a leader at the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration, said its members continue to back Sandstrom’s bill because it targets criminals.
“If they are here and they are undocumented, they are not here legally,” Eagar said. “If they are working and undocumented, they are committing felonies. So I don’t know who they are planning on identifying, other than those who are committing crime, and that’s why we need Sandstrom’s bill.”
Under provisions in the Robles bill, undocumented immigrants would have to pass a background check before qualifying for a permit to live and work in Utah. The background checks would be run through the state Department of Public Safety and the national Secure Communities system.
That program allows for fingerprints to be crosschecked with immigration and FBI databases. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can look at prints to determine what enforcement actions must be taken — including deportation.
“By the time the bill goes active, the [federal] databases will be international, with lots of participating countries,” said Dimitri Mumulidisz, executive director of the Democratic Lawyers Council. “We will know within hours if they’ve committed a felony in their home country.”
The issuing of the accountability cards would then be done through a yet-to-be-created arm of the state Department of Public Safety. Undocumented immigrants would have to keep them at all times. Each card is valid for two years and would have to be renewed.
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http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50...ented-immigrat...
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4.
Sheriff: Program Has Identified 863 People for Deportation
By Nicole Trifone
Vienna Patch (VA), December 1, 2010
Sheriff Stan Barry answered questions from the public about Secure Communities, a program launched in March 2009, in an Ask Fairfax! session Nov. 30.
The program allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement to check the immigration status and criminal background of every individual booked by Sheriff's deputies in order to identify and deport any criminal aliens convicted of Level 1 crimes. Level 1 crimes include such offenses as murder, rape, robbery and drug distribution.
"It accomplishes identifying illegal aliens for deportation, but it keeps us from going into the community and making the citizens fearful of law enforcement and public safety," Barry said in a video statement after the session.
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http://vienna.patch.com/articles/she...ified-863-peop...
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5.
Philadelphia phone bank urges passage of immigration law
By Michael Matza
Philadelphia Inquirer, December 1, 2010
With Congress poised to vote as early as this week on legislation granting permanent residency to an estimated 825,000 undocumented immigrants, supporters of the Dream Act inundated senators and representatives Tuesday with telephone calls urging passage as a step to broader immigration reform.
If enacted, the law would confer legal status on immigrants younger than 35 who came to the United States before age 16, have lived here for at least five years, and have completed at least two years of college or military service.
At the Nationalities Service Center, an immigrant resettlement organization in Center City, a 15-person phone bank went into action Tuesday, targeting Pennsylvania lawmakers Kathleen A. Dahlkemper, a Democrat defeated in November whose district encompasses Butler, Armstrong, and Erie Counties, and Tim Holden, a conservative Democrat whose district stretches from Pottsville to Harrisburg. Dream Act supporters consider their votes important if the bill is to pass this month in a lame-duck session.
Organizers say they are confident they have the votes of much of the rest of the Pennsylvania delegation. Several are among the bill's 40 cosponsors in the Senate and 133 in the House.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have said they want action on the bill before the end of the year.
Since some members of the phone bank team are undocumented, their calls, they say, are arm's-length constituent pressure.
"We might not be able to vote ourselves," said call-bank organizer Maria Marroquin, 23, an undocumented immigrant from Peru. "But we have friends and family who are citizens and they do vote."