NewsCloud.com Immigration News

Mexico Cracks Down on Cubans

For the first time, Mexican immigration authorities have launched raids on safe houses where Cubans await transportation to the U.S. border. In the first such raid, reported widely throughout Mexico on July 2, 20 Cubans were arrested in Cancun. Once Cubans present themselves to U.S. officials on the border, they are automatically granted asylum in the United States. Mexicans are angered at the disparate U.S. laws that give Cubans permanent residency while Mexicans attempting to enter the United States are deported. Mexico's President Felipe Calderon has also ordered Mexico's Navy to increase patrols in the Yucatan Channel, the body of water that separates Cuba and Cancun.

Is Riding the Bus a Ticket to Jail?

In December 2007, Artemio and two of his friends were traveling by bus through Syracuse, New York on their way to their homes in Mexico. Rather than celebrating Christmas with their families, however, the three men were arrested by immigration agents at a bus station. They were then detained at a county jail before being transferred to the ICE facility in Batavia, New York, and eventually deported to Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, also known as the Border Patrol, confirms that its agents in Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo check the citizenship status of travelers passing through by bus and train every day.

Immigration Prosecutions Hit New High

Critics Say Increased Use of Criminal Charges Strains System.

Federal law enforcement agencies have increased criminal prosecutions of immigration violators to record levels, in part by filing minor charges against virtually every person caught illegally crossing some stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border, according to new U.S. data.

Proposed immigration changes 'racist,' B.C. protesters say

About 70 people gathered in Surrey, B.C., on Sunday to protest a controversial government bill that would give more power to the federal immigration minister to approve or deny immigration applications. Bill C-50, which will amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, is a "racist policy" and, if passed, will endow Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley too much arbitrary power, said Tammy Sadeghi, a spokesperson for the protesters.

Raids a Reminder of Historical Backlash Against Immigrants

I'm not "the sky is falling type" but if I were an undocumented immigrant, that's definitely how I'd feel right about now. Immigrant communities around the country are being attacked by ICE, the criminal justice system, legislators, vigilante groups, and the list goes on. Between Iowa and California alone, nearly 1,200 families have been torn apart and possibly destroyed by raids leading to detention, deportation and incarceration.

Burger King Caves!

After years of resistance, Burger King finally joined fellow fast food giants McDonalds and Yum! Brands in meeting farm worker demands for decent wages and working conditions. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers and Burger King announced on Friday that the fast food chain will begin paying a penny more per pound of Florida tomatoes in order to boost wages for tomato harvesters. A penny more per pound actually raises wages by 75 percent, if you can believe that. Until now, the standard rate has been about 45 cents for a 32-pound bucket.

Border Agents, Lured by the Other Side - NYTimes.com

The smuggler in the public service announcement sat handcuffed in prison garb, full of bravado and shrugging off the danger of bringing illegal immigrants across the border. "Sometimes they die in the desert, or the cars crash, or they drown," he said. "But it's not my fault." Raul Villarreal, a United States Border Patrol agent at the time, in a Mexican advertisement against smuggling. He is now wanted on suspicion of helping smugglers.

Latino Activists Face Death Threats in Georgia

Threats of death and lynching that used to be directed at civil rights leaders in the 1960s are now being targeted at immigrant rights activists in Georgia. Advocates say state lawmakers are partly to blame for creating an environment in which immigrants are treated as less than human.

Immigration Reform Under the Next U.S. President

One might assume that achieving comprehensive immigration reform would be easy once the next president is elected. After all, the three main candidates all support comprehensive immigration reform and Democrats are likely to hold the majority in Congress, so this should be a piece of cake, right? Don't hold your breath, was the sentiment conveyed by Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, while speaking at a conference at Georgetown Law School this week. When the new administration takes power in January, immigration will not likely be their first burning issue.

Multimillionaire Helps Undocumented Workers Post Bail

Robert Hildreth, a self-made multimillionaire who built his fortune trading in Latin American bonds, wants to create a national fund that would help post bail for undocumented workers seized by immigration authorities. Hildreth began posting bail out of his own pocket after seeing what he considered to be "un-American" images on TV of shackled workers being deported. Hildreth , the son of high school teachers, called the Greater Boston Legal Services and told them to contact him if they needed help posting bonds for undocumented workers.

TV Feeds Hate and Fear Toward Immigrants, Report Says

U.S. cable television is fueling anti-immigrant sentiment, according to a study published Wednesday, reports EFE news service. The report, "Fear and Loathing in Prime Time: Immigration Myths and Cable News," identifies CNN's Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck, along with Bill O'Reilly of Fox, as having done the most to create "anti-immigrant hysteria."

California: ICE Arrests 905 Undocumented in Three Weeks

In the last three weeks, the Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested 905 undocumented immigrants in a special operation in California, reports La Opinión. This means that between May 1 and May 22, a daily average of 41 people were detained in raids across the state. More than one third of these (327 people, or an average of 15 per day) were detained in the Los Angeles area alone. This is more than twice the daily average undocumented immigrants arrested in Los Angeles between October 2007 and May 2008.

B.C. apologizes for Komagata Maru incident

After 94 years, the B.C. legislature unanimously passed a motion Friday apologizing for the Komagata Maru incident. On May 23, 1914, the Japanese charter ship Komagata Maru arrived in Vancouver harbour with 376 immigrants from India. Canadian immigration officials refused to let the passengers disembark, using the continuous journey regulation which required migrants to arrive in Canada directly from their country of origin.

Transnational Realities

The xenophobic paranoia that demonizes undocumented immigrants as sub-human criminals and alien invaders who are somehow fulfilling a lifelong dream to flaunt American border laws out of disrespect, or as part of some strategic re-conquest of the west, so dominates U.S. media, it defies belief. The benefit - to what passes for immigration discourse in the States - of listening to the voices at this historic Mexico City conference of transnational migrant remitters, their families, and their advocates, will be profound when the American public opens its heart to the idea of sharing a common humanity with people of other cultures and nations, desperate with no other options to survive.

Immigration raid largest in U.S. history

Federal officials say a raid at a northeastern Iowa meat processing plant this week was the largest in U.S. history, in terms of the number of people arrested. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say 390 people have been arrested on immigration charges after Monday's raid at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville, the world's largest kosher meatpacking plant.