Immigration Rallies Nationwide..

[Martin]

My Way News - Protesters Press for Path to Citizenship

By PETER PRENGAMAN

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Demonstrators demanding a path to citizenship for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants hope that nationwide marches on Tuesday will spur Congress to act before the looming presidential primaries take over the political landscape.

Marches, meetings and voter registration drives were planned from California to New York, a year after 1 million flexed their economic muscle in a nationwide boycott during last year's May 1 activities.

Though this year's turnout likely will be lower, organizers say immigrants feel a sense of urgency to keep immigration reform from getting pushed to the back burner by the 2008 presidential elections.

"If we don't act, then both the Democratic and Republican parties can go back to their comfort zones and do nothing," said Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. "They won't have the courage to resolve a major situation for millions of people."

Hours before the march was set to begin in Chicago, dozens of demonstrators began arriving carrying flags, signs and placards, including one that read "We may not have it all together, but together we can have it all."

City organizers had to scramble to get the word out after police on Monday moved the site of their rally from Daley Plaza in the heart of downtown to Grant Park along the lakefront. Police said Daley Plaza was too small for the expected crowd of more than 7,000 marchers.

"They announced the decision first and then they called us to consult us," said Jorge Mujica, a spokesman for Chicago's March 10 Movement group. "It doesn't make sense."

In southwest Detroit, which has a large Hispanic population, hundreds of people wore red and white, and carried American flags to a rally.

"Most of the undocumented people come here as a necessity of survival," said Rosendo Delgado, of Latinos United, one of the groups organizing the march. "For them, it's the only choice."


Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean was scheduled to speak in Miami to a coalition of immigrant groups, while Ricardo Chavez, the brother of famed agricultural labor leader Cesar Chavez, was expected address crowds in Milwaukee.

In Washington, D.C., about 400 members of Asian groups from across the country were set to make a lobbying push with lawmakers.

In New York, groups planned an "American Family Tree" rally, where immigrants would pin paper leaves on a large painting of a tree to symbolize the separation of families because of strict immigration laws.

The event is a response to a White House immigration reform proposal in March, said Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition.

That plan would grant illegal immigrants three-year work visas for $3,500 but also require them to return home to apply for U.S. residency and pay a $10,000 fine. It has been roundly criticized by immigrant groups.

Two large demonstrations were planned in Los Angeles County - home to an estimated 1 million illegal immigrants. Some groups in the area have called for an economic boycott and hoped for a repeat of last year, when thousands of immigrants and students stayed away from work and school in a sign of solidarity.

Other groups have rejected the boycott, arguing it puts immigrants' livelihoods at risk and deprives children of valuable classroom time.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Cardinal Roger Mahony, head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, both strong immigrant supporters, urged students to stay in school.

Despite divisions over tactics and other issues, immigration groups and supporters said the diverse events will show the movement is stronger than ever.

"Just because the 12 million people who don't have legal residency don't attend a march doesn't mean they don't want it," said Eduardo "Piolin" Sotelo, a popular Spanish-language disc jockey. "I tell my listeners that no matter what they do, just don't stop doing something."

After last year's protests, reform legislation stalled in Congress and bipartisan proposals for illegal immigrants to gain citizenship have gotten more conservative.

Organizers said Tuesday's turnout will be lower because stepped-up raids in recent months have left many immigrants afraid to speak out in public - a major change over rallies in 2006 when some illegal immigrants wore T-shirts saying "I'm illegal. So what?"

"These raids have torn apart families," said John Crockford, a member of the Central California Coalition for Immigrant Rights.

In Fresno, organizers planned a rally focusing on children whose parents had been deported. The San Joaquin Valley is home to thousands of seasonal workers who work illegally each year in the fields and construction industry.

In Los Angeles, marches were set to include demands for a legalization program, a stop to the raids and an anti-Iraq war message. City and transportation officials were planning for as many as 500,000 people in downtown, believing it could be the largest in the city so far this year.

[waltky]

McCain 'adjusts' his position...

McCain changes course on immigration
Thu Aug 2, 2007: Republican presidential hopeful John McCain on Thursday backed a scaled-down proposal that imposes strict rules to end illegal immigration but doesn't include a path to citizenship.

The move away from a comprehensive measure is an about-face for the Arizona senator, who had been a leading GOP champion of a bill that included a guest worker program and would have legalized many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. It failed earlier this year. "We can still show the American people that we are serious about securing our nation's border," McCain said in a statement, adding that the new bill would "provide an essential step toward achieving comprehensive reform in the future."

McCain's immigration position has been a campaign liability among Republican voters and hurt his efforts to raise money. Other GOP presidential candidates, fellow Arizona Republicans and immigration opponents throughout the country have loudly decried his position. Observers said McCain's switch was political. "He recognizes his position on the issue is killing him," said Steven Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors vigorous immigration enforcement.

McCain's co-sponsors include Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jon Kyl of Arizona. All three were leading advocates for the unsuccessful comprehensive immigration measure and were bombarded with criticism for their support. Immigrants' rights advocates jumped to condemn their decision. "It is fairly stunning they have gone from leaders on comprehensive reform legislation to lemmings running over the cliff" with the Republican opponents of the bill, said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum.

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[waltky]

Illegal immigration counters...

Illegal Immigration Counters - Home Page

Scroll down a little to the counters

[waltky]

Immigration takin' up the slack of baby bust...

Immigration prompts U.S. population growth
Dec. 29, 2007 WASHINGTON -- Increasing numbers of immigrants in the United States are helping push up the nation's population by one person every 13 seconds.

The U.S. Census Bureau said that based on the growing influx of other countries' citizens, in addition to domestic births, the U.S. population should reach 303,146,284 on New Year's Day, The Washington Times reported Saturday. That would represent an increase of 0.9 percent from the same date in 2007.

"It's about what we expected," Census Bureau demographer Greg Harper said of the 2008 estimate. "Growth (for 2007) will be a little bit less than in the past, but it's right in line with what we've seen in growth in the past."

While census officials estimate a new immigrant will arrive in the United States every 30 seconds by the beginning of 2008, the nation's birth rate has also played a significant role in the population increase. The Times said that by January, one birth is expected to occur every eight seconds in comparison to estimates of one death every 11 seconds.

Source

See also:

Russian population dropped this year
Dec. 29, 2007 -- Russia lost more than 200,000 people this year, the statistics service said Saturday.

The population decline of 0.15 percent was slightly smaller than in 2006, RIA Novosti reported. The country's population was estimated at 142 million as of Nov. 1, the Russian news agency said.

While the death rate continued to exceed the birth rate, the number of immigrants was up 87 percent. Most newcomers were from former Soviet republics. The working age population was 75.1 million in November, or about 53 percent of the total population.

United Nations demographers say if current trends continue, Russia's population will be one-third smaller than it is now in 2050. President Vladimir Putin has pushed for policies to push the birth rate up, including increased maternity benefits and additional benefits for families with children, especially for those with a second child.

Real income grew by 10.1 percent in the first 11 months of 2007, with the top 10 percent of the population receiving more than 30 percent of all income. More than 15 percent of the population had incomes below the subsistence level.

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[waltky]

Illegals bad for the environment...

Immigration Is Bad for the Environment
April 22, 2008 - "As Americans commemorate Earth Day on April 22, the country's ecology and resource base continue to be imperiled by mass immigration," says a group that wants the "rule of law" enforced at the nation's borders.

"More than any other factor, population growth in the United States is adding to the stress on our environment, and nearly all of the nation's projected population growth over the next 40 years will be a direct result of current and future immigration," said the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). The group notes that since the first Earth Day in 1970, the U.S. population has grown by more than 100 million people -- "driven by ever increasing levels of immigration." It points to Census Bureau predictions that the current U.S. population of around 300 million will increase to 435 million by 2050.

"It is unrealistic to believe that we can address issues like pollution, urban sprawl, and the depletion of water and other vital resources, while continuing on the population path we have been on over the past several decades," said FAIR President Dan Stein. FAIR was founded in 1979 to address concerns about the role of immigration in U.S. population growth. On Earth Day 2008, the organization is renewing its call for a rollback of "excessive" immigration to the United States -- as well as a "thoughtful consideration" of how immigration policies will affect the long-term environmental health and security of the nation.

Unless the government does something about the ever-increasing levels of immigration, Americans will face a future that holds worsening environmental conditions, dwindling resources, and greater dependence on foreign energy sources, Stein said. "This was not the sort of future envisioned by people like the late Senator Gaylord Nelson who initiated the Earth Day celebration," he added. "As we observe Earth Day, we call upon our nation's leaders to get off the immigration and population growth spiral that can only lead to further environmental degradation."

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[waltky]

Doubt if many will go back this way...

New immigration strategy — Deport yourself
July 30, 2008, Agency allows illegals to avoid raids, prison by turning selves in

Rather than risk getting caught, turn yourselves in. That's the latest government strategy in its ongoing effort to dramatically reduce the nation's ballooning population of illegal immigrants. Scheduled to be unveiled next week, it was announced Sunday by Julie Myers, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in an interview with a Spanish-language television network.

Myers told the network that "Operation Scheduled Departure" will allow illegal immigrants without criminal records a chance to literally "self-deport" by turning themselves in to her agents. She said the idea derived from a common complaint voiced by immigrant detainees: If given the opportunity, they'd rather just go home than be holed up in immigration prisons. Under the new program, those still walking free will have the chance to walk into ICE offices, be processed and get a few weeks to arrange their affairs, pack their belongings and ship out of the country without being detained.

"The program basically gives an opportunity to those seeking an organized way to self-deport," Myers told Univisión anchor Jorge Ramos. Myers said the program would allow immigrants to avoid the increasing risks of being picked up in a raid at home or at work, but would offer no additional incentives to turn themselves in — no chance at qualifying for an amnesty, for example. ICE officials in San Antonio, Dallas and Washington refused to elaborate on the program, saying no details will be made available before the official presentation next week.

Proposal met with scorn

[waltky]

Well, that didn't last long...

US Halts Self-Deportation Project
Saturday, August 23, 2008; Despite drawing only eight volunteers, US authorities declared yesterday that a three-week pilot program that urged some illegal immigrants to turn themselves in for deportation was not a failure.

Under the scrapped, self-deportation program, called Operation Scheduled Departure, illegal immigrants in five cities who ignored court orders to leave the United States were offered as much as 90 days to put their affairs in order and to leave with family members in some cases, without the usual risk of arrest and detention.

The government estimates there are about 550,000 "fugitive aliens" nationwide, but the program was limited to individuals who have no criminal record and pose no threat to their community or to national security. It was also limited to the estimated 30,000 eligible illegal immigrants living in Charlotte, Chicago, Phoenix, San Diego and Santa Ana, Calif. Those who did turn themselves in included two Guatemalan immigrants, a couple from India and one person each from El Salvador, Estonia, Lebanon and Mexico.

James T. Hayes Jr., acting director of detention and removal operations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said despite the results, the program taught ICE valuable lessons, mainly that it should continue raids and sweeps for illegal immigrants. He also criticized immigrant advocates who object to such tactics, yet refused to urge eligible immigrants to participate.

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[waltky]

Granny says, "Dump their border-hoppin', drug-dealin', job-stealin' butts back across the border...

Hundreds of Factory Workers Are Held in Immigration Raid
August 25, 2008 - Federal agents and handcuffed workers at the Howard Industries plant on Monday in Laurel, Miss. Officials said at least 350 workers were in the country illegally.

Numerous agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement descended on a factory belonging to Howard Industries Inc., which manufactures electrical transformers, among other products. As of late Monday afternoon, no criminal charges had been filed, said Barbara Gonzalez, an agency spokeswoman, but she said that dozens of workers had been “identified, fingerprinted, interviewed, photographed and processed for removal from the U.S.”

The raid follows a similar large-scale immigration operation at a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, in May when nearly 400 workers were detained. That raid was a significant escalation of the Bush administration’s enforcement practices because those detained were not simply deported, as in previous raids, but were imprisoned for months on criminal charges of using false documents.

The mass rapid-fire hearings after the Postville raid took place in a temporary court facility on the grounds of the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, Iowa. An interpreter was later sharply critical of the proceedings, saying the immigrants did not understand the charges against them.

An immigrant rights group in Jackson, Miss., the state capital, was critical of Monday’s raid, saying families with children were involved. “It’s horrific what ICE is doing to these families and these communities,” said Shuya Ohno, a spokesman for the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance. “It’s just hard to imagine that this is the United States of America.”

More http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/us/26raid.html?hp