TV host Lou Dobbs abruptly quit his CNN
program yesterday, bringing a sudden end to a television program most
notable for its remarkably one-sided presentation of immigration issues.
Last winter, a remote Texas prison convulsed in a cry of outrage, voicing the desperation of the immigration system’s silenced captives.
WASHINGTON - The United States will be implementing new policies in detaining immigrants that will cut costs, improve security and oversight, and provide detainees with better access to medical treatment, the Homeland Security Department said on Tuesday.
"These new initiatives will improve accountability and safety in our detention facilities as we continue to engage in smart and effective enforcement of our nation's immigration laws," said Homeland Security Sec. Janet Napolitano.
Soon, undocumented immigrants may be eligible to enjoy an expense-paid hotel stay just before being jetted off to their country of origin, never to see their families again, courtesy of the federal government. Not quite the overhaul human rights activists have been seeking, but at this point, they can take heart in any glimmer of light that Washington might shed on the shadowy realm of immigrant detention.
UNITED NATIONS - Often vilified
and mistreated, migrant workers benefit both the countries they move to
and the ones they leave behind, says the latest Human Development
Report released Monday.
The perceived negative burden of
migrants on host societies does not correspond to reality, according to
the report, produced annually by the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP).
The key message of the 217-page report is that large gains to
human development can be achieved by lowering the barriers to movement
and improving the treatment of migrant workers.
Faced with a growing movement of communities demanding that CNN drop his program, Lou Dobbs responded Friday
with one of his favorite postures: the victimized defender of American
virtue. "They ask CNN to fire me because I oppose illegal immigration"
said Dobbs, who added, "The last thing they want is a first amendment,
where people can express themselves... These are the most un-American,
frightened people in the world because they won't compete in the
marketplace of ideas and facts."
NEW YORK - In response to a
lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security revealed Tuesday that the government
had failed to disclose 11 more deaths in immigration detention
facilities.
In April, Homeland
Security (DHS) officials released what they called a comprehensive list
of all deaths in detention. That list included a total of 90
individuals. With Tuesday's announcement, the government has now
admitted to a total of 104 in-custody deaths since fiscal year 2003.
The National Council of La Raza, a top Latino civil rights group, is
taking a shot at RNC chair Michael Steele and several prominent GOP
figures for skipping its ongoing annual conference while Democrats are
basking in the contrast. Having nominated the first Latina to the
Supreme Court and sending no end of speakers to the La Raza conference,
they're in like Flynn with Latino voters, they hope.
A week after a white supremacist attacked the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, and on the day that three teenagers are being sentenced in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, for brutally beating and killing a Mexican immigrant, it’s time we confront the fact that behind violently anti-immigrant and supremacist rhetoric is a real urge and a real en
As the country braces for another attempt at immigration reform on
Capitol Hill later this year, it's likely that we'll see plenty more of
Sheriff Joe Arpaio, his supporters and his detractors in the media. But
if the past year is any indication, we may not hear from the people
that are most affected by the Maricopa County, Ariz. sheriff's
policies-those who have been racially profiled, regardless of their
immigration status.
