TUCSON, Ariz. -- I’ll refer to her as Leticia X.
She is undocumented, but has been in this country since the age of three and is a top student at her high school. Yet, unless the law changes soon, she will be unable to continue with her studies. She tells my students at the University of Arizona that it is wrong that she will not be able to attend college next year: “I consider myself a U.S. citizen. It’s the only country I’ve ever known.”
As Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, in increasing defiance of the
feds' decision to strip him of his street-level federal immigration
authority, charges forward with another of his notorious anti-immigrant sweeps today, listeners of NPR's "The Takeaway" were treated to an illuminating glimpse at Sheriff Joe's political vision.
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 Obama administration has refused to make legally enforceable rules for immigration detention, rejecting a federal court petition by former detainees and their advocates and embracing a Bush-era inspection system that relies in part on private contractors.
The son of a decorated Vietnam veteran,
Hector Veloz is a U.S. citizen, but in 2007 immigration officials
mistook him for an illegal immigrant and locked him in an Arizona
prison for 13 months.
Veloz had to prove his citizenship from behind bars. An aunt helped
him track down his father's birth certificate and his own, his parents'
marriage certificate, his father's school, military and Social Security
records.
NEW YORK - Duarnis Perez, a native of the Dominican Republic, became a U.S. citizen at 15 when his mother was naturalised. But he didn't know that meant he was also a citizen. He thought he was an illegal immigrant, and so did the authorities.
He was deported and subsequently arrested trying to sneak back into the U.S. from Canada. Perez spent almost five years in prison for unlawful reentry. But when he was released in 2004, an official of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) reviewed his file and told him he had been a citizen all along.
As families celebrate Father’s Day, consider the case of Roxroy Salmon. The father of four U.S.-born children, Salmon has lived in the United States for more than 30 years. Yet the Department of Homeland Security now threatens to deport him to Jamaica, a country where he has not resided for decades, due to minor drug convictions from more than 19 years ago for which he served no time. This would effectively deny his children their father by permanently exiling him from his family and their common homeland.
ARIVACA, Arizona - Humanitarian aid groups trying to avert migrant deaths on the U.S- Mexico border are facing increased roadblocks in their mission. The hazards are not connected to a spike in drug cartels' violence, but rather restrictions from the federal government.
Transporting a migrant in despair to a hospital could mean a volunteer is charged with human smuggling. A simple act of kindness like leaving water in the desert can be subject to penalties as well.
