Immigration Laws

Anthony D. Romero is the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union The mean-spirited anti-immigrant laws of Hazleton, Pa., went on trial Monday. That judicial spotlight will expose the laws as misguided, unconstitutional and undemocratic. The laws would revoke the business permits of landlords who do not immediately evict anyone the city identifies as an "illegal alien"; they also would shut down businesses that did not immediately fire such persons. They would require anyone wanting rental housing to provide immigration documentation to the city.

Amid the debate over Arizona's tough new immigration-control law, two Pennsylvania legislators are weighing in. Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R., Butler) wants to follow Arizona's lead by giving state and local police the power to enforce federal immigration laws. Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Delaware-Montgomery) wants a bill forbidding the state from doing so, on the grounds that such laws usurp federal authority to regulate immigration and "encourage racial profiling. " Metcalfe, who will present his bill in a live webcast from Harrisburg Tuesday, said his "Arizona-modeled legislation" would help crack down on Pennsylvania's estimated 140,000 illegal immigrants.

I wonder what Sarah Greenberg would think about the latest twist to immigration laws. It would allow people to enter the United States if they have $2 million to invest and can employ 10 people. Sarah Greenberg didn't have $2 million when she got to the Port of Boston on February 10, 1921. She was 19-year-old Sarah Ackerman then and I wasn't even a twinkle in her eye. She did have a certain knowledge of the immigration laws, gained standing in line for days around the American Embassy in Warsaw.

Mention immigration and many Americans conjure up visions of desperate men, women and children sneaking across the Mexican border, wiggling their way into American jobs and onto welfare. It's not often one considers the northern border of the United States and how it contributes to the wave of legal and illegal immigration. According to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Canada is the fourth-largest source of illegal immigrants in the United States. And proposed changes in immigration laws, although aimed mostly at the southern border, will affect Canadians and the northern border as well.

The issues of welfare reform and immigration policy formed the meat and potatoes of this Sunday brunch. Three speakers made their cases at a Bread and Roses Community Fund meeting yesterday at a house in the city's Powelton Village section. They saw forthcoming changes in the welfare system and the tightening of U.S. immigration policy as "a general attack on poor people. " The Bread and Roses Community Fund, which disburses money to local groups seeking social change, held the discussion to "see how immigration policy and welfare reform impact on the poor" of Philadelphia, said Judy Claude, director of the group.

Immigrants and their supporters from throughout the region packed JFK Plaza in Center City yesterday in one of a series of rallies that drew hundreds of thousands of people in dozens of cities nationwide. At the Philadelphia rally, American flags were constantly waving and "God bless America" was chanted over and over again. Participants wore T-shirts proclaiming "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and carried banners with such messages as "The only people that are not immigrants are the Native Americans.

The country's economy would buckle if undocumented workers were deported, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and a parade of witnesses told U.S. senators in Philadelphia yesterday. Their testimony at the National Constitution Center, offered during a rare Senate Judiciary Committee field hearing to discuss overhauling immigration laws, largely supported a Senate proposal to create a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, at a San Diego border-patrol station, U.S. House members who favor a bill that would make illegal immigrants felons held their own hearing devoted to national security risks posed by ill-enforced borders.

God knows Jesse Jackson likes a good march, but none of the newspapers I read mentioned him being at the massive immigration-rights rally more than a week ago in his hometown Chicago. Estimates put the number of participants at 100,000. Too bad Rev. Jackson wasn't among them. The immigration issue is important to African Americans as well as Latinos. Jackson's presence at the march might have helped steer those two communities to the logical conclusion that they should unite on this topic.

Canada is standing "shoulder to shoulder" with the United States in trying to reduce the risk of more terrorist attacks, Canadian Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay said yesterday after meeting with Attorney General John Ashcroft. Canada is evaluating its immigration laws, expanding its intelligence operations, putting more money into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and freezing assets of terrorist-connected organizations, MacAulay said. Canadian police are following more than 3,700 tips related to the Sept.

Merari Carranza could have lied. And he didn't have to go to a visa interview in the first place. But he did show up, and he told the truth about illegally crossing the border more than once. Because of that, he's living in his native Mexico, barred under a 1996 immigration law from even applying for an entry visa for 8 1/2 more years. His wife and two sons, all American-born, are in Montgomery County with no husband or father. "I can't believe the United States would keep families apart like this," says Brenda Carranza, Merari's wife since Dec. 27, 1998.

Last November, Republicans finally took control of the Mississippi House of Representatives, the final victory of the party's long Southern strategy. Not since Reconstruction had the GOP controlled every facet of political life in the state. It wasn't just any Republicans, either. Former Gov. Haley Barbour is considered a moderate now. Gov. Phil Bryant is a creature of the tea party. Though this is not a border state, every aspect of political life was aligned to follow in the footsteps of Arizona, Alabama, and Georgia with sweeping laws against illegal immigration.

The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday abo**ut Arizona's attempt to purge itself of all undocumented immigrants — and even those who "look" illegal — and the court's questions suggest that it may support the controversial law that the Grand Canyon State adopted in 2010. Arizona's SB 1070 — the "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act"— relies on state and local law enforcement to get rid of illegal immigrants. The most controversial provisions require police and other law-enforcement officials to ask about the immigration status of anyone they stop, authorizes local police to make an arrest without a warrant of any person they believe is removable from the United States, makes it a misdemeanor to fail to carry proper immigration documents and makes it a crime for undocumented immigrants to look for work.

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court justices sounded sympathetic Wednesday to Arizona's efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants, while raising some questions about the potential consequences for individuals and for national policy. In an election-year case that inspired chanting demonstrators outside and maneuvering politicians across Capitol Hill, multiple justices hinted or declared outright that Arizona can enforce its own border-control measures. Overall, the tenor of the unusually long argument tilted in favor of the state.

YOUR MARCH 20 editorial ("College Loans the Next Debt Bomb") correctly brings attention to a concern for many families, but it fails to mention one important strategy to address this dilemma: saving for college. Saving for higher education offers enormous benefits compared to borrowing. If a family saves $25 a month, it could have about $10,264 after 18 years. Those savings can gain state tax deductions, too. Meanwhile, someone who repays a $10,000 loan with interest over 18 years would ultimately pay $18,563 without any favorable state tax treatment.

DAYTON, Ohio - It's just about basketball now for Jorge Gutierrez. The days of being the axis of a state's immigration debate, the days of operating on the shady side of this country's laws, of living with other Mexican teenagers with no heat and little food, of being a beacon of hope for both his country and then followers of Cal, his college team - they are all now part of the shadows he left behind. Now it's just about tonight's game. Now he's just another college basketball guard marching into the madness, fueled by the romanticism of his youth, tempered by the realities that have impeded his path.

WASHINGTON - As President Obama prepares to deliver his annual address to Congress, many goals he outlined in previous State of the Union speeches remain unfulfilled. From reforming immigration laws to meeting monthly with congressional leaders of both parties, the promises fell victim to congressional opposition or fell behind other priorities. For Obama, like presidents before him, the State of the Union is an opportunity like no other to state his case on a grand stage, before both houses of Congress and a prime-time television audience.

PHILADELPHIA Scam gets him 30 mos. A prominent Huntingdon Valley lawyer, was sentenced yesterday to 30 months in a federal lockup in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain green cards for immigration clients. Michael Choi, 56,was convicted by a federal jury in August of conspiracy to violate immigration laws, making false statements to the government and filing false tax returns for 2005 and 2006. U.S. District Judge Petrese B. Tucker also ordered Choi to make restitution to the IRS of $161,539.

A prominent Huntingdon Valley lawyer was sentenced Thursday to 30 months in a federal lockup in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain "green cards" for immigration clients. Michael Choi, 56, was convicted by a federal jury in August of conspiracy to violate immigration laws, making false statements to the government and filing false tax returns for the years 2005 and 2006. U.S. District Judge Petrese B. Tucker also ordered Choi to make restitution to the IRS of $161,539.

ATLANTIC CITY - Mohammad Ranjbar last saw his 61 acres of apple groves and grapevines near Baghlan City, Afghanistan, in 1987. Ranjbar, a commander in the Mujahideen, had left his pregnant wife and family behind to fight the Soviet military's advance into the northern part of his country. During one of that year's skirmishes, shrapnel lodged in Ranjbar's jaw, setting off a decades-long odyssey that brought him to the United States for treatment, but now has left him in a one-room tenement apartment near the Boardwalk in Atlantic City.

The National Conference of State Legislatures tracks immigration legislation with a customized database and simple search terms: refugee, migrant, seasonal worker, alien, English-speaking,   and   naturalization, to name a few. In 2005, those queries yielded 300 proposed laws and resolutions among the 50 states and Puerto Rico. This year? An avalanche of 1,607, with 43 in Pennsylvania and 15 in New Jersey. "Everybody is jumping in the game," said Ann Morse, who runs the conference's data collection from her office in Washington.