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McCain, Obama keep sparring in Spanish on immigration
While the presidential candidates don’t say a word about immigration in English, they continue to fight over it in Spanish.
This week, Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign launched a new Spanish-langauge ad which says that Sen. John McCain “surrendered to anti-immigrant forces” and “betrayed” the Latino community.
The ad refers to McCain saying during a presidential debate that he would not vote for his own immigration bill.
The legislation — popular in the Latino community — would have provided a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants and created a guest worker program.
During the presidential campaign, McCain backed away from the bill saying that border security must come first, before any legalization plan.
McCain’s camp has denounced Obama’s Spanish-langauge ads, saying that McCain championed the immigration bill at great political risk.
Here is the Obama ad:
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Some Latinos still undecided on presidential election
A new poll says that a significant number of Latino voters in key battleground states are either undecided or still open to persuasion in the presidential election.
In Colorado, one in five Latino voters are undecided or do not strongly support one of the candidates. In Florida, it’s one in four and in Nevada, it is one in three.
The survey released by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, known as NALEO, also found that the economy is the top election priority of latino voters.Â
Nearly a third of respondents said they had trouble making their mortgage or rent payments at some point during the past 12 months.Â
Read more here.
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Presidential candidates mum on immigration
Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain discussed many things at last night’s presidential debate including the economy, healthcare and whether to bomb Pakistan.
But they offered nary a word on immigration.
Several groups e-mailed reporters in advance with lists of experts on immigration to help analyze the candidates’ statements.
But the topic didn’t come up. At all.
In fact, immigration has been largely absent as a campaign topic mostly because both candidates support an immigration measure that would give illegal immigrants some kind of path to citizenship.
The only place immigration has appeared is in Spanish-langauge ads. Both candidates have been sparring over immigration in the spots, designed to influence Hispanic voters in swing states.
Read a story about the ads here.
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NRA runs anti-Obama ad citing “rapists, drug dealers” crossing the border
The National Rifle Association is airing an anti-Obama television ad in English and Spanish that links illegal immigrant criminals with gun rights.
The ad features Andy Vaquera, identified as a retired Texas police officer.
He says: “Families should be able to defend themselves against rapists, drug dealers and other criminals illegally crossing our borders. But Barack Obama didn’t think we should be allowed to use a firearm for self-defense. He even voted to allow the prosecution of people who used firearms to defend their families in their own homes. That’s just wrong.”
The ad is part of an aggressive NRA campaign against Obama that includes a Web site — http://www.gunbanobama.com.
The site claims that Obama would be the “most anti-gun president in American history.”
Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt recently told the LA Times that “Obama has always believed that the 2nd Amendment protects the individual right to own a firearm.”
See the NRA ad here.
Read an LA Times story about the NRA campaign here.
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ICE arrests hundreds at South Carolina chicken plant
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested about 300 suspected illegal immigrants at a raid at the Columbia Farms poultry processing plant in Greenville, S.C.
“Our office is charged with enforcing the immigration laws against aliens who illegally enter our country, and those who illegally harbor and employ them,” said W. Walter Wilkins, the U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina. “The execution of this search warrant today marks an important phase of this ongoing investigation into the hiring practices of this employer. Aggressive enforcement and investigative actions are vital to the integrity of our immigration system.”
Read more here.
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Detained illegal immigrants held for weeks, months in Virginia
Illegal immigrants in Virginia who have consented to be deported often stay in U.S. custody weeks and even months because of “a detention and deportation system beset by waste and dysfunction,” the Washington Post reported this week.
Citing lawyers, detainee accounts and observations of courtroom proceedings, the Post said that federal officials regularly misplace files or fail to bring detainees to court hearings resulting in “needless additional jail time at taxpayer expense.”
According to the story, ICE officials reject claims that their operations are strained, saying the agency has made “significant strides.”
Read the story here.
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Pace of illegal immigration slows, study says
The flow of illegal immigration into the United States has declined in the past few years, according to a study released Thursday.
The number of illegal immigrants arriving in the United States has declined from about 800,000 a year earlier this decade, to about 500,000 a year from 2005 to 2008, said the report by the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-partisan research group in Washington.
The findings reverse a decade-long trend where more illegal immigrants arrived in the United States than legal immigrants.
The total number of illegal immigrants — which also includes millions who came legally to the United States and overstayed their visas — appears to have declined since last year — from 12.4 million in 2007 to 11.9 million in 2008. However, the finding is “inconclusive” because of the margin of error in the estimates, the study said.
The study also found:
— Illegal immigrants comprise about 4 percent of the U.S. population and about 30 percent of the nation’s foreign-born population. More than 39 million people born in other countries live in the United States.
— The vast majority of illegal immigrants — four out of five — come from Latin American countries.
— The number of illegal immigrants from Mexico appears to have leveled off since last year at around 7 million.
Read the study here.
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ICE arrests more than 1,700 in anti- gang sweep
More than 1,700 alleged gang members and associates, criminals and immigration violators have been arrested in a nationwide effort to combat street gangs, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Wednesday.
The effort targeted violent street gangs in 53 cities across 28 states, federal officials said.
“Street gangs prey on the neighborhoods in which they operate and they instill fear through intimidation and violence,” said Julie Myers, who heads ICE. “By partnering with other law enforcement agencies across the country, we are successfully targeting these gangs, arresting their leaders, disrupting their operations, and putting their members and associates behind bars.”
Of the 1,759 people arrested, nearly 1,500 were gang members, associates or those otherwise criminally charged, ICE said.
Read the ICE press release here.
Read a story about the operation here.
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Bill would set minimum standards for immigration raids
Democratic Sens. Robert Menendez and Edward Kennedy have proposed a bill that would set minimum standards for treatment of people during and after immigration raids.
It is dubbed the “Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Raids and Detention Act.”
Immigrant advocates are hailing the legislation.
Ben Johnson, director of the American Immigration Law Foundation, said that the group “applauds Senators Menendez and Kennedy’s efforts to reintroduce the rule of law and the basic principles of fairness and humanity to the enforcement of our country’s immigration laws…Due process and equal treatment under the law are fundamental rights that our country has stood for and are at the heart of the Menendez-Kennedy bill.”
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Desperate housewife Longoria for Obama
Eva Longoria, one of the stars of ABC’s Desperate Housewives, this week urged Hispanic women to vote and support Democrat Barack Obama for president.
Solis said: “We need a fighter like Barack Obama. We need to have someone in the White House that will fight for us to provide good medical coverage, will advocate protecting a woman’s right to choose, and help us push crucial women’s rights legislation through Congress.”
She also said that Obama is the son of immigrants, like many Hispanics and Latinos and “shares many values with the Latino community.”
Longoria, who previously supported Sen. Hillary Clinton, also commented on Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska.
“I’m very confused by the women who have turned their support to Palin because Hillary did not get on the ticket. Palin, for me, represents everything Hillary is not. I don’t know how a woman can support someone who does not support equal pay for women, or the right to choose,” Longoria said.
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Latest McCain video: Where is Obama?
This week, the McCain campaign released an Internet video questioning Barack Obama’s commitment to the Latino community in his native Chicago. It includes interviews with Hispanics in Chicago who say Obama was a no-show in the Latino community.
The English-language video is more than 5 minutes long. See it here:
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Spanish network to air debate tonight
The much-anticipated debate between Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain will be broadcast tonight on the Spanish-language network Telefutura.
The debate will be translated for the Spanish-speaking audience.
“TeleFutura is proud to present this very important event live to our viewers from coast to coast,” said Bert Medina, senior vice president and operating manager of the network. “Hispanics are sure to play a crucial role in this election and we are pleased to be able to provide our audience the opportunity to see the candidates together for the first time.”
TeleFutura reaches 85 percent of U.S. Hispanic households, according to a press release. It is part of Univision Communications, Inc.
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Campaign targets Spanish-speaking citizens
The New Policy Institute, a Democratic organization, launched a new campaign this week to encourage Spanish-speaking citizens to vote in November.
The campaign is called “Adelante” which means “move forward.” It will include “saturation-level” statewide radio spots in several states including Colorado, according to a press release.
See the campaign’s new website here.
An increase in Latino voters would mostly help Democrats because Hispanics generally tend to favor Democrats by a 2 to 1 margin over Republicans.
“The campaign will both encourage people to vote and explain the process of voting, including early and absentee voting, to what is projected to be a large pool of first-time Hispanic voters,” said the release.
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Latino groups pledge to register 1 million new voters
Hispanic groups and Spanish-language media companies announced Thursday an effort to distribute 1 million voter registration cards in seven states with large Hispanic populations.
The groups launched a new website — www.YoVotare.org — which will serve “as a one-stop portal to connect Latinos with various unprecedented efforts to register new voters, provide voter information and education tools, and increase voter turnout in November,” the groups said, in a press release.
The groups involved in the effort include the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, the National Council of La Raza, the Univision television network, and many others.
Political analysts say that Latinos could be a crucial voting bloc in several contested states such as Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Florida.
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Tancredo: Bailout bill should not help illegal immigrants
Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican famous for his fight against illegal immigration, urged Congressional leaders this week to include safeguards in any financial bailout plan to ensure it does not help illegal immigrants.
He said the bill needs to include provisions to “verify the legal residency and identity of potential homebuyers to ensure that illegal aliens are not obtaining federally backed home loans - and that taxpayers are not absorbing the debts of illegal aliens, or bad loans made by banks to illegal aliens.”
“If such protections are not included in the package, I hope you will join me in opposing its passage,” he said, in a letter.
See the letter here.
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Mexican government sending teaching materials to the U.S.
For more than a decade, the Mexican government has been quietly providing money, materials and even teachers to American schools, colleges and nonprofit organizations, the AP reported this week.
The Mexican government spends more than $1 million on the programs targeted to Mexican immigrants in the United States. They “provide a lifeline for adult students with little formal education by helping them become literate in Spanish - and by extension, English,” the story says.
Read it here.
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Poll: McCain winning Florida Hispanics
According to a Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times poll released this week, Republican John McCain is beating rival Barack Obama with Latinos in Florida.
The poll — which showed a tight race overall — showed that McCain is favored by Hispanics 51 to 41 percent. However, the poll’s margin of error is 10.6 percentage points.
Nationwide, Obama is handily beating McCain among Latinos, according to various polls. Florida is different, though, because many of its Cuban-American residents tend to be Republicans.
Roland Sanchez-Medina, vice president of the Cuban-American Bar Association, told the Miami Herald that “Obama’s current drag among Hispanics could hurt the Democratic Party’s chances of unseating three South Florida Cuban-American Republicans in Congress — Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.”
Read the story here.
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Poll: Most Latinos do not want local police to enforce immigration
Nearly one in ten Hispanic adults say that the police or other authorities have stopped them and asked them about their immigration status, according to a nationwide survey released Thursday by the Pew Hispanic Center.
The survey also found that 81 percent of Hispanic adults said that immigration enforcement should be left mainly to the federal authorities and not local police. In addition, 76 percent said they disapprove of workplace raids.
See more of the survey results here.
Read a story about the Pew report here.
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Federal judge rules: McCain is a natural-born citizen
The U.S. Constitution states that only “natural-born” citizens can become president. McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, leading some to question his ability to run for the nation’s highest office.
According to AP, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that the law at the time of McCain’s birth automatically granted citizenship to offspring of U.S. citizens.
Read the AP story here.
Read a previous story about the legal questions surrounding McCain’s birth here.
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Obama ties McCain to Rush Limbaugh in immigration ads
Sen. Barack Obama released a Spanish-language radio and TV ad Tuesday that ties Sen. John McCain to talk show host Rush Limbaugh and immigration hard liners in his party.
The ad will air in Florida, Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico, Obama campaign officials said.
The ad says that McCain and “his Republican friends” have “two faces” when it comes to Latinos.
The ad shows a picture of Limbaugh with a quote underneath which says, “Mexicans — stupid and unqualified.” A narrator says that McCain wants Latinos to forget “the insults” and “the intolerance.”
Hessy Fernandez, McCain’s spokesperson for Hispanic media, denounced the ad as “hypocritical and desperate.”
“Sen. McCain never used that kind of rhetoric,” she said. “Sen. McCain took a lot of heat, at great political risk, for this issue.”
See the ad here, as featured on the Washington Post web site:
The Obama ad is a reaction to a McCain Spanish language ad that blames Obama for the demise of an immigration bill last year. Obama’s campaign said Tuesday the ad was untruthful. Here it is:
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Obama: Immigration raids are a publicity stunt
Salinas asked Obama whether he supports a moratorium on immigration raids.
Here is his answer: “Raids are a publicity stunt, they are a tactic to push people away from focusing on the failures of the immigration system as a whole. What we have to do is to have a comprehensive immigration plan that has strong border security; that cracks down on employers who are taking advantage of undocumented workers…We’ve got to crack down on them, and we’ve got to provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers, making sure that they over time are able to earn their position here in the United States of America.”
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More on the “Red tape releases criminal immigrants to streets:” They’re Illegal Alien thugs, not criminal immigrants. “Jim Colosimo,” “Sam Carolla,” “Louis Buchalter,” “Nicolo Licata,” “Joe Profaci,” “Vito Genovese,” “Salvatore Lucania,” “Alphonse Capone,”
... read the full comment by L1M89 | Comment on ICE arrests hundreds at South Carolina chicken plant Read ICE arrests hundreds at South Carolina chicken plant
This following item that I found in World Net Daily highlights the importance of securing our sovereign borders and stopping the invasion of Illegal Aliens, real soon. Refuse to rely on our political cucarachas and bureaucrats to help, they’ll only hinder
... read the full comment by L1M89 | Comment on ICE arrests hundreds at South Carolina chicken plant Read ICE arrests hundreds at South Carolina chicken plant
While denouncing both candidates you offer no option because there are no viable alternatives. There is a clear choice between what happens to our USA after the election of either Barackula or McRino. Refusing to vote for either one is recklessly foolhardy.
... read the full comment by L1M89 | Comment on McCain, Obama keep sparring in Spanish on immigration Read McCain, Obama keep sparring in Spanish on immigration
Employers should pay by going to jail. Hopefully they won’t turn these people loose to come back again like they did the Swift people. Those illegals were back in 3 weeks.
... read the full comment by George | Comment on ICE arrests hundreds at South Carolina chicken plant Read ICE arrests hundreds at South Carolina chicken plant
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