I regret to inform you that this blog will no longer be updated because of the impending closure of the Cox Newspapers Washington Bureau. It has been a fun ride and I want to thank everyone who posted comments and participated.

Sincerely,

Eunice Moscoso

National Correspondent, Blogger

Cox Newspapers

Topics included the impact of the economic crisis on Latino families, concern about high school drop out rates among Latinos, and the need to fix the nation’s broken immigration system, the White House said.

“We were delighted to be invited to the first White House briefing for Latino organizations with high level Obama appointees,” said Rosa Rosales, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “We look forward to continuing to work with the administration and we were impressed with their understanding of our concerns impacting the Hispanic community.”

Other groups included the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, and the National Association of Latino Elected & Appointed Officials.

The study, by the non-partisan Pew Hispanic Center, said that Hispanic immigrants are experiencing higher increases in unemployment than other groups.

The study analyzed Census data, which does not specify whether the workers are legal or illegal immigrants.

Read more here.

Read the full report here.

The new advisor willl focus on the “significant growth in immigration detention over the last five years,” according to a press release.

Napolitano picked Dora Schriro for the job. Schriro is the director of the Arizona Department of Corrections.

“Dora is one of America’s leading minds on modern, effective prison management,” said Napolitano. “In Arizona, she visited every correctional facility in the state and conducted a top-to-bottom review of their operations, tackling and reducing both overcrowding and recidivism. Her proven leadership and skills will serve not only this department, but also the individuals we need to house as we enforce our nation’s immigration laws.”

The release also said that Schriro is “one of the foremost experts on correctional policies in the country, receiving prestigious awards from both Harvard University and the National Governors Association for her immensely successful recidivism reduction policies.”

“The fear of raids in and around schools, neighborhoods and workplaces among immigrants — unauthorized and authorized — keeps our children and families from attending schools, obtaining needed services for which they are eligible and pay taxes and even contacting local police when they or their loved ones are in danger,” the letter said.

It also said that the raids “have destroyed families and spread terror.”

The Bush administration conducted a string of large immigration raids at workplaces over the past few years. The photo on the right shows a raid in Postville, Iowa.

The U-visa was created in 2000. So far, 65 have been issued, the story says. In addition, the government has given temporary benefits to 10,800 applicants while they wait for a final decision.

Read more here.

According to a fashion article in The Wall Street Journal, the designers “embodied multiculturalism” and “the universal immigrant’s success story.”

“Their frocks, as a result, were much more than just pieces of silk and crystals stitched together. They provided a powerful visual symbol of the struggles and triumphs that Barack Obama has spoken of in his sweeping speeches about this country,” the story said.

Read it here.

The immigration plan includes bringing people “out of the shadows” by supporting “a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.”

It also includes protecting “the integrity of our borders” by supporting “additional personnel, infrastructure and technology on the border and at our ports of entry.”

Read more of the plan here.

The agents — Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos — were serving 12 and 11 years, respectively for shooting a Mexican drug runner and trying to cover it up.

Supporters say that the agents were wrongly convicted for protecting the United States against a criminal illegal immigrant. The case has been a cause celebre among conservative radio talk show hosts across the country.

Under the commutation, the prison sentence for Compean and Ramos will end on March 20.

Lawmakers from both parties lobbied heavily for Bush to commute the sentences.

Here is a sample of Capitol Hill reaction:

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas: “I am extremely pleased the president answered my plea, and that of like-minded colleagues and millions of Texans and Americans, in commuting the sentences of Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean. These individuals have already paid the consequences of their actions and beyond. Having been convicted of charges now second-guessed by even the presiding prosecutor, this case cried out for a commutation and the president has now acted to right the wrongs of their excessive and unjust sentences.”

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California: “Our prayers have been answered! This is not just a day of celebration for the families but it is a victory for all Americans, while acknowledging our system is flawed, to see that if they are involved, if they speak up and utilize their freedom, injustices can be corrected. The hearts of all patriotic Americans are filled with joy at the announcement that our brave border defenders, Ramos and Compean, will be freed from unjust captivity. “

Read more about the commutation here.

The agents — Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos — are serving 12 and 11 years, respectively for shooting a Mexican drug runner and trying to cover it up.

Supporters say that the agents were wrongly convicted for protecting the United States against a criminal illegal immigrant.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican who has taken up the cause in the House, held a press conference this week to urge the prosecutor in the case — U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton of the Western District of Texas — to support commutation.

Rohrabacher said: “Mr. Sutton, we are asking you to look into your heart as a prosecutor and advise the President to commute the sentences of Ramos and Compean so they will not spend the next ten years in solitary confinement.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, on Thursday also said that the President should commute the sentences.

Cornyn and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California sent a letter to President Bush last year asking for a commutation of the sentence. The letter followed a Senate hearing which examined the case.

“Substantial return migration of unauthorized immigrants is unlikely unless there’s a protracted and severe worsening of the U.S. economy,” said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Institute.

The non-partisan group also found that return migration appears to correlate more closely with economic, political and social developments in the immigrants’ countries of origin than with economic conditions in the United States.

Read the study here.

The story also quotes another anonymous “department official” who said that the forces “stand ready to manage any surge to the border by Mexicans panicked by the cartels’ violence.”

Read the story here.

An excerpt:

“Immigration experts say a growing number of migrants, who have toiled in the United States as laborers, janitors and car mechanics, are being recruited to run for office in their homelands. Their working-class immigrant stories resonate in Latin America where many residents have family members in the United States, many of whom send home financial support.”

Read the story here.

Gibbs also said that Obama “expressed his strongly held view that immigrants should be treated with dignity and that the immigration debate should not be a vehicle for vilifying any group, and that our two countries need to work more effectively to stop the flow of illegal immigration into the United States.”

The two leaders met at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C.

Read more here.

“Now, that may be fair or unfair, but that’s the image that came out. And, you know, if the image is ‘We don’t like immigrants,’ then there’s probably somebody else out there saying, ‘Well, if they don’t like immigrants, they probably don’t like me, as well,’” Bush said.

He also added: “So, my point was that our party has got to be compassionate and broad-minded.”

Read a transcript of the press conference here.

Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, said he is “quite optimistic” that a bill would pass.

Sharry was heavily involved in negotiations last year on a Senate immigration measure that would have given illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and created a guest worker program. That bill failed in the Senate after strong opposition from conservatives.

The groups said that Obama has shown he is serious about immigration reform by appointing supporters of the concept to key cabinet posts including Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano as Homeland Security Secretary and Rep. Hilda Solis as Labor Secretary.

Other participants in the conference call included Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles and Janet Murguia, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group.

“The face of America has always had immigrant features and the way we treat immigrants and approach their integration into U.S. society holds important implications for the future progress of the country,” Murguia said. “Reform is not only possible, we as a nation are ready to do it.”

Read more here.

The Bratton Corporation, a construction products supplier from Kansas City, Mo, is the 100,000th employer to participate in E-Verify, USCIS said in a press release.

“We congratulate The Bratton Corporation for joining the thousands of employers who participate in E-Verify, and whose numbers are growing by a thousand each week,” said Mike Aytes, the USCIS acting deputy director. “They all have taken a significant step toward maintaining the integrity of the American workforce.”

The E-Verify system is currently voluntary in most states. Several proposals in Congress would make it mandatory.

Immigrant advocates, some business groups and other critics say that E-Verify relies on faulty government databases and could lead to thousands of citizens being initially rejected for work, especially naturalized Americans.

But advocates of tougher enforcement praise E-Verify as a valuable tool to stop illegal immigration.

“This order will have a tremendous negative impact on countless people who will be deported simply because they had the bad luck to be represented by the wrong immigration attorney,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project.

“This is a dangerous move away from the U.S. tradition of fairness and due process. Losing your case because your lawyer missed a deadline or made some other egregious error can never be considered a fair process,” he added.

Read more about Mukasey’s 33-page ruling here.

The reviews were not so good.

The Washington Post called it a “sorry excuse for a television show.”

Newsday said it was “not particularly exciting” and sometimes feels “like a commercial for the government agencies that helped produce it.” But Newsday also said the show was “nominally instructive and engaging.”

To read more about the show on ABC’s site, click here.

“In nominating a leader as skilled and dedicated as Rep. Solis to this important office, President-elect Obama is sending the clear signal that American workers, regardless of their country of birth, are a valued part of America’s future and a top priority for his administration,” he said.

Another group, Farmworker Justice, said Solis “is an excellent choice for Labor secretary and has long been a supporter of worker rights, including those of farmworkers.”

Read more about Solis here.

Chertoff also said he regretted that Congress did not pass “comprehensive immigration reform” which “was the most balanced approach to border security, and also what we need economically and from a humanitarian standpoint.”

Chertoff was heavily involved in negotiations on Capitol Hill on a broad measure that would have given illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship and created a guest worker program. The measure failed in the Senate.

If this “Americanization” fails, the nation could see major problems in 20 or 30 years, with foreign-born populations detached from the larger society and engaging in anti-social behavior, said Alfonso Aguilar, who heads the U.S. Office of Citizenship.

Aguilar compared the potential strife to what is occurring in some Western European countries where foreign-born populations do not feel part of the larger society and are not accepted by many as full citizens.

“We should not be naive and assume that the assimilation process is going to happen automatically,” Aguilar said, at a press conference.

The task force recommends that the federal government take a leadership role in an “Americanization movement,” but also says that states, local governments, non-profit groups and the private sector should play a key part.

The report strongly emphasizes that immigrants must learn English in order to fully integrate into American society.

Aguilar said that immigrants currently want to learn English but that many cannot find classes.

He said the report is not recommending “an ugly, English-only approach,” but “a friendly, pro-active literary effort.”

Read the report here.

— Customs and Border Protection (CBP) increased the size of its work force last year from 46,473 to 51,533 by adding officers, agents and agriculture specialists.

— CBP has doubled the size of the Border Patrol from about 9,000 in 2001 to more than 18,000 as of Nov. 21, 2008.

— CBP has constructed more than 520 miles of vehicle and pedestrian fencing along the Southern Border, including about 93 miles in Fiscal Year 2008. The agency is building toward a total of roughly 670 miles of fencing.

— Since January 2008, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed or returned more than 323,000 illegal immigrants from the United States, about a 20 percent increase over the previous year.

— ICE dramatically increased penalties against employers whose hiring processes violate the law, securing fines and judgments totaling in the millions, as well as jail time for the most egregious offenders.

See the full release here.

The document is titled: “Building an Americanization Movement for the Twenty-first Century.”

In a press release, the Task Force on New Americans says that one of the recommendations will be to “strengthen immigrant integration into American civic culture.”

It also says that “successful integration involves a message of inclusion that emphasizes American civic principles and welcomes people from all backgrounds to fully become American.”

The task force was formed as part of a Bush Administration effort to promote citizenship.

According to the story, the center is available 24-hours-a-day to field complaints from Mexican nationals about their treatment in the border state, where as many as half a million illegal immigrants live and work in the shadows.

“We want to offer a human voice at the other end of the line, so they can feel protected and know that someone is here for them,” Alejandro Ramos, head of the Mexican Consulate’s Department of Protection, told Reuters.

Read the story here.