Immigration News from Frontera NorteSur (FNS)
December 11, 2009
In a pilot project, the Department of Homeland Security’s US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has started requiring foreign guest workers to leave behind identifying information at two Arizona ports of entry. Launched December 8, the new exit system applies to holders of H-2A and H-2B visas.
According to a CBP press release, the pilot program kicked off this week at the San Luis and Douglas ports of entry bordering the Mexican state of Sonora. Under the federal requirements, departing guest workers will stop at a kiosk to scan their visas and fingerprints and return their 1-94 arrival/departure forms. Instructions for completing the process will be in both Spanish and English.
“The goal is to ensure that temporary workers comply with the requirement to leave the country when their work authorization expires,” the CBP stated. “The program will also help secure US borders more effectively and streamline existing guest worker programs.”
As of this week, any foreign guest worker in the H-2A and H-2B programs and admitted entry to the US at San Luis or Douglas will also have to leave the country at the same location.
The Arizona pilot program came as the CBP reported that more than 205,000 H-2A and more than 58,000 H-2B visa admissions were granted during Fiscal Year 2009. Compared to earlier statistics cited in a newsletter published at the University of California at Davis, H-2A admissions of temporary agricultural workers were up significantly in 2009.
According to UC Davis’ Rural Migration News, in Fiscal Year 2008 there were 173,100 H-2A admissions, mostly of Mexican nationals. In FY 2007, 87,300 H-2A admissions were registered, while 46,400 were counted for FY 2006.
On the other hand, H-2B visas, which are granted to workers in fields such as gardening, landscaping and tree planting, experienced a drop off in 2009. Rural Migration News earlier reported 110,000 H-2B visa admissions in FY 2008 and 155,000 in FY 2007.
Sources: US Customs and Border Protection, December 10, 2009. PressRelease.
Rural Migration News, April 2009.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University Las Cruces,New Mexico
For a free electronic subscription email: fnsnews@nmsu.ed
Friday, December 11, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Rethinking Trade Policy for Development: Lessons From Mexico Under NAFTA
“There is increasing international recognition that trade policy in the Western Hemisphere should be overhauled,” conclude the authors, based on this comprehensive review of Mexico’s economic performance under NAFTA. “Now is the time for the U.S., Canadian, Mexican, and other developing country governments to take a fresh look at NAFTA’s experience and shape trade and development policies to better meet the needs of their people in a manner that respects the right to development, job creation, and the environment.”
By Eduardo Zepeda, Timothy Wise, and Kevin Gallagher, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
December 2009
Mexico’s disappointing experience with NAFTA underscores the need to reform trade agreements between the United States and developing countries.
Despite an increase in trade, foreign investment, and productivity since NAFTA took effect in 1994, Mexico has been disappointed by slow economic growth and weak job creation. In addition, recession in the United States is hitting Mexico particularly hard, given its dependence on its northern neighbor. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=24271
Read the report:
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/nafta_trade_development.pdf
By Eduardo Zepeda, Timothy Wise, and Kevin Gallagher, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
December 2009
Mexico’s disappointing experience with NAFTA underscores the need to reform trade agreements between the United States and developing countries.
Despite an increase in trade, foreign investment, and productivity since NAFTA took effect in 1994, Mexico has been disappointed by slow economic growth and weak job creation. In addition, recession in the United States is hitting Mexico particularly hard, given its dependence on its northern neighbor. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=24271
Read the report:
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/nafta_trade_development.pdf
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
NYC, 12/13/09: "Farmingville" screening
Resistance Cinema, in collaboration with the New Sanctuary Movement, presents:
Farmingville (2004, 78 minutes)
Produced and Directed by Catherine Tambini and Carlos Sandoval, Camino Bluff Productions Inc. & CatTails LLC.
Special guest speaker: Janis Roshuevel, Director of Families For Freedom
When: Sunday December 13, 2009 1pm
Where: Community Church of NY Assembly Hall, 40 East 35th Street, New York, NY (between Madison & Park Avenues, 6 train to 33rd Street & Park Avenue, D/F/N/Q/R to 34th Street-Herald Square)
Admission: Free, donations appreciated
Light refreshments will be served
Explore the issue of immigration in film and discussion
Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, "Farmingvile" is a provocative, complex, and emotionally charged look into the ongoing nationwide controversy surrounding a suburban community, its ever-expanding population of undocumented immigrants, and the shocking hate-based attempted murders of two Mexican day laborers.
Janis Roshuevel will speak on:
"Everyone Is Responsible for Immigrant Justice"
Families For Freedom
Founded in September 2002, Families For Freedom is a New York-based multi-ethnic defense network by and for immigrants facing and fighting deportation. We are immigrant prisoners (detainees), former immigrant prisoners, their loved ones, or individuals at risk of deportation. We come from dozens of countries, across continents. FFF seeks to repeal the laws that are tearing apart our homes and neighborhoods; and to build the power of immigrant communities as communities of color, to provide a guiding voice in the growing movement for immigrant rights as human rights.
Information: 718-843-0515, russellbranca@yahoo.com & http://www.aria-aperta.org/AriaAperta/Projects/ResistanceCinema.html
Farmingville (2004, 78 minutes)
Produced and Directed by Catherine Tambini and Carlos Sandoval, Camino Bluff Productions Inc. & CatTails LLC.
Special guest speaker: Janis Roshuevel, Director of Families For Freedom
When: Sunday December 13, 2009 1pm
Where: Community Church of NY Assembly Hall, 40 East 35th Street, New York, NY (between Madison & Park Avenues, 6 train to 33rd Street & Park Avenue, D/F/N/Q/R to 34th Street-Herald Square)
Admission: Free, donations appreciated
Light refreshments will be served
Explore the issue of immigration in film and discussion
Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, "Farmingvile" is a provocative, complex, and emotionally charged look into the ongoing nationwide controversy surrounding a suburban community, its ever-expanding population of undocumented immigrants, and the shocking hate-based attempted murders of two Mexican day laborers.
Janis Roshuevel will speak on:
"Everyone Is Responsible for Immigrant Justice"
Families For Freedom
Founded in September 2002, Families For Freedom is a New York-based multi-ethnic defense network by and for immigrants facing and fighting deportation. We are immigrant prisoners (detainees), former immigrant prisoners, their loved ones, or individuals at risk of deportation. We come from dozens of countries, across continents. FFF seeks to repeal the laws that are tearing apart our homes and neighborhoods; and to build the power of immigrant communities as communities of color, to provide a guiding voice in the growing movement for immigrant rights as human rights.
Information: 718-843-0515, russellbranca@yahoo.com & http://www.aria-aperta.org/AriaAperta/Projects/ResistanceCinema.html
Paraguay named "illegal immigrant" to consular post
by Pedro Servin, Associated Press
December 2, 2009
ASUNCION, Paraguay — Paraguay named an undocumented U.S. immigrant to run its consulate in New York, discovering his illegal status only when the man returned home to get his diplomatic papers and was denied a U.S. visa.
Paraguay's foreign ministry acknowledged Wednesday that it was a mistake to name Augusto Noguera as the consulate's "first official," but said President Fernando Lugo annulled the decision as soon as he was informed of the U.S. Embassy's visa denial.
Vice Foreign Minister Manuel Maria Caceres told The Associated Press that the decision to name Noguera as a diplomat Sept. 21 was made in good faith since the ministry didn't know of his legal status in New York. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j8zoSiuhqrcmKRebncIJNAbz-0MAD9CBESM00
December 2, 2009
ASUNCION, Paraguay — Paraguay named an undocumented U.S. immigrant to run its consulate in New York, discovering his illegal status only when the man returned home to get his diplomatic papers and was denied a U.S. visa.
Paraguay's foreign ministry acknowledged Wednesday that it was a mistake to name Augusto Noguera as the consulate's "first official," but said President Fernando Lugo annulled the decision as soon as he was informed of the U.S. Embassy's visa denial.
Vice Foreign Minister Manuel Maria Caceres told The Associated Press that the decision to name Noguera as a diplomat Sept. 21 was made in good faith since the ministry didn't know of his legal status in New York. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j8zoSiuhqrcmKRebncIJNAbz-0MAD9CBESM00
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Arrests of illegal immigrants along border drop 25%
By Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times
November 25, 2009
Reporting from San Diego - Arrests of illegal immigrants along the California-Mexico border declined 25% this year as a weak economy and bolstered enforcement efforts appear to be discouraging treks north, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said Tuesday.
The downward trend is evident across the Southwest border as apprehensions fell to levels not seen since the early 1970s. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested 556,000 people last year, 152,200 of them in California, according to statistics released for the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-border25-2009nov25,0,5713070.story
November 25, 2009
Reporting from San Diego - Arrests of illegal immigrants along the California-Mexico border declined 25% this year as a weak economy and bolstered enforcement efforts appear to be discouraging treks north, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said Tuesday.
The downward trend is evident across the Southwest border as apprehensions fell to levels not seen since the early 1970s. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested 556,000 people last year, 152,200 of them in California, according to statistics released for the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-border25-2009nov25,0,5713070.story
Saturday, December 5, 2009
"ICED Out": an important new report from the AFL-CIO
Report: Unbalanced Immigration Enforcement Hurts All Workers’ Rights
by James Parks, AFL-CIO Blog
October 27, 2009
Some of the Indian workers from the Signal International shipyard, who rallied in front of the White House in 2008, were singled out for investigation by immigration officials.
When Josue Diaz, an immigrant worker and his co-workers protested the inhumane and illegal working conditions at a construction site in Texas, their employer called local police and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of the Department of Homeland Security. But the law enforcement officials didn’t enforce the workers’ rights or penalize the employer. They arrested the workers. [...]
Read the full article:
http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/10/27/report-unbalanced-immigration-enforcement-hurts-all-workers-rights/
Read the full report:
http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/dmdocuments/ARAWReports/icedout_report.pdf
by James Parks, AFL-CIO Blog
October 27, 2009
Some of the Indian workers from the Signal International shipyard, who rallied in front of the White House in 2008, were singled out for investigation by immigration officials.
When Josue Diaz, an immigrant worker and his co-workers protested the inhumane and illegal working conditions at a construction site in Texas, their employer called local police and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of the Department of Homeland Security. But the law enforcement officials didn’t enforce the workers’ rights or penalize the employer. They arrested the workers. [...]
Read the full article:
http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/10/27/report-unbalanced-immigration-enforcement-hurts-all-workers-rights/
Read the full report:
http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/dmdocuments/ARAWReports/icedout_report.pdf
Friday, December 4, 2009
Immigration Detention System Lapses Detailed
by Nina Bernstein, New York Times
December 2, 2009
Growing numbers of noncitizens, including legal immigrants, are held unnecessarily and transferred heedlessly in an expensive immigration detention system that denies many of them basic fairness, a bipartisan study group and a human rights organization concluded in reports released jointly on Wednesday.
Confirmation of some of their critical conclusions came separately from the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general, in an investigation that found detainee transfers by Immigration and Customs Enforcement were so haphazard that some detainees arrived at a new detention center without having been served a notice of why they were being held, or despite a high probability of being granted bond, or with pending criminal prosecutions or arrest warrants in the previous jurisdiction. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/us/03immig.html?_r=1&ref=us
December 2, 2009
Growing numbers of noncitizens, including legal immigrants, are held unnecessarily and transferred heedlessly in an expensive immigration detention system that denies many of them basic fairness, a bipartisan study group and a human rights organization concluded in reports released jointly on Wednesday.
Confirmation of some of their critical conclusions came separately from the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general, in an investigation that found detainee transfers by Immigration and Customs Enforcement were so haphazard that some detainees arrived at a new detention center without having been served a notice of why they were being held, or despite a high probability of being granted bond, or with pending criminal prosecutions or arrest warrants in the previous jurisdiction. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/us/03immig.html?_r=1&ref=us
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)