New York, June 2010
The United States Immigration Newsletter
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National Guard to Mexican Border
 Washington, D.C.:
President Obama has announced that 1,200 national guards will be deployed at the U.S.-Mexico border to support the Border Patrol with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, until Customs and Border Control are able to recruit and train more officers to patrol the southern border. In addition the president requests $500 million to boost border security and law enforcement. The announcement comes after Obama has been pressed by republicans to do something about the security of the U.S.-Mexican border. While some of the guards will be armed, others will not be. The National Guard is not meant to deal directly with migrants, or to make any arrests, but will rather be performing supportive duties targeting both human trafficking and smuggling of drugs, money, and weapons. This way they the Border Patrol would be allowed to put more personnel on the border. The announcement from Obama comes as the chances of getting a comprehensive immigration reform through congress seem slim, and there has been some mild support for Obama’s decision in the southern states or the U.S., although many citizens and elected officials feel that it’s not enough
to stop
illegal immigration. Arizona Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl has requested that at least 6,000 guards be sent to the Mexican border. At the same time, it is believed that there is less illegal immigration now than it has been in a long time. Last year Border Patrol arrested 556,000 people. That is just a third of the 1.6 million caught in 2000.
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Three Arrested for Immigration Scam
 Gaithersburg, MD:
Two women from Gaithersburg and a man from Germantown have been arrested in connection with a scam to take money from immigrants in return for U.S.
citizenship. So far the police know that five Hispanics have paid one of the arrested women more than $97,000 between them, because she had promised them citizenship. One man had come to one of the arrested women in 2007 with a knee injury, because he thought the woman was a doctor. As the woman was treating him she offered to help him get a U.S. citizenship if he paid her $9,000. In the course of the alleged scam the Hispanic man was also introduced to the woman’s daughter, and a man who posed as an ICE agent (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) who threatened the man that he would be deported if he told anyone about the deal. The police was tipped of earlier this
year regarding the scam, by a non-profit catholic charity that works with the Hispanic population in the area around Washington, D.C. The three who were arrested have each been charged with five counts of felony theft over $500, one count of theft scheme over $500, one count of theft scheme between $10,000 and $100,000 and one count of theft between $10,000 and $100,000. In addition one of the women was charged with two counts of operating a medical clinic without a license, and the man was charged with posing as a police officer or federal agent. Police fear that there might be more victims to the scam, but say that it’s difficult to find witnesses in the
immigrant community. Police asks others who have been victims of the scam to come forward, and says that county police will not investigate anyone for being in the U.S. illegally. |
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New Improved Green Card
 Washington, D.C.:
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is issuing a new-and-improved
permanent resident card – more commonly known as a
green card – filled with new technology to make it harder to counterfeit, preventing immigration fraud, and at the same time making it easier for both employers and potential employers to quickly and correctly identify a green card holder. Secure optical media will keep the card holder’s biometric data, while laser-engraved fingerprints along with high resolution micro images and holographic images will make the cards hard, if not impossible to copy. The cards will also be equipped with Radio Frequency Identification capability that enables Customs and Border Protection officers to scan the Green Cards from a distance, and immediately check it against law enforcement databases. The new permanent resident cards will even be green in color, instead of pink-orange. The new color is supposed to make the card easier to recognize, as it is known all over the world as the green card. The new high-tech green card will be issued to permanent residents as they apply to renew or replace their old green card. Old green cards will remain valid through the expiry date, or indefinitely if there is no expiration date on the card. It costs $370 to renew or replace a permanent resident card, and permanent residents can apply by filing the Form I-90. New green cards are issued for ten years.. |
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Investors are Welcome
 Washington, D.C.:
Each year Congress would allow 10,000 people residency in the U.S. on the EB-5 visa program, but most years there
have only been about 1,000 people applying for a green card through the program. Last year, however, there were over 4,000 applicants for the EB-5 visa, indicating the interest in the program is growing rapidly. Because for prospective investors in the U.S. the EB-5 visa program is a plausible way to get residency in the U.S. Foreigners who invest $1 million in a U.S. business and creates ten new jobs for American workers can get a conditional
resident status that can become permanent if the business is still alive after two years. In certain rural areas – or in regions with high rates of unemployment – it’s enough to invest $500,000. Although the program hasn’t been well known in the past interest in the EB-5 visa has grown lately. There are even some states, like Nevada and Florida, who
actively promote the program to foreigners in order to get some much needed investment to the region; along with new job opportunities. The application process for the EB-5 visa generally takes a year. Immigration officials need to make sure that investment money is legitimate. The money cannot be invested in a stock market or a bank account, but has to be invested in a business and at risk. If the business does not survive for at least two years, the investor might even have to leave the U.S. However, if the business survives for two years, the green card can become permanent, opening up possibilities for U.S.
citizenship in the investor’s future. |
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“The U.S. Needs Immigration Reform”
 Milwaukee, WI:
The belief that fixing America’s immigration system is a choice between border security or
immigration reform is flawed, According to Darryl D. Morin, Wisconsin state Director of the League of United Latin American Citizens. In a newspaper opinion he writes that elected officials of both political parties have failed the country in regards to the immigration issue, and that it is currently the economy and the demand for labor that regulates the flow of immigration across U.S. border – not the immigration authorities. He also says that it is because the federal immigration policy is so flawed that
there have been several “unconstitutional attempts by local municipalities and states to address the issue.” In his opinion Morin mentions
Arizona Senate Bill 1070 in particular, and says the bill will most likely be struck down by a federal court. He goes on to say that measures like SB 1070 is not an effective way to deal with the problems of border security, suggesting that current decrease in illegal immigration is due to a decrease in demand for labor, rather than to the $20 billion spent on border security. According to Morin the only realistic solution to the issue of border security is a “the implementation of
broad immigration reform.” Morin goes on to say that the current U.S. immigration laws and policies are not good enough neither to achieve secure borders, nor to meet the economic needs of the U.S. labor market. He says that laws are too inflexible to adjust to the changing demand for labor, resulting in an increase in illegal immigration when demand for labor is greater than the supply. |
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Americans Don’t Want a National ID Card
 San Antonio, TX:
With an estimated twelve million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. it has been suggested that a national ID card would be the most accurate and convenient means to separate citizens from immigrants and legal immigrants from illegal immigrants. Countries all over the world
depend on immigrants, who often take jobs that citizens do not want. Immigrants bring to their new countries both talent and ambition, along with youth and energy, all necessities of growing economy. But illegal immigration causes imbalance and undermines the natural immigration process. And now that the number of immigrants are at a historic high, and the economy is the worst it’s been since the great depression, many Americans blame the illegal immigrants for many of the nation’s problems. However, while many U.S. citizens believe that something should be done about the high number of
illegal immigrants living in the U.S., few citizens like the idea of a national ID card. Those who oppose the idea of a national ID card often argue that attempts by the federal government to keep track of U.S. citizens as an invasion of privacy, even as most citizens are already being registered in many other ways, such as by security cameras and ATM bank machines. The reluctance of many Americans toward the notion of a national ID card seems to be one more obstacle in the way for President Barack
Obama’s sought-after immigration reform. |
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