Immigration

10/30/2007 -- The attorney general’s office late yesterday asked a federal court to dismiss the second lawsuit filed in as many weeks challenging a new immigration law scheduled to go into effect Nov. 1, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson said.

“The first lawsuit was dismissed because the judge ruled the plaintiffs could not show how they have been harmed by a law that has yet to go into effect,” Senior Assistant Attorney General Sandy Rinehart said. “We believe that to also be true of this second challenge.”    » read more »

October 30, 2007 -- SPRINGFIELD - Missouri Governor Matt Blunt today visited Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop D headquarters to outline his law enforcement directives effort to fight illegal immigration. The governor discussed his actions to curb illegal immigration following this weekend’s police work and attention to detail that led to ten illegal immigrants being detained following a traffic stop in Warren County.    » read more »

10/24/2007 -- Washington, DC – Senator John Kerry today issued the following statement after Senate Republicans blocked passage of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. The DREAM Act had aimed to provide a path to citizenship for hard-working immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as young children who would like to pursue higher education or military service.    » read more »

October 24, 2007 -- Washington, DC – “More than 65,000 immigrant students will graduate from U.S. high schools this year only to see the doors of opportunity closed to them. These are gifted and highly motivated children who grew up in the United States. For these children, many of whom arrived to this country as babies, America is the only home they know. They speak English fluently, and for many it is their first and only language. Many have never even visited the country of their birth. They have been educated in our public school system.    » read more »

October 24, 2007 -- Three agencies have been chosen to receive state HIV prevention funding for programs designed to reach foreign-born residents in Minnesota who are most at risk for HIV. The grants were made by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) in response to legislation passed in 2007.

In announcing the grants Wednesday, MDH’s STD and HIV Section Manager Peter Carr said the programs were “necessary to promote knowledge and understanding about HIV in a culturally specific way, including addressing HIV stigma, in order to reduce the risk for HIV infection.”    » read more »

October 16, 2007 -- WASHINGTON – The Senate has approved an amendment by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., to improve oversight of the FBI National Name Check Program, which faces a substantial backlog. The program is used to run background checks on people applying for immigration benefits or seeking employment with the U.S. government, among many other purposes.    » read more »

09 October 2007 -- U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in the case of a convicted murderer from Mexico who is trying to escape the death penalty by arguing that he was not informed at the time of his arrest in Texas of his right to speak with the Mexican consul. The case centers not on the crime or the legal proceedings in Texas, but on the limits of presidential power.    » read more »

October 08, 2007 -- PORTLAND, OR -- Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich told audiences in California and Oregon yesterday that the United States would not be able to resolve its economic and immigration issues until it resolves its trade policies, and he renewed his promise that his first act in office will be to cancel the United States’ participation in NAFTA and the WTO.    » read more »

Presidential candidate addresses group this morning

October 07, 2007 -- LOS ANGELES -- While members of the anti-immigration Minuteman Project picketed outside, delegates at the National Latino Congreso in Los Angeles Saturday unanimously approved a resolution sponsored by representatives of the Kucinich for President campaign that denounced the Minutemen Project as one that “promotes violence, hatred, racism and discrimination, which are not representative traits of the honorable and just American society that has a rich legacy of immigration and inclusiveness.”    » read more »

04 October 2007 -- Concerns with smuggling and terrorism have led to heightened security along U.S borders. Mike O'Sullivan reports from Seattle.

The U.S. border with Canada, 6,400 kilometers from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, has been described as the world's longest undefended international boundary.

The U.S. southern border with Mexico has hundreds of kilometers of high fencing, with more planned, but there is little to mark parts of the U.S. northern border.

A small fence is all that separates the U.S. town of Blaine, Washington, from a Canadian highway.    » read more »

October 1, 2007 -- Washington, DC - While Rudy Giuliani promises to be tough on immigration, his record as Mayor of New York City shows a different picture, and raises questions about the Republican candidate's swing to the far right on the issue. A day after accepting the endorsement of former California Governor Pete Wilson, best known for promoting the divisive Proposition 187 targeting immigrants, Rudy Giuliani continues to run away from his record on immigration while he campaigns in Los Angeles today.    » read more »

September 22, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC— Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response to this morning’s New York Times story detailing Medicaid’s decision to deny chemotherapy to illegal immigrants with cancer.    » read more »

Bill would require safe and humane polices in all immigration enforcement operations

09/20/2007 - BOSTON – Senator John Kerry today introduced the Families First Immigration Enforcement Act, a bill that would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use safe and humane policies and procedures when dealing with the arrest, detention and processing of anyone involved in workplace immigration enforcement operations. Senator Kerry first introduced this important legislation as an amendment to the failed comprehensive immigration bill this summer.    » read more »

Governor Outlines Tough Directives Against Illegal Immigration

September 20, 2007 -- HANNIBAL– Missouri Governor Matt Blunt today reached out to local law enforcement officials to offer support in their efforts in the fight against illegal immigration. Gov. Blunt discussed his recent directives to help curb illegal activity and outlined his plans to seek funding to help state and local law enforcement agencies pursue agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enforce immigration laws as federally deputized ICE agents.    » read more »