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Archives: August 2008
IMMIGRATION: 2008 Seminars at UM-St Louis: Century Room C Millennium Student Center
Tuesday, 9 September 2008 DOES GLOBALIZATION MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR IMMIGRANTS? Dr. Saskia Sassen, Department of Sociology, Columbia University, NY
Wednesday, 24 September 2008 IMMIGRATION CONTROL POLICY IN THE US
Dr. Takeyuki (GAKU) Tsuda, School of Human Evolution & Social Change, Arizona State University
Wednesday, 1 October 2008, IMMIGRATION AND THE US: THE CONTINUING DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSFORMATION OF US SOCIETY
Dr. James G. Gimpel, Department of Government, University of Maryland
Tuesday, 7 October 2008, IMMIGRANTS AND SOCIAL FABRIC OF US SOCIETY
Dr. Francesca Gany, Genter for Immigrant Health, NYU School of Medicine
Wednesday, 15 October 2008, [**SGA Chamber, MSC] THE ECONOMICS IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION TO THE US: COSTS AND BENEFITS
Dr. Robert Rector, The Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC
Wednesday, 22 October, 2008, COMMUNITY INTEGRATION, COMMUNITY CLIMATE AND THE POLICY CHOICES FACING MISSOURI COMMUNITIES
Dr. Steve C. Jeanetta, Department of Rural Sociology, UM-Columbia, MO
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IMMIGRATION: HB 1549 goes into effect on August 28
JEFFERSON CITY – Gov. Matt Blunt and Colonel James F. Keathley, superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol today announced that 10 Missouri troopers graduated from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) “287g program” at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Charleston, S.C. Last August, Gov. Blunt requested that we have troopers in Missouri with this training to enforce immigration laws.
“The fight against illegal immigration is important to Missouri as a whole as well as to Missouri families. To protect public safety and our families, we simply cannot tolerate illegal activity,” Gov. Blunt said. “It was a priority for me to have state troopers on the ground in Missouri who could enforce our immigration laws. I congratulate Missouri’s law enforcement officers on their completion of the program that now allows these 10 state law enforcement officers to help enforce federal laws and protect Missourians against illegal immigration.”
The graduation ceremony took place in Charleston, S.C., on Friday, July 11, 2008. The training results in ICE deputizing these 10 troopers, allowing them to enforce federal immigration law under the supervision and authority of ICE as authorized through section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The troopers attended the four weeks of training in accordance with a memorandum of agreement between the state of Missouri and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security concerning the enforcement of federal immigration laws during the course of their normal duties and in accordance with 8 U.S.C. Section 1357(g).
Four troopers are assigned to the Patrol’s Gaming Division and will remain assigned in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas. The remaining six troopers are assigned within the Division of Drug and Crime Control, with two officers each in St. Louis, Springfield, and Kansas City.
At the direction of Gov. Blunt, the Patrol began pursuing this training in August 2007. The training was funded through ICE’s section 287(g) program. The Missouri General Assembly appropriated $84,000 to assist with costs associated with the training and other future training opportunities with ICE.
“We appreciate our partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE,” Colonel Keathley said. “This training will further the Patrol’s mission to serve and protect the public.”
This week Gov. Blunt enacted one of the strongest laws in the country to fight illegal immigration. The new law prohibits illegals from obtaining driver licenses; prohibits the creation of sanctuary cities in the state; requires verification of legal employment status of every public employee; allows for cancellation of state contracts for contractors if they hire illegal immigrants; requires public agencies to verify the legal status of applicants before providing welfare benefits; criminalizes the transportation of illegal immigrants for exploitive purposes; and enacts provisions to punish bad acting employers who hire illegal immigrants. The bill also requires verification of lawful presence for every individual presented for incarceration.
Last summer Gov. Blunt directed all state law enforcement agencies to verify the immigration status of anyone presented for incarceration.
Gov. Blunt also authored the state’s first directive to audit all state contracts to ensure that the employees are legally eligible to work in the U.S. and to terminate contracts if the company employs illegal immigrants. He added tough provisions to allow the state to immediately cancel contracts if the contractor knowingly employs workers not eligible to work in the U.S. and to require contractors to certify that all their employees meet state and federal employment eligibility requirements.
Additionally, he took significant steps to shield taxpayers’ money from supporting building projects that employ illegal workers, including conducting random on-site inspections and performing a Compliance By Written Demand action for all tax credit recipients to verify proof of legal status for all workers.
The Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) has adopted a stringent workforce eligibility policy consistent with Gov. Blunt’s recommendations to the commission, including sanctions of up to a lifetime ban of contractors and developers who knowingly employ illegal immigrants in violation of federal law. The governor called for this policy to be made permanent through state statute.
Last year, Gov. Blunt ousted a state contractor who hired illegal workers and ordered state agencies to enact a no tolerance policy through tough new contract protections. The governor cancelled the state’s contract with Sam’s Janitorial Services and barred them from doing future business with the state after local and federal law enforcement agencies identified dozens of suspected illegal immigrants working under falsified documents.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Contact: Jessica Robinson, 573-751-0290
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Gov. Blunt Commends Two Highway Patrolmen for Outstanding Honors in Training to Enforce Immigration Laws
JEFFERSON CITY – Gov. Matt Blunt today commended two Missouri officers who not only graduated from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) “287g program” but also made a strong showing on behalf of Missouri, taking both the valedictorian and class president spots.
“Leave it to Missourians to go above and beyond just meeting the basic requirements of training to enforce our immigration laws and protect Missouri families from illegal activity. I am proud of these two officers for demonstrating to ICE the caliber and quality of people we have serving in our Missouri Highway Patrol,” Gov. Blunt said. “I congratulate Sergeant Wade Stuart and Sergeant Michael Cooper for their work and for their dedication to protecting Missouri families from the threats of illegal immigration.”
Gov. Blunt congratulated Sergeant Wade E. Stuart who was named class valedictorian and Sergeant Michael A. Cooper who was elected as the class president in yesterday’s South Carolina ceremony. Both officers are assigned to the Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control. The training results in ICE deputizing these 10 troopers, allowing them to enforce federal immigration law under the supervision and authority of ICE as authorized through section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
At the direction of Gov. Blunt, the Patrol began pursuing this training in August 2007. The training was funded through ICE’s section 287(g) program. The Missouri General Assembly appropriated $84,000 to assist with costs associated with the training and other future training opportunities with ICE.
This week Gov. Blunt enacted one of the strongest laws in the country to fight illegal immigration. The new law prohibits illegals from obtaining driver licenses; prohibits the creation of sanctuary cities in the state; requires verification of legal employment status of every public employee; allows for cancellation of state contracts for contractors if they hire illegal immigrants; requires public agencies to verify the legal status of applicants before providing welfare benefits; criminalizes the transportation of illegal immigrants for exploitive purposes; and enacts provisions to punish bad acting employers who hire illegal immigrants. The bill also requires verification of lawful presence for every individual presented for incarceration.
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COLOMBIA: Announcing and Denouncing
In the country of the "Sacred Heart," a Colombian can live many kinds of realities. Here, I will limit myself to two of these: the reality of exploitation and poverty that can be seen through the media, and the reality of oppression and displacement that can only be glimpsed through the statistics of the DANE. During the June 10-16 Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) delegation to the Middle Magdalena region, made up of members of the Mennonite Church and the Basilian Fathers, these were the two realities that accompanied our experiences.
We benefited from the assistance of many local inhabitants in educating us regarding the fundamental importance of the Magdalena River to the region. The river allows for commercial development and for transportation, but has also been a witness to many massacres committed by armed actors. This is what those who live in the area told us, inhabitants of the villages of Neques, Florida and Cienaga del Opon. Frustration and desolation marked their testimonials, and even as it seemed that they did not understand the political motivations of the various armed groups, they were well aware of the effects of the violence perpetrated by these same groups on their own lives. Nevertheless, these same humble farmers who continue to live in those lands impacted us with their aspirations to live and thrive amidst all of this frustration. In their faces we saw a hope for peace and for true political solutions that is often absent among other Colombians.
Through the life experiences of each person we met, we were happy to find ourselves filled with hope. It is a different experience to come to know the reality of the armed conflict through first hand accounts, through the stories of the very people who have lived through massacres and displacement, rather than through secondary sources. This difference is of no small account, since I, like so many Colombians, are completely unaware of the lived reality of rural peasants here. For so many of us, the Madgalena River is simply the source of great fish. What we too often fail to realize is that for those who live within its reach, the Magdalena River can mean both life and death. With this in mind and to finish our time together, on June 16, 2008 at 10 am our delegation held a time of public prayer. Through a Ritual of Purification of the River, we chose to both announce and to denounce what we had heard and seen in order to clamour for a time when the waters of the river, too often marked with sickness and death, will instead flow with hope.
To be prophets in the midst of this armed conflict: This is the invitation and the commitment that the members of our delegation undertook. This means announcing and denouncing every type of reality that goes against an ethic of peace and the protection of life, particularly the violent actions of the armed groups against civilians in this area. This also means accompanying and supporting the communities that have been victimized by this conflict. Finally, this means working for the recuperation of the very essence of the Magdalena River, that of being a source of hope for the inhabitants of the Middle Madgalena region through the rejection of every type of action that brings death to this people, thus rescuing the very life force of the river. This is the challenge for us all.
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MISSION STATEMENT: Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Colombia is a community made up of trained volunteers from different cultures that forms part of the international, ecumenical organization, CPT. Our work is based in, though not limited to, the Middle Magdalena region of Colombia. We work together on grassroots initiatives to expose and transform structures of domination and oppression through active nonviolence in order to make possible a world grounded in respect, justice and love, even of enemies.
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From UFW: Tell CA legislators it has to end. A sixth farm worker just died of heat stroke
#6 Maria de Jesus Alvarez, 63, mother of nine died on August 2. Maria had been picking table grapes for Anthony Vineyards and was employed through farm labor contractor Manuel Torres during the afternoon of July 15. She began feeling ill and went home. According to witnesses, she was working in a crew of 150 workers and they had no shade nor had they received training in heat stroke prevention and precautions as mandated by state law. According to weather.com, the high that day was 111 degrees.
After Maria's condition deteriorated, she was taken to a hospital on July 19. The doctor determined she was severely dehydrated and had suffered heat stroke. After being treated and admitted by two different hospitals, Maria died Aug. 2.
Maria's death makes six farm workers who died of heat exposure since May and the 15th farm worker heat death since CA Governor Schwarzenegger took office.
These recent deaths make it clear the state does not have the capacity to protect farm workers. As California's summer sizzles we must do everything we can to ensure that no more farm workers fall victim to the heat because the laws written to protect them are not enforced. Speaker Emeritus Fabian Nunez has introduced secret ballot legislation which has moved out of the assembly and which is now in the state senate. The bill, "Secret Ballot Elections for Farm Workers", protects farm workers' right to a secret ballot election and will make it easier for farm workers to organize and enforce the laws that the state cannot enforce.
http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/heatdeath15
#5 July 31, 2008: Jorge Herrera, 37, died on July 31. Jorge worked for a labor contractor and was loading table grapes when he passed out July 10 and was taken to the hospital. His core body temperature was 108 degrees, the same as the high temperature reported that day by the National Weather Service.
#4 Ramiro Carrillo Rodriguez, 48, father of two, died in Selma, CA on Thursday (7/10) afternoon after working all day for Sun Valley Packing in Reedley thru a farm labor contractor. Ramiro had complained being sick from the heat. He was taken home by his foreman. He passed out almost as soon as he got in the house. By the time an ambulance got there he was dead on arrival. He leaves behind two children ages 13 and 16.
Ramiro's death makes two farm workers dying of heatstroke last week, four farm worker heat deaths in the last 8 weeks and the 13th farm worker heat death since CA Governor Schwarzenegger took office.
Yesterday (7/9) another farm worker’s life was lost due to heat stroke. Abdon Felix Garcia was the third farm worker heat death in the last 8 weeks and the 12th farm worker heat death since CA Governor Schwarzenegger took office.
#3 July 9, 2008: Abdon Felix Garcia, 42, father of three, died after spending the morning and early afternoon working for Sunview Vineyards in Arvin. The coroner says Felix's core body temperature was measured at 108 degrees just 13 minutes before his death.
The 42 year-old farm worker Abdon Felix Garcia--father of three--died after spending the morning and early afternoon working for Sunview Vineyards in Arvin. According to the coroner's office, Felix was returning to Delano in a company vehicle and he became unresponsive. He was taken by ambulance to Delano Regional Medical Center when he later died. The coroner says Felix's body core temperature was measured at 108 degrees just 13 minutes before his death.
#2 The second worker who died was 64 year-old Jose Macarena Hernandez. Tomorrow I will attend his funeral. Jose died during a record-breaking heat wave on June 20 while harvesting butternut squash in Santa Maria on land owned by Sunrise Growers. According to news reports, temperatures reached 110 degrees that day.
#1 And then there was the heat death of 17 year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez who died while laboring in the Stockton area grape vines.
Governor Schwarzenegger came to Maria Isabel’s funeral and said he would do everything possible to prevent this from happening again. But with the death of Abdon Felix Garcia and Jose Hernandez--the 11th and 12th farm workers who have died since Governor Schwarzenegger took office--it is clear the state does not have the capacity to protect farm workers. And now as yet another heat wave hits California, we must do everything we can to insure that no more farm workers fall victim to the heat because the laws written to protect them are not enforced.
We are not ready to accept more farm workers dying. E-mail California Gov. Schwarzenegger (if you live in California, a cc of your e-mail will also go to your legislators) and tell them enough is enough. It’s time to put a law in place that will allow farm workers to protect themselves!
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NICARAGUA: HELP STOP VULTURE FUNDS!
The problem
A 'vulture fund' is a company that buys up the debt of poor countries at a big discount from the original owner with the purpose of suing the indebted country in court once it has some money (often after debt cancellation).
The campaign
Action is needed now to put an end to vulture fund profiteering. That's why Africa Action , Jubilee USA Network , and TransAfrica Forum are joining forces in a joint campaign to "Stop the Vulture Culture." The cam¬paign includes public education, grassroots action, and targeted advocacy with policymakers and banks.
What can you do?
Get educated. Check out educational materials to learn more about vulture funds, read case studies, watch videos, and more.
Educate your community. Check out a sample presentation on our website that you can use to educate your family, friends, church community, campus group or local Jubilee chapter about vulture funds.
Sign the petition. Sign onto the petition to leading private banks, urging them to pledge not to sell their claims on poor countries on the secondary market to vulture funds. Go here. http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/863/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1288
Take action. Watch this space for new and exciting opportunities to advocate for new laws in the United States to challenge the practices of vulture funds.
Background
Debt cancellation agreed upon by the global community gives impoverished countries a chance to start fresh and spend more money on health, education, and other essential social services. But while countries and international organizations have been giving some countries debt relief, a new form of business has emerged, with the purpose of making huge profits on poor coun¬try debt. This new business by so-called "vulture funds" comes at the expense of the citizens of these indebted countries - some of the poorest in the world - as well as taxpayers in countries like the United States, who have been supporting in part the cost of debt relief.
The actions of several unethical vulture funds are threatening to undermine some of the hard-won gains of the international campaign for impoverished country debt cancellation. Last year, one such vulture fund, Donegal International, got hold of $15 million from Zambia, money that was freed up by debt relief and should have been used for the fight against HIV/AIDS and poverty. Zambia was not alone: A 2007 report on vulture funds by IMF staff showed that 11 out of 24 poor countries approached said they were involved in litigation worth a total of $1.8 billion with 46 creditors. Now Liberia, a country emerging from decades of devastating civil war, faces the possible threat of vulture lawsuits as it tries to clear up its illegitimate debt with the international community.
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