Middle Eastern Powder Keg: Israel and Hamas

MoonHowler

There is probably no bigger immigration issue than the one involving Israel and Palestine. Currently both of these sides are engaged in open warfare. I have said ‘sides’ because there is no state of Palestine. Obviously, there is a state of Israel, formed May 14, 1948. Much of the deep seated bone of contention is that Israel was formed on former Palestinian lands.
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Maryland Immigration Issues Continue to be Probed

MoonHowler

The DC Examiner reports that the two opposing sides of the immigration ordinance enforcement issue in Maryland are squaring off. The American Civil Liberties Union is seeking information about immigration related ordinances in 23 different counties in Maryland. They want information about every publicly enacted ordinance or internal policy that directs police, social services agencies, real estate agents, landlords and local employers to classify or treat people differently due to immigration status. So far, ears are perking up over ordinances in Anne Arundel County, Frederick County and Gaithersburg.

Meanwhile, Help Save Maryland founder and president, Brad Botwin tracks every move the ACLU makes and has filed a “piggyback” request to be copied on all information given to the ACLU. The ACLU suggests that many of the ordinances are racial profiling. Botwin doesn’t see it that way.

Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold forbids contractors to hire illegal immigrants to work on county projects, and police in Frederick County have been trained to enforce federal immigration laws. In Gaithersburg, City Council members passed an anti-solicitation ordinance two years ago that made looking for work or workers along city streets a misdemeanor, a move some complained targeted immigrant day laborers. Last spring, Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler said the rule ran afoul of the First Amendment and Maryland’s vehicle laws and city leaders began exploring other options.

ACLU attorney Ajmel Quereshi has stopped short of saying the ACLU will sue the various counties over their immigration ordinances. However, the possibility does loom over any ordinances or resolutions that exist in Maryland. It sounds like the ground work is being laid for potential costly lawsuits.

Is Prince William out of the woods on potential lawsuits? Is our Immigration Resolution too toothless to appear on the ACLU radar screen? Has it all ended for Prince William County because of the exceedingly awful economy and real estate market? Has the huge story of 2007 about the nation’s leader, Prince William County ended, not with a bang but a whimper? Any bang heard seems to be another foreclosure door closing and our tax base dropping even more.

Chertoff Home Cleaned by Illegal Immigrants

MoonHowler
Today’s Washington Post revealed quite an embarrassment for the Department of Homeland Security.

For 4 years James Reid, who owns a cleaning company, has been sending workers weekly to the home of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. The secret service has been screening the workers before they enter Chertoff’s home. They have flown through the checks with flying colors. Now James Reid is furious. He now has in excess of $22,000 in fines. Why?

Now, owner James D. Reid finds himself in a predicament that he considers especially confounding. In October, he was fined $22,880 after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators said he failed to check identification and work documents and fill out required I-9 verification forms for employees, five of whom he said were part of crews sent to Chertoff’s home and whom ICE told him to fire because they were undocumented.

Reid has found the fine so excessive that he might just have to go out of business. He feels it is extremely difficult for a businessman to distinguish between fake and real driver’s licenses and social security cards. What really frosts him is that he is being fined after being given the green light by the secret service. The secret service actually does not do immigration checks.

Immigration laws are unevenly enforced, he [Reid] added, allowing big companies to stay in business while crushing small-business owners and workers. He said the rules punish “scapegoats” such as him while inviting people at every level — customers, subcontractors and contractors — to look the other way while benefiting economically from cheaper labor.
“No one wants to put the blame on the head; they’d rather put the blame on the business owner,” said Reid, who owns Consistent Cleaning Services. “Damned if I should be fined for employees that I took over to their house.”
Chertoff declined to comment. “We’re very constrained in what we can say about anybody who has any kind of issue with the department,” he said.

It is easy to see why Secretary Chertoff is keeping his mouth shut. How embarrassing. I guess the expression not being able to police your own has come home to roost.

Chris Royse’s Controversial Letter to the Editor re. Christmas, Abortion

Alanna

For those unfamiliar with Chris Royse, he ran an unsuccessful campaign against Frank Principi for the vacated Woodbridge Supervisor seat during the 2007 election. (This video shows him addressing the BOCS on 7-10-07). In this letter to the editor he perhaps purposely misrepresents Principi’s pro-life stance. One needs to ask themselves Royse’s motivation for doing so. Presumably he wants to keep his name in the public domain because he anticipates another candidacy for public office. In short, a blatant attack on elected officials masked as a ‘christian’ holiday greeting is in extremely poor taste and should be remembered as such for a long time to come.

Here’s the letter:

This time of year is special to Christians as Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.

Birth and life are very important concepts to Christians, and in particular Catholics.

We are commanded by the Pope to love and protect the unborn since God sent his only son to be born, raised and crucified among us.

This year, shortly after Christmas, we will inaugurate President-elect Obama who has publicly referred to pregnancy as “punishment,” and we will see his local followers, Congressman-elect Gerry
Connolly and Woodbridge Supervisor Frank Principi — both Catholics who support pro-choice agendas in direct violation of the Church’s teachings — continue on their path of supporting the destruction of
human life.

This holiday season, a season which includes the celebration of birth, I request that leaders throughout the Arlington Diocese call on Connolly and Principi to stop their hypocrisy and to consider denying them communion until they realign themselves with the teachings of our church.

As Jesus taught us in Matthew 23:12 “and whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted,” Christmas is the perfect time for the humble unborn to be exalted and
those local “leaders” who exalt themselves by publicly defying their own faith to be humbled.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year.

CHRIS ROYSE
Woodbridge

Beware of Stuttering Eagles

MoonHowler

I just couldn’t be the only person to not have a Thanksgiving themed message today. Ok, el Diablo made me do it. I couldn’t resist. Let’s just say there’s a little something for everyone here. So in keeping with that issue which has brought many of us together……here we go.

I think the eagles have to lay off the bud lights though. That’s what started the entire problem. My apologies to England.

Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone.

M-H

“The High Cost of Harsh Words” a NYTimes editorial

Elena

Recently, a tragic story, has come to epitomize the need to find common ground and solutions for comprehensive immigration reform. There has been talk on AntiBVBL, round and round, about what constitutes hate, how racism is defined, and how words contribute to hate and a growing sense of anger and resentment toward Latinos as an immigrant population. This editorial from the New York Times sheds some light on a community, enveloped by fear and anger until the final culmination, an innocent man’s death, requires us all to acknowledge the truth.  There is a dangerous outcome that lurks beneath the surface of misleading people believe that Hispanics are somehow deserving of punishment.

I am sad to say the description below of Suffolk County executive Steve Levy reminds me of our own Corey Stewart and his rhetoric — rhetoric I urged him numerous times to alter, and bring some healing to our community. He ignored me, as he ignored many others during the most volatile times in Prince William County.

Words have consequences. Steve Levy, the Suffolk County executive, is learning that the hard way during a horrible week. Seven teenagers were arrested and charged in the fatal stabbing last Saturday of Marcello Lucero, an Ecuadorean immigrant, on a street in the Long Island village of Patchogue.

Mr. Levy’s past harsh words and actions against undocumented workers have now left him cornered with a tragically limited ability to lead the county in confronting a brutal act that surely pains him as much as anyone.

Local lawmakers often complain about immigration, but Mr. Levy went much farther than most. He founded a national organization to lobby for crackdowns. He went on “Lou Dobbs.” He tried to deputize county police to make immigration arrests and to rid the county work force of employees without papers. He sought to drive day laborers from local streets, yet rigidly opposed efforts to create hiring sites. Even as tensions simmered in places like Farmingville, a hot spot for anti-immigrant resentment, Mr. Levy would not budge.

He parroted extremist talking points, going so far as to raise the alarm, utterly false, that illegal immigrants’ “anchor babies” were forcing Southampton Hospital to close its maternity ward. He denounces racist hatred, yet his words have made him a hero in pockets of Long Island where veins of racism run deep.

All that came back to haunt Mr. Levy this week, when an evil act underscored the need to draw together. Immigrant advocates assailed him for having poisoned the atmosphere. Some called for his resignation. With tactless self-pity, Mr. Levy complained to Newsday that the killing would have been a one-day story anywhere but his home turf. He laments that people overlook his recent, far more measured tone on the issue. He insists that people have a distorted picture of him. Mr. Levy needs to realize that distortions cut both ways.

Americans, Europeans Share Immigration Worries According to the Washignton Post

MoonHowler

Today’s Washington Post discusses immigration fears both in the United States and in Europe.

Americans and Europeans share deep concerns about immigration, with a large percentage worrying that it can bring crime and displace workers, even though a majority agree that it does not increase the risk of terrorism, according to an opinion survey sponsored by the German Marshall Fund.

People on both sides of the Atlantic express sharply negative views of illegal immigration, and roughly half of respondents said they think immigration in general is “more of a problem” than an opportunity for their societies. The European nations surveyed were the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands.

“Real anxiety about legal immigration exists, but it is dwarfed by concerns about illegal immigration,” the fund said in a statement yesterday. At least 80 percent of respondents in all surveyed countries called for stronger border controls, and more than 73 percent in all the countries called for tougher sanctions on those who hire illegal immigrants.

This video has been around a few years but it gives an overall synopsis of how many Brits feel immigration to their country. Loss of culture, cost, and granting of asylum when unwarranted seem to be chief beefs. Do we see any similarities between the sentiments expressed here and the ones we see expressed in the United States?

Notice where the Brit ‘escape boat’ is headed.

I will ask my Brit friend to drop by and give his opinion.

Warning: Some may find the accompanying video offensive.

Is Perception Reality?

MoonHowler

Apparently Pat Herrity is rather contemptuous of PWC’s handling of

According to the DC Examiner, Fairfax Chair-hopeful Pat Herrity pretty much relegated illegal immigration to a less than important position on the Fairfax County political spectrum. An economic crisis and a $500 million dollar budget shortfall seem to be taking up all the attention of the leadership of our neighbors to the north.

Herrity was rather critical of PWC.

Herrity on Thursday criticized as “mean-spirited” the policies of Prince William, which in fiscal 2008 turned over more suspected
Illegal immigrants to federal authorities than any other government in the region. The measures led to an exodus of Hispanic residents.

“I don’t think they looked out for the legal immigrants,” Herrity said Thursday. “They were perceived as attacking immigrants period, versus making the strong distinction between illegal and legal.”

At the same time, he leveled charges of inaction at his own board. Herrity said illegal immigration has brought about “significant budget impacts,” and he criticized supervisors for taking years to begin combating illegal boarding houses.

Not to be upstaged, Corey Stewart, Chairman of PWC BOCS retorted, calling Herrity’s comments disappointing and surprising:

“He’s got to do what he thinks he’s got to do in order to win,” he said. “That’s kind of an ignorant statement to make, frankly.”

>

While I don’t necessarily agree that the Immigration Resolution had that much impact on the situation in PWC, I find it disturbing that other jurisdictions have the perceptions that they have.

How odd that this article should appear today, in light of the debate raging on Anti. Here’s a new thread for its continuation. Do you feel the Resolution did, in fact, drive off Hispanics, legal or illegal, or was it the economy and the jobs drying up? Did PWC fail to distinguish between legal and illegal in their operations?

[Thanks to Censored for sending the article my way.]

Civitas Institute Interview: John Stirrup

MoonHowler

This overly embellished interview has been unearthed.
It seems like Mr. Stirrup left off the neutering process. What services are illegal immigrants denied now? How has crime dropped 19%? I thought I read where it had increased.

There is so much misinformation in this interview that I am embarrassed for John Stirrup. Either he is not being honest or he honestly does not know. Someone is feeding him bad information and it is his duty to know.

Prince William County has some immigration issues. Let’s examine them honestly rather than try to impress our friends and colleagues with doing something we haven’t really done.

It sounded to me like Forked Tongue of the State.

Editor’s Note: This is a rehash of a thread posted at the end of September. I’m including my original comments.

Apparently Gainesville Supervisor – John Stirrup made an appearance in the town or Raleigh, NC to spread outright lies. One has to wonder what his true motivation are in perpetuating these lies. Here in PWC we have had a tumultuous time since the initial adoption of our ‘Immigration Resolution’ which most likely is now being marketed as ‘The Rule of Law Resolution’.

Not having been there but having heard Stirrup’s on a couple of occasions, these facts might give you a more balanced observation of what has occurred here in PWC.

PWC County Schools has 700 fewer ESOL students
** These were the forecasted numbers which haven’t come to fruition, and some neighboring jurisdictions have had a greater percentage drops than PWC without implementing any policy.

Crime Statistics dropped 20%
** Actually, the crime rate has been dropping over the past 4 years, each year by approximately 20% even during the time frame where we had the “influx of illegals”.

Hospitals are less overcrowded
** Actually, emergency room visits have remained at the same levels but we have had about 500 less uninsured births combined with losses in L&D nurses.

What I’m sure he didn’t mention.
1. We have DOUBLE the foreclosure rates of surrounding jurisdictions that supposedly have MORE of an illegal problem than we do.
2. We have lost 25-40% of our home values, again this is DOUBLE the losses of surrounding counties
3. Our program has only identified 1.6% of those arrested as ILLEGALS
4. We have had to cut vital services to fund this program like our Senior Citizen Day Center, no new tiles in our libraries, close a health clinic, and the list goes on and on…
5. According to our County’s ‘Citizen Satisfaction Survey’, minorities including Blacks now have the lowest confidence ever recorded in our Police Department which ALSO has been cut for next year. How convenient.
6. 5% of those handed over to ICE have ended up being RE-ARRESTED in our community which makes you wonder where the other 95% really are. I suspect the majority of them were simply released by ICE and are back on our streets.

Obviously, John is now taking talking points from Corey as they try to convince the residents of Durham, North Carolina to follow in our ill-conceived footsteps. Funny how he outright LIES about emergency room visits even after receiving a report to the contrary. And, again, those crime stats being touted as if they actually had some sort of significance.

Rumors Abound About Banned Words in Arizona

MoonHowler

It has been rumored that Arizona’s Supreme Court Justice has enforced the request of Los Abogados, the Arizona Hispanic Bar Association, to ban the use of certain words during trials and hearings. Los Abogados contends that the banned words are inflammatory and create perceptions of prejudice and bias.

Other news sources at WTAR correct that rumor by stating that Arizona State Supreme Court Justice Ruth McGregor forwarded the request to various agencies within the Arizona court system.

Reports that the words “illegal” and “alien” have been banned from Arizona court rooms are false, according to an Arizona Supreme Court official.
“That is not true,” said Car Gerchick, communications director for the court. “Those words have not been banned from Arizona courtrooms.”
“A letter was sent in from an organization, a local legal organization, asking a court to essentially ban the use of those words.”
Gerchick said Chief Justice Ruth McGregor’s responded to the group, identified as Los Abogados, and told them she would share the request with the legal community and that no decision has been made.
“Under no circumstances did the Chief Justice McGregor ban any words.”

Some of the supposed banned words are: open borders advocate, illegal immigrant, illegal alien, illegals.

One source of the rumor was from ALIPAC- Americans for Legal Immigration. Why would a supposed reputable organization deliberately spread false rumors? Perhaps they wanted to stir their supporters up.

Stay tuned. This sounds like the beginning rather than the end of a story.

[Addendum 11/12/08: We have received email from
Cari Gerchick, Esq.
Communications Director
Arizona Supreme Court

She has clarified that “the Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court did not ban any words from the court system. Any reports to the contrary are false.”

I assume this ends any controversy and thanks you Ms. Gerchick for the clarification.]

Immigration Process to Go Paperless

MoonHowler

Part 2

A continuation of yesterday’s Washington Post story talks about the improvements in the immigration process and what some of the hold ups in the recent past have been. Currently, the immigration process which is pre-computer age document storage, costs the country upwards of $100 million dollars a year. Additionally, there is a multi-year back up of cases that have not been processed.

The government and outside contractors currently handle about 7 million applications per year.

If successful, the five-year, $500 million effort to convert U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ case-management system from paper-based to electronic could reduce backlogs and processing delays by at least 20 percent, and possibly more than 50 percent, people close to the project said. Those problems have long frustrated new Americans and other immigrants.
The new system would allow government agencies, from the Border Patrol to the FBI to the Labor Department, to access immigration records faster and more accurately. In combination with initiatives to link digital fingerprint scans to unique identification numbers, it would create a lifelong digital record for applicants. It also would eliminate the need for time- and labor-intensive filing and refiling of paper forms, which are stored at 200 locations in 70 million manila file folders.
Known internally as the transformation initiative, the long-awaited and much-delayed effort is considered a cornerstone of any broader effort to fix an immigration system considered one of the most broken bureaucracies in the federal government.

According to Prakash Khatri, a homeland security consultant at KPK Global Solutions
The case-management system,

“is going to transform the way USCIS and its predecessors have done business for the last 50 years, and the success or failure of this venture will determine the effectiveness

of any future immigration overhaul….”

Perhaps it took so long because of issues and flaws in other branches of Department of Homeland Security. Let’s hope this plan is successful. Many people have waited a long time to become legally part of the American Dream.

[The erroneous math statement has been removed]

Massive Overhaul of Immigration Services Planned

MoonHowler

Finally! And to those who have repeatedly said ‘our immigration laws are fine, just enforce them,’ I say, “Enforce this!’

The Washington Post reports on 11/6/08:

The Bush administration has launched a massive overhaul of the nation’s long-troubled immigration services agency, tapping an IBM-led industry consortium to re-invent the way government workers help immigrants obtain visas, seek citizenship and get approval to work in the United States.

Apparently things began to clog right after the formation of the Department of Homeland Security. Our immigration system became broken, despite the fact that over 22,000 workers were attacking the problem on antiquated systems and equipment in 250 locations.

The contract, awarded this week and the largest federal homeland security bid on the market, includes a $14.5 million, 90-day assessment period with options over five years worth $491.1 million, and a ceiling value of up to $3.5 billion if Congress approves a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws that unleashes a flood of applications for legal status or other actions.

Many things have hampered updating this new system for USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services): funding, departmental infighting, the focus on ‘the wall,’ border crossing issues, increased security demands, inertia and unpassed bills.

The USCIS transformation effort is a long-awaited, much delayed undertaking that is years behind initial schedule yet considered a cornerstone of any broader effort to fix an immigration system all sides say is one of the most broken bureaucracies in the federal government.
The agency, which was spun off from the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services and merged into the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, receives about 6 million to 8 million applications from immigrants a year, but relies on a pre-computer age, paper-based system of 70 million files identified by immigrants’ “A-numbers” or alien registration numbers.

Good for President Bush for making sure that our immigration system gets fixed. By the same token, why wasn’t fixing immigration prioritized years ago? Especially after 9/11, when security was at its pinnacle, why were workers tracking people manually. If we could put man on the moon in 1969 using computers, how come we can’t process immigration requests?

Just think of the problems that would have never happened if our existing immigration system was not broken.

click the Washington Post link above for the full story and thanks to TWINAD for sending this article.

PWC & Immigration Study Circle Information

Alanna

> From CVDNVA.org – The Center for Voter Deliberation of Northern Virginia

A reminder: You are invited to an information meeting on Study Circles on immigration in the Prince William County area. The meeting is Saturday September 27, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., at the George Mason University Prince William campus, in the Bull Run Building, Room 130 (1st floor). Parking is available in the King Lot.

Register, or just to learn more

GMU/PW campus map

Study Circles are facilitated community conversations that help us better understand all sides of the immigration issue, build relationships across groups, and develop action plans and policies based on common ground.

We believe the community needs a respectful, honest and productive conversation about immigration. We hope you can join us at GMU/PW on September 27.

Sincerely,

Charvis Campbell
George Mason University – Prince William

Beth Offenbacker & Bill Corbett
Center for Voter Deliberation of Northern Virginia

To read the full press release, visit – http://www.citizensovereignty.com/princewilliam/PressRelease9-14-8.pdf.

Quick Note: The Study Circles are Confidential and WILL NOT BE FILMED.