Immigration Across The Nation 03/17/2010

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►Arizona’s pro-immigrant politicians and law enforcement

We’ve heard a lot in past months about the stiffly anti-immigrant Joe Arpaio, as well as other Arizona sheriffs and lawmakers involved in tightening Arizona’s already tight immigration policies. But lately, New America Media highlighted some of the pro-immigrant authorities of Arizona, and what they are doing to help immigrants in Arizona.

One prominent pro-immigration activist is Pheonix mayor Phil Gordon, who is actively campaigning against a bill introduced in the State Senate that would make Arizona the first state to legally criminalize immigration (generally, immigration is a federal offense only). Sheriff Tony Estrada, a border county sheriff, is also a vocal detractor of the bill, saying the bill is “offensive and goes against civil and human rights.” The Arizona Farm Bureau, which employs many immigrants, opines that stringent laws against undocumented immigration reduce legal immigration to such a low degree that they are unable to hire any workers, legal or otherwise. All three of Arizona’s Catholic Bishops also signed a statement against the criminalization bill.

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►Backlog of immigration hearings reaches all-time high

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A report was released recently by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan service which keeps track of judicial cases based at Syracuse University, which states that the number of immigration-related hearings has reached an all-time high of 228,421 in the first fiscal quarter of 2010. This is 28% higher than in 2008 and 82% higher than in 2000, the report claims.

The Washington Post analyzed possible causes for the backlog, and found several. Besides the obvious factors of a record increase in deportations and raids over the past two years, there is also a severe lack of judges to hear such cases. The Clearinghouse charged the Obama Administration (responsible for nominating judges) with not keeping up with the turnover of judicial positions, allowing them to go unfilled. “People are waiting days and days to get their cases considered; judges have less and less time to deal with each case,” Clearinghouse director David Burnham said.

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“Days and days” is something of an understatement. The national average for an immigration case is 439 days; well over a year. In major immigrant cities like Los Angeles and Boston, the wait could be over 700 days, according to the Washington Post – that’s almost two years.

►President Obama will personally present immigration bill, pledges his support

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Despite the healthcare backlog, President Obama renewed his commitment in favor of immigration reform in a private interview with Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), saying he will introduce the bill with them when it comes before the Senate. But that may take an indefinite amount of time, depending on how much longer it takes to pass – or defeat – the Democrats’ massive healthcare reform bill. As reported previously in this paper, Democrat strategists are convinced that they need Latino support to win key mid-term Senate and House elections, and that passing comprehensive immigration reform will get that support. Graham, speaking unofficially of his Republican Party, also warned Obama that it would be very difficult to pass immigration reform if the healthcare bill is pressed through without Republican support. Labor groups are also gearing up for immigration reform, even courting the support of Republican leaders in the House and Senate. “We had a very good discussion about the difficulties,” said Eliseo Medina, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union, in an interview with the Washington Post. “I think the president is well aware of it. So are we.”

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