The uber-establishment Council on Foreign Relations said Wednesday it favors granting legal status to many of the roughly 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., creating a guest worker program for low-skilled foreign workers to come and work in the U.S and opposes local police getting to conduct immigration raids.

The CFR issued an immigration policy report Wednesday that looks to lift caps on foreign university students in the U.S. and allow skilled foreign graduates to get more work visas. The international policy group also wants to create legal paths to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S.

The CFR also said local police should not take lead roles in immigration enforcements and workplace raids. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas have been conducting immigration raids and prosecutions against businesses hiring illegal immigrants, as well as drop-houses used by smugglers trafficking illegal immigrants into Arizona from Mexico.

The CFR report does not specifically mention Arpaio but the Valley’s sheriff is the most notable local enforcer of immigration laws in the U.S.

The CFR’s recommendations on guest workers and amnesty mirror plans to be pushed in Congress this year by President Barack Obama. Arizona State university professor Raul H. Yzaguirre and former Florida governor Jeb Bush served on the CFR task force that wrote the recommendations.

The group also wants the U.S. to tweek or ease some post 9/11 security measures that have discouraged immigration and foreign tourism into the U.S. and want the U.S. government to develop new technologies to secure border areas, verify workers’ employment status and enforce immigration laws.

The New York-based CFR is a heavyweight international policy group whose members includes powerful politicians, CEOs and university presidents as well as multinational corporations, media firms and private equity firms.

The Council’s corporate members include Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, American Express, Chevron, ExxonMobil Corp., Rothschild North America Inc., News Corp., General Electric, KBR Inc., Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Co., Soros Fund Management and Google Inc.

U.S. Sen. John McCain, former Arizona governor Bruce Babbitt, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Arizona State University President Michael Crow and Thunderbird School of Global Management president Angel Cabrera are Arizonans that are CFR members.

Other notable CFR members include:

• Former U.S. Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, James Baker and Madeline Albright.

• Former U.S. Treasury secretaries Henry Paulson and Robert Rubin.

• Financier George Soros and JP Morgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon.

• Former Federal Reserve Bank chairmen Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker.

• Former presidents George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and former vice president Dick Cheney.

• Media notables such as NBC’s Tom Brokaw, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, Newsweek International editor and CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria and New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs “Punch” Sulzberger.

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Even the most optimistic Obama supporter should cringe in response to the White House’s recent “bi-partisan immigration talks.”   What could Democrats and Republicans possibly have in common over immigration? Quite a lot it turns out.

An enormous sell-out is being prepared for the U.S. immigrant population and Latinos especially — who came out in record numbers in many swing states to vote for Obama last year.  Attached to these votes are huge expectations.

Obama has, again, shifted another campaign promise far to the right — pro-immigration reform has turned into its opposite.  And like all of his other betrayals, Obama is attempting to sell this one to the public as a “compromise.”   But immigration, like health care, peace, the environment, etc., has very little room for backroom deals and finding a “middle ground” with an increasingly hysterical right wing.

The basis for a Democrat/Republican compromise on immigration started with a “concession” from the Democrats.  Democratic Senator Charles Schumer is now shaping immigration policy for the party, a move that has greatly appeased Republicans, since the formal head, Ted Kennedy, was seen as being too liberal.

The New York Times noted, “[Schumer] is likely to be tougher on stemming illegal immigration, and less prone to support civil liberties for illegal immigrants…” (June 26, 2009)

In a recent speech, Schumer outlined the “principles” that united the two-party system around immigration.  The New York Times explained:

“The speech was notably tough-sounding, but the principles were solid. Illegal immigration is wrong. The borders and workplace need tighter enforcement. Illegal immigrants must be required to register, learn English and pay taxes — or face deportation. But they should also be allowed to seek citizenship. The path back to a lawful system is through legalization and an improved, well-managed immigration flow.”  (June 26, 2009)

Apologists for the Democrats will undoubtedly focus on the last two sentences, but even these have dire implications.  What, for example, is a “well-managed immigration flow?”

And this is where the Republicans offer counsel:  “border security” will be immensely strengthened to keep out “undesirable” (mainly Latino) immigrants, while others will be allowed in the country, legally, through “guest worker” programs.

The big corporations within the Republican Party — much like the big corporations inside the Democratic Party — are always desperate for the cheapest possible labor.   Recruiting immigrants to work for them as “guest workers” means that immigrants are allowed in the country on a short-term basis, as long as they are totally compliant and do not seek higher wages or unionization.  Protesting dangerous working conditions in this case equals deportation; fundamental worker rights are withheld.

The big labor confederations — the A.F.L-C.I.O and Change To Win — have shamelessly agreed to the above “general principles” of the Democrat/Republican immigration policy.  However, they correctly came out against the guest worker program… but for the wrong reasons.

While mentioning the exploitative nature of guest worker programs, many unions also focus on the fact that these programs — by denying guest workers the right to unionize — lower the wages of workers in the U.S.  Some subtly blame immigrants for it. Many unions oppose any increase in immigration.  This nationalistic argument is at work in nearly every sentence of the far right-wing’s tirades against immigration.  It deserves a deafening rebuttal, not creatively disguised racism.

Yes, it’s true that the intentions of guest worker programs are to get the cheapest possible labor for corporations.  And, yes, it is true that this, in turn, has the effect of lowering the wages of U.S. born workers.  The unforgivable error that some unions commit — which applies with equal weight to many self-professed “progressives” — is that the blame is “shared” between corporations and immigrants: both are seen as being equally culpable in the ‘immigration crisis” and the attack on the U.S. working-class.

Immigrants, however, are victims of larger socio-economic forces.  These forces prevent immigrants from being able to meet the most basic needs in their home country, such as feeding their families.  On the other hand, the mega-employers and their pet politicians in the U.S. are in fact controlling these economic forces, to the detriment of native and foreign workers alike.

It is no coincidence that the corporate-inspired free-trade agreements — NAFTA and CAFTA — caused a sea of immigration to the U.S., while likewise helping to off-shore U.S. manufacturing in search of slave wages — both of these phenomena only benefit large corporations and the super wealthy that own them.

The Democrats have conceded the immigration issue to the Republicans because they benefit equally from it.  Not only do both groups require exploitative “guest worker programs” for their corporate donors, but also benefit immensely from the scapegoating effect.  For example, the Democrats are now beginning to be correctly viewed by most Americans as “tools of Wall Street”, especially after the bank bailouts. Better that the resulting rage be directed towards society’s most vulnerable people.

This is why it is especially sad that labor unions and some national immigrant right’s organizations have opportunistically fallen behind the Democrats/Republicans “immigration reform,” the inevitable result of which will be further border militarization and consequent deaths along the border, while increasing immigrant scapegoating and consequent hate crimes.   Workplace intimidation will also increase.

If the emerging reform becomes law, it will be a springboard for the extreme right, like the Minutemen, who will benefit from the bill’s scapegoating essence, while also incorrectly denouncing the Republicans and Democrats for granting “amnesty.”

The honest “left,” therefore, must do the opposite.  Promoting “amnesty for all” is the only consistent, progressive argument around immigration — all others fall victim to the evils of scapegoating and “border security.”  The foundation for an “equality for all” argument lies not only in the fact that immigrants are workers too, but in recognition that the immigration issue is used as a central wedge to divide and conquer all working people, thus allowing a tiny financial elite to dominate the country in the pursuit of endless wars and corporate bailouts.

U.S. immigration policy must return to its roots — most eloquently explained by the inscription at the Statue of Liberty:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
 your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
 The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
 Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, 
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Shamus Cooke is a social service worker, trade unionist, and writer for Workers Action (www.workerscompass.org).  He can be reached at shamuscook@yahoo.com

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Studies by two conservative think tanks estimate immigrants in the United States illegally could take 300,000 construction jobs, or 15% of the 2 million jobs that new taxpayer-financed projects are predicted to create.

They fault Congress for failing to require that employers certify legal immigration status of workers before hiring by using a Department of Homeland Security program called E-Verify. The program allows employers to check the validity of Social Security numbers provided by new hires. It is available to employers on a voluntary basis.

“They could have deterred this, but they chose not to,” said Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies.

He said a federal requirement that employers use E-Verify would have reduced, if not eliminated, the hiring of immigrants in this country illegally.

An advocacy group for immigrants, illegal and legal, did not disagree with the 300,000 estimate. Camarota says the estimate is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey and other independent findings that 15% of all construction workers in the USA are either illegal immigrants or lack the status of legal immigrant authorized to work.

But Jorge-Mario Cabrera, director of education for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said it is impossible to predict with certainty because it is unknown how many jobless immigrant construction workers may leave the U.S., frustrated by the economic recession, before the new spending produces jobs.

He questioned the Center for Immigration Studies’ motives.

“Those are fear tactics. … ‘The immigrants are here to take your job,’ ” Cabrera said. “I think that we really should be focusing on economic progress for all.”

The center is a Washington policy organization that, its website says, “seeks fewer immigrants but a warmer welcome for those admitted.” Cabrera says his group believes unauthorized immigrants working in this country contribute to the economy.

A similar hiring estimate was produced in a report in February by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Senior research fellow Robert Rector wrote, “Without specific mechanisms to ensure that workers are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants authorized to work, it is likely that 15% of these workers, or 300,000, would be illegal immigrants.”

The version of the stimulus bill passed by the House of Representatives included a provision requiring employers to check immigration status with the E-Verify system before hiring. The Senate did not include such a provision, and it was not in the version sent to President Obama. The Obama administration has delayed until at least May 21 a Bush administration executive order requiring federal contractors to use the E-Verify system in hiring. It had been scheduled to take effect in January. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed suit seeking to block the requirement, joined by the Associated Builders and Contractors and other business organizations.

The business groups and immigrant advocacy groups argue that the E-Verify database is riddled with errors that could result in millions of workers being wrongly identified as not authorized for work. They say requiring its use before hiring would impose a cost burden on employers and open them to lawsuits.

Camarota said illegal immigrants working in construction are concentrated in California, Arizona and Texas along the border with Mexico, as well as Florida, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina and Georgia.

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After nearly five hours of testimony and discussion in a hearing room at the Capitol that was packed at times, the Senate Education Committee approved the measure on a 5-3 party-line vote, with Republicans voting no.

The legislation now advances to the full Senate.

The committee today heard from immigration rights groups, advocates of tougher immigration restrictions, veterans and two high school students.

Senate Bill 170 would allow any student who had attended a Colorado high school for at least three years and graduated to receive the in-state tuition rate.

Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, the sponsor, and other supporters argued that students brought to Colorado at a young age by parents who entered the country illegally should not be punished.

“I think you build great societies by offering hope,” Romer said. “When you offer people hopelessness, they do hopeless things.”

Two nervous Denver high school students testified that current law was especially painful. The girls, Cecilia Chavez and Ana Galvez, both 17, made emotional pleas for mercy.

“I know we violated the laws when we came here, but some of us were young and had no choice,” said Galvez, who was in tears after testifying. “I am a senior. What do I do?”

Romer added language to his bill, which still has no House sponsor, that would deny College Opportunity Fund scholarships to illegal immigrants. The vouchers provide more than $2,000 a year to a full-time student in Colorado.

The lawmaker also added language that would require the students to sign affidavits saying they would seek “legal residency.” The affidavit would be considered an educational document protected by federal privacy laws.

Similar bills have failed before.

But this year the legislation has the support of some high-profile Republicans from outside the statehouse, including Dick Monfort, co-owner of the Colorado Rockies and chairman of the University of Norther Colorado’s board of trustees, and Alex Cranberg, chairman of Aspect Energy and a top GOP donor.

Monfort told the committee that the system sends mixed messages to the children of illegal immigrants.

One message, he said, is, “You can better yourself. Work hard. You can go to college. You can become a doctor. You can become a lawyer.”

But then the system tells kids they will have to pay two to five times as much to go to college in Colorado as other students with whom they may have grown up.

However, Sen. Keith King, R-Colorado Springs, said it might be more fair to offer all foreign students the in-state tuition rate. He and others said it was unfair for foreign students who have entered the country legally to have to pay the high tuition rates of those who didn’t follow the law are given the in-state rate.

King also said the bill was offering false hope to the students, because as illegal immigrants, they would be unable to get jobs in the U.S. after graduating from college.

Ten states, including Kansas, Utah, Texas, Nebraska and New Mexico, allow illegal immigrants to get in-state tuition.

Sen. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins, the chairman of the committee, proposed an amendment that would permit recently discharged veterans to get the in-state tuition rate.

However, Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, called it a “disgrace” to tie the issue to legislation for illegal immigrants.

“I think it’s quite frankly a sham that you’re using the military to get your bill passed,” she told Romer, pointing out that there was a Republican bill in the House that would offer in-state tuition to veterans.

The amendment failed.

Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626 or thoover@denverpost.com

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Texas officials say contingency plans are in place for collapse of Mexico, policy only covers “law enforcement” needs, does not address humanitarian issues

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The news that Texas officials are working on contingency plans to deal with a sudden influx of illegal aliens following a collapse of the Mexican government has sparked fears that FEMA detention camps, the expansion of which is the subject of current legislation in Congress, are being readied to detain thousands of illegals as well as American citizens.

According to an Elpaso TImes report, “Texas officials are working on a plan to respond to a potential collapse of the Mexican government and the specter of thousands fleeing north in fear for their lives after recent reports indicated the country could be on the verge of chaos.”

“You hope for the best, plan for the worst,” Katherine Cesinger, spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, said last week. “At this point, we’ve got a contingency plan that’s in development.”

Texas Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw stated that a “preliminary plan” was in place that dealt only with “law enforcement concerns” and did not address “humanitarian needs”.

Such a plan is likely to include designated internment locations, including “national emergency centers” to be located on military installations for the purpose of to providing “temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster,” the expansion of which under FEMA is codified under HR 645, otherwise known as the National Emergency Centers Act.

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It contains big tax increases so Washington can take kids off private health insurance and put them on public subsidies.

So what? All this money goes to insure poor kids, right? Nope. House Republicans introduced a measure to guarantee that low-income children would be first in line to receive the subsidized insurance. Democrats, including New Hampshire’s U.S. Reps. Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes, killed it.

The expansion would make eligible for federally subsidized insurance about 2 million children who are currently covered by private health insurance. It would cover families making as much as three times the federal poverty level.

This is a big tax increase to pay for a middle-class entitlement.

So how do they plan to pay for this entitlement, which in case you missed it covers poor families who make over three times the poverty level? By taxing a politically vulgar group. The smokers.

The bill raises the federal tax on a pack of cigarettes from 39 cents to $1. It raises taxes on small cigars to $12.50 per 1,000 cigars this year, then to $50 per 1,000 in 2015! The tax rate on large cigars is raised to more than 50 percent, with a cap of 40 cents per cigar — eight times the current tax.

So let me get this straight, in order to provide healthcare to the children of families who already have healthcare, the Democrats want to impose a tax that will disproportionally hurt the poorer families. Yeah, that makes sense.

But it gets even worse. There is a provision that would provide healthcare to children of illegal aliens on a temporary basis.

The bill also allows for immigrants, both legal and illegal, to access SCHIP funds, although illegal immigrants may only do so for 90 days.

But the bill eliminates the need for an immigrant to show a photo ID or papers proving that he/she is legal.

The bill removes previous requirements, currently required under Medicaid, that mandate new enrollees provide photo identification and documentation proving citizenship, such as a green card or passport, when applying for SCHIP.

The only document that an immigrant will have to show is a social security number.

The new language strips this proposal and says that states can accept Social Security numbers as proof of citizenship

If an illegal alien steals your social security number they will be able to use it to gain taxpayer funded health insurance. What are the chances of that happening? Well, I hear commercials on the radio all the time that claim that identity fraud is the fastest growing crime in America, and judging by legislation such as the expansion of SCHIP I am not surprised.

This bill is being fast-tracked and should appear on President Obama’s desk shortly after taking office.

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Please go to kucinich.us now and sign the petition, which calls for impeachment. This is the one petition that will make a difference because I will be delivering it personally to your member of congress. Please circulate word of this petition far and wide, to all your friends and family. This is the one opportunity that we have right now to actually change events in this country.

Two hundred and thirty-two years ago, our nation was conceived in liberty. We have once again reached a moment of truth, one that Lincoln recognized at Gettysburg as to whether “this nation or any nation so conceived or so dedicated can long endure”.

Through the ashes of war, Lincoln prayed that “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom…and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

This Fourth of July, 2008, we face a different kind of war; one which is trying our souls.. a war based on lies. But with the power of truth and the power of the people we can achieve a new birth of freedom, standing up for what is good in America, insisting on the rule of law, demanding adherence to the Constitution, and supporting the impeachment of a President who lied to take us into a war against Iraq.

Be the answer to Lincoln’s Prayer. Please pledge your support now to restoring the rule of law in America. As we once again celebrate our Independence, let us celebrate freedom from fear and pledge that this government of the people will survive in this land that we love.

Please go to kucinich.us now. This is your chance to make a difference; truly celebrate our Independence. Thank you.

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