Immigration Laws

MISSION, Texas -- President Bush visited the Southwest yesterday to highlight recent improvements in border security and to counter the continuing attack by House Republicans on the broad revisions he is seeking in immigration law. In Mission, a parched pocket of the Rio Grande Valley just north of the Mexico border, Bush once again urged Congress to act, reiterating his call for an overhaul of immigration laws that encompasses tougher enforcement, a...

Latino activists, clergy and civil rights leaders called on city officials Tuesday to implement a written policy barring police from asking the immigration status of those who call for help, a move they say would reduce crime and help bridge the gap between officers and immigrants. The demand came during an emotionally charged news conference at Patterson Park, where Latino and black community leaders gathered to rally against violence, not far from the spot where police say a 51-year-old Honduran man was fatally beaten by a mentally disturbed teen who professed to hate "Mexicans.

I read with skepticism John Fritze's article ("Illegal migrants hope for reprieve," Nov. 19) on President Obama's new policy of separating illegal immigrants between those who have or haven't committed a crime. I compliment Mr. Fritze for not sugarcoating Mr. Alfaro's status as many now do as "undocumented. " Mr. Alfaro is in this country illegally and will not explain how he did this. This also consequently makes him an accessory with those who bring aliens to this country illegally.

WASHINGTON -- Like any big-city mayor, New York's Michael R. Bloomberg wants to crack down on lawbreakers, but it depends on which laws they break. In that spirit, Mr. Bloomberg gave a big Bronx cheer to an amendment recently passed by the U.S. House to take away millions in federal law enforcement funds from local authorities who fail to step up their enforcement of immigration laws. The Big Apple would fall out of its economic tree, Mr. Bloomberg announced at a recent Senate hearing on immigration in Philadelphia, were it not for the estimated half-million illegal immigrants among the city's 3 million immigrants.

IMMIGRANTS who were wrongly ensnared in the post-9/11 law enforcement dragnet have learned a thing or two about the American justice system since the attacks. Unfortunately, much of what they learned was bad. Arrested and labeled "persons of special interest" by the U.S. government -- thus implying they had some connection to the investigation of the 2001 terrorist attacks and were security risks -- they were subjected to secret court hearings and held in detention without charge or bond.

Having closed the door to a flood of asylum-seekers, Germany appears to have opened the door to more neo-Nazi outrages against foreigners. The weekend arson-murders of five Turkish residents, including two small children, should put world pressure on Chancellor Helmut Kohl's coalition government to change Germany's reprehensible immigration laws -- laws that effectively deny citizenship except to those who can prove they are ethnically German.Had the five victims of arson-murder in Solingen migrated to the United States, all would probably have had U.S. citizenship.

Immigration reform advocates are organizing thousands of Marylanders to attend a Capitol Hill rally on Wednesday to bring attention to negotiations in the Senate over immigration. The rally, conceived by CASA de Maryland's executive director, Gustavo Torres, is expected to draw tens of thousands of people from across the country - though organizers say most will arrive from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. A bipartisan group of eight senators has been working behind the scenes for months to draft an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, an effort that gained political momentum after Hispanic voters - a growing voting demographic - flocked to Democratic candidates in last year's election.

The State Board of Elections notified petitioners Friday that they have succeeded in their effort to have Maryland voters weigh in on a new law enabling illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities. But advocates of the tuition bill have until Aug. 1 to file a lawsuit challenging the referendum. Elections officials have been counting and validated signatures over the past few weeks. In all, the board accepted 108,923 signatures, nearly double the approximately 55,000 needed to secure the referendum a spot on the November 2012 ballot.

Proponents of Maryland's Dream Act allowing the children of undocumented immigrants to pay in-state college tuition rates say it is wrong to "punish" an innocent child whose parents brought them to this country before their 16th birthday. An unlocked front door also offers opportunity. If a parent entered, removed a TV and took it home would you say the kids had a right to it? Of course not. These children, who have received many years of education in our exemplary school systems and total immersion in the language of international commerce, will have a tremendous advantage over their peers when they return to their own country.