| Bush Sidetracks Guest-worker Plan |
| USCIS PLANS TO LAUNCH INFOPASS NATIONWIDE |
| Bare Naked Visa Ladies |
| Kerry Promises Plan for Illegal-Alien Amnesty |
Bush Sidetracks Guest-worker Plan
By C.J. Karamargin
The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)
For a politician not known as an especially eloquent speaker, President Bush managed to hit more than a few rhetorical high notes last January when he proposed overhauling the nation's immigration laws with a sweeping new temporary-worker proposal.
Standing in the East Room of the White House before an audience that included representatives of Hispanic civic groups and the ambassador of Mexico, Bush spoke passionately about America as a 'welcoming society' and the dangers many immigrants endure as they seek the American Dream.
'Their search for a better life is one of the most basic desires of human beings,' the president said. 'Many undocumented workers have walked mile after mile, through the heat of the day and the cold of the night. Some have risked their lives in dangerous desert border crossings, or entrusted their lives to the brutal rings of heartless human smugglers. Workers who seek only to earn a living end up in the shadows of American life - fearful, often abused and exploited.
'The situation I described is wrong,' he said. 'It is not the American way.'
Yet more than eight months after Bush called on Congress to make it easier for foreign workers to come to the United States, the plan has all but disappeared from the president's agenda. No legislation has been sent to Congress. And it is rarely discussed on the campaign trail.
The Arizona Daily Star was able to find only eight appearances by the president since Jan. 7, the day of his East Room speech, at which the temporary- worker plan was referenced. They included the State of the Union speech on Jan. 20 and a Jan. 21 speech at Mesa Community College. Two other references occurred in January, three in March and the last was on Wednesday, at a question and answer session with supporters in Hudson, Wis.
On Aug. 11 in Arizona, where immigration and border policy are perennial - and perennially explosive - public policy issues, Bush delivered a 50-minute speech at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix in which no mention was made of the temporary-worker plan. The topic was also absent from remarks he made earlier that day in New Mexico.
Vice President Dick Cheney, campaigning in Tucson on July 31, did not mention the plan in remarks he made at the Pima County Fairgrounds. Cheney has mentioned the plan twice since the president unveiled it, in speeches delivered in Seattle and Denver on Jan. 13.
Democrats, border activists and even some Republican supporters accuse the president of adopting a classic election year tactic: Jettison any proposal that might alienate more voters than it attracts.
'You haven't heard a word come out of the White House since that announcement,' said Randy Graf, a GOP congressional candidate from Green Valley who has made a get-tough border policy a central theme of his campaign.
Graf speculated that the same anti-illegal-immigrant sentiment motivating many of his supporters forced Bush to quietly abandon the temporary-worker plan. 'They heard from the American people saying 'enough is enough,' ' he said.
A Bush campaign spokesman denied the president has given up on the plan or the need for immigration reform.
'The president has talked about immigration since he made the proposal, and he will continue to do so,' said spokesman Danny Diaz.
Asked if Bush still wants Congress to enact a temporary- worker program, Diaz offered a one-word answer - 'yes' - but no further explanation.
Diaz said Bush indirectly addressed the immigration issue in Phoenix last week when he spoke about the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration and border matters. The department has hired 'thousands' of new Border Patrol agents in an effort 'to make sure that we can control our borders (and) we know who's going in and going out of our country,' Diaz said. Bush did not mention the agents in his speech.
According to Miguel Angel Hernandez, a Border Patrol spokesman in Washington, the complement of agents nationally grew from about 9,800 in 2001 to 11,100 in 2004. Over the same period in the Border Patrol's Tucson sector, which includes 261 miles of the Arizona-Mexico border, the number of agents went from about 1,600 to 2,000, said spokesman Charles Griffin.
Still, Arizona's border with Mexico is a virtual sieve for illegal border crossers. On the day Bush spoke in Phoenix, the Border Patrol caught 1,135 illegal entrants in its Tucson Sector, Griffin said. Between Jan. 7 and Aug. 11, nearly 360,000 illegal entrants were apprehended in the sector. An unknown number crossed without getting caught.
Numbers like this, combined with the scores of migrant deaths that occur each year in Arizona's blistering deserts, prompted three Republican members of the state's congressional delegation - Sen. John McCain and Reps. Jim Kolbe and Rep. Jeff Flake - to introduce their own temporary-worker proposal last summer. Kolbe has said their bill, the Border Security and Immigration Improvement Act, is aimed at 'regularizing the flow' of illegal border crossers.
McCain and Kolbe discussed the bill with the president last summer when he visited Mount Lemmon. Since then, the bill has made little progress.
McCain declined to speculate on why Bush did not mention immigration when he was in Phoenix last week. Kolbe and Flake said they have no doubt the president is serious about reforming immigration laws.
'I know President Bush is committed to immigration reform, which includes increased resources to secure our borders,' said Kolbe. 'Not only has the president presented his own temporary-worker proposal, he has worked to ensure that America is safer by strengthening enforcement along the border region.'
Flake said Bush 'knows that Congress isn't likely to act during an election year.' But he added, 'I'm certain that rational immigration reform will be a priority during President Bush's second term.'
Democrats and border activists, however, say Bush's plan has been sidetracked by election-year imperatives.
'I'm firmly convinced it's a calculated political decision on the part of the Bush-Cheney campaign not to discuss it,' said Rep. Raúl Grijalva. 'It's insulting to voters. It's insulting to the crisis we face in Arizona.'
That view was echoed by Sue Walitsky, spokeswoman for the John Kerry campaign in Arizona. 'Perhaps Bush did not mention immigration in his remarks . . . because he did not think they would play well with his base,' she said. 'Perhaps, while he says he does not watch the polls, he sees that his positions on immigration are becoming less popular among Arizonans.'
Kat Rodriguez, an organizer with Derechos Humanos in Tucson, dismissed the Jan. 7 speech as 'a lot of pretty words' that are more a set of principles than a specific plan that addresses the nation's border problems.
'We need legislation. We need something to happen,' she said. 'I find it mind-boggling that he would come to a state like Arizona that is being devastated by this and not take a stand.'
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Press Release
USCIS PLANS TO LAUNCH INFOPASS NATIONWIDE
Online Appointment System Eliminates Need to Wait in Line for Immigration Information
New York, NY – Calling InfoPass a customer service milestone, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today formally opened the Internet-based appointment system to residents of the New York City area. USCIS also announced its commitment to implement InfoPass nationwide that would include 33 USCIS Districts by September 2004. With InfoPass, the public can go online to schedule a date and time to meet with immigration information officers, avoiding the need to wait in line. First developed in Miami, the New York District Office is now one of four key sites that currently offer this convenient and customer friendly initiative.
USCIS Director Eduardo Aguirre, who attended today’s launch, predicted that InfoPass will ultimately mean the end of the line to wait in line outside the New York District Office, which served more than 350,000 people last year.
"This is another important stride for USCIS in our commitment to offer customers first rate service," Director Aguirre said. "InfoPass debuted last year in Miami and in a matter of weeks we saw a dramatic decrease in the lines and wait times for our clients. We’re optimistic we’ll have similar results in New York and in all of our offices."
InfoPass is now offered in 12 languages including: Arabic, Chinese, Creole, English, French, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog, Russian, and Vietnamese. USCIS plans to add additional languages in the future.
Typically, customers would begin lining up at several USCIS offices sometimes before dawn to ensure they have an opportunity to speak with an immigration information officer about their case. Because of the overwhelming demand, many people must be turned away.
"Now that we have InfoPass, people who come to our busiest offices can be assured they’ll get the assistance they need," said Mary Ann Gantner, USCIS District Director in New York. "And they can schedule their appointments for a date and time that is convenient for them."
www.uscis.gov InfoPass Comes to New York Page 2 ________________________________________________________________________________________
USCIS Customer Service Options Online
InfoPass is one of several USCIS innovations designed to make immigration services more convenient and accessible for the general public. USCIS also offers E-Filing that allows customers to go online to file for an immigration benefit. E-Filing currently supports eight of the more frequently used forms that account for over 50% of applications filed each year. By the end of 2006, E-Filing will support twelve forms that account for over 90% of the applications filed yearly.
Customers may also go online to check the status of their pending application, and build a portfolio of up to 100 cases to check. USCIS also offers customers e-mailed updates when the status of their case changes.
Customers may access all USCIS Internet-based services on www.uscis.gov.
National InfoPass Deployment Schedule for USCIS District Offices (tentative):
August 9th – Buffalo, Newark, Philadelphia
August 16th – Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Portland, ME, New Orleans
August 18th – Chicago, Houston
August 23rd – Cleveland, Detroit, San Juan, Washington D.C.
August 30th, Anchorage, Honolulu, Phoenix, Portland, OR, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle
September 8th – Denver, El Paso, Harlingen, Helena, Kansas City, Omaha, San Antonio, St. Paul
- USCIS -
On March 1, 2003, U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) became one of three former INS components to join the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. USCIS is charged with fundamentally transforming and improving the delivery of immigration and citizenship services, while enhancing the integrity of our nation's security.
Kerry Promises Plan for Illegal-Alien Amnesty
By Stephen Dinan
The Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040629-104129-6788r.htm
PHOENIX -- Sen. John Kerry yesterday promised an amnesty for most illegal immigrants who have been in the United States for at least five years.
"It is time to fulfill the promise of America, so that those who work hard and take responsibility and build a better life for them and their families, and live by the rules, and pay their taxes and raise their families have a right to share in America and its citizenship in the fullest," the Democratic candidate for president said.
Mr. Kerry, speaking to the National Council of La Raza's national conference, said that within 100 days of taking office, he would propose a four-part plan that would give a citizenship path to illegal immigrants who have paid taxes while living here and who pass a security screening.
Mr. Kerry joins a roiling debate over how to deal with the estimated 8 million to 12 million illegal immigrants.
Hispanic advocacy groups have called for an extensive amnesty for most of those immigrants, and Mr. Kerry's proposal yesterday drew the strongest applause of his 50-minute speech.
Mr. Kerry's plan goes much further than President Bush, who has proposed a guest-worker program that would allow current illegal immigrants and foreigners living overseas to apply for a renewable three-year temporary visa. Mr. Bush also proposed increasing the number of green cards issued each year, though he didn't specify by how much.
But Mr. Kerry called Mr. Bush's plan "exploitative," dismissing it as "work in America for low cost and never have a chance to be a citizen."
Mr. Bush's plan was labeled an amnesty by those who want stricter controls on immigration, and Mr. Kerry's plan is bound to draw the same charge.
Several immigration plans are already pending in Congress, including one by Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, that would create a temporary-worker program but require participants to return home at the end of their period.
Mr. Cornyn yesterday said he was happy Mr. Kerry joined the debate, but said his plan goes in the wrong direction.
"It is an agenda, I'm afraid, that does little beyond encouraging further illegal immigration, and certainly does nothing to re-establish respect for the law or address the underlying economic issues," Mr. Cornyn said.
Mr. Kerry's proposal resembles other pending bills - one by his Massachusetts Democrat colleague Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and two key House Democrats; and the other by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, South Dakota Democrat, and Sen. Chuck Hagel, Nebraska Republican.
The Daschle-Hagel plan requires that the immigrants have worked here for four years, including at least a year after the bill becomes law, and that they pay a $1,000 fine.
Mr. Kerry did not say whether his plan also included any fines, but said he would have the immigrants take civics and English classes.
He said he believes in enforceable borders, and promised to work with Mexico "to reduce the incentive for people to come here illegally, and to increase the ability of people to come here legally."
Mr. Kerry made a brief mention of increasing border security, and said he wants to fix terrorist watch lists.
He also pledged to sign two bills now pending in Congress: the Dream Act, which would legalize many illegal immigrant college students, and an agriculture guest-worker program.
Bare Naked Visa Ladies
Canada needs foreign strippers
By Tom Godfrey
The Toronto
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun/News
Young Romanian women are coming to Canada by the hundreds to dance in strip clubs, which are suffering a shortage of exotic dancers, immigration statistics show. Some 582 Romanian women were among a record 880 strippers given work permits last year to table dance in Canadian girlie bars, the statistics show.
"Canadian girls don't want to pursue this occupation," Toronto lawyer Mendel Green said yesterday. "There is a major shortage of dancers at most clubs."
The women are recruited in their homelands by agents and must undergo a series of checks by Canadian embassy staff to obtain a visa. Most end up working in Toronto-area clubs.
The Citizenship and Immigration Canada statistics, which were obtained by the Toronto Sun yesterday, show the number of permits provided to dancers abroad.
The United States was a distant second as a supplier of girls last year at 31, the Czech Republic donated 28, Mexico gave up 21 and Bulgaria sent 16.
"This industry pays taxes and employs hundreds of women," Green said. "Most of the women are recruited abroad."
He said Romanian strippers lead the pack in obtaining visas for Canada because they're highly educated, speak French and English, and that country has little corruption.
To obtain a visa, the women must show a resume to prove they can dance nude, pass an interview, medical and security checks.
Lawyer Richard Kurland said most of the women come here on year-long visas to earn money to send to their families.
He said most of the Romanians pass police checks and return home when their visas expire.
In 2002, 350 dancers were given permits to bump and grind here, 154 in 2001 and 319 in 2000.