This week’s Immigration Blog Roundup includes the State of the Union Address, state news, new research on immigration, and more…
While immigration advocates are calling on California city councilman Bob Kellar to apologize for his "proud racist" comment at an anti-immigration rally, residents turned out in support of Kellar during a council session this week.
The deportation of immigration activist Jean Montrevil has been postponed due to the earthquake in Haiti. After serving 11 years for a felony conviction from 1990, Montrevil, married to a U.S. citizen and father of four U.S. born children, was detained for deportation a week before the earthquake. Click here to hear his interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now.
Nearly 1,000 immigration advocates gathered and marched in Van Nuys, California this weekend to attend a panel discussion organized by the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition. Furthermore, in a protest against the lack of progress on immigration reform, 150 immigration advocates gathered outside of ICE headquarters to deliver their own version of the "State of the Union" address.
New census figures reveal changing perceptions of race and ethnicity. This change in perception is largely driven by immigration with growing birthrates among the foreign-born and a rising number of children being raised by at least one foreign-born parent.
At the Migration Policy Institute, ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton outlined his vision for immigration detention center reform consisting of reducing the number of detention facilities and contractors and launching an online detainee locator system among other alternatives to detention.
The California Immigrant Policy Center has released a study documenting that the Latino immigrant community has a higher rate of self-employment than native-born U.S. citizens. Click here for more research on "Immigrants Contributions to the Golden State."
On the other hand, California Representatives Duncan Hunter (R – 52nd District) and Tom McClintock (R – 4th District) among 18 other cosponsors have proposed the BRIDGE (Bipartisan Reform of Immigration through Defining Good Enforcement) Resolution which supports greater border security enforcement, mandating E-Verify among all business, and discourages any means of granting legal status to the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants currently living in this country.
Lastly, mixed feelings resulted from President Obama’s mention of immigration reform in his State of the Union Address last night–"we should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system – to secure our borders, enforce our laws, and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nation." Click here to see New America Media‘s coverage of what Latino Media are saying.
