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In The Press -- Impact On Governments

U.S. Immigrants Fuel Local Economies in Their Home Countries
By Elizabeth Kelleher, International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State, April 24, 2006
       Money sent home by immigrants in the United States reduces poverty in developing countries and supplements government foreign aid, according to reports.
       Approximately 34 million foreign-born people live in the United States; they represent 12 percent of the population – the largest share since the 1920s. According to Manuel Orozco of the research group Inter-American Dialogue, 70 percent of these foreign-born people send money home.
       Estimates of the value of such remittances vary, but even the lowest figure for 2004 -- $30 billion, reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) -- is an amount 1.5 times larger than U.S. government foreign aid for 2004.
       Read the full story.

Americans Demonstrate Across the Country Over Immigration Reform
By Jane Morse, International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State, April 10, 2006
       Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in cities across the United States on April 10 to make their opinions heard about immigration reform. Responding to the public turnout, President Bush described immigration policy as "an important issue that people feel strongly about." "[T]he good thing about a democracy is people can express themselves," he added, urging American's "to be compassionate about this debate… ."
       Read the full story.

People-Smuggler Campaigns in El Salvador
By Marcos Aleman, Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Cara Sucia, El Salvador, March 6, 2006
       Narciso "Chicho" Ramirez has spent time in prison for smuggling hundreds of Salvadorans into the United States, but he's still a hero at home and running for mayor in "a district where nearly everyone heads to the United States to work at some point, and where four bank branches mostly handle money the migrants send home," this article says.
       El Salvador survives on the billions of dollars sent home by the 2.5 million Salvadorans living in the United States; more than 300,000 of those migrants are there illegally.
       "Instead of spending so much money to eradicate the trafficking of illegals to the United States, that money should be used to create more jobs in the country," Ramirez says.

Immigration Hits Five-Year High, Report Says
By Stephen Ohlemacher, The Associated Press, December 12, 2005
       A new report released December 12 by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), an independent research institute, found that 7.9 million people moved to the United States in the past five years, the highest five-year period of immigration on record.
       There are 35.2 million foreign-born people living in the United States, according to the report, which is based on the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey from March. The report, completed by Steven Camarota, director of CIS research, said an estimated 9 million to 13 million are here illegally.
       Most of the immigrants coming to the United States are from Mexico; the next largest groups come from East Asia, Europe, the Caribbean, Central America and South America, according to the report.
       The CIS report says that immigrants, on average, are less educated and more likely to live in poverty than people born in the United States. The poverty rate of immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) is 18.4 percent, 57 percent higher than the 11.7 percent for natives and their children. The proportion of immigrant-headed households using at least one major welfare program is 29 percent, compared to 18 percent for native households. One third of immigrants lack health insurance — two-and-one-half times the rate for natives. Immigrants and their U.S.-born children account for 30 percent of the U.S. population without health insurance.
       See the full report: Immigrants at Mid-Decade: A Snapshot of America’s Foreign-Born Population in 2005

Underground Economy Growing as Illegal Immigrants Head to New States, More Jobs
By Angie Wagner, The Associated Press, December 3, 2005
       Illegal immigrants are gaining a larger share of the job market and are spreading beyond traditional immigrant states like California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois and New Jersey, according to this article.
       More illegals are moving to states like Utah, Washington, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Georgia and the Dakotas because of the increasing number of companies eager for cheap labor.
       Vernon Briggs, a Cornell University labor economics professor, is quoted as saying: "The toleration of illegal immigration undermines all of our labor. It rips at the social fabric. It's a race to the bottom. The one who plays by the rules is penalized. It becomes a system that feeds on itself. It just goes on and on and on."
       According to the Pew Hispanic Center, a research institute, the service sector employs the most illegal immigrants with 33 percent, followed by the construction industry, production and food processing and farming. The hotel and restaurant businesses and construction are the big employers. Pew estimates that more than 1 of every 4 drywall installers and landscape workers are illegal; about 1 in 5 workers in meat and poultry packing are illegal, as are about 1 in 6 in the leisure and hospitality industry or construction.
       Pew estimates that the average illegal immigrant family makes $27,400 -- more than 40 percent below the legal immigrant or native family income of about $47,700.
       John Keeley, spokesman for the Center for Immigration Studies, is quoted as saying: "We're seeing the wage bases in these industries erode simply because there is a glut of low-skill labor flooding the low-skill market. The business community has become addicted to it. It's a way for them to keep their business costs down."
       More illegal workers do dangerous work and exploited, this article says. A 2004 Associated Press investigation found that Mexican workers are 80 percent more likely to die on the job than are native-born workers.

Shortage of Immigrant Workers Alarms Growers in West
By Sonya Geis, The Washington Post, Dateline Calexico, California, November 22, 2005
       A shortage of farm workers -- most of them illegals from Mexico -- has California farmers worried. Better paying jobs in the construction industry and tougher border controls are siphoning off migrants who normally would have been doing the harvesting in the $1 billion winter vegetable industry.
       "Vegetable growers estimate they could be 32,000 workers short of th 54,000 they need for the winter harvest, which runs until March," Geis writes. "Last year local farmers left hundreds of acres of lettuce in the fields because the lacked the manpower to harvest it.
       Statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor show that about half of the 1.8 million farm workers are in the United States illegally.

Congressional Hearing
Weak Bilateral Law Enforcement Presence at the U.S.-Mexico Border: Territorial Integrity and Safety Issues for American Citizens
Joint Oversight Hearing
House Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims
and
Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security
November 17, 2005
       TESTIMONY:
       Chris Swecker, Assistant Director, Criminal Investigative Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation
       William Reid, Acting Assistant Director, Office of Investigations, U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement
       Rey Garza, Deputy Chief Patrol Agent, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
       T.J. Bonner, President, National Border Patrol Council

Congressional Hearing
How Illegal Immigration Impacts Constituencies: Perspectives from Members of Congress," Part II House Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims
Oversight Hearing
November 17, 2005
       TESTIMONY:
       Jack Kingston, 1st District of Georgia, House of Representatives
       Marsha Blackburn, 7th District of Tennessee, U.S. House of Representatives
       John Carter, 31st District of Texas. U.S. House of Representatives

Congressional Hearing
How Illegal Immigration Impacts Constituencies: Perspectives from Members of Congress, Part I
House Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims
Oversight Hearing
November 10, 2005
       TESTIMONY:
       Henry Bonilla, Member of Congress, 23rd District, Texas
       Stevan Pearce, Member of Congress, 2nd District, New Mexico
       Luis Gutierrez, Member of Congress, 4th District, Illinois

Immigration Debate on Arkansas' Doorstep
By Mark Minton, The Arkansas Democrat Gazette, October 30, 2005
       Arkansas is preparing to become the third state (after Alabama and Florida) to empower its police to arrest illegal aliens.
       The estimated 11 million illegal aliens in the United States violate federal immigration laws. But local police -- there are about 600,000 across the country -- consider it a civil matter for federal immigration authorities to pursue.
       Increasing concerns over terrorism, however, are motivating some lawmakers to encourage police to help the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau to round up illegals.

Study: Terrorists Exploit Immigration Laws
By Lara Jakes Jordan, The Associated Press, Dateline Washington, August 29, 2005
       A recent study by the Center for Immigration Studies says suspected or convicted foreign-born terrorists have routinely exploited federal immigration laws over the last decade to enter or remain in the United States illegally and that many became naturalized citizens.
       The 46-page report was written by Janice Kephart, who served as counsel to the 9/11 Commission that investigated missteps leading to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
       See: Immigration Benefits and Terrorism.

Count Them In
By Dan Frosch, The Santa Fe Reporter, August 24, 2005
       Illegal immigrants have greater access to bank accounts, loans for new homes, cell phones and even health insurance plans, because more U.S. financial institutions see them as financially attractive and are increasingly accepting non-traditional forms of identification.
       Frosch writes: "As the influx of undocumented immigrants has jumped an estimated 2 million since 2000, the U.S. capitalist behemoth has birthed a lively economy to serve this growing and increasingly settled population of more than 11 million," Frosch writes.
       See the full story.

Hispanics in U.S. Divided on Driver's License Restrictions for Illegal Immigrants
By Will Lester, Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Washington, August 16, 2005
       According to a recent survey of over a 1000 Latinos by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington D.C., six in 10 Hispanics born in this country approve of measures to prohibit illegal immigrants from getting drivers' licenses.
       Roberto Suro, director of the Center and author of the report, is quoted as saying: "Among Latinos in the United States, there's a majority that views immigrants favorably, but there is a significant minority concerned about unauthorized immigration into the country and its impact.
       See the executive summary for Attitudes Toward Immigrants and Immigration Policy: Surveys Among U.S. Latinos and in Mexico."

For Illegals, a Spreading Backlash
By Mark Trumbull, The Christian Science Monitor, Dateline Caldwell, Idaho, August 12, 2005
       As more illegal immigrants enter American communities that unaccustomed and unprepared for such an influx, local backlashes are increasing.
       For example, Robert Vasquez, commissioner for Caldwell County in Idaho and himself of Mexican heritage, has "sued several local employers in a novel bid to use federal anticorruption law to prevent hiring illegals," Trumbull writes.
       In New Hampshire, police used a state law on criminal trespass to arrest illegal immigrants.
       In Arizona, voters approved in November a measure to deny some public benefits to illegal immigrants.
       The Minuteman Project, consisting of volunteers who patrol Arizona's border with Mexico, now has affiliated groups in 18 states from California to Minnesota and Tennessee.

U.S. Judge Dismisses Trespassing Charges Against Illegal Immigrants
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Jaffrey, New Hampshire, August 12, 2005
       A judge dismissed trespassing charges against a group of illegal immigrants arrested by police in New Ipswich and Hudson in New Hampshire.
       Judge L. Phillips Runyon III is quoted as saying: "The criminal trespass charges against the defendants are unconstitutional attempts to regulate in the area of enforcement of immigration violations, an area where Congress must be deemed to have regulated with such civil sanctions and criminal penalties as it feels are sufficient."

Court Refuses To Block Arizona Law Affecting Illegal Immigrants
Dow Jones International News, Dateline Phoenix, August 9, 2005
       A federal appeals court refused to block a law approved in November by the citizens of Arizona that denies some public benefits to illegal immigrants.
       Supporters of the law said that Arizona, the busiest entry point for illegal immigrants, spends millions of dollars each year to provide illegals with food stamps, welfare and other social services.
       Opponents had argued that the Arizona law was unconstitutional because it usurps the federal government's power over immigration and naturalization.

Study Paints Bleak Picture of Immigrant Health Care
By Ceci Connolly, The Washington Post, July 26, 2005
       Immigrants -- both legal and illegal -- receive, on average, half the health care services provided to native-born Americans, according to a study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
       Sarita Mohanty, the study's co-author, is quoted as saying: "Our study lays to rest the myth that expensive care for immigrants is responsible for our nation's high health costs. The truth is, immigrants get far less care than other Americans."
       According to this article, the ramifications of inadequate health care are most alarming for children of immigrants. David Himmelstein of Harvard Medical School and also a co-author of the study is quoted as saying: "The data showed immigrant children had fewer doctor visits, took less medication and made fewer trips to the emergency room. But their emergency room costs were nearly triple those for non-immigrant children, suggesting the immigrant families missed routine checkups and waited until a condition was more serious before seeking treatment.
       See: Health Care Expenditures of Immigrants in the United States.
       Abstract only.

$41 Billion Cost Projected To Remove Illegal Entrants
By Darryl Fears, The Washington Post, July 26, 2005
       The cost of forcibly removing most of the estimated 10 million illegal immigrants from the United States could run $41 billion a year -- a sum greater than the annual budget for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
       Those estimates are provided in a study produced this month by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank based in Washington.
       According to the study, it would cost about $28 billion per year to apprehend illegal immigrants, $6 billion a year to detain them, $500 million for extra beds, $4 billion to secure borders, $2 million to legally process them, and $1.6 billion to bus or fly them home.
       See: Deporting the Undocumented: A Cost Assessment.

Banks Open Doors to New Customers: Illegal Immigrants
By Miriam Jordan, The Wall Street Journal, Dateline Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 8, 2005
       Although some U.S. agencies are cracking down on illegal immigrants by restricting services, some are actually helping them put down roots in the United States, according to this article, which discusses how mortgage lenders, with the help from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, are increasingly making home loans to the growing Hispanic market.
       Jordan writes: "Competition for new customers is driving banks to offer home loans and other financial services to illegal immigrants -- and they are getting help from government agencies, such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The FDIC encourages banks to lend and invest in underserved markets regardless of customers' immigration status."
       Jordan uses the example of the Mitchell Bank in Milwaukee, which decided in 2002 to offer mortgages to illegal Hispanic immigrants -- an increasing portion of the population living in the bank's territory. The bank was able to share the risk of making home loans with the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority, which helps low-income families buy homes by offering mortgages at preferential 30-year fixed interest rates. Jordan writes: "The housing agency regards its home-ownership program as key to combatting predatory lending, which has exploded in poor inner cities, and revitalizing downtown neighborhoods." As part of its mission, the state agency began a pilot program for illegal immigrants.
       Under this program, the Mitchell Bank has made about 100 home loans, mostly to illegal immigrants, and says it has had no defaults and only two late payments. The average annual household income of borrowers is $30,000 for mortgages ranging from $30,000 to $100,000.

States, Cities Wrestle with Ways to Accommodate Growing Numbers of Children of Illegal Immigrants
By David Crary, Associated Press Newswires, Dateline New York, June 4, 2005
       U.S. state and city governments are struggling to find ways to accommodate the children of immigrants.
       According to the Urban Institute, a Washington-based nonprofit nonpartisan policy research and educational organization, most of these children are U.S. citizens by virtue of having been born here, but up to a third have at least one parent who is an illegal alien.
       Some argue that initiatives tailored to assist these children only lure more illegal immigrants to the United States; others argue the importance of supporting the children who will be lifelong Americans.
        See the Urban Institute study The Health and Well-Being of Young Children of Immigrants authored by Randy Capps.

The Undocumented War
By Scott Carrier, Marketplace, American Public Media, May 23-27, 2005
       This five-part series covers various aspects of illegal immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border, including first-person accounts of Mexicans attempting to enter the United States without documentation, vigilantes patrolling the U.S. side of the border, a human smuggler, and a woman who owns an Arizona ranch near the border.
       Photos and audio are available at the Marketplace website.

Payments To Help Hospitals Care for Illegal Immigrants
By Robert Pear, The New York Times, Dateline Washington, May 10, 2005
and
U.S. To Help Cover Health Costs of Illegals; Providers in State To Divy Up $71 Million for Emergency Care
By Tyche Hendricks, The San Francisco Chronicle, May 10, 2005
and
Government To Reimburse Hospitals for Emergency Care for Illegal Aliens
By Kevin Freking, Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Washington, May 9, 2005
       The Bush administration announced on May 9 that $1 billion will be available to hospitals nationwide to pay for emergency care to illegal immigrants.
       U.S. hospitals, especially those located along the U.S.-Mexican border, have been incurring huge financial burdens because they are required by federal law to provide medical treatment to all persons seeking emergency care, regardless of their immigration status or ability to pay.
       In California, a popular destination for illegal immigrants, nine hospitals have closed in the past year, due in part to increasing costs associated with caring for illegal immigrants. This fiscal year, California will be getting $70.8 million in federal aid, but it is estimated that California hospitals spend $500 million each year caring for illegal immigrants.
       Nonetheless, the federal aid is considered to be a breakthrough. Jan Emerson, spokeswoman for the California Healthcare Association, which represents hospitals, is quoted as saying: "It (the federal aid) is hugely symbolic, because it is the first time the federal government has acknowledged that it has a role."
       See the May 9, 2005 fact sheet issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Illegal Workers Raise Security Concerns
The Associated Press, Dateline Washington, D.C., April 13, 2005
       The U.S. Department of Homeland arrested 57 illegal immigrants last month working at airports and other risk-sensitive facilities around the United States. The arrests have underscored concerns that lax employment background checks could leave security breaches that terrorists could exploit.
       So far, none of those arrested appear to have terrorism ties; nonetheless, the potential is there. For example, in one case, a Mexican illegal immigrant was working as a painter in the highly secure nuclear side of the Crystal River Power Plant in Crystal River, Florida. The plant has since tightened its security measures.

Police Say Immigrant Policy Is Hindrance
By Charlie LeDuff, The New York Times, Dateline Los Angeles, April 6, 2005
       Los Angeles police, according to this article, are saying a 1979 policy prohibiting them from asking suspects about their immigration status is hindering their ability to apprehend convicted criminals who have been ordered deported.
       The so-called "sanctuary policy" was intended to protect immigrants from harrassment, enable them to use public services and report crimes without fear of deportation.
       It is estimated that 80,000 to 100,000 illegal immigrants who have been convicted of serious crimes are now in the United States; about 30,000 of them are thought to be living in Los Angeles.
       In Los Angeles' seven-mile-square Rampart District alone, there are an estimated 30,000 gang members; about 1,000 of them were deported after committing violent crimes but returned to the United States.
       Under U.S. law, an illegal immigrant who re-enters the United States after conviction for a serious crime such as murder, rape, narcotics and theft, faces 10 years in prison for a second offense and 20 years for a third.
       Some officers would also like to see the creation of a national database of criminal illegal immigrants that would allow them to check names during random stops.

Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security With Billions
By Eduardo Porter, The New York Times, Dateline Stockton, California, April 5, 2005
       The estimated seven million illegal immigrants working in the United States are subsidizing the U.S. Social Security system with about $7 billion each year, according to this article.
       Many illegal immigrants work with fake green cards and fake Social Security numbers. Their employers deduct taxes from the illegals' pay checks to pay for social security and Medicare. The illegal immigrants, however, are not eligible to collect these benefits themselves.
       Officials at Social Security estimate that about three-quarters of the other-than-legal immigrants pay payroll taxes. These officials also say that without the flow of payroll taxes from illegal immigrants, the Social Security system's deficit across the next 75 years would be 10 percent worse.
       According to this article, many of the younger illegal immigrant workers don't care about retirement benefits; they are just happy to have a job. Older illegal immigrant workers often return to their homelands for retirement.

Illegal Immigrants Add to Nevada's Growth Rate
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Reno, Nevada, March 28, 2005
       Nevada's booming economy has attracted more illegal immigrants looking for jobs.
       According to a study recently released by the Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington, D.C. research group, more than 40 percent of Nevada's foreign-born population is in the United States illegally.
       Jeffrey Passel, the senior Pew Center researcher who wrote the report, is quoted as saying: "Beginning in 1990, you started seeing immigrants moving out of California to places where the economy was better. Right next door (in Nevada) was one of those places."

Illegal Mexican Immigrants Send the Most Money Home
By Marcela Cortes, EFE News Service, Dateline Orlando, Florida, December 17, 2004
       A recent study by the Banco de Mexico indicates that 83 percent of the remittances sent to Mexico come from illegal immigrants, most of whom are working in the United States.
       The study found that Mexican migrants sent home $13.8 billion between January and October 2004 -- up more than 23 percent from the same period of 2003.
       According to Gilberto Velarde, Mexican Consul in Orlando, Florida, an estimated 300,000 to 350,000 Mexicans live in Central and Northern Florida. Most are agricultural workers, but they send home some $300 million to their families in Mexico.
       Carlos Villanueva, chairman of the Association of Mexicans Abroad, is quoted as saying: "Remittances are estimated to total $17 billion this year, but such figures come up short because they do not take into account nontraditional ways of sending money, such as services or in kind. It is a fact that remittances are the top driving force of the Mexican economy."

Area Immigration Booming
By D'Vera Cohn, The Washington Post, November 23, 2004
       According to a report to be released November 23 by the Center for Immigration Studies, more than 34 million immigrants now live in the United States, perhaps as many as 10 million of them illegally.
       Economic slowdown in the United States, tougher post-9/11 security, and immigration restrictions haven't slowed the flow. Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, which studies Latino demographics, is quoted as saying: "This data seems to suggest you have an ongoing level of new entries which is pretty substantial. It seems to be impervious to the federal government's efforts to control the border."
       The Washington-Baltimore area now has some 1.3 million immigrants -- an increase of 379,000 since 2003 according to the report. Cohn writes: "The continuously booming immigrant population is reviving some urban areas and producing record demand for English classes. It is also increasing the ranks of the uninsured, fueling the debate over granting drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants and provoking complaints when residents notice day laborers congregating in their neighborhoods."
       See the CIS report: Economy Slowed, But Immigration Didn't: The Foreign-Born Population, 2000-2004, by Steven A. Camarota.

President Bush's Remarks on Immigration
At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Santiago, Chile
November 21, 2004

Following is an excerpt of the White House transcript of President Bush's remarks to the press after his meeting with Mexico's President Vincente Fox:

BUSH: We spent a great deal of time talking about the immigration issue. I told President Fox that I had campaigned on this issue; I made it very clear my position that we need to make sure that where there's a willing worker and a willing employer, that that job ought to be filled legally in cases where Americans will not fill that job. I explained to the President that we share a mutual concern to make sure our border is secure. One way to make sure the border is secure is to have reasonable immigration policies. And finally, I assured him that we want people from Mexico treated with respect and dignity.

I look forward to working with my friend over the next couple of years to get a lot done for the benefit of both our countries.

Arrests of Illegal Migrants Leaves North Carolina Town Deserted
By Rafael Prieto Zartha, EFE News Service, Dateline Charlotte, North Carolina, October 30, 2004
       A police crackdown on illegal immigrants has emptied the streets and factories of Lincolnton, a town of about 10,000 people located west of Charlotte.
       Although local police and Lincoln County sheriff's deputies arrested only 24 illegal immigrants for fake social security numbers and identity theft, fear has sent others into hiding. More than 5,000 of the town's residents are Hispanic; Lincolnton is known as "Little Costa Rica" among area immigrants.

Hospitals Won't Have To Ask Immigrant Status
By Mary Beth Sheridan, The Washington Post, October 5, 2004
       The U.S. government is backing off its demand that American hospitals ask patients about their immigration status in order to receive federal aid to cover the costs of treating the uninsured.
       Mark B. McClellan, administrator of the Medicare centers, is quoted as saying: "Providers will not be asked -- and should not ask -- about a patient's citizenship status in order to receive payment under this program."
       The $1 billion program, which takes effect with the new fiscal year, is part of the 2003 Medicare act. The money helps hospitals pay some of the emergency room costs of treating illegal immigrants and other uninsured patients, who, under federal law, cannot be turned away for emergency care.
       Hospitals had argued that patients might not go to medical facilities for fear their illegal status would bring them to the attention of law enforcement officials.
       Bill Moss, president of Potomac Hospital in Woodbridge, Virginia is quoted as saying: "What you don't want is people not seeking care when they really need it. That endangers the health of all of us -- people running around with infectious diseases and so on."

Cost of Illegal Immigration Seen in Graveyards
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Holtville, California, September 24, 2004
       U.S. border towns across the Southwest are feeling the burden of identifying and burying the bodies of illegal immigrants who die during their attempts to enter the United States.
       The reporter for this article writes: "Sgt. Charles Lucas, the supervising deputy coroner of Imperial County, says officials want to identify the dead to help give families closure but the effort is straining resources. The eastern county, the poorest in California, expects to pay at least $30,000 this year for these autopsies."
       The average burial for the unclaimed bodies costs about $900, and the cost of investigating the death and identifying the body can reach $2,500.
       Since October 2003, 314 people have died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Special Investigation: America's Border
By Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, Time Magazine, September 20, 2004
       This long, detailed story is featured on the cover of the September 20th edition of Time magazine. According to this article:
          -- In a single day, more than 4,000 illegal immigrants walk into the United States along the 375-mile border between Arizona and Mexico.
          -- According to Time's estimates, some 3 million illegal immigrants will enter the United States this year.
          -- Most of the illegal immigrants entering the United States are Mexicans. But from October 1, 2003 through August 25, 2004, about 55,890 apprehended illegal immigrants were "other than Mexicans" (OTM). The OTMs who were apprehended came from Latin America (Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil, Nicaragua and Venezuela), Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Russia, China, Egypt, Iran and Iraq. An estimated 190,000 OTMs entered the United States undetected so far this year.
          -- From October 2003 though August 25, 2004, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended nearly 1.1 million illegal immigrants in all its operations around the United States. But for every one illegal immigrant caught, an estimated three get into the country undetected.
          -- The number of U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the 1,951-mile southern border with Mexico is now more than 9,900; up from 8,600 in the year 2000.
          -- Last year, illegal immigrants sent $13 billion in remittances to their families in Mexico. The money sent back represents the third largest source of revenue in Mexico's economy, after oil and manufacturing.
          -- Of the 400,000 illegal immigrants who have been ordered to be deported, 80,000 have criminal records.
       The article focuses on the impact illegal immigration has had on the State of Arizona and its citizens. Among the issues:
          -- Environment. Illegal immigrants crossing ranches along and near the border "turn the land into a vast latrine," according to the authors, "leaving behind revolting mounds of personal refuse and enough discarded plastic bags to stock a Wal-Mart."
          -- Property damage. The refuse left by illegals is often ingested by cattle and horses, which become sick and sometimes die. The illegals cut fences, allowing livestock to escape into Mexican territory. Cattle from Mexico wander into the United States, where they are supposed to be in quarantine for 30 days and tested for disease. However, this seldom happens because there aren't enough cattle inspectors or holding corrals.
          -- Health. The small community hospitals are racking up debt from emergency care administered to illegal immigrants whom they are required by law to treat. The illegals frequently suffer from dehydration, auto injuries, tuberculosis, AIDS and hepatitis. One small 14-bed hospital, the Copper Queen in Bisbee, Arizona must deal with some 500 emergency visits each month; its losses this year are estimated to be $450,000.
          -- Crime. Smugglers (also known as "coyotes") frequently steal cars to transport their clients. Arizona now ranks first in cars stolen per capita; about 56,000 cars were stolen last year. In addition, the sheer numbers of illegals in some neighborhoods make the people living there feel unsafe.

Illegals' Costs Outpace Tax Payments, Report Says
By Jerry Seper, The Washington Times, August 26, 2004
       A recently released report completed by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) says that American households headed by illegal immigrants used $26.3 billion in government services during 2002 but paid only $16 billion in taxes -- an annual cost of $10 billion to taxpaying U.S. citizens.
       See the full report entitled Illegals Cost Feds $10 Billion a Year; Amnesty Would Nearly Triple Cost.

Chinese Fear Cockle Gang Rivalry May End in Violence
By Mark Hookham, Daily Post (Liverpool), August 9, 2004
       Chinese business leaders in Liverpool have publicly expressed fears that the growing rivalry between cockle gangs and gang masters could destabilize the city's Chinese community.
       On August 8, Liverpool Coast Guard agents had to rescue 140 cockle pickers who ended up stranded three miles from shore after two tractors carrying them collided. Police are investigating whether the collision was the result of a possible turf war between rival cockle gangs.
       Michael Guy, one of the rescuers, is quoted as saying: "The problem is the cockles can earn these people so much money, around pounds 1,000 (U.S. $1,828) a ton, and it seems they are prepared to do anything for it."
       Brian Wong, chief executive of Liverpool Chinatown Business Association, is quoted as saying: "As more gangs come over from China, they will be looking for more territory. If they do not do cockling, they will look for successful businesses and try and get protection money.... I am concerned about the long-term stability of the Chinese community."
       In February this year, 21 Chinese cockle pickers believed to be illegal immigrants drowned in the fast rising tides of Morecambe Bay. Most lived in "safe houses" in Liverpool.

Libya Alarmed by "Invasion" of Illegal Immigrants
Agence France Presse, Dateline Rome, Italy, August 9, 2004
       Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelraham Shalgham says illegal immigrants -- many from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast -- are an "invasion" that is "changing the social fabric" of Libya.
       In an interview with the Italian daily La Stampa, Shalgham is quoted as saying: "Some neighborhoods in (Libyan capital) Tripoli are entirely under the control of immigrants. They impose their laws, and drugs and prostitution are rampant."
       It is believed Libya is a major transit country for illegals trying to reach Italy and other parts of Europe. Shalgham expressed concern that Islamic terrorists may be among those entering Libya illegally.

More Legal Help for Migrants
By Hector Becerra, Los Angeles Times, August 2, 2004
       According to this article, a "cottage industry" is developing in Southern California of lawyers who represent illegal immigrants arrested by U.S. officials.
       Becerra writes: "Until recently immigrants arrested in law enforcement busts of 'safe houses' rarely sought or received legal representation and either were detained while waiting to testify against smugglers or, more likely simply deported back to Latin America.
       "But over the last year, a small group of immigration lawyers has begun showing up at safe houses during police raids.
       "The lawyers often hear about the raids through a network of neighborhood activists and union organizers who alert them when they see police moving in."
       The lawyers secure the release of illegal immigrants who are not suspected of having criminal records while they await their deportation hearings. But only half of those released ever return for their hearing, risking criminal charges if they are ever detained again by U.S. officials.
       The lawyer interviewed for this story is quoted as saying she is simply advising pro bono illegal immigrants of their rights and never encourages them not to show up for their detention hearings.

Expelling Calgary's Illegal Costly
By Linda Slobodian, Calgary Herald, July 29, 2004
       In the past fiscal year, the Canada Border Services Agency spent $628,000 to ship 217 illegal immigrants back to their homelands from Calgary. About one-third were deported because they were involved in criminal activity.
       The removals between April 2003 and March 2004 are up 44 percent from the previous year. It is estimated that about 14,000 illegal immigrants are smuggled into Canada each year.
       A new Canadian law calls for a $1 million fine and/or life in prison for those convicted of human trafficking and smuggling.

Arizona To Get Reimbursed for Illegal Immigrants' Hospital Care
Associated Press, Dateline Tucson, Arizona, July 23, 2004
and
Texas To Get $47.5 Million in Funds for Uninsured
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Washington, July 22, 2004
       Arizona will be getting $42 million and Texas $47.5 million annually to reimburse their hospitals for treating illegal immigrants and other uninsured patients.
       The money for the new program by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is part of a $1 billion, four-year effort to help hospitals and other providers across the United States recoup the estimated $1.45 billion it costs them each year to provide medical care to uninsured patients.

New Mexico Counties Get Money for Jailing Immigrants
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Las Cruces, New Mexico, June 18, 2004
       The U.S. Department of Justice's State Criminal Assistance Program will provide some $679,400 to 17 New Mexico counties to help defray the costs related to incarcerating illegal immigrants.
       According to Major Cheryl Roach, of the detention center in Dona Ana County, which borders Mexico in some sections, the federal assistance is welcome but does not dover the entire cost of incarcerating illegal immigrants.

West Africa: Illegal Migration, the Lure of the North
All Africa, dateline Abidjan, June 16, 2004
       This long feature story discusses the thousands of West Africans who each year risk everything they have to reach Europe or North Africa in search of better lives.
       Many die in their attempts, but most interviewed for this article believed it was worth the risks. Even so, many who successfully reach their dream destinations become disillusioned.
       One man identified as Guillaume told the reporter he had lived in France for eight years before returning to Abidjan in 1996. Guillaume is quoted as saying: "We all did the same thing, working illegally in restaurants, shops where owners did not pay income tax. Some did worse, ending up in drugs and prostitution. During eight years, I saved nothing. My friends saved nothing. Life was too hard, so I decided to come back and be poor in my own country."
       The unidentified author of this article writes: "Guillaume said the money he earned, about 800 euros (U.S. $960) a month, barely allowed him to survive until the next pay day. He despises those who return on holiday to Cote d'Ivoire boasting of their success and 'filling the heads of those who don't know any better with false dreams.'"
       According to this article, many West African governments see emigration as "a social safety valve" and a welcome the money illegal immigrants send back home. For Mali, yearly remittances from its citizens abroad equal what the country receives in public aid.
       Malian sociologist Aly Coulibaly is quoted as saying the only way to combat illegal immigration is to fight poverty and under-development in Africa. Christine Sibay, a sociologist in Cote d'Ivoire, says improved education and job creation would help end the poverty that drives people out of their countries.

By A Back Door to the U.S.: A Migrant's Grim Sea Voyage
By Ginger Thompson and Sandra Ochoa, The New York Times, Dateline Pedernales, Ecuador, June 13, 2004
       In this very long feature story featured on the front page of the Sunday New York Times, the authors discuss their experience posing as illegal immigrants trying to reach the United States from Ecuador.
       Thompson and Ochoa write: "The Inter-American Development Bank reports that migrants send nearly $1.5 billion a year back to Ecuador, the second largest source of income after oil. The money has paid for New England-style mansions that sprawl across old potato fields. It has paved roads and paid for shiny sport utility vehicles.
       "But there are few able-bodied men. Most have gone to the United States for work. Women and children are now going in droves."
       According to the U.S. 2000 Census, the number of Ecuadoreans who have entered the United States illegally in the last decade has tripled over the previous decade. Most leave Ecuador for Guatemala, then travel overland through Mexico to reach the U.S. southern border, paying their smugglers $10,000 to $12,000 for the trip.
       Mexico has also become a transit country for increasing numbers of Brazilians, Cubans, and Eastern Europeans.
       People smuggling in Latin America has soared. "Immigration authorities from Ecuador, Mexico and the United States estimate that people smuggling in the hemisphere generates some $20 billion a year, second only to drugs," the authors write. Thompson and Ochoa describe people smuggling as "a business built by the poor for the poor" who are seeking to escape dismal economic conditions in their homelands.
       Thompson and Ochoa write: "David Kyle, an expert on migrant smuggling at the University of California, said Latin American governments, which have grown dependent on money sent home by migrants, put up little more than symbolic fights against smugglers and even celebrate illegal migrants as national heroes."

Illegal Immigration Costing Arizona $1.3 Billion Annually
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Tucson, Arizona, June 4, 2004
       A study recently completed by the Federation of American Immigration Reform estimates that illegal immigration costs the state of Arizona $1.3 billion per year.
       According to the study, Arizona's immigrant population jumped from 60,000 in 1994 to 425,000 at present.
       The report looked at the cost of education, health care and incarceration for the illegal immigrant population while including adjustments of $257 million per year to account for taxes paid by illegal immigrants.

Immigrants' Cash Floods Homelands
By Mary Beth Sheridan, The Washington Post, May 17, 2004
       Immigrants working in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia send more than a billion dollars each year to their homes in Latin America, according to a study recently completed by the Inter-American Development Bank.
       Overall, Latin American immigrants working in the United States send $30 billion each year to their native countries.
       The information is based on 3,802 telephone interviews conducted this year with Latin American adults in 37 states and the District of Columbia. About one-third of the interviewees were illegal immigrants; nearly half of those surveyed nationwide said they earned less than $20,000 per year.
       Sheridan writes: "Rising immigration to the United States in recent decades has produced a surging tide of cash heading south, which far surpasses official aid.... Remittances are crucial sources of foreign earnings for many poor countries; they amount to 14 percent of El Salvador's gross domestic product, for example."
       It is estimated that Latin American immigrants send home about 10 percent of their household income, a sum that generally decreases the longer the immigrant stays in the United States.
       See:
         -- The study, Sending Money Home: Remittance to Latin America and the Caribbean.
         -- The press release produced by the Inter-American Development Bank.
         -- Remittances as a Development Tool on the web site for the Inter-American Development Bank's Multilateral Development Fund.

Idaho Official Bills Mexico $2M for Immigrants Services
Dow Jones International News, Dateline Boise, Idaho, April 22, 2004
       Robert Vasquez, an Idaho county commissioner who is of Mexican, Spanish and French descent, has billed the Mexican government nearly $2 million for the costs his county (Canyon County) incurred in the last two years to jail illegal immigrants from Mexico and to provide them with medical care.
       Vasquez mailed the bill to the closest Mexican consulate in Salt Lake City, but Arturo Chavarria, consul of protect there, said his office has not yet received the bill.

Taxing Dilemma for Illegal Workers
By Thomas Ginsberg, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 7, 2004
       Illegal immigrants working in the United States are wondering whether or not they should file an income tax return this year, according to this article.
       On the one hand, many have had federal and state taxes withheld from their paychecks and would be eligible to get some of that back in a refund if they filed. Also, under President Bush's proposal to give temporary legal status to many illegal immigrants now working in the United States, the tax return would serve as documentation of their job status.
       "On the other hand," Ginsberg writes, "new worries have rippled through some communities since immigration agents in Louisville, Kentucky arrested an illegal Mexican tobacco picker last winter based on information allegedly culled -- in violation of privacy rules -- from his tax records." And this year there are tighter rules on getting one of the Internal Revenue Service's special tax identification numbers.
       This article also says that the U.S. Social Security Administration "holds roughly $7 billion in unclaimed withholdings, believed to come mostly from illegal workers using fake or stolen Social Security numbers."

Migrants' Cash Goes to Home Countries
By Paul Waugh, The Independent (London), February 11, 2004
       The British Bangladeshi International Development Group, representing expatriate Bangladeshis in England, told UK officials that curry house workers and other immigrants each year send twice as much money to Bangladesh as the British government sends the country in international aid.
       Murad Qureshi, of the Bangladeshi group, is quoted as saying: "More needs to be done to harness what government policy overlooks, and to support and channel the privately remitted funds to Bangladesh, which many migrant communities see as a necessary responsibility to their countries and countrymen." He also noted that the Morecambe Bay deaths demonstrate how desperate some immigrants are to earn and send home money.

A "Neighborhood Watch" at the Nation's Borders
By Dave Montgomery, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Dateline Bisbee, Arizona, February 2, 2004
       This article discusses how the issue of illegal immigration is dividing communities and politicians, especially in Arizona and New Mexico.
       Montgomery writes: "Thousands of furious Arizonans complain that undocumented workers consume millions of dollars in public services and wrest jobs from U.S. citizens.
       Citizen "watchdog groups" have sprung up to patrol the borders themselves in an effort to stem the flood of illegal immigrants that often travel in large groups across public as well as private property.
       But human rights activists and church groups denounce the citizen watchdog groups. Montgomery quotes Rev. Robin Hoover, a Texas Christian University divinity graduate who lives in Tucson, as calling the watchdog groups "paramilitary vigilantes 'driven by hate.'"

Hispanics in U.S. Are Deeply Split Over Bush Policy
By Miriam Jordan, The Wall Street Journal, Dateline Los Angeles, January 29, 2004
       A poll of Latinos living in the United States conducted by the New California Media, an association of ethnic news outlets, found that 45 percent supported President Bush's immigration reform plan; 45 percent opposed it; 10 percent had no opinion.
       The poll, which took place January 20 and January 26 was conducted among 800 documented and undocumented Hispanics.

Mexican Immigrants Shape U.S. Politics
By Laura Wides, The Associated Press, Dateline Los Angeles, January 22, 2004
       Mexican immigrant groups in the United States are increasing their political clout, according to this article.
       Wides writes: "Many U.S.-based immigrant rights organizations and even Mexican-American organizations have long been politically active. But the hometown groups and larger organizations called federations, which represent people from entire Mexican states, differ because many of the members are first-generation immigrants and many are not U.S. citizens."
       The immigrant groups are commanding attention both in the United States and in Mexico. Recently, a delegation of Mexican governors met for the first time with the leaders of these groups in Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas. A Southern California federation of Hispanic immigrants helped organize a one-day work stoppage throughout California to protest the repeal of a state law permitting illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses.
       An estimated 9.9 million Mexican immigrants were living in the United States in 2002, and, by sending money home, pumped between $12 billion and $14.5 billion into the Mexican economy.

The Migration Economy
By Scott Johnson and Joseph Contreras, Newsweek International, January 19 issue
       The ranks of foreigners holding jobs in North America, Western Europe and the Gulf is rising significantly, according to this article.
       "Some 1.3 million immigrants settle in the United States annually, an estimated one third of them illegally. More important the money these migrants are remitting to their home countries is skyrocketing. Last year total remittances reached an estimated $100 billion, a jump of about 15 percent over 2002," Johnson and Contreras write.
      For example, the 20-million strong Indian diaspora sent back to India almost $15 billion last year. Mexicans working in the United States sent back home some $14.5 billion last year.
       "Some economists tout remittances as the developing world's most reliable and broadly based source of financing -- effectively a new form of foreign aid," the authors write. "In some low-income countries, remittances can account for up to 15 percent of annual gross domestic product."
       But other analysts, Johnson and Contreras write, "worry that developing countries may be too dependent on the munificence of their expatriate population. Some may postpone the implementation of vitally important economic reforms."

An Exercise in Self-Deception
By Douglas S. Massey, Newsweek International, January 19 issue
       In this article, Douglas Massey, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University, argues that market integration (such as the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1994) makes international migration more, rather than less, likely.
       Massey argues that increased border security -- "militarizing the border," as he calls it -- has not lowered the numbers of illegal immigrants entering the United States but reduced the likelihood of their return home. Using Mexicans (who comprise more than a third of all foreigners in the United States) as an example, Massey writes: "Once they have run the gauntlet at the border, Mexicans are loath to do it again, so they hunker down, work hard and arrange for the entry of family members still abroad."

Backers Say Bush Plan Goes Beyond Immigration: Attention Turns to Mexico's Corrupt Immigration Policy
By Ken Bensinger, The Washington Times, Dateline Mexico City, January 15, 2004
       Increasing international pressure on border security is pushing the Mexican government to reconsider its own immigration and border policies, according to this article.
       Bensinger writes that Mexico -- because of its relatively lax immigration policy, corrupt law enforcement, relative economic stability and long border with the United States -- has long been "a magnet for migrants" from Central America, South America and even China. Mexico's border with Guatemala, Bensinger writes, has been "a virtual turnstile" for illegal immigrants hoping to reach the United States.
       Things are changing, however. Mexico has no formal quotas on how many immigrants it accepts. But according to Mexico's National Institute of Migration, Mexico has recently deported twice as many illegal immigrants as it has accepted legal immigrant entries. About 90 percent of those deported came from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
       The Mexican government is also increasing border security by installing along its Guatemala border gamma-ray detectors capable of scanning vehicles for illegal cargo.
       Mexico has started issuing difficult to forge "laser" visas to Central Americans and will, this fall, install sophisticated document scanners at all points of entry.
       An attempt is also being made to root out corrupt law enforcement officers who routinely take bribes from illegal immigrants trying to enter Mexico.

The Struggle to Support Faraway Families
By Danna Harman, The Christian Science Monitor, Dateline Hialeah, Florida, January 14, 2004
       Remittances -- the money sent back home by legal and illegal immigrants working in the United States -- are an important source of capital for the home counties and fostering societal changes, this article says.
       For many recipient countries in Latin America, remittances count for more than 10 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Remittances to Nicaragua account for 30 percent of that country's GDP.
       Harman writes: "Across the U.S., about 42 percent of the approximately 6 million immigrants -- legal and illegal -- from Latin America and the Caribbean dispatch remittances home on a regular basis. Their individual generosities, according to new statistics released by the Pew Hispanic Center (which bills itself as a non-partisan research organization) added up to about $30 billion in 2002.... Close to half of the men and women sending remittances make less than $30,000 a year, according to the study -- and many make much less."
       Deborah Waller Meyers, a policy analyst who researches the issue of remittances at the Migration Policy Institute of Washington, D.C., says the pattern seems to be that a family will put together the funds to send another family member to the United States to work and send back money until still another family member can join or replace the one in the United States.
       Meyers is quoted as saying: "It's not good, in the long run, for the sending country to become so economically dependent. And it's probably not good for that individual either."
       Margarita Studemeister, associate director of the Pew Hispanic Center, is quoted as saying: "Those who benefited from the remittance channel are far more likely to consider coming to the U.S. and sending back remittances themselves. It's a cycle that does not seem to be abating."
       Terry McCoy, professor of Latin American studies at the University of Florida, says the trend is creating "transnational extended families." He is quoted as saying: "Family ties in Latin America are very strong, only now you increasingly see such family ties stretched out between different countries.... But let no one underestimate the bottom line, which is that transnational family life can require a great deal of sacrifice."
       See the Pew study, Remittance Senders and Receivers: Tracking the Transnational Channels.

Lowering the Cost of Remittances
White House Fact Sheet on Presidential Action, January 13, 2004
       The White House issued a fact sheet outlining the Bush administration's efforts to help reduce the cost of remittances, which play a vital role in the economic life of the Western Hemisphere. Remittances are money transfers that immigrants send home to their countries of origin, usually to help support family members.
       Increasingly, experts have come to recognize the potential of remittances as a development tool in the region. "Remittances represent the largest source of foreign capital for many of the poorest countries in the hemisphere and account for more than 10 percent of GDP [gross domestic product] in six countries (Nicaragua, Haiti, Guyana, El Salvador, Jamaica and Honduras)," the White House noted.
       See the full text of the fact sheet.

Up to Y600bn Illegally Earned Sent Out Yearly by Foreigners
Nikkei Keizai Shimbun, Inc., Dateline Tokyo, December 12, 2003
       According to a report released by the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute Inc., a private think-tank, as much as 600 billion yen (about U.S. $5.6 billion) is sent out of Japan each year by illegal immigrants working illegally or through criminal activity.
       There are an estimated 285,000 illegal aliens working in Japan, this report says. Using unlicensed underground banks, they send an average of 2.13 million yen (about U.S. $1.9 million) each year to other countries.

Mortgage Plan Open to Illegal Immigrants; 35 Banks, FDIC Seek to Ease Loans
By Oscar Avila, Chicago Tribune, December 10, 2003
       About 35 banks are coordinating a plan to provide immigrants in Chicago greater access to loans, including a plan to offer mortgage loans to illegal immigrants.
       Michael Frias, community affairs officer for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in Chicago, is quoted as saying: "A home might be the ultimate dream, as with any other family. The important thing is that they have access. There might be some criticism, but immigration issues are not our purview."
       Avila writes: "The Mexican consul general in Chicago, Carlos Manuel Sada, worked with the FDIC to create an unusual collaboration six months ago among leading financial institutions -- including Bank One, Citibank, Harris Bank and Fifth Third -- that normally are fierce competitors for every dollar."
       This New Alliance Task Force, although agreeing to help craft the mortgage blueprint, is not committing its members to offer mortgage to illegal immigrants.
       Mark T. Doyle, chief executive and chairman of Second Federal Savings is quoted as saying that taking such loans involves added risk because the loans cannot be sold to secondary lenders; the banks must keep the loans in their own portfolios, and, to protect themselves, will charge higher interest rates.
       Avila notes that banks are increasingly reaching out to immigrants, writing: "Since 2001, local banks have opened about 50,000 accounts without requiring a Social Security number, presumably to immigrants. The accounts total about $100 million, with the average account containing about $2,000."

Wrong Numbers: Social Security Doesn't Match Up
By Eduardo Porter, The Wall Street Journal, November 28, 2003
       The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) is trying to distribute some $374 billion in unallocated Social Security contributions, but its efforts may be pushing some illegal immigrants out of their jobs, according to this report.
       SSA has been sending out "no match" letter to employers to notify them of incorrect Social Security numbers on their payrolls.
       According to a report by the University of Chicago and several immigrants-rights groups, the SSA letters haven't successfully identified very many of the owners of the misallocated funds. What happens instead is that many employers simply fire the workers targeted by the no-match letter. Some illegal immigrant workers simply quit after learning of the letters out of fear that immigration authorities will come after them.

Study Shows Montana Hurt by Illegal Aliens in Census Count
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Helena, October 24, 2003
       California and North Carolina each gained a seat in the House of Representatives because of their rising populations of illegal immigrants, which are counted by the federal census.
       Thats the finding of a recent study done by the Center of Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C. think tanks that supports tougher restrictions on immigration.
       The study also concludes that illegal immigrants -- even though they can't vote -- are reshaping presidential elections. That's because the Electoral College is based on state congressional delegations, and the size of each are based on a state's population.

Statement of John M. Morganelli
District Attorney, Northampton County, Pennsylvania
Capitol Hill Hearing: "Local Enforcement of Immigration Laws"
House Judiciary Committee
Immigration, Border Security and Claims Subcommittee
October 1, 2003
       In his prepared testimony, District Attorney Morganelli argues that "illegal immigration is having an extremely negative impact upon America at many levels."
       Morganelli notes: "Unfortunately, the majority of illegal aliens who are here are engaged in criminal activity. Identity theft, use of fraudulent social security numbers and green cards, tax evasion, driving without licenses represent some of the crimes that are engaged in by the majority of illegal aliens on a daily basis merely to maintain and hide their illegal status." According to Morganelli, identity theft, fraud and the use of false identification "is causing havoc with record-keeping systems including but not limited to Social Security, income tax and other compilation of data that we have routinely relied upon for accuracy and identity verification."
       "In addition, violent crime and drug distribution and possession is also prevalent among illegal aliens," he says. "Over 25 percent of today's federal prison population are illegal aliens."
       Estimates are that in Pennsylvania alone there are between 100,000 and 200,000 illegal immigrants. The direct cost to taxpayers as a result of the criminal acts committed by illegal aliens "are staggering," Morganelli says. In Pennsylvania, in fiscal year 1999, incarceration expenses for about 196,676 days of detention for illegal aliens in state and local jails and prisons came to $13,350,000," he says.
       See the full text.

Remittances Are Mexico's Biggest Source of Income, Says Fox
By Luis Alonso Lugo, Associated Press Newswires, Dateline New York, September 24, 2003
       Mexico's biggest source of foreign income is the money it gets from Mexicans working in the United States, says Mexican President Vicente Fox.
       Fox is quoted as saying: remittances "are our biggest source of foreign income, bigger than oil, tourism or foreign investment.... The 20 million Mexicans in the United States generate a gross product that is slightly higher than the $600 billion generated by Mexicans in Mexico."
       So far in 2003, Mexicans sent home a record $12 billion.
       Fox made his comments September 24 to reporters after meeting with Mexican-American businessmen.

Cocklebed Gangs Held in New Mass Raid
By Andrew Norfolk, The Times, August 7, 2003
       British police and government officials are cracking down on unlicensed cockle-pickers and nabbing "benefit cheats" along with illegal immigrants in the process.
       Thirty-seven suspected Chinese illegal immigrants were detained and 14 of them have been given deportation papers.
       Recently 200 British law enforcement raided River Dee's estuary at Thurstaston on The Wirral, a coastal site in northwest England, where unlicensed teams of up to 800 pickers work the beaches. Hundreds of people attempted to flee, but most were detained for identity checks.
       Harvesting the shellfish can earn up to 1,200 British pounds (U.S. $1,935) per day.
       Roy Paul, regional fraud operations manager for the Department of Work and Pension, is quoted as saying: "This activity is a scourge on genuine cockle-pickers who have licences, and it costs taxpayers thousands of pounds in illegally claimed benefits."

Wave of Immigrants Breaks Against Italian Island's Shore
By Frank Bruni, The New York Times, Dateline Lampedusa, Italy, July 11, 2003
       Lampedusa is a tiny Italian island just 12 miles square located 70 miles north east from Africa. Its resident population is just 6,000, but in 2002, the island was flooded with some 6,350 illegal immigrants from Africa. So far this year, 4,200 illegal immigrants have reached its shores.
       This story describes how the islanders try to deal with the human deluge, which begins as soon as the weather seems conducive to the hundreds of tiny boats carrying desperate illegal immigrants trying to reach Italy and the other developed countries of the European Union.
       Italian authorities say hundreds die in the crossing attempt, but only a small fraction of the bodies are recovered.

Just Whose Problems Are They?
By Dana Wilkie, California Journal, July 1, 2003
       This story is a long feature discussing the fate of SCAAP -- the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, passed in 1994 by the U.S. Congress to provide federal funds to help pay state and local costs for incarcerating criminal aliens.
       According to this article, the Bush administration is hoping to reduce or eliminate the program.
       Some interesting statistics cited in this piece: Nationally, illegal aliens make up 12.4 percent of the inmates in state prisons; nationwide, states, counties and cities pay an estimated $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion each year to incarcerate illegal immigrants; states with the largest illegal immigrant populations are California, New York, Texas, Florida, Arizona and New Jersey; California is home to some 2.3 million of the nation's estimated 5.8 million illegal immigrants; California expects to spend $574 million this year to incarcerate 14,492 illegal alien criminals; in Los Angeles County, nearly one out of every four prisoners is an illegal immigrant; Los Angeles County spent $90 million last year to incarcerate 4,000 criminal aliens.

Migration Station; For Sub-Saharan Immigrants, the Spanish Enclave of Ceuta is a Gateway of Hope for a Better Life
By Sara B. Miller, The Christian Science Monitor, Dateline Ceuta, Spain, June 26, 2003
       This feature story discusses the difficulties Ceuta, a Spanish town of 70,000 located on the northernmost tip of Morocco across from Gibraltar, is having with a flood of illegal immigrants.
       Last year, more than 76,000 illegal immigrants tried to enter Ceuta. Those from Morocco, with which Spain has a repatriation agreement, were turned away. But those from countries that have not signed a readmission agreement with Spain cannot be turned away until their asylum cases are heard. About 400 illegal immigrants are housed in Ceuta's Temporary Stay Center for Immigrants at a cost of $6,000 per day. Another 400 are in the city's streets. Shopkeepers have taken to closing an hour earlier to mitigate the problems of loitering and theft.
       Most of the illegal immigrants come from sub-Saharan Africa. But others, with mafia help, come from countries as far away as Iraq and China.
       Ceuta is located just eight miles from mainland Spain, which apprehended 16,000 illegal immigrants last year. The Association of Moroccan Workers in Madrid estimates that 3,000 illegal immigrants died in the last five years trying to reach mainland Spain in wooden boats.

Los Angeles County Weights Cost of Illegal Immigration
By Charlie LeDuff, The New York Times, Dateline Los Angeles, May 21, 2003
       Facing large budget shortfalls, officials in Los Angeles County are looking at the taxpayer burden imposed by illegal immigrants.
       Los Angeles County is home to an estimated 1.1 million illegal immigrants; their health care costs are estimated at $350 million.
       Required by law to provide medical care for uninsured people, the county's health system is the largest safety net for the uninsured in the nation. According to this article, more than 2.5 million people receive treatment in Los Angeles County each year, including some 800,000 illegal immigrants.
       Illegal immigrants, according to this article, also place financial burdens on the county's education and law enforcement services. While the number of illegal immigrant children in the public school system is impossible to determine, the county sheriff, Lee Baca, is quoted as saying that one quarter of the inmates housed in the county's jails are illegal immigrants.

Aid Helps "Reduce Migration Pressures"
By Frances Williams, Financial Times, April 30, 2003
       A study recently completed by the International Organization for Migration says money spent by the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands to control illegal immigration would be better spent in the countries of origin to keep the migrants home.
       According to the study, budgets for immigration law enforcement costs the aforementioned countries two-thirds of what they spend on overseas aid.
       See: Bordering on Control: A Comparison of Measures to Combat Irregular Migration in North America and Europe IOM Research Series No. 13.

Illegal Immigrants' Detention Policy Changed; Ashcroft Allows Them to Be Held Indefinitely if Deemed Security Risk
By Lyle Denniston, The Boston Globe, Dateline Washington, April 25, 2003
and
Ashcroft Says National Security Concerns Can Keep Aliens in Detention
By Suzanne Gamboa, The Associated Press, Dateline Washington, April 24, 2003
       Attorney General John Ashcroft has ruled that illegal immigrants may be held in detention indefinitely if the U.S. government decides they could pose a national security risk.
       Ashcroft's ruling is the outgrowth of a case involving Daniel Joseph, a Haitian youth who arrived by boat in Biscayne Bay, Florida, October 29, 2002, along with 215 illegal immigrants from Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
       See: Interim Decision #3488, In re D-J-, Respondent, Decided April 17, 2003

Fort Huachuca Commander: Illegal Immigrants Taxing Base Resources
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Sierra Vista, Arizona, March 25, 2003
       Illegal immigrants are damaging environmentally sensitive lands and taxing resources at the Army post of Fort Huachuca, according to Garrison Commander Colonel Lawrence Portouw.
       The Huachuca Mountains next to the fort are attracting increasing numbers of illegal immigrants. The Army post's police force has had to recruit the help of the Arkansas Army National Guard to deal with the growing problem.

Foreign Born Population at Record High, Though Growth Rate Slows
By Genaro C. Armas, The Associated Press, Dateline Washington, March 9, 2003
       The foreign-born population in the United States has reached a record high -- about 32.5 million as of March 2002, according to a Census Bureau estimate. Foreign-born persons represent about 11.5 percent of the total 282.1 million U.S. population.
       A faltering U.S. economy and the repercussions of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks may have reduced the influx of the foreign-born. About 1.2 million people arrived in the United States during the 12 months ending March 2002; 2.4. million the previous year.
       See the Census Bureau's report, The Foreign-Born Population in the United States: March 2002 (P20-539)

Indiana Sees Big Jump in Illegal Immigration
The Associated Press, February 24, 2003
       Illegal immigrants in the state of Indiana have increased by more than 300 percent in the 1990s -- three times faster than the national average.
       Federal officials say the increase is driven mostly by Hispanics looking for agricultural jobs.
       Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky have shown similar increases in illegal immigrants. Nationally, the number of illegal immigrants is estimated to be some 7 million.

Immigration Epiphany
By Georgie Anne Geyer, The Washington Times, February 20, 2003
       James Ziglar, who served as the commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service from August 2001 to November 2002, has had an "epiphany" about U.S. attitudes on immigration, according to columnist Geyer.
       He is quoted as saying that "Americans can't make up their minds on immigrations.... For now, the public dialogue is being driven by the extremes of right and left. We've got the xenophobes vs. the open door."
       Ziglar is now a resident fellow at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government's Institute of Politics, where he plans to focus on immigration issues. One of his concerns is the lack of citizenship training, both in the public schools and in immigration preparation, which, he said, has led to "isolated communities and isolated ethnic enclaves, and nobody breaks out into the larger community."
       "But if you devalue citizenship, then assimilation does not happen," he said, "and that is not going to change until there's a value placed upon citizenship and until we get to the place where there is democratic assimilation and people know our history, our civics, our language."
       Another of his concerns is the increasing number of illegal immigrants entering the United States -- some 800,000 each year, according to figures compiled by the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Public and Elites Differ Sharply on Immigration; Poll: People Deeply Anxious, While Nation's Leaders Remain Unconcerned
U.S. Newswire, Inc., Dateline Washington, December 16, 2002
       There is a huge gap between the American public and opinion leaders (the "elite") on the issue of immigration, according to a study recently released by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).
       The backgrounder, "Elite vs. Public Opinion: An Examination of Divergent Views on Immigration," is based on interviews conducted May through July this year with 2,800 "ordinary Americans" and 400 "opinion leaders," including members of Congress, the Bush administration, church leaders, business executives, union leaders, journalists, and leaders of major interest groups.
       The study found that 60 percent of ordinary Americans regard the present level of immigration to be a "critical threat to the vital interests of the United States," compared to only 14 percent of the opinion leaders.
       On the issue of illegal immigration, the study found that 70 percent of the public said that reducing the flow of illegal immigrants should be "very important"; only 22 percent of the elite shared that view.
       See the full CIS Report, Elite vs. Public Opinion: An Examination of Divergent Views on Immigration

Pounds 50M Crime Wars
By Lucy Panton, News Group Newspapers Ltd., November 24, 2002
       The police war on ethnic crime gangs has already cost British taxpayers more than 50 million pounds (US$77,600,000).
       These ethnic gangs, writes Panton, are "top heavy with bogus asylum seekers" and are fighting each other in violent turf wars.
       For example, more established Chinese triads in London are extending their operations into Manchester and Nottingham. Most of their earnings come from gambling, protection rackets and human trafficking. But they are now facing competition from gangs made up of illegal immigrants from China's Fujian province.
       Other violent ethnic gangs in England are: Jamaicans, Albanians, Turks and Kurds, Bangladeshis, and Colombians.

Immigrants Face Controls on Cash They Send Home
By Susan Sachs, New York Times, November 12, 2002
       The U.S. government is imposing strict new controls on companies that transfer money for immigrants.
       Anyone who sends money overseas must present valid identification and be checked against lists of suspected money launderers and terrorists maintained by the federal Office of Foreign Assets Control.
       According to this article, immigrant workers send $30 billion ($30,000 million) to relatives back home each year. In New York State alone, money transfer companies handled an average of 160,000 transactions each day. Studies done by the Inter-American Development Bank estimate that the remittance market generates some $2.4 billion ($2,400 million) in fees each year.
       Sachs reports: "Some immigrants, though, do worry that closer government scrutiny of money transfer companies could mean that the Immigration and Naturalization Service might track them down."

Barbarians from the North
By Joe Cochrane and Adam Piore, with Peter Janssen in Jakarta, Marites Vitug in Manila and Brian Calvert and Khieu Kola in Phnom Penh, Newsweek, October 28, 2002
       Culture clash is creating tensions between newly arrived Chinese and established Chinese living in Asia-Pacific nations, according to this report.
       A number of the newcomers are illegal immigrants who buy package tours to places like the Philippines, Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam and Thailand and never return to China. Others have fueled a lucrative business in human smuggling. Those smuggled often turn to prostitution or other illegal labor to pay back their smugglers while supporting themselves. "It's fed a boom in Southeast Asian organized crime," this article says.
       In the Philippines, 70 percent of some 300 illegal immigrants arrested in the past three years for narcotics dealing have been Chinese nationals. Established Chinese fear the newcomers will create hostilities in their adopted countries that will eventually endanger them.
       Teresita Ang See, a leader in the Philippines' Chinese community, is quoted as saying: "They (the newcomer and illegal immigrant Chinese) resent us for separating ourselves from them. We resent them, too, because of their illegal activities. Our sense of belonging is already to the Philippines compared to these newcomers, whose loyalties are still to China."

Corrections Says Imprisoned Illegal Immigrants Cost Millions
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Salt Lake City, October 8, 2002
       Corrections officials in Utah say increasing amounts of state funds are going to detain illegal immigrants.
       According to this report, the Utah State Prison spent $5.7 million in 2001 to house 237 people who entered the United States illegally and then committed felonies. So far for 2002, 164 criminal illegal immigrants have been prosecuted in Utah for entering the United States illegally for a second time and committing new felony offenses.

Smugglers Tempting Indian Reservation Residents with Cash
The Associated Press, August 12, 2002
and
Smuggling in Drugs, Immigrants Fuel Corruption on Arizona Reservation
By Tim Steller, The Arizona Daily Star, August 12, 2002
       People and drug smugglers are increasingly tempting the Native Americans of the Tohono O'odham Nation, according to these reports.
       "Smugglers are willing to pay locals for stashing illegal entrants or drug loads in their houses, for driving people or drugs across the border or into the interior, and for spying," Steller writes.
       Even some children have dropped out of school to join the smugglers' payrolls as spies.
       Seventeen thousand Tohono O'odham residents live on a vast reservation in Arizona, which has a 75-mile-long border with Mexico. Unemployment on the reservation runs about 25 percent. It is among the most active areas in Arizona for illegal border crossing.
       U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal entrants doubled in the first six months of this year, rising from 34,522 to 60,270.
       "In the first nine months of this fiscal year," Steller writes, "U.S. Customs Service agents working on the Nation have seized more marijuana than in all of the last fiscal year, 94,956 pounds compared with 76,285 pounds last year."

Fraud, Overpayments in Nation's Unemployment Insurance System Growing
By Leigh Strope, The Associated Press, June 11, 2002
       Overpayments or fraudulent claims made up about 8 percent of the $30 million in unemployment benefits paid last year, according to Labor Department officials who testified to a House Ways and Means subcommittee June 11.
       Strope writes: "An audit conducted in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas revealed that nearly 3,000 claims totaling about $3.2 million were paid to people using Social Security numbers that did not exist or belonged to dead people. Illegal aliens filed a large portion of those claims."
       For more specifics on the involvement of illegal aliens, see the June 11 testimony of Siguard R. Nilsen, Director, Education Workforce and Income Security Issues, U.S. General Accounting Office, before the Subcommittee on Human Resources, Committee on Ways and Means.

The Light at the End of the Chunnel
By Peter Landesman, The New York Times Magazine, April 14, 2002
       This long feature article describes the efforts of refugees to enter England from France using the high-speed trains running the Channel Tunnel, or "Chunnel."
       "Of the world's 12 million refugees," Landesman writes, "about half a million apply for asylum in Europe each year, and more than a fifth of those do so in Britain, which has a well-deserved reputation among the world's dispossessed as the nation that best cushions asylum seekers."
       That is about to change, however, as the British government seeks to tighten up its procedures for handling "clandestine entrants." Most future refugees will be housed in guarded detention centers for however long it takes to determine their asylum applications. Forced repatriation may become more common, according to Landesman.
       The immigrants have changed life dramatically in Sangatte, France, where they congregate at a French Red Cross camp before taking their chances as stowaways on the Chunnel trains. "Since the refugees showed up, tourists have all but stopped coming," Landesman writes. In Dover, England, where many of the immigrants jump the train to be willingly apprehended by local officials, the residents regard them as "homeless vagrants."
       Of the 50,000 refugees the Sangatte camp has housed in the last three years, about 85 percent actually made it to England, according to the French Red Cross. The refugees risk death by electrocution, crushing, and high winds of up to 185 miles per hour. Since January 2001, there have been hundreds of injuries and seven officially documented deaths.