Articles

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/25/opinion/wilkinson-jobs-immigration/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
I agree with Amy M. WIlkinson, I think that a lot of people who could generate jobs are being shut down. People want to come to this country to start a business, which would be great for the country, but they are being told they can't. In my opinion, the number of immigrants , or immigrant born children that have started up successful businesses in the US is high.
The case about he Stanford graduate was pretty interesting. Sometimes I think that people who were't bon in this country have more motivation. Maybe because we had it easy since we were born, we don't push ourselves as hard sometimes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/business/jeno-paulucci-a-pioneer-of-ready-made-ethnic-foods-dies-at-93.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=ethnic&st=cse
This article was my favorite. I love reading stories about people who started off with nothing, then became very successful. Coming from Italian immigrant parents, Jeno Pauluci borrowed the $2,500 to start off from a friend and he would also borrow the space to make the food. About 20 years later, he sold his company for $63 million. After selling it, he started another one up which sold for $163 million.

Chapter 17

What has changed and what has stayed the same in American immigration since 1986?

The increase volume of immigration has stayed the same, its sources and the incompetence of the INS. What has changed is the attitude towards immigration and the eventual reflection of those changes towards immigration law.

In the 2000 census, what percentage of the population was foreign born? How does that compare to the historical numbers? (Hint: check the tables in this chapter and in chapter 6.)

According to the 2000 census, the largest numbers of immigrants came what regions? Where did most settle? What were their education achievements and income?

About 39.9 percent of foreign born settled in western states. Two thirds of 25 year olds and older were high school graduates.

Why is the data so misleading when the census data on immigrants is lumped together?

              Data is so misleading because when it is lumped together it is meaningless. Only when you focus on a particular group or individual it can be more accurate.

What does Daniels say the responsible historian must try to do?

Daniels says, “The responsible historian must try to balance, somehow, these extremes and arrive at a reasonable estimate of immigrant status and expectations.

Who are "nonimmigrant" immigrants?

Nonimmigrants are “temporary immigrants” who enter the United States on different kinds of visas. Between 1991 and 1998, most of the temporary immigrants came from Japan, UK, Mexico and Germany. Those temporary immigrants include temporary employees, workers and trainees, and those with specialty occupations.

Who do experts think comprise the major portion of the illegal immigrants?

Experts believe that the major portion of illegal immigrants are persons who entered as nonimmigrants.

What is the longstanding discrimination against Mexican as opposed to Canadian border crossers?

Canadians can enter the US without restrictions for up to 6 months without a visa. Mexicans have to apply for a border crossing card. This card allows them to come in to the US for up to 72 hours and stay within a 25 mile radius of the border.

Why are the governments estimates of the number of illegal immigrants so unreliable?

The governments estimates of illegal immigrants are so unreliable because they are guesses and there is always lost or missing data.

If we accept the governments numbers, what, in Daniel's opinion, are the vast majority of the 1.8% of the U.S. population that is undocumented?

            If we accept the governments numbers, the vast majority of the 1.8% of the US undocumented population is  hardworking, exploited toilers doing necessary jobs and not in any way a treat to the republic.

Alabama Immigration Law

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20111117/NEWS/111119590

MONTGOMERY | Legislative leaders may be at odds with some rank-and-file senators over changing the state’s controversial illegal immigration law.

The Republican-controlled Legislature passed the law this spring. The law took effect in September amid protests from civil rights groups that contend the new law is unconstitutional and unduly harsh on Hispanic residents. But the law has also elicited complaints from businesses, law enforcement and government officials and other citizens because of its burdensome regulatory requirements, and that has some GOP senators contemplating changes.

Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville, said he is working with a few other senators to modify the law without weakening it.

“If we have made some mistakes, which I have done, we need to correct them and move on,” Dial said.

Dial said he wants to try to make sure that people renewing their professional licenses and people buying car tags only have to prove their legal residency in Alabama once rather than every year. Dial, a former teacher and coach, said he would also like to take out the part of the law that requires schools to check the legal residency of new students, but he doubts there is enough support for removing that part of the law. That provision has also been put on hold by the federal courts. He also wants to remove a “good Samaritan” clause that would protect people who help others in distress, even if they’re illegally in the country.

Another Republican senator working with Dial, Montgomery car dealer Dick Brewbaker, said the documents needed to buy a vehicle and these documents needed to get a tag aren’t the same in the law and that they should be.

“It’s clearly crazy and causing a lot of confusion for people who just moved into the state,” he said.

The bill’s House sponsor, Republican Micky Hammon of Decatur, said he wants to clarify that all military IDs are acceptable for proving legal residency, but he’s opposed to major changes.

“We will discuss tweaking some definitions and making the law more user-friendly, but we will not weaken the bill,” Hammon said Wednesday.

Making even minor changes may be difficult when the Legislature convenes in February. Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh said he would consider only changes recommended by Attorney General Luther Strange, who is defending the law against legal challenges by the U.S. Justice Department and others.

“If (Strange) comes forward and says this is an issue, we’ll address it, but until that happens that’s not an issue in my opinion for the next legislative session,” Marsh said.

Dial said he and the other senators open to changes have not had a chance to discuss specifics with Marsh.

Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, said he believes the law can be modified without weakening it.

“There are people, probate judges, revenue commissioners across the state, who have expressed concerns about getting things done, like licenses,” Allen said.

Republican Gov. Robert Bentley has already called for simplifying the law, which sponsors say was adopted to force the federal government to enforce its immigration laws.

Bentley press secretary Jennifer Ardis said Bentley has proposed nothing specific yet. “The governor has said that the essence of the law will not change — (if) you live and work in Alabama, you must do so legally,” she said.

House Speaker Mike Hubbard of Auburn said he’s open to minor changes, such as making sure military IDs can be used to buy car tags. “Obviously that was never intended to not be allowed,” he said.

Joining Dial in pushing for changes is Sen. Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills. Waggoner on Tuesday became the new Senate Rules Committee chairman, replacing Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, who was removed partly because of the controversy surrounding his involvement as a witness in the bingo gambling trial and comments he has made.

Beason was co-author of the immigration law, which has triggered protests, lawsuits and a Department of Justice investigation of potential civil rights violations.

Democratic Sen. Billy Beasley has written legislation to repeal the law. Beasley, who voted against the law in June, said Wednesday that the negative national exposure the law has brought to Alabama is evidence that it is mean-spirited and discriminatory against Hispanics.

“What we’ve done is tell the Hispanics we don’t want you in Alabama. Legal Hispanics are leaving as well as illegals,” he said.

The chief executive of Alabama’s state pension system, David Bronner, said last week that other states competing with Alabama for foreign-owned industries are using the law to portray Alabama as an unfriendly place.

Hubbard and Marsh disputed that at their news conference Wednesday. “I’ve talked to our industrial recruiters, and it’s not been an issue for them,” the speaker said.

But in an interview later, Thomasville Mayor Sheldon Day said it is. He said officials from about 25 foreign companies have visited the southwest Alabama town to consider possible plant sites since Thomasville recruited a Canadian steel company in July 2010.

“Up until a few months ago, nobody raised the immigration issue,” he said. But in the last few months, he said it’s brought up regularly because he believes competing states are mentioning it in their negotiations and trying to portray Alabama as unwelcoming to foreigners even though that is not the truth. From the questions he gets from industrial prospects, he also suspects competing states are recounting stories from Alabama’s civil rights past.

“It’s bringing back old images from 40 or 50 year ago,” he said.

In Montgomery on Tuesday, 13 people who said they were undocumented immigrants and were protesting the state law were arrested on misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges after blocking a street or refusing to leave the State House when it closed.

A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, Temple Black, was asked whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement has become involved in the case and will pursue civil deportation.

“ICE has not lodged detainers at this time,” Black said. “ICE will follow routine procedures to determine if anyone in the group is subject to removal and assess where they lie on the list of ICE civil enforcement priorities.”

An attorney for those arrested, Mike Winter, said ICE has 48 hours to determine whether it will issue detainers.

An Illinois congressman on Wednesday said that several members of Congress will be in Alabama on Monday to lend their voices to an attempt to repeal the law. U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, is among those scheduled to attend a news conference at 2 p.m. at Birmingham City Hall.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.


I didn't know much about this law before reading about it. I can see why they want to make changes to the immigration laws. It would cost a lot of money for people to have to prove that they are citizens every year. It doesn't happen often that people have their citizenship taken away so I agree that it's not necessary to check every year. 
Also, I wonder what they were planning on doing with children that were here illegally. If they were planning on deporting them even if their parents were here legally. 
In my opinion all this law is doing is having people move around. People are going to move to the states that don't have immigration laws yet. Like Democratic Sen. Billy Beasley, they don't want hispanics. I guess it doesn't matter if they are immigrants or not. 

Caribbeans, Central Americans, and Soviet Jews

Some of the things I found interesting in this chapter were:

Break down of incomes of Hispanics. Cubans median income was $27,290, Mexicans $19,970 and Puerto Ricans were at $15,190. I was surprised because the numbers are so far apart from each other. Since there are not very many Cubans or Puerto Ricans in this area, its hard to see what kinds of jobs they hold that are so different.

Half of the one million Cubans that were in the United States were all in Dade County in Florida. In 1980, the population of Dade County was 1.6 million.

From 1966 to 1976, more that a million Dominicans entered the US, and just over 15 thousand applied for amnesty (1986).

The president of El Salvador asked the US not to deport Salvadorans because the money they were sending back to their country was more important than American foreign aid.

Less Nicaraguans have left their country than any other in Central American and they are the only ones with a Marxist government. (most from Guatemala and El Salvador.)

US government has put pressure on the Soviet government to let its people go.

The New Asian Immigrants

•             What three things does Daniels say brought about a change in attitude towards Asian immigrants?

Daniels said that there was a positive change towards Chinese because China was an ally. The first change in law in 1943, Asian American senators providing help in Washington, and also because they were a model minority.

•             What characteristics have led to Asian Americans being called the model minority?

Some of the characteristics that lead Asian Americans being called model minority was that they were younger than the average American, had fewer children and were less likely to be in jail and more likely to have a higher education.

•             What are ABCs and FOBs and who are the "silent" Chinese of San Francisco?

The ABCs and the FOBs are the kind of Chinese that Chinese speak. ABCs is spoken by American born Chinese and FOBs is spoken by fresh-off-the-boat recent immigrants.

•             What are the three distinct increments of Filipino immigration?

The first increment of Filipinos came shortly after the annexation of the Philippines in 1898. Most of them were students. Some came with government support and some came without. The second increment came in the 1920s and early 1930s. Mostly farm workers came and did the same kinds of jobs that Chinese and Japanese had developed. The third and current immigration of Filipinos came after 1965. Mostly educated professionals and entrepreneurs and more women than men.

•             What profession niche do recent Filipino immigrants dominate and why?

Most immigrant Filipino have been nurses and other medical personnel. One of the reasons is that since 1970, the 50 nursing schools in the Philippines have graduated 2,000 nurses a year, so every year about 20 percent of them have come to the United States. Also, Filipino nurses were willing to work long uncomfortable hours demanded by hospitals, so they instantly got the job.

•             Who were the Koreans who came before the 1965 immigration act?

Koreans that came before 1965 were the war brides married to service men, peace corps volunteers and other American Citizen.

•             What was the total number of Vietnamese War refugees and their children, and what nationalities are included?

               The total number of Vietnamese War refugees and their children was 1.25 million. The nationalities included were Vietnamese, Laotians and Kampucheans.