Immigration Amnesty

The proposed immigration amnesty would benefit the 12 to 20 million undocumented aliens (illegal immigrants) currently living in the United States. An amnesty for illegal aliens forgives their acts of illegal immigration and implicitly forgives other related illegal acts such as driving and working with false documents. The result of an amnesty is that large numbers of foreigners who illegally gained entry into the United States are rewarded with legal status (Green Card) for breaking immigration laws.

The United States has granted amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants through different amnesty and laws. Before the first amnesty in 1986, amnesty was only given on a case by cases basis. Amnesty was never given to a large group of individuals. The first (and supposedly one-time only) amnesty in 1986 gave about 2.8 million illegal immigrations the opportunity to change their status through the Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA). 

THE PROPOSED IMMIGRATION REFORM AND AMNESTY WILL INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

• Secure our borders:Obama and Biden want to preserve the integrity of our borders. They support additional personnel, infrastructure, and technology on the border and at our ports of entry.
   
• Improve our Immigration System:Obama and Biden believe we must fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill.
   
• Bring people out of the shadows:Obama and Biden support a system that requires undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.

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President Barack Obama"We are not going to ship back 12 million people, we're not going to do it as a practical matter. We would have to take all our law enforcement that we have available and we would have to use it and put people on buses, and rip families apart, and that's not who we are, that's not what America is about. So what I've proposed... is you say we're going to bring these folks out of the shadows. We're going to make them pay a fine, they are going to have to learn English, they are going to have to go to the back of the line...but they will have a pathway to citizenship over the course of 10 years."

 

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• Create Secure Borders
  Obama and Biden want to preserve the integrity of our borders. He supports additional personnel, infrastructure and technology on the border and at our ports of entry.
   
• Improve Our Immigration System
  Obama and Biden believe we must fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill.
   
• Remove Incentives to Enter Illegally
  Obama and Biden will remove incentives to enter the country illegally by cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants.
   
• Bring People Out of the Shadows
  Obama and Biden support a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.
   
• Work with Mexico
  Obama and Biden believe we need to do more to promote economic development in Mexico to decrease illegal immigration.
   

Article from: http://www.usamnesty.org/

Did President Obama Grant Amnesty to Illegal Immigrants Without Congress?

Congress hasn’t passed immigration legislation, but that hasn’t stopped President Obama from issuing directives that grant amnesty to illegal immigrants.

Last week, the Obama Administration issued the latest in a line of policy directives granting amnesty by default. This latest directive instructs Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials not to enforce immigration laws in cases where an illegal alien is the primary provider for any minor child—regardless of the child’s immigration status—or the parent or guardian of a child who is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident.

In a statement about the new directive, House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte (R–VA) declared:

President Obama has once again abused his authority and unilaterally refused to enforce our current immigration laws by directing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to stop removing broad categories of unlawful immigrants.

In June of last year, the Obama Administration’s Department of Homeland Security issued a memorandum telling U.S. immigration officials how they should “enforce the Nation’s immigration laws against certain young people who were brought to this country as children and know only this country as home.” The move essentially served to implement major portions of the DREAM Act—which has been introduced and failed in Congress more than 30 times—by executive fiat.

Efforts to preserve and protect families are important considerations when it comes to immigration reform. Heritage has often argued that “strong families are priceless, providing an abundance of benefits to both adults and children and creating the bonds of strong societies.” Any such effort, however, should be not only compassionate but also fair and respectful of the rule of law. As we’ve said before:

A proper solution would uphold the principles of immigration reform and not open the door to a blanket amnesty. Finding an actual solution through the legislative process would give the law legitimacy and more permanency, and it might even result in a bipartisan agreement.… In our system of government, Congress is the legislative branch and is responsible for making the laws. Presidents are supposed to “faithfully execute” the laws to the best of their ability, not reshape them to suit their own policy goals.

Instead, fixing America’s broken immigration system requires a more thoughtful approach. Neither sweeping executive action nor a massive, do-it-all-at-once bill offers truly meaningful reform. In fact, any path that promises amnesty would only make matters worse.

There is a better way forward—a practical, fair, and responsible path to address the nation’s broken borders and immigration mess. If only Congress and the Administration would listen.

Article found: https://www.askheritage.org/did-president-obama-grant-amnesty-to-illegal-immigrants-without-congress/

Digital Storytelling: A man who Was once an illlegal immigrants - Frank's Story

This is a short Storytelling which I personally made. I hope you enjoy it and I would like to have some feedback from you. Is based on a true story.

This digital storytelling is about an Italian man who arrived in the United States illegally and made a new life in NYC, escaping from a bad economic situation in Italy in the 1960s. The storytelling reflects upon a man’s choice but also the challenge he had to face. Also it helps for a personal reflection on immigration, which is still occurring nowadays in US. The educational idea is to understand the feelings and emotions that the main character had to go through in his life experience.
This storytelling can be used in classrooms either for teaching part of Italian-American history in terms of immigration in the US or giving some ideas about how some individuals react to circumstances and life's opportunities.

New York Times Promoting Benefits for City’s Illegal Aliens

In a previous column, AIM outlined how The New York Times was agitating on behalf of environmental causes. Championing progressive causes is nothing new for the Times, but it doesn’t stop at climate change. In the article, “New York City Council Expected to Approve 2 Plans Aiding Immigrants,” Kirk Semple signaled the Times’ wholehearted approval of plans which would greatly expand immigrant rights within the City of New York. Immigrant, in this case, is a code word for “undocumented,” or “illegal aliens.”

This “long-sought initiative” wherein all New Yorkers, “including those without legal immigration status,” will come before the City Council for a vote next week, Semple reported on June 26. (The initiatives were approved, according to CBS and Newsday.) “Undocumented immigrants could use the cards as proof of residence, and to check out library books, sign leases and open bank accounts, among other benefits,” writes Semple. What could possibly go wrong?

CBS New York notes that Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he will sign the bill, and reports that there are an estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants in the city. “Critics say the cards would permit benefits to people who shouldn’t be in the country,” reports CBS New York. If only the Times could have covered the other side of the story, as CBS did. Newsday notes that “some supporters [of the program] had lingering concerns about security against fraud.” At least that latter concern got some mention by the Times.

The City Council was considering a measure that would “earmark $4.9 million toprovide a lawyer for every poor, foreign-born New Yorker who has been detained by immigration authorities and is facing deportation,” reported Semple in 2013.Upon passage, “The city is the first jurisdiction in the nation to provide public legal defenders at no charge to illegal aliens who are facing deportation,” CNS News informs its readers.

In Semple’s 2013 piece, he focused on the “New York Immigrant Family Unity Project” (NYIFUP) and quoted a professor who believes, “At its core, it’s a justice issue” that those who get deported get representation. “Mr. Leyva had no legal relief from deportation, Mr. Markowitz explained, and to prolong his case would have meant postponing the inevitable, at great cost to the government and to Mr. Leyva,” reported Semple about a “poor immigrant” who voluntarily went back to Mexico.

What about covering the reasons that Mr. Leyva was being returned to Mexico? He is described as a poor immigrant, not an illegal immigrant, and no crime is mentioned. Readers are left in the lurch as to the federal government’s motives for deporting him—apparently to make Mr. Leyva into a sympathetic character.

And Semple seems to have a habit of reporting favorably about the NYIFUP.

But explaining our border security problems really wasn’t on Semple’s mind then, and certainly isn’t now.  Instead of reporting in a measured way about the merits and demerits of these programs, he only highlighted the reputational benefits: “Taken together, the measures, which officials said were expected to pass, would further cement New York’s reputation as one of the most accommodating places in the world for immigrants,” he wrote. Semple quoted from those in favor of the programs—and those who promoted them—but no one who criticized them.

This wasn’t journalism by The New York Times; this was a press release about these initiatives before they passed.

Article from this link: 

http://www.aim.org/on-target-blog/new-york-times-promoting-benefits-for-citys-illegal-aliens/

Video: Deportee Purgatory

Migration in Tijuana is directly linked to its privileged geographic location, because the city neighbours California. 45% of immigrants that used to cross into the US, did so through Tijuana.

For many years there was a fence filled with holes that was very easy to cross, of course. In the past, people would be deported, and they would be back in the US the next day, because the border wasn't so protected.

However things began to change after 1994, when the US began to implement a series of operations across the border, with the goal of diverting the immigration flow to the mountainous and desert areas.

Tijuana is now a city that only receives deportees. People no longer come from the south to cross the border, because the immigration policies have become more stringent. 9/11 brought about an atmosphere of increased security at the border. The border was seen as an issue of national security. The recession generated a very high unemployment rate and because of this economic uncertainty, immigrants were stigmatized and seen as the cause of unemployment.

Raids and deportations began to increase. In the end, the immigrants became the scapegoat for this economic situation. In Tijuana they have no job opportunities, no IDs, nobody hires them. They're Mexican citizens, but they're undocumented in Tijuana. In Tijuana the majority of deportees end up settling in the areas near the border wall.

In the are known as "El Bordo," roughly 4,000 people live in slums, in miserable conditions. When the migrants arrive, they're in state of anxiety, destitution, and desperation. And the possibility of getting into drugs is very high. For the migrants that live in El Bordo, the drugs are right there. El bordo is Tijuana river canalization. Before it was a canal it was like a small town where people would gather before crossing into US.

The canal is in the northern part of the city, close to downtown Tijuana. In the entire length of the canal, which is very long, live about 2,500 to 3,000 people. Two years ago they started building houses with cardboard or whatever they could find. But the police comes and burns down the houses and all of their belongings. The guys call these houses "nongos."

Documentary found on this website:
 http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/

Video: This (Illegal) American Life - Part 1/2 and Part 2/2

Part 1/2  

Part 2/2

  

From a small town in Oaxaca, Mexico, and from a kitchen table in East Los Angeles, from a flophouse in a coastal farming town, to a strip-mall in Phoenix, Arizona, these are snapshots of illegal immigration in America. It's estimated that as many as 12 million people are living in United States illegally, but this story is about just two.

An American lit major named Ilse, and a strawberry picker named Filemon. They know that many do not want them here. But for different reasons they're staying. Their lives are testaments to both the power of the American dream and the absolute failure of America's immigration policies.

23 year old Ilse Escobar grew up in Los Angeles and remembers well her first visit to the UCLA campus. In many ways Ilse is a typical American college student, but in one important way Ilse is very different. Ilse's family crossed the border from Mexico into the United States when she was just 3 years old. She's considered an illegal immigrant in the only country she's ever known.

Ilse is one of approximately 200 undocumented students at UCLA. Despite their illegal status the state of California allows these students to attend its public universities, but in just a few short months Ilse will graduate into a country that can be far less tolerant. News clips provide a regular reminder of how some Americans feel.

Ilse and her peers may be unafraid, emboldened and in some ways protected by their status as students at one of the country's top schools, but just 40 miles up the coast things are very different. Oxnard, California is home to both some of the richest farmland in America and an illegal immigrant population that is anything but eager to speak its name or show its face.

The farm workers weren't talking nor did their employers want them to. Undocumented workers in Oxnard live in the shadows. At the end of their shifts they retreat from the fields to immigrant friendly neighborhoods where they often live in flophouses, trailers or dormitory styled residences. They believe there's safety in numbers.

No one knows exactly what percentage of farm workers in Oxnard are there illegally. Nationally, undocumented workers are estimated to make up as much as 70% of the agricultural workforce. The workers pick for some of the biggest brands in the produce industry. In Oxnard one crop is king. More strawberries are grown there than anywhere else in California. A state that produces 88% of this country's strawberries, and every one of them is picked by hand.

Strawberry fields are among the most backbreaking to harvest. Workers spend long days hunched over, their skin covered to protect against both the sun and pesticides. A fruits of their labor yield a state's produce industry an estimated $2 billion a year. Filemon was the only undocumented farm worker who seemed willing to speak in front of the camera.

Not far from the strawberry fields, there is a neighborhood in south Oxnard, which from the street looks like a typical working class suburb, but in fact it's overpopulated with undocumented farm workers who live in awful conditions.

Documentary found on this website: 
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/

Naturalization Aliens Immigrants Pathfinder New York State

Naturalization is the act of granting the full legal rights and privileges possessed by native-born individuals to someone born in another country. Legal jurisdiction over naturalization has changed repeatedly since the colonial period and records documenting the process are found in various locations.  Knowing approximately when the naturalization took place is one key to locating records.  In some cases, knowing the likely location where the naturalization took place is also very helpful.

This pathfinder will direct you to the best sources for records of naturalizations that took place in New York from the British colonial period to the present. Follow the timeline to the era in which you believe the naturalization in which you are interested may have taken place.

Naturalization records in New York Colony and New York State from 1664 - Present

                      

Between 1664 and 1777 in New York Colony:

Until 1708, denization was employed in New York to grant foreign-born persons (aliens) some, but not all rights of native-born individuals. See Kenneth Scott and Kenn Stryker-Rodda comps., Denizations, Naturalizations, and Oaths of Allegiance in Colonial New York (Baltimore: 1975). Widely available in public and university libraries in the U.S., this book contains data abstracted from various archival and published sources, including two record series in the New York State Archives: Record of Deeds (series A0453) and Letters Patent (series 12943). The citation from Scott is required in order to access records in these series.

Colonial laws naturalizing aliens, either collectively (1683, 1715) or individually (1718 and after) are found in Colonial Laws of New York, 5 vols. (Albany: 1894). This publication is widely available in public and university libraries in the U.S. Relevant laws are indexed in Scott et. al., Denizations, Naturalizations, and Oaths of Allegiance in Colonial New York Colonial New York. 

                  

                       

Between 1777 and 1790 in New York State:

A small number of legislative acts of naturalization can be found in Laws of the State of New York [1777-1800], 4 vols. (Albany: 1886-87). This publication is widely available in public and university libraries in the U.S. No unified name index exists.

   

                        

Between 1790 and 1906 in New York State:

Since implementation of the U.S. Constitution in 1789 and passage of the first federal naturalization law (1790), naturalizations have been performed in both federal courts and state courts (acting as agents of the federal government). Records of naturalizations performed in all state courts (except for the Supreme Court and the Court of Chancery before July 1, 1847) are filed in the county clerk’s office in the county where the court was located. Although no statewide index to records in county clerks' offices exists, several county clerks' offices have posted online indexes to naturalization records in their own possession. For an online directory of county websites, visit the NYS Association of Counties website.

*See Naturalization Records in the NYS Archives below for information regarding fragmentary naturalization records from the Supreme Court and Court of Chancery prior to 1847.

The National Archives at New York City holds petitions for and records of naturalization filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York (Buffalo) during the period 1903-1966 AND petitions for and records of naturalization filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York (Utica) during the period 1821-1855, 1906. Indexes to both are available. Contact:

National Archives at New York City
One Bowling Green, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10004
Toll-free 866-840-1752
Email: newyork.archives@nara.gov
Indexes to certain records are available online for free or through subscription                                                     
                      

Between 1792 and 1906 in New York City Only:

he National Archives at New York City holds petitions for and records of naturalization filed in federal, state, and local courts located within the boundaries of the present five boroughs.  A soundex index is available on microfilm. Contact:
National Archives at New York City
One Bowling Green, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10004
Toll-free 866-840-1752
Email: newyork.archives@nara.gov.
Indexes to certain records are available online for free or through subscription.
      
                     

...After September 26, 1906 in New York State:

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service), now a bureau within the Department of Homeland Security, holds duplicate copies of naturalization documents. Contact:
USCIS
425 I ("Eye") Street, NW
Washington, DC 20536
Email: Immigration.Reply@dhs.gov
Records of most naturalizations performed after this date are also found in the county clerks' offices (if done in state court) or at the National Archives at New York City (if done in federal court).
Although no statewide index to records in county clerks' offices exists, several county clerks' offices have posted online indexes to naturalization records in their own possession. For an online directory of county websites, visit the NYS Association of Counties website.
Indexes to certain records at the National Archives at New York City are available online for free or through subscription.
Or contact:
National Archives at New York City
One Bowling Green, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10004
Toll-free 866-840-1752
Email: newyork.archives@nara.gov

                      

New York Naturalization Records Microfilmed and Digitized by FamilySearch:

FamilySearch (formerly Genealogical Society of Utah) has microfilmed many older New York naturalization records in custody of county clerks’ offices and the National Archives-New York City. Most of these records pre-date the mid-twentieth century. Available microfilm is listed in FamilySearch’s Family History Library Catalog. Microfilm may be examined at the FamilySearch Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah and may also be accessed through a worldwide network of FamilySearch centers. For help in locating the FamilySearch center nearest you, visit the Family History Center webpage.
FamilySearch has also digitized most microfilmed New York naturalization records. Images may be searched or browsed by visiting the FamilySearch website.

                       

Today in New York State:

Almost all naturalizations are currently performed in the U.S. District Courts.  Records of these recent naturalizations are in custody of the U.S. District Court clerks. To find a federal district court and for current contact information, visit the Federal Judiciary website.

SOURCE OF THIS INFORMATION ARE AT THIS LINK: 
http://www.archives.nysed.gov/a/research/res_tools_nysa_path_nat.shtml

NYS - Immigrant Action Fund

A very interesting and professional website formed to help the New York Immigration Coalition and its member organizations achieve the goal of justice for immigrants.

Visit the website using this link: http://nysiaf.org/

Undocumented immigrants in New York could become 'state citizens' under new bill

Advocates are set to introduce the measure that would allow immigrants who aren't U.S. citizens to become New York State citizens with driver's licenses, voting rights, Medicaid and other benefits controlled by the state. Undocumented immigrants in New York could become “state citizens” with a slew of benefits from driver’s licenses to voting rights under a bill to be introduced Monday. Advocates are set to announce the measure that would allow immigrants who aren’t U.S. citizens to become New York State citizens if they can prove they’ve lived and paid taxes in the state for three years and pledge to uphold New York laws — regardless of whether they’re in the country legally. The state bill, which would apply to about 2.7 million New Yorkers, will face long odds in Albany, where even more modest immigration reforms have failed to pass. People who secured state citizenship would be able to vote in state and local elections and run for state office. They could get a driver’s license, a professional license, Medicaid and other benefits controlled by the state. Immigrants would also be eligible for in-state tuition and financial aid. The legislation would not grant legal authorization to work or change any other regulations governed by federal law. “Obviously this is not something that’s going to pass immediately, but nothing as broad as this or as bold as this passes immediately,” said Sen. Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx), the sponsor in the state Senate.

 The source of this article can be found at this link:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/citizens-n-y-u-s-article-1.1830866

Video: The Worst Job In New York: Immigrant America

Milking cows is a dirty, monotonous job, and as we found out in our latest episode of Immigrant America, it's not a job many unemployed Americans are willing to do. But for some reason the government doesn't give dairy farms a way to recruit foreign workers legally, so most feel forced to hire illegal immigrants. This makes the farms and their workers easy targets for immigration authorities looking to fill deportation quotas. We went to upstate New York to try to understand the cat and mouse game going on between dairy farms and immigration authorities. We found a lot of wasted taxpayer money, racial profiling, and a broken system that unnecessarily treats family farmers and hardworking immigrants like criminals.

Video: Ellis Island - History of Immigration to the United States (1890-1920) - Award Winning Documentary

This documentary covers the single largest migration of immigrants to the United States of America through Ellis Island between 1890 and 1920.

It is the story of Ellis Island and the American immigration experience. This film is a tribute to the 18 million men, women and children who made the torturous journey from the Old to the New World between 1890 and 1920, in the single largest migration in human history. The film radically tells the immigrants' stories as they braved the unknown, from the time they left their homelands, their journey across the ocean, to the moment the doors of Ellis Island opened, revealing the great promise of America.

About the immigration to the USA (until 1930)
The history of immigration to the United States is a continuing story of peoples from more populated continents, particularly Europe and also Africa and Asia, crossing oceans to the new land. Historians do not treat the first indigenous settlers as immigrants. Starting around 1600 British and other Europeans settled primarily on the east coast. Later Africans were brought as slaves. During the nation's history, the growing country experienced successive waves of immigration which rose and fell over time, particularly from Europe, with the cost of transoceanic transportation sometimes paid by travelers becoming indentured servants after their arrival in the New World. At other times, immigration rules became more restrictive. With the ending of numerical restrictions in 1965 and the advent of cheap air travel immigration has increased from Asia and Latin America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_...
American immigration history can be viewed in four epochs: the colonial period, the mid-19th century, the start of the 20th century, and post-1965. Each period brought distinct national groups, races and ethnicities to the United States. During the 17th century, approximately 175,000 Englishmen migrated to Colonial America. Over half of all European immigrants to Colonial America during the 17th and 18th centuries arrived as indentured servants. The mid-19th century saw mainly an influx from northern Europe; the early 20th-century mainly from Southern and Eastern Europe; post-1965 mostly from Latin America and Asia.

Historians estimate that fewer than one million immigrants - perhaps as few as 400,000 - crossed the Atlantic during the 17th and 18th centuries. The 1790 Act limited naturalization to "free white persons"; it was expanded to include blacks in the 1860s and Asians in the 1950s. In the early years of the United States, immigration was fewer than 8,000 people a year, including French refugees from the slave revolt in Haiti. After 1820, immigration gradually increased. From 1836 to 1914, over 30 million Europeans migrated to the United States. The death rate on these transatlantic voyages was high, during which one in seven travelers died. In 1875, the nation passed its first immigration law, the Page Act of 1875.

The peak year of European immigration was in 1907, when 1,285,349 persons entered the country. By 1910, 13.5 million immigrants were living in the United States. In 1921, the Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, followed by the Immigration Act of 1924. The 1924 Act was aimed at further restricting the Southern and Eastern Europeans, especially Jews, Italians, and Slavs, who had begun to enter the country in large numbers beginning in the 1890s. Most of the European refugees fleeing the Nazis and World War II were barred from coming to the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigrat...

About the Americanization
Americanization is the process of an immigrant to the United States of America becoming a person who shares American values, beliefs and customs and is assimilated into American society. This process typically involves learning English and adjusting to American culture, and customs, while keeping the old foods and religion.
The Americanization movement was a nationwide organized effort in the 1910s to bring millions of recent immigrants into the American cultural system. 30+ states passed laws requiring Americanization programs. The movement climaxed during World War I, as eligible young immigrant men were drafted into the Army, and the nation made every effort to integrate the European ethnic groups into the national identity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American...)

Island of Hope, Island of Tears (1989)

Video: The Way They Lived - Italian immigrants in New York - Early 1900's

Photos of Italian immigrants to New York. Early 1900's. Life in the tenements.

Video: New York State's Path Through History | Immigration

New York State's Path Through History looks at immigration in the Empire State. Visit http://bit.ly/10dc5A5for more on New York's Path Through History.

Video: Study Says Immigrants Help New York Economy and Quality of Life

A new study examined rising immigration rates and neighborhood police reports between 1990 and 2010. Researchers said New York's economy and quality of life improved greatly during that period.

Video: Guess who employs the most illegal immigrants

A new report by the New York Times reveals that the US government is using illegal immigrants detained in detention centers as cheap labor. Sometimes they pay them $1 a day, sometimes not at all. The work is only supposed to benefit the detention centers, but meanwhile immigrants are being used to package meals for prisoners at other jails. Detractors are calling it a hypocritical, unlawful practice that bends many rules on the book. The Resident discusses.