Thursday, May 3, 2007

News briefs on Immigration

* Political commentator Lou Dobbs latest diatribe against immigrants (and a lame one at that)- choosing May Day as the date for pro-immigrant marches.

* Presidential candidate Bill Richardson and Texas officials join a growing list of politicos that have raised doubts over added fences along the U.S.-Mexico border.

* U.S. immigration officials gave an extension to the Temporary Protection Status for another 18 months; the measure affects citizens of Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

* Oops! A case of mistaken identity led to the deportation of a legal immigrant from El Paso, Texas to Guatemala.

* Here’s an interesting statistic- according to U.S immigration authorities there’s been a 20% increase in the amount of deportations in 2007 compared to last year.


Links- International Herald Tribune, The Latin Americanist, Guardian UK, El Paso Times, USA TODAY

Image- University of San Diego

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What Mr. Dobbs fails to mention is that May Day is mostly an international labor day. It was no solely confined to the Soviet Union as Latin America (not only Cuba) celebrates the dayas el Dia del Trabajador. As a side note, the NY Times mentioned May 1st as a "Cuban holiday". Yet again, a mis-informed journalist!

Erwin C. said...

Not only that, but Law Day (May 1st) was originally established as a response to the post-World War II "red scare."

All in all, it's irrelevant to debate the date of pro-immigrant marches. Which is why I was suprised that Dobbs would argue on that basis. (Not that I agree with him most of the time, but I've read more coherent and rational arguements from him before).