News briefs - Immigration

There have been many news stories centering on immigration this past week. Here are some of them:

• Mexican President Felipe Calderon has called on U.S. presidential hopefuls to refrain from using Mexicans as “symbolic hostages” for their campaigns.
• Speaking of the presidential candidates, recent anti-immigrant ads have come out from Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, and Tommy Thompson.
• An 8-year-old girl who was kept for 4 days in a Texas detention center was reunited with her mother after both were deported separately to Honduras.
• The father of a U.S.-born son who died as a soldier in Iraq received a 1-year reprieve to stay in the U.S. while his immigration status is decided on.
• Wednesday: U.S. immigration officials announced an expansion of a “biometrics-at-sea” program. Thursday: One Cuban migrant died while trying to reach the Floridian shore.
• New York governor Eliot Spitzer dropped plans to provide driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, San Francisco passed a law permitting illegal immigrants to apply for special ID cards.
• Lastly, in a non-Americas story, an English immigrant was denied entry into New Zealand since he was too fat.

Image- BBC News

Sources- MSNBC, factcheck.org, The Daily Dish, MSNBC – First Read, newsday.com, AHN, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Guardian UK, Associated Press, Gothamist, VivirLatino, New Zealand Herald