Fewer migrants mean more benefits

As immigration enforcement takes hold, jobs begin to open up to less-skilled Americans.

By Mark Krikorian
September 24, 2007

Immigration hawks have been on a winning streak lately. An unprecedented surge of public outrage at the prospect of amnesty for illegal immigrants led to the defeat in June of the Senate immigration bill and the probable end of President Bush’s dream for comprehensive immigration reform. And that was merely the latest in a series of victories for supporters of tighter controls, including the Real ID Act of 2005, the Secure Fence Act of 2006, proliferating enforcement efforts at the state and local levels and a new package of modest but meaningful enforcement measures announced last month by the Department of Homeland Security.

What of the results? Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told The Times that “there will be some unhappy consequences for the economy out of doing this.” While the enforcement climate is still too new to show results in government data one way or the other, Chertoff’s prediction doesn’t appear to be playing out. On the contrary, there is extensive anecdotal evidence that enforcement is actually having its desired effects: More illegal aliens are going home, leading to improved conditions for American workers and communities.

The first consequence of stepped-up enforcement is attrition of the illegal population — a steady decrease in the total number of illegal aliens as more people give up and go home. Attrition is the real alternative to amnesty, and we’re seeing it work.

The Arizona Republic ran a story last month explaining how migrants were leaving the state in anticipation of tough new immigration rules. Public radio station WBUR in Boston reported that “in the midst of the debate about immigrants coming to America, something unusual is happening in Massachusetts: Brazilian immigrants are quietly packing up and leaving.” And the Chicago Tribune, reporting on the Pennsylvania town at the forefront of the resistance to illegal immigration, has written that “over the summer, when Hazleton officials created the nation’s first ordinance aimed at driving away undocumented residents, thousands of people apparently packed up and left.”

Far from having “unhappy consequences,” these developments are improving the economic bargaining power of less-skilled American workers. The Rocky Mountain News reported that in Greeley, Colo., “the line of applicants hoping to fill jobs vacated by undocumented workers taken away by immigration agents at the Swift & Co. meat-processing plant . . . was out the door.” New England Cable News reported that only after a raid on a plant making leather goods for the military in New Bedford, Mass., were Americans and legal immigrants able to get hired. As one new employee said of the raid: “In a way, you know, it’s sad, and then in a way it’s good because at least it gives people that were not employed for so many years . . . a break to be able to work and support their families.”

When illegal aliens were removed from a Crider Poultry plant in Stillmore, Ga., the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Wall Street Journal documented the benefits to local workers. The plant raised wages significantly, began offering free shuttles from nearby towns and provided free rooms in a company-owned dormitory. For the first time, Crider sought applicants from the state unemployment office and began hiring probationers and men from a local homeless mission. And, as the Journal noted, “for the first time since significant numbers of Latinos began arriving in Stillmore in the late 1990s, the plant’s processing lines were made up predominantly of African Americans.”

Better enforcement doesn’t result only in economic improvements. While there is an ongoing scholarly debate about the overall crime rates of immigrants versus the native-born, there’s no doubt that tougher enforcement has had a notable effect on gang activity. In an upcoming study, my Center for Immigration Studies reports that using immigration law against gangs has helped bring about a 39% drop in gang activity in the Washington suburb of Fairfax County, and Dallas police report a 20% drop in the murder rate as a result of the same initiative.

Of course, the consequence of uncontrolled immigration that most ordinary Americans see is what political scientist Peter Skerry calls “social disorder.” Hazleton offers a good example: While cleaning graffiti from her building, a local locksmith told the Tribune that “about the same time the ordinance passed, the whole tone of the street changed. Virtually overnight, it was a totally different place.”

As recent enforcement victories are sustained and expanded, we can begin to document the benefits in other areas: less stress on hospital emergency rooms, less-crowded classrooms, slower growth in government social spending. But the results we’ve seen so far are clear: We can get illegal aliens to return home, and doing so will improve conditions in American communities. Why didn’t we start doing this a long time ago?
Read the rest here

Mark Krikorian is executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that supports tighter controls on immigration.

FAST FACT: The U.S. population growth rate is now the highest among developed countries and exceeds that of China.
China (growth rate in 2007=.606) and link to United States (growth rate in 2007=.894)

Thank you Nathan Deal!

Bill would eliminate birthright citizenship

HR 1940 would end the practice of granting automatic citizenship to the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens. Nearly every other country, including all members of the European Union, requires that at least one parent be a citizen or permanent resident for a child to automatically become a citizen.
The Birthright Citizenship Act of 2007, by Representative Nathan Deal (R-GA), would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate birthright citizenship.

Our current policy results in over 300,000 additional citizens from anchor babies each year. The demographic impact is far greater because their families stay and bring in additional relatives. Anchor babies are eligible to sponsor their illegal alien parents and other relatives when they turn 21. Moreover, taxpayers pick up the tab for the medical costs and subsequent welfare outlays because of the child’s citizenship status.

To learn more and to take action, click here.

“Mexicans without borders” – 1,980,000 items on Google

HERE

Gang members convicted of racketeering, murder
Territory included Gwinnett, DeKalb, Fulton
By JEFFRY SCOTT
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Five members of a street gang that operated in three metro counties for more than a decade committing robberies, carjackings, selling drugs and dispensing death in gang warfare were convicted Thursday in federal court in Atlanta of racketeering and violent crimes.

The reputed leader of the SUR-13 gang, Armando “Charra” Prudente, 34, and two others — Roberto “Charrita” Sandoval, 25, and Jorge “Shadow” Flores, 28 — were convicted of murdering Rogelio Guzman in an April 24, 1999, drive-by shooting outside a Happy Shop convenience store on South Norcross Tucker Road in Gwinnett County.

According to evidence presented at trial, Prudente ordered a drive-by shooting in the territory of rival gang Brownside Locos after members of that gang had fired shots at a SUR-13 hangout. Guzman, 23, who was not a member of a gang, was chosen as a target because of the car he was driving: a low-rider, old model Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

Another member of the gang, Israel “Mananitas” Cruz, 29, was convicted of the December 13, 2003, murder of Florentino Marcial, 21, after a fight broke out between rival gangs at a party in an apartment complex on Lindbergh Drive in Atlanta.

According to testimony at trial, after exchanging insults and obscenities with a member of the rival gang, Cruz pulled out a handgun and started firing into the crowd. Marcial, who wasn’t a gang member, was shot in the back as he ran, killing him instantly.

Ricardo “Kiwi” Gama, 29, was convicted of racketeering and being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm.

United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said the 2005 indictment of the gang, which operates in Gwinnett, DeKalb and Fulton counties, “broke the leadership structure of SUR-13. Today’s convictions should also have a chilling effect on persons who join gangs and commit such heinous crimes.”

The sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 19. Prudente, Sandoval, Cruz and Flores are expected to be sentenced to life in prison. Gama could receive a maximum sentence of 20 years and a fine up to $750,000.

Read the rest here.

Sep 9, 2007
Britain halts immigration

By Patrick Hennessy – LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

LONDON — Tens of thousands of immigrant workers will be forced to learn English before they are allowed into Britain under a plan Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to announce tomorrow in a speech to the Trades Union Congress in Brighton, informed sources revealed yesterday.

The rules, expected to reduce the number of people entering Britain by at least 35,000 a year, will affect those from countries outside the European Union who are seeking to work and settle permanently in Britain.

“Those who we welcome into the UK to work and settle here need to understand our traditions and feel that they are part of our shared national culture,” Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said. “They need to integrate into our country, learn English and use our language.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE…I wonder if Jerry has seen this?

CLEAR Act denies funds to sanctuary cities!

HR 3494, introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), would implement a system for identifying and removing violent criminal illegal immigrants and would deny certain federal funds to “sanctuary cities” that protect violent criminal aliens.

This legislation would:
• Require DHS to take an alien into custody within 48 hours

• Affirm that state and local law enforcement officials have existing authority to assist in enforcing immigration law during the course of their routine duties.

• Deny State Criminal Alien Assistance Program funding to “sanctuary cities” that refuse to assist with immigration enforcement.

To learn more and to take action, click here.

ICE: Tab to remove illegal residents would approach $100 billion

WASHINGTON (CNN) — It would cost at least $94 billion to find, detain and remove all 12 million people believed to be staying illegally in the United States, the federal government estimated Wednesday.

Day laborers, who identified themselves as illegal immigrants, talk to a potential employer in Dallas, Texas.

Julie Myers, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, gave the figure during a hearing before a Senate committee Wednesday.

She acknowledged it was based on “very rough calculations.”

An ICE spokesman later said the $94 billion did not include the cost of finding illegal immigrants, nor court costs — dollar amounts that are largely unknowable.

He said the amount was calculated by multiplying the estimated 12 million people by the average cost of detaining people for a day: $97. That was multiplied by the average length of detention: 32 days.

ICE officials also considered transportation costs, which average $1,000 per person. MORE

This from the AJC….you may want a hankie to dry your tears.

Hispanic businesses feel the squeeze
Crackdown on illegal immigration partly blamed for sudden halt in sales

By AIXA M. PASCUAL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/14/07

Customers at Valeria Espinosa’s variety store just browse the CD racks and the T-shirts on the wall. More and more, they decide against an impulse purchase.

They are wiring money home to Mexico and Central America less often, too.

Her sales are down by about 40 percent for the past two months.

“They don’t splurge on themselves,” Espinosa, who emigrated from Argentina six years ago, says in Spanish.

Espinosa’s shop on Powder Springs Road in Marietta is not the only one hurting. Many businesses that cater to Hispanics are seeing a slowdown in sales. The crackdown on illegal immigrants, Espinosa says, “also hurts those of us who have papers.”

And the fallout has spread far beyond car dealers, which immediately felt the impact from a law that went into effect on July 1 requiring a Georgia driver’s license or ID card to get a car tag. It’s affecting bakeries, insurance peddlers, banks, food manufacturers, supermarkets, restaurants and other businesses.

Why the slowdown in spending?

Tougher state and local laws that affect illegal immigrants and the lack of resolution over their status after the proposed immigration reform collapsed in Washington earlier this year have left many saving money, spending less and wondering what will happen next.

Add to this a slowdown in the housing market, which affects the job stability of a portion of the Hispanic work force in Georgia.

“This is like a double whammy,” says UGA demographer Douglas Bachtel, who studies the Hispanic population. “Whenever there’s anything new, there’s fear and uncertainty, especially with the immigration status.”

Nearly half of the Hispanic population in Georgia is undocumented, Bachtel explains. The census estimates there are 700,000 Hispanics in Georgia, but Bachtel says Hispanics are way undercounted.

“It’s affecting all businesses,” says Neil Moreno, who sells car insurance in a storefront next to Espinosa.

His business, which dropped by about 30 percent in July and August, now consists mostly of renewing auto insurance policies, not selling new ones. He can’t afford to replace his assistant. On a recent morning, close to noon, he sat at his desk waiting for clients.

“This is dead,” says Moreno, who is from Puerto Rico. “It’s terrible. The phone’s not ringing.”

Just talking to a sampling of merchants suggests many definitely are feeling the pain:

• Banuestra, a Roswell-based bank with 12 branches in metro Atlanta, has seen its monthly revenue growth slow down to 10 percent from 35 percent earlier in the year, says chairman and CEO Drew Edwards. His clientele consists of about 23,000 Hispanic customers.

• Food manufacturer La Preferida, whose clients are predominantly small grocery stores that target Hispanic consumers, is having a tougher time selling its products. “[Consumers] get the basic stuff, like black beans and rice,” says merchandiser Victor Ramirez, who drives across the state, offering more attractive sales promotions nowadays on his merchandise. “But they are buying less and not purchasing non-essentials like cookies and candy.”

• Mexican restaurant Mexico Lindo in Smyrna has seen a big decline in business during the weekends, when the clientele is mostly Hispanic, says owner Jorge Echeverry. He’s also seen a decline in the non-Hispanic customers. To attract business, he’s offering specials and fixing up the bar, upgrading it with 42-inch TV screens.

Spending by Hispanics will grow at a slower rate in the next five years, says Jeffrey Humphreys, a University of Georgia economist. In 2006, Georgia Hispanics spent $12.4 billion, 10th in the nation, according to his research.

A study released last month by the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank found that the percentage of Mexicans in “new destination” states who send remittances regularly to their homeland declined from an average of 80 percent in 2006 to 56 percent this year. “New destination states” are those where immigration from Latin America is most recent, such as Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

States that have long had Hispanic communities, such as New York, Florida and California, showed a tinier fall, from 68 percent last year to 66 percent this year.

In the “new destination” states, about half a million migrants have stopped sending money home, according to the IDB study.

Miami-based public opinion researcher Sergio Bendixen, who carried out the survey, says that the Mexicans in states such as Georgia don’t feel welcome and face an uncertain future.

“They feel alienated. They feel unprotected,” Bendixen says.

His sample of 900 subjects included 100 from Georgia. Interview subjects said they felt abused, exploited and discriminated against. “People in states like Georgia don’t want them there,” Bendixen says.

“They’d never tried to close the doors so much, [as] in the case of the car tag, as they have now,” said Zayda Zavala, 26, as she worked at La Suprema Bakery in Marietta. “People don’t want to drive.”

In Georgia, a new law calls for verification of the status of applicants for public jobs and public benefits and to those thrown in jail for a felony or DUI.

Many people interviewed say fewer illegal immigrants are driving because of fear.

These restrictions come on top of the proposed federal immigration reform — which attempted to offer legal status to most of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. — that stalled earlier this year.

Cobb County has gone further than other municipalities in Georgia in cracking down on illegal immigration. The county sheriff has an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that allows specially trained local jail officers to initiate deportation proceedings for illegal immigrants who are arrested.

“Cobb County has the most anti-immigrant policies in the state right now,” says Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, or GALEO. “Cobb County is going above and beyond to make itself an unfriendly place for immigrants.”

Some illegal immigrants are afraid to drive for fear of being stopped for offenses such as reckless driving and DUI and eventually end up deported.

Some drive back and forth to work, but are afraid to drive to the store.

“If they bring you to jail, we’re going to check your immigration status,” says Col. Don Barlett of the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office.

Of the 198 inmates at the Cobb County Jail interviewed to determine their status through Aug. 31, 142 have detainers which can subject them to deportation. ICE has taken custody of 32 illegal immigrants since the program went into effect at the end of June, says Maj. Janet Prince, one of the program’s supervisors.

Sam Olens, chairman of the Cobb County Commission, says that the county has made efforts to include Hispanics in boards and in the community.

“Our Police Department is strictly enforcing the law,” he says.

Cesar Jimenez, owner of Mercado Real de la Villa grocery store in Marietta, last month bought a used Honda Accord station wagon for $3,500. He’s driving customers from their nearby homes to his store and back. Uncertainty, he says, makes people not buy “homes, cars or travel.”

More people are translating their documents, such as birth certificates issued in their country of birth into English, and applying for passports for their children, says Lorena Beltran, who works at the Cobb office of the Latin American Association.

“The fear is: What happens if I get arrested?” she says at her office inside the Las Colinas apartment complex on Franklin Road in Marietta. “They want to have their documents in order in case anything happens.”

Espinosa, the variety shop owner in Marietta, owns two stores but is thinking of selling the one on Powder Springs Road to make ends meet.

“I want to get ahead, and I can’t.”

Read the entire report here.

Mandatory deportation has illegals on the run
State law limiting benefits looms, an estimated 25,000 take to road

From World Net Daily here.