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1. CIS video reveals AZ pipeline
2. Obama finds amnesty support
3. U-Visa program reaches limits
4. Mid-Atlantic detention center opens
5. Chinese birth tourism increase

1.
Hidden Cameras Reveal Huge Gaps in Border Security
By Tom Squitieri
Newsmax, July 16, 2010
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/illegal-immigration-hidden-cameras-bord...

Washington, DC -- Hidden cameras have captured a startling stream of illegal immigrants and drug runners traveling freely from Mexico into the United States through federal forest and game preserves in southern Arizona.

The stealth footage is featured in a new video, titled “Hidden Cameras on the Arizona Border 2: Drugs, Guns, and 850 Illegal Aliens,” that the Center for Immigration Studies released Thursday.

Southern Arizona “has become almost a playground for smugglers,” said Janice Kephart, the center’s national security policy director. “Federal lands should be the starting point — not the last point — for border security.”

The video, which runs nearly 10 minutes, features dramatic footage of lines of individuals moving resolutely northward in such areas as the Coronado National Forest and the Casa Grande Sector, just miles north of the Arizona-Mexico border.

Collected from hidden cameras in February and March, the footage — edited for the shorter feature — documents at least 850 illegal immigrants and nine drug couriers. It also reveals ongoing damage to the protected wilderness areas through trash and other destruction.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has said that U.S. policies have resulted in the state’s being ''under attack'' from Mexican drug and immigrant-smuggling cartels. Those at the film's premiere concurred with that assessment.

These people do not come here “to pick tomatoes,” said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, the ranking Republican on the House subcommittee that oversees national parks, forests and public lands. “These are drug smugglers, human traffickers, and terrorists.”

Bishop is pushing legislation that will permit the border patrol and Homeland Security to police the borders in national parks and forests, which is prohibited now.

The law change is “a common-sense, no-brainer for us,” said Bishop, who decried the fact that the House and the Senate have passed language to enact the change — but in different pieces of legislation in which neither side can find a compromise.

“First things first,” Bishop said. “You are never going to be able to move forward for any other type of immigration” reform without securing the border and halting the illegal flow.

The video released Thursday, the second in a series the Center for Immigration Studies has produced, includes a 2004 federal government PowerPoint presentation showing the near-complete devastation of a borderland national park because of illegal immigrant activity.

It also shows a 2001 federal report that details the locations of the illegal trails that immigrants caught on the hidden cameras use — underscoring the federal government’s apparent inaction to combat the illegal flow on pathways still used for criminal purposes.

Obtaining public information and federal documents was a near Quixotic task, Kephart said. It took years to get some of the information, she said, adding that she eventually gave up and went to the border to do the reporting.

The film was released the same day that Florida, Texas, and seven other states filed a brief supporting Arizona's immigration law aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants after the U.S. government sued to block its enforcement.

The states’ filing in a federal court in Phoenix insisted that Arizona's statute does not establish an immigration policy that would interfere with federal law.

“The federal government seeks to negate this pre-existing power of the states to verify a person's immigration status and similarly seeks to reject the assistance that the states can lawfully provide to the federal government,” the states wrote.

The United States sued Arizona on July 6, arguing that immigration is a matter only for federal policy, under the Constitution. The lawsuit seeks an injunction barring Arizona from enforcing the law, which is set to take effect on July 29.

The Arizona law makes it a state crime to be in the United States illegally. It also requires local police officers who come into contact with someone for law enforcement reasons to check that individual's immigration status if they suspect he lacks proper documentation. Alabama, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Virginia joined in supporting Arizona.

In Bishop’s home state of Utah, where state legislators are drafting a bill patterned after the Arizona law, a leaked list of 1,300 Utah residents described as illegal immigrants has sown fear among Hispanics and prompted an investigation into its origins and dissemination.

The center’s first video on the immigration/smuggling issue, entitled “Hidden Cameras on the Arizona Border: Coyotes, Bears, and Trails,” portrays the damage that illegal immigrants and drug smugglers inflict upon wildlife and natural resources as they traverse federally protected lands.

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Hidden cameras reveal immigrant activity near Arizona border
The KNXV News (Phoenix), July 19, 2010
http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/hidden-cameras-reveal-immigrant-activity-

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2.
Obama Gains Evangelical Allies on Immigration
By Laurie Goodstein
The New York Times, July 18, 2010

At a time when the prospects for immigration overhaul seem most dim, supporters have unleashed a secret weapon: a group of influential evangelical Christian leaders.

Normally on the opposite side of political issues backed by the Obama White House, these leaders are aligning with the president to support an overhaul that would include some path to legalization for illegal immigrants already here. They are preaching from pulpits, conducting conference calls with pastors and testifying in Washington — as they did last Wednesday.

“I am a Christian and I am a conservative and I am a Republican, in that order,” said Matthew D. Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, a conservative religious law firm. “There is very little I agree with regarding President Barack Obama. On the other hand, I’m not going to let politicized rhetoric or party affiliation trump my values, and if he’s right on this issue, I will support him on this issue.”

When President Obama gave a major address pushing immigration overhaul this month, he was introduced by a prominent evangelical, the Rev. Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois. Three other evangelical pastors were in the audience, front and center.

Their presence was a testament, in part, to the work of politically active Hispanic evangelical pastors, who have forged friendships with non-Hispanic pastors in recent years while working in coalitions to oppose abortion and same-sex marriage. The Hispanics made a concerted effort to convince their brethren that immigration reform should be a moral and practical priority.

Hispanic storefront churches are popping up in strip malls, and Spanish-speaking congregations are renting space in other churches. Some pastors, like Mr. Hybels, lead churches that include growing numbers of Hispanics. Several evangelical leaders said they were convinced that Hispanics are the key to growth not only for the evangelical movement, but also for the social conservative movement.

“Hispanics are religious, family-oriented, pro-life, entrepreneurial,” said the Rev. Richard D. Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm. “They are hard-wired social conservatives, unless they’re driven away.

“I’ve had some older conservative leaders say: ‘Richard, stop this. You’re going to split the conservative coalition,’ ” Dr. Land continued. “I say it might split the old conservative coalition, but it won’t split the new one. And if the new one is going to be a governing coalition, it’s going to have to have a lot of Hispanics in it. And you don’t get a lot of Hispanics in your coalition by engaging in anti-Hispanic anti-immigration rhetoric.”

Congress is unlikely to pass an immigration law this year. Republicans and Democrats who face re-election in November are skittish about the issue, given the broad public support for Arizona’s new law aiming to crack down on illegal immigration.

The support of evangelical leaders is not yet enough to change the equation. But they could mobilize a potentially large constituency of religious conservatives, an important part of the Republican base better known for lobbying against abortion and same-sex marriage. They already threaten the party’s near unity on immigration.

“These cross-cutting clusters are just splinter groups, so far,” said Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. “Support for the Arizona law is so strong within the G.O.P. that it will be difficult for the comprehensive-immigration-reform evangelicals to have much short-term impact.”

But some evangelical leaders said their latest strategy was to push a handful of lame-duck Republicans to join Democrats — probably after the midterms — to pass an immigration bill on the ground that it is morally right.

Although other religious leaders have long favored immigration overhaul — including Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants, Jews and Muslims — the evangelicals are crucial because they have the relationships and the pull with Republicans.

“My message to Republican leaders,” said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, the president of the evangelical National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and one of the leaders who engaged his non-Hispanic peers, “is if you’re anti-immigration reform, you’re anti-Latino, and if you’re anti-Latino, you are anti-Christian church in America, and you are anti-evangelical.”

About 70 percent of Hispanics in the United States are Catholic, but some 15 percent are evangelicals, and they are far more likely than the Catholics to identify themselves as conservative and Republican.

Evangelicals at the grass-roots level are divided on immigration, just as the nation is. But among the leaders, recent interviews suggest that those in favor of an immigration overhaul are far more vocal and more organized than those who oppose it.

Each side draws on Scripture for support. Those who oppose comprehensive immigration overhaul cite Romans 13, which says to submit to the government’s laws. Supporters cite Leviticus 19: treat the stranger as you would yourself.

Both sides agree that security at the nation’s borders needs to be strengthened. The biggest point of contention is what to do about the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country.

Advocates of a comprehensive new immigration law want to establish a path to citizenship that would allow illegal immigrants to register with the government, pay a fine, undergo a background check, prove they can speak English and only then get in line to apply for permanent legal residency. Those not interested in permanent residency could become legal temporary workers.

Opponents call this approach amnesty. “I think there’s a need to reform the system, but I don’t support amnesty,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative public interest law firm that plans to file an amicus brief in support of Arizona’s immigration law.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/us/politics/19evangelicals.html?_r=2&h...

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3.
U Visa applications on the rise
By Chris Casey
The Greeley Tribune, July 19, 2010

For the first time since federal rules were adopted in 2007, the U Visa program has hit its annual cap of 10,000 visas given to crime victims in a year.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency in charge of the program, made the announcement Thursday. The milestone cap was reached 21/2 months before the end of the fiscal year.

USCIS granted only about half of the statutory allotment since U Visas started being tracked in 2008. In fiscal 2009, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, USCIS approved about 5,800 U Visas to illegal immigrants who were victims of crime.

An illegal immigrant who is a victim of a serious crime is eligible to apply for a U Visa — which offers potential permanent residency — if he or she is willing to help law enforcement officers or other government officials in the investigation or prosecution of those crimes.

“Through the U Visa, USCIS is able to provide crime victims with critical immigration protection, allowing law enforcement officials to protect victims and bring the perpetrators of crimes to justice,” USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. “Through our partnership with both law enforcement and service providers, and through the dedicated work of our staff, we were able to reach — and provide this vital benefit to — thousands of deserving individuals.”

In the first 91/2 months of fiscal 2010, USCIS granted 10,000 U Visas for victims and 7,874 for their family members. In 2009, 5,825 visas were approved for victims and 2,838 for family.

Meanwhile, pending cases are piling up. From October to May of this year, a total of 11,153 U Visa applications are awaiting adjudication.

The rising number of U Visa approvals is no surprise to Jessica Vaughan, public studies director for the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which favors restrictive immigration policies.

“That (increase) would have to be a natural consequence of USCIS and some advocacy groups undertaking a campaign to train attorneys to apply for them and what it takes to get one approved and what law-enforcement agencies are looking for,” Vaughan said. “I think it's fair to call it a promotional campaign.”

Groups such as domestic violence advocacy organizations tend to work closely with legal aid groups, which then put crime victims in touch with attorneys. The U.S. Justice Department annually doles out huge sums to address domestic violence, Vaughan said, and some of that money is used to train organizations and attorneys about U Visas.

USCIS said in its cap announcement that it had increased training, expanded communication channels and dedicated other resources to the U Visa program. The agency has “significantly enhanced outreach around the U Visa, educating service providers on the eligibility requirements of a U Visa petition and making dedicated efforts to reach both law enforcement officials and community advocates alike,” the statement said.

USCIS announced it will continue to accept and process new U Visa petitions and will issue a notice of conditional approval to petitioners who are found eligible, but who are unable to receive a U Visa in fiscal year 2010 because the statutory cap has been reached. Conditionally approved petitioners will be placed on a waiting list.

Denials, though, are also up. In 2009, USCIS denied 688 applications by victims; so far in fiscal 2010 it has denied 3,341. The rate of approvals to denials is born out at Lichter & Associates, a Denver law firm, which has handled as many U Visa cases as any firm in the state. USCIS has approved 30, with no denials yet, said attorney Alyssa Reed. The remaining cases are pending.
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http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20100719/NEWS/100719751/1002&paren...

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4.
Immigrant detention center in Va. would be mid-Atlantic's largest
By Kevin Sieff
The Washington Post, July 18, 2010

The largest immigrant detention center in the mid-Atlantic will soon open in Prince Edward County, an effort to accommodate Virginia's unprecedented surge in detentions of illegal immigrants picked up on criminal charges.

The $21 million, privately run center will house up to 584 immigrant detainees when it opens its doors. Over the next year, it might grow to hold 1,000 prisoners, most of them snagged by the federal government's growing Secure Communities program, which aims to find and deport criminal illegal immigrants.

Last month, Virginia became the second state, after Delaware, to implement the program statewide, requiring jails and prisons to screen prisoners by immigration status and check their fingerprints against the country's immigration database.

With three months left in the fiscal year, the number of illegal immigrants with criminal convictions detained in Virginia and the District has increased by 50 percent from last year's total, to 2,414. Those numbers are expected to increase now that the program is being implemented statewide.

The new facility "is mostly here to address the impact of Secure Communities," said Robert Helwig, assistant director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "We do anticipate a surge in detainees."

The immigration debate has grown increasingly polarized, and the Secure Communities program has become a symbol of that division. John T. Morton, head of ICE, calls it the agency's attempt to "secure the nation and protect public safety." But many immigrant advocates, including Enid Gonzalez, a lawyer at CASA of Maryland, say the program "claims to keep violent criminals off the streets, but instead it's just incarcerating innocent busboys."

There's one point on which experts across the spectrum agree: Without additional detention space, the program cannot function. ICE has detained fewer than one-quarter of the immigrants identified by Secure Communities, a range of suspected criminals facing charges as varied as misdemeanors and murder.

"The Obama administration can't expect to increase enforcement measures without increasing detention capacity," said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/17/AR201007...

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5.
For many pregnant Chinese, a U.S. passport for baby remains a powerful lure
By Keith B. Richburg
The Washington Post, July 18, 2010

Shanghai -- What can $1,475 buy you in modern China? Not a Tiffany diamond or a mini-sedan, say Robert Zhou and Daisy Chao. But for that price, they guarantee you something more lasting, with unquestioned future benefits: a U.S. passport and citizenship for your new baby.

Zhou and Chao, a husband and wife from Taiwan who now live in Shanghai, run one of China's oldest and most successful consultancies helping well-heeled expectant Chinese mothers travel to the United States to give birth.

The couple's service, outlined in a PowerPoint presentation, includes connecting the expectant mothers with one of three Chinese-owned "baby care centers" in California. For the $1,475 basic fee, Zhou and Chao will arrange for a three-month stay in a center -- two months before the birth and a month after. A room with cable TV and a wireless Internet connection, plus three meals, starts at $35 a day. The doctors and staff all speak Chinese. There are shopping and sightseeing trips.

The mothers must pay their own airfare and are responsible for getting a U.S. visa, although Zhou and Chao will help them fill out the application form.

At a time when China is prospering and the common perception of America here is of an empire in economic decline, the proliferation of U.S. baby services shows that for many Chinese, a U.S. passport nevertheless remains a powerful lure. The United States is widely seen as more of a meritocracy than China, where getting into a good university or landing a high-paying job often depends on personal connections.

"They believe that with U.S. citizenship, their children can have a more fair competitive environment," Zhou said.

There are no solid figures, but dozens of firms advertise "birth tourism" packages online, many of them based in Shanghai, and Zhao said the number has soared in the past five years. But he said that many are fly-by-night operations, unlike his high-quality service.

"The customers we serve are very successful and very affluent," he said.

'We are not snakeheads'

Zhou and Chao insist that everything they do is legal, noting that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, says anyone born on U.S. soil has the right to citizenship.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/17/AR201007...