February 2005
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 House votes to restrict driver licenses to illegal immigrants
 WASHINGTON DC - Hoping
to keep drivers licenses out of the hands of terrorists, the House voted
Thursday to make states verify that applicants are
U.S. citizens or legal
immigrants. Republicans pushed the measure through on a 261-161 vote despite
protests from governors and state motor vehicle departments that it would be too
costly and would require them to take on the role of immigration officers. The
bill also would make it easier for judges to deport immigrants seeking political
asylum if they think they might be terrorists. "Common sense says we should not
allow suspected terrorists to be able to stay inside our borders if they could
harm us," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert. The measure was rejected by
Congress and the White House in December as part of a bill reorganizing
intelligence agencies in response to flaws found after the Sept. 11, 2001
terrorism attacks. It was revived with newly won support from the Bush
administration. "Today there are over 350 valid drivers license designs issued
by the 50 states. We all know it's very difficult for security officials at
airports to tell the real ID cards from the counterfeit ones," said the bill's
sponsor, House Judiciary Committee (news - web sites) Chairman James
Sensenbrenner. Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said the new features that states would
have to include on drivers licenses would prevent terrorists from using them as
IDs to board planes like the Sept. 11 hijackers did.
Governors, state legislators and motor vehicle departments have all argued that
requiring verification of background information such as
Social Security (news -
web sites) numbers and whether a person is in the United States legally would be
burdensome. The National Governors Association and a group representing motor
vehicle department administrators said in a letter to House leaders that the
measure is a "massive unfunded mandate." The bill is expected to have more
difficulty in the Senate, where several Republican lawmakers have said they want
it considered as part of a broader immigration package. Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the Senate Judiciary immigration subcommittee, has
said he supports Sensenbrenner's proposals to bar
illegal immigrants from using
driver's licenses as identification to get on airplanes or enter federal
buildings, but that this issue must be dealt with along with other immigration
proposals.
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The Newcomers Guide to the United States
 The
Newcomers Guide to the United States has all the information you need to start a
new life in America; from vital citizenship and visa information to everyday
facts about living in the United States. This information package guides you
through the complexities of the American system in a way that is simple and easy
to understand. Don't arrive unprepared to the land of opportunities. Have all
the help you need right at your fingertips. The United States Newcomer's Guide
was designed to help you gain an understanding of some of those unfamiliar
aspects of the American way of life. For additional information visit
www.usimmigrationsupport.org
Critics claim the Newcomers Guide to the United States is a "must-have" for immigrants.
Here is just a sample of its contents: [more
information]
- United States visa Information
- Driver's license information
- Social Security Cards
- Banking in the United States
- How to get a job in the United States
- Starting a business in the United States
- Studying in the United States
- American Embassies and Consulates
- List of all USCIS (formerly INS) offices nationwide
- and much more.
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Deporting Illegal Immigrants - Revolving door at border
 SAN DIEGO - Handcuffed
and shackled with their pockets pulled inside out, more than 150
illegal aliens
are loaded onto an airplane every night, bound for detention centers in the
United States to await deportation orders to their home countries. Searched by a
cadre of uniformed federal agents and encircled by heavily armed officers, they
are herded off buses in the dead of night on an isolated tarmac at San Diego
International Airport, where they silently shuffle single file on board a
waiting MD-82 jetliner.
Some never have been on an airplane. Others have made the trip before. Many will
be back. A month-long investigation by The Washington Times found that a shortage
of detention space and lack of manpower force federal authorities to regularly
release illegal aliens back on the streets of America — and often to ignore
requests to pick up illegals in the custody of state and local officials.
"There's no question we need more detention space, more people and more
equipment to get the job done," said J. Michael Vaughn, a detention and
deportation supervisor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Los
Angeles. His processing center handles between 3,000 and 4,500 illegals a month.
"If we are the final step in an immigration-enforcement system that seeks to
remove from the country those people who do not legally belong, we need some
help. I assure you: The battle is being fought right here," Mr. Vaughn said.
ICE, hamstrung by long-standing budgetary constraints that have left its
detention and removal program seriously undermanned and underfunded, has 20,000
beds available at ICE-managed and -contracted detention centers nationwide — not
enough to house the aliens in custody on a daily basis. And that shortfall comes
at a time when ICE, led by the agency's 18 fugitive operations squads, is
vigorously hunting 80,000 criminal aliens and more than 320,000 "absconders,"
foreign nationals who were ordered deported but disappeared. Meantime, the
Border Patrol is expected to arrest a million illegal aliens this year.
Source: WASHINGTOM TIMES
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The U.S. Immigration Newsletter is published by:
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