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My four grandparents immigrated to the United States from Poland at different times, but all approximately a century ago. They and most of their siblings -- a few stayed behind and were eventually consumed in the Holocaust -- were part of a massive 40-year wave of immigration from Eastern Europe to our shores. Over the past century, my immigrant ancestors spawned four generations of American Jews who now reside all over our great country. By absolutely any measure, the immigration tale of my family is an American success story. My cousins and second cousins and their progeny are doctors, lawyers,...

SALT LAKE CITY -- In the debate over immigration reform, you may have heard the term "anchor babies." It's used to reference a child born in the United States to parents with illegal status in an effort to gain them citizenship. But does it work? For one such family, staying in the United States could literally mean life or death for their young son. Francisco Javier Espinoza and his wife, Claudia, came to the United States to build a new life. Francisco worked as a framer. "For work, it's a better life here for my family," Espinoza said. KSL have...

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – More people in the United States are expressing support for deporting all illegal immigrants currently working in the country, according to a poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion. 50 per cent of respondents share this opinion, up eight points since May. On the contrary, 27 per cent of respondents would allow illegal workers to remain in the U.S. and eventually apply for citizenship, and 16 per cent would allow them to work on a temporary basis but not offer them a chance to become citizens. In March 2006, the Pew Hispanic Center calculated the number...

The Houston Chronicle reports that the Obama administration has ordered the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department to implement multiple modifications to their facilities to make life easier, more comfortable, and pleasant for the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants (approximately 400,000) it detains annually. An internal ICE email highlights 28 different changes the organization will have to make to soften the look of its facilities, present a friendlier environment, offer better entertainment, organize fun activities, and provide illegal immigrant detainees with free access to email and phone services, as well as better dining and training classes.

Published: April 19, 2009 3:00 a.m. Illegal status clouds future for graduates Angela Mapes Turner The Journal Gazette José speaks with frustration, but not bitterness, about the principle of American life that most inspires him. “Everybody has the opportunity to do something,” he said of his adopted country. “Well, not in my case. A lot of people have the opportunity to do something.” José pays attention to detail, from the tips of his carefully spiked hair to his layered T-shirts and shiny, clean Nikes. Attention to detail helped the 19-year-old high school senior learn English in a few short years....

CAMDEN, New Jersey (Reuters) – Five Muslim men accused of planning an attack on a U.S. army base had no intention of following through even though they shared Muslim anger toward America after September 11, defense attorneys said on Tuesday. The men, all born outside the United States, plotted but did not execute an attack on Fort Dix in New Jersey and discussed attacks on other installations including Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and the U.S. Coast Guard in Philadelphia, prosecutors say. They were arrested in May 2007 and face life in prison if convicted. In closing arguments after...

When Felicita Bautista prepared her husband’s coffee and kissed him goodbye on the morning of April 16, she thought she’d hear from him at lunchtime when he usually called. Instead, the phone rang at 8 a.m. Ms. Bautista’s husband, José Ramírez, told her immigration agents had raided the Pilgrim’s Pride chicken processing plant in downtown Chattanooga and that he had been arrested. “At first I didn’t believe him, I thought it was a joke, but he assured me it was true,” the 28-year-old Guatemala native said. Ms. Bautista’s husband, who had been in the United States illegally for five years...

PHOENIX - Latino leaders and faith-based organizations want Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to disconnect the hotline he created for people to report information about undocumented immigrants, saying it raises the chance of racial profiling. But Arpaio said Wednesday that he won't disconnect the hotline and stressed that deputies would investigate people only if authorities had probable cause. The hotline began last Friday and has received about 300 messages, which include tips about family and friends, employment, day laborers, drop houses and crank calls. Arpaio said officials are analyzing the tips and officials have not acted on any of the...

MOUNT HOLLY — An illegal Brazilian immigrant living in Delran has been charged in a series of sexual assaults and attacks in Moorestown and Massachusetts, authorities said yesterday. Burlington County Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi described Mar-celo G. Mota, 28, of Tenby Chase Apartments as a “serial rapist” who committed two sexual assaults and one attempted sexual assault against women in central Massachusetts in 2003 and a sexual assault and an attempted sexual assault against women in the Laurel Creek section of Moores-town in 2005. An assistant prosecutor said during a hearing yesterday that Mota had confessed to the Moores-town attacks....

Fear, persecution, prejudice, families divided. This is the reality of thousands of immigrants - legal or not - who left behind country, culture and friends to search for the American Dream. But more and more Americans are repelled by the harsh tactics being used against them - and are raising their voices. "A lot of children have been brutally separated from their families," said the Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper, the senior minister of Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village. "This is un-American; family values don't stop at the Rio Grande." She is one of the founders of the New Sanctuary...

<p>A popular Spanish-language disc jockey began a cross-country trip Sunday to encourage Congress to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, planning to give 1 million supporting letters to lawmakers in Washington, D.C.</p> <p>Eduardo "Piolin" Sotelo, from the nationally syndicated show, "Piolin por la Manana," and several others traveling in his caravan left from a Mexican cultural landmark in downtown as several hundred fans and supporters cheered.</p>

RUSH: I was going to call in to the show on Friday and do some minor gloating and take a little credit here for the immigration bill being pulled, but right about the time I hit my third birdie on the front nine I said, "To hell with it, I'm going to keep playing golf." Besides, in all candor, it's not dead. It's still on life support. The president's going to meet with some people: Congress, GOP, probably Ted Kennedy, too, sometime tomorrow. It may even go up to the Capitol. The original meeting was supposed to be lunch at...

When I travel Idaho’s First Congressional District, one comment I always hear is, "Bill, stand firm in your position on immigration. Do not accept amnesty as a solution to the immigration problem." I have heard the message of my constituents, and I wholeheartedly agree. Amnesty is the wrong solution. Amnesty is no solution. Representing Idahoans in Washington, D.C., has strengthened my resolve. Plainly our immigration problems represent another failing of our federal government, which has not done enough to protect our borders. That is precisely the kind of government failure that I came to fight in Washington. Illegal immigration is...

A broad immigration bill to legalize millions of people in the U.S. unlawfully failed a crucial test vote in the Senate Thursday, a stunning setback that could spell its defeat for the year. The vote was 45-50 against limiting debate on the bill, 15 short of the 60 that the bill's supporters needed to prevail. Most Republicans voted to block Democrats' efforts to bring the bill to a final vote. The legislation, which had been endorsed by President Bush, would tighten borders, institute a new system to prevent employers from hiring undocumented workers in addition to giving up to 12...

Imagine all the money we've wasted putting bank robbers behind bars. After all, they just "wanted a better life." How else are they going to feed their families if we don't let them rob banks — one of those "jobs [other] Americans won't do." The Senate immigration bill is a threat to the rule of law. But then Washington's scofflaw approach to immigration for over 40 years has made a total mockery of "the law." Oooooh! Stop scaring people President Bush has accused conservatives of "scaring" people merely by pointing to the many flaws in his immigration proposal. Not satisfied...

Opposition to U.S. immigration bill intensifies Tue May 22, 2007 8:14 AM IST By Donna Smith WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Opposition to a compromise immigration overhaul grew on Monday, with labor unions and Hispanic groups saying the deal brokered by leading U.S. senators and the White House was bad for workers, families and employers. The League of United Latin American Citizens, one of the country's oldest and largest Hispanic groups, said it opposed the plan's limits on family-based immigration. A labor union and another Hispanic group said they would work to change the proposed law as it moves through Congress. The...

CINCINNATI - Hispanic leaders are demanding a public apology from a radio station that put up billboards showing a Mexican flag, a donkey, and a mustachioed man in a sombrero with the headline "The Big Juan." The Hispanic Chamber Cincinnati USA complained that the advertising by WLW-AM stereotyped Hispanics. The community leaders said at a news conference Tuesday that they plan to meet with station executives to talk about sensitivity training and creating a multicultural community advisory board. WLW, which calls itself "The Big One," is the Cincinnati area's radio ratings leader. The Hispanic Chamber and the League of United...

More Americans killed by illegal aliens than Iraq war, study says By Jim Brown AgapePress February 22, 2007 (AgapePress) -- Illegal aliens are killing more Americans than the Iraq war, says a new report from Family Security Matters that estimates some 2,158 murders are committed every year by illegal aliens in the U.S. The group says that number is more than 15 percent of all the murders reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the U.S. and about three times the representation of illegal aliens in the general population.

Reagan High School Principal Robert Pambello was ordered to remove a Mexican flag Wednesday morning that he had hoisted below the U.S. and Texas flags that typically fly in front of his school — a symbol he agreed to fly to show support for his predominantly Hispanic student body. At nearby Hamilton Middle School, a child was asked to wipe off Mexican and U.S. flags painted on his face. Hundreds of other students carried Mexican flags during walkouts Wednesday — acts of protest that they vow to continue until Congress rejects legislation that would further restrict immigration. "There's no other...

A Belgian-Dutch Islamic political organization posted anti-Jewish cartoons on its Web site in response to the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed that appeared in Danish papers last year and offended many Muslims. The cartoons were posted on the Arab European League's site on Saturday. It was not working Sunday morning because of exceeded bandwidth. The cartoons depicting Mohammed wearing a turban-shaped bomb were first published in Denmark, and then in newspapers elsewhere in Europe in a show of solidarity with press freedoms. The Islamic site carried a disclaimer saying the images were being shown as part of an exercise in...

For 1,000 years, 632-1683, militant Islam spread from Arabia through Spain and into France, where they were defeated in 732 at Tours, and toward China, where they were stopped by the Mongols, and then to Vienna (twice), where they were defeated finally in 1683. They also made it into India and Indonesia, where they remain today, although most left India for West Pakistan and East Pakistan (Bangladesh) in 1947. Islam since 1683 failed to take any land from others, and failed to make any significant advances in science, medicine, literature. music, architecture or art. Almost all their advances, such as...

From the briefing: - At the federal level, the number of criminal aliens incarcerated increased from about 42,000 at the end of calendar year 2001 to about 49,000 at the end of calendar year 2004 a 15 percent increase. ... We estimate the federal cost of incarcerating criminal aliens BOP's cost to incarcerate criminals and reimbursements to state and local governments under SCAAP totaled approximately $5.8 billion for calendar years 2001 through 2004. ... - At the state level, the 50 states received reimbursement for incarcerating about 77,000 criminal aliens in fiscal year 2002 and 47 states received reimbursement for...

Rockville (AP) - Hundreds of Latino immigrants - many of them illegal - gathered this afternoon in Rockville to protest proposed federal restrictions that would deny driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. The federal Real I-D Act is part of the bill covering the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has been passed by the U.S. House and endorsed by the White House. Opponents say the bill will likely pass in the Senate - maybe as early as next week. Maryland is one of ten states that don't require applicants to prove they are citizens or legal residents....