Despite immigration reforms, many young immigrants still in limbo

CNN.com
Yasmin Amer 

(CNN) -- It wasn't until his senior year of high school in North Carolina that Monji Dolon found out about his murky immigration status.

His family had emigrated from Bangladesh in 1991 when Dolon was 5 years old and since then Dolon, his mother and his brother have lived without legal residency in the United States.

Uncertain of what to check under "residency" on his college applications, Dolon learned at the age of 18 that he was in an ongoing battle to stay in the country he had grown up in.

"I remember having a huge sense of panic at the time," say Dolon, now 25.

The Department of Homeland Security announced reforms this year that would halt the deportations of young immigrants who pose no threat to security. It said it also would review almost 300,000 cases on an individual basis -- something it had not been done before.

Individuals without a criminal record are considered low priority for forced or immediate deportation. But without permanent relief, many like Monji Dolon are still in immigration limbo.

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Parts of Immigration Law Blocked in South Carolina

NY Times
Robbie Brown

ATLANTA — A federal judge on Thursday blocked the most controversial parts of South Carolina’s new immigration law from taking effect next month.

The decision, by Judge Richard M. Gergel of Federal District Court in Charleston, S.C., sets the stage for a legal showdown on immigration as the United States Supreme Court prepares to hear a challenge to a similar law in Arizona.

Judge Gergel blocked the most contentious part of South Carolina’s law, which requires law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of any suspect they believe may be in the country illegally. He also banned provisions that make it a crime to harbor or transport an illegal immigrant.

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States make daily life harder for illegal immigrants

USA Today
Alan Gomez

State legislators looking to crack down on illegal immigration in 2012 are turning away from the law enforcement laws that dominated state houses this year, and instead are pushing other measures that can make life just as difficult for illegal immigrants.

Much of the international furor over state immigration laws in states such as Arizona and Alabama focused on the portions that granted local police the ability to conduct roadside immigration checks of people stopped for other crimes.

Alabama leaders are now considering revisions after foreign workers at Mercedes-Benz and Honda carmaking plants in the state were detained under the new law. The U.S. Department of Justice has sued to block four state enforcement laws — Alabama, Arizona, South Carolina and Utah — and Arizona's law will be in limbo until at least next summer when the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on its constitutionality.

"(Immigration enforcement) bills in other states that were advancing, you may see them stall until we can get clarification from the Supreme Court," said South Carolina state Sen. Larry Grooms, a Republican whose enforcement bill passed this year.

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Immigration rally to drop the word '"Illegal"

WBTV
Sarah Batista

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) -  A group of students in Charlotte are rallying to convince the community to stop using anti-immigrant language.

The say the word illegal is demeaning and criminalizing.

The United 4 the Dream group is asking the Charlotte Observer to drop the word "illegal" when referring to people in the country illegally.

Their goal is to bring attention to the issue of immigration reform.

They prefer the word undocumented over other terms such as illegal alien.

Anti-illegal immigration activists say the word illegal is correct because of the group's immigration status.

But organizers disagree.

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Asheville marchers decry immigration raid

Asheville Citizen-Times
Sabian Warren

ASHEVILLE — Protesters took to downtown streets Sunday to voice opposition to a recent immigration raid in Asheville that led to the arrests of 12 Shogun Buffet restaurant workers.

About 100 people, including some of the workers who were arrested, took part in a march that started and ended at the Vance Monument, with stops at Pritchard Park and the Buncombe County Courthouse.

Sharing the crowded sidewalks with holiday shoppers and chanting “No more raids” and other slogans, many carried signs such as “Justice for the Shogun 12” and “ICE out of our communities.”

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Immigrant-advocacy group expands

Winston-Salem Journal
Bertrand Gutierrez

El Cambio, the immigrant-advocacy group based in Yadkin County, is branching out.

Wooten Gough, the group's spokesman, said Sunday that it is setting up new chapters in Surry County, Greensboro and Winston-Salem, among other places, including Forsyth Technical Community College, Salem College, UNC Greensboro and N.C. A&T University.

The goal is to build "people power" and "electoral power" to get in-state tuition for immigrants who have been raised in the United States but do not have legal permission to be in the country, he said.

Under North Carolina law, such students must pay out-of-state tuition.

For Martin Rodriguez, who was brought illegally into the U.S. from Mexico when he was a child, getting an associate degree at Forsyth Tech could cost about $16,800, according to credit-hour and tuition information on the school's website.

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Keep immigration reform efforts practical and realistic

Wilmington Star-News
Editorial

North Carolinians who want our state to be more business friendly should realize that laws that cast suspicion on anyone who “looks” like an immigrant may scare off good companies.

Alabama officials discovered that the hard way after police stopped two foreign employees of Honda and Mercedes-Benz and demanded to see their papers, news that outraged executives of the two companies and prompted some business groups to warn that the state’s reputation as a great place to do business may suffer as a result of the strict illegal immigration law. Now the governor says he’s willing to consider some changes.

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Immigration Crackdown Also Snares Americans

NY Times
Julia Preston

A growing number of United States citizens have been detained under Obama administration programs intended to detect illegal immigrants who are arrested by local police officers.

In a spate of recent cases across the country, American citizens have been confined in local jails after federal immigration agents, acting on flawed information from Department of Homeland Security databases, instructed the police to hold them for investigation and possible deportation.

Americans said their vehement protests that they were citizens went unheard by local police officers and jailers for days, with no communication with federal immigration agents to clarify the situation. Any case where an American is held, even briefly, for immigration investigation is a potential wrongful arrest because immigration agents lack legal authority to detain citizens.

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Welcome foreigners, signs urge

Raleigh News & Observer
Josh Shaffer

RALEIGH -- A Raleigh nonprofit launched a statewide billboard campaign Tuesday calling for North Carolina to resist negative stereotypes and welcome its foreign newcomers, an appeal for tolerance that comes as the legislature mulls tougher laws aimed at illegal immigrants.

Flanked by religious leaders of several faiths, Uniting NC unveiled a sample of its new signs on New Bern Avenue in east Raleigh - a placard that carries the slogan "Immigrants Make Us Stronger."

"I believe our state should be proud that people from all over the world want to live here," said the Rev. Diane Faires of St. Paul's Christian Church in Raleigh.

Between now and the end of January, billboards will appear in Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Asheville, Mebane and Goldsboro - paid for with $3,500 in donations from more than 250 supporters.

The group pointed to Alabama, where immigration laws are considered the toughest nationwide, as a model to avoid.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/12/14/1709406/welcome-foreigners-signs-urge.html#ixzz1giEX1Hzb

Asheville billboards will flash support of Muslim, immigrants over holidays

Asheville Citizen-Times
Dale Neal

ASHEVILLE — Images of happy immigrant and Muslim families will soon flash across digital billboards around town in a campaign to promote community understanding and tolerance.

“We wanted to build a movement and put a human face on immigration. They’re families just like us,” said Kristin Collins, director of Uniting NC, a Raleigh-based nonprofit that unveiled the billboard campaign Tuesday.

The billboards were paid for using a grassroots method called “crowdfunding.” Uniting NC proposed the project online, and more than 250 people contributed $3,500 toward the cost of buying billboards here and in Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Mebane and Goldsboro.

The images will run as public service advertisements later this month on digital billboards operated by Lamar Advertising on Hendersonville Road, Tunnel Road, Patton Avenue and Airport Road. The campaign will run through the end of the year.

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