Two Hispanic LDS Branch Presidents in Utah Deported

On the heels of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) issuing a new statement on illegal immigration, a statement which both discourages members from entering a country illegally and calls for an opportunity for undocumented immigrants to "square themselves with the law," KSL reported today that two Hispanic LDS congregational leaders in Utah are being deported.

Beyond the story itself, the comments posted to the story show the feelings readers have regarding this issue.

To read the KSL story, click here.
To read the comments, click here.
To read the Church policy statement regarding Illegal Immigration click here.

New LDS Statement on Illegal Immigration

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has issued a new statement on illegal immigration. To read the statement, click here.

The statement notes that it is Church policy to discourage "its members from entering any country without legal documentation, and from deliberately overstaying legal travel visas."

However, the statement also recognizes that how to deal with the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants currently residing in the United States, "is the biggest challenge in the immigration debate."

For the Church, "[t]he bedrock moral issue . . . is how we treat each other as children of God."

The statement expresses concern that legislation that only contains enforcement provisions will "fall short of the high moral standard of treating each other as children of God." The statement goes on to say that "[t]he Church supports an approach where undocumented immigrants are allowed to square themselves with the law and continue to work without this necessarily leading to citizenship."

The Supreme Court Upholds Part of the Arizona Immigration Law, but what does that mean?

In May, the United States Supreme Court upheld aspects of an Arizona anti-illegal-immigrant law which punishes employers who hire illegal-immigrants. (This is not the more well known anti-illegal-immigrant law SB1070 which punished illegal-immigrants more directly.)

Jennifer Rubin, writing in the Washington Post, draws together the opinions of Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation, and Lyle Denniston of the SCOTUS blog and concludes that if the dispute over Arizona SB1070 reaches the Supreme Court, it will likely find a sympathetic majority.

Read the Washington Post story here.

You may also wish to read Did arizona Really Win at the Supreme Court? by Bill Ong Hing writing for the Huffington Post.

Arizona-Style Illegal Immigrant Crackdown in Alabama?

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley is weighing whether or not to sign an Arizona-style anti-illegal-immigrant bill into law.

Fox News reports that Cecillia Wang, director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, refers to the bill as "an outrageous throwback to the pre-civil rights era."

Read the Fox News story here.

Spanish-surnamed Yankee Doodle Dandy not a legitimate American?

Ruben Navarrette Jr., member of the San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board and national syndicated columnist, wrote an insightful commentary for CNN entitled, "I'm a Spanish-surnamed Yankee Doodle Dandy."

Navarrette states that he was born in the U.S., as were his parents, 3 of his grandparents, and a "handful" of his great-grandparents.

Because Navarrette identifies himself as a Mexican-American, he has received comments such as, "Why don't you try being a real American" from his readers.

He notes that he has friends who, although they do not use hyphens, call themselves Irish, Jewish, Italian, or German.

Navarrette is very articulate in describing that he is an American because of what he believes, including loving freedom and democracy, and believing that with sacred rights come equally sacred responsibilities to self, family, community and country.

This compelling article was met, however, with some rather disturbing comments posted to the story by readers (which are unfortunately no longer available online). The comments immediately bypassed his description of being American, or anything else he said, and immediately went after the issue of illegal-immigration.

This was a very clear example of how in the minds of some there can be no discussion of Hispanic in the U.S. without it being connected to a discussion of illegal-immigration. It actually seemed that for those posting the comments, that although some of Mr. Navarrette's family has been in the U.S. for 4 generations, and Navarrette himself has a clear understanding of what it means to be an American, he is not not legitimate, simply because he identifies himself as a Mexican-American.

To read the CNN commentary, click here.

Anti-Illegal Immigrant Rhetoric Becoming More Virulent

With the 2010 Census fast approaching, Utah state officials are concerned that every resident of the state be counted. However, with anti-illegal-immigrant legislation (SB81) poised to go into effect on July 1st, these same officials are concerned that some in the Hispanic community will be afraid to respond to the census, thus creating a significant under count.

Although this in itself is noteworthy, what is even more significant are the comments posted to stories run in the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News regarding this issue. The bitter, vitriolic, virulent nature of the comments shocked TMB reviewers despite years of dealing with this issue.

Commenter Santiago wrote:

The "message should be: GO HOME! We are SICK of your freeloading!

Commenter Bajarat wrote:

These illegal alien savages should only be counted as they get on a CBP bus headed to the airport or the border so we know how many green baloney sandwiches need to be ordered . . . . Illegal aliens are criminals and parasites, one and all . . . . They need to be ferreted out, rounded up like cattle, punished for their numerous crimes, then booted back to whence they snuck in from with such extreme prejudice that they will never, ever think of violating our sovereignty again.

Commenter Chaunte wrote:

. . . I loathe illegal immigrants . . . .

Commenter EscapedfromZion wrote:

I agree, the only reason they need to be counted is to figure out how many bologna sandwiches they will need to provide for the bus ride back to their precious May-hee-co.

Commenter Listen up wrote:

What is it going to take to finally have enough and boot these leeches out of the country.

Perhaps commenter Bajarat was unfamiliar with the reference, but the term "extreme prejudice" means to kill, to assasinate. With the recent shooting at the National Holocaust museum in recent memory, a shooting that was the result of racist hatred, to have that term appear in one of these postings is troubling indeed.

To read the Salt Lake Tribune story, click here.
To read the Deseret News story, click here.

Study contends immigrants don't impact unemployment

The Immigration Policy Center recently released a study entitled The Unemployment and Immigration Disconnect. This study compares immigration and unemployment figures across the United States and concludes that there is no correlation between immigration rates and unemployment figures, and hence that immigration should not be blamed as a cause of unemployment.

A Salt Lake Tribune article reports that Mark Knold, chief economist at the Utah Department of Workforce Services questions whether immigration rates can be fairly compared with unemployment rates. Knold does agree, however, that an immigrant population can serve to lubricate a stalling economy.

Links:

Immigration Policy Center
Part I of the report: The Unemployment and Immigration Disconnect I
Part II of the report: The Unemployment and Immigration Disconnect II
To read the Salt Lake Tribune article, click here. (Note: The Tribune article mis-identifies the center as the Center for Immigraiton Policy)

Arrests on Southern Border Drop

The Washington Post reported today that the number of arrests along the U.S.-Mexico border dropped by 27% over the last year, with the number now standing at the lowest level since the early 1970's.

The Post article notes that the decline in the number of arrests, along with the decline in remittances back to Mexico, and Mexican census data all would seem to indicate that the number of individuals entering the U.S. illegally from Mexico is in fact down. (See also Mexican Data Says Migration to U.S. Has Plummeted)

Observations:

• Community organizations, church groups, etc. who have been serving the Hispanic population may notice a decline in the populations they serve, OR
  
• They may find that the populations they serve are in greater need because of increased enforcement and fewer opportunities to find employment in the U.S.
• Additionally, churches who were revitalizing their congregations by recruiting Hispanic immigrants may notice a decline in recent arrivals to the U.S., or
  
• They may find that Hispanics are less inclined to join predominantly Anglo congregations or denominations, particularly if members of those congregations/denominations are vocal in decrying illegal immigration.
  

Perhaps the most disappointing and concerning aspect of the Washington Post article was the virulent nature of some of the comments posted to the story. One commenter suggested:

Solution: Create a "No-man Zone" on the border and let our military constantly use it for bombing practice!

Another wrote:

I prefer a 2,000 mile long, densely packed minefield as a solution. Blow a few limbs off and it becomes more difficult to complete, or re-attempt a crossing. Then Mexico can begin spending all of those remittances they're currently receiving on rehab for all the stumps.

To access the article, click here.
To access the comments page, click here.

- TwoMinuteBriefing thanks GW for recommending this story.

Mexican Data Says Migration to U.S. Has Plummeted

The New York Times is reporting that Mexican Census data shows that approximately 226,000 fewer people emigrated from Mexico to other countries during the year ending in August of 2008.

It is believed that most people emigrating from Mexico to other countries are coming to the United States.

The Center for Immigration Studies attributes this decline to increased enforcement at the border and in workplaces around America. The Center for Immigration Studies could be described as having a strong anti-immigrant agenda.

The Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego, believes that the decline should more correctly be attributed to the economic decline. When the job market revives, the emigration will revive as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/15immig.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss&src=igw

The face of Utah is changing fast

A Deseret News article today comments on the newly released Census estimates which show that since 2000, the minority population in Utah has grown three times as fast as the white non-Hispanic population. They note that in Salt Lake County, one in four residents is now a minority.

Online, the first screen of the story seems to emphasize the growth of the Hispanic population. In fact, the article begins by noting the increased number of taco carts around the corner of State Street and 800 South in Salt Lake City.

Unfortunately, as would be expected, comments posted to the story tend to emphasize the growth of the Mexican population, and illegal immigration. One individual wrote:

If Utah is getting more like Mexico, that's because it's getting worse. I've been to Mexico; for the most part it's a dump. Certain parts of Salt Lake City are starting to look like it too.

Another commented:

Ah, isn't that nice. The Third World coming to Utah making things look and operate more like Mexico Lindo every day.

And as on previous occasions, there are those comments that snipe at the LDS Church:

What is that thing called ?? Article of Faith? We believe in obeying the laws of the land, etc. Smirk. We do?? If it is convenient maybe.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705303336/The-face-of-Utah-is-changing-fast.html?pg=1

Victims face Deportation

Leticia Avila, apparently a member of the LDS Church, reported used her Church connections to scam undocumented residents out of $4,000 each, promising them they would receiving work visas.

Victims of the scam say that immigration officials offered them work visas in exchange for testimony against Avila. Avila has not been charged, but the victims who testified have been arrested and told they will be deported.

A comment posted to the story reads, "An illegal immigrant by any other name is still an illegal immigrant...and needs to leave. I don't care if they are the suspect or the victim. That makes no difference to me. These people came uninvited."

Another read, "They got exactly what they deserved. And they should take their kids with them!"

Also of note is a large number of negative comments aimed at the LDS Church.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12339001?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com

Illegal immigrants score Supreme Court victory

A United States Supreme Court decision handed down on Monday, May 4th, states that prosecutors cannot charge an undocumented worker with aggravated ID theft, unless they can prove the worker intended to commit fraud.

The decision came with a 9-0 vote.

The details of the decision likely turn on some very specific aspects of the law.

More important than the decision, however, is the reaction from those with anti-immigrant leanings. A reading of the comments posted to the story show

1. strong anti-immigrant rhetoric, and
   
2. strong anti-government rhetoric.

The anti-government postings are concerning, especially given the recent Department of Homeland Security report on the danger of domestic terrorism sponsored by the right-wing radical fringe.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=6388426

Department of Homeland Security Report

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5410658/DHS-Report-on-Right-Wing-Extremism