Tag Archives | Immigration

Army & Navy Add Citizenship Option To Boot Camp

By Pelliciari on April 21, 2011 in News 6

800px-US_Navy_060614-N-1045B-029_U.S._Navy_Sailors_take_the_Oath_of_Citizenship_given_by_U.S._Citizenship_and_Immigration_Services_at_the_naturalization_ceremony_held_aboard_the_Nimitz-class_aircraft_carrier_USS_George_Washi

140 US Sailors & Marines from 45 different countries take the Oath of Citizenship aboard a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Legal immigrants to the US have been allowed to gain citizenship after joining the military. By allowing citizenship to be approved while in boot camp, there’s less bureaucratic paperwork during deployment and a ‘well-deserved break’ before being shipped to war. From AP via The Bellingham Herald:

Military service has long been one route to U.S. citizenship. Now the Army and Navy, in need of specialists and language skills in wartime, are speeding things up by allowing recruits to wrap up the process while they’re still in basic training.

It means a change in a no-visitors policy during boot camp, to allow federal immigration officers access to the recruits. But military officials say it’s a well-deserved break for volunteers who otherwise would have to slog through the bureaucratic ordeal during deployments around the world, often far from U.S.

… Read the rest

CNN Attributes ‘Mainstreaming Of Conspiracy Theories’ To Rise In U.S. Hate Groups

By BananaFamine on February 24, 2011 in News 37

While “hate groups” undoubtedly can be a problem for a civil society, I believe this article is awfully biased against those who are rationally weary of Big Gov.

CNN reports:

The number of radical right groups in America — including hate groups, “Patriot” groups and nativist groups — increased in 2010 for the second year in a row, according to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The organization’s quarterly publication, Intelligence Report, said the growth was “driven by resentment over the changing racial demographics of the country, frustration over the government’s handling of the economy, and the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories and other demonizing propaganda aimed at various minorities.”

The SPLC documented 1,002 hate groups operating in the United States in 2010, a 7.5% increase from the year before. It was the first time that more than 1,000 hate groups were recorded since the organization started tracking them in the 1980s.

… Read the rest

Immigration Officer Put Wife On Terrorist List To Prevent Her Coming Home

By JacobSloan on February 23, 2011 in News 18

Come on guys, the War on Terror is a serious matter! From Great Britain, hijinks ensue as immigration officials put their nagging wives on the terrorist watchlist to prevent their returning from overseas vacation. The Daily Mail reports:

An immigration officer tried to rid himself of his wife by adding her name to a list of terrorist suspects.

He used his access to security databases to include his wife on a watch list of people banned from boarding flights into Britain because their presence in the country is ‘not conducive to the public good’. As a result the woman was unable for three years to return from Pakistan after traveling to the county to visit family.

The tampering went undetected until the immigration officer was selected for promotion and his wife name was found on the suspects’ list during a vetting inquiry. The Home Office confirmed today that the officer has been sacked for gross misconduct.

… Read the rest

The Possibility of Hope

By Aaron Dames on November 24, 2010 in News 6

A great extra from the fantastic movie Children of Men. Modern philosophers, political scientists, and climate scientists weigh-in on the state of the Earth, global politics, militarism, mass-migration, global warming, and the future of humanity.

(For the disinfo regular, I’d recommend the watching the movie The Constant Gardener and the documentary Darwin’s Nightmare, but perhaps you already have…)

Young Man Disguised As Elderly Man On International Flight Seeks Refugee Protection

By Pelliciari on November 5, 2010 in News 4

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Who would suspect an elderly white man? Nobody. At least, that’s what the young man from Hong Kong thought. While the facial disguise was quite impressive, he forgot to make his hands appear aged as well, which was what raised suspicion as he boarded the plane. CNN reports:

Canadian authorities are investigating an “unbelievable” incident in which a passenger boarded an Air Canada flight disguised as an elderly man, according to a confidential alert obtained by CNN.

The incident occurred on October 29 on Air Canada flight AC018 to Vancouver originating in Hong Kong. An intelligence alert from the Canada Border Services Agency describes the incident as an “unbelievable case of concealment.”

“Information was received from Air Canada Corporate Security regarding a possible imposter on a flight originating from Hong Kong,” the alert says. “The passenger in question was observed at the beginning of the flight to be an elderly Caucasian male who appeared to have young looking hands.

… Read the rest

Private Prison Industry Helped Draft Arizona Immigration Law

By Liam McGonagle on October 28, 2010 in News 21

Arizona state Sen. Russell Pierce. Photo: Phoenician Patriot (CC)

Maybe this is what Tea Baggers mean by “leaner, more efficient government”? Privatising the process altogether? Alex Pareene at Salon explores Arizona’s sell out of its citizens to the highest corporate bidder:

When it comes to creating demand for a previously unnecessary service and making a profit by any means necessary, you can’t beat the private sector. So no one should be surprised that the private prison industry is in part responsible for the Arizona immigration law that requires state law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration law (read: lock up anyone suspected of being Hispanic until and unless they can prove their citizenship). NPR investigated the prison industry’s role in drafting and passing SB 1070. It’s pretty depressing.

Corporations and interest groups like R.J. Reynolds, ExxonMobil, the NRA, and the Corrections Corporation of America host a regular conference for state legislators in DC.

… Read the rest

Woman Becomes American Citizen After Entering The Country 101 Years Earlier

By Pelliciari on October 14, 2010 in News 12

_49479989_garcia_maturey_pic Sometimes patience does pay off. A century of patience. BBC News reports:

More than a century after she crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico into the US, Eulalia Garcia has become an American citizen at the age of 101.

“I feel really good about what I have accomplished – at my age and with my health,” she said.

Ms Garcia, who entered the US on 12 October 1909, became a citizen on the 101st anniversary of her arrival.

She said the first thing she wanted to do as an American was vote in the mid-term elections on 2 November.

“Sure, I do – for the best [candidate],” Ms Garcia said.

The naturalisation ceremony took place on Tuesday in a federal courthouse in Brownsville in the US state of Texas, where Ms Garcia has lived almost all her life.

Continues at BBC News …… Read the rest

Lou Dobbs Employed Illegal Immigrants

By Good German on October 7, 2010 in News 4

From the Nation:

Since he left CNN last November, after Latino groups mounted a protest campaign against his inflammatory rhetoric, Dobbs has continued to advocate an enforcement-first approach to immigration, emphasizing, as he did in a March 2010 interview on Univision, that “the illegal employer is the central issue in this entire mess!”

His scheduled October 9 address at the Virginia Tea Party Convention will mark his second major Tea Party address of the year…

Chris And Stephen Go To Washington

By kultra on October 1, 2010 in News 8

Stephen Colbert testified before Congress recently, and a good amount of the media have been trying to deflect from his message by accusing him of “wasting time.”

Isn’t it interesting though that they didn’t think it was such a waste of time when, a few years earlier, Chris Farley made an appearance there?

Stephen Colbert To Testify Before Congress

By Pelliciari on September 23, 2010 in News 6

First Elmo, then Kevin Costner, and now Stephen Colbert gets to testify before Congress at an immigration hearing entitled “Protecting America’s Harvest.” With Colbert testifying in Congress and Jon Stewart’s “Rally to Return Sanity,” the lines between politics and political comedy are increasingly blurred. From New York Daily News:

It’s no joke — Stephen Colbert will testify before Congress.

The Comedy Central host will head to Capitol Hill and appear before a House Judiciary subcommittee for a hearing on immigration called “Protecting America‘s Harvest.”

Colbert will speak alongside United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez.

The comedian spent a day working at a farm in New York last month after Rodriguez came on the show to discuss UFW’s “Take Our Jobs” campaign, which challenges the view that illegal immigrants are stealing jobs from Americans.

Continues at New York Daily News …

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