The Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, has published a report that says that the post-September 11 roundup of immigrants was actually bad for national security. I haven’t read it yet, but it seems interesting because one of the authors is Doris Meissner who was INS Commissioner during the Clinton administration. Also, on their… Continue reading Immigration and National Security
Category: Immigration
Illegal Immigrants and Special Registration
Special Registration is having the effects I thought it would (see here, here, here, and here). According to the New York Times: More than 13,000 of the Arab and Muslim men who came forward earlier this year to register with immigration authorities —- roughly 16 percent of the total —- may now face deportation, government… Continue reading Illegal Immigrants and Special Registration
Treatment of Sept 11 Detainees
The Inspector General in the Department of Justice has issued a report criticizing the government conduct in detaining 762 people on suspicion of terrorism after September 11. According to the report, 491 people were arrested in New York and 70 in New Jersey. The largest number (254) were from Pakistan while 111 were from Egypt.… Continue reading Treatment of Sept 11 Detainees
Arab Americans in Michigan
An interesting post by Patrick Belton on Oxblog. Quite simply, I fell in love with Dearborn. The largest concentration of Arabs or Muslims in the United States, it’s a study in contrasts – in between miles upon miles of depopulated Detroit blocks now filled only with commercialized sex – Dearborn appears, a small thriving colony… Continue reading Arab Americans in Michigan
Asylum in Canada
The Manifest Border, a legal blog focussed on immigration, pointed me to this story in the Washington Times: Thousands of illegal immigrants from Middle Eastern countries are seeking asylum in Canada, massing in run-down motels and refugee sanctuaries on the U.S. side of the border, where they are sheltered —- and sometimes hidden —- from… Continue reading Asylum in Canada
Language Ability
Looking at the Census data, I came across what languages people spoke in the US and how it correlated with their speaking ability in English. The following two tables give the percentage of people who cannot speak English well, divided based on their native language. The first table further divides the data into people born… Continue reading Language Ability
An Illegal Immigrant
From Dawn: US authorities kept a nephew of President Pervez Musharraf in detention for two weeks for a visa violation, US and Pakistani officials said on Saturday. Aamir Javed Musharraf was detained on Feb 19 and released on Friday on bail, they said. He will now have to appear before immigration judge who could order… Continue reading An Illegal Immigrant
INS Prevented me from Blogging Yesterday
Yes, that’s true because I wasted a full day at an INS office. And all because of a mistake by INS. What happened was that my fingerprints on an INS document (done by INS officials themselves) were not identifiable. Why didn’t the INS officer who got those fingerprints checks them? I have no idea. Anyway,… Continue reading INS Prevented me from Blogging Yesterday
Snitch Visas
Via Perverse Access Memory, I found the news about snitch visas for informants about criminals and terrorists. The logic looked impeccable: Foreign terrorists lurk among foreigners, and foreigners want to live in America. So why not give foreigners a visa in return for ratting out suspected terrorists? The idea, it turns out, has sputtered in… Continue reading Snitch Visas
INS Document Shredding Case
Previous post here. Here is the INS side of the story: In response to the discovery of the document destruction, those who had filed applications and petitions at the California Service Center but had not yet received a receipt for their applications were urged to call a hotline at the Center to inquire about the… Continue reading INS Document Shredding Case