Media

Wall Street's Border Wall: How 5 Firms Benefit Financially from Anti-Immigrant Policy

This report looks at a set of players who are generally left out of Trump’s narrative about the border wall, but who have positioned themselves to be direct beneficiaries: the investors who could enjoy financial gain from its construction. 

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FEDERAL PROSECUTORS ARE USING PLEA BARGAINS AS A SECRET WEAPON FOR DEPORTATIONS

ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF Sessions is pushing federal prosecutors to bypass immigration courts as part of the Trump administration’s hard-line strategy on deportation. Behind closed doors, prosecutors are pressing noncitizens to sign away their rights to make a case for remaining in the country.

In the most dramatic cases, immigrants charged with crimes are signing plea agreements in which they promise they have “no present fear of torture” on returning to their home country. The pleas can block them from seeking asylum or protection from persecution.

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Welcome Amazon, But...

October 19th is the due date for interested cities to bid to become the home of Amazon’s second headquarters, dubbed “HQ2.” Based on earlier reports, Irvine Company (presumably in partnership with the City of Irvine) may be submitting its proposal in hopes of bringing Amazon to our community. Since Amazon announced its search in September, the company has been waving the prospect of 50,000 new jobs in front of city leaders everywhere. We welcome the idea but caution the taxpayers and the City of Irvine to watch out. Here is why:

In its request for proposals, Amazon provided a laundry list of the kind of things that any family would look for, if they are moving to a new city — great schools, cultural diversity, functioning public transit, excellent cellphone and fiber optic coverage, access to museums and theaters. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Who would not want these folks as neighbors — they sound just like us!

Of course, what Amazon is also looking for, is a “stable and business-friendly and tax structure,” coupled with “incentives…to offset initial capital outlay and ongoing operational costs…”

In other words, they would like us, the tax-paying public to subsidize their move, and to keep subsidizing their business for years to come. This is an inevitable fact. Look no further but at the relationship between The Walt Disney Company & the City of Anaheim.

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Hold those who tread on our freedom accountable

In Orange County last week, a car pushed through a group of mostly Latino families protesting outside Congressman Ed Royce’s office, sending several to a nearby hospital with minor injuries.

Officials won’t even call it a crime.

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California becomes ‘sanctuary state’ as governor signs bill

California becomes ‘sanctuary state’ as governor signs bill

 

The “sanctuary state” bill — a far-reaching proposal aimed at preventing California law enforcement officers from helping to carry out President Donald Trump’s promised crackdown on illegal immigration — has been signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, along with 10 other measures to protect undocumented immigrants.

“This action protects public safety and ensures hard-working people who contribute to our state are respected,” Brown said in a statement Thursday. The law takes effect Jan.1.

To many, Senate Bill 54 was the centerpiece of California’s anti-Trump resistance on immigration. It was introduced on the first day of the legislative session in December — just weeks after Trump’s election — and passed in the session’s final hours.

Click to continue reading the article....

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Mexican coffee farmer in Hawaii deported after 28 years

Facing deportation, Hawaii coffee farmer, father of three returns to Mexico after 28 years

A coffee farmer in Hawaii whose deportation fight turned him into a symbol in the debate over U.S. immigration policy has returned to Mexico after losing a legal battle to remain in the United States.

Andres Magana Ortiz said goodbye to his wife, an American citizen, and three U.S.-born children on Friday night, then boarded a flight bound for Mexico, the country he left as a teenager nearly three decades ago in the hands of human traffickers, Hawaii News Now reported.

The 43-year-old had been fighting deportation since 2011 when the Department of Homeland Security under President Barack Obama began removal proceedings against him. After being granted multiple stays, his most recent request for legal status was rejected amid President Trump’s crackdown on immigration, and he was ordered to leave.

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Wages Rise on Farms and Americans Still Won't Take Jobs

Arnulfo Solorio’s desperate mission to recruit farmworkers for the Napa Valley took him far from the pastoral vineyards to a raggedy parking lot in Stockton, in the heart of the Central Valley.

Solorio recruiting workers in Stockton.

Carrying a fat stack of business cards for his company, Silverado Farming, Solorio approached one prospect, a man with only his bottom set of teeth. He told Solorio that farm work in Stockton pays $11 to $12 an hour. Solorio countered: “Look, we are paying $14.50 now, but we are going up to $16.” The man nodded skeptically.

Solorio moved on to two men huddled nearby, and returned quickly. “They were drug addicts,” he said. “And, they didn’t have a car.”

Before the day was through, Solorio would make the same pitch to dozens of men and women, approaching a taco truck, a restaurant and a homeless encampment. Time was short: He needed to find 100 workers to fill his ranks by April 1, when grapevines begin to grow and need constant attention.

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Immigration Facts: Myth vs Facts

 

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The Muslim-Latino Collaborative Is A New And Welcome Voice For Justice

As Islam becomes more and more woven into the fabric of American society, new groups are being formed as part of Islam’s historic communitarian outreach toward and concern for civil society in general. A recent organization that bears very honorable mention is the Muslim-Latino collaborative.

Given the orientation of the current Trump administration and the administration’s campaigns, both obvious and subtle, against Muslims and Latinos, the Collaborative is both timely and to the rescue.

To learn more about this important civic addition, The Muslim Observer has interviewed Shakeel Syed, the Muslim initiator of the Collaborative, and a well-known and respected member of both the Muslim and non-Muslim community.

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Fee Waiver Assistance for Applicants

We're excited to let you know that OCCORD is now offering fee waiver assistance for citizenship applicants.
Please forward this video message in Spanish to anyone you know who isn't a citizen and who understands Spanish.
 
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