Category: immigration

Canadian Court Orders Review of US Deserter Refugee Status

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The judge ruled that officially sanctioned brutality, even when it does not rise to the level of a crime against humanity, is sufficient to merit refugee status:

…..

While the immigration board concluded that some of the alleged conduct by the U.S military included a “disturbing level of brutality,” it said the conduct did not meet the definition of a war crime or a crime against humanity.

Barnes said the board erred “by concluding that refugee protection for military deserters and evaders is only available where the conduct objected to amounts to a war crime, a crime against peace or a crime against humanity.”

Citing a case from the U.S. Federal Court of Appeal, Barnes said officially condoned military misconduct could still support a refugee claim, even if it falls short of a war crime.

“The authorities indicate that military action which systematically degrades, abuses or humiliates either combatants or non-combatants is capable of supporting a refugee claim where that is the proven reason for refusing to serve,” Barnes wrote.

Barnes said the board imposed a legal standard that was “too restrictive” on Key, who lives in Saskatchewan.

Key’s lawyer, Jeffry House, said the ruling expands a soldier’s right to refuse military service.

…..

(emphasis mine)

They broke this man, the story mentions debilitating nightmares, and I’m sure that an examination would find more evidence of damage, and they wanted to send him back.

For us as a society, what should bother us is the broken men who go back to Iraq, and then, one day, they come home, because this will come home with them.

Why Guest Worker Programs are a Bad Thing, Episode 7734

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This time, it’s welders and pipe fitters from South Asia, who were misled, and had to pay outrageous fees, to get H2B visas to work in the US:

The Indian workers say they were deceived by Signal International and labor recruiters when they paid as much as $20,000 for visas they believed would allow them to work and live permanently with their families in the United States. In fact, the H-2B visas are for short-term contracts.

They are now on a hunger strike.

I would note that this problem is not a bug in guest worker programs. It’s a feature.

The goal of guest worker programs is to create an underclass of cheap and easily exploited labor.

Really, Really, Really, Really Bad Ideas, The Juxtaposition of Border Security and Copyright Edition

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The newest leaked draft of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is proposing that border security will have the ability to inspect digital devices, determine whether they contain “infringing material”, and then confiscate them.

So if you have MP3’s on your iPod leally ripped from you CD, they get to confiscate it without any due processas, “The draft allows for the confiscation or destruction of any device the agents deem suspect.”

The draft is available at WikiLeaks.

Corruption Among Border Patrol on Rise

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This is not a surprise. As enforcement efforts increase, smugglers will naturally turn to corrupting enforcement officers as a way to do business.

Note that this isn’t all just that though:

When the Homeland Security Department was created in 2003, the internal affairs unit was dissolved and its functions spread among other agencies. Since the unit was reborn last year, it has grown from five investigators to a projected 200 by the end of the year.

Once again Bush and His Evil Minions™ manage to completely f^%$ up the execution.

Note that the best way to reduce corruption is to make sure that the border guards are well paid and have good working conditions. Underpaid and abused employees are more receptive to graft.

Norman Finkelstein Refused Entry Into Israel

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Finkelstein, author of, The Holocaust Industry, which argues that the Jewish establishment has exploited the Holocaust for political gain, has been refused entry into Israel:

The Shin Bet said Finkelstein “is not permitted to enter Israel because of suspicions involving hostile elements in Lebanon,” and because he “did not give a full accounting to interrogators with regard to these suspicions.”

He did have contacts with Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon a few months ago , he published articles about that, so it’s inevitable that he would be questioned on entry.

As to whether he was forthcoming, we are in a he said/she said situation.

South Africa/Zimbabwe Update

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Morgan Tsvangirai has now returned to Zimbzbwe, and is campaigning in the runoff.

Meanwhile, Mugabe has changed his campaign tactics, trying to work with small groups, as opposed to his previous mass rallies, and he’s railing against both Tsvangirai and the US ambassador to Zimbabwe, which I think is a prelude to some more violence and intimidation from his “war veterans”.

Meanwhile, in South Africa, Thabo Mbeki is calling the violence against refugees in his country a “disgrace”.

Of course, the largest group of refugees, those from Zimbabwe, were as a direct result of his policies supporting Mugabe, and the tensions are a direct result of their numbers.

Good News: H-1b Changes Appear Dead for 2008

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The H1b program as it is now structured is a bad program, because it is used primarily to get low cost work, as opposed to its stated purpose, which is to allow the employment of people with unique skill sets.*

In any case, the Democrats have decided that an increase in the H1b limit, because the Dems have tied this to comprehensive immigration reform, and the Republicans can’t go along with that, because their base is a bunch of racists.

*The fix is actually pretty simple: Make the fees high enough that any H1B hired would be more expensive than a citizen or permanent resident. At that point, the fraud stops. You could auction off slots to set a price.

H1B and H2B Immigration Scams

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It’s spring, and cheap employers minds turn to using immigration to depress wages.

So, we see two articles regarding employers having problems finding workers because the H-1B (employees in specialty occupations), and H2B (seasonal employees) visa limits.

So we have hand wringing reports of high tech firms being unable to grow because of H1B limits, and, “Carnival operators in Alaska, landscapers in Pennsylvania and sugarcane processors in Louisiana” complaining of the same with regards to H2B.

The late Milton Friedman called the H1B a “just another government subsidy“, and he was right.

What’s more, it is a subsidy that works like a reverse Robin, taking from the poor and giving to the rich.

If you cannot find an employee in this moribund economy, you are not offering enough in wages and benefits.

Not only that, in the case of H1B visas in particular, it exacerbates any shortage (and there isn’t one, it’s just that people flee the profession in question) by dissuading people from entering these fields of study.

Bill to Prohibit De-Facto Slavery in Marianas Progresses

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The immigration system of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), one of Jack Abramhoff’s slimier clients*, will be brought into line with the rest of the US under a bill making progress in the Senate.

The spectacle of what amounted to indentured servitude at factories there was a blot on the US, and this change is good policy, additionally, the tremendously corrupt behavior of the government of the CNMI appears to be getting a well deserved dope slap.

*Scary thought that.

Illegal Aliens Kill Unionization Drive

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I found this little tidbit in a story about cutbacks and layoffs in the newspaper industry:

A few years ago, he said, some drivers talked about organizing, but the idea went nowhere. The problem, he went on, is that on the north side, 80 to 90 percent of the drivers are in the United States illegally. I have no idea if that number’s accurate, but I believed him when he said he’s one of them. “When you are illegal in this country you have to be patient,” the English-speaking driver explained. “So I think that is one of the reasons—they need the money, they have no papers to work, that’s why they keep quiet. They know if they complain they will get fired. We think the main Tribune, they don’t know nothing about this.”

Apparently they don’t. Tribune spokesman Michael Dizon e-mailed me that “it is against Chicago Tribune policy to publicly discuss how fees for delivery services are negotiated.” But he added, “Our company does not hire undocumented workers to deliver our newspapers. Tribune Company contracts with independent businesses to deliver products. In turn each independent contractor enters into his or her own contracts with sub-contractors to perform delivery results.”

This is why the US is so schizophrenic on illegal aliens. The powers that be use them to drive down wages and prevent union activities, which they like (and any guest worker program has the same effect), but the average American understands that it’s against the law.

That’s why, when I made some proposals about deterring illegal immigration, they focused on the demand from employers.

My Proposals on Immigration

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Note that I don’t mention a fence. I think that addressing the demand pull is what should be done first….After about 1/3 of the illegal aliens in the US entered legally and overstayed their visas.

My Proposals:

  • Change the law penalizing employers for hiring illegal aliens. Make it for negligently hiring illegals, not knowingly hiring illegals. It’s easier to prosecute, and the defense is ordinary care.
  • Create a new law for those who knowingly hire illegals, include long prison sentences, and asset forfeiture.
  • Create a bounty program for illegals. If an illegal alien rats out an employer, they get a 5 year green card. These green cards can be added up, or used to bring the rest of his family across the border.
  • Add a cash bounty for ratting out employers for legal residents.
  • Increase the fees on H1b and L1 visas so that it will always more expensive to go this route. If you really need that guy you should be willing to pay 50 grand in fees.

This increases the regulatory cost of employing illegals, and so reduces the demand.

Here’s How it Works, We Take Iraqi Officers to the US For Training, and They DESERT

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Big surprise there, bombs are not going off daily, nor are death squads roaming the street. All we have is an occasional mall shooter.

So, we train them there, then take the most promising back to the US for more estensive training, and they go missing.

They desert, they seek asylum, or they seek asylum in Canada, as a brigadier general did earlier this year.

Things have to be going swimmingly there.

US Policy is Not Good for Refugees, or Other Living Things.

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So says Canadian Justice Michael Phelan.

According to Canadian news accounts, Justice Michael Phelan’s ruling struck down an agreement that once barred thousands of refugees seeking asylum in Canada. The judge said the United States does not protect refugees fleeing political persecution and torture, which international conventions require.

Instead, it adheres to rigid policies which may result in mistreatment, including forcing victims of abuse to return to the countries in which they were mistreated, he said.

As a result, the United States can no longer be considered a safe place for refugees, Phelan ruled. His ruling nullifies an existing U.S.-Canada agreement saying that if a refugee is turned away from one country, he or she cannot seek refuge in the other. The agreement was intended to reduce so-called “asylum shopping,” in which immigrants attempt to obtain refugee status from multiple countries.

I’d be offended, if I didn’t agree.

As a result of 911 we have abdicated our moral authority to sadists, cowards, and the delusional.

Swiss Right Wing Party Scores Major Electoral Victory

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The right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) won 29% of the vote and 62 of the 200 seats in the National Council, so they will still need to govern in a coalition with the other major parties.

Their success appears largely to be driven by anti-immigrant animus.

I would like to think that most of the voters in Europe are neither bigots or nativist by inclination, but given the political consensus outside of the bigoted and nativist parties, their only choice is to vote for people like the SVP.

The consensus among European intelligencia is that immigration is nearly a human right, while most of the populous sees immigration as serving the national, and to some degree their parochial, interests.

Every society goes through periods of more and less restrictive policies on immigration, and the fact that there is not a more progressive alternative to people like le Pen and the SVP is why they achieve economic success.