Menendez Wants CIR During Lame Duck Session (AMNESTY)

On yesterday's "Al Punto," the Spanish-language TV network Univision's Sunday morning news program, Sen. Robert Menendez said he will introduce "comprehensive immigration reform" legislation in hopes of getting it passed during the upcoming lame duck session of Congress.

"If we are going to be ready for the opportunity that perhaps will exist during the session after the elections -- where many senators are retiring and have the freedom to vote without political considerations -- we have to have something so that we can make progress at that moment in November," the New Jersey Democrat said in an interview with host Jorge Ramos.

If the bill does not pass in November, he said, he and other supporters of the legislation will be ready to move when the new Congress convenes in January.

In a separate segment of the same program, Ramos interviewed Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who rejected claims that the state's controversial new immigration law, widely known as SB 1070, is racist and anti-Hispanic.

"The Hispanic population is part of our DNA, and that's why it's so painful when persons think that it is based in racism," Brewer said. (This is a translation of the program's Spanish-language voice-over of her remarks.) She called Hispanics "a fundamental part of our culture."

"We passed SB 1070 because we cant accept the costs of illegal immigration," Brewer told Ramos.

More from CIS today.

Immigration and Education: Only the Beginning
By John Wahala , September 13, 2010

The Census Bureau finds that one of every four members of this year’s kindergarten class is Hispanic. To put this number in context, Hispanics were less than five percent of all students in 1970. This unprecedented transformation is the result of our federal immigration program, which continues at record pace.

Quoted recently in USA Today, demographer Kenneth Johnson predicted that this change is “only the beginning,” given that the number of Hispanic girls entering childbearing years is up more than 30 percent. Johnson went on to explain that this is a nationwide phenomenon as school districts everywhere are struggling to accommodate these students.

The most obvious challenge is the language divide – it is estimated that 16 percent of five-year-olds are Spanish speakers. Most teachers are simply not equipped to instruct these pupils, who struggle to communicate and remain isolated from their peers. One study found that it takes the average person five to seven years to achieve fluency in English. Another concluded that the average English learner in California had less than a 40 percent chance to be proficient after ten years of schooling in the U.S. This means many will reach graduation age lacking the ability to effectively read and write in English.

Lacking English proficiency is a serious impediment to making a suitable living and integrating into American life. And given the government’s sustained policy of mass immigration, these personal struggles will have a cumulative impact on the economy. If current trends continue, one education think tank projects that the skills and incomes of the U.S. workforce will decline over the next several years.

Even if we immediately regained control of our haphazard system and significantly reduced immigration, the challenge of fostering widespread success among Hispanic students remains. Two professors explain that the Latino education crisis goes far beyond the language divide and is serious enough to imperil our very democracy. They cite researchers who find that around 50 percent of Hispanic students do not graduate four years after entering high school.

These young people, most of whom are American citizens, will have a definitive role in shaping the next several decades. They are a permanent addition to the American story. While their progress should be a consideration for future immigration policy, how they fare is a separate issue and one of extreme importance.

http://www.cis.org/wahala/only-the-beginning

Thank you AuntB for this post. You're doing an amazing job here at FR.

Here's some Border Patrol Blotter highlights. The link shows so much illegal drug importation, it is a black eye to this administration that it continues as aggressively as it is, with no sign whatsoever it is an Obama or Napolitano priority. The Reports are the people "caught" and do not indicate the amount of illicit drugs making it here unobstructed.

USBP Weekly Blotte3r - September 9 - September 15

Reported on September 10, 2010

El Paso Sector – Border Patrol agents arrested a national of Kazakhstan at the traffic checkpoint near Las Cruces, New Mexico. Records checks revealed the subject had a prior conviction for identity theft.

Yuma Sector – Border Patrol agents arrested a national of the Philippines and recovered a stolen Audi A5 sedan at the traffic checkpoint near Dateland, Arizona. The subject was driving the vehicle at the time of his arrest. The vehicle was reported as stolen in San Francisco, California.

Reported on September 11, 2010

Blaine Sector – Border Patrol agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico and seized $119,000 near Blaine, Washington*. After arresting the subject for illegal entry, a search of his backpack revealed the currency in vacuum-sealed bags.

Del Rio Sector – Border Patrol agents rescued an illegal alien from Guatemala near Carrizo Springs, Texas. A traveling companion informed agents that his friend had been bitten by a rattlesnake and was in need of assistance. Agents initiated a search and located the stricken subject who was transported by emergency medical services to a local hospital for treatment.

*Blaine, Washington is near the Canadian border

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