A new lawsuit has been filed by the Justice Department against the immigration practices which are being followed by the authorities in Arizona. Two months ago, a law suit has been filed against the Maricopa Community Colleges in the Phoenix area. This was after Governor Jan Brewer was sued by the Justice Department regarding the new immigration law that has been imposed in the state. This also comes along as investigations are being carried out against the sheriff in Maricopa County, Joe Arpaio for his tough acts pertaining to immigration enforcement.

In the recent lawsuit that has been filed, as per the officials from the Justice Department, discrimination has been taking place against about 250 applicants who were not the citizens of United States. This came about during employment opportunities where in it was made compulsory for these candidates to fill in additional documents. These were not as such required by the law as qualifications for their eligibility. This clearly showed the violation of Federal Immigration and Nationality Act.

At the same time, it has been maintained by the Justice Department that this particular lawsuit is not related to the Brewer case and that of the Arpaio and other investigations which began in 2009.

As per the law’s provision of antidiscrimination, it is against the law to treat those workers with the permit different during the process of recruitment, especially on the basis of citizenship. This is as per the Assistant Attorney, Civil Rights Division, Justice Department, Thomas E. Perez. So, the government is taking the relevant steps to clear this practice.

This is one of the recent cases which has come to surface and has been taken up by the Civil Rights Division. This division has been constantly modifying itself since the Bush administration.

Immigration has been quite a debate in the United States with the immigration bill introduced in Arizona. But now, another debate has emerged in the form of immigrant babies. No wonder it is the time for elections and so, targets are formed from all sides.

Some of the lawmakers from the Republican side are suggesting changing a part of the 14th Amendment which permits natural citizenship to all those born in the United States. According to Sen. Lindsey Graham, many immigrant women cross the borders illegally just to deliver a child who would then be an American citizen. This has been termed as “Drop and Leave”.

In 2008, an estimated number of 340,000 babies were born in the United States. These babies were born to illegal migrants. This is as per the study conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center. It has been claimed that the more than eighty percent of the children born were born to mothers who have been residing in the nation for a minimum of a year.

Keeping the above aside, it can also be said that the Republican lawmakers are trying to bring out terms and conditions to procreate in the nation. But then, how would such a plan is implemented? This would simply mean deploying immigration agents at every corner of the nation or may be turning the nurses and the doctors into immigration officials. In other words, a category called undocumented babies would come into picture.

On the other hand, there was no such concept as illegal immigration in 188 when the 14th Amendment was sanctioned. This was because all the immigrants were permitted to reside in the nation. More so, no immigration laws or policies were created then. Walking into the nation was free and people used to come in boats or even cross the borders from Mexico or Canada.

So, simply removing the concept of birthright for these children is not the answer. Above all, it is not a child’s fault to have illegal migrants as parents.

The security crackdown by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been termed as being racist. This has led to emerging concerns in the right-wing camp and led to fears pertaining to the international image of the nation.

The Gypsy settlements were being raided each day which led to the arrest of hundreds of Roma who were not born in France to be removed from the nation. These have been compared as being similar to the Nazi-era collaboration with France by one of the members of the ruling party.

This crackdown on the illegal campsites of the Gypsies came in parallel with measures which intended to take away the citizenship of criminals who are foreign born. This came about after forming a link between immigration and crime. It is being hoped by President Sarkozy that these tough measures would help with his constant popularity amongst the voters in France till the 2012 presidential election. However, it sure has been opposed by the politicians in the right.

This initiative seems to have a turn that wasn’t expected, especially when the men, women and children were separated and rounded up. It seems there is some form of confusion when it comes to demarcating immigration and crime. It is related to more of the times when the Jewish citizens were detained in the wartime. After all, it is definitely not correct to link all aspects together. These include terrorism, integration, and religion as foreigners walking into the nation. And so, it is important to have an immigration and integration policy which is accepted and reasonable enough to deal with all aspects with justice.

According to stats, the total number of children in America born to undocumented workers has risen to a heavy number of 4 million in the year 2009. Contrary to this, the number was almost half in the year 2003. It was 2.7 million as confirmed from a report that came on Wednesday.

Those kids, who have been given an automatic citizenship of the country, represent a percentage of 5.4 out of all those children who are below the age group of 18 in the country. If a comparison is done from the statistics of six years earlier, it was 3.7 as confirmed by the non-partisan Pew Hispanic Center.

The report has further confirmed that this figure will see a high in the coming years. Approximately 340,000 babies out of the total 4.3 million infants who were born in the country in the year 2008 were from undocumented workers. This counts for 8 percent of the total number.

There are huge demands from the sides of legislators who are demanding a revision of the 14th Amendment which says that all those born in the country would be granted a citizenship.

Also, the U.S. Census Bureau has confirmed that the overall percentage of native-born people in the U.S. has dropped by a huge margin in last four decades. According to Jeffrey Passel from the Pew Hispanic Center, the future will see a drop in the percentage of white non-Hispanic and on the contrary, the coming years will see a hike in the number of immigrants as well as their kids.

It is nothing new for the Congress not exactly working with the current state of economy in the nation. At the same time, it is quite unexpected for the majority of the public as well the elites in DC who want some form of legislation to be passed now, when it come to immigration. The main reasons behind this can be considered as the increase in the number of votes from the Latino, the new immigration law in Arizona and so on. These factors have definitely created an environment for the public to speak out.

59% of the general population expects to see action when it comes to reform which is meaningful and another 76% of the DC elites expect the same. More so, this reform is expected from both the Democrats and independents with 61% from both the ends approving of a bill to be passed. To this, 59% of the Republicans agree as well.

The above can also be presented in view of the voters not being happy with the healthcare bill, the way that the Congress is going on and above all, the reaction of the government. More so, it can also be said any form of compromise has also been eluded despite the promises that have been made by the Bush administration as well as the present Obama administration.

It can also be said that the bipartisanship has been broken with no success in forming new immigration legislation for more than a decade now. If looked into the past, even President Clinton had brought about welfare reform as well as a balanced budget but then when it came to immigration reform, it was limited. This limited reform catered to building the fence at the border as well as granting citizenship for some.

Post the above reform, nothing concrete took place. More so, all attempts in this regard could not be exactly formulated. The Republican right expect tough measures to be taken against those who are living illegally in the nation. At the same time, this does not mean a path to citizenship has to be created for such residents. On the other hand, the left does not approve of the crackdowns as suggested by the right and prefers a process which is automatic when it comes to citizenship. With no compromise to be taking place, as of now no president has been able to take any conclusive action in this regard.

All in all, immigration is one such issue which is only possible to resolve with an approach which is centrist in nature. More so, this approach can bring about both the moderate Democrats as well as the Republicans to a compromise or a bargain with respect to all the key issues.

It cannot be denied that the United States has been built on the dreams of many immigrants and their generations who came and built the nation as we know it today. Yet, we see Republicans trying to cut down on any form of measure being taken by the Obama administration.

The immigration law in Arizona brought about violent national debate which in itself had many flaws and some of its key points have been put on hold. With this, similar incidents happened with a nun being killed in a car accident in Virginia.

Here, the driver was an illegal migrant and was accused of drunken driving. In this case, the accused Carlos A. Martinelly had been convicted twice but ended serving only a period of 20 days in the prison for one of the convictions. The main reason behind this was that Martinelly was handed over to the Federal Immigration Enforcement officers by the local authorities. The immigration officials never investigated into his case.

The above clearly questions the insight of the immigration officials who overlooked such a serious case. More so, it only led to a nun being killed only because the convict was left in open. At the same, it was requested by the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia to not politicize the issue.

However, this did not stop the Chairman for the Board of Supervisors at Prince William County, Corey Stewart to coming forth with a statement which charged President Obama along with Janet Napolitano, Secretary for Homeland Security of having blood on their hands.

Keeping the above aside, a new legislation is being proposed by the Senate and some of the Republicans in the House which would amend the US Constitution. This amendment would enable to deny citizenship and legal immigration status easily. More so, some of the Republicans also want to bring about changes in the 14th amendment which would US citizenship being granted to some of the children being born in the nation.

All in all, there is a serious need for a dialogue in the matter of immigration. Reform where it matters has to be the goal.

According to reports, CIC will provide funds to the efforts of the University of British Columbia to protect the priceless knowledge of Chinese-Canadian legacy. In an attempt to do so, one effort is to archive project material prepared under the Community Historical Recognition Program (CHRP).

In addition to this, there are plenty of attempts which have been made in an effort to preserve the Chinese-Canadian Historical Recognition Project. It has been confirmed by Dr. Alice Wong from the Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism department.

He went on to say that courtesy the efforts of the UBB project, this priceless history would be preserved for the betterment of all the nationals. Also, the (CHRP) has provided funds for so many projects which acquaint us with the history and vast knowledge behind the Chinese community in Canada.

An amount of receive $900,000 for a 25-month project would be received by the University of British Columbia. Here are the facets which would be created by the project:

• A website would be created depicting the history of the Chinese community and civilization in Canada.
• A digital archive which would be accessible all over Canada and would be housed at UBC.
• Three ‘Mobile Museum’ kiosks
• Learning resources for the students. The resources would be based on the archived projects.

It is a great step in ensuring that the legacy of Chinese-Canadian culture is preserved throughout.

According to the 14th Amendment, any child born in the United States is automatically a citizen of the nation. This also includes those children who are born to parents who are not the citizens of the United States. But with the current issue of illegal immigration being the debate, this amendment is being questioned. Many leading Republicans are urging to reconsider this 14th Amendment.

In order to curb illegal immigration, few Republican senators have said that such children, especially born to parents who are illegal migrants should not be accepted as US citizens, despite being born in US. According to Senator Lindsey Graham, just crossing the borders only to deliver a child should not be the reason. With the intent to ensure that their children are US citizens motivates these undocumented migrants to cross the borders illegally.

Since there are already about 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States, adding more to the number through illegal means and projecting them as being legal is something which cannot and should not be tolerated by the government of any nation.

It has also been proposed by the Senate GOP leaders to not have a system of automatic citizenship unless one of the parents is a citizen of the US. The citizenship clause in the 14th amendment came about 1868 so as the freed slaves could obtain a citizenship.

On the other hand, the Democrats feel that the Republicans are giving way to anti-immigration extremists and thus, doubting the very Constitution they have sworn to preserve.

Above all, this change could only be brought out after a Constitutional amendment has been brought about. For this, it is important to get the consent of two-thirds majorities from both the Congress chambers and from three-fourths of the states.

If your application for UK Naturalisation and Citizenship has faced rejection and you intend that UKBA should reconsider your application, then get ready to give a GBP100 fee. According to reports, the government of the UK has acquired the right to charge fee for the same since April 6, 2010. This applies if you want the UKBA to reconsider your application for the registration as a Citizen of Britain or your application for UK naturalization.

Following are the changes which would be implemented from September 1, 2010 onwards:

• The applicant intending to apply for reconsideration of a refused application for UK Naturalisation or registration as a British Citizen will have to pay a GBP100 fee.
• If the applicant fails to pay the amount, the application will get the “invalid” status and will be given back to its applicant without facing reconsideration.
• In any case, if the appeal done for reconsideration fails, the government if the Britain will have the fee with itself.
• In successful cases, where the reconsiderations are acknowledged, the relevant cases would mean that GBP80 would be kept as an amount to give for the citizenship ceremony and the left over GBP20 would be refunded back.

For more information on the same, kindly contact an ace Immigration and Visa expert (www.abhinav.com).

US Senator Lindsey Graham recently spoke to the press to clarify his statements he made on the US immigration laws which were questioned by people and categorized as controversial. Lindsay is a one-time lawyer who provides legal status to undocumented workers. While speaking to the press, he said that he wants to be practical and fair when it comes to dealing with the immigration issues and above all, he wants to fix this problem as soon as possible.

To reduce the problem of illegal immigration in the United States, he is focusing on fixing the problem by working on various federal reforms. He is planning to end giving birthright citizenship to the US born babies of illegal migrant parents. He further said that people from foreign countries come to the nation to give birth to their children in the US hospitals so that they can become the legal US citizens. They come here illegally but they make their children a legal citizen of the nation. This is not been followed by other countries and the United States should also not follow it. Such statement made by him has raised quite a controversy amongst people in the US.

One of the spokesperson for Hispanics, Diana Salazar said that not providing citizenship to the US born babies is unfair as it is the constitutional right of them. She further said that Graham’s proposal is against many people residing in the United States. His proposal is in favor of few people only but fails to deal with the welfare of masses. There are many families of the United States which are dependent on the Latino population working as servants such as nannies for them. Salazar openly criticized the proposal of Graham by saying that his proposal does not represent the whole state and so should not be encouraged.