Immigrant Daily

Compania Rebelde

October 29, 2008 – 3:41 am
If you care about immigrants in this country, buy yourself a shirt from American Apparel, a company that is doing all it can to support immigrants in California (and elsewhere) with their LEGALIZE LA campaign. American Apparel is continuing the fight to make sure that THE AMERICAN DREAM stays alive, while hiring American workers and paying good wages in the what was once considered a dying US garment industry. Kudos!

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Theme Problems

October 22, 2008 – 7:56 am
Please do not be alarmed -- just having some theme issues. Luckily I can revert back to old theme so the site can continue to function during these technical difficulties. :)

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The Beast

October 22, 2008 – 6:51 am
Ran accross this brief documentary called Alex and the Beast.  It discusses the difficult journey many people take to make their to the US from Central America.  Thousands of young people each year climb onto the tops of cargo trains and hang on for their dear lives in search of a better life in the U.S.  During the process some die, and some make it to the U.S. to find that life here has its own set of problems and difficulties.  The biggest one being too far away from their homes, family and culture.

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Magical ICE Goggles?

October 13, 2008 – 6:36 am
Daniel Kowalski of bibdaily.com -- the most useful immigration blog around posted a wonderful discussion on the Magical ICE goggles, or the ability of ICE agents to magically spot and arrest on the spot illegal immigrants. I imagine those mysterious abilities make the federal government's job a lot easier.  I wonder if they can modify the goggles to work with other types of behavior, like white-collar crime or lying.  Probably testing for the lying feature may be too difficult -- opening a pandora's box.

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One American Life…Now Legalized

October 10, 2008 – 6:47 am
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="196" caption="Maria Andreu -- once an "illegal" American."][/caption] A wonderful story by Maria Andreu, describes her path to becoming a “real” American.  The underlying question for me while reading her story is what does it really mean to be an American?  Is someone’s birth in this country the defining factor?  Why?  What about people like Maria who were born outside of the US, but spent their childhood here.  When do we form our identities as Americans?  What about those of us who have more than one national identity?  While growing up in the United States and going through the American educational system, we are constantly bombarded with the concept that supposedly represents the fiber of American culture – a melting pot of cultures.  If this is what gives our country its identity, then why do we try to seal our pot? The saddest part of her story for me ...

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Pinky Show: How to Solve Illegal Immigration

October 9, 2008 – 12:05 pm
Some profound words, from a very intelligent and learned cat.  Sadly many people in our society seem unable to grasp the issue as well as this feline.  Please watch this, as it is a great primer and outlines the issues extremely well.  Plus hey -- it's two cats.  :)

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Ellis Island Procedures for Admission of Immigrants

October 9, 2008 – 8:13 am
This is an overview of the process by which immigrants entered the U.S. via Ellis Island.  Just like today, the process was arduous and a difficult experience (in a different way), however one thing that made it easier was that most of the restrictions on entry were based on the immigrants' health status.  The percentage of returned immigrants was at mere 2% of those that arrived.  Quite a different story from today. [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="351" caption="Shipping Manifest of Immigrants from Liverpool"][/caption] The overview was copied in its entirety from here. You can also view a great presentation covering the history of immigration to the US at the Ellis Island foundation website. Overview Immigrants endured an ocean voyage from eight to more than twenty days—generally in cramped, unhealthful steerage—making their arrival at Ellis Island a victory of sorts over the conditions of passage. Some wore tags of identification stating their ultimate point of U.S. destination. ...

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Are you an Accidental American?

October 8, 2008 – 1:15 am
Today I stumbled across Rinku Sen's Accidental American website.  This website is a promotional piece for Sen's book of the same name.  I really enjoyed spending time on this website, especially under the My Story section, where visitors can upload their own videos explaining how they became Accidental Americans. The idea behind being an Accidental American is that most people immigrate to the U.S. not because they want to become U.S. citizens and permanently settle here, but instead due to various other circumstances, like civil war, famine, or poor economic conditions in their home country. The author talks about her reasons for now being an American: her family came to America to make some money and always planned to return to India.  As the years passed the journey back never happened, and U.S. became the author's new home.  I share a similar story in that I came to the U.S. because of my father ...

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2010 Diversity Visa Lottery Registration Opened

October 6, 2008 – 8:43 am
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="US Flag from Immigrant Faces. Copyright: ohaider on Flickr "][/caption] Looking to immigrate to U.S.? Now is your opportunity because the US Department of State released the info for the 2010 DV Lottery Registration. Applications will be accepted from October 2 to December 1, 2008. Go to http://www.dvlottery.state.gov/ to get started. Avoid online companies charging for the application. The application is free. Get more info and details by clicking here. Good Luck!

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Rancher Stands Up to Border Patrol

October 6, 2008 – 8:14 am
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="262" caption="The Department of Homeland Security demanded that Bill Addington tear down this rickety footbridge, which links his farm to a Mexican village."][/caption] Some of the smartest words about immigration that I have heard in a long time, come from a Texas rancher Bill Addington and were reported in today's WSJ article: "We should be building bridges, not walls," Mr. Addington says. "I'm not taking it down." The article describes the rancher's fight with the US Border Patrol over a small footbridge that has been in the rancher's family for some time and he uses to collect livestock that illegally sneaks into Mexico. The rancher clearly understands the importance of having an open border and the benefits that come from a certain level of flexibility.  At a time of global interdependence, black and white policies on border security lead to stifling of free exchanges of resources, ideas and culture.

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