Immigration

Immigration focus on employers: Friday, May 15, 2009; workplace column:; By Nicole Lucht; A change in administration means a change in the way Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators handle undocumented workers. Instead of rounding up the workers and slapping the employer on the wrist, employers are going to be the focus — and with that comes heftier fines and penalties.

Foreclosures, immigration linked in report: Wednesday, May 13, 2009; Areas hit hardest have high percentage of foreign-born heads of household; By Timothy Pratt; Counties with high foreclosure rates also tend to have large immigrant populations, according to a report released Tuesday. The study ranked Clark County sixth nationwide in foreclosure rates. Nearly 1 in 4 heads of household locally were foreign-born, much higher than the national rate.

Hundreds hit Vegas streets for immigration reform: Friday, May 1, 2009; Marchers hope Obama brings a pathway to legalization; By Timothy Pratt; About 300 people marched along Sahara Avenue and up the Strip this evening, a reprise of the nationwide May Day marches for immigration reform that began three years ago. Many of them had a personal stake in the issue.

Nevada's percentage of illegal immigrants in workforce tops nation: Tuesday, April 14, 2009; By Timothy Pratt; Nevada tops the nation when it comes to the percentage of illegal immigrants in the workforce, according to a report issued today by the Pew Hispanic Center.

A family’s reprieve from fear: Saturday, April 4, 2009; Mother who’s seeking legal status freed from jail, but still could be deported; By Timothy Pratt; When Emma Sarkisian heard her mother’s voice tight with panic in a call from the North Las Vegas jail last week, she flashed back to her own calls from a different jail four years ago.

A sweep of violent criminals, or deportation scheme?: Friday, March 13, 2009; By Timothy Pratt; A recent congressional report questions whether Metro and police agencies nationwide are using a federally funded program to engage in wide-ranging deportation instead of its intended purpose, ridding communities of violent felons.

Legal tempest threatens to break up family: Wednesday, February 25, 2009; Immigration:; By Timothy Pratt; Four years ago, when she was 10, Patricia Sarkisian wrote a letter to President George W. Bush asking why her two older sisters were jailed in Los Angeles, an order of deportation pushing them toward a flight to Moscow any day.

Republicans’ red herring: Thursday, February 5, 2009; IMMIGRATION: Politicians use fear of benefits for illegal immigrants to hold up social services bills; By Timothy Pratt; In the recent debate over funding health insurance for children, several Republican members of Congress opposed the idea because of fears that more illegal immigrants would sign up for the program.

Police to share immigration status with feds: Wednesday, October 15, 2008; IMMIGRATION: New program a partnership between local police and federal immigration officers; By Amanda Finnegan; Illegal immigrants who get into trouble with the law in Las Vegas will be referred to federal immigration enforcement officers — even if they aren't found guilty of any criminal offense — thanks to a new program being instituted by the city's police department.

Need for workers spurs call for action: Friday, October 3, 2008; DAILY MEMO: IMMIGRATION : Executives of big Vegas-area employers lend backing to campaign for change in law; By Timothy Pratt; As the nation watched Congress scrambling to try to prop up a struggling economy, a little-known Texas organization rolled out an expensive ad campaign in Las Vegas and four other Western cities last week, hoping to revive another piece of unfinished Capitol Hill business — an immigration law overhaul.

Hispanic law students help others up: Friday, September 19, 2008; DAILY MEMO: IMMIGRATION: Offering practical advice and serving as role models, they urge high schoolers to aim for college; By Timothy Pratt; Siria Gutierrez remembers opening the door to her honors English class in her first year of junior college and thinking, “Whoa — where are all the brown people?”

Foreign physicians back boss — to a point: Saturday, August 30, 2008; J-1 doctors: Asked to state that their employer followed rules, only half swear to it; By Marshall Allen; Dr. Rachakonda Prabhu, one of Nevada’s most politically connected physicians, is struggling to clear his name in the alleged abuse of a government program to employ foreign physicians in medically needy areas.

Judge: Immigrant’s ouster ‘draconian,’ but must stand: Tuesday, August 26, 2008; By Cy Ryan; Because Erika Garcia de Rincon, who is married to a permanent U.S. resident, twice entered the United States illegally from her native Mexico, federal officials have been trying for years to deport her.

Minutemen claim softer side: Monday, August 18, 2008; winning the west: Defenders of U.S. border say they’re compassionate, even save illegal immigrants’ lives; By J. Patrick Coolican, Leila Navidi; The Minutemen want you to know they are humanitarians, and they can be quite persuasive. They understand the impulse to come to America, to feed a family. They might do it themselves if they were Mexican.

Degree by degree, their dreams fulfilled: Sunday, August 3, 2008; Immigrant sisters see graduation as not just personal attainment but as pattern to be followed; By Charlotte Hsu; Their father works at the Luxor, in the kitchen, their mother at a laundry cleaning hotel linens. Neither parent had more than a grade school education.