This Week's News on Current Immigration

As Ireland’s Boom Ends, Job Seekers Revive a Well-Worn Path to New York (New York Times)
Like many before them, Irish immigrants are traveling to the United States to seek employment, as unemployment in Ireland reaches nearly 12 percent. Many Irish immigrants have arrived on tourist visas and plan to stay illegally, so there are not exact figures on immigration trends. However, anecdotal evidence from Irish-American business owners, construction unions, and landlords in Irish neighborhoods like Woodside and Sunnyside in Queens, suggests that the population of new Irish immigrants is growing.

Illegal immigrants again in the budget spotlight (Los Angeles Times)
In California, where the budget deficit is approximately $26.3 billion, lawmakers are debating whether to cut services to illegal immigrants as well as to their U.S.-born children. It is difficult to determine the net economic impact of California's 2.7 million illegal immigrants, who make up approximately seven percent of California's population. Immigrants contribute to tax revenue, but they cost the state $4-6 billion annually in education, prisons, and health care. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed to limit welfare and health care to illegal immigrants and their families, but the Legislature has not passed his plans.

Immigration laws are breaking families apart, deporting too many parents with US-born children (New York Daily News)
The United States Department of Homeland Security released a study showing that at least 108,434 parents of U.S.-citizen children were deported between 1998-2007. In such cases, parents must leave their children behind, or bring the child to a country that may be foreign to them. The study, commissioned by Representative José Serrano, underscores the need for immigration reform that would give judges the discretion to avoid breaking families apart.

-Posted by Penny King