Immigration Agents Raid Apartments in Tennessee

On October 20, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided The Clairmont Apartments in southwest Nashville, resulting in the detention of more than 20 residents who were thought to be illegal.

Agents broke into the apartments and arrested men and women at gunpoint, forcing them to leave their children behind, reports the Nashville Scene. There are no known “criminal charges filed against the people who agents rounded up [and] warrants were not presented before agents entered the apartments by force, say immigrant representatives.

Raids, such as this one, are currently taking place all over the country and must be stopped. Although the intentions of this agency are well-meant, the way it is going about reaching its goals is bordering the line between what is humane and what is not.

Whether these immigrants are illegal or not, a warrant was not shown at the time that the ICE agents broke into their apartments. A home is where people feel most safe and comfortable, and for that safe-haven to be disturbed is uncalled for, especially when children are present.

This also brings to light another concern with immigration reform – what would happen to the underage U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants? Would they stay in the U.S. with legal family members or would they have their citizenship taken away and be deported along with their family? These are just a couple of the questions that must be answered whenever any form of illegal immigration is being proposed.

Children cannot be torn apart from their parents and left alone like they were in the raid at these apartments. These children should not be forced to give up the U.S. citizenship they rightfully deserve because of their parents mistakes. Thousands of people all over the world consider the United States a place where dreams can come true and freedom is celebrated. Parents come to the U.S. to give their children a better life and allow them to have greater opportunities to advance themselves in their careers; unfortunately, sometimes they come into the U.S. illegally.

Raids like these could also leave long-lasting emotional and psychological effects on the children that have to witness ICE agents break into their peaceful homes and see their parents being taken away at gunpoint.

If immigration reform is to be passed it must address these issues: home and business raids and whether U.S.-born children must give up their citizenship and be deported along with their parents.

Ads Increase Controvery in Nevada Senate Race

Many elections this year are getting tighter and tighter, making illegal immigration and immigration reform one of the deciding factors when voters turn in their ballots. One election race coming into the spotlight and becoming tighter is the Nevada Senate race between Senate Democrat Harry Reid and Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle. But the deciding voters in this election may be Hispanics, due to controversial ads released by Angle.

The most recently aired ad in support of Angle is titled “The Wave,” where Reid is depicted as a friend of illegal immigrants. However, the controversy surrounding this ad is the way Hispanics are seemingly depicted.

Reasoning behind ad

Angle claims the ads are about border security. “You’re misinterpreting those commercials. I’m not sure that those are Latinos in that commercial. What it is, is a fence and there are people coming across that fence. We cannot allow terrorists, we cannot allow anyone to come across our border if we don’t know why they’re coming,” Angle told a group of Hispanic students, says Politico.

Despite her statement, activists and social groups are still denouncing the ad, which repeatedly portrays Hispanics negatively, as well as gang members. Her statement says that it is not guaranteed that the people featured in the ad are Hispanic, yet a couple arguments could state otherwise.

Ads could lead to discrimination, racism

If indeed they are Hispanic, the ad could potentially cause other races to fear Hispanics because they might believe they are involved in gangs or drugs. Or, the ads could cause people to believe that anyone that fits those features could be Hispanic, instilling the same fear they’d have for Hispanics. This would lead to racial problems among Nevada citizens. To better get her message across, Angle should have shown a wide variety of people crossing the border.

The ad also suppresses the Hispanic population in Nevada by portraying them in a negative light and making them seem like they are all involved in illegal affairs. Not all Hispanics in Nevada, or the country for that matter, are illegal, gang members, smuggling drugs, etc. This ad gives obvious reasons for discrimination.

Immigration is already a huge debate in Nevada, as well as its neighboring states, and these ads could make the topic even more controversial among its citizens.

Deciding factors

In a state where 14 percent of the electorate is Hispanic & Democrats are supported nearly two-to-one nationwide, according to Reuters, Sharron Angle could possibly lose the election if her ads continue to cause fear of Hispanics or continue to portray them in a negative light.

There hasn’t been much done either to manage or control the effects of the ad. The statements released by Angle have not fixed the controversy made by her ads nor have they tried to gain a better relationship with the Hispanic voter community.

Georgia Public Colleges Ban Illegal-Imimgrant Students

As immigration and illegal-immigrants become more common topics in current political debates, five Georgia public colleges recently passed a policy banning illegal-immigrant students, the New York Times reports. The ban comes after many lawmakers debate whether "illegal immigrants who attend high school in the United States should be permitted to continue to public colleges," the New York Times continued. The policy passed with a 14-to-2 vote by the Board of Regents, Georgia's top educational policy makers. New bills are expected to be introduced by Republican state lawmakers, which would make this policy apply to all state colleges.
After the DREAM Act was recently defeated in the Senate, this new policy comes as another set-back to immigration reform. This policy may also interfere with any type of immigration reform passed in the near-future, such as Senator Robert Menendez's (D-N.J.) Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010. When making such policies that would affect education for illegal immigrants, lawmakers should greatly consider how well these policies may or may not work with possible immigration bills.
This recent policy also comes as a set-back, in general, to the education system. As active members of our society, despite being illegal, these immigrant students have the right to get a higher education. The more educated they are, the better they will be able to effectively contribute to our society and democracy. Many of these illegal-immigrant students attended high school in the U.S.; therefore, they should be able to go to college here as well.
If applied to all colleges in the state of Georgia, this policy would discriminate a specific group of people and deny them a higher education. This sort of discrimination should not be allowed after the many positive changes made in our society toward acceptance. The U.S. is a place where everyone should be considered equal and given the same opportunities, education being one of the rights that should be shared among all of those living in the U.S.

‘My Name is Jerry’ to be released on DVD

By Lacy Fuller

Of the Ball State Daily News

Critically acclaimed and winner of several film awards, the Ball State produced independent movie, "My Name is Jerry," is being released on DVD today.

The movie is one of few independent films that have been released and distributed nationally.

It's an honor to just have been selected for distribution, Rodger Smith, producer of "My Name is Jerry" and director of the Institution for Digital Education and Entertainment at Ball State, said.

"To be selected for distribution means that "My Name is Jerry" was in the top 5 percent of last year's films," he said.

Production was good

The production of the film gives students a chance to do some hands-on work and not just sit in a classroom and be lectured.

"The production of the film is a demonstration of what this university is all about: Immersive learning," he said. "Ball State is committed to immersive learning."

"This really puts our program on the map," project manager for "My Name is Jerry," Emma Smith said.

Smith is part of an immersive learning class that is executing a marketing plan for the film.

"I signed for this advertising course," she said. "I just figured it would be a read-the-textbook-and-get-lectured course, but when I got to my first class I found out otherwise."

Smith said her class was split into two groups. While one does marketing for Chevrolet, her group is marketing "My Name is Jerry."

The marketing team for the movie has held several activities to promote the DVD release. They handed out stickers and pamphlets during the Homecoming game a couple of weeks ago.

"We are also holding a drawing for the members of the film's fan pages on Facebook and Twitter. The winner will win a gift card to Best Buy," Smith said.

Morgan Mead, director and original script writer for the film, started writing "My Name is Jerry" five years ago with Doug Jones in mind as the main character.

"I took the script to Ball State and it took me about three years to convince the university to help fund this film," Mead said.

Typically, it takes from the time of writing a script to the DVD release date three to four years.

"It didn't take too long to release ‘My Name is Jerry,'" Smith said. "We really wanted to approach the film professionally. Just editing the film took nine months. Every movie is its own industry. It works from the ground up."

"My Name is Jerry" has been recognized and won several awards at national and international film festivals; some include:

-- Route 66 Film Festival — Best Feature Comedy 2009

-- Accepted in the Tacoma Film Festival

-- Accepted in the Grand Rapids Film Festival

Voting Becomes Criminal Act for Some Immigrants

For many people in the United States, voting is an important act or felt to be part of their civic duty. But for many immigrants, voting can become a criminal act. An example being Joseph E. Joseph, a legal permanent resident from St. Kitts, who is now facing deportation for voting in every presidential election since 1992, according to the New York Times.
Only citizens are allowed to vote in national and statewide elections in the United States. Immigrants, even if granted permanent residency, may be "expelled from the country if the authorities discover that they have even registered to vote," reports the New York Times. But they [registration volunteers in 1992] said that if I'm paying taxes, I have a right to vote," Joseph said.
Citizenship and Immigration Services officers are "required to evalute the circumstances of the violation, as well as the 'moral character' of the applicant, and decide whether the law has been intentionally violated," states the article. "Whether or not making false claims of U.S. citizen was intentional or not, you nonetheless voted in an election in violation of the law. Therefore you failed to satisfy the good moral character requirement under the law," said Joseph's rejection letter.
It is understandable that citizenship be needed in order to vote in the United States, however, a system must be passed that will allow people legally residing in the U.S. to vote. Many immigrants consider the U.S. their home and believe they should be able to vote. If they are paying taxes, have a clean criminal record, and are contributing to the nation's economy and society, then they should be able to vote.
After living in the United States for many years, many immigrants feel it is also their responsibility to contribute to the nation by voting, just as U.S. citizens do. And for those immigrants who have children born in the U.S., they feel this need even more. Immigrants, just as any U.S. citizen parents, want their children to have a good life in the place they live in. So they register to vote in hopes of making a positive difference in their children's future.
A change must also be made to the "good moral character requirement" referred to in Joseph's rejection letter. He was not trying to harm the United States by voting in presidential elections. On the contrary, he had all of the best intentions in what he believed was a positive difference in the life of his children, his own, and for others in the country. It should not be a crime to want to be an active member of our society and democracy, even if the person is not a U.S. citizen. Some sort of legal residency should be required, but it should not be limited to citizenship.

Utah Follows in Arizona's Immigration Footsteps

Back in April, the state of Arizona passed what the New York Times calls the nation's "toughest bill" on illegal immigration. Now the state of Utah is considering passing a similar bill. TIME reports that 12 Utah legislators from the house and senate-including members of both the Republican and Democrat party-traveled to Arizona to better understand the impact passing such a law could possibly have in Utah. The article also discusses a bill titled Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act written by Utah Representative Stephen Sandstrom. This bill, just like the one passed in Arizona, would "require local police officers to verify the immigration status of an arrested person if there were 'reasonable suspicion the person is an illegal alien," according to TIME. The bill "enforces federal law on a state level," Sandstrom said.
Just barely a draft, this immigration bill is already beginning to cause just as much controversy as the bill passed in Arizona.
Were this bill to be passed in the January legislative session, it would cause terrible problems for the state of Utah. There is no doubt that some residents would rather leave the state than live in fear of being persecuted. If a mass amount of people leave Utah, the state could face a major economic downturn. Businesses would lose customers and employees. It would also cost the state a lot of money to have local officers trained in order for them to be able to handle their new responsibilities and routines were the bill to pass. Money would also have to be spent to build new holding facilities if there were no room in the ones already existing.
This bill also only addresses those who are illegal, and not necessarily those who help them out by giving them jobs. In order to successfully handle illegal immigration, this bill must also address those who are accomplices; some sort of punishment or fine should be placed into action.
This proposed bill, just like in Arizona, could lead to talk of racial profiling. As previously stated, proof of immigration status would not be asked for unless there was reasonable suspicion that the person in question was an illegal alien. Someone who is Caucasian is more likely to be viewed as an American citizen, or at least legally in the United States, than someone who is not-it is simply the way our society works, unfortunately.
One issue that seems to not be addressed in this bill, however, is how it would affect the Development Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act)-which was defeated in the Senate, but may be proposed again- if it were to be passed. The DREAM Act would allow "undocumented students in college to qualify for financial aid and a pathway to citizenship," according to the Golden Gate Press. Were both of these bills to be passed at some point in the future, they would have to work well with one another, so as to not conflict with each bill's purpose.
The Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act still has much revision ahead before it can find a way to address all different aspects of immigration in a way that will positively affect the state of Utah.