Immigration

Immigration Policy and the Terrorist Threat
in Canada and the United States
"The contributors to this volume identify serious threats and weaknesses in the immigration, asylum, and border regimes from both Canadian and American perspectives. The authors are not opposed to effectively managed immigration or allowing genuine refugees who pose no security threat to enter the country through a well-vetted system. All believe that the vast majority of immigrants pose no danger, but are simply seeking to improve their freedom and prosperity.

Nevertheless, given the stakes raised by terrorist attacks, the entry of even a small number of potentially dangerous individuals should warrant major attention and policy review.

U.S CBP Report to Congress on Ongoing DHS Initiatives to Improve Security Along the U.S. Northern Border
"The international boundary with Canada extends 3,987 miles across both land and water, and it is often described as the largest open border in the world. It separates two friendly nations with a long history of social, cultural, and economic ties that have contributed to a high volume of crossborder trade and travel. Almost all of Canada's major metropolitan areas are located on or near the international boundary. In fact, 90 percent of Canada's population lives within 100 miles of the border. See related news story: http://www.helenair.com/articles/2008/03/05/top/top/50na_080305_border.txt

Navigating the Immigration Debate: A Guide for State & Local Policymakers and Advocates
"This guide should be viewed as a launching point for individuals concerned about immigration related policy developments at the state and local level. We hope that the array of materials and organizations referenced herein help provide a roadmap for tapping in to the expertise of a growing network of national and local organizations committed to sustainable immigration solutions. We further hope that as the futility of pursuing localized responses to a national problem becomes manifest, state and local governments will channel their efforts into pressuring the federal government to act."
Also see the AILA website: http://www.aila.org/

"Immigrants are far less likely than the average U.S. native to commit crime in California, according to a report released today by the Public Policy Institute of California. Significantly lower rates of incarceration and institutionalization among foreign-born adults suggest that longstanding fears of immigration as a threat to public safety are unjustified.

Key findings in the report, Crime, Corrections, and California: What Does Immigration Have to Do with It?:

* People born outside the United States make up about 35 percent of California’s adult population but represent only about 17 percent of the state prison population.
* U.S.-born adult men are incarcerated in state prisons at rates up to 3.3 times higher than foreign-born men.
* Among men ages 18-40 – the age group most likely to commit crime – those born in the United States are 10 times more likely than immigrants to be in county jail or state prison.

"This report presents estimates of the legal permanent resident (LPR) population living in the United States on January 1, 2006. The LPR population includes persons granted lawful permanent residence, e.g. 'green card' recipients, but not those who had become U.S. citizens. The estimates are shown for the total LPR population and the LPR population eligible to apply to naturalize by country of birth, state of residence, and the year LPR status was obtained.
Estimates of the Legal Permanent Resident Population in 2006
See similar reports: http://www.dhs.gov/ximgtn/statistics/publications/index.shtm

A comprehensive vision for an integrated European border management system for the 21st Century
http://www.ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/frattini/archive/i08_215.en.doc

The European Commission (EU) recently released its vision on how to develop the EU's external border management system. The vision consists of "a mix of concrete measures (on the FRONTEX Agency and on control of maritime borders) and longer term reflections on ways of recording entry and exit of third country nationals. This approach will ensure that the integrity of the Schengen area is preserved, while keeping the crossing of the external border as simple as possible for third country nationals fulfilling the entry conditions. It represents another in the recent steps taken by the Commission to contribute to reinforced solidarity and cooperation in managing the external border and in developing an EU immigration policy."

"The issues of how to integrate immigrants and ensure the integrity of citizenship have become passionate topics of public discourse and policy debate in recent years in a number of immigrant receiving countries. Behind these debates are often unarticulated questions about how to ensure loyalty to the state and to particular conceptions of national identity among prospective citizens. These issues have been explicitly debated in the United States since the enactment of the first naturalization law in 1790, which require that immigrants who wish to become citizens demonstrate their good moral character and attachment to the country.
http://www.ccis-ucsd.org/PUBLICATIONS/wrkg160.pdf

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reminds the traveling public that U.S. and Canadian citizens ages 19 and older should no longer expect that they will be able to prove identity and citizenship by relying on an oral declaration alone. Instead, travelers will be asked to present documents from one of the options below when entering the United States at land or sea ports of entry. Travelers who do not present one of the documents listed below may be delayed as U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers attempt to verify their identify and citizenship.
http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1201786444210.shtm

"U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology that is to be used in cross border travel documents to facilitate the land border primary inspection process. A unique number is embedded in an RFID tag which, in turn, is embedded in each cross border travel document. At the border, the unique number is read wirelessly by CBP and then forwarded through a secured data circuit to back-end computer systems. The back-end systems use the unique number to retrieve personally identifiable information about the traveler. This information is sent to the CBP Officer to assist in the authentication of the identity of the traveler and to facilitate the land border primary inspection process.
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/privacy/privacy_pia_cbp_rfid.pdf

The annual report, Privacy and Human Rights 2006, is produced by the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Privacy International. The report "reviews the state of privacy in more than 75 countries around the world. It outlines legal protections for privacy, and summarizes important issues and events relating to privacy and surveillance." The report is 1,100+ pages with 6000+ footnotes and can be read online in sections. The PI web site also has a page summarizing information on the leading surveillance societies in the EU and the World 2007.