PHOENIX, Arizona — When things got tough in Arizona, many families decided to leave to avoid being caught in the local illegal immigration crackdown. But Maria Garcia’s family wouldn’t move. When her husband was fired for not having legal documents, they stayed and weathered the storm. After 23 years, the Garcias say they’re here to stay.

“My father passed away, he was sick for many years and I couldn’t see him. Now my mother is sick. But I know that if I leave it would be very dangerous for me to come back,” said the migrant from Colima, Mexico.

The Los Perros swap meet has seen fewer customers lately. (Photo: Valeria Fernández)

Two recent national studies present contradicting data about whether the current recession and anti-immigrant climate are pushing undocumented immigrants to leave the U.S. and return to their home countries.

A new report by the Center for Immigration Studies – a group that advocates lower immigration levels – shows that the illegal immigrant population has fallen by one-third over the past two years. According to the study based on Census Data, Arizona is the state with the highest drop. About 180,000 of the 530,000 undocumented living in Arizona left, according to research conducted by Steven Camarota.

Yet another study released earlier by the Pew Hispanic Center said while that the number of people entering the country illegally is dropping, undocumented migrants who are already here are not returning.

So are immigrants leaving or staying?

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By Valeria Fernández, FI2W contributor

PHOENIX, Arizona — Undocumented immigrants in Arizona could face jail terms for simply being in the state under a series of bills gathering momentum in the state legislature.

Sen. Pearce, author of the SB 1175 bill

A bill approved Wednesday by a Senate committee (SB 1175) would allow any police officer to arrest an undocumented immigrant under charges of trespassing on state land. Those jailed would have to pay the cost of their own incarceration.

“If this bill passes, it would be the first state in the nation making illegal presence a crime,” said Alessandra Soler-Meetze, Executive Director of the Arizona Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “The implications are tremendous. What it means is that anyone who is in this country without proper documentation is going to be charged and arrested.”

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Gov. Deval Patrick and Frank Herron, director of the Center on Media and Society at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. (Photo: E. A. de Oliveira)

By Eduardo A. de Oliveira, EthnicNEWz.org and FI2W reporter

Proclaiming that, “we need immigration laws that are consistent with our values,” Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick held a wide-ranging press conference with ethnic media journalists at the State House in Boston.  At the meeting, last Friday, the governor defended the creation of partnerships with immigrant communities, answered questions on topics such as bilingual education and driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants, and commented on race relations under President Barack Obama.

The audience of about fifty journalists –more than 35 from immigrant communities– came from African-American, Brazilian, Chinese, Haitian, Japanese, Korean, Latino, Polish, Portuguese and other print, broadcast and Web media.

The governor made brief remarks at the opening of the press conference, saying democracy thrives when it maintains an unfiltered press. He then opened the floor to the journalists’ questions on topics from “anywhere in your agenda you want,” he said.

At least one topic formed a common thread for many of the journalists: access to driver’s licenses for undocumented workers, many of whom contribute to the state economy and pay taxes.

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By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor

NJ gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie at a Parsippany town hall this weekend. (Photo: Christie campaign)

The leading contender for the Republican nomination in the New Jersey gubernatorial campaign is opposing an immigration panel’s recommendations that the state extend licenses to drivers regardless of their immigration status and allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates.

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, however, was careful in his statements last weekend at a Parsippany town hall not to dish out the hardline rhetoric that has come to be expected from Republican candidates on the issue of immigration. Such rhetoric did not work well for them in last year’s elections, when most hardline candidates for Congress lost their races.

Christie said he was opposed to the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Immigration Policy, appointed by Gov. Jon Corzine in 2007, and whose report sparked a heated debate a couple of weeks ago. The Parsippany audience applauded his remarks warmly, New York newspaper El Diario/La Prensa reported Tuesday.

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By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor

Governor Corzine disagreed with a recommendation by the panel he created in 2007. (Photo: NJ Dept. of the Public Advocate)

New Jersey has become the latest state to try to fill the gap created by the lack of federal immigration reform. Last week an advisory body created by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine recommended that the state issue driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants and that state colleges allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates.

The Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Immigrant Policy issued a 123-page report with a list of measures New Jersey could take to implement “a comprehensive and strategic statewide approach to successfully integrate” some 400,000 undocumented immigrants into the state population. [Visit the panel’s site for the full report or an executive summary in pdf.]

The reaction – much of it critical – has mostly concentrated on the recommendations about in-state tuition and driver’s licenses.

“Allowing illegal aliens to obtain ‘no questions asked’ state driving privileges would undermine New Jersey’s strict licensing laws,” The Gloucester County Times said in an editorial Sunday.

“…it’s a shame that (the panel) muddied the line between legal and illegal immigrants — and went too far, in our opinion, in a few of its recommendations,” The Press of Atlantic City said. “That tends to polarize the debate even further than it already is.”

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