Immigration
David Segal’s phrasing of the motivation for immigration is telling: Reasons for immigration vary year by year and generation by generation, but there are two basic themes: Flight from violence, and flight from destitution. Whatever somebody’s reasons for running from a place, it’s not irrelevant to consider why they run to another place — in…
A comment from Joe Bernstein: E-verify will not make it through the Senate. It is “inexplicably” being scheduled for hearing before the Judiciary instead of Labor. Why? Because Paiva-Weed knows she can’t any longer just bury it, so she wants to make damn sure it gets voted down in committee. That won’t happen in Labor.…
It looks as though President Obama is holding off on comprehensive immigration reform. Even if it would be more corect to append a “for now” to that sentence, the president is to be applauded for doing so. What caught my eye was this. “I’m just surprised at how muted the reaction has been to Obama’s…
David Segal believes that illegal immigrants in Rhode Island have come here for the same reason as other, previous immigrant groups: Flight from violence, and flight from destitution. I agree. Further, he attempts to knock-down our current immigration restrictions by reciting a brief history of immigration to the U.S.: the hurdles, the hardships, the “Know-nothings”,…
Our coverage this time is courtesy of Joe Bernstein who, along with myself, was one of over a hundred in attendance at the event Wednesday night. Joe walked right by me that night without saying “hi”, not that I’m calling him a snob. But in his comments under Justin’s post, Joe channelled and articulated my…
Former Congressman Tom Tancredo will have two public appearances tomorrow in Rhode Island: the first, at 4:30 pm outside of the gate (outside because the college did not invite him to speak inside; there are conflicting reports as to how and why this came about) of Providence College; the second, at 7:00 pm at the…
Semantic distinctions can be frivolous or they can be significant. Sometimes, as with Mart Martinez’s letter supporting in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, they point to an underlying difference in how people interpret something, like the American dream: I support H-5353 because I believe in the American dream. The American dream is about rewarding those who…
In her statement to Anchor Rising, one of the bases for Lieutenant Governor Roberts’ opposition to e-verify was accuracy. She is not the first to express such reservations. In fact, it is the most commonly voiced concern about the system. Some easy research, however, would quickly allay these concerns. From the Department of Homeland Security:…
[This Engaged Citizen post by Geoff Cook originally appeared on October 16, 2008. To Geoff and the five hundred other people becoming naturalized citizens this morning at Veterans Memorial Auditorium: Congratulations and welcome to America.] In a strange twist of coincidence, Tuesday, October 14, I went to ICE in Providence to take my citizenship exam.…
In the Netherlands, the canals have frozen over for the first time in years and the Dutch are strapping on their skates and having a blast, albeit with a few bumps and bruises. But the politics are never far away, even in what you’d think would be a feel-good story. First, there’s the environmental angle:…