10. Overseas Naturalization for Military Spouses
The year began with an amendment to the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act allowing certain spouses of military members to naturalize overseas where their families are stationed. From January through September 2008, 18 military spouses became naturalized citizens during ceremonies in Germany, Italy, South Korea, and Japan.
9. Tax Rebates for Everyone...Except You
It was a frustrating tax season for the unlucky ones who used an ITIN to file their tax returns. Tax rebate checks were only given out to people with a valid SSN - a document that can be very difficult for new immigrants to obtain. And the IRS quietly posted the clarification only a day before the filing deadline. Anyone affected was able to file an amended return prior to October 15, 2008.
8. No News is Not Good News
The hype leading up to the failed 2007 immigration reform bill must have been too much for people. In 2008, hardly anyone in the media wanted to talk about immigration. Even in an election year, the topic seemed to be a filler on most news programs. We couldn't get the candidates to talk about it: Two weeks before the election, Sarah Palin admitted she had no idea how many illegal immigrants might be living in Alaska; John McCain declined to answer a survey on immigration; and the topic didn't even make it into the presidential debates.
7. Visa Waiver Program Runs While it Can
Despite a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office outlining the failures of the visa waiver program, seven new countries became VWP members in November. The expansion was opposed by Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security. Feinstein has stated she will be working to tighten the program by increasing oversight.
6. President Citizenship Concerns
The presidential candidates' citizenship caused an uproar within the blogosphere. Many people believed that Barack Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate was fake, and that he was actually born in Kenya and therefore not eligible to run for president. The furor went a step further and suddenly John McCain didn't fit the natural-born citizen qualification because he was born on a U.S. naval base in the Panama Canal Zone. Both candidates had nothing to worry about of course, and About.com's Genealogy Guide Kimberly Powell was there to fill us in on the details.
5. Immigrants Aren't Good for the Environment
In 2008, population stabilization advocates targeted immigrants as the reason for our global warming woes. The Center for Immigration Studies released a report essentially telling immigrants to stay in their native countries to avoid raising global CO2 levels by coming to the higher-polluting United States. If that wasn't enough, CAPS launched a major ad campaign blaming immigrants for an impending water crisis in the U.S. One has to wonder if these groups spend as much time trying to reduce their own carbon footprints as they do pointing fingers.
4. The Largest ICE Raid in U.S. History
ICE arrested 595 illegal aliens at Howard Industries in Laurel, Mississippi in August; the biggest worksite enforcement raid in American history. Of the 595 arrested, 106 people were able to avoid detention for humanitarian reasons. Unlike Postville, Howard Industries management was not charged with federal immigration crimes and plant operations continue.
3. HIV Travel Ban Lifted in Theory but Not in Practice
During the summer of 2008, Congress repealed the statutory ban that barred HIV-positive immigrants from entry into the United States. By the end of 2008, the Department of Health and Human Services had not made good on its promise to remove HIV from its list of communicable diseases during the Bush administration.
2. Campaign Ad Madness
Did they think we wouldn't notice? Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama altered their immigration ad speeches depending upon the community they were targeting. English-only ads focused on border security and spoke very little about a path to legalization, whereas Spanish-language ads touted comprehensive immigration reform. Eventually, the Spanish-language ads turned into a virtual boxing ring as each candidate tried to discredit the other.
1. Problems in Postville
Before Mississippi there was Postville. The raid at Agriprocessors, Inc. located in Postville, Iowa saw 389 undocumented workers arrested and detained in what was at the time, the largest crackdown of the Bush administration at a single site. Community members protested the raid, but the meatpacking plant was fined for workplace and child labor violations. Members of management were eventually charged with federal immigration crimes, although two of the managers who were charged skipped town.