Results tagged “immigration”

Days after leaving CNN earlier this month, speculation began that Lou Dobbs might consider running for Senate in 2012, challenging Democrat Robert Menendez. Now he's been confirming that the thought has crossed his mind—as has the idea of running for President at some point.

Coming on the heels of yesterday's report on the questionable conditions and lack of legal access in a little known immigrant jail in the West Village, the federal government has agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle the cases of five Muslim immigrants were among hundreds of noncitizens jailed in Brooklyn for months after 9/11 without charges. According to the Times, the plaintiffs — whose names were cleared but were still deported — accepted the payout after seven years of court cases. A larger suit filed by other detainees is ongoing.

Ever wonder what occupies that prime piece of real estate on the corner of West Houston and Varick streets in the West Village? Apparently a chronically overcrowded jail for "illegal immigrants, asylum-seekers and legal immigrants who face deportation because they have past criminal convictions," the Times reports.

Before marching in yesterday's Chinatown parade, new Senator Kirsten Gillibrand stopped by the Brooklyn offices of El Diario, the newspaper that recently featured her picture on the cover along with the headline "ANTI INMIGRANTE." The new senator has been trying to find common ground with state Democrats who are taking issue with some of her more conservative votes as a first term congresswoman in a district that previously had elected Republicans for the 25 years prior. After the meeting at El Diario with Hispanic lawmakers, Gillibrand told the press, "I think on some issues my positions will change. ... Others will become simply broader."

Yesterday Kirsten Gillibrand was sworn in as New York's newest senator by Vice President Joe Biden. The youngest member of the legislative body, Gillibrand has already been appointed to the Committees on Agriculture; Environment and Public Works; and Foreign Relations; and the Special Committee on Aging. Gillibrand spent much of yesterday meeting and greeting her new colleagues and enjoying the ceremonies with family members who made the trip to Washington. The Times reports that Biden "greeted her nieces and nephews with high fives and 'hey, man' and 'hi, cuz.'"

Now that hipsters have gentrified the neighborhood, the Times is reporting that a new group is moving into Williamsburg and undoubtedly endearing themselves just as much to longtime New Yorkers--immigrating Europeans. Europeans have accounted for one-third of those who have scooped up the 2,000 new condos in Williamsburg in the last two years. Europeans say the neighborhood resembles the areas they left behind--like Brighton in England and Marais in Paris. They also find its residents less career-driven than Manhattanites. One Brit who hangs out at the bar Spike Hill tells the paper, “There isn’t that same kind of talk about money and jobs. People leave work at work. It’s more like friends back home.”

A grand jury indicted the seven teens accused of killing an immigrant in Patchogue. All face charges of gang assault as a hate crime--the teens were allegedly targeting Hispanics-- while one was also indicted on charges of manslaughter as a hate crime for fatally stabbing Marcelo Lucero. Last night, over a 1,000 people held a vigil to honor Lucero--and speak out about racism. According to Newsday, Stony Brook University's director of the Social Justice Center Ruth Brandwein said, "This is an unfortunate, terrible tragedy of racism and bigotry that has some roots here. It's time we in Suffolk acknowledge it and move on," while one El Salvadoran immigrant said Nassau County was more tolerant. Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, whose hardline immigration policies prompted two recent editorials in the NY Times and Newsday, called the seven teens "white supremacists." One of the teens, Jose Pacheco, is Hispanic; his lawyer said, "Jose is distraught that some people think he committed a crime against another Hispanic."

After an Ecuadorean immigrant was stabbed to death, apparently by a group of teens looking to "f--- up" Hispanics, in Patchogue, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy denounced the crime but later claimed it was a "one-day story," suggesting it was getting media attention because of his immigration policies.

As we know, Mayor Bloomberg really supports immigrants and immigration. The NY Sun reports the Mayor as saying the U.S. would be "committing mass suicide" by restricting immigration, "There are people around the world who want to come and create here and add jobs and excitement and innovation, and we're keeping them in Canada and in Europe and Asia and not letting them here." Ah, one of the many reason why he had to leave the Republican party!

Some immigrant advocates are upset that Irish PM Bertie Ahern is trying to establish a special status for Irish immigrants in the United States.

are distressed by the trend and blame it on the fact that executive chefs’ salaries in China are matching or even surpassing the U.S. pay grade.

Former New York City Mayor and Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is finding that his campaign for highest office is foundering in Florida--the state that his campaign has identified as a crucial crucible. The primary vote in the Sunshine State will occur on Jan. 29, and with approximately six weeks to go, Rudy's trailing competitors Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. According to a survey conducted by pollster Scott Rasmussen, Romney is tallying 27% support, followed by Huckabee with 23%, and then Giuliani with 19%. Giuliani's organization dismissed the results of the Rasmussen poll as unreliable.

Approximately 85 undocumented workers are being fired from the high-end grocery delivery company Fresh Direct on the on the eve of the holiday season because their status as U.S. residents is disputed. Dozens of workers filed out of the company's Queens warehouse. Fresh Direct blamed a federal probe for the axing of almost a hundred workers. According to the Daily News, "management insisted it carried out the purge under pressure from federal authorities to crack...

A report released by the Center for Immigration Studies shows that foreign born immigrants living in New York are socioeconomically closer to the average citizen than elsewhere in the country. The study says that New York immigrants are more likely to be in the country legally, have health insurance and tend to be better educated. The New York Times reports that the states with the widest income gaps between immigrants and citizens are California, Texas,...

When Governor Spitzer announced he was dropping his controversial plan to offer driver's licenses to illegal immigrants yesterday, he was praised by his fellow Democrats. The NY Times notes that the decision won Spitzer "the kind of wide acclaim from elected officials that he could not win for the proposal itself." And that's gotta sting a little. Spitzer had first introduced a broad plan to allow illegal immigrants to get licenses, which caused outcry from...

Democratic presidential frontrunner and New York Senator Hillary Clinton is feeling bruised from the Tuesday night debate, where the big moment was when Clinton gave meandering support of Governor Eliot Spitzer's controversial driver's license plan for illegal immigrants.

The shift comes as the governor has faced a firestorm of criticism both from Republicans and from within his own party. More than a dozen county clerks, who operate Department of Motor Vehicles offices upstate, have refused to carry out the policy, even though they are considered agents of the governor’s administration.

Continue reading "Spitzer Bends on License Plan"

Rudy Rudy Rudy. Giuliani is getting it from all angles. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com's John Fund wrote an article, "Rude Giuliani." Fund referenced Giuliani's cellphone call with wife Judith during a very important speech in front of the NRA as just one example of all the times Giuliani is stopping for his wife's calls. He once left a room full of donors, who each paid $2,300 to hear him speak, to take a call from Judi Giuliani - and never returned. That's a classy move!

Edward Cardinal Egan, the archbishop of the New York Archdiocese, had no patience of protesters or reporters covering the protests outside a Midtown church yesterday. Some people have been upset their local churches have been closed by the Catholic Church, most notably parishioners Our Lady Queen of Angels in East Harlem, who have been protesting the February closing every weekend since February. And yesterday, outside of St. John the Baptist on West 31st Street, Our Lady Queen of Angels parishioners-turned-protesters gathered to ask Egan, "Why have you abandoned us?"

An immigration judge was criticized by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit panel and taken off the immigration case of a Chinese man, in what the NY Times reports is a "rare step". Apparently her cold-hearted reaction to his testimony concerned the panel, as well as her dismissal of other evidence.

Just a day after it was announced that Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minuteman Project, could be returning to speak at Columbia University, the Columbia Political Union voted against having him back when it learned that there would be no counter-point speaker. Gilchrist's 2006 appearance at Columbia sparked protests that got out of hand as demonstrators rushed the stage where he was speaking and participants got physical. Eight students were disciplined following the altercation.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on York Ave. and Richmond Terr. on Staten Island, another pedestrian struck on 37th Ave. and Union St. in Queens, and a missing child on 12th Ave. in Brooklyn.
• Three teenagers were hospitalized after being stabbed immediately after school let out in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn yesterday afternoon. Two of the injured were also slashed in the face.
• The City is introducing a new public awareness campaign to help reduce accidents and fatalities of bicyclists in New York. "Avoiding a crash comes down to one simple action: LOOK," is the tag line that will appear on taxi roofs, bus stops, and phone booths.
• A murderer and her sugar daddy rapist victim finally receive headstones 150-odd years after being buried in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. "Never in my life have heard a story that incorporated so much dysfunction and sociopathic behavior between a man and woman."
• The New York City school district won the lion's share of the $1 million Broad Prize for proving to be "a model of successful urban school district reform." The $500,000 the district won will be distributed as scholarships to graduating students.
• Home foreclosures were up 30% year over year in New York City, with Brooklyn leading the way in people losing their homes. There were 1,032 foreclosures in the borough last month.
• A state appellate court overturned a New York man's conviction after he was arrested with a large quantity of heroin in his possession because the judge in his trial interfered excessively in the questioning of witnesses.
• A freelance photographer was shooting pictures in a garbage-strewn alley in Newark for a story about illegal dumping when he discovered the body of a dead woman wrapped in plastic. After reporting his find to Newark police he was questioned about his immigration status and had his camera confiscated when he admitted that his visa had expired.

Yesterday morning, two Bangladeshi brothers jumped off a freighter ship that was leaving the Port of Newark, "somewhere between the Kill van Kull and Verrazano-Narrows Bridge." One brother was found, while the other is still missing.

The Kid From Brooklyn sees famine, war, and despair in the world's future. " I've got foresight," he says, but even he could never have predicted his own popularity. Michael Caracciolo started his website TheKidFromBrooklyn.com to entertain friends and family, uploading videos of himself ranting wildly about whatever he happened to feel passionately about that moment, whether it be border control, the President, or even Starbucks. It's led to television appearances, a memoir about his childhood in Brooklyn called "Go F Yourself" due out in December from Kensington Books, and even stand up performances, including one at The Gotham Comedy Club on August 29th. Gothamist sat down with The Big Man to get a taste of what he's all about.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck at 186th St. and Amsterdam in Manhattan, a child was struck and killed by a car on 130th Ave. and Springfield Blvd. in Queens, and a pedestrian was struck by a Bobcat (motorized work vehicle) on Monroe St. and Catherine Slip in Manhattan.
• Ironic Sans examines the new animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie and finds specific references to it taking place in NYC, but a very unspecific skyline of unrecognizable buildings.
• A candid admission at the blog dailyheights.com and advice that is is a terrible idea and dangerous to wander off the subway late at night while completely intoxicated.
• Sprint has hired Samsung to install a fourth-generation level of wireless Internet known as Wi-Max in NYC by the end of 2008.
• Republican Presidential aspirant Mitt Romney is presenting NYC to the rest of the country as a paradigm of the ills of illegal immigration. Bloomberg News columnist Amity Shlaes contends that he is badly mistaken.
• A pair of NYC sanitation workers sprinted across three lanes of traffic on the Van Wyck Expressway after witnessing an accident last summer, and then kicked through a car's sunroof to pull a woman and an infant from the overturned vehicle, which was smoking and leaking gasoline.
• Gov. Spitzer's aide Darren Dopp will take some vacation time before returning to work, but his suspension has been lifted following his participation in a scandal to embarrass Majority Leader Joe Bruno with the help of State Police.
• Police are looking for a pair of men who pose as plumbers in Manhattan while burgling the apartments of elderly women.

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to.

That's the first paragraph of the new Time magazine's investigation into Giuliani's record. While pollster Frank Luntz says, "You cannot underestimate the impact of having seen him on television hour after hour dealing with the tragedy. That gives him a level of credibility that nobody else has," to explain how Giuliani's September 11, 2001 demeanor can shape his 2008 presidential bid, that doesn't mean his NYC record is sacred.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a DOA/Fall Victim at 1 Hogan Place in Manhattan (that's the Manhattan DA's office), a double stabbing on East 171st St. in the Bronx, and an overturned ambulance at Broadway and Delafield Ave. on Staten Island.
• Opening day sales for tickets to The Metropolitan Opera set a record this Sunday after increasing 25% year over year, to $2.08 million. Online sales to performances were 50% higher than 2006's opening.
• New York apple growers are concerned despite what is shaping up to be an excellent harvest this year. Recent moves to crack down on illegal immigration means that orchard owners may not be able to fill the demand for seasonal agricultural workers to pick all of the apples.
• Cops arrested the surgical scrubs-wearing bank robber who darted into a hospital where he blended with facility personnel to evade capture. 50-year-old Robert Britt actually works at the VA hospital near the bank he robbed and already served seven years in prison during the 1980s for another bank robbery.
• An unauthorized biography of Katie Couric paints an unflattering portrait of the CBS News anchor, including allegations that the only reason she didn't file for divorce from her cancer-stricken husband was a fear of bad publicity.
• Bobby's Happy House, a Harlem music store opened in 1946, is being asked to leave its present location by new building owners, and 90-year-old owner Bobby Robinson is unsure if he will be able to find a new space to open.
• Curbed looks at the mysterious "Pine Tree Building" on 2nd Place between Hoyt and Boyd Sts. in Carroll Gardens.
• A class action suit has been filed on behalf of the approximately 100 men and women who hand out copies of AMNewYork newspapers in front of subway stations. The suit against the Tribune Co. alleges that the $20 a day workers are paid to distribute the papers is below New York's minimum wage when one takes into account how long employees work.

Cops followed suspects in the execution-style killings in a Newark schoolyard below the Mason-Dixon line. Newark Mayor Cory Booker announced that two more arrests were made in connection to the triple murder of three young residents and the attempted murder of a fourth in a schoolyard two weeks ago.

Chicagoist is gearing up for this weekend's annual Air & Water Show along the lakefront. In what's becoming an annual tradition around there, staff member Todd McClamroch even got to fly with one of the participants. Chicagoist's decidedly opinionated readership was also appalled that one of their staffers found a popular local brewpub to be a great place to bring a kid. They also think that an unlikely activist for immigration rights should just take her medicine and offered their own suggestions to how the city should capitalize on the local music scene. And everyone thinks that a suggested tax on bottled water is a great idea.