Immigrant Rights Groups Sue Over Criminal Database
12/30/2003. NewsMax
A number of immigrant rights groups and advocates have filed suit in a New York federal court charging the Justice Department and the FBI are improperly enlisting state and local police assistance in enforcing immigration laws....

Middlemen in the Low-Wage Economy
12/30/2003. The New York Times
After federal agents raided 60 Wal-Mart stores in October and found more than 200 illegal immigrants in the cleaning crews, the world's largest retailer was quick to defend itself from this enormous embarrassment. Wal-Mart's officers said they had no idea those workers were illegal, insisting they knew next to nothing about the workers from Mexico, Mongolia, Russia and elsewhere because they were employed by contractors....

Congressional proposals focus on immigration
12/30/2003. The Island Packet
After being pushed aside following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, immigration reform is back on the minds of many in Congress. Bills introduced in the past several months seek to alter how borders are protected, undocumented workers are treated and guest worker programs are run....

New law is helpful gift
12/28/2003. New York Daily News
Just in time for the holidays, Intro 38A, the Equal Access to Human Services Act, was signed into law on Monday by Mayor Bloomberg. It is an important bill that reaffirms our city's tradition of fairness to all its people....

They Come to Prosper
12/28/2003. Press of Atlantic City
Hector Alvarez studied architecture in school, but he knew his experience farming sugar cane in Oaxaca, Mexico, would be more useful in finding a job when he sneaked across the American border in 1985. He made his way to southern California and picked prunes. Laboring in the heat for 10 hours a day, he earned more than was possible in Mexico. But Hector wished for a better way, not only to survive, but to prosper....

Culture classes
12/27/2003. Star Tribune
Sony Sly, an immigrant from Cambodia, doesn't know enough English yet to tell you very much about herself. But she's a whiz on pull-wires for electrophysiology catheters, and such terms as proximal, distal, calibration and traceability -- and other med-school-sized words. ...

Reaching out to minority employers to tell them how government can help
12/27/2003. NJ.com
Fine Fair Supermarket owner Ali Siyam was a little surprised when an employee told him that Department of Labor representatives wanted to speak to him. As Siyam descended the stairs from the upstairs office of his Bergenline Avenue store, Department of Labor employees stood smiling next to the refrigerated meats, waiting to extend their hands in greeting. ...

Immigration Reform on Bush Agenda
12/24/2003. The Washington Post
President Bush plans to kick off his reelection year by proposing a program that would make it easier for immigrants to work legally in the United States, in what would constitute the most significant changes to immigration law in 18 years, Republican officials said yesterday. ...

Freehold church will help day laborers
12/23/2003. News 12 New Jersey
One month after Freehold officials signed an ordinance prohibiting day laborers from gathering in public, a Baptist church has announced it will open its parking lot to the migrant workers. In November, town leaders argued that too many day laborers were coming from far away to meet in Freehold and look for work. They signed a law prohibiting the immigrant workers from gathering in a local "muster zone."...

Guidelines Are Giving Workers A Helping Hand
12/23/2003. Wilson County News
There is good news for workers in America: the workplace is becoming a safer place-and workers are reaping the benefits. That's because injuries related to ergonomics-also known as musculoskeletal disorders or MSDs-in America's workplaces declined in 2001, according to the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. ...