Broken Promises - Deportees

President Barack Obama has said his government would take on the thorny issue of immigration policy reform.

BUT

First year of Obama administration sees record amount of deportations.

LINK

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus

Liberty

Obama's version

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MacArthur Park

by BB2

Forty years ago a popular song referred to MacArthur Park, describing a lost love as a melting cake which had been left out in the rain.

This past May Day MacArthur Park was again the scene of something lost. This time it was the freedoms of speech and assembly. It is our Constitution which has been left out in the rain and instead of green icing flowing down it is red blood!

Farm Labor Shortage Worries Farmers.

Updated 9/25/06

A shortage of farm workers due to tighter restrictions at the Mexican border is threatening the fall harvest.

"When farmer Kenyon Farley hears about the "crackdowns" on the U.S.-Mexico border, he worries about his apples.
Last fall, Farley couldn't find enough farmworkers to pick the "quality apples" off his trees - he needed up to 30; he only got 10. So he lost money. This fall, he's concerned seasonal workers from Mexico won't make it across the border to help with the harvest, resulting in harder times for already struggling farmers statewide. "

This Report from the Salt Lake Tribune exposes a side effect of the increased border surveillence which has received little consideration.

Update 9/25/06:

Another report from Raw Story and The Ledger tells of the loss of crops and the problems of trying to work under the Government's programs:

"The tightening of the border with Mexico, begun more than a decade ago but reinforced since May with the deployment of 6,000 National Guard troops, has forced California growers to acknowledge that most of their workers are illegal Mexican migrants. The U.F.W. estimates that more than 90 percent of the states farm workers are illegal.
Most California growers gave up years ago on recruiting workers through the seasonal guest-worker program currently in place. Known as H-2A, the program requires employers to prove they tried to find American workers and to apply well in advance for relatively small contingents of foreign workers for fixed time periods."