In Brief Immigration leads to GOP rift in Okla Legislature OKLAHOMA CITY: A quiet campaign by Oklahoma's business community to head off new immigration legislation is splitting Republicans in the Legislature. GOP candidates came into office with plans to give the state the toughest anti-immigration policies in the nation. But those plans collided with the push to make Oklahoma more attractive to industry. A sweeping immigration measure pending in the Senate has been stripped of penalties for businesses that hire illegal workers. A bill that passed in the House includes few restrictions on businesses. Rep. Randy Terrill says businesses oppose the measures because they want access to cheap, illegal immigrant labor. -AP
LAPD eases impound rules after immigrant criticism LOS ANGELES: Police said they are changing rules for impounding cars of unlicensed drivers at sobriety checkpoints, after criticism that the department was targeting illegal immigrants. Calling it ``the right thing to do,'' Chief Charlie Beck said he eased the rules after immigrant rights groups brought up the issue in recent meetings, the Los Angeles Times reported. Previous protocols called for officers at checkpoints to impound a car whenever the driver did not have a valid license whether or not the driver was drunk. Under the new guidelines, police will attempt to contact the registered owner of a stopped vehicle, and if that owner is a licensed driver who can respond to the checkpoint in a ``reasonable period'' the car will be released to them. -AP
Md. immigrant in-state tuition bill advances ANNAPOLIS, Md.: A measure allowing some illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at Maryland has passed the Maryland Senate. The bill passed 27-20 still must be approved by the House of Delegates before going to Gov. Martin O'Malley, who has said he would sign it. During debate, Sen. Victor Ramirez, the bill sponsor who immigrated legally as a child from El Salvador, told opponents that voting against the bill would not solve problems relating to people living illegally in the state. -AP
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India Post
www.indiapost.com
March 25, 2011
'Kansas policies helping illegal immigrants' TOPEKA, Kan.: A former social services case worker told Kansas legislators that state policies determining who receives benefits enable fraud and favor illegal immigrants over legal residents as she testified in support of a bill addressing that and other immigration issues. -AP
NJ Homeland Security officials hold community awareness meet India Post News Service
NEW JERSEY: The New Jerseybased Indo American Cultural Society Inc. in cooperation with the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (OHSP) organized a meeting for representatives of the South Asian Community to discuss 'Homeland Security Preparedness' at the TV Asia Auditorium in New Jersey on March 8. About 150 people representing different South Asian organizations, temples, gurudwaras, mosques and churches attended the meeting. Among the OHSP officials at the meeting were Anne Kreigner (Asst. Deputy Director Operation), David Leonardis (Confidential Assistant to Deputy Directorof Operations) and John Paige (Supervising State Investigator). The purpose of the meeting was to work with the South Asian community with a mission to administer, coordinate, lead, and supervise New Jersey's counterterrorism and preparedness efforts; to meet the goals for education and provide information on the emergency response efforts across all levels from government, law enforcement, emergency management and other jurisdictions to the private sector with a common goal to protect the
OHSP officials at the meeting -Pic Gunjesh Desai/masalajunction.com
Issues related to homeland security, terrorism, mistreatment of South Asians at many airports and such were discussed in depth to bring about awareness and preparedness in the community people of New Jersey. Issues related to homeland security, terrorism, mistreatment of South Asians at many airports and such were discussed in depth to
bring about awareness and preparedness in the community. Kriegner told the gathering that "training of law enforcement and other individuals
tasked with homeland security and emergency preparedness will be shared in temples, churches, gurudwaras, schools or colleges in conjunction with multiple partners in state and local government." David Leonardis talked about safety for children in schools and civilians' safety in malls, cinemas or any other common public areas. Cont’d on page 45
Immigration implications for same-sex couples DAVID A. ISAACSON
T
he Justice Department announced on February 23 that based in part on the recommendation of Attorney General Eric Holder, President Obama has determined that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional, and will no longer defend it in court. This is because, facing litigation within the jurisdiction of a circuit court of appeals (the Second Circuit) that has never ruled on the appropriate standard of review to be applied to laws concerning sexual orientation, the Administration determined that a heightened standard of review
is appropriate, and that Section 3 of DOMA cannot withstand review under such a standard (although the Justice Department had previously argued that Section 3 could survive the looser rational-basis test applicable under the precedent of some courts of appeals). The announcement is available online at http://www.justice.gov/ opa/pr/2011/February/11-ag222.html, and a related letter sent by Attorney General Holder to Speaker of the House John Boehner is available at http:// www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/ February/11-ag-223.html. The announcement states, however, that
Section 3 of DOMA will remain in effect until either it is repealed or "there is a final judicial finding that strikes it down," and until such time "the Executive Branch will continue to enforce the law." The letter to Speaker Boehner states even more specifically that "the President has instructed Executive agencies to continue to comply with Section 3 of DOMA, consistent with the Executive's obligation to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, unless and until Congress repeals Section 3 or the judicial branch renders a definitive verdict against the law's constitutionality."
Section 3 of DOMA, 1 U.S.C. § 7, provides that for purposes of federal law, "the word 'marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word 'spouse' refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife." Among other consequences under federal law, this means, according to the consistent interpretation of USCIS and the former INS, that a same-sex spouse cannot be granted immigration benefits by virtue of his or her marriage to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. Cont’d on page 46