By Gerry Bellett, Vancouver Sun, Mar. 5 2011

Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid says even if mothers don’t have residency status, children are not foreign students. The head of the Vancouver YWCA said Friday she is encouraged that provincial authorities are promising Canadian children whose mothers don’t have residency status will have access to medical, social and educational services. “So far there has been a lack of clarity on how the needs of some of these women and children are met. We have approached the government about these problems and there seems to be a willingness to move forward,” said Janet Austin, CEO of the Vancouver YWCA.

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By Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun, Mar. 3 2011

Across the country, hundreds and possibly thousands, of Canadian-born children are being denied access to the most basic services -a home, food, health care and schooling. They are being denied these necessities because their fathers abused their immigrant mothers, their mothers fled the relationship, and the fathers then reneged on promises to sponsor the women for permanent residency.

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By Seth Freed Wessler, Colorlines, Mar. 2 2011

In Arizona’s state legislature, racial profiling is so 2010. It introduced a set of anti-immigrant bills last week that make last year’s SB 1070 look a bit like a passing nuisance. But outside the Grand Canyon State, SB 1070 is far from last year’s news. A round of similarly crafted and in many cases more extreme bills are now spreading all over the country. At least 16 state legislatures* have introduced SB 1070 copycat bills in the current legislative session. They are undeterred by the suite of lawsuits that have thus far kept Arizona from implementing the most controversial elements of its law.

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By David Bacon, In These Times, Feb. 28 2011

Radio host and author Thom Hartmann has a new book, Rebooting the American Dream. Hartmann has a progressive reputation, and his book supports unions, calls for eliminating tax cuts for the rich and advocates other sensible ideas. But like many liberals, when it comes to immigration his tune changes. In one chapter, Hartmann says he wants to “Put Lou Dobbs Out to Pasture.”  But Hartmann, like Dobbs, criticizes corporate power and then turns his fire on workers and immigrants. Instead of taking Lou Dobbs on, Hartmann repeats many of the stereotypes and falsehoods that gave Dobbs a reputation as one of the most anti-immigrant commentators in U.S. media. Hartmann, like Dobbs, claims to speak for the interests of working people. And his ideas do reflect the thinking of a certain section of the U.S. working class. That makes it important to understand the impact of his recommendations.

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by Ben Sichel, Halifax Media Co-op, Feb. 27 2011

HALIFAX – Roouf Ahmad and Fakhira Chaudhry have won the right to have their family’s application to stay in Canada re-reviewed, according to reports on the Chaudhry family solidarity website.

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