Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
An anti-illegal immigration group is pushing for Arizona-style legislation in Iowa to drive out undocumented immigrants, The Des Moines Register reported Monday. The Minutemen Patriots have started a petition drive hoping to convince Iowa lawmakers to take up a copycat law — even though Arizona’s effort has been tied up by seven costly lawsuits — and hopes to obtain 200,000 signatures from Iowans stating support for an anti-illegal immigration bill.
The ACLU filed a formal complaint Monday claiming U.S. citizens and legal residents were wrongly targeted for a raid in April by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents because they spoke Spanish. ICE agents raided a bus of 42 people, some of whom were citizens or legal residents, headed from Denver to Omaha for an Amway [...]
The Obama administration says it has stepped up immigration enforcement at workplaces through quiet audits of company personnel paperwork to catch a record number of employers who hire illegal workers. Advocates of E-Verify, a program that checks the immigration status of workers before or after they are hired, argue that it could significantly cut the number of undocumented immigrants in the workforce.
Somos Republicans, a Latino group from the Southwest, wrote an open letter to the future House GOP leadership last week asking it to reconsider putting Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) in charge of the House subcommittee on immigration and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) in charge of the House Judiciary Committee.
In 2008, Barack Obama promised comprehensive immigration reform. Now, Republicans who won in Tuesday’s midterms are pledging to secure the borders. But gridlock will probably reign.
Of all the possible changes to come out of the election, the biggest potential shift in immigration policy will probably come from which party controls the House. Now that change is official: Republicans will lead the House, meaning immigration legislation will be in the hands of U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, who will chair the immigration subcommittee.
A new poll from Pew Hispanic Center provides some insight into how Latinos — both U.S.-born and immigrants — view immigration issues. Perhaps most interesting is the fact that fears over discrimination and deportation have increased since 2009. This makes sense: Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a record number of illegal immigrants this year, and one-third of the Latinos polled said they knew someone who had been deported or detained by immigration officials within the past year.
The state of Arizona cannot require documents proving citizenship for new voter registration, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. The court ruled that a 2004 law created by Proposition 200 that made voters show a birth certificate, driver’s license or passport before registering to vote violated federal law.
If Republicans win back control of the U.S. House, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, would be in charge of the Judiciary Committee and Iowa’s Steve King would sit atop its immigration subcommittee — meaning the two border security hawks would have a major say in all immigration-related legislation running through the House, Politico reports Tueday.
Although Latino voters generally prefer Democratic candidates, reports of low enthusiasm among registered voters a few weeks ago seemed to indicate that few Latinos would show up at the polls on Nov. 2. But don’t count Latino voters out yet, Latino Decisions’ Matt Barreto and America’s Voice’s Frank Sharry said during a conference call today.
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