IRS makes it harder for people to get ITINs

An Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) is issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) only to an applicant who is not eligible for a social security number.
Last June, the IRS announced that -- at least for awhile -- it will make it harder for non-citizens to get an ITIN.  Formerly, the IRS would allow ITIN applicants to provide copies of identity documents that were notarized, or allow such documents to be submitted through certifying acceptance agents (approved, ironically, by the IRS).
ITIN applicants who submit Form W-7, Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, generally want to be able to file IRS Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, with the IRS.  This is a good thing.
But during this interim period, people who need an ITIN to get their tax returns processed must do so by submitting -- by mail -- their original identity documentation or certified copies of their documentation. Documentation will be accepted at IRS walk-in sites but will be forwarded to the ITIN centralized site for processing.
The IRS says the new procedures are designed to strengthen and protect the integrity of the ITIN process while minimizing the impact on taxpayers.
"The IRS will look to make long-term improvements to the program while minimizing barriers to individuals reporting their income and filing their tax returns," an IRS news release said.  Really?  It's an improvement to make it harder to get an ITIN?
Government used to be for the people.

Farmers could benefit from new deferred action policy

The new deferred action policy, which is being implemented by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), could provide benefits to farmworkers.  The policy does not only benefit children who are in school or graduated from high school and who were brought into the United States by their parents; it also benefits farmworkers who are in the same circumstance.

That is going to provide some relief for our nation's farmers.  Alabama farmers, for example, thought they were electing conservative Republicans who would help them.  Instead the Republican-dominated Alabama Legislature passed the "toughest in the nation" immigration law whose disastrous effects on Alabama's croplands and family farms are just now becoming evident.

Farmers tell me that if they have a another harvest season like last fall, they will be forced out of the business and into bankruptcy.

The new deferred action program allows illegal alien children, who were brought into the United States before they reached the age of 16 and were younger than 31 as of June 15, when the deferred action policy was announced by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, have been living in the United States for at least five years, are in school, or have graduated and have not committed certain crimes.

Illegal alien children who meet the requirements above could still be eligible if they have not graduated from high school as long as they enroll in an adult education program, vocational training, or English language instruction.

The program could benefit a million or more of these children.

The Migration Policy Institute estimates that as many as half of the illegal alien children who could benefit from deferred action are laborers working in low-wage jobs.  Data from a National Agricultural Workers Survey shows that at least 54,000 farmworkers could qualify for the deferred action program and might be eligible for legal employment authorization.  Many of the eligible farmworkers have limited education, poor English skills, and may have never filled out an application for anything before.

While ICE officials have said they won't use information on the applications to remove (deport) the laborers, they would not comment on whether the information would be used to audit or prosecute employers.

The new deferred action policy does not provide lawful permanent residence or U.S. citizenship to any applicant for employment authorization.

These children did not have the capacity to break the law (a misdemeanor) when their parents or others brought them into the United States.  Changing the policy was the right thing to do.

Unfortunately, the union that represents some (not all) ICE employees doesn't think so.  The union is suing to block the program.

The winningest football coach

Did you know what that was all about?  I didn't, until a couple of months before the "winningest coach" statue was erected in front of Penn State's Beaver football stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.  It's now gone.
Prior to the late Joe Paterno's recent achievement as the "winningest coach" in college football history, the "winningest coach" was Eddie Robinson of Grambling State.  There was speculation that Penn State didn't blow the whistle on pedophile and child rapist Jerry Sandusky until Paterno had nailed the number for the "winningest coach" in college football history.
The fact that a black man held the honor apparently could not be tolerated, much as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky cannot tolerate the reality of a black president of the United States.
Because the NCAA took away Paterno's wins from 1998 to 2011, Robinson is still the "winningest coach" in college football history with 408.
Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden is again the "winningest coach" in major league college football with 377 wins.
There are the numbers.
To Penn State administrators and coaches:  Reflect upon all of the pain and suffering endured by those boys.  Was it worth it?
To Senator Mitch McConnell:  Is it worth it?  Is it treason for you to tell your fellow Republicans to defy a black president and his fellow Democrats, block their job-creating initiatives and tax relief for the middle class, and not help the people of the United States recover from the worst recession in 80 years?  We'll see come November, won't we?

Three out of four ain't bad

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 25 affirmed a Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals decision, which agreed with a lower court decision to block four provisions of Arizona's immigration laws.
The high court determined that three sections involving alien registration, employment, and detention were pre-empted by federal law or Congress occupying the field of law.
Section 3 makes failure to comply with federal alien-registration requirements a state misdemeanor; §5(C)makes it a misdemeanor for an unauthorized alien to seek or engage in work in the State; §6 authorizes state and local officers to arrest without a warrant a person “the officer has probable cause to believe . . . has committed any public offense that makes the person removable from the United States”; and §2(B) requires officers conducting a stop, detention, or arrest to make efforts, in some circumstances, to verify the person’s immigration status with the Federal Government.
The Supreme Court said section 2(B) was not yet ripe for review because it had not gone into effect, and no one knows how local law enforcement will implement it.
So what about Alabama's "toughest in the nation" immigration law? They are a lot tougher than Arizona's, and will probably go down to a lot harder defeat, particularly because the laws are not making aliens "self-deport" and are not helping the state's economy.  Unemployment is up, and there are sectors in the economy such as home-building and construction that are way, way up, thanks to our tough Republican-dominated Legislature, which promised us that our economy would improve if we just got rid of the illegals (read that Hispanics).  Alabama farmers might say, "With friends like these, who needs enemies?"
And I didn't mention Alabama's stellar Republican initiative, a brand new voter ID law!  Dumbass white boys at it again.

DHS announces deferred action on some young illegal aliens

    Today (June 15, 2012), Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced a new policy with regard to young people who are illegally present in the United States.
Effective immediately, certain young people who were brought to the United States as young children, do not present a risk to national security or public safety, and meet several key criteria will be considered for relief from removal from the country or from entering into removal proceedings. Those who demonstrate that they meet the criteria will be eligible to receive deferred action for a period of two years, subject to renewal, and will be eligible to apply for work authorization.

“Our nation’s immigration laws must be enforced in a firm and sensible manner,” said Secretary Napolitano. “But they are not designed to be blindly enforced without consideration given to the individual circumstances of each case. Nor are they designed to remove productive young people to countries where they may not have lived or even speak the language. Discretion, which is used in so many other areas, is especially justified here.”

DHS continues to focus its enforcement resources on the removal of individuals who pose a national security or public safety risk, including immigrants convicted of crimes, violent criminals, felons, and repeat immigration law offenders. Today’s action further enhances the Department’s ability to focus on these priority removals.

Under this directive, individuals who demonstrate that they meet the following criteria will be eligible for an exercise of discretion, specifically deferred action, on a case by case basis:

1. Came to the United States under the age of 16;
2. Have continuously resided in the United States for a least five years preceding the date of this memorandum and are present in the United States on the date of this memorandum;
3. Are currently in school, have graduated from high school, have obtained a general education development certificate, or are honorably discharged veterans of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States;
4. Have not been convicted of a felony offense, a significant misdemeanor offense, multiple misdemeanor offenses, or otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety;
5. Are not older than 30.

Only those individuals who can prove through verifiable documentation that they meet these criteria will be eligible for deferred action. Individuals will not be eligible if they are not currently in the United States and cannot prove that they have been physically present in the United States for a period of not less than 5 years immediately preceding today’s date. Deferred action requests are decided on a case-by-case basis. DHS cannot provide any assurance that all such requests will be granted. The use of prosecutorial discretion confers no substantive right, immigration status, or pathway to citizenship. Only the Congress, acting through its legislative authority, can confer these rights.

No evidence that immigration bill helps employ Alabama workers

     A local newspaper article says politicians who supported HB56, Alabama's "toughest in the nation" immigration laws claim that Alabama's decreasing unemployment rate is due to some provisions going into effect last October.
     "If you compare our unemployment rate drop to the region, our drop was much more quick," said State Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, one of the chief proponents of HB56.
     There is no evidence that the immigration laws are tied to a drop in the unemployment rate.  Employment rates in Alabama, in fact, are flat and some economic sectors, such as construction, are still losing jobs.
     Economists say the drop in the unemployment rate is likely due to more people dropping out of the workforce, or becoming discouraged and not looking for work.
     "The proponents of the immigration law really have no solid, defendable, reasonable evidence other than the desire to link those two together," said one Alabama economist.
     Since October 2011, Alabama has added a net total of 1,700 nonfarm jobs.  Total nonfarm employment in March 2012 was exactly where it was in March 2011.

There was a time ...

There was a time in America when its citizens were not presumed by their own government to be terrorists in U.S. airport terminals until they proved to the satisfaction of a federal government agent otherwise.  Today all airline travelers are inspected and searched, and all are presumed to be terrorists.
There was a time in America when its citizens were not presumed by their own government to be aliens.  U.S. citizens were once allowed to go straight to U.S. Customs when returning home on an overseas flight.  Today they get in line with all of the foreigners to be "inspected" by federal agents of Customs and Border Protection.
Those times are gone.  It is a very different, very fearful America we live in today.  And fear makes people do foolish things.  And more's the pity.