Updated 3:34 p.m.: WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump moved aggressively to tighten the nation’s immigration controls Wednesday, signing executive actions to jumpstart construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall and block federal grants from immigrant-protecting “sanctuary cities.” “Beginning today the United States of America gets back control of its borders,” Trump declared during a visit to the […]
immigration
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Obama ends visa-free path for Cubans who step onto U.S. soil
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama announced Thursday he is ending a longstanding immigration policy that allows any Cuban who makes it to U.S. soil to stay and become a legal resident. The repeal of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy is effective immediately. The decision follows months of negotiations focused in part on getting Cuba […]
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Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Business interests lobby Donald Trump to soften immigration stands
WASHINGTON — Still grappling with Donald Trump’s surprise election, the nation’s business community has begun to pressure the president-elect to abandon campaign-trail pledges of mass deportation and other hardline immigration policies that some large employers fear would hurt the economy. The push, led by an advocacy group backed by New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg and […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Bates joins national bid to defend undocumented students
LEWISTON — Bates College President Clayton Spencer this month joined more than 250 higher education leaders across the country who called it “both a moral imperative and a national necessity” to support undocumented students who arrived in the United States as children. Prompted by concern that President-elect Donald Trump may kill the Deferred Action for […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Refugees to keep coming to Maine despite Gov. Paul LePage’s opposition
AUGUSTA — Refugees will continue entering Maine despite Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s announcement that the state will no longer participate in a federally funded resettlement program. So far this year, about 607 refugees were resettled in Maine, and more will arrive next year. Over the past decade, the state has worked with Catholic Charities of Maine […]
Posted inOp-Eds
The real national embarrassment
WASHINGTON — The race for president is over; however, the 2016 campaign for the White House will undoubtedly be remembered for its vulgarity, mean-spiritedness and mendacity. It has been a national embarrassment. But a parallel failing is less noticed: the unwillingness of both candidates — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump — to come to grips […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Maine business groups says economy needs more immigrants
AUGUSTA — A newly released report from the Maine Development Foundation and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce calls for setting a statewide goal to attract more immigrants to the state. The report released Thursday indicates the state’s aging population is creating a smaller workforce that’s restricting economic growth by making it hard for employers […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Trump’s wall worth consideration
WASHINGTON — Just because Donald Trump isn’t qualified to be president — and just because much of his agenda is hateful and undesirable — doesn’t mean that everything he says is automatically wrong. Some of his ideas deserve consideration and enactment. One of these is building a wall across our southern border with Mexico. It […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Immigration solution: Enforcement plus legalization
WASHINGTON — The one great service of Donald Trump’s extended peregrinations on immigration policy is to have demonstrated how, in the end, there’s only one place to go. You can rail for a year about the squishy soft, weak-kneed and stupid politicians who have opened our borders to the wretched refuse of Mexico. You can […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Obama immigration plan blocked by 4-4 tie at Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — A tie vote by the Supreme Court is blocking President Barack Obama’s immigration plan that sought to shield millions living in the U.S. illegally from deportation. The justices’ one-sentence opinion on Thursday effectively kills the plan for the duration of Obama’s presidency. A tie vote sets no national precedent but leaves in place […]