Washington: Thousands of immigrants and activists held a rally at the US Capitol to urge Congress to overhaul the immigration system for over 11 million illegal immigrants, including some 260,000 Indians, living in the shadows. The show of support for comprehensive immigration reforms came on Wednesday even as the so-called Gang of Eight senators, four Democrats and four Republicans, announced they were close to a deal after weeks of negotiations.
Called Citizenship for 11 Million, the rally was backed by community gatherings across the country pressing Congress for comprehensive immigration overhaul this week, said ABC News. Staten Island, New York, New Haven, Connecticut, Charlottesville, Virginia, Boston and several other cities had hosted rallies ahead of the Washington demonstration.
Jessica Ramos, spokeswoman for the Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance, told ABC News that besides Mexicans, who make up 60 percent of the undocumented immigrants, there was a lot of South Asian as also African and Eastern European participation. The Washington Post, meanwhile, citing Senate aides said the bipartisan legislation should advance to the Senate floor for a vote before May end.
But several hurdles remain, especially in the Republican-controlled House, where most of the party members have expressed opposition to allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens, it said. According to the Post, many in the capital crowd held up signs that read, "Dividing families is immoral!" and "I was born on Earth, how am I an alien?!" They waved flags from Mexico, Brazil and El Salvador, as well as
11:59 AM, Apr 11, 2013
In a bid to cut down on immigration, British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday announced a string of tough measures to over-turn the country's "soft touch" image, restricting new immigrants' rights to unemployment, health benefits and a "home on arrival". ...
05:09 PM, Mar 26, 2013
Maharashtra's worst drought in decades is being felt on the pavements of Pune where migrants from drought hit districts are arriving in the hundreds. They come looking for water and jobs and say it's impossible for them to return home. ...
08:26 AM, Mar 13, 2013
Targeting highly skilled talents from India and China, a bi-partisan group of US lawmakers have introduced a new bill in the Congress to create more than 125,000 new visas to attract global talents to America. The bill called Startup 3.0 proposes to help increase America's access to talent by creating a new set of conditional visas for 75,000 immigrant entrepreneurs and 50,000 foreign STEM (Science technology, engineering and math) graduate...
09:30 AM, Feb 16, 2013
A day after MNS president Raj Thackeray asked party workers to "teach migrants from other states indulging in crime a lesson", Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil on Wednesday said such provocation merits no attention. ...
05:49 PM, Feb 13, 2013
US President Barack Obama has come out with his much-awaited comprehensive immigration reforms that, among other things, will pave way for legalisation of more than 11 million undocumented immigrants. ...
11:24 AM, Jan 30, 2013
Who is William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton or the Beatles ? If you don't know the answers, you may not get British citizenship. Immigrants who wish to settle in the UK will now have to learn key facts about British history to pass their citizenship test. ...
03:40 AM, Jan 28, 2013
Indians are reportedly among thousands of illegal immigrants willing to pay human smugglers up to 1,500 pounds to flee the UK. A new BBC undercover documentary has revealed that the foreign nationals are put in the back of trucks and transported to Calais in France before making their way to other European destinations. ...
06:01 PM, Jan 21, 2013
In a bid to stop cheating, Britain is set to ban immigrants from taking driving tests in Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali, Kashmiri, Tamil, Urdu and 12 other foreign languages under new plans to be unveiled next month. ...
10:41 PM, Jan 20, 2013
Identifying "unbridled influx" of migrants into Delhi as a major challenge, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today blamed the burgeoning population for putting existing infrastructure under strain and sought help from the Centre to deal with the situation. ...
06:36 PM, Dec 27, 2012
For the first time in history, white British people are now in a minority in London. They have been overtaken by the immigrant population from countries like India, the latest census revealed. Just 3.7 million Londoners described their ethnicity as 'White British' in 2011 - down from 4.3 million in 2001, and making up 44.9 per cent of the city's population. ...
09:02 PM, Dec 11, 2012
Imphal: Twenty-two illegal Bangladeshi migrants, who had entered Manipur to work as labourers, have been sentenced to two years imprisonment by a local court. The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Imphal East district (CJMIED) passed the order on Friday after hearing the case filed by Porompat Police station. The Bangladeshis were charge sheeted under provisions of Foreigners Act 1946, official sources said. Two children, who accompanied the 22 illegal migrants, were...
11:19 AM, Sep 22, 2012
New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had "re-defined democracy" by turning the Indian government into a "government for the foreigners, by the foreigners and of the foreigners". The Gujarat Chief Minister took on the PM over his government's decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail and illegal immigration along India's Northeast border. Criticising the 51 per cent FDI...
12:06 PM, Sep 21, 2012
United States On August 5, Micahel Wade Page killed six people inside a Sikh Gurdwara in Wisconsin, along with a police officer. Page was a supremacist, involved in underground music known as white power music or hate rock. FBI statistics show that since 2008, hate crimes towards African Americans have increased. Between 1996 and 2007, hate crimes had never crossed the 70 per cent mark, but in 2008 it touched...
10:56 AM, Sep 11, 2012
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said Muslims are outnumbering Hindus in Assam not because of the increase in illegal migration from Bangladesh but because Muslims are illiterate and bear more children. Speaking to Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate, the Chief Minister took full responsibility for the communal riots and said that there were multiple reasons behind it. Here is an excerpt from the interview: Speaking on Devil's Advocate with Karan...
11:07 PM, Sep 09, 2012
New Delhi: The government on Thursday said it does not have specific details about the magnitude of illegal migration from Bangladesh to India as it takes place clandestinely. Replying to a unstarred question in Lok Sabha, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said there are reports of illegal infiltration and immigration of Bangladeshi nationals, who manage to "infiltrate into the country despite checks and control" at the International border. JD-U's Arjun...
04:04 PM, Sep 06, 2012
Guwahati: The North East Students Organisation (NESO), the apex student body of the region, has called a 12-hour bandh in all states of the region, except Assam, on Thursday to protest against influx of migrant labourers and others into the region from other states. There will be bandhs in other states while a central rally would be held in Guwahati on Thursday to be participated by constituent student organisations of...
06:14 PM, Sep 05, 2012
Patna: Observing that the Shiv Sena led by Bal Thackeray was "behind" the hate campaign against the Bihari migrants in Mumbai and Maharashtra over the years, the Congress on Tuesday asked the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to seek ouster of the Sena from the NDA. "Whether it is the MNS chief Raj Thackeray or the Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray who have been carrying out sustained hate campaign against the...
07:39 PM, Sep 04, 2012
A case has been filed against the MNS chief in the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court in Nalanda for his hate speech. On Face the Nation, CNN-IBN Deputy Editor Sagarika Ghose asks a panel of experts - Are Bihari migrants soft targets for politicians like Raj Thackeray? Sagarika Ghose: Hi there, yes, MNS leader Raj Thackeray has once again lashed out at Biharis, or specifically Bihari migrants to Mumbai calling...
10:35 AM, Sep 04, 2012
A case has been filed against the MNS chief in the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court in Nalanda for his hate speech. ...
11:58 PM, Sep 03, 2012
