The State Department Visa Revalidation Unit will now only accept Form DS-156 with a bar code for visa revalidations.  This form can be found on the State Department’s website at http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/7766.pdf.

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“SafeSend,” a new Bank of America program allowing Mexican nationals in the United States to wire cash home, has raised concern among law enforcement officials.  The program, which provides online access for Mexican nationals to transfer money from “any phone or computer” to relatives or associates in Mexico who hold a SafeSend automated teller machine card, is leading officials to wonder if it also gives terrorists and drug smugglers a new way to route illicit cash out of the country.

There is a $1,500-per-transaction limit, which is below government reporting requirements for cash transactions of $10,000 in a single day.  Spokespeople for Bank of America defend the program, as it complies with federal law, including the USA Patriot Act, in requiring proper identification to open an account and limiting the amount of cash that can be sent in any given transaction.

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The US Department of Homeland Security late last month ordered inspectors at the nation’s international airports to speed the processing of foreign passengers.  International flights must now be cleared within 60 minutes of arrival.  The new one hour processing rule applies even under the code orange threat level, which is expected to remain in effect at least through the end of the month.

At the same time, inspectors are taking on additional duties under the US-VISIT program.  Some inspectors maintain that Washington is bowing to pressure from the airlines to speed up processing of foreign passengers.

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NAFTA has resulted in an increase of exports from California to Mexico and an increase in illegal immigrants, pollution, and poverty from Mexico to California.  According to a study co-published by the UCSD’s Center for US-Mexican Studies, illegal border crossings across the US-Mexico border increased steadily during the second half of the 1990s.  The study also predicted that the flow of illegal immigration would decline within the next five years.

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The Coalition for the Future of the American Worker recently produced and sold anti-immigrant political ads that currently air on KCCI and WHO television stations in central Iowa.  The ads are directed at the presidential candidates and encourage the candidates to change their positions on allowing more immigrants to enter the United States. 

The ad depicts a fist hitting a punching bag printed with a human face.  A narrator talks about the negative aspects of immigration - lower wages and taking jobs away from Iowans.  The narrator asks the viewers to “tell the candidates it’s time to take a stand for Iowa’s workers.”  Labor leaders in Iowa have urged television stations to pull the ads. 

According to 2001 US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports, there are currently approximately 25,600 Hispanic workers in Iowa.