A Canadian consultant hired by the California Republican Party (CRP) on an H-1B visa to do campaign consulting has been fired after it was revealed he was working in violation of immigration law, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.  Christopher Matthews, a Canadian citizen, was hired last year as political director for the CRP to handle campaign operations, US Department of Labor records show.  The organization applied last year for an H-1B visa on behalf of Matthews, saying he would fill the job of "political consultant."  

Federal Election Commission records show that Matthews also had earned nearly $6,000 this year working for a different employer – the San Diego Republican Party.  Jonathon Buettner, spokesman for the San Diego GOP said Matthews was a legal employee under a TN visa – a renewable one-year special visa for Canadian and Mexican professionals.  However, officials from ICE said immigration law prohibits such dual visa arrangements.  "Citizens of countries who work here on nonimmigrant visas can only use one kind at a time, and can only work for the employer who petitioned them," said Sharon Rummery, ICE spokeswoman.  Violations of the terms of an H-1B visa can result in revocation of the visa, she added.  

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A report released by the Migration Policy Institute released last week shows that nearly 1.4 million naturalization applications were filed in fiscal year 2007, almost twice as many as during the previous year, Reuters reports.  The study attributes a sharp fee increase and interest in voting in the 2008 U.S. presidential election as largely contributing to the surge.  

"Beyond the fee increase for naturalization applications, government experts and immigrant advocates cite other causes (including) heightened interest in the 2008 elections, citizenship campaigns by advocacy groups, and the charged political climate surrounding the immigration policy debate," the study said.  

The MPI report is available online at: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/FS21_NaturalizationBacklog_022608.pdf.  

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According to the Associated Press, a woman being held in a Fayetteville , Arkansas , courthouse as an undocumented immigrant spent four days forgotten in an isolated holding cell at a courthouse with no food, water, or toilet, authorities and the woman said.

Adriana Torres-Flores, 38, appeared in court Thursday and pleaded not guilty to a charge of selling pirated CDs, but a judge ordered her held because she's in the country illegally, said Sheriff Tim Helder.  Bailiff Jarrod Hankins put her in the cell to await transport to jail, and she was forgotten.