U.S. labor judge orders back-wages for Thai workers

The Associated Press reports that Administrative Law Judge William Dorsey ordered a Los Angeles-based farm labor contractor, Global Horizons Inc., to pay more than $340,000 for failing to properly pay Thai farmworkers for their work on two Hawaii farms in 2003. Global Horizons recruited foreign workers under the federal government’s agricultural guest worker program, known as H-2A.

Global Horizons has been barred from using the H-2A program since a separate labor ruling in 2006 and is no longer in operation. The company has been subject to at least four separate labor cases and a federal lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-labor-judge-orders-apf-2360078088.html?x=0

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U.S. court to decide on deporting Japanese couple

The Associated Press reports that the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether a Japanese couple should be deported because of convictions resulting from filing a false tax return. Akio and Fusako Kawashima became permanent lawful residents in 1984, but pled guilty to subscribing to a false statement on a federal tax return and now face deportation. The 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld their deportation, but the Supreme Court will hear the couple’s appeal.

http://www.wfmj.com/story/14696913/court-to-decide-if-japanese-couple-can-be-deported

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Supreme Court OKs Arizona’s business immigration law

The Washington Times reports that the Supreme Court upheld an Arizona law that requires businesses to check their employees’ immigration statuses using E-Verify. The court’s ruled that while federal law says the government cannot make such immigration status checks mandatory, it does not bar the states from doing so.

Chief Justice John Roberts said ‘given that Congress specifically preserved such authority for the States, it stands to reason that Congress did not intend to prevent the States from using appropriate tools to exercise that authority.’ In his dissent, Justice Breyer said ‘the Arizona statute will impose additional burdens upon lawful employers and consequently lead those employers to erect ever stronger safeguards against the hiring of unauthorized aliens.’

The decision is not expected to impact challenges to the 2010 Arizona law and similar laws in other states. Those laws are much broader than the 2007 Arizona law.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/26/supreme-court-ok-arizonas-business-immigration-law/

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Court Orders New Look at Pennsylvania City’s Immigration Law

The Associated Press reports that the Supreme Court ordered a federal appeals court on Monday to reexamine a Pennsylvania city’s crackdown on illegally present immigrants in light of the high court’s recent decision upholding similar Arizona employer-sanctions. The measure in question allowed the city of Hazleton to deny permits to businesses that hire illegally present immigrants and fine landlords who rent to them which inspired similar laws around the country.

Yahoo News

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Supreme Court Refuses to Review California Immigrant Tuition Law

The San Jose Mercury News reports that the Supreme Court refused to review a California policy that allows undocumented immigrants to pay the same in-state tuition to public universities as other state residents. The case has attracted widespread attention across the country, largely because at least nine other states have similar laws that are expected to come under legal attack.

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_18215505

The Los Angeles Times reports that the decision allowing California to continue granting reduced, in-state tuition to college students who are undocumented immigrants is likely to bolster similar proposals across the nation as well as a California measure to provide financial aid for the undocumented. The policy was ruled legal because it grants in-state tuition on the basis of students’ graduation from California high schools, not on their citizenship.

Detractors worry that California’s already struggling economy cannot handle the estimated $32.2 million supplying additional public funding would cost.

Supporters of the aid insist that funding would become more readily available for all students, not just immigrants, and a higher level of education is better for the overall economic well being of the state.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/07/local/la-me-0607-court-tuition-20110607

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