Here's a surprise (not!). CNN's Lou Dobbs is beginning his broadcast this evening with a story criticizing immigration to the US. The story tonight is part of a series entitled "The Great American Giveaway" (itself a clear indication that these reports are not genuine news stories but are actually editorials). Of course, it is dishonest for Dobbs and CNN to fail to label stories like this as editorial pieces.

The story discussed how undocumented aliens cost Americans billions of dollars in terms of services they receive. The story first cites a number of statistics showing how much such immigrants cost. Of course, the data comes from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a virulent anti-immigrant organization that is hardly impartial. And then Stephen Camerota of the Center for Immigration Reform, an anti-immigrant thinktank, was the main expert interviewed. There are studies out there showing immigrants pay more in taxes than the benefits they receive. But the reporter, Peter Viles, simply makes the assertion that benefits paid to immigrants exceed taxes paid without citing any evidence that this is the case. There are studies showing this conclusion is wrong and failing to mention them is dishonest, irresponsible journalism.

Where were the experts from the National Immigration Forum, the Cato Institute, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and other organizations that represent the other side? Dobbs rarely gives the other side a chance to speak and when he does, the time granted the anti-immigrant advocates is always far longer than the pro side.

And why not tell viewers what would happen if Dobbs got what he wanted? What if all undocumented workers went home? Are Americans prepared to pay two or three times more for their food? Are we ready to rely on imported food to feed our people rather than food grown in this country? Are Americans ready to pay two or three times as much for our homes and wait in long queues while home builders line up available American workers to build our houses. Are Americans going to be excited about paying considerably more to go on vacations? The hospitality industry is dependent on undocumented workers.

Congrats to Siskind Susser partner Lynn Susser who was interviewed last week by broadcast journalism superstar Sam Donaldson for ABC News. Lynn gave her thoughts on the recent immigration troubles at Wal-Mart.

Well, the last week has been interesting. One of the coolest things about being on the cover of the ABA Journal magazine and being seen by more than 400,000 lawyers is hearing from old friends. I've heard from people from all over the country including a friend who I lost touch with nearly 20 years ago. You can see the cover photo and the article on our site at www.visalaw.com/news.

Yesterday the Judiciary Committee in the Senate postponed for a week consideration of the DREAM Act. While a couple of Republican Senators spoke out against the DREAM Act when the Judiciary Committee met yesterday, other Republicans and most of the Democrats spoke out in favor of the law. The prospects for the bill's passage still looks good. Stay tuned.

Lou Dobbs was on the warpath again last night. I told friends I was not going to watch the show anymore because of the constant anti-immigrant editorializing of Mr. Dobbs. But I was flying last night to the American Bar Association Law Practice Management Section meeting in Tucson (where I am typing this now) and really had no choice but to listen to the television blaring from above at our plane's airport gate. Here's the commentary for those of you who did not see the show:

"We have been reporting here for months about American businesses exporting jobs overseas, those jobs from manufacturing, technology, high-value jobs. And just when you thought American business couldn't get any more shortsighted, here comes the state government of Indiana.

Taking a look now at this Web page behind me, if you can see it, it is the state's Department of Workforce Development home page. And it promises, rather clearly, Indiana citizens who are looking for jobs and careers in training a solution in today's global economy. So what has the Department of Workforce Development done?

Well, it's just awarded a four-year, $15 million contract to a company to update its computers. Here's the twist: That company that it's contracted with is based in India. The computers, of course, will be used to help the good citizens of Indiana find work. There's more. The state of Indiana hired a Bombay firm, Tata, for that project, which beat out two American companies, Deloitte and Accenture.

Well, actually, Accenture doesn't exactly qualify as an American firm since it avoids paying U.S. taxes through incorporation in Bermuda. One more development: The majority of Indiana's 65 newest workers come from India on L-1 visas. The commissioner of department defended his decision, saying, the contract will save Indiana taxpayers millions of dollars. We assume he will have fun telling that to the 160,000 unemployed Hoosiers. "

Guess Mr. Dobbs would have no problems with countries around the world yanking contracts from American companies who have worked hard to win major contracts in order to award them to less qualified and more expensive national companies. Funny, I've never heard Mr. Dobbs talk about the three million Americans who work abroad, many of whom are working for American companies helping to develop foreign markets for our country's companies. Guess the millions of jobs in the US that depend on our having access to foreign markets don't mean anything either. If we want to put those 160,000 Hoosiers back to work, we need to focus on promoting economic growth and not dictating to employers who they can and cannot hire.

Kudos to National Public Radio for providing in depth and fair coverage of immigration. Morning Edition's recent series entitled "The Trail of Latino Migration" The series was both informative and moving and put a human face on the story of how migrants make there way to this country. Go to http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1451521 to see more on this story including a link to the actual audio file.

NPR also provided in depth, balanced coverage to the Immigrant Freedom Ride and the H-1B debate. And they have aired several stories recently telling real life stories of how the new more restrictive post 9/11 immigration rules are making lives difficult for people from all sorts of backgrounds. Well done NPR!

Tomorrow may be a very important day for movement of the DREAM Act in Congress. My friend Dan Kowalski forwarded this important announcement on to me:

***SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TO VOTE ON*** DREAM ACT TOMORROW

NABE Strongly Urges the Senate Judiciary to Pass the DREAM Act to Help Immigrant Students Realize their American Dream

Washington, D.C. – The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote on the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, (S. 1545) for Thursday, October 16, 2003.

When: Thursday, October 16, 2003 at 9:30 a.m.

Where: Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

The bill, sponsored by the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Richard Durbin (D-IL), and supported by 2/3 of the committee members, would allow U.S.-raised undocumented immigrant children the opportunity for in-state college tuition as well as provide them with an opportunity to earn their immigration relief.

The DREAM Act has strong bipartisan support in both the Senate and House, ensuring enough votes for passage. NABE applauds Chairman Hatch (R-UT) and Senator Durbin (D-IL) for his strong leadership on the DREAM Act. This bill provides a valuable lifeline to immigrant students who currently have no hope of realizing their dreams for higher learning and service to our nation's armed forces.

NABE is a non‑profit national membership organization founded in 1975 to promote educational excellence and equity for language‑minority students. NABE supports programs that teach children English while helping them attain continued academic excellence. The Association is headquartered at 1030 15th Street, N.W., Suite 470, Washington, DC 20005. www.nabe.org

AILA is also reporting today that beginning in the next few months, local USCIS offices will forward family-based filings to the National Benefits Center (formerly known as the Missouri Service Center) for initial data entry and processing including handling work card applications and advance parole applications. USCIS believes that this will mean faster processing of these cases. Local offices are still going to accept cases as they have before, though some offices plan on changing their policies soon (such as only allowing filings by mail rather than in person).

AILA is reporting that on October 6th and 7th, USCIS service centers sent out receipt notices with incorrect processing time information. If you have receipts issued on either of those days, expect to get a corrected receipt notice soon with a cover letter explaining the error.

Hard to say what to make of Arnold Schwarzenegger's apparent win in the California governor's race. From the point of view of an immigration advocate, one can put a positive spin on the news or a negative one. Ahhnold is now America's highest profile immigrant and is probably the most important immigrant politician in the United States. He's gone through the immigration process and might have more appreciation for the value immigrants bring to this country. He's the personification of the immigrant dream - coming to America with nothing and rising to one of the nation's most important public figures.

Schwarzenegger supported Proposition 187 which sought to deny public benefits to undocumented immigrants. But he also has come out in support of a broad amnesty for immigrants in the form of an "earned adjustment" process similar to legislation introduced by Senator John McCain in Congress.

One interesting development from the election might be new support for the long overdue end to the clause in the Constitution that bars foreign-born citizens from seeking the US Presidency. The provision was designed to prevent foreign sovereigns from seizing control of the US. Obviously, this is not a concern today, but the clause survives.

AILA is reporting that the Senate Judiciary Committee has approved legislation extending the Special Immigration Religious Worker green card category for five years. There are still several steps to go including passage on the Senate floor and passage in the House. Then the President needs to sign the bill. Speaking of religious workers, on Thursday I'm moderating a telephone seminar on ILW.com. We have two panelists who are both experts in the field participating. You can get more information and register as well at www.ilw.com.

So much for truth in advertising. CNN bills Lou Dobbs' Moneyline as a news show with a run down of the days' news and strories from CNN's business correspondents. But it has now clearly crossed the line to becoming a political opinion show much like Crossfire, Hannity and Colmes, or the O'Reilly Factor. The show's anti-globalization agenda has taken on a feverish pitch in recent weeks with the running of the "Exporting America" series. The series has gone on for weeks, night after night, attacking the oursourcing of jobs to developing countries, the signing of free trade agreements, unfair trade practices in other countries and, at the center of the story, immigration to the United States.

The subjects are all fair game for a news show. What is not fair is when the story is when journalists move from trying to present all sides of a controversial story to a public wanting to know more about a subject and instead present mainly the views of those with whom the journalist (or, in this case, the head of the show) agrees.

At least Lou Dobbs bothered to have a guest last night that represents a pro-business, pro-immigration viewpoint. That's a change from show after show where only nativist viewpoints are espoused. Last night Lou had on Dan Griswold, the associate director of the Cato Institute Center for Trade Policy Studies. Griswold spoke about the need for a legalization program coupled with a guest worker program to move the 8 million undocumented workers in this country into legal status. What made the "interview" interesting was not what Griswold had to say but how Dobbs handled the story. Unable to hide his personal opinions, the interview became more like a one on one debate between Dobbs and Griswold. Dobbs actually said his guest's views were "nonsense" something that one would not expect to hear from a news anchor interviewing a guest on a credible news show.

Instead of simply asking Griswold followup questions, Dobbs used much of the interview time to deliver his own political opinions. One of the more revealing was the following:

"There is no immigration policy in this country right now. This administration doesn't have one. The previous administration didn't have one. The one before that. We have got to be straight with the American people don't we, Dan? We are changing the very nature of this country."

Changing the "nature" of this country echoes the sentiments heard by people like Pat Buchanan who have been arguing against immigration for years because it is changing the white, European character of the country. I'm not saying Dobbs is a racist, but it would be interesting to know what he meant by that remark.

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