Judge rebukes Bush immigration plan

In a blow to President George Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco countered plans by the Bush administration to initiate taking action against U.S. firms that hire illegal immigrants.

The administration intent was to pressure employers to fire 8.7 million workers with suspect Social Security information, starting this fall. However, Judge Breyer in his ruling warned that the plan could have a potentially “staggering” impact on law-abiding workers and companies.

After the Senate rejected Bush initiative to overhaul immigration laws earlier this year, he made the plan to come down on employers who hire illegal immigrants – the focus of a renewed effort against illegal immigration.

Chertoff acknowledged that the decision was disappointing but claimed it was a small deterrent in the agency’s drive to enforce laws aimed at keeping illegal immigrants out of the workforce.

It is perceived that the judge’s decision was influenced by American labor, businesses and farm organizations which depend on illegal immigrant labor, and also called attention to the divide between Washington’s desire to stem illegal immigration and the economic reality of U.S. employers’ dependency on these immigrants as an economic source of labor.

The EU approve peacekeeping troops for Darfur

Foreign ministers of the European Union recently approved a 3,000 strong peacekeeping force for one year to help refugees and displaced people who are living on Darfur’s borders with Chad and the Central African Republic.

The EU peacekeeping force will now join a 26,000 member joint African Union – U.N. force which should be deployed to Darfur this month with the objective of stemming the violence taking place there.

According an Associated Press report, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the EU force should commence deployment in early November. It has been estimated by EU officials that the cost of the force is $142 million for the one year. About half of the force will be French, with pledges for more than 2,500 troops coming from several other EU nations. Poland and Spain pledged troops and planes, while Ireland, Sweden, Poland and Belgium are expected to provide smaller contingents of 80 to 300 troops each.

Thousands of people have been killed and over 3 million people made homeless by conflicts in the region, including Darfur, and rebellions in Chad and the Central African Republic. The EU force will seek to improve security and make it easier for aid workers to work in the refugees camps around Darfur.

Mychal Bell, a ‘Jena Six’ teen back in jail

Freedom for Mychal Bell, one of the “Jena Six” from Jena, Louisiana, was short-lived, as after being released last week for charges related to the beating of a white teen, he was sent back to a jail for a matter that a prosecutor said was unrelated to the original case.

Bell was returned to prison, unexpectedly, last week after he visited a juvenile court in central Louisiana’s LaSalle Parish for what was called a routine hearing. However, surprisingly, state District Judge J.O. Mauffrey Jr. ruled that Bell had violated probation and sentenced him to 18 months in jail on two counts of simple battery and two counts of criminal destruction of property.

Louisiana District Attorney, Reed Walters said the matter for which Bell was on probation was unrelated to the December 2006 event at Jena High School and that case was not mentioned in the court proceedings last week.

Bell’s arrest and conviction, and that of five other black youths, on charges related to the beating of white classmate, Justin Barker, sparked racial tensions in the black community across the United States, culminating in a rally involving thousands of protestors in Jena last month.

UN Security Council to maintain peacekeepers in Haiti

Although acknowledging that there have been significant improvements in security in Haiti in recent months, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on Monday of this week to extend its peacekeeping mission in Haiti for the next year, claiming that the situation remains fragile.

In passing the resolution to extend the peacekeeping force stay in Haiti the Security Council admitted that there was significant improvement in the country’s security in recent months, but said that the security was still fragile partly because of continuing drugs and arms trafficking. The U.N. force consists of over 7,000 troops and 2,000 police. The force replaced a U.S. led force that was sent to Haiti, to quell the uprisings during which President Aristide was toppled, and forced to flee the country in exile in 2004.

Since Rene Preval became president of Haiti, after his party won general elections in March 2006, there has been a significant drop in the wanton violence that plagued the country, but it is felt by many Haitians and Haitian-Americans that the UN peacekeeping troop is necessary to remain in Haiti to cement the security of the country which is constantly threatened by negative forces, and factions.

The presence of the UN peacekeepers not only provide security to the people of Haiti, but provides a climate that is conducive to building the country’s equally fragile economy.