sammyb
10-15 04:29 PM
Hi Guys,
I Fedex my 485 package on July, 11th and it got reached to USCIS on July, 12 (I have the acknolegement) but still did not receive the receipt number. I am seeing who filed after me started getting receipt numbers.
I am kind of concerned about it as I did not see any movement in my case.
Any inputs Or wondering if anybody else facing similar situation??????
Appreciate your inputs.
Thanks,
M
did USCIS cashed your checks... just wondering ...
I Fedex my 485 package on July, 11th and it got reached to USCIS on July, 12 (I have the acknolegement) but still did not receive the receipt number. I am seeing who filed after me started getting receipt numbers.
I am kind of concerned about it as I did not see any movement in my case.
Any inputs Or wondering if anybody else facing similar situation??????
Appreciate your inputs.
Thanks,
M
did USCIS cashed your checks... just wondering ...
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waiting_4_gc
07-17 09:27 PM
Here is the info about this in Washington post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/17/AR2007071701582.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/17/AR2007071701582.html
ArkBird
12-12 04:22 PM
Yes. If the company financials are problem, you may have the same problem with EB3. I suggest, get paid consultation from some reputed lawyers.
Refile as what lawyer says, get new H1. That will give you some breathing room. If you see that current financial problem may jeopardize the new GC process as well, then you should switch over.
I assume this lawyer is hired by the company. So he will never advise you to make a move. It is you who have to look at all the options and see if it makes sense.
Refile as what lawyer says, get new H1. That will give you some breathing room. If you see that current financial problem may jeopardize the new GC process as well, then you should switch over.
I assume this lawyer is hired by the company. So he will never advise you to make a move. It is you who have to look at all the options and see if it makes sense.
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optimist
09-30 09:53 AM
Thank you folks, for sharing your thoughts!
thomachan72: Ideally, what you are saying is the best thing to do. But somehow we ended up bringing our goodies here and now we are worried about being harassed by customs when we land in India with all the jewellery :(
By the way, I checked the Indian Customs website (BAGGAGE RULES (http://www.cbec.gov.in/customs/cs-act/formatted-htmls/cs-rulef.htm)) and the limits on jewellery that can be brought in duty-free is:
<quote>
(i) upto an aggregate value of Rs. 10,000 by a gentleman passenger
(ii) Upto aggregate value of Rs. 20,000 by a lady passenger.
</quote>
How generous, isn't it?? :eek:
Any one else, with good/bad experiences to share about this ?
.
.
thomachan72: Ideally, what you are saying is the best thing to do. But somehow we ended up bringing our goodies here and now we are worried about being harassed by customs when we land in India with all the jewellery :(
By the way, I checked the Indian Customs website (BAGGAGE RULES (http://www.cbec.gov.in/customs/cs-act/formatted-htmls/cs-rulef.htm)) and the limits on jewellery that can be brought in duty-free is:
<quote>
(i) upto an aggregate value of Rs. 10,000 by a gentleman passenger
(ii) Upto aggregate value of Rs. 20,000 by a lady passenger.
</quote>
How generous, isn't it?? :eek:
Any one else, with good/bad experiences to share about this ?
.
.
more...
Ann Ruben
01-24 10:05 AM
Do you have a currently valid H-1 visa stamped in your passport? If you do, you don't have to apply for a new visa at a US Consul abroad. You would only have to leave the US and return using that visa and presenting the approval notice for company A along with proof that you are coming to the US to work for company A.
I agree with Raysaikat that USCIS is not likely to approve a nunc pro tunc H-1 under these circumstances. But whether or not you pursue this option, you should get and keep as much documentation as possible to show you honestly and reasonably believed you were authorized to work for company B. Such documentation might include any written communications from company B or the attorney telling you that the H petition had been filed and/or that you could legally begin work for them.
Ann
I agree with Raysaikat that USCIS is not likely to approve a nunc pro tunc H-1 under these circumstances. But whether or not you pursue this option, you should get and keep as much documentation as possible to show you honestly and reasonably believed you were authorized to work for company B. Such documentation might include any written communications from company B or the attorney telling you that the H petition had been filed and/or that you could legally begin work for them.
Ann
senthil
08-23 05:21 PM
on few forums -ive seen people who already filed I-485 and could not file I-485 due to retro applied and received 3yr H1B extn. I dont think it matters if you have applied for EAD/AP or not. Recently one of my friend ( currently on EAD ) , still applied for 3yr H1B extn and got an approval too.
For a safe bet its good to have the EAD/AP with you. has foll advantage
- worst case you can change employment using EAD
- travel issues - esp you can avoid visa related appointment hassle using AP
one more thing - if you dont have travel plans for the next year, you dont need to apply for AP. I beleive only EAD needs periodic renewal every year, independant of if you are using it or not, once you apply first time.
may be many folks here already have real time experiances on this subject, i guess
hope it helps. -- my2c.
all these are my personal views. im not an attorney
thanks
For a safe bet its good to have the EAD/AP with you. has foll advantage
- worst case you can change employment using EAD
- travel issues - esp you can avoid visa related appointment hassle using AP
one more thing - if you dont have travel plans for the next year, you dont need to apply for AP. I beleive only EAD needs periodic renewal every year, independant of if you are using it or not, once you apply first time.
may be many folks here already have real time experiances on this subject, i guess
hope it helps. -- my2c.
all these are my personal views. im not an attorney
thanks
more...
dvb
07-28 02:16 PM
Does anyone know how you can claim social security when you are in India and not a permanent resident or citizen of the US ???
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raj2007
03-31 02:38 PM
Can we file taxes seperately on married status?
I mean, my CPA did estimates seperately and we found substantial difference...
Is there any problem in we filing seperately as we r into 485 peding stuff?...
From an Immigration perspective, what are the ramifications when 'Married and filing Jointly' versus 'Married and filing seperately'.
First of all, are they related?
Are you maintaing common bank account? Just filing seperatlt doen't disqualify you for immigration purposes.
I mean, my CPA did estimates seperately and we found substantial difference...
Is there any problem in we filing seperately as we r into 485 peding stuff?...
From an Immigration perspective, what are the ramifications when 'Married and filing Jointly' versus 'Married and filing seperately'.
First of all, are they related?
Are you maintaing common bank account? Just filing seperatlt doen't disqualify you for immigration purposes.
more...
pbuckeye
06-25 04:07 PM
Agree with Teddy that your petition's case detail substantially changed during the application process. I believe, that was the main reason for the denial.
Consult an attorney and try to file a fresh case. Good luck.
Consult an attorney and try to file a fresh case. Good luck.
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reddymjm
05-16 01:53 PM
Sent an email to 20 of my friends @ work to that and following up with them.
more...
krishmunn
03-07 12:23 PM
You will retain your PD.
If your employer recalls the 140 it could casue potential disruptions. If you have an EAD, just port your employment to some other employer. That way you will be dealing with less hassles.
That is not correct. Even if employer revokes it, the PD is good. The only time you will loss PD is if CIS revokes it due to fraud.
If your employer recalls the 140 it could casue potential disruptions. If you have an EAD, just port your employment to some other employer. That way you will be dealing with less hassles.
That is not correct. Even if employer revokes it, the PD is good. The only time you will loss PD is if CIS revokes it due to fraud.
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waitingmygc
08-27 10:55 PM
If employer or attorney are not helpful then there are high chances that they are hiding something, may have communicated to you I-140 approved in EB-2 whereas in real EB-3. One of my friend already have experinced same problem, EB-3 instead of EB-2. His company is in Jersey and the name starts with N.
Another reason why employer is hiding (or don't want to share) suspecting that you can leave him.
Be careful and try some way (as suggested above) to know about your I-140. All the best.
Another reason why employer is hiding (or don't want to share) suspecting that you can leave him.
Be careful and try some way (as suggested above) to know about your I-140. All the best.
more...
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krishmunn
05-05 07:52 PM
Soltan
I am assuming you never filed your 485 with old company .
In that case, you will now need to start your PERM agains with the new company. After PERM apply a new 140 and during this application you can request for the PD as per your old 140.
But you cannot directly use the old 140 for filing a new 485
I am assuming you never filed your 485 with old company .
In that case, you will now need to start your PERM agains with the new company. After PERM apply a new 140 and during this application you can request for the PD as per your old 140.
But you cannot directly use the old 140 for filing a new 485
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japs19
01-07 02:57 PM
thanks for the reply but I agree my h1 stamp is expired but h1 is valid till 2009
As long as you work for the same employer with same title and job location, you don't need H-1 stamped. If you have a valid approval (I-797) you can enter the country on H-1 and not worry about AP or EAD. But just to answer your question, if you use AP to enter...you won't need to use EAD. If you do use EAD then you are out of H-1 status. AP will let you keep H-1 status.
I am not a lawyer so it would be best to consult one.
As long as you work for the same employer with same title and job location, you don't need H-1 stamped. If you have a valid approval (I-797) you can enter the country on H-1 and not worry about AP or EAD. But just to answer your question, if you use AP to enter...you won't need to use EAD. If you do use EAD then you are out of H-1 status. AP will let you keep H-1 status.
I am not a lawyer so it would be best to consult one.
more...
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Ψ
06-09 06:52 PM
there finally got it...after soo many tries....
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Carlau
01-08 12:58 PM
It is not a rule, but it depends on how the approval is given by USCIS. If you get a extended I94 along with the H1 approval then you are all set, if you get an approval with no I94 then you need to get a stamping before starting work. Consult lawyers they will explain it better.
My wife went through the H4 - H1 Conversion which got approved last week, we are still wating to see the approval document.
I have a question, I am on H-4 too (never on H-1B) as I understand, if I find a job I need to wait until April 2007 to file for H-1B and would be able to start working in October 2007.
How did your wife get now in 2007 an H-4 to H-1B conversion when all the H-1Bs were granted & last quota met in October 2006? Am I missing something here? If I found an employer, could I just start working without waiting the employer to file the H-1 in april and getting the permit for oct 2007? THanks!
My wife went through the H4 - H1 Conversion which got approved last week, we are still wating to see the approval document.
I have a question, I am on H-4 too (never on H-1B) as I understand, if I find a job I need to wait until April 2007 to file for H-1B and would be able to start working in October 2007.
How did your wife get now in 2007 an H-4 to H-1B conversion when all the H-1Bs were granted & last quota met in October 2006? Am I missing something here? If I found an employer, could I just start working without waiting the employer to file the H-1 in april and getting the permit for oct 2007? THanks!
more...
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thomachan72
07-06 11:55 AM
Answers to your questions.
(a) That could be tough, but check with your attorney. Or check if you or your husband's company has any unused LCs. Remember that LC substituion can be done only until July 17th (could be 16 or 18th, please get this confirmed), so you have to act fast.
(b) No.
(c) No. I am almost sure even if you have an approved I-140, it still isn't enough to get an H-1B extension. Your best bet would be to work on an EAD if you were eligible to apply for 485. Talk to your attorney.
Good luck
Thanks,
Jayant
?????????
(a) That could be tough, but check with your attorney. Or check if you or your husband's company has any unused LCs. Remember that LC substituion can be done only until July 17th (could be 16 or 18th, please get this confirmed), so you have to act fast.
(b) No.
(c) No. I am almost sure even if you have an approved I-140, it still isn't enough to get an H-1B extension. Your best bet would be to work on an EAD if you were eligible to apply for 485. Talk to your attorney.
Good luck
Thanks,
Jayant
?????????
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h1vegas
06-24 02:24 PM
Hi all,
We applied for my wife's and mine EAD on April 27th (paper based)
I got the receipt notice on 05/08/2010 and checks were cashed on 05/08/2010
I am okay, because I am on H1B, my wife has a business and employs 2 people full time.
She doesn't draw any salary from the business, except she has business on her name and the accounts on her name as well.
Additionally , she has a valid H4 as well.
I know its too early to panic, but if I didnt get her EAd card by July 31st, are we in trouble
Pls reply
Thanks in advance
We applied for my wife's and mine EAD on April 27th (paper based)
I got the receipt notice on 05/08/2010 and checks were cashed on 05/08/2010
I am okay, because I am on H1B, my wife has a business and employs 2 people full time.
She doesn't draw any salary from the business, except she has business on her name and the accounts on her name as well.
Additionally , she has a valid H4 as well.
I know its too early to panic, but if I didnt get her EAd card by July 31st, are we in trouble
Pls reply
Thanks in advance
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Pagal
12-03 02:39 PM
Hello,
As you have aged out, please check whether your 485 is still considered as 'dependent' or whether you are now a 'primary' applicant.
If you are primary, staying out of country before GC issue is legally fine (though you may need to prove to IO at PoE as to why you want to enter US before GC is issued).
If your I-485 was dependent, there should not be any restriction on you staying out of country for extended periods of time.
Of course, pl consult an experienced attorney before making any decision...good luck w LSE...beautiful school in a beautiful city! :)
As you have aged out, please check whether your 485 is still considered as 'dependent' or whether you are now a 'primary' applicant.
If you are primary, staying out of country before GC issue is legally fine (though you may need to prove to IO at PoE as to why you want to enter US before GC is issued).
If your I-485 was dependent, there should not be any restriction on you staying out of country for extended periods of time.
Of course, pl consult an experienced attorney before making any decision...good luck w LSE...beautiful school in a beautiful city! :)
gbof
04-08 07:40 PM
are 2 locations based on states where you live.
Dallas and Phoenix.
If you live in:
Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Guam, or the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands.
Mail your application to:
USCIS Phoenix Lockbox
For U.S. Postal Service (USPS) deliveries:
USCIS
PO Box 21281
Phoenix, AZ 85036
For Express mail and courier deliveries:
USCIS
Attn: AOS
1820 E. Skyharbor Circle S
Suite 100
Phoenix, AZ 85034
Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, U.S. Virgin Islands, or West Virginia
USCIS Dallas Lockbox
For U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Deliveries:
USCIS
PO Box 660867
Dallas, TX 75266
For Express mail and courier deliveries:
USCIS
Attn: AOS
2501 S. State Hwy. 121 Business
Suite 400
Lewisville, TX 75067
Yes, friend. My I-140 was approved from TSC and also my I-485 is pending at TSC and since 'm currently in Indiana, I had (reluctantly) mailed at Phoenix. Hoping for GC before EAD (wishful thinking). Amen !!
Dallas and Phoenix.
If you live in:
Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Guam, or the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands.
Mail your application to:
USCIS Phoenix Lockbox
For U.S. Postal Service (USPS) deliveries:
USCIS
PO Box 21281
Phoenix, AZ 85036
For Express mail and courier deliveries:
USCIS
Attn: AOS
1820 E. Skyharbor Circle S
Suite 100
Phoenix, AZ 85034
Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, U.S. Virgin Islands, or West Virginia
USCIS Dallas Lockbox
For U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Deliveries:
USCIS
PO Box 660867
Dallas, TX 75266
For Express mail and courier deliveries:
USCIS
Attn: AOS
2501 S. State Hwy. 121 Business
Suite 400
Lewisville, TX 75067
Yes, friend. My I-140 was approved from TSC and also my I-485 is pending at TSC and since 'm currently in Indiana, I had (reluctantly) mailed at Phoenix. Hoping for GC before EAD (wishful thinking). Amen !!
sobers
02-09 04:10 PM
While we all know loony loo tends to primarily go after illegals, we also are well aware of his anti-immigration stance and anti-H1B tirade.
Southern Poverty Law Center, a respected civil rights group from the MLK era, operates an "Immigration Watch".
This is what they said about him:
Broken Record
Lou Dobbs' daily 'Broken Borders' CNN segment has focused on immigration for years. But there's one issue Dobbs just won't take on.
Lou Dobbs is a genial sort, a pleasant-faced CNN anchorman who regularly presents himself as standing up for American working men and women against those who would injure them. Hosting "Lou Dobbs Tonight" for a prime-time hour every weekday, he is also well known and powerful. So when Dobbs focuses on an issue, millions of Americans learn just what it is that Dobbs thinks they should know.
For more than two years now, Dobbs has served up a populist approach to immigration on nightly segments of his newscast entitled "Broken Borders." He has relentlessly covered the issue, although hardly from a traditional news perspective -- Dobbs favors clamping down on illegal immigration, and his "reporting" never fails to make that clear. He has covered the same issues, and the same anti-immigration leaders, time after time after time. In recent months, Dobbs has run countless upbeat reports on the "citizen border patrols" that have sprung up around the country since last April's Minuteman Project, a paramilitary effort to seal the Arizona border.
But there's one thing Lou Dobbs won't do. No matter what others report about the movement, Dobbs has failed to present mounting and persistent evidence of anti-Hispanic racism in anti-immigration groups and citizen border patrols.
It's not that Dobbs hasn't allowed a pro-immigration activist or two to complain about efforts like the Minuteman Project ("vigilantes," according to President Bush), or even that he has made racist statements on his show. What the anchorman has done is repeatedly decline to present the evidence that links these groups to racism, calling the very idea "mind-boggling." On his July 29 show, he called the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which he said he liked in other ways, "despicable" and "reprehensible" for saying otherwise.
Consider some of what Dobbs has failed to report, despite the fact that in almost every case these developments were reported widely elsewhere:
GLENN SPENCER, head of the anti-immigration American Patrol, has been interviewed at least twice on the show, on Jan. 7 and June 4, 2004. Spencer's Web site is jammed with anti-Mexican vitriol and he pushes the idea that the Mexican government is involved in a secret plot to take over the Southwest -- facts never mentioned on Dobbs' show. Spencer's group is regarded as a hate group by both the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. Spencer has spoken at least twice to the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens, which has described blacks as "a retrograde species of humanity," and once to American Renaissance, a group that contends that blacks are genetically inferior to whites. Dobbs has never reported those ties, or mentioned Spencer's more wild-eyed contentions, such as his prediction that "thousands will die" in a supposedly forthcoming Mexican invasion. His CNN colleague Wolf Blitzer, on the hand, featured Spencer on his own show but reported Mexico's official response and SPLC's hate group designation.
In late 2004, it was revealed that the new head of a national advisory board to Protect Arizona Now, an anti-immigration organization, was a long-time white supremacist who was also an editorial adviser to the racist Council of Conservative Citizens. Although VIRGINIA ABERNETHY's controversial selection was reported prominently in virtually every Arizona paper -- and despite the fact that Dobbs heavily covered the anti-immigration referendum that Protect Arizona Now was advocating -- Dobbs never mentioned the affair at all.
A man named JOE MCCUTCHEN was quoted last April as part of a feature on the Minuteman Project, described by Dobbs as "a terrific group of concerned, caring Americans." No mention was made of the fact that McCutchen, who heads up an anti-immigration group called Protect Arkansas Now, had written a whole series of anti-Semitic letters to the editor and given a speech to the Council of Conservative Citizens -- facts revealed the prior January by SPLC, causing Arkansas' Republican governor to denounce McCutchen's group.
This August, BILL PARMLEY, a Minuteman leader in Goliad County, Texas, quit the group because of what he described as widespread racism. Similarly, in September, newspapers reported that another Texas Minuteman, Janet Ahrens, had resigned because members "wanted to shoot the taco meat." Dobbs never mentioned either of these people, who were featured prominently elsewhere.
On Oct. 4, Dobbs had PAUL STREITZ, a co-founder of Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control, as a guest on his show. Streitz denounced Mayor John DeStefano Jr. for "turning New Haven into a banana republic" by favoring identification cards for undocumented workers. Two days later, newspapers revealed that two of the group's other founders had just quit, saying Streitz had led it in a racially charged direction. Dobbs has never reported this.
BARBARA COE, leader of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, was quoted on a show last March bitterly attacking Home Depot for "betray[ing] Americans," apparently because Hispanic day laborers often gather in front of the store looking for work. Not mentioned were her group, listed by the SPLC as a hate group, or the fact that she routinely refers to Mexicans as "savages." Coe recently described herself as a member of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a "white pride" group formed from the remnants of the segregationist White Citizens Councils of the 1950s and 1960s that were once described by Thurgood Marshal as "the uptown Klan." She also told The Denver Post in November that she had given a speech to the group.
CHRIS SIMCOX, co-founder of the Minuteman Project and a top national anti-immigration leader, was arrested in 2003 by federal park rangers for carrying a weapon illegally while tracking border-crossers on federal parkland. While Simcox has been repeatedly interviewed on his show, Dobbs has failed to mention that arrest or bigoted anti-Hispanic comments Simcox made to the Intelligence Report several years ago.
Although Dobbs has steered clear of the racist comments that some of his guests have made elsewhere, he has warned of "illegal aliens who not only threaten our economy and security, but also our health and well-being," according to Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a media monitor. In 2003, FAIR added, a reporter on Dobbs' show grossly mischaracterized a National Academy of Sciences report. The report found that immigrants provided a net gain of $1 billion to $10 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product, but the CNN reporter said the report had found the economic impact of immigrants worked out to a net loss of up to $10 billion.
Dobbs is revered in anti-immigration quarters and on the far right generally. He is the winner of the 2004 Eugene Katz Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Immigration, given by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). CIS claims to be a "nonpartisan research institute," but in fact is a thinly disguised anti-immigration organization. The 2005 Katz Award went to the immigration beat reporter for The Washington Times, a hard-right newspaper based in Washington, D.C.
In general, Lou Dobbs has declined to report salient negative facts about anti-immigration leaders he approves of, or simply avoided mentioning certain of their views -- notably the conspiracy theories propounded by people like Spencer.
Still, Dobbs is hardly immune to the lure of the weird. Last September, he offered up Idaho meteorologist Scott Stevens as a guest on his show. Stevens had just left an Idaho television news program immediately after telling viewers of a bizarre theory that Hurricane Katrina was caused by unknown evildoers. "Terrorists were engaging in a type of eco-terrorism where they could alter the climate, set off earthquakes and volcanoes," he told Dobbs. Stevens said they were using "scalar waves," invented by the Japanese, to attack America with Category 5 storms.
"Intriguing assertion," Dobbs concluded at the end of the interview. Much the same might be said, and in the same spirit, about the news "reporting" that Dobbs presents as he doggedly explores and supports the anti-immigration movement.
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=589
Southern Poverty Law Center, a respected civil rights group from the MLK era, operates an "Immigration Watch".
This is what they said about him:
Broken Record
Lou Dobbs' daily 'Broken Borders' CNN segment has focused on immigration for years. But there's one issue Dobbs just won't take on.
Lou Dobbs is a genial sort, a pleasant-faced CNN anchorman who regularly presents himself as standing up for American working men and women against those who would injure them. Hosting "Lou Dobbs Tonight" for a prime-time hour every weekday, he is also well known and powerful. So when Dobbs focuses on an issue, millions of Americans learn just what it is that Dobbs thinks they should know.
For more than two years now, Dobbs has served up a populist approach to immigration on nightly segments of his newscast entitled "Broken Borders." He has relentlessly covered the issue, although hardly from a traditional news perspective -- Dobbs favors clamping down on illegal immigration, and his "reporting" never fails to make that clear. He has covered the same issues, and the same anti-immigration leaders, time after time after time. In recent months, Dobbs has run countless upbeat reports on the "citizen border patrols" that have sprung up around the country since last April's Minuteman Project, a paramilitary effort to seal the Arizona border.
But there's one thing Lou Dobbs won't do. No matter what others report about the movement, Dobbs has failed to present mounting and persistent evidence of anti-Hispanic racism in anti-immigration groups and citizen border patrols.
It's not that Dobbs hasn't allowed a pro-immigration activist or two to complain about efforts like the Minuteman Project ("vigilantes," according to President Bush), or even that he has made racist statements on his show. What the anchorman has done is repeatedly decline to present the evidence that links these groups to racism, calling the very idea "mind-boggling." On his July 29 show, he called the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which he said he liked in other ways, "despicable" and "reprehensible" for saying otherwise.
Consider some of what Dobbs has failed to report, despite the fact that in almost every case these developments were reported widely elsewhere:
GLENN SPENCER, head of the anti-immigration American Patrol, has been interviewed at least twice on the show, on Jan. 7 and June 4, 2004. Spencer's Web site is jammed with anti-Mexican vitriol and he pushes the idea that the Mexican government is involved in a secret plot to take over the Southwest -- facts never mentioned on Dobbs' show. Spencer's group is regarded as a hate group by both the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. Spencer has spoken at least twice to the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens, which has described blacks as "a retrograde species of humanity," and once to American Renaissance, a group that contends that blacks are genetically inferior to whites. Dobbs has never reported those ties, or mentioned Spencer's more wild-eyed contentions, such as his prediction that "thousands will die" in a supposedly forthcoming Mexican invasion. His CNN colleague Wolf Blitzer, on the hand, featured Spencer on his own show but reported Mexico's official response and SPLC's hate group designation.
In late 2004, it was revealed that the new head of a national advisory board to Protect Arizona Now, an anti-immigration organization, was a long-time white supremacist who was also an editorial adviser to the racist Council of Conservative Citizens. Although VIRGINIA ABERNETHY's controversial selection was reported prominently in virtually every Arizona paper -- and despite the fact that Dobbs heavily covered the anti-immigration referendum that Protect Arizona Now was advocating -- Dobbs never mentioned the affair at all.
A man named JOE MCCUTCHEN was quoted last April as part of a feature on the Minuteman Project, described by Dobbs as "a terrific group of concerned, caring Americans." No mention was made of the fact that McCutchen, who heads up an anti-immigration group called Protect Arkansas Now, had written a whole series of anti-Semitic letters to the editor and given a speech to the Council of Conservative Citizens -- facts revealed the prior January by SPLC, causing Arkansas' Republican governor to denounce McCutchen's group.
This August, BILL PARMLEY, a Minuteman leader in Goliad County, Texas, quit the group because of what he described as widespread racism. Similarly, in September, newspapers reported that another Texas Minuteman, Janet Ahrens, had resigned because members "wanted to shoot the taco meat." Dobbs never mentioned either of these people, who were featured prominently elsewhere.
On Oct. 4, Dobbs had PAUL STREITZ, a co-founder of Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control, as a guest on his show. Streitz denounced Mayor John DeStefano Jr. for "turning New Haven into a banana republic" by favoring identification cards for undocumented workers. Two days later, newspapers revealed that two of the group's other founders had just quit, saying Streitz had led it in a racially charged direction. Dobbs has never reported this.
BARBARA COE, leader of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, was quoted on a show last March bitterly attacking Home Depot for "betray[ing] Americans," apparently because Hispanic day laborers often gather in front of the store looking for work. Not mentioned were her group, listed by the SPLC as a hate group, or the fact that she routinely refers to Mexicans as "savages." Coe recently described herself as a member of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a "white pride" group formed from the remnants of the segregationist White Citizens Councils of the 1950s and 1960s that were once described by Thurgood Marshal as "the uptown Klan." She also told The Denver Post in November that she had given a speech to the group.
CHRIS SIMCOX, co-founder of the Minuteman Project and a top national anti-immigration leader, was arrested in 2003 by federal park rangers for carrying a weapon illegally while tracking border-crossers on federal parkland. While Simcox has been repeatedly interviewed on his show, Dobbs has failed to mention that arrest or bigoted anti-Hispanic comments Simcox made to the Intelligence Report several years ago.
Although Dobbs has steered clear of the racist comments that some of his guests have made elsewhere, he has warned of "illegal aliens who not only threaten our economy and security, but also our health and well-being," according to Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a media monitor. In 2003, FAIR added, a reporter on Dobbs' show grossly mischaracterized a National Academy of Sciences report. The report found that immigrants provided a net gain of $1 billion to $10 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product, but the CNN reporter said the report had found the economic impact of immigrants worked out to a net loss of up to $10 billion.
Dobbs is revered in anti-immigration quarters and on the far right generally. He is the winner of the 2004 Eugene Katz Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Immigration, given by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). CIS claims to be a "nonpartisan research institute," but in fact is a thinly disguised anti-immigration organization. The 2005 Katz Award went to the immigration beat reporter for The Washington Times, a hard-right newspaper based in Washington, D.C.
In general, Lou Dobbs has declined to report salient negative facts about anti-immigration leaders he approves of, or simply avoided mentioning certain of their views -- notably the conspiracy theories propounded by people like Spencer.
Still, Dobbs is hardly immune to the lure of the weird. Last September, he offered up Idaho meteorologist Scott Stevens as a guest on his show. Stevens had just left an Idaho television news program immediately after telling viewers of a bizarre theory that Hurricane Katrina was caused by unknown evildoers. "Terrorists were engaging in a type of eco-terrorism where they could alter the climate, set off earthquakes and volcanoes," he told Dobbs. Stevens said they were using "scalar waves," invented by the Japanese, to attack America with Category 5 storms.
"Intriguing assertion," Dobbs concluded at the end of the interview. Much the same might be said, and in the same spirit, about the news "reporting" that Dobbs presents as he doggedly explores and supports the anti-immigration movement.
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=589
